Raphael woke up slowly the next morning, taking the time to appreciate how satisfied and warm his body still felt from the night before. He stretched his arms out and realized very quickly that neither arm was touching another body. His eyes popped open and he found himself alone in his bed.
He frowned as he sat up, because the house was as quiet as ever. A quiet he was used to and normally enjoyed. But right now he found the quiet eerie as he stood and peeked into the empty bathroom. And the empty main room. And the empty kitchen. He returned to his bedroom and stared down at the now empty spot where Leonardo's suitcase had been sitting for the past two nights.
He retraced his steps looking for any sign of the other turtle. And then felt stupid for doing so when he found none.
He gingerly picked up his phone and scrolled to Leo's number. But he couldn't make himself push the button. Instead, he glanced at the clock – he'd slept in till almost ten!? – and then dialed a different number. He listened to it ring and waited impatiently for an old high school friend to pick up.
"Hey, Gus. Are ya runnin the ferry this morning?"
"Hey, Raph. Yeah, man I am."
"Listen, have you seen a turtle?"
Gus laughed. "Yeah, I did! Guess you're not the only one, huh? He was here waiting for the first ferry of the day. I brought him to the mainland on the 6 am. He a friend of yours?"
Raph barely heard the last question as his heart sank.
Raphael moved easily behind the bar as he fetched drinks and filled the orders brought to him by the restaurant wait staff. He could feel Casey's eyes on him every now and then, but so far his best friend wasn't confronting him about his quiet demeanor, even if it had been going on for days, and for that Raphael was thankful.
His sister, however, was another matter. April arrived at the end of the night as Raph and Casey were doing a quick inventory check. She greeted her husband with a quick kiss and then zeroed her sights in on her little brother.
"No," he said automatically.
"I haven't said anything yet." April dropped the folder she'd been carrying down onto the bar before taking a seat on a stool.
"You got that look, like ya have a plan for me."
"My plans are fantastic. I don't know what you're whining about."
"Yer last plan had me on a fuckin plane and - ," he cut himself off. He glared down at the bottles he'd been arranging and then ignored April and Casey calling out to him as he quickly ducked into the kitchen. He moved past the staff who were shutting down the kitchen for the night and pushed his way through the back door.
From there he took off in a sprint, sticking to the shadows so no one out walking this late at night would feel like stopping him to talk. Because he knew everyone on this island, which was a blessing and a curse. He'd never been lonely growing up. He had his grandmother. His sister. Casey. And yet, he'd bought his house and moved to the outskirts of town as soon as he could. Because he liked his privacy. And after dealing with customers at the bar all night, he liked the quiet.
He ducked into the forest and headed down his favorite path. It eventually led to a waterlined rocky area that was perfect for a guy with a shell to relax and listen to the waves. And it was in fact where he'd been spending his nights for the past few nights. Because now he hated his fucking private house. And he hated the fucking quiet.
And even though he'd rearranged the furniture in his bedroom, he couldn't do enough to cover the spot where Leonardo's suitcase had been sitting.
"Shit." He growled at himself as he settled into the sand with his shell pressed against a rock. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about the other turtle. The other turtle who hadn't called him, or texted him, or come back, was supposed to be turning into a faint memory. Or even better, erased from his mind entirely.
He didn't need the other turtle to come back anyway. He was fine being the only turtle on this island and fine with being alone. If he could just get those goddamn blue eyes out of his head every time his shut his goddamn eyes -
"Please stop."
Raph's head snapped up at his sister's voice and he glared at Casey and April's faces where they peeked out over his rock.
"Don't look surprised, loser. You think we don't know where your hiding spot is?"
Raph sighed and turned his face away from them, although he was already resigned to having company.
"I know you haven't told me what happened." April slid down the rock to settle in next to her brother while Casey moved to sit on a rock across from them. "But you look like you're beating yourself up about something and I want you to stop."
"I'm fine, April."
"We showed up at yer house last night and you weren't there," Casey said.
"And while we didn't come get you last night, we're not letting you spend another night out here, Raphael."
"Ya don't have to mother hen me, April."
"It's cold."
"And ya have a perfectly comfortable bed back at yer -," Casey cut himself off as he watched Raph duck his head, "unless there's a good reason yer avoiding yer bed?" Casey's head tilted in Raph's direction. "Dude. It's been forever since you've let anyone near yer bed."
"Ugh. Not since that last dipshit you dated," April added.
Raphael turned to his sister. "This is weird," he said, giving her a pointed look since there were just some things she didn't need to know. Just like he didn't need to know about anything Casey did behind closed doors with his sister.
April rolled her eyes at him. "What? Should I go sit on that rock over there and pretend like I don't know what's going on? I can't do that, Raph. Not when I know you're sitting out here in the cold and hurting from this relationship - ,"
"This wasn't a relationship," he tried to interject.
"Yeah, you have zero feelings for this guy and that's why you've been moping around for days." April shot him a hard look. "I already had to watch you pretend not to care when that last relationship fell apart after the asshole suddenly decided he couldn't deal with the turtle part."
Raph sent Casey a withering glare. "I'm gonna start callin ya Motormouth Jones. You tell her everything?"
Casey shrugged, unimpressed with Raph's glare. He'd had to balance out his friendship with Raph with his relationship with April his entire life. There was bound to be some crossover. "She cares about ya."
April shivered in the cold. In their hurry to rush after Raphael she'd forgotten to grab her jacket. "Look, Raph, we're not here to talk you out of being upset. You're allowed to be upset."
"Then why are ya here?" Raph grumbled, avoiding eye contact with both of them.
"Because I'm not letting you sleep out here again."
"Come spend the night at our house," Casey added.
April watched her brother grimace. "Say yes or Casey and I will sleep out here with you."
"Wait, we'll what? I'll freeze."
"Grow up you big baby," April teased.
Raph felt a smile tug at his lips as he listened to the two of them.
"Fine." He pushed himself to his feet and offered April a hand to help her up out of the sand as well.
The walk to April and Casey's house was mostly spent in silence. It wasn't until he was sitting in the warmth of their kitchen with just April and mugs of hot chocolate that she made another attempt to get Raphael to open up.
"Come on, Raphie, you're really not going to tell me what happened?" She waited. And then sighed loudly when it was clear her brother wasn't going to talk. "Can I ask you a question then?" She continued before he even had a chance to respond. "I know it's been hard for you to always be the only turtle on this island. So I'm just kind of wondering if -,"
April paused, and his sister's actual loss for words made Raph nervous about what she was about to say.
"Well, I mean, was it because he was a turtle? Or -," April cut herself off the second Raph's bright green eyes jerked up to her own with a fierce look and a flash of anger. She nodded back to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Okay," she said softly. "So you really liked him. So why aren't you going after him?"
Raph stared down at his mug. He wasn't going after him because if Leo wanted him around he wouldn't have snuck off without a word in the middle of the night. Or he would've left a note. Or called. Or fucking come back. He slowly shook his head in response.
"You're a stubborn ass," she said fondly. "But if you want to talk about it later, I'll be right here."
"Thanks, April," he said quietly. "Yer a good sister, even if yer not a turtle."
"Har har." April dug into her bag and pulled out the folder she'd had at the bar earlier. "For now, would you mind looking over some business stuff with me?"
"This isn't that marketing crap again, is it? I told you I don't care which - ,"
"No, this is something different. A major complication I've been trying to deal with."
Raphael frowned when he heard the true frustration in her voice. He leaned forward on the kitchen table, signaling to her that she had his full attention.
"I've had the weirdest week," April slid the folder over to Raphael. "Look at this."
A/N: Thank you - every single one of you - for the comments you've been leaving. I didn't think I was going to get this chapter out today - especially because this chapter fought me hard while I was writing it. But knowing you're following along with the story forced me to rally!