Raphril - First Snowfall

April had always hated winter. Winter meant snow and snow meant having to take the subway or God-forbid Vern in his Fenwick Express (insert eye-roll here) instead of her beloved bike, which became two wheeled suicide on the slick icy streets and sidewalks of New York. The bitter cold made her fingers and toes numb and having to pay ridiculous amount for heat that she couldn’t afford even with her new job. So, instead, she’d have to cover her windows in blankets and curl up with another twenty on her couch or bed and pray for a mild winter.

The only upside was this year, she wasn’t alone. Hoping he was available to share in her misery, she phoned him up. Hearing his thick masculine voice on the other end still made her spine tingle. Even after being with him romantically for almost an entire year still hadn’t lessened the physical reaction even something as simple as his voice gave her.

"Can you some over?" she asked.

"Sure. Be there in twenty." he replied gruffly before she heard the dial tone.

As she put her phone back on the counter she was leaning on, she allowed herself to watch the white snowflakes fall to the ground. She was reminded when she was a child how she would stare at it for hours. Just mesmerized how just drops of frozen water could be so extraordinarily beautiful. She recalled wanting to do nothing more than run outside and just dance and twirl in the falling snow but living in a New York apartment in a busy area of downtown made that dream impossible.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a rap on her kitchen window. Her smile already on her face as she walked to the window and quickly opened it. He gracefully lumbered through and she quickly shut the window behind him.

"That was fast." she commented as she turned around to see him brushing off the snow from his shoulders. "Damn it, Raph! Don’t you at least have a coat you could have worn? You’re gonna catch your death out there!"

“‘S okay. Not too bad.” he mumbled in reply. “Running here kept me plenty warm.”

April didn’t bother to hide her eye roll as she huffed at his answer. “Don’t do it, again, okay?” She threatened, her finger waving close to his plastron.

Raphael did nothing but smirk at her pouted lips and furrowed eyebrows. In a blink of an eye, he had grabbed her around her waist and pressed her against him. She squeaked softly as his lips pressed insistently against his before she completely melted into his arms, her own circling his neck and pressing herself closer into him.

After a few moments, their kisses slowed until stopping and she reluctantly pulled herself from his warmth.

"Hey, go get dressed." Raph said suddenly.

April did nothing but eye him curiously as she tried to absorb what he said. “What?” she asked.

"Jus’ do it. Come on." he continued.

Not knowing what else to do or how to get out of it, she walked to her bedroom and changed out of her pajamas into her winter wear complete with jacket, boots, hat, and a red knitted scarf Raph had made, atop her black denim jeans and thick gray sweater.

After walking out from the room, she found herself thrown into his arms and him lumbering back out her apartment window. He quickly shut it behind him and made their way to the roof of the building. When he placed her on her feet on top of the roof, she wanted to scream at him to take her back inside. But seeing his smile made her words die in her throat. She saw the boyish smirk and saw his eyes light up as the snow continued to flurry down from the sky and saw him valiantly containing his excitement. It wasn’t like Mikey, who would be already dancing and doing flips in the white flakes — it was Raph and he contained it.

It dawned on her that before last year, they had never left the sewers. Their only tickets to surface life had been through storm grates and manhole covers. Seeing snow falling was probably something he had never been able to witness and there was still so much that was new to him — to all of them. She smiled at him and suddenly had a new appreciation for the first snowfall of the season. She’d be sharing it with them — with him — and couldn’t wait to relish in the new experience. Her new life with her family.

In moments, she realized Raph had picked her up and in a heartbeat, spun her around. She squealed in delight at his antics,  her hands resting on his shoulders as she looked up into the sky, witnessing the small flakes as they made their descent down to the earth below. The magical feeling she had as a child returning as she threw her arms up as he spun her around again. She couldn’t contain the laughter and sheer childness of the whole situation but she couldn’t seem to find a reason to care. This kind of happiness couldn’t be manufactured. She hadn’t been this happy in a long time and wanted to cherish every moment. The two were still, her hands were again on his shoulders as she took in his handsome inhuman face and the smile that never wavered from it. Her fingers brushed some of the snow off of his cheek before softly said ‘thank you’ before she leaned in and kissed him. As her lips were pressed against his, her arms wrapped around his neck and feeling the soft tickle of the snowflakes on her cheeks and exposed hands — she couldn’t help but smile and realized maybe winter wasn’t so bad after all.