#there may be things about donnie i forgot to mention

[techn0tony]

I present to you: Donnie's design from my Future AU (that still does not have a name-)

Okay so a few things I should mention:

It's hard to see these details, but he has a robotic hand and eye (and one of his legs as well)

He is so fucking tall, he is taller than Leo even (but shorter than Raph of course). And yes he does tease Leo about it

He is the second brother to die, but I haven't decided his cause of death yet

There is a lore reason for places on his skin being blue, but it would be spoilers for my Separated AU if I told the reason x.x

This is the same Donnie from my Separated AU, my AU's are connected

EDIT MONTHS LATER LMAO:

Augh okay so actually I updated this recently: He does not die after Raph anymore, now Donnie is the first brother who dies

And the AU has a name now! It's the Genius Built AU

[cupcakeslushie]

Hello,

HOLLY SH*T (about the last update)

When Leo gets his memories back does he also remember those (f*cking)400 days?

How would Leo have grown up to be like, if his memories weren't taken from him? (would he have become kind of like Donnie?)

will he ever open up to someone about this?

Does he have some kind of triggers left from the experience, even though his memories wee taken from it?

I adore your work and Have a great week 😁

1. 🤗

2. So, Leo’s issues are like a leak in a dam constantly trying to be held back. Kitsune’s magic can suppress or manipulate his memories, but a lot still manage to get through. Hence the need for the repeated sessions, and then later the Empyrean, to act as a booster to her magic—as Leo has built up a tolerance over the years, making it less and less effective. Leo does remember some things. Unfortunately, every time he starts to ask questions, he’s been so conditioned to seek out Kitsune to ‘fix’ his mind and suppress his emotions. But some of his memories were impossible to erase completely. They followed him around like little shadows, haunting him, and his choices. Leo is not stupid. He more discerning than he let’s on, and like Saki said, fear can be a powerful motivator. By the time Leo’s managed to claw his way up to a better position, he’s been fed so many lies that he doesn’t even trust his own reasoning. It’s just easier, and less painful to follow orders, no matter what his brain is constantly trying to tell him.

3. Tbh Leo probably wouldn’t have been very different from how he is. Shredder is a lot more…calculating in his abuse of Leo, than Draxum was for Donnie. Draxum was so unpredictable and volatile in his abuse. Everything that Donnie tried to do better, never seemed to help lessen his torture. It was just pain for the sake of pain. Shredder may be a monster, but his abuse had a goal—to make a warrior he could puppet into killing Yoshi. Saki didn’t just provide constant trauma, he gave positive reinforcement when Leo did something right, and used careful manipulation to bend Leo over to his side. All Kitsune’s spell did was make it easier and faster. If Shredder hadn’t had magic at his disposal, then it would’ve just taken more time and effort to break Leo and remold him, or Shredder might’ve just cut his losses and killed him.

4. Leo doesn’t want to burden his brothers with things that have already passed, and that feeling only gets stronger after he’s been saved from the Dark Armor. He’s constantly insisting that he doesn’t feel one way or the other from those days. It happened, but he says he feels so disconnected from it all. Leo’s earlier return to his family had already been filled with so much fighting, thanks to his withdrawals when he was first brought home causing him to act so erratic. Leo thinks as long as he’s not shouting at his brothers, or trying to attack Splinter, that he’s dealing with everything pretty well. Obviously that’s bullshit. But he’s gonna do a lot of healing during his trip with Usagi.

5. Leo’s worst triggers are when his family is in danger. Those times are when he falls back into either total bloodlust, or a more ruthless mentality, in order to protect them. Leo getting recaptured and thrown back into a cell will be like a wave of memories and trauma hitting him at full force. Like I’ve mention in point 1. He never totally forgot certain things, but the months spent free of Kitsune’s influence makes his second capture so much worse. He’ll be feeling all that fear and panic unfiltered, for the first time in years, and he’ll be able to recall the true horror of it—not the watered down, warped simulacrum Shredder wanted him to remember. Which loops back to point 4 about Leo’s lack of admitting his feelings being a coping mechanism. Once he gets rescued, unconsciously, he’s trying to mimic the dampening effect of Kitsune’s spell, by insisting through sheer force of will, that everything is fine. He can only convince himself that he’s unaffected by everything he’s experienced for so long.

6. Thank you!!! I hope you have an amazing week as well!

I’m sorry if this is kinda rambling, all these ideas be more clearly implemented in the comic, (at least I hope lol).

I also can’t remember how long ago I’ve even talked about Leo’s memory problems in one of these replies. I might be totally backtracking cause I think I’ve said before his memory was wiped completely, but I’ve been thinking it would give more complexity to his choices, if it was revealed his memory was actually more intact than Mikey’s this whole time. Mikey brain just needed a little boost from Raph, because his issue came more from him being so young that things faded over time. With Leo, it’s like a battle where his brain is trying to latch on to what it can to fight the effects of Kitsune’s spell. So his memory may be full of holes and beaten with a stick over and over, but it’s still knocking around in Leo’s head.

[chil-aglia]

𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 |ROTTMNT| (Male OC)

Free And Safe…

Be sure to read the tags on my Ao3 so you guys know what you’re getting yourselves into.

Art is done by me, but PLEASE feel free to make your own art and idk tag me in it or something—

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5 days.

That’s how long it’s been since the arrival of the turtles newly found claimed brother had been in the med bay. He hasn’t even so much as twitched a finger or facial expression change. 

It was almost like he was dead, eerily. But he wasn’t, not with his chest falling up and down in a steady rhythm along with the machine beeping to indicate his heartbeat. Still, he was so quiet, sometimes they even forgot he was there.

They all took turns on watching and moderating their guest. Though there wasn’t much they could do besides the regular change in the IV drip and rebandaging his wounds to stop any infections that may occur.

Day 1

Raph was the first to keep an eye out. He stared blankly at the unconscious turtle ahead of him. He couldn’t believe that this stranger was a brother he never knew he had until recently. He looked….fragile.

Raph didn’t know what to fully think of this situation, I mean if what Splinter said is correct that means Raphael had another sibling to look out for, not that he actually minded the thought, but he didn’t know anything about him. What if he said or did the wrong thing? What if they didn’t get along?

Raph went into a spiral of ‘what if’s’.

Day 2

It was Mikey’s day to watch him. Keeping an eye out for any change in his newly acquired brother that he had been so eager to talk to since the moment Splinter told them his secret.

Mikey wondered if this guy was older or younger than him. Oh, how he would love to be an older brother for a change!

Mikey was the most excited and easily trusting of the fact that this random turtle was a brother of his. He was almost losing patience, he wanted to talk to him, listen to his stories and just overall get caught up on the years he missed with him.

Day 3

Donnie’s turn.

Honestly out of everyone, he was the most distant of his "brother". He didn’t quite know what to think of him, other than the fact he could be potentially dangerous. He didn’t believe he was related to him, having three brothers was enough.

Donnie didn’t like drastic changes in his life. He had a routine. Get up, make some coffee and eat whatever Mikey had made. Head back inside his lab, work on a project, get dragged out by Leo and fool around with his brothers, going on adventures with them.

But now, he had to consider a whole new routine if this ‘brother’ of his was going to be sticking around for the long term or not.

Donnie had so badly wanted to inject a needle and get his blood to run a DNA diagnosis, but the was stopped when Raphael entered inside the med bay to check in on the two and had to drag Donnie away when he saw his younger brother hovering near the unconscious turtle's side, needle in hand ready to strike.

Day 4

Leo had the opportunity to watch over him. To be honest, he was the most curious. Why was he stuck in the prison dimension? How long has he been there for? What was he like in terms of personality? Did he like skateboarding? Pizza? Had he even met anyone else before them?

Leo studied his body whenever he changed his bandages or checked him over in general. His first thought was yellow.

This guy had yellow markings, a mixture of blobs and stripes. The stripes on his eyes reminded Leo of his own, but they were a bit narrower and more inward than Leo’s.

He noticed the yellow stripes on his shell as well.

Then…he noticed the wounds.

He’d counted at least three scars that were visible on his body. One on his cheek, one on his shoulder and a tiny one on his big toe. There was a lightning shaped crack on the plastron too, not to mention the two chipped markings on the shell.

What had he gone through to have such injuries? They looked to be old so Leo wasn’t worried that they might cause any trouble in infections wise. But still….this guy looked like he’s been through hell.

And yet, whoever he was, he didn’t waste time on jumping in front of Leo and Krang, defending a turtle he’s never met before. Leo was grateful of his rescue, because of him he was alive and made it to his family. 

Day 5

Splinter sat silently on the chair beside his long-lost son. He didn’t utter a word, only watched on with a solemn look. 

He gingerly stroked his son's hand, hesitant on holding him, as though Splinter didn’t deserve it. He’s been dreaming more lately. Dreams of his son that he long thought had died during the collapse of Draxum’s old lab.

He dreamt of what life could have been like if he went back and saved him. Wondering what he’d grow up into. Teaching him all the ninjutsu he passed on to the other four.

It was dark. Why was it dark?

Did he die? He might’ve finally succumbed to starvation. Or to the hands of the Krang. He wasn’t sure. 

But wait, if he was dead. Why was he thinking? Dead people can’t think. Was this even heaven? Or maybe his soul hadn’t passed on yet and he was stuck in purgatory.

“Arise from slumber lost one.”

Who…?

“You’re safe now. It’s okay to wake up. You have family to meet.”

Family…hah, he wished. He never had a family.

Something warm and welcoming cupped his face. He didn’t know who, but he truly felt the affection radiating off this entity.

“Anatawa Hitorijanai.”

With slow and steady movements, he opens his eyes. His vision was blurry, and he couldn’t make out anything, where was he? Is this…a trick? He knew Krang had the ability to mess with people’s minds.

He froze when he heard voices outside the unfamiliar room he was in. He couldn’t make out what they were saying but it was making him shake.

Strangers.

Who are they?

Krang?

Where am I?

Danger.

He gulps and closes his eyes, he instinctively let out a distressed chirp at his emotions. He tried to sit up, but fuck it hurts. Another distress chirp, louder this time. The voices stopped and for a minute he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Shit had they heard him? He didn’t mean to make noises, sometimes it slipped out when he was over thinking and couldn’t control his instincts. 

Footsteps started approaching and he was panicking. His eyes darting around for a way of escape. Maybe even a weapon. 

Where do I go?! They’ll be here any second—

The door opens, followed by an unknown voice. “Hey, you’re awake!” 

He goes stiff, breath tightening in his throat as he nervously looks over at the unfamiliar figures. Everything was still blurry, but his eyes were adjusting. 

Three tall figures stand at the entrance of this room. Two were smaller and one was very large. Had to be the three Krang. 

“Thank god, we thought you’d never wake up! Oh, let me help you up!”

The smallest room a step forward. “Mikey, hang on—“

Mikey, Raph and Donnie both jump in surprise when their guest practically leaped out of the bed, the IV drip being ripped out him. The turtle tripped over his feet, but that didn’t stop him, he crawls and pushed anything out the way. Trays and other items being scattered across the floor.

The brothers had to step back so they didn’t step on any sharp objects. When they look back at their long-lost brother, they saw nothing but a terrified guy.

He had backed himself as far as he could in a corner at the back of the room. His knees curled as close as he could to his plastron. His pupils small and wild, and breathing raggedy.

It was like watching a feral startled animal.

“Whoa, whoa. Easy there. We aren’t going to hurt ya.” Raphael soothes, raising his hands out to show he wasn’t a threat, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. “It’s clear that he’s scared. But we got to check on his condition. We have to get him on the bed.” Donnie points out, Mikey frowns as he calms down and looks over at Donatello.

“How?”

“The old fashion way, I guess. We grab him.”

Donnie strides forward, but the moment he came a bit close; he was met with a hiss and saw how their guest crawls away into the corner in a haste. Desperate to gain as much distance as he could. 

“Donnie!” Raph pulls him back, holding him in place so he didn’t go scaring their long-lost brother. “Clearly that’s not going to work.” He scolds to which Donnie scoffs and crosses his arms together. “Well, what do you figure we should do?”

Thus began an argument between the three. More so between Donnie and Raph as Mikey tried to be the mediator of the two.

Loud. Scary. 

The injured turtle watched the three, his vision had been cleared and saw that they were turtles like him, but even so he was shaking as he placed his hands over his head, tightly closing his eyes and lips trembling. He didn’t like this dream. Krang was messing with him. Was this another cruel way of letting them know that he will forever be alone?

“What is happening in here?!”

Mikey, Donnie and Raph stop and look back to see Leo watching his brothers in confusion. He was on crutches; he had been mostly healed but not fully, so he agreed to move around on crutches for a bit until he was fine with being on his own two feet without the fear of falling face first.

“Leo! You’re supposed to be resting.” Raphael lightly scolds, earning a scoff and roll of the eyes from the slider. “Kinda hard to do that when I can hear you guys from the other side of the lair.”

Leo waddled in before he saw the state of their other brother who had yet to notice him. To engrossed on hiding himself away. “You guys are scaring him! Look!” He glared at the three, pointing over at their terrified guest. “We…we didn’t mean to. Mikey got excited and took a step forward and he jumped out of bed.” Donnie explains but Leo sighs and shakes his head. “You guys do recall that he’s from the prison dimension, right? He’s probably bound to be traumatised, and him waking up in a strange place with strangers yelling and coming close to him would have set him off.”

Leo turns away and started to slowly hop over to the turtle. Raph trying to stop him, in case Leo got hurt but his warnings of concern fell on deaf ears.

Leo eventually got close enough, but not enough to invade his lost brother’s personal space. “Hey…hey, you’re okay. It’s me...remember me?”

A few seconds and Leo saw how the other hesitantly looks at him, still nervous and scared out of his mind but Leo took it as a sign that he was able to hear and see him.

“Hi, uh…I bet you’re confused and scared and that’s totally fine. Um, my brothers and I took you to our home and helped you out. You were in rough shape.”

Leo was ranting, unaware that this mutant had begun calming down as he studied his face.

At first, he thought it was one of the Krang coming to get him, so he was avoiding eye contact. Then…when he didn’t feel any pain coming at him, he looked up and saw a familiar colour.

Blue.

His vision now cleared, took a better look at who was talking to him. Their skin green, another turtle obviously. Red stripes on his eyes, yellow stripes on his arms and legs.

Blue mask.

Blue.

That’s when it hit him. This turtle was the same one that he saw getting pummelled by Prime. He remembered he saved him at some point but after that he thought he had died. No wait…he saw him go through a portal, didn’t he?

And he followed.

No matter. He was alive from the looks of it, but he had to be sure this wasn’t his imagination or some kind of cruel joke.

He slowly and shakily outstretches his hand, wanting to touch him. But was too scared. Leo who had stopped speaking watched with brief nerves. But he figured he may as well see what happens, so he gently leans in closer and placed his cheek onto the open palm that was reaching for him.

Leo felt him stiffen, his breath hitching in his throat as he stares wide eyed in puzzlement.

Leo watched him back in silence. He also took note of his eyes. They were two different colours, blue and dark green. Heterochromia. He also noticed how the blue pupil was smaller than the green eye. Leo was sure that this guy had anisocoria. From what? He didn’t know, his best guess was trauma.

Leo gave a tiny smile show he wasn’t a threat. “See…? You’re fine. No one is going to get ya. You’re safe now.”

His claimed brother seemed to have processed his sentence as he lets go and cautiously looked around once more, taking in his surroundings more clearly. It was a mess, one that he caused no doubt which had him gulp as he feared he would be punished.

“Don’t worry about the mess. Not your fault.” Leo quickly assured, smiling a bit wider to show no bad intention. The injured turtle then looked over to watch the other three who had been watching with edge clearly on their face.

“You can trust them. They’re my brothers.”

Brothers…family.

Not his he quickly corrects; he was just gathering his thoughts. He still didn’t know where he was, but his body wouldn’t let him ask, out of shock and fear of the unknown possibilities. This dream he thought was once a trick was starting to become…nice.

And he didn’t want to ruin it by speaking.

“Okay…now that he’s calm. And he seems to be doing well enough to move around. I have been patiently waiting for my chance to take his blood.” Donnie bluntly mumbles as he grabs a needle that he stored on his battle shell, holding it up.

The glimmer of the tool caught the attention of the stranger to them who widens his eyes.

He knew what it was. He had seen those before, and he hated them. It wasn’t from the prison dimension that he knew them from. It was from that place with the lab coated humans.

At the sight he quickly reacted and gripped the nearest thing he could. Leo’s arm who jumped slightly at the death grip. He bites his lip when Leo could feel his fingers squeezing into his skin. But he saw the panic in his eyes and noticed how he slightly lowered his neck into his shell to hide from the sight.

A small and scared chirp echoing to Leo’s ears.

“Donnie stop.”

Donnie halted his advancement. He hadn’t heard Leo speak like that in a while. It was the same tone he had when he was being serious or showing his leader like side that he rarely taps into.

“But—“

“Don. He’s scared of it. Put it away.”

With an annoyed huff, Donatello listens and puts the needle back into the comfort of his battle shell. Leo looks back to his scared newfound brother with a soft look. “You’re okay….come on, let’s get you back to the bed so we can check you over.” He soothed, slowly standing up. The grip on his arm had loosened and he saw deep marks, no doubt it was going bruise slightly, but Leo should be able to handle it.

He offers his hand out and the anxious mutant accepts it after a brief delay. He was helped back to bed and sat down. Wincing when the injuries were sort of hitting him at once. He couldn’t feel them from the adrenaline but now that he was calmer, it was like being hit by a wave of pain.

“Yeah, you’re going to be feeling in pain for a bit.”

He didn’t say anything, instead he lays down. The cushions supporting his head as he carefully watched the brothers like a hawk. “Can…can we start talking to him?” Mikey softly asks to which Leo hums in thought as he tilts his head.

“Sure…but maybe don’t touch him. And try not to make any sudden movements. And no showing needles.”

Leo directed the last part to his twin who grumbled but made no comment. Mikey nods and slowly approaches the bed, he saw how his newly discovered brother tensed at Mikey. So, Mikey stops where he was and clears his throat, offering his best smile to put ease on him.

“Hi there. I’m Michelangelo, but everyone calls me Mikey. Um…I was wondering if you need anything? You’ve been sleeping for 5 days so…”

5 days? No wonder I felt so groggy but oddly refreshed. I don’t think I’ve slept for that long in awhile.

He watched Mikey with thought. Now that he thought about it, he was thirsty as hell, but…he didn’t think he should say anything. What if they hurt him? What if he was denied a drink? They might appear friendly, but he didn’t know them. 

He looks down, going down in a spiral of dark thoughts.

“Can he even understand us? Or, uh…talk?” Raph curiously comments, watching him struggle to reply. “Hm…” Donnie hums in response, he didn’t know the answer exactly which sort of frustrated him. “I think he can understand. But…talking, I’m not sure.” Leo mumbles back, trying to recall if he had heard him say anything in the prison dimension but his mind was blank.

The recently woken up turtle had heard them talking. They wanted him to talk. But he was scared…and it also felt like it might hurt his vocals. Even his chirping earlier felt off and a little strained.

But fuck he needed water.

He had to take a chance. He had to.

He takes a deep breath before opening his mouth and deciding to say one word. 

“W…water.”

The four brothers all turn to stare in disbelief at what they heard. His voice was scratchy and quiet due to dehydration, but it was loud enough for them to hear. Mikey blinks and nods, “Be right back!” He assures, running out the room to get a cup of water.

“Well, guess he can talk. Honestly, I’m surprised.” Donnie quips, rubbing under his chin to observe. Not long later, Mikey returns with a cup of cold water, he slowly offers it.

“Here you go.”

The one that was claimed to be their brother blinks at the cup. He hadn’t seen one in years, let alone clean and filtered water. Hesitantly he takes it from Mikey, careful to not touch his fingers as he stared at the clear liquid.

Holy shit, he almost now didn’t want to drink it. It was a beautiful sight that he wanted it engraved in his head forever. 

Almost that is.

With delay he eventually lifts the cup this mouth and started gulping the water down. And fuck, it was needed. He craved more. When it was empty he looks back at the four, “Wow, he drank that quick.” Raph murmured with his mouth agape. “Mikey, can you bring him like a water bottle or two?” Leo asks his youngest who eagerly salutes and dashes to the kitchen.

“So…are you well enough to answer some questions?” Donnie shifts the attention onto him, the stranger he refused to believe was his brother yet flinched at the sudden voice.

“D...depends.”

“Depends?”

“On…what you want to…know.”

Mikey returns with two water bottles, placing one on the bed, careful to not touch his foot as he hands the other to his hands. The other taking it off Mikey and once again started drowning himself in the much-needed H2O.

“Slow down buddy. You’ll choke.” Raph concernedly states, his big brother instincts slightly kicking in as he watched the turtle cough from having the water go down the wrong pipe. Leo pats his back gently to help him with the cough.

“Yeah…take it easy. Water isn’t going anywhere.”

Right…he wasn’t in the dimension anymore. Wait—

“I’m not…there am I?” He asks, his voice shaky as he stared at Leo who blinks but seemed to understand what he was hinting at. “No. You got out. You’re free from them.”

Ah…freedom. How he long craved that.

He leans back further into the bed. He wasn’t in feeling tired, but he tried to not fall asleep. He was just now processing everything. 

“Free…” He repeats under his breath; he tried to smile but it hurt so he just let out an airy exhale. Then, he felt his eyes getting heavy, his body was begging him to sleep, but he didn’t want to.

“It’s all right. You can sleep. You’ll still be here.” Leo assured him, his face blurry from the fatigue his lost brother was feeling. He didn’t get a chance to response as he slipped back into a slumber.

When he awoke, it had been a few hours. He panicked for a short time on where he was but when he realised it was the familiar room, he calmed down. It was dark but not void dark that he was used to. There was some light that came from the outside that pushed through the crack of the door. 

Where are those other turtles…?

He tried to sit up, his first instinct was to search for the ones who saved him, but he could really move without straining himself.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

A new voice. It startled him and he almost wanted fling himself out onto the floor and hide but when he saw who it was, he was more confused than scared. An old, chubby and short rat man mutant. His feet didn’t even touch the ground from the chair he was sitting on. He also looked quite exhausted.

“How do you feel?”

Splinter tilts his head, but he wasn’t expecting a response, so he offered a slight smile in assurance. “It’s fine if you also don’t want to talk. My sons told me that you woke up earlier and was able to get a few sentences out.”

Sons? The turtles from earlier? They didn’t look like rats to him.

He felt nerves as Splinter sat and stared at him, observing him. It had him feel judged and he didn’t like it. He avoids eye contact and Splinter shook his head at himself, noticing how uncomfortable he was making the latter feel.

“Apologises. I’m just…well, I’m just surprised. But I doubt you remember who I am, so it’s no shock that you got uncomfortable with a stranger looking at you.”

“R…remember you?”

Splinter was a little startled at the voice, but he relaxed and nods. “Yes…but I’m not sure if you’re well enough to learn about me. Maybe try and get some sleep.”

He didn’t know why, but he wanted to know what the rat mutant man meant. So, he hesitantly shakes his head at him. “T...tell me…?” He softly begs, but when he saw how shocked Splinter looked, he feared that he may have pushed the wrong buttons.

“Or don’t.” He quickly corrects himself; he coughs as he looks around for water. He remembered that the turtle known as Mikey gave him two water bottles. “Here you are.” Splinter holds up one of the bottles and offered it to him. He gently takes it and sips at it, remembering to not scull it down. Even if he so badly wanted to.

“Are you positive you wish to know? It could…well, I’m not sure what reaction you’ll have.”

Splinter couldn’t risk his son going into shock. 

“I want…to know.”

“…..okay. Long ago, I was once human. A movie star actually, I went by Lou Jitsu. Ah, anyway, I fell in love with a woman—“

And so, Splinter told him everything. Well, he left some unnecessary parts out. But he summarised it enough for his long-lost son to understand. 

He told him about Draxum. To how he was mutated with his DNA along with four other turtles that were together with him. He explained that those turtles and himself were all related and were family. Brothers. 

“—I had long thought you died from the collapse of the lab. I…regret not checking properly. I understand if you don’t forgive me or even believe me. I will not hold that against you….”

Splinter finishes his long explanation as he looks up at to see what reaction the turtle would have. 

The mutant who just learned his origin stared on in a blank stare. Splinter worried he was in shock as he reached out to touch his son out of concern.

But then…tears flowed down.

Splinter retracts his hand away and watches on with a stun look as his son began to cry, he at first didn’t seem to notice his tears until his lips began to tremble and he started shaking. Gripping the bed sheets.

“I…I’m not alone?”

“No…you’re not.”

A choked sob echoed through his throat as he looks down, slightly curling up as he lets the tears drop down on hands and bedsheet. 

He wasn’t sad by any means. He was happy. He had brothers and a father. He had a family…

Fuck, he must look pathetic right now. But he couldn’t care less, he didn’t even think he could cry, it had been years since he last properly cried like this. But he was savouring this moment.

He didn’t know how long he had cried for but at some point, he had fallen asleep. 

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A/N: Y’all don’t understand. I’m obsessed with him. GAH he’s so precious and it’s only the start!

quotev - 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 |ROTTMNT| (Male OC)

Ao3 - 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 |ROTTMNT| (Male OC)

First chapter here

Previous chapter here

[nerves-nebula]

Remember when you mentioned about older but not THAT old Donnie and Leo forming a suicide pact? Each person coming up with an upcoming event or some other reason why to leave it till later (despite Donnie eventually trying it alone)? Did the others ever find out about that pact? Is there anymore can say about it. Scenes and whatnot. Just curious

(guy who forgot about this and is now coming up with new shit for it) hmm yea so thing is that it's not like. a SERIOUS suicide pact. since the point was always to force each other to stay alive.

mostly i think it'd just come up as a bit every now and then. one of them would feel miserable or have to do something really hard and the other would bring it up. it's like, something they bond over (which may or may not stop after Donnie actually makes an attempt cuz he kinda broke the pact.. but also it's not as funny anymore. they might still do it tho idk. it'd be nice if it was a consistent thing)

so any scenes where it'd be brought up wouldn't be ABOUT the suicide pact, they'd just be about other stuff and the pact is mentioned.

idk if it was ever, like, super duper hidden from the others. they just weren't there when it was formed. they probably noticed it at some point cuz donnie and leo will reference it and so maybe after that they make jokes about it too. but otherwise, idk.

[backseatsoldier]

Santa, Honey

Pairing: Phillip Graves x Original Character (Holly) CW: I've decided that "Graves" and "Phil" are two different personalities - not that Phillip Graves has DID, but that he has a facade for Shadow Company and it's very different compared to him back home... think of it as his version/his job field's version of a "customer service persona"; Santa found his Mrs. Claus?; suggestive content (we get a bit feral here, my b-) Author's Note: Happy holidays to my boyfriend! Graves was his special request when I told him I was doing these lol You say you're straight, bb, but the way you talk about some actors and fictional men makes me question that (affectionate). I love you and thank you for pretending to be Graves for me for a few minutes so I could get the beginning of this in my head lol <3 Also, this is apparently the debut for my new OC x'D

Today is the day! Shadow Company's mandatory participation Christmas Charity Event. Each year, Commander Graves handpicks a Santa and multiple elves to pass out gifts to the less fortunate children of San Antonio, Texas. It's always hosted at Rolling Oaks Mall, too.

"Commander Graves, sir...?" a hesitant voice calls from behind him.

"Yes?" Phil draws out the word with a charming smile. "How can I help you?" he asks as he turns.

Which Shadow is this? Toni? Tammi? Eh, oh well. She's shaking like a leaf-

"Um... Donny can't... be Santa... sir."

Oh. Oh.

Rage boils in Graves's blood and he takes a few long and deep breaths. He rolls his shoulders and runs his hand down his face.

"I'm going to do something. No one, not a single Shadow, will speak about this. Ever. If I catch even a whisper of it, I'll do you all worse than I did Vasqueros."

The Shadow nods quickly, clearly terrified.

"Now, quietly, go get me the Santa suit," Graves instructs.

Without another word, the Shadow is darting off to retrieve the Santa suit. Once they're out of sight and Graves is alone again, a smirk grows on his face.

"About time I got to wear the suit," he chuckles quietly.

Besides Donny being so hungover he can't open his eyes without rushing to the nearest toilet or garbage can, the charity event is going well! Lots of presents "delivered" to children and-

"Santa, baby, slip a sable under the tree... for me."

Phil immediately whips around to look for the source of that gorgeous voice. It doesn't take him long to find her. He knew there would be people performing on the small stage nearby all day. What he didn't expect was to hear and see the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on.

Her voice is smooth and a bit sultry, eyes a clear blue like ice, hair down and the deepest true-black Phil has ever seen as a hair color. Don't even get him started on her dress, my God-

She must have felt his eyes on her because suddenly, as she sang the line about "all the fellas she hasn't kissed", her eyes were locked on his. He's more than willing to check off her Christmas list. He would most difinitely trim her Christmas tree, too, just-

"Santa?" on of the Shadows elves whispers to him. "Santa, there's more kids waiting."

Phil clears his throat and turns back to the children with a Santa laugh.

"Well, I'm sorry, kiddos! Santa got a bit distracted," he says in his Santa voice.

"Is the Christmas Angel actually Mrs. Claus?" one of the younger children demands.

"Santa, baby, forgot to mention one little thing - a ring," the Christmas Angel - genuinely, according to the banners around her - continues singing.

Hell, she just may be Phil's new Mrs. Claus. And Phil gets what Phil wants.

"Can you keep a secret, kiddo?" Phil asks as he leans down to the child. The child, of course, nods enthusiastically. "She's the furture Mrs. Claus," he explains to the child.

The child beams up at Phil, excited to be in on the secret, before rushing off to their parents.

Not long after, Phil takes a break from being Santa. What's the first thing he does? Darts off to the nearest jewelry store in the mall. He finds a bracelet with cut gems that look similar to her eye color - Aquamarine, aoccriding to the store clerk - and immediately pays for it. He'll worry about the price much later. After the bracelet is gift-wrapped, he makes his way back towards the stage. There's only instrumental music playing over the speakers now so she must be on a break.

Perfect timing.

She's perched on the edge of the stage, legs crossed and hanging over the ledge, with her back to him as he approaches. Her head tips back as she sips from a bottle of water. Phil rounds the stage quickly and steps up next to her.

"Merry Christmas, Christmas Angel," he says to her with a smirk under the beard and gently hands her the wrapped jewelry box.

Her eyes land on the box then flash to his eyes. She looks ready to tell him off so he removes the beard - it's a downtime in the mall so there's no children running around that he'll ruin the magic for.

"Well, Kris Kringle," she smirks at him, "to what do I owe the honor of a hand-delivered gift?" Her hand delicately reaches out so her fingers slide over the box. She doesn't bother to make sure her fingers don't touch his.

"I've just come to ask Mrs. Claus why she's not at the North Pole." Phil's eyes rake over her dress, and he doesn't bother hiding that he is.

"Last I checked, Kringle," she counters with a seductive look in her eyes, "I'm your wife, not your property."

Fuuuuucking hell- think of something, Phil, or you're gonna to makes things awkward. Donny. That dumbass nearly fucked up the entire charity event and-

Had he been here, Phil wouldn't have met his new, future wife. Had Donny been in Phil's place...

Well, now he's just irritated.

"True," he chuckles. "But we could head back to the North Pole together pretty soon."

She scans his face for a moment then hums.

"Hand me your phone, Santa," she almost purrs.

He does as she asks, though, handing over his phone. As if at the speed of light, she enters her information into the phone and saves it under "Holly, the Christmas Angel". Then she hands his phone back.

"Merry Christmas, Santa," Holly winks at him then slides back so she can stand back up on the stage. Phil is left with a wink and a smirk before they're both pulled back to their stations.

A very merry Christmas indeed, Mrs. Claus.

CoD Christmas (Meet) Cuties Masterlist

[britt-kageryuu]

A stream is starting with Leo hosting, his starting soon screen is him snoozing whole laying on a pool float in the water, with some turtle shaped toys floating around him.

The scene switches over to Leo's model dressed in a royal blue yukata with scattered white rabbits, his bandana in an fancy bow with a 'hair ornament' that has the Hamato clan symbol hanging down, black tabi, and blue zori. His model is sitting in the same background of a traditional Japanese home with the shrine to Gram Gram, that Donnie used. River and Shelldon are seen sleeping in the shrine room.

Lots of cheering in the chat, and appreciation for the outfit.

"Hey guys! Sorry for not posting anything in 2 weeks. I think Dee already covered were we went, and some stories, but I can fill you guys in on things they may have not mentioned." Leo smiles, and grabs a tablet to read off some Notes, and questions.

"Okay first off, 'Why didn't we post anything on our Socials?'... do you take us for fools? We're very aware of the fact people would try to track us down based on what we post, I've heard of other content creators who heard from fans 'Hey based on that photo you just posted you're 15 minutes from me! LOL!' Really... Why?" Leo has a disappointed look as he says this. "It would be more weird with an UwU, or OwO, but hey some people are different."

"Second, 'Why didn't you mention a family emergency, or vacation?' We didn't want to accidentally mention where we were headed, but we also kinda forgot to post anything, and didn't think it counted as an emergency." Leo pauses and looks to the side while thinking over the 'drama' that happened, he says some quietly but it's still picked up by the mic, "Pretty sure some random Aunt throwing a fit over her son not wanting to follow a long dead tradition doesn't even count as a family emergency anyway."

Those is chat who heard and understood what he said are spamming for clarification.

"Third, 'Did you have any problems during your trip?' Well, yeah. Red is pretty big, and he had to duck down and squeeze through places alot when we went just about anywhere." Leo brings up a chibi cartoon of Raph deside a door much shorter and thinner than him, and Chibi Raph trying to squeeze through, "I don't know how much Dee went over, but Red was very sad he couldn't fit into some places, and couldn't go on alot of rides. We made up for it by going to some really awesome outdoor locations. We even found some local Wrestling league that were very excited to have Red join them for a couple short notice events."

Leo grabs his drink, and shifts his position. He takes a drink as he looks at the next question, chokes, and starts coughing.

For the next minute chat is asking what's wrong, is he okay, and asking if they should message one of the others.

Leo gets his breathing under control, takes a couple deep breaths, turns his head to the side, and "WHY DID YOU IMPLY I WAS ASKING FOR HIS HAND IN MARRIAGE!?!?!?!" He yelled at the audience could only assume is Dee.

Faintly you could hear "I didn't~ They just assumed~"

Leo still annoyed continued, "ugh, 'Did you ask your boyfriend's family if they will let you marry him?' No, we haven't been together, what we think, is a long enough time to get married. Plus my Samurai hasn't even asked Pops yet... I think." Leo's model now has a look of suspicion, and he thinks it over.

Chat is going nuts with Rabbit, Turtle, and Blue Heart emojis. And some ring emoji being snuck in, and hidden.

He shakes off the idea, reads over the next few questions or notes. " 'Who are the other turtles in the opening screen?' Those are two cousins of ours Cass and CJ, they live nearby and also have their own space here. Though CJ is currently planning to travel the country and further, so He isn't going to show up very much. They didn't really ask to be turtles, we just figured Cass is a common Snapper, and CJ is a Map, and Mandarin drew it up for us. 'And is the other Girl, April?' Yeah, she has changed up her personal style, but we draw her how she looked in years ago with some changes. She has some ideas for her full online persona. Her current picture is just a placeholder."

Leo scrolls through the list with little nope, no, too personal, and why did they bother? After a minute or so he just puts the tablet down with a sigh.

"Well, I don't want to go over any more questions, so let's start a poll on what we do next. Everyone ready here's your choices!!"

The stream continues with Leo playing a couple small games, and alot of small talk, and avoiding questions.

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

Masterpost

[nardos-primetime]

what's the most fucked up thing/AU/whatever you made? I wanna desensitize myself to your work before diving in.

Starting out with saying I wouldn't condone any of the bad shit within my stories, often times these are just what ifs I find interesting to look into. I wouldn't look at an actual murderer irl and go "Awesome" but I'll joke around with my villain Mikey like "He hasn't done a thing wrong heart emoji" when he has actively killed and enjoyed the murder of multiple people.

A lot of my aus are more toned down from my regular more personal works, solely because I can't help but go a bit easier on the turtles since they are a comfort for me and I wouldn't find my more personal topics appropriate for the turtles.

Overall, I'd say body horror, disease, self harm, suicide, murder, and mental/physical abuse/child abuse/neglect is something to look out for in a lot of my works, along with gore and injury in general. I also have a tendency to write cannibalism (an interesting motif to me, I would not condone it irl, obviously) and/or autocannibalism (to cope with personal issues I am not comfortable elaborating on, it's some Mental health stuff.) Overall I like putting the turtles through it, lmao.

(Forgot to add animal abuse/death)

I will never directly delve into the topic of sex within my works (as in you'll never see me write any of them doing such acts), but I have a handful of somewhat older Leo's who specifically deal with unhealthy romance, one of these is within my magical boys au where all four experience some level of inappropriateness due to their fame, not once is this a good thing, and this is meant to be a bad thing within the story. The other has a Leo who dates around a lot but always falls short due to his anxieties and commitment issues. He never goes through with it, though he likes to joke about more sexual topics. (He's crude.)

The magical boys au, priorly mentioned, contains underage drinking and smoking, mental health issues, self-harm, and the boys being mistreated and abused within their own workplace, one way or another.

One of my oneshots currently has a younger child get murdered in it, though I've deliberately made the death surrounding it not as detailed, as even if younger children die in my stories it makes me uncomfortable to focus on it the same I would other characters, unless it's an injury a child survives, then it's a 50/50. This is a situation that is conflicting for the main character, but is done out of survival's sake. (In his eyes.)

Viral.Donnie has evolved into a character that focuses on addiction later on, and I do tend to give the turtles addictions depending on the story.

Million Dollar Box/Villain Mikey has hallucinations, vivid, probably not 100% accurate, but these are not his real brothers. Story wise, they are a way to delve into his mental state and look at his conflicting feelings about his family.

Villain Raph is less developed, but he actively is mentally (and physically) abusive to his brothers in his own way.

A lot of the time, my writing style mixes with the thoughts and personality of the main focus, and a lot of these times, the characters are not rational nor moral. Untrustworthy narrators are fun.

You will see I don't like actively splitting up the turtles entirely very much. Normally, I'd be able to do it easily, but I have a soft spot for them. Hell, Viral Donnie, Villain Raph, and Million Dollar Box Mikey's follow-up story gives them a family after losing theirs. Most of the time, if one turtle falls, I take the others, or at least one others with them. For fun.

I try to not go for just shock value, even if I like describing the horrors I like having a reasoning, whether it be some insane deeper meaning I made up, it fitting a character/their personality, or just being interesting for me. I do my best to tag all potentially triggering topics within my works, but I may slip up at times. Apologies for that.

Horror is my main fixation overall outside of TMNT, and I like various types of it. The Nonsense Apocalypse AU is supposed to be a mixture of slice of life and horror, resulting in a world that just doesn't make sense, with some more... serious aspects on top.

I hope this helps, I kinda went on a ramble, but I didn't want too much confusion since most of my actual aus aren't fully out yet in any way.

Hope it helps again, Anon.

[tangledinink]

Hello! I love your art and I had a few questions for the Swannie AU you have created. I have a lot so I separated them into sections if that helps.

Inventing at the Lake

1: In your April comic, she mentions a bracelet project and I don't think it has been mentioned again yet so... what is it and does it get added to the ensemble upon completion?

2: Aside from the directly mentioned bracelet, what else has Dee created?

3: Does Dee still create things for his brothers and if he does, does he just forget why it was made until he has a good day?

April Specific

4: What does April and Dee do when he has a really good memory day rather than just a nonviolent day?

The Birthday Fight

5: After the birthday fight, does Dee have a slightly more aggressive reaction to Lee on bad memory days?

6: Since Donnie won't remember said fight, does Leo try to celebrate their b-day again (without lying about the date) or does he decided to just not celebrate until they have Dee back?

6: Have any of the brothers visited when the board was destroyed and if so how did they react? (Espically Nardo if he saw it after that fight.)

Gifts and Holidays

7: Have any of the brothers baught gifts for Dee? If so, how would he react? Would they leave it at the edge of the lake if it is an aggressive day?

8: The last comic mentioned that a birthday had passed without Dee recognizing Leo. How have other holidays gone such as Christmas and New Years (being the first ones that came to mind)?

I know Swanatello started as a joke sona, but I think that your world creation is outstanding, especially since you mentioned that you tent to come up with answers on the spot. I may have been taking notes for my own AU world creation and the questions some readers could have. I hope you continue creating because your art is truly inspiring. Thank you and have a nice day. :)

Ahh thank you! ; w ; Answers are under the cut because it's a little long.

This is now answered! :D

He's mostly been working on the Research Board and on trying to figure out how the magick of the lake works and how he could reverse it. He's also been working on a generator so he can more reliably have electricity out here, as well as something that could boost signals so they could get reception at the lake.

He does when he's able! Most of them right now are very small things, as he currently struggles with any large projects given his memory issues. Anything he makes right now, ideally, should be able to be finished within a day or less. It is currently very easy for him to stray off-task or get distracted or sidelined, given that a majority of the time he's not able to fully understand the purpose, nuances, or importance of his 'main projects.' Some days he simply doesn't understand why he would want to work on a dumb research board that doesn't even make sense to him when he could make something badass for his family instead, or go do lake shit. And the research board will still be there later, right? As a result of the above, he has a ton of half-finished projects squirreled away that are intended as gifts for his brothers, but that he wasn't able to complete before he forgot and then later couldn't identify, or projects that he DID complete, but he then forgot about it before he was ever able to gift them to their intended recipient, so now he just... has them, and isn't really sure why.

Leo was terrified of this, but he really doesn't. It's really like it never even happened. Donnie doesn't seem to remember it at all or hold any resentment or ill will towards Leo in the least, and it's honestly almost worse. Donnie doesn't remember what happened, so Leo can't really apologize to him for it, or talk about it with him, or make proper amends. He almost wishes that Donnie WOULD hold a grudge over it so he didn't have to feel so... guilty. But he doesn't.

Leo just decides to let it go and wait for their next birthday, and hope that the next one is better. Trying to celebrate this one, now, feels wrong somehow.

Since the board was destroyed and Donnie relied on it in some ways to aid him with his memory issues, there is a gap between Leo's visit and the next time Donnie is able to recognize one of them enough to not chase them away. About a week and some change. It's Raph who finds the board, and it sort of helps him realize why things have been the way they have been lately, which is... a relief, kind of? But also it's heartbreaking, and it kills him to think that Donnie was hurting so bad and that he wasn't around to help. Not that Donnie understands now what happened to the board or even what its significance is... But that's okay. Raph focuses on comforting Donnie that day, because so much progress has been undone and he's confused and scared, and calmly helps him to rebuild the basic foundations of the board. And they all slowly help him repair it day-by-day after that.

They bring Donnie gifts all the time! Anything from tool kits to books to research documents to stim toys to food to clothing are on the table. If it's an aggressive day, they'll just wait for a day when he recognizes them to give it to him, because they can't really trust that he'll find and accept things that they leave, and they want to be around to make sure he understands what it is and that things are alright. There have been times that they've brought him gifts-- an old blanket, a hoodie, a drawing from Mikey-- and it ends up tripping something in his brain or triggering a memory and ends up leaving him in a very fragile emotional state. It's not always a bad thing, but sometimes he won't realize anything is wrong with his current situation until he's presented with a stuffed toy from their childhood, and then it all hits him. They've realized it's much better if they're around should something like this happen so they can help explain things and provide support.

He's missed quite a few holidays. When they can, they'll come celebrate with him. For Christmas, for example, everyone who visited around that time explained to him that it was Christmas (even if it wasn't the actual day) and they did their best to celebrate, depending on Donnie's current emotional state at the time and what that allowed for. There was some gift-exchanging (Donnie was devastated he didn't have anything prepared to give back!!!!!!), some candy-and-cookie consuming, some snow-ball-fighting, and some Nutcracker-dancing. But overall, the entire thing was bittersweet, because they were so limited in what they could do to celebrate and they all knew Donnie almost certainly wouldn't remember any of the things they did together. The holiday felt very hollow without him home with them.

Ahhhh thank you ; w ; THATS SO SWEET,,, AND MAKES ME HAPPY,,, I AM GLAD YOU ENJOY IT,,,,

[mimastuff]

M,kay so like, may I request the 4 turns finding out that they were Y/n's pet before draxum stole and mutated them.

(this can be romantic if y/n got them when they were so a baby or platonic if y/n got them when they were older)

Thank you!

ILYSM this is a good one 😌

Pet teetels

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Raph❤️ - non established relationship

- your family owned a very cool breed of turtle

- As a kid you used to adore him

- He was your pride and joy :)

- That was until one fate full day your aligator snapping turtle was snatched up by some tall goat freak show of a man.

- You wanted revenge

- but since you weren’t even old enough to go out on your own you waited the day you set your eyes on your beloved turtle

- Now things have changed

- You met April though your new school in New York

- You both took a photograph class and now you guys have been great friends since !

- She soon introduced the turtles when she was ready

- Now you stood in front of four human sized turtles.

- Except for one.

- This one looked vaguely familiar…

“This one is Leo and this is raph!” You waved sheepishly at them all which the one in orange soon returned. “It’s nice to meet you all finally! April has been bragging about you guys for weeks !” You felt a small hit to the arm as you all chuckled. The brothers even let you stay for dinner ! As the pizza boxes were being put out you couldn’t help but stare at the turtle. “Hey , do you need help with those? Also I couldn’t help but notice your cool fighting skills! April showed me a video of you fighting some feet clan or something?” Raph looked up at you with sparkles in his eyes. No one had ever had full interest in who he was beyond his green skin and stink. “Oh yeah ! I think you mean to foot clan but yes , our dad splinter taught us how to train . Well as most he could anyway heh” you chuckled and picked up the rest of the boxes and brought them to the group. “Jupiter Jim anyone ? “ the blue one shouted. Everyone lit up as you nodded with a smile. You say the pizza boxes down and everyone took a slice. You and raph talked throughout the whole movie. Whispering of course 😊. As the last scene finishes you couldn’t help but ask for raphs number. He was super interesting and not to mention handsome as all hell. Once you got home he texted you first.

“Hey it’s Raphael! I’m really glad I met you today , it was fun :)”

“Yes it was ! Hey I forgot to mention that you look really familiar to me. I can’t stop thinking where I have seen you !”

“Heh , that’s weird. Maybe did you have a pet turtle or someone you knew did ? “

“ I actually did , but he got taken by some funky goat man when I was little . The turtle was older than me by like 3 months lol”

“Umm well I think I might need to do some explaining but I think I was your turtle”….

Donnie💜 - non established relationship

- you couldn’t help but realise how your friend Donnie looked vaguely familiar

- Could it be his eyebrows ?

- Or maybe his mask?

- The question replayed in your head but a ding in your phone shut your thoughts up

Ding ding. Your phone went off. The smooth ring tone you had set for Donnie rung loudly in your room filling up the lingering silence and loudness of your thoughts. You expression changed when you saw the picture he sent you. Rather the selfie he sent you. It was him in a fight with some , goat man? Omg ! The same man that had stolen your soft shell turtle has a kid !!! You text Donnie back quickly.

“ that goat man stole my turtle as a kid :(“

“What.”

“Yeah. He was the family pet we had. But he stole my angry little soft shell turtle.”

“ you know he mutated us right ? And umm I’m a soft shell … surprise I might be your childhood pet …”

Mikey🧡 - established relationship

- mikey was your sweetheart of a boyfriend

- But he had a familiar feeling about him

- You felt as though those same hands you held that you have touched before

- That same cheek you have kisses , you have kissed before

- Mikey feels the same , that’s when you both realise something …

You and your turtle boyfriend are cuddling on the couch and watching Jupiter Jim. You turn to him with a smile on your face. He looks down at your sparkling eyes and pauses the movie. “Are you ok baby cakes ? You’re looking at me with stars in your eyes:)” you look into his eyes once more , holding eye contact while you spoke. “You know , when I first met you, you seemed really familiar to me. Now that we are dating I can’t help but feel that it’s getting stronger. I just don’t know where it’s come from !!” He looked at you with a sudden surprised expression. “No way , man ! Me too. Like when you hold me it feels , nostalgic.” You looked at the tv again. A goat had been mutated to an alien on screen. “Hey I knew someone who was kind of a goat man. He stole my turtle when I was younger! “ oh. Mikey finally clicked. You had heard of his past and how he was mutated. You both smiled at the same time and in sink squealed! “You were my pet as a kid !! I loved you , still do !! <33” mikey felt the need to hug you in that moment.

Leo 💙

- your blue boyfriend was swinging his swords in training.

- You looked up at him to feel an unknown sensation

- As if , you knew him before ?

- Like maybe in a past life ?

- No , too far.

- But his laugh felt too nostalgic to be a coincidence….

Leo turned to you as you gave him a curious look. The way his sword swooshed in the air , the way his bandana tails swayed with every hit of the air around him. He felt kinda like home. You really loved your boyfriend. He meant the world to you. Before when you were just friends, in the early stages of your guys relationship it really felt as if that you had know each other for years. It was a spark that ignited into a forest fire of warmth. His stupid witty jokes and smirks felt all too familiar in this moment. You clearly have a horrible poker face as he came and sat next to you. “You good babe ? You have been weird all day, any guys ass I need to kick ?” You chuckled , always with the jokes to lighten the mood. “Nah I’m good just can’t shake this feeling that I have met you before we properly met.” He thought for a second. “Maybe in a past life ?” Definitely not. “No it feels more now. You know I had a red slider turtle just like you as a kid. Some one ended up stealing him tho :(“ Leo’s face lit up , draxum ! You both giggled at the fact of fate working its magic again. You two will always be connected wether you like it or not.

——————————————————————————-

Two tonight , woop woop I’m on fireee

Seriously tho I had no ideas for this so it took ages bug I just love you guys so much I pulled through 😍😋

[umhuhwellthen]

JUST WATCHED THE S2 FINALE OF TMNT 2K12 AND

DONNIE WHERE'D YOU GET NUCLEAR WASTE????? WHERE WERE U KEEPING IT AND THE MECH???? CAN APRIL HAVE HER DAD FOR 5 FUCKIN MINUTES???? HOW THE HELL DID KRANG SUBPRIME GET SO GOOD AT IMITATING TEEN GIRL???? AHHHHHH COMA ARC/FARM ARC INCOMING FUCK

OH ALMSOT FORGOT MY FAV FIGHT SCENE BETWEEN SHREDDER AND SPLINTER SO FAR??? MAN'S STARTED HISSING AND FUCKIN BITING THATS HIS BOY!!! HIS SON YOU FUCK GET FUCKED STOP HURTIHG HIS FICKIN KIDSSSS SPLINTER WENT APESHIT YESSSSSS GO FOR THE FACE YESS TEAR HIS THROAT OUT MAIMING KILLING CLAWING AND BITING

ah so this is one of the legendary multiple times splinter died

Miscellaneous thoughts on my watchthrough:

Also skipped episodes becasue of Donnie being..."enamored" with April like bruhhhh they way they wrote it....why

Did not know Casey was introduced s2, also why such the huge fuckin gap, did they not want him to have look same as Donnie???? Like just put the gap in a different place also are his teeth yellow?????in one of the zoom ins when they were group hugging April compared to her and Donnie's his were tinted????? Like damn y'all are cruel to the humans when you design them like the Hamatos and mutants get all the love in design but fuck everybody else

Also don't recommend binge watching the series because the back of your head will always be like damn those kids cannot catch a break just whammy after whammy,like they'll get a week or two(at best!!! Mostly maybe a day or two if at all!!!)of nothing much happening, maybe fighting lowtier grunts but that's it, but a week or two is just 7-14 days which is not a lot in the grand scheme of things

Also Leo stop trying to kys challenge pls and thx 🙏those eps with him remembering splinters words of complete the mission no matter what/who the cost like sir/ma'am??????

Also was sit just me but in the ep 'into dimension x ' was Mikey's voice deeper??? Like for a lil bit??? See why the head canon of it not being months but years is popular also people always mention holy shit kraang skin helmet but what about kraang limbs lasso? Kraang arms armbands? Motherfucker made them into pelts holy shit

Speaking of Mikey I thought the hidden blade in his nunchunks was something added??? Like an upgrade after a fight?? But no he always had it??? God no wonder y'all say these version of the turtles are down for murder yeah after seeing s1/2 they deserve it I love them so much this is why you should(not) give teenagers dangerous ninja skills and weapons

Blue eyes same shade as mask seriously??? I thought it was a darker shade but fanart tricked me, brown eyes Leo supremacy indeed

Once I finish space arc I'm gonna draw half-kraang April because she deserves spooky eyes and sharp teeth she's a little bug eyed freak/affectionate anime girl proportions tiny nose

May add more as I go along

[thedawningofthehour]

If they had succeeded in getting Donnie/Galois to the Lair, how would things have played out in chapter 26 when it was the twins' birthday? Would Leo still have been sulking or would he have tried to get Donnie to remember via trying to get him engaged in some birthday activities (trying to get Donnie/Galois to make a birthday wish/eat cake together, try to goad him into watching Jupiter Jim and Lou Jitsu movies, offering Galois/Donnie a gift, etc.)? I may want to write a fanfic on it.

Well, Leo kind of forgot his own birthday. Partly because of the 'gestures to everything happening so much in his life' but also because of his general refusal to acknowledge the passage of time and accept that it's been a year since he's last really been with his twin. So by the chapter 25 reverse-kidnapping attempt, (their birthday was on a Tuesday and I think the actual event was the Saturday before? I do take notes but they're often incomprehensible even to myself) their birthday wasn't even on his radar. And he would have been so busy taking care of Donnie-making sure he was comfortable, trying to gather materials that might jog his memory, just hanging out near him and talking, reassuring himself that his brother is home and safe-that he probably wouldn't have thought about it.

(also consider when and how the reverse-kidnapping succeeded-like, did they get Cass too? Was this before or after his power surge? Because Gale was still pretty zonked out at that point and might have been even worse off if Draxum wasn't helping him recover. [though the fam could have conceivably called Bella and friends for help, Josh would have been able to give them stuff to help him] Not to mention if the HCPD didn't succeed in arresting Draxum and Tigerclaw, they would be frantically searching for the kids and trying to take them back)

The fam probably would have reminded him a little earlier, wanting to really celebrate because they had both the birthday boys home this time-but would have toned it down because they'd know that wasn't what Donnie needed right then. They would have convinced Mikey not to make the massive meals and cakes he'd have been planning in his head for Donnie's birthday/homecoming extravaganza, (he gets that it would be overwhelming-he's just excited) maybe making a small layer cake or just a bunch of cupcakes. Which Gale probably wouldn't have eaten, since he doesn't see this as his birthday and knows he's not allowed sweets aside from very special occasions. (he probably wouldn't eat anything they gave him, honestly-if Cass was there she'd demand to try it first, just to be sure they're not poisoning him, and even then Gale would be wary)

I don't see any gifts or elaborate birthday plans, honestly. Leo would probably try to entice him into doing something chill together, like watching movies or a marathon. (they'd already be showing him JJ and Lou Jitsu movies, hoping to jog his memory) But he wouldn't push it too hard. The day would have still been pretty quiet for the fam, and still tinged with sadness because Donnie would still be insisting he was Galois and very resistant to all their attempts to bond and make him more comfortable. But much, much happier than canon.

Go ahead! This fic has so many points where the plot could have turned and veered off in a completely different direction, there's a lot of little oneshots I've thought about doing but ultimately just came back to the main fic. You guys can do whatever you want with this AU, so long as you link back to me. I'd love to see it!

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

Okay, spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 to my followers who haven't played the game or if you don't mind. I'm going to...vent in a sense or suggest a crazy idea because I want to talk about this.

Despite the fact they would have to rehaul the game's story.

I still don't like Harry as Venom. But I swear, if the developers had to somehow really tie Eddie into it without making it overcomplicated. Even if this idea seems crazy. Here's this idea they could've done.

Take out the hints and mentions of Eddie from the first two games. Mainly Eddie's name on that one card here.

If the developers are Hell bent on the idea of Harry being Venom. Here's what they could've done. They could've done this story where Harry as he's had the symbiote off for a while. As he's remembering his mother. He somehow finds out he isn't actually an Osborn; he was actually adopted. His real name is actually Edward Brock. But his name was changed to Harry after his birth father straight up abandoned him. Including learning his birth mother died giving birth to him.

Norman and Emily were going to one day tell Harry he was adopted. But when Emily died, Norman essentially forgot and decided it wasn't worth telling Harry. Because Harry developed the same sort of disease which we are going to call it "Cancer" and take elements from Eddie Brock's later years as a character. This information distraught Harry. Along with everything else around him going wrong.

He's slowly dying, his best friend isn't giving back the symbiote, the Emily May Foundation is destroyed, he doesn't feel like he's good enough for his father. And one of the worst things he's now discovered is that his "Mother" who he idolized wasn't actually his mother. And his birth father actually abandoned him to die.

When getting the symbiote back, all that anger built up, he seeks to "Heal the world" in his own way. But killing the ones who have wronged him and others. Yet also, to protect the innocent from those. Possibly any surviving villains that Kraven had not killed. And keep Kraven alive towards the end. Venom is killing villains that should've survived till later, hunters, cultists and whoever else.

Harry or Eddie in this case has become the "Venom" to all those people that needed to be punished. As "Venom" has been used in medicine sometimes to treat pain and other sorts of things that people have talked about.

Maybe you can still have the symbiote invasion stuff. But I'm not sure about that. Because while it's visually awesome and cool to play. I feel it doesn't fully fit the story or it becomes...less personal in a sense. And taking elements from Donny Cate's Venom run without putting in the substance. And sadly, not paying him any royalties too.

And let me be honest. This honestly sounds SO MUCH WORSE if they went with this. It sounds like a bastardized amalgamation of Harry and Eddie. It's much better when these two are separate characters. Especially Harry's time as the Green Goblin which I know they're building that character up with Norman. Yet Insomniac pretty much screwed up Venom. Even if they were to make that Venom game with Eddie in it.

Also, despite how much I love Kraven in the game. I feel like they could've maybe used Sin Eater in this game if we're going to have Venom but...that's a whole other discussion.

[octolingkiera]

May I request more info about the rise au so I can better suggest additional characters?

yeah of course!! i honestly forgot to mention what kind of au it is in the post itself (i made the post and then got off tumblr for hours like i was trying to forget i even made it in the first place dlkgfjsdljg) but i'd be happy to provide more info on the au!

(the post in question)

so the au is the separated au i've been working on for over a year (first chapter is posted on ao3 as sunset hues, jetpack blues) and i'm looking to add more characters into the fic to spice things up a little

the general premise is that splinter was only able to save raph and mikey, leaving leo and donnie (known in the fic as lee and dee) with draxum. the fic starts about where the series does, around the events of mystic mayhem, and after raph, mikey, and april destroy draxum's lab, lee and dee use this as a distraction to run away.

i intend the fic to follow lee and dee as they forge their new life away from draxum, and along the way they meet their brothers and splinter and april and end up becoming heroes. i'm going to loosely follow canon (a retelling, sort of, as a lot of sep aus tend to) but i don't want to follow canon 1-to-1. i want to add some new arcs, some new adventures, and change the existing things to match the change of circumstances

the foot clan are still planning on bringing back shredder, that's a given, and some things might still happen along the same lines as canon (especially stuff that happens off screen and some of the stuff with raph/mikey/april) but i hate when fics just rehash canon, so i'm trying to add some excitement

some characters i've already considered are:

tigerclaw (he's a bounty hunter here)

miyamoto usagi (he's an adult here, and he owns a dojo in the hidden city)

bebop and rocksteady (i'm thinking they're battle nexus competitors)

mona lisa (i'm going to make her a yokai, possibly late teens, early 20s, and tweak her name to be ramona, with "mona" as a nickname)

miwa (borrowing this name to create a snake yokai that's friends with mona lol)

i jokingly thought it would be funny to add in the frog mutants from tmnt 87 lol

but i've been really stuck on how to add any more characters, and which characters to even add. i don't want them to be big characters or very important, mostly just characters that the cast can interact with to fill the world, but i'm not a big fan of OCs so i figured adding (semi) recognizable tmnt characters would be a fun workaround lol

adding some more characters to make yokai would be fun i think, bc rise has this whole city full of them and we only ever get to meet a handful and it leaves soooo many possibilities

i hadn't really considered adding more antagonists before (barring tigerclaw, who i have Plans for) but it might make for some interesting plot threads to add more of them. rise has a fun mutant cast but most of them get reused a lot and

sorry if this doesn't really help much but thanks for asking!! i'm very excited for this fic and i wanna make it the best it can be. i wanna talk about this fic so much but also i dont wanna spoil everything before i get around to writing it so it's a fine balance between explaining enough to be useful and not explaining too much lol

honestly, any suggestions would be helpful. just giving a place to start would help. i don't mind doing some research but i don't have firsthand experience with characters outside of rise, mutant mayhem, and anyone in the first three-ish seasons of 87

thanks again for the ask!!

[ducknotinarow]

[07 Casey and Summer]

He stood by his bike, waiting, with a grin. He always made sure he was here when the bell rang and the kids were finally freed. Casey stood when it happened, smiling more when he saw Summer, Case immediately walking forward, grabbing her and pulling her into a tight hug. Lifting Summer straight off her feet, Casey held her close,

"There yer are!" Casey exclaimed, "'Ere I was thinkin' I'd never see yer 'gain."

He knew that wasn't true, but Casey hated spending time away from his family. Being the usual lame, dorky dad he was, he pressed a kiss to her cheek, not caring for any level of embarrassment she may be feeling in that moment,

"I missed yer Dumplin'."

Not like he doesn't see her all time. Casey puts her down after a second, moving to ruffle up her hair now, chuckling,

"Yer 'ave a good day?" He asks, walking her towards his motorcycle, "Those assholes give yer anymore trouble?"

| Muse interaction

Summer, had to admit for the first time she could recall she just felt nervous. She was more used to the old school building, even the water fountains here were different from her last school. Teacher names she didn't recognize, the Gym and music room were connected. They had a computers class add in along with their specials rotation for every week. And she was thrown into this school just after they finished the week for gym putting her into learning to play a recorder? They displayed kids in art the week previous in a display case by the library. You could opt out of eating in the cafeteria during lunch to be in the library instead? Who want to spend their time in there though? Uncle Donnie would be that kid heck Ariel probably would even. She wished her cousin wasn't a mutant right now then she could maybe come to this new school with her.

Heck if she was in school with her chances are Summer never would of had to leave the last school to come here. She knows it was cause the school wasn't doing a thing to help with what was going on but at the same time, everything was just so weird and different here compared to her last school. But, guess it also didn't have kids calling her names and worse. So one point there. It was further away from home though.

In truth Summer was in a far better school than the previous one she had kept to herself most the day. Outside the usual 'hey this is the student be nice to them' speech her teacher gave. Or how she had to introduce her self to the music teacher and would have to do the same with the gym, computer, and art teachers and eventually the libraries maybe the office workers to. Not that Summer was planing to be in the office anytime soon. Summer honestly outside those few times had decided to keep quite. She sat in her seat and kept still, she didn't mention a like for turtles or hockey once. So no one looked at her or thought of her weird. It was the longest day of her life. Just waiting for lunch and recess to end felt like the worst part of her day. When most kids looked towards that time the best. Summer just wanted to go to bed. Which said something if Summer willing wanted to go to bed. When it finally came time to pack up and go though she was happy to be just a step closer to that want of hers.

Crowd of kids swarmed the building the second the bell rang out and kids made there ways out. Teachers in a futile attempt tried yelling to their classes to not forgot about an assignment they forgot to mention before the kids booked it out. Summer just wanted out of here she felt miserable if she was honest. No one was mean to her, but she hadn't talked and she didn't understand why that bugged her so much. If she kept quite then no one would know she was a freak and pick on her for it like at the last school. She just had to keep that up for well forever. Till School was over she guesses.

That didn't make her feel any better. Staring down at her shoes as she held the straps of her backpack. She could hear some murmuring from kids staying by the front doors of the building. Head lifting up when a few buzz words hit her ears. 'motorcycle' 'cool guy' and such. Smiles frown seemed to crack second she saw the so called cool guy in the 'drop off' lane. The only parent on a motorcycle mind you. Her lame dad. Skipping down the front steps and going straight into a sprint so she could get to Casey faster. Casey moved forward and easily scoop her clean off the ground her feet were once attached to as he pulled her in for a hug.

"There yer are!"

Casey exclaimed, as Summer slightly let out a playful shriek weakly trying to push free from the hug she found herself trapped in now.

"'Ere I was thinkin' I'd never see yer 'gain."

Course he was messing around Summer knew that, it's not like the school would trap her forever. It was just him being a dork as he went and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Ew Dad don't be gross." Giggling as she spoke breaking her words up between her laughing breaths. Trying more to get free from her sappy Dad, made worse because eyes were already on them from the fact Casey showed up on his bike to pick her up and well. Casey didn't exactly look like your typical parent beyond not driving some sort of van like most of the other parents in the 'drop off lane'. Meaning she was be subjected to the kids seeing how gross and lame her Dad was. Though she didn't hate it of course, but it was still very embarrassing.

"I missed yer Dumplin'."

"Daaad, you see me all 'he time dummy." Summer points out as she rolls her eyes. Finally set back to the ground. She felt lighter now seeing her Dad. The affection while gross and too much clearly was both the literal and figurative pick up she needed. Near forgetting how much she dreaded being in the building just seconds ago. As his heavy hand lands on top of her head no ruffling up her hair. Summer laughs and grabs at his hand trying to pull it away as she step out from under his hand. "Stooop" She squeals out a bit keeping her hands wrapped around his wrist despite her resistance.

"Yer 'ave a good day?"

"well" Summer starts with as she keeps her hold on her Dad's wrist, following his lead as he walks back to his bike now. Nothing much happened for her after all, since she never said a single word outside when she sort of had to do so. So she didn't get made fun of for knowing so much about turtles or hockey. She wasn't told she was too loud either. So that stuff was good right? That just made the weird feeling return though. She thinks school would be more fun if she could just do that instead.

"Those assholes give yer anymore trouble?"

Summer lifts her head up to look at Casey before she shakes her heads suddenly. She didn't want them worry anymore about her being bullied after all. She knows how upset well both her Dad's got when the truth finally came out. Moving to step beside her Dad's motorcycle though she stops before they get ready to go and looks at people looking at Casey. She knows that look the kid give it to her but they weren't aimed at her. Parents were aiming that look to Casey. It was cold and stiffing. He grip on Casey sort of tighten but could be easily missed. Chances are Casey wouldn't miss it though. She quicker her mouth and looked away looking at her Dad's bike.

She knows her family isn't normal. No one in her family was normal. Four of them were turtles, her grandpa was a rat, she had a mutant aunt and sister even. But, somehow even among all of that Casey was seen as not normal despite being human. But he wasn't normal with humans either. Sure Summer was just a kid but she knew her Dad stood out himself. She just didn't think anyone could look at him the same way? Her Dad was great though. That thought stayed with her as they got on to Casey's bike and he drove off making sure she was safe in front of him. Frown sat on her face. A bit ticked off by it waiting for the first red light they came to before she looked up to speak up.

"Hey Dad?" looking up to him easier to be heard when the engine was cooling down well stopped. "How come 'hey stared 'ike that?" She wasn't that dumb she knew that look she just didn't understand why Casey got the look. "Ya jus' pickin' me up too?" Casey didn't seem to care though even when giving the answer she kind of figured was the reason. Even if it was something so normal to here, she'd been on her Dad's bike tones of times, hell even rode with her Pop's. But the other parents didn't ride them so she had some idea it was why. But Casey blew it off like nothing. Might not been the first time even from how her Dad answered. Summer lowered her head back to look forward as the light switched and they were on the move again.

Quite the rest of the ride, her little head full of thoughts a bit too complex for a young kid her age to really have to think about. Things she knew but didn't consider. But for some reason started to make sense as well. Casey was weird, and Summer was also weird. Her dad might be far more weird than she was but it was also true. He was the reason her other Dad was a mutant turtle after all, and he dressed up to go fight purple dragons. Summer hadn't even realized they were home yet till Casey went to help her off the bike when she pipes up again.

"Hey Dad your a giant weirdo you know?" not even phased by the expression shes given. "' ike the biggest werido in the family, ya all of 'em." Shes smiling though as things seem to start making sense though. Casey was the biggest werido even among mutants. Soon moving to starting heading up to the apartment. Looking up at him as they moved up the stairs skips steps two at a time trying to get ahead of Casey. She smiles brightly before taking off spirits lifted from this thought alone. She wasn't a freak well she was. But maybe it was okay because her Dad was too but because he was? She had the life she had only more fact given as she pushed the door open and ran in to crash into her pop's hugging him the second she could. "Pops! Dad's a freak!" She relies getting the turtle to simply burst into a loud laugh. Before turning to look back at Casey when "But ya know what Dad? 'hat's okay." Which meant it was okay for her too. "Cause ya cool!"

[unscapedgoat]

SEE the thing is I feel so strongly about this because 6 months is. a LONG time. and I understand feeling distant from someone because you just recently witnessed the death of people you love, but they really should've at least TOUCHED on the topic. Felya and I have been talking about this for so long and I may have something in store for this specific reason :D I just need to find the motivation to draw it out...

I still believe that the other teens should've been much closer to Honeycutt than they were in actual Space Arc, because from a writing perspective isn't it so much more fun for every one of them to have a dynamic of some sort. It just doesn't ,, make sense really. It's like they spent two weeks together not six whole months.

Space arc just makes me so mad HHHHHHHHH

edit I forgot to mention that Honeycutt is Splinter's replacement not only for the characters, but the WRITERS treat him as such. The thing is that they use him as a Splinter replacement, so when Splinter is back they don't need him anymore so that's why they didn't even bother to bring him back with a new voice actor.

They could've even used the fact that he was blown up to get Donnie to install a voicebox/voicebank for him so he would sound different, it's insane how easy it is to solve their non-problem

I have a question and I'm not sure if it was really touched upon in the series, or if I'm nitpicking a cartoon with cartoon problems, but if the black hole generator can only be destroyed with a 'combination of fusion and dark matter', couldn't honeycutt leave it on the ship (powered by dark matter) and fly it into the sun (fusion)? (assuming the ship can be set on its own course without somebody operating it)

was this ever brought up??¿¿ is it a writing problem? am i forgetting something? did they not have enough fuel or time left to do this? did the writers need to quickly conclude the space arc in some way and so decided this was the best case scenario? discuss w me plox

[lazypanartist]

Hi im Already Back but please imagine for ROTTMNT:

[This one is kind of angsty with a nice end but talks about child neglect, so if you dont think its something youre up for, its A-okay if you toss this out!!]

Big ol Punk Reader, Super Intimidating, Mean AF looking dude.

The boys had all long accepted thats just how they Look, it doesnt mean theyre terrible or anything. Reader is actually really chill and funny. Emotional vulnerability from themself however, never really seems to happen. But theyre a good listener, and have shockingly good advice usually! Mikey has tried Doctor Feelings-ing it up with them but it just lead to them talking in circles.

(The two ended up having a whole conversation where the youngest found himself venting about how he wished his brothers wouldnt let problems bottle up and build. It still mystifiedhim about how it turned around on him.)

One night though, when most of the teens had crashed in the living room after a movie marathon, Leonardo woke up thirsty. It was late, everyone was asleep as he picked his way around snoozing lumps wherever they laid and made way to the kitchen where he heard...Talking?

Quietly, the red eared slider peeked his head around the doorway to see Reader and Splinter, quietly chatting over tea.

('Oh yeah,' the ninja thought, 'Reader mentioned having sleeping issues and that smells like valerian, mint and chamomile. Nice pick dad.')

The teen was going to duck in, grab some water, maybe his own cup of tea, in and out real quick. He was going to, really. But...he happened to catch a bit of conversation and found himself... accidentally eavesdropping.

Whoopsie.

"-and he fell off the board. Slid down the whole ramp on his back. You would have thought someone beat him with a pipe with how bloodcurdling his scream was. I nearly had a heart attack!"

Leo remembered that day. That was how the gouge in the ramp's wood happened. Leo himself was bawling his eyes out when Raph took that tumble.

Reader laughed softly, lightly patting the old rodent's hand at the story. "Oh I bet New Dad Splinter never ran so fast in his life, eh?"

"I swear, you'd mistake me for a cheetah mutant for how quickly I booked it. Luckily my son was fine, physically, but that slip shook him up."

"Poor dear..." You murmured, taking a sip.

" nng...Nardo..?"

Leo hushed Donnie, covering his twin's mouth and glancing back, making sure they weren't caught.

...Coast Clear.

"Mmh, he had nightmares the few days after it. "

"Yeah, I remember having something like that happen to me.-"

Donnie couldnt help getting wrapped up in the two's conversation himself. Something about the trip through memory lane just cemented him to the spot.

When Michelangelo found them both, the twins were easily able to convert the youngest to their cause of listening to old stories about themselves and occasionally one told by Reader here and there. Raphael was dragged over and the four of them watched the scene play in the late night haze.

And then...it happened.

Splinter was laughing, paw covering his mouth to stifle himself as Reader almost sprayed tea from their nose, coughing and snickering about a story involving Leo and him thinking he was a Big Boy and staying up and watching a horror movie far too young and sleeping in his dad's bed for a week.

(The blue clad turtle wanted to melt into the shadows and never return. It didnt help that Raph kept patting him comfortingly and Donnie made a snide comment about zombies passing him over.)

"Did you ever do something like that? None of my other sons have. I wonder if its an ego thing..."

"Nah...I um...well I was never close with my folks."

Raph felt Mikey start bouncing in place. Here it was. This was it.

"Oh, dear...I'm sorry to hear that. May I ask why..?"

Reader sighed finally, using a napkin to sop up the spill on the table. "You know...I ah..I don't talk about it much, s-so...I'm emancipated from my parents. Have been for a while. My folks just kinda...Forgot I was there a lot. Weren't ever around. It's. Not really um. A fun memory or story. They just never wanted a kid and, when I was old enough to take care of myself, well...I was sorta left to my own devices."

Their father's whiskers twitched with his frown. "Oh child...may I ask, how old-"

"Six."

The brothers felt cold.

Michelangelo wanted to be sick at the thought of a little Reader running a house by themself. Using a stove far too young. Battling with unweildy kitchen knives.

Leonardo remembered the walks to Reader's apartment. The few nights they crashed there. No wonder they never seemed worried about getting caught.

Donatello felt his hands shake at the idea of being all alone like that. No one to help you. No one to support you. Alone, well and truely, and having to rely only on yourself.

Raphael's mind was barreling a mile a minute as tears pricked his eyes. He hoped they would be okay. He hoped this would be what the punk needed.

Splinter felt his blood boil, and he couldnt help his nails digging into the table.

Six.

/Six./

He listened politely as Reader talked a bit more, trying to skirt around such an obviously heavy topic like the White Star cruise liners skirted around misfortune. He listened as his anger forged fires that couldnt be tempered. The thought of any of his sons being left at so young, it made him sick...!

Ooh, those wretched people better hope he never meets them...

"-Splinter..?"

His eyes snapped open, locking back with their own. Silently they squeezed his hand, tears welling up but not falling.

(He wished they didn't have to be so strong. Strength could be it's own weakness.)

"Are you okay? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have talked about it-"

('Even now, you try to instead comfort others than seek it out yourself...-')

"Tell me."

They blinked, glancing down as his other paw came down, sandwiching the human's before simply clutching it between both.

"Please, if you wouldn't mind. Tell me. I will listen."

They stared quietly, before, shakily, continuing some of the story. Splinter could tell they ducked and dodged sea mines and ice bergs and rocky cliffs as they quested for harbor, longing to finally find port in the cold storm of their emotions with no light house to shine through the dark.

Splinter and his sons found they would all gladly stand out on that dock, lanturns in hand, in order to guide them home. Back to them.

They listened. Reader didnt need to tell everything, but they would listen to what they would part with, tucking it away in their memories and hoping that this one hard, difficult vulnerability would open you up to many more easier ones.

Finally, when dawn broke, the Reader's dam had too. They listened as their friend cried, Splinter never letting go of that hand. This had been a lot. They needed this.

When all was said and done, they sniffled loudly and wiped snot and streaked make-up on their hoodie sleeve. Gross, raw, an abolute mess.

Docked safe, lead by lamplight through the fog.

"Thanks, Splinter."

"Anytime," the rat murmured, giving their shoulder a squeeze. His hand still cupped their own, tea long forgotten.

"You're a good dad."

The mutant huffed, patting their head. "I try."

"I doubt it."

He fought to keep a grin off his face. It didn't work. "You're just trying to butter up your future Father in Law."

The brothers, proud of showing so much restraint not barging in the kitchen as soon as your sobbing began, felt a bucket of ice water get dunked metaphorically down their spines. All eyes flicked to Leo's who shook his head and shrugged. He must have missed this conversation.

The reader scoffed lightly and sneered, batting the hand away. "Oh I get it. See if I ever ask you for dating advice again, old man."

What a hell of a story to miss. The brothers all felt their brains whirr with ideas and conspiracy about which of them it could be. Why it would be him, why it couldnt be them, why it couldnt be him but it might be another.

Splinter barked a laugh, yanking on one of their piercings tauntingly. "Careful. My son might think you're a new training dummy with all these holes in your ears."

"Oh, shove off." They gave a warbly smirk, before it fell into an easy, soft smile.

The four eavesdroppers found, regardless of who it was, no matter what, they would be there for the Reader. It was easy. It was them. They'd do it in a heartbeat.

"Thanks again, Splinter."

Notched ears flicked idly towards the doorway. He needed to teach his sons how to eavesdrop better. And maybe get another hug sometime soon.

The old master gave a softer smile in return up at the punk. He knew he'd pluck up a lanturn for you. He longed for the day your lighthouse lit, but he understood that would take time. But until then, he'd take up the light.

"Anytime, dear."

He and his sons would light your way, anytime.

Oh, wow!

I actually don't think there's anything I could add to this.. really succinct!

(Sorry for sounding like a 10th grader English teacher, but this is Perfection™)