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yorshie · 6 months

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Burnt Out

Bayverse Leo x Fem reader - part 2

Part 1 Part 3

summary: SFW, After confessing your feelings for the Leader in Blue, he makes a decision that challenges your relationship with all four turtles. (warnings for relationship based arguments, yelling, and an altercation with some drunken men) set in 2023 so turtles are 24-25

I don't like one sided fights, so be prepared for reader not being passive. Also I have not proofed read so wording might get moved just a bit.

tag list: @jackalope-in-a-storm @tmnt-tychou @nessarolla-in-constant-flux

Mikey whistled awkwardly into your ear the whole way to the lair. At one point, you turned your head, about to ask what was wrong, when you caught sight of Leo’s face over Mikey’s shoulder.

His eyes were trained on your hands curled around the straps on the smallest turtle’s backpack.

You glared at him. He glared back.

By the time you were set back on your feet in the lair, your slight headache had fledged fully into a dull pounding that nicked the front of your skull. The ache was bad enough that you immediately turned to find Donnie, decidedly ignoring the others as they filtered into the cavernous space around you.

“Don? Can I get some Tylenol or something?”

He gave you his attention, hands cool as he tilted your head back and looked at your eyes. He hummed, and nodded. “Yea, some Tylenol would probably help. Let’s go get your scrapes cleaned too, while we’re at it.”

You followed him to his corner of the Lair, and almost immediately a hissed argument started in the main room. You raised a brow at the tallest turtle, surprised, but he only grimaced, closed the door to block the sound before dropping into a low stool and nudging you towards his chair.

“Just ignore it, it’s been going on for a couple days now.” That was more worrying than the actual argument, even though you couldn’t tell whose voices were overlapping each other. The turtles never let anything fester, there was no way for anything to fester, with how much they were in each others’ pockets.

“Why are they fighting?” You asked, watching as Donnie lined up the hydrogen peroxide and the cotton balls before leaning to the far side for a pack of waterproof bandaids.

“Hm… well….” He returned to sitting straight, handing you a little bottle that clattered as he passed it over. “I don’t- listen to most of it. I just tune it out as soon as I figure out it’s happening.” He looked down at your hands, avoiding eye contact, and you realized he was lying.

You took the Tylenol dry, swallowing and wincing before handing the bottle back. You let him doctor your hands, rub his thumb across the mark on your cheek, before you caught his grip in your own and asked once more. “Donnie, why were both Raph and Leo in the Ha’shi?”

He winced, but answered when you squeezed his fingers. “They got caught fighting. Most of the time they’ve kept it out on patrols, but this time Dad heard.”

“Great.” You ran your hands through your hair. “And you’ve got no clue what it’s about?” You had a sneaking suspicion, but you wanted to be wrong.

“Hm… yea.” He looked away again, gave you a sheepish smile when you let out a low noise of disbelief. “Listen, you should- you should talk to Leo.”

“I did talk to him.” You argued, the ground swooping below your feet at the gentle command in Donnie’s tone. “I talked, and he talked, and now… there’s nothing to talk about.”

Donnie stuck the tip of his tongue out, the move reading anxious as he pushed the issue. “Yea. Maybe try again?”

You had wanted to avoid this. You had thought, perhaps a bit foolishly, that they would all feel too awkward over the whole thing to say anything, especially if you stayed away long enough to be able to act as if it hadn’t happened. Or that maybe the blue banded turtle would have ordered them not to stick their snouts into the whole clusterfuck.

No such luck, apparently.

You hung your head, sighing roughly in annoyance. “Dee, I can’t. He was very, very clear on all the reasons why… why my interest was a bad idea. It’s not like I went and did a great job hiding it.” You said the last part roughly, amused and self-deprecating all in one, staring at the undone zippered pocket on Donnie’s leg to avoid his too golden eyes.

“No, no you didn’t.” Donnie agreed, soft and full of remorse as he stood. He turned to clean up so you could scrub your eyes in peace. When he turned back around, he faltered, swayed side to side in indecision before opening his arms up for a hug.

You stood to make it less awkward, met him in the middle and wrapped your arms around him as far as you could. “I’m sorry Donnie. I went and ruined things, didn’t I?”

“No, no you didn’t.” He parroted again, tightening his arms around you. “Just… don’t go avoiding us, kay?”

You hummed in agreement, scrubbing your face against him in affection. “Never gonna do that, Dee.”

“Good.” He released you, quickly pushing his glasses up to rub at his eyes. “In that case, I really should probably start cleaning up the garage.” He glanced at you. “Leo and Raph are probably finishing up their Ha’shi time, but Mikey’s in the living room if you want to go hang out with him? The garage is a little too dangerous right now.”

“I heard it looks like a war zone in there?” You asked cheekily, taking his cues to return to normal, sticking your hands in your pockets and following him out of the Lab.

“My expertise cataloging may have gotten a little away from me.” He admitted, amused, and ruffled your hair in parting when you both reached the mouth of the tunnel that led to the garage.

“Wish me luck.” You quipped after his retreating shell, not really expecting an answer, but he held up a hand with crossed fingers before he disappeared around the bend.

Once you were alone, your shoulders caved, swinging down and forwards. There was a hitch in your left that no doubt would turn into something nasty the longer you went without icing it.

All you’d have to do is ask Mikey, and he’d fix you up with an ice pack. The thought had you sighing, feet turning automatically for the main room and the tv area, the most likely space to find the smallest turtle brother.

You rubbed your shoulder absentmindedly as you went, cupping the roll of muscle and rubbing back and forth with your fingers. The sound of your blouse shifting across your skin brought you up short, and with a whine you realized you’d forgotten about your coat.

“Great. Just…” You turned again, mind not really caught up on where you were going, annoyance bubbling up, when you crossed the closed doors of the dojo and voices inside caught your attention.

“-look like you ate a whole bag of atomic lemons.”

You stopped, head swinging around at the sound of Raph’s low rumble, and the thought that he’d happily help you find your coat had you reaching for the divider’s edge before the next voice had you pulling back sharply.

“I don’t recall ever asking for your opinion.”

Leo, and where Raph sounded cajoling, the blue banded turtle sounded pissed. In fact, you’d never heard him in that low of an octave, that shade of done with whoever was trying to speak with him.

Raph started in again, words precise and slow, and the hair on the back of your neck stood up straight at the obvious way he was picking a fight. “I mean, most expect me to be the one that growls and loses his temper, sounding more like a beast, but I gotta hand it to ya, brother. You sure know how to-”

“Cut the shit and say your piece, Raphael.” Leo interjected, drawing out the syllables of his brother’s name, and you didn’t have to see into the room to hear how close their voices were to each other, how up in each others’ faces they must be.

Silence for a beat, then Raph spoke up, that careful cajole peeling back to show the rough anger underneath. “You don’t understand how lucky you are, Fearless. We’ve all been dreamin of someone that would put up with our ugly mugs, and you go and-”

“Someone? Or her?” Your eyes bugged at the insinuation leveled in the growl, and fought the instinct to scurry to the side, knowing they’d hear.

The was a long silence that you drowned in, heart beating too fast, too loud, certain a fist would fly -

before Raph huffed, voice so cutting you had to concentrate to hear the amusement underneath. “You think I’m after your girl, Leo?” He let out a vicious laugh that sounded anything but humorous. “You better clean up then, cuz she ain’t really looking like your girl from where I’m standin’.”

You were done. You didn’t need to hear whatever Leo said in response. You turned on your heel and promptly walked away, coat forgotten, shoulder no longer aching, mind a one thought tract to find Mikey and bully him into taking you home.

Goddamn turtles and their goddamn snouts sticking into things that shouldn’t be poked.

You found Mikey exactly where you thought he would be, parked in front of the tv with what no doubt was the game your previous call had pulled him away from. When he heard your footsteps, he turned, easy grin disappearing into wide eyes and a silent question, lips pursed at whatever emotion was on your face.

“Hey, Mike, I need-” You pulled up short, spying your coat on the couch next to him. “What- how…?”

“Raph grabbed it when he went looking for your phone.” Mikey answered, pawing at your coat to hold the mentioned device out towards you, big blue eyes glued on the way your face crumpled, confused on why his words would pull that reaction. “Babes?”

It should be so easy. Take me home. Mikey, take me home. He would, especially with how you couldn’t see him for the tears swallowing up your vision. You heard him toss the controller aside, nothing more than a green and orange blur that took up your vision as he clambered to his feet. You didn’t startle when his warm hands clasped your elbows.

“Hey, hey, you’re ok. Babes, don’t cry. Please, don’t cry.” You were scaring him, you knew, and the knowledge was enough for you to rub your eyes roughly, trying to shove everything back in the tightly padlocked little box you’d crushed under heel for a month. A long month of silence…

There was a scuff behind you, a foot sliding across the ground, and it had your shoulders tightening up, the forgotten ache returning with a vengeance along with the reminder that the Lair was the last place you should have a breakdown in.

A hand appeared in the corner of your eye, a towel bundled up in their grip. You didn’t need to follow the arm up to know who it belonged to- the blue toned fabric and vambrace gave him away.

It was rude to leave the proffered towel hanging there. It was rude and it was childish-

You took it from him with a mumbled thanks, certain your voice could cut glass with how sharp the word came out, and you winced reflexively as Leo shifted next to you.

You smoothed out the wrinkled terry cloth, raised your arm up to press the coolness against your shoulder. Your breath sawed out as the cold started to numb the inflamed area.

“Would you like to go lay down?” Leo murmured, and you almost missed the question, too surprised at how soft his voice had gone, not quite a whisper, but definitely closer to how he talked to you before the whole debacle.

It had your face raising up, curiously meeting his gaze despite the ache in your chest the realization caused.

He took you in, head dipping to the side and closer into your space. “C’mon, you can rest for a bit- Raph’s gone to get some pizza.”

You continued to stare at him, eyes tracking between his eyes as if he might explain the complete 180. “Where…” You trailed off, eyes flitting down to his shoulders, his arms, realizing you hadn’t been this close to him for a while. You swallowed, before rising back up to meet him head on once more. “Where am I suppose to rest?”

It was a valid question. Mikey shifted in front of you, and belatedly you realized you had forgotten his presence, caught up in the blue you hadn’t looked at for longer than a few seconds in quite a while.

It’s pathetic. You thought in a flash. A month of ignoring me and all mr. soft eyes has to do is drop one line.

But in the past you’d always rested in the main room, hunkered under some blankets on the couch and giggled while they pulled antics around you. He wasn’t suggesting kicking Mikey out of the shared space, and the couch was right there, so clearly he didn’t mean-

“You can lay down in my room.” Came his answer, eyes slowly moving over you in a gentle perusal that you knew meant he was assessing your mood.

The words settled in you like stones, scraping down your ears as they went, and you went eerily still. Silence followed, and you almost startled to hear the saw of your breath escaping.

Mikey shifted again, not quite leaving your space.

Your eyes narrowed, lips compressed, but you dropped your gaze in favor of palming the towel and muttering your answer to your feet. “Thanks, but no thanks, think I’ll chill with Mike til Raph gets back.”

Leo sighed through closed lips, and the sound had your hackles raising.

“You’re exhausted, and you’re hurt. Just come lay-” His hand reached out, nudged you gently.

In his defense, you didn’t realize you’d react the way you did to the slight touch either, but you all but jerked away from him, taking two steps to the side before swinging around to glare back. “I said no, Leo!” -

Or at least, that’s what you meant to say, but somewhere between your brain and your mouth, your throat changed the words into something else, something meaner.

“You told me no, Leo! You don’t get to tug me around like… like this!”

Leo blinked once, long and slow like he was processing, and you couldn’t care less where Mikey’d gone, eyes locked on your target as you waited for the return volley.

Eventually, his head tilted, and you saw the exact moment he chose the high road, and it made you see red.

“You’ve been through a lot tonight, It’s not me you want to pick a fight with.” He tried to soothe, taking a step closer, swaying towards you. “We can talk after you rest, but I really think you should-”

“Listen?” The word was out before you could catch it, and Leo drew up short like a puppet on strings, his head rearing back. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Mikey slinking backwards, away, but you barreled onwards. “Just sit and listen as you tell me what to do? What’s good for me?” You snorted, so loudly it hurt, and watched Leo’s mouth compress into a tight line at the noise.

“It doesn’t really matter if you listen to me or not, does it?” He lobbed back, and you reeled, expecting the next line like it’d already left his mouth. “You’ll still wind up in trouble, wouldn’t you?”

It’s too dangerous. For you. It’s nothing but trouble, believe me, I don’t want to place you in danger.

Self-sacrificing. The words whispered in your head then, they pissed you off now. You scoffed at him, waving a hand as though to brush off the memory.

“Yea, whatever, I’m not putting up with this.” You told him, shoes clacking against the ground as you skirted him and went for the tunnel that led to the garage. You weren’t quite sure if you were walking home, but you were angry enough that if no one stopped you by the time you got to the hidden door, you would certainly try.

Leo’s arm snagged out, and you danced backwards, out of reach, teeth gritting because you know he let you. He could have easily grabbed you, hell it used to be a game to see how long you could keep away from his hold-

“This isn’t the time for this conversation.” Leo whispered, breaking into your thoughts, taking another step towards you. His eyes rolled skyward when you matched him with a step back. “Please, just- at least let’s go someplace where we have privacy.” He hissed the last word, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out he was referring to the orange banded blue eyeballs peeking out from behind the couch.

“We already had this conversation.” You reminded him, ten shades of done and tired. The whispered argument from before popped in your head, and before you could corral the words you stuck your whole foot in your mouth. “You think just because you had an- an epiphany, I’ll fall in line?” You snorted again, knowing the sound drove him crazy. “Good luck with that.”

The line had him pausing, brow furrowing as confusion cut through his anger, and you took advantage, all but hopping around him and belting for the tunnel that would lead you out, scooping up your coat and phone and trading the ice pack in their place in one smooth move along the way.

It might have been years of knowing them. It might have been sixth sense. It certainly wasn’t your hearing, he moved as silent as ever, but you twirled on instinct, incensed to find him a step behind you.

Leo pulled back on those invisible strings once more when you all but snapped your teeth at him.

“You better let me have my space, Leo.” You took a step towards him without thinking, and this time it was him who took a half step back. “Back off.”

It was laughable, the thought that you could do anything to him if he pushed into your bubble once more, but that growl started up low in his chest, and you watched as his pupils blew wide, the dark eating up the normally brilliant blue until they were nothing more than light colored rings.

“Back off?” He repeated, growl slurring his words, and you locked your knees as his head swung into your space, shoulders rounding towards you. “But that’s not what you want, is it, princess?”

Ooooo…. That was- that was Raph’s nickname for you, and you stuttered, wondering if that was Leo’s subtle way of letting you know he knew exactly how much shit you were blowing out your ass.

You met him tic for tac, a hairs-breath from his face, blowing purposefully up his nose just to hear that growl hitch up to a higher register. “I told you want I wanted, Blue. You don’t get to throw a fit after you’ve already told me your verdict.”

You wondered if he’d break. You kind of wanted him to, to really yell, to give you some insight to his thoughts beyond what he allowed to filter through the mask. Your heart a fast staccato that almost drowned out whatever growl he was throwing out at your defiance.

He dipped his head to peer down his snout at you, and you weren’t sure what had you more pissed, the way he tried to reel himself in or the words he used. “I am trying to talk to you- if you would just calm down-”

“Oh, I think it’s you who needs to calm down, Leo.” You went to turn, dismissive and all at once feeling the hurt, and his hand snapped out. You thought maybe he was aiming for your arm and misjudged the angle, because instead his fist locked around the fabric of your blouse low on your hip.

“I can’t- be what you want!” He hissed at you, venomous, and you reeled, leaning back, the fabric of your blouse taunt in his fist. “I don’t know how to be human, act human!” He pulled you towards him too roughly, and your shoes squeaked against the polished cement floor. “This is what you’d get, what you’re so- so stupidly foolish to ask for-”

“Leonardo.” Splinter didn’t snap, but he might as well as bellowed at his eldest son. Leo sure acted like he did, hand snapping back fast enough that you almost slipped and fell before he corrected and caught your elbow, touch hauling you straight before it was gone just as quickly.

You refused to look up, conscious that you’d had an audience for the whole fight and it’d done nothing but spur you onwards. Mikey was still perched behind the couch, trying and failing to act like he wasn’t watching a drama. Splinter was at the top of the little stairs that led to his bedroom, cane perched between his two paws, ears swiveled to the side as if he was listening to something else.

Leo was stiff next to you, eyes on the floor, posture polite and hands tightly fisted to his sides. You couldn’t look at him head on, didn’t like the carefully blank face he was presenting.

You blew out a breath, hand pressing to your head for a beat as your headache started back up. “Sorry, Splinter. I got carried away.” Part of you wanted to throw Leo under the bus as well, but you knew he’d likely get his own version of a private talk once you were gone. “I’m just- just gonna go home.” You paused intentionally, then dipped into the bow you had seen Leo make to his sensei over the years. “I apologize.”

“You are always welcome here.” Splinter said softly, as if you weren’t just engaged in a shouting match with his honor child in the living room in front of god and sundry. “But for an old rat’s sake, please allow one of my sons to take you home, if that is what you wish.”

You side eyed Leo, hoping Splinter wasn’t suggesting what you thought he was suggesting.

Then Raph stepped out of the tunnel, pizza boxes stacked in his hands, wide green eyes trailing over Leo, before his gaze flicked to you and you cringed.

Knowing he had seen you lose your cool over Leo was somehow worse than Mikey seeing it, but then again, it was Raph that first weaseled your crush out of you months ago.

Raph arched a brow, tilted his head, then turned to Splinter. “I can take her home, Sensei.”

Splinter nodded. “Good, good.” He gestured at you with one paw. “Let Raphael take you home. Please.”

“Of course,” You said, bopping into a small bow again, and relaxing when Splinter turned his attention to his eldest.

“Leonardo, please, come speak with me.”

“Hai, Sensei.” He answered dutifully, face still carefully blank. He swayed forward like a pendulum, before he caught himself with a near silent scuff of his foot against the ground, and followed his father without a backwards glance.

Raph waited until the two had disappeared into the little room before he looked at you and whistled long and low between his teeth.

“God, just, shut up.” You told him, angry all over again, jamming your arms into your coat and belting for the exit.

Raph chuckled, set the pizzas down on that table, and followed you back out, haphazardly calling to Mikey over his shoulder, “only one of those is yours, numb nuts!”

#tmnt bayverse #tmnt bayverse fanfiction #tmnt bayverse fanfic #bayverse leonardo #bayverse leo #bayverse leonardo x reader #bayverse leo x reader #bayverse raphael #bayverse michelangelo #bayverse donatello

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travlersjoy444 · 6 months

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Nice Eyes

2012 Raph x Reader

Takes place in the farmhouse arc

Summary: Raph's pretty confident that no one could ever genuinely like a weird mutant turtle. But when you catch wind of this, you're…not exactly in agreement.

Warnings: Light angst/self hatred. Mostly just fluff tho

Word count: 2.5k

“Smooth move, genius.” Said Raph, leaning against the doorframe. “It’s never gonna happen Donnie! We’re mutants! She’s a human, you’re a giant talking turtle!” he exclaimed, and Donnie glared at the ground. “The sooner you get used to it, the better.”

You raised an eyebrow, glancing into the room. “...Uh, guys, what, pray tell, is goin’ on here exactly?”

Raph rolled his eyes. “Nothing. Dee’s just bugging April again.”

Donnie crossed his arms, and you winced. “Aw, Dee…You okay?” you said, coming into the room to pat him on the shell reassuringly.

“...Not really.” they muttered.

“Aw Don, y’know what you need?” Raph grinned, hopping from foot to foot as he lightly punched Donnie’s plastron. “Huh? Huh? Buddy? Y’know what you need?”

“...For you to leave?” Donnie said flatly.

“Forest ninja training!” Raph beamed.

“Uh…Raph, d’ya think I could talk to you real quick first, actually?” you said, glancing at Donnie’s sad slumped over figure.

Raph’s animated jumping slowed. “It’ll be quick, right? ‘Cause these guys are rusty, and Donnie needs some stimulation!”

Donnie gave a warbling whine that sounded suspiciously like “Nooooo…”, and Raph shot them a glare.

“Really really quick, yeah.” you nodded, trying and failing to resist the smile on your face at Raph’s antics.

“Alright, if we havta.” he relented.

“Rad.” you said, nodding towards the other room, and he reluctantly followed.

“Lemme guess. I’m ‘not supposed to tell Donnie that they have no chance with April’.” Raph said tiredly as you left Donnie’s earshot.

“Nah, that’s not what I was gonna say, actually. You may have been overly blunt about that, but if you hadn’t said something, I probably woulda.” you said, waving your hand dismissively. “I just wanted to remind ya that sayin’ stuff like ‘it’s because we’re mutants and no one’ll ever like us or whatever’ is only gonna hurt Don’ in the long run.”

“Well…it’s true.” Raph mumbled. “No one ever… would like something like…my siblings and I. The quicker we all accept it, the less…sad Donnie moments there’ll be.”

And as he stared at the ground, it hit you that Raphael probably believed that.

Raphael who had only ever been able to believe that he was a freak just for existing the way he did. Raphael who had literally only made friends who weren’t scared of him in this past year. Raphael who had never ever gotten the chance to be a normal kid…

Poor Raph.

“You dumbass, remember the first thing I said to you?” you said finally, your voice coming out harsher than you meant it to.

Raph glanced up at you, a slight tinge of a darker green in his face. “Uh…you….said I have cool eyes.”

“Yeah, I said you have gorgeous eyes.” you nodded. “The reason why April doesn’t like Don is simply because she doesn’t like Don. That happens. Plenty of other people probably do find him attractive, or at least will someday. So quit fucking up his already fragile self esteem.”

“I’m not! They’re the one fucking up his own self esteem by throwing himself at April!” Raph argued, clenching his fists.

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t mean to sound like…preachy or something, I guess I’m just tryin’ to say that plenty of people probably do find you guys attractive.” you smiled.

“Like who, (Y/N)?” Raph sighed.

You shrugged. “Like I said, you have pretty eyes.”

Raph blushed again, his tired expression softening. “...You….you really think so?” his voice came out quiet and a little…shyer than it usually did.

You nodded, smiling.

He stared at you for a second, and then gently set his arms around you, pulling you into a slightly awkward hug. You bent over a bit to hug him back, but by then he had already pulled away, blushing furiously.

“Sorry- I- I swear I didn’t mean to, (Y/N)- I just…was surprised.” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his body protectively.

You smiled good-naturedly and patted his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, dude! You’re allowed to hug me- welcome to, even. Now c’mon, you’ve got some forest ninja training to do, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah!” his eyes lit up. “(Y/N), you should come! It’s different from training in the city!”

“Ya think I’ll stand a chance at keeping up?” you said doubtfully.

“Normally? No. But Mikey and Donnie haven’t trained since like….December, and you’ve been practicing.” Raph grinned. “Plus, you know the woods better than we do. Or…better than they do, at least, I’ve been practicing.” he added with a smug smirk.

“Awesome.” you grinned.

Raph was trying and failing to get his siblings excited about forest training. But you, on the other hand, seemed hyped.

Donnie groaned and leaned against a tree, Mikey tripped over a root and didn’t get back up while mumbling something like ‘Just let the vultures eat me’, Leo supervised from the hilltop, and you…you were standing in a fighting stance, hitting the makeshift punching bag Raph had set up.

Even your stance was perfectly on point, with your right foot and right hand angled in front of your left, perfect for your left to lead the punch…you really had improved a ton in the time since he first met you. He felt himself grinning as you hit a line of quick punches.

“What’s with the dopey grin, bro-bro?” Mikey said, and Raph jolted.

“Shut up!” he yelped, punching Mikey’s arm on instinct.

You glanced up, distracted by the commotion. “Angelo! You done pretending to die?”

“Yeah, I got bored. Being dead is so boring.” Mikey sighed.

“Oh yeah? What a surprise. It’s almost like lying on the ground being pathetic isn’t as fun as forest ninja training.” Raph scoffed.

“Okay, okay. We’ll train.” Mikey groaned. “Anything to stop bein’ so boooored.”

“Yeah! That’s the spirit, Angelo!” you grinned, punching his arm.

“Ow!” he squeaked, ripping his arm back.

“Shit- sorry, I didn’t mean to hit that hard- are you okay?!” you panicked.

“Yeah, just surprised is all! Dang! Since when do you know how to punch that hard?!” Mikey exclaimed.

“Uh…since always.” you said.

“Since I taught you.” Raph said, overlapping you.

You shot him a glare, and he held his hands up innocently. “Look I’m just sayin’-”

“I’ll have you know my problem before was stamina , not power. ” you said, tossing your head, and Raph wasn’t sure if you were genuinely miffed or being purposefully overdramatic.

“Yeah, but I taught you stamina.” Raph grinned.

“You can’t teach stamina, Raphael. What you did was bug me until I trained with you every other day for the past three-and-a-half months. ” you corrected, but you were smiling too, so Raph knew you were indeed being comically overdramatic.

“But it helped, huh? I get results!” Raph said, and tried to use your shoulder as an armrest, but ultimately failed due to not being tall enough. Typical. He settled for leaning on a nearby tree instead.

“Hm. Guess I can’t argue with that.” you relented, and proceeded to show off by using his shoulder as an armrest. ( Fuck people who were taller than him… )

“Aw, you guys’ve been training without us?” Mikey cooed, leaning on Raph’s other shoulder. (What the hell?! Was Mikey taller than him now too?!)

Raph shoved him off, but let you stay. “Yeah, and it’s paid off. The resta ya are rustier than the Titantic’s butt!” he grinned, using his sai to flip Mikey off.

You snorted. “Well, to be fair, we’re not in the city anymore- they’re not used to the woods yet.”

He grinned harder. “Exactly (Y/N)! This is a new environment!” he said, lunging at Mikey and Donnie, who both screamed and dove out of the way.

They both slammed into trees, and Raph continued his speech. “No buildings, no subways. Lots of trees!”

“Ugh, tell me about it.” Mikey grumbled, rubbing his head.

“I feel ya there.” you added, rubbing your own head, and Raph realized with a wave of embarrassment that you had fallen when he darted out at his siblings.

“Oooh. Sorry (Y/N)” he winced.

“It’s fine, it’s just grass. And tree roots. Ow!” you snarked. “S’okay though, I’ll just take some ibuprofen.” you added, more seriously this time.

“Smooth move, Romeo.” Donnie said flatly from their spot on the ground as you walked away to get some pain meds from Leo.

Raph blushed. “I don’t- just- shut up! ” he snapped.

“Ooh ooh, lemme guess! You were gonna say that you ‘don’t like (Y/N)’!” Mikey said, hopping onto his feet. “Y’know, like a liar!”

Raph scowled. “Mikey, I really don’t. Besides, more importantly- (Y/N) doesn’t like me. So why would I even consider it?”

“I heard (Y/N) say your eyes are preeeettty though…” Mikey said in a singsong voice. “‘Aw Raphie, your eyes are like the shiniest of algae’!” he added, pitching his voice up in a horrible impression of you. Raph shoved him.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that!” he hissed. “And anyways, (Y/N) was just sayin’ that to be nice!”

“No I wasn’t, ya dolt!” you grinned, flicking his shell. “Get it through your thick skull, why don’tcha?”

Uh-oh.

Raph felt like his insides had turned into mush. He suddenly wished he could simply sink into the ground and never show his face ever again…

“Hi (Y/N).” said Donnie with a smirk.

“Hi Don…how’s the view from the ground?” you said, bending over to make proper eye contact with Donnie.

Raph swallowed, feeling his heart slam against his chest. It was okay, things were okay, but they didn’t feel okay… Everything was wrong and too loud and you knew-

“You okay Rafa?” you said, placing your hand on his shoulder.

Raph forced himself to take a deep breath, and put his hand on top of yours. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. These idiots just don’t know what they’re talking about.” he scoffed. You didn’t look convinced, with your eyebrows knit together and a worried frown on your face, but instead of pressing him on it, you said “Oh yeah? Sounds about right.”

Then you smirked, sticking your tongue out at Mikey, who gasped and held his hand over his heart dramatically.

“Which is why we need to train, idiots.” Raph said, shaking his head. “Hey Fearless, what do you think?”

Leo grinned, coming down the hill. “Hm… Turtle hunt. ”

Well that he could work with!

“Turtle hunt.” Raph agreed, turning back to Donnie and Mikey.

“ Turtle hunt?! ” they chorused, appalled.

“Ooh, fun. ” you beamed, hitting your fist into your palm with a loud SMACK .

“You gonna join in, Leo?” Raph said hopefully.

Leo nodded. “Yeah, I-” his smile faded as he tried to step forwards, wincing at his bad knee. “Ugh….Sorry. I guess I'm still not up to it. Enjoy your little hunt, guys.” he sighed.

Raph nodded, trying not to think too hard about Leo’s injuries and how what if he didn’t get better what if Leo couldn’t be their leader what if Raph had to lead and got his family killed by freezing up in the face of the first bad guy they came across-

“Dude!” yelled Mikey, snapping Raph out of his thoughts.

“What do you mean by ‘turtle hunt’?” Donnie said nervously.

Raph smiled. “You guys are gonna head into the forest. I'll give you a five minute head start, then (Y/N) and I hunt you down. If you can't stay hidden for at least an hour, you'll have to clean out the chicken coop.”

“I was right, this will be fun.” you said, cracking your knuckles.

“No way!”

“Not the chicken coop, man!”

“It smells like cheese fossils!”

“It's got spiders so big, they play the banjo!” Donnie and Mikey protested, overlapping each other.

“We can't clean that thing!” Donnie said, crossing their arms.

“Then get moving.” Raph grinned.

And with that, his siblings both glanced at each other and ran into the woods.

There was a beat of silence, and your smile faded.

“Hey, Rafa? You okay?” you said once Donnie and Mikey were solidly out of earshot.

“Of course! What, do I seem not okay?!” Raph said, voice cracking.

You gave him an unimpressed stare.

He glared back, crossing his arms. “I dunno what you’re on about, (Y/N).”

You held your hands up. “Okay, okay, if you say so…I guess I just worry about you sometimes, Raph. You’ve been kinda off ever since the invasion. And I mean, that’s obviously understandable, what with…everything, but like…Well. It’s none of my business, but whatever it is that you’re goin’ through…we’ve got your back, you know?” you said, shrugging.

Raph swallowed. You wouldn’t be saying that if you found out a freak like him liked you. Good lord he was as bad as Donnie…

“Or shell, or whatever.” you continued.

Heck, if you knew what he was ‘goin’ through’, you’d probably never want to talk to him ever again.

But then again…you did like his eyes, right?

Sure, but you were a human . You were only even friends with him in the first place because he’d saved you from the purple dragons months ago. The instant you found out he’d taken your kind words to heart was the instant when you’d make like basically every other human and run away screaming.

After all, you were a human, and he was a giant talking turtle. The sooner he accepted it the better, like he’d told Donnie.

“Sure, (Y/N). Sure ya do.” he said finally.

You laughed quietly. “You don’t believe me, huh? Raphael, when the hell are you gonna get it through your dumb brain that I like you? You’re my friend!”

“No I’m not!” Raph snapped. “I’m just the mutant who saved your butt once and now ya wanna make up for it or something!”

Your eyes narrowed. “I’m sorry, what? Dude! Do you think I’d be out here in the middle of nowhere sparring with you until my muscles feel like fucking jelly if I didn’t like spending time with you?! Do you think I’d constantly compliment you if I didn’t believe it? Do you think I’d care about how obviously weird you’re being if I didn’t care about your wellbeing? I don’t bloody wanna make up for anything, I wanna be around you! You specifically! I fucking love spending time with you Raphael!” you yelled.

He felt his face burn, trying to come up with a response. “-Y-Yeah?!”

“Yeah!” you snapped.

“Cool! Me too!” he yelled, glaring at you.

You blinked, deflating. “...This is a really stupid conversation.”

He nodded, facepalming. “...Yeah.”

“Can we just agree that you’re my favorite person and I’m your favorite person and move along with our day?” you said, rubbing the back of your neck.

Raph smiled, shaking his head. “ Please .”

( He was your favorite person?! Him ?! Raphael?! ) (He stifled a grin.)

“C’mon, let’s hunt some turtles.” he said, reaching for his sai.

Author's note: I'm not suuuper fond of this one honestly, but y'know what? That's okay, it's decent enough. I actually wrote this back in like May or June tbh, but I've only posted it to ao3- so I figured I might as well share it here too

#tmnt x reader #tmnt 2012 x reader #reader insert #gender neutral reader #gn!reader #tmnt raph x reader #tmnt 2012 raph x reader #raph x reader #tmnt 2012 raph #2k12 raph x reader #2k12 raph

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tangledinink · 1 year

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Chapter Twelve of I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? is up!!! It's the moment you've all waited for-- the reveal. :000 They boys discover some things about themselves (things they once knew) and visit an unfamiliar place (a place that was once familiar.) Read it on ao3 or below the cut!

[ prev ]

The group’s shocked silence lasted for two, maybe three seconds before it quickly morphed into chaos.

“That’s him! That’s the goat!” Mikey shrieked, pointing wildly. “That’s the goat who has Dad!”

“Leo! Call 911!” Raph commanded. Leo scoffed loudly.

“No way! I wanna kick this guy’s ass. Make Donnie do it.”

“What?! No fair! I’ve called 911 the last six times! It’s someone else’s turn!”

“You have not! I called 911 last time!” April protested.

“That one doesn’t count!”

“Well someone’s gotta--”

“Enough!” Goatman snarled, absolutely bristling, waving his arm sharply. The air around them suddenly felt colder and stiller, and Leo shuddered, gritting his teeth as his posture stiffened. “I am not here to listen to your silly arguments. I am here to bring you home, so you can finally fulfill your purpose.”

Leo gave a short snort of laughter. “Hm, yeah, tempting, but our Daddy actually taught us not to go with creepy sheep strangers, even if they offer us free candy, soooo…”

“What?! Candy? No! I’m talking about your purpose! The reason you were created-- to eliminate the human threat! Come with me, and I can unlock your full potential!”

“How many divine purposes have we got again? ‘Cause I’m starting to lose track,” Mikey complained. Leo rolled his eyes.

“Eliminate the human threat? Yeah, uh, maybe you haven't been paying attention, but in case you haven’t noticed, we’re literally humans.”

The yokai paused for a moment. His face twisted, and he hunched his shoulders back before he gave a forced laugh. “Humans?” He echoed. “Humans?! Surely you aren’t fooled by those silly trinkets! You can’t possibly, actually believe…”

“Oh my god. This guy is, like, for real crazy,” April observed, raising her brows.

“No, you are fools!” He hissed in return. “Humans?! These ridiculous forms are completely fabricated! These are not your true selves! You are experiments! You are soldiers! You’re mutated turtles-- my greatest creations! The creations of Baron Draxum!”

“Baron Draxum? Okay, well, we’ll deal with him when he gets here… Oh… Oh-ho-ho wait! You’re doing that, like, sinister talking-about-yourself-in-third person thing, aren’t you! Oh my god, that’s rich!” Leo snorted.

“Hey! Only Raph can use the third-person!”

“I’m sorry, did he say turtles?” Mikey questioned.

“Oh my fucking god…” Leo laughed, clutching his stomach. “Turtles? I’m sorry, we’re mutant turtles?”

“This guy can’t be serious,” Raph muttered.

“Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure we would have noticed by now if we were reptiles,” Donnie scoffed, one hand on his hip. “Let alone subjects of some kind of biochemical experiments. Which I am intimately familiar with, by the way. Do you have any idea how many community gardens I’ve been banned from?”

“This can’t…” The yokai shook his head, a hand on his brow. “How could you be tricked by such simple magic? I will show you if I have to.”

“Oh, I’d love to see that,” Donnie muttered.

“Come with me--”

“You are out of your damn mind if you think we’re goin’ anywhere with you!” Raph cut in.

“Maybe if you prove that turtle hypothesis thing you have going on, we can discuss it from there,” Donnie laughed, one brow quirked, sounding caught somewhere between exasperated and amused. Honestly, this whole thing was a little bit fucking hilarious. It was also fucking horrible and scary because their dad was missing and a magic criminal had them cornered in an alley, but like. Seriously. Mutant turtles? You can’t make this stuff up, dude.

Draxum sighed very deeply, scowling at their group.

“Very well,” he said, and he snapped his fingers.

Things became unfunny very, very quickly.

If the air had become cold earlier, now it became startlingly hot, just for a moment, the alley rising up at least five degrees, and Leo heard this choked, startled gasp that he immediately recognized as his twin brother. At the same time, a blinding, almost familiar flash of white light overtook the alley, and Leo hissed, flinching away.

When he looked back, he was horrified to find that where his brother had been standing just a moment ago there was instead some sort of green, scaled creature, their eyes slitted and their skin leathery and bumped, and he thought, what the hell happened to my brother? And after a moment of silence, all of them staring in dazed shock, the reptile flailed, floundered, held its own hands up to its face as if to examine them, and promptly began screaming.

And Leo recognized his own brother's screams, so instead he was thinking: what the hell happened to my brother?!

“What did you do?!” Leo shrieked. Behind him, Mikey screamed, too, and he could hear April spluttering out an impressive string of curse words. He just barely resisted the urge to race over to Donnie’s side, to check if he was okay, (he’s not okay, he knows he’s not okay,) to try to help him, to fix it, because he couldn’t just turn his back on the enemy in front of them-- couldn’t ignore the very obvious threat.

“I simply removed the cloaking enchantment as he requested,” Draxum responded calmly. He even looked amused, almost, the very corners of his lips turning up.

“You what!? What the hell are you-- fix it!!! Turn him back!!!” Leo demanded, his voice rising with the very edges of panic, his pulse climbing ever-steadily higher the longer he listened to his siblings scream.

The other sighed deeply, tilting their head to the side. “Do you still not understand? Fine, then. I’ll show you as well.”

Snap.

Leo wouldn’t describe the experience as painful, but it really wasn’t pleasant, either. He swore he could feel his skin being stripped away and reforming; it was like his skeleton itself was being rearranged, his entire body becoming fluid for just a split second before solidifying again in new places, new patterns, new spaces. An unfamiliar weight pulled at his shoulders, forcing his spine to bend, and his hands and feet fell in a way that now felt unnatural to him. His skin seemed to lay over his muscles differently now.

He was vaguely aware of Mikey screaming somewhere behind him a second time, echoing Donatello’s continued wails.

“Guys?” April bit out, her voice high and frightened.

What the hell happened to him?

“What-- what did you do?” Leo repeated himself, his eyes wide, straining, because his vision was ever-so-slightly different than it had been a few seconds ago and he didn’t know how to adjust. He swore to god he was frozen in place. He wasn’t sure when he had ended up on his knees, but he was shaking so hard, he supposed he wasn’t surprised.

What the fuck happened to his body?

“Now are you convinced?” The yokai pressed. “Now, we will be going to my lab whether you want to or not. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. I would highly recommend the easy way,” he hummed, giving a sharp sweep of his arms. Wind tugged at his back and Leo had just barely the presence of mind to glance behind him, his eyes widening in horror to see this huge expanse of black opening up behind him.

Mikey-- (Mikey? They were small, they were wearing Mikey’s clothes, it must be Mikey--) yelped loudly, the inky cloud yanking him from his feet. April jumped, attempting to grab her baby brother, though she only succeeded in falling into him-- both of them swallowed up into the portal. Raph gave a strangled howl of protest, diving right after them, and Donnie was sucked up as well, disappearing from Leo’s sight. His heart thudded wildly in his ears. He could feel the magick yanking at him, trying to pull him in as well.

But Leo had always been the fastest.

Every shred of him was screaming to follow, to chase after his family, to go with his sister and brothers, but he tensed his muscles, his stance widening and holding firm as he set his sights back on the yokai towering before him. A tiny voice in his head whispered in his ears that following wouldn’t help--

No, he had to move forward. This guy was the one hurting them.

Get him.

Leo wasn’t sure if he had leapt forward or if he simply was there. Everything was moving too quickly for even him to follow, the blinding white of panic and rage eating hungrily at the edges of his vision, threatening to overtake him. Either way, he lunged, a cry of protective fury wringing itself from his chest.

"Stay away from my brothers," he snarled, his own throat staggering painfully with the force with which he screamed out his warning, his hands flying forward to grab the yokai by his throat, slamming into him at full speed. He felt the alien velvet fuzz of Draxum’s skin beneath the tear of his fingernails (claws) even as the pair of them were flung from their feet. Gravity was stolen from them both, the portal behind them reaching out to consume them.

Everything went black. For just a second, tumbling through nothingness, floating through the sizzling rush of magick itself, Leo couldn’t see anything. He couldn’t hear anything, all he could feel was the body of the yokai against him, struggling against his grip, attempting to throw him away.

And then this bright, searing lavender light came singing through the world. It didn’t reflect or bounce; nothing was lit up by it. Leo still could not see himself, could not even find the outline of his own hands or fingers. But this brilliant, complex pattern of the palest, gentlest pastel purple lit up bright before him, swirling and twisting in foreign shapes, and Leo just barely recognized that the ribbon of runes they formed echoed the shape of the yokai he had just grabbed.

The body he was clinging to went limp.

The next second, the wind was knocked out of him as they made impact with stone, light coming streaming back into his universe. Leo found himself landing in a heap in their new location, the portal disappearing behind them. Oddly, however, the crash landing didn’t hurt near as much as he would have expected it to.

“Leo!” He heard Raph cry. Leo groaned, still dazed, looking around blearily. Where the hell were they? He glanced over at the yokai who he had yanked through the portal with them, only to find them in an awkward slump just a few paces away, completely limp and seemingly unconscious.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Raph demanded, moving quickly to his side. Mikey was already all bundled up in his arms, shaking like a leaf and absolutely clinging to him for dear life like he was going to fall apart if he let go. And Leo couldn’t even blame him if he did. Mikey had always been the smallest of them, and Raph always the biggest, but Leo thought dimly that the size difference between them now was fucking bananas.

Jesus christ. Raph was fucking huge. And… spiky. Was he a goddamn dinosaur? What the fuck.

“I-- yeah-- I-- I think the goatman got knocked out--” He stammered, still reeling slightly, trying to collect himself, to gather himself, adrenaline still rushing through his veins like it was a racetrack.

Somewhere in the background, Donnie fucking screamed, and Leo immediately forgot about everything else, his head whipping around.

“Donnie!” He cried, on his feet in a second, rushing over to his brother’s side. He had no idea where they were, not having yet taken stock of the location. He was only dimly aware that they were someplace cold and dark, with stone and concrete above, below, and around them. Donnie had pressed himself up against one of the walls, his entire body rigid and his head bent forward, his arms fluttering wildly beside his head in such a way that Leo recognized he was fighting not to hit himself. Good job, Dee. The screaming continued, but every wail that wrenched its way out of Donnie’s mouth was short and grinding, repeating itself over and over like an alarm. It was fucking terrifying. Not for him, but for Donnie, because he could tell that they were completely, totally not in control. Just panicking.

“Hey. Hey, hey, it’s okay, I’m right here, Don. It’s alright. It’s okay, you’re safe, I’m right here, hermano,” he tried to soothe, forcing his voice down, calm, steady. He knew better than to touch Donnie, but he would reach over just long enough to tap a button on the side of his headphones that he knew would flip the device into white noise mode. Donnie jerked slightly in response, and the screaming stopped, at least, but he didn’t relax. His arms still fluttered and flapped anxiously, and he shifted just enough to begin rocking back and forth, clenching his jaw and grinding his teeth so hard that Leo was afraid he was going to hurt himself. His chest absolutely shook with the panicked, shuddering breaths he was taking, hyperventilating so hard that his entire body trembled in response.

“Come on, Donnie, it’s alright. It’s okay. We’re safe, Mikey and Raph and April are safe, we’re gonna be okay, but you’ve gotta breathe, dude. Can you try it with me? Like this? We’ve gotta calm down a little bit--” Leo pressed on because this was not his first rodeo. He wasn’t quite as adept at handling these things as their dad was, and at this point, Donnie was pretty good at avoiding meltdowns and panic attacks, armed with tools and tricks and years of therapy, but sometimes they were unavoidable and Leo had always known how to calm them down, always been able to step up and help, the same way Donnie could for him--

But Donnie wasn’t calming down. Donnie wouldn’t even look up at him. Rather, Donnie scrunched up harder, curled his lips, and fucking hissed at him.

And, okay, look, it wasn’t the first time Donnie had hissed at them. Donnie used to love to hiss at people when they were little kids, though nowadays he was more likely to express annoyance with declarations such as “groan” or “scoff” or “eye-roll.” But he didn’t hiss like this.

He sounded fucking feral. Even more than that, he sounded fucking terrified. He looked like a goddamn cornered animal, his eyes blown out and huge, the scaly skin that now made up his form stretched tight over shivering muscles and his lips drawn back over sharp, pointed teeth. And Leo looked down at his own clawed, three-fingered hand and came to a horrible realization.

He couldn’t help because Donnie couldn’t recognize him. They were panicking because they were in this crazy, fucked up body that wasn’t theirs, and Leo was in a fucked up body that wasn’t his, and looking at him was just a reminder of everything wrong. He was just scaring them more. His being here was just making things worse, and Leo’s throat tied itself in a knot, swelling up as the backs of his eyes pinched with the thought.

“April,” he called, his voice cracking slightly as he desperately turned to look for his sister. She wasn’t far off, watching from a short distance with obvious worry, and she blinked in surprise at the sound of her name.

“Help me.”

---

If Leo was being completely honest, he hadn’t even realized that Donnie wasn’t still nearby. The two of them typically stuck together like glue whenever they were at school. Leo would usually lead the way, and Donnie would trail after, with Leo doing most of the talking and socializing for both of them. And once Donnie got sick of whatever they were doing, he would simply drag Leo off to sit and read or work on some project or puzzle for a while, and Leo would oblige and keep him company. Donnie was always close by, and Leo wasn’t even aware that this wasn’t currently the case, too absorbed in his latest arts and crafts project, until he heard a telltale, high-pitched whine from across the room.

He was on his feet in seconds, abandoning the activity and his classmates to scuttle off in search of his twin brother. Luckily, he wasn’t too hard to find. Both because he was pretty loud, and also because their substitute teacher was crouched down next to him. She was nice enough, Leo thought, but not quite as cool as Miss Mitchelle was, and he wasn’t sure if Donnie liked her at all. It definitely didn’t seem like he liked her too much right now with how he was all balled up, and Leo wasted no time at all in planting himself physically between the two.

Donnie immediately gravitated towards his brother and Leo moved a bit closer in turn, giving Miss Substitute (he didn’t remember her name,) a very displeased look.

“He doesn’t like whatever you’re doing,” he declared firmly.

Miss Substitute’s expression twitched and faltered for a moment before it settled back into something patient and pleasant, though Leo still didn’t quite trust it. “Leo,” she said, “I was just trying to talk with your brother--”

“I can talk to him,” Leo assured immediately, not bothering to listen to the remainder of her sentence because he couldn’t imagine it would be all that important or interesting. He turned to face Donnie instead. “It’s okay. I can always understand him, ‘cause we have a secret twin language. We made it up. Only we can speak it,” he declared proudly, crouching down to lean in towards his brother, his arms wrapped around his knees.

Donnie was still whining a bit, curled up into a ball and shoved halfway inside of a cubby, his arms crossed protectively over his head as he rocked. And yeah, he was obviously upset, though Leo wasn’t completely sure why yet. As such, he got to work, conversing with his twin in the previously mentioned secret twin language.

… And.

Okay.

So.

They didn’t actually have a secret twin language.

But it was close enough! It wasn’t a language, per se, ‘cause it didn’t have words, just noises and chirps and trills and squeaks and babbles. But he still always got the gist of what Donnie was saying, and Donnie would get the gist of what he was saying, too, so it worked. Sooner or later, he could pretty much always get an understanding of what Donnie was meaning based on the inflection or tone of his noises, as well as calm the other down enough so that Leo could coax a couple of signs out of him, so Leo figured it was close enough to language.

Plus, the ‘language’ itself always seemed to kind of settle Donnie down when he was upset like this. Once Leo started humming and squeaking at him, Donnie gradually started to answer with his own chirps and clicks, and, little by little, Leo watched their twin’s body untense and unwind. Leo grinned, moving to sit properly by him, and Donnie moved closer, edging just a bit out of his hiding spot so he could shove himself up against Leo’s side instead, resting his head against his shoulder and settling in there, an indignant scowl still on his face.

Leo grinned, puffing out his chest a bit as he shot Miss Substitute a look. See? He told her so. He and Donnie always understood each other, no matter what, and he could always fix it when Donnie wasn’t feeling good! He was basically the best brother in the entire world. Confident that he understood the problem, he turned back to face Miss Substitute.

“He said you’re not doing the schedule right, and we’re supposed to do math right now,” he announced, crossing his arms over his chest. And he hadn’t even noticed, but Donnie was right, they did usually do math lessons during this part of the day-- not arts and crafts. “And also, he doesn’t like the paper fish we’re doing ‘cause the glue feels bad. So we gotta find something else to do,” he insisted. “‘Cause otherwise Donnie and I aren’t playing.”

Donnie nodded a tiny bit from behind him, and Leo beamed with pride. Understanding Donnie and calming him down wasn’t even that hard. He didn’t get why adults besides Dad had such a hard time with it sometimes. You really just had to listen to him.

---

It took a while for April to calm Donnie back down, (or at least get him as calm as they possibly could be in such circumstances,) but she managed after a bit, his panicked breaths eventually dying down into something a bit more even and steady. Thank god. Mikey thought dimly to himself that he had never seen Donnie freak out so bad, but... he supposed he couldn't really blame him.

He frowned a bit, looking down at his own, unfamiliar hands, and he curled up a bit more, his tail tucking in (oh my god, he had a tail,) as he clung to Raph's plastron (oh my god, Raph had a plastron.) And though it still held comfort, the fold of his biggest brother's arms, bundled up close and held there, this place that he had known his whole life... it suddenly felt foreign, too. Everything was hard and jagged and cold. And even worse-- it was unfamiliar.

He kept staring at his own hands because he couldn't stop himself, and it made his stomach wobble. He wondered bleakly what his own face looked like because he had no idea. He wouldn't even recognize himself in the mirror.

Now that Donnie had finally settled a bit, though he was still curled up and pressed just against April's side, just barely not touching but still squeezed up small against her, Leo finally got up to his feet-- only to immediately lose his balance, falling over onto his back with a loud clunk.

"Leo!" Raph's eyes widened, his muscles immediately bunching up, ready to jump up and go grab his brother. Mikey could tell that he was just barely resisting the urge to scoop up all three of them and bundle them up in his arms and just hang onto them for a while. He had been sitting here long enough for Mikey to notice how fast his heart was beating. Mikey’s was keeping pace. Leo kind of flailed for a second before he managed to redirect the momentum to roll over onto his side, getting himself back onto his hands and knees. A wry, strangled laugh forced its way out of him.

"Alright. Well. Pro tip: center of gravity is weird now," he remarked dryly, his voice strained. "But the good news is falling doesn't even hurt anymore! So that’s great!"

It didn't get a laugh out of anyone. After a moment of hesitation, Mikey slowly wriggled his way from Raph's grip, making his way over to Leo's side. He didn't dare try to walk after watching Leo's attempt, noting that it seemed to be more difficult now without the rush of adrenaline to aid them, so he instead stayed in a crouch, sort of half-hopping-half-crawling over. Raph followed shortly after in a similar manner.

"Can I see?" He questioned softly, and when Leo didn't deny him, he leaned over slightly, moving his hoodie (which was now a very awkward fit,) out of the way enough so that he could examine the edges of his brother's new shell.

(Oh my god. His brother's shell. What kind of a sentence was that? What kind of weird, fucked up make-believe world were they suddenly in? Leo was his brother. He didn't have a shell. He had cool brown skin. He had bouncy blonde curls that Mikey had helped him bleach and dye a red streak in. He had vitiligo 'stripes' over his eyes. He had a bad habit of cycling through boyfriends and insomnia and a shockingly large vocabulary... but he didn't have a shell. He didn't have scales or stripes or claws or a tail.)

He looked anyway, running the tips of his fingers over the top of it, following the curve. He couldn't quite tell if he was feeling the texture of the shell, or just the texture of his own fingers, which were different than they had been; covered in scales, the skin thicker and rougher than it had been before. Bending his joints felt odd, and he couldn't help himself from doing it over and over, as if that might help him get used to it faster.

Every part of his brother’s shell was this cool, ocean blue, just edging on teal in some places, and Mikey thought to himself that, in the very least, it matched his life color perfectly.

He swallowed hard and resisted the tears that were building up in his eyes. He didn’t want to cry right now. He didn’t even know what he was crying about. Because he was scared? Because he was overwhelmed? He wasn’t very good at not crying, but he forced it down, his hands trembling a bit with the effort of it.

"Does it look the same as mine?" He heard himself asking, his eyes flickering over to meet Leo's (which were now not something he recognized, looking more animal than person, though they still retained the same, familiar almond shape. The color, however, he realized, was slightly different. Leo's eyes were brown. All of their eyes were brown, so dark that they were almost black, but now, instead, Leo's eyes were mismatched; one of them dark blue, like water in a cove, like the sea at night, and the other dark red, like ink with blood, like black cherries.)

"I dunno," Leo laughed, though his voice was still shaking. "I don't know what mine looks like."

"They're... kinda the same…" Raph observed from nearby, leaning over slightly to examine them both. His voice sounded kind of hollow, like he wasn’t really there. Sort of far-off. "I mean. The parts I can see. Mikey, yours is more... orangey. And bumpier," he said. "And yours is spotty. Leo's is kinda... stripey."

"Yours is huge," Leo observed with a chuckle, glancing over at their biggest brother, who was always the tallest and largest by a wide margin, but now absolutely dwarfed the rest of them. "And... spiky. You're all spiky. And… and fucking huge, dude. You look like you have fucking paws. And your mouth is all..." He laughed again, scrubbing anxiously at his face with his hands. "You look like a fucking snapping turtle."

Mikey paused a bit at that, glancing over at the other.

Donnie must have said or signed something that the rest of them didn’t catch, because April spoke up next, clearly addressing him. "Uhm, no, yours is... uh. It's kind of flat? And..." There was a pause. "Oh, oh my god, it's, like, squishy!" She squealed, everyone else in the room jumping in response, before she tamped down the noise, biting her lip and getting a handle on her reaction. "Sorry! Sorry, I just. I just wasn't expecting that texture, that's all! It doesn't... feel like what I thought a shell would feel like, I guess."

"Are we different kinds of... turtles?" Mikey questioned, tilting his head to the side. He wanted to laugh at himself when he said turtles. I mean, seriously, turtles? Of all the creatures in the world, turtles? Why were they turtles?

"I guess we must be," Leo sighed, resting his chin on his knee. "We obviously look different."

Mikey frowned, and he thought that his lips might be trembling if he had proper lips anymore, but he wasn't sure if he did or if they could tremble or what that would feel like if they did. Okay, fine. Now there were a few tears.

"Does that mean we're not brothers?"

A beat of silence followed.

"We're not," Donnie said, and quite frankly, Mikey was surprised to hear him speaking. Small miracles? Kinda…?

"Yeah, we are. Don't be crazy," Raph immediately refuted, his brows (er... brows? Place where brows once were?) furrowing together, and Mikey was desperately relieved to see that the space in between still wrinkled into a crease the same way they always did. "Of course we're brothers."

"Evidently, we're not even the same species," Donnie hissed out bitterly, drawing himself up even closer, even smaller, into a little ball. "It's literally impossible."

"Come on, Dee--"

"We're not even human!" Donnie snapped, hunching up his shoulders. "We're not even people!"

"Hey, look, come on you guys," April tried to soothe, holding up her hands as if to calm the group. "It doesn't matter if you're turtles! It doesn't matter to me. I love you guys no matter what--"

"Oh, wow, what a comfort!" Donnie scoffed, and April bristled.

"Okay, look, I am trying to be helpful! I know that this fucking sucks but you do not need to take out your nasty attitude on me!"

Leo suddenly laughed-- loudly, painfully-- tilting his head back and letting his shoulders slump so he could stare up at the ceiling. "Oh my god. Jesus christ. We're not people," he bit out in between his barely restrained hysterics, squeezing his eyes shut. "We're freaks, dude!"

"Leo, c'mon."

"We're not even people!!!" He repeated. "Fuck. We never even had a chance, and we didn't even know it!... Oh my god, we’re such morons!!! Hahaha-- welp! This is it! Pack it in, boys, it’s all over!"

"Leo, chill. What are you even talkin’ about?"

"Did you know I was gonna go on T?" He questioned, turning around sharply, suddenly, to face Raph. "Me and Dad were talking about it. For, like, a while now. And I was gonna start T, finally. Do you know how much I wanted to do that? Do you know how long I've been waiting to get to do that?"

Raph frowned. "Leo... This doesn't mean--"

"How the fuck is that going to work now!?" He interrupted. "How is anything gonna work now? We're fucking! REPTILES! Raph!!!"

"I KNOW THAT!" Now Raph was yelling, too, and Mikey flinched a bit, hiccuping softly as he drew himself down, retreating slightly, halfway into his shell (oh my god, he can do that now?) "You think you're the only one who was lookin' forward to stuff? I was--" He cut himself off, breathing in deep and then letting it out slow, his jaw tensed.

"Look. I know this... sucks. But it's not gonna help to just throw in the towel right now and mourn shit that we don't even know is gone yet, alright? We'll... figure it out," he said. "We don’t even know what’s goin’ on, so let’s just… let's just try to figure it out first. Okay?"

Leo frowned. He looked down and to the side, tightening his hands into fists, but he didn't have any rebuttal. After a moment, he took a deep breath, pulling himself up to his feet for a second time. He tottered for a moment, his arms windmilling until he found his balance and this time he stayed on his feet. He looked around the room for a moment before his eyes fell on the limp form of Baron Draxum, still crumpled in a heap some odd paces away.

"What do we do with that guy?"

All of their eyes snapped over, as though they had all just remembered that he was there in the first place.

"Did you knock him out, dude?!" Raph questioned, his eyes widening slightly.

"No! I mean. I don't think so. Not exactly," Leo said. "It's, like-- he grabbed me and some sort of mystic-magic-whatever thing happened. He lit up with a bunch of symbols and he just... went down. I dunno what happened."

"Well," Raph said, sighing deeply before he pulled himself to his feet as well, doing a similar rock and wobble to Leo before he figured out the new balance he had to strike, correcting his own footing. His long tail swung back and forth behind him, assumedly on instinct, to help. "We dunno how long he's gonna stay down, so we oughta find a way out of here and put some distance between us and him ASAP. We already know where Dad is, anyway."

"Maybe we can figure out where we are," Donnie mumbled bleakly, pulling himself to his feet as well. He seemed to struggle much less than his brothers did, and Mikey noted that his back rounded less than theirs. April got up as well, sticking close to his side, but perhaps hovering a bit less now.

Mikey watched as his family rose up, one by one, finding their feet again. And something in his chest unwound and loosened again. A breath he hadn't realized he had been holding came tumbling out of him.

He didn't know his own face anymore. And he didn't recognize his brothers when he looked at them.

But they were still them. Already, Mikey was completely sure of it. And the change, while still terrifying, felt just a tiny bit less devastating.

He hadn’t lost them yet.

Bracing himself for the coming challenge, he rose up to his feet as well. The unfamiliar weight on his back was more than he had expected and attempted to drag him down, and he stumbled slightly, nearly toppling over onto his back the same way Leo had the first time-- but Raph grabbed his wrist before he could, pulling him forward and correcting him, and Mikey was relieved to find his center of gravity once more. Usually, he would complain about his big brother stepping in, preferring to do things on his own rather than being 'babied' by his older family members, but...

Right now, it was actually okay.

"Okay. Let's do this."

(They took about three steps before Raph yelped and tripped over his own tail.)

---

Though they had tied up the so-called "Baron Draxum" with whatever rope and other scrap they could find in this place, (the longer they were here, the more Donnie began to suspect it was a lab of some kind,) none of them were very confident that it would be able to hold him for very long, if at all, and so they all got to work trying to figure out an exit. But to call this place 'maze-like' was a bit of an understatement.

"This is the worst landmark ever," April hissed in frustration as they turned a corner, only to once again be met with a hog-tied yokai, face-down on the concrete. "We keep going in circles!"

"Okay, look," Donnie sighed. "I know we don't want to linger here any more than we have to, but let's look around a bit and see if there's anything useful lying around to get us out of here. Clearly just walking out isn't getting us anywhere."

There was a chorus of grunts and mumbles of agreement from the rest of his family, and the group slowly fanned out, beginning their search. It was dark here, wherever they were. The ground beneath his feet was cold, with him and his brothers having already ditched and stowed their sneakers and boots after realizing how awkward and painful it was to walk in them with their new wide, two-toed feet.

The space was wide and almost circular, with various tunnels branching off at different levels, all leading away to who-knew-where. Several desks and tables were scattered about the space, each surface covered in everything from charts to pipettes to oddly-shaped jars filled with oddly-colored substances. Donnie just barely resisted the urge to sit down and start working, or to begin snatching and pocketing things as he found them. Instead, he took a liberal amount of photographs of everything they found on his phone.

His impulse control could only get him so far, however, and his eyes narrowed as they fell across a small, purpley-pink gem that lay on the desk, suspended within a small glass case. This certainly looked interesting... Geology wasn't really a passion of his, but something about this just seemed... intriguing. He couldn't quite place it...

Surely no one would miss this, right? It was small! It would be silly not to take it, quite frankly, and he slipped it into his pocket as quietly as he could when he was sure no one else was looking.

Now, if only he could find some blueprints of the tunnels... But that would be too easy, wouldn't it?

"So," Mikey said after a minute or so of them searching, and Donnie sighed internally. Of course, they couldn't expect him to stay quiet for that long. "If Raph is a snapping turtle, and me and Leo are turtle-turtles, then what kind of a turtle is Donnie?"

Donnie rolled his eyes, scowling. "Okay, well, first of all, do we really have to discuss this?" He hissed, immediately bristling. "I’d highly prefer we not address the proverbial elephant in the room, thank you! Second of all, 'turtle-turtle' is not a species."

"Yeah, but, like, we have turtle shells!" Mikey explained. "But April said yours is squishy. So what does that make you?"

Donnie sighed deeply. Talking about this made his skin itch.

"A softshell turtle, I suppose."

"A softshell?" Leo questioned, raising a brow. "That's a thing?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that off the top of your head?" Raph questioned.

"Some of us actually paid attention during biology classes," he responded dryly. And having a near-photographic memory did, admittedly, help as well…

"Whoa!" Mikey absolutely beamed. "That's so cool! Now we just gotta figure out what kind of turtles me and Leo are!"

"Well, I'd look it up if we had any service. And also if it was even close to being an appropriate time for us to waste our efforts on something like that," Donnie said with a roll of his eyes. He knew that Mikey was just distracting himself, finding a silver lining so he didn’t break down, but Donnie didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to think about how much of their entire lives was completely fabricated, about how--

He snorted, suddenly doubling over with laughter.

"What?" April questioned, raising a brow.

"I just-- I just realized!" Donnie laughed. "Our... our moms must be turtles! Fucking turtles!"

There was a beat of silence as this sunk in before Raph gave a similar reaction. "Damn! I guess you're right, huh?"

"Do you have any idea how much time I wasted in therapy talking about this?" Donnie squeaked out through giggles. "I spent so much time with Mossy talking about our mom and how she didn't want us or whatever the fuck and about the stuff she did to Dad and how I couldn't remember her, and she-- she was never even real! None of that ever even happened! She was just a fucking turtle, wasn't she!? We don’t even have a real mom!"

"Whoa! Mind... blown. I didn't even think about that..." Mikey gaped, his eyes wide. "This whole time I just assumed that our mom was probably the hotel lady..."

"Yeah, me too," Leo agreed.

Donnie blinked.

"You what?"

"Well, you know, that woman that Dad was datin’ right before he disappeared," Raph said. "And she runs the Grand Nexus Hotel, right? All the articles I ever read always mentioned her."

Donnie's eyes twitched. "You thought she was our mother?" He questioned.

"Well, that's who Dad was datin’ last! And for a long time, too. It'd make sense, wouldn't it?" Raph defended.

"Yeah. You didn't think that?" Leo said.

"NO! Why would I think that?!" Donnie was laughing again.

Leo huffed in offense, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm sorry, do you know something we don't?"

"Apparently!" Donnie exclaimed. "Guys, you've seen pictures of her, right?!"

"Well, yeah?" Mikey tilted his head to the side.

"She's pale as fuck!"

"So?"

"And our Dad is Japanese!"

"And? Donnie, what's your point?"

"We're black!"

"... Ooooohhhhh," all three of his brothers said, nearly in unison, after Donnie's argument finally sunk in.

"Oh my god," Donnie laughed, covering his face with his hands, scrubbing tears from his eyes. "You're all so fucking dumb..."

"I guess our mom would have had to be black. I mean. We got the Japanese half from Dad, but... I never really thought about where the other half came from..." Raph admitted, his mouth still slightly agape like he was still rolling the thought about in his head.

"Wait a minute," April said, her hands on her hips. "I mean, yeah, all that makes sense, but if you guys have secretly been turtles this whole time, then why are you black?"

"Dude, are all turtles black?" Mikey questioned, his eyes widening.

"I cannot discuss this any further. I'll get a migraine and furthermore cease to function, as I am, and I cannot stress this enough, just barely suppressing the gravity of this whole situation right now," Donnie sighed, gesturing to himself as he turned back to the desk in front of him. "Did anyone find anything yet?"

"Not yet," April sighed, shuffling through some papers. "What even is all this junk?"

"I'm not sure. Some sort of research, it seems like..." Donnie mused, sort of thumbing through a book as he spoke, reading key phrases and chunks of text as quickly as he could and making mental notes so he could refer back to it later. He was more than happy to have something else to focus on, though this would admittedly be a lot easier with human hands. "But I'm still not sure where--"

Shhhh shhhh.

Donnie paused mid-sentence, his brows furrowed. He hadn't noticed that sound before now. He tilted his head a bit to the side, turning in its direction, trying to zero in.

"... Donnie?"

"What's that noise?" He questioned aloud, though his voice was barely above a whisper.

Shhhh shhhhh.

He knew that noise. He recognized it. Where had he heard it before?

Shhhh shhhhh.

... Water, he realized with a start. The noise was running water. Of course. How had he never realized this before?...

That's what he was hearing. That's what he had heard.

"Dee? You good?"

"Guys," he said, turning just enough to glance over in their direction. His face suddenly felt like glass. It was odd. "I think... I think we're in the sewer," he said. "... And I think we've been here before...?"

Before anyone could say anything further, a new noise filled up the space.

Skrrrtttccchhhhh.

---

"What was that?!" Mikey shrieked, immediately leaping behind his biggest brother to hide. Leo and Donnie were instantly gravitating to each other as well, falling into stance on instinct as they stood back to back, each covering the other.

"It sounds like something scratching," April said thoughtfully, and true to her word, the same skritching noise clawed its way through the air a moment later, echoing slightly against the walls. "I think it's coming from over here!"

"April!" Raph hissed off a protest as she took off, heading in the direction of the sound. "We don't know what that is!"

"We will if we go look!" She chirped in reply. I mean, come on, what was the benefit of hiding over here instead of investigating? Weren't they curious either way? Besides, they were stuck here regardless-- maybe they'd find something helpful.

The noise continued as April searched, peering around corners and down tunnels, until, finally, she found her prize. Tucked inside one of the off-shoot tunnels, one of the many dead-ends that seemed to surround this space, was a proverbial treasure trove. A variety of odds and ends filled the space; various amulets and scrolls and chests and even weapons were leaned up against the wall or stacked up on the ground. In fact, a lot of weapons were in here. Was this some kind of a weird armory? Or a trophy room? What kind of sewer has a trophy room?

But most interestingly, she found the source of the noise. Inside a small, dimly lit orb, looking as though it were made of some sort of glass, or perhaps even light, was one of the oddest creatures April had ever seen, clawing sadly at the surface of its prison. It had ears like a chihuahua, pointed and too big for its head, with tufts of fur poofing out from inside, but huge eyes like some kind of a cat. Pointed tusks stuck from its mouth like a boar, but soft, downy yellow-and-blue fur covered its entire, squirrel-like body, complete with a fluffy, wriggly tail.

"AW, you guyyssss!" She called out. "Come look! It's cute!"

"April!" The guys were right behind her, with Raph leading the charge. "You can't just run off like-- jumpin' jack flash! What the heck is that thing?!"

"I dunno!" April said with a shrug, immediately making her way into the room, scooping up the orb so she could examine it, looking for a way to open it up. The little critter inside pattered about excitedly, its claws clicking against the smooth surface. "Help me figure out how to get him outta here."

"Are you sure about that?" Leo questioned. "No offense, but we have nooo idea what that thing is! Maybe it's, I dunno, locked up for a reason?"

"What? C'mon, guys, we've gotta help!" Mikey protested, turning on them with big, pleading eyes. Nice, April thought, with Mikey on her side she had basically already won. Suck it, middle children. "Plus, he was locked up by Draxum. So he can't be bad!"

"Yeah! Ever heard ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend?’" April added in.

"I'm not convinced," Donnie said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I mean, has anyone else noticed that pretty much everything else in this room is a weapon of some kind? Isn't that maybe a bit telling?"

"Aw, come on, Dee. Look at this face!" April insisted, holding up the orb to the others. The creature, to their credit, played their part, pulling an absolutely pitiful face which Mikey immediately echoed, turning to his brothers with watery eyes.

Checkmate.

"Okay, okay, fine. Look, there's gotta be something in here that can help us bust him out..." Leo muttered, beginning to pick his way through the contents of the room with Raph, Donnie, and Mikey following suit shortly after.

"Here, what about these?" Leo said after a moment, turning to face them with a pair of twin katanas in hand. "Think I could slice that bad boy open with these guys?"

April scoffed, clutching the orb close to her chest. "Uhm, and this guy in half, maybe!" She protested. "Can we try something a little less deadly, please?"

"Aw, come on! These are cool," Leo protested, grinning as he twirled them in his hands with a metallic shwing.

"You just like them because you always win at any swordsmanship event at tournaments," Donnie remarked dryly, grabbing a long wooden staff to hold in his hands, testing the weight of it. "... That being said, should we maybe grab some of these just in case?"

"Whaddya mean?" Raph glanced over at the other.

"Well, we haven't even made it to the Hidden City yet, and we've already been attacked once," Donnie reasoned, placing a hand on his hip and frowning. "So it wouldn't exactly be a bad idea to have some weapons on hand in case of an emergency." He spun the bo staff in his hands appraisingly a few times. "I mean, obviously this is a bit underwhelming, but I'm sure I could make some improvements once we got back home..."

"Sounds like a good plan to me! Look at all the stuff they’ve got!” Mikey cheered, immediately diving in, beginning to sort through all the various options they had in the room. He chuckled darkly, swinging a pair of nun-chucks in his hands. “These’ll do…”

“Yo, guys!” Raph called, waving to get his brothers’ attention before pointing to the very far corner of the room. “If we’re gonna take stuff, why don’t we take the glowy ones?”

There was, in fact, a weapons rack filled with floating, vaguely glowing weapons, tucked away in the shadows, which only made the glow all that much more tempting. They were simply begging to be taken.

Mikey and Leo, almost in unison, gasped, their faces absolutely lighting up as they raced over to join Raph. “Ooh, dibs on the sword!” Leo cheered, immediately snatching up the odachi and repeatedly striking poses.

“Hot soup! Check me out!” Mikey snatched up a bright orange kusari-fundo, absolutely beaming ear-to-ear. Raph was nearly drooling as he laid his claim on a pair of tonfas, beaming as he gave a few experimental swings.

“They’re perfect! No one’ll mess with us now!”

“What about you, Donnie?” April questioned, tilting her head back to glance at the remaining brother. “Don’t you want a glowy weapon?”

“And add yet another unknown, uncontrolled variable to our current situation? I’m good,” Donnie scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’ve trained with a regular, wooden bo staff. I’ll fight with a wooden bo staff, thank you very much. You all have fun with your likely-radioactive weaponry,” he said, waving them off.

“Here, April, I got something for you, too,” Mikey chirped excitedly, scampering over to present his find to her. “Ta-da!!! Baseball bat!”

It wasn’t a baseball bat-- it was a club. But close enough! April gasped in delight. “It’s perfect!” She enthused, immediately snatching it up, rolling it around in her hands and tapping it against the side of her shoe a few times. Ooh, and the weight was perfect, too. “And I think it can help us get little guy out of this ball thingie, too! Leo, come hold it still for me!”

"Aw man, why do I gotta hold it?" Leo muttered in complaint but did as he was told regardless, kneeling down to hold the orb steady, taking care in the placement of his hands to minimize the chances of broken fingers.

"Alright," April said, backing up a bit, her tongue sticking out from between her lips with focus. "This won't hurt a bit..."

She swung the club back, taking care to temper her strength, and brought it down on the little ball prison with a satisfying crunch.

"Did it work?" Mikey gasped, his eyes wide as he leaned over. The orb was not shattered nor laying in pieces; but the side of it had caved in considerably, a spiderweb of cracks blossoming from it, and a second later, it simply dissolved as if it had never been there in the first place. The creature that had previously been trapped inside cracked one eye open, having squeezed itself into the very back of its cage, flinching at the oncoming impact, gave an absolute trill of excitement, darting about in celebration.

"There we go!" April said, grinning wide, her hands planted on her hips. "See, told ya I'd get you outta there! That's better, right?"

The little yellow beast threw itself into her lap, wriggling with joy and nuzzling at her with an enthusiastic wag of its tail. "Okay, okay! You're welcome!" April laughed, giggling as she allowed the creature to clamber about in her arms, allowing it time to bounce about before it finally began to settle again.

"Any chance you know how to get out of here, little guy?"

---

Raph looked up from his phone and his tea at the sound of mail plopping down on the table, glancing over to examine the letters his father had just tossed over in his direction.

"For you," Dad remarked, sorting through the remaining mail from the day.

"For me?" Raph echoed, his brows rising up. "Who the heck is sending me mail?" Curiosity took hold immediately, and he abandoned the wrestling video he had been watching previously in favor of tearing open the letters on the table.

He was surprised to find college brochures inside. His father, however, did not seem all that surprised at all, even adding a couple more to the pile.

"It seems you are in high demand," Dad teased, smiling the tiniest bit. "I have received a few emails as well from recruiters recently."

Raph paused for a moment, rolling this idea about in his brain, trying to figure out what it meant and what it tasted like before he forced a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Guess they haven't seen my grades yet," he joked weakly. Dad hummed softly, pulling up a chair so he could sit down next to his eldest son.

"Nonsense," he scoffed. "Your grades are fine, Raphael. You've simply tricked yourself into thinking they're not by comparing yourself to others," he added, giving the other a knowing look. "And besides that, this is hardly the only thing that matters. I have told you many times that grades aren't everything. My grades in high school were terrible!" He remarked with a laugh. "And your career in sports is very impressive."

"I guess," Raph said, wrinkling his nose up a bit as he leaned over the table. Easy for him to say. He had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea of colleges being interested in him when his three younger brothers were right here in the same damn house! Had they really meant to send these to Hamato Raphael?

Dad's hand moved to rub little circles into his back, and he nudged his son's teacup a bit. Raph agreeably took a sip, allowing the warm liquid to trickle down through his chest.

"I know you have not always enjoyed schoolwork, Raphael," Dad finally spoke again. "But you are not stupid. You may very well have the most common sense of any of my children!" He chuckled. "And you have many talents besides that. You are a remarkable athlete, and I know I do not have to drag you over to the trophy wall to prove this to you, but I will if I have to. You are only sixteen and you are already the captain of multiple sports teams... not just anyone could handle that! It is difficult to lead a team. But you have always handled this with grace. And teaching children! That is a talent in and of itself. That is no easy task. Trust me, I know," he said, smiling slightly. "But you are doing so well with your new job. And I am very proud of you."

Raphael glanced over at his father, for just a moment, hesitating like he wanted to say something, but then biting it back.

"You don't have to go to college if you don't want to," Dad added. "If you decide that is not the path for you, that is fine. I won't be upset or disappointed. I did not go to college, either! But I would hate for you to not even consider it just because you don't think you're good enough for it," he pressed. "I know you've always said you intend to pursue a career in sports of some kind, but this is very much an avenue to achieve that if you'd like. Many professional athletes get their start through college sports, you know. And I can already name half a dozen universities off the top of my head who would be thrilled to have you on their team in a couple of years!"

He sighed softly.

"But you do not have to decide right now, my son. There is still plenty of time for you to consider all of your options."

Raph glanced over at his father, shifting a bit in his seat, before looking to the side.

"Uh. I dunno, Pops. I mean. I'm not good at tests and all that junk. I mean. College football could be good 'n all, but, uh..."

He hesitated a second, sort of scratching the side of his jaw, hesitating a bit. "I dunno. Maybe I could... I mean. We could look at it, at least. I was kind of wonderin’ about, uh. I dunno… Just, lately, I was thinkin' about... studyin' early childhood education, maybe?..."

[ next ]

#sorrywhatnowau #sorrywhatnowau fic #rottmnt #rottmnt fanfic #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt au #rottmnt human au #tmnt

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applecherry108 · 2 years

Text

Hi, I’m jumping on the Separated AU train, but I’ve taken all the angst out and decided that Having Children Softens You Actually.

Mikey is found by Lieutenant and Brute (who are a couple, fight me) and is raised by them. It was funnier to have a Dr Delicate Touch moment with his Big Sister Cass but he’s still the artsy fun-loving kid and his dads are so so proud of him and hang up all his art. His puppy dog eyes sway every decision the Foot Clan makes.

Draxum hangs on to Donnie and Wow Being A Dad Is A Lot Of Work. He’ll often say he’s learned more from his son than he’s ever taught him. Donnie’s intense interest in the mechanical perfectly balances and compliments Draxum’s mastery of the mystic. Their expertise fills in where the other’s fall short and together they create the wildest things that benefit all yokai.

Big Mama and Little Raphie. He’s the last piece of her Lou she has left and she fiercely protects him. He has participated in the Battle Nexus, but more for fun than obligation. He’s a favorite match for other competitors since he doesn’t believe in “finishing the job” (and because Big Mama would never ever allow him to be in a to-the-death match). Mama doesn’t have a lot of time for Evil when she’s too busy doting on her turtley-poo.

I said I’d leave the angst out, so we’re not gonna talk about Splinter and Leo. 🙃

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dandylovesturtles · 8 months

Text

late night posting but I had a thought that spiraled into mostly Disaster Twins banter and I wanted to write it just because of that

I have no plan I’m just going sorry if it just kinda ends

takes place immediately after the events of Evil League of Mutants

———

Donnie’s in his bunk, doing one last nightly check of all his socials, when the curtain to his room is opened and shut. He doesn’t have to look to know who it is - his other brothers have the decency to knock.

“What do you want, Leo?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Donnie hears the sound of his desk chair rolling over concrete and looks down to see Leo making himself comfortable, reclined back so he can see Donnie without craning his neck.

Great. Donnie returns to his phone and waits for Leo to speak.

“I just can’t stop thinking about what happened today.”

“A lot of things happened today, so you’ll have to be more specific.”

“Uh, about Lou Jitsu being our dad, duh! I mean, it’s crazy!”

“Oh, I know.” Donnie actually grins at that, looking up at his ceiling. “Of all the people it could have been! You know, I’ve sequenced all our DNA, and if I go through the data perhaps I can isolate his badassery in genetic form!” He wiggles in excitement. “Maybe I can even make my own Lou Jitsu clone…”

“Okay, cool it on the mad scientist junk for a second,” says Leo, rudely jerking him out of his tiny Lou Jitsu fantasies. “I’m just saying… he’s our dad.”

“Yes, as we’ve established.”

“I mean, all four of us.”

“Good job, Leo, you are two for two.”

“And that makes us brothers. Like… biologically.”

“Yes, very good. You have a fifth grade understanding of biology, gold star.” He looks away from his phone and down at Leo, and feels a sudden rush of panic. “Aaaand you aaare emotional about this… for some reason.”

“Am not,” argues Leo, even though he clearly is. Leo doesn’t cry much, but sometimes his eyes get all big and shiny like he wants to, and now is one of those times.

Donnie cringes. “Are you sure you don’t want to have… whatever conversation this is with Raph or Mikey?”

“No.” Leo scowls. “They’d be all… weird about it.”

“I’m going to be weird about it!”

“Dee, can you just… listen a sec?”

He knows if he tells Leo no after that, Leo will get up and leave… but he feels bad doing that. No matter what reasoning led him to choose Donnie to hear out these feelings, if Leo gets rejected he’ll never tell anyone and just sulk in his room instead.

So Donnie sighs. “Fiiine. But I’m not sharing any emotions tonight.”

Leo snorts, but after a second he starts talking again. “I just… know it shouldn’t matter, because we’re brothers no matter what. But… I don’t know. I always thought, since we’re different species… But now I know we all have the same dad! And it doesn’t matter, but… doesn’t that make you kinda… happy?”

Leo’s looking at him expectantly, and Donnie mulls it over. Does it make him happy? He’s never thought too much about it before, but maybe there is something nice about sharing that connection.

He already said he’s not talking about feelings, though, and anyway… “I already knew.”

Leo is out of the chair and in his face in a second flat. “What do you mean you already knew?”

“Not that Lou Jitsu is our dad, obviously!” He isn’t intimidated by Leo, but he pulls back anyway so he has more room to properly display his annoyance. “But I sequenced our DNA, remember? And it took some work, because of the highly complex processes involved and the fact that we don’t have DNA that is purely human or turtle-“

“Donnie-“

“-anyway, I isolated our human DNA and found enough similarities to determine there was a 92% chance our human donor was the same person. So I already knew that we are biologically brothers.”

Leo gapes at him. “And you didn’t think to tell us that!?”

“I tried to tell you! I laid all my findings out in a powerpoint, and you said, and I quote, “Donald, it’s been fifteen slides already, if you have any more I’m shoving you in a sewer pipe and leaving you for the rats.””

“Hey, don’t pin this on me! You’re the one who didn’t put the important information up front! Effective scientific communication is critical!”

“The point is that it’s all important, and thus impossible to pare down! So if you could just be patient once and a while, you’d actually learn something!”

“Well maybe I just thought you would tell us something this important straight out!”

Donnie is all geared up to keep fighting him on this, but just like how he can tell when Leo is emotional but trying to hide it, he can tell when Leo is hurt and trying to hide it. Arguing doesn’t feel good when it’s like this.

He backs down with a small shrug of surrender. “I just… didn’t think it was that important. I mean, it’s like you said… We’re brothers no matter who our human donor or donors are.”

The hurt slips off Leo’s face as easily as it came, and he smiles just a little. “Yeah?”

“Yes. And if I’m saying it then it’s obviously right.”

Leo rolls his eyes, but he’s still got that smile so Donnie knows all is forgiven.

Leo decides to extend an olive branch too, apparently, because the next thing he says is, “What would you even do with a Lou Jitsu clone, anyway?”

“I haven’t decided.” He looks at Leo, then sighs and scoots over. “Since you’re here, you can help me brainstorm.”

Leo’s smile turns into a full grin, and he pulls himself up into the bunk. It’s a tight squeeze, but they fit.

#dandy fanfiction #rottmnt #disaster twins #rise leo #rise donnie #my fanfiction

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danmainacc · 2 years

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THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD

As Leo, Mikey, Don, and Casey ride in the Turtle Tank, Casey tells stories of the future…….and you.

Character: Leonardo

Writing type: One-shot

Warnings: none, just some tooth-rotting fluff and a few innuendod ;) and maybe the teeniest bit of angst if you squint

Author’s note: okay so it’s pretty obvious I am obsessed with Future! Leo and this idea randomly came to mind as I was watching The Thing ( don’t ask ) and just had to write it. ( credit to qoeww for photo )

...

“The Turtle Tank, baby! It’s how we roll in the past. I mean, the present. I mean...Ugh! Time travel’s confusing,” Mikey groaned, slumping in his seat in the Tank.

“They’re on the move. According to the subcutaneous tracker I put on Raph--.” “Wait, does that mean you put trackers on all of us?” Leo cocked his brown bone, giving his twin a suspicious and scolding look, Mikey doing the same.

“No. No, of course I did...n’t,” Donnie sheepishly denied, an awkward smile plastered on his face.

“Based on their trajectory, they’re headed--.” “To the tallest building in the city,” Casey finished, eyes wide.

“That’s right, Metro Tower,” Donnie nodded, confused at how he knew.

Casey shuddered, the memories coming back to him in flashes as he recalled the scary stories Commander (y/n) used to tell him.

“I heard the story so many times as a kid, but I never thought...And behold, from their perch atop New York City, the Kraang ripped open the sky itself. What came out was terror, and what rained down upon us was worse than death,” Casey recited.

Commander (y/n) might’ve been a little dramatic.

“They told that to kids?! Man, the future is harsh,” Mikey exclaimed, slumping in his seat once again.

“Well, I’m not gonna let that happen. We need to get into Metro Tower without being spotted. We’ll take the subway tunnels,” Leo firmly stated, turning to Donnie.

“Subways tunnels don’t offer much in the way of an escape if we need it. Are you sure about this?” Donnie cocked a brow, turning around to give Leo a serious look.

“Yeah, maybe we should--.” “Guys, we’re doing it my way. Remember?” Leo dismissed.

The two brother gave each other concerned looks before focusing back on the road, an uncomfortable silence settling over the Tank.

Casey looked around anxiously, fidgeting with a loose string on his glove.

Being sent to the past in itself was a nerve-wracking experience, but nothing was more concerning than watching his old masters fight like this.

In the future, the brothers were inseparable, the epitome of a strong sibling relationship. Everyone listened, everyone talked, everyone heard.

He had to find some way to get them talking, healthily at least.

“In the future, you guys are beyond amazing,” Casey started, catching the attention of the brothers.

“The mystic powers you’re able to harness from within are on a whole other level.”

“Of course! How have we not asked about my future?” Donnie smiled, putting the tank on auto-pilot and throwing an arm around Casey’s shoulder.

“Don’t let me down, I am expecting BIG things from me. How many Nobel prizes do I have. No! Don’t tell me. I wanna be surprised.”

“Donnie, you were the most brilliant, innovative mind of all time. Without you, the resistance wouldn’t have made it half as far as it di-is...without you,” Casey quickly caught himself, relieved to see that the brothers didn’t notice.

He didn’t want to tell them what happens, not yet, at least.

“You built weapons, tended to the wounded, and trained a select few how to build and program your tech.”

“I’m shocked, I am. Go on, continue to meet my expectations,” Donnie smirked, plopping himself back down in his seat and kicking up his feet.

“What do I do in the future?” Mikey asked, starry-eyed.

Casey turned around and gave the orange turtle a warm smile.

His plan was working.

“You are the most powerful mystic warrior the world has ever known,” Casey started.

“You trained the next generation of yokai and humans alike to wield mystic power, and protected the camp with your infinity chains at every turn.”

He walked over to Mikey, who was absolutely flabbergasted, and grabbed his wrists.

“And with those two hands, you sent me back in time!”

“Wowwwwwwwww,” Mikey marveled, staring down at his hands as Casey let go.

He quickly held them out, wiggling his fingers as he concentrated hard, a few beads of sweat rolling down his head.

It made Casey smile to see one of his former masters so fun-loving and care-free, the break from the constant worry of battle, refreshing.

“Ahem,” Leo nonchalantly cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with the time traveling boy.

“What about me?”

Casey’s gap toothed smile grew wider, the pleasant memories of his Sensei...no...his father running through his head.

“You were our fearless leader. If there was a rescue needed, a cargo shipment to raid, hell, a patrol slot that needed to be filled, you were the man--er--turtle. You trained some of the younglings how to use weapons and hand-to-hand combat, and were the lead strategist when it came to coming up with ways to fight back against the Kraang!” Casey gushed, gasping after finishing the whole thing in one breath.

Leo smirked, resting his cheek in his palm as he soaked everything in.

“I like this. I like this very much,” He nodded.

That’s when Casey remembered one, teeny, little detail, and smirked to himself as he leaned back, casually.

He knew Leo and Commander (y/n) were together in this time, “boyfriend and girlfriend” he believed it was called. So maybe this information might put his former Sensei at ease.

“Oh, and you were married to the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Leo practically choked on air, and Donatello almost slammed on brake, Mikey’s eyes practically bulging out their sockets.

“WHAT?!” The three exclaimed in unison, frantically looking at Casey for some elaboration.

Casey nervously chuckled, confused at their sudden surprise. “W-Well, that’s what you used to call Commander (y/n). I think you guys get married 2 or 3 years after the Kraang first arrive.”

A lazy smile stretched across Leo’s face as he leaned back in his chair, relishing in the thought.

He already knew you were the one he wanted to marry, no doubt about it. You were his one and only. But so soon? And during the apocalypse? How did it work? Did the two of you make time for each other? Did the two of you do...adult things?

“Whoo hoooo! Looks like big bro put a ring on it,” Mikey teased, suggestively wiggling his brow bones at his older brother.

“She’s really that beautiful?” Leo sincerely asked, turning to Casey with hopeful eyes.

Casey returned a truthful smile, giving a firm nod. “Gorgeous. Despite the fact that she was living through an apocalypse, she could still very much compete with the women in the Before-Times.”

Leo grinned from ear to ear at the image, your already stunning self becoming even more radiant with age and development. He was over the moon in excitement.

Until he realized.

“Wait. What do you mean was?” Leo quickly asked, furrowing his brow bones as he turned to Casey with an icy stare.

The color practically drained from Casey’s face as he realized his mistake, beads of sweat already forming on his forehead.

This isn’t how he wanted them to find out.

Not like this.

“I--.” “AUTO-BREAK: ENGAGED!” The Tank stated in a robotic tone, the vehicle coming to a sudden stop.

The brothers were sent flying forward, their minds quickly forgetting Leo’s question.

Casey let out a sigh of relief as he stood up, scratching his arm.

‘Thank you, Pizza Supreme.’

...

#rottmnt #rottmnt leo #rottmnt leonardo #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt leo x reader #nickelodeon

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our-happygirl500-fan · 2 months

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Leo's face man persona has allowed Leo to read between lines & twist words & situations in his favour which is often why Leo could possibly be considered a foil for Big Mama who also knows how to twist words & situations in her own favour.

Leo: My deal was no weapons for you, not me.

However Leo's ability to twist his words in order to push things in his or his family's favour might possibly be something that Leo originally learnt from Raph.

Leo has been shown to have a habit of copying traits from his siblings often imitating or showing similar or the same traits as April, Donnie & Raph which is why Leo learning to his words to get the result he wants might have been something that Leo learnt from Raph as it has been stated that Raph sometimes twists the truth or lies to his brothers to try to get them to be more responsible.

Donnie: How about when you tell us training stats an hour earlier because you know we’re always late, mm?

Leo: Or when you told Mikey that if he doesn't take out the trash the trash monster would eat him in his sleep.

In the episode 'Pizza Puffs' that Raph has been stated to twist the truth or tell small lies in order to try & get his brothers to be more responsible due to a belief that he often can't trust them to do 'simple stuff' however Leo has been shown to have the ability to see through his brothers whenever they try to hide something from him.

Leo: Hey buddy. Trouble sleeping?

Donnie: What’s with the interrogation, Leo?! Everything's fine I said!

Leo: Huh, it's like someone who wears a red bandana really hurt this guy's feelings once. Strange.

In both the episodes 'The Purple Jacket' & 'Sparring Partner' Leo seems to imply that he suspects or knows things that Donnie & Raph were trying to hide showing how well Leo knows his brothers as he can almost immediately tell if they want to hide anything. Leo's tendency to see through his brothers whenever they try to hide anything possibly means Raph's attempts at bending the truth probably did not ever fully work on Leo with Leo most likely aware that Raph wasn't being fully truthful with him in those moments.

Considering that Leo often picks up different traits from his family members it is possible that Leo saw Raph telling their brothers about trash monsters to get them to clean their room or saying training started earlier than it did to get them to show up on time & ended up with a conclusion of 'oh it's okay to twist the truth or lie to get people to do what you want & since Raph does it it's fine' which possibly led to Leo's face man persona & ability to talk his way out of things.

#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles #leonardo hamato #raphael hamato #rottmnt #tmnt

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ju1cyfru1t · 7 months

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i wish you would (Rise! Donnie x Reader) pt.1

Donnie snaps at reader after they put themself in danger.

angst?, fighting and yelling D:, gn reader, hehehehehe Donnie has a crush on reader 🤌, platonic or romantic

Pt.2

You think I'm gonna hate you now

'Cause you still don't know what I never said

You hit the ground, the sword you’d swiped from a foot clan soldier landing beside you with a clink. The origami soldiers turning to confetti in front of your eyes.

You just sat there for a moment as your heart raced, and yours wasn’t the only one.

“Y/N!” A familiar voice called from you behind you and you felt a three-fingered hand grab your arm to help you up. “Are you ok? Are you hurt?”

You stood, turning to face Donatello while you brushed yourself off. “Yeah…yeah, I’m fine. Just a little shaken.”

Donnie looked all over you, checking for any injuries no matter how minor. A sigh of relief escaped him as he let go of your arm.

“What could you have possibly been thinking?! That was totally irresponsible, Y/N!”

You blinked at him, visibly confused. “What? Donnie, those soldiers were headed straight for you guys. You didn’t even see them, I had to do something!”

“That is not an excuse, you idiot!” He yelled. He actually raised his voice at you. “I mean, seriously! Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourself in?”

Raph, Leo, and Mikey couldn’t do anything but watch the scene in front of them stunned. Sure, they’d heard their brother get angry and yell before, but never at you.

“I don’t understand why you’re yelling at me right now. I didn’t do anything wrong, and I’m perfectly fine! I think I can handle myself against some paper.” You defended yourself, your own anger building. Why was he talking to you like this?

“Woah, woah, woah- Let’s just all calm down, ok? To be honest, Y/N, I thought that was pretty badass-“ Leo spoke up in your defense. I mean, why wouldn’t he? You didn’t even have a scratch on you!

“Shut up, Leo!” Donnie glared at his twin.

“Donnie, you need to chill.” Raph placed a hand on his brothers shoulder.

“Yeah, Y/N is fine, aren’t you?” Mikey responded. All but Donnie were on your side.

“Yes! Thank you!” You groaned. You just couldn’t understand why he was being like this.

“Fine.” Donnie’s eyes narrowed at you and he crossed his arms. He spoke to you through his clenched jaw, “but we’re not speaking until you can admit that you were wrong.”

Wrong about what?

“Fine.” You glared back, crossing your own arms.

Mikey, Raph, and Leo all shared a nervous, unsure look.

“Leo, portal Y/N home.” Raph ordered, motioning towards you.

“Alright, but if they end up in Jersey it’s on your conscience.” Leo shrugged, slinging his sword until a large, blue portal opened in front of you.

“I’ll try to talk to him, ok?” Mikey whispered and gave you a reassuring smile, patting you on the back. You just nodded, stepping into the portal.

You landed on your bed at home, watching the blue light fade. You curled up on your side, hugging your knees to your chest.

Donnie had never yelled at you before. Annoyed with you? Yes, but not angry.

You didn’t do anything wrong, right? You just wanted to protect them like they would do for you. You wanted to protect him. Why couldn’t he just understand that? Did he really mean what he said, or was it just in the heat of the argument?

You took a deep, shaky breath. Pulling out your phone from your pocket and clicking on April’s contact, listening to it ring.

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theyhavetakenovermylife · 5 months

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Shadows Entwined: Part 3

BatmanVsTmnt!Leonardo x sidekick!reader

Part 1 Part 2 / Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Bonus (18+)

In which Leonardo and (H/N) meet again.

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

A/N: Just a friendly reminder, that the Robin in Batman Vs TMNT is Damian Wayne. The son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. Aka, Ra’s al Ghul’s grandson. That little dude is trained to kill.

Warnings: Spelling, talk of breaking bones, only slight research on Damian Wayne, long af today.

The reader and the turtles are 19.

—--------------------------------------

When Donnie said he had an idea, Leonardo didn’t expect to involve an underwater cave network that Gotham City somehow had been hiding. Michelangelo was right, this city was bonkers, in more was than Leo ever had imagined.

Leo, Mikey and Raph followed Donnie through the never ending cave system, before finally breaking the water surface, in a lit tunnel. Leo’s first thought was wondering if Batman and his sidekick ever made use of these tunnels. How often did she wonder about these waters, if ever? It was a strange thought and Leo knew it, but somehow, everything he had seen along the way, had reminded him of her.

“Look”, Raph spoke up, breaking the silence and thoughts running through Leo’s head. “I love being an amphibian as much as the next guy-”.

“Amphibious”, Donnie corrected. “We’re still reptiles”.

“Yeah, thanks for that, but you sure this cave leads anywhere?”

“Glad you asked! I am sure actually”, Donnie started explaining. “I made a database of every reported Batman sighting, and ran them through an algorithm that-”.

“Donnie”. Leo placed a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder. "Nobody cares. Where are you taking us?” Leo tried to sound, well, at least a little happy, even though a little bundle of something was building up inside of him. Nervousness? Anxiety? Couldn’t be. Why would he be nervous or anxious?

“The answer should be right through…” Donnie turned and continued in the direction they had been walking in, only to be met by a big opening in the caves. To say that what they discovered was shocking, would be an understatement. A big open cave with what looked like a taxidermy dinosaur, several glass display cases with Batman costumes, and a giant coin among other things.

“Ta-da!”, Donnie stated with his arms out. “The… Bat… Man… Cave… Huh?”

“This is pretty cool”, Leo admitted. Why did he feel so small all of sudden?

“Pretty cool?!” Mikey already looked like a child that had had too much sugar. “This is amazing! I don’t know what to put my grabby paws on first!”

As Mikey started running around, screaming like a child, Leo casted a glance around the cave. All he was Batman but no… her. Not her in person, nor anything that indicated you spend time here. Was it wrong that Leo had kind of hoped you’d be there? That when he and his brothers emerged from the water, you would be there, ready for another round? It was because he wanted to beat you. Or that was at least what he told himself. It wasn’t in line with how he saw himself, but he would much rather admit to wanting revenge, so he didn’t have to admit to anything else. Like how he hoped you would comment his eyes again. Not that he would admit it, but the thought of you being that close to him again, made tingles erupt in his stomach.

For a second Leo was scared that he was the one that began to chur at the thought of you, only to realize it was Donatello, who had gotten his eyes on a big computer.

“I don’t see any sign that the Shredder, nor the Foot Clan have been here”, Leo said, desperately trying to distract himself from the thought of you.

“Yeah. And I just see the signs of a dude with too much time and way too much money on his hands”, Raph said, looking skeptically at the Batman costumes.

“Most of these files are encrypted too heavily”, sounded Donnie’s voice from in front of the big computer. “But it looks to me like Batman has been tracking the laboratory break ins, like he’s been looking for the Foot’s next move! Same as us!”

“Hey guys! Check it out!” All three brothers turned, in fear of what Mikey had gotten himself into now. They found Mikey, sitting on top of the taxidermy t-rex, dressed in a Batman cape. “I’m Batman! And I’m riding a t-rex! I’ve never been so happy in my entire life!”

Leo’s first thought was to look around, slightly in fear of what you would think, if you found his little brother like that. “Mikey! Get down!”

“Nah man, I live up here now!”

“You should listen to him”.

Mikey turned to look at the source of this new voice, only to be met by a figure in the shadows right behind him. It was a boy. Not a very old one. Dressed in red, black, yellow and green, his eyes had a look that could kill. Yet Mikey didn’t find the child threatening in any way. Instead he turned his head to the side and let out an audible, “aww!”

The young boy sprung at Mikey, causing the two of them to fall off the t-rex and land on the ground, with Mikey’s back against the stone. Mikey held the boy above him, trying his best to hold his small hands away from his face.

“Take that mask off! Now!”, the boy yelled through gritted teeth, while Mikey was struggling to keep the mask on.

“Help!”, Mikey yelled out. “A tiny dude is like, totally trying to kill me!”

All brothers rushed to help Mikey, as the young boy pulled the mask and cap off of Mikey before jumping back, greeting distance between the two. Leo cursed himself, as his first thoughts were; did you know this kid? Did he know you?

“What are you, like five?”, Donnie asked, taken aback by the young boy in front of him.

“How did you get in here?!”, the boy asked, before jumping over Donatello, taking his bow staff and hitting him in the back of his head with it.

Leo stepped forwards with his hands held up. “Hey little guy. We didn’t come here to fight”. But Leo should have known better. Just like you, this little guy knew when to take advantage of an opening. Using Donatello’s bow staff, he hit the side of both of Leo’s knees, making them crack in a horrible way. “Jes!”, Leo yelled out, falling to the ground. At least you didn’t try to break his legs. Leo would much rather have fought against you, and not this little demon of a child.

All four of the turtle brothers were taken aback by the boy's fighting skills. Leo’s knees were aching, Donnie’s head was hurting, and Raph’s arms would soon form black marks. And the fight hadn't even been five minutes. It ended when Mikey yelled “sneak attack”, before tackling the boy, causing them to tumble around, ending with Mikey on top of the boy, retracted into his shell. The boy screamed all sorts of things out of anger, including how he would have their heads. Leo found the scene strange, just like all the other things he had seen in Gotham. Yet, there was something strangely wholesome about it. Almost domestic. A young boy being sat upon, by what felt like a teasing older brother.

Leo almost had to shake those thoughts out of his head. This wasn’t wholesome nor domestic. They were in Batman’s home (Leo wouldn’t point fingers. He and his family called the sewers home), and this little gremlin might have known something they didn’t.

“Let’s just try and reason with him, before-”. The sound of a car engine cut Leo off mid sentence. “...that”. He already had a suspicion of who it might be.

The Batmobil drove into the cave at full speed, before Batman jumped out of it, landing in front of them with this strong stare, followed by you and Batgirl. Leo had not expected his stomach to jump at the sight of you. Neither had you expected the sight of the blue turtle to make your stomach drop. Maybe it was the conversation with Batman and Batgirl, that now caused the fast heartbeat in your chest, at the sight of the turtle. Or maybe it was the sight of one of them sitting on your little brother, that caused you to clench your fists.

“Get off Robin”. He narrowed his eyes. “Now!”

The orange turtle got off of your brother, and turned to try and help him. Robin, as proud as he was sometimes, refused the turtle’s help, pulling his arm away.

“How did you get into this cave?” You unclenched your fist at the sound of Batman’s voice. Most people would find his tone scary, fearing the angry outburst that would never come. But to you and your bat family, it was a comfort. Batman cared about you, Robin, Batgirl and all of those that came before, and that meant he was willing to protect all of you from any danger. Especially strange turtles that have made it into the Batcave.

Leo took notice of your unclenching fists, and your position just behind. Covered enough to be protected, yet open enough to jump in if needed. Robin, found his place beside Batman, close enough for you to put a protective hand on his shoulder. That weird domestic picture formed in Leo’s head once more.

“Oh, well”, Donnie started. “There weren’t many security measures in the northern tunnel. We had to swim for a bit, but…” Donnie stopped as Batman frowned his brows. “I’m realizing you actually don’t want constructive criticism right now”, Donnie said, slowly pulling his head back into his shell.

“What I want are answers”, Batman said, eyes unmoving as he stared the turtles down.

“Look”. Leo stepped forward, causing you to tighten your grip on Robin’s shoulder, just a bit. But it was enough for Robin to notice, making him shoot you a questioning glare. “We’re not here to fight. My name is Leonardo”. Your grip softened on Robin’s shoulder, causing him to look at you in even more confusion. He knew you were a more expressive type than he and his father, and the sight of four mutant turtles in the Batcave might have shocked you, but so many reactions at once were not common. Not even for you.

Leonardo continued. “These are my brothers. Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo”. The orange turtle started waving at the mention of his name.

“Seriously?”, Batgirl asked, showing more amusement than the rest of the bat family.

“Our father was really into renaissance painters”, Donatello clarified.

“And he’s a rat!”, Michelangelo added.

Robin turned his head towards you. “Did… Did he just say a rat?”, he asked in a hushed tone.

“He did”, you nodded.

Leonardo had to breathe for a moment, after hearing your voice, before continuing. “We’re not your enemy. We came to stop Shredder and the Footclan. Honestly, we thought you might be Shredder’s new partner”.

Robin turned to you once more. “Foot?” You shrugged.

“Shredder”, Batman repeated. “So that’s his name... I’ve heard of a Footclan, but I thought they went extinct ages ago”.

“They’re ninja”, Raphael said. “You know, sneaky”. He moved his hands up in front of his face, as if he was hiding behind them.

“Sooooo…”. Robin moved from your protective hand and straight to the side of Batman. “Are we not going to beat up these green losers?”

Batman looked down towards his son. “It’s not looking like it, no”.

Robin sighed out loud, and you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling. Leo saw as you crossed your arms, and moved all your weight to your left leg, coming ever so slightly out from Batman’s protection.

“Then I may as well tell you that I know exactly who the Shredder and the Foot are working with”, your brother said, letting the small anger building inside of him overshadow his slight disappointment. And when you heard him say the name of his grandfather, you very well understood that anger.

—

“They are strange”, Robin told you, watching as Batman and Batgirl was talking to the turtles.

“They are indeed strange”, you agreed, fidgeting with whatever gadget you had in your hand, fighting the urge to look up. Because if you looked up, you would look at him. And if you looked at him, he would notice. And if he would notice, then so would Batman, and so would Robin, and Batgirl, and all of Leonardo’s brothers… Better just to focus on… what it was you had in your hand…

“I tried to break the blue one’s legs with the purple’s bow staff”, Robin said, his eyes shining proud. You finally dared to look in the direction of Leonardo, focusing on his legs. You couldn’t see any signs of injury.

“You should have aimed for the knee caps”, you told him, eyes still on the knees of the turtles.

“I did!”, Robin exclaimed, laying flat against the table. “And he did fall! But they didn’t break!”

You took a chance and looked at Leonardo’s face, studying for any signs of discomfort. None. None at all.

That should have been it. You should have looked away, so you could concentrate on that thing you had in your hand. But you didn’t. Your eyes stayed on Leonardo’s face. He was listening to something Batman told him. Most likely information about Ra's al Ghul. He looked very concentrated, with his brows frowning and his arms crossed. You noted that he was almost as stoic as Batman. You haven’t seen him smile a single time. No smiles when he fought the Penguin, no smiles in the alley, and no smiles in the Batcave. The only time you had seen him other than frowning, was when you told him he had pretty eyes.

Robin noticed your sudden silence, and looked at you in confusion. His sister never left him unanswered. She would never let an opportunity to tease him fly. But then he noticed how you had stopped fumbling with your glove, and now sat staring. Confused he looked from you, to what your eyes had been caught by.

Leonardo?

Robin looked back and forth a few times, before it finally clicked for him. He slammed his hand flat against the table, causing you to yelp and stare at your shocked little brother.

“Are you crushing on a turtle?!”

You slapped your hand against his mouth so fast, that the young Robin could only scream and fight. Confused by the sudden commotion, all of them turned to look at you.

“What did he say?”, Mikey asked, obviously intreacted

“Uh”, you said in a slight panic, trying to hold Robin still as he was lashing out against you. “He asked where Alfred was! He’s so hungry he could eat a turtle!” Batman started rubbing the bridge of his nose.

You were going to beat Damian so hard the moment Bruce looked away!

111 notes · View notes