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Raphael was, by far, the most overprotective of the brothers. At least when it came to your safety. Every since the foot clan had found out about your involvement with them, he hadn't allowed you to go out alone. You spent more time with the four of them down in their home than you did above ground these days.
But of course you couldn't stay down there forever. There were things that you needed to do above ground and also things that had to be bought: like pizza, since the phone lines were down and Mikey's favorite pizzeria didn't have online ordering.
Still, this didn’t mean Raphael was going to back down over the ‘overprotective bordering on overbearing’ thing. So while you were in the store waiting to pick up your order, he was on the roof of the adjacent building watching out for you.
You could feel his eyes with every move you made and rather than be irritated by it, you felt oddly warm and pleased. Raph was always a bad ass that liked to be cool and aloof or aggressive and intimidating. Yet with you he was willing to cast those facades aside and be the sweetheart he truly was underneath all that. He was cool, he was tough, but he was also the most wonderful and loving guy you'd ever met.
You looked over towards the adjacent building and though you couldn't see him, you could feel him. It made you smile and you blew him a kiss that you knew he'd be able to see.
***
He hated having you so far away, even under his ever watchful eye. After the foot clan had found out about you they had wasted no time in trying to use you to their advantage against the 'vigilantes'. It had been a very near miss with them getting there just in time to put the hurt on the bastards. You had laughed it off with his brothers, but he couldn't find any humor in the situation.
You were in danger every second you spent above ground and he was determined not to let anything happen to you, no matter how much you insisted that you could take care of yourself. It didn't matter to him that you were trained, or that you had found a way to beat him in combat… the thought of just how you had managed that was distracting and wonderful. He had to shake himself out of that memory to keep from losing focus.
The last thing he needed was distraction while you were down below.
The only reason you even had to leave the hideout for this pizza run was because the phone had inexplicably stopped working. He had an inkling you may have had something to do with it just for an excuse to be out an about. You had been far too quick to offer when Mikey had delivered the 'horrifying' news.
So Donnie was working on the phone while Raphael made sure you didn't get yourself in trouble. He wouldn't put it passed the foot clan to jump out of nowhere the moment they let you out of their sights. It wasn't like they were just going to give up after being thwarted a couple of times.
The very first attempt on you they had made had been in broad daylight on the street. They'd surrounded you and the innocent bystanders that had the misfortune of being nearby. Thankfully you had managed to slip away down an alley and into the sewers, but the incident still haunted him none-the-less. If Master Splinter hadn't put his foot down about going out during the day Raphael would have rushed up there and beat every last one of those thugs right into the ground.
The second attempt the Foot Clan had made was in your own home. They’d shown up in the middle of the night thinking to catch you off guard and alone. However, the boys had already decided to keep an eye on you and Donnie had setup surveillance just to be on the safe side. Then lo and behold there came the footclan to make another attempt at getting their hands on you.
Just thinking about it set his blood on fire.
"Hey, bro!" Mikey's sudden appearance nearly made Raph topple over in shock.
"Mikey!" He tried to look like he hadn't been caught off-guard. You really were a distraction! "What are you doing here?"
"You guys are taking foreeeeeever." He whined and went to lean over against the railing to stare down into the pizzeria.
Raphael rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, she had to wait in line." He caught Mikey waving and couldn’t help but sigh. "What are you doing?"
"She's looking up here!" His brother explained and Raph peered down to check on you.
He caught your smile aimed in his direction and felt a jolt in his chest that warmed him. Though, of course, he had to act like it was nothing since his brother was there. “She can't see us up here, Mikey."
You blew him a kiss right on the tailend of that statement and Mikey fell over. "I think she can see me!"
That incensed Raph right away, though really he was more flustered than angry. "It's for me, you idiot!"
Mikey latched onto that bit of information like a starving leech. "Woah! When did you two hook up?"
"None of your business." Raphael stated evasively and turned away to keep watch over you.
"Come on bro~" Mikey coaxed, leaning so that he was partially in the way of his brother’s view. "I'd tell you when I hooked up!"
Raph snorted. "That's not saying much, you'd be telling anyone and everyone you could."
"Pfft, duh! Cause it'd be a huge compliment to my girl." He went back to leaning against the wall. "Girls love that kind of thing."
That caught Raphael off guard. "T-they do?"
"Of course!" Mikey made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"And what makes you such an expert anyway? It's not like you even have a girl."
"No, but I watch a loooooot of TV."
Raph was quiet for a moment. Mikey DID watch a lot of TV…
***
Mikey could hardly wait to start peppering you with questions. How long had you and Raph been a thing? Why didn’t you tell him about it? Did he have cute nicknames for when you were alone?
That one made you laugh and he bounced on his heels as he turned to walk backwards to talk to you. “Come on? Does he?”
Raph made a swing for him with a throaty growl, but Mikey dodged and snickered. “I’d totally give you a nickname.”
“Really now?” You played along, smiling as Raphael got angrier at his brother’s teasing. “Just between you and me,” you paused as he leaned eagerly towards you and nearly tripped on a rock. “I have a few I use for Raph.”
“Like what?” He was super excited to hear this and it amused the hell out of you.
“Well,” you dragged out the word knowing full well what Raph would do.
He grunted and put a hand over your mouth, looking more than a little flustered at the thought of you telling his brother some of the things you called him when you were alone.
“Must be good.” Mikey snickered as you pulled Raph’s hand away with a roll of your eyes.
“If he gets into trouble I might just tell ya.” You shot off with a pointed look at your beau.
He sent you a sour glance in response that made both you and his brother laugh.
The rest of the family was waiting when the three of you came around the bend. “There you are,” Leo called out with a smile from the couch. “We were starting to think you weren’t coming.”
Mikey beelined for the table after relieving Raph of the pizza boxes. You started to follow but Raphael took hold of your hand forcing you to stop and turn back towards him. He had a look about him that you didn’t expect, like he was steeling himself up for something as he stood there gazing at his family. He dropped his gaze to you for a moment and you smiled at him, hoping that it might encourage him towards whatever it was he was wanting to say.
He pulled you close and stated in no uncertain terms to his brothers and father: “She’s my girl.”
You were startled by his sudden declaration, but undeniably pleased. He had never really seemed the type to just outright announce something like that.
“Aww, how cute!”
Raph bristled immediately. “Can it, Mikey!”