#RAPH'S GALLERY

[red-angel-of-preventing-harm]

Bro getting down on one knee holding a ringpop will you be the mimpy to my scrungle /p

WE ARE NOW MIMPY AND SRUNGLE

[monocrowee]

my silly mouse guy for @hydropyro mouse army !!! ty for doing this as well as making this got me to finish and post something:]

[bucketofbugz]

I know I haven't done much for Risetober but I have a good excuse I promise <33

Honey--- :mikey_big_eyes: I have made for you.

@honey-rye

Participation in your Halloween dtiys!! 3> 3>

Each character was drawn on a different page in my sketchbook and then layered on top of each other so I could make the final drawing

but I think it all came together :]]

less saturated version + orginal image by Honey under the cut

original drawing. My phone is more saturated than my computer so I had to edit some things to make it as saturated as I wanted.

And then the original art of course :DD

[aflowergarden]

These images exist just so you remember

[rivenharlow]

[pigeon-scratches]

🚫TCEST DNI AND FUCK OFF🚫

local genderfluid lesbian kills transmasc gay brother

(im a few days late but i figured id do something for the rise movie's birthday since that was pretty recent!)

do not repost, sell, or trace my art in any way. like and reblog instead! reblogs greatly appreciated!

[httpvomitello]

Call of Distraction *⁠.⁠✧

Donnie / Leo / Mikey

Raph was in the middle of lifting weights in the lair when April’s phone rang. She looked at the screen and grinned.

“It’s (Y/N),” she said, raising an eyebrow at Raph.

He looked over, feigning disinterest as he kept lifting, but April caught the tiny smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Whatever, put her on speaker,” he muttered, trying to act casual.

April rolled her eyes but tapped the button, and your voice filled the room. “April! Please tell me you’re free. I’m drowning over here, and I could really use a break from staring at this ridiculous amount of work.”

“Rough day, huh?” April replied, stifling a smile as she noticed Raph trying not to react.

“Oh, you have no idea. I’ve been buried in paperwork for hours,” you sighed dramatically. “I think my brain is starting to leak out of my ears.”

Raph couldn’t resist. “Sounds like someone’s got a low tolerance for hard work,” he grumbled, loud enough for you to hear but keeping his eyes on his weights.

“Oh, is that Raph?” you shot back. “I thought I heard someone grumbling from the peanut gallery. How’s it going, Big Red?”

He rolled his eyes, though he couldn’t help but smirk. “Better than you, apparently. If I had a dollar for every time you called to complain about work, I’d be a millionaire.”

“Yeah? Well, if I had a dollar for every time you were a pain in the ass, I’d be right there with you,” you quipped back.

Mikey, watching from across the room, snickered and whispered to Donnie, “They’re like an old married couple. Look at him tryin’ to keep cool.”

Raph shot his brothers a warning glare before replying to you. “Hey, I’m just saying, maybe if you stopped yappin’ and started working, you wouldn’t be ‘drowning’ all the time.”

“Aw, Raph, I didn’t know you cared so much about my productivity,” you replied sweetly, dripping with sarcasm. “You sound just like a concerned parent.”

April covered her mouth to hide her laughter, watching as Raph’s face turned slightly pink. “I ain’t concerned,” he grumbled, barely able to mask his smile. “Just pointing out that maybe whining about it won’t get the job done.”

“Fair point,” you shot back, tone playful. “But, hey, maybe if you actually visited once in a while, you’d see that I don’t just sit around whining. Not that you’d have the guts to come out of that sewer.”

“Oh, you think I wouldn’t?” he replied, straightening up and putting down his weights. “I’d show up anytime if it meant shutting you up for five minutes.”

“Bet you wouldn’t last five minutes around here without getting bored out of your mind,” you countered, clearly entertained.

“Oh yeah?” he shot back, his voice a mix of irritation and amusement. “Bet I’d get you to quiet down faster than you think.”

“Bring it on, then,” you challenged, laughing. “I’d love to see you try.”

“Alright, alright,” April interjected, clearly enjoying the exchange but finally deciding to step in. “Before this escalates into a full-on fight, maybe we should end the call?”

“Wait, wait!” you cut in. “Raph, come over next time me and April hang out. You know how much I love pushing your buttons.”

Raph froze, his brothers all looking at him with wide grins, barely containing their laughter.

“Uh—" Raph stammered, scratching the back of his neck as he tried to keep his cool, but a blush was definitely creeping in. “Well… maybe you just think you’re good at it. Doesn’t mean I’d let you win.”

“Oh, trust me,” you replied smoothly, “I’d win. Easy.”

Raph was about to reply, but April, stifling her laughter, ended the call before he could get another word in. The moment she hung up, his brothers lost it, laughing hysterically at his barely-concealed fluster.

“Aw, come on, Raph!” Mikey teased, clapping him on the back. “She’s got you wrapped around her little finger.”

Raph shrugged it off, though his ears were definitely still pink. “Shut it, Mikey. She’s just—she’s just annoying, that’s all.”

Donnie smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Sure. And that’s why you haven’t missed a single chance to throw in a comeback, right?”

Raph just grumbled, pretending not to care as he picked his weights back up. But deep down, he was already hoping you’d call again soon—if only so he could have the last word.

[languajix]

TMNT Write Fight Fic: Cold and Empty

Prompt by @definitely-a-username: "(Rottmnt) Mikey is hurt while on a solo mission trying to prove to Raph he can handle himself. He tries to hide it from everyone but eventually has to deal with the fallout." as well as @belleyells: "2018 Iteration: Michelangelo experiences mystic exhaustion after expending too much mystical energy during a battle." for @tmnt-write-fight

Word Count: 2,489

Summary: Mikey's recent solo adventure left him feeling terrible, but he couldn't possibly let anybody know or he'd never get to go on a solo mission ever again. He'd heal up, right?

The mission had gone off without a hitch, right up until there was a hitch.

Because of course there was.

Mikey had spent way too long talking Raph and Leo into letting him go on another solo mission, now that they had their ninpō and were super strong and super cool, and for all the hemming and hawing and arguing it took to get to this point, he was determined that nothing was gonna get in the way of it being successful.

They'd gotten a heads up that a magical artifact - something that was supposed to give the wielder the power of blah blah, invisibility or something, if the legends were right - was on display in the local antique museum, and one of their rogue's gallery was intent on taking it. Donnie's surveillance said the heist was planned for tonight, and Mikey had been ready.

He'd been so ready.

Until it all went wrong.

Mikey's grip slipped just a little, the joints in his fingers aching, and he hissed between gritted teeth at the pinch of the chains digging into his arms. He'd wrapped them all the way up past his elbows in the split-second he had before the whole roof came tumbling down on Hypno-Potamus, sending the other ends flying out to wrap around the steel bars at the far end of the construction zone, just in time to catch the crumbling cement ceiling before it could crush Hypno underneath.

It was heavy beyond description. He'd thrown cargo ships and skyscrapers, but those were a simple, brief tug, a dip in the mystic well and then done. This was a constant pull, desperately dragging out the strength from deeper and deeper within himself with every second that passed. Mikey was strong for his size, ridiculously so, but not enough to lift a concrete ceiling without mystic assistance.

He just hoped his reserves would last.

It felt like an eternity.

As Hypno crawled free, Mikey breathed out and dismissed the mystic chains, feeling the snap of the flow suddenly cutting off, almost painful in the sudden shock, and he stumbled forwards.

The concrete crashed, a dull thunder in his ears, drowned out by the pounding of his pulse.

"Whoa there!" Hypno scrambled to his feet, sounding just a little panicked as he reached for Mikey, trying to catch him before he faceplanted into the rough concrete and messed himself up even worse, "you alright, little guy?"

He'd protest about the little guy thing as soon as he stopped feeling like he'd been hit by a train. "I-I'm fine," Mikey said, but it all sounded so distant, like he wasn't in his own body but was floating in space above it instead. "M'fine. S'all good. I'm good."

He pulled himself away from Hypno on unsteady feet, feeling his arms shake. His muscles were spasming, like they didn't know what to do with themselves now that they weren't supporting the weight of the world. His fingers just hurt, and he couldn't quite flex them properly. His legs felt like jelly, and he flopped down to sit on the nearest available space before they gave out on him. The whole of him started to shake, down to his bones.

That wasn't even mentioning the mystic energy inside of him, that empty, hollow space. Like someone had reached through his ribs and scooped him out, leaving behind a deep chill and a ringing sound. He'd rarely pushed his mystics this hard before. Not even in their battle with the Krang, when he'd had his brothers to rely on, the boundless, determined energy bouncing between them to draw from. This exhaustion was his alone.

Hypno looked at the object in his hands. He looked back at Mikey. "Listen, I do feel really bad about all this, actually. You're not looking too good, there, and it's all because you were chasing me around, so, uh, my bad." He wiggled it around for a second, staring at it. Looked back at Mikey, who was seated on a chunk of concrete with his head in his trembling hands. "I think you've earned this. Warren will understand."

He held out the artifact, and Mikey blinked. He reached a shaking hand out towards it, but his fingers struggled to wrap around the object. They didn't want to bend. Hypno pushed it into his palm, gently closing his fingers around it, looking concerned. Mikey twisted his hand around because his fingers had no grip strength, settling it in his trembling palm as he pulled it towards himself.

"I really feel like I should be calling your brothers right about now, but I don't have their numbers. You're gonna give them a ring, right? You probably shouldn't be walking home alone like this."

"It's fine, I'll call them," Mikey assured Hypno, despite having no intention of doing any such thing. He could handle it. He was fine.

Something crashed down in the distance, sending up a puff of dust that swirled in the air.

Hypno glanced awkwardly around at the empty, shattered construction site, hands on his hips. "…So how long do you think they'll be, exactly?"

"You should go," Mikey said. Hypno's concern was nice, but Mikey was a grown guy! He could take care of himself. He would take care of himself. "Someone's gotta have heard all this, and I'm sure we're gonna have an audience sooner or later."

Hypno hesitated, but after a moment, Mikey was all alone, listening to the sound of shifting construction rubble and convincing himself that his jelly legs were strong enough to take him home.

He only fell over three times, and had to sit on four different benches for a quick breather.

But he made it.

Mikey mustered all the energy in his body - which wasn't much at this point - to smile, and straighten up, and hide his shaking arms behind his back.

"Mikey!" Raph said, perking up as Mikey walked through the doorway. It was obvious he'd been lingering there, waiting for Mikey to return. And thank all that was tomato-flavored and creamy that it was only Raph. He probably told Leo and Donnie to skedaddle so they didn't come across as smothering Mikey, honestly. "You're back! Did you give ol' Hypno-Potamus what for?"

Mikey grinned up at Raph sweetly. "I definitely did that! That thing. That you just said." His ears were ringing, still. The room spun a little, or maybe it was his eyeballs in his head that were spinning. Oh yeah, he should probably go into a little more detail or Raph wouldn't believe him. "Gave ol' Hypno-Potamus what for, baby! And here," he reached into his satchel and pulled out the thing, "I got it! As safe from Hypno as it can be, right here."

Raph took the item, but he also squinted down at Mikey, an uncomfortably tight scrutiny. "…and you're okay? You didn't have any problems?"

Mikey nodded. One of his legs threatened to give out underneath him, so he bounced and rolled his knees a little, trying to find another pose that would keep him upright. He saluted Raph, willing his arm not to shake.

He still felt so empty.

"I'm fine, Raph," Mikey said. "See? You can trust me! I'm more than strong enough to hold my own by myself."

There was no way he could let Raph know how this one had gone. He'd never be allowed to go on any solo missions ever again until they were old and creaky and wrinkled if they found out how close of a call it had been, honestly.

He took the first opportunity to duck into his room, away from all prying eyes. His legs finally gave up the ghost and he faceplanted right onto his bed, no teeth brushing or quick shower or even taking off his dusty, sweaty wraps.

Just sleep.

---

He felt even more weak and exhausted in the morning. How was that possible? A full nights' sleep plus some, and yet he could barely stand, and holding anything lighter than a feather was pretty much out of the question.

Mikey was used to healing fast from some pretty incredible injuries. They were genetically enhanced supersoldiers and their healing factor reflected that. By all rights, he should be back to bouncing off the walls by now.

Instead, he hobbled into the kitchen to make himself a cup of soup, almost dropping the mug as his fingers refused to curl around it. The heat seeping through the ceramic helped loosen the joints in his fingers until he could somewhat flex them again, though it was still not easy or comfortable.

He plopped down at the table with a sigh, just in time for Leo to walk in and start poking around in the cupboards, on the hunt for something to sate his late morning hunger. He spent a long time rifling through only to settle on the same thing he had every day. It was a silly charade, but Mikey thought it was funny. (That was probably why Leo did it.)

"So," Leo said as he perused the cupboards, "Raph says your solo mission went well."

"It went great!" Mikey said, and he didn't feel nearly as chipper as he sounded. He just felt worn, and empty, and tired. "Stopped Hypno, got the thing, I should get an A-plus in Hero-ing for this."

Leo hummed, settling on his usual breakfast like he hadn't just spent five minutes rooting around to consider his options. "Celebratory hangout on the Brooklyn tonight?"

Oh no. If Mikey fell off the Brooklyn Bridge… "raincheck?" he asked sheepishly. "I was gonna be April's flashcard buddy tonight." He wasn't, actually, but no one was gonna check.

"Aw. Sucks to be you, big guy," Leo said sympathetically, reaching over to pat Mikey on the head before grabbing his bowl and heading to his room.

See? He was a whole fifteen years old and they kept babying him, and it wasn't fair. That was why Mikey couldn't let them find out.

---

Donnie was easy. The minute he started looking at Mikey funny, like he was getting a little suspicious, Mikey started prompting him to ramble on about one of his favorite topics. Donnie loved to be listened to.

All the words flew over Mikey's head, of course, lost in the ringing of his ears and the numbness inside of him, but something about sitting and listening to Donnie made him feel just a fraction of a degree warmer. It was something.

---

There was one factor he simply hadn't accounted for, in his whole plan to hide things from his brothers.

Well, two, actually. Factor one, that he just wasn't getting any better for some mysterious reason. And factor two…

"Hey there Skipper!" Hypno waved at Mikey specifically. He followed all their gazes back to the thing in his hand. "Oh, this?" He tossed it to Leo, who scrambled to catch it. "I don't know how to get in touch, so I figured stealing stuff would get your attention. And look! It did!"

"Well, you've got our attention," Raph growled, grinning a little despite the threatening tone in his voice, "now what?"

Hypno rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I just wanted to make sure the little guy was doing alright after the other night. Holding up that collapsed construction site by himself really took a bite outta him, and since it was kind of my fault, I-I wanted to make sure he was healing up."

One by one, three sets of eyes slowly pointed in Mikey's direction, and he pulled his head into his shell at the intensity.

"…whoops?" he said, and his voice echoed across the inside of his shell.

---

"Mystic exhaustion," Draxum declared after spending a frankly ridiculous amount of time holding Mikey's wrist with his eyes closed. "Classic case. Only happens when someone uses up all of their reserves, usually due to desperation or impulsive stupidity, and it sounds like a mix of both."

Mikey tried to chuckle sheepishly, but couldn't even muster that. He just leaned against Donnie, who had been seated next to him during the exam, taking careful notes on his wristpad. Donnie's shoulder was warm. And comfortable. And Mikey was… "so cold."

"Indeed. Driving your mystic powers to their limits to the point of injury can feel like losing a source of natural heath within the body." Draxum dug around in the bag he had with him, producing a bottle which he shook demonstratively, letting Mikey hear the rattle of pills inside. "Take one twice a day, with food. More importantly, spend time in close proximity with your brothers. The Hamato clan energy comes from your bonds, from how I understand it, and the more you can draw from them as opposed to yourself, the faster your own mystic wells will start to refill. Simple, really."

"Yes," Donnie said sharply, staring at Mikey who retreated shyly into his shell, though never quite stopped leaning on him for support, "simple."

As soon as the door shut behind Draxum, everybody who wasn't already on the couch flopped next to Mikey with a judgemental thump. Raph's weight alone was enough to make the whole thing creak and bounce. Mikey weathered the movement with numb fingers, letting his head roll back.

"And what do you have to say for yourself, Michael?" Donnie asked, continuing to type into his wristpad. Even though his piercing gaze had left Mikey, the spirit of it was still aimed at him like a sharp, terrifying dagger.

"I just wanted you guys to trust me," Mikey said, feeling miserable for himself. "I didn't want to let you know how bad I messed up."

"Miguel, you saved a life, even if it was Hypno's," Leo said emphatically, waving his arms around, "that's not you messing up, that was you going above and beyond!"

"I'm very proud of you for holding up a building and saving someone's life," Raph added solemnly. Then he grabbed Mikey by the plastron, lifting him up until they were nose to nose so his glare would be extra effective, "it's the hiding stuff afterwards! Mikey, you know better than this."

"I'm sorry," Mikey whined, feeling exhausted beyond belief. "Can we just-"

Raph let go of him, gently, and Leo shoved something into his hands: a thermos. "Take the first one," Leo ordered. "Then you know what we're gonna do? Jupiter Jim marathon. Donnie, cue it up."

Donnie sighed, but flicked his wrist and punched something in. The TV screen fired up. Mikey sipped on the apple cider in the mug, spiced with just a little cinnamon, and for the first time since this whole thing happened, he started feeling a little warm inside. A little less empty.

With his brothers by his side, bickering and grumbling, always there, Mikey barely made it past the opening credits.

This time, his sleep was restful.

[leisi-lilacdreams]

Edit: whelp tumblr killed the quality and I don't know how to fix it >:T

It looked fine on desktop but seeing on my phone makes it look like poop

If you download the image and open it in your gallery the quality looks fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

OTL how do people have the drive to make comics??

not for me -100/10

anyway i love @aealzx 's comic/fanfic Cross Dimension Kidnapping

i love that you get art with every chapter

very unique

i imagined this extra dialog while reading chapter 19 and i wanted to get it done before they posted chapter 20 but aealzx is so fast ;;

ah well

this don has such pretty blue eyes and i'm a sucker for golden eye raph

i fell for the comic since chapter 1 ;;

[atomic-rattz]

🫧Welcome to Fish City!🫧

“Hello, welcome to my city! My name is Atomic/Tomi, the mayor. This city is for all kinds of critters really! You may view our art gallery, or attend my talk shows, it really doesn’t matter! What are you waiting for?”

(Ofc, this is just a blog held by a teen that does art stuff and talks a lot. I’m really just trying to have fun. Plz be nice!)

IDENTIFICATION!

Pronouns Page!

Playlist ⭐️

Oc playlist 🐟

500 DTIYS!!!!

Basics 🏙️

I use she/him pronouns!! I’m somewhere on the aroace spectrum and a MINOR!! I might get confused, please use tone tags when interacting.

Interacting with me📘

Please note before you interact that I am a MINOR(14).

I am open to talking to anyone as long as you follow my dni. I might suck at talking online, but talking to people here brings me much joy so feel free to talk to me.

when you follow me just know i talk a lot and its not only art lol i speak freely of whats on my mind

If you do not like me, please do not leave hate comments and rather just block me instead. (My sad small rat brain can’t handle that..)

DNI 🔪

Please no proshipping, tcest, NSFW, ableism, homophobia, racism, etc. I can’t think of anything else but just please no problematic things here, i’m just trying to have fun making art… (ESPECIALLY TRYING TO REQUEST ART OF THAT.)

DONT STEAL ART/REPOST.

My interests 🐟

Tmnt (I mainly like rise, I have not watched any other generation besides Mutant mayhem and rise I feel so fake but if I can I might watch 2003)

Adventure Time, currently rewatching the whole thing

Rats, fancy ones not the ones in your sewer

Sharks

Hamilton (musical)

Snoopy (collecting things atleast)

Will Wood (artist)

Isopods.. (basically roly polys also did you know pill bugs aren’t classified as a “true bug” bcs of bill bugs actually being a crustacean hehe i love isopods)

And.. many more.

Meet the artist drawing 🐀

Friends n fam 🩶

#RRR:@wadetaco

#Grimpoteuthis 🐙💗:@splatting-stampede

#Liparidae 🌸:@koolaidashley

#Amphiprion ☄️🧡 :@rawcherrycake

#Glaucus atlanticus 🌀:@cupofcappuccy

#kanatashinkaifrekay:@kirex-cxvi

#Aurelia aurita 🧬💜:@urplepurplegurgleturgle

#Jorunna parva ☁️:@cin3maa

Rottmnt Alien Au 🛸

Raph 🖍️

Mikey 🥧

Leo and Donnie 🍬

[red-angel-of-preventing-harm]

I will one day consume the ground

- @outofcharactermikey

OTHER MICHEALH!??! DON"T

[sharkbait-tmnt]

✿ ART DUMP!

I haven't posted anything in a while and have a few golden items in my gallery ;)

Finally saw the movie!! I never drew post-movie Raph before because I didn't want to until I saw the movie. Now that I've seen it, I can't stop

I attempted to draw our girl Cassandra. I just get the feel that she would grow her hair out into a short pixie cut rather than the buzz cut so I drew a little of that

And of course I had to finish off the post with a little bit of a sweater messup from the lack of coffee. Donnie won't be too please... or maybe he won't mind? Who knows

[bucketofbugz]

I'm like 99% sure I made this like a WEEK ago and just completely forgot to post it???? I think I went to bed with the plan to post it in the morning and forgot.

But hey! You're getting it now :]

The new and upgraded M&M cover!!! Mostly made for the comp but also just because I wanted to make a new one.

compared to last year's cover--

I'd call that improvement.

[I really hope the alt text is okay, I'm trying to start putting them in all of my art. I am open to suggestions on how to potentially do it better!! I worry that I do too much or too little detail :C]

[namyuum]

A quick doodle of my version of the Mad Dogs gang as humans!!, n also my version of Klunk! (Ignore my lazy way of drawing a cat, she was just a excuse of drawing them all w her like a photo shoot or something).

There’s something about Raph’s profile design that I do not like at all. Like he’s missing something or idk. Kinda want to re-make it again tomorrow :(. Also, I kinda think that Donnie would be the most a-like to Draxum of all of them haha. Pls ignore how awful the designs are, I haven’t draw a human design in months now, all my gallery is full of the turtles doing stupid stuff.

Forgot to say that Leonardo is albino, that’s why he’s more different than his brothers, (well more than usual, lol).

[goodlucktai]

So lil request if ya feel up for it :-}

★ A story about Mikey's brothers finding out about his and Woody's secret relationship(?). Like, maybe it can be that one of them are going through Mikey's phone and they see his camera roll full of photos of him and Woody !! Or like they walk in on the two cuddling asleep or something idk :-0

Do whatever U want 💖

i went with rise on this one. i missed those guys :')

read on ao3

x

Don slams into the infirmary with a shout of, “LEO! Leoleoleoleoleoleo!”

“Congratulations, my name just sounds like noise to me now,” Leo replies drolly, as if he’s not ecstatic to have company. Sure, Raph had been camped beside his bed up until like ten minutes ago, but a lot can happen in ten minutes. 

As if to prove it, Don shoves a phone into Leo’s face. “Michael—our Michael—has a boyfriend.”

Leo sits up so fast he feels it in his entire body, an ache radiating down his spine like it’s a gong that just got rung.

“You’re lying!” 

“I would never lie to you,” Donnie says, his tone a weird mix of agitated and absolutely giddy.  

Such a gossip, Leo thinks fondly. 

Don piles onto the bed, still careful of Leo’s broken bones but a far cry from the cautious, mincing way he climbs in lately for their Youtube video essay marathons or vent sessions. Leo might have to orchestrate more tantalizing secrets for his nosy twin to uncover if it stops him treating Leo like something glass that’s about to break. 

Shoulder to shoulder, Donnie holds the phone where they both can see it. Now that Leo’s looking at it properly, he clocks the glittery sticker-covered military-grade phone case and says, “Oh, no. Tello, you didn’t. Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t steal his phone.”

“It’s called the Freedom of Information Act.”

“That does not apply here!” Leo is torn between horror—because Mikey is objectively terrifying—and glee—because Donnie is an absolute menace and he loves to see it. 

“Agree to disagree. I could have just cloned his phone onto a new device but where’s the pizzazz? Anyway—”

He brings up Mikey’s camera roll, scrolling through dozens of post-invasion celebratory selfies and candids, past a few scattered pics of Mikey’s own cooking and digital art (and Leo makes a mental note to revisit that, because there aren’t as many of those as there ought to be) and finally making an “ah-HAH” sound under his breath, tapping on a particular picture to blow it up. 

It’s a selfie taken at arm’s length of two faces squished together to fit the frame. One face belongs to Leo’s little brother, caught mid-laugh. The other one is distinctly human, almost lost in a haphazard cloud of yellow curls and turned sideways to plant a kiss on Mikey’s spotted cheek. 

Leo finds himself smiling involuntarily. Mikey looks happy. It’s cute. 

Of course, if Mikey thinks he can have a whole-ass secret boyfriend and get away with it, he’s got another thing coming. Not when he has three older brothers and an older sister who have been waiting their entire lives for this moment. 

“This doesn’t prove they’re dating,” he points out, mostly just to play devil's advocate. “Maybe they’re super affectionate friends. The five of us do cheek- and forehead-kisses on occasion, too.”

“Mm-hmm, yes, I thought you might say that, and I am, of course, prepared to offer more evidence.” 

Donnie taps out of the photo gallery and brings up Mikey’s messaging app. He scrolls for a bit, past the sibling group chat, April, their own names, Raph, their dads—even Rupert, what the hell?—and then, right beneath Piebald and before Casey Sr., is a text thread with a contact simply, and tellingly, labeled babe💛.

On pure reflex, Leo smacks the phone out of Don’s hand before he can open the thread. 

“So what we’re not about to do is read his texts to and from his boyfriend,” he says, very deliberately, so a single world won’t be misconstrued.

“I wasn’t gonna,” Donnie mumbles, in a tone that suggests that he was, in fact, gonna. 

Leo picks up the phone and goes back to the picture. He checks the timestamp, humming thoughtfully to see that it was from a little over two months ago. They've certainly been busy since the whole Krang situation, but Mikey has always had time for the things he loves. He makes time. He’s just a kid, albeit one who had to grow up too fast, but he was born with a good sense of what’s really important.

And this guy, Leo thinks, seems like he could be important. So why is this the first they’re hearing about him?

“How exactly did you make this discovery?” Leo asks, handing the stolen phone back. 

“S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. regularly scans all of our devices for anything icky—you’re welcome—and he asked me who the blond guy was,” Donnie explains offhandedly. “He thought we had a new friend he hadn’t met. You know how he gets when he thinks we’re leaving him out of literally anything.”

“Like father, like son,” Leo says sagely.

Donnie lowers the phone and makes direct eye contact. “No.”

Leo laughs so hard he thinks he might actually be in danger of puncturing a lung with one of his broken ribs. Donnie goes back to snooping, but there’s a pleased quirk at the corner of his mouth. 

“DONALD!” a voice thunders suddenly from down the hall. “IF WHAT I THINK IS HAPPENING IS HAPPENING, IT BETTER NOT BE!”

“Eughh boy,” Leo says. 

Looking as though he just saw his life flash before his eyes, Donnie shoves the phone at him and blurts, “You take it! You’re a convalescent, he can’t kill you! It would be against the Geneva Conventions!”

“Oh, I see, you want me to use my horribly mangled body as a meat shield between you and the consequences of your own actions.” Leo holds his hands up and open to avoid having any incriminating evidence forced into them. “Also, I think you skipped like six years of Social Studies.”

The infirmary doors slam open hard enough that one of Leo’s shelves of meticulously organized medical supplies rattles ominously. Mikey looms in the threshold, silhouetted against the light from the den. It’s appropriately intimidating.

There’s a beat of silence. Then Mikey’s eyes lower to the bright yellow phone in Donnie’s hands. It’s indie-film levels of drama. Leo is eating this up. 

Donnie whispers, “Oh, Hawking, I did not think this through.”

“When you die, who gets your laptop?” Leo whispers back. 

“I knew it!” Mikey shrieks. “You think S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. can keep a secret?? S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.?? You programmed him with all your own tells! I’m going to destroy everything you love!” 

The resulting cat-and-mouse chase around the infirmary is rowdy enough that it summons Raph, warm and fresh from the shower, dressed in his favorite huge pink hoodie. He catches Donnie on his way by and lifts him bodily out of the melee. Mikey is bloodthirsty enough that he scales Raph like a tree and their biggest brother is forced to hold Donnie out at arm’s length to keep the two of them apart.

“Woah, woah, hey—Jesus, what is happening?” Raphie says. His eyes dart to Leo, one dark and the other a pale milky pink, but it’s still the same look he’s given Leo a billion times before. The one that says loop me in. 

Leo searches under his pillow for the palm-sized knife he keeps there and focuses hard. Two little cyan portals open, maybe the size of dessert plates, one next to him and the other by Donnie, a neat little wrinkle in the dimension. He reaches through it and retrieves the phone. 

Pretending he doesn’t feel woozy after the brief use of ninpo well before he was technically allowed to use it again—because then he would have to admit that Draxum was right about something, and frankly he’d rather die—Leo waves the recovered goods at his brothers.

Mikey stops trying to kill Donnie and stares across the room with a very vulnerable, unhappy expression. Leo hates that, so he takes charge. 

“Just the Cain Instinct at work, Raphala,” Leo says, smiling. “How about you deliver Donnie to April for a lecture on respecting other people’s privacy, and I’ll talk to Mikey about the pros and cons of fratricide.”

“Pros and cons? What pros? You know what, nevermind,” Raph adds before Leo can answer, holding Donnie more comfortably in the crook of his arm as Mikey hops down from his shell. 

Donnie is dead-weight at this point, gone totally limp and accepting his fate. Since a lecture from April has a fifty-fifty chance of turning into a gossip session, Leo doesn’t feel bad for his twin at all. 

“And don’t think you're not in deep shit for that portal just now,” Raph says severely, pointing at him. “Yeah, Raph clocked that. No ninpo while you’re healing, Leon, or I’m telling pops.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo says dismissively.

But Raph still comes over to rub his head, and Leo still leans into him when he does, because a little part of Leo is always going to be six years old with stars in his eyes, gazing up at his biggest brother like Raph could hold the whole sun in his hands if he wanted to.

When Raph has carted Donnie away, the infirmary is much quieter. Mikey slinks over to the bed ungraciously and invites himself right up, pressing into Leo’s side and hiding his face in a yellow-striped shoulder.

Leo passes him back his phone. Mikey tucks it against his plastron and doesn’t say anything.

“So the pros of fratricide would be that your stuff would get stolen way less,” Leo begins airily. 

With a huff, Mikey nudges him. 

“He showed me a picture, but we didn’t read any texts,” Leo adds, less playful. “As far as we know, you have a really good friend we just haven’t met yet.”

“Yeah,” his little brother says quietly. He presses his face harder into Leo’s shoulder. Leo works his arm out from in between them and wraps it around Mikey’s carapace instead. 

Tracing a familiar pattern between the scutes, he says, “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

When Leo came out, a few years ago now, he was terrified. 

It was just another thing that made him difficult, that made him harder to love, that might cost him what little of his father’s good opinion he thought he had. He kept it a secret, tucked behind the armor of his plastron where no one but himself would ever see it.

But then one day, when he was fourteen, Leo found Raph in the living room, watching Youtube videos of the NYC Pride Parade with something young and hopeful on his face, only to slam the laptop shut when Splinter came in. Raph’s expression had twisted into something ashamed. Afraid. 

And Leo thought, Absolutely not.

So he came out to his family over dinner that same night. He said it like his hands weren’t sweaty and shaking beneath the table, like he hadn’t practiced the words and tone in the mirror for an hour beforehand. 

He couldn’t force himself to look at Splinter, twisting some spaghetti onto his fork and following his big announcement with something stupid, like, So I guess you could say the only straight I am’s a straight-up bitch. That way everyone would know it wasn’t serious, wasn’t a big deal, they could stop looking at him now please. 

Raph didn’t even get after Leo for saying the bitch word. He flew to his feet and rounded the table and scooped Leo up into a big bear hug. Well, Leo and Mikey, because Mikey was already attached to him at that point. Donnie said, “Gasp! This is my surprised face. Whoever could have anticipated this astonishing turn of events?” because he was an asshole. But he also reached over the table to put his garlic bread on Leo’s plate, because he was the absolute best. 

Leo’s heart didn’t stop racing for what felt like hours, even after his brothers squeezed him to death and made a bunch of noises about loving him no matter what, even after Splinter informed the table at large that his Baby Blue could start thinking about dating boys in another thirty years and not a minute sooner! 

But he did that for a reason. So his brothers had a lead to follow if they ever needed one. So they wouldn’t be scared like Leo constantly was.

And now the tension slowly leaks out of Mikey’s frame. 

“I know. I know,” he says, stronger the second time. “I guess I got all in my head about it. At first I wanted it to just be my thing, for me. I liked him but I wasn’t sure if he—you know. And then when he did, everything was perfect, and I didn’t want to mess it up.” He sits up enough that he can look at Leo, red-brown eyes earnest and wide. “Then the longer I didn’t say anything, the more impossible it felt to ever say anything. It’s not ‘cause I didn’t—”

“You don’t owe me or anybody else an explanation, Angie,” Leo says, tugging on the tails of his mask. “If you want to talk about him, I’m all-ears. If you want me to blackmail Donnie into forgetting he exists, I can do that, too. I’ve got the goods.”

Mikey smiles. It’s a relief to see. “I have no idea how you did it,” he says. “How you just told us like it was nothing. Told dad. I guess being his favorite probably helped.”

His WHAT?

Leo chokes on an incredulous laugh. He thumps his own chest, wheezing. Mikey rolls his eyes and slumps down again, gets comfy, a familiar weight under Leo’s arm. 

“Puh-lease, Lee. You two are like the same person, all the way down to the inherent self-worth issues and validation-seeking. Of course he’s going to feel complicated about loving a carbon-copy of himself when he hates himself so much.” After a moment, Mikey adds, “I think you help him feel better about who he is.”

Huh. Welp. Time to pack all of that up to think about later because otherwise Leo’s brain is going to explode.

“Nice attempt at distracting me, but I’m the master of misdirection.” Leo jostles Mikey, enough to make him whine stoooop. “If you think for one second you’re not everyone in the entire family’s favorite person, then there’s something deeply wrong with you,” he adds severely. “Junior has only been here for like five minutes and even he likes you best.”

Mikey’s grinning by the time he’s done. Leo can feel the shape of it against his arm. 

“It’s a gift,” the youngest Hamato says humbly. 

Identical chimes from the phone in Mikey’s hand and the one on the bedside table alert them to a new text in the Mad Dogz group chat. 

Bootyyyshaker9000 After an illuminating conversation, during which absolutely no robot sons were taken hostage to force my compliance, I have seen the error of my ways and will endeavor to change my behavior. I wanted to offer my sincerest apologies to Angelo for my invasion of his privacy. I am not making this statement under duress. YellowSubmarine Good enough for you, baby?

Mikey’s grin graduates with honors into a laugh, that charming, full-bodied thing that fills whatever room he happens to be in. He types a quick reply and the group chat goes crazy. Leo sort of just lays there and takes the moment in. 

In about an hour, it’ll be time for another round of medication, but Leo thinks—even though it’s sappy and saccharine and he would never, ever say it out loud—that this is medicine enough. 

“Sooo,” Leo says, “you gonna tell me about him?”

“Leo,” Mikey groans, but he’s still smiling. 

“Oh, come on, you have to give me something.”

“How ‘bout a trade?”

Aww, his baby brother knows how to barter. Leo is so proud.

“I’m listening,” he says.

“I’ll tell you about Woody,” Mikey offers, waving his phone around, “if you tell me about that bunny waiter from Run of the Mill who asked for your number.”

Leo would shoot upright if he had, like, a completely unbroken back. As it is he has to move a little slower. 

“What?? Why—how did you—I mean, who?” Nailed it.

“Raph overheard the entire thing,” Mikey says sweetly. “He thought it was cute so he told me since I was right there. You know he can’t handle cute without gushing about it to somebody.”

It’s Raph’s knee-jerk reaction, like cute-aggression; only instead of squeezing or biting, he has to overshare to the nearest available party, usually while choking back tears. 

Kneading his temples, Leo forces out, “Mm-hmm.” 

He can’t even be mad, though. It’s Raph. If Donnie had been the one to overhear, it’d be plastered on a billboard above Times Square by now. 

“Lemme have this one on Donnie,” Mikey says, and brings out the big guns, brown eyes all wide and liquid. “He always gets your secrets first.”

“Disaster twins privilege,” Leo replies, so he doesn’t have to think about the novel concept that his family could believe his secrets are worth anything. “Alright, Miguel. Since it’s to spite Dontron specifically, you have yourself a deal.”

Mikey whoop-whoops, with the arm and everything. It’s so stupid. And it makes Leo think, This Woody guy doesn’t know how lucky he is. 

[chaos-potat]

A sibling asked me to draw Y'Gythgba (Mona Lisa) so I looked at her gallery on a wiki page

I forgot how perfect Raph and Y'Gythgba are for each other