#Isn't it Donny for 03?

[deadtiredghost]

a donnie appreciation post cause I haven't posted much about them yet

I didn't realise I made 30.... I was just focused I guess hehe

Guess imma have to do this for all of them now- oh well

[teetle-time]

…so the writing demons grabbed me by the throat this morning and wouldn't let me go until i wrote this. anyway @hasello the cousins au is living in my brain rent-free so i hope u don't mind that i took a crack at something first-meetings-y with rise and 03 and wound up with 2.5k words of the babies :D

〜

The rat who once was Lou sprinted down the rain-slick alleyway with one arm clutching his boys to his chest and the other digging through his pockets.

"I saw it run this way!"

He bit back a curse; his pursuers were still hot on his trail.

And his tail.

Heh.

What a time to be alive.

The mystic key bumped against his fingers, and he quickly snatched it out of his pocket and darted to the nearest wall. He needed to be quick and precise.

…well, he at least managed speed. He spent too many precious seconds glancing back to watch the beams of light bounce ever higher just a turn away, so he really had no idea if his sigil was anywhere near accurate.

As if in answer to prayer, it lit up, opening a circular portal for him, and he leapt through without a second thought, pocketing the key as he fell.

His luck held out long enough for him to hear it close behind him without any of the humans chasing him shouting in surprise.

It did not hold out long enough to actually drop him into the Hidden City.

Instead, when the portal ended, he stumbled out into a long tunnel, directly in front of another rat with four humanoid turtles around them.

No-Longer-Lou froze like a deer in headlights, staring at the strangers and heaving for air.

The strangers all mirrored him, freezing in place and scanning him in all their various capacities.

The other rat spoke first: "My, isn't this unexpected?"

A snort forced its way from No-Longer-Lou against his will at that, though he quickly brought a hand (no, he had paws now) to his mouth to stifle it. "I- I'm so sorry, I just- I didn't mean to- This isn't where-!"

"Peace," said the other rat, carefully maneuvering the turtle in front of him a bit to the side and standing up. "Whatever circumstances brought you here, it is clear that you have been moved by the strings of fate, rather than by choices of your own design. You mean no harm to us, yes?"

"I-I- yes."

"And we mean no harm to you," soothed the other.

No-Longer-Lou breathed heavily for a moment more, but then his attention was quickly arrested by motion in his arms.

Raphael- the quickest to grow, but still so, so small- screwed up his face. "Papa?"

"I'm right here, Raphael," No-Longer-Lou murmured, reaching into the sling to give the boy's hand a squeeze.

The other rat's eyes widened at the name. "Now, that is a one-in-a-million chance, indeed."

"Why's he got a baby with my name?" demanded the turtle wearing a red mask over his eyes.

It was No-Longer-Lou's turn to be surprised. "Raphael? But then…"

He took in the colors of the masks on the other three turtle boys' faces.

Purple, blue, and orange.

"Donatello? Leonardo? M-Michelangelo?"

Silence.

At least, until the turtle boy in orange leaned over to his brothers and whispered loudly, "How does he know our names, dudes?!"

No-Longer-Lou's sons roused at their names, and he quickly realized his mistake as Michelangelo began to fuss. "Oh, oh, no, Michelangelo, please, it is alright, please don't-!"

Michelangelo may have been the youngest, but he had a record-shattering set of lungs, for sure.

The moment Michelangelo began to wail, Leonardo jumped in with him, refusing to be left out, and then Raphael was crying and Donatello was shoving his tiny head into No-Longer-Lou's chest with his hands over where his ears would have been and the rat could feel his own ears on the verge of bleeding-!

The other rat's back straightened, and he turned to the older turtle boys. "My sons, I still have some of the supplies I scavenged when you were tots. Raphael, the pacifiers. Leonardo and Donatello, the blankets. Michelangelo, the pillows."

The boys nodded seriously, wincing as the cries reached a peak before darting across the tunnel and digging through various chests and boxes. Meanwhile, the other rat carefully took No-Longer-Lou's arm and led him towards the chair the others had been gathered around in the first place. "Please, have a seat. I would quite like to hear the tale of how you came to this place-"

-an ear-splitting cry from Leonardo-

"-but first, we must calm your children," finished the other rat with a tired smile.

No-Longer-Lou nodded just as tiredly and began to gently bounce his boys. "There, there, your Papa is right here, we are all together, and…and we are safe."

The other rat's expression warmed.

"I got the pacifiers!" called the older boy named Raphael, charging back over and brandishing the four objects in one hand.

"Excellent work, Raphael," praised the other rat as he took the pacifiers.

The boy beamed.

"These should do for now," the other rat said, pressing one into No-Longer-Lou's paw. "These were enchanted by an old friend of mine to allow them to keep up with beaked babies."

No-Longer-Lou managed a weak smile at that, then carefully reached in to nudge the pacifier against Michelangelo's mouth. "Here we are, little Orange. Wouldn't it be nicer to suck on this instead of crying?"

Michelangelo hiccuped, but after a moment of what seemed like confusion, his mouth closed around the pacifier and he looked up at No-Longer-Lou with wide, wet eyes.

"One down, two to go," chuckled the other rat, handing off another pacifier. This one went to Leonardo, who contented himself quickly once he had something to do with himself. He seemed to be gnawing on the pacifier, rather than sucking on it, but No-Longer-Lou chalked it up to curiosity at the foreign object.

Surprisingly- or perhaps not- Donatello was the next one to need something to work with. Raphael began calming down after a few moments of being the only one still crying, but when Donatello caught sight of Leonardo messing with the pacifier, he turned an utterly betrayed stare up at No-Longer-Lou until he gave the boy one to fiddle with.

With the remaining pacifier in hand, No-Longer-Lou smiled wearily at Raphael. "You may be a bit big to use this, Red. Do you still want to try?"

Raphael nodded firmly. "Raphie's the big brother. Gotta be the bestest essample."

No-Longer-Lou handed the pacifier over, and…yep, it was completely dwarfed by his son. Still, his boy held it in his mouth and smiled over at Michelangelo when the two met eyes.

Michelangelo blinked, then smiled back.

"Blanket delivery!" called the bigger Donatello, carrying a pile of blankets nearly as tall as he was.

Next to him, his brother Leonardo fussed. "Donnie, I told you I could have held some!"

"Easy, Leonardo," chuckled the other rat, easily lifting the blankets from Donatello's hands. "How about you make sure our visitors are tucked in and comfortable?"

"Okay, Father," chirped Leonardo, immediately doing exactly that- and perhaps peeking into No-Longer-Lou's arms a few times to peer at his boys.

Little Raphael watched the bigger boy curiously, then said around the pacifier, "Raphie thought we were th'only turtle people."

The bigger Leonardo paused for a moment, then looked at him. "So'd we."

Leonardo- the baby- met the other Leonardo's eyes, then spat out his pacifier- and yes, it was much more chewed-on than before. "Hi! Hi, hi, hi! I'm Leo!"

The other Leonardo blinked, then grinned. "Me too. It's a good name, right?"

Little Leonardo nodded, shaking his entire body from the effort. "Daddy pickeded it!"

No-Longer-Lou chuckled. "Feeling better now, are we?"

Little Leonardo nodded again, just as energetically. "Mikey no sad no more!"

"Did somebody say Mikey?!" crowed the older boy of the same name, wildly waving pillows over his head as he ran over.

"Midey! Midey! Midey!" cheered the baby around his pacifier, flailing his arms.

"That's right, little dude!" Older Michelangelo grinned and peered over at him as soon as he skidded to a stop in front of No-Longer-Lou. "We're the mightiest!"

"MIDEYST!" shrieked the baby in glee.

Little Donatello winced and paused his inspection of his pacifier to glare witheringly at his youngest brother.

"Careful, Michelangelo," chastised No-Longer-Lou. "Your brother has sensitive hearing, remember?"

Baby Michelangelo blinked, then frowned very seriously and wiggled until he was able to grab Little Donatello's arm in a hug- or rather, a- "Dondon hubbub."

Little Donatello's glare softened, and he went back to fiddling with the pacifier with his free hand. It seemed the hinge on the back occupied more of his attention than the squishy part meant to be sucked on.

The older Michelangelo pressed the pillows in his hands to his face. "D'awww, they're so cute!"

No-Longer-Lou smiled warmly. "They are, aren't they?"

"It seems like we've established that we have similar taste in names," chuckled the other rat. "Though, just to be sure, might I ask yours?"

No-Longer-Lou's smile turned bitter. "It doesn't matter. I'm only a splinter of the man I used to be, anyway."

The other rat's eyebrows rose. "What curious phrasing. I never was a man, but the name I was given before my mutation by the family I was brought into was…well, Splinter."

No-Longer-Lou straightened in the chair at that. "Curious indeed…"

After a moment of thought, on a half-formed hunch born of one too many late night sci-fi movie marathons, he continued, "You know, before my own mutation, I'd more-or-less befriended a rat in my- well. A rat. I…I'd chosen the name Lou Jitsu years ago, but…the name I was given was Yoshi."

A shaky breath from Splinter. "…Hamato Yoshi?"

No-Longer-Lou steadfastly kept his focus on his boys. "I haven't deserved that name in a long time."

He kept the part about not wanting to be associated with his family's 'traditions' firmly unsaid.

"You okay, Papa?" asked Raphael, reaching up to pat at his face.

"I will be," No-Longer-Lou said, pressing a kiss to the boy's forehead.

Splinter gently laid a hand on No-Longer-Lou's shoulder. "I swear to you, you and your children will be safe here for as long as you need. I don't know how you came to be here, but I will help you return home if you so wish."

No-Longer-Lou nodded, thickness rising up in his throat and clogging it.

"Mr. Lou, can I see Baby Mikey?" asked the older Michelangelo, setting the pillows down.

Both rats' eyebrows rose, and Splinter asked, "Mr. Lou?"

"Well, if he doesn't use that Yoshi name, and we can't call him Splinter because you're Splinter, then he's Mr. Lou!" Older Michelangelo crossed his arms and nodded decisively, his point made.

Splinter and…and Lou met each other's eyes with equally bemused expressions, then Lou looked down at his boys. "I don't know. Orange, would you like to see Big Michelangelo?"

"Bihmidey!" Michelangelo said seriously, patting at Donatello's arm before wriggling upright and peeking out at the older boy. "Bihmidey hi?"

"Heh, yep," said Older Michelangelo, beaming widely. "Hi, li'l Mikey!"

The baby chirped excitedly, bouncing in place until Older Michelangelo reached over to pick him up. Lou watched carefully, but it seemed the older boy had at least some idea of how to hold a young child, as he easily hefted Little Michelangelo against his side.

"I wanna see the babies!" exclaimed Older Leonardo.

"Me too!"

"Yeah!"

Little Leonardo giggled and clambered out of Lou's arms too quickly for him to react. "Hey, hey, hi! I'm big boy!"

Older Raphael darted forward to keep Little Leo from tumbling to the ground. "You sure are, yeesh! Don't hurt yourself!"

Little Raphael whined. "Leo, don't fall down like that! You'll get a owie!"

"S'okay, Raphie!" Little Leonardo grinned up at his brother, then at Older Raphael. "There's two Raphies! That's even more Raphie! Gonna be saferest!"

Little Raphael whined again, but after a brief moment where Older Raphael's eyes grew suspiciously moist, the older boy blinked quickly before grinning at his younger double. "You heard 'im. I'll keep your bro outta trouble, swear."

Little Raphael scowled. "You better."

"Did you want to come out and keep an eye on them?" asked Older Leonardo knowingly.

That got a nod out of Little Raphael, and the older boy helped him climb down to the ground.

With only Donatello left in his arms, Lou couldn't find it in himself to be surprised when the older Donatello peered at the younger boy. "What about you, Tinytello? You wanna come hang out?"

Little Donatello hissed in displeasure and flipped the hinged handle on the pacifier up and down more quickly.

"I'm guessing that's a 'no,' then," said Lou. "It's nothing against you, I promise. Today has simply been…a lot."

"Oh, I can get that," agreed Older Donatello immediately. "Like, I dunno what you were doing before you came here, but it didn't look very fun. And now a bunch of big brother wannabes are getting all up in his space and playing with his bros without him? I'd be on-edge, too."

Little Donatello's handle-flipping stilled, and he shifted to look at Older Donatello's chest. (Wasn't there a turtle-specific word for that part of their shells…?)

"I'm close, huh?" asked Older Donatello. "Figured it'd be something like that. That's okay, Tinytello! Sounds like you've been having a rough time of it. Do you want me to go do something else, or should I stay put?"

Little Donatello's forehead furrowed for a moment, then he gravely held the pacifier out to the older boy.

Lou's brows shot up. "Huh. I know Purple is unique in many ways, but he usually isn't so quick to decide a stranger is worthy of a gift…even if that gift belonged to the stranger, first."

Little Donatello frowned when Older Donatello didn't immediately take the pacifier, then gave the handle a demonstrative flip before shaking the pacifier a little.

Older Donatello's eyes widened, and he carefully took the pacifier and gave the handle a tentative flip.

Little Donatello chirruped, shifting in place to get comfy in the crook of Lou's elbow in such a way as to keep watching the older boy.

Splinter chuckled as the two Donatellos went back and forth, flipping and chirping. "I do believe your son has found a new friend in mine."

Lou huffed a weak laugh of his own. "I suppose he has."

He took the opportunity to scan the tunnel- or rather, now that he had a moment to think, the room within the tunnel.

Little Raphael and Older Leonardo stood aside as Little Leonardo cartwheeled in circles, ooh-ing and aah-ing whenever the younger boy glanced their way. Older Raphael kept a hawklike eye on the toddler, constantly circling around him to place himself between Leonardo and the nearest obstacles. Older Michelangelo hopped around the room, bouncing the baby with each hop and getting the both of them to giggle madly.

Little Donatello yawned contentedly and smushed the side of his face against Lou's arm, still watching Older Donatello bemusedly flip the handle of the pacifier.

Lou felt the adrenaline that had kept him moving for the past hour finally begin to drain, and it quickly became a struggle to keep his eyes open.

Splinter's hand came down on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Rest, Lou. You and your sons are safe here. The rest can wait for now."

Lou nodded tiredly, and his eyes fluttered shut before he could have any further say in the matter.

[turtshell]

'adventures in turtle sitting' time 😶

[tmntkiseki]

Things that are official TMNT 2003 canon

Leonardo has the longest list of favorite foods, including rice, fish, salads, apples, and pizza (funnily enough, the list doesn't include sushi, although Donatello says in his profile that it's one of his favorites, alongside pizza)

Leonardo hangs Japanese lanterns in his room to make it more relaxing. He's also the only turtle to sleep in a traditional Japanese futon.

Raphael is the only turtle who doesn't have pizza listed as one of/his favorite food. (His favorite food is cereal.)

He also insists that the original Jurassic Park book is better than the movie. (I mean isn't the book always better than the movie?)

Raphael sleeps in a hammock because "sleeping on a mattress is for wimps." It should be noted that there are pillows beneath it, meaning he probably falls out of it on a regular basis.

One of Donatello's nicknames is actually spelled "Donny," not "Donnie" as it tends to be within the fanbase.

Donatello keeps a photo of April in his room, stating "she's kinda nice to have around." (I don't ship 03 Apriltello for obvious reasons, but there's no denying he had a puppy crush on her.)

Michelangelo is a Jimmy Buffet fan while Donatello is stated to enjoy The Roches.

Michelangelo has a drum set in his room that he plays "all night." He also has a working jukebox.

April likes most music. Except opera. She doesn't like opera.

April's hobbies include antiquing, martial arts, reading, and "talking to interesting people."

Casey likes Mexican and Italian food, along with pretzels and... beverages. He was definitely going to say beer.

Casey also apparently likes Mike Hammer books.

Shredder's favorite colors, in his own words: "Purple, the color of royalty, as it befits me. Black, the color of the void that only I can fill. Red, as it flows from the lifeless bodies of my enemies!"

Oroku "Food is a disease" Saki

Either Hun has a sweet tooth or there's a big pun going on here because his favorite food? Pound cake. (He also wants you to just call him "sir.")

[taffycandyqt]

Please No

You can't sleep and seek company in your misery through your best friend. However he's not at home.

Masterlist

Request Rules

OH MY GOSH IM NOT DEAD! In all honesty I haven't been super motivated lately but I started this personal project a LOOOOOOONG time ago and felt I couldn't move on to other requests before I finished it. When I started this I felt really inspired to make it solely because I feel there is simply not enough Donatello fluff in this world, especially in 03' and 12' s case. So I hope you like it!

2012 Donnie x reader

Aged up, all characters are college/older adult age, depends on how you want to read it.

Fluff, slightly angst if you really want it to be there

Fem reader

Sleeping was always a struggle for you. Logically you knew you needed sleep, physically you felt tired, but mentally you just couldn't bring yourself to do it. Your body hated the idea and actually laying down and sleeping, so you went to the only person you KNEW would be up right now.

Casey Jones.

He was annoying when you first met him be he was chill enough that he grew on you pretty quickly. Not to mention that if it weren't for him you wouldn't have met your now boyfriend. You always enjoyed spending time with Donnie but trying to pin him down was hard especially since you didn't know where he lived. He didn't want you to meet his brothers just yet, says he wants time to adjust to your guys relationship before being teased. Which, fair. SO! To Casey's you went. You two usually met up at grueling times of the night so it was customary to clime up each other's fire escapes and practically break into the other person's house. You'd either scare each other awake or find the other sitting in their kitchen shoveling cereal into their mouth watching conspiracies on YouTube.

Tonight though, nothing. Like the dude up and vanished. You checked the kitchen and his room. You even went as far as to check the bathroom. THAT WAS HIS WHOLE APARTMENT! Did he have just as an abhorrent sleep schedule as you? Yes, but he never left the house to make it a strangers problem. So to ease your nerves you decided to call him, if that doesn't work, your gonna pray Donnie is awake enough to answer the phone.

One ring. Two ring. Third ring...

"This is THE Casey Jones." You breathed out a sigh of relief. He isn't kidnapped, dead, or lying in a ditch high of weed somewhere.

"Hey man, just dropped by your place, where you at?"

"Oooooh, one of those nights huh?"

"Isn't it always?"

"heh, I feel ya. Here I'll text you my location so we can chill." after that you heard talking from the other side of the phone. Someone that wasn't Casey. But before you could ask any questions Casey quickly responded to whatever it was that they said.

"SHUT UP! ILL KICK YOUR BUTT INTO NEXT WEEK, BUD!" ending with extra sass on the 'bud'.

That's when you got his text. Perfect!

---

Orrrr not. You swear you followed the directions exactly, so why are you standing in the middle of an alleyway being told to go forward when THERE IS NO FORWARD! Being the reasonable person you are you blamed it all on Casey and let him know of your little predicament.

And, 'wait there, just a sec was his reply.' You didn't think Casey would be the kind of person to plot someone else's demise. Not that he he hasn't caused someone else's demise, he just doesn't have the forethought to think ahead about it. However this whole, standing in an alley in New York at 2 am alone, is really starting to feel like a plot.

Once again, your nerves started rising. You looked around the old bricks, worn with water damage and scraping and covered in graffiti. The dark distorted your surroundings making it unclear if you were really alone in that alley or not. The stench of the trash bags shoved as close to the corners and walls as possible started to get to you. Your breathing got a little heavier. The ominous lighting from the street lamp didn't help either. Then a sound rose above the scampering feet of rats. You turn to see the man hole cover slowly scrap along the concrete as a large gloved hand shoved it away. The darkness of the alley clouded the figure and with the covering gone the hole left seemed like a endless pool of inky nothingness. You were stiff as a board and you could hear your heart thrashing in your ears. This is it. This is where you die and it's all Casey Jones's fault.

"Hey you did make it! Nice!"

Your threw a scrapped can square at his face.

"Ow!"

"CASEY! YOU SCARED ME!"

"Yo chill! I told you I was coming to get you!"

"YOU TOLD ME TO WAIT, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE FRICK YOU WERE DOING! GOSH CASEY! WHAT WERE YOU EVEN DOING DOWN THERE!?"

"Hehe, come on. I'll show you," he winked at you before gesturing you to enter into the manhole first.

"No."

"Oh come on! Don't you trust me?"

"NO! Also gross. I'm not going down there just for the heck of it Casey. I have never been curious what New Yorks sewer system looks like."

"It's not about the sewers! We just have to walk through the system to get to the place," he told you mildly annoyed.

"And your purposely being suspicious about 'the place', because?"

"Because that's a surprise,"

"Oh joy. I just love surprises at 2 in the freaking morning, in the sewers, wearing my pajamas," you snarked as you lowered yourself down the manhole scowling slightly.

Casey led you through the sewers keeping a brisk pace. You asked him about the voice you hear over the phone earlier and all he told you was that it was part of the surprise. To which you rolled your eyes.

"You seem pretty confident on where your walking," you remarked.

"Well I sure hope so!" he laughed to himself, "I've only been coming here since highschool."

Him saying that struck a possible idea of what his "surprise" could be. But you couldn't be sure.

You initially met Casey in college. Not that he went to collage, he just crashed a class that you shared with his friend. He called her red, talked about her a lot too. You didn't really know her outside of that one class. It felt strange to know so many details about someone you've never talked to. He did mention that she was Donnies first crush but Donnie never talked about her though so you didn't really care much for that detail.

You knew that Casey had known Donnie, his brothers, and "red" since high school. He told you about their adventures all the time. Sometimes it made you feel a little disconnected, especially since the only people you ever knew from the group were Donnie and Casey. But you tried not to let that feeling get to you. It would simply take time. Besides, even if you're newer and don't know the whole group, neither Donnie or Casey ever made you feel like you weren't a part.

The thing is though, is that Casey only mentioned highschool when talking about the turtles. So while it is a loose assumption, you had an idea of what he might be planning. Part of you really hoped it wasn't what you were thinking. The other part really REALLY wanted it to be what you thought. But the majority part was to tired to care and just wanted something to do.

After a short walk you noticed the sewer transition into an abandoned subway station. That's when you heard the sounds of videogames and people. The smell of pizza lingered in the air the closer you walked to the sound. Eventually you got to the part of the station where lights lit up the dark space.

When you got to the entrance, you saw two turtles playing videogames. Pizza boxes littered the floor, some of them containing pizza, some completely empty. You were a little stunned honestly. Donnie had a genuine reason for not introducing you to his family, you didn't want to cross that line. But at the same time, you really needed a brain rotting distraction. You hesitated. But when Casey gestured you to go first through the turnstile first, that hesitation crumbled. You just wanted some pizza, was that so wrong? I mean you were already here, might as well just commit. You and Casey passed through and neither of the brothers tired to look at you. The one in red acknowledge the sound by saying,

"Welcome back Case."

"What didja need to do that you left so fast brah?" Asked the orange one.

"My best bud needed A.M. pizza, so I figured here would be the best place for her to get some," Casey told them patting your back before taking his seat next to the orange brother and picking up an abandoned controller. You followed, feeling out of place, you sat beside him.

This got reds attention.

"I'm sorry, she?" He paused the game to look over at you.

"WHAT?! CASEY WHO THE HECK IS SHE?? YOU CAN'T JUST BRING RANDOM PEOPLE DOWN HERE!"

"Dude chill out! First of all, shes not random, she's y/n," reds eye twitched, "Secondly, it's no biggie, she already knows Donnie, she's no snitch."

You smacked Casey's arm and shook your head.

"Hey! your already here aren't you?" he whined at you.

"Wait, how do you already know Donnie?" orange finally spoke up.

"Yeah, who are you anyways?" red questioned you.

"I-um. Hi, I'm y/n" you stiffly introduced.

You felt very awkward about this whole situation.

"And you know Don, how?" red reiterated impatiently.

You decided to play dumb.

"What do you mean?"

"How do you know Donnie?! Oh my gosh are you dumb?!"

"No, I get what you asked, but in what way?"

"THE FRICK DO YOU MEAN 'IN WHAT WAY?' HOW DO YOU KNOW MY BROTHER?!"

You both went back and forth like that for a while. Little did you know that this was Casey's plan all along. He had talked to Donnie about introducing you the family but he always said it "wasn't the right time". You and Donnie had been dating for almost a year now and had known each other even longer. Yet his brothers had yet to know you even existed! Knowing you, you wouldn't push the issue because you didn't want to pressure your poor boyfriend. You were under the false pretence that he would come around eventually. The truth is, he wouldn't. And it wasn't because of his brothers teasing.

They would still tease him yes, but they've grown, they know the line. The real reason Donnie hadn't introduced you was because one; he wanted you to himself. And two, the biggest reason; he was embarrassed of where he lived. Yes his home was cleanly and all but it was still a sewer. It had taken a long time for him to begin to believe that you actually thought he was attractive and not some kind of monster. Living in the sewer though? What if that breaks your entire image of him? What if you think he really is some slimy gross sewer monster after? He couldn't bear the thought. After being with you for so long, he doesn't think he could live without you.

It took a lot of nagging but when Casey finally broke him and that was the explanation he gave? Casey was so done. So he took matters into his own hands. He waited for the opportunity to present itself and tonight was the night.

"Dudes!" orange interjected, "Chillll. Ever consider that maybe she won't say cuz we haven't introduced ourselves yet?? Hmmmmmmmmm?"

He chewed red out. Red just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Hi, I'm Mikey, and that grump is Raph," he told you, "He's been awake too long, he gets fussy without his nap."

You giggled at this, but before you could say anything back Raph had tackled Mikey to the floor. As they rustled you made a small laugh.

"What is going on in here so late?" you heard someone say from behind you. You turned to where it was coming from and saw the third brother you had yet to meet. Blue.

Before he could say anything to Raph or Mikey though, he made eye contact with you.

"Who are you?"

"This is my best bud y/n. Y/n, the fearless leader Leo," Casey introduced.

"Don't call me that Casey," he told him sternly. He walked over to you guys and took a seat in the other side of you.

"You know Case, if I wasn't half asleep I'd be way more upset about you bringing a stranger to the lair."

"She's not a stranger though, she's known Donnie for a while now. Besides we already got yelled at enough by Raph," Casey told him.

He humm and nodded in a 'that makes sense type' of way.

"So you've know Donnie for a while?" he asked.

You felt like could tell Leo just as much as you could tell Raph. Which was nothing. But you felt like Leo would be more receptive to a reasonable answer then Raph was.

"I'd tell you, but I'm not at liberty to say right now," you said.

"That's not suspicious at all," he teased.

"Hey!" you laughed at him and he laughed back.

Casey elbowed you and smiled proudly. He acted like he deserved a thank you for introducing you to your boyfriends family behind his back. All you did was elbow him in the ribs. That was he really deserved. You would be lying though if you said it wasn't an oddly fun situation.

That's when Raph had pinned Mikey and he started screaming.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? I COULDN'T HEAR YOUR BEFORE?!" Raph yelled at him with this hands pushing Mikey's head to the floor.

"AAAAAAAAA!!" was all Mikey said him response.

Leo sighed next to you, "I guess I'll be taking care of that."

Before he could make a move though, you heard a familiar voice.

"What is going on out here?! I can't work with all this RACKET!" Donnie grumply shouted.

He stopped right in his tracks when he saw you though.

The only time you had seen Donnie that worked up was when an experiment failed or his brothers got on his nerves. Even then though, it was just venting after the fact, so you never witnessed the brunt of his frustrations. Safe to say you were a little startled, not put off or anything, just surprised mostly.

"Y- y- y- y Y/N?! What in Earth are you doing here?? At this hour? Here? I- ??" he was completely flabbergasted and udderly mortified.

He looked a mess, bags under his eyes, mask lazily pushed above his eyes, and not to mention yelling like an angry old man! Oh nononono. It was bad enough you were in his sewer home, there's no way you don't think his a monster now!

"Would you look at that, guess you did know Don after all," Raph said, head in hand while an elbow laid on Mikey's head.

You turned back to Raph, "Why would I lie about that?!"

This boy was unbelievable.

"Raph get off Mikey," Leo told him.

"Not until he says it!"

"Really Raph? I though you stopped doing that when we were teens."

Deciding that you needn't be involved in that conversation, you turned back to Donnie who had a horrified expression on his face.

"H- how long have you been down here?" he asked quietly.

"Not super long, Casey and I only got here like, a few minutes ago," you answered him.

Donnie took a deep breath, he looked like he was about to loose it. You didn't blame him honestly.

"You. Brought. Her. Here?!" he asked Casey. Clearly hanging by the thread of his last nerve.

"Yeah, s'not like you ever would have, so I took matters into my own hands. Besides she's my friend just as much as she's your girlfriend, I have a right to introduce her to my closest buds."

"Wait. Did you just say, girlfriend?" Mikey asked. Leo was helping him off the floor with a displeased Raph standing to the side. They all froze after Casey's statement and started at you and Donnie with wide eyes.

"JONES!" you both yelled at him in unison.

"What? They were gonna haft'a know eventually, I just got the awkward part out of the way for you," he shrugged and winked at you both.

You were gonna kill him. And by the looks of it Donnie and you were on the same page.

You pinched the bridge of your nose and let out a sigh.

"Okay, I think Donnie and I need to have a private conversation. When we're done we'll clear everything up with you all. Okay?"

"That sounds good," Leo nodded while everyone else complained.

You turned to Donnie signaling to lead the way to wherever you two could have some alone time. He seemed nervous and jittery, but led you none the less. He let you in first through a big sliding door that opened up into what seemed to be a garage. It had tables with tools and other electronic equipment strewn around. There were chemistry supplies as well along with some posters in the walls.

"So," Donnie started, fixing his gaze on the floor, "you wanted to talk?" He adjusted his mask to fit back over his eyes.

"Uh, yeah," you answered. Why was the air so thick all of a sudden? Donnie was so closed in on himself it was almost like he was afraid of you. Honestly, you wanted to ask him why Casey said he would never take you down here. But now wasn't the time for that.

"What do you want to do now? I know you wanted to introduce me on your own terms but now that that's not really a possibility. So where do you wanna go from here?" You asked.

You figured it would best to have a game plan before explaining everything to his brothers.

"I understan- Wait what?" He looked at you confused.

"Uuhhh, where do you want to go from here? Ya know, now that your brothers know?" You repeated yourself. Now you were confused.

"I. Wha. That's all you have to say?" Donnie said mouth agape, shocked.

"What? I mean, about this situation yeah? I mean, I am curious why Casey felt the need to do this but that's not really my first priority right now. Am- am I missing something here?" You asked him.

"I- I thought... I live in a sewer," he told you.

"You thought you lived in a sewer?" Your confusion increasing, "Like. You didn't know?"

"No! I know that! I just... you don't care?"

"Why would I care? I'm sorry," you put a hand to your forehead, "did you think I would judge you for your living conditions? Which are honestly pretty cush. Who do you take me fore Don?!"

"I! Well it's not that I thought you would judge me, it's just... I'm a mutant. Living in the sewers just- I don't know. The only things you think of living in the sewers are creepy gross monsters or rodents. On top of that it's the sewers! Most people find that pretty gross."

"Donnie. We've known each other for longer then a year. If I was disgusted by you, you would know by now," you spoke dryly.

"All this time I thought you just needed to get used to things. But you were just assuming the worst about me? What the heck Donnie?" You were hurt. You loved him so much, and he thought you would leave him because of where he lives? He really thought you were that judgemental?

"What?! No! I wasn't assuming the worst about you! I was just afraid you'd realize you deserve better than me!"

"BUT YOU'RE ALL I WANT!"

He stopped and looked at you, eyes wide.

"Really?"

"Yes! And I hate it when you talk like you're not deserving of love just because you're mutant."

"I just... I just don't see what you see in me," he admitted.

"Then stop assuming things and closing yourself off. Talk to your family, talk to your friends, talk to me. I never worry about whether or not you love me, you've seen me at my worst and never left my side. You're so scared of how I'll react to your worst you never even give me a chance to show you," you grabbed his hand and looked him in the eye.

"You don't get to decide how I feel or what I think, only I do."

"You're right, I'm sorry. Sorry for assuming things, things about you, and for taking so long to introduce you."

You kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you," you smiled at him. Then pinched his neck and pulled him to you.

"Ow ow ow ow!"

"And never do that again," you let him go.

"Yes of course absolutely never again," he nodded and smiled at you. You smiled back and patted his chest.

"Now before we continue the conversation of how to approach your family, I feel like we should address the eavesdroppers in the room," you said pulling back the door all the way. It was already cracked open to allow the peepers better visuals for your conversation.

As it slid open you noticed Casey and the three brothers trying to run away from the door.

"What! Guys! What part of private conversation do you not understand?!" Donnie yelled at them.

"I told you guys you shouldn't have done that," Leo scolded them.

"YOU LITERALLY JOINED RIGHT AFTER SAYING THAT!" Raph pointed an accusatory finger at him, "AND FOR THE RECORD IT WAS MIKEY'S IDEA!" He yelled moving his pointing to the youngest.

"Wow dude, I thought we were in this together," Mikey put a hand on his chest hurt.

"Well in the end it doesn't matter cuz it already happened right?" Casey shrugged and took a seat on the couch again.

Out of everyone here you and Donnie were most ticked at Casey.

Both you and Donnie approached him from behind and grabbed one of his shoulders.

"W-what? Uhhh. You dudes need something? Eh heh..." he stuttered nervous. Only just now did he realize the hole he had dug for himself.

"Why don't we have a chat Casey," you smiled but it was less of a question and more of a statement.

"Privately," Donnie finished, no smile to be found.

You both were gonna have fun with this. Then Donnie could take you home and tuck you in. What a great boyfriend girlfriend bonding activity!

------------------------------------------------------------Listen y'all, I know Google maps don't work like this, but just for the sake of plot pretend like it does.

[whattraintracks]

I kinda feel we didn’t much of raph and splinter’s relationship in 03 thoughts?

Hmm, I suppose that's fair. I've heard it said that 03 isn't a very character-driven story, and I agree we don't see as many character dynamics or arcs explored as we could have.

Below the cut are the pieces of Raph and Splinter's relationship I've pieced together for myself.

Splinter's bio on Raph in Tales from the Sewer presents this interesting duality in Splinter's perception of him. He's a difficult child but just a kid. He trains the most but he's a difficult student. He makes poor decisions but Splinter has the utmost faith in his abilities. As both father and teacher, Splinter sometimes struggles to approach his sons and their needs in the appropriate role, especially when it comes to Raph.

For example, his hands-off approach to Raph's rage, or what I usually think of as emotional dysregulation (either as a product of neurodivergence or his young age). When Raph nearly maims Mikey during a rage attack/dissociative episode (see S1E4 "Meet Casey Jones") Splinter doesn't try to stop Raph or separate him and Mikey, although he very well could have. He doesn't step in until after Leo and Donny have broken up the fight. Despite addressing Raph parentally, he comes at the issue like a teacher offering those ninja master-esque nuggets of wisdom about rage being a monster and a true warrior is balanced in all things. I think he wants to come across sympathetically (gentle voice, physical contact, calling Raph "my son") but there is a sense of disappointment and unmet expectations in what he says.

In the aforementioned bio, Splinter notes that of all the turtles, Raph trains the longest and hardest. He likely equates length of training with dedication to ninjutsu and assumes that because Raph exhibits these things he should be something he isn't: more disciplined less angry. Perhaps he compares Raph to Leo who apparently trains less but fits Splinter's prototype of a good ninja. Speaking of Leo, later in the same episode we see Splinter chastise Mikey and Donny for interrupting Leo's practice and tell Leo to keep practicing his split kick without offering any advice on how to get it right.

We see this idea directed to Raph in Splinter's comment about a true warrior finding balance in all things. It's not particularly informative. This is his version of telling Raph to keep practicing but it's not what Raph needs at this moment, hot off such an overwhelming experience. So instead of reading this as the patient, parental advice I think Splinter intends it to be, Raph's body language screams chastised. He doesn't meet Splinter's eyes and he runs away. Raph (like all of the brothers) wants Splinter's approval and he's devastated to have fallen short in this instance. Then Splinter doesn't let Mikey follow after Raph. And yeah, Raph likely needed that space but it's this hands-off approach, again. Another example comes from the one of Raph's diary entries in the Raphael: Collector Book. He talks about Splinter assigning him more meditation exercises to help him control his emotions and temper. Perhaps training, space, meditation, and nuggets of wisdom are effective tools for Splinter to self-regulate his emotions, but Splinter is also an adult. Raph needs more guidance and practical advice at this point in his life that Splinter isn't providing. The tools aren't enough, he needs to be taught how to use them.

So. Raph responds in a couple ways to Splinter's hands-off, more-teacher-than-father approach. The first is to train harder, and longer, and learn everything he can about ninjutsu. If Master Splinter says becoming a true warrior will help him find emotional balance then he's going to try his hardest to become one. When he meets Casey, he shares with him verbatim the true warrior line but confesses to Casey he's not sure how hot-heads like them are supposed to do that. He still takes the advice to heart even if it's not helpful or he doesn't understand it because he wants to please and obey his father. The collector's book shows us that Raph has taken the time to learn aspects of ninjutsu that are confusing, uninteresting, and even inaccessible to him. This book contains a lot of technical information about ninjutsu techniques and teachings. It presents Raph as even more of ninja nerd than Leo! Some of this stuff appeals to his interests, for sure; the different punching techniques for instance. Some of it, he seems to have only learned to gain Splinter's approval. He has a detailed spread on hand signs that he explicitly finds too mystical and confusing, claims it took forever to learn, and he can't even use it as a three-fingered being, but he hopes Splinter will be impressed with him.

Second, he goes behind Splinter's back. If there's something he wants or needs and he thinks Splinter won't approve of it, he'll take it for himself. Such as going to the surface when he needs space or bringing his brothers to the surface when he thinks there's something important they need to do. This feels, to me, like access thievery, which is the concept (typically applied to disabled/neurodivergent folks) of taking what one needs (time, space, resources) without asking for permission or waiting to be offered it (because you likely won't be). Again in the collector's book, Raph exhibits an awareness of his faults and a self-compassionate recognition that he's just a teen. Splinter know this too but has shown that he can't always offer what Raph needs or won't give him it in some cases (forbids them from going to the surface). So Raph has developed a willingness to take what he needs for himself and sneak around Splinter to avoid the disapproval he fears.

All that aside, I think they're very similar in their fierce love and devotion to family and the ways it can drive them to anger, fear, hatred, and vengeance. There are traits Raph inherited from Splinter they bond over, too. They're both competitive. The Battle Nexus Tournament isn't their thing but we see them playing pokey in "Dragons Rising." I love the idea that they play a lot of games together! They have a similar sense of humility. They know they're skilled but they're more likely hang back and play support while their other family members take the spotlight than boast. Unless it's really personal, then they'll take over, like how Splinter's quest for vengeance guides them in Exodus and Raph's desire to help Casey leads the brothers to sneak out with him in "Meet Casey Jones." I think, they have a similar sense of humor, too. Raph has this silly line in the collector's book about Splinter being proud he used his head, that is, like a battering ram, and you cannot tell me Splinter wouldn't chuckle at that.

[misteria247]

Turtles Forever scenario:

12 Raph is known to be a swearer. Guy swears like a sailor if he's given a chance to. Due to this he's often got 12 Leo (aka The Mom) on his case quite a bit about it. Especially when they're thrown in with the Rise gang (one look at Rise Mikey and 12 Leo cracked down hard on the no swearing thing). However 12 Raph has a somewhat difficult time not swearing, he's not like 12 Donnie who's known for getting by with his swearing habits or Rise Donnie who swears out of his little brother's ear shot. So 12 Leo and 12 Raph come up with a compromise of sorts.

12 Raph can swear but only in Japanese and not in front of the younger turtles, since no one other than the 12 boys know the language.

So he picks up the habit of swearing in Japanese saying the nastiest things imaginable and it works out rather well. So 12 Raph keeps the habit and it's a natural response at this point so much so that he forgets about the possibility of others in the different versions of themselves and their masters might know what he's saying.

It's just an out of the blue thing when it happens. 12 Raph stubs his toe on something and without even hesitating he straight up yells in Japanese:

"MOTHER FUCKING TITS."

Completely lost in his moment of pain when he hears a cup shattering on the floor behind him. 12 Raph snaps his head up completely spooked by the sudden noise and his pain forgotten only to make eye contact with 03 Splinter who's just staring at him in shock. And it hits 12 Raph that 03 Splinter was the pet of Hamato Yoshi, who lived in Japan before moving to New York.

Which meant 03 Splinter knows Japanese.

They have a small stare down of sorts, 12 Raph just frozen deer in headlights sweating like a sinner in church while 03 Splinter just stares at him. The rat recovers and takes a deep breath before saying calmly back in Japanese:

"I would reprimand you for the use of such language however, dealing with my own son I know for a fact that it will not work. So I will only ask that you watch your mouth."

And 12 Raph pale as a ghost because he's just barely escaped the devil himself at this point just responds with a:

"Hai, Sensei. Sorry."

Before literally getting the fuck out of Dodge. Later 12 Donnie will be asking him what's wrong and 12 Mikey will be poking at his shell wondering what's gotten him so spooked and 12 Raph will hallowly say:

"I swore in front of this lair's Master Splinter."

He'll get hisses of sympathy from his younger brothers and 12 Mikey would be the one to ask what he'd said while 12 Donnie would try to tell him it's not that bad and 12 Raph would look up staring them dead in the eyes before saying:

"I literally said Mother fucking tits."

And unknowingly Rise Splinter who was passing by hears it and the three just hear this God awful wheezing noise as the shorter rat completely loses his absolute shit, laughing so hard that he literally begins to cry. Leaving 12 Raph an embarrased mess while 12 Donnie and 12 Mikey try to help their brother while also trying not to laugh at this.

Later they tell 12 Leo when 12 Raph isn't within ear shot.

And are met with their clan leader laughing so hard he ends up collapsing from the sheer force of his wheezy laughter.

[jusmango-shake]

That isn't very cash money of you, Cupid.

Pairing: 03!Donnie x Reader

Fictype: Songfic

Mood: fluff, crack(?)

WARNINGS: self deprecation, SSWEARING 😎, corny feelings Ew romance yucky, reader is in denial, mention of poison(metaphorically)

🥭: I'm SO SORRY FOR GOING OFFLINE FOR SO LONG, I hope y'all can accept this... (Totally not because I suddenly had a billion ideas for Don and had to write them xP)

★Stupid Cupid you're a real mean guy,

I'd like to clip your wings so you can't fly.

I'm in love and it's a crying shame..

And I know that you're the one to blame.

As you laid down on your bed, tossing and turning as you struggled to fall asleep. A faint glow of pink visible in the almost pitch black room.

You sat up, groaning while you rubbed your eyes. Taking your phone off of the desk it was currently charging on.

“Real dick move, brain.” you grumbled, looking at the current time.

12:45 PM.

You squinted, the light from your phone almost blinding as your eyes adjusted. The blush finally visible on your face.

Rereading your conversation with Donatello on the handy T-phone he so kindly gave to you, the corners of your lips curving up ever so slightly as you recalled your memories with the Purple Turtle.

He had been running rampant in your mind throughout the week, and you had been yet to catch him.

You sighed, laying back down as you faced the ceiling. You had to accept the fact you liked him sooner or later, why not be in denial for a bit longer?

★Hey hey, set me free!

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me.

Maybe it was because you had a thing for smart guys, or maybe it's because of his stupid dorky smile, maybe it was because he only had said smile whenever you were around, or maybe—

You blinked, burying your head into your hands as you groaned. Your friend looked at you with growing concern.

"You alright?"

You waved your hands dismissively,

“Yeah, I'm doing great.”

"You ssuureee?"

“i'm very much sure, thank you.”

"Maybe it's that Donatello guy you keep mentioning."

“shut up— no it isn't,”

Your friend has gotten increasingly closer to you, wiggling their eyebrows as they shoved you playfully.

“—Oookay maybe it is.”

"Tell me more?"

“no.”

★I can't do my homework and I can't think straight, I meet her every morning 'bout half past eight.

It wasn't very well hidden, practically everyone in your friend group knew something was up.

You'd randomly message them that you wouldn't be able to make to the hangout followed by some bogus explanation.

Sometimes when they made their way to your house they'd see you sneak off somewhere.

Once you'd almost been caught entering a manhole just to get to the lair, or to Donnie to be more specific.

You did not like it whatsoever.

★I'm acting like a lovesick fool, You've even got me carrying your books to school.

Conversation flowed smoothly as you helped Donnie carry some spare parts from the junkyard, he ranted about some machine he would make with said parts.

At this point you felt as if time itself had stopped, all you could hear was the sound of his voice echoing off the buildings as you two walked through the alleyway.

The road was quite crowded near the garage, it would've been impossible to get in without getting caught. Manhole it is I guess.

You hadn't even noticed that you've already arrived at the manhole cover.

You absentmindedly followed his figure and he knelt down to take off the cover, looking at you expectantly.

He cleared his throat before gesturing to the open manhole.

“wh— oh, uh.. my bad.” you murmured,

"I'll go down and you hand me the parts, sounds good?" He smiled, if only he knew the effect that had on you.

“..yeah.”

You watched as he placed the spare parts on the ground, then moved to go down the ladder.

Once he gave the signal you grabbed the bucket next to the hole, a rope tied to it so it would be easier to get stuff down if it was too heavy or big to get down normally.

You placed as many parts as you could fit in the bucket before grabbing the rope and slowly letting it down the long hole.

Once Donnie was done getting all the parts out he tugged lightly on the rope, letting you know he was done.

After repeating that process more times than you could count, you slowly ascended down the ladder. Once again carrying the spare parts while you made your way to the lair, Donnie humming some tune he heard while Mikey was watching the Television.

You didn't like how you could practically smell Donnie from how close you two were, maybe it was because he smelled like sewer or maybe it was because of the fact it made your heart race. Probably both anyway.

You nearly jumped out of your skin when he started talking.

"Hey, (Nickname)?"

“uh— yeah? What's up?”

"I just wanted to thank you for helping, it means a lot to me." He beamed up at you.

You looked away, already feeling the heat creeping up onto your face.

“Psh.. it's no Biggie, it's the least I could do as a... Friend.”

It hurt to say that, partially because it was true.

Donnie chuckled, nudging you playfully.

"Yeah, well, I'm glad to have you as a friend then."

That hurt even more, and this time, it's because he could never see you more than just a friend.

★Hey hey, set me free!

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me.

Your heart raced whenever you even just thought of him, and it broke just as fast. You knew deep down that he'd never like you back, (did you though?). if Cupid really did exist, he's cruel.

You clutched your beating heart as you hid behind a wall, trying your hardest to calm it down before going back to meet Donnie again.

All this from just grazing each other's hand? Maybe you really were pathetic, or maybe you're just touch starved. Could be both.

You knew Donnie was just sitting there watching TV, completely unaware of what power he had over you. You felt bad lying to him, you usually told him everything. But not this, it's not worth losing him over some feelings. Right?

★You mixed me up for good right from the very start.. Hey now, go play Robin Hood with somebody else's heart!

When you first met Donnie, it was like an arrow went straight through your heart. Maybe you're over exaggerating it, maybe.

It's like the arrow was laced with poison, slowly infecting every part of your body without you knowing it, and lastly, it infected your heart.

You always had a feeling you liked him from the start, maybe it was the fact you couldn't accept liking him more than just platonic liking.

It got harder and harder to push back down into the deep depths of your heart. The last straw was when it finally hit you straight in the face, you loved him. And you couldn't do anything about it, neither could you decide whether he'd reciprocate or not. It was killing you slowly, just like poison.

★You got me jumping like a crazy clown,

And I don't feature what you're putting down.

By no means did you think you even slightly deserved him, Donnie's a really sweet guy. He deserved more than some person who can't even come to terms with their own feelings.

Still didn't stop your heart from doing a backflip into a cartwheel into a handstand flat-back though.

Every time you saw him, your heart just decides to do a whole workout routine inside your chest, the butterflies in your stomach don't help either.

★Well since I kissed her loving lips of wine,

The thing that bothers me is that I like it fine~

Hey hey, set me free?

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me!

It did not give you any sense of pride to admit this but, on more than one occasion, you have fantasized about kissing Donnie. It embarrassed you to no end. (Stupid teenager hormones)

Maybe one day Cupid would decide to have mercy on you, and finally let you move on. Doesn't seem like he's going to, though.

Maybe for one day you could stop being such a weirdo for Donnie? Just for one day?

★You got me jumping like a crazy clown,

And I don't feature what you're putting down!

The fact that you always felt happier whenever you were just with him, even being in the same room could dramatically change your mood didn't help at all.

You hated always wanting to be near him, his entire existence feeling like a drug to you. Time always seemed to fly faster than when you weren't with him, you could never get enough of his rambles, anything he made amazed you, you hated it. You hated being in love.

And you hated the intense feeling of dread whenever you even thought of confessing to him, being rejected by all means was not on your to-do list. Neither was ruining your perfectly good best-friendship with Donnie.

★Well since I kissed his loving lips of wine,

The thing that bothers me is that I like it fine.

You got so caught up in your train of thought that you hadn't even considered the fact Donnie liked you back, maybe it's a defense mechanism set up by your brain so you couldn't dig an even deeper pit.

Donnie watched you do your homework as you fail to notice his longing, he's loved you for a long time already. But by his logic you would never like him back, who would wanna date a green sewer turtle? Living in the sewers is bad enough. What about being a mutant?

He quickly corrected an answer you had written down, his arm coming up from behind you to take a hold of your hand. He erased the previous answer and wrote the correct one.

He knew he couldn't hold your hand like this for too long or it'd be suspicious. Though the both of you craved each other's touch.

You were the only person who would actually listen to his rambling instead of just nodding along and pretending you were. You would ask questions that would spark new conversations, you came to him for answers. You looked for him when you needed help.

You genuinely enjoyed his ramblings. You enjoyed his company though he had nothing more to offer than just knowledge and machines he had made. He didn't even need to talk sometimes, you would just watch him do whatever he was doing. Offering help when he needed it.

Donnie only snapped out of it once you had begun waving in his face.

“—nnie, D? DonTron? Donatello? The turtle in purple? Donasaurus? Downtown Donsville?”

"Yeah—? Sorry I was- uh zoned out."

“could you help me with uh— number twenty five?” you scratched the base of your neck.

"Twenty five—? Didn't I already explain it to you? Like, eight times?"

You laughed sheepishly, turning around to face him.

What you expected was a look of disapproval. as much as Donnie loved explaining things, no one wants to repeat themselves. what you hadn't expected however, was that Donnie was actually much closer than you thought.

As soon as you turned around, you were met with Donnie's lips. You had accidentally kissed him.

As you pulled away, two fingers on your lips while your whole face flushed a shade of red.

Butterflies erupted in your stomach as you avoided Donnie's gaze like the plague, what if he hated it? What if he doesn't wanna be friends anymore?

Your thoughts were immediately shut up by Donnie clearing his voice.

"I'm sorry if this isn't the right time but— can we do that again.?"

Your eyes shot up to meet his and you took in the significantly darker shade on his face. You thought of what he'd looked like flustered, it was even better than you'd imagined.

“i— Yeah, I guess..?”

You held your breath in as he leaned in closer, your face scrunched up as you felt his breath fan over your face.

You peeked through one of your eyes when you felt him move away, a bashful expression mixed with a hint of sadness behind it on his face.

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, glancing over at you.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to, ya kno."

Shit— that's not-

Before you could think of anything else, it was like someone pressed autopilot in your mind.

You quickly spun around in the chair, extending your hands to his face. You gently cupped his cheeks as you leaned in,

Donnie's eyes opened in shock as he felt your lips softly kiss the edge of his lips, you had missed his mouth entirely.

You pulled away anxiously, your face heating up at the fact you completely ruined the moment by missing his lips.

Your eyes frantically searched his eyes, trying to catch some semblance of a hint that everything was fine and that Donnie doesn't hate you.

Unfortunately for Donnie, he was too dumbstruck and lovestruck to form a coherent sentence.

The only thing he managed out wasn't even a word, all he did was shoot out a lazy smile.

You sighed in relief, happy that at least he enjoyed it.

While you turned back around to continue doing your homework, you were interrupted by a familiar green hand.

"Maybe one more?"

★Hey hey, set me free

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me.

A few days afterwards, he finally confesses, and by confesses I mean he builds a robot out of spare parts to confess for him. Partially because he's too shy to do it himself and also because he wanted to impress you as well.

And after that was just a hazy blur of study dates and lovey dovey stuff, as Mikey so kindly put it.

You held Donnie's hand as you two watched the stars on top of a random building, you listened as Donnie pointed out every constellation he could see and facts about every star that was apart of each one.

"Did you know that Sirius is the brightest star we can currently see? With our bare eyes?"

You chuckled, gently caressing Donnie's hand with your thumb.

"But I'd have to disagree with it, yknow why?" He added, sitting upright as he gazed down lovingly at you.

“No, why?” you sat up as well, looking at him questioningly.

"Becauseee.. you're the brightest star I've ever seen." He grinned at you.

You grinned back, a light blush adorning both of your cheeks.

“You're such a cornball, Donnie.”

"Yeah, but I'm your cornball."

“Donnie!”

"What?"

You two laughed, smiling lovingly at eachother.

★Hey hey, set me free

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me.

[k0nv4l10]

Annoying tropes that made me drop fanfics (tmnt edition)

‼️MY OPINION‼️

03/12 Raphael is an abusive brother

All Mikeys are innocent crybabies who can't do nothing wrong, or express any amotions, except sad/happy/scared

Rise Splinter is the worst father of the century

Rise Donnie in his "crazy scientist mode" 24/7

03/12 Mikey being abused

03 Leo being an edgy bitch 24/7

Rise Leo using his jokes ONLY like coping mechanism, and not bc he's just a silly lil guy

03/12/87 turtles being scared by rise turtles

12 Splinter hates his children

Any of the turtles acting like an assholes, and then their actions being justified bc ✨TrAuMa✨

What the solution to those problems? REWATCHING. THE. SHOWS.

Like, literally, whenever you'll think about any of those tropes, just rewatch the show, and see how their relationship really are, it's not that difficult. :)

Plus, it's just nice to revisit our little turtle guys isn't it? 🐢❤️💙💜🧡

[cnwolf-brainrot]

03 Turtles - Greatest Fears

At least, as sourced from season 3, episode 14: The Darkness Within. I rewatched this episode, where the turtles are shown some of their greatest fears through hallucinogenic visions, and I decided to hyper-analyze the scenes to a friend of mine who doesn't watch TMNT so now I'm throwing these thoughts here as well. Simply put, these are the visions the turtles are shown: Leonardo: the death of Master Splinter Donatello: the death of Angel (who they were trying to help on this mission) Michelangelo: Leonardo turning against him Raphael: himself as the Shredder

As for why each of these are extremely important, I analyze them under the cut~

Leonardo: Leo holds Splinter's praise so much higher than his brothers do. Leo is the eldest child, the leader, the good student and the role model. He strives to emulate his father in all that he does. However, Splinter's death isn't some distant fantasy that Leo could never imagine; it's a real, stark, bone-deep terror that Leo carries. He's seen Splinter on the brink of death before. They all thought they lost him for a bit during season one. Leo knows his father isn't invincible, and that is TERRIFYING to him. He's the one who his brothers look to for guidance, and Leo looks to Splinter... without his father, EVERYTHING falls on his shoulders, and is he strong enough to bear that? This is further proved by the fact that in the vision thing Leo sees, Splinter rescues him before he dies; he looks to his father for guidance, security, everything... having to lead alone is his greatest fear.

Donatello: Don gets like twenty seconds of screen time and that makes me mad, but what he gets is important. Out of all of his brothers, his is the only vision that's focused on someone other than direct family. Donatello is a people-focused character; he goes out of his way to help others, and constantly throughout the series we see how empathetic he is. It doesn't matter if the focus of the episode is helping a dear friend or a stranger; Donny is the first in line to help. Moreover, he takes every single life they touch personally. This is seen specifically through how he keeps a bond with the homeless population of New York (seen in multiple episodes), how he witnesses the loss of April's neighbor Kirby, and how he spends months trying to find a cure for people who were experimented on by the Shredder (seen in the Underground episodes) even after his brothers have all but forgotten about them. Don is quick to protect people, and when he does he takes every single failure to heart. Failing someone he pledged to help is his greatest fear.

Michelangelo: Mikey seeing one of his brothers, particularly Leonardo, turn against him shows so much of his relationship with his brothers. Mikey's the annoying one, the goofball, the one the others are always teasing to the point its almost mean... but every single one of them would jump to his side in an INSTANT if he was hurt. This isn't just something Mikey "knows", it's something he SEES. Every time Mikey is in trouble, or -- God forbid -- an enemy makes the mistake of THREATENING Mikey, his brothers come out in full force. I can't even reference specific episodes here because it's throughout the WHOLE SERIES. Mikey knows he's annoying, and he knows he gets on his brothers nerves sometimes. But one thing he never has to doubt is if his brothers would be by his side... that is, until they're not. If there's ever something that would push his brothers far enough that they're not there with him, then what would he be left with? His brothers turning against him is Mikey's greatest fear.

Raphael: Raphael. OHHHHHH Raphael. The second Raph's was reveal was the second I decided I needed to type out this rant. At first his is simple; The Shredder walks out and attacks him. Raph fights back, as he always does, but eventually the helmet is knocked off and the Shredder's face is revealed... only it's Raph's face. And this shows us just what Raph is scared of; HIMSELF. Raphael genuinely struggles with anger issues in the 2003 show in a way that's a bit more prominent than in other iterations (my favorite example of this is probably the "what's wrong with me?" from the episode Lone Raph and Cub). He's angry, he's destructive, and he KNOWS this. It's something he's been told and seen for years. He struggles with controlling his anger, and he's had times before when he's lashed out and nearly hurt his brothers. Most of the time he brushes it off and recovers and makes up for it by throwing himself into danger to make sure his brothers aren't hurt. What makes this so heartbreaking is that this Raphael is an absolute sweetheart. He's all brawn and thick skin on the outside, but he's an utter softie; take his interactions with Tyler from Lone Raph and Cub, Mrs. Morrison from Touch and Go, or Ryan from this episode. And that's not to mention his interactions with his brothers!! This Raphael has a huge heart for others, and he has no idea. He genuinely doesn't seem to understand the fact that he's a caring person because he only is aware of his own faults. The fact that he sees himself as this -- their greatest enemy unmasked to see HIMSELF underneath -- shows just how little he knows about who he truly is. Raphael's greatest fear is himself, and that utterly breaks, my heart. Ok I'm done that's just my turtle overanalysis for the day, thank you for coming to my TED talk

[yellowhollyhock]

because I'm the shield

I was trying to write a little scene between rise Raph and Mikey since his overprotectiveness is something they've argued about. But that's turning out slower than I expected and will have to be for another time--maybe will fit a different prompt when it's done, who knows.

I've been rewatching some of 2003 season 4 and having feelings about shield Raph.

Fight scenes do show a lot of him throwing himself between his brothers and physical harm. But season 4, with the family relationships strained, highlights something else, which is Raph shielding his brothers from Master Splinter and each other. Especially Leo.

I learned from the tmnt fandom that sai is meant to defend against sword. And that's so fitting for these two.

Raph defending his brothers from Master Splinter mostly looks like being the loudest and most openly rebellious to draw attention away from (honestly mostly Leo and Donnie) blatantly doing what they're not supposed to do (like traveling to an alternate dimension without telling anyone or fighting the Foot alone. Seriously they call him and Mikey the impulsive ones??). And Splinter isn't a danger to the turtles, he is very loving in 03, but his opinion matters to them and Raph makes himself the squeaky wheel so the others can stay squeaky clean.

But about Leo. Two things going on season 4: Raph is (trying to) protect Leo from his own inner thoughts, verbally replying to his anxieties with positives or neutrals; and Raph is on guard to keep Leo off Don and Mikey's case.

I just watched Aliens Among Us and found it especially sweet when they're all on the roof to watch the President how Raph and Leo interact. Leo is upset with Don and Mikey for fooling around, and says out loud that by even coming to watch they 'may as well ask to be dissected.' (Because it's gonna be a Bishop episode so Leo obviously has to foreshadow that. They just had Bad Day, they will not watch as the various enemies their memories pulled from do in fact torment them.) Anyway, it's the way he keeps a pretty calm, almost lighthearted tone while he talks Leo down from his catastraphizing, drawing attention away from his other brothers who were getting yelled at in the process. And this is just an example of how Raph acts this season.

side note, I adore how these two specifically could be talking about their favorite flavor of potato chips and look like they're plotting a murder. This is a picture of Raph getting as close as he can to physically beating up Leo's inner demons.

Another small moment in this episode that I loved: Raph grabbing Leo by the shoulder with, "Whoa, where are you going? Don't you think we need a plan?" and Leo's plan is 'take out every alien we see.' This is not a Leo at the top of his game, in spite of what he told Splinter last episode about 'doing whatever it takes to protect this family.' Raph knows it. He and Leo have different strengths and different approaches, but he knows a healthy Leo would be analyzing the situation, briefing them all on what they should most likely be prepared for and what information they lack that everyone should keep an eye out for. Leo is an analyst, that's one of his greatest strengths. And he's not doing that.

it's literally like 'hey bro are you okay? you've barely picked apart the enemy's battle strategy or lurked in the shadows.' Leo isn't doing the things he loves and Raph notices.

Also speaking of Bad Day. Here's a picture of Raph telling Donny it's not his fault.

Again he looks like he's plotting murder but he is actually speaking in the softest sweetest voice to his stressed out little brother. This is a turtle who just watched his best friends get blown up by people who were looking for him and his family.

That is all ❤️

[tmntheadcanons]

Idk if you've already done this, but have you done how they would deal with panic/hard feelings?

I haven't yet! This one is interesting. I focused more on panicking/fear but I'll make another post for hard feelings, how they act when they're mad, etc. I was thinking about the 03 turtles when I wrote this mainly but it's sort of just my head canons for the turtles in general.

Leo:

I feel like when Leo panics, it's less visible. You might mistake his panicking for just general stress but in his mind he is losing it.

He'll get pushy and impatient.

He'll be anxiously pacing.

When he's starting to panic he starts desperately trying to keep track of everyone in his mind. His head will be darting around in all different directions because he's trying to keep tabs on everybody

In general though, I think Leo is good at keeping his head when he's panicking. He is able to filter out what is important at the moment and what isn't.

And I feel like Leo's panic response sort of hits after the situation has been dealt with. He will handle it in the moment and then the second it's over, he snaps.

His habit is bottling things up until he explodes.

After a high stress situation, Leo needs to be alone. He'll go some place private and just let it out. He won't do this around other people except maybe Splinter.

I could see after a particularly bad mission, he comes home and after everyone's been taken care of he goes into his room and cries for a good half hour. I feel like it would be kind of cathartic for him.

Or he starts replaying the situation in his head and spiraling into what-ifs.

It helps him to talk the whole thing out with Splinter.

Raph:

When Raph is afraid he gets snappy and jumpy. He'll be visibly on edge and probably pretty irritable.

When he is full on panicking I think he would enter a blind rage. Not out of anger but as a fear response. He'll start desperately attacking whatever the threat is. He loses his judgement pretty quickly.

The more panicked he gets the more impulsive and aggressive he gets

Also, notice how some iterations of Raph (I'm thinking bayverse and mutant mayhem) start making heartfelt confessions when he thinks they're all about to die? I feel like that's a Raph thing. In moments of high stress all his pent up feelings just come flooding out.

I think after a really high stress situation, Raph becomes pretty mellow. Also he'll get really tired. He might get upset about the situation again later but in the moment he'll just be exhausted

Afterwards, I could see Raph wanting to spend some alone time, but I could more see him wanting other people around. He'll want some quiet company. He might not say much but he'll stick around the room where everyone is. I think it would comfort him to just be in a mundane and safe environment with everybody.

Donnie:

When Donnie is scared he starts rapid fire thinking of solutions. He shuts everything else out and tries to laser-focus on whatever he's doing.

This makes him block a lot of stuff out and he might not notice or respond to things. He'll blank out for a second and go into his own head but eventually he'll snap back.

When he's panicking, and it's from something he can't solve or analyze, like something flying directly at his head, he'll freeze.

He might start overthinking or over complicating things. In really bad cases he'll be over thinking something so much he'll forget really basic information.

Donnie has the patience of a saint but if someone rushes him when he's under pressure he will obliterate them.

After a stressful situation, Donnie becomes a bit reserved. Like Leo, he'll start replaying the situation in his mind. He'll think about how he could have prevented it, if there will be any repercussions, if he did a good enough job, etc. He'll be a bit jittery and restless. He'll start bouncing his leg or shaking a little.

When he comes home he starts looking for a distraction. He'll be so in his own head he'll need something to distract himself from his own thoughts. He'll immediately start working on/researching something.

Mikey:

If Mikey is afraid, he will say so. Even if he is completely alone he will still say so out loud. He'll get jumpy and easily startled. He also uses humor to mask/cope with fear.

When he is anxious he fiddles with things in his hands, especially his nun-chucks.

But if he picks up that everyone is panicking, he'll force himself to calm down and become a bit more level headed. He'll become unusually serious and focused on whatever they're doing. He also might try to calm other people down, particularly Leo and Raph.

When he gets anxious he'll start slipping up and making stupid mistakes, and then he'll get insecure about those mistakes and start to spiral even more.

When he's panicking he gets flustered and frantic.

Afterwards he might be a bit shaken but he usually comes back down pretty quickly.

He likes to be around people afterwards. He's usually the one to lighten the mood and I think he purposely makes an effort to do that.

He'll be pretty good for a few hours but I think when he goes to bed or is by himself it will hit him again

Sometimes he'll read a comic or play a game or do something fun to get his mind off things

[tblsomedoodles]

Adopted Donnie Au (b/c you all got me thinking about it more so it needed art.)

Basically Donnie ends up in 03 b/c he and Leo literally ran into Hob and Donnie got grabbed before they could run away. He was scared, but when he realized Hob was going to grab Leo too, he panicked. Queue ancestor assisted portal swallowing both Hob and Donnie.

His escape was a little more difficult than Angie's was, resulting in claw marks on his shell and arm that eventually scar. (i might go over that more in a different post. we shall see)

But the main difference (other than the fact it's donnie) is that when Donnie is eventually sent back to Rise, he doesn't handle it as well as Angie, at least emotionally.

Donnie doesn't talk about the last ten years (only occasionally referencing a Papa and uncles but never goes into detail.) He throws himself into his work, which isn't particularly hard since the lair needs a LOT of it. He basically tries to pretend nothing is wrong, bottling up those emotions so he doesn't have to deal with them. He's basically decided that he can't go back so why bother thinking about it.

(not for lack of ability to go back. Donnie would have helped Don make the return portal so he could have easily built his own and adjusted it to his needs. But his brothers need him. Without him they barely had heat for the winter. He's afraid of what would happen to them if he went back.)

So, post Krang, when Mikey surprises him with a portal open to 03 and his Papa walking through it, those bottled up emotions suddenly arn't so bottled anymore. He spends the next several hours clinging to, and crying on, Raphie b/c 2 years worth of emotions have broken containment and refuse to be ignored any longer.

also, bonus funny thought to end on:

Purple jacket episode would probably go a lot like this

yes, Adopted Donnie swears. a lot. : )

[dandylovesturtles]

This one is breaking the rules but aaaauuugh they're both really good prompts so I will do April and Raph Trick, just for you anon

(and answering this as a screenshot in case I ever want to write that other prompt too lol)

CWs: none really, other than some brief discussion of injuries from the fic

---

April's on a jet ski with Warren Stone when a very loud and repetitive sound comes from a fog horn in the sky. It takes her a moment to realize the sound is her ringtone, and it's actually coming from her bedstand. Blearily she blinks open her eyes and rolls over, fumbling until she finally grabs it and stares at the screen.

5:03 AM is what she sees first, and she prepares herself to verbally murder whoever is on the other end of the line, until she actually pays attention to the caller ID and accompanying picture.

Raph. An old picture of him making a silly face for the camera.

She's suddenly wide awake. Raph would never wake her up so early on a school morning for no reason. Which means something's happened.

She swipes to answer before the ringtone dies, nearly yanking her charger out of the wall with how fast she raises the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Um, hey, April..." His voice sounds hesitant, and April's suspicions are confirmed. "Sorry for calling so early, I just... wanted to catch you before you went to class."

"It's fine, big guy," she says, because it's Raph, and because his tone is screaming that something is wrong, bad wrong, and she could never be mad at him for calling her at any time when something is wrong. "What's up?"

"It's, uh... well. Something happened. It's... I don't even know where to start."

He's not telling her to meet them somewhere, so whatever happened isn't currently still occurring. April decides, then, to cut to the chase.

"Who's hurt?"

She hears Raph take a shaky breath, hears what sounds like a thud as he leans heavy against a wall. Then...

"Leo."

Blood turns to ice in her veins. She sets up fully in bed, pulling her legs to her chest and closing her eyes. Not again.

"What stunt did he pull this time?" she asks, but there's no heat to it, just the echoes of the distress she's barely holding back. Raph, at least, seems to understand.

"We don't know. We were chasing these yokai guys - there were three of 'em, so we split up. Leo chased one of 'em up onto the rooftops, and... uh..." Raph clears his throat. "We think... well, Donnie thinks he fell. Or was... maybe pushed."

Fell off a roof. April almost feels like she heard wrong, it feels impossibly mundane. Those boys have been running around on rooftops since before she knew them, and their shells are tough; she can't imagine any of them being too hurt by a tumble unless it was from really high up.

But she can tell from Raph's tone of voice that Leo was hurt - seriously. If this were a, "Haha, Leo fell and broke his leg," moment, she would have gotten that call from the boy himself.

She keeps her eyes closed, like that will somehow force reality away. Predictably, it doesn't work. "How bad is it?"

Raph takes too long to answer, and she fists her hand in the sheets while she waits.

"He's, uh... Well, he's breathing right now," he says, quickly, and she sucks in air too sharp and fast, "but he wasn't when we found him. And... I... I don't know, April."

April listens helplessly as Raph's voice cracks on the other end of the line. She wishes they were having this conversation in person, so she could give him the biggest hug she can manage, but that's not how life is.

"He's... he's not waking up. He's just... laying there. He looks so still, he... Even after the Krang, he never..."

Raph chokes up, and she can tell he's trying hard not to cry. She wonders if he's let himself break down yet, and thinks probably not, because he probably hasn't left Leo's side until now, which means he's stayed strong for Donnie and Mikey.

But Raph doesn't have to stay strong for her. She's the big sister, after all.

"It's okay, Raph," she says, her own tears starting to fall, her own voice shaky, but she only lets as much show as she needs, to encourage Raph in his own feelings. "It's okay. I'm here."

There's another thump from the other side of the line, Raph hitting the floor, if she had to guess, followed by one sob, and then another. And then she can hear him crying in earnest, and she lets him, repeating the same things over and over, I'm here, it's okay, let it out, I love you, we'll figure it out.

Later, April will get a shopping list of anything the boys need from Mikey. Later, she'll will trek down to the sewers and see her boys. Later, she'll take care of chores and harass Donnie into sleeping and do everything she can to cheer Mikey up. Later, she'll talk to Splinter and help him stay present for his sons. Later, she'll hold Leo's cold hand in hers and try to will her baby brother to wake up by force.

Right now, she has a different baby brother to take care of, one who needs her because he feels like he can't go to anyone else. The clock reads 5:14 AM, and that's okay. She'll be here as long as she needs to.

[hermit-searching]

One thing I think is funny about Donatello is he is absolutely unhinged no matter which iteration.

Like, yeah Rise Donnie is probably the most overt version of completely unhinged Donatello because he'd chug Uranium and fistfight Cthulhu. And you have whatever is going on with 2012 Donnie and that version of April 😨. But I would like to bring up some of the absolutely hilarious unhinged things some of the other Donnie's have done.

87 Donatello:

-has a personality altering ray that caused so many shenanigans but he kept anyways

-frequently talks about how he wishes he was a regular turtle with no higher thought

-was electrocuted once which convinced him he was Batman then proceeded to try and off Shredder on his own (and almost succeeded)

-literally just makes things blow up for fun

-if at first brains don't succeed, violence is the answer. (he's got a temper than can rival most Raphael's)

-he likes being in jail

03 Don:

-nearly drove himself insane trying to save his dad from cyberspace

-saw some rabbit making googoo eyes at his brother and chose violence.

-also makes bombs and missiles for fun

-Raph's #1 enabler (you'd think it's Mikey but no. Mikey eggs Raph on a ton but no. it's Don. they're the og disaster twins)

07 Donnie:

-bro works IT. That's it. That's the post lol.

I'm not familiar with the comics, IDW or Mirage, so I can't really comment on them. But I'm pretty convinced Mirage Donatello would be a war criminal.

Also Bayverse isn't included because I hate them.

[iztarshi]

Turtles and the Spotlight (in things I've seen)

In Mirage there's a very clear hierarchy of who gets page time and plot beats and it's Raphael>Leonardo>Donatello>Michelangelo. Raphael's both the cynical sarcastic one and the reckless aggressive one so he's both the most likely to be saying something and the most likely to be doing something. I'm not sure Mirage really needed four turtles, and the main effect having four of them has (at least in issue one) is to make Raph stand out even more as the "rebel" rather than just having him and Leo be two people who don't agree sometimes.

87 spreads things out a lot and changes them around. All the turtles get less violent, but Raphael especially keeps the sarcasm and loses the aggression. Leonardo becomes the turtle with the most do-or-die attitude, Donatello the most aggressive and Michelangelo the most impulsive. Not that Raphael isn't still a bit impulsive himself - he's often the first to jump into a fight once he's convinced they need to have one because he's not going to stand around talking about it. Anyway, it's much more of a spread of turtles that are all equally likely to say or do things but for different reasons.

Archie is back to everything being about Raphael, but the second favourite turtle is no longer Leonardo but Donatello. He's got his 87 characterisation so the mad science and willingness to hit things with sticks clearly appealed. It's notable that the future arcs almost entirely exclude Leo and Mikey, often in favour of having more than one Raphael on screen at the same time.

The 90s movie is focused mostly on Leo and Raph but a) it's adapting the farmhouse arc which already was b) it's a 90 minute movie. I'm inclined to give it a pass for not being able to have plot arcs for all four turtles. It also just makes Mikey and Donnie really funny, so they might not get the major plot beats but they're memorable. (And I need to watch the sequels because I think at least the third might be more Mikey and Donnie front and centre.)

03's fun because it takes a lot from Mirage and isn't keen to admit it takes anything from 87 at all, but it does a lot better at having four protagonists than Mirage does, following 87's tactic of giving them one important thing each and building from there. Mikey and Raph in particular are sort of split from Mirage Raph - in a very different way from 87 in fact - with Raph keeping the violence this time and Mikey getting to be the "wise guy". Donatello gets more of his pacifist Mirage character but keeps a bit of mad scientist and thanks to some amazing voice acting and memorable episodes he really shines. Leo gets a foil in Karai (very changed from Mirage) and a friend in Usagi as well as his Mirage farmhouse arc and a few more in a similar vein.

12, Rise and MM are all following the forumula and, while they have very different dynamics, I don't think they have anyone stealing the spotlight in any of them.

Except the Rise movie which, in tying up its leadership issues from the series, makes a movie that is very focused on Leo and Raph, particularly Leo. They do make sure Donnie and Mikey have arcs, though, they just don't give them the same amount of time.