Afterglow - Chapter 25

Rated: T

Bumbling Turtle Boyfriends

Chapter Summary: Staying at her boyfriend's for a few days, things get off on the wrong foot - maybe because Raphael stuffed it in his mouth.

25 Chapters already... Holy crap guys. When I started writing One Year (Prequel) did I ever think I'd be writing a 25 plus chapter fict to follow it up. Wow. Thank you all to those who diligently comment, fave, follow, you guys are the ones keeping this going and just being so encouraging and I read every single review and they all make me smile! You guys are awesome! This series will not go on forever though. I'm thinking we're more than halfway through with where I ultimately want to take this and if I stop doing so many filler chapters(*cough*smut*cough*), I think it will be about 50 chapters total. Hope you'll still be reading by then. :-) Thanks again! xoxo

"Slow down!" April screeched as Raphael was just about to make the jump over to another rooftop.

Said turtle turned to the voice only to see his sweaty girlfriend hunched over, hands on her knees and basically hyperventilating. Thick brow ridges furrowed at the sight as he swirled on his heels to close the distance between them.

"You alright?" he asked, hiding the rising smirk at the obvious fact his girlfriend was painfully out of shape.

"Y-You don't always have to run so *huff* friggin' fast! We're just *wheeze* going to get some food, it's not a freakin' race!" April growled, which lost all it's fire when she was gasping for air during the whole rant.

"I'm not racing, April. The dude on the phone said 20 minutes and it's gonna get cold if we're slacking."

"Slacking!?" April screeched, standing to her full height in order to look down at him slightly.

"Yeah. Slacking." he didn't budge, thickly muscled arms crossing over his chest.

"First off, mister, I was in college all day long before I dragged my ass to the lair, which is about 20 minutes farther walk than my apartment, mind you; than as soon as I get back, the kitchen is a disaster zone thanks to Mikey's latest culinary 'creation'... So, in lieu of having no dinner, I was kind enough to offer to go out and buy some real food even if I'm basically a walking zombie here - and you say I'm slacking!?"

"Alright, you're not slacking, you're just out of shape." he replied with a shrug and if it wasn't for his lightening-fast reflexes, he would have had April's fist for dinner.

"You ASSHOLE! I can't believe you just said that!" the redhead yelled, stabbing a thin finger against his plastron and using every inch she had over him to her advantage.

"Hey, take it easy, O'Neil, I'm just stating facts here."

The look that followed that statement had Raphael flinching at the unbridled rage that crossed her pretty face. He inwardly cursed his propensity for being an ass as his wide chartreuse eyes stared into the fiery blue steel of his girlfriend. Waiting for a smart remark or a physical beating, the terrapin was surprised when April's hand lowered and she walked past him to continue to their destination. Raph was about to call out to her but she was already making her way down the fire escape and out into the crowd that formed and he wasn't able to follow her.

"Shit!" he growled to himself, instantly pulling out his phone to call her, and big surprise, she didn't answer; turning toward the rooftop for a moment to flip him off instead. Shaking his head at her gesture, he followed her; being sure to stick to the shadows as April continued to the restaurant. Hot coals formed in his gut as she entered the bustling Chinese joint; watching her disappear into the building caused a hot seed of regret to wedge it's way into his chest. Wishing for a better filter for his mouth was not going to help him now, so he just made sure to keep her in sight. Within five minutes, the redhead reemerged and instead of walking back to where he resided, she made her way to the lair walking along the brightly lit streets.

His stomach turned when he noticed her staying near people whenever possible and he was forced to follow her along rooftops and shady alleyways. Thoughts swirling in his head on how to beg for forgiveness at the forefront of his mind. "Dammit..." Raph grumbled as April made her way to the garage that lead to where they parked the shellraiser. When he finally approached her, April didn't care to look at him or utter a word, instead the redhead unceremoniously shoved the bag of food into his arms before opening the garage door. Raphael silently followed her in; cringing slightly when she loudly slammed the the heavy sliding metal door back down.

The walk back into the lair was silent; April even ignored the smile Donnie and Mikey sent her way and Raphael didn't miss the questioning stare his genius brother gave him when April remained quiet. Raphael just shook his head and placed the bags on the counter as Mikey gathered the rest of the family for dinner.

...Dinner was an awkward occasion to say the least; the tension could be cut with a knife and any conversation that started quickly diminished when they would try to include April in on any subject. Even when Mikey told a rather good joke, it wasn't even able to crack a smile on her face; Raphael knew he exponentially screwed up. Only the sound of ceramic chopsticks tapping and quiet chewing was heard as the family finished the meal but every bite of food just left an unpleasant taste in the strongest terrapin's mouth.

Considering how badly dinner went, Raphael was more than happy to take Leo's place to go on solo patrol for the evening in order to give April a bit of space to hopefully cool off as well as practice the speech and his puppy-dog eyes needed for the intense groveling he'd be sure to do later. During patrol, he was on auto-pilot, figuring out what exactly went wrong and why he chose to be such a douche-bag when April had been nice enough to accompany him and even offered food in the first place. The cool air felt frigid on his skin as he went through the city; hoping he didn't royally fuck up his relationship with the greatest thing that ever happened to him...

It was after midnight when he got back and he was just as surprised as anyone when he found April wide awake and sitting in his bed. His heart stopped when he realized she had been waiting for him to return, but when she didn't speak a word, Raphael remained silent; full on ready to just grab a pillow and sleep on the couch, he almost yelped when she suddenly grabbed his arm when he tried to leave.

"April?" he asked timidly and his heart lurched when she saw the residual moisture in her eyes.

"Sit down. We're talking." she demanded; her voice a lot calmer than he pictured it would be.

"I'm sorry..." he grumbled miserably, hating himself more than ever when he realized he was the reason for those tears. He never felt worse in his whole life that at this very moment; wanting to reach over and wipe those big droplets that stained her cheeks but was worried his hand would be slapped away. He sat down next to her, hands fidgeting in his lap - the dread filling his stomach as to what exactly she was going to say. Sure, they'd fought before but he had never outright been mean to her until tonight; he didn't even want to fathom the repercussions it would cause should she decide to end their relationship...if she did, he'd never recover... Hot boiling regret filled his stomach and the normally self-assured Raphael was filled with fear on what she was about to say...

"Raph...as inconsiderate as your words were tonight...you were right."

"I'm sorry, April, please don't - ...Wait. W-What?!" Raph yelped, never believing those words would ever fall from his girlfriend's lips.

"Ever since I started college, it's just hard to find time to work out like I used to. I mean, I try to hit the treadmill on occasion, but compared to what I was a year ago, it's kinda depressing how out of shape I've gotten."

"...What?!" Raph asked, tempted to pinch himself to see if this was some dream.

"I had some time to think it over, and now that I'm getting used to being back in school, I had a great idea - why don't you train me? I mean, we spend a lot of time together anyway, why not just workout for some of it? Who knows? It could be fun - just like it was in Northampton."

"...WHAT!?"

"I'm asking you to train me, Raphael. It should be the least you could do after me a lazy slacker tonight."

"I didn't call you lazy!"

"You might as well have! Listen, just because your whole life centers around ninjitsu and patrolling and whatever the hell else goes on in that big head of yours, you need to understand that I'm a bit different, Raphael. I have to work my ass of every single day in college, it's not like I can just do what I want all day!"

"I know that! I support you, you know that! I was being a smart-ass, alright?! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been saying anything! I should have been carrying you when you were having trouble keepin' up, I just... I know how important your independence is to you and I didn't want to say anything, I just... God, I'm such an asshole..."

"Glad we finally agree on something..." April muttered, arms crossed over her chest.

Raph's face fell and April felt her heart flinch in her chest at the sight. He was so adorably pathetic and obviously apologetic it almost hurt; a soft sigh left her throat and she reached over to touch his forearm.

Big green eyes met her blue and she gave him a tight smile.

"I never meant to make you cry, April...I'm so sorry." he said and the astonishment and ease of which he said the words was even surprising to him considering the difficulty he had in apologizing for anything.

"I am too. I shouldn't have blown up like that. So...you'll train me?"

"Yeah. Sure." he replied a bit reluctantly; hoping he didn't find some way to screw that up too.

"Good. I can't wait." she replied and Raph's heart soared when she leaned forward and kissed his mouth.

Raph smirked against her lips and returned it, fully ready to lay her down to continue the make-out session when the redhead pulled away from his mouth and lay down. The terrapin's smirk grew as he was about to lay next to her when suddenly, her bare foot was pressed firmly against his plastron; keeping him from crawling into the bed beside her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, arms folded behind her head as she looked up at the red-banded turtle questioningly.

"...Is this a trick question? I'm gonna sleep with you."

"Like hell you are." she smirked, "Go sleep on the couch."

Raph just stared in bewilderment for only a second when suddenly had a pillow thrown in his face and he sputtered into the cotton.

"What the hell?" Raph grumbled after he pulled the fluffy object away from his face.

"Have fun sleeping on the couch." April singsonged; getting comfortable on his bed.

"...Wait, what? But I thought that-"

"I may have forgiven you but that doesn't change the fact that you were a complete asshole tonight. Maybe you'll have better luck tomorrow."

"B-B-But I-"

"Goodnight." she said, rolling over to face the wall and Raph was left staring at her back in shock.

Raph stood there a good three minutes hoping she'd change her mind but when she didn't even acknowledge him, he had no choice than to take the dreaded walk of shame to the den. His heavy weight made the couch creek and he full on intended to ignore the knowing smirk Leonardo was sending his way from his spot in front of the television.

"...Trouble in paradise?"

"Shut up." the hotheaded terrapin growled, throwing the pillow at the blue-banded turtle to the tune of said older brother laughing his ass off.