#mikey will probably hang out in his lab a lot more. he already has been mentioned to have been there a ton before lol

[qoldenskies]

I have a theory that when Raph was outside Donnie's door, crying, apologizing, and begging for Donnie to love him; Donnie actually wanted to immediately go out and hug him, comfort him, and tell him that he loved him (After all he knows how it feels to beg and cry for love and be rejected, and he doesn't wish that on any of his brothers), but he just couldn't because of fear and trauma (He literally couldn't barely be around Raph without starting to have a panic attack and begging for his life) and he's frustrated with himself for it.

That's why the next day he forces himself and tries harder to be around his siblings, interact with them and try to physically touch them or let them touch him, even if it still terrifies him, because he is able to notice that his siblings also need comfort, and he can't fix it in his situation... (When his brothers realize this, he's going to break their hearts again 😭)

It's very much his character to try to improve because others need him more than because he needs it...

I also think that one of the keys to his healing is for his siblings to show vulnerability and how this situation has also broken them emotionally, and how they need him 🥺.

Of course, the ideal is that he would take the time he needs, focus on his healing at his own pace and because he needs it, but they don't have the privilege of "time heals all", so it can be forgiven ❤️.

yep!!! essentially!! :3

donnie especially around the second half of caged lungs HARD pivoted to focusing on nothing but their happiness and contentment, because in his work there'd always been an underlying desire to prioritize it (you know. as their breadwinner and provider. and theoretically he does every job around the house just short of easy chores; he was even the one to teach medic work to leo in CC. even if splinter was a more active parent, its not like he'd magically turn into a carpenter lmfao), but still his desire for praise was such a driving force. it wasnt complete selflessness before- i'd say it probably is now.

really its a little painful that guilt tripping is the thing that backed him into this corner, and it's the thing that's actually successfully been coaxing him out of it up to this point. he's developed a very extreme fawn response (that was almost like a worst case scenario of behavior he was ALREADY falling back on before all this happened) and so far exploiting it has been the most successful play, which uhhhh sucks!!! lol. poor dude

this'll probably be a huge problem even once they're in the clear, too. leo recognizes his assessment of not really wanting him to do his job is selfish but its also kind of fair, because i could genuinely see donnie RELENTLESSLY throwing himself into chores until his hands bleed when he thinks someone's upset with him, or is experiencing a delayed trigger he cant identify the source of, or even on days where he wakes up upset after bad dreams (which are about to become very regular, actually). as much as it sucks they'll probably have to keep an eye on him, they'll probably want him going to them before he decides to do something like that because it is a form of self-harm. no matter how necessary it may be, they dont like the idea of him having to ask permission to do things, but oh well.

[tmntfixationxreader]

"Hello author! I've read some of your other works and I thought they were great, so I have a request for you.

Would you be willing to write a Rise Raph x reader where they're having a sleepover? Raph is nervous about wearing his retainer around them but doesn't realize that the reader also has a retainer until they put theirs on, fluff ensues.❤️🙏🙏🙏"

Sure thing! Thanks for the request :)

*****************************************************************

♡Self conscious sleepover♡

~During a sleepover, Raph gets worried about wearing his retainer~

Warnings: None, just fluff :)

Word count: 933

*****************************************************************

You had just had an amazing, long night with the gang.

Raph had invited you over for a sleepover, so you could hang out with him and his brothers, watch movies, play games, and chill.

It was getting late now though, even for them. Mikey was already passed out on the couch you all had been watching movies on. Leo was sitting in front of the couch watching Jupiter Jim intently, and Donnie was typing something on his wrist watch, as he was ‘definitely too busy to watch the Atomic Lass special’.

Raph yawned once, displaying his fang and teeth before stretching his back as he sat forward. He noticed how sleepy you were looking, and decided it was probably time for the two of you to head to bed.

“Y/n, you ready to head to Raphs’ room?” Raph asked, looking sleepy himself.

You yawned as well and nodded. “Yeah, probably…”

Raph nodded, definitely ready for bed; But he was the older brother, and had to make sure his younger siblings would go to bed too.

“Leo, last movie. Seriously, you won’t get any sleep. Same for you too Donnie, and no lab work past midnight.”

“Yes yes dear brother, I know the rules,” Donnie said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand before typing more stuff onto his wrist watch.

“Don’t worry Hermanos, I’ll make sure Don Tron goes to bed…. Aaaand I won’t stay up past midnight either…” Leo said, giving Raph a smile before turning his attention fully back to the screen.

Raph sighed, content with their answer. “You two will sleep… Trust me, I’ll know if you didn’t.” He tucked Mikey in with a blanket before getting up from the couch.

“Ready Y/n?”

You nodded happily and sleepily, telling the twins goodnight before getting up from the couch yourself.

Raph’s bedroom was nice. It was large, decently organized, and decorated with a few scattered posters. You noticed the small (some larger) scratch marks on the walls from his spikes. He had a large bed, big enough for the two of you to sleep on. Actually, you guessed that it was a king sized bed and a twin mattress pushed together to make one large bed.

“I like your room,” You smiled, setting your bag down. You had already gotten changed into your pj's, brushed your teeth and hair, ready for bed. One last thing was needed, though, to complete your routine. You squatted down next to your bag, digging through its contents to find your retainer.

“Thanks,” Raph smiled, and sat down on his bed, having already finished his nightly routine… But, he needed his retainer, too. It was sitting on his mostly bare nightstand, next to a small lamp. He didn’t keep much on it, more than once he had knocked the contents off during the night.

He was nervous to get it out, looking over at it more than once as the two of you talked.

“It kind of reminds me of my own room… I especially like your squishmallows collection,” You smiled at him over your shoulder, still digging around in your bed.

Raph smiled a toothy smile. “Thanks! I like to collect them… Kind of hard to do that without spending a lot of money, though… Most of them are ones my brothers have given me over the years”

You nodded. “Cool! Seems like your brothers knew just what to get you then.”

Raph looked over at the small box on his nightstand. He was nervous about wearing it in front of you. He had only ever worn it in front of his brothers, and he was worried of what you would think of it… Especially because it was shaped around his fang and looked a little strange.

Finally your fingers found the container your retainer was kept in.

You pulled it out of your bag, opening the small plastic container with a click

Raph blinked. “You… Wear a retainer?” He asked as you put it on, fitting it inside your mouth.

After a short moment of muscle memory, you closed the container and put it back in your bag with a nod and a smile. “Yep, I wear a retainer.”

You glanced at Raph to see his reaction, and was pleasantly surprised when Raph’s face lit up into a smile.

“Really? I wear one too!” He said, grabbing his container from his nightstand. “Raph was a little nervous about wearing it in front of you…”

You raised your eyebrows. “Nervous? Why?” You smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”

Raph nodded, feeling a little better. “I don’t know… I was just self conscious.”

You shake your head. “Don’t be! I would never make fun of you for it or anything, even if I didn’t wear one myself.”

Raph smiles, and you zip up your bag. He opened the small plastic container, putting the plastic retainer over his teeth.

You smile at him, and he smiles back, clearly relieved.

“Thanks Y/n,” He smiled, and scooted so you could take half of the bed. You sat down next to him with a smile, patting his shoulder.

“No problem… Seriously, don’t stress about it…. No one should ever make fun of you for it,” You say, laying down next to him on your half of the bed, pulling the blankets up over yourself. It was getting really late, and you could immediately tell how tired you were.

Raph smiled and nodded, pulling the gigantic blanket over half of himself too.

“Good to know…Thanks,” He said, sleepiness settling into his eyes and muscles.

“Anytime Raphie…”

*****************************************************************

Hope you like it! I'm really busy working on some personal and long requests, so I took a break to do some shorter ones :)

Bye bye butterflies!

[mooncalfe-art]

Hello once again Ms. Campbell! Apologies for sending you so many asks, but this feels like the best way to provide feedback seeing as it looks like y'all aren't doing letters to the editor/creative team anymore (which is a shame, imo).

I just read 140 and while it feels a little... off? I'm attributing that to it having come out ahead of the issue that closes out the previous storyline. I'll give it another read through once Armageddon Game #8 comes out and I'm sure it'll feel better then.

Regardless, I actually really like the seeds you've planted here so far! Leo not really knowing how to be anything other than what he is, Mikey striving for more in his life, Raph's heartbreak over Alopex being expressed in anger and frustration at the current flux state the family is in, and Donnie spending a lot of time in the lab (I eagerly await to see what comes out of that... fingers crossed for magi-science turtle tots in the not so distant future).

Also Leo being like

is hilarious to me. (I suppose a bonus of doing this via social media is that I can share my silly little memes)

IRT Alopex... Do people think she only exists as an accessory to Raph? She has her own life, personality, and motivations. It's a disservice to her as a character to expect her to hang around with the man who murdered her entire family just because her boyfriend is working with him. This is an entirely reasonable boundary to have! I dunno about you, but I've dumped people over far less than [checks notes] deciding that the guy that objectively ruined your life is your uncle now, kinda. Even if Raph wasn't going along with it, it's entirely reasonable for her to not want anything to do with the rest of them because of this.

Anyways. Looking forward to the continued adventures of the Claw Clan. I hope the weasels have fun.

I saw some hints at Seri/Mikey, and while I don't want to dictate what other people do with their art, I DO want to say that if Seri/Mikey does end up happening, I hope it's not for a while yet. Seri is still pretty new to the world having been artificially aged up and all, and she has SO MUCH going on, I think she needs some time to figure herself out and come into her own before she starts anything. I liked Seri/Mikey when it happened in Vol. 4 I think it was? but with the added context of her being artificially aged, I think it needs more time before jumping into it.

Oh what else... did I assume right that the cop arresting Raph was Monty Moose? or inspired by him? Cool beans if so. Nice to see Bob show up and provide yet another perspective on the whole mutation thing. The person who attacked that poor cat lady looked very turtle like... my money is on evil clone. Of who? Slash, probably. (feel free to skip addressing this to avoid confirm or denying spoilers. I'm just tossing things at the wall to see what sticks).

I think that's it for now. Looking forward to July which I have been mentally calling TMNT's Hot Girl Summer since SO MUCH is coming out then.

Cheers!

I keep wondering if they'll bring back the letters column but I think editorial is too frazzled these days to respond to letters, haha. Maybe I'll talk to them about resurrecting the letters column.

Anyway thanks for the feedback! I love hearing your thoughts about Alopex, I totally agree!!!

No plans at the moment for Mikey and Seri to hook up, although it's crossed my mind, of course.

And yeah that was Monty arresting Raph. Monty had already showed up during 125-130, he was Raph's deputy constable. Originally in my script it was just a generic cop but either my editor or Nickelodeon (I forget who exactly!) suggested it should be Monty at the last minute, and I ended up writing Monty into the next issue too.

Thanks again for your thoughts! :)

[angelmichelangelo]

hopping onto this post to say i second what op said! i love the design of the lair. it’s one of my favourites out of all the turtles homes, it feels the most homely

the pit feels so warm (for an sewer) but i always loved how put together it felt. like all the little bits and pieces i imagine either splinter or the boys found over the years and added to their home. the turnstiles being the entryway is such a neat detail too! idk how the hole in the ceiling ever worked (like, what’s up there?) it made for a pretty cool setting and i like to imagine the turts head up there and do some basking when it’s sunny out :)

out of all the bedrooms we see mikey’s the most. and it’s messy and chaotic but i love that it encapsulates his personality so much. the shark bitten surfboard (which has CIPES on it and is a cool lil reference to the fact that mikey’s va was/is a surfer!) the action figures, the posters on the wall. and you can’t see it in this screenshot but his bed is pirate themed, with a big ship wheel and a pirate flag which makes me wonder: did mikey go through a pirate phase as a kid? anywho, his room is cool and it makes sense they hung out in here the most out of the other rooms

raph’s room is the only other turtle bedroom we got to see (we were robbed!) but again, it totally frames his personality perfectly. i like his tiger bedsheets and the posters on the wall. as one drum player to another, i like that raph has a decent looking set in his room. i wonder if splinter got it all together or managed to collect it piece by piece to give to him? raph’s room is cool and i love the design :-) im thinking that stack above his bed is perhaps comics? as he seems to have a good collection he’s always reading through? also! paint supplies! raph 100% spray paints the sewers in his free time. the cinder block shelf is also another nice touch - such a scrappy room but it works! they make do and i love it :)

THE KITCHEN IS MY FAVOURITE !! not sure why it’s actually here and how it’s functioning but i imagine donnie hooked it all up and got it working. you can’t see it here but they have a big DINER OPEN sign over the oven which is cute. i just imagine splinter searching dumps and alleyways for things for their home aside the essentials. him seeing that and bringing it home for their little kitchen is a nice thought. i like the gumball machines - i don’t think they ever use them but it’s just a cool background touch. obviously their home isn’t gonna be filled with a lot of stuff, so their kitchen is somewhat bare but seeing them hang around the makeshift table is such a family thing to do, i like that it translates to mutant families too :)

and the lab !!! they probably spend the most time in here :) this is donnie’s space and you can see that so clearly. i always enjoyed the human, rat and turtle posters on the wall - i imagine donnie either printed them out somehow or ripped them out of a book or magazine and poured over them for hours just studying them all. he also has been shown to have a bunch of framed photos of him and his brothers and splinter and their friends. it’s just really cute. the algae pool is also really cool and i wish they used that more. all of his inventions being scraped together bits and bobs that somehow work is so cool. donnie is clearly always the smart one in each iteration, but in 2012 he literally made everything from trash and old kraang parts (remember he doubted himself because of that? in the space arc? like, boy, that makes you even MORE smarter cos that’s impressive as hell!)

ANYWAY! i could ramble on about the design for the lair forever and ever (and complain about the lack of donnie and leo’s room) but i won’t hijack this post any longer than i already have so i’ll just leave it at that :) thanks to the 2012 design team that made their little underground home feel so alive !!

This might've been said before, but I just gotta say:

I love the vibe Tmnt 2012 is giving off.

Especially when it comes to the lair and Donnies inventions/gadgets. Everything looks makeshift, but it has its own beautiful charme. Since they cannot show their faces to the city of New York, they have to grab old thrown-out devices and use trash and old spare material to make furniture and gadgets and it's just so realistic, while looking amazing all the same. Like, what do you expect from them, in such a situation?

The lair is easily one of my favorite fictional headquarters ever. Like yes, it's an abandoned subway station, but it still looks homey in my opinion. Not gonna lie, I would instantly feel at home if I visited. The family tried to make it cozy to the best of their abilities and I think they truly succeeded.

Whatever that kitchen table was in its former life, it now serves its purpose as a table and it looks amazing as it does so.

And the bedrooms?? I love them so much?? So makeshift, so beautiful. And don't get me started on Donnies lab, because I am obsessed with the way it looks. Like yeah, maybe the lair is lacking some color, but what do you expect from a family with limited abilities in interior design? It's truly realistic looking in the coolest way and I cannot stop talking about it.

Although I probably should.

Also Donnies inventions. The Shellraiser has to be my favorite fictional vehicle ever.

The cool graffiti on the outer shell?? Its ability to drive on train tracks and the street?? THE DAMN TRASH CANNON?? THE MANHOLE COVER CANNON???? They literally grabbed trash, compressed it and used it as a weapon. Donnie came up with this. Donnie drew blueprints for this thing and then built it. This man can build functioning vehicles and devices from trash.

The most impressive thing? He taught all of this himself. All of his knowledge probably comes from books and experience and later on certainly also from the internet. He's too powerful and he deserves credit for this.

Sorry, I just wanted to ramble about the 2012 gadgets and lair for a bit. I love the makeshift-ness of it all. I love how you can truly see, that the furniture is old and used. It gives the show the true Tmnt charme. It's the type of lair you'd expect some mutant turtles and their rat father to live in.

I'm not the best at explaining things, so I hope you get the point, lmao.

[seldomscilence16]

Whumptober Day 6: Proof of Life

Fandom: TMNT

Prompts;

Ransom video

"I've got a pulse"

Screams from across the hall

Should I be putting summaries? Idk thats a lot of work. Theyre all basically "expect nothing and you may be pleasantly surprised."

A small note that this will have elements from mutiple eras of TMNT, but I'll try not to make it too confusing.

Mikey would never say it outloud, but he was a trouble magnet. His brothers had their own levels of mischief making and finding, but Mikey- for all he made- it found him more often than not first.

Usually they could get out of it pretty quick, it wasnt often Mikey was alone after all, but of course he cant always have the lucky streak of making it home. Hes had his close calls, injuries and near deaths, but he knew with their lifes and luck, it would only be a matter of time.

He had been by himself for once. A quick jaunt to see his friends that he'd made many times before, one his brothers had grown used to him taking. They wouldn't look for him for awhile, its not like his visits are ever really planned, perhaps by morning, but most likely not until night falls again.

That being said, its not like he knows the time. It had been around 6pm when he went topside, when he'd found a young mutant- a child, a little frog- and had stopped to help, that help had turned into an ambush. He'd told the child where to go for safety, Mikey could only hope they got away, since he was not so lucky.

He didn't know this group, but they called him "yokai-scum" so he can only assume it will not be a pleasant, or rather it will be getting worse. He wouldnt exactly call his current predicament anything nice.

Chained to the ceiling, Mikey's shoulders ache something terrible, his wrists have since gone numb and tingley, and hes quite aware of several aches and pains, but hes sure they will be the least of his worries soon.

He wants to go home.

..

"What the heck?"

A clatter, a large thud, two pairs of eyes turning towards the lab.

"WHAT THE HECK?"

"Uh... Donnie?" Leo is hesitant to know what ailes his brother, and almost hopes to be ignored.

"UNSOLVED SCIENCE HAS NO PLACE IN MY LAB!"

"That nerd code for magic?" Raph questions quietly, getting a maybe shrug from his blue masked brother.

Before more can be said, Donnie storms into the room, laptop in hand, and looking just as mad as he sounded.

"What happened Don?"

"Someone sent a crypted file, except it wasnt sent it just... appeared. No one even knows I own this laptop aside from you guys! How could someone just-"

He stares at the screen, face blank, eyes trained on whatever he sees.

"Donnie?"

They recieve no answer, so hesitantly the two move to look over his shoulder, and like a semi truck just ran them over, they lose all air.

Their baby brother, hanging there, bleeding and beaten. A typed note runs across the bottom of the video,

'The location of the yokai, or he dies.'

Mikeys finger twitches, the only other movement besides his slight sway with every rasping breath, and their eyes are all drawn to it.

They would be getting their brother back.

...

Mikey loves being right in most cases, though he rarely gets credit for it, this is probably the only times he wished hed been wrong. He wished his luck had held out longer, he wished he wasnt here, he wished he had planned out his trips, or not gone out at all... but if he hadnt that frog child might have been taken instead...

But his brothers wouldnt give out the location of the hidden city, not to the one place mutants could go for safety, where yokai were safe from humans, they were protectors and Mikey was fine with that.

He'd find an opening to escape, hes sure of it, his brothers would have already, or not gotten captured at all. So he could too, he just needed a moment. He'd escape, and find that frog child, and make sure these guys didnt hurt anyone else. He was a ninja, and he could be ruthless and smart and perfectly cabable too.

Another wave of pain, his jaw clenches to stay silent, he wouldnt give in. What was a little pain? Sure hes pretty sure his plastron shutes shouldnt be doing what theyre doing, and thats quite a puddle beneath him, and yeah his eye sight is going in and out, but he'll be fine, he just needs an opening.

Something schuelches, a pain belayed follows and he cant hold it back,

He screams.

...

Leatherhead and the Mutanimals had the child. Moments after the video ended and the phone rang, nearly causing them to jump from their shells. Mikey mustered the strength to tell them one thing, twitching his finger to spell 'frog'. It had made no sense of course, until Leatherhead mentioned a scared frog mutant child who claimed to have been saved and sent by Mikey.

That child was their only lead, and surprisingly, a damn good one.

Theyd called in every friend they had, anyone willing to either save Mikey or stop a yokai hunting group. Unsurprisingly, Mikey won out, the hunters were just a bonus, or a chance for revenge.

They'd collected and headed out in a timely manor, but it wasnt quick enough, not when Michaelangelo was in danger. Every second was only adding to their anger, anxiety, and vengence.

The building is subpar, unassuming, easily surrounded. The brothers, April, and Casey head in through one of the windows. The few people lingering inside are taken out with far more speed and force than usual. Mercy was not on their mind.

Donnie is working to locate Mikey as they go, moving to clear the building as quickly as they can and get their brother back into safe hands. They work as a unit- missing a member, a piece, a brother- like the trained ninjas they are, there should be nothing to phase them as they work for their goal.

That scream however, echoing up from another floor, has a chill up their spines and a falter in their steps. Casey and April almost lose them when they take off in a dead sprint, having never heard the youngest make such a noise.

Where they land blows on the hunters they pass is random and unrestrained, but no one is focusing on whats left behind, simply locating Mikey, and the person who dared to pull such a noise from him.

"Shi* is it dead?"

The door hits the wall hard enough to shake a hinge lose, two men-burly and tall- stand beside an unmoving Mikey. Donnie's face goes blank, with a simple swing the two are pushed away and towards his brother and friends, his only sight is his only baby brother. The noises behind him assure that the goons are getting what they deserve, but Donnie wishes so much worse on them.

Hes pulling out supplies and trying to determine a first move, to keep his cool until later when hes allowed to feel. Because Mikey took on the role of Medic as much as he could, but now it was up to Donnie, to make sure he could be anything once more.

In moments like this, Raph understands his color more. When red edges his vision and anger burns like a fire in his heart. Each blow stokes the fire, a snarl on his lips, and for once the aid of others does not anger him more, it brings him a sick satisfaction to see Leo or Casey or April land a blow, every one deserved ten fold. When its over, its too soon, the two goons unmoving and not nearly as punished as Raph would have liked. But Mikey has always been one of the few who could draw him from his red hazes, even in this silence, he is drawn to his little brother.

Donnie has him layed on the ground now, using one leg to pillow his head as he streches across him to do what he can. Donnies movements are frantic, and that perhaps is what has him speaking,

"Don, is he..?"

"I've got a pulse." He says simply, "but we need to get him out of here. He needs more than I have right now."

They're already moving, aided by Aprils powers to smoothen the ride, they hurry their way home, knowing the others will take care of the rest.

...

....medical jargon, maybe some magic, the good stuff....

...

Waking up is strange after a near death (does it count as a real death if you come back?) Experience. You see things, wonderous meaningful things, but the more you wake, the more the details fuzz, like a simple dream though you know it was more.

After such an experience, you expect pain and lingering something to remind you of it all. At the best of times, you wake and feel nothing, like you havent quite left that beyond and the wind you had become one with still carries you. When Mikey wakes, he knows theres pain, hidden somewhere behind drugs and something glowing in his aura, but it is pleasantly dulled in a way he hopes to mean safety.

A hand on his head, smoothing his brow, confirm this further, and leans into it ever so.

"uh'Live?" He slurs hoarsely

"Yeah bro, we got you, youre safe now."

"Frg?"

"Shes safe too, shes already drawn you as a hero. Rightfully so."

"'Issed you."

Something wet hits his cheek as a forehead rests against his, a wet gasp follows before a soft,

"Yeah, we missed you too. We're glad your back."

Hands on his ankle, in his own, his arm, his knee. Theyre all safe. He made it home. So why are they sad?

"We wont ever let this happen again Mikey. We promise."

Thats a tall promise to keep, but Mikey didnt want to argue,

"Love you guys."

"We love you too baby bro. All the time."

Theres the ghost of an embrace, a light wind, an old friend from... somewhere, and the lightest kiss to his forehead. Motherly in a way hes never known, but warm all the same, he hopes his family feels it too. Theyre his heroes, theyre the best, and one day he would be just like them.

[7spaceace7]

Secrets (A Donatello x Reader)

This is incredibly self-indulgent and was really just a fic for me to obsess over tesla coils, but my girlfriend convinced me to post it- so here it is! It got kind of long too, but I hope you enjoy! 

Word Count: 3236

Reader is given feminine terms in this one

Mild cursing (thank you Raph)

Absolute fluff attack, the sweetness will rot your teeth

Singing was your greatest passion. From a young age, you had been roped into music, the emotions it could represent with just a few notes and some relatable lyrics. It was happiness, it was sadness, it was anger and excitement, and it was everything you couldn’t express well enough with just words. Being a writer, sometimes that would get frustrating, but music helped you overcome the most challenging spots in a new piece or story. This is why you would constantly have earbuds in as you sang along to every song you’d memorized on your Spotify shuffle. 

And Donnie noticed this. Every time you would enter the turtles’ lair, he would see you unplug and pack-up your headphones. Hell, he was even able to detect your singing from the sounds of the sewer tunnels echoing with every step you took closer. He’d hear you talk about the music or soundtracks of your favorite games and movies, analyzing what every slight twinge or reprise would allude to. And he loved every part of it. He loved getting to see those moments where music was all you could focus on. Your heart rate rose exponentially in anticipation and excitement. Your eyes would screw shut while you broke into a grin. Your hands would mimic motions to the beat as you played on invisible drums, or strummed a nonexistent guitar. 

It was adorable to him, to say the least. But he never told you so. He never said a word, in case this might scare you off for coming across as “creepy” or weird. He knew most people probably didn’t pay this close attention to little things like that, but then again, he also knew that most people weren’t madly in love with you. 

Which Donatello was. 

He couldn’t tell you, because once he started rambling about you, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop. And if he didn’t stop, then he’d run the 89.07% chance risk of telling you how he’d been in love with you since the day they met you. That was way too high for him to be comfortable. No, he couldn’t tell you, no matter how badly he wanted you to know.

“Okay, so what if you just show ‘er you’re interested instead?” Raph asked, half paying attention to his brother’s predicament, half pounding the punching bag before him into the ground. Leo was in the dojo meditating, and Mikey was playing video games in the living room, which left the two middle brothers to their own devices. For Donnie, this was literally. His three-fingered hands fiddled with his latest electrical circuit. It was bound for sending the right amount of voltage into his inventions without needing four power strips and a generator all on their own. Unfortunately, he was too distracted to actually delve into its components, and settled for breaking and piecing it back together again.

“Show her? How would I do that?” Donnie’s voice trembled at the thought.

“I dunno, you’re the genius here,” Raph huffed, “There’s gotta be somethin’ in this place that you think she’d find cool. She loves music, right?”

“Yeah, like a lot, she even-”

“Rhetorical question, Don, heard the rant plenty,” His brother cut him off. Pausing his violent onslaught of the dummy, he turned to face him. “You’re nervous ‘cause you ain’t ever done somethin’ for a pretty girl before, I get it. So do somethin’ you know you’re good at. That’ll take the nerves off, your plan works, and then I won’ have to listen to you babbling about whatever new fuckin’ thing she did today. Win win.”

The younger turtle paused. “That was...actually pretty sound advice, thank you, Raph.”

“Anytime,” Raph nodded, a smug smile tugging at his lips from being able to help. Problem was, now he was invested. He’d listened to his brother’s rants and rambles and failed plans of possibly confessing for weeks now, what was gonna happen once he finally did it? Raph plopped onto one of Donnie’s bean bag chairs. He didn’t bother to pick up the training dummy. “So what ya gonna do, smart guy?”

Donnie blinked a few times, glasses twitching on his nose as he pushed them up. He didn’t know it, but you coined this his “brainstorming face”. He fiddled with the circuits once again.

“Uh...I’m not sure,” His tongue went dry. A million ideas fly through his brain each minute, and this decides to be the time that he can’t think of a single one good enough. Figures. “I could build her something? Maybe a new stereo, or upgrade the one she has.”

Raph made a noise of disapproval. “You can do better, any old fix-it guy could do that.”

“Fair. Maybe I could- ow!”

A short buzz of the air cut him off as his fiddling paid off. To the world’s great irony, a light bulb several inches away lit up.

“You good?”

“Yeah, I’m good, I…” Donnie trailed off. The purple-clad turtle’s eyes widened as he registered what happened. “I’m better than good, I just had an epiphany!”

“Epipha-what?”

“An epiphany, sudden realization, an idea!” Donnie flicked his goggles back down, enhancing his vision with the magnifier on it. Wires were tugged in and out, and a transmitter was displaced. With a snort of triumph, he raised it to the air for his brother to see. “This is the answer!” 

“A tiny board thing. Just what she’s always wanted,” Raph rolled his eyes, but Donnie was prepared for this.

“Not just a tiny board, a tiny board with this!-” With great haste, Donnie was next to Raph, holding the board out properly. “My side-side project, this little thing, look at the coil here, this is it! This is a tesla coil, capable of transmitting thousands and thousands of volts of energy surging through the air, powering anything within its radius, which is perfect and exactly why I needed to reconfigure it to power my lab and this one new machine I’m working on, but that’s not why this is the perfect idea!”

“Wow, please continue, professor, I’m dyin’ to know.”

“Glad you asked! Watch this!” One aux cord, T-Phone connection, and light-dimming later, the lab went dark in anticipation. And suddenly, with the press of a play button on Donnie’s shuffle, music started to fill the air. But it wasn’t coming from his phone. It was coming from the coils, surging and creating not only electric energy that was visible to the human eye as it sparked, but music. Sound. The beats and notes of the song playing sprouted out in the form of electricity.

Raph’s green eyes became transfixed on the sparks flying out. “Holy shit.”

“Holy shit is right!” Came the squeals of utter nerding out, “This is only a tabletop version of an SGTC circuit, my own type of it anyway based on Tesla’s original designs, but if I reworked it, made it bigger, made it lifelike and maybe four or five of them, I could create the most advanced musical performance this city has ever seen!”

“I’m gonna pretend I know everything you just said because clearly this is your nerd thing,” Raph started, utterly confused. Even still, a reassuring smile framed his features. “But this looks pretty damn cool. This right here? Exactly what ‘m sayin’, Don.  This is you.”

“Do you think she’ll like it...?” Donnie asked in a hopeful voice. He wasn’t just asking about the invention. 

“Course she will.”

~x~

A couple weeks had passed since that fateful conversation with Raph. He’d been in and out of the lab since then, but between patrols and the mandatory bathroom breaks, there was hardly a time he wasn’t working on his great new project. You weren’t even allowed to go into the lab, per his request, for all his time there.

However, he always made sure to make at least one movie whenever you’d come hang out at the lair from work.

Finally, one Friday night, the set up was complete. Pride swelled in Donnie’s chest as he looked at his creation: six symmetrically placed tesla coils sprung up from the ground and walls all around his lab space. The coilings wrapped around metal frames, spiraling into a beautiful arrangement of engineering, if he did say so himself. Mikey said it looked like the lasers out of a DC comic, which was also not a bad thing to be. He just hoped that you would like it. All of it was for you, of course, but over the weeks that he’d been preparing it, he found more beauty in the music of tesla coils than he ever had appreciated before. 

Donnie thought he might thank you for that, if he could get his nerves around it.

God, he was so nervous. Anxiety rushed through his body like the electric pulses he was perfecting. They were already done, but it was all he could do to distract himself while waiting for you to arrive. Maybe the frequencies weren’t in the right key. What if they sounded better this way? Or maybe the firing power wasn’t enough? Trajectory looked alright, maybe it just-

“Donnie?”

“Gh! Y/N, hey!” Stammered the surprised terrapin after knocking his head against the top of a coil. His goggles were on the setting of night-vision, but that didn’t account for night-spatial-awareness, it seemed.

“I got your text to come,” You tried to smile at him, but the dark laboratory proved to make that difficult. “How come it’s so dark in here?”

“Uh, well, that’s p-part of the surprise! Eheh. Gimme just a second-”

You waited patiently outside of his lab, vision still applicable, but grew concerned the more strange noises and clangs you heard coming from inside. This was definitely a whole new level of “Donnie Surprises” just by how nervous he seemed about it.

You yelped when his hand grabbed your arm and dragged you back inside the darkness.

“Okay, uh,” He started, before clapping his hands together for the lights to switch back on, “This is what I wanted to show you.”

Your gaze spun all around the lab. After adjusting to the light, you could clearly see giant mechanism after mechanism placed strategically around in a dome-like setup. Coils that protruded like round-edged spikes circled you both, and in the center was a metal cage. 

“Oh my god…” You almost whispered. A large grin broke out onto your face as you stared in quiet marvel at the scene. His plan was working, and Donnie lit up with an outstretched arm in presentation.

“These bad boys are called tesla coils-”

“Tesla coils!” You squealed in imperfect unison to what you assumed was the start of an explanation. “You made tesla coils, Donnie, holy shit!”

“You’ve heard of them?!” Donnie exclaimed, eyes widening behind his glasses.

“YES!” Your hands began to wave around excitedly, “Oh my god I used to be OBSESSED with these things! I heard about when I was a kid from that old movie, oh what was it, it was like the apprentice’s-”

“Sorcerer’s Apprentice!”

“THAT! Yes!” 

“I haven’t seen that movie in years!”

“Me neither! All I remember is that Hiccup’s voice actor totally nerded out and programmed his giant tesla coils to play music for the girl he wanted to impress, and it was the coolest thing because these giant machines were playing music, music out of nothing but sparks of electricity at different frequencies, which to be honest probably would have caused more of an energy problem than the movie suggested because goddamn do they take up a lot of power, but I was like six and didn’t care!” You laughed  in an energetic burst of word association, practically bouncing on the balls of your feet.

Donnie could have kissed you then and there for that alone. 

A grin crept onto his lips as he watched you ramble on about the movie, leaving all anxious thoughts to fall from his mind. For once, someone actually understood one of his passions. Better than that, she was explaining the process to him of all people! Sure, she was intuitive enough to know he didn’t need it, he literally had just built them after all. This was just out of pure excitement. Someone in his life was talking about science and technology like they were the most fascinating things on the planet, just as the purple-masked turtle believed it was. Well, second only to the ecstatic girl in front of him. 

“-And so, I randomly remembered it again not that long ago, so I looked it up and found so many videos on YouTube about it. I kid you not, I listened to tesla coils and tesla coils alone for a solid week.” 

You breathed heavily, a little winded after such an intense info-dump. God, he always loved when you got excited about something. 

“This is kind of surreal,” Donnie chuckled a bit, pushing up his glasses when they tumbled down his nose, “I had no idea you’d get what these were, much less have known so much about them.” Donnie’s eyes widened at his own panicked-fueled blabbering. “N-Not that I think you’re stupid! I just-- I mean it’s not-- common? It’s more of-”

“A niche interest, yeah. No worries,” You finished for him, signaling his stuttered words hadn’t fallen on offended ears. Donnie quietly sighed in relief. Time ticked by in seconds, but even that was much too fast for this martial artist to grasp. If he could have constructed a device to pause the fabrics of time, he would have long ago, simply to relish the moments with you that meant everything to him. It wasn’t your fault your eyes captivated him more than any element he’s worked with.

“So,” You began eagerly, startling him out of his thoughts, “Are we gonna listen to some zappy poles go brrr or what?”

Donnie snorted at your juvenile word choice. “Yeah, totally. Now, ah,” He walked over toward the large cage in the center, stepped inside, then poked his head out with a dorky grin. A large, green hand stood outstretched towards you. “I think you’d better step inside my cage.”

“If you keep quoting the damn movie like this, I am going to explode from excitement, and it will be your fault!” It was a wonder how you hadn’t caught onto his plan yet, honestly. You made no sense of hesitation before grabbing his offered hand (even though your hands were small enough that they hardly matched his palm’s size), and clambered into the cage in front of him. This was a great excuse for you to be close to him without it being weird. And now, with your back brushing up against his plastron, the butterflies in his chest told him it was totally a good call.

Donatello would take this secret to his grave, however.

“Put your hands on the rail here, yep just like that,” Donnie nodded after your hands found the safeguard rail. A couple buttons tapped into a laptop later, he settled his own hands next to yours. “Let the magic begin.”

Magic would have been the understatement of the year. A coil in front of you quickly shot out its first spark. Familiar music breached the sound barrier to your ears. The one behind you both caught it instantly. Spark after spark sent back and forth between the coils, soaring through the lab like the most incredible game of electric catch.

“Whoa!” You laughed when the sparks would bounce off the cage itself, pressing closer to the turtle behind you (much to his surprise every time). Your shining e/c eyes never left the electric bolts shooting out. “This is insane!”

“Heh, glad you like it!” Donnie watched you closely that entire time, more entranced by your excitement and wonderstruck self than anything he’d created. He could power up the tesla coils anytime of day, but this was a special moment he’d never be able to recreate in a controlled environment. This was no experiment, this was real and it was happening right now. 

The only thing left to do was tell you how he felt. 

“Y/N, I have to tell you something,” He began, stepping away to give you a bit of space. His heart rate was increasing by the second. The way you turned to look at him wasn’t helping, either. 

“What is it?” You spoke softly, somehow able to be heard over the music. Donnie could hardly meet your eyes, so he took your hands in his instead.

“I...I don’t know how to say this exactly,” He started, “I’ve been trying to do it for months, going over every possible conjuncture of words, something that would be heartfelt and honest, poetic even? But the truth is, words aren’t my thing, th-they never have been. I’m a science guy, I take things apart and put them back together again, I figure out what makes them work, I see life as a million tiny parts to analyze.”

He paused his quickened speech to take a breath. Your hands squeezed his larger ones as an offer to continue.

“And so, I’m...bad at feelings. I see it all as chemicals and components used by the brain to create action and reaction. But now I’m not so sure if that’s all they are, and really the only thing I am sure about is that it’s because of you that I’m questioning everything I ever thought I knew. Maybe, maybe life is more than atoms and chemicals, and instead it’s about..moments. Moments like this. Moments that...that I..that I really want to keep forever and play over and over again.”

“Donnie…” You spoke. This time he squeezed your hands.

“I know I’m rambling and I should really get to the point, so what I’m trying to say is,” He took another breath, steady this time. His gaze met yours again. “I want to live these moments with you every day. You’re special to me. You’re part of our family, but this is more than that, this feeling is-”

“Love.” You finished for him. Both of your eyes widened as you realized the other felt how you each did.  

Donatello nodded slowly, hesitant to be so certain, but knowing it was true. There were no more words to be exchanged after that, only actions, only movements so soft and gentle that the large terrapin was certain he’d break if they could fit in his hands. Your hands left his and instead reached up to grab the long ends of his mask, and tugged gently for him to reach you. He leaned down without a thought. A three-fingered hand found your waist this time. 

You kissed. Soft, human lips connected to his slightly chapped reptilian ones. The turtle had waited for this moment since he realized the attraction he felt towards you was not just powerful chemical reactions, but true feelings. It wasn’t biology, it was chance and fate and one-in-a-million all at once. As the sparks continued to (literally) fly, Donnie let his eyes close. This was the present. He was here, he was holding a great new adventure in his hands, and there was a brilliant future just around the corner. 

The song may have finished, but this is what would last forever. 

[mar-iiposa]

Hi, how're ya? ^^ How the beyverse turtles would react on their first time riding a horse? (I know, it's not a comum question :D I've been thinking about it)

a/n: hi! I'm good, thank you ! congrats to being my first request. what an odd request for a headcanon, never really thought about turtles riding full on horses lmao. I, myself, have only been on one for a mini-photoshoot when I was in preschool, but definitely had a horse phase shortly after that. well, here you go !

how do I put this in a way that, at the very least, makes some partial sense yet somewhat proves the point

okay so you know how horses are depicted as beautiful, graceful, and free-spirited creatures?

imagine that depiction. but with a 6 ft tall turtle on top of it.

that's how leo looks on top of an entire horse.

feels heroic, like he's about to lead his army into a deadly battle

at first, the he's a little hesistant, "do I really have to get on this thing? How did a horse even get down here?"

"leo, donnie can literally get on the horse with all of those gadgets on, you'll be fine."

donniewearinghisgadgetsnotthehorse

he's seriously overthinking this

if you're on the horse with him, that'll probably calm his nerves down, immensely

if not, sucks for him lmao

"fearless ain't so fearless anymore, huh?"

"shut up raph." he's so done with his younger brother(s)

but as SOON as he gets on this horse, all of his previous worries just 🌠 wash away 🌠

"oh, well this isn't so bad."

"what else did ya think, numbnuts?" there goes raph again-

takes the horse around the lair, like a great warrior or something

"on a crusade now?"

leonardo sends his second youngest brother an unphased stare before carefully trotting off with the horse towards the dojo

"no horses allowed in the dojo, leonardo" "yes dad"

a little disappointed when they have to return it, but he knows it's for the best :)

"no."

"why not??"

"I'm gonna fall off the thing."

"that thing is a horse, raph."

as we know, Raph, the muscle of the team, is scared of heights

pretty obvious

but is he scared of falling off the horse? you bet your ass he is

almost fALLS WHILE MOUNTING THE HORSE

once he's on the horse, he's all stiff and awkward

"what do I do now?"

once he gets the hang of it, he noticed that he starts to really bond with that horse

gives the horse a name in his head, he doesn't tell anybody

"get yer ass up here with me."

you're just partially speechless at the sudden command. but nevertheless, you end up on the horse, holding onto raph

just strolls around on top of the horse, it's so therapeutic for him??? oddly enough??

a little sad when he has to say his goodbyes

everyone else, but you, tend to not notice the final look he gives the horse

he was so attached to it already

"I know you miss them"

"shut up-"

"I absolutely have to?"

"yes donnie."

"is there some sort of logical reasoning explaining that I really have to?"

"just get on the damn horse-"

won't shut up about it

"you know, there are over 100 deaths a year related to horse-riding and technically spe-"

"get on the damn horse, donnie!" raphael hollers from the other end of the lair

"a-alrighty then."

he hesitates a little mounting the calm creature

instantly falls in love with the horse. instant connection

"I am naming them cornelius."

GIVES CORNELIUS A LITTLE TOUR OF HIS LAB

and shows him the monitors on his computers

cautious around it though, who knows if the horse is a spy

won't stop blabbering on and on about fun facts for horses

petting cornelius and carefully brushing their silky mane

he's fallen head over heels for this horse, watch out y/n

doesn't experiment on the horse because although the dude loves to experiment, he won't do it on animals :(

feeding cornelius carrots and apples !!

"say goodbye to the horse, donnie"

"we'll meet again, cornelius-"

saddened by the bittersweet departure

would still do anything for cornelius

actually the one who somehow managed to bring it into the lair

"giddy-up!"

conquers the horse

"where did you get it fro-?"

"the world may never know, donatello."

"he stole it from this birthday party."

"ah, ah, ah! I'm borrowing it!"

apparently he knows how to get the horse back to their ownner

he doesn't. yet.

TRIES TO FEED THE HORSE PIZZA

"donnie, do you think bobby can eat pizza?"

"well no, I think pi- you named it "bobby"??"

"he looks like a bobby. right, y/n?"

"just don't give bobby any pizza, mikey."

mikey doesn't even google the question as to whether or not horses can consume pizza

thank god he's right

headcanon that mikey brings the horse into raph's room, riding it, and it turns into a chaotic mess

the horse poops in raphael's room.

a lot.

mikey sadly (but thankfully) doesn't keep the horse

after endless hours of begging master splinter to

but he does visit it every week or so after that so that's nice :)

Sorry if they might seem ooc at all? it's just sort of an unusual request that I'm not used to seeing around haha. feel free to request more headcanons or request a story with a specific prompt. anonymous or not is fine, just be descriptive in what you want !

[ladylofspades]

This is my character design for my Rise OC Ume Hoshino [pronounced as oo-meh], a 15-year-old practitioner in martial arts -- her one being Arnis. 

Short Bio Born to parents who are both martial arts practitioners -- her father a Karate practitioner, and her mother in Arnis -- Ume is the only child of Kane Hoshino [pronounced as kah-neh] and Gloria Bangon, who reside in California. Her whole name is Malaia Ume B. Hoshino.

First Exposure to Martial Arts Her first exposure was at the age of five, when she learned her first martial arts: Taekwondo, under the supervision of her mother’s colleague Kwon Myung-Ki. Then learned Karate at the age of six, taught by her father. She managed to achieve black belts in both martial arts at the ages of ten and eleven respectively, making her one of the youngest martial arts specialists in the Hoshino and Bangon families. Then pursued Arnis, taught by her mother at the age of eleven and continues with the craft in the present.

Other Things Besides Martial Arts Besides being a martial arts specialist, Ume is multi-lingual having learned Japanese, English, Filipino and Sign Language. She has other hobbies too, such as painting, cooking, baking, reading and stargazing. Her most favorite hobby is being on her violin, which she took lessons on alongside Karate. When at times alone, she tends to dance around while playing it.  Personality Initially mistaken as cold, Ume has a timid personality since she rarely had friends (let alone acquaintances) and is always training with either her parents or their colleagues. Her hesitance towards April showed her unsure fear to strangers. As soon as she warms up to a person, she eventually becomes more curious, talkative, funny, sensitive, intuitive and empathetic towards them -- even becomes overprotective with people she holds dear. She always puts others’ safety and well-being above all else, completely ignoring (even forgetting and become oblivious of) her own.

In the reverse, Ume becomes easily defensive when she feels provoked, or anything that makes her feel that her personal barrier has been breached, which can start an argument. As someone being raised in a family of strong principles, she tends to have a stubborn streak and will do whatever means necessary to make them believe that she’s right -- she eventually grows out of this, much to her loved ones’ relief. Ume tends to be very insecure of herself, just to have it masked by her ‘cool’ façade. In combat or missions, Ume tends to be more serious and focused in getting her job done. As a perfectionist and all-or-nothing type of person, she does her best to see things through with and without the accompaniment of her comrades present.

Her Relationship with April and the Turtles April O’Neil  Ume first met April when the former got accidentally hit on the back by a ball. At first, Ume was hesitant towards April’s assistance, and grew more suspicious when April befriended her. It took time until Ume warmed up to April, even becoming best of friends and seeing each other as sisters. 

Ume eventually taught April some basic Taekwondo moves, while April taught Ume some baseball. 

The last time April saw Ume was at the age of eleven, when the latter’s father passed away in a car accident -- a reason Ume’s family moved back to California. Since the move, April never heard from Ume until one year after Hoshino’s death. The two girls eventually sent each other email and would chat from time to time.

Both girls, April who turned sixteen and Ume fifteen, reunited in April’s school. Even then, nothing seemed to change between the two; except that Ume grew more protective of April than she was years prior.

Hamato Michaelangelo Mikey was the first of the Hamato brothers to meet Ume. Upon meeting April and suddenly noticing that she wasn’t alone Mikey became curious and hesitant towards Ume, who eventually turned defensive and would go in front of April to protect her. After a brief introduction, Mikey was still hesitant towards Ume, as the latter is with him.  Just as it did with April, it took time before Ume warmed up to Mikey.--- warmed up to the point that they would sneak out at night either to stargaze at the rooftop, have art jams in the park, or to have some midnight slices of pizza. At times, whenever Ume felt more like playing on her violin, Mikey would listen to her play while he paints. Ume eventually sees Mikey as a younger brother figure, just as the latter sees her as another sister figure besides April. As a whole, Mikey was genuinely thrilled to have another human befriend him and see him as he is, not as a mutant. The two eventually became best of friends, and even called themselves the Artsy Two. After seeing Ume warm up to his brothers, Mikey became protective of her just as she is with him. She and Mikey would eventually have one corner of the lair to themselves called the Art Corner, where they can hold art jams freely.

Hamato Donatello Second to meet Ume was Donnie, who she encountered while she’s in a sleepover with April. Ume was startled to find out that Mikey has an older brother, even more startled when Donnie confirmed for her (albeit reluctantly) that there are four of them. At first, Ume didn’t like how cocky and know-it-all Donnie presented himself to be, just as the latter didn’t fully trust her to the point that he creates more inventions to heighten security around the lair in case she’s with the Foot Clan.

Eventually, the two warmed up in a way they didn’t expect. Donnie is science-y to Ume’s artsy, a complete contrast. But the meeting that changed their views with one another was when Donnie spotted how curious Ume can be, with her commenting on how genius his inventions were, despite her being not too tech-savvy. She obliviously opened up her insecurities to him and surprisingly in turn [after seeing how genuinely vulnerable she was] allowed him to open up as well. When not in missions, and if not with Mikey or April, Ume would stay in Donnie’s lab to play for him while he works on his inventions. Or they would hang out in the library, which was a joy to Donnie that someone else loved visiting there. Whenever Donnie felt down, Ume would either make some coffee for him or give him a hug. For someone who’s not welcome to physical touch because of a soft shell (unless it’s with family), those warm hugs meant a lot to Donnie. And him allowing an outsider like her to even come as close to hugging him meant how much he trusted her.  Logic may be Donnie’s forte, but Ume balanced him out with her empathy. As time passed, the two became very close friends.

Hamato Leonardo Possibly out of the brothers, Ume’s encounter with Leo (third one of the brothers to meet) is the quickest one. The two met by accident when Leo searched for Mikey. As the second eldest of the turtles, it was Leo’s responsibility to make sure that all brothers would be in the lair by nightfall. Leo became concerned that Mikey wasn’t around so, with Splinter’s permission, he went around the sewers to find his brother. He eventually found Mikey walking casually with Ume. Thanks to Donnie’s mentioning that there are four brothers in all, she felt less confrontational with Leo.  Unlike Ume, Leo is more carefree and laidback that at times, he thinks that she’s the exact female counterpart of Donnie. Which he found out later on, wasn’t the case. When Leo felt down after one mission, he simply shared to her that his brothers didn’t always trust him whenever he had a plan, or trying to prove a point. Ume admitted to him that she knew what it was like to feel left out, having kept all this pain while covering it with his confident persona. She knew because she felt the same way with her peers. That made Leo realize that, despite her hanging out with Donnie or Mikey, she and Leo shared more things in common than he thought to the point that they confide in one another. When hanging out together, Ume would watch Leo perform his tricks at the ramp. And at times Leo would watch her play the violin, and sometimes dance around with her. Their most favorite pastime? Sparring and then sleep right after. Both Ume and Leo possessed a balanced personality, with the latter being more unpredictable than the former.

Hamato Raphael Most probably the friendliest encounter of the brothers is Ume’s with Raph. Unlike her previous encounters, her interaction with Raph was more natural and fun. She first met Raph when he decided to talk to Donnie about possible upgrades for their tank. Upon entering the lab, Raph spotted Ume just sitting in a spare stool next to Donnie, handing over the tools. As soon as she spotted Raph, she immediately introduced herself formally, since she knew that Raph is the eldest of the brothers. And being one of the youngest in the family herself, all she could do was be formal with him. Raph found her being formal as nothing short of weirdly adorable. He already knew of her thanks to his brothers having found a new human friend. Instead of being the overprotective or stern one around, he instead welcomed her happily. Even though the two are of same age, Ume still looks up to Raph and considered him an older brother figure. Likewise Raph saw Ume as a younger sibling. The two spent time together either looking up cute things in the internet (as long as it’s not Mrs. Cuddles) or do some sparring (tonfas vs rattan sticks). They would offer each other some advice or come up with ideas that come to mind, with Raph offering her advice on how she can improve herself as a fighter; while Ume would offer some tips on how to get close with Mayhem.

Despite Ume being more capable than she lets on, Raph maintained a protective hand on her much to her slight annoyance. Otherwise, Ume knew that Raph meant well being protective of her, a trait she never grew tired of.

[heyheydidjaknow]

For anyone who is wondering why I deleted the chapters, I was very tired and forgot what tenses were, so I had to go back and change it all, and that is a pain on Tumbr. Tumblr also, apparently, either has a character or word limit, so this is our first 2 parter. I know I could just separate them into chapters, but I feel weird about making a whole chapter devoted to a date, so.

Edit: Who was gonna tell me I misspelled Casey?

Chapter 6 Pt 1

Leo sighs. “Okay, the fact that this will be the second creepiest stunt you’ve pulled this week says a lot.”

“Relax.” Donatello draws another line. “If she has a map of the foreseeable future and showed it to me, it obviously makes sense that I should answer in kind.”

“But,” Raphael points out, “this is the most desperate thing he’s done this week.”

“Zip it.” He caps his pen, holding his diagram up and walking off to his newly obtained whiteboard. “Besides, it’s not a comprehensive flow chart—attempting to list every possible conversation thread would be futile. It's simply a visual aid to remember the general actions I should take in any given situation.” Although you have been promising to “teach him a thing or two” about plot structure one on one, a part of him thinks it appropriate to make the first move. It appears to be the gallant thing to do, anyhow.

Mikey hops over the table, following one of the paths with his finger. “How come you have a shark on this one?”

“Oh,” he nods, “that’s in case she decides to go to the beach and gets attacked by a shark.”

“And why are there these Xs on this one?”

“That signifies the end of one of our lives.”

“And the hearts?”

He blushes. “I’m not answering that.”

Raph shudders. “Man, this just feels gross. I can already feel the secondhand disgust.”

“Raphael,” Donatello sighs, “love is a complex enigma that, if not thoroughly considered and tailored, will crumble before your very eyes. I cannot and will not destroy what little relationship we have by being reckless. Besides,” he scoffs, “in what other possible manner could I ask her out?”

“Hey, Y/N,” Leo offers, “let’s hang out.”

“See, that’s too pedestrian.” He gestures to the poster. “Trust in the—”

You slam through the door. Donnie, apparently panicked, flips the board over with fumbling hands. “H-hey, Y/N. Hey.” He stands up properly, clearing his throat. “Hey.”

You point at him. “How do you feel about busting a corrupt disgrace to the title of scientist?”

“Good!” He peaks at his board, trying to steal himself. “Where are we headed?”

“A neuroscientist by the name of Rockwell got mutated.” You start heading out. “Asshole in question is Victor Falco, AKA Feral Falco, AKA The Rat King if we don’t haul ass. He’s at Rockwell’s lab.”

“Awesome. Let’s go.” He runs after you, shooting a thumbs-up back at his brothers.

You are going to murder a man tonight. Probably. Hopefully not. Depends on how hard it is to wreck his shit. You have been stalking the Channel 6 news for about a week now, waiting for the jackass to show up, and now that he has? You are not about to let him become the monster you knew he could and would become.

“So,” Donnie startles you, lost in thought, “how was your first day of class?”

“It was fine. Met Casey, avoided Irma like the plague, all that jazz.” You turn a right.

“Casey?”

“Casey Jones. Hockey player, real bad at math.”

“A guy?” He seems interested in this subject for some reason.

“Yup.” You reach into your bag, wrapping your fingers around your kitchen knife, hands already shaking. If you must kill him, you will make it quick. “My age.”

“Oh.” He sighs. “That’s… nice.”

‘Can I just take him to the police? I don't have any evidence. This is breaking and entering.’

He clears his throat. “Y/N?”

“Hm?”

“We’re here.”

You look up at the building, sigh. “So we are.”

He moves in front of you, moving to meet you at eye-level. “Is there anything I need to know before we go in?”

You take a deep breath. “The man in the lab coat is the perp. We need to take him down, first and foremost. He may act a fool, but he’s accountable for the mutation of his partner. We either have to incapacitate, convict or, if necessary, kill him.”

He swallows. “This guy is that bad?”

“Not yet.” You start pulling the knife out properly as you push the door open with your clothed arm. “But it’s best to pull a weed out from the root.”

He follows you closely.

You look down at your phone to double-check that this is the offending room. “Here.” You back up, gesturing to the door eccentrically, heart pounding in your chest. “This is the room.”

He approaches you, brow furrowed. “Y/N,” he asks cautiously, “don’t take this the wrong way, but you look sick. Are you alright?”

You nod. “Nervous is all. Haven’t done this sort of thing before.”

He offers a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry.” He gives you a thumbs up. “I’ll be with you every step of the way, alright?”

Your knuckles go white around the grip as you try to release some tension. ‘Don’t choke. That’s his job.’ “Yeah.” You return it. “Oh, are you free tomorrow night? I still have to give you that lesson.”

His face lights up. “Y-yeah! Totally!” He grins eagerly. “Should I go to your place? At what time?”

“We’ll hash out the details on the way back.” You look prominently to the lock. “Now, I take it you have some gadget or gizmo to help us open this bad boy?”

He kneels, pulling a device from the utility belt on his hip and sliding it into the card reader. “Of course.”

The door lets out a harsh buzz, the light turning green. You pull your sleeve forward onto your hand, pushing the door open.

The room smells like metal and mold and decay, a certain lethality hanging in the air when you enter. You stay close to the wall, pulling down a lever to illuminate the harsh laboratory in an even harsher light. And there, caught frozen as he pockets a vial, is Victor Falco.

His eyes flicker towards the door.

You tackle him to the ground, shifting your weight back onto his legs, and pin his arms above his head. “Donnie,” you call, stopping his struggling with a knife pressed against his neck, “would you be so kind as to find a few things for me? I can tell you where they are in the room, but I’m a bit preoccupied.”

“Uh, sure.” His voice sounds strange to you. Tight. Nervous? Confused? You ignore it for now.

“What is the meaning of this,” the scientist bellows from underneath you. “I demand you give me an explanation!”

“Oh be quiet, traitor.” You press the blade against his skin. “We both know the crime you’ve committed against your partner.”

His eyes widen.

You keep your eyes locked on him at all times. “The first thing you’re looking for is a container of mutagen. When you get to the desk, you should see 2 stacks of drawers.”

You do not hear his footsteps. “Mhm.”

“The bottom left drawer has a false bottom. If you pull it up, you’ll find a canister of mutagen.”

You hear the drawer slide open, the shuffling of papers. “Got it.”

“Fantastic. Now, on the desk should be a flash drive belonging to Rockwell. Grab that.”

“How could you possibly know?” You feel his wrist tense as he clenched his fist. “I was so thorough.”

“I’m psychic,” you lie, smiling coldly. “Be happy I met you here and not in your home.”

“Anything else?”

“Whatever is in his pockets, besides car keys and a wallet. You’re getting new chemicals.”

The doctor does not seem to like that idea. He starts writhing underneath you.

“If you don’t stop moving,” you sigh, bringing the knife up and down quickly, hovering over his left eye, “you, a neuroscientist, will have the pleasure of discovering firsthand if what people say about losing your depth perception is true. See, I’ve always heard that it settles, but I’m more than happy to see it happen firsthand if you’ll indulge me.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“You aren’t sure.” You chuckle darkly, fingers wrapping tighter still around his wrists. “I don’t need to be a psychic to feel your shaking.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you see a green blob crouch down, pulling vials from his pockets.

“You’re a child.”

“And yet I’m the one holding a knife to you.” ‘Why am I so calm?’ “You’re selfish. You’re prideful. You won’t try anything because I know you to be cowardly, and you won’t say anything,” you nod, “because, if you did, you would have to admit to breaking into your missing partner’s lab, and deal with the backlash regarding me and my associate bringing that hard drive to the police and letting them connect the dots.” You smile sweetly. “Donnie, would you be so kind as to get some distance between you and Mr. Falco?” You do not look over at him, focused on the current task. “If he pulls anything, you need to be able to bring that to the police.”

“Got it.” A few seconds pass. “I’m by the door.”

You slide the carving knife in that general direction. “Goodnight, Falco.” You grab his hair, slamming his head against the ground once as you leap to your feet. You grab the knife, sprinting towards the door. “And that is our cue to leave.”

Donatello, who is having interesting feelings about the whole thing, appears to have been snapped out of some sort of trance. He nods, and the both of you exit the scene.

--

You wipe your mouth on your sleeve, shaking as you rest your chin on the edge of the dumpster. “T-thanks,” you smile shakily. “I appreciate it, really.”

“Not at all.” He let your locks fall from his hand. “I imagine it’s hard, what with having hair and all.” He helps you down from your perch on a stack of crates. “Are you feeling alright now?”

“Besides my mouth tasting like stomach acid? Never better.” You sigh, rubbing your face with your hands. “Sorry. The nerves just kinda…” you trail off, cheeks dusted pink. “Well, you get the idea.”

“It’s alright, really.” He smiles fondly. “You were really bold in there. It was really cool.”

“I don’t feel cool. I feel the opposite of cool.” You start down the alleyway. “But at least we stopped a ton of problems in its tracks.”

You hear a primal cry as a large primate lands in front of you.

You look him in the eyes, already tired of this episode. “Good evening, Dr. Rockwell.”

His eyes snap to Donatello, who was already unsheathing his bo staff. You look over your shoulder at him. “Chill out. He’s cool.”

“He’s a giant monkey!”

“Dude, he’s a well-esteemed scientist.” You turn to face him properly, holding his arms out to get some proper separation. “Put the effin stick down.”

“But—” He stops, takes a deep breath, and sheathes the staff. “Alright. I’ll trust you.” He seems almost disturbed by your apparent ease.

You turn back to face him properly, smiling. “Doctor,” you nod, “your partner will be of no concern to you from this point onward. Rest assured; his research has been halted.” Your tone is politely respectful.

The wild eyes of the primate calm. He seems to at least sense the general sentiment. He nods once, leaping up onto the nearest rooftop and disappearing into the night.

You nod in satisfaction, looking back at the stunned Donatello.

“He calmed down so easily.”

“He has a human mind, for the most part.” You shrug, continuing down the alley. “Let’s head back. Man, if you dad knew the kind of trouble I just got him out of.” You giggle at his dumbstruck expression, walking backward to keep facing him. “Well, are you just gonna stand there lookin pretty or are you going to come with?”

His face goes red. He nods once, hurrying after you.

You two walk quietly for a little over a minute. “Hey, uh, can I ask you something?”

“Totally.” You decide to bite the bullet and pull of the manhole cover. “What’s up?”

“Why do you call him that?”

“Call who what?” You start climbing down.

“You know, not call him Master Splinter.” He pulls the cover back on, landing beside you. “You always call him my dad or Yoshi or Mr. Hamato.”

“Well,” you shrug, “he’s your dad, right?”

“I’m not saying it’s a problem,” he clarified, “or that’s it’s incorrect, but most people—myself included—refer to him as Master Splinter.”

You start walking with him. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Donnie,” you sigh, “but, if I can help it, I honestly hope I never have to call him that.”

“Why?” He walks beside you, eyes tracing your figure subtlety.

“Didn’t I already say?” You nod back in the direction you guys came from. “You saw how I acted back there. This is only episode six or seven. The trauma I’d have to go through as a ninja here would kill me,”

“But you have the guts for it.” His voice is certain. “You’re strong enough, mentally, to be a ninja.”

You pause, your throat catching. You wonder if he would still think so if he had seen how you had spent your nights.

He clears his throat, blushing again. “I think you are, anyway.”

You wrap your arms around his neck, burying your face in the crook of his neck silently. You feel him seize up under you. “Thank you,” you mumble.

He slowly relaxes, snaking his arms around your waist and pulling you closer. He rests his head on top of yours gently. Slowly, he buries his hand in your hair. He is always so warm— he makes you feel oddly safe. This is only the second time you have been this physically close to him, but you don’t think for a moment that he would try anything.

You back off, clearing your throat as your cheeks catch fire. “Sorry,” you smile timidly. “I’ve just been… I’m not usually this clingy.”

He blinks out of his stupor, looking down at you. “Huh? Oh, don’t worry about it.” He grinned giddily, almost drunk. “Y-You are all good.”

You swallow. “I’ve gotta do an introduction type project for school, so I gotta get back home.” You walk back in the direction you two came. “Come to my place at about seven tomorrow. I’ll order food.”

He nods, body relaxed. “Seven. Got it.” He does.

You wave, walking back to the ladder. “Then I’ll see you then.”

He stands there, watching you leave. As soon as he hears the sliding of the manhole cover back into place, he takes a moment to celebrate the victory before starting to walk back to the lair.

‘I got a date!’

Table of Contents

Chapter 5

Chapter 6, Part 2

[cheesy-che]

Gift exchange - TMNT fanfic

Yet another slice of life fanfic with @sassatello 's original character and mine, set in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe (2k3). You can read the first part here. 

Click here for info about : Adrian (Sassatello’s OC) and Mizuiro (my OC) Words : About 2260 /// Type : Fluff, as always! ~

Gift Exchange Unfolding the small piece of paper in his hand, Donatello smiled awkwardly at the name appearing on it. He noticed how wiggly the initial was, followed by five succinct and well-rounded letters. As he felt a small rush of blood in his cheeks, he was more apprehensive than he should have been. 

This gift exchange was a great idea for everyone in their group to receive something special. However, as soon as he had noticed the “A” on the white stationary, his mind was filled with doubt. For some reason, he had thought of a possible gift for everyone in their group: A comic-book shelf for Mikey; a portable radio for Mizuiro; relaxing bath salts for Raph; a French-press tea infuser for Leo... well, for everyone except Adrian. The common agreement in their group -considering the lack of funds from most- was that the gifts would either have to be handmade or recycled. Donatello could create a lot of things easily. He knew more than anyone that making things was his specialty. Nonetheless, he was now completely in the dark as to what he could offer to their terrapin friend from outer space. How could he find an original gift for someone who has access to an inter dimensional portal? Adrian probably could find whatever he wants, whenever he felt like it, right? 

The ever so resourceful mutant turtle was already running out of ideas. It took him days to admit it, but he was at an impasse. Eventually, he decided to ask Adrian’s closest friend. She was the only one aware of their relationship so far. After all, only three weeks had passed since they had their first kiss. 

~ 

Today, the turtles’ lair was being prepared for their annual Christmas party. While Adrian was helping Raphael hanging decorations around, Mizuiro was untangling fairy lights in the living room. Michelangelo was writing down the ingredients they would need for cooking and Leonardo was decorating the tree with their father. Meanwhile, Donatello was making sure that the electrical panel could handle their future power usage. Noticing how his task involved being physically close to Mizuiro, he thought it might be an occasion to ask for advice. Fortunately for him, loud festive music was playing at their place, thanks to Michelangelo. Nobody else would hear what he was about to ask. 

“So...” Donatello started innocently, grabbing Mizuiro’s attention. Have you already thought about your gift?” 

“I did.” His friend sighed after letting go of a knot she has been working on untangling. “But it’s not done yet.” 

“Right.” He paused. “There isn’t much time left before Christmas.” 

She hummed in agreement, keeping her concentration on the many wires laying around. 

“To be completely honest,” Donatello continued, “I don’t have a clue of what I could give.” 

He shyly scratched the back of his head, hoping for a reaction from her friend. Eventually, Mizuiro looked up, witnessing his doubtful expression. The brow bones behind his purple mask framed his eyes in a downward curve. He was implicitly asking for help.

“Whose name did you end up with?” She asked curiously. 

“Adrian...” he mentioned in a lower voice. 

Mizuiro looked around to check if anyone heard him. Seeing they didn’t, she got up and approached him slowly. Still hearing loud melodies playing around the lair, she relied on them to cover their conversation.

“What’s wrong, Donnie?”

“I really don’t know what I can give him”, he repeated, “and I don’t want it to be something that’s too obvious either. I don’t know if my family is okay with us being more than friends.”

“But,” his human friend interrupted him, “what makes you think they wouldn’t approve?”

“I don’t know.” he sighed, fiddling with his own hands as usual. “It’s not really a subject we talk about in our home. I’m sure you understand, since you must’ve thought about it, too.”

His friend’s shoulders subtly became stiff.

“Adrian told me.” Donatello shrugged, empathizing about these awkward feelings that weren’t easy to put into words. “Your secret is safe with me though, I promise.”

Without saying anything, she stared at him with a worried glance. After another quick look around, she finally let out a few words, in a much lower voice.

“I understand,” Mizuiro sighed, asking herself how long she would be able to keep her feelings secret at this point.  “Why don’t you focus less on your intimate knowledge of him… and more on what other people know?”

He moved his right hand to his chin, not sure what she meant.

“For example,” his friend continued, “he introduced himself as a traveller, right? This alone must surely give you ideas.”

His eyes expanded after hearing this, realizing the answer has been right under his nose all this time. Well, his beak, in his case. Only a few seconds after, they were surprised by Raphael’s voice coming from the other side of the lair. He had his hand on the sound system volume, where he had adjusted the tuning knob to be heard.

“When you two geeks are done discussing electrical power and whatnot, could you give us a hand with this?”

As he pointed the top of the Christmas tree, they both noticed how their traditional star-shaped topper had yet to be functional. Immediately, Donatello smiled and walked in direction of the tree. 

“What is it? You didn’t connect it on the garlands?” he inquired.

“We didn’t want to make anything explode.” Raphael retorted, half-joking.

Mizuiro admired the way Donatello could change subject so easily, not showing any sign of his previously stressed state of mind. She went back to untangling the lights on the floor, a well-known black hand with red spots appearing in front of her. Adrian offered his help while sitting next to her. 

“You told him.” Mizuiro whispered after a minute of silence. 

“What?” her friend breathed back.

“About… our secret.”

“Oh!” Adrian exclaimed, way too loud for his friend’s taste.

She put her finger in front of her mouth.

“I’m sorry!” Adrian justified himself, back to an undertone. “The guy is a genius. It was only a matter of time until he figured I was hiding something from him. It slipped out.”

His friend sighed again, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. 

“I don’t want to ruin Christmas with all of this… drama.” She said softly.

Her terrapin friend placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sure it wouldn’t ruin anything, but I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“Thank you, Adrian.”

He gently hugged her before untangling the last two wires. He felt the need to stand in a victorious swing, both his hands showing off the now precisely arranged lights on the floor.

“We did it!” He said out loud, trying to cheer his friend.

“We?” Leonardo stepped in. “Mizuiro did most of the work, didn’t she?”

She shrugged while getting up, Adrian winking at her with the most obvious smile. This guy just didn’t know subtlety like she did, apparently. 

~

On December 25th, Adrian appeared in the middle of the lair. Their gift exchange has been planned for 3 PM, but the portal user came by an hour earlier. He could never determine New York’s exact time after the Daylight-Saving date. On other planets he visited, most of them agreed on a global time management solution. At least for once, he was in advance instead of being late.

“Hey, Adrian!” Michelangelo greeted him with a smile. “You’re early!” 

“Apparently?” he smiled back after noticing the time on the kitchen clock. “Hey, where should I put my gift?”

“Right here, my dude!” Michelangelo pointed their Christmas tree.

He noticed that six gifts were placed there, all indicating their names.

“Wait, is Mizuiro here already?”

“Uh yeah, she’s with Donnie, in his lab. I think she’s working on something with him.”

Adrian noticed the television was on, the weather forecast announcing snow in their area.

“Oh, can we go outside after our gift exchange!?” his friend asked with an enthusiastic voice. “Is it okay for us to go out in the day like that?”

“We could, yeah! There aren’t many humans outside during Christmas anyway.”

Michelangelo drew the attention at them.

“Hey guys! We can start early. Adrian is here!”

Raphael and Leonardo stepped out of the dojo while two heads peeked outside of the laboratory. Splinter had risen up from the couch and sat next to their Christmas tree. The seven of them formed a circle, Adrian making sure to sit next to Donatello.

“So, who’s first?” Splinter asked. “Should I just pick one since I am not biased?”

They all agreed to follow his suggestion, and he carefully gave the gifts to everyone. One by one, they opened their gifts and thanked each other. Adrian had found a cool-looking extraterrestrial dagger for Raphael during one of his travel, who then gave a knitted scarf to Leonardo. The latter gave a bracelet to Mizuiro, mentioning he had looked for trinkets all around the city to make it. Michelangelo received a pair of harem pants made by Mizuiro, which he tried on immediately. He proceeded by giving his gift to Donatello, which was a homemade “Do not disturb” sign to put on the door of his lab with cupcakes he had cooked. Last but not least, Adrian received a water bottle from Donatello. A confused look appeared on his face.

“Please, open the bottle” Donatello insisted. “There is a filter inside that should allow you to drink water wherever you find it!”

“Oh, that is so cool!” Adrian beamed. “Thank you, honey!”

Completely oblivious to his words, he kept examining the bottle and the craftmanship of it. Eventually, his attention got back to Donatello, whose face was now as red as a mutant turtle could be.

“Honey?” Michelangelo broke the silence.

“Did that just slip out of your mouth?” Raphael asked, an awkward smile appearing on his face.

“Oh.” Adrian softly winced, realizing the situation he had just created.

He looked around and saw everyone alternating their attention between Donatello and him. The conclusion was evident, seeing how shy and silent both of them suddenly were. Mizuiro put her hand in front of her mouth to hide her subtle smile. Unfortunately, someone did notice it.

“Wait,” Leonardo addressed her. “You knew?”

She was about to justify herself when Adrian disrupted the general uneasiness. He casually went sitting next to Donatello and put an arm over his now official “boyfriend”.

“I guess there’s no way of denying it now, is there?” he joked, avoiding their stares by looking at his partner. 

Even if he didn’t want to admit he was embarrassed, redness had also appeared on his cheeks.

“I am happy for you, my son.” Declared the turtle’s father, whose reaction was unexpectedly calm and collected. “You didn’t have to hide it from us.”

“Since when!?” interrupted Michelangelo.

Donatello, however, couldn’t say anything. It was not how he had planned to announce this to his family. Actually, he didn’t even have the chance to think of a better alternative. At least, Adrian had made it easier to swallow the pill by saying it nonchalantly.

“Erm well… Adrian, didn’t you want to go outside?” Donatello suggested, wanting to escape this uncomfortable situation as much as possible.

“Yes!” he remembered. “Let’s go now, how about that?”

Adrian got up and took Donatello by the hand, walking in direction of the lair’s entrance. Michelangelo wouldn’t accept the change of subject so easily.

“Don’t take it badly, I’m really hyped for them! I simply wonder why he didn’t tell us!”

“Love is complicated, Mikey.” Insisted Raphael. “Let them be. I’m sure Donnie will answer our questions later. Let’s just go outside for now, yeah?”

“Make sure to come back before 5,” mentiond Splinter. “That’s when I asked our guests to visit. Be careful, and don’t taunt him with your questions so much.”

A synchronized “Yes sensei” formally escaped the mouth of the three remaining mutant turtles. They all went in their respective rooms to find winter clothing. Donatello came back with other garments destined for Adrian. Snow has always been a source of joy for the traveller. Even if he had witnessed many different climates and meteorological phenomena, nothing could make him feel as giddy as Earth’s own frozen vapor. The fact that he had associated the sight of snow with Donatello’s presence might have been a good indicator of why he liked it so much. 

~

Outside, while their little group were making a snow sculpture, Donatello had asked Adrian to take a walk far from the others. Holding his special someone’s hand along the road, Adrian felt proud to be with him. Despite the shy nature of his partner, he showed much more confidence. His smile was growing by the second, not having to hide himself from anyone. Well, he still had to avoid humans, -and the cold- hence the snowsuit he was wearing. 

“I had something else to give you, Adrian.” Calmly said Donatello.

“Oh? You didn’t have to!”

“I insist. The water bottle was easy to make. I wanted you to have this.”

He handed him a booklet out of his pocket.

“This is a portable photo album with pictures of our group. I asked Mizuiro to help me print it.”

Adrian briefly looked at the pages in the book, but he decided to hug his partner for the moment being. He placed a delicate kiss on his forehead, hugging him even tighter. 

“You’re absolutely precious, do you know that, Donnie?”

“Ah… come on.” He shyly scoffed back. ~

(( Original art here ))

[flintsjohn]

if you're still taking prompts, how about one where michael realizes how fondly alex looks at him?

uhh so i didn’t proofread this and also almost forgot to post it so i’m sorry if it’s messy? also very canon-divergent with a hell of a lot of oblivious!michael and all of their friends being awesome :)

I.

“But do you think he likes likes me?”

Max heaves out a sigh and lifts his eyes from the worn copy of War and Peace he’s reading while chewing on an apple. Michael returns the look nervously, biting down on his thumbnail. His eyes fleet to Alex, sitting on a table not too far from them, laughing with Maria and Liz.

“Yes, Michael,” Max finally says after he swallows. “I don’t know why you keep asking me that, bud. You know how he looks at you.”

Michael takes one last moment to look at Alex, all smiles and shining black-lined eyes, and then turns back to Max with a pout. “He never looks at me.” Not once, in three years of high school together and one that Michael has been crushing on him, and not in that way anyway. “I had to steal his guitar for him to even look my way.” That had been a good day for Michael, crush-wise, even though he had been accused of being a thief which in that case, to be fair, he had been.

Max doesn’t seem convinced, by the state of his raised eyebrows, but Michael shrugs and goes back to his sad little salad, trying not to think of Alex Manes or his stupid eyes, rings, outfits, whatever.

II.

Michael has a physics essay to turn in for which the deadline is in three hours and if he doesn’t finish this now he’s going to be fucked, but Isobel doesn’t seem to care. He’s not even sure why she’s here, because visiting for the weekend doesn’t count when she’s at fashion school fifteen minutes away from his dorm on the UNM campus.

He’s only half listening to her latest rant on her relationship problems with Rosa as he writes his conclusion, but when he’s finally sent in the damned thing, cracked his back and focused back on her, she’s apparently moved on, because she’s now asking, “Why don’t you just ask him out?”

“Uh?” he says stupidly, eyes burning from being focused for so long on the computer screen. He rubs at them and yawns, reaching for a cup of coffee that is now lukewarm.

“Alex, dumbdumb. You know, your life-long crush.”

Michael snorts because yeah, right. Like he’s just going to gather up the courage like that after three years spent pining dramatically. Besides, Alex is always being swarmed by admirers nowadays, college having given him the freedom he’s never had in high school under his father’s thumb. He’s going on dates left and right with guys far more deserving of him than Michael is. He’s tried saying as much to Isobel, but she apparently hasn’t heard a word of it.

“You know, and I can’t believe I’m saying this because God knows I’m the only functional human being in our family, but Max is right.” She sighs, flicks him on the forehead, and finishes her sentence as she moves to the door like she’d come into his dorm just to tell him that. “You should take the blinders off and see how he looks at you.”

III.

It’s not like Michael and Alex aren’t friends. They are, ever since senior year of high schol, when they bonded over shitty childhoods and music. They still hang out in college – living in the same building, it would be weird if they didn’t – and their friend group has remained pretty much the same since high school in Roswell, so they can’t really avoid each other. So Michael knows, on a logical level, that Alex likes spending time with him. It’s just that he doesn’t think Alex will ever see him that way, and by now everyone but Alex knows about Michael’s crush and they’re not subtle about it.

“So, you two fucked yet?” Rosa asks as she drops on the free chair next to him in the middle of the busy café as Michael waits for Alex’s shift to finish so they can have their study-session. He rushes to shush her, even though Alex is so busy behind the counter that he couldn’t possibly have heard her. He blushes as Rosa rolls her eyes, and goes back to his text book, drumming the page with his pencil.

“Sooner or later you’re gonna have to talk to him,” she reminds him, not unkindly (she’s never as insolent as Isobel is, though her crass language would suggest otherwise). She takes a sip of her latte and stares at the busy crowd, probably waiting for her girlfriend’s blonde head to pop up.

“We talk.”

“Not about things that matter, Mikey-boy.” She grins at the glare he directs her way at the nickname and continues easily, “Like the fact that you love when he smiles and lovingly bats his eyelashes at you while you go on and on about science facts nobody else cares about.”

“Shut up,” he mutters, dropping his head on his book and slamming it down a couple of times. Sometimes he wonders why he’s friends with people like Rosa, who won’t know when to drop some topics, but then he always remembers that Isobel would have his balls if he didn’t make an effort with her girlfriend, so all he ever does in the end is shrug and try to change the subject or deny. “And he doesn’t do… That.”

“Dude. I’m in a band with him. He talks about you all the time.” He picks his head up just in time to catch yet another of Rosa’s patented eye-rolls, and then she’s squealing and jumping up to throw herself into Isobel’s arms. He makes a gagging sound as they kiss as he does every time he has to see that, without fail, but the thought of Alex talking about him when he’s not there keeps nagging him for the rest of the afternoon, even when the man himself joins him with complimentary coffee.

IV.

“Maria, please,” he begs, tugging at her arm for her to stay.

“Jeez, Michael, it’s just Alex. You’ll be fine.” She shakes her head and drops a kiss to his cheek before waving at him and going back to the bar to join the rest of the girls. Hell of a night for Max to be busy and leave him at the mercy of the meanest group of ladies he’s ever met. And, well, Alex.

It’s just Alex, Maria says. Michael snorts and shakes his head, thumb rubbing at the condensation on his beer bottle. Just Alex is always Michael’s problem. He gets tongue-tied and stuttery around Alex, the last four years of shared life experiences forgotten when Alex as much as looks his way.

Which is what happens next, more or less. Alex gets back with his drink and an added sway to his hips which Michael knows, because he’s had to witness it countless times before, means he’s already been hit on by the first guy of the night, and Michael settles in for a long, long night of sulking in his beer.

Thankfully, around the third guy that strikes up a conversation with Alex and offers him a drink, Liz comes to save him. Michael really, really loves Liz, and he hopes Max will pull his head out of his ass and ask her to marry him sooner rather than later so he can have her as his sister-in-law, because Liz is awesome. He tells her as much, because he’s tipsy and loose-tongued enough now that he’s not alone with Alex anymore. She laughs and wraps an arm around his waist and tugs him to the dance floor.

Five minutes later, however, Michael feels like taking back everything he’s just stated about Liz, because she’s swaying with him so she can yell in his ear. “Why did you let him leave?” She draws back to catch Michael’s reaction, which is just a frown, before she continues, “We left you two alone and with alcohol! It was the perfect opportunity, Mikey!”

Scratch awesome, all the girls he knows are downright evil.

V.

Pool night with the boys becomes a thing in college, and they bring it back to Roswell when they all end up moving back. No matter how busy Alex gets with teaching, or how swamped with deadlines for his current writing project Max is, or how tired Kyle is from shifts, or how forgetful Michael gets with new projects in his lab, they try to keep their one night a week going.

Michael is getting drinks at the bar, making small talk with Mimi, when Kyle joins him, clapping him on the back before he takes two of the glasses from him. He’s coming off a double shift and almost missed boys night, though he refused to force them to reschedule, so Michael guesses from his crazy hair and shining eyes that he’s still running high on caffeine. Unfortunately, a caffeinated Kyle is a chatty Kyle.

“So, tell me, what did I miss? It’s been a while since our last night out.” Michael throws a look his way and shrugs at the expectant look on Kyle’s face, which earns him a pout. “C’mon, man, as your best friend outside of your siblings-“

“Liz is my best friend.”

“As your best friend,” Kyle repeats more forcefully, glaring at him until Michael accepts the statement with another shrug, “You should talk to me about this stuff.”

“There’s nothing to tell, Kyle.”

Kyle’s expression drops at that, and he stops to put the drinks down on a random table so he can turn on Michael, even though they haven’t reached the pool table they’ve commandeered for the night yet. “What do you mean nothing?”

“I mean,” Michael sighs, running a hand through his curls. He throws a glance Alex’s way, but he’s deep in conversation with Max and doesn’t seem to notice Kyle is holding him hostage, “Nothing happened.”

“But you went on a date.” Michael nods, taking a sip of his beer since it looks like Kyle isn’t going to release him any time soon. “And you kissed. He told me you two kissed!” Another nod, and Kyle frowns again. “So?”

“So what? He doesn’t want a relationship, Kyle.”

“Did he tell you that?” Kyle crosses his arms over his chest, studying Michael as he shifts uncomfortably on his feet. Alex hasn’t actually said that, not in as many words, but Michael can read the signs, and he knows that date was a mistake. Kyle doesn’t seem to agree, because he mutters, “Por Dios, que idiota eres.”

“I speak Spanish.”

“I know! I want you to understand what a dumbass you are!” Kyle pushes a finger into his chest, and Michael barely has time to mutter an ow before Kyle’s hands are on his cheeks and he’s forced to look into the other man’s eyes, which is weird because he hasn’t been this close to Kyle’s face since they drunkenly made out at his graduation party.

“Now, you listen to me, Guerin,” Kyle says determinedly, “You go there, free Alex from Max, and ask him out again. I will not lose the bet because of your obliviousness.”

VI.

“Oh,” Michael breathes as the pictures pop up on the big screen set up appositely for the slideshow. He tried to avoid it, of course, worried about what photos Isobel would be able to unearth, but it was non-negotiable in Isobel’s wedding plan, and unfortunately Alex had been on her side. Alex, who now sighs happily and cuddles closer to him with an inquisitive noise. “That’s- That’s what they always meant.”

“With what, babe?” Alex presses a kiss to his cheek and entwines their fingers, both of them smiling sheepishly when their rings clink together. Three hours haven’t been enough to get used to that (Michael isn’t sure a lifetime will be enough to get used to the fact that he’s just married the love of his life).

“The way you look at me,” Michael whispers, just for them to hear. He nods at the screen, which is now showing a picture of them in college, a guitar in each of their laps, heads bowed together as they play. Michael’s eyes are focused on his fingers in the photo, but Alex is looking at him, an incredibly fond look in his eyes. He has the exact same look in most of their pictures together, and Michael gasps as he looks down to find it replicated on his husband, eyes crinkling with his smile.

“Yeah,” Michael breathes, pressing his forehead to Alex’s, “That look.”

Alex hums, pressing closer to Michael like he would want to fuse them together if he could. He smiles as he drops a kiss to the corner of Michael’s lips, causing him to shiver when his next words brush against his skin like a caress. “I never look away.”

[ukulelecal]

marvel!sos - characters and relationships

hey pumpkins, so i made a big post with all the information about the characters in the marvel au that i have so far. obviously there’s more to be explored, but this is what i’ve got rn.

i wanna give a big thanks to @fullblownidentitycrisis for helping me develop this so much, and to everyone who sent ideas and suggestions!! you guys are awesome, i’m so excited, lets go (also sorry the bullet points are so long, i maxed out on the text block limit so i had to combine them):

Calum Hood as Spider-Man

-Your classic geeky science nerd. Follows pretty much the same story as Spider-Man; lost his parents, and then his uncle, and lived with his aunt, gets bitten by a radioactive spider and now has superpowers. Just in this case, he went to college in New York and lived in a dorm, probably lived with his aunt during summers. Went to college for chemical engineering on a scholarship, and is now graduated

-Moved into a cheap little apartment in Harlem after college with three other guys until he finds his dream science job, which he’s struggling with. He kind of hates the guys he lives with because they’re obnoxious but he doesn’t really have a choice. Works at a greasy spoon restaurant as a busboy for minimum wage

-He gets very overwhelmed about his powers, being afraid of them, afraid of possibly hurting someone, and feeling inhuman. It’s just very stressful for him. He has tattoos for his family, and when he gets too anxious about life, his future, his powers, he traces over the tattoos with his finger to remind him that he’s got his family watching over him

Eleanor, Calum’s girlfriend

-Born and raised in Chicago. Moved to New York after high school for college, also on a scholarship. She studies biomedical engineering. So even though she’s a science nerd like Cal, she isn’t awkward like he is. She’s very cool and witty, has a lot of spunk and is very sharp. Also super intelligent and quick-thinking

-She used to want to be a writer when she was younger, specifically a poet, but as she got older she started thinking she wasn’t good enough to do it for a living so she pursued science instead, but she still writes in her free time

-Works as a waitress at the same restaurant as Calum. Lived in an apartment by herself after college, but at some point her landlord raised her rent a lot, and getting paid minimum wage she knew she wasn’t going to be able to pay it, and ended up getting evicted

Calum and El’s relationship

-They had some classes together in college. Cal always thought she was gorgeous but never had the courage to talk to her. He never expected to see her again after college but lord behold, they work at the same restaurant now

-They started talking and hanging out a lot, and being best friends eventually grew into dating. Cal and El are the broke New York kids, living off cheap food in Harlem and leftover fries from the restaurant, always complaining about being broke but they aren’t unhappy, because they have each other. When El gets evicted, she stays with Cal in his shared apartment for a bit, but his roommates aren’t thrilled with the idea of someone else living in their already cramped apartment so they both take extra shifts at the restaurant and save up so they can get their own place. They’re like the groups little siblings (even though they’re not much younger), everyone looks after them

-El doesn’t know about Cal’s powers at first, and she finds out by walking in on him messing around in the suit. She’s hurt at first, about him keeping secrets, and Cal is panicking for three days thinking she’s going to leave him, but once she comes around she shows all of her support and helps him a lot when he’s having a hard time. She also becomes important to the team after that, using her logic to make plans and her medical background to heal everyone

-Cal calls her Ellie-bear, which she pretends to hate but secretly loves

Luke Hemmings as Thor Odinson

-God of thunder, heir to the throne of Asgard. Can be a bit cocky and hot headed, but he’s mostly a ray of sunshine

-Gets banished to Earth by Odin, but not for the same reason as in the movies. He gets banished because he’s in love with a warrior named Freja. The problem is, Thor has been arranged to marry another woman since he was born. And that woman is not Freja. Odin banishes him in hopes that being apart from each other will cause their love to die, and Thor will marry the other woman without resistance when he is allowed back. Obviously, Odin was wrong. While on Earth, Thor developed the name Luke Hemmings for himself. He met a group of heroes and worked with them

Freja on Asgard and Harper on Earth, Luke’s girlfriend

-An incredible warrior. Highly respected on Asgard

-She absolutely radiates grace and is very debonair. Even in battle, she is just the embodiment of elegance. She has a very calming voice, and it easily soothes anyone she speaks to without even trying. She always seems to be calm which makes her a very easy presence to be around. Her best weapon is a sword, but she dabbles a bit in everything

-Never really knew her parents; they were killed at an age when she couldn’t remember them. Raised by an Asgardian warrior leader, thus her becoming a warrior herself

Luke and Harper’s Relationship

-They were playmates growing up. It wasn’t until they were older that they started to have feelings for each other. They both knew that Luke was in an arranged marriage, but they didn’t care. They loved each other

-When Luke got banished, it was so rough for both of them. They had no way of communicating, and they had to go nearly a year without seeing or even talking to each other. Odin’s plan of getting them to fall out of love totally backfired. The first thing Luke did the second he could return to Asgard was look for Freja. He asked her to come back to Earth with him so they could be together because if they stayed Luke would be forced to marry the other woman. She quickly agreed and ran away with him, gave herself the name Harper. They completely put Asgard behind them. And they are so lovey dovey on Earth, making up for lost time. They’re the star-crossed lovers in the typical forbidden love situation. Luke shows her all the weird Earth things he discovered and they continue to discover more together

Ashton Irwin as Captain America

-Kid from Brooklyn. Used to be very sickly and weak. Received a special serum back in 1941, and became a super soldier. Incredible strength and speed. Was frozen for years and woke up in modern times

-Now he’s very brave and determined, and once he’s passionate about or invested in something he can’t back down. And when he sees wrongdoing he can’t ignore it. He’s like the dad of the group and is very protective of everyone. He’s especially protective of his girl, and also Cal and El

-He’s super good at drawing and he used to love it, but doesn’t do it as much anymore

Mila, Ashton’s girlfriend

-A SHIELD agent. People would expect her to be super serious and stoic but she’s the opposite. She’s literally the softest bean ever. She’s soft and cute, full of giggles and big smiles. She’s also very stable and organized, which is good for Ash because he’s always stressed. Super smart, good problem solver

-Also a major badass when in action which leaves everyone shocked. She can do acrobatics well and is strong, and she can handle a gun pretty good. She gets super tough when she’s fighting

Ashton and Mila’s relationship

-They met at some sort of SHIELD meeting that Ash had to attend. He thought she seemed sweet so he chatted her up a bit after the meeting, and they started going out. So she probably knows he’s Captain America from the start

-They keep their relationship pretty private. They aren’t super affectionate in public or anything but when they’re alone? Total opposite. They’re so soft and sweet with each other, and Ash totally babies her. They’re each other’s “person” that they can always trust and go to for anything

-At some point SHIELD forces Mila to relocate overseas, and Ash can’t go with her because they need him in the states. They try to make it work long distance but they just can’t do it, and they break it off. But Ash isn’t himself after that. He suffers in silence, refusing to talk about it, but the others can see that there’s something very wrong. It’s affecting his fighting for sure. The guys help Mila convince SHIELD to let her move back to the states, and once she does they’re both back to their lively selves because they just needed each other. They’ve got such a sweet happy relationship

Michael Clifford as Hawkeye

-Sarcastic and witty. Pretty confident

-Amazing with a bow and arrow. Master marksman

-He became deaf after an accident, and now he uses a hearing aid. A little insecure about it sometimes but he’s got great friends and a girlfriend to cheer him up

-Super affectionate with the girl he loves, even though he doesn’t seem like he’d be that way

Charlotte, Michael’s girlfriend

-She’s a villain; a mutant, like Wolverine but not the same powers as him

-She was experimented on a lot as a child and treated like nothing but a lab rat, which kind of stems her being a villain. She thought the bad guys were her only family at that time and that she had to trust them (I’m going to think more into the villain organization and her powers as a mutant). She always questioned their motives and why she stayed with them but she always felt she couldn’t get away. They took her in, after all, how could she? And she’s internally battling herself a lot

-In her regular life, she can be very intimidating and snarky, but she’s pretty nice once you get to know her. She’s a tattoo artist and has quite a few herself

Michael and Charlie’s relationship

-Their relationship is angsty. It’s fine before Mikey finds out Charlie is a villain and before Charlie finds out Mikey is a hero, but it’s messy after that

-Mikey finds out in a battle, where he knocks her unconscious and her mask falls off, and then he sees her. At first he can’t even move, he’s just so shocked, and then all he can think about is all the times in the past that he shot at her and hurt her, and he just breaks down. But later, he feels so betrayed and hurt. It would take him a while to stop being angry and forgive her. Like once he finds out about her rough past, he tries so hard to understand and see her side. He realizes she needs someone to bring out the good in her. And then he has to assure her that he still loves her and thinks she’s a good person

-But aside from all their drama, they’re such a goofy couple, always messing around and being dumb together

[camsthisky]

If you still want prompts, 2012 tmnt with Dr Don? I'm picturing hurt Mikey, but you have creative control :)

This could probably be either 2k12 or IDW, or even 2003 if you want (not 2k18 i don’t think), and the timeline is super vague. Sorry it took me a while but here you go!

“I already said I would be done soon, Leo,” Don snaps when the metal door creaks open behind him. He’s too absorbed in the sample in front of him to even turn around and face his big brother, because no matter what, this needs to be done. “Unlike some turtles in this sewer, I can take care of myself, so go motherhen Raph or something.”

There’s silence for a beat too long. It’s unnatural, and it has Don’s senses on alert, pulling him away from the sample away from him. He spins the chair around in alarm, and–

It’s Mikey.

Don’s face goes blank, and he doesn’t move for one, two, three seconds, too busy staring at the pained blue eyes staring nervously back at him. He’s still trying to compute the fact that it’s been a good twenty seconds since Mikey had opened the door and there had been absolutely no noise from his little brother other than the initial creak of the door.

“Mikey?” Don says, standing up and stepping forward just a step, and hell why does it feel like he’s cornering a skittish puppy?

Except, well. He knows Mikey. And he knows that Mikey has the tendency to run when he’s scared (and Mikey is afraid, for some reason. But afraid of what?). Whether it’s towards or away from the problem is the biggest question, though, because Mikey is so unpredictable, the brain of his moving in a way Don will never, ever be able to comprehend.

“Hey,” Don says, taking another step forward. “You okay, Mike? Did Raph punch you too hard again? Leo nagging?”

Mikey shakes his head. Still not saying anything.

“Do you want to hang out in here while I work?”

It’s something that Donnie usually hates–his brothers in his lab while he’s trying to finish something–but with that disturbed, scared look in Mikey’s eyes, Don knows there’s no way that he’ll be able to go back to work without making sure that Mikey is okay.

Mikey nods. Takes a few steps forward. Winces when he moves too fast with his left foot.

It’s barely there before it’s gone again, Mikey’s face rid of any pain a micro second afterwards, and Don never would have caught it if he hadn’t been looking and a trained ninja.

“You’re hurt?” Don asks.

Mikey’s shoulders slump, caught. He whispers, “Yeah. Don’t be mad?”

Don hums, hurrying forward to help his little brother onto the exam table. “Depends on how you injured yourself. Left foot?”

“Ankle,” Mikey says. Donnie cradles the injured limb in his hands, and yes. It’s swollen. Maybe sprained, by the looks of it. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Mean to what?” Donnie asks as he starts to tend to the injury. “Get hurt? I don’t think a lot of turtles mean to get hurt, Mikey.”

Mikey swallows, and it breaks Don’s heart when he realizes that Mikey looks like he’s near tears. “No, I–I didn’t mean to, Dee. I swear. I got distracted and I ended up in a weird part of the sewer, and it was honestly an accident. I should have been paying attention, but the next thing I know I ended up in a tunnel that connected to the dump, and then there were Foot Ninja, and I was surrounded and I–”

“Breathe,” Don tells him, his heart racing but his voice calm, his expression betraying none of the panic that he’s feeling at the thought of Mikey out there alone, facing dozens of Foot soldiers. “Hey, it’s okay, Mikey. I believe you.”

“You do?”

Don smiles, finishes wrapping the injured ankle and gently presses an ice pack to it. “I do.”

Don stands up, and Mikey panic again. “Where are you going?”

“To find Leo. It wouldn’t be fair to keep this from the others, especially if there’s a chance the Foot are close to the Lair. I’ll send Raph in to keep you company, okay?”

Mikey makes a face, and it’s a lot more familiar than the scared, panicked look from before. The one that made Don’s heart hurt. “Raphie’s gonna punch me for getting hurt. You’ll have to treat me all over again.”

“If Raphael so much as lays a finger on you, there will be severe consequences. I’ll make Leo make him do all my chores,” Dons says just to make Mikey smile. It works, and Don says quieter, gentler, “And Mikey? Raph’s not going to hit you when you’re injured. He loves you too much.”

“Yeah,” Mikey says, just as soft. Then, cheekily, “Who couldn’t love a face like this, am I right?”

Don rolls his eyes but runs a hand over Mikey’s head as he leaves the lab, anyways. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Mike.”

[spectrumscribe]

can’t say no to a face like that.

a commissioned TMNT 2012 fic for @themusicofyoursoul, some short and sweet b-team fluff with the addition of fluffy friends. <3

“No,” Donnie says sternly.

“But look at him,” Mikey implores.

“No. We have enough pets as it is. Semi-sentient ice cream and a space tortoise is plenty.”

“He’s precious, how can you say no to a face like this?”

The bundle of bones and patchy fur in Mikey’s arms meows pathetically, more a whine than a proper meow. Donnie looks at it, at its pale green eyes and dirty fur, and then at his brother. Mikey beams like the cat he’s brought home is made of gold, instead of probably carrying fleas.

“Raph an’ Leo already said yes,” Mikey adds. Donnie stares at him, and Mikey then amends, “…on the condition you say yes, too.”

Donnie sighs, longsuffering and resigned as Mikey gives his best please please please I’m your little brother so you HAVE to expression. In all likelihood, their brothers had said no, and then been badgered into changing their minds.

Just like Donnie. Damn his weakness for that expression.

“Fine,” Donnie says, exasperated. Mikey whoops quietly, petting his new cat and cooing to it.

“Gonna give him a bath, brush his fur… just you wait, Dee,” Mikey insists, smiling wide. “He’s a real sweetheart, you’ll come around.”

Donnie crosses his arms, disbelieving. “If he pees anywhere in my lab- or gets mutated, don’t you let him anywhere near the samples- he’s out. Full stop.”

Mikey salutes. “Right on!” And with that, leaves Donnie alone in his lab to peace and quiet. Donnie sighs, reaching for his mug and taking a sip, only to find he’s just drunk a mouthful of disgustingly cold coffee. He frowns at it, and hopes letting his little brother keep yet another pet in their home isn’t as much an annoyance.

 -/-

 Donnie walks out of his lab, a few days after Cheddar joins the family- it’d been a tabby cat, under all that filth- and trips over something that’s big and warm and alive enough to yelp in surprise. Much like Donnie does, as he tries to righten himself without stepping all over the mass of shaggy fur and flailing legs.

He catches himself on the door’s handle, heartrate thumping faster than normal. Donnie stares at the animal he’s just tripped over, and it stares back.

A single brown eye stares up at him, limpid and scared; set into a dark red face and fur coat. The dog whimpers, tongue licking its scarred muzzle nervously as it wags its tail, tentatively friendly.

Donnie watches it warily, in case it attacks him, but no attacks come. Slowly, he eases out of his startled hunch and stands up straight; the dog watches him as he does, and sits timidly back down on the stone floor. Its tail still wags gently, giving a shy look to Donnie.

Donnie doesn’t even have to guess whose dog this is.

“Mikey!” Donnie calls, and his brother comes speeding out the bedroom hallway, soap bubbles down his front and- oh joy, another dog. This one wet.

“Lady Salami!” Mikey cries, racing for his dog. The other dog, a much lighter bronze yellow, leaves a trail of wet paw prints as it keeps pace. The one eyed dog- Salami, apparently- gets up to bound over to Mikey, her whole body wriggling happily as she, Donnie’s brother, and the yellow dog reunite.

“Baby girl, we’re still cleaning you two! You can’t go running away like that,” Mikey scolds gently as he kneels, petting Salami. He looks up at Donnie, giving a sheepish look. “Sorry, you, uh, weren’t around earlier when I brought ‘em home. This is Lady Salami and Duchess Rye, by the way. They’re our new pets, so… hooray?”

Donnie gives his brother a flat look.

“Leo and Raph already said yes!” Mikey hurries to say, and Donnie groans. Out voted before he even knew they were voting- again. Leo and Raph are even weaker than Donnie against The Face, and the two of them being dog people likely didn’t help.

Donnie looks at the two dogs, both scarred and thin and clearly already in love with his brother, and really wishes he had less of a heart than he does.

“And how’s Cheddar and ICK feel about this?” Donnie asks instead of getting angry about the new pets, and Mikey lights up because he knows he’s already won.

“Cheddar whacked ‘em on the nose when they got too close, and Kitty-cat got lots of kisses,” Mikey says, looking happier with each word. “They’ve got along pretty good so far, and no one’s been chasing anyone- so I’d say they’re welcome!”

Donnie glances again at the two retrievers, their pink tongues lolling happily, and figures him saying anything else is a lost cause.

“They’re not allowed in my lab, or room.”

“Can do!” Mikey says, as his dogs cover his cheeks in spittle. Donnie dodges them before they can turn their tongues on him.

 -/-

 In the end, the cat finds a way into Donnie’s lab anyway, and he can’t figure out how even after he checks all the ducts and doors. Mikey dresses Cheddar in all manner of ridiculous sweaters, to compensate for his baldness in places, and Donnie admittedly finds it hard to stay mad at a cat that’s wearing a sweater with cartoon mice on it.

Donnie might, maybe, kind of pat Cheddar’s head now and again. And let him stay, just a little while, because Donnie’s lab gets a bit empty some nights. And let Cheddar sleep in his lap while he works at his desk, his thighs warm all through the late nights and encouraged to go get food and water whenever Cheddar starts bugging Donnie for his cat kibble.

Lady Salami and Duchess Rye on the other hand don’t find ways into his lab, but… Donnie’s feet are a lot less chilly when he hangs out on the couch. And once Mikey teaches Rye to fetch things- Salami doesn’t seem to know what to make of the command, just sitting and wagging her tail in confusion- Donnie no longer has to get the remote himself when he forgets to grab it before sitting down.

He does, however, have to keep extra napkins in his belt for slobber, but that’s something he did already so it’s no hassle.

“Ha, you’re such a big softy,” Mikey jeers affectionately one evening, side eyeing Donnie. “You act like you don’t like ‘em, but you do.”

“I do not ‘like them’,” Donnie replies imperiously, even with Rye on his feet and Cheddar on his lap. “I tolerate them.”

He gives Cheddar another scratch under his chin, making the scrawny tabby purr like a creaky engine. Mikey smirks, petting Salami’s head across his lap; the rest of her body draped on the couch cushions and shedding everywhere.

“Sure, Dee. Whatever you say.”

Donnie ignores his brother, and responds to Rye’s gentle whuff for attention, scratching the dog’s ears. He won’t admit to anything- aloud, at least.

Commission info & Kofi link.

[yourfaithfulsidekick]

COMPLETED. This was my first TMNT long-fanfic series! I started this WAY back in 2012 and finished it summer 2017 [yeah....I went on a 2 year hiatus it was bad]. But, it stuck with me. This story truly was a coping skill itself as it got me through a lot. When I first wrote it, until the last chapter-- it was a ride! If you’re interested, check out chapter 1 below and the link for the full story! Thank you!

"Again!"

Man, what I'd do for a nice large pepperoni pizza right about now… Michelangelo smiled at the thought of the delicious masterpiece. Immediately his mind began ticking at the thought of what he could conjure up. Obviously it'll have a ton of cheese! Maybe I could make- HAWAIAN! Now that's a pizza that'll-!

"Focus, Michelangelo!"

Oh, shell! Shaking his hungry mind, Mikey realized that he was now sitting on his shell, sprawled out on the ground. Looking up, Mikey was shot with his infamous brother's death glare. Oh, Leo. I swear, this dude practices how to rip through my soul in his mirror.

"That's the third time this week I won in less than ten minutes, Michelangelo." Leonardo said, scoffing the dirt off his knuckles. He sighed as he reached his hand out to his youngest brother, "How many times do I have to tell you to keep your mind on one thing? More specifically, your training?"

"Uh," Mikey smiled weakly, accepting his brother's hand as he lifted him up. "Just today or this week? Cause' if it was today I think it's about...the third? And if was the week well I really wasn't thinking of keeping score of-!"

"Oh come on, Raph! That was totally uncalled for!"

"Don't be such a sour puss, Don."

"What now?" Leonardo mumbled to himself as he rubbed his forehead. Lately all of his brothers have been a source of both migraines and ulcers. He shook his head as he stormed over to his brothers. Stopping in his tracks, he turned around and said, "You stay here, Mike."

Karai has been awfully quiet for the past few months, the Purple Dragons haven't made any big moves, and the Foot has yet to steep out on the streets since the fall of the Shredder. The pressure of danger popping up, maybe even stronger, at any point pushed Splinter to train his sons much harder. Of course, Leo took Splinter's intentions to heart. Maybe a little too hard, for Leo's sake!

If he were human, he was sure that his oldest brother would have a hair full of grey hair at this point.

Uh-oh! Leo looks even more ticked off than usual! Maybe if I just sneak past using my Battle Nexus Champion ninja skills… Michelangelo watched Leo turn to face the other side of the dojo where Raphael had Donatello in a headlock, shouting something about winning fair and square. Smiling to himself, he took complete full advantage of his situation. Tip-Toeing his way toward the door of the dojo, Mikey could hear Leo and Raph bickering over Don's cries to be released. This was his big break-!

Making a sprint to his bedroom, Michelangelo can't help but embrace the adrenaline rush that consumed him. Pushing himself to run as fast as he could, he finally reached his bedroom door. Shutting it behind him, he sighed of relief. Ha! Made it out alive! Go Mikey, go Mikey! Go! Go!

A loud knocking echoing outside his door interrupted his exhilaration. Oh, Shell. "Michelangelo!" Leonardo was back again for the kill -this time, his voice full blown with authority. "Your training is over when I say so! Get out here right now and finish!"

"Geez, Leo, calm your katanas." Lowering his head in defeat, Mikey opened his door. Before Mikey could plea to his big brother, Leo slapped his brother across the side of his head. Before Mikey could cry out, he suddenly felt his arm being dragged out of his room and down back to the dojo.

"Aw, come on, Leo!" Mikey cried, (failingly) attempting to get out of his brother's grasp. "I'm sorry! Next time I-!"

"This won't happen again." Leo said sternly, giving him a shove into the dojo. Inside, Raph and Don were already waiting. There, Don is leaning against one side of the wall, and Raph being on the other- both his older brothers pouting in their own corners.

"Alright," Leo began, clearing his throat. "Everyone's behavior has been unacceptable these past few days-."

"We don't need a lecture, Fearless." Raph grunted. "Especially from you." Mikey bit his lip to the growing tension in the small room. Lately, things weren't very peachy between him and his brothers. Hell, even Donnie is acting up!

Leo, after Splinter fell ill earlier in the month, took the role of being head of the house. As if Leo wasn't already- er- besides Master Splinter of course! In Mikey's eyes, this meant Leo's big brother's aura/lecture/talks have increased a good fifty percent. Leo has become even stricter with his brothers than usual. Sure, Leo wasn't fond of Raph going up to the surface with Casey some nights. It wasn't until recently when Leo became more persistent with Raph about his time out, with or without Casey. But it wasn't just Raph getting the wrath.

Don, being in his lab even more often than usual, has focused solely on helping Master Splinter have a speedy recovery and his usual calibrations. Master Splinter insists that he just has a simple cold, nothing for his sons to fret over. Of course, Don being his own perfectionist, convinced himself to run every test on his father as possible- just to be safe. Even Michelangelo knew that once Don was head into a project, there would be nothing to snap his head out of it until he was through. Leo, knowing how hard his brother pushes, attempts to pull his brother out of his lab and train more. More like force him to train.

"Believe it or not, I'm going to agree with Raph on this one." Don sighed. "We did everything you asked Leo, it's only morning practice. There's no need to push so hard-."

"No need?" Leo hissed, clenching his hand to his katana.

Oh, shell. Well, yup, aaaand Leo has officially cracked.

Mikey took a step back as Leo walked up to Don. Getting face to face with his younger brother, Leo said, "Karai can be out there planning a way to get back at us!"

Mikey could tell that his oldest brother was trying to hide any emotion in his voice. In a way, he always felt bad for Leo. It was very, very, rare that he'd see Leo calm down and just hang out with them. He tried to recall the last time he just joked and played with his brother. Were we 10? 12?

Leonardo looked over to the rest of his brothers as he continued on. "You think that you'll be able to fight off an entire Foot elite? You think you're strong enough to face Karai?"

"We know you aren't."

Wait; scratch that, now Leo has cracked. Oh, come on, Raph! Michelangelo slapped his forehead as Don cursed under his breath. Well, this is it. It was great knowing my brothers.

Silence fell onto the room.

Donatello stood helplessly in front of Leonardo. Leonardo's head snapped over to Raphael, still clutching his katanas tightly. Donatello placed his hand on Leo's shoulder, gripping it firmly to keep him in his place.

If Raph and Leo don't kill each other now, than the tension in this room will! I totally got to stop it-! Mikey stepped in between Raph and Leo as he put his arms outward toward each of them. Forcing his trademark grin, he coughed a chuckle, "Okay, dudes, look, we're all tired, pretty ticked off and maaaybe even hungry? Let's part on friendly terms, eat some pizza, say our sorries and call it a day!"

Silence fell again.

Mikey darted his eyes to each of his brothers, still attempting to keep a smile. Raph, on his right, was standing firm with his arm crossed. His eyes locked onto Leo's, irritation oozing from his glare. Looking to his left, Leo had the same glance to Raph. Don stood on Leo's right, still holding Leo's shoulder for dear life. Don, being the only one who was looking at Mikey, simply shook his head. Mikey bit his lip as he desperately looked to his brother. Come on, Don! Give me a hand here!

Knowing Don, being the most peaceful one out of them, he probably won't step in until Raph and Leo pull each other's heads off. Leaving Mikey going solo.

Forcing a more cheerful smile, Mikey clapped his hands together. "Okay, then! I'll start then! Leo, bro, I'm sorry I ran off to my room to hide from your demon like wrath and for probably pissing you off even more- BUT, anyway, I am sorry! Now, Raph, apologize for being mean to Leo."

"I ain't apologizin' for shit."

"GOOD APOLOGY, Raphie-!" Mikey smiled, attempting to cut Raph off. "I can almost feel the emotion of sympathy flowing in the wind! Now, Don, you apologize for talking back to Leo!"

Don, rolling his eyes, knew to play along with Mikey's game- or else he won't stop the charade. His voice monotone, he squeezed Leo's shoulder. "I'm sorry for talking back to you, Leo."

"There ya go!" Mikey smiled. His plan was working! Er, well, Raph is too proud for that anyway. I think I even see Leo lighting up a little! Smiling to Leo, he pointed to his oldest brother. "Now, Leo, it's your turn! Apologize for being so strict and fatherly and dominating over us!"

Raphael chuckled as Donatello slapped his forehead. Oops. That one was my bad.

"You're absolutely right, Michelangelo." Leo smirked, deep blue eyes beginning to grow even more intense. He forced a laugh as he continued sarcastically, "Wow! I'm sorry that I'm only just looking out for each of you. Oh, wait! I am so sorry for making you guys train harder so that when you go out in a fight, you won't come back as many times as you've all been hurt. But, I am mostly sorry for being so fatherly. I didn't think caring about my brothers' safety and protection could be so awful."

"You're so full of yourself, Fearless." Raph hissed, stepping closer to his older brother. "You think just cause' Master Splinter has a tiny cold you think you could play master! Well guess what? Yer no master-!"

Brushing Don off his shoulder, Leo stepped closer to Raph. His voice raises higher, the emotion no longer hiding. "Coming from the guy who goes out every night just to feel more tougher and stronger! How does that protect this family?"

"Stop!" Mikey cried, stepping in between his brothers. "C-Come on, guys! I know how much you guys love proving each other wrong but-!"

"Stay out of this, Mike." Raphael warned, shoving his brother to the side.

"Guys, come on." Donatello took a try at stopping his older brothers. "At this rate you two are going to wake Sensei. And he needs all the rest he can."

Ooooh the guilt card! Nicely done, Donnie! Leonardo hesitantly backed away from Raphael and nodded. "Fine. We're done for now."

"Finally!" Grabbing Raphael's arm, Mikey attempted to tug his arm toward the door. "How about we play some Resident Evil, Raph? We always make a good team-!"

"Yer leave me to die and take all the ammo," Raphael shook out of his little brother's grip, "no way in hell am I playin'."

"Aw, come on!" Mikey pleaded, watching his brother stroll to his room. And once he's in there he ain't coming out until dinner...Maybe Don will play with me!

Adrenaline rushed through him as he skipped his way to Don, who was cleaning up the dojo. "Donnie!" Mikey tackled his brother, putting his arm around Don's shoulder. "How about we play? I'll let you be the cool dude and I'll be the chick!"

Half-laughing, Don removed his brother's arm off his shoulder. "Can't, Mikey. I got to check in on Splinter and call April to pick up more medicine." Making his way out of the dojo, he looked back to his youngest brother and smiled slightly. "Maybe you could check in on Leo. You do owe him an apology, you were pretty harsh on him."

"ME?!" Mikey squeaked, raising his hands in the air. Before he could defend himself, Donatello was already gone. Sighing in defeat, Mikey slouched his back and dragged his feet back in the hallway.

Plopping himself on the floor, he leaned his shell against the wall. Pulling his knees up to his chest, he rested his head on his knees. This wasn't the first time he felt that all his brothers were completely against him. Shell, all I wanted to do was help. That's what I…always wanted to do. Why can't his brothers see past that?

I-I know I like to play jokes and act like an idiot sometimes…but don't they see that I'm not an idiot? O-Or do they really see me as just…that. No. Mikey shook off his deep thoughts and pulled himself back up on his feet. There was no way he would let his family see him this way. They'll just think he's whining again for attention.

B-But, I don't! I just…want to make things right for once.

And he knew jus where to start!

Mike quickly paced himself over to Leo's room. His door was completely shut. Biting his lip, Mikey hesitated knocking. Leo usually never keeps his door totally closed, that is, unless he wants privacy. But Donnie's right…

Mikey did his traditional knocking; knocking twice, then again three times. "Leo? Its me…can we talk for a second or are you sleeping or meditating or-."

Leonardo slowly opened the door halfway, leaning himself against the door frame. His arms crossed, he cleared his throat. His eyes finally reaching his little brother's, Mikey was taken back by the look his oldest had. He was exhausted- whether it was mentally or physically (shell, or even both) he couldn't tell.

"H-Huh?" Mikey snapped out of his dazed thoughts and looked back up at Leo. "OH- uh- look, Leo, I'm…sorry about picking on you before. I totally get how freaked out you are over this-."

"As should you." Leo cut off, his voice becoming deeper with authority. "Remember what I told you at the Battle Nexus? If one of us goes down, we all go down. You need to pick up your slack or…" His voice faded as he looked to the ground, then immediately back up. "…or we will go down too."

"What are you sayin', bro?"

"I'm saying…that if you don't stop fooling around and focus on training with me and the others, we can't trust you in a fight."

"Can't trust me?!" Michelangelo echoed, hurt piercing his voice. His brothers, brothers, believed that he'd be nothing but… "You guys think I'm just some kind of…liability to you guys…?"

"I didn't say you were one, Mikey." Leo placed his hand on his youngest shoulder. His voice becoming more comforting. "I'm saying, if you keep slacking off and not working with all of us…then yeah, you're putting us in danger too. And as the leader, I'm not putting Raph and Don in danger too."

What the shell? L-Leo really sees me as that much of a weakness that I put Raph and Donnie in trouble..?

"L-Leo, come on." Mike pleaded, starting to back away from his brother's reach. "I-I mean I joke around with you guys but, when we train I do my part and get it done! Okay, maybe sometimes I get distracted easily a-and I tick you guys off, but I work!"

"Mike!" Leo exclaimed. "Just…get your act straight. I'm not going to tell you again." And with that, Leonardo shut his door. Leaving his youngest drowning in his own brother's words…

./././././././././.

Shutting his eyes tight, he could have swore he heard his brother choke a sob. Sure, his brother was the most sensitive out of them all. And yeah, he took any criticism to heart at times, even while covering it with a joke. But he did it for the best…right?

Leonardo collapsed on his bedside, staring up at his ceiling. When did things get so crazy? Sensei…I-I don't think I can handle all of this not-.

"I trust you, my son. You know your brothers well. You will take care of them. Have faith, Leonardo. Just as I have faith in you."

His heart clenched as his father's words swam around his already filled mind. He knew Raphael was already completely fed up with him, Donatello was too stressed over Splinter's condition, and Mikey…is just in his own world.

At least there, Leonardo knew Mikey didn't have to have the burden of worrying over anything. He can just be himself, laughing, goofing off, cracking jokes, and just acting like things were just the same as they were.

He needs to realize the truth…

Even if it hurts him.