Raph, Vern and I all watch as Gin tumbles to the ground. Vern is the first to react. He is by her side quickly, pulling her up from the ground and holding her up.
"Did she just faint?" he asks, almost in shock.
"I'm not surprised. I would faint too, if I saw me." Raph says. I give him a look. He knows how I feel about his self depreciation. I take his hand in mine, and he looks at our intertwined hands before a small smile curves at the corners of his mouth. Suddenly, he's a human again.
"Raph..." I say gently. "Don't speak about yourself like that."
He raises his hands into the air in mock surrender, releasing his grip from mine.
"What? It's true."
Vern carries Gin over to the couch and lays her down. Generally it takes one minute for someone who fainted to wake up, so we waited it out.
After about half a minute later, Gin's eyes flutter open. She blinks hard and looks straight at Vern, who is kneeling next to her on the couch.
"What happened?" she mumbles. I swallow and decide to be the one to talk.
"You saw Raphael and fainted from shock." I explain. She looks at me now, and suddenly she becomes apologetic. She should be apologetic. She thought I was on drugs. She massages her temples for a second before looking at the human Raphael.
"You...?" she splutters out. "How?"
"My brother is testing something out." Raph says, his voice sounding detached. "I think there may have been some complications in his experiment. What you just saw back there, that's the real me. So go ahead. Faint again." he turns his back and heads to the fire escape window for air. My eyes flick from his back to Gin who swallows hard.
"I...I think I need to- to go home..." she stands up, seemingly afraid out of her boots. When Raph turns around, she flinches slightly and steps back, which doesn't go unnoticed by him. He turns back around, his back muscles tensing. I notice how the skin on his neck scales up slightly, a green tint to it, and my heart tightens. He's starting to feel inhuman again. "I'm gonna have some chamomile tea..." Gin carries on, stepping towards the door, "...and, uh, look for a new place to stay." she says, grabbing her back quickly and heading out.
"Gin, wait!" Vern springs into action, jogging after her and leaving the door open. I make my way towards Raphael, treading softly so that he barely hears me. When I'm behind him, I place my hand on his back, and he sucks in a sharp breath, his back muscles tensing even more. He turns his head away from me so that I don't see his face.
"Hey..." I say softly, trailing my hand towards his upper arm and gripping it softly. I crane my neck to try to see his face, but he keeps it hidden from me. "You okay?" I ask.
He swallows hard. "Yeah." he lies, but the silence from my end indicates that I definitely do not believe him. "...no." he eventually says, and I notice that his neck is now free of scales and completely human. "I know you think this is some miracle, but it's taking a hard toll on me. I don't expect you to understand... I just can't deny that I'm a hideous sewer freak by nature."
I softly remove my hand from his arm and hold his chin softly, gently turning his face towards me. When I look into his eyes I don't see the turtle, and I don't see the human either. I just see Raphael. "But you're not hideous." I say tenderly, using my thumb to gently caress his chin. "When I look at you, I don't see a turtle, and I don't see a human. I see you. And I kissed you."
He releases a tiny, breathy chuckle. "So you admit that you kissed me?"
A tiny smile flicks across my lips. "Maybe not before, but now..." my eyes flick to his lips quickly, but before I can kiss him, he scoops me up and holds me close, kissing me with raw passion and want. I return the momentum of the kiss, until we hear a voice at the door.
