𝚁𝙰𝙸𝚈𝙰


"I can't believe you're a mother."

"Shut up," Raphael muttered. I grinned to myself as we walked through the sewers side by side, comfortable in the familiar silence between us.

"It was so weird when you were gone."

"Yeah," he agreed. "It didn't feel right not being here for so long."

"Was it at least cool?" I was still so mad I couldn't go with them. Australia had been on my bucket list forever and I could've helped out so much by going out in the daytime into the cities and towns and gathering all the intel they couldn't.

He shrugged. "Sorta. The ride there was terrible, but when we finally landed it was pretty cool. Hot as hell though, why do you wanna go there? You'd burn your face off."

"I lived in Arizona until I was twelve," I argued. "I know how to survive a place like Satan's armpit."

He released a small sigh and shook his head. "You're so fuckin weird."

I smirked knowingly and bumped my shoulder against his arm. "You missed it."

He chuckled. "Hell yeah I did." And then Raphael was grabbing my hand and pulling me in close, his lips crashing down on my own with hunger and ferocity that I returned without pause. His hand slid down to the small of my back, drawing me closer. Flames erupted in my stomach. I smiled into the kiss and stood on my tiptoes, looping my arms around his neck. It'd been so long. So long.

A vibration in my pocket brought me back down to reality.

I pulled away from him for a moment, breathing heavily. "Raph–"

He shook his head, growled a "no" before pressing another hard kiss to my mouth.

Oh, God. Breaking away again, I brought my hands to either side of his face and tilted my head away from him. "Raph, I–"

He ignored me and proceeded to place breathy kisses along my jaw. Holy shit.

"Raph," I murmured, finally catching my breath. "Hang on for a sec, she's calling."

With an irritated growl, he loosened his secure embrace around me.

"I'm sorry," I said, pulling my phone from the pocket in my leggings. "It's important." Quickly, I kissed the scar above his lip before answering the call from my manager.

"Hey, Lauren," I said, trying my best to sound like my heart wasn't just racing a second ago. Raphael pulled me back against his chest and nuzzled his face into my neck, making my breath catch in my throat.

"Hey, I got your text. What's up?"

"Uh, I have a bit of an issue," I admitted sheepishly, doing my best to ignore Raph. "My friends just came back from Australia, and while they were there they found an orphaned sugar glider joey."

I bit my lip hearing her gasp on the other end of the line.

"They brought him back," I continued, a little nervous. "Which I know is totally illegal, I already gave them shit for it. Anyways, I have him with me right now, he's asleep in my hoodie."

"Awww."

I laughed. "I know, he's so freakin cute. But he's definitely too young to be away from his mother, and I have no idea what to do with him now...and I was kinda hoping the zoo could take him?"

Raph pressed his lips to my neck, his warm breath tickling my skin and ear and setting my heart racing. He was driving me absolutely crazy and it took everything in me to focus on the call.

Lauren's silence was beginning to worry me by the time she finally said something.

"Raiya...you know there isn't much I can do without getting you or your friends in some serious trouble."

I sighed and tried pushing Raphael away, but only ended up encouraging him. "I know," I said. "But I can't just turn him in, they'll probably just kill him."

Lauren fell silent again, this time longer than before. My pulse quickened with each passing second. "Hello?"

"Sorry," Lauren replied. "I'm just trying to find something..."

When I felt him bite the skin at the base of my spine, I lowered my phone and smacked his arm. "Stop it!" I hissed, making him laugh in response.

"You are one lucky duck," Lauren mused, clicking her tongue. "A colony of five sugar gliders was recently rescued from illegal animal traffickers and we're set to receive them this Sunday."

"You're kidding."

She laughs. "Nope. I don't think it'll be a problem to let another joey join them. I'll send some emails and see what I can do."

"Lauren you're a blessing!" I cried, still trying to shove Raph off of me.

"I can't promise that it'll work out," she warned. "But I'll do my best."

"Thank you so much," I gushed, "this means so much to me."

"No problem, Raiy. I'll let you know when I get a response."

"Okay, thanks again! I'll see you on Sunday."

I listened for the line to go dead before dropping my phone into my pocket with a long, annoyed groan. "You're ridiculous," I complained, wriggling out of his arms.

"You liked it," he protested smugly, following me down the tunnel.

I felt my cheeks flush. "Not while I'm trying to make an important call. And you know I don't like making out down here. It's nasty."

"You still liked it."

"Shut up."

He shrugged. "Fine."

After a few minutes of quiet, I couldn't handle it.

"I bet I can beat you there," I challenged.

Raphael laughed. "You can try."

─── ─ 影の啓示 ─ ───

I collapsed on the roof outside my bedroom window, chest heaving and heart pounding. God, I hate cardio.

Raphael appeared on the roof a moment later looking mildly annoyed as he walked over.

"I...I beat you!" I declared, hardly able to process enough oxygen to speak.

"Yeah, cuz you don't gotta worry about being seen," he grumbled. "There were people everywhere, I could barely move."

I knew there was more than just annoyance beneath the surface, and it wasn't because I beat him. We'd talked about it more times than I can remember, and had a few falling outs because of it. It was because he was a mutant. And he hated that. But now didn't seem like a great time to address that topic and probably end up arguing, so I just laughed and flung my arms out beside me on the roof.

"Yeah well, you're like twice as strong and fast as me so I need some sort of advantage."

He snorted humourlessly and watched me try to catch my breath. "Are you gonna need CPR?"

"Fuck off," I snapped. "CPR is for when you stop breathing." Red stirred in my pocket, poking his head out to investigate the excessive amounts of activity. I definitely woke him up while I was running.

"Sorry dude," I said, reaching my hand out to him. He sniffed my fingers and let me pet him before crawling back into my hoodie and probably falling asleep again.

Raph watched with amusement. "Forgot about him."

I laughed and rubbed my face tiredly. "Was he really on your head the whole time?"

"Yeah."

I lifted my hand into the air, smiling expectantly at Raphael. He sighed through his nose and reached down, grabbing my hand to drag me to my feet.

"Are you even trying? " He demanded, hauling me upwards while I put absolutely no effort in to help. I just laughed in answer, causing a smile to spread across his face as he looked down at me, now on my own two feet. Raph's calloused fingers brushed my cheek as he leaned down—slowly, this time. I raised myself onto my toes and pressed my lips to his, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. Even after so long, kissing Raphael always felt like the first; it set the whole world on fire.

He was the one to break away first, holding my face softly in his hands and resting his forehead against mine, eyes tightly shut and saying again I missed you.

I laid my hands over his and he opened his eyes, staring right into me with those intense green irises so I could say I missed you too.

Suddenly, there was concern clouding his eyes. "Em..." He exhaled and took a small step back.

"What?"

Raphael's hands fell away. "Are they getting worse?"

Oh. I bit my lip. "Did Leo tell you?"

He nodded. "While Mikey was tackling you."

I sighed, hating bringing this up. It always made them feel guilty no matter what I said or how much I tried to argue. "Yeah, sleeping isn't really my thing anymore," I joked, trying to sound lighthearted about it.

Raph clenched his jaw and breathed a heavy sigh. He wasn't having it. "Em… Why didn't you…?" He groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm sorry," he muttered hoarsely. "It's my fault and I don't know what to do."

Watching him like that made my heart fracture. So I didn't argue or try to tell him otherwise, I just asked if he would stay with me.

Raphael nodded, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. "'Til the sun comes up."


author's note

Ugh my babies are so damn cute I caan't

I'm loving the casual shifts between bickering and making out lol but tbh I've never written a scene with anything more than one kiss, let alone a whole make out scene lmao so I apologize if this chapter was kinda cringey/poorly written. If you guys have any advice for my writing, please don't be afraid to leave a review and let me know! Even just a 'that was kinda awkwardly written' or 'that was too unrealistic' would help. It's hard for me to notice that stuff because I have zero experience in the kissing/boyfriend department lol

Anyways, I'm so sorry it's been a while since my last update! School has been killer with homework plus math is pretty rough this year so I've been spending a lot of my time not failing. But I somehow managed to revive my writing vibe for a long lost story, Songs of the Etherium! It's a Treasure Planet fanfic (Jim x OC) and if you guys would be interested in reading it, there is a possibility that chapters could start being released soon, so head over to read the extended summary! I know it may sound weird/childish but if y'all have been reading my work for this long then you know my writing style and you can totally read SotE without knowing a single thing about Treasure Planet. 11/10 would totally recommend the movie though

Please review! It makes me v happy! :D