what was it like for all your 2012 boys growing up? like, any specific things?
raph was raised completely by the foot for the most part. he was found when he was only about a year old, and he didn't even remember his own name. the only reason shredder knew it was 'raphael' is because it was written on the inside of his bandana (which at the time was more like a blanket for him since he was so teeny-tiny). he wasn't even raised by shredder himself, but moreso by the foot ninjas. they're the ones who kept an eye on him when he was a baby and made sure was (somewhat) healthy. out of everyone that worked for shredder, i'd say the one who cared for raph the most would be xever. he didn't want to see raph grow up and turn out the same way he did (granted, he was still not the best parental figure, but at the very least he cared). when raph was about six, shredder decided it was a good time to start training his 'weapon'. shredder was pretty horrible in terms of parenting. he didn't see raph as a living human being, but more like a weapon or a sick pet. he had no memory of his brothers or splinter or anything, and he was always extremely jealous of karai (who seemed to have pretty much everything she wanted).
compared to mikey though, raph's childhood was pretty tame. he was kidnapped when he was six by the kraang, who saw him wandering in the sewers. he was abducted and the others had absolutely no idea, to them he'd just vanished. he was pretty much put through hell, being subject to tons of experiments and the harsh environment of dimension x. while mikey was captive, he ended up meeting another mutant- leatherhead. leatherhead was like a second father to mikey, and whenever mikey was scared (especially in his first few years) leatherhead was always there to make him feel somewhat safe. mikey remembered leo, donnie, and splinter pretty well, and he always believed that one day they would find and rescue him. that did happen eventually, but that was when they were fifteen. when mikey was thirteen, though, leatherhead was taken off to one of the kraang's daily tests and was never brought back. mikey had thought that leatherhead died, and he became extremely depressed those last two years. he wouldnt eat anything, the kraang ended up having to force-feed him so he wouldn't die.
donnie grew up with leo and splinter for quite some time, and despite having lost mikey and knowing that there was possibly another turtle out there, he was pretty happy. but when he and leo were nine, there was some heavy construction in the sewer area where they lived, so splinter decided to have them move. donnie ended up getting lost, and accidentally made his way up to the surface. for a while he scavenged and stole pretty much anything he could get his hands on that he thought would either keep him alive or help him get home. at some point, he had an accidental encounter with a young april, who was heading to school when she tried taking a shortcut through the alleyways and ended up finding donnie. they became close friends pretty quickly, and april promised not to tell anyone about donnie. she would visit him whenever she could, and told him all about her life at home and mainly at school (donnie was extremely interested in school). one day though, she went to visit him like usual and she found him pretty banged up and hurt. april decided to take donnie home to get help, because well, he can't go to any regular hospital. april's dad (kirby) was kind of shocked when he first met donnie, but eventually took him in like his own child. he and april did the best they could to help donnie try and find leo and splinter, and donnie used to spend his free time either trying to remember his former training, or scavenging for any loose bits of technology he could work with (that ended kind of quickly once he was fifteen though, due to a certain incident involving a drunken man one night).
and as for leo, she was raised by splinter. after losing donnie, splinter actually became extremely paranoid and refused to let leo go out on her own. of course there were times leo snuck out, but it wasn't all that often. leo always tried to honor the others, and she knew that they were all probably out there somewhere. she swore to herself that someday she would go out and find them all, and fix their family. leo was raised pretty well by splinter, BUT he was excessively overprotective at times.
also bonus leo backstory: when she was about eight, she realized that she felt more like a girl than a boy (at least, the kind of girls she saw on TV). she eventually confronted splinter about this feeling and splinter was very accepting (confused, definitely, but accepting anyways). leo didn't actually know she was trans up until she met casey, who taught her all the terms and such. she never considered changing her name though, mainly because she still wanted to respect and honor it and also because even though she felt more feminine, she still felt comfortable with the name itself.
