Raphs kinda a whore in this one and Mikey's a freak

I always love the parts in the shows where they go to April's apartment for something, it makes them seem more like a family to me

I feel sorta bad for both of them but I think Mikey gets bullied too much

It's really funny to me how most fics label Raph as the 'sexy' one, I'm passing that trope more off to Leo just for shits and giggles

This is gonna be a two parter so shorter chapter for today

Chapter. 2 – Meeting Your Match

Donnie's voicemails were usually pretty hectic, why he chose to call her in the middle of fights she never knew the reason. She sometimes got the sinking feeling he did it cause a part of him thought they were going to die and he wanted her to let her know she was on their minds before they passed. This fight sounded less... punchy? It was mostly Mikey wailing in the background and her skin prickled with panic. He always sounded horrible when he cried, like some wounded animal.

"Apes, it's Don, just letting you know Raphie will probably be showing up at your apartment soon-", another shriek from Mikey and then a loud crashing sound, followed by Leo loudly cursing in Japanese. He could be pretty loud sometimes, snored like a hog.

"MONO O NAGERU NO WA YAMETE KUDASAI MICHELANGELO!"

"Mikey's really upset, Raph-"

"WATASHI O HANATTE OITE!"

"Anyways just be prepared, he's probably gonna be all bloody and stuff when he comes in your window, love you remember to text me later".

What a little sap. She felt relieved knowing Mikey wasn't hurt or anything, he tended to be a bit dramatic when he was upset. Clicking through her contact history she also found a voicemail from Raph, letting out a tired sigh before pressing the phone back up to her ear.

"Hey gorgeous, I'm heading your way, get the wax melted why dontcha?"

She rolled her eyes and let out a pained groan. Raph liked to try and adopt Leo's 'flirt to manipulate' tactic once in a while, except she found it more obnoxious than charming and sexy. Katanas were the only way to play after all. Raph was too insecure for her to ever say that to his face though, he could be pretty pathetic when he was miserable.

She heard the window slide open and turned around to be hit in the face with a sheet of water, making a disgusted yelp and wiping furiously at her face with a nearby kitchen towel as Raphael shook himself around like a wet dog.

"I ripped my belt, can you sew it for me?"

"You know you should really lay it on thicker before coming into my home and acting like this."

The red banded turtle ignored her, rifling through her linen closet and pulling out the extra-large burgundy coloured towel she kept in there just for him. She eyed him warily, noting the blood crusted around his nose and down the front of his neck.

"Why didn't you go to Casey?"

"Cassandra took him camping, they're not in the city right now."

"Oh right", she mumbled. The blood was making her stomach queasy and he must've noticed her expression because he finally started to wipe it off, making her nose crinkle up at the smears streaking across the towel.

"Leo?"

"Mikey."

"Mikey?!"

"I broke his new skateboard."

April frowned angrily, putting her hands on her hips as he walked around her to head into the living room, scrubbing himself dry with the towel while he avoided her gaze and plopped himself down on her couch.

"He's been saving for that for two months!"

"I know."

"Raphael-"

"Would you get me a leather jacket for my birthday?"

Another pained groan as April squeezed the spot between her eyes tightly, sucking between her teeth before letting out a long drawn-out breath. She heard Raph shift around on the couch and she looked up to glare at him, watching him lean forward with his elbows propped up on his knees.

"Stop trying to distract me, why did you do that?"

"I was angry."

"At Mikey? You're always angry with Mikey."

"With a woman."

Well, this was a surprise. Her eyebrows raised up slightly as she walked over to the second eldest, giving him some space and making her way around the coffee table to sit on the other end of the couch away from him. He still shifted a bit uncomfortably and she was little irritated at how easily his boundaries swayed from time to time. Sometimes he was super touchy and other times he'd freak out if you looked at him a little too long, it was hard to keep up with. Raph always gave off the energy of a ticking time bomb and she never knew what to expect when he ran away to come over to her place like this.

"A woman? Like a girl? You're having problems?"

He snorted and opened his mouth to say something snarky probably, but seeing the look on her face he kept it to himself and chose to let out a long, exhausted sigh instead.

"No, like a woman woman, a civilian, she was in trouble", he threw his hands out and she finally noticed how cut up his palms were, pieces of gravel imbedded in his emerald skin.

"I just had to knock out a few dragons, it was supposed to be quick, but when I went to give her her purse back she..."

April wondered if he might cry, but then remebered that's probably what Donnie would've done in the moment, not Raph. She had a problem with comparing them to each other when one of them was stressing her out, she really had to stop doing that. April watched him carefully as his looked sadly down at his hands, letting out a small sigh as she thought of a way to comfort him. Poor Raph. Her Raph.

"I'm sorry that happened."

"What's wrong with me? Why am I so angry all the time?"

"I don't know sweetie."

Raph let out a noise of frustration, burying his face in his hands and bending his knees up tighter to his chest. She was used to this, he had these little moments once in a while where he didn't really like who he was as a person. Or, ninja turtle, therefore.

She looked down at his belt to find that he really had ripped it, pausing for second before sliding a bit closer and reaching out to take his hand in hers. He had this weird thing about hugging and cuddling, it was usually only saved for a situation where he thought one of them might die, but hand holding was something he'd always oddly been ok with. She remembered when they were tweens, he used to take her hand to lead her through the sewer tunnels so she wouldn't get lost in the dark. His brothers would always tease him about it later but he never seemed to care.

"Do you want me to fix your belt? I can do that for you", April asked gently, batting her eyelashes. The fun thing about Raph is if she flirted back he wouldn't get all embarrassed like Leo, they would draw it out for a long time until the others started to make fake gagging noises.

He glanced at her, green eyes glowing softly as he turned his palm over to entwine his fingers with hers. Big ol' softie Raphie boy.

"I just got here, you're already trying to strip me? You whore."

"You're the one who showed up all bloody and sexy and shit."

That made him laugh, it was a big barking laugh like a hyena, if she was some evil doer it definitely would've sent chills down to her spine. He stood up suddenly, kinda pulling her arm out of her socket and throwing his towel over his shoulder as he tugged on her hand.

"Wanna come shower with me? I'll wash your hair."

What a cutie. She giggled gently and took her hand out of his to push on the back of his shell, leading him towards the bathroom.

"You go first ok, I'm gonna make us some tea."

"You're gonna call Mikey aren't you?"

"No." Lies.

"I don't believe you but whatever, can we do the beads in your hair after?"

Informing him that doing her braids would take hours deflated him a little bit, but the promise of watching a movie and letting him sleep over pepped him back up enough. He started stripping in her bedroom and she hastily grabbed at the leather wrappings being tossed around her room, fully intending to put the in the laundry machine for a wash. None of the boys washed their gear nearly enough for her tastes, and she was sick of the smell of week-old sweat wafting into her apartment constantly. Raph and Leo always smelled faintly of blood, and she grunted in annoyance as the red mask was flung across her glasses.

Sitting on her bed she quickly dialed Michelangelo, pressing the phone up to her ear as she heard the shower turn on and small ropes of steam began drifting out from under her bathroom door. She fiddled around on her bedside table before her fingers found her sewing kit, squashing her phone between her cheek and shoulder as her other hand reached for Raphael's belt.

He answered on the third ring, and his voice was so croaky and weak she almost teared up at the thought of him curled up in his room sobbing over his new skateboard he'd broken his piggy bank open for.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey, do you wanna come over?"

"Is Raph still there?"

She thought about lying for a second but backtracked a moment later after she heard his pathetic little sniffle over the receiver.

"Yeah."

"I hate him."

"Don't say that, you love your brother."

"No I don't, I hate him and I never want him to come home."

"You're just thinking like that right now because he hurt you and you're mad at him."

Mikey let out an indignant little huff at her words before going silent, and she paused her sewing just to listen to him breath for a moment.

"Can I be in the bed with you?"

"Yes that's fine."

"Ok."

The line clicked and she took a deep breath, listening to the sound of Raph showering happily as she finished the last pull of thread along his belt seem.

Having them in the same apartment together was probably a very bad idea.