Living on the Surface for the First Time
This HC is from my Bayverse turtles living above the surface as themselves AU. They don’t really have any enemies to worry about anymore because they all deserve happiness and a chance to live without having to hide.
This idea basically came about from Tumblr conversations, thank you! You know who you are, I tried to include as much as I could!
TW: None!
Mikey
It’s not about admiring the ladies or trying to find a potential girlfriend when Mikey and his brothers begin living among the humans.
He just wants to have fun and get to do human stuff!
It’s the mundane tasks that we take for granted every day that bring him joy at first.
It’s going grocery shopping and picking out every type of cereal he’s never had the chance to try.
He ends up in the kitchen sitting around fifteen open boxes of cereal, a half-gallon of milk and several empty bowls.
He revels at the chance to be able to enter into a comic book store and buy actual new comics. No more dirty, old, or used comics for him. He realizes that this is what he wants to do with his life: sell comics and make others happy by embracing their inner nerd/geek.
Getting tickets to a baseball game with his brothers is another thing he’d always wanted to do.
Mikey catches the flyball with his bare hand as if it were no big deal and gets the pitcher to sign it.
Mikey’s eyes shine as people cheer and treat him like a normal person who deserves to be there.
He and his brothers go to NYCComicCon! As themselves! He has the greatest time greeting fans, signing stuff and taking pictures.
Again, it's the simple things that he enjoys. Walking around in broad daylight just because he can, chatting it up with anyone willing to talk to him.
Ordering a street hotdog with every possible topping you can get and taking a bite like it’s the most amazing thing he’s ever tasted.
He’s even happy to learn boring stuff like putting out garbage and recycling and taxes.
He makes real, actual friends with humans, gaining acceptance has been his dream for a long time.
Mostly, he’s just happy to finally be able to enjoy the sun, skateboard, and go sit at the duck pond in Central Park.
He finally understands it’s about the little things.
Raph
When Raph begins to live on top, it’s not all that glamorous at first. He decides to try living a normal life, including using transit for the first time, eventually getting his license, and driving a car.
He initially regrets his choice after being stuck in a packed subway car or rush-hour traffic, but eventually comes around.
One of the first things he does is go to his favourite restaurant, a steakhouse, with his brothers. He’d always wanted to go there.
Getting tickets to the Knicks again, but this time he gets to sit in an actual seat.
The seats might be a little tight, but he doesn’t care. No more hiding in the jumbotron for him.
It's pretty nice to be able to order a beer and hotdog from the vendors like a normal person.
Going grocery shopping for him is kind of hilarious.
He stands at the juice display for at least ten minutes, unsure of which brand to pick. He’d never had a choice before; it was whatever they could grab or salvage.
It finally clicks in that he really can get whatever he wants so he picks three kinds of juice.
He experiences the nightlife for the first time, going to a comedy club, or a sports bar with Casey.
Going to an actual gym and making gym buddies who all want to learn his workout regimen and techniques.
Buying furniture for his place and lying on beds in a mattress store.
He’s never had a new mattress in his life and sinking into all that plush is heavenly.
Having new things, not old, busted, or scrapped together, is such a foreign concept to him that he almost feels like he’s not supposed to have nice things.
He goes to a craft store and is presented with wall-to-wall options. Every kind of yarn in every colour, all the knitting supplies he could possibly want.
He’s honestly a bit lost and overwhelmed until a kind, old woman moves to assist him.
After accepting her help, she invites him to join her knitting circle, and he actually goes.
Once it all sinks in, it’s not so bad, he decides. He could get used to this.
Don
Donnie has big dreams of living above the surface. He wants to help people and make the world a better place, but first, he starts small.
He goes to a computer store for the first time ever and chooses parts for himself.
Leo goes with him and promptly loses him in the store for an hour.
He finds him assisting and advising other customers in their purchases much to the annoyance of the actual employees.
He goes to every museum and art gallery in the city, even the children’s museum.
He takes pictures of everything.
Every dinosaur skeleton, statue, mummy, sarcophagus, and even the rocks in the geology section.
He is truly like a kid in a candy store getting to do all of the things he’d never gotten a chance to do.
In true nerdy fashion, the next place on his list would be the library.
He spends hours in this magical place reading as many books as he can.
He gets a library card! After establishing a place to live he’s able to bring proof of residence and can apply for a library card.
Once he gets it, he spends a hot minute admiring the first piece of ID with his name and address on it.
The next step for him is to get his driver’s license.
He and his brothers are probably the only ones excited to be at the DMV.
Donnie is too tall for the car provided by the DMV for the test so they need to use the garbage truck.
Of course, Donnie passes with flying colours, but the same can’t be said for Mikey, who fails the first time and passes on his second try.
Eventually, his dreams do come true, and he starts a company to help people with his inventions.
Leo
He is the hardest to convince of this lifestyle change.
After all, they have everything they need in the sewers, why bother changing all of that to be in the noisy city with all of those people?
That’s when his brother Donnie takes him to a plant nursery for the first time.
His entire outlook changes.
Leo ends up filling his cart with all kinds of plants to start a little greenhouse—not one with artificial light this time, but one with actual sunlight.
Okay, now he’s having fun. He spends weeks constructing this greenhouse with his brother’s help.
Setting it up with all of his plants once it’s completed is quite cathartic to him.
This is when he finally starts to come around and try things.
Of course, he goes to the games with his brothers and has a great time.
He visits a teahouse and experiences a newfound sense of peace and tranquility like he never imagined.
He tries a few restaurants, orders takeout, and quickly realizes that he doesn’t know how to cook anything other than rice.
Cue Leo taking a cooking class and learning how to cook for himself.
He goes to the grocery store to pick ingredients to make his first actual meal from start to finish.
He’s so proud of himself and posts the picture on social media.
He gets such a positive reception that he begins posting all of his meals, gaining a small fanbase.
It takes him some courage to join a local dojo, but he quickly develops a sense of belonging.
He would eventually open his own dojo with their support.
At home, he creates a reading nook for himself by the window in his apartment with the most comfortable chair he’s ever sat in and loves to read when the sunlight streams in at just the right angle.
He also takes the time to create a little zen garden for himself on the same rooftop as his greenhouse.
And Leo, being Leo, still checks in on his brothers to make sure they’re adjusting well to life on the surface.
This includes telling Mikey to remember his reusable bags when he goes to the grocery store, telling Raph what day to bring down his garbage and recycling, and reminding Donnie to eat when he spends eight hours at the library.
He may have taken the longest to convince, but once he’s established a life for himself, there’s no going back to the sewers.
He finds himself wishing he’d done all of this a lot sooner.
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