A Little Sibling Secret

by orphan_account

Summary:

Leonardo finds out that she’s trans, now she has to try to live her life to the fullest without her family finding out.

(It’s not done yet so it’ll be updated every so often, I try not to take too long for the next update 🧍🏾)

Notes:

This is like my first fic (that I’m posting to ao3) ever 🤯
Feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments!!
Another warning if needed: there is homophobic language and themes of homophobia and transphobia present, if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing i wouldn’t recommend reading.

Chapter 1

Leo slowly crept into Donnie’s room, he was watching LiveLeak on his computer. When the turtles weren’t training, it seemed like that’s all he ever did nowadays, he was pretty much glued to that computer watching whatever captivated his mind that day. But spending all of his time watching depraved content on the internet also made him a lot meaner to his brothers, so much so they had to walk on eggshells as to not upset him.

“Hey Donnie?” Leo asked nervously.

Donnie was already annoyed that one of his stupid brothers was interrupting his computer time, “What?” He groaned.

“Well I know I’m supposed to be the leader and all, but I thought I might ask since you’re the genius out of the rest of us and you spend most of your time on the compu-“

“Can you please just get to the point??” Donnie sighed.

“Okay jeez, well I just wanted to know like, is it possible for a boy to turn into a girl?”

Donnie paused his video and turned his chair over so he could face Leonardo. With a raised eyebrow he chuckled, “What do you wanna be a girl or something?”

Leo panicked, he couldn’t have his brother thinking he was weird, he’d never recover from it, so he had to save face quickly.

“No! Of course not, that’s…weird. I just wanted to know like, in general, if it’d ever be possible for a boy to become a girl later in life.”

“Well unless you’re some kind of faggot then no, you can’t change your gender.” Don laughed.

“Oh, okay thanks.” He said before closing the door.

Leo was distraught. He started to tear up a bit. No way was he letting something so minuscule make him cry, he’s the leader, he’s a man, he’s not supposed to act like a sissy. But just maybe if he were a girl- no. Boys aren’t supposed to think like that. Boys aren’t supposed to want to be girls, boys aren’t supposed to mourn how much happier their life would be if they could be a girl, even just for one day. Boys are supposed to be strong and manly. If his brothers ever saw him be so vulnerable they’d stop respecting him, they’d make fun of him for the rest of his miserable life. He had to get over it.

But he never got over it.

Years went by since he asked Donnie about it and he still felt like a girl. That was when he was nine, he’s 13 now.

But he couldn’t be silent anymore, maybe April knew what to do about it considering she is a human after all.

After his brothers were finished with their training session, Leo pulled April away for a second.

“Hey April? Can I talk to you privately for a moment?” Leo whispered to April.

April nodded her head and they ran out of the lair to sit on the rooftop where Leo and his siblings usually hung out. The lights beamed throughout the dark city, it was truly a sight to behold.

“What’s up?” She questioned, she was used to being dragged around by the turtles, but this seemed oddly urgent.

“Well, I don’t know much about human stuff but, is it normal for humans to ever feel like they’re a girl when they were born a boy? Just hypothetically, of course.”

Leo was super nervous. Like, sweating nervous. After was happened years ago with Donnie, he was afraid to ask anything about it.

“Yeah! It’s called being ‘transgender’. I mean, I don’t really get it, but I’ll support whatever people wanna do with their bodies.” She explained.

“Really?? Can you tell me more about it?” He asked happily. He was ecstatic! There’s finally a way for him to feel less miserable about himself. “I mean, just to know more about humans, of course.”

April laughed a little at Leo, he was pretty red with embarrassment from how excited he sounded.

“Sure, I’ll be glad to explain some more! I also have some trans friends I can take you to if you wanna know more about them.”

“That’d be great, thanks.” Leo responded with the biggest grin.

He rocked back and forth excitedly, he just couldn’t contain the amount of joy he felt in that moment.

April came to a quick realization, why would Leo just randomly ask something like that?

“Wait, Leo are you trans?”

Leo paused. What if she thought he was weird? I mean sure, she was friends with a mutant ninja turtle so it couldn’t get any weirder, but what if she didn’t feel comfortable around him anymore? What if she didn’t accept him? Forgetting he was right in front of her, he started to tear up just thinking about it.

“Leo! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you by asking. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

He became self conscious again, he was supposed to be such a strong leader, how could he cry in front of someone like this? God he felt so weak and exposed, he never should have asked to begin with.

“No April, it’s fine. I’m so stupid for asking.” He said while wiping away his tears.

April gave him a hug, it was the least she could do after making him cry. He let go of her hug to wipe away more tears off of his cheek.

“Well to be honest, after hearing what a ‘transgender’ is, I think I might be…”

He was finally about to say it to someone who could understand him, someone who gave him to word that made everything click.

“I think I might be trans, April.”

April was taken aback. She couldn’t believe someone who presented themself as so strong and independent could be so vulnerable with her, she couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s just fine Leo, I’m so glad you trusted me enough to tell me.”

Leo felt more tears trickle down his face. He’s never felt so free around someone before, like he had just hatched from and egg.

“Thank you so much April, you have no idea how much this means to me.” Was all he could say before bursting into tears. They both shared such an intimate and heartfelt moment together crying under the streetlights of New York. He, no, she, finally knew who she was and was ready to face the world with her newfound identity. But it wasn’t going to be easy.

Chapter 2: Familial Matters

Summary:

Basically she hangs out w April more now that she’s more comfortable with her identity and her brothers are suspicious
She’s he/him by day and she/her by night 🥷🏾

Notes:

Donnie’s a bit of an asshole it was so painful to write him cus he’s my fav 😭😭
But u gotta do what u gotta do 🙅🏾

Two years had past since Leo came out to April, and in those two years she learned a lot about herself.

Leo loved to wrap her bandana in a bow, it made her feel more feminine. She had taken a liking to makeup and April would always get her some in secret. She had also loved to wear some of the dresses April bought for her, it made her feel so pretty and free, she didn’t know what she’d do without all of these items April so graciously had given her.

Of course her family couldn’t find out about this, imagine how badly they’d mock her for it? So she had to do it in secret, or with some of her other trans friends that April introduced her to. But her brothers couldn’t help but notice that every time she “left for training” she kept coming back even later than before, sometimes with her bandana bow. At the very least she came back happy.

One night of being out too late, her brothers decided it was time to confront her about just what the hell was going on.

She went through the lair’s entrance and saw the lights were off. She then had a sigh of relief, her brothers were asleep, which means she didn’t have to untie her bow. Leo carefully made her way through the living room until she paused for a moment, her brothers were in the room, any good ninja should know that. She untied her bow quickly and just stood there, knowing her brothers were sitting on the couch waiting to confront her. Leo hoped they would figure out she knew they weren’t asleep but they never caught on. So she threw the handle of her katana at the light switch to turn on the lights and there they were, waiting for her return.

“So, just where have you been all night?” Mikey questioned in a silly detective voice.

“Can the act Mikey, we’re trying to be serious here.” Raph huffed.

“I thought we were questioning Leo so I was just doing my whole ‘good guy, bad guy’ shtick!” Mikey punched the air like a ninja, it was pretty clear he didn’t take things as seriously as the others.

“You don’t have a ‘good guy, bad guy’ shtick dipshit!”

“Will the both of you shut up?!“ Donnie yelled, he tried to keep his voice down to make sure he didn’t wake master Splinter.

Raph and Mikey sat still as to not upset Donnie, he could be a real jerk when he’s mad.

“Thank you. Anywho, you’ve been staying out late. What’s up with that?” Donnie questioned.

“I’ve just been training of course, I have to keep myself better for our next battle with the Foot or the Shredder!”
She wasn’t 100% lying, on some of her trips she had did use it as an opportunity to train independently, but most of the time she was out with her new friends.

“Then how about we start coming along on your training trips? It’d be a lot better for all of us to train together more often don’t cha’ think?” Mikey chimed in.

“We train together enough, I’m the leader of this team. I need more time to train alone than you guys do. It only makes sense.”

“Then how come you almost always reek of Chinese takeout when you’re back?” Raph asked intimidatingly.

Leo gulped, she had to come up with a comeback quick.

“Well sometimes I get tired and go get something to eat, is that such a crime?!” She clapped back defensively.

“Well no but-“

“Then there’s no problem with me being out late for training. End of story.” Leo said while walking over to her room, but Donnie wasn’t having it.

“Look Nardo, I saw your little ‘bandana bow’, why don’t you explain that before you go?”

“It just makes things easier for me to train, I don’t wanna accidentally slice my bandana you know.” Leo chuckled a bit, but it seems the explanation wasn’t good enough.

“You don’t ever wear it during our training sessions, and is that Aprils perfume??” Donatello exclaimed.

Shit, she didn’t have enough time to wash off the scent! Don was probably going to think the worst seeming he’s obsessed with her, Leo had to act quick.

“Okay, I may have took a training day off to go hang out with April, what’s wrong with that? It’s not like we were doing anything bad??”

“You were hanging out with April and you didn’t tell me!! What the fuck dude??” Donnie was getting aggressive with Leo, he started to push her further and further away from him.

“You don’t own her, she doesn’t even know you like her! It’s not a crime to hang out with my friend, so chill out.” Leo reprimanded. She’s never seen this level of obsession from him, it was starting to freak her out.

“Break it up you two, we should talk about this tomorrow it’s getting late.” Raph pushed the two away from each other. Thank god for him, otherwise the two would probably get into a fight.

Donnie glared at Leo as he went into his room, this definitely wasn’t over, but she could handle it. Raph pulled Leo aside quickly so the others wouldn’t notice.

“Okay but seriously dude. What’s been going on with you? We’ve been kind of freaked out by how much time you spend on the surface.” He asked.

“Okay I’ll tell you, just don’t tell the others, especially not Donnie.” She said. “Well the thing is, it’s not like I haven’t been training, it’s just I usually go out with April and her friends. We have so much fun I get distracted and by the time we’re done its pretty late into the night.”

“Ohhh, no wonder you didn’t want to tell us. Mikey would be pretty jealous of all of the fun and Donnie is… Donnie.“ Raph laughed. “But it’s, alright dude, your secret is good with me.” He smiled while playfully punching her.

Leo laughed, it was nice to know she could at least trust one of her brothers, maybe one day she could tell Raph about her being trans, but for now that was the most he could know.

They went to their rooms to sleep but Leo just lied on her bed and sort of thought to herself for a while. She was happier being who she was, just being Leo, but they’re going to have to know the truth at some point. She couldn’t bear the thought of possibly destroying their family just because she wants to live her life being true to herself. However they’re gonna have to know at some point. She’d just have to prepare herself for the possibility.

Chapter 3: A Crack in The Glass

Summary:

It seems like the cat is out of the bag (her secret was revealed), how’s her brother going to react to everything?

Leo was finally home alone, well, with the exception of Raph being in another room of course, but she felt so free to be herself. Feeling especially feminine that day, she put on the makeup April bought her and posed in the bathroom. She was getting sloppy when it came to hiding her secret. Suddenly, Raph knocked on the door.

“Hey Leo can you hurry up?? I need to pee and you’ve been in there for hours!!” Raph yelled.

She forgot how much time passed by, and there was so much makeup out, she didn’t have enough time to hide all of it considering how impatient Raph is.

“I’ll be out in a minute, just hold on!!”

She gathered all of her makeup and put them into a duffel bag but all of it wouldn’t fit. Leo was panicking hard, but she didn’t have any time to try and reorganize the makeup to fit, she’d just have to hide it in the bathroom and wait until Raph was done to get it back. Leo rushed out of the bathroom and waited near the door.

“Don’t you have friends to be with or something?? Unless you wanna hear me pee or something.” Raph teased.

“Pfft, shut up you dick.” She laughed.

“What’s in the bag anyways??”

“Just some deodorant and stuff April gave me as a joke, I’ve never smelt perfume so I thought I might try it out,”

Raph was giving Leo a weird look, either he wasn’t buying it or was judging her for not knowing what perfume smells like, she honestly couldn’t tell.

“Whatever weirdo. I’d suggest getting away from the bathroom though, I’m about to drop a bomb in here!”

Leo laughed and went to her room and put the duffel bag down. She was planning on waiting until Raph was done in the bathroom but the amount of time she spent in there led to him getting suspicious, he knew she was hiding something and didn’t expect to find what he did.

“Hey Leo? Can you come in here?” Raph yelled.

Her heart sank. He probably found the makeup she left in the bathroom, how could she possibly explain that? That she’d been using makeup while she was in the bathroom?? He’d probably go through her duffel bag as well and find all of those feminine products. It was over for her, god if only she wasn’t so stupid. She didn’t move at all, she sat there, trembling, whilst she teared up. She could hear footsteps coming closer and closer to her room.

“Why the heck is there-“ he held lipstick in front of her room, but he saw his older sister crying and became overwhelmed with concern. “Dude what’s going on?? Is it something I said or…?”

“No it’s not that. You’re wondering about the lipstick right? You’re probably gonna search in my bag too.”

“Well I wasn’t but thanks for the idea.” He chuckled and he went to look through the bag.

Leo was livid, she couldn’t let him invade her privacy like that.

“DON’T!!” She screamed as she pounced on him and he threw the half opened bag to the wall where more of her feminine stuff had fallen out. All she did was make everything worse for herself.

“Umm, what’s all of that??”

She went to shut the door, head faced down with shame, and sat on her bed crying. Raph sat next to her and helped wipe her tears.

“Hey. I’m sorry I did that, but you’ve gotta explain what the heck that stuff was. Why are you carrying around makeup and all of that girly junk?”

“It’s because I’m trans Raph!” She yelled, she’d taken herself aback with what she said, and from the looks of it so was her brother.

“I’m a girl, I’ve known for more than two years and I’ve been so scared of anyone knowing I hid it from everyone except April. All of that stuff is hers, she lets me keep it.”

“Oh.”

She felt so exposed in the moment, it was unbelievably embarrassing to know her twin brother saw her being so weak.

“I know you’re probably embarrassed by me or something and I’m sorry but could you at the very least-“

“No, no I’m not upset it’s just…”

Raph felt too overwhelmed by everything. He knew what trans people were but his own sibling? How didn’t he see the signs? The bow, the perfume, in hindsight it’s amazing he didn’t figure it out sooner. He thought they were twins? They talked to each other about everything so how could Leo hide something like that?

“Dude, sis, whatever, I don't care right now. How could you hide something like that from me?? I thought we were supposed to trust each other.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Donatello kept telling us that trans people and gay people in general are freaks and I thought you believed it. I thought you’d make fun of me and hate me for being a freak. I thought…”

“How could you even say that? I’m your…” Raph paused, he didn’t even know what he wanted to call him. To be honest he’d gotten thoughts like that, not of wanting to be a girl. His gender had always felt like it wasn’t male or female, just him. He didn’t know what to do about it but now that he knew his sibling was trans, he felt like he had someone to talk to.

“Raphael, are you okay?” She asked.

“Well now that you bring up all of this transgender stuff, it’s gotten me…thinking. Like, honestly my gender hasn’t really ever felt like anything. I never felt right being called a brother, but I don’t really feel right being called your sister either. I’m just sort of, nothing.” He voiced nervously.

“Would ‘sibling’ be alright?”

“Yeah, that sounds nice.” They said, “But like I was saying before, I’m your sibling! I’ll always stick with you no matter what. You really think I’ll just blindly believe whatever comes out of that nutjob's mouth? I’m no Mikey, I’ll tell you that.”

She laughed in response, she kind of felt silly in retrospect for thinking Raph of all people would believe what Donnie says about others.

“Thanks Raphael, unless you’ve got another name you wanna go by of course.”

“You know what, Raph is good for now. What about you? I figure the queen of unoriginality herself would call herself Lee or something.”

“You know, that doesn’t sound so bad actually.” She teased.

“Oh brother! Or sister in this case.”

They both burst out laughing, Raph always knew how to make light of a serious situation and Lee lived for it.

“But yeah, promise you won’t tell anyone about my girl-stuff?”

“Sure, just as long as you give me some, and let me hang out with you and April.”

“Fine, cause one thing can never be enough for Raph!” She mocked.

Raph playfully punched her and they got into a play-brawl which led them both to play fighting in the middle of the lair.

“What are you dudes doing?” asked Mikey. He, Donnie, and Splinter had returned with grocery bags full of fruit from Splinter’s garden.

“Probably being a bunch of stupid gaywads, that’s what.” Don laughed, but the joke didn’t go so well with everyone else.

“Donatello, what did I say about refraining from that kind of language about your fellow ninja?” Splinter reprimanded.

“It was just a joke! God, it seems like none of you losers can ever take a joke around here.” He whined.

“How about you clean the entirety of the lair then? Just as a joke of course.”

“That doesn’t even- you know what, fine dad. I will, I’ll make this stupid lair all sparkly and clean. In fact, if you can’t see your reflection in everything by the time I’m done, you can give me whatever punishment you want!” Donnie kicked the nearest object in frustration.

“Dude, why on earth would you make that kind of a promise?” Mikey laughed. All three of his siblings were snickering at how dumb he looked, he felt like an absolute idiot.

“As you wish, and if the Lair is not ‘sparkling’ as you put it, then the punishment will be very severe.” Splinter simply walked to his room.

Don’s siblings laughed uncontrollably while walking to their respective rooms, Don was fuming with anger, how could they disrespect him like this?? Unbelievable.

But to be fair, he did do it to himself.

Notes:

I <3 Non binary Raphael
Tbh I had a completely different idea of Raph originally having internalized homophobia and then unlearning it as time went on but we can’t have nice things so I’m not writing it 😭

Chapter 4: The Hidden City

Summary:

Raph meets Lee & Aprils friends she talked about. Then they decide on what to do for their night out.

Notes:

Hi!! I’m sorry I haven’t updated in like ten days I’ve been very busy and writers block is a bitch 😭😭 but I’m back with two new chapters!! They’re basically filler to keep it quite frank, but chapter 6 is gonna go back to the plot and I hope it’ll be very angst-y to say the least 👀

Lee was preparing to get ready for another “private training” session, this time she decided to leave in the afternoon. However she had to bring Raph along with her just like she promised. Lee was pretty good at not getting caught on her own so Raph was a bit of a safety hazard.

“Look if you’re gonna go out with me you gotta know the basic rundown of things, first we’re gonna go to April's house, afterwards we’re gonna meet up with another mutant named Venus at a Hidden City, and finally we’ll go to Panda Express and come back to the lair. Got it?”

“Hidden City?? Venus?? You’re saying a lot of stuff I’m not familiar with, Lee.”

“Okay so there’s this Hidden City we usually go to that’s full of other teen mutants, April accidentally found them while doing some Krang hunting and she made friends with a mutant named Venus. She’s sort of been taking me over there every now and then.” Raph was confused and sort of angry.

“Sis, there’s an entire city full of mutants and you just didn’t say anything?? What the heck?!”

“I’m sorry okay, you gotta keep in mind Venus and the gang are all queer in some way, like I said before I didn’t know if you guys would be supportive so I had to hide it for my safety!”

Raph playfully hit Lee’s back,“You could’ve at least told me after you came out, well whatever, let’s go hang out with these mutants!”

Raph and Lee fled to April’s, she was already waiting outside her apartment with her phone and headphones on.

“Hey Lee!” April and Lee did a fistbump together and their handshake, Raph was pretty confused at everything. “You brought Raph along? I thought it was just supposed to be the two of us,”

“Well it turns out Raph is trans too! Non binary to be more specific, they use they/them pronouns.”

“Cool! Nice to meet you again, I guess.” They shared a hug and she patted them on the back.

“You told him about the hidden city right? And Venus?”

“Yep, I think they’ll be well behaved.” Lee glared at Raph as he scoffed and crossed his arms.

“Alright! Then let’s go to Mutant City!”

The journey to the Hidden City was long, it's definitely called hidden for a reason, but the turtles and April were able to get there in less time than they usually do. The entrance to the city was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, it was grassy and pretty empty, but the city was separated by a big metal wall marked “GOV. CONTAINMENT #3298” City security was at the entrance of the wall, they seemed to be older mutants.

“Hey April, hey Lee, I’m gonna need to know who this one is though.” They crossed their arms and bore their sharp teeth at Raph, the guards appeared to be tigers.

“I’m obviously a mutant. That on its own should be enough to get me in!” Lee was sweating nervously, she really didn’t want Raph to make a bad first impression.

“This is my sibling, Raph. It’s their first time in Mutant City, trust me, they’ll be coming here a lot more often.” Lee reassured the guards, it was enough to let them in.

The city was beautifully lit, neon blue and pink lights everywhere. There were a lot of street lights, electrical poles, and tall buildings, some of them containing pretty visible pride flags. For a containment center, it seemed huge and pretty well kept. A turtle mutant with a braided teal bow came running towards the trio, she appeared to have a dolphin tail on her back.

“Lee! April! Great to see you guys!” The turtle said before they all embraced each other in a hug, Raph stood there feeling very left out.
“Who’s this? Is this one of your brothers you always tell me about?”

“Well yeah, this is Raph and they’re non binary.” Raph waved at Venus, she gave them a little hug and a pat on the back.

“Great! I’m Venus, I go by she/her pronouns and I’m so excited to meet you!” She and the trio all chuckled. “Well what do you guys wanna do today? The group has been raving to go explore New York City, we could also go to Buffalo! Or Albany! Wait, Raph, you haven’t met the group, let me introduce them to you!” She ran to her friends while grabbing Raphs arm, April and Lee laughed at how excited Venus was.

“Okay, this is Sandro, he’s a mutant Gazelle and he’s really artsy!!”

Sandro wore a black and white hoodie with a pin containing the trans and gay flag on it, he was a similar height to Raph, they blushed just by looking at him.

“Hi, you must be Raphael. It’s an honor to meet you! Lee says you’re her favorite.” Raph faced to the side and crossed his arms to look cool. “Mmhm, I figured.” They mumbled.

“This is Parm! She’s a mutant panther, she’s like the oldest of our group and basically the group mom. Usually she has snacks unless Lee and April bring some from the outside.”

“Nice to meet you Raph, you better be treating Lee better than that Don she always rants about,” she said while playfully punching them. Parm was very tall, weirdly tall almost, she bore a scar across her eye and she was wearing a camo jacket, Raph felt pretty thrilled by her presence to say the least. They went in for a fist bump and she reciprocated.

“Last but not least, Catharina! She’s a mutant bumblebee and loves music, speaking of which,” Venus tapped Catharina on the shoulder, whilst she was floating in the air dancing to the music of her headphones.

“What’s up Vee?” She responded, Venus pointed at and she turned her attention to Raph, they waved at her. “Oh hi!! You’re Raph! Lee loooves talking about you and your bros, it’s surprising you guys have never come to Mutant City before considering you’re, y’know, mutants. Why do you live in the outside world anyways?”

“It’s our duty to protect the humans, I’ve already explained this to you Cath.” Lee jumped in.

“I don’t see why, they treat y’all like freaks. That’s what they did with us too and they just sort of dumped us all here.” The bumblebee said while flying around the city.

Raph thought to themselves for a moment, it would be nice to not have to live in fear of being discovered. I mean what have humans ever done for them? Besides April, they’re usually treated like scum, and nobody’s ever bothered to take the time to try and understand them without trying to experiment on them.

“That’s just the way things have to be, I mean look at April, there are good humans out there that are worth protecting.” April smiled back at her and they hugged again.

“Whatever you say Lee. Anywho, what are we gonna do today? I say we go explore New York!” Cathy flew excitedly just thinking about the idea of being back at home.

“That sounds risky. Maybe we should find something else to do here, this place is huge after all.” Lee walked around their area for a moment admiring the infrastructure.

“Well there’s nothing we haven’t seen here, it gets kind of boring after a while. I think it’d be fun to go explore New York, you and your brothers do it all of the time.” Sandro suggested.

“Yeah! We could go to the Empire State Building, Central Park, Times Square,” Raph was cut off by the growing buzz of a very ecstatic Catharina.

“Times Square!! Let’s go there!” The bee jumped around with excitement.

“Again, these are very risky ideas! We’ve never even been outside of our area of New York, we don’t know what awaits us outside of there.” Lee was reasonably worried, she didn’t know how to mentally prepare for going outside of her literal comfort zone.

“We’ll be fine, we’re mutant ninjas! If anything goes wrong we can fight them off with our ninja weapons.” Raph assured Lee, they made her feel a bit more comfortable with the idea. “If anything goes wrong we’ll go straight back to the lair.”

“Alright guys, so all in favor of New York exploration say ‘aye!’”

They all said aye and ran for the exit, their night was just about to get started.

Notes:

I had was gonna make chapter 4 and 5 one whole chapter but it was getting pretty long so I had to split them up 😭
Sorry it’s not plot oriented, just thought I’d do a little bit of world building.

Chapter 5: A Night in New York

Summary:

The mutants (and April) go out and fuck around in the big city.

The group had found streetwear in order to fit in better with the humans, April just decided to go with her normal clothes considering she’s already pretty human. They walked around and admired the city, they’ve seen Times Square in movies and commercials but it was so much prettier in person, especially at night.

“So many lights and signs, this is definitely Times Square.” Lee was pretty overwhelmed by the amount of sensory input coming in at once, his discomfort was starting to show pretty obviously.

“Hey Lee, you want my headphones? They’ve got a noise reduction feature, looks like you could need it.” She chuckled, Lee grabbed the headphones and they worked to her comfort.

“Well, what do you guys wanna do now? Should we just look around or go buy something? Looks like we’ve got a lot of options.”

“I don’t think any of us brought any cash, April. Looking around seems just fine to me.” The mutants nodded in agreement.

They continued to walk around for an hour and saw the true beauty of New York. The big buildings, the colorful neon signs, it was like heaven on earth for them. They even looked at a few stores they passed by, a lot of them were unfortunately closed due to how late it was.

Parm took out her phone to take a picture but she noticed the time “It looks like the suns gonna be coming up soon which means more people are gonna be out, we should probably head back.” Parm said nervously.

“But I haven’t even captured the full beauty of this place! I’ve gotta draw this in my journal when we get back home.” Sandro pulled out his phone and took a bunch of pictures of the scenery.

“Yeah but if you guys get discovered, think of how they're gonna react! You guys might get experimented on again!” April cried, the mutants did react to that possibility.

“Well when you put it like that we should definitely get out of here. Let’s go get some Panda Express back in New York City.” Lee pulled out his T-Phone and began to track a way home, it’d only take about 31 minutes, she’d still have enough time to get some rest seeing it was 4:34.

“I’ve got a way, let’s get going.” Lee said while she started to run. The mutants (and April) followed her lead. Venus took Catharina’s hand to make sure she didn’t start too high.

They made it back to New York City, but they were exhausted. They made a pit-stop at Panda Express to recharge a little bit. Luckily someone was there to serve the mutants.

“Well, how are my favorite freaks doing?” Said the girl as she opened up the door.

“Nadiyah, boy am I glad to see you.” April said before collapsing into the employees arms. The girl laughed while blushing. “Didn’t think you were that tired, c’mon get up so I can get you guys something to eat.” Nadiyah sat April down at a table and went to the kitchen, the rest of the group sat down with her, they were unbelievably tired.

Nadiyah came back with cups of coffee and noodles for each of them, their faces collectively lit up with joy seeing food.

“Man, nothing gets me more stoked and energized than putting unhealthy amounts of caffeine into my teenage body. Thanks noodle girl!” Raph laughed sarcastically, Nadiyah smirked and rolled her eyes at him.

“I could’ve just left you outside you know, now eat up, y’all are gonna have to get going soon considering it’s basically 5 am.”

Raph and Lee decided to save their food to eat at home and the rest finished eating their food. They exited and said their goodbyes to each other.

“It was really nice to meet you Raph, you and your family should come visit Mutant City sometime! I don’t know about your brothers but I think you’d fit right in.” Raph chuckled.

“I like living in the sewer, but I’ll consider coming every now and then.”

The mutants ran off to their home, leaving just Lee, Raph, and April.

“Well I gotta get home, I got school in the morning and my dad’s probably gonna be worried sick about how tired I am. See you guys later!” April yelled as she ran off.

“See you April!” Lee and Raph yelled back, they ran towards their sewer to get home as soon as possible.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say tonight was awesome! No wonder you always come back late from training, I can’t believe you guys do this stuff every night!” Lee stopped for a moment to laugh at Raph, he was getting pretty annoyed at it. “What? It was a compliment!!”

“You really think we do all that every night? That was just today, usually we just stay in the hidden city, if we did stuff like that every night I’d never get any sleep.” She picked up her pace and continued to run towards their sewer hole, Raph followed suit.

“Well you guys should do stuff like that more often, that was amazing!”

“Like I said shell-for-brains, if I went to different cities in New York all of the time I’d never get any sleep! I’d be more sloppy in my ninja work.”

“It definitely beats being at home all the time. Speaking of which,” The two stopped at their sewer hole and entered swiftly considering how bright it was outside.

Lee and Raph made their way to their bedrooms quickly so as to not make any noise, and for the most part it worked! They had successfully had the best night out ever.

Notes:

There isn’t much I have to say about this, but I did intend for Venus and Catharina to be a couple sooo
Also I was going to go for the OC x Canon route with Raph but I decided not to.

Chapter 6: Fun Times.

Summary:

April and Lee fool around, Don finds out, drama ensues.

Notes:

This one way very hard to write because of how much it started to hit a bit too close to home and because I hate making Donnie a bigot 😭

HUGE TW FOR:
- Homophobia
- Transphobia

The four siblings decided to have a break day, Splinter said it’d be good for their minds to recharge after all. So they decided to do whatever they wanted. Donnie was in the living room watching TV, Mikey was cooking up lunch, Raph was fighting a dummy in the dojo, and Lee was reading comics in her bedroom. April entered the lair from a sewage cover with plastic bags, Donatello of course being the first to notice.

“Hey there April! What’re you doing here in the lair on this fine afternoon?” Donnie crossed his legs and raised an eyebrow in a sad attempt to make April think he’s attractive, it clearly didn’t work and she was more confused than anything.

“Well I’m here to drop some stuff off for Leo, can you tell me where she is?” April froze for a moment but calmed herself down, it’s a minor thing, he probably didn’t notice it, she can just play it off as a mistake after all.

“Well HE is in his room reading comics or something.” Don mocked, he was hoping to make April laugh but it really didn’t work, the silence was almost deafening. “…anyways, don’t take too long in there cause there’s something I’ve been meaning to show you on my computer.”

“Whatever you say Donnie.” April said as she ran to Lee’s room. She slammed open the door which reasonably freaked Lee out.

“April! Jesus…” she yelled as she accidentally fell off her bed. April tried her best to hold it in but couldn’t help bursting out laughing at the scene, it was hilarious. “Have you ever tried knocking??”

“Sorry Leo,” she laughed while helping the turtles off the floor and back onto the bed. “But in other news, I got you some new clothes! Try them on, I think they’d look cute on you!” April gave Lee the bag and April was right to say the least. She loved them, the skirt perfectly complemented its blouse, and the bag came with a dotted bandana that matched her outfit. Lee loved it so much she started to squeal in excitement. “Thank you so much April!! These clothes are lovely, I'm gonna wear them every time we go out together!” She said while hugging April.

Unfortunately the noise from Lee's room drew unwanted attention from her siblings, specifically Donnie. He couldn’t help but eavesdrop on their conversation considering how much he loved April and the fact she got Lee clothes and not him enraged him. He stormed to Lee’s room and the sight he saw definitely didn’t look good.

“What are you two doing?? Get away from her!!” Donnie pushed Lee from April which made her reasonably upset. Unfortunately for Lee the hug wasn’t the only alarming thing he noticed. He started to snicker and laugh uncontrollably at his sister. “Dude, what are you wearing? You look like a fag!”

Lee was visibly upset and started to tear up, it was so embarrassing, how could she be crying over a word? Especially being the leader, she had to stop being so weak. “Donnie that’s enough!! You shouldn’t be using that slur on anyone, let alone your own brother! What is wrong with you?!” April yelled, her yelling only made Lee feel even worse.

“Don’t tell me you’re defending him, I mean look at him! You can’t tell me he doesn’t look absolutely ridiculous,” he turned his attention to Lee, noticing the tears flowing down her cheeks. “Don’t tell me you’re actually crying over this, my god when will you fags grow up?!” Don laughed even louder, Lee’s sorrow turned to rage and April got even angrier with Donnie.

“Hey what’s going on in here I can hear you guys all the way from the dojo?” Raph entered the room, seeing Lee crying made them seethe with anger. “Donnie, what the FUCK did you do?!” They yelled.

“Well our brother here apparently gets sissy dresses and skirts from April, doesn’t he look ridiculous??” Don continued to laugh, Raph slapped him straight across his face, he appeared to be dumbfounded by it. “What the fuck dude??” He yelled.

Raph wasn’t as concerned with his shithead brother in comparison to Lee, he sat on her bed and gave her a hug in solidarity. She reciprocated and let all of her emotions out. Donnie was still confused, why was everyone taking this so seriously?? The siblings make fun of each other all of the time, at least when he’s not in the room, but they still know how to have fun so why was it bad when he joked around too??

“Why can none of you guys ever take a joke?? When you guys do it it’s fine but when I do it I’m suddenly the bad guy! What a bunch of snowflakes I swear.” April wasn’t having it anymore she stood up and started to get intimidatingly close to Donatello.

“This is different! God can’t you ever just accept that you can’t keep playing the victim forever?? You literally called her a slur-“

“I called him a slur, y’know for people who care about him so much you can never seem to get his gender right, unless…” April and Raph were alarmed, what if he figured it out? Did he know??

“Unless what, Donnie??” April uncomfortably chuckled, she glanced at Raph, they looked dreadful. He knew, and it wasn’t going to be long before everyone else knew as well.

“Is Leo trans??” Don asked uncomfortably. The room went completely silent, the silence was extremely uncomfortable. Lee broke her hug and looked at Donnie, a tear lightly fell down her face.

Donnie grimaced at Lee, he couldn’t believe after all of these years his brother was a fag, even worse, she was one of those delusional transgenders. He didn’t know if he could even speak to her anymore, just breathing in her direction made him feel dirty and disgusting. But he knew one thing was for sure, he couldn’t let this thing poison Mikey. Mikey was the only brother who still regularly talked to Donnie, he had to at the very least keep Mikey safe from this madness. All he could do was walk away. Lee however couldn’t take such a weak response. She stood up and angrily walked towards Donnie, April and Raph tried to stop her, her anger would just make things worse.

“Nothing?! After all of the years of the homophobia and transphobia I had to put up with from you, nothing?!” She yelled, it was so loud it started to catch the attention of Splinter and Mikey.

“I have no words for you, freak.” Donnie sat on their couch and opened up his laptop, trying to appear as if he didn’t care. However internally he was seething with anger and disgust.

“Oh so now I’m the freak?? It sure didn’t seem that way yesterday, or the day before that, or literally any day before today! I’m still the same Leo you knew before?? Don I’ve been trans for two years now, I’ve always known I was a girl. The least you could do was try to be better for my sake. I’m your sister!!” She yelled, Splinter and Mikey entered the room distraught at what they were hearing. Leo’s been a girl for two years?! It was an even bigger shock to Donatello, he slammed his laptop and stomped towards Lee, his height slightly intimidating her.

“You’re always going to be a boy, Leo. No matter what prissy pink skirt you put on, no matter all of the makeup, no matter what April or Raph say, you’re a boy. So you better quit this stupid game of dress-up before you corrupt Mikey.” Don walked towards the couch before being stopped by Splinter.

“Donatello, how dare you insult your sister in such ways! Have you no shame?” Splinter sternly. “You all are siblings, while I myself may not understand what troubles Leonardo you should not undermine her identity and her struggles.” Donatello scoffed, he couldn’t believe someone who was supposed to be the voice of reason was siding with this wackjob.

“Donnie just leave it alone. You’ve made Leo cry enough.” Mikey said with tears in his eyes, Donnie taught Mikey to be stronger than this, he can’t be siding with Lee too can he?? Why is everyone treating him like he’s in the wrong here??

“C’mon Mikey, I don’t want these lunatics around you.” Don attempted to grab Mikey’s arm but Mikey pulled back. He couldn’t face him at all, he knew Donatello could be mean and even scary, but he’s never seen Lee cry before. The fact that Don was able to make Lee cry in the name of protecting him gave Mikey an overwhelming amount of guilt, he simply walked away to his room while sniffling and wiping away some tears.

Don couldn’t believe it, the only other person who he trusts and wanted to protect left him just like that, and for what? Just to protect some freak who’s been lying about who he is for two whole years?? He was overwhelmed with anger, his rage consuming him as he attacked Lee. He tried to punch her but she quickly dodged, Don quickly pulled out his bow and began to senselessly attack him, he didn’t have time or energy to calculate his attacks. He was in full rage mode, but it wasn’t anything Lee couldn’t handle, she is the leader for a reason. During one of his attacks, he attempted to swing his bow at Lee but Raph pierced through it using their sai. The metal severely damaged the middle of his bow staff.

“Leave her alone, if you mess with Lee, you mess with all of us, punk.” They spat. Don stood in silence for a minute and dropped his staff, he walked away and slammed the door to his lab shut. April felt helpless throughout it all, maybe if she hadn’t told her about trans people all of those years ago they’d still be brothers, they’d still love each other, this was all her fault. Lee stood up and Splinter, Raph and April came in for a hug, Lee let it all out. She cried and cried, both of joy due to her fathers support, and of sorrow because she lost her brother.

“Thanks for your support sensei, I really needed it.” She sniffled while Splinter helped wipe her face. “You will always have my unconditional support Leonardo, unless there is a different name you would like to be called?”

“‘Lee’ is good for now.”

Notes:

THANK U FOR READING like I said it was very hard to write this 🙍🏾

Chapter 7: An Aftermath

Summary:

The day after the incident, hopefully things go well for Lee.

Notes:

SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG TO UPDATE GUYS 🥲
I cracked my skull dancing in heels but I’m okay now

The morning after the fight happened Lee stayed in her room and stared at the ceiling contemplating things. It felt great that she knew Master Splinter supported her, but she had no idea what to think about her other brothers’ reactions. Donnie was absolutely awful about things, she didn’t know if she even wanted to talk to him after what happened. Mikey was…she didn’t know. Mikey got Donnie even angrier considering he didn’t go along with Don but that didn’t necessarily mean he supported her. He and Don had always been close, Mikey was the only one in the group who really spent a lot of time with Donatello, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t just as scared of him as the others. Donnie just went easier on Mikey, as far as Lee knew anyway. She heard a knock on the door, it slightly creaked open. It was Mikey.

“Hey Leo, breakfast is ready and if you don’t get it soon Raphs gonna eat all of it!” He teased and ran back to the kitchen. She got out of bed and stared at her reflection in her bedroom mirror. She smiled, despite everything, she still managed to get back up again.

Lee went to the kitchen to find Raph devouring the scrambled eggs Mikey made for breakfast while Mikey was making more food on the stove.

“There’s my favorite sister! Jeez I thought you’d never get out of that room.” Raph punched Lee and she laughed. They knew humor always got her in a better mood. “These scrambled eggs are delicious, you gotta try them.”

Lee took her food and ate the eggs, they made her feel warm and homey. It really was delicious. “Mikey, these are great! I swear, do you put crack in your food or something?” She joked, Raph chuckled a bit and continued to eat his food.

“Nope, my foods are made from 100% love, eggs, and universal peace!” He laughed.

“Only Mikey can make an ingredients list as corny as he does.” Raph joshed, Lee laughed a little bit in response.

“Hey! My ingredients are not corny, I just put a lot of care into my food!” Mikey finished up with making more breakfast and set everyone’s food on their respective plates, Donnie’s seemed to be missing. It was great that things just felt normal after yesterday, but it was just too normal, it didn’t feel right. Lee didn’t know if it would be the right time to ask, but she had to bite the bullet and ask him at some point.

“Hey Mikey, are we still cool even with everything that happened yesterday?” Mikey stopped what he was doing and just sort of stood there for a moment, it was honestly really freaky.

“I don’t know Leo. I don’t wanna think about it right now, I just want things to feel normal.” Mikey resumed cleaning up the kitchen, Raph looked at Lee freaked out by what just happened.

“Okay, but if you have any questions or if you wanna talk to me about anything don’t be afraid to ask, I’m still your older sister and I’ll always be here for you.” Lee got up to put her hand on Mikey’s shoulder, he pushed it away gently.

“Sure Leo.” He continued cleaning, Lee just walked back to his seat with Raph. The two of them didn’t know how to react, so they continued to eat eggs in silence.

As the day went on Lee decided she needed to get some fresh air so her head would be in the right space for training, so she went to Splinters garden to water his plants and admire the sky. The garden was located in an abandoned greenhouse that could be accessed quickly by using the sewer pipes. Considering it was abandoned they always had to enter through the restroom, Splinter had taken good care of it, the greenhouse looked modern and minimalistic. The plants resided in a big room, the ceiling made of glass in order to give the plants sunlight. Splinter managed to grow a wide array of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, it was pretty impressive. Lee decided to water some tomatoes and feed some of the flowers. She loved going into the garden, it was another chance for her to be alone with her thoughts and sometimes meditate. Splinter entered the greenhouse and saw Lee taking care of his plants.

“Good afternoon Lee, your work on my garden is impressive. I’m proud of you.” He pat Lee on the back, those simple words of encouragement could’ve been enough to make her cry.

“Thank you sensei, I just needed some fresh air so I can restart training tomorrow.” They both sat on the floor and looked at the sky together, it had been a while since they’ve had such a peaceful and quiet moment together.

“Lee, I still want to discuss some things regarding your new identity. I don’t quite understand how this works yet, so I would appreciate it if you could try to explain it to me.” Lee was nervous, she didn’t know if she could get it right but she was glad Splinter at least tried to learn and listen to her. Can’t say the same for others.

“Sure sensei, well ever since I was a kid I’ve known I was a girl. You know Space Heroes right? I know it sounds silly but I always wanted to look like Celestial.” Splinter laughed, Lee couldn’t tell if he was laughing at her or with her so she blushed in embarrassment.

“You’ve always had an adoration for her, Leonardo. I always assumed you had a crush on her.” She sighed in relief, thank god he wasn’t making fun of her.

“Well it wasn’t, sensei. I like to think of it like this, imagine tomorrow everybody starts calling you a girl and using she and her when referring to you despite the fact that’s not at all who you are. It would be distressing for you, right?” Splinter nodded, she was internally squealing of happiness at how great of a listener her father is. “Well that’s sort of how I’ve felt almost all of my life, I just learned to put up with it even though it makes me uncomfortable. Then one night, April said that there was an option to escape being so uncomfortable, and ever since then I’ve been sort of secretly living as a girl, until Donnie basically outed me last night anyway.”

Splinter took a moment to process it, but he understood it well. He gave Lee a hug, she reciprocated.

“I think I understand now, should I exclusively refer to you using female terms?” Leo nodded in response. “Alright, I’m glad you could tell me about this, I’ll always love you no matter what, my daughter.”

‘My daughter.’ It made Lee feel so mellow and homely, she loved it and hugged Splinter again, her fingers gripping to him a bit too tightly. Once she realized she quickly let go.

“Heh, sorry sensei.” She chuckled. They left the greenhouse together and returned to the lair.

Chapter 8: Enter Purple

Summary:

After being humiliated by his brothers, Donnie takes some time to reflect on how things got so bad.

Notes:

sorry for such a late update!! I’ve been kind of busy with school and such.

Don sat in his lab playing around with his inventions. If he felt like it, he could easily build himself a new family. One that's normal and doesn't betray you like his real family did. He chuckled at the thought. His entire family could be stronger, more intelligent, and swifter in battle. They could be the family he's always wanted, only if he felt like doing it of course. His stomach began to growl, he hadn't eaten much since the fight. How come he had to be the outcast? All he did was state the obvious. Leo could get away with murder, and they'd vehemently defend him, but if Donnie did it, all hell would break loose. He sighed and walked to the door, contemplating whether or not he should open it. It's not like he had any more food in his lair, it was his only other option.

Donnie walked down the hall towards the kitchen. Raph saw him and bore their teeth at him, whatever. He doesn't need Raph to like him, he needs food. Mikey was cooking lunch in the kitchen when he saw Donnie he froze. The food in his hands dropped to the floor, and the plate shattered.

“I'm fine! I just dropped a plate on accident!" Mikey yelled. He grabbed a broom and started to clean up, Donnie walked over to him while laughing.

"Well, how's my favorite klutz doing? Hope you made enough food to satiate this hungry appetite!" Don pointed his thumbs toward himself and chuckled. All Mikey could do was roll his eyes and sigh.

“If you're not gonna help me clean up this mess, leave."

Don was taken aback. None of his brothers had the gall to challenge him, especially not Mikey.

“They really have changed you, huh? You think just because your faggy brothers keep you close, you can just talk to me however you want?" Don grabbed Mikey by his shell and held him high. Mikey yelped and kicked Donnie in his crotch, he yelled and fell to the floor. A shard of glass from the plate cut his face causing him to bleed.

"I'm 13! I don't need you to keep bullying me in the name of protection! Cause if you do, I'm gonna fight back." Mikey took the broom and pushed it in Don's face.

"Cause I'm not afraid of you anymore."

He cupped the food into his hands and threw it into the trash. Don sat there feeling absolutely pathetic. How could he let his stupid brother beat him up? Don's a man, the smartest. He's not a crybaby like his brothers. Yet he sat there, wanting to cry from the pain.

Donnie got up and walked to his lab to get bandaids for his face. Raph snickered while he walked towards the room.

“What're you laughing about?" Don asked.

 

"Donatello, the big macho man, just got his shell kicked by Mikey! That's definitely not something you see every day." They chuckled and continued to watch TV.

“Go kill yourself you dick." He said sternly before walking to his lab. He searched the room for his medical supplies, god his room was a mess. He’d been in there for so long he started to care less and less about his hygiene or the cleanliness of his lab. It wasn’t like him at all, he’s always so organized and neat about his surroundings, it’d appear as if he’d gone into a deep state of depression during these few weeks, and it was all Leo’s fault. If he didn’t act like such a fag he’d still have his family and be likable to Mikey at the very least, but they just had to corrupt and change him.

He finally found the medical box and covered up his cuts with bandages. He went over to his computer and looked at himself through the camera.

“Jesus, I look like a mess.” He groaned before shutting off the computer. All he felt like doing was lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling, thinking about his memories.

There honestly weren’t a lot of positive things he could remember about his siblings besides Michelangelo. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t think of anything, he began to cry out of frustration. He lived with his brothers for years and he couldn’t even think of anything, they felt more like roommates than brothers, and no matter how much he didn’t want to admit it, it was his fault. If he hadn’t spent so much time on his computer and actually hung out with his brothers, maybe they wouldn’t be so distant. Is this why Leo was acting like this? Because he never bothered to pay attention to her? Er…him? Man, he felt like such a jackass, but there was only one person who could fix this mess and it’s gonna be him.

Notes:

Hope this suffices, I promise the next chapters will be out soon!! <33