Idkbruh

── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──

The lair was still half-dim when Raphael opened one eye, the kind of gray-blue morning light barely reaching down into the underground hideout.

Everything was quiet in that rare, soft way it only ever got in the early hours, when even Mikey was too asleep to be noisy and Donnie’s lab had gone still for once. Raph lay stretched out on his bed, one arm behind his head, the other draped loosely over your waist where you were curled up against him beneath the blankets.

You’d come over late the night before, exhausted in that sweet, sleepy way that made him look at you a little longer than he meant to, and somewhere between a few quiet words and a quick mumbled goodnight, you’d ended up tucked against his side like you belonged there. 

Which, in his opinion, you kind of did.

He blinked at the clock. Then blinked again.

No alarm. You forgot to set your alarm.

His brow furrowed. He waited for the shrill buzz he was expecting, or the sound of you fumbling for your phone, or even a sleepy apology from the other side of the blanket. 

Nothing. Just the low hum of the lair, the faint drip of water somewhere deeper in the tunnels, and your slow, even breathing against his plastron. 

For a second, he just stared at the ceiling, then looked down at you, expression flattening into disbelief. You were still completely out, face relaxed, hair a mess across the pillow, one hand curled into the fabric of his blanket as if you’d been holding onto it in your sleep. Raph huffed a quiet breath through his nose and shifted carefully, trying not to jostle you too hard. 

“Hey,” he muttered, voice rough with sleep. “Ya gotta wake up.”

You made the tiniest sound in response, something between a whine and a groan, but you didn’t open your eyes. He leaned a little closer, the edge of his mouth twitching despite himself. “C’mon. It’s mornin’.” His hand gave your shoulder a gentle nudge, firm enough to try again but soft enough to keep from startling you. 

That earned him a frown from your half-asleep face, your nose scrunching before you burrowed deeper into the blankets with a little miserable noise.

“Nooo,” you mumbled, words thick and slurred with sleep. “Don’t wanna.”

Raph froze for half a second, then snorted under his breath. 

“Yea? That so?” He tried to sound amused and unimpressed, tried to make it sound like he expected you to get up any second, but there was already a softness creeping into his voice that he couldn’t quite hide. 

You cracked one eye open just enough to squint at him, your entire face slack with exhaustion. There was no real annoyance in it, just that deeply offended, deeply sleepy refusal that only made sense when somebody was being asked to do something unreasonable at an unreasonable hour. “No,” you mumbled again, dragging the word out like it physically hurt. “I don’t wanna.”

“Ya gotta get up sometime,” he said, though even he didn’t sound convincing anymore. He watched you try to negotiate with consciousness for a few seconds, your mouth pressing into a pout before you let out another helpless little whine and tugged the blanket closer around yourself. Raph was about to try one last time when you shifted closer instead, pressing your face back into his plastorn and wrapping both arms around him like the decision had already been made for you.

“Five more minutes,” you murmured, voice vanishing into the fabric against him.

Raph let out a quiet, amused grunt. “You always say that, but then ya don’t get up...”

You went still. “…Do I?”

“Yeah, sweetheart,” he said, and now there was a full smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, like he couldn’t help it. “You do.”

There was a long pause, followed by the most reluctant, sleepy little, “...Well, I promise I mean it this time.”

And just like that, you were gone again.

Raphael stared down at you, one brow lifting as your breathing evened back out almost immediately, your body completely surrendering to sleep as if the whole conversation had been a dream. For a moment, he just looked at you in quiet disbelief, like he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or be impressed by how fast you’d gone back under.

Then he exhaled through his nose, the sound half a chuckle and half a sigh, and all the stubbornness left his shoulders at once. 

“Unbelievable,” he muttered, though there was no real bite in it. He reached for the blanket with care, tugging it higher over your back and shoulders until you were tucked in properly again. You responded instantly, making a small content sound and curling tighter into him, your fingers loosening only enough to slide sleepily against his arm.

He looked down at you for another second, the warmth of you settled into his space, and his expression softened in that quiet, private way he never showed around anyone else. Raphael brushed a few stray hairs off your forehead with the back of his hand, clumsy but gentle, and leaned down just enough to press a brief kiss there. “Sleep, then,” he rumbled softly, like a promise and a surrender all at once. “I’ll deal with the rest later.”

You didn’t answer, not really, but the corner of your mouth twitched like you’d heard him anyway. Raphael stayed where he was a while longer, one arm snug around you as he settled back against the pillows and let the morning stretch out around the two of you.

 For once, there was nowhere else he needed to be. No rush, no noise, no brothers shouting in the hallway. 

Just you, warm and half-buried under the blankets, and him, quietly deciding that if this was how mornings looked with you here, then maybe being late wasn’t such a terrible thing after all.

── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──

A/N: I just wanted an excuse to share this edit of Daryl Dixon I found on Tik tok….

He’s baby girl#2