#wait wait do you think ninjas are his special interest

[ridiasfangirlings]

Hi!

I'm going through a period of revisiting K, and something that struck me with the autism discourse generated during the pandemic (and its return as a topic of discussion with Al Haitham in the Genshin fandom) is... Could we read Reisi as someone in the Asperger spectrum? Like, he has issues socializing outside of people he personally picks (I don't remember someone from the Outside successfully approaching him on a personal level), spends his time concentrated on games, is fast with answers and has a complex and ample vocabulary (one story even has him speaking Spanish fluently, though there only were a few phrases exchanged), is a fucking genius but struggles to communicate outside of work, gets uncomfortably close to people, and the audio dramas more or less show that Mikoto finds the timing of Reisi's conversation a bit "off". I don't know if GoRA were well-informed on the topic of Austism it during 2012, but... I'm getting a bit of a Twilight Reinaissance-thing right now with Reisi and the Asperger Spectrum

As always I Am Not A Doctor with asks like these but honestly, yeah, I can absolutely see Munakata being on the spectrum. I don’t think Gora necessarily intended it — I feel like they were more going for ‘he’s just weird’ — but I think he shows a lot of traits that are also present in people with autism and unlike, for example, Fushimi, Munakata had a perfectly loving upbringing so there’s no ‘is it autism or is it just the massive childhood trauma’ problems muddling things up. He definitely shows some issues in things like reading social cues but at the same time he’s excellent at reading people, I feel like Munakata is someone who when he wants to can mask like a champ so you have the confident, charismatic King coexisting with the pleasant dork who doesn’t seem to understand why his clansmen don’t want to spend fun bonding time with him. Munakata is very perceptive but I can also see him as someone who studies normal human behavior the way some people study animals, he doesn’t entirely understand it himself but he’s fascinated to learn and so he manages to read people’s motives while at the same time not really entirely understanding normal emotional responses. He gets super close to people in ways that make them uncomfortable but seems blithely unaware of it, like someone’s told him it’s important to get close and make eye contact and therefore he’s doing it without understanding that this is not how most people communicate.

There’s also the way his interests align, how he shows particular interest in things like Fushimi Mikoto puzzles. We know some of his interest in puzzles is just something to challenge his intellect but I could definitely see those as some measure of a special interest for him, that he’s just largely fascinated by puzzles and likes to do them all the time (also putting pieces down is a nice repetitive calming behavior, and you could even read it as some level of stimming that he works on them even while talking to his men). Also even just his existence as the King of ‘order,’ someone who prefers schedules and routine and having an exact path laid out in front of him for him to follow, which feels like there could definitely be some neurodivergence happening. Of all the cast Munakata is definitely the one who I read as most likely being on the spectrum. 

[lazyollie]

Ninjago headcanons- They're secretly in love with you

It's an obvious win for this headcanon so I don't have to wait with it any longer. Enjoy<3

Warnings: bad grammar, typos, cringe

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Lloyd

°× He becomes more shy when he's with you. Mostly when It's just you and him.

°× He paires you up with him a lot on missions without him noticing it. When you asked him about it his cheeks became red and just told you It's because of you skills.

°× He just likes to be with you

°× Would probably be more protective over you. He likes to be your little hero even if you could deal with it alone. (Talking about fights on missions).

°× I can sense he'd hide little loving notes in your pocket or etc. Like he secretly watching you get confused and search for the slightest blush on your cheeks when you found them.

°× When you blush he feels like winning but then he realises he wrote them anonimusly...

°× He likes to stay close to you. Like the ninjas are making a plan and somehow he's always next to you. (If he feels more confident your shoulders are touching each other's).

°× Poor guy is overheels for you, but can't it to show you. Can treat you platonic in front of others.

°× Or this is what he thinks he does. All the other ninjas know about his crush. How? It's in his eyes.

°× He has no idea how to hit on you so he hopes you will get the signs.

Kai

°× Oh my. His love for you is so obvious.

°× He flirts with you all the time that you started to questioning that he does this to anyone else.

°× He became extramely protective over you. If anyone dares to mess with you has already jumped on the person.

°× He shows off in front of you a lot. Tries everything to impress you. So that's why the trainings are leaving you all sweaty and blushy.

°× He always the one to treat you wounds after missions. You tried to ask him why, but he shushed you multiply times or ignored you.

°× He uses it as a way to spend more time with you, but if anyone confronted him about it he denied it.

°× He praises you a lot to the other ninjas to the point that they bored to death during these yapping session.

°× He's that type of person who likes to help you. In fights, at trainings and other stuff.

°× Even though he flirted with you like no one else it took him by surprise when you kissed him.

Jay

°× He's a whole mess. That's why he keeps his love for you as a secret.

°× Probably Kai convinced him to make a move, but Jay just refused. So he admired you from the distance

°× He awkwardly invited you to play video games with him. He likes to spend time with you.

°× When you play with him his attention is more on you than the game so you beat him on the game quite a lot.

°× He acted like he was upset about it, but he loved to see you smile and little winning dance.

°× Jay is really physical touch type of person, you might feel his hand on your shoulder.

°× Whenever he steps in the room the first he does is look for your face.

°× He might write little poems about you in his secret diary. Admire every single thing about you.

°× He would die instantly if you ever found them.

°× He worships you. Sometimes he can get irrelevantly worried about you. His signs are small, but it's not impossible to get...

Zane

°× He's the most subtle about it.

°× He's very observant when it comes for you. He remembers little details about what you like and your apperance.

°× His the first one who recognise if you changed something on yourself. Hair, stlye, anything.

°× Sometimes he points them out.

°× He's the quitest of the all the ninjas. That's why he likes to listen to you.

°× He likes to ask about your special interests so he can just listen to your cute voice.

°× He sometimes overhear you talking about what foods do you like and somehow the next day It's for lunch.

°× You asked him how does he always know what you like, but he just said "I don't know..Maybe I am a good guesser".

°× When his love for you was finally clear for him he asked Nya what should he do.

°× Her advices turned out well, but Zane was worried about losing you.

Cole

°× When he found out he fell in love he had a slight panic. You were really close friends, but if you don't feel the same it would destroy your friendship.

°× He was nervous around you. He didn't want to mess anything up. So he acted subtle about it.

°× But how he always made sure you take care of yourself made you question that It's more than just best friend thing.

°× Sometimes he sneaks out with you to the city to try new cakes at a local bakery. Such a sweet and innocent way to spend time with you.

°× You caught him staring at you a lot. Even from across the room. Those admiring eyes.

°× He became protective over you even more. He won't let anyone hurt you.

°× He shares his cake with you, no one else but you. It's a kind of way that he shows he has something for you.

°× When you guys hold eye contact he found himself lost in your eyes. He was awkwardly looking at you til you snapped him out of it.

°× He's extremely patient with you. He's with anyone, but with you even more.

°× His face immediately softens when he only hears your name.

Nya

(I had a lesbian panic while I was writing these headcanons lol)

°× For the first time she was confused why is her heart sped up around you all the time. Like why does she feel like this around you?

°× The confusion got replaced by a realisation. She didn't know what to do with this feeling.

°× She's normally a though girl, but this feeling got her soft and she didn't know how to feel about it.

°× She starts to open up about her life and her feelings what she doesn't share with anyone else.

°× She hugged you more often, totally acting platonic about it. She secretly or not likes physical touch.

°× Her love for you is far from secret. Everybody knew about it but they didn't dare to say anything about it.

°× She has a printed picture of you somewhere hidden in her gi. Even if you're not dating she likes to have your picture around her.

°× She started helping you a lot with your projects what you wanted to make (robots, guns, weapons etc.)

°× She feels no shame kicking butts who's owner hurt you. No one messes with her dear „best friend” under her watch.

°× Even though she knows you're fully capable to protect yourself she sometimes like to help out. She knows how is it feels so she only does it when you want her to.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

I think these secretly in love headcanons ended up as not a secret. By the end I started adding dating headcanons. When I realised I'm doing that I tried to replace them, but I think I left some. I didn't have so much idea.

Love y'all<3

[sant-riley]

[Ghost, Soap and Price when you ask them "would you get my name tattooed on you?"] headcanons

A/N: This is for fun, no one requested it but I love tattoos and I got some soooooo here we go!

A/N 2: this was started back in December lmfao whoops, anyways this is just some random thoughts .

Ghost:

Ghost is gonna either A) look at you like you're stupid as fuck or B) call you stupid as fuck for even asking if you two are not close.

However, you are close so he humors you, despite not saying a for sure yes or no.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you love me~"

"You think I love you?" Dude is making heart eyes at you as y'all speak, he's full of shit.

You pester him and poke at his chest, telling him you want your name here or there and he just rolls his eyes when he lays on his back.

He makes grunts and snarky remarks like he'd cut the skin off and belly laughs when you pout and can't help but flick your forehead and say it wouldn't happen.

A liar, he's gonna get a tattoo to symbolize you, just not your name. In y'alls line of work it's too dangerous, he's a known soldier and he has a target on his back. Whatever hyperfixation you have, whatever special interest, is something he'd get inked on him, probably on the inside of his arm to keep it hidden.

He runs his fingers across it before and after a mission, even if you're there with him. It's a habit that he'll probably never break. (I'm imagining him with Optimus tattoo for me I'm crying)

Soap:

He's been waiting. He is absolutely saying yes. He's been thinking about it for awhile and has been designing in his little journal what fonts he would get.

You cannot tell me that this man wouldn't get his loved ones name on him bc he absolutely WOULD.

He doesn't care if it's bad luck to get your partners name on you, as far as he's concerned he's yours for as long as you'll have him and you both work together, been through hell together. He's sure of it if you are okay with it.

He's the guy to get your name over his heart 😭 probably also with some flowers/symbols that represent you around it as well.

He presents it to you all giddy and laughs loud when you throw your arms around his neck hugging him.

"You like it? Now you're stuck with me 'orever~" while he gives you kisses all over your face.

Soap proudly flaunts when he's shirtless, his dog tags and your name on his chest make him so egotistical (it's warranted he's so fucking hot)

Would be very happy if you were to get his name but would never pressure you, however if you were, he'd need to design it for you <3

Price:

Price is on the fence, he's not a tattoo man and never has been. But he loves you, more than he's ever loved anyone so it's a firm maybe.

It'll have to be a couple of years before he genuinely will sit down and consider it.

Wouldn't get your name but instead your initial, probably on the inside of his finger or on some easily hidden slice of skin.

You don't even fucking see it until months pass and he's changing.

"Oh that? Got it back on downtime between missions." Motherfucker.

He grumbles as you steal whatever limb it's on but he's happy you're so so ecstatic and he thinks the glowing smile you send him makes it worth it.

@devilsfoodcake22 @simon-rileys-princess @stupid-ninja @milkmily @lune-la-chanson @tamayakii @teacupcollector @perilous-pasta @ihatethisappsomuchitpains @marsbar127xx @baddump @xncasi @king-cookiex @palomaxaxaxa @amatchasky   @wolfyland07 @diejager @hailstrum18 @pretty-little-bunny382728 @mzfandom @solarslushee @areislol @cluelessyasmin @sesshomaruwaifu @chaos-unchecked @kalamataolivesssss @arunasmisfortune @tbrfics @117s-girl @1234ilikecowsthanyoumore @sparrowwithaquill @justtiredandvibing

[weebsinstash]

(bnha/mha spoilers) i've still got attachments to the characters and still think of certain concepts and stuff for them and all that but like, are any of you feeling like BNHA is just going the exact same route as Naruto did where they spent the entire series talking about how cool heroes/ninjas are, then started discussing "but wait, not everything is as it seems! There's evil afoot, and not just any evil, SOCIALLY SYSTEMIC evil!" and then just completely shelved those discussions so the Hero could punch the Bad Guy in the face and then the series ends with everything being fundamentally exactly the same if not in some ways objectively worse

Like im sorry but looking at things thematically, if you told me Endeavor got off completely scott-free and his family still talks to him and he never even went to prison and still gets to keep his job as hero, but Shigaraki who was failed by society and literally poached and groomed as a child to become a villain while still forming bonds with his found family of other abused people and minorities is just KILLED AND DIES SMILING, I would say something like "oh is Horikoshi trying to make satirical commentary on how the broken corrupt system will fight like hell to uphold itself and this is actually metaphorical?" but nah it's just legitimately presented as a good thing and a good outcome

Genuinely? The way the series is ending is making me agree with Overhaul. If you think of Heroes and Quirks as a service or product, then tools can be invented to serve those same purposes. The way that Quirks developed in the universe of MHA is that they became used almost exclusively for combat based purposes, and to even use your quirk, which is also a part of your body or identity, you need special permissions and a license which I bet you costs money to apply for, so now you have the government regulating integral parts of people's identities, and also Quirks that change people's appearances are discriminated against and there aren't really any laws protecting against that

In a way, Overhaul was and still is entirely justified for thinking Quirks should be disposed of because the series is literally ending showing that Quirks are just being used to uphold government and corporate interests rather than actually do what's right? Quirks are literally increasing the severity with which humans can harm each other to the point it completely overshadows the good? Oh yeah I'm really glad we have a hero with super speed to help stop robberies, meanwhile the government has like a secret agent who is creating like nuke strikes on foreign countries, like... the good that Heroes can do? Can be easily done by humanity with tools

Like the way BNHA is ending is in my opinion, extremely dark? Deku was kind of just a clueless foot soldier upholding the dark government of his country and now All Might has no powers, Deku is gonna be Quirkless again, and everything is exactly the same? You could argue the only "win" that's coming out of the ending is that AFO is dead, but like.... someone with AFOs exact same powers could just be born again? Except maybe this time he can be, like, a government employee or a cop or something to really fit in with the core themes of the series :)

[enb-y]

↬ ROTTMNT BOYS PROPOSAL HEADCANON.

rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles.

request: ❝ Hey! How do you think the rise turtles would propose to their partner? ❞ — anonymous.

warnings: none. tying the knot.

characters: raphael, leonardo, donatello, michelangelo.

writers note: hey, thank you for requesting! this been sitting in the drafts since it’s been requested and now finally finished, sorry if it’s dookie, wrote this faster than a car almost slamming into me.

readers pronouns are not mentioned nor included.

*◌ೃ࿔ ┆RAPHAEL.

✶ raphael would make it really special, taking you somewhere to eat for dinner, having a small, yet meaningful conversation with you, then finally building up the courage to propose to you in hopes that he’ll have you in a old, almost-going-blind-and-deaf age, a long time marriage. raphael doesn’t like the attention that much, said previously, he wants this to be a special moment, no interruptions from his younger brothers and father, he wants you alone. that’s when you started to notice the nervousness in raph’s body language, going to the stench to the fiddling of something captivated within his palm.

✶ that’s when he gets down on one knee, like in the movies, saying a sentence in meaningful quotes, your full name and finally saying the four words he’s been meaning to say all day. “will you marry me?”

*◌ೃ࿔ ┆LEONARDO.

✶ If you have been dating leonardo since his teenage years, there’s a lot of marriage jokes, or how he often, yet playfully proposes to you at the worst moment possible. however now doing the real thing, best believe he’s nervous than ever, he’s pretty unnatural. he’ll propose to you on your birthday, he thinks that’s a perfect opportunity for him, though april and michelangelo gave him that push. chance of him getting on one knee somewhere in lair, away from his brothers, or getting on knee after they sang ‘happy birthday’ to you.

✶ he’s always seen a life with you, and he always feared rejection, even when he first asked you to be his partner. whatever answer you give him, he respects your decision. if you agreed, he’s overjoyed, and the celebration doesn’t end there. expect him to cry during that moment of happiness, splinter even cried for his son.

*◌ೃ࿔ ┆DONATELLO.

✶ donatello fears commitment. he doesn’t know when is the perfect time to actually ask you to spend a long life time with him. the movies made it simple to ask their lovers to be theirs forever, he also fears of being divorced somewhere in life. his teen years, he never believed he’ll find himself with a beautiful small velvet box in hand, just waiting to ask his soon-to-be-spouse. hopefully. he wants this moment to between you and him, somewhere that doesn’t have his siblings or father involved. to be honest, he had bought the ring awhile back, afraid of asking you at the moment, now he’s ready to put it on your finger and has the perfect place to ask you too.

✶ he talks to you, meaningfully. asking you what you see in your future and if he is in it… data collection calms him down, that’s a sign to ask him what’s on his mind. he’s trying not to hyperventilate right then and there, however he’s got the sentences out and now waiting for an answer.

*◌ೃ࿔ ┆MICHELANGELO.

✶ michelangelo is positive that he’ll find someone that he’ll someday marry. he never expected for himself to blink and suddenly buy a ring in your finger size. and he went to his brothers for help, april being the only one to help him. being nervous, he started to cry. michelangelo was terrified of the outcome, yet a bit excited? If you were already with him in his teens, he already talked about marrying you, you know, average teenage junk. so, this is a very special moment for him, and taking advice from leo it’ll be interesting. he doesn’t want to propose to you at the lair, he takes you to a place, yours and his secret hideout. It was a place that was once abandoned now covered in his art.

✶ that’s where he wants to propose to you. he even decorated the room, baked also. he’s just waiting for the perfect moment to ask you to marry him. and when he does, he’ll only feel his heart beat stop and waiting for your answer, he could hope that you’ll say yes and spend your days with him.

end - this was pretty much mindlessly written, I really needed to throw this out there. my wifi got shut off and I ended up getting sick 😔 (lmao bozo). I’m also trying to finish up the headcanons and scenarios before finishing up the oneshots. (Idek if you call this a headcanon..)

[mixelation]

has Kakashi/Shisui ever been on a real mission with Tori? (Or Deidara for that matter) Since you mentioned that Deidara is technically part of R&D, do Tori and Deidara go on R&D missions together? Are "R&D missions" even a thing? It's just hard to imagine her on like a legit mission with people who know her and are not reborn!Akatsuki

i haven't hammered out how R&D really... works, yet. i know most of tori's day-to-day activities are research-related. i think most "R&D missions" are internal. like, you'll get assigned to develop a justu that does xyz, or test out the efficacy of some new field protocol someone proposed, etc. you might have external missions to observe or collect something, but i think those are more like "R&D requests the mission, it goes into the general mission pool, someone from R&D may or may not actually be assigned." R&D ninja can take gen pool missions depending on what their assignment in R&D is like, or their expertise might get them assigned to gen pool missions requiring niche knowledge/techniques/etc

deidara has an R&D affiliation because minato is like "oooh that kid needs specialized space or he's going to blow up something important," and then from there it's a lot of R&D higher ups begging him to formally write down how his justu actually, like, work. sometimes someone is like "hey wait can you make you hyper useful animated clay do x?" and then they have to listen to him give an insane diatribe on art, but sometimes he does go and do it. but i don't think he's assigned to any research groups and his main goal as formally stated by the hokage's office is to just be a better ninja (most R&D ninja are not like this, but it's not uncommon for someone to be there for this purpose). so deidara also regularly takes field missions

tori gets field missions less often, but she ends up on a lot of random ones because having a fuinjutsu master on hand is really useful and there's not a lot of them. i talked a little about this before, but i don't think it would be insane for her to be temporarily assigned to an ANBU team that needs fuinjutsu for some reason, or for someone from ANBU to be stuck on a gen pool team including tori. i think minato might be hesitant to match her with kakashi or shisui, but it's not... impossible. idk it might be fun to have them interact in a professional capacity. the tori mood for this au is that she is incredibly good at what she does; it just always comes as a surprise that she is lol

i decided medics do have to put in a certain number of hours training/in the hospital to maintain their status as medics, so what's MORE likely (and possibly funnier) is shisui going in for stitches and tori being like "guess who's doing her mandatory hours!!!!!" (i don't think tori is like.... great as an actual medic. certain aspects of it she's fantastic at because it's her research interest, but she doesn't actually like practicing medicine, and she's constantly trying to dodge her hospital shifts or count missions where she did 0 medical jutsu toward her hours)

one thing i want to play with is tori in a situation where other people's wellbeing/survival depends on her. like a mission gone wrong where she realizes she's the one who has to get other people to safety. i think this would be fun because tori.... never has to do this? she's always been the weakest on the team, and she doesn't consider herself a leader

[janetbrown711]

Why Am I Like This?

Mikey gets really bored one day and decides to play with Raph's shiny new toy, despite being told several times not to, and breaks it.

Raph does not take this well.

Ao3 Link

Mikey was bored.

And not just regular, every day bored, nonono. This boredom was the mind-numbing and annoying type– the type that left you paralyzed and unable to think of anything to do, but Mikey had to do something.

He could practice with his nunchucks, but ever since he was downgraded to foam instead of wood, it just felt like a joke. Sure, he liked whirling it around, but Master Splinter always said this was supposed to be for self-defense, not fun, so playing around was strictly forbidden.

He could just reread his comics again, but while Splinter had gone for a scavenge recently, he didn’t bring Mikey anything of interest, other than those finger skateboard things. He’d already played with that thing to death, so that was also a total “no-go”.

Now, he could try and hang out with Leo or Raph or Donnie, but Donnie was busy trying to find a way to recharge lightbulbs, Leo was watching the second season of Space Heroes for the bajillionth time, and Raph was doing one-on-one practice with Splinter, so that wasn’t happening.

Mikey groaned, flopping his head into his pillow for the billionth time. “If only Leo liked a different, cooler show,” he sighed dramatically, before sitting up.

On the topic of “different” and “cooler”, Raph had been given a super special super cool still-in-box action figure of Aspara-Gus from Fantastic Four Food Groups. Mikey would’ve totally claimed it for himself, but he hadn’t heard Splinter call for him until Leo knocked on his door. From what the box claimed, it was supposed to light up and say up to six catchphrases! Mikey had been sooooo jealous, but Raph said he couldn’t play with it.

Wait– no. What he specifically said was, “Mikey, if you touch my Aspara-Gus, I’ll turn you into a pulp.” Classic Raph.

But– like… it wasn’t like he’d know. He was busy training with Master Splinter! Plus, he heard Raph open it up earlier, so it was practically begging to be played with!

Mikey grinned, hopping off his bed and bolting to Raph’s room, before opening his door all ninja-like and finding the bright green action figure sitting right on his bed next to a broken red car toy that was missing two doors.

Mikey practically had stars in his eyes as he admired the nearly mint condition of the doll, with its see-through green sparkly plastic and smooth edges. He giggled with excitement before pressing the little green button on its side.

“Eat your vegetables, kids!”

Mikey’s face felt flat and he tried again.

“You’re no match for the power of vitamin K!”

“Man, why does Raph even like that stupid comic,” Mikey muttered and gave it one last try.

“It’s Aspara-Gus to the res–” the phrase was cut off by a sudden, ear-piercing shriek.

“ACK!” Mikey immediately covered his ears, before getting the idea to try and smother it with Raph’s pillow. That it didn’t work well enough, the sound still splitting his skull. Out of desperation and panic, he sat on top of the pillow, which finally muted it enough so the pain stopped.

“Whew, that’s a relief,” Mikey wiped off non-existent sweat from his forehead. The ten-year-old continued sitting on the pillow until the faint ringing finally stopped, and he got off, picking up the figure again and–

Uh oh.

Apparently, sitting on pillows over action figures could cause their arms to break off. Who knew?

“Well… at least the toy was busted anyway…?” Mikey laughed nervously. He knew that totally wasn't gonna be good enough for Raph, though, and he'd totally flip when he found out.

“Okay, well– maybe I can fix it! Yeah! I just gotta pop that bad boy back on; it’ll be good as new,” Mikey picked up the action figure and arm and tried reconnecting the broken pieces, but alas, it wasn’t a simple “pop off”. Instead, the hinge had cracked into two and without both pieces being together and stable, there was no point attempting to reattach it.

Shin splints, he was totally screwed.

“Yeah, yeah, be right there, Leo,” Mikey heard Raph call from not too far, causing him to panic and hide the evidence under his brother’s pillow before booking into his room where he caught his breath. Once that was all in control, he put on his coolest, most calm-est and collected-est face he could manage and walked super, duper casually to the pit and sat next to Leo, catching only a casual and cool glance at Raph.

“Oh hey, Mikey! Whatcha been up to,” His eldest brother smiled.

“Ohhh, you knowww,” Mikey tried to wave him off, fidgeting with his knee pads anxiously.

“Oh, well, I was just waiting for Raph to start the new episode of Space Heroes, since it's his favorite and all,” Leo gave him a weird glance before turning back to the TV. “It’s the one where the Dr. Mindstrong goes back to his home planet and meets up with his–”

Leo rambled on for a little bit, which Mikey usually liked listening to, but right now he was way too on edge. He just kept glancing back to the hallway to their bedrooms and waiting for his inevitable doom.

“–smiles! He actually does! But Raph just likes it for the fight scene at the end, I dunno. What do you think?” Leo asked Mikey, who quickly tried to act like he had been paying attention.

“My favorite episode is still the one where the dude grows a beard and the vampires,” Mikey decided to say.

Leo laughed. “That’s my favorite too.”

“What can I say? I have imbeccable taste,” Mikey grinned nice and wide.

“It’s impeccable, Mikey,” Leo laughed more, which Mikey joined in to cover the fact he said that by mistake.

However, the laughter couldn’t last long, as there was a ground-shaking slam and angry stomping into the living-area as Raphael–

Oh frick–

“MIKEY!!!” Raph shouted, face almost as red as his mask.

“Eep! Save me, Leo!” Mikey jumped and ducked behind his eldest brother.

“Wha–? Raph, what did Mikey do?” Leo looked around all confused.

“Oh, I’ll tell you what the little punk did,” Raph growled, only getting closer and closer. “He broke my brand new Aspara-Gus!!!”

Leo gasped, turning to his brother. “You– you didn’t actually…?”

“I-it was an accident, I swear! I-I was just–” Mikey tried to defend himself, but didn’t get a chance as Raph practically tackled him and the two started wrestling.

“It was brand new, Mikey! Right outta the box and I told you–I told you you weren’t allowed to touch it!” Raph shouted at him, despite being inches away.

“It was already broken, man! I-It made a high-pitched screechy noise– I was trying to fix it!” Mikey pleaded tearfully, trying to kick his brother off of him, landing a hit right in the plastron that winded him.

Mikey would’ve scuttled away, but Raph managed to grip his arm tight and twisted it until Mikey was on his knees begging for him to stop.

“I always tell you not to touch my stuff! And you always do! Are you deaf or just a stupid, dumb little idiot?!” Raph growled and twisted tighter.

“I’m sorry, okay?! I-I didn’t mean to–! I just–”

“GOD– you just always do this! You’re just– you’re just so stupid and annoying and useless– why do we even keep you around when all you do is break our stuff–”

“Yame!” the commanding voice of Master Splinter rang from the dojo, and Raph instantly let go of Mikey’s arm, though kicked his shell and he fell completely to the ground. “What is the meaning of this?!”

“Mikey broke the brand new Aspara-Gus action figure you got me! And I specifically told ‘im he couldn’t play with it!” Raph accused.

“Michelangelo, is this true?” Splinter looked at him, eyebrows all down and serious like.

“I-I– I didn't mean to–”

“He never listens to me or anyone, Master Splinter! I told him not to! He's such a screw-up!” Raph interrupted him.

“Raphael– a word,” Splinter narrowed his eyes on his elder brother.

“What?! Me?! But it was Mikey wh–!”

“No ‘but's. Now.” He ordered, and Raph stormed angrily back into the dojo.

However, Splinter wasn’t finished, and gave Mikey a look too.

“We will talk later, Michelangelo,” He sighed heavily and followed the steps of his furious child.

Mikey knew he was already crying, but he wanted to cry even more now.

“Mikey… why did you break his Aspara-Gus?” Leo asked.

“I didn't mean to! I-I don't wanna be a screw-up! I-I don't wanna be me!” Mikey shouted.

Leo winced. “Mikey, you aren't a screw-up.”

“Yeah, you just don't know how to listen,” Donnie piped up near his “lab”.

“Donnie,” Leo whisper-yelled and gave the purple turtle a look.

“What?! I'm just trying to–”

“Yeah, well, just let me–”

“You're always the one to–”

“Well, maybe if you were actually ni–”

Mikey couldn't stand all this fighting. He needed to get out here– and not to his room; Splinter or Leo would find him there, and they'd tell him he messed up, and blah blah blah he was a big stupid screw up– which he already knew! He just– he didn't need to hear it. He didn't need any of this–

If he wanted to get away unnoticed, he needed to go now.

Mikey glanced around, seeing Leo and Donnie still arguing, and no sign of Raph and Splinter leaving the dojo any time soon. And so, using all the super quiet super ninja skills he knew, he made his way to the water and lowered himself down until he was completely and silently submerged. Calmly and carefully, Mikey fought the urge to cry even underwater, and swam far, far, far, far away.

So far away, in fact, that when Mikey finally emerged for air, he realized he didn't have a clue where he was.

“This is fine, this is a-okay,” Mikey told himself, finally pulling himself out of the water and onto the cold concrete path. He rolled onto his shell, exhaustion suddenly hitting him all at once.

“This… This is super fine. I wanted air, and now I’m getting it,” He sniffled a little, a dull pain in his chest growing sharper.

Raph thinks he’s useless. And annoying. And a screw-up.

Mikey doesn’t mean to. He loves his brothers and dad! He doesn’t mean to always be so distracted or impulsive or whatever. He swore he tried. He tried so, so, so hard to be good.

But he wasn’t. Again, and again, and again, Mikey wasn’t good. He broke things. He went too far. He didn’t pay attention. He didn’t listen.

His brothers could do all those with ease, even Raph. That had to mean something, right?

Of course it did. It meant Michelangelo was bad. He wasn’t really trying his best to be good because if he were, then he’d be good already. It wasn’t hard for his brothers, but it was hard for Mikey because Mikey was bad.

The tears were quick to return as Mikey picked himself up and started walking further into unknown parts of the sewers. He didn’t care if he was getting lost, he deserved it. He was a bad kid, just like Raph said, and they’d be better off without him.

They’d be better off without him.

.o0o.

Raph was angry.

He sat on his knees in the dojo, filled with rage, hot and heavy in his face and chest. It made his breathing heavy and fists curl in his lap as his head just swirled and swirled and swirled until–

“Raphael. I understand Michelangelo made you very upset by breaking your toy, and I’m very sorry that happened, but calling your brother a ‘screw-up’ will not go back and fix things,” Splinter said as he kneeled right in front of him.

Raph’s fists tightened. “I-I– it was brand new, Master Splinter– We never get new things a-and I just– I was so excited,” he confessed, his voice wavering.

Splinter smiled sadly. “I know, my son, I know. I am sorry I cannot provide such things more often, and I’m sorry Michelangelo broke it. I’m sure he feels absolutely terrible about it.”

A lump formed in Raph’s throat as he kept his eyes low and focused on his father’s knees. “But– he just– he doesn’t stop, a-and– and it just– it makes me so mad…”

Splinter nodded slowly. “Your anger is understandable, my son. Nobody likes to have their things destroyed, but that is not an excuse to make your brother feel worthless.”

Raph sniffled. “I– I didn’t… I didn’t actually mean to– I just– I get so mad,” he whispered, tears beginning to stream down his face right before he felt Master Splinter take him into his arms and hold him close.

“I know you are not a mean boy, Raphael. You have a very good heart that gets blinded by very strong and powerful emotions,” Splinter assured, wiping some of his tears away.

“I just– I-I can’t fight it– it’s like I can’t stop myself, I just– I want to hurt him, I want to hurt him so bad,” Raph wept into his father’s sleeve.

“But you don’t now, do you?” Splinter asked.

Raph shook his head. “I don’ wan’ him to hate me…”

His father laughed a little. “Michelangelo doesn’t hate you– I don't even believe he can. You know, you two have much more in common than you think.”

“But I can hate him. I-I can hate him a lot– does that make me bad?” Raph sniffled again.

“You don’t actually hate him, Raphael. If you did, you would not feel remorse for your actions,” His father assured, rubbing soothing circles on Raph’s shell.

Raph didn’t know what to say, looking back at the ground and resting his head on his father’s shoulder.

“Anger is an emotion that occurs in all living creatures, even myself. You are not wrong for feeling upset that something precious to you was harmed, but there are more productive ways to problem-solve than breaking your brother’s arm,” Splinter chuckled a little.

“... Like what?” Raph ventured to ask.

“Well… there is always breathing and meditation–”

“But it’s so boringgggg,” Raph interrupted.

Splinter laughed. “I know it is hard, but allowing yourself to feel and understand your emotions can help you rid yourself of all this confusion in your young mind,” he stroked the top of Raph’s head for emphasis.

“I-I guess…” Raph looked at his hands.

“Or perhaps you can try going to your room to separate yourself from the situation until you feel more in control of yourself. You could do things like draw or read comics or even scream into a pillow until you feel all better,” Splinter then suggested, which didn’t sound too bad, all things considered.

“I guess I can try that,” Raph shrugged a little, smiling a little when he heard his dad sigh a bit in relief.

“You are a good son, Raphael...”

“Thank you, Master Splinter,” Raph said, still not quite looking at him.

“... Which is why I know that you’ll apologize to Michelangelo as soon as possible, no?” Splinter asked, and Raph tensed a bit.

“I– yeah… I should…” he bit his lip and Splinter hugged him a little tighter before setting him down.

“Good,” He smiled at Raph softly, which Raph managed to return before they both stood and went to the dojo doors, where Splinter opened to find Leo and Donnie arguing about something by themselves.

“Leonardo, Donatello– where is Michelangelo?” Splinter looked left and right as he stepped out in the living space.

Leo stopped arguing and looked around. “I– wasn’t he right here?” he asked Donnie.

“I thought so?” His purple brother shrugged.

The confusion made a knot tie in Raph’s stomach, especially when he saw how it made Splinter’s eyebrows grow close and wrinkly before he shook his head.

“Perhaps he has just gone to rest in his room. I’ll go check on him,” Splinter patted Raph’s head before speed walking to the bedrooms.

Raph could feel his brother’s eyes, the second Splinter was gone, which only made the knot tighten. “You got a problem?”

Donnie backed up. “Me? No. We just– umm…”

Leo wasn’t as much of a scaredy-cat, though, looking at Raph and asking, “Are you okay?”

Raph rolled his eyes. “M’fine, it was just a stupid toy.”

“Of your favorite comic book character,” Donnie pointed out.

“Yeah…” Raph kicked the ground a bit. “But I– I went too far, like always…”

Leo smiled a little. “I’m sure Mikey’ll forgive you.”

Raph stayed quiet.

Splinter came back in not too long, looking around frantically as his eyebrows just got more and more scrunched together with worry.

“Master Splinter?” Leo spoke up. “What’s wrong?”

“I–” Their father stopped himself, taking a deep breath. “Is there anywhere around the lair your brother could possibly be hiding?”

Leo, Donnie and Raph all looked at each other nervously.

Donnie was the first to suggest, “Maybe he’s in the bathroom?”

Splinter shook his head. “I’ve already checked there. Anywhere else?”

Leo bit his cheek. “Maybe under his bed?”

Their father shook his head again.

Donnie suddenly snapped his fingers. “He likes hiding in the kitchen cupboards sometimes!”

Splinter sighed heavily. “I’m afraid I have already checked there as well.”

The knot in Raph’s stomach tightened. “S-so he’s…?”

“I will go out to find him. You three stay here. I will be back soon,” Splinter decided, finally stepping down into the pit, where they hugged him tight.

“Is Mikey gonna be okay, Master Splinter?” Leo asked.

“Of course, my son,” Splinter assured, patting the eldest brother’s head, but Raph could tell he was lying by the tension in his hands.

The hug broke, and the turtles watched as Splinter went to the turnstiles, but stopped right before he would’ve disappeared into the endless tunnel systems.

“I will be back soon, my sons, do not worry. Stay safe,” He smiled at each of them (especially Raph) before he turned and disappeared into the darkness.

Leo and Donnie both hesitated, but sat back on the couch, meanwhile Raph couldn’t help but pace around the pit.

“Why would Mikey just run off like that? He’s never done that before,” Leo looked at Donnie.

“I don’t know, it’s really not like him. He's always been so afraid of the outside, it doesn't make sense,” Donnie shrugged, but Raph just rolled his eyes.

“You two have got to stop pretending this isn’t allmy fault,” He snipped, and both brother’s eyes turned to him.

Leo stood. “Raph–”

“Stop!!!” Raph shouted. “I hurt him! Because of a stupid toy! And called him useless and a screw-up a-and–” Raph internally cursed himself as he felt tears start to form in the corners of his eyes once more.

“Splinter will find him, Raph. It’ll be okay,” Leo smiled and tried placing a hand on his shoulder, but Raph brushed it off.

“I'm gonna go look for ‘im,” He announced, making his way to the water entrance.

“Raaaaaaph, Master Splinter said we need to stay here,” Donnie whined, looking around nervously.

Raph huffed and rolled his eyes. “Think of it this way: Master Splinter is going north, and I'm going south. One of us'll find him eventually.”

“You're leaving out east and west,” Donnie looked unconvinced.

“Whatever. If you two wanna do that, be my guest. I'm going out,” Raph went to jump, but Leo suddenly grabbed his arm.

“Raph, Splinter doesn't need us running away right now,” Leo pleaded, and Raph snagged his arm away.

“Stay here then, for all I care. We'll see who really finds Mikey,” He glared before diving in and swimming away.

.o0o.

Mikey was cold.

Of course, he usually was after swimming around and stuff, but there were also a lot more grates outside the lair than inside.

He wished he could reach them. That he could stick his fingers through and feel the fresh night– or catch a cigarette butt, more likely.

Then again, who needed to reach for cigarette butts when they could just fall on your head?

Mikey had dusted off five butts before he just decided to keep moving past the grates.

Probably the smartest thing he did all day.

Mikey sighed and hugged his arms. He had no idea where he was anymore, and there was still a voice in his head telling how stupid he was for getting himself lost, but he was just so tired of it. He already knew he was an idiot, no need for reminders.

Besides, it was his goal, right? He wanted to run away so he'd stop ruining everything for his brothers and Splinter.

He was a screw-up. This plan probably wouldn't work, and he'd get his dad worried to death about him because he was a stupid crybaby.

… He wished he could go back. He didn't actually want to run away. He missed his brothers– he missed his Papa– he was so, so cold.

The answer for the chilly temperature suddenly appeared when after Mikey rounded a corner, he saw a massive stormwater outlet that–

Woah…

A bitter, cold breeze stung through, but Mikey didn't care, approaching the view of the sparkling lights of the city off of… a river? The ocean? Whatever it was, it was a lot of water and Mikey was mesmerized. Trees were also visible, though most were missing their leaves since it was late November. Mikey didn't mind that, though, as it was still one of the prettiest things he had ever seen.

He didn't deserve such a pretty thing. He'd probably ruin it somehow. Maybe he'd blurt something out, and it would make all the animals scared or angry, and then they'd try to attack him. Or maybe a human would find him, and then he'd get experimented on, like in alien comics.

Mikey's head ached, and so despite his want to leave, he decided to sit there and rest awhile.

He got roughly five seconds of peace before his stomach growled painfully.

“Man, all that swimming really got me hungry, eh?” He joked to no one, hoping it would make it hurt less.

It didn't.

The ten-year-old closed his eyes, trying not to imagine how worried Splinter would be and the lecture he’d get for being all stupid and impulsive despite being told many, many times to just use his stupid head.

Another gust of cold wind blew by, causing Mikey to shudder. He wished he had a blanket or something with him, but then again it would’ve gotten totally soaked, and he would’ve ruined a perfectly nice blanket that Master Splinter worked so hard to get for them.

He would do just about anything in the world to swap brains with Donnie, or Leo, or even Raph.

His brothers were the coolest people in the world, even if they could be a bit mean. Leo was so nice and always picked up any moves Splinter taught the fastest. Donnie was super good at math and stuff and was always working on super sciencey stuff that had Mikey convinced he should win an award or something. And sure, Raph had his anger issues, but he could fight the best out of all four of them, and Mikey wished he could be half as cool as him.

But he wasn’t. He was just stupid, annoying, useless, little screw-up Mikey who couldn’t listen or sit still or focus or remember anything.

… He wasn’t surprised when he noticed himself crying.

He opened his eyes again, surprised to find a beetle crawling up one of the pipes of the outlet.

“Hi, Mr. Beetle. I’m Michelangelo,” he joked, holding out a finger that the bug didn’t climb onto.

“Ah, you don’t wanna be my friend? It’s okay, I wouldn’t be my friend either,” He smiled as he felt tears start to rush.

“S-see– I’m a big jerk. I break my brother’s toys, a-and I don’t sit still or stop makin’ annoying noises, even when they ask all nicely,” the ten-year-old wiped his eyes and sniffled. “Master Splinter says it isn’t my fault– b-but I know he’s just being nice. Raph’s right, I’m just a big screw-up and a jerk, too.”

The beetle twitched its wings a little, making Mikey laugh a little again.

“I’m probably annoying you right now, too. I bet you got a family nearby, and I’m keeping you away from ‘em. M’sorry, Mr. Beetle,” Mikey’s lower lip trembled as his stomach rumbled yet again.

“Say, you– uh… wouldn’t have some food on you, would you?” he joked, but the beetle flew away, causing the boy to break into sobs.

“M’so sorry, Raph,” he whispered to himself, hugging his knees to his chest. “I don’t mean to be bad. I just can’t stop. I know I’m a failure, I just– I wanna be good so bad, but I can’t, I just can’t.”

He let himself break into sobs as more wind rushed by, causing Mikey to instinctively curl tighter as he felt himself start to shut down into sleep– which was weird because it wouldn’t be bedtime for three more hours.

Maybe it was just all the crying like a baby he was doing. He was weak like that.

“M’sorry I don’t listen, Papa– I really wanted to, b-but I can’t– I’m not good like them. I know you tried– m’so, so sorry,” He sobbed further, fully leaning into the circle so he faced the bars.

The sky looked so pretty as snowflakes began to fall, making Mikey feel like he was almost in a snow globe.

Mikey took a long breath, feeling sleep slowly but surely overcome him as all he could focus on was the glittering skylights, his hunger, and how he already missed his family more than anything.

“I’ll go back soon, I just gotta–” Mikey yawned– “take a little nap first…”

Mikey yawned, curling tighter as with this rush of air he fell into a deep, deep, deep sleep.

.o0o.

Raph was getting nervous.

Looking for Mikey was harder than he had expected, but his guilt kept him moving on despite the ever-growing feeling he was starting to get lost…

“You owe Mikey to find him, Raph. Just keep moving,” He told himself just as bits and pieces of a sandwich that had been dropped fell on his head.

“Man, I hate being in the sewers alone,” Raph muttered, wiping the mayo-soaked lettuce bits and a tomato off his head while also avoiding stepping on a broken phone and what looked like a (thankfully) squashed cockroach. Of course, this was entirely his own fault, but this was a good thing; he was taking responsibility for his actions, just like Master Splinter always told him he should. And he was!

Sure, it was also against Splinter’s direct instructions not to leave their lair, but it was also following his instructions to apologize to Mikey as soon as possible! Yes, yes, truly the most flawless logic turtle-kind had ever known.

Raph was just glad Donnie wasn’t here to rub that in.

The boy walked for what felt like forever, when he noticed a sudden temperature drop that had him shuddering and rubbing his arms.

“Jeez– someone got an evil snow cone machine going wild?” He grumbled, referencing one of his comics.

As he got closer, he realized he could hear wind blowing fiercely from what had to be more than just the regular sewer grate. As he turned the corner, he could see that yep, it was a stormwater outlet and–

“MIKEY-!” Raph cried, rushing to his brother’s side, startled to find him asleep.

“Mikey?! Mikey, wake up! What’s wrong with you?” Raph asked, panicking more and more by the second.

“Ughhh… Raph?” Mikey mumbled, barely cracking an eye open.

“Why are you so tired? You hate bedtime!” Raph pointed out, before shaking his head. “Sorry, I’m not– Look, I came here to say–”

“M’tired… talk soon,” Mikey clicked his tongue weakly before his eyes closed again.

“What?! Mikey, you jerk wad! I was apologizing!” Raph growled and shook his brother, but it did nothing to wake him.

Alarms triggered in his head as he tried shaking his brother again, but nothing happened.

“M-Mikey…? Mikey, you’re okay, right?” Raph looked around for any signs of danger or trouble, but couldn’t find anything other than the picturesque night sky and snowfall.

“Woah…” Raph momentarily forgot his panic to admire it, since Master Splinter not only said they were super banned from going outside, but they were double banned from snow because they could accidentally trigger hibern–

Oh no.

“Shoot– Mikey! You know we’re not allowed to–” Raph kicked himself mentally as he realized he was already falling through on his promise. “Look– you’re gonna be okay, okay, Mikey? I just gotta– um…” Raph looked around for anything that would be remotely warm but was just met with moss covered walls, and was it just him or were there suddenly a lot more bugs around here than there were before?

However, he figured just getting his brother away from the drain would get him warmer, and so stood up and tried slinking Mikey on his back as much as possible.

“It’s okay Mikey, I’ll get you back safe and warm in the lair, I promise,” Raph bit his cheek as he struggled readjusting his brother on his shell before starting to walk off.

It certainly wasn’t easy though. While Raph was older and a little bigger, it wasn't enough to make this a breeze. Plus, Mikey wasn’t even trying to support himself since he was all tired and stuff. To make up for it, Raph had to take big, long steps that didn’t always mesh well with the algae, garbage and bug-covered sewers.

However, he promptly halted when he finally reached the remnants of that sandwich that got dropped on his head, which now had a humongous pile of cockroaches on it.

“Gross gross gross gross–” Raph gagged, taking a frantic step back and almost dropping Mikey in the process. He looked around nervously to see if there was some other way he could get to the lair, but that rapidly proved itself to be a waste, as more and more disgusting pests were gathering by the second, and no amount of will power summoned an alternate path.

“M-Master Splinter? Can you hear me?” Raph called, desperate to get out of here already.

He looked at the bugs again and took another instinctive step back. “D-Dad, I really, really hate bugs, I don’t wanna do this,” he felt tears threaten to fall, which just made him more angry at himself. He was trying to save Mikey from accidentally falling asleep for the next three months, he did not need to be acting like a baby!

“Okay, Raph, y-you got this– you can save Mikey, I believe in you,” He told himself, taking a careful and calculated step forward, and a wave of nausea hit that made him want to turn and puke.

But he couldn't! He was a turtle on a mission here! He couldn’t get sick on Mikey now– especially because the drain wasn't too far and that grate was channeling pretty strong winds– If Raph stayed for too long then he’d get all sleepy too and Master Splinter would be double disappointed.

“Alright, guess I’ll just…” Raph mentally prepared himself, stepping one foot at a time at a very slow pace– until the fourth step, where he definitely stepped on a bug, and he completely froze. His instincts were completely useless as he felt two more try to crawl on his leg, causing him to instantly book it as fast as he could.

“Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew–” He kept whispering to himself before he suddenly slipped on the mossy floor and he and Mikey fell into the sewer water.

He completely lost all contact with his brother as he fumbled around in the current, and it took a solid minute before he could get his head clear and broke for the surface.

“MIKEY!” He called, looking around for his brother, but not finding him.

He dove back underwater with urgency and found his little brother beginning to sink. With a grunt of determination, Raph swam with all his might to grab his arms and drag his still cold body to the surface.

“R-Raph?” Mikey croaked between coughs.

“MIKEY!” Raph hugged his brother tight. “Mikey, it’s okay! We’ll be back home soon, I promise,” he assured, and Mikey chuckled weakly.

“You really do care, you big sap,” His little brother smiled weakly.

“Shut up or I'll let you drown,” Raph tried acting tough again, but Mikey's exhaustion made him hard to threaten. “Whatever. Just wrap your arms around my neck, I’ll swim us both home,” Raph grunted, and Mikey thankfully did as he was told.

It took a frustratingly long time to get back to the lair– so long that Mikey had already fallen back asleep by the time Raph recognized his surroundings. It made him nervous, but Raph wasn't going to crack now that he was so close.

“Alright, Mikey, just under here real quick,” Raph glanced at the wall that mostly separated their lair from the sewer system before dunking his brother under and quickly pulling him up on the other side with minimal bonking.

“We made it, Mikey! C’mon– we gotta tell Leo and Donnie so we can–” Raph looked up and found Splinter standing right at the edge of the pool, with Leo and Donnie standing nervously behind him.

“H-hi dad,” Raph looked down at his murky reflection.

“Raphael, I specifically told you–” Splinter was about to reprimand, but his eyes landed on Mikey and worry immediately overrode his anger.

“Bring him over,” Splinter ordered Raph, and of course he obeyed. He watched as Splinter took his youngest brother in his arms and set him down on the couch, placing an ear on his chest.

“His heart is slow. Raphael, what happened? Was there a fight? Was he injured at all?” His father asked. Raph shook his head, getting out of the water and joining Leo and Donnie as spectators.

Splinter frowned, placing a hand on Mikey’s forehead and flinching. “Donatello, warm up a heat pack from your lab.”

“Hai, sensei,” Donnie said, and he was gone in a flash.

Leo looked at Donnie for only a moment before his eyes went right back to Mikey. “Is he gonna be okay, dad?”

Splinter nodded slowly. “He should be okay, he’s just a little cold, is all.”

“Oh! I can get him his blanket!” Leo immediately offered.

“Good idea, Leonardo,” Splinter approved, and before he knew it, Leo was gone too, leaving Raph alone with his dad.

Raph’s heart was pounding in his chest, as he was pretty sure Splinter knew just as well as he did this was all his fault, and he wondered what kind of grounding he’d get this time.

His anxiety certainly wasn’t helped when Splinter suddenly asked, “How did this happen, Raphael?”

Raph gulped. “I found ‘im by a stormwater drain, asleep. I think he was watching the snow or something and just kinda passed out, so...”

“I see,” his father replied, stroking Mikey’s head and taking off his soaked orange mask. “I should have known he would have gone to the water; he’s always been so afraid of subway cars,” he laughed a little sadly.

“It’s not your fault, dad, it’s–” Raph frowned as Leo ran in with the blanket.

“Found it, Master Splinter!” Leo called before handing it to their father all nice and folded.

“Thank you, Leonardo,” Splinter nodded in approval before unfolding it and draping it on the still-napping Mikey.

“Is there anything else I can do?” Leo asked in that eager way he always did.

“No, we do not want to overwhelm him or his body. We just want enough to wake him up at his own pace,” Splinter explained, and Leo nodded, taking a step back to join Raph.

A moment after that, Donnie emerged too with the practically steaming bag of dry rice, which Splinter thanked him too before placing it on his forehead.

“There. That should do it for now,” Splinter nodded to himself, stroking Mikey’s left arm a bit before finally allowing himself to sit on the couch next to him.

Nobody said anything for a while, most everyone’s eyes focused on Mikey except Raph, who kept watching his father. He was waiting to receive his scolding for running away and almost getting Mikey knocked out for months. However, the more he stared, the more it seemed like it wasn't going to happen, and after a couple minutes, Raph couldn’t take it anymore.

“Master Splinter, I’m real sorry I ran away, but I knew it was all my fault– I mean, you know how much I hurt him and his arm– so it was totally my fault! I had to make it right, and I knew that if I didn’t find him, you would, so I figured it really wouldn’t hurt! Plus, you told me I needed to apologize to him as soon as possible, so technically I wasn’t really disobeying you– but I know I really was, and–”

“Raphael,” Splinter cut off his rambles with a soft look. “I am not mad at you. If anything, I am relieved you found him because if it were not for you, I do not think his condition would be fixed so easily.”

“You don’t… know that, though,” Raph kicked the ground.

Donnie raised an eyebrow. “Of course he knows that. Hibernation takes several hours to fully take hold in a turtle, and if Master Splinter had spent all night looking for Mikey he would have certainly been too late and Mikey would spend the next several months practically asleep.”

“Donnie!” Leo punched his arm.

“What? It’s just science!” Donnie defended his rather blunt word choice.

“It’s alright, Leonardo, Donatello is correct,” Their father assured, looking again at Raph. “What you did was very risky, and not something I want to become a habit… but you did very well, Raphael.”

“Not really, Master Splinter. When we ran into a ton of cockroaches, I totally freaked out and dropped Mikey into the water,” Raph confessed and Donnie laughed a little, getting him a quick glare that shut him right up.

“Ahh, but don’t you see? When faced between your fears or bringing your brother to safety, you chose very bravely,” Splinter placed a hand on Raph’s shoulder.

“Thank you, sensei,” Raph bowed and Splinter chuckled and stroked the top of his head a little.

Right then there was a little cough, followed by a groan, followed by a– “Raph? Papa? What’s goin’ on?” from Mikey.

“You are back home, my son,” Splinter quickly turned his attention to his youngest, holding his hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired n’ warm,” Mikey yawned.

Splinter smiled a little. “Of course. It is rather late, after all, so the four of you should go to bed.”

“Aww man, but I just slept a bunch,” Mikey whined.

“You need to gather your strength, my son. Do not worry, I will carry you to bed this one time,” Splinter teased Mikey a little since he was always asking to be carried. It seemed to work since Mikey immediately stopped protesting, and he was whisked away.

“You had Master Splinter really worried, you know,” Leo spoke up.

Raph rolled his eyes. “You heard him, I did something right for once.”

“You know what I mean, Raph. If you wanted to find him yourself, you should’ve at least tried to tell him before you left,” Leo crossed his arms.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. If you ever get lost in the sewers, I won’t come looking for you,” Raph pushed Leo away and headed to his room, hearing Leo sigh dramatically and choosing to ignore it as the door slammed closed behind him.

His broken action figure was still on his bed, but instead of angering Raph, it just made him feel… disappointed. Sure, it was partly due to the fact he had been so excited about it just earlier today, but now it was more like he was disappointed how angry he’d gotten. It was just some cheap plastic with a broken voice box, after all. It wasn’t worth making Mikey run away and almost freeze himself into hibernation.

Besides, he’d definitely still play with it. Sure, he would now be missing an arm, but most everyone’s toys were broken in some capacity, so maybe now the other toys wouldn’t get jealous. Not that toys could get jealous, but– whatever. Raph was exhausted.

And so, Raph set his newly broken Aspara-Gus up on the shelf, alongside his much older broken red car, and flopped onto his bed to try and think about sleep.

.o0o.

Mikey was as snug as a bug in a rug after his father tucked him nice and tight into his bed, making him feel like the specialist and also the stupidest kid in the whole world.

“Papa… I’m sorry I ran away. I wasn’t thinkin’, which I know I do a lot,” he looked away as Splinter checked his temperature with a thermometer.

“Don’t worry, Michelangelo, I am just grateful you are alright,” Splinter smiled kinda sadly.

“Still… I didn’t wanna scare you, I just– I always mess up, a-and I really don’t mean to! I try to stop, I really do, Papa, but I just can’t,” Mikey confessed, face red with shame.

The thermometer beeped, but Splinter didn’t even look at it before setting it aside and removing the heat pack from his forehead.

“You are a good son and brother, Michelangelo. Your weaknesses do not erasure your kind smile or your cuddly disposition or your humor. We are all very grateful you are a part of this family, and everyone– including Raphael– missed you terribly in your absence,” Splinter stroked Mikey’s cheek with his thumb.

“I know, but I still break things and don’t listen and stuff, which is still bad of me,” Mikey looked away.

“But that does not make you bad, Michelangelo,” Splinter said with certainty. “Everyone in this sewer has flaws– even myself.”

“Even you?” Mikey gawked.

Splinter chuckled and nodded. “I am not always the most rational mind and can be swift to punishment, but that does not mean I am cruel and unjust. It just means I have something to be aware of and work on.”

“Oooh… cool,” Mikey smiled a little at the thought of him and his papa having something in common.

Splinter laughed more. “It is getting late, my son. Be sure to rest up.”

The rat was going to go, but Mikey grabbed his hand. “Do you have to goooooooooo?” He asked, putting on his best puppy dog eyes.

Splinter hummed happily and kissed his son’s head. “Maybe tomorrow night. I suspect someone else will want to talk to you tonight.”

“Who?” Mikey tilted his head.

“You’ll see,” Splinter patted his shoulder before turning out his light, causing Mikey’s glow-in-the-dark stars to shine. “Sweet dreams, Michelangelo.”

“G’night Papa!” Mikey gave a wide grin before Splinter nodded and closed the door.

Man, Mikey really was tired. But also not. He certainly wasn’t as tired as he’d felt by the stormwater drain, but all that swimming and walking and being all toasty definitely was doing a number on him.

However, before he could decide if he wanted to fall asleep or not, there was a knock at his door.

“Uh… come in?” Mikey said, unsure of who it could be, and startled when he saw it was Raph.

“Hi…” His older brother looked at the ground before he stepped in and closed the door behind him.

There was an awkward moment whether neither brother really knew what to say or how to say it. Instead, they both just looked around Mikey's disaster of a room, avoiding eye contact.

After a bit of this, Raph decided to break the silence with a, “I’m sorry I made you run away, Mikey. And for calling you a screw-up, and useless, and a punk, and a stupid, dumb idiot.”

Mikey laughed a little. “It’s okay, Raph. I already know I am.”

“No! You’re not useless! I said that just because I was mad,” Raph sat on Mikey’s bed urgently. “You’re like– the funniest brother and you give good hugs, which is nice when you want ‘em. That's totally useful!”

Mikey looked away. “You don’t gotta say that to me, Raph. I know I’m the weakest and the least patient and most distracted or whatever, I just gotta deal with it.”

“You know I’d save you if you ran away again, right? And that I– I don’t mean to always hurt you, right?” Raph asked, nervously picking at his nails.

“Aww, you big softie,” Mikey teased a little, and Raph rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah– I’m apologizing here, so do you wanna accept it or not?” He scoffed.

“I’m sorry I broke your toy, Raph. It started making this really loud noise and I panicked,” Mikey explained himself first.

Raph scoffed a bit. “Figures something had to be wrong with it… but still, I shouldn’t have hurt you like that.”

“I shouldn’t’ve broken your toy and run away, so I accept your apology,” Mikey gave his brother a crooked smile. “You accept mine?”

Raph laughed a little. “Yeah, you big baby,” he punched his brother’s arm a little, making Mikey laugh.

“Thanks for saving my life too, by the way. I could kinda hear you and I know it was pretty scary, so… yeah, thanks. You aren’t as angry as you think you are,” Mikey placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Raph seemed a little shook by this, but he eventually just chuckled and shook his head. “Wasn’t a hard decision. Without you, this place is a total dump.”

“Still. Thanks,” Mikey tried to get through his thick skull.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Raph tried to keep playing it off, shaking Mikey’s arm off of him. Raph started to go, but Mikey grabbed his hand on impulse.

“Uh… yeah?” Raph looked at him confused, and Mikey cursed himself a bit.

“Sorry–! I just– um…” Mikey let go and started fidgeting with his blanket. “I was just wondering if you’d wanna– you know… sleepover?”

His elder brother paused, clearly debating it, making Mikey instantly feel bad.

“You don’t have to, though! It was a stupid idea, I mean– we aren’t five anymore, so you can say n–”

“Sure, why not?” Raph shrugged all nonchalantly, and Mikey felt relief flood his body.

“Cool!” Mikey beamed, scooting aside to make room for his older brother, whom he immediately cuddled against the moment he was settled.

“Jeez, Mikey– you ever heard of personal space?” Raph quipped, but Mikey knew he didn’t mean it. If he had, he would’ve pushed him away or moved off the bed.

But nope, Raph stayed right next to Mikey for the entire night, and Mikey wouldn’t have had it any other way.

[belit0]

hi! I hope you are doing well! I wanted to request a fem reader x itachi where itachi is praising her during sex (basically a praise kink) , thank you so so much :)

Hi love!! Sorry for taking so long, sometimes I don't get inspiration to write this man so I just wait to answer his requests 😭💕

Sitting on the table with one elbow propped up, Itachi looks at her suggestively. He doesn't need words to communicate what he wants, (Y/N) is trained enough to understand his intentions without having to express them out loud.

Black tunic with red clouds wide open and no fishnet shirt underneath, the Uchiha lies half lying on the chair, a position denoting interest with a certain tinge of urgency in his features. One would think he is about to take a nap, but she knows his expressions far too well as to fail in her interpretation.

The Akatsuki lair seems empty, but the girl learned not to underestimate the silence of the place long ago, living with noiseless criminals is a double-edged sword. She walks up to her man and follows his unspoken directions to kneel in front of him.

"What if someone comes in?" she timidly asks, looking around and trying to find the slightest hint of someone being there, any presence hanging around the perimeter. Theoretically, they should all be busy hunting the beasts, but Itachi breaks the scheme and that means any of them can do it too.

"Good girls don't question what they're asked to do, do they?" He replies with a smirk, the corners of his lips slightly tilted upward and denoting confidence in his actions. Maybe he's convinced no one is here, or maybe he's so sure of himself he doesn't even care.

(Y/N) knows better than to answer and kneels down in front of him, moving up to between his legs while looking him in the eyes. With the ninja's help, she pulls his pants down to his ankles, and naturally, she is not surprised to find herself face-to-face with an erect member.

She wastes no time, internally pressed by the panic of someone finding them in a common space, pressed by the rush Itachi implicitly conveys. She is not one to question his needs, she learned that long ago, and places herself in the spot she was dubbed upon falling in love with him.

Her hands make quick work alongside her mouth, holding the base of his cock and running the length of it with her tongue. She takes care of the underside with special love, reaching the head and closing her lips over it, swallowing him completely.

Her man's moans are what encourage her to continue, a gentle hand stroking her hair without driving or intervening in her pace, "You look so pretty taking it (Y/N), so fucking good." His sweet words encourage her to pick up the rhythm, forgetting for a few minutes they might not be alone.

She raises and lowers her head above her man's waist, holding his balls with one hand and the base of his dick with the other. What she doesn't manage to cover with her mouth is caressed by her fingers, trying to stimulate the whole area at the same time. "The way you try to take me in your throat is so satisfying to me, pretty one."

The Uchiha doesn't move his gaze from her, and those red eyes make her wet with the knowledge he's recording every second of her show. There is no greater compliment than knowing her man enjoys her abilities so highly he needs to keep them permanently in his mind.

"Your mouth feels better than pussy, I love when you suck it that way. My good girl" His wording is so intense (Y/N) herself moans as she listens, trying to engulf him whole, fighting back the gagging she gets every time he brushes against her uvula.

"Such a sweet girl, wanting admiration. Swallow it all, love." His ragged breathing and the little moans he lets out are all she needs to please him, seeking validation in every movement and feeling a shiver of pleasure travel straight up between her legs.

Itachi strokes her cheeks, gentleness at odds with the obscenity of the situation, and motions for her to stop and stand up. His hands make quick work of her clothes, leaving her completely exposed in the middle of the dining room without a care in the world for anyone to walk in and see them.

He guides her over his hips, sitting her on top of him and holding his cock with one hand, bringing it all the way to her entrance. He doesn't need to check the wetness of the area, spit on his hand, or use any product assistance, totally confident in his skill to get her wet without having to touch her.

He delicately enters her, helping to slowly lower her pelvis and enjoying every second of that delicious friction, "fuck (Y/N), you're so powerful" he moans through his lips, needing to kiss her in order to avoid cumming immediately from the jumble of stimulation the woman provides.

The effect she has on him is unmatched, and he forces her to remain still for a few seconds so as to regain composure, not to fill her up at that instant. He distracts her with kisses and caresses on her breasts, holding her softly by the hair and thrusting into her with his tongue the same way he would with his dick.

When he feels ready, he urges her with his hands to move, leading her movements and the speed with which she raises and lowers her hips. (Y/N) obeys his orders and directions masterfully, not missing a beat and following exactly what he desires, earning a beautiful "that's what a good girl does" in her ear as the Uchiha fucks her lovingly.

[coffinpal]

Hi! For your hillbilly AU, I think I remember you saying you might give the turtles jobs around town? If so, I would like to humbly submit some suggestions:

Lefty: Vet tech at the the only veternarian for 100 miles. They handle everything from housepets to livestock to random injured wildlife. (Lefty usually has a stomach of steel, but he threw up the first time someone brought in a turtle that had been hit by a car. He demanded to help treat it though, and the vet figured it would be good for him to have the experience if [god forbid] he or his family ever needed it). This also means Leo knows everybody who owns an animal in this community, and hears all the gossip.

Dolly: Mechanic. This one seems obvious, but what if Dolly specialized in like big farm equipment, especially John Deere stuff, because up until last year that company was really bad about only letting people get that stuff repaired at "authorized" repair places, so Dolly is really good at getting around that kind of bullshit.

Merle: line cook at the best restaurant in town. Maybe he works at a diner or a barbecue place. Whatever food passes through his hands tastes like mana from heaven. He guards his recipes like they're state secrets. Bonus points if he gets to use fun, hard-to-parse diner language.

Robin: ... I'm really not sure. Maybe as the oldest, he spends most of his time helping his dad with their farm. I could also see him being a bouncer for the local bar, or working at a local daycare, but I don't have anything specific for him in mind.

Just some ideas! An intrinsic part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has always been the fact that they are New Yorkers, Big City Folk, so its really interesting to see that thrown out the window in your AU!

I LOVE ALL THESE

for lefty i think ill go with part-time receptionist at a vet but he's passionate about animals. i think that would be a really sweet trait for him. OH GOD if he saw an injured turtle he'd need therapy i think

dolly: i had no idea john deere was like that but thats typical of big companies so im not surprised. :,D i think it'd be cool if he runs a repair shop on their farm and helps their neighbors when their equipment breaks down. dolly has to drive merle and lefty to work too

merle: would work as a line cook! i think ill go with a diner thats only kind of good but all the locals think its the best thing in the world. april could be his co worker and wait tables :0

robbin would probably be better suited to work on the farm, maybe with cassandra! someone's gotta keep it up and it's not gonna be their pa.

HAh that's true! i've said before but i was just inspired to draw more nature and country scenes and also rottmnt. this was my excuse to do a lot of that and make jokes about where i grew up. thank you again for all these suggestions, im more than likely gonna use some of these!

[madarasgirl]

Madara's Off Label Rinnegan Use HC

He is so beautiful.

Since the Sharingan was discussed, I should probably cover Madara's Rinnegan as well considering he spent a lifetime waiting to obtain them. Madara first appeared with the Rinnegan as an Edo Tensei (before we were shown flashbacks of him as a senior). Edo Madara was literally a walking corpse (but still hot). Why are you romantically/sexually interested in him 😈? But then he came back to life, so fine, let's think about this.

Madara in the 4th Ninja War wasn't looking for love. If you tried to honey trap this version of him, he'd impale you with his rod, take a selfie, and leave you for dead. So for the sake of this post, we'll say this is a living Madara in his younger adult days before VotE, when he might have been more receptive to love. And he's not fixated on the Moon's Eye Plan but has the Rinnegan. Madara using his Rinnegan on his S/O should probably be considered excessive use of force, but Madara is nothing if not a drama king. What the king would do to/for you with his divine eyes is quite straight forward:

Limbo- he can summon up to 4 intangible clones in another dimension who can do things that you can feel, although you can't initiate interaction with them in return. Think about what that means.

Madara has greater mastery over his chakra rods than the others who borrowed his eyes. He can penetrate your special places with chakra rods without them being insanely hot to touch. With your chakra suppressed and you now significantly weaker, he can almost certainly control your movement with this method if you're being willful.

Deva path- pull you to him (lightly? Can Bansho Ten'in be gentle?) if he wanted you close or you were trying to run from him

Animal Path- summon giant animals for you to ride. They'd crush the surrounding scenery, but if you asked, he'd probably summon them for you

Naraka Path- restore you to good health, although I doubt you'd ever be injured and need healing with Madara watching over you

Outer Path- if he loves you, you are always a higher priority than himself. There is no meaning to life without you. He'll readily sacrifice his life to bring yours back with Rinne Rebirth

What he wouldn't do to you as his S/O:

Extract your soul

Squish you (and potentially himself) via a huge rock

Put you through a wall with Shinra Tensei. Ouch

Use his Asura path body weapons

Use his chakra chains. They cause significant pain to the victim

I think the Sharingan is more fun in daily life, while the use of Rinnegan is just overkill. He has numerous other ways of catching/restraining/etc without needing to use these eyes.

Madara to the bijuu. Different context, same idea

[raphmona]

How did Ramona become your favorite ship and how did you become a hardcore Ramona shipper?

I guess it was just instinct. I knew I found something special when I came across RaMona and my love for it just grew as the years went on.

It all started when I was watching one of Black Nerd Comedy’s TMNT videos on YouTube. He was doing a ninja turtles Q&A and someone asked him if he would ever like to see Mona Lisa in the 2012 series. He agreed that Mona should return and called her “Raphael’s lady”.

Note: This was in March 2014, over a year before Mona Lisa was introduced in the 2012 show in November 2015

I was very new to TMNT at this time, with the 2012 series being my introduction, so I had very little knowledge of the franchise and other versions, but I was a sucker for romance side plots and my curiosity was peaked. So I did some digging on YouTube and found the 1987 episode “Raphael Meets His Match” and I watched it. This was my very first episode I ever watched of the 87 series and I fell in love with Mona Lisa and especially her relationship with Raph. I loved how well her personality clashed with Raph, snarky stubborn sass with even more snarky stubborn sass. I squealed when she called him a doll and kissed his cheek. Him assuring her that he thinks she’s beautiful warmed my heart and them reuniting by the end of the episode was so sweet. You can image my disappointment when I learned that was her ONLY episode and she never came back. So I relied on fanart and fan comics of her, hopefully waiting for the return of this ship.

For those who don’t know, back when the 2012 series was running there were A LOT of fans who would constantly email/DM the producers and writers of the show on social media, asking them to bring Mona Lisa into the 2012 series. I will admit I was one of those fans 😅 I never harassed them like other fans did, but I do remember commenting on their instagram post regarding the topic once or twice.

Also funny fact, apparently Sean Astin (2012 Raph’s voice actor) was also one of those people. He constantly kept on asking Branden and Ciro (the producers) when Raph was going to get a love interest, cause he saw every other turtle get a GF except Raph. Angry turtles need love too! XD

Fast forward to August 2015, San Diego Comic Con, at a TMNT 2012 panel, they announce that Mona Lisa will be coming to the series in the upcoming season 4 as a warrior from an alien planet. I fangirled so hard that night when I watched the panel on YouTube! I was squealing so loud and dancing around my bedroom! I was so happy I started to cry! My OTP was finally returning!

It was 2012 RaMona that sealed the deal for me. After watching their first episode “The Moons of Thalos 3”, I fell in love with them. Raph falling for her because she punched him in the face is both hilarious and adorable, and also (strangely) very in character for him. His “what a woman” line made me squeal in excitement. Their first kiss, I couldn’t help but cheer. I didn’t care about any other ship except for them. To actually see a happy healthy couple with little to no problems in this series was a breath of fresh air. I never cared for Apritello, Leor*i I was questioning (that’s a whole different can of worms I’m not getting into now), I didn’t care for Capril, and though I liked Renetangelo I wasn’t crazy for them. The more Mona appeared in the show the more my love for the ship grew. Them constantly flirting or making out in the middle of battle, how trusting they are of each other, how supportive they are of each other in combat, and even their biggest road bump with Lord Dregg they were able to over come, with the cherry of that episode being Mona confessing her love to Raph. Even when back on Earth, Raph still thinks about her, loves her and stays loyal to her. In truth, Mona made Raph a better man. Them reuniting in season 5 kinda leaves us with an open book because now we get to decide what happens with them now that they are on Earth together. I just know from the look they gave each other at the end of the episode as they held each other in their arms that they will be living happily ever after 🥰

We only ever see this ship in a hand full of episodes in the 2012 series, but it was enough to show me and the audience how happy and healthy this couple is compare to the other ships. I love them. I adore them. I want a relationship like theirs one day. I wanna find my Raph to my Mona. I want to continue to see this ship in other versions of TMNT in the future!

I will stand proud and say that I am the captain of the Raph x Mona Lisa ship! 🫡💞

[snarkythewoecrow]

okay, for a little treat, here's some super big feels in snippet form from my mpreg!buck story (which i should make a special tag for) but this is a buddie, one night stand to enemies to reluctant roommates to lovers/family fic, with misunderstandings and lots of hurt/comfort, and this out-of-context snippet is from some stuff I wrote tonight, with Athena being the best surrogate mom to Buck in his time of need, like the feels!

tagging @kookieisbaby and @underwater-ninja-13 since i think they might be interested, i've never done a tag list but i can try to make one for snippets from this fic if you want, just let me know if you want on it

“Buck, sweetheart, you did take it, didn’t you?” she asked.

Something clawed at his throat, scraping upwards and making him cough, trying to ease it. The sensation didn’t abate, but he pushed past it, nodding tightly a few times, then managing to rasp, “Yeah, I—it’s in there, but, uh, I couldn’t—I couldn’t—I can’t—”

He shook his head, not able to explain—and not just because he didn’t know how, but because his chest had suddenly refused to expand how it should, leaving the tissues burning for oxygen, screaming for him to suck in faster--pull harder--to fill his lungs. Though that only made the panic worse.

“Woah, woah, woah,” she said, touching his shoulders, then his face, turning him to face her. “Breathe, Buck. Come on, baby.”

The room spun when he shook his head. “Can’t—can’t—I can’t.”

“Easy—look at me—that’s it, baby—there you are.” One of her hands slid to the back of his neck, putting him in a scruff that sent a jolt through his arms, then into his chest, working like the opposite of adrenaline. “I promise—you can, and very much are, breathing. You’re moving air, baby. It might not feel like it, but I promise you are.”

The tight cinch of panic around his ribcage eased.

His gaze locked with hers, latching on and finding faith. In and out. He wasn’t suffocating—Athena wouldn’t let him drown.

Her lips twitched, an almost smile. “There you go—those lungs are working a little better for you now, huh? Alright, just keep breathing, nice and slow, for a bit longer, then we’ll go from there. That sound good to you?”

A quick nod, then he closed his eyes, focusing on the warmth of her hand squeezing his neck, grounding and reminding him of a childhood he never had, with a mother who’d never cared to soothe him this way.

Then, after gathering himself, though his nerves still buzzed with static, he took an easier breath and opened his eyes to face Athena, and everything that time refused to stop chasing.

Because no matter what, sooner or later, the test would need to be read—and his life would change—even if he wasn’t pregnant, as this experience had already left its mark.

“Um, thanks—and sorry, for, you know, all that.”

She rolled her eyes, brows lifting and dropping her hand from his neck. “You’re just as bad as Bobby—and you know, you’re not the only one who struggles—we all do from time to time. But that’s what pack is for, right? We’re here for each other, through thick and thin, or whatever is waiting behind that door.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She shrugged a little. “Eh, I’m not sure you do, but it’s a work in progress, baby. We all are, in our own ways. But the real question is, are you ready to see what the next step is gonna be—where this path is leading?”

His throat still ached when he swallowed. Then he inhaled hard and fast, exhaling just as roughly afterward. “I’m scared, ’Thena.”

“I bet you are—probably downright terrified, but I’m here, and the pack is a phone call away. You know Maddie will drop everything if you ask, and no matter what—we’ll back you up. However you want to play it.”

He had to stop his hand from sliding to his lower belly. Then, glancing at the door, he asked, not even turning back to her, “Can you—would you look? Then—then tell me. I can’t and I—I think it would be easier if you…”

She patted his shoulder. “Of course, baby.”

[cyborg00-why]

3/25 Cyborg 009 The Stage Short Recap

Spoilers ahead for those who haven't watched the announcement themselves.

Right off the bat we got a sneak peak at the theatrical poster! Not sure how I was expecting 005 and 008 to be handled, but the brown face is disappointing and certainly alienating to global fans of color.

However, the costumes are beautiful and the contrasting pant/coat combo works great. I really love the athletic cut and quilted details on the coats. Ivan is not surprisingly, a prop doll in this production. Personally to me this means we have a 50/50 chance of him either being occasionally lifted by stage ninjas for 'levitating' effects or they just hook him up to wires and let him free like Asamov intended. Only time will tell...

We also got our first glance of the new cyberpunk redesigns of 0010+ and 0010-!

With stage adaptions especially I think it is good to treat them as their own canon. With that in mind I am curious to see how they flesh out the rest of the plot through costume design. My initial reaction was that they reminded me of Team Magma and Team Aqua grunts from older pokemon games. They are very fresh and stylish though, which I think is a good contrast to how formal and outdated Gilmore is presented.

Performance After Event Schedule:

5/18: Special Curtain Call*

5/19: Action Curtain Call*

5/19: After Talk with Nanami Hiroki x Toshiya Sakai x Hiroo Otaka

5/21: After Talk with 001, Interviewer Hiroki Nanami

5/22: After Talk Hiroki Nanami x Daisho Sakuraba x Kazuma Kawahara x Toyota

5/23: After Talk Hiroki Nanami x Minori Sonic x 001

5/24: 009/Joe Shimamura Only Curtain Call*

5/25: After Talk Shunichi Takahashi x Masamichi Satonaka x Ryo Takizawa x Rita Aizawa

5/25: Action Curtain Call*

5/26: Special Curtain Call*

*Photos are permitted at these events

It was revealed that certain performances will also conclude with character specific special events, and include character postcards as well. Very jealous of the folks who get to see this live, and more so for those that attend a photo op!

The interviews with Ivan are sure to be interesting... I am curious to see if they have Nanami interviewing the doll or Ivan's voice actor. I guess we will have to wait and see lol.

To wrap things off the main cast did a short introductory performance, and boy did I try to get some good screen grabs.

How are we feeling about twinkified 002? His lil ponytail moment was a surprise but seems more appropriate for complicated choreographed fight scenes.

Francoise seems to be the newest siri update in this canon, but damn if she doesn't make it look good.

I know the first thing the costume department is doing is adding velcro to that scarf! It just couldn't keep up lol

,':^/ I just want to know who decided the patchy brown face was fine but drew the line at his hands matching. I just want to talk

Changs actor has a few stage position issues but carried on with so much confidence it was almost a non-issue. I am also so impressed if that is a) a hairpiece or b) his real hair he committed to have for the play.

The bloke himself, had an intro as exciting as Francoise but you could tell they were also very excited to play the part. I am probably the most excited to see 007 and 009 perform from this intro alone.

,':^/ if someone doesn't take the bronzer away from him I will get the spray bottle...

Would love to hear others impressions, opinions, and thoughts! Do you like the styling of the play or is it too many degrees removed from the source material? Are you excited to see it or was the news of a play for the 60th anniversary not what you were hoping for?

[navigatorsghost]

Frooooots, froooooots, get yer froooots here! :D 🍉🥭🍈

Thank you! I'm sorry it took me a bit to answer this, I got brainjammed on the final question trying to decide what to ramble about. >_>

🍉 Do you prefer to write short fics or long fics? Multichaptered works or single ones? Why?

Uh, this is a bit of a trick question, because honestly, what I have is a lot of ideas for longfics but all I ever manage to get finished are the short ones. XDDD I would prefer, strictly speaking, to be able to write long/multichapter fics because I always have so many ideas and so much worldbuilding I want to do, but sadly my brains just won't buckle down so I have to settle for the mostly short fics they give me...

🥭 Rank from most enjoyable/fun to write to least: Fluff, Smut, Angst, Crack.

I actually have written and enjoyed writing all of these so this is really difficult to answer! All of them are my favourite in different moods. I write fluff when I'm feeling emotionally battered and want comfort, I write smut mostly when I want to pamper my muses, angst just happens when someone in headspace drops random tragic backstory on me, and usually I do crackfic when someone says something silly in Discord and then a whole plot falls out. XD So I really can't rank in order, I love them all!

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

I have an ever expanding lifetime list of blorbos so here's a couple of my current active ones from Naruto:

- Sasori is autistic as. fuck. Uncomfortable inhabiting a living organic body to the point where he turned himself into an imperishable corpse puppet, detests and fears change, gets anxiety when he thinks things aren't being planned thoroughly enough, hates scheduling disruptions and/or having to wait, cares intensely about inanimate objects but struggles to relate to living people, likes to hide in very small enclosed spaces, noticeably flattened affect despite clearly having actual emotions underneath, cannot contain the need to infodump about his special interest even in a literal life-or-death battle... one of us, and I love him for it. I feel sure he would've been so very much more Okay if someone had been willing to keep him safe in a nice quiet predictable place and give him lots of supportive attention on a consistent schedule.

- Hidan, slaughter-happy devotee of a dark god of suffering, secretly has a villain origin story that's basically "was born and raised in customer service". In a world where ninja are generally hardbitten career soldiers, he grew up in the one village that's renounced war in favour of catering to tourists. Consequently he has witnessed and endured horrors of a kind most ninja couldn't even imagine (can you imagine dealing with a stereotype Karen who's also heavily armed and can throw magic at you?) which finally drove him to go on a chaotic killing spree just to get out of there. He's secretly an expert in a dozen different embarrassing "soft" skills - he can write haiku, play the shamisen, run a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, and more - but had to teach himself how to, like, throw a kunai. (And he can't even talk to anyone about his trauma because they'll just think it's funny.)

Thank you for asking! ❤️

[aroninshonour]

Hello!! :)

Could you do 🐍(fav kind of serpentine), 💎 (fave realm) and 📺(fave season and why) for the ninjago ask game? Thank you :D

Fhskfjqkfjej YESS !!

Okok so my fav kind of serpentine is definitely the Constricti, I think they are so cool and and and I love the blacks and the oranges and the grays and dhfkwjtkwjtjektje (I have a thing for like. The ground. Or like. Earth themes I guess)

My favorite Realm is definitely the Departed Realm, idk it just kinda...draws me in, in a way- yk? Like, uhm- ghosts and the death that surrounds it is interesting to me I suppose. It's ghosts have a ton of different stories too, and I like to imagine that the Departed realm can be exactly what a ghost wants it to be, at least in that ghosts view of it, if ykwim?

Controversial opinion, but it's Skybound. It's kinda always been my favorite season, even with the addition of other seasons after it.

Skybound, to me at least, gives the characters development that they needed, even if it's pretty much ignored after the season.

Jay, making the mistakes he does in the beginning, is able to learn from them and makes himself better about it by the end.

Nya is able to express how she feels about, well, everything. How she's always been defined by someone else, how she's just considered the 'girl ninja'. Her and Jay getting to have that talk is something really special that I think will always hold something special too it.

Nadakhan, although I hope he dies horrid painful deaths an infinate amount of times over, was an absolutely amazing villian. He did everything wrong in the right way. He was legit just an amazing villian, the trickery, the hostages, his demands, torture, the way he *knew* how to break someone, the control he has over basically everything is terrifying. All the way to the end he was a great bad guy, he had everything under control...until he didn't. Until he let his guard down after he got his infinite wishes. I could go on for hours talking about him but I'm not going too-)

This season we got reveals about Jay and his parents, we got a team up we never thought would happen, we got characters too (ECHOECHOECHOECHO) I dunno it just did so many things right. Although I don't like that they randomly made Dareth sexist- that was dumb -

So yes, Skybound has a ton of things wrong with it, but it also has so much to love about it, at least it does to me. (So do the other seasons but this ain't about them)

And the last wish Jay made, I know tons of people hate that because the show just ignored all the character development and all, but honestly I don't know what else he could've done. If he hadn't made that wish, and he chose to make it so Nadakhan wasn't a dijjn, then Nya would've died(No one wants that. I hope...) and Lloyd probably would've continued to get older because the wish was never actually reversed(Unless Nadakhans magic being gone reverses it but idk...)

So yeah, Skybound has its flaws and it's got it's good bits, But I love it regardless. (Prime Empire is second by the way...damn my favs are all Jay and Nya suffering...crazy)

Oh and also I think they should've waited a season or two before putting Nya and Jay together again, maybe could've gave them a little recovery arc and then putting them together......but they didn't which is sad but ykw whatever it's fineeeeeeeeee...I guess

[berylcups]

La Squadra Splatoon AU/Crossover Pt 1 of 2

Hey Beryl here! And this is the beginning of my JJBA junk. 🤡 I didn’t proofread it so don’t expect perfection. I thought a good 1st writing prompt would be what would these blood thirsty hitman be like in a children’s shooter game full of squid kids-rules are all weapons specials subs etc… are allowed from splatoon 1-3. None of these kits are balanced, these are just based off what I thought their stands would translate into game wise. Let me know if you’re interested in hearing about the rest of the gang and or having bucci gang done too. I wanna see if this is something people are interested in before I delve deeper into. Please enjoy ~

Risotto:

Ink/Octoling: Inkling

Species type: Hawaiian bobtail squid- the parasites that live in this squids body makes for great camouflage.

Ink color: gunmetal grey

Weapon: Blaster - quick, gets the job done, this leader has his priorities straight.

Sub weapon: ink mines - don’t think you can sneak up on him, he’s 2 -3 steps ahead of his opponents. A mine sets off behind him and he knows to 180 and start blasting.

Special: wave breaker - it’s great for him to find his other stealthy opponents and it’s a great distraction as he blasts whoever is trying to tear down his wave breaker.

Play style: He camps and waits for his enemies to show up, and then BAM! The damage has already been done, and you’re waiting to respawn. He doesn’t worry about painting, that’s what his teammates are for. He’s in it for the kill count. And you bet he has ninja squid as 1 of his abilities. As the leader, he won’t hesitate to help out a teammate in peril. Those are his men and he will fight to the death for them…of course he can just respawn. It’s not like real life getting blown to bits by a meddling drone *gives Nara the stink eye 😒 *

Formaggio:

Ink/Octoling: Octoling

Species type: Atlantic Pygmy Octopus - tiny but full of poison

Ink color: Rust

Weapon: Clash Blaster - a user friendly weapon and can be the user can be underestimated by it. But the cheesyman uses this to his advantage…also to add some salt to the wound that you got splatted with a “noob” weapon

Sub weapon: suction bomb

Special: ultra stamp- what isn’t there to love? He gets to crush his enemies with a massive ass hammer! He loves making his opponents feel small.

Play style: this stinker likes to pretend to be a complete noob. He’ll lure you in with a false sense of security and then start blasting. Or he’ll throw a faux squid party with a teammate or two and then straight up ambush you when you thought you were just there for some light hearted shenanigans. He’s a “nice” guy, so he won’t squid bag you, but he’ll definitely join in when he sees others doing it! It’s just a game don’t take it so seriously! 🤡

Illuso:

Ink/Octoling: Octoling

Species type: Mimic octopus - mimics other species… it’s like looking into a mirror!

Ink color: plum

Weapon: Carbon roller - great at inking , great at ambushing. It has everything he could ever want. Smack you from behind with the roller twice or throw a bomb in there and you’re done for!

Sub weapon: burst bomb

Special: big bubbler - it’s not as secure as the mirror realm but it’s good protection to keep enemy ink out. Unless someone has the balls to go in there and splat him at close range… he may have not of thought this completely through…

Play style: sneak attacker and a well known camper. he has the audacity to camp near your spawn point and kill you over and over again. Also will 100% squid/octobag after every kill because he’s a big jerk. 😒 also has ninja squid equipped. Go utilize the haunt ability to track his octo-ass down and give him a taste of his own medicine!

Prosciutto:

Ink/Octoling: inkling

Species type: vampire squid - despite the name, not really a vampire. But they live the longest amongst the others- roughly 10 years vs 1-2 years.

Ink color: goldenrod

Weapon: squeezer- perfect for splatting and inking for this no nonsense man! He’s going to utilize every bit of his kit.

Sub weapon: toxic mist

Special: ink storm or splatter color screen - you can’t age your opponent’s but you can sure weaken them as much. Damaging them gradually with a storm or disorienting them with losing their sense of color it makes them easier to pick off!

Play style: weaken the enemy at all costs and don’t back down! The weaker the better but he won’t hesitate to fight someone at his level or even higher - his reputation depends on it.