Work Text:
Raphael was waiting for you to get home from work in your apartment. But you’re late. It’s been raining all evening, and he got soaked on his way over. Raph made sure to dry off quickly with a discarded blanket when he let himself inside through your window, so he wouldn’t get your floor wet.
An hour goes by. The cop show he’s watching is getting boring and he wonders if maybe you stopped for groceries on the way home.
Another half an hour passes, and he’s anxiously checking his phone. He considers going out to look for you, when the lock on your door turns. He stands to attention, and when it’s you who walks through the door, he slumps with relief.
“Where have you been?” He says casually from the couch. You don’t respond, and he notices something is off. You’re swaying in place by the door, struggling to slowly shed your coat off.
You woke up with a scratchy feeling in your throat this morning. Work ran late. You’d forgotten an umbrella. And your hair is dripping wet.
It’s been a long day.
You suddenly slump forward and brace a hand against the wall, hit with a dizzy spell, and Raph immediately rushes to your side at the door. His hands are hovering over you, not sure what you need.
“Babe?”
You’re panting hard. Raphael wonders if you ran home for some reason and gets worried. He looks around you for any indication as to why you were late and sees no shopping bags to help with. He leaned his head down to try and look into your eyes, trying to get your attention. But he sees your hazy red rimmed gaze and guesses you weren’t feeling very good. Were you okay...?
“(Y/n), are you sick?”
You lifted your head slowly when you heard his voice, barely registering it as your head swam. Raph held your cheek in his palm and brushed some wet strands of hair out of your face, and felt the scorching heat under your skin.
You groan tiredly and shut your eyes tight against the light of your apartment. Legs shaking and unsteady, you leaned your weight into Raphael’s offered hand.
“That’s some fever you got… Hey. Let’s get you into bed, okay?” Raph spoke to you softly in his husky voice. You swallowed dryly and barely managed a slight nod, still not opening your eyes.
Raph took the lead, wrapping an arm around your waist and slowly led you down the hall towards your bedroom. Your legs felt like jelly. The long day running around at work that ran late, the dizzying trudge home through the biting cold rain, you tried to focus on the sight of your door at the end of the hallway but your vision swam with every trembling step. You only managed to get half way before your legs gave out from under you.
“Woah!! Hey, hey, hey, I got you.” Raph was quick to hold you up and support your weight. After some shifting he pulled you close and scooped you up off the floor, carrying you the rest of the way to your room.
He carefully sat you down on the edge of your bed, watching carefully as you swayed in place trying to stay upright. Your heavy lidded eyes were trained on him as he bent down to pull off your sopping wet shoes and socks.
“....sorry…” You mumbled quietly, exhaling a deep shuddering breath.
“Don’t be. I gotcha.” Raphael looked at you softly. His brow ridges knit together in concern.
He reached up and gently pressed a kiss to your heated forehead, making you shudder a sigh. His fingers traced your sides and found the edges of your sweater and shirt.
“Arms up.” He muttered, slowly pulling off the damp fabric. Once it was pulled off, you slumped back onto your bed, panting lightly. He did the same with removing your soggy pants. After the wet fabric was removed, he rushed to your bathroom to retrieve a proper towel and hang up the clothes to dry.
When he returned only a minute later, you were starting to doze quietly on your bed. He snorted at you fondly.
Raph wasn’t always the best at being gentle. But he did his best to dry out your hair and slid on some soft pajamas while you muttered tiredly.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll send your boss a text and ask April to bring us groceries tomorrow.” He crawled up on the bed over you after discarding the towel. “You want some medicine or somethin?”
You made an adorable sour face, scrunching up your nose at the proposition. Raph chuckled. He then reached under you and scooped you up again, agilely pulling down the covers of your bed with his foot before sliding you under the comfy blankets.
He took a moment to pull out his phone and shoot a quick message to his brothers that he would be staying over with you for a while to take care of you. Mikey immediately responded with heavy exaggerated despair that you were sick. Donnie followed up by asking if he needed to stop by and give you a check up. Leo eventually responded with confirmation that Raph would not be back in the morning, and respectfully wished you well. Raph smirked at his phone as he responded with assurances that he would tell them if you needed anything. Then he felt a small tug on his sash.
He looked over to you, your eyes shiny with fever as you pushed down the edge of your sheets and wordlessly begged him to join you.
Raph’s eyes softened as he gazed at you warmly. He couldn’t say no to you.
Tucking his phone away, he untied his belt and his mask and slipped under the covers beside you. His arm slid beneath your head and other snaked over your waist, pulling you close as you snuggled against him for warmth. Raph buried his snoot in your hair and inhaled the scent of rain, tracing your back comfortingly.
Raph looked out the rain pattered window as the city lights illuminated each individual droplet. Your soft, even breathing warm against his chest.
In less than a minute you were soundly asleep. Raph peeked down to check on you, taking in your flushed cheeks and pallid exhaustion. In that moment he resolved himself to take care of you.
Raph sighed and hugged you closer to him, muttering to himself.
“……you idiot.”