#yes. Leo is the younger twin

[milks-thoughts]

recently found She-Wolf by Shakira 👁️👁️

YKNOW WHAT I GOTTA DO GUYS, reader is still gender neutral despite the name (Istg if you take me using mate and make it weird I WILL COME FOR YOUR ORGANS)

summary: Rise boys with a wolf yokai reader (reader uses a cloaking broach)

TW: violence in Donnies part nothing too bad

SOS she’s in disguise

🌕 None of the boys knew, they all were in the dark

🌕 The reason you kept it hidden is because on full moons, you tend to lose your sense of self

🌕 you could speak, but it was just…creepy

🌕 Donnie was closest to figuring out, followed by Leo, Mikey, Raph

🌕 You were fighting with them when you looked up and saw the full moon

🌕 is was so…brilliant. Your cloaking broach fell off your wrist and you were shown in all you greatness

🌕 only, your soft eyes were replaced with hard ones (think like when 2012 TMNT gets serious, how they go all white)

Raph

He stepped back, hiding his brothers behind his large frame. His S/O lied to him, and it hurt but that wasn’t the main focus. You were a wolf yokai, your form was as tall as he was. His tail thumped on the floor behind him as he got ready to fight, he watched as you turned and sniffed the air “ pack..? “ came your voice, it was distorted and small. Your tail slumped on the floor as you walked, pushing past Raph, who was very confused. And focusing on Mikey your pawed hands started checking him over for injuries, licking of any access dirt. Once you decided Mikey was okay you moved onto both the twins, growling once you came to Donnie’s battleshell, they all gripped their weapons before Donnie paused and walked a bit away from you and purposefully skinned his arm on the wall. Your ears lifted and you came bounding over, corralling him back to his twin before starting to clean licking the wound (which was disgusting, like ew stop). Leo watched in horror as Donnie took off his battleshell. You growled at the metal before you sniffed at his shell, poking at prodding with your soft hands, like you had a piece of you left, you were careful with his shell. Once you deemed everyone well you spun around and hunkered down next to Raph, your boyfriend (your mate). He pet your head and you preened under his touch

Leon

OKAY SO what’s one thing Leo expected from his partner? weird obsession? yeah, that’s normal. animal skeletons? weird…but okay. dating him because you liked he was a turtle? yeah, that’s happened before. that was weird. his partner being a werewolf? yeah pro- WAIT WHAT-??? He stared at your hunkering form, you were as big as Raph so it was definitely intimidating. He was the second youngest, the almost baby. his older twin shifted to stand in front of him as you stared at them “ heyyyy…? you good? “ he asked from behind Donnie, who was behind Raph. You stared through them basically and started walking towards the group, shuffling through the older two eventually finding Leo you even pushed past him and looked at Mikey, he had a bloody forehead that was causing his mask to look more like Raphs. You whimpered and started to lean the wound, you were semi-concerned about the rest of the pack but this was the pup of the pack, he was so small and young. now that didn’t make him weak but he’s definitely a pup. you whimpered and worried about him. Donnie hummed as you forced Mikey to lay down and you laid on him. Leo smiled and plopped onto you, you looked up and pressed your nose against him, your mate (boyfriend) recoiled from the touch before leaning down and clonking your foreheads together gently.

Donnie

It was terrifying, you glared at the foot recruits and attacked, blood coating your jaws and dripping from you face wounds. There were some that died fast, either their neck being broken, their body being torn in two, or their throat simply being ripped out. But one of them, one of them was torn apart limb by limb. Donnie remembers them, they were the one that tore apart his battleshell. Once you were done mutilating the poor recruit you turned and hesitatingly walked foreword, seeing if Raph would chase you off. Since he was the oldest, he was the alpha (contrary to popular belief, the alpha is the oldest pair in the pack. Or in this case, oldest one) seeing as he didn’t you approached Donnie, sniffing and poking at him before growling at his battleshell. It was foreign, it wasn’t natural. Leo readied for a fight as you lifted a claw and carefully touched the battleshell, your claw indenting it a bit. You recoiled and looked at Donnie to make sure he was okay. Donnie was hesitant before opening his battleshell and dropping it to the ground, it slammed and hissed. You looked at the bruised part of his shell and carefully started licking it. He pulled away from you and glared, you scrunched back and whimpered. Your face apologetic, Donnie caved in and sat down letting you lick it and try to make it better. It wasn’t too bad in fact he liked the pressure it was just unexpected and it scared him. You huffed in a weird annoyance as your mates back wouldn’t clean. frustrating.

Mikey

You left as soon as you transformed, your figured could be seen jumping away. Everyone hesitated “ we should go after them! “ Mikey glared at Raph, “ they can handle themselves. “ Mikey huffed to his older brothers, who simply looked away “ yeah but hermano- what if they hurt someone? “ Leo added before getting bomped on the head by Raph. “ They’re on 4th street if we do want to go after them “ Mikey looked at his purple clad brother “ you put a tracker on them?! “ he screeched with anger before quickly turning “ fine. let’s go after them “ they all nodded and started following the directions Donnie was dishing out. Eventually finding you plopped down on a roof, staring up at the moon, whimpering. Mikey was the first to approach you, a growl ripped from your throat before you could stop it, you ears fell and you looked away quickly. Shame eating away at your stomach for growling at your mate. He placed a hand on your shoulder before pushing you slightly, causing your tail to wag before you chased him around the rooftop and his brothers. At some point Leo joined in and left a very anxious Raph and a uncaring Donnie. Mikey tumbled over you causing you two to just lay there in comfort as Leo carefully joined on laying down. Raph taking his spot watching over his brothers as Donnie laid down next to Leo. It was comfortable. Eventually everyone fell asleep, which ended in you guys almost getting spotted. And getting scolded by Splints.

[fallendomino99]

Post-Movie Turtle Pile Blah Blah Blah

(just me projecting thoughts and feelings and wanting a hug lol)

"Do you ever feel like..." Leo trails off. His twin and younger brother are both fast asleep against Raph, who shifts subtly to peer at the slider.

"What?" Leo picks at a loose thread on the beanbag he's occupying.

"Nevermind. Sorry," Leo replies. Raph huffs sleepily.

"What's on yer mind, Leo?"

"Don't worry about it, Hermano." Leo's tone is devoid of emotion. Raph checks the small clock ticking away across the room.

1:38 AM.

"Leo?" Raph tries, the slider's gaze shifting to his big brother from his staring contest with the ceiling. "Could ya tell Raph what you were gonna ask?" Leo tenses. Raph notices the signs of a panic attack a mile away. "Hey, big man, you're alright," he says, shifting around to reach for Leo. Mikey and Donnie mumble in their sleep.

"Raph..." Leo's voice cracks as he accepts the offered hand. Raph kicks into gear, sitting up enough to pull Leo into a hug. This startles their purple and orange brothers awake.

"Leo?" Mikey mumbles, joining the hug without questioning what's wrong. Donnie silently reaches out to tap Leo's shell.

We're here.

"Do you ever feel like you shouldn't exist?" Leo whispers brokenly. His brothers pull him in even closer.

"Aw, buddy."

"I do." The three eldest brothers snap their attention to the youngest, who shrinks away but doesn't let go of the hug. Leo lets go of Raph to pull his only baby brother closer into a crushing hug. Donnie joins the hug on the other side of Mikey, making sure he's holding on tightly to both of his younger brothers. Nothing else is said, and any tears that fall are silent. Leo tries breaking away at some point, making the other three latch onto him tighter.

"I'm sorry... Insomnia brain doesn't pair well with, uh..."

"Don't let go, Leo," Mikey whispers.

"I am declaring war on your dum dum thoughts," Donnie mumbles.

"We're in this together," Raph says with finality.

Anatawa hitorijanai.

[casey-kieran-real]

Hatsune Mikey?

[qmorningcrew]

my hc of the eggs in order of oldest to youngest

chayanne

dapper & ramón (twins)

leo

trump

juanaflippa, tilin, & bobby (triplets)

tallulah

richas

pomme

[pageofheartdj]

Donnie taking care of others in ‘I am the only one with the brain in this room’ style xD

[somerandomdudelmao]

Sooo I noticed something with these two panels:

The squiggles next to their faces, is that their twin senses syncing back up with each other? I feel like I’ve seen this happening with younger Leo and Donnie.

P.S. Thank you so much for your comic. It has been such an emotional delightful roller coaster to stumble across when I got into the ROTTMNT fandom this year. It’s brought me so much joy. Please remember to drink some water and take breaks our lovely void. 🖤

Yes yes YES I'm so happy you caught this.

They're just like two Bluetooth devices that been reconnected

[loojii]

Constellations as blue aliens! I made these last year, only uploaded them on Patreon Aquila, Cygnus, Pavo, Canis Minor, Canis Major, Boötos, Minor Leo, Lepus, Lupus, Cetus, Centaurus, Orion

For more info about them see the lore dump under the line ~

Aquila the eagle constellation. A myth tied to the constellation tells about Zeus, who transformed himself into an eagle, and kidnaps a pretty boy to be the cup bearer of the Gods. This boy was of course Aquarius. So the characters are friends! Or well, Aquila pressures Aquarius into doing dumb stuff and Aquarius can't say no (in a way kidnapping him for a good time). Aquila's outfit is based on an eagle as well, with white on top and dark on the bottom. He, and other bird constellations, have feather like hair! He is the younger brother of Cygnus and Pavo, and the older brother of Columba and Corvus (they're a big bird family!)

Cygnus the swan constellation. A myth tied to the constellation is that about Zeus, who again transformed. He got a woman pregnant and from that a set of twins were born, one mortal and one immortal. The twin being Gemini, of course. So the character here is best friends with Gemini (she seems to be the only one that is able to handle him). Since Gemini's alpha and beta star are actually the twins, she often visits them and favors Pollux, the immortal twin from the myth. She's like a fun aunt! Another myth tells about a lover being lost or something, drowned in the river depicted by the constellation Eridanus. So she probably doesn't like her that much.

Pavo the peacock constellation. One of the myths tied to the constellation tells about a monster with many eyes that was able to act as a spy for Hera. As a thank you she put his eyes on the peacock feather and the monster himself in the sky. The constellation also depicts the captain of a ship, who are also depicted by several constellations. I don't know what to do with that part yet for this character, maybe those constellations admire Pavo as a teacher? But as for the spy part; this guy obviously loves gossip and always knows everything about everyone. He is the oldest of the bird siblings!

Canis Minor the lesser dog constellation. In the sky the dog is seen hunting Lepus, together with Canis Major and Orion. So all three of them, the characters, dislike her of course! He is always seen hanging out with Orion, following him around and being his yes-man. He's the younger brother of Canis Major naturally

Canis Major the dog constellation. Another yes-man of Orion. I like to take inspiration from myths and science when it comes to their personality / relationships but sometimes I just go by vibes too. And what I feel is that Canis Major gets awfully flustered when Ursa Major is around (yes its solely based on the fact that both of them are the only ones with Major in their name). He does not know how to deal with her overly friendly demeaner and gets kinda angry

Boötos the herdsman constellation. In the myth tied to this constellation a herdsman was killed due to his bad whinemaking skills and his daugther and dog moarned him so much that they died too. The daughter was seen as Virgo and the dog as Canis Major. So the characters are friends! Boötos also has Canes Venatici (the hunting dogs constellation, no design yet) next to him, but the reason that constellation doesn't take on the role of the dog in the myth is because it was first known as Bo's staff. So that character would also be friends with him of course! Maybe part of the dog family? But I'm not sure yet. Boötes has multiple friends but he especially adores Virgo, in his eyes he can do nothing wrong and is the depiction of perfection. Many see Virgo that way but Bo is just a bit more extreme about it. The constellation is also seen hunting Ursa Major in the sky, so maybe they don't have a good relationship?

Minor Leo the lesser lion constellation. I was actually unaware this constellation excisted until I did this project. He is Leo's biggest fan and follows him around. Despite the name they are not related, they're just great buddies! The constellation at one point was planned to be changed into the lioness constellation, but eventually this didn't catch on. So this guy here is sometimes mistaken for a girl!

Lepus the hare constellation. In the sky the hare is seen being hunted by Orion and his two hunting dogs (Canis Major and Minor). So this character of course hates them. She's very quick on her feet and tries to outdone Orion every time she can.

Lupus the wolf constellation. The wolf is also being hunted in the sky, this time by Centaurus. So he dislikes him as well. But he's almost always silent and hangs out with Lepus a lot. It has nothing to do with their myths or anything. They just have similar names and are both being hunted, so I declared them buddies. Lepus always knows what Lupus means, without saying a word, and they are often spotted hanging out (Lupus following Lepus around)

Cetus the whale constellation. Cetus is the unofficial 14th zodiac sign, having the sun in its constellation for just one day. To represent this Cetus (the character) is engaged to Sagittarius, to one day become part of the Zodiac family (but he said yes when they were children and doesn't want to anymore, because who in thei right mind regocnizes Cetus as a Zodiac sign). The myth tied to Cetus is that of a sea monster who only came out of the sea to eat a beautiful maiden. Cetus (the character) is very insecure and never leaves her house. She's the big sis of Ophiuchus, the 13th Zodiac sign

Centaurus the centaur constellation. No, it's not Sagittarius. Both Sagittarius and Centaurus are depicted as centaurs in the sky and because of that their myths are sometimes mistaken for one another. So this guy here is very often mistaken for Sagittarius. But he's taller, better looking, stronger, more mature, etc. The myths of Centaurus go crazy and he's literly tied to everyone. In the discord server theres the ongoing joke that Centaurus is actually the main character. So this guy is just a very popular guy that everyone (excepts Sagittarius, who hates him with the might of 30 suns) likes! He is actually nice and unaware of Sagittarius hatred. Lupus, the wolf constellation, also doesn't like him but he's not as vocal about it as Sagittarius.

Orion the hunter constellation. Orion's myth he was a great hero who was defeated by a little scorpion. He and the scorpion were put in the sky but he's still avoiding the scorpion till this day (they are never seen in the same sky). The scorpion in question is of course Scorpio. Orion (the character) absolutely hates Scorpio and avoids him at all costs. He is seen hunting a hare (Lepus) in the sky together with his two hunting dogs (Canis Major and Minor). So this character of course is buddies with the two dogs and they all hate Lepus.

[qoldenskies]

older twin leo thoughts go !! 🎤

is this whether or not im a truther? because i am a truther to the point where i literally cannot engage with older twin donnie like i will just lose interest in a fic if it mentions it LMAO (<- this is not a condemnation of it, i just dont like it and its everywhere)

otherwise i personally think it makes more sense for their relationship than the other way around, which is why i go so hard on it. what im gonna yap about is all like tag-buried ideas that ive mentioned before lmfao but ive always seen leo as the one who acknowledges it way more than donnie does, because donnie as sappy as he can be is closer to the "two halves of one soul" kind of idea of their relationship, while leo does just see donnie as a younger brother and he treats him accordingly. he loves being twins because it automatically puts them in a special Camp with each other, but he does look out for donnie actively. even if they dont mention it, it's a gigantic influence in their relationship, and also i like the idea of donnie feeling like leo really understands him, which is one of the things he's always wanted the most, y'know?

ALSO MAY I PRESENT AN IDEA: everyone always makes donnie deny the idea of a "twin-sense" while leo pushes for it, but i think it ignores the fact that he's a big fat conspiracy theorist in canon and leo adheres a lot more to logic than he does (the whole episode where he thinks ghosts arent real, and also him repeatedly being grounded and vying for more logical solutions) so have you considered .... doing it the other way around. donnie believes in the twin-sense and leo doesn't. yes they argue about this. a lot. donnie may deny the more sentimental reasons for believing in it but he is SO convinced of this do not destroy his dreams

and even beyond the interpretation of donnie and leo as twins, i find myself more invested in both raph and leo/donnie and mikey than i am in them, and i think raph and leo having older sibling solidarity + donnie and mikey having younger sibling solidarity is my favorite flavor of their dynamics, which is honestly the real reason i like it so much LMFAOOO. b team/pb&j is my favorite dynamic and it just doesnt HIT if they're not the younger two who think raph and leo's bickering is very stupid .... what would i do without it . who would i even be

[doeeyeseddie]

of memories, togetherness, of laughter, love and tears

2.5k, rated G, written for week 2 of @winterofbuddie

Back in the kitchen, Eddie finds Christopher proudly supervising the rest of his younger siblings as they work on decorating the current batch of Christmas cookies. 5-year-old Chloe is focusing hard on her sprinkles, her tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth. Meanwhile, the twins Leo and Olivia seem to be – predictably – involved in a competition that only makes them messier. “Are any of your sprinkles even making it onto your cookies?” Eddie asks, amused, and Leo and Olivia look up at him with matching offended expressions in perfect synchronicity. “Yes, Daddy,” Olivia says with such disdain it makes Eddie grin, and points at their very colorful cookies. “Look!” ~ the diazes get ready for christmas. a big family buddie fic

[read on ao3]

[lilium-nepalense]

No ok hot take your all wrong. Neither Leo or Donnie is the older twin. They switch it around everyday even.

Splinter choose all thier ages based on height and at the time they where both the same. Simple explanation: twins! Leave it at that and back to his shows.

Leo and Donnie spend the rest of thier young lives trying to one up eachother on who's older.

Leo: im taller !

Donnie : that's not how ages work ! And your not even taller !

Leo: oh yeah ? Well I am cooler and more awsomer so that makes me older twin.

Donnie: No it doset!!!

as they got more annoying about it Raph decides to have them flip a coin for it every morning. They have been doing it ever since.

Somtimes it's used as leverage

Mikey: Donnieeeeeeee spend time with us you've been up in your lab all day!!

Leo: come on ! Don't you want to hang out with your favorite little brothers !

And somtimes it's used as a weapon

Donnie: as the older twin of today I get all authority and your opinion dose not matter

Leo: what !!!

Could Donnie very well work out who's older from blah blah blah science? Yes ! He could ! And maybe even did. But consider he dosent want to. Consider him wanting to connect with not only Leo but also Mikey and raph on a deeper level.

Think about days where Donnie is the older twin and connects with raph by shouldering responsibility together. Seeing the effect splinter has on his older brother and filling in the gaps. Consider days when he's younger and goofing off with Mikey trying out some crazy experiment with the faith that the older brothers will be there if they need.

Think of Leo and his relationship with Raph. Being Raphs right hand man on the team backing him up and fixing flaws in his planing. Working together to keep Donnie and Mikey safe. Days where being the younger twin means being babied like one and connecting with Mikey about not being trusted to make decisions (especially withing the first season of the show)

Days where Leo steps up to be a pillar for Donnie when he needs it and Donnie stepping up for Leo when he needs the same.

All these actions are things they would have been doing anyways. Supporting eachother and the rest if thier family. But it's layered with a flavor of older or younger for ease of connection.

Sure Mikey and Leo connect about not being trusted but isn't it better if they are also both the youngest ?

Sure Raph and Donnie connect over the huge specific loss of splinters supoort (as do all of them but these two in particular are pretty similar) and isn't it better if they where older together ?

In the end I don't think anyone really knows who's older at any given moment and the twins will flip it around for what's better or funnier in the moment. Because they are insane like that and don't care what anyone thinks.

[tmntfixationxreader]

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

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

Sure thing! Thanks for the request :)

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

♡Self conscious sleepover♡

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

Warnings: None, just fluff :)

Word count: 933

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Ready Y/n?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Anytime Raphie…”

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

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

Bye bye butterflies!

[izzysink]

𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝒋𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒙 𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡: 𝟹𝟸𝟹𝟺 ✎ 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑠: 𝑢𝑛𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 ✎ 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡

✎ The Morrígan is the irish-celtic shape-shifting goddess of war and fate, she hovers over the battlefield as a crow or raven.

✎ Danu is the matriarch of the Irish Pantheon, yet not much else is known about her or her “realms” - I didn’t do tons of research on these gods + goddesses so if I get something wrong please tell me!!

✎ Lugh is the Celtic god of sun and light.

𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 - 𝑦𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑒!

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔:

✎ Fiadh - 40

✎ Reader - 17

✎ Saoirse - 16

✎ Niamh and Roisin - 10

Set during the end of the giant war and before trials of apollo - if i make a part 2 were just gonna pretend toa doesn’t exist. Jason and Piper don’t have a romantic relationship, we’re keeping it platonic besties. I probably fuck with the timeline a bit so pls don’t bite me. IMPORTANT!! I haven’t finished hoo but i wanna write for Jason and i'm physically incapable of writing modern aus so I'm guessing who is where in the final battle; CHB = Percy, Jason, Piper, Leo, all cabin counselors, Romans, Greeks, ATHENS = Annabeth, Nico, Hazel, Frank, Romans, Greeks.

Please correct me if i am wrong 🌝

Also! The reader is born and raised in Ireland, I don’t really describe her that much but she’s not completely undescribed soooo, no use of Y/N apart from once, I actually gagged when I wrote that I’m so sorry but girlie has to introduce herself yk?

Also we're not gonna mention how I haven’t finished hoo. I don’t wanna hear it okay 😩 I Also made a little bit of the final battle with Gaea up as well, but let's face it I'm only here for the romance 💋 - yes i am ignoring the weird catapult octavian uses bc im not writing that thing, I’m also ignoring him. anyways;

𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦!

When you first heard of the possibility of other godly children in America, you weren’t too keen on the idea of revealing yourself and your friends to them. There weren’t any demi-gods in britain, a mystery your mentor and leader of the small camp you call home, Fiadh, a daughter of Danu who took you in along with the twenty something other celtic demi-gods residing in the camp on the east-coast of Ireland. Fiadh, with her wild hair and mother-hen demeanor had become a mother figure over the years, more so than your own godly parent. 

She had tried to find any semblance of a community in Britain or northern Europe, and had even dispatched you to look in eastern Europe - your grandma was a Bulgarian immigrant in the 60’s, and you’d grown up visiting places like Moldova and of course Bulgaria in your early childhood before monsters had started to become an issue - to your behest, you thought that revealing yourselves to another pantheon was too great a risk, and a danger the bubble of protection your camp provided. The only signs of any other pantheons Fiadh had found were whispers of Egyptians and a norse murmur in Scandinavia.

You never knew why Fiadh even wanted to have contact with other demi-gods, was she not content with the community she had spent her life building? The community that had saved so many lives? 

That was before Long Island.

Being a daughter of Morrígan, you have the ability to shift into a raven, though it’s not done easily at will. Morrígan is a triple-goddess, a figure composed of three deities, all three are  Morrígan but are not each other, confusing right? Imagine having three mums all in one. Parent-teacher evening is a nightmare. Badb (part of the Morrígan trio you call mum) is known to have hovered over battlefields as a crow or raven, and even to cause fear and confusion among soldiers and to turn the tides to her favoured side.

It was a balmy august day at camp when you felt a violent tug in your gut. You had been playing tag with the younger girls - Niamh and Roisin, 10 year old twin daughters of Lugh. you had paused in your chasing of the two almost immediately. You had felt this a year before, in August as well. You had changed into a raven instantly and had to be kept in a bird cage to stop you from flying away - you had been sat inside with Fiadh when it happened thankfully, as you were drawn by an unexplainable force to fly away, you had slammed into windows and completely trashed the main cabin before Fiadh had finally put you in the cage. That was awkward. Especially when you felt yourself turning back two days later, and had to squawk like crazy to make Fiadh release you before you were crushed by the cage. 

Two days was a concerningly long time for you to be stuck like that, you had only ever shifted to a raven for a few hours at most, and the longer you stayed in that form, the more you felt your human self slip away, your earthly concerns and memories had floated above you like through a pane of glass, there, but just out of reach, replaced with a purely animal way of thinking and the desperation to fly west. The relief you had felt when the window opened and you felt your little boned body begin to swirl with magic, your human form coming back, was unprecedented.

So it was understandable that you were a little bit panicked when you felt that same sensation begin to bubble in your gut. You hadn’t even tried to shift since last year, fear consuming you whenever you attempted. You tried to run to the main cabin, Fiadh was probably making lunch with a few of the other kids, but it was too late, your body shrank and your hair morphed into feathers, your mouth became a beak. Your senses doubled and tripled, overwhelming you as you flew uncontrollably west. You tried to fight it, flapping in circles as the girls gaped up at you from below. Eventually you relented to your body, the mental struggle of fighting your instincts too much for you to resist.

Later, Fiadh told you of the aftermath, Niamh and Roisin had burst into the main cabin, panicking as they told Fiadh what had happened only minutes prior. The next few days were spent in disarray as efforts were sent out to find you all over Ireland, all coming back empty handed with only a few scratches and monster encounters to make up for it. Your best friend at camp, Saoirse, hadn’t slept at all, spending the most time out on the hills to find you, and had almost died searching the north forests.

You, on the other hand, had flown across the Atlantic ocean to America. Joy.

When you arrived where your instincts had pulled you kicking and screaming, it was a battlefield. literally. Hundreds of kids in purple and orange shirts fought monsters, though they weren’t like the ones you knew. The battle was surrounded by forest, you could see a summer camp a little ways away as well, and the coast was a mile or two from the main battle.

The massive revelation of the existence of other demi-gods, because they had to be, you could feel the godly power from where you perched in a high tree a good ways away, didn’t connect with you until much later, in the moment however, it just felt right, as if you always knew, as if you were meant to be there, to observe and be a part of this place in history. Oh Fiadh would be thrilled. 

You stayed mainly out of the cross-fire, watching without taking it in fully yet astutely aware of what was happening, the demi-gods were losing strength, more and more kids were being injured or killed by the army of monsters every passing hour. Your fluttering heart sank to your feet, well, claws, an agonised screech escaped your throat, grief and desperation for the strangers to win clawed at your heart, you prayed to your mother, begging for a blessing on these children.

That was when you saw it, a massive, bronze, dragon flying up with a goddess in its maw. A boy rode on its back, and shockingly, a blond boy flew up beside him carrying a girl in his arms. You were drawn to the trio in the sky, gliding over to hover above. The girl, whom up close you noticed to be beautiful, with choppy brown hair she pulled off amazingly and who had an almost magnetic aura, spoke to the goddess. You could feel the magic in the words from where you circled the group, she was powerful. Though you were close you couldn’t hear what they were saying very well, though you understood when the goddess, the leader of the monsters, you instinct told you, fell asleep in the dragon's clutches. 

The boy riding on the back of the dragon wore suspenders and a tool belt that looked stuffed full, he had an impish face and you guessed he would usually be a jokester, but his expression was anything but. You could see the tense stares between the trio as they argued for a few moments over something, before the blond boy and the girl flew back down. You stayed with the boy, a silent companion for a boy you didn’t know. Blood pumped in your veins as you circled the duo, something big was coming.

The dragon exploded.

Heat burned your small body as you went limp, falling rapidly through the sky. The boy fell beside you, unconscious and singed, his face twisted in agony as his clothes caught on fire and his arms covered in burns.

Pain flooded your senses as you fell in sync, a tug in your gut alerted you to the magic swirling in your bones. Shit. 

You don’t remember anything after shifting back, only pain and the distant sound of you screaming in panic as you fell. The boy disappeared from beside you, but you didn’t notice. Now that you had shifted back to human form, burns riddled your arms and legs and you felt yourself becoming light headed. You don’t remember touching the ground, because you didn’t. Strong arms wrapped around you as the last wisps of consciousness fall away.

↜✿↝

When Jason saw a girl falling out of the sky right after he saw his best friend explode, he was more than a little confused. Although he hadn’t even had the chance to process Leo’s death, he knew he couldn’t let someone die like that if he had the ability to stop it.

Since the Apollo cabin was already flooded with injured demi-gods, and he didn’t even know who this girl was, he brought her to the main house instead, where the cabin counsellors and the seven were gathering to discuss post-battle. Jason knew she wasn’t Greek or Roman, she wasn’t wearing a camp shirt, and except for a small dagger tied to the belt loop of the denim shorts she wore, there was no indication of her being a demi-god at all.

He held her in a princess carry as he walked across the clearing in the middle of the cabins, most of the monsters had left once Gaea was killed, and now everyone was sat in a post-battle haze, nobody really noticed the son of Jupiter carrying an unknown girl, and he was grateful for it to be honest, he had enough on his plate without people crowding him.

↜✿↝

It was silent around the pool table, nobody had touched the snacks, and even the usually loud and rambunctious Stoll twins sat glumly. Will Solace was with the rest of the Apollo cabin in the med cabin, and Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank were in Athens, but apart from that everyone else was there, including Chiron and Diyonisus. He stubbornly kept his gaze away from the empty Hephestus cabin seat.

Heads turned to him as soon as he walked in the room. Chiron spoke first, “Jason, my boy, it's good to see you well, who is she?”

“I don’t know, she fell from where Festus exploded, she needs medical attention,” Jason said, Piper got up from her seat, “I think there's some nectar in the mini-fridge, are you sure she’s not anyone we know?” 

“I don’t think so,” Jason responds as he sits you down gently on an armchair, you’re still blissfully unconscious, a good thing, for if you were awake you would be screaming in pain. Clairisse spoke up from her seat at the table, “well, this is great, Gaea is dead, prophecy fulfilled, and now we have a mystery girl on our doorstep, were not even sure if she’s a demi-god,” 

“She probably is, there's a dagger on her belt.” Jason said, “the least we can do is heal her, she’s got some nasty burns and she’ll wake up soon anyway, i think she just passed out from stress.”

Clarisse looked at him sideways, “and when did you become a doctor?”

“Calm down, children, Piper, if you could give her some nectar, I would appreciate it,” Chiron leveled his gaze at Jason and Clarisse, “now is not the time for infighting, we have yet to hear from Athens, and we find ourselves with another pantheon’s ward,”

Percy whistled low, “you mean she’s norse or something?”

“Of a sort, yes,” Chiron agreed, “though I’m not sure how she got here of all places.

Jason heard a gasp as he turned his head, you had woken up, you hissed in pain as Piper fussed over you gently, handing you a square of nectar, you looked at it oddly before eating it anyway, not fully awake or lucid to really question it. Blinking rapidly, you came to fully, and stared at the table of demi-gods confusedly before opening your mouth to speak, “Where-where am I?” Jason almost swooned as you spoke, your accent washing over him like a tidal wave. Now that you were awake, he looked at you more closely. You wore denim shorts and a plain t-shirt, as well as white trainers and lacy ankle socks. You had your hair tied up in a half up half down style - though it was messed up and pointing in a couple directions from falling through the sky, with a bow pinned to the back of your head. And you were cute.

Oh.

“Camp Half-Blood, a camp for Greek demi-gods,” Chiron said, calmly wheeling over to you in his chair, “my name is Chiron, who are you?”

You blanched, “Greek? And you’re American- not that it’s a bad thing just, am I in America, right now?” Chiron nodded affirmatively. “Fuck- sorry, just… oh yeah, um, I’m Y/N, daughter of Morrígan, do you know how I could get home?” that brought Jason out of his trance, he had zoned out listening to your voice, not really paying attention to the words, he could listen to you for hours. Chiron spoke again, “more importantly, how did you get here? I’m assuming you’re from Ireland?” he waited for you to agree before continuing, “were you sent here?”

“No,” you shook your head, “I got pulled here by magic and stuff, it’s kinda hard to explain.”

“I’m rather good at understanding things,” Chiron winked at you conspiratorially. The humor made you relax more, tense shoulders loosening and your muscles unwinding. You smiled at him, Jason almost died, was he okay? He shouldn’t be like this so easily. “My mother, Morrígan, is known to have hovered over battlefields as a crow or raven, being her daughter, I can turn into a raven at will, but it’s not very easy and I haven’t done it since last summer since I got stuck as one for a few days, earlier today i shifted without meaning to and i was sorta dagged here by my instincts to watch.”

“You mean to tell us you flew across the Atlantic ocean in a few hours?” 

You shrugged noncommittally, “I guess,”

Piper spoke up from beside you, “do you remember anything from the battle?”

You leant back in you chair as you thought, your brows furrowing, and it was all Jason could do to try and resist the urge to smooth the expression, “not much, i kinda become a bird when i shift, and my mental capacity gets smaller, but i do remember a dragon, and i saw you fly up with the blondie over there.” Jason blushed, and Thalia, who was sitting quietly and observing, gave him a knowing side eye.

Piper's eyes widened, “if you fell when Festus exploded, did you see where Leo went?” she grabbed your hand, imploring you with her eyes. “You mean the boy on the back of the dragon?” Piper nodded furiously as Jason got out of his stupor and paid attention, this may be their only lead to find Leo. “I remember falling with him, but he disappeared after i shifted back, i don't know where he went after that,”

Chiron butted in before Piper could hound you for more information, “I think our guest has had enough questioning, the med cabin is too full to house her, but I think she can stay for a few nights until she can fly home, does anyone volunteer their cabin?” Jason wanted to volunteer, and he almost did before Thalia butted in and saved him from the embarrassment. “The hunters of Artemis would be happy to lend her a bed for a few days, she can join our team for activities and chores while she’s here as well.”

You nodded in thanks as you stifled a yawn, blinking sleep from your eyes to keep yourself awake, “is that bed available now? If it’s not too much to ask,” Gods, why was Jason like this? He didn’t even know this girl and he was already blushing like a schoolgirl with a crush. Thalia nodded, “of course!” and went to help you out of your chair and support you by pulling your arm around her shoulder, heading for the Artemis cabin. Jason found himself oddly jealous of his sister, he wanted to help you to your bed, he saved you so he should- Gods he needed to stop, he’s being so pathetic.

Chatter picked up in the room as soon as you left, and Piper stood next to Jason where he was leant against the wall, arms crossed. She smirked at him knowingly, “she’s cute isn’t she?” 

“What?- no, I mean, yes, she's pretty cut- pretty, um-” Piper burst out laughing at his expense while he turned into a blushing mess, how could she? After all he’s done for her? “You should talk to her when she’s fully awake, I’m sure she’d love to meet her dashing savior,” Piper grinned at him devilishly as he gave her a flat look.

Meanwhile, you were lying in a bunk bed Thalia had lay you down in, and panicking. Did you seriously call that boy blondie? Gods, what were you going to do? Why did he have to be so cute? And embarrassingly your type. Saoirse was gonna have a field day when she found out. Tall, strong, blond, ugh! What’s a girl to do?

↜✿↝

It's been a day or two since the battle, and Camp Half-Blood was slowly fixing itself, the kids in Athens had returned, and the med cabin was clearing out except from a few dire injuries. You had been helping to rebuild a couple of the damaged cabins, and you’d even made a few friends. The Romans and Greeks seemed pretty chill about another pantheon of demi-gods existing, which was a relief, and you’d learnt the story of the seven from multiple other people, which made you even more desperate to find the blonde boy who saved you. Since that day, he had seemingly disappeared. You never saw him at the campfires, and you never caught him during the day either; you still haven't thanked him for his catch, and to be honest you kinda wanted an excuse to talk to him as well. 

Which was why you were grinning ear to ear when you spotted him sitting by himself at the tree line, you had been on a midday walk when you saw him, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. You made your footsteps louder as you approached to make sure he didn’t spook when you sat down. popping down next to him, you hugged your legs to your chest and put your chin on your knee. “You know, you never mentioned your name,” you said cheekily, looking out into the forest with him. He jumped, perhaps he was less spatially aware than you thought. “Oh. its uh- Jason,” he stumbled over his words as he registered your presence bedside him, tortuously close. “Well then, uh- Jason, thank you for saving my life, I really appreciate it,” that made him relax, the tension melted off his broad shoulders like candle wax, “it's just Jason,” he chuckled, “and you don’t need to thank me, it was just the right thing to do.” you gasped playfully as you replied, “my, so noble my savior, I suppose with that I’ll leave you to your brooding,” you went to get up, but he grabbed your hand desperately, “no! Stay, please?” electricity sparked where your hands joined, magic swirling around the two of you knowingly, a magnetic force of attraction pulling you together like thunder and lightning “of course.”

𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑤𝑜?

𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠! 🤍

[tangledinink]

Well! It's not a Monday, and it's been a hot second. BUT!!! :3c Here! Chapter 27 of I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? is here! Raph and Casey finally get to have some long overdue bonding time together. Read it on ao3 or below the cut.

[ prev ]

“Why the hell is she ALWAYS HERE?!” Donnie cried in complaint, just barely twisting out of the path of a kunai’s bite, twisting backwards to retreat from his opponent’s assault.

“Great question. Honestly, it seems like you’re kind of obsessed with us. Sort of embarrassing,” Leo chirped in reply, grinning big as he spun into the fray, leaping in defense of his twin. The Foot Ninja easily dodged him and the sweep of his odachi, all but spitting at him in reply.

“DIE.”

“Damn, okay. Touchy,” Leo muttered.

Their opponent shrieked in response, throwing herself at her enemy, but was easily rebuffed by their father, jerking forward to shove her away from his children. Raph would admit she was an impressive fighter, but she was certainly no match for their dad. It took almost no time at all for him to pin her down to the ground, and Raph was just beginning to get a sense of deja vu when Leo heaved a great sigh.

“At least there’s only one of--”

“WHY? WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!” Donnie squawked, whipping around to absolutely glare at their twin. 

And god, you would not imagine what happened just a few seconds later.

Raph managed to punch out two Foot Clan ninjas and throw another through a storefront before he came about five centimeters from being knifed, and he was finally forced to seek temporary refuge, ducking behind the cover of a nearby sunglasses kiosk to catch his breath and attempt to get his shit together.

C’mon, Raph, focus. You got this. Everyone’s counting on you. You just gotta keep it together, and figure out where the Dark Armor piece is so we can grab it and get out without anyone getting--

“Raph!” 

His younger brother’s excited, breathless cry severed his frantic train of thoughts, and his head bobbed upward just in time to watch Leo rush over to join him-- nearly skidding out in his rush. “I think I have a plan--”

Raph froze.

He swore he felt his entire body seize for just a second, his heart clenching up tight in his chest as though someone had just reached through him and grabbed it with ice cold hands.

“No,” he snapped in reply.

“What?!” Leo protested. “You didn’t even let me expl—“

“NO,” Raph hissed, harder this time. He didn’t let himself look back over at Leo, because he knew that he would just glare at him. And he knew that it would just make his body freeze up even more.

“Raph, I promise this will work, it’s—“

“Leo, STOP. I said no! What part of that don’t you get!?” Raph snarled and there was this horrendous tickling crawl running up and down his spine like there was a damn millipede under his skin, and he didn’t want to fight with Leo, so he just—

Ran.

He had to get back out into the fray sooner or later, anyway. They couldn’t just hide forever.

He didn’t wanna be angry at Leo. He didn’t wanna take things out on him. It wasn’t… his fault. Exactly. Totally? Maybe? And he didn’t wanna think about who’s fault it was, anyway, so this was easier.

He didn’t have to think about whether or not he was angry at Leo if he was taking it out on someone else.

And luckily, they were literally surrounded by evil ninjas right now. So. That was actually pretty convenient.

And yeah, okay, sure, there were a lot of them. But here’s the thing-- Raph was no scientist, but he had crunched the numbers, and he was pretty sure their dad was badass enough to count as at least two dozen ninjas, which meant their odds were actually pretty good. 

And if their dad was at least two dozen, Raph couldn’t just sit back and let himself be just one.

There were a lot of Foot Clan soldiers, yes. But they had shown up here for a reason, and it was important. And this time, they weren’t just gonna retreat. Raph knew what was at stake-- they were gonna get what they came for.

(That’s what he had told himself at the time, anyway. That was the mantra in his head the entire time-- roaring through the fray alongside his family.)

Raph had been to this mall before. In fact, he’d been to this mall lots of times before. It was overall unremarkable, but the one thing that had always stood out to Raph was the elevator. And this was because Raph had always HATED it.

He didn’t want to say afraid, per se, because that would involve him openly admitting that he was afraid of the elevator. But really, could you blame him? It wasn’t that elevators in general frightened him, it was that THIS elevator frightened him. He remembered visiting this mall back when he was small with the rest of his family and begging his Dad to let them take the escalators instead.

Because how in the world could a glass elevator possibly be safe?! And who the heck would even enjoy that!? Let alone think it was a good idea to build one?!

His first thought he had upon his body careening through the glass, shattering on impact, having been sent flying after a particularly large, brutish member of the Foot slammed into his side, was “see? I was right. This was a bad idea.”

It was pretty much the only thought he had, actually, his brain a bit too caught up in the fact that they had just been thrown through an elevator shaft to really process anything else right away.

Thank god the rest of his body didn’t need his brain in order to react.

He didn’t need conscious thought to tell him to grab onto the remaining metal edge of the elevator, clinging to the closest thing he had to solid ground with his arm as the rest of his body dangled over open air.

(What floor were they on again? The third? The fifth?)

He also didn’t need conscious thought to tell him to grab onto the girl that had been thrown with him— the girl he had been locked into combat with about ten seconds ago.

With his free arm, he bundled her up as close as he possibly could to himself, and he hung on tight.

And for half of a second, they kind of just… hung there. Raph’s feet scrabbled against the smooth surface of the panel of glass below them, surrounded on all sides by thick glass and metal save for the hole just above them that Raph was now hanging onto for dear life.

He could feel little pieces of shattered glass falling down the back of his shirt and tickling at his skin.

He was vaguely aware of screaming from up above him, and while he could pick out his family’s voices amongst that of strangers, he couldn’t quite tell what they were saying. It was hard to hear anything over the heartbeat in his ears.

He glanced down at the girl shoved up against his side. For every bit he was hanging onto her, she was hanging onto him just as desperately, fistfuls of his clothing clenched up in her fingers.

Her eyes were so big.

“Hang on,” he heard himself saying, kind of distantly in the background. “Just hang on. I’ll get us back up.”

And almost as soon as he spoke, her eyes narrowed again.

About four things happened in very quick succession over the following five seconds.

The first was the girl hoisting herself upwards by her grip on him, twisting around with shaking fingers so she could draw a knife from her belt and lunge towards the arm that was not currently wrapped around her.

The second was a flash of crimson light overhead, tickling around the edges of the elevator car that currently sat about three stories above them.

The third thing was a horrific, shrieking groan of metal, followed by a sickening snap.

And the fourth was Raph letting go of his hold on the elevator shaft.

---

Casey was honestly a bit surprised to find that she had, in fact, not been killed in the ensuing fall.

She didn’t think she was even… hurt. At least not badly.

Now that the world had stopped spinning, she began to take quiet inventory, a soft groan escaping her as she strained to gather her bearings again. When she moved, shards of shattered glass fell off of her like snow, joining the mounds of it underfoot with little clicks and clatters. Upon moving, she also realized that there was still an arm wrapped around her, pressed up so tight around her middle that it was nearly hard to breathe. But it wasn’t quite painful.

She had just fallen about four stories. And yet, she was pretty sure she wasn’t even seriously injured. No broken bones, at least. Everything could still move. She could feel her arms, her legs, her toes. She could still feel all her fingers.

She had heard her clan members yelling before. Heard the command to cut the cable. If the fall didn’t kill her, then being crushed by a falling elevator car really should have. It should have killed them both. It was supposed to kill them both.

But it didn’t. They were both alive.

Because the person she had been attempting to murder, who still had an arm wrapped around her middle, hunched over her as if to shield her, currently had them both shoved into the very corner of the elevator shaft, shoved up against the concrete walls of the lower level they now resided in.

They hadn’t been crushed because he was holding up the elevator car that should have killed them, his arms encrusted in shimmering, crystalline red light.

He was also definitely not a human anymore.

“Are you okay?” He bit out, his voice tight and strained but still soft and wobbling with concern, and Casey gaped rather than answering. He shifted slightly, readjusting his stance. His upper body was braced up against one corner of the metal panel that made up the bottom of the elevator car— creating just enough of a pocket for the two of them to take refuge in, tented beneath the wreckage up above. His long, alligator-like tail shifted as he moved, sweeping through the broken glass.

Shhhh shhhhh.

“Oh my god,” Casey responded, her eyes wide. “… You’re actually a mutant turtle.”

“What?” He bit out, his eyes just barely flickering over to her, and Casey quickly bit her tongue.

“Nothing,” she spat, bristling slightly. Jesus christ, why was she talking to him? What the hell was she even doing…?

Come on, Recruit, get it together. Focus. You’re not dead. You didn’t die. So you still have a job to do.

Though her hands were shaking horribly, she lurched a bit to grab for her belt, only to realize with a dawning horror that her kunai were no longer there. I must have lost them in the fall… She bristled for a moment, wriggling from the other’s grip just enough so that she could back away— pressing herself up against the cold concrete wall. The space they had was incredibly limited, however, and the distance she could put between them was… minimal, to say the least.

She could feel her heart beating in her chest as she patted herself down again, and then a third time, not daring to take her eyes off the enemy but at the same time searching frantically. 

She was unarmed.

And he was… a giant mutant reptile.

(And, look, she hadn’t exactly thought that Draxum was… lying, per se, but oh my lord. Seriously?)

She didn’t take her eyes off of him. And he didn’t take his eyes off of her.

“Hey, uh,” he shifted slightly beneath the weight of the elevator, wincing a bit at the press. Shattered glass shivered softly beneath him as his feet moved. “Can you, uh, not stab Raph, please…? ‘Cause that’s gonna make holding this thing up… a lot harder…”

… Ah. She supposed he had a point.

A little voice in her head said that that didn’t matter. The benefit of eliminating a member of the Hamato Clan weighed far heavier than the loss of her life would to the well-being of the Clan. Killing him, and, in turn, herself would still measure out to be a win at the end of it all.

She should kill him.

And herself.

… But she… didn’t have her kunai anyway, right? So… 

Perhaps she… wouldn’t.

She was still waiting to see if her heart rate was going to slow down any time soon, finding herself a bit annoyed with how rapidly it was still banging away in her ears, the skin there throbbing as blood raced through her veins. She kept sucking in long, steadying, calming breaths, trying to push it down, but the adrenaline had not yet run its course, it seemed. 

“I… Will not stab you,” she finally said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously, her body still tight and tense, muscles coiled. “IF… you do not make any attempts to harm me.”

She had no weapons, but he was one. Even if he was holding up a fucking elevator right now.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he wheezed, his voice caught somewhere between a shaking grunt and a laugh, and she scowled. “You’re not hurt—?” He prodded once more.

“Don’t ask me that,” she snapped, bristling in response and clenching her jaw. She didn’t understand what benefit he thought he would reap by pretending to be concerned. She wasn’t that stupid.

And if he actually was concerned, and it wasn’t an act, then it simply meant that he was the stupid one, and nothing else.

“Alright, okay…!” He bit out, once again adjusting his grip slightly, rolling one shoulder forward slightly to shift the weight he was carrying from one side over the other. “… It’ll be alright. My family is… gonna come get us. Any second…”

“You don’t know that,” she scoffed.

“They will,” he insisted, though now his eyes shifted away— staring hollow at the corner of the little pocket they were now trapped inside of. Casey could just barely pick out the movement of his lips and tongue, ghosting some sort of whisper to himself in between his heaves of breath. Seven, eight, nine, ten…

Counting. He was counting to himself. From one to ten, and then again, and again.

“You’re hurt,” Casey said— not really asking, but rather stating. 

“’S just heavy,” he deflected. “… ‘M fine. Raph’s sturdy.” 

Raph. Right… Short for Raphael. She knew their names. Of course she did, she just… hadn’t known their nicknames until now.

Or rather, hadn’t thought of them. What would she ever care what they called each other? What they answered to?... 

… But she supposed she couldn’t actually disagree.

He was sturdy before, when he was a human.

She wasn’t sure she could find the words to describe how absolutely immovable he appeared to her now. It was equal parts impressive and absolutely infuriating. 

God. She hated to fucking look at him. Especially now, like this. 

It somehow felt like a goddamn threat. He was holding an elevator up over her head, hunched over to provide a shelter for her body, and it felt like he was fucking threatening her. 

Well, it wouldn’t work.

“I’m not afraid of you, mutant,” she snapped, her lips curling back over her teeth.

“… Alright?” He said, sounding a bit confused, and Casey bristled in offense at the audacity he had to be baffled by her completely rational statement. 

“I could still kill you,” she said.

For a long moment, it was quiet. Aside from her heartbeat. And his ragged breathing.

“… I’m not tryin’ to scare you,” he said. “… Sorry.”

There was another long moment of silence.

“What’s your name?” He asked. Casey stiffened slightly.

“I don’t have a name,” she hissed, narrowing her eyes, and then absolutely snarled when he bit out a bark of laughter in response.

“What do you mean you don’t have a name?” He wheezed. “You… You don’t gotta tell me if you don’t want…!”

“I don’t have a name,” she pressed, harder this time, narrowing her eyes— hesitating for just a second. 

“… The Foot Clan doesn’t have names. We renounce them,” she said after a moment. “…. We only take titles. They reflect our rank and our power. Names make you weaker.”

She didn’t know why she was telling him this. It was stupid. He didn’t deserve to know. Because she was angry that he would look down on her for it…? 

Because she was still mostly convinced that they would both die down here?

“… That’s sad,” he said.

“It’s not,” she said.

“It is,” he said. “… I think it’s sad. You deserve to have a name.”

“I don’t want a name.”

“What’s your title, then?”

“… Recruit.”

“Alright, then, Recruit,” he bit out, a tiny bit of a laugh still coloring his voice. “… I’m Raph. And my family is gonna get us out of here. I promise.”

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” she growled in response, narrowing her eyes.

“I don’t,” he assured.

And then, for a while, it was quiet again. 

“Are you actually eighteen?” He said, and Casey scoffed.

“YES!” She yelped in response. “What, you don’t think I am!? I am clearly eighteen! I am very obviously an ADULT!!!”

“No,” he admitted, grinning just the tiniest bit. “Not really.”

“You’re an idiot,” she accused.

“Yeah, people say that sometimes…” He mumbled with a huff. He shifted again, readjusting his grip ever-so-slightly and twisting his feet, and the metal groaned ominously above them. 

Just for a second, his footing slipped, and he jerked— and for just a single moment, the top of the world was falling again, and they were both about to be crushed.

His foot hit the side of the wall, and he braced, tensing all his muscles properly once more and holding steady.

Nothing fell.

The creaking up above quieted.

“… Ow,” he muttered, quietly, to himself, shakily, jerkily moving his foot again after several long seconds of both of them not daring to move or breathe— cautiously inching it away from the wall. A smudge of blood was left behind, Casey noted.

Her heartbeat had never slowed, and she was beginning to think that it never would.

“… You’re standing wrong,” she said.

“… What?” Raph bit out, glancing over at her after a long beat of silence.

“YOUR STANCE IS WRONG,” she spat, scowling slightly and fixing him with a hard glare. This is why she had to yell— no one ever wanted to fucking listen to her when she said things, and the things she said were important. “You’re going to hurt yourself or fall like that, you’re doing everything STUPID. Move your leg this way, and twist this leg out. And bend your knee, and… and move your arm over this way a little if you can. And it’ll spread out the weight better.”

At first, Casey didn’t think he was actually going to listen to her.

And then, very, very slowly, moving at a crawl, he shifted his body— following her instructions and making the corrections until he settled into place again. He was still shaking, and still panting, but just… the tiniest bit less now.

“… This is better,” he finally said.

“Of course it is,” she huffed, shifting just enough to shoot him a glare. “God. Doesn’t the Hamato Clan teach you anything?”

“Kinda,” he laughed. “… Is this what the Foot Clan teaches you? Seems… kinda… kinda niche…”

“The Foot Clan teaches me everything,” she hissed.

“Are they, like, your family?”

And Casey hesitated. Because she wasn’t sure how to answer that.

Yes, her brain said.

No, it said immediately after.

“… They are now,” she finally settled on, squaring her shoulders slightly. “Stop asking me questions.”

“Why?”

“You’re my enemy. I’m not giving you any information.”

“We ain’t got nothin’ better to do.”

“I don’t care.”

“You can ask me questions if you want,” he said. “Raph don’t mind.”

She scowled, and he shot her a weak, shaking, almost pleading sorta grin.

“C’mon,” he bade. “… ’S easier if I got somethin’ to think about.”

She narrowed her eyes, and her frown deepened.

This is to your advantage. You can get information from the enemy, right? This is good. Come on. Focus. Stop getting distracted.

“… Are you cold-blooded?”

“… What?”

“Stop making me repeat myself. ARE. YOU. COLD. BLOODED.”

“I don’t think so?” He said with a soft snort. “… I mean. Maybe? I’m not sure.”

“How do you not know?” Casey hissed.

“Well, I don’t… I don’t usually spend a lot of time in, uh… this body…!” He bit out. 

“You’re stupid.”

“Quit sayin’ that.”

“No.”

He laughed a tiny bit, shaking his head ever-so-slightly. “Why do you wanna know?”

Casey frowned. Why did she want to know?...

“… I’m just curious.”

“How old are you?” Raph asked.

“I’m eighteen. And I told you not to ask me questions.”

“You’re not eighteen.”

“I AM!!! I AM EIGHTEEN!”

“Nah! There’s no way you’re older than me!” He laughed. “You look like you’re in high school or somethin’.”

“I don’t go to school,” she growled, curling her lips with distaste. “And I am eighteen.”

“Why not?”

“I already told you,” she hissed. “I learn everything I need from my clan. Stop asking me questions.”

“Do you do, like… like, homeschooling?”

“I train.”

“You dropped out of high school?”

“I never went to high school, so I did not drop out, so there!” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “NOW STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS. I will not answer them! You are trying to get me to reveal secrets of my clan and it WILL NOT WORK.”

“I’m not! I’m not, I swear!” He insisted. “… Man, you should go to school. I feel like you’d be good at sports--”

A distant clamber of footsteps and a horrid, wrenching cry disrupted their strained conversation.

“RAPH!”

“Dad!” Casey’s companion immediately answered in kind, his head jerking slightly towards the noise. He had sounded so eerily calm up until now. “WE’RE HERE! W-we’re okay--!”

“Oh my god they’re alive--!”

“Raph--!”

“We’re coming, holy shit, it’s okay--”

“We’re gonna get you outta there, big guy, no problem, just hang on for us--!”

Everything moved really fast after that. Casey was sure they were saying other things, all speaking over each other and crying, clambering over each other and clustered about at the very edge of the elevator to peer down at them-- reassuring him, over and over and over,

‘It’ll be okay, we’ll get you out, we’ll save you, you’re okay, we’re here now, you’ll be okay.’

For some reason, everything else was kind of far off and muddy, but those things she could still hear. They sort of echoed, bounced around in her head.

And then a hand was thrust out in front of her.

She jerked back.

“Grab my hand,” the oldest of the group pressed, and it took her a second to hear him properly, but she could if she focused. “I’ll pull you out.” 

Casey bristled, pulling back slightly.

He was the only one not wearing the Hamato symbol-- but she knew he was one. 

“Don’t touch me,” she spat, and again, her hands instinctively moved towards her belt with no weapon in it, as if she had somehow forgotten her early discovery.

“I do not wish to fight you,” The Hamato insisted, his voice softening a bit, gentle and reassuring. Almost paternal in a way that Casey resented. “I just need to get you out. Please.”

“Raph ain’t tryna… complain or nothin’, but do you think you could maybe hurry up so I could get outta here, too? ‘Cause unless you wanna take a turn holdin’ this you really gotta go first--” 

Casey frowned.

She bit her lip.

She looked between the lot of them.

She could still refuse.

She could still attack. Even without a weapon. She could still do damage-- she might even be able to overwhelm the turtle one long enough that he might lose his grip.

She took the Hamato’s hand. It was warm in hers and surprisingly soft, despite the calluses and blisters. He squeezed her tight and firm, his fingers laced together with her own, and with one mighty heave, he yanked her up and out of the elevator shaft. 

And then she was out of the elevator shaft. 

And she was all by herself. Surrounded by the enemy.

There was no Foot Clan here with her. She didn’t have a little button she could press to call them. She had no weapon. It was just her and six enemies. 

Every single one of them had their backs on her, all hunched over the space she had just crawled from, focused on getting Raphael out from under the shattered fragments of the elevator car. No one was paying any attention to her. 

No one was looking at her.

They had all turned their backs.

For just a second, her breath was a stone in her throat. 

And she turned and she ran.

---

Casey sucked in a long, steady breath. And she slowly let it back out. She adjusted her stance, allowed herself half a second to readjust her footing to something slightly more comfortable-- and then mentally scolded herself for doing so. 

Focus. 

Her mother said that the key to success was discipline and repetition. That practice would bring her to where she needed to go. She should have basics like this down by now, her mother had said. “You should be able to do this by now. I don’t know how to help with that.”

Her knuckles hurt, and her body was tired, but she wasn’t weak. And she didn’t give up, either.

100 reps down. 100 more. And then maybe she’d get this right. And if she didn’t-- 100 after that. 

She would keep going until she got it right.

---

The walk home felt long.

Her body was, admittedly, feeling quite wrung-out and sore at this point, and it resented her for dragging it through the streets of New York, but Casey was quite good at tuning out its protests. No one bothered her, as they rarely did-- anyone who looked at her for too long typically thought better of it as soon as she met their eyes. She knew how to convince people to think twice before they approached her.

She was in no mood for pests on the streets.

Coward, she thought bitterly to herself. They were vulnerable, and you ran. Instead of attacking you fled. You could have at least tried. You might have been able to take one or two down, if you actually tried… 

She was certain she would have lost the fight. But at least she would have fought. 

Even managing to injure one of the Hamatos would have been more valuable than her return to the Clan. She hadn’t been surprised to find the rest of the mall devoid of life, the remaining members of her party having long fled the scene. She knew that that was what they would do. That was the correct thing to do. 

She was surprised by how it stung. She thought that she knew better than that by now.

Just a day full of disappointment, then… 

Though she was tempted to make a beeline back to their basecamp, she knew better, and she took the long way to ensure she wasn’t being followed by anyone. It was late by the time she arrived. 

Brute had turned to look at her and gasped loudly, and though Lieutenant had a bit more self-control, she noted the way his eyebrows shot up.

“You’re back!” Brute cried in celebration, immediately moving to her side, clapping her hard on the back. Casey braced herself well enough that she didn’t stumble, though she would admit that it didn’t exactly feel good. “We thought for sure you got squished!--”

“Excellent work, Recruit,” Lieutenant observed, a bit calmer as he approached, as he often was. “We’re glad you made it back in one piece.”

“My apologies, Senseis--” Casey bit out, gritting her teeth and throwing her head down into a deep bow. “I failed to eliminate any of the Hamato Clan members!!! FORGIVE ME!!!”

The two stayed quiet for a moment, and Casey swore she could hear them exchanging looks.

“Yes, well, there’s always next time.” Lieutenant assured, patting her on the head a few times. “We’re just glad you weren’t crushed in an elevator. It is so difficult to find decent ninja trainees these days… So, well done!”

“Yeah. Go hit the showers,” Brute encouraged, offering a thumbs up and a grin.

And that was about the extent of the conversation.

Casey felt oddly numb. But she wasn’t sure why. Or what she expected. 

This was praise. 

She should be pleased. So she was having a hard time figuring out… why she wasn’t. 

Despite this cloudiness, her head still shot up before Baron Draxum even spoke a word to her, turning sharply to meet his eyes. He didn’t flinch, and neither did she.

“I’m relieved to see you made it back to us,” he remarked, cool and thoughtful, tilting his head to the side slightly. “Losing you would have been quite the blow to our organization. It’s a shame that more effort wasn’t put in to retrieve you…”

Casey narrowed her eyes, her hackles raising.

“My senseis put the well-being of the mission first,” she spat in response, wrinkling up her nose.

“Yes, I suppose so… It’s just difficult to watch them not place more value into such a clear asset. It’s quite obvious to me that your experience and talent is… under-utilized here. You have a great deal of potential that doesn’t seem to be being taken advantage of…”

Casey didn’t quite untense, her jaw still held tight beneath her lips. And she frowned.

“...You think I have potential?”

---

Leo has no idea why he did this. Looking back at it later, he thought, what the fuck were you thinking? Not the time or place, moron. They had finally gotten back home, gotten Raph all patched up, and had been assured by him about eight thousand times that he was okay. It was only after eight-thousand-and-one, “no, really, Dad, I’m fine’s,” and a promise from everyone in the room to keep an eye on him while he was gone that their father relented just enough to escort April back to her own apartment, with the reassurance of “I’ll be right back.” Everyone was still pretty spooked, because duh, no shit, and he really should have just kept his mouth shut. That was obvious now.

Maybe he was just still shaken up over the whole evening. His brain wasn’t working right, or whatever. He’s not really sure. It just… it just happened. He just said things.

“How come you didn’t listen to me?”

The words had left his mouth before he had even processed them. Raph paused, glancing over at his brother, all four of them curled up together on the living room couch, and the unsteady peace they had been resting in just a second ago was suddenly gone.

“What?”

“Before, at the mall,” Leo continued, even though what he meant to say was ‘nothing, nevermind.’ “I told you I had a plan, and you wouldn’t listen to me.”

He could feel his brother stiffen next to him. There was a beat of silence, and then Raph heaved out a big, heavy sigh.

“There was-- there was a lot goin’ on, Leo. We can’t always do your plans--”

“But you didn’t even listen to it,” Leo pressed. “You wouldn’t even let me tell you what I was thinking.”

“Leo--”

“I had a plan,” he insisted, his mouth working all on its own. “If we had-- if we had had a plan instead of just rushing in, maybe things would have-- I dunno, have gone better?”

“It’s not--”

“If we had a plan maybe you wouldn’t have gotten hurt. You could have-- you could have gotten for-real hurt, Raph!”

“Leo, st-”

“I don’t understand why you don’t trust me enough to at least list--”

“Trust you?” Raph snapped, whipping around to glare at his younger brother. Up until now, his voice had been strained, but now it was sharp and jagged, and he absolutely bristled. Leo found himself shrinking under his gaze. “Leo, how the hell are you gonna look at me and ask me to trust you right now?! The last time I trusted you, you almost died! You tried to freakin’ kill yourself! And you expect me to trust you!?”

Leo blinked in surprise. For a moment, he floundered, his mouth gaping slightly.

“Look, that was different! And I was the only one with a plan--”

“That doesn’t mean it was okay!” Raph cried.

“I--I mean. That plan went wrong, but I thought I was gonna be--”

“No you didn’t!” Raph bristled. “You didn’t think you were gonna be okay and you know it! You knew it was risky the entire time, so don’t try and tell Raph otherwise! I might’a been dumb enough to go along with it the first time, but I’m not dumb enough to believe that now!!! So just drop it, okay?! I’m not talkin’ about this with you anymore!”

Leo opened his mouth. And then he closed it again.

‘Cause he didn’t really… know what else to say. 

“Alright,” he finally said, looking down at his feet. Raph looked like maybe he still had more, but he bit his tongue, casting a long look at Leo before he finally tore himself away and stalked off. Mikey looked between the two groups, hesitating a moment, before he followed after their eldest brother with a weak ‘wait up.’

And for a moment there, it was just Donnie and him, sitting together in the awkward silence. Eventually, Leo found it in himself to speak again, laughing awkwardly, a bit bitterly, and hunching his shoulders.

“What the hell was that? Is he-- is he seriously not even gonna listen to me anymore?”

“Can you actually blame him?” Donnie said dryly, raising a brow, and Leo gawked.

“What do you mean can you blame him!? I have good ideas--”

“So?” Donnie scoffed, shrugging a bit. “It doesn’t matter if you have good ideas if they lead to you dying.”

Leo groaned loudly, rolling his eyes. “Look, I didn’t try to kill myself--”

“You kind of did,” Donnie cut off. “I mean. I understand that wasn’t your base intention, but we’re not stupid, Leo. You very obviously oversold your ability to get back down safely. You could barely stand after the Battle Nexus, and you thought you were going to be able to aim and land in a little pool of water? Not to mention that at that height, you would have been seriously injured even if the plan was entirely successful. We only went along with it because you were deceptive in what it entailed. And you could have died. Quite easily. And I don’t believe for a second that you didn’t know that,” he accused, though his tone was even and eerily calm, narrowing his eyes at the other.

Leo felt this little shiver run up his spine, and he wrapped his arms around himself. Suddenly, his feet were very interesting.

“I didn’t-- I didn’t think I would die--”

“Doesn’t matter,” Donnie dismissed. “It wasn’t okay. And just because you didn’t think you would die from this crazy, risky, self-sacrifice-y plan doesn’t mean you won’t. Or that you won’t in the next one, or the next one. So look. We’re not playing that game,” he said, his voice cold. “We’re not doing that again. So no. We don’t trust you. Obviously, we don’t trust you. You’re our brother, and we love you dearly. And that’s why we can’t trust you.”

Oh. Ow. Why the fuck did that hurt so bad? Leo’s stomach flip-flopped, and for a second, he bristled in retaliation, giving a soft little scoff.

“As if any of the rest of you wouldn’t try to pull off the same thing if you had the chance! Don’t stand there and pretend like I’m the only one in the family for a penchant for dramatics! You jumped on Angie before, too!” He hissed, throwing up his hands. “You guys would all try to take the bullet, too!”

Donnie shrugged.

“Yeah. Maybe. But I wouldn’t trick the rest of you into setting it up.”

Leo grit his teeth.

“We all trusted you. And we went along with your plan,” Donnie continued, his voice hard. “We helped you. And you almost died. You could have died,” he pressed. “You’re important to us, Leo. How do you think the rest of us would have felt?”

Donnie’s brows furrowed.

“How do you think I would have felt? Or Raph?” He challenged. “How do you think Angie would have felt? Good Galileo, how do you think Angie feels right now?”

Leo kept quiet, considering this for a second, rolling the thought around in his head. And he didn’t like it.

He was suddenly getting the feeling that he had fucked up really bad over a month and a half ago, and it was just now sinking in.

“Look, I know you want to protect us,” Donnie said, crossing his arms over his chest. “We get it. Raph gets it. Of course Raph gets it, have you ever met the guy? He’s basically the world’s number one advocate for any and all ‘protect my brothers’ campaigns,” Donnie scoffed. “But that doesn’t mean that you can just throw yourself around as an expendable variable. If he hadn’t caught you, you know how much that would kill him.”

Leo groaned softly, burying his face in his hands. “Aw, man…” He muttered. “Maybe I do need a therapist…”

---

“Cut it out,” Raph said, hooking out a hand to grab Leo’s ankle as he ran past him, promptly sending his younger brother stumbling down to the ground. Leo squeaked in surprise as he fell, turning to huff and give his brother an annoyed glare.

“Why?!”

“‘Cause I said,” Raph replied easily, a teeny little grin growing on his face. “And I’m in charge.”

And it was true.

I mean, really, he had been ‘in charge’ lots of times in the past, frequently tasked with ensuring his little brothers didn’t wander off or do anything dumb. But he hadn’t ever, in all his memories, been in charge like this. Never all by himself.

He wasn’t the only one excited, he knew. All three of his brothers were nearly bouncing off the walls with joy at the prospect of being left home alone for the first time. Finally! At long last! The day every pre-teen waited for… they had the house all to themselves for the whole evening with no supervision. No babysitter or neighbor watching them for the night while their Dad was out… Just him and his brothers with a whole empty house to themselves. They could do whatever they wanted, and they had every intention of taking full advantage of the situation, like a reasonable child might.

“That’s not a good reason!” Leo protested with a scoff. 

“Well, the other reason is you’re startin’ to piss Donnie off,” he hummed, releasing his grip on the other’s leg, allowing him to squirm away. Donnie was happy for the reprieve of being chased by his twin, climbing over Raph and hopping up onto the couch behind him, grabbing the nearest blanket to wrap around himself like a shield and sulk. Leo sighed loudly, rolling his eyes, clearly displeased with the end of his game, but he didn’t protest either, sitting himself back up. 

“I got snacks!” Mikey announced proudly as he came bounding down the basement stairs, his arms filled with just about every form of junk food that they had in the house, and even some that Raph hadn’t even known that they had in the house. He dumped the loot down on the coffee table, and the brothers all immediately dug in, each grabbing at chips, Capri Suns, and ice cream containers and laying their claim.

“What are we gonna watch?” Mikey asked excitedly, curling up on the couch, bouncing up and down in place.

“Whatever we want,” Raph replied smugly from his own placing on the floor, continuing to scroll through the channels, remote in hand. “We just gotta find somethin’ that looks--”

“OH!” Leo gasped from the couch, jumping slightly and pointing at the TV. “Let’s watch the new Batman movie!!! Look! It’s barely even started!!!”

Mikey hesitated for a second, his brows knitting. “But Dad said we’re not allowed to watch that,” he fret.

“Which is exactly why we should!” Leo had countered. “We’re home alone. We can watch whatever we want. Besides, Batman is cool!”

“Do you think we’d get along with him if we met him?” Mikey questioned with a thoughtful sigh.

“Maybe,” Donnie said, shrugging a bit.

Raph furrowed his brows just a bit as he deliberated. Hm. Well. Leo did make a pretty compelling argument. They were home alone. Therefore, they could do whatever they wanted! Besides, he wasn’t afraid of a dumb movie, especially not a superhero movie. 

“Alright. Batman it is!” He agreed, clicking definitively on the remote to select the channel before tossing it aside. 

And goddamn, did he feel cool.

That lasted for maybe about forty minutes.

And the movie was cool! I mean. At first. But then evening had turned into night, and it had gotten dark outside. Even worse-- it had begun to rain. It rained hard, too, and Raph heard thunder rumble off in the distance, shaking the house ever so slightly. And the further into the plot of the movie they got, the more Raph began to understand why it was rated “R.”

They watched the whole thing, with all four of them frozen in place the whole time. It wasn’t until the credits rolled that Raph finally swallowed, turning his head slightly to glance at his younger brothers.

He was almost relieved to see that they were about as terrified as him. It wasn’t a scary movie, per se, there were no jump scares, it was just…

That was really messed up, what the Joker did to those people!!! Okay!?

Mikey was absolutely clinging to Leo for dear life, his eyes lined with tears, and Donnie had all but disappeared under his blanket, peering out cautiously from within. Even Leo looked shaken, even as he swallowed, forcing a very shaky, half-hearted laugh.

“Whoa. That was… cool,” he forced, even though he looked sort of like he was going to throw up. “Right, guys--?”

Thunder cracked outside and all four of them jumped. Mikey straight up shrieked, burying his face against Leo’s shoulder, and Raph had half a mind to leap up and throw himself into a pile with his brothers and hide there. 

But he steeled himself, just barely catching his nerves before they launched him into a panic, his hands curling into determined fists. 

He was in charge. Remember?

“It’s-- it’s just the storm, guys. It’s alright,” he tried to soothe, fighting to keep his voice steady. “It’s fine--!”

“THEY BURNED A GUY’S FACE OFF!” Mikey wailed tearfully in response, and Raph winced.

“Mikey, chill! It’s just a movie!” Leo insisted, a nervous grin on his face. “I mean. N-none of it’s, like, real, or anything!”

“What if it was?!” Mikey squeaked. “What if it’s based on a true story or something!? Or what if someone else watches it and it inspires them to break into people’s houses and put bombs in their chests!? And what if they come here and cut us open and put bombs in our chests!?”

“That’s… Highly improbable,” Donnie bit out, and Mikey whimpered.

“But it could happen!!!”

Raph grit his teeth, inhaling deeply, and then slowly letting the breath back out.

“It’s gonna be fine, Mikey. Leo’s right. It was just a movie. You don’t gotta be scared,” he insisted. He could tell his brothers weren’t quite convinced. He scooped up the TV remote again, switching the television over the cartoons. It was just re-runs of something they had seen before, but what did it matter? “Here. Hang on. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going!?” Mikey squealed.

“Raph’ll go double-check to make sure no one can get in,” he said. “So you guys know for sure we’re safe. Alright? I’ll be right back.”

Mikey whimpered, but none of them had protested, watching with wide eyes as he approached the stairs. And if Raph was being totally honest with himself…? He really didn’t wanna go up there.

‘Specially not by himself.

But he had little brothers to protect. A part of him told him that they weren’t in any danger, but another bit said what if they were?! What if Mikey was right and someone came and broke into the house or something!? 

He was in charge. Dad left him in charge. And he had to make sure that they were all safe and could handle anything that came their way.

So that meant he had to go double-check. 

Biting the insides of his cheeks, he made his way up the stairs.

Somehow, the house seemed darker than usual, even though it was just the same as it always was. Rushing slightly, Raph hurriedly made his way to the front door to check it. And, just as he had expected, it was locked. Just like it was supposed to be. The back door was locked, too, and Raph sighed softly in relief. 

He checked all the windows, all the way up to the attic on the fourth floor. He checked every single room to make sure there was no one hiding inside, either. He grabbed blankets from each of their beds, as well as one of his stuffed teddy bears, and did a final sweep on his way back down to the Lair.

“It’s okay!” He assured as he made his way back down the stairs, re-joining his younger brothers. “I checked everything, and there’s no way anybody could get in!”

“Are you sure!?” Mikey questioned, his eyes wide. “What if someone tries to break in or something?”

“I’m sure,” Raph assured firmly. “Raph checked all the locks. And the windows! And look. I got extra blankets and stuff, too,” he added, tossing the covers over the couch and over top of his brothers. “Here. You guys scoot over, and we can play Mario Kart until Dad gets home,” he said, glancing down at his siblings with a grin. “And once he’s here, no one would be dumb enough to mess with us anyway! So don’t worry.”

---

For the thousandth time in this day alone, Yoshi wondered if it would be wiser to pull his children out of school, out of all their various sports and extracurriculars, and keep them home instead, with him, where it was safe. Or at least safer. Where he could keep his eyes on them and know that, if nothing else, he could act should anything happen. They would have more time for training, too, he sometimes noted, but that thought alone made every nerve in his body twist in on itself. 

How could he do that to them? The thought of keeping them here, away from school and from friends and from hobbies, and training instead made him feel sick to his stomach. The idea of training alone made him sick. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was his eldest child falling away from him.

He had tried at least a dozen times now to say, “no, no more of this, I won’t allow you to be involved any longer,” and every time his (darling, wonderful, beloved) bullheaded children resolutely denied him and insisted that they would find a way to be involved whether he liked it or not. And while he hemmed and hawed over somehow taking more drastic measures to keep them safe, over how he could possibly achieve this and if it was possible to do so without them resenting him for the rest of their lives, time marched on with the same degree of stubbornness. 

It was impossible not to feel like he was running out of time.

The apartment was too quiet. He resented himself for being in the safety of it when his children were not, even if they left of their own volition. 

Yoshi sighed deeply, and found himself sinking down into his reclining chair before he even knew he was doing it. Internally, he scolded himself. There were things that needed to be done; housework that needed doing, phone calls that needed to be placed, and children out in the world that he had to keep track of, even if they weren’t home at the moment… (All the more reason to stay on his toes…) but honestly, he was just…

Tired.

It had been some time since he had been able to sleep at night, and he was beginning to think that melatonin was a scam or something. How could he sleep? How was he meant to sleep at night with everything looming over him, dripping wetly down his spine, burning and hot and threatening…? When the safety of both the world and his family hung in the balance, and each were equally as precious…? He grumbled softly to himself, leaning his head back and staring up at the ceiling, glowering at it as though it were personally responsible for the current state of his world.

He had only intended to sit for a while. Just to take a moment to rest, to get a chance to breathe before he got up again and continued with all the things he still had to be on top of… 

But he must have fallen asleep.

Because the next thought he had was,

Oh. This hasn’t been familiar for a while.

Not just the place-- he hadn’t been here in many, many years. This long, endless expanse of inky darkness, somehow warm and cozy despite the utter, infinite darkness of it all. He could hear whispers off in the distance, just barely tickling up against the edges of his brain. He hadn’t been in this place in a long time.

But it was also him. Looking down at his own hands, outlined in this soft white light, he noted the differing shape to him. How the wrinkles were gone from his knuckles, and each digit instead extended out smooth and slender, calloused but confident, and yet perfectly manicured.

He didn’t have to look to know that the rest of him was this way, too.

It almost felt odd to be back in the body he had inhabited in his twenties; to look like Lou Jitsu the Actor again, to feel like him. Back before the mutation. Back before the Nexus-- to feel like a young man with a career and dreams and ambitions, to be that person once more who had broken away from their family and escaped, and who held onto all the hurt and guilt of it, but who kept moving anyway. That person that he used to be, but couldn’t be anymore.

It almost felt odd. But somehow, it didn’t-- not quite. He noted it, was aware of it, and thought to himself, hm. This is certainly interesting… But really, it didn’t feel all that strange to him. It felt completely natural. 

He felt so calm. He was sitting here, surrounded by nothing but darkness and his own aura, a halo of snow white silhouetting him. His body was different from what it had been a few moments ago, but he felt completely at peace. That almost felt odd, too, but still didn’t quite. It didn’t bother him that his body was different now. If anything, it was a comfort.

He wondered for a second why in the world he was here again, after so much time, when a voice rang out from behind him.

“Welcome back, Yoshi.”

Blinking in surprise, Yoshi turned to face the other occupant of his dream.

[ next ]

[savemeafruitjuice]

Tickletober Day 22- Role Reversal

This is a Rise fic! Also, it's based off of the intro to Smart Lair! (The episode starts with Donnie screaming, with Leo and Mikey chasing after him. Raph comes in and stops them, then Donnie complains about never being a mummy. I wanted to explore why he's never able to, and how he would act if he were to be a mummy.)

Lee: Mikey, Leo, Raph (implied)

Ler: Donnie

TW!: SOME SWEARING! SUSPENSE! (Dark rooms, shadows in doorways)

I split the fic into parts to help it go faster, so if there's any misinterpretation as to what's happening, feel free to ask for clarification!

"Can I please be the mummy this time?"

Raph sighed, Leo groaned, and Mikey pouted. "Donnie, if Raph lets ya be a mummy, do ya promise not to get all of of control again.. like.. that time?" The softshell straightened his posture, hands going behind his back in a neat clasped form. "I promise."

The red-themed turtle squinted at his little brother, nodding slowly. "Alright, then.. You can be the mummy." Donnie grinned sweetly, uncrossing his fingers and taking them from behind himself to do a fist-pump. "Oh yeah!"

Leo and Mikey looked on nervously.

-----

The Lou-Jitsu movie had begun playing, and the four sat down on the ground, going over rules. This happened every time they turned on the film, and they had all seen the movie enough times to remember the intro word-for-word anyway.

"...And no toilet paper wars. It is to be used strictly for costume."

Leo gave a sharp look to Mikey, who only shrugged. "Don't look at me! Raph started it." The slider waved him off, then tossed a roll of toilet paper to his twin.

Donnie almost caught it, sighing as he picked it off the ground. "Just so we're clear, this is directly from the packaging, right?" Leo rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Yes, you maniac-" There was a creaking door from the movie, making each brother perk up. "Shhh! Guys, Lou Jitsu's entering the tomb! Donnie, go get ready!" The purple-themed turtle got to his feet, scurrying off into the other room.

"So!" Mikey clapped. "Who's scared for their lives?"

All three of them raised their hands.

-----

The lights were turned off, and Leo started standing on Splinter's armchair, quoting along with the scene as it played. "And I, Lou-Jitsu, will defeat you, mummies!"

A metallic sound came from the sewer tunnel. Mikey flinched, turning around, but he saw nothing. He was standing on the ground beside the slider, and gulped, grabbing onto the blue-themed turtle's arm at a flash of silver in the doorway. "I don't mean to break character, but.. I don't think Donnie's keeping his promise.."

Leo gave him an uneasy glance, turning around just in time to catch a glimpse of purple, much closer than a couple seconds ago.. He missed his next line, trying to get back into the rhythm of the movie. "Uh- and.. If any of you try any funny business, I'll.. send you crying to your mummy.."

When the elder turned to his brother, he saw that Mikey's face was pale, and he was inching away from the dark doorway. The sword-wielder turned, only to be met with red eyes staring at them.

"Donnie?.."

"EEEK! SHIT!"

A robotic noise came from behind the two, and the younger jumped up onto the armchair as well, almost causing the both of them to go toppling down as the other wobbled. Leo jumped at a noise behind him as well, the two silently waiting for their brother to enter at his cue. The movie had its cue pass, but nothing happened. A minute went by, the Baha-Blast duo whispering fearfully at each other.

Soon enough, the cue for the main mummy came, and the turtles held each other's arms. Donnie should never have been allowed to be anyone other than the side character who almost dies every movie..

The cue passed. Donnie didn't come.

Leo looked at Mikey, and Mikey kept staring at the doorway. "Dee?.." Another moment passed, and the two almost relaxed into the silence, except each of their sides were latched onto from behind.

"AHH! AHAAH- HAHAH!"

Leo winced at his baby brother's loud screaming, but yelped as well, hands launching down to push away the attacker. "AH! Noho!- DohOHONNIE!"

The blue-themed turtle whipped around, and was met with his twin, eyes staring blankly ahead as his hands dug into their sides. "I am a mummified Egyptian body, I am not Donatello.."

Mikey squeaked as his ribs were dug into, squatting on the top of the armchair when his knees buckled. Donnie only sat on the armrest, squeezing Leo by the thigh, effectively sending him down as well. Leo screeched, writhing on the cushion, trying to dislodge the fingers at his leg. "STAHAHAHAP! KCCH- DOHOOON!"

Metallic spider arms suddenly shot out of his battle-shell, capturing the two's arms in a hand each. Leo squirmed, eyes wide with panic, just above his knee being squeezed at. "HAHAHAH! FUHUCK, STAHAP! HEHAAH!" Donnie gave no response, tickling harder.

Mikey squealed, trying to pull his arms down, but they were pinned high above his head. He wriggled about, trying to twist his ribs out of the elder's grip. "DohoHONNIE! Ihi cahahan't-"

"Groan. I don't care~" The scientist continued to make onomatopoeia sounds, his brothers squirming and flailing. "You're both doomed to face the wrath of the tickle monster! Ghastly noises."

"RAHAHAHAPH! RAHAPH, HEHELP US! HEHE'S- HE'S NOT PLAHAHAYING RIGHT!" Leo screamed, head thrown back in hysterical cackles as his thigh was only tickled at faster in retaliation.

"PLEHEASE, STOHOHOP IT DONNIHIHIEE! NAHAH- EEEEK!-" The softshell fluttered his hand into the youngest's underarm, staring on blankly as the box turtle arched up, giggling increasing ten-fold. The movie played on in the background, but the three were not paying attention. The music escalated, almost ringing out louder than the turtle's laughter.

All of a sudden, Raph came running into the room, tackling Donnie. "Take this, evil mummy!" The softshell tumbled to the ground, almost taking the other turtles with him. Leo and Mikey, now free from his grasp, could escape, the elder grabbing Mikey's arm and rushing out through his giggles.

Donnie twisted, slipping through the snapping-turtle's arms, and jumping away. Raph whipped around, then froze at the dark glare the tech-loving teen had on. It was then that he made the connection between his other sibling's predicament, and his own. Crap..

"Uhuhm- Donnie, what- NoOHO! GET AWAY, YA DEHEMON!"

-----

Urghh, sorry I'm a bit behind, but I haven't had more than a couple minutes each day to get writing done. I'm doing my best, and as soon as I have more time, I'll get all of them done. Have a great day/night!

[fjsjjgnnfjdjf]

Size allergy (5/?)

I finally managed to rewrite everything that my cell phone deleted, it is very likely that the following chapters will take a little longer to come out because this month I have a lot of college pending 😢

This chapter is mostly focused on Mikey, since the boy still hasn't finished changing 🐢

Warning: Mikey is scared of himself.

English is not my mother tongue, if you see an error, please feel free to comment.

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

For a moment, Raph simply tried to soothe himself with his younger brother's affection, when a familiar noise drew his attention to the table he was at a moment ago. A small portal opened three feet above the table's surface and from it emerged his two shrunken brothers and Donnie's goggles.

“Did you miss us?” exclaimed Leo rising from his fall, only to be shoved away in annoyance by Donnie a second later.

The turtle in purple scolded his brother not to transport them again without warning, though the argument was barely audible to Raph and little more than a murmur to Mikey.

Immediately, the snapping turtle slipped out of Mikey's embrace and headed for the table. Technically, no dog should be able to go upstairs, but he didn't want to take any chances with his little brothers there.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked in a concerned mother's tone.

“Relax Raph! We have good reasons” said Leo, getting up and ignoring the murderous look his brother in purple had on him “Donnie found out something… Right?” he leaned on his twin's shoulder.

The softshell turtle stood for a moment processing his brother's words, then jumped up and down with excitement that he could now explain to the others what he was working on about the allergy process. It was when the latter came to mention that they were outside to scan Mikey that the box turtle turned his attention to him; at his size, he didn't hear the genius turtle's voice very well, at least it wasn't much more understandable than a mumble, so he ducked his head down to table level and leaned it a bit on the edge to see and hear his siblings better.

For Donnie, it was still complicated to see Mikey so big; to him, his orange brother was the little one he used to hold in his arms when he was scared so he could soothe him. So, it was strange to see him from the point of view that his head was bigger than his whole body put together.

He was silent for a moment, until Leo put a hand on his shoulder and brought him back to the present.

“Ah yes! Mikey!” he exclaimed so that his brother could hear him well “Now that I modify the goggles, I'll be able to see how the allergy affects you… Maybe, I could even help you to shrink in less time than Draxum said!” he projected his voice loudly so the boy could hear him.

“That's great Dee!” the orange turtle said excitedly, again forgetting how loud his voice was to his shrinking siblings.

“Wow… Slow down Mikey” Raph addressed the boy “Remember that your voice sounds louder now” the box turtle looked away, embarrassed.

“Ugh… Sorry guys” he said with a much lower tone, then he felt the touch of a very small palm on his face.

“It’s ok, big boy… You're excited” Leo gave him a light caress to then approach Donnie, who was preparing the goggles “Don said I'm glowing pink”

“Poof! And again, that was the only thing you took away from my explanation” Donnie commented as he closed the goggles compartment and looked at his younger brother “Well Michael, all I need is for you to get in front of my goggles!… I suggest you take a little distance, so that I can take a complete record of you!” he projected his voice strongly so that the boy would understand his instructions well.

Mikey nodded and walked away cautiously, the dogs that had already become accustomed to his presence were still close by, so he watched for them to take their distance as he backed away. Once he was far enough away, he flashed a thumbs up in approval to his brothers.

“Am I okay here?” he asked, but he couldn't make out Donnie's answer.

“Donnie says yes” Raph commented, knowing that his little brother probably couldn't see the gestures of his siblings shrunken in the distance.

The genie turtle then focused on what he could see through his goggles, he was silent for longer than his siblings expected, the snapping turtle had a bad feeling.

“…Donnie?…” Raph asked, moving a little closer to the turtle, trying not to look intimidating, but he didn't answer.

“Isn't Mikey glowing?” Leo asked, getting into position behind his goggles to see what his twin was seeing.

“It's more than that…” Donnie commented, with Leo looking through the goggles in surprise “His spots… They're glowing too” he said to Raph.

Through the goggles, Mikey's form was surrounded by a strong orange glow, but also, his natural spots seemed to be emanating a peculiar glow. Donnie didn't notice this in Leo, and he didn't really expect it.

“What does that mean?” exclaimed the snapping turtle nervously.

“I-I'm not sure…” stuttered because of the loudness of Raph's voice “The glow is orange, but it seems to have an excess… When I checked Leo, the energy seemed to dissipate… But in Mikey it is holding… Maybe that explains why it's still growing” with his hand on his chin, he was about to add something else when his little brother's voice interrupted him.

“Guys?…” it was a trembling voice “Does Donnie know anything yet…? I… I’m in pain again…” he clutched his arms and closed his eyes tightly; he knew what that meant and saw Raph with fear in his eyes.

Mikey was trying to endure the pain, but it was just as strong as before. He clutched his stomach and dropped to the ground, generating a small tremor. His older brother rushed to his aid.

“Here I am Mikey!” he hugged him on the head “Raph is with you” he caressed him on the forehead, while Mikey had a grimace of anguish and pain.

“Raph… I don't want to…” a small tear came out of one of his eyes “I don't want to grow anymore” he wanted to scream, and also to sneeze, but he was holding it in.

“I know buddy… But Draxum said it was inevitable” he was trying as much as possible to bring calm to the boy.

At the table, Donnie and Leo watched helplessly at the scene. Donnie noticed the mystical energy surrounding his brother and exclaimed.

“It's increasing!” this caught Leo's attention “The mystical energy around him is increasing!”

“Donnie… Is it normal for he to glow brighter too?” asked Leo looking through the goggles, he was as worried as the rest of his brothers, but nothing he could do.

“Something is causing the mystical energy to increase!… It's as if his body was getting rid of the excesses…” there wasn't much more he could do in his position “Maybe… That's why he must sneeze…” he didn't know how to get through to his younger brother and tell him that he NEEDED to sneeze, or he would hurt himself.

Oblivious to the discussion of the shrunken siblings, Mikey was fighting with all his might not to sneeze; his whole body was screaming at him to do so, but he didn't want to grow any bigger. He was too big to even get into Todd's house and even Raph was too small for him now, he feared he was too big to even get a good look at his siblings. On the other hand, his older brother, too distressed by his little brother's suffering, cheered him up.

“Mikey! Sneeze!” he exclaimed.

“N-no… I don't want to… W-what if I don't stop?” his pleading eyes begged his brother for a solution, Raph’s heart was breaking, but there was nothing else he could do, he noticed that his little brother's body was feeling warmer.

“I'll be here for you! Raph won't leave you alone!” he showed one of his tonfas to the boy, if Mikey got too big, he could still contain him with his giant mystic double.

So, the boy did it, he had to sneeze about three times for the sensation to go away, and that's when his body started to change. He had to admit that the growing sensation brought a little relief to his pain, but it didn't calm the feeling of how fast he was getting bigger; he opened his eyes a little to notice how his surroundings shrank, how Raph moved away to give him space, how the dogs ran out from around him at his sudden change of size, again he couldn't avoid the sensation of feeling like a monster. For Raph, and especially for Leo and Donnie, it was like being in an earthquake; the snapping turtle actually came to their aid, noticing how unstable the table was, although now he did give them a warning before picking them up and protecting them with his hands.

After growing a little over 13 feet, the shaking along with the pain stopped and Mikey opened his eyes again. Raph wasn't that far away; in his hands he seemed to hold Leo and Donnie. Again, everything seemed smaller than moments ago to the box turtle, his big brother now maybe he could fit in his hands, he noticed how the dogs were away and some were barking at him as if he was a threat, something that again made him feel bad.

“Is everything all right here?!” was the voice of Todd, who had woken up after feeling the tremor, he noticed how now Mikey looked even bigger than before.

The look of concern from his siblings, coupled with the look of surprise from the capybara and the frightened barking of the dogs had Mikey quite upset. He wanted to hide, so he got up off the ground and took cover among the nearby trees, the only thing big enough to hide him now.

“Mikey, wait!” Raph shouted, but to no avail.

“What happened guys?” Todd asked worriedly.

“… There are things we haven't told you…” said Raph, but he was more focused on looking for his little brother “I'll go get him” he told his brothers while he put them close to the capybara's hands “You stay with Todd…” he left them in Todd's hands.

“W-wait Raph!” Leo exclaimed when he saw his brother run into the forest.

“Being this size officially sucks!” Donnie commented.

“Guys? What's going on?” Todd asked, he had passed up explanations earlier when he saw the concern in the boys, but now maybe it would help them more if he knew what was happening to them.

~~~~~~

He had hoped as soon as he entered the tree area, he would find his little brother hiding in the trees, but the situation was not so easy. It was nighttime, and Mikey had always been the best of them at hiding, it seems that even as a giant he managed to hide well among the foliage. Raphael for a moment stopped and started calling out to him.

“Mikey!” he shouted with his hands cupped in front of his mouth “Please come back!”

When he didn't hear an immediate answer, he began to get impatient. “Why does this have to happen to us?” he was annoyed with himself, as well as stressed and worried about his siblings. While he wasn't worried about his brother having something happen to him in the forest (he was literally the biggest creature now), he was worried about him being lonely, something he felt was worse.

“I'm sorry Mikey… I shouldn't have left you earlier… I should have accompanied you while you were changing” he ran a hand over his face, sighed in frustration “Today Raph did nothing but make bad decisions” he kicked a stone from the floor in frustration.

After sighing again, he felt a small breeze that didn't seem to come from the air.

“That's not true…” he heard behind him.

“Mikey!” he turned to look through the trees, a pair of huge eyes could be seen looking at him, even if they didn't look good in the night, his relief was palpable as he recognized them.

He was happy to have found his brother, he noticed how slowly the boy came out from between the trees, almost crawling until he was in front of Raph. Now, only if he rested his head on the ground could he see at eye level with his older brother and he was doing just that, he was lying down as he watched his brother with some anguish still reflected in his gaze, he seemed to be doing his best to feel back to his normal size.

“You haven't made any bad decisions…” continued the boy “You've been looking out for us… You protected Leo and Donnie before… That's good” Raph noticed that Mikey wanted to touch him, but seemed hesitant to do so, “Is he afraid to touch me?” he thought fleetingly.

“Doesn't mean it was right to leave you alone… Why did you run away?” he moved closer to his brother's face, which seemed to make him more uncomfortable “A while ago you said you were fine because we'd be with you”

“I… I don't want to hurt you…” he commented low and with a look of sadness “I got scared when I saw Leo and Donnie shaking because of- because of… Because of me…” he seemed to want to hold back some tears that peeked out of his eyes as he averted them from his brother's gaze “I don't know, how to deal with this… I don't know how to be giant…”

The snapping turtle watched with compassion, this was no time to blame himself for his decisions of the day, his little brother needed comfort.

“Hey! Easy big guy” he moved closer and placed a hand on his face, he smiled to try to comfort him “You won't hurt us… I'll help you be careful… That's Raph's specialty!” he exclaimed proudly.

“Re-Really?” even at his current size, his big brother's small hand still felt protective.

“Of course! I didn't get to be the biggest without learning a thing or two… I'll be with you, no matter how big you are” with that said, he reached out and hugged Mikey's face.

The box turtle let out a couple of tears (which moistened Raph, but Raph didn't brace himself) and placed his hands behind his big brother. He rubbed Raph's body against his cheek, it was as close to a hug as he was eligible for now. It was a little strange to feel the barbs on his brother's shell much thinner than they would normally be, but the fact that he didn't leave his side helped him calm down.

For his part, Raph was happy to see his little brother finally dare to touch him, as well as being able to soothe him in his worry.

He couldn't blame him, he went from being the smallest to being almost a titan, in fact, his hands could cover his whole shell with no problem, but even with that, Raph would never stop seeing him as his little brother, maybe it's a big brother thing.

“That's right buddy…” patted him on his face “Now, how about we go back to the others?… I'm sure they'll be happy to see you”

“Leo and Donnie are with Todd?” he was still a little worried about them.

“Yes, don't worry… They're safe” he gave a nod “They're most likely worried because you ran away”

“Sorry…” the boy commented low as he stood up and knelt down in front of his brother “This feels really weird, even for me” he was still a little nervous to see his older brother so small.

After saying that, he rested his hands on the ground and propelled himself to his full height, his head almost pierced the top of the trees and he could barely see Raph between all the branches they made. He seemed a little hesitant about asking this of his brother, but now he just wanted him in his sight and close to him.

“… Raph?…” he asked when he saw how his brother was waiting for him to make a decision.

“Yes?” the snapping turtle in a moment smiled at his little brother's hesitation “… Do you want to pick me up?” he laughed slightly when he noticed that the box turtle nodded with some illusion “Hehe… Go ahead”

Mikey lowered his hands, grabbed Raph as if he were a toy and lifted him quickly to the front of his face; it was much quicker and rougher than the red banded turtle thought it would be, he got a little dizzy from the sudden change in height.

“Thank you” Mikey almost exclaimed, wanting to pull Raph back to his cheek for a hug.

“Wow, slow down buddy!” he exclaimed still a little dizzy and slightly pulling away from his little brother's cheek “Remember to be careful…” Mikey opened his hands and his brother sat cross-legged on them, trying to remain calm as he looked him in the eyes “First rule of being a giant… You must be careful with everything that is smaller than you, you're much stronger now… Be gentle when you pick someone up, ok?” the boy nodded a little embarrassed.

Mikey was not in the habit of being careful, at least not most of the time, since everyone else was always bigger than him. Trying to imagine that he was bigger now and had to be careful not to hurt anyone was something he wanted to assimilate as soon as possible.

With Raph finally at eye level and feeling better, he headed back to Todd's house.

Prologue Previous / Next

[smiley-star]

Hiding

(sfw tickling, tce$t and feti$h ppl DNI!!)

Leo attempts to hide in his shell to avoid payback. Unfortunately for him, that just makes revenge even easier for Donnie.

Lee: Leo💙

Ler: Donnie💜

“GET BACK HERE, ‘NARDO!” Donnie yelled as his gremlin of a twin sprinted away with his phone in hand.

“NEVER!” Leo yelled back, sticking his tongue out at him, “YOU WANT THE PHONE, COME GET IT!”

Donnie ran after him, “WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU-!”

Leo jumped over the couch, tossing the phone on the end closest to Donnie.

Donnie immediately snatched it up, glaring at Leo as he set it down on the coffee table.

“You got it back! Now leave me alone!” Leo yelled from the other end, doing the classic Run-from-your-sibling-by-having-something-between-you-move(™)

“You still took it!” Donnie hissed, moving side to side as Leo ran around his end.

“But you got it!” Leo argued, giggling as he pretended to run one way.

Donnie glared, finally having enough.

He acted as if he was about to run towards Leo, making the slider shriek and dive to the side.

Rookie mistake, ‘Nardo. . .

Donnie jumped over the couch, crashing into his younger brother and falling onto the ground in a heap.

He grabbed Leo's wrists, pinning his hands above his head while straddling his waist to keep him down.

“Dee-! No!” Leo begged for mercy, squirming and bucking his hips to try and get Donnie off.

“No mercy!” Donnie said with an evil laugh, wiggling his fingers of his free hand at Leo.

Leo's face turned pink and he squeaked.

And then Donnie suddenly smacked his chin on the floor.

“OW!” Donnie exclaimed, rubbing at the red mark and seeing how he'd fallen.

Leo had yanked all his limbs into his shell, laughing from hearing Donnie fall.

“Get out of there you coward!” Donnie hissed, looking into his shell, he couldn't close it like Mikey could.

Leo's leering face grinned up at him, “It's much cozier in here!”

“You can't stay in there forever!”

“Yes I can!”

“Oh really?” Donnie asked evilly, heaving the shell onto his lap and holding it up with one arm.

“Yes,” Leo said smugly.

“Let's test that theory then,” Donnie chuckled.

A loud squeak rang out as he started poking at Leo's side, grinning.

“Wha-!?” Leo squeaked, eyes widening in realization. His limbs were safe from tickling, but his plastron sure wasn't.

“Gonna come out, ‘Nardo?”

“NeheHEVEHEHEVER!” Leo giggled, squealing as Donnie started tickling at his ribs.

“Are you sure~?”

“SHUHUHUHUT UUHUUHHUP!” Leo squealed, cackling as Donnie’s ruthless hands tickled all over his ribs.

Leo squealed with laughter and snorted as Donnie tickled all over his sides and even on his carapace a bit.

“Still in there?”

“YEHEHEHES!” Leo giggled stubbornly.

“We'll see if you are after this!” Donnie said with a grin, he couldn't help but smile, Leo's laugh was too contagious.

“NAHAHAHAHAT THEHEHEHEHEHE TUHUHUHUMMY!” Leo screeched as Donnie started tickling his stomach mercilessly.

“NAHAHAHA- NOHOHOHOHO! DEEHEHEHE! STAHAHAHAP!” Leo squealed, cackling and squeezing his eyes shut as happy tears formed in them.

“Not until you come out of your shell!” Donnie said evilly.

“NEHEHEHEHEHEVER! NAHAHAHA!” Leo squealed, Donnie's hand was tickling all over his helpless tummy mercilessly.

“NOHOHOHOHO! NAHAHAHAHAT THAHAHAHAHAHT!” Leo screamed as Donnie started blowing raspberries on his belly, “NOHOHOHOHO! DOHOHOHONIE NOHOHOHOHO!”

Donnie laughed, “Gonna come out of your shell?”

“NOOHOHOHOHO!” Leo yelled predictably. Donnie knew challenging his stubbornness would work in his favor.

Donnie continue blowing raspberries all over Leo's tummy, making the slider shriek and squeal from inside his shell.

When Donnie started gently nibbling at his plastron, Leo's limbs all exploded out of his shell at once and he launched himself out of Donnie's arms.

He landed a few feet away, giggling like crazy and weakly protecting his tummy with his hands, “Nohoho mohohohore!”

“I knew you'd come out eventually,” Donnie laughed, “I just thought I could keep you there longer!”

“WhahahaHAT!?” Leo exclaimed between giggles. His twin knew his own stubbornness better than him sometimes. And sure knew how to use it to his advantage.