He was awoken to a familiar and typically welcome sensation. Still, it was damn early. Freakishly, horrendously, unnaturally early. So he immediately began to grumble.

"No."

Given that the husky, sleep-filled voice had the exact opposite effect than was intended, Leo ignored the protest and continued what he was doing to Raphael's neck.

"It's still dark out," Raph muttered.

Leo pressed his tongue against a particularly sensitive spot on Raph's neck and let a churr vibrate the both of them. He resisted the urge to grin as Raphael moaned in response.

"I'm not meditatin with ya this morning," Raph added, although he realized he was steadily losing the battle to go back to sleep against Leo's unique wake-up technique.

Leo hummed as if the thought was the furthest thing from his mind as he focused on how delicious Raphael's neck was. He inhaled Raphael's scent and bit lightly where his mouth currently was until another spot on Raph's neck grabbed his attention.

"I mean it," Raph grumbled, tilting his head back as he felt Leo's tongue work across his neck. "I'm not gettin up with ya."

"Are you sure?" Leo whispered, letting his hand slide down Raph's plastron to rub at the cartilage over his slit. "You're sure you're not going to get up with me, Raphie?"

Raphael moaned again.

Leo's grin returned as he shifted one of his legs so that he could slide it between Raph's legs. "My lips belong on your neck," he murmured.

"I can think of a few other places yer lips belong," Raph murmured while tightening the fingers he had wrapped around one of Leo's shoulders.

"Really?" Leo asked as he sank further into Raphael's side at the sound of Raph's still sleep-filled, husky voice. "Like where?"

"Maybe I should make ya guess," Raph said, cracking an eye open to look at Leo. "Seein as how yer so wide awake this morning," he added with a grumble. He watched as Leo's blue eyes met his and darkened. He lifted his free hand and rubbed his thumb back and forth over Leo's cheek.

"That sounds like a fun challenge," Leo whispered as he rubbed his face back against Raph's warm hand before leaning down to press his lips against Raphael's.

It didn't matter how many times they'd kissed in the past, something sparked in Leo every time. He let his lips slowly move with Raphael's lips as their tongues twisted together. He loved this. Although it was a little cruel to wake Raphael this early, he truly loved these early morning hours when no one else needed him for anything and he could take all the time in the world to leisurely lavish Raphael with unhurried affection.

He broke their kiss to continue his exploration of Raphael's body with his tongue, beginning with Raph's collarbones, which he also grazed with his teeth. He was rewarded with a groan from his favorite turtle and spent some time working over the collarbones and expanding to Raph's shoulders. Unfortunately, he had to shift himself away from Raph in order to begin working his tongue down Raph's arm, but it was worth it to trail over the lines defining Raphael's bicep, before running his tongue over his own mark.

"It's always been such an honor to be your mate, Raphael," Leo whispered to him. "To be the one you chose." His eyes met Raph's eyes again and he stilled for a moment just to greedily bask in the love he could see in those green eyes.

Raphael wrapped his hands tightly around Leo's shoulders and pulled him forward so that he could cover Leo's mouth with his own and give him a hard kiss before whispering to him, "Ya know that's how I feel about you, right?"

Leo smiled softly at him and nodded. Raphael smiled as well and tried to pull Leo's face back down to meet his again. But Leo resisted the pull and then smirked down at Raph's confused scowl.

"I have a challenge to finish," Leo whispered and ducked down to dip his tongue over Raph's unique lightning bolt scar. He shifted himself again, moving to kneel in between Raphael's legs so he could easily run his tongue over Raphael's golden plastron. He let his hands slide up and down Raph's sides and listened to Raphael's churr-filled heavy exhales as he worked. His tongue pressed into the plastron's cartilage and spent a teasingly short amount of time swiping over Raphael's slit before he moved down to Raphael's legs.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Leo watched as Raphael fisted their sheets when he could no longer reach Leo's shoulders. He listened to the rumbling churrs and groans and felt his own churrs rise up his throat in response. He loved the noises he could pull from his favorite turtle just by doing things he loved doing anyway to Raphael's body. Although, he did let out a chuckle when he heard something that sounded damn close to a giggle from Raphael when his tongue circled one of Raph's knees.

Leo did his best to send an apologetic look up to his mate for the unintentional tickling, although he was having a hard time appearing sincere with his shoulders shaking in a silent laugh. He watched as Raphael glared down at him and, deciding that Raphael's legs had had adequate attention, moved himself forward to use his tongue for one his favorite Raphael-related activities.

A loud churr ripped out of Raph's throat as he dropped down and was immediately pulled into Leo's mouth and towards Leo's throat. Raphael was already worked up with heat and pressure building in his middle after Leo's worshipful tongue treatment, so he did his best to restrain himself from thrusting forward into Leo's mouth now. His eyes met Leo's blue eyes before he pressed his eyes shut as he felt one of Leo's fingers rub at his entrance and then press inward. With that added sensation, he was unable to keep his hips still and he groaned out Leo's name as Leo adjusted easily to Raphael's thrusting movements. Raph had Leo's shoulder in a hard grip and came only a few moments later with a growl-filled churr.

Leo released Raphael and pulled back only after Raph's movements had completely stilled. He lifted himself on his hands and knees above Raphael and allowed himself another chance to slowly admire Raphael's handsome face. Raphael was flushed. And panting. And beautiful. And Leo was as determined as ever to make sure Raph knew it.

"I love you, Raphael," he murmured, which prompted Raphael's eyes to open and meet his again. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Aishiteru, Leo," Raph moaned, because holy hell Leo was making damn sure Raph knew how much he was loved this morning. He wrapped a leg up around Leo's shell and pulled him down towards him, almost lining Leo's hard, ready length up with himself with that one insistent pull. "Leo," he moaned again, as Leo quickly got the hint and pressed himself forward into Raphael. He pulled Leo's face back down to his own and kissed him hard as Leo began to thrust into him.

Leo broke the kiss with a curse as he ducked his face into Raph's neck and breathed in the scent that had woken him earlier and started this entire intimate activity. He listened to Raph moan out his name again and again and heard what Raphael was saying with each utterance. He knew how deeply he was loved by the turtle beneath him and he bit into that emerald neck with a finish that had him seeing spots.

Leo panted into Raph's neck and was focusing on how good it felt to have Raph's arms and legs wrapped tightly around his shell when Raphael rolled them and Leo suddenly found himself pinned beneath his favorite turtle.

"I hope you feel as loved as I feel, Leonardo," Raph whispered down to him.

Leo peered up at Raph's serious expression before he ran a hand down the side of that emerald face and whispered back, "Always." He had to smile when Raphael looked strangely relieved by his answer. He pulled Raph's face down for another kiss and then glanced over at the clock on his bedside table. Half his mouth lifted up in a teasing grin. "I wasn't waking you for meditation, Raphie, but since you're already awake?"

Raphael groaned and flopped his weight down onto Leo. "Fine," he growled after a few moments. "Ya jerk."