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huhniebowl · 10 days

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Tomato Paste

dominic fike x reader

warning(s): nonee! well…he has an eyebrow piercing. again. it’s just gonna be canon for my fics now lmao

a/n: this is so cute, i loved writing and working on this omg. it was a little embarrassing to write i won’t lie, but here we are lmao.

i really am a slow writer, so i apologize for being so slow with your requests😭

i hope you love this, thank you for requesting! <3

"20 minutes, tops," You declare with your pointer finger, grabbing your purse and heading for the door.

"Can’t believe you forgot the tomato paste.” You mutter, slipping into your shoes, “Was probably starting at tits or something.”

Dominic raises an eyebrow, eyes lingering on your white tank top that’s tightly clinging to your body.

"Yeah, yours." He teases, locking his phone and winking at your boobs.

You gasp, clutching your shirt dramatically. "Fucking perv."

Dom pulls off his hoodie and tosses it over to you.

“20 minutes!” He reiterates. “I didn’t forget about that oat milk trip. We were there for damn near a decade.”

You laugh, that store trip was a disaster. You couldn’t decide on what brand was better. You ended up getting none of them and Dom was shivering by the time you left because he lended you his sweatshirt while in the dairy section.

“Yeah, yeah!” You call back, tugging on his hoodie.

“It’s just tomato paste. I got this baby. Trust me.” You wink, snag his keys from the key bowl, and blow him a kiss before slamming the door behind you.

Your relationship is still new, blossoming beautifully at the five-month mark.

Every visit felt weightless, a comfortable ease settling between you. He has a worn green mug by the sink, its familiar chipped rim and, coffee stains a silent welcome every morning.

In your top drawer, boxers and a pair of his mismatched socks, faded blue with cartoon ninja turtles, peeks out from your panties.

And tucked in your living room bookshelf, a framed photo of the two of you at the beach when he officially asked to be your boyfriend.

He’s easily made himself at home.

You agreed to tell your parents about each other once you reached half a year. It was your idea, believing that you and Dominic would be well past the honeymoon phase by then.

Which was proved true by month four.

Dominic digs through the fridge and pulls out a bowl of fresh fruit you had washed and cut up earlier.

With a bottle of water tucked into his sweatpants pocket, he plops down on the living room couch, opens up Netflix, and starts an episode of Supernatural.

Despite knowing you’re gone, he still glances at the front door. He knows he shouldn’t be watching this without you, but the last episode you left off on was too good of a cliffhanger.

He’s about halfway through the show when an insistent jiggling of the front doorknob echos through the house.

Sam and Dean’s fight starts to blur as panic floods Dominic's vision. No way you were back already – He knows you said twenty minutes, but he didn’t think you were serious!

His palms are slick, the remote slipping and sliding in his cold sweat.

A frantic scramble, a muted click – Sam and Dean vanish. Throwing the remote, Dom snatches his phone, adopts a posture of casual indifference, and opens a random app.

The door creaks open, a sound that scrapes against his already frayed nerves.

"Hey babe," He manages, attempting nonchalance. Silence answers him.

Then his phone vibrates with a text.

You MY PARENTS R COMING TO THE HOUSE THEY HUNG UP BEFORE I COULD MENTION U kjhasjhdf IM SO SORRY I’m hurrying home now omg

His eyes scan the frantic message. A torrent of misspelled words tumbled across the screen, punctuated by a desperate string of emojis that only you would send.

His heart, already doing a nervous stutter, plummets straight to his stomach. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not yet.

“Holy fucking,” Dominic starts under his breath, but he’s cut off by a voice that an tone lower than his will ever be.

“What the fuck? Who the hell are you?”

“Shit.” He finishes.

Dominic steels himself, taking a deep breath and rising to his feet. A charming smile, practiced a thousand times over, plasters itself onto his face as he turns around to face your parents.

The first thing that strikes him is the resemblance you have to your mother. You share her eyes and cheekbones, though hers were softened by time, their edges less sharp than yours. Age has been kind to her; she radiates a quiet beauty that makes Dominic clench his fists.

Not to hide his nervousness, but to sedate a far away thought - a vision of you, years down the line, etched with the same kind aging your mother was graced with, perhaps with children by your side, their eyes mirroring yours, but with his nose.

"Um, this isn't exactly how I pictured our first meeting," Dominic begins, his voice a touch higher than usual. He clears his throat, the nervous chuckle a hollow sound.

"I'm Dominic. Dominic Fike. I've, uh, been dating your daughter for the past five months and a half."

He addresses them formally, and by your last name, extending a hand for a handshake. Their expressions are unreadable at the mention of his name, a blank canvas that sends a jolt of relief through him.

The last thing he needed was for them to recognize him from some outrageous thing he’s said on the internet. A shiver runs down his spine, a phantom memory of his last concert ramble.

How he hasn’t launched into a word vomit, or worse, blacked out entirely, is a mystery. Dealing with fame has its drawbacks - the unpredictable interviews he loathes, the constant fan interactions.

None, however, have ever felt this paralyzing.

His heart pounds frantically in his ears as your dad gives him a thorough once-over. It's narrows on his chest, lingers on his arms. He’s confused at the interest of his body, then his confusion morphs into a sickening realization.

He’s fucking shirtless.

"Fuck," He mutters under his breath.

Your dad's eyebrows shoot up. He eyes your boyfriend as if he just declared his love for a rival sports team.

"Excuse me, son?" Dominic winces. A cold sweat prickles his skin. He flinches back and yanks his outstretched hand like he’s been burned. He throws a desperate glance at your mom, silently begging for her help.

She's been quiet the whole time. But when she meets Dominic's eyes, a small smile graces her lips. She rests a calming hand on your dad's shoulder.

"Why don't you go freshen up," She suggests, voice soft. "Maybe put on a shirt, and then we’ll go from there.”

Dominic nods vigorously.

"Yes ma’am of course, good call. So so sorry." He practically sprints towards your room, throwing another mumbled apology over his shoulder.

"Did you see the face tats? The Xs on his eyelids? That damn eyebrow piercing?" He hears your dad whisper yell to your mom.

Dominic closes your bedroom door shut, finally allowing himself to exhale the breath he didn't know he was holding.

He leans against the door, head tilted back in defeat, when another horrifying thought hits him.

It's laundry day.

And before you left, you'd tossed the first load in the washer. The load that, of course, included all the clothes he's left at your place. The hoodie he gave you before you left was the last clean thing he had.

"This can't be happening," He whispers, dragging a hand down his face. He stumbles over to the closet and flicks on the light. Panic clouds his judgment. Scanning your clothes, he snatches the first thing he sees folded on the top shelf.

Your baby pink sweatshirt.

He's just pulling it on when he hears the front door open again. Your voice, laced with slight urgency, filters through.

He lets out a deep breath, not bothering to check his reflection, and jogs out of the room.

He rounds the corner and sees you. Relief washes over him, momentarily melting his anxiety. You turn from your parents at the sound of his footsteps, about to launch into an apology, but the words die on your lips.

The moment he's close enough, Dominic practically throws himself at you, burying his face in your neck. He doesn't care that your parents are watching. He was just short of possibly passing out, and all he craves is the comfort you always seem to radiate.

You understand instantly, and glare at your parents over his shoulder.

Your arms tighten around Dominic's lower back as you stroke his hair with a comforting hand. You feel him relax against you, and turn your face to plant a soft kiss on his head.

"You okay?" You murmur against his hair.

Dominic manages a small nod, but he doesn't stay wrapped in you for as long as he'd like. Steeling himself, for the umpteenth time today, he straightens up, and faces your parents.

With a newfound confidence blooming in his chest with you by his side, he clears his throat.

“I really apologize for earlier. I wasn’t expecting to meet you both so soon.” He reaches out for your hand. His voice holds a hint of nervousness, but he sounds sure of himself now.

“I love your daughter very much and go above and beyond to make sure she knows that.” He continues, his gaze flickers between your parents. "I hope in time you both will see that."

You beam with pride at your boyfriend's attempt to win over your folks. Your dad, however, remains unconvinced, a furrow etched between his brows. Your mom, on the other hand, wears a blinding smile.

An awkward silence stretches, punctuated only by the rhythmic ticking of a wall clock. Finally, your mom swats the back of your dad's head. He yelps, bewildered, before his eyes dart between you and your mom. Throwing his hands up, he finally speaks up,

"There’s still much to unpack here. And frankly, those tats and piercings are ridiculous." Dominic shrugs and nods - rubbing the back of his neck.

"But," Your dad breathes, a hint of a begrudging smile playing on his lips, "You seem to have won my daughter over. And since she's basically a carbon copy of me, I trust her judgment."

You and your mom roll your eyes.

Your dad’s eyes then drop to Dominic's sweatshirt. His right eyebrow shoots up as he grumbles something under his breath, then shakes his head in defeat before stalking off towards the kitchen.

You glance down at your boyfriends long sleeve, your eyes widening in realization. Your hand flys to cover your mouth.

Your mom watches your dad go, a hint of amusement in her eyes. She then turns to Dominic, a warm smile still gracing her lips.

"Welcome to the family, hun," She says, squeezing his arm. The gesture sends pure relief through him. He manages to smile back.

"Thank you," He squeezes her hand back, voice genuine. "Happy to be here."

Your mom nods curtly and follows after your dad into the kitchen. The moment she's out of earshot, you drop your hand and let out a loud, unrestrained laugh. Dominic gives you a look, assuming it was fueled by his earlier distress.

"Maybe pay a little more attention next time you raid my closet," You wheeze, doubling over as you lean on his shoulder for support.

That's when it hits him. He remembers your dad's gaze at his shirt. He looks down in haste.

Stitched in bright pink threading and surrounded by a ridiculous amount of hearts and sparkles were the words: "FIKE'S BABYDOLL."

"Oh come the fuck on," He groans.

What the hell even was this last hour.

He glances down at you, now sprawled on the floor, tears wetting your face from laughter. The sound is infectious, and before he can help it, a smile spreads across his face.

“Yeah okay, did you get the tomato paste atleast?”

You stop laughing.

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xtreklx · 8 months

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Low ~ Raphael x reader

One-shot: bayverse Raphael x reader Word count: 3.7k Warnings: cursing, mature themes, and slight NSFW, so this one is rated 18+ (minors DNI, see my masterlist for disclaimer) A/N: holy Toledo this one's a doozy. I've been working on it for a while, and it's def one of my favorite things I've written so far (at least, for now..). loosely based on the song Low by SZA, and lyrics are included in the text where I see fit. also I added color-coded dialogue for funsies. thank you guys for all the love on my stuff, and I hope you enjoy :)

__________

As a young, blossoming adult, your life so far has been overall steady. It staggers here and there, of course: moving in waves as life often does. But for the most part, it is everlasting mundanity. Your early twenties are supposed to be where it begins to roar; when you obtain the dizzying adrenaline and overwhelming fear of free will. Empty wallets, fleeting romances, broken hearts, anxiety, love, hurt. These emotions are meant to be felt, and life is not lived without them.

So, as life would have it, your steady mundanity was indeed set ablaze in your early twenties, when you fell in love with someone you had originally thought you hated.

Some might call that cliché. But, in actuality, not quite.

You had been friends with the mutant ninja turtles for years, ever since they saved New York City from the infamous Kraang attack of 2016. Your father was a police officer, and you had all met at the post-battle award ceremony and celebration. You and the turtles were 17 at the time, and you saw them repeatedly after that as they continued to work with the NYPD. Over time, you grew to become the friends you were now.

Well, not all of you. From your first encounter with the brawny brother in red, you discovered that he had quite the knack for pushing your buttons. While Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello became some of your closest friends in the world, Raphael did everything he could to block you out. He was argumentative, temperamental, and unpredictable. You two could fight about anything: what kind of toppings to put on pizza, DC vs. Marvel, song or movie choice, even knitting patterns. The two of you were always bickering, always finding some way to make a snide comment or butt heads about something. You couldn't stand him, and the feeling was very obviously mutual.

On the topic of heads: flash forward five years later, when it finally came to one. You had been spending a lot more time with your turtle friends after finishing off your online degree program. While you were happy this was the case, the tension between you and Raphael seemed to be growing the more often you were around.

One day, the guys had gone out on their regularly scheduled patrol, with Raph staying behind because of a particularly nasty fight with Leo. You were waiting in the lair for them to return so that you could have your weekly movie night, but you were growing bored, and Master Splinter was nowhere to be found. Thus, you made the difficult decision to go bother Raph as he worked out in the dojo.

When he saw you approaching his bench, he groaned through a rep, his eyes rolling back into his head. "What do ya want, shortstack?" He grumbled as he continued to bench press his barbell, the veins in his big, green arms flaring with each movement.

You crossed your arms over your chest and huffed. "Save it, meat head. The more entertaining members of this family are gone, so I'm stuck here with you and nothing else to do. So..." You paused for a moment, watching as a scowl grew on his face while he continued his reps. "Do you want a spot.. or something?"

Raphael let out a breathy laugh as he set the barbell down back onto the stand. "Easy, tiger," He spoke as he sat up on his bench, side-eyeing you. "Even if you could lift this bar, I sure as shit ain't letting ya spot me. You'd purposefully drop it on my head before I could even bat my eyes at ya."

Your arms uncrossed and your hands went to your hips as you took a step closer to the red-masked brute. "Pssh, like I'd ever let you bat your eyes at me. I'd gouge out my own eyeballs before that could happen."

He scoffed up at you as he began to unwrap the bandages on his hands, which had been protecting his calluses from the aggressive texture of the metal bar. "Gee, yer a real charmer, aren't ya?" he questioned sarcastically, slightly under his breath. "Must be why you gotta line of men falling at your feet. Someone's gotta tame the tiger."

The dig at your love life (or rather, lack of one) made your face heat up, and you clenched your fists at your sides, taking another step closer to the brute. After all these years of bickering and insults, you were finally nearing your limit. "God, I try to be civil with you for one single day and you're a total asshole for no reason. What's your damage, Raph?"

Raphael whipped his head to you, the bandages he had just finished unwrapping long forgotten as he tossed them to the floor. He stood up from his bench as he spoke, taking a step towards you. "Ain't that easy. Yer my damage, sweetheart. Always have been, always will be."

"Oh, yeah?" You two stood not even a foot apart, and you were glaring up at him with the most intimidating look you could muster. "And just what exactly is your problem with me?" You could feel your heart rate increasing from the growing tension in the room. The air surrounding you felt like it had been injected with adrenaline, and you felt your temperature rising by the second. "Another easy one," Raph growled, looming over you. "You annoy the shit outta me, and ya never know when to shut yer goddamn mouth."

Your rage was increasing by the second, and by the fumes you felt radiating off of his mutant green form, you could say the same for the turtle in red. You were practically pressed against each other, him with a scowl on his face and you with a fire in your eyes. Your chest puffed up, and the words were out of your mouth before you could have a second thought.

"I bet you'd like to make me, wouldn't ya?"

It was silent after that. After quickly thinking it over, you almost gasped aloud at the implications of your words. The eye contact changed from a heated stare battle to his hazel eyes dominating, searching yours. You had been feeling very confident up until this moment, but that sentence alone caused the confidence to wither away, confusion at yourself taking its place. What the fuck did I just say?

Raphael's snarl had changed into a look of surprise. Confusion. And then back to anger.

With a frustrated grunt, he grabbed your waist and smashed his lips to yours.

And that was the kerosene to the match that set your young adult life ablaze.

The kiss was all burning rage, gory passion. It was tongues brushing and teeth clashing and a harsh grip on your waist and an even harsher grip on the tough, scaled skin of his shoulders. It was embers and flames and then the roar of a forest fire.

You couldn't help the sounds that the kiss drew from deep within your chest. You didn't know how or why, but your soft lips fit oh so perfectly against his rough, scarred ones. Your mouths moved together in a harmonious rhythm despite the chaos, even as he gripped you by your thighs and carried you to his bedroom, as if you had practiced this a hundred times before. It felt like second nature to kiss Raphael, even though this was your first time doing so.

And you hated that you felt that way.

What followed could, in no universe, be described as love-making. It was desperate and reckless ecstasy, a steaming release of the fury and tension you had been feeling towards one another for all these years. It could be seen in the way your nails clawed at his tough skin, in the way he pounded himself in and out of you, in the way your needy moans synchronized with his low grunts, in the way you clenched ever so tightly around him as he filled you with himself; it was aggressive, rough, almost mean.

You and Raph stilled for a moment after it was all over, breathing heavily and not saying a word, when you suddenly heard commotion coming from the living room. You made eye contact quickly, eyes widened, before scrambling to get dressed and cleaned up. You scurried out of his room and into the hallway, making it look to the returning brothers like you had been merely using the bathroom. And neither one of you spoke of it.

If you see me out in public, you don't know me, keep it silent In the bedroom, I be screamin', but outside, I keep it quiet Keep it on lowski, I'm the lowest of the lowest Wanna see if you can keep it like nobody know shit

The months that followed held similar tales of hidden passion. You and Raph never outright discussed what was transpiring, but assumed the unspoken rule of not mentioning it to his brothers. You continued to hang out with them when you could; on movie nights, you told them that you liked to wait in the lair for them to return from patrol so that you could eat all the popcorn without them. If Raphael stayed back from patrol, you snuck into his room or the dojo with a sarcastic remark and a smug look to annoy him to the point of 'teaching you a lesson'. If one of you was feeling particularly desperate to let off some steam, he would sneak out to your apartment on their nights off, telling his brothers that he was going to go get some air to 'clear his mind'. No matter what time he called or texted, you answered. It was almost like an addiction; you couldn't get enough of each other, and you couldn't deny how the other was able to satisfy you perfectly.

You know how to reach me every time and it plays in your mind With a rush that feels like we committin' a crime You know where you belong, I'm gon' save you a spot But we can't be outside 'cause the block is too hot And I'm all on your mind...

At first, as stubborn as you both were, you kept up your gig of hating each other, despite the passion you were displaying. Between kisses and within sexual acts, your bickering continued relentlessly. "Wow, ya didn't even wear panties today. Gettin' desperate, are we?" "By the looks of your crotch right now, I don't think I'm the desperate one, dumbass." "Ya better watch yer fuckin' mouth." "Why, Red? Can't handle the heat?" "Oh, I'm boutta show ya heat, sweetheart."

It was a balancing act, both of you trying not to break face and show the other how much you were enjoying these rendezvous of yours. Pride is a crazy thing, however, and as the situation went on, it began to manifest itself in other ways.

Raphael was the one to start it, about a month into the endeavor. He couldn't help himself; after a day of arguing with Leo and feeling like a disappointment, he sought you out to release his frustrations. And the way you looked writhing and whining above him (as he munched like his life depended on it) had him feeling real smug. His hazel eyes watched you as he worked, the liquid gold shining with mischief. When he came up for air, his hands still keeping busy, the pride emerged.

"Anyone else make ya feel like this, doll?" He asked, his low voice scraping your ears like gravel, a dark smirk spreading across his face. "Tell me. Can anyone else make ya feel this good?" You had rolled your eyes and scoffed in the moment, but couldn't help the moans that continued to emerge from your mouth at his actions, clenching the sheets beneath you. He saw your bratty behavior and abruptly halted his movement, holding your hips still so that you were trapped. "Answer the damn question, or I'm stoppin'." You squirmed for a moment, whining, but your need had consumed you like a demon. "No!" You yelped. "No one else makes me feel this good, Raph! No one else makes me feel like you do! Please don't stop, please!" You wouldn't have called it begging after the fact, but he most certainly did.

After that, something shifted. Sure, your sessions were still utilized for tension release, but there was more of a possession between you two than there had been before. The two of you were hanging out more often than you ever had. The bickering lessened, and in its place was validation, need, and your names on each others' lips. The contact grew more tender, and the conversations afterwards were more joke-y and only held friendly fire.

"So... do ya wanna put on that movie you were tellin' me about the other day?" "Wow, you wanna watch a movie with me? You must reallyyyyyyy enjoy spending time with me, Red~" "To be honest, I'm not here for you, I'm just here for the take out I know yer gonna end up orderin' later." "I love this hot n cold thing we have going on here. It's really turning me on." "Yer such a fuckin' goofball."

Between the two of you grew a mutual respect, an understanding, a cooperation: a love.

You found yourself thinking of things you wanted to tell Raph about when he wasn't around, and craving his input when you sought him out for advice. You yearned for the sound of his gruff voice and his blunt choice of words that always made you laugh or eased your mind. He found himself longing for the random questions you asked him or the jokes you'd regularly crack (whether they were funny or not) and the angelic sound of your laughter. Neither of you told the other about these feelings you were having, but they continued to develop on both sides.

Raphael found himself pondering these feelings one day while hitting the bag in the dojo, growing frustrated with himself. You had been in the lair hanging out with his brothers, and he continued his workout routine in the interest of being discreet, but he longed for nothing more than to hang out with you. To just be with you like his brothers were right now.

Of course, a particular brother in blue was bothering him more than normal. Leo was closer to you today than he normally was: giving you long hugs, sitting close to you on the couch, making you laugh with his idiotic jokes. Raph scoffed as he heard your laugh from the living room now, throwing an extra aggressive jab. What did Leo know, anyway? He'd bet that he could make you laugh twice as hard. He stopped, annoyed with himself for being so worked up, and stepped away to grab a towel and some water.

As he made his way over to the mini fridge to grab a bottle, he was surprised to see you making your way over to him. Normally, on nights like these, he didn't expect anything from you besides your staged bickering until his brothers went to sleep or you went back to your apartment. You had a playful smile on your face as you approached the mini fridge, a message in your eyes that he couldn't quite make out, but goddamn he knew they were trying to say something to him.

"Hey, big guy. Leo sent me to grab some water," you looked up at him as you spoke, the smirk still on your face. And all the hope that Raph had felt in that moment dissipated, like popping a balloon. He scoffed at you, rolling his eyes before grabbing a water bottle and walking away.

"Wait, woah. What's the matter?" He heard you ask from behind him, confused. He shook his head as he walked. "Nothin's the matter," He spoke slightly under his breath, but you could still hear him. "Why don't ya just go back to Leo? You're all over him, anyway."

He heard your footsteps as you followed him over to his bench. "Hold up, do you have a problem with me hanging out with your brother?" Raph couldn't make eye contact as he turned around to face you, so he looked down at the ground and huffed, eye ridges furrowed. "Well, ya know me, and I don't like ta share. So if you're gonna hang out with him like that, then go ahead."

"And just what would you be sharing?" You stood your ground a couple of feet in front of him, arms crossing at your chest and a determined glint in your eye. "Be straight with me, Raph, 'cause it's time we talked about this. What's going on between us?" He let out a grunt, shocked at your sudden confrontation, but still refusing to make eye contact. "Obviously nothin', if yer gonna go hang with Leo like that."

You inhaled, trying to maintain your patience. From the proximity you now held with the turtle in red, you knew you wouldn't get anywhere by fighting back. "Let me rephrase that. What do you want to be going on between us?" Raph moved to turn away from you, huffing again. "I don't know! Geez!" He exclaimed, before you grabbed his large bicep. He faced you, his massive form towering over your frame as you stepped close to him. He finally looked into your eyes, and saw nothing but a genuine question. No teasing, no tormenting, just a silent plead.

"Hey, talk to me, Red. It's just me." You smiled softly, begging eyes searching his liquid gold ones for something, anything, to grab onto and run with. He let you for a moment, before looking down at the ground again, growing more and more frustrated with himself. He took a deep breath, and kept his gaze on the floor as he spoke.

"...I'm not very good with words, ya know that." He paused for a moment, making quick eye contact with you before looking back to the floor. "But I just... I like how this is goin'. How we're goin'... I like us together. I like bein' with ya, Y/N, and I just wanna do that without any of the other shit. I..." He stopped again, taking another deep breath. "I want to be with ya for real. And I'm sorry if I messed this up and that's not what ya want--"

"I want that, too, Raph," You cut him off with a rising smile on your face, not being able to wait any longer. "That's all I've been wanting to be honest. I should have mentioned it earlier." Raph returned his eyes up to your face, shock gracing his expression. "Wait, so yer not into Leo?" He questioned, slightly caught off guard. You rolled your eyes and gave him a playful shove. "No dumbass, I'm into you." He watched your smile grow into a beam, silent, before a smile began to grow on his face as well.

"God, finally," a voice exclaimed before Leo came out from behind the entrance of the dojo, walking up to the two of you. "It took you guys long enough. Even I was getting impatient." "Thanks buddy," you said to him, smiling as you guys bumped fists. Raphael watched the exchange, confused. "Wait... what?" He asked gruffly, eyes flicking between you and his brother. "You knew... about.. us?"

"Dude, we've all known for a while." Mikey shouted from the living room. Donnie walked past the entrance of the dojo and paused, a newly filled cup of coffee in his hand. "Yeah, you guys aren't exactly the most discrete," he said, before continuing his stroll back to his lab. Leo chuckled before turning back to his brother.

"I was tired of watching you guys sneak around, so I finally confronted Y/N about it last week, and she spilled the beans on how she felt about you. Something told me you felt the same way, call it a brotherly instinct. Or maybe it was all the times you not-so-secretly snuck off to her apartment." He gave his muscly brother a playful punch to the bicep. "So pardon me for playing matchmaker a little bit."

You took a step closer to Raph, hugging yourself around one of his arms and looking up at him through your lashes. "Yeah, I mayyyyyyy have gotten impatient and recruited Leo to help me move things along. That's why we were all cuddly today. But you don't mind, right?" You jokingly pressed him, batting your eyelashes.

He rolled his eyes at you and scoffed, removing you from his arm, but wrapped his arms around your waist instead of pushing you away. He pulled you from his side to his front, turning you to completely face him and ignoring his older brother present in the room. "Yeah, I guess it's fine or whateva," he fake-sighed, bringing you close to his plastron and leaning in toward you. You, too, leaned in, your arms reaching up to wrap around his neck.

"Okay, at least wait until I'm out of the room to start sucking face," Leo commented, turning around and booking it out of the dojo. The two of you turned your heads to watch him leave before facing each other again, glowing smiles on your faces.

"So... I guess I tamed the tiger, huh?" He teased gruffly, nudging his snout into your cheek. You giggled, a mischievous glint reaching your eyes. "Who said anything about tame?" You teased back, playing with the ends of his blood red mask.

"That's my girl," he murmured, before smashing his lips into yours.

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tangledinink · 9 months

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Chapter Twenty-Five of I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? is now up! There's a certain theme in this chapter you'll never guess what it is. Read it on ao3 or below the cut.

[ prev ]

“Alright. So,”

Mikey stared up at his older brother curiously, leaning against Leo slightly, the two of them settled down on the couch. Donnie was perched on the arm of the opposite side, slumped slightly and tapping away at his phone-- but also clearly listening to their eldest brother, stood up before them in the Lair as if he was about to give a presentation.

“About the whole… turtle thing,”

Donnie immediately sighed, making a face, and Raph threw up his hands in protest.

“I ain’t even said anything yet!” He cried, exasperated, and Donnie shot him a dry look.

“Yes, and I already dislike it.”

“Aw, come on, Dee, give him a chance!” Mikey protested, picking his head up so he could offer Raph an encouraging little grin. He knew this wasn’t exactly, like, a favored topic of discussion in the household, but it wasn’t like they could just ignore it, either! At least not all the time.

“Okay, so, I’ve been thinkin’ about it a lot lately, and don’t y’all kind of think that it might sort of be… safer?”

“No,” Donnie said.

“Donnie…!”

“He has a point!” Mikey protested, crossing his arms over his chest. “I mean, we have shells when we’re all turtley. If Raph had been a turtle on our last ninja mission, his ribs wouldn’t have gotten all messed up!”

“Exactly!” Raph said, pointing, seeming very pleased that at least one of his brothers was offering some support. “Look, I know you guys don’t like it, and that’s… fine! I mean, I’m not askin’ ya to like it! I just think, maybe, it’s somethin’ we should consider for at least, like… ninja mission stuff?”

Leo wrinkled his nose, seeming unconvinced to say the least.

“I dunno,” he said. “I mean. Yeah, sure, I guess, arguably, they’re a bit more sturdy, but… we’re not really used to even walking in those bodies yet. Let alone fighting! I know adrenaline is a kickass drug and all, but doesn’t it kind of seem like more risk than it’s worth?”

“You still can’t walk?” Mikey questioned, giving Leo a curious look, his brows furrowed.

Leo paused, slowly turning his head to give Mikey a long stare, his expression strained.

“... Excuse me?”

Mikey frowned, tilting his head to the side. “I can help if you want! It’s not that hard once you get the hang of--”

“I’m sorry,” Donnie interrupted, his head snapping around. “Are you implying that you have been spending your free time willingly futzing around in a mutant turtle body just for the fun of it?”

Now it was Mikey’s turn to stare, his head bobbing around from brother to brother, trying to see if either of them were joking-- waiting for someone to say psyche.

Wait, were they for real?

“... None of you have checked yourself out in turtle form at all?” He gawked.

“No! Why would we?!” Leo cried, throwing up his hands.

“‘Cause! That’s, like, us!” Mikey argued, throwing his hands up in turn, imitating his brother. “You’re seriously telling me you’re not even a little bit curious!? You guys are all just ignoring it!? We find out that we have magick mutant animal forms, like, freakin’ animorphs, and you don’t even wanna bother seeing if we have any cool powers or turtle abilities or anything?!”

“Have you actually read the Animorph books? Because if you did I’m pretty sure--”

“That’s not the point!” Mikey interrupted Donnie with a whine. “When I’m a turtle, I can, like, go inside my shell! If some bad guy was trying to, like, stab me or something, I’d be totally screwed,” he argued, crossing his arms firmly over his chest with a pout. “But if I was a turtle, I could just pop into my shell and I’d be totally okay!”

“I cannot believe what I’m hearing right now,” Leo muttered. “We find out that we’re secretly freakish mutant reptiles, and you think it’s a fun hobby--”

“I’m not saying that, Leo!” Mikey protested. “But what’s the point in just ignoring it? If you don’t check it out, you’re never gonna get used to it. Besides, Raph is right!”

“Thank you, Mikey,” Raph sighed. “You guys don’t have to do it all the time or anything! I just think… It might be a worthwhile option to explore. I don’t want anyone getting hurt,” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes kind of sweeping over them all, as if he were making sure they were all still here and uninjured and accounted for.

“Plus, it’s kind of cool once you get over the whole, like, world-shattering parts of it!” Mikey chirped, moving to grab at his bracelet. “Here, watch, lookit what I can do--”

Both twins immediately slapped hands over their eyes, loudly protesting in tandem.

“Don’t you dare--!”

“I am not looking and you cannot make me--”

“Hamato Michelangelo if you take off that fucking bracelet right now I will murder you--”

“I am OPTING OUT, thank you VERY MUCH, we are so not doing this today!!!” Mikey blinked in surprise, and then absolutely scowled, releasing his hold on the bracelet. Oh, so Donnie could go have a breakdown in the Hidden City in his turtle form, but he wasn’t allowed to show them his shell thing!? So unfair…

“You guys are being babies!”

“Nope! Nope, not today! I’m out! Fuck this!” Leo responded, hopping up to his feet and making a hasty retreat towards the Lair stairs. “You play turtle all you want, I am not involved!”

“Agreed,” Donnie huffed, and he was right behind his twin.

And then there were two of them left in the Lair.

Mikey sulked, sinking back down onto the couch and pursing his lips. “Aw, come on…”

Raph watched the other two go, laughing kind of nervously before he hesitantly moved to join the other, sitting down beside him. “Sorry, big man,” he said, ruffling his hair gently. “You can still show Raph if you want?”

Mikey sighed. “Maybe later,” he said, wrinkling up his nose. “I thought they’d at least be kind of okay with it by now! I mean, it’s been how long?”

“I think it’s just… a little harder for them than it is for you,” Raph said with a weak shrug, hesitating a bit, and Mikey frowned, turning his head slightly so he could catch Raph’s eyes.

“What about you?”

Raph laughed sort of nervously, looking to the side.

“Well. I mean. I don’t… like it. I mean. I ain’t you. But it’s… it’s… alright. I mean. I meant what I said! It might be good for us. Keep us safe ‘n all.”

Mikey raised a brow. “And…?”

Raph hesitated for a bit, and sighed. “I mean. Look, Mikey, it’s a little… scary. I’m a lot bigger than you guys! And… sharper!”

“Yeah, but you’re always bigger than us!” Mikey protested, leaning against his brother, burrowing up against him.

“Yeah, I know,” Raph said. “And that was scary once, too. But it’s… It’s fine. I dealt with it,” he said, shrugging a little, frowning to himself. “So now I just gotta…” He broke off briefly, setting his expression for a moment. “Now I just gotta learn it again. That’s all.”

He sighed very softly. And Mikey frowned a little.

“I’m used to being big and scary. I’m used to people being afraid of me sometimes,” he said. “So. It’s nothin’ I can’t handle.”

“Yeah, but…” Mikey began slowly, kind of shrugging a bit. “I mean. We’ve never been scared of you or anything. You know that, right? We don’t care if you’re bigger than us,” he pointed out. “We never have! And we don’t care if you’re spiky, either, I mean… all our turtle forms are weird.”

Raph forced a small laugh.

“Yeah. Yeah, I know,” he said, sort of waving off his concerns. “That’s not… I mean. I dunno, Mikey, it’s just sorta complicated. I mean. There’s just kinda… there’s less things you can be when you’re big, you know?” He said slowly, resting his chin in his hand. “It’s… you know. It’s hard, sometimes. Being strong and careful at the same time. Even when people aren’t careful with you. And making sure you don’t hurt anyone and… all that.” His eyes looked a tiny bit far off for a moment, like he was remembering something. “And… you guys can kinda do whatever you want! You can be all… little or bouncy or feminine or cute or delicate or whatever the hell else, and you just… can’t really do that stuff when you’re big. Once you get big enough, you just kinda gotta… There’s just stuff you can’t do anymore.”

Mikey paused a moment.

This was… the first he was ever hearing of this.

Was this… really how Raph thought?

“Yeah, you can!” He protested, his brows twitching a bit, furrowing as he stared up at his brother. “Raph, of course you can be all that stuff! Why couldn’t you!?”

Raph scoffed, shooting the other this little half-hearted half-smile. “Well, I mean, I guess I technically can? It’s just not as simple as it is for you guys,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I mean, you guys can do half of that stuff without even trying! And no one would even bat an eye. But it’s just… It’s not really the same for me? It’s like…” he scoffed softly, seeming almost amused. “Raph can pick up the rest of ya, but none of you could pick up Raph! It’s a little different!”

Mikey pursed his lips, giving Raph a pointed scowl.

“Well, you’ve never let any of us try,” he argued. And Raph laughed.

“Yeah, ‘cause you’d hurt yourself!” He teased, and Mikey socked him in the arm without too much heat to it.

“You don’t know that! We’re way stronger than we look!” He insisted. “And all that other stuff! I mean-- you could totally do that stuff, Raph! Just because you’re bigger doesn’t mean you can’t be cute!!! What kind of--!? I mean!!! Raph!!!”

He jumped forward, grabbing onto his brother’s face so he could stretch and squish his cheeks angrily.

“You’re already cute all the time, idiot!!! You don’t have to be small to be cute!!! That’s stupid!!!”

Raphael scoffed, laughing loudly, trying to bat Mikey away, though Mikey was suddenly aware, in a way that he usually wasn’t, that he was taking care to temper his strength. He wasn’t just batting at Mikey the way Mikey would bat at him. Every movement he made was careful and deliberate and planned. He thought about every jab or swipe that he made at his siblings.

Mikey was almost ashamed that he had never thought about his before.

He was never gentle with Raph when he jumped on him or grabbed at him or climbed on his shoulders because it never felt like he had to be. Raph was over a foot taller than him. He probably had at least a hundred pounds on him. Mikey had always been the smallest, and while he certainly wasn’t weak by any means, Raph was a goddamn wall of muscle. An unstoppable force! He had never met anything that Raph couldn’t push and bend and sway if he tried hard enough. So every time they met an obstacle, they all just… looked at him and waited for him to take care of it.

He… Yeah.

He was big.

Mikey supposed he had always looked at his brother and came to that conclusion, and then never thought any further on the subject. He had always expected Raph to be big and strong and sturdy. He had never wondered if he wanted to be anything else.

Why did he do that?...

Mikey let go of Raph, and he climbed back down off of him, sitting next to him on the couch instead of half on top of him. And he sighed deeply.

“You’re not scary,” Mikey said after a second, blinking slowly as he slowly settled back down on the couch. “And you can do all that other stuff, if you want to. We would let you,” he pressed. And he frowned, and he kept quiet for a moment.

“... I’m sorry it feels harder,” he finally said, tilting his head to the side slightly. “And… we’re not always careful with you.”

Raph stared at him for just half a second, hesitating for only the slightest moment before laughing again and waving him off. “What are you talkin’ about? You don’t gotta apologize, none of ya’ did anything wrong! This is Raph’s thing. It ain’t your problem,” he insisted, but Mikey wasn’t so sure that that was exactly the case.

He would work on it.

Because Mikey was suddenly so, so sure that this was something he wanted to fix. And something that he could do.

This was still the something that he could give to them.

“Still,” Mikey finally said, shrugging a bit and taking a long breath before getting up to his feet. “Do you still wanna see me do the shell thing? It’s really cool!” He offered, wiggling his brows at his older brother, and he chuckled in reply, nodding.

“Yeah. Yeah, sure, big man, show me your thing,” he invited, and Mikey grinned.

---

“Raph!” Mikey chirped excitedly, spinning around on his heels so that his back was facing the older brother. “Here! Les’ play piggyback!”

“Okay!” Raph agreed easily, absolutely beaming at the invitation, wasting no time in scampering over to Mikey. Their trip to the zoo, which had so far been absolutely abound with all sorts of excitement, to Mikey’s absolute delight, had taken a short departure from the previous energy while their dad tried to calm a squabble between his other two brothers. This was a bit less to Mikey’s delight. He wasn’t really sure what they were carrying on about, ‘cause he hadn’t really be paying attention. Those two were always fighting about something. He thought maybe it was about hair? Whatever. The point was, just sitting here and listening to them whine was boring.

But playing piggybacks?! That was fun! They could make a game out of it or something--

“Jump on--”

Their dad paused from his current task in peacemaking, however, just long enough to grab Raph by the shoulder right as he was about to make good on his baby brother’s invitation and jump on top of Mikey’s back. Before it even began, the game came to a grinding halt.

“You’re too big for that, Red, you’ll hurt him,” Dad bit out quickly, sparing them the most momentary of glances. “Play a different game.”

And just like that, he was back to his previous duty, trying to talk the twins through their latest drama in between their protests and tears.

Mikey paused, blinking in surprise as he processed this.

They couldn’t play piggyback? But…

“No fair…” He whimpered, his lower lip wobbling a little. He wanted to pretend he was a Jupiter Jim spaceship or something! And Raph could’ve been Jupiter Jim!

Raph hesitated visibly, glancing between their dad and Mikey, his brows furrowed. And after a minute, he sort of forced a smile, leaning over to grab Mikey and shake his arm a bit.

“That’s okay, Mikey! I don’t have to piggyback you,” he assured quickly. “You can just piggyback me, instead! Raph doesn’t mind. That way we can still play! Alright?”

And Mikey grinned.

---

Okay. Alright. You can do this. It’s not a big deal. You have this totally under control--

Donnie’s hand lingered over the bracelet on his wrist.

And then at the last second, he flinched away like he had just been bitten, a short, high-pitched whine escaping him as a full-body shiver ran up and down his body. Nope, nope, nope!!! He did not have it!!! It was a big deal, actually, ugh, no, no, no, just thinking about it felt gross. How the hell was he supposed to consider this when just the idea made his stomach flip!?

Donnie growled softly in annoyance, laying his head down on his desk with a solid thunk, glaring down at the polished surface as if it were personally responsible.

God. It just felt so fucking alien.

Had they really spent the first five years of their lives like that?

No matter how much evidence was piled up in front of him, Donnie still struggled to wrap his mind around such an idea. I mean, that was practically a third of his life! And he just forgot about it?! He had a near-photographic memory! How did something like that happen!?

Part of him wanted to not believe it at all. It would certainly be easier to be in denial.

But, much to his annoyance, far too many things just… made sense.

He had too many memories, some recently resurfaced and some long-ago explained away, to simply dismiss the idea. He felt pretty stupid thinking about it now, quite frankly. Yeah, of course normal kids don’t have memories of ‘playing pretend’ in sci-fi movie-magic high-def like that!!! Obviously!!! None of his other memories were like that, were they!? When they would pretend to be Jupiter Jim or Lou Jitsu or whatever when they were older, it was exactly that, wasn’t it? Just them-- just kids playing make-believe games.

And yet he had just accepted the easiest thing. The most logical, most reasonable thing was just to believe that memories were weird and leave it at that, and that their early childhood was probably kind of fucked up, but human the entire time, and go from there.

Because… of course it was. Obviously, it was. Anything else would have been insane!

It was still insane. Even if it was, apparently, the truth of the matter.

It had been so much easier to blame all the freaky things they did as kids on something else. He and Raph bit people like feral pomeranians as kids simply because they hadn’t had the chance to socialize with other children before, of course. Not because they were carnivorous reptiles, prone to bouts of hunting instincts taking over. And he and his siblings got so sleepy in the cold and adored their heated blankets simply because poor circulation ran in the family. Not because they were literally made of cold-blooded creatures! That would be crazy. And Leo and he’s penchant for communicating entirely in animalistic clicks and chirps throughout early childhood-- a habit that still lingered even now? It was a twin thing, obviously, and nothing else. Because that would be crazy!

Not them literally talking to each other in fucking turtle or anything!

‘Cause how the hell would that work?

How the hell else would Leo fucking squeaking at you make sense, dum-dum? He thought bitterly to himself. It had been years and years now since they had properly employed their ‘twin language,’ but Donnie was pretty sure that it had never been a proper language at all. It wasn’t like they had any words in it, or they ever discussed what certain noises meant beforehand, at least not that he could recall…

But they could still always understand what the other was saying regardless, couldn’t they?

Donnie groaned softly, lifting his head back up just so that he could rub at his temples. Christ, thinking about all of this was just giving him a migraine. He quietly asked the universe what he had ever done to it for them to make his life a fucking joke. What was this, a parody of some Marvel comic or something!?

He hated thinking about it.

But…

He reached for his wrist again.

He touched the little crystal, his fingertips just barely brushing the surface.

He quite nearly gagged, another horrid shudder running up his spine as he spiraled back into a retreat. Ugh, god, he couldn’t just not think about it, either! Every hair on his body was standing on end, and he grit his teeth, forcing himself to start reciting pi in his head instead. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

He ran his fingers across the seams of the compression sleeves on his arms, reminding himself that they were there before he quickly turned back to his computer, snapping open several files and syncing up his headphones with the bluetooth.

He smacked the play button, and whatever random EDM playlist he had queued up on Spotify immediately began blaring through his ears, drowning out everything else.

Much better.

He sighed deeply, narrowing his eyes slightly as his gaze roamed over the screen. It was fine. He was fine! All he needed was a distraction for a little bit.

He had already made a decent amount of headway in trying to recreate Baron Draxum’s research, translating and decoding everything he could remember from the notes he had reviewed and documented in his lab. It was patchworked at best, but it was the only solid information he really had on the mutation project…

That, and himself.

Donnie set his jaw, scrolling his way through the data sheets he had compiled.

He had made some decent headway. But he could always make some more.

---

Quite frankly, Leo had felt, like… great recently? Which was pretty insane, given the general state of things, and also how fucking awful he had felt not the long ago. And, like, sure, things were still kind of rough and he wasn’t exactly tickled about the whole situation, but somehow, at the same time, everything was just…

So good.

He had really only been on T for a few weeks, so he was pretty much sure that nothing had actually changed yet and it was in his head, but he had literally never felt so fucking good about himself before. His brothers had taken the time to inform him of how fucking insufferable he and his ego had become, and Leo didn’t even care, because damn right he looked good and obviously everyone should know about it, too! He had started taking about eight million selfies every day because he wanted to document the process, Dee, it’s science, I’m coming for your brand, shouldn’t you be supportive of this kinda thing?

But it was just, like… even if nothing had changed yet, at least not noticeably, it was… It was going to. It was an active work in progress and he was just so goddamn thrilled about it. And like, yes, okay, things were weird and kind of scary right now and he was spending a lot of time doing ninja training and trying to stop the actual literal end of the world, or whatever, and that was sort of a lot of pressure? But here was the thing-- and he would never admit it out loud--

But he sort of didn’t mind any of it.

Because yeah, all the ‘ninja training’ stuff was difficult and boring sometimes, but he got to do it with his family.

And, like, yeah, some of the stakes here? Were a lot, and it was terrifying if he thought about it too hard.

But him and his siblings and his dad? They were all doing it together.

If word that he was enjoying hanging out with his family ever got out, obviously his rep would be ruined, so he had to take it to his grave. But he was. He was, like… happy. Happier than he had been in a while, in between everything else, in between the worry about his dad and the concern for his siblings, sure, but he was also, like…

Weirdly happy.

Was that bad?

Oddly enough, he was really, stupidly happy right now, and maybe he just didn’t…

Didn’t want to give that up…?

Leo frowned a bit, biting the insides of his cheeks as he spun his bracelet idly around on his wrist, his nose wrinkled up a bit.

It was silly, really. It wasn’t as simple as “if you take it off, you’ll be miserable again.” Things were obviously different than they had been before, when they first got home, in a lot of ways! There was no formula, no clear cut-and-dry cause-and-effect, he didn’t know that that would happen, it was just…

Well, what if he was?

What if he tried to do ‘turtle stuff,’ or whatever the fuck Raph had said exactly, and then everything was horrible again? What if everything just went back to the way it was?

Right now, Leo was pretty sure that he, like, liked himself. Like, actually for real! Almost all of him, even! He could look at himself in the mirror again, he could shower without crying, he could post selfies on his instagram and stand to be filmed and looked at and wear make-up and nail polish without having a crisis-- all things that he loved to do! All things that he had missed so, so deeply when he had hated himself too much to enjoy any of it.

He hadn’t liked hating himself. And he didn’t wanna do it again.

But what if he took it off, and then he did?

What if he took it off, and then there was no solution this time? He couldn’t start T a second time. So what if he just got… stuck…?

Leo groaned loudly, tilting his head back and burying his face in his hands, scrubbing at his eyes.

This is so stupid! Raph is right and you know it! And none of this shit even makes any sense! Why would you go back!? It wasn’t the turtle thing, it was-- it was everything, it’s not that simple, and even if it was, you still need to get over it…!

“Did something happen?”

Leo jerked in surprise at the sound of his father’s voice-- he hadn’t even heard him passing through the hallway, and yet now here he was leaning against the doorframe. Ahhh, stupid ninja father…!

Rapidly righting himself, Leo straightened his back and cleared his throat, attempting to wave his father off. “Oh, they just kicked Dean off of the Bachelorette, which is obviously messed up because he’s clearly the hottest one there? I mean, I know it’s all, like, the producers, or whatever, but come on--”

“Mmm-hmmm,” Dad said, nodding thoughtfully as he slowly made his way into the other’s room, leaving him the time to chase him away if he wanted to. (But Leo himself was surprised to find that he didn’t.) “And…?”

Dammit, usually Dad always fell for Bachelorette based lies. Leo hesitated a second, staring up at the ceiling and tugging at one of his own curls-- straightening it out and then letting it go, feeling it bounce up against his cheekbones.

(He loved his hair. He loved loving his hair. He had come so close to cutting it off, and if he had, he would have been fucking devastated now. What if he ended up hating it again? What if he did cut it off…? He didn’t want to cut off his hair!... He loved his hair…!)

“Do you think we’d be, like… better fighters as… turtles, or whatever?”

His dad hummed thoughtfully, sitting down at the edge of his bed and seeming to consider this for a moment. “Well. I don’t know about that. But I suppose there could be advantages,” he finally said. “Though there could be drawbacks, as well. Why do you ask?”

He sighed deeply.

“Well. Raph thinks-- I mean. Raph said that he thought maybe it’d be, like… safer, or whatever. And we’d get beat up less if we had, you know, shells and body armor and stuff? And…! I mean, he’s right, we probably would be, but I don’t… we’re not used to it, and, and it’s different, and it’s, you know, it’s not stealth, obviously, so I’m not--”

He frowned deeply, wrinkling up his nose.

“I still don’t… like it. I guess is the problem, actually,” he admitted.

Dad sighed thoughtfully.

“Well,” he finally said. “That is certainly understandable. I don’t like what I look like without the bracelet, either,” he admitted, looking slightly to the side, his eyes dancing away for just a moment before he managed to herd them back. “I do admit that being safer and less prone to injury does sound very nice to me…! But that is just me being selfish. And your father,” he laughed. “... I do not want any of you to get hurt. And I… I would like you to be safe. But no one will force you to be in any body that makes you unhappy, Blue. That’s not safe, either, and I suppose I can’t…” He sighed a bit, sounding almost frustrated. “It wouldn’t be fair for me to prioritize one over the other.”

Leo frowned a little, wrapping his arms around himself.

“But you do think we’d be safer, don’t you?” He pressed.

Dad kind of floundered for a second. “I don’t want to tell you what--”

“Yeah, yeah, our bodies, our choice, you love us, other quotes from parenting books, blah blah blah. I get it, Dad,” Leo scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Like, thanks, or whatever. But I want your actual, honest opinion, okay? Do you think we’d be safer if we were turtles when we fought and went on missions and stuff?”

It took his dad a little bit to respond, and Leo did his absolute best to his patient, only fidgeting a tiny bit.

“It is… not simple. I think there are situations where you’d be better served as humans, but I… I do think there are situations where you might be better off as turtles, too,” he finally admitted, and then gave a short, somewhat strained laugh. “Thank goodness you were all turtles when you were little. I think you may have all ended up with brain damage otherwise with how often you threw each other around…! I was always shocked by how resilient you were, even when you were tiny, but I was certainly grateful for it, as well!...”

Leo kind of screwed up his face for a moment, tilting his head to the side.

“Well, then how come you don’t fight without your bracelet? We don’t want you to get hurt either, you know.”

Dad seemed almost surprised for a moment, staring at Leo for a second, and then, to his quiet surprise, he laughed.

Leo scowled, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for his Dad to stop snickering.

“Okay, let me in on the joke already, Pops--”

“Blue,” he finally said, shaking his head a tiny bit. “I am not a turtle. You know that, don’t you…?”

Now it was Leo’s turn to stare at the other for a moment.

“You’re not!?”

“No!” Dad laughed. “I-- I’m sorry. I should not…! I suppose you would have no way of knowing, it just…!”

“Why the fuck aren’t you a turtle if we’re turtles!?” Leo cried. “Why wouldn’t I think you’re a turtle!? The rest of us are turtles!!! Obviously, you should also be a turtle!!! If you’re gonna do a bit, then commit to it!!!”

Dad just laughed, wiping a few tears from his face.

“If you’re not a turtle, then what the hell are you?!” Leo cried. And it took a second, but Dad’s laughter died back down.

And then the two of them were just sitting in silence. Leo looked at his dad. And his dad looking at his own feet.

Leo winced, immediately backpedaling.

“Sorry. Forget I said that. You don’t have to--”

“I’m a rat,” Dad said, before he could even finish his sentence. “I was mutated with a rat.”

Leo stayed quiet for a second, slowly processing this.

He hadn’t actually expected his dad to… answer him.

A rat. Their dad was… part-rat.

For a second, he just sat with this new information, turning it around in his mind a few times and considering it. And to his quiet surprise, all of a sudden, when he reached back through his memories, he could feel soft fur on his skin. And he could recall whiskers tickling his face; a sensation long forgotten, but suddenly paired quite definitively with the feeling of being wrapped up in his dad’s arms, back when he was still tiny, or having a good-night kiss pressed onto his forehead at bedtime as a toddler.

A rat.

That… made sense, actually, now that he knew it.

That felt right.

But still, the next thing he said was, “Why the fuck are we turtles and you’re a rat?”

Dad chuckled, shaking his head. “I could not tell you, my son.”

“Who the fuck was in charge of this!? Turtles and a rat? Seriously?! Wait, is this why you have eight million snacks hoarded away in your room!? And can always tell if we snuck snacks or didn’t brush our teeth and stuff!?”

“Well, I don’t think the rat thing was really planned--”

“Good! Because, uh, lowkey, I’m just saying? Kind of fucking racist!” Leo exclaimed, throwing up his arms, and Dad nearly choked this time on the absolute snort of laughter that erupted from him, bowing his head to cover his face with his hands, his shoulders absolutely trembling with barely contained hysterics.

“You know what, Blue?” He finally got himself together enough that he could bite out a reply through wheezy breaths. “You are absolutely right.”

---

“Daddy,”

Yoshi sighed softly at the sound of the quivering, sobbing cry of his youngest son, reluctantly pausing in his current task of attempting to clean up the kitchen area and turning to instead meet the child, running to him on toddling little legs and wiping the tears from his face.

“What’s the matter, my son?” He questioned, kneeling down to meet him. Mikey came crashing into him at full force, throwing himself into his chest, and Yoshi grunted softly at the impact, just barely managing to not lose his balance and remain upright.

“It’s n-not f-faiiirrrrrr…” Mikey wept miserably, grabbing fistfuls of his fur and curling up in his arms, hiccuping pitifully as he looked up at him with wide eyes.

“What’s not fair? What happened?” He questioned, his brows furrowed slightly with concern at the absolute distress his child was in.

“I--” He broke off for a second to sob, snuffling loudly and huffing to try to catch his breath, needing a moment before he was able to continue. “I w-want a tail, too…!”

Yoshi blinked slowly.

“Orange, you have a tail.”

“No, I don’t!” Mikey shrieked in distress.

“Yes, you do! You have a little tail right on your butt under your shell right here! I can see it!”

“That doesn’t count!” Mikey wailed, and Yoshi sighed softly.

“What do you mean it doesn’t count? It’s a tail!”

“But it’s little!” Mikey sobbed. “I w-want a long tail, like Donnie and Raph and you! It’s no fair!!! I can’t even see mine!”

Oh, for god’s sake…

“Orange, I cannot give you a different tail.”

“But it’s no fair!” Mikey shrieked. “I want a tail like your tail!!! It’s no fair!!! How’s come you get’ta have a long tail!?”

“Michalangelo, I have a rat tail because I am a rat.” He couldn’t believe he was explaining this. “And you have a turtle tail because you’re a turtle.”

“B-but Donnie and Raph are turtles and they have long tails!”

“Well, they are different types of turtles,” Yoshi said with a shrug. Mikey sobbed.

“B-but-- But I want one too!”

Yoshi resisted another sigh.

“I know. I am very sorry, Mikey. I would give you my tail if I could,” he tried to soothe, and goodness, would he. He knew that his children took great joy in grabbing onto it and hanging on while he dragged them around, (one of Yoshi’s least favorite games, quite frankly,) but he despised the thing. It was annoying to lug around, always pulling at his lower back, and just a constant reminder of every way that he was wrong now. He didn’t think he would ever be able to quite adapt to having an additional limb.

There were many things he had grown used to by now, though he still didn’t like them. He had learned to tolerate the absolute power that scent ruled over his life now. He had reluctantly grown to accept the blurriness of his vision. He had adapted to the odd teeth in his mouth and how they grew, doing his best not to allow them to get out of hand and became painful (though he was not always the best at this,) and had grown to accept the whiskers on his face and how they twinged when they brushed something, the fur covering his body, the claws on his hands and feet and how his legs bent in a different way now.

But the tail? The tail he still couldn’t quite accept. It was just too different. Maybe with some more time, he would, but… He wasn’t exactly convinced.

Mikey continued to sob, and Yoshi huffed a bit, slowly easing himself back to his feet, keeping the toddler tucked up against his chest while he cried. He got the impression that it might take a bit before he was ready to accept this fact of his life and calm down again…

So he supposed he would just have to figure out how to finish cleaning the kitchen and carry a sobbing toddler at the same time.

---

Raph was the biggest brother. The brother who was the biggest. It was his job to keep an eye on all his little siblings and make sure everyone was okay and following the rules, and he was pretty good at it, too, he thought. In addition to this, he was captain of the school’s football team-- he had been shocked when the votes were tallied up in his favor, because he was only a junior, after all, not a senior like the captain usually was, and were they sure!? But evidently, they were, and the honor had gone to him-- and Raph thought that he actually did a pretty okay job at that, too. It had been a really good season last year. They went to states and everything!

Not only was he captain of the football team, but he currently held the title of captain of the swim team, as well, and the basketball team, and the wrestling team. And quite frankly, he wasn’t sure why in the world he kept ending up in the captain’s chair? He had never really thought of himself as a leader before, and even now, he was hesitant to wear such a title…

But if he had learned one thing about leading people so far, it was that you had to lead by example.

And it wasn’t fair for him to ask Donnie or Leo to tolerate being in weird, alien mutant forms if he wasn’t willing to stomach it too.

Which he could do! He knew he could. He just…

Needed some practice. That was all.

He had been down here for about twenty minutes now, just lazing about in the Lair and trying to get used to being like this. He had spent quite a bit of time pacing and wandering around before he had finally ended up here, plopped down in the middle of the room on his stomach, his arms curled up under his head as he took quiet note of his tail and how it felt sliding back and forth behind him-- just trying to memorize the weight and the movement of it, listening to the soft noise of scales on concrete.

Shhhh shhhh.

He had just been starting to think, yeah, okay, this isn’t actually so bad when he heard telltale footsteps coming from the stairs.

And when Donnie looked over from the stairwell and saw him, he froze. And Raph froze, too. He certainly hadn’t expected Donnie to tear himself away from his projects to come down here. He had opted to take advantage of the open space in the Lair rather than the privacy of his own bedroom, fearing that he might knock stuff over or ruin them in his turtle form, but now he was suddenly kind of questioning that decision.

And for a long, pregnant moment, it was just quiet between them. And he stared at Donnie. And Donnie stared at him. And before Raph could figure out what the hell he was supposed to say, Donnie began moving again, finishing his descent down the stairs into the basement.

“I need a break from the Lab,” he muttered, sort of absently, almost nonchalant, kind of gesturing to the laptop that he had under his arm. “Is it cool if I hang out in here for a while?”

It took Raph a second to actually process what Donnie was saying and formulate a response. But then eventually, he nodded.

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Okay, cool,” Donnie said, and after a moment of kind of looking around, seeming to consider things, he went over to the couch. Grabbing one of the many spare blankets that lived there, he carefully spread it out over top of Raph-- arranging it just enough so that he could kind of climb half on top of his brother, both of them curled up beneath the soft fabric, any sharp edges or points from Raphael’s shell covered well enough that Donnie could snuggle up against him.

It was rare that Donnie was interested in anything even vaguely resembling cuddles. He hardly even liked people touching him. Certainly, he wouldn’t allow strangers to touch him. Or anyone that he didn’t completely trust. A majority of the time, it was just his family that could expect the possibility of any kind of physical closeness-- and only when he felt safe enough to allow for such things.

A comfortable, warm weight pressed up against Raphael’s back, soothing and pleasant. He could feel the familiar sensation even through his shell. Raph kept still for his little brother as he felt him get comfortable against him, snuggled up close and settling in to relax.

“Is this okay?” Donnie asked after a moment.

“Yeah,” Raph immediately responded. “This is okay.”

“Cool,” Donnie said.

Raph’s tail kept on waving from side to side behind him, though at a slightly quicker tempo now as he settled, allowing his eyes to slide shut.

Shhhshhhshhhshhhshhshhh.

---

Donnie stayed like that for about two hours, with Raph dozing in and out for much of it, before he finally took his leave. He had accomplished just about all he could from his laptop out here, and though he had, in fact, needed a break from the Lab, he didn’t wanna spend that much time away from it.

His research called.

He was pretty sure Raph was still asleep, so it was easy enough to very slowly, very quietly creep his way off of him, rearranging the blanket to ensure he was still covered up properly before making his way back up the Lair stairs. And while he knew that Leo had gotten home, (he had popped down at some point to grab something, and given him and their oldest brother a very odd look that Donnie couldn’t quite interpret,) he was somewhat surprised to find him camped out in the kitchen, bent over the island and reading something on his phone. His head popped up as soon as Donnie emerged from the basement-- and if he had been waiting for them.

“Finally finished with your cuddle sesh?” He teased in an almost sing-song tone, tilting his head to the side. Donnie huffed, rolling his eyes.

“Die,” he muttered in response, carefully closing the basement door behind him and beginning to make his way to the stairs. Leo was chasing him, however, much to his chagrin.

“Oh, come on! You barely ever want anyone to breathe in your direction. It’s an event whenever you’re in the mood to actually, like, cozy up to someone,” he pressed, pocketing his phone as he trailed after Donnie, hopping up the stairs right after him.

“Why would I want anyone to breathe in my direction?” Donnie scoffed, shooting the other a glare. “That sounds disgusting. And I’m allowed to have the occasional special exception and be in the mood, thank you very much,” he growled, hunching his shoulders slightly. “Besides, it was…”

He pursed his lips slightly.

“Mutually beneficial.”

“Uh-huh…” Leo said slowly, quirking a brow slightly, looking Donnie up and down for a moment like he was trying to figure that out, and then seemingly deciding that it wasn’t the priority right now. “But so, like… it is a special occasion, then?”

Donnie frowned a bit, giving the other a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”

“I mean. Like,” Leo shrugged a bit, sort of crossing his arms over his chest. “Like. Yeah. You’re allowed to not wanna be touched and then have special exceptions when you do wanna be touched and, like, you’re down with cuddles, and all that, so, I mean…” He sort of trailed off for a second, his eyes wandering away, before they snapped back over once again. “But like. This is one of those times? When you, like… are down?”

Donnie blinked slowly.

“Leo, what the hell are you--”

“Can I hug you?” Leo bit out, cutting him off before he could get too far, and Donnie sighed deeply. Ah. That’s what this was, then. Jesus, why couldn’t he just open with that?

“Yeah, Leo, you can hug--”

He didn’t even get through the words before his brother was crashing into him all at once, nearly costing him his footing with how he jumped for him, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing him so tightly that Donnie was pretty sure his compression sleeves were jealous. They had to kind of grab the wall to catch their balance again, stumbling slightly.

“Jesus, Nardo, could you--!?”

“You scared me so fucking bad,” Leo hissed out, his voice pinched tight and muffled for how he had buried his face in Donnie’s shoulder, absolutely clinging to him.

Donnie blinked in surprise, taking a moment to process this, wondering if he had misheard the other. “What…?”

“Never, ever disappear like that ever again,” Leo continued, tightening his grip on him slightly, which Donnie hadn’t even thought was possible. “I was so fucking scared, you bitch. I thought something really bad might’ve-- and it was my fault, too. I’m sorry. I’m-- I’m really sorry I was such a dick then. I didn’t mean it. I was just upset and I know that we already did this but I couldn’t fucking touch you then and-- I didn’t--”

Oh.

So that’s what this was about.

“Leo, it’s okay--”

“Shut up,” Leo mumbled, his voice trembling a bit, and Donnie didn’t really have a good refute for that. So he looped his arms around Leo instead and hung onto him back. He didn’t usually do that. Hugs from his family members were overall acceptable, but he didn’t always enjoy hugging back, at least not for long, but…

You know. Special exceptions and all that. In that same vein, he kind of wrinkled up his nose at the wetness against his neck, but he could tolerate it.

It was fine. He could tolerate it for this.

Even though they were still halfway up the stairs, the two of them eventually, slowly sank down until they were both sort of awkwardly bundled up together on the stairs, half on top of each other, half flopped down the slope. Donnie kind of had to stick out a leg so he could brace his foot against the wall and keep them from sliding, but that was okay. He didn’t really wanna try to move the two of them anywhere, even if this would be easier if they were literally anywhere else in the house.

“I’m really glad we’re twins again,” Leo sobbed, and Donnie nodded a tiny bit.

“Yeah. Me too.”

“I-- I really w-want us to stay twins.”

“We’re going to, Nardo. Calm down.”

“I don’t want you to leave.”

“I’m not leaving, Leo,” Donnie said, and actually? It kind of felt really good to get to say this next part out loud.

“I’m not going anywhere. Are you?”

Leo sobbed weakly in response, shaking his head a tiny bit.

“Okay. Good. Then we’re gonna be okay,” Donnie mumbled, squeezing him slightly. Wait, was he actually tearing up a tiny bit…? God dammit. Leo knew he hated crying, this asshole…

“I’m sorry I was a bitch before.”

“Yeah. You were kind of a bitch,” Donnie agreed, laying his head down, allowing himself to rest his cheek against his twin brother’s curls. “But there were, admittedly… Extenuating circumstances. And I… suppose I am also sorry. For running away. And scaring you,” he muttered, sighing a little. “... I just didn’t know what else to do.”

“Don’t do it again.”

“Not currently planning on it,” Donnie mumbled, pressing himself closer to the other.

“I love you.”

“Yeah, okay. I love you too.”

“... I like it when we’re twins,” Leo hummed. “‘Cause then we’re not fucking basic bitches. We’re twins.”

“Yes, we are, of course, obviously a cut above the average citizen,” Donnie agreed easily, trying to discreetly wipe at his eyes.

“Yeah,” Leo sniffled, hiccuping a bit, and then finally, slowly, his iron grip began to loosen a bit. And after a bit longer, the two untangled themselves slightly. Leo kind of scrubbed at his face with the sleeves of his hoodie, flushed bright red and still slightly teary-eyed.

“Hey,” Donnie finally said, after watching him for a moment, sort of raising a brow. “Are you… like… good…? Or…?”

Leo snorted softly, a watery little chuckle escaping him.

“I-- I’m actually, like… really good, lately? So… Yeah?” He laughed weakly, brushing some of his hair from his face. “I actually think I’m, like… Really good right now, which is, like, stupid, and weird, and probably doesn’t make sense? But… yeah.”

Donnie gave the other a look.

“This is good for you?”

“... Yeah?” Leo laughed. “I just. Fuck,” he sighed deeply, swiping away a few more tears. “I just. I just really wanted to hug you and shit. Like. Before? Uhm. But I knew you didn’t want to, and touching and shit has been weird for you lately, so… You know,” he kind of shrugged weakly. “... I just… waited.”

Donnie blinked slowly. And Leo scowled, rolling his eyes.

“Do not tell me I need a therapist right now, or I swear to god, I will unplug everything in your room while you sleep--”

Donnie raised his hands to sign.

‘You should really--’

“DO NOT SIGN IT AT ME EITHER, JESUS CHRIST--”

---

The cool mist that accompanied his ancestors anytime they manifested themselves into the physical world tickled at the curves of Michelangelo’s cheeks, soothing the sting of the hot tears sliding down his face. He hiccuped softly, watching as the Hamato Spirits twisted into the world before him; one by one curling from the open scroll like smoke until he was surrounded by them.

“Good afternoon, young Hamato,” Ghost-Sensei spoke, and somehow, his voice seemed gentler than it usually was. Mikey choked on another sob at this alone, drawing his knees up his chest and bowing his head down. “What troubles you?”

Mikey sniffled softly, wiping at his face a few times and drawing in a deep, shaking breath.

“I-- I think I fucked up really bad,” he croaked, and he hated how his voice shook. He took several more long, purposeful breaths, but it did little to soothe the tremble in him. He hated how little say he had over his own body. Over his own thoughts and feelings.

He was trying so hard. Why wasn’t this working?

“Our purpose is to listen and offer guidance, Michelangelo,” Ghost-Sensei reminded.

“I--” Mikey hesitated for just a moment, staring down at his own feet, tightening his grip on himself slightly. “I. I was-- I thought I-- I was g-getting better, but I--”

He hiccuped miserably.

“I got too excited and I-- I burned Sarah,” he whispered. “We were-- we were w-working on a project together, at school, earlier, and I, I was holding onto one of the papers we were sk-sketching on, and I-- I didn’t mean to! It just-- it just happened! I wasn’t trying to--”

“Does she know that the fire started because of you?”

Mikey sobbed, shaking his head a tiny bit. “N-no, I don’t th-think so--”

“Then it will be okay,” they said.

Mikey swallowed hard, his brows furrowing as he glanced up to them.

“But I-- I hurt her--”

“It was a mistake,” Ghost-Sensei said. “Sometimes, mistakes may happen, and people may get hurt. It is very unfortunate. But it happens in life. And if you train,” they added, their voice pressing ever-so-slightly. “Then we can ensure that it does not happen again.”

Mikey swallowed hard.

He kept quiet for a second.

And then he nodded.

“This is why we train,” Ghost-Sensei explained gently. “There is great power in the Hamato bloodline. But that is not something that can be taken lightly. There is a reason for each and every one of the Hamato Clan traditions, Michelangelo. Even the ones that we may not always enjoy,” they sighed. “There is a good reason. The mystical energy you wield is very special. But if you cannot learn to control it,” they warned. “Then you are a danger. Not just to yourself. But to the people around you as well. Do you understand?”

Mikey took a few more long, shaking breaths. And he nodded again.

“Good,” Sensei said. “... It will be alright. We are your family, Michelangelo. We can help you. And none of this is your fault. You should have been taught all of this a long time ago. You have a great destiny,” they said, their tone almost fond. “... It’s a shame you have not been set up for success. But we can still change those things. And we can teach you everything you need to know.”

Wiping away the tears from his eyes, Mikey sniffled softly.

“Okay,” he whispered.

“But this needs to be your focus, Michelangelo,” Sensei continued. “Not anything else. This is not something that can share your mind with other things. There are many people depending on you now. You are the last descendant of the Hamato bloodline.”

Mikey faltered, frowning as his shoulders hunched slightly.

“No, but-- my brothers are--”

“They are not like you,” Sensei pressed. “They don’t understand the weight of this power like you do yet. And they don’t feel the world’s energy like you can, do they? You are the one who wears the mark of our clan in your spirit. And you are the one who must protect the world. The potential you have…! You can already do so many things that they would struggle to bear,” The spirit drew back slightly, his eyes sweeping over him a few times.

“But it’s different for you.”

Mikey stiffened as he felt a shiver curling up his spine under their eyes.

“The Hamato Clan will always be here to guide and support you. And you will always have your family to lean on,” they said. “But you have been given a great gift, Michelangelo.”

They dipped their head slightly, lowering themselves just enough so that they could catch Michelangelo’s eyes with their own. It seemed to cut right through him. There was ice in it. But the cold didn’t hurt to touch, somehow.

“To be a Hamato is a great sacrifice,” they whispered. “It is a difficult destiny to bear. We were not put on this earth for ourselves, or to live an easy life.”

Mikey took a breath in.

“But you have the chance to spare them from so much, Hamato Michelangelo. This is a beautiful gift you can give to them.”

And again, they said,

“Do you understand?”

And Mikey let the breath back out.

And he nodded.

[ next ]

#sorrywhatnowau #sorrywhatnowau fic #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #tmnt 2018 #rottmnt au #rottmnt human au #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #rise raph #rise mikey #rise michelangelo #rottmnt michelangelo #writing #fanfic #fidgetwing

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pink-bandana-writes · 11 months

Text

Comfort Character

Leonardo x Reader

Summary: When your comfort character comes crashing into your room, fresh from another reality, your world gets turned upside down in more ways than one…

Note: I really don’t know where this came from, but inspiration struck at 10:30 this evening and it is now 1:30 in the morning. Enjoy. I will most likely make this a series if y’all like it. <3 As always, the boys are aged up in this. (They're 23)

Warnings: None?

Word Count: 3.4k

Reader is: Twenty-three, female

It was a quiet, early summer night. One of those nights where the breezes make it cool enough to comfortably sleep. You were in your dark room, laying on your side on your phone, winding down for the night before going to sleep. You scrolled through Tumblr for a bit before finally clicking your phone off and setting it on your nightstand, closing your eyes to try and get some sleep.

CRASH!

You jolted, freezing in place. Had your bookcase collapsed? Had the legs of your desk spontaneously given out? You listened as something stirred on the floor, groaning. Great. Someone had broken in.

“Fuck…” They muttered under their breath.

Shaking, you reached for your phone, plucking it from the surface of the nightstand. For a moment, you thought about calling 9-11, but instead, your fingers found the app you used to control the strip lights you had suspended around your room, turning them on and bathing the room in gentle purple light.

Slowly, you sat up and looked down beside the bed, where the crash had originated. There, sitting on the floor staring up at you, was a large mutant turtle. Your eyes widened.

“D-don’t scream. I’m not going to—”

“Leonardo?” You whispered, voice catching in your throat as your heart hammered. Maybe you had drifted off to sleep, because this most definitely was a dream.

He froze, eyes locked on you. A shiver ran down your spine under his intense gaze. “Do I…have we met?” He asked quietly, those blue eyes of his never leaving you.

“Not…exactly.” You motioned to the poster on your wall, him and his brothers jumping past the title text, reading Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

Leo hesitated, taking a small step closer so he could get a closer look. “But that’s…we…”

“You…You’re real? This isn’t some…weird melatonin dream?”

“Not that I know of.” Leo murmured, still staring at the poster. “You can pinch me if you want. I don’t believe this either.”

“Glad to see your sense of humor is still intact.” You chuckled, unable to take your eyes off of him.

“Teenage?” Leo read, paying closer attention to the title. “I’m twenty-three.”

You chuckled. “It’s from 2016.”

“Oh. Yeah. That…makes sense.” He took a breath and turned his attention back to you. “Can I sit down?”

“Yeah, of course.” You scooted over in your bed and patted the space next to you.

He nodded gratefully and sat down on the bed, elbows resting on his knees, face in his hands as he walked himself through a mild existential crisis.

“So um…what happened? On your end, I mean. We don’t really…have interdimensional travel here.”

“Fight with Kraang. Got pushed through this…portal thing? I don’t know the word for it. And the next thing I knew, I was crashing through your closet. Sorry about that, by the way.”

“It’s fine.”

“I’ll help you clean it up.” He told you. “I…have a feeling I’m gonna be stuck here for a bit.”

“Donnie’ll figure it out.” You said it with confidence.

He smiled, turning to look at you. “You’re a fan, huh?”

“If the poster was any indication, yeah.” You chuckled and pointed up to the top shelf of your bookshelf in the corner of the room, which held your small collection of action figures. “I’ve got those, too.”

“They made action figures of us?”

“They made a lot more than that.” You chuckled.

He raised an eyebrow, curious. “Like what?”

“Cartoons, several movies, backpacks and funko pops and Halloween costumes…Oh, and comics. You guys are pretty much superheroes here.”

“Wow.” Leo thought for a long moment, looking a little choked up. “Wow. That’s…I mean…when humans in my reality see me they…scream. Sometimes they faint. And here, they think I’m a hero?”

“I mean, the general public might still be weird if they saw you out and about, but you’d be swarmed by nerds at a comic con.” You shrugged.

“What’s your name?” He asked, voice steady and smooth.

“(Y/N) (L/N).”

“Nice to meet you, (Y/N).” He smiled warmly, tilting his head. “So um…do you want me to clean this mess in the morning or right now?”

***

When the morning rolled around, you half-expected it to have all been a dream. And, looking around your room, which was clean thanks to Leo’s help, it could have been. Well, until you got out to your living room and saw the giant turtle sleeping on your couch.

God, he was a sight.

You’d pulled the curtains shut so none of your neighbors got a glance and called animal control or the SWAT team, and loaned him a few blankets and a plush pillow. His gear was laid across the dining room table, bandana off, leaving his face uncovered.

You stared at him for a long moment, shaking yourself out of it and turning into the kitchen to make breakfast. You thought, staring into the fridge, and then dug out the ingredients for scrambled eggs, setting a box of cereal on the counter too, so he had options. After all, you didn’t really know what the turtles liked to eat. Well, aside from pizza, that was.

“Morning.”

“Aah!” You jolted, turning to see him standing in the doorway. You held a hand to your heart. “Jesus, you’re quiet.”

“Sorry about that.” Leo chuckled. “Ninja training.”

“Right, right.” You laughed. “I’m making eggs, if you want any.”

“Scrambled?”

“Yeah.”

“Perfect. Do you, uh…need any help?” He asked.

“I’ve got it.”

“I can set the table.” He offered, blue eyes earnest in the daylight.

“Sure! There are dishes in that cabinet. The silverware is in that drawer.” You told him, motioning to both.

He nodded, gathering them before distributing them on the table. Meanwhile, you pulled a package of bacon out of the fridge and fried that up as well, figuring it wouldn’t hurt. He walked back into the kitchen once the table was set and leaned against the counter, watching as you cooked.

“So um…tell me about yourself. If you want. You don’t have to.” He stumbled over his words, and you couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, I am also twenty-three. We were born the same year.”

“’99?”

“Yep.” You chuckled. “I graduated college like a year ago and…I’ve still been figuring it out since then. Working part time for the time being until I…decide how I want to spend the rest of my life.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Eh, kinda. I don’t know, there’s just a lot of pressure to get my ducks in a row. Everyone keeps acting like the clock is ticking double-time now that I’m in my twenties, but especially since I’m out of college. And it kinda feels like it, too. But yeah, I’m hanging in there, I guess.” You shrugged. “My Mom is on a business trip, by the way. We’ve got the place to ourselves for the next…two months or so.”

“Two months?? What kind of business trip is it?”

“She’s a TV show producer. Travels a bit, sets things up, comes back home for the next few months, and does it again when another show gets ready to start filming.”

“That’s cool.” Leo nodded.

“It is.” You agreed, plating up the eggs and bacon and walking with him to the table. You sat across from each other, and you tried not to, but you couldn’t help but stare a little. He caught your eyes, because of course he did.

“What?” He asked teasingly. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Oh! No, I just…I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without your mask before.” You admitted, cheeks reddening.

“Huh.” He thought about it for a moment. “We do wear them a lot, I guess.”

“Yeah.” You agreed. “It makes it easier for the kids watching to tell you apart.”

“Aww.” Leo smiled.

The thought of human children playing with toys of him, or dressing up as him for Halloween crossing his mind. It was something he didn’t even dare imagine in his own reality, but something that happened all the time in yours. It was a place where he wasn’t feared.

“Did you watch us growing up?” He asked.

You nodded. “A lot of kids did. They’ve been making Ninja Turtles cartoon since my parents were teenagers.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Woah, really?”

“Yeah, it kicked off in the 80s.” You told him, pulling out your phone and walking him through the turtles media of the last forty-ish years, stopping once you got to the version he’d come from. “And this is you guys, the Bayverse turtles—”

“Bayverse? What’s that mean?”

“As in Michael Bay.”

“Michael Bay??” Leo’s eyes widened. “Transformers Michael Bay? Random explosions Michael Bay?”

“Yeah, same guy.”

“Why?”

“Beats me.” You laughed. “He didn’t direct them, though, just produced them.”

“Alright.” He nodded. “Mikey’s still never gonna believe me.”

“Can’t say I’d blame him.” You grinned, finishing your breakfast.

“So when do you have to go to work?”

“I have the day off. Tomorrow, I go in at three, though.” You told him. “What do you want to do when that happens?”

“Well, I…should probably stay here, right?”

“That would probably be smart.” You chuckled. “Will you be okay on your own? I don’t get out until eleven.”

“I’ll be fine. You’ve got a TV and an internet connection. I’m sure I can stay occupied in the meantime,” he said. “Besides, if your closet is indeed the other end of the portal I came through, I should probably stay near it in case Donnie figures out something.”

“Oh yeah, right.” You nodded, the thought of you coming home to find Leo gone without a goodbye making you sick. You hoped whenever he had to leave, you would get to see him off, maybe even see his brothers.

“Where do you work?”

“At an aquarium, actually.” You chuckled. “I’ve always really loved aquariums.”

“I’ve never been.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Leo shook his head. “Where I’m from…being me prevents me from being able to do things sometimes, but I love who I am. I wouldn’t trade it.”

Pity swelled in your heart for him. He’d never been to an aquarium, a theme park, the movie theater, the mall, hell, even a grocery store. He’d had so much taken from him, he’d been barred from so many places. You were glad he and his brothers were proud of who and what they were, but you felt bad that they couldn’t even enjoy the simplest of things because of it.

And because of that, an idea sprouted in your head.

“Do you want to go to an aquarium?” You asked him, mischief glinting in your eye. “I’m in pretty tight with the guys who close tonight and…they’re fans of yours. We just marathoned the 2012 show together. I know they’d be cool about it.”

Leo thought for a long moment, a smile slowly overtaking that handsome face of his.

“I’d really like that.” He decided. It wasn’t like Donnie would crack interdimensional travel in one day, right? What was the worst that could happen?

***

When night fell, you drove to the aquarium, Leo sitting on the floor in the back of the car, ducking beneath the windows, but watching carefully as you drove, taking in the sight of the outside world, the suburbs under starlight. Finally, you reached the mall that housed the aquarium of your employment.

You pulled into a parking spot and dialed your coworker’s number, letting him know you’d arrived.

“Hey, what’s going on, (Y/N)? I’ve got the cart and the tarp. What the fuck are you bringing in here?” Ryan, your coworker asked.

“Is it drugs? I bet it’s drugs.” Your other coworker, Parker, chimed in the background.

“Where the fuck would she get that many drugs?”

“Good point.”

“Can we focus here? Listen, I’ll explain everything, but I need you to be chill, okay? You can’t scream and you definitely can’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Right, right, got it.” Ryan promised. “We’ll be cool.”

“Alright. Come on out. I’ll pop the trunk.” You told him, hanging up and looking back at Leo. “Mission accomplished.”

“Not yet.” He chuckled, adjusting himself to get ready to dive into that rolling plastic cart as soon as it reached your car.

“Right, right. But we’re like…halfway there, I’d say.”

“Sure.” He grinned, amused by your optimism.

You got out of the car and walked outside, popping the trunk just as the boys rolled the large, opaque plastic cart up to it.

“Okay, now you have to tell us.” Parker insisted, sliding the tarp off of the cart, readying himself for whatever was about to go in it.

“Well the good news is, it’s not drugs.” Leo said, climbing over your back seats and into their line of view. His heart pounded, waiting for the scream, but once again, it never came. Instead, the boys stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Holy fuck, Leonardo???” Ryan asked, turning to you for explanation. “Thee Leonardo???”

“This is way better than drugs.” Parker grinned, helping Leo get in and putting the tarp on top of him. You closed the trunk and walked with them inside.

Once the coast was clear, Leonardo very carefully climbed out and looked around. You were in the backrooms, which was storage, mostly. Not much going on back there, especially after closing.

“I’ve just gotta lock up that back door and then you should be good to roam around.” Ryan gave a thumbs-up. “I’m a really big fan, by the way. You’re my favorite. I think the movies you guys are in are way underrated.”

Leo chuckled, a giant grin on his face. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.”

“I’ll keep a look out.” Parker reported.

“Thanks, Parker.” You said, leading Leo out the doors and into the aquarium gift shop, which sat at the front entrance that connected to the mall.

“A gift shop?”

“Can’t have a tourist attraction without one.” You chuckled.

“That’s true. They’re everywhere in New York.” He said, following you back into the first area of the aquarium, one housing local fish. He read through the information panels on each one, nodding thoughtfully as he learned the new information.

“Come here.” You instructed him, leading him over towards a glass dome that sat on the bottom of one of the tanks, a gap beneath it a few feet tall, so guests could put their head in it and be surrounded by fish.

“That’s gonna be a tight fit.” Leo noted, eyeing up the small space, but getting down on the floor anyway, cramming himself inside. He looked around in the dome in wonder, watching as the fish swam around him. “Woah…”

“It’s one of my favorite things here.”

“What’s your favorite?”

“Further down.” You told him.

“Hey, would you get a picture of me?” He asked, handing you his shell phone, his camera app open.

“Of course.” You nodded, taking a picture of him in the dome. You got a few of him smiling and then waited for him to stop posing, looking around at a fish, and snapped a candid, the expression on his face peaceful. You handed the phone back.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, of course.” You offered your arm. “Need a hand out of there?”

“Definitely.” He took your hand and you helped him to his feet, his shell barely grazing the side of the entryway.

The two of you continued, stopping to admire the seahorses, the tropical fish, the clownfish that you couldn’t help but compare to Nemo. You stopped in the touch tank, where some starfish and anemone were so the kids could touch them.

Leo rinsed his hands off in the sink and knelt beside the tank, tentatively poking one of the plush pink starfish. “Do they have names?”

“Not officially, no, but I call that one Greg.”

He laughed. “Hello, Greg. Nice to meet you.”

“He said hi. I can tell. I’m a professional.”

“Ah, you speak starfish?” He grinned, teasing.

“Of course I do. It’s a prerequisite to work here.”

“Do you speak turtle, too?”

“I think I’ve been speaking it pretty well, I’d say.”

“I can’t help but agree.” He chuckled, shaking his head. He bid the starfish goodbye and the two of you reached the jellyfish tank, where the jellyfish were bathed in purple light, gently bobbing through the water.

“You can change the color of the light.” You told him, pointing to the buttons on the wall beside the tank.

“That’s really cool.” He reached forward and poked the blue button, and sure enough, the jellyfish were soon floating in brilliant blue light. He snapped a picture, smiling to himself.

The two of you meandered through the exhibits, Leo continuing to read the informational text, glancing up at you on occasion. You told him things about the fish and other sea creatures as you passed them, listing off the knowledge you’d picked up on the job. And then, finally, you reached it, your favorite thing in the aquarium, the tunnel.

The tunnel went through the biggest tank in the facility, which housed a few small sharks, sea turtles, and several fish. There was a large statue of a woman’s head on one wall, and other assorted decorations throughout. You loved standing in it and watching them swim over you.

“This is my favorite thing in the aquarium.” You told him, motioning above you.

“I can see why.” He nodded, staring as one of the sea turtles swam overhead. “Hey, what’s that thing on his shell?”

“Oh, it’s a weight patch. He got hit by a boat a few years ago and he can’t manage his buoyancy anymore. He has to live here so we can monitor him and change his patches when he grows.”

“Mmm.” Leo nodded, watching him go. “What’s his name?”

“Shelldon.”

Leo laughed. “Original.”

“Yeah, I think so too. It suits him.”

It was quiet for a moment, the only sounds that of the water. You looked up at him, and for the first time, really realized just how tall he was in real life. You always knew he was, but it was different when he was standing in front of you instead of on a screen.

Leo reached forward, taking your hand in his, tentative and gentle, very much still testing the waters and giving you every chance to reject him, but you didn’t, giving his hand a squeeze.

“Thank you. For this. It’s been really great.”

“Of course. I owe you, actually, so…this is starting to repay that.”

“Owe me? For what?”

“You’re my comfort character, Leo. Since high school, you’ve gotten me through a lot of rough patches. I honestly don’t know if I’d be standing here without you. You save all kinds of lives in your own reality, but…you’re saving them here, too, just in a different way. You’ve always been my hero.”

His expression softened and he let go of your hand, pulling you into his arms instead, a large three-fingered hand cradling your head while the other held you tight. You surrendered to his hold, a hand resting against his plastron and the other settling on his bicep.

After a long few moments, Leo pulled away, admiring you in the gentle blue glow of the giant tank. He brushed a piece of hair out of your face and leaned closer, once again giving you every opportunity to pull away, but instead, you did the opposite, closing the distance between you and pressing your lips to his.

He melted against you, lips melding against yours perfectly and carefully, a little unsure, but the adrenaline of it all fueling him. He finally found the person of his dreams, but of course it would be just his luck that they were from another reality.

“There’s no way this is happening.” You murmured, stars in your eyes as you looked up at him.

“It’s happening.” He insisted, kissing you again, a little more confidently this time, smiling against you as your arms wound around his neck, your chest pressed against his, your lips soft and warm and perfect. It was better than any first kiss he could have imagined. Never, ever did he dare to dream he’d be standing where he was, doing what he was with a person who hadn’t even screamed when he met them.

At this point, it was too good to be a dream. He felt like he was floating on Cloud 9 by the time he finally came back down for air.

“How long can we stay here?” He asked, afraid to even ask. He felt like Cinderella waiting for midnight to hit.

You glanced at your watch. “A little while, at least.”

“Okay.” He nodded, taking your hand in his again. Leo knew one thing for certain, he never wanted that moment to end.

Neither did you.

Tags: @thelaundrybitch, @turtle-babe83, @dilucsflame33, @happymoonangel, @scholastic-dragon

Tag lists open! Let me know if you want to be added! <3

#leonardo x reader #bayverse #tmnt #tmntagedup #tmnt imagine #tmnt aged up #leo x reader #leonardo imagine #leo imagine

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raphieeee · 23 days

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CW: fighting, betting, graphic depictions of violence

For a long time, Raph felt a itch in under his skin. It wasn’t painful or something terminal, just uncomfortable. It was one of those subtle things that drove a person slightly mental, like the hum or leaky pipe no one could find.

Training helped better than anything, especially meditation which just made him pissy and aggravated. It truely started to get better when they went to the surface, when he was able to fight without having to be careful of breaking his siblings bodies. He could be rough and mean, could run for hours and let his knuckles crack and bleed without getting yelled at. He wasn’t told to hold back to be careful, or at least if he managed to sneak away from his brothers.

It wasn’t really a surprise of how it developed, but more so how it did for him specifically. Anyone else, it would make sense, but a Mutant Turtle joining a underground fight club with one of the most egregious betting system he had ever seen? That was surprising.

Raph found it on accident and was only able to get in because of his ninja training. It was a large space under an old apartment complex that was once a two layered carpark that had the middle floor gutted. It had a whole bar built in as well as several rows of seats on the lower floor. The higher floor was for the VIP’s and where the biggest bets were made.

Raph joined on accident, being bumped around until one of the organises spotted him and offered him a round if he removed his weapons.

Not a single question was asked about his physical body, not even when he won the round with a bruise blooming on his jaw that showed it was real.

Raph would like to say it was just the thrill of the fight, of beating the guy bloody as the man twice his size had jeered at him, that it was just how it got his itch to fade and made his body feel bearable. But in reality, it was two very different things.

First was the money handed to him afterwards, two hundred dollars which was the lowest he would ever get because no one though the freak in a animal suit would win, but still more than he had ever had before.

The second was the more powerful of the two, and that was the loud and almost deafening cheers he was rewarded with.

The whole place was screaming when they saw him move, unique skills they had never seen as every other fighter were some kind of boxer or wrestler. Raph brought in more than ninjitsu but also Muay Thai and Ju-jitsu. It was enough to make them love him, insults spit at him with grins and teasing notes that showed they saw him as some kind of mad legend.

Raph quickly became addicted.

He went back there three or four times a week, fighting with cheers and bets thrown at him, people shouting out ‘Red Snapper!’ Over and over despite him not even being a snapper turtle. It had been coined when he bit a guy in his second fight, something totally accepted and that earns him a free beer.

He hated the taste of beer but fuck if it didn’t help with the bruises and wounds he’d get, so he took it every-time.

Red Snapper was as famous as some of the other fighters like ‘Rabid Randy’ and ‘Princess Knuckles’. All the names were stupid but he kind of liked that.

It lasted years, literally six! In fact even after they lost Splinter and he went more, his brothers didn’t figure it out. They knew he was fighting, but not about the money or the club, and seen as he pretty much always won until other mutants started to show up and he had more of a challenge, one thing he was good at was not getting too badly hurt.

Raph was grinning, arm lifted up as he shouted in victory as he just beat down a Cougar mutant in a fight that took six and half minutes and earns him a solid twenty thousand as it was the biggest fight of the month. He was standing tall and bloodied with the other mutant being taken to medical but six guys, looking around at the audience that loved him and his violence when he saw it.

He had leaned his head back, exhausted from the long fight as well as the two he had done before then, when he looked up at one of the many holes in the top floor.

There were three disappointed and almost heartbroken looking faces, one looking like he would cry, one like he was going to be sick at the sight of such depraved violence, one looking full of shame.

Mikey turned away first as soon as Raph caught his eye, tears falling so obvious even though he was so far away.

Donnie gagged, seemingly focused on the sight of the Cougar still holding onto his side from where Raph nearly gutted him with his nails. He ran away, probably following Mikey.

Leo… Leo just stared at him. He didn’t even shake his head like Splinter would have done, instead just staring at Raph like he was trying to figure out how someone could be such a shameful burden, a disappointment to him and everyone he knew.

Raph look down after Leo turned and left, staring at the screaming crowed and blood over his hands and the floor for the ring and for the first time since he found the club, he wished he was somewhere else.

#tmnt 2012 #tmnt raphael #teenage mutant ninja turtles #2012 raphael #raphael angst #splinter tmnt #donnie tmnt #mikey tmnt #leo tmnt #fight clubs

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bluepeachstudios · 1 year

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I need you to know I hyperfixated on your Fusion fic so much I dreamt about what the four turtles all fused together in one fusion could possibly look like and the thing is the end result was the fusion having an eye-bleeding theme color that was the entire rainbow all at once and blinding everyone in a twenty mile radius because it was essentially a rave light and he killed his enemies by being so cringe-fail (i.e. dabbing, breakdancing, quoting vines and memes at the wrong times, saying “L + Ratio + Bozo” and performing sick skateboard tricks and having a surfer dude attitude and accent etc etc) they exploded in a shower of rainbow confetti from being unable to handle the pure Gen Z energy he emitted. He also wore rainbow bangles, rubber bracelets and rainbowloom accessories instead of ninja gear. His weapon was a skateboard that obliterated anyone that wasn’t him if they touched it. He was also like an entire story tall. His mask tails just simply did not end they went as far as your vision could go and kept going. I woke up incredibly confused and delirious. I don’t think he had a name. According to him he was “Too radical” for a name. I just. I need you to know of his existence. I watched him turn Fishface into fish confetti with his rainbow brain-beams. Help

I'm laughing so hard at this oh m god

if the '87 turtles had Fusions this would be their 4-Fusion

I'm literally in tEARS holy shit

In exchange for this just. Absolutely beautiful dream you had, may I offer you something?

The turtles can fuse all together.

His name is Renaissance. :)

#asks #tmnt fusions

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oozedninjas · 2 months

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Drunk for you~

Warnings: 18+ / NSFW / MDNI / Ninja guys are late twenties / Happy Valentine's Day!! ❤️

Pussy! drunk Leo holds you tightly close to his chest, fisting your face with a full hand as he forces you to look at him because, fuck, you're so hot when you come.

Pussy!drunk Leo moans into your mouth as he pounds frantically into you, dizzy in the feeling of your cunt around him. Mmm, so fucking tight.

Pussy!drunk Leo whispers the best degradation-praise combos in your ear with a breathy, raspy tone that drives you crazy. He can't have enough. Squirm more to his words. Be louder, scratch his shell harder. Shit, he's so close—

Pussy!drunk Leo knows he has to pull out but it feels so freaking good that he can't bring himself to do so, especially not when you're begging him to breed you so much. Shit, you're gonna be the end of him.

Pussy!drunk Raph relentlessly fucks you from behind in front of your bedroom mirror. Fuck, he's so big, stretching you so good it has you on the verge of turning stupid.

Pussy!drunk Raph fucks you up and down his dick like a small fuck toy, too lost in pleasure to do nothing but hold onto his shoulders as he manhandles you all he wants.

Pussy!drunk Raph barely allows you to breathe as he devours your mouth, groaning agast your lips with each new thrust. God, he loves it when he's so overstimulated that it's almost too much. His cum is dripping from you, and the sounds of your flesh slapping have Raph craving to come again. Can you? Just one more time, doll. Fuck, please.

Pussy!drunk Donatello drinks you up eagerly. His tongue feels heavenly over your clit, he knows. You're tugging him too much to keep him there for it to not. That's right, darling, come on his face— Yeah, like that, damn good.

Pussy!drunk Donatello enjoys himself so much that suddenly all inhibitions are thrown out the window, and he's shamelessly moaning, mouth open as a trail of drool rolls out the corner of his mouth. You feel so good~

Pussy!drunk Donatello loves having your tongue down his throat, claiming him vehemently as your hands scratch the side of his shell, just where it joins to his plastron. The sound that escapes him is everything but human.

Pussy!drunk Mikey can't keep his hands out of you. He slips his palm up your thigh under the table, only stopping when he's met with your warm cunt. Leaking for him just by his slightest touch? Aw, you're so cute!

Pussy!drunk Mikey can't hold back once he starts kissing you. It's like he physically needs the heat emanating from your body. He wants to rob it, keep it alongside you, so deep inside that it deliciously burns.

Pussy!drunk Mikey inhales your scent from the cook of your neck and lets out a mingle between a sigh and a soft moan. He pulls you closer, fucking himself deeper in you. You're so soft, so his, from now to forever.

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theartofeverything · 9 months

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Red carpet dress very much inspired by @tangledinink’s swanatello.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my turtles’ futures lately. Maybe when the war’s finally over and humans and mutants start figuring out how to live together, Venus might become the first uncloaked mutant actor. There’s still backlash, but in general she’s widely celebrated. She loves her job and the opportunity to show other mutants out there that they are beautiful and unique and important, she just wishes that Krystal Yistal (Karai) could have been around to see it.

#turtles in their twenty somethings #itt!au #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #my art #tmnt au #digital art #digital media #digital drawing #digital illustration #digital fanart #itt!venus #in this together au #tmnt venus #tmnt iteration #tmnt fan iteration #red carpet #fashion

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meggahamicide · 1 year

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Boop! Another ninja turtle fanart!

I actually succeeded in doing something super simple, unlike my normal, “I’m gonna do something easy,” then continues to spend the next twenty four hours working non-stop. This only took me about three-ish hours!

#rottmnt #rottmnt leo #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #tmnt leonardo #rottmnt fanart #fanart #original work #my art

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authenticaussie · 8 months

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Memories that I still keep in the back of my mind regarding crossover skills between sports...the wall climbing place I used to go to (I go to a new one now) had a parkour set, with a web rope and gymnastics blocks and soft landing pads. I am not good at parkour but I liked flopping around on the landing pads and throwing myself at the blocks and swinging on the bars.

When I was there, a guy was trying to land a forward cartwheel & flip and he would get almost all the way there and then eat shit (it was very funny to watch,) and one of the reasons he kept eating shit was because he'd keep his head ? In a weird spot? I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but I looked at it and it just. Clicked in my head that he wasn't spot-picking.

So in ballet when you do turns you pick a spot as you are turning and then whip your head around and hit that same looking spot. It allows neater turns and better balance.

And he'd tried, I'm not kidding, like, twenty or thirty times by this point. And every time he'd done it I'd seen him do the head thing. Not tuck in. Not spot.

So I was like. Hey. I know I can't do what you're doing, and I don't know if this is your actual problem, but I think maybe this technique from my dance lessons may help you get fully through your somersault?

And like. He didn't have to trust me. I was like 20! But he did pull his head in and spotted, and flipped (and landed!) and whenever I think about that I think about the crossover in skills between different sports, in getting one skill that makes you better at something so entirely unrelated and how sometimes you don't even realise that something you've learnt somewhere else helps you with this new thing. Which I just think is so cool! And so fun! And how many other physical skills do people have and learn that exist in crossover? Did this ballet technique help him land better in the future too? It fascinates and delights me. New things influenced by old knowledge.

Anyway knowing about the teenage mutant ninja turtles just helped me identify a fraud case at work. 🫡✌️

#bip bop nari drops #oh humanity i love you #i wanted to wax poetic about somersault guy and then remembered the fraud case and i was like #well actually. ;3c i can be a little sillay. for fun. for me <3 #technically my knowledge of horse riding/horses has also assisted in fraud cases too but the turtles in funnier #tmnt #PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME FOR FURTHER DETAILS IT IS AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION #i fuckin doubt anyone involved will be like huh let's check out this unrelated fandom based blog to see if- OH NO THEY'RE ON TO ME #b u t #i like my job. i dont want to get fired bc i have can't shut up disease [autism]

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sibillascribbles08 · 2 months

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Perhaps coming to the woods had been a good idea. Despite everyone’s sluggish and grouchy start to the morning, their moods were lifted when they got out here. Mikey called Todd beforehand, meaning there was more than enough food and lemonade to last them the day. Cassandra arrived later with seven of the brownie scouts. The girls were immediately thrilled with the sight of all the puppies, and Comet eventually felt bold enough to join them in playing with the dogs. Raphael sighed with relief to see some greens in their colors again. With them safe and happier, he tried to focus on himself for a bit, probably eating way too many hotdogs in the process. At least based on Leo complaining that he’d been waiting on a fresh one for twenty minutes. “Go eat some chips or something.” The slider tried to drag him off. “You’re snatching them the minute Mikey gets them off the grill.” He smirked at his little brother and put a hand on his head before shoving him down. “And what are you going to do about it?”

#rottmnt #scribbly fics #vhhb #hero in the dictionary #a bit of silliness before we get back to the crunchy stuff

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missyandwade · 3 months

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From Across the Hallway - Chapter 4

When Missy moves in across the hallway with her two-year old daughter Emily, into what is definitely NOT the best neighborhood, perhaps Wade Wilson can be there for them to brighten their world, and keep an eye out for them when they need it most… Hurt/Comfort/Friendship/Family, and perhaps a little something more…

----

Wade's apartment was just how had Missy imagined it. Casual, cool, if a little rough around the edges…just like Wade himself.

The pair of them, Missy and Emily, hand-in-hand, entered cautiously through the door, Emily gazing around in awe.

Their neighbour, immediately began picking up a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, that were haphazardly strewn across the floor, flinging them into his laundry basket in the corner of the room.

"Feel free to sit down, make your gorgeous selves at home" he said gesturing to a couch and a couple of chairs that stood on the far side of the apartment, next to a large window that looked out onto the city. "You can borrow my laptop if you need it, but I wouldn't go through my browser history if I were you…"

Missy rolled her eyes, shaking her head, before leading Emily over to the couch, picking her up and sitting her down onto the squishy sofa cushions.

"Thanks…" she uttered, looking over at him and unbuttoning the little girls coat. It was much, much warmer in here.

But Wade merely smiled, looking happy.

She was sure he must have a lot of visitors. He wasn't exactly bad looking and definitely seemed like the kind of guy that would have plenty of friends…but Wade seemed almost enamoured with having them here.

He immediately busied himself with tidying things away and making the place look presentable, before grabbing his laptop, placing it down onto the end of the couch beside her.

Missy gave him a nod as she unbuttoned her own coat, removing it and placing it neatly down beside Emily's.

For the slightest of seconds she caught Wade's eye, as he looked her up and down. She was just in a navy pencil skirt, pale blue blouse and nude heels, nothing special, but the way he was looking at her…

But she instantly pushed this away from her thoughts, turning her attention back to her daughter.

She ran a hand over her soft brown hair.

"You ok, sweetie?" she asked gently.

Emily gave a nod back.

"Hot chwocolat?" she asked, her little green eyes searching Missy's face.

Missy smiled lovingly, before glancing up at Wade who was currently beaming.

"Hot chocolate for the little princess and her beautiful queen of a mama, coming right up," he said quickly, moving over to them and picking up the tv remote. "But first maybe some cartoons? Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles were always my favourite…huuuge fan of Leonardo."

Wade switched on the tv, flipping over to the kids channel, and began to turn up the volume…higher and higher…

People always tried to compensate for Emily's hearing loss…it was no fault of their own…they only thought they were doing what's best for the little girl.

But Missy lifted her hand, placing it on Wade's quickly.

"You can keep the volume low, she just likes to look at the pictures anyway," she said, giving Wade a small smile.

He paused for a moment, her hand still on his, before she pulled it away, staring back down at Emily.

Behind her, Wade turned down the volume and headed over to his kitchenette, looking apologetic.

Missy gave a sigh, glancing at Emily, her little eyes fixed on the brightly lit cartoons. She felt her daughter's hands, finally starting to warm up.

She really did regret not keeping on top of everything and paying that bill when she should have.

Missy pursed her lips together, before pulling Wade's laptop towards her.

Twenty minutes later Missy was still sat on Wade's couch on her phone, on hold to the electricity company.

Wade had handed Emily his Batman figurine to play with, and the little girl was taking great delight in tracing over the superheroes mask with her chubby fingers.

Two steaming mugs of hot chocolate had been placed down in front of them, and now Wade stood close by, folding a huge pile of laundry.

Missy glanced over at him momentarily, shaking her head.

Finally after another minute or so, a shrill voice came down the line.

"Ok Melissa, all that seems to be in order, you've paid your bill in full and should have power back on sometime within the next six hours."

"Six hours?" said Missy loudly, causing Emily beside her to jump at the tone of her voice and Wade to look up at her concernedly. "But I've got my daughter…and we've got no power to make dinner….or keep warm…"

But the lady down the line was barely listening

"Would you be interested in hearing about any of our offers for solar panels today?" asked the woman, blatantly reading from a script.

Missy gave a loud "Ughhh…" hanging up the phone.

"Six hours!" she said incredulously, turning to Wade. "Six hours until the power comes back on!"

Her blonde neighbour frowned, putting down the shirt he was folding and walking slowly over to her.

"Well you're more than welcome to stay here tonight-" he said in a playful voice. "If you wanted to snuggle…"

But Missy wasn't in a very playful mood…

She pulled at her lip with her teeth, looking back to Emily who was staring up at her, her face full of worry.

"Sorry baby, Mommy shouldn't have yelled like that," she said, leaning over and kissing the little toddler's forehead.

Emily snuggled into her lovingly.

Oh god, was she just a bad parent? After that year she had had….well…it wasn't a surprise that she would think that…

Missy looked sadly down into her lap, barely even noticing Wade staring over at her.

Suddenly and without a sound, he was at her side.

Missy only realised when she felt a sudden hand on her shoulder.

"Hey…I was being serious…" he said, in a genuine tone, his chocolate eyes honest. "If you need to stay here tonight…"

He gave an easy smile.

"…I just did my laundry so my sheets are clean and daffodil fresh!"

Missy laughed before she could stop herself.

Even Emily looked up at her, as if surprised by the sound which had come out of her Mom's mouth.

It had been a long time since Missy had laughed, that was for sure!

"Thank you," said Missy, lowering her defences slightly, staring up into Wade's face.

There was just something about him…

"No problem…." he replied grinning, looking between her and Emily. "So….I guess if you're not going back to your place for a while and I'm guessing Chicken Little here will need to eat…"

He looked at the little girl and stroked his thumb across her cheek gently.

"..how about some mac and cheese…my speciality!"

Missy smiled back, as to her surprise, Emily let out a tiny giggle at Wade's contact.

"Isn't everything your speciality?" Missy asked Wade mockingly, turning and tickling Emily's tummy, causing the toddler to burst into further fits of giggles.

Missy gazed at her daughter dreamily, as Wade looked on, beaming at the pair of them.

In a matter of minutes the microwave had pinged…Wade, having cleared his rickety little table, placed a steaming orange gloop of mac and cheese down in front of a seated Emily, as her Mom sat beside her.

"What do you say to Wade, sweetie?" asked Missy, smoothing down the little girl's tuft of hair.

"Fank you, Wadee," said Emily shyly, in very broken speech, before picking up the fork with her chubby little fingers.

"You're welcome," said Wade perching on the back of his couch, grinning widely. "And as I always say, what could be more nutritious than luminous mac and cheese?"

Missy instantly smiled up at him.

She could feel herself slowly letting her guard down…for the first time in a long time.

"Y'know I've made enough for all of us and if I'm honest you look like you could use a good meal packed full of e-numbers and trans fats," he said to Missy, cocking a scarred eyebrow over towards her. "At the moment you've got this whole 'I only drink kale juice and eat avocado' kinda vibe going on…."

Missy gave an incredulous laugh, causing Emily to look up at her once again.

"I do not…" she muttered getting to her feet and strolling over to Wade, folding her arms over her blouse. "…I'll have you know…I can binge eat Mexican food and pizza with the best of them…"

Wade looked at her in mock surprise, as she grinned.

"Then you realise, Mademoiselle, that you are pretty much my dream girl, right?" he said in a goading voice, as his eyes fixed onto hers.

But Missy merely smirked, ignoring his comment and quickly turning back towards Emily, walking over to her once more.

"That yummy baby?" she asked, as Emily chewed on the soft pasta, mouth open.

The little girl gave a nod, looking between Missy and Wade, as if transfixed by them.

Missy supposed that Emily had never really seen Missy have this much contact with anyone other than Missy's aunt…

Missy smiled to herself, staring down at her feet before turning and glancing back over towards Wade.

"You know what? I'll take that mac and cheese….if it's going?" she asked, gazing at him. "Thanks."

Wade smiled back, giving a playful look that merely said - 'I was totally right…'

An hour later and Emily was asleep.

The trio had finished their mac and cheese and hot chocolate and moved to the couch, Emily instantly clambering onto Missy's lap and snuggling into her.

It wasn't long before the tiny toddler's eyes had fluttered closed. It was late for her to be up and not in her own bed.

All of this was Missy's mess…if she hadn't been so concerned about herself…about her job…

She looked down at her hand as her fingers stroked against her daughter's warm cheek, absent-mindedly.

Missy couldn't believe she had been this selfish…

"Hey," said Wade suddenly from the armchair, breaking Missy from her thoughts. He had obviously been staring at her for a while. "You think the power's back on at your place yet?"

Missy blinked a few times, flushing red.

Oh god, had they outstayed their welcome?

Gathering Emily up into her arms, Missy made to get to her feet.

"Sorry, yeah, of course…" she murmured, avoiding his eyes, feeling wholly embarrassed.

"No, no, no!" said Wade quickly. "I only meant, if it's not, you should stay here…like I said, I made the bed, the sheets are clean…and Em-bear is looking kinda out for the count…"

He looked at the expression on her face.

"…don't worry," he said in an innocent tone, raising his hands aloft. "….no ulterior motive, I swear. Scouts honour."

Missy stared at him for the longest of moments…..before she gave him a small smile.

"Thank you…for the offer… I appreciate it…"

And she really did…

"…but I should probably check on my place…"

Easing Emily off of her, she got to her feet and strutted across the room on her high heels, grabbing her keys.

She heard Wade following behind her as she crossed the hallway and pushed open her door, but to her delight, the room was warm and lit.

She gave a relived sigh, before turning back to Wade, who was stood close behind her.

"No need to cuddle up to me tonight then?" he said with a smirk, before placing a hand to his chest. "I'm hurt…"

"Lucky escape more like," said Missy, poking him in the ribs with her polished fingernail. "You'd only have been woken like eight times in the night by Emily wanting to pee, or Emily having a nightmare…etcetera, etcetera…"

But Wade gave an easy shrug, grinning.

"Ahhhh, I wouldn't have minded….it would have been like bunking with my old Grandpa again…" he uttered in a sarcastic tone.

Missy let out a chuckle, her eyes glancing to the floor, and for a long second, silence fell between the pair…

She really was very grateful for all this…but couldn't even find the worlds to tell him so….

Missy had put up so many barriers…she was finding it hard to let anyone break them….and here this guy was, walking right through…into their lives…

"I should go get Emily…" she uttered in a quiet voice, biting her lip, before nudging past him.

Missy kept her head bowed low as she walked. She was tired too…and all this had just been too much for her on top of an already exhausting week!

Reaching Wade's couch, Missy lifted Emily into her arms as the little girl gave a gentle grizzle, before walking back over to the door, where Wade was standing, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

Missy paused when she reached him.

This guy she barely even knew….

"Thanks…" she murmured in a quiet voice, gazing slowly up into his eyes. "I really don't know what we'd have done without your help…"

Wade grinned.

"Probably frozen to death…" he said with a matter-of-fact nod.

Missy smiled.

"Well….thanks anyway…." she said, searching for the words. "I appreciate it….we both do…"

And with that Missy gave him one last nod, before crossing the hallway, and closing the door behind her.

Wade lingered in his own doorway for a long moment, letting out a sigh and running a hand over his face…before he too closed the door behind him with a snap.

Leaving the corridor empty once again…

#deadpool #wade wilson #deadpool oc #wade wilson oc #ryan reynolds #deadpool fanfic #wade wilson fic #wade winston wilson

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