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Raph was, out of the four brothers, the lightest sleeper to exist.
One might think the opposite, probably because of his large frame, the way he seemed to snore up a storm, or how easy sleep had always come to him in general.
But when you happened to be a ninja- more importantly, the oldest brother, your senses were always extra sharp, en even the smallest squeak would be enough for you to be alert.
Sleepless nights were not uncommon to the oldest- he had woken up plenty of times to just the feeling alone that something was wrong with one of his brothers. He knew to trust his instincts.
Which is most likely how he woke up again.
At first, he had been sleeping, but the next thing he knew, the snapper was aware that he had woken up, eyes still closed, and mind foggy with sleep.
Raph groaned, burying his face into his pillow, and just... listened. As much as he had wanted to go back to bed, his instinct was never wrong. So... he listened for signs, first.
Signs of sniffling, knocking on his door, or crying... but no.
So now came the waking-up part.
Okay. Okay. One thing at a time, Raphael, one thing at a time.
First, open your eyes... there we go!
The turtle groaned, annoyed that he had woken up, but still forced himself to get up, sleepily rubbing the remaining sleep out of his eyes. He sat up, stretched his arms until they popped, did the same for his shoulders, and then his neck before he got up. As he did, he bent his back, making his joints there pop as well.
His brothers called him crazy for popping his bones so much. He could already see Donnie shuddering before him as Leo cringed, and Mikey asking him how he did not get irritated at himself for creating the sounds. But it felt good! His brothers just didn't understand that.
(Raph might have made it a habit to pop his joints as much as possible during sleepovers, purely to irritate the youngers)
Once was fully awake, Raph walked outside his room, closing the curtain, before moving to the other rooms. Just to check if they had any nightmares.
The first room to show was Leo's, and Raph quickly found out it was not the slider who was in distress. The turtle was sleeping soundly in his bed, rolled onto his stomach and the blanket dropped to the floor.
Smiling softly, Raphael walked inside, quickly grabbing the blanket and carefully tucking it around his brother. As he did, Leo murmured slightly in his sleep and snuggled into the warmth, but did not wake up. With a final pat to the head, Raph left.
Next, he went to Mikey's room, opening the curtain and peeking inside.
Empty.
Raph frowned. Now he found his problem.
He walked inside anyway, just in case Mikey was in his shell, but no. However, the bed had been slept in, the trashed blankets and wrinkled pillows being proof of that.
Okay. It was Mikey that woke him up.
Still, skipping Donnie's room, he walked straight to the lab. If Donnie was awake, he was gonna chase him to bed, or perhaps Mikey had gone there to draw- Raphael just felt the urge to check.
To his surprise, the lab was silent. But the lights were still (even if dimmed) on.
What was even more shocking was when Raph found the soft-shell turtle, asleep, collapsed half onto the table, still sitting on his chair, battle shell and bandana still on, and snoring over a lot of papers for another project.
Clearly, he had crashed.
Rolling his eyes, Raph reached out without hesitation, pressing some of the buttons on Donnie's shoulders, the battle shell coming off with a soft click, taking it off and hanging it on the wall. He walked back, pulling back the chair and sliding his arms under Donnie's head and knees, picking him up bridal style.
Despite popular belief, Donnie was the heaviest sleeper out of the four of them.
One might think of many reasons how that could not be true, as the turtle rarely slept at all, always working on one project or another, but when he crashed, not even the ending of the world seemed to wake him up. Which Raph was kinda glad for. Donnie needed his rest.
He tried not to gush when the younger's head fell right into the spot between his shoulder and neck.
Oh. My. God.
Too freaking cute.
Didn't matter how old they got. His brothers would always be his baby brothers.
With a soft smile on his face, Raphael walked back to Donnie's room this time, before carefully placing him in the bed. The turtle didn't stir, even when his brother removed the purple bandana, hanging that up as well. Raph repeated his earlier action and tucked him in, before gently stroking his head, and leaving the room.
Okay. Now to find the youngest.
Walking around the lair, Raph first passed the living room, but there was no sign of Mikey. He didn't bother going to the dojo, as the box turtle never hung out there without one of them present either. So he made his way to the kitchen.
Even before he entered the area, he could hear the sound of crying. Found him.
His heart beat faster as Raphael walked inside, peeking in silence in search of his little brother.
Mikey was curled up on the ground beside the open fridge, sobbing silently with soft sniffles, face hidden between his arms and legs.
"Michelangelo?"
Mikey's head snapped up, tears streaming down his cheeks.
He made no move to wipe them away. Didn't even try to smile.
Raphael didn't know if that was concerning or an improvement.
"Oh... h-hi, bro." Only then did he show the smallest smile. "Sorry... did I wake you up?"
"...No, I got thirsty." The snapper lied, making his way to the younger, and sat beside him.
"..." Mikey looked away, smile falling. He sniffled.
"...Do you want to talk about it?"
"..." Mikey hiccuped softly, refusing to meet his gaze. "I... it's not... I just..." he trailed off, not knowing how to explain it. So instead, head hanging low in defeat, he held out his left arm.
It was shaking like crazy.
Oh.
Oh.
"Why didn't you go to Donnie?" He asked, gently taking Mikey's arm into his hands. He could feel the way his arm shook, even as Raph tried to steady it. He apologized when Mikey took in a sharp breath.
Arms hurt. Okay.
Mikey whined. "So that he can give me those drugs from when we were recovering? No, thank you."
"It stopped the pain."
"And it also made me look like an idiot."
"Michelangelo."
"I couldn't stay awake for longer than a minute! I kept passing out-" Mikey listed. "It doesn’t even hurt that bad!"
"..."
".....And, Uhm... he was sleeping. I didn't want to wake him up."
So it was that bad.
"Then why didn't you come to me or Leo?" Raph continued, eyeing the scars on his arms. They... they were healing. He knew they were. They weren't as deep as before, Donnie checked on them daily, Raph knew they were sorta healing-
But-
But.
"Uhm..." when Mikey seemed to hesitate, Raph gave his arm a gentle squeeze, watching as his shoulders untensed.
For whatever reason, their touch seemed to not hurt him in the slightest.
After Mikey had opened the portal, he had been completely out of it, clinging to Raph, or Donnie, or Leo when he woke up, their touch on his arms seeming to work magic. Of course, it might as well have been the painkillers Donnie had given him, but never did he have that rush of relief whenever anyone else had touched his arms.
Touch from everyone else seemed to hurt in those times.
Donnie never figured out why.
But if it gave Mikey some relief, Raph didn't care too much.
"...Didn't wanna bother." Was the mumbled reply.
Raph frowned. "You know you would never..."
"I know."
"..."
The snapper looked around, eyes falling on the medicine packet on the floor. Mikey followed his gaze, eyes tearing up when he saw it again.
"I- I wanted to get some painkillers but-..." he sobbed, closing his eyes. "I can't- I can't grab it."
Raph was quick to shush him, so very carefully taking his brother into his arms, whispering sweet nothings as he closed the fridge, and picked up the medicine packet Mikey had dropped.
At this point, Mikey was full-on crying, an angry expression passing his face. "I can't- I can't cook, I can't draw, I can't even pick up anything. My hands- they're useless!" He wailed, angrily hitting Raph's plastron- before crying out in pain as his hands already hurt enough.
"Mikey-"
"They're ugly." The turtle cried, looking miserably at his hands. More specifically, the scars. "They're not only useless- they're ugly."
"They're not-"
"I couldn't even pick up some painkillers!" Mikey yelled, raising his fists to hit his hands again- being stopped as two, much bigger hands gently held them in place.
And Raphael thanked the stars above that his brothers were much heavier sleepers than he was.
Mikey closed his eyes and cried, not having the energy to shout anymore as he gave up, slumping into the embrace. Raph slowly lowered Mikey's hands, gently letting go, before holding him carefully. With his arms around the younger, he took one of the pills out of its packaging, before putting it onto the counter, holding the singular pill with one hand as he tightened his grip around the younger, and got up. The pill was put onto the counter as Raph grabbed a cup, and filled it with water, before putting that down and grabbing the pill again, holding it to Mikey's mouth. Mikey opened his eyes, looked miserably at his brother for a second before opening his mouth, and Raph fed it to him. Then he grabbed the cup and held it out for the younger to see if he could take it. Mikey tried, needing several attempts before he could grab it. But even then, the cup shook and water spilled. So Raph didn't let go to hold it steady, softly pressing it against his lips and helping the younger drink, before putting the cup away as well.
Mikey was no longer sobbing, his cries had died down to weak hiccups and sniffles, tiredly leaning his head against the spot between Raph's neck and shoulder. Still, tears dotted the corners of his eyes, and teartracks were still visible on his cheeks. Raphael noticed.
"Your hands are not ugly." He spoke lowly, tightening his grip as he made his way to the living room. "And they are not useless. You just need help sometimes. Just like how Donnie needs help with his softshell, or Casey sometimes needs to be reminded he's not in the future anymore."
"But no one is as badly affected as me." Mikey spat bitterly. "Leo got hurt so much worse than I did and even he wasn't recovering as long-"
"It's not a competition, Michelangelo." Before sitting on the couch, he opened a cabinet and grabbed a jar of cream, before going back to the couch to sit down.
The box turtle hiccuped, moving his hand to wipe his tears away- wincing as he did.
"I can't cook. I can't draw. I can't pick up a freaking cup. I can't do anything."
"They need time." Raph placed Mikey beside him, before so, so carefully, grabbing his hands. "They're hurt. But they will heal. Those scars are proof that you are the world's strongest mystic warrior- and even more importantly, how much of a brother you are. It was these hands that sent Casey back in time, it was these hands that saved Leo, and me, and Donnie, and the entire world." Raph squeezed them gently. "They're not useless. Far from useless. And they're not ugly. They're tired. They're strong. They're beautiful."
Mikey's gaze hadn't left his hands, tearing up again with Raph left a soft kiss on them, before gently stroking along the scars. "They're strong, just like you, baby brother. So, so strong. And I never, ever, want to hear anything about them being useless or ugly again. Not when these are the hands that saved our lives. Got it?"
"..." Mikey nodded. Raph smiled, patting his arms a final time before he let go.
"Good."
He reached for the jar he had grabbed, opened it, and scooped a handful of cream. Mikey frowned. "...What's that?"
"Numbing cream," Raph said, spreading it across both his hands, before grabbing Mikey's left arm, and smearing it all over. "To help."
"You... you don't have to."
"I want to." Was the short reply, the snapper focusing on his task.
He gently kneaded and pulled, massaging every joint, scar, and painful area he could think of, bending Mikey's arm a few times to make sure the cream was applied as much as it needed to be. Under his touch, he was aware of the younger's arm shaking less.
At some point, the little brother relaxed against the couch, his eyes drooping as he let out a soft chirrup. Clearly, he was fighting off sleep. Raph pretended not to notice. At least it seemed to be helping.
Instead, he moved from Mikey's shoulder slowly back to his arm, massaging the elbow, bent and turned-
*POP!*
Raph's hands stilled at once, shocked, and for a few, fearful seconds thought he had broken Mikey's arm.
Mikey was small. Little. Raph was huge. Strong. Had he hurt him-!?
Quickly feeling around his arm, Raph found nothing was broken. He sighed in relief. Then what-
Mikey blinked, looking absolutely horrified. It took Raph a second to understand.
".......Oh my god."
Raph burst out laughing, quickly covering his mouth to muffle his giggles, Mikey staring in shock at his arm. "....Raph! Oh my god- why?!"
"I didn't- pfft hehehe- mean to!" The snapper laughed. Mikey pulled his arm back. Raph didn't miss how much easier he moved the arm Raph had taken care of as he crossed his arms.
"I'm not trusting you anymore."
"Aw, come on-"
"No." He winced, quickly letting go. Raph stopped laughing.
"...Mikey. Give me your arm again?"
"..." Mikey held it out. Raphael carefully took it, studying it for a second.
"...Trust me on this, K?"
Hesitant, Mikey still nodded. Raph sighed, first taking Mikey's hand, rubbing the cream between his fingers- before he carefully bent them, making them pop.
The box turtle flinched- but didn't seem in pain, so Raph continued with the action, carefully bending his hand, pulse, elbow- until he reached his shoulder, and popped that too. He felt the tension slowly melt away, and took that as a sign that his arm didn't hurt as much anymore.
"Feel good?"
"Hm..." Mikey yawned, leaning against Raph's side. Raphael let go of his left arm and scooped up some more cream, this time grabbing his right. He repeated his earlier action, first applying the cream all over his arm and massaging all over the scars, before carefully popping his joints, fingers, and anywhere that was possible. Once he was done, Mikey was half asleep, struggling to keep his eyes open.
"Better?"
"Much..." was the mumbled response, and Mikey smiled sleepily at him. "Thank you Raphie..."
It always warmed his heart to hear that nickname. He rarely heard it anymore, mostly just whenever his brothers were tired or scared. The snapper had to hide his smile.
Raph hummed, gently stroking Mikey's arm. "It doesn’t still hurt, right?"
"Nuh-uh..."
"Good." Raph smiled as Mikey closed his eyes and cuddled against him, and took that as a sign it was time to go back to bed. He let go of his arm, instead grabbing the turtle behind his back and knees again, and got up. Mikey seemed to fit right into his arms, melting against his plastron with another sleepy chirrup.
"Can I sleep with you...?"
The day Raph said no to that was the day the world was ending.
He smiled, grip tightening as he made his way to his room. "Sure you can."
"Thank youu..."
Back in his bedroom, Raph tucked Mikey in first, before crawling into bed himself, making sure his brother was fully covered before settling down. The box turtle cuddled close to the older, already breathing softly, and Raph hugged him. "Goodnight, Mikey."
"Night..."
"..." Raph smiled, his smile falling when he caught sight of Mikey's hands. Gently thumbing the scars with one hand, he smiled again, both sad and proud.
Such strong hands Mikey had.