Acceptable Risk

Sadorable

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, neither characters nor anything pertaining to the franchise. I do own a cat though, so I have that going for me which is nice.

Author's Note: So I've decided to write some shorts (some might not be so short, some might be really short) from the perspective of April/Raph. Originally for the 2012 series Raph was supposed to be in love with April, not Donnie. Since the series presents him as a guy who can't really be honest with his feelings I figured that Raph would be the ultimate tsundere type guy.

Also I'm on tumblr starsiasestra#tumblr#com (#=.). Come follow me if you like. I'm a big turtles fan and sometimes post extra stuff there

A rewriting of the scene from Operation: Breakout. Raph tries to impress April without much luck and there are some unforeseen consequences. It's not easy being green. Thanks to the lovely Anon who suggested this (you know who you are)

Donnie and Raph circled the mat, eyes intent on each other.

'Easy win,' Raph thought confidently.

Donnie was book smart but Raph had strength on his side. Maybe if Donnie paid more attention to the important stuff then he wouldn't get his shell handed to him all the time.

"Don't worry Donnie," Raph smirked, spinning his weapons, "I'm in a good mood. I'll go easy on you."

"Don't do me any favors," Donnie snapped back with a roll of his eyes. "You know what they say, the greater the mass of an object, the greater the momentum upon impact."

"Worst smack-talk ever," muttered Mikey not-so-subtly.

When in a fight pay attention to your surroundings but always focus on your opponent. Master Splinter had drilled that rule into them early on. Raph knew that he should be paying attention to Donnie and only Donnie. Getting distracted would be stupid. Worse than stupid actually.

Still, like a magnet, he felt his eyes pulled to the trio that was watching from the sidelines. In particular a certain bright eyed red head. As if sensing his attention she smiled at him in that winning way of hers. It was the one that always seemed to have the power to make his temperature spike and blood pound in his ears.

Distantly he heard sensei call jime to begin the match but it took him a moment to process the word.

Apparently a moment was all Donnie needed. As the taller turtle swung out with his staff, Raph barely had time to bring up his sais to guard against the attack. He struck out wildly, hoping to catch Donnie off balance but Donnie blocked the blow. A sharp rap on the shell, followed by two blows to his knees and a leg sweep sent Raph tumbling to the mats.

"Hey, I got him." Donnie cheered jubilantly, turning to the others. "Guys, did ya see?"

The ringing in his ears paused long enough for Raph to catch a glimpse of April casting Donnie her special smile. Something unfamiliar welled up inside of Raph. It was a heady mix of anger, damaged pride, and a nasty little hint of jealousy.

It was as if his body moved on its own. His leg swung out, sending Donnie sprawling. Almost immediately the purple-masked turtle stumbled to his feet, only to have his wrist caught by one of Raph's sais. Taking a moment to swing his brother around a bit, if only to remind him who was boss, Raph finally swung his around in front, catching his other wrist.

"Say I hi to Mikey," Raph smirked. "Hi Mikey."

The smallest turtle clapped his hands joyfully at the silly high-pitched voice.

"Donnie," He laughed, "amazing. I didn't even see his lips move. He's like a puppet who can throw his voice…to himself… wait?"

Raph tuned out Mikey's chattering. Mikey always enjoyed to Donnie puppet but Raph was far more interested in another opinion. Out of the corner of his eye he watched April's expression. What did she think? Was she impressed by his cool moves? Did she think he was funny?

Much to his dismay she just sat there staring with a tiny frown on her pretty face. Not the reaction he'd been hoping for.

"Yame," Splinter called out sternly, "that is enough."

Still feeling a twinge of annoyance, Raph sent Donnie flying over his shoulder to land with a thump on the floor. Just to add insult to injury he placed a foot on Donnie's chest, striking a triumphant pose atop his fallen foe as Donnie groaned.

Later, as they filed out of the dojo, Donnie caught Raph by the shoulder.

"What the heck was that?" He demanded.

"What?" Raph replied innocently. "Just havin' fun. You know how much Mikey loves the Donnie puppet."

Normally Raph's behaviour would get an eye roll or a lecture but Donnie just wasn't in the mood today. He'd been up late analyzing the mind control properties of the Mutant Wasps. He wanted to be prepared in case anything like that showed up again. The combination of lack of sleep and general annoyance at his brother made him more short-tempered than usual. So instead Donnie folded his arms over his chest and stared skeptically at Raph.

"Uh-huh, and it had absolutely nothing to do with April right?"

"What? No!" Raph barked out, but he knew he'd already given himself away.

Donnie pressed his fingers to the top of his beak, trying to relieve the pressure that was becoming a permanent resident there.

"Ugh, this has gone way too far," He said finally. "You seriously still think you have a shot with her?"

"No…I mean maybe…" trailing off Raph flinched slightly and hunched his shoulders.

"You are a five foot tall mutant turtle and she's a normal human teenage girl." Though he hadn't said it outright the implications of Donnie's words hung in the air. "If you want to impress April that's fine, but next time leave me out of it."

Pushing past Raph, Donnie stormed down the stairs leaving the temperamental turtle alone to stew.

Donnie…Donnie was hard in this one. I felt like if the roles were reversed Donnie wouldn't be as mean as Raph was. Instead it would be more like he sees the obvious and is frustrated that Raph is just being so damn illogical. It's less of Donnie trying to be mean and more of him trying to show Raph the reality of the situation. Poor Raph. This one actually hurt to write :( This one is for the lovely Anon who goes by the name of HardyGirl who suggested this. I appreciate all the feedback it warms my heart to know that I have infected others with this strange ship of mine :) I always love reading the reviews and they make me "giddy as a school girl" as my grandma used to say. I'll probably be a little slow to put out anything for the next week as my school is actively trying to bury me in work. Anyways, check out my new Ninja Turtles story Tiger Tale (previously Strange Bedfellows). It's 2 am in my world so Big Sister says goodnight.