#this is my ONLY tmnt account

[sassatello]

i just want to warn people that there's a sassatello account in Instagram that is not me!! I deleted mine last year. I have nothing to do with that account

[oracleact]

« nothing on me »

bayverse raph x reader / fluff + angst

notes: 1.8k words, first person pov, established relationship, gender neutral reader (no pronouns used,) details of injuries and tending to said injuries.

a knock on the window at 3am? that only means one thing: the turtles are here. smiling, I rub the remnants of sleep from my eyes and hop out of bed to open up the curtain. only one turtle faces me at the window though - raphael.

I open the window and help his wide frame step down from the ledge, but my previous smile fades fast when raph groans in pain as he steps onto the floor.

“raph, what’s wrong? where are the rest of the boys? what happened?” I speak as fast as possible to try and get to his answer, worry eating away at me with each second that passes.

my raph is the mass strength and rough hand amongst the turtles. he can handle a lot of damage since he always manages to deal out more than what is done onto him. seeing him bent over, actually using my arm for support and not simply holding me because he wants to, groaning in genuine pain rather than letting out his usual gruff noises of acknowledgment - that scares me. it terrifies me when I don’t know what has happened.

“I told them to check on dad,” he begins breathlessly, “I needed you. it’s really bad this time.”

my eyes widen and I hurry him to the side of my bed, the mattress creaking under his weight. I grasp his face in my hands to check him over, turning his head every which way, but see nothing apart from a few new scratches on his skin.

“what do you mean ‘really bad,’ raph? you’re scaring me.”

“my—“ he lifts his arm and tries to reach for the back of his shell, failing miserably and almost howling out in pain, “my shell, sweetheart. I haven’t seen it yet but I heard it crack and this pain is too much for it to just be taped up.”

I scuttle around his large form and am immediately hit with the sight of a deep crack in the middle of his shell. he was right to come straight to me with this one. he should always come to me with injuries but is too stubborn most of the time and rides out the pain: ‘it may look bad to you but it’s nothing on me.’

when the boys started to properly use their skills outside of the lair, with the risk of larger injuries increasing, I began to research and teach myself how to handle ones specific to these mutants. thanks to many in depth articles about turtle care, I have safely cleaned and covered up small cracks before. the only difference between the boys and ‘normal’ turtles in regards to care like this is their size - it takes longer and requires more focus to clean cracks, ensuring that they can heal appropriately over time. although tonight’s damage will take double that, and maybe more.

“oh raph, oh my…how? wait, don’t answer that. I’m doing my first aid stuff then we can talk about it, okay?” he nods with a sad smile and all I can do is reach out and cup his cheek, returning the expression he gave me. he moves my hand to his lips for a quick kiss before I start scurrying off to grab what I need.

let’s see - chlorohexidine solution, q-tips, cotton pads, adhesive patches and a towel. is that all I need? I have no idea right now; I’m so scared to touch him that I feel like stalling for as long as I can.

I walk slowly back to where he sits on the edge of my bed, his head resting in one hand as the other rubs at his tired eyes. I lay down all that I grabbed from the bathroom before taking a deep breath and sitting down behind him. the room is silent for a couple of minutes after that, my heart beating loudly in my ears. I can’t break my anxious stare away from the crack in his beautiful carapace.

“hey…” raph speaks ever so softly to get my attention.

“yeah— sorry. I’m sorry,” I feel tears begin to form in my eyes. I hate seeing him hurt like this. “I’m going to fix you up. I promise I’ll fix this. I’ll touch around your shell, away from the crack, and you tell me how it feels. let me know how much the pain has spread.”

he gestures ‘yes’ to me but with a frowned brow, “don’t cry, love. everything is okay. I’m raphael, remember? this is nothing on me!”

but I can see it - I can see the pain written on his face, the way his eyes look misty. I don’t want to push him to talk nor do I want to directly acknowledge the pain I can see; I don’t want to break his protective wall at a time like this. it wouldn’t be fair to do so. I wipe my tears and get straight to work instead.

my small hand reaches out for him, gently patting around the edges of his shell then smoothing over the surface, “that’s not bad at all. it just feels tingly, like the nice kind of tingly you give me.” I giggle at him. it’s a relief that the shell hasn’t shattered or anything and he can feel my hand like always.

I’ve spent so many nights tracing over the faint patterns of his plastron and committing the texture to memory. it helps calm him after a stressful training day or when he can’t sleep. it secretly calms me too because it’s just us in those moments, the rest of the world fading away and leaving only raph and I. there’s no need to jump away from my hold to save new york when my touch melts away the city completely. nothing can break us out of that warm paradise as long as we are together.

despite the touch test going well, the cleaning of his wounds will definitely be painful since the crack is open and noticeable. I pour some of the solution onto a q-tip and tell raph to start breathing slowly and deeply. I help him set a pace for it before I begin to clean.

he hisses in pain when the piece of cotton comes in contact with the wound and my tears start to flow again, “I know baby, but this part is important,” I sniffle and reach my free hand for his, “use me to balance yourself.”

“I’ll break your little hand,” there is a fracture in his voice as he speaks but he still manages to let out a chuckle with his words.

“breathe and squeeze, raph, don’t worry about me.”

and so he did - each time I dipped the cotton into the crack he inhaled and exhaled quickly whilst grasping my hand in his. I rubbed my thumb over his rough skin in an attempt to ground us both over and over again.

“one last clean and then I’ll patch it up and be done for tonight.” he lets out a loud sigh at that, obviously glad that the stinging will be over soon. I hear him lowly whimper but force a cough after in an attempt to hide the noise. once again I don’t press him on it, I just kiss the back of his hand to let him know it’s alright.

the last step is to cut adhesive patches to fit the crack, making sure to leave small gaps at the ends to allow air to flow through. this process isn’t all that different from putting a bandaid on a human arm, and thank goodness for that. I want to do everything I can to help raph, to ease his pain, so this being a somewhat ‘easy’ task to complete means luck is on my side right now.

with the last piece secure I get up from the bed to face him again, giving him a small smile to let him know it’s done. I slip myself between his legs and reach out to untie his bandana. his eyes close as he presses his head onto my chest to give me access to the tie at the back.

sliding the cloth from his face, I set it on the bed and wipe underneath his eyes; he looks so worn out. my fingers move down to draw along the scars from previous battles and to check over any new cuts, the pad of my thumb eventually landing on the most prominent scar across his upper lip. my raph, my hero, our hero…with the scars to prove it all.

“give it a week and see how the shell starts to heal. if we need to do more then I’m ready for that. I’ve done my research, you’re looking at a certified mutant turtle nurse,” I wink at him as he laughs and nuzzles further into my hold.

he looks up at me with those gorgeous eyes, the light of the moon catching in them. he may be hurt but he’s here with me and healing in my arms, and I’ll hold this man forever to show him how much he means to me. he’s looking at me in the same way - in awe of what’s in front of him - both of us dumbly grinning at each other. although, he does break eye contact when a yawn suddenly comes bursting out.

“do you want to talk about what happened, or do you want to catch some z’s first?”

“hmm…as much as I want to tell you about how much of a badass I am, I really want to crash.”

he moves to lay on his back before I catch his shoulders with high pitched squeak, “shell!” I whisper-yell at him. his lips form an ‘o’ and I shake my head. only raph could forget about his injuries that quickly.

I slip into the bed first and hold out my arms, beckoning him to follow and to lay on his stomach. he does so almost instantly, getting comfy against me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

“thank you for everything. I trust you with my life, you know.”

“and I trust you with mine, big red.”

I’m seemingly stuck staring down at him, just in stupid awe once more. watching how his eyes are effortlessly closed, evident that he is exhausted, with a faint smile playing on his lips as he shifts around to find the best snoozing position. his shell is now what catches the attention of the moon and I feel satisfied with my work on the crack. I’m still worried but the patch looks good and secure from afar so I’ll take it for it now.

I’m so happy that this brave and unstoppable mutant turtle trusts me with his open wounds, with his physical and emotional scars, with his love and being. this life of ours is crazy in so many ways but I wouldn’t ask for anything to change. well, less wounds here and there would be nice but that might be asking for too much.

[smallturtlebomb]

when u wanna use ur many rp blogs but u don’t know who to rp with

[dalkyeom]

Cosmopolitan Joshua on a mission to throttle me!

[crypticbeliever123]

Chapters: 10/26 Fandom: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kitsune/Oroku Saki | Shredder Characters: Leonardo (TMNT), Raphael (TMNT), Donatello (TMNT), Michelangelo (TMNT), Splinter (TMNT), Old Hob (TMNT), Sally Pride, Man Ray (TMNT), Pigeon Pete (TMNT), Mondo Gecko (TMNT), Slash (TMNT), Karai (TMNT), Oroku Saki | Shredder, Kitsune (TMNT), Baxter Stockman, Hun (TMNT), Cassandra Jones | Foot Recruit, April O'Neil (TMNT) Additional Tags: Dark Leo, Hob as Raph and Mondo's dad, Mutation happened 10 years ago, Hob took Raph in after he got separated from the rest of the Hamato family, Mighty Mutanimals as family, Mutant Town, Mutants are public knowledge, IDW as main inspiration, April and Casey look like their Rise counterparts and also Yokai exist a la ROTTMNT, though Yokai origins are a bit different from Rise, Justice Force from 2003 except only Sentry is actually a good person and they're fleshed out more, The turtles look like their 2012 counterparts, Also Hun is Casey's dad like in IDW but they have a better relationship... at first Series: Part 1 of Turtle Power Summary:

Several hundred years ago, the Hamato family was killed in battle against the mighty Shredder. Hamato Ryu, the eldest of Yoshi's children was the sole survivor. Angry and grief-stricken Ryu made a deal with the demigoddess Kitsune to serve her beloved Oroku Saki in the next life in exchange for his family's protection from the Foot for the rest of time. Now, reincarnated as Hamato Leonardo, he and his brothers are reborn as the turtle sons to the rat known now as Splinter. However, Raphael, formerly Hamato Takeshi, has been missing since the fateful night they were mutated.

Reunited once more in a new home with new allies and roommates, will the Hamato family finally know peace or will the deal Leo made in his past life come to bite them in the ass?

[triona-tribblescore]

I found your art through a Husker dust post (super cute) and then i saw that YOU LIKE ROTTMNT/ TMNT TOO AND ARE REALLY COOL LIKE THAT'S A WIN IN MY BOOK FOR AN AWESOME ARTIST.

your art is sooo nice and im still catching up with your post and au but it's sooo fun :)

You're super cool 😎

The only interaction I will let these two have-

BUT TYSM!! :'D <33 aw!!! seeing you go through my account was lovely, ty for all the kind words!!

[dxrkshippers]

𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞? (𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭)

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐞

Heya, my name is Kenny! I used to have the account @ kenny-pilled before it got deleted- but I’m back! My pronouns are they/them, I’m an adult, I’m taken, and I’m a proud proshipper!

𝐓𝐖𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠

My account will contain NSFT content that may include incest, abuse, grooming, and other taboo topics!

𝐃𝐍𝐈

MINORS

GENERAL DNI (BIGOTS ETC)

ANTIS, DISCOURSE ONLY ACCOUNTS

PRO/NEUTRAL/COMPLEX CONTACT PARAPHILES/SUPPORTERS

RADQUEERS

IRL CONDONERS.

𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐬

@dxrkship ⇆ Selfship Blog

@getbroconed ⇆ Taboo NSFW blog

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐬

General:

🧡 ➠ Kenny’s Normalposting ▐

Non-Proship related posts!

♻️ ➠ Reblogs ▐

All reblogs!

✉️ ➠ Asks ▐

All Asks!

⁉️ ➠ Discourse ▐

All discourse posts!

🔞 ➠ Nsft ▐

All Nsfw posts!

🫶 ➠ The Beloveds ▐

All posts about our partner system!

🧩 ➠ Reblog Games ▐

All reblog game posts!

🧸🍯 ➠ Shotaposting ▐

All shotacon posts!

Ships:

🏕️ ➠ Maxvid ▐

All David x Max (Camp Camp) posts!

🎱 ➠ Stancest ▐

All Stanley x Stanford (Gravity Falls) posts!

🕶️ ➠ Stridercest

All any varient of stridercest posts!

🥾 ➠ Joellie ▐

All Joel x Ellie (TLOU) posts!

🪦 ➠ Gravecest ▐

All Andrew x Ashley (TCOALL) posts!

🎽 ➠ Leocest ▐

All Leo x F!Leo (ROTTMNT) posts!

💧➠ Mikevan ▐

All Micheal x Evan (FNAF) posts!

👔 ➠ Willmike ▐

All Micheal x William (FNAF) posts!

Fandoms:

🌲 ➠ Camp Camp ▐

All Camp Camp posts!

🏠 ➠ Homestuck ▐

All Homestuck posts!

🍄‍🟫 ➠ The Last of Us ▐

All The Last of Us posts!

⚰️ ➠ TCOALL ▐

All TCOALL posts!

🎤 ➠ FNAF ▐

All FNAF posts!

🍕 ➠ ROTTMNT ▐

All Rise of the TMNT posts!

❓ ➠ Gravity Falls ▐

All Gravity Falls posts!

𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬

Tagged anons:

Mysterious Barks ➠ 🐾anoned ))

Untagged anons:

👤 ➠ Untagged Anons ▐

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐥��𝐞, 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞! 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝! 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐤!

ᴘsssᴛ! ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴍʏ ᴘᴀʀᴛɴᴇʀ! @prxshippers

[dancingdonatello]

tmnt x reader competition 💚🐢

remember my post about wishing how someone would do a contest thing again ? :] have fun if you join!!

what do i have to do??? write a tmnt x reader fan fiction to one of the prompts i linked!!! then i’ll pick the winner and the winner gets something written by me (110% effort)!!! i’ll take suggestions for different prizes as well if someone wants something different :] or you can join just for the fun of it!!

depending on how many people join, i’ll either make a poll to vote or just pick the winner myself (more likely) :)

anyone can join!!!! you don’t have to be a tmnt x reader account or have even written before!!! everyone is welcome!!

rules / guidelines:

- post it to your account and tag me (whether it’s in the comments or the post itself doesn’t matter, just so i can get a notif & see it)

- ‘due date’: october 25

(i’ll update this if people need more time !)

- make it only one part!! no part two, part three… just one! :]

- no need to message me if to join (you can just post it & tag me) but i’d love to know! anyone can join! doesn’t matter if you haven’t written before either!!!

- have fun!!! challenge yourself in some way!!!

prompt:

write a tmnt (any iteration) x reader fic to the ‘prompt’:

pick any from here or here or just take inspo !

(i didnt pick just one so they could all be different but the basis is … not quite dating yet!!!! oh no!!! will they get there or not?!)

reblogs are appreciated! ❤️ everyone is free to join!!!

[dysfunctional-doodle]

Do you have any Mikey angst fics you can recommend?

Yes I do! I keep meaning to update my list here. I will…at some point.

Here is the old list:

And here are a few new additions!

Wrong (ROTTMNT):

"His younger brother lies still in his lap, eyes closed and face sickly and pale. Mikey is silent and dripping in water, chilled to the bone. He's so cold.

He’s not breathing.

In that moment, everything clicks."

Or,

A presumed dead Mikey fanfic, featuring science facts about box turtles.

Disposable (TMNT 2003):

“The life of your brother, or your own? Better hurry up and choose if you at least want one of you to make it out alive.” Bishop pressed the pistol harder against Michelangelo’s forehead, staring Donatello down expectantly.

The Fixer (Bayverse)

-> You need an ao3 account to view !! <-

NOTE: I LOVE THIS ONE B TEAM ANGST SO WELL WRITTEN I AM FEASTING ON THIS FIC…anyway:

Donnie fixes, even when he breaks. April learns this the hard way.

Surface Pressure TMNT (All Media Types)

NOTE: actually, read everything by this author, I live for their writing style and characterisation

What if Mikey saw Encanto and realized something about his very own family?

Waterboarding (TMNT 2003):

If someone had asked Michelangelo a week ago if waterboarding would be effective on turtles, he’d have laughed in their face. Now thought? Now he wouldn’t be laughing. Especially as he tried to keep water from getting in his nose and mouth and wondered if he was about to set a new personal record for how long he could hold his breath.

Parasite (TMNT 2003):

After Leo is bitten by a bat, Mikey desperately tries to convince his brothers he’s no longer himself.

Or

Leo gets infected by a parasite and is slowly infecting his remaining brothers.

Lost (TMNT 2003)

-> You need an ao3 account to view!! <-

Mikey and Klunk get separated from the others and lost deep below the sewers. Good old fashion turtle luck leaves them injured with no hope of finding their way out. But they continue on, determined to survive.

MY FICS:

Fungus Humungous (TMNT 2003)

“Mikey?”

Michelangelo doesn’t answer, standing alone in the shadows. Leonardo moves to place a hand on his shoulder but pulls his hand back when the youngest screams in utter terror, his eyes wild and staring at the space around them. It’s a sound that haunts them all to their core, ringing over and over and Mikey keeps screaming and sobbing, begging for something they can’t understand. The fungi quickly latches onto his face, mushrooms digging into his eyes, across his shell -

“Mikey!” Raph yells but Mikey doesn’t hear them, lost in his own nightmare and unable to defend himself as the mushrooms consume his face completely. Instead, they can only watch helplessly as Michelangelo gets dragged into the darkness.

~

A mysterious infestation of fungi in the sewer system of their old home causes the turtles to each become trapped in the own never-ending nightmares. Imprisoned in the dark caverns and the last one standing, Leo must battle his own fears if he stands a chance of saving his brothers before they are all consumed by their own terror.

~

TLDR: remember that 2012 episode with the fungus? I rewrote that for 2003, but much darker.

Subsidence (TMNT 2003):

It is then, as his eyes travel to follow Michelangelo, that Leo spots the way the water is dripping thicker now, seeping through the concrete of the ceiling. There are signs he has carelessly neglected – the cracking on the stone, the groaning of pipes around them. His cheerful mood snaps.

Something must reflect this in his expression; Mikey pauses, a few feet ahead of him, face twisting to concern.

“Leo –“ he begins, but is interrupted when everything shudders. Rubble drizzles, then throws itself upon them as the roof collapses under the strain of the water pipes.

For a moment, Leonardo’s eyes meet his youngest brother’s and see the terror flash inside them. He barely has time to take another breath before the world caves in, and everything goes black.

~

While the brothers are out exploring a new sewer system, the whole thing collapses. With no way to get out and separated from each other, they all face their own struggles, injuries and fears as they fight to survive and find each other.

TLDR: a sewer caves in. Leonardo and his brothers are trapped because I like angst.

[w4stedpapercl1p]

Hi guys I’m new to Tumblr and idk how to use this app but my sibling forced me to make an account so here I am

Umumumum you should be my friend if you like any of these

Generation Loss, Vocaloid, JRWI Riptide, JRWI Wonderlust, QSMP, DSMP, KSMP, Octonauts, did I mention I like Vocaloid, LMK, TMNT, Ninjago, CRK, Brawl Stars, Dandy’s World, Roblox Piggy, Forsaken, TRUD, Sprunki, Psych, Star Wars, Class Of 09, Spy X Family, Arcane, I REALLY FUCKING LOVE VOCALOID, Warriors, TF2, WOF, Encanto, Pokémon, Minecraft, Phighting, Mouthwashing, FNAF, Sally Face OMG I LOVE SALLY FACE, The Magnus Archives, and oh yeah you probably didn’t know this but I love Vocaloid, Regretevator, Lackadaisy, Hamilton, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Cats The Musical, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S, Dead Plate, Married in Red, Rwby, Kittyfish, Cat Game, My Street, MID, Undertale, Deltarune, Little Nightmares, did I ever tell you I like vocaloid, Get a Snack At 4 am, You Forgot Your Friends Birthday, It’s Not Me It’s My Basement, Crowscare, Sweet no Death, Pressure, probably a lot more but I’m too lazy to say them all.

Apparently I can only have 30 tags💔💔

[imagionationstation]

*Rant Incoming*

Warning: Tired & Emotional Author did not check for emotional errors. This is not the usual “facts & research” essay. It may feel attackish. It may feel like a targeting accusation. I guess, in a way, it is. I apologize. But I need to speak.

Sometimes I wish I could be that creator.

The kind who can say mean, hateful things about RISE and walk away. The kind that can go in depth to explain how truly bad Splinter is and how furious Leon makes me and how the way the Foot are portrayed feels like a betrayal to the Foot’s history and everything else cringy or mortifying about that series.

But I can’t. Because that’s not fair.

Because if I spent every single day hating on Rise when I remember something that upsets me, everyone would be rightly upset.

There are people out there who adore this show and I’m just sitting here going through every reason why their favorite thing is stupid.

That doesn’t seem like a nice thing to do by any means.

Just because I have an opinion doesn’t mean I have to share it.

Just because I dislike a character design or certain aspects doesn’t make the show as a whole an inherently awful show. Heck, (as an example, not a truth) just because I dislike every single thing about a show doesn’t make the show itself inherently awful!

I think we should be able to agree on that for any tmnt iteration.

So why is it that 2012 happens to be the favorite outliner?

Why is it that I can’t go a week without someone reminding me how inherently awful and disgusting and terrible it is? Why is it that I’m biased and nostalgic and that’s the only reason that I could like the show, and one day, I’ll have to take a step back and realize how awful it is? How abusive and cringe and stupid it is?

Some days I get online after long, stressful days to indulge and relax and maybe even write- and then someone comes up to tell me how dumb or horrid my love for the show is. And I don’t even want to do any of that anymore because a part of my brain is looking at the screen and wondering, “Maybe they’re right.”

And then I’m miserable because I know that’s not fair.

Why do you get to stand in the way of what I love? Why can’t you talk about the series that you love and adore, and just ignore 2012? What joy do you get out of tearing down the one thing that keeps me sane?

It isn’t like people are sitting down to explain anything. To acknowledge character development or changes or to explain the inherently abusive things the ninja family does and take into account their heritage and bond and then reason why it’s still bad.

It’s always the same things.

“The brothers are so horrible and abusive-”

Great, so don’t watch the show.

“The love triangle is so cringe and Donnie is a creepy stalker-”

Great, so don’t watch the show.

“Splinter is literally The Worst example of Splinters in any iteration-”

Great, so don’t watch the show.

“Leo is so boring and stiff Ugh I can’t believe season three exists-”

Great, so don’t watch the-

“Raph is so mean and cruel and he always takes it out on Mikey-”

Great, so don’t watch-

“Mikey is a poor baby who has never done anything wrong and just likes playing around and doesn’t deserve anything that his family ever throws his way and it’s like they aren’t family at all-”

Great, so-

“That isn’t how REAL brothers would act.”

Great.

Just. Great.

Thanks for sharing.

[afreakingdork]

You Are My Sunshine, My Only Moonshine - Chapter 2

RotTMNT x Reader

Michelangelo is nothing but art in this chapter art by @kaysdenofchaos

Rated: Teen and Up Audiences

Relationships: Michelangelo (TMNT)/Reader, Michelangelo (TMNT)/You, Donatello (TMNT)/Reader, Donatello (TMNT)/You

Warnings: POV Second Person, Gender Neutral Reader, Anxious Reader, Introverted Reader, Stuttering, Aged-Up Mutant Ninja Turtles, Romance, Love, Love Confessions, Falling In Love, Unrequited Love, Rejection, Aromantic Asexual Michelangelo (TMNT), Bisexual Donatello (TMNT), Pansexual Leonardo (TMNT), Lesbian Cassandra Jones | Foot Recruit, Demisexual April O'Neil (TMNT), Implied Cassandra Jones | Foot Recruit/April O'Neil/Sunita, Endgame Donatello (TMNT)/Reader, Romantic Love, Platonic Love, Panic Attacks, Sexuality Crisis, Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety, Happy Ending, Fluff

Synopsis:  You’ve lost most of your life to anxiety and fear. Now, in your late 20s, you are desperate to reclaim it and during one such outing you encounter the sun personified. With his and his similarly celestially inspired family, will you finally reach your goal or will you lose yourself along the way?

Also available on Ao3

First 💛

Done on a whim, it was almost strange how right you’d been when comparing Mikey to the sun. He was a beaming hot star in the sky and he touched the land with his warmth, giving rise to life itself. For whatever reason he extended this beam to you and you were now what you dubbed as his outing friend. A term that was never spoken aloud and therefore not official, you only ever saw Mikey in the context of events. They were meant to thrust you into life and the sun, a gaseous ball that existed with or without you, happened to cast its life giving properties in your direction.

As such, the fear of sunburn, an easy retribution for more time in it, meant that your fraternization wasn’t always the best thing. Overall, the benefits of daily sun intake outweighed such things, but you wished you had been given more time to apply the protective balm necessary. Without aid, you were fast tracking social interactions at a near breakneck pace. Gone were the warm-ups or slow care you required to manage. Instead, Mikey barreled forward as an unrelenting force.

It started with that painting class. Your first invite, you hadn’t really taken into account when ‘next week’ was. Since Pasta Fest had occurred on a Friday, the text saying the class was Tuesday wasn’t technically incorrect, but only four days to prepare seemed absurd. It had taken you over a month to go out for Italian and that mental fortitude was built on an even longer stretch of yearning. Now, not only would you be denied a recovery time, but you also needed to get ready in the blink of an eye. The shortened shift balanced the scales as it was difficult to worry about the logistics of going when you didn’t even know what to wear. Having never painted in a class setting, you weren’t sure what was necessary from clothing to materials.

You had tried to text Mikey what details came with the class, but he was either oddly cagey about it or simply didn’t consider things from your perspective. The latter seemed more apparent as his responses came carefree on how not to worry followed by a sea of memes. It left you raiding your closet. Finding something loose that you wouldn’t mind getting paint on, you took it upon yourself to research the class. The internet told you little more than it was an introduction to oils, so you were left to self-soothe with an endless playlist of painting videos going non-stop until just before the class.

Meeting outside the school, Mikey appeared in casually cut clothes that fit his laid back attitude. Those pieces were then sparked with loud prints or colors that accentuated his bold flare. Tonight’s ensemble illustrated such with lightweight cotton pants that were enveloped by a fuzzy sweater swarmed with giant smiley faces on it. Trying not to think the little dot eyes of them were following you, you were ushered through the door and straight to the correct room without having a fact check once. His confidence knew no bounds as did his reach. He greeted the professor by their first name and you were quick to find that art was yet another field he mastered.

Whisked around the class, Mikey gave you the ins and outs and seemed to know almost every member on a personal level. Those he did not, he introduced you both to and it felt as though you were being shopped around to potential suitors. You were regaled in seemingly outrageous ways he had connected with these people in a way that made you question his career. While he insinuated he was a chef, he was spoken of like some kind of vigilante jack of all trades.

Unsure of what to do with that information, you had little time to dwell as you were set up at an easel. Class began and you were finally given time to breathe. Instruction meant paying attention which quieted other thought. You only now needed to focus on execution. Oil was a slow drying and therefore forgiving medium which meant things could be changed. As long as you didn’t blend too much then you had a chance to repair. As a class for those new to the medium, you were thankfully given a single color palette to avert such a mistake and found comfort in brush strokes blotting little trees.

You’d almost started to enjoy it when a swing of your arm knocked over a jar meant to clean brushes.

A large glass affair, it shattered and spread on to the floor along with your horror. Scrambling so no one would get hurt, you shot forward to pick up one of the largest shards when your foot hooked the easel. In an instant, everything was on the floor, from your painting face down in the muck to your paints which resisted the water but smeared nonetheless on the concrete.

There was also yourself. You’d fallen to your hands and knees where water and paint was rapidly seeping into your outfit. Though it was one you prepared to lose, this wasn’t anywhere near the road you thought would lead to it. A drop was one thing, but you were now as painted as Mikey’s sweater with the entire class staring to boot. Trying not to cry over spilled paints, you used the last of your dignity to at least gather those shards when a canvas shoe stepped right in front of you.

Looking up and feeling the wet sheen on your cheeks, Mikey looked down sympathetically before he dropped. With spread fingers, he swiped through the paints and danced straight through the shards. While he seemed to worry not, you scrambled along the ground to grab the glass amongst the teacher’s worries for both your safeties. You lost sight of Mikey outside of ballet-like spins over your head, but in the process acquired most if not all the glass. 

When you finally rose dripping, he moved fluidly toward you and, in a spin and tip-toes, he brought you away from the mess. You both tracked paint, but after a quick trip to a trash can, Mikey released you. You then turned, now the right distance away to see a gorgeous swirling rainbow painted with your mess on the floor. Mikey had manipulated every bit of the spill into a large piece of artwork. 

“Right! Sorry about that, Diane! I’m done taking over so let me clean this right up. There’s one of those squeegee brooms in the hall closet, I can just-” 

Your head snapped to Mikey with the intent to exclaim on how he’d done this, but nothing came so he watched you with wide eyes until his lips rounded. 

“…or we could see about hydro dipping? Not sure it’ll work with this mix, but I couldn’t help but notice that bunch of white shirts over there!” He pointed to where a box was laying half open with a cloth sticking out of it.

“You apologize, but you take over my class yet again.” The teacher, Diane you supposed, mused with her hands on her hips. “Alright, we’ll try it, but you’re replacing the product before the tie-dye class!”

“Of course!”

Switching gears as if this was always the plan, everyone moved their easels out of the way and the class shifted to a more physical one. Discussing the golden ratio and what made Mikey’s floor masterpiece alluring, the teacher went on while you were stuck staring at the mutant who didn’t seem to notice. You meant to follow along, but there was a mesmerizing intensity to the affection on his face. 

Your next outing came as a Hockey game which you always knew was going to be a problem. When Mikey invited you, images of rowdy crowds and air horns filled your head. The ghosts of which echoed in your ears as you prepared your denial. Fingers flying over your phone’s keyboard, a text appeared in the awaiting window about how this game was hosted by the seemingly ambiguous family member who had stood him up for the painting class. It was intriguing enough to give you pause. 

Another message appeared, this time with Mikey moving to guilt by saying that he alone would have to be her hype man. The other family members were too booked to support this one and your fingers further slowed. With his usual steadfast nature, more texts soon followed noting that the game was on a Wednesday night, meaning it would be slow, and that it was in the children’s league, so there would be barely be a crowd. On your last leg of escape, he’d added that you both could sit anywhere and you were done for as you erased your negating message to pen one that agreed.

In return, he was kind enough to suggest dressing warmly.

Settled in a hoodie and having only minorly debated more layers, Mikey appeared outside the rink looking nonplussed which quelled a few of your nerves. His hands were buried into a particularly brightly tie-dyed hoodie which made you think he had not only been true to his word about replenishing shirt stock, but he had also been in Mrs. Diane’s other class . Wondering just how many hobbies Mikey had, your curiosity vanished when he offered to prepare you for what lay inside. 

Your heart soared. 

With an upheld finger, Mikey warned that Casey would lead a chant at some point and he would signal you when. It would be a whole affair, but the phrase would be something obvious. There was a chance that a guy running the camera would inevitably point it at you because the operator liked to harass shy patrons. You were to stay still if you appeared on the screen and Mikey would take the heat off. Your concerns about air horns were validated, but you were assured they’d be closer to the ice and telegraphed. 

Armed with knowledge, you entered through a pair of double doors and out along rink-side seats. Air cooled, but not enough to breathe smoke, Mikey led you up to a higher section with no one in it. About halfway up the back, you settled into a foldout seat and watched as kids skated around to warm up. Mikey whispered in your ear about which one was Casey and you found her to be a furious looking human woman with an undercut who would continually scream what sounded like battle cries. Trying and failing to ask Mikey exactly how she was related to him, the game started and an announcer came on.

The small crowd was a joyous one and you felt excited as the puck dropped. Sporting events weren’t something you ever attended because everything about them spelled anxiety induced doom, but in this setting it felt bearable. Everyone was shouting, especially the parents who had lined up rinkside, but you almost felt a cozy little barrier from them in your seat choice. In the snow globe, you were looking upon, Mikey was the painted sun in the corner trying to warm a nearly frozen day. Even as jack frost nipped your nose, you would be tempted out, just to soak up the ray where your life had been dreary for weeks.

You were mentally preparing to chance a cheer at the next point when a trumpet sounded to your right.

You jumped straight out of your seat at a height that caused it to fold back up. A drum then joined the horn and as you descended your bottom hit the chair’s lip. It then buckled so you could further drop and sprawl out. Your hands shot forward to grab the armrests in case you slid away and Mikey appeared over you, asking if you were alright. JHeart beating straight out of your chest, you only looked up at him with your lips about to part in a dry sob. 

You thought Mikey might help you up, but you watched determination grow on his brow. 

With a jump different from yours, he landed in a captain’s pose and looked out at the makeshift band. Spying them, he reached into his coat as if getting a telescope, but instead manifested a kazoo. He counted off with his teacher’s projection before playing a tune. Though the sound wasn’t near as loud as the instruments, something about Mikey’s command had caught the group’s attention. They quickly stopped their discordant sounds and picked up what had to be a known song for these events. You watched with warped awe as Mikey marched, without looking, overtop the armrests to lead the band. Only brave enough to sit up, you watched as the group’s spirits soared with their conductor.

Soon the music drifted to the ice where you heard Casey scream something about listening to the mystic warrior’s battle tune and rallied the kids to destroy their adversaries.

This then spurned the parents until everyone in the place was screaming after Mikey’s little chunk of plastic. The cacophony which should have suffocated you, instead made your heart race as it all felt like a grand escalation. Not the sign of the chant you’d been warned, but something else, a goal was scored just as the buzzer went off. The whole building erupted and, within only a single second of your confusion, Mikey lifted you clear off the ground to spin and explain that they won. Shouting back the question because you couldn’t believe it, he only reaffirmed before setting you down.

Quickly turning back to the ice, you found the kids all tackling each other in slips and slides before Mikey exchanged your body for your hand. You were pulled down to the rink where you didn’t have to fight the masses as they parted naturally for Mikey. Casey watched her kid’s dogpile approvingly and greeted Mikey by his color instead of his name. He introduced you and she immediately gave you a noogie. Crying in her arms over what social barrier you had mistakenly overstepped, she released the mess of you saying you were a good luck charm and she expected you at future games. Not sure how you’d handle that, you thankfully didn’t have to as more people appeared and the conversation moved away from your recurring attendance.

Exiting found you gushing to Mikey about everything you had seen. 

He was uncharacteristically quiet as he listened attentively with his hands in his hoodie pockets.

Your event successes were then cosmically balanced as you were forced to then cancel the next two events in a row.

The first being glass blowing, you especially felt terrible as this was their last public event before they had some sort of big project that would require full use of their studio. Every day a week up until the event, you’d tried to first ignore and then fend off your oncoming cold, but it was too late. Whatever bacteria that had taken root in your body triggered a fever the day of and even when you tried to ready yourself with a mask just to power through, you’d nearly collapsed in a coughing fit.

It meant that a phone call cancellation was out of the question and, for once, you were the one to send Mikey walls of texts in the form of at least three dozen separate apologies.

There was the non-refundable ticket price.

Your last minute abandonment.

The way you’d destroyed his only chance to go.

Swimming in a commingling of snot and tears from the exchange, Mikey sent you an audio response. Stopping crying only because you were forced to, you played it to find his lips a little too close to the microphone as he told you it was fine for what you quickly caught on was the exact number of apologies you had sent to him. Dotting the message off confirming that, he told you that money wasn’t really a thing to his family and that there would always be a next time.

Quickly writing back that he should go without you, another message popped up just as you hit send.

The play button on that one had a continuation where he explained the time limit to the spoken messages and that he’d rather wait for you with some cheesy line about it being an excuse to still see you four months from now. Laughing and then immediately choking for it, you thanked him and ordered yourself some soup from a place he recommended.

One had been fine, but two felt like pushing it.

Recovery came slowly for you, but you did eventually get better. The only thing was not all your ailments were of the tangible variety. Though your body had been repaired, your mind wasn’t so lucky and it was with utter dismay that you had to cancel your next event, a pottery class, simply because it was a bad anxiety day. Waking up knowing you were already in for it, you spent the day toiling in and out of attacks until the thought of even texting him was too much. You’d left work early to crawl into your bed to face the sea of brain inducing zaps and could only offer him stunted cancellation without grounds.

It took hours, but the next time you were able to bear looking at your phone it seemed the only thing that had kept Mikey from coming to see if you were still alive was that he didn’t know your address. Sending exhausted reassurances, you resisted promising a reschedule because it currently seemed like an impossibility.

Now standing in the face of a rock climbing wall, you almost wished it had been.

Guilt was the only thing that had gotten you here. You had been clear with Mikey that sporting events themselves were already not your thing and you thought by extension that participating in them yourself fell into the same category. Seemingly not, he’d pressed, not quite about your prior cancellations, but referring to coming here as the perfect way to catch up after not seeing each other for so long. Miserable and forced to confirm your attendance based on your delinquency alone, Mikey tugged on your harness.

“All good! Try for the first few hand holds and I’ll keep watch!”

Looking back at him with obvious horror, he only gave a thumbs up in response.

Returning to the colorful wads of gum that marked where you grab, you dusted your hands with a fine powder for traction before catching the first and trying to hoist yourself up.

After three consecutive falls where you never made it more than a foot off the wall, you were ready to throw in the towel.

Completely unperturbed, Mikey was walking you through his seventh explanation of how to do it when you heard someone scoff right behind you. Flinching into the fake rocks and knowing exactly why, you wished you could cave the whole system in and bury yourself.

“Some people just aren’t made to climb!” The voice spat before you heard an aggressive slap of someone latching onto the wall a little too close to you.

Further shirking away and into Mikey, he didn’t offer the least bit of comfort as he rounded you. “Have you been climbing long?”

Eyes cracking open a little, you couldn’t believe how even Mikey’s voice was.

He almost sounded friendly. 

“Years!” The man retorted proudly where he was somewhere up halfway already. “You have to understand. There should be kiddie hours and adult swim. Lately this place has been swarmed with newbies and they take up so much space!”

“That has to be frustrating, especially when you just want to climb.”

You stole a glimpse to find the offending man blink with a registration that his complaints had not only been noticed, but seemingly hadn’t been judged. “Yeah… I… work all day, ya know? I just want to burn off some steam somewhere where I can get some upper mobility!”

“I do.” Mikey nodded as if he were stuck in some dead end job.

Was that true?

What was happening?

One minute this guy hated your guts and the next he’s spilling his motives.

Mikey had only said a few words at most.

None of them seemed particularly targeted.

It was that way he had spoken.

He had some innate ability to manipulate exchanges to his favor.

If he wanted to make you feel welcome, you’d feel it the moment he spoke those words into reality.

Knowing the same had happened to you, you heard a holler and looked up to find both men now scaling the wall at an alarming degree. Mind spinning as Mikey wasn’t wearing a harness, the pair only gave a few grunts before Mikey leaped up and slapped a bell. You took two large stumbling steps back as Mikey then landed with a squat right next to where you had just been. 

Mikey rose all too easily from where he’d just leapt 18 total feet. 

Eyes blown wide, you stumbled toward him in a frantic check to make sure his bones weren’t out of place.

Mikey didn’t address you and instead threw up a radiant smile to the man still on the wall. “Told ya!”

“You win!” The guy laughed back down.

Scented with a certain amount of fear, you were filled in on the climbing competition that had been struck up and Mikey introduced the man with his first and last name. Unable to believe this was someone Mikey already knew, you quickly found out it wasn’t. Instead, in the short few seconds you were thinking everything over, Mikey had somehow contracted this man into his echelon of friends.

Watching the pair bump fists, you could only wonder how Mikey was real. He had to be some figment your imagination had come up with to cope with your constant fear. There was no way a man this incredible could both exist and want to be near you for any length of time. You were a speck compared to him and must have been a drag upon his very being.

You held him back.

You kept him down.

Why you?

You wondered that all the way out of the gym that day and beyond. The texts still came. Mikey still for all intents and purposes was only doing what he cared to do and that for some inane reason was continuing his friendship with you. When you’d met he’d said something about spoiling you, but you had figured that was some kind of warped joke. 

Now. you wondered.

That intrigue only increased when he said he’d make up for the climbing incident with a low stakes board game night.

He was keeping your ability in mind for once and that had given you strength enough to agree. Apparently some local club had opened up their meet-ups for new contenders. It was exactly your sort of speed outside the new people to meet. They were contentious in your mind, but you had played many a board games in your years. It was a safe activity as long as the right board was chosen and the best low key way to hang out with the few friends you had. Never once having had a table flipped on you, you enjoyed the various rules enough and most known games stood the test of time. Wondering if you should bring one of your own, Mikey texted you to wait to see how it goes though he liked your eager attitude.

Telling him you were going to crush it, you only wished now that you hadn’t allowed yourself to get so cocky. Something you should have known by the way their ad had been worded. These people weren’t playing Monopoly. They were playing intricate games that spanned lifetimes in which you had to manage literal civilizations while also plotting conquest of nations. There were pandemics to avoid and zombie outbreaks to survive. Each game lengthy and with a set of rules the size of a novel, you struggled through the first game before the overwhelmingness of it all caught your throat.

Silence found you trapped as the other players screamed at each other. You had been thrust into a cooperative form of a game that had once been about beating each other out on tokens. Not sure when the switch had occurred, a second lengthy rule book had emerged and you were trying to parse out the totally new set of rules when it was ripped from your hands. You were told to learn as you went and no amount of mumbling your confusion swayed the other players. Not knowing what you were doing, one of your decisions had led to your ultimate demise. Whatever was happening now, it seemed the gist was that in two turns everyone would lose and it had all come to fruition based on a move you had taken what seemed like hours ago.

Though no one had actually attacked you personally for it, they had brought up your move over and over as they desperately tried to strategize a way to still win.

“This was why I said we shouldn’t open the game nights up…”

The remark had been passive.

One meant for the person next to the commenter.

Not for your ears, but you’d heard it.

It had somehow cut through the rabble rousing and you sank so far down in your chair until you nearly folded in half.

Mikey’s silence wasn’t helping.

He’d also written you off. 

You knew you shouldn’t rely on him to save you every time, but he was your guiding light.

Wasn’t it an unspoken agreement that he would take charge?

You’d told him about your troubles first thing.

He had a front row seat to your spirals.

He also never stepped in until damage was done. 

Had that been intentional?

He had so much on his plate, how could you expect him to notice everything?

You didn’t.

This was a board game.

Not the end of the world.

There’d be more games.

Not all were easy to win.

There were no stakes.

You just wouldn’t ever come to this particular group again.

That was fine.

There were millions of people in New York.

Ready to call it an early night, a voice cut through the arguing.

“What if I use my movement to return to Costa Rica?”

All heads at the table swiveled to Mikey, who had a finger curled under his chin as he stared at the board.

“That’s insane!”

“Back to…?”

“Wait…”

“Grab the rules!!”

Staring from the outside in, you watched the table erupt as planning switched gears. Someone announced it was possible and from there they began to bicker over what little chance that gave them. Finding a sliver of hope, they grabbed a paper and drew out the steps just in case. If followed exactly it would be a winning combination and they went through the motions with only a few dice rolls standing in their way. Clearing them as if on fate, the whole table rocketed upwards to congratulate each other.

A single tear slid down your face.

How did he always do that?

You hated yourself for thinking less of Mikey. You should have known better than to imagine him regretting bringing you to make him the fool. He didn’t think like that. The Mikey you had come to know was the sun. He continued to scorch the earth even when she put up her defenses. Just above atmosphere, he burned unperturbed. His sheer desire to be alive and live was indomitable. It was that fight that had taken him to calculated silence. He waged his celestial war in the quiet of his mind. Looking for that one little shred of hope, the ones he somehow always got his fingers on, he yanked the tapestry of life and rewove it to how he saw fit.

You were a joke.

His complete opposite in every possible way.

All you did was give up.

Run away.

Quietly getting up while the others drilled Mikey on how he’d done it, you left. Going straight home, you avoided Mikey’s texts for the next few weeks. Not strong enough to quit him completely, you did read all of them at nearly all hours which held its own culpability. He surely saw all your read receipts and you almost wished it would sour his opinion of you. Maybe then he would finally move on and you could start this process anew. You should have known better than to think you could hitch your wagon to someone else’s. You were supposed to venture out alone. This process had been about you wanting to do more. Mikey was too selfless for his own good. He didn’t realize he was dragging himself down. The space would help.

The only problem was, it didn’t.

Mikey didn’t seem to care that you never responded. He moved forward tenaciously and even invited you out two more times. You’d scorned the messages, but time had done something to you. You reflected on how surreal it all was. You’d warped your image of Mikey without realizing it. You’d given him godlike command over others. You thought him some kind of manipulator that could get anyone to do his bidding. It felt comical. A rewind found him instead ignorant of scorn or even happiness. He simply forged his own path so authentically that others couldn’t help to be drawn in no matter what their side. You swore he must have the ability to turn even the most speciesist person over into a mutant advocate given the chance.

He was your idol.

That skirted more tedious titles, but you refused to put him on a pedestal. It was because of his failings that he now appeared an achievable image. He was the golden standard of what you wished you could be. He was utterly immune to social anxiety and you craved the pride in which he held himself. He still retained his sun moniker, but now it was one of a laissez-faire ruler. Life may have proliferated from him, but not because of him. There were other powers at work, but his status was attainable. You could mimic him like a lowly sunflower that had forced its way through the concrete. You could move with him. You could catch his rays as he passed you by. 

The only thing you couldn’t figure out was what he got out of it. The him that was a person should have written you off as a moot point, but he hadn’t given up. Messages continued to roll in. The negative thoughts said he should have long ago, but another argued that you were yet another thing he chose to fight for. When you had seen him, he hadn’t shied away one bit. He’d thrown himself and, by proxy, you into each foray and fixed the outcome if it wasn’t to his liking.

He never once complained.

He’d told you it was fine hundreds of times.

He hadn’t dismissed your feelings.

He’d tried to reroute them.

Staring at your phone for yet another sleepless night, you saw he asked if you wanted to try something low-key next. His next few messages seemed to indicate that he thought maybe you’d been overwhelmed and had needed to take a step back. He said that he understood and mentioned something about two of his brothers who experienced the same thing. Promising only the utmost comfort by going to see a movie, you could only think he was too bright and that wasn’t just because your phone’s brightness was the only thing illuminating your dark room.

He was still singeing you.

The little burns would pile up.

The warmth was also undeniable.

Whatever it was he saw in you though, you were thankful for it. Whether he was oblivious or his spirit was something ethereally burning, your absence wasn’t one he worried over. In contrast, you felt a dangerous flicker as you pondered how easy it would be to take advantage of him. As you’d seen time and time again, once he decided something, he rolled with it. It didn’t matter how you and others treated him; he wanted to see the best in others.

Heart sinking, you wondered how many people had hurt him. It had to be impossible because he could turn anyone into his fan with only a few choice words, but there was still a chance.

You didn’t want that from him.

You: Aren’t you worried?

Chef: About what?

You waited for the inevitable message asking why you hadn’t responded, but it never came.

You: That I might not be a good person?

You watched the bubbles percolate before dozens of messages started to flood on your screen. Some testimonials and mostly things he felt, he dismissed your claims in his usual motormouth way. In or out of the digital world, you had always loved to listen. It took the conversational burden off of you and Mikey was made for that. Even if it was clear he sometimes missed your responses, you couldn’t be mad because he shared the whole of himself. To you it only felt like the pittance to pay in order to stand in his glory. You were gaining so much from him; there was no way you could question your guide. From how far you’d come and all the things you’d done, the night you met almost seemed like a distant memory.

Going alone had taken months of preparation. 

In that same time frame, you’d done more with Mikey than you’d done in your entire life.

Isn’t that what the movies taught?

People were stronger together. 

How could you return to a world without him there with you?

You: When and where did you want to do the movie?

You: Is there a theater near both of us?

You: Or would that be too much?

You: I realize now that I don’t know where you live…

You: Don’t feel like you have to tell me! 

You: Also

You: Thank you

How could you make it mean more?

Two words didn’t sum up how you felt. 

About him finding you. 

About him continuing to see you. 

About him not giving up on you. 

You could say it. 

You could show it. 

After a light discussion ironing out the specifics, a time slot was booked and plans were set. For all intents and purposes, everything had returned to normal, but this time you were prepared. You were going to be worthy of his time. A student with a gold star, you did your best to keep up with his messages until the day of. Meeting after work, Mikey offered to walk you to the theater as what he phrased as your bodyguard. Laughing at the imagery of him bouncing your bad thoughts away, he mentioned where he’d be arriving from which was an approximation of his address.

When you looked it up it had been a block with what you thought were empty buildings. 

You couldn’t put it past Mikey to have some sort of kitschy bobby like flipping houses. You wondered where and when he picked up carpentry when you emerged from your apartment to find him right on time waiting out front. Greeting you easily, you started down the street and made it a few blocks before he stopped dead. Not as quick as him, you made it a few more feet before you turned to find him patting himself down in a flurry. Arms moving faster than you could track, he went a new shade of pale green under the streetlamp.

“I left my phone at home!”

Going on high alert, you fumbled for yours. “Y-you h-have the t-tickets, b-but I think… um…? D-did you… send me a c-copy?”

“Did I!?” He appeared over your shoulder to look down at your device as he turned his pockets out. 

“O-Oh…” You scrolled through the texts and found he’d only told you the details. “No…”

He clicked his tongue. “Ugh! So dumb!! I left my wallet too!”

“M-maybe you c-could login with m-my-”

“Let’s swing by my place, it’ll only take a second.” He groaned to the sky.

Startling to attention, you stuttered nonsense.

From the area he gave you, it wasn’t far, but it certainly wasn’t close.

If you headed there and backtracking then you’d be cutting it close to the movie time.

“Come on! It’s this way!” He gestured and took few leading steps backward.

Your phone seemed to complain about the time, but the impatient thunk of his shoes moved you to follow him.

You were curious about what he described as a lair.

The oddest choice when it came to nicknaming your house, he went on about how their last place was blown up before they found this one. Unable to place whatever reference he was making, a few turns took you to a less populated area. Nervously sticking close to your light, you descended a dirty old stairwell to where a door was chained up. With what looked like a wave of his hand, Mikey undid the metal and opened the entrance with a sweeping gesture. Staring into a black abyss, you made a nervous sound which caused Mikey to look up.

Seeing what he’d opened to, he laughed at himself. “Kinda horrifying when you haven’t memorized the steps. Let’s use your phone’s flashlight.”

Doing that in a few clicks, he hopped ahead after locking the door back up and, for a moment, you thought the worse. Trapped down where no one would ever find you, Mikey could have been playing some long con and you were about to disappear for good. Not wanting that, you trembled a little as Mikey continued forward. He whistled a jaunty tune and left you without choice. You scrambled after him as he led you down to an old subway station where he jumped down onto the rails. Overlooking the drop yourself, you found him holding his hands up as if to catch you.

“Don’t worry! I’ve got you and this old thing’s out of service. The access door is literally right around the corner from here!”

You decided that if you were going to die at least your final moments had been interesting.

Doing what had to be the worst leap, Mikey caught you with ease and set you down as if he’d done that a hundred times. His lackadaisical show of strength came as an auspicious one. If he wasn’t out to kill you, he could surely protect you. As if reading your thoughts, he filled the empty air with talk security in place. From what had to be jokes about lasers to something about surveillance, you wondered who would ever want to hurt Mikey. 

You were left guessing as, true to his word, it had been a short walk to said entrance. 

Mikey gave another bowing offer by opening the door for you and you were led through a set of contrastingly well lit tunnels. It spoke of life even if the space was barren and you headed toward what appeared to you as a subway depot. A place where cars were stored for later, there were several laid out on various tracks and soft fairy lights strung over nearly every part of the ceiling.

“Welcome to the turtle all-in-one super lair!” Mikey spun away from you with his hands in the air.

Unable to keep your eyes in one spot, you saw gorgeous graffiti layered on the walls and that the place was tidy though clearly lived in. Mikey went on a new tangent about how the cars had been retrofitted into rooms and how one day, when he had more time, he would show you the kitchen. Not anywhere near processing his words, you were left as he politely excused himself to get his missing items.

Hang tight, he said. 

You could spend hours here, as if in a museum, and not see everything. 

You thought you responded, but your mouth hung open at the expanse. You gaped as you traced the architecture to where an atrium opened up and revealed three stories. Stairs moved around like an Escher painting and you could only imagine their limitless possibilities. They breathed life and soft music poured down the steps closest to you. Wandering closer to take a peek, you found faint light was also escaping from what had to be a television. 

You had already chosen to stop when a sharp silhouette interrupted the glow. 

What had Mikey told you?

You couldn’t remember, but you felt like you were snooping. 

It was on that instinct that you ducked behind the brick archway. 

Steps soon matched the shape that moved at a leisurely pace.

Your heart beat a nervous clock when you saw a blue-coded turtle. 

You placed him instantly. 

Mikey loved photographs. 

This was Leonardo. 

He hit the landing with bowed legs as he walked and read a comic at the same time.

You were very much gawking. 

He was slow to stop and, when he did, he took a deep breath. 

His head then snapped to your direction with sharpened focus. “Yeah, maybe you missed the no soliciting sign, but…!”

Comic gone, he was all blue light and swords. 

You flailed frantically. “I’m with Mikey!!”

Cold steel stopped inches from your face and Leonardo’s whole demeanor shifted. “Oh, wait! Y/N? Didn’t you two have a movie tonight?

“H-h-h-h-he f-f-f-forg-got h-h-his w-w-w-allet…!!!” You didn’t think you could manage the another word.

“H-h-h-huh.” Leo remarked back, not quite mocking. “You cold or something? Don’s got the temp set to something good I thought.”

With a shrug, his weapons disappeared in another flash.

Star.

This man was a shooting star.

He burned with flashes of ferocity so bright you had to turn away.

From what you’d been told, he commanded even more.

From what you could see, you bet he could also disappear just as well as his swords.

Unable to get a steady voice, your gaze hit the floor.

You felt Leo continue to evaluate you. “You good?”

You nodded.

He’d think you were insane.

Your actions didn’t sync up with your lack of words at all.

You felt him smile more than you saw it. “Did Mikey ever tell you about the time he got his skateboard stuck in a sewer grate?”

Blinking a few times, you were shy to peer at Leo. “M-mikey.. .skateboards?

Leo’s wicked grin split his face. “We all did.”

You watched on with growing interest. 

“I can’t believe I put my wallet in the microwave again!” Mikey clambered down the stairs.

“-and that’s why Mikey was the last of us to be potty trained!”

You giggled from behind your hand.  

“Nope!!!” Mikey screeched on the last step. “Leo, what are you doing!?!”

“You left your friend here all alone!” Stepping through the large space Leo had given you, the blue turtle moved behind you to gently take each of your upper arms as if to show you off. “I was entertaining our guest! Being a good host! Filling them in on all your most embarrassing memories! Normal stuff!”

You chewed your lip to keep from laughing.

“They’re lies!!! All of them!! Lies!!!” In a fit of anxiety you watched Mikey claw around him. 

Where there was nothing, he caught something and he ripped the air with a tear of orange light.

Life force leaving you, you felt Leo’s grip tighten as Mikey shoved through the hole he’d somehow created.

You didn’t hear the second rip as much as you saw it appear next to you. 

Mikey then walked out of it and into your face. “What did he tell you!?”

You gasped like a fish taking its last breath.

A ominous shadow appeared, casting darkness over Mikey’s overly wound form. 

Only you looked up to find a hulking red turtle that you knew to be Raphael. 

The eldest used the whole of his hand to grab Mikey’s shell. 

He then lifted the turtle straight into the air, away from you, while you leaned so far back into Leo that you thought you’d be on the ground otherwise. 

“You’re making a racket! Both of you cut it out! You’re freaking people out!” Raph huffed and you couldn’t shake  how he was at least ten times the size that he appeared in any photo you’d ever seen of him. “Sorry about that. Y/N, right? I’m Raph, nice to meet’cha!”

This was their ground.

Large and all encompassing, this man had to be their rock.

Not just because he was big enough to support all of them on his carapace, in that sense he was the size of the Earth, but because his very essence oozed compassion.

You imagined he worked twice as hard as Sisyphus.

“That being said…” Raph dropped his scolding for a snicker. “Which story did you go with, Lee? Potty training?” 

Mikey screamed and fought his air jail.

He was also very much a big brother.

“Oh yeah!” Leo cooed triumphantly. “And the bull story and the skateboard-gum incident!”

Flames exploded and Raph flicked his hands as if bacon grease had splattered up at him.

Once again, Leo was your cane as you watched Mikey shake off being on actual fire like it was a few measly water droplets.

“No more!!!” Once doused, Mikey caught you and pulled you straight away from Leo.

Crashing into his hard plastron you heard Leo and Raph chorus for Mikey to be careful.

“We have to go! Movie starting and all!” Mikey screamed to the ceiling.

“We haven’t all introduced ourselves!” Raph added, sounding a bit sad.

“Speak for yourself.” Leo rolled his eyes.

“Did you? Or did you launch straight into humiliatin’ our lil bro?” Raph’s brow ridge rose under his mask.

“Hey look, there’s Donnie!” Leo waved just as Mikey yanked on your arm trying to get you away. 

You looked over to where a fourth, purple clad turtle had just descended the stairs. Caught like a wild animal on film, he was the picture of a gremlin. Hunched forward, goggles down, in a stained hoodie, and holding an ungodly sandwich with a calories count the likes of which you had never seen from a home kitchen, the man only reviewed Mikey with a sort of tepid affection before staring you down with what you could only identify as malice.

Mikey released you and jumped the distance to tackle the new brother.

Donnie dropped his hatred for a smile and twisted around so his sandwich would remain unharmed as he caught his younger brother.

If that wasn’t a reflection of the sun, you didn’t know what was.

With a cold icy exterior that sat in the dark expanse of space, Donatello had to be the moon in your little cosmic parallels.  

Mikey nuzzled his cheek to Donnie’s and, with his free arm, the older brother carried the younger back over.

That gaze, merciless and seemingly ever-present, Donnie glowered at you all the way until he deposited Mikey by your side.

“I knew you had a face only pops could love, but damn Don, if you keep mean muggin’ like that and you’re gonna lose your last fan!” As soon as Mikey was gone, Leo tried to slot himself against the purple man.

Donnie looked like he had a retort, but he bit down on it to sidestep at the last second and caused the blue brother to fall onto his face.

Raph’s large hands dragged down his cheeks so hard that it peeled his lower lids. “Why can we never get through introductions!?”

“Because you don’t take threats seriously.” Donnie turned from an outright glare in your direction to a stewing nature towards the oldest.

“Now hold on!” Raph threw an annoyed finger in Donnie’s face. “Raph is the king worrier! You all know that. Right, Mike?”

“Raph has the worry crevice.” Mikey nodded.

“Right!” Raph started and then spun around, offended. “Wait! No! Not this again!” 

“Told ya!” Leo pumped his fists from where he was still on the ground, now reclined as if he’d always been that way.

Mikey mentioned villains.

It had been a joke, right?

Mikey mentioned calamities.

That was just New York.

Mikey mentioned powers. 

He had the emotional prowess of a psyhcologist. 

Mikey had mentioned so many, many things.

Mikey had said so much.

Too much.

None of it had felt real.

Mikey had a penchant for exaggeration.

It only hit you then. 

These were the heroes who saved New York.

They saved the planet.

They’d been a rumor. 

They’d then been famous. 

Fame tapered off. 

They had returned to whispers. 

Taking a step back from them all, you felt precariously placed.

You weren’t supposed to see this.

Mikey had ripped through space-time and you were now supposed to go see a movie with him.

You couldn’t imagine sitting next to him for two odd hours knowing what he could do.

He’d combusted into flames.

Leo had reached through space as well.

What could the others do?

Had Mikey told you?

They were so strong.

Your earlier thoughts of disappearing reared their head.

They couldn���t just kill you, they could eradicate you.

Stumbling slightly, words trickled off your lips. “I-I’m here because M-Mikey… w-wants me to be...”

Why had you said that?

Were you trying to convince yourself?

Did you believe that?

“Oh-me-gosh!” Mikey gasped and, in two skipping steps, he hugged you. “Y/N! You said it! You actually said it! No pity or anything!” 

You nodded against him, feeling your body wilt as your brain rallied about what he was capable of.

Spinning up off the floor, everything blurred. “You’ve come so far! I’m so proud!! Good job, good job!!”

You saw snippets of the others as if time stopped when you passed them.

Raph smiling in a knowing way.

Leo grinning mischievously.

Donnie’s grimace.

A sound came from Mikey’s phone and he took the time to set you down methodically before grabbing it. “The movie! We’re so late! Oh man!! The credits are gonna start!! I wanted to see what’s coming soon!”

Leo sat up, rolling his shoulders in a stretch. “What’s the address?”

“One million Run of the Mill pizzas to you good sir!!!” Mikey cried happy tears and dropped to a knee that honored the glory of his brother.

“If only your tab wasn’t already worth ten lifetimes!” Leo bemoaned as with a flick, there was a sword back in his hand and he sliced open a large blue disc right into the air.

“Eh, I’ll serve my sentence eventually.” Mikey laughed brightly as he tugged you through and you both appeared right in front of the movie theater.   You had to take a moment not to throw up.

💛NEXT💛

Always shouting out my beats @tmntxthings and @thepinkpanther83

[leorai4life]

Karai should have been Shredder's biological daughter

You know the more I think about, the more it would have been a better idea for Karai to be Shredder's biological daughter.

Think about it: not only does it clear up the Leorai drama, but from a storytelling standpoint it also makes the fact that Shredder killed Karai's mother 10x more fucked up and impactful. Instead of the whole "My enemy is my father?!", Karai would have to come to terms with the fact that her biological father is a deranged psychopath who not only killed her mother due to a bitter vendetta against some guy in his old clan, but that he's also never taken accountability and instead chooses to chase a giant rat and turtles as opposed to nurturing his daughter and spending every day trying to make up for his mistake. He could be a humbled father trying to make things right, but instead he pushes the responsibility of his actions - and Karai - aside and gives Splinter all the blame.

This would lead Karai to have to make the decision to go against her own father after being under his manipulative influence for almost 2 decades. Whilst this would be good in the long run for the TMNT, imagine the emotional turmoil she'd have to go through whilst assisting the people she called enemies take down her own father. Splinter could still play a nurturing role for her as the father figure she never had; he could help comfort her through the pain of her loss and take her under his wing much like he did with April. This would also probably result in her and April having a closer and sister-like bond. On top of that, he'd be able to give Karai a more transparent depiction of Tang Shen, Shredder and his relationships with one another.

As for Tang Shen's role in this, I think she'd have married Shredder, but started to develop feelings for Splinter as she sees Shredder's darkness come to the surface and Splinter's light continue to shine. This is what would have sparked jealousy in Shredder, resulting in the ambush and fire that we see in canon.

[terrapin-might]

Graduation (WIP)

Says I won't ever dip again. *Dips again*

But I'm back!!!

Here's some updates on me if you're interested:

I've actually been pretty productive and not (just) bed rotting this whole time! Yay me!

I've been drawing, not as much as I personally want but still, and I've changed and improved my art style! (I'm also working on some references for my aus, and my personal TMNT iterations too, hopefully you guys will see them before January)

And in case the drawing wasn't a hint, I'm graduating highschool! By which I mean I'm getting my GED. (Beauty school dropout was written for me specifically you guys, trust.)

I've already passed two tests and scored pretty high! When I actually graduate I'll finish the drawing as a small goal for myself.

Rise April is the only April we see graduating from highschool to college which is why I drew her. I doubt I'm going to college anytime soon though, but I didn't think I'd graduate HS, so who knows.

I want to post here again, I love this blog and I really do hate that my mental health and autism prevents me from posting here (keeps me from posting anywhere at all tbh). I guess seasonal depression (or depression² for me) hit me early or something and my anxiety of not having a "good excuse" for why I left and if I didn't make something good then I shouldn't come back, kept me from this blog for so long.

I love feedback from you guys, and even if there wasn't any I still love creating and posting here.

No longer gonna promise to never dip again because clearly my passion and stability is not guaranteed (thank you depression, and executive dysfunction, and posting anxiety, and perfectionism, and—)

But unless I get locked out of my account or Tumblr disappears or (pizza supreme forbid) I permanently lose interest in the turtles, I'm gonna keep coming back.

Sorry If this is rambly and nonsensical there's a reason I'm a fan artist and not a fanfic writer (yet 👀)

Still dealing with pretest and the GED testing so my next post will probably be later this week or next week, till then bye!

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

What is the dream smp drama ?

tl;dr called all Tommyinnit fans the r slur, deleted the tweet and didn't apologise till waaaay later, before which he made multiple streams and all the shit about him started coming out again (because his streams made everything worse). Tubbo made a stream about it in a very mature way by asking to talk on stream (Dream has a history of cutting private conversations up to make other creators look bad) and eventually it just turned into Tubbo vs Dream because Tommy blocked him, and Dream started being a shit to Tubbo. Most of the dsmp, some outside ccs, and editors/twitter folk who were in the fandom got involved revealing more stuff about Dream and how shitty he was.

Full timeline + ~16 hours worth of Tubbo stream below

BOO. This is gonna take too long so i'm posting it before it's finished and gonna edit it over time. As Tubbo himself said, this situation is a death by a 1000 cuts (small problems which kinda blew up recently)

Dream and Quackity had drama. That's a whole other thing and i'm not sure we can really go into it without this being comparable to Do you love the colour of the sky so we'll assume you know what happened there. (~April 2022)

A little after this were the first set of grooming allegations against Dream, made by Alexandria (October 2022)

This just caused the dsmp to kinda just fall out

Tommy made a video entitled "If Youtubers were Honest" which included a part on the Dream vs Quackity (5 Aug 2023)

Dream texted Tom's mum, bro literally harassed Tom's mum

fast forward to 2025:

Tommyinnit calls Mizkif the worst person he’s knows

Mizkif calls Tommy cringe and annoying which xQc also does in his reaction to Mizkif's stream

Tommy called xQc a trump supporter (true)

xQc had a public meltdown saying Trump is cool and that Tommy is dickriding Dream (but he does this by giving free promo to Tommy's show)

Dream quotes with the following meme.

This is where our path also diverges because there are so many streamers. Everyone reacts to the tweet and Dream deletes it.

Then Dream ranted to reddit saying he didn’t understand cause he’s autistic so he should be able to reclaim it (stupidest thing i’ve ever heard). It was meant to be his "apology". He also mentioned that the public’s reaction to Nicolas Cantu doing the same was generally positive (while i do agree most of the public went overboard in terms of support for Cantu especially when he used slurs as insults - most people only focused on him calling out Dream for covering up assaults and being weird around women and children + after the initial hype died down most people did agree his use of slurs and harassment of the driver was horrible - hence why he’s literally gone. He has no upcoming roles and he's def not coming back for the tmnt sequel). The biggest issue here is how instead of taking accountability he’s pulling this whataboutism card.

Also just a note that he claims he saw the meme, but people did the reverse image search - he created it.

id: Genuinely still confused on what the "rules" are. Honestly not trying to be obtuse, multiple people go viral calling me the r word and everyone explains that its ok because they're neurodivergent, so then I see a meme that uses it and post it and get absolutely throttled for it. Obviously it's the internet being disingenous, but that doesn't completely invalidate anyone that might be upset by it. Most of the people calling me ableist for using it are the same people that lit off fireworks when Nicolas Cantu was the slur slinging slasher (including Tommy's closest friends). it's either okay or it's not okay, the double standards are infuriating. I have my own reasons for having a problem with Tommy going around being the "internet police" and was expecting to get a lot of shit for going after poor Tommy that lies about me constantly, but obviously i had no intentions of attacking every Dream SMP fan or being ableist lmao. It was a dig at Tommy fans, because somehow the worst of the ex dream smp stans have congregated all to make up lies and shit on other creators and Tommy feeds right into it to promote his patreon, shows or wharever else he's currently promoting, because he has absolutely no backbone. Either way, my lesson from this is that twitter is somehow even less reasonable than i thought in the first place, oh and don't use the r word under any circumstances even if you see a funny meme and you're autistic. Lesson learned, hopefully i can be forgiven. Back to coding

Tubbo did a 1 hour stream on this. Technically he did a 7 hour stream he cut into bits, but for the sake of the timeline making sense, he made a 1 hour stream. He was gonna talk to Dream on stream. He agrees that his friends do shit talk more than he's comfortable with BUT

Why is Dream only getting involved and doing this much when Tommy insulted xQc and not you know when he called Dream a pedo

You can't reclaim a slur if you use it as an insult

He thought this entire thing was Dream ragebaiting to get people ready for a new song or smth, and he reminded the audience of Nicolas Cantu being drunk.

"If you don't want to be made fun of for doing shitty things just stop doing shitty things"

Tommy in this time released a video saying he blocked Dream and that it was horrible that Dream used the r slur. From this point Tubbo decided against calling Dream, instead watching Dream's 3 hour stream on the topic and reacting to it.

[mistressoftherant-blog]

Fandom Whataboutism

Well, it's been a fair bit since I've written a rant, but this one has been growing inside of me for a while, so I'm going to get this off my chest. To flag, this is an issue I've mainly been seeing on TikTok, but it is starting to creep into other fandom spaces, and I'm more comfortable posting on Tumblr, so here we go.

For anyone unfamiliar with how the term 'whataboutism' is currently being used on TikTok, it essentially boils down to people in comments bringing up random things in regard to someone making content to either discredit them or to make the original post about themselves (e.g. the infamous bean soup idea where someone has a recipe for bean soup and someone in the comments says that they don't like beans so how can they make it, or someone saying that they like dogs and immediately get hit with a 'so you hate cats?').

From what I've seen, the phrase has essentially expanded to encompass a growing behavioural trend where people seem to think that everything they see should be specifically catered to their personal taste and that, if it isn't, they need to speak up about it instead of using critical thinking or realising that they can move past content that doesn't apply to them.

And that is something that has also been rife in multiple fandom spaces that I've been in.

One general issue I have seen is people commenting on art/vids/fics and demanding that people recreate them with their fave character, or make something of their fave character/ship/fandom. This just seems rude to me. People are not obligated to create content for your favourite things. If they've created something, it is usually because they wanted to put their passion into it and share it with people who also like the same things as them. They don't owe you anything, so if their content isn't of your fave, it's best too move along as you will.likely be able to find similar content that's more to your preference elsewhere or, if you want to see your own fave reflected in it, maybe reach out and ask if you can do a version with credit to the original.

Now on to some specifics.

I'm going to use some examples here to illustrate my point, but I already know that some people may get heated if they see this post so, general disclaimer, I am not bashing anyone for having any of these characters/ships as their favourites.

I just want to highlight a certain type of behaviour, and these are some of the examples I have personally been seeing lately.

First is the TMNT fandom, which will surprise absolutely no one familiar with this account. I may be going over old ground here but, if you see content for a version of the TMNT you don't like, you don't have to engage! And swooping in with a comment about how much better your preferred version is is annoying. Why would you feel the need to say something snide about one version to big up your fave? Rise fans are especially notable for doing this, but they definitely aren't the only culprits.

Last Ronin fans are another large example of this. When someone is comparing the strengths of the turtles in a particular version, jumping in to say that Mikey is the strongest because he is the Last Ronin is irritating as all hell. Last Ronin is an entirely separate thing (and Mikey living longest is more due to luck/coincidence than him being so much better than his brothers anyway, but that's a rant for another day). And making these comments on a post about a specific turtle is a whole spit in the face. There was a cool edit of Donnie in 2012 in some of his angry moments, and so many comments were about how either Mikey or Leo were so much better than him when angry. To be blunt, if you do this, you're an asshole. There is no need to be so incessantly vocal about your personal fave on a post that is entirely unrelated to them, except to be self centred and you come across as an antagonising prick.

And then there is the Bat-fam fans who are notorious for using fanon to try and make everything about their faves. I saw a post the other day that was an animation of Dick Grayson interacting with the JL, particularly Wonder Woman that had in the description that it was about Dick Grayson. The way it was drawn and the behaviour of everyone in the vid clearly pointed to it being Dick. Yet there were a flood of Jason fans saying that it must be him because of how much he loved Wonder Woman, which is fanon? It got to the point where the poster had to update the description to say they supposed it could be Jason because his fans were being so aggressive.

Or the amount of people who try to say that the Teen Titans cartoon Robin or first season Young Justice Robin are Tim rather than Dick, despite ample evidence otherwise? And then they say that they are characterised more like Tim, as if the two don't share traits? As if Dick can't be angry, or snarky, or good with tech, so if he is, then it must be Tim instead? I've also seen people saying Teen Titans Robin is Damian, even though Damian wasn't even properly in the comics then? It doesn't hurt to do a little research, yet I've seen people try and blatantly argue against canon facts, or the words of the people creating the fan content, to try and make everything about their fave.

Last up is Shadow the Hedgehog. This bit will discuss the wider fandom, but will have some spoilers for the third movie, so please skip to the conclusion or turn back here if you don't want to risk spoilers.

It is not hard to see that Shadow is a popular character, and I can understand why he is. He's cool and he has an interesting back story and interesting powers. But some (key word, some, definitely not all) of his fans take it too far. I watched a great edit of Knuckles from the SCU and, when I opened the comment section, one of the first comments I saw was someone typing in all caps asking why no one was talking about Shadow dying. This was an edit entirely of Knuckles, yet someone was still screaming about Shadow, as if A). the majority of the fandom aren't constantly talking about him, B). Shadow wasn't completely irrelevant to this post and C). Shadow wasn't actually dead.

Likewise, there was an edit of SCU Tails, Sonic and Knuckles to Brother by Kodaline, and people in the comments were asking why Shadow wasn't included. As if Shadow hadn't been an antagonist to them for most of the film. As if Shadow had had a genuine conversation with any of them bar Sonic. Honestly, how did they think he was going to be included in a sweet montage around brotherhood when the only current clips of him are of him fighting/scaring/being a dick to them, with the Robotniks and/or Stone, and then one nice scene with Sonic and a fight montage before he sacrifices himself? He's not their brother. Frankly, I don't think it would make much sense for him to be adopted by the Wachowskis as he's always been his own separate thing, and is more likely to end up with Team Dark if they are introduced rather than having another bed crammed into the attic like he would be crammed into the Team Sonic dynamic.

Or whenever someone talks about how strong Knuckles is, and you get the 'erm actually' bros out in force to talk about how Shadow is the most powerful as he is the Ultimate Lifeform and yadda yadda yadda. And it's just, like, give it a rest already. I'm on a Knuckles post to talk about Knuckles. If you want to hype up Shadow, you genuinely have no shortage of spaces to do so.

There's also the whole matter of shipping. I feel I need to reiterate this, but I don't mind people shipping whatever they like. But I also would like to see that same courtesy extended to others.

For example, there was a post talking about canon Sonic love interests, and half the comments were saying 'what about Sonadow?' I was genuinely concerned that these people didn't understand what the term 'canon' means.

It's the same with any Sonknux or Knuxouge posts, there is always an influx of comments under them saying that they prefer Rouge or Sonic with Shadow. And I'm stuck thinking, that's great, but why don't you use some of that love you have for them to interact with posts about them, rather than engaging with content you don't like, which will inevitably end up with you seeing more of this and upset the people who do like it, especially the creator who worked hard to make something that you feel the need to shit on because it's not exactly to your tastes?

Another issue that I've seen, that isn't related to a specific fandom, is the rise of 'oh, that's just like my OC!' (And this is done with canon characters as well tbh). Although OCs aren't usually my cup of tea, I have enjoyed many stories that have OCs, and I am obviously happy for people creating content about their own characters outside of fandom spaces as well. And I have no issue with people saying that songs/memes/character dynamics etc remind them of their OC.

It is when people jump on a post of someone talking about their personal issues, or an issue that is harming people, to associate it with their OC, that it becomes insensitive. I saw a post the other day about a person who had been affected negatively by a very real issue, and one of the comments was about how this reminded someone of their OC because their OC had experienced trauma in their past. Like, do you not see how this maybe isn't the right place to bring up your fictional character?

I get that some people project their own trauma onto characters, but a post where someone is describing something that is still having a massive effect on their life because of how horrible it was for them to live through is a terrible place to bring up a character, and shows a disturbing lack of empathy or understanding of etiquette. If someone posts about something traumatic and your first thought is about a character if any kind, that's fine, but if you then hop into the comments to type about a character, you need to understand that this is how you sound: 'oh, your horrific experience and daily struggles remind me of a very not real person. Sucks to be you, but my character got awesome powers out of this situation, and the thing that scarred you physically/mentally makes for a great tragic bakstory for them. Doesn't my character sound cool guys? Let's speak more about my character and not the very real person whose story I am completely talking over in order to make everything about things I like to talk about.'

There is a time and a place to talk about your OCs, and when people are trying to educate on a topic or find a community of people who understand them, that is not your place to interject. If you are giving your character these issues in order to raise awareness/education, make a separate post.

There is definitely more I could say on this topic, both in general and in fandom terms, but this is already a pretty long post, so I am going to call it here for now.

Thanks to anyone who stuck around until the end!