TMNT x Reader | Boyfriend Scenarios

9| When It Finally Happens - Raph

//Raph//

Surrender.

To love is not just to care for someone, and be cared for in return.

To love is to release one's self to another. Fully. To be ripped apart. To be split down the middle and allow the adored to search each nook and cranny of the soul.

And sometimes love sneaks up on us. Sometimes we have been ravaged, explored, documented, before even knowing it.

The surrender of the soul is to drop every facade, break down every wall, and lift every veil that protects.

Laying bare before another is an extremely vulnerable and daunting endeavor. But it is worth every excruciating moment they take to unfold your deepest components before you.

Because it results in the deepest bond known in the whole of the human experience.

11:56PM

"Alright, enough of this shit," Raph grunted, prying Mikey off his shoulder and cracking his knuckles and elbows as he lifted himself off the couch. "I'm heading in." He waved a hand at his brothers in resignation and began to shuffle toward his room.

"Aw, but, Raph, you love Space Heroes!" Mikey cackled, leaning up on his elbows before slipping off the edge and falling straight on Leo.

"Ah! Mikey, get off!" Leo shoved Mikey to the side and scooted closer to the small box. "Goodnight, Raph," he added, and Raph caught the back of his head facing the screen's harsh glare from his peripherals as he moved on.

Raph scoffed, checking into his dark room. He shut the door, the darkness absorbing him like part of its own. He faced the black as he stripped off his gear, sloughing off each piece like dead weight he was glad to be rid of. The bandages twirled like ribbons as they were pulled from his fingers and fell lightly as he tossed them on the ground.

The bed groaned as he climbed in, and he sighed in relief. His spent muscles were at rest, but he had one last thing to do.

Over the last few weeks, Raph and Y/n had taken to telling each other good morning and goodnight every day. He usually woke up before she did for training, so he would send the first message in the morning, and she usually went to sleep before him for school, so she would send the first message in the evening. It was their little routine, and they had settled into it comfortably.

He reached for his phone on the bedside table and flipped onto his back. He read her message and like always, he couldn't help the smile that crept its way onto his lips, or the warmth in his chest that caused the beat of his heart to emanate across his whole body in faint pulses. His teeth gleamed in the light of the screen.

Y/n: I'm super tired so I'm going to sleep now

Y/n: I'll talk to you more tomorrow :)

Y/n: Goodnight Raphael :)

She was the only one who could use his full name without irritating him. He liked the way it looked when she wrote it, and more, he liked the way it slipped from her lips. She said it with the hard 'a'. Raph-i-el. The sharpness in the cut of her voice, like a knife's edge, and the way it rolled off her tongue, a knife well-made— clean, and the punch it packs glides smooth. Just her ease in calling for him, whenever the air held the sound of his name on her lips— it made him ache for her.

Raph: I'll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight Y/n :)

Raph stared at the screen even after the text was sent, letting the blinding white light burn his retinas and trap him in a tedious waiting game. He would always wait, hoping against hope that she would send one more text after his, just to add on another, maybe more vulnerable, sentiment, just before they went to sleep. Like a confession of sorts? Maybe? But that message hadn't come thus far. And tonight, it didn't come either. And every night he became a little more sure that it never would.