#leos the oldest; raph and mikey are the middle children (twins); donnies the youngest

[enlighten3d]

i will wait until the show has come out or until i can rewatch the movie to properly explain this, but everyone please listen to me:

MUTANT MAYHEM MIKEY AND RAPH ARE TWINS.

f i g h t m e.

[stickynotelovers-art]

Hi I hope it’s okay to ask but why does everyone assume Donnie and Leo have this secret bond that the show doesn’t show us? The show seems to imply that mikey is bonded with them more than they are with each other. Donnie and mikey specifically, so I’m just wondering as to why people say Donnie and Leo have that connection when they don’t?

I don't mind, I can't speak for everyone, but this is how I see it.

All 4 of them have a different dynamic with each other. We know Mikey's the youngest and Raph's the oldest, but all we know is that Donnie and Leo are the middle children of the group and are most likely the same age. The two of them are very similar in ways that Raph and Mikey aren't. There's multiple instances where they are behaving the exact same way or responding in the same manner. Usually little things like the "land safely" joke or them being dressed in matching outfits in Repairin' the Baron. We also see on more than one occasion where Leo and Donnie kind of feed off of each other's chaoticness. Prime example is the Mystic Library episode, but on the flipside they also will be seen acting as each others impulse control (usually Leo as Donnie's). A lot of people started saying they are twins and there is a general agreement that they actually will swap roles of who gets to be the oldest. It's all in good fun and just an accepted headcanon of rottmnt community as whole.

I know that's kind of a long winded explanation and I'm not sure I answered it well, but really it boils down to it's how people relate to the characters. Leo and Donnie just have different attitudes and behavior with each other that they don't expand to Mikey and Raph.

[seaghosst]

Can you tell me about the mutation of the turtles? Also what’s the turtles age order? Likes who’s the oldest, who’s the youngest, etc.

IM SO EXCITED TO TALK ABT THISAA.

the mutation was one of the first things i thought abt cause i knew i wanted one of them to be a sea turtle but for that to happen it would need to be an intentional mutation . SO:

donnie and leo were mutated on purpose by baxter stockman, they were just taken from the wild which is why they’re species found in california :D

however!! raph and mikey are actually mutated on accident, they were some kid’s pet turtles about to get taken home but they are dropped when stockman’s lab is being destroyed. (that’s why they’re species commonly met as pets) when splinter is escaping into the sewers with leo and donnie and a vial of mutagen, they follow him in. the vial breaks while in the sewers which mutates splinter, raph, and mikey.

as for the ages, mikey is the oldest, leo and donnie are middle children and twins, and raph is the youngest :) they’re all a year apart

[melancholysway]

My favorite turtle duos (ranked) and why

OUT OF 5 STARS BC I CAN SORRY FOR BEINFG INACTIVE LMAO

Donatello & Raphael

OKAY.

This is my all time fave duo I’ve said it like 7 times already.

I don’t know why, but Donnie and Raph (especially in the 2003 version) go so well together. DONNIE CALLS RAPH “RAPHIE.” I LOVE IT. They also seem to together when fighting (there’s a small scene in the 2007 version where Raph asks Don for his help while fighting a foot soldier, it’s cute brotherly love y’all I love it)

ANYWAY

I also hc that Raph's favorite brother is Donnie, i don't know why, but i can really see it through every version of them

There’s literally a 2003 TMNT compilation of just Donnie and Raph moments, Donnie canonically calls Raph “Raphie,” and Raph seems to insult Donnie less if not barely. (although in the 2012 version he throws his lil nerdy jokes at him)

Donnie & Raph 100% gives off middle child vibes, so it’s only right they’re the best duo. We see Leo as the oldest and Mikey the youngest, but we never really talk about where don and Raph lie. It’s simply because they’re the

*shudders* middle children

& because they’re the middle children they do A LOT together than people think. They play video games together (as shown in the 2003 version,) have a sarcasm match together & anything else!

Raph also looks out for Donnie during combat since he knows he’s the weakest out of the four of them<3

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️‼️

Leonardo and Donatello

Okay, rise!donnie & leo??? MY FAVORITE.

I feel like Donnie is the backbone of a lot of Leo's plans. If you think about it, a lot of the time Leo may rely on Donnie to either hack or invent something for them to use in their mission. Though in the 2012 he doesn't allow donnie to use the turtle mech because it was too risky, but a lot of his inventions seriously save Leo all the trouble of making a plan up and stressing him out

I also love the thought of them as twins bc it makes so much sense & I enjoy it A LOT!!!

Leo praises Donnie for a lot of his work, but Raph does it the most

5/5!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Leonardo and Raphael

Okay, I LOVE. In every installment, they seriously kill it together.

I enjoyed them a lot in the 2012 version, it wasn't like bayverse or 2003 where a lot of the screentime was taken up by them arguing. We saw how caring Raph was during the farmhouse arc and how he really missed Leo, and tried to help him get back on his feet as leader. Not only that, but 2007 Raph secretly really cared for Leo A LOT, i think the line where Raph says

"Youre gonna need these [katana] if youre gonna lead us out of here," & Leo says, "I'm gonna need you, too." LIKE BROOO????? *cries*

I truly love their small rivalry but brotherly love at the same time like wut

But anyhoo, I really like that although they may get into it (yuh) with each other, they still fight really good together regardless I love them wtf.

4.5/5! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Leonardo and Michelangelo

AH

OkaY OKAY

I love the little brother older brother dynamic here seriously!

I feel like Mikey is a trouble magnet and Leo is just a worried mom friend who tries to steer him away from it yet winds up getting involved anyways

I also hc that Leo carries hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE he goes no matter what. They’re not touching anything foreign unless they slather a gloop of hand sanitizer on

Makes sure Mikey is safe during combat. I’ve thought about this for a while, but I feel like Leo will always watch Mikey’s back without him even realizing it. Mikey is pretty oblivious and Leo is always there to pick up the things he misses!

Also i 100% think that Leo and mikey discuss pranks to do on Raph, almost all of them are Leo’s idea but don’t tell Raph that

4/5!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[idioticsky]

ORIGINAL TMNT ITERATION OCS AND INFO OR REFS SHEETS/WRITING FOR THE BOYS??? 👁👁

Shhh I have yet to figure out everything, but I'm getting there-

Buuuuuuut, I will give some basic info if you wish my dear friend Cherry :]

Donnie

Oldest out of him and his brothers (17)

Florida softshell turtle

The technical team leader, but Leo just says everything that he says but louder (he doesn't really care too much tho-)

Still got his low empathy from rise

Still the tech genius of the team, spends most of his time in the lab

5'9 (tallest he'll get is like 5'11)

Still uses his Bō staff

Really hasn't been the same after the "incident"

Mikey

Second oldest (16)

Painted turtle

The team parent, he's trying to keep everyone together and stop Leo and Raph from fighting 24/7. The one making sure Donnie gets some food most days since he never leaves his lab

Draws and cooks to help relax after a long day

ADHD baby

5'5 (tallest he'll get is like 5'9-5'10)

Still got his nunchucks

Doesn't like to think about the incident

Leo

Middle child and twin with Raph (both 13, will explain the middle child bit in a sec after I get done with Raph)

Still a Red-eared slider

Still the face man and "team leader" but bro's just a goof who tries to show off to every cute guy or girl he gets the chance to talk with (he's a horrible flirt)

team medic as well since I love the idea of him being all jokes then serious when someone gets injured pretty bad

5'6 (tallest he'll get is like 6'3)

Also got ADHD baby

Still got his katanas

Really too young to remember the incident other than bits and pieces

Raph

Middle child (13)

Green sea turtle

Really nice and kind to people who aren't family, but he can be a menace to his fam

Likes to cook with Mikey and take care of his pet cat that his little sister promptly names Snickers cuz the cat constantly made the sound when they found them

Loose canon on missions sometimes

5'7

ADD boy

He got both his tonfa and sai

With Leo on barely remembering the incident

Now, explaining the middle child nonsense. I have an oc that I made a bit ago names Amelia (named after Amelia Earhart since I really liek the history with her), she's the turtles baby sister. Do I have a drawing of her? No- no I don't. Will I have one at some point? No idea man, anyway info time for her

Amelia

Youngest (8)

Cape dwarf gecko/common dwarf gecko

Really sweet and loves to tinker with things, she'll soon become the mechanic and works on anything that Donnie doesn't have time for (*cough cough* turtle tank *cough cough*)

About 2'5 (so smoll, tallest she'll get is about 5'5)

She'll learn hand-to-hand combat when she's older, like boxing and stuff

Girl got a NASTY right hook

She was a baby when the incident happened

Now, this little incident that happened is the reason we don't got info for Splinter. What happened was Donnie and Mikey were out grabbing some groceries and were followed home by Bishop and his crew. They had gotten a few reports of turtle kids roaming around and needed to check it out. Needless to say, Splinter was captured and killed that night, but at least she (yes in this iteration she's their mom and not their dad) got her children out safe. They've been living in their new lair ever since.

But yeah! This is the basics! Hope you like em Cherry! :D

(Don't mind me also writing headcanons for Danny and Leo that I'll post later)

[yellowhollyhock]

which pair gives you twin vibes for the next mutation?

With them it's really difficult, it feels a lot more like everyone's about equal maturity than usual

I like @whattraintracks's take that Venus thinks Raph is her little brother while Raph thinks she's his little sister. So I guess I would see those two as the twins. Which! Also explains Donnie taking a while to warm up to Venus, because before she came along he and Raph were the Middle Children together, and with her there the dynamics change to place him more in the 'younger sibling' group.

Do I and my 2003-leaning Donatello-loving heart think that Raph and Don were the twins but that shifted somewhat when Venus came along being clearly more mature than either of them but somehow still Raph's baby sister and thus nothing but his twin? And definitely is an Older Sister towards Donatello? Well it hasn't not occurred to me. I will be incorporating the idea into buttonverse.

but truthfully with all turtles and especially this group I see this is a very fluid dynamic since they are all the same age and all pretty close because of how isolated they are. Mikey youngest and Leo oldest is most consistent but sometimes in tnm those two are twins (vibes wise). Anything is possible when you just don't know your exact age due to being mutated shortly after hatching and human aging being slightly different than turtle aging and given what you know about turtles you probably all hatched together but it seems like you maybe hit developmental milestones at slightly different times but who really knows believe

[psycodasmolpotato]

Possibly a tmnt au idea???

Okay i have had this idea stuck in my brain for weeks now. To put it (not so) short:

- Leo and Venus are twins and artificially mutated Leatherback sea turtles

- They’re the youngest out of all the turtles

- Mikey’s the oldest while Raph and Donnie are the middle children

- The trio are all the same age, they just decided Mikey was the oldest because of his natural caring and watchful older bro vibes and because he’s physically the largest out of all of them.

- The trio were originally humans who ended up mutating into turtles because of Kraang bullshit. Same thing with Splinter.

- Leo is the one i have the most ideas for but i will try to flesh out the other characters as best as i can

- I have accidentally given him a shit ton of angst (ideas wise) and now i need to give the others angst so it balances out.

This isn’t even half of my ideas used and even the google doc i made isn’t enough to explain all of this. But i really want to make some sort of ask blog or something but i can’t draw that well atm so i’d probably just be text.

This au is also unnamed and inspired by the 2012 version (mostly because it’s the one i grew up with).

Anyways thoughts? There’s a lot of stuff i haven’t really figured out yet like potential villains, if magic/mysticism is a thing, if the turtles will be different species or the same ones etc. But yeah.

[llcsecret]

Oh my gods, I love this discussion. It's always cool to talk about the different possibilities and therefore the different dynamics they have depending on their 'birth' order.

Most versions show Raph and Leo as the oldest brothers and Mikey and Donnie as the youngest. You can see it in the little things most of the time, but sometimes it's just really obvious. Obviously Rise was a change to the dynamics we were used too, but I love to see how that works tow and how that change their relationships with one another.

Nonetheless, I agree that in most versions and specifically with the 12' turtles Leo is the oldest and Mikey the youngest. Raph and Donnie are obviously the middle children and it really doesn't matter how you want to write them or perceive them (as twins or one older than the other) it is a fact that you can't really deny.

in tmnt 2012, the turtles treat their mutation day as a birthday of sorts, so it would make sense if their age order was the order they were mutated in

in the backstory in rise of the turtles part 1, we see the order is leo, donnie, mikey, raph (but raph calls mikey ‘little brother’ a lot so the order could actually be leo, donnie, raph, mikey)

As much as I love that backstory, it's pretty unreliable since it's a shortened rendition of how things really went down. That, and the details changed quite a bit once Lone Rat and Cubs came along a whole four seasons later. We never get a definitive answer for their birth order, which is likely due to the logistics of turtles being born collectively in a clutch. And, again, though we saw a comic-esque recreation of their mutations, we're never actually shown the order of events. For all we know, they could've turned into mutants all at once.

Before the Rise series, it was generally agreed upon that the order was Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey (or sometimes Raph then Donnie), and that still applies for the '12 series. We have very little to go off of other than the implications the writers chose to give us, so yeah, one can reasonably assume Mikey is the youngest because he is treated as and called such by his own family. Leo is often labeled the oldest simply because of his ability to bare the most responsibilities out of his brothers, as well as his sometimes more mature perspectives on whatever situations they may find themselves in.

Whether Donnie is older than Raph or vice versa, I think we can all agree they're middle children through and through lol.

[twicethetrouble]

ANOTHER ROTTMNT AU that I probably won't write

Turtles are Lou Jitsu/Big Mama's kids before turtle mutation

- b/c why the hell not

 (Everything under the cut b/c apparently this is a long one)

start

- Basically Big Mama decides she'd rather have Lou join the battle nexus willingly than as a captive. (She likes the thing they have going on and would rather it not end anytime soon.)

- she introduced him to the Battle Nexus.

- After the shock wares off, he's fascinated by it. (The movies were great but he was getting bored.)

- Lou joins the Battle Nexus willingly and the two stay in a relationship (not married, just together.) (Some talk about how he's her pet champion but those that talk too loud end up disappearing.)

- As a result of their continued relationship, they end up having kids. 4 boys (the middle 2 being twins, of course)

(I can't decide if they have the same names or not so we'll skip that for now.)

- Now, a quick note for this AU. Part of the reason Yokai stopped interacting with humans was b/c whenever a hybrid was produced, they tended to be more human than Yokai. (Even more if a cloaking broach is involved. It throws in extra genetic variables so the offspring can end up inheriting traits from that as well.)

- The boys are no exception. They look human except for a few... oddities.

- Raph has the fluffy mint colored hair and red eyes of Big Mama's spider form. (Not fully red eyes.) He's also exceptionally strong, having once thrown a temper tantrum that resulted in throwing his entire crib across the room. He also likes to pick up his brothers and bodily carry them for no reason. Much to his parents panic upon finding the baby just missing.

- Leo is the oldest twin (by 2 minutes). He and Donny look the most human (with Lou's black hair and dark eyes) the only odditys being from the lavender purple spots on their skin they got from Big Mama's human form (think Leo's marks except more organic looking). (Tho they seemed to both start developing extra, spider like limbs by the time they're 1). Leo likes to follow around Big Mama whenever he can, often sitting on her lap during meeting and trying to mimic her facial expressions.

- Donny is the youngest twin. Again, mostly human looking. His purple spots are different then Leo (again his turtle markings but different, tho he does also have one over his right eye as well.) He is very frustrated about not having extra limbs like Big Mama. He is constantly wearing a spider themed backpack with little bouncy spider limbs as a result and will scream whenever it's removed.

- Mikey is the baby (obviously). He has Big Mama's human form hair and eyes, tho if u lift up his hair and there's 4 spider eyes on his forehead that he hasn't figured out how to open yet.

mutation day

- On mutation day, Raph is 2, the twins are a little over 1, and Mikey is 3 months.

- Draxum sends his gargoyles to grab Lou like originally planned.

- Huggins and Muggins arrive at the room, finding only the 4 boys asleep in their beds (Lou is currently arguing with Big Mama in another room about wanting to stop fighting for the boy’s sake.)

- Huggins and Muggins thinks one of the boys is Lou so, not knowing which it would be, grab all four.

- Draxum sees the four and realizes they’re Lou’s kids (but he’s not paying attention to gossip so he doesn’t realize they’re half yokai) and decides starting with a young human base might be more beneficial than an animal base.

- He has them each interact with the turtles he was going to mutate before mutating the children instead.

- Lou shows up just in time to see his boys mutated into turtles.

- Draxum is woefully unprepared for the fury Lou fights him with. He destroys the lab and steals his sons back, getting covered in mutagen as he does.

- He’s back in the NYC before he realizes that his boys are alright, just turtles, and that he’s now mutated into a rat-man.

- (Also that the mutation has overrode their yokai dna so they no longer have those traits)

- He can’t go back to Big Mama like this. He certainly can’t fight in the Nexus like this and she made it exceptionally clear that’s the only reason why she keeps him around (a lie but he doesn’t realize that)

- so he stays in the human world, eventually finding a decent place to hide in the sewers and raises his sons alone.

- he doesn’t talk about before they were mutated, keeping the only human(ish) picture he has of them hidden deep in the do-not-touch cabinet.

- If they assume they’ve always been turtles then, well, he doesn’t correct them. It was probably for the best anyways.

post mutation

-The boys were so young, they don’t really remember a before.

-Mikey definitely doesn’t.

- Leo doesn’t really either. His only memory being sitting on someone’s lap as they sat behind a big desk and made faces at weird men, but he assumes it’s just an old dream he can’t quite shake.

- Donny knows there was..something. He knows they used to look different (but not exactly how) and has a foggy memory of being caught pulling apart a new toy and a women praising him for being so smart. (he still is very much frustrated by lack of extra limbs, hence his spider limb battle shell, which was probably the first non-standard battle shell he designed.)

- Raph, without a doubt, remembers the most. He remembers they had a mom and how pops looked different back then. He remembers being chased by an owl man after escaping his  watch. But he also remembers how mutation day felt, and is forever grateful his brothers do not.

Series

- series doesn’t really change much

- Big Mama never knew her boys got mutated (instead thinking Lou had taken them and left after their fight) so 13 years later, when 4 turtle mutants start causing trouble for her, she is exceptionally confused as to why she immediately thinks of her lost boys.

A strong one in red, carrying his brothers without thought

A clever one in blue, who seems to see right through her tricks like his mind works just like hers.

A smart purple one with fake spider limbs.

And an smiling orange one who trust his brothers without fault.

- She tries to keep them at the hotel to figure out why, but Blue is too clever for that.

- It’s not until she meets Lou/Splinter again does she put the puzzle pieces together.

- She doesn’t quite believe it until Blue cons her in her own game.

-after that, i’m not sure what would happen. maybe she would sit back and watch them from afar? Maybe she would continue her plans for a weird “they’re my kids, i know they can handle the challenge” sort of way? Either way she knows now. And she’s not going to be able to pretend that she doesn’t.

[barikinbear]

Rise Head Canons Because You Can’t Stop Me

Leo hates frozen orange juice. Don’t ask why, he just does.

They all used to dog pile on Raph to sleep when they were little. Sometimes they still do.

April is actually her middle name. Her first name is a closely guarded secret. All she’ll say is it starts with L.

Donnie knows what it is, and he Will Not betray her trust.

Mikey sometimes forgets to eat. He’ll just get so busy painting or drawing he simply forgets. Splinter is usually the one to make him eat.

Casey and Donnie also forget to eat occasionally. April will send them pictures of food daily to remind them to eat.

Splinter was an only child, and while he’s fine with that, he’s glad his sons have each other. He secretly enjoys watching their sibling antics.

Cassandra has two sets of boy/girl twins in her family, besides her and her twin brother. They’re the oldest pair, with the middle pair being thirteen, and the youngest being ten.

She was very relieved when Casey was a single baby.

Leo has a list of names he likes for his future children, if he ever has any. Only Splinter knows about it, and he’ll offer suggestions on occasion.

Donnie gets super clingy when he’s tired. He wrap himself around just about anyone and fall asleep.

He steadfastly denies this.

Raph always wanted a sister, and he was so excited to meet April and finally have an older sister.

Mikey was the last to learn to read. He was just too hyper to sit still and read a book. Splinter found some old Calvin and Hobbes comic books, and they held Mikey’s interest long enough to teach him to read.

Donnie hates apples. He hates the peel, and the inside of the fruit feels grainy in his mouth.

Mikey loves apples. He once made an apple pie pizza, which did not turn out great. April suggested he not use pizza sauce next time, and it turned out much better with her help.

Leo will often go sleep with Raph after a nightmare. Or he’ll go sit with Donnie if he’s still up.

Raph is happy to let Leo sleep with him, but he wishes he could do more. Splinter assures him he’s doing all he can.

Donnie secretly listens to Taylor Swift. His favorite songs are Mirrorball, Almost Do, and Red (taylor’s version, ofc).

Leo also love Taylor Swift. His favorite songs are I Knew You Were Trouble, Bad Blood, and Shake It Off.

Mikey loves The Shortlist. His favorite song is 1916.

Raph loves Mitch King and We Came As Romans.

Splinter hopes for grandchildren one day. He’ll never say anything to his sons about this, because he doesn’t want them to feel guilty about not really having a lot of options for potential mothers for these grandchildren.

He’ll spoil April’s future kids as if he’s their grandpa.

The boys do find love one day. They meet their future wives in the Hidden City.

Raph marries Mona, obviously.

Mikey and his wife will have eight kids. All girls, don’t argue with me.

Leo’s future wife has a Southern accent, probably. She calls everyone honey.

Donnie’s wife is Scottish. And 6’7.

[halloweennut]

Okay, so I LITERALLY just thought of this while I was making my supper, and I managed to write it out. So, once again, happy birthday, and I hope you enjoy this fluffy drabble for your happy family AU ^v^

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

“...What are you doing up?”

Lou froze. Slowly and sheepishly, he turned to face his husband, who was now sitting up in bed. “Well I- I mean, I was just, heh, well… What are YOU doing up?”

“You woke me up,” Draxum said flatly, too tired to be amused.

“Riiiight… Well, it's just…” Lou’s smile softened. “It is after midnight, after all.” 

At that, Draxum’s eyes suddenly filled with understanding. “...It wouldn't exactly be wise to wake them. I doubt they'd be in the mood for celebrating.” Though as he says this, he can't help but smile a little as well. Lou promises that it’ll be quick, and Draxum follows him to the nursery.

It's dark and peaceful in the room, the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling being their only light. Still, with enough time, Lou’s eyes adjusted and he could see the sleeping faces of his sons, all of them cuddling with their favorite plushies as they dream sweet dreams. Raph and Donnie snored lightly while Mikey mumbled in his sleep. Leo was the only completely silent one, but his sprawled out form nearly made him chuckle. Lou made sure to stop by each crib (and bed, in his oldest’s case), taking enough time to smile down at them, whisper a happy birthday wish, and give each of his boys a light kiss on the forehead before moving along and allowing Draxum to do the same.

Raph was already so big, taking up most of his toddler-sized bed while the spikes on his shell threatened to poke through his footie pajamas. Lou could tell that he was going to grow up to be big and strong - easily as strong as he was in his prime Nexus days - but also hoped that his oldest wouldn't lose his kind and loving nature as he grew. 

The twins were coming along nicely as well. He could tell that Donnie was a clever one, just in how he curiously examined his toys and tried to sound out the words himself whenever he was read to. Lou had no doubt that Donnie will grow up to be smarter than him, possibly even smarter than Draxum. And as for Leo, even for someone so young, he was already filled with plenty of personality and charm. Certainly a chip off the Jitsu block, Lou thought with a smirk.

As for Mikey, he was still struggling a bit to get around on his stubby legs, more than happy to just be carried around by one of his fathers. But, whenever his youngest did manage to get ahold of something, he'd usually end up turning it into a very messy yet very creative crafts project. Lou could still remember being scolded by his father for being interested in art as a boy, being told that it was a worthless hobby that wouldn't help him in any way that mattered. As such, he made a promise right then and there that he’d hang every single one of Mikey’s future art pieces up somewhere to be admired, not caring if he’d have to cover every inch of his home to do so.

Once he finished, Lou ended up just standing in the middle of the room, staying in the center of all his sons as he thought about the past year. A year of smiles and tears, of frustrations and small victories, and no doubt plenty of joy. A year of his sons being healthy and happy, a year of having a family… He could only hope that they all received many, many more years such as this one together.

“...Lou?” A sharp finger wiped away a tear he didn’t even know was there, and Lou quietly chuckled as he wiped away the rest.

“I’m alright,” he insisted, “Heh, look at me, getting all emotional.”

Draxum did look at him, his pink and orange eyes filled with the same vulnerability he had when he first proposed the idea of children to his lover, as well as back when he first confessed his love. Lou was the only person who could make him unafraid to feel such things, to want to stand tall even when he felt weak. “Are you happy?” he asked in a whisper, cupping his love’s face, “Truly happy?”

Lou didn’t even hesitate. “Happier than I have ever been,” he replied honestly, putting his hand over Draxum’s. The two shared a long, soft kiss before finally leaving the nursery, letting their boys sleep. Too awake to go back to bed, they spent the hours until dawn sitting up on the balcony, going over various memories from the sons’ first year and sharing both laughs and tears. When they heard the telltale whines and cries of boys who were ready to start the day, the morning became a lot more energetic. 

All four turtles were treated to a yummy homemade breakfast, and in the hours leading up to their party and the rest of their family arriving, they were given piggyback rides, gentle vine swings, and fun flights around the room (courtesy of Huginn and Muninn, naturally) to their tiny hearts’ content. The arrival of Auntie Shen and Auntie Mama brought more sweets and presents and fun, and by the time the day was done, each boy had what seemed like a mountain of presents.

As successful and enjoyable as the day had been, they highly doubted that any of them - even Raph, who was technically three years old - would remember their first birthday. But even so, Lou and Draxum both considered it a day to be remembered, and one that neither of them would forget.

----

AAAAAAH

I'm crying the club right now. This is so good and cute!!!

Thank you love!! 💖💖💖💖

[kageyamarltsu]

ROTTMNT OCs

Okay first off, a bit of a preface: They’re a bit based off these guys from the 2003 tmnt

fyi tho, rottmnt is my first tmnt media, I actually never got into tmnt before then because it never really interested me (I only watched media with lots of girls when I was younger,) And while I do plan to watch the 2003 n 2012 ones eventually, I don’t know much about the other turtle universes ^^; sorry!

Next thing, I imagine them being sometime after the whole Shredder arc, and being like the turtles next main foe. They’re created by Baron Draxum of course, and they’re around the same age as the rest of the turtles. Major difference is that they’re essentially “””raised””” by Draxum-- not actually, as he doesn’t regard them as his children, and doesn’t give them names, they’re called by their numbers; he’s a bad parent. He treats them like soldiers, and since they only know that sort of lifestyle, they just go with it.

They all each mirror their respective turtle, in both personality and body type/character design shape.

Second preface: they are all girls.

‘Why?’ you may ask. Simple, I love girls, and you can’t go wrong with more girls in your show! Also, goes with them being raised soldiers and having higher and stricter standards held by Baron Draxum as a sort of metaphor for how girls are raised to higher standards at a young age and don’t get to act like teens as much. (Though one of the major plot points with them is them learning to act like teenagers and have fun, through both the turtle crew and April)

Now to finally introduce them.

#1 Mirrors: Leo

I’m imaging her more-so mirroring (from my little knowledge of) past iterations of Leo. Where she’s the oldest of her sisters, has a lot of responsibilities to uphold, and is the leader of her sisters. She’s the only one of her sisters who actually looks like a turtles (I’m still deciding if the others look somewhat similar to a turtle-- like with having shells-- or are completely different animals). I’m still deciding though if I want her to be a red-eared slider like Leon, or a different turtle breed from all the main boys entirely.

She’s considered Draxum’s favorite due to her being the envisioned soldier he wanted. She follows orders clearly and concisely, is one of the strongest of her sisters. Although Draxum expects her to be cutthroat, when she actually doesn’t like the idea of being murderous. She attacks hard and strong, but she doesn’t wanna kill anyone! She’s incredibly protective of her younger sisters, and would do anything to make sure they’re safe (even if they may not do the same for her)!

Also since she’s Draxum’s favorite, he let’s her use his like seed things he uses to to make those purple vines. She uses those similar to him, but mostly to make twin swords (another relation to Leo!), and she can combine them hilt-to-hilt to make one bigger sword that she can spin around n stuff. She can also use them to make other weapons or used for other purposes if she wants to, but she prefers the swords.

Doesn’t immediately bond with Leo at first, because she’s emo and angsty. But when she grows a bit, she joins in on memeing with him. She also likes puns, and makes them a lot too! (Even in the beginning)

#2 Mirrors: Donnie

Like science nerd baby Donatello, she’s the brains of her group. Major difference is while Donnie has his *Leo voice* Emotionless Passion™, #2 is passionately emotionless! She’s like feral and just always hyped about things, but has zero morals in an evil way. I know a lot of people like to poke at the idea of Donnie going to ~the dark side~ but I never think he would, he’s still a good boy at heart. #2 however has been raised to be evil, so...

She’s part chameleon, so she has cloaking abilities, and makes tech to work with it. She probably has similar tech to Donnie, but instead her main weapon would be like a naginata (that can change and stuff like the tech-bo).

She’s Draxum’s next favorite, because she makes him new weapons.

She likes to hang out with Donnie a lot, and actually does even when their both enemies, and the exchange ideas and designs for new tech. For the ~~~science~~~ Thing is she’ll sometimes suggest something that’s even a bit too much for him.

#3 Mirrors: Mikey

She’s similar to Mikey where she’s really cute and (appears to be) the smallest of the four. However, since she’s actually a middle child, and not the youngest, so she’s a bit more feral compared to Mikey, as well as more deadly! She’s quite free-spirited, and is able to be since Draxum cares more about the older two.

She’s part poisonous frog! Thinking something like either the harlequin poison frog or the golden poison dart frog black legged dart frog! She crouches a lot, so she looks like shes the shortest, but when she actually stands up tall, she’s the tallest and is really lanky. She’s still got a mostly circle character shape to her though.

Her main weapon is her skin being deadly to touch, so she fights mostly with her fists. She may get an actual weapon, but I’m still thinking it through (I’m thinking something with a long chain to mirror Mikey's weapon, pfft). She can jump really high and far like a frog, as well as, crawl on walls and maybe ceilings idk how frogs work very well. She’s quite deadly and fast when she wants to be.

Both her and Mikey like art! They have funsies, and Donnie n #2 both eventually make some sort of tech where her skin isn't as super poisonous anymore, and her n Mikey can play more.

#4 Mirrors: Raph

She’s baby! She’s super big and hulking like Raph, but she’s the youngest of them, so instead of being the type to lunge in headfirst and think later like Raph, she’s a bit more level-headed because she has lower expectations with Draxum focusing on mostly #1 and #2. She’s similar to Raph in being a big softie, and incredibly lovable of course!

I’m not still finalized on her species yet, but She’s part komodo dragon! Quite big and deadly if she wants to be (but she never really does, she mostly would only be so when following orders). She has a large tail that she can use to sweep at enemies.

And similar again to Raph, her main weapon are her brawns. Thinking something similar to brass knuckles or blades coming from her hands (I don’t know a lot about ninja/shinobi weapons, but I do know they have stuff like that).

Her big sisters are very much protective of her. Mostly emotionally, not physically, because they know she can defend herself.

Her and Raph both like plushies, talking about their siblings, and training with each other to hone their own abilities/strengths!

Major character development with them, is spending time with April and learning teenager things (probably eventually getting phones through her help), she also gives them names (I personally headcanon April gave the turtle boys their names, considering Splinter tends to call them by their colors), and while #1 is the first to initially protest it--  with the others being on board with it-- she eventually gives into it, and it helps all four of them become more of their own selves. I haven’t decided what names yet, because I don’t know a lot of Renaissance artists, sorry ^^; this is also why I refer to them by their numbers in the entire post too...

Another scenario is they kidnap Leon and Donnie, #1 and #2 go disguised as them (because #1 looks most similar to Leon, and #2 has a similar body type to Donnie, and just has to add a few things and use her cloaking to look like him), and they use this to infiltrate the turtle lair. There, #2 tries to survey everything, and studies a lot of Donnie's things. #1 has a heart to heart with Mikey over her self-esteem/high expectations issues. (She also becomes protective, like over her sisters, over Mikey because of this).

Another scenario that can really be a part of anything, is a situation where they have the turtles down, and Draxum wants #1 to finish them off. While the others are whatever about it--possibly #2 n #3 excited about it (mostly because they don’t have as much of a good sense of morality yet, except for maybe #4)-- #1 is very hesitant about it, and eventually tries to sneakily let them go. Leo's the first of the turtles to catch on that she let them go and that the Draxum soldiers are likely not pure evil or unredeemable; which eventually leads to wanting to help them escape Draxum.

They also eventually do become friends/siblings with the turtles, and either Draxum becomes a good dad or they ditch him. Though this is more-so an end-of-arc situation where then they’d might eventually leave NY and go somewhere else to fight evil yokai, and like sometimes visit the turtles and April for funsies.