Leo's shell rested firmly against the side of Raph's chest, secure and comfortable. His younger brother's eyes were closed, one arm slung along the back of the sofa and around Leonardo's shoulders, the earphone wire dangling between them. They generally shared the same music taste, so sharing was quite commonplace. They were currently plugged into Raph's phone, playlist put on shuffle, simply lounging in one another's company. It struck the eldest how Raph had wrapped his arm around him. While Mikey would almost never sit still, or get off the red turtle's lap, Raphael didn't put his arm around him. He didn't do it for Donnie or Casey either, just Leo and April. Leo wondered about that. Raph reached up to his face with his other hand and rubbed his eyes sleepily, then let it drop back onto the arm rest, and Leo frowned at his sketchbook; this drawing wasn't working out the way he planned.

"Seriously, your taste is terrible," Raph muttered. His leader's brow furrowed, only glancing away from the paper for a moment.

"This is your music."

"Not that. Your taste in guys." His shoulders twitched, and a snigger snuck through. "I mean sure, each to their own, but Casey?," he continued incredulously, though in good humour. "Come on, Leo."

"So he's a little rough around the edges," Leo chuckled. "We can't all have an Elijah Wood fetish."

"He's pretty, man. Gimme a break." Leo outright laughed, head lolling back on Raph's shoulder. His strong little brother smiled and rubbed his eyes again. "You do know we have ears, right?," he muttered. "You two aren't exactly subtle."

"Neither are you and Mikey."

"At least we both speak the same language," he retorted. "Does that bone head even know what you're saying half the time?"

"He's learning. Albeit, slowly." Raph nodded smugly, a distant chuckle shaking his burly chest. Leo leaned back further to rest his cheek there, as if in hopes of hearing that warm sound a little clearer. "It's his accent that's the main problem." His brother hummed thoughtfully, arm moving from the back of the sofa down to his leader's hand, rubbing his eyes with the other. Almost timidly, he slipped their fingers together and held them, thumb running tenderly over the back of his knuckles. Leo watched silently, frightened that any noise he made would startle his little brother out of the affectionate gesture. Raphael didn't show this side very often, especially after Spike.

"We should teach April, too," Raph abruptly said, squeezing his hand. Leonardo nodded, risking squeezing back. His warrior of a brother then tilted his head and rested his cheek on his forehead. "Daisuki," he whispered. Leo's eyes widened and his grip tightened on his brother's hand.

He couldn't quite open his mouth to respond. He did not want to say the wrong thing and set of Raph's volatile and questionable temper, ruining a sweet moment with his little brother. But, then, the music changed. "Oh, my love how do I explain how I've come to feel this way, I'm addicted to the pain even more than words can say, every hit hurts like your kiss, like a needle to a vein!"

"You have creepy music on here." He grinned as Raph made a rather feral grunt, then sat upright again and rubbed his eyes. Leo stared at him with an upside-down view, smiling quaintly and tilting his head. "Do you have dust in them?"

"Hmm?," Raph sighed, still with his eyes closed.

"You keep rubbing your eyes. Did you get grit in them?"

"Must have, they're itchy." Leo twisted as best he could, rolling onto his belly with his upper half resting in Raph's lap, elbows on his brother's thighs to push himself up.

"Lemme see, I'll try and get it." The warrior's left eye twitched in annoyance, but he obeyed and opened them. His pupils were dilated, hazily gazing across the room. He blinked a few times, rubbed them, and blinked again. Leonardo leaned upwards, tilting his head so not to block the light from the lamp beside the couch. "Mm, can't see anything."

"What?"

"I can't see anything. In your eyes."

"What?" Leo frowned as Raph suddenly went tense, hands gripping the back and arm of the couch, eyes widening.

"I said, I can't-!"

"I can't see anything!" Leonardo went still, mind clogging, not quite comprehending what his brother was saying. He was brushed off his lap and Raphael launched off the seat, earphones popping out, only to stagger a few steps and bang his shins on the coffee table.

"Raphie-?"

"Kuso jigoku, I can't see anything!"

.

"It was the venom," Donnie said in a low voice. "That night, when Karai fell in the mutagen... she spat venom in Raph's eyes." Leo's shoulders began to quake. He remembered, mistily, his brother's yelp of pain as Karai made a dash for the exit. He remembered with further clarity how he'd run right past him. "We washed out most of it. My guess... there may have still been... residue."

Leonardo looked at Raphael, but Raphael didn't look back.

He sat on a stool, thighs pressed together, hands clenched on his knees. His teeth were gritted so tight Leo worried they'd break in his mouth. Mikey sat a little way off on a work bench beside April. She was holding his hand. Trembling, Leo reached out and took hold of Casey's.

"I'm blind," Raphael said aloud.

"Hai, niichan," Donatello replied quietly, voice stony and cold. It wasn't a sign of apathy or disinterest, quite the opposite. When Donnie felt a confounding weight of guilt and shame, he couldn't manage to pour any emotion into his voice. He became statuesque and calculating, and that reaction alone only increased his guilt. He wanted to show sympathy, but could not. "Watashi o yurushi, watashi wa totemo zan'nendesu."

"It's not your fault, Donnie," Leo was the first to say in what would be a long, painstaking course of convincing his genius brother it was true.

"I should have ran medical tests when we got home. I overlooked the possibility that this could be a side effect. I thought I'd gotten all the venom out of your eyes, Raph."

"I know." Silence. Raph closed his useless pretty eyes and bowed his head. He let go of his knees, red finger marks that would eventually become bruises a sign of his turmoil. Instead, he balled his fists on his thighs. "I know you did, little brother. I know you tried."

"Raphie-!"

"No, Donnie, you tried. There's no if or but about it. You tried." Raphael took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, staring emptily in Donnie's direction. "But Karai's venom was obviously... stronger than we thought. And that's not her fault." Leo's eyes welled up, and he clutched Casey's hand a little tighter. The boy moved closer. "Shredder... dropped our sister in the mutagen. Turned her into what we were afraid Leatherhead would be... and that's not her fault. Shredder did that to her. And so... he did..." He waved a hand in front of his own face, nose twitching at being unable to see what he knew he was doing. "This to me." He nodded to where he'd heard Casey sit Leo down. "He took Leo's legs, put him in a coma. He took our sister and our Father. Took our home. And he took my eyes." Leonardo's chest tightened, and he and his brothers simultaneously came to the same resolution, but Raphael spoke it.

"For the love of God, he must die."

.

If any consequences were to arise with Raph's eyes now, it would be incredibly implausible. It's a miracle he didn't go blind immediately, but if he were to go blind, it would have been while they were at the farmhouse. To have something poignant, and draw specific attention to a moment in a scene, and then do absolutely nothing with it really pisses me off. 2k12 turtles gives me that feeling a lot. It was basically highlighted that Raph was in pain when Karai spat venom in his eyes (is he a venom magnet?), and made it look important with a dramatic background. Next scene; "Enough! I can see just fine now!" and then nada. Yes, the snakes in his nightmare with the dream beavers did imply he's perhaps slightly afraid of snakes, but they haven't actually engaged that point. Not yet at least.

On a less serious note; yes I will make voice actor jokes at every chance I get. No, I won't regret it at all.