Days spilled into weeks and weeks turned into months, all that time Raph spent searching high and low for his lover. He spoke to anyone that would know him, questioning his coworkers, his neighbors, even managing to speak to every classmate from his college, but to no avail.
He had even placed a missing person report into the police, getting a promise from Mikey's boyfriend, Leonardo, that he and the police would not rest until they find him. Even with a private investigator on his side, nothing turned up.
Through heartache and sorrow, Raph had stopped returning to his home in exchange of living at Luca's apartment that showed no signs of his return. He barely kept up with repairs at the shop due to all the searching. It started to become hopeless, with the lack of turn out for his findings. Raphael was about to give up hope, assuming Luca had left him.
That is......
Until one day, as he was putting up fliers, Raph walked smack dab into a burly tiger that was acting as a guard with a couple following behind him. Upon walking into the wall of a man, Raph spilled his papers all over the ground.
``Claw, why did you do that? Help the poor man up. Honestly, you need to be more courteous of others,'' an extremely familiar smooth voice chided the broad bodyguard as he bends down to help pick up the pages.
Lifting his eyes up, Raph looked right into the face of his long, lost lover. When he finally looked him over, he noticed Luca had cut his hair down to a business like length, wearing professional looking clothes. What confused and nearly broke Raph's heart more was that his eyes held no recognition for him, looking almost dull.
``I apologize for my guards rudeness, he tends to be cruel to those around him,'' Luca said with a charming smile, hoping for forgiveness. He gathered the last of the fliers and held them out to Raph. But the hot head ignored the offered pages, lunging forward and pulling Luca flushed to his chest.
``H-hey! Let go of me!'' the singer demanded in shock.
``Never....I finally found you, I'm never letting go again!'' Raph refused, clinging to Luca like a lifeline.
``Let go of my fiance, you brute!'' an unfamiliar, shrill voice cried as small female hands started to attack his head.
``Oi! Shove off, you wench!'' Raph growled, batting her hands away. Before Raph could return to hugging Luca, the bodyguard shoved Raph off of Luca and helped the young male up.
``Don't you dare call my fiance a wench, asshole!! I said I was sorry and helped you with the papers and all I got was being attacked and having my lover cussed at! I won't stand for it! Fuck you!'' Luca shouted at Raph before turning to a lizard woman, pulling her close and starts to walk off with guard following close behind.
``Hey! I'm not done with you! Luca, come back!!'' Raph scrambled off the sidewalk and made chase only to be stopped by the same guard. The couple stopped and stared at Raph, Luca giving his a sharp gaze that didn't hold nearly as much animosity as it did when those same eyes looked at his mother all those months ago.
``How do you know my name, asshat? Nobody should know about me yet,'' Luca growled.
``I'm your boyfriend! We were dating for 3 months!'' Raph declared frantically, trying to get passed the guard to talk to him.
``Boyfriend? Sir, I've never seen you before, and I've been straight my entire life! How could I be your boyfriend if I don't remember you?'' the EX-singer declared with a pitiful look on his face.
``I have proof we were together! You still smoke right? You like Camels Menthols!'' Raph said in a panic, not liking the pitying look his lover gave him.
``I haven't smoke for 6 years. You need help my friend. Claw, leave him be, he's clearly insane,'' Luca rolled his eyes, turning the woman away from Raph and continued his way down the street.
``You chew on cinnamon toothpicks! You drink hot chocolate when your sad, you eat peppermints by the handful when your thoughtful! You smoke when your deep in thought, your favorite drink is the french toast delight! That's how we met!!'' Raph yelled, hoping to stop his lover from leaving.
Each declaration was ignored until the mention of the alcoholic beverage. Frowning, Luca slowly turns back to Raph, contimplating him carefully. Raph could see hims thinking over every declaration, his eyes slowly showing a familiar glimmer of recognition.
``R-Raph......?'' Luca said hesitantly. Almost the second the name left his lips, his eyes widen and his breath quickened, struggling to breath. The young woman started to shout at the guard to abandon Raph and help Luca.
Raph panicked at the sight of his lover falling ill, rushing over to help him before the woman stood in his way.
``You stay back!! You've done enough!!'' she shrieked at Raph as the guard guides Luca through some calming breaths before giving him a few purple pills, accidentally dropping some on the ground as he help Luca take the medicine. Before long, the dullness returned to Luca's eyes and his breath had relaxed.
Shakily, Luca starts to stand, seeming to be dizzy and confused. The woman rushes to his side and guides him away. Luca glances back with confusion and nonrecognition in his eyes once more as the portrayed fiance guides him away. The guard snatches Raph's arm, dragging him into an alley way and shoves him into wall harshly.
``Listen here cub, and listen well. Leave the man alone, never approach him again. You never saw him, spoke with him or had any dealing with him before. You better move on with your life, cub, because if you don't, you will be sorry,'' the large tiger growled in Raph's face before shoving him to the ground and turns away, running off to catch up with Luca and the his supposed Fiance.
