Chapter Text
Raph had quickly learned that high school was not a comedy from the 80s. Which was a shocker for him and his brothers, but he still took it over being in the sewers any day. Maybe because there were so many mutants living with them now or maybe he just liked branching out away from his brothers. Whatever it was, he preferred it. But school? School work was an unanticipated, mind numbing, soul crushing, incredibly punchable, factor he hadn’t taken into consideration.
Not that it really mattered, no matter what Splinter said. Mutants didn’t go to college. Mutants didn’t get hired for jobs. Sure, his brothers would probably say, the world’s constantly changing, look at us! We’re in high school now. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
Raph felt weird about it. Like all of it could be ripped from his hands at any moment. Like the universe would knock him down, kick him right back to the sewer and he’d lose it all.
So, he had to stay light on his feet. He had to be ready for anyone, anything that’ll try to take him down. The stored-up energy inside of, constantly burning to be let out.
He leaned back, fidgeting with his hands as he sat in the bleachers, looking out onto the hard floor of the gym. He was practically shaking; he needed to get out there and just be in control for once.
“Dude, you need to take a breath,” Donnie commented from beside him, not looking up from his phone.
“I’m fine,” Raph rolled his eyes, “I just need to get out there and kick ass.”
“The therapist told you to practice your breathing,” Donnie frowned, looking up for once, “It might help.”
Raph hardly had time to come up with a retort as the teacher standing below them yelled out, “Raphael Hamato, Casey Jones, you're up.”
Hamato was a name that Splinter had picked. Apparently, you had to have last names to go to school or something. Legal documents were weird.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Raph grinned, wringing his hands together, “See you after this Donnie.”
“M’kay, but don’t forget later-”
“Yeah, yeah, practice the breathing or whatever.”
Raph hopped over the seats, eager to make it to the floor as soon as he could.
He walked up to the mat and found opposite to him a boy a little shorter than him in a black tank top with bandages wrapped tightly around his hands, blood staining a few of his knuckles. His hair was cut into a curly wolf cut and kept away from his face with a bandanna. He smirked slightly, a determined look on his face as the referee started the timer.
Raph lunged first, and almost immediately the other boy - Casey Jones he remembered later - dodged, sweeping his feet before he could even realize what happened. Raph hissed in pain briefly before pulling himself up, tackling Casey to the floor. He heard the referee start to count but Casey has already shoved him off, pinning him down before he can do anything. His hair is a bit messed up and his breathing is a bit off but the determined confident look on his face is enough for Raph to come undone.
Up close he could also see his piercings and eyeliner which wasn’t helping. He didn’t even realize the referee counting, confirming his first loss since he’d started wrestling until Casey is no longer pinning him to the ground and instead, reaching out a hand to help him up.
Raph took his hand in a daze, letting himself be pulled up effortlessly.
“Better luck next time Hamato,” Casey smiled mischievously, grabbing his hoodie and bag from the bleachers as he walked away, leaving Raph to simply gawk at whatever the fuck just happened.
“You okay?” Donnie asked after making his way down from the bleachers and throwing Raph his bag, “I’ve never seen you give up before.”
“Give up?” Raph said, pulled out of his trance, eyes snapping to Donnie as he caught his backpack, “I didn’t give up.”
“He had you pinned for a good while and I did not once see you try to change that,” Donnie frowned before his eyes widened in realization, “Holy shit, are you into him?”
“What?” Raph squawked, as they pushed open the doors to the gym making their way out of the school, “I am not into him!”
Donnie raised an eyebrow at him, “Mhm, and because you have absolutely no attraction to him you let him pin you down and just stared at him like some newfound beauty.”
“He literally just insulted me,” Raph grumbled.
Donnie just shrugged, “Maybe you’re into that kinda thing as well, who am I to say.”
Raph felt heat rise to his face. A different kinda heat from the one caused by his pent-up energy. It felt more- embarrassed.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Raph huffed, as they walked out the back of the school where Leo and Mikey were waiting.
“Donnie usually does know what he’s talking about,” Mikey unhelpfully added, hopping down from the railing he’d been balancing on, ignoring Raph’s glare, “What happened this time?”
“Raph lost a fight to this emo boy and now he’s simping over him,” Donnie explained quickly before Raph could stop him, “Dude pushed him to the ground and Raph literally didn’t do anything and lost.”
“It’s just practice! It doesn’t actually matter if you win,” Raph huffed, as they walked towards the nearest train station a block away from the school.
“You would not have said that last week,” Donnie rolled his eyes.
“Definitely sounds like a crush,” Mikey agreed.
“Yeah, I don’t know man, sounds like a pretty bad crush,” Leo shrugged apologetically as they made their way down onto the platform.
“You have no place to speak,” Donnie exclaimed, as the train rushed past, wind pushing against them, “You’re so damn smitten over April it’s insane!”
Raph smirked as Leo stuttered trying to defend himself.
Raph’s brothers had always known he liked guys. Which was frustrating because he remembered one time, he’d blurted it out when they were all chatting before bed when the stress of them not knowing felt too big to contain and they’d all said they already knew. Leo had already come out as bisexual the year previous, and they'd all known that Leo was trans at a very early age, so he knew they’d all be fine about him. He appreciated their support of course, but it still wasn’t something he enjoyed talking about.
Crushes were stupid. And dumb. And he was a mutant on top of being gay, what were the fucking chances anyone would even give him a chance?
Raph watched as his brothers clamored on to the crowded train. The people around them eyeing them up and down suspiciously, moving way too carefully around them. Raph clenched his fists, trying to ignore the looks and focus on whatever joke Mikey was telling.
-
Raph watched as his pencil dug into the feeble wood of the desk. He’d found that public school desks were quite the landscape. Gum stuck to the bottom as well as in the inside of it next to lost papers and pencils. The surface was covered in sharpie doodles and scratches. That part was admittedly Raph’s fault.
But biology was boring, and he needed something to do with his hands, so. Was the school really allowed to suspend him for scratching up desks? He highly doubted it.
Donnie would probably agree with him, they’d literally saved New York City and the city was letting them go to attend classes at Eastman High. Leo would probably tell him not to be too careful and to respect school property. Mikey would probably give him paper to doodle on.
Shit why hadn’t he been using paper this whole time. Fuck, whatever. It didn’t matter anyway. The desk was already ruined from all the gum. At least he hadn’t stuck gum to the desk. That was just fucking gross.
“Hey, is this seat taken?” a voice said from next to him, hand resting on the chair next to him.
Raph looked up to see the Casey Jones boy whom he’d met (read: got his ass kicked by) the previous day. He was wearing a huge hoodie, low rise cargo pants, and black fingerless gloves. His eyeliner was also slightly smudged but somehow it just made him look more rugged and cool. Objectively speaking.
“What,” Raph said as his brain tried to catch up with the situation.
Casey smirked, sitting down anyway, “You’re really fucking up that desk y’know.”
Raph glared at him, face heating up with embarrassment, “Do you have to sit here?”
“No,” Casey shrugged, turning back to look at the board as the teacher explained cell cycles or something. Raph wasn’t really following to begin with. Especially not now that Casey was sitting like six inches away from him for no goddamn reason other than to piss him off.
Casey seemed like the kind of person who’d do that. He was too confident. His fake politeness that was used purely to egg him on. He knew exactly what he was doing, sitting there all innocent, face resting in his palms as he tapped his shoes against the floor.
Casey’s eyes flitted back to him after a while, and he quickly looked away. His pencil lead snapped unexpectedly. Fuck. He already knew he didn’t have a sharpener. Not that it mattered, he wasn’t taking notes. But now there was nothing to keep his hands and thoughts occupied.
He thought about asking Casey for one for about five seconds before immediately deciding against it. Casey would just take that as an opportunity to talk to him again and then his head would be filled with smirks and smudged eyeliner for the next three days. It’d be awful.
Raph opted for fidgeting with his sleeves until the bell rang and Casey turned to him, waving cheekily as he said, “See you at practice Hamato.”
Raph watched him walk away in the opposite direction. Yep. He was officially screwed.