TMNT: Double the Brothers AU
Chapter 1 (Prt 2)
Making their way back to the lair, Raph couldn’t help but feel irritated by the whole situation. Really, they had only been out for 20 or so minutes, not NEARLY enough time to feel any less BORED by the thought of being cramped up in the lair again. Now even more cramped with double the (‘brothers’ lol -author) turtle mutants.
By the way, where the shell did they come from?? Raph knew mutants weren’t exactly popular amongst the inhabitants of the new york sewers. Before today, he had been fairly certain he and his family were the only ones privileged with that title. So making their way through the rat infested sewer tunnels, Raph made it his mission to concoct some theories.
His first thought was that the people that had made the ‘ooz’ in the first place were trying to make more. Raph and his brothers have always been stronger than the average human.. Ooh! Maybe they were trying to create, like, super soldiers or something! The spikey one looked like it could grow pretty big.
… why would they have made little kids though? And there HAD to be cooler animals to mutate than a bunch of turtles. Like a wolf or a tiger. Those would be freaking epic.
Red Stripes had said they were trying to get ‘home’. Maybe… they were humans before this? Like Sensei was! They could have accidentally gotten mutated by the same stuff Splinter had and turned into a bunch of turtles for some reason. That would mean they have human parents, right? They would want them back even if they weren’t exactly human anymore.
The more Raph thought about it, the more unlikely anything he came up with seemed to him. They could be aliens for all Raph knew! Maybe there’s a planet of turtle people that have come to invade earth. What? It could happen.
But they HAD a home, which meant despite the fact this whole situation shouldn’t really be any of the brothers’ problem, it would only be right to at least TRY to get them back to wherever they came from. Preferably fast, Raph suspected Master Splinter wouldn’t take “oh, uhm, yeah, four mini mutant turtle kids kinda just showed up at our hidden secret lair? We definitely didn’t find them while sneaking out!” without giving his ‘dad glare’ that made Leo squeal within two seconds.
Raph was suddenly interrupted from his thoughts by Mikey who had since taken the lead of the group and carried both Red Stripes and Yellow Freckles on his shell as if he was their personal ride.
Donnie pushed past both Raph and Leo to kneel next to Red Stripes who had since hopped off of Mikey to prove his independence with the biggest scowl on his face. Raph couldn’t even scowl back as he recovered from the blow he sustained by somebody coming to the defence of Mikey, of all people.
“That, Mikey, duh,” Stripes pointed up towards Raph’s little brother with the most exasperated huff in his voice. Sassy much?
“Yeah, I Mikey!” The response, though, did not, in fact, come from Mikey. Freckles piped up with a bit of a distraught look on his face.
Freckles was named ‘Mikey’ too? That was going to get confusing extremely quickly.
Donnie blinked a moment before responding with what everyone was thinking at that point. “You’re named Mikey, too?”
The tiny turtle tot let out a loud gasp. “There two Mikeys??”
Raph’s little brother seemed just as excited, pulling Freckles from his spot on his shell so they could be at eye level. “Woah, dude, we are, like, ‘name twins’!” He beamed, striking a pose . “The Mikey turtle duo! We even got the colors right!”
‘Mikey’ laughed at his counterpart’s antics, although that proved rather quickly to be a mistake. Wet, painful coughs began to rack Freckles’ small frame and Raph let out a small wince of sympathy. That didn’t sound great.
Spikey, who had seemed to be dozing off with Flat-Shell in Leo’s arms, suddenly snapped back to attention and wiggled his way out of Leo’s hold, placing the sleeping younger turtle on his shell as he reached toward Freckles still hacking in Mikey’s arms.
“Aww buddy,” Mikey’s smile fell as he patted the smaller turtle’s back in sympathy before noticing Spikey at his feet and handing Freckles off. “you guys think he’s sick?” Mikey asked with a pout.
“We should probably get them checked out,” Leo said, rubbing the back of his neck. “We don't really know how long they've all been out here all alone.”
Stripes, who had been glaring at Raph before the coughing fit began, turned to Leo, arms crossed to respond. “‘They’ would like to know what being ‘checked out’ means!”
Donnie, who was still kneeling next to Stripes, stood and spoke up instead. “I’d just be checking your overall health,” he remarked, walking over to inspect Freckles now being rocked gently by Spikey. “That cough sounds painful, but it could also just be a common cold from being out in the sewers longer than permitted. It would probably be smart to check his temperature, though.”
Donnie’s hand didn't get far before Spikey’s jaw snapped towards him, and Donnie, not wanting to be bitten twice that day, immediately retracted backwards.
“Hoo, okay fine, no touching, got it,” and an added mumble, “why do all these turtles want me with one less finger?”
“Why don't we start with names?” Leo recovered with a nervous smile. Turning to Stripes, he lifted up his hand a little awkwardly in greeting. “I’m Leo, what about you?”
Oh right. They hadn’t exactly introduced themselves, had they? Raph internally made a joke that since the one dressed in orange was named Mikey, Stripes had to be a Leo thanks to his blue bandana. How dumb would that be?
Stripes just stared.
A couple long awkward silent seconds ticked by before the small red eared slider decided to speak up again. “Well that can't be right.”
Raph couldn't sustain a chuckle as Leo blinked at the kid a moment, hand still extended in the air for a hand shake, mind you. “Excuse me?”
“You can't be Leo,” Stripes explained, “Because I’m Leo and that would mean there are two Mikeys AND two Leos and that wouldn't make any sense.”
oh.
Yeah, that's not unnerving at all.
Now that Raph thought about it, Flat-Shell had called him ‘Nardo’ hadn’t he? Wasn't that the dumb name Leo hated his brothers using? Raph forgot he and Mikey came up with it years ago to get under their big brother’s skin.
“Wait,” Donnie stepped forward and pointed at Flat-Shell, still asleep on Spikey’s shoulders. “Does this one happen to be named Donnie?” The turtle tot dressed in purple hissed at Raph’s genius brother. Apparently he wasn't asleep enough to resist a snarky response to what he believed was the obvious. Raph could actually respect that.
“Yes!” Stripes- or ‘Leo’ or whatever- exclaimed, eyes wide. He spun towards Raph. “So is your name, Raph!?” When Raph hesitated to respond, opting to cross his arms with a grunt, Stripes continued, tilting his head slightly as if puzzled. “Hm, you're a little too small to be the biggest brother.”
… Did- did he just call Raph short?
Mikey was in a fit. Raph’s cheeks burned. The only thing that was stopping him from fully clobbering the kid was the way Mikey flopped on his shell taking FULL advantage of the leverage the little punk had given him. Raph had to restrain a growl as Mikey wheezed out, “HE JUST CALLED YOU SHORT!!”
Raph shoved Mikey to the ground where he continued to roll with laughter. Just so everyone was aware, Raph was still taller than Mikey, thank you very much!
“Actually,” Leo said, stifling his giggles, "I'm the eldest here, well not exactly, we are all the same age but I'm still ‘oldest’, uh, I guess?”
Stripes blinked then nodded, but didn't seem to fully understand. Leo just seemed to take that as permission to continue.
“So, um, as the oldest one here,” Leo stood up and puffed out his chest, slapping on his ‘bossy oldest face’ like he owned everyone in the room. God, Raph hated when he made that face. “I say we all need to head back to the lair and get these kids some proper food and rest! Red- or I mean ‘Raph’- over there looks like he's about to pass out. We better hurry too, if we want to get you all home before Splinter comes back.”
Raph followed his older brother’s concerned gaze over to where Spikey and the others were still positioned. Spikey was swaying on his feet slightly, his eyes barely open. Freckles had stopped his coughing and was now hanging on his bigger brother with a whine. No-shell looked to be a little more awake and was patting Freckles’ head sympathetically. They all sure looked tired.
Stripes promptly walked over and took Spikey’s free hand. “Ya hear that, Raphie? They got food and are gonna help us get home! I'm not getting any bad vibes from these guys, so I think they are okay to follow.”
Spikey let out a small chirp of understanding, which- okay maybe it was kinda cute, but you would NEVER hear Raph say that outloud.
The tots didn't get very far following the rest of them before Mikey scooped them all up into his arms to carry. Raph was surprised his baby brother was able to carry them all at once, let alone that they would go along without protest. The kids just kinda accepted their fate as giant teddy bears as Mikey began to unleash an abundant amount of turtle sounds Raph had forgotten they all knew how to make.
“Lead the way, leader big bro Leo, sir!” Mikey chirped. Raph rolled his eyes. He could just feel Donnie doing the same as Leo beamed at the proclamation.
This was certainly turning out to be an interesting day.
(Part 1) Ch2