#raph has A Lot of responsibility put on his shoulders. but he's not their fucking dad

[wyverwithy]

people who parentify rise raph and then therefore completely misunderstand and misinterpret both raph and splinter's characters....did we watch the same show

#.txt #i'm not feeling up to going into a multi paragraph rant but #raph has A Lot of responsibility put on his shoulders. but he's not their fucking dad #he's not portrayed to act like their dad or sees himself as their parent. he's their anxious and worrywort older brother #splinter fucked up in a lot of ways but he's not a neglectfully abusive monster who didnt look his kids in the eyes for years #rewatch the show and understand nuance or i'm taking both of these characters and putting them up on a shelf you cant reach

[turtle-go-brrrr]

Hi, may I please request the bayverse turtles x male reader who likes to wear women’s clothes like skirts and dresses, but because of fear of judgment, he only wears them at home, but then the boys come over to visit one night and see him wearing a dress, and at first the reader almost panics and has a mini heart attack, but then comfort ensues?

My first request 🥺

I was gonna stick to headcanons at first, but I just love this prompt so much! Thank you for requesting ^^ I hope you like it! (Took some IRL experiences from my best friend because he's amazing and wear dresses like a champ uwu)

Handsome

Male! Reader

Requested: Yes

Pairing: None, platonic

Word count: 1090

Triggers: none

Summary: You found the prettiest dress last week and have yet to try it on. You know you look good, but an unexpected visit still makes you doubt yourself.

_____________________________________________________________

You were looking hella fine on this late Saturday evenning.

The dress you found is pretty simple, actually. With short sleeves, a defined waist, falling right above your knees. Kind of a vintage style, but the modern patterns really caught your eye. And when you tried it on? You fell in love. You almost didn’t regret that shopping spree April dragged you on.

But here you were, your cool ass dress on, sitting on your couch waiting for the ordered food to come in. You didn’t actually got out with more feminine clothes on for… well, for obvious reasons, shall we say. But chilling in your own home? Why stop yourself?

The food came in quick, and after tipping the delivery guy, you flopped down on your couch once again, putting on the latest show you promised you were going to watch. You put your food on your lap, drolling at the smell, and started the first episode.

Not even five minutes in, you heard a knock. You pressed pause and checked the door, thinking the delivery guy might have forgotten something. But you hear the knock again, and it comes from your window. And you know exactly who it is.

Oops.

Well, turns out your favorite mutants decided to pay you an unnanounced visit tonight. You scambled around your living room, not knowing if you should tell them to wait while you changed, or if you should open anyway.

They’re your friends. They’re not gonna judge you, dumbass. Just trust them.

Apparently, your late response made them think you were in danger. And apparently, that meant they were going to force your window. Sweet. Your window flew open after a few suspicious clicking sounds, and four very big, very mutated turtles fell right after the other in your living room. Michelangelo was the first to recover and get right back on his feet.

“Dude, are you okay? Why did it take so long?” He said, panicked. He looked at your flustered face, then dragged his eyes up and down shamelessely and stopped.

“What’s that smell ? Did you order without us?” He asked sadly before being shoved aside by Leonardo who took you by the shoulders, inspecting you as if you just got ran over by a truck, Donatello following close behind with his goggles in front of his eyes.

“You’re all being ridiculous, you know that?” You try your best to hide your embarassment, but you’re doing a terrible job. And they can all see it. You wait for the laughs, or the snide comments, even the disapointed tooks on their faces, but after a very uncomfortable silence you hear Raphael speak up.

“Cool dress. You never told us you could look this fine.” He smirks, and for once, he’s not being sarcastic.

“I- uuuh... What?”

“Yeah, c’mon bro. You know we love human fashion. Why do you think we’re always nagging April to show off her best outfits?”

“Mikey, leave him alone. And you should leave April alone, too.”

“But dude, look at him! He’s so handsome in that dress, it’s a crime not to show it off!” Mikey throws his hands in the air in defeat as Leo passes next to you, inspecting the other rooms of your appartment for any sign of danger.

“No one’s there except you guys, Leo. Also, did you break my window? Because I’m not paying for that.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure Donnie can fix -” The resident genius interrupts him with a slap behing the head.

Leo comes back, apparently satisfied with his search, and looks right at you. “Why were you so nervous when we came in if you aren’t in any danger?” You swear his super power is asking just the right questions.

You hesitate. They’re your friends. They trust you, and you know you can trust them.

But being vulnerable isn’t easy.

“Well, um…” You take a deep breath. “Okay, how do I put this ?” You can’t stop fidgeting with your hands. Openning up to your friends was harder than it looked like. “I was, uh, scared ? That you’d judge me. You know, for being a guy in a dress and all ?” Your voice is a lot softer than you’d like, and you can hear it crack. Damn you.

They all stare at you, obvious surprise on their faces. And you feel the heat creeping up your neck ana a cold sweat falling down your spine. Your nerves weren’t in your favor tonight.

“Huh?” You think it comes from Mikey. “Why would we judge you for wering a dress? You rock it, man.” Leo puts a hand on your shoulder and gives it an affectionate squeeze in silent support.

“Hey, as long as you don’t wear crocs like Fearless over here, we’re ain’t gonna judge you, bud.” You’ve never seen Raph look at you so softly before, but it quickly washes away by the side smirk he gives you just before saying : “Besides, you’re hot as hell, man. I’m not complaining.”

Leo groans, Donnie laughs, and Mikey shoves your shoulder playfully.

You laugh too, intense relief washing over you as your anxiety comes down, but you have to ask.

“You don’t think it makes me… Like, less manly or something ?” This time, you intentionally show your concern. You know they don’t but you need to hear it from them.

Raph ruffles your hair and passes an arm around your shoulders, directing you to the couch. “If anything, I’d say it makes you more manly. You wear what you wear and look good doin’ it. It’s all about confidence.” You cling to his arm, the biggest smile on your face.

“Y/N, I studied quantum physics, astrophysics, rocket science, number theory and so much more, and I can now understand all of those concepts perfectly. But gender? What the fuck were you guys thinking when you created those? And why give one to a piece of cloth?” Donnie gives you a playful wink as he takes his – your – place on the couch.

“You sharin’?” Mikey motions at the food on the table, and you give him a fork. You all take place in front of the TV, getting comfortable and you start the episode again.

You almost want to cry. You know they wouldn’t judge you for that either.

#tmnt x reader #bayverse tmnt #tmnt leonardo #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt donatello #tmnt raphael #hell yeah a male reader for that one!!! #i hope you liked it dude #i had a lot of fun writing it #also remember in the 2014 movie? they all wore skirts kinda #so like theyd be the last ones to judge a man in a dress #ALSO i really dont think they follow human genders #but thats a personal headcanon of mine uwu

[mediocrevideopodcast]

Cuddles - All Turtles

Request: Hi I really like you writes! keep up the good work, I was wondering if you could do a rottmnt cuddle Imagines? If that's fine?

Pairing: All Turtles! (Non-Poly) 

Content: Fluffy as FUCK. Brush your teeth after you read this, cause it’s sweet as hell. 

Raphael: 

He loves to cuddle! But...he’s nervous. He doesn’t want to prick you with one of his spikes, or...worse. With his brothers, it’s different! They’ve got hard shells and plastrons, but you’re so... squishy! What if he hurts you? 

He gets so happy about casual touch. Putting you on his shoulders? Throwing his arm around your shoulders? Affectionate hair ruffle? He’s the physical embodiment of :) 

If you want full cuddles, though, you’re gonna have to be the one to initiate it the first few times. He’s just too nervous, otherwise. 

Rest your head on his plastron when you’re watching a movie and he’ll melt. 

Seeing how your arms maneuver around his spikes to embrace him, how gingerly you hold him...Maybe it’s possible. Maybe you two can cuddle without getting any boo boos.

He can’t really lay on his back because of his spikes. He’ll either get stuck that way when his spikes inevitably get embedded into the material, or he’ll shred up whatever he’s laying on.

(He’s banned from the beanbag chairs.)

He wants to be the little spoon so bad, but it’s physically impossible. He’s forever bound to big spoon duty. He’s okay with that, though. 

(One time you showed up wrapped in mattress foam and bubble wrap to try and be the big spoon. It's a very fond memory, even if you were padded too stiffly to actually hold him.) 

He likes to rest his head in your lap. Run your nails along his head or shell and he’ll be asleep in no time.

He won’t lay on your stomach or chest though. He really wants to, but he’s afraid he’ll crush you. There’s no debate with that topic, unfortunately. 

He’s such a good big spoon!! He’s so strong, and he cradles you like you’re the entire world. Because you are! 

He likes to rest one hand on your stomach and tangle his other hand with yours. It’s so cool to look down and see how his spikes cradle you. Almost as though you were a treasure encased in barbed wire, protected from the outside world. 

You always feel so safe when you cuddle. I mean, it’s hard not to when you’re cocooned in 1000lbs of muscle and spikes!

His hold is firm, but noticeably gentle. 

He runs pretty warm, compared to the rest of the turtles. Great in the winter time, not so great in the summer.  

He traces little doodles on the back of your hand. You can never tell what they are, though. And he won’t tell you what they are, if you ask.  

(They’re dogs.) 

He’s not coldblooded, due to the way he was mutated. As such, he doesn’t really have any issues regulating his body temperature. He does find himself seeking out heat sources, however! Donnie calls it a vestigial response. Raph absolutely does not care about no scientific names or explanations: he just knows that he likes to sit under the heat lamp in the morning.

Prepare to be his next heat lamp. 

If you come over in the mornings, prepare to be greeted with a very sleepy Raph the instant your feet hit the lair concrete.

He’s never on his phone when you cuddle.

He is a talker, though. He doesn’t quite whisper, but he definitely invokes the gentle voice. 

He falls asleep very quickly if he doesn’t keep himself talking. Your presence is just so calming to him, he can’t help it! 

He’s a very deep breather, and it’s really calming to listen to!

Unfortunately, he starts to snore about 15 minutes after he falls asleep. And he’s loud. 

You’ll get used to it, eventually. 

Donatello

He doesn’t sleep consistently, so full cuddle sessions are far and few between.

He read that fake rumor that Albert Einstein only slept for five hours a year: while it’s since been debunked, it’s stuck with him. He started training himself when he was little to power nap instead, and now it’s hard for him to get out of the habit.  

But..you’re a good motivator.

He’s a little nervous around the concept of cuddling, at first. He’s very touch-starved, and once you warm him up to the idea, it’ll be hard to pull him off you! But he’s incredibly nervous about it at first.

It’s...intimate, you know? He’s vulnerable, and that freaks him out.

His shell is super sensitive. Partially because it’s soft, but wearing his battle shell all the time has removed a lot of stimuli that would have made it less sensitive.

He reflexively rolls his shoulders when you run your hands along his exposed shell. At least, for the first few times. If you do it enough, it’ll quickly become a way for him to relax.

Likes to pull you to his chest and hold you like that. He usually has your head under his chin so he can scroll through his phone while you cuddle. He doesn’t move his arms much though, so it’s okay.

(He also likes it when you’re facing him so he can steal glances at you once you fall asleep. He thinks you’re even prettier when you’re completely relaxed.)

You’ll rarely see it for yourself, but his eyes get all soft while you’re cuddling together. The quietest, calmest smile graces his features when you’re in his arms.

However, you do notice how all the tension fades from his body, and how his breathing seems to slow down.

He’ll run his free hand along your back every now and then, pressing a quiet kiss to the top of your head.

He runs fairly cold, which is awesome in the summertime. He always lets you borrow his hoodies when you cuddle. If you ask nicely, he’ll let you keep ‘em, just so long as he has one or two in the closet.

His bed has super soft blankets, and they’re so nice to curl up in. You’ll probably stay there for a little while after he gets up, honestly.

He’s not a talker, surprisingly. Every now and then he’ll pull his arm back to show you some meme on his phone, but that’s about it. He’ll listen to you though! He actually really likes it when you mutter about whatever's on your mind while you cuddle.

King of “Uh huh,” “Wow,” “Mmhm,” and “Damn that’s crazy.”

He really is listening, though. He just likes to tease you a little bit.

His grip is either iron-tight or loose as hell.

On bad days he’ll curl up as the little spoon, and not even the gods could convince him to let go of you.

It takes him a while to warm up to the idea of being a little spoon. Both because his shell is hyper-sensitive, but it also kind of erodes that “bad boy” persona he’s got going on.

Once he’s more comfortable with it, he’s about 50/50 on it. He’s more likely to indulge himself on bad days, but it honestly just depends on his mood.

If you pull him away from work, you can bet that he’ll pull you to his chest while he’s sitting on the bed. He’ll lean forward to rest his chin on your shoulder as he explains his latest breakthrough. He shakes a little bit when he’s excited, and you can feel it as he holds you.  

He panics a little bit when he’s on his back, but he really likes it when you lay on his plastron, so...Chair cuddles!

He likes to have you in his lap while he works.

He also likes to kick his legs up onto your lap when watching TV. If you guys have the couch to yourselves, he’ll also lay all the way on your lap. If anyone sees you guys, or if anyone comments on it he’ll just hit ‘em with a very snarky quip.

“Okay, and? At least I actually have a partner :)”

You don’t know how he said “:)” outloud.

Leonardo 

He thinks he’s so smooth, but honestly? He’s such a dork.

He’s huge on touch. But cuddling? It’s a whole ‘nother ball game. He loves it a lot, but...he’s so vulnerable! It’s so intimate to him. He’s not adverse to it in the slightest; in fact, it’s the exact opposite! He’s super excited when the topic comes up.

You can tell that the idea of fully cuddling affects him more than he lets on, because he won’t stop talking when you bring up the subject for the first time. He rambles when he’s nervous.

(He talks with his hands a lot, and it’s really cute how he rambles and rubs the back of his neck.)

He’s actually a great cuddler, though.

Big spoon? Hell yeah. Little spoon? Awesome. Horrific entanglement of limbs that would put eldritch horrors to shame? Sweet! He’s just happy to be close to you.

He can go 50/50 on having his phone with him. If he does, he’s usually either watching memes with you or playing a mobile game.

(Kind of unrelated, but he was very excited about that weird, Subway Surfers revival that happened earlier this year. It was all he played for a while, and now you have the tune lodged in your brain forever.)

He’ll talk for a little while if he doesn’t have his phone, before you settle into a comfortable silence.

He’s either ranting about something shitty that happened that day, or shitposting. There’s no inbetween.

“If I shot someone from Texas while I was on the moon, would that fall under Texas’ jurisdiction or the moon’s?”

He also likes to trace little patterns on your hands, if he has access to them that day! You can usually tell what they are. Other times, it just seems like he’s finding an excuse to hold your hand. It’s really cute.

(If you ask him what he’s drawing, he’ll say he’s reading your palms before dropping a sweet little line about how he’s in your future.)

(He does NOT know how to read palms but it’s the thought that counts <3)

Not ashamed about cuddling in public. Hell, if you’re fine with it, he’s more than happy to cuddle during movie night. In fact, it’s kind of a source of pride for him!

He looks so cocky about it that Donatello has to make a physical effort to NOT hit him.

Please run your palms over his shell, he’ll melt.

If he’s the big spoon, squeeze his biceps. He might not say it out loud, but he’s melting internally. It sticks in his head for at least a few weeks afterwards. Ego Boost 100

If you’re ticklish, prepare yourself for tickles. He strikes without a pattern, and without warning. He doesn’t always do it, though. Maybe about one in ten times. He just likes to hear you laugh :)

He’s very nice to cuddle with overall. He’s the best cuddler in the lair, hands down.

Michelangelo

Literally the only one in the lair who isn’t embarrassed when you bring up the topic.

He’s been WAITING for this moment, actually.

Doesn’t care about whether he’s the big or little spoon.

He’s super talkative when he cuddles, it’s cute. He usually likes to spend this time talking about one another’s day. He’s a great listener too!

He’s always 100% engaged in what you have to say.

He has trouble settling down outside of his normal schedule, so it’s rare that he’ll fall asleep while cuddling.

If you’re in a position that gives his arms a lot of mobility, he’ll draw on you. Not just tracing patterns, but he’ll actually bring out his markers and draw on your arms, back, or just any exposed piece of skin.

He always manages to find the prettiest colors to compliment your skin tone. You never want to wash it off, honestly.

He HAS to keep himself busy with something, or else he’ll explode. At least, that’s how he describes it. If you try and get him to lay down and fall asleep...well, he’ll try! But he’ll be squirming the whole time.

It’s best to throw on a Jupiter Jim movie if you want him to stay still.

He likes to tangle his legs with yours while you cuddle. Whether he’s taller or shorter than you, he WILL find a way.

He’s the lightest out of all the turtles, so there’s a possibility of letting him (partially) lay on you without shattering your sternum! Congratulations!

(He’s around 525 lbs. He’s only half of what Raph weighs, but he still has to be careful about how he lays on you. It’s crazy to think that you’re so small compared to him.)

His hands are so cold, and he’ll absolutely use that to his advantage. If he gets bored, or if he just wants to make you laugh, he’ll grab your waist with his cold fucking hands. Hope you’re a northerner <3

He also likes to tickle you, way more than Leo.

Don’t try and tickle him though, he HATES it. He’s absolutely the type of person to just Scream if you try.

Like I said, he gets bored really quickly. He also just likes to make you laugh.

If you’re cuddling in bed though, like right before he falls asleep? It’s so nice.

He’ll still tangle his legs with yours, but he moves so much slower. He loves to let his hands lazily roam across your form as he pulls you closer to him, savoring the comfort and heat that you bring. If he talks, it’s in drowsy whispers that only you two can hear.

#rottmnt x reader #rottmnt imagine #rottmnt Donatello x reader #rottmnt raphael x reader #rottmnt leonardo x reader #rottmnt michelangelo x reader #tmnt imagine #TMNT x reader #tmnt leo x reader #tmnt raph x reader #tmnt donatello x reader #tmnt raphael x reader #tmnt donnie x reader #tmnt mikey x reader #rottmnt mikey x reader #rottmnt donnie x reader #rottmnt leo x reader #rottmnt raoh x reader #now THIS was pog to write. over 2k words babie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[curlsofsagesmoke]

TMNT (2012) DID DONNIE DIRTY WITH THE HALF-ASSED LEADERSHIP PLOTLINE AND HERE’S WHY

not to turn into a tmnt blog or anything but I've been watching the 2012 version and I have some Thoughts about the weird leadership conflict subplot between Leo and donnie that the writers started going for and then abandoned. admittedly I've only seen up until a few episodes of season 3 so I don’t know if they ever do go back to this, but from what I've seen this plot had amazing potential but it was handled in a truly awful way!

keep in mind also that I really love this show. I watched it as a kid, I think it holds up pretty well even now. it does have its flaws (many, many flaws) and the worst flaw is the writing imo, which can be lazy, ignorant, or just straight up bad at times. 

with that out of the way, buckle up and hold on to your butts cuz here the heck we go!

you cannot talk about leadership in tmnt without starting with the leader, Leo. the writers gave him a really interesting arc at the beginning of season one where he was really eager to become leader (splinter gave him the job because he asked for it, after all) but then he started to realize the burden that came with the title and started to crack a bit under the pressure. the most well-known character conflict in the entire tmnt multiverse is the tension between Raph and Leo, and this iteration of the show is no different. Raph is very obviously upset about Leo becoming leader and he (and donnie, but we’ll get to him in a bit) tries to argue that he should be leader instead. ultimately he fails and this does create tension throughout the rest of seasons one and two.

this tension comes to a head during an episode where Leo, tired of Raph always questioning his decisions and needling him, decides to fuck off for a little bit, leaving Raph in charge (”New Girl In Town”). from a writing standpoint, this episode is important for many reasons, but in terms of this subplot it is a moment of crisis for Leo which he inevitably overcomes by accepting the burden and responsibility of leadership; and for Raph it is a moment of realization where he finally accepts that he wouldn’t be a very good leader and he doesn’t want the burden that Leo carries all the time. after this episode, Raph and Leo do have their arguments, but overall Raph is much more accepting of Leo’s position as leader and only calls him out when Leo starts to go on little power trips.

which brings us to donnie. donnie also argued that he should be leader in the first episode, but it wasn’t treated as seriously as Raph’s argument, and after that there wasn’t much conflict between Leo and donnie (except for the technology vs. tradition thing surrounding metalhead, but I’ll get to that later). donnie and Mikey are presented as generally pretty laid back. when Raph becomes leader in “New Girl In Town”, they exchange a lot of “yikes” looks in the background but are willing to follow his lead and give him the opportunity to actually be leader. of course, this comes to a head when they confront the villain of the episode, snakeweed, in the sewers. they’re getting their asses kicked, Mikey is knocked out, Raph is having a panic attack, and donnie is left to fend for himself against snakeweed.

instead of having that little “I must meet this challenge and overcome it” moment that you’d expect, Raph gives in to the panic and it’s donnie who not only incapacitates snakeweed to give them time to escape, but also snaps Raph out of his panic attack and tells him what to do (namely, get Mikey out of there and retreat to safety). it’s not given any more attention after this so it’s kind of blink-and-you-miss-it, but this is the first instance we see donnie reveal a bit of his potential as leader.

this is in direct contrast to “Mousers Attack!” which came a few episodes before New Girl In Town. that was the episode that introduced the a-team/b-team dynamic, and in that episode we saw that donnie, while attempting to lead him and Mikey, was able to come up with a bunch of plans to infiltrate dogpound’s operations but wasn’t decisive enough to actually commit to anything. thus in New Girl In Town, we’ve already seen very obvious growth in donnie and the way he approaches leadership, but it’s very much pushed to the background, and for good reason. this is simply laying the foundation for the big showdown between Leo and donnie.

the next significant moment of leadership potential we see from donnie comes in the episode the Pulverizer. donnie gets stuck with Timothy in the lair but soon  becomes willing and even eager to teach him the basics of self defense, because, as he tells splinter, he knows Timothy is going to keep putting himself in dangerous situations and he’d rather Timothy be able to protect himself. splinter tells him that anything that happens to Timothy will be donnie’s responsibility, and donnie accepts this and begins training him. at the end of the episode they all make it out okay, Timothy goes on his way, and donnie seems to have become just a bit fond of him.

significantly, this is the first time donnie is given full responsibility over the fate of another person, and we see that even though he doesn’t really like Timothy, he takes this responsibility seriously. here he shows great leadership potential, as well, though again, it’s not really commented on narratively.

the next significant moment is, as you might’ve guessed, The Pulverizer Returns. in this episode we find out Timothy has joined the foot and is willing to pass information on to the turtles. Leo and Raph jump at the opportunity, Mikey is ambivalent as usual, and donnie is the only one who shows any concern. this is most likely because the last time he saw Timothy, splinter told him Timothy was his responsibility completely, and he obviously takes that seriously still. the entire episode, he tries to get Timothy to leave the foot and his brothers to take this seriously, but his worries are brushed off until they find out the shredder is about to mutate Timothy as an experiment.

so they race off to save him, and donnie ends up in a warehouse without his brothers to help, weaponless (because of some bullshit lesson splinter is trying to teach them, and as a side note, this was the first episode where I started to seriously dislike splinter as a character, because the way he was written here is just awful). the villains of this episode are dogpound and fishface. if you’ll remember, these are two serious villains, and up until this point they’d only ever been subdued, never defeated, and even then the turtles had to double team them in order to win. so it was of course surprising and incredible to see that donnie, armed with literally just a broom, was able to hold off a squad of foot ninjas, dogpound, AND fishface by himself for a good while, all while keeping Timothy away from the mutagen.

then Timothy IS mutated and a bomb is activated, and in just two minutes donnie comes up with a plan and executes it, getting them all out safely. when he starts barking orders at his brothers, they don’t even stop to question him. they listen immediately and that’s part of the reason why the plan succeeds. so what does this tell us? it tells us that donnie has a very strong sense of responsibility, protectiveness, and determination; that he is extremely capable when he’s focused and is good at thinking under pressure; and that his brothers trust him enough to follow his orders when he does give them. these are all incredible qualities for a leader to have!

notably the episode after this is Operation Break Out, where donnie goes off on his own to rescue April’s dad from The Kraang and they only make it out because his brothers followed him and intervened. clearly, then, donnie’s not really ready to be a leader and still lets his emotions cloud his judgement, which is a narratively sound writing decision. the big donnie-as-leader showdown doesn’t come until the end of season two, anyway.

and then season two. the tensions between Leo and donnie aren’t as obvious as the tensions between Leo and Raph, but they’re there, even if no one explicitly challenges Leo’s position as leader any more. here’s a quick rundown of the two significant episodes:

“Follow the Leader”--> Leo wants to stick to the old, traditional ways, but his brothers insist on unorthodox methods of fighting. Leo eventually comes to accept this to a certain degree when he admits it’s a good strategy to use against the footbots.

“Metalhead Rewired”--> donnie upgrades metalhead’s AI and Leo is suspicious of it. on the trail of The Kraang, Leo blames donnie for a few of metalhead’s mishaps, but apologizes when they realize that metalhead was leading them to a Kraang mutant prison. metalhead sacrifices itself to save them. Leo is sympathetic here because donnie is really upset, but it’s clear that these two are still fighting over the tech vs. tradition thing

and then we get to The Invasion, the season two finale. the synopsis makes it clear that this is where all of these moments that I've been discussing come to a head: “Leo and Donnie disagree about their plan to stop The Kraang invasion. When Leo makes a critical mistake, he is separated from the team and Donnie must step up as leader.” So we’re off to a good start as far as concluding this character arc goes. I was excited to finally see donnie live up to his leadership potential (and I thought this could be a good way to give Leo some closure regarding his issues with holding the world on his shoulders/blaming himself for every mistake/basing his self worth on his position as leader).

but I was sorely disappointed! in the episodes, donnie’s and Leo’s tech vs. tradition conflict comes to a head when Leo wants to flee the city (this seems very out of character for him) but donnie wants to stay and fight in his new combat robot, the turtle mech. this disagreement lasts until they are attacked in the tunnels and donnie is injured; Leo draws the Kraang robots away (I assumed this was his critical mistake: separating himself) to give the others time to escape. they go to April’s apartment to hide and regroup while Leo is hunted down and almost killed by the shredder. Raph and Casey rejoin the others, then shredder throws Leo through the window of the apartment, and they escape but barely. donnie then makes the decision to fight Kraang prime in the turtle mech (which is, I assume, his big leader moment, though of course it doesn’t even happen on screen). they fight Kraang prime and almost die, but Casey arrives in the van, saves them, and drives them out of the city. donnie apologizes to Leo’s unconscious body and says that Leo was right, and then the episode ends.

so. let me first say that this was quite possibly the worst way to end this really interesting and nuanced character arc that the writers had set donnie and Leo on. first of all, we barely got to see donnie act in any kind of leadership role. in Leo’s absence, they made most of their decisions as a team, where I had expected at least some sort of “I need to overcome my fears and anxieties and lead my family to safety” moment from donnie. secondly, Leo wasn’t entirely correct. yes, they ended up evacuating the city anyway like Leo wanted, but he was wrong about the turtle mech; it ended up destroying Kraang prime’s robot body thing. and donnie wasn’t entirely correct, either: the turtle mech was a great weapon that did some significant damage, but it wasn’t enough to stop the invasion. so we have these two characters who were both wrong in their own ways, both face the consequences, but no one ever discusses it.

so not only did we not see any significant character development from Leo; and not only did donnie not really get to act in any significant leadership role; but also worst of all, these two characters never got any closure! I'm a good handful of episodes into season three, and not one single character has even mentioned the tension between Leo and donnie during the invasion. everyone acts as if it never happened, so now as a viewer I'm stuck here waiting for the other shoe to drop or for one of these characters to finally snap, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, which sucks. in other iterations of tmnt (like the 2007 movie or the show from 2003) we get to see Donatello act almost like Leo’s second in command. I think that’s a really, really interesting direction the writers of the 2012 show could’ve gone in and I think it’s a waste of this subplot’s potential to just abandon it the way they did. I'm not sure what’s going to happen in season three, but I think a good conclusion of this arc would’ve been donnie and Leo confronting the argument they had, doing a little more maturing, and eventually donnie becomes Leo’s second in command. instead I'm really worried about how the writing of this show is going to devolve as I get further into the later seasons.

(as a side note: I'm currently working on a series of tmnt fics that addresses this issue, as well as the sometimes shitty ways the brothers treat each other and the stupid-as-fuck donnie/april/casey love triangle. so if that floats your boat, keep an eye out! I'll be reposting this with the link attached once I upload the first fic, so give my blog a follow or keep an eye on my ao3 account, heyassbuttimbatman)

#if you got to the end of this monster #congrats! #I hope you guys are excited for that fic I'm writing #because I sure as hell am #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2012 #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #Leonardo #donatello #raphael #michaelangelo #donnie 2012 #Leo 2012 #Raph 2012 #Mikey 2012 #capriltello #rant #fic

[heyheydidjaknow]

Why do I not have the option to copy and paste formatting? Why is that an option I am not given? Who thought that I wouldn’t need that when I’m on my phone? Screw that guy, who I am arbitrarily calling Adam. If anyone knows how to do that, please tell me.

Chapter 6 Pt 2

“There is no fucking way you got a date with her.” Raphael does not even look it up. “No way in hell.”

“And yet the flow chart worked.” He laughs from his lab, shutting off any excess equipment as to not overwork it. “It worked like a charm and she asked me to go to her place so ha.”

”You didn’t show her the chart, did you?”

“I did not.”

“Well, there you go.” Leo looks back at him from his seat on the couch. “What time?”

“Seven o’clock.” He slides the door closed. “But I’m planning on being there at six fifty-five so that she knows I value her time.”

“Does the sun set that early?”

“Why do you even ask?” Raph turns a page in his once periodical periodical. “You know he looked it up.”

“As a matter of fact, I did. Forgive me for also valuing preparedness.”

“Nobody likes a know it all.”

He grins smugly. “That’s where you’re wrong. See, I,” he gestured to himself, “have a date with a gorgeous girl tonight, one where she has already invited me into her home, and you,” he gestured to Raphael, “are reading a magazine from a company that went out of business two years ago alone.”

“Donnie, don’t be a jerk.” Leonardo looked back at the television. “Raphael brings up a valid point; you tend to act like you know everything, and the actual request wasn’t for a date.”

“How else can I interpret one on one time with her?”

“Well,” he counters, “how do you interpret one on one time with us?”

He blinks. “Wait, so you’re saying she’s… how do you put it?”

“Nah, I don’t think she’s friendzonin ‘im.” Mickey looks up from his drawing. “Think she’s sending signals she doesn’t mean to.” He sets his half-shaded piece aside. “Think about it; she said she’s been all stressed out, right? She died like two weeks ago.” He shrugs. “She’s probably just lonely and needs the company.”

“That’s… actually really insightful of you.”

He grins. “What can I say? I’m a modern McPherson.”

Raph snickers at that. “Donnie is more of a McPher—how old is that movie, anyway? A hundred?

“Hey!” He shoots a glare at his brother. “Respect the classics.”

“Not to interrupt your riveting intro to film class,” Donnie interjects, losing his shit, “but I really need to know what this is before I go, and it’s already fifteen ‘till.”

“Look, maybe she’s interested, maybe she’s not.” Leonardo’s eyes are back on the screen. “Just try to tread carefully and you’ll probably be fine.”

“Probably?”

“Again, Raph had a point.”

He groans, walking to the entrance and exit of their home. “You guys aren’t helping.”

“Not our job.”

Leo calls after him. “Be home before six!”

He turns the corner, cradling his head in his hands. ‘I am totally and thoroughly fucked.’

--

GoodFellas.

Of all the movies in the world, that is the movie you have decided to use to explain these concepts. This is the example piece that you are going to show to the vigilante. All you know is that you had started watching the Phantom Menace and had decided against explaining the concept of racial coding and this is the only other movie that you can think of right now. You have decided to commit, and you are already regretting it, but you decide to figure it out as you go.

You set the pizza on the coffee table, throwing a bag of popcorn in the microwave to pop. You do not expect Donatello to be late, so you decided to start now so that they could get started right away. You start walking to the window, stopping at the mouth of the hallway. You look yourself over one more time in the bathroom mirror despite yourself. You do not exactly know why you care so much; this was not a date, and you had not advertised it as one. Still, impressions are important, and the last thing you need is for him to not listen to you because of it. That is what you are telling yourself, anyhow.

You hear knocking against the glass. You check your phone for the time. ‘Five minutes early.’ You smile softly. ‘How responsible.’ You open it up, smiling at your guest. “Welcome, Donatello.” You take a step back. “Please, make yourself at home.”

He barely makes a sound as he steps off the windowsill, looking around your apartment, fully illuminated, for the first time.

After about thirty seconds of his investigation, you clear your throat. “Donnie?”

He snaps out of it. “Huh?”

You smile gently. “You wanna sit down? I bought pizza.”

“Uh, yeah.” He nods, sitting down and facing the television screen. “I like your place.”

“Thanks.” You sit down next to him, tucking your feet under you as you flip on the television. “How do you feel about gangster movies?”

“Gangster movies?”

“Yeah.” You list a couple on your fingers. “Scarface, Godfather, all that jazz.”

He shakes his head, brow furrowed in confusion. “How can you make gangster movies legally?”

“That is a long answer. The short version?” You lean forward, taking a slice from the box. “The police are kind to those who cooperate, and people think their stories are fascinating.”

“So they’re documentaries?” He mimics you.

You shrug. “Sometimes. Not always, but sometimes. You want something to drink?” You hear the microwave beep as you stand up.

“Water?”

You nod, walking over to pull the popcorn out of the microwave and grab your drinks. “I trust the walk wasn’t too bad?”

“Not at all.” The small talk is torture. “Getting to your window was a bit of a challenge, but it wasn’t anything too bad.”

“That’s good.” You pour him a glass. “I’ll have to get something for that; maybe a planter or something, so you have a bigger ledge.”

“It’s alright.” He taps his fingers against his knee. “It’s wide enough to stand.”

“Still.” You place his cup on the counter, dumping the kernels into a large plastic bowl. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if one of you guys got hurt trying to come in through the window.” You grab a can of soda out of the refrigerator, sitting down and handing him the glass.

He smiles slightly. “You’re really sweet sometimes, you know that?”

You grin. “I try,” you hum, starting to pull up the movie. “I think you’re pretty cool too, Hamato.”

He chuckles. “You make me sound like I’m fifty.”

“Oh, totally.” You nod in agreement. “You’re an old soul.”

He blinks. “Old soul?”

“Mature, I mean.” You shrug. “I mean, handling the stuff you do with any degree of tact, to me, displays a great maturity you don’t see in most teenagers, myself included.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

You get back up for napkins and plates. “Not at all.” You hand him one of each. “It’s an admirable quality, though not one I particularly envy.”

“You think?” His hands linger for a moment longer than typical as he took them.

“Yeah. You want me to turn down the lights for the movie while I’m up?”

His face goes red. “I-I mean,” he stutters, “if you want to.”

“Then I will; shows the image better when it’s dark.” You walk to the wall, flicking off the lights and sitting down next to him, setting your slice on your plate as you turn on the movie.

Your reactions to it are different.

He does not seem what you would call disturbed, but he gets grossly invested in the story extremely quickly. He is noticeably more interested in watching you watch the movie, but he studies the plot intently, noting the more domestic plotline between the lead and his wife in particular. His reaction to the violence is strange to you; he is not aloof, so to speak, but he does not flinch much until the fighting is between Henry and Karen.

You have seen this movie what feels like a thousand times. Whenever you think it applicable, you lean over and whisper to him about the directing, the script, the plot—it is supposed to be a lesson, after all. But you realize that your attention, every so often, shifts to the bed, to your pillow with the knife underneath it. The violence of the movie makes you edgier than you are used to.

About halfway through the movie, you move closer to the boy sitting beside you. You lean your head against his shoulder, closing your eyes as you listen for cues for comments. You don’t notice his reaction, but you do notice how his arm snakes around your waist, pulling you closer to him. You do not object; you were the one who initiated, after all.

“Here’s a psychology relationship thingy you can tell your family about.” You cringe at that poor little girl standing in the hallway. “’That’s all in your head’ is classic gaslighting. I dunno if that’s really your area or not.”

“Oh, yeah, I see what you mean.” He fiddles with the cloth of your jacket absentmindedly. “It’s kinda hard for me to wrap my head around, people staying like that. I mean,” he clarifies, “I get why, but—”

You both tense up as a young man on screen is shot dead by Joe Pesci’s character.

You exhale. “Yeah, I get what you mean.” You shrug. “But folks get scared, ya know? In her case, she doesn’t want to break the family apart, and she’s really into him.”

“What? No way.”

“Yes way.” You look up at him. “What can I say? We fall into infatuation so fast with bad people who say what we want to hear.”

“Don’t you mean fall in love?”

You watch as Lorraine Bracco holds a gun to her husband’s face. “Nope. Love is entirely different.”

“Yeah?” He glanced down at you.

“Apples and oranges.” You gesture to the television. “Love is supplementary, a beautifully imperfect connection between people.” Your voice becomes smoother, airier. “It’s a bond built on trust and respect. Infatuation is more of an addiction than anything.” You sigh as Liota meets to discuss his relationship with Sorvino. “At least I think so. That’s why love at first sight is a bunch of bullshit; you can’t have that kind of profound trust with someone you just met.” You shrug, looking back up at him. “Then again, what do I know? I’m an inexperienced, fifteen-year-old girl.”

“That makes a lot of sense, actually.” He looks back down at you. “I get what familial love is, but whenever Master Splinter talks about his wife, he has a hard time putting what he means into words.”

You hear their guilty verdict. “Totally get that. Articulation is not easy to do.”

A few minutes go by.

“May I be frank?”

“Please.”

You watch as a man drags his wife out of a Christmas party. “This movie is exactly why I don’t ever want to learn how to do the stuff you do. It changes you, all that violence; desensitizes you.” You bring your knees to your chest. “Especially Raphael. I swear, that shift was as dramatic as his, at least at this point in the flick.”

He pauses. “Please, tell me you’re kidding.”

You close your eyes, breathing slowly. “I’m going to try my best,” you swear, “do everything in my power, to see to it that you guys don’t experience more than you have to.”

You mean it. He can tell.

You two are quiet for the rest of the movie. You explain why certain directing choices were made, connect the beginning with the end, talk about the theme, all while you two watched their fall from grace. When the movie ends, you realize how tangled up in him you are; your head on his chest, legs draped over his with his arms around your waist. You feel the icy air against you, as if his skin attracted it to you. You push the hair out of your face. “So,” you stretch, turning the light back on, “do you wanna see another movie, or do you have a curfew?”

He pauses. “I should honestly probably get home,” he sighs. “If I’m not home early they’ll start getting ideas.”

“Oh, yeah.” You nod, completely understanding the reasoning. “You can take the leftover pizza home if you want; the guys’ll probably eat it before I do.”

“Mikey’ll be on cloud nine.” He picks the box off the coffee table. “Thanks.”

“Any time.” You stand at the window, opening it for him.

He climbs onto the windowsill, looking down at you from his perch. “I had a good time.” His face flushed. “We should do this again.”

You nod in agreement. “Definitely.” You rub the back of your neck. “I’ll pick a lighter movie next time.”

“Alright. It’s a plan.” He gives you a thumbs up.

You steal yourself, cupping one side of his face and kissing him gently on the cheek. “Goodnight, Donnie.” You smile. “See ya tomorrow.”

You are a bit concerned he’s going to fall off the windowsill. “Y-Yeah,” he grinned, words slurred. “See ya later, Y/N.” He waved, climbing up and out of your window.

You smile softly, sigh. You flop back on the bed, rolling over. You have not been this at ease since you died.

‘I really like that guy.’ You close your eyes. ‘I really, honestly do.’

You drift off to sleep, dreamless for the first time in too long.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 6 Part 1

Chapter 7

#tmnt #tmnt donnie #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2k12 #tmnt donatello #tmnt x reader #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage #donnie x reader #2012 donnie #donnie #donatello x reader #donatello #nyc #pizza #movie #finally got some action goin on maybe #i finished writing this shit at 4 in the fucking morning #I’m usually relatively fine with tense #but today was a struggle #4710 words #part 2

[muddyhippy]

A Tangled Problem 

Adorable artwork by the ever-lovely @smolghostings

Updated on AO3 here

Lily padded into the common room still quite sleepy but with a single goal in mind. She’d got up out of Jonny’s bunk whilst he was still fast asleep, carefully extracting herself from his cuddling arm determined to get washed, dressed and make a nice breakfast for everyone.

 She’d had another bad nightmare and Jonny had stayed up late with her telling stories and singing. He made her feel safe and cared for enough that the nightmares stopped being horrible and scary in her head for the rest of the night so she wanted to let him sleep and make a tasty breakfast. Her plan was going quite well when she washed and dressed but was too excited and distracted by recipe ideas when tackling her locks and then quickly got stuck, literally, when it came to brush her hair.

 Lily’s hair was a thick mass of candyfloss-soft silvery tangles at the best of times but last night’s upset had obviously made it ten times worse.

 Her brush got stuck and no matter what she did it wouldn’t come free.

 It hurt when she tugged and pulled and struggled. Enough to make tears prick her eyes.

 So she headed to find the one person who’d be probably best to help.

Without ceremony she headed directly to the person she wanted who was sat on the sofa where they usually were this time of a morning, making use of the quiet, completely absorbed in their music to the point they didn’t notice her approach until she climbed into their lap.

 Tim physically startled to suddenly have a lapful of Lily appear between his chest and his guitar and stare intensely at him.

 “Um hello Sweetness?” he began, thoroughly on the back foot.

 “Tim! Help!” She pleaded by way of greeting, tears already spiking.  

 He tensed, fully poised to unquestioningly murder the shit out of whatever that had prompted this response.

 She pointed.

 Tim’s eyes alighted on her very tangled-in-hair brush caught up in her tresses. His eyes ran a quick diagnostic that helpfully returned the report ‘Ouch’.

 “Oh.” He considered why she was showing him this and came up with nothing, “Um why—?”

 “Because Jonny’s asleep,” She explained simply, “and you’ve got the prettiest hair, you tangle it all up in your goggles but it always ends up nice and untangled again so you’ve got to be good at hair-brushing.”

 That, that was an impressive leap of logic he had to give her that.

 “But Raphaella…?” He began weakly.

 “She has really pretty hair too and it’s even longer than yours but it’s never tangled! Yours does so you’ve got more practice at fixing it. Please?” She sniffed, “I’ve tried and tried and it only hurts more.”

 Tim took pity on her, that snarl up did look painful and it was obvious everything she’d tried had made it worse.

 Plus, she was doing the look that Jonny warned him about, the whole ‘her-eyes-take-up-half-her-face-look’ that made his insides get twisty and him want to fix whatever the matter was every time she pulled it.

 He suddenly understood why Jonny was willing to do as much stuff as he did. Lily was bloody hard to say no to when she looked like a particularly sad octokitten.

 “Um, alright then.” He carefully put down his guitar to give the small, miserable child his full attention.

 It really was a disaster. Tim considered his approach whilst ignoring the growing warmth in his chest at the idea that the little girl who’d joined them not that long ago apparently trusted him enough to ask for help with something personal that had left her vulnerable. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. Probably Bertie. Best not think about that then.

 “Okay Sweetness, can you turn around for me so I can get to the brush please?”

 She sniffed again, “Okay, thank you Tim,” she pressed a heartfelt kiss to his bearded cheek before turning around obviously utterly convinced that he’d got this and she trusted him implicitly that he’d make this better.

 Fuck, he hated Jonny for not being awake.

 Tim, not for the first time since Lily joined them, regretted being an only child with absolutely no sibling experience to deal with situations like this.

 Ah fuck it, he’d do his best.

 Using his enhanced vision, the patience he used when cleaning and repairing his weapons and the comb he kept in his coat pocket but would never admit to, he very carefully, painstakingly, detangled her hair.

 After half an hour he managed to free the brush from her head then proceeded to comb all her locks clear so she would be tangle free for the next five minutes at least. Maybe he’d have to ask Ashes to show Lily how to plait properly since he’d seen Ashes wear some excellent styles over the years and their hair length was closer to Lily’s than Raph’s was.

 He’d never bothered to learn, he liked having long hair, it was something that was his own rebellion after strictness at school and whilst he was completing his mechanical engineering apprenticeship. It was easy to tuck it up under a cap after all.

 He’d tried not to show how heartbroken he’d been when he’d been conscripted and shorn short again. Bertie had known of course and told him he was still just as handsome. During the time in the tunnels his hair had grown out again since no one was really paying attention to uniform rules in the depths of the war.

 He’d kept it long ever since. He wasn’t sure if it was out of defiance or as tribute to Bertie who’d never been able to keep his fingers out of it when they were alone together.

 Tim mentally shook himself, now was definitely not the time to start down that track. That route led to months locked in the armoury, building non-stop. Or murdering Jonny repeatedly for being a dick (or just being present). Neither of which were viable responses right now.

 “Right then, I think we’re done, turn around for me Lily.”

 The little girl shuffled around on his lap to face him, she shook her head slightly, smile immediately blossoming across her face. “It feels so nice! Thank you!”

 Little arms engulfed him in a grateful hug, enveloping him like the octokitten she masqueraded as half the time.

 The master-at-arms was unspeakably relieved he’d not fucked this up, “You’re very welcome Sweetness, now, let’s show you how to brush your hair without it getting all tangled up. Sound good?”

 “Yes please! Jonny helps me a lot but he doesn’t know as many tricks.”

 “Jonny doesn’t have as much patience, he’s had longer hair a few times but mostly because he couldn’t be bothered to cut it.”

 “Did he have hair as long as yours?”

 “No. Just to his shoulders.”

 “Oh.” She considered, “Mine’s already nearly that long.”

 “I had noticed.” He couldn’t help grinning, as she tried assess the length of her hair first by tipping her head forwards to see, realising that wasn’t working then using her hand to feel the end of her lengths whilst trying to look out of the corner of her eyes. Her little tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth in solidarity and concentration.

 “I want to grow mine more.”

 “Oh yes?”

 “Yes! So I can be as pretty as Raphaella and you!”

 Tim felt both the blush and lump rise.

 “That’s, that’s kind of you to say Sweetness, but you’re lovely just as you are. You don’t have to look like anyone else to be better in some way.”

 Lily paused and thought about it.

 “Well, I won’t be exactly like you and Raphaella,” she conceded, “my hair’s a different colour.”

 He couldn’t argue with the statement, she was a lot lighter than even Raphaella, “That’s very true.”

 “But I still want it long. I think it’ll be even nicer long.”

 Tim couldn’t help but smiling at that very familiar conviction, “Then I best show you how to look after it then shouldn’t I?”

 Lily beamed, lighting up the way she did whenever any of them took time to show her something. It was why they all, without exception, took time to demonstrate things to her. They might be immoral, immortal space pirates but none of them were above wanting to feel like a hero for teaching a kid to tie her shoe laces, flip pancakes or make belt holes. “Yes please!”

 Which is why Brian walked in twenty minutes later looking for his fellow chef to find Lily and Tim in the middle of a hair brushing lesson, The child sat on the master-at-arms lap facing him, little tongue was back poking out in concentration, a long hank of Tim’s glossy tresses held reverentially in Lily’s tiny hand, her other carefully brushing it through as Tim talked her through the method of working in stages, his hands guiding hers, starting at the bottom and slowly working up to the roots.

 Brian cleared his throat

 Mechanised eyes zeroed in on the pilot, “This isn’t what it looks like—” Began Tim, colour rising dramatically in his face.  

 Brian raised an eyebrow.

 “Tim’s teaching me to brush hair properly so my brush doesn’t get all tangled up in my hair again because that hurts!”

 Tim sighed, utterly defeated.

 “You know,” commented Brian, attempting to sound innocuous, “that looks exactly like what’s happening.”

 Lily looked puzzled, “That’s because it is.”

 “Quite right too,” Agreed the pilot, “looks like you’re doing a good job.” Brian took closer notice of their youngest crewmember, her usually wild mass of waves looked decidedly neat with that glossy sheen that only came with extensive grooming. “Did Tim do yours earlier?”

 “Yes! He’s really good! I got my brush stuck in my hair and he got it out and brushed it really nicely! I asked him because he has really pretty hair and is good at getting tangles out of it after he wears his goggles. He’s really gentle and clever at it!”

 Brian was amused to watch battle of emotions war over Tim’s face pride, pleasure, embarrassment and fury all crossed his face, clearly annoyed that this moment of softness with Lily was being witnessed.

 Brian found he didn’t care all that much for Tim’s comfort, this was more important. Tim and Lily were bonding over something other than guns, completely unprompted. This was good progress. The fact that Tim was obviously trusted enough by Lily for her to ask his help and that he’d clearly given it freely said a lot about how comfortable they were becoming together which wasn’t bad for barely three weeks on board for Lily. Then again, last week her nightmare-stricken visit to Tim’s room that night she couldn’t find Jonny had probably cemented him as a ‘safe’ adult she could go to when the first mate wasn’t available.

 Brian hoped the rest of them would become as easy to approach eventually.

 It was nice to be reminded that deep under everything, he and his crew, at a push, could remember how to be kind.

 “Right well, I’ll leave you to finish. Would you like me to start breakfast Lily?”

 The child paused, looking conflicted.

 “I am more than happy to.” Brian clarified.

 Relief flooded her little face, “Oh um, yes please.”

 “Did you have a plan?”

 “Scrambled eggs and bacon and pancakes.” She recited her intended feast immediately. Jonny liked pancakes, said his mummy made them for him sometimes when she had the time and they were still his favourite if he had to choose.

 Bacon had been a completely new food for Lily, but she loved how the saltiness of the slices complimented the sweetness of the pancakes, she wanted to learn how to make the syrup Ashes liked to go with it too. Eggs were very special because they were a treat on her ship, they had a few sealed cartons that they opened for very special events. On Aurora she could have eggs for every meal if she wanted AND they were fresh! In shells!

 Brian had explained gently that eggs were more of a breakfast food and it was better to have them in one meal a day rather than more because she might get bored of them. (Also he was worried how much more omelette/poached eggs/boiled eggs/scrambled eggs/frittata/fried egg combinations the crew could endure with a smile and he really didn’t want to put off their newest member from the job she liked. Thankfully Lily took instruction and hints with equal grace).

 “Sounds good to me!” Approved Tim, feeling that she shouldn’t feel all that bad about not cooking one meal.

 Brian smile widened, pleased she was deciding to spend more time with Tim, “Me too, right then, I’ll get started, you can join me when you and Tim are done. See you later.” He left the scene as the two continued their lesson.

 “Right then, reckon you can do the rest before Brian finishes?”

 “Yeah!”

 Tim arrived to breakfast on the table, Lily holding his hand, the two looking decidedly neater than normal.

 As the others began to gently tease and pass the pancakes Brian looked over the group, his family, and couldn’t help but smile.

#the mechanisms #gunpowder tim #lily of many names #drumbot brian #the mechanisms fanfic #the mechanisms fanart #I've added a bit to this little fic #Happy New Year #Here's a hair brushing fic because I can

[davids-cartoon-corkboard]

Do you think that if Shredder!Raph will occur in rottmnt, the aftermath might result in Raph inheriting some of Shredder’s rage even after saved? Maybe that is how the crew is going to implement Raph’s trademark temper throughout previous generations and maybe even make him have to step down due to it, making Leo the new leader?

Short answer: “Inheriting the rage of a centuries-old demon" is a dope-ass idea, so if you’re a writer I would definitely encourage you to use that in your own stuff. But I think that if Raph’s temper worsens throughout the show, it should be because of his own character development and not a magical effect. However, a Shredder!Raph scenario could contribute to said worsening temper by inflicting emotional/psychological damage instead. :)

Long answer ahoy!

Looking at “Many Unhappy Returns” from the Shredder’s perspective makes it very clear why he does what he does. Like, he’s been dead for five hundred years, and then something went wrong with his resurrection. He’s waking up with no idea where he is or what’s going on and oh shit those guys are pointing weapons at him, that’s a threat!

Note that he doesn’t even bolt for them immediately, he does a warning stomp and screech (back off!) before starting to approach.

Those other guys are yelling, that’s also a threat,

and they’re closer so he’s gonna attack them first, actually. (None of the Foot wind up even comically injured, suggesting that flailing them around was an intimidation tactic rather than genuine Murderous Intent.)

And then the first group attacks, so of course he’s going to retaliate.

And then suddenly he’s somewhere else, with other threats (the animatronics), and then the first group that attacked him is back, so he’s gonna fight them again.

And these jerks just keep following him? He’s not going to ignore that. And WOW that’s a lot of bright lights and loud noises, which are also threats, what the fuck is going on?!

And then this tiny human girl chucks a giant metal box at him, holy SHIT?! Sure, the Shredder is a dangerous antagonist, but at this point I wouldn’t call him a “bad guy”, he’s literally just responding to what’s happening to him.

In summary, the Shredder was stressed tf out because he didn’t know where he was or what was happening, he retaliated against perceived threats, and quite possibly wouldn’t have attacked the turtles in the first place if they hadn’t just rushed in without understanding the situation.

Gosh, doesn’t that sound familiar?

So yeah, I’m waiting for Rise to give us that good good Shredder!Raph content.

As for the possibility of Leo taking over afterwards... no, but also yes, sort of? On the one hand, we know that Leo does have leadership capabilities, and it would be a waste for the narrative to not explore that. On the other hand, Rise has broken from the status quo in many ways, and it would also be a waste for the show to do a complete 180 and return to Leo Being The Leader™.

Consider how the “leader” role has influenced Leo in past iterations: his perfectionism wears on him and his brothers, any failure tanks his self-esteem, he feels isolated from the rest due to taking on such a large share of responsibility, being an authority figure grinds everyone’s gears, etc. It’s just bad for his mental health.

No doubt all this responsibility will also wear on Rise!Raph as the story progresses and the stakes get higher. It will be bad for him as well. But if Raph steps down, Leo will once again suffer from the weight of this role. So if neither option is quite correct, if neither brother can shoulder the burden of leadership alone, then the solution is just... for neither of them to shoulder the burden of leadership alone. Sure, Raph will probably remain leader in title and in spirit, but Leo taking on a sort of “deputy” role makes sense from a strategic standpoint, and would be good for his character development.

Here’s how I think it could go down:

The Shredder!Raph scenario will be different from the Shredder!Draxum scenario. The Shredder was starved for mystic energy the first time around, so he immediately chewed Draxum up and spit him out. But Raph could be compared more to a battery than a meal; it will take a while for the Shredder to drain him. And at this point the Shredder could be back in “evil samurai” mode, and thus will understand the value of holding Raph hostage.

Y’all who have followed my blog for a bit know about my “Raph is a system” theory; that when he was little, he got separated from his family and pursued by some cryptid hunter. This trauma formed Savage Raph, who is able to handle “being lost/alone/threatened” when Host Raph cannot. “Pizza Puffs” didn’t give us a lot of info about who I’m calling “Red Raph”, but he made his presence known when Host Raph was sort of... "emotionally alone”? In that his brothers were dying a little bit and too stoned to care.

So if Raph is trapped inside a living cage, scared and helpless and hurt and exhausted, his family unable to help him... he’s not going to be able to handle it.

Or, rather, Host Raph isn’t going to be able to handle it.

These two can, though.

I’m imagining a scene in the mindscape where the Shredder says something like “Your pathetic family cannot bear to strike you down, and so there is nothing that can stand in m- wait, why are there three of you OW FUCK-” Red and Savage will mentally kick his ass long enough for the other turtles to rip off a chunk of the armor so Leo can portal it into another dimension or something. Shredder gets K.O.’d since he’s not whole anymore, and the battle is won.

Since the armor didn’t drain Raph as severely as it did Draxum, he won’t become as weak as Draxum did. However, it will still take him some time to recover. Raph trusts Leo in serious moments as of “Many Unhappy Returns”, and he already took charge when Raph wasn’t available back in “Man vs. Sewer”. So Raph will be like, “Hey Leo, can you handle the Mad Dogs for a bit? Just long enough for me to get back on my feet.” And Leo will be like, “Sure bro, I’ve got this.”

He does not, in fact, “got this”. Leo’s ego has caused trouble before (”Shell in a Cell”, “Minotaur Maze”), and being in charge will no doubt go to his head. This has the potential for both comedy and seriousness, leading to wacky mishaps and genuine danger. Being the leader is hard work and it’s not always fun, but someone has to do it and Leo will have to put the others before himself for it to get done. Once Leo realizes this, he could bond with Raph by asking for his advice on leadership. Sometimes Leo will follow the advice and sometimes he won’t, sometimes that will work out and sometimes it won’t, laying the foundation for the idea that there are situations where it will be better for one or the other to lead, rather than having one lead all the time. But that will only happen for a few episodes, because Raph will heal quickly and he’ll be the leader again and everything will be fine!

Everything will not, in fact, be fine. Raph is the strongest in the family, the tank, the one who can take a hit so the smaller ones don’t have to... the idea of being hurt, of being weak, scares him because his family is also in danger if he’s unwell. So I don’t think he’ll acknowledge to anyone, not even himself, that getting possessed hurt him emotionally as well as physically. And when a wound isn’t acknowledged, it doesn’t get tended to, and when a wound isn’t tended to, it gets worse.

That he’s a system will add another layer of complexity to this. The Shredder!Raph incident would make all the alters aware of each other via mindscape shenanigans, but it would also leave them with the fear of not being in control, so I think they’ll come in conflict with each other for a bit. They’ll argue with themselves, switch, and lose time more often, enough that it impedes their ability to function and the other characters start to notice something is wrong.

Host Raph will convince himself that Everything Is Fine and try to get things “back to normal”, which probably means he’s just straight-up not going to acknowledge that he's a system. He’ll rationalize that he’s always “gotten weird” from time to time, so it’s nothing to think too hard about... right?

Savage Raph will be on high alert because they just survived a near-death (a near soul-destroying) experience. He’ll probably take the front and go overboard fighting some villains that Host Raph could have ordinarily fought on his own. It might also take a while to convince Savage Raph that these “sewer monsters” who keep following him around really don’t mean him any harm.

Red Raph will get snappy (pardon the pun) about the more social aspect of “not being in control”; that Host Raph asked Leo to be in charge and then Leo started being an egotistical dumbass. And when Leo does make the right decisions, Donnie and Mikey might side with him over Raph, and that will also grind his gears.

Mix all that together and you have a recipe for a capital b Breakdown.

So yeah, I can definitely see how the Shredder!Raph incident and its aftermath would worsen all three of their tempers, trauma will fuck up your emotions real bad. Perhaps Host Raph loses faith in himself and tries to step down and get Leo to replace him as leader... only for Leo to be like “Bro I cannot do this full time I will one hundred percent have my own Breakdown if that happens.”

The life lessons here are that Leo learns to offer support by sometimes taking the leader role; not to benefit his own ego, but because he wants to help Raph. And Raph learns to accept support by letting Leo be in charge sometimes; not because he’s weak or incapable, but because he can’t always be a Staunch Immovable Rock and he needs to let himself rest by trusting Leo.

And then the Raphs can work on communicating, cooperating, letting their allies know about them, digging into their trauma, etc. now that they have some breathing room.

(Do you think the Hidden City has therapists? Steven Universe and Mao Mao both have therapists can we BLEASE get one for Raph.)

#Anonymous #rottmnt #rottmnt theory #rottmnt raph #rottmnt leo #rottmnt shredder #shredder!raph #savage raph #red raph #there's like 1800 words here holy shit #if anyone wants to do fic for this u have my blessing to go hog wild #the 'raph is a system' theory

[ask-prime-starscream]

She-Ra Review (Better late than never)

Okay, I just watched the first episode of the original She-Ra and... PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF! I think we evolved quite from that. Even though Bow used to have more male empowerment by showing off even more skin, lol.

But here it is. Review of the new She-Ra:

So, for me the show overall used to be quite in need of getting used to. I guess because the stakes are rather low and I preferred more adult-orientated shows. Falling from a high point and not getting hurt or getting hit by a laserbeam and just stumbling backwards wasn't doing it for me.

But after giving AtLA a chance, I was able to go back to more child-like shows and to just roll with it. The plot never really interested me. We need to do this or that in order to accomplish this- fine by me. Just do what you do.

I never cared much about the kingdoms or the people living there. It was just decoration. Some interesting character designs in the background. No culture. When the evil-doers took the decoration away, I didn't care. I was missing some "war leaves scars, in people and the landscapes". Sometimes wounds can't be healed. Sometimes we can't return things the way they were. Make the loss of something count so you see its worth.

There was also never a moment where I wanted to know more about the lore or the past. How it all functions. What carried the series were the characters. But a lot of them are more like a walking gimmick and aside from that nothing.

I think Bow is one of the best characters. He has some nice, positive masculinity going, he is a mediator, he tries to find solutions and tries to keep the team together. When he later just snaps and says "I can't be the happy one all the time!", I felt that. He has a right to be mad at someone too (Glimmer) and he doesn't have to instantly forgive. Lol, I had people say you are immature if you don't forgive and stuff. And dozens of characters who constantly have to be the bigger person, no, more like they have to be Jesus in order to keep the rest happy and zero damage is shown. Their psyche doesn't matter.

So. Big <3 for Bow and his only weakness: A covered belly! x'D

---

Scorpia is probably the heart and soul of the series. And after seeing how her original was... that's fucking evolution times ten! xD She is just so genuinely likable and clueless while also being insecure. When she wears the princess-prom dress for the first time and blushes... what a cutie! I was going AWWW! And when she finally realizes that Catra is no friend material and Catra realizes who she chased away with her behavior: That was true loss! I felt that. I didn't do wrong to Scorpia, but I felt the pain anyway. So, like Bow, Scorpia didn't stay the punching bag forever and reacted. I like that!

10 out of 10 scorpions for Scorpia!!

---

Entrapta has a really cool design, especially with her moving hair. All the budget to the hair! For some reason I also like her name a lot! It's rather extraordinary, heh! Unlike "Glimmer" or "Bow" which are rather on the nose. Normally I dislike the "limitless young genius" trope, but Entrapta at least had some limitations (mostly when they were plot-relevant, though) and she is a princess after all, so a special affinity to something (and if it is machines) beyond a normal person's grasp is believable. Unlike others... (Raph from TFP. "Hacking into the FBI? No problem!" H-How?!) And while she is in regards to anything else rather airheaded (uhm, robots kill people. Well, not on screen, but... I'm sure they killed someone), she at least realizes that later and it got her a connection to Hordak which no usual good guy could have done.

An army of robots for Entrapta!

---

Hordak the missed opportunity. Not enough screentime at all. They gave this cliché evil guy a soul and they did next to nothing with it. All his good scenes are with Entrapta and there are only a few. Later he sheds TEARS when he realizes she never betrayed him! Why can't we get more scenes like that? Him being a failed clone is a good backstory and a scene with the creation of Imp would have complimented that a lot. Imagine the half-dead baby lying there and it's about to be flushed away, but Hordak hesitates. He picks Imp up, looking at him. Discarding him because he is not perfect? Because he will never be what he was supposed to? But who says that he can't accomplish something? Hordak sees himself in the baby and shows fate the metaphorical middle finger. He presses the baby tightly against his chest and murmurs: "We will show them...", accepting the baby and ultimately himself...

In the last season we get Wrong Hordak and while having someone around who is completely pure and naive to a world beyond the hivemind (just like a person escaping a cult) is important to show so we get the clones's perspective, we kinda lose on the real Hordak there. All he does is stare at that one crystal sometimes... until the end when he does the "throw the emperor in the pit Darth Vader style!" thing. Lame. He should have been with the good guys sooner and shown some recovery there.

A baby bottle for Hordak so he can feed his future robot children with Entrapta.

---

Glimmer. For some reason I always saw her as a side character who somehow got cast as a main character. She just constantly slipped out of my mind. Oh yeah, she has mother issues and a whole family and kingdom, but... she just seems so flat! You could put Adora in her position and nothing of value would have been lost. Still the main hero who fights evil. Maybe without fancy glitter magic. When she becomes queen and later almost a tyrant, that's when she gets more interesting, but still... I was just "where is Adora?" whenever she hogged the screentime. Not interested in this character in the slightest. No glitter for Glimmer.

---

Adora. Does the main character things. Even doesn’t hesitate sacrificing herself for the greater good. Is the typical main character. Doesn’t think things through, runs towards the enemy, is immature, gobbles down food. Main character. I don’t like this kind of main character, but I don’t hate her either. Neutrality for Adora.

---

Catra got too much screentime. Yeah. We get it. She has issues. She makes bad decisions. Very bad. She regrets it. Is hurt. But can't be the bigger cat. When she later visits Glimmer constantly in her prison, I was just groaning. Give someone else the screentime! We get it! We get Catra's problems! Sometimes less is more!

I don't know how people viewed her coming together with Adora in the end, but I was glad they were allowed to kiss and say I love you and so on. Not that I shipped it, but hey, be happy. They were all over each other throughout the series. Just let them be happy. Yeah, Catra did horrible things (but what I said about lasting damage in this series. It ain't there.), but if Catra was Starscream, I wouldn't object either and I have to stay fair here. If Starscream is a war criminal and I still simp for him, then I have to give other villains the same treatment without finger pointing and screaming "Abusive! Toxic!". Except I want it to be, but that is another story to tell...

Aside from that, Catra showed regrets and emotional pain. Starscream is entirely different there. I love him the way he is, but... sometimes it's hard to stay on his side. But that's the writers's fault. I also like about Catra that she just laughs into villains's faces. I didn't expect that character to be able to carry a whole army on her shoulders and lead them. With nothing but cat powers, lol. That thing with electrocuting Entrapta and pushing the "planet gets blown apart" button... juuuuust stop. It ain't worth it. That's some serious own grave digging there.

A cat for Catra.

---

The lesser princesses. Why are the elements so weirdly spread? We got magic, plants, water, ice, lightning bolts. And some others who don't have crystals. But the main elements are really weird decisions. From the traditional elements we got only water and it hogs two crystals! Then we got the element of magic which is okay in the context of this world. Then plants and red electricity which is also okay on a greater Pokémon-esque scale. It feels like something is missing there. Especially when they talk about their weaknesses "Fire, fire, fire..." Where is the fire princess? The earth princess? These are two main elements and if you don't want to go the traditional route then make all elements something out of the ordinary. Not water AND ice if you only have five crystals around.

---

Frosta could have been entirely cut. She says nothing of worth and adds nothing of worth. Her gimmick is "Toph" but with heart and soul cut out. When she was introduced I expected her to be the most mature, raised from a young age to act more adult than she actually is, because she needed to grow up fast in these times. Her country is the largest and with great power comes great responsibility. We could have gotten quite political here, how complicated it can be. The hard decisions you have to make and the compromises you have to take. All for the sake of keeping your people safe. Her character arc could have been about that and about finding her childish side again which was denied from her. There. Also her big country is meaningless aside from her introduction episode. Since she always fights with the princesses alone with ZERO bodyguards and all... Where is the power of that country??

A snow-less winter for Frosta.

---

Mermista's gimmick is "snarky". When she shows new parts of her personality like reading novels, it's a one-episode thing. It takes quite a while for her to get actually likable. Not that I disliked her, she just had no presence. When she later leads a mission we get to see more of her, but those are the moments where I feel like we are missing a couple of episodes that should be dedicated to the other princesses alone or with them as the focus. They are just shoved into the background so much by Adora, Bow and Glimmer, that shouldn't be. They are in the opening after all as if they are part of a group that is always together.

Sea Hawk is constantly dancing on the thin line between okay and annoying. Though I like that it is a fabulous guy having a relationship with a girl and not the "boring guy". But the men of She-Ra are mostly beyond the usual men tropes of angry, stoic, boring, stupid dude. So it doesn't even stand out as much as it should, lol. Like I hate this trope that the most beautiful girl/sexy woman of a show comes together with "the average Joe" or "comedic relief who is also often times small in stature". I guess... I know why that is...  Anyway, the main girl/more chaste woman gets together with the main hero. Mr McBoredom but strong! While the fabulous guy... is either evil, has a bad character, is not traditionally manly, is just shallow. No pretty men for the girls. Well. Not anymore!

A dolphin for Sea-Ra and what she could have been if she had more screentime.

---

Perfuma is the hippie princess and I guess my favorite from the lesser princesses (though, there is no real competition.). The way she handles things are in line with her beliefs and sometimes she says some actual intelligent remarks, but isn't listened to because she isn't the brash one, but the harmonious one. Which is sad. Everybody rather calm down and meditate instead of getting in each other's faces. That could work wonders sometimes. So, she actually is the first to see that Scorpia doesn't want to attack them when she left Catra while the others just keep attacking. Her shtick really is taking into consideration when she is written in a situation. However, sometimes it is a bit too much. Power of friendship isn't going to break the mind-control chip and they all saw time and time again that IF the controlled person can get a grasp on themselves again, it's only for mere seconds. So cut the crap, it's not against your beliefs when you stop thoughts-and-prayers-ing for something that won't change without actually doing something against it.  Fun fact: Because she was so insisting of poweroffriendshipping Scorpia out of control, I was almost expecting a digivolut- uhm, a transformation there, lol! Especially because they mentioned before, she could be one of the strongest princesses. Well, of course she wouldn't become more forceful. Except she might get the power to swipe negative thoughts away and disperse fighting will. Now... that didn't happen, but still... (Also a nice episode with her having to admit she doesn’t get cacti. There is actually some character development here!)

A beautiful flower for Perfuma!

---

Spinnerella and Netossa. “The biracial gay couple” hanging around in the background until they became characters in the later seasons. Finally! I found the “biracial gay couple” trope so often in shows, it’s like they want to stuff as much diversity as they can into two characters and then keep everything else conservative. Thankfully She-Ra shows a lot of diversity everywhere.

A net carried by wind for Spinnerella and Netossa.

---

Swift Wind. Back to the sketch block. Nothing of worth was done or said. He is supposed to have this super important magical connection to She-Ra, but she hardly uses him. He is just another fighter... somewhere else. If he is there. And he stands out like a sore thumb as the only talking animal. Maybe you could make it a gimmick for a toyline that every princess can summon a pet to ride. That would have been cool. Or if he stayed mute and acted just like a horse. Then you could have had the cuteness factor. And the animal behavior factor which is also cute... and funny. Think of Pegasus from Disney's Hercules. That's a good horse companion! But Swift Wind? Annoying. Unimportant. Waste of time.

No unicorn for Swift Wind.

---

Shadow Weaver. Didn't like her. Wanted power, got what she wanted, but too much. Ugly now. Her powers are rather weak. I didn't even pay attention to the episode where she haunts Adora. As if that's gonna do something in the long run. Then Catra stole her job. Rightfully so. She got imprisoned, then fled, then became an ally. When she later sacrificed herself and said to Catra that she is proud of her, well, did she say it so Catra would do what she wanted or did taking off the mask symbolize that she finally said the truth? We might never know and we might never care.

No dark magic for Shadow Weaver.

---

Emperor I have two many eyes. (Badumm-Tss!) "I want to destroy the universe!" What a lame motivation. What can I even say to that? Of course only mind-controlled people would follow this goal and I remember a series where someone carried their own clone and said "It's sad when oneself is the only one you can rely on/trust". Yeah.

Why did Hordak even build an empire when everything was supposed to be destroyed? Why open a portal to the asshole who didn't want you in the first place? So many toxic parental figures in this series. And the children won't stop wanting their approval. When Prime shows Glimmer the last pieces of destroyed worlds or gives her food that is made of things that could only be found in these worlds, one gets a glimpse of the horror he represents. He could be the most horrible gourmet of all time "I only eat things made out of extinct lifeforms". Petty. But oh so scary. When you are so powerful that you can destroy worlds, what do you care about the ants living on them? But nah, he has some pseudo-religious thing going, assimilating people into his hivemind like the borg in Star Trek do. Actually, just assimilating people and growing his army and enriching the collected wisdom of galaxies could be a motivation, too. Then the good guys could make a stand for individualism. But eh, too complicated.

No green juice for Horde Prime.

---

Prepare for Trouble and make it Double. Double Trouble. I learned something about the incompatibility of neutral pronouns and my native language. Their gimmick is "actor" and it's pretty over the top, it gets annoying fast. Not even the gayest nurse I'm working with talks like that and they would make any gaydar explode in a second. Maybe they could have gone a little deeper with that and give them some meta jokes about how scenes are gonna unfold and give us some surprises there. I don't like the opportunist crap they pull off, why even bother working together with Catra in the first place? Always join the winning team? What a Knock Out. Get out of here, before I make you swallow your own tail! Yes, I’m still salty about that. Fuck you, Predacons Rising! Fuck you!

A mirror for DT because after all they still have a sexy body.

#she-ra #princess of power #I guess you won't mind this more than an answered ask bomb

[fire-fira]

Something I feel like a doofus for not realizing--

So I headcanon the turtles as quadruplets. It’s just the way I’ve always seen them, regardless of whatever varying canon. Of course they have their birth order from oldest to youngest (which I’m comfortable with the idea of it varying depending on the reality), but I came to the realization earlier today that I have been criminally not thinking through the full effects of them being quadruplets.

I HAVE BEEN IGNORANT TO THE POSSIBILITIES.

SO--

The standard arguments over who’s oldest.

Naturally-- in most cases-- Leo’s the oldest.

- So of course Leo pulls the “I don’t even know why we’re arguing about this” card.

- “But you could easily not be the oldest.” Donnie has to get his two cents in.

- “That’s ridiculous. We already know I’m oldest. Why is this even an issue?”

- “Ohohooo, Fearless doesn’t wanna admit he might not be the oldest!” Raph please.

- “...I’m done with this conversation.”

- “Leeeeooooo. Leeeeeoooo~. What if you’re younger than me Leeeeoooo~?” Leo knows everything’s going sideways when Mikey decides to get in on it since he’s the one who usually insists he’s youngest.

- “There’s no way I’m younger than you Mikey. I’m older than you. I’m sure even Raph is older than you, and he could be the youngest.”

- Donnie’s just, “...That didn’t even make sense.”

- “I’m still the oldest. Let’s just leave it at that.”

- Raph scoffing, “What, by two minutes? Doesn’t count.”

- “Still oldest.”

- The conversation doesn’t happen often, but when it does it can go on for a while.

Bouts of blaming things they each did on the others.

- “You thought it was me? I didn’t do that. It was Raph.”

- “Mikey, I saw you.”

- “Are you sure April? We are quadruplets y’know.”

- “You’re not identical! None of you are even twins by regular turtle standards.”

- “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of how ‘not me’ and ‘it must have been one of the other three turtles who look exactly like me’ the whole situation is.”

- “You don’t even have the same scale-tone.”

- “Quaaaaad-ruuuu-pleeeeets~.”

“Donnie, did ya steal my elbow pads?”

- “Raph, why would I steal your elbow pads?”

- “’Cause they’re th’ same size as yours.”

- “Wh- No they’re not. We’re not even close to the same size.”

- “Sure we are.”

- “No we’re-- whatever. Check with Leo or Mikey. They’re closer to your size anyway.”

- “...Are you callin’ me fat?”

- “No. Just-- Raph no. You’re just bigger than I am.”

- “We’re quadruplets Donnie. For fuck’s sake. There ain’t that much of a size-difference.”

- “Will you get out of my lab already?!”

- It turns out Leo had Raph’s elbow pads all along.

Despite moments like the previous point, Donnie trying to get out of things so he can work on his projects by asking one of his brothers to substitute for him.

- Leo: “...You know this isn’t going to work, right?”

- “It will with the right amount of reptile-safe spray-tan.”

- “...I’m not even going to ask why you made that a thing.”

- Raph: “No offense Don, but I’m pretty sure th’ accent’s gonna give me away.”

- “So just don’t talk.”

- “...And the different shade o’ green.”

- “...I’ll come up with something.”

- “You are not bleachin’ my scales or whatever.”

- “I’d never ask you to do something that dangerous.”

- “Sure ya would, when it involves blowin’ stuff up.”

- “...When it involves blowing stuff up. Try wearing a trench coat and sticking to the shadows while not talking. Maybe fake laryngitis.”

- “Y’know, this’d be a lot easier if ya’d just go yourself.”

- “Nope. Projects. Coffee. Be my stand-in or I’ll tell Mikey to steal your gear again.”

- “It was Leo last time, genius.”

- Donnie grinning. “Are you sure?”

- “I think I know how ta tell our brothers apart Brainiac.”

- “But we’re quadruplets. We’re almost identical.”

- “You break that out when it benefits you, but ya deny it otherwise? That’s rude Don. That’s just cruel.”

- Mikey: “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

- “Sure I’m sure. If you have to, start talking about the theoretical physics of superheroes and Star Trek. No one will ever know.”

- “...Donnie, you’re a genius.”

- Smiling. “I have my moments.”

Moments of Mikey shrieking, “You can’t hate me! I’m the baby! I’m the youngest!”

- “BY FIVE SECONDS!”

- “Now see, we don’t even know if it’s by seconds, minutes, or hou- aaaaaAAAAAAHHH!” Crash, thud, thump.

- “...Leo, is Mikey okay?”

- “I wouldn’t worry April. This happens on a pretty regular basis.”

- Crash, clatter, shriek. “Donniiieee, save me! As the best big brother ever, saaaave meeeee~!”

- Donnie sipping at his coffee, “Hm? What was that? I think I hear the sound of ‘We’re quadruplets, our birth order doesn’t matter, so Raph won’t kill you if he wants to stay second-oldest, and therefore Donnie doesn’t have to save you from anything’.”

- “Birth order ain’t ranking Don!”

- “I will find a way.”

- Mikey perking up. “Did you just paraphrase Jurassic Park?”

- “Maybe.”

- “DO-DO-DOOT-DOOT-DOOT~ DO-DO-DOOT-DOOT-DOOT~”

- “Mikey, I swear ta god, if you don’t stop singin’ that song like that-”

- “But the Jurassic Park theme is iconic! And I’m the baaaabyyyyy~!”

- “By only three damn seconds!”

- “Hey! You can’t change how long it was between us! I call foul!”

- Leo shaking his head. “And this is why I’m not concerned.”

“Hey Donnie, d’you know where I can find the medical tape?”

- “Ask my older brother.”

- “...Which one?”

- “I have more than one?”

- “Donnie... What the shit.”

- “In answer to your question Casey, Leo’s on probation.”

- “...How the hell does someone end up bein’ ‘on probation’ from bein’ the oldest?”

- “By breaking my coffee-maker.”

- “Oh.”

- “At this rate, Mikey might even be vying for the title.”

- “...I don’t think that’s how that works.”

- “I’ve been without coffee for a full day. I’ll make it work if I have to.”

Not to mention the bouts from Splinter (that would happen anyway) of--

- “Ra-Mi-Le-Donatello!”

- “Le-Mi-Don-Raphael!”

- “Don-Le-Ra-Michelangelo!”

- “Ra-Don-Mi-Leonardo!”

- (Anyone who has siblings, you know it’s true.)

At least several instances of one of them (probably most likely Donnie or Mikey) getting the four of them matching things with their specific colors-- blankets, coats, cups, whatever.

- The one time Leo did it (without actually being serious) he committed the heinous crime of getting them matching oversized ugly x-mas sweaters.

- Because they “looked warm”.

- Raph banned Leo from getting them matching anything for a year. His is stuffed somewhere in a closet or drawer in his room never to see the light of day if he has any say over it.

- Mikey insisted on wearing his proudly.

- Donnie kept his for use in the cold months, but otherwise denies its existence.

“Raph, why is Mikey sitting on your shoulders?”

- “‘Cause he likes ta feel tall. That a crime Fearless?”

- “We’re all the same height.”

- “No we’re not!”

- “Mikey... You were trying to argue that we’re identical just yesterday.”

- “Pffft. That was then, this is now. And Raph’s tallest.”

- From the direction of Donnie’s lab. “I told you that you’re bigger than me!”

- “Damn it Don, no I’m not.”

- “You can’t have it both ways!”

- “Tell that ta Mikey!”

- “But we caaaan have it both ways~! Because we’re quaaadruuupleeeets~.”

- “...Mikey, that makes no sense. Raph, please put Mikey down.”

- “He can do what he wants.”

- “As the oldest I’m saying put him down. Mikey, get off.”

- “Pffft. Older by ten seconds maybe.”

- “Raph. If you trip and the two of you get hurt, I’m not responsible for either of you.”

- “He’s not gonna trip.”

- “Oh really? And why is that?”

- “Quadruplet magic.”

- “Oh for the love of- Mikey. Please. Just get down.”

- “Uh-oh, Raph. Leo can’t handle the younger brother awesomeness.”

- “...We should go get Donnie in on this.”

- “YEEEESSSSS!”

- “Oh my god NO. Donnie! Don’t listen to them!”

(I find it hilarious how 2003 keeps invading as my base reality to work from.)

lol I’m tempted to keep going, but this is already ridiculously long as is. (Please feel free to add more if you have ideas.)

#TMNT #TMNT 2003 #apparently #long post #my fiction #tagging 'my fiction' so it's easier to find

[wumpusandzandii]

Science and Progress: Chapter One

TMNT Human!AU Storyline for Donatello x Lily

Chapter One

Being part of a large family was a blessing and a curse. Everyone seems to fill a roll, and the family rolls on like a machine, sometimes well-oiled, sometimes like a train wreck, depending on the day. When that roll is the one that has family members asking for help, whether it be answering questions or fixing things, the feeling is amplified. There is a sense of validation with being able to help, to sometimes have answers to problems before they even became an issue. On the flip side of that coin, it can mean that simple problems easily solved by common sense or a quick Google search are often presented, and pile up over time.

Such was Donatello’s day, and it wasn’t even noon yet. Their morning training had been over for a while, but there were still hours to go before their afternoon classes. Splinter had left on one of his walks, and the home situation had devolved quickly thereafter. All he wanted to do was sit at his computers and get some research done on possible upgrades to his holo, but it was nearly impossible with his brothers in the same space. Leo and Raph were arguing, which was not at all a shocking surprise, but certainly a weary annoyance. Mikey had taken the opportunity to play his video games at full volume without his headphones on so he “could still talk to everyone,” which, with the other two bickering, meant talking to *him*. He tried keeping his headphones on to tune it all out, but Mikey had started throwing things when he didn’t answer, so the headphones only caused more trouble than they were worth.

“You’re missing the entire point, we need you here more,” Leo tried to reason, his voice as strained as his patience.

“Jesus Christ, Leo, I’m a phone call away. I have my gear, it’s not that far,” Raph snapped back loudly. “I’m not a fuckin’ kid.”

“I’m not saying you are! I’m saying we need you here, ready to go, just in case. It made sense while Stacey was healing up, but she’s in her new place and Donnie has it all set up. It’s been months. It’s time to get back to normal,” Leo argued, and Donnie winced to himself. He’d been waiting for that bomb to drop their entire argument, and there it was. If there was one surefire way to set Raph off ever, it was to bring her up in any kind of negative aspect. Surely Leo knew that, had to have known it wouldn’t gain him any ground, so he wasn’t sure why he took that route.

“Maybe it is my new normal,” Raph hissed, his voice lowering to dangerous levels.

“Hey Donnie,” Mikey piped up over the loud crashing and sound effects of his game. “Do you know if there are any new texture packs or skins I can add to this? Like, it’d be totally awesome if I could put a different skin over the boss, make killing him funny. Like a Kardashian, boom, the lips explode or something.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose and resting his elbows against the desk, Donnie sighed heavily. “I don’t know, Mikey,” he said in a long suffering tone. “Why don’t you look it up?”

“Because you’re right therrrre,” he begged, looking over the back of the couch with a pout and batting his eyes. “Hey, maybe you could show me how to do it? Then we could make a Shredder skin or something, crush his helmet against his crotch.”

Donnie couldn’t think of much else he’d have less patience for right at that moment, than trying to teach Mikey how to code, let alone create skins. “It’s not quite that simple-”

“I’m gonna spend as much time as I damn well please with her, and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it! You ain’t the boss of my life!”

“No, but I am the leader of this time, and not having you available puts everyone else at increased risk and responsibility, just so can go sleep with-”

“Don’t you dare fuckin’ finish that sentence, Leo, or I’m gonna finish it for you.”

“If it’s not that simple, maybe you could just do it for me? I could totally write a list of people or characters that it would be cool to have skins of, and then you could just bleep bloop do your thing, no trouble!”

“Mikey, I have more important things to do-”

“Is that a threat?” Leo snarled.

“If it needs to be.”

“What could be more important than creating a Kraang mega boss that I could shoot to pieces? I mean, just think about the glory and beauty of it!”

“Fucking Merlin’s beard!” Donnie cursed, shoving his rolling chair back away from his desk and lurching up onto his feet. “What the hell is wrong with all of you? Can’t you just be normal or at the very least *quiet* for five damn minutes? I understand the hashi now, and why dad leaves to go walk by himself. I used to think it was for reflection and meditation, but it’s gotta be to GET AWAY FROM YOU!”

Storming into his room, he grabbed up his messenger bag, stuffed his laptop into it angrily. Pulling on the first hoodie he found, he slung the bag on and marched out of his room, straight towards the door. The room had fallen silent, he noted with sardonic irony.

“Hey, where are you going?” Mikey asked, sounding a little hurt.

“To the library, where they *force* people to be quiet!” he snapped, slamming the door behind him.

Forgoing any public form of transportation, Donnie decided to walk to the library. It was a decent distance away, but not so much to be excessive. In any case, he figured giving himself time to cool off before he got there was probably a good idea. It was difficult to focus when he was that agitated, and it would simply ruin the entire reason he was leaving in the first place. In further thought, he figured it was probably a good thing to get out, it might give him a different perspective on ideas than usual. The fresh air certainly didn’t hurt anything, either.

Upon arriving, he skipped up the steps, feeling lighter already than he had upon leaving. It had been far too long since he’d been in the library, perused the shelves, let the scent of the pages and old leather bindings suffuse his senses. Walking a little taller as he pushed through the front doors, instantly feeling the atmosphere change for the better. He couldn’t help but smile to himself, taking a deep relieving breath and wandering off to check the shelves.

Time could either stand still in the library or pass by a shooting star, quickly disappearing if oblivious to the large grandfather clock at the top of the stairs. Nearly using all of her spare time to be there, it was slowly becoming a second home, along with the lecture halls and computer labs at the university. Her own bed now a little foreign as she rarely had time to spare even on sleeping. Surrounded by folders and books, countless scrap pieces of paper and notebooks, Lily busied herself away with her coursework. Chasing the always just out of reach dream to be a veterinarian, she found herself chasing her tail to catch up, especially after joining the semester late due to moving. New York was the city of dreams, or so she was told, and moving there had been a huge decision. One she was hoping she wouldn’t regret. Finding her groove that day while listening to music quietly in her headphones, her focus solely on her work, she happily bobbed away in her seat. Her bright red hair bounced against her shoulders, loosely sectioned into pigtails with ribbon that matched her pale grey cardigan. It wasn’t a cold day, but the large hall had a chill running through it, meaning wearing just a dress was a poor idea and needed something across her shoulders to keep the chill off her pale skin. Being a frequent visitor as of late, Lily could happily leave her stuff unattended on the table knowing the staff flitting around amongst the endless rows of bookshelves would keep an eye on it for her.

Tapping her pen against her hand, she pulled the cap off the end and clicked it back on, doing so in time with the beat before sitting back. Adjusting her glasses with a gentle push of her fingertips, she nodded to herself, happy with what she had just written before moving to stand up. Thankful her mother was a seamstress, she plopped her phone into her skirt pocket, neatening the frills before pushing her chair in, careful not to make any noise since she couldn’t fully hear herself with headphones on. Checking her notes again quickly, she tottered off into the maze of shelves, beginning her hunt for a specific unit in the science section. Luckily she knew the cover of the book well, but that didn’t stop it being a grande task, especially at her height. Even the slight heel on her shoes didn’t give her much advantage. Pouting she regretted putting the book away earlier, knowing it was likely put back on a higher shelf, making it even harder for her to find.

As Donnie perused for books, a few texts already beneath his arm, he found himself with company in the next aisle. Well over a foot shorter than himself, especially once he noted the high heels that were lifted off the floor as she ran a finger over bindings well over her head, he could tell she was having some difficulty. He walked up slowly, just in case she didn’t notice him with her headphones in. Her red hair bobbed against her shoulders as she dropped back down onto her heels, hands on her hips as she sighed heavily. A bright, open, kind face greeted him as she started to look around, and he gave her a little finger wave before pointing up at the shelves above her hesitantly.

Tugging out her earbuds, she fussed with stuffing them into a skirt pocket before looking back up at him shyly. “I’m so sorry to bother you, but would you mind helping me get a book?”

“Not at all,” he responded kindly, smiling softly. She was adorable, like a little pixie wandering the science shelves. It sounded like the beginning of a fantasy novel. “Which one are you looking for?”

“Oh thank you,” she sighed in relief, her nose crinkling her freckles as she thought. “It was ‘Germ-free Life and Gnotobiology.’ I’m so sorry to ask, you probably get that a lot, being so tall.”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” he admitted, for the first time that day feeling genuinely helpful and not simply convenient. Scanning the bindings, he quickly found it, scanning the cover before passing it down to her. “Are you doing research for laboratory work?”

“Oh no,” she answered, taking the book gently and hugging it against her chest. “I mean, thank you. But no, it’s a research paper for veterinary class. It’s looking over the way gnotobiotes are born, raised and taken care of in laboratory settings. Um, specifically how their immune systems are poor if they stay there, but some animals like pigs have better immune systems if they’re born in the germ-free environment and introduced to the outside environments. But oh my gosh. I’m so sorry, you probably didn’t need that much information just for pulling a book down. I get carried away.”

Chuckling a little, he couldn’t help but relate with her, and felt bad that she was apologizing for something he did himself on the daily. At the same time, the way she blushed made her even more cute. “I do that sometimes, too. Please don’t apologize, I actually find the topic very interesting. I’ve done some research on it myself.”

“Really?” she asked, her bright eyes going wide and seeming to light up. “What for?”

Realizing he hadn’t thought it through entirely, Donnie struggled with wondering if it would seem pretentious to admit ‘just because.’ Rubbing the back of his neck, he shrugged slightly, answering, “Personal research? I found another text that went into great detail, and wait, you know what? It was published more recently than that one, and it might have more relevant information for you.”

Hastily, he scanned the shelves, trying to remember where he had found it. “Ah!” he proclaimed, plucking off the shelf victoriously, bringing it back to her. “Gnotobiotics. They go into greater detail about inflammatory bowel diseases and intestinal immunity.”

“I didn’t know about this one, thank you,” she murmured, looking over it carefully, seemingly dwarfed by the two textbooks.

“If it’s useful! I’m not sure. I just remembered it,” Donnie stammered, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “If not, I can just stick it back up for you.”

Getting caught in trying to memorize the name of the author, she turned back up to him with wide eyes before hugging the book to herself. “Oh no no! I’ll definitely look at it too! Just so many names and words to remember now...” she chirped, adjusting the rather large books in her delicate hands. “The more the merrier I guess!” she added, swaying a little as she did, trying not to seem awkward but making herself look even more so by doing so. Catching the way he looked down at her, an endearing smile on his lips, she looked down at her feet. “Thank you. Sorry again for distracting you from your browsing.” Knowing her pale skin was igniting into a deep blush, she wanted to just hide away in her coursework again but couldn’t move her feet that were now cemented to the floor. “It’s really no trouble, honest, I haven’t even gotten an idea as to what I’m looking for myself yet.”

Not knowing how to excuse herself without seeming rude or just plain weird, she stammered, trying to think of something. As much as running out of any form of social interaction was her usual, keeping occupied with research and studying, something about the kindness and warmth in his eyes made her want to try. Maybe actually talking to someone and making friends wouldn’t be so bad. It’d be a welcome distraction. Maybe he could even help her. “Uhm... are you a student too?” Glancing at his bag and noticing he had some books in his hands, Lily couldn’t help but wonder now his reasoning for being there, if he had said he hadn’t an idea for something to read. Maybe it was just for personal enjoyment, maybe he was studying something similar to her. The thought of having someone to study with brought a smile to her lips again, her cheeks a rosy red that nearly matched her hair as she politely awaited his answer.

“No, not exactly,” he answered with a nervous chuckle. Looking at the books around him, he wondered if maybe he had found what he needed to after all. Talking to someone outside of his family, actually face to face couldn’t hurt anything. After all, he’d already done a decent amount of research on the topic she was studying, maybe he could help out, or at least give her someone to bounce ideas off of. If that was even something she was looking for, and not just a way out of an awkward conversation. “I do a lot of freelance work, for various people and companies. It never hurts to keep up to date on research and well… I guess it kinda makes me sound like a horrible nerd, but I actually enjoy it.”

Smiling up at him through her eyelashes, she shook her head. “No, I don’t think that makes you a horrible nerd at all!” she assured him, rocking back on her heels. “Maybe just a very good one?”

Laughing, he ran a hand through his hair, gesturing back at the books in her arms. “Well, I already did a fair amount of that research, maybe I could save you some time? If you want. If you prefer to do your studying in private, I completely understand that.”

“I would *love* some help,” she answered, her shoulders sagging a little with visible relief. “I’ve just been swamped with this course load. I feel like I’m always playing catch up, you know?”

“I think that’s the nature of research, to be frank. Do you already have your stuff set up, or should we find somewhere suitable?”

“Just over here, I left my things. Thank you so much for offering to help… I’m so sorry, I think I forgot to get your name?”

Holding out his hand, he grasped hers in a delicate handshake, surprised at just how tiny it was against his own. “Donatello,” he offered, tipping his head down towards her in a semi-bow, for some reason feeling it was the thing to do. “And to whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?”

“Lilian, but please call me Lily, I don’t like my grandma sounding name.” Giggling as she attempted to give his hand a firm squeeze, she managed to give him eye contact for more than just a few seconds this time.

Tilting her head at him once she took back her hand, needing it to support the large books against her chest, she hummed in thought, narrowing her eyes a little. “Donatello? Like after the Italian artist? Well, of course...I mean there aren’t many Donatello’s..” Giggling again to herself, she grinned up at him, delighted by the sound of him giggling with her. “Well, you’re not wrong. Yes, I am named after him, shame I don’t have the artist talent to go with it.”

Unable to stop herself from smiling up at him, she was losing track of time, forgetting almost about the books she held in her dainty arms or why she was even in the science section anymore. “We can’t have it all, I’m sure you’re talented with something else instead, maybe you’re a master at chess? Who knows!”

Hearing him snort as he laughed was the highlight of her day, her week, her entire year. Her own laugh went higher, joining him until he had to push up his glasses on to his nose. If it wasn’t for the sharp ‘shh’ that came from behind her, Lily would have worked on another way to make him laugh, entirely enamoured with his smile and the light flush of pink across his cheeks and nose.

Jolting a little, she spun around to see the head Librarian, an elderly lady sat at the front desk, scowling at her. “Lilian, this is the first time I’ve ever had to ask you this, but please be quiet. Take your friend and giggle somewhere else.” Lowering her head a little in shame, she mouthed a sorry silently at the lady. Luckily she didn’t take it to heart, smiling and shaking her head at the two of them before waving them off.

Getting to know Lily since she visited so often, the Librarian learnt that she must have not had many friends, or any given the amount of times she saw her reading and working alone. It brought warmth to her heart seeing her with someone, especially a boy similar to her age and clearly with similar interests. Chuckling softly to herself, she made sure to keep an eye on the two of them, curious to see if anything developed of it.

Motioning for Donnie to follow her, she lead him back over to her spot at the large oak tables, gesturing for him to sit at the head just across from her. Careful not to let the books drop heavily against the tabletop, she winced as she sat down, neatening her skirt out before looking over to him like a scolded puppy. “I’m so sorry about that, I’m so embarrassed...such a bad first impression….I promise I’m not a troublemaker..” she whispered, leaning in as she spoke so she was sure he could hear her.

Sitting down after she had seated herself, he waved her off with a smile, swinging his bag into the chair on the other side of himself. She was such a genuine breath of fresh air after his brothers, and their genuine trouble making. It was hard to believe she was genuinely as adorable and sweet as she was, especially in a city like New York that seemed to churn out hard people, people born in trenches and always ready for a fight. “Don’t be embarrassed, it’s been a long time since I got clucked at by a librarian, usually for arguing out loud with a book.”

Covering her mouth as she giggled, he felt himself beaming. Talking with people in general had never been his forte, let alone women, but something about her made it easy. He felt like an entirely different person sitting there with her, and yet more himself than he could remember feeling in a long time. Even with his family, he always felt like the odd man out, his sense of humor awkward and often not understood or appreciated by his brothers.

Quietly, she angled her syllabus towards him along with her notes, written neatly in small, precise cursive. She explained the current assignment requirements, occasionally smoothing her skirt as she talked. Her organization skills were impressive, and she clearly had a solid grasp on the work. To be honest, he sincerely doubted she honestly needed the help, and was likely more of an overachiever like himself, never content with “good enough” and wanting to put forth the best quality possible. He went through it with her, making sure to point out that she had much of the important information already, and flipping through the texts to show her what she still needed. She had few questions, following along readily, and the questions that she did have were clever and insightful.

“I think you’re going to be an incredible veterinarian,” he admitted once they had gotten through a large section of her work. He wasn’t even sure how much time had passed, and for once, he had no inclination to check. “You seem very empathic and you understand the work well. Are you from around here? I can’t say you’re like any native New Yorker I’ve ever met.”

Smiling sweetly at his compliment, Lily looked down at her notepad, bashfully tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she did. “Thank you, that means a lot…” Still adorning a rosy complexion due to his presence and encouraging nature, she felt that maybe he’d just assume she was always that pink in the cheek, given she hadn’t stopped blushing the entire time she had met him. Maybe it was just the colour of her hair making it stand out more. At his question of her origin, she rose her head and grinned happily. Shaking her head, she tamed a giggle, still aware of how much noise she was making. “No, actually, I recently moved here a few months ago from Canada. I used to live in Denmark, when I was young - my family is from there. Hence the uhm….red hair…” Rocking side to side, making her hair bounce on her shoulders a little, she mimicked his amused grin.

“My dad works for a company that’s very demanding, moves us around a lot. I had to hold off university for a while because of it, so as always, I’m playing catch up. It’s probably why I don’t have many friends either..” Laughing awkwardly, trailing it off to try and stop her smile fading but failed when she added, “..or any friends for that matter. I keep to myself a lot.” Tapping her pen against her papers, she shook her head a little after a short pause before looking up at him, forcing back on her smile. “How about you? Hailing from Italy?” Giggling, she gently poked at his arm with the capped end, hoping she hadn’t dropped the mood.

Looking down at the pen she had poked him with, he considered what she had said. How many times had his family harassed him for not having enough friends, not getting out enough? Not that he minded keeping to himself, but he just couldn’t imagine someone as bright and cheerful as herself, alone. “I’m not nearly as interesting,” he chuckled with a shrug. “New York, born and raised… raised by my adoptive father, though. My biological parents died in a car accident while I was still in utero, and he was to have been my godfather.”

“Oh my gosh,” she gasped, putting a dainty hand over her mouth in shock. She looked genuinely upset about it, and he had a brief moment of regret of being so upfront about it. He simply viewed it as a fact, having come to terms with it when he was quite young and insisted his father tell him. It hadn’t taken long for him to understand that he and his brothers, especially Raph and Mikey, were not biologically related. “I’m so sorry.”

“Please, don’t be sorry, it’s entirely okay. I was raised in a loving, nurturing environment,” he explained, pushing up his glasses. “I have three brothers, they’re all adopted as well. It’s chaotic sometimes, but that’s family, right?”

“I guess so,” she agreed, her cheeks continuing to be as pink as ever as she shuffled papers around nervously. “I think you’re probably a lot more interesting than you think you are.”

It was his turn to blush again, running his hands through his hair. He was so used to people telling him to shorten whatever he had to say, to make it “English” or simply ignoring that he even existed that the thought was foreign. It was so rarely that he genuinely connected with people, and when he did, it always seemed to be a professor or scientist across the country or even out of the country, their conversations strictly through the digital realm.

“Well,” he said slowly, leaning forward against the table. “I can’t imagine you being a loner or keeping to yourself.”

Slowly packing away her papers, tucking them neatly inside her notepad and marking pages with sticky notes in her newly acquired research books, Lily listened to him intently. Glancing over at him, she smiled, although it’s cheerful glow had faded a little.

“Unfortunately, it’s the truth. I don’t get out much, because of work but...mostly I just choose not to..” she started quietly, not so much from needing to be but more she felt a little down about it, realising how sad it must sound. “I’m not one for going out, drinking or otherwise, the only place other than here or my dorm room is a Starbucks, maybe.”

Closing up her last book after putting her pens away into her bag with the rest of her equipment, she sat neatly up right, perking up again with a bright smile. “Heh, speaking of ...let me buy you a coffee or something? As a thank you for helping me and putting up with me nattering at you for so long...and as a sorry for getting us hushed at.” Shuffling her seat backwards, she stood up, making sure all of her skirt was down and not tucked up in anyway. Shouldering her satchel, brushing her hair away from the strap before taking the full weight of it, wincing a little even when she prepared herself for it. Her mother had always told her if her hair was any longer, she’d fall over, too frail and delicate to carry her own weight sometimes. It didn’t help that Donnie dwarfed her even more.

“Oh, no no, there’s no need for that. I appreciate the offer but-...”

“Actually! I changed my mind. I’m buying you a coffee and you can’t say no.” Once he was stood up, she made sure to give him the most stern look she could, but stuck her tongue out when he looked a little taken back by her order. As his lips curved into a smile, chuckling a little, she had to drop her eyes, looking down at her feet bashfully. “I-I mean...that’s if you’re not….uhm….busy...or want to, that is…”

The sudden surge of confidence she had to tell him what she wanted to do disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He simultaneously gave her confidence and took her breath away, unable to think of a coherent sentence while also giving her all the words under the sun to speak with.

“I’d love to,” he admitted earnestly, hopelessly smiling at how incredibly adorable she was. There wasn’t a fiber in his being that would’ve been able to say no to her, even if he had wanted to. He almost felt grateful for his brothers being so annoying that they drove him from his normally hermit-like behaviors to get out of the house. “But just because I’m enjoying your company, not because I agree that you owe me any kind of thanks or apologies, because you most certainly do not.”

Nodding, she smiled up at him while she fidgeted with the strap of her bag. He wished he was quicker, more smooth like his brothers with social behaviors, especially with women, and would’ve offered to take the bag that must’ve been heavy on her tiny frame. At the same time, he didn’t want to insult her by having her take it off to hand to him, just in case. “I suppose that’s fair enough,” she answered, leading the way out of the library. “Is there a particular place you enjoy?”

Laughing as he held the front door open for her, he shook his head, squinting at the bright sunlight after the muted tones of the library. “My brothers say I’d hook myself up to an IV drip of coffee if I had my way,” he answered, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “And they’re probably right. I pretty much live on the stuff, I don’t tend to be very picky about where it originates.”

“I’d probably hover off the ground if I had that much,” she giggled. He found himself enamored with the way her bright, doe-like eyes sparkled in the sunshine. “There’s a nice little shop just a couple of blocks down though, they have a lovely tea selection, too.”

“I will absolutely defer to your more refined judgement, then.” He listened carefully as she explained her favorite kinds of tea for different occasions or situations as they walked, cataloging the information in his mind for later use. If there was a later use, he reminded himself, keenly aware that he ventures into being social usually didn’t last, especially not when it was women. Still, he found himself hopeful with her, she was different in so many ways, and conversation with her was surprisingly easy. Not once had he noticed her eyes glazing over with boredom or confusion, or had she expressed any desire to end the conversation as quickly as possible to “get away.”

“Here we are!” she chirped, gesturing to the cozy little shop, and he took one long stride to move ahead of her just enough to get the door, gesturing for her to walk through. She giggled, giving him a little curtsy before leading the way in, the rich aroma of coffee swirling out into the air of sidewalk after her.

#science and progress #chapter one #tmnt fanfiction #human!tmnt #human!au #donatello #donnie #lily #Donnie x lily #stories #fanfic #wumpusinthetardis #zandiiangelspit #wumpusandzandii

[waterstar2016]

“Two Shades of Green” Part 10

If you’re reading this thank you. I know this story might be a little rough in areas but it’s my first. It started as a dream that grew into a fantasy. It feels awesome to finally see the words that have been in my mind for so long.

***Disclaimer I don’t ownTMNT. I just like to dabble in their world with my oc Immogene.***

April and Casey had gone to visit Casey’s parents in a town not far from where Immogene lived in Northern Ontario over the last weekend and had stopped by her’s and Brian’s place to pick her bow up. Earlier that week April had gently told Immogene on the phone that there had been no sign that Brian had been home.

Immogene rolled her eyes and figured she’d take out some of her aggression on the targets. Her ability with her bow was the one thing she had full confidence in. Immogene heard April at her door. She called out “Hey April welcome back, do you have my bow? I want to get some practice in before Master Splinter sees me.” “Sure Gen, Casey has it.” Casey came into the room and tossed Immogene her bow and quiver, “That’s some fine craftsmanship Gen. She’s an awesome weapon.” Immogene held her bow and grasped the shaft lovingly. She’d missed her. Since Brian hated her shooting, so she’d started sneaking away to the towns range once a week while he was out playing darts.

After putting her arm guard on and pulling her hair up, she headed to a stretch of an open tunnel. She had asked Donnie to install a bunch of targets all over the place at different distances. Immogene turned on her music player and put on her favorite band. “Marianna’s Trench” “Fallout” blared through the speakers. She didn’t know, but Splinter and the guys were there watching from the shadows.

She warmed up, shaking her arms, and sat cross-legged on the floor in meditation. Her bow had a good draw on her, and in her experience, she was the only woman that could draw her. Hell..a lot of men couldn’t. She stood up. She thought of her father and gathered herself for the first shot. Immogene closed her eyes after getting the bullseye in her sight…she didn’t need to look now…she could feel it.

‘TWANG’. The sound of the string is singing in her ear, and a second later a thud. She didn’t have to look. Immogene knew she would see her arrow dead centre in that target. Warm up complete. She successfully hits every single target in their respective bullseye. She fired one arrow every 5 seconds, one shot for every breath for a full minute. It was a meditation technique her father had shown her. She closed her eyes remembering his smile and whispers “Hi Daddy did you see me? I love you and miss you so much.”

Master Splinter chuckled, “Well my sons…that was very interesting. Don’t you agree?” The guys just sat on their heels with their eyes wide. Immogene was sweet, kind and would help anyone she could…she was also a total bad ass. There was a collective “Woah.” Raph smirks and whispers “Hell ya Princess.”

Suddenly Immogene is surrounded by the four guys and Master Splinter. They were all hooting and hollering. She blushes furiously and mumbles “Thanks. I didn’t know anyone was watching.” Master Splinter smiled at her “O, my dear I’m sorry, but I wanted to see how you were when you felt you thought were alone.” He smiles again and pulls her into a hug. “You were incredible.” Mikey chimes in at that moment and yells “This calls for a celebration, I call a pizza party.”

The next morning Immogene can be heard yelling and she sounded terrifying. “Well fuck you Brian! I don’t need you anyways, your a little dicked asshole!” She was screaming into the phone and was trying not to cry. He had just dumped her telling her he had found someone prettier and who cared about their body. Unlike Immogene, who had the occasional slice of pizza even when she shouldn’t. It wasn’t that he dumped her that made her cry, she was going to end it anyways. It was the reference to her looks and the fact that he’d been cheating on her instead of just breaking it off. April and Mikey came running and Mikey grabs her into a hug.

“O sweet cheeks what happened?” “The bastard dumped me, he said while I was gone he’d found someone better.” Immogene snapped out. Raph appeared out of no where looking like he wanted to commit murder. He was also looking like he wanted to throw Mikey off of her…April noticed Raph’s expression and thought to herself “thank god it’s not Leo that she hugged’. “Do ya want me ta take a trip up to your town and beat his ass?” Raph growls. Despite herself she laughs and says “Nah, thanks Raph that ass doesn’t deserve another thought.”

Donatello comes running into the room yelling at the top of his lungs “Immogene, everyone I’ve got to talk to you! O, Gen you ok?” He’d just noticed her wiping tears away. She laughs wondering what invention Donnie has whipped up now. “Yeah Donnie I will be, I just lost some baggage. No loss really, it was shitty baggage. I’m good.” Donatello excitedly gathers everyone around. He had theory and he couldn’t resist seeing if he was right, and he was.

Immogene looked at Donnie and said, “So Donnie what’s up?” He shyly glances at her “Well, don’t be mad but I tested some of your blood.” Raph stands up really quickly and Leo grasps Donnie’s shoulders asking, “Brother I know your weird but what did you test for?” “Well,” stuttered Donnie “When she was hurt…I had to synthesize more blood.” Raph growled and April encouraged Donnie to go on distracting him from his older brother who looked like was ready to explode. “She didn’t have enough left in her to survive…” He continued. “After I had made sure she was going to live with the stuff I made, I put some away…just like I do for you guys…you know just in case.” He pauses and takes a breath “Anyways, after seeing her at the dojo and watching her shoot and…” at that point he glances up at Raph nervously …” noticing her physical appearance…I had a theory so I wanted to look for some genetic markers in her DNA.”

Raph crouches down beside Donnie and pushes Leo aside “Donnie enough science shit spill the beans bro, what did ya find?”

Donnie looks at Immogene and grins. “Gen you’re half Amazon!” Immogene’s head spun. “What do you mean half Amazon? Like the old Amazons of myth? Big muscled, female warriors what the hell?! You mean like Wonder Woman?!” Donnie nodded his head vigorously. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean. You see that’s why your shaped the way you are and why you have the talents you do. You just needed our help to discover yourself and bring your natural abilities to the forefront.”

Immogene was floored. Maybe that’s why she felt like a freak her entire life. It would explain so much. “But where did it come from.” My heritage is Polish and Scottish!” Donnie explains that Amazons happen randomly. “The gene is nearly gone in this day and age but every so often the marker can pop up and bingo…woman with Amazonian blood.” Immogene smiles at him. “Thanks, Donnie this explains a lot.” Even though you’re weird for wanting to test my blood I understand why and I thank you. I feel a little less like a freak now.” She gives him a hug under Raphs watchful gaze.

Raphael was frustrated, now that Gen was free of Brian he felt that she was trying to spend even more time with him and he felt even more drawn to her. The other day she had run smack into his chest on the way out of the dojo. Raph had reached down to steady her. She looked up at him and his heart had just about stopped. Her mouth had opened slightly and he wanted to dive in for a kiss. Gritting his teeth he had raised his hands to her shoulders and gently moved her aside. He had started leaving the lair more.

Immogene spent the next few days working on her art. She needed to escape for a bit and the guys were understanding of that. There was so much she needed to re-learn about herself. She also now had time to think of Raph without any guilt. Did he like her too? Refocusing on the sketch in front of her she sighs. She had an art show to get ready for and had just over a month and a half to prepare. The gallery had called her asking to inspect the next set of pieces. Immogene had told them she would be over soon drop it off. She also found that she would be meeting the mysterious benefactor the night of the show.

Immogene felt her feelings for Raph grow. Most of the time he left her confused. One moment he would playfully nudge her while they were working out or grip her shoulder in encouragement when she started a heavier weight. The next, he was skipping movie night and would try to avoid her. Her nerves usually ended up on fire around him. All she had to do was brush up against him and she would grow warm.

The tension was getting too much for Raphael. He wanted her. Maybe Mikey had a point when he’d told him that Gen could have sat beside Leo during movie night, but she had chosen to be near him instead. When her leg at ended up on his after she fell asleep he had almost lost it. Could she really want him that way?

Raphael growled and spit out his toothpick. He needed to talk master Splinter. It was time to get some stuff off his chest that pounding the weights or finding ways to piss of Leo just wasn’t helping anymore. He just couldn’t get Gen off his mind. She thought she was a freak?! She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on.

“Father… I need to talk to ya.” “Raphael my son, of course, you can talk to me. What is it on your mind that is pushing you to turmoil lately? Raphael hesitated and then said “It’s Gen”. Splinter nodded to himself, he had a feeling this was coming. He had seen Raphael struggle with his feelings for Immogene since the moment Raphael carried her into the lair. “My son I think you have feelings for this woman, is this true?” Splinter knew the answer but waited. He could see Raphael struggling with his response. Raphael was unpredictable, hot-tempered and passionate. Splinter knew that Mikey’s teasing of Raph by calling him a violent teddybear was pretty accurate. To most, Raph was scary as shit and he often would try to hide his other side by being mean. But for a select few, like the old lady in Immogene’s apartment or April he would move the moon. Splinter also realized that since Immogene came Raph was mellowing…a little.

He waited patiently while Raphael rolled his shoulders. “Yes Father, when I’m with her all I want to do is protect her. But I know she can defend herself, she’s a damn fine fighter in her own right! I want to cheer her on! Raphael took a breath for the next part. “Father I find myself physically aroused when I think of her and am near her.” Splinter smiled. “Son that is understandable. She is a very attractive woman, and has just discovered a whole new part of herself.” Splinter said he was also glad to hear that snake Brian was out of her life. Raph snorted if he ever saw that little puke, he wouldn’t know what hit him. Splinter continued. “Raphael, you will need to find balance with Immogene. Have you told her your feelings?” “NO. I’m a monster she would never look at me that way…would she?”

His son looked at him with hope in his eyes. “O my son, she’s felt different in her world, and in her own way, she’s not so different from us. Always in the shadows never feeling free enough to show her true colours. She’s been through so much in her life. Raph digested this knowledge. Splinter continued and makes a decision to tell Raphael something “She looks at you, you know? When she thinks your not looking she looks at you and I can see the questions in her eyes.” “Really Father?” “Yes my son, she does.”

Raphael stopped pacing and just stared at his father. Splinter sighs and then added very carefully “Leo also notices her, my son.” Raphael just growls. Splinter continues “But I don’t think he will say anything to her. I see him looking at the two of you and look resigned, but no matter what my son. Remember it’s her choice.” “Yes, Father.” Raph bows and starts to walk away. He had much to think about. “O, Raphael? Splinter calls after him. “Here are some books. I have kept these for all of you to read just in case a situation like this ever came up.”

Raphael looks at his father questioningly. “Books? And reading father, that’s Donnie’s thing.” Splinter smirks and tosses him “The Joy of Sex” video. “My son these are about the human female body and pleasuring one, also on how you can please each other. I know you and your brothers are able to find the occasional Playboy, but that only gives you a limited view. Please understand the words, watch the video and learn. If you have any questions, please come and talk to me or even April. Because of your size, you will need to make sure Immogene can trust you and is prepared for you. Splinter clears his throat and hands Raphael the books. “Good luck my son.”

A couple of days later Immogene was heading to the art gallery. April was going with her, and Leo had asked her to make it a late appointment so Raph and Mikey could follow as a precaution. Leo wanted to go himself, but Casey had told him about a rumor he’d heard at the station that a big robbery was going to take place and wanted his and Donnie’s help.

Shredder watches Immogene take her next shipment of art into the gallery. He’d known she would be going tonight because the curator had called him letting him know, in case he’d wanted to see the new pieces. From the moment he saw her on the article he’d wanted her. He would keep her in his personal slave and she would serve him for the rest of her life. His innermost thoughts were interrupted by a gurgling noise.

“Shredder, please…she was fighting us and I threw the star just to try and stop”… the gurgling increased as Shedder pushes his blades further into the idiot's stomach. He glances back towards where he last saw the woman. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the happy orange fellow and the red-masked devil watching from a nearby rooftop. “Damn Turtles always where they are not supposed to be.” He takes one last glance at the foot who slowly bleeding out on his blades. He couches down and slowly pushes his blades the rest of the way in. “Arrrraug!” He suddenly screams. “I want her and I want her not damaged you fucking fool!” He tears his blades out, flinging blood and gore across the rooftop. “No matter.” he thinks to himself. “The turtles saved her, but they saved her for me, I will get her on the night of her show.” Shredder disappears into the night.

@devilsnevercry1388

#tmnt raphael #immogene #two shades of green #tmnt fanfiction

[tmntreasures]

Prom Night (Raphael)

Prompt: A boy at your high school, named George, has asked you out; not because he likes you, but because you were his last option. Obviously, you turn him down since you have a turtle boyfriend who was going to meet with you behind the school. On the night of prom, you go outside to wait for your secret love. But the boy who had asked you out corners you outside and acts aggressive...

“Raphael, you need to calm down.” Your voice strained as you tried to get through to the large turtle. After you had told him about the human boy that had asked you out, the mutant began to freak out. At first it had started off with a huff, then a couple of questions, and now he was pacing about the room, still huffing and puffing about this human boy.

You knew the giant turtle was self-conscious about his appearance, but you had just been making innocent small talk about your day at school. If you had known the little piece of news would set him off on a rant, you wouldn't have brought it up in the first place. Now you had to try and pull him

out of his own head and convince him you weren't going to leave for some kid your hardly knew at school.

“Oh I'm calm,” Raphael announced, never slowing in his pacing. “What makes you think I'm not calm?”

You rolled your eyes and leaned forward. “Raph, this guy doesn't mean a thing to me. I didn't even know his name until today. He only asked me out to prom probably because he doesn't have anyone to go with.”

He shook his head and looked at you. “Is that really a thing people do? Just ask people they don't know out?”

“Yes!” You exclaimed, throwing your hands down. “Raph, seriously. It's not a big deal. I told the guy 'no' and that I already have an awesome boyfriend taking me anyway.” You smiled, hoping the compliment would soothe his mood.

“Oh yeah, I'm taking you...” He still sounded angry and even waved a finger at an imaginary figure. “And I'm gonna take that kid's head and smash it in a locker!”

You rolled your eyes and grumbled, burying your head into his bed. This was going nowhere; if he was going to be this mad then there was no way you could let him go with you. “No,” You lifted your head up and glared at him. “You're not going.”

The words stopped the giant turtle dead in his tracks and he whipped his head to look at you. “What?” Now his voice wavered and his expression softened; the words were hitting him like a ton of bricks.

There was a little pang of guilt when you saw how hurt he looked, but you knew you had to stay strong. “Raph, you can't come with me if you're gonna look for a fight,” you explained, sitting up in his bed. “I don't want you hurting some innocent kid because they decided to say 'hi' to me!”

“I'm not—I got every reason to knock this sucker out!” He defended himself poorly.

You gestured to him, his outburst only proving your point. However, you knew you couldn't stay mad at him for long, and he wouldn't stay angry forever. “Look,” You turned his head, forcing him to look at you. “If you can calm yourself down before the night's over, then you can come. Deal?” When he grumbled and looked away you gave his cheek a quick tap and hardened your tone. “Deal?”

He stared at you and you could tell he was having trouble beating the fire down. “Yeah, fine. Deal.” The giant turtle finally agreed and nodded.

“Good,” You nodded back before giving him a quick peck on the snout. “Now c'mon! Let's go train!” You jumped a little before making your way toward the dojo.

Raphael groaned loudly but followed after you. “Why do you wanna train now?”

“Well we gotta get all that anger out of you somehow,” you waved a finger at him. “Or do you not wanna be my date?”

The red behemoth stopped and stared at you for a second before a mischievous smile crossed his face. “Well, I mean...there's something else we could do to--”

“Nope!” You cut him off, turning away from him immediately. You knew if you had let him finish, you would want to actually take him up on the offer; however, you were trying to punish the turtle, not reward him.

His jaw dropped when you denied his request and he even growled a little bit. “Seriously? Not even gonna let me finish?”

“I'm not even gonna let you start!” You said half jokingly as you entered the dojo. “Now c'mon big guy. Let's do some burpees!”

Even though he was outside, Raphael could still feel the music pulsating from the building in front of him. The giant turtle was perched on a thick tree branch, using the leaves to hide his large body from any onlookers. However, his attention was focused on the party going on inside as he tried to catch any glimpse of you.

Unfortunately for him, he was not able to control his anger even after the training session you made him go through. He had snapped when you had mentioned the boy's name again afterward during a casual conversation. You had claimed it was a test, but to him it had felt more like a trick. The two of you had a small argument about it and in the end you had told him not to show up to the dance.

Of course, who would he be if he didn't listen to you on occasion?

For a couple of hours he stared through the windows, watching as the other teenagers laughed, danced, and had a great time. Normally he would feel a little envious, but he was on the lookout for you. He had to make sure you were okay and that the other boy didn't try anything with you. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

As if on cue you appeared in his line of sight and his heart raced in his chest. You were wearing a red dress and your hair was done in such a perfect way that it just seemed to make your face even more beautiful than it already was. His stomach did flips and he wanted nothing more than to be in there with you; not to protect you, but just to have fun and enjoy your company.

There was a big smile on your face and a couple of your friends finally caught up with you. You all laughed at some joke and even took a group picture. You looked so happy and seemed to be having a lot of fun; it was starting to make him feel guilty for watching you from a tree like some kind of creep.

He scanned the area to make sure no one was around before sliding out of his hiding place. It was enough for him that you were having fun and enjoying the party with your friends. Even if this 'George' kid tried anything, he knew you wouldn't go for it; and if he got too aggressive, your friends would be there to help you.

Just as he lifted the manhole cover to begin his trek home, he felt the makeshift phone, that Donatello made for him, vibrate. With one hand propping the lid open, he used his other hand to fish the device from his pocket and read what was sent.

“Hey Big guy,” It was from you. “I know you're probably still mad at me, but I really miss you. If you want, you should meet me behind the school on the blacktop. Love ya.”

His heart raced a little and a big smile covered his face. He honestly had not expected you to change your mind, but perhaps seeing all the other dancing couples had made you miss his company. Very carefully, he lowered the manhole cover and made sure to take his time in returning to the school. He knew that if he arrived first you would assume he had been there the whole time. Granted, it was true, but he really did not want to spoil the moment because of your perceptiveness.

“What, you think you're too good for me or somethin'?” The sound of a young male voice pierced through the night and overpowered the muffled hum of music. Raphael would not have given the voice a second thought if it hadn't been for the response.

“No, I'm just not into you.” Your reply was firm but the giant turtle could have sworn he heard distress in your tone. “Now get lost. I'm--.” The sound of a scuffle starting and your strained cries made him run. Secrecy be damned, he had to get to you and fast.

He did not bother assessing the situation and immediately sprung into action. “Get off!” He snarled, his hand engulfing the boy's entire head as he yanked him off of you. Normally he would have just thrown the boy as hard as he could and let gravity do its work; however, he remembered the argument from before and instead just shoved him back enough to put himself between you and the human teenager.

The boy stumbled but squared himself up for a fight once he regained his balance. “Who the fuck--,” his look of fury quickly dropped to one of absolute terror the moment he laid eyes on the giant mutant turtle.

Raphael straightened his back and cracked his knuckles. He was going to say something cool, but the boy screamed and ran off before he could even utter a sound. Then again it was good that the teenager ran off; he wasn't sure he would be able to control himself if the boy had actually tried to fight him.

“Raph!” You hissed at him and began to tug at his thick arm. “What are you doing? He just saw you!” Your voice was full of worry, not anger. They were ninjas for a reason, so for him to show himself to the boy was concerning.

“He's just one kid.” The behemoth kept his eyes focused on the area the human had ran off in when he spoke. “No one's gonna believe 'im,” He turned to you and smiled. “Besides. If he tries to use you to prove his point, you can just pretend he's nuts.”

You were silent for a moment, still in shock that someone else had seen the giant turtle. Once his words finally sunk in you smirked a little. “What's this? Using your brain instead of your muscles?” You pinched at his bicep and teased him further, “You sure you're Raphael?”

He rolled his eyes but kept the smile on his face. “Ha-ha. Very funny,” He turned to face you and reached out to caress your shoulder. “You okay? He didn't hurt you did he?” The idea of you being hurt made him regret letting the boy go so easily. If he found a bruise or scrape on you, he would hunt that creep down and really give him something to scream about.

“No, he didn't.” You placed a hand over his and rubbed at the textured green skin with your smaller fingers. “It was more surprising than anything.”

His hand slid down your arm, stopping when it met the red fabric that covered your body. “I thought you said you were gonna wear yellow?”

You shrugged and took a step closer, guiding his hand down to your waist. “Yeah, well. I decided that red looked better.” As if on cue, you stood on your tiptoes just as he leaned down to place a kiss on your lips.

He kept his face close to yours once your lips parted. For a moment he hesitated to speak, but he let the words out anyway. “Told ya that kid was trouble.”

“Okay, this one time you're right,” you smacked his arm playfully. “But that doesn't mean you get to pummel every guy who wants to talk to me.” You added quickly.

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Raphael sighed, already bored of the little lecture.

A flood of affection filled your body as you recalled what he had just done. It was like a scene from a silly movie. Your giant mutant turtle boyfriend had come and saved you from the nasty teenage boy who couldn't take no for an answer.

You grabbed the ends of his bandanna and pulled him down for a longer kiss. He held you against his hard body as your lips parted, leaving both of you panting lightly. “Though, I wouldn't argue if you beat a guy up for being too handsy,” you admitted, feeling your cheeks warm up as blood rushed to them.

“See, I knew you liked it when I got mad,” He chuckled, pressing his forehead against yours.

Even though in this instance you had not been in serious peril, he still could not imagine what he would do if something were to happen to you. He did his best not to let his mind linger on such a thing and was pulled back to the world when you tugged on his mask again.

There was a soft smile on your face and a look of endearment shimmering in your beautiful eyes. He waited for you to speak but you stayed silent. “What?” He finally inquired, “Is there something on my face?”

You giggled and pushed at his giant bicep playfully. “Nooo~,” you giggled and nodded at the sky. “Listen!”

He titled his head to hear what you were talking about. The soft sound of the slow melody playing from the school finally reached his ears and he knew exactly what you were trying to imply. “Oooh no,” he groaned a little. “I forgot to tell ya, but I can't slow dance.”

Of course who would you be if you took 'no' for an answer from him so easily. “Me neither,” You confessed as your hands directed his to grab your waist while you placed your own on his large chest. “We'll just have to do it middle-school style.”

He chuckled and stared down at you. “You're still speaking Greek to me.” It wasn't that he was afraid of looking stupid, he just didn't want to step on your feet and hurt you.

“It's okay,” You reassured him as you began to sway slowly. “All you do is shuffle your feet and sway a little bit.”

He followed your lead as best as he could, eventually getting into the rhythm of it. It might not have been the most romantic scenario, dancing in the dark behind your school, but all that mattered was that he was with you. Just that small fact was enough to make his heart race.

When the song ended, he bent down and kissed you softly. “I love you,” He whispered.

“I love you too.” You smiled and rubbed at his hard chest. This was the best night you have had and you would have it any other way.

#TMNT #TMNT 2016 #RaphaelxReader #TMNTxReader #CharacterxReader

[spectrumscribe]

Your Heart’s Desire

a very late submission to @tmntflashfic‘s valentine’s day prompt thing, since it got insanely long, and has to be broken up into parts.

Master Post of Chapters.

————————————————————————————- Chapter Three.

Somewhere about a week later, the whole ‘never’ part of meeting Raph’s family became untrue.

Casey had been smoking a cigarette on his piss-tiny balcony, when an enormous shape flew up in front of him, and he’d nearly inhaled his whole cig.

Two huge limbs sank their claws into his apartment’s outside, while another two latched onto his balcony- causing it to bend dramatically.

Casey’s back slammed against the glass sliding door, and he fumbled to grab the handle.

Huge wings blocked the sun from view, as a hungry maw with rows of sharp teeth hung in front of Casey’s face.

Two glowing blue eyes stared at him, and the demon’s tongue lashed out to lick its lips.

“͝SO ̶Y̡OU͟’R͝E͡ THE͡ ̢H̢UMA͝N҉ W͏H͟O ͟CAŲG̢H͟T͟ RAP͟H́!́”͏ ̕ The demon boomed. “W͞ELL,́ ͡I͡ C̕A҉N͘ FI̕X̷ TH̵A̸T ̧E̷ASY̸!̴”̀

Casey had about a second to sputter “-the FUCK-?!”  before an enormous hand closed around his waist, and he was ripped from his balcony.

Casey’s scream got lost in the wind, as the demon flew up into the air with him in its clutches.

He saw his apartment get further and further away, same as the ground got further and further away, as the demon spiralled higher with him into the sky. Casey couldn’t even try to fight the ascent, since the size and power difference was too great, and he was literally thousands of feet in the air and that would just result in a Casey shaped pancake.

His lunch and stomach and probably everything else inside him got left behind, as the clouds started to get eye level with him and he approached a height that even he, a true adrenaline junkie through and through, really didn’t want to ever experience.

Somewhere about absolutely insane levels of height, the demon chose that moment to toss Casey up into the air like a rag doll, and swoop underneath with its mouth open.

Casey’s last thought would have been a mash of wordless screaming and cuss words, had it not been another demon grabbing him out of the air, and narrowly saving him from being eaten alive- and not even in one bite.

Thankfully, the demon that grabbed him a second time was one he knew, and Casey wrapped his arms around Raph’s neck and screamed bloody murder.

“SHUT UP. I’M TRYING FLY, IDIOT,” Raph yelled into Casey’s ear, diving to the side to avoid the larger, fully transformed demon pursuing them.

“-SHIT -FUCK- FUCKING- WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING HELL-”

Red runes briefly flickered around them both, and the stinging speed of wind eased around Casey, and suddenly he could inhale properly again.

He started to thank Raph, but it turned into another shriek as the bigger demon came dangerously close to catching them.

“I said shut up!” Raph shouted, folding his wings and diving to the side again.

Casey ignored him, and attempted to wrap himself tighter around Raph as they kept flying. “What the FUCK is going on, Raph?!”

“Currently? We’re flying for your life.”

“Not our lives?!”

“No, this is all on you,” Raph said, calm despite the bone-rattling roar that followed them. “This guy wants you dead and me to go home.”

“Who the hell is he?!” Casey yelled, stomach making its way into his throat as they turned upwards sharply. Over Raph’s wings and shoulders, he caught another glance of the pursuing demon.

Mouth still open and hungry, with a somehow gleeful expression, the demon chasing them was definitely bigger than Raph was; both in semi-human form, and demon form. His crest was slightly different than Raph’s too, edged with orange and curly seeming.

There were other details too- ram like horns, different colored eyes, and a slimmer build in general- but Casey was mostly stuck on the fact that the demon wanted him for lunch, and the size of its fangs.

“So, I don’t know if you figured this out yet or not-” Raph said, avoiding another swipe at them. “-but that’s my brother.”

“Why the shit is he trying to KILL ME?!”

“To free me from our contract, obviously. He probably thinks you’ve got me enthralled or something.”

Raph then twisted in midair, and landed a solid kick at his brother’s temple just as he’d tried to take a chomp at them. The blow made an audible crack, and the other demon spun off sideways in the air.

Even in his smaller form, Raph’s strength never did diminish. Casey noted that keenly, as Raph held him without issue; hovering in the air with steady beats of his wings.

Casey reminded himself that now was not the time to be thinking about the size of Raph’s muscles.

The demon below rightened himself, a couple hundred feet down and diminishing that distance, and Casey tightened his hold around Raph’s neck again.

“He’s coming back,” Casey said nervously.

“Yeah. He’s faster than me too, so no point in running too far,” Raph said, because that made Casey feel so much better. “I’m stronger though, no matter what forms we’re in.”

“Uh, yeah, now would be a good time to punch his lights out then.”

“Can’t yet, have to wait another moment.”

“How come- oh wait fuck no Raph please move come on come on he’s dOING A THING COME ON JUST MOVE ALREADY-”

The demon- Raph’s apparent psycho relative- had opened his mouth, and a ring of magic was materializing in front of it. It looked way too much like a laser beam thing for Casey to mistake it for anything else.

Big surprise: it was a laser beam thing.

Raph’s unnamed demon brother opened his mouth wide, and shot a bright orange beam into the air. Right. At. Them.

Raph dodged almost lazily, and Casey felt his skin get warm as they skirted the blast.

He might’ve screamed again.

Casey watched with a horrified expression, as the beam exploded in the clouds above, and cleared the overcast for miles around. The cheery sunshine felt very out of place, considering the situation.

Casey might’ve managed to say something along the lines of “what the actual FUCK”, but it probably came out garbled.

“Yeah, he does that sort of thing a lot,” Raph said, not nearly as concerned as Casey felt he should be. He glided to the side, still watching his brother’s progression below. “He’s not the strongest physically speaking, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t many beings out there that got more magic than he does. Finesse ain’t his department, but Mikey gets shit done when he feels like it.”

“This is really cool but also really fucking terrifying can we go back to the ground yet and tell your brother to stop trying to kill me?!”

“Working on it,” Raph replied shortly, before diving without warning, and taking Casey with him. Casey’s shrill scream followed them all the way to the ground, and he felt justified in that considering they were plummeting from thousands of feet in the air.

As they slowed their descent, Casey grabbed Raph’s horn, pulled the demon’s ear towards him, and shouted, “CAN WE FUCKING NOT?!”

Raph’s response was to snarl in annoyance, and dump Casey onto the first apartment roof they flew over.

Casey tried to stand right away, but his legs gave out, and he ended up on his hands and knees panting. His head felt like it’d been swirled around in a blender, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he still had all his internal organs.

Now that he wasn’t in mortal peril anymore, Casey’s lips split in a semi-hysterical grin.

What a rush.

“You have a serious problem with adrenaline rushes,” Raph commented, because apparently Casey had been talking out loud. He glanced down at Casey, and looked half concerned. “I’ll take care of this, but you’ll have to give me a bit of blood.”

“Why?”

“It looks like Mikey’s running on full power right now. Probably got a hold of a new contract, lucky bastard. If you don’t want him to wipe the floor with me, I’ll need a bit of a boost.”

“Fine, whatever. Let’s get it over with.”

Raph’s short thumb claw split the skin on Casey’s arm, and he swiped a few droplets of blood from there.

Casey watched as Raph licked the blood away from his finger- following the action keenly- and saw the demon’s irises fill his whole sclera.

Raph’s grin was wide enough to show all his teeth, and he seemed more than a little excited.

“͝Now͏ w̛e̸’re ͝t҉a̸lk̸i͢n̵g͝.”

Changing into a swirl of smoke, re-solidifying, and taking off into the air with huge beats of his wings, Raph nearly knocked Casey over as he rose into the sky in full demon form.

Just in time too, since Mikey- weird name for a demon, honestly- slammed into him right after.

Casey watched as the two giant winged demons spun through the air, and went crashing into the streets below. Casey’s legs were still being uncooperative, so he half crawled towards the edge of the three story building he was on, and looked down at where they’d fallen.

Raph kicked Mikey off, sending the larger demon rolling away, and rightened himself. Casey didn’t even have time to comprehend what was happening, before Raph opened his mouth and blew a white hot stream of fire at his brother.

Mikey seemed unaffected, other than bellowing loudly as he flew back up into the air. Raph shot another stream of flames at his brother, following him upwards, but again didn’t do any damage. The flames just skimmed over Mikey’s thick scales like nothing.

Casey noted vaguely that car alarms were going off all down the street, and that the two demons had put a sizable crater in the road. Also set fire to the road.

Oh boy.

His phone, which had miraculously stayed in his pants pocket the whole time, buzzed quietly, and Casey fumbled with numb fingers to get it out.

“Hello?”

“CASEY WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE?!”

Casey leaned away from his phone; April’s shriek nearly deafening him. “Uh, well, Raph’s brother kind of dropped by to eat me, aaaand…” An explosion went across the sky, an echoing boom heard even down on ground level. “They’re sort of battling to the death right now. I think. I’m not really sure what’s happening anymore, but I’m pretty sure I’d be okay dying after seeing something this awesome.”

April made a bunch of incoherent sounds into the receiver, and all Casey could tell was that she was mad.

“YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, CASEY JONES.”

“You and Raph agree on that, at least.”

“WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU ANYWAYS. YOU’RE NOT UP IN THE SKY WITH THE TWO IDIOT HELL-SPAWNS, RIGHT?”

“Why are you still yelling?”

“BECAUSE I’M FREAKING OUT LEAVE ME ALONE. THEY JUST DEMOLISHED HALF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD STREET OH MY GOD-”

“I think I’m immune to shock at this point, honestly,” Casey said evenly, to which April replied, “BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN LIVING WITH AN ACTUAL DEMON FOR OVER THREE WEEKS NOW AND YOU’RE AN IDIOT.”

Casey watched as Raph dive-bombed Mikey from above, grabbed his brother’s wings, and crashed them straight into the ground. The resounding impact set off another wave of car alarms, and Casey was fairly sure there were people starting to scream in the distance now.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!”

“Raph crashing them into the street. I gotta find a way off this roof and see if he’s alright. I’ll call you back.”

“Casey no WAIT-!”

Casey hung up his phone, and forcing his legs to start working again, he ran for the fire escape.

By the time he got to the impact site- and avoided all the dazed looking civilians that were just staring creepily off into space- Raph was back in human-ish form, and holding another human-ish man under his arm.

“So.” Raph said, tightening his hold on the struggling man. “This is my brother, Mikey. He’s a fucking moron, and he’s sorry for trashing your neighborhood. Also for trying to eat you.”

“Aw c’mon Raphie, it was just gonna be a few bites-”

“Shut it!” Raph snapped, whacking the Mikey’s curling horns with his free hand. Mikey whined and struggled harder. “You know our rules about stealing a contract!”

“Pssh, rules smules, they don’t apply to me, dumbass,” Mikey said, blowing a raspberry at Raph as he struggled free. “I dunno why you all insist on followin’ them. I have no trouble getting around without ‘em.”

“Yeah, but nothing sane seems to apply to you at all, so that wouldn’t fucking work for me.”

“Uh, not interrupt your reunion or whatever,” Casey jerked a thumb at the destruction surrounding them. “But you kind of trashed everything, and there’s like a couple hundred people staring off into space right now. The fuck is up with that?”

“Oh, ‘s my auto defense spells,” Mikey said, waving a hand dismissively. “Donnie helped me make ‘em centuries ago, on account of me always forgetting to erase peoples’ memories of whatever I do. They’ll think it was an earthquake or something.”

“The… the roads though… and that one house you destroyed too…”

“Right! Gimme a sec!”

Casey was then blinded, because Mikey summoned the biggest fucking magical circle ever, and proceeded to cover everything in neon orange.

Casey rubbed his eyes, trying to blink away the spots. He finally got his vision back, and saw that everything was back to normal, Mikey had his hands on his hips looking proud, and Raph had his head in his hands, mumbling despairingly.

“SO! Proper introductions!” Mikey said, putting out a hand for Casey to shake. His long fluffy tail swished behind him excitedly, in time with the bounce of his dark curls. “I’m Michelangelo, also called Mikey, also called-”

Raph slapped a hand over Mikey’s mouth.

“No true names!” He said with a growl. Then he yanked his hand away, wiping it on his shirt.

“Did you…?” Casey blinked at Mikey. “Did you just lick his hand?”

“Yup,” Mikey said, and he grabbed Casey’s hand as he did. “Nice to meet you, and sorry for trying to eat you earlier. I thought you’d enslaved my brother or something!”

Mikey’s hand suddenly gripped Casey’s hand tighter, painfully tight, and he smiled in a scary way. All teeth and threat.

“That’s not what’s happening here, right?” Mikey asked, smiling dangerously.

“Nope,” Casey squeaked, feeling his bones grind together. “N-not at all.”

“Great!” Mikey cheered, releasing Casey’s hand and returning to his less threatening expression. “That means I don’t have to kill you then, which would have sucked since Raph totally-”

Raph grabbed his brother’s mouth again, and hissed something rapid and low in Mikey’s ear. The exchange was over before Casey could question it, and then Raph was steering Casey back towards the apartment’s direction.

“C’mon, I have a feeling April will be wanting an explanation,” Raph said in a tired voice. “And we need to pick up some groceries. A lot of groceries.”

“Uh. Why?”

“You’ll thank me later if we just do this now instead of when he gets hungry.”

Casey remembered the teeth on Mikey’s demon form, and the hungry way he’d been looking at Casey even in human form.

“Right. Probably a good plan.”

They bought three packages of ice pops, and six packages of raw meat. Casey got the same cashier he’d been getting for the past three weeks, and he raised an eyebrow at Casey’s twitchy new friend, and how he yet again was buying copious amounts of raw meat products.

Casey just shook his head at the man, and paid for their food.

At least Mikey was willing to carry half the load, even if it meant he ate half of that half before they even got home.

April met them at the door with a super-soaker and a determined expression. Casey couldn’t do much other than gesture helplessly at the demons accompanying him.

April didn’t flinch as Mikey flowed towards her, all bubble and cheer while moving like a predatory wild cat.

Mikey tried all of point ten seconds to intimidate her, before April shut him down with a few facial blasts of holy water.

Somehow no one died, and somehow Mikey ended up sitting in front of Casey’s television without too much fuss. Playing video games with all the enthusiasm of a kid, and not an eons old demon.

“So how long is he staying?” Casey whispered to Raph across the kitchen table. “My apartment is tiny as is, and he’s kind of nuts.”

“He’s mostly harmless if he’s distracted,” Raph said, apparently unbothered by his brother’s murderousness. He licked the popsicle in his hand again. “Let him play with the games until he’s bored and then he’ll bugger off to bother someone else.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Keep a stock of these,” Raph waved the popsicle he had. “And don’t try to make any deals with him.”

“Why not? I mean, I won’t,” Casey said, because the idea sounded a bit like cheating on Raph somehow. “But why not?”

“Do you remember the Dancing Plague of fifteen-eighteen?”

“The what now?”

“Figures,” Raph said, rolling his eyes. His tongue snaked out to lick his popsicle, and he continued. “Basically? Mikey made a deal with this guy for his soul. Just some peasant, no point in life and no hope either. He was bored, Mikey was bored, and the guy wanted to make a contract. You know what he asked for?”

“Uh… no.”

“A chance to figuratively watch the world around him burn, because he hated his life and hated his village,” Raph said. His expression was making Casey feel uncomfortable, and he stayed silent as Raph continued. “What happened next was Mikey feeling like getting a bit creative with that request, and it getting way out of hand.

“Essentially, this guy? He danced until he died, and he took a whole lot of other people down with him. A few hundred, dead because they danced until their bodies literally gave out and killed them. Better yet- or worse I guess- it spread, like some kind of virus. It hit most of the village, and kept going until it suddenly stopped.”

Raph looked Casey seriously in the eye, grim despite the rainbow pop in his hands. “It only stopped because Mikey got tired of it, and left. It would have kept going if he hadn’t. He killed a good number out of four hundred people before he stopped. He didn’t even take most of their souls, just the first ten.”

Casey gulped.

“That’s really fucking scary, honestly,” He said in a tight voice. “I mean. It’d be pretty cool if it wasn’t real, but, uh, yeah. Scary.”

“I’m gonna level with you here. We’re not actually sure just how powerful Mikey is, or how much damage he could do if he felt like it. He might even outclass our older sister, and she’s the scariest thing you could ever imagine meeting.”

“Uh. Wow.”

“Yup,” Raph licked his popsicle again, and settled back into his chair. “So keep freezie-pops and shit around all the time, and give him access to the game counsel. It’s in your best interest until he leaves.”

Casey sweated nervously, and darted a glance at Mikey.

The demon seemed a lot like Raph, if taller and slimmer. Dark hair dark skin, horns tail teeth, etc.

He had a different feel to him though. Wilder. Kind of feral.

Mikey’s laughter sounded normal enough, but something in the back of Casey’s brain said ‘run’.

Casey made a note to go buy more treats before they ran low.

He turned back to keep talking with Raph, maybe question just who else in Raph’s family he needed to watch for, but his words choked in his throat.

Raph’s tongue was wrapped around the popsicle in his hand, and slowly pulling back into his mouth.

Casey swallowed thickly, watching the long pink tongue recede.

Wow it was kind of hot in here.

Raph’s tongue slurped back into his mouth, and then he took a bite out of the ice treat, sharp teeth going straight through it without issue.

Casey winced, and swallowed thickly for a different reason.

“Something wrong?”

“Nope,” Casey said in a strangled voice.

  april help i might have a problem

 I’ve been expecting this for a while now.

How bad is it?

 pretty bad

 Give me a rough estimate.

 i had a ‘oh no hes hot’ moment

twice today

pls help

 See me tomorrow evening for movies and dinner at my place. No demons allowed.

 i wasnt planning on bringing him anyways but okay

april help he just took off his shirt

he got popsicle juice on it bc mikey tried to do tackling thing and

fuck

aprilhelpthatsalotofchest

 Cold water, preferably iced, is advisable here.

Or so I’m told.

 ohgodihateeverything

   Casey dragged himself out of bed the next morning, thanking every god he could think of that it was Sunday, and shuffled out into the living room.

Raph and Mikey were tangled in a big pile of limbs on the carpet, both of them half shifted and completely asleep. Darkened by scales that went up most of their arms and legs, but tapered off before it hit their faces; their wings were visible too, flopped out without much care. Mikey was on his back, quadrupedal limbs sticking straight in the air.

It was sort of cute, in a weird way. If you ignored how Mikey was technically a mass murderer and Raph was probably also that.

Yeah. Still weirdly cute, even with that added.

Casey shuffled back into his room, got his phone, and took a couple pictures. Because blackmail.

He saved the photos- sending a few to April too- and paused as he started to put it away.

On a last second decision, he snapped a close up of Raph in particular.

Then he chucked his phone back into his room, and totally didn’t feel his ears get hot as he went to get breakfast started.

Mikey wandered off somewhere around noon, waving a cheery goodbye as he took with him the rest of the freezies. He said he’d be back by the time dark rolled around, and Casey didn’t question what he’d be doing all day. He probably didn’t want to know.

He ended up working on his literary homework for a change, instead of his art homework. He hated working on the essays, despite being pretty good with the assignments.              He really just preferred drawing and painting to writing.

Raph spent the day lounging on the couch, again wrecking the springs since he was still half shifted. Casey migrated over there as he fought with his project, ending up slouched on one end of the couch with his legs hanging over Raph’s while they watched TV. The tail sort of got in the way, but once Casey got it behind his back, it provided support instead.

They didn’t even talk much. Just hung out in silence while the TV droned on, and Casey struggle with his laptop keyboard. It actually a really nice change from Casey’s usual weekend pace, which involved a lot more partying.

Though, dealing with psychotic demon relatives was enough of a party for one weekend, so Casey figured he’d covered that part already.

Casey didn’t actually notice, until the afternoon rolled by, that he was comfortable pretty much all around. Hanging out with Raph like this, minus the elbowing and insults and general rough housing… it was downright domestic.

Casey took that thought, shoved it waaaaaaaaaay into the back of his skull, and focused entirely on the homework in his lap. He also definitely didn’t focus on just where his lap was situated, still hanging over Raph’s legs because Casey’s couch was too small for them both like this.

Sometimes Raph’s tail would twitch and slide around, since it was pinned under Casey’s legs, and Casey would have to focus a bit harder on his homework.

He stubbornly didn’t move though. Because he liked doing this, and he had an essay to do, and he was comfortable dammnit. Frustrating feelings he didn’t want to deal with weren’t going to chase him off, no siree.

By the time he finished his essay, edited, saved, and sent to his teacher, it was time to go over to April’s. Raph didn’t make any comment on Casey easing himself out of the couch pile, and Casey only said a quick goodbye before he left.

He ended up on April’s couch instead a few minutes later, screaming into her throw pillows while April patted his head.

“It was domestic. Domestic and terrible.”

“Oh I’ll bet.”

“April help I’m feeling things, make it stop.”

“When have you listened to anyone? I’m not going to even try.”

“Apriiiiiiiiiiiiil…”

“I’ve said it a number of times, and I’ll say it again. You do these things to yourself, Jones.”

Casey glared up at her, April ignoring his glare as she continued watching the horror movie they had on her television. He turned his head back into the pillow beside April’s thigh, and resumed screaming into it.

She put a hand on his head, and patted it gently. “Oh Casey. I don’t know how you’ve survived this long.”

Casey yelled louder into the pillow.

“Have you thought about where you’re going to go with these ‘feelings’ of yours?”

“No,” Casey said miserably to his pillow. “Like. Fuck. Number one rule: don’t feel anything for a dude you don’t know the sexuality of. It’s a one way ticket to feeling like shit.”

“Hm.”

“I made that mistake a couple times.”

“Oh Casey,” April said again, carding her fingers into his hair. “You’re making a fine mess of yourself. Can’t you just turn the feelings off?”

“That’s not how feelings work, April.”

“Sounds fake but okay.”

“You sound fake.”

A couple screams of terror came from the television, and April made an interested sound at something that sounded like a dead body falling to the ground.

Casey rolled away from his pillow, staring at the television. Someone else died on screen, joining their friend on the floor. He thought that might’ve been the couple characters.

“He has to leave anyways,” Casey said. “There’s no point.”

“Hmmm…” April replied, scratching his scalp still.

“You’re not helping anything, April.”

“Casey, I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“ ‘that must really suck, I’m sorry your life is awful’. Or something.”

“That must really suck. I’m sorry your life is awful,” April said with only a hint of smarm.

Casey lifted his head and let it drop heavily back against her thigh. “There you go. Was that so hard?”

“Oh, just the worst.”

 Casey snorted a laugh, which drew one out of April, and they both ended up giggling together while another two people died on screen.

Casey laughter tapered off, and he sighed.

He didn’t even need to speak. April knew what he was thinking anyways.

“You’ll figure things out,” April said, patting his head only a little patronizingly. “You usually do, even if it involves destruction of property and ill-used house products.”

“Okay that was one time with the Febreeze. One time.”

“One time too many.”

“Like you do less dangerous shit.”

“I do it in my lab, not someone’s basement.”

“We don’t have a basement, so you just use your bathroom and kitchen.”

“Hush. At least it’s my own property.”

“Hypocrite.”

  When Casey returned to his apartment, after spending two movies worth of ranting at April, Raph was still on the couch.

He’d changed back into his mostly human form, and was lounging comfortably. He raised a hand to Casey. “Yo.”

Casey found himself grinning, despite the thoughts he was very carefully pushing to the back of his mind. “Yo.”

It was a novel feeling, coming home to somebody.

It was nice and cozy feeling for about five seconds, and then a portal opened in the middle of the living room, spewing both Mikey and about a hundred little demony bat things into the air.

Casey spent the next two hours herding and squashing things with his hockey stick, and didn’t have any more time to linger on Raph or his thoughts.

Casey texted April before he went to sleep, just to check in why she hadn’t come to find out what all the noise had been about.

 yo april

surprised you didnt bust in with the super-soaker

figured we made enough noise to wake the dead

 I only heard the first five minutes of it, and then I put some of my noise cancelling headphones on.

 cold, apes

 cooooooold

 I figured you could take care of yourself. You are you after all.

If you ended up dead, I promise I would have mourned you for at least a week.

 cooooooooooooooooooooooooold

 Oh hush up. You’re fine you big baby.

 my heart is hurting you monster

 You’re the one with a literal monster in your apartment.

Two in fact.

 yeah and both of them are fucking up my couch springs with their fat demon asses

 Interesting, and you know for a fact that they are ‘fat demon asses’?

Just where have you been looking, Casey?

 shut up

 Interesting.

 im not talking to you anymore

im deleting your contact

 Maybe I’ll finally get some peace that way.

 watch me im doing it right now

 Goodnight Casey, have fun with your call boy.

 SHUT UP

DONT CALL HIM THAT

AND ARENT YOU SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER ABOUT ALL THIS AND NOT TEASE ME

 I can do both.

Also. You’re the one who used the term first, while we were discussing your ‘budding feelings’.

You said, and I quote, “It’s like I rang up a call boy for a one-night thing, and then it got serious”.

*Eyebrow waggle*

 S H U T   U P

I HATE YOU SO MUCH

STOP WAGGLING THOSE EYEBROWS

YOURE BANNED FROM EYEBROW WAGGLING

 You’re like my own personal soap-opera, Casey.

 SHUUUUUUT

UUUUUUUUP

 Casey swore he could hear April laughing at him through the walls, and he scowled.

Mikey turned out to be less of a hassle, once Casey laid some ground rules about him hanging around.

No summoning portals in the living room. Or the bathroom. Gore stayed on the balcony, and got cleaned up before the neighbors saw. Under no circumstances did you touch April’s plants. Don’t go near April’s apartment at all. Keep the TV volume low at night, and when he was studying. Demon brawls were done outside the house, and if you damaged the furniture before getting there, you fixed it. No killing or soul sucking anyone within a fifty miles radius of the apartments. Do not ever- and Casey really meant ever- touch April’s plants.

Mikey listened to most of the rules, except about staying off April’s balcony.

She’d come outside to water the tens of potted plants she had there, seen Mikey perching on the railing like a demented stray cat, and turned around to go back inside. Casey, who’d been smoking on his own balcony and quietly resigned to Mikey bringing April’s version of hell down on them all, raised an eyebrow at the cocky grin Mikey gave him.

The grin vanished as April reappeared with the super-soaker, and blasted the demon off her balcony. Mikey went down with a yowl, spiralling towards the ground below and landing in an undignified heap.

“He’s fine,” Raph whispered from behind Casey, glancing after at his brother. “He could probably take a nuclear war head and be fine. He’s just a drama queen.”

“Keep off my damn lawn,” April said, leveling the gun threatening at Casey and Raph. The shorter demon edged behind Casey, and Casey held his hands up in surrender.

“We will, I swear,” Casey promised.

“Mikey might not, but you can- you know.” Raph suggested, sticking his arm around Casey and gesturing at the gun.

“Oh I will. I most certainly will.” April said, eyes narrowed and dangerous. She then lowered the gun, and finished watering her plants.

As April shut her balcony doors behind her, and Casey sighed in relief.

“She scares me,” Raph admitted under his breath.

“She scares everyone,” Casey said comfortingly.

A whiny yowl came from down below.

“Except Mikey.”

“Everyone at least a little sane.”

continued.

#Your Heart's Desire tag #my writing #it's back #back again #and still going lmao #yeah this got so long #yikes #TMNT 2012 #Casey Jones #raphael #michelangelo #April O'neil #april is the real MVP of this mess #and i respect her for that

[missbeautyandherbeast]

A Second Chance

Raphael X Reader

Summary: Leo found you on the streets one night, wandering alone and soon you found solace in the Lair with the brothers, all except Raph, who made your skin crawl because his actions hit a bit too close to home. Until one night, then you decide you’ve had enough.

A/N: Going through my archive on my computer and I forgot that I had this, so here ya go. 

Warnings: past abuse, abusive siblings, swearing, panic attacks

@im-a-loser-for-tmnt

Raph roared in frustration and stormed out of the dojo. I looked up from my perch on the couch and shrank back into it, trying to make myself as small as possible. Ever since I had met the brothers, Raphael’s actions hit a little too close to home with another brother... one I tried hard to forget about.

We locked eyes and I shrunk back in fear yet I thought I saw something in those green eyes.

“Raph!” Mikey called.

“Back down,” Donnie begged.

I slowly unfolded myself from the couch.

“Guys. Let... let me.” I spoke, standing.

“Y/n. No.” Leo emerged from the dojo.

He looked at me knowingly. He knew why Raph always put me on edge. He knew why I never wanted to go home.

“Leo. I can do this. Enough is enough.” I gave him a look and he nodded.

“I’ll be right here.”

I nodded and made my way to up to the surface, no doubted where Raphael had gone.

“Raphael!?” I called looking around the alley. “Raph! Come on!” I yelled.

“What?” I heard him sneer from behind me. “You come to tell me to calm down too?” His tone was ice cold.

I took a step away from him and hugged myself, trying to keep my panic down.

“No,” I whispered.

“What was that princess?” He chuckled. “I can’t hear you over the fear in your voice.” He mused. “Why don’t you just run back to Leo and leave me alone?”

I glared up at him and squared my shoulders.

“No.” I snarled. “I am so done with you throwing tantrums all the time and thinking it’s okay! You’re violent and cruel to your brothers and it’s fucked up!” It finally felt good to say those words to someone.

I heard a growl rumble in his chest.

“What did you say to me?” He sneered.

“You heard me.” I snapped.

“And what right do you have?” He loomed over me, our glares matched another’s.

“I think I have plenty.” I hissed.

“And what’s that princess?” He snapped.

"You ever bother to ask about me? About why Leo brought me in? About why I don’t go home!?”

His expression faltered. I caught him off guard.

“What do you mean?” He rumbled.

“I have an asshole like you at home.” I gritted. “And I will not let you tear apart your family like my brother did mine.” I felt tears forming in my eyes.

“What...?” He sounded confused, all his anger fading.

“Ever notice why I don’t like loud sounds? Why I have really good reflexes? Why I don’t show skin?” I bit out.

I watched the realization in his eyes as it all clicked together.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Raph muttered.

“No, you’re not.”

“Who says?” He demanded.

“Me.” I folded my arms.

The turtle laughed.

“And what are you gonna do to stop me?”

“Raphael you are not going to hurt my brother,” I spoke boldly, then reached out and put my hands over his clenched fists. “Please.” I looked up at him through my eyelashes and saw his resolve crumble.

“Yeah. Whatever.” He muttered pulling away from me.

“Now will you come back inside with me?” I pleaded softly.

He looked at me, his green eyes piercing mine.

“Why did you come out here?” He asked. “Why didn’t you let me go?”

“Because I didn’t want to feel weak anymore. I didn’t want to be the victim. And I know you wouldn’t hurt me Raph.” I admitted.

“Do you now?” He chuckled.

“I do.”

He grabbed my arm and pushed me up against the wall pinning me.

“How bout now?” He chuckled darkly.

I gapped up at him, not knowing what to do.

“Not afraid,” I breathed out.

“I’m stronger than you.” He mused. “Faster.”

I nodded.

“You won’t hurt me,” I stuttered out.

“As if that mattered. As if you could outrun me.” He growled. “As if you could fight me off.”

“You won’t hurt me,” my voice was barely a whisper, looking up into piercing green eyes.

He let go of my arm and his expression faltered.

“No, I won’t,” He admitted. The large brute seemed almost sheepish about the confession as he turned away.

My fear turned into confusion.

“Raph are you... okay?” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on with you Red?”

“Why are you here?” He muttered.

“What... what do you mean?”

“Why are you out here? With me? You never bat an eyelash at me ever and now you suddenly care?” I could hear the anger rising in his voice: anger that masked confusion. His green eyes pierced mine.

“I always cared.”

He studied me for a minute and stormed away.

“Where are you going!?” I demanded, chasing after him.

“Out for patrol.” He snapped. “Away from you.” He muttered.

“Sure just walk away! Just like you always do! Never stop to look at what’s right in front of you!” I yelled.

“And what’s that!?” He demanded stalking up to me. “What’s in front of me!? Huh!?”

I shrunk back against the wall.

“I am.” I tried hopelessly.

“Glad all my problems are solved.” He spat.

I looked at him, shocked.

“Why are you so cruel!?” I screamed. “What did I do that was so wrong!? What did I do!?” My words came out as half-choked sobs. “What did I do?”

I wrapped my arms around myself tightly crying despite my best efforts. I never cried in front of anyone. It was a weakness. Something I wasn’t allowed to have to the outside world.

“Hey, sweetheart, come on,” his expression softened. “You didn’t do anything. I’m just an asshole.” The mutant neared me, unsure of how to show comfort.

I shook my head.

“It’s my fault. I can’t help you. I can’t help James. I'm useless. I... I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll just go. I’ll go and you won’t have to...” I mumbled out walking out of the alley and towards home. I mumbled more apologies feeling miserable.

“Hey!” His voice was demanding, but I kept walking.

It wasn’t before long until I ran into a mass of something that pulled me close into a tight hug.

“Let me go.” I whimpered, miserable.

“Please wait.” He begged. “Let me make this right. Please.”

“There’s nothing wrong Raphael. I’m fine.” My voice was emotionless. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Come on.”

He picked me up as if I weighed nothing, carrying me bridal style. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck and hid my face.

He carried me up until we were seated side by side on the top of an apartment building, staring out at the city below.

“I’m really sorry.” Raph voices after a while. “I never meant to hurt you. I’m not good at all this talking and feeling shit. Never was.”

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, or put my problems on you.” I admitted.

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for, what we are all here for. Y/n, you mean a lot to us... to me.”

“I just cause problems,” I mumbled, hugging my knees.

“No, I cause problems sweetheart. It’s my thing. It’s what I do.” I could hear the smirk in his voice. “And you 100% do not cause problems. If anything you help. My brothers need you. I... I need you.”

I fell silent at his admittance.

“I need you too Red,” I gave him a small smile.

We settled into a comfortable silence for a while.

“Why are you always so at odds with Leo? It’s it because if the rivalry or...?” I mused.  

Raph looked away and laughed sheepishly.

“It was that for a while. Then it kinda started to be about you.”

“Me? What did I...?” I felt very insecure all of a sudden.

“Nothin. You didn’t do anything sweets. Leo... he told me to stay away from you. That I would scare you too much. He never bothered to tell me why. I had no idea...” he trailed off lost in thought.

“So why did that bother you?” I thought out loud.

He laughed nervously again.

“Pretty girl stumbles into my home and I’m not allowed to get to know her because of what I am. Gets me pretty pissed. Especially when she’d just run to Leo every time she came back crying and hurt.”

I looked down, not knowing what to say.

“Only to find out that this same pretty girl has some fire to her and isn’t afraid to tell a monster like me to fuck off. That she’s got her own shit to deal with and that’s why she never got close to me.” Raph sighed. “Nothin but a monster to her.”

“You’re not a monster Raph,” I whispered. Daring to look up I saw his green eyes trained on me. “I meant what I said. I’m not afraid of you. I’d never fear that you’d hurt me. Ever. You’re not a monster.” I repeated. “You’re actually pretty great.” I smiled up at him.

“That so?” He grinned.

I laughed and punched his arm.

“Don’t let it go to your head.” I teased.

We fell into another silence.

“You know how to fight don’t you?” Raph asked after I while. I nodded in response.

“Not like you guys obviously, but I grew up in a small redneck town. You learn a thing or two.”

“Then why don’t you ever fight back? Against him?” The turtle sounded confused next to me.

“I tried. A few times. And he called the cops on me...” I studied my hands in my lap. “I... I have no power around him. Either my mom yells at me for trying to fight back or I end up in a jail cell the entire night.”

“You seriously got arrested?”

I nodded and hugged my knees.

“You stop fighting after a while. Just take it, knowing you deserve it because you don’t do anything about it. Must be your fault then.” I muttered.

“No.” Raph almost growled.

I glanced up at him. His fists were clenched and he looked as if he were about to go and track down my brother himself. I cautiously reached out and took his hand. He looked down at me and sighed.

“It’s not your fault sweetheart. I swear it. The abuse... that’s never your blame.” Raph seemed to struggle for the right words.

I offered a small smile and leaned against him slightly.

“Thanks, Red.”

“What’s with that?”

“With what?”

“Calling me Red. You don’t call Leo blue or Donnie purple or nothing.” He explained.

“Oh. Uh. I dunno. Just suits you, I guess. I can stop...” I looked down at my hands.

“Don’t even think about it.” He smiled down at me. I mirrored his expression.

“You got it Red.”

Smiling, I closed my eyes and leaned against the giant turtle, finally relaxing for the first time in a long time.

“Alright, Let’s get you back home.” Raph encouraged.

Again he lifted me as if I weighed nothing and scaled down the building back home.

I could feel a gentle thrum coming from his chest and I didn’t exactly know what it was. It was a sort of gruff cat purr that lulled me to light sleep.  

“What did you do to her!?” I heard Leo accuse.

I felt Raph tense around me.

“Nothin.” He sneered.

“Bullshit.” Leo retorted.

“Leo stop.” I opened my eyes to see the blue-clad turtle inches away. “Please just stop it,” I begged. “It’s okay.”

Seeing the pleas in my eyes Leo backed down and let Raph pass through. My eyes drifted shut and didn’t reopen until I heard a door close behind me. I recognized the old hairband posters and neatly displayed Arsenal of Raph's room.

“Can you stand?” He asked softly. I gave a nod.

Once on my feet, I leaned on the turtle for support before finding my bearings. I smiled softly and turned to the turtle.

“Thanks.” I smiled.

“No, thank you, Darlin.” He smiled back.

Looking at the digital clock on his desk I sighed at the time.

“I need to get home,” I whispered.

“No, stay.”

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