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#you can skewer me anytime ma'am
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So this is a personal one for me to ask and if you're not comfortable with it don't mind it; how would the tmnt boys (seperate) react when the reader confesses that they're autistic after the boys got curious when she had some peculiar, behavior or stims. The reader would be stressed, because she has a crush on the tmnt boy in question and she didn't want them to find her weird or just stop interacting with her. When she's met with confusion instead, because the boys never heard of it, cue this weird conversation where reader tells them to the best of her ability what it is and the boys just keep asking questions. Also some general headcannons with it maybe?
Okay so I'm actually really happy that you asked me this because I feel like ASD isn't portrayed a lot in any type of media. My ADD and ASD have a lot of overlap so I hope I can capture what you're asking of me!
Now let's get into it!
TMNT Headcanons
The boys reacting to an autistic reader
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Leonardo
he wasn't really sure what was happening the first time you reacted
one minute you were standing next to him doing dishes and the next you were attempting to claw your skin off like an angry cat
Leo tried not to look annoyed as he watched you rub your hands against your shirt until your flesh started to turn red
you looked like you were crying but he knew you weren't
but your face was starting to turn purple and your cheeks were puffy from the effort of holding your breath
"Y/N? You need to breathe."
You shot a glare at him, scathing eyes meeting his now very concerned expression
your own softened and you clutched your arms to your chest, heaving oxygen into your lungs until your face became a normal shade again
"Are you okay?"
The words were stuck in your throat and you weren't sure if you should nod or shake your head
so you gave him a half-hearted shrug
he frowned back at you but turned to finish the dishes on his own
when he questioned you about it later he couldn't help but be curious
"Well actually it's uh- it's kinda a sensory type of thing? There are certain textures that I can't stand touching do I avoid them but if I come into contact by accident my brain just kinda explodes and I shut down."
"How exactly does that work though?"
"I don't really understand it much but like- you know that feeling you get when you think there's a bug on you and there's not but it really really feels like it?"
He nodded
"Yeah, it feels like that. And anytime I touch something that triggers that reaction it takes FOREVER to get the feeling off my skin. That's why I usually wear gloves when I do dishes. Guess I just forgot to grab 'em today."
He was sympathetic
and god, you were so embarrassed
lucky for you, Leo's not an asshole
"Well thank you for explaining it to me, you really freaked me out earlier. I'll talk to April and see if we can keep a pair or two at the lair just in case you forget again."
Consider your heart melted
you couldn't even find the words to thank him and holy shit was your face red
"Hey y/n?"
"Yeah Leo?"
"Why didn't you ever tell me- us that you were autistic?"
Did you rip the band aid off now or make something up? Which would ,technically speaking, be less catastrophic in the long run?
"I uh- I really like you and I really didn't want you or the other's to look at me differently..."
wow, you liked him? miss ma'am you have saved this boy a world of anxiety and damn does he thank you for it
"Thanks for telling me... and y/n? I really like you to."
Awh fuck yeah, best possible execution of band aid-ripping-off ever
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Donatello
Donnie wished he could act surprised when you finally told him
he really wanted to, it would've made you feel better for sure
but he sucked at lying and he didn't want to make you feel like he thought you were an idiot
because that was so far from the truth
after going through extensive research on Mikey's behalf when he suspected he had ADHD Donnie had stumbled across many different websites that discussed the symptoms and overlaps between both disorders
to make a long story short, Donnie knew that you had ASD and he was waiting for you to tell him
it would probably come off as rude if he brought it up in conversation right?
he didn't want to risk it
but that didn't stop him from keeping an eye on you and your behaviors
he was a man of science, of course he was going to analyze you
not in a weird way or anything, just as a curious sort of precaution
but the longer you were involved in the turtle's lives the more noticeable your stims and meltdowns got, Donnie did his best to cover for you without making you suspicious of him
eventually he'd come up with something that he hoped would come across as a friendly gesture and wouldn't set you off or scare you away
it was game night at the lair and you, as always, were perched on the arm of the sofa, a large grin plastered on your face
inside your head was exploding but you were masking it pretty well if you do say so yourself
but Donnie was, well... donnie was donnie
so when he noticed you starting to rock a little more visibly he removed his attention from commentating the game and grabbed a pair of headphones from the side table
you were beyond confused when he passed them to you but your face revealed everything
"They're noise cancelling, try them on."
holy shit it was like putting your head underwater, everything was muffled
not in the way normal headphones did, you quite literally couldn't hear anything at all, just a calm amount of nothing
you nearly started crying when you realized that Donnie had figured you out on his own
but you'd never been more relieved about anything in your life
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Raphael
he wouldn't admit that he was mesmerized by your presence
you practically radiated calm
his complete opposite
it was his favorite thing about you, because despite your quiet disposition and calming aura you weren't afraid to call him out or rebut any of his insults
this was not something you expected him to appreciate nor was it something you thought would make you catch feelings
but damn if you didn't
he'd been sitting in on yours and Donnie's little experiment for an hour or so now, watching you both exchange quiet whispers and inside jokes that you always seemed to lag on
then you slipped up
not bad, nothing detrimental to the project, just the same mistake that you'd already made ten times over
you might as well have exploded
"Y'N, you just have to move thi-"
"I KNOW DONATELLO. I FUCKING KNOW AND I JUST CAN'T DO THIS BULLSHIT!"
you set everything down gently enough to avoid breaking it before turning and storming out of the lab, waving your hands like they were on fire
Raph and Donnie exchanged a look that sent the larger red turtle following after you
when you calmed yourself down enough to talk you kept your gaze locked on the wall, explaining that you couldn't make eye contact when you were upset
he might not be the smartest brother, but Raph's no dummy, he put those pieces together pretty quickly after you told him that one small detail
he wasn't upset that you didn't tell him and you'd personally never been more relieved
your heart nearly splattered into the stratosphere when you finally gace him your own explanation
"yeah, I like ya too."
you grinned so wide you were sure your face would split open and your entire body rocked side to side with excitement
he thought that was pretty adorable too
And he did stick around to offer a bit of support when you apologized to Donnie for screaming at him
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Michaelangelo
to be frank it probably shouldn't have taken so long for Mikey to realize that you were autistic
the similarities between your own personality and his ADHD were so in sight it was near painful
it was his turn to make dinner that night and you'd made sure that you came over early to help him set up, you knew how side-tracked he'd get and you were the poster child for solid routine
what more perfect matchup existed?
trick question, there isn't one
you were on one side of the counter cutting vegetables and he was on the other throwing said vegetables into the mixing pot
the music was at an ungodly level of loud so your only means of communication were screaming over it
"MIKEY."
"WHA?"
"YOU GOT THE-"
"YEAH."
"AND THE-"
"UH HUH."
"COOL, HAVE YOU SEEN THE-"
"TONGS? NO, THE SKEWERS. YEAH, THEY'RE IN THE OTHER DRAWER."
"THANKS."
the two of you went about your previous tasks, thinking nothing of the conversation that had just taken place
at least until you'd begun washing your knife and cutting board
that's when Casey walked in, looking both perturbed and annoyed at the same time
"Alright, which one of you knows telepathy?"
Mikey exchanged a glance with you and you returned it with a raised eyebrow
"The hell you mean brah?"
he looked at the both of you like you were the ones that had grown four extra heads before speaking again
"You literally just had a conversation with like five words and somehow just knew what the other meant? What's up with that?"
you glanced at Mikey again
"Holy shit, did we?"
"I mean, not really. You used your hands."
now all three of you were confused but it quickly became two when Casey shook his head in defeat and left the room
"You know I think he's right."
he blinked first and your staring contest ended
"But you used your hands-"
"I got autism Mikey, one does not simply not use their hands as forms of speech."
"You're-"
"Yep."
was the silence laughing at you? could it do that? it was kinda rude
"Huh, that actually makes sense, that's not mean is it?"
you shook your head no
"You're just me but fast."
Mikey agreed with that, pestered you with a few more questions, and went back about working, as did you, you saw no reason to address it further
but your cheeks burned red
"Yo- Y/N that actually explains why everyone else thinks we're a thing."
you didn't know if you could choke on air or not but you did it anyways
"Are we?"
he gave you his signature grin
"If we are then Raph owes April a hundred bucks."
you returned his smile
"Oh this oughta be good."
I'd like to preface this by apologizing for my near three week absence. Life got crazy and my writer's block hopped on a train, went through a school zone, killed seven pedestrians, and committed tax fraud before tumbling off a cliff never to be seen again.
But on the bright side- I got my SAT scores back and started some scholarship applications. Super happy with that. School's out in a few weeks so I'll be able to write more (hopefully).
Anyways, I hope I got this one down okay. I may have hyper analyzed the request so I might be a little off. But I really enjoyed doing this one and I hope you like it!
-Mars 🌠
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