#and brother krang is just a little guy <3

[snail-noodle]

💌Krang x Reader Headcanons💌

I have it bad for 3 aliens that look like a creeper, a minecraft block, and a squid 😔💍

sorry if this all looks messy, I just wanted to gets these hcs out of my head aaa

Wrote for all 3 krang siblings. It's a whole buffet 😋

Krang One

he's not the type of partner who would give you physical affection or tell you that he loves you at every moment. Especially when you two start dating.

the concept of "love" and "marriage" is alien (heh) to him and his people. Thankfully, you're there to help him learn about these concepts

it's quite rare, but there are moments when he'll wrap his tentacles around you and hold you close to him. He loves how small and warm you are

your first kiss was awkward and slightly.. uh... messy due to the size difference. However, kisses on the face are just as intimate for the both of you, so you two stick with that most of the time

when you introduce him to earth's many different foods, he ends up enjoying the ones that tend to be spicy

once he gets used to living on earth, he likes to spend the nights with you staring out at the stars.

he's the type of person who would be disgusted at seeing people publicly kissing or holding hands, but then he'll be the one to do the same thing with you. No shame

if you two ever encounter a turtle, you literally have to stand between them so he won't take out his anger at the poor thing. He still holds a bit of a grudge...

Krang Two

unlike her brother, she's very possessive of you and has definitely marked you with her own scent at one point. it makes it easier for her to find you

she finds it amusing whenever you get riled up at something (or at her). She might even find it quite cute.

once you've introduced her to burgers and fries, she's hooked! She absolutely loves the ones with a lot of meat, so be ready for your wallet to take a hit.

she's caught off-guard the first time you hug her. After you explain what a hug is and why you did it, she asks you if you can do it again. You two spend many nights hugging and cuddling together

omg give this tentacled-woman a bunch of kisses please– It doesn't matter if it's on the lips, cheeks, or head! She absolutely loves it when you shower her with affection 💖 everytime you do, she'll give out a little purr

she still has a bit of a temper, so expect her to be ready to demolish anyone who tries to hurt you/talks badly about you. She's ready to throw hands for you! 🤜

please take her outdoors. She needs to stretch those tentacles of hers and get some fresh air every now and then.

Krang Three

because of him being mute, he shows his love/affection towards you with his actions.

if you're having a bad day and need to vent, he'll be there for you. He'll listen to you and once you're done, he'll hold you close close to him. It's one of his ways of providing you comfort.

he'll be very interested to learn about earth and the many creatures and inhabitants of this planet. Once you've shown him the internet and explained that he could search up anything he wants to know about, well, just be ready for him to stay up all night for a few days.

he'll eventually form some sort of mind-link with you (completely safe, promise) and oh boy, the things he's wanted to say to you for a long time. The relationship between the both of you is so new and confusing... he likes it 💖

he loves it when you're the one who holds him at night. It gives him comfort and makes him know that he's no longer in the prison dimension.

after showing him anime, you both spend the weekends watching them and being nerds together.

brother krang might be the most chill boyfriend/husband you could possibly have in a relationship.

[lizaaardstuff]

Hellebores (shattered)

Hey guys, I’ve decided to try something a little new. This is a fic I’ve been working on for the last month now, and I wanted to share a small snippet of the beginning with you guys since it’ll be a bit longer before I’m able to post it on ao3.

This is a Donnie centric story that will take place after the invasion (like my other fanfic), but the beginning kicks off during the end battle.

⚠️Trigger warning for this fic will include: Major Character Injury, Permanent Injury, Paralysis, Internalized Ablism, PTSD, Medical Stuff; you know, the works.

Please let me know your thoughts once you’ve read this, I’d love to hear them <3

Word count: 1,845

———

Being apart of the Technodrome was... incredible. Being so wholly welcomed into such vast knowledge and power was thrilling- world changing. He was everything. He was everywhere. Nothing was out of his reach. He could feel the space in his head expand, his senses heightened to new levels, and as long as he ignored the pain in his shell and the prickling in his limbs and the pressure in his head, he would describe this as the best experience of his life. Truly, nothing could ever compare.

And then he was ripped out.

Violently.

Without any care to what it would do to him.

And suddenly the greatest experience of his life had turned into a living nightmare. He had never felt pain like this before, and not a second too soon, he blacks out.

———

"...nie!"

"Donnie, wake up!"

Donnie's eyes blearily crack open, dizzying colors invade his senses, and he fights the urge to close them again. He can hear himself wheezing, struggling to take in a full breath. He feels his head dipping down towards his chest, and he realizes he's being held up. Blinking to try to clear the haze from his vision, he looks around to his brothers, who are all being held up by the same gooey Krang matter. Donnie almost does a double take when he sees Raph, with the Krang's influence gone, but he doesn't even get a second to revel in this new development, because Leo and Mikey are suddenly yelling for him again.

"Donnie, c'mon, you have to fight it!" Leo shouts from across the room. A flash of blue lights up the room, and Donnie can feel the electricity of his brothers ninpō light up in his chest. And now that he's focusing on it, he can feel Raph's ninpō there too, strong and steady. Feeling that spark ignites something within his own kindling, and when Mikey's ninpō joins the mix, that's all the push Donnie needs before a beam of striking purple joins the cacophony.

There's yelling, but Donnie's ears are ringing, and everything sounds like it's happening behind a wall of cotton. He sees everyone's ninpō burning away the Krang matter that was holding them up, and he assumes the same was happening to him, but he could barely feel it.

Donnie drags in a breath, feeling like he was breathing through a straw, and uses all of his strength to lift up his right arm to pull at the Krang gunk that was pulling at his neck. If I could just get a moment to catch my breath...

And then the Krang matter is gone, and he's falling.

Donnie lands hard on his side, pain flaring through the upper part of his spine and echoing out across his chest, and the impact forces a weak cough out of him that takes away the little bit of air he had managed to gain in his lungs.

"Donnie!" he hears from above, but his eyes are slipping shut again, his energy spent.

There's a soft thud next to him, and a gentle hand on the side of his face. "Donnie, open your eyes man, please. C'mon, just open your eyes."

Leo.

Donnie slowly peels open his eyes again, despite how badly he wanted to just let them remain closed. Because Leo asked nicely.

Donnie drags in another breath.

Why is it still so hard to breathe?

"There you are," Leo sighs, a confusing mix of worry and relief painted on his face.

Donnie hears quick footsteps behind him and a soft gasp, "his shell," "oh Donnie," but when he tries to turn his head to see who's talking, Leo's hand that was still on his face presses down lightly to keep his head in place. "Don't move."

Donnie's head is starting to feel light from the lack of oxygen.

"Oh my god, Leo, what do we do." Mikey. That's Mikey. Donnie's fingers twitch against the ground as he tries once again to turn his head to see his baby brother, but Leo's hand remains firm.

"We have to move." Raph. His big brother is here too. Wait...

Donnie's already unsteady breathing halts, his eyes going wide. "Wait," he croaks out, all eyes turning back on him, "if you're all here... the Krang." Donnie's words slur, and his sentence ends in another wheezing breath.

The others share a confused look above him. Leo looks back down to meet Donnie's eyes, gently taking his hand with the one that wasn't securing the softshell's head. But Donnie could barely feel it. Everything felt so disconnected and muffled. Shock, maybe.

"Donnie," Leo says sharply, like he'd been calling his name a few times. Donnie drags his eyes back up to Leo, blinking through another round of haze. "Donnie, you're holding them off. Or, at least I'm assuming it's you. There's a big purple dome around us, and you're glowing, so..."

Huh?

"Leo," Raph says urgently from wherever he is. Donnie still can't see him or Mikey. If only I could just sit up... "We still need to get the Krang through that portal." There's hesitation in his voice, and Donnie wishes he could see his face.

"I know!" Leo snaps, voice trembling and eyes brimming with overwhelmed tears. It felt so unlike him. He'd only seen Leo make that face a few times in their lifetime, and most of what he could count were from the last 24 hours. Donnie focuses solely on flexing his fingers around Leo's hand, and Leo squeezes back automatically, looking back down at him but still talking to Raph. "I know, but- we can't move him like this."

"Leo, we can't stay here," Donnie hears Mikey say from somewhere above him.

Donnie watches as a tear rolls down Leo's cheek, catching the purple lighting of Donnie's ninpō. Then Leo squares his shoulders and his face hardens, eyes glancing up to meet the others above him, and Donnie knows that he's come to a decision.

"Raph, in a few minutes I'm going to need you to pick up Dee. As carefully as you possibly can. I'll portal you down to a safe spot. Donnie actually managed to get the ship pretty close to the portal before the Krang grabbed him and Mikey, so all Mikey and I have to do is push the big guy through. I need you to watch Dee, if you can find anything hard and flat to lay him on once you're down there, that would be best. Make sure he doesn't move." Good, Donnie thinks as he listens to his twin slip back into his leader voice, Leo's got this covered. Donnie can feel his eyes slipping shut again right as Leo's eyes shift back over to him. "Dee, look at me, I need you to focus."

Donnie would have rolled his eyes at the slider if he wasn't feeling so sluggish. Instead, he tries to hum to let him know he's listening, but it turned more into a weak groan.

"Before I have Raph pick you up, I'm going to do a quick check to see how you're doing. I need you to keep the shield up, okay? Can you do that for me? No, don't move your head, I got it," Leo adds quickly, pulling their hands apart to stop Donnie from nodding with both of his hands.

"Okay," Leo says, more to himself, as he finally lets go of Donnie's head, throwing a sharp glare in his direction with one more, "don't move," as he picks up Donnie's wrist to take his pulse.

He frowns, clearly not pleased with what he's feeling, but he moves on anyways, carefully shifting his head to lean against Donnie's chest. It was difficult since Donnie was on his side, and Leo seemed to take extra care in making sure not to jostle him. Leo's frown only deepens. This check up clearly wasn't going well. Damn, there goes my perfect test scores...

Then Leo goes to check his eyes, but without a pen light to use and the lighting around them being so dim, he gives up on that, moving to hold Donnie's hands instead.

"Squeeze my hands," Leo instructs.

Donnie has to dig through his energy reserve moving his fingers, and he notices that his right hand reacts before his left. Huh. But either way, he manages to give Leo's hands a weak, lopsided squeeze, which seemed to be good enough for now because Leo nods approvingly.

"Okay, now wiggle your toes for me." The slider sits up a bit straighter to look at the softshell's feet. Or, where Donnie assumes they must be, because he can't feel anything below his chest. Donnie's never been in shock before, and after this experience, he never wants to again. Though, that's a bit redundant. No one ever wants to go into shock, that would be masochistic. But Donnie definitely would rate this experience a zero out of ten, would not recommend-

"Donnie, focus," Leo says, placing a hand on Donnie's arm, bringing Donnie back to the present. "I need you to wiggle your toes." Was Donnie becoming delusional, or was there a hint of desperation in his brother's tone? Probably both.

So Donnie wiggles his toes like Leo has asked of him, if only to ease his brother's concern.

"Donnie, seriously, man. Move your toes so we can finish this up. I know you're feeling kinda out of it right now but-"

What? "I already did," Donnie mumbles out, immediately wishing he hadn't spoken when such a simple task leaves him breathless and dizzy.

"What? No, dude, you didn't. Try again." Leo's tone sharpens, eyes going wide, despite his casual wording.

Donnie furrows his smudged brows. "What're you talkin about?" Donnie tries to get an arm under him to push himself up, turning his head towards his legs, confused, but the second he tries to move, Leo's on top of him again.

"Stop! Stop moving," Leo shouts hurriedly. Donnie can feel the sharp sting of Leo's panic through their interlinked ninpō, and suddenly there's a shift in the air. Ignoring Leo's frantic pleads and shaking hands, Donnie tilts his head up slowly, painfully, and sees the large purple dome he had accidentally created to surround them shudder. A loud pounding followed by muffled rage filled roars could be heard just outside of the shield, as the Krang leader slams his fists into the structure, clearly becoming impatient.

When the Krang brings his fists down again, the structure glitches.

Donnie gasps, along with his brothers, and by pure instinct he pushes more energy into the shield. The world starts spinning and the corners of his vision go dim as he uses up the last of his reserves, and when Donnie blinks his eyes back open, his head is laying on the ground again. Leo's shouting something to someone, and there's a flash of bright, neon blue, and there's a large arm shifting under him. The last thing he sees is a burst of purple pixels as the dome shatters before his eyes slip shut.

———

Okay so I really have no idea how to format anything on this app, so if it’s hard to read, I’m so sorry 😭

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Double-Mutated Mikey

Chapter 9: Ethology

Continued from the short story written by @boots-with-the-fur-club

Prev || Next

Raph is awoken by a buzzing and quiet jingle of music under his thigh.

He groans as he reaches down and pulls his phone out, quickly answering it before the ringing can wake up the other two.

"Hhheello?" he mumbles sleepily.

"Ah, Raph, good morning. Casey Jr. gave me the list of Krang attributes to look out for, so I was wondering if Michael would be up for another round of tests and scans?"

Raph groans slightly, rubbing his hand down his face. His fingers catch the dried mucus left over from when he was crying last night.

"Donnie, what time is it?"

"7:30AM. Good morning, by the way."

"Mornin'. Why so early?" he complains. "Couldn't this have waited until a decent hour?"

"April is coming over later today, and I wanted to get the examinations out of the way before she arrives."

Raph yawns and stretches.

"Fine... Sure thing, Dee; I'll wake the guys and meet you in the lab. Though I assume you already knew we slept in Mikey's room..."

"I would have joined you, but I was busy..."

"You didn't stay up all night, did you?"

"No... I passed out sometime around 3:15."

"Donnie," Raph scolds. He is all too familiar with Dee's tendency to overwork himself when he has a big important project.

"I'll have a nap or something," Donnie half-heartedly promises. "But Mikey is first priority."

Well, Raph can't argue with that. He'd probably do the exact same thing.

"Fine. But just make sure you're not gonna kill yourself over this, okay?"

Donnie hesitates before humming out an answer.

"Mhm. See you in a few."

He hangs up before Raph can address the hesitation. He rolls his eyes and yawns again before standing up. He wonders who to wake first. Leo is probably the one to get ready first, since he can help corral Mikey if the zoomies kick in again. And two heads are better than one. He's the better choice to wake up first.

And yet, Raph finds himself going to Mikey's hammock instead, rocking it gently and rubbing Mikey's back.

"Heeyyyyy, bud, time to wake up..."

Mikey hums at him, soft and quiet moans. His throat vibrates, and he twists his face, scrunching it up as he buries it into his pillow. Something about the expression and tone sets Raph off. It sounds tired, but there's something else in the sleepiness... he sounds scared. Sad.

"Mikey? Big man? Are you okay?"

Mikey's eyes snap open.

He sits erect, glancing around the room, trying to gather himself and take in his surroundings. His breaths are shaking, rapid. His eyes dart back and forth, settling on Raph and peering at him.

"Mikey?" Raph asks nervously. He reaches a hand out for the little brother.

Mikey gives it two sniffs.

His expression changes. He relaxes, relieved. His eyes get glossy with tears, and he mews at Raph, who presses his hand against his cheek.

Raphael knows what happened. He's seen himself go through this so many times after the invasion, during the weeks recovering from krangification. Mikey just woke up and forgot he was home and safe. He woke up and thought he was back at the TCRI labs.

Raph sighs and rubs the tears from Mikey's cheek. Mikey leans into the touch and hums.

"Hey bud, wanna help me wake up Leo?"

Mikey's eyes light up as he looks to where Leo is lying on the beanbag. Mikey chirps with enthusiasm as he jumps down quickly and runs over to his brother, pouncing on Leo and knocking the wind out of him. Leonardo gasps and coughs and hacks, arms flailing around as he struggles to gather himself.

Raph has to muster all his strength to keep from doubling over in laughter.

"Okay, well, good morning to you too, Mike," Leo coughs, patting Mikey on the back with a groan.

Mikey beeps in response, a big and bright grin on his face.

Raph clicks the lights on, Leo and Mikey groaning at the sudden brightness. Leo covers his face as his eyes dilate, though Mikey grunts in discomfort for a moment before he seems to adjust.

"What time is it?" Leo asks, turning to Raph.

"Seven thirty-sumthin'," Raph says. "Donnie wants to do some more tests with Mikey."

Mikey's head spins at the word 'tests'. He whinges nervously.

"It's just an eye exam and saliva swab, if I remember right," Raph assures him. "Donnie ain't gonna do anything to make ya uncomfortable or hurt ya."

Mikey squirms a bit before nodding with a deep exhale. His shoulders relax. He slowly climbs off of Leo, who yelps in discomfort as Mikey steps on his legs with all the grace and tact of a newborn ostrich.

Raph leads the way to Donnie's labs, though Mikey groans again and squints once they get to the dim halls. Leo follows after them quickly.

Donnie is waiting for them at the lab doors, smiling with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Ah, hello dear brethren," he says with a smile. "Mikey, I hope you slept well."

Mikey signs 'good morning' at him. Dee's eyes expand. Raph forgot he hadn't seen Mikey communicate yet.

"Well, let's get this started, shall we?" Dee says with a smile, ushering them inside.

Mikey crawls into the lab and jumps up onto the examination table from the previous night. His tail taps nervously against the side.

"Now, Mikey, before we begin, I want you to know that I'm not going to do anything that makes you uncomfortable or upsets you," Donnie explains. "Think of this as like... a yearly physical, or a check-up. Not that we ever had those before... but the process is the same. I just want to make sure you're healthy and see some of the changes you've gone through so I can get an idea of how to properly take care of you. Okay?"

Mikey nods with a churr.

"Okay then. I'm going to start with an eye exam. We didn't really get to do that last night, after discovering the tapetum lucidum."

Donatello grabs a small pin light and shines it in Mikey's eye. Mikey hisses at the light before reeling back, holding his head and groaning.

"What? Is it too bright?"

'Vision,' Mikey signs. 'Vision changes when light. Head hurts.'

"What does he mean, 'vision changes when light'?" Leo asks.

Donnie scratches his chin as he inspects the eye he just shined a light in. The pupil doesn't dilate to accommodate to the darkness, but shifts from round to a slitted oval.

"Mikey, describe what you see. Not so much what is in the room, but how you perceive it."

Mikey looks at Donine, and he notices that he doesn't look him in the eye, but stares directly in the center of his face. After looking around for a second, he signs to him.

'Shapes, blurry edges, no details. Silhouettes. Heat. Mikey sees heat.'

"Mikey has infrared vision now," Donnie proclaims. "That's probably a result of the boa DNA. Snakes have heat-seeking vision."

"Wait, so if he can only see temperatures, then that explains why he didn't immediately recognize Splinter or Casey," Leo realizes. "He couldn't see their faces?"

"Precisely," Donnie says, Mikey nodding along. "But Mikey, what happened when I shined the light in your eye?"

'Vision changed,' Mikey answers. 'See things better. Colours, shapes, light.'

"So, the infrared only activates when it gets dark?"

Mikey nods.

'Hurts head when switches. Headaches. But Mikey prefers normal vision, easier to see. Sometimes vision blurs... mix, and gets confused. Can't switch right when light not dark enough. Hurts bad then.'

"Does it hurt now?" Donnie asks.

'Just a little. Computers shining.'

Donnie pauses before going to the wall and flicking the light switch on. The three groan at the sharp brightness that follows. Mikey blinks and hisses, but soon his pupils round out again. He glances around the room, and he smiles when his eyes settle on Donnie.

'Purple! See colours now!'

Donnie smiles, then grabs a tablet to take notes down on.

"I'll let Papa know to maintain proper illumination in the lair for you to keep the headaches at a minimum... Anything else eyesight-wise?"

Mikey shakes his head.

"Very well. On to the next thing..."

Donnie goes to his desk and grabs a swab.

"Open wide for me, okay?"

Mikey obeys, his teeth not quite so long and sharp as they were the night before during the fight. Donnie makes a mental note to ask about them.

Dee hands the swab to Leo, the designated medic, and he gently scrubs the inside of Mikey's cheek. Once he's finished, Donnie hands him a tiny vial to store it in.

"I'll be studying this later," he says, taking the sample from Leo and placing it in a storage compartment by his computer. "Thank you, Michael."

"And Leo," the slider adds.

"And Leo. Although, I would also like to do a blood test if possible..."

Mikey whimpers at this, and starts scooting away from Donnie.

"Only if you agree to it, Michael," he says quickly. "I promised not to do anything that would upset you. The saliva will suffice for now. I'll only ask for a blood sample if I really need it, okay?"

"What do you need the saliva for, anyway?" Leo asks.

"His DNA."

"I thought you had that?"

"I have a virtual scan of it," Donnie clarifies. "And all it does is tell me what's not him inside him. The saliva isn't for that, it's to help reverse-engineer the mutations and come up with an anti-mutagen."

"You can do that from just some spit?" Raph asks, intrigued.

"...We'll see," he mumbles, turning away from them and typing on the computer.

Raph notices the hesitation again. But Donnie gets back to work before Raph can bring it up or think about it anymore.

"Mikey, do you mind if I do some small inspections of your person?"

Mikey tilts his head, furrowing his brow.

"I want to look at you closer," Donnie tries again. "See what physical changes you've gone through."

Mikey chirps in understanding and bobs his head 'yes'. Donnie starts walking around him, lifting Mikey's arms as he flips his goggles down.

"Nardo, can you take notation while I inspect our brother?"

"Sure thing," Leo says, quickly grabbing the tablet for him.

"Write down exactly what I say, okay?" Donnie orders. "I won't be able to understand your dum-dum gibberish otherwise."

Leo gawks in disgust at Donnie's accusation, which entertains Mikey to the point of giggles. Leo smiles and winks before writing down Donnie's observations.

"Make a note: Michelangelo's shell is rougher, the scutes more pronounced and rigid. Part of it looks like scarring, but it also looks as though the breakage may act like an armour for underside of his shell..."

Donnie moves down the line, carefully taking Mikey's long whipping tail and tracing his fingers along it.

"His tail has grown as well... previous size was, in general estimation, three inches long. I don't have the exact measurements currently. His post-mutation tail is now..." Donnie pauses to measure. "...65 inches, or just over five feet."

Leo whistles in astonishment as he writes down Donnie's notes.

"What did they feed you to make you grow like that, Miguel?" he jokes.

Mikey exhales, a soft huff through his nostrils. A pity laugh. Though, Leo realizes that the mention of the labs has made him a little uncomfortable, and he starts squirming under Donnie's intense gaze. He should have thought of that...

Go hold his hand, Leo telepathically says to Raph, who jumps slightly at the unannounced use of mind meld. He nods and goes to Mikey, taking his hand and rubbing it gently to soothe him. Mikey starts to relax again.

"Make a note," Donnie continues, "Mikey's tail is covered in special scutes and scales that lift up and act as barbs or spikes."

Dee gently tucks his finger under one such scale and raises it. A series of other scales lift up in company with the first. He checks to make sure it doesn't cause discomfort for Mikey, and when it doesn't, he goes to the very tip of the appendage.

"The scales at the end are more elongated then the rest. And sharper. And it appears --"

He pries the scales up. A series of them lift in unison with the ones he has fiddled with, surrounding the tail in a circular pattern.

"-- it appears that they are also in a different arrangement than the rest. My hypothesis is that the scales on the majority of his tail are for protection and defense, but the scales on the end are for offense and attack."

Donnie smoothes them down.

"Are you doing alright, Angelo? Can I keep going?"

Mikey doesn't respond.

"Angelo?"

Donnie circles back to the front of the table, looking at Mikey's face. His eyes have glossed over. He looks bored, almost asleep. His expression is one of resignation. Donnie quickly waves his hand in front of him.

"Mikey? Anybody home?"

Mikey blinks and comes back.

'Sorry,' he signs. 'Zoned out. Habit.'

"Habit?"

'We don't like tests, zone out to not get scared. Did a lot of tests before. They poke and pull. Hurt. Make Mikey sad and scared. Zone out helps.'

"You mean you disassociate," Donnie clarifies. "Okay. I'll try to finish up as quickly as I can..."

"Mikey," Raph interjects. "What kinds of tests did they do?"

Mikey's face scrunches up again, his gaze goes past Raph to an empty corner of the room as he tries to focus, think back. After what feels like an eternity, Mikey responds.

'Can't remember.'

"Whaddya mean?" Raph asks anxiously.

'Blur,' Mikey signs. 'Can't remember things. The other place is hard to think in. Mikey likes this place better, helps head to think more. Helps to remember.'

"Do you remember how you got mutated?" Donnie asks.

Mikey waves his hand on a tilt back and forth. Sorta.

'Just remember hurts. Too bright. Bad people, they scare us. Scared a lot. Sleepy after. They do lots of tests.'

Raph whimpers quietly.

"Mikey... do you remember how you got captured?"

Mikey thinks about it.

'Remember falling. Remember scared. No more after. Not much before.'

Raph swallows. He wants to say something, wants to apologize... but then he locks eyes with Leo, who raises his brow at him and shakes his head, knowing exactly what Raph is thinking, even without the mind meld.

Not a good time.

Raph sighs and chokes down what he wants to say. He'll have time later.

"Mikey, can I ask you why you keep referring to yourself as multiple people?" Donnie asks.

'Voice,' Mikey signs.

"You... hear a voice in your head?"

Mikey has a look of frustration as he tries to explain as best he can. It's hard, he doesn't have all the words he needs.

'Word missing... don't know sing for it... stink... inside stink...'

"Inside stink?" Donnie asks, raising an eyebrow. "Does something smell bad, or --"

'No, inside stink... inner stinks... in stinks...'

"In stinks...? Instinct!" Leo exclaims. "You're saying there's a voice in your head that sounds like an instinct?"

Mikey nods, chirping happily that Leo understood.

"So, this 'Instinct', does this sound like your own thoughts? Or a separate personality?" Donnie asks, slowly spiralling in possible diagnoses. "It could be DID, or schizophrenia, or auditory hallucinations, or..."

Mikey shrugs.

'Voice tells Mikey what to do. Instinct takes over when really scared or danger. Instinct in charge a lot in other place. That why no remember much.'

"Kinda like 'Savage Raph', huh?" Raphael interjects.

Mikey beeps in response, nodding and pointing at Raph as if to say 'Yeah, what he said!'

"Alright, so Mikey has a form of dissociative identity disorder," Donnie diagnoses. "Leo, write that down. In the meantime, Mikey, I'm just gonna look at your hands, feet, and teeth, and then I'll stop for now, okay?"

'Okay' Mikey signs, ready to be done.

"Great."

Donnie takes Mikey's claw in his hand and turns it over.

"Hey, look! Mikey has beans now!" Raph exclaims, pointing to the small squishy, leathery, heart-shaped pads on Mikey's palms.

"They are paw pads," Donatello corrects. "Another quirk from the jaguar mutation..."

Mikey's eyes go huge as saucers when he hears that. Apparently he didn't know about that animal trait.

"Leo, make a note... Mikey's fingers are much more pointed now, his nails seem sharp and shaped. Unsure yet if that is by nature or nurture... As for his feet, there is some webbing between the toes, possibly a trait from the basilisk DNA. Oh, and a dewclaw; see this curved nail here?" Donnie says, pointing it out. "Fascinating. Alright Mikey, smile for me real quick?"

Mikey bares his teeth for Donnie.

"Hmm. Not as sharp or elongated as they were last night. Mikey, do you know if your teeth can retract on command?"

"You mean like Toothless?" Raph asks, getting just the teensiest bit excited.

Mikey nods, and signs again.

'Happens when angry or danger. Threat. Teeth grow big. Aches after.'

"Got it. Leo, write down that his teeth can extend and retract when Mikey feels threatened. Also, Mikey, seeing as how your teeth are sharper now, does this affect your diet in any way?"

Mikey taps his fingers against his knees as he thinks it over.

'Mikey gets hungry for meat a lot. But likes other foods still. No cold. Cold hurts. But definitely hungry for meat.'

"Got it. I'll instruct Papa to add more beef and proteins to the grocery cart."

Donnie leans back with a proud smile.

"I think that's all for now, Angelo. You did very well."

Mikey smiles brightly and makes an eeeeee noise in response.

'Thank you, Purple!'

Donnie's smile wanes.

"Purple? Why'd you call me Purple?"

Mikey's happy expression falls. He looks embarrassed, afraid.

'Purple... is name?'

"N-no... not, not really," Donnie stammers. "You called me that earlier... but I thought you meant you could discern my mask -- Mikey... You do remember my actual name, right?"

Mikey is silent. His lip quivers softly as he looks in between his brothers nervously, asking for help. But they look just as scared and helpless upon the realization.

"Mikey... do you... remember who we are?"

Prev || Next

[goosewriting]

Hi!! Hope you're doing good, this is for the prompt request, raph with number 10 on color blue (miscellaneous), where reader lives near where the turtles live (not in the sewers lol), and everytime he goes on a mission or just walk close to their house, he starts to crush on them, so when his brothers found out they try to perform a date, but since raph is some shy, it doesn't go as planned (even that reader is really charmed by raph personality and in some time they start to crush on raph too and more time later they start a relationship), sorry if is really long, just some fluff for the raph boi <33, I really love your writing and i hope you do good, thanks for your time and also that if you don't feel like doing this you can pass for it, don't worry :)) (forgot to mention thst this is situated after the kraang situation so reader don't get a little freaked out about raph)

A very special mission (rottmnt Raph x reader)

prompt 10: "Abort mission, I repeat abort mission.” “What? Abort what mission? All you were doing was introducing yourself to your neighbor?” “Yeah, and they’re too attractive. I can never speak to them again.”

summary: Raph gets a crush on reader and April sets up a meeting.

relationship: Rise!Raph x GN reader

warnings: none, fluff!

word count: ~910

A/N: i have to admit this one was one of the more difficult ones for me, it’s been in my wips for so long! i ended up changing the dialogue slightly to fit the scenario better. hope you still like it!!<3

(english is not my first language. constructive criticism and grammar corrections are very appreciated!)

— — —

It had been around 3 weeks since the Krang invasion and the city was recovering slowly but surely. Many buildings that had been destroyed by the aliens were almost done being rebuilt. With every day that passed there were less and less construction sites and scaffoldings to be seen.

After the invasion, the everyday routine resumed fairly quickly. You kept going to class and your part-time job as always. But lately you couldn’t shake the feeling that you were being watched. You tried to shrug it off and went on your way.

Above you on a roof, from within the shadows, a certain ninja was keeping an eye on you.

Raph had been watching you for some time now. Because of the repairs after New York’s partial destruction, the turtle brothers had to change their patrol route, and that’s when he had spotted you talking to your friends on the street.

It had been like love at first sight for Raph. Ever since seeing you that day, he couldn’t stop thinking about you. Even after the repairs were done and he could have gone back to their normal route, he’d always make a quick escapade to your street, hoping to see you.

One night he was escorting you home from afar (unbeknownst to you) after work, and you ran into April on the street. You two greeted each other like you were friends and had a quick chat, then went along your way.

The next day, Raph basically interrogated April about you. It turned out you had actually been friends for a long time, but you had moved away for some years, and now came back. She just hadn’t had the time to catch up with you yet and introduce everyone.

Hearing this, and knowing that Raph had a massive crush on you, the other turtles all but begged April to set you up with him somehow. It didn’t take much convincing at all, because she was actually planning on doing so sooner or later. She was convinced you’d get along really well, with all of them.

So when April asked you if you were up to meeting a friend of hers, you said yes. You were kinda intrigued at how mysterious everything was about the meet-up. She wouldn’t tell you much about this person other than his and his brothers’ names, and that he was a really good guy.

You were told to wait on a street that wasn’t busy at night-time. If April hadn’t been there waiting with you, you would have had second thoughts about meeting a stranger in a deserted place like this. But she was confident that you’d like her friend, so you waited expectantly.

The turtles were waiting on a rooftop across the street, and Raph was half-way down the fire escapes when he suddenly stopped. He clenched and unclenched his fists in annoyance at himself, trying to calm down his pounding heart. Isn’t this what he had been waiting for for weeks? To finally meet you face to face and talk to you? All his pining came down to a boil within him, evaporating immediately, leaving him only with uncertainty.

Looking around, you turned to look at either side of the road, your form illuminated by a streetlamp. Raph’s breath hitched when he noticed that you had actually chosen a nice outfit to come out here; it wasn’t your usual clothes you wore to go to work and back.

You had dressed up for him and he was too much of a coward to go say hello.

With a groan, he buried his face into his hands.

April was starting to wonder why Raph was taking so long. She gave you an apologetic look and was about to contact him with her turtle comm, when it beeped in her pocket.

"Abort mission, I repeat abort mission” came a voice through the device.

“What? Abort what mission, Raph?” said someone else. “All you were gonna do was introduce yourself to April’s friend?”

“Yeah Leo, and they’re too attractive. I’ll never be able to speak to them.”

What Raph had forgotten was that April was also connected to their call, so you had heard everything.

Heat rised to your cheeks at Raph’s comment. But you did like his voice, it was kind. So with a sudden burst of confidence, you took April’s device from her hands just as she was about to reply (probably reprimanding him about leaving you out here when he wouldn’t even show up).

“C’mon Raph” you called to him, then switched to a more flirtatious tone. “Let me see you… I don’t bite.”

You heard a clatter somewhere on the building near you, where Raph was holding onto the railing for dear life after almost falling down, face as red as his bandana.

– – –

Bonus: (a couple of weeks later, after you two started dating)

“Hey, remember when you were too scared to come meet me for the first time that night?” you asked Raph with a playful tone, lightly jabbing your elbow into his side.

“Ugh, yes” he responded, looking to the side for a second with flushed cheeks. “I was scared out of my shell to be honest… I still don't entirely understand how I managed to snatch you but I'm glad I did.”

You merely smirked at him. He sighed.

“You’ll never let me live that down, will you?”

“Heh, nope” you said, leaning up to place a smooch on the tip of this beak.

[sunflowhamato]

ROTTMNT Curiosities Part.3

The turtles honored Karai, and would talk to her whenever they needed guidance

Originally Karai would have been in 8 episodes (11 minutes) or 4 (22 minutes), she would help Donnie with his desire for recognition, Raph's anxiety, Mikey's aversion to family conflict, and Leo in his potential as a leader, as well as April letting him know that she is also a Hamato

The Rise movie takes place months after the end of the second season

The photo at the beginning of the movie was taken just before the Krang arrived.

If the series were renewed, they would touch on the theme that humans already know about them, addressing issues of misunderstood heroism to maintain their reputation as full-time heroes, and that some people hate them, as well as how they adapt to this new change

The crossover between the different versions of TMNT was never discussed, but it can happen (Although it is complicated to use two types of animation in the case of 2012)

2012 Leo and Rise Leo would get along badly at first, but would end up being great friends. The Mikeys would get along well from the beginning

There was a story to tell about Big Mom and Stinkbomb

The team never realized that there was no episode with the duo of Raph and Donnie (but they would if the series is renewed)

In the apocalyptic future it may be that Donnie is taller than Leo, and Raph is at least 6 feet, Mikey would have grown, but due to the use of the Ninpo on him he would become smaller

Mikey could be enough for multiverse episodes

In the series the invasion would not have happened like in the movie

Ron would like to see a Spin-off of CJ and Cassandra wandering the world and fighting the remains of Krang (Where Draxum could join)

There are Krang everywhere, there may be some good Krang

The Rat King could be the next villain, Shredder could return, Bishop could be a thorn like J. Jonah Jameson for the turtles, he would be like an ally, but don't trust the turtles (a few ideas if the series is renewed)

Baxter Stockboy would mutate, and become a man, but his voice and mentality would be that of a child

There were no plans for Beebop and Rocksteady

It could be that Mikey from the future communicated with his dead brothers

There are other hidden cities such as Tokyo, where it was thought that they would be

The prison dimension is to get rid of the villains

In terms of power with the Ninpo, Mikey is the strongest, followed by Donnie, Raph the next, and Leo is the one who depends the least on the Ninpo, he uses physical and mental abilities

CJ is around 20 years old or a teenager. Leo from the future would be in his early 40s. Young April is 18 just like Raph

The movie was already planned before they found out about the hiatus, it didn't change much since it was set a little far from the series, so it didn't receive many changes

Don Suave is attractive to any gender or orientation Leo has a little insomnia

Donnie's fear of beach balls started at a young age as seen in “Lair Games”

His favorite video game is “Crazy Copter”

The bounty hunters in the first episode are called “Garm and Freki”

Baba Yaga was planned to be introduced

Donnie is the team doctor

Ant and Andy had the idea that the turtles were of different species

Kids would put cereal before milk (haha, good tip)

In Origami Tsunami the test audience thought Leo was the leader

Kendra is Indonesian

Raph feels bad when he is alone, because his brothers are the strength he needs to survive.

Leo's hair reference in Bad Hair Day is because of the guy in the middle

A rivalry between Baxter and The Purple Dragons was thought of

A little HeadCanon that Donnie has a pumpkin-growing rivalry with a woman named Ethel Crabtree

Hypno is New Zealander

In Al Be Back, Raph was Raphy White in “Barry White”, his hair is similar to James Brown, Leo is a glam rocker in the vein of David Bowie, the New York Dolls or Sweet

“Othello Von Ryan”, is a reference to the strange Liz Taylor commercial in the 80s

Dale is based on Dale Malinowski

The boys' nickname is: Othello Von Ryan, Dr. Delicate Touch, Cool Teen Randall, Neon Leon and the Red Angel of Preventing Harm

Mikey knew that April's apartment upstairs was unoccupied, where he sent Draxum

Raph's hero names, he doesn't realize they spell his name R.A.P.H until later

If the series is renewed, several discarded episodes could return without a problem, and everything would resume from the end of the movie

There is a completely complete episode that Nick never released

If the series were renewed it would be at least another 3 seasons

The pitch process for an episode is organic, a writer has a pretty solid idea, people propose ideas, the key piece is finding the growth story not only of the story, but also of the character

The difficult part of the series was fitting the entire plot into 11 minutes for one episode, there were great things that were eliminated for this reason, the general opinion (from high ranks) was that action shows lasted 22 minutes to sell toys, while comedies got ratings

[mimastuff]

Hello! I'm having a bit of a rough time so I thought I'd send this ask. What would the turtles be like with a S/O that has anxiety, depression and PTSD? How would they help them if their depression is bad enough that on some days they can't get out of bed, forget to eat, etc? Bonus if S/O is plus-sized/kinda chubby and insecure about it.

I love this request !! I totally relate to this one so there was a lot of writing <3

TW: mentions of ptsd , swearing, pet names, depression, eating disorder , anxiety, physical touch

——————————————————————————

Raph

- he would i understand completely abut how you feel

- Especially after the krang

- He would wake up after horrible nightmares

- To this day he still has them

- But , that being said if he were to like touch you on your waist and your flinching due to PTSD

- Or he does something that triggers it

- If you guys are in the lair , he would pull you aside and talk about it.

- If your bad at communicating how you feel he will most likely comfort you till you eventually have the right head space to talk

- He will sit you in his lap and hold you until the feeling passes over

- But if you’re not to good with physical affection he will sit you down on his bed while he makes you breath properly

- His main goal is to make sure that you know that your safe

- He is always here for you

- And he will make that known.

- If you guys are in your living space then he will guide you to the kitchen where he will most likely make you your favourite hot beverage.

- He knows that I can be hard to speak so he will send you to your room to calm down

- Once you have calmed he will ask what’s wrong but if you don’t want to talk about it he is totally cool with that

- If you do however he is all ears on you

- He will say whatever you need.

- When he starts noticing your depression and not getting out of bed he will come to you and lay with you till you’re ready to get up.

- He stars motivating you

- If all else fails he would much rather you did this at his place

- It’s easier in his eyes to take care of you

- His brothers also help with the depression

- You and doctor feelings have designated days where you can have a talking session

- It doesn’t even need to be about the problem, he will always listen to a friend.

- Raph does not care for your size

- Like at all.

- He loves and I mean LOVES your thighs and tummy

- He goes feral

- Also cuddles are heavenly to him

- Like he loves you so much

- Your just so squishy

- He thinks you look hot in anything so don’t be alarmed if he stares at you randomly

- He just loves you and your body

- He said this to you, and I quote “you’re a little bit chubby. So fuckin’ what.”

- Oh. And he meant it as well

- And he sure as heck will make it known that he thinks your cute

- Compliments you allll dayyyy longggg

- With the food situation, he ain’t gonna shove it down ya throat

- That’s not who he is

- He loves you and wants to take things slow

- He asks mikey to make you food which be will gladly do

- Seeing your drooling mouth over his dishes is always a win for both him and raph.

Donnie

- ok , let’s get this straight , he could not care less about your size

- The fact is that you love him . A TURTLE

- So why couldn’t he love someone as soft as you!!!

- That man goes more feral than raph

- Like all Donnie wants is too lay his head on your lap while talking about his inventions and science

- He really loves your cheeks

- NOT YOUR BUTT

- Welll…

- Any ways , he loves grazing his fingers on your face and his cheeks on yours

- He just thinks that they are tooo cuteee

- He knew about your depression and anxiety before you even did

- He saw the signs before anyone did

- And that’s why you love him

- He would stop by yours to make sure you ok

- Blaming it on ‘I just wanted to show you my invention and ooo is that a tv I see In your room ?? You wanna watch something’

- Let him win.

- Please.

- He thinks he is being smooth

- We all know he is not

- Let him be , pleaseeee

- With the PTSD he completely understands your situation

- He however might be a little ummm

- Let’s say , controlling when it comes to being around people

- Like he would want only you to come to him for advice

- But he would do it like raph

- Pull you aside you so two can deal with it together

- He has good intentions, he just wants to help you

- But he can’t help it if he wants to also spend time with you

- In his eyes it’s a win win

- When he sees you anxious

- I head cannon him to have a build in anxiety detector in his goggles just for you Lmaooo

- But it’s cute , all he wants to do is look out for you

- But he will pull you aside and not let you do anything you don’t want to

- He is trying so hard

- He loves you so so much

- He just has a hard time expressing it

- With the eating , he may result into threatening to feed you

- He isn’t serious

- Take no notice of him , he’s just a silly guy

- He would make you meals tho

- That guys can follow instructions like there is no tomorrow

Mikey

- soo he is like so good at comforting due to him being the youngest child

- The thing is that when you have anxiety he will pick up on it before it happens like Donnie

- He is more than likely gonna calm you down before he escorts you out

- He feels it’s best as it means you two can talk through how you feel after it happens

- He is so good when you over think things

- If your anything like me , you tend to make things bigger than they acctually are

- Doctor delicate touch will handle that one easy

- “baby , with all do respect . STOP MAKING THINGS BIGGER THAN THEY NEED TO BE. Okay my love ?🥺🥺”

- He will be the one to plan all the fun dates that you would actually enjoy just to kick your depression in the ass so you can get up

- He would remind you to eat throughout the day and would take care of you when needed

- He would also make sure that you would brush your teeth , do your laundry etc

- If you find it cringey , or tell him to stop worrying

- GOOD it’s working

- His little devilish plan is taking over

- See in his eyes , if he was to check up on you so much , you would do it before he said it so that you would get praise from him

- Simple!

- And it actually works for a while

- With your Weight

- He actually is in love

- Like I see him going for a bigger person

- Like he is smooth as all heck so how could you not resist his impeccable charm !!

- He loves da booty and the tummy

- Favourite cuddling position is spooning

- This is so he feels every squishy part of you

- It’s his fav to also bury is face in your neck

- He finds it comfortable

- He also loves lying on your chest

- He is in love with the feeling

- With the PTSD he would swoop you up from the situation

- And take you two a more sensory comfortable space

- You would not force you to do anything you didn’t want

- He would also care for you like no tomorrow

- Want food ? Here is a three coarse meal !

- Want a drink ? He is your favourite that I have stacks of in the refrigerator that I don’t even like all too well

- He is just a sweetheart when it comes to his lover <33

Leo

- He is going to use his one-liners to the fullest

- If you are not crying , you are now

- Only with laughter of course !!

- He would be the partner that would hold you while you cry your eyes out

- I can imagine him rocking back and fourth

- If you are not comfortable with that then he is totally going to respect your boundaries

- But he will tuck you in his bed while you rest up from the anxiety

- He knows what it can do to and he always wakes you up with your favourite meal and drink <3

- He really loves movie nights so if the depression gets bad to the point where getting up is a struggle

- BAM ! Your favourite movie is on in HD , surround sound and in a volume of your choice !

- He always knows what’s best for you

- But he always knows your habits so that nail Biting habit and hair pulling is out of the door while he is in the room

- He is constantly trying to change your attention to something else

- Please just stop

- Just for him 🥺

- He needs to know trying works

- It will help you and him.

- He loves to help you through the PTSD because you two can relate to so much stuff

- (In my opinion) he had one of the worst experiences during the krang

- So you two will trauma bond

- Mark my words.

- That man is a very good sweet talker

- Trust me he will have you up in the mornings , teeth brushed , full with food in no time.

- With the weight situation

- He literally could not believe his ears when you told him that you were insecure

- Bro was flabbergasted 😮

- He just sat there

- Comprehending it all.

- How can someone like you not love well , you !

- Your too perfect in his eyes

- He definitely loves to lay on your stomach and just stare at you

- With sparkles in his eyes

- As you vent out to him.

- He really loves you for who you are

- And nothin will change that.

——————————————————————————

Omg I love this one ! It took me a while to do it but that because there was sooo much to add !! I hope you all have a good day or night !! :D ❤️❤️

[iheartchv]

July challenge

Hosted by the ever lovlies: @thelaundrybitch @leosgirl82 and @post-apocalyptic-daydream 💗💗💗

Fandom: TMNT (2014/2016 Dark Turtles AU; click here if you'd like to get to know them a little before reading💗💋

Prompt: "We should kiss. Right now."

This is gonna be headcanon style because my mind is too focused on other things to try to write something >3> life's just being sucky rn, sorry for it being rushed

꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ ............. ꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱

You entered the dark turtles' lair

With food in hand

With their big size, and not so ninja stealth, it was hard to find food

Even after helping the turtles defeat Krang, their once creator and boss, it was still hard to be on good terms with the turtle gang

However...

You slowly became friends, then best friends, with one of them

And to prove he liked and trusted you, without even saying anything, he took you to their lair down at the old abandoned docks by the Eastman Bay

"Hey guys, I got-"

"FOOD!"

Mike was the first to rush to you, followed by Lee, Don, and Red

After everyone ate, they went to lay down

You stuck around (Lee/Red/Don/Mike), laying down with him... because he was your bestie

But for sometime now, you've been feeling... a little something more toward him

Anyone would've thought you insane

But you saw something in him, something... human

Plus he wasn't bad as everyone thought him to be be

He and his brothers were just... misunderstood...

As you talked about your day with him, he listened to every word you said

He secretly longed to be by your side, be a part of your life.... instead of hiding in shadows and darkness

At times like these, when you two were alone, thats when those warm fuzzy feelings made themselves known

After telling a few jokes and a few laughs, you got so comfortable that you said what was on your mind

"You know... we..."

He looked at you

"We should kiss..."

Pause

"...right now"

He was flustered

If they could blush, he'd be red right now

"W-what!? What are you saying?"

*insert more flustered embaressed gestures*

You realize what you said, and tried to play it off

"I'm just playing..."

He turned toward you and looked you in the eyes after calming down a bit

"Well, I'm not..."

You stared back at him, heart pounding, blushing

You blinked in disbelief

"...You...mean...Since when?"

"Since that day, when you showed me kindness that no one else ever did..."

Pause

"You're the only one who didn't treat me as a monster.. I mean, I am trying to better myself..."

You knew he was

And you would help him, too, in any way you could

You gave him a kiss on the cheek

"I know"

You could hear his sighs and breathing, almost like a deep growl like purr

He held you close to him in his massive arms, wanting to stay near you

One day, one step at a time is what it was going to take... towards a better future for the two of you

Tag list:

@turtle-babe83 @tmntspidergirl-deactivated20230 @leosgirl82 @angelcatlowyn @annaliaandtheturtles @pheradream-15 @cowabunga-doll @bluesakurablossom @darksaphire2002 @foreignbrunette @greenprincess @half-shell-bo @lady-maria-the-wolf225 @moonlightflower21 @narwals14 @nikitaboeve @nittleboo @raphaelsrightarm @southernblossoms @thelostandforgottenangel @white-masked-beauty @roxosupreme @kawaiibunga @captain-kinda-trash @yumefuusen @sivy-chan-blog @artsolarsash @crazedtmnt @raisin-shell @sacredwarrior88 @leosgirl82 @egg-on-the-run @ashleighclark98 @dilucsflame33 @tkappi @happymoonangel @allybutton @android-cap-007 @androidships007 @turtallyawesome @doctorelleth @crazysarah-98 @phd-in-fuckery @angelicdavinci

Lmk if you do/don't wanna be tagged ♡

[asummersday]

i want to talk about this because it's a multi-chapter project i have in my WIP folder that i know i won't touch until all the ashes in my wake wraps up, so i'm gonna share it here.

a while back, i came up with an idea. a very angsty silly idea inspired by Jason Todd, the Robin who died and came back practically a brand new person.

and this idea is very simple: what if Leo died when he was rescued from the Prison Dimension? like, for several minutes, and had to be revived, because there's no fucking way he didn't suffer critical damage at the hands of the Krang, poor guy :((

so. Leo dies for several minutes-- heart not beating, not breathing, dead in every single way. and then he's brought back. but he comes back wrong. but wrong in just a subtle enough way that it doesn't go noticed at first.

i think it's the small things, at first. a shift in tastes. leo doesn't like to eat sugary cereal for breakfast anymore. he's a bit quieter, not laughing as loudly, not grinning as widely. he likes his food with a bit more salt. he doesn't like it as spicy as he did before. he wears more layers because he gets cold more easily now. he's more touch averse, he doesn't seek out his brothers as often anymore.

and Leo knows he came back wrong. he knows there's something so deeply wrong with him. he shouldn't be here.

he no longer belongs here.

to Leo, he's still dead. he's already dead. he died before he actually stopped breathing, when he locked himself in the Prison Dimension and cleanly severed his link to his ninpo, to his family.

Leo can't ever be the person his brothers think they brought back, and I think it drives him a little insane.

and i think, in part, it's Leo's family kind of ignoring all the signs and pretending that everything's okay. there's nothing wrong, because Leo's alive and here, and yeah there's something off about him, a little off-kilter, but he's breathing and it doesn't matter much beyond that, right?

because how do you start grieving a brother who's still breathing? who sits at the breakfast table with you, and smiles at jokes and watches movies with you in the living room? how do you grieve someone who's so alive?

honestly. the idea isn't a very happy one. it's just a bittersweet little thing i've been thinking about on the side.

quick lil thought i wrote down for this the other day under the cut <3

im just basically saying the same thing but ehh

(i covered up my nickname bc this is like my personal discord and im using my real name and im too lazy to change it ahfjdkd)

[fan-maniaer]

After a while of working on it, I would like to share my own tmnt universe called

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : The Hamato Destiny

Or TMNTTHD for short.

I would like to share the ages of the turtles for each of them there personallys there friends and villains. Let's go with their ages first.

Donnatello is 17 years old. The oldest of the brothers.

Raphael and Leonardo are 15 the murder twins I like to call them.

Michaelangelo 14, the youngest of the four turtles.

In my version, Donnie starts out as leader because of him being the oldest he views it as his responsibility to protect his siblings at all cost. Even if it means sacrificing his own well-being. He is still the tech guy in this version, and he likes his siblings to utilize his tech a lot in missions, and he gets very upset if they don't use them like he intended. He also has a werid obsession with dragons (I wonder why). He's also a great cook.

Raphael is the silent type who likes to smash heads on and break bones, but he also likes the feeling of water on his skin, and most of the time, his siblings will gind him just Submerged in water. He also likes stuffed animals, and his room is full of it, and his twin brother likes to make fun of him for it. And yes, this guy does have a bit of anger issues, but it's most of the time controlled and only let loose in very stressful situations. He also likes to exercise a lot, especially in his free time.

Leonardo likes to play pranks and make puns most of the time. But he is also a big animal lover and likes to spend most of his time at the zoo when it's closed and no one's around. He is also like his twin likes to smash heads in and break bones he's just less violent about it as Raph. He also can camouflage with his surroundings, which (most of the time) helps him pull off most of his pranks. He also looks up to his big brother Donnie (tho he'll never admit it out loud).

Michaelangelo, the little sister of the group she is the youngest and uses that power to the fullest. Like having Donnie not put her on top of the fridge. (She doesn't like the fridge punishment). She is also a great singer and cook (she asked Donnie one day to teach her how to cook and he agreed). She is also a little artist and likes to paint and draw all over the lair. She is also very close with april sense thereb oth the only females of the group. She also sometimes helps Leo out on his pranks.

Speaking of April, she's the first human who they make friends with. April and the Turtles met when they we're all kids and theu all been inseparable sense then. She is very close with both Mikey and Donnie, thanks to Mikey being the only other female of the group and Donnie and her being the oldest of the group.

I would like to mention splinter, but I don't have a lot to say about him right now other than he starts out as an emotionally absent father and didn't teach them anything about Ninjasue (at least at first). But he does get better over time.

Now on to the villains. I can't really say much about them yet sense it would be spoiling a lot of the plot, but I will name each big bad

1 Rat King

2 Drako

3 Baxter stockman/Superfly

4 Jigoku

5 Kurōn

6 Karai and Bonesteel

7 The Krang

8 Savanti Romero

That's all for now. I'll probably explain more of this au in another post. But here are some sneak peaks of their designs for now!

[personne-writes]

A story of dangers, loss and suffering A legend of brothers, hope and believing A tale of pushing forward. No matter what.

Hey, pssst, just in case you haven't had enough Bad Future Rise fics, here's a brand new one! Will cover the events happening between the Krang invasion and the time gateway.

If you can already tell which turtle is my favorite you win a snippet of chapter 2

Eternal thanks to my wonderful beta readers, @crosshatchedaces and @skelenova! You guys are the best <3

---------------

In his mind, Raphael’s voice sounds distant, distorted, meaner than it had actually been. 

“What is it gonna take for you to be serious, Leo?”

Leonardo shifts to the side in his bed, eyes stubbornly closed, fully intending to coerce his brain into sleep mode. He focuses on the little things: the soothing feeling of the sheets tangled around his legs, the background noise of the sewer’s waterfall he still isn’t entirely used to, the faint glow of the lava lamp he can make out even behind closed lids. 

“I’m responsible for keeping us safe -”

He huffs an exasperated sigh. They have been over this countless times already. Just because he’s the big brother doesn’t mean Raph gets a free pass to patronize them. 

No, nooo, he catches himself, you’re thinking again. Stop thinking. How hard can it be? He should ask Donnie for his opinion. Ask for a score on a very scientific scale, like, a range from Animal-Crossing-easy to Dark-Souls-difficult. 

“‘Cause if I don’t?”

How come he recalls this little speech so clearly, anyway? He’d done such a great job in not paying attention, flipping through his Jupiter Jim comic like he meant it. He would gloat about his multitasking skills, had he been able to remember one single word he'd read. Gotta add “rereading the whole issue” to his to-do - 

“You could all end up dead.”

His eyes snap open of their own volition and he groans, sitting up on his bed. 

A sideway glance to his alarm clock tells him it’s almost five in the morning.

Okay, so his idiot brain won’t let him sleep. Time to try another strategy. 

Read more on AO3

[bigdvmnhero]

sorry insane apocalypse fic thoughts under the cut. it's drastic guys

nobody understands how much i think abt my f!mikey and f!leo fallout arc like it's so important to me that leo is sort of the villain in mikey's eyes for a hot minute (the drama of it all <3) before reconciling and being the badass doomed timeline duo we see in the movie

nobody knows the krang's not to blame for leo's arm <3 leo won't correct them <3

anyway so mikey witnesses the krang waste donnie right before his eyes right (this didn't happen with raph; he woke up and raph was gone) and he's so traumatized by it he loses all access to his ninpo. the worst thing is he thinks leo let it happen -- leo, who is also going through his own insanity arc btw, trying to hold this young resistance together; leo, who'd always been ragging on mikey about training and discipline and BLAH BLAH BLAH and when it happens -- donnie's death -- mikey assumes the worst when leo makes the decision to pull out of the battle. donnie's a lost cause and unfortunately turning back now will cost them resources they don't have; mikey pleading, mid-battle, for leo not to do this, please, it's donnie, leo.

it happening anyway

mikey spending so much time lost, falling in with the wrong crowd (ill-intentioned yokai who try to take advantage of this clearly dangerous but talented kid who can access mystic energy when THEY can't, not anymore), learning forbidden runes and running away from leo and trying and failing to reconnect with his own power and AUURHGHG. just. the love, the resentment, the push and pull. you are the only ones left!!!!!!!! you love your brother, you're strangers now!!!! you'll kill for each other, you can't even look the other guy in the face!!! you want your dead brothers, you neglect the one right in front of you!!! it's drastic

also i think i love this insane slice of time so much bc it's so brief and intense and no one ever ever ever talks about it. it's a sensitive spot for everyone. when casey jr.'s a little older he's like "haha sensei remember that time master mikey tried to kill you" and the room full of recruits goes deathly silent. leo laughing awkwardly. yeah uh so about that

[falling-from-dawn-au]

I made a Prison Dimension-esk playlist! And also a Spotify account to make playlists for this au LMAO

Timeline for the songs and what events they connect to are gonna be under a read more because rise movie spoilers lmao (it's also a REALLY long ramble, oops), but send an ask and tell me what you think if you listen to this!!

Little Talks ~ Leo fighting Krang Prime by himself and telling Casey to close the portal.

The Weight Of Us ~ Leo slowly accepting that he's probably gonna die here, even though he's not ready to.

Way to You -> How Do I Say Goodbye ~ Realization hits that he'll never see his family again; the scene where he smiles at the picture is a good end point for this section.

If I Die Young -> Golden Hour ~ Krang Prime kicked him through the wall. Ouch.

Wake Up ~ Everyone processing all the things that just happened.

Goodbye ~ Memories of good and bad times are flashing by for literally everyone involved. I was specifically thinking of the lines "Am I right back where I started fourteen years ago?", "I swear to God that all I've ever wanted was a little bit of everything all of the time, a bit of everything all of the time, apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime, I'm finished playing and I'm staying inside", and "When I'm fully irrelevant and totally broken, dammit, call me up and tell me a joke. Oh shit... you're really joking at a time like this?" because those lines just RADIATE Leo to me.

Achilles Come Down ~ I don't really have a good thought process for this one. It just felt right to add.

Brother -> Talking to the Moon ~ "Leo never gave up on us, I'm not giving up on him." Mikey trying to ahold of his mystic ability so he can try to save Leo.

The Good In Me -> This Is Gospel ~ Leo casually having a breakdown

Masterpiece Theatre ||| -> Blame ~ Mikey gets the portal working; Raph and Donnie help him; Leo sees the portal opening.

Frame of Mind -> Take Back the Night ~ "Took you guys long enough." Eye contact is made with Leo, Raph starts pulling him out, Krang Prime appears to try to kidnap Leo, Donnie beats the crap out of them with the drill.

I Lived ~ Everyone making sure Leo isn't freaking dead, sources show He Lived

Hey Brother -> Soldier, Poet, King ~ "Eww! Are we on Staten Island?!" Everyone starts recovering <3

Hey Look Ma, I Made It ~ Casey and Leo's (Mostly Casey's) realization that they've finally won. In Casey's case (that's. certainly a phrase.), this stands for him telling future!Leo that he accomplished what he was sent to do. For Leo, it's that he saved his future self's brothers and family from dying.

[teenagemutantninjatrauma]

Figured I might as well dump my ideas out here, if anyone wants to steal these, so here goes:

TMNT ideas (inspired by music) that I don’t have time to work on, looking for a good home ✨

1. A Raph crossover animatic set to Wrecking Ball by Mother Mother

All the Raphs join up and go to a wreck room, or an old building they can thoroughly obliterate.

Rise Raph originally supervises, like “hah thank goodness I don’t have issues like this, I can just be the responsible one and make sure no one gets hurt”

And then he proceeds to have a flashback to when he was krang-ified and couldn’t fight against it and almost killed his brother. And he joins in

And all the other Raphs cheer because they get to watch him use his ninpō

They all go to therapy afterwards 👍

2. A Rise Leo animatic/songfic based on Lie a Little by Confetti

Not much to say here, guy’s repressing his trauma

I will say that I discovered this song through an Undertale animatic and now I feel everyone is sleeping on Rise Leo clearly being a Sans kinnie

3. 2k3 Mikey and Leo bonding moments with Mr. Blue Sky playing in the background

Mr. Blue Sky, in my brain, is such a “from Mikey to Leo” song — it’s the youngest sibling going “well that’s fuckin ridiculous stop being edgy” and the oldest sibling going “oh. Maybe that is a little ridiculous” and they get to be funny together

I think maybe the song follows Leo through all the times he’s gotten messed up, and then pans over to Mikey, trying to cheer his brother up

4. Rise Apritello animatic/AU based on Hot Wings (I Wanna Party) from the Rio movie

AU where Donnie doesn’t know the other turtles and neither does April. Possibly a Separated AU? Do whatever you want <3

Somehow, Donnie and April, two strangers, end up chained together. They now have to find a way to break the chain and go their separate ways.

It’s Donatello, so to prevent the plot from being resolved immediately by his genius, let’s say the chain is magically indestructible in some way. Maybe it’s Draxum’s villainy or whatever

They end up dragged off into the city’s underbelly by friends they make - other mutant turtles - and a big friendly guy named Raph who they originally go to for help breaking the chain brings them to a club where his brothers work. Mikey is the DJ, Leo is a singer (and a drag queen. You know I’m right)

They party and have a good time, and perhaps fall in love <3

The important bit about this to me is colors. Mikey has that one jacket with splotches on it from Clothes Don’t Make the Turtle, everything and everyone is neon and the perspectives are a little tilted at all times!

5. 2k3 Donnie & Mikey concert, they sing Bang Bang by Green Day

That song is just viscerally a tmnt song to me okay

Specifically Donnie and Mikey because I think they’d vent about their brothers through this song

Speaking of them, we start the song by Mikey and Donnie playing the instrumental opening on drums and a guitar, and we see snapshots of Leo and Raph in the city, about to get into a fight

We cut to Mikey for the start of the song, he is INTO IT, he’s singing the main lyrics!

Elsewhere, Raph and Leo get into a fight. It progressively gets harder and harder as it progresses while Donnie and Mikey continue playing, perhaps to an audience? Perhaps there’s people and this is on stage

There is a melody at about 2:15 in the song where I think Mikey summons his dragon spirit, just for the effect of it, just for the drama.

Raph and Leo see the light of it from all the way across the city, and start heading there, jumping over rooftops, racing each other with smiles

Donnie sings the “hoorah” while Mikey interrupts with “BANG BANG!” in the background

6. Silly goofy Rise Mikey set to Eighth Wonder by Lemon Demon

Genuinely just a Mikey tribute. I think this song very well describes him as a cryptid and a mutant but still as a very neat little guy

He celebrates being the way he is, and it rubs off on his brothers as well. He’s a sunshine :)

Honorary mentions:

Infinitesimal by Mother Mother — a Donatello crisis. About what and which Donatello? Yes.

Teenagers scare the shit out of me by MCR — just turtles kicking ass and someone (possibly one of the villains) realizing that they’ve been just kids this whole time.

The pitiful children from Be More Chill — 2k3 Oroku Saki trying to convince Leo to join him, in that one early episode. Bonus points if Leo does join him or someone else gets messed up during the song.

Family by Mother Mother — honestly just a massive crossover of the turtles defending each other, brother or not. They all have to stick together.

Trying Too Hard (specifically the Thomas Sanders cover) — 2k3 turtle angst. Everyone is stuck in their own head and sad. That is all.

You’re Not Welcome by Naethan Apollo — unhinged 2k3 Donnie or 2k3 Mikey. I think there should be more art of them being threatening, as a treat!

[boxfullaturtles]

Can you tell about your future Rise Tmnt fic? The crossover one? Is Raph with Jak and Daxter?

Oh!! Yeah I can do that! I'll never write the thing so I don't mind talking about it lol

So it is very much a self-indulgent, "everybody lives" kinda thing. The file for it is saved as "Mikey Saves Everyone But Loses Them in the Multiverse". The plot is thus:

After Splinter dies in the Bad Future, Mikey's like "Nope, no, not losing anyone again." and starts making his own plans. Little by little he starts sorta dripping his own mystic energy into his family with only one order: take them somewhere safe, somewhere far away from the Krang, away from the apocalypse, somewhere they could all be happy and safe. Anywhere but that version of Earth.

And it works!

The second Mikey's body is ripped apart opening the time gate, his own mystic powers snatch up the pieces of him and whisk him away. Yeah, reforming kinda...sucks. But hey! He's alive! And in a city! With no sign of the Krang! But then the processing of being ripped apart and put back together again kind of catches up with him and he passes out. Right as somebody else finds him.

Mikey wakes up in the sewers. In the lair of another group of turtles. His mystic powers have thrown him through dimensions and he's ended up in the lair of the 2007 turtles [because they are my boys and I love them very much and they get no attention]. There's some tension and confusion and probably some nickname shenanigans; I thought it'd be cute if the 07 guys started calling Mikey "Sunny" idk. But anyway, Mikey searches for the energy of his family only to find...they're not in this world. He reaches farther.....and farther.....and farther still. They're scattered. They've been thrown into a bunch of different dimensions. Mikey probably should have been a bit more specific with his mystic energy. But he knows they're alive!

So now it's just a matter of going to get them. And jumping dimensions is going to take a lot of energy and Mikey can't do it all at once. 07 Splinter and the boys say Mikey's more than welcome to use their lair as a place to come back to, since he doesn't have a home. And once Mikey's recovered enough, he reaches towards his first family member and makes his first leap.

I never thought up a specific order for these events to go in, but it would be Mikey storing up enough energy to hop into a dimension, find his family member, and jump back with them to the 07 world. For sure I knew he was going to save his brothers and April, but I wasn't certain about him being able to rescue Cassandra and Draxum? That's a lot of work,,, Maybe Draxum sensed what Mikey was doing and told him not to. Maybe Cass heard them arguing and Draxum told her what was going on and she told Mikey to focus on saving Casey Jr instead. I dunno, I didn't plan that far ahead. I didn't actually figure out where April ended up either :/ There's just too many fun places to put her where she could be so cool and kickass!

Anyway!

Yeah, since this is an excuse for a big crossover with multiple media, I'm not going to take the time to explain all the plots of the other media in detail. So if you're confused uh...wiki? I guess? Also, I figured the way Mikey's powers worked was when his family members died, his mystic powers snatched them up and threw them into a safe place.

So Raph lands in Haven City, from the Jak and Daxter video games. And you might be saying, "But Sage! Haven City isn't safe! Why would the mystic energy put Raph there!?" Ah, but what if this is post-Jak 3? Far enough along that the Metalheads have been driven out, the walls repaired, and the city is rebuilding. So Raph crash lands in Haven and there's some kerfuffle about this big guy covered in scars and looking like he just climbed out of a war zone. Which he did. And he's spooked and the Freedom Guard are spooked and everyone's yelling and poor Raph is just "whoa, hang on, idk what's happening??? who are you??? how did i get here?? ....where is here???"

I really just liked thinking about Raph helping Haven rebuild and feeling good about doing something peaceful. Jak and Daxter probably tell Raph about the history of Haven and at some point I think Raph should get to go to the Wastelands and run loose and punch some Metalheads and throw a car. I can also see him sorta bonding with Torn. They're both veterans, in a way, and probably closer in age. But Raph probably looks at Jak and Daxter and is reminded of his little brothers somehow and he's definitely picked Jak up and walked off with him like "nope, we're done, shut up". He and Torn probably talk about what they're supposed to do without a war going on, if they're not soldiers than what are they, and heavy stuff like that. Raph's not sure if he'll ever see his family again, he's not sure what happened to him or how he ended up in Haven. He's just trying to make the best of a confusing situation.

He's over the moon when Mikey finally shows up. He's so excited to introduce Mikey to his new friends. I never decided if there was a time gap kinda thing; like if for Mikey had lost Raph five years ago, then Raph would have to wait five years in Haven for Mikey to come get him. Or maybe what was five years for Mikey was only six months for Raph or something. Maybe every Hamato spawned in a new universe at the same time. I dunno, never decided. But either way you know there's going to be lots of hugging and crying and shouting. Mikey filling Raph in on everything he's missed. Raph asking about their family. Mikey explaining how he got to Haven and everything. And then probably some tearful goodbyes because it's doubtful that Raph will ever get to see Haven or the friends he's made there ever again.

Leo ends up in Japan, between the Edo and Meiji periods. Pros: he knows some Japanese well enough to get by. Cons: anyone who sees him thinks he's a demon and either runs screaming or tries to stab him. Yeah, he's not too keen on that. So he hides and sneaks around and steals or hunts for what he needs. But people are aware of his presence and they don't want him near their village.

So they call a Mushi Master.

Yeah, Leonardo gets to meet Ginko, from Mushi-shi. ("But Sage, Mushi-shi isn't safe! The mushi--" "Shut up!!! It's my comfort anime and it is calm and beautiful and chill and this is my au I do what I want!")

So Ginko comes to talk to this "demon" (that he's thinking is probably just some mushi or someone who's messed with things they shouldn't). And he finds a bipedal turtle with a sword who's missing an arm and speaks some really janky, broken Japanese. The two of them fumble their way through a conversation until Ginko is able to put together that Leo is not a demon or a mushi and he's from somewhere else and just wants to find his brothers. And they end up traveling together, with Leo heavily disguised and usually hanging back when Ginko gets up to his mushi business. Which, lo and behold, Leo can see mushi too! He thinks they're funny. Ginko smacks him when Leo tries to taste one. ("I've eaten worse." "I don't doubt you, but DO NOT.")

Leo traveling around with Ginko kind of gives him a lot of time to think. He's able to slow down and process things and he actually really mellows out. Spending time with someone like Ginko, just wandering around and taking in the sights, learning about nature and the world, just experiencing it, does wonders for Leo. He's still a traumatized war vet, but just living like he does when he's with Ginko is very healing for him. He still explodes into tears when Mikey comes to get him. Because he thought he'd killed his baby brother and here's Mikey, running to him with open arms, with no malice in him whatsoever over what happened. And Ginko gets to be like "oh lord there's more of them". And maybe Mikey sticks around for a while at Leo's prompting because he knows Mikey would LOVE this mushi stuff. But they do have to leave eventually, they've got a family to get back to. So Mikey probably gives Ginko a hug and thanks him for taking care of Leo and hopes maybe they can meet again someday.

Donnie lands smack dab in the middle of the Motherlobe. Psychonauts HQ. Psychic central. It's...a bit of a rocky welcome. He's panicked, the Psychonauts are panicked, everyone's freaking out and ready for a fight. Not really sure how they resolved that, to be honest, but they probably eventually figure out that Donnie doesn't actually mean anyone any harm, he's just lost and confused and displaced from his home dimension.

Truman and Hollis likely don't want Donnie leaving the Quarry or the Questionable Area, because they're not sure how he wound up in the Motherlobe or how people would react if they saw him. He's a bit pissy about essentially being under house arrest, but there's not much he can do when they've assigned one of the best Junior Agents to keep an eye on him. Donnie probably spends some time trying to shake Razputin but Raz is also a middle child and he's a top tier Psychonaut and he's a stubborn little shit. So eventually Donnie has to concede that he's not going to be able to get rid of Raz and bemoans his fate as Raz follows him literally everywhere.

But he doesn't get to mope for long because there's a lot of interesting things for him to poke his snoot into. The Questionable Area alone is bizarre as hell but then Donnie meets Otto and Sasha and then there's THREE mad scientists in a room and it all goes to hell. In a very spectacular manner, probably. Donnie's infinitely curious about psychic powers and he definitely keeps himself busy, both out of curiosity and because he probably wants to know if these powers can get him home. There's probably some shenanigans with the Brain Tumbler and how people shouldn't try to read Donnie's mind and Milla acting motherly towards Donnie even though they're almost the same age and it makes him feel so small and young and he might sit with her for a while and meditate. They probably talk about losing people. Donnie gets weirdly attached to Raz and then meets Lili and learns she can talk to plants and his botany enthusiasm just goes NUTS.

He does genuinely invest time in trying to find his family, maybe build a portal home. But he's extremely wary about actually building anything; he's worried about it going wrong or, even worse, unleashing the Krang on this unsuspecting world.

So he's relieved when Mikey comes for him and gets all huffy when Mikey immediately makes friends with Raz. But he's happy to see his brother again and he does not cry fuck you Mike. Donnie's probably a little reluctant to let the mysteries he hasn't solved with the Psychonauts go but Mikey just laughs at him and says they can try to come back some day.

And then the whole family gets to reunite! They're all together again! Without war, without the Krang, just with each other! I didn't really have an ending planned for this--maybe they stay with the 07 turtles, maybe they jump between worlds looking for a new home, I dunno.

It's just a silly, self-indulgent au that I will never write but amuses me to think about. Because I think they deserve a happy ending.

I did start replying to this last night but then it was like 10.30 and i needed to sleep lol Sorry about the long post,,,

[mono-lee-mmxxii]

11 Days Dead - Day 3

Night of the Third Day

- 192 Hours Remain -

The new New Lair was fascinating to Leo.

It was obvious they were setting up bedrooms in railcars again, but Donnie had been talking about redesigning some of the tunnels into a lab. Mikey had been wanting a separate art studio, and they’d had one - but the subway car had been small, and quickly outgrown.

Leo was glad to see them focusing on other things.

The family had wandered around, trying to figure out where to settle in with the little they’d brought back. They’d needed to pry the doors to the cars open, and the first one had been Leo’s favorite of them all, right off the bat.

Paint had been spilled all over the floor,  a long time ago if the layers of dust and dirt were any indication, but it was obvious it had once been a vibrant shade of blue. Footprints traced the floor, mapping crisscrossed paths from the doors to the seats.

Some of the paint had even splattered up onto the walls, and the color there had fared far better than the paint on the ground had, brighter still when Mikey trailed a finger over it and swept off a layer of dust.

“Dibs!” Leo shouted, plopping himself onto one of the seats and splaying out widely to grin at his family. “It’s in my color, it’s not like you can deny me.”

His ribbing went ignored, but the group was quiet as they filtered out. Through the window, Leo saw Casey stoop down to deposit a box next to the door.

He already knew what it held, and hated thinking about it.

He heard a soft thump against the train car as his katana joined the box of his belongings that had been taken from the New Lair. The old Lair, now. He knew their home likely hadn’t survived, but he couldn’t help but be angry about it. First Shredder had destroyed the home they grew up in, and then Krang had destroyed the home they’d rebuilt. And now they were rebuilding again, and Leo wasn’t there to help.

“I’ll… leave this here for you guys.” Casey’s voice was muffled through the window, and Leo couldn’t make out the exact reply, or who it was. One of his brothers, he thought, telling Case… something. It was probably reassuring, whatever it was.

Leo sighed, stretching out his lungs and wishing that he could feel the air fill them up. His head didn’t thump back against the wall the way he wanted it to, and he halted when the cold chill of phasing started, closing his eyes. He wondered if any of them would be back soon or if he should just phase through the door and go find them.  

Who would he even look for, anyway? Donnie? He had been wondering how his twin was dealing with everything.

“Knowing him, he’s probably got all his feelings shoved in a little box.” Leo huffed, or tried to. His brow furrowed in frustration, and he bit down any further noise.

Why did he keep forgetting? He couldn’t make any noise, his voice didn’t work.

Another deep breath where the cool air refused to find its way into his lungs.

He stood in a rush, uncaring of the way his whole form shivered and shuddered when he pushed through the door. He refused to sit there, silent and unseen in an empty room when he could try and bother his brothers.

Ghosts were known for hauntings, after all. How hard could it be to be a ghost? Ghosts were everywhere, if you believed Mikey. Since seeing his brother’s ability to manifest dimensional portals from the power of love and determination, he was inclined to believed Mikey a little bit more.

Donnie was inspecting one of the railcars when Leo found him, a measuring tape in one hand while the other tapped numbers into a projected screen. His face was blank, flat and empty, and his lips twitching down into a frown every few seconds. He didn’t seem focused, double checking his measurements every few seconds.

The periodic frowns coincided with every time Mikey would drop a can of spraypaint, the clatter more than audible when Mikey was just out in the main station. Leo wondered if Donnie was annoyed by the sound, confused by his brother’s behavior. It was a repetitive noise, and Don was known for his short temper when he had a lot to process, but he didn’t seem irritated.

Leo sighed, watching as his brother snapped the tape measure closed and pulled up a different screen on his tablet. Interesting, Donnie hadn’t even finished filling out all his measurements on the other screen, and he usually loved collecting data.  

“Whatcha looking at?” Leo asked, scooting around until he could see over his brother’s shoulder. He blinked.  

“Physical therapy for hands and arms?” He echoed, looking between the page of search results and Donnie’s still blank face, but his brother didn’t answer, of course.

What did Donnie need to know about physical therapy for? Sure, Leo had seen the mystic scars that trailed Mikey’s arms; that had left him with tremors and a weak grip. He’d seen how Raph and Donnie each carried similar scars on their own arms.

He hadn’t noticed before, but was Donnie suffering from the same pains?

The clang of another spraypaint falling sounded outside the subway car, and Donnie flinched again, dropping his tablet to the side as he pinched his eyes closed. Leo could see his right hand was clenched tightly, but the left was loose and tired around the dark screen. He was staring at the door, out toward Mikey.

“I’m worried too.” Leo said, putting his incorporeal hand over Donnie’s clenched fist. “But not much, because I know you and I’ve seen you work on your tech when you literally had a fever that was making you see double. No way shaky hands are gonna stop you from working on your dumb tech stuff.”

It felt weird, to be offering reassurance on something he usually teased and bothered about. It felt wrong. Donnie was skilled at this, it was his hobby, his passion, an interest that shaped the way he interacted with the world. He didn’t need reassurance he’d still be skilled at it. He shouldn’t have lost the capability for it anyway, but Leo couldn’t have stopped him.

 You might have made it worth it though, he thought to himself bitterly. He turned, propped his shell against Donnie’s arm and ignored the way the softshell shivered as he continued, tilting his head back to rest against his brother. “‘Sides, you think Mikey’s gonna stop making art any time soon? Doubtful. You’ll be fine, don’t worry. You’re all way too fucking determined for your own good.”

 Donnie didn’t answer, but after a long moment he pulled the tablet back up. Leo hated not having a voice, hated it more than anything. He had something to say, and he couldn’t say it, and it frustrated him, made him want to shout but he knew it would do nothing but make him more upset.

 They sat in silence for a while, Leo stewing and Donnie studying, until they realized that the sound of paint cans hissing and clattering had stopped, and so had Mikey’s half-muttered frustrations, nothing but the sound of Donnie’s steady breathing and tapping fingers filling the room. Donnie looked over his shoulder, squinting through the window, but they haven’t cleaned properly and it’s almost impossible to see through the dusty glass.

 He stood, walking to the door of the train car and looking out for a few moments. Leo followed him, peering around his twin’s shoulder to see what Donnie was staring at, and paused. Even from this distance, he would recognize the old can of spray paint that Mikey was holding.

 He’d gotten Mikey a set for his birthday, colors matching the various colors of their family. He’d joked that Mikey should use them to make a mural of their family, left for humans to find somewhere and wonder at. Mikey hadn’t used them for that, but had held onto them for a long time.

 He was holding two cans, one in each hand, yellow and blue,  and on the verge of crying. Donnie watched as Mikey looked at the other can in his hand, and when he shook it they could clearly hear it was empty.

 There was a solid moment where Mikey just stood there, growing more and more tense. Then he turned in a sharp movement, form blurring as he hurled the empty can at the wall. The sound he made was a yell, a scream, a rage at something so far out of his control that it made Leo’s heart seize.

 It burst in a sharp sound and explosion, the remnants of bright yellow paint spraying onto the wall all around the impact as it started to drip, bright drops of colors trailing down. The can clatters to the ground, a neon yellow puddle growing around the bent and busted, half crushed aluminum.

 Mikey was shaking, his empty hand clenched into a fist as he stood there, shoulders hunched and shaking as he tried desperately not to cry. He was shaking his head back and forth, silently protesting.

 Don’s hand spasmed on the door, his jaw clenching and unclenching in intervals. Leo wondered if Donnie’s voice was even working right now, he’d seen his twin nonverbal often enough to recognize some of the signs of it. He could feel it even, the way the words were right there, hidden in fog he couldn’t get through to form sentences and sounds.

 “Mikey?” April was standing in the hallway leading into the sewers, frowning at the wall.

 Mikey startled, facing her with wide eyes, and took a step back on instinct before he looked away.

 “Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay.” April reassured, voice low as she approached, and he turned to her angrily enough that she stopped.

 “No, no it’s not. Nothing is okay right now,” Mikey snapped. “It’s not- it’s not right. Nothing about this is okay.”

 He was glaring, eyes bright and tear tracks reflecting down his face in the low light. He looked like he was daring her to challenge him. She sighed, and took a few more steps forward

 “You’re right. It’s all… wrong.”

 Mikey didn’t say anything, and she kept going, voice cracking slightly.

 “I can’t believe he’s gone either.” She had to clear her throat before continuing. “But it’s okay to cry, and it’s okay to process. And I’m here. Whatever you need, I got your back.”  

 Mikey stared for a moment more before his face crumpled, and he began crying in earnest.

 Leo wasn't sure who had moved first, but a moment later April's arms were around Mikey, and he was sobbing into her jacket.

 Over his shoulder, Leo could see her own eyes were full of tears, and she closed them against the steady stream.

 Donnie looked away, stepping back into the train car quietly. The way he ended up splayed across the seats made his limbs looked heavy, weighed down with exhaustion. He stared at the roof for several long moments, listening to the sound of grieving hardly even a room over.

 Leo stayed, equally quiet as he laid on the floor to stare up the roof too, unwilling to leave Donnie alone right now.

[zanrelley]

Adrift 8

ROTTMNT Fanfic

Summary:

 Leonardo isn’t rescued from the Krang Prison Dimension by his brothers, forced to flee from his cellmate in the void. The greatest ninja warrior of all time has to learn how to adapt to his new home, traversing low gravity, discovering the usefulness of spaceship corpses from worlds far beyond his own, and finding ways to survive such a harsh abandoned world.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

AO3 Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: It's Okay Not to be Okay

Word Count: 2.6k

 The time it would’ve taken them to walk there was cut in half by cheating with Donnie’s battle shell, the blades slowing to a quiet stop as Donnie landed and Casey hopped off of him. They were in front of a house that looked abandoned, but Donnie knew that was just the front Draxum had kept up so no one would investigate the building. Regardless, he sighed as he forced the door open with a blunt force hit with his staff, pushing the old wood aside as he stepped in. 

 “This would’ve been much simpler if he was just at the apartment.” Donnie grumbled to himself, still in an irritable mood as he activated the floodlights on his battle shell. The house seemed empty, just filled with abandoned and miscellaneous alchemy projects on every surface. He had already texted April about that inquiry, she told him she hadn’t heard from or seen him for the past few days before the Krang attack. 

 Casey cautiously stepped inside after him, not knowing what to expect. He was confused by all the equipment everywhere, the sealed bottles of brightly colored fluids and jars of biological matter. Was this guy a mad scientist? He smiled as he looked at Donnie, what were the chances of two manic geniuses in the same family? 

 Guaranteed for the Hamato clan, apparently. 

 Donnie put his goggles down over his eyes as he decided to scan the house for Draxum, sighing as his annoyance ticked up another level at his results, void of any proof of him being there. 

 “He isn’t here.” Donnie huffed as he deactivated his lights and headed back for the door, only giving Casey a few seconds to move out of his way. It hurt to be brushed off like that, for someone to make it so obvious they did not want you there. Casey fought back the small spike of ire in his chest, he couldn’t get mad at Donatello, he knew exactly what he was going through. They were mourning the same person, even if Casey had two Leo’s weighing down his heart. 

 Part of him found it funny in a small way that this attitude Donnie had reminded him a little of Leo yesterday during all the chaos. He didn’t want to listen to anyone else but himself, he had a goal and he was going to do anything it took to make it a reality. Granted, the stakes were slightly different, so Casey didn’t see his need to step in and try to say anything yet like he had when he went off on Leo. 

 He had that strange feeling of responsibility for these younger versions of his mentors, but he fought it down. It wasn’t his place to try to correct them, he was sure Donnie would get through this without him needing to ruffle his feathers. 

 “ Ahem . We don’t have all day!” Donnie called in annoyance from outside, bringing Casey from his thoughts. He allowed a roll of his eyes but kept a small and only partially fake smile on his face as he headed back outside. 

-----------

 Mikey was sitting at the kitchen table, one of Donnie’s hoodies that he had stolen from his room loosely hanging around his shorter frame, and his hands were stuffed into oven mitts as he had a spread of papers in front of him. His hands stung when he wrote, but the oven mitts helped with the pain as he was determined to plan out Leo’s return party. 

 He would take a break every once in a while, checking to make sure he hadn’t ruined his bandages and then continued his planning. He had drawn out some ideas, like what if his brothers wore blue bandanas for when Leo came back or decorated their own with blue paint? Maybe face paint? 

 Mikey giggled to himself as he imagined Leo’s reaction. The first thing he had set in stone was what he planned to make for Leo first when he got home. He knew pizza would probably be the first thing he would want, but Mikey wanted it to be special. He had made a list of all the things he knew Leo loved and decided that he would let Leo pick one and he would make it for him right away. 

 He would make him whatever he wanted for a week straight if he wanted him to, the rest of their lives if he asked. He already had the supplies ready to make the said menu, a bottle of glue, and a bag of glitter sitting nearby as he put the idea off to the side. He was writing down all of Leo’s favorite things to do, wishing he could pull out his phone to look up the newest issue of his favorite comics. 

 Mikey would get anything in the world for Leo if it meant he could see him again. His bright spirit flickered at the sad thought, it had come and gone the entire time he had been working on his project. That one hurt a little more after almost an hour of it trickling in, the small cloud above his head was getting harder to ignore as it grew darker and heavier. 

 The orange ninja sighed dramatically and leaned back in his chair, letting the blue crayon in his hand go as he looked up at the ceiling of the lair. Maybe he needed a real break, one to get away from this table at least. He agreed with himself and pushed his chair back to get up, keeping his oven mitts on as he walked out of the kitchen.

 Maybe it was time to sit with Raph and see if he could get his older brother talking. He wondered what he was doing this whole time while he was working on his project. Mikey felt recharged a little mentally, he didn’t feel any better about losing Leo, but if his big brother needed someone to talk to, he was more than ready to listen.

 Mikey wandered the lair for a bit, searching all the rooms and finding no sign of Raphael. He could hear their dad watching his shows in his room and knew he wasn’t in there either. He even went as far as to look into Raph’s room and found it empty.

 Mikey felt a spike of fear in his chest as he kept looking, where could Raph have gone? He didn’t leave him here alone, did he? No, Raph didn’t want anyone to be alone, there was no chance he would just disappear on him like that.

 Mikey fought the urge to intertwine his hands since it was too hard to do with oven mitts and it would probably agitate his injured skin as he considered yelling to see if Raph really would come running, just to make sure he was there somewhere. He paused when he found himself outside of Leo’s room as the thought crossed his mind. He waddled over to one of the windows of the rail car and peeked into it, a small part of him hoping to witness a miracle.

 His eyes widened when he saw Raph’s large frame inside instead of the one his heart wished for, sitting on the floor, messing with something he couldn’t see. Mikey felt familiar tears gently pushing at the underside of his eyelids, he did his best to wipe at them before they could surface, reaching to open the door to Leo’s room. His entrance startled Raphael, who looked up in surprise.

 Mikey couldn’t hide the quiver in his voice.

 “Found you.” He forced out, not knowing what else to say. Raph’s face became worried as he immediately went to stand up, but Mikey threw himself on top of his brother, forcing him to stay seated as he embraced him. They didn’t say anything as Raph hugged him close and Mikey squeezed him as he tried not to cry.

 “Everything alright, bro?” Raphael asked softly, his cracking voice betraying him. Mikey shook his head as he curled in on himself, he felt better with Raph’s arms holding him. How was he so good at hugging? It must have been a big brother thing.

 “It’s okay if you’re sad too.” Mikey said after a few minutes of hugging in silence as he swallowed down a few sniffles. Raph was surprised by the statement, biting his lip as he looked around Leo’s room. Was that why he came to see him? He was trying to get him to talk about his feelings?

 Raph didn’t know how to go about this, he didn’t expect to be caught vulnerable like this. He had tried, he really did, to distract himself when Mikey had asked for his space. But, he always ended up circling back to Leo’s room, looking in through the windows and hoping to see his blue brother lounging around reading a comic like yesterday was all a big nightmare that could be left behind by crawling out of bed.

 It got too much for him as he ended up walking inside, looking at all of Leo’s stuff, everything Leo wasn’t going to see again for however long it would take for Donnie and Draxum to figure out how to get him back. His hands clenched into fists as he fought back distraught tears. Why wasn’t he able to come up with all that smart stuff too?

 Why couldn’t he just solve all their problems and protect his family from anything the world threw at them? Raphael knew it was unreasonable to give himself those standards, his brothers were amazing in their own ways and he had always recognized that, and encouraged it to a fault unless it was going to their heads. They were always so amazing, they excelled at anything they tried to do.

 Raph always thought his greatest asset was being the strong one, the tank, the frontline who always made sure if anything was going to get to his brothers, it went through him first. He was the oldest, he was the biggest, he was the anchor to their team. If anything happened to them, leader or not, Raph felt like it was on him.

 But ever since Leo demanded that Casey close that portal, he had never felt so powerless.

 He shook as his body gave in to his thoughts, bringing Mikey into a tighter hug as he curled into his younger brother’s embrace. Mikey gently pet his head with his oven mitt hands as he felt like he was crumbling, inside and out. His eyes burned, and he couldn’t fight the tears back as he closed them.

 And what if Casey was wrong? What if Mikey wasn’t going to die from making that portal? They would have Leo back. Was it wrong that he stopped Mikey from making it, even considering the risk?

 Would they ever forgive him? Would Leo ever forgive him if he had made the wrong call?

 Mikey sort of expected this but he couldn’t stop his own tears as he knew Raph was finally surrendering to the sadness in his heart. His big brother had been trying to be strong for them like he always did and Mikey wasn’t going to allow that charade to play out longer than necessary. He loved his brothers and they needed to know they were allowed to be sad, they didn’t have to pretend it was all sunshine and hope for a tomorrow where Leo came back.

 They were allowed to miss him, they were allowed to worry about him, they were allowed to cry and scream and flail their arms and legs until their whole body went sore and their throats burned. Whatever it took to keep them from bottling all these ugly and gross feelings inside would be worth it as long as they stayed together.

 They lost their brother. It was plain and simple when you got to the root of it. They needed to let out the fears, the tears, and the helpless feelings of failure. It was the only way they were going to function as a team to get Leo back in their arms.

 He squirmed a bit as Raph gave one of the strongest bear hugs Mikey had ever experienced in his life but allowed it as he hugged his big brother’s head to his chest, his arms free from any damage. The feeling of Raph’s tears soaking through the hoodie was a weird sensation to Mikey, he couldn’t remember the last time Raph had ever let himself have a full-fledged cry.

 He smiled softly as his emotions were coming back down, doing his best to rub his brother’s head and back as they sat together in Leo’s room a while longer.

-----------

 Donatello’s anxiety was flourishing, slowly creeping bigger and bigger as he and Casey roamed the streets of the city. They had gotten considerably closer to the heart of it while looking for Barry. Donnie would’ve given up on this search and begun scrounging together prototypes in his lab already if the lack of people didn’t stir solicitude in his gut.

 Casey hadn’t made any comments about the lack of populace and Donnie thought it was the cold shoulder treatment, it was what his brothers would have done if there was this level of unattended tension between them. He kept reminding himself that Casey didn’t seem to have any experience with being in the Hidden City, there wasn’t a logical way for him to know how the city normally functioned, henceforth his lack of questioning made sense. But it still irked him.

 “It’s not normally like this.” Don forced himself to grumble the words out, he never expected himself to be the type to try to force a social interaction but here he was, hoping Casey would take it as an opening to talk to him. Their shared silence was starting to bother him. Aside from their unresolved tension and silence, he also wondered if Casey had any ideas about what might be happening here, it was highly probable that this was correlated to the Krang attack.

 Future boy didn’t even look his way, his attention more concerned with a yokai walking in their direction. Donnie couldn’t hold back the sputter of gibberish spewing from his mouth as Casey took off into a jog toward said yokai, catching the stranger’s attention to speak with him. He knew it was a ridiculous thought considering everything so far but had no one taught Casey stranger danger?

 Don caught up to them and caught the tail end of Casey’s questioning, and apparently, there was a Krang attack in the city, and a few humans had gotten through the barriers to the underground and had infected some of the residents. He told them that most yokai were taking shelter in the main parts of the city, the infected having already been contained when they finally stopped flooding in.

 Donnie didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened otherwise, if the gateway hadn’t portal chopped (his heart throbbed as he remembered Leo saying it) the Technodrome in half, there would’ve been plenty more infected running rampant. He still had the spiteful little voice in the back of his mind telling him to ignore this, he only wanted to worry about Leo, it wasn’t like they could solve a problem on this scale right now anyway.

 Casey turned to him when the yokai walked off, waiting for him to decide what they should do with their newly acquired information. Donatello still wanted to find Draxum and he was certain the warrior alchemist wouldn’t be able to resist helping the other yokai if he wasn’t infected himself. It would be out of character for someone who had at one point dedicated their life to creating yokai warrior mutants to protect yokai-kind to suddenly turn their back on those very same people during a time of crisis, as a wanted criminal or not.

 Donnie sighed.

 “We need to follow that lead. Draxum might be there.” Donnie decided and Casey only responded with a silent nod. Okay, maybe he should apologize sooner rather than later, having a shadow with eyes was really starting to get under his skin. He reached out and activated Casey's mask to fall over his face, it startled the other teenager who seemed to give him a questioning look.

 "The residents here don't usually like humans, it's better to make sure we try to hide that little detail about you if we're going into a shelter for yokai that just got attacked by them." Donnie explained, turning away to follow the directions they were given before Casey could silently nod again.

-----------