JustaLoser

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. You were genuinely attached to Splinter at the hip from the moment you could walk. If Splinter moved two feet to the left, there was a very high chance a tiny turtle sibling was trailing behind him, holding onto his robe with both hands

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. It got to the point where the others would use you as a tracking device: “Hey, where’s Sensei?” “Somebody get them, we can't find Splinter!” and sure enough, there you were running off and sitting beside Splinter during meditation with your little legs crossed wrong and eyes squeezed shut in fake concentration while Splinter pretended not to notice you peeking every five seconds.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Unlike the others, you never really latched onto television the same way your brothers did. Leo had Space Heroes, Mikey absorbed every weird cartoon and commercial on the planet, Donnie binged science programs, and Raph picked up every sarcastic New York attitude possible from movies and wrestling reruns but you? You wanted to sit with Splinter

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. So while the others developed loud American accents from years of mimicking TV characters and junk they watched, you learned speech from one person only Splinter. It started subtly when you were little instead of saying “yeah,” you would say, “Yes, Father.” Instead of “okay,” it became, “As you wish.”

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. One time Mikey nearly fell off the couch because Ralph shoved him harshly. You walked into the room carrying tea with the most serious expression imaginable and calmly went “Raphael, your recklessness will one day become your undoing.” There was complete silence before your older brother went after you “WHY DO YOU SOUND LIKE THAT?!” The ACCENT sneaking in over time absolutely killed your brothers. Not fully identical to Splinter’s, of course, but enough where the difference was extremely obvious.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. You hearing Raph scream “YO, MOVE!” during a fight while you calmly replied with, “There is no need to shout, brother. I heard you perfectly fine,” absolutely drove him insane “WHY DO YOU TALK LIKE A FIFTY-YEAR-OLD MARTIAL ARTS MOVIE?!”

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Splinter secretly found it adorable. He tried not to encourage it because he did want you to develop independence outside of him eventually, but every time you mimicked one of his sayings or copied his mannerisms, his tail would twitch in amusement.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Especially because you copied everything. The little thoughtful hums, the calm pauses before speaking, the tiny disappointed stares. Even the humor which somehow made it ten times funnier

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Leo honestly adored it more than anyone else. Out of all your brothers, he understood Splinter the most and admired your father deeply, so seeing you naturally absorb Splinter’s discipline, speech, and spiritual mindset made Leo ridiculously protective of you.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. He also thought it was hilarious because you would accidentally out-Splinter Splinter sometimes. Leo would be stressing himself to death over leadership, pacing around the dojo while ranting, and you would quietly walk over and place a tiny hand on his arm.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. “The burden of leadership is not carried alone, Leonardo.” Leo immediately short-circuiting because WHY DID HIS BABY SIBLING SOUND WISER THAN HIM

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Donnie was fascinated by it from a scientific standpoint. He fully tried to explain to April that your accent development was a result of environmental vocal imprinting and primary speech-source adaptation. Meanwhile April was staring at you in complete disbelief as you politely bowed your head and went “It is a pleasure to see you again, April.” Then two seconds later Mikey skateboarded through the room screaming “COWABUNGAAAA.” The contrast nearly gave her whiplash.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Casey’s first time meeting you was even worse because Casey expected another chaotic turtle teenager. Not… this. You greeted him with perfect posture and a respectful nod. “You are Casey Jones. I have heard much about you.” Casey stared before he slowly looked toward the others “...Why’s the little one talk like a ninja movie sensei?” Raph immediately pointed aggressively “THANK YOU.”

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Your brothers absolutely weaponized your “Splinterisms” against each other too, especially Mikey. Whenever Raph got too aggressive, Mikey would dramatically shove you toward him like a tiny emotional support therapist and you without fail would hit him with some random poetry or saying you picked up “Violence born from frustration is still violence, Raphael.” “STOP SENDING THEM TO THERAPIZE ME!” Despite how funny it was, there was also something genuinely sweet about it.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. You mirrored Splinter because you loved him that much. You trusted him completely. Followed him everywhere. Sat beside him during meditation. Fell asleep curled against his side while he read scrolls. Listened to every lesson like it was the most important thing in the world and Splinter, who once lost everything, would sometimes glance down during meditation to find you asleep against his robe and quietly rest a hand atop your head because after everything he had endured… There was something healing about being loved so openly and completely by one of his children.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. The older you got, the more independent you became but you never truly stopped being Splinter’s Velcro child. Even as a teenager, you still naturally gravitated toward him. Sitting beside him during tea. Helping him prepare meals. Meditating quietly in the dojo while your brothers caused chaos elsewhere.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Sometimes your brothers would walk into the room only to find you and Splinter sitting together in complete silence for hours.

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Mikey once whispered, “Do… do they communicate telepathically now?” Donnie didn’t even look up. “At this point? Probably.”

━━ ．°˖✧🐢 🍕୭ ˚. Splinter would never admit it aloud, but hearing one small voice in the lair call him “Father” with the same calm cadence and accent as his own always made his expression soften, if only slightly.