Tmnt Michelangelo 2012 - Tumblr Posts

My Human Raphael design and and OC I made when I became obsessed with TMNT 2012. His name is Flynn.

My Raphael human desgin with my Michael Angelou design. They are twins your honor (It's my headcanon I will not take chriticism)

The whole gang in the lair. + my oc and -Karai

Day 3 of @traumas-tmntober-2024 Starvation:

Of Hunger And Heart

Words: 1802

Being raised in the dark sewers by a previously human rat mutant wasn't a recipe that lended well to healthy eating habits. Mikey is often underesrimated but his observation skills were always brilliant even as a small child who couldn't convey his feelings nor findings properly.

So he vompensated in a different way.

OR

Why Mikey will eat anything.

Michelangelo hadn't always been considered a glutton. Someone who would eat anything whether it was edible or not. He had picked this trait up very early on, however.

His earliest memories were shrouded in. darkness. It was also cold and wet and the walls echoed any noise that was made. The echoes of growling stomachs and soft whines were deafening and he could remember holding his hands against his tympanum to stop it.

That made hearing his father's quiet crying and lack of presence ever more obvious, at least to him. Raphie and Lee and DeeDee were still asleep in the turtle pile but Mikey was a light sleeper and his Chichi's fur and warmth was gone.

Mikey didn't get out from under his siblings even though he desperately wanted to. Mikey never sought out his papa or told him he'd witnessed many moments like this. Times where in the dim light he could make out the hunched form of their sensei holding his keepsakes from his first family or quietly counting tins of food.

It wasn't easy to see with the streaks of the far away streetlamp that his younger self had dubbed 'the mini sun,’ either. It was in this low light surrounded by his brothers that he had made the decision to be as helpful as he could. Whilst watching them play he'd keep him distracted, drawing him out of that hauntingly distant look. He would demand his attention and affection to keep him in the moment. He knew it upset Chichi when he was awake late at night. So, he would make up for the sad nights by getting up early to babble and take his mind off of what was upsetting him.

Most of all, Michelangelo would never refuse any food he was given. Unlike Raphie who would refuse foods that looked gross or he knew would taste weird, or Dee, who had cemented what he liked early on and never even tried anything new. He never complained about the food like Lee used to. He always ate without fuss.

Human food was difficult to attain for Sensei but he had tried when they were learning to turtle. He couldn't get money so he was forced to steal for what they needed, which he still tried to do in the most honourable way. He only took the bare minimum and he usually took what was already going to be thrown out and wasted.

It still proved too difficult to sustain. Having 4 babies to keep an eye on as he gathered blankets and formula and avoided witnesses and the sparse cameras was difficult enough but the danger of leaving his toddlers in the sewers as he scavenged alone made it even harder. Especially with some of the events going on at the time.

Mikey hadn't known any of this back then but there was a clear difference from seeing their father disappear every few nights to only seeing him leave once every few weeks, his shoulders taut with stress and exhaustion. Instead, often taking them throughout the sewers to collect sewer water and algae.

Mikey had loved the little bucket he had that was decorated with small painted pictures that he'd use to carry water and algae. He'd help Splinter separate the algae to be stored and to crush eggshells every now and then for the calcium. He did this whilst balancing precariously on the rickety chair they had found on the side of a road to reach the table that Splinter had rebuilt when it'd been thrown out with the bins.

He had first learnt to cook with his Chichi. Well, cooking was a loose term for everything they were doing. He wasn't allowed too close to the fire but Dee was because he was being taught how to purify the water so they could drink it. Instead, papa spent hours teaching him how to cure and plate and make the algae more palatable and something to do with hydraulics and his skills only expanded with age.

Mikey was the algae's biggest advocate. Chichi didn't love it but he bit his tongue and ate all of Mikey's dishes without a word and he was ever so grateful. That confidence and trust was what he needed.

Leo followed eventually, looking up to their Chichiue more and more and copying him but he still didn't find enjoyment from eating this food. Mikey had long banned him from the kitchen the few times he'd try to do something and destroyed parts of his kitchen. That boy could burn water and they did not have the resources for that!

Donnie didn't ever have anything nice to say about the algae but he'd usually hold his beak when Master Splinter ate with them. He only ate what was nutritionally required and sometimes not even that when he was cooped up in his lab. He'd snuck a few bits of lettuce at times, Mikey noted.

Raph ate the least of his food. He picked at it, threw it at his siblings and fed it to Mikey's favourite turtle at-the-time: Spike. That was why when Mikey was old enough he would always beg Sensei with his best puppy dog eyes if he could grab lettuce if nothing else. Raph would show his gratefulness with soft noogies and a quick thanks and less moaning about the food directly after. The first time he even let Miley look at his comics!

Mikey didn't like the algae either though but he didn't truly realise until he had that first slice of pizza on their 15th mutation day. Mikey didn't realise how hungry he was until that first greasy slice hit his tongue. The cheese stretched and clung to his teeth, the warmth of the dough filling his stomach like nothing ever had before. It was like tasting joy for the first time. Just having enough would never be the same.

Mikey didn't handle the change from no real food to having so much of it that well. He probably took advantage of April's kindness those first few months asking for outlandish ingredients and amounts of so many new foods. He finally got to cook! He got to make food his family actually enjoyed. He got to experiment with wild concoctions.

Mikey was hooked on seeing his family's eyes light up at his dishes and come running when the smell of food wafted out of the kitchen. He got genuine compliments and felt useful to the team!

There was another problem, however. He started hoarding food and snacks in his room and silently panicking when the hunger pangs returned. Suddenly, going without food like during times when they were held hostage or just on a long patrol were even harder even though he knew he had gone days without anything when he was much younger. A few hours shouldn't scare him so much. It was a weakness he hid and buried deep down.

He and Casey often hung out in his room reading comics and holding their own really bad karaoke sessions or planning skating routes. Sometimes Mondo joined in. He hadn't expected Casey to find his stash when he hadn't before in all the times they'd hung out in his room.

Casey had held Michelangelo tightly and stayed quiet for a while until he dropped the bomb on him. “I understand.”

Mikey may be more in touch with his emotions than his brother's but he still wasn't a cry baby. Though he isn't afraid to admit that he ugly sobbed into Casey's shoulder and got snot everywhere.

Once he had settled down, Casey had promised not to tell the others so long as he spoke to his dad and let him clean the food out. Mikey agreed and Casey got to work. He didn't ask Mikey to throw out the food Casey could tell he was itching to hide it again. Instead Casey took the fresh produce and binned it. Mikey jumped in at first unable to let go of the food. What if they needed it? The apple was only a little rotten, it could sustain him for a bit if they couldn't get more food. He couldn't just waste it! Casey gently wrestled it out of his hands and sat him down.

“You know how shitty my sperm-donor is? Well he wasn't good at buying food for his offspring either. We don't usually have food I can hide but whenever there's free food handouts or some food going out of date I could take or Murakami's leftovers Ianaged to store up I'd hide em. They'd be gone within a few hours if I put them in the kitchen and not cause my little sister had eaten it either.” Casey stopped for a moment to breathe. He wrapped an arm between the lip of Mikey's carapace and his neck and pulled him closer.

“What I'm trying to say is you deserve better and this food is gonna get you ill. I'm not saying go cold turkey but leave the stuff that goes off out of your room. You hear me?” Casey grinned at that last but, using his other arm to lightly punch Mike's arm. The giggle that was pulled out of him had them in a better mood, joking as they continued.

Mikey still itched to stop Casey touching his hoard but he stayed disciplined and forced himself to watch as Casey finished binning all the gone-off food and placing the snacks that wouldn't go out if date or at least soon in a little box. He'd also taken the random bits like the tin if kidney beans out. It overwhelmed Mikey even though he hadn't actually done anything but everything felt so big and strange.

Mikey put the small box under his bed and hugged Casey again. He felt so lucky one of his best friends cared so much, hadn't judged him, and let him keep some snacks. He forgot he had promised to talk to his papa until Casey mentioned he'd ask about it the next time he came over.

Mikey was thoroughly stuffed. That was not going to go well but he decided that was a tomorrow Mikey problem. For now, Mikey was going to make sure Dee had eaten and then maybe head to bed.

He felt lighter and anxious all at once and it was a feeling he felt was best slept off. Maybe he could put off talking to Sensei if he talked to Casey about it instead.

How could he tell Chichi that, despite all his sacrifices, it hadn't been enough? That they had still gone hungry? He wouldn't do that to him. He couldn't bear to hurt him like that.

The thought was forced out of his mind as he dragged open the lab's sliding door.

Hello!!! Thanks for making it this far, I appreciate it and hope you enjoyed it!! This fic is very personal to me and a lot of it is my own projections adapted to fit my child: Mikey!

Chichi and Chichue both are japanese endearments for father that I believe the tots would use more than sensei and Mikey would still use as he does Papa in the show.

Mikey mentions hyrdaulics but he's actually misinterpreted this as its hydrolisis, one of the ways algae is treated and the egg shells are actually for the calcium carbonate needed.

I have so many little tidbits in these fics I add in like Casey having a little sister and using his IDW backstory as inspiration for Casey's backstory. Also a lot of these are headcanons that are reflected in fanfics like Hey Sunshine by @leadenn (my favourite fanfic series!! sorry for the tag but its so worth the read!) and I'd love to hear about my writing criticisms and all from those who bothered to read it!!! Thanks for listening to my tangent, enjoy yourselves!!

Edit: Tyyy so much to my mate who beta read this just as I posted and pointed out a few mistakes, theyve been fixed now!!