#leonardo centric

[jinxy-minxy]

Leonardo has always tried to be the perfect omega, but his life takes a turn for the worse when his father arranges a marriage between him and the alpha leader of the foot clan, Oroku Saiki. He must choose between following his father's orders or following his heart. All while trying to mend the estranged relationship between him and his brothers.

Words: 8,496

—

New fic!! If you love Leonardo-centric omega-verse angst you’ll love this one!

[starwalker03]

New fic just dropped!

Summary: After the events of the Kraang invasion Leo has a lot to work through; his budding leadership skills, his heaping responsibilities, and his new trauma. A new friend gives him a safe space to face these things head on. Unfortunately, at the same time, a new branch of the Foot Clan are moving into New York, and they are a much more serious threat than their predecessors

Starring Leonardo and his self worth issues!

[explodingstarlight]

doodling teetles

And here are some close-ups (might put them on their own backgrounds one day, but it's 5 AM and I'm tired so):

[vexahlla]

Donnie and Leo as twins, as the middle kids, both developing big egos to overcompensate for what they admire in the other and find lacking in themselves.

Donnie seeing Leo's charisma and natural talent for connection, and wondering why his own social skills are so different, and throwing himself into a more useful, tactile way to help the ones he loves, not realizing that his more straight forward outlook on things is needed in their very chaotic family. Doubles down on being the Smart Guy.

Leo seeing Donnie's smarts and completely disregarding his own because the role of "idea guy" is already filled. This is why he rarely communicates his plans, because he's not book smart (aka "donnie smart") so they don't count, they're just his own personal whims that he doesn't let anyone in on until stressed. To Leo, everyone on the team has something to contribute EXCEPT for him, something useful. Doubles down on being the Cool Guy.

Brotherly competition twisting in on itself because of self worth issues. They're both competitive, especially with each other, but I want to talk about Leo here for a bit. Once he has no control over the situation, it's "not a competition" because he can't stack up. Leo's the leader from the start in every universe but Rise, and in this one he's blind to even considering that's where he fits because of a low self image. He doesn't take things seriously because he doesn't take himself seriously, and this carries over to his leadership role at first because threats are low after he takes over until very suddenly they're not anymore.

[olisix823]

Hello Everyone! This is my new AU called ‘Welcome To The DarkSide’ I will be posting the book on Ao3 and pictures/ animations on here! This is a ROTTMNT AU mostly centered around Leo. My schedule is packed, so let’s see how this plays out! Have a great day!

Chapter 1: To End It All

???

[whattraintracks]

22. Puzzling - TMNT 2012

Don't worry, guys, that wasn't supposed to happen.

When the bit of Kraang tech he's examining (read: poking randomly in the hopes that something will happen) explodes, Donatello's not sure if he or Raphael shrieks louder. He thinks it's Raph. Which would be way funnier under different circumstances.

He blinks against sooty particulates. "Huh, well, that wasn't supposed to happen."

He's amid a cloud of unexpectedly thick, slightly pink smoke. Which is on-brand but frankly annoying. He waves at the air in a vain attempt to disperse it. Maybe he can move this operation to the kitchen, work under the exhaust hood. He should probably install one in here. He gives up flailing his arms, and backs away from the desk. Step one to solving any problem is getting some distance. Step two is—oh, that's weird. The cloud doesn't seem to have moved since the initial explosion. What kind of particles are these? He hasn't seen Kraang tech do this before.

The moment he remembers Raph is also the moment he trips over him. With a yelp, he hits the ground. Hard. Raph giggles. Rude. He's going to have at least two bruises tomorrow. And his scream was definitely louder than Raph's, so he's lost any right to make fun.

"Dude," Donnie groans, pushing to his feet. At least he's away from the Kraang smoke, "Why'd you trip me?"

"I don't know," comes the high-pitched reply, "Why're you so big?"

By the time his eyes clear, he's pretty sure it's a genuine question, not an insult about his height. It makes more sense once he looks down, down, down to find Raph miniaturised.

Donnie throws his hands to his head. "That wasn't supposed to happen, either!" Raph just giggles again.

"Leo!"

As far as they can tell, based on Raph's appearance and memories, he's about five. Donnie can't even remember being that young. Which he counts as a good thing because kids are weird. Or maybe that's just mutant turtle kids. He doesn't have experience with normal children to establish a baseline. Leo and Sensei do, though, and they seem unperturbed by Raph's behavior. Even Mikey takes the whole thing in stride. He is, in fact, absolutely thrilled and oscillates between gathering blackmail material and doing whatever Raph asks.

Donnie will admit he's having trouble making sense of it all. First, and he thinks he’s mentioned this, that was not supposed to happen. He can't figure out how a broken Kraang tech part without any detectable energy source could have caused something like this. Which naturally leads to the question of how he's meant to fix it. Raph has no idea what happened, either, so he's no help. Worse, he just might be the most confusing being Donnie has ever met. Take yesterday, for example.

He's not sure what time it is when he stumbles out of the lab for breakfast, so it might not technically be in the range of the day at which it is appropriate to call a meal breakfast. His brain is too full of viscous pink Kraang smoke to care. It must be some mealtime because everyone but Master Splinter is in the kitchen when he arrives. Leo is at the island supervising Raph and Mikey's mess-making by the stove.

Raph perks up, "Hey Donnie! I wanna tell you a question."

"Ask nicely, Raph," Leo reminds, hiding a smile behind the rim of his tea cup.

"Please, I wanna tell you a question." He barrels on, "How do you open your labrador?”

Open his what? Donnie stares at the space above Raph's head, trying to parse the question until a nudge from Leo resets his brain. "Say what?"

"Your labrador!" He flings his arms out, nearly knocking himself to the floor. Mikey catches the lip of his shell just in time.

“What Labrador? Raph, I don't have a—”

“Yeah, you do!” He's angry of a sudden. Of course, he is. But it's weird. It's not the first time Donnie's made him mad since the incident, but he's never gotten in anyone's face or stormed off with a huff. He just screeches until he gets whatever it is that he wants. It's Raph's anger, but it's not. “It’s how you get to the place you do all your smart stuff!"

Mikey swoops in, crouching to squeeze Raph gently, then translates, “He means the door to your lab, bro.”

“The door? Oh. Why would—?" Donnie sighs heavily, sinking into the stool next to Leo. “Raph, that’s the lab door,” he enunciates, “Not a Labrador. A Labrador is a dog breed."

Just like that, Raph's face unscrunches into something thoughtful. “So it’s not a labrador?”

Well, at least the exasperation is familiar. "I literally just said that. It’s a normal door.” Leo clicks at him warningly. Come on, what is he supposed to do here? Seriously, this feels surreal. Maybe this whole dialogue is a dream, and he's hunched over his desk right now. He straightens his shell to test for any worse-than-usual aching.

“Okay," Raph says. Then he turns around. Just like that. As if the entire conversation never happened. Never mind his original question or whatever he was trying to ask. He makes no sense, literally none at all.

But, you know what, fine. Donnie has to eat anyway so he can go back to the "place where he does all his smart stuff" or whatever. So he can figure out how to get his actual brother back, who at least makes sense most of the time.

Leo finishes his tea, returning Raph's enthusiastic wave goodbye, and then there are three. Mikey and Raph finally settle down to eat whatever noxious concoction they've whipped up as Donnie cleans his dishes. Freshly fed, his brain refills with extradimensional smoke and engineering.

"Well, that's boring!"

He fumbles with his mug at the sudden shout. A glance over his shoulder finds Raph, who had been eating quietly, now glaring at him.

“You should name that boring normal door Labrador so we can just call it that anyway," he says firmly.

He's not sure why he tries to ask, “Why would I—”

“Or or!" And it's like a switch again, anger suddenly dissipating. "We could name it something cooler! Like Thundoor from Crognard!”

“Thundarr,” He corrects. It's too late, Mikey's joins in.

“That’s awesome, little dude!" Mikey laughs buoyantly. "We should name all the furniture!”

“Yeah!”

And Donnie is so tired and so lost, and Raph is too much and too little of his brother at the same time it’s not even funny anymore. He doesn't think it ever was.

“Come one, Dee!" Mikey hoists Raph onto his shoulders, naturally content to ignore the messy kitchen. "Help Raphie and I name everything in the lair!”

Donnie tries to shake his head as Raph reaches for him. “Can you! Can you, please? Just for a little bit, please, Donnie, please?” Oh, now he recalls his manners.

"No, Raph." He bangs his mug onto the drying rack, ignoring Mikey's frown. "I don't have time for your nonsense questions and weird games. I'm trying to fix you."

It's not until he slams closed the lab door that the words trailing after his dramatic exit finally click. A puzzled sort of muttering from Raph: "Fix me? But I’m not broken."

So maybe he got a little too worked up, as tired as he was. But he's better now! He's eaten. He's slept five hours. He's determined to sit here until he cracks this thing.

And then someone bangs on the door.

He drops his head with a groan. How is he supposed to heroically solve all of their problems in these conditions? “Who is it, and what do you want," he shouts into the pages of his notebook.

"Once a second!"

One second, he mouths to himself. He listens to Raph struggle with the door for a lot of seconds and hopes he'll give up. He probably won't. Donnie better unlock it before he hurts himself. Or worse, starts screaming. Only because Leo would find some way to blame Donnie for it.

He shoves the door open, not at all irritated. Or vindicated either, when Raph falls on his shell and his sai skitter across the floor. Wait. “I thought Sensei took those out of your—Hey!”

Five-year-old Raph may not be much of a ninja but he is pretty slippery. He scrambles under Donnie's arm and launches into the rolling desk chair.

“Raphael." He glowers, summoning his inner Leo, "You are not allowed in the lab—”

“Without you,” he recites, spinning the chair so Donnie only catches glimpses of his cheeky smile. “But you’re here too! So it’s okay.”

It most definitely is not. Raph has no understanding of lab safety right now, so if Raph stays in here, then Donnie will have to keep an eye on him, and if Donnie has to watch Raph, then he can't focus on his work. He does not want Raph in here, and he says so.

“Donnie, I'll be so so so good. Please!” Oh, Mikey absolutely taught him how to do that with his eyes. Not cool, Mike.

“Raph," Donnie faux whines back. "I need to work. Go play with Leo or Mikey."

"Ugh," Raph flops onto his shell, letting his head and limbs hang. “But Sensei and Leo are medating, and Mikey’s with Red."

“Meditating," he corrects, "And I know you know her name is April.”

“Casey calls her Red.”

“Yeah, well, Casey’s a—” Raph looks at him with wide, innocent eyes. A promise on his face that anything Donnie says will be repeated. "It’s polite to call people by their name."

Raph hums, continuing to spin idly, “But I don't call you Donatello, I call you Donnie. And you call me Raph or sometimes Fai.”

Not a bad point. But what was that second thing? Fai? Oh. His brain retrieves fuzzy, forgotten memories. That's right. When they were both little, that had been his nickname for Raph. Just between the two of them. He can't remember when he stopped using it.

“Right," he says slowly. "But those are nicknames. They're a shorter version of your name.”

“Oh, okay.” Then Raph rolls out of the chair, clunking to the ground shell first, and wanders away to explore the lab.

Donnie retakes the seat, resigning himself to further interruptions. Part of his brain is devoted to thinking up better excuses in case this is one of those conversations Raph returns to without warning. The rest of his awareness is on Raph as he pokes and prods at books and equipment and even poor Timothy. It takes the better part of a half hour for him to realise he's still sitting at his desk not moving a muscle.

He growls, gripping his head. Raph is on him in an instant. "What's wrong? Can I help? Do you need a book? Do you want one of mine? I can get Leo! Or Sensei, or—"

"No," Donnie snaps.

He gapes as Raph's beak trembles and his eyes fill with tears. "You're crying. Why are you crying? Please stop crying." He slides to the floor next to Raph, "I'm sorry? It's just. I'm trying to focus! I need to fix you, but I don't—"

“I don’t want you to fix me!” He shouts, scrubbing his face and hiccupping. “I just want to play! Why won’t you play with me anymore?"

“Raph, I," Donnie looks down at his hands, "I don’t have time,” he finishes lamely.

“Yes, you do! You’re just being mean!” He runs out of the lab. Probably to someone who actually understands him. Someone who tries. Donnie wonders if he’ll ever stop messing things up for Raph.

Because as far as they can tell, this version of Raph went to bed one day, and the family he found upon waking was suddenly different. Of course, Raph is frustrated and confused and probably a little scared. He's not just normal Raph in a smaller body. Donnie might've realised that sooner if he'd spent more time with him instead of causing one mess after the other and then hiding from it all in his lab.

Donnie doesn't remember when he was five, but he's heard Sensei's stories about their childhood. The ones about his younger self hanging on Raph's every word. That one embarrassing retelling of the biggest fight Donnie ever caused by announcing Raph was his favorite brother. His father's memories of them doing everything together, at least until Donnie really got into science. So he steps out of the lab and locks it behind him. His brother, this brother, needs to come first.

He must look contrite enough that Leo only grills him a little before he points to Raph's room. After a single breath of indecision, he sits, shell against the door.

“Hey, Fai?” he starts, tugging at his fingers, “I’m really sorry. I have been pretty mean lately, haven’t I?” It takes a few moments, but a little thud echoes on the other side of the door.

Relieved, he continues, “I’m not as good at this as I used to be. I might need your help. But I’m out of my lab right now, and we can play whatever you want.”

Donnie hits the floor before he realises the door has swung open. Little Raph is looking down at him, eyes still watery but excited. "Really? Anything? Even Space Heroes!"

And Donnie almost can't believe it's that easy. He smiles with Raph's infectious joy. “Space Heroes? Who are you, Leo?”

Raph collapses into him with a laugh that banishes the rest of his tears as Donnie reaches out, tickling him just like he's seen their big brother do. He's still giggling when Donnie staggers to his feet. “Think I could use some bedding to build us the Dauntless?”

Raph cheers. Launching into an explanation of his favorite episodes and characters as he directs them around the lair to collect supplies. If this isn't blackmail material, Donnie doesn't know what is. Raph will never be able to deny that he likes Space Heroes ever again. Once Donnie figures out how to reverse this Kraang-smoke-induced de-aging that is.

He does still have to. They need Raph as he should be: their teammate, their protector, their equal. But if he were here in those roles right now, Donnie knows he would have heard a thousand times over that he needs to sleep, to eat, to take a break for at least five minutes, Don, come on.

So he'll try. He'll take breaks to hang out with his favorite brother. He'll get a lot of experience building sheet spaceships and pillow forts. And by the end of it all, Donnie will realise his little brother really does just want to play and ask silly questions that probably don’t seem so silly to him. He'll decide this little version of Raph isn't a puzzle of confusing emotions. He's the same pieces he's always been, unfiltered and untethered from all the pain and fear of their older selves.

And so, even after Raph returns to 16, whenever the thought creeps up on Donnie that he's not doing enough, that he needs to fix it. He'll lock his lab behind him and say, "Hey, Fai! Wanna play something?"

[s0fti3w1tch]

Before I go to bed.... Another ROTTMNT Leo-centric fanfic rec

Ongoing fanfic, 15/? as of 04/26/23

Gen, no romance

Synopsis: Leo goes swimming and "something" follows him back home in return. Kind-of mind-control/possession ensues and mostly not fun.

Sickfic except the "sick" is kinda like the whole "parasite from the water" psychological horror situation, except that parasite is also maybe um magic. Like. H2O: Just Add Water except significantly more stressful.

Please note the psychological horror aspect and the additional tags

The fluff is good when it's there, but so is the angst🤙🤙

Anyways, I love this line from chapter 15:

Because despite how much this scene sent my heart racing, amazing dialogue as always 🤙🤙🤙

[a-colorless-fighter]

GUESS WHO JUST HIT 1K HITS ON A03?!

SERIOUSLY, TYSM!! HOW DO I ONLY HAVE TWO CHAPTERS OUT AND 1,000 PEOPLE ALREADY VEIWED IT?!

As a thank you, I decided to post the official cover art I designed! I was planning on posting both the cover art and the third chapter as a gift, but life and other projects got in the way so I had to put the fanfic on hold. I am still working

on it though! Aaaand, as you may have noticed, this is posted on the official ACF tumblr! I’ve been getting some comments of people saying they want to make some fanart/fan animations, I am absolutely flattered so I opened up a place to feature all fanart if someone wants to make some. Everyone has been so kind and supportive, thank you so much! It makes me want to work on it more!

A Colorless Fighter.

Only two months after the krang invasion, Leo gets amnesia and is kidnapped by the EPF. He is experimented on and forced to help capture other Yoki and even battle his own brothers. Leo slowly learns who he really is again and must find a way to escape.

Warning:

Please read the warnings on the writing and each chapter before reading. This fanfic does not hold back when it comes to some sensitive topics and will only get more soul-crushing the more chapters release. If you don’t like that, that’s fine, this isn’t for you and you are free to leave, respectfully. But Imma be here writing what I enjoy for people who also enjoy the same thing.

Again, thank you so much for all the love and attention! I plan to post more art and stuff related to my fic on this account, however, if you would like to check out some wholesome art or other artwork by me, you may check out my main tumblr, FoxFlamingo.

[angelmichelangelo]

can we just talk about how easily mikey is able to take on his brothers that are possessed and not holding back at all? he had some serious untapped potential in this show that was so wasted

[jinxy-minxy]

Chapter Two out!

10,537 Words 🙈

Summary: The boys are back

[junsei-draws-rotasu]

The reason why I don’t write 2012 Leo agsnt much because I can’t take it and I might end up give him even more than canonical trauma, and the other is the fact we got enough agsnt in the show itself. You can’t see it unless you really look and think about it.

[will-continue-livinglikeimtrying]

Let's tell the story a little differently this time.

Let's rock the socks off of this city and remind them how good it feels to be Bad.

[innqufocus]

decided to tackle the bad things happen bingo for my ao3 tmnt 2k12 series Another Voice. i try to avoid giving all the cliches to one character, so hopefully this visual reflects that.

key:

🟣 = Donnie

🟦 = Leo

🔴 = Raph

⭐️ = Mikey

[zelgadis55]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: April O'Neil (TMNT), Michelangelo (TMNT), Donatello (TMNT), Leonardo (TMNT), Raphael (TMNT), Hamato Yoshi | Splinter, Casey Jones (TMNT), Jack Kurtzman, Mighty Mutanimals (TMNT), The Kraang (TMNT) Additional Tags: post 'Battle for New York', Dimension x, April Centric, Mikey centric, references to 'Into Dimension X', april pov, mikey POV, Smattering of Donnie PoV, Found Family, Alone, Tentacles, I promise this story is safe, the rating is only for language, and, Body Horror, Dark Thoughts, Despair, questioning self-worth, Nightmares, Angst, good rat daddy

Summary: The Kraang are defeated, New York is safe and all is finally well. Or so everyone thought. When Kirby bursts into the lair looking for April, the Turtles quickly discover otherwise and the nightmare begins anew. Set after S3E13. 2k12 Canon divergence.

                             What it Means (to be Human)

                                                      Ch 2

[Casey, don't! It's me!] she cried out sharply, desperately, her eyes snapping open in terror as an unholy and painful squealing filled her hearing.

She looked wildly about, her stomach churning furiously as she remembered the way one of her best friends had gazed down at her in disgust and hatred. The way he sneered and yelled as he slammed his hockey stick viciously into her side and face.

The way the blood had discoloured her vision to a weird purplish, pink hue.

The way it was still discoloured even now.

April swallowed in fear as she gazed about surreptitiously, shrinking back slightly as Kraang worked about her, zipping around the room on small, anti-gravity sleds. It looked like she was in some sort of lab or medical bay. Wires and tubes ran from various machines surrounding her and... into her body, she realised in rapidly rising terror.

How... how the hell did she get here? Had Casey gone mad? Is that why he attacked her? Had he simply left her for the Kraang to find her or had he... No! She shook her head wildly. Casey would never give her over to the Kraang, no matter what the circumstances.

But then... how and why was she here?

Casey was hotheaded and violent, quick to lash out at injustice and those committing crime but he was actually quite sweet when it came to her. Always flirting and complimenting, trying to convince her to agree to a date with him, flexing and posing for attention in a way that made her laugh... She couldn't understand why he'd suddenly attacked her the way he did. He only ever acted that way when trying to protect the people he cared about...

She glanced around again to see that none of the Kraang had noticed she was awake yet and she intended to keep it that way until she could find a chance to escape.

Her gaze, her still weirdly purple-hued gaze, slid down towards the legs she couldn't feel, hoping to see what kind of restraints she had but then her heart skipped a beat and she frowned, unable to see anything. Neither her legs nor her body and she licked her lips fearfully.

[Ow!] she cried, tasting - was that even blood? - as sharp teeth cut into her strangely swollen tongue.

Did Casey break her teeth when he hit her?

She raged silently, swearing to kill him for it!

Suddenly, she froze in terror as two Kraang appeared in her face.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/52498936/chapters/137981647   or  https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14310368/3/What-it-Means-to-be-Human 

[ilivelikeimtrying]

ROTTMNT Separated Human AU

---

Raphael's (or Raph/Raphie) mom and Dad Lou Jitsu (Yoshi, as she decided to use his real name), whom were both movie stars, were close. They came into the industry around the same time, and immediately gravitated towards each other and became close friends and later began to care for each other as so much more.

To her he was funny, a bit extravagant, and loud, but under all that arrogance and facade she saw the real him, someone who was caring, and protective, and scared of letting the people he loved down.

She fell for all of him, and for him, he never thought he'd ever meet someone who would bring out the best in him.

She was beautiful, with gorgeous almond skin and bright amber eyes (sometimes green, sometimes he swore it shined like gold). Kind, and gentle, but tough and hardheaded as well, knowing when to use a gentle touch, or bring down a firm hand. She was a fireball full of ideas and wit, scary to most people with her strong attitude, but gorgeous to him.

They weren't married yet, and after finding out that she was pregnant, decided to wait after the baby was born to get married.

She loved the life within her, and had named the child already before the birth, asking Lou to grant her this final request as it was her father's name, and asked him to always love and care for this child no matter the outcome.

He agreed.

She died during labor.

Not being able to cope with her death Lou turned to drinking, and parties, and one night stands.

He met two women at that time. One he could barely remember her name, and the other he referred to as "Big Mama", as she said that that's what everyone called her anyways, who also worked with him on sets. She was wild, and fun, and scarily cunning, but in a hot way, and after taking her home and seeing how well she treated his son, thought that maybe this could work too.

The boy needed a mother after all, right? But before anything could happen he found out the truth about her and all bets were off.

There was a big lawsuit involved, and his heart was broken again, but she was out of his life now at least, even if sometimes he'll see her number still in his phone and want to call it, or he'd hear her name on set and miss her, he couldn't do that to them, him and his son, not again.

What he didn't realize however, was that out of this, he would become a father twice again.

Big Mama had gotten pregnant and given birth to a little boy prematurely. He had some bone problems and medical issues, she knew that, and planned to give him up the moment he was born, but after seeing him and holding him for the first time after his time in the NICU thought better of it.

She unexpectedly fell in love with this strange little being in her arms that came accidentally in her life, whom she decided to name Donatello, a smart and sophisticated name for a child of hers.

Also, she had much bigger plans for this little one.

Somewhere across town, in an old rundown apartment, a faceless woman with no name had also given birth.

To a little girl.

She hated her, the moment she was born.

Before then even.

She was the reason for all the woman's problems, and she couldn't stand it. She wanted to get rid of it but couldn't afford and abortion, and the last thing she needed was her mother finding out and harassing her again.

So she left the little thing under a bridge one cold night and never looked back.

She was found later, almost on the brink of death, by a man named Oroku Saki, a failed actor turned businessman.

He took the little girl to the hospital (she was shaking from the cold "like a small Kame caught in winter" he had said to a nurse), planning to simply leave her there when all was said and done, but changed his mind when the little thing grabbed his hand (more accurately his finger, are newborns meant to be this small?) in a strong grip and looked for his warmth during his walk (yes walk, because he most certainly did not run to the hospital) and that reminded him of his own daughter.

Now how could he leave something so small yet so full of potential behind?

After legally becoming his daughter he and his wife named the child. His wife thought of "Miwa", a beautiful harmony in a messy world, while he chose "Kana" to match his daughters name, or "Nakano", a famous female warrior from the Boshin War.

Eventually they went with his daughters pick, Fuyuko.

(It was years later that he would discover that he had a son, who would choose to change his name again, to Leonardo.

But daughter or son, a child of his must be a one who succeeds. No matter the gender.)

A few months after his "Big Break Up Scandal" with Big Mama (as celebrity news calls it), when his son was about a year and a month old, Lou had to visit an art Gallery hosted by his friend Yuki (who preferred to be called Miyamoto actually, but Lou was never one for formalities).

There is where he met her.

She was beautiful, standing near a piece of art, made by her own hands. Petite with bouncy curled dark and blond hair (highlights he would later learn), sun kissed skin peppered with freckles, with bright sky eyes, with an even brighter smile.

She was mischievous, a wild card, and one of the brightest people he had ever met in his life. She had big opinions and an ever bigger heart, and caught his heart the moment she said "Hi".

He thought at first that he couldn't- no- shouldn't, not again, he had a child god damnit.

But that all went out the window when he saw how she made little Red laugh.

They got along very well, but she made it known from the start that she wasn't ready to start anything serious, and he respected that, because neither was he.

The three became a sort of small family for a while. The two became close friends, and occasionally fooled around, but decided that this was what was best for them at the moment.

Until one day she told them that she had to leave.

It hurt, of course it did, but she knocked some sense into him, telling him to get his mind right because he wasn't just living for himself, but for his son as well.

He couldn't agree more.

They said their goodbyes, with her peppering kisses all over Little Raphie's face, and she left.

What she didn't tell him when she left though, was why.

She was pregnant.

Her brother Barry (Baron, sister, Baron) told her that she should have stayed and milked every last cent out of that bastard.

She told him no. She would never do that to that little family, they had already been through so much, and she didn't want to burden them with this. He told her to "Get rid of it" (of which he regretted after receiving her wrath for his wording).

That's how Michelangelo was born, on a beautiful summer day.

Barry had scoffed at her name choice, but she absolutely thought it fit her little Mikey.

Sadly she couldn't stay with him long, she had to go back to her gallery, to make enough money for all of her family, her mother who was still bed ridden, her father who had lost his job again, for Barry so he could finish his studies, and now for little Mikey...

She knew she would never be in his life nearly enough, and asked Barry to do the 'impossible'.

He wanted to deny, he had his own things to worry about, but he also knew how much his sister did for them, and that he still needed her, so ultimately agreed and took the child as his own.

He would raise him, and who knows? The world works in mysterious ways. This child could one day come as useful to him.

Only time would tell.

---

And there you have it, four children, siblings, living different lives, that are still so similar, never to know of the others, and will probably never meet.

... or will they?

[electricchaser]

”That’s ok. Let yourself fall apart, I’ll help put you back together. But don’t phrase it that way, you don’t need to be fixed, Leo, you just need help. Someone to talk to.”

"what, like Someone Like you…?” Leo scoffed lightly. He paused.

”wait- I'm sorry I…. I didn’t mean that, I don’t know why I-…”

”don’t apologize. I know.” Donnie rubbed his brother’s shell soothingly as they both sank to the ground.

Or

After his brothers rescued him, Leo struggles to deal with the aftermath of being kidnapped by shredder. When Donnie finds Leo alone and upset on a rooftop, he does what he can to help his older brother.