Work Text:
Things were entirely too different in this universe. So many things didn't make sense to the quartet of brothers from the so-called "past," and it made them uncomfortable beyond explanation. Given the fact that there was even the concept of other mutant turtles with the same names and life situations, was hard enough to process in itself, but to know that these versions of the brothers were so much more... instinctive than them, was mind boggling.
To start off, the brothers found out about said instinctive traits through the "future version" of Mikey. Not too long into their accidental transportation, the Mikey of this universe- whom everyone had agreed to be called Michael -was caught sniffing around on the floor, and jumping on a bug. After doing so, Michael proceeded to munch on said bug, and squeaked once he realized that he was being watched. With an apology, Michael had scampered off to his room, and everyone decided not to mention the incident again.
From there, the brothers were desperately trying to fit in with their doubles' lifestyle, but found it being a bit difficult at times.
Or, at least for Leo, Raph, and Donnie.
Mikey was faring just fine.
This wasn't surprising, but his brothers were still somewhat baffled when Mikey was accepted into the doubles' family as soon as they arrived. When the brothers got into the new universe, Mikey immediately raced up to his double. The two circled each other excitedly, trilled playfully, and touched snouts multiple times as they danced around gracefully. Of course, Mikey's brothers were incredibly confused, and somewhat horrified by the action.
Each brother interpreted the action differently. Leo saw it as a sign of peace, but had an inkling suspicion that there was an intimate motive behind the dance. Raph saw it as Mikey being a kiss up, but that theory didn't really explain why Michael accepted the action so fervently and immediately. Donnie- being the scientist that he was -saw this as a sort of practice, whether it be for mating or meeting new mutants, Donnie knew not, but he dare not ask.
What the brothers did ask, was how Mikey knew what to do. What they got in response surprised them greatly. According to Mikey, he had been in the universe before, but not physically. Apparently, Mikey had been visiting this universe through dreams and mind waves. Because of this, Mikey knew and understood all there was to know about how to interact with the doubles. A few hours of awkward and failed attempts of bonding later, and Mikey's brothers were forced to ask him what they needed to do to make nice with their doubles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I am not doing any of this shit." Raph muttered, watching as Mikey demonstrated his own greeting dance.
"Well then you aren't going to bond with any of them. They already don't like you, mainly because of how mean you are to me. It seems like they're very protective of me and Michael, which is nice. I enjoy having someone who actually cares about me." Mikey huffed.
"What? Mikey, we care about you!" Leo claimed, crossing his arms in confusion.
"Yeah, keep tellin' yourself that." Mikey muttered, smiling and giggling as Michael ran up to the group.
"Hey other me! You wanna come with me and my Donnie to the junkyard?" Michael asked.
"Actually, I was hoping that you could stay here and bond with my brothers." Mikey replied, taking in the weird look that Michael sent to his brothers.
"You want me to make nice... with them?" Michael asked, giving Mikey an unimpressed look.
"Yes, actually. Maybe you could teach them how to greet." Mikey chimed.
"I thought that was a natural instinct." Michael muttered, sidling back a bit in concern.
"Well, it should be, but... they aren't really in tune." Mikey responded quietly.
Michael scoffed, but nodded nonetheless, watching as Mikey sauntered off. Without a word, Michael looked to each of the other turtles, glaring in slight bemusement, before getting onto all fours and trilling, trotting around in a circle three times, sitting up on his hind legs and chirping, and finally huffing before sitting down, waiting for someone else to respond.
The trio of older brothers looked to each other in shock. Rolling his eyes, Michael lay down on his side, yawning and closing his eyes. Disinterest was flowing off the young Box Turtle in waves, and the others knew that they would get nowhere by simply being too embarrassed to try this.
After ten minutes of gathering himself, Donnie decided to finally attempt to make up his own greeting dance. At the sound of shifting, Michael opened his eyes, looking to Donnie and sitting up, waiting in expectation of something poorly constructed.
Much to everyone's surprise, however, Donnie was able to create an interesting- and somewhat graceful -greeting dance, it being composed of a short but slightly wobbly moonwalk, before being followed by a chirp, and ending with a play bow. Michael chirped happily in response, hopping close to Donnie, and touching their snouts together. Donnie blushed, looking to his brothers and expecting another dance.
Neither Raph nor Leo decided to make up a dance, as they were simply too embarrassed and/or prideful to bring themselves to do something. With a shrug, Michael urged Donnie forwards, purring and nuzzling up close to Donnie every five seconds.
Later that day, Mikey explained that this was because of Michael's sudden attachment. Apparently, whenever Michael or his own brothers got attached to someone, they could and would be as loyal as dogs. A weird comparison, but it was still somewhat understandable.
From that day on, Donnie was the only one who was able to successfully interact with the turtles of this universe. Meaning that Raph and Leo were left to watch in complete confusion.
Something that everyone else thoroughly enjoyed.
