The Words That Hurt Me

Twenty-Nine Feelings To Cry For

When Raph woke that morning, he heard Goo asking Mikey to go back to sleep. 

Stumbling out of his room, he could tell immediately that his brother hadn't slept at home last night. Judging by the distinctive click of skateboard wheels against the cold stone anyway. 

He only half heard their conversation.

He looked exhausted; yes, they're fine, really; no, he doesn't look okay; alright fine, but only if he promises to sleep! 

Leo was in the kitchen, making up a pot of tea. He hadn't done that since Mikey first locked himself up. Raph couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

He made his way through the lair, glancing briefly at Casey asleep on the bean bag, before turning his attention to the stranger Mikey brought home last night.

They were cute, he'd admit, with dark brown eyes and matching hair. About his height, chubby, and had some acne on their face. 

They had a solid build, one that could take some damage and keep trucking, and could even be a fairly decent boxer if they trained. Honestly, he thought that they could body April, especially with as much of a twig as she was.

Turns out his brother had decent taste.

He plopped down on the sofa, grabbing one of his comics. Goo didn't look up from their phone, giving a small hum to acknowledge him. 

That. He hadn't seen that in a while either. Inherent trust in others. He can't remember the last time he didn't feel the need to look up when he heard any little sound. This person was untouched by the grimy roughness of this life.

How lucky.

As relaxed as Goo appeared, Raph couldn't find it in himself to just sit there with someone who is essentially a stranger. He shuffled uncomfortably, trying to focus on his comic.

"What's that?" 

Raph looked up, catching Goo glancing over at him.

"What's what?" Raph returned, raising an eyebrow at them.

"Your comic," Goo answered, "What, uh, what's it about?"

"Vegetables," Raph stated, "A lot more emotional depth than whatever Mikey showed ya,"

"Oh! 'Rotten Veggies'?"

"Huh?" The turtle looked over at them, "You know it?"

"Well, kinda," They responded, "It got adapted into a show in the eighties, and then rebooted several times. I've only ever heard of the comics. Y'know, a lot of cartoon analysis guys bring it up when they compare the reboots,"

Raph huffed out a laugh, snapping the pages of his comic and lifting it back up.

"The shows don't get the nuance of the comics," He puffed, "It's all 'tell' and no 'show', like, where're the expressions? The depth?"

"Oh please! That's the one thing all the shows got consistent!" Goo laughed, "And you can't just make a comic into a show, you gotta take it and make your spin on it!"

"Oh?"

"There's no copy-pasting when it comes to content. Well, good content, anyway," Goo continued, "What makes the shows so charming is what they do differently and how. Like, the latest version probably has the best-written characters, but it's considered the most controversial,"

"Right, I heard of that one," Raph interjected, "It was awful! Nothing like the comics! And the way they changed those designs? Gross!"

Goo gave him a tilted look, silently studying the turtle.