#Leo is doing a really good job making sure his brother is healing

[mcducky1356]

I just watched the 1990 movie for the first time, so now I’m redrawing some scenes with the Rise boys!

[goodlucktai]

29 with Mikey and Leo please!

29. “Tell me where it hurts, and be specific.”

x

It really was his own fault. If Mikey didn’t want to be babied, he shouldn’t have broken his wrist. 

He was mostly just annoyed it happened in such a boring way, catching himself wrong falling off his skateboard.

Yes he’d decided to sneak off and find a sewer tunnel to attempt the full pipe loop a full two weeks before Draxum said the gross mystic mandrake tea would finish running its course, but he felt fine! His hands barely shook anymore, only when he overworked himself or let himself get too tired or too excited.

But from the look on everyone’s faces when he slunk home ungraciously dragging his board behind him, you’d think he was at death’s door. 

What was worse, Donnie wheeled him by the shoulders into the infirmary and deposited him right in front of Leonardo, the only person Mikey couldn’t out-stubborn, whose affable smile faded at once into that serious look that made all of his siblings straighten their spines and pay attention.  

If the skateboarding accident had happened pre-almost-apocalypse, Dr. Leo would have probably led with a joke instead of, “Tell me where it hurts, and be specific.”

Mikey resigned himself to a ridiculous amount of mother-henning for the duration his arm was stuck in its short cast. His brothers took his newly fragile hands so personally, like they were the ones who couldn’t hold an inking pen or color inside the lines or even cook a meal more complicated than lasagna without having to give up in the middle and have someone else take over. Like they were the ones who woke up shaking in the middle of the night from some distant, half-forgotten dream of disappearing into fragments of light, arms radiating pain like it was their job, a confused jumble of grief and fear and farewell on his tongue until he went and climbed into bed with papa or Raphie and let them hug it all away. 

Leo said Mikey’s wrist wouldn’t need the full six-to-twelve weeks that a baseline human’s would due to their genetic modifications—“Thank you, Barry,” they had chorused in varying degrees of sincerity (Mikey, Raph and Casey) and sarcasm (Leo, Donnie and Splinter)—but that he still needed to give it time to heal.

“You’re the toughest guy I know,” Leo had said, poking Mikey on the beak to stall the inevitable whine, “but you gotta give yourself a break, Miguelito.” 

He said it like his skin wasn’t still bruised like a peach and his shell all wired together from going one-on-one with an actual living nightmare even as he found the energy to take care of someone else. 

He sat there in the doctor’s seat, pressing carefully around the wet fiberglass to mold it to Mikey’s wrist, all his attention bent to the task. He always tended to his brothers’ hurts the same way, as if it was the most important and remarkable thing he’d ever do. 

Leo’s own casts had only been removed last month, and he was usually very good about following his own medical advice, if only because he knew his siblings would cite his behavior in a heartbeat if it meant they could loophole around doctor’s orders. So Mikey really had no choice but to sulk and accept the distant cousin of scolding he received. 

“It’s not a race,” Leo said, smiling at him. “No one’s gonna run off without you. Where would we go that’s half as good as where you’re at?” 

It was his knee-jerk reaction to smile at Mikey, like his day got better automatically when Mikey was in it, and it soothed that jangling, frustrated thing inside of Mikey’s chest that only got loud when no one took him seriously. Leo always took him seriously, was always the first of their siblings to believe he could do anything he said he could do, and that meant taking Mikey’s injuries seriously, too. 

He’d seen the way Leo had to run himself ragged making sure Donnie kept up with the treatments to his shell and Raph followed instructions on taking care of his eye to the letter. They were trying to spare Leo additional stress, but if they knew they were only compounding the stress he was already in and making it ten times worse, Mikey was pretty sure they’d shut up and take their medicine. 

Mikey wanted to be on Leo’s team, not playing against him. So he put his sulk away and put on his best listening face instead, rewarded when some nearly-invisible line of tension in Leo’s shoulders relaxed until it was gone.

Besides, it wasn’t all bad. He got to pick what color cast he wanted, and got everyone to sign it. And it wasn’t the most horrible thing in the world not to have to do any chores. 

And when Leo announced to the lair as a whole that he was going to visit his tío Hueso and bring back pizzas for dinner—in a tone that made it very clear he was not asking for permission or inviting any worrywart older siblings along—he followed it up with, “You coming, Angie?” 

Maybe because he had been under the scrutiny of worrywart older siblings, too, and understood better than anybody how close Mikey was to biting the next person who tried to baby him. Or maybe because Mikey was the exception to Leo’s rules and he always had been—always invited and always welcome and always wanted. 

In another place, in another time, Leo asked Mikey to die for him, and Mikey died for him. 

In this kinder one, Mikey jumped to his feet with a grin and said, “I’m with you!” and it didn’t cost him anything.

It should have been silly to say something out loud that they both knew was true, but sometimes it was nice to hear it.

[bambiraptorx]

Follow up to this post, which is basically exploring an AU of Minor Interference where Draxum doesn't swear the mystic oath and thus is capable of hurting the turtles intentionally. I'm having fun exploring the concept lol

content warnings: child abuse, injuries, implied/referenced violence

---

Leo's the annoying one, and he's well aware of it.

Since training with Draxum he's taken it on almost as a badge of honor: he's the loud, obnoxious one, the best at pissing Draxum off, the best target for anger. See, he'd figured out early on (from the first day of training, when he'd pissed the goat man off enough to bring out the vines) that Draxum doesn't like leaving severe injuries unhealed. Maybe it's his own weird brand of guilt? Maybe it makes training more effective in his eyes or something?

Point is, Draxum doesn't leave bones broken, or skulls fractured, or plastrons cracked. Any damage he does in a fight, he fixes. There's a weird sort of honor system behind it, as far as Leo can tell, but there's a catch: Draxum can only heal so much. He's got limits.

And hey, if every hit he takes is one Draxum can't dish out to one of his brothers? Any limit is a point Leo can twist in his favor. It's not like the pain lasts that long anyway. So Leo's self-appointed role is now the agitator, the instigator, the 'get in your face and call you ugly so you hit him instead of them' guy. It's not much, but it's something.

But there are times that he regrets it.

Like right now.

Breathing has never been this hard before, he's pretty sure. He did a good job of pissing off the old goat, judging by the state of his... well, his everything. He's not even sure what is and isn't damaged at this point (which a certain someone won't be happy about, but given that this is that someone's fault in the first place, he doesn't have room to complain). Leo's just gonna stay on his side where he finally collapsed for a while.

Loud clacks approach him across the floor, and it takes him a few seconds longer than it should to recognize them as hoof steps.

"Larkspur. Report your injuries."

He tries, or he thinks about trying. Not that he can really tell which is which. So he got a couple of kicks to the face and can't move his jaw or breathe right or think straight! Nothing Sheep Face can't fix, right?

Something prods his outstretched right arm, and the fiery pain already there seems to get ten times stronger. He lets out a hiss, weak-sounding even to his own ears, and tries to pull his arm away-

Ow ow ow that hurts that burns the fire is running up and down his arm and he can't even move it he can't do anything to stop it ow ow ow-

A shadow falls over his face, and Draxum has either the decency or the gall to look something like ashamed at the damage he's caused. "Larkspur? Are you alri- can you move?"

Leo attempts to shake his head, but ouch his broken jaw does not approve of that. He'd hate to see the state his beautiful face is in right now.

Draxum frowns. "Marigold! Come help me with your brother."

The pain of his sharp inhale sends him into a coughing fit, wheezing and nearly panicking as he tries to catch his breath. He can't-- he can't let Mikey see him like this, Mikey doesn't need to know what this looks like-- he's too young, he shouldn't-- he can't breathe, he can't breathe-

Things get fragmented after that.

Hands on his legs, his shell, his arms, his face, aggravating the pain and somehow soothing it too. (He wishes he could say he's never felt pain anything like this but it would be a lie.) Something snaps-- pops into place, and he nearly screams. (Maybe he does scream.) Healing magic forces itself into his body, coercing his bones and blood and organs into place.

He drifts in an ocean of pain for... he doesn't know how long. It holds him up, keeps him afloat, just long enough for him to reach the shore. (He isn't all that sure if he wants to wake up, won't it hurt?)

He wakes up on some sort of cot, Mikey by his side. He's stiff and sore all over, and something in his throat tingles unbearably.

"Don't try to talk, idiot." His little brother's voice is harsh with worry, even as he rubs something cold and sticky on Leo's face. "We had to break out some potions and healing salve for this, and it's going to take a while to kick in."

Healing salve? Huh, that's new. He must have pissed Draxum off even more than he'd thought. It doesn't feel like a win, but he'll count it. If he adds it to the ratio...

For a second, or maybe longer, he's back in the ocean again. Not for quite as long this time, thankfully. He catches a long shadow over him, a door opening and closing, the tail end of something Mikey's saying in a nearly a whisper. "I didn't think--I didn't know he was that... hard on you." Mikey's brow creases, and he doesn't quite look Leo in the eye. If he's talking, he probably expects a response, which means that goopy stuff on his face must be active by now.

He must have been out of it longer than he'd thought.

Leo coughs, the sound as harsh as the rasping itch in his throat. "Not always. 'Sides, I've been... goading him on for a while. Jus' went too far, I think." His jaw still doesn't feel quite right, but he can't tell if that's post healing fuzzies or something deeper. Maybe it's just the face goop.

Tears begin to well in Mikey's eyes. "He shouldn't--he shouldn't do that, Leo. This isn't--" he cuts himself off, unable or unwilling to say any more. The tears overflow, running down his face as he sobs. Well, they've all got their coping mechanisms.

Leo sits up, a little awkwardly but it's good enough, and hugs his little brother. "I know, I know."

Mikey hugs him back, and for once, he doesn't mind the tears and the snot that comes with being his brother's shoulder to cry on. They stay there, holding each other on the cot of purple vines, and if Leo's eyes get wet, he doesn't let on.

Some way, somehow, he's going to get back at Draxum for this.

[afreakingdork]

READER STAN DROPPING IN FROM A HOSPITAL BED AND BOOOOY THIS CHAPTER IS FEEDING ME SO MUCH BETTER THAN HOSPITAL SANDWICHES GYAAAAAAHHH. He said it!! he said it!!

Everything Leo's done and he's outclassed by SANDWICH /j but oof. I knew Leo must have an understandable miff against Reader but seeing him admit just how deep that jealousy goes?? Because of course. Because Donnie's his *twin*, because they've had this song and dance of being at eachother's throats and in spite of that Leo still yearns for some sort or connection or an excuse to sever it completely.

It lowkey makes me remember the discussion if how WS!Donnie would react to his close-canon self/Crush too much self. How would *Leo* react to seeing a version of him that got into Donnie's space freely and without worry? A version of himself that got to wholly have Donnie as family,as a full fledged twin brother with no hard eggshells to walk on?

READER STAN, YOU ARE HOSPITALIZED?!?!?! I HOPE YOU'RE OKAY!!!! I'M SENDING HEALING VIBES!!! 😭😭😭 IM WORRIED ABOUT YOU!!!

This Leo reveal is so momentousness because I've been sitting on it for years and you've summed it up so nicely here! If we think about the timeline first in Weak Spot, though scary, when the bastard's three are introduced, we seem them as a little scary, but Leo is trying to do this bit in the midst of it and it doesn't fit and it feels wrong. Then when reader really meets Leo, he's bitter and paranoid and nothing like that person and so knowing what we know now, you see the aptly named song and dance was Leo's only source of connection. As bitter and cruel was it was, as lethal, it was the only one he had and that worked, but then we piece in more such as how Leo talks about how Donnie was finally gone, how they finally beat him back and there's such a bile there, like that's not something he wanted and then Donnie reappears, with some human, and he's different, he isn't playing the game and by all accounts he's wrong. Donnie is new and not the person Leo has known almost a lifetime and this upset Leo so so very deeply. Then, then, we place a recent piece about how reader said they understood Leo's banter comment from chapter 60. That's Leo comment about how they always do banter from chapter 19. In 60, Leo laughs. Leo laughs. Why laugh? Just because of the callback or because of something else? Because Leo then specifies he's lost his mind. Because reader doesn't get it. Because reader has made a critical error. Reader interfered.

I don't know! That came from somewhere where I've been sitting on this for WAY WAY too long!!! Thanks for letting me expound on it!

Oh DOING THAT WITH LEO!? THAT'S DELICIOUS, LET'S SEE: WS!Leo would need to talk to CTM!Leo. He would need to hear the story, just seeing it would not be enough for him. Hearing this other Leo talk about being the ultimate wingman and how he sacrificed for the team and all he did would bring WS!Leo to absolute tears. CTM!Leo would be sort of embarrassed like, hey big guy, it can't be that bad right? And WS!Leo would clamp a hand on his shoulder and try to suck it back up and tell him he did a good job which would surely water CTM!Leo's eyes from that (older) adult and self approval! For canon, he'd watch it like he were watching the TV show and just smile.

[matrixxsystem]

I can't not tell you guys the story now-

buckle up sluts this so much more comfort and fluff than I've ever written before-

This is how Leo found Marmalade This is a western AU where after the invasion the surface of New York was too triggering so they ran off to the middle of nowhere to try and heal. CW: This AU is a little dark, it wont be explored in full but there might be mentions of dealing with mental illness and having PTSD so just be a lil warned, but this is supposed to be just a lil one off about how he found his lil lady :3

Boots With The Spurrs

The sun had just reached the apex of the sky, heat beating down with such a vengeance you'd think someone owed it money or something.. Though lets be real, it wasn't like it was any cooler yesterday or the day before. The slider never minded though, he loved the sun and all that came with it. And that cool summer breeze that nearly blew his hat off, even as he held on while the wind shoved him back towards the house, or tired to at least- He loved that too. It was so clear each night and so quiet every morning.. The air was so clean, and the grass was so soft.. The first time he stepped foot on the property of their new home he spent a good hour just laying outside and taking it all in. He couldn't remember why exactly him and his family came out here, but it'd been maybe five or six years since they moved now, and it was a hell of an adjustment sure, any city boy would be turned on his head being stuck out in the middle of god knows where. But even when he missed some of the busy aspects, the bright lights and colors, the smells and constant chatter of people, he could only remind himself that there was a reason they left the city. Something about everyone's mental health, about needing space and time or whatever vague excuse Donnie told him each time he asked.

There was a small town not far from where they lived, maybe a twenty minute walk or so, and five minutes if they rode horseback. Oh yeah, didn't I mention? They bought a farm. Yeah, They bought a plot of land that was just outside a small town, fixed the place up, and since Donnie loves plants and Mikey loves animals it seemed fitting to start trying to grow things and really leaning into the towns rustic aesthetic. Who knew they had green thumbs.. Well… Fuck okay who knew they had metaphorical green thumbs- And would be oddly good farmers?? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, after the first two years things really took off for the brothers. And cause I can read your mind, don't worry, Aprils there too, she got a job working at the local news station, her and Mayhem easily became a hit. And Casey Jr came along, and Cass, hell even Barry decided he might as well tag along and make sure the brothers don't get into anymore weird time altering shenanigan's. And after Splinter.. Passed, it helped having everyone be there with them. Leo looked back up at the sky, trying to read the clouds to see if there was any sign of rain, maybe if he could convince the others.. They'd let him go into town for a bit, they needed food soon anyway right?

Oh yeah, second thing about this story. This is one where Leo lost his arm, yeah no, when Mikey pulled him from the prison dimension Kraang was just a little faster and dug his claws into Leo's arm, tearing it from his body as Mikey rushed to close the portal and save what was left of his brother. So yeah, most of the time he spent healing from that is just a blurred mess to him now, then he woke up in the turtle tank out in the country one day. He remembers people by his bedside in the medbay talking about it, asking Leo or trying to ask how he felt, if he wanted to go anywhere, if there was anything he wanted to do outside the city. Anytime it's brought up he's always teased about how he only said things like "I wanna be a cowboy baaabyyyy" or "I just wanna live on a ranch, and sit on a porch swing, with my boyfriend.." (He did not have a boyfriend, or know anyone who could even come close at the time) So they continued to poke fun at his responses, which he blames the pain medicine he was on at the time for.

Leo sighed a little as he sat on the old wooden stairs, rolling his eyes at the audible creek that came from the shift in weight. He took the very cowboy-esk hat from his head waving it in front of his face, trying to get a little more of a breeze to cool him off. He'd just been out moving the pipes Donnie ordered to make he's own watering system for the plants, he wanted to start a new patch on the other side of the house and Leo just knew he'd be bribed into doing all the dirty work somehow.. Though he'd do it if asked, he knew that something bad happened to all his brothers before they moved that left them all a little less able then they used to be. For Donnie his back got hurt badly, most days he was fine but some days he'd get these real bad flare ups and he couldn't put any weight on his back or be on his feet for more then maybe fifteen minutes at a time. Leo liked to call it his "No Bones" days, since he'd usually end up just rag doll-ing in his bed all day. It was actually pretty scary the first few times it happened, Leo wasn't sure why everyone else was so calm that his brother couldn't move. But after a while and a couple explanations he didn't fully understand he came to accept that for Dee it's just something that happens when he overworks himself.. For Raph he lost sight in one of his eyes and hates being snuck up on, there were scars over the eye but they didn't look like any animal Leo had ever seen, he didn't ask though. He knew he didn't like talking about it, none of his brothers did really. Even Mikey, who was an open book all other times.. He had some faint scars from his hands up his forearms, and if he used his hands too much they'd start shaking or locking up, he always blames him drawing too much when he was younger but Leo knew deep down there was something else he just wasn't saying. But like any other time Leo was able to quickly shake those thoughts from his mind, it wasn't important and if they didn't want to talk, then he didn't want to know. He knew enough, and knew prying would only hurt them in the end.

He turned his head to look at the front door hearing the screen door swing open, "Hey Leo, you finally had enough of tha' heat?" Leo put his hat back on and smiled up at his oldest brother, "You could say that- Think if I asked Mike would be willin' to make us some lemonade?" Raph's eyes lit up as he weighed the options for a moment, food always got his big brother motivated and Mikey always made the best lemonade..

Leo let out a little laugh at his brothers reaction, "Though if we're gonna have a drink I s'pose we'd need to head into town to get the lemons don't we..?" Raph tensed up a bit hearing the mention of town. Compared to New York this town was more like a small village- It was like something straight out of a western movie it seemed. Raph let out a little grumble, muttering something about town and Leo just laughed again, giving Raph a reassuring pat on the lower half of his shell. "Oh c'mon big guy, it'll take all of forty minutes to get in, out, and back home." Raph carefully passed Leo on the stairs, once again weighing his options. "Raph..?" Leo asked, a little softer, "I know I shouldn't keep askin, but why don't you guys like goin' into town? Seems like y'all lock up whenever it's mentioned but I can't recall the reason."

"Its.." There was a pause, maybe he was trying to think about his words so he didn't sound like he was yelling at Leo. "It's nothin' really, if you wanna go, we'll go. Saddle up an I'll give Don the heads up that we're goin for a ride." Leo practically jumped up to get ready, "Are you sure we wanna tell Don? If he knows you're goin he'll send you off with a whole grocery list to bring back-" Raph shrugged, "If we're goin' we might as well make sure we get all we need, 'sides, Don ain't feelin well again so it might be good to bring him back some more medicine." Leo glanced back at the house, up to the second story where Dee's room was, "He havin' one of his 'no bones' days?" Raph rolled his eyes at the name but nodded, "Yeah, just one of those days. Now go on and get saddled up while I run in and get some money and everyone's orders." Leo gave a playful salute and a 'yes sir!' before heading around to the barn where the horses we're kept. He gave each one a little attention as he passed, Donnie's being an all black horse of course, Mikey's being some kind of calico with all matter of spots and specks decorating its coat, and Raph's was a big ass Belgian draft horse with a dark grey coat that faded to black at the feet. And Leo's, it was this blonde almost iridescent light color. "Well hey there sunshine" He cooed as he opened her gate, stepping and and getting ready to head out, "Looks like we're goin' for a ride today, a real one, not just round the house. You excited?" The horse turned her head nudging Leo and almost knocking him over, he laughed as he gently pushed her back, "I know I know, I told Raphie we need to take y'all out more but he don't want me goin into town alone, don't think he wants me goin anywhere alone actually-" After he was all set he took her lead and walked out of the barn, nearly bumping into Raph on their way out.

Once they were both set they headed out, Leo riding up and around roads, goin as fast as his Sunshine would let him, she liked going fast too, part of why he was able to get her at all. Her last owner couldn't get her to calm down or stop running off or throwing anyone who tried to ride her. Leo pretty quickly figured she just lived a bit faster then others, just like him. So he'd made a bet that if he could ride her without being thrown he'd get a big discount. Instead of trying to get her on his level he got onto hers, encouraging her to run and jump to her hearts content, and they've gotten along pretty damn well since then. Once they got into town went and hopped off his horse, not bothering to tie her up unlike Raph and his gentle giant, who he carefully tied up at a post outside the local grocery store, pulling a few treats from his bag and setting them down. "Good girl Boots" He muttered with a little pat before heading into the store, Leo trailing behind. They browsed for a few minutes, well, Leo did, Raph just picked what they needed and only that. Going right to the sections that had what he needed, he really didn't want to be there longer then they needed to be it seemed.. Leo rolled his eyes and tosses a lemon his way, "Heads up Raphie-!"

The lemon bonked the side of Raph's head and fell into his basket, he turned to Leo with an unamused expression, Leo braced to be yelled at, to be scolded like they would when they were younger, maybe even a playful slap on the back of his head for being impolite at the store. But Raph just took a breath and sighed, picking a couple apples up and setting them in the basket next to the lemon. Leo pouted a little but let it go, it wasn't like he wanted to be yelled at, but it didn't feel right for them to not even fight playfully? He huffed and set another dozen or so into the basket and gave Raph a little shoulder pat, "I'm gonna go wait outside okay? Make sure Sunny ain't found any trouble." Raph just nodded, seemly he was almost done, the basket was already full but he was still looking for a few more things.

Leo stepped outside, a few people had paused to eye his horse, ones that pretty were usually pretty expensive so it made sense people would look at her. He whistled and she perked up, heading over and lowering one front leg to look like she was bowing, he was pretty proud of teaching her that trick.. Het gave her a few pats and praises and grabbed his bag off her side, reaching and getting out a sugar cube, "There we are, I knew I had one left in here. Whos a good girl? Hm?" "She sure is-" Leo turned around to see another yokai approach him, he hadn't seen this guy around but he sure looked familiar..? "Never seen one that well behaved before.. Your horse must've cost a pretty penny but you don't look the fancy type?" Was.. Was this guy saying he looked poor..? "Sunny here ain't no ones horse-" He joked, giving her a few more pats, "Ain't that right Sunshine? You don't belong to no man huh?" She flapped her lips blowing out a huff as she shook her head, turning to nudge Leo. He just laughed a little louder, "Yes mam, you're as free as the breeze ain't cha? You just follow me home for the treats huh?" The stranger smiled a little, he took half a step closer then stopped, "Is it alright if I pet her? Think she'll let me keep my hands?" Leo just shrugged like he wasn't sure but quickly nodded, "I'm just messin- Yeah you can pet her, she loves the attention don't worry." He nodded and stepped closer again, getting into her line of sight and carefully approaching. Leo took a step back and watched in the interaction, whoever this guy was he seemed to know a lot about horses with a temper, and she seemed to like him well enough.. He took his hat off setting is on his saddle to feel the coming breeze. Sunshine turned to look at him before turning back to the stranger and biting the brim of his hat, lifting it off his head and turning to put it on Leo. The yokai was a bit shorter than Leo, and without the hat long white ears fell on either side of his head, it was a rabbit yokai- Kinda cute actually... Not many of those in such hot and dry places like this town. Their eyes met for a moment before Leo realized he was staring at the stranger, "Ah- Sorry 'bout that, she got that lil trick from my little brother-" He took the hat back off and gently set it back on the guys head, "Think that mean's she likes ya heheh- Uh- Say stranger.. You got a name to go with that face?"

"Y-Yeah, sorry, where are my manners.. I'm Yuichi. Yuichi Usagi." Leo stuck his good arm out to shake his hand, "Leo. Leonardo Hamato. Pleased to meet cha."

"Hamato..? Like.. The Hamato brothers?" Leo perked up a little, "Oh? We got a name 'round here or somethin'..?" Yuichi shook his head, "No no, just.. You guys were a big thing back home, everyone in my village knew about you guys savin' people. Didn't expect to find you all the way out here is all." Leo looked a little confused, it'd been a handful of years before he'd done anything heroic.. But people still talked about them? That was kind of cool… Raph came out of the store and started putting his stuff away in the pouches strapped to his saddle. "Well Yuichi, it was a pleasure meeting' you. Not sure how long you plan to be here but if you need anythin' we live just down the road here up on brasshill." He picked his bag back up fastening it and hopping up. Yuichi looked surprised, "Wait- Brasshill? I'm stayin' with my auntie who lives on that road. She's also a rabbit. Leo gasped, "You're related to Nonanoka??? Dude! She's the best! Oh y'all gotta come over sometime then, we'll have a nice get together, tell her Leon's got somethin for her when you see her alright? Shes got our line if you ever need us." Yuichi nodded a little and gave them a little wave as they headed off towards the end of town, fixing the hat on his head and stuffing his ears back into it to get them out of the way.

Once they were back home Raph carried everything inside while Leo took the horses back to their stables, then headed inside once they were back safe. He opened the door being met with Mikey coming down the stairs, he must've heard Raph come in and wanted to see what all they got. "Heya mike" He said giving his hat a little wave before he hung it up, "Leoooo! You're back already??"

"Yeah, Raphie was in a bit of a rush I guess, he never likes to take long you know that" Mikey nodded a little and gave Leo a quick hug, "Well when you get everythin' put away I wanna go for a ride too!" Leo gave Mikey's shell a little pat, "As long as the suns out and Raphie don't mind stayin' with Don. I think he can be bribed though" He gave Mikey a little wink and moved his head to gesture to the kitchen where Raph was emptying the two big bags of food. Mikey peeked past Leo to see the fruit basket on the table now full of lemons and oranges. His eyes lit up as he got an idea, by now Leo was pretty good at getting Mikey to have ideas he thinks are original despite Leo being the one to plant the idea in his head. Mikey slowly walked into the kitchen with his hands behind his back as if he was hiding something, "Heya Raphie, how was the store? Y'all have a good time?" Raph glanced over to him and shrugged, "As good as going into town gets I guess, Leo made a friend I think, the nephew of nona-"

"Nonanoka has relatives in the sates? I thought she said all her family was back in Japan??"

"Must be vistin' or somethin, seemed nice enough tho.." Mikey scooted over climbing onto Raph's back to peer over his shoulder, "Ooooo, we outta bake nona somethin' maybe a pie? We do have a buncha apples now…"

"That's a good idea Mike" Leo said as he sat at the table, he reached for his satchel but then it moved- Everyone's eyes turned to look at the bag, "That- Wasn't just me right?" Leo asked hesitantly, both Raph and Mikey shook their heads as they watched the bag. Leo felt an odd sense, it wasn't dread, he didn't get a bad feeling, but something was making his anxiety go off the charts- He took a deep breath and slowly opened the bag,

"Mew!"

Leos eyes widened as a small kitten, maybe the size of Leos hand, wobbled out of his bag. It was orange with lighter colored stripes. It looked up at Leo and mewed again, tilting its head a little and glancing around to the others. Raphs eyes grew at least ten times seeing that little cat look his way, "Leo- How in the- Where do you even get a cat??"

"I didn't?? I don't- I didn't go anywhere-!" He slowly reached his hand out and pet the cat, it leaned into his hand starting to purr, "I mean I set my bag down to say hi to the new guy- Maybe this lil guy smelled somethin sweet and snuck in..? There are a few strays in that town…"

"Well- Put it back-!"

"Raph!! I'm surprised at you! Look at this sweet lil thing-" Mikey carefully picked the cat up to inspect it after getting off Raph's back, "Hey there lil one, you hitched a ride with the right guy, we'll take good care a' you.." Raph sighed a little, he was too tired for this and knew it was a loosing argument trying to talk them out of keeping the cat. "If we keep her we'll need to go stock up on food, and a bed, and a litter box n litter and a collar- It's a lot of work and on top of runnin' the farm and all out other animals-"

"Her?" Leo asked, Raph nodded, "Yeah can't ya tell she's a girl? She's a month old, maybe a month n a half- What? Why are y'all lookin' at me like that-? I like animals alright? Just- Make sure she don't get outside before we get a collar on her… I'm gonna go bring Dee some food before I start cleanin' up for the night." Leo nodded and looked back at the kitten, "She's so cute- How'd a miss somethin' that sweet sneakin' into my bag hahah.. She's gonna need a name too... Hmm" Mikey set her back on the table, "Let's see... Pumpkin? Cause she's orange? Or... Cinnamon?" "That might be a good name for a horse but she's a much lighter orange.. This lil lady needs a real good name.." "Maybe a snack will help us come up with somethin good! I've been cravin a toasted PB&J, you want one?" Leo chuckled as he was playing with the kitten, "Yeah, make it two if ya would" "Yessir! You want strawberry, marmalade or elderberry jam?" Leo perked up a little, "Wait, say that again.." "Uh.. You want strawberry, marmalade or elderberry jam?" "Marmalade..?" He looked over at the open cabinet, the jar Mikey pulled was filled with a light orange color, he looked back down the to cat, "Marmalade?" She tilted her head a little, it got her attention it seems. "So that's the one you want? ...Leo..? Leeoooo?" He snapped back to reality (ope there goes gravity) and nodded. "Yeah.. I think that's perfect."

[microstmnt]

I had already uploaded their (first) timeskip designs seperately but I wanted to upload the line up to remind myself just how much they boys have all grown 

And more tidbits over here! Because god knows when I’ll be able to upload a proper breakdown of what happened during the Battle Nexus...

Leo: age 18, during the Battle Nexus wich was their little physical, mental and emotional break after their utter defeat against Shredder, Leo basically quit being leader not because he was done and tired of the responsability but because he felt that he failed everyone, not being able to protect them, not being prepared for the worst, being defeated not even by Shredder but his daughter, being saved by basically a miracle...  How could he call himself the leader? Even after Tang Shen (in Twig’s body) told them that their first task was to rest Leo still tried to train behind her back, only stopping after being assigned a “babysitter”, Usagi, who would befriend him and eventually help him train (later, but right now REST BOY). In his place of leadership he leaves Raph (originally he tought of Donnie, but the boy already went trough hell and back in Raph’s rescue mission.. so, the job goes to the other twin).. During this year he learns to be a better leader (actually listen to his team, and trust them, yes with your life dear). New weapon unlocked: Nodachi

Raph: age17. Oooh boy, you’re my favorite so of course you’re gonna get dragged through the trenches... The boy is in shambles, during the whole rescue mission Raph was aware of his actions but could do nothing to stop them, hurting his brothers is his worst nightmare, and it doesnt help that his older bro is now on his own spiral of shame and cant actually be there for them, Donnie is not talking, and Mikey’s still afraid of him even if he tries to hide it... Eventually (like three months in) Don opens up to him and the twins go back to their old dynamic, except that there is a lingering feeling of losing something because they now dont look exactly the same, and sure before they still had enough sligth differences that you could tell them apart if you looked closely, but now their scars make it evident that they wont be able to pull they’re little switch places prank that they found so comforting to do... Leo eventually announces to Raph that he is going to be the leader and... boy does that not go well, for starters Raph never wanted to be leader, he just didn’t like Leo being the leader and besides the boy feels like everything started because of him and Leo wants to make him leader?? He’s also fighting his own rage issues because he doesnt even trust himself anymore and is starting to wonder if maybe Splinter wasn’t right in being afraid of him (DONT WORRY it will get resolved, I would hate to make Splinter a bad dad and he is not afraid of Raph, it’s... complicated, I would have to make a separate post). New weapon unlocked: Kusarigama

Donnie: age 17. You’re also gonna get dragged through the trenches by proxy... Donnie for the first like 5-6 months is completely non-verbal, with the first two months also being kinda unresponsive to the rest of his family, completely closed off, doesn’t even let Raph in, he slowly gets better, mending his relationship with Raph (being the only one he talks to), and even having some jokes and non verbal conversations with Mikey, he rarely bonds with Leo cause the latter rarely bonds with him (Leo I implore you reach out to your little bros), and even tho the first months were basically hell, he’s the second to get more well adjusted to their new reality and what happened to them. Is generally okay with Raph being the new leader but still feels like Leo might have chickened out. Also has some complaints against Splinter like any good middle children does, also has some complaints against Leo... It will all get resolved. WE’RE HEALING ALL TRAUMAS IN THIS YEAR BABY. New weapon unlocked: Naginata

Mikey: age 16. Oh baby you’re really gonna be an angel in this trying times. Yes, he’s afraid of Raph at first, is mad at Leo because he wasn’t there, hates himself for feeling this way... He understands that Raph didnt meant to attack him, and that his bro would never hurt him like that on purpose, but boy the subconscious mind is a force that you actively have to figth, also understands that Leo couldnt have been there, even if he had known what was happening. He’s going to be the first of his brothers to understand and let go, and eventually help his brothers do the same. His wound is the worst because of damaged nerves that require surgery, but his recovery goes smoothly. During the year he becomes closer to Twig/Tang Shen and even sometimes call him mom, something Twig doesnt seem to mind all that much. Last one to find out that Raph is the new leader, doesnt really care about that but why is he always the last one to find out about stuff? Feels like he’s always in the back burner, might have to have a conversation with his brothers and dad about it... New weapon unlocked: Sansetsukon

April: age 20. After leaving the hospital the first thing that April did (after being interrogated by cops...) was to look for the turtles, having not been able to find them in their Lair and not being able to contact them she initially thought the worst, but no, how could that be? They’re all skiled fighters, and they know to stick to shadows, they’re probably just laying low. So she and Casey waited, trying to go back to a semblance of a normal life, she started to study again and started her career on biochemistry knowing that eventually the boys would be back on her life. But the months passed and no one got in contact with her, she eventually stopped going to the Lair because she feared a breakdown every time she didnt find anything new, and it wasnt healthy to get so obsessed with a maybe, she got into a lot of fights with Casey, both dealing with their unspoken grief very differently and eventually and with a lot of pain she accepted that maybe they were gone for real... Fast forward to like a month later the turtles would show up at her dorm room and explain to her what happened, HOW DO YOU REACT?? YOU WENT THROUGH ALL 7 STAGES OF GRIEF AND NOW YOU’RE RELIVING THEM. Well obviously she was mad and also happy to see them again, but it’ll take a lot to earn her trust again after that

Casey: age 19. OOH YOU’RE ALSO MY FAVORITE SO! guess what that means. The first thing Casey did after leaving the hospital (and being interrogated by cops and assuming full responsability of setting a building on fire...) was to look for the turtles with April. After not finding them he figured that yeah it makes sense, that Shredder guy wants them death, obviously their hiding, and eventually they’ll let us know where they are. In the meantime Casey starts to take his vigilante job extra seriously, beating up Purple Dragons, trying to figure out what the Foot Clan is up to, April tells him to stop because he’s really gonna get killed but his logic is that he’s helping the turtles. Months pass, the guys still havent shown any signs, April is starting to miss their weekly meetings in the Lair, and he feels like she’s giving up very easily, they fight often. Casey REFUSES to even think of the possibility that the boys are dead, the guy’s in denial, he’s going through it, he already lost a family once and he felt abandoned then, NOW? OH BABY ITS WORSE. He doesnt let himself grieve and eventually the turtles show up again after his work (actual work, not vigilante thing), and after his first relief he starts throwing punches... I mean can you blame the guy? Raph has to physically hold him off to prevent him from punching Mikey or Donnie (he got to punch Raph and Leo tho lmao) and then he actually breaks down in tears, because he realizes that he did thought that they died, and was so afraid of having lost his family again... Now he just has to mend his relationship with April, because he may have called her a coward (baby, your mouth runs faster than your brain...)

[alliumbunny]

Ended season 2!!! lessss gggoo!!!

Good season! lots of funny moments, has many bad parts but hey, we got ice cream kitty out of it so I'm happy(I'm secretly seething half the time but it doesn't matter rn ;3 )

I looked up where to watch the last three seasons of 2012 and turns out it's on paramount+!! Which my sister has so now all my worries of not being able to watch the last three seasons ever are gone Yippeee!!!

but uh, season 3! uh, I've gotten to I think ep9? or 10? i don't remember

I'm at the episode right after they get back to new york city, yee.

So hmm, Idk how to feel about the season currently, lots of good moments but uh, lots of bad ones too, at least to me.

i don't like how many times i've seen april kiss donnie at this point, I was fine with it beforehand because I don't see cheek kisses as romantic unless the relationship is already romantic(dating or something idk) so I was completely fine with it but then I think she kissed him on the lips in the bigfoot episode and like, hahahahahahah please stop <3 I'm very uncomfortable with that so yee.

I also don't like the Bigfoot liking donnie thing, these turtles are 15 and Bigfoot is deffo older then that and It makes me feel weird and shit :/

THAT FUCKING SPIRITUAL EPISODE SUCKS! like I love it, the outfits are!! To die for <3 <3 but omg Leo's arc in that episode fucking sucks, Don't fuckin tell me that "the pain is all in my mind" and that "It's just an excuse" DUDE!!!!!!! FUCK U!! FUCK YOU WRITERS OF THE SHOW!! I wish that episode was!! idk!! Leo learning that maybe he shouldn't FUCKING TRAIN until his knee is IDK AT LEAST 99% HEALED!! That MAYBE he shouldn't be aggravating his knee INJURY! I think that it's in character to make him want to start training before he's even 80% healed, to have him accidentally hurt his own healing process, in fact, I THINK IT'S A REALLY GOOD IDEA!! for an episode!! that episode!! it reminds me of those people who think essential oils actually fuckin work to heal all injurys, oh my stars aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. absolutely none of that makes sense probably but I needed to rant about it or i'd explode hbfudkbgjf

I hate how they did mikey in this show, I understand the focus thing but i feel like they never actually do anything about it he just "focuses" for a little bit and then doesn't have ANY character growth because of it, HE IS THE SAME, at least in the focusing. I hate how the writers said he has ADHD and then never put any effort into showing it OTHER then the focusing thing(and hyperactivity but I'm not focusing(heh) on that rn yee), at least to me. I relate to mikey alot but not in the ADHD category(Despite me having adhd) I understand that he has it, but i personally(as one person with adhd, not the entire mental illness lol) don't like how it's portrayed, it feels, idk lazy? i guess. yes he has adhd, no i don't think it's handled well by the writers. I'm just rambling the same things over and over at this point.

I don't really have any complaints with Raph... anymore. His anger issues aren't really.. an issue.. at this point. not to say he doesn't have them, I just think at this point they've done a good job at portraying him being able to control it better, It reminds me Alot of, well, me. I have anger issues and they used to be extremely bad, but I've mellowed out as i've grown up. I like that about raph, it feels like he's personally getting better, y'know... I mean, I don't think they wanted that, but y'know. I'm pretty sure they're gonna butcher that part of him in the future, but Idk rn y'know :3

I don't like him in that one episode, y'know, with the frogs. but that's mostly cause he's a fuckin jerk tbh.

Mikey gets done dirty alot in these few episode it seems, mostly... by his brothers? not to say he doesn't do anything wrong, but i don't really like how his brothers treat him in the.. uh aprils mom, episode. I think they should've trusted him more, I think the show has a big problem with not SHOWING us that Mikey has done like, dumb or annoying things, until it's a point about how 'mikey has done and said annoying and dumb things but he's right so liikkeee' LIKE His brothers don't trust him AT ALL, show writers!! i haven't been givin the impression that mikey is at all really annoying or really stupid but his brothers are playing it up like he's the dumbest mother fucker they've ever met, like bruuh

that's how I see it at the least. Alot of this is just me rambling about my thoughts on the show, alot of it is negative but I do genuinely enjoy the show, I'm just extremely critical of the things I watch. Sometimes a show that's normally pretty good, is gonna do something pretty weird or bad and i like talking about that so ya :]

either way, season three is at the least, okay, and at the best, good, i think, ya :3

[tworoadsandapenny]

Heart and Mind

The first in a series of oneshots I wrote for various Deviantart contests. I did in fact win with this one, but the artist promptly disappeared after the contest, so my winning fanart request was never to be seen. Alas. Had fun writing this anyway.

~~~~~~

5 years old

“Ow! Ow! OW! That hurts!!”

“I haven’t even touched it yet, Mikey!” Donatello stood opposite his younger brother, inspecting a wooden sliver that invaded the younger’s finger. “Hmmm.” He hummed as he stared at the afflicting piece of wood, getting a decent angle before using a pair of tweezers to pry it out without much trouble. Only a small bubble of blood left any indication that there’d been an injury at all.

“It’s bleeding! I’m bleeding!! You can’t stop the blood!! I’M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!” Mikey cried as his brother pulled out an old metal lunchbox he’d recently found and drawn a red cross on top with a label that said ‘med kit’.

“You’re not gonna die, Mikey. I can fix it!” Donnie rummaged through his kit until he found the small box of Batman Band-Aids, a wide grin on his face; this was his first time getting to use his med kit and it was very exciting.

“You sure? You’re not gonna cut off my finger?”

“I’m sure. Don’t worry little bro, I’ll make it all better!” With giant puppy eyes that glistened with tears, Mikey looked away as Don affixed the Band-Aid with gentle fingers. “There! See? All better!”

Mikey rubbed the tears from his eyes, looking from the Batman Band-Aid to his brother’s proud smile. Donnie had fixed his finger and made the pain go away like magic. He really was a genius! “Thanks, Dee.” He said through a sniffle as Don packed up his kit. “You’re the best!”

15 years old

“Calm down, Dee.” Mikey winced as his brother held his bleeding arm, turning it over with trembling hands as he rushed to staunch the blood flow.

“This is a big deal, Mikey! That kunai almost hit your bone, and if I don’t do this right, you might have permanent nerve damage.”

The younger turtle hid a grimace behind a smile as his brother bandaged the wound. He did his best to keep from yelping in pain as Don worked, watching the worry in his bother’s eyes grow. “No worries.” He caught Don’s gaze and smiled wide. “I’m sure you can wave your medical wand and make it all better!”

“I’m serious, Mikey.”

“So am I, Dee.” Don glanced up at his younger brother’s confident eyes, not a single concern hidden in any corner of his features. Pure trust. “You always make it better.”

Staring at his baby brother a moment longer, Don felt confidence surge anew as he continued his task. It took another hour to stitch and bandage everything up, but once the job was done, the tall turtle was confident his brother would heal well. “There.” He sighed, feeling his panic finally ebb.

Mikey slowly turned his arm to get a view of the bandages and eye his brother’s hard work. “See? All better!”

Don shook his head with a humoured roll of his eyes. “Just don’t move it too much. And no patrol until it’s healed, got it? “

“Aye, Aye!” Mikey went to salute with the wrong hand, immediately grasping it to his plastron with a wince before peeking at his brother and beaming. “Thanks Dee, you’re the best.” 

35 years old

“Guys, we need to end this!” Don shouted over his shoulder as he pressed his hands to Mikey’s side. The wound was deep, as indicated by the amount of blood now pooling on the floor, but he’d need his lights and equipment at home to get a good enough look to make sure nothing vital was damaged. They needed to get Mikey home. Now.

Leo and Raph stepped up their game, the worry in Don’s voice adding fuel to their protective fires. Foot soldiers were felled left, right, and centre, the herd thinning with each passing moment.

“Party-pooper.” Mikey pouted with a wheeze as he glanced at the battle raging behind Don’s shell. “Things were just gettin’ fun.”

“I’d hardly call this fun.” Don pulled his mask from his face, using the fabric to hold back the blood from gushing further.

Mikey winced at the pressure. “No Don, not the mask! You’ll…” He paused to cough a laboured breath. “…give away your secret identity.” His feigned worry was met with an unamused glare by his taller sibling. “Hello? This thing… on…?” His words faded with each shallow breath.

“Stop talking and save your energy.” Don spoke with practiced calm, very used to dealing with his younger sibling’s antics, even in such serious circumstances. As Mikey looked about to reply, his eyes snapped shut and a hiss of pain cut through his teeth. Don looked down to the wound and found something glinting in the starlight. A small shard from the offending weapon was wedged into the gash, hiding in Mikey’s blood.

Gathering his panic and shoving it out of mind, as he’d done so many times over the years, Don manoeuvred his hands so they were no longer pressing on the shard but still slowing the blood. “Leo—“

“Get him out of here, Don. We’ll cover your retreat.”

Leo’s voice was commanding, leaving no room for argument. And while Don didn’t like the idea of moving Mikey on his own—or at all, for that matter— he knew how crucial the next ten minutes were to keeping his brother alive.

Leo was right. Time to move.

He placed Mikey’s hand in the proper position over the wound. “Keep pressure here.” The younger did as instructed without complaint, while Don took his brother’s arm and pulled it over his shoulder, shoving aside the worry that lanced down his spine as Mikey groaned in pain. “Hold on, Mikey. You’ll be OK.”

“I know, Dee. I’m sure you’ll fix me up… all nice and pretty.”

Mikey’s smile, reassuring despite the pain, was a welcome support to keep Don’s fear at bay. He’d dealt with wounds like this before. Mikey would be OK. Don could fix this.

Several days of touch and go had rattled the entire Hamato family. As they all sat gathered around the youngest turtle, sleeping after days of worry and keeping watch, Don awoke to find Mikey squeezing his hand and fluttering his eyes open. “Welcome back.” The tall turtle whispered, relief sweeping through and finally allowing him to breathe normal for the first time in days.

Mikey looked around groggily, bringing a hand to his side and feeling the bandages.

“It was pretty deep. Raph and Leo both had to donate some blood.” Don explained. “It may take a while to heal, but you’ll be alright. That is, assuming you can sit still for a few weeks.” The light smile that crossed Mikey’s lips brought endless comfort to Don’s stressed features.

A small cough had Don heading to get some water. Before he left, he heard his brother’s ragged voice whisper, “Thanks Dee. You’re the best.”

95 years old

Donatello sat in the grass, enjoying it’s cool touch as he bathed in the morning light. He’d dreamed of his brothers last night. Memories of the battles they’d fought danced before his eyes as he’d watched in awe at how they’d overcome them all. It was crazy to think they’d managed to survive long enough to grow old. Between the alien invasions, the gang fights, and the wars, it never ceased to amaze Don how many times they’d avoided tragedy.

They were certainly lucky.

Mikey liked to say it wasn’t luck that got them through, but Don himself. Not a notion Don liked to entertain too seriously, lest he fall prey to his own arrogance, but hearing it from his baby brother was always a nice affirmation.

Don smiled as he thought of his younger sibling.

Mikey always believed in him. Ever since they were tots and he stuck that first Batman Band-Aid on his finger, Mikey believed Don could work miracles. It didn’t matter the injury, the young turtle would always look at his brother with confidence and trust that gave Don the courage to do what needed to be done, no matter how terrified he was of doing it.

Mikey never knew how much his faith in Don’s skill meant to the genius. Never knew how many times his trust was the only thing keeping Don from walking away and saying he couldn’t do it. Never knew that every time Don saved one of their lives, Mikey had a part in it.

Michelangelo kept them together all these years. He may never have felt like a crucial member of the team, always assuming he was the goof or the jokester and wasn’t necessary in battle, but the older three knew the truth: without Mikey, there was no team.

A strong wind began to blow, sending a chill down Don’s old bones. Leo would be finishing his morning walk soon, which meant they’d need to make some breakfast before Raph woke up. No rest for the weary.

Standing on shaky legs, Don took one more moment to enjoy the sun on his face.

As warm as his baby brother’s smile.

“Thanks Mikey.” He placed his hand on the cold stone before him, tracing his brother’s name with his finger, a sad smile tugging at his lips. “You’re the best.”

~~~~~~

Based on the picture below, therefore I usually see this one in the 2012 fandom.

End of Line.

-TRAaP

[masteroffrights]

ꀭꍏꉓꀘ ꌗꀘꍟ꒒꒒ꀤꈤꁅ꓄ꂦꈤ ;; 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖚𝖒𝖕𝖐𝖎𝖓 𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖌

Pansexual ⋆ He/Him ⋆ Thirty-Two (Immortal) ⋆ Undead Entity 

Powers ;; Mediumship, Black Magic, Pyrokinesis

Occupation ;; Funeral Director

♫ Currently Playing ♫ ;; whatthehellishappening? by Glass Animals

☀ Aries ☾ Leo ↑ Scorpio 

Jack doesn't remember too much from his life before death, most of it becoming a blur the longer he's been six feet under. He believes he once had a family and has invented a backstory for himself without knowing just how far from the truth it is. To Jack, he had a loving family, even a brother and sister, and they knew him until his very last breath. In reality, he was born to a single mother and an absent father. While the woman loved her son with all of her heart it wasn't enough to heal the sickness that had come from years of slaving away at the factory to provide for her family. The toxins finally took her life when he was only sixteen years old but he kept it a secret so that no one would steal him from his home before he came of age. That was when Jack played with necromancy for the first time, trying to find a way to animate his mother under necessary circumstances so the secret never got out. In doing so he started to fly a little too close to the sun, believing he could find a way to bring her back and in turn, unknowingly ended damning himself forever.

It was around that time when he first met Oryan, having connected quickly after seeing similarities in their past. He even helped Jack get a real job after school and start working for the people that his friend spoke so highly of. Ezekiel was a quick addition to the blonde's inner circle, meeting by chance but knowing they were destined to be friends forever. They were a band of misfit toys that everyone had thrown away but found one another or at least that's how Jack saw things. Every year he would look forward to when the temperatures would drop and the best time of year would come. He'd always loved Halloween, dressing up, scaring people, but when his mother passed it was Christmastime that became sacred. It was her favorite season and the time when he felt the most at home with everyone he loved, a feeling he's been searching for since death. Speaking of which finally came on Halloween night when he discovered the dark truth of what Oryan and his employer were up to. That was when Jack had to be silenced, the man he believed to be his friend killed him to make sure he stayed quiet.

That was when Jack's life really started, finding a new purpose in the afterlife. He had been chosen as the Pumpkin King after his failed attempts to bring back his mother, instead giving up his own soul. By chance, he had in death been given another chance. Halloweentown was static most of the time but once every year it became the most exciting place on earth. All of the creatures, critters, and monsters would be able to seep out into the moral world where for one night they could cause chaos. Jack enjoyed watching the shenanigans from the comfort of his own home or at least he did until something called him to the very place where he lost his life. Once the now-vampiric Oryan crossed the border into Echo, Jack was able to feel his how immortal presence and knew he must return to the surface for their unfinished business. He has made his grand return to Echo with all the desires that he once had while also finding reminders of a life once lived left behind. Of his past memories, he recalls those with Oryan the most clearly which is why Jack knew exactly what had brought him back to the world of the living.

He is able to go back to Halloweentown through a passage in the woods found on a specific tree, only a certain few knowing the way to get in.

The funeral is the perfect guise. It keeps him close to Halloweentown while also giving him something believable to spend his time doing while he's back in Echo. Not to mention he's quite good at it, having gotten very comfortable with death.

Jack has a pet dog that was his best friend in life as well, having come back to life with his owner when he did.

While many years have passed, as has the body Jack once knew. To make sure he blends in he looks now how he would've if he had never died at all.

What he is most excited about being back is celebrating Christmas, already fascinated with the decor he has seen and feeling some sort of unknown connection to it.

He is looking for answers but Jack has become content with his afterlife to where a part of him doesn't want to know where he's come from. Once he knows that then he knows what all he left behind.

tbd.

[lumosinlove]

Vaincre

~

It’s here!! Thank you all for the support of this universe, it truly means so very much to me. Every time I get a comment, or get to read the fan fiction you all write, see the art you create...it just fills me with so much joy. I’m so excited to share the Sweater Weather sequel with you, Vaincre! Go Lions!

cw: brief mention of past injury and past abuse

~

part i: July

I’ve been holding my breath

I’ve been counting to ten

~

The media wasn’t kind. There were network shows and blogs. Magazines and papers and podcasts. Not to mention Twitter.

Remus had heard his name on all of them, even if he wasn’t listening. It was part of Alice’s job to make sure he knew what was being said about him. It was his job to tune most of it out. Some outrage. Some elation. Some confusion.

This is my question, one podcast asked. I mean, I’m happy for Black. Lupin, too. I’m happy for the hockey world to have this happen, it’s about time, I mean, tune it, come on, and all that.

I’m confused about the, you know, ‘let’s put the PT on the roster.’ I’ve seen college clips, like, those have been released, we know that he got injured, we know all that. He’s fast, we know that, too. But a lot of guys are fast.

Just…what a move by Coach Weasley. A good move? I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Remus had always loved to run. It cleared his head. It had been one of the forms of exercise he had been able to do first once his shoulder had healed, before weights or any sort of strength training. His therapists had recommended it. Endorphins, they had said.

But Remus liked it because it was the closest he had been able to get to gliding on the ice, even when he still couldn’t stand to even look at a rink.

A good move? I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Remus was used to not knowing. He was beginning to think he thrived on it. Would he play hockey again? Would he ever find love? Would Sirius want him?

Was this really happening?

He didn’t think of dreams as coming so late, but, then again, why should dreams be put on any sort of time schedule?

Now, he banged out the screen door and onto the rickety, well-loved porch of the lake house that had been passed down through his family for years. His mother and her brothers split it up in the summer, overlapping for a week or so, and there were always little gifts left behind for each family at the trade-off. A bottle of the best maple syrup, or some of the local honey. They were small, but Remus smiled when he saw what his uncle and aunt and cousins had left for him and Sirius after his parents and Julian had given them the month of July with the house to themselves. A little flower arrangement with two hockey sticks, carved out of wood, sticking up in the middle.

Sirius had plucked one from the dirt, twirled it over in his fingers, and smiled.

“Your family will never stop surprising me.”

Green Lake was deep, prime for fishing, and gorgeous. The smell of the water, of the soil and sweet summer air was as good as home to Remus. He breathed it in now as he bent to lace up his sneakers. He could smell the fire pit that they had lit last night, one that he and Julian had roasted thousands of marshmallows over.

“I showed Jules how to roast the perfect marshmallow here,” Remus had said that first July night, leaning back against Sirius’ chest.

Sirius had blew out his burnt-black one. “Like this?”

Remus had scoffed. “No, you heathen.”

Sirius looked good here, surrounded by the woods and rusty cabin, wearing the old fleeces that never seemed to leave this place for when the sun had yet to warm the chilly mornings. Some mornings, they’d make their coffee, tangle their socked feet together on the small couch until the sun began to get high and they’d strip it all off in favor of swimsuits and sunscreen. Other mornings, Remus would rise, pressing a gentle kiss to Sirius’ sleeping face, and take to the dirt road that ran around the lake.

Sirius, just off of the hard won playoffs, needed to rest. Remus needed to train.

A good move? I don’t know. I really don’t know.

They would leave in two days for Pascal’s Cup Day celebration, and then to meet Remus’ parents, his little brother Julian, and Regulus back in Gryffindor for Sirius’ Cup Day. And August training. Remus stretched his hands to his toes and closed his eyes. A strange type of adrenaline filled him whenever he thought about practicing with the team, about the fitness tests that would come first. He’d have to prove himself again and again. He wanted to. But part of him wondered what would happen if he couldn’t.

The screen door squeaked open and shut again, and Remus jumped, looking up to find Sirius, still sleep rumpled, standing there in running shorts.

Remus laughed, reaching up to trace a pillow crease in his cheek. “You’re supposed to be sleeping in while you can.”

Sirius let out a grumbly sort of yawn and gathered his hair, long from the summer and just brushing his chin now, back into a small half-up bun.

“I can’t believe you do this before coffee.”

“Too acidic. Gives you running stitches.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sirius sighed, and threw his arm around Remus’ shoulders as they walked up the steep driveway to the road.

Remus kissed his wrist. “I’ll miss being here with you.”

Sirius smiled. He was tan from the summer, hair dark as ever and his skin sun-kissed.

Remus leaned into his shoulder. “I mean look at you. I like seeing you this relaxed.”

Sirius bit his lip as the rounded a bend, waving at Mrs. Barrow, who was tending to her garden.

“I don’t think I knew I could be this relaxed,” Sirius admitted. “It was always train, train, train, you didn’t get a Cup, try harder.”

Remus was familiar with the notes that appeared in Sirius’ voice now from years of Sirius’ small slips in conversation, even when, to Remus, Sirius had only been they youngest captain in the league, cold and reserved from even more years of his father’s abusive, relentless attitude towards hockey and Sirius’ skills. Even when Remus had only been the team’s physical therapist, closeted, crushing on Sirius, and surprised by the cracks Sirius showed when he had gotten his ankle smashed by Severus Snape, Captain of the Slytherin Snakes—the Gryffindor Lions greatest rivalry. Pain, it had seemed, and fear of never stepping on the ice again, had given Remus his first glimpses into a different Sirius beneath it all, a boy who was filled with much more than just a need to win, but for whom the want of winning only made him love his sport, and his team, more.

“And now that you have a Cup?” Remus asked. “How’re you feeling?”

They came to the road and Sirius balanced on one foot, stretching his thigh. “Now that I have you,” he said. “I’m feeling just fine.”

Remus snorted. “Yeah, the Stanley Cup Champion part has nothing to do with it.”

Sirius laughed, but took Remus’ face between his palms. “If I didn’t have you, and I had only a Cup, all I would be doing right now is thinking about another Cup.”

Remus put a hand on his chest, fingers finding the number twelve pendant that rested there.

“Now, there’s more,” Sirius said simply, and leaned down for a tender kiss. “Like your mother’s peach pie.”

Remus punched him in the arm as Sirius laughed loudly.

“You’ll have to beat me if you want a slice of that!” Remus called as he took off.

Sirius made a wounded noise, but sprinted after him until they were side by side again.

~

“I don’t think I can leave this beach,” Leo mumbled into the lounging cabana they were spread out beneath, and Logan looked down at him from where he was reading—trying to read—one of the books Finn had given him. He didn’t know how many books Finn had tried to get him to read over the years, but he knew he never made it through more than a few pages without looking up, getting distracted, or having to go back.

“Non?” Logan asked.

Leo shook his head. “The sun. The sea. I’m in heaven.”

“What about hockey?”

“Brr.”

Logan laughed and settled back into the pillows, setting the book aside and rolling towards Leo to feel his sun-warmed back and leaned down to kiss his temple. A private beach definitely had its perks—and so did three hockey salaries.

“We’ll just stay here, then.”

They’d had a good summer. Leo’s Cup Day, Finn’s, his own, all in their hometowns and accompanied by large parades and fanfare. Logan had finally gotten to take Leo home to his sisters and parents for the first time. It had been nice to see Finn around his family again, too, after what felt like eons of avoiding him in that small gap between being at Harvard and then them both making it to the NHL, and to the Lions.

Leo’s sleepy smile up at him melted Logan like ice in the sun.

“Okay, good,” Leo said, then his eyes went behind Logan. “There’s the ghost-on-toast with our drinks.”

Logan snorted and looked up to see Finn—and Finn’s tiny blue swim shorts that he insisted weren’t see-through—walking towards them through the sand from the resort bar with a tray of drinks in his hands.

“Hey, lover-nuts,” Finn said as he set the tray down in the shade. “Got us some snacks, too. That bar tender loves me.”

“You are so pale,” Leo laughed. “I love you, though, please put more sunscreen on.”

“Keep your sandy feet off my towel,” Logan nudged Finn’s foot with his own as he reached for his drink. Finn just smiled and nodded at the book.

“How is it?” Finn asked.

Logan just looked at him.

He laughed and ran a hand through Logan’s salty, damp hair. “I know. I’ll read it to you later. I just thought you might want something for the beach!”

Logan held up his cocktail. “I have something for the beach.”

They settled back under their cabana, the thin, white linen curtains fluttering around them in the three o’clock breeze. Maybe Logan, as he closed his eyes between Leo and Finn, Leo’s hand still on his thigh, Finn’s arm pillowing the back of his neck, never wanted to leave this beach, either.

“Back to Gryffindor tomorrow,” Logan said.

“Group chat says most guys’ll be back this week,” Finn said, squinting at his phone over his sunglasses. “We gotta be back for Dumo’s, and then Cap’s Cup Day. That’ll be nice, man.”

“I like that they’re bringing it to Gryffindor Pride,” Leo said, rolling onto his back. “Should have thought of that. Or, I guess…” Leo trailed off and Logan frowned. They couldn’t do that. Not yet, at least. Leo caught Logan’s expression and rested a reassuring hand on his thigh. “I’m glad we get to go, even if its for them on the surface. That’s real thoughtful of them, you know?”

Logan nodded. It was thoughtful. When Remus and Sirius had brought it up to them, he’d found himself getting a little choked up.

“We want you guys to be able to experience that, too,” Remus had said. “If you want. No matter what you decide to do public-wise in the future.”

Finn clicked his phone off and chucked it to the side. “Hey, don’t take me off island time yet. We’ll order to the room, eat on the deck, hike up and stargaze…”

Finn rattled off the perfect list, tilting towards Logan until their lips met.

“And then we’ll go win another Cup.”

Leo and Logan punched him at the same time.

~

Thomas sat in the shade with Kasey as they watched Alex try to take on Natalie and Noelle at pool basketball.

“I really think they’re going to accidentally drown him,” Thomas said thoughtfully.

“He probably thinks that, too, and is just too competitive to stop,” Kasey replied.

Thomas laughed, and held out his beer to cheers.

“This is a nice house the O’Haras have, man,” he looked at the sparkling ocean beyond the steps and fence, and at the pool with the grill and lounge chairs. They’d only come up for the weekend, between training and visiting their own families, and before returning to Gryffindor for the season.

“Tell me about it.”

“Cheating!” Alex spluttered from the pool as Natalie put all of her weight on him to dunk him under the water. Alex pointed very seriously to the foot marker on the side tile. “We agreed from that to Thomas’ chair, I was too far away!”

“Too bad!” Noelle shouted as she made another basket.

Thomas didn’t think it was the alcohol that made him feel a little fuzzy at the edges as he looked over her in her swimsuit. She was all curves of tanned muscle, softened the summer around her stomach and arms. Thomas was a goner. But she seemed pretty gone, too, so he guessed it was all right.

“This moment’s always rough,” Kasey said softly from beside him, and when Thomas looked at him questioningly, he gestured vaguely with his beer. “The end of July. One more month, but not really. Alex’ll go back for training, you know? It’s like a trick. I always think, I get three months with these two. But it’s more like two and the first week of August.”

Thomas nodded. “I know. Noelle, too. Her training camp starts on the eight. I’m just…”

Kasey sighed in sympathy.

“At least you have Nat, you know?” Thomas said. “Not that I’m saying you have it easier, I just…”

Kasey shook his head. “I know. Believe me, I’m thankful for that every day. But…when you miss someone, you miss someone.”

Thomas nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, exactly.”

Last season hadn’t been too bad. His relationship with Noelle had been new. They only really knew FaceTime dates, and squeezed in weekend flights that sometimes left them more exhausted than sated. They had been taking it slow. Thomas had been kissed by Noelle—a lot. Enough to make him dizzy with it. Only, then she’d met him at the airport in Quebec, they’d spent a month with her family in France…

And Thomas wasn’t sure he knew how to do just FaceTime anymore. There was a new yearning, knotted just below his heart. He knew what her skin felt like under his hands now, knew what she looked like right when she waked up, even her skincare routine before bed. It would feel like being away from the ice for too long, the knot pulling tight. He thought this year was going to be harder. Maybe he knew it, but if he did, he was pretending it might be easy still.

“T,” Noelle called, floating on her back, dark hair fanned out in the water. “C’mere!”

Thomas smiled, setting his drink down. He would come, whenever she called. Wherever.

~

Cole Reyes didn’t know if Adele Dumais staring at him the way she was was a good thing, or a bad thing. He was nervous enough without the seemingly disapproval of Pascal Dumais'—the Pascal Dumais of the Gryffindor Lions, oldest player in the league—teenage daughter.

“Don’t you talk?” Marc, one of his sons, asked.

Cole blinked. “Uh. Yeah. Yeah.”

Adele waved her brother off. “They’re always super nervous at first. Remember Sirius?”

Marc scoffed. “I was a baby.”

Cole let out a breath. Now they were casually talking about Sirius Black, who had lived in the very room Cole had been sleeping in for a week now when he was a rookie, too. It was the same with Logan Tremblay. He felt like he needed to keep the room pristine, like he was living in some Hockey Hall of Fame museum that he had not earned the right to be in yet.

“You’re still a baby,” Adele shot back.

“Kids,” came Celeste, Pascal’s wife’s voice from where she was setting the table. “Come on now.”

“Sorry, maman,” Marc said softly.

“Sorry,” Adele sighed more reluctantly.

“Go help your father with the grill, you two,” she said. “Everyone will be arriving soon.”

Katie, Celeste and Pascal’s youngest daughter, perked up from where she was sitting beside Cole, drawing. Not Pascal, Dumo—Cole kept having to remind himself that he could call Pascal by his nickname now, that it was all official, that he was a Gryffindor Lion, too. Katie hadn’t left his side since he arrived a week ago to billet with the Dumais, and he still wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Even the Cup?” she asked.

Celeste laughed. “Oui, ma cherie. Cole? Would you mind going to get the flowers for the table? They’re on the kitchen counter, just inside.”

“Oh, sure, Mrs. Dumais,” Cole nodded, glad for something to do. The thought of the Cup arriving gave him the chills. He’d have to be careful not to touch it. He was scared to even look at it, to be honest. His mom would be laughing at him right about now. He wanted to call her afterwards, tell her everything.

“Call me Celeste, I told you, please,” Celeste smiled. She was lovely, with her dark hair twisted and clipped up and a summer dress as green as her eyes, silky against her olive skin.

Cole flushed, but smiled. “Celeste.”

Cole made his way through the sliding door from the back yard and through the dining room. The kitchen was one of the biggest rooms in the house—and it was a big house. Beautiful copper pans hung shining above the island, along with some herbs that Celeste grew and dried herself. It looked like something out of a magazine to Cole, and it was nice, but it wouldn’t beat his mom’s kitchen in the small apartment they shared in Boston. The small space would fill up to the brim with the smell of spices, or cobbler. The thought sent a pang right to his heart. He missed home, that was for sure. After being away for so long, for so many hockey camps, he’d hoped he would be more used to it by now.

The flowers were right where Celeste had said they would be, and he was reaching for one when the back door that led to the garage dinged open. Cole froze, sure that he was about to run into captain Sirius Black completely unprepared, when a girl stepped through instead. She was dressed in denim shorts and a white tank top, had dark brown skin, and a Gryffindor College hat over her hair, which was plaited back into many small braids.

She smiled when she saw him. No sign of surprised, or of the nervousness Cole felt when he met basically anyone.

“You must be Cole,” she said.

Cole nodded. The girl was gorgeous. Cole was a mess of nerves already. He didn’t need the stare of the teenage daughter of one of his idols, but he especially could not handle a beautiful girl right now.

“Yeah,” Cole said. “No, yeah, um. Yes.”

The girl strode forward, setting her bag down on the counter, along with a water bottle decorated in stickers. He caught a few Lions ones. She offered her hand, which was slender and had two golden rings on it. “I’m Layla. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Cole took it, trying to place her. “Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, I babysit for the Dumais family,” she said in explanation, then waved her hand. “Well, this year, at least. I’m actually—we’re going to be working together.”

Cole blinked. “You mean the Lions?”

She nodded. “I’m in the middle of my undergrad for physical therapy. Dumo’s amazing and he got me an internship under the new PT. You know. I’ll probably get you stick tape or something,” she laughed. “Congrats, by the way.”

Cole tilted his head and she raised an eyebrow.

“On making it to the NHL?”

“Oh,” Cole laughed. “Oh, I, yeah, thanks. You, too—or…yeah.”

Cole was going to stay in his room in the basement and never come out.

“I gotta—Mrs. Du—Celeste wants these flowers outside,” he said, picking the vases up.

“Sure thing,” Layla smiled.

“Layla,” came a shriek, and a moment later Katie Dumais came sprinting into the kitchen and wrapped herself around Layla’s legs and smiled at Cole. “This is my new hockey player.”

Cole couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t have a lot of experience with kids, but Katie sure was cute.

“Yours?” Layla gasped as she smiled at Cole. “He’s all yours, is he?”

Katie nodded. “Like Tremzy and Sirius. His name is Cole, like when Santa Clause doesn’t like you.”

Again, with the casual mentions of Logan Tremblay and Sirius Black.

“Oh, of course,” Layla laughed. “Well, I’m sure Santa Clause has never not liked you, babes. Let’s go let your mom know I’m here, okay? Your new hockey player can come with us, too.”

“He’s yours, too!” Katie insisted. “You’re here all the time, so he’s yours, too, don’t worry.”

“Oh, good,” Layla said. “I was worried.”

When Katie looked at Cole expectedly, Cole managed, “I guess everyone does need a hockey player?”

“Exactly!” Katie squealed, and Cole could only follow them outside, heart pounding.

~

It was good to be back in Gryffindor. Remus and Sirius had dropped their bags in Sirius’ entryway, said hello to Regulus, showered, and then hopped right back in the car to get to Pascal’s house.

“You two look disgustingly happy,” Regulus said, leaning forward from the back seat.

“We are,” Sirius grinned at him in the review mirror. “I am also happy,” he stroked the leather steering wheel of his Range Rover. “To be back with this baby.”

While Sirius’ hair had grown longer, Regulus had shaved his short. The curls were barely curls at all anymore, but Remus was happy to see that his seemingly ever-present dark circles had receded some.

“Why, thank you, Regulus, you look happy, too,” Remus snorted. “When do you leave for NYU’s orientation?”

“August 23rd,” he said. “Been texting with my housemates, too. They seem cool.”

“Maybe one of you will pull a Finn and fall in love with each other,” Sirius said.

“Twice,” Remus laughed, and Regulus did, too.

“I think I’ve had enough romance drama to last me a life time, thanks,” Regulus smiled. “But, yeah. I’m just…I’m focused on friends right now, I think. Normal, non-hockey creatures like you two. But that’s not to say if something came up…or I guess someone. Who knows.”

Sirius’ smile was softer this time. “Focus on whatever you want, Reg. You deserve it.”

Regulus just grumbled something about hockey gods, and then they were pulling up to the Dumais’. There were silver and white balloons lining the driveway and the fence to the backyard where, as Remus slammed his door, he could already hear laughter. A zing of excitement shot through him.

“I missed this team,” he sighed as Sirius took his hand.

Sirius pressed a kiss to his temple. “Your team.”

“Our team.”

“Jesus Christ,” Regulus said, and gave them a shove forward.

Thomas gave a loud woop when he spotted them coming out to the backyard. Regulus immediately made a B-line towards Leo and the Cubs.

“Yes! The Captain!” Thomas said and pulled Sirius into a hug. “Missed you, man.”

“You, too, T,” Sirius said. “Ready to tear it up?”

“You know it.”

Remus smiled as Thomas hugged him next. “I forgot you two train together before pre-season.”

“You two?” Thomas raised an eyebrow, the small gold hoops in his ears glinting in the sun. Remus noticed he’d shaved three stripes into one side of his head. They were a little wobbly. Maybe Noelle had done it. “You’re not coming with us?”

“You know how this one is about his routines,” Remus said, wrapping an arm around Sirius’ waist. “Wouldn’t want to mess anything up.”

“Please,” Sirius said. “I want you there more than I want a second—”

Remus and Thomas punched him at the same time.

“I know you weren’t just about to say that,” said an accented voice from behind Remus, and they turned to see Pascal standing there. He looked as he always did, smile lines around his eyes, gray streaks at his temples. He wore a white t-shirt and had Katie on his hip. She was definitely getting too big to be carried around like that, but Remus couldn’t see a time when Pascal would ever refuse her. He’d probably carry Adele around like that, too, if she’d let him.

“Dumo,” Sirius smiled, and took the two beers he was holding out, handing one to Remus. He kissed Katie’s forehead. “Good summer?”

“The best,” Pascal laughed, and nodded towards the edge of the yard. “Especially with the promise of seeing that thing again.”

Remus followed his gaze, and his breath caught, just as he knew it would. The Cup stood there, its guards near by with drinks and plates of food in their hands. It sat proudly on a table, surrounded by white tulips—no doubt Celeste’s doing.

“I’m excited to see you two bring it to the parade,” Pascal said. “That will be a wonderful day for everyone.”

Remus glanced at where Logan, Leo, and Finn were standing with Kasey Winter, Gryffindor’s goalie, and his partners Natalie, with her long blonde hair, and Finn’s brother Alex, who played for Tampa Bay.

Sirius’ smile lit up his face. “It will be.”

Remus peered around him. “Is that our rookie?”

Sirius scoffed. “A rookie can’t call a fellow rookie rookie, rookie.”

Remus blinked. “What did you just say?”

“That’s Cole!” Katie said. “I love him.” Then she turned and shouted his name again. He looked up from where he was standing quietly beside Jackson Nadeau, another player, and Remus suppressed a smile at the way his eyes widened when he saw Sirius.

“Oh, here we go,” Sirius mumbled.

“Oh, hush,” Remus said, and sounded far too much like his mother to himself. “You’re going to be throwing hands for him the second someone gets close, and you know it.”

“I don’t know how to tell rookies I’m just a person!” Sirius whispered as Cole began to make his way over. “They act all…”

“Star struck?” Thomas offered.

Sirius just glowered at him.

Cole Reyes did not look as young as he was. Even at 19, he was jacked, and tall, with light brown skin, green eyes, and a stripe shaved into one of his eyebrows. His hair was shaved at the sides, but longer on the top and in tight curls.

Remus glanced somewhat self-consciously down at himself. He could only put on more muscle healthily so fast. He thought he’d been doing well, but looking at Cole…

“Hello,” Cole said hesitantly and Pascal set Katie down and clapped Cole on the shoulder.

“Reyes, meet Sirius. Sirius, meet the boy who is a much better billet than you ever were.”

Sirius snorted, and Cole laughed—nervously.

“Hi, Cole,” Sirius said, and held out his hand. “I know we spoke briefly over the summer, but it’s nice to officially meet you.”

“You, too,” Cole said, smile slight. “Thanks for the call. My mom freaked out. I mean—well, me too, but my mom…” Cole stuttered out, wincing.

“Loves me?” Sirius laughed. “I get that a lot.”

“He’s so humble,” Remus shook his head jokingly. “Hi Cole, I’m Remus. Welcome to the team.”

“You too…?” Cole said hesitantly. “Well, the roster, I guess.”

“Cole,” Katie said, taking his large hand in her small one. “Come meet Tremzy. He’s my best friend.”

Sirius feigned a pout. “What about me?”

Katie smiled sheepishly, throwing herself at Sirius’ legs, “You, too!”

“Always one-uped by Tremblay,” Thomas laughed, shaking his head. “How’s it feel, Cap?”

“Wonderful,” Sirius said dryly and then looked down at Katie, petting her head. “Go on, go show Cole your best friend.”

They watched her lead Cole through the crowd for a moment before Sirius huffed.

“See?” Sirius whispered to Remus. “It’s like he’s scared of me.”

“I’ve never heard you use the phrase spoke briefly in my life. Who are you, Alice?”

“I was trying to be professional!”

Remus laughed. “Why?”

Sirius just rolled his eyes and dragged him over to stack their plates with food.

The party went well into the evening, the sky pink and blue in the setting sun. There were lanterns floating in the pool where Evgeni and Jackson were playing chicken with a delighted Marc and Louis, or sometimes one of Coach Arthur Weasley’s boys, on their shoulders. Logan was sitting with Cole and Finn, cradling a sleepy Katie against his chest, Leo and Regulus laughing with Kasey and Alex.

Remus found Sirius again standing alone in front of the Cup. His hair was falling into his face, the curls gentled by the evening breeze and the Cup’s silver surface reflecting the silver of Sirius’ eyes. Remus went to stand beside him, and neither of them spoke for a moment.

“I’m nervous,” Remus broke the silence.

Sirius nodded. “I know, mon loup.”

Remus sighed, resting his head against Sirius’ arm. “Yeah?”

“Of course,” Sirius switched his drink to his other hand so he could run his fingers through Remus’ hair. “This is…big.”

“It’s what I’ve always wanted,” Remus whispered. It felt dangerous, to say the words aloud. “It’s everything that I lost. Last time.”

Remus could still feel Fenrir Greyback rip at his shoulder, even if it was years ago now, while they were still at college. Being in the NHL meant that Remus would have to play against him again whenever they met Vegas.

Sirius turned towards him, hand on his cheek.

“You will have this,” he said earnestly, and then smile, reaching into his shirt for his necklace, the one Remus had gifted him last Christmas. He brought it to his lips. “Loops.”

Remus smiled at the now familiar sight, touching the pendant when Sirius’ let it drop.

“You know,” Remus said. “You’re everything I’ve always wanted, too.”

Sirius’ smile was one of Remus’ favorites, and he tucked him against his side. Remus followed his gaze to find him looking at Cole again.

“I’m not happy with the way it happened,” Sirius said softly, and Remus knew he was thinking of the pictures that someone had leaked of them kissing. The pictures that had upturned their entire lives. “But I’m glad I get to hold you like this in front of new faces. I wasn’t thinking about trades—I try not to—but getting Reyes, if things had been different, would have meant we were back to square one at parties like these.”

Remus nodded, taking a drink. “And he seemed okay with it. With us.”

“I was thinking we should invite him to train with us. With me, you, and T. Maybe Dumo would join, too. I know he usually goes with Sergei, but Sergei might be with Kuns and Nado, even though they usually like it just them. The Cubs—”

“Okay, Captain, okay,” Remus laughed.

Sirius pressed a hand over his eyes, laughing. “I just don’t like it when they’re nervous around me. Like Leo was. It’s so much better now that we’re friends.”

“You’ll get there with him,” Remus said. “Yeah, invite him to train with us. The more the merrier.”

Secretly, Remus wanted to see how Cole trained. He couldn’t shake the analytical side of him, the physical therapist side. Cole was built for such a young age.

“If I didn’t know better,” Sirius said softly, mouth close to Remus’ ear. “I’d say you were checking him out.”

Remus spluttered. “I’m not! I want to know his routine!”

Sirius cracked up. “This is your superstition, isn’t it? Cracking other player’s codes.”

Remus just shrugged, smiling into his cup.

“Have you cracked my code?” Sirius asked in the low voice he used that made Remus not want to be surrounded by people.

Remus looked up at him. “Maybe. It certainly has nothing to do with a piece of toast at five o’clock.”

“My pre-game toast is very important to me.”

Remus leaned up to press a quick kiss to his lips. “No, you just like honey and cinnamon.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Okay, I’m going to talk to Reyes now.”

“Catch him if he passes out.”

Sirius just glowered over his shoulder as he stalked across the grass. Remus looked around at the back yard, at the team, together again. His team.

[fruitcoops]

I absolutely love your fics!!! Thank you for sharing your talent with the world. If you're interested, do you think you could write a fic where Finn gets injured in a game against Tampa? O'Hara brothers ftw ♥️♥️♥️

Ohohohoho yes. It's 'missing your big brother so you write siblings' hours, and all of you are trapped in here with me. Combined with prompts for cubs hurt comfort/ poly love (@hi-im-phoenix) and distraction hurt/ comfort for AJ. Sorry about your manager <3 SW credit goes to @lumosinlove!

TW for bone inJuries

The crowd was roaring. Finn couldn’t catch his breath. His arm was on fire.

Something like a sob broke free in his chest, but he could do little more than hiccup in pain and fear from his place laying flat on his back atop the unforgiving ice. He couldn’t move his fingers. His elbow throbbed. Everything in between just hurt.

“—fuck is wrong with you?” an angry voice shouted, followed by a flash of blue and white shoving at the man whose late hit had left him suspended in shock. Finn didn’t know if it had been on purpose, but he didn’t really care anymore as a tear tracked down to his ear. He couldn’t pull his eyes away from the bright lights overhead.

A hand cradled one side of his jaw, warm and clammy on his cold skin. “Talk to me, mon amour, what’s wrong?”

“Lo,” he croaked, swallowing hard. “I’m okay. ‘m okay, promise. I’m okay.”

“Out of my way!” The blue and white blob pushed closer before kneeling next to him. A helmet hit the ice, followed by a glove; heavy hands settled on his shoulders, and the one on his face disappeared. “Finn? Finn, look at me.”

Finn’s chest hitched once, twice, hard. His head was pounding, and everything hurt. He may have been able to reassure Logan, but he had never been able to hide from his brother. “Alex.”

“Hey, buddy,” he soothed as Finn finally regained enough breath to gasp around his tears. “No, no, shhh. You’re gonna be just fine, yeah? Can you tell me what happened?”

“Hurts,” he choked out, squeezing his eyes shut. The pain had reached his shoulder and every movement was agony. “It hurts, it hurts—Alex, it hurts.”

“What hurts?”

He could hear people calling for medics. His friends, his family. But Alex stayed right there next to him, holding his good hand and brushing his tears away. “My arm,” Finn said, feeling as pathetic as he ever had. “Alex, it hurts so bad.”

“Can you wiggle your fingers for me?” Finn sobbed again as he shook his head and saw the encouraging smile slide of Alex’s face. “That’s alright, buddy, just take some deep breaths.”

“I don’t wanna be out,” Finn blubbered. “I gotta play.”

Alex gave his hand a light squeeze. “It’s not that bad, Fish. Deep breaths.”

He managed a handful—and admittedly felt a little better—but the alarms in his head were still blaring when Remus arrived with the medic, all but carrying him across the ice to get to Finn. He had a smudge of a bruise beneath his eye, but the worry creasing his brow overtook anything else. “I’m good, Loops,” Finn panted as the medic sat next to him. “Totally cool.”

“28, I’m going to need you to make some room,” the medic ordered. Fear spiked in Finn’s heart when he met Alex’s gaze, but he found only determination looking back.

“I’m not leaving,” Alex said simply.

The medic glanced down. “Can you stand?”

“I think so?” Finn said hesitantly, trying to get cool air back into his lungs. “It’s—I think I broke my arm. Everything else is okay.”

“What’s your pain level?”

“Eight. And a half,” he added. Alex frowned.

“Let’s get you off this ice, yeah?” The medic patted him gently on the shoulder. “O’Hara, can you get him up?”

“Keep that one close,” Alex murmured, sliding his arm under Finn’s shoulders. He clenched his teeth around a cry of pain as his bad arm was jostled, but Alex was strong and steady, and within a few seconds he was on his feet. “Easy does it, bud. I’ve got you.”

“Fucking shit,” Finn wheezed as he tried to close his hand. The fear and adrenaline had faded, but involuntary tears sprang to his eyes anyway. Alex held him upright without faltering despite his wobbly legs; they made it to the bench in a blur of movement that made Finn dizzy.

“We can take him from here,” the medic said to Alex.

“I’ll be fine,” Finn said, cutting him off just as he opened his mouth. “Go play. Your boys need you.”

Alex pressed his lips together in obvious frustration, but tapped their helmets together and skated back to his own bench. Finn let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a moment. “O’Hara?”

“I’m good,” he assured the medic.

“If you feel like you need to throw up, let me know.”

“No. No, I’m good. Just hurts.”

He caught a glimpse of the clock as they headed down the tunnel—ten minutes left in the period. Finn steeled himself for a long stretch of being alone in a medical room and tried to focus on something over than the unbearable heat and throbbing in his arm.

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

Leo traced the edge of the splint with a deep-set frown, but said nothing. His other thumb ran in gentle lines up and down Finn’s waist, kept there by Logan’s side pressing close. “You’re sure you’re alright?” Logan asked softly as he placed a kiss on the corner of Finn’s mouth.

“I promise.” They had barely traded ten words—both had shown up the second the game ended, stripping off their pads and skates in the entrance to the medical room before sandwiching Finn between them. Leo had been unusually quiet. They had won the game; from what Finn saw on the television in the corner of the room, Alex had reamed out the guy that hit Finn with a vengeance. Tampa had been disjointed, and the Lions swept in as a cohesive pack, out for blood.

“I was worried about you,” Leo said at last, resting his temple on Finn’s shoulder. He sighed, then shifted impossibly closer. “Couldn’t get through the crowd.”

“I thought Talker and Loops were gonna kill that guy after he hit you,” Logan said with a shake of his head. “Looks like Alex did it for him.”

“What, you didn’t get into your shining armor for me?” Finn teased, nuzzling his nose against Logan’s cheek to draw even a slight smile from him.

“Maybe next time.”

“No,” Leo mumbled, linking his fingers with Finn’s purple ones and lifting them to his lips for a brief kiss. It was a clean break, but would still take weeks to heal. Big blue eyes landed on him, melting his heart like they always did. “No ‘next times’, okay?”

“Aw, Knutty,” Finn said, barely above a whisper. He wrapped one arm around each of them and held them tight, soaking in the feeling of having both crushed against him. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

Logan tucked his face into Finn’s neck. “Nothing to be sorry for, mon rouge. We’re just glad you’re alright.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” a voice said from the door. Alex shifted his weight back and forth, twisting his baseball cap in his hands like he always did when he was nervous. Finn didn’t hesitate before extracting himself from the cuddle pile and crossing the room; Alex met him halfway and engulfed him in a hug. A shudder ran through him under Finn’s palms. “Jesus, Finn, you scared the hell out of me.”

“Sorry,” Finn mumbled into his hoodie, letting himself be cocooned by distilled safety. Even out of his skates, Alex had a good two inches on him, and he had always been the broader of the two—Finn suddenly felt about six years old, as if he had just skinned his knee on the sidewalk.

“What’s the diagnosis?”

“Closed break, clean fracture. I’ll be out for a month or two.” He stepped back and swiped a hand under his nose, then tilted his head toward Leo and Logan with a wry smile. “But I’ve got these two to look after me.”

Alex scanned his face for a moment; his mouth dipped on one side. “I called mom and dad, told ‘em you’re okay. You should tell them yourself, though. They were freaking out.”

“I will,” Finn promised.

The worry creasing his brow didn’t diminish as he wrapped Finn in his arms again, holding him tight. “Keep me updated, yeah? If I don’t hear from you, I’ll get the captain on your ass, and he won’t be as nice about it as I will.”

“Deal.”

“Knutty, Lo, drive safe. If he tries to pull some stupid shit, I’m counting on your survival skills to stop it.”

“Survival skills?” Leo half-laughed.

Alex pulled away and raised his eyebrows. “They don’t call me Hurricane O’Hara for nothing.”

His eyes flickered back to Finn, who was horrified to see slight redness around the rims despite the teasing in his voice. “Alex,” he said softly. “I’m okay, I swear.”

“I know.” His voice was gruff, but it poorly hid a sniffle as he bumped their foreheads together. “But I’m your brother. It’s my job to worry about you. I hate that one of my guys was at fault here.”

Finn tried for a smile, socking him on the arm. “Six weeks, and I’ll be good as new.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” With a final survey of his face and a kiss to the top of his head, Alex headed back out into the hall with his shoulders up near his ears. Finn sighed; he hated it when Alex was upset, and even more when there was nothing he could do to fix it except wait. He didn’t know what he’d do if one of his teammates broke his brother.

“Fish?” Leo was smiling when he turned around. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“What kind?”

“The kind where I pull out all the sob story pity points on Cap’s soft heart and get us babysitting privileges for his incredibly fluffy dog after three months of constant begging.”

Finn’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”

“Make sure you look extra sad when we leave,” Logan advised. “We can’t lose this opportunity because you were too perky about a broken arm.”

“Quick, someone make me cry.”

Leo’s grin turned to horror. “What?”

“No!” Logan said at the same time.

“You guys are killing me here,” Finn groaned. “Just, like, hit me in the arm or something.”

“No!” they shouted in unison.

“You said I need to look sad!”

“I meant pout and sigh!” Logan pulled him over by the hem of his shirt in clear distress. “You’ve already cried too much tonight. No more.”

“Alright,” Finn agreed, already wracking his brain for any smidgen of drama skills he might have acquired over the years. Younger siblings were always the best actors, of course—he had given some Oscar-worthy performances to his mom when Alex got on his nerves as a kid—but Sirius was tough to fool. Maybe if he stayed quiet and didn’t risk opening his mouth they would get away with it.

Leo let out a slow exhale against his chest and snuggled closer before standing. “Come on, darlin,” he said with a kiss to Finn’s forehead. “Let’s get you settled. We’ll take a shower, have some dinner, and then we can put a movie on.”

“Mighty Ducks?” Finn asked hopefully.

Logan rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

[moxfirefly]

74 prompt and 57 kink: with The turtle of your choice (I’ll let you choose). Show me what love can be like and knowing someone is listening

Interesting, let’s see how we combine these two. So just cause I wanna try it out with him and since I haven’t gotten a request for him in a hot minute, I’m going with Mikey 👌

Rated Explicit (18+ only)

Breaks were needed and very much welcomed. Fighting night in and night out wasn’t necessarily a lifestyle that left much for self care and rest. The idea for a break had been voiced by April and Casey had stepped up to offer a great place.

The family cabin had been passed down to Casey a few years ago, he hadn’t gone up to the place in a year. It seemed perfect for overtired and overworked family. A getaway for a few days to rest and recover. The group chat bombarded you no less, everyone begging you to join in for the weekend.

You smiled down at the chain of messages but you mostly obliged when Michelangelo had texted you in private. The whole crime fighting gig had placed some pressure on the relationship, mostly due to the fact that Mikey would show up so bruised up or tired or at other times, not show up at all. You tried not to worry and you did a fairly good job at it but you missed him. You missed so much about him.

Some maneuvering around work you managed to lock in the few days off to disappear up to Casey’s cabin with the rest of the guys. Upon arriving the cold greeted you first than April. Winter was approaching and soon enough it would be too umberable to deal just about any common activity.

A last hurrah felt right. Seeing Mikey and spending time with him did too. Being around family, your chosen family.

“Tell me there’s a fire already starting in there” You wrapped your arms around April as she laughed. “Yeah Casey already flexed his lumberjack ways for me, fires just started” You shivered and thanked her before scurrying inside.

The warmth hit you first.

Then Mikey’s body connecting with yours for a tight hug.

It felt like ages since that, too long for you and the feel of those strong arms around you melted every negative thought from you.

A resounding ‘Angel!’ was all you caught before being picked up and held tightly by Mikey. A sigh of relief left him and you could also feel the tension melt from his body. “I missed you so much” Mikey planted a kiss on your neck, the press of his lips there making your skin breakout in goosebumps. It had been too long and it embarrassed you how such a simple kiss could do that to you.

Once back on your feet you took him in. There was still evidence of lethargy in his eyes, as if he hadn’t been sleeping too well. Some already healed bruises here and there but nevertheless that excitable puppy dog energy of his was there and it all centered around you.

Most of the afternoon was spent settling in, you and Mikey had gotten a room for the two of you adjacent to where Casey and April would be sleeping. Another smaller room would house Raphael while Donnie and Leo would crash in the living room area close to the fireplace.

Between dinner preparations, some drinks, the majority of the time was spent relaxing and just playing all sorts of card games. You and Mikey had been glued together for the entire evening. In some form or way he had been touching you and you as well towards him. His presence had instantly healed so much of your worries and frustrations and despite the distance it hadn’t deteriorated the relationship.

Midnight rolled by and by 2am you and Mikey were in the cozy room you’d be spending the next few days in. The dark expanse of forest looked beautiful in the night, you sat at the window watching the branches rustle and the warm mug of hot chocolate kept you from other thoughts. It seemed rather stupid to feel a level of nervousness at finally having a moment alone with Mikey and that accompanied by a room even more so. Your situation was tricky, given you had roommates and Mikey’s ever escalating super hero activities alongside his brothers. Creativity in spots was a speciality of his and on the rare occasions the Lair was untenanted for the night, well you could indulge more comfortably.

He had walked in after going to bother Raph, his own admission, and upon returning he closed the door and locked it. The click made you aware that there was really nothing or no one to interrupt for the time being. You opted for some idle chat to not feel so nervous. “Your eye’s looking better” You took a sip from your mug. Mikey ran a digit across the purple-ish bruise that was started to fade. “Oh, um yeah, gotta keep the baby blues safe ya know” He smiled as approached you. You smiled cupping his cheek and running your thumb below his bruise. “First thing I noticed” Your words held comfort.

“Noticed what?” Mikey was enamored with the physical affection, he hardly could get enough on a regular day. “Your eyes, they were just so blue” It was true no less, the memory of that night lived in Mikey’s head on loop. You hadn’t screamed, you hadn’t called him hurtful names. When he had saved you from a muggin you honest to god had just thanked him. The situation was bizarre no less and it was shocking to see your hero but you had sensed zero danger from his behalf.

From that moment on, being with Michelangelo was the safest you had ever felt. “Could’ve sworn it was the guns” He chuckled when you gripped his arm and squeezed. “That was second, can’t lie” The two of you remained there, comfortably close but a thin tension that throbbed. You turned to face him while still seated at the window. Your eyes mapped out every inch of him. The hand at his arm pressed at the middle of his plastron, Mikey swallowed. He hasn’t felt that hand touch him with so much intimacy in a while. “I missed you angel” He placed his hand a top yours. You bit your lip and looked up at him, your eyes spoke more than you could ever and Mikey knew the language by heart.

So he kissed you. He kissed you with a tenderness that reminded you of the first time the two of you had kissed. His lips had never felt better, the plump thickness to them enveloping yours so neatly you moaned. That seemed to hit him hard in the gut, the way his hands traveled to your waist and held you firmly. You stood up still mid kissing him and pushed the kiss into something more firm.

Foreheads pressed you felt his hands grip the hem of your sweater and lift. Those blue eyes drank in the sight of his most priced possessions. “Missed you so much” He was breathless as you unlooped the strings of his sweats. There was something about this particular area that always fascinated you, the change in skin and color, the path leading to an intimate area. You kissed his neck, fingers running across the slit that housed his member, the pressure strong and the sensitivity making his knees jelly. “Do you...?” Mikey couldn’t finish asking as you already nodded your consent.

You gripped his hand, half kicking off your pants when he didn’t move. “Mikey?” You looked at him, eyes so bright and wanting and he couldn’t help but greedily admire it. Admire you and want you so much. He pulled you back towards him and embraced you. The intimacy gutted you, the overwhelming need that accompanied Mikey to just hold you close and feel you. Your arms were around his neck instantly and the two of you stayed like that.

“You’ve shown me what love can feel like.” It was soft and mumbled against your shoulder. Your smile was kind even as you stood back and held his face in your hands. “And so have you” The honesty flowed freely and Mikey beamed. “C’mere girl, I’ve missed you like crazy” You allowed him to pick you up and toss you on the bed, the fit of giggles only egging him on.

While the privacy was here, it sure didn’t mean that the entire cabin wasn’t occupied and your closest neighbors were in fact Casey and April. A flush of embarrassment hit you but soon enough Mikey had made his decent to his second favorite possession of yours. The feel of that mouth finally at your core left you in a daze. Mikey’s ability when it came to eating you out was something you never thought could exist and with each swirl and flick of his tongue it was evident that keeping quiet would not be a possibility. Especially when he begged to hear you, spoken against your clit with the warmth of his breath so close. You tried to cover your mouth but the feel of one thick digit entering you was your undoing. You’re sure and Mikey’s sure that the neighbors defenatly heard that.

There was a pride in that deep inside of Mikey. The idea of claiming you and having others know. For now he paid no mind especially when he buried himself inside of you and moaned long and deep. This never stopped being incredible, it’s exactly why he was always mesmerized by seeing your joined bodies. The contrast of skin color, the thickness of his memeber stretching you and causing you to cry out. Mikey could’ve cum like that just watching. “You’re so beautiful babe” He groaned thrusting into you. “Missed the fuck out of this, out of you” He leaned forward, engulfing himself around you, mouth at your neck. “Baby I want you to cream yourself all over me” The lewd words never seized to embarrass you, half the time Mikey barely would utter a ‘damn’ but this was the effect you had on him.

The bed protested and the headboards thumping was indicative of the activities going on. The most you could do was avoid Casey and April’s gazes at breakfast tomorrow. Right now you were, for lack of a better term, getting dicked down by your boyfriend after a dry spell. “Fuck fuck, oh fuck!” You gripped Mikey’s sides before letting your hands run towards his rear. Being filled to the brim and having your boyfriend absolutely spill filth into your ear was exactly the things you needed. “Yeah come on, for me baby, gonna do it for me? Gimme a show” Mikey sucked a bruise onto your neck and his quickening pace had your hand scrambling for your clit. “Yesss fuck” Mikey watched, hips trying not to loose the rhythm he knew would send you off.

You came with a loud moan that had Mikey’s name wrapped around it. If everyone heard it was at the bottom list of your priorities. Riding this high was top on the list and feeling Mikey cum with a series of ‘fucks’ and your name was all you need to add to your high. You ran a soothing hand down his shell, feeling him shiver with the intensity of his release. Each kiss placed on his cheek a testament to your adoration. Mikey found your lips in the haze of it all, and lazily kissed you back.

[fixxofvixx]

Stay With Me - Demon Leo Au - Chapter 28

Good evening! I hope all of you are well and happy! I have a bit of an update for you! Lots of things in this chapter! Let me know what you think and enjoy!

😈😈😈😈😈😈😈

"Step aside, demon.  We will rid you of the witch that has threatened the forest and the village."

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

"The what?"  You tried to peek around Leo but he kept you firmly behind him.  You were only able to see through the space between his body and arm.  There were mostly men from the village but a few women had joined the group.

Leo snapped the arrow in half like in one hand it was a toothpick.  Black smoke swirled around him and his hair was wild.  He was livid.  You didn't need to see his face, you knew what it looked like.  The evidence was on the now frightened villagers.

"Who wants to explain why you are trying to kill my woman?"  His voice was full of quiet rage.  You knew he was trying to hold himself together so he wouldn't create a massacre.

"The woman you have sheltered has been making threats upon the village!"

"She has cursed our livestock and our crops have died out almost overnight! 

"She said the forest was next and she planned to burn it all!"

Several villagers spoke up at once.  They started murmuring amongst themselves until they were shushed by someone in the back.

"My good townspeople, allow me to explain to the demon."  Norman stepped through the crowd and Leo tensed.

"You have guts stepping foot into my forest."

"I don't b-believe you have a deed for this area of land." Norman stood with his arms at his sides and his hands were clenched into fists.   

"Do I need one?" 

"You--!  Nevermind, that is a matter for another day.  Yesterday morning, this little--!"

"Careful….you are in my domain."  Leo warned Norman and the man visually paled.

"This….girl...ahem...came into the village and threatened everyone in exchange for money!  When we refused, our crops began withering and the livestock began to get sick.  She said the forest was next and that she would burn everything to the ground!" Norman's face was beet red by the time he had finished explaining.

"I did no such thing!"  You yelled in frustration as you came from around Leo.  

"Are you calling me a liar, you witch?!"  Norman started to come forward but wisps of black smoke curled around his ankles, cementing him to the ground.  Norman's face was as good as a tomato when he turned to Leo.

"Why are you protecting the one you told us to kill?!"

"And when did I demand her death?"  Leo crossed his arms over his chest and let out a short laugh.  His patience was wearing thin.

"This morning!  You came into the village and offered a large sum to rid the forest of the witch!" 

"Would you like to try and take her away from me?  I feel the need to bloody something."  Leo's smoke turned thicker and you could see his claws extend.  

"I saw you this morning!  I know you were there!  Stand back, this witch needs to die!"

Norman pointed at you and raised his rifle to prepare to shoot.

Leo advanced on him quickly, placing one hand on the rifle and the other around Norman's neck.

"The only place I've been lately is to the Underworld.  Would you like to go there?  I'm sure my brother will welcome you with open arms."

As you were watching Leo with Norman, you failed to notice one of the other villagers sneaking up behind you at the same time.  You screamed as an arm wrapped around your neck from behind and their other hand raised a knife.  You grabbed the man's wrist to keep him from bringing the knife down into your chest.

Leo noticed and tossed Norman like a ragdoll into the unsuspecting crowd.  Then he turned and advanced on the man holding you.

"It would be wise for you to release her.  I hadn't planned on killing anyone today but I am awfully hungry and I've got plenty of time.  So unless you want to die a slow and painful death, I suggest you let her go.   NOW!"  Leo's shout caused the man to falter.  He released you as if you were burning hot.  

Unfortunately, as he released you, the knife he had been holding sliced against your neck leaving a thin line of blood seeping from the cut.  You covered it immediately and turned to the man.  He looked to be about the same age as you.  He kept looking at the knife and then at you.  His face paled and he began muttering softly "sorry" over and over again.

That's when you realized something was off. 

The man's face no longer held the rage it did before.  Looking over at the crowd, they also seemed to be frozen in fear.  They all had eyes on Leo, wondering what he would do.  They almost looked confused about the whole situation.  

Leo was at your side in an instant, covering your neck with his hand.  The cut healed quickly but you held his hand against you even after it was back to normal.

"I'll kill them all."

"Wait."

"They'll try again, Y/N."

"No, look at them.  They look so confused.  Almost like they don't know why they're here.  Do you think someone forced them?  Is it possible to take over someone's mind?"

"Does it matter?  They tried to kill you."  He looked over at the crowd and spoke in a louder tone. "They deserve death for trying to harm you."

The group was visibly frozen and you couldn't help but feel that killing them would solve nothing.

"I don't think they intended for things to happen this way."

"I don't feel like letting them live."  Leo looked over the crowd but you knew he wouldn't do anything if there was a possibility that they had been sent here unwillingly.

"Then go after the one who made them that way."

"I know who did it."  Leo walked a few steps towards the crowd and you tensed along with the villagers. "Go home and never step foot in my forest again."

Fearful mutterings of "yes", "how did we get here", and "I thought we were dead" filled the crowd as they quickly dispersed.  Norman was unconscious and had to be carried out by a few villagers.  The man who had held the knife to your throat walked by and apologized again before scurrying off.

Leo turned back to you but his face was cast in shadows.  You walked over to him and wrapped your arms around his waist.  

"Was it your mother?"

"Yes.  I'm sorry, my love."

"It's not your fault."  You looked up at him and smiled.  "Can she really impersonate people?"

"Only people she has touched before.  My five brothers and I all inherited different traits from our parents.  Four of us, Ravi, Hakyeon, Ken, and I received most of the same powers my father had.  Hongbin and Hyuk received more from my mother.  Impersonation, brainwashing, and even hallucinations are all included in their abilities."

You thought for a moment and then remembered your dream.

"Leo, do you think she can do the same thing with dreams?"

"Yes…..I know she can."

"Is that what you thought all along?"

"I suspected but was hoping she hadn't.  What happened in the village solidified my suspicions.  She's aiming to get rid of you but I'll be damned if I let her."  Leo leaned down to kiss you.  He pulled you closer and wrapped a hand around the back of your neck.

*Hang on tight.*

He was still kissing you when you heard his wings unfurl from his back.  Soon after, you were both in the air.  Leo's kiss swallowed the short scream that came from your lungs.  Your arms wrapped around his neck in a tight hold.  His arms went around your back and under your legs.  

You pulled away from his lips and took a deep breath.

"Where are we going?!  Why can't we teleport?"

"I want to take a look in the village and I can't hide us with a cloaking spell as quickly if we teleport in."

"Cloaking spell?  Oh! Like the one you used when I first met you?"

"Yes, that's the one.  I want to see for myself what my mother has done."  Leo' wings flew quickly and before you knew it, he was descending upon the highest point in the village.  Which happened to be the belfry of the church.  As soon as he landed, the familiar shimmer of the spell surrounded you both.  You smile as you thought about when you’d first met him.  You had never been anywhere near the church as you were alway working for your parents and unable to attend.  

"Are...you allowed to be near a church?"  You almost laughed when a thought crossed your mind of him dancing around because his feet were burning due to the sanctity of the church.

"I'm not evil, Y/N.  And I'm not the devil himself."  He smirked and folded his wings.  

"So...Ravi couldn't?"

"Ravi isn't the devil either.  We're all just demons."

"But, he rules the underworld."

"A job he rightfully applied for and received.  He wasn't born into it.  Of course, he's been the ruler down there for so long, most people don't even remember that."

“I can’t imagine Ravi applying for a job.”  You giggled and Leo sent you a playful glare.

"Come on, let's take a closer look."  Leo curled his arm around your waist and jumped down from the belfry.  You covered your mouth with your hands to keep you from screaming.  

Once you reached the ground, you turned to Leo and glared.  His only response was to lean forward and plant a short kiss on your lips.  You vowed to get revenge later.

"Just stay behind the shimmer."  You nodded at his instructions and grabbed his hand.  You both walked towards the town square, mud and stone crunching under your feet.  You tried to step quietly but there was no way to mask the sound.

"They won't be able to hear you or see you, remember?  Just walk and talk comfortably."

The closer you got to the town square the more you could hear the townspeople talking amongst each other.

“What are we going to do?  The crops were almost ready to harvest.”

“I was going to milk the cows this afternoon but it’s like their udders are all dried up.”

“Papa, why can’t we get the apples from the orchard?  Mama promised to make us an apple pie.”

Your heart broke for the people around you.  You turned to Leo and tugged on his arm.  He, too, had been looking around the people.

“Leo?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you able to do anything for them?”

“Well….I’m not sure.  I don’t really have any incentive now do I?”  He smiled at you but you knew what he was hinting at.  He was a powerful demon with a one-track mind.

“I'm sure we could find some kind of incentive for you….back home…..in a certain bedroom."  You blushed and smiled.

Leo pretended to contemplate the offer and then snapped his fingers.  He nodded and then grabbed your hand.

"Done."  

You felt a new type of giddiness knowing that Leo was willing to help the people in the village.  You were sure he would have done it regardless but he never missed a chance to flirt.  He was so unlike his parents and you were thankful for that.

You walked for a bit in the town to make sure there was no other damage.  The sign post in the town square somehow still had the wanted poster looking for the she-demon who sent her wolves after the hunters.  You almost laughed.

"I can't believe this is still here."

Leo read the notice and then chuckled.

"Hmm….we should be mindful in the forest, then.  That she-demon might pop out at any moment and attack."  Leo snapped his fingers and the poster was instantly in his hands.  "I'm going to keep this as a reminder to be careful."

You simply rolled your eyes at his antics.

"Papa! Papa!" A little girl came running into the square holding the biggest carrot you had ever seen.  She looked around and spotted the person she was looking for.  It was the man who had been so depressed earlier about his crops.

"Sweetheart," the man hurried the little girl who held up the carrot proudly, "where did you get that?"

"Everything is back, Papa!  All our crops got back!  I was running around the field and I seen this bit of orange in the ground and so I looked at it and it was a carrot!  I had to ask Mama to pull it out cause I wasn't big enough.  Mama said all the crops was big.  She says you should come home so she sent me."

The man stared in disbelief for a moment and then picked his little girl up and swung her around.  She squealed with excitement as her father ran down the street with her in his arms.

You turned to Leo almost in tears.  Even Leo was smiling at the little girl.  

You then heard the people around the square talking excitedly amongst themselves.

"What do you think happened?"

"Do you think our crops came back too?  I should check!"

"I wonder if it's just crops…..perhaps the livestock is okay now."

Suddenly, all the people who had been so dispirited quickly and hopefully ran out of the square.  Leo had to grab you quickly and teleport to the top of the church before you both got trampled.

You turned to Leo and placed a kiss on his cheek.  He turned his head and smiled.

"Happy?"

"Very much so.  Thank you, Leo."

"I should have known you'd help those humans."  You looked around Leo and saw a woman standing there.  She was elegantly tall.  Her long legs were surrounded by a nearly sheer shirt and only covered the important areas.  Beautiful long hair the color of the moon cascaded down her back.  Her arms were crossed over her more-than-adequate chest.  She looked at you and then focused on the feather you wore in your hair.  After she realized what it was, she leveled you with a glare that would have caused you to hide in a corner if Leo wasn't holding you.

"What are you doing here, Cresenda?  Shouldn't you be at home taking care of that child you keep trying to convince everyone is mine?"

[rosesgonerogue]

I didn’t so much fall in love - It kicked me in the face Chapter One

Everyone had thought that Marinette was crazy for choosing Gotham as the first city in America to accept a high-profile job, specifically a job that would require her in person. Despite all of the logical arguments against it, however, Marinette could feel it in her bones that this was where she was supposed to be. It felt like divine intervention beyond that of the usual kwami antics in her life. 

At that very moment, though, she had never wanted to curse the universe more. 

She tore through the unfamiliar streets, heart hammering in her chest. She wanted to shout his name, scream it from the rooftops, but she knew all too well justs how dangerous that would be. After all, she’d only just barely gotten away from the Scarecrow herself. 

“Tikki, where is he?” Marinette whispered, tears stinging her eyes. “I can’t lose him, I just…” 

“We will find him, Marinette,” she said, determined. “He can’t have gone far, and he knows how to keep himself safe. You’re still emotional from the fear toxin.” 

“But Gotham is so dangerous! I knew I should have left him home.” 

The kwami did her best to comfort the guardian, but she felt the same desperation growing with every minute.

“He wouldn’t have gone this far, Tikki, what if he-”

“Maman!” 

As she whipped around, Marinette’s frantic, fear-toxin addled mind locked onto two facts: her precious son was alive and well, and he was in the clutches of a costumed man.

She felt her heart rate spike, and everything she had learned and experienced as Ladybug boiled down to this one moment. In short, the man never stood a chance. 

“Ma’am, I-” 

As the stranger spoke, Marinette pivoted on her right heel, her left heel colliding with the man’s jaw with a sickening crunch. It was too fast for the average eye to see, and the man was felled in a moment, going down with a strangled grunt. 

Gathering Leo into her arms, she sprinted away, heartbeat still hammering in her chest. 

“Maman, he’s nice,” Leo said in French. “He helped me, we were looking for you. He’s a hero, like Ladybug.” 

“Marinette, you really need to go make sure he’s okay!” Tikki said, distressed. “If you explain about the fear toxin, I’m sure he’ll understand.” 

Finally her feet began to falter, the exercise further clearing the toxin from her mind. She squeezed Leo in her arms, horror mounting. “Oh no. I just roundhouse kicked one of Gotham’s vigilantes, didn’t I?” 

“I think so, Marinette.” 

It felt like a walk of shame, but when she made it back to the vigilante, he had at least propped himself  up against a nearby wall. He was groaning, clutching his jaw. 

“Excuse me, Monsieur?” she said hesitantly. “I, uh, I’m the one who ki- oh no, is your jaw dislocated? I am so sorry! I didn’t- I mean, I just, there was fear toxin from Scarecrow, and I’m not from Gotham, and I was so worried about my son, and… I’ll stop talking now. I’ve fixed dislocated jaws before. May I help you?”

The vigilante - through process of elimination, he must be Red Robin - stared up at her with wide eyes. He didn’t exactly say no, so Marinette kneeled down beside him. 

“The pain will get a lot better once I’m done,” she promised, discreetly harnessing the barest traces of magic to help this go smoothly. She’d done this for Chat Noir more than once, and as Guardian of the Miraculous, she had access to more than a little bit of healing magic. Red Robin looked more uneasy by the second, so Marinette just went for it. 

Sliding her fingers into the right position, she pushed down on his back teeth, simultaneously guiding his jaw back up into place, a burst of magic taking the brunt of the pain from him. 

Red Robin jerked backwards, working his jaw a few times. “Thank you?”

“I am so sorry!” Marinette repeated, standing and offering a hand to help up the vigilante. “There will still be a bruise for a few days. I promise I don’t make a habit of kicking vigilantes in the face.” 

He stood with her help, only looking a little dizzy. “Don’t worry about it, there were extenuating circumstances. If you don’t mind me asking, though, where are you from? If Gotham’s civilians were half as deadly as you are, our streets would be a lot safer.” 

“Paris, sir. My son Leo and I just arrived here tonight, actually. We were on our way to our hotel when we were caught up in one of Scarecrow’s attacks and I told him to run and hide. Does that mean you found him?” 

“Yes ma’am. You have a very well-behaved son,” he said, careful to keep his posture as harmless as possible. “And while you are obviously a capable defender, it would help me put my mind at ease if you let me walk you to where you’re staying.” 

She hoisted Leo up into her arms, the familiar weight soothing her. “Are you sure you want to? I very nearly broke your jaw five minutes ago.” 

“And you put everything back where it should be. Now where are you staying?

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

Tim couldn’t deny that he was intrigued by the woman in front of him. Not to mention she was attractive, but doubtlessly married. Anyone that wonderful in general had to be taken. 

What he fixated on, though, was her skill. Thinking her child was in danger would definitely be grounds for an adrenaline rush, but her movements were too controlled and practiced for it to be a fluke. Tim couldn’t have dodged her if he had tried. He didn’t think any of his brothers could have either, maybe not even Bruce. 

She was staying in a nicer hotel in Gotham, owned by Bruce, of course. When they arrived, Tim couldn’t stop himself from lingering in front of the hotel longer than strictly necessary, trying to do something, anything to understand the woman before him. He stayed in the shadows until they were out of sight, and even then he stayed a while yet, staring at where she had stood. 

The rest of his patrol was short, and he got back home about the same time as the others. When he slipped in, Jason was in the middle of telling Dick a story. 

“-and so I went in thinking it would be a normal hostage situation, but no. Right before I can get in, the door flies open and this girl runs out like a bat out of hell. She just vanishes into the night without a trace. I go in and the Riddler is already trussed up like a pig for the slaughter. I swear, I could marry that girl.” 

“Was she French?” Tim demanded, blatantly eavesdropping. 

Jason turned to meet his eyes, scrutinizing his brother. “And how would you know that, replacement?” 

“I ran into her after that. She has a kid, and I found him. She dislocated my jaw when she thought I was trying to take him.” 

Damian snorted. “Did she damage your delicate ego along with your delicate face?” 

“Isn’t it your bedtime?” Tim fired back. “After all, it is a school night and we know how much you need your beauty sleep.” 

“She really dislocated your jaw?” Dick asked, looking thoughtful. 

“With a roundhouse kick. She put it back into place too.” 

“Not just anyone can do that. Maybe we need to keep a closer eye on this girl.” 

“We can do some research tomorrow,” Bruce said, appearing out of thin air. “Go to sleep, all of you. Tomorrow we have the meeting with MDC and we need to make a good impression. Tim, that includes you. No more caffeine until you’ve had at least six hours of sleep.” 

Normally Tim would have chafed under Bruce’s orders - he was a grown man and CEO of Wayne Enterprises, after all. But for once he felt like he could actually sleep, without nightmares, even. 

He was meeting his favorite fashion designer tomorrow, after all. For some reason his thoughts were consumed by a certain French woman, however. Just before he drifted off to sleep, he idly wondered what color her eyes were.

A/N:  I'd never really experienced being baby-hungry before, and then quarantine happened and I wasn't able to see my nieces and nephews for over a month. During that time a good number of my friends announced that they were pregnant, and I miss being surrounded by children. This is super self-indulgent, so I don't really take criticism. If this isn't your cup of tea, move along. Also don't be surprised if you see more kid fics coming your way. I have had entirely too much time missing the children in my life, so I also have a Daminette thing partially written, and several other ideas screaming at me. If you want to be tagged, let me know! 

[tmnt-mags]

Michelangelo x Fem!Reader

Soulmates

Mikey has always been one of my favorites and I feel like he always gets the least amount of love from the fandom. The turtles and reader are 18+ cause that's what I do.

Warnings: brief mention of abuse.

Mikey had been in love with the idea of a soulmate since he could remember. A person made by the universe that will love you the best. For a turtle mutant that lived in the sewers it was the ultimate fantasy. However, Master Splinter had told them it was very unlikely that they would have any. They weren't human after all. Still Mikey held on to hope and dreamed for the day that he might meet his one and only. He was straight as far as he could tell so he went out of his way to watch any video he could find about ladies. He would be the perfect boyfriend. He learned about periods and makeup and watched hair tutorials. He even found a wig and after cleaning it up the best he could he would practice braiding on it. Mikey had also watched videos about the female body, more than just porn, he watched women talk about sex and listened as they complained about human dudes. He couldn't exactly practice, but he would try to prepare best as he could. He would make up for being a mutant by knowing more and being better than any human man.

He was doing a cool down after a pretty intense training session with Leo.

“You did good Mikey, but you can't celebrate after every hit. You lose concentration and will get hurt.” Leo said stretching off to the side.

“Yeah bro you got a pretty good hit on me at the end.” he opened his mouth to stretch his now sore jaw. “Hey leo we’ll be 20 soon right?

“Mikey not this again.” Leo stopped and walked over to his younger brother. “We’ve talked about this, there is almost no chance of any of us having a soulmate.”

“You don’t know that Leo. Donnie doesn’t even know! I don't wanna give up hope.” It was the same argument that they had been having for years and years. His brothers had all seemed to give up on the idea, but Mikey wouldn't.

Mikey counted down the days until their birthday. After meeting April they finally found out their real birthdays from her father's notes. They all hatched on the same day, but at different times. Donnie actually turned out to be the oldest than Raph, Leo, and finally Mikey. He had been hoping that he would turn out to be the oldest but it was meant to be he guessed.

Mikey shot up and looked down at his arm excitedly, but didn't see anything. He wasn't worried though, the day was still young! He grabbed a black sharpie and wrote a simple ‘Hi angel’ on his forearm. He checked it throughout the day but still nothing. His brothers didn't even bother writing anything.

Everyday he would write a message or draw a picture hoping that his soulmate would see it. After 2 months he started to get sad. His dad was the first to take notice, and suggested that Mikey meditate. After an hour with no luck in concentrating, Mikey was about to stop when Splinter sat across from him.

“My soulmate hasn't written me back.” He said, “Maybe you guys have been right all along.”

“I would not worry yet my son. It is possible that your soulmate is younger than you, should you have one.” Splinter reached over to pat Mikey’s knee, “I have always been hopeful that you boys would have one, but I do not want you to be disappointed.”

“Don’t worry about me pops! You know me nothing gets me down!” Mikey cheered and jumped up. He ran out of the dojo throwing a thank you over his shoulder.

Splinter did know his youngest. He was happy and enjoyed having fun, but he was also sensitive. He always had been, and out of all of his sons he worried the most about Mikey and what it would do to him if he didn't have a soulmate. He sighed and decided it would be best to meditate as well. It had always been very helpful to him.

But months passed and soon a year did too and he never heard from his soulmate. Some days it was harder to write his morning message, but he still tried. He didn't want his soulmate to wake up on her 20th birthday with no message. As far as he knew his brothers never even tried to write theirs. Mikey knew they were just afraid of the possibility that they really didn't have one. He was too. He really wanted a soulmate.

It had been a busy 2 weeks. They met a girl, who also happened to be the first human they met, they totally kicked Foot Clan ass, uncovered a super villain plot and saved the city. They truly were heroes now and that was really fucking cool. They had made a new friend in a woman named April. She was pretty and nice and didn't seem to mind the fact that they were giant turtles, after the initial shock of course. He didn't even realize he hadn't written anything on his arm during all of this. He sat in bed and stared down at himself. He didn't write anything for 2 weeks and nothing had changed.There was a painful uncomfortable feeling in his chest as he looked at his arm trying to manifest words there somehow. Nothing had changed. The world didn't end because he didn't write anything. He sighed and laid down; he looked over at the black marker he kept by his bed. He started to reach out for it but instead rolled over and tried to go to sleep.

It had been 3 months now since he had written something on his arm. He tried not to think about it, sometimes he felt a tickle there but whenever he checked there was nothing. His mind was just playing with him. The brothers were on patrol tonight and Mikey was trying not to get distracted but it was one of those days he couldn't help but think about his soulmate. Leo and Raph had already got on to him about it tonight. He realized he should have tried harder when his jump to the next roof fell short and he went crashing down to the fire escape below.

“Mikey!” His brother yelled and came rushing down to see if he was alright.

“Im good dudes,” he grunted and he started to get up. “That hurt though.”

“Are you okay?” The boys jumped and turned and sitting on the steps a couple feet from them was a girl. “Ummmm, hi.”

“Hey” was all the boys could say. She nodded and looked at them, and there were a couple of moments where they all just stared at each other.

“So, i'm gonna take a wild guess here and say this isn't normal for New York?” she said and then pursed her lips.

“No it's not.” Raph grunted at her.

“Did you think that it was?” Donnie questioned. She shrugged at them.

“I'm not from here and it seems like wild things always happen in New York.” The girl defended. Mikey stared at her. She was pretty and was wearing shorts and a large t-shirt that was covered in dried paint. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she had bangs that covered her forehead. She was holding a cup in both hands and looking at them. She didn't seem frightened at all.

“Should I be freaking out?” the pretty girl asked.

“No! You don't need to be afraid of us.” Mikey suddenly forgot about any pain or soreness from his fall and stood up the rest of the way and moved in front of his brothers. “I’m Michelangelo, but everyone calls me Mikey.”

“I heard your name.” She giggled at him but then looked him in the eyes. “You are okay right? That seemed like quite the fall.” the turtle smiled widely and did a spin in the tight space.

“Right as rain baby.”

“Oh so you suddenly don't hurt?” Leo said, crossing his arms.

“The voice of an angel healed me I guess.” Mikey said and gave the girl a wink who raised an eyebrow at him.

“Sure it did, lover boy.” Raph said and then smacked the back of Mikey's head who yelped out.

“Not cool bro.” he groaned. “Whats your name angelcakes?” the girl let out a gasp.

“How did you know my name?” she said with surprise. The boys blinked at her dumbly.

“Seriously?” Donnie asked.

“No, my name is (y/n).” She laughed. “What are your names?”

“Oh these are my brothers Donnie, Leo, and Raph!” He motioned at each one and she gave a small wave as he did.

“You’re really not scared?” Donnie asked her quietly.

“A little shocked but not scared.” (Y/n) said happily.

The boys sat and talked to her for a little bit but Leo reminded them that they had a job to do. So with an invitation for them to come back and hang out again they boys parted with their newest friend to continue patrol. When they got back to the lair Mikey felt like he was on cloud nine. She was pretty, nice, and had a great smile. Mikey sat and smiled thinking about (y/n) when his eyes caught sight of a little black marker. He frowned. He wanted to find his soulmate, he really did, but now he didn't want to write anything cause what if it wasn't her. He really wanted it to be her.

“I think I’m in love~” he sighed.

“Sure you are Mike.” Leo grunted. “Go to sleep, it was a long night.”

Mikey sighed and rolled onto his side. He looked at the marker and felt guilty for some reason. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Life was good the boys went over to (y/n)’s apartment about once a week and April would come down to the lair to visit them about the same amount. A couple of months after they met they introduced the girls and they got along really well. Mikey sat April down and told her that he was sorry but his heart now belonged to (y/n). She smiled at him and patted his shoulder and told him that she forgave him and even though it would be hard she would heal. His brothers laughed but he ignored it.

April was working and the boys were at (y/n)’s place. They had eaten pizza and were talking about whatever came to mind.

“Do you guys have soulmates?” (Y/n) asked rather suddenly.

“Well we actually don't know, but we think it's very unlikely that we will.” Donnie replied.

“Oh. I hope you do.” she said. Mikey felt nervous as he asked his question.

“Do you have one?” she looked over at him.

“Not yet, but I hope I do. I’ve written on my arm every day since I turned 20 6 months ago.” she said, pulling her legs up to sit criss cross on the couch.

“We missed your birthday?” Leo asked.

“It was like a month before we met.” she shrugged.

“I can't believe I missed my true-love's birthday!” Mikey exclaimed and threw his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into him.

“You're squishing me!” She pushed away from the orange clad turtle laughing. “Do you guys want soulmates?” the boys quieted, and fidgeted awkwardly.

“I mean yeah but what's the point? Looks at us! We’re freaks.” Raph called out before crossing his arms.

“But soulmates are made for you! The universe wouldn't have given us someone who is scared of us!” Mikey defended. It was a conversation that had been had many times.

“Actually I'm not sure about that.” (y/n) said. Four pairs of eyes turned towards her.

“What do you mean?” Donnie asked.

“Well my parents were soulmates and my dad used to beat my mom senseless until he was arrested and they divorced when I was 8. They were soulmates but he used to hurt her so much.” (y/n) looked down at her hands. “It took her awhile to realize that just because the universe made you soulmates didn’t mean you were meant to be.”

“What happened after that?” Leo almost whispered the question.

“Well she met my step dad who is a great guy. His soulmate isnt the romantic type so they just ended up being close friends, and then he met my mom. They fell in love and he became my step-dad. You don't need to be soulmates to love each other, sometimes soulmates are just platonic, and sometimes soulmates aren’t good for eachother.”

“I’m sorry.” Mikey said softly.

“Don't be! Everyone is happy now. I mean, I don't know about my dad. He's never tried to reach back out. I kinda don't want him to anway.” (y/n) looked back up at the turtles.

“So you must hate the idea of soulmates.” Raph suggested.

“When did I say that? I want a soulmate, I really do. I want that fairy tale happily ever after people always talk about.” She sighed and smiled. “That's why I write my soulmate everyday. I had wished that they would be older than me but I guess they are a bit younger. I just hope that when I'm 42 I don't suddenly get writing from my soulmate who just turned 20.” She laughed.

“That can happen?” she looked over at Donnie and nodded.

“You guys don't know that?” the boys, except for Mikey, nodded.

“We never thought we would have them, so beyond movies I don't think any of us really looked. Didn’t want false hope.” Leo looked at her.

“Well I did cause I’ve always wanted a soulmate!” Mikey interjected.

“Mikey used to write on his arm every single day but hasn't in months.” Raph told her.

“Hey how do you know that?” Mikey looked at him.

“You think we didn't notice? We just never brought it up cause we know how you are.” Leo mumbled. The youngest turtle pouted at this.

“Why did you stop?” (y/n) asked. Mikey sighed and leaned his head back.

“It just kinda felt pointless. I would write something every day and nothing ever happened and then I realized one day that I hadn’t written anything for 2 weeks and still nothing changed. It just kinda felt pointless lately.” Mikey told everyone. There were flashes of sadness or pity from his brothers. They always knew the day would come when Mikey realized that none of them had soulmates. They knew it would come, but they didn't want it too.

“Well thats dumb.” (y/n) said rather bluntly. “What if today is her birthday and she's waiting to see if her soulmate will write anything. There were girls in my highschool that swore that they wouldn't write first and that their soulmate had to be the one to write first.” She said, leaning into Mikey.

“Well I think thats kinda dumb.” Mikey pouted at her. She rolled her eyes and leaned forward grabbing a cup of markers.

“Here write something!” she said, giving him the cup. He grabbed a black marker and opened it.

“Fine. Anything for you angelcakes.” he blew a kiss at her and looked at his arm. He felt a weird tightness when he brought the marker to his skin. He decided to write a simple ‘Hi I’m Mikey. What's your name.’

(Y/n) shivered as he started to write and felt a tickle on her arm. She gasped and pulled up her sleeve. The brothers' eyes widened as they watched Mikey’s hand writing appear on her arm next to the old writing that she had done. Mikey did not notice.

“Mikey! Look!” The oldest turtle said pointing at (y/n). Mikey looked up at Donnie and then at (y/n)’s arm.

“Oh haha very funny. That's not really nice.” He rolled his eyes.

“What Mikey? It's not a joke!” She put her arm right next to his and told him to keep writing. He drew a squiggle and watched as it seemed to magically appear on his friend's arm.

“What? Dude! Thats awesome!” Mikey cried out. This was the best thing in the world! His angelcakes was his soulmate!

“Why haven't you written me back?” She asked slightly outraged. Mikey stopped and stared at her.

“Cause I haven’t gotten any writing.” Mikey said, remembering how she said she wrote to her soulmate everyday. The room fell quiet and Mikey felt the beginnings of a horrible pain in his heart.

“So I’m yours, but you're not…” She trailed off feeling a sudden wave of emotion and felt tears in her eyes.

“Um sorry to interrupt, but I don't think there's any reason to get upset.” Donnie started. He grabbed the marker that matched the writing she already had on her arm. “Try writing something (y/n).” She nodded quietly as a few tears fell. She opened the cap and wrote hello. Mikey felt a tickle and shivered at the phantom writing on his arm, but he looked down and there was nothing there.

“Nothing” Mikey whispered. He felt like the world was crashing down. A moment so happy followed by something so heartbreaking. Raph and Leo looked down and away. Their faces filled with sorrow for their brother, and for the hope they had just felt for themselves.

“Now hold on just a moment.” Donnie rolled his eyes. “(Y/n) why do you write in that color?”

“It's my favorite.” she sniffled.

“Do you always write in green?” He pressed.

“Yeah, like I said it's my favorite and I want my soulmate to know that. I feel like it makes it a little more personal.” (y/n) continued. Donnie leaned forward and grabbed her marker. Everyone watched as he took the marker and held it up to mikey.

“Everyone look.” They all looked and Mikey’s eyes widened.

“It's the same color as me.” he mumbled.

“(Y/n) please try again with black.” She quickly snatched up the black marker and wrote ‘I hope this is Mikey.’

“Donnie you're a genius!” Mikey tackled his brother and then quickly went back to the couch thrusting his arm at (y/n). “Do it again!”

She quickly drew a heart while staring at his arm and watched as the black lines began to appear on Mikey as she drew them. She practically threw herself at mikey wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his face.

“Woah. I think that we should probably leave.” Leo suggested as his two other brothers got up and followed him to the window.

“Thank you Donnie!” (y/n) shouted out. Donnie gave a thumbs up and went out the window and closed it behind him.

“I can’t believe we’ve known each other for 5 months without finding out!” Mikey said nuzzling her face and wiping whatever tears were still there.

“I can't believe I never thought to write in black!” She laughed and kissed his cheek.

“Wait!” He leaned back. “The turtle thing doesn't bother you? Really? Truly?”

“Of course not! I’ve had a big crush on you for like 2 months now! This is the best news ever!” his soulmate cheered. “Also I just kissed you like 10 times.”

Mikey laughed and held her close, kissing her cheek. He had a soulmate! His soulmate was a beautiful, funny, nice girl who liked him!

“I knew there was a reason I’ve always loved green.” She said with a smile and leaned in to kiss mikey’s lips. It was a nice sweet kiss and just what he always thought a first kiss should be, yet so much better. He sighed and relaxed against the couch with (y/n) in his arms.

He had a soulmate and things couldn't be better.

[pilyarquitect]

3 “What happened to your hand(s)?”

I've a few more requests wrote that will soon be updated, but unfortunately after publishing them all, I'll close requests for a while. Sorry, life is taking me a lot.

As the last time, since the person who requested those one-shots said he didn't care if they were in English or Spanish, I decided to do half and half, and this one is in English.

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

Leo woke up at dawn. He could feel his heavy eyes, trying to close themselves against his will. But Leo forced himself to keep awake. He had this feeling, a feeling Mikey named bro-needs-superdetector…

Honestly, Mikey needed to work more in the name, since Leo wouldn’t admit loudly, but Mikey’s ability to name all the creatures they found during all the time since they went to the surface for the first time, was admirable. And actually, all the names were quite accurate.

But returning to what woke Leo up, it was true every time one of his brothers needed help, Leo had this feeling. So, after tying his mask, he left his bed and his room, the older brother headed first to his youngest brother’s room. He put his ear on the door and listened carefully. He could hear his little brother inside, snoring peacefully and muttering “pizza”, “pepperoni”, “candies” and similar words. So Mikey wasn’t the one who needed help, he was dreaming with pizza, nothing strange in that.

Next door was Raph’s. Leo knew he had to be careful. Raph wasn’t as easy as him to wake up, but if he made the mistake of wake up Raph, Leo was sure he could end up with one of his wrathful brother’s sai nailed somewhere in his body, totally accidental, of course, Raph would never do it on purpose – at least Leo hoped he wouldn’t – but the second older brother had a very bad awakening, and if he wasn’t careful, he would surely pay the consequences of it.

The blue-clad turtle repeated the action he did with Mikey’s room, and fortunately, he heard hard snoring coming from the inside of the muscular turtle. Raph was alright too. That left only one option, Donnie was the one who needed help.

Using his ninja training, Leo went as silent as possible – to not wake up Raph – from the red-clad turtle’s room to his genius room. And once in front of the door, for the thirst time that night, Leo repeated the operation of listening inside. But unlike the other two times, Leo could hear nothing coming from Donnie’s room. It seemed as if it was empty. Leo frowned. He saw the tallest turtle walk to his room. Why was it so quiet now? Carefully, the older brother opened a little bit the door’s room.

“Donnie?” he whispered “Donnie, are you there?”

Silence.

The oldest brother opened the door a little more and looked inside. To be honest, he wasn’t surprised upon seeing his genius brother’s room empty. It wasn’t the first time Donnie sneaked out of his room in the middle of the night, and Leo knew perfectly well where did the genius turtle went every time he did this.

Leo immediately headed to the lab. He was convinced Donnie would be there. The big doors were opened and the light was opened, making Leo be sure his hypothesis was right. Leo was glad that his brother didn’t close the door. This made his job easier. Carefully and silent, the older brother walked to the lab. As he got close, he could hear his genius brother muttering to himself as he seemed to be looking for something.

Leo looked inside and saw his brother next to the first aid supply cabinet. Seeing him there made Leo fear his brother was injured, so before he could stop himself, he was entering to the lab.

“Donnie? Are you okay?”

The oldest brother heard an instant scream for his obvious surprised brother, and what he had at his hands fall to the ground. Fortunately, what fall down was a pack of gauze. Leo moved his eyes from his brother to the table and immediately noticed the broken glass on it. Alarms raised on Leo’s mind, and he took a better look on Donnie and soon realized.

“What happened to your hands?”

Donnie’s eyes widened, but soon he tried to cover the fact he had been caught by making it seem something not worthy to worry about.

“Oh well, that’s… not as bad as it seems.”

“Donnie, this isn’t what I asked!” Leo replied with a hard expression.

The oldest brother’s look along with his tone weren’t enough to make Donnie stop pretending.

“Well, you’ll see…”

Leo knew his brother was trying to avoid the fact he would have to explain what was he doing, but on the other side, Leo noticed his brother knew with a little bit more of pressure there wouldn’t be any possible scape way, so Leo made sure to give the genius turtle the pressure he needed.

“Donnie.”

The purple clad turtle sighed. He was defeated and he had no other choice than explain everything to Leo.

“I was trying to find a retro-mutagen, but while mixing different chemicals, suddenly it produced an exothermically reaction and before I could even realize, it exploded.” Donnie giggled. “Fortunately, by instinct I protected my face, although, since I was wearing my lab glasses my eyes wouldn’t get damaged, but I couldn’t tell the same for the rest of my face.”

Leo nodded in understanding.

“So, you got hurt on your hands instead of your face.”

“Exactly.” Said Donnie nodding too.

Leo sighed. He expected something like this actually. He looked at his brother, especially his hands. They seemed to hurt. Leo sighed again. He knew what to do.

“Come on, let me help you.”

He made his brother accompany him and started to heal his hands. While working, an awkward silence set up on them. Leo looked discretely at Donnie’s face, but the genius turtle avoided to look at him or his hands, he was looking to an unspecific zone of the ground. There was something bothering Donnie, Leo was sure of that, and it was his job as older brother to find it out and help him in the best way possible. For that reason, Leo cleared his throat.

“So, what were you doing here so late?” he asked in the most casual way possible.

Donnie stared at him adopting a surprised look. He was looking at him as if Leo had two heads.

“I’ve already told you, trying to find a retro-mutagen.” The purple-clad turtle answered sounding a little annoyed.

“That’s not what I mean, and you know that.” Leo took a deep breath. “What were you doing here when you were supposed to be sleeping?”

“Oh that… well, it’s true Sensei told me to go to sleep, and I really tried to, but I just couldn’t.” Donnie admitted. He closed his eyes and shame was perfectly reflected in his attitude. “Because of our negligence, there are a lot of mutants out here, and to help them all – April’s dad included – to recover their normal lives, I’ve to find a retro-mutagen.”

Leo looked at his brother with a sad expression. He knew perfectly well that, from them all, Donnie was the one who blamed himself the most for what happened. Specially since April decided not to talk to them anymore after finding out they were responsible of his dad’s mutation.

Leo feared Donnie’s inner self-blame could end up destroying him, and he wasn’t going to allow this happen. Not in his watch.

“Donnie, do you feel guilty that all the mutagen fallen from that Kraang ship?” he asked directly while looking his brother reaction.

Donnie immediately looked at him with a surprised expression.

“What? No, well, maybe yes…” he admitted “I could have done something to prevent all those cans to fall, but I failed, and innocent people is paying for it.”

Leo sighed. His assumption was right, but he had to stop it before it went to far.

“Donnie, it wasn’t just you,” Leo put a hand on Donnie’s shoulder “it was our fault, the four of us. You cannot bear the sole blame for what happened.”

Donnie looked away, unable to keep eye contact with his oldest brother.

“You may be right Leo, but we both know I’m the only one capable to find a retro-mutagen, and if I don’t find it, we won’t be able to do anything else.”

Leo lowered his head, what Donnie said was true, but Leo didn’t want all this pressure on his brother, he didn’t want him to believe he was carrying all the weight of the world to a point where he’d start forgetting his own health in order to save everyone.

“I know Donnie, but I also know you’ll find a way to cure all those mutants, I trust you. But right now, to be more productive, you need to let your brain rest.”

Donnie giggled and looked at his brother with a tinny smile in his face.

“Where did you get that from?”

Leo adopted a thoughtful expression, and pretended to think for a while about it.

“Honestly, I don’t know, but I think it’s a good thing to say.”

Donnie shrugged.

“Maybe.”

“Just maybe?” asked Leo crossing his arms over his chest.

“Fine, it is, I’ll may take your advice and ‘let my brain rest’.”

“That would be good.”

The two of the laughed at this until they remembered everyone else was sleeping.