Chapter 02: No Crutches

When Raph woke up, he rolled on his side. There was this dull pain in his left ankle, and he remembered immediately what had happened yesterday – Casey nearly getting flattened, him breaking his ankle by rescuing him, the pain, Donnie telling him that he couldn't train for at least six weeks, Donnie and Leo bringing him to his room.

He sighed. Six weeks!

He pushed away his blanket and looked down on his left ankle, which was now covered in a support splint, Donnie had made yesterday. He frowned at it, but then he looked to the side, and he set eyes on the crutches leaning on the wall next to his bed.

He pressed his mouth into a tense line, his frown getting deeper, and he glared at them.

He would so not use them! Crutches were for the weak, for the old, and he was neither.

He pushed himself into a sitting position, hissing a little when he moved his left ankle. Maybe he should ask Donnie for some more painkillers.

He looked at the crutches again.

No, just no!

He got up, balancing on his right foot, and jumped over to the door. Once there, he allowed himself a moment to catch his breath again, leaning on the door frame for a second or so.

Then he took a deep breath and jumped down the aisle on one leg.

That was going pretty well, wasn't it? And it was a lot cooler than to walk on crutches. Crutches were just so…uncool.

He had reached the living room, slumping down on the couch. He lay back, letting his broken ankle rest on a cushion. He was breathing heavily by now. He had thought it would take him longer to lose his breath. He was a ninja, he was in great physical shape, why did jumping on one leg exhaust him that much? Was it the unusual way of motion? Or all the painkillers in his blood? Well, whatever it was, he hated it.

He closed his eyes for a moment, still breathing heavily.

"Hey, Raph, you okay?" he heard Mikey's voice and opened his eyes again to find his youngest brother look at him with concerned eyes.

"I'm fine, Mikey!" he replied, a little louder than had been necessary.

"Well, you don't look so fine," Mikey said, frowning a little. "Why are you breathing so heavily?"

"I said, I'm fine, Mikey!" Raph yelled back and sat up again. "I just need a few more painkillers."

"Should I get Donnie? He's in his lab anyway."

"No, I'm fine!"

And with that Raph started crossing the pit by jumping on his good leg again.

"What happened to your crutches?" Mikey asked.

Raph had just reached the end of the pit and was about to jump on the couch and then up to the stairs that led to Donnie's lab, but Mikey made him stop. He turned around, his eyes burning with anger.

"I DON'T NEED CRUTCHES! I'M DOING GREAT WITHOUT THEM!" he cried out before he turned back and did the jump on the couch. But he had underestimated that the couch was no floor, but soft, and he nearly toppled over.

"Raph!" Mikey cried out and ran over to him, but by the time he had reached him, Raph had gained his balance again.

"I said I'm fine!" Raph's voice was so angry that Mikey stopped mid-motion, his hands that he had held up to catch his falling brother, dropped to his sides.

"O-okay," he said, lowering his eyes under Raph's fierce glare.

For a moment, Raph felt sorry for being this angry at Mikey. It wasn't Mikey's fault that he was forced to jump on one leg; it was the Kraang's fault, and their fault alone. But he couldn't yell at them right now, and he needed to get the burning anger about his current condition out of his chest somehow. His look softened a bit, before he did the second jump and then jumped up the stairs.

Donnie was sitting at his computer when he heard the door of his lab slide open. He raised his eyes and looked to the door, and frowned a little when he found Raph standing there on one leg, leaning on the door frame and breathing heavily.

"H-hey, Donnie!" he panted. "You…got some more…painkillers for me?"

"S-sure," Donnie said.

"Good."

Donnie looked his brother over. "What happened to your crutch…?"

"I DON'T NEED CRUTCHES!"

Raph jumped over to his genius brother. Donnie quickly got up in an attempt to help Raph, but he shot him such an angry glance that Donnie rethought that. Instead, he walked behind his office chair, pointing at the now empty chair.

"W-why don't you have a seat?" he asked.

Raph just nodded, pleased with the fact that his brother's actions could be seen as just being polite instead of feeling pity for him, and he slumped down on the office chair.

"I'll now get you your painkillers," Donnie continued and went over to his medicine cabinet.

Raph watched him, leaning back a little, which made the office chair roll back on its wheels a little.

And this moment something in his brain clicked. He smirked and then rolled over to Donnie by pushing forward on his good leg.

When April arrived at the lair later that day with two pizza boxes, she found the living room empty. She wasn't sure what to do first, if she should go to Raph and ask him how he was feeling. But then she remembered something Donnie had told her on the phone earlier: Whenever Raph is sick or hurt, don't try to treat him differently than the others. He hates that. He thinks it's a sign of pity, so under no circumstances, do anything like that! He accepts special treatment only if it is absolutely necessary.

And that made her decide against it. And she was kind of glad that Casey wouldn't join them for their movie night today because he had training. She had realized at school how worried Casey had been, glancing at his phone every two minutes. She didn't have a chance to tell him about the no special treatment-rule because she had talked to Donnie after school, but she would let Casey know as soon as possible.

So she just positioned herself in the pit and called out for the guys.

"Guys, pizza's here!"

And pretty soon she could hear approaching footsteps – and a noise she couldn't quite name. A scratching noise, maybe? And when she set eyes on the guys, she realized what it was. While Donnie and Leo had already descended the stairs from the corridor that led to their rooms, Mikey brought up the rear behind Raph – and Raph was sitting on an office chair and rolling to the stairs.

April blinked a few times. What was that about?

When he had reached the stairs, he got up, balancing on one foot, grabbed the office chair and jumped down the stairs. Then he sat down again and rolled over to the pit.

April's eyes widened. Why didn't anyone help him? That looked pretty dangerous!

But then she realized that although the three other turtles pretended to not watch Raph, they in reality watched his every move closely from the corner of their eyes, moving a little more slowly to stay close to him or just happened to check something on their gear when it looked like Raph could topple over.

Raph on the other hand acted as if he didn't notice.

He had now reached the pit and let himself slide down on the couch.

April knew for sure she shouldn't do that, but she simply had to ask him how he was doing. It felt just as wrong if she didn't.

"How are you doing, Raph?" she asked and put on a warm smile in an attempt to make clear that she wasn't pitying him, but instead just interested in his well-being.

Raph rolled his eyes and grunted in frustration.

"I'm doing fine!" he said, the anger in his voice clearly hearable, although not as much as when he talked to his brothers. "Seriously, April, it's just a broken ankle, not a broken neck!"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," she said, still smiling. Now, that hadn't been as bad as she had thought. She handed Mikey who slumped down next to Raph one of the pizza boxes and sat down between Donnie and Leo, holding the other pizza box. She looked over to Raph, once more, and then set eyes on the office chair again. Okay, she needed to know.

She waited until Mikey had hit play and the movie had started before she leaned over to Leo's ear, her voice barely a whisper, without really moving her lips when she spoke.

"Why is Raph rolling around on an office chair?" she asked.

"Because he refuses to walk on crutches. Crutches are uncool," Leo explained. "We didn't have the heart – or the death wish – to tell him that the office chair is even worse."

April shot a glance at Raph once more. His forehead was wrinkled, and although he was munching on his pizza, it seemed to her as if he was pressing his mouth into a hard line. His eyes were glued on the TV, and his whole posture had this "Don't talk to me! Don't touch me!"-attitude.

"Okay," she whispered back to Leo. "I think I can relate to that."

She definitely needed to talk to Casey tomorrow, to prevent the worst.