Raphael's P.O.V.-
Raphael's Dream:
[Mikey, Donnie, and I lounged around on the sofa while Leo's stupid face was glued to the tv screen. My oldest brother was so close that the rest of us couldn't see; not that I minded. Quite convenient that he called off patrol on the same night they were airing a Space Heroes marathon. Leo wore the cheesiest grin imaginable; he looked like a complete doofus.
This episode was a re-run. Though I didn't remember it word for word, I already knew how it was going to end. The crew was watching this weird, meatball-looking alien holding two men in its tentacles. "The landing party is under attack by the digesters. We have to save them!" The puny character grasped his head with both hands. This was met by a usual slap from the captain. "If we keep bailing them out, they'll never learn to take care of themselves." "But….. this is their first mission, and they don't even have weapons!" Puny guy retorted. "Then they'd better learn fast," was the captain's reply.
"Oh, great moral compass there. Yeah, I can see why he's the captain," I snorted, giving my eyes an unimpressed roll. Leo shot me back an annoyed glare. "It's not as easy as all that, Raph. As the captain, he has to make all the difficult decisions. Plus, he's got a point; they do need to learn to stand on their own two feet." "Oh, that's a real easy decision when you got all the weapons onboard and they have none," my arms folded. "You just don't get it. It's a leadership thing," Leo narrowed his eyes at me. "No, it's a moral thing; which he sucks at, by the way." "Yeah? Well I think….."
Before Leo could finish his rebuttal, a laser blast echoed from down one of the abandoned train tunnels. We all immediately sat up in a scare; our eyes locked in the direction from the boom. That's when we heard mobs of clanking robot feet stomping on the ground. It got progressively louder with each passing second.
"Kraang!" Leo leapt to his feet. "How'd they find us down here?!" Donnie asked in a frantic tone. "Who cares! We gotta get them the hell outta here!" I shouted, pulling out my sai. My brothers followed suit, also readying their weapons in their hands. As the Kraang mass got closer, it was clear that we were severely outnumbered. But we didn't let that dampen our spirits- at least I didn't. I was more than ready to beat the crap out of them, even if it meant getting a few scrapes and bruises along the way. We were just about to charge the horde until Master Splinter emerged from his room, looking very worried.
"No! We must flee, my sons!" His rat paw stretched out to us. We blinked back to him incredulously. "What?!" Donnie gasped. "You can't be serious!" I yelled upset. "I am; they are coming at us in a wave. We five are no match for their small army. We must escape while we can. Come, now!" Splinter dashed off to the other end of the tunnel. My brothers started following him, but my feet instantly ground to a halt. With wide eyes, I realized that I wasn't sure when and if we'd return to the lair again….. Leo also paused when I spun around to make a mad scramble to my bedroom.
"Raph! What are you doing?! Let's go!" Ignoring his hollers, I raced to my door. Bursting it open, I rushed over to my pillow and pulled it aside. There was laying Athénaïs's crystal flower hairpin. With one quick move of the hand, I snatched it up and placed it safely inside my shell before re-joining my family.]
Mmmmmmm, it's warm. That was my first conscious thought of the day. Though I hadn't opened my eyes yet or was fully awake, I was regaining awareness of my sensory experiences quickly. Besides it feeling just generally warm all around me, I felt something soft touching my lower jaw; I couldn't make out what it was right away, but whatever it was, it smelt really good. It was around this time that I noticed this heavy, plushie mass resting overtop my chest. I finally opened my eyes to see what it was, after wincing at the sunlight momentarily blinding me.
I don't think I have flinched harder in my life. Athénaïs was sleeping on my chest! And what's more, one of my arms was wrapped around her! H-How the hell…..?! For the briefest of minutes, I simply laid there unmoving, not mentally able to grasp what was occurring. Where….. just where was I? And how in the world did we wind up like this?! A rapid glance around confirmed that we were still in Athénaïs's bedroom, with both of us laying on her bed. Her laptop was still open on her desk and the empty popcorn bowl still on the floor. My mouth just hung open in sheer, utter disbelief.
N-No…. No! I must have fallen asleep here last night while we were watching that dumb movie….. Athénaïs fell to sleep on my shoulder and I shut my eyes just for a minute…. No! No, this can't be happening! This isn't real! Oh my god, Athénaïs is going to freak out when she wakes up. And forget about her- what about Splinter?! Oh man, he's gonna kill me! I've never been in so much trouble in all my life.
The unconscious Athénaïs thought this the perfect time to gently move her hand across my chest, making my back buck. I hadn't meant to send her flying off me- or the bed- but she instantaneously went tumbling to the floor. She landed with a thump, waking her right up. "Ow!" She cried, her eyes shooting wide open in a fright. After sitting up in an uncomfortable position, her head turned towards the bed and I winced, preparing for the worst. It didn't take long for the hurricane to hit. Her eyes grew to immeasurable proportions, her lower jaw steadily dropping. Her subsequent scream was loud enough to wake the entire building.
"Stop screaming! I can explain!" I had to cover my ears, her voice was that ear-shattering. "How dare you?!" "I didn't "dare" anything! Look, would you just listen?!" I retorted, my voice getting progressively louder to match hers. "Why are you still in my room?! It's morning, Raphael! You stayed here all night?!" "Obviously! I didn't mean to fall asleep here last night; it just sorta….. happened," I blinked, realizing how crazy that sounded. Athénaïs did not look amused- not at all.
"I don't know what you Americans think is appropriate, but where I come from, boys do not sleep in girls' rooms! Especially when they're not a couple! And in the same bed too…." A look of horror washed over her face. I rolled my eyes, thinking she was being much too dramatic about the situation. She's not the one who has to face Splinter after all this….
"Nothing happened, ok? Course nothing would happen, Austria; it's you," I spat like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But the moment I said this out loud, it hit me just how much I valued her…. consent regarding anything intimate. Huh, I guess when push came to shove, I did value her comfort above anything I may feel or desire….. But that's just more romantic nonsense which I'd never think of. Nope- never gonna happen; I ain't no wuss.
Athénaïs blinked at me a couple of times, like she was trying to figure out my remark. But she eventually seemed satisfied with it. I then watched as she scanned over her clothes and figure for any un-uniformities. When none presented themselves, she let out a tiny relieved sigh. Her eyes wandered into nowhere for a second before returning to me.
"We both passed out last night. Of course you'd never stay here intentionally; I'd never let you in any case. I was just so startled to see you here. I always told myself the first boy I'd share a night with would be my future boyfriend and husband," Athénaïs sighed. "Husband? Heh, aren't you a little young to be thinking about that?" I had enough nerve to flash a little side-smirk, adding an eyebrow raise for emphasis. But Athénaïs stayed completely serious in her disposition, looking over to me. "I wish to preserve myself and any intimacy we may share for him. What's wrong with that?" Oh…. My eyes grew a bit in astonishment. "Er, nothing… I guess," I said more awkwardly than desired. Can you blame me? I'd never heard anyone say anything like that before. This girl sure didn't have a problem with loyalty; that's for sure.
Miss Fidelity over here let out another sigh. Her hand ran over her face in tempered distress. "That's it. A new curfew at eleven o'clock for me," she told herself. "Eleven? What are you? Five?" I gave a snort unimpressed. "No; I'm a young woman who needs her sleep." As if the world had it out for us this morning, an unexpected tapping at her bedroom door made us both jump. Athénaïs shot around to face the wood of the door with clear anxiety.
"Athénaïs?" I don't think my stomach could have dropped faster once the door opened to reveal Murakami-san's face. Athénaïs looked like she was going to throw up. "U-Uncle! It's not what it looks like! This was entirely unintentional!" Her hand waved back and forth frantically in front of her like he could see her. But his line of vision went straight past her to me. I gulped as Murakami-san gave the illusion of staring right into my soul.
"Ah! Good morning, Raphael-kun!" The way he greeted me so warmly made me feel all the guiltier. Here I was, caught in his great-niece's bedroom, on her bed of all places…. Nothing happened between us, but I still felt like we- or rather I- did something incredibly wrong. Athénaïs could never be accused of such a thing. A teenage boy like me, on the other hand…. "M-Morning, Murakami-san," my voice was trembling. It never occurred to me that I might bump into him on my late-night visits to Athénaïs. I suppose this was bound to happen eventually; just not like this…..
"It's nice to see you again; I was waiting for Athénaïs to bring you downstairs," despite the outrageous circumstance, he seemed to be relatively cheerful. Athénaïs, however, looked mortified by the suggestion. "Uncle!" She gasped in that scandalized tone of her. He chuckled gently, reaching over to pat her shoulder with the upmost tenderness and familial affection. "It's ok, my dear. But aren't you going to invite your guest to join us for breakfast? You could serve him one of those stale buns you love so much." "I-I uh…." She blushed, for some odd reason. Not that I could stick around to eat anything anyway; staying away from home longer would just make it worse. But still…..
My eyes drifted back to a frazzled Austrian. She sighed again and went to fetch something out of her wardrobe. While she was distracted with that, her uncle flashed me a clever grin. "Don't mind my niece. She's not angry with you; she's just… a bit old-fashioned." A bit? That's an understatement.
Without warning, Athénaïs abruptly turned to the door; she was going to leave the room. My eyes grew unconsciously as I raised my voice once more. "Wait a minute! Where do you think you're going?" I angrily demanded. It's not that I was actually mad, per se; I just…. didn't like the idea of being apart from her so suddenly like this. But to hide this sediment, I crossed my arms and fired off a glare her way. She blinked back at me surprised. While she didn't understand, I couldn't help but notice Murakami-san's wide, knowing grin off to the side. It made my cheeks sizzle slightly.
"I'm going to get dressed. I have school today," she explained, making my eyes roll. "That's not like for another hour. You don't need to leave yet!" "I need to get ready. Plus, I need to make some breakfast. Will you…. be joining us?" She blushed while asking me this. My spine straightened again, and I began to feel awkward with the scenario all over. "Erm, n-no…. I mean, no thanks. I uh… gotta get home," I didn't look her in the eye while replying, instead electing to rub the back of neck uncomfortably. She nodded in a calm manner.
"I understand. Well then, I'm going to get dressed and make myself something to eat. Sorry for all the yelling earlier, Uncle," she said to Murakami-san. His head gave a little shake while still smiling. "Not to worry. You two weren't any louder than usual." He said this and I felt like I was going to be sick. But something still didn't feel quite right. I looked up to see Athénaïs about to leave and my hand unconsciously lifted up in her direction.
"Athénaïs, wait." "Huh?" She curiously peered back at me from over her shoulder. My whole face was so red by now. I squirmed on the bed, clutching my hands down on my lap and looking everywhere but her. "S-Sorry….. for freaking you out earlier," I sounded as awkward as I looked. Athénaïs merely stared at me for a second, then the most radiant smile passed over her red lips. "It's ok, Raphael," and with that, she left the room through one exit and me another, after saying goodbye to Murakami-san of course. While standing on her fire escape for a quick moment, my hand rested on the glass of her window. I peered back into the now vacant room which I just spent the night in. Boyish, teenage hormones; that's all it is. There's no other reason as to why I know I have to go back to the lair…. and yet leaving her is literally the last thing I want to do right now.