#wow terrible things can be done with the cc kraang bad future if donnie dies fi-[EXPLODES]

[qoldenskies]

Donnie changes so much from the beginning vs the end of Caged lungs, I cant help but wonder how he'd FEEL if he saw into his future and saw how he turned out/interacted with him…. like how would he react if he saw?

he would not believe it.

the implicit message of the scene above (or not so much, its not super subtle or anything) is "if i was in that situation, if someone hurt me and lied to me so directly and obviously, i would not fall for it." he says this, not knowing that thinking this way is the exact thing that dooms him to being unresisting towards the abuse. i was also kind of drawing a parallel between splinter not seeing anything in big mama and donnie not noticing the obvious signs in his own brothers (in both cases the red flags were RIGHT THERE. from an outside perspective, DUH, especially because in both cases the audience goes into it knowing that the turnout is going to be negative. easy for you to say. easy for donnie to say), even if the context/type of relationship is different, because i love paralleling the boys with their dad and i cant help myself

is it hubris? partially. but more than anything else its this unshakable pride in THEM. donnie feels like he has to earn their love, and always outdo himself, even if logically he knows better, and knows that they're not going to drop him the second he messes up (its why i mentioned bpd coding in the tags, sometimes the mental illness will just do that to you no matter how well you rationalize it). they took advantage of this. donnie's self-worth centers around his family, and their approval is where his confidence is born from, and having his pride in THEM broken is what breaks him.

if you told donnie at any point before CL's events what would happen, he would not believe it. if you told him about the curse, he'd say he knows them well enough to know that something would be wrong, not knowing that even when it happened he DID. the whole time he knew something was wrong. but they twisted it to make him think something was wrong with HIM.

he'd think the very concept would be ridiculous. i think he knows how well his family could break him if they really wanted to, because he knows deep down how fragile he's always been. but the illusion hasn't been shattered, it wouldn't process to him how possible it is. he'd know better. it's his job to know better! he's the smartest, he's not that stupid, wouldn't it be obvious? they wouldn't hurt him like that anyway! not like that! (and deep down he thinks: yes they would. it was only a matter of time.)

but through time travel fuckery (or alternate universe fuckery if we're talking about canonverse) if he actually MET cc!donnie? immediate shock and horror. then probably adoption. this is a version of him that has been reduced down to what's essentially the soft underbelly he works hard to protect, the weakest and most vulnerable parts of himself that he's afraid of speaking just in case his worst fears come true, and once he gets over the initial shock and shame of having to confront this part of himself, he would guard him with his life.