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Leo stared up at the corridor in front of him, the stairs stretching upwards into the darkness.
“Alright, my scanners say they went this way.” Donnie remarks from behind him, typing something into his wrist brace.
“Let’s go pound 'em, then!” Raph says determinedly, punching his fist into his hand for emphasis.
“I don’t know, guys.” Leo cuts in. “I don’t trust these stairs. They seem like they’re… up to something .”
He grinned at the chorus of groans and sighs that echoed through the other three turtles.
“I admire your relentlessness, brother, but I suspect making a good joke might actually be the death of you.” Donnie sighs wryly, drawing his tech-bo.
“Oh come on, Don-tron, that was a good one!” Leo cried, throwing his arms in the air and pretending not to see the ‘seriously?’ look Donnie shot his way.
“Come on Mad Dogs, let’s catch these thieves!” Raph emphasizes once more, already beginning to climb the staircase.
“No one appreciates me.” Leo grumbled, earning a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from Mikey before following, sword at the ready. The four of them ascended into the darkness, a flashlight from Donnie’s battle shell lighting the way.
“Jeez, Don, what does your shell not have?”
“A way to make you shut up, unfortunately.” Donatello deadpanned back. Leo chuckled good naturedly at the retort and continued climbing. “These yokai didn’t skip leg day, huh?” He joked breathlessly, earning a few huffs of agreement. His head dropped, watching as his foot hit each step, over and over… back and forth. Left, right. Left, right.
God these stairs must be up to something if they were so motherfucking long . He only half-seriously wondered if he would need an oxygen tank to survive the thin air as they turned into yet another flight. Then suddenly Raph’s arm shot out, stopping him in place. Donnie crashed into his back, and Mikey into his, earning an annoyed yelp out of each of them.
“Shh!” Raph hushed, a finger pressed to his mouth. “Look.” Leo was briefly aware of his twin and youngest leaning around him to get a view. Only a few stairs up was… a door. He felt his body sag in relief. No more stairs. He would’ve laughed out loud if he wasn’t now in Stealth Mode. Dad would be proud. The four of them climbed up and stopped outside the door, crouched expectantly, weapons drawn.
“Are they in there, Donnie?” Raph asked in a hushed voice.
“Although I have many talents-” Donnie began in a too-loud voice, making Mikey slap a hand over his mouth. The purple-clad turtle shoved his arm away with a scoff, but continued in a whisper. “Seeing through walls is not one of them.” Raph rolled his eyes.
“Alright, plan.” He began seriously. “I bust in there, Leo, go left, Mikey, right. Donnie, come in from behind and watch our backs. Got it?” The three of them nodded in unison. “Okay, ready?” Raph’s arms began to glimmer with red. “On three. One… two…”
On “three”, Raph’s ninpo activated and he threw a powerful punch through the door, exploding into the room beyond. Leo didn’t waste a second before diving through after him, immediately darting to the left wall. His ears rang with a metallic whirring sound as Mikey flew through after him, his kusari-fundo swinging readily. These yokai won’t even know what hit them- Leo skidded to a stop, staring around the room and lowering his sword in confusion. Mikey’s weapon dropped to the ground with a thud. His older brother stood in the middle of the room- the empty room- turning in a circle as if the enemy would suddenly appear from the wall. (It didn’t.)
There was no sign of anyone even being here.
“Huh.” Leo remarked helpfully.
Donnie poked his head into the room.
“Oh. They’re not here. Awesome.”
Raph huffed frustratedly, deactivating his ninpo. Mikey walked over to the open window, peering out curiously.
“Three guesses as to where they went!”
“Damn. I was really hoping to bust some heads.” Leo muttered, joining his brother at the window, welcoming the cool night air on his face.
“Leo, why didn’t you just portal them?” Raph’s deep voice sounded from behind him, frustration lacing his tone. Leo turned around, scratching the back of his head.
“Huh?”
“They were running away; you had a clear shot. Now they’ve gotten away.” Leo could tell that Raph was trying hard, really hard, to control his annoyance, but his words still caught Leo off-guard anyways. It wasn’t like him to start blaming his brothers. Yet… he was right. Why didn’t Leo do anything? They had taken off straight down the street, and yeah, Leo had taken a second to recover his odachi and reorient himself… but he still could’ve been able to. He looked back up at Raph, watching his exasperation dissipate, only to be replaced with a tired look. It sent a guilty feeling he didn’t appreciate one bit into his stomach.
“Look, bros, it doesn’t really matter anymore, okay?” Mikey cut in. “It probably won’t be long until they rear their ugly faces again! And this time, we’ll be ready.”
“You’re right, Mikey.” Raph sighed, rubbing his chasm. “Sorry, guys. We’ll get them next time.” He turned, heading back down the stairs. Donnie stepped out of his way. The three of them exchanged glances, and for once, Leo was at a loss for words. Donnie cleared his throat and, shooting one more glance Leo’s way, headed after their brother.
“We’ll just get some pizza in him and everything will be good!” Mikey nudged Leo encouragingly. “He’s just hangry. You know he can’t be mad for long.”
“Of course I know, Mikester.” Leo grinned back easily. “These kinds of missions suck for all of us.” Mikey smiled back, albeit a little worriedly. And it wasn’t a lie. He knew Raph would be over it in the next hour, and they’d be ready to catch the thieves the next time they try to terrorize anyone else. Unfortunately, these thoughts didn’t help the guilty feeling from festering deeper into his gut.
“You good?” Mikey asked him.
“Yeah, of course!” He responded. He wasn’t sure if he believed himself, or if Mikey believed him either.
But they left it at that, and headed back down the stairs after their brothers.
When the four emerged onto the poorly lit street, they immediately set off down the road. Leo knew where they were headed without even having to ask. He could walk to Run of the Mill with his eyes closed and backwards. He mentally filed that away for later, waiting until the perfect moment to make a bet with one of his unsuspecting brothers. The walk there was silent, to no one’s surprise, but it flew by quickly. The next time Leo glanced up, the tell-tale alleyway with the hidden door was only the next block down. He couldn’t resist the grin on his face from making itself known. Oh boy, there was nothing like pestering his tio Hueso to the point of being kicked out to liven up his night! Yet as he passed another alleyway, a flickering of shadows caught his attention. He stopped, peering into the darkness. His eyes could barely make out anything through the weakly flickering street lamp.
“Uhhhh, Leon?” Donnie spoke from right behind him, making him jump and spin around to face his twin. “You’re not hallucinating, are you?” He raised a drawn-on eyebrow at the blue-clad slider.
“Nah man, I’m great! I just wanted to check something out.”
“Uh huhh…” The softshell drawled skeptically.
“Yeah, go save a table for us, I’ll be right there.” Donnie shrugged.
“Sure, whatevs.” He turned away to follow their siblings. “But if you take too long, we’re ordering without you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Leo rolled his eyes and waited until Donnie had turned the corner before approaching the shadows. He distantly hoped it was something a little dangerous. This could be the chance to prove himself! To fix his mistakes and make Raph feel better about how he totally fumbled the last mission. He crept into the alley, his hands instinctively reaching towards his sword as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
“Uh… knock knock?” He called, and listened as only the echoes of his own voice called back to him. He blinked, finally getting a good enough view of the alleyway to see that no one was there. Damn. He must have been hallucinating after all. Just as he was ready to turn around and head back to the restaurant, a soft thud sounded from behind him. He whirled around and finally . There was the yokai. One of them, at least. Mikey had been right, he supposed, when he said that the thieves would rear their ugly heads again. Leo just didn’t expect it to be so soon. The slider crouched into a battle position, his odachi raised as he observed the strange-looking yokai. He seemed to be a… snail? He was all slimy and yellow, and carried a spiral shell on his back not too different from him or his brothers. Before Leo had the chance to make a witty greeting, he heard two more similarly-sounding thuds make themselves known in the darkness. He glanced behind to see the other two from earlier. A fox, and a looming polar bear. A strange bunch, but who was Leo to judge? The trio circled him menacingly. Real honorable, surrounding defenseless kid in an alley. He thought sarcastically. And yeah, so what if he wasn’t completely defenseless? His internal bickering nearly made him miss the way the snail lunged towards him, twin knives flashing in the lamplight.
“Whoa!” He exclaimed, lurching out of the way just in time. “Are you kidding? No fun hero-villain banter? That’s my favorite part- hey!” He barely managed to ramble a few sentences out before the fox dived for his feet, the polar bear opting to swing a paw the size of a tire at his head. They didn’t say anything. Yikes. He ducked the blow just as he pulled his feet up, landing on the foxes’ back and landing a solid kick into the bear’s chest (which didn’t do much). He took the opportunity to raise his sword just as the slug threw itself at him again, portalling behind the three and swinging. They dodged, and recovered their circle around him in mere seconds. Suppose no one’s going anywhere anytime soon. Leo thought wryly. Man, he really just wanted his pizza.
“Come quietly, and no one has to get hurt.” The snail finally hissed. What a freak.
“Sorry man.” Leo chuckled back. “The only kidnapping I allow is when Raph decides to drone on about being responsible.”
The three of them just stared.
“Seriously? Kidnapping? A kid who is napping? You guys are even worse than my brothers.” Leo shook his head in disappointment before the three chose that moment to close in. He threw himself upwards, landing on the polar bear's head and boosting himself down, kicking the fox on the way. He twirled around, his swords narrowly missing the slug’s arm. He felt a grin tugging at his face. These guys had nothing on him.
“Even three on one, you guys su- whoa!” He felt his feet give out from under him and he fell backwards onto his shell in surprise. He blinked up to see the fox looming over him with a grin. He didn’t have time to think, only reacting on instinct; flipping backwards and onto his feet. The fox was in his range. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. With a twirl of his wrist, a portal appeared behind them.
“Sayonara!” He cried gleefully, teleporting right next to them and sending them, with a kick, through the portal. That should take them straight to the hidden city police, he thought in satisfaction. Now this was sure to make Raph forgive him. Leon barely had enough time to feel proud of himself before a white paw flew into his peripheral. His head slammed against a dumpster, a clang ringing through the alley and white-hot pain racing through his skull. He was vaguely aware of furry arms restraining him as he was still trying to blink away the black spots, squeezing his arms tightly and restricting his movement. He scrunched his face up, trying to ignore the throbbing in his brain and the liquid running down his face (to not much avail). The ninja had barely enough time to register cold, stark fear as he was forced to watch the snail as it jerked his forearm out. He struggled weakly.
“Hey-”
He was ignored as the gastropod brought out a silver device, pressing it to his wrist. He felt a burst of pain as it was activated, the device making a sinister clunking sound. That couldn’t be good.
“You’re a feisty one.” The snail grinned. “Big Mama will pay us big-time.”
Whoa. Big Mama? Now Leo knew he was in deep.
“And if you even think about escapin’...” The snail tapped Leon’s forearm menacingly. “We know where you are…” Leo felt a chill settle in his bones. This… this was bad. This was very bad. He had to get out of here. With his last ounce of desperation, he kicked behind him, loosening the grip surrounding him enough from him to slip free, his hand finding his sword, previously abandoned on the ground. He mustered all the energy he could, and sure enough, with a flash of blue light, the polar bear was gone. He couldn’t think straight enough to think about where he was sent. Hopefully somewhere far, far away. But for now, he had to get out. He staggered to his feet, both hands gripping his sword. His vision swam. The snail was to his left, then his right, then his vision betrayed him, doubling and blurring as he blinked helplessly. Leon was kicked into the brick wall. His eyelids fluttered, feeling black pressing on the edges of his vision. This couldn’t be the head injury. He’d had enough of those to know what they felt like. He’d been drugged. He’d registered this with a cold feeling in his bones, and Leo didn’t want to admit it, but he was scared. With his last resolve, he decided that he was not being sent to Big Mama. He was going to get out of here, and he was going to be fine. The slider would walk out of this alleyway successfully, and join his brothers in a warm booth, gooey pizza awaiting him. (This is not quite how it went).
“Not so talkative now, are you?” The snail loomed closer gleefully.
“Nah… jus feelin’... jus’ feelin… a lil’ ssss… sssssssluggish….” Leo slurred to the best of his ability. “Hhha. Haha.”
The snail said nothing.
“Tough crowd.” He wheezed, before sweeping his leg out, catching the snail off guard and sending him flying into maybe the weakest portal he had ever made. Somehow, it worked. And when he blinked, the alley was empty. He thought maybe whatever god was up there it decided to take pity on him, and he was eternally grateful. Relief seeped into his lungs, and he took happy breaths, sucking in the cool night. Time to get up now. He struggled to get his feet under him, and only ended up back on the ground, his shell to the wall. His limbs felt like jelly, and his head pounded. His eyes fell to his wrist. Oh shit. An icicle of fear impaled him through the chest, stuttering his gasps. The tracker. It was still in him. Big Mama could be on her way as he just sat here, doing nothing. He wasn’t gonna make it after all. Not if he just sat here. Not unless he did something. He had to do something , he had to… his thoughts trailed off as his eyes landed on his sword. The metal glinted at him suggestively, making his stomach roll. Oh man. This was so not a good idea. Yet he found himself grasping the hilt, maneuvering the blade to rest just above his wrist. He was a medic, he could do this. The slider blinked frantically to clear his vision (to not much avail) and took a deep breath, trying to control the panicked gasps. Before he could chicken out, he slashed across his skin, hissing at the pain. He forced himself to stay awake even as blood bubbled up from the wound. He really hoped he hit the right spot, or this would totally suck. He gritted his teeth, and steeling himself, he brought his other hand to reach into the wound. The teen clenched his teeth to keep from screaming as he blindly groped through his arm. He really wished for some antiseptic. Or bandages. Or pizza. Or his brothers. Fire blazed through the bones in his arm. Cold water stroked his burning cheeks. He wanted to stop. He wanted to let go and fall asleep and pray someone found him before Big Mama did. But it wasn’t an option. He forced himself to keep going, despite the ragged breaths and sobs spilling from his lips. It felt like an eternity. But finally, his fingers found something small and metal and Not Right. He drew it out, eyeing it shakily for a moment, before flinging it as far away from him as he could. A part of him screamed that the danger wasn’t over, that someone was coming, that he had to stay alert. And he tried, he really did, but he was just so tired. Leon grabbed his sword loosely, resting it across his legs. His injured arm dangled limply next to him. He thought maybe he should bandage it because, wow, that was a lot of blood. That was… much more than he was expecting. Not good. Not good. His mind blared at him, all flashing red sirens and wailing. But he’d rather sleep right now.
The moon looked pretty, all full and red and glowing in the reflection of his blood.
His eyes slipped shut.
He hoped his brothers would get here soon.
Leo was being jostled, carried, hands touching him gently and roughly, and he wanted to tell the hands to stop, that it hurt. He wanted to be put down so he could sleep. All he managed was a wheezy whine. Voices were talking, shouting, whispering (to him), and it was so loud. He could feel the panic in the air through the burning in his arm. He found the strength to jerk it away from the blazing pressure. A voice shouted at him, and the pressure was there again, held in place stronger than he knew how to pull away. He was being jostled again. His head hurt.
“...orry… so sorry…” The voices continued to drift in and out through his head. “Please, please…”
He wondered what they were apologizing about.
Leo woke up. The voices hadn’t ceased. They shouted and cried and Leon could tell even through his half-conscious state that they were upset. His body felt like it was filled with static, or maybe stuffed with cotton. Glue sat in between his eyelids. Hands pressed on his arm, rested on his stomach, brushed his head. Drops of water landed on his face, making his cheek twitch. Man, he told Donnie to fix the leak, why didn’t-
A muffled sob came from above him.
Oh.
Hands quickly rushed up, wiping his cheek clean in an attempt to fix their mistake. Their fingers shook. The shouting continued. Alright. Time to wake up. He tried to force his eyelids open, but the glue stayed stubbornly crusted over his eyes. He tried again. Opening his eyes usually wasn't this difficult, was it? He couldn’t remember. The hands repeated the stroking motion on his cheek. It was nice and all, but if someone was upset…
Half of him thought it might be better to never wake up. To breathe deeply and allow himself to sink back into the white noise. The sob sounded again. The shouting continued. With newfound determination, his eyelids finally obeyed, slipping open a crack, only to be met with blinding white lights, filling his vision and shooting fiery hot pain into his skull. The voices were suddenly too loud. He screwed his eyes shut, unable to help the whimper that escaped him. Ow. Damn.
“Leo?” A muffled voice whispered hopefully.
“Mmmh.” He really did try to make it sound coherent, but his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls.
“Guys, I think he’s waking up!” The voice called hopefully. The shouting abruptly stopped, and Leo would’ve jumped out of his skin if he had the energy when two hands grabbed his shoulders tightly, fingers squeezing into his arms.
“Nardo.” A venomous voice all but hissed at him, and yeah, no, Leo changed his mind- he was NOT about to wake up anytime soon. He vaguely wondered what he did this time to piss off his twin.
“Knock that off, Donnie.” And, oh no, he must have done something really stupid judging by the choked, tired sound of Raph’s voice. It must’ve been Bad, with a capital ‘B’ because Donnie didn’t even argue, just releasing Leo wordlessly. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to face the consequences anymore. So he opted to try to sink back into the static. (Unsuccessfully).
Silence settled around them.
“Mikey, are you sure…” April’s voice trailed off, and Leo suddenly wanted to sob. Even his big sister sounded grim, and tired, and now Mikey was crying again, time to wake up-
“I thought I saw…”
Leo’s eyes popped open, flinching once again against the brightness, but he forced his eyelids to stay open, blinking rapidly. As his swimming vision cleared, Mikey’s red-rimmed, hopeful eyes came into focus.
“Mmmmikester.” Leo slurred, and wow, he sounded terrible. He supposed it was due to the hot angry pounding that had recently made itself known in his arm. That, or he hit his head. Ow. At the sound of his voice, Mikey offered an encouraging (and terribly shaky) smile, and shit, he looked really sad. Leo must have fucked up big time.
“Hey, just. Relax, okay?” Mikey’s voice trembled. “How do you feel?”
Leo didn’t want to look around, at the rest of his family that were most likely giving him either equally sad or completely furious expressions. There was rarely an in-between.
“Blergh.” He attempted with a small grin, yet Mikey didn’t even crack a smile. “What happened?”
Mikey seemed to look more sad, if that was even possible.
“You don’t-”
“Leo.” And then Raph was pushing his way into the slider’s vision desperately, his eyes wide and guilty and brimming with tears. “Raph’s so sorry. Whatever happened, I’m sorry, and we love you, so, so much.”
“Whoa, relax big guy.” Leo smiled confusedly, patting his big brothers’ hand with his good arm weakly. “Why-”
“No, don’t give him that.” Donnie was all but shoving Raph out of the way, his eyes burning and now Leo was going to get it . “What were you thinking? Trying to leave us like that. Why would you even- Why didn’t you talk to us ? Or find literally anyone else to talk to or a coping mechanism or maybe just not trying to kill yourself the moment-”
“What?”
“Donnie!”
“No! He needs to know what he almost did!” Donnie hissed. Leo was too tired for this shit. Since when would he ever try to kill himself ? He was at a loss, for once. He briefly wondered if he broke his funny bone, because his supply of usually well-timed jokes seemed to have diminished. He doubted that voicing that would be taken with the usual groans and facepalms, though.
“Stop it, Donnie!” Mikey cried, and he was crying again. Maybe he’d never stopped.
And whoa. It was coming back now. The yokai, the tracker, his sword-
Oh.
Oh no. He jerked his arm into his line of vision staring at the bandage swathing his forearm.
“Oh.” He managed, staring at the whiteness.
“ Oh ?” His twin repeated. “That’s all you have to say?”
Raph’s guilty expression was almost enough to send Leo into a fit of his own tears. Almost.
Donnie was grabbing his shoulders again, rage and tears brimming in his eyes as he shouted. “It’s like you don’t even think, Nardo! Throwing away everything like that? Don’t you know that we love you we care about you I care about you-”
“Don!” Leo cried, attempting to sit up. “Don, wait-”
“Oh no you don’t, I’m not finished-”
“Donnie, let him go, this isn’t helping-”
“Everyone just calm down, we need to talk this out-”
The room erupted in shouting.
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself!”
Silence as four pairs of unblinking eyes turned to him. He barely stopped his wince at the looks of betrayal, guilt, anger, hurt, pity- this was too much.
“I wasn’t. Honest.”
Donnie took a deep breath, releasing Leo’s arms. It was almost immediately replaced by Mikey, encircling him in a hug and burying his face in his neck as he sat up. He returned the hug, staring up guiltily at April, Donnie, and Raph, all giving him doubtful looks.
“Leo, we love you, okay?” Mikey said into his shoulder. “And you need to start talking to us about-”
“ No , jeez, no, okay?” Leo interrupted. “I didn’t- I swear, I would never-”
“Then how, dear brother,” Donnie’s voice was icy cold. “-do you explain how you literally took your own sword and all but sawed through your arm-”
Leo paled.
“I didn’t mean to!” He cried desperately.
“You didn’t mean to .” Donnie deadpanned.
“Okay, well, I meant to cut a little but-” He had the sense to shut up at the stricken expression on his families’ faces. Mikey whimpered and held him closer.
“Wait, no.” Leo rushed to correct his mistake. “No, nonono not like that I promise-”
“Leo.” Raph was stepping forward tearfully, crouching next to the bed and taking Leo’s hand. “I know sometimes I’m not the best big brother-”
“When you said no one appreciates you-” Mikey shakily tried at the same time.
“No, stop it! Raph, you’re a perfect big brother! Mikey, that didn’t mean anything, honest! God, everyone just please stop talking like I tried to kill myself! I didn’t, okay? I swear. Just let me explain!”
“We’re all ears, Leo.” April spoke up, and her glare could’ve pinned him to the wall with its force. Leo took a deep breath, but suddenly it was as if his lungs had been sewn up, and he couldn’t get any air through.
“The thieves. That I let go earlier…” Raph’s face broke, but he didn’t try to apologize again, to Leo’s relief. “Well, they weren’t really thieves- whatever! It doesn’t matter. What matters is that they cornered me. I totally kicked their asses, but one of them shot me with this… shit, I don’t know. Tracker? Drug? But I really wasn’t thinking straight, I just knew I had to get the tracker out, so I… I… I cut my arm open?” He rushed out in one breath. “But I got it out!” Leo watched as the expressions on his family's faces shifted. “I know it was stupid, but I hit my head and really wasn't thinking straight- it was in my bloodstream, and it was real- I was getting dizzy and stuff! I had to get it out somehow, and look, I wasn’t thinking okay? But I swear, I’ll make this up to you, I never…”
“A tracker.” Donnie repeated quietly.
“ Yes .” Leo gasped. “You think I hit my own head?” He gestured up to the bandage wrapping his head.
The blue and purple turtle regarded each other, and it was as if the whole room was holding its breath.
Donnie sighed, visibly relaxing, and the others sagged in relief.
“Okay. Okay, I believe you.” Donnie whispered.
“I really am sorry, I know I should’ve come to you guys- I wasn’t thinking straight.” The room was silent again.
“Who would even want to…” Mikey tried, and Leo was beyond thankful to see that his tears had ceased.
“They were like, um… bounty hunters? Or… recruiters? Look, I don’t know the name, but they mentioned Big Mama…?” The sparking anger returned to the atmosphere, though not directed at him this time. Leo took the time to look around. He was in the med bay, and his carefully organized stashes were all but ransacked. Leo could imagine it; his brothers carrying in his pale, half-dead body, desperately searching for something, anything that could save him. Leo shuddered at the thought, and the guilt from earlier had returned. He wished they hadn’t seen that. The fact that they thought he had… jeez, this was so messed up.
“Big Mama did this?” Raph’s voice had a dark, terrifying edge to it.
“I think? Not directly, but-”
He was cut off as his big sister rushed forward and enveloped him in a hug.
“I’m sorry we didn’t believe you. I’m really glad we were wrong, and that you’re okay.” She sighed.
“Thanks, Apes-”
“But next time you even think of doing something so stupid -” She drew back threateningly.
“I won’t, I promise!” Leo held his hands up in surrender.
“Raph’s sorry too, Leo.” His older brother still looked achingly sad. “I shouldn’t have blamed you like that. And I should’ve believed you when you told us-”
“Hey, none of that, big guy!” Leo patted his arm again. “None of it was your fault. Or anyone’s. We were just at the wrong place at the wrong time!”
“Except we weren’t.” Donnie’s face darkened. “If Big Mama’s after us-”
“Oh, she’ll get what’s coming for her.” Mikey interrupted, and okay, his brothers were really scaring him now. “But, yeah…” His youngest brother’s voice softened. “I’m really glad you’re okay, Leo. Even if what you did was really dumb.” Leo barely had time to shrug sheepishly before he was being swarmed in a group hug. Even Donnie joined in.
With warmth and forgiveness pressed so closely around him, Leo allowed himself to feel safe, a small smile tugging on his lips. And he's got just the thing to make this all better...
“Hey Dee, why are fairy tales so long?”
“What-”
“Cuz they tend to dragon!”
“Groan. That was awful.”