Work Text:
The moment Raph woke up, he could tell he was sick. His throat burned, his head pounded, he felt overheated, and a wave of nausea passed over him as soon as he opened his eyes.
This wasn’t good. Raph hadn't gotten sick since he was, what, 10? He never even got a cold after that, until now, of course. 6 years later.
He wanted to go back to sleep, ignore all of this, and deal with it later. But Raph knew he couldn’t. His brothers would eventually get worried and check on him, see he was sick, and make a big fuss about it. He didn’t want them to worry. Raph was the oldest, the biggest, and the strongest. It was just a stupid, tiny cold anyway. It would be fine!
Spoiler alert: it wouldn’t be. And it was not just a cold.
Raph heard Mikey call everyone for breakfast. Well, he definitely had to get up now.
He sighed and slowly rose up, sitting on the edge of his bed when the headache got 10x worse, along with the nausea. His body felt sore, any strain on it resulted in shivering. This was gonna be a tough day, wasn’t it. Well, it's nothing he couldn’t handle, right?
The kitchen smelled of pancakes and coffee, normally his favorite breakfast food, but he didn’t feel hungry. Or, at least, not hungry for anything specific. Mikey greeted Raph immediately upon walking in.
“Morning! I made your favorite!”
Ugh, Raph did not think he could stomach anything at the moment.
“That's nice, but uh, I'm not super hungry right now. Maybe later?” He’d surely feel better later, right? He also noticed how painful it was to speak. He’d have to try hard to not make it noticeable.
Mikey frowned.
“Well… Ok then. At least take a granola bar, though. What do you want for lunch instead?”
Good question…
“I dunno… I'll eat whatever you make.” Raph told him.
“... Ok!” Mikey shrugged cheerfully, going back to cooking. Raph didn’t plan on eating a granola bar, but he took one anyway to avoid any suspicion.
Every step Raph took to the living room ached. His neck felt stiff, his stomach hurt, and the lighting in the lair felt like floodlights shining directly into his eyes, and the nausea was even worse at this point.
“Hey big brother!” Ah, it was Leo. “Aren’t you gonna eat breakfast? We have patrol today and I don’t want you to starve during it.”
“I’m surprised you even remembered,” Raph commented jokingly, rolling his eyes, doing his best to make sure he didn’t sound sick.
“Are you implying I'm forgetful? That really hurts, you know,” Leo said dramatically.
“Truth often hurts Leo,” Raph smiled somewhat forcefully, where he then coughed loudly, and very noticeably.
“Whoa dude- something caught in your throat?”
“Yeah-” Raph coughed lightly again “Just dust or something-” he breathed deeply and forced the coughs down “I’ll be fine” He gave Leo a small thumbs up.
“Whatever you say big man,” Leo shrugged, “I’ll be eating breakfast if you need me.”
Raph waved a quick goodbye as Leo resumed his walk to the kitchen. Right. They had patrol today. This was going to go great.
Yeah, this was about what Raph was expecting.
There had been an increase in crime this week- and according to Donnie, it was all one villain. Probably meat sweats or something. To cover the most area, his brothers (and April) decided to split up, which Raph was never a fan of- what if his brothers got hurt, and he wasn’t there to help?
And to make it even more amazing, he wasn’t feeling any better- in fact, he probably felt even worse. It was cold out, yet Raph was sweating and felt like he was in an easy bake oven. The coughing got worse, his headache got worse, it seemed all his symptoms in general worsened.
At the very least, his brothers didn’t seem to notice, which was good. He didn’t want them to be worried. They hadn’t even realized Raph didn’t eat all day, or the fact he looked constantly flushed, or the fact he was shivering nearly the entire day. In a way, he was kinda surprised- one look in a mirror and Raph could immediately tell he looked awful. At the very least, he expected April to say something.
Obviously this wasn’t intentional- his brothers had their own things to worry about, and April had school stuff. Besides, it was his job to worry about them. Not the other way around. Alright, Raphs been standing there for a bit too long now. He had to do his job.
And about 1 hour later, he was positive he was dying at this point. Breathing hurt, his head hurt, his stomach hurt- everything hurt. Worst part was, Mikey noticed.
Everyone had met up and decided to take a break. It was hard to pay attention to the conversation, the bright New York lights making Raph nauseous. He heard something about pizza- but that was the extent of what he could listen too.
He hardly even noticed someone was calling his name until Leo flicked him on the forehead.
“Ow- What is it?” Ouch, that made his head hurt so much worse.
“We’re trying to decide on a pizza restaurant. I suggested Huesos, but April refused,” Leo rolled his eyes, “No idea why- but anyway, what do you think?”
Raph put his hand up to his chin to think, which was way too hard. The world looked blurry. He felt dizzy- almost a passing-out kind of dizzy.
Raph must’ve stood there for too long because Leo spoke up again.
“Um… Hello? Are you gonna help decide or just stand there.”
“U-uh yeah… Just… Whatever Mikey wants.”
Mikey cheered while the others groaned, “Tony Lou pizza it is!” They all began to head towards the restaurant (He assumed they chose to do rooftop parkour instead of just portalling there while he wasn’t listening). Raph meanwhile hesitated. He felt sluggish. He felt tired. He could just fall asleep right now…
“Um… Raph? The others are leaving- Are you ok?” Mikey asked him, staying behind to talk to Rah for a moment.
“Ah, yeah, I'm jus’...” Raph rubbed his head, his words slightly slurring “Tired…”
Mikey didn’t look convinced, “... You sure? You don’t look too good… Do you have a cold or something? Cause if you do-”
“No-!” Raph cut him off, voice cracking as he forced the words out of his pained throat
“... Sorry- I didn’t mean to shout. I just had a rough night, you know, I'm just tired.” He chuckled, trying to cover it up, “We should uh… Get going, before we lose the others completely.”
He pat Mikey on the back before hopping across the rooftops, Mikey following suit. He wished he had stayed home instead- every movement felt like heck. But it was fine- as the biggest, strongest and oldest, he could manage. I mean, how sick was he even? Raph was fine.
The restaurant made Raph feel worse. The fluorescent lighting made his migraine more severe, and his vision continued to fog.
They all sat in a booth, everyone was eating, joking, laughing (They used the cosplayer excuse to explain their looks) while Raph just watched, his… Honestly, everything hurting, using the “I'm not hungry” and “I ate earlier” hoping that everyone would buy it. And maybe they did for a moment, but he soon noticed April looking at him weird.
“Is something wrong?” Raph asked her awkwardly, while his brothers continued to argue.
April eyed him oddly before speaking maybe a bit too loudly, “Are you sick or something?”
Raph paused, his brothers went quiet for a moment.
“What do you…” He coughed- acting as if he was just clearing his throat and not a cold, “What do you mean?”
“I mean you look sick,” She stated clearly.
“Um… Ok?” Raph said awkwardly, trying to think of a way out of this.
Leo looked at Raph for a moment before talking “Now that April mentions it… You do look weirdly off.”
Raph shrugged, starting to sweat even more than he already was “I just didn’t get a lot of sleep,” He tried to explain “Nothing more to it.”
“Yeah, you would never lie to your best friend April about that right?” April asked, in her sweet-but-threatening voice.
“Psh, Of course not.” Raph said, suppressing a cough “I could never lie to you.”
“Good.” She stated with a smile, leaning back into her seat and picking up her milkshake.
Leo stared at Raph a moment longer before shrugging and going back to bothering Donnie, who was now observing Raph as though he was looking into his soul, where he then went back to insulting Leo.
Raph sighed, resting his head on his hand as he looked out the window, trying to ignore his pounding head. He could feel Mikey’s eyes on him as he did so.
A while later, it was about 10pm. They all decided to call it a night and go back to the lair. Raph normally complained, saying they should get back to patrolling the city. But he just wanted to go home at this point and sleep off whatever illness he had.
Everybody was jumping across the roofs, Raph lagging behind, where a surge of nausea hit him. His breathing became more ragged, the world became harder to focus on, and it felt like his body was on autopilot, just trying to make it far enough. He slowed down, only hearing his heart pounding in his head.
Donnie (Who was only slightly ahead of him) slightly noticed “C’mon Raph! Don’t get tired now.”
Raph continued to run, stumbling over slightly.
“Yeah…! I’m right…” He breathed deeply, feeling his throat sting as he did so “I’m right behind… You…” He got up on the roof's ledge, trying to jump across, where his vision went dark.
He couldn’t tell exactly what was happening before he completely blacked out, but he could hear Donnie speak as he began to fall over.
“... Raph?”
Then he couldn’t hear anything. He couldn’t see anything. And he couldn’t feel anything. Is this what death felt like?
It took a moment before he slowly got his senses back. He was in immense pain. His ears rang as he heard muffled noises of his family. He must’ve fallen onto his shoulder, because that's where it hurt the most. He was probably in an alleyway as well… How far did he fall? He tried to stand up, and almost immediately stumbled and fell back down. Then he felt it. A feeling in his stomach. He threw up onto his ground where he could then finally hear somewhat-clearly.
“Raph! Raph are you- oh… Never mind you are definitely not ok.” It was Donnie, he stood a few feet away while the others all rushed towards him.
“Raph! What happened?” April crouched to get to his level, pressing her hand to Raphs forehead, “Oh shit- Dude your head is way too hot- Donnie!” Raph would have lectured her on the swearing, but he couldn’t find the energy. Everything was a blur of colors while his body felt like it could shrivel up and die on the spot.
Crap- this was not what he wanted to happen.
“I’m fine-” Raph forced out, trying to stand.
“Fine?! Passing out mid-jump is NOT FINE! ” April yelled, making Raph even more disoriented.
“I agree with April-” Leo commented, standing next to her “That is not normal- What was that about you not being sick again?”
Raph groaned, “I am not sick-” he struggled to say “I just… Didn’t drink enough water-”
Donnie raised an eyebrow in a concerned but also “are you serious” way.
Raph rolled his eyes, “Seriously- it's ok. Let's just get going back to the lair-”
“What? So you can pass out on the way again?” Mikey asked, his hands on his hips like an upset mom, “You are clearly not ok. You haven’t eaten anything, you look awful, and you literally passed out. You are very obviously sick!”
Raph coughed, “Raph- Raph doesn’t get sick!”
“Then what are you right now?!”
“ Not sick! ” He shouted, leaning on the wall for support as his chest hurt, where everything seemed to be spinning and like he was going to puke even more. Why did he yell? His family only cared for him- what was the reason for pretending he wasn’t sick again? No- he wasn’t sick. At least not that much- it was only a cold! A small, insignificant cold! They all looked at him, concern in their eyes.
“... Ok I don’t get what your problem is,” Leo finally said “But how about we discuss this at home” He took out his odachi, opening a portal.
Raph couldn’t speak for a moment, “There’s nothing to discuss-” he tried to wheeze out, before Mikey and Donnie held Raph up from under his arms and walked him over to the portal, April following behind. Raph wanted to resist, but he was way too tired to do anything other than cough and try not to puke again.
Back at the lair, Raph was forcefully placed on the couch, where his family stood over him like it was an intervention.
Raphs throat was too sore to speak at that moment, so he couldn’t even assure his family he was fine, and they shouldn’t worry- but it was probably too late for that anyway.
Donnie pulled out a thermometer and took his temperature, choking on his words when he saw the number.
“Wh- 40?! How were you walking!” He exclaimed. Raph was confused- How was he even alive? Don’t people die when they are like- below 70 or something?
“Um… shouldn’t he be dead right now then?” Leo asked, wondering the same as Raph.
Donnie sighed while rolling his eyes “it's 104 degrees in Fahrenheit.”
“What!? And how long were you planning on hiding this, Raph?” Mikey exclaimed, glaring at him.
“I’m surprised you stayed conscious that long,” Leo mentioned “Why didn’t you say you felt sick! Why didn’t you tell us! You can’t just hide that stuff.”
No- they didn’t get it. He had to.
April stared at him with light disappointment, and lots of worry. Shoot.
“I would yell at you right now, but this is probably not the time. Why didn’t you mention anything?”
Raph swallowed, his sore throat burning “I didn’t- I didn’t want you guys to worry…” He whisper spoke, trying to prevent any more pain or outrage.
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
“... So you decided to just walk around with a high fever in what I assume was constant pain, because you quote ‘didn’t want to worry us’.” Donnie said accusingly.
“... Yes?”
“What I’m mostly upset with, is the fact we didn’t notice until now. A 104 degrees fever? How were you properly functioning! And more importantly- how did we not see!” Mikey said with a frown.
“Yeah, what Mikey said. Either we are stupid, or you are just really good at hiding things like that.” Leo agreed, not taking his eyes off Raph.
Donnie sighed, “Could you at least… I don’t know, explain more? Because ‘not wanting us to worry’ is a flimsy excuse.”
They all looked at Raph expectantly, waiting for him to speak.
Raph really whiffed this one, didn’t he.
“I-” He began, trying to speak clearly “I’m the oldest- it's my job to worry about you guys.”
Mikey widened his eyes, “Um, ok. And we are your brothers. It's also our job to worry about you. ”
“No! That's not something you should have to do- I am supposed to take care of you!” At that point, Raph didn’t care how much anguish his voice was in.
“That's dads job- Raph, you are a kid! You are 16! Stop acting like you aren’t!” Mikey shouted, maybe a bit too loud.
Raph wasn’t sure what to say. Sure, he might be 16- he might legally be a kid- but he didn’t feel like one. He had to grow up fast- he had to take care of his brothers. It didn’t make sense for it to be the other way around! He was the one who had to take care of them. He was the protector, the eldest. It wasn’t his brother's job to take care of him.
Donnie sighed, “Look. The point we are trying to say is that you don’t have to hide things for us. It won’t make us worry any less, it does more harm than good for everyone.”
Raph was still at a loss for words. There was only one thing he could think to say.
“... I’m sorry.”
Then the tears began to form. His family instantly started to comfort him- Mikey going to make some hot chocolate, April getting as many blankets as she could (Along with some of Raphs plushies) and Leo running to find some medicine or anything to help his fever, leaving Donnie to stay with Raph. Donnie wasn’t sure what to do… So he just sat next to him while Raph tried not to cry, his body shivering and there being constant coughing.
Not 5 minutes later, everyone was huddled together, the projector playing a Lou Jitsu movie.
“... What if you guys get sick?” Raph asked, voice cracking.
“Worth it.” Mikey responded, snuggling closer to him. April nodded in agreement.
… Maybe he doesn’t have to be the strongest all the time.