Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Raphael had been eating pizza alone in his room. a movie was playing on the laptop Donnie made him, but he wasn't fully paying attention. he could feel something taking over his brain, like a little fog. 

it happened a few times before, usually at bad moments. when he was sparring with his brothers, when he was working on being the leader, stuff that could stress him out. when he didn't try to push it away, it sort of just… took over his brain. he felt little, tiny even, like he was just hatched. 

it was embarrassing, and it would be mortifying if any of his brothers found out.

Raph looked around cautiously. he heard no footsteps, no noise. he was alone, none of his brothers or Splinter would come in… if everything went to plan.

so it was settled, he wouldn't push it away this time! he let the tininess crawl across his brain, and he felt his thoughts get more child-like. it was weirdly comfortable for him. 

he switched the movie from the drama/action he was watching before to some cartoon he found on a pirating website.

tiny Raph happily ate his slice of cheese pizza, watching the show contently. he had pulled one of his stuffed animals, a little bunny, into his lap, and put his fuzzy red blanket over his head. he was warm and cozy with his pizza and his bunny and his movie, and nothing could ever ruin it.

he was so enraptured in his movie that he didn't hear the curtain over the doorway to his room move. it wasn't until Leo spoke that Raph noticed him.

"what's up? you okay?" Leo asked, leaning against the doorframe. the genuine concern in his voice made tiny Raph feel a little more comfortable after the surge of panic he got.

Raph tried to talk, but the words just weren't there. so instead, he just nodded.

"so what's with the apparatus?" Leo prodded, a playful and fake suspicious expression on his face.

his brother just glared at him before looking back at the movie. in retaliation, Leo flopped down on the bed next to him, groaning obnoxiously.

Raph found himself bothered by his brother, but not 'cause Leo was annoying him, 'cause Leo wasn't questioning him. But he also wasn't helping. 

tiny Raph's tiny brain suddenly wanted to let his brother know about the circumstances. tiny Raph made a little sound at his brother. something like… ba. 

"...huh?" Leo asked, looking at his older brother, who still had a blanket over his head and a stuffed animal in his lap. it was miraculous how it hadn't clicked for him yet. 

Raph huffed, giving up so soon. he looked back at his show, where something exciting was happening. he pointed excitedly at the screen, jabbing at it with his stubby fingers.

"yeah?" Leo looked at the screen, where colorful little animals were spelling words and sounding out letters. he had no idea why Raphael, his aggressive big brother, would be watching some little kids show.

slowly, he was connecting the dots. draped in a blanket, bunny stuffie, enraptured in a kids show, not talking. 

"hey. hey, dude." Leo prodded his brother's shoulder. Raph made an annoyed, dismissive sound. "dude. how old are you?" he'd heard about something like this online, but he couldn't remember what it was called. he remembered it was like a therapy thing, and it wasn't always voluntary, and that it helped lots of people, so he was happy his brother was helping himself.

he always felt bad for Raph, so much responsibility was on his shoulders sometimes.

meanwhile, tiny Raph was processing the question. how old am I? he wondered. the answer coming to his little brain was 2! I'm 2!

so that's how many fingers he held up, which was helpful, because he didn't have much more than that.

"you're 2?" Leo asked. Raph feared anger in his voice, but he didn't hear it. his brother sounded more interested than anything else.

so, instead of running away or hiding or pushing the tiny away, he nodded. he's 2.

Leo hummed to himself, "I heard about something like this online, it helps people. so I'm happy it helps you." he said, giving his tiny brother a big smile.

unexpectedly, Raph gave him a big smile in return. 

"what show were you watching?" Leo asked, he didn't wanna scare away this tiny version of Raph by bringing up, or god forbid making fun of his big smile. 

"um.." he didn't remember the name, but it was a pretty cartoon that moved fast enough to keep his little brain entertained. 

"don't know? that's okay bud." Leo grinned, turning his attention back to the little screen. 

after maybe 10 minutes, Raph felt… needy. like he wanted to be cared for, instead of just sitting here with Leo. he didn't exactly know how to communicate that.

turning to Leo, he just made a little motion. a little wave of his fists, like holding his arms out for a hug. 

"you want a hug?" Raph nodded quietly, his expression like a sad puppy. he felt weird for all this and needed a little comfort. "c'mere buddyyyy…" 

Leo pulled him close and patted his shell gently, swaying just a tiny bit.

after barely a minute, he heard snoring on his shoulder. tiny Raph was all tuckered out and asleep on his shoulder.

he turned the volume of the cartoon down, carefully laid his 'little' brother's head on his soft pillow, and tucked him in for sleep. 

he even made sure to tuck the stuffed rabbit into his arms before turning out the lights.

"ninight tiny Raph," Leo said with a little kiss on the forehead, before shutting the curtains behind him.

he even told the rest of their brothers to be quieter, because Raph was already sleeping.

what a good big brother :)

Chapter Text

Donnie sat at his desk, a microscope in front of him. he was watching cells split and merge, wondering if he could get a weapon to do the same thing.

he wanted to make more presents for his brothers, maybe something they would like better this time, maybe something that would suit them or their personalities better!

as he worked and watched the cells split and merge, a very mesmerizing sight, he felt a little feeling pop into his head. something with a little more childlike wonder than he usually had when working on his experiments. Donnie didn't do anything to stop it per se, but he didn't exactly do anything to encourage it.
as he noted down the possible designs of a weapon that could split itself in half and then merge back together like cells could, he felt excitement bubble up in his chest at the idea that he could make his brothers happy with even more gifts!

or maybe he was just hungry.

come to think of it, he hadn't had lunch. maybe he should go do that.

Donnie got up from his desk, wandering into the kitchen for leftover pizza, or maybe a sandwich if he was lucky.

his littlest brother, Mikey, was also in the kitchen, trying(and failing) to follow a tutorial on cooking some dessert or cake or whatever he was working on now.

giving up on the food, Mikey turned to his brother. "what're you working on now?" he asked.

"surprise!" Donnie looked at him with a big gap toothed smile, his clear excitement was slightly out of the ordinary, but Mikey brushed it off as him just being in a good mood.

"oooh! can I see now, or do I have to wait for it to be done?" Mikey asked, sending a big grin back at his 'older' brother.

the softshell turtle stopped for a moment to think. "hmm…"

"hmmmmm…" Mikey mimicked.

"hmmmmmmm!"

"hmmmmmMMMM!"

"HMMMMMMMMMMM!"

"what. are you doing." Splinter had come to get a soda can and bag of anything he could snack on for the upcoming marathon of Jupiter Jim movies. every. single. one. It would be a long 120 hour marathon if he didn't have snacks or soda.

"Donnie's inventing stuff again!" Mikey told their dad, who just laughed.

"let's hope it does not… where is it…" he picked through the hoard of mismatched soda cans in the fridge. he grabbed some off brand Coke something-or-other before continuing his sentence. "let's hope it does not go ka-boom." Splinter grabbed a bag of "stolen from a Mexican restaurant dumpster" tortilla chips before scurrying back to his recliner.

when Mikey looked back for Donnie, the softshell was also scurrying out the door back to his lab.

"can I come too?"

"meh."

after Donnie set his lunch down on his desk, he picked up the little gizmo he was experimenting with and set it in Mikey's hands.

"be careful." he warned.

"woahhhhh…" Mikey was amazed with this simple little scientific instrument, but it made him happy to see what his brother was working on.

meanwhile, donnie was looking something up on his little tablet.

"whatcha lookin' at?" Mikey peered over his brother's shoulder.

holding up the tablet, Donnie showed him the video search results of "scientific documentaries for dummies."

"wow, thank you." Mikey faked hurt, making Donnie giggle. "do I get to pick one?"

Donnie noddled, he felt more little than before.

"hmm…" Mikey scrolled through the options, and decided on a video about fungi that takes over brains. it sparked his interest.

before the video started, Donnie snatched the tablet and scrambled onto his bed, relishing in the soft comfort of his safe mattress. he set the tablet up so he could sit with his brother(and current caretaker) and watch the video he picked.

Mikey watched him settle into place, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to also sit down or not.

that was, until, Donnie snapped his attention towards Mikey, giving him a death stare before patting the spot next to him on the blankets.

"okay, okay, jeez." Mikey faked hurt again, making Donnie grin before settling back in and just enjoying the presence of his brother and this nice video about brain fungi or something.

he was too sleepy to really notice the video. a hard days work means a big comfy night of sleep. <3