#but maybe it’s not about the turtles at all but instead their enemies?

[traumas-tmntober-2024]

Today’s TMNTober prompt is:

7. Begrudging Alliance! 🤝

[bulbabutt]

okay. lets bite the bullet and talk about 2012. lets talk about child abuse, familial abuse, generational abuse, toxic family units, whatever you wanna call it. lets talk about it and whether it exists in this show. i actually encourage you to read this no matter what your take is, just to hear it out. let me be FUCKING clear: i love this show, but i get scared to talk about it seriously. everyone on every side is defensive all the time but i love every turtles show to no end.

this post is going to go over so well and not controversially at all.

precursor: every splinter is some level of shitty dad. he always has been. the fucking bare bones of the character is that he raised his children to kill the man who killed his own father. thats inherently fucked up. every splinter has some level of fucked up about him. maybe hes inattentive, or neglectful, or strict, or secretive, maybe hes just not very good at dealing with his kids. splinter is supposed to be far from perfect. thats what makes him splinter. maybe he grows over the course of a series, maybe he doesnt. maybe hes supposed to be shitty his whole life, maybe hes not. thats just splinter. each is adapted differently depending on the story being told.

and 2012 has a very interesting tone to its story.

lets start at the beginning, back in japan. this is season 3, was this story what they intended when they started writing the show back in season 1? probably not, theres probably things they would have written differently had they known this was where splinter's story started. thats kind of the way tv works, you add the details later. but for our sake of analyzing the character of splinter as a whole, it seems best to start here as if its all intentional.

hamato yoshi is a member of the hamato clan. theyre a very traditional old ninja clan in the modern world, they have old feuds and theyre trying to keep their culture alive. they're literally the last of a clan of ninjas like this, having (supposedly) defeated the foot clan (their generational enemies) back when yoshi was a baby. hes set out to lead next, and its very important to him. and yet hes married to a woman who works in the city, a modern woman who doesnt live the life he does. she even moved to be with him. i feel the need to compare this to how men in the real world who want traditional wives never go for women who are willing to be their housewives, always try to break down the independent ones. splinter seems unconcerned with how his wife wants to live. with how she wants their daughter to be raised.

im not necessarily saying this is how this comes off in the show, but i find it interesting to think about. this is absolutely the most rounded version of tang shen as a character (thus far) it stops her being just a name on a page "hamato yoshi's love and the object of his enemies affections who died" and turns her into a woman who has a stake in the story. gives her more agency.

its very interesting that this show implies an actual relationship between tang shen and oroku saki, albeit a one-sided one that didnt work out, but they do seem to have parted on equal ground. the pair of them discuss yoshi's inattentive duties as a husband and father, that he's too obsessed with the tradition and lineage of his clan. honestly, if this woman just took her baby and left no one would blame her! he has his priorities set, and it leaves no room for her and their newborn baby. if she ran away with saki at this point, the story would make just as much sense.

but then disaster strikes, saki learns the truth about his family, that he was actually a child of the foot clan (honestly i wish we saw this play out instead of jumping ahead in the story but thats not what this post is about) and he kills he and yoshi's father. revenge for him having killed his. cycles of abuse and revenge that never end. the pair of them were raised in this society that values lineage like this, that would kill for it. its no wonder they both grew up this way.

anyway, tang shen is killed by a blow meant for yoshi, and saki takes their child and raises her. based on splinter's lack of desire to be a father so far in the story, its honestly not one you can blame him for. its fucked up, but it makes sense. saki does to miwa exactly what his father did to him. cycles of abuse and revenge.

yoshi loses everything, and moves to america. he's turned into splinter the mutant rat, and gains four turtle sons.

so as established, he's not exactly grown up with a stable family life. he obviously, while human, wasnt acting as a stable father for the child he intended to have. so how good is he at this?

ive talked before about how the 2003 show treats the turtles as kind of one whole unit. they don't have individual relationship arcs, they dont have overarching storylines where they grow apart or closer, they're always in each other's corner.

2012 makes this more dynamic. here we see that 15 years seeing no one but each other, growing under this splinter has come with its own quirks. these brothers dont understand each other that well. they get jealous of each others treatment, some are left out, some are misunderstood. raph resents leo, none of them appreciate what donnie does, mikey bothers everyone else for attention, etc. it creates a really good starting place for this show.

(the issue i have with this show is more that they never really open or close any of these beats, at least not in ways that last. but boy does it make for some good dramatic scenes)

we see over the course of this first season that splinter treats his children just as he was, as little ninjas more so than sons. he raises them to follow his traditions, the ones tang shen never cared for. but this is all he knows how to be! you cant really blame him.

most people bring up mikey as the quintessential example when they talk about this, i dont want to do that cuz i know you've all heard it. while i think his father does disrespect him and i think it is paid forward and his brothers do too, i'd rather talk about raph for a change.

in one episode, raph loses his temper. to teach him a lesson, splinter makes his brothers pelt him in training while insulting him any way they can, and tells him to just... not lose his temper. this is a terrible lesson in general. instead of trying to coax out why he might be angry, it just plays up that if he loses his temper bad things happen.

splinter in this episode basically encourages bullying. this comes up a lot when it comes to raph. to compare, in 2003 when raph loses his temper, hes told to blow off steam which he does. his brothers don't blame him for having emotional outbursts, they know thats just how he is so they know how he needs to cope with it. he's given the physical space to let it out.

im not saying this show needs to be like that show, im just saying thats a version of this story where the outcome is better for raph as a whole. since this outcome is not as good for him emotionally, you can tell why he's still got these emotional issues. splinter never helps him more than that. thats more why this raph differs from that one, if that makes sense. one has his family in his corner more than the other.

speaking of. raph has a pet turtle. this turtle is the only one he can talk to about how he feels. why might that be? it's the only thing hes kind and gentle to, and he refuses to let his brothers make him feel weak for being kind to it. where did he learn to be ashamed of being kind and gentle? thats a learned behaviour. in a house full of other men... yeah, that would happen. but whos values start that?

when this turtle gets some mutagen spilled on it, it tries to get revenge on his family. there is such a resentment going on here, its extremely juicy. the show chalks this up to "post mutation insanity", but its just as easy to think that everything raph has experienced has made him seem angry and resentful and perhaps scared to his pet, and that former pet wants raph to himself so they can be free. the frustrated venting of a child complaining about how no one understands him in such a big way turns slash into a vengeful monster, cuz thats all he's ever heard. it makes sense, he went from a little turtle to a fully cognizant adult aged being in an instant. emotionally no one would handle that well, and definitely not someone whos only ever heard the worst about people.

he comes around later. notably by being on his own, away from the hamatos.

again, im not saying the show is writing this intentionally, but i think tonally its in the zone where you could see this analysis as being canon. that these little pieces of narrative fit the worldview of a toxic family unit that isnt dealing with its problems in a healthy way.

there's other small aspects. leo slaps mikey early on, having seen it on his favourite show be used as a way of getting someone to calm down. mikey questions this behaviour, leo seems to feel bad about it when questioned. if we know that that behaviour was bad, what other things might he emulate in a similar way?

there's things like donnie's predatory behaviour towards april. in a world where all they ever knew was splinter's stories of the outside world (and perhaps television from decades earlier), hearing splinter's story of his love for tang shen, his rivalry with his own brother over her, you could actually see why he would behave the way he does, why he claims her the way he does. not as an excuse, but as a reason he learned the behaviour. and there's multiple opportunities for his father to tell him off. he never does. why would he? he knows no better.

this splinter, unlike every other, is not old or disabled. he doesnt require a cane (at the start, but also was never a good cane) and its interesting that despite being like... a 40 year old man in the peak of his life he does not accompany his sons on missions. he sits around doing nothing and disproves of his sons heroic actions. april literally calls him out for this at one point. the show is actually telling us some of this man's behaviour is wrong.

one of the more upsetting things that happens in this household is a lot of physical hitting. "theyre training" you might say. understandable. but when you see a lot of hitting come from the father in this show, played for a laugh, when you see splinter play the "drunk master" bit it makes you think. is that okay? isnt that a bit much?

the end of the muckman episode is a freeze frame of splinter (after having knocked out all of his sons to punish them for leaving while grounded) turning his anger on april and her running away. idk thats just not funny to me. this is a bit of the dating of the show, 2012 was a time where character's in shows were meaner, less affectionate, more bullying in nature. that was the sense of humour at the time. that isnt me making a judgment, it's just kind of the era. a pre steven universe world, if that makes sense. so many of the jokes that end in a hit aren't funny in 2024. especially not when they come from a parent.

when this splinter speaks about his kids to their brothers he often ends up insulting them. "you should be like mikey, he never overthinks because he doesn't think", this would be a big reason the boys speak about each other the way they do to their faces. puts forward a bit more of that bullying thing i mentioned earlier. if their own father talks about them like this, of course their brothers do too. so of course they join in and give payback.

again. splinter wasnt raised in a normal family. he was raised in a ninja commune with a bunch of murderers. he wasn't great with his wife and baby daughter. its not surprising that he's bad at this.

so, ive just said a bunch of things about what's wrong with this household as a whole. i think ive explained why the family unit behaves the way it does: generational teachings of feuds and traditional values. i dont think this makes the show bad! i, in fact, wish there was more of it. i think theres so much low hanging fruit that the show kind of wants to play with, but cant fully bring itself to.

specific example: during the space arc on a planet thats driving all the characters emotions against each other we get this amazing scene where raph screams at leo for being splinter's favourite. leo responds by hugging him. its really well done!

however its never brought up again, never actually getting into the nitty gritty of why raph feels like that is exactly what i think makes this show resonate with so many people

its dark! it pulls at your heart strings! it makes people feel seen! we go in mikey's head at one point and see such splintered (lol) personalities in his head. he has a huge anger problem (much like raph) in there. he retreats into imagination land when stressed. the show kind of toys with "these kids are fucked up!" but never lets those character moments go anywhere. i love how fucked up this family is. its so complex, it feels real. at least real to me. i wish it went that little step further and let the characters talk about these things a little more.

maybe you have a different experience, and thats fine! but i wouldnt brush off people like me who look at 2012 and say "these dynamics make me uncomfortable". to excuse it by saying "my family is like that and we're fine" sometimes i just wanna say... <:/ are you? have you talked about that? and if that's your read on it is that its fine, thats great. but some people notice patterns and those patterns can make them uncomfortable. i hope ive explained the patterns here.

i think thats why the fandom is as big as it is. this show would lead to the most amazing deep introspective fan-works youve ever seen, it lays the pieces out so perfectly for you to draw your own conclusions about why they are this way. you cant really blame people for talking about it as if its got a way higher rating than it does. it feels like it does.

i should say, i dont even know if i blame the show on its own for leaving those pieces laying there, it was on nickelodeon. i sense studio meddling in the tone. i mean, given that the show wanted to end with the big mutant apocalypse storyline, and yet the network wanted to end it with the big 87 crossover..... yeah i think its safe to say nick would rather they keep it light.

which is funny, because i think the most controversial thing i can say is i personally love the finale arc as the mutant apocalypse. it so encapsulates my favorite part of this show. to end this show in the darkest timeline and say "even though these characters are so far removed from who they used to be and even though the entire world is over they still have each other in the end" and i find that so perfect.

so. i understand that this is always a touchy topic. i know people want to brush it off as "people say the 12 brothers are abusive to mikey but mikey is fine", and i think thats a really skewed version of it from both sides. first of all. mikey is not fine, look in that boys head. look how he copes. he's not. but also, mikey is not the only victim. they all are. these turtles are victims of their upbringing, victims of generational war. of men who didnt know how to be good fathers in the first place. and thats good writing! it feels deep! it connects!

for more context: any fucked up way you can think of karai being raised by shredder? its probably the same way here. splinter and shredder were raised the same way.

i guess i think about this a lot, cuz i always see things like "oh, rise fans write crossovers where the rise boys love each other and have to teach the 12 boys how to be nice cuz they dont like 2012!" and i just think to myself:

guys. do you understand why a person might do that? why would someone (likely a teenager) want 2012 mikey to be treated nicely by a kinder more openly affectionate version of his own family? do i need to spell that out for you? why do we connect with media at all, why do we write our own stories about it?

if you genuinely dont. i mean, im glad for you. but sometimes you wanna imagine a world in which your own family is more openly affectionate with you. where they hug and tell you theyre proud and love you and you never have to question it, never have to look elsewhere for that kind of approval. its less that they're idolizing rise, and more that they're looking at the two families and saying "this one is emotionally mature and in touch with their feelings more than that one. how would that play out?"

doctor feelings ass response.

look, im not saying everyone understands 2012, that everyone likes or needs to like it. im just trying to say that i think these fucked up parts of 2012 are all around my favourite parts of the show. its an inspiring story about this fucked up little family that has no one but each other, and they're not great about it. they try, but they don't always get it right. i just wish the show would have talked about that part more. but i think that since it doesnt people get to fill in those blanks themselves, and they do it so beautifully. and i really wish people on the internet would be more kind to one another when they wanted to discuss these darker themes they find in it.

these are the reasons i love this show. i think its so very interesting that splinter dies this fucked up father figure who never really apologized for his behaviour. i like that raph needs to be held to stop punching his brothers. that leo doesnt have a good grip on what it is to be a leader, that he tries bad ways of doing it. i like that no one copes well! i like that their relationships are so complex! this show is messy! its good! i wish it was more messy!

and id love if we could be more honest about these things and how they make us feel instead of just brushing each other off as "likes the show" or "doesnt like the show". the things that make me uncomfortable are why i love this show and i'm pretty sure i'm not alone there.

[theperfectquestion]

TWENTY YEARS TO MIDNIGHT

The Venture Brothers starts out as a show that makes fun of the past, but lasted long enough to be one that truly understands it.

So I rewatched The Venture Brothers in one big splurge over the course of two weeks, from Turtle Bay to Baboon Heart.

One of the most charming things about the show is a product of its lengthy creation process and the fact that it was written almost entirely by just two people. The story nearly has a tight continuity, so if you take it at its word then all the events of the story take place over a period of two and a half years, while the actual show was made over a period of twenty years.

The outcome of this curious time dilation is that we follow the Venture Brothers, Hank and Dean, through those difficult years between 16 and 18, but we also follow the writers, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, through the difficult years between their twenties and their forties. The show begins irreverent, contrarian and cruel and changes, cell by cell, into something wiser and more profound.

The treatment of Rusty Venture, former boy adventurer and long-suffering heir to the poisonous Venture legacy, is a fascinating thread to follow. In the very first episode he steals his son's kidneys like a ghoul, and his various addictions and neuroses are firmly treated as quirky objects of pity. I don't know much about the personal lives of the writers, but I imagine a certain amount of tragedy would have found them over the course of twenty years. A certain empathy for Rusty's position kicks in around the second season and develops strongly throughout the years. By the time the writers have reached the age that Rusty is when he is introduced, there are delicate attempts to reach out to the poor man, to understand and maybe counteract some of his own personal tragedy, though careful not to smother the comedy that such a character brings to the table.

But the thread I enjoyed following the most was that trailing behind Action Johnny. If you have ever heard of The Venture Brothers, you already know that the show began as a parody and deconstruction of the 1960s Hanna Barbara cartoon Jonny Quest, which was itself an attempted relaunch of the Edisonade craze of the 1910s, riding on the coattails of the far more successful and popular Tintin and Uncle Scrooge comics.

Jonny Quest was the son of a world famous scientist and adventurer, Doctor Quest, who led an extraordinary jet setting life where he accompanied his father to exotic places to experience exciting, often racist, science-themed thrills instead of going to school. He was watched over by his lantern-jawed bodyguard, Race Bannon, and joined with his adopted brother, Hadji.

The Venture Brothers stole this set-up entirely, and Rusty's backstory is a carbon copy of Jonny's. We are first told that this is something more than a swipe early on in the first season of The Venture Brothers when Race Bannon appears, as himself, as a secret agent belonging to the same organisation as the Venture family bodyguard, Brock Samson. It's a clever shorthand for saying that boy adventurers are not singular in this world, they are a type, one which occupies a distinct social strata along with their bodyguards, enemies and other supporting cast members.

The way that we are told this fact, in the seventh episode of the first season, is peak 2004 adult swim: beloved cartoon character Rave Bannon drops out of the sky, lands in front of one of our characters, dies, then shits himself. This was vaguely subversive at the time, but twenty years of Robot Chicken and the like have rendered it a tired, hoary gag. Venture Brothers itself has proved that this moment is at least a wasted opportunity. There was undoubtedly more comedy and interest to be mined from having Race Bannon around as an older counterpart to Brock Samson. But there was fun to be had with squandering opportunities and biting the hand that feeds for writers in their twenties in 2004.

When Jonny Quest himself appears in 2006's season two episode, Twenty Years to Midnight, things aren't much different. Jonny is found haunting the bathyscaphe from the cartoon, injecting heroin, waving an antique pistol and ranting about his father. He has a teardrop tattoo and missing teeth. He is discovered by Rusty's brother, the overachieving but naïve Jonas Junior. It's a much better gag in execution than the Race Bannon one, despite being essentially the same beat, but there is some pathos thanks to Brendan Small's delivery. Jonny is left alive, unlike Race, but the capper to this scene is somehow more humilating and tragic than when Race's corpse shat himself: Jonny is brought on side by Jonas Junior who, pressed for time and not as accustomed to being threatened and menaced as Rusty is, is unable to apply superscience to this situation and simply offers Jonny a supply of heroin.

The entertainment industry's relationship to its back catalogue of intellectual property has changed a lot in the last two decades. Characters like Jonny and Race were embarrassing curios in Ted Turner's garage in 2006. Why not dust them off and kill them in a cartoon to make college kids giggle? Why not give them a crippling drug habit and have them collapse to their knees, bellowing, "I'm in real pain!" But within ten years the media behemoths realised they could spin their old straw into gold, and instead of selling sheink rays at a yard sale, so to speak, they were putting the Flintstones in ads for Halifax bank.

So the Venture Brothers show renamed their tragic, adult Jonny Quest to 'Action Johnny' and in doing so was forced to consider him as a character rather than a skit. And the colossal strength at the heart of the Venture Brothers is in taking ridiculous things like boy adventurers seriously. Jonny Quest was allowed to become a valuable (?) piece of IP, forever a child, forever innocent and marketable, while Action Johnny could live his life unfettered by the parent company's fears.

Action Johnny appears two years later in Season 3, sober but shaky, doing a favour to Rusty by running a seminar for his ill-fated summer camp. He undercuts the spirit of the event by warning the children of the long term effects of adventures on the psyche and unravels into rants about his father. It's a solid bit by itself, especially when contrasted with a neighbouring table from the Pirate Captain (who, despite being an important recurring character, the show refuses to give a name) about the joys of being part of the 'rubber mask set.' Though the world of the Venture Brothers is nominally organised through a bureaucracy of licenced 'protagonists' and 'antagonists,' the biggest tension on screen is between the characters who chose the life, like the Pirate Captain, and those who had the life forced upon them, like Action Johnny. It just so happens that the former tend to end up as tortured, resentful good guys and the latter wind up as joyful, carefree villains.

Bringing that point home in the same episode is the appearance of Doctor Z as the summer camp's headliner. Doctor Z is the final borrowed character Jonny Quest, and one who the writers clearly take the brightest shine to, probably because he has the funniest voice to imitate. Doctor Z also represents the goals of show's resplendent second half - having deconstructed the boy adventurer genre in the early seasons, the Venture Bros very carefully puts the pieces back together into something wholly new.

And so Doctor Zin, the generic yellow peril villain of Jonny Quest, becomes Doctor Z, the retired and contented former archfiend of the Venture Bros. Doctor Z is treated by the other characters as something like a national treasure, a beloved old star who made the game his own. The joke of Doctor Z is that he seems genuinely bemused that his lifetime of villainy seems to have had a lasting negative effect on people. When he appears at Rusty's summer camp, all theatre and terror, he is delighted to meet his old foe Action Johnny, while Johnny is thrown into a whirlwind of trauma at the sight of Z, one that will drag him down into further troubles.

Doctor Z will become more of a feature than Action Johnny over the following years as the show becomes more interested in its older cast members - the ones whose personalities shaped the world, and who have sunny memories of the days that were so painful to Rusty and Johnny. He is part of a larger rehabilitation arc on the meta level, where characters with reprehensible aspects to them are held up for the audience to inspect so that they may find some empathy with them. Sargent Hatred is the poster child of this era, who is a repentant paedophile who joins the main cast as the Venture Brothers' new bodyguard. He's a whole other topic, but Doctor Z has the same function as Hatred, but on a metatextual level. His ancestor, Doctor Zin, is a hideous racial stereotype of the sort that makes modern revivals of the adventure genre so unpalatable. In its first deconstructionist half, the Venture Brothers show would simply wave Doctor Z around as shock tactic - 'look how racist Jonny Quest was, and by extension the company that made it and, logically, its audience!' and then maybe give him a violent and undignified death to wash their hands of the whole matter. But the reconstructivist Venture Brothers show embraces Doctor Z, and takes him beyond his tawdry origins to become an integral part of its story.

In 2009, Action Johnny helps Rusty to articulate this in the episode 'Self-Medication' from Season 4. Johnny and Rusty are in the same therapy group for former boy adventurers, a premise that would later be stolen wholesale by the She-Hulk show. A trail of tenuous clues leads the group to Doctor Z's house in the middle of the night. Johnny forces a confrontation with Z, accusing him of murdering their therapist to perpetuate the spiral he has been in since he saw Z take the stage back at Rusty's day camp. Doctor Z immediately groks the situation and invites the former boy adventurers into his home for tea with his beloved wife, who proudly proclaims herself to be his beard. Doctor Z is proud of what he has done in life, and so has the ability to put the past behind him. Sat between Z and Johhny, who is unable to move on, Rusty realises that he has more in common with the antagonist in the room than the protagonist. Rusty has many such insights throughout the length of the show and they lead him to an interesting end point where he seizes the nettle and becomes a parental figure to the whole weird superscience community.

The final encounter between Action Johnny and Doctor Z takes place nine years (!) later in our timeline - 2018's 'The Terminus Mandate.' Doctor Z is retiring from active villany and, according to the ceremony-obsessed fraternity of organised supervillans, that means he must menace his archenemy one last time. Action Johnny's father is long gone, so Johnny inherits that dubious honour.

It's the first time that we see Doctor Z not being fully committed to the bit. Johnny is resident at a posh rehab clinic and Doctor Z is conflicted between genuinely wanting to see Johnny again but unsure of how to interact with him in a way that doesn't cause actual, lasting harm. Doctor Z even brings a prop from a Jonny Quest cartoon as a gift, in a sequence lovingly reanimated to translate Jonny Quest's vocabulary into the Venture Brothers' language. The sequence chosen is virulently racist, almost too racist to be believed: a mask of the god Anubis lands on top of Johnny's dog, and Doctor Z's Egyptian henchmen suddenly believe that the mask is a vengeful god come to punish them and so abandon the young Doctor, giving the advantage to Johnny's team. In the lobby of the rehab centre, in the late to evening, Doctor Z struggles to articulate why the Anubis mask means so much to him and Johnny cringes at the memory while enjoying the act of reminiscing. He offers to go and run and hide, so that Z can find him, and they both discover they are delighted by the idea.

It's a touching, uncomfortable and deeply weird scene that, to me, is the pinnacle of The Venture Brothers as a creative endeavour. Behind it is a group of people who have been mulling over the implications of Jonny Quest as a short-lived but impactful cultural phenomenon for most of their adult lives. They have been mining the absurdity, the legacy, the implications, the pathos and the bathos of those 26 half-hours of cartoon and found incredible treasures. It starts with finding a silly old thing in the attic that you want to ridicule and it ends, twenty years later, with you acknowledging the attachment one has formed to that silly old thing, and how it has informed your life, for better or worse, in ways you can't deny.

[aritsukemo]

Invisible Scars | Multiple Characters

Summary: In which the night before leaves you traumatized and causes your emotionally constipated/emotionally reserved friend to seek you out.

Warnings: Purposely vague descriptions ahead ( no names are mentioned besides yours ). Reader killed someone and is negatively reeling from it. Blood is mentioned but nothing seriously descriptive. All that said, read at your own risk!

A/N: I got the idea to write this after scrolling through @creativepromptsforwriting's sideblog and finding this prompt. I plan to tag characters who come to mind, but this is really an open drabble so feel free to imagine whomever you see fits! :D

Tagging: @nursedflowers and @saioratral

The high-pitched screech that bounced off the walls was a sound one would typically associate with tea at it's boiling point or maybe a hotpot screaming to be eaten. One thing that certainly would not have come to mind was a running faucet—specifically one that ran water so hot that it made even the durable metal cry out in pain.

The incessant shrieking, as annoying as it was, didn't faze the girl who sat before the sink. It was as if the noise was never there...which actually wouldn't be that far off from the truth.

In reality, she couldn't hear a thing aside from the same bloodcurdling screams.

Her hands worked as if they were trying to create a fire. They slide together at blinding speed, rubbing against one another so hard that a few more minutes of it would surely cause a tear in the skin of her palms.

Part of her wished that would actually happen.

A knock on the door sounds followed by the mellow hum of her friend's voice as he called from the other side, "Y/n. Are you still in there? It's me."

Heavy silence replaces her much needed answer, and if it weren't for the faint sound of running water, he would've been none the wiser in assuming she wasn't in there. Since that wasn't the case, however, he had no other choice but to try again.

"Y/n," He calls only for the same result. He then tries a third time, "Y/n!"

Silence. He sighs. Guess he has no other choice.

"Forgive the intrusion," With that gentle request serving as a small warning, he takes his time to twist the knob, giving her more than enough time to make herself presentable if need be as he swung the door open at a turtle's pace and peered inside.

As he suspected, she was standing at the sink, her back facing the door and preventing him from seeing what she was doing—not that he needed to. The steam, the running water, the uncomfortable sound of her hands sloshing together and sounding like two blades clashing...it all gave him an inkling of what was happening.

But how long has she been doing this for? He was almost to scared to ask. Almost.

"You've been in here for a while now," He said, and unlike his usual tone, his voice was dipped in uncharacteristic gentleness and sounded rather withheld. It was as if he was being held at swordpoint, and even then, it was surprising to hear him sound that way.

Maybe if she was paying attention she would've heard it and teased him about it. Possibly cracked a joke or two about him finally growing soft enough to warm up to her after all these years.

But instead he received silence and that scared him more than any enemy he's has faced in his lifetime.

"Hey," He called out again, but this time more sternly. He also didn't give her nearly as much time to answer. Not that she likely would.

"You can stop now. I doubt your hands are that dirty.." He's slow with his steps, closing the distance bit by bit, "Hell, by now, your hands are probably cleaner than mine."

She doesn't move, flinch, or do anything that would acknowledge that his words had reached her. It was as if she was in a trance, put under a spell of some kind or was a victim to some hypnotism caused by unknown means.

In a sense, what was happening right now was kinda like that.

In the matter of a minute or so, he's close enough to reach out for her delicate wrist. He does just that, but not too long after he snatches his hand away. He then paused, looking at his hand before looking back up at her with horrid shock gleaming off his hues.

This water was hot. Really hot. Hotter than any water boiled for food or tea.. He's surprised that the droplets don't just evaporate as soon as they leave the faucet.

"You don't feel that?" He leans in, getting closer to her face as his brows furrow, "Does that not hurt?"

He already knew the answer—of course it did—but the fact that she wouldn't answer him struck a nerve and in the end he finds himself grabbing her roughly by the wrist and snatching her away from that molten lava altogether.

He shuts off the water quickly after that, putting the annoying whistling it produced to an abrupt end. It seemed only then that the trance she was put under was broken and she was finally able to think and move for herself again.

As he lets go of her wrist, she finds herself opening her palms and staring down at them. She stares for a long while. Just opening and closing her palms repeatedly and rubbing her fingertips together, as if she was examining a foreign object.

The skin of her palms looked as if she had ran them across a rough surface for an hour; puffy with an angry hue of red to them.

They were a deep shade, just like... She clenches her teeth. He's quick to notice.

"If this is about the other day.." He began, his words dying in his throat as he watched as she flinched away at his very words.

He knew this would happen in the end. He tried to warn them all but nobody wanted to listen to reason. They sent this fragile glasswork into that cage of knives and sharp fangs without a care in the world and left him with the job of mending anything that was broken back together.

It truly irked him. More than something like this usually would.

"If... If you were in my shoes yesterday.." She began slowly and quietly, and despite her voice sounding like a mouse's squeak and a part of his blood boiling at the sound of it, he bit his tongue and held back his snapping comment.

Right now was not the time to be reckless. Too hard of a hit—or any pressure at all really—would cause his dear friend to shatter into a million pieces and he can't have that. How would he be able to fix her up in that condition?

"If you were me last night, if... If you had your weapon to that person's throat. ...If they begged you through their sobs and reduced to a blubbering mess...going on and on about how they needed to live.." She pauses, whether that was because she noticed how her voice grew more and more unsteady with every word she spoke or the fact that her hands had begun to tremble was unknown to even her. It seemed that at this point she was unsure of, well, everything.

And at that point, her friend saw no better of a time than to take a risk and speak his mind.

"If you plan to continue on to ask me if I would've still killed them than let me spare us both the time; I would in a heartbeat."

She laughs at him, her giggle sounding like a sick bird trying to sing. It should be comforting to here despite it's raspiness. After all, despite it not sounding exactly like her usual laughter, it's a miracle she's able to laugh at all. He should be sighing out of relief that she still seems to be gripping onto her sanity enough to find humor in such a dank situation.

But he couldn't, and all because of the simple fact that he had grown used to her sounding so full of life. It was truly a pity.

"I suppose that was a silly question of me to ask you of all people."

In all this time, he's noticed she hasn't looked up from her hands once. It was unnerving to see her like this, but there was nothing he could truly do about it. He could direct her attention elsewhere, sure, but that wouldn't stop the swarming of her thoughts or reduce her heightened awareness of what was once staining her hands and forearms. And, it surely wouldn't halt the constant loop of that incident from playing in her mind—that moment of her taking a life with her own hands, in a quite grotesque way at that.

Her mind was stained just like her skin and just like how she couldn't truly rid herself of the grimy feeling of blood sticking to her skin no matter how hard she scrubbed, he couldn't wipe her mind of what happened. They were both truly powerless.

But he had to do something. Now that they've gotten her foot out of the door, she has to walk through it. There's no backing out of this, she knew this when she went on that mission yesterday. There was no way but forward. He knew that better than anyone.

"Nevermind what happened, come on," He slides his hand up her arm, over her shoulder, and dips down to the upper part of her back where he gently pushes her in the direction of the door, all as he tells her, "You should get off your feet and actually rest. You'll need it for tomorrow.."

For the first time that night, she glances up at him. It was for a mere moment, but that quick second was all he needed. Her eyes..were like a starless sky; completely devoid of it's usually glimmer of life. It was as if he was staring at a solider who's spent the last decade at war.

Truly astounding how such a look was formed just after a single night.

Wordlessly, she allows him to push her in the direction of the door as if she weighed nothing. She walked slowly, and as she did she looked back down at her clean, reddened hands. Her eyes sinking even more as she does.

She finds herself wondering if the blood she felt would ever go away—if it were possible that her palms would be capable of ever being truly clean again—and that led her to softly murmur to the only one she could think of turning to; her companion and partner in crime, him.

"Does it.. Does this ever get better?" She asks to which she receives probably the heaviest sigh she's ever heard in her life. It tells her all she needs to know but does little to quell the turmoil in her heart. It has her questioning if she'll be able to handle the path forward. If she'll reach the end or go insane halfway through.

Whatever happens, she finds herself praying that she'll be able to walk this path hand in hand with someone who's treaded this gravel before.

..And it so happens that a person like that is leading her to her bedroom right now. How convenient.

Dividers were made by me, pictures used are from Pinterest, post formatting is inspired by @xxsabitoxx

[katanablue]

Hey there. I absurdly love your blog and your writing style, it’s amazing. I wanted to ask I I could perhaps request a Raphael x reader where it’s kind of an enemies to lovers. Reader and Raphael don’t get along at first because of their similar personalities but after a while they realize that they overplayed their feelings for each other with hate.

I’m not sure if this made any sense at all ;-;

ABSOLUTELY MADE SENSE ANON!!!!

You didn’t request a spef Raph, so I’m going with 07 I hope that’s okay ❤️

Stupid idiot.

Annoying prick.

Hotheaded jerk.

You had a few more insults for the red clad turtle but you’re sure if you kept thinking about it, you’d accidentally say them out loud.

Not that it would matter, it’s not like your distaste for him was a secret. Just like his wasn’t hidden from you.

It’s like two bulls in a China shop whenever you two are together, always butting heads and arguing opinions over the simplest things that can be easily discussed over a cup of tea. But not you two, you two would rather point fingers and get into petty arguments like 5 year olds.

You’re not sure what exactly caused you dislike Raphael, but you’re more than certain that it was him who started it. Probably countered an opinion you had about something so minuscule that you honestly would have let it go if it weren’t for the smug and cocky attitude he was displaying.

Thus, your rivalry with the turtle started.

Raph feels the exact same way about you; complaining that your temper is too short, you can’t take or follow direction and all he gets are snorts and fake shock from his brothers and Splinter.

“Really?”

“You don’t say?”

“That is so funny that you feel that way.”

And all Raphael can do is scoff and roll his eyes because he’s not stupid, he knows you’re similar to him. Maybe that’s why you clash, because he’s never had someone to combat his bonehead personality besides Leo and Casey but even then he was used to it, he’s known them forever.

Now you, having just met you a few months ago because April insisted that you, her friend, and he would get along splendidly.

Clearly she was wrong.

Currently you were over for a game night, sitting in between Don and Mikey while he and Leo sat across. April and Casey temporarily stepped out to grab food for everyone, leaving you with the mutant turtles. But you were having a wonderful time; good games, good vibes, good company…

Almost.

You roll your eyes when you catch Raph scoffing to himself after your turn, crossing his arms and grumbling to himself.

“Problem, Raph?” You ask, painting an innocent vibe as you lean back in your seat to glare at him. He looks at you with a bored expression, shrugging and then gesturing towards the game board with his chin.

“Dumb move, should’ve gone left instead of right.���

You can see from your peripheral how Don shakes his head and how Mikey tenses in the slightest. Leo rubs at his forehead, knowing what was coming.

“Yeah that’s why you got sent back to the start of the board right?”

“Maybe so, but I’m winning with the most money.”

“Doesn’t matter numb nuts, now you have to go past the scammer and pay the debt—“

“Oh I got more than enough, sweetheart—“

“Okay you know what—“

“Enough!” Leo shouts, standing up and looking back and forth between the two of you. “You two, get out. You’re banned from the rest of the game.”

Your mouth drops open in shock and Raph and scoffs again but harder, slapping his palms on his lap.

“She started it!”

“You should’ve just shut the fuck up!”

“Out!” He says again, pointing his finger towards the entrance of the Lair.

You suck your teeth and stand up, walking past Don in sheer annoyance. Raphael isn’t far behind you, muttering under his breath and kicking at Mikey’s skateboard which earns him an irritated ‘hey!’.

You step outside the Lair, wishing you could slam the door in Raph’s face but the entrance unfortunately didn’t work like that. With a heavy sigh you lean against the wall, digging into your pocket to grab your phone only to realize you left it inside. You suck your teeth, ready to head back in when Raph suddenly tosses you something. You catch it, clutching it close to your chest and when you look down you realize it’s your phone.

“…Thanks.”

He only grunts in response, leaning on the opposite wall and crossing his arms over his plastron. You look down at your phone to check the time and any notifications, about to just waste time on social media before deciding otherwise. You shove it into your pocket, pursing your lips a bit and look at Raph.

“…So you think I should’ve gone left?” You mumble, feeling oddly anxious to see if he’d respond.

He raises an eye ridge at you, an insult ready on his tongue before he drops it and decides it’s not worth it, especially considering you two just got kicked out of game night.

“Woulda been better. Cuz now you gotta go the long way to get to the end.”

“Yeah but this route has better chances of getting a treasure chest.” You try to keep your voice calm, surprised at how… quiet, your conversation was so far.

He shrugs and straightens his posture a bit. “Jus’ tryin to help.”

You can’t help but laugh, bewildered that he just say that.

“By calling it a dumb move?” You huff and roll your eyes, feeling that faint flicker of anger start in your chest.

“Well. It was.” He retorts but there’s no hint of hatred whatsoever.

There’s a silence between the two of you now, Raph avoiding your gaze but you looking at him straight on.

“You know, you’re somewhat pleasant to talk to when you aren’t being a dick.”

Now he laughs, shaking his head a bit and finally making eye contact with you.

“Yeah well, you ain’t so half bad when you’re not being crazy.”

“I am not—“ You catch yourself, taking a moment to breathe in. “I am not crazy. You bring out my crazy.”

“Only because you bring out mine!”

You bite your tongue, trying really hard to not fight because it’ll always end in the same way; the both of you repeating yourselves, throwing insults, and then ruining everyone else’s good time. Well, that last part seemed to have already happened.

“You don’t hate me as much as you make it out to be, right?” You couldn’t help but ask, seizing the opportunity to test if there was something more that just this supposed hatred.

He sighs heavily, reaching to scratch the back of his neck and awkwardly shift around. He sucks his teeth and lets out a huff before finally answering you.

“Nah, I don’t. Jus’ hate that there’s someone who’s too much like me.”

You squint at him, a confused smile crossing your lips.

“You mean hotheaded, short tempered, argumentative—“

He waves you off with an exasperated groan but nods.

“Now I see why my brothers are always gettin’ pissed at me.” He chuckles quietly.

You smile, finding his laughter a bit endearing and with the way it warms your chest, you know you want to hear it more. Especially if you can be the one to cause it.

Another silence follows. Raph fidgets with one of his arm bands as a sort of distraction.

“Hope that means you don’t actually hate me that much either…” He murmurs under his breath.

“Well, you get on my nerves and sometimes I wanna pop your head off but, no, I don’t actually hate you…that much.”

He smirks at you and extends his hand out.

“Start over?”

You smile back and clasp his hand, giving a gentle squeeze.

“Start over.”

[valiantartwritingweasel]

Infatuation ❦

The slowest slowburn that ever burned. (If you can even call this a romance)

When “reaction time of a turtle” and “I say three words a day” meet and they start to admire the other in odd ways you also have to squint to see it

Side note: English isn’t my first language and I’ve never written anything this long before

I know there’s a gazillion ways to portray Dottore but in this he’s pretty calm (and odd) 

Gender neutral casual brainrot <3

TW: It’s boring and unreasonably long (almost 7k words man) and I lost the plot like three times

❦

The trip had been way longer than you had expected. You figured: ‘Hey just a few days’ but no, it had been weeks by now and to top it all off you were in a wildly different climate than what you were used to. The warm heavy air stood in stark contrast to the cool clear air back home. And of course there was the stark difference between your usual chillouts at the facility that stood in contrast to the overgrown jungle you were traversing right now. 

You had been given a mission. The Doctor had given you the simple task of retrieving something that you could only describe as a “metal thingy”. Said thingy was now sitting neatly in your pocket as you stomped your way back through the dense forest. You wouldn’t call yourself angry. But you wouldn’t consider yourself calm either. Definitely agitated enough to mutter various disagreements to yourself. Laughable of him to call this task “simple”. 

If his definition of “simple” was it, to have you follow some dusted old map that showed just enough trees and mountains to somewhat navigate the way to some old dusty ruins, only for you to then fight your way into said ruins, to be then met by various doors with fifehundredsixtyseven puzzle mechanisms to solve, to be then met by more enemies, then yea sure, it was simple indeed. 

The whole thing was so hard to overcome that you had even wondered whether or not you were even supposed to come back alive or if he had just used an excuse to send you off to death for the heck of it. Fair guess maybe if you thought about the way your coworkers whispered about the man and his crazy ideas but you did find the metal thingy and it was too strictly guarded for you to take it as something as simple as “send that one to death for fun”. Again. Nothing about this had been simple.

There was nothing you could do about this now though. The job was done and, even though you needed four days for the task instead of two as he had asked of you, you were on your way back to the Port. The probability that someone had watched you during the task was incredibly high too, now that you thought about it. Running was not really an option. Not that you really considered it anyway. Sure, the facility was strange and the vibes felt off sometimes but you kind of faulted your coworkers for you to think that way. They always spun the weirdest stories, similar to teenagers who had just found out that graveyards exist.

You shook the thoughts out of your head and straightened your back to look ahead of yourself. Figuring out how to get back was more important than those tales.

❦

Not only had you reached the Port with no further difficulties, as luck would have it the doctor hadn’t been there ever since you left. If luck chose to stay, then you had a good chance of Dottore not finding out about you exceeding the time limit at all! Not that you necessarily believed every rumor you had heard but that didn't mean that you had to test them yourself.

Instead of worrying about it, you spent your time at the Port in relaxation, leisurely strolling through the streets and eating some local delicacies. You had to admit that Sumeru had started to grow on you. If you ignored the insects and the crushing heat, it had some really pretty plants and buildings. 

You also found a talent in befriending strangers and deeming them your new day-travel companions. You had spent the day doing just that and were just in the process of waving your new short-term friend goodbye as he sailed away from the Port and back to his nation. When you could barely make out his blue hair amidst the waves, you figured you could end your day as well. You turned around, only to be met by a person standing right behind you. “Oh” you coughed embarrassed as you glimpsed at their face. It was Dottore, just inches away from you. “You’re back” you choked out in surprise before you bowed your head a little. “Do you have it?” was his one simple question. “Yeah. Yes, it’s in my room”. A sharp “Get it” was all you needed. He was intimidating indeed. With another nod you took a step around him and hurried off to the house that you stayed at. He caught you so off guard that you had found it hard to focus on any other thoughts except the mission now. You were in and out of your room in mere seconds and were already running back to the docks with great speed.

Upon return you couldn’t spot his figure among the docks so you beelined for his ship instead. The scrap was sitting neatly in your hands and you were careful not to drop it.

You walked on board and wasted no time to enter his little office. He was sitting behind his desk, his hands neatly held beneath his chin. For a second you thought about the way he looked a little out of place in all the wood works around him but you shook your head and wasted no further thought on it. You walked towards him and held out your hands to place the thing on his table. “Here it is.” you eyed him with a hint of curiosity. Why was that thing so important to him? He reached out and took the thing into his hand to eye it before he mumbled “It’s a core”. His tone was…condescending. You could tell that he wasn’t impressed by the fact that you did absolutely nothing to understand what it was for in the first place. You coughed up a little air to cover up the embarrassment creeping up on you and nodded. He continued, “Did you run into trouble?”. His head shifted, indicating that he was, probably?, looking at you. “Well” you started, scratching your head, unsure whether or not you should lie about how much you had actually struggled “some here and there. It was pretty guarded.” He simply nodded before he shifted his attention back to the core at hand. “Dismissed.” You did a small courtly bow before turning to leave his office. You took a deep breath as soon as the door closed behind you. That went…okay. Not as bad as you thought it might. You exhaled the air and shook your head. 

❦

The past few days had been a blur but the one thing that caught your attention was the way your superior had been switching his demeanor every now and then. He went from being calculated and calm to giggly and a little crazed. It was so weird. The shift was never dramatic but it was enough to make a grown man uncomfortable. And you weren’t the only one who noticed. Sometimes you could hear the soldiers whispering, always wondering and fantasizing about the reason for his behavioral change. Though, they spun the regular odd stories that sounded almost fanatical, so you paid them not much mind. 

You were walking around the Docks when you caught a glimpse of the Doctor on his little boat. As if he had sensed your presence his mask matched your gaze and he waved you over immediately. If your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you, he was smiling the smile that graced his features every now and then. An odd grin did he have. You sighed but made a point to not let it show on your expression before you walked towards the bridge. You had stepped foot on it and taken a solid two steps on deck before the boat started to move. Instinctively your hands took hold of the railing. Huh. It seemed like you were done around here. You looked towards the Docks as the ship slowly brought distance between itself and the port. The last thing you saw was a woman dressed in white and a thing floating next to her as they watched you sail away. 

❦

The journey had been pretty boring. It was just you, some fatui soldiers and Dottore and no one was doing much for morale. You could’ve sworn that you once read something about pirates and how they always made sure to include entertainment on long journeys to ensure the mental well being of their crew. Well, this boat had no such policy. No one ever said a word and if they did then only in murmurs. Some of the soldiers just seemed on edge by the Doctor's presence, others just seemed uninterested. You were just bored. 

It took a few days of being on the boat before you finally managed to convince a few soldiers to play cards with you. The day had been nice, the waves played in calm rythms and while the sun was out it wasn’t grilling you alive. Multiple soldiers had moved to the deck and were actually starting to enjoy themselves. You sat among them, in the midst of three soldiers, playing a round of OOH. The rules were pretty simple. You had to slap cards on the table and if you threw the right one you had to yell OOH. You had trouble remembering who came up with that. The soldier next to you had just slapped his cards on the table and was about to let out a glorious “OOH” when Dottore passed your table. As if on command, all four of you kept still with held breath as he passed by. Not only was it unusual to see the man outside of his quarters, it was also obvious that something wasn’t right. He was emanating a weird aura and it almost looked like he was vibrating. It was so odd..Everyone could tell that something was off. And suddenly, as if someone had struck him, the blue haired man crumbled into pieces adorned by dust.

It felt like everything stood still. Everyone's eyes were focused on the spot the man had been standing in. For a minute not even the waves uttered a word. Then chaos broke out and spread like a wildfire. Every third soldier on deck started yelling and accusing the other of treason. All you could do was stare at the crumbled pieces lying on the floor. What was going on? Did he just evaporate- The only thing that finally pulled you out of your shock was a chair that launched past your head. As if awoken by a splash of cold water you shot up from your seat and ducked away into your cabin while you tried to not get into the punchline of a soldier. You figured someone should stop and calm them down but you also figured that it wasn’t going to be you, so instead you locked your door and sat down on your bed. Blurring out the sound of the fight was easy but figuring out what event had just taken place was a hard one. To you it did look like he…died? And an even bigger question, if he had died, what was the cause of death?

❦

The rest of the trip had been awfully awkward and uncomfortable. Even more so than it had been before. After all, your superior had just disintegrated into thin air, leaving the rest of you without a leader. Of course the soldiers manned up, the fight hadn’t gone on for too long but the tension had been on edge ever since.

After the incident the tales about the Doctor had only grown even more ambiguous and fanatical in spirit. Some soldiers uttered rumors about a hitman, others blamed the gods, a fraction wondered if he simply had a stroke and a really small percentage told verses about his life potion juice running out. You paid no mind to them but did in fact wonder along with many: Who would have to pay for the sin of Dottore vanishing? Returning to his facility and having to say that you lost the second Harbinger sounded awfully insane.

So imagine how surprised you and your fellows had been when the man who welcomed you back at the facility docks had been none other than Dottore himself. He stood there in all of his glory, waiting for everyone to see him before he turned around and went back inside. He didn’t take the time to answer questions and everyone was ordered back to work. So all you could do was return to work, everyone feeling dumbfounded and exhausted. All of that ruckus for nothing.

❦

Days went by quite uneventful. The only thing of note you found out was the fact that it had been a known fact, and not a crazy tale, that the Doctor could, in fact, multiplicate himself. You also learned that he had apparently given those segment things up, so to say, which resulted in his copies “passing away”. No one of the attending boat crew had to die for their sins that day. 

You had just thrown on your clothes, ready to face another hard day of making sure everyone was staying hydrated, when you were called into Dottores’ office. You wondered, like any other time it happened, why would he? But you shrugged it off, nodded to the informant and proceeded to make your way to the Doctor’s office (HA). 

You knocked on the door. A low “come in” came in response. You opened the door, stepped inside and made sure to close the door before you walked fully into the room. Your eyes landed on the man sitting at his desk. He had one foot placed on his knee and his head placed on his hand while he held something in his free hand. 

“Sit” It was a clear order that you followed by taking a seat on the free chair on the opposing side. With less distance between you, you could see that he was holding the core that you had retrieved for him weeks ago. “It’s useless” he said before he slammed the thing on the table. He slid it over to you harshly enough for it to make a nasty squeaking noise. He retracted his hand from the object and leaned back into his chair. 

You had your hands in your lap and went stiff in your seat, staring at the core. Were you supposed to give an answer to that? You directed your gaze towards Dottore who was looking at you as if he was waiting for something. You choked down a little spit and answered “Why?”. Clearly you lacked in the thoughtful response department. He let out a sigh “It’s not powered. It doesn’t turn on. It’s useless”. You blinked at him and tried to shoot an apologetic smile “My bad. Is there something I can do to help with that?”. You weren’t sure if you read him right but he seemed to be somewhat satisfied with your answer. Or at the very least it looked like he accepted it as a valid one.

“Nothing you could do right now. I will call for you if that changes.” You nodded but he continued without wasting much time “Get me a coffee”. Taken off guard you let out a surprised “What?”. It took you a long second to remember your place and added “What kind?”. His short lived answer was “Just coffee.” before he waved you out.

You stood up so fast that you almost knocked your knee into the table. But you caught yourself and hurried out of his office and into the kitchen. The whole process of the art of coffee making went past you like a wind. You were used to the task but not to the receiver. Why were you suddenly on coffee duty for the Doctor? It was so odd. Him having an assistant like that had been rare. It was also odd that you had never seen the man as much as you had ever before over the course of the past few weeks. If you had to guess you’d say you’d have seen him like twice a year before that, and that for multiple years. Now you had even seen him die. Well, technically. You took a long exhausted breath while you rubbed your hand on your forehead. It was all so much, especially considering that being Dottores direct assistant probably carried much more weight and consequences with it than just being his subordinate's subordinate. With another deep breath you tried to ground yourself. The thought of having to spend less time with the fanatical workers around you didn’t seem all that bad at least. You took the cup of “just coffee” from the stove and made your way back, careful not to spill any.

He took the coffee without another word, only dismissing you with a wave of his hand. 

❦

Ever since that day you had been in and out of Dottores office on a regular basis. At first it was delivering coffee, then it was messages and then it turned into you running medical files from one room to another and sorting through various of his documents. You could say that the job sounded important but most of the things you sorted through looked quite boring. Of course you never looked past page one but still, most of the headlines and titles sounded like they were about various diseases and financials, so really really really boring. 

You had just put a ton of medical files into chronological order (the Doctor seemed so tidy and clean, why was it such a mess?) when you heard footsteps approaching. By the way they sounded, you could guess that it was the man himself walking into the room. You had memorized the pattern of his footsteps so well, you guessed right almost all the time. Prepared for the interaction you turned around and greeted the man with a bow of your head. He nodded in return and motioned for you to come with him. Then he turned around and walked out of the room. You, of course, followed suit, by now being used to following his silent orders without question. 

You walked with him all the way back to his office, only to be met inside by the man you had mentally deemed the most annoying man you had ever had the displeasure of meeting. Pantalone, the absolute chaotic man of unreasonably high expectations of the world and an unreasonably high drive to start yapping about it. You suppressed an eye roll at the way he greeted you with his fake little smile and his fake little wave and instead greeted him with a fake little smile and a fake little wave of your own. You figured both of you were aware that you detested each other. Dottore paid no mind to the interaction and placed himself behind his desk. He did not sit down but instead stood behind his chair. Pantalone made no move to sit down himself and stood across on the other side of the table, not even glancing at the chair placed before him. You crossed your arms and stood off to the sides. You would've been annoyed at their stupid nonverbal petty fight over who’s cooler, if you hadn’t been wondering about why you were even here in the first place. Sure, Dottore had wild ideas and weird tasks for you but their importance was never as high as listening in on two harbingers. 

The man grinned a half crazed grin towards Pantolini and said “Let’s talk business”. And thus the most boring two hours of your life had begun.

Not only did you not understand more than half of the things the two men mentioned and argued about, you had also started to feel your heel painfully pushing into your leg. No matter what, you would never ever get used to standing around for such a long amount of time, especially not when that time was filled with awkward silence on your side and a strong yearning to step outside the room. Dottore had just been muttering down some reasoning when Pantalone cut him off. “This is not a risk worth taking. Think it through some more and then call for me again. As of now, I am not on board.” With those words he turned, gave you a courtesy fakey smile and sauntered out of the room. You watched him close the door with distaste. You did not stare for long as a sigh caught your ear and a loud metal clunking on wood directed your attention back to the Doctor. Your eyes wandered to his face and…you were looking at Dottores face. You were looking at Dottores' face. Yₒᵤ wₑᵣₑ ₗₒₒₖᵢₙg ₐₜ Dₒₜₜₒᵣₑₛ' fₐcₑ. You could not help but let a gasp leave your lips. It took much out of you to close your mouth in an orderly fashion. His eyes met yours. Much too enamored with his eyes and the burning red color of them, you failed to recognize the irritated expression on his features. He was staring daggers into your soul. 

You came back to your senses by rapidly blinking the embarrassment off your face. 

“He’s insufferable,” he muttered. You nodded in agreement. You didn’t listen enough to know what had bothered him about the man this time but you did overall agree with the statement. “Greedy, greedy, greedy man” he continued to mumble as he slid his mask to the side of the table before he sat down on his chair “Coffee”. You nodded again and hurried off into the kitchen. You were used to getting orders in short sentences now. He knew you knew what he meant seventy percent of the time and he knew that you actually had the courage to ask if you didn’t. Sure, he didn’t hold you to the standards of a genius but he held you to the standard of being honest and.. pretty normal. Which he found had always been hard to find, being the man that he was. 

❦

Days had passed and you were seeing less and less of your coworkers. In turn you had spent much more time at the side of Dottore. You were still in your position of being his assistant. Nothing bad had happened to you ever since, contrary to some peoples’ belief, and you were even starting to have some sort of conversations with the blue haired man. It wasn’t all too much compared to general standards but in Dottores’ standards it was quite a lot. Though it was almost never a conversational exchange. Sometimes he just asked you a question that you had time to think about for the entire day and other times you made the mistake of asking him about one little thing he may take interest in only for him to go on a tangent about said thing for hours. He gave you access to so much knowledge and you disregarded half of it. Not that you didn’t care at all. You just couldn’t remember most of the things he said. You would've had to have some sort of degree in math and science to follow most of his monologues. But you liked listening to him. He had a unique voice and you enjoyed the sound of it. 

He himself loved to talk about his interests, especially when talking about them made him seem like a smart man. Which it did. Most of the time. Sometimes, when you tried to listen and understand what he was getting at, he sounded so smart and eloquent one second, only for him to throw in some wild theories the next second, all while using the vocabulary of a madman. He was either serious or he enjoyed confusing you on purpose. Neither would surprise you. 

You had also learned that, while yes the man seemed somewhat put together, he was indeed a little crazy as people had said. Both intentionally and subconsciously. Most of the time he tried to gaslight you into thinking he was normal but sometimes he couldn’t hide his little grin that reached his eyes in a crazy light whenever he thought a bit too hard about surpassing the gods. Which, oh right, you also found was a fair factor for you to deem him as at least unhinged in spirit. You sometimes thought back to the tales the people had spun about him and while you could see now why they had gained such popularity through the facility, you did not deem them to be fair assumptions about Dottore. He was odd and fairly annoying at times but not creepy. You respected him, of course, but sometimes you felt like you were a rich prince's butler, not the subordinate of a “mad and creepy” genius. 

All of these thoughts and more were rushing through your head while you were once again watching Dottore fly around his lab. He was yapping about some nectar (or something?) while he played around with some chemicals. Or as he would call it, “conducted experimental research”. You were just off to the side, watching him swirl around while listening to his voice. Nothing else occupied your mind. Just you, Dottore and your thoughts in one room. 

Dottore on the other hand, had sensed that you had been absent minded for a while. After he had started to talk about the process of mashing up cashews into soup, he knew with certainty that you weren’t paying attention to his words anymore. Yet your eyes were fixed on him. He still had your attention and that pleased him enough to keep yapping about whatever came to his mind. 

❦

There was one day you remembered vividly. It could’ve easily been a boring day, easy to be forgotten and mushed in memory with all the other days. But the universe and all the stars that resided over you did not like that idea.

You had brought Dottore his seventh cup of coffee that day. A small voice in your head reminded you that more than five cups a day would be too much caffeine for one person but the last time you voiced those thoughts in the Doctors’ presence, he broke a pen. So you figured you wouldn’t do that again. The man had been on edge the entire day, brooding over something he disagreed with. You guessed that it had something to do with Panini but decided not to inquire about it further. You had never been on the receiving end of Dottores’ anger and you liked it to stay that way. His eyes were fixed on his desk and yours were fixed on his. He had stopped wearing his mask around you more frequently. Only when he needed you to focus on something else than his eyes did he put it on. And it worked. 

Now he was bare faced and you were busy watching him, sitting on the chair in front of his desk and letting time pass by with great calm when he muttered “What’s the craziest thing you would do?”. So it was one of those days. You were distracted and answered with half of your mind intact. “You.” The questions he asked were always phrased somewhat simple minded but you liked to think about your answₑᵣₛ… Everything in your body stood still for a moment. Even your heart acted still, waiting for you to process your answer. The more the realization came through, the more your eyes widened. “ᵒʰ” the sound that left your lips was barely audible. You looked at Dottore and your eyes met his. He certainly looked pleased with your answer, the anger that had distorted his features before had resided. He looked… well definitely not as offended as you think he could potentially have been. 

Initially he figured you’d come up with an interesting answer based on creativity, one that could help him take his mind off of things, not the quick unthoughtful one he had received. He could’ve argued that he didn’t like to be called crazy. But then again, who was he to argue now that you had helped him change the topics that had been plaquing mind?

❦

The grin that had plastered itself on Dottores’ features after your simple minded answer followed you into your dreams longer than just one night. The image of it sat deep in your mind and left you to wonder. It didn’t make him look cheerful nor did it make him look intimidating. The first adjective you would plaster on it would’ve been “desirable” but you felt odd just thinking the thought. You shook your head and stared at the ceiling. The only sound that hollowed through the room was an odd whirring noise that could be heard throughout most parts of the building. There was no clock in sight but you didn’t need one to know that you had been lying half awake throughout most of the night again. Which Dottore had been entirely at fault of. His grin was one thing but the man had assigned you to a new room as well. It was closer to his office and further away from the bustle of the facility. He successfully kept you away from the loud bustling of the other workers. In order to keep you focused or whatever. But you needed more time to get accustomed to the lack of voices that had always trailed past your door well past midnight, creating an unwelcome but familiar soundwave to fall asleep to. Without the ruckus outside everything had suddenly been too silent, making way for more room in your head which it could now fill with annoyingly loud thoughts that pestered you through the night. You groaned and pulled your pillow over your face after yet another mental image of that stupid harbinger. “How annoying” you muttered into your pillow before you rolled around to try and find a better sleeping position. 

❦

While you had spent your time going through countless sleepless nights, it seemed that Dottore had not been affected at all. You hadn’t really been counting on him losing his shit over your previous comment but it was still a humbling experience to see him so overly calm and collected, no matter how deep of a look he took into your eyes. 

Honestly, nothing had changed at all. Except for your eye bags of course but you had only yourself to blame for that. Neither your job nor Dottores’ attitude had changed. 

Not until you had entered his lab one day, not without invitation of course, only to see him assemble something that looked like a…marionette? You figured that’s what it had been based on his older clones. You never knew the difference before the incident on the boat but since then you had once caught a glimpse of one singular unfinished clone lying around the lab. You hadn’t taken a closer look at it but the vague image of it still resided in your memory and it fit the image of the half assembled doll you had laid your eyes on that day. The Doctor, who had been standing next to the marionette, waved you over. Once you came close, he immediately put you to work, shoving various body parts and limbs into your arms before informing you about all the places you needed to attach them to.

While you had hardly been able to keep up with his instructions, you didn’t fail to notice that the doll did not look much like Dottore. Of course, it had no head but still you were sure it carried little to no resemblance. No, the doll did not resemble Dottore at all, you just couldn’t figure out who it it looked like instead. It seemed awfully familiar but you couldn’t put your finger on who exactly it reminded you of. 

Nontheless you focused on your work, assembling the limbs with great caution.

Not once did you question his intentions. Any and all information you received, he had laid out on his own accord. And while yes, some might argue that that came from a lack of intelligence on your end, he felt like it came from a place of trust instead. You did not question his intentions because they did not seem a threat to you. All they were to you was just another task, another part of being his assistant. 

He used to think he’d appreciate it if you had a more curious nature but after some time had passed the little curiosity you exhibited had been more than enough for him. You only asked questions when you were curious, never just to fill the silence. Sure, it had been disappointing to see you not take interest in his creations at all but he enjoyed knowing that you didn’t care. He enjoyed the authenticity. He had craved it ever since he was young, ever since people had started lying to him. But you never did. You never lied. 

❦

More time had passed, although you had no way of telling how much time it had been exactly. You had quickly lost count of the days and never cared enough to ask. You had not seen any coworkers at all ever since you moved rooms but you honestly could barely care less. The last time you had crossed paths with one, it was a woman, one of those fanatics, she had whispered warnings to you. Warnings about the Doctor and his weird habits. You had half a mind to agree with her that, yes, the man had the oddest habits indeed, but you had mentally clocked out once she had started to mention his unstoppable desire to peel off the first layers of fat his victims carried under their skin as, according to her, that was what had granted him immortality. After that revelation you figured that you did not care if you would never come across any of your coworkers ever again. You understood why they were thrown off by their superior. Of course you did, you had spent most of your time with him by now, he was odd for sure.  But you would never get used to their spooky tales about his person. Safe to say, you would gladly live without them. 

The more you grew accustomed to your new life, the more satisfaction he experienced. He enjoyed watching you settle into your new life and he enjoyed your willingness to solve whatever problem he threw your way. Of course he would have to be careful not to overstep the line of using your talents to his advantage but weirdly enough he didn’t feel the need to do so. Your presence made him feel pleased enough as it was. To his surprise, he found that he did not want to jinx that. He liked having you close, without having to use an ounce of force for once. 

You stayed out of your own will and he found peace in that. 

❦

It had been months since he had recruited you into his close vicinity and he hadn’t regretted it once. He found that you were reliable, smart and talented with your hands. One time, it had been a few days ago, he had watched, mask placed on his features, as you carefully knitted another marionettes' limbs together. He found the way you moved your delicate fingers satisfying to watch. When you were done with your stitches he had carefully taken your hand in his own and moved it closer to his face as he inspected it. “Close enough”. He didn’t mean to say it out loud but he figured it didn’t matter. One look at you let him know that you were so distracted by his action, you clearly did not care about anything beyond that. He gave a sly grin as an answer to your awestruck expression. Then he placed a delicate kiss on your fingers before letting go of your hand. He proceeded to not waste more time on more unnecessary gestures and focused on inspecting the marionette instead. You had done excellent work on the limbs, much as he had expected. “Wait in my office” he mumbled the order absent mindedly while he was gazing down at the doll. He watched you leave through the corner of his eyes. Then, when you had finally closed the door of his lab, he picked up the marionette and carried it to a closet that he had kept locked for no one but him to see.

He opened it and placed the marionette next to the other few that had been in there. He hadn’t perfected any of them yet but he knew he was getting closer. Of course, the goal had initially been for him to reach higher levels of humanity but after he had lost all his process he felt inclined to be bored at the thought of doing it all over again with the exact same recipe to follow. But replicating someone else, well you, now that sounded interesting. Analyzing you had been a fun activity for him over the past weeks. You had many good qualities, good morals and a cute face. Which personally he did not care for but it did cross his mind once, so he figured that would be a popular opinion among others as well. Overall he felt that your presence, may it be through more individuals, would not cause as much terror as his own always had. 

He closed the closet and locked it tight. Then he took off his mask and stepped towards the door to his office. He had already found out so much about the way you answered and thought about things, yet he felt inclined to find out even more. 

You had been standing in his office for a minute or two. It bored you but recently you had found that most things did. After the minutes had passed the door opened and the Doctor came walking in, carrying a sense of purpose in his steps. The door closed easily behind him as he disregarded his mask on a nearby shelf, only for him to step towards you. You didn’t have much time to formulate any coherent thoughts or figure out a reaction to anything, as he had simply waltzed over, cupped your face in his hands and proceeded to place a calculated kiss on your lips. 

Ever since that day, all the barriers of distance that may have stood between you two before were gone. Instead you had only spent more time at his side now and he had welcomed that change with a multitude of questions to ask you. Of course, sometimes he still digressed into monologues of his own, but he had found a liking in listening to your thought out answers and views as well. It surprised you but you didn’t mind. The only struggle you found with that had been the lack of stories you had in mind whenever you thought to answer with something from your life. Most of the stories you knew were about him after all and even those you barely remembered.

He seemed pleased with you either way though, so you figured it didn't really matter. 

And with that, unbeknownst to you, he had found the perfect subject for his studies. You on the other hand had found solace in your work and his presence now, never wasting a thought on anything that didn't have anything to do with your new routine. 

❦ - le fin

I’m thinking their voicelines about each other would be among the lines of like

You about him:

“The Doctor? Oh *ahem*, yes I would consider him a trustworthy companion. Don’t give other peoples’ comments about him much thought. He’s pretty normal, all things considered. I would know, I’ve worked with him for a while now. Anyway, I should take my leave now. Good luck. What?.. Oh no, i can't stay, I'm really busy. I'm sorry. See you”

Him about you:

“Yes, they have been much help to me over the past few years….What? You want to see them? They're busy, try again another time… A message?....No, you can’t take them with you. Find someone else to do your work for you. Now leave.” 

[yuna542]

[1.]

~About Kooks and Pogues~

Pairing: JJ Maybank × Reader/Oc

Genre: Fluff, Enemies to Lovers, Smut, Angst, Drama, Action

Warnings: Alcohol, Mentions of Drugs, That’s it!

Taglist: Open

Word Count: 1.6k

Summary: The Kook princess is back after a year after a family tragedy and reignites the war between Pogues and Kooks on Kildare. But she quickly realizes that after this year, nothing is the same as before. Lies, dark secrets from the past, and dangerous conspiracies sweep across Kildare, leaving her no choice but to work with the Pogues and her personal nemesis to find the truth and maybe even $8 million. A dangerous treasure hunt begins that turns her world upside down.

Notes: That’s a series I’m working on and off for like three years now. I hope you’ll enjoy it

……………………………………………………………

Ain't shady baby, I'm hot

Like the prodigal son

Pick a petal, eenie meenie minie mo, and flower

You're the chosen one

The music was loud, the sound of the sea was pleasant and the sun warmed the faces of the young people who were on the large beach of the Outer Banks. One of the typical beach parties was held there this Wednesday. The vacations had begun and so the beach was full of Teenagers, tired of sitting still all day in a grey classroom, eager to have fun and forget about homework, exams and pressure on choosing the right College.

You didn't understand the Outer Banks if you didn't know the structure, as there were distinct differences not only among the Outer Banks youth. While some needed three jobs to survive, others owned three houses.

The Pogues, as a group of young people called themselves, had organized the ongoing party and quickly the beach had been filled by young people of all background’s. With the warm weather, most of the Teen’s were magically drawn to the sea and on the small island there were not that much other options to party and spend the night.

"Stop it!" exclaimed Pope, as a cloud of herbal smoke was blown in his face by his buddy. Pope was the most intelligent of the group and sometimes really strange. But that didn't bother his friends. Quite the opposite.

The blond who was now laughing and taking another drag on the joint was JJ. He was an excellent surfer and the troublemaker in the group. In fact he got very often into trouble and loved to provoke. But his friends always helped him out of it. Literally out of anything.

John B toasted the girl sitting next to him in the sand. He was the free spirit and adventurer of the group. He always came up with new ideas on how they could pass the time, even if they were not always so legal.

The girl with the dark curls and sun-kissed skin was Kiara. She was the only one who did not come from a poor background, and even belonged to the richer families. Still, she much preferred hanging out with the Pogues and didn't care much about possessions and wealth. Instead, she was a do-gooder who preferred saving turtles over going shopping. She loved to smoke a joint on the large glazed patio of the Chateau, that has a view of the backyard and the marsh with the guys, instead of talking about the newest season of the new reality show with her girlfriends.

The four of them laughed and teased each other as they drank beer and gradually more and more people came to the beach to party.

"Guys, I swear it will be incredible! We should really go out and surf on the other side“, JJ started the same topic as the day before all over again. His eyes were filled with energy and he couldn’t sit still.

"No, that's way too dangerous. The storms there are unpredictable and in the end no one will find us if we get in trouble," Kiara fended off and Pope immediately agreed with her.

"That's the thrill of it, isn't it? Dude the waves are going to be huge for sure! John B, you're up for it, aren't you? Don’t let me down, Bro!“

It sounded more like a statement than a question. Waiting, he looked at his best friend, who took off his cap, then put it back on, a gentle smile on his lips. The freckles on his cheeks glowing.

"Well, I’m in. Sounds like fun."

"Nice!" escaped JJ, while Kiara just shook her head in annoyance. Then Pope suddenly raised his eyes and seemed to spot something at the edge of the dune. As JJ and Kiara continued to argue, John B also noticed what he was looking at.

"Guys, the Kooks!" he muttered, clearly annoyed.

"That's exactly what we needed..." sighed Kiara sarcastically, and JJ stood up, beer in hand, to get a better look. Already tense and ready to throw himself in a fight. John stood next to him while Pope and Kiara remained seated. Both were already dreading another confrontation between JJ and the hated rich Kooks.

"That's Topper and Sarah," John B stated, to which Kiara just raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"Someone else is coming," Pope remarked, and sure enough:

Behind Sarah Cameron, the current Kook princess and her boyfriend, two more people appeared.

"That's Rafe, but who the hell is that girl?" now asked Kiara, stretching her neck curiously.

"I don't know, but she's hot," JJ muttered, staring with John B in the direction where the Kooks were now walking across the beach.

"Hot as hell," John B added overwhelmed, continuing to watch the girl.

She had raven black hair that fell in many small curls over her shoulders, shimmering like wet ink in the sun. Her skin was tanned and possessed a bronze glow. She was not particularly tall, but slender and of athletic build, so even Pope looked curiously in her direction.

JJ's gaze was still wandering over her body when she had already turned to face them.

"Isn't that Skylar?" gasped Kiara, who was now staring in disbelief.

"Sky Diaz?" asked John B, elbowing JJ in the side as the Kooks moved closer to get him to stop staring. Topper had an arm around Sarah while the new girl chatted boisterously with Rafe. Her unusual appearance made her stand out from the blonde Kooks, and her style of dress was also quite different.

She wore a plaid pleated skirt that reached halfway down her thighs and loose white top, barely covering her belly and slim waist, with her black bikini top peeking through. She looked like she had been pulled straight out of an 80's rock and roll movie. JJ instantly was reminded of those musical-films Kiara forced them to watch, in which all of the guys had ridiculous hairstyles but the women always looked mysteriously beautiful.

"Is that really her? Diaz moved to Nassau over one year ago, didn't she?" pondered Pope aloud.

"Maybe she's vacationing here?" speculated John B.

Kiara shook her head.

"No, not after everything that happened. You don't take a vacation on Kildare after an incident like that. She must be living here again."

Now the Kooks were within range and looking around. Rafe gave the Pogues a disparaging look and Topper also stared warningly at JJ. Up close, it was now clear that Skylar Diaz was indeed standing in front of them. The amber eyes and full red lips were unmistakable. Even though she had changed considerably and her figure had become more feminine.

Even back then Sky had been pretty, but now they could see she had grown into a unbelievable beautiful young woman. JJ always hated the fact that she had everything. She was rich, adored and freaking beautiful. It wasn’t fair.

"Looks like you're going to have to give up your throne again, Cameron!" now JJ called out to Sarah, who just rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"The same rats as before," Rafe remarked, pointing at the Pogues as if they were animals behind a glass in the zoo.

Sky smirked mildly and regarded the Pogues briefly. Her gaze lingered a second longer on the cheeky blond, and it was then that she recognized him.

"What are you doing back here?" now asked Kie coolly, who had now also stood up. Back then Sarah, Sky and she had been best friends. But then she had moved away after the incident and the friendship between Sarah and Kie broke like thin glass.

"I'm living here again. My stepfather found new work on Kildare," she explained tersely, trying to ignore JJ's piercing gaze.

However, he put on an uninterested expression. Yea she was fuming hot and seemed to be even more confident and charming, but after all, she was still a stupid Kook. Her family was even richer than the Camerons and she was even more arrogant than all the rest thrown together, so she had been the leader of the Kooks back then and JJ's personal nemesis. The hatred between the Pogues and the Kooks had been current before, too. All Kooks thought the Pogues were filthy scum and the Pogues had the same opinion of the rich Kooks.

She tossed her hair back and turned around without saying another word to them. As if they weren't worthy of her attention. Then she walked over to the rest of the Kooks and was greeted with delight.

The evening took its course and there was drinking, laughing and dancing. Music blared from several speakers brought in by a couple of Kooks.

The sun beat down mercilessly on the sand, so that it was still warm even when it had long since sunk into the sea like a long lost wreck.

The Pogues were chatting animatedly with others from the Cut and JJ was drinking with a couple of tourists. A typical evening, as it had been so many times before, but the arrival of the Kook Princess, the royalty of Kildare, soon stirred up more than just a lot of sand, and JJ had a feeling that this summer was not going to be as ordinary as they had originally thought.

⬇️

© Yuna542 - all rights reserved.

[whereianonymouslypostfics]

Storms

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x reader

Word count: ~1.8k

Summary: Late night thunderstorms

A/N: Cutesy fluffy nonesense.

Warnings: Mostly fluff, some angst and comfort

The soft sound of rain against the window had put you to sleep like a baby only a few hours ago. It didn’t hurt that your day at work had been exhausting as well, but when you and Wanda retired for the night there was only a brief exchange before you were out. Wanda had watched you sleep for a bit before curling up next to you in her usual spot. You barely noticed when she got up a few hours later to check on something. She’d heard a loud noise that was likely a branch hitting the house, but she wanted to make sure everything was okay.

The storm had picked up and the wind whistled around Wanda as she walked through the house. She glanced downstairs at the living room to see Boone sitting up listening to the storm rage outside. By the time she made it down the hall, she noticed that the door was opened wider than she’d left it. She takes a quiet breath before pushing the door open and peeking inside.

She’s not surprised to see Rogue first. His eyes glow as they snap up to hers, and his lip curls into a half snarl until he realizes it’s just her. Wanda’s not even fazed by the threat and she simply reaches out for her dog as she walks closer to the bed. She loves that he’s so protective and she gives him a good scratch behind the ears as she looks down to the other end of the bed. Her smile widens as she spots her daughter curled up under the covers with her stuffed turtle clutched close to her face. She resists the urge to reach out and fix her hair because despite being a deep sleeper, with her luck, Natalya would wake up. Instead, she just turns around and leaves as quietly as possible and heads back to her room.

She could use another few hours of sleep before she had to deal with the world again. It was nothing against her daughter, but sometimes it was exhausting to take care of three, sometimes four, living creatures all day long. You had just started going back to work full-time, mostly at her insistence because it had been almost a year since Natalya was born, and you were still only working half days.

You’d enjoyed the time you’d gotten off because it was helpful for both you and Wanda. Still, you were trying not to overdo it and land yourself on bedrest again.

Wanda scowls at the thought, but she’s smiling again by the time she walks into the bedroom to see you’ve shifted in your sleep. She’s settled next to you again before she realizes that you’re actually awake, and she nearly jumps when you reach out for her.

“Everything okay?”

Your voice is barely above a whisper, but she hears it in the break between thunderclaps and she smiles in response. She lies down again and you immediately pull her into your arms and kiss her cheek with a tired sigh.

“All good, the storm is just throwing things around.”

You nod in understanding because you really do understand Wanda’s need to check on things during nights like this. When it’s not eerily quiet, sometimes Wanda worries about someone sneaking up on them or managing to break in. It’s a legitimate fear given how many years she spent making enemies, but it’s been months since you’ve had a problem and honestly you sometimes forgot to be afraid.

You try not to think about the recent incident where you’d been rudely awakened in the middle of the night only to find yourself in a fire fight. You think you don’t hide where your thoughts went very well because Wanda’s turning toward you and shooting you a knowing look before kissing your cheek. Maybe she doesn’t know exactly what you’re thinking about. Maybe her mind simply wandered to it on her own.

You wouldn’t be surprised given how traumatic the incident was. You were still healing, physically and mentally, but you trusted your wife. When she said she’d taken care of the breakdown in security that allowed that to happen, you believe her. That said, you hate to see how stressed she still is sometimes, and you wish that you could offer her some comfort other than the usual things you say.

You have your expensive security system that has since been upgraded, you have your dogs and whatever else Wanda’s put in place to make sure you’re never surprised again. It has only been a few months since the break in, so you understand Wanda still being on edge. You just hope that she begins to feel comfortable again in her own home, but only time would tell.

You fall asleep again only to be woken up about an hour later. It’s surprisingly not the storm that brought you back to consciousness. However, as soon as you’re awake you’re surprised you slept through it given how deafening the rain is. You look around and immediately notice that Wanda’s sitting up and almost on her feet. You’re still trying to get your eyes to adjust to the darkness when you see a familiar silhouette in the doorway.

“Boone?”

You realize you’re wrong as soon as Wanda’s up and running toward the dog with her arms held out. You turn on the lamp beside the bed and as light fills the room you realize you have more company that you anticipated.

“Natalya, what’s wrong?”

Your daughter is standing, more or less, beside her dog with tears in her eyes. One small fist is rubbing at her eyes while the other is clinging to her dog’s fur. You figure that Rogue was her escort down the long dark hallway, and you smile as Wanda scratches him lovingly before she gathers her crying daughter into her arms.

Natalya’s face is flushed and swollen from crying and you quickly search for an injury. You come up empty but when the next flash of lightning is followed by thunder that shakes the entire house and makes Natalya hide her face in Wanda’s neck, you realize what the problem is.

“Loud.”

You don’t hear this, but Wanda does and she squeezes her daughter before moving back toward the bed. She isn’t surprised that Natalya was woken up, but she’s surprised that she managed to get all the way here on her own. She briefly considers the baby gate that you put in front of the stairs, and although it keeps her from taking a dangerous fall, there’s nothing in place to keep her from looking in the other direction and going up. She’ll think more about that later, for now, she’s just grateful that she made it here unscathed, and she’s certain she has Rogue to thank for that.

“It is loud, isn’t it? It’s just the storm though, milaya. You’re perfectly safe in here.”

You lift the covers and make room for Wanda to set Natalya in between you two, but your daughter clings to her mother like her life depends on it. She shoots you a look and you frown before reaching out for Natalya with an inaudible sigh.

“Hey, Little Nat, it’s okay. How about you sleep in here with us? The loud should go away soon.”

It’s not worded as a question, but Nat nods furiously and only peeks at you briefly before mumbling something that only Wanda can hear. You look to her for an explanation, but she just frowns before lying back and doing her best to set Natalya down again. She’s unfortunately not having it and wraps her little arms around the older Maximoff’s waist with a scared yelp that breaks your heart.

You reach for the covers and put them over both Nat and Wanda before leaning over to kiss your daughter’s hair. You rub her back before one hand slides around to her stomach with a small smile.

“Will you look at me little one? Mommy wants a hug too.”

She takes a moment to think about it, and eventually she starts to squirm in Wanda’s hold as she attempts to turn around. You see her wide nervous eyes for only a split second before Natalya’s releasing her death grip on Wanda and immediately grabs your hand with her much smaller ones.

“Sorry, Mommy.”

You’re shaking your head, not that Natalya sees it as she buries her face in your t-shirt. You glance at Wanda who’s shifting to get more comfortable, but leaving a small space open for Natalya. You run your hands through her soft, thin hair with a smile before kissing the top of her head once again. You resist the urge to hold Natalya too tightly because you’re worried about frightening her. Instead, you risk trying to tickle her and the adorable squeal you receive in response is enough for both you and Wanda to smile. Your wife turns briefly when Rogue yawns before deciding to lie down right in front of the door. Likely to keep watch.

He hasn’t tried to climb into bed with you two for a few months at least.

“No need to say sorry little one. It’s okay to be scared. Just know that your Mama and I will keep you safe.”

You and Wanda share a look before turning your attention back to the small weight in your lap that’s finally seemed to settle. You smile before adjusting Natalya’s shirt so it’s keeping her warm before you try again to set her down on the bed.

“Do you want to sleep in between us so we’re both nearby?”

It’s a good ten seconds of listening to the rain, albeit quieter, still pouring outside for Natalya to nod her head. She loosens her grip on you, but you don’t rush her as she sinks down slowly into the spot between you and Wanda. You smile as Wanda reaches out to tuck Natalya carefully under the covers before relaxing against her pillow. Unsurprisingly, Natalya turns toward Wanda and her little grabby hands are already searching for her Mama. You resist the urge to laugh at Wanda’s expense when Nat slaps her cheek before squeezing it with her little fingers.

“Goodnight, Mamas.”

Wanda is too focused on her daughter to notice your adoring look, but it’s not one that she’s unfamiliar with and she’s certain to see it again sometime soon. You fall asleep a little while later to the sound of steady rain and the image of your daughter wrapped in Wanda’s arms.

Masterlist

[harmonicakai]

Like or Like Like

Part 4 of the "Anyone Else But You" series

Pairing: Huening Kai x Reader

Summary: Things grow complicated as you and Kai continue to blur the lines between friends and something more.

Tropes: enemies to friends to lovers, slow burn, mutual pining, fluff, angst, stylist!reader

Word Count: 3.4k

Warnings: swearing, mentions of sex (mdni!!!!) reader is insecure, miscommunication, alcohol

A/N: THIS MIGHT BE MY FAVORITE PART OF THE SERIES AHHHHHHHH!!!! also still plugging the Spotify playlist for this fic hehe <3

“Head won't stop spinning 'round Make your decision now Head won't stop spinning Love me or let me out” —Everything Is Just a Mess, The Brook & The Bluff

Usually, you and Yeonjun keep your hangouts to just the two of you, but Huening Kai loves having you around no matter who else is going to be there.

Tonight is game night, something that would usually just include the boys. You’re nervous that they’ll start talking about League of Legends or some other topic that you know nothing about. Luckily, they’re currently hyper fixated on Mario Kart and you can fake your way through the rounds.

As you race across the tracks as Toadette, you find your legs resting over Kai’s lap, his free hand dangerously close to your thigh. At first, the thought of him touching you sends you into a panic, but you remind yourself that he’s touchy with all of his friends. Just twenty minutes ago, he was sitting in Soobin’s lap while holding Taehyun’s hand.

You catch yourself staring up at him instead of the TV screen every once in a while, his hair now tinted a soft shade of blue. To you, his face is practically perfect, and you start to wonder what it would be like to be so casually beautiful.

“Y/N,” Beomgyu says as he passes you on Rainbow Road. His mouth is full of cinnamon turtle chips. “You’re so quiet.”

You hit him with a red shell right before the finish line, somehow claiming first place. He’s right though—you’ve barely said a word since you got here six rounds ago. You do a little happy dance to celebrate your win.

“She talks a lot with me,” Yeonjun shrugs, getting up to grab another beer. “Maybe you’re just annoying.”

Beomgyu pouts and turns towards you, his face dangerously close to yours. “Am I annoying you?”

“No,” you giggle, pushing him away. “I was just too focused on beating all of you.”

“Don’t get too close to Huening’s girl,” Taehyun warns Beomgyu. “I don’t want to have to break up any fights.”

“Actually, I think she’d look better with me,” Soobin interjects, wrapping his arm around your shoulder. You lean your head into him, smiling. “Right, Kai?”

When you look over at Kai, you’re greeted with an awkward grin. “Very cute,” he nods, giving a thumbs up in approval. You do your best to hide your disappointment.

“We’re out of beer,” Yeonjun says, returning from the kitchen. “Does anybody wanna go to the bar with me?”

“We can just have more delivered,” Taehyun suggests as he ties Beomgyu’s bangs into a pigtail.

“I’m craving a little more than just beer,” Yeonjun replies. You roll your eyes. Leave it to him to announce he’s horny to the entire group.

“I think I’ll stay home,” Kai says, slumping back onto the couch. He locks eyes with you and pats the space next to him with a smile.

“Actually, I think I’ll go with Jun,” you tell him, reaching for your purse. “I could use some fresh air.”

“Oh, uh, I’ll go too, then,” he says almost immediately, sitting up straight and running a hand through his messy hair. “I was just saying that because I thought you wanted to stay in.”

“Sure,” Soobin snickers. “Very smooth, Huening.”

“Let’s all go,” Beomgyu claps his hands together before holding one out to help you up.

Even though the bar is just a short walk away from the apartment, you swear you’ve never seen it before. When you see the people hanging out inside, you start to understand why. Everybody is hot.

“I’m underdressed,” you sigh, eyeing how dolled up every other girl is. In contrast, you’ve got one of Yeonjun’s jackets thrown over your sweater and jeans.

“You look good,” Kai whispers into your ear, his hand finding the small of your back and urging you forward. Even through all the layers of clothing, his touch makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

It isn’t until he spots a familiar face that his hand leaves you, quickly shoving itself back into his hoodie pocket.

“Shit,” he says under his breath, looking around the room to avoid someone’s gaze. You squint to find who’s got him all worked up until you see her. It’s the girl you caught sneaking out of his bedroom that one morning.

“What’s wrong, Hueningie?” Taehyun asks, assessing the situation. “Wait, is that—”

“Yep,” he swallows, locking eyes with her. She gives a faint smile and a wave, inviting him over. “I’ll be right back.”

Before you can stare at the two of them for long, the rest of the group is dragging you over to the bar. You sit yourself on a stool in between Beomgyu and Soobin, gesturing for the bartender. “I’ll have a Mai Tai.”

“Ooh, that sounds yummy! Make it two,” Beomgyu adds. His hair is still tied up from earlier. “You know, Y/N, I figured you wouldn’t want to drink since you got really sick last time.”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” you say, taking a sip of the bright cocktail. The rum goes down smooth.

“Leave her alone, Gyu,” Yeonjun interrupts, sliding himself in between the two of you. Beomgyu takes the hint and moves over to the next stool, practically draping himself over Taehyun.

“Shouldn’t you be off scouting your next hookup?” you scoff, attempting to dig the maraschino cherry out of the glass with your straw. Yeonjun reaches in and grabs it for himself. “Jun, what the fuck?”

“Don’t like it when someone else takes what’s yours, huh?” He pops the cherry into his mouth with a grin, its red hue matching the tone of his lips.

“I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“Y/N. I’m not blind. You’re pissed that Huening is with that girl, but I’m telling you, you have nothing to worry about.”

“He said she’s not his type,” you grumble, taking a long sip.

“She isn’t,” Soobin confirms, slowly pulling the glass away from you.

“That’s not what it looks like.” You turn to frown at him, suddenly feeling cornered.

“Cut Huening some slack. You know he’s a chronic people pleaser,” he continues.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’d love to please her again.”

“What the hell’s gotten into you?” Yeonjun asks.

“I don’t know, okay?! I just know that you guys made that stupid bet that he would never be able to pull a girl ‘like her,’ and it’s been eating away at me ever since.”

“Wait, that’s what this is about? Not about Huening?”

“I don’t think so? Maybe a little bit, but it’s mostly just about how she’s apparently the gold standard for girls and I’m just… me.”

“Y/N,” Soobin says, his hand on your arm. “We were just being stupid, okay? Sure, she’s pretty, but a lot of guys would fall head over heels for you too.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Trust me, we do,” Yeonjun sighs. Before you can protest, Kai has rejoined the group.

“Hey guys, sorry about—whoa. Y/N, is everything okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” you lie, although your forced smile says otherwise. “How’d it go?”

“Good, I think. I apologized for kicking her out and we both came to the conclusion it would be best to not repeat history.”

“That’s all you talked about?”

“Yeah, basically. We don’t actually have a lot in common, so there wasn’t much to say. I mean, it’s not like we talked that much the last time we saw each other either.”

His last sentence makes you feel sick. “It’s getting late,” you say, gathering your things. “I should get home.”

“I’ll walk you,” Kai offers. Usually, you’d just call a car to pick you up, but maybe clearing the air between the two of you would be good.

It would’ve been if you had managed to say any of what you were feeling. Instead, the two of you were walking to your apartment in complete silence.

Almost halfway back, you can’t stand the awkwardness anymore. “Do you want to listen to music?” you ask, grabbing Kai’s attention away from the sidewalk.

“Sure,” he agrees. You reach into your purse and pull out a pair of headphones, handing him one of the earbuds. The short cord pulls the two of you closer.

“What do you want to listen to?” you ask, turning to see his eyes locked on you. His gaze is so intense under the streetlamps that you refuse to meet it, instead scrolling through your endless amount of playlists.

“That one,” he says, reaching over you and clicking onto the one titled ‘best love songs of all time.’ You immediately feel embarrassed that out of all of the options, the one he’s chosen was made for some guy you had an unrequited crush on last year.

Softly by Clairo starts playing, and you hope he doesn’t pay attention too closely to the lyrics.

Kai’s hand brushes against yours in an effort to take it into his, but you pull away. You’re not in the mood to be disappointed over him not actually meaning anything by it. 

The only thing preventing you from walking away from him are the headphones connecting the two of you. If he didn’t realize that you’re upset with him before, he certainly knows by now. 

You start humming along to the song, mostly out of habit, but it also helps you block out your thoughts.

“This song suits you,” Kai says in a calm voice, making it difficult to ignore him. “It’s soft and pretty. I think I might look up sheet music for it later.”

“I’m glad you like it,” you reply, crossing your arms over your chest. 

“I know you’re mad at me,” he continues, catching you off guard. Kai almost always avoids any sort of conflict or confrontation. “I’m sorry for making things awkward. I just felt like I owed her an explanation.”

You stop in your tracks to finally look at him, his eyes darting nervously across your apartment complex’s quiet courtyard. 

“Kai, you don’t have to be sorry. I’ve just been feeling weird, okay?” you assure him, removing the earbud and winding up the headphones.

“I still feel like it’s my fault, though. You were happy before we left,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“If she had asked you, would you have gone home with her?” you blurt out.

“What?” he asks in confusion, his brow furrowing.

“I remember you were supposed to hang out with her again, before I walked in and ruined everything between the two of you.”

“No, I don’t think I would’ve. And you didn’t ruin anything, Y/N. I mean, maybe you sped up the process, but things would have never worked out with me and her.”

“And why’s that?”

“I think I’d just prefer to be with somebody else,” Kai says, stepping closer to you. He reaches for your hand again and you finally let him take it.

“Like who?” you blink back at him, your voice barely above a whisper.

“I don’t know, someone I could fall in love with, but would also be my best friend.” Like us, you think to yourself.

“Well, thank you for walking me back,” you say, your keychain rattling. 

“Are we still on for Sunday?” Kai asks, running his thumb across the back of your hand.

“I think that probably depends on if you’re free,” you laugh, thinking of the group’s upcoming schedules.

“I can make time for you,” he grins.

“Well, then, yeah.” 

“Great, then I’ll see you Sunday,” he says, pulling you into a hug and squeezing you tight. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Kai,” you smile, stepping inside and letting the building’s door shut behind you. The weekend can’t come soon enough.

—————-

You’re pretty much used to being a workaholic by now, but Yeonjun and Kai have invited you to TXT’s album launch party as a guest, not as an employee. 

As much as you hate to make small talk, it means you get paid to support your best friends and take a couple hours away from running around town and picking up dry cleaning.

“Hueningie, what’s up with you and Y/N,” Taehyun teases him, enjoying the unlimited champagne a bit too much.

“We’re friends,” Kai laughs awkwardly. The boys have been bugging him about you ever since you started working here. 

“Dude, you’ve had a crush on her for forever now!” Beomgyu slides into the conversation. “You almost got her fired for calling her pretty in front of Jisoo nim!”

“I mean, he kind of did get her fired. She’s barely allowed to dress any of us anymore,” Taehyun adds. “Except when Kai convinces Soobin to request her now.”

“Be quiet!” Kai says, shushing the two of them. “The both of you are drunk.”

“Well, I’m sober and I think you should tell her how you feel, Hyuka,” Soobin says, startling the rest of the group. How long has he been standing there and listening in?

“She knows how happy I am to be her friend. I tell her all the time,” Kai shrugs. He glances over his shoulder for you, although Yeonjun seems to be keeping you distracted across the room.

“Is there a reason you’re so scared of telling Y/N that you think she’s the prettiest girl in the entire world?” Beomgyu complains. Compared to Kai, he’s an open book, although he has probably half the luck when it comes to wooing girls.

“If you don’t want her, let me take her out,” Taehyun suggests. Kai scowls, his face turning bright red. “See, guys, look at Hueningie all angry that I’m going to steal Y/N from him! Don’t worry, bro. She’s all yours.”

“I don’t like her like that,” Kai repeats in frustration. “I can’t deal with you guys right now.”

He turns to walk over towards you and Yeonjun, but stops dead in his tracks. Instead of Yeonjun, you’re laughing and twirling your hair with someone he’s never even seen before. At his album party. 

“Good thing you don’t like her,” Beomgyu notes from behind Kai. “That guy’s sexy.”

“Who is that?” Kai asks, turning back towards his groupmates at the bar. He sits on a stool next to them and gestures for the bartender to pour him another glass.

“I think he’s a trainee. People have been calling him an ace,” Soobin explains. “His name is either Seongmin or Seongjin.”

“But you’re our diamond maknae, Hueningie.” Taehyun adds. “That guy’s got nothing on you.”

“Looks like he’s got Y/N,” Beomgyu observes. “OW!”

Kai turns to see that Soobin has smacked Beomgyu on the back of his head. 

“Okay, but what’s he doing here?” Kai crosses his arms, watching as the guy continues to make eyes at you. He can’t blame him—you do look really pretty today.

“I think I heard a rumor that he’s Si-Hyuk nim’s nephew,” Taehyun recalls. “He’s basically guaranteed to be debuting in the upcoming group.”

“Nepotism,” Beomgyu says, nodding. “Sexy and well connected.”

Kai turns back to the bar, downing his drink and gesturing at the bartender for another. 

“Huening, you should slow down,” Soobin warns him. “We’re at work, not the club.”

“It’s fine,” Kai huffs, gesturing to Beomgyu and Taehyun giggling about some commercial they saw last night. “At least I’m not them.”

It wasn’t fine. In just a few more drinks, he was much worse. Kai almost never drank this much, and when he did, it was pretty clear that he was a lightweight.

“I’m gonna be sick,” he sighs, hiccuping and now chugging water. Soobin pats his back.

“I know, buddy,” Soobin says, helping him off the stool. “Let’s go find somewhere to lay down.”

They’re so close to leaving the party when Kai spots you again out of the corner of his eye, with the nepo baby’s hand touching your arm. You’re smiling and nodding to whatever the guy is saying, but maybe you’re just being polite. 

Kai decides he needs to save you. Breaking free of Soobin’s grip, he makes a beeline towards you. Yeonjun takes notice and tries to stop him in his tracks.

“Whoa, Hueningie, what’s going on?” Yeonjun asks, using his arm to block the maknae from reaching you. 

“Isn’t she your best friend,” Kai hisses, his eyes still locked on you. “Why are you letting her get drooled on by that idiot?”

“Dude, calm down,” Yeonjun attempts to reason. “Y/N is a big girl. She’s allowed to talk to whoever she wants. Plus, Seongjin is nice. You should be happy for her.”

“Well I’m not!” Kai screams, causing the party’s chatter to go quiet. You turn to look at him, one of many whose attention has been drawn away. 

“You’ll have to excuse me,” you say to Seongjin. In your hand is a piece of paper with his phone number on it. “I’ll call you.”

“Looking forward to it,” he smiles. You nod and smile back before making your way over to Kai.

“Is something wrong with him?” you ask Soobin and Yeonjun. Kai’s legs falter, and your hands grab his sides to steady him. “Holy shit, how much has he had to drink?”

“Too much,” Soobin answers. “We’re going to take him to a practice room.”

“I’ll go with you.” You follow the boys out of the party, which is now awkwardly dispersing given that the entire group is either plastered or missing or both. 

Soobin swipes into the nearest practice room. A couple of trainees are inside practicing the choreography to Crown.

“TXT sunbaenim!” one of the prepubescent boys yells, immediately bowing. The rest of them follow suit, before crowding around the idols in wonder. 

“Hey, guys, we need this room, okay?” Yeonjun tells them. They nod and quickly gather their things, scrambling out in just a few seconds flat.

Kai groans as Soobin lays him down on the ground, immediately rolling to his side and curling into a ball.

“We’re going to get in so much trouble,” Yeonjun sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Hueningie has such a pure image to uphold. If this gets leaked, it could be really bad.”

“I can go back and try to smooth things over,” Soobin says. “You two should stay with him.”

“I’ll go with you,” Yeonjun adds. “I have a feeling it’ll take more than just you.”

“Guys, I have to get back to work,” you note, the back of your hand pressed against Kai’s forehead. He’s asleep now. When you get up from crouching, you feel his hand grab your wrist.

“Please stay, Y/N,” Kai begs, his eyes still shut. “Please don’t leave me.”

You look at Soobin and Yeonjun for help. They give you knowing glances—you’re not going anywhere. You sigh, sitting down against the wall and pulling Kai’s head into your lap.

Yeonjun takes out his phone and snaps a picture of the two of you. You shoot him a dirty look, gesturing for them to leave the room. After seemingly an entire photoshoot, it’s finally just the two of you.

“Y/N,” Kai mumbles. You’ve been quietly humming to him.

“What is it, Kai?” you ask, the hand that’s been playing with his hair going still. 

“No, keep doing that,” he says softly. “That feels good.”

You commence running your hands through his soft strands again. “But what were you trying to say?”

“Oh, right,” he says, snuggling further into you. “I love you, Y/N. I don’t ever want you to go.”

This catches you off guard. Surely, he means it in a friendly way. “I won’t, Kai.”

“Good,” he smiles. After a second, he continues, “Is that guy going to be your new boyfriend?”

“No, I don’t think so,” you reply. When he’s drunk and tired, Kai almost sounds like a little kid.

“Beomgyu thinks he’s sexy. Do you think he’s sexy?” Your eyes go wide. You and Huening Kai have had virtually no discussions about each other’s love lives since becoming friends.

“He’s very good looking,” you acknowledge. Except he’s not your type. Kai is.

“Then you should date him,” Kai says, surprising you. “Apparently he’s Si-Hyuk nim’s nephew, so I don’t think a dating scandal would be a big deal for him.”

Does he actually not care if you start dating someone else? Has all of the tension between the two of you been simply a figment of your imagination?

Before you can protest, Kai’s fallen asleep for real this time. By the time he wakes up, you’ll have said yes to the date, and he won’t even remember that he’s the one who told you to.

—————-

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[weirdmarioenemies]

We localized the names of all the Super Mario Land enemies, too!

Yeah! If you don't remember, a few years ago, we came up with localized names for all the Super Mario Land 2 enemies as a sort of Christmas gift from us to you! But did you know? There's a Super Mario Land 1 also, and very few of its enemies have localized names either...! With another holiday upon us, we're making this the gift that keeps on giving, with a whole new set of clever enemy names just for you! I hope you enjoy!

Goombo -> Goombie the Shroom Fish

While "Goombo" has always been a fine name, it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi that other localized Goomba relatives like "Galoomba," "Goombrat," and "Goombud" have. With this new name, which is a clever homage to Hootie & the Blowfish, now it should fit right in!

Bombshell Koopa -> Koopie the Boom Fish

Another enemy that technically has a localized name already, but once again, this fairly boring name lacks the ceci n'est pas une pipe that truly great localized names have. It might seem weird to call a turtle a fish, but when you think about it, all tetrapods are fish, so it's fine!

Bullet Biff -> Shootie the Bullet Fish

You know the drill by now! A name that lacks Allouette, je te plumerai turned much more memorable by one simple yet effective reference! Bullets look kind of like fish, you know!

Since we've spruced up all the enemies with actual localized names, now it's time to Get Creative! The rest will be under the cut!

Fly -> Fruity the Fly Fish

While not explicitly a fruit fly, we figured that for the sake of the homage, this name gets the job done. And don't worry, I checked. He's allowed to reclaim it.

Bunbun -> Stabyoutie the Bee Fish

The Japanese name is an onomatopoeia for the sound a bee makes, but because we couldn't think of an English equivalent, we decided to name it after what it does instead. Watch out! It's gonna stab you!

Gao -> Mewtie the Lion Fish

"Mew" is a common onomatopoeia for a cat, which fits Gao pretty nicely, given a lion is a type of Big Cat! Of course, to remind people this is a lion rather than your typical housecat, we've appended it with "the Lion Fish" for good measure.

King Totomesu -> Roary the Zebra Turkeyfish

I'm pretty sure one of my siblings once had a plush lion named "Roary the Lion" so I've decided to rename King Totomesu in their honor. And see what we did with the descriptor, eh? Eh? Pretty clever, huh?

Honen -> Hootie the Bone Fish again

Yeah, I know we used "Hootie the Bone Fish" for Honebon during our Super Mario Land 2 project, but can you blame us for the repeat? It's a good name! And since none of these names are official, either one can have it. I don't mind.

Yurarin Boo -> Hottie the Blow Fish

Yurarin Boo is a seahorse that blows fire at you, and you may not know this, but fire is Hot! I know it's a seahorse and not a pufferfish, but since it's a fish that blows fire, I figured "Blow Fish" would be a good pun still.

Mekabon -> Rebootie the Bot Fish

As an enemy in the Muda Kingdom (the game's signature water world!) with a fish-eyed stare and arms that look more like flippers than anything else, this enemy's fishy appearance was not lost on us, and we figured we should reflect that in its name.

Torion -> The Blue Fish

I know I said some of the already localized names lacked omelette du fromage or whatever, but some enemies really do just deserve a name that's simple, straight, and to the point. Torion is one such enemy.

Yurarin -> Nottie the No Fish

As a relative of Hottie the Blow Fish without the ability to blow fire, we decided to give it a similar name, but this time specify it can't really do anything special at all. Serves as a nice parallel to the Yurarin/Yurarin Boo naming convention, huh?

Gunion -> Octootie the Blue-Ringed Fish

"Oh, those rings are clearly yellow!" I hear you say, but consider: Super Mario Land was in black and white. Or. Dark green and lighter green. Maybe the official art made a coloring mistake, huh? Huh??? Some people would object to me calling it a Fish also, but at this point it's been well-established that every sea creature is some kind of fish.

Tamao -> Tammy the Jelly Fish

See what I mean? The English instruction manual called this thing a jellyfish, and I'm sticking by it!

Dragonzamasu -> Haughty the Boss Fish

As the boss version of Hottie the Blow Fish, I figured to give it a name that parallel's Hottie's as well! As a boss, you'd expect it to be pretty haughty, huh?

Bataon -> idk man give me a break the Flying Fish

this is really hard you guys

Ganchan -> Cheeky the Stone Fish

What a Cheeky fellow we have here! I think it's fun they decided to give this rolling rock a personality with eyes and cheeks, and we've decided to emphasize that with the name we came up with for it!

Tokotoko -> Scooty the Dude Fish

Tokotoko looks like it's running very fast, but it doesn't even have legs, so it kinda just. Scoots all over the place. And I'd be foolish not to call this guy a Dude, what with the Cool Cool Glasses! And since Batadon is a Fish, Scooty shall be too. Simple as that!

Suu -> Suutie the Arachno-Fish

Decided to stay pretty faithful to the Japanese name with this one, but I figured a clever reference to Hootie & the Blowfish would make it more relatable to the American youth of today.

Kumo -> Kumootie the Arachno-Fish

oh man do i really have to name two separate spiders in a row

Hiyoihoi -> Brutie the Rude Fish

Hiyoihoi has always had sort of "cool delinquent" vibes to me, hence calling him rude, and as a boss, you gotta assume he's a bit of a brute. The name also rhymes with "Scooty the Dude Fish," which this is the boss version of!

Pionpi -> Spooky the Boo Fish

This frightening fishy fiend is sure to give you the heebie-jeebies!

Pompon Flower -> Rootie the Grow Fish

Plants are pretty well known for having roots and growing, and thanks to Hootie the Blue Fish helping us learn that plants can, indeed, be considered fish, that makes every part of this name legally Clever!

Nyololin -> Spewtie the Blow Fish

Look, I know this is the second enemy that we've named "the Blow Fish," but it blows poison at you, and on that note, it is poison like a real blowfish! It all comes together flawlessly!

Chicken -> Tweetie the Crow Fish

Yeah, I know we technically changing its species, but it looks nothing like a chicken! Can you blame us? And the Mario franchise has a long-running tradition of connecting birds and fish (see Cheep Cheep!) so calling it not just a "crow," but a "crow fish" makes it fit in better.

Roketon -> Grutie the Banana Fish

minion joke

Chikako -> Floatie the Glow Fish

Hi the Mod formerly known as Mod Chikako! I hope you like your new legal name going forwards...!

Pipe Fist -> Punchyoutie the Pipe Fist

This one may seem like we're grasping at straws, but being a big hand, I think Punchyoutie the Pipe Fist can grasp straws very easily, thank you very much.

Biokinton -> Cumulootie the Atmosphish

This one's self-explanatory.

And last, but certainly not least...

Tatanga -> Evil Mario

That's it for Super Mario Land! "Like" and "Subscribe" and "Hit the Bell for Notifications" if you want to see us localize the names of every enemy in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3!

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

I am so happy you write for fast forward because so many people think it is stupid when it is one of my favorite seasons of the 2003 series. I was wondering if you could write for all the turtles or just one (the wheel of wow can choose) where the reader has a dark version of themselves. While the turtles are fighting dark!reader , dark!reader start to flirt with the turtle saying things like “I can understand why my other version has a crush on you” and “You should get with me, I am totally the stronger and more hotter one” The reader gets jealous and insecure because well… dark!reader is hot and a great fighter. Maybe a confession or fluff at the end. I hope this wasn’t a confusing request. I am just a sucker for jealousy tropes. Thank you so much, love :)

Dark Version (Angst?/Fluff)

(FastForward!Michelangelo x reader (dark!reader)

A/N: The wheel of WOW said Mikey! The wheel has spoken!😂 I’ve made a few changes in the dialog, but otherwise it's exactly the same🧡 Also, since it has been some time since my last writing, it is a little short, since I need to get back into my game. But I hope you’ll still enjoy🧡

Warnings: Spelling🧡

The moment you first met the kanabo version of yourself, you were shocked. Their shape and features was exactly like yours, except for the purple kanabo skin, the light eating black hair, sharp fingernails and teeth and red eyes. Just like the other kanabo clones, your dark counterpart matched your personality, yet with a dark twist. Instead of being a pleasant person with a warm presence that pulled people, your clone was all consuming and domineering. Her words sounded promising, and she was quick to make people trust her, just like you. Except, she would use that trust against whoever she had fooled, proving to have a wicked mind that was able to put all of the other clones to shame.

The original turtles saw this clone of yours as nothing but a bad imitation. Though she may have had an appearance that matched yours, she was nothing like you, their best friend, that had managed to get accidentally transported with them to the future of 2105. They did not like her. But no one disliked her more than you did.

From the day you had first met her, you had felt threatened by this new enemy of yours. Not just from her horrid intentions, but from the storm that she managed to rise within you. You did not like to admit it, but you were, to be quite honest, very jealous of her. There was just something about the way she carried herself. From the way her spine stood straight, the way she would lean on her hip, her full hair, and her smug smile. And her fear of absolutely nothing. To put it simple, your kanabo clone looked and acted like the hottest person on earth, and was not above saying sultry things, just to catch the turtles off guard. But that was nothing compared to the day, where she would rip the rug out from under your feet, sending your world crumbling down in embarrassment.

The kanabo clones had managed to catch you and the turtles off guard one night, backing you up in some far corner of a New New York City alley, leaving all of you with no other options than to fight your way out. Or the turtles fighting while they made you hide behind some dumpster, not allowing anything to happen to you.

You watched them from your hiding spot, seeing your kanabo clone lash out at Mikey with her long sharp nails, making you shriek as he dodged. She was about to pull back, ready to throw another launch at him. But Mikey, being the fast ninja turtle that he was, managed to catch both of her arms, making her struggle to get free. But of course, that was not enough to make your clone back down. It never was.

Your dark counterpart heard you shriek, seeing you hiding behind the dumpsters. She smirked, knowing damn well what you were feeling and thinking. She knew what you had been feeling and thinking for several years. Especially about the orange clad turtle that now held her wrists in an iron grip, with no intentions of letting her go. It was time to do what she did best; catch the turtles off guard. And this time she would not hold back, intending to bring you down in the fall.

“I see”, she smiled, stopping her fight to get out of Mikey’s iron grip. “It makes a lot of sense now”.

“What makes sense?”, Mikey asked, not able to hide his curiosity. Dude couldn’t hold his curiosity for anything, even if his life depended on it.

“Why my hiding counterpart over there has such a giant crush on you”, she smiled smugly, enjoying Mikey’s flustered expression. “You’re cute”.

And just like your dark counterpart had wanted it, Mikey pulled his hands from her wrist with an unsure look on his face, all while you felt the ground under you grumble into dust. There was no way she just told Mikey your biggest secret. You knew very well that she knew things of your past, sharing the same memories as you did, and using them to trick you and the turtles. But it had never once dawned on you, that she was aware of your biggest secret of several years - your crush on Mikey.

You kanabo counterpart smiled smugly, catching your eyes momentarily, before landing a hard blow on the side of Mikey’s chin, causing him to lose balance for a moment. That short moment was all you clone needed, before she made her way past Mikey, making her way towards your horrible hiding spot. Her red eyes glistened at you as she cracked her knuckles, not sparing a moment to see how the other clones were doing.

For a split second you managed to fear, shaking behind the dumpster, as you watched this kanabo imitation of you, taunted you with her steps. You had never been a good fighter, which was the reason why the turtles had made you hide behind a dumpster, instead of partaking in the fight. And she knew that. It was a fact she often brought up, in an attempt to pull your confidence apart, and now as she walked towards you, she glowed in the energy of your fear, somehow looking even more confident and attractive than before, letting your self esteem grumble and fall into the pit of your stomach.

Your dark counterpart got ready to launch at you, with the strength and speed Sh’Okanabo had given her. But before she could leap at you, she was harshly pulled back, an alarmed yelp sounding from her mouth, as Mikey threw her towards the other side of the alley, her back slamming into the wall with a groan, an angry fire burning in her eyes, before she escalated the fight with Mikey, with the other turtles soon coming to his rescue.

The alley battle continued, until the dark turtles had to pull your dark clone back, citing that keeping the fight up would only prove to be a disadvantage for them, especially with the sun rising within a short time. Reluctantly, your clone followed their lead, leaving the battle behind, but not before turning towards Mikey one last time, making sure you could hear and see her.

“If you get tired of her, you know very well where to find a better option”. That comment made your jaw drop, watching stunned as she left with the kanabo turtles, hurrying towards their hiding spots in the shadows. All your emotions were running high. You felt small, weak, insecure, now with the burning flame of jealousy in your stomach. But then, when Mikey turned your way, you felt embarrassment rush over you, your eyes falling to the ground, not ready to look him in the eyes, and admit to what you clone had let him know without your permission.

Mikey’s brothers, sensing the need for you and Mikey to talk alone, did just that - they left the alley, leaving you and Mikey alone back in the alley, while they slowly made their way back to the penthouse, hoping that this would be the time you and Mikey would come clean to each other.

For a long moment, there was silence between you and Mikey, with neither of you truly sure what to say. You played with your finger nails, while Mikey played with the handles on his tech nunchucks, now safely secured in his belt.

The silence between the two of you was loud. No sound, yet it was ear piercing, making your heart beat faster and faster, the palms of your hands growing sweaty due to nervousness. But then finally Mikey spoke up. You were surprised to find that he was wearing an almost proud smile on his lips, standing in the sunray that slowly made its way into the city.

“You really have a crush on me?”, he asked, still smiling bright.

You bite your lip, finding your embarrassment slowly turning into fluttering butterflies, flapping their wings around inside your stomach. “Yes”.

Mikey blew out a sharp breath of air in a chuckle, taking a few steps towards you. “How long?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe for a few years now”.

Mikey moved his foot round on the pavement, looking more and more pleased, unable to stand still. “So maybe the same time as my crush on you?”

You almost lost your breath, unable to think clearly for a moment, almost stumbling and falling in front of him. However Mikey was quick to catch you, holding your arms in his big three fingered hands. You looked each other in the eyes, realizing how close you were, leading to the two of you smiling and giggling.

“You have a crush on me too?”, you asked, still not really sure that you had understood him right.

“Of course I do”, Mikey said, as if it was obvious. “I mean, who couldn’t? Only an idiot!”

You giggled at this, letting Mikey pull you in close for a hug, both of you smiling from ear to ear, before taking the time to look at each other’s faces. It was here that Mikey leaned closer to you, waiting for you to reciprocate his actions, before your lips met in a sweet and tender kiss.

And there you stood, in each other’s arms, enjoying the feeling of your soft lips against each other, with the warm rising sun making all the dark shadows seem so far away.

[imagionationstation]

*Throws more turtles at you and runs away*

And a litle bonus

TURTLES- Why does Mikey looks like he’s breaking the fourth wall in the last one. He looks like he’s playing narrator.

ARE WE MAKING EYE CONTACT-

1) "She saved me" I mean, objectively, he's not wrong XD He just doesn't have the right reasons in mine. Ah, Leo.

= New Girl In Town

2) SPLINTER! DONNIE IS GOING TO HAVE TO FIX THAT TV DON'T BREAK THINGS YOUR KID HAS TO REPAIR!!!

= The Noxious Avenger

3) All I'm saying is that KARAI was stalking the turtles 24/7 and that's how she ended up needing Leo's saving. Plus, most of the time it was only with the worst intentions, but no one's going to talk about that or how creepy it is. Is it because she's human? Or she's puuuurty? 🤨 

Sexism or specism, okay, pick a side /jkjkjk

= Enemy of My Enemy

4) The shift between The Super Shredder and Darkest Plight always jars me because they have the same conversation but slightly tweeked between episodes and it's like: WHAT'S THE CANON CONVERSATION WHICH ONE IS A LIE??

Or maybe they have the same conversation twice because of grief or disbelief. I don't pretend to understand turtle minds.

I love how in this scene shows just how much they've adapted to their roles when Mikey pops up and exchanges a subtle look with Leo who nods and then Raph smirks and Donnie watches them move with a calculated gaze because they're all on the same wave length and then Mikey distracts like he does best and hkjhkhgks GROWTH

= Darkest Plight

5) ...Donnie honey no don't look so sad *sad sounds* Raph coming in with that hand on his shoulder for comfort OH THIS SCENE-

= The Mutation Situation

6) GUYSER- GYSER? GY... GEYSER CAVE!! Also. Chimera ✨

= Eyes of the Chimera

7) Green gas room. Mikey be doing his thang.

= New Girl In Town

8) I originally thought The Crypt of Dracula but then I was like: April wasn't there. She was bitten. Soooo, space outfits! They're in space. When did they temple in Space? Oooooh-

SAVE THE MIKEY, RAPHIE! GO!

= Riddle of the Ancient Aeons

9) Yeah I can't sleep when I'm annoyed either, Mikey. BUT THAT DOESN'T GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO STEAL FROM DONNIE'S LAB WHEN HE BORROWED THAT FROM SOMEONE ELSE, MIKEY!

Donnie SHOULD be getting coaxed to bed and instead his nap is going to get interrupted so the sleepy kid can get YELLED AT

This is why this kid can't ever get his 8 hours.

Everything goes wrong when he tries to snooze!

= Bat in the Belfry.

10) 👏 I should👏 know👏 this 👏

But I cannot remember for the life of me what it is. HUmf.

11) I HAVE NO IDEA BUT I NEED CONTEXT FOR THIS PLEASE??

12) iT'S VIDEOS GAMES. BUT TRAINING! (Teenage turtles 🙄)

= The Arena of Carnage

13) Egyptian! I see Egypt stuff in that backgrouuuund!

= The Curse of Savanti Romero

14) Mikey is just so randomly awesome all the time. It really does him injustice to pretend like he's some depressed child who's constantly underestimated or mistreated by his brothers. "Mikey, you never cease to amaze me" like c'mon they know his potential.

His whole gig is "this shouldn't work" BUT HE MAKES IT WORK

He's just "super dope like that, fool!" jgdlkjgldfkjgldfk

= End Times

15) Room full of screens. "Not now DonnIe- ohhh, sorry Mr. O'Neil." Yep yep yep I'm pretty confident in this assumption

= Operation Break Out

16) Literally have no idea what this comes from. BUT HE'S CREEPING ME OUT NO NONONNNO- AHHAHAHAHAHH- I WANT TO STOP MAKING EYE CONTACT NOW-

[dav3i]

TMNTember, Day 27: OC's

Name: Kiri

Gender: female

Height: almost as high as Leo

Hair/eye color: dark brown

Weapon: Tsurugi/Ken

Personality: mature, stoic, alert, serious, observant (not anymore), straightforward, weird, a bit sarcastic, but can also be very caring too

Likes: …Idk, her family (the team)?

Dislikes: Her enemies/opponents I guess

Despite her personality and height, she is the youngest of the team. She is a good liar and thief, and whenever someone yells at her, she looks at them back with a poker face like a statue because of her lack of expressiveness (although there might be exceptions later on). Didn’t/doesn’t understand certain concepts ordinary people would or should know. Despite that, she is street smart, and is also a good listener for her brothers and sisters…

Backstory:

She was born in poverty, and her parents were probably some kind of criminals too, so she was abounded at a very young age. She doesn’t remember much about them, so she doesn’t care about them. Since then, she had to fend for herself some food, clothes, any other stuff for survival. That made her a thief, building up her stealth. Still, whenever she couldn’t find any food for example, she had to eat nasty animals or stuff from the garbage cans.

And that’s just how she lives her life for years until she gets into trouble with the Purple Dragons and messes with them (maybe cuz she stole something from them and screwed up, idk I might have to reconsider that part in the future) , which made her to fight back against several adult thugs. She did beat all of them in the end, but she was very injured due to the thugs’ carrying weapons, and she also had a concussion.

Luckily, the Turtles were on their patrol, probably on search of those Purple Dragons' thugs. Instead, they saw her unconscious body with the rest of the thugs’ bodies. At the time, the Turtles were still trying to get used to the human world, and they couldn’t just bring her into the hospital without showing off as weird creatures or monsters. They thought it would be best to bring her into their lair since they were worried about her and didn’t know what to do. However, Raph was kinda against it (the most), letting a complete stranger into their home. But eventually, they made their choice and took her into their lair.

Yes, they got scolded by Splinter, and yes, despite that they have brought a stranger, he decided to take care of her and tend to her wounds. Perhaps it was because she appeared to be young and their age, but with serious injuries, so he took out pity on her. When she woke up and saw the rat, she wasn’t afraid. She was confused and a bit shocked, seeing a large and talking rat. Despite that, however, she was thankful for both of the Turtles and Splinter.

He would ask her questions about herself, and to his consideration, he takes her in and lets her stay with them. She later meets the turtles, and they introduce themselves in front of her. Later, she will be given a name: “Kiri”.

She would see the Turtles training and swinging their weapons at each other, and then would secretly repeat the moves she saw during one of their training sessions. Eventually, she would get caught doing it, but Splinter was impressed rather than angry or irritated, so she got the chance to become a kunoichi. He also told her that she could have just asked him to train her too.

Seeing the Turtles having their own unique weapons, she asked Splinter for one too herself. She thought that wielding swords was easy, so she asked for the same katana’s as Leo’s. Do keep in mind that katana’s are the most difficult swords to use, so instead, Splinter offered her a Tsurugi/Ken. Though being Splinter’s student, she gradually became Leo’s student too due to her weapon of choice.

Current storyline:

S3, farmhouse arc (mainly the beginning)

There, she would have one on one conversation with the Turtles and possibly April. Raph - worrying about Leo in coma, Leo - his burden, Mikey - his brothers who yell at him, Donnie - his obsession over April, and April and Casey- maybe her mom and his father and little sister?

In “Buried secrets”, she was curious as to why Mikey finds April’s mom suspicious and would later understand as well… (She would be a bit overprotective during their time in the farmhouse too.)

S4, E1 - E14

She wouldn’t be with the Turtles, April and Casey in space, as she would get sucked by the black hole generator. However, when the Turtles met their counterparts from the 1980’s for the first time and got back to their earth in NYC to meet with Splinter (from the past), she (also from the past) would suspect that something was wrong and that they might be a bit different. She would later confirm her statement when she mentioned the recent thing with their Turtles (the ones who didn’t time travel) who didn't know a single thing, but she kept it to herself to not let the other guys worry until the end of the Triceratons’ battle. Instead of going to space like the others, she decided to stay on earth, knowing that the crew must have missed her too.

Broken Foot

Throughout the middle of season 4, she starts to change. During the “Broken foot” episode, she would get angry and disappointed (not too much but still) at Leo and Karai for yet again putting lives in danger and for being inconsiderate about it, then leaves in a bit of frustration.

The Power Inside her

Again, she would start to argue with April for being obsessive over her crystal, but this time to the point of fighting against each other where they were later stopped. Of course, they make up for it, apologizing to each other in the end.

The Rest of S4

She would sometimes start to isolate herself to train or meditate instead of spending with others, especially because of the Super Shredder. It makes the guys worry about it, but she only opens up about it to Splinter. For some weird reason and I don’t know why, I imagined him teaching her some kind of a dance or something (like kata?) personally… (Idk about it now)

Requiem

The actual reason why she got blind was because of the Super Shredder who inflicted a lot of injuries on her, almost on the verge of death while trying protect Karai (Still in progress)

Owari

In here, Kiri is in the hospital while she is still recovering from those wounds instead of Karai. She and Shinigami would join the Turtles, April and Casey together take Super Shredder down. After their victory and Kiri’s recovery, Kiri would also visit Splinter’s grave later on and would sit on the ground for a while to mourn his death. She would suddenly perform that one dance/kata he taught her. She swore on that day to never forget it, so she repeats it every day since it was the only way of keeping her memory of him alive.

S5

In the beginning of season 5, she would be graduated into a kunoichi. Since Splinter’s death, Leo is now the sensei and makes the ritual, congratulating her with the others. Karai also gives her a black kitsune mask as a gratitude gift for saving her and as an apology from their little dispute back in “Broken Foot”. Kiri now constantly tries to improve her sense of hearing and touching (which is why she stopped wearing shoes, but dw she washes her feet) to fight better.

In E5-6, she would be able to meet Sal Commander and Mona Lisa, while in the Halloween Special episodes she would meet Renet.

Mutant Apocalypse

Name: Kiki

Gender: female

Age: 9 (so again, the youngest)

Height: a bit lower than Mira

Hair/eye color: dark brown

Personality: more expressive (prideful, sassy, maybe a bit cocky and kind of a prick but definitely sarcastic) than Kiri, but still can be stoic and serious like her (they share similar characteristics), may act childish and silly but is also smart for her age (thanks to Mikey's genuis), (and insane)

Likes: stars and space => Space Heroes (a complete fan)

Dislikes: mutants (Maximus Kong the most)

In the Mutant Apocalypse AU, Kiri never existed and never met the Turtles as teenagers. So after 50 years (right?), Kiri is a little girl and also the last of the humankind by the name of Kiki.

Why I decided to go on a different character was because I couldn’t figure out how the story would progress (or you can just call me lazy). I found it difficult to include Kiri there and how it would move further on, but since this arc took place in a different universe, I decided that in this particular universe never existed Kiri and she got replaced by a little girl, Kiki.

Backstory:

I always had the idea that few people who didn't mutate would live together and built bunkers underground to hide. They might find food and water, and more and more children will be born, causing the human population to grow over a few decades. Later, Kiki will be born.

Unlike Kiri, Kiki had caring parents AND siblings. A lot of siblings, like 9, and she is the youngest. Her father was the leader of the unknown human clan. He always wanted for the humankind to get back and grow stronger to restore its population and everything like before in the past.

Unfortunately, that never happened due to all of them being murdered and slaughtered by Maximus Kong and his men (well, mutants), who found their secret shelter or lair when Kiki was 6 years old. She either hid herself or was hidden by her mother or one of her siblings while everyone else was fighting back and protecting others.

As a result, everything was destroyed and taken away (by that, I mean food and water and possibly other necessities that would have been taken). It made the girl traumatized by all of the dead corpses of her family and other people splattered with blood and guts. This led her to hate mutants and her vengeance for her people.

Since she has now nothing, she comes out of the bunkers for the first time in her life, not knowing what the outside world had looked like. Time and time pass, and as she walks in a hot wasteland with little to nothing else to find herself without any experience, she collapses.

Luckily, as "The Holy Chalupa" was searching for the map of the Green Oasis, but to no avail, he accidentally spots an unconscious human girl laying on the ground. He was shocked by the fact that he found a human and quickly takes her in. Kiki wakes up in his shelter, and when she sees the old mutant turtle, she tries to run away multiple times. That obviously didn't work, but she didn't give up. Because Michelangelo's a mutant, she also tried to attack him multiple times out of her hate for mutants. That never worked for someone who was taught the art of ninjutsu their whole life.

Though she finally decided to stay after many failures, it took a lot of time for her to trust him. He would teach her ninjutsu skills and tell stories from the past, which would make her sympathize with him. That way of life lasted for 3 years until Michelangelo found his brothers and Mira, who had the map. (I forgot to mention that she went insane because the Wastelands and her goal for vengeance has increased even more. Michelangelo has taught her about letting it go and to forgive, but she never wanted to. She always looked up to the night sky to find some peace and solace, believing her family and people might be there after their death.)

Current Storyline:

Although Kiki heard about Raphael and Donatello, the relationship started rough with her and Mira, but because she had the tattoo of the Oasis, she reluctantly lets her stay. That kind of relationship turned into a friend- and/or kinship when they were both kidnapped and locked in the cel. Both know what it's like being the only survivors of their species, and so Kiki feels less tensed.

Much later, where the whole crew is now on the search for the Oasis, Maximus Kong shows up. They both later meet, and naturally, it doesn't go well for her. She wasn't heavily injured, so she was safe and sound.

When it was revealed that Maximus Kong was Leo all along and that he had sacrificed himself for his brothers, she was shocked as she couldn't believe it. Although she knows it wasn't completely his fault, she still has a part of her that is filled with hate, which makes her feel bad and pity for him. Their relationship was complicated, but after some time, she forgives him and are now on good terms (sort of kinda).

Anyways, that was probably a whole lot for you to take it all in (unless you just scrolled away, which I don’t blame u), but thank u for bearing with me! I’ll try to upload some more of my stuff that has been living in my head rent-free and try to illustrate what I had written! Please, TMNT writers and experienced artists, lend me your guidance 🙏!

[thatunusualwriter]

𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚔𝚘 𝚡 𝙴𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚎𝚛!𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽𝚂 sfw || part 1

Like, reblog, go to askbox to request anything! 🫶

banner made by @infinitnei

.⋆｡⋆˚｡⋆｡˚｡⋆.⛓🤍💥👊⛓.⋆｡⋆˚｡⋆｡˚｡⋆.

I like the idea that General Shao's remaining army tried to infiltrate Earthrealm through a portal (maybe made by Shang Tsung or whatever) before backing up from the push-back of Mileena's army joined in by Liu Kang and his friends that came to destroy the portals.

Reiko ends up sneaking to the other side of one of the portals when no one's looking, but he's wounded. Like, badly wounded that he just lays there on a ground for a minute to recollect himself.

That's when Reader comes in!

They approach the wounded man with caution. Thinking that it's just a cosplayer who unfortunately met the wrong kind of consevatives that REALLY wanted to make the man know they hate this kind of stuff. — It may be 21st century but you can always come across these kind of people once in a long while.

Reader may not be a doctor and not the most reliable person when it comes to first aid but they do remember some of the basics from school.

Reiko was actually falling unconscious but at the mention of a 'hospital' where he will get medical care; as Reader had said, he sprung to life that it honest to god startled Y/n.

He made so many failed attempts to stand up, all that he managed is to get from his back onto his knees like a flipped turtle.

"I'm.. I'm fine...! Leave me!" is what he kept saying and swatted away Reader's nearing hands that he saw in his peripheral view.

And Reader stood, ready to leave the man be if he so wished. They're just strangers. And it's no business to them what he will do about his condition. They are not in the mood to deal with a 'wounded animal' to risk getting hurt as a thank you for their kindness.

Y/n was almost outta there but a thud behind them made them look back.

And thank god for that because Reiko collapsed again, just a few feet from the spot they first found him in, and Reader run back to his side. They checked the type of damage that has been done, he has nasty scratches and bruises, but his head took quite a hit.

Trust me when I tell you it felt like lifting a muscular dead weight of, around or more than, 70 kilos.

Reader had to call in a friend or two to get Reiko off the street.

It felt so wrong and so stupid to take an injured man home than to a hospital. Y/n's friends kept saying something similar.

Reader had to feel both empathy and naivety at the same time. They thought they didn't want to go to a hospital because of the bills just because he got a 'mild' head injury which they understand.

So instead Reader called in nurse/doctor relatives to nonchalantly ask what to do, saying it's them who got a little bump and also what would be the worst cases and how to deal with them...... Yes very cunning.

Also. Google. The one and only place that (should) have all the answers.

The worse thing that could happen is that he won't wake up and Reader will have to use the incognito page to search how to get rid of a body of a person they don't know at all...

But fortunately! he does wake up!! Yay—

—- Or at least it was a little celebration, until Reader found themself in a head-lock. Choking.

Reiko spat so many words and so many questions that Reader didn't know which to answer first, from any new question Y/n forgot what they wanted to say to answer the question before.

But it was more than clear this guy is angry.

And strong. Damn.

Reader tried to wiggle free, pat at his arms to loosen up his grip on their throat. And Reiko does so when he realized Y/n is not a danger to him. Quite harmless.

Because, first; in his condition an enemy would not treat him with care. and second; Reiko could have been finished off if Reader so wished to attack back - use his wounds to their advantage or anything else but they did neither of those.

A civilian. Is the conclusion Reiko came to. But that still doesn't mean he can't find himself at a knifepoint anytime soon.

Once Reiko let go altogether, Reader scooted as far away as possible almost hitting their coffee table in the process while he sits back on the sofa he was resting on and looked around the odd home of an Earthrealmer.

It was very awkward for a couple of moments in between them.

It was Reiko who spoke first again, demanding answers to his questions but now he asked one by one and without anything squeezing their throat it was easier for Reader to answer.

Reiko remained cautious while Y/n was a little on edge but confused and curious more than anything.

This sure is one rocky start to an acquaintance...

[lordshroom]

Not an ask but idk

EVERYONE THOW UR CROSSOVERS NOW BEFORE I CLIMB UR WALLS AT 3AM >:)

(Thows my mikey and raph over there)

Mikey: a demon who steals ppls right eyes then eats the rest then puts the eyeball in his collection and this mikey is blind IS 12 (young but deadly) and he looks terrifying horror

Raph: smol child but is missing right eye(thanks to mikey) is 14

No one is safe THIS IS NOW A CROSSOVER

do it or I will climb ur walls at 3am(mabey a jk who knows)

TW: blood, injury, dark imagery

@tmntaucompetition

Donnie had quite the eventful past few days. In his years of adventuring, he'd never expect to witness multiver theory proven right before his eyes. So many strange and interesting characters had been gathered, and they took full advantage of the opportunity to make new friends. While he wasn't sure how he got here, he was having a fun time.

He wandered the halls of the competition, finding a place less crowded than the central area. It was quiet, a few turtles checking their phones or examining their weapons. They cast a quick glance at him, then continued their business. It was here Donnie felt how fast his heart was beating. There was a water fountain at the end of the hall, just below a broken light, casting it in shadow.

The water tasted like metal, cold and hard. He whipped his mouth and turned around to find the hallway empty. The first time he had been alone since he'd been transported to this place. At least, that's what he thought.

"Look at you." A harsh whisper called out to him. Donnie whipped around. "You won't find me until I want you to find me. I can hear your hissing. I can feel your slimy skin. You are not one of them, are you?"

Donnie's feet were stuck to the ground. Every thought in his head told him to run. But the voice had pinned like an insect to styrofoam.

"You know you don't belong here. How sad to be a freak among outcasts. But don't you worry, I can help."

The voice grew louder, surrounding Donnie. When he could finally wrench his body around, the shadows on the wall began to contort. They vomited a creature onto the floor. Each limb wildly contorted until it stood straight. The demon raised its empty eye sockets to Donnie. Blood and tar leaked from its face, splattering onto the floor. It raised a hand to Donnie, each finger worn down to the bone.

"Let me take you."

Donnie couldn't breathe. His mind filled with a familiar fog. The fog he had been fighting against ever since he was mutated, that ate at his soul and threatened to leave him hollow.

His legs merged into a winding tail, another pair of hands busted from his sides, and his skull elongated, bearing rows of venomous fangs.

"My, my, what have you become?" The demon chuckled and lunged forward.

Donnie recoiled and hurled a spray of acid at the demon. Against any mortal enemy, it would have melted them into a fleshy puddle. But this was no mortal. The demon didn't even bother to wipe its face clean.

Instead, it only advanced faster. Each limb clawing at the ground to propel the body forward. It reached up at Donnie, aiming for his right eye.

Donnie's arm curled around the demon's claw, then the rest of the demon's body was constricted by his muscular tail. The demon dug its fingers into his skin. Fresh blood pooled in between his scales.

"My resolve is infinite, and your strength is already fleeting. You will fall by my hand! Is it worth the pain of a few extra minutes of life to struggle against the inevitable?"

The mutation had turned Donnie into a violent monster. There was always a feral urge he had to suppress or risk destroying everything close to him. Despite all this, his brothers tried to help. No matter what harm he caused, they were always there for him. Donnie knew they would be better off without having to worry about him. They would never know where he went or where his body was. It would be like he disappeared from their lives. Maybe it was for the best.

His grip slackened. The demon smiled.

"Mikey!"

A young turtle ran toward the two of them. At first, he tried to free Mikey from Donnie's grasp, but once he saw the blood he placed his hands on his hips.

"What did I say? Do. Not. Attack. People!"

The demon pouted and the other turtle sighed.

"I'm so sorry about him. I'm Raph, this is Mikey. He has... issues but I'm trying to reel him in. If you let go, I'll make sure he won't hurt you." Raph said his one eye never leaving his brother.

Donnie didn't believe Raph. Words couldn't keep a demon at bay. But he relented, slithering back from the two. Raph hugged Mikey and then took his hand.

"I almost won." Mikey hissed.

"Then I'm glad I got here when I did. Next time you run off, you better hope I don't find you. Come on." They walked past Donnie and beyond sight.

Once again, he was alone, and the fog began to part. He laid down, trying to remember Splinter's meditation techniques, and felt his body shrink. His injuries still remained, with just enough bleeding that Donnie decided to find a first aid station.

The worst part of his mutation was the isolation. His brothers could never understand the fear he had for himself. The terrible things he could do if he let his guard down for a second; he wondered if there was a line he would cross, do something so horrendous even his family would shun him. But that line did not exist, they would always be there to help, even if it killed them. It was both comforting and terrifying.

Another turtle noticed the gash on his leg and helped Donnie to the first aid station. While they took care of his injury, a warm nostalgia enveloped him. He missed his brothers. Soon, he would see them once this competition was over, and they would figure this out together like they always did.

[yanyanderes]

this isn’t the best thing i’ve ever written because i don’t have a sleep schedule, but i wanted to get this out there just because. yeah i know the characters are ooc, but i’m too sleepy to correct myself. maybe i’ll revise this when i’m awake

yandere 2012 vs 2018 turtles and why they don’t like each other

leos

why 2012 leo doesn’t like 2018 leo

2018 leo is irresponsible and careless

he’s cocky and pulls all sorts of reckless stunts in battle to get (y/n)’s attention

not to mention all the ways 2018 leo taunts him, only rubbing salt in the wound

he also hates how 2018 leo tries to manipulate (y/n) into staying with him all the time

even though 2012 leo uses manipulation on (y/n) as well

but 2012 leo is doing it to protect them! 2018 leo just wants control over them!

why 2018 leo doesn’t like 2012 leo

he hates how uptight 2018 leo is. he constantly hovers over (y/n) 24/7

believes that 2012 leo is a total hypocrite for calling out his manipulation when he does the same thing only to claim it’s for “their own good”

hates how 2012 leo constantly uses the “i’m the leader” and “i know better” excuses to justify his actions

convinces himself that isn’t a threat, more like a thorn in his side

but there’s always that little voice in his head, nagging him that he has to start taking this threat more seriously, or he might lose (y/n) for good

raphs

why 2012 raph doesn’t like 2018 raph

says it’s because he’s way too soft, and a small part of that is true

he’s a towering figure that can strike fear in the hearts of his enemies with a glance, but all (y/n) has to do is say “please” and 2018 raph is bending over backwards for them

but for the most part, it’s because he’s jealous

he sees how caring and sweet 2018 is to (y/n) and how much they adore him for it, and 2012 raph just can’t compare because he isn’t like that

2012 raph isn’t sweet, he doesn’t wear a cheesy grin on his face all day every day, he isn’t a gentle giant

he’s the angry one. he snaps easily, he fights first and talks later

basically, 2018 raph is everything 2012 raph isn’t

ends up only getting angrier as the rage builds up, unable to properly communicate his emotions

why 2018 raph doesn’t like 2012 raph

2012 raph is so short-tempered and reckless, of course 2018 is going to worry!

he’s scared that 2012 raph’s anger will put (y/n) in danger, or that he’ll possibly snap at (y/n) and hurt them himself

also 2018 raph is way more protective than 2012 raph is

like, yeah, if 2012 raph sees someone hurt (y/n) he’s gonna absolutely maul the enemy, but if they trip and scrape their knee, he knows it isn’t a life or death scenario

2018 raph treats (y/n) like glass and never wants to see them hurt

because of this, he believes that 2012 raph doesn’t care enough about (y/n)’s safety

donnies

why 2012 donnie doesn’t like 2018 donnie

similar to raph, except instead of jealousy it’s insecurity

2018 donnie is cool, sassy, confident, and his robots are so impressive they put 2012’s to shame

2012 donnie is an awkward nerd who’s inventions blow up in his face more than half of the time

he’s scared that 2018 donnie will whisk (y/n) off their feet and they won’t want anything to do with him

because of that, he’ll try to become more like his 2018 counterpart so (y/n) will spend more time with him

he’ll work even harder on his inventions, and he’ll try to be all cool and suave

if that doesn’t work, he’ll become more obsessive and stalk (y/n) much more than he already did

why 2018 donnie doesn’t like 2012 donnie

similar to 2018 leo, except he actually doesn’t see his 2012 counterpart as a real threat

usually, he’d be paranoid at the thought of a rival, but he’s going up against a version of himself, and who knows himself better than him?

not to mention 2012 doesn’t have the same resources 2018 does

if push comes to shove, he’ll use 2012’s insecurities against him

but it gets real bad if (y/n) tries to comfort 2012 for his insecurities, and gets terrible if they scold 2018 for his behavior

his paranoia starts kicking in and now he’s getting nervous that (y/n) will start favoring 2012 donnie, so he starts doing things to earn their favor

mikeys

tbh i can’t see these two not getting along

the most they’ll do is have a few petty arguments and yeah sometimes things might go a little too far if too many buttons are pushed

but overall i think they’d get along pretty well

sometimes their teamwork with each other is better than the teamwork they have with their own brothers

honestly, if all the turtles were fighting over (y/n), i can see these two being the peacemakers of the group alongside 2012 leo and 2018 raph