I would like to start by saying I LOVE your writing! It's some of the best I've read! Here's my question: I read somewhere that some turtles like getting their shells scratched. How do you think the boys would feel about? Would their opinions on it change if a friend did it v.s. an s/o? Thank you!
Hey there, Nonnie! Let’s get these questions answered! This one will be separated into two general questions: 1) How do you think the boys feel about it? and 2) Would their opinions change if a friend did it versus an S/O?
Quick heads up: I headcanon the boys’ shells have different sensitivities and they don’t all need the same type of roughness for a shell scratch.
1) How do you think the boys would feel about it?
Leo basically wants to deny this is a thing. He feels it is an intimate and vulnerable act that immediately overpowers his human side. In short, it takes a huge amount of trust and comfort for Leo to suggest a shell scratch because he’s handing over his sense of control. He’ll see Mikey con you out of one (at least) long before he admits to himself it might feel nice and he could probably let loose and get one.
It could be a bonding thing. A way to show you--in his own uptight Leo way--that you’re really in the family. He’s lowkey afraid of embarrassing himself with primal noises though. You coax those same noises out of his brothers and it finally cracks his resolve.
Because he’s always so high-strung with stress, Leo surprises himself and you with churring at the slightest touch. He doesn’t need a rough bristle brush (though it’s wonderful) and actually delights in the touches you think he can’t feel. Little fingers in the groove of his shell, rubbing your thumb along the ridges...
Good stuff...
Raph also takes a long time to come around to a shell scratch. He’s probably the third to get one from you. It’s not because he doesn’t trust you (he does, really) but he knows it’s going to make him fucking stupid. It’s this sudden swell of happy, giddy, intimate that throws him somewhere between being utterly relaxed and brain-dead. He knows his mother tongue’s going to come out and let his bliss rumble through the lair and he’ll just die of shame right after you’re finished.
He’ll take anything you can give him (and he’ll deny it) but is partial to rougher touches because it resonates deeply, almost like someone’s strumming a giant string that reverberates through his whole body. That’s when those melting feelings are peak and just...the best. Raph knows your little human hands will have a hard time kneading his muscles and are a bit apprehensive, given the cracks in his shell, so he’s all for the bristle brush and anything that lays heavy on his shell. You could tap rhythmically on his shell and it’ll do the same thing, but a slow tap like you’re putting a baby down for a nap.
Donnie was either nagged into a scratch by Mikey or ended up warming up to you faster than he thought and just plunked down next to you. In all honesty, I see him letting you come to the conclusion yourself, and not stopping you from testing your theories on his shell. He likes that last one better because then he technically didn’t ask for it (which he rarely will because he’s shy).
Our nerdy boy is very, very sensitive and loves you playing with his shell. The lighter touches--tracing, rubbing, anything that would be a ‘massage’ on people--will stir up the butterflies in his belly and have him biting back the oh my god heart-fluttering churr of joyous panic.
The deeper, firmer touches tend to send pulses of full-body relaxation that he usually needs from cramping up in his chair. You could push against parts of his shell like you’re trying to touch deep muscle and he’d be putty in your hands. Any kind of scratching/scrubbing is a bonus but he just needs pressure.
Mikey is your first and number one customer. It’s about contact and intimacy and he loves that toe-tingling feeling he gets as the touch translates from shell to nerve. Boy is melted 24/7. Short sessions are kind of like a catnap to him, with longer and slower ones likely to put him to sleep or just really relax him. He’s the type to lay around after a particularly good one because he feels boneless.
2) Would their opinions change if a friend did it versus an S/O?
Leo would let his guard down more with his S/O. He trusts them more and will take that weight off his shoulders (like they ask) and will probably come to them more often for anything compared to a normal friend. Shell scratches are still rare but more frequent if his S/O offers. He shows his appreciation by cuddling or it turns into a ‘tracing each other’ session.
Even if Raph trusts the friend, he’s still going to be careful with his shell. Not just because it’s connected to him, but because he’s the family shield. A scratch once in a while is okay, but he’s keen on minimizing contact. With an S/O, someone he trusts more deeply, they can touch him as much as they want. There will obviously be some push back and denial if he doesn’t want to get made fun of by his brothers, but if the S/O tries to leave he gently pins them and mumbles about not wanting them to leave.
Raphael is almost cat-like with his S/O, the two able to read each others’ moods and Raph knowing when it is and isn’t okay to amble close and silently demand his attention. Shell scratches with an S/O are relaxing and take the edge off the day. He likes to squeeze their knee or lay his head in their lap when he’s done with scratches.
Donnie doesn’t see a difference between whether a friend or S/O does it (at first). It isn’t until he sits down and makes the realization that his S/O tends to coax him away from work more, convince him to lay in bed more, and turns him into mush with shell scratches that he realizes they’ve developed a terribly wonderful power. One he’s willing to suffer from. He’s grateful for the quite time together, appreciates the recharge, and loves what they do.
The S/O’s reward is seeing a blushing, mildly slurring boyfriend so blissed out by their touch that his IQ’s gone down into double digits. Lots of cuddling and promises of star dates, sweets, and coffee.
Mikey is conflicted. In the sense that ‘a scratch is a scratch’, he doesn’t care. The tingles and warmth come up no matter who’s hands are on his shell (unless they’re being purposefully rough and dickish). Like Raph, he realizes an S/O would be open to a longer scratch or more frequent scratches, so he would obviously prioritize the S/O. Once Mikey gets in a relationship, I think he’d prioritize the S/O anyways because that’s his WORLD and he’d LOVE to explain how they make him feel.
It’s a ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’ thing for sure. But it usually leads to more. Hope you liked the answer, Nonnie! :)