#mikey's autism is creative while donnie's is mathematical

[brightlotusmoon]

*looks around the fandom in 2024* Sure, let's try again.

If you were to do a crossover with another rottmnt AU, which one will it be? Multiple options can apply.

Do you mean like someone else's AU fic, like how I'm helping @remmushound with their Rise/Bay crossover, or my own fic idea? Because I absolutely have my own ideas for a crossover with 2003 and 2012 all together, check out my tags "untitled rottmnt fic" and "tmnt dreams". There's a lot of sarcasm dueling, a triple Donatello threat, the four ADHD Musketeers of the Mikeys and Rise Leo, the Raphs in a group therapy workout session, 2003 Leo trying to adopt or kidnap Rise Mikey, 2003 Splinter and Rise Splinter becoming best friends.

But if you mean another fic writer's world, I couldn't say, there's quite a few folks I'd love to collaborate with. I'm just not sure they would want to with me. I'm very angstastic. I'm very Mikey centric. I'm not nice to their minds.

[brightlotusmoon]

Dear TMNT Fandom,

Remind me, please, who here is autistic and writes Imagines and requests? I have a request for anyone who wants to try in their style.

"What if: Mikey has a nervous breakdown in front of Donnie, who figures out Mikey has had depression for a while. Not to mention ADHD RSD and autistic burnout. Autistic ADHD Reader can be involved in whatever capacity."

[brightlotusmoon]

Me, an ADHD Autistic Writer whose special interest and hyperfixation both is a specific character in a specific fandom, continuing to refresh the AO3 tag for that character every day:

I'm bored, I need new fics!

My own fanfics on AO3 that have everything I want to read about my favorite character going through everything I want the character to go through, sitting unfinished for months: ...hello? Hi we need updating? Help?

Me: ...

I'M BORED I NEED NEW FICS.

[brightlotusmoon]

Me, an ADHD: the fibromyalgia is already draining me of energy and strength and it's barely noon.

Two cups of Death Wish coffee: How about now?

Me, unable to convince some people that having caffeine doesn't mean an ADHD person wakes up: Welp time for a nap.

Two hours later: I may not be awake but BOY AM I FOCUSED AS FUCK YEAH

Also, I had to stop reading old fanfics that wrote Mikey having caffeine and bouncing off walls, because we all know he's ADHD and the way our brains process caffeine is different from non-ADHD brains in this essay I

-

Donnie sat back and sighed into his second coffee. His little brother was so random. He wished he himself could be softer, a little more patient, less anxious about everything, but he supposed they all had their little brain issues. Mikey's obvious ADHD, Raph's temperamental emotional outbursts, Leo's bizarre perfectionist complex, Donnie's own obsessive anxieties. He really needed to stop yelling at Mikey so much in the lab, but Mikey's atypical brain read warning signs as challenges. He took another sip…and then it hit him.

"Caffeine!" he shouted at the mug. "Of course!"

He glanced up. His family was staring at him.

Don waved his arms. "Caffeine has similar effects to the chemicals in drugs commonly used to treat Attention Defecit Hyperactivity Disorder, Inattentive Type, which Mikey has. It's not like we can order a prescription for him. He needs to start drinking more caffeine, it might help balance out the neurotransmitters."

"Donnie," Raph said very slowly, "Are. You. INSANE? Wouldn't coffee and energy drinks make him more hyper?"

"No!" Don said triumphantly. "No, that's just it, with ADHD it has the exact opposite effect. Stimulants would keep the flow of the proper neurotransmitters in check. See, in ADHD, the neurotransmitter is prematurely reabsorbed back into the neuron. So, that portion of the neural network cannot relay messages in an adequate and timely way, thus contributing to the disordered working and wiring." His hands flew even faster, and he keenly noticed that the only brother keeping up was Mikey.

"So, okay, this means that the drug, say, caffeine, would hold the neurotransmitters, like dopamine and norepinephrine, longer in the synapse so it can affectively bind to the receptor, so messages in the brain are better received, which is how typical, regular brains work. Mikey's brain can't do that by itself. Joining the neurotransmitter to the receptor is fitting a key into a lock. Caffeine would just help facilitate the fitting of the key."

Leo and Raph had blank, glazed looks. But Mikey's face had lit up, his eyes sparkling. He had propped his cheeks in his hands, and the grin on his face was like a light bulb.

"I didn't understand a word you said, Dee. But I totally get what you're talkin' about."

That was good enough. Don quickly poured another cup, adding more sugar and cream. "If you want, I can add some chocolate syrup, cocoa cancels out the bitterness," he babbled.

Mikey just took the mug and smiled serenely. "You do you, Donnie," he said, and took a long gulp. Don watched his eyes close, his tongue run across his lips. There was silence for a moment.

"It's good," Mikey said. "I'ma add cinnamon and cocoa, though." And he was rummaging through the cupboards, and Don slapped his forehead, because of course Mikey would want to add to a food, he was a chef by nature.

Ten minutes later, Mikey was stirring his little blend into one of the many travel mugs that April had gifted Donnie with, humming. He drank the whole thing down in three swigs.

They stared at him.

He stared back, expressionless.

He broke out into a soft, tranquil smile. "Dude. It's quiet in here."

Donatello grinned and pumped his fist "SCIENCE!"

-

[brightlotusmoon]

Bay Mikey, full of dopey brain chemistry after his seizures, makes a random reference to the Arrested Development Good For Her meme and suddenly everyone needs cupcakes.

But they're making him breakfast for dinner right now. Seizure brains need bacon. Cupcakes later.

@remmushound

Mmm, cake.

Mmmm, visual stim. Forever.

[brightlotusmoon]

Me writing Bays Donnie and Mikey in the RP with @remmushound and forgetting how one might act within the hours after a concussion: Wait, Mikey isn't saying anything he wouldn't usually say, he's just being a lot more direct and serious about it and "well obviously" about it...

...or no that's me, that's Autistic me therefore Autistic Mikey. I guess that wasn't hard after all!

[brightlotusmoon]

RiseLeo as soon as baydon got within reach:

That was my thought, absolutely. Bay Donnie might wind up with a braid if he's not careful. There's THREE MIKEYS in this house.

[brightlotusmoon]

In the RP with @remmushound in the Rise world, the three Bay boys met with Hypno and Warren and I accidentally turned Bay Leo into a sarcastic dork king whose malaphors of popular memes, ie Tumblr, both impress and wound his bros.

He's still a jerk but I'm softening him up a bit.

[brightlotusmoon]

I think about them all the time. They're the reason I started writing fanfiction again after years away, and writing Tumblr in general.

[brightlotusmoon]

In my dusted-off writing for 2003 with the kind help of @incorrect-2003-tmnt-quotes , I have somehow made Donatello even sassier. He will only put up with your bullshit for so long before tossing it aside to make you put up with his bullshit. For as long as he wants. Because he has already calculated that his bullshit is much more interesting and also educational. This is why he and Michelangelo get along so well.

I think Mikey has a scoreboard somewhere. He's definitely keeping track of Times Donatello Became Done Atello.

[brightlotusmoon]

FYI my husband and I do the Mikey bit all the time. He's the H in ADHD while I'm Inattentive. We're both Autistic. It's wild.

Also, this entire thing was a huge pleasure to read. I am always looking for more Autistic ADHD folks in the TMNT fandom who headcanon Mikey as both, and naturally I see Donnie's own Autistic traits in all versions, plus for 2003 and 2012 I see Leo and Raph as Autistic. In other versions I peg Raph with CPTSD, which is in a wide Venn Diagram with the others, which by the way I also have, including possible OSDD1B. Like Rise Raph.

This is long and really really worth it. The turtles have always represented neurodivergence and being queer and the asexual spectrum. (canon for Mirage and 2003, they preferred their bond over everything else, etc, source: I learned behind the scenes stuff way back then, etc.)

Mikey was always ADHD, he could have literally been the poster boy if there hadn't been so much stigma (some fans hated it for some reason, claiming he wasn't, but turns out they didn't understand ADHD at all, yes he can have caffeine, let the boy get his dopamine unlocked).

It wasn't confirmed until the 2012 show and then the 2016 movie, so my pushing that idea to confirm it hopefully did something.

Thank you @well-its-not-human-anymore for such a fantastic little imagine and thank you to all the neurodivergent fans for either picking up on my Autistic Mikey headcanons from like 2015 and running, or making your own headcanons outside of the collective unconscious because synchronicity is amazing.

So this is a personal one for me to ask and if you're not comfortable with it don't mind it; how would the tmnt boys (seperate) react when the reader confesses that they're autistic after the boys got curious when she had some peculiar, behavior or stims. The reader would be stressed, because she has a crush on the tmnt boy in question and she didn't want them to find her weird or just stop interacting with her. When she's met with confusion instead, because the boys never heard of it, cue this weird conversation where reader tells them to the best of her ability what it is and the boys just keep asking questions. Also some general headcannons with it maybe?

Okay so I'm actually really happy that you asked me this because I feel like ASD isn't portrayed a lot in any type of media. My ADD and ASD have a lot of overlap so I hope I can capture what you're asking of me!

Now let's get into it!

TMNT Headcanons

The boys reacting to an autistic reader

Leonardo

he wasn't really sure what was happening the first time you reacted

one minute you were standing next to him doing dishes and the next you were attempting to claw your skin off like an angry cat

Leo tried not to look annoyed as he watched you rub your hands against your shirt until your flesh started to turn red

you looked like you were crying but he knew you weren't

but your face was starting to turn purple and your cheeks were puffy from the effort of holding your breath

"Y/N? You need to breathe."

You shot a glare at him, scathing eyes meeting his now very concerned expression

your own softened and you clutched your arms to your chest, heaving oxygen into your lungs until your face became a normal shade again

"Are you okay?"

The words were stuck in your throat and you weren't sure if you should nod or shake your head

so you gave him a half-hearted shrug

he frowned back at you but turned to finish the dishes on his own

when he questioned you about it later he couldn't help but be curious

"Well actually it's uh- it's kinda a sensory type of thing? There are certain textures that I can't stand touching do I avoid them but if I come into contact by accident my brain just kinda explodes and I shut down."

"How exactly does that work though?"

"I don't really understand it much but like- you know that feeling you get when you think there's a bug on you and there's not but it really really feels like it?"

He nodded

"Yeah, it feels like that. And anytime I touch something that triggers that reaction it takes FOREVER to get the feeling off my skin. That's why I usually wear gloves when I do dishes. Guess I just forgot to grab 'em today."

He was sympathetic

and god, you were so embarrassed

lucky for you, Leo's not an asshole

"Well thank you for explaining it to me, you really freaked me out earlier. I'll talk to April and see if we can keep a pair or two at the lair just in case you forget again."

Consider your heart melted

you couldn't even find the words to thank him and holy shit was your face red

"Hey y/n?"

"Yeah Leo?"

"Why didn't you ever tell me- us that you were autistic?"

Did you rip the band aid off now or make something up? Which would ,technically speaking, be less catastrophic in the long run?

"I uh- I really like you and I really didn't want you or the other's to look at me differently..."

wow, you liked him? miss ma'am you have saved this boy a world of anxiety and damn does he thank you for it

"Thanks for telling me... and y/n? I really like you to."

Awh fuck yeah, best possible execution of band aid-ripping-off ever

Donatello

Donnie wished he could act surprised when you finally told him

he really wanted to, it would've made you feel better for sure

but he sucked at lying and he didn't want to make you feel like he thought you were an idiot

because that was so far from the truth

after going through extensive research on Mikey's behalf when he suspected he had ADHD Donnie had stumbled across many different websites that discussed the symptoms and overlaps between both disorders

to make a long story short, Donnie knew that you had ASD and he was waiting for you to tell him

it would probably come off as rude if he brought it up in conversation right?

he didn't want to risk it

but that didn't stop him from keeping an eye on you and your behaviors

he was a man of science, of course he was going to analyze you

not in a weird way or anything, just as a curious sort of precaution

but the longer you were involved in the turtle's lives the more noticeable your stims and meltdowns got, Donnie did his best to cover for you without making you suspicious of him

eventually he'd come up with something that he hoped would come across as a friendly gesture and wouldn't set you off or scare you away

it was game night at the lair and you, as always, were perched on the arm of the sofa, a large grin plastered on your face

inside your head was exploding but you were masking it pretty well if you do say so yourself

but Donnie was, well... donnie was donnie

so when he noticed you starting to rock a little more visibly he removed his attention from commentating the game and grabbed a pair of headphones from the side table

you were beyond confused when he passed them to you but your face revealed everything

"They're noise cancelling, try them on."

holy shit it was like putting your head underwater, everything was muffled

not in the way normal headphones did, you quite literally couldn't hear anything at all, just a calm amount of nothing

you nearly started crying when you realized that Donnie had figured you out on his own

but you'd never been more relieved about anything in your life

Raphael

he wouldn't admit that he was mesmerized by your presence

you practically radiated calm

his complete opposite

it was his favorite thing about you, because despite your quiet disposition and calming aura you weren't afraid to call him out or rebut any of his insults

this was not something you expected him to appreciate nor was it something you thought would make you catch feelings

but damn if you didn't

he'd been sitting in on yours and Donnie's little experiment for an hour or so now, watching you both exchange quiet whispers and inside jokes that you always seemed to lag on

then you slipped up

not bad, nothing detrimental to the project, just the same mistake that you'd already made ten times over

you might as well have exploded

"Y'N, you just have to move thi-"

"I KNOW DONATELLO. I FUCKING KNOW AND I JUST CAN'T DO THIS BULLSHIT!"

you set everything down gently enough to avoid breaking it before turning and storming out of the lab, waving your hands like they were on fire

Raph and Donnie exchanged a look that sent the larger red turtle following after you

when you calmed yourself down enough to talk you kept your gaze locked on the wall, explaining that you couldn't make eye contact when you were upset

he might not be the smartest brother, but Raph's no dummy, he put those pieces together pretty quickly after you told him that one small detail

he wasn't upset that you didn't tell him and you'd personally never been more relieved

your heart nearly splattered into the stratosphere when you finally gace him your own explanation

"yeah, I like ya too."

you grinned so wide you were sure your face would split open and your entire body rocked side to side with excitement

he thought that was pretty adorable too

And he did stick around to offer a bit of support when you apologized to Donnie for screaming at him

Michaelangelo

to be frank it probably shouldn't have taken so long for Mikey to realize that you were autistic

the similarities between your own personality and his ADHD were so in sight it was near painful

it was his turn to make dinner that night and you'd made sure that you came over early to help him set up, you knew how side-tracked he'd get and you were the poster child for solid routine

what more perfect matchup existed?

trick question, there isn't one

you were on one side of the counter cutting vegetables and he was on the other throwing said vegetables into the mixing pot

the music was at an ungodly level of loud so your only means of communication were screaming over it

"MIKEY."

"WHA?"

"YOU GOT THE-"

"YEAH."

"AND THE-"

"UH HUH."

"COOL, HAVE YOU SEEN THE-"

"TONGS? NO, THE SKEWERS. YEAH, THEY'RE IN THE OTHER DRAWER."

"THANKS."

the two of you went about your previous tasks, thinking nothing of the conversation that had just taken place

at least until you'd begun washing your knife and cutting board

that's when Casey walked in, looking both perturbed and annoyed at the same time

"Alright, which one of you knows telepathy?"

Mikey exchanged a glance with you and you returned it with a raised eyebrow

"The hell you mean brah?"

he looked at the both of you like you were the ones that had grown four extra heads before speaking again

"You literally just had a conversation with like five words and somehow just knew what the other meant? What's up with that?"

you glanced at Mikey again

"Holy shit, did we?"

"I mean, not really. You used your hands."

now all three of you were confused but it quickly became two when Casey shook his head in defeat and left the room

"You know I think he's right."

he blinked first and your staring contest ended

"But you used your hands-"

"I got autism Mikey, one does not simply not use their hands as forms of speech."

"You're-"

"Yep."

was the silence laughing at you? could it do that? it was kinda rude

"Huh, that actually makes sense, that's not mean is it?"

you shook your head no

"You're just me but fast."

Mikey agreed with that, pestered you with a few more questions, and went back about working, as did you, you saw no reason to address it further

but your cheeks burned red

"Yo- Y/N that actually explains why everyone else thinks we're a thing."

you didn't know if you could choke on air or not but you did it anyways

"Are we?"

he gave you his signature grin

"If we are then Raph owes April a hundred bucks."

you returned his smile

"Oh this oughta be good."

I'd like to preface this by apologizing for my near three week absence. Life got crazy and my writer's block hopped on a train, went through a school zone, killed seven pedestrians, and committed tax fraud before tumbling off a cliff never to be seen again.

But on the bright side- I got my SAT scores back and started some scholarship applications. Super happy with that. School's out in a few weeks so I'll be able to write more (hopefully).

Anyways, I hope I got this one down okay. I may have hyper analyzed the request so I might be a little off. But I really enjoyed doing this one and I hope you like it!

-Mars 🌠

[brightlotusmoon]

https://mobile.twitter.com/wormspoodle/status/1610013214065975296?s=46&t=tvpuOyZjESkdbcLIZ_RGfw

Being autistic with ADHD means both at the same time.

[brightlotusmoon]

Watch "alright, let's talk about donnie | analyzing rise of the tmnt's autistic coding" on YouTube

[brightlotusmoon]

2022: Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the bong the way Michelangelo would. Still get plenty of RSD, but medication and different types of meditation helps.

Um halo!! I made a rottmnt AU, im calling it "Burn out". Ive already decided the story and events, and how the flow shall go. This is my first time ever making an AU lmao. Anyways enjoy

Burn out - part #1

[brightlotusmoon]

This was in 2012, when being ADHD and/or autistic was still badly misunderstood and stimming wasn't seen as good or natural.

Now, at least on Tumblr, we are free to love and chew our favorite art things and then tell each other about it. Just like cats.

[brightlotusmoon]

One HC I've already wanted to explore was the Rise boys being less.. humane(?) as a result of their Yokai nature. I always saw them being more Blue-and-Orange Morality/Fair Folk (Donnie messing with our brains? Meh. Taking the last slice of cake? DIE!) (Just an example of the "Fair Folk" aspect effecting their reactions.)

This is a common headcanon that I've seen discussed! In fact, the stuff I've been writing with @remmushound touches on this.

Draxum did specifically try for warriors.

And the turtles are absolutely fae. They're cryptids, after all! Actually, I did recently write an entire post on why Mikey automatically is fae, and part of it was making deals and wording requests.

Also, a few years ago, Kassiane, the autistic activist who coined both neurodivergence and neurodiversity (not Judy), and I had a whole discussion on neurodivergent folks and fae and cryptid culture. The Ninja Turtles was part of it.