Chapter Text
Ever since the almost-apocalypse, bad guys had been getting way too comfortable at showing their playing cards topside. And not just mutants either, plenty of Yokai were itching to throw their hands in the mix. You’d think seeing the world almost end would scare criminals off, not attract them like moths to a flame! But alas, in the city that never sleeps, crime doesn’t sleep as well.
The Hamato brothers considered themselves lucky if they got even a single night’s worth of relief from the blaring crime alarm. Heck, even Donnie himself was growing irritated by the sound of his own, automated voice from the alert system. But the cherry on top of it all was the addition of Yokai in this newest wave of misfits. It was tiring enough kicking ass of mutants two, sometimes even three, times their size, but what Yokai often lacked in physicality was made up for in mystic magic.
So they were forced to fight mystic with mystic. Every day. While also fighting physically.
It was getting exhausting .
But despite that, team morale somehow hadn’t face planted itself in the gutter. Sure, everyone was tired down to the bone, but at least they were spending their days together . It was… hard adjusting after the whole Kraang incident. At least the accelerated crime rates also accelerated the boys’ adjustment back to their regular old lives. Well, as regular as it could be for a bunch of adolescent, mutant, sewer-dwelling turtle brothers.
So when the crime alarm went off for the second time that day, at only 11:32 am for that matter, not one of them groaned. Nor complained. Nor anything of the sort. Instead, Leo jumped up first, smugly declaring, “Last one there has to unclog the sink when we get back!” He used Donnie’s forehead as a springboard to propel himself forward, giving himself just enough of a head start before the others could even hastily reach for their weapons.
“Absolutely not, Nardo, you’re the one who clogged it!” Donnie shouted after him as he activated his hover shell, the force of it starting up causing Mikey and Raph to stumble backwards slightly.
“Absolutely not to both of ya! ” Raph scooped up Mikey as he got his bearings and ran after the other two. Mikey nimbly readjusted himself so he was perched on Raph’s carapace, his body moving on muscle memory to the areas lacking in spikes. “That’s two fouls ya- ya… stinking middle child twins!”
Mikey laughed wildly from behind as Leo opened a portal for the four of them. The box turtle leaped from Raph’s shell, swinging his kusari-fundo around an exposed ceiling pipe and launching himself through Leo’s portal.
“I win, get wrecked!”
“There’s no winner, Mikey, only a-“ Leo was cut off as Raph and Donnie gained the upper hand. Leo had dropped his guard for just a moment, which was all the two needed to close the distance and leave Leo left dumbfounded in their dust.
“LOSER!” Donnie and Raph shouted in tune.
“Oh, c’mon!” Leo spat after them, though his beaming smile was obvious from miles away.
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The fight had been going fine. Barely distinguishable from any of the others they’d fought this week, in fact. Four versus one was probably unfair, sure, but it was unfair that this random dude decided to interrupt the boys’ much needed chill time. There wasn’t a twinge of guilt between the four of them, even as they demolished the guy.
Honestly, it could barely even be called a fight .
“Dude,” Leo piped up as he took a looming stance over the floored enemy. “Might wanna consider learning a few basic combat skills before going out and trying to rob a bank . Or like, start smaller, I don’t know.”
“Leo, don’t give the enemy beginner tips!” Raph rubbed at his infamous forehead chasm, shaking his head in disbelief that he actually had to scold Leo for such a thing.
“Yeah, if anything, why not give the guy an introductory course on fashion .” Donnie interrupted. “Seriously, I could forgive the medieval warlock chic if there was any attempt at fundamental color coordination to the look.”
The man pinned underneath the hilt of Leo’s katana didn’t say a word. He didn’t give any indication he’d heard them at all, actually. Any expressions to hint at a response were lost behind a strange, seemingly blinding mask. The covering didn’t provide a single peeping hole, and it was definitely too thick to allow the wearer to make out anything more than some flashes of light. The whole disguise looked like it’d been pieced together with anything close enough to be considered fabric. It had to have been handmade, and a last minute project at that.
Mikey joined his brothers in their hovering semi circle over the man in the mask. He wanted to get a closer look at the patch job because something about the detailing seemed almost… familiar. It was difficult to really observe any of the embroidering under the cloudy night sky. The only light source was the small beams slipping through curtained, back alley apartment windows.
“You gonna plead the fifth or anything down there? Or should I take the silence as an invitation to portal you on down to the Hidden City slammer.”
Still nothing, not even a wriggle of movement.
“ARGH- you’re no fun, dude!” Leo rolled his eyes and lifted his spare katana in the air. It lit up with mystic energy, revealing its engrained symbols as it became embedded with pure, blue light from the slider’s own spirit. “I’d say it’s been a pleasure, but uh well, ya know. See ya!”
Leo didn’t get a chance to open a portal. He didn’t even get a chance to swing his katana before all four of them were stunned by a blinding green light. Everything happened so fast . Like the flash of a camera. But a lot more… tingly… hazy …
Mikey rubbed his stinging eyes, alerting his senses that it was time to boot up again. He blinked repeatedly until the white spots in his vision cleared enough to reveal more than a splotchy overview of his surroundings.
What he saw made him blink a few more times. Then a few more.
He rubbed his eyes again for good measure.
Mikey’s eyes were locked with Leo’s. He was bent over, dragged down by the weight of the single katana he’d managed to maintain his grip on. Except now both hands were tightly wrapped around the one hilt, both hands which were way too tiny for such a feat.
“Holy shell…” Mikey breathed out at a volume just barely loud enough to hear. Leo was clearly holding eye contact, but he looked frightened . It didn’t take a second more for his eyes to well with tears, his frame still frozen in place above his sword.
Mikey may have been just as, if not more, confused than Leo, but he didn’t have to think when it came to comforting his brothers. He scrambled to his feet (when had he fallen over?) and rushed towards his now heart wrenchingly small baby brother. He’d think about the schematics of the whole baby brother thing later, for now he just needed to help Leo and-
Something (someone?) tugged on the wrappings around Mikey’s shins. Crap, the bad guy! Mikey had totally forgot! He swung his head downwards, following his stomach as it dropped to the ground-
“...Raph?”
Yep, no doubt about it. Mikey felt stupid for even asking, but also what the heck was happening? And why was Raph looking at him like that, like he- like he knew what to do!
“Angelo, calm down .”
Donnie. That was Donnie’s voice. Thank Pizza Supreme it hadn’t gotten him to-
One look at Donnie was enough to bring Mikey to his knees.
He was tiny, too. They were all toddlers.
“I said, calm- ” Donnie waddled over to Mikey, stretching his arms as far as they could reach so he could bop Mikey between the eyes. “- Down.” Mikey blinked once, dumbfounded and speechless yet his mind was running at a million miles per hour and was Donnie talking why weren’t the others talking was Donnie talking to him he must be because-
“Mikey!” God, his voice was so squeaky, so adorably squeaky . “I’ve analyzed the effects of the mystic energy that wizard-dude hit us with. According to my mystic readings, it’s some kind of age regression- and the scientist in me shutters at the very word- spell . Are you following, Mikey? It shouldn’t last more than twenty-four hours. It’s going to be fine, but we need to get back to the lair.”
“Why didn’t we end up like… like them? ” Mikey’s eyes darted to his other two brothers who were definitely not in the same teenage mindset as Mikey and Donnie were. Leo was still crying. He wasn’t wailing or anything, tears were just silently falling. And Raph had his hand curled around Mikey’s finger, seemingly holding back from nibbling on the stubbed nail.
“Well, I can only conclude it is due to your overwhelming levels of mystic energy that you remained unscathed. Even if you don’t have a proper hold on your powers yet, the raw forces inside of you must have been too great to manipulate.” Donnie rubbed a hand on his chin as he explained- which like, precious , but Mikey couldn’t let that distract him.
“I seem to have only been partially affected myself, resulting in a state halfway between you and… those two. My mystic levels may not hold a candle to your own, but my genius brain held fast even when my physical body could not! As unfortunate as my current physical form is, this whole situation will be absolutely fascinating to study back in my lab! I’d like to run some tests as soon as we get back, although obviously that’ll have to wait until we get back.”
Donnie redirected his attention to Leo, who was chewing on the hilt of his katana.
“ Sigh, it seems portalling home is off the table.” Donnie scanned the area until he found his wrist tech, which had fallen off when his figure shrank. He kneeled beside the device, inputting at a pace too quick for Mikey to track. “We’ll have to make it on foot, I can easily pull up a map of our current location and find the nearest exit out of the Hidden City aaaaand done, I got it.”
Donnie looked up at Mikey, and he seemed… embarrassed?
The fact he was looking up at his younger brother was weird enough.
“Could you… could you wear my wrist tech? I don’t think I’m capable of… carrying it like this.”
“Sure thing, Dee!” It took every ounce of restraint not to nuzzle the top of Donnie’s head. “How’re we gonna get all this stuff back, though?”
“We’ll leave it for the time being. As obstinate as I am to leave my tech behind, even I can admit there’s no way we’re getting all this and our two dumb-dumb brothers home as we are.”
Donnie and Mikey gathered their fallen items, from Leo’s sash to Raph’s sai to Donnie’s entire battle shell, and concealed them to the best of their ability. It was hard enough just to collect their stuff, what with Donnie’s form and Mikey fumbling two turtle tots in his arms. But it was good enough- as good as it was gonna get.
They started walking. Mikey was using one arm to cradle Leo- who was not making the job easy with his constant wiggling- and the other to hold up the hologram of their map. He had to walk slowly, something Mikey often forgot but now was far too aware of. Since Mikey couldn’t carry the three of them, Donnie was leading Raph by the hand in Mikey’s wake. Raph stayed mostly quiet, even though Mikey and Donnie were fairly certain he was at an age where he could speak a few words. Donnie had said Raph was likely experiencing some sort of shutdown due to the confusion of the whole situation.
And Donnie… Donnie looked… out of it .
When Mikey tried to pry, Donnie had brushed him off, insisting it could wait until they made it home.
It wasn’t a lengthy journey home, but it felt like it took a million years.
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The four of them collapsed in the living room. Mikey took the couch while Donnie crawled into the beanbag, which was a much more suitable distance from the floor for him. Leo, who hadn’t walked an inch, was the only one showing any sign of life. He maneuvered himself off the couch, skipping over to Donnie and Raph on their shared beanbag. Words weren’t needed, it was painstakingly obvious Leo wanted to play .
He began bop bop bopping his little arms, flailing them up and down in turn as they smacked Donnie atop the head.
“Nardo, knock it off!” Donnie covered his head, shielding himself from the oncoming attacks.
Leo pouted. Dramatically. He flew himself over the top of the beanbag, gazing longingly off into the distance as his brothers continued to ignore him. It didn’t take long for pouting to grow to full on frustration. He whined loudly , flopping his limbs against the cushioning as his volume grew to a painful degree.
Raph, bless his heart, was the one to finally give in. He was still the big brother, even when he literally wasn’t . He pushed himself up clumsily, allowing Leo to lead him to the center of the living room where they would begin their game of chase.
Mikey swore he’d get some toys out later. Maybe crayons and coloring supplies too. But right now, he just needed to take a breather .
He closed his eyes, allowing himself a second to just relax …
.
.
.
It wasn’t working.
“Hey, Dee,” Mikey spoke, declaring his attempt at rest to be a complete failure. “You said you wanted to do some tests, right?”
No response.
“...Dee?”
Mikey craned his neck forward, checking to see if Donnie was still there.
He was.
And boy did he look rough.
Donnie was sitting up, but he looked like he was fighting off some powerful need to sleep. But he didn’t look… tired. His eyes weren’t fluttering with the weight of exhaustion, but they kept rolling back in his head before being snapped back to their usual position. His head was obviously lolling to the side, but it wasn’t searching for something to rest on. It was just… moving wrong . Like it was straining to reach something since his body wouldn’t cooperate on the matter.
Mikey jumped up, kneeling beside Donnie on the floor. “Donnie? You okay?”
“M’okay. Sorry. Did you need something?” Donnie met Mikey’s gaze, but his eyes were glossy, confused.
“I just asked if you wanted to run those tests you were talking about.”
“Yes, the tests- I was just thinking about that. It’s not going to be easy to get Leo and Raph to comply, but we can’t just leave them out here by themselves. And they will not be running around my lab- they’re too great of a risk to my tech. If you wouldn’t mind bringing me my laptop, I could begin to run some… some…”
“Simulations?”
“Simulations! Yes, thank you. There should be enough time to… enough time… to” Donnie’s eyes rolled into his head, and Mikey couldn’t hold back the need to grab Donnie by the shoulders, like that would somehow help- somehow keep him there.
“Donnie, you are clearly not okay! Talk to me, please !”
His eyes snapped back and Donnie rubbed at them furiously before finding his voice. “Sorry. My… my mind can’t hold up. It’s just kinda… foggy .”
“Donnie…” Mikey’s voice was gentle, sympathetically so. “It’s okay. You don’t have to fight it, I can handle this.”
“ No! ” Donnie sprang to his feet, tumbling slightly at his surprising lack of balance. “No, I’m not… I’m not leaving you alone with this.”
“Hey, it’s only one day. I’m pretty sure I can manage being the big bro for one day. You three make it look easy enough.”
“No, just… help me to my lab. Please. Those two will be fine for one minute, but I can’t get there on my own.”
Mikey smirked before scooping Donnie into his arms. But instead of going to the lab, Mikey plopped down on the couch. He started slowly rocking the tiny soft shell, humming a made up tune to the rhythm of each sway.
“...Mikey… stop …” Donnie’s eyes were shutting, drool was creeping its way to the corner of his mouth. He looked so sweet , so innocent in Mikey’s loving hold.
“Hmm, I don’t know… Your face kinda says otherwise, little dude.”
“Not… little…”
“Ha! Now you know the feeling.” Mikey leaned down to give Donnie a quick kiss on the forehead. “Please rest, Dee. It’s okay.”
Donnie let out a single, weak chuckle. Mikey couldn’t tell if it was a laugh from sixteen year old Donnie or three year old Donnie, but it made him smile nonetheless.
The soft shell drifted off to sleep.