#give Mikey caffeine for his ADHD

[brightlotusmoon]

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

[princessfayebug]

2012 Mikey Headcanons

•He'll play a song and repeat the same part over and over again bc he has ADHD

•I feel like he'd enjoy shows like He Man and She Ra

•I feel like he's tried to eat paper before

•He has so much potential to be a great chef he just needs the right ingredients

•Cat lover(obviously)

•He gives off gender non comforming vibes

•I feel like he'd be really good friends with Luz Noceda...idk I could just see them geeking out over books and shows and writing fanfiction together

•He'd show her some of his skateboard moves

•And she would teach him how to do magic w glyphs

•Draws little doodles on himself when he's bored

•Likes to make little gifts w/poorly written notes for his bros and hides them around the lair around Christmas time

•Still believes in Santa

•Put pizza in a blender mixed it with orange fanta, ice cream, and a bunch of other random stuff and nearly had a heart attack afterwards one time

•Eats cold pizza for breakfast

•Makes breakfast for his bros every morning

•I just know he wrote a crognard/ wingnut and screwloose crossover fanfiction

•Surprisingly handles sugar really well

•He can't handle caffeine though

•He took one sip of coffee and was bouncing off the walls 10 minutes later

•Secretly records Raph singing in the shower and uses it as blackmail later

•Listens to Mitski and Lemon Demon

[misteria247]

A cup of coffee mixed with a little bit of ADHD

It had been a long week, studying without an ounce of sleep visible in the bags under your eyes, you made your way to the brothers shared kitchen hoping to find what you were looking for. By the kitchen you saw Donnie filing his seventy fifth cup of coffee in his purple cup, jackpot. He was just about to take a sip when you asked if you could get some too, Donnie looked at his mug, then at the coffee pot. He estimates that one cup of coffee won't be enough, so he gives you his cup, takes the coffee pot, and leaves. That's Donnie for you, with the wobble of a ship on an ocean you made your way to their couch spotting Leo and Raph arguing close by, like usual so you didn't pay much attention, snippets of their argument piping in here and there. Something about training ehh… twenty dollars, lack of sleep and Mikey, with that in mind you did what any sleep deprived person would do.

“Yo Mikey, want some coffee?”

The bouncing shinsine halted in his steps as he snapped his head toward your direction. He was never allowed to touch his brother's cup.

“boy do i”

He maneuvers over the couch into your lap making grabby hands at the mug unfaced that you had your lips on it, his brother's groaned but you could care less. But the premonition of Mikey spilling coffee on your pants was not to your liking, so you placed the mug on the coffee table, manhandled Mikey off your lap and gave him Donnies cup. Within seconds the contents of the cup was emptied as Mikey started spewing rapidfire about what was on his mind.

Leo and Raph had already left to do their own thing as you're left with the hyperactive turtle that slowly but surely, starts to slow down in his speech. The signs only started showing ten minutes after the caffeine consumption, then five and now two. Mikey was slumped against you struggling to stay awake. It wouldn't be long until he fell unconscious, seams like you and Donnie weren't the only sleep deprived creatures in this dean.

.

.

.

Ralph could feel his blood pressure increase at what he was seeing, Mikey lay sprawled out on top of your torso fast asleep, and then there was you. He swears that the little snores you let out were mocking him, he clenched his fists. Leo nudged him with a shit eating grin to top it all of, Raph let out an exasperated groan as he reached into his… pocket taking out twenty dollars and begrudgingly gave them to Leo as he gloated knowingly. It took everything in him not to punch his idiot brother.

(Did you know that coffee has a different effect on people who have ADHD? Sure it may be a bit overdone here but I thought that I'd give you a little insight into their daily interactions.

First off I'm in love with this especially the ending with Raph and Leo being the somewhat watchful eyes on the reader and Mikey and that apparently they had a bet going that Raph lost like that was great!

Second off.....omfg no wonder it takes more than one cup of coffee for me to get more awake. I never knew that about ADHD and I have it lmao.

Anyways thank you for sharing your work with me once more!!! I absolutely adore it when you do!!!!!

[cantsleepwithoutthesubway]

(TMNT asks) 6 and 15!

Ooh these are good ones. Let's see...

6. Least favorite headcanons

These will be general across all versions. I don't know about too many headcanons, and I don't tend to dwell on ones I don't like, so this was a bit tricky.

Leo's is that he doesn't know how to have fun, or the 'fun killer'. Just because he's the oldest and the most responsible doesn't mean he doesn't have time to be chill.

Raph's is that his One Trait is that he's always angry. I firmly believe that his expressions of anger are only because he doesn't know how to express his emotions. To him, it may not seem like anger, but that's how it comes across. All in all, I think most of the time he's a chill dude that, yes protects his family, but also snarks to show affection and likes to help when he's capable. He's only in Anger Mode, in extreme circumstances, like high stakes the movies and tv shows have.

Donnie's is that he's the least skilled turtle. I don't agree. Because regardless of skill in martial arts, he also has skills that his brothers don't have. And I don't just mean his brain. I'm sure that Donnie takes breaks to figure out issues on a project by going through training, the movement helping him think. Donnie doesn't outwardly show his skill as often as the others, but it doesn't mean he can't hold his own in a fight.

Mikey's is that he's the dumb one. I hate this one. Mostly because I head canon he's got ADHD, and as someone with ADHD, I hate being called stupid for something outside my control. Mikey zones out at bad times, thinks of unrelated things, and has trouble putting his focus on training or missions, etc. And that's not because he's stupid or isn't trying, and I wish people would realize that. He's not the comical relief or the dunce of the team. (Adding onto this, the fact that people think giving Mikey coffee would make him MORE hyper, while kinda funny, doesn't mesh well with him having ADHD, since caffeine affects us differently.)

15. Least favorite character development/storyline

My least favorite storyline is in the 2012 show, where Mikey had to clean up the farmhouse alone and he ran away because of it. Yes, he did make the mess himself, but it was clearly a task too big for him alone and his brothers should have known that by then after living with him for so long. There was a better way to handle that.

[brightlotusmoon]

The TMNT franchise kept telling us about Mikey's potential for three decades. Rise took that, ran with it, broke a few walls with it, and showed it hardcore.

He's the Battle Nexus Champion, the superhero Turtle Titan, the Holy Chalupa, the Mystic Master.

19-year-old me has been cackling like a witch from 24 years in the past.

[brightlotusmoon]

They're all sitting in extremely neurodivergent ways, BTW.

[brightlotusmoon]

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

Being autistic with ADHD means both at the same time.

[brightlotusmoon]

On AO3 I saw a tag for "Smart Michelangelo" in a 2012 fic and I almost cried. That shouldn't have to be a thing. Google search results for Mikey in general shouldn't be suggesting that he is the stupid turtle. I'm tired and I have insomnia.

Mikey isn't stupid, Mikey is very smart, and in my lifetime it will be a complete fact.

ADHD characters like Mikey being portrayed as class clowns, immature, naive, and mascots for vicarious embarrassments has apparently been a Discussion Trigger for... huh, 17 years now.

[brightlotusmoon]

Michelangelo IS the weed man. For the 1987 cartoon, David turned him into a stoner surfer stereotype on purpose. Everyone after him took it from there. Even Kevin, who made Mikey, and Steve, who was Mikey.

[brightlotusmoon]

Okay, so now that more of us understand that with ADHD, the rampant inconsistencies are a huge part of the disability, ie executive dysfunction and dyspraxia and time blindness and hyperfocus yada yada yada, I'm going to dig back through all my Mikey And His ADHD posts to spot times I talked about his rejection sensitivity frustration moments. Especially 2003, who didn't get much screen time when it came to exploring the hidden depths behind the goofiness. In this essay I

[brightlotusmoon]

Headcanon for all versions of Mikey: He actually will watch documentaries if they're on the right subject. Mostly nature and medicine, because deep down Michelangelo is utterly fascinated by how humans work. Don't you dare call him stupid.

He'll watch medical shows like he watches horror films, actually.

[brightlotusmoon]

Reasons I always thought TMNT Michelangelo was fae:

1 Don't make deals with him unless you want chaos specifically.

2 He's a natural born trickster, a psychic empath, and is deeply insightful.

3 If you don't word your request right, he will skate right through the loopholes.

4 He's a skilled performer and highly charismatic. He's also a creative and an artist and martial artist. He knows all about acupressure points, emotional regulation, psychological weak spots, how to build confidence, how to shatter confidence.

5 Let him give you a nickname, it's just easier.

6 He will get very attached, he's permanently touch starved, just treat him like a cat.

7 Don't worry. He'll find you. He'll always find you.

[brightlotusmoon]

Husband on Rise: You're right, it is the most ADHD cartoon! They're always stimming everywhere!

[brightlotusmoon]

The Ninja Turtles walk into a coffee shop AU.

In broad daylight, in public, in Brooklyn. King's Highway, since that's where I grew up in the 80s.

I'm going to sleep for real this time.

Sweet coffee dreams.

[brightlotusmoon]

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

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

Draxum did specifically try for warriors.

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

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

[brightlotusmoon]

In a discussion about "goofball" characters (usually ADHD) using pop culture and fantasy as coping mechanisms, social levelers, and emotional outlets:

THIS GUY.

In the 2003 and 2012 series, Mikey regularly quoted films, books, television, comic books, and media phenomenon so accurately that it's saved their shells multiple times.

Didn't get much credit beyond a "sigh, really, Mikey?" or "...huh, Mikey had a good idea" but that's just teammates and sibling banter. It did get frustrating when they kept scolding him but he did have really bad timing.

Remember 2007 when he was very obviously participating in research and planning while being loud and somewhat overbearing in his exuberance? 1990 when every other sentence was a script and a zing? Archie, where he grew up to be a multimedia artist working in an orphanage? Mirage where he...uhh, he wound up an interplanetary POW set up by someone he thought he could love and being tortured for no reason and realizing the hatchlings aren't even his...? I'm sure optimistic memeing is still a thing when you're trapped on an alien planet participating in a war you never wanted...? (Oh hi John Crichton of Farscape how the hell are you)