• Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (80’s classic animated series)
• Story Number: 09
• Pairing: (platonic) Raphael x Donatello [RaphDon]
• Secondary Pairing: (platonic) Leonardo x Michelangelo [LeoMike]
• Chapters: 1/?
• Status: Incomplete, Rough Draft, Discontinued
• Warnings: (Implied) Boy Love (just the very cusp of it being ), Can Totally Be Platonic, First-Second Person POV, Breaking The Fourth Wall, Headcanons, Pseudo-, Character Death, Traumas & Phobias, Blood & (Beyond Canon-Typical) Violence
• Tags: (B)Romance(?), Alternative Reality, Angst, Drama, Suspense, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Favouritism, Time Travel, Time Machines, Never-Before-Posted Draft
• Start & Completion: 2018/07/24–2023/01/05

Note: 

I think it’s really curious that in the classic 80’s Ninja Turtles, they *never-ever* referred to each other as “brothers” but “teammates”, and never referred to Splinter as “father” but “master (sensei)”. So to my old self who grew up with that, the overemphasis ad nauseam on the whole family aspect of their dynamic comes off as very strange and alienating (I never liked any of the newer incarnations of them anyways so, I don’t give a hoot about those, lol).

This story is me getting in close at the very tight Donatello and Raphael relationship with a magnifying lens (which is a particular highlight and unique aspect in the classic toon)(in the movies and newer incarnations, they act more American than Japanese, and it is always ALWAYS the bad blood between Leonardo and Raphael that is in the spotlight. In the toon version, there is no such animosity among any of them). And while I am at this, I wanted to bring focus to the Leonardo and Michelangelo relationship as well (again, something very prominent in the classic series). I just feel that they’d be more “human” and definitely have favourites among their siblings, so, given what I always see in the original show, I went with it.

I have never posted this anywhere else before this. This is actually one of my drafts that I decided to archive here anyway (so this is like a sneak peek into what could have been, lol)(though, I wrote this waaaay back and I see now that my attempts at it leave much to be desired, but oh well, haha). I have always dreamt of writing at least one story for my childhood very first favourite TV show ever, and I had a very ambitious goal for this story despite how hard this was for me to even birth; but sadly, many things have changed since so… I leave it at one chapter. My love for this show will never wane though, I will always love these boys. 

—Arachay • 2023-01-05