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The skin of his knuckles burst on impact the moment he throws his fist into the solid jaw of the Purple Dragon, a spray of blood shared between them both, the human man goes staggering backwards, his head bounces hard against the brick wall of the alleyway, a breath stolen from him in a gasp as he crumples to the floor, sprawled out among the garbage bags that have been left there.
Raph huffs, sucking in desperate mouthfuls of air, his tongue darts out to swipe across his busted lip. An explosion of copper dances along the inside of his mouth before he swallows it down, using the last of his strength to move forward, ham fisting the front of the guys shirt to yank him upwards like a rag doll.
“You better beat it,” Raph says through gritted teeth. The sky above them groans, growing dark and grey in an instant, the turtle shrugs off the first few droplets of water that bounce off his shell. “Before I beat you some more.”
The Purple Dragon goes to say something, no doubt some snarky remark before he’s thinking better of it, letting his head loll forwards on his shoulders, his body shakes and he makes a pathetic little whimpering sound.
When Raphael lets him go, he stumbles back down again before he’s peeling himself up off the floor to make a break for it out of the alley. Raph waits until he’s out of sigh to slump down where he was once sat, catching his breath in sharp, ragged breaths, he spits only once to rid his mouth of the foul taste of blood that was lingering at the back of his throat.
A couple of busted ribs, is what he concludes after some tender prodding and poking, a hiss escaping him as he retreats his hand from his aching side.
Don was no doubt going to hound him about this (and he didn’t blame him, really. He hated playing medic when it was necessary but Raph going out to purposely get his ass beat…)
And Leo. Leo was probably going to be giddy with excitement, thinking of all the ways father could punish him for his silly little rendezvous.
Mike would take no notice but still manage to push all those buttons of his.
He slowly tries to stand except his head begins to swim and he finds himself back on the floor again, black dots dancing about the edges of his vision.
Rain comes down harder and heavier and beyond the pokey little alleyway he’d found himself in, he can hear the sound of rushing footsteps and shrill voices as the occupants of the city seak refuge from the onslaught of unpredictable weather.
Raph tips his head back and let’s the icy water drip down his neck and down his shell.
He should get going — there was a chance he could just pass out on the spot which wouldn’t bode well for the whole ninja thing they had going on. Trust him to get caught on top of getting a butt kicking.
That would really just make his brother's day, huh?
He attempts to stand again, slower this time, it allows all the blood to gradually snake around his veins as opposed to just rushing to head all at once, the dark dots finally clear and he’s able to stand up straight without wobbling, he only makes it about a step and a half before he hears the sound of rustling garbage and a rather pathetic whimpering.
Whimpering that isn’t coming from him, that is.
Raph pauses. Footsteps in the other end of the alley die down as the people find their shelter. A brief moment of silence in such a usual sound of chaos and—
There it is again: the whimper.
Raph moves forward, as much as he can anyway; his lungs begin to burn and fizz at the pain radiating around his chest. Something he just knows he’s gonna have to pester Don about now when he gets home, but right now a couple of broken bones was the least of his worries.
At the far end of the alley where it’s too dark for the street lamps to cast shadows upon, something moves amongst the trash, calling out to him with a whine, Raph goes still as he watches it emerge towards him.
There in the wet, dirty alley is a dog; head bowed low with a certain nervousness and gray tail tucked tight between her hind legs, Raph isn’t so sure what to do as he stands there amid some spontaneous stand-off, it’s the dog that moves first, dark, wet nose twitching as she seemingly sniffs him out.
“Hey now,” Raph finds himself saying out loud. His voice sliding out of him like gravel, it doesn’t do much to deter himself for her as she makes her way gingerly towards him, still sniffing and still keeping her tail tight to her body.
“I, uh. I ain’t got no treats,” Raph tells her, hoping that it’ll somehow shoo her away like she’d understand at all.
It doesn’t. She looks at him like he isn’t a hulking, green mutant and tips her head sideways, floppy little ears swaying to the left, Raph sighs as he feels his chest twist up with something other than broken rib pain.
“Aw geez,” he hisses. “Go on now. Get lost, alright?”
He waves a hand at her but she refuses to budge.
Raph narrows his eyes at the dog; no doubt she was a pitbull of sorts, maybe in her senior years given the peppering of gray fur around her eyes and snot — the rest of her was a silky gray color. Her eyes were dark yet knowing.
She was also favoring her front left paw, holding the other one a half inch off the ground which wasn’t great news.
The turtle sighs. The dog dips her head towards him rather understandingly.
“Guess we both got a lil busted up tonight, huh?”
The dog says nothing in response. Mostly because it was just a dog. The non-mutant kind.
Raphael huffs. “I guess it’s good news for you that I know a pretty decent doctor,” he tells her pointedly as he shuffles his way towards the manhole cover. “Though, don’t tell him I called him that. He’s a little peculiar over the whole doctor versus scientist thing.”
With somewhat of a struggle, Raph is able to slide the manhole cover sideways, allowing himself a big enough gap to squeeze himself and the dog down with him.
Climbing down the sewer tunnel was proving difficult enough with his injury, but logging around a dog on his shoulders also wasn’t exactly a walk in the park either.
“Quit squirimin’” he tells her sharply as she tries to wiggle free the moment his feet touch ground again. He lets her down, careful not to knock himself, she does the same, hovering her paw above the floor, she looks to him for direction.
“You outta not be so trusting, y’know.” He says, voice low. “I could’ve eaten ya.” He nods. “S’probably what got your paw so busted in the first place.”
He starts walking (more like a slow zombie-like shuffle but she follows regardless.)
“At least with my injuries,” he continues, “mine wasn’t from being so trusting.” His lips quirk into a small grin. “Mine came from not being trusting enough .”
Stagnant sewer water drips from the overhead storm drains in rivets. It smells filthy down here yet he’s pretty accustomed to it. The dog too, doesn’t seem all that fazed herself, despite her heightened sense of smell.
“C’mon. My place ain’t so far from here. We’ll get you dried off and warm and maybe my brother Mike’ll have something somewhat edible for ya.”
The dog happily trots along at his side, her nose every now and then brushing across his leg as she turns to look up towards him just to make sure he was still walking right beside her.
She does it all the way home, keeping up with his even with her bad paw and his bad ribs, Raph seems to have made it back home without creating total hell and chaos because Donnie doesn’t look all too concerned when he strolls in through the entrance.
Not until he notices the dog and the way Raph seems to be clutching his side, he moves in an instant, face pulled taut with concern, he asks him with a stern voice,
“Oh man. What did you do this time, Raph?”
Raphael has no time to really actually explain himself because Mikey is bounding through the room with all the energy of a tornado, he stops dead in his tracks to gasp at the dog, eyes lighting up in an instant, he’s already bouncing on the balls of his feet when he says, voice all high and pitchy like it always is when he gets a tad overexcited.
“Oh my gosh ! Is that a puppy?”
Donnie has already worked on guiding Raph out of the entrance towards his lab, setting him down on the chair with a slight shove, he’s silent as he searches through his med kit box, Mikey on the other hand is rambling through about a million questions a minute, crouched down at her level, he uses a finger to scratch at the underneath of her jaw, she seems to enjoy the attention, Raph sighs.
“Not so much a puppy,” he tells him. Don has found the antiseptic wipes and begins dabbing it across Raph’s brow bone, it stings a little before it dulls again. Raph hasn’t even noticed he’d been hit there until now but he sure knows about it now. “But she’s hurt. So, uh. If you don’t mind, Donnie.”
Donnie looks up to share a rather pointed loom with his brother. “Well I suppose adding veterinarian to my resume is indeed rather impressive whilst also incorrect, I guess I could have a look.” He lifts his gaze to glance over at where she quietly sits in the corner of the room. “Looks like it might just be a strain.”
Raph nods. Donnie silently tends to him as Mikey continues to coo, his voice going all high and pitchy like it often does when he’s talking to the animal kind, Raph is about to remind him to keep it down, because the last thing he wants now is for—-
“Hey.” Leo appears in the doorway, like he’s about to ask a totally unrelated question, he stops, face pinching with confusion as he eyeballs Raph and the dog in slow succession.
“Uh. What’s this?”
Mikey beams up at him, half his face taken up by the grin that’s stretched across his lips, he tells him,
“Raphie got me a puppy.”
Raph sighs. “She ain’t a puppy,” he grumbles.
Taking a step forwards into the lab, Leo’s arms automatically cross over his chest, his look of confusion reconstructs itself into one that’s more stern and unbudging, he gives Raph a rather pointed look.
“You know we can’t have animals down here, Raphael.”
Raph scoffs. Donnie is done patching up the cut on his face, moving towards his knuckles with the alcohol wipes, Raph braces himself as pain itches up the backs of his hands as he starts dabbing the material against the broken skin there.
“I know,” he says gruffly. “I only brought her here cos she’s hurt,” he explains.
Leo narrows his eyes at him: accusatory.
“And why are you hurt?” He presses. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything!” He squawks at his brother. Donnie tuts and shakes his head, holding his hands still, he mutters something under his breath that Raph doesn’t hear.
“So what, I just bashed a couple of Dragon skulls together,” Raph then adds with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. “Better than what you guys are doing with your thumbs up your asses.”
A beat of silence, Donnie gives him a very sarcastic look.
“Thanks, Raphael. Real nice.”
Raph shrugs again. “Just sayin’. I’m just trying to make the city a better place.”
Mikey, who is still poring all his attention into the dog, snorts a laugh, not bothering to look up as he pitches his head forward and kisses at her muzzle.
“Okay Batman. ”
Leo then rounds his attention onto him.
“Mike. Hey. Get away from her,” he says, unfolding his arms to tap at his shoulder. Mikey, as always, ignores him in favor of giving her more kisses. “You don’t know what she has. Or is like. She could rip your face off.”
Donnie looks over, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly to reveal a small grin.
“Yeah, she’s a real monster, huh?”
Leo deadpans his brother. “Okay well when he gets attacked, you can be the one to deal with him.”
Both Raph and Donnie say at the same time,
“Touché.”
Mikey, entirely oblivious to the conversation around him, turns around to face his brothers. “Hey. Do we have any peanut butter in the kitchen?”
Leo shrugs. “I dunno. You’re the cook.”
Mikey grins, all dopey like. “Oh yeah. Be right back.”
He rushes off, leaving the dog sat alone in the corner in the room, Leo studies her properly now.
“She’s an old thing, huh?”
Raph lets Don wrap his knuckles, pressing the fabric tight to his skin, it appears his brother hadn’t quite noticed the broken ribs just yet. He thinks about it for a second. Maybe he won’t tell him about it, not if he’s in enough trouble already that is.
“Yeah,” Raph agrees, watching as his brother crosses the room to look at the dog as he’d promised. “For sure she’s a stray.”
Donnie tends to her paw, Leo throws Raph a look over his shoulder.
“We’ll call April in the morning. Find her a good shelter.”
Raph hums.
“Yep. Looks like a strain,” Donnie concludes after just a few minutes of looking. “I’ll keep it wrapped. She can sleep on the couch tonight. Someplace warm and dry outta do her some good.”
It’s then that Mikey returns to the room with a half empty jar of peanut butter held under his arm, his fingers are sticky and covered in the substance.
“Oh. Oh that is so gross,” Leo says, making a face.
“What?” Mikey says innocently. “Little homeless dog gets her first ever treat? C’mere girl.”
He holds his peanut butter covered hand out to which her nose starts twitching back and forth and her pink tongue starts to lap out of her mouth a few times as if to taste the air beforehand.
Then, after a few careful moments of consideration does she move forward to have a taste.
“Careful,” Leo says in a quiet voice. “Mind your fingers, Mike.”
Donnie scoffs, a playful look flashing across his face.
“Will you quit it? She’s a dame, Leo. She isn’t dangerous otherwise she would have bitten me when I checked her leg out.”
Leo actually hmphs and crosses his arms back over his plastron again.
“Can’t blame me for worrying that’s all,” he says in defense.
It’s then that Raph decides to make his move, sliding off the chair, he’s careful not to pull a face when he side twinges.
“I, uh. I’m gonna go rest up,” he tells his brothers as he stands in the middle of the room, trying not to look totally stiff. “Watch some TV.”
Donnie moves to clear up his med kit box.
“Well you can take your dog with you. No animals inside the lab, please.”
Mikey looks up. “What about Splinter? Does he count?”
Donnie glares at him in a way that Mikey doesn’t ask a second time.
***
Raph settles into the corner of the couch, only able to get comfy for a few moments until the pain starts eating away at him again, this time a little more intense as he shuffles around to try and relive it.
It only gets worse when Mikey flops down on the other side with a giggle, jolting the entire couch a good inch forward, Raph growls at his brother.
“Mike!”
Mikey, halfway to being upside down, rights himself carefully, looking a little sheepish, he apologizes.
The dog has followed him into the room, standing by Raph’s feet, she stares at him, as if to communicate something.
“Aww,” Mikey coos, melting at the sight of her like a big puppy himself. “She loves you, Raphie. Ain’t she the cutest?”
Raph grunts in response. He’s hurting too bad to deal with annoying brothers and stray dogs, he focuses his attention on the television.
“Come on,” Mikey says, patting the space between them with his hand. “Up you come, up you come.”
Raph goes to argue that there really wasn’t enough space for two mutant turtles and a dog but it’s too late. She gains the confidence to leap up onto the couch, nudging into Raph, he hisses under his breath and she stills, having heard it.
Mikey, having not heard it, pets her head, trying to gain her affection to come sit with him instead, his efforts are futile as she curls up at Raph’s side, her wet nose brushing against his bruised ribs.
He turns, trying to discreetly shove her away, she refuses to budge. She presses herself forward, emitting a tiny little whining noise.
It’s then of course that Leo comes back, closely followed by Donnie, they’re watching the TV for a second before they notice what the dog is up to.
“Is she alright?” Mikey asks, moving closer towards them, it presses the dog closer to his bad ribs and Raph tries not to make a sound but something a little strangled happens in the back of his throat that he tries to cover with a cough.
Leo’s brow ridge twitches upwards. “Are you alright?”
Raph clenches his jaw. Tries to look as neutral as possible.
“Yeah,” he lies.
The dog whimpers and nudges her head forward again. Damn thing. Donnie steps forward.
“Are… are you hurt?” He asks.
Raph swears he feels all the blood rush to his cheeks at once. Thankfully, being green helps quell such embarrassments like blushing. He just shrugs his shoulders half heartedly.
“Raph.” Leo presses.
“She’s gonna rat you out either way,” Mikey says, a grin sprawled across his face. “You helped her, now she’s helping you.”
“Cute,” Raph grunts.
“C’mon,” Donnie says with a nod of his head. “Lemme see. What’s the damage here?”
Raph sighs, slowly standing, he makes a little noise, not too little enough to go unnoticed, Don’s face goes taut.
“Your ribs?” He only has to ask once.
Raph hesitates before nodding solemnly.
“C’mon then,” Donnie says with a sigh, in no means is he actually annoyed by this, but Raph knows he likes to put on a bit of a song and dance when he practices out his “not so much a doctor”-doctor skills.
Raph goes with his brother to have his torso poked and prodded, all while the dog decides to tag along, heeling by his foot, she watches Raph with her big, round watery eyes as Donnie concludes his investigation.
“Yup. I’d say they’re broken alright. Which means bed rest.” He gives Raph a rather pointed look; the kind that offers no room for arguing. “And I mean it. No Raph-Activities. You need rest for a good few weeks at least.”
Raphael sighs, running a hand over his jaw, contemplating whether or not if it were a good idea to argue with his brother on this one.
But the purple banded turtle is already quirking his lips into a smile. He nods his head towards the dog that hasn’t moved by his side since they came in here.
“But I wouldn’t worry too much. You’ll have good company that isn’t Mikey playing nurse 24/7.”
Raph huffs, even if the action makes him wince a little. “Great,” he says, entirely unenthusiastic.
Raph knows Leo said not to get attatched and… well. He looks down at his new friend, wetly nudging his calf with her nose, as if prompting him to show her the bed they’re about to share for the next week and a half because she just knows she’s struck gold here and so Raph manages to bend down and ruffle the space between her ears and grins.
Maybe he’s struck some of that gold himself, he thinks. Maybe a couple of broken ribs aren’t so bad after all.