#donnie's gone to mikey and raph too but leo's the one he usually goes to

[dreamweave01]

@cupkatwarrior9

". . .We're both gonna be just fine. . ."

(Decided to combine these two questions cuz I had this little oneshot idea)

Nightmares are almost a constant occurrence in their household. They've all comforted one another at some point.

Donnie's most prominent ones like to put Mikey in the spotlight for sure, and despite his best attempts to stay nonchalant, it hits him like a wrecking ball.

Out of all his brothers, Donatello tends to go to Leo the most when he has these nightmares. Maybe it's a twin thing, maybe it's just something about Leo, but as I've said before, Dee for some reason just feels like he can be his most vulnerable self around Nardo.

As for Leo, it's not really focused on any singular person, (though Raph's "Kraang bits" have left Leo subconsciously on edge, as much as he wishes it didn't.)

Leonardo's pretty good at being aware of his surroundings, but nobody's perfect, and there've been times when people (accidentally) sneak up on him, especially when he's tired or deeply focused on something else.

Living for decades in a world where everything is constantly trying to kill you 24/7 was a hard experience, and he's learned the hard way what happens when you let your guard down.

You could call it an extreme paranoia of sorts, and Leo's worst fear is that he jumps the gun and ends up unintentionally hurting someone he cares about.

They all need therapy for real XD

[httpvomitello]

Hi! Can we get the Rise Boys being flustered

Over their s/o?

Hello, hello! Hope you like it ~ ♡♡♡♡

Cute Shyness *⁠.⁠✧

Leo is usually so smooth, but when you catch him off guard—whether it’s by looking particularly stunning or saying something sweet—he short-circuits

You could just be casually laughing at one of his jokes, and suddenly, he’s blushing like crazy

He’ll try to play it cool, but he’s stumbling over his words

“Y-Yeah, that’s what I thought! I’m hilarious, right? I mean, uh—thanks!”

The others are quick to notice his flustered state, and Donnie never misses an opportunity to tease him

Leo gets even more flustered if you tease him back

A little smirk from you, and he’s done for

“You’re really easy to fluster, you know that?”

Cue Leo hiding his face in his hands

Despite his embarrassment, he secretly loves how easily you make him lose his cool.

Raph is not used to feeling flustered, so when you manage to make him blush, it’s like watching a giant teddy bear malfunction

You could compliment him on his strength, or tell him he looks good, and suddenly he’s avoiding eye contact and scratching the back of his neck

“Aw, c’mon, don’t say stuff like that. You’re gonna make me all... Shy.”

He tries to cover it up by changing the subject or grumbling, but you can see the red spreading across his face

If you get playful and call him out on it—“Raph, are you blushing?”

He’ll deny it to the end

“No! It’s just, uh... hot in here!”

Deep down, he loves that you can make him feel like this, even if he pretends that it doesn't affect him.

Donnie is not good at hiding it when he’s flustered

You’ll compliment his inventions or sit too close while he’s working, and suddenly he’s fumbling with his tools

“Oh, uh, yeah, that’s... Thanks! I mean, it’s not a big deal, really. Totally basic science, haha!”

His brain goes into overdrive trying to figure out how to act normal, which makes him even more awkward

If you gently tease him—“You’re so cute when you get all flustered, Donnie”

He’ll turn bright purple 🐢

He might try to distract himself by explaining something science-y, but his words start tumbling over each other, and he’s left looking at you like, Help, I’m malfunctioning

Later, he’ll try to analyze why you affect him so much, but really, he just loves you, and it shows.

Mikey is a ball of confidence—until you catch him off guard with an unexpected compliment or some affectionate teasing

“Mikey, you’re so talented. I love how creative you are,” you say, and his brain just stops

“Oh, uh, you think so? I mean, yeah! Of course, you do! Haha... heh...”

He’ll get all giggly and fidgety, trying to play it off, but his flushed cheeks give him away

If you lean in and boop his nose or give him a quick kiss, he’s gone

He’ll just sit there, blinking and trying to process what just happened

“You’re tryin’ to kill me, babe, I swear,” he jokes, hiding his face in his hands

He’s quick to recover, though, and will try to one-up you with his own affection

But let’s be real, you’ve already won.

[indieyuugure]

The 2012 Hamato Clan in their 20s

I got this idea from someone on discord. I thought it was so cool I had to give it a try!

Now that his brothers are less likely to accidentally kill themselves and Earth is at peace, Leo’s enjoying not being the parent for once, though he often still slips into his role as head of the family and mediator of chaos. He’s kinda given up on love and as accepted is role as “Cool, but also very dorky uncle.” I imagine he’s a lot like Iroh.

Raph has gone full Dad. Mona help’s him raise Chompy and I’d imagine that they adopted more weird alien/mutant kids as time goes on. Him and Leo still spar all the time to stay fit and go on crime busting adventures together with Casey. Raph travels back and forth between Earth and Salamandria every year so Mona can visit her family, and so Mona can show him her home.

Donnie has leaned into his “mad scientist” persona and has used the internet to release he’s discoveries about mutagen, the Kraang, the Triceratons, and everything else. He teaches science online for extra cash and builds his wildest dreams into existence. He too has kind of given up on love, being burned out by his self inflicted drama with April. Though little does he know one of his female students has a crush on him (even though she’s never seen his face) and is attempting to track him down.

Mikey hasn’t grown up, and never will. He still skateboards in the lair, and plays Mazes and Mutants with Ice Cream Kitty. Donnie introduced him to online gaming and he loves it. He’s got a team of other gamer friends (including Mondo Gecko) who he talks/plays with almost every night. He’s still to this day trying to convince everyone that Pizza Milkshake isn’t that bad even though Murakami-San told him that “some things are just not meant to be.”

April has gone to college to be a bioengineer as a pursuit of her passions in science. Casey plays for the professional hockey team that plays at April’s college. He was offered more money on a different team, but he would’ve had to move out of New York, so he stayed and after a few months, proposed to April. She said yes.

Karai is still the leader of the Foot Clan alongside her best friend Shinnigami. She hangs out with the Hamato clan all the time, usually coming over for dinner. Every six months, however she has to go back to Tokyo to manage the Foot Clan in Japan. Everyone is always happy when she finally comes back and they throw a party.

Splinter is smiling upon them.

[mrabubu]

How do you think the turtles from ROTMNT would deal with their feelings if they were in love with someone (be it human, mutant, Yokai, etc.)?

Oh man... Hmmm...

I really hope that wouldn't be a problem if I mostly ramble about Leo (I'M SORRY GUYS THE BLUE TURTLE LIVES IN MY MIND RENT FREE), and maybe a couple of words about the rest. I'll also be talking about both young and adult Leos, so, here we go.

I'll give short opinions on other turtles before Leo:

Donnie: Would be neglecting his feelings and emotions at first. Even though, in my opinion, he was established as the one prone to romance, I think when he'd actually feel anything towards anyone, he'd be really conflicted, because it's one thing to see this stuff on the TV and all, and another when it's in real life. But once he'll deal with all this mess in his head, he's a real gentleman.

With Raph and Mikey I'm going to refer to @souperwrites words, I hope they don't mind xd

"Mikey is confident and lovey dovey." And I totally agree with it. I feel like he would be the one who'd have the least problems with his feelings.

"Raph is shy but very genuine in his affection but also super nervous because of his size and the potential harm he could cause without meaning to." But honestly, I think my friend @daysofmoron could also give their opinion, since they love the red turtle. xd OKAY, NOW MY BOY LEO.

If start with young Leo, in the show he was always all "EWW!" whenever any sign of romantic love is shown, be it Big Mama and Splinter or Warren and Hypno (at least I remember them being all cuddly, and Leo's was just barfing at them on the background), but I imagine once his own heart goes "doki-doki" for Y/N (let it be Y/N or "you" for now), he's a total mess at first. Remember that episode when they met Jupiter Jim actor, and Leo couldn't even put the syllables together? Yeah, that's him at the start, especially if Y/N doesn't know about his feelings towards them. He'll be trying to impress Y/N but since his emotions are all over the place, he messes up more than usual, maybe even ending up hurting himself (like, he'd try to impress you with his skateboarding skills, but ends up eating concrete because he's too distracted).

And here I'm going to add a bit of my own ideas, because I've been thinking of some scenarios, like, if taking that previous idea with skateboarding, or, more easily, let's take the episode "The Longest Fight" when he fell, I imagine if on the contrary from others you'd actually show any genuine concern about if he's hurt, he'd be like "Oh..." and blushing, because usually his brothers would make fun if him, and here comes in you who doesn't laugh at his failure and worries if he needs help. I think after a moment like this he could begin to feel something.

And with Future Leo HO OHO I have an entire game reference on how I imagine him handling a romance.

First of all, I think as an adult he would be more confident with his feelings if he ever feels anything towards anyone, because, well, he's an adult now, and because when you at war you kinda already went through a lot to be all this blushing mess over feeling butterflies in your stomach.

So, as a reference, whenever I thought of him in a relationship, I though of a romance with Garrus from Mass Effect. I imagine Leo being kinda awkward, trying to make jokes at first that are much more sloppy than usual. Especially if talking about Garrus, I always think of that scene from Mass Effect 2, when he comes into Shepard's room before the final mission, trying to lighten up the mood, flirt and all, but ends up just being an awkward (but adorable) mess, and saying: "I've seen so many things have gone wrong... I want something to go right. Just once. Just..."

And it's just really easy for me to imagine Leo say that. And instead of touching scars you touch his prosthetic.

And also that dialogue with Liara after "The Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC, when she asks if you fight for giving Garrus some peace, and you say that he's been hurt and deserves something better.

But once Leo's over all the awkwardness and let himself relax, he's just enjoying this new experience with you, having fun.

This scene with Garrus and Shepard trying the "first date" thing which ends up them dancing tango together. With all the teasing and all, I can easily imagine Leo would do something like that.

Honestly, I think that's it? There are more scenes in Mass Effect with Garrus and Shepard where I could easily imagine Leo would do something like that, but it's a lot. If you know, you know, If don't, well, I hope I was able to gave you an idea.

[dandylovesturtles]

I should be asleep lol

Immediately post-S2

———

Donnie grew up in the sewers, so maybe he has no room to judge, but Draxum’s apartment is pretty terrible.

The first night - after they defeated Shredder, with their home so destroyed they couldn’t return, Draxum had (only a little begrudgingly) offered them a place to stay - Donnie had been so tired he hadn’t given it a second thought. He’d collapsed in the nest of blankets and sleeping bags they’d made and slept blissfully through the night. He learned the next morning that Raph had not gotten much sleep at all, too keyed up and full of adrenaline, but the rest of them had conked out immediately.

The second night, Raph had joined them in sawing logs. And they’d all slept soundly through the third night, too. But now it’s night four, and Donnie’s finally well-rested enough to realize that everything is very wrong.

The sheets are a different texture. The thermostat is set too low. The ambient sounds of the apartment building are not the ambient sounds of the sewer.

His dad’s snores from the couch and Raph’s deep rumble are familiar, at least. Both of them are out, Splinter the first to fall asleep that evening in front of Draxum’s crummy TV. Even Leo is asleep again, his insomnia yet to rear its ugly head, and Donnie can’t help but be a little jealous.

And of course, Mikey can sleep anywhere and anytime, so Donnie knows without even looking that he’s asleep. It’s just Donnie awake, then, staring at the ceiling and trying to will away the persistent itch of incorrectness.

At least, that’s what Donnie was thinking, until he hears a distinct sniffling noise from the pile of sheets that is his little brother.

Donnie goes as still and quiet as he can, listening closely. Maybe he just misheard? No, but that was definitely another sniffle… and the mound of sheets is quivering, now.

Mikey is crying. Donnie’s little brother is crying, and he may not be the one who usually handles these things, but Donnie is still a big brother, and more importantly he is the big brother who is awake.

He sits up, blanket draped around his shoulders, and carefully scoots himself around Leo’s tangle of limbs. Then he flops down next to Mikey’s mound, reaching out to lay a hand on top.

“Mikey?” he whispers.

There’s some shuffling, and then Mikey’s face peeks out from under his sheets. His eyes are wet, visible even in the dim light of the room, and he keeps snorting. Donnie makes a gallant effort not to flinch at the sound.

“Dee?” Another sniffle. “Did I wake you up?”

“No, I was already awake.” He rubs at the mound, for all the good it will do. “Are you okay?”

Mikey snorts hard, then blinks furiously to banish his tears. It doesn’t work. “I’m fine,” he insists, but it comes out hoarse and stuffy.

Donnie holds up a finger, then pushes himself to his feet. He pads across the apartment to the coffee table they’d shoved aside to make room and retrieves a box of tissues that he brings back, setting it pointedly in front of Mikey.

Finally, Mikey sits up, letting the sheets pool around him. He pulls out two tissues and blows his nose as quietly as he can - it’s still pretty loud, but Splinter’s snoring covers it up.

“Thanks,” he whispers once he’s done, tossing the balled up tissues to the side. Donnie pointedly ignores them (no matter how gross) and focuses on the matter at hand.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, not giving Mikey an out this time.

Mikey chews his lip. “It’s just… hitting me finally, I guess.”

Donnie tilts his head. “What is?”

“That… that the lair’s really gone. That we’re not going back.” New tears spring to his eyes, and Mikey grabs another tissue. “It’s just… I mean, we saw it yesterday, but… I don’t know. It’s l-like I didn’t really g-get it until right now.”

His voice is wobbling hard by the end. He chokes off a sob, rubbing his nose furiously with the tissue. Donnie knows that there’s definitely snot on Mikey’s fingers and probably his arms, too, but he can’t watch this anymore. He offers Mikey a hug, his arms barely open a second before Mikey is throwing himself into it.

As Mikey holds onto him and cries, Donnie thinks about the day before (well, really the day before the day before - it’s after three AM, now). They’d gone to the lair, to see what they could salvage. Everyone had been subdued; even Leo wasn’t managing to joke like he normally would. Only Mikey was still upbeat, able to see the silver lining in every cloud, cheering over every item they found that was still intact enough to bring with them, encouraging them to come back later and look for more.

Maybe they’d been a little too complacent that Mikey was going to be okay, after all that. But of course he isn’t; he loves their home as much as the rest. Sewers and all.

“We’re homeless, aren’t we?” asks Mikey after a minute or two. Donnie hasn’t really thought of it like that, but now that Mikey has said it, he knows he can’t refute it.

“In the technical sense, yes,” he says, and regrets it when Mikey bursts into a fresh round of tears. For the first time in his life, he abhors technical correctness.

But while it may be correct in the technical sense, what about other senses?

Donnie pulls Mikey down onto the sleeping bag, then works the sheets and his blanket over the both of them. Finally, he snakes a hand around to grab another fistful of tissues for Mikey, passing them over without dislodging Mikey from his hug.

“Do you know what I think Dr. Feelings would say, if he were here?” Donnie asks, once they’re both settled.

Mikey blows his nose again, then peers up at Donnie. “What?”

“I think he would say that home is where the heart is. As long as you’re with me, and Leo and Raph and Dad, you can’t be homeless.”

He delivers this with a great amount of conviction, so he can’t help but be a smidge irritated when Mikey laughs.

“Hey! I’m trying to help!”

“I know!” Mikey giggles, burying his face against Donnie’s plastron and lightly head butting into his chin. “That was a really great Dr. Feelings, Dee. Thank you.”

“…Hm, well, I was just passing along his recommendation.”

Mikey hums. There’s still a bit of a wheeze from breathing through a stuffy nose, but he sounds like he’s stopped crying.

“Hey, Donnie?”

“Yeah?”

“Love ya.”

“I love you, too.”

Sleep doesn’t find Donnie that night. But it finds Mikey, and he considers that a win.

[waywardwritesstuff]

HIIII!! How are you?

I was wondering if you could do a platonic rottmnt Donnie x reader one shot?/nf of course! Maybe like some comfort after reader has had a bad day.

I LOVE YOU!! remember to drink water!

-Axel <3

Bad days: ROTTMNT!Donnie X GN!Reader

ROTTMNT!Donnie X GN!Reader

Word count: 1k+

Looking left and right before removing the server grate I climb down the access hatch into a tunnel underneath New York. I pull up the straps on my back so that it doesn't scrape on the walls on my way down. I don't even look where I'm going, I just watch my feet as they splash through the puddles and scuff up some gravel with the heel of my shoe. Not even paying attention to which tunnels I'm turning down, I know where to go, my legs will just carry me.

My mind begins to wander to the events of today. School. Such a useless waste of time, the turtles are lucky they never have to go. They would never get tired or be told they fail because of a letter on a page. They wouldn't have to worry about fitting in or fitting out. They just get to live, even if it is in the shadows.

It's not all bad, I have April at school but she's busy and we don't share any classes. But she has my back when it counts. But...some days are just harder than others, and today seems to be that day.

As I come to the last tunnel I can hear the sounds of the guys, Leo is yelling about some skateboard trick and Raph is yelling back, telling him he'll crack his shell if he's not careful. 'He's such a mum' I think to myself, and it makes me smile.

I enter the lair and am witness to one hell of a stunt gone horribly wrong. I watch as Leo dives down the half-pipe doing a handstand on his skateboard. He makes it to the bottom before his weight tips the skateboard and he goes flying into the other side of the pipe. I cringe watching his head collide with the wood. Raph rushed over to him first and Mikey soon after. As usual, Raph is fussing but Leo says he's fine. Mikey looks stary eyed saying "My go! I want to try that" Raph starts to scold Mikey now and a big commotion starts up.

The noise is becoming too much so I sneak around them and head towards Donnie's room/lab. The door is shut but I can see that the lights are on. I know once, twice and whisper 'Donnie, it's me' and wait. A few seconds later in dramatic fashion the door is swinging open, and the light is flooding the floor at my feet. "Come in compadre," he says, and I step inside.

As usual his lab is a mess and his bed even more so. He has half working tech and circuit boards littered over his desk, he has papers and designs laid out on his bed, some even trailing onto to floor. I stare at the equations and diagrams but none of it makes sense to me. And that reminds me why I'm here in the first place. I'm here to see my friends after one of the crappiest days in school history.

Not knowing where to sit I stay awkwardly standing by the door, hugging my arms to myself. Donnie has already gone back to messing with some of his tech but his head perks up suddenly and he spins in his chair to look at where I'm standing.

"What happened?" He says bluntly.

I deter my eyes away from him.

"Judging by your attitude, your unusual quietness and the stiffness of your posture and the fact that you are still wearing your backpack I would say that you had a bad day at school"

Shrugging I still don't look at him as I say "I guess so"

Out of the corner of my eye I see him tilt his head at me. He begins muttering to himself, something fast under his breath, I only catch a few words 'doesn't want to talk' and 'maybe but I don't know'

I look at him now and he's still in full conversation with himself.

"Donnie?" He looks up at me

"Oh yes, right" he clears his throat.

"It seems you may be in need of a..." He pursues his lips, and he looks like he is trying to chew and swallow his tongue as he says, "a hug?"

I blink at him confused, Donnie doesn't do hugs, Donnie also doesn't really do touch. I don't want him to feel like he has to touch me just because I'm feeling down, does he feel obligated or something? No, he wouldn't, because he hasn't done it in the past.

"No, Donnie seriously it's fine. I'll be fine" I take a small step back and hug my elbows to my chest.

He looks down at the floor and then chews his lip "If you want to I'm offering. You can obviously say no, I know how important personal space is, believe me. But if you need one, then just this once I'm willing to give you one"

I look at him, I can see it's taking him a lot of effort to offer this, and I don't want to make him uncomfortable, but I really need this right now. I take a careful step forwards and then another. I unlatch my arms from around myself and open them in his direction. He does the same, and taking the last step, we wrap our arms around each other, his green ones around my tan ones.

His skin is cool and the scales littering his skin feel different in comparison to mine. It's not a bad difference it's just different.

I can hear his heart beat, slowly thumping against my chest. His breaths are a little shallow but I figured as much. He holds me really delicately, like I'm something precious and it's enough to make me want to cry. I squeeze him tighter one last time and let go.

Looking at him, I smile and say "Thank you Donnie, that meant a lot" he puts a hand on the back of his neck and cuffs

"Oh it was nothing" he smiles back at me. Then returning to his usual self he turns back to his desk and calls me over to take a look at his newest invention.

I hope you enjoyed this, it was a little short I'm sorry but I still hope you liked it. Again sorry it took so long

[percyaugod]

@reesespiecesofart @hauntedtale-au

Raph finds out because the hidden city police have a connection to the galactic federation. Raph still trying to find out where Donnie came from actually finds out where Donnie came from.

He sees the articles about the mad scientist and that describes the dangerous abomination. How it pretended to be just a dumb animal before breaking out of a high-security transport vehicle and is now on the loose. The federation preparing to send in its creator to capture it since he is the only one who could possibly capture such a cunning and destructive creature.

It even shows a picture of the security footage of his escape. Donnie laughed maniacally as the guard cowered before him, gun in each of his four arms, quills raised up his spine, and mask tails raised like antennas.

A living weapon that was created to destroy, and Raph let it into his house with his younger brothers. Raph remembers all the instances of Leo saying something was off with Donnie and all the things Donnie supposedly did. And Raph didn't believe him. All of his time facing villains and criminals Raph has never known such dread.

Raph practically races home to make sure Mikey and Leo are still… okay. He calls the house several times but no one picks up. Raph goes even faster.

The entire time Raph can't help but think this isn't fair. How could someone make something like this? To knowingly make it look like a kid so people let it into their homes. The fact it was all fake is painful enough. Like he's already lost a member of his family.

When Raph gets home he sneaks in, not wanting to alert Donnie. It's so quiet. Where's the usual sound of his brothers laughing and playing? The fighting as a prank or joke gone too far that he needs to break up? He hears a movie playing in the living room. He peeks in and sees… a turtle pile?

a large pile of pillows and covers on the floor as the movie plays unwatched. Mikey is using Leo's legs as a footrest while his back and arms are flailed out. Leo is lying chest down on a large lump of covers, practically hugging it. Raph is about to panic at the lack of "softshell" when he notices a familiar snout poking out of the covers.

Raph doesn't know if he wants to laugh or cry. The whole way here he was worried about Donnie possibly hurting his brothers, and here he is letting Leo practically drool all over him. Leo, who has been suspicious of Donnie since the very beginning, let his guard down enough to fall asleep.

One thing is clear to Raph looking at Donnie right now. He may have been made for destruction, but that's not all he's capable of. Not anymore at least.

Raph looks tiredly at the sleeping Donnie. "It was Mikey that got to you, wasn't it? He has that effect on people." As expected, there was no answer besides quiet snores.

Raph can feel a headache forming. Why do these kids have to make everything so complicated? There's no way he can just capture Donnie and turn him over, but he's not going to let this continue without telling Leo and Mikey. Tomorrow they'll have a family meeting, tell each other everything, and figure things out from there.

But first, Raph is way too exhausted to be awake right now and that turtle pile looks awfully inviting. He flops onto the covers and pillows and drifts off himself.

When Raph first mentions finding where Donnie comes from Donnie doubts he actually found out about him. Meanwhile, Leo and Mikey think he found Donnie's real family, and Donnie's going to have to leave. They're crying and hanging on to an annoyed Donnie while telling him to call them and visit. Raph just trying to get them to listen for a few seconds because guys that's not what he's trying to say.

Mikey gives Donnie an album full of pictures of their time together so he doesn't forget them. The cover is a hand-drawn portrait of their family with Donnie in it. Mikey knows there's no chance of getting Donnie to sit still for a family photo.

Leo's favorite is a picture of Donnie's face scrunched up as he's sprayed in the face with a water bottle like a misbehaving cat.

The constant camera in his face is how Donnie learns to record everything. They find out and try to explain this is different, but Donnie just doesn't get it.

Once Raph gets them calmed down enough to explain Leo is mostly baffled at how Donnie can hide two extra arms "like a morbid jack in the box."

Mikey's just relieved that since he's an alien and doesn't have any family on Earth that means they get to keep him.

Donnie: I suppose my creator could technically be seen as a parental unit.

Leo: Yeah, but we said on Earth.

Donnie: Again, my creator.

Raph remembers reading about the creator being sent to hunt the creation: Oh no.

[belleyellsaboutturtles]

Sparky - pt 2

<< prev || next >>

"-and honestly I didn't know you could make origami out of salami, but hey! The more you know! I won't if you could do it with prosciutto? ...Nah, too thin. Doesn't have enough structure."

They'd gotten home from fighting the paper thieves a few hours ago. They'd ridden the high of their victory for awhile, before it got so late even Donnie was hiding yawns. Mikey should be sleeping, but he wasn't tired yet. He had so many thoughts in his brain about everything that had happened today! His brothers had all gone to their rooms for the night though, so Mikey hadn't had anyone to talk to. So after making himself comfortable on his hammock, he'd started talking to himself and doodling in a notebook. At some point, mindless doodles and talking to himself had turned into drawing and talking to his mystic weapon.

He lightly scribbled down a few more lines to highlight the flames around the kusari fundo. "Also, one of the guys heads was on fire. Which you saw, obviously - you were there. Or did you?" Mikey paused his drawing to thoughtfully look at the weapon. "I mean, you have a face. I've seen it a few times now. I wonder if you can see? Or maybe you're blind. I could also just be imagining all of this - my brothers say I have an active imagination."

No response. It continued to hang idly on the wall.

Mikey twirled his pencil between his fingers. "Maybe it's like how if you look at a car long enough it has a face," he contemplated. Fire wasn't usually that consistent though. Hm. Oh! He snapped his fingers as a thought occurred to him. "Hey, people name cars! Maybe they name them because they have faces! Which means you need a name, because you definitely have a face."

Mikey tapped his chin and hummed in thought. "It's gotta be something that fits. And of course it has to have some pizazz!"

Hmm... well, the chain could shrink and grow as needed. It was orange. It could light on fire. Maybe something like Firework? Nah, doesn't fit the vibe. Orange? No, that was already one of his own nicknames. Blaze? Almost. He was getting warmer, he could feel it. He was missing something. Let's see, what else was unique to his weapon? Well, he was the first to discover its mystic properties. Once he did, it sparked a chain of events leading to Raph discovering his power smash jitsu and Leo's new portaling ability. It also lead to Draxum's lab exploding-

"That's it!" Mikey exclaimed. With a grin, he wrote his weapon's new name next to the sketch he'd drawn of its fiery face.

With a flourish, he proudly turned the page around to face the kusari fundo. "Sparky! It's perfect! It goes with your fire and spitfire personality!"

No response, but that was okay. This was mainly for Mikey's own enjoyment anyway.

He dated the sketch, then yawned. The night had finally caught up to him. He flipped his sketchbook closed and tossed it and his pencil onto the floor. He'd put them away properly tomorrow.

"Well, guess that's it for me. Thanks for listening, Sparky! See ya tomorrow!"

The box turtle burrowed into his blankets and closed his eyes for the night. On the wall, Sparky glowed.

<< prev || next >>

[whattraintracks]

28. Broken Vase - TMNT 2012

Little Raph goes out with a crash.

Mikey looks up from his comic at the sound of a crash. Little Raph runs into his bedroom a moment later, and Mikey's just thrilled the tiny troublemaker came to him first. He beckons Raph to his lap, where the kid tucks inside his shell. With a blanket and some adjustment, the lump looks just like a pillow. Mikey snickers, practicing his innocent face for whoever inevitably comes looking for their mini maestro of mischief.

Seriously, five-year-old Raph is the prince of pranks. The same sweet face and small form that nobody suspects make him the perfect accomplice. Mikey had no idea Raph was so devious. He actually has to reign in some of the kid's ideas. Even then, they've gone through more water balloons, silly string, and air horns in the last couple of weeks than Mikey does in a few months. The guys are still setting off bang snaps around the lair.

Pranks or no pranks, Mikey loves getting to spend so much time with Raph. He and Donnie were thick as thieves when they were all little, and these days Leo's his best friend whenever they're not fighting, so it makes Mikey pretty happy that, right now, he's kid Raph's go-to brother. The others will joke about Mikey being easy to get along with because he's the most childlike, yadda yadda yadda. But you know what! Maybe that's not such a bad thing. What's wrong with dressing up, and playing pretend, and arts and crafts and coloring? Is it just 'cause they're a little older now? Mikey couldn't care less. It makes him happy, it makes Raph happy, and that's all that matters.

He gives Raph's shell a little rat-a-tat-tat and settles back to read. He doesn’t get very deep into his stack when he realises two things. First, no one's come calling for Raph. Second, his lapful of turtle is shaking pretty hard, and it's not with giggles.

He lifts a corner of the blanket. "You good, little man?" 

The only answer is a hiccupy sob.

"Aw, buddy,” he winces.

Sometimes Raph's deviousness comes back to bite him. One of their early pranks caught Leo on a bad day. Leo got really startled and almost started embarrassed-crying, and then Raph was devastated and started actual-crying, and it just went downhill from there. So Mikey's been trying to keep their antics harmless and random.

"No one's come looking for you. They can't be too mad," he assures.

Raph just keeps crying. Mikey’s debating if he should ride it out when he has a brief flash of panic. Mentally shaking himself for not checking sooner, he asks, "Are you hurt?"

More sniffles.

"Hamato Raphael," he says in his best impression of Leo's leader voice, "Are you hurt?"

Finally, a thin, watery voice replies, "No." 

"Okay,” he heaves a sigh of relief. “Okay, that's good, little dude." That took years off his life. No wonder Leo acts so old; Master Splinter must feel ancient.

He slumps against the headboard, tugging Raph a little closer. "No worries, you can chill with big bro Mikey until you feel better. I won't let anyone bother you."

Since Raph usually settles down with snuggles, Mikey returns to his comics, mostly at ease. Sure enough, the quaking and sad noises stop by the time he finishes his last one. Oh, hey, it's probably close to nap time.

"What should we make for your pre-nap snack, kiddo?" he asks cheerfully.

No response.

He repeats Raph's name a few times. Poking him gets nothing, too, so Mikey assumes the micro turtle fell asleep. Oh well, there’s no point in waking him now that he’s out. Someone'll feed him when he wakes up hangry.

With nothing to do and pretty hungry himself, Mikey uses his rad ninja skills to slide Raph to the bed—oh, ouch, numb legs, very numb legs—and wobbles out to find some food. Good old 'out of sight, out of mind' takes over, and Mikey promptly forgets about all things Raphael for the next three hours.

He's having a dinner-making-jam-sesh in the kitchen when Leo peeks in to ask, “Have you seen Raph?”

"Hmm?" He tugs an earbud down. "No, not since I left him to nap in my room."

"In your room?" Leo echoes.

"Yep," Mikey pops the p with a smile, "'Cause I'm obviously little Raph's favorite big brother." But Leo doesn't take the bait. He just furrows his brow and heads back the way he came.

Something pings in the back of Mikey's head. An annoying noise he figures is the universe telling him this is important. So he tosses everything into the slow cooker and races after Leo. Mikey follows soft murmuring to his bedroom, where Leo's crouched beside Raph still tucked in, still in his shell. His big brother rubs a gentle hand across the turtle tot's carapace. Raph hasn't moved an inch since Mikey left, and it fills him with anxiety. The little guy's not moving, not making any noise, he can't even tell if he's breathing.

"Little brother," Leo croons, "will you come out and tell me what's wrong?"

Mikey thanks everything for the gasping, whiny sob that echoes out. Leo catches him with a free hand as he stumbles to the foot of the bed.

No amount of coaxing or bribery draws Raph out, so Leo picks him up and motions Mikey toward the dojo. Right. Getting an adult is absolutely the call in this situation.

They trek to the dojo, picking up a fretting Donnie along the way. Bowing as they enter, Mikey's faintly impressed Leo can manage the correct angle with Raph in his arms and without falling over. Master Splinter is kneeling beside a pile of ceramic shards. After a quick rewind, his brain finds the audio of the crash that started this whole thing. His eyes catch on the dusty robe and an old repair kit, and he wonders if Sensei went to the storage room between then and now.

Furry ears flick in acknowledgment. "Sit, my sons."

Mikey's heart twists when Raph's breath hitches. Leo must notice, too. He kneels to face Master Splinter but doesn't let the little turtle go, arms bundling him tighter. Mikey and Donnie kneel on either side of them, and it feels like falling into rank.

Master Splinter watches them settle from the corner of his eye.

"When Raphael was quite young," he pauses, snout twitching, "the first time, that is—he broke this bowl in a fit of anger." He gestures at the dish before him. It's a beautiful gold-veined thing, and it takes Mikey a minute to notice the original interrupted pattern beneath.

Sensei's voice sharpens subtly, "What have I taught you of kintsugi."

Mikey and his brothers recite the old lesson with practiced ease. They could probably repeat Sensei's cultural lessons word-for-word in their sleep, dreaming about a heritage that can never be theirs. Mikey stumbles over his words only when Raph finally pops out of his shell, rubbing at his eyes and curling against Leo.

Sensei nods approvingly. "Things broken in anger can never be fully restored, but they can be made functional again."

He looks directly at Raph, "Tomorrow, you will aid me in mending this vase you have broken, an active meditation on the consequences of your anger. Do you understand?"

Raph bobs his head miserably. Mikey has just enough time to think, that's it?, before Sensei dismisses all four of them.

That evening, Raph hardly says a word. He's not moping, just quiet, reserved, like he's trying to avoid attention. Mikey's heart breaks when even his best jokes and silliest faces can't bring out the smile that usually comes so easy to his little brother. The three elder turtles wordlessly agree to tag team bedtime, and Mikey feels a little better knowing Raph went to bed with big hugs from each of them.

Then, just like that, it’s over. Donnie cracks the reaging agent, and Raph is back in all his slightly-taller-than-Mikey glory before lunch. And it’s great! It’s Raph whole and himself and 100% back to normal, and he predictably insists they forget the little thing ever happened.

Except Mikey can't. Can't stop thinking about how crappy little Raph's last full day with them was and that it's kind of maybe his fault for not noticing it sooner. He dreams that night of a little big brother with golden veins but broken eyes and that no matter how tight he hugs that tiny turtle, his pieces just won't stay together.

He wakes with a shout that gathers all his big brothers. He lunges teary-eyed at Raph—normal-sized, too big to wrap his arms around Raph—babbling half-formed apologies. Leo and Donnie join the hug, and Raph is pressed in from three sides. Mikey prays that will always be enough to mend whatever tries to break him.

[fishsticksloser]

Can I plz request Rottmnt x platonic! Little sister! Reader who has a crush on someone and they're just all protective over her?

Sweet Little Dandelion

RotTMNT + gn!reader

Warnings: mutant!reader, swearing, fluff, Usagi mentioned, aged up

A/N: the love interests name is Arryn, they're a yo'kai. Your color is yellow, hence some of the nicknames. Requests will be closed starting tomorrow.

Previous  |  Next

You and the boys walked through the Hidden City, you were looking for mystic items and scrap metal for Donnie. Donnie had his goggles down, scanning the piles of scrap. You all sifted through the junk. Once pieces were approved by D, they went in the bags you brought.

Once you all grabbed everything Donnie thought was useful you headed to Run of the Mill Pizza. Mikey swung his legs, sitting on the edge of his seat. A waiter came over and to say you couldn't keep your eyes off them was an understatement.

"Hi, I'm Arryn." They smiled, passing out menus. "What can I get you guys to drink?"

You all order, you stumble through yours, though. You felt someone looking at you, you scan the table. You and Leo make eye contact and he wiggles his eyebrows. Your face heats up and you turn away. Soon Arryn is back, placing your drinks down. Leo orders the pizza and slides closer to you.

"What do you think of Arryn?" He whispered.

"W-What?" You gasp, scooting away from him, only to bump into Raph.

"Oh come on!" Mikey chirps. "You can tell us, Bee!"

"We can all see you watching them." Donnie sighs, his finger running around the rim of his glass.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." You mumbled, covering your reddening face.

"Here you guys go. Can I get you anything else?" Arryn asks, sliding the pizzas onto the table.

"Yeah, I've got a question." A smug smirk fills Leo's face. "Are you currently seeing anyone?"

"W-What?" Arryn stutters. "Uh... No..."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

You continued to visit Run of the Mill, just to see Arryn. You didn't talk much, but it was nice to see them. They spoke a lot about their family and their life in general .

One day you went, only to find Leo at your usual table. He was chatting with Arryn, his chin resting on his hand. Leo looked you, his signature smirk taunting you. He waved you over, so you went and sat next to him.

"Oh! Hi!" Arryn grins. "It's nice to you again."

"H-Hey." You smiled back. Leo pulled you in, his arm around your shoulder.

"This is the youngest of my siblings." Leo boasts. "I've heard they're a regular.

Leo and Arryn continue they're conversation. After finishing his Hawaiian pizza, Leo scurried off.

"Sorry about Leo." You laughed.

"And the others?" Arryn asks.

"Others?"

"Yeah, the purple, red, and orange ones come here pretty often too. The purple one is brutal."

"Donnie can be that way sometimes." You rub the back of your neck in embarrassment.

"Why?" Arryn takes a seat next to you. "Why are they so interested?"

"I.. um..." You stumble. Should you tell the truth? "They seem to think I have a crush on you."

"In that case..." You hoped Arryn wouldn't avoid you, you hopped your brothers hadn't scared him away. "Would you like to go out to dinner with me? I get off at 8."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

"What are we doing out here again?"

"Our sweet little Dandelion has a date with that server, Arryn."

"And?"

"And... we have to make sure it goes well!"

"Leo's right. Arryn even gave them a cloaking device so they can have their date on the surface."

"But our 'sweet little Dandelion' can handle it on their own."

"Shut up, Donnie. They haven't gone through the stuff we have, we just want to make sure they have a good life."

"Shhh! Here they come."

Your colorfully clad brothers remained hidden on the roof just outside Heuso's, where you were going to meet Arryn before your date.

"We didn't do his with Leo and-" Raph grabs Donnie, a hand over his mouth.

"Can you shut up?" Leo whisper yells. "We're supposed to be hidden. We're spies."

"I thought we were ninjas?" Donnie shoves Raph's hand away.

"Yeah, yeah, that too." Leo waves his twin off.

"Back to what I was saying... Before I was rudely interrupted." Donnie huffs, glaring at Raph. "We didn't interrogate or follow you and Usagi on your first date."

"And I thank you for that." Leo snorts.

"Uh... Guys?" Mikey starts.

"Listen, both of you have a point." Raph says. "Bee is the youngest, they didn't fight Shredder or the Kraang. We need to protect them. Leo's right about that, but Donnie's also right, we shouldn't be interrogating and stalking. This is getting out of hand."

"Guys?"

"Alright, maybe we went a little far, but they deserve to have a nice time." Leo groans. "We should give them that. If someone like Meat Sweats or Hypno find them, something could happen."

"Meat Sweats and Hypno don't even know Bee exists. We'd be drawing more attention to them by sticking around."

"Guys!" Mikey shouts. The other 3 turn to him. "We've lost them."

"Shit!"

[goodlucktai]

find another guiding light

rise of the tmnt pairing: don & leo, don & raph, don & mikey word count: 4k title borrowed from dear reader by t swift pre&post-movie

read on ao3

x

“What the hell are we gonna do about Leon?” Donnie says one day when both his older brother and his twin are gone from the lair on a two-man training run that is almost certainly going to end in disaster.

He doesn’t know why he says it. He certainly isn’t expecting any answer that isn’t just an annoyed groaning sound, because what other answer even is there?

But Mikey replies, “You mean how self-destructive he’s been lately?” and it puts Donnie fully on the back foot.

“What?” Donnie says blankly.

“Is that not what we’re talking about?”

“I mean—I guess—I wouldn’t have called it that,” Donnie says, but now that he’s saying it he’s not sure.

Mikey snorts. The sound is humorless. “What else would you call it? Running around throwing himself face-first at every bad guy we find without waiting for back-up, refusing to hang back and come up with a plan even though it used to be his favorite part of a mission, not listening to anybody about anything—it’s like he forgot what self-preservation even is.”

Donnie is thinking really hard and really fast, looking at the last few months through this new lens.

Leo’s their self-proclaimed face-man, but he’s also the idea guy. Donnie is an outright genius when it comes to science and engineering and everything in between, but his twin isn’t stupid. Leo is as clever and Machiavellian as any storybook trickster, and tactics come as easily to him as breathing.

He’s always been the one to suggest a plan, to guide his brothers back on track, to keep them from getting in over their heads. The only times he and Raph ever used to butt heads was when Leo had an idea more stealth than smash.

Donnie would never admit it out loud but Leo’s had those qualities since they were kids. He’s charismatic and charming, a theater kid at heart with the modified genetics of a super soldier and a mind every bit as bright as Donatello’s, even as it twists and turns down other avenues. It made sense that he’d be shoehorned into a leadership role as he got a little older. Leo is the type of person who would be thrilled to captain the crew.

So then why did Leo do a complete 180?

And Mikey made another point, too, whether or not he knows it. If Leo was just being a huge jerk outright, Dr. Delicate Touch would have made an appearance by now and shut that shit down hard. But the fact is, Dr. Feelings has taken point on this one—and if there’s one thing Donnie’s learned the hard way, it’s that Mikey in feelings mode is usually the right one to listen to.

Mikey is watching his pastries rise in the oven. Donnie can see his expression reflected in the glass door. It’s flattened out into plain worry.

“He never tells us any of the important stuff,” the youngest Hamato says, tone uncharacteristically bitter. “He just goes on and on about things that don’t matter until we’re distracted, and it works every stupid time.”

“Leo’s always been that way,” Donnie interjects half-heartedly. “You can’t come at him head-on about stuff or he clams up. You gotta go in a series of annoying, convoluted circles to get to the heart of the thing. He’s literally the creature in the middle of the labyrinth.”

Mikey points at Donnie, as if to say ‘you got me there.’ “And that’s exactly why I don’t think Raphie’s method is helping.”

It’s obviously something he doesn’t want to admit. Mikey is his brothers’ number one fan and cheerleader first, person second. He bites the inside of his lip and starts twisting his fingers in a manner that promises to be painful. Donnie digs into the pocket of his hoodie and shoves one of his own mesh and marble fidget toys across the table at him. It’s an obnoxious lime green color and it makes Mikey smile involuntarily. He twists the toy instead and Donnie falls back into his train of thought running at roughly mach ten.

Raph’s method of confronting anything is head-on. That’s just the type of guy he is—steady and solid and unflinching. And they all depend on him the way most other people probably depend on the sun to rise every morning. Donnie literally does not know how they would make it a single day without Raphael, and prefers not to think about it.

But that also means that Raph and Leo can be like oil and water. And suddenly, the ‘A Team’’s constant bickering and late-night shouting matches and cold shoulders makes more sense.

“I don’t know what to do,” Mikey admits, this empathetic powerhouse with more emotional intelligence in one finger than Donnie has in his whole body. It’s incredibly disheartening to hear. “So for now I just want Leo to know that someone’s on his team.”

Whatever else he might have said is cut off by the familiar electric snap of a portal opening near the turnstiles, and then a second later Raph and Leo materialize in the lair, mid-roof-raising-argument.

Raph is carrying Leo carefully through the living room. There’s blood on his hands, enough to make Mikey suck in a breath from his station in front of the oven. Right away, the facts come together in Donnie’s brain: Leo got hurt.

What looks like all the bandages from the medkit on his waist are wrapped around his arm. Whatever happened, it was bad enough to push out those stress lines around Raph’s eyes and mouth, bad enough that he still hasn’t set Leo on his own two feet, like he might be able to undo all the pain if he just keeps holding him. But Leo is doing what Leo always does, hiding whatever he’s actually feeling behind a smarmy grin and a smart-ass attitude, and Raph’s fear and worry and love have coalesced into something huge and ferocious that sounds a lot like anger.

Now Donnie knows what to look for.

“—what happens when you don’t listen!” Raph snaps furiously. “God, Leo, it’s like you don’t even care!”

“Why should I? Look where it’s gotten you!”

Something darts through Mikey’s eyes that makes Don want to snap at something.

“Leo,” he says, his flat tone cutting through the fight like a souped-up soldering iron through the cheap components of a certain rat’s ancient CRT TV (not that he would know), “you’re still bleeding.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then Raph and Leo both look down at the slider’s arm. Red is blooming across the crisp white gauze. Mikey makes a wounded noise. Right away, Leo clambers out of Raph’s arms with a joke to make their youngest feel better—“It’s okay, Miguel, you should see the other guy!”—and Raph’s getting heated again at the apparent flippancy, and god, it never fucking ends, does it?

Leo is retreating further and further into this new character that doesn’t care about himself or anybody else, and it’s happening right before Donnie’s eyes. He’s already slinking away, out of the warmth and light of the kitchen, away from his family

Donnie realizes abruptly that there is a non-zero chance he might lose his twin brother. That one day he might wake up and not know Leo anymore.

He stands up, chair screeching behind him.

“Lesser twin, with me.”

Leo opens his mouth to try to get out of it, but that’s not going to happen. Donnie’s not having it. With the way their bodies work—ninpo and genetic modifications and yokai-isms, oh my—if it’s still bleeding, it needs stitches. And Leo, self-made team medic, ought to know that.

He gives Leo a look that says Remember when Taylor Swift’s Folklore album came out and you performed the entire thing in my lab and I swore I didn’t record you? I one-thousand-percent recorded you.

Leo’s look back succinctly says You motherfucker.

But he falls in next to Donnie without another word, a move that probably bewilders their brothers into next year. He definitely isn’t happy about it. He’s still prickly and defensive. It seems like he’s waiting to get ganged up on.

Raph starts to follow them and Donnie says, “I got it.” He shoves Leo a step ahead of him, putting his own body between him and Raph like a wall. It doesn’t feel good to do it. He chooses cowardice and doesn’t look back at whatever Raph’s expression looks like as a result.

Behind them, ever-reliable Mikey jumps in immediately with a bright, “You can help me with the cupcakes, Raph! We’re doing cream-filled red velvet!”

In the infirmary, Donnie points Leo toward a cot. Leo rolls his eyes and hops up to sit on the edge of it. He starts unwinding the gauze from around his arm agreeably enough, wincing a bit when the final layer sticks and comes away with a painful pull.

Don’s stomach swoops unpleasantly at the sight of the torn skin. It’s definitely not the worst he’s seen—they’ve taken worse damage flubbing skateboarding moves on the half-pipe—but it’s still not nice to look at. He takes a moment to swallow hard, then asks, “What happened?”

“Typical oozesquito shenanigans,” Leo says off-handedly. “Alley cat? Adorable. Mutated yokai alley cat? Not as much.”

Donnie grimaces sympathetically. “Claws or teeth?”

“Teeth. Hey, do you think we can get rabies?”

“I can’t wait to find out.” Putting rabies vaccinations at the top of his mental to-do list, Donnie gestures with a sweep of his arm at the infirmary. “This is your domain, Nerdo. Where’s the stuff I need?”

“You know I don’t actually need an assist. Like you said, my domain.”

“Wow that’s a super interesting non-answer to my question.”

With a dramatic, put-upon sigh, Donnie’s little brother points him in the right direction and says, “Steri-strips are in the top left cabinet.”

Immensely grateful he wasn’t directed towards the suture needles or the skin stapler, because as willing as he is to help it really doesn’t take much for Vomitello to make a guest appearance, the softshell rummages through Leo’s meticulously organized industrial-tool-chest-turned-medical-supply-cabinet, triumphantly coming up with a pack of adhesive bandages and some antiseptic wipes after a moment.

He pushes the wheeled stool over with his foot and it bounces gently off Leo’s knee, shuddering to a stop just in front of him. Leo tries to kick it as Donnie sits down and nearly succeeds, giggling like a menace when Donnie staggers and almost eats it face-first on the floor.

“Okay,” Don says loudly, not actually as annoyed as he’s trying to sound. “Arm.”

“Donald, seriously, I got it.”

“Leonard, seriously, I will upload that T Swift footage today.”

Leo mimics him with all the maturity of a three-year-old but ultimately surrenders his arm. He looks tense and uncomfortable the whole time, like he’s forgotten how to let someone this close.

And Donnie thinks about what Mikey said in the kitchen, about wanting Leo to know he had someone on his team. He thinks about how things were a year ago, when that would have gone without saying.

It doesn’t take long to wipe down Leo’s arm and press the steri-strips over the wound. Then Donnie sits next to him on the cot. Neither of them speak up right away. They can both tell this is going to be a Moment, and Donnie, for one, is bracing himself. He gets the feeling that he really, truly, can’t fuck this one up.

“I know something’s percolating in that abstruse brain of yours,” he finally says. “So talk. But do me a favor and skip over all the posturing and trying to convince me nothing’s going on and lying right to my face, okay? I don’t know how much time we have before Mikey kicks the door in and drags us to a TED talk.”

It’s as much of a threat as it needs to be. Grudgingly, like he’s prying each word up out of the mud, Leo mutters, “I want dad to take it back.”

Donnie wants more than anything to shake Leo until all of his secrets fall out of his mouth and Donnie can sweep them away to a safer place. Like an encrypted folder on his computer. But he can’t do that, so he has to settle for—ughh, patience.

It pays off. Leo admits, in the safe, familiar space of his infirmary, that he doesn’t want to be team leader. He doesn’t want things to change. His crooked, cooked-up scheme is to just—fuck up over and over again until papa decides Leo can’t be trusted with that mantle that rightfully belongs to Raph.

Donnie understands him. Of course he does. He hates change, too. It makes him feel itchy and restless. He likes knowing what to expect. He likes when everything is in the same place he left it.

If Leo wanted to be the leader, he’d be good at it. As long as he doesn’t want to, he won’t be. So it’s a scheme—Donnie can get behind that. He knows whose side he’s on. It’s the side he’s always been on, since the day he read the definition of “twin” out of a water-logged dictionary. It’s his job to be here. Leo’s kind of an idiot for expecting him to be anywhere else.  

“Not a bad hypothesis,” Donnie says, pressing their shoulders together. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Leo’s face split in an honest smile. “It’d probably work a lot better for you if you’d let Raph in on it, you know.”

“Please, are you kidding?” Leo scoffs. “As if he’d ever play along. Half the time I think he must hate me. I stole his job and now I’m not even doing it right.”

Are we talking about the same person? Donnie wants to demand. Raphael, the guy who carried you home not even twenty minutes ago? The guy who’s always carried you?

He doesn’t say that. Instead, he says, “Let me handle Raph.”

Back in the kitchen, the cupcakes are filled and in the process of being frosted. Mikey’s going all out, piping bag in hand, an assortment of edible decorations spread across the counter. Raph is gamely assisting to the best of his ability, even though his big fingers make it more of a task than it rightly should be. They both glance up when Donnie and Leo come in.

“Hey, your timing is as suspiciously convenient as always,” Mikey says cheerfully. “I need to take some pics for my Insta but after that you better come eat some of these.”

“Everything good?” Raph asks gruffly.

“Todo esta bien, hermano,” Leo says, breezing inside like he hadn’t just spent the last ten minutes unloading his fear of failure and inadequacy, as well as his certainty that the big brother he admires so much doesn’t like him anymore. “It smells like magic in here! Michael, we gotta get you a sponsor or something. The world needs to experience this.”

Mikey laughs and passes Leo a piping bag. “Raphie’s working on a rainbow sprinkle unicorn cupcake over there, and you’ll never guess who that one’s for.”

The surprise that darts across Leo’s face hurts to look at. His eyes drop down to the lopsided multi-colored creation taking shape under Raph’s clumsy hands. He looks more vulnerable in that moment than he has since the day dad unceremoniously turned everything they knew upside down.

“Raph, I need to talk to you,” Donnie says loudly because he’s about to get mad and do something he’ll probably regret, like put his fist through the projector in the TV room. “Chop-chop. The sprinkles can wait.”

“The sprinkles cannot,” Mikey and Leo chorus at the same time in exactly the same tone like the freaks of nature they are. Raph makes the right choice and escapes their company, following Don down the tunnel toward his corner of the lair.

“Okay, focus up,” Donnie says the second the reinforced door is closed behind them.  “We’re getting your old job back.”

He understands why the infirmary gave Leo the courage to talk. His lab does the same for him. It’s like Mikey’s kitchen, Raph’s dojo—they each have a place that makes them feel their best.

“Wait, what?” Raph looks bewildered. “What are you talking about?”

“The leader schtick, Raphala, keep up please. Leo’s going to keep sabotaging himself at full-speed until papa sees the light and demotes him. I’d like to see that happen before he breaks all of the bones in his body.”

Raph’s brow furrows beneath his mask. “Hang on, is that what he’s doing? I thought he just—didn’t care.”

Donnie gives that remark the deeply unimpressed look it deserves. “Right. Leonardo Hamato, the guy who started teaching himself field medicine when he was eight years old after you sprained your ankle and he cried for two hours because he didn’t know how to fix it, doesn’t care.”

He kind of feels bad for dumping this on Raph the way he has, but honestly. They’ve been stuck in place for months now, and Mikey’s been on edge constantly with all the fighting, and Leo’s going to get himself killed trying to prove something no one else believes, and Donnie can feel something toothed and tender coming alive inside his chest, trying to bite and claw and fight its way out.

Leo’s afraid you hate him, he doesn’t say, but he wants to. Leo’s scared all the time now. Of course he’s been acting like an asshole, when’s the last time he actually told somebody he was scared?

Donnie’s the fixer. He wants to fix this. If Raph would just get on board, maybe he’ll be able to.

“If Leo wanted to be the leader, we would have heard about it one million times every single day since he was four, ” Donnie says plainly. “The fact is, we haven’t. Draw your own conclusion.”

“But he’d be good at it,” Raph says, his tone blank with surprise and a total lack of comprehension. “That’s why dad gave him that role in the first place. I was always supposed to be the placeholder while Leo grew up. And now if he’d just put in the effort—if he’d try—he’d be amazing.”

“Okay, and I’d be good at domestic terrorism, but somehow I think you’d frown upon me reaching my full potential there.”

“Donnie!” Raph looks scandalized, like the NSA might be listening in. Puh-lease.

“Look,” Donnie says. He has no idea why he’s the one fielding these feelings talks, but he gives it his best shot. It’s probably not fair to shovel it onto Mikey’s shoulders all the time anyway. “You’re not a placeholder anything. Don’t say that. You’re our leader. We’ve always followed you. If we didn’t want to, we wouldn’t. Especially Leo. He’s a nightmare person. He’s never done a single thing he didn’t want to do. He was happy being your right-hand man.”

The snapper stares at him. His eyes are all dewy, and Donatello prays to any imaginary higher power that might be listening that he won’t cry, because Donnie becomes absolutely useless in all directions the second his siblings cry.

Miraculously, Raph smiles instead.

“Okay,” he says. “Raph’s listening. Loop me in.”

Actually talking about stuff changes everything—who knew?

It’s like they’ve been stuck in a boarded up room for weeks and someone finally wrestled a window open and let in a fresh breeze. All the stagnant air got swept out and they could finally breathe again.

They’re all playing along now. There are multiple levels to this deception happening all at the same time. Raph and Leo still bicker where papa can hear it, but they’re as thick as thieves at all other times. Raph is the one who makes the final call on a mission, but he makes it a point to hash things out with Leo first, so it’s really their final call. Donnie watches as Leo learns the ropes without realizing he’s learning the ropes. As Raph teaches the way he probably would have liked for someone to teach him. They meet in the middle, on each other’s team, where they belong.

If Raph is the foundation they build their lives on, Leo is the sky they reach for. Gravity was all out of whack with the two of them at odds. Donnie never wants them to fall out of orbit ever again.

They still lost the key, but it wasn’t anybody’s fault in particular. They were all playing keep-away with it to tick off Hypno and what’s-his-name, and Mikey shouted, “Go long!” and Donnie flubbed the catch. Raph called out, “I got it, I got it!” and Leo took that as a challenge because of course he did and neither of them got it. They were all laughing about it. They had no idea what that stupid key was, how were they supposed to know it was going to end the world?

Casey Jones still came back from a broken future, and Raph still got captured by the Krang, and Leo still stepped up in a big way, accepting the responsibility he never wanted and leading his family forward into certain danger because he had nowhere else to lead them.

And Leo, who knew how to stack the deck in his favor, who had never done a single thing in his life that he didn’t want to do, looked death right in the eye and told it, “I missed on purpose.”

It’s a good thing Mikey came up with that Hail Mary pass in the form of a sunlight-golden portal, because Donnie’s mind went cold. Donnie’s mind went straight back to the plans for a particle accelerator that he’d abandoned when he was thirteen years old. Donnie was fully ready to rip this goddamn universe apart to get his twin brother back.

In the infirmary Leo is happy to see everyone crammed into the room and camped around his bed, and distressingly honest, though that part is largely thanks to the morphine. Donnie puts a firm kibosh on personal questions, as tempting as it is to grill him when he’s all loopy and his constant guard is non-existent.

“I love this song,” Leo mumbles out of nowhere at two o’clock in the morning, two days after the almost-end of the world.

Mikey’s dead to the world and sprawled on Leo’s plastron, because they’ve discovered through trial and error that the immediate weight and warmth of a sibling nearby keeps the panic at bay when Leo wakes up in the dark and doesn’t know where he is right away. Casey is asleep on the other side of the bed, his head pillowed on his arms. Raph and April are in a pile on the other bed, dozing fitfully.

Donnie’s tablet is in his lap but the screen went dark with inactivity an hour ago. He’s been watching his twin sleep, deep in thought. After dinner, he’d asked S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. to play one of Leo’s favorite albums through the speakers, low enough not to wake anyone in the infirmary on its own.

Now, he says, “Yeah, I know, Nardo. I’m going to end up on the DJ blacklist right next to you with all the Taylor Swift music I’ve been forcing everyone else to endure for your benefit.”

Leo smiles. With the deep bruising on his face and neck, it looks more daring than it should, here in his little corner of the world. “Admit it, Tello. You’re a Swiftie.”

“No one will ever believe you,” Donnie says, some weight in his heart beginning to lift the longer Leo looks back at him and sounds like his old self. “How are you feeling?”

“Like hell,” Leo replies frankly. “Physical therapy is gonna be a B-word.”

“Thank you for unnecessarily censoring a word we’ve both heard a million times, I appreciate that.” Donnie leans forward, placing his tablet out of the way on a nearby overbed table, and says, “I have a question for you, now that you’re no longer lost in the sauce.”

“I bet it’s gonna suck,” Leo mutters.

“Do you still not want to lead us?” Donnie asks bluntly. “You saved the world, you know. I think it’s fair to say you’ve earned your stripes.”

Leo doesn’t answer right away. He’s drawing idle patterns on Mikey’s carapace with his good hand, staring up at the ceiling with hooded eyes.

“I learned my lesson,” he finally says. “I’ll do whatever I have to.”

Whatever he has to. Donnie relives the moment that portal closed, the moment Leo took his own life in his hands to protect his family, the moment everything that Donnie knew was ripped apart in front of his eyes, and thinks, That’s a dangerous precedent.

“Not what I asked,” Don tells him.

“It’s not about me,” Leo replies tiredly. He’s Donnie’s little brother and he sounds ancient, like he’s lived too much life already.

“I don’t know what the hell that means, but fine,” Donnie snaps. “Then it’s about me. It’s about Raph and Mikey and April and Papa. Junior, even. Everyone who loves you more than life itself. It’s about us.” He stares Leo down, daring him to break eye contact, to make light or make a joke. Donnie will climb into that bed and strangle him and no jury on earth would convict him for it. “And you’re one of us. You’re our family. So it’s about you.”

For once in his life, Leonardo is speechless. He swallows a few times, tightens his grip around Mikey, and darts a guilty look toward Raph.

“I don’t want to do it alone,” Leo admits quietly. “I don’t know if I can.”

“You’re my other half, dumb-dumb,” Donnie tells him in no uncertain terms. “You could do any crazy, stupid, impossible thing you put your mind to. But,” he adds, because this is important, and it’s something all of his siblings could stand to hear at least a dozen more times until it’s successfully been drilled into their stubborn brains, “you don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything. You’re a kid, Leo. We all are. This never should have been our problem to solve.”

Then, because he can’t bear the way his younger twin’s eyes get full and wet, he adds, “Next time a warmongering alien race tries to take over the world, I’ll just do it first.”

Leo laughs out loud, like it was surprised out of him. Raph is stirred awake by the sound, and when he sees Leo’s up, he tries to lunge out of bed so fast that April ends up on the floor. Within minutes, everyone in the room is wide awake and talking over each other and the music is drowned out by all the noise. Not even a full forty-eight hours ago, Leo was trapped in a cold, dark place, where a monster held him down and hurt him—but now he’s here and he’s safe and he can still laugh. It’s a hoarse, wheezy sound, and it’s the best thing Donnie’s heard in days.

He’s got a good feeling about tomorrow.

[yanyanderes]

Hi this is based on the Halloween ask about Yandere rise brothers x the reader with the death trap maze.You mentioned, something about if one of the brothers gets really badly hurt or doesn’t even make it out alive. I was wondering if you want to, What would happen if the brothers did get badly hurt or one didn’t make it out live ,what if the reader got hurt or didn’t make it out alive? How would the brothers react? If you don’t wanna answer this no worries , hope your doing ok 🀄️

i think this is the longest post i’ve made, this is the first time i’m using the “keep reading” thing i’m so sorry lol

also i haven’t proofread this because it’s so long and i’m tired so i hope you enjoy. if you saw any mistakes, no you didn’t ✨✨

OK THIS JUST GAVE ME AN IDEA

if (y/n) gets really badly injured, the guys are gonna amp up their overprotectiveness by a million and will 100% kidnap them and lock them up in the sewers, that much is obvious.

and if one of the brothers were seriously hurt or died… (y/n) would definitely be conflicted.

assuming (y/n) found out they were being creepy, they would definitely want distance… but leaving them alone, after such a tragedy, after such a scarring event… it simply doesn’t feel right.

this also amps up the other brothers’ crazy meters. they’re gonna lock up (y/n), give more restrictions to them than usual, more locks and cameras, less likely to be persuaded…

they need (y/n) to understand. they’ve already lost a member of their family. they can’t lose another loved one.

and that scenario where (y/n) dies, i just-

so the turtles fought as hard as they could, shielding (y/n) from danger and trying to keep them from knowing the truth. maybe they tell them to close their eyes to stop them from seeing the truth, and because of that, they don’t see the danger coming for them and die.

at first, they’re all in denial. raph goes into a blind rage and charges head first into danger. he’s not scared of getting hurt, he just wants this maze to feel pain.

mikey’s holding (y/n), telling them that they’ll be okay, they’re all gonna make it home safe, and they’re never gonna leave each other’s side again.

donnie, in all his delusions, refuses to believe it’s too late for them. they’re still alive, he can patch them up, he can fix this.

leo’s the most lucid of them all. deep down, he knows that (y/n) is gone. he knows there’s nothing they can do about it. but it’s a truth he doesn’t want to believe, so he shuns out those thought and let’s himself believe the lies. (y/n) is still alive. they’ll make sure they come back to the lair safely.

it’s only when they finally make it out of the maze that they’re forced to confront the fact that (y/n) isn’t alive anymore. no matter how many cuts they stitch, medicine they give, (y/n) won’t wake up.

they gone for good.

they all deal with the loss differently. raph isn’t the same anymore. he practically has to be dragged out of bed and into the kitchen so he can eat. his eagerness to fight is gone, and the fire in his eyes is dead.

leo tries to push away his grief with anger. he goes out every night and takes out all his negative emotions on some poor criminals. but no matter how many thieves or bandits he beats up, he can never rid himself of the heavy weight on his chest, and he always ends up curled up in a ball, crying on a rooftop by the time the sun rises.

mikey is the only one of his brothers who still refuses to accept the truth. he still wears a smile, still has that sing-songy tone in his voice, still acts like (y/n) is alive. he always picks out (y/n)’s favorite movies to watch, always cooks an extra plate of food for them, always texts them at the usual time… (y/n) isn’t gone! they love the guys too much to leave them!

donnie, as most might predict, buried himself in his work. his doors are locked 24/7, they have to be practically broken down if anyone wants to get in. yet, even when he makes the most groundbreaking inventions, it isn’t the same without (y/n) praising his machinery and listening to him ramble about how it works. he wonders if it’s even worth it to continue his science if it isn’t for them…

wait. that’s it!

raph is still moping in his room, leo is on the surface beating a group of criminals half to death, and mikey is playing video games with “(y/n),” so no one notices when donnie leaves his lab in what feels like the first time in forever. his figure stalks through the sewers, until he finally finds what he’s been looking for.

the one thing that can get raph out of his room without being forced out.

the one thing that would provide leo with comfort after any rough night.

the one thing mikey refuses to visit because it’s the one thing that could disprove his blissful lies.

(y/n)’s grave.

the boys couldn’t bare the thought of (y/n) truly leaving them for good. so instead of letting their friends and family know of their death, they kept their grave in the sewers, where they could have them all to themselves. sure, it was selfish, but at this point… they simply stopped caring.

but tonight, that will all change.

leo will barge into the lair, frantic, distressed, and enraged. he’ll drag raph out of his room and practically throw him onto the couch where mikey is resting.

“someone dug up (y/n)’s grave!”

raph’s mood will change in a heartbeat. he’ll go from not caring at all what leo has to say, to practically fuming. mikey, on the other hand, will simply pout.

“i told you guys! (y/n) gets upset when you say that they’re dead! you’re taking this prank way too far!”

“mikey, this is serious!”

“i know! you made (y/n) mad, so they tore up that stupid grave you keep saying you buried them in!”

“we have to find their body!”

“they aren’t dead!”

for a moment, it will look like the fight is about to get physical. that is, until the lights suddenly shut off. donnie’s lab door will fly open, with the lights flickering within. whatever experiment donnie will do, it will have short-circuited everything else in the lair.

amidst the flickering lights, the trio will see donnie hunched over a table, diligently checking over whatever he had done.

“donnie! what’s the big deal?!”

leo’s irritated words will fall on deaf ears. all donnie will do is grin as he mutters under his breath, his tone uncharacteristically chipper.

leo will groan as he walks into the lab, his brothers following not too far behind.

“whatever, that’s not important. someone took (y/n)’s body out of their grave, and it’s our job to-!”

leo will stop mid sentence when donnie steps out of the way. raph and leo will stare wide eyed at the experiment donnie had pulled.

“…(y/n)?”

it’ll be hard to believe, but it’ll be true. there, on the lab table, (y/n) will sit. they’ll look like they’ve been starving for weeks, some of their limbs might even be falling off…

but that bright light in their eyes will say it all.

donnie will explain everything; how he dug their body from their grave, how he double, triple, and quadruple checked everything to make sure this process wouldn’t go downhill, how he used all the power in the lair to power his invention so he could bring (y/n) back to life-

“i told you i could fix this!”

mikey will be the first to act. he’ll run up to (y/n) and embrace their fragile form. donnie will warn him to be gentle with them, they’ve just come back from the dead, and their body is still weak. mikey will respond with a pout, saying that (y/n) was never dead to begin with.

“i told you, they’ve been alive all this time! isn’t that right, (y/n)?”

leo will take a step forward… and laugh. laugh as if this is a joke. this is surely a joke, right? reviving someone from the dead is impossible. this is just a robot donnie built to hurt their feelings as some twisted prank, and soon the rug will be pulled from under their feet, right? right? but then, his hand will cup their cheek. they’ll lean into his touch… and he’ll know it’s the real (y/n). he’ll break down on the spot. he’ll laugh and cry and pull them close, stuttering and sputtering as he chokes on his words, before trailing off and simply letting himself relish in their embrace.

“(y/n), you- you-” *hic* “- you were- how did- i… i…”

all the while, raph will stare at the group in disbelief. he won’t say anything, and for a good while, he won’t even move. even when donnie tries to snap him out of his daze, he’ll simply stand there. it’ll be as if time had stopped. and then (y/n) will make eye contact with him, and his body will move on his own. tears will stream down his face as he wraps his arms around the three of them. he had felt so empty holed up in his room, but when he’s holding onto them, he’ll feel whole again…

he’ll smile.

of course, things can’t just go back to the way things were. the boys are so traumatized after what happened, and what will (y/n)’s friends and family think if they see them in such a state?

i imagine that after donnie’s experiment, (y/n) is like a zombie. they don’t want to eat brains or anything, but their body is kinda decomposing, their limbs sometimes fall off and have to be stitched back on, and their brain, well…

i think they’d have memory loss. they can’t remember their death all that clearly, they’ve forgotten events that have happened more than a few days ago, and they regularly forget where they are, what they’re doing, and have to be constantly helped by the turtles. not that they turtles mind, of course.

this definitely works in the guys’ favor. they’ve forgotten the maze, so even if they saw all the terrible things the turtles have done for them, they won’t remember. they barely remember their life outside the turtles, so they don’t have to worry about competition. even if they somehow come across a memory of a family member or friend, the turtles can divert their attention to something else, and they’ll forget the person soon enough.

sure, this isn’t the right thing to do. sure, it’s selfish.

but with all they’ve gone through for (y/n), don’t they deserve this?

tried to stay in the halloween theme since the original post was a holiday special, hope ya like it

[bluepeachstudios]

GitS Q&A GO!!

Ghost made the entirety of the security system, though Donnie had some input into it. Normally Donnie likes to make new things, and Ghost keeps up the maintenance on the old things. He wants to let Donnie kinda do what he wants, because Ghost feels like he's "had his time" to dream and make whatever he wanted. He's modified a gaming system for Raph and a controller that's big enough to hold in his hands, Ghost has also modified all their cellphones for safety purposes and so they can just snag any signal from any cell phone tower.

More GitS questions answered under the cut!

He does. A lot.

Right after Ghost got out of the Battle Nexus, he slept a lot. He dreamed of his brothers so much he started wanting to be asleep more than awake. It got to the point where he wasn't really sure what was a dream/nightmare and what was real. He started drinking coffee again (he'd stopped during Battle Nexus) and it helped keep him awake. He started learning things like Japanese to pass the time.

He still has dreams that disorient him at first. He got into the habit of reminding himself every morning that they're gone. A depressing way to start the day, but it grounds him, and reminds him that the kids aren't gone.

Spoilers!

Considering Repo pushed Donnie and then subsequently tried to murder his children after going back on his deal with them, Ghost hates his guts.

2003 Donnie gets pissed at Ghost for leaving. But they talk, and figure things out eventually. Actually a good way to look at this one is by reading Ghost on the Server. 2003 Don goes OFF on Ghost.

Ghost finds it weird until he figures out that Draxum made the kids on purpose. Then it makes more sense to him. Ghost is pretty prepared, he knows a lot about turtles in general. He had to basically figure out their anatomy from scratch as a kid, though he HAS refrained from doing any intensive scans on the kids so far. He trusts their biology works basically the same way as he and his brothers', which it does. The biggest difference is that Ghost has no bridges (the hard sides of the boys' shells) which means he can't pull himself into his shell.

The first time Mikey popped into his shell he nearly had a heart attack.

Ghost is fine with it. He realized pretty quickly that Raph being noticeably the biggest and a year or two older than his brothers made him naturally take the leadership position. His own Leo naturally fell into the leadership position too, there was no announcement that he was the leader or anything, it was just that Leo was the most responsible, cool-headed, and quickest to make a decent plan. Ghost has sort of shifted his "don't carry the world on your shoulders" lessons more towards Raph in this case.

He does look at Leo sometimes and wonder if his own Leonardo would have been like that had he not been crushed under responsibility and a desire to let his brothers dream and be kids.

Yup! Ghost gives them lessons like school. Donnie generally didn't need them, but Ghost gives Donnie special assignments instead to enrich his learning so he isn't so bored. He kind of tailors their learning to them, so his teaching is done in short bursts with lots of visuals and hands-on examples. He focuses more on practical lessons that they can use in real life and moral lessons from history. He also teaches them all battlefield medicine, so Leo's not the only one who can patch them up in an emergency.

"At least twice a day. Morning and night. Usually more. Mikey hangs off of me and Raph a lot."

-------

WHEW okay those are Ghost in the Shell asks! I've got a few I want to draw, and if your ask doesn't have anything to do with GitS, I'm still gettin' around to it. :D

[enthblaze]

https://at.tumblr.com/enthblaze/lets-talk-about-giovanni/o2j9vlpogrjf What’s Van’s relationship with his brothers?

Van is like the forgotten family member.

It makes no difference if he's there or not.

So with that said, his relationship with his brothers varies.

Of course, he's the closest with Leo. As kids, they were always seen together and were very similar. Unfortunately that relationship frayed as the years went by, especially once Leo became leader. He felt like he was being left behind and it didn't help when Karai came into their lives. He resents Leo for sometime after that, not that he ever showed it openly or made it a problem that would affect the team. Eventually the thread between them snaps and they both feel it - though nothing is said. Leo knew Van was going to leave eventually, so he has a talk with him, a much needed one, and it mends just enough of their relationship for them to spend time together before they separate. Leo knows he failed Van in more ways he can count. Good leaders are there for their team. And yet Van fled from his side despite it all. He didn't try to make him stay - he knew he couldn't keep his twin where he didn't belong or want to be. Should he have tried anyway? Would it have made a difference? Would a simple "we need you" make Van rethink all he's ever thought about his existence and make him part of the family again? Leo wouldn't know.

Raph fights with Van almost as often as he fights with Leo. They get along most days, but if Raph's angry, there's a 50/50 split between the cause being either of the twins. But other than that, Raph has a soft spot for Van and is one of the few people he hugs more than usual. And also, Van knows a lot of things about Raph. When Van leaves and Raph goes through his room and sees all that's left (from his interest in guitar to writing his own stories to the stack of books on prehistoric animals), he realises he knew very little about his big brother. He hardly knew Van at all. Van knew his favourite colour was red and all these years, Raph thought his favourite colour was green. It's not. It's yellow. Why didn't he know that? The most simple thing? Where had he gone wrong to not know his older brother's favourite colour?

Donnie and Van might be next in line with how close they are. Van's always in the lab, after all, leaving the him with a lot of time alone with Donatello. They like to teach each other things and learn a lot from each other's interests and pursuits. Additionally, Van really makes him pay attention to the complicated parts of being a medic...because one day, even before he realised it himself, he won't be there to look after everyone anymore. Donnie connects the pieces months after Van's departure. He wonders if he should've noticed something was wrong. Should he have asked more questions about things other than medicine? Should he have tried more to know Van past his role in the team?

Mikey's relationship with Van is quite strained. No one knew why. They were never really on the same wavelength. They're the same person essentially, sharing the same humour and lightheartedness that the team needs, but they're also way too different to truly connect. It makes it hard because if things were slightly different, maybe they'd be best friends. Occasionally, they'd get together to play pranks or skateboard and Mikey thinks oh! Van's pretty cool. He wishes they had more moments like those. He can count the ones he has on one hand. And he doesn't even use all his fingers. Mikey likes Van. But Van was more closed off than Leo was, specifically towards him... Did he push Mikey away because he thought Mikey didn't like him?

Van is friendly with his brothers for the most part, but their interactions almost feel...alien. Like he's a stranger or a friend from elsewhere instead of the brother they grew up with wince they were kids. He's an essential part of the team, but it's also clear that the team won't be off-balance if he isn't there.

Of the other four, if one of them isn't present, the team has to re-situate itself to accommodate for their lost member. But if that member is Van, there's hardly a difference at all. It's a phenomenon that played part in pushing Van to leave years later.

(He knew they'd be able to look after each other and that they'd be okay without him. It made it easier to pack his things, not having to worry about his family's stability.)

Van was a mistake in earnest, and because of that, his family made mistakes around him without knowing. Mistakes that eventually made him leave.

It's hard making someone feel like they're part of the family when they always have been in their eyes.

[coconurt]

OKAY WRITER ASKS!!

*Plops down here*

2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 (Ehehe), 21, 22, 23, 27, 29

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK, BESTIE!!!!!

2. Do you read/reread your own fics? Yeah, sometimes!

4. How many WIPs do you have right now? 4 active ones!

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write? Uhhh not sure. Probably something spicy lol

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time? Weelll, not really, but the last fic I reread was we'll make it, i swear by taizi on ao3

7. How many ideas for fics do you have right now? Two! The one I'm working on currently, and the other raphsandra one I told you about :3

9. Do you write every day? If you wrote today, share a sentence of what you’ve written! No, not every day! Just when inspo strikes lol. *looks at the 1.1k I just wrote tonight*

~Leo's heart performed an uncomfortable twist in his chest. He instinctively reached behind his back for his swords. They weren't there. His- his katanas, they were gone-

"Easy, my child. You are safe," came a soft female voice from behind him.~

13. How much planning do you do before writing? None whatsoever. I have an idea, it kicks me in the gut, I write it down before I forget about it. Ya know how it goes~

15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters? I usually use song lyrics. cuz. ✨ aesthetics ✨

16. At what point in the process do you come up with titles? When I hear a good song lyric that fits the fic lol

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic? That plaster and fiberglass are not necessarily the best way to patch a turtle shell >:3

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

~That was really it. His friend, his teacher, his everything was gone forever. Doomed to die separated from his family, trapped alone with a monster, just so the rest of them could live.~

The fic

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs. Ehehe you get TWO teasers bestie :)

~"Are-" His voice cracked, and he started over. "Are they okay? Raph and Mikey and… and Donnie, are they-?"

Karai dipped her head, once.

"Would you like to see them?"~

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why? Yeah probably. I'm too tired to remember a specific one tho :P

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing? Yes. When I first have an idea, the beginning, middle, and end kind of flash through my mind in the course of a few seconds lol

23. How do you choose where to end a chapter (if you have multi-chapter works)? I've never written anything with more than one chapter! Kinda want to tho...

27. Is there a fic you were nervous to post/share? Why? Probably the very first one I posted to tumblr here! Why? Cuz I was a nervous newb lol. I didn't have any reason to be tho, I got a few nice comments and it meant the WORLD to me

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

~Donnie and Mikey were already with him, trying their damn best to stop the blood seeping from the gaping wound on Raph's plastron. Leo skidded to a stop, dropping roughly to his knees as his blood sang harshly in his veins.~

[ijustliketurtleslmao]

How the turtles deal with the loss of someone they love

Ah, angst

WARNING: MENTIONS OF SH, ALCOHOL, DEATH

Read with caution!!

Leo

Is very hard on himself over it

Keeps thinking of all the things he couldn’t or could’ve done

Regret. Tons of regret

“I wish i was there for them more”

“I should’ve been there”

“Did it seem like i didn’t care..?”

“I’m such a fucking idiot”

Will not stop with the self loathing for months

Does not cry, and will not allow himself too

(Breaks down when he’s alone)

He and his brothers have a ‘crying is for the weak’ mentality

And he’s just really good at hiding his emotions

He feels like it’s always his fault, especially if they died during a mission or under his care

If he doesn’t get rid of the guilt, he’ll resort to hurting himself

And he hides it under a bandage

He’ll tell his brother’s it’s a katana accident or a wound from patrol

Hopefully they believe it

He doesn’t want them thinking they’re fearless leader has gone weak

The one who helps his brothers cope

Usually the one seeing Donnie crying in his lab

or Raph breaking down in his room, Mikey doing his best to comfort while trying not to cry too

He’ll be the one the brother’s vent too (even Raph)

He listens and gives comfort

But he can’t will himself to look for that same comfort

Why should he? He’s the older one, the bigger person

That’s not what he’s supposed to do, right?

Right?

Probably won’t get over it for months

Will repeat this unhealthy guilt process until he can push it down far enough

Someone give this poor man a hug and a shoulder to cry on

Just let him vent and cry

Give him tons of reassurance

He needs it

Raph

Distances himself from everyone

It’s like he emotionally shuts down

He can’t feel any other emotion other than sadness, and rarely anger

Doesn’t have the daily fights with Leo anymore

Or the angry outbursts

He’s just quiet

He doesn’t talk as often as he used to

He’ll be quiet during training sessions or patrols

Nothing seems fun for him anymore

On occasion, you can find him breaking down in his room

He hates when he does it

Leo tries to give comforting reassurance

It does make him feel a bit better

But on days where he feels the most down

Like “hit rock bottom” kind of down

He’ll resort to alcohol

He has a secret stash (can’t tell you where)

Takes a few swigs of the drink

It helps

No matter the headaches or burning throat

It’s way better than feeling nothing at all

Mikey is the only one who knows and tries to coax him out

He’s listened to Donnie’s lectures about how that kind of alcohol is bad for your health

It doesn’t work, so Mikey stopped trying

When it all doesn’t work, he talks to Leo

Surprisingly

Leo doesn’t judge what he has to say and brings a comfort he probably needs at the moment

He won’t admit, but he’s thankful sometimes that his older brother is like this

But it’s just a last resort

The whe grief process takes a while for him tk get over

He goes slowly, tries to progress day by day

And he does get out of it eventually

Then it’ll be his first time visiting their grave

Probably leaving a few flowers if he’s feeling extra sappy

Donnie

Overworks himself to the point of passing out

He’ll do it as a way to distract himself from feeling the way he does

Sometimes he’ll go to Leo to talk about his feelings

Leaves feeling a bit better, but guilty

“Leo has so much to deal with, and now he has to deal with my bullshit huh?”

Leo’s reassurance sometimes helps, but he feels like it’s not true and that he’s just saying it to make him feel better

Get’s a lot snappier and angry for no reason

Little things like the coffee machine malfunctioning or Mikey humming pisses him off

You can find him in his lab, probably breaking down or working

Or both

Meditating doesn’t help no matter what Leo reccomends

He goes for days without sleeping

Working on countless projects to keep himself busy

Leo tries to get him to rest, but Donnie ends up snapping at him

It’ll take a few more tries (and maybe a punch) before Leo leaves

It leaves Donnie with a shit ton of guilt and pain he takes out on his work

He’ll be like this for 2 months tops

Then he’ll start to feel a bit better

His mood lightens, he gets more sleep, his hands don’t shake anymore

He sees the improvement and decides to keep going

He feels a lot fucking better now that’s it’s over

He starts resesrching more on the topic of grief

So he can prepare himself for when he has to go through it again

And maybe help out some of his brothers

Mikey

Acts like everything is fine when it’s definitely not

You can see him keeping up with his daily routine

It concerns April and Splinter that he seems fine and not sad or mourning or anything

When you ask him about it, his behaviour starts to make sense

“What do you mean? Them? Oh, they’re just on a really long vacation!”

He doesn’t want to accept that this person isn’t going to be alive and there anymore

So, he’s gaslighted himself into thinking they’re fine and alive

If there’s a voice in his head trying to tell the truth

He pushes it down deep into the corners of the mind

Donnie’s tried knocking some sense into him

But god, Mikey is a tough nut to crack

He just smiles and denies anyone saying that they’re dead

And he keeps this up for months

Until he it finally gets through

Then he starts breaking down at the mere mention of thier name

Not in public, in private when he’s alone

He’ll hold himself and repeat

“Please come back..”

That’s when death starts to scare him even more

He isn’t going to admit it (except maybe to Leo)

He does vent to Leo a lot more, because he’s learned that he’s a safe space

An outlet for all these shitty emotions

And he’s his big brother! He’s the rock to depend on, right?

But he actually get’s through the grief process faster than his other brothers

Really sorry if it seems rushed!

I was kinda busy with life but i got something out atleast!