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goodlucktai · 5 months ago

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now the darkness comes alive

rise of the tmnt movie canon divergence word count: 10k characters: raph & leo

welcome to a very self-indulgent roleswap au that i started dreaming up in my friend’s turtle discord. big thank you to rem for the song rec that gave me the insp to finish (and name!) the fic, and also to lake, sara and meeks for enabling my insane behavior <3

oh, now the darkness comes alive it comes for me and i come for you

—brother, the rural alberta advantage

read on ao3

The Krang’s spike pierces through plastron and flesh with a sickening crunch and Leo makes an awful punched-out sound. Raph is seconds too slow, and seconds is all it takes for his entire world to end.

For the past two years, they’ve been at constant odds, Leo going out of his way to undermine and annoy him. Every interaction was laced with frustration, hurt, worry, confusion. Why are you being like this? Raph wanted to ask, wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake until an answer came out. What did I do to you?

It was a miserable way to live. Being angry at someone you love more than anything, having nowhere to put it down, forced to hold onto it and hold onto it and hold onto it. Every day another argument, every night laying awake and hoping that tomorrow would be different.

He missed Leo. He missed how they used to be. He didn’t know why Pops’ announcement had turned them against each other. He hadn’t thought anything would be able to do that.

Once or twice Raph had a moment of weakness and imagined what it would be like if he just quit. If he went to Splinter and told him he was done. Let someone else be the oldest, the biggest, the one who carried everyone else. But that thought was always followed instantly by another, louder one—how small would he feel if he didn’t have little turtles climbing on his back and sitting on his shoulders? How empty would his arms be if he didn’t have anyone to carry in them?

That’s the whole point. That’s why he’s so afraid. That’s why being left alone drives him straight past anxious and into a blackout. He can’t lose them. He can’t lose them. He can’t lose them.

And now he’s living his worst nightmare. He’s living outside his own body, watching from somewhere else. It doesn’t feel real.

His little brother, his little Leo, crumpled beneath him, blood staining bright blue an ugly rust color. His chest is heaving as if each breath hurts and his eyes are wide and wet. He’s gazing up at Raph like they’re children again. It’s the way he looked when he was afraid of a thunderstorm or he was about to get in trouble and he needed Raph to make it better. He always looked at Raph first.

The monsters behind them are laughing. One of them starts talking, the sound coming closer at a leisurely pace. They aren’t safe. Leo is bleeding. Raph is afraid to touch him, shaking hands hovering over his cracked plastron. He doesn’t know what to do. His mind is white with panic.

He has the escape pod in his hand, not yet activated. He doesn’t know if it’s safe to use it. Leo is skewered to the ground, pinned like a butterfly to corkboard. Donnie’s tech is highly intuitive, all of it programmed into S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s AI infrastructure, and maybe the pod would know to account for the particulars of the situation, but there almost definitely isn’t a way to remove Leo safely in the seconds they don’t really have to work with.

Leo blinks, and the wetness in his eyes spills out, and Raph just wants to pick him up. Carry him somewhere safe. Leo has always been larger than life, but right now he looks impossibly small.

“Hey, hey,” Raphael soothes, the same way he has a thousand times before, after bad dreams and skinned knees, “you’re okay. Raph’s here, you’re okay.”

Those gold eyes slide to the side, looking at a point behind Raph. Leo’s arm moves, and something cold and solid presses against Raph’s chest. It’s the key, and Leo’s hand is trembling so hard that Raph’s closes around it instinctively, taking the weight of it from him.

Because he’s Leo, the corners of his mouth quirk into a smile.

“I told you,” he says hoarsely. It somehow manages to sound wry, like they’re in on a joke together. “I got it.”

Then he uses the hand that Raph isn’t holding to activate the escape pod lingering between them and pushes it those scant few fatal inches forward. Raph doesn’t realize what the beep means until the pod unfolds in front of him and yanks him unceremoniously away from his brother.

“No,” Raph says, light-headed with fear, “no!”

But a machine couldn’t possibly understand the wrong it was doing. What it was leaving behind. Raph pummels the inside of the pod hysterically but without his ninpo he can’t do enough to damage something Donnie built specifically to safeguard their family. It lifts him up and away and Leo’s crooked little smile gets smaller and smaller until it’s gone.

——

When the pod touches down in the lair and releases him, the world around Raph is strangely muffled. There’s a ringing in his ears. He thinks he can hear voices but it’s all just noise. Nothing fully clears the chaos in his own head.

Donatello is directly in front of him, and his hands are white-knuckled on the side of an empty blue pod. He looks like he already knows something went very wrong. His eyes are bright gold, a mirror of his twin’s, and the quiet fear in them places Raph directly back inside the warehouse, surrounded by monsters, too late to protect anyone, Leo’s blood on his hands, Leo looking up at him—

Raph’s stomach lurches and he turns sharply away. His gaze lands on Casey Jones instead, who appraises him warily in turn, slim shoulders going stiff beneath the battered Genius Built armor.

“Leo went back for the key,” Raph says, his voice a deep growling thing that cuts through the noise and brings down a curtain of stillness. He holds the stupid thing out, and if it were made of anything less than strange alien stone, his grip would have crushed it into pieces. Casey’s eyes drop to it and brighten, like it’s a good thing that it’s here even though Leo’s not. Relief floods every inch of his face until he looks even younger than he did already.

“He got it,” the boy says reverently, taking it in both hands. “I knew he would.”

Raphael wants to scream. He wants to step back and let some other version of himself take the reins while he finds a hole to cry in. He doesn’t want to turn at his father’s firm call of his name or force himself to lift his chin until Splinter can meet his eyes and find all the miserable failure festering inside him, but he does.

April is looking around and behind Raph, her eyes jumping to the red pod still standing open and then back again, as if finally noticing that Leo wasn’t tucked in there, too. As if it is only just occurring to her that there is a universe that exists where Raphael leaves Leonardo behind, and it’s this one, and it’s horrible.

Donnie might as well be carved from stone, but Mikey is starting to get worked up, looking between everyone else with huge red eyes, trying to hear the thing they’re all not saying.

“He went back for the key,” Raphael says again, choking the words out. “I couldn’t—I wasn’t fast enough to—”

He clenches his fists and it drags his siblings’ attention to the blood on them. April covers her mouth and Mikey takes in a breath so sharp it must cut and Donnie starts to flap his hands. Splinter closes his eyes, looking as though he’s aged about a hundred years in the last few minutes.

“What? That’s not possible,” Casey interjects as if he can’t help it. The young soldier glances around the room, like Leo is going to pop up from behind the turnstiles and rib them all for being so gullible. “Master Leonardo is the greatest ninja the world has ever seen, he wouldn’t just—”

“He’s not master anything!” Raph only barely manages not to roar. “He’s a sixteen-year-old kid!”

Casey flinches away from his anger and Raphael brutally wrestles it into submission. It’s not doing any good here. Casey is a kid, too.

“Raph,” Mikey blurts, too loud and too fast, “is Leo dead?”

The word sucks the air out of the room and Donnie makes a noise like he’s been kicked in the stomach and Raph says, “No. No, Angie, he’s alive.”

Even though their ninpo is locked away, and with it that subconscious knowledge of each other always lingering comfortably in the back of their minds like a warm afterthought, Raph knows they would know if Leo was gone. They would be able to tell. The world would be fundamentally changed, nothing would ever be the same again.

He puts his hands on Mikey’s shoulders and adds, “We’re gonna bring him home.”

The plan isn’t much of one, but their resident schemer is very much not present, and no one questions Raph when he lays it out. Donnie robotically admits that he has the means to track Leo, so the turtles and Future Boy are going to head that way and retrieve him, while Splinter and April babysit the key.

“Use the shell hogs and just keep moving for now,” Raph says. “They have something we want, we have something they want.”

April nods, grimly understanding. If the only Hail Mary shot they have of getting their brother back is handing over the key and finding an opening to steal it back later, that’s just what they’ll have to do.

Pops abandoned the Hamato Clan’s teachings in the first place because he didn’t agree with their preachings of self-sacrifice and martyrdom. He handed over the final piece of the dark armor without flinching when his sons’ lives hung in the balance. Even if the rest of their ancestors wouldn’t understand, Raphael does.

He remembers the jar of oozesquitos he held onto once, trying—and failing—to call Draxum’s bluff. He may be a slow learner, but he only needs to be taught the lesson once.

Leo risked his life to return this key to his family, so Raph is going to fight for it like an insane person for as long as it makes sense to. But if it comes down to abandoning one to save the other…

He’s his father’s son. He knows which choice he’ll make.

——

In the Turtle Tank, Mikey and Donnie distract themselves on the trip to Metro Tower station by peppering Casey with questions about the future. The human answers readily, describing Master Donatello’s technological genius—holding out his arms so the entirety of his battered, cyberpunk-style kit is on display—and going on at length about Master Michelangelo’s mystic prowess.

“I could fly?” Mikey squeaks, drumming his hands on the dash rapidly. “Was it cool?”

“The coolest,” Casey is quick to agree. “And you opened a portal that sent me through time.”

But the warmth in Casey’s eyes doesn’t last very long, fading into something that looks uncomfortably like grief instead. He tends to look at all of them like that, like he’s in a room full of ghosts.

He darts a sidelong glance in Raph’s direction and quickly faces forward again, staring out the windshield from Leo’s seat. He’s avoided speaking to him as much as possible, and Raphael can, unfortunately, put two and two together.

Casey is familiar with everyone else—even April and Splinter—but he dances around Raph as if he’s a stranger. He didn’t know Raph in the future, he knew of him—someone to be respectful of and fall in line for, but certainly not one of the uncles he could brag about to their younger selves.

When the Tank has gone as far through the tunnels as possible, drawn to a stop at a massive tangle of alien vines, they get out and continue on foot. Raph can feel his little brothers walking as close to him as they can without outright admitting that they’re unnerved, all of their guards completely up, senses dialed to eleven.

The underground is home to them, always has been, and generally speaking if you’ve seen one subway tunnel you’ve seen them all. But the floodlights from Donnie’s battleshell illuminate a scene that looks like it belongs on another planet. Impossible masses of pink-purple mess dangle everywhere like Halloween store decorations, and the subway cars have been upended off the rails and twisted out of shape.

Casey’s mask is down, the lenses glowing green as he prowls forward without missing a beat. If he came here from a future where the Krang won, Raph can only imagine what the New York City he grew up in looked like.

“I hate to be painfully obvious, but since my other half isn’t present, I suppose it falls on my shoulders,” Donatello says after a moment, the sardonic tone of voice at odds with his very low register. “Something feels off.”

He’s barely got the words out when hundreds of little lights blink at them from the jungle of purple vines—not lights, glowing eyes. The silent tunnel explodes into chaos a second later as they’re ambushed by parasite-controlled people and creatures and even objects.

Raph and Casey are neatly separated from Donnie and Mikey within a manner of minutes. Raph’s heart is in his throat as he pummels through wave after wave of the infected, and it doesn’t settle until he hears on the comms that his little brothers have taken shelter in the Tank.

He and Casey are pushed farther and farther away, chased down one of the tunnels by an animated subway car on what looks like spidery crab legs, towards a dead end. When Raphael feels the ground start to give beneath them, he acts on seventeen years of big brother instinct and very little else, seizing Casey around the middle and curling around him completely as they fall.

It’s a dizzying, topsy-turvy couple of minutes, falling from the subway tracks into a maintenance tunnel underneath, and it takes awhile for his ears to stop ringing. He glances down at the human in his arms and notes with relief that Casey seems to be okay–tucked up small and compact against Raph’s plastron, all limbs accounted for, in such a practiced way that Raph thinks he’s been protected in exactly this manner more than once before.

Neither of them speak right away, coming down from the rush of adrenaline and waiting for the shifting of crumbled concrete to stop and the dust to clear. Raph’s shell was made of sturdy stuff even before he became a chaotic alchemists’s bioengineering experiment, so when he’s certain they’re relatively safe, he pushes off the ground with his hands and lets the debris roll harmlessly off his back and shoulders.

“Are you hurt?” Raph asks, sitting back to give Casey room to collect himself.

“Um, no,” Casey says, tugging his cape down from where it had caught around one of his pauldrons. He doesn’t look uncomfortable, but more like he doesn’t really know what to do with himself now that it’s just the two of them, looking up at Raph and then away again.

Raph can’t help it. He says, “I died, didn’t I? In the future.”

Casey jerks, as if he was surprised to be asked so plainly. Then his shoulders hunch, and he nods.

“You all did,” he says haltingly. “Uncle Tello when I was thirteen, and sensei and Uncle Angie just… just before I got sent back.”

Cold dread slams into Raph’s stomach. He doesn’t want to believe he and his siblings could ever truly be divided, but the proof is sitting in front of him. It’s hard to hear that the end of the world managed to take Raph from his little siblings. Donnie from his twin. That Leo and Mikey were left all alone, with a kid to take care of, and a losing war to fight.

Casey swallows hard, and curls his hands into fists, visibly forcing himself past the loss that probably sits in his stomach and throat like barbed wire.

“But you—it happened when I was little. I wasn’t really old enough to remember you.” Each word mincing and careful, he goes on, “Growing up, sensei talked about you all the time. He used to say you were the best—best brother, best leader. And he was so afraid when Master Splinter put him in charge, because he had no idea how to be as good as you. He didn’t want things to change, he was happy being your right-hand man. Sensei made it sound like he was really childish about the whole thing. He said he must have been a real disappointment.”

Raphael absorbs the words like a blow.

Leo, his little brother, his little star, outshining everyone and pulling the world into his orbit, earnestly giving them the light and warmth they needed to live and grow and flourish, a disappointment?

Raph has been angry with him more times than he can count. Hurt by him, even, because that’s what people tend to do when they don’t understand each other. Frustrated and antagonized and fed-up, sure. But disappointed?

He has a shining, crystalized memory of being a child, no more than eight years old, crying over a picture book because the monster in the book looked like him. It was big and hulking, with dangerous-looking spikes and an alligator tail. Raph hadn’t realized Leo had found him until tiny hands took the book away and a serious little face, not yet grown into its stripes, assessed the situation.

Even back then, Leo was too clever for his own good. He tossed the book on the floor and said, “They got it wrong. That author must not have ever seen any real monsters if they can mess up that bad. Who let them write a book?”

Raph was hardly able to see through his tears, making a distressed rumble in his chest, but his arms opened automatically. Mikey was in a phase where he had decided he was too big to be carried and Donnie had a hot-and-cold relationship with touch that his siblings all knew to maneuver carefully, but Leo absorbed any and all affection like a hungry little plant soaking up sunlight. He climbed right into Raph’s hug and his arms looped around Raph’s neck and hung on fiercely.

“My Raphie is a better hero than all those knights and princes and wizards anyway,” Leo had said with conviction so huge it was better suited to someone five times his size. “I have the real deal. I should be the one writing books!”

From then on, Leo vetted any and all shared reading material that made it down to the lair before allowing it to be distributed with a very grown-up gravitas. Some things went straight to Donnie or Mikey’s rooms, or back into the garbage if Leo was feeling vicious about it that day, and no one ever said a word about it.

About three months ago, April had brought them a bundle of the subscriptions they got mailed to her apartment, and Leo picked up a comic that came for Raph and started to flip through it like they were seven and eight years old again. He caught himself too late and looked embarrassed, sliding it across the counter and quickly making his escape, but Raph felt warm all the way down to his bones. That was proof his Leo was still in there, that he still cared, despite doing his best, for some reason, to convince everyone he didn’t.

His Leo, who always cared. Who cared too much.

Casey gives Raph another one of those searching, sideways glances, there and gone again.

“Sensei said he let you down once and he never wanted to do that again. He said he would live the rest of his life making up for it, making you proud. Is—is this what he was talking about?”

Raph looks at the boy in front of him, Leo’s kid from a future that doesn’t exist yet, wearing tech his Uncle Tello must have meticulously built to outlast everything else, Uncle Angie’s smiley faces etched into the knee guards in a pop of silliness that somehow still existed in the apocalypse, his sensei’s red stripes painted proudly front and center on his mask. He carries his family with him with every step he takes.

It’s no wonder Casey is so cagey around him. If he was raised even in part by Leo, then he was probably raised on stories of Raph that only painted the good and the funny parts of the bad, because that’s how Leo loves. And it left Casey to reconcile how everyone’s hero Raphael could have ever thought poorly of Casey’s hero Leonardo.

“Sounds like that sensei of yours had no clue what he was talking about half the time,” Raph say gruffly. “Raph may wanna pick up him and rattle him like a snowglobe about a hundred times a day but that’s just the Leo Effect. Ask anybody.”

Casey blinks up at him, one corner of his mouth giving into a reluctant smile. “Commander O’Neil said that before,” he admits.

“Now her you can listen to any time of day or night, because she’s never wrong,” Raph says, pushing himself upright and offering Casey a hand up, too. “Leo could never do anything to make me love him less. It kind of seems impossible after a lifetime together, but I actually only keep finding reasons to love him more.”

Sliding his much smaller hand into Raph’s huge one, Casey lets himself be tugged to his feet. He’s gazing up at Raph with wide eyes, tugging on the wrist of one glove absently.

“Leo is as silly as they come,” Raph says. “He needs practical people like you and me in his life to set him straight.”

All at once, Casey’s face brightens, glowing from the inside out. His spine straightens, shoulders going back. It’s every inch Leo’s expression when he receives honest praise from his family in any direction. And Raph realizes abruptly that at least part of the reason Casey has been so nervous around him is because he doesn’t want to disappoint his father’s hero, either.

——

They find a maintenance shaft and climb the rest of the way out of the tunnels, regrouping with the whole clan in the Metro Tower station. Donnie brings Leo’s location up on a screen and they all huddle around him—falling silent after a moment as they take in what the tracker is telling them.

“He’s right—right on top of us,” Donnie says haltingly. “He should be—”

April seizes his arm and he cuts himself off mid-word. With a sense of dread, Raph follows her wide eyes across the room.

Leo is standing there, watching them. He’s been standing there the whole time. Unmoving, completely silent, and covered in the same squishy, fleshy pink parasitic slime that every other infected they’ve encountered up until now has been manipulated by. There’s a mass of it concealing the lower half of his face like one of the respirators Mikey wears for his spray paint projects, baring dozens of large serrated teeth in a sneer.

Leo’s eyes are pink, the pupils slitted. If Raph couldn’t see him breathing, he wouldn’t know for sure if he was even alive.

“Leo?” Mikey calls out in a warbling voice, hands trembling. “Can you hear us?”

It doesn’t get a reaction.

Raph takes one slow, careful step towards him.

That gets a reaction.

Leo explodes into motion so quickly it doesn’t make sense, going from zero to a hundred in seconds. He slams into Raphael with the force of a freight train, sparks flying from where his blades meet the sai Raph only barely manages to throw up in time.

Their siblings scatter, Donnie yanking Mikey firmly behind him, April putting out an arm to keep Casey back, too. Splinter dives in to help his oldest son, the two of them fighting to subdue but not to injure, hyper-aware of the cracks in Leo’s plastron and the matching wound on his shoulder. The last thing Leo’s father and big brother want to do is hurt him any more.

Leo doesn’t give them an inch of the same consideration, as cold and methodical as a knife. His swords are fully in action, a very present danger to the rest of them, singing and sweeping with fatal precision.

They’re only fighting for minutes, even though it feels like hours, when Raphael feels it. An insistent tugging on the front of his mind. He and Leo are locked together, swords caught for a moment in the guards of Raph’s sai, and Raph spares a daring second to look into his possessed brother’s pink eyes.

They glow white instantly, a successful connection. Leo’s mind pours into Raph’s like a flood.

Take them take them TAKE THEM TAKE THEM TAKE THEM

As if moving on autopilot, Raph’s hands fly to Leo’s wrists and wrench—not hard enough to sprain, but hard enough that the slider’s grip flies open and the katana clatter to the ground. Leo rips himself free and darts back to give himself room for the next attack. He makes no move to recover the swords and Raph scoops them up a second later, heart pounding.

It was so quick, so clean, that no one watching from the outside would be able to guess what had just happened. Leo surrendered his weapons to his family in the only way he possibly could, begging with his whole body to be disarmed before he hurt anyone, so desperate for Raph to hear him that he triggered a mind meld for the first time in two years.

The room comes alive, infected creatures spilling inside and surrounding them all, punching up through the floor from the tunnels they had just escaped from. A subway car covered in pink slime rears back and roars like a beast. Leo moves through the crowd of Hamato like water. The only one he touches is April, a brush of their shoulders together.

She makes a distressed noise in the back of her throat, hand flying to her bag where the key is. Where it was.

Leo has it in his hand, facing them with unseeing eyes. The grotesque, fleshy mask covering his mouth twists into a stranger’s ugly smile.

Raph thinks, No wait. It’s not supposed to happen like this.

They’re not supposed to lose.

April uses her bat to knock the rest of the deforestation chemicals toward the Krang, causing an explosion that stalls the hoard of infected just long enough to create an escape route. Donnie scoops Mikey’s shell into his arms and Splinter has to tuck a hand around both Casey and Raphael’s elbows and yank to get them moving. Casey doesn’t make it easy.

He must know a losing fight when he sees one. He must be familiar with this scene from the world he came here from. But he struggles anyway, eyes locked without blinking on the shape of a Leo they’re leaving behind.

Raph wants to struggle, too. He wants to stay behind and fight until he can’t lift his arms or stay on his feet. He wants his lost little brother to know someone’s fighting for him, that someone will keep fighting for him for as long as it takes.

But responsibility perches heavy on his shoulders. More than one person is depending on him. It’s the hardest thing he’s ever done to let himself be pulled one step away, then another. It hurts more than every single other thing he’s survived.

“Raph’s coming back for you,” he calls out, voice thick, swords weighing a hundred pounds each in his hands. “Hear me, Leo? Raph’s coming back.”

Leo doesn’t give any impression that he heard. He turns at some silent command and walks away, taking the key with him. The Krang got what they came for.

——

Kneeling on a rooftop, watching the Technodrome come through a hole in the sky and rain destruction down on their city, Raph finds himself thinking I wish Leo was here.

It’s a stupid thought to have, because Leo being there would solve a very large part of the whole problem. But specifically, Raph finds himself wishing he had his clever, charming brother at his side, who always knew what to say. Who always had an idea. Who understood exactly how to reach out to people and lift their spirits, rekindle their hope. Leo isn’t the strongest of his brothers, or the fastest without his ninpo, or the smartest next to Donatello, but that doesn’t mean he can’t outshine the rest of them in his own way.

He’s always been the one they followed, really. It just so happened he was always going the same way Raph was.

“He was happy being your right-hand man,” Casey said.

How could Raph have misunderstood him so completely? How could he have just left him behind, twice now? What if it becomes a pattern? What if Leo thinks this is all he can expect from them?

Raph’s family is arguing behind him, unwilling to accept their failure but unable to see any path ahead to victory. It certainly looks hopeless. New York City is burning, people are screaming, parasites and infected are filling the streets by the dozens.

A familiar hand lands on his arm. Raph feels like he’s wading chest-deep through mud, but he manages to turn his head and look down into Mikey’s big red eyes.

“What did Leo say earlier?” Mikey asks in a small voice. “I sort of felt it when you connected but I couldn’t hear either of you.”

“It was like being aware of people talking in another room,” Donnie adds, leaning into Raph from the opposite side. “You can just make out the cadence of their conversation but no words come through clearly.”

Raph looks down at his hands, the katana he’s still holding. He rubs his thumb over the guard on one, remembering Leo’s glowing pride the first time he manifested them. He felt so buoyed by Leo’s smile in that moment that he could have fought the Shredder a hundred times over and won.

I miss you, he thinks. I miss having you on my team.

“He wanted me to take these,” Raph says. “He was really scared of what he might do with them.”

Donnie’s golden eyes are very sharp, staring without blinking at the only proof of his twin with them here on the outskirts of the apocalypse. Behind the turtles, Splinter and April are still going back and forth with each other, but Casey’s voice has tapered into silence.

“What else did he tell you?” Donnie asks abruptly.

“Nothing,” Raph replies, numb.

“C’mon, Raphie,” Mikey says, mustering a sweet smile for him, even though smiling is probably the last thing in the world he feels like doing. “Our Leo? Keeping it brief? I’ll bet he had a hundred things he was trying to say.”

“Let us in,” Donnie says, pressing his head a little harder into Raph’s arm. Dogged and determined, fully ready to dig in with his teeth and not let up until he gets his way. “Let us see.”

Raphael is exhausted, and hurting, and missing the absent piece of their whole so keenly that he could lay down right here and cry for days. But the one thing he’s never been able to do is deny his little brothers anything they care enough about to ask for this earnestly.

“Okay,” he says and sets Leo’s swords in front of him carefully. With his hands open, Donnie and Mikey each seize one in both of their own, and Raph tries to center himself.

The first time Raph and Leo did this, it was well before they had fully realized their ninpo. He doesn’t need the mystic powers they’ve come to rely so much on to recognize the brilliant purple lightning and laughing orange bonfire on the fringes of his mind and let them both in.

The lightning and the bonfire both skirt familiarly over the steadfast red mountain that makes up their eldest brother, at home together. They all feel the painful absence of a mischievous blue wind so strongly that it takes their collective breath away.

The mountain guides them to the things the wind had given him. Above everything else, fear—of what’s happened and what hasn’t happened yet, fear of the parasite wriggling inside him, fear of his own two hands, fear of failing his family even more than he already has—

Stop, the bonfire says, burning warm and bright. Focus.

The lightning strikes forward, knowing the wind better than the rest of them from a lifetime of sharing the same sky. It follows the wind’s twists and turns unerringly, illuminating the way in thunderclaps until it’s possible to break past the dark storm of fear entirely.

Behind it there are a hundred other things. Stubbornness and bitterness, a familiar grit that comes from being on the losing side and refusing to give up anyway. Anxiety that his efforts won’t be enough. Love, as deep and rich and unknowable as an ocean. Regret. Loneliness. Hope.

Take them, the wind had said in the fleeting seconds it had to say anything at all, shoving as many secrets forward as it could. Take this and this and this and this.

Leon, you devious little creature, the lightning says, with scorching pride and mean-spirited glee.

It goes both ways, the bonfire cackles. The Krang can see into Lee’s head, but Lee can see into the Krang’s head, too!

This is it, the mountain realizes. This is how we win.

——

Galvanized, the Hamatos split up one more time. Casey, April and Splinter to get the key back and keep the Krang occupied, and Raph, Mikey and Donnie to save Leo.

Once Raph and his brothers are inside the Technodrome, they all understand exactly where to go. Everything the Krang knows about how to operate his ship, Leo knows, through that unwanted window between their minds. And everything Leo knows, he shunted as hard and fast as he could into Raph’s brain, hidden in a tangle of emotion so thick that it went entirely undetected by the parasite riding along. And since Raph shared the knowledge with the other two, Donatello could probably pilot this weird spacecraft blindfolded with one hand tied behind his back.

Mikey is swinging one of his ‘chucks restlessly, ready for whatever fight comes his way first. He’s already a force to be reckoned with on a good day. He’s a walking natural disaster on a bad one, up there with hurricanes and tornadoes.

And this is definitely a bad one. It’s the worst day they’ve ever had.

“Dee’s got the ship and I’ve got Dee,” Mikey says firmly, sounding much older than he did this time yesterday. “You get Leo.”

Raphael moves with ninja stealth and speed, picking his way through the halls. It smells awful, like raw meat left out in the sun, and in the gloom it almost seems as though the walls and floors are squirming.

From what Leo gave him, Raph knows better than to hope he and his siblings can go undetected for very long. The ship is almost a living organism itself, and can probably feel each step of progress Raph is making toward the bridge.

It doesn’t slow him down. Every second Leo spends here is a second too long already.

The maze-like halls open up into a cavernous dome, where a catwalk stretches toward a huge bulbous window. Outside, Raph can see a panoramic view of Manhattan engulfed in fire. It looks like a warzone. The air leaves his lungs in a rush.

It’s Raph’s city, the place that raised him, and for the first time in his life it’s hard to look at.

His hindbrain pings to awareness a split-second before he hears the movement of metal against metal, and Raph spins around to look up at General Krang.

He’s seated in a throne on a dias, a smug, toothy smile on his face. Leo is standing like a statue at his feet, this tiny slip of green and pink and muddied blue. His discolored eyes gaze listlessly forward into nothing.

Little Leo, who always wanted to be carried. Little Leo, who hunted down each and every opportunity to make his brothers laugh. Little Leo, who wanted so badly to be even just half as important to them as they were to him. Little Leo, who Raph wouldn’t know how to begin to live without.

“You again,” the Krang says. “Nothing smart to say? This one wouldn’t shut up until I improved him. And here I thought it was just an unfortunate hallmark of your species.”

Raphael sees red at the way the wicked metallic fingertips of the Krang’s armor cage Leo’s head and jostle it carelessly, like he’s nothing but a cheap toy. Raph bares his teeth, a furious rumble in his chest, but doesn’t dare to say a single hateful word while Leo’s life is literally held in the Krang’s hand.

“You probably would have made a much more impressive puppet, with all that brute strength,” the Krang goes on. “Oh well. All in due time.”

The alien must give a nonverbal order, because he retracts his hand and Leo springs forward.

He doesn’t have his swords anymore, since they’re strapped to Raph’s shell for the time being, but the pink slime has trailed down his arms and tapered into two sharp points that he wields like knives instead.

They meet in a ringing clash, Raph catching the pink knives with his sai.

“I know you’re in there,” Raph says. “I know you don’t want to hurt me. It’s okay, Leo. I’m gonna make it okay.”

The way Leo fights is vicious. He’s fast and he knows where to hit. There’s no joy in his body, no cocky gleam in his eye. Raph can’t help bu remember the way his mind felt when they connected so briefly earlier—the surround-sound of wailing panic and self-hatred, confined behind a stranger’s cold expression.

Bearing down on his little brother, forcing him to his knees, Raph chokes out, “I’m not leavin’ you behind this time. I’m not goin’ anywhere without you ever again.”

“Empty promises seem to run in your family,” the Krang sneers.

“He doesn’t know what he’s talkin’ about,” Raph says through gritted teeth. “Don’t listen to him. Just listen to me.”

“Don’t I? Let’s ask the others, shall we?”

Black vines shoot up from the organic mass that makes up the floor of the bridge. Donnie and Mikey are suspended inside them, fighting like animals—Mikey in particular is using language that there is no way Splinter knows he knows.

“You thought I wouldn’t notice vermin slinking around in my ship?” the General asks. “Is this really the best the three of you can do?”

Leo is scratching and clawing at Raph’s hands, trying to break free of him at any cost. Raph is much bigger and much stronger than he is, and it hurts to hold him down like this, but he knows it would be so much worse to let him go.

“This whole time, we just weren’t listening to each other,” Raph says, lowering his voice. Everyone else can probably still hear, but he wants Leo to know Raph is talking to him. “Somehow, I convinced myself you didn’t care, when I know better. You care so much it makes the inside of your head a nightmare to live in. The only thing you think about is being good enough for us.”

Leo finally manages to twist free, Raph releasing his arms at the last second when it becomes clear the parasite doesn’t care if its host’s elbow or shoulder gets dislocated. Leo rolls away and comes up on one knee, hand braced beneath him, the other white-knuckled around a knife.

He can hear the Krang becoming agitated, because Mikey and Donnie refuse to be still. The vines holding them snap and give one after another, faster than they can be replaced. There’s something stirring inside of Raph, too, a fire in his chest that wants to roar to life.

Leo strikes again. Despite everything, even with all the horrors they’re surrounded by, Raphael wants to smile.

When they started training together, Leo was the first of the four of them to perfect a technique. Raph lifted him up onto his shoulders in victory and let him crow about it for the better part of an hour, flushed with joy and pride. Since then, Leo has never once landed that particular move wrong.

An outsider wouldn’t clock that he placed his hand nearly four inches too far to the left, but Raphael knows those four inches made a fatal difference between a bad puncture wound and a severed artery.

Leo has no true autonomy left but there’s a sliver of him awake behind the wheel. He’s still fighting tooth and nail in there.

There isn’t any force in the entire goddamn universe prepared for how tricky and stubborn Raph’s little brothers can be.

“I’m listening now, Leo,” Raph says, alight with how much he loves him. “I’m here. You’re not alone. You’ll never, ever be alone.”

Leo strains forward, dropping the knife and grabbing at Raph’s arm instead. Between one blink and the next, his eyes go from pink to shining gold.

Raph seizes him, holding his face in the cradle of both hands, his heart soaring around in his chest like a bird.

“Yes! That’s it! Come on back, big man, Raphie’s got you!”

With a slam, Leo goes to his knees, scrabbling desperately at the fleshy mass on his face. His fingers dig into the slime, but he can’t get a solid enough grasp to tear himself free. His chest is heaving, whole body shaking. He’s fighting so hard but it’s not quite enough.

And Raph’s ninpo reacts to a sibling in distress the way it did when Raph used it for the first time, breaking past the Krang’s seal like it’s nothing. It surges forward in the shape of a river, finding the familiar place inside of Leo where his connection to their ancestors lives, and making a temporary home there. Raph’s armor limns his brother in rosy red, swelling from underneath his skin in a powerful flood and pushing the parasite out. It loses every inch it had to cling to while Leo continues to pull.

Finally the worm is ripped completely away, shrieking as it goes, and Leo gasps. He drops the squirming creature and scuttles away from it, gulping in unobstructed air. The corner of his mouth is torn deep and bleeding sluggishly, and his face looks pale and hollow.

But his eyes are the color they’re supposed to be, and they’re looking right at Raph and seeing him, a connection as meaningful and important as any mind meld.

Because he’s Leo, the first thing he says is, in a croaky, exhausted voice, “Do you have a sword I can borrow?”

Raph barks out a laugh, tears in his eyes. Earlier today he had reached a point where he thought he’d never smile again.

In this moment, he feels like he could hold up the whole sky and grin while he’s doing it.

Purple and orange spark madly all around them, a lightning storm and a forest fire ready to rain merry hell upon any unfortunate soul in their path, just enough to keep the General busy while Leo finds his footing.

Raph wants to scoop them all into his arms and carry them someplace safe from all of this, but he knows he can’t. That place doesn’t exist yet. They have to fight for it.

Leo breathes in deep and lets it go, takes the swords that Raph passes him in hands that don’t shake, and reaches out for his brothers’ light with a light of his own.

A gale rushes down from the mountain, leading the charge.

“Hey, ugly,” Leo calls out hoarsely, pointing a blade at the Krang. “I’ve been dying to tell you this all day. The decor in here fucking sucks.”

“Oh my god,” Raph says, half despair, half delight.

Landing beside him, twirling a glowing bo, Donnie stands shoulder to shoulder with his twin and says, “I would cite you ‘time and place’, Nardo, but honestly you have a point.”

“No because it’s so distracting,” Mikey pipes up, dropping weightlessly into a crouch on Raph’s carapace, narrowed eyes glinting in the dim light like a smug cat’s. “Presentation matters! Zero out of ten, would not be held hostage here again.”

“At least it matches the Six Flags Fright Fest he's got going on upstairs.” Leo indicates his own temple with the hilt of one sword. “There’s something to be said for consistency, am I right?”

It’s as much of a hint as it needs to be. The Krang isn’t stupid, which is a big part of the reason why he’s been such a difficult opponent. He understands within the space of a few seconds what Leonardo is saying—what it means for him to have any idea what the Krang’s headspace looks like. This whole time, there has been a subtle, calculative undermining at play right under his nose.

He clenches those claws into fists that have enough power to bring down skyscrapers.

“You really don’t know,” the Krang intones ominously, “when to shut your mouth.”

“Says you and everybody else I know,” Leo replies, unflinching and fearless. “Get some new material.”

Raphael gets it now. Maybe he always has. He understands what Splinter was thinking when he looked at Leo, still growing up but ready at sixteen for the beginning of something greater, and decided he should be the one to lead.

His brothers would follow him anywhere. Raph would walk straight into hell without looking back if that’s where Leo decided to go.

——

It’s an instant relief to have those singing silver blades back on their side. Leo’s portals open and close with dizzying speed, moving his brothers like chess pieces around a board, somehow keeping track of it all. For a moment, it’s easy to think they might win.

And then the Krang blows them all away with the flick of his finger.

Raph thought his world had ended when he was too late to save his brother in the warehouse. Then he realized the world was actually ending in slow stages all around him when he had to leave his brother behind again at the mercy of a monster.

It turns out the end of the world happens here. On the quiet, abandoned expanse of Staten Island, listening to his little brother’s wrecked voice over the comms say, “Casey, get ready to close the door.”

“I’m ready, sensei!” Casey reports, prompt and reliable. “Tell me when you’re home free!”

There is a split-second of hesitation from Leo—the barest pause, practically nothing—that sends Raph’s heart straight into his throat. Donatello jerks all the way upright from where he was nursing what’s almost definitely a broken wrist, and Mikey goes dangerously still. They heard it, too.

“Yeah,” Leo says, just barely too late to be believable to the siblings who know him inside and out, “I’ll tell you.”

“Belay that order, Casey,” April cuts in sharply, every inch the Commander she was in another world. “Leonardo, think twice before you lie to me. What’s your play?”

There’s another pause, and Raph can imagine in crystal-clear detail the way Leo’s throat works when he thinks he’s in trouble with their sister, the way he’s probably clenching and unclenching his hands while he wars with that stupid self-inflicted mission to never make himself vulnerable to anyone for anything.

The little brother need to be liked wins out. Leo admits, “I can’t think of how else to make him stay there.”

The ground falls out from beneath Raph’s feet.

“No!” Mikey shrieks, fully at his limit of shit he’s willing to deal with. “No no no no!”

“Sensei I can’t just—I won’t just trap you in the Prison Dimension!” Casey says, horrified at what he was almost tricked into. “There has to be another way!”

“We’ve tried everything,” Leo rasps. “I don’t know what else to do. I can’t let him—let him get you. Any of you. I have to stop him while there’s still a chance.”

“It’ll be a real shame if you save the world from the Krang this way, only for me to destroy it myself when I rip the universe apart to drag your sorry self back here,” Donnie bites out. “And I will, Nardo. I swear to every imaginary higher power you can think of, I will.”

“Leonardo,” Splinter says sternly from April’s end, the leaping panic in his tone well-hidden from everyone but his two eldest, “you will not sacrifice yourself for us today even if it means the world ends tomorrow. That is not what our family does. We are taking you home one way or another, Baby Blue.”

If being in trouble with April is bad, being in trouble with Splinter is cataclysmic. Leo is a daddy’s boy through and through.

He hesitates again, seconds they don’t have to spare inching by, then says, “How?”

Before anyone can answer there’s a ring of metal and a heavy slam, and his line goes silent. Leo is fighting for his life a thousand feet above their heads, but at least he’s fighting. At least he’s willing to wait for help.

He sounded afraid, Raph can’t help but think. He doesn’t want to go, but he will if he has to.

“I’ll get him down,” Mikey says, planting his feet, ready to move mountains. “I become a badass mystic warrior at some point, right? Might as well be now.”

“Wait, Uncle—Michelangelo,” Casey blurts, self-correcting a beat too late, “you can’t, when you did it last time, you didn’t survive.”

“If future me can open a portal through time and space and send my entire nephew through safe and sound, all by myself,” Mikey says, “then this me can do at least half of that with my brothers here to help.”

“The math is sound,” Donnie says, eyes trained unblinkingly upwards. “We haven’t met a single universal constant that we haven’t been able to turn upside down and inside out just for fun.”

“I’ve got ‘em, Casey,” Raph adds, his heart going out to the kid who stands to lose his whole family all over again if the wind blows the wrong way. “I’m the biggest, big enough to carry everybody if I have to. Nothing bad’s gonna happen while Raph is here.”

“Oh,” the boy says, very soft. “I remember you saying that.”

“Whatever you’re going to do, do it now!” Leo shouts suddenly, his comm coming back on with a burst of static and a strange ambient whine that must be what the inside of the portal sounds like. “Now, please, now!”

Mikey lights up, a tiny self-made sun of burning, shining gold. He grits his teeth and lifts his hands, trembling under the pressure of the cosmic forces he’s wrestling into submission. Donnie wraps both arms around him and braces his little brother with his entire body, absorbing as much as he can. The feedback is halved instantly, and when Raph steps in and holds them both, it’s reduced even more.

With a little huff, Mikey works his shoulders, like this is nothing more complicated than the tricky recipe he once found for an eight layer Doberge cake on one of those unreadable walls-of-text baking blogs. If he can figure out that, he can do anything.

Lightning and fire and rock-solid, steady earth stretch out their hands, reaching past the open gateway and through empty space, searching for the windy blue thing that doesn’t belong in this darkness.

The wind reaches back eagerly, desperate to be grabbed up and taken home and held forever.

Inside the Prison Dimension, bright chains flare into existence—some to tangle around the Krang and immobilize him, still more to wrap around Leo’s chest and haul him back through the door while it’s still open, at a reckless, break-neck speed.

It would have been dangerous for a squishy human, but Leo lands on the surface of the Technodrome in a roll and manages to find his feet.

“I don’t have a sword,” he blurts, panicked. “I don’t know how to get down.”

Mikey clenches his fists. Ready to open up the portal that killed him in another world, after all, if that’s what it takes to get his big brother down here where he belongs.

Then Donnie says, “You don’t need to have a sword, dumb-dumb. I have one.”

It materializes in his hand, a purple construct of one of the matching lightsabers he made for his and Leo’s eleventh birthday. They were very quickly confiscated but Leo laughed like a maniac for the three minutes they had them, and Donnie kept the schematics for a rainy day.

“Will that work?” Mikey asks, too breathless to sound as terrified as he probably is.

“It’ll work,” Donnie says shortly. “A sword is a sword. Now’s not the right time to be a snob, Leon. Come here.”

Leo makes a sound halfway between a laugh and a groan and feels for the shared space between them where their ninpo lives, where the mountain and the bonfire and the lightning and the wind all live. Raphael can feel it when that mischievous blue energy finds a brand new rule to bend and decides sure, that sounds fun.

Runes etch themselves into the handle of the Genius Built lightsaber.

Raphael shouts, “Casey, now!”

At the same time the looming portal above their heads sends a shockwave over New York City, popping and sparking along the edges like a downed transformer as it shrinks and shrinks until it closes around the Technodrome, a flash of bright cyan heralds the abrupt head-on collision of Leo into Donnie when he swaps places with the sword construct his twin was holding.

They go down in a haphazard pile of limbs, groaning where they lay on the concrete, and then groaning again when a hundred pounds of little brother gleefully joins the pile with an enthusiastic flop.

The explosion above them is an afterthought. April and Splinter and Casey are all talking over each other on the comms, frantic for confirmation that they all came out of this alive. That they haven’t lost anything they won’t survive losing.

“We’re all here!” Mikey says, crowing it to the wide-open, smoke-filled sky. “We won!”

Raph should probably elaborate on that for his dad, sister and nephew’s sake—let them know that everyone’s really okay, describe the little miracles Mikey and Donnie just pulled out of thin air like it was nothing, tell them about Leo trembling like a leaf in the wind but tucked securely into his twin’s side and absorbing the warmth of another living person like it was something he’d always taken for granted before—

But there’s something else he needs to do first.

“Noooooooo,” three little turtles protest as their biggest brother rounds out the turtle pile, flattening them to the ground.

“Tough luck, bozos,” Raph rumbles. “I ain’t lettin’ a single one of you out of my sight ever again.”

Mikey giggles, half-hysterical, a contagious, familiar sound. Donnie shuts his eyes to hear it better. Leo hides his cold face in Raph’s neck and doesn’t say anything else at all. Raph holds them all tight, and imagines a universe where he’s strong enough to never lose them.

Maybe it’s this one.

——

Casey, who is both medically trained by Leonardo’s future self and entirely immune to the slider’s particular brand of treatment-avoidant bullshit, turns out to be a godsend. Leo uses every trick in the book and still winds up in a bed in the infirmary.

For someone who craves attention as much as he does, it would make more sense for him to milk a hospital stay for all he’s worth. But it’s always been exactly the opposite, Leo escaping at the first possible opportunity and hiding out somewhere until negotiations are made.

After all these years, Raph finally has him figured out.

Leo’s face is still puffy and red where it’s healing, but it’s inevitably going to scar—through the right side of his mouth and down his chin, where the parasite clung the hardest. And for the three days that they’ve been home, Leo ducks his head when anyone looks at him, talking to his hands or his knees instead of to their faces.

Don’t look at me, Leonardo is screaming with his whole body. Raph doesn’t need a mind meld to hear that, loud and clear.

Too bad, he thinks, not unkindly. His heart aches as he sits on the side of Leo’s bed and watches his brother tuck his chin immediately.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he says, lifting Leo’s face again in one large hand, gentle and implacable. Leo resists briefly, but gives it up for a bad job when Raph rumbles at him.

“Don’t,” Leo manages.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Raph challenges. “I missed you.”

Leo’s eyes are downcast and wet, his mouth screwed stubbornly to one side in a manner that probably hurts, given the stitches. Raphael is a professional at outlasting moody little turtles, and he’ll sit here until the next apocalypse if that’s what it takes.

Eventually, Raph’s patience pays off. Slowly, gingerly, Leo opens his hands. He lets Raph take them and squeeze strength and warmth into them, and clings back for as long as it takes to cobble together the remarkable courage he needs to look his big brother in the eye.

“I lost the key,” Leo starts damningly.

“You got it back,” Raph says, ignoring the nauseous lurch in his stomach at the memory of the warehouse, Leo pinned to the floor, the escape pod activating and leaving him there alone. His nightmares always start right there these days. “We’re the ones who couldn’t keep hold of it.”

“I almost hurt you,” Leo says, a note of desperation entering his tone. “I almost—”

“You didn’t,” Raph counters firmly. “You have no idea how much more incredible it is that you didn’t.”

“I was so mean.” Tears drip down his face as he finally loses the battle not to cry. “When the Krang was in my head he saw everything and he said—said you must hate me, and he did all of you a favor getting rid of me, and I thought—I thought that makes sense, because I was so mean, and I’m nothing but trouble, and I don’t contribute, and even when dad gave me the chance to step up and be something I still wanted—I just wanted—”

Little Leo, who invented games of make-believe so Raph could feel like a hero. Little Leo, forever finding ways to make recalcitrant Donnie play, pleased as punch every time he pulled it off. Little Leo, who could listen to Mikey ramble for hours without getting bored or short-tempered, his bedroom walls an ever-evolving art collage of his little brother’s best work. Little Leo, who just wanted to be held and held and held.

Raph lifts Leo into his arms, as easy now as it was when he was three and nine and twelve, and holds him. Leo shakes with how hard he’s crying, even though he’s not really making any noise. His hands scramble to grab onto Raph’s shell and he lets Raph squeeze him into something young and small and hurt and loved.

As a general concept, Raph disagrees with murder—but he thinks he could make an exception for the monster who forced his way into Leo’s brain and turned it into an echo chamber of all the worst things he had ever thought about himself.

An eternity alone in the dark with nothing but his failures is as close to justice as they’ll get. It’s kind of poetic, right? is all Mikey will have to say about it when it comes up a week from now, a mean-spirited little smile on his face.

“I’m sorry,” Leo chokes out. “I’m sorry, Raphie. I’ll do—I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll be better, I swear. I’ll never let you down again.”

“He said he would live the rest of his life making up for it, making you proud,” Casey said.

“Blue, this thing you think you gotta make up for—this price you think you gotta pay for existing—it doesn’t exist,” Raph tells him in a tone that brooks no room for argument, barely managing not to grind his teeth together. If anyone else had said anything even half as bad as Leo had said about Leo, he would’ve punched them straight through a wall by now. “You mean more to me than what you contribute to the team. Even if you brought nothing to the table, which is not true, you’d still be stuck with us forever. Non-negotiable. You could be a hateful little brat every single day of your life and I would still take a bullet for you, no questions asked. Are you hearing me?”

“Hearing you,” Leo mutters, knowing better to disagree with that tone.

“All I want from you is you. All I need is my Leo. Whether he’s feeling goofy or annoying or pissed off or scared—I want every shape of him. Every version. Don’t you dare,” Raph adds, punctuating this by a little rattle of the Leo he’s holding, “make me go a single day without him ever again.”

Leo is fully hidden beneath his chin, so there’s no way for Raph to tell what his face is doing. But he hears the little punched-out breath, and feels it a second later when Leo’s white-knuckled grip on his shell loosens, just a bit. No longer convinced he’ll be ripped away for some imaginary offense.

It’ll take more than one conversation to fix everything, but they’ve got more than one. They’ve got a million. They have the whole rest of their lives on each other’s team.

“I missed you, too,” Leo whispers, like they’re four and five years old again, huddled under the blankets after bedtime and telling each other secrets.

Back then, monsters were easy to conquer. Nothing scary or sad dared to follow little brothers to Raphie’s room. A warm nest and a turtle pile was the answer to every heartache.

Some things stay exactly the same, Raph thinks fondly, amused by the way Leo’s already drifting off. He settles in for a nap on his plastron, Leo tucked securely under one arm. He gives it about thirty seconds before Mikey and Donnie stop listening outside the door and sneak inside to complete the pile, and starts the count in his head.

He makes it to twenty-seven before the mattress gives tellingly beneath two pairs of hands, and he smiles.

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt movie #raphael hamato #leonardo hamato #michelangelo hamato #donatello hamato #my writing #tmnt fic #a team #now the darkness comes alive

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phecdasolar · 3 months ago

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Tumblr I need your help I am in dire need of feral/unhinged Disaster Twins fics pleaseeee (and maybe Mikey as a bonus) I’m just in love with the idea of Raph being the impulse control for once with this iteration, and just the second he’s out of commission the other three go insane.

Weapons of War, Bioengineered Killing Machines, Manufactured Supersoldiers Rottmnt turtles my BELOVEDS

And maybe just like,,, set Leo and Donnie loose on one of the other dimensions and have them absolutely horrifically annihilate their counterparts’ villains while they watch on in horror

(B.E.A.S.T. was SUCH a good fic you guys oh my GOSH go read it I’m begging you-)

I NEED to have it addressed in fic form that the Rise turtles are fundamentally different than all their other counterparts, because their counterparts? They were accidents. Just a couple of turtles splashed with mutagen and oh look now they’re people but Green. (Huge oversimplification I’m aware but hear me out okay-)

But the Rise boys were created. They were specifically designed to be weapons of mass destruction. They were built with the intent to cause harm which means they were bioengineered to be stronger, smarter(?), faster, to heal quicker, to have the capacity to take hard hits while dishing out even harder ones, they were literally forged with a purpose to kill.

Add on their mystic powers? Then their unlocked Ninpo? You can’t honestly tell me that these four aren’t the strongest and potentially deadliest version of themselves out there.

Yes they still had to learn things, as did the other iterations, they weren’t immediately good (that much is obvious, like c’mon it’s IN the name) but I don’t think the other iterations possess the same instincts as these guys do. They’re just so. Unhinged. They’ve all had their moments in the show I think where it’s obvious they’re not really,,, stable. I love them.

In a plain fists only, maybe weapons, no powers fight, I do think some of the other iterations would win, but purely because they have way more experience than these guys do. (If I did any crossovers I’d say 2003 and 2012 are definitely older than these guys, especially if we’re basing this at the end of their shows) But put them against each other when they’re still at the same level? Rise is whooping butt, I know where I’m placing my bets. It’s called RISE of the TMNT for a reasonnnnnn they’re not there yet but they WILL BE, and as of the end of s2 and the movie I say they’re finally THERE.

I have no idea how this turned into a headcanon rant this was just supposed to be me asking for fic recs hsgdjdjdk it’s almost 3 am tho so whatever sorry if none or some of this is incoherent o7 o/

Editing this with a list of fics I have been graciously recommended below the cut:

Firefight by remrose [42/43 chapters 208k words] (edit: JUST FINISHED READING ch38-42 WATCH ME BAWL MY EYES OUT I was rotating them in my brain all morning at work) less on the feral side, more on the gut-wrenching angst side, still Disaster Twins and still super good

In Which Donnie and Leo Make Themselves Everyone Else's Problem in an NYC That Isn't Even Their Own by YukiSkyes [7/? chapters, 18k words] the CLASSIC “the Disaster Twins are unapologetically causing chaos” fic, always a delight to read

The Lemon Leak by TurtleSoupSwimmer [27/37 chapters, 143k words] I’m being told it’s very true to the theme here, and it’s very angsty, a suspenseful psychological thriller, and will make you scream at your phone. I for one am very intrigued

Eschatology by aenor_llelo, Alderous, ConcoctionsFromHell, izziel_galaxy, Jaybird314, Otakuforlife19, and Rocket999 [17/17 chapters, 344k words] “HEAVY on the boys being biologically engineered to destroy the world, it also delves into so much character building and worldbuilding that we never got in canon, and it gives even super minor characters the chance to shine” Sounds intriguing, AND it’s a BNHA crossover which I am a big fan of :D

The Hunter’s Bible also by TurtleSoupSwimmer [2/2 chapters, 15k words] Rated Mature, contains themes of SA and c@nnibalism so PLEASE keep that in mind!! Not a fic for the faint of heart this is a Dead Dove: Do Not Eat! The SA is only attempted, and never shown, only implied, and it’s only in ch 1, but the other stuff is fairly descriptive and takes place in ch 2. All that being said, flipping UNHINGED, just about lost my mind in ch 2, it was entertaining in a surreal kinda way if you get what I mean. Funky little feral creatures

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httpvomitello · 26 days ago

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Hey so how do you think the tmnt boys would deal with having a crush where they text each other frequently and also do hang out a lot. But what they do when for once their crush texts them “I hate everything right now. I’m so angry. >:(“. Behind the scenes Their crush just came on their time of the month and now they’re like angry with everything hormonally? If the boys come over cuz crush isn’t answering, hours later, crush seeming better, “sorry about that. I just came on my time of the month earlier, this ones bad this month and my emotions are crazy. I now just feel depressed :(”?

Hello again! I hope you like it! ♡♡♡♡

Leonardo

Leo gets a text from his crush that reads, “I’m so over everything right now. I’m mad and don’t even know why.”

He’s used to keeping joking his way out of awkward situations, so he responds

“Yikes, sounds rough! Want me to come over and cheer you up with some cool ninja moves or bad jokes?”

When there’s no reply for hours, Leo’s anxiety spikes (even if he won't admit it)

He grabs his katanas (just in case) and heads out to check on them

When he arrives, his crush finally explains, “Sorry about that. I just came on my time of the month earlier. This one’s bad, and my emotions are crazy.”

He might be a little awkward at first, but he quickly adapts, flashing his signature grin

“Ah, no worries. Your favorite turtle has arrived!So, what’s the plan? Do you want to grab us some snacks and watch some movies?”

They decide to watch Twilight

It's a good thing they ended up sleeping next to Leo, because that way they didn't have to witness him start crying at the end

He’s happy to be a distraction, whether it’s watching a movie or just hanging out

He’ll probably pull out a few tricks, magic or otherwise, to get a smile out of them before the day’s done.

Raphael

Raph gets a message from his crush that says, “I’m so frustrated. Everything’s making me mad for no reason, and I’m trying to keep it together.”

He doesn't take long to send a message asking if everything is okay

When he doesn’t get a reply after a while, Raph starts pacing

He debates texting again but doesn’t want to seem pushy, so instead, he heads out

When Raph gets there, his crush doesn't take long to explain

“Hey, sorry I didn’t respond earlier. My period just started, and it’s hitting hard this time. I feel like a mess right now,”

Raph softens immediately, his face full of understanding

He knows how overwhelming emotions can be, and he doesn’t want to make things worse by crowding them

He’ll stay close, maybe put on a show they both like or offer up his shoulder if they need a comforting presence.

Donatello

Donnie receives a text from hos crush at a random time while he was finishing one of his projects

“Today’s been a mess, and I’m so angry. I don’t know how to shake this mood.”

His immediate reaction is to problem-solve, so he texts back

“I’ve read that mood swings can sometimes be helped by balancing serotonin levels. Do you want me to come over and help you troubleshoot?”

He’s serious about wanting to help, though his methods may seem a bit... clinical

When he doesn’t get a response for hours, Donnie’s curiosity gets the best of him

It doesn't take long to get to their house

“Sorry I didn’t get back to you. My period started earlier, and it’s really messing with my emotions. I just feel so out of it,”

Donnie immediately understands and goes into helpful mode

“While I can’t stop that, I can help with the physical discomfort or even keep you company to distract you from the emotional side effects.”

He might offer up some tech-based solutions, like a supercharged heating pad or an app he coded to track moods and help regulate them

If they’re feeling down, he’ll switch from science talk to a more personal approach, asking what they need and offering to help with whatever would make them more comfortable

Even if his methods are a little unconventional, Donnie genuinely wants to make things better for them.

Michelangelo

Mikey got the text from his crush while he was watching his favorite cartoon

“I’m just in such a bad mood today. I feel off, and I hate it.”

His heart sinks because he’s all about making people feel happy and loved, especially his crush. He responds immediately

“Aw, that’s the worst! You want me to come over and bring snacks and some good vibes? I’ll cheer you up, promise!”

When there’s no reply for a while, Mikey’s concern turns into action. He grabs a bunch of their favorite snacks and his skateboard, determined to turn their day around

When they finally explain, “Sorry for not responding. My period started, and it’s been a rough one. My emotions are just all over the place,”

Mikey is quick to jump into comfort mode, his empathy showing immediately

“I’m here to make you feel better, no worries. Snacks? Cartoons? Blanket fort? You name it, and we’ll do it!”

Mikey’s goal is to lift their spirits, no matter what

His energy is contagious, and he’ll stick around for as long as they need

By the end of the day, Mikey will make sure they’re at least smiling, even if just a little

#reader #x reader #y/n #tmnt #tmnt x reader #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt leo #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #they/them #period cramps

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nerves-nebula · 1 year ago

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start | Prev | The End! you're here!!

page 50

AND SO HERE WE REACH THE END. THE EPILOGUE. THE 50TH PAGE OF MY 20 PAGE COMIC. BRILLIANT. I hope i never do this again. good lord. I can’t say it isn’t satisfying to end something like this but MAN did this balloon. This was because I got an ASK, do you guys remember that?? Do you remember that i started this comic on a whim?? Because I got an ask?? And then i held a poll about what comic I should make??? THAT WAS MONTHS AGO.

I considered adding one more page that's just a wide shot of Raph watching Splinter looking at Leo but I figured you get the point well enough already.

here's some round up fun facts under the cut!

this script is 3596 words long

it spans 8 pages of my 90 page tmnt google doc

it was originally supposed to be around 20-30 pages AT MOST

the reason behind its specific style choices is that I was IN THE MIDDLE OF COLLEGE when i started it and i wanted to be able to make pages as fast as possible. so i created a limited color palette so that i wouldn't over do things. i still kind of over did things tho.

because the point was to draw pages as fast as possible I frequently make little mistakes like forgetting to draw bandages, knee/arm pads, masks, and donnie's entire glasses.

one of the most frequently forgotten things i think is Raphs hand bandages. i think i draw him without them more than i draw him WITH them ;_;

when I started this i wasn't going to include anything to do with CSA, because I was unsure that people wouldn't be weird about it

halfway through the comic, I started to write Donnie with a stutter. this is because I was still developing the characters when I started this comic and it was supposed to help me figure out their emotions more, so quite a few decisions were made about them in the middle of script writing & the days/weeks between drawing pages. that's how you end up with shit like Donnie suddenly developing a stutter.

because of the placement of when i decided to write him with a stutter, it kind of looks like he develops it after a particularly traumatic memory, and i think thats kind of funny.

THIS IS OFFICIALLY THE LONGEST FINISHED COMIC I’VE EVER MADE.

anyway, thanks for reading :)

#nnstuff #nnart #neglected art #teenage mutant neglected turtles #tmnt comic #Leo memory comic

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crowsandturtlesandbatsohmy · 1 month ago

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Okay y’all, so I know I’ve been predominantly a Haikyu!! account for a little while now (and there’s still more of that to come once I have the emotional stability for finishing season 4) but we’re gonna switch gears and talk TMNT 2012 for a change!

No season 1 Wrap-up, partially because I have 4 episodes to go and partially because it’s been months since the last time other than today that I sat down to watch it, but I do want to talk about my thoughts on each turtle, as well as April and Splinter. I’ll also rank them among the other versions of those characters to give you a better idea of my general feelings on them, with 1 being best and my fondness decreasing from there. I think it would be fun to repeat this every time I finish a season, so I’ll plan on that! :)

Splinter

I know there are a lot of people who don’t like him. But I honestly can’t see why? I love this Splinter. As far as I know him he’s exactly what my ideal Splinter would be! No spoilers, I want to go into this with as little prior knowledge as possible. But yeah, I like Splinter!

If I had to rank the Splinters, where would I put him?

2012 Splinter

Mutant Mayhem Splinter

80’s Live Action Movies Splinter

Rise Splinter

April

I’m not entirely sure what to make of her? I don’t necessarily dislike her, but I can’t say I’m super fond of her either? I think I need to give her some more time.

Where does she currently rank among the Aprils?

Rise April

Mutant Mayhem April

80s movies April

2012 April

Leo

I love him your honor. He’s such a dork in the best way possible! He was tied for being my favorite character for a while, although now he’s settled into a comfortable and consistent second place. I relate to him a lot more than I expected to, which was really cool!

Where would I rank him?

2012 Leo

Rise Leo (just barely behind 2012. They’re essentially tied.)

Mutant Mayhem Leo

Batman V.S. The TMNT Leo

80’s Movies Leo

Raph

He had to grow on me, but I love him now! Most of the time. I think he would probably benefit from more boundaries and some alone time in order to help manage his anger, but I also realize that’s not exactly possible and he’s kinda doing the best he can all things and stressors and inputs considered. Also the point at which I found out he was voiced by Sean Astin??? WHAT??? Mind blown.

Where do I rank him among the Raphs?

Mutant Mayhem Raph

2012 Raph

Batman V.S. The TMNT Raph

Rise Raph

80’s Movies Raph

Donnie

Yeah okay we all knew this was coming, but surprise surprise, Donnie is my favorite. I just love him to death! The whole April thing is admittedly irritating, and I tend to like Leo more in those episodes, but Donnie is overall my favorite because I love watching him come up with things, and I love how he genuinely seems concerned about others (Leo has this as well. I don’t really see it very much in Raph and Mikey?). Also I feel like he’s carrying a lot more weight than he ever gets credit for. Also I found out his voice actor, Rob Paulson, (who I already thought was really cool prior to this and apparently voiced my childhood) played Shreako in Scooby Doo Meets the Boo Brothers. Literally my favorite character from one of my favorite childhood movies!! This didn’t have any effect on my opinion of Donnie, of course, but it was just so neat to see my childhood interests and current interests linking like that! I love recognizing voice actors from other shows they’ve done :) [ask me about Jeffery Combs sometime. I’ve got a story to tell there!].

Anyways, back on track, where would I rank him out of all the Donnies?

Rise Donnie

2012 Donnie (again, barely behind. They’re practically tied.)

Batman V.S. The TMNT Donnie

Mutant Mayhem Donnie

80’s Movies Donnie

Mikey

I’ll be honest with y’all. I don’t really vibe with him. I love chaotic goofballs, but there is a limit, y’know? It’s gotta be combined with depth. You gotta back that chaos and goofiness up with the ability to be serious when needed, and there’s gotta be more to the character than just the goofiness. And he has yet to show signs of any of that? It feels like being silly is his only trait, and it’s kinda irritating. It makes him really one dimensional. And I want to like him! I know there are a lot of people who love him to pieces! I want to be able to see what y’all see. But I just don’t. What am I missing? (Again, no spoilers.)

Where do I rank him among the Mikeys?

Batman V.S. The TMNT Mikey

Rise Mikey

Mutant Mayhem Mikey

80’s Movies Mikey

2012 Mikey.

I really hate ending this on a sour note, so because I can I’m gonna list the iterations I’ve seen and my favorite turtle, and we’re gonna play “How many times is Donnie Crow’s favorite?”

Rise: Donnie

2012: Donnie

Mutant Mayhem: Raph

Batman V.S. The TMNT: Donnie

80’s Movies: It’s been long enough I don’t entirely remember, but it’s a safe guess to assume it’s Donnie.

Alrighty, this concludes my introductory 2012 TMNT post! If anyone has questions about my opinions on more specific things related to TMNT (not just 2012, any of the iterations I’ve mentioned are fair game), feel free to ask! I don’t bite :) I’d be happy to go more in depth!

#crow’s cawing #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #2012 leo #2012 raph #2012 donnie #2012 mikey #tmnt 2k12 #2012 splinter #2012 april

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maddys-nerd-blog · 3 months ago

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Maddy’s Top Five Favorite Male Characters in Media!

Hi again!!

I was asked an interesting question by @tending-the-hearth in a QNA thingy recently that I thought deserved it’s own post cuz admittedly, this is a hard one!

My favorite characters in media?

You’d be surprised to hear that some of people on this list were easy ringers for this list, but I still had a hard time choosing characters I loved more than the other!

Over the decades we’ve gotten a plethora of incredible shows, video games, movies, books and indie series that have gifted the world a new cast of characters that have won the hearts of millions across the globe. They can be dashing heroes, villainous rouges trying to take over the world, unappreciated side characters, supportive background characters or even blink and you miss them cameos! I’ve come to adore the grand scale of the animation medium and it’s offerings, so making a list like this is definitely not easy.

So for this list I’m doing the following;

One; Only one character per slot with ONE exception but I’ll get there.

Two; They can be a variety of characters ranging in importance. Hero, sidekick, background nobody, villain, supporting characters, etc. Anything goes!

Three; Video games are included!!

Four; Comic book exclusive characters are not allowed only for the sake of keeping the playing field fair. I’ll use added context from specific comic storylines to add onto my reasoning, but otherwise, that’s it.

Five; SPOILERS BECAUSE HALF OF THESE PICKS ARE IN SERIES THAT HAVE EITHER BEEN ONGOING FOR TWENTY YEARS OR ARE FINISHED. Read at your own risk!!!

So… on with the show!!

Top Five Male Characters in Media!

5: Throttle— Biker Mice From Mars. ( 1993-1996 )

A shocking new arrival for a list such as this, but a welcome addition nevertheless! For a little over two-ish months I’ve been watching Biker Mice and have taken a liking to it! What I assumed was just gonna be a knock-off of TMNT with uninspired writing turned out to be a surprising drama with subtle undertones of a darker story behind the gimmick of Martian mice coming to Earth.

Not only is it a very clever commentary on environmentalism and taking care of our planet— especially given the time period this was released with all the Ferngully movies and Captain Planet where they were encouraging eco-friendly movements— it’s also a shocking cartoon given the subject matter and it’s cast of characters. Throttle, Vinnie and Modo? They’re all veterans! And they’re all disabled! But the show never makes jokes or pokes fun at them for their hard comings, it’s treated with respect and the guys are there for one another.

Throttle is the leader of this group, and the leader of the rebellion at one point. He’s shown throughout the show to be this suave, cool headed guy who looks out for his bros, he’s got this kind of swagger to him that radiates ‘cool’ just from a design standpoint alone. Plus it also helps that Rob Paulsen provides the voice and HE SOUNDS SO COOL. As the resident badass in charge he’s always taking point and mostly has a more serious demeanor, but he’s also just a fun guy who wants to ride his bike and chill out with his friends.

Can I just add a side note here and say CAN WE PLEASE GIVE THIS POOR MAN A BREAK??? THE ORIGIN EPISODE OF HOW HE LOST HIS EYES HAD ME SHOOK AND THE NEW INFO WE GOT FROM THE CURRENT COMIC COMEBACK IS FREAKING HEARTBREAKING DUDE. LET THE MAN BREATHE AND EAT HOTDOGS.

4: Harvey Bullock— Batman the Animated Series. ( 1992-1995 )

Imma say this for the people all the way in the back:

NOBODY UNDERSTANDS HARVEY BULLOCK.

I feel like I’m all alone on the Bullock Defense Squad at this rate cuz the amount of slander this character gets by those who don’t bother to A) read his backstory or B) actually go the extra mile to research his trivia and learn what makes him tick, is frustrating. The writers make him out to be this slob that can’t do anything right, but I think that’s unfair cuz there’s more to him besides what we’re shown. Because when you take the time to look beneath all the stupid things people claim about him… he’s so interesting.

Firstly he’s Gordon’s BEST FRIEND. He’s ride or die for that man. Nobody is more loyal to Commissioner Gordon than Bullock. On the outside he might appear untrustworthy but he’s actually devoted to Gordon and his beliefs, even if his methods are more in line with Batman’s. ( Which is ironically hilarious that everyone tries to accuse Bullock of going too far, but when Batman does the same exact thing he’s praised as a hero. Makes ya think. )

Secondly he believes in justice and keeping Gotham safe, but the criminals that reek havoc on the city are so nuts and out of control he feels he has no idea what he’s doing. But the fact of the matter is, he’s wildly clever and intelligent! Look at the episode The Laughing Fish! Who figures out that Joker’s at the aquarium first? BULLOCK. Who beats BATMAN— the world’s greatest detective— to the punch??? BULLOCK!

He’s cunning and sly but in a good way! He uses his wits to solve cases and more often than not, he’s pretty damn scrappy! The audience is just made to believe he’s this bumbling oaf half the time. His determination is strong as hell! My favorite episode in all of BTAS is ‘A Bullet for Bullock’ because we get to see a side of him outside of the main cast that puts HIM in the spotlight. That entire episode is a love letter to the classic noir genre and the SOUNDTRACK??? ITS SO GOOD. ( This episode in particular even won a special award for its music )

He fights for good and tries to do the right thing, but not everyone sees it that way. But I, as the President of the Bullock Fanclub, love him the way he is!

3: Donatello ( Every version )— Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. ( 1984- Current Day )

DONATELLO IS BEST TURTLE 💜

This genius in every version is a lovable dork with a giant heart of gold. I don’t think there’s any iteration of this character that’s unlikeable! Ever since I got into the TMNT I quickly grew attached to the purple goober cuz he’s just so relatable! Purple is my second favorite color too cuz bias Donnie shows that no matter the odds he’s going to do whatever it takes to make his family or friends safe. In every single series he proves he’s a hellishly smart guy who values knowledge over combat, hence why he’s a pacifist by nature.

In 2012 he’s a geeky inventor with a big imagination and utilizes what limited resources he has to craft some of the most amazing things!

In 2003 he’s this gentle teddy bear of a guy who rarely wishes to battle, but if you hurt his family he’ll bring hell down upon you. Plus he’s just a sweetie who wants to keep making things he thinks will help his family.

In the Bayverse films he’s this tall, lanky fellow who yearns to be accepted and has so much wit and charm he’s basically this lovable beanstalk.

In Mutant Mayhem he’s a well meaning kid who wishes he could be a normal teenager, who fights so hard for humans to accept him and his mutant family, who’d an anime nerd and generally nice person.

In Rise he’s a full on menace to society and has so much snark that it could rival that of Hades from Hercules. He’s a scientist that searches high and low for the love and affirmation of a dad who doesn’t care about him, but with his brothers he’s got all the reassurance he needs.

Donnie goes through so much but gets back on his feet to keep fighting, he keeps pushing forward to strive for a better solution, he ALWAYS keeps trying to fix any problem because he feels it’s his purpose. This type of character can be used as a stereotype but in the right hands they can truly shine, and Donnie doesn’t simply shine; he dazzles. It also gives him the edge that in most of the shows he’s written with coded autism traits which… yes, please, more positive autistic representation, more of this INSTEAD OF THE BULLSHIT WE’VE BEEN FED.

Donnie is a kind, sweet, brave turtle. It’s no wonder why everyone loves him so much!!

BUT CAN WE STOP TRAUMATIZING HIM PLEASE, STOP ELECTROCUTING THIS GUY?? THE BABY HAS BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH—

2: Cole— Dragon Age: Inquisition. ( 2014 )

Autism in media has been hit or miss for DECADES. As I previously stated it’s very difficult to find positive autistic characters in our media. Autism is either used as a crutch by writers to make the ‘normal’ characters bring the ‘unaware and helplessly naive’ autistic person into the ‘real world.’ We’ve seen it time and time again and it’s terribly obnoxious. But to the writers who give a damn about writing authentic portrayals of autism, those people deserve special kudos because when it works, they work beautifully.

Case in point here; Cole.

Cole is the most amazing depiction of a young man with coded autism that’s never treated like a punchline or a side effect of his behavior. He’s the spirit of compassion— the living embodiment of kindness in the game. Cole is the way he is because of his past, where the Spirit finds Cole’s original form dying in a cell, and was so moved by his death he took his place to dedicate his life to helping people. And throughout Inquisition, on my first time playing it years ago, I just had to keep pausing the game during the idle companion conversations and go ‘THATS ME!’

The way he fidgets with his hands. The way his speech is so articulate and soft. The way he interacts with the other companions. The way he starts to break down when he’s in the Fade.

That was POWERFUL for me.

You gotta understand. In all my life as a young woman, I NEVER did such a thing. Because in my childhood there were ZERO characters with autism I could relate to! Not until Cole, and this wasn’t until 2019! Sure I’m a woman, but I related so much to him because of his struggles to understand what it meant to be in the mindset of someone who didn’t really understand how the world worked, or how to properly help people. As his title states, his compassion for aiding those who are hurting is infallible… and I’m not ashamed to admit his story arc made me tear up, and I CHOOSE FOR HIM TO ACCEPT HIS HUMAN SIDE IN GAME BECAUSE HE DESERVES TO BE HAPPY.

1: Brook and Pedro— One Piece. ( 1998- Current Day )

The only tie in this list but for good reason. It would feel wrong of me to only put one of these men on here, cuz both of them left a huge impact on me.

Brook saved my life as an impressionable twelve year old. Pedro made my heart break.

I’ve prattled on about my love for Brook previously, but he’s pretty important to me. This skeleton came at a time of my life where I’d been so severely depressed and bullied in middle school that I thought I had nothing to live for. Then I happened upon One Piece and my life was forever changed, but my perspective on the world also did when I got to Thriller Bark and was introduced to Brook.

At first glance you look at Brook and might see a silly, happy go lucky skeleton that sings and dances. But he’s so much more under the surface. He’s the first fictional character in media that made me weep for TWO HOURS.

Brook is a man who has SEEN SHIT. Brook is a man who had to endure so much loss when he was alive and when he came back from the dead. He lost his best friend. He watched his entire crew die. He was adrift at sea for fifty years, isolated from the world, almost going insane several times until the Straw Hats find him. He thinks he’s broken his oath to Laboon until he finds out his still waiting for him to come back.

Brook spends so much time being plagued by his trauma when we first see him that you forget he’s using his jokes as a way to cope, he’s trying so damn hard to keep living for the sake of the whale he befriended. He’s not just a musician with hellishly cool powers or a badass with a sword.

He’s an embodiment of a constant will of push forward.

Keep living, keep fighting, keep surviving and you’ll find your happiness waiting for you. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but soon, if you keep holding to hope, you’ll find your purpose in life and the people who will love you for who you are.

Brook— as crazy as it may sound— became my beacon of hope as a kid.

It’s because of this skeleton I’m still trying to be an artist.

As for Pedro, I met this character much later in life when I was catching up with the series ( I dropped Dressrosa ages ago at that point and I didn’t get back into the story until the end of Whole Cake ) and I was immediately interested in his character and his swaggering design!

Pedro is stoic, brave and cool headed, and he’s quite cautious of his surroundings because of terrible circumstances that have fallen on his shoulders. It’s not everyday you barely escape a Warlord with your life at the cost of a good friend of yours, and then YOU GET HALF YOUR LIFESPAN STOLEN FROM YOU ANYWAY.

Poor Pedro gets put through a wringer!

But as I continued to read the manga and saw how he took Carrot under his wing and made her his apprentice, how he fought so hard to defend Zou from Jack and his crew, his grit to see the Dawn of the Nee World, I was rooting for him to succeed! I wanted him to achieve his goals, I was so excited to see him kick Tomago’s ass! I was so excited when he teamed up with Brook!!

And then he sacrificed himself.

AND MY HEART SHATTERED.

It didn’t help that the anime made this moment all the more gut wrenching with the voice actors of Carrot and Pedro giving it their all and making me tear up like a baby.

His sacrifice impacted the others to keep moving forward and see their mission through to the end, and it gave Carrot her epic SULONG TRANSFORMATION LIKE HOLY SHIT DUDE!!

For the brief amount of time I got to spend rooting for Pedro, I really loved him! He shot right up there in my all-time favorite One Piece characters! Both Brook and Pedro are quite literally the ‘kings’ of this list… and my nerdy heart 🤣

Honorary Mentions:

Tech— Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Garrus Vakarian— Mass Effect trilogy.

Nightcrawler/ Kurt Wagner— X-Men

Ryoma Hoshi— Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Vander— Arcane

Cedric— Sofia the First

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lazorbeanz · 8 months ago

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Just finished watching the 2022 tmnt movie for the first time (also the first one I’ve ever watched too)

Gotta say I really enjoyed it! Might be a lil obsessed now hehe 👀

Though I can’t help thinking that Leo and Sonic Wachowski are so alike in regards to their mannerisms 🤭 and then both discovering in their own movies what it means to be a hero

#it also doesn’t help that Ben schwartz voices both of them asjndjajdbd #sorry I have this problem when I see 2 characters from different franchises with like personalities #and then the au brainstorming starts and I can’t stop it ahhh #the franchise crossovers have to happen in my mind #tmnt #tmnt 2022 #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise leo #sonic the hedgehog #sonic wachowski #sez says

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kitty-baby36 · 2 months ago

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"Four Turtles & A Baby"

(TMNT BAYVERSE)

🐢 Chapter Two 🐢

The lair is filled with the faint hum of the television, some crappy show playing on the screen. The familiar scent of damp stone and lingering incense filled the air. The flickering candlelight cast shadows that danced upon the walls, creating an almost ethereal atmosphere.

Donatello is tinkering with a small gadget at his desk, while Michaelangelo munches on a slice of pizza. Leonardo sits in the corner, meticulously sharpening his swords, his attention focused and steady.

The heavy door creaks open, and in strode Raphael, his expression is a blend of anger and determination, but more prominently, he cradles something in his arms that is making a lot of noise, and makes his brothers shoot him surprised looks.

"Hey, guys… you’re not gonna believe this!"

"Duuude, what’ve you got?" Mikey chirps, his mouth full and eyes full of intrigue. "Is it a weapon or -" His voice trails off as Raphael shifts his grip, revealing the baby nestled in his arms. The atmosphere shifts from curiosity to shock real quick.

"Raph…" Leo says cautiously, standing from his seat, "Is that...a baby?!"

Donatello drops whatever gadget was in his hands and comes closer. He takes off his glasses and squints his eyes in bewilderment.

"Who in the world…? How did you even find a baby down here?"

"She was just there, in the middle of the storm." He glances down at the baby, then back at his brothers, who all wear similarly concerned expressions. "I couldn't just leave her there alone - "

"And you thought it was a good idea to bring her here?!" Leo interjected, his tone serious.

Donatello pulls his goggles down over his eyes, assessing the still-crying infant. "Her body temperature is too low." He continues to scan her vitals. "She's in a pretty bad way as it is, her vitals are less than stable. Wait... Do you think there's a way to trace back how she got here? Or maybe check if there’s any sort of identification?"

"How do you expect to do that, genius?" Raphael spat, "I doubt she's got a wallet on her..."

"Perhaps," came a voice from the other end of the room, "we should first focus on getting her warm and dry."

The brothers turned to see their sensei enter, his beady black eyes shining with curiosity. He carried a small wash basin filled with clean water, and a pair of fluffy towels over his shoulder.

Raphael takes a small step forward, the tension in his pose softening as he hands over the child to his father, one of her tiny fists curls around one of his fingers. The brothers watch in silence as Splinter disposes of the wet blanket and lowers her into the water. At the first touch of heat, her cries dwindle into whimpers. After about five minutes, the natural color returns to her cheeks.

Leo spoke up, “Maybe there’s a shelter we can take her to? Somewhere safe?”

Raphael frowned. “And just leave her there?! Who knows what kind of place that is. I won’t do that.” The fierceness in his voice was unmistakable.

“What do you want to do then? We can’t exactly raise her ourselves.”

"And why not, Leo? We’re a family, right?"

Splinter finished washing and drying the baby girl, who was now much calmer, and wrapped her tightly in a bright yellow blanket.

Leonardo steps closer, scrutinizing the baby carefully, then turns back to Raphael, voice softening. "Raph..."

"No."

"Raphael..."

"Don't say it, Fearless."

"We need to think about her safety. It's best to take her to a shelter where she can receive proper care and protection from professionals."

Mikey pouted. "But Leo, she's so adorable! Look at her little nose! Look at those tiny hands!"

"We can be her family," the big red brute said definitively.

As if on cue, her face scrunched up in distress, cheeks flushed, and a wail erupted that echoed against the ancient stones. Raphael's heart ached at her cries; they pulled at a part of him he thought he’d buried long ago.

"Shh, little one, it's okay," he whispered softly, taking her back from Splinter. As he shifted her in his arms, he felt the weight of her tiny body, fragile and helpless, and was struck by the gravity of his decision to bring her to their lair.

“She needs a real family…" Leo argued, "and a real home.”

“That’s not exactly easy for us,” Donnie added, glancing around the lair as if expecting someone to offer another solution.

"Nuh-uh, forget it, she's staying."

"And how exactly are we going to protect the city AND take care of a baby, dumbass?"

"Fine....you don't have to worry about it. Me and Mikey will do all the work, right little bro?"

Leo crossed his arms, his gaze firm but sympathetic. “Okay, okay. So we raise her ourselves, then what? We keep her hidden down here in the sewers forever?"

Raph took a deep breath, contemplating the enormity of what he was suggesting. “I don't know! But I can't just walk away. She needs...someone."

Mikey suddenly piped up, his voice full of both excitement but also caution. "Shell yeah! I mean, think of all the fun we could have! We'll feed her and bathe her and play with her..."

"She's not a dog, you idiot," Donnie said, shoving Mikey aside. "Human babies are incredibly fragile and require a lot of time and attention and care. It doesn't help that she's already obviously malnourished."

"So all the more reason we should keep her. We send her back out there, she could get worse, and I ain't gonna let that happen on my watch."

"Me either! And that makes it three against one, losers. Pookie stays!"

Three heads turned to stare at the youngest turtle. "What??"

"She's got to have a name, doesn't she?"

Raphael shook his head. "Yeah, but how about something a bit more normal and human-sounding?"

"Historically, there are lots of really great female names to choose from," Donnie said. "Persephone....Theresa...Cleopatra..."

Leo patted his brother on the shoulder. "Mikey, I understand that you're already attached to her, but we should figure out something a little more conventional."

"Yeah, calling a kid Pookie is a bit....too unique. IF she ever goes topside, we don't want her to stand out too much."

Mikey pouted again. "But Pookie suits her perfectly! It's cute and one of a kind, just like her. Can we at least consider it?"

Suddenly, there was a very loud boom of thunder that echoed through the sewers. The little girl wailed just as loudly in response to the abrupt noise.

"Thora."

The brothers turned to look at Splinter who gently takes the baby back from Raphael. He holds her at arms length, a small smile on his aged face. "She shall be called Thora. It means like the thunder."

Donnie nods his head. "Seems appropriate given how she was found, doesn't it?"

"I like it," Leo agreed.

"A badass name for a badass girl," Raphael said with a smirk, stroking a finger along her tiny cheek. "Isn't that right, dollface?

"Alright," Mikey mumbled, giving in. "Thora, it is... but I'm still gonna call her Pookie!"

And with that, the little girl's fate was sealed, and Leonardo effectively lost the argument of returning her to the world above.

💠

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #tmnt fandom #tmnt raphael #bayverse raphael #bayverse tmnt

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dysfunctional-doodle · 5 months ago

Note

YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DO THISSSS (well minus the evil clone stuff)!!!!! one time i got distracted by myself in the mirror and talked for about half an hour about stuff that didn’t make sense and then i stopped and realised. oh hold on. i’m supposed to be taking a shower right now. but at that point i had been talking so long i found it hard to stop lmao

for a second i thought you meant they were making motorcycle sounds with their mouths 😭😭

sad recorder noises 😔😔😔😔😔

(this donnie is written so sassily and dissapointed i love him here more than i do in the series (his voice kinda makes him more annoying to me… how does this guy voiced by one of the best vas in history have the worst voice in this show???? (although i guess that’s just my opinion (don was right rambling is great (adhd be damned this girl can go on very long and unnecessary tangents)))))

will always love how he just like. narrates his emotions or… sound effects???? idk what to call them. i think it’s thanks to him (and also lucy loud) that i say “sigh” instead of actually sighing (i also say shit like ‘smiling face emoticon’ or ‘sad face’ or ‘sobs’ out loud sometimes (wow i sure do love lore drops))

honestly yes that was a big oversight. i think there are like massive human hamster balls and i NEED to experience that please please please

HE’S LETTING THE CARDBOARD CUTOUTS BABYSIT THEM????????????????????????????????? AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

leo honey. that is a cardboard cutout.

knowing this fic, this was definetly the right call

he’s figured out a way to get them to listen…

also THEMMMMMMMMMMM ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH <3333333333333333

this fic has me by the neck i swear to god.

also since i have one more image left i can send and no more screenshots to comment on i’m going to give you she/they mikey because even though i’ve posted her pretty much everywhere i can i. can’t remember how i was going to finish that sentence

anyways uhhhhh goodbye :3

(damn i had a lot more to say here today huh…. the urge to drop a random bit of information about yourself 24/7)

Firstly, love the drawing. All Mikey content is cherished here 🧡

Glad you liked the chapter! And I’m relieved you like the way I’ve written 2012 Donnie - I have only watched about four episodes of the 2012 show, and so I base a lot of his character on the Speed Demon episode. I do not like what they do with his character and the whole love triangle thing, a Donatello deserves much better than what he got. But I’ve been told from other ao3 users and anons here that they actually like 2012 Donnie’s character in my fic a lot, so I hope I’m doing something right lol. Idk. If anyone who has actually watched the show has any pointers feel free to guide me about how I write those boys :)

(I haven’t actually posted about this one being out yet, so those who are a little lost I’ve done a new chapter of my tmnt chat fic, Too Many Turtles)

#tmnt #tmnt asks #asks and replies #too many turtles #tmnt fanfiction

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camsthisky · 4 months ago

Note

you wanted tmnt requests? tbh your post earlier about leo always patching mikey up is still spinning in my head like a microwave and if you wrote smth where mikey realizes how bad leo freaked out when he got hurt? and they get a little bonding moment and mikey gets to reassure him

this is written with 2012 turtles in mind, but it’d probably work with 2003 or early idw, too.

——————

“I’m sorry,” Leo says after patrol one night.

Mikey, who had been fiddling with one of his comics while Leo stitches up the cut on his calf, tilts his head back from where he’s sprawled out on his plastron. Leo isn’t looking up, but there’s a twist to his face. Mikey wants to sit up and throw his arms around Leo’s shoulders, just to get rid of that torn expression.

He doesn’t. On top of Leo being in the middle of literally sewing up his leg, Mikey has a feeling that Leo wouldn’t appreciate the touch just yet.

Gotta get through the emotional talk before he can get to the snuggling, Mikey thinks.

So, Mikey hums thoughtfully. He probably won’t get away with dismissing Leo’s apology. Maybe he can make Leo see that his line of logic is kinda skewed? That would work, probably.

“Unless you touched the toaster without permission, not sure what you’re apologizing for, bro,” Mikey says with a smile aimed back at his older brother.

Leo’s eyes flick up and back down, hands never faltering.

“You got hurt,” Leo tells Mikey’s stitches. “It was my fault.”

“Pretty sure it was the footbot’s fault, actually.”

“It was my plan,” Leo insists.

“It was your plan to have a footbot stab me in the leg?” Mikey asks. “I mean, I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the planning stuff, but I’m pretty sure I’d remember that.”

“I’m the reason you were there in the first place.”

Mikey pauses, taking in his oldest brother’s hunched shoulders.

There’s not a lot of things Mikey doesn’t know about his brothers. He doesn’t always have the best attention span, but Mikey is pretty in tune with the emotions and tensions that run through his home. And Leo’s need to take responsibility for the team is something that Mikey thought he’d clocked.

Maybe this is deeper than he thought, though, because Leo looks genuinely distressed.

“Whoa, dude,” Mikey says before he can think better of it. “You really think that this is your fault.”

Leo’s frown deepens into a scowl. He finishes the last stitch. “I made you bait.”

“Yeah,” Mikey says, blinking in bewilderment. “Okay. So?”

“You got hurt.”

This time, Mikey does sit up, not caring that Leo is going to get on him later about not letting him wrap the stitches.

Predictably, Leo yelps and tries to stop him. “Mikey, wait—”

“Alright, Leo,” Mikey says, making sure he’s channeling his no-nonsense tone. “I’m not the smartest turtle in the sewer, but I’m not dumb enough to think that you hurt me.”

Leo’s eyes sharpen and meet Mikey’s gaze. “You’re not dumb, Mikey.”

“So not what we’re talking about,” Mikey says, rolling his eyes. “Why the heck do you think me getting hurt is your fault?”

Mikey can only watch as Leo sighs, dropping his face into his hands—which, dude, probably not the best idea since he’d literally just been sewing Mikey’s leg back together.

“Mikey, you don’t get it,” Leo says quietly.

“Then make me get it,” Mikey says, fighting to keep his voice even as something angry bubbles just under the surface.

Mikey doesn’t let himself get mad often, but one thing that always seems to set him off is anyone being genuinely mean to his brothers, even themselves. Hearing Leo beating himself up for something that was an accident that could have happened to any one of them isn’t something Mikey is going to stand for.

“This is the third time you’ve gotten hurt this month,” Leo says, his voice hard as he looks up at Mikey again. “The third time I’ve had to patch you up this month. Because I keep putting you in danger. I should be able to come up with a way to keep you out of danger.”

“That’s not fair, and you know it,” Mikey bites out. “You can’t plan for everything. There’s that saying about plans and the enemy, or whatever.”

“I don’t want to be the reason you keep getting hurt,” Leo says.

“Will you listen to me?” Exasperation clings to Mikey’s voice as he scoots towards his older brother. “You’re not responsible for every little scrape I get. I’ve gotten worse while skateboarding.”

Leo’s shoulders droop even further. Mikey wants to fix it. “I don’t like seeing you hurt. You’re my little brother.”

Mikey sighs, white knuckling his anger back into the cavity it tends to live in when he doesn’t want to feel it anymore. He gives into that earlier instinct and throws his arms around Leo’s shoulders, digging his face into the crook of his oldest brother’s neck.

“We’re a team, Lee,” Mikey says quietly. “I don’t like seeing you bros hurt either, but that’s why we have each other’s backs. It’s no one’s fault that it happens, just the nature of being a super rad ninja turtle.”

Leo’s arms slowly come up to wrap around Mikey’s shell. He says nothing, and Mikey’s like half sure he hasn’t quite convinced Leo of anything, but Mikey doesn’t think one talk will change Leo’s mind if this is something he’s been holding onto for a long time.

That’s okay. Mikey’s going to be here to make sure it doesn’t stay that way forever.

#tmnt #tmnt 2k12 #tmnt mikey #tmnt leo #how the heck do i tag turtle prompts #camryn writes #cam answers #prompt

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onegianthotmess · 1 year ago

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✨Amelia’s Peachy Blog Rules✨

Hello to all of my fellow weirdos! Welcome to the hot mess that is my blog! Here, I will establish my rules and the fandoms I write for and will talk about with all of you!

But, a small note to add before we start is that I will not tolerate any sort of hatefulness or rudeness on my blog towards myself or anyone. This will be a free space to debate and discuss opinions and for people to feel safe and comfortable. If you do not like what I post or reblog, please just move along and go about your day without even sparing a glance at my blog.

Also, if I post anything of my own, I will not tolerate it being taken and edited without my permission or reposted without my permission, but reblogs are greatly appreciated. Thank you and I hope you have a good morning/afternoon/evening/night/overall day and stay safe out there!

I Will Write:

🍑 “X Reader” to the best of my abilities (Maybe some OC inserts if I’m up for it, it’ll depend what is requested of me)

🍑 “X Reader” will always have a female or gender neutral reader as I am a female myself and am not comfortable writing for a male reader, but I will do a gender neutral reader if that is requested of me

🍑 Fluff

🍑 SOFT Angst to Fluff (I’m an emotional, sappy wreck, can’t handle hardcore angst)

🍑 Family/Domestic Headcanons

🍑 Romantic Headcanons

🍑 Overall cuteness

🍑 Little Space (Little space is sort of a thing that some people use to destress like me or cope with trauma by mentally aging down to a headspace or age that is younger than they actually are and sometimes some people, either good friends or a romantic partner or someone else, act as a caregiver towards them. It’s not like an adult being attracted to a child in the case of a romantic partner, but rather an adult attracted to another adult who regresses)

🍑 Some suggestive content, depends on what is requested of me

I Will Not Write:

🍑 HARDCORE Smutty Smut

🍑 Character Deaths (I can, but it depends on my mood and the story and who I have to kill off. You can request it, but it may or may not be possible depending on the factors previously listed-)

🍑 HARDCORE Angst

🍑 Pedophilia (Fuck off if you came here for that shit)

🍑 Incest (The fuck is wrong with you people? GET SOME GODDAMN HELP IF YOU INTO THAT!)

🍑 Little Space smut (If it’s your little space, you can do what you’d like, but I’m personally uncomfortable with writing this kind of thing and I’m going to keep that boundary in place.)

🍑 Anything to do with racism, homophobia, transphobia and just discrimination against anyone in general. This is a safe space for people to enjoy some nice fanfiction, not to be haters and to be hated on!

Fandoms I Partake In:

🍑 MHA/BNHA (I have not finished the anime nor the manga, I don’t have any services to watch it, so no spoilers please!)

🍑 IkemenVampire (I might try out a few more Ikemen games, so be aware of that)

🍑 IkemenVillains (I’d like to be in the middle of a William and Ellis sandwich. That will be all-)

🍑 Fruits Basket (Haven’t watched the third season, in the middle of trying to rewatch the first two because it’s been so long)

🍑 Demon Slayer (I AM READY FOR SEASON FOUR, BABES!!!)

🍑 TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Specifically 2012, Bayverse, Rise, and Mutant Mayhem)

🍑 HTTYD (How to Train Your Dragon)

🍑 MK (Mortal Kombat. I was a late 2000’s baby that grew up playing MK9 as my first ever Mortal Kombat game, so I don’t know the full cast of characters from previous games, but I have a good list of characters and story from earlier games in my head from the videos I’ve watched from my wormy brain hyperfixating on Mortal Kombat)

🍑 Harry Potter (I’ve only watched the movies, but I have seen videos about the books, so I do know what the books were like, to an extent at least)

🍑 FNaF (Five Nights at Freddy’s. HOW TF HAVE I GONE A WHOLE MONTH WITHOUT ADDING THIS?! WELL, NOW I HAVE ADDED IT, IN MID-NOVEMBER OF 2023!)

🍑 Mariolore (It’s these cosplay shorts by this amazing cosplay couple named DinoBunny that are a sort of a spin-off of the Mario franchise, but with its own unique story involving adaptations of the characters and different events based on what happens in the original story/franchise. I watch them on YouTube, just in case that is relevant to how much of the story has actually been released)

🍑 Resident Evil (I’m not too well versed on the overall story, but I know the story from the RE1 Remake, the RE3 Remake, the RE4 Remake, the RE4 Remake DLC: Separate Ways, RE7: Biohazard, RE8/Village, and RE8/Village DLC: Shadows of Rose. I just know, in summary, that Umbrella Corporation bad and pulled some fuckery with the T-virus and bioweapon shit, the Connections are bad and made bioweapon shit, Mother Miranda pretty much started it all in hopes to revive her daughter, and Rose is doing some shit working with Chris Redfield who helped to raise her in honor of Ethan’s dying wish during the whole village incident. I’ll try to get better versed on the story and characters in the future, but that is all I know at the moment)

🍑 My Happy Marriage (Anime watcher! No manga reading here yet!)

🍑 Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (My fifth grade teacher read the first couple books to me and my class while also showing us the Netflix series to show the differences between the two and make it more fun. I ended up watching the whole series as it progressed outside of school and was partially traumatized by the episode where Sunny almost died from a fucking fungus. That scared the shit out of me, but it’s still a damn good series if I do say so myself.)

🍑 Poppy Playtime (I find it an interesting concept and I may write something for it at one point!)

🍑 Sofia the First (It was one of my favorite shows as a kid and I’m so sad we never got a continuation of the story to see them grow up! ALSO I’M SO FUCKING MAD WE NEVER GOT SOFIA AND HUGO’S WEDDING!!!)

🍑 Komi Can’t Communicate (Komi Shouko is my wife. That’s it.)

🍑 The Way of the Househusband (Anime watcher!! And I think Tatsu would be such a cool and funny dad with all his yakuza lingo!)

🍑 Monster Prom (Haven’t seen any other full playthroughs, I’m watching a Monster Camp one rn, and I wanna makeout with Damien and gossip with his little sister that he DEFINITELY has because I fucking said so, fuckers-)

🍑 Buddy Daddies (You know that scene where they’re running away into the woods while Rei shoots back at that guy’s goonies?? Yeah, I wanna do that with Rei because I love him and want to take care of him while also forcing him to learn household chores!)

🍑 Yuuri!!! On Ice (I’VE FINALLY GOT CRUNCHYROLL ON MY PHONE PEOPLE!!!)

🍑 Twisted-Wonderland (My current “Holy Trinity” contains Riddle, Deuce, and Malleus-)

🍑 Aphmau (Were you a MyStreet kid or a Diaries kid? I was a MyStreet kid!)

🍑 Nimona (Ambrosius and Ballister are definitely girl dads and I’d like to petition for a sequel to Nimona, pwease!!!)

🍑 Law & Order: SVU (Olivia and Fin are my favorite characters and I know the show is probably bad for my anxiety, but I shall still continue to watch it!)

🍑 Cult of the Lamb

🍑 Pirates of the Caribbean (Jack as a dad would be really funny in my opinion-)

🍑 I’ll add onto the fandoms list if anymore come to mind

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Thank you for reading my rules and I look forward to your requests! I hope you enjoy your journey on my blog, fellow weirdos! Have a peachy time!

#blog rules

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cloud-navi · 1 year ago

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So I finally finished Transformers EarthSpark, lowkey love it. (Maltobots/Terrans)

⚠️ SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️

Maltos (cont.) (Maltobots)

- Twitch Malto

I love how dedicated she is to her family and cares for them. Her strive to work hard to keep them safe like her determination to find a way out of the bunker when they get locked in for the first time is crazy. I think Hashtag getting taken into GHOST HQ really kickstarted her need to protect her siblings and family as she was so worried for Hashtags safety. Ngl the way she uses her wing blades (?) dual handed and her instincts in leading her family in the finale really reminds me Leo from TMNT, perhaps not all Leo’s but a few like 2012 and 2018-2020 (movie) Leo. I really think she took to Bee’s training a bit better then Thrash did and definitely used every little bit she did and inferred in that final battle.

- Thrash Malto

I like Thrash, he’s a silly dude, I just find the whole episode with Swindles very difficult to understand. Okay so they played a mock battle (AvD) and that somehow lead to being insecure about how much Dot and Alex like you? My guy you just destroyed part of the house from game, its reasonable to not want giant robots inside the very much not robot-sized house. I don’t see the point in having that tent in the yard when theres a whole ass barn that the Malto’s decided to make more home-y and like an actual room for you. Its not a giant deal if you can’t go in Mo’s room but you can still talk to her from the window if she hasn’t come down yet.

I kinda think he might have some separation anxiety and that might be why he doesn’t like being separated from Mo that much but it was completely reasonable to not want them inside the house.

- HashTag Malto

Honestly watching her get easily distracted by the tablet while searching for an alt-mode really makes me think she could have ADHD (not just because of that but definitely feels like one indicator). I like the idea that she’s able to hack through the wifi which makes a lot of sense for bots to be able to do, like BV Soundwave on the satellite.

I love all the allegories in this show, really puts things into a perspective thats not technically real-life so its easier to see the problem, emotions and understanding of things when its not connected to you. When it’s connected to you then it feels more personal, thats why people don’t like to watch shows that could talk about topics that they deal with sometimes. I love the allegory they used the Transformers to show even some little ways that racism still exists even if its not the systemic side of the problem. The way the portray HashTag and the other bots when they find the ‘Transformers Go Home’ graffiti really shows how it doesn’t matter if you’re born there, if people view you as different they’re going to deem you not worthy of being there, as well as masking it like with things like ‘oh it’s directed towards Decepticons’ but everyone really knows that it isn’t and that’s blatantly a terrible thing to say regardless if it was “supposed” to directed towards one group of people (Decepticons) in a certain demographic (Cybertronians/Terrans).

I also love the allegory of found family the use in the same episode. Like how Robby stands up to Steven for making rude comments about the Terrans and how they aren’t “actually his family.” Robby stood up for the Terrans because they’re his siblings regardless of age or species, which ties back to the racial undertones of the episode as its so common for others to make comments about interracial families if its found family or just a mixed family that may or may not look more like one side then the other.

Making HashTag the one to get hacked by Mandriod makes a lot of sense as her need to protect her family (like Twitch) is strong and it shows that even in the pursuit of protecting the people you care about you can end up hurting them. Granted she was being hacked and controlled but it was her drive to protect that made her decide to get on the plat form and confront Mandriod. In the pursuit of protection, unexpected revelations and plan changes from outside factors can lead to hurting the people you love the most even if that wasn’t your intention or by your doing.

I love the understanding she has with Starscream, just in the few minutes if not hours of being controlled and forced to feel alone she was able to connect it to how the majority of victims feel while being abused, hurt and alone. She, unlike a good amount of bots throughout the franchise had high enough empathy levels to understand and connect to Star. I love that she listened to him and validated his feelings. Its one thing to hear someone tell you how they feel or what they’re thinking but its a completely different thing to listen, and Hashtag listened. (Literally almost cried at that scene Star deserves so much).

- JawBreaker Malto

He’s a real sweet heart and using him to make another allegory is perfect. The entire episode “Outtakes” is about him asking the other bots how they picked their alt-modes “because he wants it to pick the perfect one for him the first time.” While that sentence sounds just like he might be lazy and doesn’t wanna keep changing to find one that works best or is a perfectionist trying to get it just right, it actually is a better allegory for Gender Identity and finding what title you think fits you best. Through the episode he asks everyone how they ‘knew it was for them’ or how they picked it. The big thing Elita said was “listen to your spark, it will tell you when you find it.” Which is basically an elder gay telling a younger generation they’ll know in their heart when they find it.

All jokes aside, in the allegory the search for a “perfect alt-mode” is the same as the search for the perfect gender identity/pronouns and gender understanding in one’s self. JawBreakers search for an alt mode is like a queer persons search for a title or definition to understand who they are. Like a searching for sub-identities under main umbrellas. A Flier isn’t always a Seeker but a Seeker is always a Flier, its like trying to find which model plane you are compared to others, trying to find advice on how to pick which one best fits you.

I honestly didn’t think the dino-alt would stick with JawBreaker, it just didn’t seem like him to me but with little amount of episodes they could make I understand the need to give him one before the finale.

To me, giving JawaBreaker an alt-mode is kind of a double edged blade. The concept of using alt-modes as a form of gender identity is really interesting and using JawBreaker as a way to explore that 1) giving him an alt can represent the people that did end up finding an identity that fit them and how they feel but also 2) it takes away any possible rep for queer people that don’t have an ‘identity’ suitable to them. Let me explain: I use the term identity as a substitute for the whole explanation’al mess that is finding ‘gender terms’ that have a definition (transwoman, someone who identifies as a woman without necessarily being AFAB) that feels like them and similar to how they experience life in their vessel.

My “2)” point is that giving JawBreaker an Alt mode is giving rep to queer people that were able to find an ‘identity’ while also taking that away from queer people that struggle to find what fits them. Of course representation is still representation and its nice to see it even if it can’t exactly go both ways, which is fine.

⚠️ This is an allegorical theory, in no way shape or form does this apply to the entirety of the queer experience for everyone ⚠️

- NightShade Malto

Love them, very silly. They’re very smart and I love how they were a direct allegory for a different aspect of some queer experiences. While there’s people that know how they identify and what to call their feeling, and there are others that struggle with finding that, theres some that don’t think about it (like me) and some that don’t actively search for a term even if they want a title for it. NightShade didn’t know they’re identity fell under Nonbinary until they met Sam (love sam).

Not only that but how the creators continued the queer identity alt-mode theme with NightShade and how they picked theirs. At first NightShade felt already complete with how they were and didn’t feel like they needed an alt-mode (which is valid, and with the allegory its still valid because some people might not want/like ‘identity terms/labels’) but the creators also added the layer of self expression and how an ‘alt-mode’ can be another way to express yourself through their conversation with Truantulas.

I like NightShade’s pick I just don’t care for how they designed it. For any bird alt-mode honestly AirRazor’s feels like the best kinda bird design (not including the cassetticons).

⚠️ again this is not the queer experience for everyone, just an allegorical theory ⚠️

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miss-andromeda · 1 year ago

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Standing Alone In A Crowded Room

Universe: TMNT 2012

Turtle of Choice: Donatello

Prompt: Character A is found by Character B crying themselves to sleep.

Song Inspirations: The Story Of Us (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift, What If It Doesn’t End Well by chloe moriondo

This is non-canon, though if it were, it would take place in season 2, so Andi and Donnie are in a relationship.

----------

A gentle knock at the lab door didn’t stop Donnie from welding together the pieces of scrap metal as he merely called out a “what is it?” That earned him a snicker (which immediately made him put down the blowtorch) and a “wow, way to greet your girlfriend, Don.”

That made him look up at the girl in the doorway, making him subconsciously smile. “Hey, you, how was school?” He asked, standing up and going to kiss her as a greeting.

Once he pulled away, Andi smiled up at him as she put her backpack down and put her rosy pink cardigan on top of it. “Pretty good, though I have something to ask.” She told him, making Donnie nod and lead her over to the lab desk so she could sit next to him.

After they were both sitting down (and Donnie was giving her his full attention,) she took a breath and smiled softly at him. “So, uh…Roosevelt’s hosting a dance this Saturday at 7 pm, and I figured, since, you know, we’re dating, that…maybe you could, um…go with me? You can use that watch again and be my date.”

Donnie was immediately about to nod and smile, but then he remembered the day and gave her an apologetic look. “Hon, you know I absolutely would in a heartbeat, but I can’t. We have patrol in the evening, and then I need to finish working on this new upgrade of the shuriken stars we always use. I’m thinking of seeing if I can add a type of oxidizer, kind of like a smoke bomb and a throwing star rolled into one.” He explained, but sighed at the sad look on her face. He hated seeing her like that. “You know I would absolutely go if I could, but it’s super important that I have them done by then.”

“I know.” Andi mumbled, standing up to grab her backpack so she could start her calculus homework. “I was just…looking forward to going with you.” She admitted, making Donnie lean in and give her an apologetic kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll make it up to you, promise.”

----------

The next day found Andi walking alone to lunch - April had decided to stay after biology for extra credit and knowing Casey, he was being chastised by Mrs. Biers, his and April’s trig teacher, for being on the fringes of failing…again.

Ah, she’d deal with him when the time came.

She spared a glance at her purple binder (she had decided to bring some work while she waited for her friends…well, friend and Casey) and smiled to herself at the little picture she’d taken of Donnie, where he was in the middle of reading a book to her on the rare time they decided to have some downtime.

Even when she was a little upset with him, she could never stay mad at him for too long.

“Hey, Andi! Can I talk to you?”

She was stopped from walking as she caught a glimpse of shaggy, light brown hair running toward her. He looked…vaguely familiar, his name was…Josh, right?

“Hi.” His smile reminded her of Donnie, maybe it was because of the slight dorkiness of it or the fact that just like him, he had a gap as well.

“Uh, hi, um…why did you want to talk to me?” She asked, slightly confused.

“Oh, right! I wanted to ask you something! About the dance this Saturday! Um, do you have a date?”

Andi’s heart dropped at that. “I, um…thought I did.” When Josh gave her a sympathetic look, she shook her head. “Long story. So what, do you want to go with me or something?”

At the question, Josh’s hazel eyes lit up and a smile graced his face. “Yeah, I do! You seem like a nice girl, and I wanna get to know you a little better! And what better way to do that than to take you to a dance?”

Andi hesitated at that. It sounded and felt wrong to agree…but at the same time, she wasn’t going with Donnie anytime soon.

But she needed to make one thing clear. “If we go, we go as friends. I have a boyfriend, and the last thing I want him to think is that you and I are going as a couple.” She then looked directly in his eyes. “And if you try anything, you’re a dead man, you hear me?”

Seemingly unphased by her bluntness, Josh gave her a confident smile. “Got it! Yeah, we’ll just go as friends, no romantic motives here!”

Andi stared at him for a moment at the odd choice of wording, but finally nodded and gave in, writing down her number and address on a piece of scrap paper, then handing it to him. “Pick me up at my apartment at 6:30, okay?”

Josh gave her another smile as he pocketed the paper. “Yeah, sounds like a plan!”

“Cool, okay, um…well, I’ve got to get to lunch, my friends are probably waiting for me. Bye.” Andi gave him a slightly awkward wave as she walked away, immediately staring at the picture again. It somehow felt gross and weird again…but at the same time, there was only so much she could do in a situation with this. She already told him that they were strictly going as friends, so if he made any moves on her, that was on him. She could just hold her gun to him and that would get him off her back, and then she could just leave and tell Donnie what happened.

And speaking of Donnie…how was she going to explain it to him? She wasn’t necessarily cheating, but still…it just felt weird.

She let out a little sigh at the thought. This was going to be interesting to spell out…

----------

Standing in front of the lab door never felt more intimidating. But she had to be honest with him, the worst thing he could do was get frustrated with her…

But that was the thing. She hated when he was frustrated with her, especially because of something she did.

A deep, quiet sigh left her lips one more time as she bit the bullet and knocked on the door. Once again, another “what is it?” was heard from the other side, making her smile weakly. “Can I come in?”

She could practically hear his lips quirk into a smile as he replied, “Yeah, of course, hon!” She held her breath as she pushed the door open, meeting his bright eyes with her guilty, green ones. “Hey.”

Immediately, Donnie’s eyes shifted from joyous to concerned - and so did his tone. “Are you okay? You look pensive.”

Andi’s automatic response was to say she was fine, but she knew if she did, Donnie would tell her she was hiding something - and that would make things even worse. She shook her head and walked over to the lab desk, sitting next to him. “I, um…need to tell you something.”

His gaze then became more concerned as he placed a hand on her back comfortingly. “Of course, what’s going on?”

That little touch made her want to cry.

“I, um…” She sighed and bit the bullet again, looking down at the table. “There was this kid earlier today, he, um…came up to me, and asked if I had a date to the dance this Saturday. I, uh…I said no.” At that, she could feel his touch leave her back, making her want to start crying again. “And then he asked if I wanted to go with him, and I said yes, but I made it clear that we were going as friends only.”

When she looked back up, Donnie was looking away from her - his eyes stormy and misty from unshed tears. “But…you still said yes?”

“Yes, but we’re only going as-”

“I don’t care what you’re going as!” His tone turned angry as his head snapped over to look at her. “You’re gonna be some other guy’s girlfriend for the night?”

Stunned, Andi shook her head. “It’s not like that! I explicitly told him that he’d better not try anything with me, and that I have a boyfriend!”

“That’s right, you have a boyfriend. But I guess you forgot about that when you agreed to be that guy’s date! What, just because I told you I couldn’t do something with you this one time, that means you have the right to be some other guy’s girlfriend for the night?!”

Now Andi was starting to get irritated as she angrily stood up. “What part of ‘we’re going as friends’ do you not understand, you idiot?! I only agreed because I knew he was going to bother me about it, and I made sure he knows that it’s only platonic! It doesn’t mean anything!”

Donnie stood up next to her, his eyes blazing with anger. And out of anger, he said the one thing that he knew would hurt her:

“Sure doesn’t seem like it.”

Immediately, her face dropped and tears filled her eyes, but her face got red with anger. “Are you actually accusing me of not loving you anymore?” She told him, her voice quiet but filled with rage.

While Donnie’s heart split at seeing her cry (especially because of him,) he was still more hurt and angry than remorseful in the moment. “If you really did love me, Andromeda, you never would’ve accepted that guy’s offer to take you out.”

She scoffed and shook her head, tears now freely falling. “You know what? Forget you, Donatello. I’m going with him. I bet he’d be more fun than you would ever be.”

More hurt and anger controlled what he said - even if he knew that he would never mean what he said in a million years. “You know what, he probably is. If anything happens, don’t bother letting me know. Clearly your new boyfriend has you taken care of.”

Andi only scoffed, grabbed her bag and stormed out of the lair.

----------

And before either of them knew it, Saturday evening was here.

They hadn’t talked since the fight - no calls, no video chat, no texts, nothing. Both of them were practically waiting for the other to just give in and reach out - and when that wouldn’t be the case, they would both do their best to try and go on with their day, their hearts breaking as they did so.

As expected, Donnie had filled the void with experimenting - but it felt a bit more empty without seeing Andi alongside him. Her witty humor, sarcastic remarks, bright laugh…she added a new layer that Donnie had gotten comfortably used to when he was working.

Without her, it felt like a piece of his scientific mind was missing.

But then he glanced at the time and, seeing it was 6:30 pm, he rolled his eyes and went back to his work. Andi’s date would likely be picking her up soon…just the thought filled him with jealousy again. Someone else, touching his beautiful girlfriend…

He shook the thought out of his mind before he got even more distracted. She made her decision, and now he was making his.

And even if he knew that he was being petty, he didn’t necessarily care at the moment.

It was the principle that mattered…even if it was a pretty stupid principle.

----------

Meanwhile, Andi had just finished getting herself ready (the makeup took her longer than expected) and had just walked into the living room, her 2-inch heels clacking softly against the wooden floor. She looked nice - even if internally, she felt conflicted to the fourth degree.

She still felt guilty about accepting Josh’s invitation, but at the same time…Donnie had said he wasn’t going with her. And why was she about to stop herself from enjoying her night when someone else (and seemingly, a perfectly normal someone else) offered to be her date - even if they were just going as friends?

It was the principle that mattered.

And besides, there was something oddly cathartic about going to a party (or in this case, a school dance) after getting in a fight with him. Obviously, she wasn’t going to do anything she would really regret (and risk losing him for good,) but the idea of seeing her friends (or rather, friend and Casey - again) dressed up, dancing to the most popular songs and getting to know someone in Josh…didn’t seem like a bad idea.

Maybe after the night was over, Donnie would wisen up and send an apology.

Taking a breath in the mirror, Andi did a final one-over at herself. Her dress was cute; a pink hem dress with a high a-line - even if seeing his necklace made her heart crack. Her hair was teased and in a high ponytail, and a matching pink ribbon was tied into a bow to secure it. And her makeup…it took time, but she pulled it off. Much like what April normally did for her, a neutral look was the way to go for her. Foundation, concealer, pink lip gloss - but what was different (and what she was surprised that she pulled off) was the winged eyeliner and mascara that made her green eyes pop.

It made her look even better than she thought she would.

She checked her phone (and after rolling her eyes at no contact from Donnie,) she saw the time - 6:40 pm. While she was a bit miffed that he was late, she could excuse it. He was probably running late and was on his way now.

Still, it would’ve been nice to have a heads up.

Deciding not to check her phone again, she grabbed her copy of War and Peace and continued reading; maybe by the time she finished a chapter, she would get some type of heads up from Josh, or better yet, he would be knocking on her door.

“In the count’s room, which was full of tobacco smoke, they talked of the war that had been announced in a manifesto, and about the recruiting. None of them had yet seen the manifesto, but they all knew it had appeared.”

----------

“Gone? That’s all right!” said he; and looking angrily at the unconscious little princess, he shook his head reprovingly and slammed the door.”

10 chapters later, and still no Josh.

Angrily closing her book, Andi grabbed her phone - for two reasons this time. The time (which was now 7:45 pm), and to demand some answers.

She saw the missed messages from April, stemming from ‘Aren’t you on your way?’ to ‘Want me and Casey to come get you?’ to ‘Andi seriously, let me know what’s going on’.

She only responded with, ‘I’m calling him now. Don’t think I’m gonna come, because if I see him, I’ll beat his face in.’

She then used the number Josh had used to text her days before and called, her face red with anger. She was just about to start demanding where he was when he answered with a “hello?”, but then stopped when he heard another voice next to him.

A girl’s voice.

“Uh, did you forget we were supposed to go together? What happened to that?” She told him, her tone inches away from boiling over into full-blown anger.

“Oh, yeah, uh…look, Andi…I wasn’t really serious when I asked that. Uh, can I explain?”

Andi rolled her eyes and scoffed at the wording. ”Yeah, I’d like an explanation.”

“So look, I only asked you if you’d go with me ‘cause…well, then I could tell everyone I got another girl to be my date. And it spread to Becca, you know her, and…well, she told me yesterday that she wanted to get back with me, and she missed me, and I ended up askin’ her. I didn’t really know how to tell you, so I just…didn’t.”

At the explanation (and the half-baked way he said it,) Andi had to hold back from calling him as many expletives as she could think up. “So I was just a-”

Before she could say ‘rebound,’ Josh hung up on her, leaving her stunned for a second.

And then she started to cry.

Throwing her phone aside, she grabbed a pillow to stuff her face into it (she was so relieved it could be washed), sniffling and whimpering pathetically. It wasn’t that she was angry because she had feelings for him - honestly, she couldn’t care less about him.

It was two different reasons: she hated feeling used (and for such a dumb reason as being a rebound,) and that this was the reason she and Donnie had gotten into that fight.

Donnie…just remembering him made Andi’s head shoot up, her pillow now stained with mascara.

Now it was being used to catch more mascara-laden tears as she grabbed her phone again and went to the messages app. She was tempted to text April first and explain what was going on, but she stopped herself.

Right now, she needed her turtle.

So instead of going to April’s contact name, she went to Donnie’s and typed in a message for him:

‘Hey…look, I know I’m probably the last person you want to see right now, but hear me out. I’m so sorry for what happened, it was really selfish of me to accept his offer to the dance. I was too focused on having a good time that I didn’t even think about you. Makes sense why you would think that way, it does look a little bad when your girlfriend is going as someone else’s date, friend or not.

The other reason I’m sending this is because…I’m home. That boy ended up being a real jerk, and he flat-out told me he was just using me - and then ended up standing me up. I understand if you don’t want to, but if you could come over…it would really help.

And if it helps…I love you.’

She sniffled as she sent the message, then immediately put her phone down and curled up on the couch, closing her eyes.

It wasn’t like she expected a response.

----------

Donnie read the message three times over just to ensure that he wasn’t hallucinating.

All of his frustration and anger towards her faded away as he read it over - she apologized (which he was appreciative of,) but then it came back as he kept going.

But not to her, to that simpleton who thought it was okay to stand her up.

He was about to send back a reply, but went against it - deciding it was smarter to do what she asked and run to her.

Hopefully she was still in a mood to see him.

----------

By the time he made it, his heart split at the sight.

Andi was still in her dress, but her makeup was smudged and messy and her ribbon had been discarded on the table. Her heels had been tossed to the side - right by the door, And she looked to be…quietly snoring.

And if he looked closely, he could see faded mascara lines on her cheeks and on her pillow.

If he didn’t feel like scum before, he absolutely did now.

Quietly opening the window, he crept inside and walked over to her, gently shaking her shoulder. When she jumped awake, he gave her an apologetic look. “Hi.”

“Don…?”

“It’s me, enchantress.”

The room was quiet as Donnie stepped in front of her, then kneeled down to face her and grab her hands. “I got your message.”

“You did?”

He only nodded. “I am so sorry for what happened. I was being jealous for no reason and I wasn’t bothering to listen and hear you out. I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt…believe me, I know you would never do anything to hurt me in a million years. It was just…the idea of you being with someone else, even if it was only platonic…it hurt. But instead of telling you that, and having a normal conversation about it, I just…” He sighed as he squeezed her hands, his gaze averting to the floor. “I let my emotions get the better of me.”

“It’s okay, I forgive you.” She whispered, letting go of one of his hands to tilt his head back up to look her in the eyes. “You mean everything to me, professor, and I don’t want one stupid fight to end us. Especially when we can both make sure that it doesn’t get to this point. I need to be more considerate about your feelings, and not just act on my own volition, and you need to remember to trust me. I understand where you’re coming from, but I mean it when I say I never want to be the source of your pain. You’re the center of my solar system, and the last thing I want is to lose the sun that all my planets revolve around.”

Donnie gave her a weak smile as he grabbed the hand resting under his chin, then pulled her in to rest their foreheads together. “I love you. More than anything.” He whispered, making her tearfully smile back.��

“I love you too.”

He leaned in to kiss her, the now sticky lip gloss being as apparent as ever. But in the moment, he didn’t mind it. Normally, he wouldn’t love the feeling lingering on his lips after he pulled away from her - but after what they had gone through in the past few days, he welcomed it with open arms.

Anything that told him that Andi forgave him and that they were going to be okay.

After what felt like forever, he finally pulled away and gave her another little smile. “Do you want me to stay over? You can change into some pajamas and we’ll just hang out for the night.”

For the first time that night, she smiled back. “I’d like that.” She replied, then gasped to herself when he helped her off the couch. “I’ll be in my room in a little bit.” She said, then took a breath as she went to grab some pajamas, and then went to the bathroom.

----------

And after an exceedingly long amount of time (the makeup had taken much longer to remove than she intended - and she wanted to take a shower to ensure that any residue was washed away,) Andi was finally finished.

Wearing a white lace cami and pink shorts, and with her hair in a bun, she walked out of the bathroom and hung the dress up, looking at it pensively. “Shame I never got to wear it out, it’s a pretty one.” She commented, then walked over to Donnie, who was now sitting on the side of her bed. Giving him a little smile, she got under the covers and gestured for him to follow - and the pink tint on his cheeks made her giggle under her breath. “I’m not gonna bite, Don.”

“I-I know, it’s just…I’m never gonna get used to doing stuff like this.” He only replied, making her roll her eyes fondly.

“Just come here and cuddle me, dummy.”

That finally made Donnie crack a smile and cave, getting under her bubblegum covers and pulling her into his arms.

As if by magic, Andi let out a yawn as she snuggled closer. “I’m glad you came over…” She mumbled under her breath, closing her eyes. She hadn’t realized how tired she had become until now - and Donnie’s warmth and overall presence was absolutely not helping.

She subconsciously smiled when he kissed her on the forehead. “Go to sleep, hon, we’ll talk in the morning.” He softly told her, then bit back a laugh as she lightly nodded - falling asleep almost immediately.

When he heard her softly snoring, he glanced over at the dress and smiled the same way she had before. If what had happened tonight…well, hadn’t happened, she would’ve looked beautiful in it.

While he could breathe at the idea that they were able to talk about what happened, that didn’t mean that he was happy that such a nice outfit was basically wasted on a night like this - and he was doubly bothered that they couldn’t go to that dance together.

So that got him thinking.

She deserved to have a great night, wearing a beautiful outfit, and having her boyfriend right by her side. She especially deserved it after he was such a jerk to her the entire week…seriously, getting that jealous over some kid that would never have a chance with her in a million years - especially after that same kid turned out to be a dirtbag too?

Yeah, she definitely deserved him making it up to her.

And that’s when ideas started to form…maybe a nice dinner in the lab? Or on her rooftop? And he could give her that dance that she likely wanted if they went tonight.

And it’d be even better because it would be just them. No brothers, no stupid kid to stand her up…just the two of them.

He glanced at her sleeping face and managed a little smile, kissing her on the forehead again.

That was definitely something to talk about in the morning.

----------

STS Takeover: September Edition! Hope y'all enjoy 🩷🩷

@thelaundrybitch @leosgirl82 @post-apocalyptic-daydream @tinkabelle19 @eveandtheturtles @happymoonangel @kikithedreamerwriter @android-cap-007 @raphsmuneca

#sts takeover challenge #mistakes happen #all's fair in love and science #oc andi rhodes #tmnt 2012 #donatello

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