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Chapter Text

Mikey was trying everything in his power not to bother his brother.

But whatever he was experimenting with...it looked so cool! Everything Donnie made was cool. He loved science almost as much as Donnie did, and the thought of whatever cool thing he was doing with his gadgets this time made his eyes light up with imagination.

Finally, the urge won, and he slid over to where Donnie was working.

"Watcha doing?"

After getting closer, his excitement grew. The lab was filled with machinery and loads of containers with a strange, colorful liquid that he'd never seen in his life. Donnie gave him a skeptical look before answering.

"I'm...I'm trying to see what this rainbow stuff does." He briefly got up to try to move Mikey. The attempt was in vain, however, as he just got more excited.

"I wanna see! I wanna help!" Mikey was now pushing his brother to see what he was building.

"Mikey, stop." He used his hands as a barrier. "Don't you want to paint or something?"

"I wanna help first." Donnie managed to be able to block him.

"Mikey, I'm busy. I'll show you when it's done."

Mikey wouldn't give up, still trying to see the machines and science stuff. After a while of trying to kick him out, Donnie sighed.

"If you're that desperate, fine, but if you're going to stay, you can't touch anything."

Mikey squealed as Donnie reluctantly led him back into the lab. 

"Okay, okay. But what did the rainbow stuff do so far? It looks like magic. Is it going to give us powers?? Which one would you want?"

Donnie rolled his eyes affectionately. "Just stay and watch, and we'll find out."

Mikey did what he was told and held back his impulses for a while. 

He watched as Donnie used different instruments, trying to apply heat and cold to the container with what Mikey decided to silently nickname the rainbow potion.

Finally, Donnie put a wooden paper clip into the liquid, trying to see if it was some sort of acid. He shook the container. After no longer finding the clip, he put one of his pliers into the liquid.

"Weird."

Mikey perked up. "What did you find?" He peeked over Donnie's shoulder.

"The liquid seems to be pulling my pliers into it." He yanked them out. "So either this liquid has something to do with gravity control or--"

"GRAVITY CONTROL???" Mikey interrupted, "That’s so cool! So it's gonna give us gravity powers??" Much to Donnie's dismay, Mikey soon forgot about staying put and grabbed the container. In retaliation, Donnie tried to take it back.

"Hey!" Mikey yelped.

"First of all, I wasn’t done. Second, I still don’t know what does, and if the gravity option is right, it could crush you, and third--"

Before he could remind Mikey that he wasn't supposed to touch anything, his younger quadruplet had yanked it hard enough that it slipped out of both their hands. They both fell backward, and a tie-dye crater appeared on the floor.

"Mikey...THERE'S A HOLE IN MY LAB!!"

Mikey did feel awful about it. He looked around; maybe there was some sort of miracle to help fix it. 

Donnie seemed to have noticed and sighed, although not completely mollified. "Okay..." he said to himself, "...you've got a hole in your lab....which was caused by a mysterious liquid...It’s not gravity control which is good...now...how do we clean this..?"

Donnie didn't notice the action figure that came through the crater. Mikey, however, saw what happened and went up to the hole. He looked into it, throwing the toy back inside. To his surprise, it returned. Raph and Leo, whose sparring was interrupted by Donnie's yelling, showed up soon after.

"Hey Donnie, the hole is alive!" He threw the figure back into the hole.

The older quadruplets stared in disbelief. 

"Mikey," Raph said, "you've said some wacky things, but this is absolutely absurd--"

The toy reappeared.

"AHHH! What?? Wait--How--what is that??"

Mikey smiled happily. "I told you! I don't know what's going on, but it seems friendly enough if it wants to play catch."

Leo, who seemed a bit confused, walked up to the hole. "Are you sure it's not some sort of portal?" He asked.

"It’s the most likely," Donnie replied. "An object that goes through a portal shouldn't come back unless another portal leading back here is active. But that also doesn't explain how this toy got here in the first place, and there could be other people who saw the portal and threw this in here. I'm not sure why they'd do that, but that's the best guess I can think of." Donnie had started rambling about his theory. "I think you're right, Leo. Although I don't know how to test where it leads. I guess I could--"

"Chirp."

Did....did the hole just chirp?

If any of the brothers' attention wasn’t on the crater, it definitely was now. Leo went in front of everyone and got on his knees, trying to look into the hole.

"Hello?" He called. This was answered with a surprised gasp. Leo finally poked his head through the portal(?) and let out a surprised 'oh' before talking to whoever was there.

"Hey there." No response this time.

"Leo, what's going on?" Mikey called out.

"Leo?" A tiny voice gasped, "That's almost like--"

"One second, you guys," Leo said softly. He backed out of what Mikey was now sure was a portal.

"Good news, weird news. Nothing dangerous, but...there’s a group of tots in there."

Chapter Text

"Tots??" Mikey and Raph exclaimed at the same time. But while Mikey's voice had a mix of shock and excitement, Raph sounded....nervous?

As for Leo, finding a group of tots seemingly by themselves was the last thing he expected from the mysterious portal. Then again, what was he supposed to expect? There's a rainbow vortex in Donnie's lab.

"We can't just leave them. We should probably at least check on them and see if they're really alone." He decided.

Most of his brothers seemed to agree with that. Raph seemed a bit reluctant, but he shrugged.

Leo hopped into the portal with Raph's strange behavior in the back of his mind. Since when did he get nervous? He decided to ask him about it later. Leo had to check on the tots for now. 

Upon arriving, he noticed that they seemed calmer than when he first showed up. That should be a good sign. 

"Is your name Leo?" The slider asked, now grinning instead of hiding behind the snapper with his brothers.

Leo sat down. "Yeah, I'm Leo. What about you? What's your name?"

"Leonardo! We're like the same."

"We call you Leon, though," the soft shell interjected. 

Leo smiled. He did find it strange that their names were the same, but he quickly decided it was a coincidence. "What about your brothers?"

"That’s Dee," the box turtle spoke up, pointing to the soft shell, "and I'm mikeyangelo. And that's Rad." He pointed at the snapper, who chirped.

The box turtle had definitely attempted to say Michelangelo. Was Dee short for Donatello? Was he trying to say Raph? If this was a coincidence, it was a really weird one.

No time for that, though. 

"Why...don't we call you Angelo?" 

Luckily, Angelo liked his new nickname and didn't question the sudden suggestion. Mikey came out of the portal soon after, followed by Donnie.

"So what's--ohmigosh they're so cute!" Mikey cried.

"Don't yell, Mikey," Leo said, nervous that the tots would get scared again. Thankfully, although a bit startled, they seemed to now associate anyone coming through the portal as friendly.

"Is anyone else here?" Donnie asked. Raph finally came out of the portal, sighing with what sounded like both relief and anxiety when he saw the tots.

What was wrong with him today?

"I think someone would have come to check on the kids that are talking to strangers if there was an adult here," Leo said. The tots had decided to investigate his bandana. "Do you know where your mom or dad is?" Leo asked Rad. To his surprise, he didn't get a response, and Dee spoke for him.

"Papa went to get food," Dee replied nonchalantly.

Leo nodded and looked at his brothers. "I guess we can wait till their dad returns. Then we can explain everything to him."

"Yay! Babysitting tots!" Mikey cheered. 

"I don't mind," Donnie said. "I'm sure he'll understand.

* * *

It's not that Raph didn't like tots.

Quite the opposite, actually. That's part of why having to make sure none of them started crying for the past hour stressed him so much. He could tease his brothers or tell them off for something, but tots were more fragile. He feared that with a single wrong word or action, everything would go downhill. And despite how much he wanted to care for them, he didn't know how. He decided that he wouldn't get involved unless necessary. He had to admit, however, that things were going well so far, despite that he was just sitting at the table watching. Leon had convinced Mikey to play the villain in his 'Lou Jitsu' game. Angelo was a dramatic damsel. Donnie was reading to Dee. And Rad...

Wait...where was he?

Raph looked around to find him climbing onto his lap. 

So much for staying out the way.

Raph stiffened up a little. None of them seemed like infants, which was better for him; they were even more fragile than tots. But still. What's he supposed to do about this? 

Rad had a teddy bear in his hands, which he seemed to be trying to show him. 

Calm down Raph. He seems happy enough. Just go along with whatever, and it'll be fine.

"H-hey there. Who's that?" 

The little snapper waved the plush's arms and made a purr-like sound.

Angelo stopped his role for a bit. "He likes you," he beamed.

That's one step in the right direction. But...why wasn't he talking to him then? Come to think of it, he hadn't spoken the entire time they were there.

Was he the baby?

He got a bit nervous before thinking about it. He was much too big to be the youngest. Besides, based on what Leo told them about when he first went into the portal, why would his brothers go to him for protection and not Leon or Dee?

Leo interrupted his thoughts. "So you do like the tots," he teased.

Raph blushed in embarrassment. He had Rad in both arms.

"S-shut up, Leo." 

"Oh, admit it. Tots aren't so bad." He gently nudged Raph.

That wasn't the issue, though Leo did have a point. So far, everything was going smoothly. It couldn't be too much longer until their dad came back with food. They were happy and seemed to trust them.

Maybe this wouldn't be so hard.

Chapter Text

Despite how annoying this was quickly getting, the tots' bickering fondly reminded Donnie of their first meditations. 

The tots were about ready for bed when they had approached Leo, asking what he was doing. After a brief attempt at an explanation, he just agreed to let them try, resulting in this:

"You're supposed to close your eyes." Leon scolded Rad, who responded with a low growl.

"You close your eyes," Dee retorted.

"I am!"

"Then how do you know he isn't?"

"You're also not supposed to be talking," Leo reprimanded gently. He wasn't even meditating anymore, and instead trying to keep everyone under control.

Were they really this difficult in learning this?

Despite his feeling bad for Leo, and now for Splinter, he found the scene somewhat amusing.

"Angelo, we're not sleeping yet." Leo gently shook him awake, just for Angelo to nod off again. He sighed a bit and got up.

"I think that's good enough," he said. He picked up Angelo. 

"Were we that bad?" Dee asked.

"I was great," Leon said.

"You all did well; we just need to keep practicing," Leo reassured.

Donnie watched as each of them were put to bed. Leo then returned to him and their brothers, who were silently watching as well.

"I'd say that went fairly well," Donnie commented, "The day in general, I mean."

"I second that," Raph said. Leo grinned at him, causing Raph to roll his eyes at him. Leo seemed to be more teasing towards him than usual since earlier that afternoon, but Donnie decided to wait to question it.

"What do we do about them now?" Everyone looked in Mikey's direction. "Their dad hasn't returned yet," Mikey reminded them.

They began thinking. "They should hopefully sleep through the night," Leo began. "I think we can go back to check on them tomorrow."

"And....what if they don't sleep the whole night?" Raph asked.

Leo smirked. "You're worried--"

"I swear if you don't shut up about that--just answer the question!" 

"Anyway, they'll be fine," Leo said, still having a smirk on his face. "We'll get some rest and see if their dad returns tomorrow."

"If. And it concerns me that you don't have a backup plan for the million things that could go wrong."

Donnie knew Raph had a point, but Leo wasn't one to change his plans for anything, and Donnie decided it was useless to try to convince him to. Leo ignored the statement and went to his room.

"Well, uh....goodnight," Mikey called out, going to his room as well.

"Sure. Just disregard...forget it. Goodnight Donnie," Raph grumbled.

Donnie watched as each of them left. Afterward, he went to some of the mechanical parts he had and started tinkering with them.

* 

"Chirp."

Donnie sat up. He'd gotten carried away again and ended up sleeping on his desk, but he was used to it. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, wondering if he was hearing things.

"Oh...It’s you," he mumbled. Rad found his way into the portal and was wagging his tail happily.

On one hand, he had to admit that he was impressed at how quickly they learned. On the other, he had to make sure they got back to their house(?) where he was sure they'd be safe.

He picked up Rad (who was surprisingly heavy) and took him back into the portal.

"You brought the big turtles back!" Angelo cheered. This was 100% planned.

Damn, these kids were smart.

"Yep, we're coming," Donnie said "but you guys have to stay here, okay?"

The tots nodded. Phew. He put Rad down and went back to his lab.

"It’s nothing, Sensei," Donnie overheard Raph saying. "That was just Spike."

Donnie peeked over to where Raph was showing Spike to Master Splinter. Spike tried to bite his hand, probably not happy with being falsely blamed for something. Although he looked suspicious, Splinter seemed to accept Raph's explanation.

Slightly frustrated, Raph came up to Donnie as Splinter left.

"Donnie, what happened? What was that?"

"Y--yeah. They learned where the portal is and one of them got into the lab. I managed to get them to stay put, although I don't think their dad's here yet."

"Of course. And based on how early it is, we don't even know how long they slept. I told Leo to rethink his plan. If it weren’t for Spike, Splinter would've been at best suspicious of us."

"I'm gonna guess we're not telling him?"

Raph shook his head. "He won't even let us on the surface, and who knows where the portal leads to." He then mumbled, "Leo is so going to hear it from me."

Donnie nodded. "We should probably watch them, then." They both head to Donnie's lab. "Speaking of Leo, what was up with you two yesterday?"

Raph didn't say anything for a bit. "It’s not that serious." 

"So then you can tell me." 

Raph rolled his eyes. "He's making fun of me for having one of the tots on my lap because he somehow got the idea that I was pretending not to like them."

Donnie took a while to process this. "Well...how do you feel? I did notice you seemed a bit nervous."

"N-not nervous." He was definitely nervous, but Donnie didn't say anything. "Just...I'm just being cautious. So that I know that I'm doing things right."

He let out a soft 'mhm' and started moving stuff. They haphazardly  blocked the portal from sight and went inside.

"Alright, I have a plan," Donnie began.

"What?"

"I'm going to try to get Leo and Mikey informed. Stay with the kids until I come back; it shouldn't be long." 

"Really? You too? We're not discussing this at all??"

Donnie frowned a bit. He did have a point, but what else were they supposed to do? 

"I'll make it quick. There shouldn't be too much stress in a few minutes. Then we'll properly plan how we'll manage this with everyone else."

"I......okay," Raph said. Donnie went into the portal, hearing a soft but obviously nervous sigh as he left.

Chapter Text

Last time he checked, his sons didn't 'chirp.'

Splinter got up from his meditation and went to look for any changes when he found Raph coming from his room in a bit of a panic.

Must’ve beaten me to it, he thought...until Raph turned around and got even more startled seeing him.

"Sensei...I didn’t see you there."

Yes. Maybe that was all. Although it didn't make sense why he'd leave in such a rush, there had to be something for that.

"You seem a bit panicked, Raphael. Is everything alright?"

Raph hesitated. Oh, who was he kidding? He's hiding something, and it was obvious, too.

"I'm fine, it's just....a bad dream...."

That's a new one.

"So you didn't hear any chirping?"

"Ooooh...that. It's nothing, Sensei. That was just Spike."

Raph fumbled to pick up his pet, who then tried to bite him.

Trying to act as though he wasn't suspicious, Splinter nodded and headed towards the dojo. As he left, he heard Raph and Donnie begin to not so discreetly whisper to each other. He sat by the entrance, out of sight, but close enough where he could hear the following conversation:

"Y--yeah. They learned where the portal is and one of them got into the lab. I managed to get them to stay put, although I don't think their dad's here yet."

"Of course. And based on how early it is, we don't even know how long they slept. I told Leo to rethink his plan. If it weren’t for Spike, Splinter would've been at best suspicious of us."

It was then that they decided to be better at whispering. He heard them beginning to walk away.

Close behind, but still out of sight, he looked to see what they were doing in the lab to find that they were...well...attempting to cover something.

It was safe to say that it was a rushed job. He could still see a large and very colorful crater in the lab, which is what they seemed to be trying to hide. They both went into the crater, which Splinter could now confirm was some sort of travel device.

He thought about following them before deciding to give them another chance. Maybe Leo would be honest, since, from what Splinter heard, he seemed to be a part of this.

He went back into the dojo.

* * *

Mikey got up and rubbed his eyes. 

He immediately went towards Donnie's lab. He had to check on the tots, and besides, they were so cute! He would be more than happy to see them again.

Much to his surprise, he saw Donnie come out of his lab just as Mikey was trying to go in. 

"Oh, good," he exhaled, "You're up. Where's Leo?"

"Hm?" Leo replied groggily.

"Perfect! You’re all here; we need a plan."

"Huh? Donnie, what happened?" Leo asked, still waking up.

"So...basically, their dad still isn't back yet. Raph's watching them, but we need to know what the new plan is. I told him that we were all going to meet up with him. "

Leo nodded. "Alright, I'll think of something."

Mikey tilted his head. "That just means more babysitting, right?"

"Right," Donnie responded, "but we need a way to do so without Splinter getting suspicious."

"Wait a minute--you didn't tell him???" Leo asked incredulously.

"He wouldn't have let us. Besides, it was Raph's idea," Donnie defended.

Leo seemed slightly frustrated, but sighed and temporarily dropped the topic. Although he saw both concerns, Mikey was more eager to pass what he saw as a fun challenge. He didn't mind the sneaking around if it meant he could prove his skills.

It only made sense that the better you were at hiding, the better ninja you were.

"Considering that, we'll need some sort of time shift system," Leo proposed, "I just don't know how it would work..."

"We'll discuss it," Donnie said. "I told Raph I wouldn't leave him alone for too long anyway."

* * *

Okay, you've sort of done this before, Raph thought, If you can watch them for a few hours, you can do a few minutes.

And sure, he was doing this alone, but it'll be fine.

...Hopefully. 

"Big red, wanna color with me?" Angelo asked.

That was such an embarrassing nickname, but he can't say that to him. 

"I have so many cool pictures. I made them all myself."

Raph let him grab his hand. "Oh, well that sounds--"

"Wait!" Leon interrupted, "Watch this first!" He began his imitation of fighting moves. 

"Yeah, cool. You're pretty strong--"

"Look what I learned to make!" Dee announced. Although it was a simple set of battery powered lights, Raph was admittedly impressed. How'd a tot make that? 

"Okay, wait that's--how'd you do that??" Dee seemed way too happy about the compliment.

He felt Rad grab onto his leg. Raph froze. 

"Uh....I like you too, but that's not a good idea..." He slowly lifted his leg to try to shake Rad off.

...Which turned out to be a bad idea, as Leon and Angelo joined their brother.

"Uh....damn it, now what...guys I can't really--"

As he expected, he fell backwards. The tots let go giggling.

"Again!" Angelo pleaded.

Again?? Did they want him to crush them??

"Iiii have a better idea," Raph said. He picked up Angelo, tossing him just high enough to know he'd be able to catch him. The other two eagerly hopped for their turn when they saw the process.

Easily excited. This should help.

He repeated this with all of them (except Dee; he shied away) for a while, not noticing his brothers coming through the portal.

"Awww--" Mikey cooed.

"Mikey, don't start," Raph immediately snapped. He seemed a bit startled. Crap. Raph was still on edge thanks to Leo. He exhaled. "Don't worry about that. You got everyone, Donnie?"

"Yep."

"I've been thinking for a bit about this, and the only way to do this is to have some sort of time shift system," Leo said.

Mikey was spacing out. Raph wasn't sure whether to be frustrated that he wasn't paying attention, or glad he seemed to forgive him so easily.

"The main issue is that we don't know how much time the shifts will be. Having them too long or short will be suspicious."

Donnie seemed to be thinking. "Well....I'm usually in my lab. I think I got it. I'll be there most of the time, and then every hour or so one of you should pretend you need something."

Leo nodded.

"That’s not a bad idea," Raph complimented. "What do we do if he sees a pattern though?"

"Worse comes to worst, we could just tell him," Leo interjected.

"That’s gonna ruin everything."

"Really? Raph, the only reason we even have to worry about this is because you didn't say anything."

"It wouldn't have made a difference. He wouldn't have let us and we'd be back here."

"And how do you know?"

How did he not understand yet?? "Leo, where exactly are we?"

"What?"

"Where. Are. We?"

"How am I supposed to know--"

"That’s the problem! If he won't let us on the surface, why on heaven and earth would he let us go wherever this is??"

"We....would have....convinced him..."

Raph stared at him.

"And anyway, I'm the oldest, which means this plan is final."

Somebody help. "By what?? A few minutes??"

Donnie interrupted. "Guys, are we really doing this now...?"

"Boys!" Someone called, throwing the quadruplets off and instantly grabbing the tots' attention.

Chapter Text

Leo looked up. Coming from an opening from above was a short rat mutant.

Okay, maybe he didn't look like Splinter, but these 'coincidences' are getting ridiculous.

"Papa!" Angelo cheered.

His dad gave a soft smile at his kids before looking at the quadruplets. Leo couldn't tell how he was feeling, but if he could, he'd guess confusion and curiosity. He didn't look upset, and that's a pretty normal reaction.

"They’re our friends," Angelo said, pointing at them. That's big Leo, big red, big purple, and big orange."

He continued staring. Donnie finally spoke.

"Funny story, uh, our little brother here accidentally made something that transported us here--which sounds strange, but there's actually a portal over there." 

The new mutant gave a confused look.

"....But anyway, we were just making sure nothing happened to them. I don't know if you were alright with that...."

The mutant nodded. "I appreciate it, actually. I can see you all got along well."

 Leo spoke up this time, almost forgetting the shock of earlier. "Oh, yeah. It wasn't a problem...uh..." 

"Call me Splinter."

Now it was their turn to stare because you've got to be joking with these so called coincidences.

Leo awkwardly put a hand behind his head. "Yeah...no problem Splinter." He softly exhaled. This was so weird...

Splinter began preparing food for the tots. Leo looked at his brothers; they did do well, didn't they?

"We can probably head out now." Upon saying this, he barely noticed the tots turning in their direction.

He decided not to think too much about it and gestured his brothers to follow him into the portal. The quadruplets exited the lab slowly, subconsciously forming a circle.

Mikey tried to say something. "Do you think--"

"There you are. You are all late," their Sensei scolded. "It’s time for training."

Leo wordlessly stared at him, wondering how any of them could've forgotten.

* * *

"Gomen nasai, Sensei," 

He had let them sparr for a while, but couldn't help wondering what they possibly could've been doing for all of them to be so late. 

"My sons," Splinter began, "I understand that you are not usually late, especially not as late as today."

They looked at each other, then back at him. Well, except Raph, who looked at Leo as though he expected something from him.

"Where were you guys?" There was no response. They went back to exchanging glances. "I trust that you're not getting into trouble?"

"Of course," they all said quickly. Though not quickly enough where they seemed to be lying. So whatever it is they were hiding was serious, not just some kind of mischief. 

Splinter looked at Leo. "So I suppose telling me what happened shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Raph looked back, even more expectantly, at Leo, who looked at the ground, seemingly nervous. Leo sighed, causing Raph a mix of unreadable emotions.

"Master Splinter, what happened was--"

Splinter barely saw Mikey shove Donnie.

"Hey! What was..." for some reason, that sentence was left unfinished. Instead, Donnie smirked and shoved him back, causing him to bump into Raph.

"Hey!"

"Blame Donnie!" Mikey said, almost....playfully?

"You started it!"

Leo groaned. "I stop paying attention to you guys for one second--Hey! Raph, no!"

Before either of them could say anything, Raph was chasing his brothers around.

Well, now he had to go get them.

When he found them, they were were wrestling, as he expected to happen. What he found strange, though, was that it was almost like they were taunting each other instead of trying to get back at each other. Meanwhile, Leo came up to them, trying to yell at them to stop.

He tapped his cane on the floor, which finally caught their attention.

"What is the meaning of--"

"Mikey's bullying meeee!" Donnie whined and since when did Donnie make a scene like that?

"That’s enough, all of you," Splinter finally sighed. The boys obeyed, each of them going their separate ways, but Splinter noticed that they were trying hard to keep a straight face. Leo seemed to be the only one actually upset.

Splinter sighed. As much as he loved them, those kids could be a riot.

* * *

Donnie approached Mikey's room. Mikey was on the floor, happily painting something.

"Hey, Mikey."

Mikey looked up. "What’s up?"

Donnie didn't have to hold it in anymore. He burst out laughing. "How did you think of that so fast?"

"Oh, this morning?" Mikey started giggling. "I just thought if I made a distraction big enough, everyone would forget what they were doing."

They laughed for a bit, before Donnie relaxed and smiled. He patted Mikey's back gently. "Very clever."

....

....

Splinter had honestly forgotten about finding out what his sons were up to. 

That is, until that night, when he was doing his usual meditation. His ears perked up as he heard light footsteps approach him, then stopping when they got right in front of him. After a bit, he opened his eyes to Leo, sitting in front of him and squirming remorsefully.

"Master..."

Splinter got on his knees. "Is something on your mind, Leonardo?"

"Yeah...well...I need to talk to you."

Chapter Text

Raph finished breakfast and went back to his room.

He sat on his bed, then picked up Spike and gently stroked his head. "It’s kinda weird," Raph said, talking to his pet, "Waking up first was great when we were younger. Now it's just boring."

Spike looked at him, seemingly willing to listen.

"Well, I have you for company for a while. You're always a great companion." Spike bumped his head against Raph's arm. "...I do owe you for pinning the chirps on you yesterday. It's not like you'll get trouble or anything, but it's the least I can do."

He pet Spike again.

"This is spooky," someone giggled, "..But I don't see no one.."

Raph got up, putting his pet down. "You'll stay there, right Spike?"

Spike just stared at him. 

Raph walked out his room, then paused, listening for where the voice came from.

"We're on a super secret mission," the small voice then sang.

Donnie's lab. Was he awake to hear this?

Raph went inside, finding Leon and Rad, likely looking for Raph or his brothers. His theory was proven correct when Rad ran up to hug him and Leon got excited.

"We did it! Mission complete!"

Raph gently patted the snapper's head. "Great job guys, but what are you doing here?"

Leon grabbed his hand. "We're bored and we miss you so come oooooon!"

Rad softly growled, seemingly agreeing.

"What about your brothers?" Raph asked.

"They want you back too!" Leon whined, continuing to try to lead him. "Come. On. Raphie, help!"

Rad immediately tried pushing Raph, which quickly turned into aggressive shoves.

"Okay, okay," Raph cried, "I gotta get my brothers, then we'll come back."

Donnie finally sat up. Seriously, how'd he sleep through all that?

"Raph....?" Donnie rubbed his eyes. "They’re back again?"

"Yeah." He looked at the kids. "Wait inside and be very quiet, okay?"

Leon made a 'watching you' gesture before going back into the portal with his brother.

Raph made a head tilt. "I guess...we're still going along with your plan?"

"Seems like it." He got up and rubbed his eyes. "Wanna get our brothers?"

*

"What if we're late for sparring again?" Mikey asked.

"We'll watch the time today. Which...it probably would've helped if we did yesterday..." Donnie answered.

"Besides," Raph added, "Donnie's going by himself for a bit. We'll just tell him when it's time."

"He is?"

Raph sighed. "Mikey, we went over this." 

"Well, since you know now, try to remember," Donnie said.

Raph looked over at Leo. "You're not gonna add any opinions?"

Leo had been much quieter than usual, and he looked nervous. Raph waited a bit for a response.

"Leo??"

"...oh, yeah?"

Raph looked at him with a mix of skepticism and concern. "You have nothing to say about this?"

Leo looked like he was processing what they were talking about. ".....Good luck."

That wasn't close to what he expected.

"Oooookay." Donnie unnecessarily added. 

"It’s settled...I guess. We'll tell you when sparring starts. Keep the tots busy for a bit."

Donnie nodded and hopped into the portal. Raph and Mikey looked at Leo.

"You good Leo? It looks like you're scared of something," Mikey wondered.

Leo gave a strained smile. "I'm okay."

Raph didn't believe it for a second. "Oh yeah, I'm definitely going to believe that everything's fine when you look like a chipmunk that's about to explode." He'll apologize later. "How are we supposed to--"

"I'll explain later!" Leo panicked.

Raph narrowed his eyes. "Fine."

* * *

"Hey, where's the other turtles?" Leon crossed his arms and gave a suspicious look.

"They’re...a bit busy," Donnie summarized.

"But we wanted all of you!" Dee complained.

"Are they gonna come soon?" Angelo asked.

"Yeah, they miss you too," Donnie said "Let's watch something for now, okay?" 

The tots eagerly ran to their recordings.

"Let's watch Jupiter Jim!" Leon said.

"No, Lou Jitsu!" Dee grabbed one of the recordings.

"Easy guys. Let's have a vote," Donnie proposed.

The majority was for Lou Jitsu. Leon pouted.

"Hey, don't worry," Donnie soothed. "How about you pick the Lou Jitsu movie and we'll watch Jupiter Jim next time?"

Leon lit up at this. He gave a recording to Donnie, who then set up the movie.

Donnie stood behind the couch as the movie started. That went pretty well. He relaxed, watching the movie with them for a bit.

After a several minutes, he heard a light tap on a nearby wall.

He looked around to see Raph waving at him and motioning him towards the portal. 

Donnie nodded. Their training wouldn't take too long, and by the time they came back, they'd be at least 3/4 of the way finished with the movie. 

He went into the portal with Raph, confident that everything would go accordingly.

*

Everything should've gone accordingly.

And depending on how it's viewed, it kinda did. Until they returned to where the tots were and Raph did a 2 second head count.

"ONE'S MISSING!!!"

Donnie froze. "...what?"

Donnie ran over to the couch. Angelo, Leon, Dee-- you have got to be--why and how??

"Where's your brother??" Raph cried.

There was a moment of silence. "He got worried," Angelo finally whispered.

Raph was very clearly panicking now. "No, no, no! Why'd you let him--"

"Raph, Raph, breathe." Mikey went over to him. "Follow me. Breathe in..."

Angelo went over to them and patted Raph on the back. Once he was calmer (he still looked pissed to be honest), Donnie got the quadruplets' attention. 

"There aren’t many places he could've gone. Let's just go back home and find him quick." He said.

Everyone nodded. Except...wasn't this the kind of thing Leo would help with? Donnie looked at him. He looked more sick than, well, absolutely terrified.

Donnie went into the portal. Maybe this was his absolutely terrified? But he looked like that for a while now, even before this chaos now that he thought about it...

The quadruplets rushed outside the lab. 

"Is there a problem?" Master Splinter asked. They turned around to find him carrying Rad, and let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Sensei’s got him!" Mikey yelled "Thank Go--"

They processed the situation.

"Sensei’s got him...oooooohhh...."

"I believe you have some explaining to do." He put Rad down. The kid went straight to Donnie, kicked him, and--talk about guilt tripping--made the most pathetic chirp imaginable.

Well, it worked. Donnie picked him up as he went to hug him.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry," Donnie whispered. Raph stopped the staring that Donnie had just noticed and summarized the past 3 days. He then looked at Leo, half shrugging.

Leo who...wasn't nervous at all?

That can't be...

Wait...

Splinter shook his head. Then, as if he could hear his thoughts, said: "Leonardo already told me. I was hoping you boys would do the same."

Okay, so he was right. Everyone turned to Leo, who now looked embarrassed.

"I thought you wouldn't let us go," Raph sighed.

"So I've heard," Splinter replied, "And I know why you would think that." He slightly smiled. "I think if you were this determined to protect these kids, I would have understood if you tried convincing me."

Now Raph looked embarrassed.

"That being said, go on. Be aware of the time moving forward."

No one moved for a bit. Donnie wasn't sure if it was because they were as surprised as he was. Finally, Mikey smiled.

"Thanks Sensei! Come on guys!"

Mikey ran to the portal. Donnie began to follow. Rad tapped him and gestured towards his leg. 

"Oh..I'm okay. Don't worry."

"Hey, Leo?" He heard Raph say.

"Yeah?"

"You don't...look like a chipmunk."

"....Thanks?"

Chapter Text

"I don't know guys. He didn't seem shy at all."

The quadruplets had gone into an interesting discussion about why Rad wasn't talking to them. Mikey didn't remember how it started, but he did think it was a good question.

Leo snapped a few times. "Let me try something." He called Rad over. "Hey buddy! Come for a second?"

Rad got up from where he was coloring with Angelo and ran to hug tackle Leo.

"Woah! How are you doing?" Leo asked.

"Chiiiirup."

"Well there's something," Mikey said. 

"Here," Leo said, putting Rad down. "You can go back."

Raph looked confused. "So..."

"Confirming that it wasn't shyness," Leo responded.

"I see."

Mikey thought for a bit. "Hold on guys. I might have an idea."

His brothers looked at each other, then back at Mikey. Mikey didn’t wait too long for a reaction and went over to Rad and Angelo.

"What are you coloring?" 

Raph facepalmed. "He doesn't say anything, so you think talking to him will get him to talk?"

"No, seeing what happens!"' Mikey whisper yelled. His plan hadn't even started and they were doubting it.

"Gonna draw our family," Angelo said.

"I see." Now he had to try again. "And you’re helping?" 

He noticed Rad look at Angelo, anticipating something.

"Yeah, he's helping me."

Rad looked back at the drawing.

Mikey was beginning to notice a pattern.

He'd noticed when Leo asked him a question the first day and Dee answered instead. If he did respond to someone, it was with a growl, chirp, or purring(?)

Otherwise...

He went back to his brothers. "I think I figured it out."

They looked genuinely impressed.

"You figured it out by asking two questions?" Donnie asked. 

Mikey shrugged. "I guess so. But anyway, he expects everyone else to talk for him."

They seemed to be thinking. Leo nodded. "That kinda makes sense actually," he finally said.

"So we just...tell them not to?" Mikey asked.

"Pretty much. We'll have to talk to Splint--uh...their dad too."

Mikey nodded, trying to suppress the nervousness beginning to rise. He seemed nice enough. He said their help was appreciated.

But still. What if he didn't trust him? His own brothers barely did.

He shook his head. Donnie said he was clever. He might see that too.

Stay positive, he scolded himself.

"Yeah, I'll go tell him." He gave a weak smile and went to find the kids' dad.

*

Mikey found Splinter trying to entertain Leon. He was teaching his son how to skate in the empty space.

Eventually, he stood off to the side, letting the kid ride around. Mikey took a breath and shuffled towards him.

"Uh...hi."

Splinter looked up, and gently smiled. "Did you need anything?"

"N-not really. I noticed something and I hope it's not too personal...or rude...or stupid...or--"

The smile faded and he now looked concerned. "You can tell me." 

This relaxed Mikey a little, though he still had his head down. "Okay it's just...I saw that one of the tots weren't talking yet and I think it's--"

"You're talking about red?"

"Huh? Uh..."

He smiled again, though this one was more embarrassed. "He can talk."

Mikey looked up in shock. "Wait, what? Then how come..."

Splinter laughed nervously. "When he's playing by himself, I'll hear him mumbling to himself. I just can’t get him to talk to other people." He sighed, keeping his embarrassed smile. "It’s not helping that I'm feeding into it by letting everyone talk for him."

So he was right? He didn't know what to say anymore, and ended up just staring at him.

"I have a feeling you wouldn't have brought this up if you hadn't noticed."

Mikey nodded. "I can help...if you want."

Splinter's smile became brighter. "That would be nice."

*

With a short explanation to his brothers, they agreed to help.

"Okay, let's try again. We're going to ask your brother a question, and you guys can't answer for him," Leo instructed kindly.

"Why?" 

"But he can't talk." 

Leon and Angelo spoke at the same time.

Mikey smiled knowingly. "I think if we believe enough, he'll be able to do it."

Dee grimaced. "That doesn't make any sense.."

"Let's just see," Leo said. "What’s your favorite thing?" 

"I think I know--" 

"Let him try, Angelo."

There was silence for a bit.

"Brothers!" Rad said, just loud enough for them to hear.

"What??" Leon yelled in shock. 

"We did it guys!" Mikey hyped, "Thanks to your belief--"

"But I didn't believe...." Dee said.

"T-that’s okay. The point is, we don't have to talk for him anymore."

"Yay!" Angelo cheered, then hugged Rad. He was hugged back, although the snapper looked a bit confused.

They continued helping Rad, which soon turned into a QnA with the tots. Mikey noticed their dad contently watching the excitement.

Chapter Text

Raph felt someone lightly tapping him.

He opened his eyes--or maybe Angelo did it for him.

"Hi big red!"

Raph gently pushed his hand away. "What....what are you doing here?"

"We want you to come back!"

"I will, I will." Raph got up. "But you’re supposed to be back home."

He briefly checked on Spike, then picked Angelo up and went outside of his room, heading towards the lab.

"Leon what are you doing on the table??"

Instead of the taking the hint like Raph hoped, Leon grinned.

"I found you!"

"Leon, please, get off the table!"

Leon jumped off. In a swift move, Raph caught him.

"Not like--ugh whatever. Don't do that again! I'm serious!"

Leon smiled mischievously. Raph took both kids back into the portal.

"Now, stay here," Raph ordered.

"Stop running away," Leon sassed. 

"We're not--" Raph sighed. He felt his patience draining, but he needed to keep it together.  "Okay, guys. We have things to do sometimes but we're always going to come back. I just need you to stay here, please, for the love of all that is good just wait for me."

Leon looked suspicious. 

"Okay!" Angelo chirped.

Raph let out a heavy sigh of relief, then went back through the portal.

Upon arriving at the lab, however, he encountered a startled Leo who was carrying Rad and--oh God--had sharpie drawn all over his face!

At first, Raph just stared in shock.

"Raph...if you--"

"Hi," the kid said as if he didn't do a thing.

And despite what he knew Leo was about to say, Raph lost it.

"He...oh God...dude your face," He struggled between laughs.

Leo blushed. "Just...just take the kid."

He took Rad, trying to calm himself. "Did you draw on big Leo's face?"

"....handsome."

Any effort he made to stop laughing was wasted. "No remorse....No. Damn. Remorse."

"Yeah, keep laughing," Leo snorted, "I'll get you back."

They went into the portal and Raph put the snapper down. "You'll get me back?" He still remembered the first few days; Leo teasing him when he was too friendly with the tots and even calling him a tsundere. (Whatever that's supposed to mean. Weren’t they people who punched anyone unfortunate enough to compliment them?) "As far as I'm concerned, we're even."

Donnie showed up with Dee.

"Here, like I said," Donnie told him. He gave Dee several mechanical parts. "No more taking my stuff."

Dee smiled, going into his room. Both of their attentions were on Donnie. "What's a tot going to do with that?" Leo asked.

Donnie looked in their direction. "You have no ide--pffft!!"

Leo's face went red. "Don't ask."

"No need. I could guess," Donnie snickered.

* * * 

Master Splinter shook his head. "You let them do all that?"

"Let them??" Leo asked incredulously. Great. First his brothers make fun of him, now his dad was blaming him for the chaos the kids caused.

"As far as I know, none of you set any boundaries, am I right?"

He had to admit, he had him there. Leo sighed.

"I'm not going to go as far as to blame you, but he has a point," Donnie commented.

"Okay," Leo said. "Come on guys, let's--"

"Good morning guys!" Mikey walked towards them, then stopped in his tracks when he saw Leo. "You know what...I'll...catch up...I just need...uh...to...plan something. Yep. See you soon."

He walked backwards to where he came, grinning the whole way. Leo figured he was up to something, but pushed the thought to the back of his mind for now.

*

"Is everyone seated?" Leo asked.

"Yes!" The tots said in unison.

"Hey Leo!" Mikey announced mischievously. Leo turned around and was met with a brief flash of light.

"What the--Mikey if you took Sensei’s camera..."

Mikey hid something behind his back.

He didn't have time to chase him for it. "You know what? Consider yourself lucky, Raph; you're officially off the hook."

"...He says as if I did anything," Raph mumbled.

Donnie started the meeting. "Alright guys; I'm sure we all want to have fun here, but in order to do that, we need some rules."

"First," Raph said, "No one's going through the portal without us."

"What if you run away again?" Leon asked with concern.

"We're not running away; we talked about this." Raph struggled a bit, trying to explain himself. "Okay, you know how you guys have to eat and sleep. It's the same thing.  But we're going to come back."

"If you say so..."

"Okay, next," Leo continued, "We don't draw on people." This earned him giggles from his brothers.

"As much as art is appreciated," Mikey added. 

"Did you like my kitty?" Angelo asked.

Leo blushed. "Yeah....just draw it on paper next time."

"Mew!" Rad cheered.

"Alright, one more thing," Donnie said, "If you need something, you gotta ask."

"What if you say no?" Dee asked.

"Then that means no."

"So I can take it."

"No, that means we don't want you to have it right now."

Dee huffed softly, making a face that resembled boredom and annoyance.

"If there's another rule that needs to be established, we're all going to meet here," Donnie concluded.

"Or we could just add it as we go," Raph said.

"Yeah, that works. Alright, you guys can go."

"Okay!" The kids shouted, immediately running off.

"That went fairly well," Raph said.

Leo remembered Mikey. "So, are you giving up the camera?"

Mikey backed up slowly. "What camera?"

Leo went for the camera. "Don't start, Mikey! Give it up."

Mikey evaded Leo's attempts until eventually Leo grabbed his arm, turning the keep away game into them wrestling for the camera.

"Should we...." Donnie started.

"Nah, this is fun to watch," Raph shrugged.

Raph is not off the hook anymore.

Chapter Text

"That's absolutely adorable," Mikey squealed.

Having been a few weeks since they accidentally made the portal (although Donnie still thought it was mostly Mikey,) the quadruplets have found several behaviors of the tots. Today, for example, they caught Rad carrying Angelo on his shoulders to help him reach some of his art supplies. After retrieving what they needed, they noticed the older kids.

"Hi big turtles!" Angelo greeted.

"We're 'dorable?" Rad asked.

"Of course you are," Mikey cooed. He patted them both and let them run off.

As they went to begin coloring, Rad patted his brother. Donnie smiled and went to supervise. Another thing they had noticed was the kids beginning to copy whatever they did. He also thought about how they continued to try to meditate ever since Leo introduced them to it.

Kinda like mimicry. Donnie nodded to himself at the comparison.

And honestly? It was kinda cute.

It seemed like they were a good influence, after all.

Rad broke one of the crayons. 

Angelo went over to him. "Uh oh.."

"Damn it..."

The quadruplets turned in Rad's direction, who went to get another crayon, not even worried about what happened.

Raph scooped him up. "Where did you learn that??" He asked with visible panic. He was met with confused silence.

"Come on, buddy. Who taught you that? Who'd you hear it from?"

"....You." Rad mumbled.

Okay, most of the time they were a good influence.

"Oh...uh..." Raph was now blushing with clear embarrassment. "Okay...just, uh--"

Leon bumped into a shelf while running, dropping several things. He turned around. "Aw da--"

"No no no no! Don't finish that!"

"Why?"

The quadruplets looked at each other.

"..let's sit down and I'll explain," Leo said, finally recovering from the shock. The kids sat down in front of him. 

"Phew....okay. I know it's hard to understand right now. However, some words aren't good to say. So let’s not--"

"You say it before," Angelo said with a hand raised.

"Right...uh..."

"So why can you say that and we can't?" Dee chimed in.

"Er..."

As much as he didn't like doubting his brothers, he expected something like this. Kids were smart, observant, and definitely did not have a problem speaking their mind.

"What big Leo is trying to say," Donnie began, "is that kids shouldn't say that."

"So big people?" Rad asked.

"Well--"

"This doesn't make any sense," Dee sighed.

Raph seemed to be able to think quickly. "Sometimes big people do what they want, whether it's okay or not. But we want you guys to want to say good stuff." Not the full story, but maybe they'd get it.

There was brief silence.

"Ooooh," Leon said "So you guys don't talk nice to each other, and you want us to talk nice. So we don't feel bad."

Raph hid a bit in his shell. "...something like that..."

Angelo copied him.

Leo fake coughed in his hand. "So...if that's cleared up, let's try not to say that again?"

The tots nodded.

*

It's only been an hour.

"Dee said a bad word!" Leon yelled.

"You can't prove it," Dee said mischievously.

...This might take a while to fix.

Chapter Text

Upon entering the portal one day, the quadruplets had just barely seen an entrance close.

"Kids?" Raph called.

The four tots came back inside. "Hi," Leon said.

"Woah, hold on! Where are you going?" Leo asked.

"Exploring!"

"Waiit a minute. We told your dad we'd take care of you; no one’s going anywhere." Leo stressed.

Mikey nodded in agreement. "It wouldn't be fun if you got lost."

"But we stay in this one spot every day," Leon argued.

"Yeah!" Dee agreed.

What even brought this on? 

"You guys and papa can leave."

Oh. That made sense.

"They’re kinda right," Mikey said. He got some confused looks, but the comment was left alone.

Donnie tried to speak up. "I know, but--"

"I wanna adventure!" Angelo cheered.

"Me! Me too!" Rad squeaked. His tail wagged with excitement.

"Come on," Mikey said, "Let's listen to big Leo."

In response, Angelo got on his knees and made puppy eyes. When they saw him struggling not to give in, the other kids copied him.

"Look at their faces!!" Mikey squealed.

"Dude...who's side are you on?" Raph grumbled. Meanwhile, Leo looked like he was struggling too.

"Guys no...." Leo sighed.

"Please big Leo," Angelo begged. Mikey joined them in making puppy eyes.

"Does that answer your question?" Donnie asked Raph.

After giving Mikey a betrayed look, Leo nodded. "We're coming with you. We'll stay in the sewers. Everyone stay next to us, and follow what we say."

The tots squealed and jumped, then ran around Leo in circles.

"We're gonna adventure!"

"So..." Mikey said, "You're on board?"

"Honestly? No," Leo responded. "But I think we can do this. We'll watch them, stay together, and take note of our surroundings. What's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

"Admit it, Leo! We're. Lost."

It was clear that Leo didn't want to admit it. Mikey looked at Raph, then back at him.

"We..we're not..." He hugged Angelo a bit, who he had been carrying. 

Mikey loved that Leo didn't want anyone panicking, but he knew denial wouldn't help.

"What are we then?" Raph asked, definitely getting frustrated. "Nobody knows where we are, nobody knows where we're going, last time I checked, that means we're lost!"

Mikey squirmed uncomfortably. "Raph..? You're--"

"Not now, Mikey, I know!"

Most of the time a reminder not to panic worked, but in instances like this, Mikey decided it best not to keep bothering him, and so awkwardly lowered his head. He heard Raph softly sigh. 

"Leo--"

"Okay, okay...maybe a bit displaced." 

Raph rolled his eyes. He then approached Mikey and briefly patted his head.

Rad gave a soft and worried chirp. Mikey heard him and got down to his level.

"Wanna hug?" 

Rad immediately took the offer. "Hug!"

Mikey picked him up, gently cradling him.

"It'll be okay," he said, doing his best to comfort the kid and himself. "We'll find a way back. Don't be afraid."

Rad purred(?) softly, tightening his hug. Meanwhile, Donnie seemed to be staring at the ground.

"Guys? I think I know how to get back."

Everyone turned to face him. 

"We can get home?" Angelo asked.

"Yep. You guys remember Leon's stick?"

No one even knows where he got it from, but towards the start of their adventure, Leon had gotten a giant stick and tried to carry it around. He very quickly gave up and just dragged it along.

"The annoying one that made so much noise?" Dee asked.

"Hey!" Cried Leon.

"But it was."

"Guys, it's okay!" Donnie said, "I found that it made scratches along the ground. They're small, but we'll definitely get back if we follow the trail."

Mikey looked at where Donnie had referenced.

"Hey, you're right. I can see it."

"I wanna see!" Leon exclaimed. He and Dee crouched down to inspect the floor. Rad and Angelo got the quadruplets to let them join.

After giving them a brief but satisfactory amount of time to look, Donnie began leading. "Follow me guys."

It took a bit, but the strategy worked. Eventually, the group found where they had originally traveled from, making the tots happier than when they left.

"We're home, we're home!" They immediately ran up to Donnie to hug him. Donnie accepted the gesture, holding tightly until he felt Dee struggling.

"..squeezing me...!"

"Ah! Sorry." He let go, allowing them to run off.

Raph immediately dropped himself on the couch, sighing with relief. He didn't even question the sudden hug tackles he got from the kids, and patted them gently. They then ran to Mikey.

Careful of Dee, Mikey gently hugged them. Then everyone aside from Rad ran off to find Leo.

A bit surprised, he sat down. "Were you scared?"

Rad looked around. "Little bit.."

Mikey smiled. "You did good though."

He accepted the comment with another hug, and went with his brothers in search for Leo.

All things considered, today went pretty well.

...

...

No one else noticed.

Donnie did, though. It was definitely subtle, but as Donnie went through the portal back to his lab, it glitched. 

He stopped, then turned in a single motion to inspect it.

Nothing.

He put a hand in, taking it back out quickly.

Still, everything seemed fine.

He watched the portal for a bit longer, then left; a bit confused, definitely worried, but he put it aside for now.

Chapter Text

"Play Lou Jitsu with us! We need a rescue person!"

Raph smiled, although if he was being completely honest, the damsel was the last role he wanted.

"Okay, okay. I'll join," Raph agreed. Leon had him sit down. 

"Raph's the bad guy--"

"Wait!" Angelo yelled. "I wanna join!"

"Huh? Oh...uh...you can be Ralphie's sidekick. Right Raph?"

It was then Raph saw that Rad seemed a bit off. He looked distracted, not as energized, and overall...sad.

Why did he look sad?

Angelo pretended to put a cage on him (How do you even...nevermind. Logic isn't needed.)

"Now you're trapped," Angelo giggled.

"In positions guys," Leon said, "I'll save you, big red!" 

The play fighting started soon after. Despite his initial thoughts about the role, he quickly decided it was a good thing his only job was to sit there.

As they played, Raph could confirm that there was definitely something bothering the snapper. He had seen their game enough times to know he was being rougher than usual. 

Angelo seemed to have noticed too, and tapped out with an early 'defeat.'

Leon however...

"Yeah! Just one baddie left!"

Raph continued to watch. These strikes seemed wild, miscalculated...

Emotional. They seemed aggressive.

Oh no....

By the time Raph had a semblance of how to get them to stop without ruining their game, Rad had already swung too hard. Not only did he smack his brother, the spikes on his arm grazed Leon, and it turns out they were sharp. 

The scratches left were small, but definitely bleeding. Rad stopped, looking in horror at his arm, then Leon.

It was quiet for a bit, as Raph got up from his position.

"Hey, are you--"

Leon put a hand to his face, saw the blood, and shrieked.

Everyone turned to the now bawling kid. Raph uselessly hovered over him, trying while panicking himself to calm him down.

"I-it's okay. We'll clean it up and--"

He heard a whimper from Rad, followed by more crying.

"Wait--no no no it was an accident!" He looked back and forth frantically. Donnie, who was showing Dee some of his creations, saw him struggling and went over to them.

He picked up Leon just as Angelo began crying too.

"Here, I'll take care of him." Rubbing his shell gently, Donnie carried Leon to the bathroom. 

Raph was afraid Dee would start crying too, but instead the soft shell hid in his shell, likely trying to avoid the noise.

His focus was now on the two left. How do you calm crying tots? 

He needed to think. He thought about Spike. It wasn't exactly the same, but maybe his strategy for when he was scared might help. 

He sat down and got their attention, holding his arms out.

"Uh...hey--"

Rad and Angelo hugged him before he could say anything else, then settled on his lap.

Okay...good start.

"That's it. No need to cry."

"..am I bad brother...?" Rad asked wiping tears.

"It was just an accident. You're still a good brother, okay?"

Raph felt a rush of relief when this seemed to calm him down. He turned to Angelo. "And...why did you start crying?"

"C-cause everyone else is."

This got a small smile from Raph. "Everyone's going to feel better soon." 

He sat with them for a bit longer, relieved that he managed to do something.

* * *

Donnie set Leon down, who thankfully seemed calmer. In the corner of his vision, he saw Mikey trotting to where he was.

"I heard screaming! Are you guys--eek!"

He grabbed Leon from where he was seated. "What happened?? Speak to me!!"

Leon giggled at his dramatization.

"He's not dying, Mikey," Donnie said, shaking his head and smiling a bit. He wet a towel. "If you want to help though, you could get the first aid kit."

"Right!" Mikey quickly exited.

Donnie smiled, then refocused on Leon."Pay attention, okay? You might have to do this yourself."

Leon nodded.

Donnie used the wet towel to wipe his face. "Every cut has to be cleaned first. It might hurt, but it's necessary."

To Donnie's pleasant surprise, Leon didn't even flinch. Mikey returned soon after with the first aid kit.

"I got it Donnie!" 

"Good." He took some bandages out. "Look here, ok? You just take the papers off, and make sure the white part is on the actual cut."

He put the bandages on a mesmerized Leon. 

"You're all better!" Mikey cheered. 

Leon got up grinning and bolted out the bathroom. 

* * *

Meanwhile, Leo had gone to see what was going on too.

He approached the scene to find Raph cradling two of the kids.

Of all people, he was the last person he expected to try calming them down, let alone succeed. 

He had to say something.

Scratch that, he was going to say something.

"Not bad..."

Raph looked up, seemingly embarrassed but smiling. "Thanks--"

"Softie."

He narrowed his eyes. "...I take it back."

Rad squirmed from his hold. Unsure of what he needed, Raph let him go.

He approached Leo, so he picked him up. "How are you doing--"

Whap! And was met with a smack to the face.

Leo stared in shock for bit. Rad gave a worried frown and rubbed Leo's face. "Uh...anyway...mind telling me what happened?"

Raph summarized the situation. Leo nodded, looking at the kid he was holding.

"Were you mad while playing?" Leo asked him.

Rad nodded. "Mikey took my bear," he whimpered. Angelo squirmed. "And then Leo wanted to play Lou Jitsu and I couldn’t get it back."

Angelo got up and Leo let him hug his brother. "Sorry Raphie..." He was hugged back.

Leo sat down. "I think I can help so you don't get so angry next time. Wanna try it?"

"Yeah!" Rad sat next to him. 

Leo smiled. "Follow me, okay? Breathe in."

The snapper did as told, and Leo nodded in approval. 

"Now breathe out." Rad exhaled.

"Good," Leo said, Feel any better?"

Rad nodded happily. 

"So whenever you're getting mad, just do that a few times. Then when you're calm you can play."

"Okay big Leo!"

Leon ran up to them soon after. "I'm all fixed!" He yelled. "Come on, I wanna keep playing!"

Both his brothers hug tackled him, causing them all to fall over and burst out laughing.

* * *

When Donnie taught Leon how to use bandages, this was not how he expected it to go.

"What on--Leon why is your brother covered in bandages??"

Leon looked at him, nervously smiling. He was with Dee, who he had been using as his patient. They were almost out of bandages.

"Told you," Dee whispered.

Chapter Text

"Everyone sit down. We're going to try something, okay?"

With the kids' dad's permission, the quadruplets began experimenting with a class setting. Leo got everyone to sit down.

"Welcome to class kids!" Mikey hyped, "I'll be your Sensei for problem solving today!"

"Hi big orange!" The kids shouted.

"No no, guys. I'm Sensei right now."

The tots made a head tilt.

"It’s okay," Mikey quickly shrugged off, "Anyway, I have some scenarios for you to answer."

The tots shifted, listening attentively.

So far, so good, Mikey decided.

"Alright guys! You guys say what you would do, then I'm going to tell you what the best option is!" 

"Okay!" They said in unison.

"First question. Your best friend wants to watch a scary movie late at night. But you remember the rules. No scary stuff and no staying up late--"

"I wouldn't be scared," Dee commented. 

"Me too!" Leon said.

"I'm sure you're brave, but this is just hypothetical," Mikey continued, "And not the point. Now, what would you do?"

All four hands shot up at the same time.

"Oh! Okay, let's have little Raph go first."

"Turn it off!" Rad confidently said.

"Turn off the TV?"

"Yeah!"

Mikey smiled. "What would you do Leon?"

"Turn it back on!" He yelled with a snicker.

Rad pouted.

"Well, I meant--" Mikey started.

"And I'd turn it back off," Dee said, probably just to annoy his brother.

"Hey!"

"I'm gonna help Leo!" Angelo chirped.

"Uh...We're getting off topic guys," Mikey stammered.

Raph, who had been listening, chimed in. "Okay, but why does that scenario sound familiar?"

"Cause...it happened," Mikey replied, a bit nervously. "Remember when I begged you guys to let me sleep? And you insisted that I was scared and ruining the fun?"

Raph crossed his arms, now embarrassed. "Right. Thanks for the guilt trip."

Mikey gave an cheeky smile. "You're welcome," he joked.

The tots were still debating amongst themselves. Rad raised his hand. "Can I smash the TV?"

"No, what--okay I'm giving the answer!"

That got their attention. Okay, so he could still get them to focus.

"Okay, to solve this problem, you gotta tell your friend the rules. Then follow the rules no matter what."

"But what if you want to watch it?" Dee asked.

"...You don't want to." Mikey replied after a bit. "Okay, here's another one. You see someone doing something they're not supposed to. What do you do?"

"Put them in jail!" Angelo immediately trumpets.

Raph had a slight smile on his face. "This should be interesting," he mumbled.

Mikey smiled nervously. "Well...I'm sure with criminals that would work, but I meant more--"

"Hot soup them!!" Leon yelled.

"Uh--"

"You're six Leon," Leo said, finally getting involved.

"I don't know," Raph said, "I kinda like his thought process."

"Why are you encouraging this?"

"I could be Lou Jitsu!" Leon quips.

"I'll make a laser and blast them," Dee giggled.

"What?!?" Mikey cried.

Raph swung an arm around him. "They have a sense of justice, and they'll be able to defend themselves." Mikey began fidgeting. It was kinda true, but this was not the right context for these reactions.

"Speaking of which," Raph continued, "why can't you do that?"

"I-I could," Mikey stuttered. He tried to make a mean face, but, if he was being honest, he wasn't great at it if he wasn't really mad.

Raph snorted. He grabbed Mikey's face. 

"Owww! Leo..."

Raph's side hug quickly turned into a headlock. "Oh no! You gotta get out yourself." He started a noogie attack.

"Leo help!"

Leo rolled his eyes. "Don't choke him, Raph."

"It’s a noogie, idiot," Raph snickered.

"Not in front of the kids!" 

"Leoo!"

"Nope. He's not saving you."

"Yes I am because that's enough." Unfortunately for Mikey, Raph had an iron grip and Leo's best efforts weren't enough. To make matters worse for him, Raph now had Mikey trapped in front of him. 

"No! Nooooo! I'm being--"

Raph started tickling him. 

"Noooo," Mikey cried, half laughing and whining. "Help meeee!"

Leo sighed, mumbling something about Raph behaving. "Mikey please, just tell him to stop."

"But--eek!"

"I don't hear you defending yourself," Raph taunted.

"Stop iiiit!"

Raph finally let go. "See? Was that so hard?" As he gave a patronizing head pat, they noticed the tots had made a line, holding on to the one in front and trying to pull Raph away from his brother.

Raph smiled and picked up Rad, who happened to be in the front. He made a pouty face--

"See? They get it," Raph told both his brothers. "You learn so fast! I'm so proud of you!"

--which quickly turned into a smile when Raph praised him. He quickly pouted again, though the frown was quivering as he tried not to smile again. 

"Okay, so I'm glad you're having fun but we are way past the time limit for this class," Donnie interrupted. When did he get here?

Leo squinted at him. "Is that Sensei’s camcorder...?"

Donnie just smiled.

"Your class is next, Donnie. Where'd you even go?" Raph asked.

Donnie's smile faded, replaced with worry. Mikey saw him glance at the portal before looking back at them. "I...had to fix something."

Not a lie, but not the whole story. Mikey knew what he was doing. What he was worried about.

Mikey looked at him, trying to convey the message, but Donnie had already moved on to grab a book. 

Mikey tensed up, now worried as well. 

They had to talk later.

* * *

"I like stories!" Angelo chirped.

"That's great," Donnie said. "I'm going to read you a story."

Donnie had grabbed one of his favorite books; it was a long book about mechanics and electricity, along with how to make robots. He started reading it, soon getting much more into it than he thought. 

"Uh...big purple?" Leon called.

Donnie looked up. Rad had fallen asleep, with Angelo not far behind. Mikey was with them, listening but definitely not understanding a thing. Dee was the only one who looked intrigued.

"What’s up?" 

"Sorry, but this is boring."

Donnie flinched a bit, blushing at the same time. He put a hand behind his head. "Oh...oops.."

"No its not," Dee scolded.

"Everyone's sleeping!" 

"Shut up Nardo."

"Dee said a bad word!"

"Guys, no fighting," Donnie said. "Come on, big orange is going to give you snacks."

"Yay!" Leon hollered.

"Snack?" Angelo asked sleepily.

Rad woke up too. "I wanna snack."

"Told you!" Leon bragged before running off. Dee hissed at him.

Donnie approached him. "He'll understand one day. For now, you got me."

Dee smiled a bit, then went to follow his brothers.

Having trusted Mikey to get snacks for the kids, Donnie headed towards the portal.

However, Mikey seemed to be finished quicker than he thought he would be and got his attention.

"Mikey?"

He glanced away for a bit, then exhaled. "There’s something wrong with the portal, isn't there?"

Donnie sighed. "It was that obvious?"

Mikey didn't say anything. Donnie motioned for him to follow. 

He stepped into the lab, causing the portal to glitch again. It was still a small glitch, but now much more noticeable. Mikey jumped back in surprise when he went through. 

"It only happens when we fully go into the portal but...something's definitely wrong."

Mikey looked at the portal. "What does it mean?"

Donnie hated not knowing things. If it were anyone else, it wouldn't be so scary. They could go to him and find out. But when he was the one to say it to Mikey, he saw his eyes grow with anxiety and uncertainty and it just made him feel worse.

"I-I should be able to fix it, though," Donnie hurried to say, "I always fix things. Come on, no need for that look." 

Mikey nodded, soon smiling again. "Yeah..you’re right. We can fix this."

"One more thing," Donnie said, "The others don't need to worry about this."

Mikey noticeably hesitated, however, he then nodded. "I'll help with that."

Donnie gave him a smile and went back to check on the kids who were....eating....

Donnie grimaced. "Mikey....what did you give them?"

Mikey smiles. "They said they wanted the cookies and stuff so--"

"And you gave them all of it?" 

"...yeah?"

Oh no... "Mikey what have you done??"

Mikey made a confused frown. "Don't they like it?"

"That's not--" Donnie put both hands on his face, slowly exhaling. "I need you to understand, so pay attention."

"Uh, okay."

"Sugary stuff gives people a burst of energy."

Donnie put his hands on Mikey's shoulders.

"Energy that kids already have," he continued before lightly shaking him, "Energy that will make kids that already have a lot of it hyper and out of control! Do you see the problem now??"

Mikey's eyes widen again. "Oh....well with that information...I guess it is a problem..."

"Ha! You can't get me now!" Leon taunted. He had climbed onto a counter to avoid his brothers, who Donnie assumed were chasing him.

It already started.

"Okay, game plan. Wear them out somehow and make sure no one dies."

*

It's a miracle that no one died.

They had to make up a bunch of activities for them that involved some sort of physical exercise, but the second they got excited they were out of control again. At one point, Angelo and Leon tried to have a sword fight...with the kitchen knives!! Thankfully they stopped the second Donnie cried out!

"Since when did they get so insane??" Raph shuddered when he and Leo had to be roped in for extra surveillance.

"Since Mikey gave them half the sugary snacks they had. I already informed him," Donnie replied flatly.

After quickly giving a horrified look at Mikey, he went to get Rad before the bookcase he was trying to drag over fell on him.

"Yeah....let me get that," he said picking him up. 

"A power up was there," Rad whined.

"The rule was that you run back to us when you found it."

So yeah...it was chaos like that the entire time. Eventually, though, they did get tired, and Raph's lesson was sacrificed in favor of letting them rest.

"God, that was awful!" Raph sighed. It seemed like he didn't really mind his class being skipped. "I don't think a kid's supposed to have a near heart attack this many times."

"Hopefully we all learned something," Leo said softly.

"Yeah...sorry," Mikey whimpered.

 Leo patted his back in response.

"So...that just leaves your class, Leo," Donnie said.

Leo nodded. "I already got that covered." He set down a radio (where did he even get that) and put some music on. 

Angelo made some happy chirps in his sleep.

"Who’s in favor of class being dismissed here?" Raph asked raising his hand.

His brothers followed. "Does that mean we don't want to do this anymore?" Mikey questioned.

"We probably will...after we recover...which might take about a week."

Yeah. Sounds about right.

Chapter Text

Mikey paced around.

So far, everything was fine. The tots were calm, but happy. Everyone was doing their own thing for the most part. He'd even consider this being great! Perfect, even!

Still, there was dread in the back of his mind.

He knew why too. The conversation from just a couple days ago.

"There’s something wrong with the portal, isn't there?"

"It was that obvious?"

"Big orange, you look sad," Angelo said with concern.

God he was an awful ninja. He couldn't believe a child snuck up on him.

Mikey sighed. "I'll be okay. Thanks little dude."

Sure you're fine. Totally not worried that Donnie can't fix things and you'll never see these kids again.

He needed to take his mind off of this.

But how? He would normally draw or paint, but it usually exposed how he was feeling and Donnie said to keep this a secret. Meditation helped Leo, but Mikey couldn't sit still for nearly as long as he could.

His stomach growled.

Well, there was one more thing he did sometimes...although he was still practicing.

He looked in the fridge. Mikey grabbed a few things. Eggs...there’s some milk, Chinese food...he looked into the pantry. There was some sugar, flour, cinnamon; he took out some rice.

He could make something with this.

*

Okay, so he may or may not have burned the water....twice. Some of the Chinese food he tried to reheat caught fire, which had him pouring water on it, which made it bigger somehow until it died down itself. Hopefully the sugar and cinnamon he put on top would hide the burnt taste. 

He put his half soggy half burnt attempt at his own rice with the Chinese food on several plates.

"I made food guys!" 

The kids perked up and eagerly waddled towards Mikey.

Upon seeing his work, however, their faces fell; Dee actually gagged before leaving. The others looked at him with what looked like confusion. 

Mikey shyly smiled. 

"Know what, I can wait for Papa," Leon mumbled.

Rad shuffled hesitantly. "I can eat later," he said with a weak smile. He then went to follow Leon.

Making a face, Raph went to see what was going on.

"Yeesh!" He exclaimed when he saw his sad excuse of cooking. "Yeah, no one's eating that."

Normally, he'd be crushed by a blow like that, but it's not like Raph could cook either. 

Wait....did that make it better or worse?

Someone laughed behind him. "What has happened here?" 

"Hi papa!" Angelo chirped.

"Papa can you make real food?" Leon asked.

Their dad nodded, still smiling. "Come," he said to Mikey.

With a head tilt, Mikey followed him back into the kitchen. Angelo trotted close behind.

"What are we doing?" Mikey asked. 

Splinter took out a pan and butter. (It's going on two months and this calling 2 people Splinter thing is still weird.)

"I see that you were trying to make a meal."

Splinter chuckled while Mikey felt himself blush. "Well....that was the plan." He gave a small and embarrassed laugh.

"Do you want to get better?" 

Mikey's eyes widen. "Yeah! You'll teach me?"

"Can I help too?" Angelo asked hastily.

"Yes, I'll teach both of you," he told his son. 

After the brief conversation, Mikey was instructed to put the cinnamon, eggs, milk, sugar, and flour on the table. Angelo began grabbing things in order to help, so Mikey gave him the cinnamon.

"Good," Splinter said. He took out a bowl, then measured out each of the ingredients. Mikey watched carefully, wondering what he was making and how he did it so well. "Just put all the ingredients in there and mix them."

Mikey nodded and put the measured out items in the bowl. He gave the sugar to Angelo to put in too.

He then looked at the two eggs that Splinter took out. After a few head tilts, he plopped them into the mixture with the other ingredients.

He didn't miss how even Angelo looked at him funny as he started mixing. Splinter looked at him, smiling but definitely confused. He then went over and gently grabbed his hand.

Mikey looked up. "Hm?"

"Here. Watch me," Splinter instructed. He took the eggs out of the bowl, then carefully tapped them onto spoon until they cracked. Turns out you're only supposed to add the insides. Mikey fidgeted in embarrassment as Splinter threw the eggshells away.

He seemed to have noticed that Mikey felt stupid and smiled at him. Mikey answered with a small smile and went back to mixing. 

"I wanna mix!" Angelo announced.

Mikey lit up at this, and gave him the bowl. If only he had snuck Sensei’s camera back here; this was beyond adorable! 

Angelo hummed happily as he stirred the mixture for a bit. He then gave it to Splinter, who put the pan he had out in the stove and poured some of the mix into it.

Angelo noticeably got more excited. "Pancake?" He asked.

"That's right," his dad answered. "Now you two watch, okay?" 

Mikey picked up Angelo, who leaned forward to see what Splinter was doing.

After a few minutes, Splinter got a spatula and flipped the pancake, making the golden brown color visible. After waiting some more, he scooped it up and placed it on a plate.

He set the plate down. "Now you are going to try."

Mikey froze. Right....how do you improve without practice?

"I will be here," Splinter added.

Mikey nodded. He poured some more of the mixture before giving the bowl to Splinter, who began making more in another pan.

After he took the pancake off the stove, he could confidently say that he improved; now only a piece of the food was burnt. ...Well, the rest was deformed and slightly overcooked because he forgot the butter, but it was edible!

"Much better than earlier," Splinter agreed.

Mikey gave him a flattered smile. "Aw, thanks-- wait how did you make so many??"

Splinter laughed, carrying the seven other pancakes on a plate, all of them a perfectly fluffy golden brown too! 

Aw man, he was great at this!

"We made pancakes!" Angelo called to his brothers. Although they were skeptical, they immediately lit up when they saw their food. The tots happily sat down at the table and began eating their pancake.

Mikey was given his food and he ate contently. Even if just for a little bit, he had a sense of peace.

Chapter Text

Raph didn't mind that all the tots wanted to do right now was spin with him in a circle.

But he had to admit, he was quickly getting dizzy.

They eventually let him sit down though, at the expense of them climbing onto him. But that was fine, too. He gently cradled Angelo and helped Leon balance as he climbed onto his head. Meanwhile, Rad climbed onto his lap, which he seemed to like doing. Dee was nearby too and sat next to Raph.

"Hey Raph! Can't get me!" Leon taunted.

Accepting the challenge, Rad jumped up and began to grab at Leon's hands. They both soon began laughing and giggling. 

Raph smiled at this, continuing to have a hand ready in case Leon fell. 

"What do we have here?" Leo mocked. 

Raph glared at him and of course he was recording this. Ugh, he seriously felt like strangling him.

"Can't you leave me alone?" Raph groaned.

"Okay, okay. But on two conditions."

If the kids weren't literally climbing him he would've just snatched the camcorder from him. He was the only one that really trained for fun, so overpowering his brothers was easy. Of course, Leo always went to tease him at the worst times.

"Fine. What do you want?"

Leo smirked. "First, you gotta admit that you're a softie that adores these kids."

We're still on this? "I never denied it..."

"Oh really? But Raph, you're constantly with them, hugging them, playing with them, but the second anyone says anything you get defensive and act like you just happened to be in that situation."

 "That...that's not--"

"Heck, when we first got here you acted like watching them for what we thought would be a few hours was a huge issue. If I wasn't thinking I'd say you were...."

Raph honestly stopped listening. He did have a problem. Not because he didn't like them, but because he knew absolutely nothing about kids! If Leo was there he would've seen how useless he was with the incident from last week. While Donnie showed up and actually took control, he was panicking because he didn't know how tots worked! Come on, that's embarrassing! He's supposed to be the brave one and here we was freaking out because....because of kids!

Leo went silent for some reason. For a while, he just....stared at him.

...What?

"Raph I...I didn’t even know..."

Oh wait he....he said that out loud, didn't he...?

However, Leo just sat down next to him. Leon jumped from Raph's head to Leo's. Leo steadied him laughing before turning to Raph. 

"You weren't useless," he began, "You calmed them down pretty quickly."

Raph gave him a skeptical look. 

Leo sighed. "And well...you didn't account for everything else--"

"Leo--"

"Don't interrupt me," Leo reprimanded, putting a hand up. "Look, you've been spending a lot of time with them. I'd even say more than any of the rest of us. You've helped protect them on multiple occasions. And honestly? Taking care of a bunch of kids when you don't know what you're doing sounds pretty brave to me."

Raph warmed up a bit and--no! This moment was not going to be ruined by him crying. No crying.

"They love you, Raph. And for someone who doesn't know kids, you've been doing really good with them."

Leo gave him a side hug. Raph smiled, awkwardly putting an arm around Leo with a teary laugh--wait no! Not teary! He was not crying!

Leo made a suspicious face. "Are you cryi--"

"No!" Raph said immediately.

Leo laughed, bringing him closer to noogie him. "Tsundere."

"How am I violent when you have me in a headlock??"

Leo made a head tilt. "You don't know what that means, do you?"

Raph could feel his face turning red. "....I'm going to guess no.."

Leo scoffed. "A tsundere, foolish brother," he said playfully, "is tough on the outside, soft on the inside."

"I'm not soft..." Raph retorted.

"Proving my point," Leo snickered. "But what did you think it meant?"

Raph knows his face was completely red by now. No one had to tell him. "Well every time people say that about a character it's someone who's always punching people for no reason..."

Leo chuckled.

"Big red, what's wrong?" Leon asked. He tried to reach Raph, but fell off of Leo, who caught him midair. After a short state of shock, he giggled, then went over to Raph.

"I'm okay," Raph said. He patted his head. "Well, since that's done, what's the other condition?"

Leo waited a moment. "Well, you actually already fulfilled it, so you're all set."

Raph blinked, pleasantly surprised. "Oh...but what was...?"

"I was going to have you say why you were acting the way you did, but you already said it."

Raph nodded. "So you can give me the tape."

"Yeah, no."

"Damn it, Leo--"

"Kids present."

"I did what you wanted!"

"The agreement was I'd leave you alone. This is evidence that you're a softie."

Raph crossed his arms, glaring once again. 

"...But I'll be extra nice and not show anyone."

Raph smirked. "If anybody knows, I'm stealing it back and smashing it to pieces."

Leo rubbed Raph's head. "Okay, deal."

Chapter Text

"Donnie! How's the portal doing?"

Crap. Donnie wasn't even close to figuring out how to save it, and the pressure wasn't doing him any favors.

"I'm trying, Mikey," he responded.

It didn't seem to calm him though. He had been freaking out ever since they went through the portal and it glitched so much that it looked like it would tear itself apart.

Donnie couldn't do much except keep testing it to see how much longer it could hold out. Now even only partially going through the portal created small glitches, which probably meant their time was limited.

The only thing he could do was try to calculate exactly how much.

Donnie looked behind him to find Mikey fidgeting with a very much live wire. 

"Mikey!" Donnie yelled.

Startled, and already quite panicked, Mikey dropped the wire, which landed onto the portal...

...In which the portal was visibly restored with some electric shocks to it. 

Electricity Donnie thought. Curiously, he put a hand into the portal, which gave...no glitches. 

Confused and still on edge, Mikey went to pick up the wire.

"Mikey, I don't know what happened but thank you!" Donnie exclaimed.

"Wait. The rainbow potion's powered by electricity?"

Donnie paused. "Rainbow potion?"

"Yeah. It's rainbow. And it's a potion that makes portals."

Donnie made a head tilt, but didn't say anything else.

There was silence for a bit. "How long do you think this will last?" Mikey finally asked.

Donnie looked at the portal. "...I'm going to hope for at least a few weeks, but even then I can't be sure..."

After all that, Mikey still managed to smile. "That's reasonable, right? And lots of time if you're right. Which you must be. So, you know, let's just have fun with everyone else."

Donnie nodded.

"A-and hey! We could look for more electric stuff..."

He didn't sound sure, but if there was a fragment of hope Donnie could hold on to, he wanted to take it and never let go.

"Yeah. That should work."

* * *

Mikey went through the portal, causing it to glitch, not too big, but very much noticeable.

It's been four days and they were back to square one.

Or minus three. Did that even make sense? 

Mikey looked at the portal, sighing quietly. On top of that, they hadn't found anything else to be electrical conductors. It wouldn't be too much longer until the portal was frequently glitching again, and their plan of not worrying their brothers seemed doomed to fail within another week.

He didn't want to bother Donnie again by asking for what was next. Chances were, he probably didn't know. 

That was probably the worst part. If Donnie didn't know that meant nobody knew and nobody could fix it.

Mikey wanted to cry.

"Hey big turtles!" Dee called, "Oh! Big orange!"

Not yet, Mikey decided. Don't ruin anything for the tots. There’s still some hope.

So Mikey smiled. "What’s up-- woah!"

Dee's smile had already grown. "See my robot?"

Dee placed it down. With a few twists of the wind up he attached, he let the machine move around.

Okay seriously, how on earth does a kid know more science than him??

Even as it fell over, Mikey squealed, gushing over how he even made something like that. 

"See Leo? Big orange likes it," Dee beamed.

Leon gave an annoyed cry without another response.

Mikey patted them both. As long as there was a possibility that things didn't have to change, Donnie was right (as per usual). There was no need to worry anyone.

The comfort of that thought lasted quite literally a split second before he heard a violent buzz. 

"Ack!" Donnie yelped. He went over to Mikey. "Okay. Uh. I don't really....know how to say this...okay, do you want the bad news or the worse news first?"

Worse news??

"How....just...what’s the bad news?" Mikey sighed.

Donnie exhaled. "So remember when we found out that electricity helps the portal?"

Mikey nodded.

"From what I just saw, as much as it helped for a bit, if it doesn't receive a constant amount of energy, it doesn't do much for it. Obviously, too little will be like not putting any, but too much, like I discovered in our case, gives it a burst of energy before shutting down faster than before. Like a sugar crash."

Mikey didn't just feel like crying; he was sure he was going to! "It....it gets worse than that??" 

Donnie looked nervous. "At the rate that the portal is trying to collapse on itself--"

Btzzzz!!

"Okay seriously!" Leo said with alarm, "what's going on with this?!?"

Great. Forget a week, they already failed in keeping anyone from worrying. 

Mikey whimpered, which caught Leo's attention.

"You noticed too?" Raph asked as he came towards them.

"Yeah. I think Mikey saw it too cause he looks kinda scared. Donnie, you noticed too, right?"

"Yeah..." Donnie said.

Leo looked at Mikey. "You okay?" 

Mikey couldn't take it anymore. "I'm scared, Leo!" He cried, "I don't want the portal to close and then I don't know how the kids are doing but we don't have any more electric stuff--"

"Woah, slow down," Leo said, definitely confused. "What are you talking about?" 

Donnie grimaced. Mikey really needed to stop talking so much.

* * *

"Let me get something straight," Leo sighed, "The portal is going to collapse on itself, we ran out of what we needed to fix it, and neither of you thought to tell us?"

Chapter Text

Okay, so you know those lies people use to protect someone or their feelings? 

Leo had always debated on whether that was okay. On one hand, doing the wrong thing for the right reason was better than the right thing for the wrong reasons and all that.

But shouldn’t someone also be able to trust their family to understand?

He was already put into panic mode when he stepped through the portal to see it glitch out like crazy. So naturally, it was only fair to be a little upset when his brothers said they knew about it and didn't tell them earlier.

He had everyone meet in Donnie's lab. "Were you not going to say anything??" He scolded.

Mikey looked to be on the verge of tears.

"....I figured I'd have it fixed already," Donnie said quietly, "I just thought 'why worry you when I had this covered.'"

Leo's face softened. "You know what? It's okay. We can figure it out. Do you know how much time we have?"

Donnie stared at the floor. Mikey continued to hold back tears, looking even more upset at Donnie's silence.

His reaction got even Raph scared. Not even nervous; genuine fear.

Leo's expression turned worried. "...Donnie...?"

Donnie trembled, taking Mikey under his arm when he let out a gasp. "Two days--" 

Mikey sobbed. Donnie rubbed his head, trying to calm him. "...at most. Twelve hours minimum."

At that, Raph walked out.

"W-what--what do we--what do we do?" Mikey stuttered between sobs. 

For once, Leo had no ideas.

* * *

Raph held Spike, wiping tears.

He couldn't cry now. This wasn't solving anything.

He pet Spike, who went to rest his head on Raph's free arm. Raph smiled a bit. 

"Thanks buddy."

Spike chirped. Raph then picked him up and carried him to where he thought his brothers were.

Upon entering the lab, however, he only saw Mikey, who had curled up into a ball, still whimpering.

After looking around, he concluded that the others had left to form a plan. Raph slowly walked up to sit next to him. 

Mikey looked up a little before resting his head on his arms. His eyes were red and puffy. 

"Sorry.." He said.

Raph patted his back. "I get it." 

Mikey looked like he had more to say, but he instead closed his mouth and put his head back down. 

Mikey liked hugs, right? Raph gave him a side hug, waiting for a reaction. As he expected, Mikey beamed and hugged him back. 

Okay, he was doing something right. 

Mikey mumbled something.

"What’s wrong?" Raph asked. 

"What are we supposed to say to them?" Mikey repeated.

Raph thought for a bit. "I don't know..."

Mikey whimpered again. Raph presented Spike to him; Raph hardly ever gave anyone his pet, but Mikey definitely needed him.

"Wanna hold him?"

Shakily, Mikey took Spike from Raph. Unfortunately, Spike responded with trying to bite him, although that just made Mikey laugh. 

Raph smiled, taking his pet back. "Now come on. Sitting and crying isn't going to fix anything."

Mikey rubbed his eyes and nodded, going to follow him.

"That's it," Raph said. He grabbed Mikey's hand, then, crossing his fingers, led him into the portal.

Raph shivered at the buzz the portal made.They arrived to find Leo trying to calm Rad, along with Donnie failing to console the other, some tearful, children.

After a reminder from Leo, Rad took a bit to calm himself down.

"There you go," Leo said, "Want a--"

Leo didn't even get to finish before Rad threw himself on him. Leo returned the hug and patted his head.

Leon left from where Donnie was. With tear filled eyes, he marched over to Raph.

Raph sat down. "What happened?" 

Leon pointed at Leo. "Why's big Leo saying you're leaving?!"

Raph turned to glare at his brother. 

"What?" Leo said defensively.

"That's how you word it??"

"What else was I supposed to say??" 

Raph rolled his eyes. 

Leon whimpered.  "And...and papa said that was okay. But I don't want you to go."

He had to fix this. If it were up to him, he'd have made sure they understood and didn't feel like they were abandoning them. Thanks to Leo, it was probably the exact opposite.

Raph looked around. It didn't seem like anyone else knew what to do.

"Come over here guys," Raph said, and how he hoped this would work. 

The tots slowly went up to him, sitting down in front of him. 

"Listen guys. We won't be gone forever," Raph said. He heard a squeak from Leo, who now had a slightly worried expression. 

"You're not running away?" Leon asked.

How can they even still think that? "No, it’s like I said. We just have one more thing to do. But we'll come back. I promise."

Rad wiped some tears. "You p-promise?" 

Raph nodded. "Yeah, I promise."

He was caught by surprise when Dee hugged him, soon followed by everyone else. He hugged them back, then went with his brothers into the portal, waving as he left.

As soon as he got into the lab, however, Leo pulled him aside.

"Raph, how can you promise that?" Leo asked, noticeably concerned.

"Isn't that what we're trying to do?" Raph asked.

"Yeah, but how do you know we even can come back?

"...We...we have to be able to. If we did it before we can do it again.."

Leo sighed, looking away sadly. "Feelings lie Raph. We have to be honest with ourselves. The fact that this portal even ended up in their world was entirely by chance. Donnie would have to know how it works and find a way to maintain it."

Raph scowled at the ground. He was right. But something still told him that he could keep his promise. 

He had to...

Leo led him outside the lab. "Come on. Let's let Donnie work with the portal stuff."

"You mean the rainbow potion?" Mikey corrected.

"Yeah, the rainbow--wait why were you listening?"

Mikey shoved his hand behind his head. "Bad habit...?"

Leo rolled his eyes affectionately. "Come on, guys."

* * *

He remembered the day clearly.

Splinter was usually woken up by one of his boys asking for food. 

That day was different though. 

"The portal!!" He heard orange yell.

Splinter got up, going to where the panicked commotion was coming from. His sons were gathered around the now blank wall, and red was trying to break through it.

"Red, no!" He called. 

Not paying attention, red continued, with his brothers joining soon after.

"Boys, boys!"

They turned around. Red whimpered.

"The portal's gone!" He cried.

They ran up to him as soon as he moved towards them, holding his hand or hugging him.

"How are the big turtles gonna come back when they're all done?" Blue asked him.

Splinter...wasn't sure where they got this from. He remembered them sobbing yesterday because the preteens said they had to leave.

Maybe this was denial? Do kids go through that? 

Splinter smiled sadly and sighed. "Sons," he said, "I already told you. Everything will be okay. People come and go as fate allows it."

"....fate's mean," purple huffed.

"It’s not to be mean, purple," Splinter continued. "Sometimes people will only be around when you need them or they need you."

Though it didn't seem to calm him fully, purple's expression became more neutral. 

"But they said they'd come back," orange told him.

Oh.

So that's what happened.

He was going to have to fix this then, wasn't he?

"They were probably trying to make you feel better," he told them.

They didn't seem convinced, but the topic was dropped.

...Mostly.

"So do you lie too?" Blue asked.

"What?" 

"Yeah, what did you lie about," red asked with way too much enthusiasm.

Splinter chuckled. "I am going to make breakfast."

"Hey!" His tots yelled.

* * *

It's been a few weeks.

And Donnie feels useless.

He looked over his sketches, continued trying to find a way to test the rainbow stuff, but nothing made any sense. He huffed in frustration.

Still, for the sake of...everyone, he had to keep going. So he pretended not to feel his eyes getting heavy or notice that he'd been pulling all nighters for the past two days. Even the fact that it's been hours since everyone else went to bed.

"Why the hell are you still up??

Well...most of everyone else. Either that, or he somehow woke Raph up.

"You know what I'm doing," Donnie said, "Why are you up?"

"Because...what happened to you? Were you sleeping at all??"

"...That's not important."

Raph glared at him. "Were you up all day yesterday too?"

Crap. If Donnie looked as tired as he felt, Raph probably knew something was off. He looked away. "Go away, Raph."

Donnie went back to try making his sketches again, ignoring the footsteps that he stupidly believed was Raph leaving.

Seconds later, the pencil was knocked from his hand. Then Raph tipped the chair Donnie was in, quickly dragging it from underneath him. Before he knew it, Donnie was staring at the ceiling, trying to process what happened. 

"Go to bed."

"Raph--"

"Go to bed or I'm drop kicking you there," Raph threatened flatly.

After some hesitation, Donnie got up and sat on his hammock. A blanket was thrown at him.

"Good." Raph crossed his arms.

Donnie waved him away. "You can go now."

"Knowing you, you'll try to stay up once I leave. So, no."

Donnie rolled his eyes, but then sighed. "Raph...don't you want to keep your promise?"

Donnie tucked himself in as Raph nodded.

"Of course I do. And I know I will. But I trust you to be able to help without killing yourself."

That was...nice. Maybe he could listen to that.

"Okay, I'll sleep. For real." Donnie reluctantly complied.

"You better," Raph said, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Raph."

Raph paused. "I wouldn't drop kick you..." He left immediately after.

Donnie agreed to himself to call his bluff next time.

...

...

"You remember how Raph didn't talk til he was seven?" Leon asked.

Raph made a head tilt. "I...don't think that's what happened.

"Sure it is," Angelo said. "If you could then you would have." 

Raph shrugged and dropped the argument.

Angelo hugged him. "And your first words were that you loved us!"

Raph smiled, accepting the hug.

"Speaking of which," Leon added, "I now have further proof our friends weren't imaginary."

Raph laughed. "Hope you can convince Dee. You only have another year till the bet ends."

As with many things, Leon and Dee had bet on whether the friends they had as kids were real. They'd win by either convincing the other, or seeing if they arrived by their next mutation day.

"Give your best shot," Angelo challenged.

"Weren’t we always talking for Raph as kids? If they're imaginary who could've told us to give him a chance?"

"Pops could have," Angelo argued.

"But he didn't." 

Raph smiled, but kept the thought in the back of his mind.

Chapter Text

At first, the day was oddly normal.

...Well, as normal as a mutant turtle's life could be. Dee was in his lab, likely working on a project of his. Raph would make sure he didn't overdo it. Mikey and Leo were hanging out, which left Raph scrolling through his phone.

"We just have one more thing to do. But we'll come back. I promise."

Raph sighed, still looking at his phone but no longer paying attention to what he scrolled on. Someone was here before. Someone said they'd be back. He didn't want to fall into the 'collective imaginary friends' theory Dee and Mikey already believed.

But God, was he getting close to that point. During the times he tried to remember, the memory was always fuzzy; scattered quotes were the only things he could recall.

Say, however, he did accept that they were figments of their imagination. That didn't explain the promise of returning, or the things he learned that were neither from Splinter or his brothers. 

But then where were they?

Then, as if to answer his question, a portal appeared.