#lol we all know it would be double mutated leo

[onejellyfishplease]

Oh! What would happen if we put double mutated Leo and unmutated Donnie in the same room? 🤔

big dog vs small dog vibes.

@shru-ute I love your design for double mutated Leo, hes very cool!

[glitched-username]

Hear me out: rottmnt but they are the actual sizes of the animals

Mikey is 5 inches for box turtles

Donnie is 9 inches for softshells

Leo is 1 ft

Raph is 30 inches (2.5 ft)

Splinter is 10 inches

And April is... there for comparison lol

Read more for my random assembly of thoughts and ideas

Just thinking about how Mikey views Leo and Raph's as giants, being over double his height and Raph being 6x bigger. But Raph and Leo are still tiny compared to humans like April.

And Mikey just loves treating his family like a jungle gym. He's gotten so good at it that no one even flinches when he jumps off an impossibly high distance cause they know he'll catch himself no problem, and if he can't then

Also using this concept to further transmasc-ify Leo cause female red eared sliders are larger than the male counterparts. Just imagining Donnie accidentally outing Leo out of a closet he didn't even know he was in cause

"No, you're the correct turtle species and there's nothing wrong with your mutation, female sliders are just bigger"

"...Donnie, I'm a guy"

"Yeah"

"..."

"..."

Donnie specifically checked why Leo was so tall because he was pissed at the slider gloating about the growth spurt when he became a teen and just straight up diagnosed him with Transgender (tm) like it was the most casual it of info to drop

Donnie is peak borrower energy. But like if a borrower decided to take it to a competitive level. How does he get such crazy tech despite being the size of a hairbrush? By massacring lost or currently devices for their parts. So, thrown out radios? Yep! But also, a store display TV that is currently airing commercials? Also free game for the softshell. He's had the most exposure to humans because of this and is definitely the least freaked out when they first meet April cause he at least knows what to expect (ie: they're more scared of us than we are of them sort of thing).

He's also the most feeal and territorial about his stuff because "do you KNOW how hard it is to lug all these parts into the lair??? If any of you touch you will die"

Also L to Splinter. Going from Lou Jitsu Action Star, to kidnapped and forced to fight in the battle nexus and then turned into a sewer rat and now you have to deal with 4 sons, one literally big enough to bite his head off even as a baby/toddler. He definitely had to start relying on Raph more as they grew up

And Raph

Oh Raph.

He already had a hard time learning his own strength in the original, where they were all roughly similar sizes. But now? He has to really practice being gentle. And he's gotten DAMN good at it. So good that even though it looks like he's being completely reckless and throwing his weight around his tiny brothers, he knows exactly how much pressure each brother of wildly different sizes and durability can take.

Bro is constantly doing mental math that would make Donnie impressed.

He has no idea how to handle meeting April. Like, all he's known is how to be gentle around people cause they're smaller and more fragile and suddenly, here's a human, over double his height... but she's still physically weaker??? Or at least not as durable. She doesn't have a shell or tough scales and wasn't specifically mutated for war so doesn't have any durability/strength/regeneration genes.

When they first meet, I imagine the other boys are less freaked out cause they're used to everyone being taller than them but Raph goes FULL protective mode. Pulling out all the stops because he thinks it's going to be a tough fight, that the human would easily stomp him if he doesn't go all out.

But when he sees she isn't fighting back and is hurt pretty bad from his bites (1000 psi ain't a joke, she's lucky she still has all her limbs after that) he instantly goes from "evil giant monster must attack" to "mother hen" and gets extremely apologetic.

Not an... amazing first meetup but April jokes about it now, Raph even gives her little play bites when they're messing around or just absentmindedly gnawing on it while watching a movie(though much more gentle). And while Raph COULD give little playful bites to his little brothers, he has to be VERY aware and VERY careful while doing so, but with April he can be a bit looser with how gentle he is

I imagine once he gets his powers he's finally so happy that he can give April an actual hug for once lol

And I don't think Draxum reaaalllyyy anticipated the turtles not growing to a more human height. In his defense this was basically the first time he used live human DNA during the mutation process. How was he supposed to know that the animal's height would take priority over the human's height?

Draxum saw splinter shrink down into a rat during his escape but just assumed they were all so small that they couldn't have survived the collapse. Oh well, he'll make sure to fix that flaw when he finally gets his lab back up and running.

...

...

Also Mikey is still the strongest

[yellowhollyhock]

Mikey: Do you guys remember when Master Splinter died?

Raph: No?!!??

Leo: What happened while I was at training?!

Donnie: lolol everyone calm down, he means when Master Splinter went missing.

Mikey: I thought he was dead. It was really scary.

Leo and Raph: I don’t remember that

Donnie and April: You were in a coma

Leo:

Raph:

April:

Donnie:

Mikey: Yeah you guys all keep faking me out it’s terrifying for real

Casey: Mikey you’ve been eaten in front of them, electrocuted, and didn’t you almost get double-mutated on a toilet machine?

Mikey: oh yeah, teehee 🤭

Raph: It’s up to you and me, Leo. We need to get the other guys to take things more seriously. Teach them the hard way so they never have to learn the hard way. This is no game. Our family’s on the line.

Leo: Raph, I’m with you to the end.

Leo: It’s just… I don’t think we’re on the same page about our approach.

Raph, putting on an action movie and ordering pizza: I know it seems extreme, but there’s no other way.

Leo: There’s training.

Raph: ssshhh there’s no other way.

Casey: Don’t forget, Leo, it’s thanks to the movies that you guys won your famous fish and ladders battle in Jersey.

Leo: our what

Raph: Mind Raph is telling me we should swoop right in and take that guy out.

Leo, dryly: My ‘mind Raph’ is telling me we should proceed with caution and gather information.

Raph: You have a mind Raph, too? 😀

Leo: That’s not what I—

Raph: 🥹

Leo: I mean, yes. Of course I have a mind Raph. He’s always keeping me out of trouble. Which is what we should do now. Stay out of trouble.

Raph: lol your mind Raph sounds dumb. What, did he also tell you you should grow hair so you can sneak into a fancy resort?

Leo:

Leo: I do not understand how your brain works

Casey: So that’s a yes

Leo: When did Casey get here

Donnie: So, you guys know how we wouldn’t exist if not for the Shredder?

Leo and Mikey: Eh??

April: You’re gonna have to explain your logic on that one, Don.

Raph: What? Come on guys even I kept up with that. It doesn’t even matter if he meant Draxum Shredder or Demon Shredder. Evil scientist who mutated us, ancestor. Simple.

Donnie: I was actually talking about Utrom Shredder.

Mikey, whispering: utrom shredder….

Leo: Hey Raph, remember when I fell—

Raph, crying: It was an accident!

Leo:

Leo: I was gonna say when I fell for Mikey’s gullible on the ceiling trick… Did you think I was talking about our fight on the roof?

Raph: I didn’t think he would actually do it!

Donnie: I remember when you stepped on a land mine.

Leo: Not helping, Donnie.

Mikey: Oh, or when he took a tumble down those stairs after he was scolding us to be quiet.

Leo: gUYS Raph is really upset—

Mikey: Hey guys, I’m worried about Donnie. He’s been meditating for, like, longer than Leo.

Raph: Has he been meditating all this time? I thought he was shut up in his lab.

Leo: Maybe he’s asleep?

April: psst, Donnie? What are you doing?

Donnie, not looking up: Trying to unlock my dragon avatar.

Mikey: This looks like a job for Turflytle, buzz buzz.

Leo: Mikey, haven’t you and Raph learned by now about ninjas and flashy costumes?

Mikey: Aw, don’t be such a buzz buzz kill, buzz buzz.

Leo: Sometimes it’s just so lonely that we’re the only ones of our kind. I love you guys, but I wish we had a chance to befriend other mutants. Walk about in public. Just a short conversation with a non-family member once in a blue moon would cure me I think.

Mikey: Bro, we tried to invite you to hang out with the Mutanimals last week.

Raph: You could’ve gone with me to get pizza at Hueso’s.

Donnie: I’m on my way to see Leatherhead right now.

Leo: Too bad there are no options. *sigh*

Splinter: Leonardo, please. You must go outside.

Donnie: Hey April, remember how you overloaded the mousers because we couldn’t get access to shut them down?

April: Sure Donnie

Donnie: I was thinking the same idea might work with the teleportation system we’ve been working on. Not to shut them down, but if I overload it enough for the safety protocols to activate automatically, we can locate the other half of that testing dummy.

April: okay

Donnie: It’s so nice to have another scientist to talk to. Well, catch ya later!

April: uh-huh

April: So does Donnie not understand what a reporter is or?

Raph: I mean, to be fair, don’t you change jobs like every other month?

April: Nope. I briefly lost my job once when I met you guys. Other than that it’s literally been the same.

Leo: Yeah, she’s an archaeologist.

April: What

Mikey: I didn’t even know April had a job

April: W h a t

Casey: Alright, so I told the guys you worked at your old man’s antique shop. Maybe I also made something up about once working for Baxter Stockman. Mighta said you used to sell shoes for the Foot. I was just trying to make you seem cool, you know?

April: No

Tmnt Memory mash up part 2 (finally ran out of jokes for the first one)

Concept is, there is no concept we have no idea what’s real because memories are wonky, everyone is a storyteller, and Casey is gaslighting them all. (Actual concept: characters remember the same events differently because that’s how brains work, but now it’s taken to an extreme where the basis for different turtle realities comes from each set of memories.)

Rise Raph, 2012 Mikey, 2003 Donnie, 2007 Leo, 1987 Splinter, 1990s April

Leo: You guys need to focus. It’s just like I learned during my training—

Raph: Your training? Are you talking about when you became a mascot for that basketball team?

Donnie: Raphie, be nice. You know Leo takes ninjitsu very seriously.

Raph: *cackles*

Mikey: pfft yeah haha, he’s a big goofy dork who loves cartoons, trying to act all serious haha (he tried to sacrifice himself again last week why are we laughing)

Mikey: Yo dudes, I made us some pizza, shaken not stirred, canned meat supreme with jalapeños and strawberries, light on rosemary heavy on hot sauce. We’re ready for movie night!

Raph: You’re so creative with food! ❤️ You were watching that cooking show you like again, weren’t you?

April:

Leo:

Donnie:

Splinter: You are a great chef, Michelangelo. Because of my peculiar tastes I will be eating sushi.

Casey: There’s definitely algae on this pizza.

Leo: Casey shut up we’re eating

Donnie, on the last slide of a PowerPoint: And so, Leo, I think you will plainly understand, you cannot go outside.

Leo: What about Raph and Mikey?

Donnie: Did Mikey almost accidentally ally with our family’s nemesis?

Leo: No, but—

Donnie: Did Raph get poisoned at the Battle Nexus?

Leo: Well, no, but—

Donnie: Did Raph or Mikey or Splinter or April or even Casey fight an army of Foot by himself while still recovering emotionally from our first presumed defeat of said nemesis, and end up facing him again, getting thrown through a window, and falling into a coma?

Leo: But you said you were abducted by aliens! And what about all those adventures in alternate dimensions you talk about? Your safety is also important! (fuming)

Donnie: Well I’m not the one who had to go away for training. 😘

Leo: But you did take that horrible phone line job while I was away for training, and do not tell me that was less traumatic!

Donnie: … phone line job???

Leo: Yeah, the—didn’t you—Casey told me you worked in tech support?

Donnie: Casey told you—Casey said—I am the cofounder of O’Neil Technologies he told you I got a phone line job?

Splinter: You must center yourselves, my students. The mind is a powerful weapon.

April: So does he always just call you guys his students?

Donnie: Nah, I think he says ‘my son’ more often than he says my name, he’s just in training mode right now.

Leo: Yeah, it’s more in private conversations that he’ll use familial terms. He really means it with just as much affection when he says students.

Mikey: lol I have been called both son and student with varying degrees of affection and annoyance. When he says my name I run for my life

Raph:

April: Um, you okay Raph?

Raph: He mostly just calls me Red…

Everyone: Dude….

April: Hey do you guys remember that guy who got mixed up with a bad crowd, almost did something really irreversible but then met you guys and turned it around and helped us instead?

Donnie: Angel!

Splinter: Ah, yes, young Carter. I hope his studies are going well.

Mikey: Mondo Gecko my man!

Leo: Do you mean your boss Winters? I mean he was the most recent.

Raph: That was Casey.

Casey: That was me.

April:

April: Anyway I was talking with his dad the other day—

Mikey: You ever had feelings for someone, Leo? Feelings you didn’t know what to do about? Feelings that kept you up at night?

Leo: Mikey I told you, I didn’t stay away that extra time because of a girlfriend.

Mikey: Maybe even feelings that make you act stupid. Feelings like Raph has for his Mona Lisa, or Donnie for April?

Raph and Donnie, eavesdropping:

Raph: What’s going on with you and April??

Donnie: Nothing I’m aware of. Maybe she borrowed a tool without asking or something. Who’s your Mona Lisa?

Raph: Raph wishes he knew.

Mikey: The heart’s a soft muscle, dude. Squish squish.

Leo: I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.

Casey: Hey Mikey! How are things going with that time traveling girl you liked? I can’t remember her name.

Mikey: Time-traveling girl..? Wait yo dude that hasn’t happened for me yet. I think you just accidentally revealed my future!

Casey: Cool, I didn’t even know I was from the future. I wonder if I could convince Leo he might start an apocalypse if he doesn’t find, like a certain artifact or something….

Donnie, again on PowerPoint: If I were to disappear, the whole world would fall to pieces. Shredder victorious. Raph and Leo estranged forever, unable to reconcile after Master Splinter’s tragic death. Mikey and April, the lone fighters against the growing tide of darkness, barely clinging onto hope. Mikey’s lost one of his arms, and with it the spark of joy in his eyes.

Raph: Who let him have coffee

Splinter: I believe he has had a nightmare. We must guard against these dark thoughts.

Donnie, staring into the distance: That dragon-daimyo merged guy nearly won the Battle Nexus. It looked like the blue bunny poisoned Leo, but in the end he stood beside him in battle. At least Raphie won his planet race.

Raph: Who let him have poison pizza puffs

Mikey: Ay Raph that’s scarily specific?

Mikey: They always forget that I’m good at science, too. I help Dee out in the lab with ideas and stuff. I mean, I don’t understand science, but I got good instincts for it. They need to remember that.

Casey: Yeah, like when you created Ice Cream Kitty.

Mikey: Yeah! What.

Casey: Or when you cured Donnie of that stuff that made him super dumb.

Mikey: No yeah but go back to what you said about Ice Cream Kitty.

Donnie: Do you guys remember that jungle dimension we went to with the really big bugs?

Mikey: Did you just call our own city a jungle dimension?

Leo: Reminds me of my training. I miss the jungle….

Mikey, humming to himself: welcome to the jungle, it’s worse here every day, you learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play

Raph: Did you guys all portal somewhere without me?

Mikey and Donnie: You wanted to see the giant bugs?

Raph:

Raph: Well, no, but—

[remmushound]

Okay so I offered a headcanon about 2018 Mikey being a therapist for Clearly Clinically Depressed 2003 Mikey and here are the details:

the Rise kids see 03 Mikey in an obvious RSD episode where he's hiding his frustration and rage at himself, and the 03 brothers are oblivious because their Don didn't actually investigate it enough.

So Dr Feelings, with Dr Delicate Touch right behind, makes 03 Mikey do stim play with his art supplies.

The other Rise kids have a "conversation" with the others, with 03 Raph scoffing and 03 Leo rolling his eyes. Rise Raph not happy.

...

This isn’t based on personal experience LOL nope nah (I went from 03 Mikey to 18 Mikey)

“Hey hey hey hey guys look!” Mikey held his Nexus trophy in one hand while his other arm was wrapped around Leonardo holding his own trophy, “He won his world’s battle nexus! We’re trophy-twins!���

Leonardo smirked, eating up the attention just as much as Mikey was. “You hear that Donnie? He wants to be my twin!”

“Good.” Donatello groaned from where he sat with Donnie. “Maybe you’ll finally leave me alone.”

Leonardo shot forward and hugged Donatello’s shell, rubbing his cheek against Donatello’s and making the softshell groan his annoyance at the obnoxious loving. “I could never~”

“Get off me, Nardo.” Donatello growled and shoved Leonardo off of him and back to Mikey.

“My god there’s two of them now.” Leo shook his head as he looked over Leonardo and Mikey.

“How do you think I feel?” Raphael joked with a laugh, “I got three of them! Speaking of which, where’s Mikey?”

Raphael looked around and it didn't take him long to find the box turtle sneaking up on an unsuspecting orange cat.

“Come here kitty, I just wanna feel ya!”

“MIKEY LEAVE THAT POOR CAT ALONE!”

Michelangelo jumped on the cat as it woke up scrambling and held it tightly against his chest so he could pet it. “But it’s so soft!”

“You’re allergic to cats!”

Michelangelo was already sniffling, but didn't care. “It’s a price I’m willing to pay.”

“Oh my God— Donnie, you leave that mutant’s things alone!”

Donatello had both arms full of various machines, and his spider arms held onto various more. “He said I could have em!”

“Actually, I asked you to please not take my things—“

“Shush, other me!” Donatello pressed a metal claw to Donnie’s lips to shush him.

“Donnie, you put that stuff back right now or so help me—“ Raphael glanced back to where Leonardo and Mikey had just been, but only found the latter. “Where’d Leo go?!”

Mikey shrugged.

“CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, LOSER!”

Leonardo blew a raspberry from where he hung upside down in a doorway, flipping off and landing on his feet while making a come-hither motion.

“I can—you know I can— I have bigger legs than you!” Raphael jumped forward and wrapped his arms around Leonardo, only for the slider to slip right through and jump up on his shoulder.

“And I’m a slider!” Leonardo jumped off and slid away before Raphael could catch him again, skidding toward Mikey and grabbing the box-turtle by the arm to use him as a body shield against Raphael.

“Leo— get your tail— out here— now!” Raphael tried to dance around Mikey’s shield unsuccessfully while making a grab for Leonardo.

“Hey— watch the trophy!” Mikey tried to protect his trophy from the struggling brothers. He yelped as Leonardo pushed him aside and made a dash for it, the Nexus trophy knocked out of his hands and clinking to the ground.

“Sorry!” Raphael called as he ran off after the difficult mutant.

Mikey scrambled to grab his trophy quickly off the ground and hold it protectively to his chest. “Careful! This is the nicest thing I own!”

“It’s just a trophy, Mike.” Raph laughed, still offering a hand to help Mikey to stand up. “It’s not that important.”

Mikey stuck out his tongue. “Dude, I won the shell freaking Battle Nexus!”

“So have hundreds of other creatures.” Donnie pointed out as he was starting to replace the stuff Donatello had taken, “There’s a new winner every three years.”

“Well, yeah, but…” Mikey looked down at his trophy and sniffled softly as he tried to buff out a scratch.

“It’s not that big of a deal, Mike.” Leo said, “We have bigger issues than a scratched trophy.”

Mikey hung his head and didn't speak again. Raphael caught Leonardo but before anything could happen, Leonardo pointed out the sad box turtle to Raphael and both stayed silently watching. Donatello snuck up beside them with the same thought on his mind that none of them needed to voice. Michelangelo was the first of them to notice and was already on his way over to the other mutant, taking Mikey by the arm and offering a wide smile.

“Hi! Did your trophy get scratched?”

“Yeah.” Was all Mikey said, not looking at the smaller box turtle.

Michelangelo humphed and grabbed Mikey firmly by the hand to guide him away toward the bathroom while Mikey blindly followed without looking up from his trophy.

“That’s okay!” Michelangelo cast a furious look back at the other turtles before rounding the corner and disappearing. “We can fix it!

****

“See?” Michelangelo held the trophy up to Mikey, beaming at the newfound gleam on the surface, “No more scratch! Toothpaste takes it right out!”

“Thanks…” Mikey accepted the trophy, staring back at his reflection for a second before quickly looking away again and dropping the trophy into the sink.

Michelangelo frowned and stared at Mikey another moment before taking his hand and yanking him once more to guide him.

“Ah— hey little dude.” Mikey laughed weakly, “Where are we going?”

Michelangelo didn't answer. He stuck his tongue out in concentration and hummed loudly, looking around until he found the kitchen and continued to pull his new friend along. He grunted and shoved Mikey down into a chair.

“Stay!”

Michelangelo reached into his belt and pulled out several paint bottles and little baggies.

“Uh, okay?” Mikey huffed and rested his chin on his hand, “Whatever you say, little dude.”

Michelangelo hummed brightly as he inserted some paint into the bags, choosing the best and brightest colors he had and filling three bags full so he could use each and every color without the bags being too crowded. Then he rooted through the drawers until he founded just what he needed— tape!

“Here!” He taped the baggies to the table in front of Mikey so that the full beauty of their colors were showing. “Play with these while we talk!”

At first, Mikey stubbornly refused. Michelangelo didn't mind, and he only smiled when he saw Mikey starting to glance at the bright colors with a longing gaze in his eyes, though he had yet to start to play with them. Michelangelo decided to just give it some time.

“So.” Michelangelo sat in front of Mikey. “Tell me about your trophy. How’d you win it?”

“My brothers and I fought a whole bunch of other dudes in the Battle Nexus!”

“And you won?”

“Yeah! Out of thirty-two dudes and dudettes!”

“Really?” Michelangelo’s eyes went wide, “That’s a lot of people to beat.”

“Well I only fought four of them— half the guys would get eliminated every round, so it wasn’t really that difficult…”

“Still, out of all those people you made it to the end!”

“It was just a fluke— a lot of other stuff was going down and I just won by default…”

“Other stuff?”

“Yeah… Leo got poisoned and there was this whole usurper dude and a time vortex — it was weird, man.”

Michelangelo put his fingers to his lips. “I see.”

“I mean, it’s not like it was my fault!” Mikey hardly noticed how his hands automatically went to the paint bags and began to press them around, “And I won the other rounds fair and square, and beat Kluh in a rematch!”

“So you did earn the trophy.”

“So what if Splinter surrendered?! That was his choice! And so what if I tricked Raph— I still beat him!” His focus became more attached to the colors he was moving around.

Michelangelo leaned back and stuck his feet on the table as he relaxed.

“And I… I know I’m not as strong as Raph or as smart as Donnie or as bossy as Leo— so what?! I’m my own turtle!”

His features scrunched up as his teary eyes locked onto the table, the many colors that had once been separated now spiraling into one shape, mixed together and creating various new shades.

“You’re right!” Michelangelo quickly noticed the paints reaching the end of their usefulness and pulled out a small hunk of orange playdough to offer to the other box shell, who took it and started to mold it without stopping his rant.

“I’m Michelangelo Splinterson and I’m a party dude!” The playdough quickly started to take the shape of a cat, “And I like pizza, and I hate bullies! I know they don’t mean to be mean, but it still hurts!”

Michelangelo nodded along solemnly. “Have you told them that?”

“Well— no.” Mikey sighed and deflated, “And I don’t think I want to…”

“Is there a reason?” Michelangelo latched onto the opportunity and scooched closer to Mikey.

“Well, I’m the fun one.” Mikey’s molding of the clay slowed, “Nothing fun about complaining and yelling…”

Michelangelo experimented with a gentle touch to Mikey’s back before attempting a hug, which Mikey returned with a great force.

“You don’t have to be happy all the time.” Michelangelo said from his squished position, “I mean, you can’t be!”

“I’ve gone twenty years being happy! I— I can’t just suddenly be sad!”

“But… you weren’t all happy during that time. You can’t have been.”

Mikey looked away.

“There had to have been at least a few times you were angry or upset…”

“Well… before the rematch against Kohl I was kinda… scared. And… and I tried going to Master Splinter and Raph and Don about it, but they just… made fun of me. But I was really scared! They just didn't care…”

“So you’ve felt fear before— that’s different than happiness, isn’t it?”

“Way different.” Mikey laughed weakly, “And there was that time Donnie uh… double mutated and we didn't know what to do.”

“Double mutated?”

“He was mutated again and turned into a gross monster and we couldn’t figure out how to turn him back because we couldn’t read his notes.”

“And that made you feel sad and scared?”

“Yeah…”

Michelangelo hugged Mikey again the minute he felt the box turtle slipping into guilt again. “Hey, that’s okay! It’s okay to be sad when something like that happens! I get scared too when Donnie gets hurt.”

“Your Donnie got hurt?”

“Well, he’s really soft.” Michelangelo giggled, trying to encourage a smile back into his friend, “So he gets cut easy— that’s why he wears that cool shell thing!”

“Radical!” Mikey smiled.

“And whenever he’s not wearing his armor I get suuuuuper scared that he might get hurt. But he’s always okay after, and then I feel better. But that doesn’t mean I never felt sad. I feel sad lots of times. And sympathetic and mad and scared and ambitious and all these other things! And you do too, you just don’t want to admit it.”

Mikey gave a nervous laugh as a darker green blush crept into his face. “I… I guess. I just wish my brothers would understand that.”

“Well, they can’t understand if you don’t tell them how you feel.” Michelangelo said softly.

“Oh… uh…” The anxiety returned fast, “I don’t think…”

“You don’t have to tell them now— you’re still upset! You don’t even have to tell them today or tomorrow or this week— just when you feel comfortable. So when something like this happens again, they know what you’re going through, and they can help you.” Michelangelo put his hand on Mikey’s, “Trust me: they’re your brothers, and they love you.”

Mikey gave a raspy churr before grabbing Michelangelo and pulling him into a hug. “Thank you for listening, little buddy!”

****

“Hey!” Raphael didn't mean to be so loud, but his voice echoed like thunder off the wall. The three box turtles looked at him with bewildered expressions and Raphael quickly waved them over. “A chat, please.”

Donatello and Leonardo loomed at Raphael’s side like two angels on his shoulders, except judging by their expressions they were both demons.

“Yeah?” Raph huffed as he and his brothers took a similar stance, except with Leo in the center and him at the shoulder.

“Did you not see what just happened?” Leonardo leaned on Raphael’s shoulder and motioned to where Michelangelo and Mikey had disappeared to. “What you just did?”

“We didn't do nothin’!” Raph snarled, pointing a finger at Leonardo, “Yous made him drop his trophy.”

“And you criticized him for getting upset over it.” Raphael said quickly in his brothers defense, “What Leo did was an accident, what you guys did wasn’t.”

“So? It’s just a dumb trophy.”

“Raphael.” Leo warned gently to his brother before finally getting a word in, “Mikey is fine— he’s probably off skating with your Mikey right now.”

“Actually, statistics indicate that even if they are off skating right now that doesn’t mean everything's fine. Studies show that physical activity can help manage meltdowns if handled correctly—“

“Meltdowns?” Raph interrupted Donatello, “That ain’t no meltdown. That’s my baby brother getting upset that his toy was scratched.”

Leonardo gasped dramatically. “Exsqueeze me?! A trophy is not a toy! It’s a declaration of how awesome we are!” Leonardo held out his Nexus trophy for the box turtles to see.

“So you just wear that around everywhere you go?”

“Uh— duh! Gives me bragging rights! And if I ever meet a cute boy or hot girl, I have a conversation starter~” He waved the medal mockingly.

“Not helping Leo.” Raphael said gently, looking to the younger turtle before going back to their counterparts, “It doesn’t matter if it’s not a big deal to you— it clearly was a big deal to him. You should apologize for making him feel upset. It’s the brotherly thing to do.”

“Um… in my humble opinion, mister snapper Raph, I don’t really think I did anything wrong…” Donnie said softly.

Raphael offered a gentle smile and kneeled to Donnie’s level. “That’s alright— you won’t always recognize when your words hurt someone, but if they did you should still apologize. Make sense?”

Donnie nodded and smiled in turn. “Makes sense.”

“What about the rest of you?” Raphael looked around to adress the rest of the box turtles.

“I ain’t apologizing.” Raph stuck up his nose stubbornly.

“I just don’t see why I should.” Leo said, not nearly as agressively.

“But… you’ll apologize?” Raphael appealed to Donnie.

“Uh… y-yeah, I will when I see him next.” Donnie agreed.

“Good fella.” Raphael gave him a head pat out of habit.

“Uh… thanks.” Donnie flushed and looked away to hide his embarrassed look.

“I still say you were major jerks,” Leonardo pointed his odachi at Raph and Leo.

“But we can’t force you to apologize.” Raphael finished with a sigh.

“I probably could, but that might be crossing the lines between what is classified as ethical and what might put me on the same wavelength as Draxum or Sergei Briuk-honenko and his dog experiments.”