A Turtle's Heart

Trauma and Comfort

Y/N laughed, trying to contain themself as not to hurt themself from laughing too hard. Raphael smiled, happy his joke landed well.

"Thanks Raph, you really know how to cheer someone up," Y/N tried to calm themself, patting Raphael's plastron and taking a deep breath. Raph chuckled and placed his hands on his hips.

"Raph," Y/N suddenly drew a serious tone and sat up straight. Raph looked at them, confused.

"What am I going to do... I mean, there is school tomorrow, I have no where to go right now, once the suspension of my parents disappearing increases people are going to start questioning my whereabouts. If they find me I'll surly be sent to live with my aunt and I can't deal with-" Y/N started rambling, tears glossing over their eyes as their mouth began moving father than their brain. They were interrupted however when Raphael placed a hand on their shoulder.

"Hey, hey, hey, breath. We will cross those bridges when we get there. Obviously you aren't going to school tomorrow with how hurt you are, Donnie has probably already told April so I'm sure she can help, and we will be here for you the whole time, I promise," The snapping turtle assured. Y/N smiled, a tear dripping from their eye, rolling down their left cheek. Y/N leapt forward and wrapped their arms around Raphael, hugging him as tightly has they could with their wounds prohibiting them from overusing their muscles.

Raphael gently hugged Y/N back and rubbed their back.

"Hey, Y/N. Do you mind if I ask you a kind of personal question?" Raph questioned, letting go of Y/N.

"Sure, what is it?" Y/N responded. Raph took a breath before asking, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

"Why do you seem so worked up about staying with your aunt?" Raphael inquired. Y/N tensed up.

"If you don't want to answer you don't have to," He quickly added at the sight of their hesitation.

"No, No, it's alright, I'll tell you," Y/N said, shifting uncomfortably on the table where they sat.

"You know how I said I have been hurt worse than this?" Y/N gestured to the bandages below their torn shirt.

"Yeah?"

"Well. I meant that, my aunt, she used to babysit me a lot when I was younger because my parents were always at work or out on the town, they never made much time for me," Y/N began.

"Why wouldn't they spend time with their child?!" Raph interject, shocked.

"I don't know, but, when my aunt would babysit me, she, uh," Y/N stammered, seemingly unable to find the words. But Raph caught onto what they were trying to say. He silently gasped, placing a gently hand on Y/N's bandages.

"She hurt you?"

His suspicion was confirmed when Y/N nodded and looked away from Raphael, tears pricking the edges of their eyes.

"Worse than this? Why would she do that?!" His voice raising with disbelief as he spoke. Y/N slightly flinched at his voice raising. Raph quietly apologized.

Anger bubbled in Raphael's chest.

"Why would she do that?" The red clad turtle asked again, softly this time.

"She... she said I was the reason her sister's life was 'crap' and that I was a mistake. She used to tell me that I was never supposed to exist and my parents only kept me around because I was something they could use, to exploit to get deals and that I was never really of any use to this world," Y/N began sobbing as they spoke, the memories of all the horrible things their aunt had said and done hitting them like a bus.

Raph took his hand off their side and hugged them closely, rubbing their back as they began babbling incoherently and sobbing into his shoulder, hugging him back.

After a few minutes of crying, Y/N finally pulled themself together and pulled away from the hug. Raphael rested his elbows on the table on either side of them. This put him at eye level with the distraught teenager.

"You know, I don't really like talking about my Trauma to anyone. I trust you. Im not sure why," Y/N shakily inhaled a breath, wiping a tear away from their cheek.

"I promise not to break it," Raph blurted.

"What?"

Y/N hadn't expected a response.

"I promise not to break it," Raphael repeated.

"You said you trust me but aren't sure why, I won't take that for granted. I won't break your trust," He continued, smiling at the teenager in front of him, not realizing how close they actually were.

Y/N slightly blushed, shocked at his response.

The two stared at one another for a minute before Raph realized how close his face was to Y/N's. Blushing, partially out of embarrassment, Raph stood up straight, taking his arms off the table and taking a step back.

The two sat in awkwardly silence before Y/N spoke up.

"So, uh, I'm staying in your room right? Can I see it? It is pretty late and I think we should get some sleep," Y/N stated, scooting forward. Raph nodded.

What he didn't realize was Y/N was scooting forward to stand up. Raphael was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a thud and a grunt. Y/N had tried to stand and had fallen.

"Oh, my bad," Raph reached for Y/N but they held up a hand to stop him.

"No, no, let me do it, I've got it," they insisted. Raph shook his head.

"Nope, I don't want you to get any more hurt," Raph stated, picking Y/N up careful and walking out of the room. Y/N didn't protest, they simply relaxed into Raphael's arms as he carried them to his room.

When they got to his room, Raph set Y/N down carefully on his bed and walked over to his drawers, sifting through his clothes.

"Here, this is the smallest thing I have, I could probably ask my brothers for some clothes for you but they are probably asleep. And I'm assuming you don't want to sleep in torn, bloody clothes," Raph rambled as he pulled out an old hoodie and some shorts from a few years ago that he hadn't worn in a while as they were too small for him.

"It's no problem at all, thank you for everything Raph," Y/N said as they took the clothes out of the turtle's hands. Raph nodded and left the room, closing the door/curtain(idk) behind him.

Y/N carefully stood up, taking the time to balance themself so they wouldn't double over in pain. They then pulled off their bloody clothes and put them in a pile by the bedside before pulling on the hoodie and pants Raphael had given them, they were still a little big on them, but fit well enough. It was very thoughtful of him to allow Y/N to stay in his room and use his clothes.

Y/N then climbed back into the bed and pulled the covers over their shoulders, snuggling into the soft memory foam pillow and mattress.

"All done, you can come back in now," Y/N shouted. Raph came in a moment later with a spare pillow and blanket. He lied them out on the floor across the room and lied down on them, covering himself up.

"Good night, Y/N," Raph whispered. Y/N echoed his words before allowing the sweet darkness and calming scents of Raphael's room to lull them into a comforting sleep.