As the days passed Donny saw Mikey falling over himself to make Leo happy while Leo went out of his way to be kind to Don. Raph tried his hardest to be alone with Mikey, offering to give him a ride on his bike or challenging him to play a video game but Mikey stopped playing games and focused more on training.
Donny just politely acknowledged Leo’s acts but didn’t encourage them in any way, which was more than what Leo was doing for Mikey. Donny also kept his distance from Raph, speaking to him only when it was necessary.
After about a week, during morning training, Raph knelt down next to Donny while Leo and Mikey spared together. “The ointment seems to be working.”
Donny nodded his head but kept his tone flat, “There is some improvement. It may take some time to reverse the damage and you will always have stretch marks but they will at least be reduced.”
“Are they really that bad?” Raph asked, looking down at his arms. “Do you think I overdo it?”
“It’s your body Raph,” Donny kept his eyes on Leo and Mikey. “You do what you think is best. My opinion shouldn’t matter.”
“Right,” Raph mumbled.
**
It took weeks, but Raph was finally able to get Mikey alone. He had to go into Mikey room, late at night but he didn’t see it happening any other way. When Raph walked into his room, Mikey rolled his eyes. “What do you want?”
“I just want to talk,” Raph closed the door. “Please.”
“You’ve come to try and get me to go out with you,” Mikey corrected. “I don’t want you Raph.”
“Someone’s gonna have to give,” Raph argued. “Or no one’s gonna be with anyone.”
“Why does it have to be me?” Mikey snapped back, crossing his arms over his plastron.
“Who do you think is gonna be the one to cave first?” Raph pointed out. “Donny. He’s too nice and will cave in to Leo eventually. Where will that leave you?”
“That’s not fair,” Mikey choked out. “I want Leo.”
“I can make you happy, Mikey,” Raph’s voice was pleading. “All you have to do is give me a chance.”
“You wanna make me happy?” Mikey stood and looked Raph in the eyes. “Then give into Donny before he gives into Leo. Get him out of the way so Leo can be with me.”
“Would it really be so bad to be with me?” Raph’s hand came up to rub the stretch marks on his arm.
“Yes,” Mikey answered. “We do have fun but I only see you as a friend, Leo’s everything I want. He’s everything that I wish I could be. You and me would be so destructive together, feeding off each other until we explode.” He shook his head as tears fell from his cheeks. “I know I would just get you mad again at some point, I always do.” His voice cut out for a moment and he had to swallow hard before he could continue. “I’m too afraid of you to love you. I feel safe with Leo.”
“You’re afraid of me?” Raph’s heart sank and it felt like the ground fell from under him. “Right,” Raph nodded. “I get it.”
“I don’t want to hurt you Raph,” Mikey smiled sadly up at him. “I don’t want this to ruin what we do have. We have fun but in small doses.”
“Friends then,” Raph agreed. “I won’t… I won’t try to….” It was hard to breathe. “I gotta go.”
Raph rushed from the room and into the dojo. He heard Mikey call after him, but didn’t stop to hear what he had to say.
Raph went straight for his punching bag and started to beat his hurt into it. Mikey was afraid of him and Raph didn’t blame him. He knew his temper was bad. It was the reason he drank; it mellowed him out and he was never an angry drunk. It was also the reason he worked out so much. He beat his anger into his own body as opposed to someone’s face.
“Did something happen?” Donny asked as he entered the dojo. “You keep hitting the bag like that, you’re gonna bust a seam.”
“I talked to Mikey,” Raph confessed, slamming his fist into the bag.
“I’m guessing that he’s not ready to give into you yet,” Don observed. “It’s all still too new and we will all go down different paths to recover from all of it. Give him time, he’ll come around. You’re a good guy, Raph. He’d be lucky to have you.”
“He told me that he’s afraid of me,” Raph choked out without looking at Don.
Donny froze and thought his words through before speaking, “He has reason to be. You did come at him with a led pipe.” He shrugged, “He had nightmares about it for weeks and used to come into my lab to sleep while I worked just to feel safe, especially while Leo was gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he still occasionally had them.”
“Leo’s argument against you being with me is that I would hurt you,” Raph kept his eyes down cast and leaned heavily on the bag.
“I understand his concern, but I don’t really do anything to get you mad,” Donny stated as a matter of fact. “I know that you all probably think that I will be the first one to cave in all of this. And, I’ll admit that Leo’s kindness is starting to have an effect. Maybe I will give in, Leo’s nice enough. We would be… comfortable together.”
Raph looked up at Donny, “You’ve given up, on me?”
Donny shrugged, “You said you weren’t interested and I’m not gonna try to fight a losing battle, it isn’t logical. It hurt at first but I’m not going to linger on it. And besides, I think I would rather be with someone who loves me than someone who loves another but is with me because they can’t have the one they want.”
Donny turned to leave but stopped when Raph spoke. “Maybe,” Raph hesitated. “You and me…. We could go out.”
Don kept his back to Raph, “No. Didn’t you hear me? The only reason you are offering is because you think you don’t stand a chance with Mikey and you don’t want to be alone. I don’t want you if you don’t really want me.”
Raph stood and took a few steps toward Don, “Fair enough, but we could date and maybe, in time….”
“In time?” Donny cut Raph off while keeping his back to him. “You want me to take a chance on you and lose my chance with Leo? What if he sees us together and decides to give in to Mikey?” Donny looked over his shoulder at Raph. The look on Raph’s face made him want to rush over to him and apologies for everything he had just said, to tell him it was a lie and that he still wanted him. But he kept himself in control and sighed, “I guess we could try, on one condition.” Don turned around to face Raph.
“Okay,” Raph nodded.
“No sex, until you love me enough to choose me over Mikey.”
Raph chuckled, “Sure. I can do that.”
“We can discuss this more in the morning,” Donny agreed. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Raph answered as Donny left the dojo.
Don made his way back to his lab, barley managing to maintain his composure. When he shut the door, he allowed the smile to spread across his face. It happened sooner than the thought it would. He was expecting it to take at well over a month of waiting, but it has only been a few weeks.
Raph chose to come to him.
It was time to switch tactics in order to keep him.
**
As usual to every morning, Donny sat at the table, reading while drinking his coffee, Leo sipped his tea, Mikey cooked and Raph stood at the counter making his protein shake. When Donny finished his coffee he stood and went to get a refill.
Raph noticed him approaching and moved out of his way so that he could get at the coffee pot. Donny smiled up at him, “Thank you.”
“Sure,” Raph smiled back. Donny sat back down at the table as Mikey placed his plate of food down. Raph sat at the table, earning himself a curious glance from Leo. Raph cleared his throat, “I was thinking about our conversation last night.”
Mikey froze, “I’m really sorry about that Raph.”
Raph shook his head, “I talked to Donny last night after I left your room.” He turned to look at Don, “I was thinking that I could take you out on my bike tonight, if you want.”
“I’m missing something,” Leo looked between them. “What is Mikey sorry about and why do you want to take Don out on your bike?”
Raph looked at Leo, “I talked to Mikey last night and he made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to be with me, so I decided to give Don a chance.”
“You what?” Leo cried out and looked at him in disbelief.
“What is going on?” Splinter entered the kitchen. “Why are you shouting?”
“You find yourself saying that more and more, don’t you Master,” Mikey quipped with a nervous laugh.
“I decided to give in to Donny,” Raph answered. “I’m guessing Leo’s not all that happy with it.”
Leo glared at Raph, but said nothing. Splinter placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder, “This was expected.”
“Not from Raph,” Leo huffed. “Out of all of us, I was not expecting Raph to give in first.”
“Neither did I,” Raph admitted, “but one of us had to.”
Mikey served everyone a modest breakfast and sat down at the table. The mood got quiet as they ate. Raph drank his shake quickly then stood up. “I’m gonna work out.”
“I’ll come with you,” Donny offered. “That way we can talk about our first date.”
“Aright,” Raph waited for Donny to wash his plate and put it on the rack to dry before they headed into the dojo. A small smile spread across his beak when Raph saw the scowl on Leo’s face. A fact that was not lost to Donny. As soon as they entered the dojo he turned on Raph.
“Don’t use me to piss Leo off,” he warned. “I will end this in a heartbeat.”
Raph took a step back, “Whoa. That’s not why I agreed to do this, so you can get that idea out of your head right now.” He chuckled, “Yeah it’s a bonus, but I only found that out this morning.”
“No,” Don snapped. “You will not rub this in Leo’s face at all. That is cruel.”
Raph shrugged, “Maybe it will get him to go after Mikey to get revenge.”
Donny looked at Raph in disbelief, “Leo’s not like you. He’s better than that.”
“Why don’t you go be with him then,” Raph pointed to the door.
Donny took a few steading breaths. This wasn’t how he wanted things to go; he had to be more careful with his emotional outbursts. He didn’t thank clearly when he let his emotions take over and if he wanted to get what he wanted in the long run then he would have to keep it under control. “I would rather be with you,” Donny shook his head. “But, please don’t flaunt it to Leo, he doesn’t deserve that.”
“Fine,” Raph sat on his weight bench and lay back under the bar. After putting on a pair of gloves that he cut to fit his fingers, Raph started his reps. Donny watched him, admiring his god like body as he tensed up from the effort of lifting the weights.
Settling his nerves Donny walked up to Raph and looked down at him, “I’ve read somewhere that if you keep your hips steady while you lift it makes for a more efficient work out.”
“Yeah?” Raph grunted as he pushed against the weight. “How would you suggest I do that?”
“I could stabilize them by sitting on them,” Donny offered.
Raph placed the bar up on its holder and sat up. “You wanna do what now?”
Donny placed his hand on Raph’s plastron and pushed him back down. “I’m only doing it to keep your hips steady,” Donny smiled. “Nothing funny.” They settled into position with Donny sitting across Raph’s hips.
Donny steadied himself by placing his hands on Raph’s plastron while Raph placed his hands on the bar and removed it from the stand then began his reps. Donny let him do a few before leaning forward a little.
“Do you feel any difference?”
“Yeah,” Raph grunted. “It’s actually harder to lift.”
“Making it more effective,” Donny added with a smile. He sat back again and as he did, he rested his tail on top of Raph’s. He felt Raph’s tail tense up as he staggered in his reps.
“Nothing funny,” Raph grunted.
“What?” Don acted like he had no clue what Raph was taking about. Donny could see that Raph was starting to tire so he rubbed his hand down Raph’s plastron. “Just a few more.” He pressed his tail down, rubbing it slightly back and forth and he could feel Raph’s respond. “It’s impressive how many you’ve done already. You are so strong.”
Raph pushed himself until he could no longer lift the weight and Donny moved up to help him place it back on the stand. Breathing heavily, Raph let his arms drop to the side. Donny slid his tail along Raph’s one more time before getting up.
“I guess what I read was correct,” Donny grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to Raph. “I can do that for you every day if you want.”
Raph sat up and looked at Don as he took a long drink of water. “That would help a lot,” Raph panted, shaking the feeling back in his arms.
“What were you thinking about for tonight?” Donny prompted, handing Raph a towel.
Raph shrugged, “A date. Maybe a ride on my bike, get away from the city for a picnic.”
Donny nodded, “That sounds nice.” Everything was going to well.
