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"Raphael?"
Your voice echoed through the sewers and reached the red-clad turtle while exercising. He grunted and got up from his bench, right in time to see you enter the lair. His breath hitched - you looked beautiful. He would never get enough of you. Your hips swayed as you made your way down the slightly slippery steps to stand in the middle of the living area. Raphael couldn't help but hum at your sight. Afraid you could've heard that he quickly cleared his throat to cover the noise up.
"(Y/N)." As soon as your name rolled over his lips, you felt a shiver running down your spine and you turned your head towards the huge terrapin, smiling.
"Hi, big guy! Come here, I've got a surprise for you!" You motioned for him to come closer while you rummaged through your backpack.
Raphael raised an eye ridge and made his way towards your frail form. Greetings were always a bit awkward for you. Raphael had nearly no experience in showing affection towards the other gender and even though you often ended up closely sitting on the couch together, neither of you ever addressed what you two wanted exactly.
So he stopped right in front of you and just waited.
"A surprise? What for?"
You stopped your search and looked up at him, always a soft smile on your full lips.
"I don't know what happened between you and Leonardo, but Mikey told me you are not on patrol tonight. And I also know that you get bored easily. So, I thought, well ... ", you drifted off, slightly distracted by the frown on Raphael's face. The mentioning of his big brother didn't lift the impulsive turtle's mood at all and you sighed internally. They were both Alphas - you pretty much figured that out as soon as you saw them outside of a fight. Raphael wanted more responsibilities, he wanted to give orders, but Leonardo would have nothing of his brother's short temper. So they butted their heads on a regular basis and Raphael was excluded from the nightly patrols nearly as often. He always was in a grumpy mood then and you just wanted to distract him a little. You were too embarrassed to admit it out loud, but you cared a great deal about that giant hothead. Maybe even more than was healthy for you.
You caught yourself staring up at his face and snapped out of your stupor, before he could ask if something was wrong. He always worried about you.
One of your hands reached into the backpack again, determined to go through with your plan. As you felt a silky fabric underneath your fingertips you grinned and pulled your present out of the bag.
"Ta-da!", you exclaimed, all the while holding red pants in the air above you.
Raphael only folded his arms and inclined his head.
"Ya brought me ... pants?"
"No, you - ... Those are swimming trunks!"
The red-clad turtle only raised an eye ridge, which caused you to blush slightly.
"We are going to the beach tonight! I, uh, I actually didn't know if you guys have ... i-if you are like other men ... uh ... anyway, I thought it would be good to not go fully naked, so!", you began to ramble but were soon interrupted by Raphael's raised hand.
"(Y/N), I can't go to the beach with ya." Your face fell.
"But, why not? It would be like a little adventure! It's dark outside, nobody's gonna be there, I’m sure. Come on."
But Raphael only huffed and shook his head.
"No, (Y/N)." He turned and made his way to the giant television Mikey insisted on buying, and you couldn't help but feel pissed. You had thought about this a lot. You not only bought those swimming trunks for him, you also got his favorite sandwiches right after leaving the office. You even downloaded the new album from his favorite band and put it on your smartphone. All you wanted was to have a good time with him tonight and he outright refused. You clenched your fists before stuffing the pants back into your bag.
"Coward."
You silently gasped as those two syllables slipped out. You knew in an instant that you were fucked. Raphael's head snapped up and he glared at you before he took big striding steps to close the distance again.
"What is your damn problem?", he barked, which only fueled your anger. You let your backpack fall to the floor in front of you before you looked him straight in the eyes.
"My problem is that you never get outside beside your damn patrols! You only sit here and do nothing except working out and watching TV! Then I want to do something fun and you won't even give it a second thought!"
The terrapin's jaw visibly clenched while he crossed his arms in front of his broad chest. His eyes held a dangerous glint, but you wouldn't back down. You knew he would never seriously hurt you and Leonardo wasn't the only one who had to put him in his place from time to time.
"Well, nobody asked ya to stay inside! Ya actually have a choice! So feel free ta go!"
His roaring voice echoed through the branched lair and it would be a miracle if Splinter hadn't heard it. But more importantly, you heard it. You understood it. And you instantly were ashamed of your stupid outbreak. He wanted to go with you. But he couldn't. It was just too risky for you both.
"Raphael, I -," you began.
"Don't bother.", he interrupted, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply through his nose. You noticed how hard he tried to calm down. His hands twitched at his side and you could see a deep frown plastered across his face. You felt like shit.
"Raphael, I'm sorry. I didn't think about it, really. I didn't mean it like that." Raphael grunted in annoyance and snarled slightly.
"I know exactly how ya meant it. Yer bothered by it as much as I am. But I can't change it. We’re hideous monsters and it's just not possible for us to lead a normal life. To just go outside when we want to."
His voice calmed down and his gaze dropped to the floor.
"Ya should probably hang out with someone else."
Your eyes widened visibly at his words.
Was he serious?
"Someone ... human. Someone who can actually go to the beach with ya. To the cinema. Restaurants. All that fancy stuff you deserve." His shoulders seemed to slump in defeat before he turned around without looking at you again.
No.
You reached out to him, wanted to step forward, but your feet got tangled in the straps of your backpack. You lost your balance and yelped, but the red-clad turtle reacted in an instant and caught you in his arms.
He steadied you with his huge hands on your narrow waist but didn't dare to move any further. You were pressed up against him, so much smaller and physically weaker than him and still you took his breath away, made him feel vulnerable.
You slowly looked up, a deep blush warming your cheeks before you cautiously lifted your hands and placed them on his plastron. He radiated heat and you believed to feel his heart hammering inside his chest.
"Raphael, I am so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you," you whisper.
He looked down at you and seemed to hold his breath. You bit your lip before continuing.
"I know your life down here must've been hard. I - I just wanted to do something nice for you and help you enjoy yourself."
The big terrapin cleared his throat and seemed to search your eyes for something.
"I, uh, I'm enjoying myself every time you're here with me."
You couldn't help but blush at his words. Both of you had a problem with expressing feelings, but you just had to say what was on your mind right now.
"And I'm more than happy to spend time with you. Whatever we may do. Don't you ever tell me again to meet with someone else. Raphael, you are enough. You are perfect just the way you are. And I couldn't be happier."
You softly gripped at his plastron to drive your point home.
His eyes widened in shock, not really believing your words, even though he wanted to. The huge terrapin nervously licked his lips, which caused your gaze to fix on that soft green skin of his. Oh, how many times you wondered how he tasted. How he would feel against you. Your cheeks felt like they were on fire as Raphael bent down a bit.
"Are ... Are you serious, (Y/N)?" He swallowed heavily, deeply affected by your words and you bit your lip, wondering what to do. You took a deep breath, inhaled his scent, a pleasant mixture of sweat, leather, and something that was just exclusively him, all the while nodding frantically.
Before you could change your mind, you got on your tiptoes and pulled at the loose ends of Raphael's mask to tug him down. He didn't expect such a movement and his mind went blank when your lips collided with his.
Was he dreaming?
You kissed him.
You. Kissed. Him! His hands gripped at your sides before he closed his eyes and tried to memorize every blissful second. You tasted like honey, your lips felt like silk against his rough hide and he worried about his heart just jumping right out of his chest. He was pretty sure you could hear the frantic beating in his ribcage and as you two broke away to catch your breath, he couldn't help but grin. His breathing was ragged as if he ran across all the roofs of New York, but you didn't mind. You shyly licked your lips and giggled as Raphael seemed to suppress a groan and only pulled you tighter against him.
The tension between the two of you was gone. The questions you both had up until this point and were too afraid to ask, were answered. You must've been blind to miss that shimmer in his eyes every time he looked at you. He had been completely oblivious as to why you wanted to spend every minute of your free time with him.
The silence stretched between the two of you and you cleared your throat before stepping away from him. You nearly whined at the loss of warmth.
"So, uh ... how about a movie?"
Raphael scratched his neck and grinned sheepishly.
"Of course." He went to the couch while you reached into your bag and grabbed the sandwiches within.
"I bought something to eat."
The red-clad turtle nodded before sinking down on the sofa and motioned to follow him.
With a smile and a slight spring in your step, you crawled across the big piece of furniture and directly cuddled up at his side, wrapping an arm across his belly and leaning your head against his warm chest.