Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been just over a month since the Shredder had just tried to eradicate every single version of the Ninja Turtles. It was horrifying knowing your existence is completely dependent on one version of you and your brothers.

But the Shredder is gone.. gone for good hopefully.

Instead of going back to their universe the smaller (and albeit goofy) turtles decided to stay with them for a while. Turns out they’re really fun to have around, sure they’re silly but the other turtles and Splinter enjoyed having them be there.

Their version of Shredder and Krang went back home but they seemed pretty happy to still exist with each other, even if they won’t admit it. They act like an old divorced couple a lot!

And their Splinter stayed home as well, fully trusting that they will take care of his students. He was a lovely old rat and truly seemed to love his students.

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All 8 of the turtles were relaxing in the living room, they were watching a movie that didn’t exist in the smaller turtles universe. They all seemed to dig it!

Leo was getting a bit bored though, his body ached for movement.

He slowly stood up “I’m gonna go train, anyone coming with?”

Mikey faced his brother “seriously dude? You wanna tra-“ he was cut off “I will come Leonardo!” Little Blue jumped up and walked towards Leo, smile on his face.

Leo’s heart melted, he hadn’t seen any of his brothers this excited for training in ages. Both of the blue banded turtles walked away to go train with each other, Little Blue seemed to be bursting at the seams with joy.

“So Leonardo, what will we be doing first?” He put a finger up to his chin in thought.

“How about we spar with each other? Get to know our skills” Little Blue nodded frantically.

Both mutants pulled their blades out and got in position, the two of them had smiles dawned on their faces.

Leo was the first to try and strike but Little Blue moved out the way, using his height to his advantage. He’s seen how the other turtles fight, they use items around their environment a lot which was pretty smart if you asked him.

Unfortunately there was nothing Blue could use other than his blades, he knows how to use them perfectly well but prefers not to attack with them. It was a little dumb but he liked using them that way. He was one to go for peace and talking it out rather than fighting.

Leo goes in for another strike and Blue uses his katana to block it. “That was a good move Blue!” The other turtle beamed at the comment “thank you father!”

Both turtles froze, one from shock and the other from embarrassment.

“I-I meant Leonardo..” Blue’s cheeks were bright red, he brought his hands up to cover his face.

Leo still looks at him in shock, he’d never been called ‘father’ before. He knows he’s an older brother figure to some people but to be a parental figure is.. nice.

“It’s okay blue” he walks up to the smaller ninja and puts a hand on his head “you alright?” Blue slowly lifts his hands down and nods.

Poor guy, his eyes were tearing up. Leo moved his hand and whipped the tears already coming down.

“I’m so sorry Leonardo!” He sniffles “it won’t happen again! Promise!” Blue closes his eyes.

“Like I said Little Blue, it’s okay..” a soft smile appears on Leo’s face.

The other mutant wrapped his arms around Leo tightly, Leo softly chuckled and returned the hug.

Bonus:

“What happened to you guys?” Orange looked to his older brothers tearful face.

Blue huffs a small laugh “it’s nothing do not worry about it” he goes to sit next to Orange and buried his face into his brothers shoulder.

It was clear that Blue was exhausted from whatever they were doing. The other turtles looked at Leonardo, he had a small smile on his face.

“He called me father..” Leo whispered softly.

“Dude that’s so adorable!” Mikey shouted, his brothers were quick to shush him as to not wake Blue up.

“Sorry” Mikey looked down apologetically.

Chapter Text

Donnie let Purple help rebuild parts of the lair, after all he was known as the ‘smart’ one in the others group as well. The little guy and him surprisingly worked well together, Don liked the way he worked sometimes.

Donnie loved having someone as smart as him around, it was so fun just talking about random science facts and being like ‘I know that one!’

They were truly having fun together, Donnie would miss it when they have to go back to their own dimension. Donnie and Purple kept getting distracted, making the reconstruction of the lair longer.

Donnie sighed “maybe we should work on the construction? I like talking to you but it’ll just take longer” the smaller nodded and went back to what he was doing previously.

Purple was humming a soft tune, head bobbing to the beat. Donnie looked at him, the other turtles seemed so carefree and happy. Like nothing bad ever happened.

Don was jealous of them.

He wishes he could just forget everything that’s ever happened to him and his brothers, that he could be happy. But unfortunately he couldn’t. The things they went through weren’t something you can easily brush off, all of them went through something traumatic. He wasn’t sure what the smaller turtles have went through but surely it couldn’t have been that bad if this is what they’re like.

The other turtle stopped humming when he noticed Donnie staring at him “what’s up, Mr. Wizard?” The nickname Purple gave him honestly made him want to cry.

“Nothing it’s just.. how are you guys so happy all the time?” Donnie asks.

Purple gave him a sad look and turned his head down “I… I dunno we just are I guess” he shrugged.

Don just made a sound of acknowledgment, he wasn’t sure what to say anymore.

“I think it’s just how we cope with everything going on around us, y’know?” Donnie nodded at his counterpart.

“Yeah I understand, we all have coping mechanisms. Some are good while some are.. questionable” Don knows he isn’t the best when coping with trauma and stress. He mainly stays up all night working on pointless inventions, taking no breaks.

Both purple turtles stayed silent for a bit before Purple pulled Donnie into a tight hug.

“We’re gonna be okay Mr. Wizard..” Purple whispered.

That’s when the tears started pouring down Donnie’s face, he returned his counterparts hug. Don could hear some sniffles coming from the smaller turtle, he tightened the hug slightly.

“We’re gonna be okay..”

Chapter Text

The sound of power tools was the first thing Raph woke up to, the Don’s probably stayed up rebuilding the lair again. Raphael groaned at the oncoming headache and got out of his bed.

He started heading to the kitchen, where he could hear both Mikey’s talking. His headache was getting worse so when he entered the kitchen he immediately went to get a drink and some ibuprofen, Mikey and Orange didn’t even acknowledge him.

Raphael decided to relax in the living room while the Mikey’s made breakfast, he saw that Red was there already and sat next to his counterpart.

There was something off about him though.

His shoulders were up high and tense, eyes shut tightly and his hands were twitching a bit. Raph put his hand on Red’s shoulder but pulled it back when he saw him flinch.

“Red, ya doin’ alright?” Raphael was very concerned. He loves these guys but barely shows it in fear of becoming too attached to them.

Red just scrunches up his beak more, clearly Raph was doing something wrong. Raphael just sighed and looked at his counterpart.

He got up from the settee and went to find Don, he’s seen his purple brother like this before. Donnie had a pair of noise cancelling headphones that worked last time so maybe it would work for Little Red.

“Hey Don?” Both of the purple turtles turned around.

“Could I get your headphones for a moment?” He asked, Donnie nodded and went up to go get them.

“Hey Raphael!” Purple smiled at him and waved, Raph waved back at him.

Donnie comes back, headphones in hand, and passes them to his brother. “So why do you need my headphones?” Raph turns his head back “something’s up with Little Red so I thought this’d work” he shrugs.

Donnie nods and goes back to Purple to finish fixing up whatever it was they were doing.

Raphael runs back to his counterpart and softly places the headphones on his head. Raph immediately noticed Red’s shoulders relax.

Raph and Red just sit there in silence, happily enjoying the others company. Raphael has gone through what his counterpart is going through right now, him and Donnie get overwhelmed sometimes due to sounds from above or just it being an off day.

He turns to Red, who is still has his eyes closed, and sees his younger self in him. His eyes soften and he moves closer to the other turtle.

They both just sit in silence.. Raph zoning out as the sounds of construction slowly grew quieter.