TMNT Oneshot

BayRaph x Reader: I promise

Request: Hi! Could you do a 2014/16 one where the reader has scars from her mother and she shows Raph while crying about them and Raph listens and comforts her? If you choose to do so, thank you!

A/N: Slight warnings for this one: Mentions of death and abuse. Otherwise, hope you enjoy!

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You plucked the clothes from your closet, dragging each article from the clothes hanger and judging it with young eyes. The cloth would be thrown behind you with a small 'hmph' and forgotten to the floor. Why did you own so many short sleeve shirts? What happened to all your hoodies and jumpers, why did they suddenly disappear in your time of need?

Slamming the doors to the closet shut, you dropped down to the floor with a grunt. You could feel the quiver of your lip, the tears building up in your eyes line like a dam. Your fingers clenched onto the skin of your arms, shaking from years of exhaustion and pain. You closed your eyes in an attempt to block out the bright rays of the sun poking through your blinds.

The moment the darkness took over the memories came flooding back, it felt like you were reliving the trauma all over again. The first night it happened, the second night, Christmas, birthdays, sometimes just for the hell of it. Throughout it all, throughout all the pain and abuse, her twisted smile stood out to you the most. Sure, your arms were covered, littered, in scars from her vicious actions, but what scared you the most was seeing the devilish smile she had while she beat you, while she yelled at you from the top of her lungs.

Sometimes when you were in the deepest of sleep you could still feel the sting of her slaps against your cheeks, the burning sensations of the cigarettes on your arms. You hadn't told anyone, not even the turtles, but why would you? It was something you had to deal with, besides, you had just met them at the time when it was all going on. They had their own problems to deal with, they didn't need yours for added pressure.

The day your mother died you were a mixed bag of emotions. On one hand, you were ecstatic and over the moon, years of sick and twisted torment was over, you felt like you could finally live again. On the other hand, you had just lost the very person that had brought you into the world, the only person you could call family. You were struggling to accept if you were a bad person for being so happy that she was gone, what kind of child would celebrate their mother's death?

The turtles had helped you answer those questions, well at least some of them. Leo had helped you focus on your grief, going through many different forms of meditation until one stuck. Donnie had done daily checks on your mental health, although he never saw the scars. Mikey was just a ball of positivity, always wanting to make you smile and laugh. Then there was Raph, he helped you cope in a much more...physical way.

- 3 years ago -

It was two weeks after the funeral, you felt sick even thinking about it. You were staying with the turtles for a few days, you weren't ready to go back to the same apartment you used to share with your mother. The brothers had welcomed you with open arms, they knew what grief felt like, they know what it had felt like to lose. Leo, Mikey and Donnie were trying their best with you they really were, but you couldn't help the feeling like they were treating you as a fragile china doll; one wrong move and you could break.

Nothing they did seemed to work, which led them to get slightly angsty with you. They couldn't understand why their preferred method wasn't working, why couldn't you meditate peacefully? Why weren't you answering all the health questions? Why weren't you laughing? It was only when Raph had spotted you curled up on the couch that he decided to do something.