Archive of Our Own

Tommy narrowed his eyes at Chat from across the table, idly stirring his half-eaten bowl of cereal, “You look depressed. Why?” He asked bluntly, taking another bite of his breakfast.

The crow had been uncharacteristically quiet all morning, no ournas, no seven spamming, nothing. It was weird enough to make Tommy very curious, if not a bit concerned. It wasn’t just that either, Chat’s feathers lacked their usual glossy sheen, almost bordering on unkempt.

Chat deflated like a particularly sad balloon, "Missing Philza Minecraft hours," it croaked sullenly.

Ah, a relatable plight, though it did remind Tommy of a question he'd had since he first realized one of Phil's crows was in this world, "Chat, how did you get here anyway? You didn't follow me through the portal, did you?" Thinking about it now, It was probably the only answer that made any sense. 

Chat nodded once, but offered no further elaboration.

Tommy shoveled more cereal into his mouth, "Why?" He asked around the mouthful of food.

Chat cringed, "Ew."

Tommy rolled his eyes, but swallowed before speaking again, "Seriously though, were you eavesdropping on mine and Drista's whole conversation? That's kinda weird, y'know. Kinda fucking creepy. What are you, a stalker?" Oh, who was he kidding, this was one of Phil's crows, of course it was a fucking stalker.

Chat didn’t rise to the bait, not so much as a ruffling feather out of place, “We like to stay informed,” the crow answered vaguely.

Tommy felt his tail flick, “Yeah, well you don’t need to be informed about my personal life. Ever heard of fucking privacy?” He scowled.

The crow responded with a wordless, mocking imitation of his inflection.

And just like that, Tommy was hit with the temptation to challenge a bird to a duel, “Oh my god, dude, you’re such a fucking bastard. You should- ah, nope, nevermind,” he quickly backtracked on the moderately fucked up thing he’d been about to say.

Of course, that didn’t stop Chat from filling in the blanks. The crow half flapped its wings a few times, talons clicking against the tabletop, “Capital D colon,” it verbally emoted.

“Sorry, sorry, that was- I mean, you know me, Chat, sometimes I just start sayin’ shit. I’m just quirky, I’m quirky,” Tommy rambled.

Chat didn’t seem satisfied with his very legit reasoning, “Mean. MeanInnit,” the crow accused.

“I’m not being mean! I didn’t even say it!” Tommy defended himself against Chat’s entirely unwarranted judgment.

A new voice joined the discussion before Chat had the chance to say anything else, “Didn’t say what?” Splinter asked out of nowhere, having entered the living room without either of them noticing.

That snitching bastard of a crow immediately opened its beak to rat Tommy out- luckily, Tommy was fully expecting that kind of behaviour from Chat, so he threw himself over the table to clamp its beak shut himself, “Nothing! It’s nothing!” He insisted a little too loudly, staring at the newcomer with wide eyes.

Splinter paused, looking at them like he didn’t quite know what to make of the whole ordeal. He cleared his throat, “Right, well, I heard you went out on a patrol with my sons last night. How was that? They do anything stupid?” He, generously, changed the subject.

With one last warning look at Chat, Tommy let go of the bird’s beak and sat up crosslegged on the table, “It was alright, running 'round this city sucks fucking ass though. My feet still feel all achy and shit," he complained, not bringing up the several other things that went wrong last night.

Don't get him wrong, Splinter seemed like an alright guy, but they weren't exactly close enough for Tommy to go on about nearly getting eaten by a pig or how genuinely upset he still was about breaking his toy.

Splinter stroked his beard and hummed, "Yes, I remember it taking a while to get used to not wearing shoes anymore,” he empathized, nodding absently.

It took a second for Tommy to read between the lines of what Splinter said, and when it did finally click in his mind he was left gaping at the rat man, “Wait, hold on a sec- did you- you used to be a human?” He was a bit more shocked by the possibility than he perhaps should have been.

A look of nostalgia washed over Splinter’s expression, “I used to be the greatest action film movie star in all of America, Lou Jitsu. Beloved by all-" and Tommy was starting to see where Leo got his ego from, "-and not so bad with the ladies either. I was even the reigning champion of the Battle Nexus for a time-”

A startled laugh slipped out of Tommy before he could stamp down on it.

Splinter gave him a sharp look, "What? What's so funny?" He demanded, eyes narrowing.

What wasn't funny about this old man's claims? Tommy could feel the start of an incredulous grin tugging the corners of his mouth, "Champion of the Battle Nexus? Mate, I have not once seen you do anything more strenuous than walking to the kitchen to get yourself a bowl of soup," he pointed out the glaring flaw in Splinter's tall tales.

Because Tommy’d fought in the Battle Nexus before, and he couldn't imagine someone like Splinter- who spent most of his days lazing about in a recliner- walking out of that place intact, much less champion. It was ridiculous out of sheer principle.

Splinter crossed his arms, "I regale you with my epic past and you call me a liar? Who do you think taught the boys to fight, hm?" He challenged.

Awfully moody for someone not far off from the retirement home, if you asked Tommy. 

It took everything he had not to roll his eyes, "Yeah, okay, whatever you say, gramps." Tommy made no attempt to disguise his sarcasm.

Splinter's brow twitched, "Fine then! If I am such a lazy bum, why don't you try and hit me, huh? See what happens," he dared, blatant in his agitation.

Tommy leaned back slightly, ears flicking sideways and eyebrows furrowing, "Wha- no! I'm not gonna punch an old man, god. I will flick you and your bones will simply crumble into dust. And then I will have to explain to your sons that the pile of bone dust on the floor is their father," he quickly rejected Splinter's challenge.

Chat, of course, then decided to be as unhelpful as ever, "Fight, fight, fight," the bird started chanting from the sidelines.

Tommy cast Chat an annoyed sideways glance, "I liked you better when you were being depressed over Phil," he hissed.

While Tommy was sidetracked with the crow, something wrapped around his ankle and then, with a sharp tug, he was flung across the room.

A scream tore from Tommy’s throat as he crashed harmlessly into a beanbag chair.

He scrambled up to his feet, summoning his dented metal tray with a jerky hand movement and slipping into a defensive stance as his heart rate spiked in his chest, “What the fuck was that for?” Tommy demanded shakily, tail lashing in a mix of anxiety and anger.

Splinter was still standing by the table with his hands folded passively behind his back, “What? You said it yourself, I am just an old man. Surely I could pose no threat to you, hm?” He countered smoothly, expression perfectly innocuous.

Tommy gripped the edges of his metal tray tighter, "Fine, you wanna fucking fight? Fine. But don't go complaining when your fucking back gives out on you," he bit out before darting in to swing his metal tray.

His attack landed on empty air where Splinter had been milliseconds prior.

Tommy didn't even get the chance to react before a whip-thin tail whacked against his side.

He stumbled on impact, metal tray clattering to the ground as his hands moved to cover his sides. A sharp hiss slipped out without his permission, the stinging pain forming in his side causing panic to muddle his brain.

Looking around, the room appeared empty- barring Chat, of course. It was as though Splinter had completely vanished into thin air. 

Fuck, this shit was not helping Tommy’s anxiety.

A small sound to his left had Tommy spinning on a dime. Acting purely off of instinct, he ducked another tail attack before responding back in kind by launching a cup from his inventory.

It missed its mark, but the opening created from Splinter dodging gave Tommy enough time to retrieve his metal tray and swing at the man with a level of force he would probably regret had he been in a slightly more solid state of mind.

But as it was, his thought process amounted to ‘hurt him before he hurts you,’ so exercising restraint wasn’t exactly high up on his priority list.

His retaliation whiffed by bare inches as Splinter leaned back out of range just in time to avoid getting his face rearranged.

“Not bad,” Splinter remarked, sounding almost impressed, “But not good enough to beat me. Hot soup!” He lunged forward with his unusual battlecry, slapping the metal tray out of Tommy’s hands with his tail and knocking the teen flat on his back with a well-aimed kick.

The air was momentarily knocked from Tommy’s lungs, sending a shock through his system that left him reeling through uneven gasps.

Splinter stopped a block away from him, making no further attempts to attack. He folded his arms behind his back and assumed a laid back stance, “As you can see, I am quite capable for an old- huh? Hey, what’s with that face? You are… Not as wowed as I thought you would be,” He said slowly.

There was an aggressive retort sitting on the tip of Tommy’s tongue, just waiting to be let loose if only he could get a proper breath in.

Chat glided in to land on his knee, talons digging small pinpricks of pressure into Tommy’s skin, “Breathe better,” the crow offered its wildly unhelpful advice.

Tommy glared sharply, “Well, I’m- I’m- I’m fucking trying to, aren’t I, dickhead,” he hissed, but did make a conscious effort to stabilize his breathing with a hand over his pounding heart.

Hesitantly trusting Chat to have his back, or at least warn him if Splinter looked like he was going to try anything, Tommy closed his eyes and quietly counted backwards from ten until he started to feel a bit more like himself again.

Splinter hadn’t moved an inch by the time Tommy reopened his eyes, standing with a look of frozen hesitance and something that might have been concern on his face.

He coughed awkwardly into his fist, “So…” Splinter trailed off, obviously having no idea what to say.

Tommy gave him a dry look, reaching sideways to grab his fallen tray and holding it protectively in his lap, “What do you mean ‘so?’ Mate, you can’t just attack a guy out of nowhere and say so,” he criticized.

Splinter winced, “I feel like attack is such a strong word. I was just- you know, it-” he continued to flounder for a few more seconds before finally giving up with a sigh, “-no, you are right. I am not so prideful that I can’t recognize when I’ve messed up. I got ahead of myself there… I am sorry.” He bowed his head apologetically.

It was weird how out of place the apology felt- though not for lack of sincerity. If anything it was because of the undeniable sincerity in his voice that Tommy felt so off kilter over it.

He expected excuses, maybe even retaliation, but certainly not a genuine apology.

Tommy wrinkled his snout, internally shoving the creeping weirdness in his chest far away, “Yeah, well… You should be. That was a fucking- it was a dick move, it was. I can’t take damage, it messes with me head, and I don’t like it,” he grouched, flicking his tail and flattening his ears sideways.

“How about I make it up to you with a story,” Splinter offered, sitting down on the floor with an old man noise and setting his hands upon his knees.

Tommy carefully considered the proposal, “What kind of story?” He eventually asked, reaching out a hand for Chat to step up onto before transferring the bird to his shoulder.

"How about…" Splinter paused, visibly thinking, "I... Tell you about the event that gave me my sons- and also turned me into a tiny rat man, hm?” he eventually proposed.

And damn it if Tommy wasn’t curious as hell about that particular origin story. He pretended he wasn’t really interested as he prompted Splinter to carry on with a small nod and a simple, “Okay.”

It didn’t take long for Splinter to start talking, expression turning reminiscent, “It all started when I proposed to Big Mama and-”

If Tommy had water, he’d be spitting it out, “You were married to Big Mama?!”

One of Splinter’s lower eyelids twitched at the interruption, “No. Because as I was saying, it all started when I proposed to Big Mama and she responded by revealing herself to be a giant spider and kidnapping me for her barbaric Battle Nexus,” he corrected.

And Tommy didn’t really know how to respond to that, “Yeesh, red flags, am I right?” he muttered jokingly, defaulting to humour.

He was unsure of whether or not Splinter heard him- he definitely didn’t react to it- but Chat gave Tommy a chiding nip on the ear anyway.

What a little shit.

Splinter was carrying on with his retelling before Tommy could enact his revenge on the bird.

“I was champion of the Battle Nexus for many years before I decided that I was done with fighting. No matter what Big Mama tried, I would not bring harm to another living being-”

“Not even if they attacked you first?” Tommy cut in again, much to Splinter’s annoyance if the look being sent his way was any indication. 

Splinter crossed his arm, “No, not even if they attacked me first. Are you going to let me finish my story now?” 

Tommy glanced up in thought before eventually coming to the conclusion that he didn’t have any more questions to ask just yet.

He nodded, half to himself, “Yep. Carry on," he encouraged, watching with rapt attention yet again. 

Splinter heaved a deep sigh, muttering something largely unintelligible about 'youths,' before shaking his head and getting back on topic.

"So anyway, there I was, meditating in my cell with only a rat to keep me company, when two gargoyles broke in to kidnap me again- I’ve been double kidnapped at this point- and bring me to their master, a yokai by the name of Draxum who wished to use my DNA to create an army of mutant supersoldiers to overthrow humanity with,” Splinter described, face pinching like he’d just bitten into a lemon.

Tommy had the sneaking suspicion he knew where this was heading. He had to bite his tongue to stop himself from butting in again with the question he knew was already seconds away from being answered.

“In a stroke of luck, his lab exploded and destroyed all of his work, but not before he’d already used my DNA to mutate four innocent creatures. And then that stupid rat bit me and turned me into this.” Splinter gestured to himself.

Tommy never thought he’d feel this level of kinship with the turtles’ dad of all people. Yet here he was, staring down at his unfamiliar reflection in the dented surface of a metal tray with a gut-deep understanding of the bitterness in Splinter’s voice.

He frowned, watching as the distorted reflection did the same.

The words hung in the air for a few more seconds before Splinter spoke again, "I used the chaos caused by the explosion to escape with the boys and started a new life here in the sewer. Not the most glamorous of lives, but…”

Tommy glanced up when Splinter trailed off, finding an unexpectedly warm expression on the man’s face, “Well, I wouldn’t trade this life with my sons for anything,” Splinter said softly as his gaze went out to the rest of the living room.

Tommy followed his gaze, seeing graffiti and fairy lights strewn across the walls, a beaten up and yellowed old fridge covered in dozens of drawings, and little knick knacks left forgotten on various surfaces around the room. All undeniable evidence of the life this family shared together over the years.

Some part of him was jealous- or maybe envious would be a better term. Whatever it was, it was an ugly feeling, one born from a general sense of loss and unfairness.

Because it was everything Tommy had ever wanted. Everything he’d hoped L’Manberg would be.

He gripped the metal tray in his hands a little tighter, making every effort to shove those bitter feelings down to ideally never see the light of day again.

"I know it is not always easy," Splinter started, pulling Tommy's attention back, "Waking up in a body that doesn't look or feel like your own... But I hope, one day, that you are able to find some level of peace with it, as I have," his voice was quiet, a little rough, but genuine.

Tommy let out a small huff, “You’re such an old man. Talking all wise an’ shit. Any day now you’re gonna be shipped off to the retirement home,” he teased under risk of becoming too emotionally vulnerable around Splinter.

Splinter bristled, "Eh?! I offer you my backstory and a heartfelt speech and you say this?" He sounded so affronted by it.

Tommy dissolved into laughter, Chat doing the same from his shoulder, talons digging in for balance.

It took Tommy a minute to curb his amusement, and when he finally did, it was to the ill-hidden embarrassment on Splinter's face. 

Tommy cleared his throat and opened his mouth, maybe to apologize, or maybe to thank him for the shared story and kind words, he wasn't sure yet.

Whatever it was he was going to say, it was interrupted by Leo running into the living room.

"Hey, we've got a- what are you guys doing on the- nevermind, doesn't matter-" Leo shook his head firmly, waving a hand like he was brushing away the line of thought, "There's a mutated jellyfish wreaking havoc up top, you in?" He addressed Tommy.

To which of course Tommy shot to his feet, “Damn right I’m in. Let’s go fuck some bitches up.” He trotted over to Leo, Chat on his shoulder and dented tray in hand.

Leo raised a hand to stop him at the doorway, "Hold on, don't you want to grab a weapon or something? We're gonna be heading straight into battle, you know,” his voice lilted up very slightly in pitch.

Tommy hardly missed a beat, "I just one-V-one'd your dad with this metal tray, I think I'll be fine," he assured, mentally crossing his fingers in the hopes that Leo wouldn’t push the matter.

But things could never be that easy, and Leo, unsurprisingly, didn’t look convinced, “You sure? What happened to swords being ‘part of your religion?’” He quoted back.

Ah, it would appear that Tommy had played himself. How dare this bastard actually pay attention to the random shit Tommy said on the regular.

His mouth pressed into a firm line as he tried to think of any possible excuse or distraction.

He glanced at Chat, hoping in vain that the crow would do something to get him out of this conversation.

The crow cocked its head and blinked at him, saying nothing.

Shit- Tommy cleared his throat and turned his head back to Leo, who was beginning to look increasingly more confused by Tommy’s reluctance to use a weapon.

Which was… Well, he supposed it was a fair reaction to have, and maybe Tommy should at least try to be honest about his reasonings- but at the same time, hell the fuck no.

In what world does saying 'hey, I don't want a sword because I'm worried that I'll impulsively stab one of your brothers– it's nothing personal though!' Not go horrifically wrong.

Since honesty was very much off the table, Tommy resorted to old reliable. AKA, opening his mouth and praying that whatever came out happened to be beneficial.

"Listen, I- I say a lot of shit, all of the time-" he ducked around Leo, slipping out into the hallway, "-you can't hold me to whatever past Tommy said, I'm a rebel." He grinned, playing up the mischievousness in his voice.

It worked wonders, getting Leo to roll his eyes with a light huff as opposed to pressing the topic further, "Yeah, okay. Let's just hurry up before they leave without us, rebel," he urged with a playful swat to the back of Tommy’s head.

Tommy snickered despite the pit in his stomach, slowing his stride to let Leo lead the way.

---

"Could we seriously not've just taken the tank? Or the motorcycles?" Tommy complained on behalf of his poor aching feet as they parkoured across rooftops yet again, watching Chat circle lazily overhead.

Donnie landed beside him, "One, rush hour would make going anywhere with the tank near impossible. And two, the shellhogs can only safely carry two per seat, there are five of us," he pointed out with a vague wave to the dense traffic below.

Leo hopped up onto the lip of the rooftop they were all congregating on, "Hold on, I think I see it over there." He brought a hand up above his eyes to block out the sun.

Tommy looked past him, raising his own hands to shield his eyes and squinting.

It took him a few seconds to find it among the never ending rooftops. But when he did finally notice it, "Uh… I don't know if this is just another fun American quirk, like guns, and capitalism- but I don't think jellyfish are supposed to be that big."

The jellyfish in question, though still a solid couple hundred blocks away, was easily the same size as- if not a little bigger than- every surrounding building.

Mikey shook his head, “Nah, those ain’t supposed to be that big here either,” he denied, not sounding nearly as concerned as Tommy thought he ought to be.

Tommy felt his expression pinch, “Oh, so when some random ass jellyfish gets mutated, it just gets super tall, but when I do it, I get turned into a fucking furry,” he grumbled under his breath, cursing out the bastard fates for their shit sense of humour.

A funny look from Raph was the only hint Tommy got that anyone else heard him. Tommy made a face right back at him, scrunching up his snout in a highly exaggerated manner.

Raph smiled, letting out a quietly amused puff of air before nodding his head in the direction of the giant mutant jellyfish, "Well, let's go show goop for brains what we're made of, huh?" He cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

Tommy sighed loudly and dramatically, but didn’t drag his feet in following them across the rooftops ahead. And really, he felt like he should be given an award for keeping up with them as well as he did. They were quite speedy for a bunch of turtles.

It was weirdly intimidating to approach the mutant jellyfish- though, on second thought, maybe it wasn’t actually so odd to feel intimidated by something as big as it was. It floated through the streets, seeming unaware of the chaos its long mess of semi-translucent orange tentacles were causing down below.

Tommy flattened his ears in the face of the panicked screams of random civilians, “Okay, what’s the plan, boys?” He asked, rubbing his hands together.

Leo was quick to step up, “The most important thing is getting it out of the city and away from all these people. Donnie, Mikey, you two work on hauling this jelly back to the ocean where it belongs. Tommy, Raph, and I will keep the streets clear for you,” he instructed as he drew his katanas and cut a portal into existence.

A brief glance from Leo was all it took to kick Tommy into action, running through the portal before he had the chance to think about all the ways this could go painfully wrong for him.

Tommy’s feet met rough asphalt as the sound of screaming was suddenly amplified by the lack of distance.

Raph and Leo were already running around, using their mystic abilities to teleport and pull people out of harm's way.

Shaking off his apprehension (and disdain for running on shitty asphalt), Tommy took a stabilizing breath and followed suit.

He kept one eye on the jellyfish's tendrils as he helped corral wide eyed humans into buildings.

It didn’t take long for him to fall into a sort of rhythm, scanning the streets for stragglers and weaving between parked cars to tug them towards safety with the occasional word or two of reassurance.

Everything was going well up until Tommy looked back and saw a kid cowering in the middle of the street, right in the jellyfish’s path.

Shit. Tommy looked for Leo or Raph, finding them both preoccupied and unaware of the child in potentially mortal danger. Which meant it was up to Tommy to do something.

“Shit,” he hissed out loud, already breaking into a sprint despite the alarms going off in his head telling him to stay the fuck away from the giant curtain of doom.

He hastily scooped the kid up into his arms, but failed to account for the child freaking out and immediately thrashing about in a really inconvenient attempt to escape Tommy’s hold.

Tommy did his best to keep the kid from launching out of his arms and directly into danger, “Fu- freaking stop it. I am trying to save you right now-” a wayward hand smacked Tommy right in the nose, sending throbbing pain throughout his snout and nearly making him drop the kid as a result.

He stumbled backwards with a sharp yelp, reeling his head as far away from the danger zone as he could feasibly get, “Oh my days- stop it. For five seconds, please, just stop it or else we’re both gonna die here,” Tommy resorted to begging in his growing desperation.

The jellyfish drew worryingly closer, and Tommy was beginning to fear he wouldn’t be able to drag himself and the kid out of the way in time.

Tommy bared his teeth uselessly at the jellyfish, tail lashing and fur fluffing up as he continued to struggle to pull the flailing child to safety, "Leo! Raph! I could- I could kinda use a hand over here!" He shouted, hoping against all odds they'd hear him over everyone else's frantic shouting.

The kid finally seemed to figure out that Tommy was here to help dammit- and blessedly stopped struggling, behaviour doing a complete one eighty as the kid instead latched on tight.

Unfortunately though, Tommy had the sinking feeling that it was too little too late, the jellyfish was nearly upon them and he couldn’t even see the full scale of it if he craned his neck all the way upwards at this point.

Still, he wasn’t one to take such a fate lying down, so Tommy clenched his jaw tight and ran for the nearest parked car.

He held the kid with one arm and tried the door, heart stuttering in his chest when it didn’t budge, “Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me right now,” he whined, yanking the handle harder as if he’d somehow get a different result.

Who in their right mind would bother with locking their car door when there was a giant jellyfish coming their way?

And now Tommy had wasted not only his time, but also his chance to escape.

But then something wrapped around his midsection- faintly glowing chains- and Tommy was wrenched out of the way with nauseating speed and force.

He was released from the chains a second later, face to face with Mikey, “Whoo, that was a close one! You’re lucky Chat got my attention in time.” Mikey relinquished the kid from Tommy and ushered the child into a nearby building.

As though summoned by name, the aforementioned crow swooped down, landing briefly on Tommy’s shoulder with a loud caw that sounded almost scolding.

Tommy recoiled slightly from the noise, giving Chat a flat look, “Yeah, well it’s not exactly easy carrying a kid who wants to bash your face in, now is it, dickhead,” he huffed, shooing the crow from his shoulder.

Once Chat was back in the sky, he turned his attention back to Mikey, “Thanks for the save, Mike, I owe you one.” Tommy half turned to check the position of the jellyfish- and then froze when he noticed something odd.

He squinted at the giant jellyfish, “Is it… Does it look like it’s glowing to you?” He asked Mikey, unsure if he was imagining the growing light.

Mikey put a hand to his chin, narrowing his eyes with a long hum, “Now that you mention it…”

The light only got brighter, and not only that, but Tommy swore he could hear a low thrum emanating from the jellyfish.

And while he didn’t have the slightest clue what that signified, the rock settling in his gut told him it was nothing good.

He acted on pure instinct when the light flared and the sound became loud enough that he could feel it in his bones.

Tommy lunged for Mikey, pulling the younger teen against his chest and curling around him like a living shield against the ominous light.

His vision filled with blinding light, something like pins and needles spread through his limbs, and then Tommy's mind went dark.

---

Mikey squeaked in a mixture of shock and horror as Tommy- who'd thrown himself at Mikey like some kind of meat shield- started rapidly shrinking.

In the span of three seconds, Tommy was replaced with a toddler version of himself- now dressed in a conveniently well fitting T-shirt and shorts.

Mikey was torn between cooing over his adorable chubby cheeks and freaking out because, "Ohmigosh, Tommy, you make such a cute kid!" He squealed, forgetting about the whole giant jellyfish thing in favour of scooping tiny Tommy up and rubbing their cheeks together.

His fawning was met with a shriek from Tommy that was somehow even more piercing than usual, "Stranger danger!" Tommy shouted before promptly biting down on Mikey's shoulder.

And while being a mutant turtle came with the benefit of decently thick skin, Tommy's little canines still broke through like it was nothing.

Mikey flinched with a yelp, “Ow! I’m not a stranger, I’m Mikey!” He corrected, holding Tommy at an arm's length to hopefully spare himself of future biting.

Tommy puffed up his cheeks with a glare that was more cute than intimidating, “Fuck off, I don’t know you, bitch,” he insisted stubbornly.

“Wow, guess you’ve always sworn this much, huh…?” Mikey mumbled, a little shocked, sure, but not as much as he probably should’ve been about getting cussed out by a toddler.

It was hard to be surprised when the toddler in question was Tommy, who usually swore at least once in every sentence anyway. So yeah, this was all pretty par for the course if you asked Mikey.

Unfortunately, he didn’t really have all too much time to spend reassuring Tommy that he was a friend considering the giant jellyfish that was getting steadily closer.

For lack of a better idea, Mikey turned Tommy around to look at the mutant jellyfish, “That’s great, but we should probably-” he was quickly interrupted by Tommy’s shriek.

Tommy flailed and scrambled to cling onto Mikey, having no qualms after seeing the much larger threat, “We go now, we go now!” He shouted, arms wrapping tightly around Mikey’s neck.

After gently adjusting Tommy’s grip so that he wasn’t actively being strangled, Mikey twirled one of his nunchucks with the hand that wasn’t being used to hold the toddler, "Don’t have to tell me twice!" Mikey agreed, using his nunchaku to get up to a better and safer vantage point.

Mikey took a second to scan the area now that they were at least a little safer. Because if that weird light turned Tommy into a toddler, he was willing to bet his brothers were facing a similar conundrum.

Which would be so adorable, ohmigosh-! But no, there was no time to think about that right now. He had to figure out where they all were first. Focus, Mikey, he told himself internally, putting on a serious face.

He found Donnie first, child-sized and standing on a rooftop in a purple sweater and clunky pair of glasses Mikey hadn't seen in literal years.

He didn’t hesitate to jump over to his brother, “Hello little Donnie, meet little Tommy-” Mikey carefully dislodged the fluffy toddler from his neck and set him down, “-I’ll be right back, so play nice!” Mikey wagged his finger sternly at the two of them before hastily running off again to track down where Raph and Leo ended up.

Finding them took long enough for panic to start setting in. Did he take too long? What if the jellyfish already caught up to them?

And then his eyes landed on the toddler versions of Raph and Leo and it was the most potent sense of relief he’d felt since the end of the Krang invasion.

Mikey used his nunchucks to swing down, landing in front of them with none of his usual razzmatazz.

Leo stared up at him with impossibly wide eyes, "Woah… When did you get so big?" He marveled in his squeaky little child voice. 

"No time to explain, big brother Mikey is on the case!" Mikey announced, picking them both up with one arm and slinging back up to the rooftop he left Donnie and Tommy on.

Miraculously, Donnie and Tommy hadn't started fighting each other in the few seconds Mikey was gone. In fact, they even looked like they might be getting along.

Which was an awesome revelation that made Mikey very happy. He just hoped this apparent friendliness would last- and also that it wasn’t just an optimistic figment of his imagination…

But enough of that- Mikey shook his head lightly and let Raph and Leo slip out of his grasp, "Stay put, little bros. I can handle this one all on my own," he instructed the assortment of toddlers before promptly taking off again, this time towards the giant mutant jellyfish.

He had a plan. The kind of plan that would make Raph shout at him for being ‘reckless’ even though Mikey knew exactly what he was doing- but a plan nonetheless.

Mikey swung his arms out in front of himself, nunchucks complying to his whims as the chains extended to wrap around the bell of the mutant jellyfish six times over.

He tightened his grip, digging his heels into the roof he stood on, "Fwibam!" He launched the giant jellyfish with all his strength towards the somewhat distant ocean.

Tentacles whipped by overhead, so close that Mikey could feel the corresponding wind on his skin.

He watched it go flying through the air, sailing easily over countless rooftops on a straight shot to the sea.

"Hmm... Yeah, that'll probably make it!" He chirped, entirely unconcerned and way more interested in getting back to his recently toddler-ified brothers.

Mikey retreated to the rooftop he left the aforementioned toddlers, grinning when he saw their awestruck expressions and glimmering eyes.

Leo was the first to break free of his stupor, "That was so cool! How'd you get so big? I bet I'll be even bigger when I grow up," he paused, expression falling into a state of turmoil, "Not too big though, I don't want to get too tall for my bed," he amended seriously.

Mikey grinned at his little older brother, preening under his brother's praise.

Little Raph crossed his arms, awe giving way to narrowed eyes and open suspicion, "How do we know for sure that you're Mikey?" 

Leo shot Raph a deadpan look, "Uh, because he's a talking turtle and he's wearing orange? Duh?" He pointed out with incredibly solid reasonings that could in no way be contradicted.

The explanation was accepted with no further suspicion on Raph’s part.

Now though, the small snapper had turned on Donnie with a scowl, "Donnie, why'd you make him so big? Raph's the older brother, so he should be the biggest," Raph scolded, apparently under the assumption that this was one of Donnie's experiments.

… Which would probably be a perfectly fair assumption to make just about any other time.

"I didn't do it!" Donnie exclaimed defensively.

Mikey's smile turned sly, opening his mouth with the intention of some good old fashioned brotherly teasing when his attention was grabbed by a sharp caw.

Chat had landed on the rooftop at some point, standing around near Tommy.

As soon as Chat saw he was looking, the crow tossed its beak insistently in Tommy’s direction.

Tommy… Whose head was down as faint tremors shook through his small frame.

Mikey took a step forward, "Tommy? Are you-" 

Tommy flinched, ears flattening against his skull as his head whipped up with a fiery glare, "Fuck off," he spat with enough unadulterated hatred to stop Mikey in his tracks.

The words hurt more than Mikey expected, a sharp pang ringing clear in his chest.

He was used to Tommy's constant swearing at anyone and anything, he wasn't used to Tommy meaning it.

Mikey swallowed his hurt feelings and spoke up again before mini Raph could blow a fuse over the perceived slight against one of his brothers.

"It’s okay, we're all friends here, I promise!" He attempted to reassure Tommy, eager to rid the boy of all that heart-wrenching distress.

His words seemed to have the opposite effect.

Tommy shook his head sharply, "No we're not! Fuck off, I don't know you-" he stomped his foot, and then appeared to startle, eyes dropping down once again.

The subtle shaking had evolved to full on trembling at this point. Uh-oh…

“I don’t know who any of you are, I don’t know where I am, I’m- I’m- I’m covered in fur, and- and everything feels weird when I touch it, and- and- and-” Tommy’s breath hitched, tears pooling in his eyes and soaking into his fur.

Mikey felt his own eyes begin to water as an empathetic ache burrowed into his chest alongside a general sense of hopelessness, “Tommy…” He didn’t know how to make this better.

He took a deep breath. He didn’t know how to make this better, but he was sure as heck going to try. Because what kind of older brother would he be otherwise, right?

With a racing mind and blurring vision he had to blink several times to clear, Mikey knelt down to be the same height as Tommy, and hopefully less threatening as a result.

It took him another second to find the words he wanted, “Hey, I think we maybe got off on the wrong foot. My name’s Mikey, I’m sorry if I scared you. What’s your name?” He asked gently, fingers crossed that this little reintroduction would help.

Tommy scrubbed his tears away with the back of his hand, eyeing him unsurely with a quiet sniff.

Mikey forced himself to stay still, not so much as a drumming of fingers. He couldn’t afford to mess this up, and he would probably cry for real if mini Tommy hated him over a rough first impression.

Mikey smiled, hoping beyond all hope, praying to every pizza place and Lou Jitsu movie in existence, that this younger version of Tommy would give him a chance.

He was scrutinized under Tommy’s startlingly intense gaze, apprehension glaringly obvious in his sideways twisted ears and tense shoulders.

After ten nerve-wracking seconds went by, Tommy looked away with a huff, “You didn’t scare me, I’m too big to get scared-” and then he straightened up and looked Mikey in the eye, “I’m Tommy, do you have any food? I’m hungry,” he declared without a modicum of hesitation or shame.

Leo's face instantly brightened, "I want pizza! Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza,” he chanted eagerly.

"What's pizza?" Tommy asked.

And, well, Mikey was not the only one to shout his surprise over the unexpected injustice of Tommy not knowing what pizza is.

If not for the fact that Mikey was already crouched down, he'd have fallen to his knees, "What cruel timeline do you come from where children don't know the joys of pizza?! I can't believe your brother never gave you pizza!" He lamented, shaking his fists at the sky as he cursed the gods.

Tommy wrinkled his little snout, confusion crossing over his face, "I don't have a-"

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the familiar jingle of Mikey’s ringtone.

Since the situation at hand was far too dire to waste time with random phone calls, he hung up and put his phone on silent. Whoever it was could wait until after Mikey introduced poor Tommy to the wonderful, joy-filled world of pizza.

And he knew just the place, too.

Mikey leveled his brothers with a grim look, “Guys, we have a very important mission ahead of us, can I trust you?”

Leo saluted, mouth pressed into a determined line. 

Donnie and Raph nodded, expressions just as serious as Leo’s.

Tommy mostly just looked confused, if a bit nervous.

Mikey stood up, “Alright, it’s all aboard the Mikey express then. Are you ready to taste the best thing in the whole world?” He asked with excitement bright in his voice as he extended a hand outward to Tommy.

There was only a brief moment of hesitation before Leo apparently decided to make the decision for him, running over to grab Tommy by the wrist and drag him over to Mikey, “Come on. When someone offers you pizza, you say yes,” Leo told Tommy seriously, like he was letting him in on some big secret.

Tommy stumbled along, casting his gaze downward as he went with a slightly scrunched look on his face.

Mikey didn’t give himself much time to dwell on whatever that meant, it would be all smiles once he got a taste of pizza anyway.

He waited until Leo had clambered up onto his shell before gesturing for Tommy to come closer.

Tommy wrung his hands, "And this pizza stuff is… Food, right?" He checked, eyeing Mikey somewhat suspiciously.

Mikey was quick to nod, “The best kind!” He confirmed enthusiastically.

And with that, Tommy finally got over his hesitation and, in a moment of bravery, jumped right into Mikey’s arms.

A noise of quiet surprise caught in the back of Mikey’s throat, but he didn’t hesitate to settle Tommy on his left, one arm wrapped securely around the toddler.

With two of his kid siblings ready and accounted for, Mikey looked to Raph and Donnie, "Come on, I'll get us there faster than you can say hot soup, baby!" He promised, eager to get some delicious pizza in his tum-tum.

Once he had four toddlers clinging somewhat precariously to him, Mikey set off running across the span of rooftops with one destination in mind.

---

"I… Do not want to know," Hueso decided wearily upon seeing Mikey step into Run of the Mill with a gaggle of children hanging off him and a crow perched on his head.

Probably for the best, Mikey didn't have time to explain anyway, "This is an emergency, Hueso. Tommy's never had pizza before. We need your finest pizza pies, pronto!" He humbly requested, grabbing Leo by the back of his blue shirt when he tried to wander off.

Hueso sighed, boney hand coming up to massage his temple, "Just go take your seat and-" his gaze dropped to Leo, who was gaping at the restaurant with unrestrained awe, "-please. Do try to keep an eye on your… Smaller companions, yes?" He offered a slightly strained smile as he motioned for them to venture deeper into the building.

Mikey sent a cheery smile right back at him, “Thank you!” He chirped as Hueso took his leave.

Raph and Donnie slid off of Mikey’s shell, Tommy wriggled out of his arms- and Mikey was starting to wish he had a few more hands to keep track of them all.

Oh well, Hueso’s wasn’t that big of a place. He just had to keep a really close eye on- and they were already gone.

What?

Mikey looked around frantically for his missing brothers, finding that only Raph and Chat had stayed put.

He had just enough sense to grab Raph's hand before he could wander off too, "Ah, wha- where did they go? Chat, Raph, did either of you see where they went?" Mikey asked, way too much stress pounding away in his heart.

Through nothing short of a pizza miracle in the face of this pizza disaster, the crow on his head took flight, flapping up onto a lighting fixture and pointing in a direction with its beak.

Following Chat's guidance, Mikey hurried through the restaurant with little Raph barely keeping step at his side.

They were led to an unoccupied table in a quiet corner of the restaurant with a white tablecloth draping down halfway to the floor.

Chat landed on the table, confirming that this was indeed the correct location.

Ah, Mikey knew what was happening here.

He crouched down, lifting up the table cloth and coming face to face with his runaway brothers.

“Hey, mini brothers, what’d you run off for? Aren’t you excited for pizza?” Mikey prodded.

Raph let go of his hand, “Yeah, and why’d you all ditch Raph?” He added, sounding slightly hurt by the notion.

Leo at least looked slightly apologetic, “Sorry, Raph.”

Tommy, however, crossed his arms with a scowl, “Get out of our base, you’re gonna give us away,” he whispered harshly from Donnie’s side.

Base? Ooh, were they making a hideout in Run of the Mill? That was a really good idea actually, because then they could get pizza anytime-

Mikey shook the thought from his head before it could get too out of hand. That was an idea he could consider at a later, better time.

He crawled into the cramped space beneath the table, Raph following without a second thought.

"So-" Mikey sat across from Tommy, Donnie, and Leo, "-What are we hanging out in here for?" He asked again.

Tommy was slow to answer, eyes diverting off to the side, "It- Donnie said it was too noisy," he said, still firmly looking anywhere but Mikey.

Confusion grew on Leo's face, "No he didn't. That's what you-"

Tommy haphazardly leaned over Donnie to slap his little hands over Leo’s face, "Shh! Shut- shut up, no I didn't!" He hissed.

Mikey fought back a snicker at Leo's profoundly offended expression.

Leo tore the hand off his face with a gasp, "He just told me to shut up!" He complained, looking at Mikey for some reason.

It took several seconds for Mikey to remember that, oh yeah, he was kind of the oldest person present at the moment. As such, he was probably supposed to be the one to resolve this whole kerfuffle.

"Uh… Tommy, don't tell people to shut up, it's not very nice." The reprimand felt very odd on his tongue and was received with a pinched expression from Tommy.

"But he wasn't being nice to me. He wronged me, Michael, he wronged me. I didn't even swear at him!" Tommy insisted defensively.

This would be a really nice time for some backup in the form of an older brother…

Mikey bit the inside of his cheek, thinking, “Alright, well, why don’t we all just go sit down and have some pizza, mhm?” He suggested with a nod, scooching backwards and just hoping that they were hungry enough to follow.

As he’d hoped, the small army of toddlers came crawling out after him, and this time Mikey made double sure to keep an eye on them all as he herded them to their usual booth where five cups of water were already waiting for them.

It wasn’t long after they were all sandwiched in that more mishaps started to arise. Mishaps in the shape of Tommy procuring a pack of crayons out of nowhere and dumping them all out on the table.

Tommy still had his old inventory… Good to know.

He watched his child brothers bicker over who got what crayon, experiencing the fleeting thought that- maybe, he should try to stop them from doodling all over Hueso’s table- before ultimately picking up an orange crayon to join in on the artistry overtaking the shiny wooden surface.

He was in the middle of a messy rendition of a family portrait (drawing his brothers as their current toddler selves), when a waiter stopped by with a piping hot pizza ready for eating.

It was a classic pepperoni and cheese, the perfect introductory food for this poor, pizzaless version of Tommy.

Mikey was quick to abandon his artwork, feet kicking in excitement at the prospect of witnessing Tommy's first venture into the best food group in the world.

If his reaction was anything like Casey Jr's, Mikey was sure he was in for a real treat.

As it was, Raph was already chowing down on a slice- and subsequently blowing steam out of his mouth, "Too hot, too hot!" He dropped his pizza on the table to frantically fan his mouth with both hands.

Donnie claimed a slice of his own, though wisely chose to blow on it as opposed to taking a bite right away, "You have to wait a minute if you want to keep your mouth intact," he advised just a couple seconds too late to save the roof of Raph's mouth.

Leo nodded agreeably, "Mhm, this is a fresh pie right here. Way too hot." He pushed a glass of water closer to Raph with one hand and picked out one of the bigger slices of pizza with the other.

Mikey managed to refrain from laughing too openly as Raph chugged every last drop of water in his cup.

Tommy was not as polite, dissolving against Donnie’s side with a wheezing cough that predated peals of joyous laughter.

An infectious sound that brought a grin to Mikey’s face. He imagined the only thing better than that sound would be Tommy's authentic first reaction to the heavenly taste of pizza.

Mikey waited for Tommy to settle down before clearing his throat and motioning for him to grab a slice, barely able to contain his anticipation.

On cue, Tommy’s stomach grumbled, only just audible above the noise of the restaurant.

And that was all the prompting the hungry raccoon mutant needed to finally reach across the table to secure his share of pizza.

He had the rapt attention of everyone at the table- after all, it wasn't every day one got to witness someone's first exposure to pizza.

Tommy took his first bite, and Mikey delighted in watching his eyes go wide.

"This is fuckin poggers!" Tommy shouted with his mouth full of food, showing no signs of noticing Donnie visibly cringing away in disgust.

And, well, Mikey didn't know what 'poggers' meant, but Tommy looked happy, so it had to be good.

Somewhat belatedly, Mikey remembered to take out his phone to snap a few pictures.

In doing so, he discovered that he had five missed calls. Two from April, three from Casey Jr.

Mikey lowered his phone and hovered his thumb over Casey's contact.

But before he could make the decision to press down on the call button, a shout ripped his attention away.

Casey Jr was making a quick pace through the restaurant, striped goalie mask on top of his head and hockey stick of doom strapped to his back, "Michelangelo! Is everything alright? Why didn't you pick up your-" Casey Jr fell abruptly silent the moment he noticed Mikey's current company.

Mikey watched the gears turning in Casey's head before finally-

"Donnie wasn't experimenting with immortality again… Was he?" Casey asked hesitantly.

Donnie huffed loudly, "Why do you guys always blame me for everything?"

Tommy bristled beside him, fur fluffing up to make him look bigger, "Yeah, why do you always blame Donnie? Fuck off, bitch.” He jumped to Donnie’s defense with a sharp scowl.

And Mikey was… Kind of proud? Maybe proud was the wrong way to put it- but he was just happy to see a version of Donnie and Tommy that didn’t actively find joy in taking petty shots at each other.

It gave him hope for the progress their regular selves had been making in the past weeks.

Casey Jr raised his hands passively, “Sorry! I was just making sure," he apologized before turning his attention back to Mikey.

A small drop of dread made itself known in Mikey's gut when Casey's expression immediately hardened.

Uh oh. Mikey knew that look. It was the same one Raph used to get after Leo ran into fights without a plan. 

Making that connection, Mikey promptly braced himself for a strongly worded complaint from Casey.

“I saw a news article about what happened earlier. I sent Leo a message, which- well, I understand why he didn't respond- but what the heck is your excuse? And I know you saw my call because it only rang twice before hanging up.” Casey pointed an accusatory finger.

Mikey unconsciously shrank back into his shell a bit at the intensity, “I’m sorry, I put my phone on silent without looking!” He yelped, clapping his hands together in front of him as if he were praying.

What it was Mikey was praying for, he wasn't sure. The blessing of Casey’s mercy and understanding, probably.

In the background, a waiter, who'd been approaching with a full pitcher of water, slowly backed away and turned to tend to other patrons.

Just when Mikey was convinced Casey was about to keep pressing and drilling the importance of being reachable at all times- the teen's shoulders slumped with a quiet sigh.

Casey looked back over at the child versions of Mikey’s brothers- all watching the scene unfold with big eyes and half-eaten pizza- before his eyes met Mikey’s again, "No one was hurt?" He sounded tired.

Chin still tucked into his shell, Mikey shook his head.

Casey rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry for, uh, getting mad at you. None of you guys were answering your phone, and I guess I just assumed the worst. Especially when your tracker was the only one still online," he admitted apologetic- wait, tracker?

Mikey's head popped right back up out of his shell, "You put trackers on us? Like, I already knew Donnie did, but-" but Casey Jr planting trackers on all of them too seemed a little excessive…

"What? No, I just broke into his lab and checked his computer." Casey shook his head incredulously.

"Ohhh." That made way more sense.

Unfortunately, even as a three year old, Donnie apparently put together exactly what Casey had just admitted to doing, "Gasp! You what?! Who are you and how did you break into my lab?" He demanded with a backing-

"Yeah, bitch! Who the fuck are you?" From Tommy.

Casey blinked at them, mild confusion painting his expression before seemingly realizing that these child versions of the Mad Dogs plus Tommy did not have their older selves' memories, “O-oh, right! My name’s Casey, I’m, uh… A friend of Mikey’s?”

Yeesh, he didn’t have to sound so unsure about it.

Mikey decided to throw him a bone, "Yep! This guy's the business. You can trust him," he assured his brothers with a nod.

Tommy seemed pretty determined to keep scowling at Casey even after the vouch, but that all stopped when Leo bopped him on the side of the head without warning.

Tommy’s ire was immediately redirected to Leo with a very loud and very offended gasp, “Mikey, Leo hit me!”

“No I didn’t! I barely even touched you!” Leo denied despite the several witnesses.

Raph set his pizza down, "Leo! No hitting people," he scolded, while Tommy, currently pouting, nodded in vehement agreement.

It looked like Leo was about to speak up in his own defense again, when Raph beat him to it.

"Unless they deserve it," little Raph amended.

And just like that, whatever brownie points Raph had earned with Tommy vanished 

Tommy fell back against Donnie with a wounded noise, "Wha- I thought you were on my side!" He whimpered, clutching his chest dramatically.

To Raph's credit, he was at least quick to backtrack, "I'm not saying you deserve to get hit! Raph was just saying it in general. Some people need to have the sense knocked into 'em, y'know?"

After taking a few seconds to think it over, Tommy eventually nodded, "Yeah, I get it,” he agreed, doing a complete one-eighty from his previously pitiful demeanor.

Meanwhile, Mikey watched the oddly entertaining interaction from the sidelines, paying little mind to Casey sitting down in an empty section of the booth, nor the crow treading closer to Tommy.

Well, he didn’t pay them any mind until Chat finally darted in to steal a pepperoni off of Tommy’s unguarded pizza.

"Hey!" Tommy yelped, swiping after the bird who fluttered just out of reach.

A round of laughter at his plight encompassed the table- mostly from Leo… And Chat.

Tommy held his pizza protectively close as he gave the food-snatching crow a gloomy look, "Dickhead. Why's there a dumb bird in here anyway?" He grumbled.

Chat’s feathers ruffled in noticeable offense at being referred to as dumb, "Seventy-seven, quadragintillion, seven-"

Mikey found that the seven spam went in one ear, out the other, equivalent to radio static.

That all stopped though when Tommy screeched loud enough to draw the attention of the entire restaurant.

"Wait, wait, wait! Philz- are you one of Philza Minecraft's crows?!" Tommy was standing up in the booth, tail wagging and eyes practically sparkling with excitement.

Donnie, having the misfortune of sitting directly next to Tommy, slapped his hands over his ears at the unexpectedly shrill sound.

The reaction went unnoticed by Tommy, who only had eyes for Chat at this point, “I can’t believe one of Philza Minecraft’s crows stole my food, that’s so fucking cool. What’s he like in real life? Why’s he called the Angel of Death? Is he here? Does he like pizza too?” Tommy was bouncing in place as he asked nonstop questions, leaving no room for the crow to actually answer them.

Chat was saved from having to answer by a familiar accented voice.

“Peppino, do not take this the wrong way, but, uh, perhaps you should come back when they are feeling- how shall I put this… Less rowdy,” Hueso requested, grimace growing more pronounced as his eyes landed on the recently graffitied table.

Feeling nice (but mostly feeling guilty over the ruckus they were causing), Mikey was quick to agree, "Oh, can we get the rest of the pizza to go? Thanks, Hueso, you're the best!" He thanked the skeleton yokai in advance.

Because what was Hueso gonna do? Say no to his favourite customers?

Eyes not leaving the crayon masterpieces for a second, Hueso nodded slowly, "Yes, yes, as long as you leave my poor restaurant in peace. Please," he said, tone strained.

Casey Jr mumbled an apology as Hueso took his leave despite being literally the only innocent party in this situation.

When Mikey thought to glance back at his brothers, he found Tommy still staring at Chat in awed silence.

Mikey leaned his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his palms as he casually observed his currently younger brothers.

He should probably be a bit more worried about getting them changed back to their usual selves- but, well, it wasn’t every day a giant mutant jellyfish turned one’s siblings into adorable little toddlers.

Stressing could come later, Mikey still wanted to bask in the feeling of being the oldest and wisest of his brothers for a little while longer. Though it’d feel a lot more glorious if Leo hadn’t just slipped under the table without a hint of warning.

Oh no he didn’t. Mikey wasn’t about to let anyone sneak off on him again. No way, josé, not on his watch.

Mikey slid down after him, effectively cutting Leo off from escaping into the restaurant, "Where you goin'?"

Leo made a vague sound of protest, "Come on, I just wanted to explore a little bit! I won't go far, I promise," he insisted with pleading puppy dog eyes.

It almost worked. For a few seconds, Mikey could feel his resolve crumbling away like dust in the wind.

But then returning footsteps and the light thump of something being dropped on the table snapped him out of it.

"Nope, nuh-uh, you can’t fool me. We're taking that pizza and we're going home, little Leo.” Mikey covered his face with his hands to avoid further temptation, but still peeked through the cracks because he was admittedly reluctant to let Leo out of his sight just yet.

Leo’s pleading expression scrunched in displeasure, “Fiiine,” he dragged out, reluctantly climbing back up.

Thank goodness for that, because Mikey wasn’t sure how much longer he would’ve been able to hold out for.

He got out from under the table to see Casey already packing the uneaten pizza into a to-go box and Hueso nowhere in sight.

After doing a quick headcount to make sure he hadn’t lost anyone in the short stretch of time he was under the table for, Mikey began shepherding his brothers towards the exit. A task that was thankfully assisted by Casey without even having to ask.

Everything went pretty smoothly as soon as they were in the sewers, the only ‘complication’ being the neverending questions from the gaggle of toddlers trailing after him.

Especially from Tommy.

A slew of why’s, how’s, and are we there yet’s, along with an initial complaint about the stench of the sewer system.

Mikey did his best to answer, but every response he gave just seemed to elicit more questions. Casey Jr occasionally tried to offer his own insight, but he wasn’t necessarily the most knowledgeable on the pre-apocalypse world, so most of his ideas were pretty skewed.

Mikey appreciated the effort, but he was still impossibly relieved when he spotted the familiar graffiti and twinkling fairy lights of home.

“But why is it called New York? What happened to Old York? Did it get invaded by zombies? Zombies aren’t that strong, even I could kill a zombie- no, two zombies- and I’m only five!” Tommy was rambling about something or other- Mikey resorted to smiling and nodding about twenty minutes ago, so he was pretty fuzzy on the details.

Mikey clapped his hands together loudly, “Oh look, we’re here!” He announced in the hopes of derailing Tommy’s tangent.

The redirection worked like a charm, earning a corresponding eruption of cheers from the children, the previous topic entirely forgotten.

Leo poked at one of the many graffitied spots on the wall, “Woah, when did all this get here? Did you draw these?” He asked, looking back at Mikey with wide eyes.

The graffiti in question was multiple years old at this point, but Mikey thought it still held up well, “You know it, baby,” he confirmed with a snap of his fingers and a proud grin.

“Cool,” Leo whispered, eyes resuming their slow roaming along the walls as they ventured deeper into the lair.

Now that they were back home, Mikey was forced to think of the things he’d been neglecting to consider all day. Namely, how to explain everything to Splinter…

Eh, Pops would be totally cool with it. Actually, Mikey probably should have contacted him sooner, he did raise them, afterall (excluding Tommy). He would know all the clever little tricks for getting Mikey’s brothers to listen and not wander off every five seconds.

His pondering came to an end when they got to the living room (after briefly diverging to put the leftover pizza in the fridge) to find Splinter talking with April.

Splinter noticed them first, ears twitching and eyes snapping attentively to the doorway. His focus dropped down to the collection of toddlers at Mikey's heels.

He didn't look as shocked by the whole ordeal as Mikey thought he'd be.

April, following Splinter's gaze, looked even less surprised. Almost immediately, she rounded on Splinter again, “See? I told you they’d be little kids! And to think you were doubting my reporter skills." She jabbed her finger at the old man, other hand on her hip.

Splinter rolled his eyes, "I never doubted your reporter skills, April. What I do doubt is the accuracy of suspicious tabloids. You know that news site once tried to say I didn't actually do any of my stunts? Ha! I think they had me confused with that komodo punk who wishes he was even half as good as me," he scoffed, crossing his arms and raising his chin haughtily.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Splints.” April waved her hand dismissively before turning her attention back to the ragtag group of toddlers, teens, and a crow.

Her face brightened, "Aww, you guys make such cute kids. So glad I decided to head over." April procured her phone from a pocket, unsubtly snapping a few photos.

Something that Mikey should look into doing as well...

"Dad! I didn't know you had friends!" Leo exclaimed with all the brutal honesty of a three year old.

While Splinter all but keeled over from the mercilessly blunt statement, April burst into laughter at the old rat's expense.

Leo looked both confused and yet slightly pleased by the reaction, "What's funny? What did I say?"

April managed to wrangle her laughter with a clearing of her throat and a quick swipe at her eyes with the back of her hand, "I don't think you guys have met me yet like this, right? Name's April. April O'Neil, and I'm the coolest human you know- no offense, future boy." She winked, deferring a small wave in Casey's direction.

"None taken, you are pretty cool. You might have to fight, uh, Cassandra for that title if she ever hears you call yourself by that though," Casey chuckled, scratching his cheek.

April slipped her phone back into her pocket, “Psh, I could take her,” she said it like she was joking, but Mikey knew full well that just how willing she was to go to bat with anyone at any time.

Splinter started walking forward, the younger versions of his sons taking up his sole focus, “It has been many years since any of you have been smaller than me,” he mused with a look of pure nostalgic fondness on his face.

Donnie muttered something just loud enough that Mikey could hear it, “Many years? But that doesn’t… Unless…?” He was fiddling with the rim of his glasses, catching on startlingly quick even at his young age.

It only took another second of deep thought for Donnie to reach some kind of conclusion, "Did we time travel? It makes sense, why else would the lair look so different all of a sudden, or Mikey and Father so much older?” He theorized.

Of course Donnie would be the one to figure it out first- or at least something so close to the truth that it might as well have been correct.

Donnie’s eyes widened, whipping his head up to look at Mikey, “Older me, where is he? How many PhDs do I have?” 

“Oh, no, this isn’t-” Mikey tried to explain things before Donnie could get too out of hand, but was interrupted by Leo.

“What about me? I bet I’m super tall.” Leo stretched his arms high above his head, going on his tiptoes to make himself look bigger.

Mikey waved his hands, “Well, I wouldn’t say super tall-”

Raph joined in on the bombardment, “Ha! Future Raph is definitely bigger than you, pipsqueak,” he taunted playfully, looping an arm around Leo’s neck and subjecting him to a rough noogie.

While Leo flailed and complained in Raph's hold, Mikey was stuck wondering whether he was supposed to separate them or not.

He was saved from having to make the decision by Splinter, “Boys,” he snapped just firmly enough to make the toddlers freeze.

Seeing that he had their attention, Splinter carried on, “I am sure you are all very curious about what’s happening-”

Oh goodie, Pops was going to explain everything, Mikey realized with a quietly relieved exhale.

“-So if you can all give Orange your undivided attention, I’m sure he will explain everything to you, mhm.” Splinter nodded, perfectly content to pile the responsibility back onto Mikey.

Why did Mikey expect anything else? 

Freezing for only a short moment, Mikey took advantage of the undivided attention he was being given. He cleared his throat, “Remember that big jellyfish I threw through the air earlier?” He got a slew of nods in return and kept talking, “Right, well, you can’t meet your older selves because they’re you. That jellyfish did this crazy light thing like, woosh- ” Mikey made a wide motion with his arms, “-and now you’re a bunch of sweet lil’ tots!” He revealed.

Donnie looked a little put out by the explanation, Leo had taken to spinning in a slow circle in an attempt to look himself over fully, as if he would be able to find some hint of his older self if he inspected close enough.

A predominantly confused expression had taken over Raph’s face, scratching the top of his head, “Who’s he then?” He pointed at Tommy.

Tommy, who’d been standing to the back of the group playing with the fluff of his tail up until that point, blinked as everyone’s eyes were suddenly on him, “Huh?” A blank expression more befitting of a goldfish than a raccoon made Mikey suspect he’d been paying very little attention to the present conversation.

Though once Tommy seemed to realize that he was the center of attention he lost the uncomprehending look to one more akin to shyness or unease, “What? Why’s everyone lookin’ at me?” He shifted back slightly, eyes darting briefly towards Donnie.

Right, Mikey had gotten so used to Tommy being family that he kind of forgot just how recent of an addition he was. He definitely should have taken a minute to make sure everyone was introduced to each other before this point.

Oh well, better late than never, “This is Tommy, he’s part of the fam,” Mikey supplied his simple, but effective explanation with a nod.

Only for Tommy to wrinkle his snout, “No, you kidnapped me. Like a wrongen, a crook in the streets. I was abducted and dragged against my will to your evil underground bad guy lair to do evil bad guy things to me. Like taxes,” he accused.

Alarm shot through Mikey, “What?! No, no, no, no, I didn’t kidnap you, you live with us! Plus, we’re heroes, so if anything this is a super secret hero lair where we’re gonna do awesome things. Like skateboarding, and pizza, or movie nights.” Besides, Mikey didn’t even know what taxes were, but it sounded like something lame and boring.

Already, Mikey could see that he was getting through to Tommy, little ears perking right up and a spark of interest entering his eyes.

“Hero? Like Spider-Man?” Tommy asked, tail dropping out of his hands to start wagging adorably behind him.

It took Mikey half a second to remember who that was- their movie nights were predominantly spent on Lou Jitsu and Jupiter Jim- but he was quick to latch on to the opportunity presented to him.

"Uh-huh, yep! Just like Spider-Man. Swinging around and savin’ lives. You know it, baby.” Mikey gave Tommy a double thumbs up and a big grin.

That seemed to do the trick as Tommy’s tail continued to wag and a smile persisted despite noticeable attempts to squash it.

Preoccupied by his efforts to avoid being branded as a kidnapper by this younger version of Tommy, Mikey failed to notice Raph and Leo’s dropped jaws, nor the suspicious look Donnie was giving Splinter.

Not until Leo unexpectedly said, "Dad, did you order another kid without telling us?" He asked with… Slightly confusing wording.

Weird wording or not, Splinter promptly started choking on air, "Did I- what? What do you mean ' order another kid? ' Where do you think babies come from?" He just barely managed to get out around his impromptu bout of startled coughing.

Mikey could only begin to describe the expression on Raph’s face as smug.

The little snapper put his hands on his hips, "Don't try to hide it, Pops, we already figured out that you get babies off Ebay," Raph stated with far too much confidence for such a wildly incorrect statement.

It was that same unwavering confidence that made it so impossible to resist doubling over with laughter alongside everyone else above the age of five.

They all started to recover around the same time when Raph started asking, "What? What is it? Why're you guys laughing so much?" With his arms crossed over his chest and a furrowed brow.

Splinter waved a hand, "No, no, you are right. Whenever I want another kid I just-" he snickered, "-order another one off of Ebay." He immediately crumbled into further cackling, unable to keep a straight face through the lie.

Raph and Leo no longer looked too sure of their theory, and Donnie didn't look like he'd ever really believed it in the first place.

Leo's shoulders drooped, "Is that… Not how you do it?" His voice was heavy with disappointment.

Splinter finally cleaned up his act with a firm clearing of his throat, "Well, I guess in a way you could sort of consider saving you from Draxum's lab like getting kids off of Ebay?" He mused lightheartedly, a small smile playing at his lips before shaking his head and continuing.

"But no, I'm afraid that is not how it works. Good theory though, very amusing. And Fluffy over there isn't my son either, though he's been here long enough I suppose he might as well be part of the family," Splinter clarified, still as amused as ever.

Mikey watched Tommy’s tail go still, "Really? D'you really mean that?" He asked, and Mikey couldn't quite place the emotion in his voice.

Splinter lifted a brow, "Hm?"

Tommy ducked his head, looking uncharacteristically shy as he twiddled his thumbs, "That I'm- I'm part of the family-" his head came back up, staring at Splinter head on, "-did you really mean it?" He reiterated more firmly, hands going still.

“I mean, you’ve been here- how long has it been again…?” Splinter stroked his beard, squinting up at the ceiling as he thought it over before eventually shrugging, “Eh, who really cares about the specifics anyway, right? What matters is that this is basically your home now," he finished nonchalantly, letting his hand drop from his beard.

There was a tentative smile blooming at the corners of Tommy’s mouth, "I've never had one of those before," he confessed quietly.

While Mikey tried to keep his poor empathetic heart under control, Casey spoke up, "A family or a home?"

Ah, Mikey couldn't handle this, he was going to cry-

Tommy averted his gaze with a halfhearted shrug, ears and tail drooping, "I dunno, both-" and then Tommy shook his head firmly, glaring at Casey with all of the stubborn fire Mikey was so used to seeing in older Tommy’s eyes, "-but I don’t need those anyway. I take care of myself, mo- motherfucker. I'm like a lone wolf, prowlin' in the streets. I don't know nobody," he claimed loudly with bristled fur and a fierce expression.

Scratch that, Mikey wasn't just going to cry, he was also going to wrap Tommy up in the longest hug known to man.

Though before he did any of that, something about Tommy’s statement was bothering him- something other than the general dismay of seeing a four year old be so insistent about taking care of himself.

Mikey frowned to himself, “But what about Wilbur?” Sure, the normal version of Tommy had already clarified that they hadn’t been biological brothers, but surely someone had to have been looking out for him when he was kid, right?

Except Tommy only wrinkled his snout in apparent confusion, brows drawn together and head tilting, “Who?”

Nevermind, apparently he really was on his own. Mikey couldn’t imagine growing up without his brothers, Dad, and eventually April too. The very idea made his heart grow heavy and sad, moisture gathering in his eyes at the imagined loneliness.

“Uh-” April’s voice snapped him out of his increasingly depressing thought experiment, “-you good over there, dude?” There was a subtle note of concern in her voice.

Mikey realized very abruptly that he’d been staring teary-eyed at Tommy for the past several seconds without saying a word.

He sniffled slightly on a sharp inhale, blinking the tears away and shaking the encroaching sadness away, “Yep! Hahaha, I’m fine! Just, uh, thinking about nothing! What were we talking about again?” That had to have been the least convincing 'I'm fine' Mikey had ever heard, ough.

He just wasn't built for lying about his feelings. Not that he wanted to lie about them in the first place, but he didn’t want Tommy to feel bad by crying over this, so the tears would have to wait for another time.

The kids looked a little weirded out by his outburst. Tommy ended up being the one to break the ensuing silence, “You’re weird. I think you should meet Philza Minecraft, he would make you feel better,” Tommy advised in a manner that was probably meant to come across as helpful.

Mikey briefly wondered if Philza Minecraft happened to be a therapist.

But then Tommy was talking again and that line of thought was promptly forgotten, “Where is he anyway? I wanna meet Philza Minecraft.” Tommy was staring expectantly at Casey, or, more accurately, he was staring at the crow on Casey’s shoulder.

Chat dipped its head, wings drooping minutely, “Far,” it croaked, sounding very… Sad.

Tommy being a toddler, didn't seem to catch on to that- or at least didn't consider the why. As such, he wasted nary a breath before pressing further, "How far? Like, far far, or just regular far? He can't be that far if one of you guys is here, everyone knows that wherever his crows are, the Angel of Death isn't far behind. So when's he gonna get here? Is he with Technoblade?" The pursuit for Philza was showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Angel of Death? Mikey was pretty sure Tommy mentioned that earlier, maybe- but was he seriously referring to the acclaimed Philza Minecraft with that title? The same guy that the older version of Tommy regularly referred to as Dadza?

Chat and Casey made for two uncomfortable peas in a pod, Casey physically stepping backwards in the face of Tommy’s eager questions while Chat’s head lowered even further.

Their saviour came in the form of April clapping her hands loudly together without warning, effectively snapping everyone’s attention over to her, “Hey, kids, look over here! Let’s-” she glanced around the room, “-look at this thing! Wow, isn’t this so cool!” She shouted with heaps of forced enthusiasm as she crossed the living room to fearlessly grab a trophy off of Splinter’s ' do not touch' cabinet.

It worked like a charm, all four children gravitating towards her to admire the well polished gold. And with the toddlers, so too did Splinter hurry over- albeit with less fascination and more barely hidden panic as he reached in vain for the trophy in April’s hands, "Wha- April, don't you think you can find something else to show off?” He requested in a strained whisper.

April raised a brow, “You have a better idea?” She whispered back- though Mikey wasn’t really sure what the point of whispering was if they were going to speak loud enough for everyone to hear what they were saying regardless.

While Splinter was busy floundering for a retort, Tommy took advantage of their distracted states to steal the shiny trophy away from April- much to Father’s immediate horror.

“Woooah, I can see my face in this thing!” Tommy marveled, making silly expressions at his reflection.

Mikey saw Splinter’s distress instantly multiply by five, lurching forward to take the trophy back and toss it expertly back into its spot in the cabinet, “Ah, you know what? I was just thinking I had something important to do. I wonder if there are any helpful boys around to give me a hand...” He made a big show of looking around the living room, intentionally overlooking the boys right in front of him every time.

An act that had all four children raising their hands and vying for his attention with loud cries of, “Me, me, me!”

Mikey found himself being taken back to the numerous occasions where Splinter had pulled similar tricks in his childhood. Of redirecting the antics of him and his brothers to more productive tasks, like helping to make dinner instead of playing sports ball in the living room with nothing more than a few well placed words.

Watching the smug grin on Splinters face now as the kids were all just about falling over themselves for the chance to help out in this mysterious task, Mikey wasn’t sure how he’d never noticed the blatant trickery in the past.

At least he could be comforted in knowing that he could never fall for it again.

Before he knew it, the clamor of the overeager toddlers faded down the hall as the group marched away, leaving Mikey alone with Casey and Chat in their newfound peace and quiet.

“Whew, kids sure are rowdy,” Mikey huffed, hunching over in a display of greatly exaggerated exhaustion.

He glanced to the side when his remark was met with silence from his remaining company and found that Casey was staring at the bird on his shoulder with something of a sad look on his face.

Casey must have realized that Mikey had said something only a moment later, head perking up and eyes meeting Mikey’s, “Huh?”

Instead of repeating his earlier statement, Mikey straightened his posture and tilted his head curiously, “What’s up with you guys?” And how worried should he be?

“Oh-” Casey’s gaze dropped to Chat once again,”-uh, I get the feeling Chat’s missing someone right now,” he explained nonspecifically.

Chat croaked lowly, making the first noise Mikey had heard from the bird in a while.

It didn’t take a genius to infer that the person Chat missed was Philza, who was, for all accounts and purposes, literal worlds away for the rest of the unseeable future. According to what little Tommy had said just minutes prior, Philza and his crows were normally a package deal.

Casey stroked Chat’s beak with the back of his finger, “I definitely know the feeling,” he mumbled distantly, and Mikey wasn’t even sure he’d really meant to say it out loud.

Mikey felt a little pang of misplaced guilt, “Sorry, I know we’re not the same as your family,” he apologized before he could stop himself.

When Casey’s head shot up with a look of alarm on his face, Mikey was quick to amend his statement.

“It’s not my fault, It was the Krang, I know, you don’t need to tell me again, I got it. I just… I wish there was something I could do to help. I’ve got these crazy mystic portal hands, but I can’t even help you see your family again because none of you guys’ll even let me try,” Mikey could admit he was beginning to ramble a bit, but he couldn’t help it when this was a topic he had so many feelings about.

It hurt not being able to help the people he cared about.

Mikey had lowered his head at some point while he was talking, leaving him to stare dimly at the floor while heat pooled behind his eyes.

He heard a soft sigh from Casey, “Mikey, I- I appreciate that you want to help but-” Casey’s voice broke off with a deep inhale, “-you have to understand that what Master Michelangelo did, sending me back in time, that- that wasn’t an easy thing to do. He was the greatest mystic warrior anyone’s ever seen, and doing that took everything from him. I could never ask- I would never want you to do that, okay?” He imparted firmly, voice a little wobbly under the pain of grief, but leaving no room for doubt or further arguing nonetheless.

Mikey didn’t lift his head, jaw clenching. It was the same thing everyone always said to him whenever he suggested trying to open a portal. Always, it’s too dangerous for you, or, leave the portals to me, okay, Miguel?

While Mikey could accept that making a gateway to twenty-something years in the future would probably be too much for him, he knew he was capable of doing similar, if smaller things. The portal that saved Leo from the prison dimension was proof of that.

“Mikey, look at me,” Casey instructed.

When Mikey complied, Casey’s expression was just as firm as his voice,“I’m being serious. Please don’t make me lose you a second time.”

Way to go for the heart, Casey, Mikey thought as words hit him square in the chest.

Mikey felt his face scrunch up and his eyes water, “Man, why’d you have to go there?” He shook his head quickly, taking the opportunity to blink his tears away.

He waited until he was feeling a little more composed before speaking again, “I’m not gonna open up a crazy time portal, I promise. Now let’s go find everyone else before Dad tricks them into doing his dirty laundry.” Mikey mock gagged at the thought of being anywhere near Splinter’s horribly smelly laundry pile.

Nobody deserved to be tricked into touching that. Ever.

He got a chuckle out of Casey for that, tension easing from his shoulders with Mikey’s new promise.

Which almost made Mikey feel guilty about the intentional loophole he’d left in it. Because while Mikey had no plans to make a potentially life-ending gateway through time, he couldn’t say the same about an arguably more manageable portal to Tommy’s old world.

Chat just looked so morose these days, and what point did any of Mikey’s powers serve if he couldn’t even use them to help his friends, right?

---

They ended up finding everyone in the atrium, gluing colourful rhinestones and craft feathers to large squares of fabric under Splinter and April's lax supervision- they had their own fabrics to beautify.

"Arts and crafts!" Mikey cheered immediately upon entering the room.

There was a near-comical amount of clattering as Tommy launched a bag of rhinestones across the room with a squeak.

In addition to scattering countless little rhinestones, Tommy had also shrunk down into a little raccoon kit in his shock.

"What the fuck!?" Came his shrill outcry, rearing up onto his hind legs, only to wobble off balance and flop unceremoniously to the ground.

Mikey was torn between laughing at his clumsiness and cooing at how adorable it was. He decided on apologizing for the scare, "Sorry, Tom! What’cha you guys working on? Can I join in?" He trotted over with a cheery grin, picking out a spare square of orange fabric- his colour- and plopping down on his plastron next to Raph.

He took a peek at Raph’s creation to try to get a feel for what they were doing and found himself just as lost as before staring at the glittering black R of rhinestones being carefully constructed in the center of his red fabric.

Raph pressed another glue covered rhinestone to his fabric, “We’re makin’ capes. Pops is gonna sew buttons to them when they’re ready,” he explained, not sparing a glance from his project.

Mikey kicked his legs excitedly, “Oooh, fun!” He grabbed a handful of scattered rhinestones off the floor and started picking out which colours he wanted for his cape.

Yellow, red, and orange ones should look nice.

A frustrated huff drew Mikey’s attention off his new art project and over to Tommy, who had yet to change out of his tiny raccoon form.

Tommy was trying- struggling, to get a solid grip on a tube of fabric glue, the tube slipping out from between his paws every time, “Ugh! My stupid thumbs don’t work right!”

Mikey wasn’t the only one to notice his struggle, as April made her way over to him in the middle of Tommy’s outburst, “Hey, little man, you need any help?” She asked, crouching down on the other side of his fabric square.

The tube of glue clattered out of Tommy’s grasp yet again and the kit glared at the thing as though it had personally wronged him, “No. I can do it myself,” he asserted before promptly trying and failing to pick up the fabric glue.

April exercised just enough patience to watch him make two more successful attempts before trying again, “You sure? You can just point to where you want the glue and I’ll put it there.”

Tommy shook his head, “Nuh-uh, I got it,” he insisted as he fumbled the glue for the eighth time.

At some point, Leo had stopped working on his cape to watch the show, “Why don’t you just change back to your bigger you?”

Tommy gave his fellow toddler a reproachful stare that lasted long enough to make Leo squirm before Tommy finally relented in favour of glaring down at the glue again, “‘Cause I don’t know how,” he grumbled out the admittance, ears flattened sideways.

Donnie, who’d previously seemed perfectly content to ignore everyone around up until that point, suddenly stopped what he was doing.

Mikey watched curiously as his brother stood up and marched right over to Tommy, sweater sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and grabbed the fabric glue, “Where do you want it?” He asked, twisting the cap off.

Although Tommy didn’t complain verbally, there was still a deep pout across his muzzle as he dragged his tiny paws across the floor to go point at part of his fabric square.

Mikey grinned to himself, watching them for just a few seconds longer before dropping his attention to his own project, a fond smile lingering on his face as he used the second tube of fabric glue between him and Raph to bedazzle his cape.

He was given barely a minute to work on his newest masterpiece before someone tapped on his shoulder.

April stood beside him, jerking her chin pointedly to the side and mouthing the words, ‘can I talk to you?’

Well, either that or ‘can I talk stew’ which made significantly less sense, so Mikey put his craftwork on hold and followed her to the far side of the atrium, slipping just barely into Mikey’s bedroom.

The second they were far enough to be out of earshot, April started talking, “Do we know how long they’re gonna be stuck like this for? Don’t get me wrong, they’re super cute, and I def need to take more pics- but it’s already been, like, two hours since they got turned into babies, right? I’m just worried it’ll end up being more permanent than you think. Man, what’s the standard with this type of thing anyway?” She tilted her temple against her fingers with a vaguely stressed out exhale.

To be totally honest, Mikey hadn’t even considered for a moment how permanent their toddler predicament may or may not have been before that point.

Mikey stared blankly back at April as he swore he could see the rest of his life playing out in his mind. A life where he was forever the eldest brother, responsible for his younger siblings. No longer would he be able to get whatever he wanted from his brothers with perfect puppy dog eyes. Every day he would get closer to gaining a Raph-chasm of his own on his forehead- before Raph did.

“Oh no. No, no, no, they can not stay like this,” Mikey decided in light of this new realization.

He started pacing around his room, eyeing his graffiti as if it would provide him with answers, “Oh, this is bad, I can’t be the older brother forever- I’m too pretty for that role!” He cried, hands on his head.

“Mikey-” April grabbed Mikey’s wrists, forcing him to stop pacing, “-chill out, we’ll figure this out, okay? We just need to think for a sec. Without panicking.” She dropped his wrists and stepped back, hand migrating to her chin.

Mikey forced himself to take a deep breath. April was right, he had to focus.

How could they fix this? Or at the very least find out how long it would be before his brothers were their normal ages again.

The mystic library could have something- but oh, sweet mama, did Mikey ever not want to spend several hours reading. Blegh, that would be so boring, he’d much rather go on an epic adventure full of fun riddles and low-stakes competitions to find the answers he was looking for.

Hmm, he wondered if they knew anyone who liked reading enough to do all the research and also actually liked them enough to want to help.

Wait a minute- Mikey snapped his fingers, “Barry!” It all felt so obvious.

Afterall, who better to go to about a mutant-caused crisis than the guy responsible for creating mutants in the first place?

He pulled out his phone and called Draxum on face-time, April watching over his shoulder and both of them holding their breath in the hopes that he would answer.

And after five painful seconds of waiting, the call was picked up.

They were graced with Draxum's mildly disgruntled face peering back at them, "What is it this time?" He asked dryly.

Ignoring the implication that Mikey only called when he needed something- untrue, he also called to set up the occasional family dinner, which they should really do again soon- Mikey turned his phone around to show Draxum the current toddler problem, “One of your mutants turned them all into toddlers-” he brought the phone back to his own face, “-please tell me it’s not permanent.”

“How do you expect me to know? And it’s not ‘my mutant,’ that mutant is it’s own-”

April snatched the phone out of Mikey’s hand, “Barry, do not test me right now. It’s your mutant because it was one of your oozesquitos that mutated the stupid jellyfish that did this. So if you don’t start cooperating, so help me, I will find a way to make sure you never get a fish stick statue made in your honour ever again,” she threatened, bringing the screen close to her face.

Mikey decided he was better off letting April handle the talking and made no move to take his phone back. She’d hand it over whenever she was done.

Draxum folded quickly under her annoyed scowl, “Alright, fine, you don’t need to threaten me, I’ll help.”

With that taken care of, April tossed the phone back to Mikey, “You better.”

Mikey caught the phone, flashing April a grateful smile before giving Draxum his full attention, “What do you need me to do, king? Just say the word.”

Draxum gave him a slightly weird look, hesitating for just a second before answering, “Well, what’s the extent of their de-aging? Are they getting progressively younger as time goes on?”

Mikey shook his head, “No, they’ve been the same age since they got hit. None of them have any memories past how old they are right now either,” he clarified.

“Oh good, that means they probably won’t de-age out of existence then,” Draxum mused, half to himself.

“They’re gonna what?!” Mikey screeched at the same time that April said-

“Probably?”

Draxum recoiled slightly in the face of their combined volume, “Hey, I said they probably won’t de-age out of existence. And if they are continuing to get younger, it’d be at such a slow rate that we’d catch on and figure out a solution far before it can become a genuine problem.”

Well that was reassuring at least. Kind of…

"So-" April leaned into Mikey’s space to get another look at Draxum, "-what do we do?"

Draxum was holding his phone just barely far enough away for his responding shrug to be semi in frame, "Eh, it'll probably wear off on its own soon enough. Age related curses usually do. But if they're still like that in a few days, or you notice them getting younger- give me another call and I'll figure something out. Was that all?" He raised a single, questioning brow at them.

Mikey paused, thinking carefully, "Hmm, let's see… Oh, one last thing! Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple weeks, and we're long overdue for another family dinner. Whaddya say, Draxibald? I'll be making pumpkin piiie,” he tried to tempt Draxum into agreeing with the promise of good food.

The sound Draxum made was halfway between a groan and a heavy sigh, "I'll think about it," he promised unconvincingly before hanging up.

Mikey put his phone away with a self-satisfied smile, knowing full well that Draxum would be showing up with a bowl of stuffing in just a couple weeks, no matter how reluctant he pretended to be, "Glad that's settled. Now, back to cape making!" He declared, spinning on his toes to rejoin the group.

Except something about the sight that greeted him was wrong somehow.

Mikey narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what exactly had changed from before.

April stopped in her tracks just ahead of him, "Uh… Where are Tommy and Donnie?"

“Ohhhh, so that’s what was different,” Mikey realized, finally noticing the two abandoned capes on the floor, their owners nowhere in sight.

Mikey followed April when she marched over to Splinter, who was too busy sticking red and white rhinestones to light blue fabric to notice until her shadow was already looming over him, “Splints!”

Splinter startled, spinning to face her and Mikey with wild handchops that made contact only with the air, “Ah! April, what was that fo-”

But April had already continued speaking, effectively cutting him off, “Did you see where Tommy and Donnie ran off to?” She asked urgently.

If Splinter’s largely blank, if slightly sheepish expression was any indicator, then the answer was no, he did not, “Well, I guess I was a little bit preoccupied. But what’s the big deal, anyway, right? It’s just the lair, they probably just got bored and, uh…” The buffer noise was drawn out for a few seconds as Splinter thought, “Went to the arcade to play their blinky blinky games! Yes, that’s it.” He nodded to himself.

Mikey had to agree. This was the same home they’d always lived in, he couldn’t see anything bad happening to them just because they were without supervision.

April didn’t look very convinced, head shaking lightly, “Sure, but this is Donnie we’re talking about. You know he’d never pass up the chance to look at a future version of himself’s lab!” She, very correctly, pointed out.

Still, Mikey had never gotten hurt in Donnie’s lab, no matter how many buttons he pressed while his brother wasn’t looking, “Psh, that place is totally baby-proofed,” he responded with a flippant wave. 

“No-” Casey’s voice jumped in from behind, making Mikey jump, “-Donatello idiot-proofs his labs, he’s never baby-proofed them,” he corrected, coming to stand near April so that they were forming a little semi-circle, Chat still a silent presence on his shoulder.

Mikey heard April inhale sharply through her teeth, felt a hint of dread seep into his own expression.

But Casey wasn’t done yet, “He also hasn’t changed his password for as long as I’ve known him,” He added the final nail to the coffin.

Mikey didn’t need any more convincing, “Good to know, I’ll be right back,” he told them in a carefully serene manner, nodding once before stepping away and then promptly booking it the second he turned around.

With any luck, he’d be able to get there before Donnie decided to do any experiments on an unsuspecting Tommy.

Mikey slid into the lab, already fearing the worst.

He found Donnie at his desk, it looked like he was working on something, but Mikey couldn’t quite see what with Donnie’s chair blocking his view. Tommy was, worryingly, nowhere in sight.

Mikey’s heart dropped, “Donnie… Where’s Tommy?” He asked slowly.

Donnie pushed against his desk, spinning the chair to face Mikey. He didn’t seem very surprised by the sudden intrusion, but Mikey also hadn’t bothered with being quiet.

There was a blue plastic box in one hand, the middle wrapped up in electrical tape, and-

“Why do you have a knife?!” Mikey yelped, completely blindsided by the box cutters held in Donnie’s right hand.

Donnie blinked at him, looked down at the knife, and then back up at Mikey, “Do you want to hear about Tommy or the knife first?”

“The knife- no, Tommy, definitely Tommy.” Mikey corrected, shaking his head and waving his hands frantically.

With a shrug, Donnie put the plastic box down and grabbed the bottom of his sweater, lifting it up to reveal a familiar blond raccoon kit curled up and half asleep in his lap.

The cuteness of it all was like a physical blow to the chest, “Awww,” Mikey couldn’t help but coo.

Sure, it was a little disconcerting to see Donnie holding a box cutter so close- but Mikey was more concerned with cementing the sight as a whole into his memory for the rest of time.

Tommy blinked at him with bleary eyes, squinting as though adjusting to the light, “Aye…? I’m fuckin’ sleepin’ ‘ere. Go ‘way,” he grumbled, his words slurring clumsily together.

Mikey brought his hands together in a quiet apology, “Sorry, uh, you can go back to sleep now!” He whispered.

With a tired glare and an annoyed huff, Tommy buried his face under his arms, clearly intending on doing just that.

Donnie let his sweater fall back over Tommy, “And the knife is because I need to cut out the tape covering the buttons and batteries,” he explained, picking the plastic box back up and bringing the tip of the knife to the tape just like he said he would.

It was like a metaphorical weight had been lifted from Mikey’s shoulders, “Well, it’s good to know I was worrying over nothing,” he mumbled with a relieved sigh.

He wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if he’d gotten to the lab only to find Tommy undergoing various tests of debatable ethics. Cry, probably.

“I’m gonna go let Dad and April know you guys are okay, don’t do anything dangerous while I’m gone,” Mikey instructed, backing out of the lab.

Donnie nodded absently, already lost in his own world and paying little to no attention to Mikey, “Mhm, yeah, sounds good.”

Oh yeah, he’s paying no attention right now , Mikey thought with faint amusement as he walked back down to the atrium.

April had a green cape around her shoulders when Mikey got there, pale yellow feathers lining the edges and a similarly pale yellow button holding it in place. 

A quick look out to the rest of the room showed that Raph and Leo were chasing each other around with their own capes flying behind them, Splinter was doing action poses with his, and Casey was sitting against one of the skate ramps with Chat.

April smiled when she spotted Mikey, swooping her cape dramatically as she made her way over, “Hey, did you find them? Are they all in one piece?” She asked in a joking tone that did wonders with distracting Mikey from the hints of concern still present in her expression.

Mikey nodded, feeling his grin make a full force comeback, “Oh, you totally missed out, they were the cutest. Tommy was all curled up and sleepy in his lap. Seeing them get along so well is like a dream come true,” he sighed happily.

The last of April’s worries regarding the situation seemed to slip away with Mikey’s words, “Well, fingers crossed this lasts for longer than today- the getting along part, not the toddler thing.” She raised both hands with crossed fingers and a lighthearted smile.

Mikey’s shoulders slumped, “You can say that again-” but then he perked right back up, “-I believe in them, though. They’ve been getting way better about it recently, I know they’ll be best friends in no time!” He claimed, full of unbridled optimism for the future.

“I’m sure you’re right. Now, hate to run off with, y’know, this-” April waved at the toddler versions of Raph and Leo, “-whole situation going on, but I am mad behind on some homework right now- and lemme tell you, this professor doesn’t give out extensions unless you’re sick and dying,” she complained.

Boy, was Mikey ever glad he’d never have to go to college, or school in general. One of the many benefits of being a sewer-dwelling turtle mutant, “You got this, I believe in you, April!” He encouraged like the incredible hype-man he was.

April chuckled, “I’ll certainly try my best. Anyways, later!” With a flash of a peace sign and a dramatic wave of her cape, April took her leave.

Which reminded Mikey… He still had a cape of his own to finish turning into a rad display of self expression.

Mikey all but skipped over to his unfinished cape, which had been left politely undisturbed with a tube of fabric glue, bags of rhinestones and feathers piled beside it.

Leo ran up to Mikey as he sat down, “Mikey, look, look, look! I’m Jupiter Jims new sidekick!” He turned to show off the back of his cape where a Jupiter Jim logo made of red and yellow rhinestones took up the center.

Raph came in and pushed Leo out of the way, “No way, I’m Jupiter Jim’s new sidekick. Red Raph!” He claimed, flexing his arms.

Leo pushed back at him, though Raph barely budged, “Oh yeah? I have a sidekick name too, it’s- uh… It’s Blue Leon!” He countered.

As cute as this was, Mikey couldn’t let them live in a fantasy any longer, “Sorry guys, but I’m Jupiter Jim’s new sidekick, Galactic Mike!” Mikey announced, wiggling his fingers for effect.

Leo made a face at him, “You don’t even have a cape yet.”

Raph nodded, crossing his arms, “Yeah, you can’t be Jupiter Jim’s sidekick without a super special outfit,” he agreed.

Mikey grabbed a bag of rhinestones, “Guess I’ll just have to finish this cape so I can take my rightful place as JJ’s second in command.” He stuck his tongue out at them and then got to work.

Just because the real life Jupiter Jim turned out to be a bit of a weirdo, didn’t mean Mikey was about to let himself get shown up by a couple of toddlers.

And so, spurred on by the taunting of his brothers, Mikey set about making the coolest sidekick cape in existence.

Before he could get too deep into his careful rhinestone placement, Casey made his way over, “Were they in the lab?” He asked, standing about a foot away, thankfully not blocking the light.

Mikey stuck his tongue out in utmost focus as he pressed a red rhinestone into the fabric, “Mhm, super chill. Worrying over nothing,” he answered simply, putting most of his brain power into his craft. 

“Right, uh… I think I’m gonna go keep an eye on them anyway, just to be safe,” Casey decided.

Mikey glanced up at him, “What, you don’t want to make a mega cool cape too? I’ll even help you,” he prodded

Casey smiled, “Tempting, but I already have my own.” He tugged the neck of his well-worn cloak up higher.

Fair enough, it was a good cloak, and Mikey couldn’t fault him for any emotional attachment to the garment.

Mikey shrugged and placed another rhinestone on his cape-to-be, “Well, have fun listening to Donnie rant about nerd stuff for the next five hours.” If Casey really wanted to be subjected to one of Donnie’s incredibly likely rambles about math and science, that was his decision.

Personally, Mikey got enough of that in his day to day life from regular Donnie, he didn’t need it from the toddler version too.

“I like his nerd rants- oh, right, Chat, did you wanna come with or…?” Casey trailed off for a second, and although Mikey didn’t hear Chat say anything, the crow must’ve made some kind of indication because Casey continued only a moment later, “Nice, I guess that’s two for the Donnie nerd rant enjoyers,” he remarked jokingly, starting to walk away.

He didn’t get very far before he was intercepted by Splinter, “Wait! Here, take these up with you. I’m sure they will want to wear their creations.”

A sparse look over told Mikey what he already assumed to be the case as Splinter dumped two capes into Casey’s arms.

Seeing no further reason to pay them any mind, and also feeling a healthy spark of competitiveness to make a cape so good it’d blow his brothers’ metaphorical socks off, Mikey tuned out the rest of the world for however long it would take to finish decorating his garment.

---

Hours later, Mikey had a fire cape around his shoulders- literally, he’d decorated the whole thing in fire motifs- and was just about ready to pass out after running around the lair playing games with Raph and Leo.

Casey had yet to emerge from Donnie’s lab since first retreating there all those hours ago, Tommy either. He hoped they were doing alright. Maybe Mikey should check in on them again, make sure nobody's brains had melted…

A tug on his cape brought Mikey’s attention back to his current surroundings, Leo was staring up at him, “Come on, we need you to be the evil bad guy for our game.” He tugged again a little more insistently.

Would their energy never wane?

Mikey was saved from having to choose between rejoining the game and turning his brothers down by Splinter.

“Actually, I think you need to be getting your pajamas on, because it is bedtime!” Splinter announced, pointing at the clock in the living room with his tail.

His statement was met with immediate groaning complaints from the toddlers.

Raph tried his hand at persuading Dad, “Come on, just one more game? It won’t even take that long!”

Splinter hummed like he was thinking it over, but Mikey knew all too well what his final answer would be.

“No. It is already late, if you stay up any longer you will all turn into pumpkins. Now go get ready for bed, chop chop!” Splinter clapped his hands twice, ushering the younger boys out of the living room.

Mikey snickered quietly to himself up until Splinter’s eyes were on him instead, “Don’t think you can get out of bedtime just because you are a little older. Go get your brothers from that lab and then I want to see you all in bed by twenty minutes, you hear?” Splinter ordered.

“What!? But I’m fifteen-” Mikey’s complaints were interrupted.

“Up-bup-bup- I don’t want to hear it. Get your brothers and go to bed- oh, and tell Casey Jr he can set up the air mattress if he’s staying over,” Splinter added, taking to making shooing motions with his hands to hurry Mikey along.

Mikey complied, but not without his fair share of grumbled complaints and dragging feet.

Sure, he was kind of tired after all the running around, but that didn't mean he had to be sent to bed like a little kid!

The general indignation faded somewhat by the time he got to Donnie’s lab, knocking on the wall as he entered, “Dad said it’s time for- ooh, what game is that?” Mikey was immediately derailed upon spotting Donnie and Casey crowded around a laptop, Tommy and Chat perched upon their respective shoulders.

All of them were staring at the screen in total focus, but Tommy at least spared a look over his shoulder as Mikey approached, “They’re playing Fire Boy and Water Girl,” he answered distractedly before his attention was promptly recaptured by the screen, ears up.

Mikey himself was not immune to the allure of the screen, watching Donnie and Casey run through the puzzles for an entire minute before suddenly remembering what he actually came up to the lab for.

He shook his head, forcing his eyes to look anywhere but the screen. They settled on the red and purple capes sitting on the far side of Donnie’s desk, “Well, it’s time to shut it off, because Dad said it’s bedtime,” Mikey told them, using every ounce of self-control to resist the desire to watch Donnie and Casey play Fire Boy and Water Girl for the next half hour.

Similar to Raph and Leo, his words were met with unhappy whines and groans of complaint from the younger two.

Carrying on quickly before Tommy could bust out the puppy eyes- raccoon eyes, more accurately- Mikey addressed Casey, “You remember where the air mattress is, right? I’ll help you set up after I show Tommy where his bedroom is.” Though on that note…

Mikey looked the kit over, sprawled lazily across Donnie’s shoulder, gnawing on a mouthful of fabric. “Still haven’t figured out how to change back yet?” He guessed, seeing as Tommy was still small enough to fit in Mikey’s hands.

Tommy stared back at him without saying anything for a second, before unexpectedly launching himself off of Donnie’s shoulder.

Along with giving Mikey a minor heart attack as he lunged to catch the reckless kit, Tommy also landed safely on two feet, back to his humanoid self with a wide grin.

The toddler burst into laughter, “Ha! Your face is funny!” Tommy cackled, presumably taking joy in Mikey’s obvious bout of panic.

Traitorously, even Casey chuckled as he stepped away from the desk to stretch, “Yeah, it’s still in that locker in the arcade, right?” He checked, waiting for confirmation from Mikey before he and Chat took their leave.

With his player two out of the picture, Donnie shut his laptop of his own volition. Except instead of leaving his desk to go down to his bedroom, he merely pushed the laptop to the side in favour of grabbing some mechanical thing Mikey couldn’t identify and a soldering iron that he definitely shouldn’t be using at his age.

Mikey supposed some things never changed, “Donnie.”

Donnie put both objects down and turned his chair to face Mikey, “I just got access to wonderful tools and you want me to sleep?” He emphasized like it was the most unreasonable thing he’d ever been asked.

Baby Donnie had nothing on regular Donnie though, so Mikey skipped the rest of the way over to the desk to push his stuff back aside with a cheery hum, “Yep! Shoulda messed around with them earlier. Besides, they’ll always be here when you wake up.” And if luck was on Mikey’s side, his brothers would also be the correct age when they woke up, so this wouldn’t even be a problem.

“Sigh, if you insist on stifling my creativity, then so be it!” Donnie huffed, hopping off his chair with a scowl.

Mikey raised his brows, “Awfully wordy for a three year old,” he muttered under his breath.

Then again, it was Donnie, and he’d always been a fan of the more obscure words in the dictionary.

Tommy swiped the two capes off the desk, slinging the red one around his shoulders, and then after a moment of contemplative hesitation, slung the purple one around his shoulders as well, “Can I please have a snack before bed?” He asked, more polite than Mikey was ever used to hearing from Tommy.

Mikey didn’t let it throw him off though, “Sure thing, little Tom. Pizza sound good to you?” He asked, grinning when he got a resounding yes from Tommy, and even managed to garner Donnie’s interest with the suggestion.

The toddlers trailed after Mikey like little ducklings all the way to the kitchen where they feasted on the cold leftover pizza from their impromptu visit to Run of the Mill Pizza’s.

Once they were done eating (and out of reasons to put off going to bed) Donnie split from the group so Mikey could show Tommy to his room.

“Bam, bedroom.” Mikey introduced Tommy to his room with the power of jazzhands to make it more exciting.

It was still a little under-decorated in Mikey’s semi-professional opinion, but at least the plant in the corner brought a nice pop of colour to the place.

Tommy padded over to the bed, hauling himself up onto the mattress, “Who’re these people?” He pointed at something on the wall.

Upon stepping over to inspect further, Mikey found a photo stuck to the wall with masking tape.

Six people stood in frame, all in matching blue uniforms and sporting satisfied grins that juxtaposed the exhaustion lining their faces.

The boy in the middle of it all, with an impossibly bright smile and the arm of the man to his left hugging him to his side, was Tommy. He was noticeably younger, the glint of braces on his teeth, human, and, oddly enough, had no white streak through his bangs, but the blond teen in the photo was still undeniably Tommy.

The real life Tommy right beside him let out an annoyed puff of air, “So? Who are they?” He asked again.

Good question, unfortunately, Mikey was the entirely incorrect person to ask seeing the only one here who knew Tommy’s backstory was Tommy himself.

That being said… Mikey stared hard at the people in the photo, two people in particular other than Tommy stood out to him as familiar.

Not familiar as in, met them before, but in a seen those faces before, kind of way.

It finally clicked a few seconds later, “Oh, I know! This one’s, um, Tubs- Turbo? No, no… Tubbo! Yeah, this one’s Tubbo. I’m pretty sure older you told me he’s your best friend,” Mikey explained to the best of his limited ability, pointing out the short teen standing on the far left of the group photo.

He vaguely remembered Tommy showing him pictures of someone who looked like that, dark brown hair falling over his eyes and floppy goat ears on the sides of his head. Wasn’t he supposed to have burn scars on his face though?

This picture must’ve been taken before whatever gave him those…

Tommy hummed, patting the picture of Tubbo with one of his little paws, “Mm, Tubso. Future best friend.” He nodded appreciatively, patting the picture a couple more times before moving on to the next person in the lineup.

“Who’s this?” He pointed at a fox yokai- mutant? Hybrid?

Who even knew at this point, certainly not Mikey.

The fox’s uniform, though it shared the same design as everyone else’s, looked almost like the colours had been scribbled in crayon, pale and pastel.

Mikey had no idea who he was, “You know, I’m not so sure myself…” He admitted slowly, tilting his head at the photo like a different angle was all he needed to magically figure out the name.

Tommy was unbothered, pointing at- well, himself, “Who’s this?”

At least this one had an easy answer.

“That’s you,” Mikey stated with all the confidence he’d lacked in his previous answers.

“That’s me?” Tommy repeated incredulously, leaning his face closer to the photo to stare intently at what he now knew to be himself.

Mikey nodded even though Tommy definitely wasn’t paying enough attention to him to notice it, “The you-est you that ever you-ed,” he confirmed.

Tommy made a fascinated sounding trill, poking at the picture of himself until his attention inevitably moved to the man who had picture Tommy pulled into a side hug, “What about him?”

Mikey gave the man a thorough look over, taking note of the way his eyes, corners crinkled with joy, were on Tommy instead of the camera. The pride on his face was unmistakable, and it wasn’t much longer before Mikey found that there was only one man it could possibly be.

“That one’s Wilbur, he’s your older brother.” One of them anyway, though this was the first time Mikey’s older brother title was actually in line with his age in comparison to Tommy.

In an interesting side note, this photo of Wilbur was also missing the chunk of white Mikey knew he remembered seeing in the small number of pictures Tommy had shown him of the man in the past.

Tommy was quiet for a minute, tracing Wilbur’s outline with his finger. When his movements stilled, it was with his fingertip pressed against the man’s uniformed chest, “Did we fight in a war?” He asked, startling Mikey.

Mikey shook his head outright, “Oh, no, no, you didn’t-” he cut himself off as he realized that he didn’t actually know the answer to that.

Sure, their uniforms did look rather military- but both Tommy and Tubbo looked like they were barely even sixteen! He’d never mentioned fighting in any wars before, but he also didn’t talk about his old world much in general, and Mikey had never pushed him on the matter either.

But maybe he should have if Tommy had potentially fought in a war as young as sixteen. While Mikey himself had fought the Krang at the same age- at least he was a mutant turtle specifically created with the intent of being a soldier.

Which… Okay, that didn't make the experience any less traumatizing, but he also had years of ninja training under his belt.

Besides, war was a different thing. It played out across days, months, or even years. And it was obvious Tommy hadn’t gotten through it unscathed.

Mikey's gaze drifted over to Tommy. It wasn't as hard as he'd like it to be. Imagining a sixteen year old Tommy fighting in a war.

His easy familiarity when it came to wielding a sword, the jumpiness he’d had around them for so long, flinching at any unexpected contact and snapping to attention whenever he heard someone else enter the same room as him.

Heck, one of the first things Mikey had heard Tommy ask, as sick and delirious as the teen had been, was why they weren’t trying to kill him.

That along with countless other little things he’d continuously brushed off as just being another one of Tommy’s odd, slightly concerning, but overall harmless quirks. 

But looking back on everything now with the added context of a kid who went to war side by side with his best friend and his older brother… Mikey wasn’t sure what he was feeling. Sympathy? Guilt over brushing off every single sign as inconsequential?

Whatever it was, this wasn’t exactly the kind of hard hitting revelation he was expecting to come to because of a casual observation the literal five year old version of Tommy made.

“I think I’d be kinda poggers at it,” Tommy said suddenly, reminding Mikey that he’d been staring silently at the back of Tommy’s head for- well, way too long, probably.

Mikey swallowed, “Sorry, what did you say? I think I missed that,” he admitted with a chuckle that came out a little tenser than he meant it to.

Tommy turned his head away from the picture on the wall to grin at Mikey, “War ‘n fighting ‘n shit. Bet I’d be fucking awesome at it. Like a superhero, but without the super, because I stay humble,” he boasted, hands on his hips and chest puffed.

Torn between the desire to be supportive and agree with him, and the urge to tell him to pursue a career in the arts instead, something safer, like sewing, or acting, all Mikey could do was hum vaguely in acknowledgement with his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

Tommy’s eyes moved to look at something behind Mikey, and not a second later he heard Splinter’s voice.

“I thought I said twenty minutes. What are you two doing still chit chatting, hm?”

Mikey spun around, mind still frazzled and all out of sorts, “It’s been twenty minutes?” It honestly felt like it’d been longer.

Splinter had his arms crossed and a stern look on his face that faltered slightly following Mikey’s question, “Well, er- who’s really keeping track of all that anyway? The point is that I have some very important things to get to, and above all that, it is bedtime.” His firm expression was back in full force.

Mikey decided he could cut his dear old dad some slack (and also give himself some time to process this new insight into Tommy’s background), “Well, you heard Pops, time to turn in for the night, chiko.” He reached over to ruffle Tommy’s fur.

Tommy batted his hand away with an annoyed whine, “Stop.”

Mikey withdrew his hand with a snicker, only to impulsively press a quick goodnight kiss to Tommy’s forehead without much thought, “Sleep tight, Tom. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” And with that, he took his leave, trotting out of the room after Splinter, flicking the lights off as he left.

"I talked with Draxum earlier, he said to call him back if the age thing doesn't wear off within a few days. I also invited him over for Thanksgiving, thought it’d be nice to introduce him to Tommy,” Mikey told Splinter, figuring it wouldn’t be any good to blindside his father if Draxum showed up seemingly uninvited to their family dinner.

Splinter’s expression flattened, ears flicking sideways in obvious annoyance, “Ugh, did you have to invite him here?” He grumbled as they made their way to the living room.

Mikey puffed up his cheeks, “He’s not that bad, you don’t even hate him anymore!”

Splinter didn't look any less grumpy about it, "Doesn't mean I have to like him," he retorted, somehow acting more petulant than the literal toddlers had been about going to bed.

Not to mention, Mikey had it on pretty good authority- his own- that Splinter and Draxum got along decently okay these days. Partially due to his own meddling, but at the very least they hadn’t been in the business of taking every opportunity to take a verbal jab at the other in months. Only most of them.

Which was progress if you squinted and tilted your head at just the right angle.

“Come on, admit it! He’s grown on you!” Mikey pushed.

Splinter gave him a dry look, “Sure, if by ‘grown on me,’ you mean like mold I can’t get rid off no matter how much vinegar I dump on him,” he huffed uncooperatively.

While Mikey would’ve loved to nag his father on the topic some more, he’d already arrived at the living room and Splinter didn’t stick around.

Maybe he really did have something important to do. Mikey had just assumed his dad wanted them all out of the way so that he could watch one of his shows in peace.

Casey was struggling to put a fitted sheet on his air mattress, tugging the sheet too hard under one corner and making it slide off the others.

Mikey didn’t let him suffer for much longer, going over to grab the opposite corner of the sheet to tuck it under the mattress and make sure Casey didn’t pull too hard again.

He received a thankful smile from Casey in exchange, “I’m not sure how I’m so bad at this,” he admitted with a quiet laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

Mikey got back up to grab the folded blanket off the back of Splinter’s recliner, “I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it,” he assured Casey as he threw the blanket out over the inflated air mattress.

While Casey grabbed his pillow, Mikey gave a quick look around the living room for Chat.

His eyes passed over the crow at first, doubling back when he realized that the little black blob on the backboard of the booth wasn’t just another part of the shadows.

Leaving Casey to sort out his bedding, Mikey picked his way over to the bird.

The crow opened its eyes as Mikey approached, watching silently. 

Chat looked just as despondent as before, feathers sticking out at odd angles and barely extending the energy to turn its head to look at Mikey as he sat down on the end of the booth.

Mikey wondered if he’d look that sad if he were ever stranded in another world away from his family.

Dumb question, he’d probably look worse, and feel just as bad to match

It only made Mikey more determined in his decision. He didn’t care if it was dangerous, he got Leo out of the prison dimension just fine. As long as he had his family with him, he knew he would be capable of getting Chat back home.

Fiddling absentmindedly with his fingers, Mikey’s thoughts wandered back to Tommy, to whatever war he’d potentially been a part of.

His eyes flicked momentarily over to Chat, whose eyes were closed again.

Mikey wondered if the crow knew anything about that. It seemed likely enough, and Chat might even answer him if he asked.

His teeth gnawed on the inside of his cheek as he considered the option to subject the bird to a few questions.

The idea was ultimately dismissed. He didn’t want the guilt of going behind Tommy’s back to find out information about him, and he’d feel awful about bothering Chat as well.

It could all be saved for a better time, namely after his brothers were back to their usual selves.

With that in mind, Mikey figured he should really be heading to bed, “Goodnight, Chat. I hope you feel better tomorrow,” he said quietly, offering Chat a smile and a wave before taking his leave.

When Mikey made it to his bedroom, he tossed his cape and bandana onto a pre-existing pile of clothes and flopped into the comfort of his hammock.

He stared up at the soft orange glow of string lights strewn above his head, just high enough to be out of reach while he was lying down.

Inevitably, his mind bounced right back to Tommy and that photo taped to his bedroom wall.

Only two of the people from the photo ever showed up in the handful of pictures Tommy had shared from that ancient looking phone of his.

He hoped that didn't mean the others were… Not around anymore.

He hoped Tommy hadn't been alone in the aftermath of whatever had taken place there. That his best friend and older brother at least kept close enough to share the weight of war and confide in each other when it was all a little too much to bear.

Mikey was grateful for his own older brothers, who'd stuck with him through thick and thin. His support pillars, keeping him stable even in the worst of times.

Maybe one day Tommy would let Mikey and his brothers be that for him too.

A noise from outside his room caught Mikey’s attention.

“Balls,” Tommy hissed, stiltedly crawling across the ladder Mikey used as a bridge between the atrium and his bedroom.

Mikey sat upright in his hammock, confusion hitting him, “Tommy?”

Tommy made it the rest of the way across, stepping into the light of Mikey’s fairy lights. He’d ditched Donnie’s cape at some point, but the red one was snug on his shoulders.

He looked small, hugging the fabric around himself, "It's too dark in my room, monsters are gonna spawn.” Tommy’s eyes darted nervously between the dark spots in Mikey’s room.

Mikey’s hammock swayed as he shimmied closer to the edge and crossed his legs, “It’s okay, you can stay with me tonight if you want. Big bro Mikey’s here to protect you from the dark,” he vowed, ignoring the fact that he was also scared of the dark.

“I’m not scared. I’m just- I’m only over here to make sure the monsters don’t get you, that’s all,” Tommy scowled, but scampered over to the hammock nonetheless.

The toddler did his best to jump up, claws digging into the thick fabric and legs kicking behind him to little success.

Mikey leaned forward and hauled him the rest of the way up, squeezing him into a quick hug as payment before depositing Tommy beside him.

Tommy huffed, smoothed out the fur on his cheeks, and then started patting the hammock with a judgemental frown on his face.

Huh? Was there something wrong with Mikey’s hammock? What the heck was that look for?

But then the look vanished with a satisfied nod, shoulders relaxing and tail swishing twice, so maybe there wasn’t anything wrong with Mikey’s hammock?

Right when Tommy looked like he was about to lay down, his ears twisted towards the atrium, eyes following and fur raising.

When Mikey tried to find what Tommy was looking at, he found- Leo?

Leo hopped between the ladder rungs with far less trepidation than Tommy, “What are guys talking about?” He pried, climbing up onto the hammock without hesitation.

Mikey saw Tommy’s fur fall flat upon realizing that their intruder wasn’t a monster, but instead just a nosy Leo.

“Your base isn’t lit up, you’re gonna get eaten by zombies,” Tommy informed him.

He didn’t watch a horror movie while he was up in the lab with Donnie and Casey, did he?

Leo frowned at Tommy, “Zombies aren’t real.”

Tommy frowned right back at him, though his was deep enough to be an all out scowl, “Yes they are,” he argued, sounding so sure of his claim that Mikey almost found himself inclined to believe it.

“Aren’t.” Leo crossed his arms, just as stubborn.

A third voice joined the fray, “What are you three doing still up?” Raph demanded, having shown up at some point without Mikey noticing.

Leo didn't miss a beat, "He thinks zombies are real." He pointed at Tommy.

Raph's expression froze, and then his brow furrowed in apparent confusion, "Aren't they?"

Leo looked annoyed, “No, zombies aren’t real. They’re just made up for movies,” he stated, throwing Tommy a look that dared him to argue.

In the least surprising turn of events, Tommy’s mouth was open not a second later, “They’re not made up for movies, they spawn in the dark. Just like skeletons, and spiders, and endermen, and-”

“Endermen?” Leo repeated, “Now you’re just making things up,” he scoffed.

Tommy’s fur fluffed up, “No I’m not!”

Leo’s hands moved to his hips, “Uh, yes you are. I don’t even know what an endermen is,” he refuted.

Yet another voice chose to join the party, “Stop talking, I’m trying to sleep,” Donnie complained.

In the span of the past five minutes, Mikey’s bedroom had become crowded as all of his brothers gravitated to the chatter that had quickly spun out into an argument.

An argument that Mikey would like to put an end to because he could easily see it stretching on for at least an hour. The last thing he wanted to be responsible for was mediating the debate between his endlessly stubborn brothers.

Mikey clapped his hands together when he noticed Tommy sucking in a deep breath- presumably to defend his argument to the bitter end.

“Sleepover! We should have a sleepover, y’know, since everybody’s already in my room. I don’t think all of us’ll fit on the hammock, but that’s okay, we can just pile blankets on the floor,” Mikey suggested, hopping to the ground and retrieving his cape to lay out bedazzled side down.

His gambit paid off, Leo scrambled to the floor and out the room, “Oh! I’ll go get mine!” 

Raph followed his lead, hopping across between the ladder rungs to retrieve his own blanket for the pile.

Donnie, on the other hand, did no such thing. He simply stood to the side of the doorway with tired eyes and a blank expression.

Raph and Leo returned soon enough, dragging their blankets across the floor behind them, each with a pillow tucked under their arm, and Raph with three additional teddy bears.

Leo ran to beat Raph to Mikey’s room and threw his bedding down on the designated pile spot, “I win!”

Raph made it back a few seconds later, “We weren’t racing. But if we were, Raph would have won,” he declared firmly, dropping his blanket and pillow, but holding on to the teddy bears.

Mikey took it upon himself to lay the blankets out nicely before snatching the pillow from his hammock and tossing it down to where he wanted his head to be.

He paused when he realized Tommy was missing from where Mikey remembered seeing him on the hammock not five seconds before.

When he turned around to have a look, he found Tommy on the blanket pile with Mikey’s pillow under his head and a pig squishmallow in his arms that must have come from his inventory.

Tommy didn’t even look the slightest bit sheepish as he blinked innocently back at Mikey, and then yawned adorably on top of that.

Oh, how could Mikey be mad at that face? Was this how his older brothers felt when he abused his puppy eyes on them?

Yeesh, being an older brother was rough.

Mikey shook his head with a fond smile, “That’s okay, I’ll just use my sweater as a pillow,” he conceded, digging his orange hoodie out of the miscellaneous clothes pile and folding it up.

They all got comfy on the makeshift floor bed, and Mikey ended up with Raph and Leo curled against one side with Donnie and Tommy on the other. Though it was more like Donnie was lying just far enough away to have his own space whereas Tommy had decided to kidnap Mikey’s entire arm and then swept his tail over Donnie’s shell like a blanket.

Mikey couldn’t remember the last time they all camped out on the floor like this, cuddled up in the safety of their shared company- but it was nice. Really nice.

He was definitely going to make them do this again sometime when they were back to normal. Just so long as he remembered to grab extra pillows next time.

His mind gradually slowed as sleepiness set in.

The faint vibration of Tommy’s purring through his arm was the last thing Mikey registered before slipping away.

---

Tommy woke up mildly confused because he did not remember going to sleep, but the steady heartbeat in his ear combined with the soft blanket over his shoulders made him reluctant to move.

His compromise was to just open his eyes, because he was definitely laying half on top of someone, he just didn’t know who yet.

The second he opened his eyes he instantly regretted everything he’d ever done because he was cuddling with Donatello of all people.

Tommy scrambled to sit upright with a startled shriek that he really truly didn’t mean to let out. He slapped his hands over his muzzle, clamping it shut.

Alas, one would have to be deaf not to wake up after the shrill sound he’d just made.

All four turtles- because it wasn’t just Donatello. No, no, that would be far too easy- jolted awake.

Raph was the first to his feet, eyes barely open and fists raised like he was about to engage in a classic morning brawl, “Wha’s wrong, who do I need’a punch?” He demanded, words clumsy in his half-asleep state.

Leo looked significantly more alert than Raph, eyes scanning the room and everyone in it top to bottom.

Mikey retreated into his shell with a shout that rivalled Tommy’s, and then there was Donnie.

Despite the potential threat that Tommy had accidentally convinced the turtles of, Donnie only rolled over and hid his head under the pillow he’d been using with a muffled noise complaint.

Staring at the minor chaos he’d unintentionally incited, Tommy slowly lowered his hands from and cleared his throat awkwardly.

Leo’s attention snapped back to him, and then whatever tension had lined his posture vanished, replaced with a look of vague annoyance, “Tommy.”

Tommy shrank back with a nervous laugh, he gripped the fabric- that he was now noticing to be a cape, not a blanket- and pulled it tighter around himself as he tried to come up with a less embarrassing explanation than the truth.

Everyone’s eyes, with the exception of Donnie’s, were on him by that point. Mikey had popped back out of his shell and Raph had finally stopped squinting.

It would seem that Tommy was out of time to figure out a solid excuse.

“I saw a spider,” Tommy lied, his voice was flat and unconvincing, but he was prepared to commit to the excuse regardless.

Leo gave him a suspicious look, “Uh-huh, a spider made you scream like that?” Oh yeah, he wasn’t believing Tommy for a second.

Still, Tommy nodded, “It was a big spider,” he lied further.

He heard someone running over through the atrium and gladly took the distraction and turned his head over his shoulder to see Casey Jr in a shirt two sizes too big and his hair a veritable mess. Chat was on his shoulder.

Casey skidded to a stop right before the ladder between Mikey’s room and the atrium, “What happened? I heard-” Casey blinked at them, “-oh, you guys are back to normal,” he noted.

Normal? What the hell even happened- and when did Casey get to the lair?

Tommy turned out to be far from the only one concerned by that wording as Leo waved his hand.

“Wait, wait, what do you mean by back to normal? What even happened yesterday? I feel like I’ve got brain fog.” Leo rubbed at his temples.

Mikey was looking between them all, “Well, what’s the last thing you remember?” He prompted.

The last thing Tommy remembered was…

Raph snapped his fingers, “Oh yeah, weren’t we fightin’ that big mutant jelly-bozo?”

Right, the mutant jellyfish!

Tommy nodded, memories starting to filter back in, “Yeah, and then it started doing this mmm and flashy thing, and then- uh…” He trailed off as he hit the end of his recent memories a little sooner than expected.

Well, it wasn’t exactly that there was nothing past that point, it was just that it was all too fuzzy and distant for him to get a proper read on.

Raph and Leo wore similarly puzzled expressions, brows furrowed as they all collectively tried to piece together what was going on.

Tommy took a moment to check on his inventory. Everything seemed pretty much how he remembered it, but he was missing a pack of crayons and the pig plush he found at that ‘mall’ place. Additionally, something felt different about his broken toy…

Frowning, he pulled out the toy and was surprised to find it patched back together with black tape.

As well as making him gasp, the sight brought several new memories rushing to the forefront of his mind, “That light! It turned us into little kids, and then, fucking… I dunno, some shit happened I think- it’s all still kinda weird in me head- but I remember we made-” he looked down at his cape and snorted when he saw the white feathers covering the neckline, “-oh, ha! this looks like a shit knock-off of Techno’s,” he realized, choking on an abrupt laugh.

It made sense, he’d pretty much worshipped Technoblade when he was younger. A god amongst mortals, the greatest warrior to ever live.

Even after he’d met Techno and discovered him to be a socially inept nerd, Tommy never really stopped looking up to him, despite their numerous differences in ideals that inevitably created a massive wedge between them.

Tommy took his eyes off the cape and, somewhat hilariously, found the missing pig plush lying an arms length away. 

His amusement was tainted with the same underlying bittersweet feeling he usually got when he thought about Techno.

He reached out to grab the soft pink plush, sending it and the cape to his inventory as he got to his feet.

Raph was nodding to himself when Tommy finally looked up, “I think I remember now, we stopped by Run of the Mill, didn’t we?”

Leo slunk over to Mikey’s side, throwing an arm over his shoulders with a cheeky grin, “So, how was being the oldest?” He teased.

Mikey nodded thoughtfully, “Oh, well, it was nice, but I really think I’m better suited to being the youngest. You guys can keep your responsibility to yourselves,” he decided, patting Leo on the wrist.

Now there was a relatable stance to have. Tommy also hated the constraints of being the responsible party seeing as it forced him to do things like, ‘not cause fights,’ and ‘be nice.’

Both of which were absolutely boring and best left delegated to someone with more patience.

Someone cleared their throat from outside Mikey’s room.

That someone turned out to be Splinter, standing by Casey with his arms folded behind his back, “Ahem, Tommy, would you mind coming with me for a minute?” He asked.

Taken off guard, and slightly worried that he was in trouble for something, Tommy nodded, rubbing his thumb over the rubbery tape covering his patched together toy as he trailed after the old rat.

“Sooo,” Tommy started before the silent anticipation could drive him too insane, “What’s up, king? Big man, Splinter, big S.” Ah, and there he went, listing off various nicknames to cope with his rising anxiety.

A true Tommyinnit classic, that one.

He stopped talking when he noticed that not only had Splinter stopped walking, but his expression was becoming progressively more bewildered the longer Tommy went on.

Tommy gripped his scuffed toy tighter with a slight grimace, “Sorry, habit,” he apologized tersely.

Splinter shook his head, “No, no, it’s no problem. I won’t take up much of your time, I just wanted to- well, I wanted you to know that-" he cut himself off with a huff and then thrust something at Tommy.

He recoiled at first, fingers twitching, only to realize that the thing Splinter was holding was… A pair of socks and gloves?

Feeling more than a little confused, Tommy put the toy away in his inventory and took the proffered clothing, “Uh, thank you.” The fabric felt fairly nice against the pads of his fingers, tough, but comfortable.

Both the socks and the gloves and the socks were predominantly black, each with a strip of red around the edges.

They were also missing the fingers and toes, fairly similar in design to the stuff the turtles were always wearing.

Splinter’s voice made Tommy glance back up, “It’s not much, but I hope these will at least make running around at night a little easier.”

There was… Something nagging at the back of Tommy’s mind. Like there was something more to this he wasn’t quite remembering all the way.

It took him a second to pinpoint it, but when he did, he had to give the garments in his hands a double take, “Wait, did you make these?” Tommy had a slightly foggy recollection of Splinter handing him several different bits of scrap fabric, asking him what he thought of each one.

“Uh-” Before Splinter could even answer, Tommy was pulling them on with a grin.

He knew his tail was wagging a ridiculous amount, but he didn’t really care to stop it, “Aw, these are fuckin’ sick. This is just-” Tommy slapped his hand against the nearest wall, smile widening when the glove stopped his palm from picking up on so many extra details, “-oh my days, this is awesome. I am never giving these back,” he informed Splinter, holding his hands close to his chest.

Splinter put his hands on his hips, “Good, that was kind of the whole point.” His tone was snarky, but his eyes were kind.

Tommy's eyes fell to his gloved hands again, a burst of warm appreciation making his insides feel like they were going to spontaneously explode, in a good way.

It wasn't that socks and gloves were particularly difficult to make, but the fact that Splinter went out of his way to create something for Tommy.

Even went as far as to get his input on which fabric to use-

Well, it was a lot more effort than Tommy ever expected someone to put in for his sake. Much less someone he'd been low-key avoiding up until recently, "This is- you made this. I don't even know what to say, I- thank you, genuinely, man, this is- agh." He hadn't the slightest clue on how to express just how much those gifts meant to him.

"It was no problem, it's nice to bring out the old sewing machine every now and then. Ah, but there was one last thing I wanted to say before I let you go," Splinter started, pulling Tommy’s attention straight back over to him.

A beat passed where Tommy was staring quizzically at Splinter before the old man actually continued.

"We haven't talked, or, er, 'hung out,' as the kiddies say, as much as I would like to yet- but I just wanted to make sure you knew that this home is your home too, for as long as you want it." He looked Tommy right in the eye as he spoke, not the faintest hint of insincerity behind his words.

Which was absolutely mental, because this definitely felt like one of those too good to be true situations. But it wasn’t.

Tommy went to take a step forward, but hesitated, “Stance on hugs?” He checked, because he really felt like pressing that hug button about now.

Splinter's response came in the form of open arms and an upward tilt to the corners of his mouth.

With permission given, Tommy knelt down and pulled Splinter into a tight hug that lasted all of three seconds before he backed off with a warm smile that refused to leave his face.

There was a shared moment of pleasant silence, only broken after Splinter stepped aside with an incline of his head, “Well then, I won’t keep you any longer. Go do whatever it is you teenagers do.” He waved Tommy off, putting an end to whatever heartwarming moment they’d shared.

Tommy huffed a laugh, “Yeah, yeah, go eat hot soup, you old bastard.”

And with that, they went their separate ways, Splinter heading further down the hall towards the living room, and Tommy doubling back to the atrium where he’d left Casey, Chat, and the turtles.

There was one turtle in particular he wanted to have a little talk with…

Everyone appeared to be far more awake when Tommy slipped back into the room. Leo, Mikey and Casey were messing around with skateboards while Donnie, Raph, and Chat observed from the sidelines, Chat perched on Raph’s shell.

Tommy made an immediate beeline for the group on the sidelines, more specifically, towards Donnie.

Raph’s eyes found him first, “Woah, sweet fit. Pops make those for you?” He asked, presumably in reference to the new socks and gloves.

Tommy’s gait became a proud strut, “Oh, what? These?” He held an arm out to give a full display of the black and red covering up to half of his forearm.

Putting on a bit of a show, Tommy laughed once, his chin tilted upwards ever so slightly, like a snooty prick, “Uh, yeah, Splinter made these, for me. They’re pretty cool,” he boasted, strutting the rest of the way over to Raph.

Tommy leaned against him with a toothy grin, using Raph’s shoulder as an armrest, “Are you feeling jealous? Of me? You should be, I’m a pretty-” he broke character just a bit when his voice and shoulders shook with barely restrained laughter, “-a pretty cool guy, you know? I mean, I wouldn’t blame you for being jealous,” he continued to brag in a manner that was as obnoxious as it was hilarious.

Raph caught on to the exaggerated nature of his words immediately, rolling his eyes, “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Tommy,” he teased right back.

Donnie, however, stared at Tommy with a deadpan expression, “Oh great, it’s like we have two Nardos,” he commented dryly.

Tommy sank even more of his weight onto Raph, to the point that only one heel still had contact with the floor, “What do you mean? I’m just letting you guys know that Rat Father has gifted these to me because of how cool I am.” He mimed flicking his hair, but he wasn’t sure how well the gesture translated with his dense fur instead of regular human hair.

Chat hopped across the top of Raph’s spiky shell, stretched out its neck, and gave one of Tommy’s ears a tug.

Tommy recoiled with an offended yelp, clamping his hands over both ears to protect against further attacks, “Oi, fuck off, y’twat! Stop yankin’ on my ears all the time, it’s annoying.”

Instead of apologies, the only response Tommy was afforded from Chat was, “Kek.” That cheeky bastard.

Tommy forced the scowl off his face, he had more important things to do than bicker with Chat for the next twenty minutes.

Instead of going around, Tommy climbed right up onto Raph’s shell- who thankfully seemed both entirely unbothered and unsurprised by suddenly becoming Tommy’s jungle gym- skirting around Chat and perching on the other side to peer down at Donnie.

With Donnie’s wary eyes on him, Tommy took the recently patched together toy out of his inventory, “I don’t really remember it all that well, but you were the one who fixed this, right?” There was an additional ‘thank you,’ sitting on the tip of his tongue, a semi-reluctant, but no less necessary statement.

He took a deep breath to hype himself up, except the second he opened his mouth to continue, he was interrupted by Donnie.

“Oh, ugh, no. Give me that.” Donnie reached out to take the toy away from Tommy.

Any good will Tommy felt towards Donnie evaporated with that single gesture. He clutched the toy close to his chest and curled defensively around it, “No. No take backs, this is mine,” he snapped, fur bristled.

Tommy only half noted Raph twisting his neck to look over at him while Donnie had the audacity to look mildly annoyed by the refusal.

Donnie’s outstretched hand didn’t drop, “That thing is patched together with electrical tape, you cannot possibly consider that fixed. Now hand it over so I can fix it properly before it ruins my credibility as an engineer,” he demanded again more firmly.

Tommy was about to refuse again outright until Donnie’s words actually registered, making him falter.

He closed his mouth, thought for a moment, and then opened it again, “So… You just want to fix it, and then you’ll give it right back, right?” Tommy asked slowly, not yet daring to loosen his grip on the object in question.

Donnie raised a brow, “Yes? Obviously. I have literally zero need for a fake gameboy,” he emphasized with a slight shake of his head.

Right, yeah, obviously.

Tense unease remained unmoving in Tommy’s chest as he unfurled from around the toy, one hand tightly gripping Raph’s shell while he handed the toy over to Donnie.

The toy was plucked from his grasp and Tommy fought the urge to snatch it back.

While Donnie’s attention fell solely to inspecting the tape covered toy, Raph’s eyes had remained on Tommy the whole time, “Uh, are you shaking?” He asked, concern in his voice.

Tommy yanked his hand close to himself, hiding it from Raph’s line of sight, “No.”

He hopped down beside Donnie, shoving both hands into the pockets of his trousers as he did so, “We goin’ up to your lab now? I’d like to get this over with, please,” Tommy requested, tail hanging perfectly still behind him.

“Hm?” Donnie glanced up from the electrical tape he was already in the process of unwrapping, “Oh, yeah, yeah, won’t take me five minutes,” he agreed.

Tommy took his leave two steps ahead of Donnie, successfully cutting off any potential questions from Raph.

Donnie, unexpectedly, actually initiated conversation of his own free will, “I can’t believe there was ever a version of me that thought just slapping some electrical tape on willy nilly could be considered fixing something like this. The wires were snapped, you need a soldering iron, not electrical tape,” he ranted as they walked.

Okay, so less conversation, and more venting about the apparent inadequacies of his past self’s patch job- but hey, it was close enough.

Tommy nodded along like he understood, “Mhm, so true, I would never do that.” Anything to make Donnie fix his quirky noise box faster.

Donnie went straight to his desk upon entering the lab, not even bothering with the chair as he grabbed a pair of opaque goggles out of a drawer and tossed them in Tommy’s direction.

Only fumbling for a second, Tommy caught them and pulled them on over his head. A stray thought reminded him that the last time he’d worn these goggles was right before the fight with Donnie that ended in him running away and getting mutated into a raccoon.

Fun times.

Donnie had his own dorky goggles down over his face, still standing as he took out the soldering iron and got to work.

Well, if he wasn’t going to sit in the comfy swivel chair, then Tommy was.

Tommy sat with his knees up and tail curled over his feet and watched on without a word.

He liked watching the little wisps of smoke curl up from the wires, but other than that it was all pretty boring and Tommy resorted to taking out his lovely texture disk to pass the time with.

Just as Donnie said, it couldn’t have been more than five minutes before the teen was clearing his throat and waving a fixed- electrical tape free- plastic toy around, “Good as new-” he held it out for Tommy to grab, “-but hey, if you’re ever willing to part with it for longer than five minutes, I could add a few Donatello approved upgrades to this thing,” he offered with a tempting upwards lilt to his voice.

Tempting for someone who wasn’t Tommy, that was, as he couldn’t be more happy to have his silly little toy as it was.

Tommy shook his head as he grabbed the toy and stuffed it into the safety of his inventory where no further harm or upgrades could come to it, “No thanks.” He took off his goggles and tossed them to an empty portion of Donnie’s desk.

Donnie looked minorly disappointed, but didn’t push the subject, “If you’re sure, but speaking of upgrades, there was something I wanted to add to that.” He nodded at the texture disk Tommy had been idly spinning between his fingers.

Tommy furrowed his brows, holding up the small rubber disk, “What do you mean upgrade? It’s just a hunk’a rubber, innit?” What the hell would that even entail?

But Donnie was already crossing the room to where several projects in various stages of completion were lying around, “Oh, it’s nothing too big, I already have all the mechanics worked out, it’s really just a matter of installing it, you know?” He said, having explained absolutely nothing in the time it took him to return with a thin metal disk and a power tool with a little round saw on the end.

Tommy lurched back, chair rolling with the force of the action, “Woah, woah, woah, I don’t mean to- to- to cramp on your creativity or anything, but I- I simply fail to see how the saw is, y’know, necessary.” He eyed the power tool in Donnie’s hand with a nervous laugh.

“Which is why I’m the engineer and you’re not,” Donnie pointed out loftily.

When Tommy was still highly reluctant to hand over another personal item, Donnie set the tool down on the desk, “Sigh, well, if you wanna be boring and ruin the surprise, fine. It’s a panic switch, I need to cut the rubber in half to insert it in the middle. You won’t even notice it’s there, I promise,” he finally explained.

Assuming a panic switch did what Tommy thought it did, that actually sounded like a really good idea.

Would’ve been nice to have one of those when he was stuck in exile with Dream. Though on second thought, he wasn’t sure who would have come to his rescue, or if he would have ever decided to use it…

There might not be a Dream in this world, and a conversation with the turtles about Big Mama had him feeling fairly confident that she wouldn’t bother hunting him down after he’d already gotten out somewhat fair and square- but it still wouldn’t hurt to have one of those as a security blanket.

Mind made up, Tommy nodded, “Alright, you’ve convinced me, go ahead and do your quirky little technology thing.” He passed the rubber disk over to Donnie, trusting that it would be back in his hands (and in one piece) in no time.

With at least another minute or two to spend, Tommy took his recently repaired toy back out and looked over where the break used to be.

The only sign he could find that it’d ever been snapped in two by his own teeth was a barely visible line where the plastic had been melded together and sanded down.

But the real test came when Tommy pressed on one of the buttons.

A little jingle started up from the box as a lady’s voice started singing to the number ten, just like he remembered it doing when he first found the whimsical little trinket.

Oho, this day was shaping up to be one of his favourites to date. Awesome new socks and gloves and his funky noise box was working again? About time the universe gave him something to be happy about.

Uncaring for how annoying it no doubt was to anyone that wasn’t Tommy, he found endless amusement in pressing all the buttons repeatedly to create a horrendous cacophony of noise.

Tommy let his posture slouch to an unhealthy degree, grinning with probably undue levels of delight at the audio spam.

Donnie finished his little upgrade and tossed the new and improved rubber disk at Tommy even faster than his repair job on the lovely noise box.

Tommy sent the toy back to his inventory in favour of turning the disk over in his hands with curious eyes, inspecting for any visible differences from before.

As promised, he really couldn’t see or feel anything out of the ordinary, “So how does it work?” Tommy asked without looking up from it.

“I am glad you asked. Twist it in opposite directions, if you would?” Donnie instructed.

Tommy did just that, and in the same instant, several things all started beeping at once- consequently scaring the shit out of him.

In fact, he startled so hard he fell out of the chair with a short screech, “What the fuck?!”

Not only had multiple screens around the lab started flashing with warning signs, but even on the back of Donnie’s forearm.

Donnie tapped his arm screen a couple times and everything went back to normal, screens powering off and noise cutting, “Obviously you should only use this in extreme emergencies: that means life or death situations only. If you try to use it for something dumb I will revoke your panic button privileges. Are we clear?” He drawled, swiping his dorky goggles back up to hit Tommy with a stern look that made him regret even half-thinking about using it for a hard to open jar of pickles as a joke.

Still on the floor and clutching the rubber disk to his chest with both hands, Tommy nodded in wordless agreement to the terms.

Donnie inspected him for a couple seconds longer before eventually extending a hand out to him, “Alright, then I suppose you’re good to-”

Raph chose that moment to burst into the lab, “One of you guys tell Mikey he’s not allowed to open a portal!”

Tommy put his rubber disk away and grabbed Donnie’s hand, who pulled him to his feet and then immediately crossed his arms, eyes on Raph, “What, you couldn’t tell him that yourself?” He lifted a questioning brow.

Raph huffed out a short, frustrated breath, “I tried, he just won’t listen to me! Doesn’t he understand how dangerous this is? Once was enough, we got Leo back, I don’t see why there should be any reason to do it again.” He paced back and forth in front of them, waving his hands through the in sharp gestures as he ranted. 

Donnie slid over and pat Raph consolingly on the shoulder, “Easy, Raphala, we’ll go talk some sense into him,” he reassured his older brother.

What was so bad about Mikey wanting to make a portal? Sure, Tommy was pretty sure he remembered Leo saying that Mikey’s portals took a lot of energy to make, but so did parkouring across rooftops every night.

Given how stressed Raph looked, Tommy chose not to voice that thought just yet.

He followed them back down to the atrium, where Mikey seemed to be engaging in an argument that sounded surprisingly heated while Leo was nowhere to be seen.

Casey’s expression was hard set with anger and desperation, “Mikey, you promised me you wouldn’t do this!” He jabbed a finger at Mikey’s chest.

Mikey shook his head, “And I already told you I’m not going back on that, and if you guys would just listen to me, then-”

Raph crossed his arms, “Oh, I think we’ve done all the listening we need to do. Just because everything happened to work out last time, doesn’t mean we’re gonna have the same luck again. And besides, I say no, and I’m the oldest, so you have to listen to me.”

Against his better judgment, Tommy found himself interjecting, “Actually, uh, technically I’m the olde-” his mouth snapped shut when Raph’s glare was suddenly targeting him instead of Mikey.

“You’re not helping,” Raph growled tersely.

Tommy shrunk back with a barely there nod, “Right, yep, sorry, I’ll stop now,” he was quick to apologize.

Donnie chose that moment to step forward, “Michael, I want to explore the limits of interdimensional travel as much as any self-respecting scientist in the pursuit of knowledge- but you have to acknowledge your own limits, I- you were barely able to open up that gateway the first time, even with our help. It’s- Mikey, it’s not safe,” he stressed.

Tommy had never felt like more of an outsider than he did watching whatever quarrel was going on with what felt like a quarter of the context everyone else seemed to have. He was also too scared to ask after getting snapped at by Raph for his admittedly unnecessary remark.

Mikey didn't back down for a second, but he did appear to be growing more frustrated, "See? You guys still aren't listening to me! I know myself, I know I can do this, I'll even have more help this time! Don't you want to help Chat go home?"

What?

Tommy felt his breath stutter and catch in his throat, "You can make a portal back to the DreamSMP?"

Everyone was staring at him, but all Tommy could think about was the nauseating swoop his stomach just did.

Mikey lost some of his fire, “Oh yeah, you and Chat came from the same world. I could- we’d miss you a lot, but-” 

Tommy didn’t let him finish that sentence, “Nno- no thank you! I- I quite like it here, actually. Very nice and-” well, non-murdery wouldn’t be the most accurate, but it was certainly more tolerable than the shit that went down on the DreamSMP, “- uh, pleasant.” He was pretty sure he would actually die if he ever had to go back to that server.

Well, as much as one was able to die with an obsessed psychopath who liked to play god watching him from around every fucking corner.

At least Mikey looked relieved by Tommy’s immediate rejection. Which was in turn a massive relief for Tommy, because that meant Mikey didn’t want to get rid of him yet.

Splinter walked into the atrium, followed close behind by Leo. The old man’s arms were crossed, “What’s all this I hear about interdimensional portals, hm?” He queried.

Raph didn’t spare a second, “Pops! Tell Mikey he’s not allowed to open any more portals!” He said before Mikey could get a word in edgewise.

Splinter’s eyes did a sweep of everyone in the atrium, eventually landing on Mikey and staying there, “And why is it you want to open a portal, hm, Orange?” He prompted instead of shutting Mikey down right off the bat.

It was nice to see a father who wasn’t totally biased.

Mikey took the opportunity given to him to provide his defense and explanation, “Because Chat’s been so sad because their family lives in a whole other dimension. And I know I can help, if my so-called brothers would have a little more faith in my abilities-” he scowled pointedly at his siblings, “-then they would know that too. I’ve thought this whole thing through, there’s no risk if you guys all help.”

Casey had a look of uncertainty on his face, “How can you know that? How can you be so sure you won’t disappear?” He asked, and Tommy was suddenly way more worried about this whole portal business.

Mikey puffed his chest with confidence, “Easy! That’s because I believe in myself and my family. I promised you I wouldn’t make a crazy time portal, and I’m not! I’m just making an interdimensional one! Which I’ve already done before with even less help, which basically guarantees that I got this one in the bag.” He stuck his tongue out in a cheeky manner.

Raph had yet to uncross his arms, “I still don’t like it.”

But Tommy could already see the others coming around to the idea, so he had the sneaking suspicion that Raph was about to be outvoted in that department.

Mikey wasn’t even slightly deterred by Raph’s continued reluctance, “What if you were the one trapped in a different world? How would you feel if you thought you could never see your family again? Because I know I’d be pretty down, and then I’d dedicate the rest of my existence to getting back to you guys,” he said with every ounce of sincerity filling his voice.

Tommy didn’t think he had anyone like that- no, that wasn’t true, there were so many things he’d give up to see Tubbo, Ranboo, and Wilbur again. But Tubbo was better off without him, Ranboo was dead, and Wilbur left.

He shook those particular thoughts away and focussed back on the group in front of him.

Their discussion seemed to be reaching its conclusion, uniform looks of wary acceptance painted across most everyone’s faces.

Leo spoke up, “I say we give it a go, and hey, if it really looks like it’s too much to handle, we’ll just stop, right? Nothing to worry about,” he delivered the final nail in the coffin with casual ease.

Mikey beamed at Leo, bouncing over to wrap him in a quick hug, “Thanks for believing in me, Leo!” He chirped.

Donnie raised a hand, “Quick question, how exactly do you expect to find the correct world amongst the entire multiverse?”

A good question indeed, it wasn’t like Tommy knew how to get back to his old server. His whole deal with Drista was that she would chuck him somewhere as far away as possible- and why was Mikey looking at him now, oh balls.

Tommy took a step back and raised his hands, head shaking, “Mate, I literally have no idea how to figure out its placement in the whatever-verse things Donnie said. I’m just as clueless as you lot are,” he told him before Mikey could get any funny ideas.

But Mikey’s bright expression didn’t fall apart into disappointment like Tommy expected, “That’s okay, the last time I did this, I was thinking really hard about how badly I wanted to save Leo, and boomshakalaka! Portal time, baby.” He threw his arms down in a V shape that was just as energetic and bombastic as he was.

Tommy blinked, hands slowly lowering again, “Okay… So what part of this do you need me for?” He still felt a little behind on Mikey’s thought process.

Mikey didn’t leave him in the dark for long, “All I need from you is a picture of Philza. I think I’ll be able to find him if I have that,” he declared with way more confidence than Tommy expected from such a shaky plan.

Tommy pulled his communicator out of his pocket and scrolled through his camera roll, pausing when he was faced with a picture of Tubbo, “...Do you think we could put this off for another hour? I’d like to write out a few letters to send back, if that’s alright.”

His eyes remained glued on Tubbo’s deadpan face as Mikey responded, “Of course! Take your time, I’ll go make us all breakfast omelets while you do that. It can’t be good to do all this on an empty tum-tum,” he happily agreed to the terms.

Tommy clutched the communicator tighter, “Thanks,” was all he got out before turning and leaving the atrium in search of a pen and some paper.

He owed Tubbo this much, at least.

---

More than two whole hours went by before everyone finally reconverged in the atrium to enact Mikey’s plan.

Tommy had three letters held together with twine in one hand, each with a different name scrawled across the back, and his communicator in the other.

Chat sat perched and waiting on his shoulder, talons occasionally flexing with anticipation.

Staring down at the letters, Tommy took a deep breath, “Alright-” he looked over at Mikey, “-and all you need from me is a picture of Phil, right? Nothing else?” He clarified, scrolling to one of his few photos of Philza in advance.

Mikey nodded once in confirmation, “One photo is all I need.”

No one else spoke as Tommy held up his communicator so that Mikey could inspect the picture of Phil.

It was only a couple seconds later when he nodded and flashed a thumbs up, “Got it. One super cool mystic portal, coming right up!” He stepped to the center of the atrium and steadied his stance, holding his hands out in front of himself and scrunching his eyes closed.

His brothers all gravitated to his back, Leo and Donnie planting a hand on each shoulder while Raph placed his palm across Mikey’s shell.

Tommy stood between Splinter and Casey, letters clasped in both hands as he watched closely.

It wasn’t long before things started to happen. Gold light gathered in front of Mikey, shooting off flashes of what almost looked like lightning as an artificial wind picked up with them at the center.

Tommy heard Casey inhale sharply when bright gold lines began to spiderweb up Mikey’s arms. They crawled and fractured across his skin, spreading to his brothers.

And, well, Tommy wouldn’t exactly describe the feeling he got when their eyes started glowing as unconcerned, that was for sure.

He suddenly understood where Raph’s reluctance was coming from, because this was scary. Tommy had no idea if they were in pain or not, but he couldn’t shake the fear that he was about to watch the people he’d spent the last few months with shatter into little flecks of golden light all for some portal to the DreamSMP.

An objection caught in his throat, ready to be let out for all to hear when, with a bright flash that had Tommy physically recoiling, the golden cracks along their skin vanished and the gathering light at Mikey’s fingertips transformed into a full blown portal.

Something pushed at Tommy’s back and when he looked down at Splinter, the rat was inclining his head towards the portal, “Go quick, before the portal closes and your crow friend loses its chance,” he advised.

With a sharp nod, Tommy ran up to the portal to finally get it over with.

Frigid air blew into the lair through the portal and Tommy felt himself stiffen at the sight that awaited him on the other side.

Phil and Techno’s cabins were as picturesque as ever, only a mere thirty blocks away at most. Techno’s animals still looked alive and well from what he could see and Tommy was almost tempted by the impulsive desire to go tackle the familiar polar bear on Techno’s deck in a hug.

And then Tommy noticed Phil, staring right back at him with wide eyes and a nose reddened by the cold- he must’ve been doing work outside.

The crow on Tommy’s shoulder started shuffling its talons with a very loud and impatient caw right beside his ear.

Tommy flinched at the volume, flattening his ears in the hopes that his eardrums wouldn’t be blown out by the prick, “Jesus christ, calm down, man! I am having an experience, this is a very weird thing for me, try to be a little more understanding you inconsiderate fucking-” he exhaled a sharp breath through his mouth, “-sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to- that was uncalled for. Go say hi to Dadza for me, yeah?” He lifted the bound together letters closer to the crow.

Chat didn’t immediately take off like Tommy expected, sparing just a couple more seconds to press its beak to his cheek fur. In a rare show of politeness, the crow didn’t tug on Tommy’s fur or ear.

So of course when Chat pulled its head back and looked Tommy in the eyes, the only farewell he was given was a cheekily cawed, “Child.”

The crow snatched the letters and flew through the portal without giving Tommy the chance to retaliate outside of an offended shout after the bird.

The irritation was short-lived though as his eyes followed the crow’s trajectory all the way back to Phil, who hadn’t moved from the last time Tommy looked at him, still staring with that same look of shock on his face.

Only for the man to suddenly surge forward by a step, mouth moving and Tommy didn’t have to be close enough to hear to recognize his own name being mouthed.

Tommy’s limbs were completely stiff as he was stuck between the counterintuitive desire to run out to greet Phil and the even more confusing desire to run away with his tail between his legs until the deep churning in his stomach ceased to exist.

He was so lost in his own head it was a surprise that he even noticed when Mikey started talking.

“I think I can hold this open for another few minutes!” Mikey called out over the wind still whipping through the atrium.

Leo had appeared at Tommy’s side at some point when he was staring at Phil, “You can say hi if you want. You might not have long, but Mikey’s tough and way more stubborn than he looks, he won’t let it close until you’re back with us.” He pat Tommy’s shoulder, encouraging.

And Tommy almost said yes, hell, he had one foot forward before Leo gave the suggestion- but then his gaze slipped past Philza and locked with the crimson eyes of Technoblade himself.

Tommy’s heart jumped into his throat, “Close the portal,” he whispered, still staring at Techno and finding himself entirely unable to tear his eyes away, or even blink.

Leo stepped closer, “Sorry, what was that? It’s too windy-”

At the same time, Techno started walking towards them and Tommy panicked, “Mikey- Mikey, close the portal right fucking now!” He felt strangely breathless as he stumbled back on unsteady legs, latching onto Leo for balance when he accidentally crashed into him.

Techno was getting closer and closer with each passing second, close enough that Tommy could see his frown and the furrowed pinch of his brows- then the portal collapsed inward, disappearing into a shower of gold sparks that faded to nothing before they hit the ground.

The wind died, the atrium was silent, save for Tommy’s own labored breathing and hammering heart.

Leo, who was still acting as Tommy’s main support, looked between Tommy’s face and where the portal had been moments prior, “Wasn’t he that, uh, Blade… Guy? Technoblade, or something? Wasn’t he one of your friends?”

Tommy took a deep breath to calm his frantic heart rate before giving the only answer he had, “It’s complicated.” So, so, so complicated. 

He let go of Leo’s shoulder, standing on his own two feet again, “We used to be friends- kind of? Allies. We were allies, but then I had to choose between him or protecting my best friend, my home.” Tommy sighed heavily, suddenly feeling very tired despite the early hour of the day.

“My head was a complete fuckin’ mess back then, but I don’t think we were ever on the same page.” Tommy never would have been able to stomach helping Techno to raze L’Manberg down to bedrock, no matter how conflicted and betrayed he felt at the time.

Mikey sidled up to his other side, "Well, on the bright side, Chat's back home with Phil, and you're still home with us." He looped an arm around Tommy's neck and pulled him down to rub their cheeks together.

The friction made Tommy’s fur kind of staticy, but Mikey's words were also the only thing making the ill twisting of his insides feel somewhat bearable, so he didn't complain.

“You know…” Raph started from behind them, making Tommy twist his neck to the best of his ability with Mikey still clinging to him (and him still clinging to Mikey, in all honesty) to look at him.

“I think I know just the thing to get our minds off all this,” Raph declared with a faint smirk.

Leo crossed his arms behind his head and cocked a brow, “Oh? Well, don’t leave us hanging, big bro. What’s your pitch?”

Raph punched his fist into his palm, smirk growing into a sharp grin, “Air hockey tournament, winner gets to skip out on cleaning duties for the rest of the month and bragging rights, obviously.”

Now that sounded like exactly the kind of fun distraction Tommy needed to forget about the horrible ball of dread in his stomach.

Donnie’s eyebrows went up skeptically, “Uh, hate to burst your bubble, Raph, but we don’t have cleaning duties now that Shelldon’s repaired,” he pointed out.

Leo tsked, wagging his finger, “Then we shall simply reframe it. Ultimate loser has to wash all the dishes for the rest of the month- we’ll do a losers bracket for fairness- and ultimate winner gets the uncontested pick of whatever movie they so choose tonight, as well as bragging rights,” he declared with a respectable flair of theatrics amping up his voice.

Mikey let go of Tommy, “Oh, it’s on. I hope you’ve all got your dish gloves ready, because I’m about to smoke you fools!” He taunted.

Dishes? For the rest of the month?

Tommy suppressed a shudder at the concept. Peace wasn’t an option, he would have to pop off harder than he’d ever popped off before and absolutely obliterate them in air hockey.

He watched Leo grab an unsuspecting Casey by the wrist, “C’mon, Case, we need you to even out the brackets. Le’go!” Leo dragged him along with reckless abandon as everyone made their way to the arcade.

Tommy hurried to run after them. Maybe Casey wouldn't be horrifically cracked at every game in the arcade like the turtles were and Tommy could pummel him in air hockey to secure his very important not last status.

Because there was no way in hell Tommy was about to take dish duty lying down.

He bumped playfully into Mikey’s side, “I bet I can beat you seven oh,” Tommy challenged, knowing full well that he absolutely could not do that.

But it was all about confidence. Having faith in himself even when he knew full well he was chatting shit without the skill to back it up.

Of course, he could always count on Mikey to take a challenge seriously.

His eyes lit up with a competitive spark, “Oh, you’re about to eat those words for lunch, Tom!” Mikey shot back.

The rest of Tommy’s weird conflicted feelings about seeing the DreamSMP again were shoved aside to be agonized over at a later, lonelier time as he instead let the thrill of a good competition carry him into a good mood that he would cling to until the darkest hours of the night.

But that was then, and this was now.

And now, Tommy was going to go get his ass kicked in air hockey.