TMNT One Shots

Too Much

2020 series

Head cannon: Donnie is Autistic and Mikey has ADHD (like myself). They both have sensory overload at times.
S/O to cerulean-crystal  for the idea of Donnie being Autistic and using noise-canceling headphones!

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Mikey's POV

"Mikey! You almost done making the punch?!" Leo called out from the living room.

"Almost!" I called back. We were all at April's celebrating her birthday. I added the last few lemon slices to the punch bowl and carefully pick it up. I exit the kitchen and enter the living room.

"How do you work this thing again?" I heard Raph saying from behind the DJ table. He plugged something in and a rather loud buzzing sound came on through the speakers. I flinched and spilled a little bit of punch on the carpet while trying not to drop the bowl. "Ah, here we go!" Raph said right before music started playing. Now feeling a bit tense, I continued on my way to the snack table.

"Oh no!" April said seeing the wet spot on the carpet.

"S-sorry April," I said wanting to duck into my shell. I'm such a clutz. She's mad at me now.

She smiled at me. "It's okay Mikey, I'm sure it'll come out". She looked over my shoulder. "Leo!" She shouted. I gasped a little to myself at the sudden rise of her voice. "Could you be a dear and get some paper towels?"

"Sure thing boss!" Leo shouted back from the other side of the room as he left for the kitchen.

I sighed and walked past April. I finally got to the snack table and put the punch bowl down. "Phew" I whispered to myself.

I turned and looked around the room. Raph was dancing, Leo came in with the paper towels wearing them like a wedding veil. April laughed so hard at him she snorted. Donnie was sitting on the couch wearing his noise-canceling headphones while reading a book. He seemed perfectly content where he was. Everyone was having a good time. So, why wasn't I all of the sudden?

Leo came over to my side and rested his arm on my shoulder. "You sure are a cluts" he chuckled.

Ugh. Don't remind me. I forced a small laugh. "Yup, that's me," I said.

"Remember that one time you were skateboarding inside and crashed into our janga game?!" He started laughing. "Awe man, Donnie was gonna win too! And then I-" He continued talking, but I had stopped processing what he was saying at this point. I heard April Clapping and cheering on Raph for his dance moves. Leo nudged me and laughed again, still talking. The music got louder. The lights seemingly got brighter. My hands tightened around the cloth on the snack table behind me as a loud ringing started taking over my hearing. I heard the faint sound of a doorbell going off.

"Pizza is here!" April shouted excitedly. "Everyone, hoodies!" She said walking over to the door. Everyone grabbed their hoodies to hide in, along with the sweatpants they brought so that the pizza guy didn't see 4 giant mutant turtles and run away with our food. Everyone but me got dressed. April looked at me with her hand on the doorknob. "Mikey, hoodie!" She whispered.
No. I can't. I didn't want anything touching me. It was too much. All of it was too much. I let go of the table and fled to the backdoor, getting away from all the noise, the lights, Leo's arm on me, the music, the shouting, all of it. I ran out the back door, slamming it behind me.

Donnie's POV

I felt a door slam and looked up from my book. Everyone looked concerned all of the sudden. I took my headphones off just in time to hear April.

"Or just...do that," she said looking at the back door. The doorbell rang again. April turned around and opened the door. I ducked my head under my purple hood. As I looked around the room again I noticed that Mikey was nowhere to be found. He must have been the one to leave so abruptly. Oh no. I hope he didn't get overwhelmed. I should go check on him.

I stood from the couch and headed for the back door. I opened it to find Mikey huddled on the balcony, his back towards me. I heard him sniffle and quietly closed the door behind me. I went to his side and sat down next to him.
"Hey" I spoke softly. "You alright?"
Mikey quickly shook his head as tears streamed down his face. I hugged my knees to my chest. "Did it get too much in there?" I asked. He nodded. I hummed understandingly. Mikey had ADHD, which caused him to be a bit more sensitive to light and sound than others. Especially during stressful situations. I'm autistic myself, so in a way, I knew what he went through. Neither of us liked making eye contact when meeting someone new. We both had sound sensitivity and APD, and we both got overwhelmed at times.
"Wanna tell me what happened?" I asked. He didn't respond. I could tell he wanted to but was still too overwhelmed to speak.

I pulled out my phone from my hoodie pocket and held it out for him. He took it and started typing. I waited patiently while he wrote everything out. After a minute or two, he handed the phone back. I read the text to myself.

'It started when I was bringing the punch bowl to the snack table. A loud buzzing sound came through the speakers and startled me. I spilled some punch on the floor and upset April. I'm such a  stupid ditz. I got to the table and put the bowl down. Leo put his arm on me and was talking but I stopped processing what he was saying. Everything was too loud and bright so I ran out here.'

"I'm sorry little bro," I said putting my phone down. "You're not a stupid ditz, and I'm sure April isn't upset with you. She's a pretty understanding person. She knew you didn't do it on purpose".

Mikey buried his face in his arms. "I really hate my stupid brain sometimes. I should probably go before I ruin April's party".

"Mikey, you can't go. April wants you here just as much as everyone else" I said.

Mikey shook his head. "If I go in there I'll just freak out again," He said tearing up.

I thought for a moment, then took my headphones off from around my neck and held them out for him. "Here, these always help me when things get to be too much".

"D-Donnie, I can't. They're yours" He said.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I've got an extra pair in my bag in case something like this happened" I chuckled.

"You mean...you packed an extra pair for me?" He said blushing a little.

"Of course. Us Nerodivergents gotta stick together right?" I said bumping shoulders with him. He smiled and gratefully took the headphones.

He looked down at them, then back up at me. "Thank's Donnie. This means a lot" he spoke softly.

"Anytime Kiddo" I replied. I knew exactly how he felt. It was rare someone knew what to do or say during times like these. For us anyway. The others did their best to understand, but they just can't grasp how hard things can be for us.

Sometimes I doubted myself. Sometimes I convince myself that I'm not Autistic and that I'm just making it all up. It's not like I can get a proper diagnosis from a professional for...obvious reasons. The best we got was whatever information we could find online. To the best of our knowledge, this is what we had. It's who we are, and it's not a bad thing. Difficult, sure. But never bad. Mikey was always there to remind me of that. As was I for him.

We stayed outside on the balcony, just embracing the calm and quiet night for a few more minutes before we decided to go back inside. Mikey put on his headphones with a smile. With my arm draped over his shoulder, we walked back inside, determined to have a good night.