Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

If someone doesn’t wake the bastard who’s blasting god-awful whale sounds soon, Donatello may just have to get involved. Involvement that he has been advised against seeing through for many, many years. Involvement that would result in a concave-faced Leo. It might just happen today.

After sleeping for almost a full 5 hours (wow!), crashing waves and the groans of humpback whales were not what Donnie had needed to be forcefully woken with. He almost had half the mind to storm into Leo’s room, and would've done so, had Mikey not caught him on his way across the subway’s platform. He had said something about Leo not sleeping much lately; Donnie did not pay attention, given he did not care. 

So for the past 30 minutes, Donnie has been subjected to being conscious with these horrid noises echoing into the activity room from the hall. There was only so much his headphones could block out until he wasn’t able to hear the conversation his less annoying brothers were having while they made breakfast. Considering they were discussing how best to wake Leo, Donnie wanted to make sure to be as focused as he could be. 

That was, until Splinter appeared behind the un-expecting Michelangelo, snatching the plate of freshly made biscuits off of the bar beside him. Mikey, none the wiser, puts a hand to his chin in deep thought. “Hmm.. maybe he’ll be nice if I bring the biscuits to him? You think?” He suggests, prodding Raph for agreement.

However, dear Raphael only blinks. “What biscuits?” He tilts his head to the side. Mikey mirrors his actions, before his eyes fall to the empty place where the plate would have sat. 

“DAAAAAAD!” Mikey whines, pushing up the sleeves of his pajama shirt while he stomps into the TV area, as if he were preparing to fight over the breakfast. Raph watches him go, before looking at Donnie, beyond confused. “When were there biscuits?”

Donnie closes his eyes and pinches between his eyes. “Exasperated sigh. This should not be a big deal,” he grumbles, already getting off of his stool. “Let me go wake him. Otherwise, I’m going to end up chewing someone's arm off from frustration.” 

He makes sure to get his point across by staring at Raph pointedly, who nods. “Just be sure Leo doesn’t bite your arms first, Dee. I’m sure he’ll be cranky…” he trails off, leaving the rest to the imagination. 

“Not to worry, I am fully prepared,” Donnie displays his bō with full pride, (not) calmly making his way down the stairs. He pretends not to notice the sad expression Raph wore before he turned around. He pretends, and he ignores it, because what did that even mean?

As the sounds from Leo’s room (just a shabby train car still, since fixing up a new lair was proving to be a bit more difficult than anyone accounted for) grew louder, Donnie spun the side of his headphones until he could no longer hear the oOoOoOuGH’s of the whales. Finally. 

Swiftly, he opened the sliding door, face scrunching up when his gaze lands on Leo, cuddled up and snoring like a baby. How he sleeps through the noise, Donatello has no idea.

On guard, Donnie tiptoes over to where Leo’s stereo lies above his head. For a brief second, he considers shoving it and letting it topple onto his twin’s face. He doesn't, though, and just presses the stop button. An opportunity missed, Donnie muses to himself. 

The slider hops out of his bed, arms slightly raised to protect his stereo. He shakes his head around, looking like a bumbling idiot when his sleeping mask falls off of his eyes slowly. When his gaze finally locks with Donnies, who has his bō held in a defensive stance, he sighs, pulling the mask down to his neck.

He begins mumbling something, but Donnie can’t read what it is that he’s saying, so he holds up a hand to get Leo to wait. It works for the most part, because he halts, but lays a hand on his hip impatiently. 

Donnie lifts his hand to his headphones again, spinning the sides backward. “You’re in a fairly better mood than expected,” he finally says. Leo shrugs and rolls his eyes in response. 

“As I was saying a second ago,” he pauses to rub at his eyes. “You’re all lucky the ambience noise calmed me down in my sleep.”

“Oh, please, you call that ambience?” Donnie almost wants to laugh at the idea. He doesn't, of course.

Leo pauses, hands dangling in front of his face, looking at his twin like he just said the most offensive thing ever. “Uh, doy. What else?”

“Annoying sounds from the pits of the Underworld blasting through my home in the early hours of my wakening?” he wastes no time quipping back, bō raised slightly higher just in case that joke set Leo off.

Disappointingly, Leo opens his mouth and promptly closes it. “Fair. Uh… sorry if I woke you guys, I’ll make it quieter next time,” he turns away from Donnie, digging through a pile of clothes until he successfully pulls out a hoodie. 

Strange, Donnie thinks. An apology? No argument? No chasing him down the subway? Nothing? When he lowers his staff to stand beside him, maybe to say something about the lack of smack talk, about how yeah, you did, Leo beats him to it.

“Anyway, thanks for waking me up,” he mutters, pulling at the cuffs of his pajama shirt. He won’t meet Donnie’s eyes anymore, despite facing him.

So Donnie turns around, waving it off as he exits the train car. Why is everyone being so… weird ? Did something happen? If so, did he somehow miss it? He continues to question this phenomenon, racking his brain for any recent family-saddening events that would make them so somber.  

All thoughts of investigation are abandoned when he finds Mikey around the corner, pouting by the counter as he remakes biscuits. “You didn’t have to do that, Michael,” Donnie says as he draws closer. 

“I did!” He immediately responds, the pitch in his tone giving Donnie minor whiplash. “Splinter ate all of the first ones, so I’m making more, ‘cause I wanted you guys to try them.” 

Leaning over to pat his younger brother’s head, Donnie smiles. “Of course, let us know when they're ready and I’ll fetch Leo.” 

Mikey’s complexion seems to instantly light up. “Okay! Oh, and speaking of, thanks for waking him. I was beginning to think I’d only ever hear whales for the rest of my life!” 

“It was no problem, he didn’t even bite…” he loses his train of thought, scanning around the room for any other life force but finding none. “Where’s Raph?” 

When Mikey only shrugs, Donnie figures it’s nothing he should worry about. Raph’s always been responsible, anyway. 

For the better half of an hour, Donnie stays with Mikey in the main room, though neither of them really talk. It’s always fascinating how focused the youngest is when he’s in his element. Donnie supposes it’s like how he gets when working on a project, though his brother actually takes breaks. Something that wouldn’t hurt him to learn to do.

As the smell of food fills the air, Donnie scrolls his life away on his phone. He always gets like this, sitting down and opening his phone, only to find himself stuck like that until something more interesting happens. Said interesting thing happens when Mikey leans over in front of his face.

“Done, Dee!” He happily announces the second he invades Donnie’s personal space. He bounces away instantly, though, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Sorry ‘bout that. You didn’t hear me when I called you the other four times.” 

Huh. Donnie must’ve been too immersed in his phone. With a quick apology, he rises to his feet, following Mikey back to the bar where Raph now sat. Shoot, Donnie really hasn't paid attention to his surroundings, because when did Raph join them? 

The oldest offers up a small smile to Donnie while he sets out strawberry and grape (Donnie insists on living, breathing, and eating purple) jellies. “Heya. Would you mind fetchin’ Leo?” 

Donnie shakes his head, already moving past the other two and down the stairs. Leo’s door has been closed again by the time he reaches it. He knocks this time, rapping a knuckle against the metal (an unpleasant feeling, but there’s really no other way to do it). “Leo! Mikey made breakfast for us!”

When there's no response for a good few seconds, his anxiety skyrockets, pulse pounding in his eardrums. A million worst-scenarios flood his mind before he tells himself to calm down. “Leo?” He knocks again, louder this time. There's a beat of silence before Donnie hears something clatter to the ground, so he waits. 

The door swings open. Leo, attempting to look put together, leans on the frame. “Whaddya say?” 

Donnie squints. Leo’s words were rushed out, and he seemed in a hurry. In a matter of mere seconds, Donnie decides it's none of his business. “Mikey. Made breakfast,” he repeats, a marker-eyebrow raised. 

“Oh,” Leo hums, eyes darting to the floor. He’s fidgeting with the ends of his hoodie, now. “Umm, I’ll be out in a sec. Thanks-”

“See, I’ve learned that when you say ‘a sec’, you always mean to say ‘half an hour’. Just come on, Leo,” Donnie swiftly moves his hand and cuts his brother off from where he was trying to close the door. The inner corners of Leo’s mask pinch together, making him seem conflicted. Like he was running numbers in his head at top speeds (and that action is specifically Donnie Trademarked). 

Eventually, he sighs. “Can you just give me a minute? I promise I’ll be quick,” he says, letting go of the door. Donnie observes as his arms cross, and Leo seems to tuck into himself. He looks small. Leo is never small. 

Donnie sets his jaw. “Fine,” he compromises, though his hand remains on the door, unlike Leo. Both of them are uncomfortable now, so he tries to make light of it. “You’ve run out of meal-missing tickets, though.” 

At that, Leo huffs, in lieu of a laugh. “I don't miss nearly as many as you, Don.” 

“Au contraire, dear brother, you have missed 4 more than I have just this week,” Donnie supplies, feeling smug. “But who’s keeping track…?” 

The slight smile on Leo’s face fades. Was it something he said? “My bad, I’ve just been tired, you know?” 

Another apology. Donnie dismisses it. “You are still awake five hours after everyone has already gone to bed, Leo. Of course you’re tired.” 

“…Yeah,” he hesitates, trying to laugh Donnie’s accusing tone off. “My sleeping schedule is bonkers.”

“Your sleeping schedule has you missing out on half of the day,” Donnie feels something rising from deep in his chest to his throat. Leo doesn't see this as a problem, and it’s ticking him off. “How long will it be until you’re too tired for a mission? What happens when you can’t-”

“I'm not in the mood, Donnie.” It’s now Leo’s turn to cut his twin off. His stare is seemingly empty, and that alarms Donnie more than anything. “Just close the door.” 

So he does. Donnie shuts his mouth in unison with the door, his mind failing to conjure up any rebuttal that didn't end with an insult. He grinds his teeth and turns on his heel, promptly making his way back across the subway platform and up the stairs. If his other two brothers saw the distaste on his face, they didn't mention it. Instead, Raph slides over the grape jelly in silence, and Donnie thankfully takes it.

He decides that he owes them an explanation, but cannot be bothered. “He’ll be up in a minute,” Donnie simply says. Mikey nods, having heard that very sentence too many times before. 

They continue on with their late breakfast (brunch, at this point) in silence, until Donnie watches Mikey get up from his seat. He turns his attention to where his brother is looking and lo and behold, Leo. Interesting, Donnie was sure he’d be an hour late this time. Looks like maybe he did get through to him.

“Good morning! I made biscuits!” Mikey proudly holds up the plate of sort-of-warm breakfast (take two), and Leo takes it in his hands. 

“They’re good,” Raph cuts in, looking up with crumbs all over his face. Donnie smiles as his older brother chuckles. “Just… by the way.” 

Mikey makes a heart shape with his arms, swaying side to side. “Thanks! My secret ingredient is loooove.”

Taking a seat across from Donnie, Leo grins. “That’s what everybody says, though.” 

“And what’s that s’posed to mean, Leon?” Mikey feigns offense, clutching the front of his sweater. Donnie notes that he needs to work on their heating today, they've been having to layer up as it gets colder outside. The heat lamp he installed in his new lab isn't helping him much either, so he’ll have to fix that, too.

Donnie drowns out the rest of the squabble until they fall back into silence. Recognizing the lack of annoyingness, Donnie looks up. He finds Leo staring off into space until their eyes meet. His brother is giving him a look that says “don’t start now”, and oh boy does that make Donnie want to start now. 

So he sets his gaze back on his hands. Thinks to himself for a second, letting Leo think he’s won. 

“You could talk to us, you know.”

“What?”

Chapter Text

“What?”

Leo now looks upset. That’s a change.

Donnie isn't a fan of repeating himself, and he’s already done it once today. That’s a constant. 

He also thought that Leo being open and honest was a constant, but it seems that's not the case. Constants change. He’s not a fan of that, either.

“You can talk to us. We don't bite.” A glance toward Raph. “Well, some of us don’t.”

“I already told you, I’m not in the mood to argue. Drop it.” 

Worry casts over Raph and Mikey’s faces. 

“Oh, but you’ll never be in the mood,” Donnie retorts. “You used to preach to us about talking to each other when shit happened, but look at you now. Hypocrite.”

In the token older-brotherly way, Raph opens his mouth to comment on Donnie’s unnecessary language, but he’s not quicker than Leo, who slams the end of his fork into the counter.

“Okay, seriously, Donnie, what crawled up your ass and died?” Leo hisses. “I understand that I was playing the noise too loud, so I apologized. Why do you want to start something so bad?” 

The appalled look on Raph’s face doubles in intensity, torn between getting on to the two of them, or breaking them up. Mikey shuffles back in his seat, eerily quiet.

“Why do I- Leo, since when do you not? All I’m saying is the obvious: it’s not like you to be reclusive and secretive. And now you’re not in the mood to fight? You’re apologizing to me? I know I’m not the only one who’s noticed how off you are.” Donnie looks up at Raph, who conveniently looks away. “You’re not telling us things.”

Leo lets Donnie say his piece, but he looks utterly pissed. His grip on the fork has his knuckles turning white, or as white as they can be when you’re green. Donnie isn’t ready to back down, even if he’s slightly put off by the new look of his brother.

When the slider doesn't respond, Mikey tries to reach for his shoulder. “Leo, I know he’s not the best at explaining, but Donnie just means that we’re worried-”

“Just stay out of it Mikey!” Leo snaps, jerking his shoulder. Mikey flinches back, looking as if he’d just been singed. Leo points his fork at Mikey and Donnie both. “You guys are always sticking your snouts where it doesn’t belong, huh?” 

The words bounce off of the subway walls, echoing painfully. Donnie watches closely and unmoving as the rage melts off Leo’s expression, replaced by something like the confliction he saw before. Now, it is Donnie’s turn to be angry. Leo has definitely said worse to him. But to their baby brother? 

Donnie doesn't even have to say anything to get Leo up and out of his seat. Just a cold, hard stare does the trick. Leo turns to Mikey, dipping his head down in a bow. “S-sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice. Thank you for breakfast.” He rushes out, hastily making his way back down the stairs.

The remaining three stare at the unfinished plate of food. 

It’s no surprise that Raph is the first to break away, turning his attention to the youngest. “You okay, Mikey?” 

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Mikey turns away slightly, palms brought up to his eyes. 

Donnie squirms in their newfound silence. It’s uncomfortable and suffocating.

“I just want to help,” Mikey says, voice carefully low. Raph and Donnie nod solemnly. Family means being there for each other. Why can’t Leo, who used to preach that exact sentiment after defeating Shredder, understand that? What happened to him? 

“Orange?” 

The three turtles snap their heads up, surprised by the sudden arrival of their father. It always gives Donnie the heebie-jeebies how unnoticed he can go. 

Splinter is now placing a small hand over Mikey’s arm, concern written all over his face. Donnie finds it endearing, not like he would ever voice that. “Is this about the biscuits? What was all that noise?”

Mikey chuckles at that, lifting the mood. “No, Dad. Don’t worry about me.” He sniffs to end the sentence, rubbing at his eyes one last time.

“Leo and I fought, that’s all. Nothing new,” Donnie says casually, spinning his fork on the counter, in an attempt to seem unaffected. Maybe Splinter wouldn’t ask questions if he looked disinterested enough.

He seems to get the idea, stepping back from Mikey. Then, he points to Raph. “Red, your phone has been buzzing for some time. It is becoming annoying.”

Raph jerks, looking embarrassed. He fishes his phone out from the pocket of his battered and torn hoodie, looking at it, squinting, pressing a button, and finally bringing it to his face. “Heya, April! What’s up?” 

At the mention of their older sister’s name, Mikey practically leaps over the bar. “April?! Chellooooo, I miss youuu~” he makes a kissy face, having bounced back to his full energy. Donnie smirks. 

“Hey guys, Hi Mikey I miss you too, y’all gotta get here quick! Haven't you seen any news lately?” She scolds. Donnie imagines that if she were with them, they would have accumulated at least one whack on the head from her bat already. He is glad that is not currently the case. His precious cranium does not deserve any dents for the time being.

Raph shakes his head. “No, I don't think so. What’s happening?” He looks to Donnie for some indication of an idea, but all he has to offer is a shrug.

“There’s a whale mutant, and it's currently trying to destroy half of the east coast! GET YOUR BUTTS HERE NOW!” April’s screaming ends with a resounding click. 

“A whale?!” Mikey groans, dragging his hands over his face. “Again?!”

Donnie feels his pain. “Dibs on not getting Leo. I’ll go fire up the tank.” He rises from his seat, noticing that their father had slipped away at some point. Not a rare occurrence. 

“I’m comin’ with you, Dee!” Mikey stumbles over his own feet to follow, eager to leave Raph behind.

Their older brother sputters. “Wh- Guys! You can’t just- oh, whatever.” 

The trip to April was much less tense than Donnie had anticipated. Leo seemed to be back in high spirits, chatting with (more like at, really) Mikey, spewing awful jokes. Everything seemed normal, besides him avoiding looking in Donnie’s general direction, which would be excused for now. They had mutants to beat up, and Donnie would not risk screwing that up… again.

Donnie, being the designated driver, is apparently the first to notice the ripples in the water. He squints, trying to see what had caused such large waves. As he reaches for his goggles thinking that maybe he’d be able to trace mystic energy, Raph stops him. “Road, Dee.”

Nodding, Donnie turns his focus back to driving. He hears Leo open the roof hatch, yelling at April in the distance. As if she couldn’t see the ginormous tank barreling toward her. 

Once they’re settled, and Mikey has successfully hugged April, she gains a face of seriousness. “It's a water mutant, so I’ve been thinking. Donnie, you’re a great swimmer, right?” 

“That I am,” Donnie affirms, feeling the corners of his beak tug into a smug grin. Raph rolls his eyes.

“Great. Get in the lake,” she pats his shoulder. The grin falls off his face near instantaneously. “Wait, what?”

Mikey raises his hand, waving it around in the air. “Can I push him in?” He asks, a bit too enthusiastically. 

April, thankfully, ignores the question, pushing Mikey’s hand down slowly. “Anyway, the mutant’s in the water. And as you can tell, all the people have already cleared out. So I'm thinkin’ you can chase it out on the beach, where the rest of us have the advantage.”

Leo nods. “Not a bad plan, I’m impressed. Okay guys, what April said!  Everyone but Donnie, prepare to school this fish!” 

With their leader’s orders, they each spring into action, leaping over the road’s hill and onto the sand. Donnie dives for the water, mostly because he's desperate to get the uncomfortable sand off of his feet, but also to fight this thing. 

When the cool waves hit him, he feels at home. He has to shake his head to get oriented, reminding himself that he’s been assigned a task to complete. At first, he doesn’t notice much besides the ripples in the water. In one wide stroke, Donnie swims farther out, avoiding the jagged rocks from the shallow ground. 

He hears it before he sees it.

With a battle cry, something charges at Donnie. And by golly, was it large. Like, could smack Donnie and end him, kind of large. Donnie began to doubt April’s plan. 

Carefully, he watched as the whale mutant emerged in view, and Donnie acted out a breath of relief (it was the most he could do, being underwater and all). From what he could tell, the mutant was a beluga whale, meaning it would move much slower than Donatello would. That definitely gave him an advantage over the sheer mass of the mutant. Okay, faith in April’s plan has been restored. Never doubted her once. Totally.

Donnie continued to swim out, keeping his body facing the mutant. The mutant followed his movements, eyes threateningly trained on him. He reached for his battle shell, grabbing and extending his bō. The mutant didn’t slow, which was good for him.

Once the mutant was close enough, Donnie spotted a glowing pendant on the neck. It looked similar to the gem that Walter- wait, no, Wallace? No- oh, forget it. The pendant looked similar to that worm’s gem, the one that buffed him up in the weirdest way possible. Donnie supposed that might have to do with why this mutant is massive.

Too swift for the whale to retreat, Donnie raised his bō, bracing for impact. With his ninpo activated, the end of the staff dimly crackled, electric currents reaching the whale, causing it to groan in pain. Sure, the electric force singed Donnie's hands, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He knew marine mammals are more electro-sensitive than he ever could be after years of accidentally shocking himself with open wires. 

The whale moaned, snapping its head back toward Donnie's direction. He was hit by a large, invisible force from the mutant, being suddenly pushed back against the resisting water. An ominous voice echoed in his mind, throat rumbling as it told Donnie to “Get out”. He nearly gasped to catch his breath, before calming himself. His pharynx filtered out the salty water and thin air, allowing him to regain enough breath to continue fighting. Can’t have himself inhaling dirty coast water and drowning on the job, now can he? 

Donnie readjusted himself, shaking the voice out of his head. Perhaps telepathy was this whale’s power. Without further thought, Donnie strode forward, his bō charging up. The mutant, who seemed confused, remained in place. Donnie was going to use this to his advantage, though he couldn't figure out what had made the mutant so puzzled. Donnie managed to strike it again with the electric current, making it tumble backward, scrambling to swim away from him. 

But he was faster and far more agile. He had to make sure this mutant made it to the shore, instead of veering off. He kept at it, shocking and fighting the mutant when it would try to break away from him. Within moments, they had nearly reached the others. 

He knew not to celebrate early. Really, he knew better. But he did anyway, and that was his mistake. The second Donnie had let his guard down, he met a face full of whale tail. 

The smack reverberated through the water, the pressure pushing Donnie down to the sharp rocks when the mutant jumped to land. He was very lucky for his battle shell that the rocks had not hurt him, but his face was a different story. 

Dark, smoke-like wisps of red clouded his vision. His beak felt numb. And then he tasted it. Iron. 

Great, so Donnie was suffering from his first nosebleed in years. Suffering a nosebleed in water, where he was trying not to gasp, desperately attempting to absorb what little air the salty coast provided him. He extended a hand out to swim back up- he was so close- but he felt his muscles growing tired, and his grip on consciousness flickering out rapidly. 

He could only hope that his siblings would handle the mutant sooner rather than later. 

Chapter Text

Leo’s heart sank into his gut. Just, kaput, straight to the floor.

His brother hadn’t emerged from the water with the mutant, which the other three were occupied with. 

Of course, Leo had joined the fight, but he was distracted searching for Donnie. Maybe he just doesn’t want to fight with us, he thinks, though he knows it’s wishful. The alarms in Leo’s head are blaring. 

He catches it out of the corner of his eye. A speck of red in the glistening blue-green of the crashing waves. As he watched the speck quickly grow into a smoky puddle with horror, he felt a sharp pain rip through his chest. Donnie’s hurt.

“I’m going for Donnie, keep the mutant busy!” Leo shouts, not including any details. He didn't want to distract his family and risk getting everyone hurt.

Leo kicked up the sand as he ran, sheathing his swords clumsily. He took in a deep breath as he approached the water, diving in beside the blood puddle. The cold made him shiver a bit, but his priorities were elsewhere. Like Donnie, passed out on the rocks. His nose was bleeding, but Leo was glad it was only that. Relief flooded through his body, grabbing ahold of his senses, and letting him swim toward his brother. 

Carefully, Leo hooked his arms under Donnie, kicking his feet and dragging both of them to shore. Donnie sputtered, blinking groggily. 

“Woah there, we don’t want you choking on that nosebleed. C'mon, lean forward, there you go.” Leo instructed calmly, besides the drumming of his fingers on his thigh. “You alright, Don?”

The younger twin nods, eyeing Leo. “Go, grab the pendant,” Donnie croaks out, attempting to shoo him away. The push against his arm was weak, but by giving him a once-over, Leo had faith that he’d be just fine. 

He followed Donnie’s suggestion (though they both knew it wasn’t really that, more like an order), getting up and dashing over to join the fight with an enthusiastic yell. Mikey looked over to him, mouth pulled in a line. He must've seen Leo dragging Donnie out of the water. Leo nods at him firmly with a small smile, if nothing but to ease his worries. 

It isn't long until Leo spots the pendant Donnie mentioned. It's a brilliant pink, but almost unnoticeably small. Leo comes to the conclusion that the gem is the thing buffing their opponent up to nearly nine feet tall. He signals Raph on his far right, pointing to his chest area, then to the whale. He puts the sides of his fists together, snapping them apart like he was holding celery. Break . Raph gets the idea, activating his sais and charging the enemy. April soon drops down between Mikey and Leo.

“So, what now, boss?” She asks, breathing labored. Leo barely spares her a glance, drawing a sword and focusing on defending them from the flailing flippers of the mutant. It was so weird to see a whale with legs. But equally as funny.  

“That pink pendant. It’s gotta be a mystic enhancer, I think Donnie figured that out,” Leo says in a hushed manner. “Distract the mutant any way you can so Raph can grab and crush the gem. Whale win this fight in no time.” Mikey and April both acknowledge Leo’s new orders (but not his hilarious wordplay) with a determined nod, zipping into action. Aw, they grow up so fast. 

Leo continued to defend, dancing to avoid the attacks. The whale squinted at him in frustration, throwing Raph away from its back. Uh oh. While its attention was turned to him, Leo had to be sure to give his team early access to the pendant. Making a split decision, Leo whirled his sword around, dashing through his portal. The whale appeared confused, looking around, until Leo, hanging from a portal above its shoulder, rapped it on what he assumed was its neck. “What’s up?”

The mutant reaches for Leo with its fins as the turtle pops in and out of various sky portals. As the mutant grows dizzier, Leo spots their older brother successfully ripping the pendant off its neck and dashing away. The mutant notices, roaring in anger. Not good.

As the whale stomps after Raph, the eldest’s gaze flitters directly to April. With a new fierce intensity, the whale lunges for Raph as he rears his arm up to throw the pendant to their resident human. Leo smirks as it flies over to Mikey’s palm instead, catching the mutant off guard. Classic snake eyes move. Mikey, with a triumphant cry, tosses the necklace up in the air, and successfully smashes it into the rock beside him.

The mutant rips out a nasty roar, causing Leo to tumble out from his sky portal. After scrambling to regain his footing, he watches the ridiculously large mutant shrink into a bit more reasonable size. It’s about on par with Raph, now. 

However, it seems the battle has not been won. 

“Mikey!” Donnie yells from the side, spurring Leo into action. Time seemed to slow as the mutant pulled its head back, opening its toothy mouth. With a few wide leaps and front handsprings, Leo finds himself directly in the middle of his little brother and the mutant’s attack. 

Except, Leo falls to the ground with an anticlimactic oof. Everyone, including the mutant, stares at him in confusion. 

Leo hops to his feet, brushing the sand off his plastron. “Ha! Was that supposed to do something?” He throws his head back to guffaw. Mikey slaps his hand over his beak as he tries to keep himself from laughing with his brother. 

The mutant’s stare hardens, once again tossing up its head, and taking a step forward. Mikey, this time, jumps in front of Leo, giggling as the light gust from the attack hit them both. “It's like a little tickle!” He announces to the others.

The mutant’s mouth opens and closes repeatedly, nostrils flaring. Eventually, it turns away from the group, stomping toward the water. 

“It’s getting away!” Donnie yells again, to which Leo rolls his eyes. “What an observation, Dee!” 

Mikey and Leo both surge forward, chasing after the mutant. Just as Mikey is ready to catch its foot with his chain, Leo cuts in front of him. “Watch this!” He hops ahead, letting his limbs fly astray as he closes in on the whale, expecting to grab a hold of it and tackle it down. 

Instead, he struggles to get a grip, and slips off, splashing in the water. He watches helplessly as the mutant swims off and out of sight. 

He turns his head around sheepishly to meet a very peeved Michelangelo. 

As if this day hadn’t already started with Leo on the wrong side of the bed. He figured it couldn't get worse. He was wrong. 

Leo chewed the inside of his mouth, picking at the edges of the bandage wrap that traveled to his elbows. It was a bad nervous habit he’d picked up lately, and he needed to quit. He needed to quit because it was dangerous; the way April eyed him, standing directly across the tank with her arms crossed.

She knew, of course. She’d been the only one Leo thought to tell. About a few months ago (or was it only a couple? He loses track of time), he first felt the crushing weight of their battle with Shredder, losing their home, losing Gram Gram, and nearly losing their dad. It had all caught up to him in one fell swoop, sending him spiraling.

In the beginning, anyone was able to help him come to his senses. By talking or with breathing exercises. But as the attacks got worse, Leo found it much harder to ground himself. He had begun digging his claws into his arms, grasping himself in a fetal position. When he bit his claws short(er, they've always been the shortest out of his brothers) from nervousness, he frantically sought out something to substitute the feeling of his grip.

Anything to ground himself, he’d said at the time. Anything to feel real. Anything to feel like he was away, like he’d made it out of that battle alive.

Leo had only taken up self harming for a few weeks before he freaked out about it. He stared at his stinging arms in dismay most nights. Of course, he was smart enough to not seriously hurt himself, but he was growing increasingly nervous thinking about what he might do if this continued. 

So he had called April, and spilled out whatever emotions he could voice to her. She didn’t yell at him, didn't even get angry at him at all. He just cried to her, quiet enough to not raise questions from Raph across the common area. He had felt so unlike himself, so vulnerable. 

He still feels incredibly vulnerable under her hawk-eyed watch. He doesn't like feeling vulnerable. Leo knows he’s been holed up and shut in. He knew what his brothers were saying this morning was true. He knew that they would probably share his sentiments of grief, of fear. But he would never know how to bring up a conversation about the urges he’d have, late at night, after even Donnie had turned in. How he fought himself, beat himself up over how he’d come to deserve it, and how no, how could he do this to himself?

Leo feels a second pair of eyes trained on his rapidly moving fingers. He stills, meeting Mikey’s furious gaze. Big yikes.

“What?” He questions. He wants to add a chuckle, but he's not sure it’s appropriate at the moment. He’s not sure why he suddenly cares so much about being timely with his reactions.

Mikey glowers. A look that would be sort of endearing, if it were not aimed at him currently. “What? What? Leo, I would have caught the goon if not for you!” 

Nobody makes any move to stop Mikey from yelling, aside from the occasional glance in his direction. It seems everyone had agreed with Mikey: Leo fucked up again.

“So whaaat, we crushed the pendant, it’s basically powerless,” He waves it off. He knows he’s being arrogant; he desperately wishes to go back to being the Leo a few hours ago that didn’t swallow the need to apologize after every word. To be honest, that version of himself was just as new to him as it was to the rest of them. 

“Because of you, they could be buying another one, instead of being behind bars!” Mikey takes a step forward now, disappointment written all over his face. Yowch, that one stung. “What if someone ends up getting hurt again?”

Leo’s eyes follow where Mikey gestured over to Donnie. The softshell had insisted on driving, despite Raph and April both offering. Leo gave him the green light, so he assumes that only added to the ‘things the fam are not happy about that are directly Leo’s fault’ list.

“Mikey, stop yellin’ in the tank,” Raph turns round from his seat, voice unusually soft. 

This only fuels Mikey, though. “No, Raph! Leo yelled at me this morning and you didn't get on to him at all!” Leo flinches at the words, though Mikey isn't facing him anymore. He watches as April becomes confused, then worried. 

Leo stays silent. This is the wrong move, because Leo can never do right by Donnie. His twin, unmoving in his seat, speaks up before Raph can. “Yeah, why are you defending him?” He pauses. Maybe waiting for someone to stop him from adding more. Yet, no one does. “We all know he only cares about his own image, anyway.”

That was it. That was the kicker that sent a hot coil of rage swirling through Leo’s mind, a kind of haze that made his body move quicker than his mind. He stands rigid, a hiss bubbling in the back of his throat. “I literally dragged you out of bloody water, Donnie. You could have choked, or worse-”

“And I'm lucky you did even that much.” 

“Donnie! Leo, he doesn’t mean that-”

“No, I very much do, Raph. I’m lucky he wasn’t too caught up in his own fancy ego to notice me going unconscious, because I was expecting to have stayed submerged for the entire time you guys fought!” 

“I was worried about you, asshat!”

“Right, because you showed a whole lot of worry on our last mission when you watched as I got pummeled by the enemy!”

“I already told you I wasn't looking your way- wait, are you still hung up on that?” 

“Guys, calm down!”

“DONNIE, CAT!”

“What now - OH, SHIT!”

The five of their screams jumble together as Donnie swerves, sending the tank tumbling into the grass, and crushing it on its side. Leo falls, his head hitting what he thinks is the ground with a gnarly crack, sending a sharp ringing through his eardrums. It’s a bit fuzzy, but Leo swears he can hear Raph calling his siblings’ names. 

Then, his vision fizzes out with a cartoonish pop.

Chapter Text

Something is wrong.

Oh, Something is definitely wrong.

That particular thought continues to circle Leo’s mind as he opens his eyes, squinting when he’s so rudely attacked by the sunlight. 

Out of the corner of his eye, a slightly blurry April gasps. “You’re awake!” She exclaims, turning her head. “Hey, he’s awake!” 

Leo attempts to blink away the blur, and April comes more in focus as Raph jogs over. “Hey, buddy. Raph’s surprised you didn't scream, heh. How ya feelin’?”

“…Fine?” Leo pulls his brows together. Why would he scream, isn’t that more Mikey’s thing? To add to his confusion, his voice sounds warbly and way too different. Maybe he got a concussion from the crash. 

April helps him sit up carefully. He grabs a hold of her arm for support, rubbing his eyes and groaning. He notices that only his older siblings are in sight. The rest of his vision is obscured by them, so he can’t look around. It seems like the two had dragged him out of the flipped tank, though, given his carapace was currently leaning against the top of it. Clearing his mind, Leo began to spit off questions. “Have you checked for injuries on anyone? Are you guys fine? I think I remember hitting my head... am I bleeding?” 

“Umm, Donnie’s arm was smushed under the seat, but it only looks sprained,” Raph reports. He looks to April expectantly.

She gestures to her shoulders, where she only wore a t-shirt. “I had to clean the blood from Leo’s head with my jacket, but he seems to be stable. I couldn’t find a wound.”

“Mine? So, I was bleeding?” He blinks, to which she shakes her head. “No, didn’t you hear me? Leo was bleeding.”

He takes a slow breath in, trying to understand. “April, I am Leo.

“Jeez, maybe you did bump your head,” she chuckles. However, Raph looks at Leo with concern. “Mikey?”

He’s not a complete idiot (like his twin insists), so it doesn't take Leo long to realize that they seriously think he’s Mikey. Why? He doesn’t get it.

Keeping silent, Leo lifts his hands into view. And, yeah, those are definitely Mikey’s. His eyes widen and his breathing quickens, which has Raph rushing to kneel beside him, to comfort him. A million thoughts (mostly consisting of how the fuck) run through Leo’s head at once, making him extremely dizzy.

“I’m ‘unna throw up,” he mumbles in warning, weakly pushing April out of his way. She sucks in a harsh breath as he empties Mikey’s his stomach into the grass. 

Raph pats his arm encouragingly. Leo grabs his hand, pulling himself to his feet to inspect the ‘damage’. Staring directly at Mikey’s yellow spots on his thighs instead of his own stripes, he felt uncomfortably out of place. Okay, so Leo was somehow stuck in Mikey’s body.

Did that mean Mikey was in his?

Icy dread settles in his stomach. Using Raph for stability, he begins to wander over to the other end of the tank where he sees lumps that look somewhat body-shaped. Damn, has Mikey’s eyesight been this bad forever? Why doesn't he wear glasses or contacts like Donnie did?

Reminding himself that he had bigger things to worry about, Leo continued staggering closer. April calls out to him, and he realizes that he’s probably not the only confused one. However, he’s more concerned with who’s in his body.

Donnie sits up way too fast, shrilly screaming. Leo jumps back, almost stumbling over Raph’s feet. 

“NO, I CAN'T DIE, I'M TOO YOUNG!” Exclaims the softshell. The shout takes all four currently-awake people aback, for several reasons. Donnie scrunches his face up in displeasure, rubbing his throat. Then, he turns to face Leo. He screams once again, somehow sharper in pitch this time. Jabbing an accusing finger at Leo, he attempts to scramble away. “HELP! DOPPELGÄNGER! STRANGER DANGER!”

It dawns on Leo that Donnie was not, in fact. Donnie. Instead, Mikey, in Donnie’s body, was staring directly at Leo, in Mikey’s body… body swapping is confusing.

Leo shuffles around, kneeling to Donnie Mikey as best he could with extremely sore limbs. “Woah, hey-” he tries, reaching for his brother’s hand.

Of course, Mikey pulls away, looking ready to scream again. “Please, Mikey! It’s me, Leo- just give me your hand, man,” Leo sighs, holding his own (Mikey’s, technically) palm out expectantly. 

He can basically hear the confusion radiating off everyone after what he just said. Mikey somehow trusts his words, though, and places his (Donnie’s) hand in Leo’s (still Mikey’s).

Leo holds it up for Mikey to see. His face morphs more times than Leo thought he could ever hope to see on his twin, finally sticking with an expression of fear. Leo grips his hand as it trembles, rubbing his thumb along the back of his knuckles soothingly. 

“I’m sorry, can someone explain to me what’s going on?” April squats down beside the two of them. Leo glances up at Raph, then back to Mikey.

He points to himself. “I’m Leo,” flips his hand over to point at his brother. “That’s Mikey. I don't know how to convince you, because it sounds just as insane to me, but I think our minds Cupid Shuffled bodies. You know, to the left, to the left, to the left.”

Nobody speaks, all trying to wrap their heads around what should be physically impossible. So much for Leo’s joke.

“So, you’re sayin’ Donnie’s gonna wake up in your body, Leo?” Raph finally asks, and the dread from before slowly seeps back into Leo’s gut. He and April share a look, and he thinks that maybe he’s going to hurl again. 

Before he gets to think about it any longer, behind Mikey, Leo’s body groans. The group moves to crowd it as it wiggles around, struggling to sit itself up. Leo feels uncomfortable watching it all happen. He never felt right in his body- and being out of it felt relieving in a way- but watching his body was another awkward thing entirely. 

“Donnie?” Raph says tentatively, taking a small step toward him. “You alright?”

“Besides the pain everywhere in my body and the pounding in my head, yes, I believe so.” Donnie pauses. “Why do I sound like- oh, good Galileo.” 

Now, it was Donnie’s turn to look at his own body staring directly back at him. He’s apparently much sharper than Leo and Mikey, because his immediate reaction is to look down at his hands. “I’m in Leo’s body. Oh. Oh no,” he mumbles, instinctively raising a thumb to his mouth. 

“Hey, don't chew on my fingers dude!” Leo exclaims. Not cool.

Donnie squints as he lowers the hand, choosing to not respond. “So, if Leo looks like Mikey, then… Mikey?” The youngest nods sheepishly. An odd look to see on Donnie’s face. “Yeah, hi.” 

April lets out a low whistle, holding her face between her hands. “Is this really happening? You guys didn't just decide to pull a prank on us?” 

“It definitely feels like a bad joke,” Leo mutters, not considering the weight of his words before they left his mouth. 

Mikey looks at him teary-eyed. Though he doesn't understand why he’s crying, Leo leans in to hug him. As much as Leo’s brain tried to tell him that’s Donnie, do not hug , he figured Mikey could use one right about now. Especially after their spat before the crash. Leo could assume he wasn't out of hot water just yet, but it still felt good to hold his younger brother in his arms.

Raph shakes his head in disbelief. “How did this even happen? What are we gonna do now?” He looks down at the huddled group, almost desperate, like his world had just been flipped upside down. 

“I think the most logical explanation is that the mutant is responsible for this,” Donnie sighs, pinching the space between his eyes. “Ugh, my head is killing me. Or, Leo’s head is killing me, I guess.”

“That doesn’t make sense; Raph and April are fine!” Mikey argues, pulling away from Leo. The latter didn’t dare mention the fact that he missed the warmth. He was trying very hard to keep himself from panicking, so he kept his grip on the side of Mikey’s arm. Something to let him know this was real, and not just a shitty dream.

The eldest two nod in agreement. “Yeah, Raph’s fine! I think Leo’s- or Donnie now, he’s the only one who hit his head in the crash, too.” Raph notes, grabbing his chin in intense thought.

With a groan of exasperation, April throws her hands up. “None of this adds up!”

Donnie drags his legs up to his chest. “No, it does,” he supplies, catching his family’s attention. “It’s just a hypothesis, but I believe the mutant’s mystic attacks are what caused this.”

“Care to elaborate for us, Mr. Science? I would love to figure out what's happening so we can undo it,” Leo gestures wildly with his hands in the air. “ASAP.” 

With a pointed annoyed look, Donnie sets his mouth in a hard line. “The mutant hit me in the water with the same attack that it hit you two with,” he gestures between Mikey and Leo. “But it actually pushed me back. So it must have had some sort of mystic force behind the attack, but it had weakened once we broke the pendant.”

April hums. “So what was the attack supposed to do, then? This?” 

“I wish I knew,” is all Donnie answers with. The group falls silent again, and Leo finds himself longing for something to break it. He was too anxious, and he knew someone would catch onto it sooner or later. 

Instead of thinking about it, Leo began to fiddle with his new claws. “Mike, does your arm feel okay?” He gestures to the limb that was blossoming a nasty bruise. It would definitely need taking care of, but Raph was right, it only seemed sprained. 

“It’s sore,” Mikey rolls his shoulder around. “But it’s nothing I can’t handle. We should probably find our way back home though, Dee looks like he’s gonna pass out.”

Donnie, who was zoning out, snaps his head in his younger brother’s direction. “I do not.”

Mikey sticks out his tongue. “Ya do too.”

“You can’t go sleeping until we make sure you’re not concussed, so Mikey’s right,” Leo cuts in. He feels a bit guilty about it, but what is he if not an annoying doctor? 

After a particularly harsh glare thrown Leo’s way, Donnie rises to his feet. “Whatever. We’re not that far, from what I can tell. We can just- um. Where’s my stuff?”

“Oh, right,” April jogs out of Leo’s line of sight, coming back with Donnie’s battle shell, goggles, and bō in tow. The battle shell seemed to be busted up on the left side, while the other two items had somehow remained unscathed. 

After Donnie briefly scrutinized the damage done to his devices, he took his items from her with gratitude. “Can we flip the tank back up? I wouldn’t dare leave it here.” 

Raph moves into action, taking a deep breath before grabbing the part of the tank closest to the ground. Leo watches, wishing he could do something to help. Instead, he just took Mikey's arm and backed them away from where Raph was somehow successfully turning an entire tank right side up. He’s been getting more iron, Leo sees.

With a loud grunt, Raph backed away, letting the tank bounce back on its wheels. The group applauds him, so he places his fists on his hips and sticks his beak in the air. Leo huffs out a laugh, even though his lungs feel like they're on fire. 

Donnie prances over to his creation. “Minimal damage, as expected. I’ll have to make the exterior stronger next time, a crash was an unforeseen circumstance…” Leo’s glad he doesn't speak Nerd as his twin (still in his body) continues mumbling to himself, running his hands over the wall of the tank. 

After a boring minute, Donnie turns back to the rest of them. “It’ll get us home, that’s what matters.” 

“Awesome. I’m driving this time,” April starts towards the tank, and nobody argues. 

As he crawls in the back, what feels like every single one of Leo’s joints crack painfully. He wonders how often Mikey had to deal with that, and why Leo never knew of it. 

Not that he’d ever ask.

Chapter Text

During the somewhat peaceful drive back to the lair, Donnie had gotten antsy. Mikey noticed first, thankfully, and handed all of Donnie’s gear back to him. As such, the two of them and Leo ended up swapping off items besides their arm and leg wrappings, returning them to their rightful owners. And Leo must say, Donnie’s face looks hilarious in a cute orange bandanna. 

However, his fit of laughter over the situation was cut short when Mikey gave him a fixed glare. Seems like their moment together earlier did not make Mikey forget their arguments. 

As Leo wondered how to mend that, he was pressed down into the floor of the tank. Mikey had tackled him and was now wrestling with him. Leo realized that of course, Mikey wanted his stickers that were pasted onto his plastron. Unfortunately, if Leo remembers correctly, the stickers were extremely painful to remove. This makes him scramble back as much as he can, carapace pressed to the wall.

Raph had shouted at them a little for rocking the tank, then followed April yelling at Raph for distracting her. This caught Mikey’s attention, and Leo shoved him off with his feet. Was Donnie’s body always that heavy, and was Mikey’s always this strong?

Eventually, Leo had gotten Mikey to lay off trying to steal his stickers back, instead promising to help him put some new ones on Donnie’s (much to their brother’s complaint). The rest of the ride was quiet and eerily still, aside from the occasional tap on the floor from the anxious Mikey. Leo had to admit, he understood the feeling. He was nervous, afraid, and they were all helpless for the time being.

In the silence, Leo was subjected to becoming hyper-aware of the body he occupied. As he’d noticed earlier, there were some things that Mikey had been hiding from the team. Namely, his sight and joints. Leo could barely see the other side of the tank, and his knee was throbbing. There had been multiple times already that he’s felt his wrists and elbows pop when they probably shouldn’t have. With his medical knowledge, Leo could easily conclude these bursts of dull pain were not from their crash. 

For a while, he ponders why Mikey never shared any of these issues with him- with anyone. Mikey’s always been one to bring up his problems, but now Leo wonders if he’d been selectively sharing so his brothers wouldn’t ask questions. He begins to feel guilty, wondering if he’d done something to make him not want to talk with them. Though, it’d be hypocritical of him to assume it’s his fault. Leo also had his fair share of secrets, and he’d never say that was his family’s fault.

He didn’t really want to think about that, looking at where Donnie was biting at his lip, eyes fixed on the tank’s windshield. 

Now, since having ushered everyone to the makeshift med bay train car, Leo waves April over to his side.

“Heyo,” he greets her with a guilty look, keeping his voice low. “Can we talk for a sec?” 

April gives him a look, one that tells him she’s over it. He knows she doesn’t mean anything by it, but it doesn’t help his nerves. “Raph, sit back down. Leo and I are gonna grab some more supplies from his room for Donnie’s- er, Mikey’s arm.” She announces, closing the curtain hung up between the car’s doors. 

Leo was very grateful for the quick excuse, feeling a bit diffident since he wasn't able to come up with something faster. They actually do walk to his room, though, out of earshot from everyone else (and honestly, who knows where Splinter was lurking, since they hadn't seen him in the lair since their return home). Leo lets April walk into his room before him, shutting the door behind them both gently. 

After she touches every possible thing on Leo’s shelf like she was taking inventory, April breaks their tense silence. “You’re worried about Donnie, right?”

“Well, worried is putting it lightly, hermana ,” he chuckles, leaning his swords against his mattress. He really needs to get bedsheets for that thing. “And, okay, yes, I’m a little afraid of Donnie.”

She pauses to turn and give him a really? face. “That was surprisingly honest. What are you not tellin’ me?”

“I’m not sure what you’re on about,” Leo smirks. It feels unnatural, like it was tough to keep his beak pulled back. Maybe he’s tired.

“Don't smirk at me with sweet little Mikey’s face,” April smiles nonetheless, putting Leo at ease. “Are you worried ‘bout him, too?”

Leo hesitates, looking off to his tattered Jupiter Jim poster instead of her. “I guess so? I mean, I’m on edge, is all. No doubt they’re scared, and I’m their big bro- their leader now. And, they’re already upset with me as it is. I don’t even know where to begin to fix this!”

April takes a step closer, taking his hand in hers gently. He turns his head away further. Leo loved her, he did, but he didn’t feel like he was deserving of her kindness. “How about we start with treating their wounds, yeah?” 

They stay standing in awkward silence for a few seconds before Leo mumbles something into his other palm. 

“Leo, you know I can’t understand you when you’re grumbling,” April sighs at him, her grip growing on his fingers. “C’mon man, use your big boy words.”

A wave of calm rushes over Leo with her words. He’d call her magic if he didn’t know better. Under any other circumstance, perhaps where someone else would be watching them, Leo would defend himself: say don’t baby me, I’m not that much younger! or something along those lines. However, they both knew he’d never actually felt that appalled when she spoke softly to him like this. Her masculine word choices made Leo feel a tiny bit stronger, stupid as that sounded.

And damn, was it a good tactic to pry Leo’s big mouth open. He practically melted into putty in her metaphorical hands. 

“Today was s’posed to be a cleaning day,” he paused, watching his sister’s jaw set. “I needed to re-wrap my arm. We ran out of black wrap a few weeks ago, so the bandage has been sitting for a while.”

She nods patiently. “Will that be a problem for Donnie?”

“No, it shouldn’t. Any cuts are clean, I just… I don’t know if I’m ready to have to explain something like that to him, to anyone.”

“Leo,” she says sternly, catching his attention once more. “It’ll be okay. You have me here with you. I’m not leavin’ until you three are sorted and back in your bodies. Already told mom.”

A part of Leo shrunk in on itself, though he wouldn't call that a bad thing. April knew well enough it was no use trying to convince him that the others would be nice about it; his mind couldn't be changed, no matter how irrational. Just offering her support was more than enough to snuff out the anxiousness pulling at Leo’s core. 

He huffed out a laugh. She was way too good at this. Journalism dream be damned, she should be a therapist. “You know Raph won't be happy about that.”

“Who cares! April O’Neil does what she wants!” 

They both delve into a short bout of laughter together, and Leo feels that pool of dread in his stomach finally flush away. 

April hums, gripping his fingers again. “And I want to be here, Leo. If you ever feel a need, tell me. Don’t place a claw on our baby brother’s skin.”

Leo smiles, sincere but anxious, if only for the scary way April was looking up at him. “I wouldn't dare, sis.”

“Good, now-”

Fwoo.

“Shh!”

Leo sticks his arm out to guard April, lowering into a crouch. He closes his eyes, focusing on the noise he just heard.

Heavier, uneven breathing. Like Donnie’s stupid asthmatic lungs.

Slowly, he creeps forward, careful to not make any sound himself.

When he flings open the metallic door, Mikey jumps back and falls to the floor with a yelp.

“Mikey!” Leo instantly scolds, placing his hands on his hips. “You know the rules, no eavesdropping!”

“Sorry, I’m sorry! You guys were taking so long, I got curious. I couldn't hear anything anyway,” Mikey pouts, using his right arm to push himself back on his feet. “My hearing isn't as good now that I'm in Donnie’s body.”

April shuts Leo’s door as she follows them out onto the subway platform. “Guess that explains why Leo could hear you from outside the door. You must have insane hearing.”

Mikey nods vigorously. “I’ve always had better hearing than you guys, that’s how I know when you’re watching Kondescending Kitchen without me!”

Wonderful, another thing about his brother that Leo was unaware of. Though, he didn’t really suppose that was Mikey’s fault, more like he never bothered to pay attention to that fact.

Do better, Leo.

Leo shakes his head to clear away his thoughts. “C'mon, Miguel, let's head back up to the med bay. I need to wrap that arm up so it doesn't move around too much.” He places a hand on his little brother’s carapace, pushing forward. It feels odd, and Leo does not like having to look up at him. 

“I got the bandage roll!” April shouts from behind them. Leo had entirely forgotten about her excuse, very appreciative of April and her memory of steel. He did not need to try to explain to Raph why they came back empty-handed. 

As Leo walks and wonders where exactly she picked the roll up from, he looks down at the black pouch on his hip. Without a doubt, it was open. Everything was there, from Neosporin to a couple quarters, everything except an extra roll of bandage. 

Leo closes the pouch, snorting under his breath. The odd look he earns from Mikey makes him want to laugh more. 

Yeah, he’ll get through this.

I am not going to get through this , he groaned to nobody but himself.

From Doctor Leo’s (degree pending) inspections, everybody would be fine. Raph only felt a bit sore in his shoulders, and Mikey’s body, Leo now, had broken April’s fall, so she was okay too. Mikey’s left elbow was sprained, and Leo had to take off the black wrap to bandage it, compressing the injury and limiting mobility. Donnie had a headache and a mild case of the grumpies, but no concussion. And Leo himself? Well, besides the ache in his joints, he also felt dandy.

It was all very unusual. Even with their whole mind-swap situation, their injuries should have been much, much worse. Leo had a hard time figuring out what exactly was happening. His brain felt like adhesive tape that had lost its stick.

Having a silent moment in the lair was extremely rare for this family. To be fair, it wasn't entirely quiet, not with Donnie drumming on his thighs while nobody spoke. Leo wanted to crack a joke, but even he found himself to be at a loss for words.

“Well, this has been exhilarating, he said sarcastically,” Donnie announces, hopping off one of the tables Leo had sat him on earlier. “I’m worn out. Going to bed.”

“Donnie, we haven’t even had dinner yet,” Raph says. Leo wouldn't say it at the moment, but he was glad someone was trying to convince his twin to stay, no matter how futile.

The guy currently inhabiting Leo’s body does not stop or stray from his path to the curtain opening of the med bay. “I’ll grab food from the kitchen before I head up, promise. Goodnight, verily beloved family.”

Leo finds that his eyes are entirely intent on staring at the place Donnie left for the rest of his life. His mind races a mile a minute, and he faintly hears the blood rushing from his heart to his eardrums. Donnie would know, and then it would be over for Leo. 

“Maybe Donnie’s got the right idea,” Leo says after a shaky breath. “I think we should turn in for the night. We’ve got a long day of figuring out what to do when we wake up.”

Raph sighs, but a small smile tugs at his face. It makes Leo’s heart warm, because yes, finally a decision as a leader that Raph was not disappointed in. Score. “Right. Guess it's a fend-for-yourself kind of night then.”

Mikey’s good arm shoots up in the air. “Ooh, ooh, April! Will you sleep over with me? I have new drawings on the walls that I haven’t gotten to show you!” 

April gets off the floor beside Leo, making her way over to help Mikey off the table where he sat next to Raph. “Of course, Mikester. You two, eat something before bed. And get us if you need us.”

As Mikey blabbered on about oil pastels and whatnot, April shot down the eldest turtles with a Big Sister Glare, one that Leo dared not oppose. 

Raph let out a breath of relief when the two left the train car. He offered Leo that same small smile from before, turning to leave himself. “I’m goin’ too. Night, Leo.”

“Wait, Raph.”

Chapter Text

True to his word, Donnie had actually taken a small packet of crackers from the kitchen. Sure, they weren’t much, but he didn’t exactly feel up for eating a full meal at the time. Perhaps he’d be able to stomach food after working on a project for a while, distracting himself enough from the current situation. 

Donnie shut the door to his lab upon hearing April and Mikey chatting in the kitchen. He felt only slightly bad about lying, saying he would head to bed. Though, by now, he supposes his family should know that wasn’t going to happen anyway.

He tosses the cracker packet on a desk, reaching up to remove his goggles and untie his mask. Realizing he had left the damaged battle shell in the tank, he freezes, fingers clenching around the frame of his goggles. Whatever, he’ll grab it later. For now, focusing on making sure Mikey had a spare shell was of utmost importance.

It was the least and most he could do.

Not to dwell on his expertise, but he couldn’t figure out how to fix this. This whole being in his twin’s body situation. If this was the cause of mystic powers, there was no use in him trying. All he could think of was to ask Draxum or to consult the library. Two things he had no energy for at the time being.

Donnie’s been cautious his entire life, and not that he doesn’t trust his little brother, but Mikey is reckless. There’s no telling about what he could do to harm his body, even if by accident. That’s why Donnie decided he should create some gear, basically baby-proofing his body from Mikey. However, he’d learned his lesson last time. No more inflatable suits.

He begins to conjure up designs in his mind, placing the items in his hands next to the packet of crackers. He couldn’t add anything flammable, and nothing that Mikey’s mystic chains could get caught on. Come to think of it, would they all still be able to use their mystic abilities?

To answer his question, Donnie grabs a spare bō staff from his shelf, just in case. He takes a breath in, closing his eyes. When he whips his staff around to his side, he feels the electric-like energy flow around him. He taps the bottom of his staff to the floor, the purple energy rushing to  envelop him

Feeling each particle of his skin fizzle out was an unpleasant experience, to say the least. It sent him into a panic, not being able to see anything, not even sure if his eyelids had ever parted in the first place. Just as quick as he had disappeared, he re-materialized, only a few feet away from where his staff clattered to the ground. 

He felt his expression twist up into something unrecognizable. Disgust, or surprise, perhaps. Great. Their minds had swapped, but not their powers. Now, things made even less sense than they did before. Wasn't ninpo supposed to be tied to their souls? Attempting to comprehend this gave Donnie another headache.

Eager to never have to feel the prickly nightmare that is teleportation again, Donnie hurries to his work station. He puts the staff back on the shelf, taking a pen and scratch paper on the way to his chair. Time to sketch out some ideas. 

A few minutes into tossing scrapped designs into his purple wastebasket (a useful and wonderful gift from April, though he thinks she was just tired of stepping on crumpled paper when entering the lab), Donnie finds himself becoming increasingly irritated by the wrap on his arms rubbing against his desk.

He all but slams the pen flat down onto the paper, pulling off the wrap from his right arm with ease. He watches the fabric fall onto his floor. He’ll pick it up later. 

Donnie has a harder time tugging off the left wrap, as though it were caught on sandpaper. He squeezes his eyes shut, straining until he feels the fabric slip past his fingers. 

Now, he’s never been a fan of finding out that his assumptions were incorrect. But staring at black gauze, definitely not sandpaper, Donnie’s feeling way more than uncomfortable knowing he was wrong. 

Out of morbid curiosity, he drops the wrap, moving to peel at the gauze. Donnie tries to remember something, like an injury Leo might have sustained from their battle with Shredder. Or maybe a more recent fight in the city. Nothing comes to mind, and Donnie finds his frustration only increasing when his thoughts feel sluggish. He’s not stupid, no. But this can't be what he thinks it is. It shouldn’t be.

The last of the gauze falls to his lap, and Donnie’s met with cotton pads. His mouth draws into a line, and he lifts them up in one go.

A sharp ringing is sent piercing through Donnie’s skull. His head is spinning, like a particularly heavy marble spiraling down a funnel.

He notices his breathing has hitched as he runs his thumb over the mangled mess that is Leo’s arm. Some thin white scars here and there, lines of scabs, scabs that have been picked. Minuscule flakes of skin fall away from the surface as Donnie slowly retracts his hand.

Bile rises in his throat, forcing him to tear his eyes away. He’s never been good with injuries. That was Leo’s thing.

It seemed that self-inflicted injuries were his twin's thing, too.

As Donnie re-wraps the arm, the only thing he can think is how he won’t be eating tonight after all.

————————————

“Wait, Raph.”

Leo inwardly cringes at how he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out. Old habits die hard, after all. The snapper stops, already making his way over to where Leo was seated upon hearing his name called. Leo hurries to nervously laugh. “Aha, nevermind. You can go, don’t forget to eat!” He cracks a smile at Raph, whose face falls flat. 

With a click of his tongue, Raph’s shaking his head at Leo. “Nope. You already said somethin’, so that must mean it’s important. I’m here for whatever you need, Leo.”

A denseness takes hold of Leo’s core, causing him to falter and blink at his older brother uselessly. He catches it in a second, though, feeling the corners of his mouth tug back reflexively. “Ol’ reliable, huh?” He chuckles, pushing himself off the floor. Raph was huge from Mikey’s height; Leo felt small, and he didn’t know what to think of that. “…This is awkward but…could I stick around you for a bit?” 

Raph’s face is coated with surprise, until his beak splits into a grin. “Sure thing.” 

If Leo practically leans on his brother the entire trip to the kitchen, Raph doesn’t mention it. They don’t really have easy meals in the lair yet, so scavenging for decent food without Mikey (who apparently knew where everything was with his eyes closed) was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The two eldest turtles weave around each other in the kitchen until they both have somewhat-kinda-food in their arms. 

Leo was more successful than his brother, of course. He sometimes would stash snacks away in the places of the kitchen where Mikey couldn't reach or where Donnie wouldn’t dare look in. Raph’s always been generous, and never stole food that was hidden. Or maybe he couldn't see the blatantly obvious snack pile on top of the fridge. Either way, Leo is happy.

“Err,” Raph starts, poorly masking his concern. “Leo, goldfish and grapes are not proper food. You barely ate breakfast as it is.”

A brow raised, Leo chuckles. “Like you’re one to talk, Mr. Carrot Sticks.” This makes Raph clutch the bag of carrots in his hands closer to his plastron. “I like the way they crunch, okay?”

When Raph makes a face like he's been severely wounded by the insult to his vegetables, Leo can’t help but burst out laughing. Raph catches on, having to grip the counter for support once he gets wheezing. 

Their cackles are cut short when they feel a slight electric surge run over their bodies. Leo doesn’t recognize it, but it felt like whenever Donnie would use his mystic powers.

Shoulders rigid, Raph freezes. “That felt like your powers, Leo,” he informs, his tone way too serious for Leo’s liking. “And that was from Donnie’s lab.”

“Donnie’s got my powers?” Leo smirks, imagining his twin falling on his face after teleporting. “That would be funny to see. Wait, does that mean I have Mikey’s powers?” 

When it comes to their little brother, Leo wasn't very sure how his mystic powers worked, nor their limitations. All he knew was the way Mikey extended his chains, created fire, and sometimes even floated midair longer than gravitationally possible. All Leo got were his zippy zappies. 

“We can check if Mikey has Donnie’s too tomorrow. I don’t want you accidentally lighting me on fire tonight,” Raph suggests, patting Leo’s shoulder. “I’m going back to my room. Wanna hitch a ride?”

Leo’s eyes widen. “I get to take a Mikey-on-Raph’s-shell trademarked trip?!” Without hesitation, he shoves his foodstuffs into Raph’s arms and clambers up his carapace, maneuvering around the spikes until his chin rests atop his brother’s. 

Raph snickers, careful not to jostle Leo as they descend the stairs. The eldest stops at Leo’s door first, waiting for him to climb down. 

As he practically tumbles off his brother’s back, Leo turns to his door, holding his palm down in a ‘y’ handshape towards Raph. Stay. He smiles at him, seeming to get the message, so Leo closes the door as he enters his room.

He moves with haste, not wanting to keep his brother waiting too long. When he opens his door again, his bedding is in his arms, along with a few other items like his phone. Raph greets him with a smile so wide that it could rival his forehead’s chasm.

“Careful bud, you’re gonna knock something over if you keep wagging your tail like that,” Leo points out, grinning nonetheless. He makes his way across the subway platform, nearly tripping over the weights near Raph’s door. “You don’t mind, right?”

Raph bounds after him, opening his door and stepping aside. “Nope, just happy that you’re clingin’ to me at all.” 

Groaning, Leo promptly drops his things on his brother’s floor. “Don't say that, it’s embarrassing.”

“Payback for makin’ fun of my tail!”

“I wasn’t- mRRPHH!” 

Leo’s argument is muffled out as Raph tackles him in a hug, and for a moment he’s worried that his bones might actually break. And then he’d have to tell Mikey why Raph broke his bones. Nooo thanks.

Scrambling, Leo attempts to push Raphs arms from his face away so he can breathe. His efforts prove futile when Raph picks him up off his feet. This earns a scream out of him, finally startling the larger turtle enough to release him.

“Heheh, sorry,” he apologizes, seeming timid. Leo is not keen on forgiving him, crossing his arms. “I’m really happy, though. Oh, wanna watch a movie?”

Leo pretends to think it over, humming. The worried look on Raph’s face makes it funnier. “I can agree to a movie. Call it a truce.”

“Then it's settled. You can pick!” They shake hands, separating off. Raph sets up a slightly broken computer, scrolling on a definitely-not-pirated website as Leo set up his own blankets on his massive bed. 

Despite saying Leo could pick, Raph had turned down his first three suggestions. Once they finally agreed on one, Raph took off his gear to get comfortable and laid in the bed with his carapace leaning against the wall. As usual, it didn't take very long for him to fall asleep, and without his retainer no less. Leo made it through the whole movie and his snacks (and maybe some of Raph’s), huddled by his brother’s side.

Basking in the serenity for a bit too long, he watched as the computer screen turn off automatically. Now in complete stillness besides the low buzz of electricity from Raph’s dim overhead lamp, Leo quietly removed his things, draping them over the bedside. Snuggling under his big brother’s arm and melting against the provided warmth, his eyelids fell closed.

He wishes he’d done this sooner.

Chapter Text

Raph can't help but coo over his brother, who’s cuddling with a stray blanket. Leo looks so adorable, especially with the youngest (and allegedly cutest) turtle's face. 

There wasn't any obnoxious banging or explosion noises from the kitchen yet, so Raph figured he was safe to let Leo rest a bit more while he cleaned his room from last night’s sleepover. Evidently, the slider had demolished the snacks the two had brought, leaving only a few of Raph’s carrot sticks as well. Goodness, that boy needed a decent meal.

The moment he set down the collected trash into a bin, he felt his scales raise. Turning, he finds Leo sitting straight up in the bed, beak clamped shut and eyes blown wide.

“Hey,” Raph rushes out, grabbing a hold of his brother’s trembling hands. “Mike- Leo. Leo, you with me? Can you breathe in?”

Leo’s irises fly to meet Raph’s, dropping back to the floor even quicker. He unclenches his jaw almost mechanically, taking in a shaky breath. 

“Good, just like that. Now breathe out,” Raph instructs, feeling Leo’s claws dig into his wrists. “What’s my name, Leo?”

It takes him a second of breathing, but Leo moves his eyes off the floor, focused on the two of their hands instead. “Raph.”

“Where are we now?”

“Your room.”

“Why's that?”

“We… we had a movie night,” Leo sniffles, a weak chuckle escaping through his words. “You passed out before the movie even ended.”

“I guess I did, didn't I?” Raph smiles. Since Leo’s grip had loosened and the shaking’s stopped, he moved to let go of his brother, eager to give him space. However, Leo latches onto his arms, head whipping up. “Um. Geez, this is silly. Could you just…”

“Whatever you need, remember? I got you, Leo.” Raph takes Leo’s hands back into his own. “Do you want me to keep holdin’ your hands?

Leo nods. “Only for a while. Sorry, by the way, that you had to do that. I know it’s been a while.”

Those few sentences flood Raph with concern, if he wasn't already before. He was right; it has been a while since Leo had needed anybody to bring him to reality. Why hadn’t Raph questioned that before? Clearly, he was still having nightmares, the poor guy. Not to mention the questions Raph had about the hand-holding situation.

What mattered most was that Leo was okay now, though. 

“You’re my little brother. I will never mind doing that for you, Leo,” Raph tells him, tapping his thumb on the back of Leo’s hand. “Don't go thinkin’ otherwise.”

Leo huffs, failing to hide his smile. Raph will take that as a win.

“I’m gonna go to the kitchen. You comin' with?” 

“You bet, big guy,” Leo replies, and they both stand, giggling as they maneuver around their clasped hands so Leo can scale Raph’s carapace.

They end up with Leo’s arms around Raph’s neck, hands still intertwined. Raph gives him a little squeeze before they exit the train car, embarking on their venture to the kitchen.

Once they entered, Raph sighed in contrast to Leo’s snicker. Mikey had apparently decided to actually make something last night, and left behind the mess. 

Leo swings his legs, letting go of Raph’s hands to pat his head. “All you, big bro. I’m gonna nap up here. Wake me when there's food.” 

Raph only grunts as an acknowledgment, dragging his feet as he goes to find the cleaning supplies. To be fair, he does find cleaning to be relaxing, but he sometimes wishes his brothers picked up after themselves more. No, Raph will not be acknowledging his own messy room. That’s different.

Soon enough, Leo was gently breathing on Raph’s neck, asleep like a baby. Raph hopes he won't have another nightmare, it breaks his heart to see any of his brothers afraid like that. He may not be science-y like Donnie, but he swears to one day find a way to enter his bro’s dreams and fight the bad guys for them! 

Think of the devil and he may show up in the kitchen, or however the saying goes. Raph catches sight of a large purple blanket, sneaking in the shadows. And, well, who else would it be?

“Donnie!” He greets. His brother stills, stepping toward him cautiously. Oh, he looked horrible. Well, not that Leo’s eyes ever looked good after a sleepless night, but Leo also never drank seventeen cups of coffee like Donnie tended to do. Says the caffeine makes him sleepier, or somethin’.

“Hello, Raphala,” Donnie greets, voice hoarse. He’s keeping a distance, snapping his wrist furiously and picking at his hoodie sleeve. “What are you doing here this definitely lovely morn?”

Raph’s mouth draws to a line. “Cleanin’ Mikey’s mess. Is somethin’ up, Dee? You okay?”

“Yes, of course I’m okay. Why would anything ever be not okay?” Donnie defends, now shuffling on his feet. “Was that all? I’ll be on my way now, if you will-”

“Donnie,” Raph raises his voice slightly, careful not to wake Leo. “Your eyes look like they’ll bug outta your head, and your wrist might seriously fall off if you keep movin’ it like that. You’re not a great liar, bro.”

Narrowing his eyes, Donnie uses his other hand to grab his wild hand. “I’m fine, Raph- is… is that Leo?”

Raph throws a glance back, and sure enough, Leo is still sleeping soundly. “Yeah. He had a nightmare,” he sighs. “Do you, no, are you feeling that thingy that Leo gets sometimes?”

“What?” Donnie snaps, raising his arms to hug himself. He looks like he wants to leave. Raph doesn’t want him to, simple as that.

“Like when he tells us he doesn’t like the way his shell is flat?” Raph points to his own concave plastron. “I thought that maybe since you’re in his body now, you know.”

Donnie shakes his head, looking relieved. “Ah, no. No, it’s not that. I don't really mind that, actually. Listen, Raph, I have to get to the med bay. I, uh, left some… something.”

“Okay,” he says, giving up. No matter what it was that had Donnie wigging out, Raph had faith that his brother would work it out eventually. “Be safe, Don.”

Nodding, Donnie practically sprints up the stairs, out of sight. This left Raph to continue to his task, his only entertainment being his own thoughts and Leo’s snoring.

Not long after he had finished cleaning, Donnie returned, blanket now slung over one shoulder. He seemed generally calmer, and though Raph didn’t know what had happened, it put some part of him at ease.

The two chatted about Donnie’s new project for Mikey, the purple-banded brother over the moon to talk Raph’s ear off about all of the different functions and precautions taken. Raph was more than happy to listen to him ramble, but he only ever absorbed less than a quarter of what he was saying. Didn’t even make a difference the times that Raph put genuine effort into understanding Donnie’s fancy words.

Raph swore his younger brother would’ve gone on forever if April didn't enter the kitchen, catching the two’s attention. She stretched and yawned, stumbling on her heels before realizing that her brothers were there with her.

“Morning, y'all,” she pushes up her glasses lazily. “Oh, thanks Raph for takin’ care of the mess. I tried to convince Mike to clean up, but he only leaped back to his room to play Battleship.”

“So that’s where that went,” Donnie mutters, waving it off when his older siblings’ heads turn towards him. “Nothing, nothing. I knew it was either Micheal or Nardo who stole the game.”

Sighing, Raph looks back at April. “It was no problem. At least Leo found it soothing,” he points a thumb at the turtle draped over his carapace. April holds in a laugh, patting down her pockets with haste. 

“Darn, I left my phone in the room,” she groans, already making her way back downstairs, “don’t wake him up until I’m back!”

Raph and Donnie give each other a look after she leaves. “We should probably wake him before she can take blackmail pictures, right?”

“We should, yes,” Donnie agrees. “Though, she’d never forgive us, whereas Leo would forget about the blackmail in half a minute.”

“Letting April get blackmail on me? Cold, Donnie. Cold.”

Leo’s cracking voice spooks Raph, who whips his head around to be beak-to-beak with his brother. Leo, eyes still half closed, moves away to bury his head in Raph’s neck once more. 

“Mornin’ again, Leo,” Raph chuckles, finding Leo’s nuzzling a bit ticklish on his neck. 

“How convenient of you to wake right before you face embarrassment,” Donnie notes, eyes trained on the counter. Raph feels Leo looks up, preparing to defend himself. 

Before Leo can quip back, April, dragging a sleepy Mikey with her, slides into the kitchen. “What!? Ugh , I haven't even been gone that long!” She exclaims in disbelief when Leo waves at her. 

Mikey stumbles over to his brothers, pushing on Leo’s arm softly. “Move, I wanna get up there too.”

Raph looks over to see Leo smiling at their younger brother, fondness in his gaze. It makes Raph’s heart squeeze. To think that Leo could sit through a panic attack first thing in the morning and still be so benign. Raph can't understand how he does it, but he’s glad he does. Personally, Raph’s head already hurt from trying to adapt to all the recent changes. Change was weird, he and Donnie could agree on that.

“Mike, you're too big now,” Leo dismounts Raph’s shell, reaching for Mikey’s injured arm. “How was sleeping with the compression? Does it hurt any?”

Groggily rubbing at his eye with his good hand, Mikey shakes his head a few times. “Nah, I just slept on my other side. Oh, can I have my kneepads back? I miss them.”

“Yeah, I’ll go get them now,” Leo announces his departure, hopping down the steps out of the kitchen. The group watches him go before April turns to Mikey expectantly. 

She clasps her hands together, raising them to her face. “So, Mikey, how ‘bout breakfast?” 

Mikey rolls his eyes, but gives her a quick thumbs up and gets down to business nonetheless. 

After they all got dressed and ready for the day, the team sat together with plates of eggs. Raph’s were scrambled with ketchup, while Leo chose to scarf down buttered toast. April had complimented Mikey’s skill extensively (“Normally I’m super iffy on eggs, but you know how to make a mean Sunny Side Up!”) and when plates had been cleared, Donnie dragged out the big whiteboard.

“Yesterday, Leo examined our injuries, declaring them minimal,” Donnie pauses, letting his twin affirm with a nod. “Now, even though this family is somewhat superhuman, minimal injuries should not be the case. Additionally, the turtle tank, as much as I do not like to admit this, should be crushed.

“My running theory, based on past events such as Raph’s and our ninpo unlocking, is that our mystic abilities and ninpo alike have salvaged the tank and with it, our bodies. I have reason to believe that it was either Raph's or April’s energies that protected us from the crash, perhaps both, since they remained conscious. However, for the rest of us, our consciousnesses were momentarily unaccounted for, leaving our minds to swap hosts. This is likely due to the attack from the whale mutant, as I said before.”

Donnie turns around from where he was writing aggressively on the whiteboard, shoulders slumping when he sees his entire family with extremely puzzled expressions. Raph looks like he’s seconds away from blowing a blood vessel as a result of trying to keep up. Similarly, Mikey looks ready to explode.

“So you mean to say Raph and I saved you guys, but because of the blowy-wooshy-swoosh thing the whale did, you guys’ minds were swapped when you passed out?” April rephrases, tapping a finger on the side of her face. Raph eases up after hearing her, rising to his feet. 

“That makes sense!” He says, looping an arm around Donnie’s neck, who doubles over as a result. Raph noogies him, leaving Donnie to sputter in protest. “You’re so smart bud, what would we do without ya?”

“We haven't even done anything yet!” Donnie argues, straining in Raph’s grasp. He shoots a glare at Leo for laughing at him. Raph frees him, apologizing softly. 

Brushing invisible germs off his shoulder, Donnie clears his throat. “We need to find the mutant again,” he finally declares, concluding his speech. This plan of action seems to go over well with the group, all in agreement.

Except Leo. Of course.

“Why don’t we just ask Draxum?”

Chapter Text

Honestly, Leo didn't know why Raph seemed so against the idea. It’s not like he was the one who got dropped from a building, anyway.

“I mean, why can’t we just call him and have him do his wizard-y stuff and boom: back in our bodies, easy peasy!” Leo explains, not fully confident anymore since Donnie looked at him (with his own eyes- c’mon!!) like he had said the single most idiotic thing ever.

“He’s an alchemist , Leo, not a wizard,” Mikey corrects, jumping in before their brothers can. “But I already called last night! He said, and I quote, ‘I do not know, leave me alone and go to sleep’. Don’t cha just love that guy?”

Raph’s face scrunches up, but Leo can't tell if it's from confusion or discomfort. “You told him?” 

Much too enthusiastically, Mikey nods, mask tails bobbing. “Yup, besides the fact that he is our father and I tell him everything, I thought to myself, ‘who knows mystic stuff?’ Barry, baby!” 

“But apparently, he didn’t seem to care,” adds April. “Speaking of people who would care, anybody seen Splints?”

“Not since we left yesterday, no…” Donnie answers, sounding unaffected. “Did anyone check his room?” 

Leo shoots up, grateful for the excuse to move around. “I’ll go,” he says quickly, not waiting to hear any protests.

His jog slows when he’s out of sight, feet padding on the cold floor of the tv room. Once again, their father couldn't be seen. Strange, he’d usually be watching agonizingly boring advertisements at this time of day.

Letting his new claws linger on the fabric of Splinter’s chair for a few seconds, Leo took in a deep breath. He needed this break. Too much was going on. And it wasn’t that Leo didn’t want his body back, but…

He liked this, in a way. It felt weird to admit, definitely, but Leo had always felt weird, felt wrong. He knew something was different with him when the front of his shell didn't curve like his brothers’ and when his claws weren’t as sharp or long. Seriously, even his tail was shorter. His family never treated him oddly, so no problems there, but it didn’t change the fact that he just knew.

He’s mentioned the feeling a few times to his family, playing his discomfort off as a joke. Donnie has helped him look up a few things before, but he never paid attention. Something to do with Leo’s biology, big complicated words he didn't bother to understand. 

Seeing Donnie confidently present his theory on that whiteboard, not even looking Leo in the eye; something about that hit a nerve with him. Did his twin not feel any discomfort, the kind Leo had lived with his entire life? How was that fair? Originally, Leo thought all he’d have to fret over was Donnie confronting him about the scars on his arm. Now, his emotions were like a big bowl of soup consisting of jealousy, nervousness, and guilt. Mega guilt.

But… 

After squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, Leo calmly walked away from the chair, letting his nails drag as he went by. 

As he crossed the room to his father’s signature shoji doors, he observed his blurry surroundings. When they had the time, Leo definitely needed to talk to Mikey. They had to do something about this awful eyesight, and definitely do something about his irritated joints. 

“Dad, you in there?” Leo shouts, announcing his arrival before he slides the door open. On cue, his father jumps up from his bed in the corner, blankets flying. 

His father turns to face him, sighing in relief. “Good, Orange, it is just you. I thought Purple had found out what I did to the projector…”

Leo huffs. So he didn’t only recognize them by the colour of their masks. He tucked the newfound warmth spreading in his chest away, there was business that needed getting down to. “Look again, Pops. Blue mask. And what was that part with the projector?” 

“Nothing!” Splinter defends, making his way over to squint at Leo. “Are you playing dress up, or maybe it is Opposite Day? April Fools’?” 

“It’s mid-summer, Dad,” Leo grins. “And no, I’m really Leo. Me, Mikey, and Donnie got hit by a mutant’s powers and swapped minds.”

Splinter’s nose scrunches up, and he pushes past Leo. “Where are your brothers, Blue? You are certain it isn't April Fools'?”

“Positive. Everyone’s in the kitchen.”

Without another word, Leo followed a few steps behind Splinter to the others. He first noticed April laughing and Raph looking mildly concerned when they entered the room. 

Curious, Leo tilted his head, taking his seat next to Raph again. “What’d I miss?” 

“Oh, I was just tellin’ Raph how I had to wrangle Mike to get him to take Donnie’s contacts out last night!” April whoops, wiping a tear from her eye. Beside her, Mikey grumbles. 

“Unfortunate that my contacts had slipped my mind until I was going to bed myself. I’ll find a way for you to wear my spare glasses, Mikey.” Donnie provides, lifting their younger brother's spirits.

“Hi, Pops,” Raph finally greeted, waving up at their father. “Did Leo tell you what’s happening?”

Splinter nods. “Is it true? Do you know how to fix it?” 

Nobody responds. 

Leo finds the silence suffocating.

“Donnie said we should find the mutant,” he blurts, leg bouncing nervously. “It can change us back. We think.” 

“You think,” Splinter echoes, crossing his arms. “I sure hope you figure it out, then. Tell me if you need anything and good luck with the mutant, of course.”

Splinter stops to pat Mikey’s head, though it’s a bit awkward with the height he sits at now, their dad having to lift his arm to reach. “You are all tough and smart… sometimes. Regardless, I have faith, as should you.”

Before he leaves the room entirely, he turns to Donnie. “Purple, do not check the projector. It is not broken. Bye-bye!” 

Leo watches Donnie’s eye twitch and almost laughs. 

“What did you do?!” The younger twin shouts, but Splinter’s already vanished. 

“Do we really think it lives here?” Raph questions, leaning against the rock the three were using to conceal themselves. Beachgoers did not need to be spooked by giant mutant turtles mid-day, according to him.

Leo shrugs. “This is where it left, right?” He says, recalling his epic fail of capturing the mutant before it swam off. Yeesh.

“Yeah, but it’s a mutant. It had a life before it got oozesquitoed,” the eldest retorts, turning to face the leader. “It had to have lived somewhere else.”

“I don't know if you noticed, Raph, but the mutant is an entire beluga whale,” Donnie cuts in. “There’s no chance that it could prance around an apartment complex without noise complaints from cranky neighbours.”

Nodding, Leo puts a hand on Raph’s shoulder. “What Donnie said. Besides, if April and Mikey get a better lead, they’ll just call us.”

Donnie shifts his grip on his bō. “About that, why'd you choose them to check the hidden city? I'm much more capable than Mikey when it comes to collecting intel. You're supposed to know these things, leader.”

Leo decides to ignore that last part, for the sake of everyone on this beach. “They’re the least wanted. You and Raph would get thrown behind bars and Big Mama would be on my tail. It’s safer this way.”

“Not my fault the witches don't know how to appreciate science’s vast achievements,” Donnie mutters, turning his head away. 

After 10 more minutes of practically radio silence (only metaphorically, because of the children screaming on the beach), Leo became restless. Donnie was tapping away at his holographic screen and Raph was watching the water, leaving Leo with virtually nothing to do. 

He had tried drawing in the sand, but stopped once he felt sand building up under his nails. Then, tried to snoop on what Donnie was doing, only to be pushed away. So now, he was finding different ways to move around. Doing butterflies, Russian twists, scissor kicks. 

He rolled back on his shell, raising his body in the air until only his arms and head lay against the sand. Not only was this exercise good for him, but it was also extremely fun! 

“Oh, Leo, I wanted to discuss something with you,” Donnie says, not bothering to look up from his wrist. 

Leo’s grin wavers, and his legs collapse over his head, knocking him off balance so that he has to roll over and scramble to get back to sitting. 

He hastily brushes sand off of his face, his smile bubbling back up. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Donnie squints at him. “I seem to have your mystic powers. I tested it last night and teleported, it works the same way yours does. Only I am able to pull up my screen hologram and my energy signature is still purple.” 

Raph turns around, hesitant to take his eyes off the waves. “We felt that last night. Raph totally forgot, though.”

“Purple, you said?” Leo looked up in thought. “I guess that’s ‘cause our ninpo stays with our souls? But our bodies might be able to only create certain types of mystic abilities.”

“Scoff, you just stole my entire hypothesis,” Donnie teases, a light smile illuminating his features. At least that made Leo feel slightly less uneasy. Yeah, things would be fine! 

Leo is quick to smirk, eyes wide in wonder. “Wait, do you guys think I can float like Mikey now?” 

Before he can even stand up, Raph’s dragging him down by his wrist. Leo feels a shiver run through his body from the phantom feeling of pain. Donnie glances at him sideways. 

“Don’t go tryin’ any stunts, Leo,” Raph commands. “There’s still people behind us.”

With a dismissive wave of his hand (mostly to shake off his nerves, but who had to know that?) Leo rolled his eyes. Tough luck, he wanted to do cool air-flips.

“I wonder what kind of weapons Mikey’d be able to make with Donnie’s mystic powers,” he says after a stretch of silence, Raph not looking back from the waters this time.

“Curious indeed,” Donnie affirms, lowering his arm and leaning back, a little more near Leo. “We’ve been here for approximately forty-three minutes with no sign of the whale, and no word from the others. I should've gotten to go to the hidden city instead. Then we would have answers by now.”

Raph hums soothingly. “Stick it out, Donnie. We've been on patrol for longer before. You got this.”

“Very comforting,” the younger twin replies, crossing his arms against his plastron. “Mild sarcasm implied.”

Leo watched as Donnie shut his eyes, his head falling slightly into his shell, arms clutching one another. Of course, Leo knew Donnie wasn't too dandy with being at the beach again. The racket, the sand, and the anticipation must all be a lot for him. Leo was beginning to feel even more guilt from not letting his twin go with Mikey and April.

He looked back down at his lap, picking at the wrap around fingers. He let out a quiet noise of surprise when his claw hooked on the fabric, ripping it. He wasn’t used to that happening.

Hands still hovering, Leo raised his head to find Donnie staring holes into the small rip in the wrap. Anxious, Leo hid it by grabbing his legs. 

When Donnie’s gaze shot up to meet Leo’s, the latter tilted his head, smiling. Donnie frowned, turning his attention back to his screen.

Being caught up in that odd interaction, Leo nearly jumped when his bag vibrated violently.

Taking a second to fumble with finding and unlocking his phone, he proudly held the screen up and answered the urgent video call. 

He didn't even get a chance to open his mouth before Mikey rapidly rushed out a string of words and noises in no coherent manner. 

“Woah, slow down buddy,” he suggests, Donnie and Raph scooting closer to get a look at their fourth brother, who seemed to be running down a vividly colourful street with April on his back.

“The mutant lives down here, you guys! Isn’t that weird?!” Mikey shouts, almost shaking the phone out of Leo’s grasp. “Also, I think I made a huge mystic bomb!”

Chapter Text

“I told you it would be better for me to go instead!” Donnie shouts up to his brother, who’s sprinting along the roof, using his hands to gain more speed. 

“Time and place, Donnie!” Leo grunts, lunging across buildings. “C’mon, short little legs!”

Watching his twin struggle amusingly, Donnie lost his own footing, nearly tripping as he ran. As he rolled to get back on balance, he noted that having a hard shell was extremely convenient.

Back to the problem on hand, he reminded himself. His mystic powers were known to give him the ability to conjure enhancements to his tech, given he could, at the least, slightly fathom how they functioned. As such, he was notorious for creating mystic artillery holograms whenever necessary. That left him with the question Leo had brought up moments earlier: what weapons would Michelangelo make with his mystic powers? 

To Donnie’s knowledge, he wasn’t aware that his younger brother knew anything of the inner workings of weapons, rendering his powers null and void.

Though, he had been wrong this time. 

After Mikey had told the three that he had the ability to create mystic explosives, Donnie wondered why he never thought to do that himself. Much easier than making the things by hand, anyway. And how did Mikey know about how explosives worked?

Now, Donnie’s older brothers followed behind him as he led them to the closest Hidden City tunnel. Usually, he’d use his tech to fly him as his brothers do more work, but at this rate, he was afraid he’d leave them in the dust. His twin wobbled around awkwardly, trying to adjust to his shorter limbs in action. Raph had no excuse besides being anxious and making sure Leo didn’t tumble over a building (again). 

Besides, it wasn’t worth the effort to dig through the various items carried in the pockets of his makeshift harness just to fly a mile or two. Such inconvenience made him realize he missed being able to wear his battle shell, surprisingly enough. 

There was another thing messing with Donnie, though. He grumbled in annoyance as the holographic screen above his arm began to glitch, emitting a particularly infuriating fizzing noise. Yes, he could swap which arm he used, but it was so much easier to type with his right!

With his messed up screen being a constant reminder, it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore his issue. Leo very obviously didn't want to talk about it, not with the way his perfect mask of confidence cracked every time Donnie so much as glanced in his general direction.

In his words, time and place, Donnie.

Donnie waved away the hologram above his arm, reaching out to jump and grab onto a drainage pipe on the side of a building. As he slid down his brothers followed, attempting to be quiet. The unfortunate part of this escapade was that it was still very much bright outside, thus, a high risk of being seen. Donnie reached the ground, ushering the two into a grimey door in the alley. 

Raph looked back at Donnie unamused when they saw the rows of washing machines and dryers. 

“What? It’s the closest passage I know of,” Donnie shrugs, snickering to himself a little as Leo nearly trips over clothes strewn upon the ground. 

“How did you know there wouldn't be people?” The snapper questions, apprehensive. Donnie leads them over to the door labeled staff only.

He grips the handle, stalling for dramatic effect. “Why, dear Raphael, this place has been closed down for a couple of weeks,” he explains, swinging the door and narrowly missing his twin’s face. Shame.

Donnie smirked, brows furrowed. “It is also where I have been supplying myself with scraps and spare cash, as is made obvious by my gorgeous mini-lab!”

Naturally, Leo’s eyes widened in awe, reaching out to touch a button. “Where do you find the time for this kinda stuff, Don?”

“That's what I’m wonderin’, too,” Raph mutters. “Middle child nonsense.”

“Alas, the demolition of this sacred laundromat is scheduled for next week, so feast your eyes while it still exists!” Donnie cried out, pressing a button that presented him with a keyboard. 

Raph huffs, but steps inside the lab behind Leo. “So, where’s the tunnel?” His volume increases at the end of his question as the door automatically slams shut behind him.

“Patience,” Donnie sings, tapping away against the keys. In mere seconds, the far wall splits apart to reveal a colorful portal. 

Leo unsheathes out his swords, grinning wildly. “Ohhh yeah,” he looks back at his brothers. “This... is awesome.” 

“I know,” Donnie follows suit, readying his bō. “Had to make sure I was the only demolition expert that could get to the tunnel.”

Raph pushes past them both, fists curled up around his sais. “What are we waitin’ for, then?” With that, he fearlessly dives into the multicolour abyss. 

“Cowabunga!” Leo shouts, plunging feet first into the tunnel. Donnie’s right behind him, sending a command through his hologram to close the wall after he falls. 

They’re spat out at the end of a populated street, Raph being careful not to tumble onto some poor unsuspecting yokai by accident. Donnie got up using the support of his staff, searching for April’s location on his screen.

“Lucky for us, this passage was close to where they are,” he announces. “April should be just down this block.”

Leo peeks over Donnie’s shoulder to squint at the screen. “Is that a tracker?”

“Uhhh… I gave one to her before they left?” He lies, making the screen disappear. “Hurry now, no time to waste.”

Raph says something about having a talk when this is all over, but Donnie promptly ignores him, jogging down the streets filled with vendor stalls. It isn't until he notices people starting to run the opposite direction in a frenzy that he begins to feel nervous.

Pulling ahead of his younger brothers, Raph is the first to round the corner from which the crowd is fleeing. Just as Donnie and Leo reach him, a large orange cloud swallows the street in its blinding glow.

(An hour earlier)

Safe to say, the hunt for the mutant was not going as planned. 

Mikey and April had already asked over half the city, asking pressing questions until people turned them down or straight up walked away. His brothers haven't seen anything either, since they haven’t contacted him yet. Getting absolutely nowhere after half an hour had Mikey’s spirits down and his shoulders sagging.

What also sucked was the weight on his back. Like, not that the specially-made battle shell wasn't totally awesome, because Mikey adored it. The way that it was super heavy and a constant freezing sensation atop his trapezius muscles (learned that one from Leo!) was the problem. That- combined with the countless noises and light sources that were only amplified by his new glasses- had caused his breathing to become laboured and his nerves to wiggle-squiggle out of control.

Currently, he and April were taking a breather at a food stall, Mikey on the floor and fiddling with the belt that the battle shell latched onto. He appreciated the cute pockets that held his chucks, but sorely missed the lightweight feeling of his own harness. 

His sister was probably also uncomfortable, though. She’s banned from Witch Town and her face is known, so it’s covered by a black mask that ends right under her eyes, and those too are covered by a pair of sunglasses. Her human ears are kept hidden by a black hood, making her only recognizable by the curls that pop out from beneath the hem. 

And he knew she was feeling the pressure too. He saw it in the way April smiled confidently at him, even when her gaze remained concerned. Mikey almost tried to make her talk about how she was feeling during their game of Battleship, but felt he understood her just fine. She was worried they wouldn’t be able to fix this mess up. Mikey could sympathize.

Suddenly, April tapped his shoulder, getting him to turn his head. “I think we’ve got something.”

“Really?” He asks, trying not to get his hopes up. He moves to stand next to her, crouching a bit so she could whisper to him. It was weird being tall, but really funny nonetheless.

“I heard that vendor talking to the man in the coat, walking over there. You catch that guy and ask him what he knows, I got this one,” she directs, Mikey following where she pointed. He nods, twisting through the people filling the streets. 

The man turns down an alley, forcing Mikey to sneak past the others down there. But Mikey hasn’t been that lucky lately, and alleys were always a place of trouble.

Someone with a snake-like face spots him. Bumping his arm against the man in the coat, he says something. Everything is still.

Until the man breaks out into a run. 

Mikey groans. Great.

He’s on his tail instantly, thank you Donnie for the speedy legs. It gets harder to keep up when the disguised man meshes into the shoppers around another vendor street, but Mikey’s focus is locked onto that silly fedora he’s wearing. He’s just about to be able to reach his hands out and yell to him, but someone on a bike blocks his view.

The people around him yell and a bright headlight flashes in his face. When the bike whizzes right past him he feels his scales tilt on edge, the sensations causing him to squeeze his eyes shut and fall to the ground. The impact on his palms sends a jolt of pain to his sprained elbow. When he’s able to look around again, floating spots dance in his vision. 

He’s hit with vertigo as he stands, clutching his head in his hands. A few people rush over to check on him, but he thinks he might cry if someone touched him. With what strength he has left, he runs back to find April.

Mikey’s glad to find that she hadn’t left. April’s leaned over the booth, pointing an accusing finger at the person running it. Her eyes make her look extremely frustrated, sunglasses discarded in her other hand. 

“As I told you before, I heard you talkin’ to that man about the whale!” She grits out, pulling back to clench her fists. Mikey frowns at the slight shake in her hands, wishing he could do something to ease her worries.

The vendor puts his hands on his hips. “Look, girl, I’ve got no idea what you’re saying. You’ve lost your marbles.”

“I have not-!” April grunts, holding her tongue. Mikey takes the chance to tap her. 

“He got away,” Mikey admits, eyes trained on the small crowd beginning to gawk at April’s display of determination. “Let’s just go, we can ask someone else.”

April gives him a once over and returns her glare toward the vendor. “No. I know this guy knows somethin’, and he’s gonna tell us what.” 

Ah. She was standing her ground, and Mikey gulped, recognizing that he wouldn't be able to change her mind. He backs away, cringing when he feels a headache rip through his skull. Drowning out April’s insistent arguing, he slipped his glasses off in a desperate attempt.

That only made it worse.

His blurry vision spun rapidly, making him throw his arms out as if he was going to fall. He nearly bumps into a few people, making his skin feel prickly.

He needed to be away from there, now.

“April…” he tries weakly, reaching out to her blurry form. 

She doesn’t seem to hear him, but the vendor does, turning his attention. He shouts, leaving his seat as he makes it beside April. 

Finally, she notices Mikey, and calls his name in fear. Mikey doesn't find the chance to respond, because the vendor is getting awfully close, yelling things Mikey doesn't have the brain-power to comprehend.

“Fine, the whale lives down here and buys from me! Now get this crazy guy away from my shop!” The man yells, shoving on Mikey’s shoulders. He stumbles back, unable to stop himself from taking a breathy gasp. Somewhere within his soul, there’s his ninpo tugging, slyly asking for permission. 

He can’t take it anymore. 

With an angry cry, Mikey gives in, releasing the tension in his mystic energy. A glowing, massive, cartoon-ish bomb materializes around him and April, protecting them from the fire that sparks against the mystic bomb’s wick.

Maybe he should’ve had a little more self control, but he can't help but relish in how good it felt when the bomb exploded. The blast wasn't lethal, only causing people to be pushed back and a few shops tussled. The new and welcome feeling soothed his soul.

Talk about razzmatazz.

Chapter Text

Hey!

this is NOT a chapter. I’m going to say while I’m here that this fic will probably not update, but I will keep it up despite my feelings about it.

this update is to reach as many people as possible. Right now, Palestine has NO resources whatsoever. They cannot contact us at all to tell us how it’s going, which is clearly not good. 

YOU, YES YOU, can do something to help us re-establish connection. You can do something to help. 

on Twitter (X), use the hashtag #CeaseFireNOW to educate yourself on what’s happening in Gaza. Pray. Donate. Protest. Sign petitions. Click to support. 

Get angry. Get LOUD.

Click every single link and do EVERYTHING you can. Your silence makes you complicit. Do not walk away with blood of THOUSANDS on your hands. 

Help palestine

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Palestine will not die. From the land to the sea, Palestine WILL be free. 🇵🇸