Adult-FanFiction.org : Comics

Rooftop	By : justalilwriter Category: Comics > Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Views: 6390 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I make no claim towards ownership of the characters, plot lines, or other related TMNT properties contained within this story. I can only claim to own my own original characters and as such this story is not being written for profit.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Notes from the author: I’m pretty sure that Leo is going to be the hardest for me to write out of all the turtles. Here’s hoping I can manage to do a decent job capturing all the differing nuances and complexities of his character beyond his outward persona as the ever serious, calm leader.
Thanks to everyone who gave this story a fav, follow, and review thus far. It makes me happy to know that this is entertaining you guys.

Chapter 2: Checking In

“You’re positive this is the place?”
It wasn’t the first time that evening that the question had been asked and it was no less annoying to hear the second time around.
“Nah, Leo. I’m not. I just picked a buildin’ at random, so we could sit around and stare at nothin’ for an hour.”
“Raph.”
The utterance of his name was terse, tipping Raphael off to the fact that he was not the only turtle close to losing his patience.
“It’s the right place. Just ‘cause there ain’t been any sign of her yet doesn’t mean my memory is off.”
“Your stealth skills are another story then.”
“Hey!”
There was no mistaking the fury Raphael felt over having his capabilities scrutinized, one hand balling in to a tightly clenched fist, faintly shaking as he pressed his knuckles against the front of his brother’s plastron. It took every ounce of willpower he had at his disposal not to throw a punch, to lay in to his sibling over the remark and the annoyingly impassive look settled upon his face; a mask of painstakingly perfected calm. The expression had always infuriated Raphael and yet it also stood as a reminder of why the responsibility of leadership had fallen on to Leonardo’s shoulders. His ability to maintain his cool was entirely effective, if not irritating to one with Raphael’s more unrestrained demeanor. With a scowl and a slight shove with the balled up fist pressed against his brother’s chest, Raphael turned away to look down at the street below.
“Now ain’t the best time to start back up with me, Fearless.”
“You’re right. Now isn’t the time,” he agreed after releasing a long suffered sigh, clasping Raphael’s shoulder. “But we will finish this discussion later.”
“Yeah. Yeah.”
He gave his shoulder a slight shake until Leo’s grip fell away, settling his elbows against the edge of the roof as he watched the cars and pedestrians wandering about beneath the street lights, seeing his brother move out of the corner of his eyes. There was a slight distance between Leo and himself, a hint of necessary space as they resumed their quiet surveillance with an air of slowly fading tension hovering over them.
Raph wasn’t wholly certain what more there was that Leo felt needed to be discussed, particularly after the way the two of them had argued at great length when he’d returned to the lair with news of his little mess up. When he had spilled the beans that a human woman had accidentally caught sight of him, Leo had reacted in the exact way that Raph had been expecting; with anger and no lack of reprimanding words. Being called out for his own mistakes, even while well aware of them, had never failed to cause Raphael to go on the defensive, explaining his actions in a manner that sometimes overlooked his own errors or shortcomings. Admitting that he was wrong or that he’d screwed up wasn’t something he was prone to doing often and he damn sure had never liked it, so when Leo had responded to the news of Raphael’s encounter with the ever loathed ‘leader tone’, both brothers had blown up spectacularly. Words such as ‘reckless’ and comments about ‘what he’d been thinking’ had mingled with assurances that Leonardo’s ‘holier than thou’ attitude were not needed had passed back and forth until Master Splinter had finally emerged from his room to stem the tide.
The wise, peaceful presence of their mentor and father had helped to quell the ferocity of their argument, soothing away the worst of the ire until the two could discuss the matter of the human woman without shouting. It was after Splinter’s intervention, when he had properly cooled down, that Raphael had been able to remember why it was that he had eventually come to rely on Leonardo more than anyone else despite the friction that had always lingered between them. Leo had chalked the argument up as being a result of Raph going out on patrol alone, masking the real reason for their feud from their sensei; something which Raphael had admittedly appreciated a great deal. If there was one thing that the two brothers had always been able to agree on it was that they never wanted to cause their father any unnecessary worry. Until there could be enough cause to believe that the woman would or wouldn’t be trouble, she would not be worth mentioning to Splinter.
For all the headaches Leonardo could bring him, Raphael had learned over the years to appreciate the reliable nature of his brother. As quickly as he may have been to offer reprimands, Leo had been just as quick to assure Raph that together they would make certain that the human would be no trouble. When push came to shove, as a leader and as a brother, Leo was always there and begrudging as it may have been, Raph certainly respected him for that. He’d no doubt be singing another tune when their next sparring session came along, of course, but for the time being, as the two kept a watchful eye on the woman’s apartment building, Raphael was fine with being silently appreciative of his brother’s presence at his side.
“The girl who saw you…” Leo began after a while, breaking the silence. “…what do you know about her?”
“She said her name was Erin.”
The other turtle waited for a moment, clearly expecting more information than what he’d been given.
“And?”
“And what? I only stuck around long enough to make sure she’d agree to keep her mouth shut. Her name is about all I know. That and what days she has off from work.”
“You don’t know which apartment she lives in?”
Raphael glanced to the right, smirking a bit at the way his brother had started rubbing a hand over his eyes, usually finding a bit of amusement when his taciturn brother showed telltale signs of frustration if only for the hint that Leo wasn’t as infallible as he tried so damn hard to be.
“Can’t say that I do. Looks like we’re about to find out, though.”
He pointed a finger down in the direction of the sidewalk below, at the figure of a brunette carrying a few brown grocery bags in her arms, watching as she disappeared in to the building they had been keeping a close watch over. Moving away from the edge of the roof where it overlooked the street, Raph waved his hand at Leo, urging him to follow as they shifted positions, staring over at the side of Erin’s building that faced towards the alley.
“She came up on the roof from that ladder. All we gotta do is look to see which apartment lights up and we’ll know where she lives. That make you feel any better, Fearless?”
“It’s a start.”
They waited for a few minutes, eyes darting from one set of dark windows to the next, until a light came on behind the closed curtains of a tenth floor apartment.
“Top floor. Guess I can see why she used the access ladder instead of the damn stairs.”
Some of the curtains were eventually pushed aside, causing the two turtles to lean back a bit from the edge of the roof, remaining where it was dark and they would be less likely to be noticed by the woman. With their vantage point, Raph and Leo could see well enough to catch glimpses of Erin moving about her apartment, unpacking her groceries and sorting through a small stack of mail. They were very typical and altogether mundane activities; nothing that seemed out of the ordinary or worrisome.
“Do you believe she’ll keep quiet?”
“I dunno,” Raphael answered truthfully, plucking a sai from his belt for the sake of idle twirling, needing something to do with one of his hands. “Seemed like she meant it, but there’s no tellin’ how honest she is. Talkin’ to her once doesn’t really give me much room to say I know what kinda person we’re dealin’ with here.”
“Thus far we’ve seen nothing strange. No real signs of suspicious activity. Let’s just hope she really is a woman of her word.”
Leo hadn’t said as much, but Raph was positive that his brother was already formulating some sort of contingency plan to prepare for a worst case scenario. Donnie may have been the smartest of his brothers, in a vast number of ways that went beyond his technical expertise, but Leo had a certain knack for coming up with methods to deal with both the expected and unexpected. Possible threats towards his loved ones seemed to get his brain ticking right away and though Raphael couldn’t read minds, he knew that Leo would either sort out an effective game plan or, failing that, get help from the rest of the family in plotting out their next move. If luck was on their side, there would be no need for such countermeasures, and despite how non-threatening Erin appeared, even someone as prone to recklessness as Raphael could consider the risks a wagging tongue could bring.
Both brothers spent the next little while considering possible outcomes and watching for any allusion to ill intent, seeing nothing to be wary of as Erin began to fold laundry only to give up half way through completing the chore.
“Heh. Hope she’s better at keepin’ her word than she is at foldin’ her socks.”
Raphael’s comment garnered a grin from his brother, the expression a bit short-lived.
“She’s leaving,” he remarked, watching as the lights went off and the woman slipped out through the door to her home, disappearing from sight.
Leonardo turned to head to the other side of the building, back to a position where he could see the streets more clearly, halting only when Raphael held up a hand to stop him. He followed his younger brother’s line of sight, up to the roof of the opposite building, and together the pair inched further in to the cover of darkness; becoming akin to the very shadows hiding them from sight as a now familiar figure appeared topside. Apparently, Erin hadn’t been lying about her preference for hanging out on the roof of her building, though the nagging idea that she may have headed up specifically with the intention of seeing him again wouldn’t leave Raphael’s mind. If meeting him a second time happened to be in the forefront of her thoughts then what was the precise reason? She’d obviously been frightened by him, fearful of what she didn’t know or fully understand. Was she plotting something or simply trying to show him, in the off chance that he did come back, that she’d been truthful about her habits? Maybe she’d even written him off as a hallucination.
There were a multitude of questions that Raphael felt needed to be answered; questions which could not be answered simply by watching from a distance.
“Well…” he began, tucking his sai back in to his belt. “…guess I shouldn’t keep the lady waitin’.”
“Raph, no.”
Leonardo’s grip was brushed off almost as soon as it’d fallen on Raphael’s arm, though the severity of his expression could not be cast away quite so easily.
“We came here just to keep a lookout. Neither of us knows if it’s safe to engage her again.”
“We’re not gonna know if it’s safe, if our family is safe, by just standin’ here with our thumbs up our asses wonderin’ if she’s worth worryin’ about or not.”
“I don’t think-”
“I don’t think we’re gonna figure out a damn thing this way. I dunno about you, but watchin’ her put groceries away isn’t tellin’ me anythin’, Fearless. Way I’m seein’ it, a little interrogation might be our best bet. If anythin’ goes wrong, you’ll be right over here to give me back up, right?”
“Raph, she might’ve forced herself to forget she saw you. You remember how April reacted when she first met us. If she’s convinced herself that you were a figment of her imagination then you showing up now will ruin whatever chance there is that she’s forgotten.”
“Yeah, but how do we know she forgot? Are you gonna be able to sleep at night without knowin’ for sure what she does or doesn’t remember or for that matter, what she’s gonna do if she hasn’t forgotten?”
Raph knew from the moment that a scowl settled across his brother’s face that Leo saw sense in his reasoning, even if he didn’t want to. He seemed to mull it over, just for a moment, before relenting with a nod and a groan of displeasure.
Damn, but it felt good to one up Leo, even in the most infinitesimal of ways.
“All right. Fine. We leave at the first sign of trouble. Got it?”
“Got it. Knew you’d see it my way eventually.”
Had he not wanted to remain silent for the sake of stealth, Raphael would’ve laughed at the look on Leonardo’s face, grinning to himself as he made his way to the roof across the way.
~ ~

Erin had never, in the two years she’d been working for Big Apple Communications, thought there would come a day where she would find herself anxious to return to work.
“I miss being at work. The end is supremely freaking nigh.”
A normal week usually entailed having ways to pass the time during her days off, typically by meeting up with friends or even co-workers for dinner or a couple of drinks. On the rare occasions that none of the people she knew were available to meet up, Erin found that she could easily enjoy her work-free days at home with a pint of ice cream and a marathon of whatever TV show she found interesting on Netflix. The only instances in which she’d ever experienced any sort of upset over staying in for a few nights tended to involve either being ill or having something weighing heavily on her mind. Nothing made a girl feel more concerned about her own mental wellbeing like continually agonizing over the idea that she may have hallucinated meeting a giant turtle who sounded like he came from the Lower East Side and had biceps her friend Adam would’ve been envious of.
At the very least she could say that she was creative in her possible insanity.
Erin had hoped to see for certain if her green acquaintance was really real when she’d headed up to the roof during her first night off, passing several hours waiting with a box of pizza and a book to keep her company. It had been disheartening as hell when he hadn’t shown up and it had left her feeling worried by the prospect that maybe she’d just dreamed him up somehow. She’d gone to bed that first night trying to sort out her own thoughts, attempting to rationalize how he might have been real or what might have caused her to think of him if he wasn’t. Her best assumption had something to do with the episodes of the old Beauty and the Beast television series she’d watched a month or so ago. Her rooftop rescuer had neither looked catlike nor had he sounded like Ron Perlman, but the connection was the best she’d been able to sum up before she’d finally passed out. She’d focused her Saturday on trying to keep as busy as possible when she had little to do, spending time on the phone with her mother while making absolutely certain, just in case, not to say a word about her encounter. She’d dragged out her admittedly seldom used floor mat in order to get some use out of the yoga DVD she scarcely remembered she even had. She had scrubbed her bathroom to a near spotless clean and taken her dirty clothes to the Laundromat, folding at least a portion of the clean garments before she picked up some much needed groceries. Erin had kept herself perfectly occupied.
Despite her best efforts, however, her thoughts had gone right back to the turtle and the rooftop. The idea of heading to the top of her building again that night had made her feel wary for a fair few reasons, because she knew it either meant discovering that she’d dreamed up something very bizarre or that she really would meet him again. As much as she hated to admit it, he made her nervous. She supposed it was perfectly normal to feel that way, to be wary of what she didn’t fully understand or what seemed strange to her. How the hell was a person supposed to feel when it came to interacting with a creature that seemed as if they couldn’t logically exist? Especially when said creature seemed to possess one hell of a short fuse regardless of his heroics. He had saved her from becoming a very ugly smear in the alley alongside her apartment building, though granted it was half his fault she’d nearly fallen in the first place.
“Oh for fuck’s sake.”
When Erin had come to realize that she’d begun to beat herself up for being unfairly judgmental of the turtle that had helped her, who she wasn’t even positive was really real, she decided that the remaining laundry left to be folded could wait. As she grabbed her keys, leaving her apartment to head up to the roof via the access stairwell, she resolved to put her worries to rest. If the turtle made no appearance that night then she’d write him off as a product of her imagination and stop fretting over the matter.
“And if he shows up I’ll try not to make an ass of myself.”
She stuffed her hands in to the front pockets of her jeans after she’d slipped through the door, finding that there seemed to be no one on the roof save herself when she stepped in to the faint glow cast by the city lights all around. A car horn blared on the street and she listened to the sound of tires squealing, furrowing her brow in a tense wait for the outcome, keeping away from the street when the lack of an impact noise let her know that a collision had been avoided. It didn’t seem as chilly that evening as it had the last two, but even still she felt goosebumps raising across her exposed arms, deciding that she ought to have thrown a jacket on over her tank top. She didn’t really care enough to go back for a coat, though. Not when it was possible that a certain green somebody might show up while she was off getting her hoodie. While she gave another slow glance around, trying to see if she might be able to spy some figure hiding near the darkest parts of the roof, she wondered what she might even have to say to him if he did come back or for that matter what he might have to say to her. It was difficult to forget how angry he’d initially been, how guarded he’d seemed. Her knowledge of his existence had quite clearly been a problem and it made her curious to know if there were other people like herself who had crossed paths with the turtle. Perhaps there had been someone once before who had spoken freely of their encounter and given him cause to be wary of humans.
Erin found that she could focus less thought on the matter when her phone began to vibrate in one of her back pockets, the chorus of You’re My Best Friend letting her know precisely who was calling. She pulled the device free and answered the call without glancing at the display, smiling all the while.
“What’s up, Jamie?”
“Well, Maddie fell asleep and Theo went out to pick up some stuff to make dinner. I have a nice, quiet apartment all to myself for the next twenty minutes or so.”
“You’re bored to tears, aren’t you?”
“You have no freaking idea. I was hoping Maddie would still want to stay up so I’d have someone to distract me from my stomach grumbling, but she was fussy and tired. So I figured you could entertain me before I resort to eating my own hand off.”
Erin snorted, scuffing her sneaker along the ground before she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, a thumb hooking in to a belt loop.
“You called me just so I could keep your mind off of hunger? Jesus, James. Way to make me feel used.”
“Don’t act like you don’t love it.”
“Pfffffffff. Yeah. Keep dreaming.”
She heard Jamie shifting through the phone, the faint sound of motion against leather letting her know that her friend was most likely seated on her living room couch.
“Have you talked to Annette at all since Friday?”
“No, actually. I’ve been wondering how her date with that blonde chick went.”
“From what I heard, it went really, really well. As in, breakfast together the next morning sort of well. I think they’re hanging out at her place tonight too.”
“Nice! That’s all kinds of awesome. Annette hasn’t had a steady girlfriend in a long damn time.”
“Longer than it’s been since you’ve had a steady boyfriend.”
“Oh lord.”
Erin began to roll her eyes even though her friend couldn’t very well see it through the phone, prepping herself for the usual jabs about her continued ‘single lady’ status. She heard what sounded like a faint cry in the background on Jamie’s end of the line, pumping a fist victoriously at the indication that Madison, Jamie’s ten month old daughter, had woken up somewhat prematurely from her nap.
“Oooohhh. Saved by the baby bell.”
“Yep. Better go and take care of her before you walk in on a crib full of smelly leavings.”
“You’re gross and I hate you, Erin.”
“I’m fantastic and you love me.”
“Whatever makes you feel better. I’ll call you back a little bit later, ‘kay?”
“All right. Bye, James.”
“Bye.”
She lowered the phone from her ear, holding it up before her eyes so she could hit the ‘end call’ button and check the time of the display, wondering if maybe it was a bit too early in the evening for a terrapin visitor to make an appearance. If memory served her correctly then she was fairly certain she’d had her little run in at a slightly later hour given that it’d been right after work.
“Nice to know you didn’t say anythin’ about a turtle.”
Apparently it wasn’t too early.
Erin jolted at the sound of the voice behind her, her phone flying up and out of her hands, squeaking as she fumbled to catch it before it could hit the ground, a sudden possession of butterfingers causing her to bat the cellular from one hand to the other. She sucked in a breath as a hand shot out from behind her quick as a flash, grabbing her phone easily, and she whirled around to face the turtle staring at her with his brows arched. She took a step back, shocked by his seemingly out-of-nowhere arrival and the closeness of him. At least this time she hadn’t been climbing a ladder when he appeared and scared the living daylights out of her.
“You always this clumsy?” he asked, holding her phone out to her.
“No. Apparently it’s something I keep reserved just for when you come around.”
She looked down at the phone and then back up at his face, reaching out with some small degree of caution. While his expression didn’t appear quite so disgruntled, at least not in comparison to their last encounter, he didn’t exactly exude any real hints of friendliness as of yet. She could easily remember his assurances from their last meeting that he would do her no harm, that her mouth would be more dangerous to him than he would be to her, but the fearful anxiety his presence brought wouldn’t go away. How the hell was she supposed to act normal and without hesitance around a big turtle capable of human speech?
“Way to fail at that whole ‘not judging by appearances’ thing, Erin.”
The woman took her cellphone back, sliding it in to her back pocket before moving her hands in to the front pair in an effort to keep her arms from crossing, not when he did so himself in what seemed to be a mildly defensive pose she had no urge to mirror. It seemed as if they both had to get used to one another’s presence, so at the very least she found comfort in the knowledge that she wasn’t the only one feeling somewhat ill at ease.
“So…”
“So?”
“How long exactly have you been up here eavesdropping on my conversation?”
“Long enough to make sure that you weren’t blabberin’ about our little run-in the other night.”
“I told you I wasn’t going to.”
“There’s a difference in sayin’ you’re gonna do somethin’ and actually doin’ it.”
He had a point and she supposed, even if his tendency to show up out of nowhere like a damn ninja and his general inability to have any faith in her was annoying as hell, that she could understand where he was coming from. If she’d been a non-human living in a city full of humans, she was fairly certain she’d strive for going unseen and be more willing to expect the worst out of a total stranger than the best. She tried not to let herself get offended by the fact that he’d essentially been spying on her or that he still believed she would try to sell him out in some way. They were going to have to take baby steps and it did seem a little silly to expect him to give her his trust before he’d even given his name.
“If it makes you feel any better, Big Red, I can let you look through my call history for the past few days, so you can see that I haven’t called a ton of people. Well…there’s a call to my mom, but I made extra certain not to mention anything about you, I promise.”
The look he gave her was somewhat inscrutable and just when she thought he may have been considering either the offer she’d made or the truth in her statements, he took her completely by surprise.
“…Big Red?”
“What? You’re big. You wear a red mask thingie. It seemed to fit better than Big Green anyway and I don’t know what else to call you since you didn’t tell me your name.”
“And Big Red was the best you could come up with? What was your first guess?”
“Speedy.”
The shift across his features from impenetrable seriousness to unamused bafflement threatened to make Erin snicker, so she bit her bottom lip to keep it quiet.
“Seriously?”
“Sorry. I’m not really well versed in names that talking turtles go for.”
“It damn sure ain’t Speedy. Or Swift. Or Shelly. Or anythin’ that stupid.”
“Does that mean we’re going to stick with Big Red then?”
He uncrossed his arms with a huff and though the sound hinted at annoyance, Erin was fairly certain she caught the faintest upward tilt of what nearly became a grin. She’d seen such an expression on his face the other night just before he’d left, still remembering what he’d said to her before he’d disappeared. Maybe doing as he had asked and coming up via the stairs rather than the fire escape had earned her a few brownie points.
“Raphael.”
“Really?”
“Did ya hear me stutter?”
The ghost of a smirk was starting to fade and Erin found herself regretting the loss of it, preferring the indication that he wasn’t all mistrust and irritability. It made him less intimidating and she desperately wanted to stop feeling anxious around him. She knew now beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was one hundred percent real and that he could very well be showing up on her rooftop in the future, if only for the sake of watching his own ass where her knowledge of him was concerned. They’d already gotten off on the wrong foot to an extent, so it seemed that it was up to her to try and bridge the uncomfortable gap; give him a reason to feel more at ease with her being aware of him. She smiled softly, shrugging her shoulders a little.
“No. I heard you loud and clear. Raphael was just the last thing I expected. It’s nice to have a name to go with. To be honest, every time I’d think ‘Big Red’ my brain would start going to chewing gum.”
“Tryin’ to tell me you been thinkin’ about me all day?”
Leave it to a guy, human or apparently otherwise, to take something out of the conversation that would stroke his male ego. He did grin fully, however, and it was wide enough to show the whites of his teeth. Somehow the expression suited him perfectly, even if it made Erin feel the compulsion to jab him with her elbow. Naturally, she refrained from doing so and instead moved to the edge of the roof, leaning back against it, weight braced on her elbows.
“About as much as you’d expect a girl to think about a big, talking turtle who could’ve been a hallucination. Thanks for showing up, by the way. It’s nice to know that I haven’t gone nuts.”
“Shit. Would’ve made things a helluva easier on me if you did think you were off your rocker,” he muttered, amusement fading back to that familiar frustration as he moved to stand beside her at the roof’s edge, looking out over the city.
There was no questioning how troubled he appeared, how the prospect that she could’ve remained in the dark if he hadn’t shown up again that night was likely weighing on him now. That insistent urge to keep her distance from him flared up, mutely willing her to move to the side and away from the temperamental creature she couldn’t quite figure out. They were both walking on eggshells around one another, trying to get a feel for who the other was, how they worked, and more importantly if they were safe to be around. As it stood, Erin knew that of the two of them, he was in more of a position to worry than she was and likely had more to lose, so while the continued flip-flopping of his demeanor from guarded to angry to slightly teasing made her feel a little disoriented, it also made her want to try harder to keep from putting her foot in her mouth. Choosing her words carefully wouldn’t prove anything where showing her trustworthiness was concerned, so honesty and empathy seemed to be what the situation called for. That and perhaps a bit of boldness.
She turned around to face the same way that he was, keeping herself calm when her elbow brushed his, scrunching her nose a bit when her unbound hair flitted across her face; a darker shade of brown in the faint light.
“Raphael.”
“What?”
“I’ve gotta be honest with you. I don’t much care for the thought of being watched or spied on or any of that. But if keeping an eye on me is the only way you can feel reassured that I’m not gonna be a total asshole and try to tell somebody about you then fine. Have at it. Just be aware that I will try very, very hard to kick the ever loving crap out of you if I find out that you peeped on me while I’m changing or something.”
“You serious?”
“Yep.”
“You’re invitin’ me to spy on you?”
“Sure am.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re weird as hell?”
“Said the giant talking turtle.”
He gave her a warning look which she readily countered with a quirked eyebrow, as if daring him to argue about who was the oddest person on the roof that night. When she didn’t look away or cower at the hardness of his stare, she noticed that not only did his expression steadily lose its severity, but that his eyes were brown. Erin hadn’t noticed their color the other night because she’d been so focused on the bizarre circumstance of meeting a human-sized turtle in the first place and thus been more distracted by the green of his skin than the rich color of his eyes. The emotions that she saw expressed in them helped her pay more attention to the way he reacted to what he was experiencing instead of the way he looked. In a way, his appearance even seemed a little less daunting because of that realization.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you givin’ me your blessin’ to keep tabs on you?”
“Because I don’t think you’ll trust that I’m telling the truth unless I do.”
“Again, why? If you ain’t gonna try and make a profit or somethin’ off of tryin’ to convince someone else I exist then why does me trustin’ you matter so damn much?”
“Because you’re going to keep worrying that I’m going to cause you trouble if you don’t trust me. You may have been the reason that I nearly fell off the ladder, but you’re also the reason I didn’t. You wouldn’t have to worry about risks of exposure if you’d just let me fall, but you reached out and grabbed me anyway. I don’t want to hurt anyone. Especially not someone like that.”
He turned away from her, the movement so sudden and so quick that it startled her. Erin would have given anything to know what he was thinking, to have some confirmation if he believed her even a little. Maybe he still thought she had been offering empty promises and pretty words to lull him in to a false sense of security, even if she had meant every word that she’d just said. It was an unpleasant feeling to know that someone expected the worst out of her, but it wasn’t something that she could help on her own. He’d pulled her on to the roof when he could have and should have let her drop. No amount of not understanding what he was or how he came to be was more important than trying to do right by him when had done right by her at the cost of his own peace of mind.
Raphael remained quiet for some time, letting her see his shell rather than his face. Erin decided that it was probably a sign that he likely needed to think on things or maybe that he wanted to leave while feeling unable to with so much yet unresolved. It didn’t seem likely that they would make any further progress that night. Perhaps the best thing she could offer him was an out from the conversation.
“I’m kinda hungry, so I’m gonna go make something to eat. I’ll be back up here again Tuesday night. I work four twelves every week, so I’ve get Tuesdays off too. You already know about Fridays and Saturdays. I guess I’ll just…see you whenever you wanna let me or something.”
Erin made her way back from the edge and towards the door, pausing to look over her shoulder when her fingers met the handle. The turtle was nowhere to be found, having vanished without so much as a goodbye or even a sound to tip her off to his disappearance
“Good night, Raphael.”
~ ~
When Raph reached the other rooftop Leo was still there waiting for him, the concern on his brother’s face making it all too clear that he’d hidden somewhere close by and had heard every word that had been exchanged with Erin.
“Do you believe she’ll keep quiet?” Leo asked for the second time that night.
“Maybe. I dunno.”
“Do you want to believe her?”
Raphael gave him an honest answer.
“Yeah. I do.”

A/N: Off to a bit of a rocky start, aren’t they? But hey, slow progress is still progress. :)
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Rooftop