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He’s late. He is so fucking late.
Leo scrambles around the room, desperately throwing together his gear, making sure he has everything he needs and shooting off a quick text to let him know Leo was running late. He slings his swords over his shell before cautiously opening the door to his room and peering out into the hallway. Most of his other brothers are already mercifully absent, Donnie likely holed up in his lab working on some experiment, and Mikey in his room reading comics. Which only leaves Raph, who is currently sprawled out on the couch watching something on the TV.
Cool, cool, he can do this, just act casual. If anyone asks, Leo’s just heading out for a little solo training. It’s entirely believable. What other reason has he ever had for going up to the surface on his own before?
He opens the door before strolling out into the common area, keeping it casual. Raph doesn’t even look up from the TV as he passes, and as Leo reaches the turnstiles he dares to think he’ll manage to get out without notice when his brother suddenly speaks up from behind him.
“Where do you think you’re going, Fearless?” Raph doesn’t even bother to look up as Leo stumbles to an abrupt stop behind him.
“I, uhhh—just going out for patrol,” he says. Raph turns back to look at him, brow raised. “I just need to stretch my legs. Get some fresh air, you know.”
Raph continues to stare him down and Leo can’t help but nervously shift from foot to foot under his gaze. Gods, he so does not have the time for this.
“I’ll be back in time for dinner. In fact, I’m gonna pick up the pizza while I’m out. I’ll see you later.”
He’s out of the living room and over the turnstiles in a flash, racing off down the subway tunnels. He quickly makes his way to the surface, then to the rooftops.
Leo races forward at breakneck speed, making a quick pit stop to pick up some flowers in Central park before making his way up to one of the neighboring buildings overlooking the park. He quickly scales the fire escape, making it up to the top of the building. His eyes frantically search the rooftop before landing on a pair of bright white ears and a blue kimono waiting for him in the shadows.
“Hey, stranger,” the rabbit says, pushing himself off of the wall and sauntering his way over to Leo.
“Hey, Yuichi,” Leo says, a smile blooming across his face as the now familiar stuttering of his heart in his chest starts up at the sight of the rabbit. “Sorry I’m late, I totally lost track of time, but I brought you something.”
Yuichi’s eyes light up, his hands eagerly reaching out and taking a hold of the flowers. “Thank you, they’re beautiful.”
He brings the flowers up to his nose giving them a good long sniff before lowering the bouquet and leaning in close.
Leo reflexively wraps his arms around the rabbit’s waist, pulling him in close. Yuichi melts into his embrace.
“Happy Anniversary,” Leo says, leaning in and placing a quick kiss to the top of the rabbit’s nose.
A big dopey grin spreads across Yuichi’s face. “Happy Anniversary.”
He grabs a hold of the top of Leo’s shell pulling him down for a proper kiss. Leo melts into it without question, holding the rabbit close until they part again a few moments later.
“You bring the stuff?” Leo asks
“Of course,” the rabbit says, smiling, before nodding over to a duffle bag tucked away next to the brick of the stairwell.
Leo grins and they both walk over to the bag, pulling everything out and getting to work setting up. It doesn’t take very long until they have themselves a nice little rooftop picnic set up overlooking the park. When they’re done, Leo plops down on the blanket, settling in next to his boyfriend as Yuichi opens up one of the piping hot boxes of pizza and hands a slice over to Leo. Yuichi gives his slice a little bump against Leo’s before taking a bite. Gods, he loves this idiot. How had he gotten so lucky?
He’d found Yuichi at the end of some random alley one night, soaked through from the rain and holed up inside a cardboard box, shaking like a leaf. It had taken a few minutes for the rabbit to warm to his offer of help, but eventually he had decided to tell Leo what had happened to him.
Leo’s heart had broken for the guy when he’d learned that he’d been doused with a canister of mutagen not even an hour prior. In the beginning he couldn’t say exactly why he’d kept the rabbit’s existence from his brothers; there was no reason for him to. Hell, they probably could have helped, but even at those early stages, he’d felt a kinship with Yuichi that he couldn’t put into words. He’d sort of selfishly wanted to keep Yuichi for himself. So he helped the rabbit, got him set up with his own little hide-away, checking in to make sure he had everything he needed to adjust to his new reality. Nights of helping move battered old furniture turned into more nights spent together; sparing, watching TV, and gorging themselves on snacks - anything Leo could do to spend just a little more time in Yuichi’s presence.
By that point, he’d already started to suspect his feelings toward the rabbit weren’t purely platonic, but he hadn’t made any kind of moves to change things between them.
Well, until that one night.
They weren’t doing anything particularly romantic or different from any other night they had spent together. They were just sitting on the couch in Yuichi’s dingy little apartment, watching TV on the old set they’d fished out of the dumpster. They’d long since gotten over things like personal boundaries, the both of them pressed shoulder to shoulder next to each other on the couch watching “Space Heroes II: The Fury of Kolos”.
They had just gotten to the end where Captain Ryan learned Doctor Mindstorm had given his life to save the crew. As Doctor Mindstorm slides down to the floor, Captain Ryan’s eyes following his every move with resigned acceptance, Yuichi’s hand had wrapped around his own, holding onto Leo like a lifeline as the sad scene plays out. When Leo looked over he found a single tear tracking down the rabbit’s face. He seemed to notice that Leo is looking at him and quickly wipes away the remaining tears threatening to spill over.
“Hehe, sorry, this scene gets me every time,” Yuichi sniffled, his voice watery. “I mean, they mean so much to each other, but they never got the chance to say it. And now… now they just don’t have enough time left.”
On screen, Captain Ryan finally broke down as Dr. Mindstorm breathed his last, the good Captain pressed up against the glass separating the two as tears streamed down his face.
“Do you think…” Leo hesitated as Yuichi’s hand tightened around his own, the rabbit’s eyes leaving the screen to zero in on his own, and in that moment, Leo realized just how close the two of them were to one another. “Do you think things would have been different if they’d told each other sooner?”
They sat there in silence for a moment, the rabbits honey brown eyes stared back at him thoughtfully as he scooted in a little closer, their faces mere inches apart.
“Maybe, maybe not. I think life is too short to leave things like that left unsaid,” Yuichi replied.
Leo’s gaze drifted down, narrowing in on the rabbits lips.
“Yuichi, I… do you..?”
“Yes,” Yuichi said, his voice faint and breathy.
Leo didn’t hesitate, he just leaned in and the rest was history.
They’d been going out now for a while, already celebrating their three month anniversary tonight. He knows it’s a stupid milestone to celebrate, but he doesn’t really care. Leo can honestly say he’s never been happier in his life, and he wants to celebrate every stupid little moment of it with Yuichi.
They sit there, the sounds of the bustling city permeating the air around them, as they happily chat away like any other night until they settle into a comfortable silence, looking out over the twinkling lights of central park and the surrounding buildings.
It’s perfect.
Until the moment is ruined by the sudden twitching of his boyfriend’s ears, followed by the sound of a very familiar set of footsteps coming up from behind them.
Leo panics, and without really putting much thought into it throws one of the blankets over his date.
“Who’s your friend, Leo?” Raph’s voice asks smugly .
Sure enough, when he turns around he finds Raph leaning against the brick wall of the building behind them, looking down at Leo with a self-satisfied grin plastered across his face.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Leo shouts, protectively moving himself between Raph and his boyfriend.
“Oh, come on, man, don’t be like that. I just wanted to know what girl is so special that she has you sneaking out to ‘patrol’ on your own every other night.” Raph steps closer.
Shit, okay, he doesn’t know yet, Leo realizes. Raph probably couldn’t see much of anything from wherever he’d been watching them from. Leo can still salvage this, he just needed to get rid of him.
“I’ll explain later, but just… just not right now! Please just go!” Leo pleads, taking a step forward and shoving Raph back a few steps, his eyes still nervously darting back to the rabbit behind him.
“Oh, come on, this is ridiculous,” Raph grumbles, side stepping Leo and grabbing a hold of the sheet pulling it all off in one fell swoop. Yuichi’s form is immediately visible as his long ears pop up from beneath the sheet, revealing white fur in stark contrast against the darkness of the New York city skyline. His brother might not have been able to see much of Yuichi from a far, but now, up close and personal, there is no way he can possibly mistake Yuichi for a girl.
“H-Hello… ” Yuichi says, giving Raph a small wave.
Leo watches his brother’s face twist up in confusion.
Well, shit. Leo takes a deep breath, stealing his nerves before turning to his brother. “Yuichi, this is my brother, Raph. Raph, this is… this is my boyfriend, Yuichi.”
“Oh,” Raph says, eyes going wide as recognition lights up his face, his gaze flitting back and forth between Yuichi and him as his brain processes Leo’s words. They stand there in awkward silence for a few moments until Raph speaks up again.
“That’s good. I, uhh… I mean, it’s great obviously.” His brother is stumbling over his words as he struggles to collect his thoughts, a rather rare sight. “Fuck. I’m bad at this… Can I just start over, please?”
Leo can’t help but smile and give him an encouraging nod.
Raph flounders for a moment before stepping forward and holding out a hand towards Yuichi. “Hi, I’m Raph. Nice to meet you.”
“Hi, uhh, Yuichi Usagi.” Leo’s boyfriend takes Raph’s hand.
“I-I shouldn’t have interrupted your date like that,” Raph continues. “I… that wasn’t very cool of me.”
“Uhh, thanks.” Yuichi darts a glance over to Leo, seemingly looking for some guidance that Leo doesn’t know how to give. “No hard feelings.”
Raph releases Yuichi’s hand, still standing there in awkward silence with his fist clenched at his sides as his gaze flits back and forth between the two of them. Leo can sense that Raph has more to say, but he doesn’t get the chance to ask before his brother speaks up again.
“Now I hate to break this up again, but we really should get back before the other two bozos realize we’re gone if you are, uhh - still planning on keeping this on the downlow,” Raph says to Leo his hand motioning between the two of them.
Leo pulls out his T-phone and, oh shit, Raph is right; they needed to get going.
“He’s right,” Leo rushes back over to the blanket, quickly scooping up the remaining pizza boxes.
“Right. Yeah. I… it was nice to meet you,” Raph says to the rabbit.
“It was nice to meet you as well, Raphael,” Yuichi says, smiling kindly at his brother before following Leo over to the edge of the roof. “Leo, we still on for Saturday?”
“Yeah, totally,” Leo says, smiling brightly at Yuichi and leaning in to give the rabbit a quick peck on the lips, because at this point fuck it. “I’ll see you then.”
Raph awkwardly clears his throat beside him and Leo finally tears himself away from Yuichi before launching himself across to the next building. Raph follows close on his heels as they race across the rooftops towards home. Neither of them say anything the whole trip back, Raph being strangely silent until Leo steps down on to the fire escape.
“Hey, Leo, wait up…” Raph says, his hand landing squarely on Leo’s shoulder.
Leo takes a deep, fortifying breath. Right, better to get this out of the way now rather than in front of his brothers and dad.
“He’s not anyone you have to worry about, Raph,” Leo explains, darting his eyes over his shoulder to look back at his brother. “Just some guy from Japan that got hit with mutagen when he was visiting New York.”
“No, I can see that. I just… how’d you guys meet?”
His brother is shifting from foot to foot in a rather un-Raph-like display of unease, but Leo can tell he is trying.
He lets out a breath, setting the pizza boxes down and sitting down on the ledge of the building. “Found him in some back alley about six months back, shivering in the rain. He’d just been hit with a canister of mutagen. Guy was scared out of his mind, and… and he needed a friend. I’ve been helping him adjust as best I can, but I…I didn’t really plan on it turning into anything more.”
He hears Raph shift behind him before his brother settles down next to him. “How long have you two been going out?”
“About 3 months,” Leo replies. He can’t help the little chuckle that escapes with his next words. “It’s actually our three month anniversary, that’s what was with the whole picnic thing.”
Raph huffs, rolling his eyes in that way he does when he thinks Leo’s being a dork. Still, he can see the small smile tugging at the edge of his brother’s mouth. “There a reason you kept him a secret from us. I mean, before the whole him being your boyfriend thing.”
“To be honest with you, I don’t really know why I didn’t tell you guys. I…” Leo falters, the words like a lump in his throat. “I just… I don’t know. I think… I think maybe I just wanted to keep him to myself for a while, as silly as that might sound.”
They sit there in awkward silence for a few moments, the sounds of New York still bustling in the background and the warm night air breezing across their scales.
Raph lets out a big sigh before looking Leo right in the eye. “I’m happy for you, bro. And I don’t care that he’s a guy. I just want you to be happy, okay? I shouldn’t have nosed into your business like that. I… I should never have put you in that position.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that. I know you didn’t do it on purpose,” Leo says, scooping up the pizzas and starting to make his way down the fire escape while balancing the pizzas in hand.
“Yeah, well, still. For what it’s worth… I am sorry.” That last part is practically whispered under his breath.
“Aww, love you too, Raph,” Leo teases, as he jumps back down onto solid ground.
Raph lands right after him, grumbling and giving Leo a hard shove that nearly makes him fumble the pizzas. His brother walks over to the manhole cover and pulls it open.
“Yeah, whatever. So, are you going to tell the guys or what?”
Leo finds himself freezing up as he considers the question.“I… I don’t know. I think so, eventually, but… just not right now.”
Raph shrugs and gestures for Leo to go ahead of him. “I get that, but, I mean, they won’t care either. If you really want to put that off, that’s fine, but you at least gotta introduce him as a friend first. The other two are gonna start wondering where you’re wandering off to all the time if you don’t.”
“And how exactly do you suggest I do that?”
“I dunno, just bring him by and say you two have been hanging out for a while.” Raph shrugs exasperated “If you don’t tell them some version of the truth then they’re gonna be suspicious.”
Leo hums. “Good point. I’ll introduce him to the guys, but you need to keep your mouth shut!” He stabs a finger into his brother’s chest for emphasis.
“Yup, got it. My lips are sealed, I promise. But Leo, they’re gonna figure it out eventually on their own. They’re not complete dummies.” Raph pauses thoughtfully for a moment. “Well, Donnie’s not a complete dummy.”
Leo decides to take Raph’s advice.
About a week after The Incident on the rooftops, Leo decides that it’s finally time to introduce Yuichi to the rest of his family.
He’s not going to just randomly bring Yuichi to the lair. He’s pretty sure it wouldn’t go over very well; it certainly hadn’t the first time Raph had brought Casey around. Instead, he settles on something of a middle ground, with Raph agreeing to help him out with his little scheme.
They all head out on patrol just like any other night, racing along the rooftops and keeping a look out for any trouble. They quickly find some, just as he’d planned, as they come upon the sounds of fighting from up ahead.
Yuichi is already down below, his swords slicing through the horde of foot-bots surrounding him, his katana slicing right through them like a knife through butter. Leo and his brothers don’t even fully make it to the ground before Yuichi takes out the final three foot bots with a final swipe of his blade.
Mikey excitedly races up to the rabbit, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “Oh, sweet! Rabbit warrior, dudes!” he gushes before excitedly turning back to his brothers. “Oh! Oh! I already got a name for him; Samurai Rabb—”
“Yuichi!” Leo exclaims cutting Mikey off as he races over to his boyfriend, instinctively going in for a hug before he realizes what he’s doing and awkwardly switches to a friendly pat on the back instead. When he turns around Raph gives him an unimpressed look from his spot behind their other brothers. “Hey, uh, What are you doing out here?”
“Oh, you know, beating up bad guys, what else?” the rabbit says, smiling as he wipes his blade clean before smoothly re-sheathing giving him a knowing wink over his shoulder. He returns Leo’s friendly gesture, managing to make it look a lot more natural than Leo had managed, then looks over at the others. “These must be the brothers you’ve told me so much about.”
Yuichi steps forward and offers out his hand. Donnie and Mikey eye the rabbit in confusion, looking between Leo and Yuichi as a heavy silence hangs between them.
“Umm, excuse me? Do we know this guy?” Raph asks, acting every bit the indignant asshole Leo would have expected him to if he’d actually introduced Yuichi to him like this, color him impressed.
“Uhh, right, no, I guess you guys don’t. But I do,” Leo says, wrapping Yuichi in a totally platonic side hug. “I’ve actually been meaning to introduce you guys. This is Yuichi Usagi. Yuichi, this is Raph, Donnie, and Mikey, my brothers,” he says, pointing to each of them in turn.
They all stand there awkwardly for a moment and Leo feels like he wants to crawl out of his own skin as the silence stretches on before Donnie speaks up, eyeing Yuichi up and down suspiciously. “Umm, okay, and how exactly do you know this guy?”
“Met him shortly after he first mutated. I helped him out a bit, and he sorta helped me out on a couple solo patrols . We kept bumping into each other and, well, we’ve sorta been hanging out ever since.” Leo fudges the timeline a bit so his brothers wouldn’t get too suspicious. “He’s saved my butt on more than a couple occasions.”
“And you didn’t tell us, why exactly?” Donnie asks, frowning over at him.
“I don’t have to tell you guys everything,” Leo says, crossing his arms over his chest. “And like I said, I was getting around to it.”
Leo’s eyes drift downwards taking in the crumpled piles of dismantled foot-bots scattered about on the wet concrete.
“Well, it looks like you’ve already taken care of our job for the night. You wanna maybe come back to our place for a bit?” Leo asks, managing to sound like he hasn’t rehearsed this very conversation about a thousand times in their bathroom mirror before coming here.
“What, seriously? You want to bring him back to the lair? What makes you think we can trust this guy?” Raph shouts, stomping up to them and staring the rabbit down accusingly. Leo has to stamp down on the very real annoyance bubbling up. His brother is really selling this. Yuichi opens his mouth, as if to retort back, but Leo steps in.
“Yes, Raph.” He pulls his brother away from Yuichi roughly, raising his voice for show. “I highly doubt he’s working for anybody considering I found him only an hour after he’d been mutated. Excuse me for not thinking someone hiding away in a cardboard box was trying to kill me.”
Yuichi wilts a little behind him, and Leo feels bad for revealing the information despite the rabbit agreeing to it beforehand, but Raph is apparently going for gold in this little performance, flinching back at Leo’s words. His brother puts on a good pretense of being ashamed, his eyes flitting away from him and Yuichi, looking as if he regrets ever asking in the first place. Raph has always been the best lair out of all of them, and now Leo is starting to wonder exactly how long he’d been practicing.
Leo knows that if any of his brothers were going to trust Yuichi, they will need to know that Raph trusts him first.
“Raph, he’s given me absolutely no reason not to trust him since then,” Leo says as he stares his brother down in a mock showdown. Raph’s eyes dart back to Yuichi standing behind him and Leo can visibly see the fight drain out of him. Damn, he’s good at this.
“Ahh, right. Shit, I’m sorry that happened to you,” Raph mutters under his breath carefully, avoiding Yuichi’s gaze in a pretty genuine display of remorse. Leo has to give his brother credit where it was due, he is a much better actor than he would have thought. Raph’s remorse has the desired affect; Donnie visibly relaxing a little.
Mikey, on the other hand, doesn’t exactly take long to warm up to anyone.
“Oh, yeah, boy!” His little brother rushes forward, practically tackling Yuichi in his excitement as he envelopes the rabbit in a hug, lifting him clear off of his feet before unceremoniously dropping him a few seconds later. “Dude, you are going to love our crib, it’s sweet!
“Uhh, yeah, that sounds like fun,” Yuichi says, voice slightly shaky as he allows Mikey to pull him along. He darts a slightly frantic look back at Leo, who takes that as his cue to step in.
“Mikey, slow down! I’m pretty sure he can follow us just fine without you dragging him.”
“Oh, right, sorry.” Mikey flashes the rabbit an apologetic smile before finally releasing him to walk on his own.
“Thank you,” Yuichi says, before his eyes land back on Leo. “Lead the way, Fearless Leader.” The million watt grin Yuichi shoots his way has Leo’s insides melting. He lets out a fake cough, covering up his face in an effort to hide the blush threatening to spread across his cheeks. “Alright, let’s move.”
They race back across the rooftops, Mikey peppering Yuichi with questions the entire way. One jump down a sewer grate and a short walk down twisting sewer tunnels later, they are back at the lair.
“Me casa e su casa,” Mikey says as he bounds over the turnstiles, making a beeline for the television and immediately diving into their pile of video games stacked up in the corner. “Your pick. What game do you want to play; Super Mario, Mario Party, Smash Bros?”
“Smash bros, ”Yuichi says with a wicked grin, hovering at the edge of the pit. “I’m gonna wipe the floor with all of you.”
“You wish!” Mikey cackles as he runs over and switches on the TV, quickly getting to work setting up the game. Raph and Donnie file into the pit right after him and Leo hears the quiet pad of footsteps walking out of the dojo.
“My sons, who is your new friend?” Splinter asks genially as Leo turns to find his sensei slowly making his way over to where he and Yuichi stand just to the side of the pit. Before Leo even has the chance to say a single word, Yuichi is stepping forward into his fathers path, his posture stiffening before he bows deeply towards Master Splinter.
“Usagi Yuichi, Splinter Sensei. It is an honor to meet you.” Yuichi says, before straightening up.
“Hmm, you are Japanese?” Splinter asks, looking Yuichi over curiously.
“Hai, Sensei, I’m from the Nagano prefecture. I trained with the Goi Juamdai dojo.”
“Ahh, a very reputable dojo. What brings you to New York?”
Yuichi flinches slightly, going very quiet and Leo quickly jumps in. “He was just visiting New York when, well…”
Leo lets the thought trail off as understanding lights in Splinter’s eyes.
“Ah, I see. I am sorry for your unfortunate circumstances, young one. Please, if there is anything we can do to help you adjust, do not hesitate to ask,” Splinter says, stepping forward and placing a hand on the rabbit’s shoulder. “You are welcome in our home whenever you wish. If you would ever like to join us in the dojo, I’m sure the boys could learn a thing or two from sparring with an opponent of your skill.”
“It would be an honor, Splinter Sensei.” Yuichi says, once again inclining his head.
“Dude!”
Mikey sits in front of the TV waving a controller around in the air and looking pointedly at Yuichi. “You playing or not?”
Splinter smiles pleasantly at the both of them, giving a slight nod of his head before heading off towards the kitchen.
The night goes by without a hitch from there, Yuichi happily joining in on the brother’s antics as they play. Leo’s boyfriend slots into the chaos of his family with ease. He doesn’t get to spend as much time with Yuichi as he would like, but he’s happy to see him actually here, laughing and eating and joking along with his brothers. It only makes him love him all the more. His heart goes all fuzzy at the sight.
Eventually, it’s time for Yuichi to head out, the rabbit saying all of his goodbyes before making his way back to the subway tunnels. Leo almost follows him, wanting to walk him home, but he’s stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Dude, just friends don’t walk each other home,” Raph says with a pointed look over at Donnie and Mikey, both still absorbed by whatever video game they’re playing. “Dude has mad skills right ? He’ll be just fine getting back on his own.”
“Right,” Leo says, deflating slightly as he watches his boyfriend give him a little wave before jumping over the turnstile.
As soon as he is out of sight, Leo sinks back down onto the couch, pulling out his phone and shooting off a quick text.
Leo: Raph said I shouldn’t walk you home.😞 Please text me when you get back.
His responding text comes just a few minutes later
Yuichi: Home 💙
Yuichi: Sweet Dreams Leo.
Leo: 💙💙💙
Leo: Sweet Dreams
Yuichi comes around the lair a lot after that.
He plays video games with them, trains with them, and fights right alongside them on more than one occasion. Really, everything is actually pretty great, although he does start to miss having Yuichi all to himself. He very quickly has to get used to the fact that he now has to share his boyfriend with his three rowdy brothers, which means significantly less alone time for the two of them. If Leo is honest, it’s really starting to grate on his nerves. He can’t even leave the lair now without one of his brothers, usually Mikey, asking him if he’s going to Yuichi’s and begging to tag along.
Raph does his best to help him out as subtly as he can, but there’s only so much he can do. He’d dropped the suspicious act about a week after Leo had ‘officially’ introduced Yuichi to the family. His brother had already saved him on more than a few occasions when either Donnie or Mikey had nearly walked in on them after Leo had dragged Yuichi to his room for a little alone time.
He knows he should tell them. He knows they wouldn’t care, but there never seems to be a good moment for it. How the hell is even he supposed to start that conversation? He can’t exactly just drop it in the middle of playing video games. ‘Oh, hey, guys. By the way, Yuichi isn’t my friend, he’s actually my boyfriend. Also, we’ve known each other a lot longer than just a month and I think I just might be in love with him.’
Yeah, he would rather die.
Today, they’re hanging around the lair just like any other day. He and Mikey were in the kitchen with Yuichi, the kettle on the stove top coming to a boil just as Raph and Casey barge into the kitchen ,still roughhousing after an obviously lively night of patrolling, if their slightly scruffy appearances are anything to go by.
Casey comes to a stop as his eyes land on Yuichi, doing a double-take. “Whoa, dudes, who’s the rabbit?”
Oh, right, he hasn’t gotten the chance to introduce Yuichi to Casey yet - or April, for that matter. Casey and April had been too busy with finals at school to join them in their escapades over the last few weeks.
Mikey happily jumps up from his chair and races over to Yuichi’s side. “Oh, this is Leo’s friend, Yuichi. they met a while back out on patrol. Don’t worry, he’s cool.”
“Leo. Friend. You’re joking right.” Casey cackles as he and Yuichi size each other up.
“Ha ha ha, very funny, ” Leo deadpans, as he glares at him. Yuichi huffs a laugh as Leo pours them both a cup of tea.
“I don’t know, man, just a little hard to believe that anyone would want to be friends with someone that’s got a stick so far up their-”
“Casey!”
The teenager is immediately smacked up side the head as April walks into the room.
“What?” Casey whines, turning to scowl at the redhead as she walks up to Yuichi.
“Sorry about him, he can be… well, just sorry.”
Casey grumbles from beside her as April reaches out her hand in offering, smiling brightly. “I’m April and that’s Casey. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Yuichi Usagi, a pleasure to meet you.” Yuichi reaches out for Aprils hand just as Leo pulls another mug out of the cabinet.
April pointedly glares over at Casey until the other boy finally speaks up.
“Ugh, okay, fine. I’m Casey Jones. It’s nice to meet you,” he says, holding his hand out to the rabbit begrudgingly.
“Nice to meet you,” Yuichi says, returning the handshake. To anyone else his greeting would appear completely genuine, but Yuichi’s terse smile tells Leo otherwise. If he knew his boyfriend at all, he isn’t just going to let that slide, but Yuichi also knows how to bide his time.
“Okay, now can we please go play Mario Kart?”
Yuichi’s ears perk up at the question, April on the other hand glares over at Casey and opens her mouth to interject, but Mikey pops up excitedly before she gets the chance.
“Oh, yeah, boy! Let’s do this!”
He bounds off towards the living room, Raph and Casey following close behind. April grumbles to herself as the excited teenagers race out of the room before she turns back to him and Yuichi.
“Those guys are exhausting sometimes,” she says, slumping down into one of the chairs as Leo pulls another mug out of the cabinet for her, pouring her a piping hot cup of tea.
“At least you don’t live with them,” he says. “I have to deal with Raph and Mikey's antics on the daily.”
“Ah, silver linings,” Aprils sighs, taking a long sip of the offered tea.
“Come on, let’s go make sure Raph doesn’t put a sai through anybody when he loses,” Leo says, setting the kettle back on the stove and grabbing his own cup of tea of the counter. April and Yuichi both grab their cups and follow, making their way to the living room to find Mikey already at work setting up the game, Donnie lounging on the couch as the intro screen playing music plays over the sound of Raph and Casey arguing over a controller in the background. Mikey pops up off the ground the second he catches sight of the rest of them, jumping up from his spot on the floor and snatching the other controller from Raph before excitedly waving the it around in the air. “Who wants first game?”
“Can I go?” Yuichi asks eagerly, but Casey quickly interjects, grabbing the controller from Mikey.
“Hey, not cool, Mikey, I already called dibs. Besides, house rules; if your not on the couch then you can’t call it.” Casey triumphantly plops back into the cushions.“Sorry, cottontail, but you’ll have to wait your turn for me to wipe the floor with you.”
“No problem,” Yuichi says pleasantly, settling down on the couch next to Leo with his mug in hand as Mikey plops down next to Casey with the other controller. “I can wait my turn.”
He and Yuichi are probably sitting closer to each other than would be considered friendly, but with so many people crammed together on the couch, he doesn’t feel to bad about taking advantage of the lack of space as a convenient excuse to press closer. Leo never thought that he would be one to crave physical contact, but now that it’s been so limited, he sure does miss it.
They only play for a few minutes before Mikey is knocked out in the first round and he has to hand over the controller to Raph. The red-banded turtle holds his own for a lot longer than Mikey had, but he eventually succumbs to defeat just like his brother. Before Raph can chuck the controller across the room, Leo quickly jumps up and snatches it out of his hands before handing it over to Yuichi. “Alright, I think it’s Yuichi’s turn now.”
The rabbit perks up, a devilish grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, as he takes the controller, Leo’s heart fluttering at the brief contact.
“Let’s do this, cottontail,” Casey grins. Yuichi bristles slightly at the nickname.“Indeed.”
Casey selects another track and starts the race. Yuichi and Casey are neck and neck at the head of the pack for a good chunk of the race, making for a rather exhilarating viewing experience. On the final lap, Yuichi falls back into second place, but just as it seem like Casey is about to win, Yuichi takes him out just as he’s about to cross the finish line with a well timed barrage of shells, mushrooms, and to finish it off a blue shell, before breezing past Casey’s wrecked cart. Casey’s jaw drops to the floor as his cart goes flying off the map and Yuichi’s cart breezes across the finish line in first place.
“Dude!” Casey shouts, looking over at the rabbit in complete shock. Yuichi doesn’t even try to hide the smug smile that pulls up the corner of his lips, simply giving Casey a nonchalant shrug.
“Watch out, man, the rabbit is devious,” Raph chuckles, patting his friend on the back. “He’s undefeated. Leo’s the only one who’s ever gotten close to beating him.”
“Dude, why didn’t you warn me!”
“‘Cause I knew it would be funny when you lost.”
Casey deflates under Raph’s shit-eating grin, grumbling under his breath before passing his controller to Donnie. “Good game, cottontail.”
“Thank you, but I’d prefer if you called me by my name. Unless of course, you’d rather call me Champion. Either one works for me.”
Casey huffs, but he’s smiling. “Good game, Yuichi.”
Yuichi plays a couple more rounds, easily defeating Donnie and April before it comes around to Leo’s turn. The rabbit toggles through several different map options before selecting Rainbow Road.
“Oh my god, you are evil,” Leo says, glaring over at the rabbit.
“What?” Yuichi says, the picture of innocence as he looks back over at him. “If it’s really a problem, I could always pick another map if you’re too chicken?” The rabbit shoots him a cocky grin and Leo doesn’t dare back down.
“Whoever said I was chicken? I just don’t know if we can be friends anymore,” Leo jokes, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth before settling in as the count down starts. “Let’s do this!”
Once the race starts, Leo doesn’t have any more time for trash talk as all of his attention is focused on the race. He tries his best to keep his cart from careening off the tracks, carefully navigating the winding roads and obstacles, but the rabbit isn’t making it easy.
They are pressed up right next to each other the entire time, a devilish smile turning up the corners of Yuichi’s mouth as he tries to jostle him.
“Cheater,” Leo grouses, his cart swerving as he pushes back in kind. To any outsider, it would simply look like they were rough housing, trying to get in each others face and mess with him enough to throw him off his game but Leo knows better. Before he’d ever introduced Yuichi to his brothers, this kind of thing had been the rabbit’s favorite go-to move to instantly win any game, not that Leo was complaining. Those games would usually come to an end quickly as he and Yuichi tossed aside their controllers in favor of engaging in … other activities.
As they continue to race around the track, Leo does his best to focus past every jostle and jab, the rabbits grin a constant reminder that Yuichi knows exactly what he’s doing.
When they’re done, he doesn’t care what excuse he has to concoct, he is getting that boy alone in his room and
A gasp escapes someone from across the room and he’s very suddenly reminded of the fact that at least one of his friends is in fact a telepath.
Shit.
His eyes flick over to find April’s eyes trained directly on him. The lapse in concentration is just enough for him to crash his cart, sending him spiraling out and off the track into the abyss of space just before he can cross the finish line.
“Yes! First place, baby!” Yuichi shouts, knocking Leo to the side and throwing his hands up in triumph.
“Ohh, that’s tough,” Raph chuckles from beside him, giving Leo a consoling pat on his shoulder before high-fiving the rabbit. Leo can’t bring himself to care about the teasing as his eyes dart back over to April who is now very pointedly looking anywhere but at him. Okay, shit, yeah, she had definitely picked up on that.
Leo coughs, clearing his throat as he shifts up off of his spot on the couch and hands the controller off to Mikey. “I’m gonna go get some more tea. You guys want anything?”
There are murmured refusals from everyone except Yuichi, who requests another cup of tea as he readies himself for the next game. He shuffles off to the kitchen, the sound of April’s footsteps quickly following right after his.
As soon as he enters, he makes his way over to the stove, grabbing the kettle and filling it up at the sink before settling it on the stove top just as April enters the room behind him.
“I’m so sorry, Leo, I didn’t mean to… I mean you were just being so… loud with your thoughts.”
“April, it’s fine, I know you didn’t do it on purpose,” Leo says as he turns on the burner before turning back towards April, still avoiding eye contact and wringing his hands as he tries to think of what to say next.
April shifts from foot to foot across from him, her fingers twisting up in the hem of her shirt. “Right, cool. I mean - you know that’s cool, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” Leo says, his voice going soft. She really hadn’t intended to invade his privacy. She is still in the early stages of learning the limits of her powers and can’t always control what she picks up on. He can hardly blame her for that.
“Have you… have you told him how you feel?”
Ah, it seems she hasn’t quite picked up on everything then. Leo can’t help the chuckle that escapes him at the question.
“I’m pretty sure he knows. We’re sort of already dating.” Leo smiles up at her. “Have been for a while now.”
Her eyes widen slightly before she smiles, a light laugh escaping her. “Oh! I, uhhh…wow, that’s great.”
“Yeah.”
Before April can say another word, a high-pitched whistle pierces the air as the kettle comes to a boil on the stove. Leo quickly walks over turning off the heat and pulls three mugs out of the cabinet along with a selection of tea bags. April selects her own and Leo pours hot water into her cup before preparing his and Yuichi’s cups. When he’s done, he settles back down next to April, an awkward silence settling in between them once again as they both stare into their cups.
“Have you told the others?” she asks, wrapping the warm cup up between her palms and looking over at him.
“Raph knows, but no, I haven’t told anyone else yet. I’ve been trying to keep it under wraps for right now,” Leo says, pulling the tea bags out of the mug. “I’m just…waiting for the right moment to tell everyone, y'know?”
He sets the damp bags down on a saucer with a sigh, but before he can move his hand away, April’s settles hers atop his own.
“If you need anything, just let me know, Leo,” she says, looking over at him earnestly.
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Leo says, smiling back at her as he collects their mugs. “Now, lets get back out there before they start looking for us.”
When they return, Yuichi is comfortably lounging on the back of the couch while Mikey and Raph duke it out on the controllers.
“Did you lose?” Leo asks in surprise.
“Yup,” Yuichi says, jovially jumping up from his spot on the couch and grabbing his cup of tea from Leo. “He got me with a banana peal just before the finish line.”
Yuichi happily sips from his cup, humming in appreciation. He’s never told his brothers, but Yuichi was literally an internationally ranked Mario Kart Champion before he’d gotten stuck in New York. Whenever they play, the controller almost never leaves Yuichi’s hands, and when he does lose, it’s always to Leo. Though he’s long suspected that Yuichi is letting him win. There’s no way Yuichi lost to Mikey, of all people.
His suspicion is quickly confirmed as Yuichi scoops up his bag from the floor, holding it up in front of Leo.
“Want to head to your room for a bit? I found some new Japanese Space Heroes comics I think you’ll like,” Yuichi asks with a meaningful arch to his brow. The look immediately disappears, however, as April walks up behind him. Yuichi clears his throat and tucks the bag behind his back. “I mean, or we could just stay out here too…”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Leo says, darting a glance over towards his brothers still thoroughly engrossed in their game before looking back at April. The redhead gives him a quick nod before making her way back to the couch and settling back in without another word. He leads Yuichi back towards his room without drawing anymore attention to themselves.
“Hey, what was that about?” Yuichi ask, looking back at April as they make their way down the hall to Leo’s room.
“Oh, nothing you need to worry about right now,” Leo says as he opens the door to his room. “I’ll tell you later. For now, how about we take a look at those Space Heroes comics.”
“Leo, slow down!”
Leo doesn’t pay his brother any attention as he slides down the ladder into the sewers, not even bothering with the rungs. He hits the ground running, continuing his mad dash back to the lair. The panic flooding his system drowns out any and all rational thought.
“Dude, I’m sure he’s fine!”
Sure. Leo will believe that when he sees Yuichi with his own eyes.
He races down the subway tunnels, leaping over the turnstiles and making a beeline for Donnie’s lab with Raph hot on his heels. When he reaches the lab, he doesn’t waste a moment before throwing the doors open and stomping inside.
“Is he okay?” Leo shouts, barely restraining the worry bleeding into his voice as he races into the room.
“Chill, Leo, he’s fine. A little banged up, but he’ll survive,” Donnie says, lifting up his goggles and pushing away from the table in front of him to reveal Yuichi laid face down on the med table. The rabbit gives him a weak smile, flinching slightly at the action. Leo’s heart breaks just a little at the line of stitches now running down the rabbits cheekbone, but his eyes glaze over it, quickly landing on the more pressing of Yuichi’s injuries. One long unbroken cut runs diagonally down the length of his back. It cuts far deeper than Leo would have liked, but thankfully it hadn’t gotten anywhere near deep enough to reach bone and didn’t appear to be bleeding nearly as much as it had before.
Raph stumbles in just behind him, heaving as he tries to catch his breath. “See, Leo, he’s totally fine. Doctor Donnie’s got everything under control.”
“Yeah, chillax, dude, we’ve got this under control,” Mikey says as he rolls by, a pair of beakers in hand that he definitely shouldn’t have.
“Give me those!”
Donnie snatches the beakers out of Mikey's hands before moving back over to the rabbit’s side. Leo rushes to follow, watching anxiously as his brother stitches up the rest of the wound with careful precision.
After a minute or two, Donnie finishes off the last stitch before he sits up, pushes back his goggles, and pulls off his gloves.
“There. That’s all done,” Donnie says, tossing the gloves in the trash and rolling towards the cabinet in search of bandages.
“Are you okay?” Leo asks desperately.
It all happened in a flash. They’d been in a fight with Shredder’s henchman and everything had seemed to be going well until Leo heard Yuichi cry out in pain and turned to find him slumping to the ground. The sight of the blood soaked kimono made his own blood go cold. Everything after that was a bit of a blur; he had rushed forward, catching the rabbit as he fell, cradling his body close. He dimly registered more movement around him, the clashing of blades registering somewhere in his brain as he called out for Donnie. His brother was at his side in an instant, taking Yuichi from his arms as Mikey threw down a smoke bomb between them. The pair disappeared into the smoke with Yuichi, leaving Raph and Leo to finish off the fight. The second the massive weapon that Shredder’s lackeys had been planning to activate was destroyed, he’d taken off across the rooftops towards the lair.
“Yeah, Leo, I’m fine,” Yuichi says, pushing himself upright, wincing slightly at the motion. Leo is immediately at his side, helping him sit up and looking him over to make sure he’s really okay.
“Now you see the benefits of this thing,” Leo says in a joking tone, pointing back at his shell. He’s honestly trying to soothe his own frayed nerves more than Yuichi’s, but it still seems to do the trick as the rabbit chuckles, smirking over at him.
“I can certainly see the appeal.” Yuichi grits his teeth slightly as he places a hand against the back of Leo shell for support, leaning ever so slightly into him.
Leo eyes the cut on his face consideringly as he resists the urge to run a hand along the outline of the jagged line.
“He’s gonna be okay?” Leo asks Donnie, carefully keeping his voice even.
“Yeah. He’ll be a little tender, and it will probably leave a scar, but it will heal.” Donnie says absentmindedly as he digs through his drawers.
“Thanks for looking out for him, Don.”
“I mean, sure. Why wouldn’t I?” Donnie says casually. “I mean, he’s basically part of the family at this point with how much he hangs around here.”
Donnie’s tone is light and unserious, causing guilt to pull at something deep in Leo’s gut. “Hehe, uhhh, yeah…” He darts an anxious glance over at Yuichi.
Shit. He can’t keep this from them any longer. He’s already put it off for far too long. It’s becoming harder and harder to hide his affection towards the rabbit, and quite frankly, it’s getting exhausting. At this point, he’s pretty sure that both Donnie and Mikey have picked up on the fact that there’s something more between them, they just don’t know what exactly.
He doesn’t see a point in hiding it any longer. It’s time.
He looks over at Yuichi for - he doesn’t know- permission, maybe. The rabbit happily gives it, nodding and grabbing a hold of Leo’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Leo straightens up clearing his throat. “Hey, guys, there’s,uhh… there’s something I need to tell you.”
There’s a loud bang as one of the drawers slams shut, Donnie muttering a curse under his breath as he pulls open another drawer before turning to Mikey. “Were you messing around in my lab again?”
Mikey spins around and around in one of Donnie’s desk chairs, his big puppy dog eyes the picture of innocence. “Me and Ice Cream Kitty may or may not have been playing doctor, but I swear I put everything back where I found it. Maybe. Probably.”
“I told you not to mess around in here! Why would you do that?” Donnie says, as he frantically pulls open drawer after drawer in search of the supplies. “Where did you put them?”
As Donnie frantically riffles through the drawers and bickers with Mikey, Leo’s confidence wavers in the face of his brothers distraction.
“Found it!” Donnie exclaims, popping up from a set of drawers with more antiseptic and clean bandages in hand before quickly moving on to prepping the supplies, but he’s stopped before he can get very far.
Raph, appearing to have picked up on where Leo is heading with this, promptly elbows Donnie hard, getting him to finally look up from his work.
“Ow! What the hell was that for?” Donnie glares. Raph merely nods his head in Leo’s direction, prompting Donnie to finally give him his full attention. Even Mikey ceases his spinning to focus on Leo, though he was still tilted back rather precariously in the chair. Everyone’s attention is now fully on him.
Right, okay, time to do this.
Leo takes a deep breath. “Uhhh. right, okay. There’s…there’s something I need to tell you guys.”
His brothers look at him expectantly and Leo feels as if his heart is about to beat out of his chest as he looks over at them, but he takes the plunge.
“Yuichi…Yuichi and I aren’t just friends,” Leo says, keeping his voice even as he draws his and Yuichi’s clasped hands out into clear view. “He’s… he’s actually my boyfriend. We’re dating… kind of have been for a while now.”
“What!” Mikey shouts, shooting up in his chair, causing him to lose his balance and go toppling back off the chair with a loud thud.
While Mikey struggles to recover from the fall, Leo turns his gaze on Donnie who is comparatively still as a statue. His face is a blank mask, his eyes glued to their joined hands, blinking intermittently as Leo watches the gears in his head turn as he processes the new information. Something seems to click into place as Donnie’s head pops up, looking between the both of them.
“How long exactly?” He sounds curious, with no judgment in the question, like he’s collecting data and nothing more.
“About 4 months now,” Leo says evenly, still not exactly sure what to make of his brothers reaction.
“I’m sorry, you’ve had a boyfriend for 4 months and you didn’t tell us?!” Mikey shouts, scrambling up off the ground and over to Leo, excitedly shaking his arm with a wide smile across his face before wrapping Leo and Yuichi in a tight hug. “Dude! Why didn’t you tell us? This is amazing!”
“Will you keep it down?” Leo hisses, pushing Mikey off of him even as warmth blooms in his chest at his brothers unwavering acceptance. “Master Splinter will hear you!”
“And how long have you actually known each other?” Donnie asks, almost as if he already knew the answer to the question.
“6 months,” Leo answers eyeing his brother suspiciously.
“OH, it’s story time!” Mikey says, picking his chair up off the ground and rolling right up in front of him and Yuichi. “You are telling us everything! I want details, dudes!”
“Story time indeed,” Donnie says congenially, walking back to the table, bandages and antiseptic in hand as he settles in to work on Yuichi’s wounds. As he works, Leo tells them the truth. The whole truth this time.
“…and that’s when I introduced you guys on the roof, and, well, you know the rest from there,” Leo says just as Donnie finishes off the bandage on Yuichi’s back.
“Aww, dudes, that’s so sweet!” Mikey says from his spot propped up on the table next to them. Donnie simply hums an affirmative before moving from bandaging Yuichi’s back to his face.
“You don’t seem all that surprised,” Leo observes, looking over at his brother curiously. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“I only knew you were lying about something. After a little investigating, I suspected that there was something more going on between the two of you, but I didn’t know about this.” His brother gestures down to their still joined hands.
“That’s ‘cause you’re dense as a brick when it comes to personal biz,” Raph says, rolling his eyes and giving Donnie a smack up side the head.
“Hey! What—”
“I think what Donnie is trying to say is that he’s happy for both of you. Right, Don?” Raph asks, a threatening edge to his voice. Donnie’s whole face goes flush as he finally seems to realize the big revelation he had just bulldozed his way past. “Oh, right, uhh, sorry. Congratulations, you guys.”
Leo’s heart warms at that before his mind catches on Donnie’s previous words. “I’m sorry, investigating?”
“When you first introduced us, I may have ran a very extensive background check on him the second we got back to the lair.”
“Donnie!”
“What? You brought a random mutant into our home and you expected me to not go digging? Do you even know me?” Donnie asks, affronted. “He was reported missing to the human authorities about 6 months ago, which just so happens to line up perfectly with when you started regularly sneaking out of the lair before introducing us. I knew you were lying to us for a while, but when I didn’t find anything else of interest in his background check, I left it alone, considering he otherwise seemed harmless.”
“Donnie…” Leo says, a warning tone to his voice.
Donnie holds his hands up in surrender.“Okay, I might have tracked him via security cameras for, like, the first week. But I swear that was it okay!”
Leo heaves a tired sigh when, to his surprise, Yuichi speaks up from beside him. “If you knew we were lying, why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
Yuichi has a point. Donnie isn't one to just let things lie like that. He has an almost pathological need to find answers. The fact that he just let this be for so long is extremely out of character.
All eyes in the room are suddenly on Donnie, who squirms under the scrutiny.
“I don’t know, you seemed like a pretty good dude. I figured it probably had something to do with your mutation or some other personal business and, well, after what little you told us about that time, it didn’t seem right to pry. I figured you had a good reason and would tell us about it when you were ready.”
“Thank you, Donatello, I appreciate the discretion,” Yuichi says, smiling kindly over at his brother.
Donnie looks a little bashful. “Yeah, no problem.”
“So, other than the whole ‘me lying to you for a couple months thing’… are we good?” Leo asks.
“Yeah, of course. I mean, I still can’t believe you told Raph first of all people,” Donnie grumbles, a bitter edge entering his voice as he looks over at Leo.
Leo only shrugs .“Hey, I didn’t tell him. He only found out ‘cause he’s a nosey dick.”
When Donnie turns to look at Raph, he only shrugs. “Ehhh, that’s fair.”
“Whatever. As long as you’re happy, I guess that’s all that really matters. But,” Donnie says, slapping a hand heavily on the stitches running down Yuichi’s, back causing him to wince. “Let me be clear. If you hurt him, you’re a dead man.”
“Oh yeah, one hundred percent,” Mikey agrees from beside him, a manic grin plastered on his face. Raph steps up behind them both, cracking his knuckles with an equally devious grin.
“Understood,” Yuichi says, giving them all a weak smile before pushing himself up off the bench, stumbling slightly as he stands. Leo’s at his side in an instant, holding him steady as he turns a warning glare on his brothers.
“I thought you said he was okay?”
Donnie grimaces. “He will be, but he should probably stay here for the night. He lost, like, two pints of blood. He definitely doesn’t need to be leaping across rooftops in his condition.”
“I’m fine,” Yuichi interjects. “I can manage getting home on my own.” He takes a confident step forward before promptly listing to the side. Leo manages to catch him just in time, the rabbit groaning and leaning heavily into his side for support.
“No, you’re staying here. I’m sure Master Splinter won't mind. I’ll get you set up in my room and I’ll take the couch.”
“Thank you.” Yuichi looks up at him adoringly and, dammit, Leo just can’t help it anymore. He surges forward, wrapping Yuichi up in a hug, taking extra care to avoid the bandages. Yuichi’s arms wrap around him in kind and pull him in close. Leo pulls back, unabashedly staring at his boyfriend and quietly reassuring himself that he’s fine, before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss.
“Boys! Dinner is ready!”
Splinter’s voice has him practically jumping out of his skin. He and Yuichi quickly pull apart putting a little distance between them before he turns back to his brothers.
“You guys promise not to tell Splinter, right?” Leo pleads, looking over at them a little desperately. “I swear I’m gonna tell him at some point, just not yet.”
“I don’t know, dude. Seems like he’ll figure it out on his own if you can’t keep your hands off of your boyfriend,” Mikey teases, wrapping his arms around himself in a mimicry of kissing. “Mwah, mwah, mwah, I love my boyfriend so much.”
“Quit being stupid, you moron.” Raph says, shoving Mikey out of his chair and sending him sprawling out on the ground.
“Guys,” Leo says. “I’m serious. You promise?”
“Yeah, man, we promise,” Donnie says, turning to his other brother laid out on the floor. “Right, Mikey?”
“Totally, dude! My lips are sealed!” Mikey says, smiling up at him, drawing his finger across his mouth and throwing away the key before seeming to change his mind and unsealing his lips once again. “You still totally liikkkeeee him!”
Mikey continues on in a sing-song voice and Leo scowls down at his brother, but before he can speak again, he feels a pair of lips pressed to his cheek.
“I mean, I think he’s pretty great too,” the rabbit says from beside him.
A deep flush spreads across is his face as he turns to look at him, any previous signs of his anger completely melting away in the face of the rabbits affection.
“Ugh. You two are as gross as ever,” Raph grumbles, making his way back out of the lab. “Come on. I’m starving.”
They all file out of as one, but before he and Yuichi can make it all the way out, Donnie stops him at the door.
“Hey, seriously, thanks for telling us, Leo,” Donnie says, his expression open in a way that Leo so rarely sees from his brother. “And again, sorry about snooping on your… boyfriend.”
“No problem, Dee. Thanks for listening.”
God, the last few weeks have been perfect.
Now that he’s finally told his brothers about his relationship with Yuichi, he doesn’t need to hide his feelings from them as much anymore. There are some jokes and complaining at the occasional hug or shared kiss between the two of them, but his brothers are otherwise very supportive.
He still had to be mindful around the lair, still restrained in his affections towards the rabbit just in case Master Splinter were to walk into a room. Still, he manages to grab more moments with Yuichi tucked away in his room, thanks to his brothers actually making a concerted effort to give the two of them a little more alone time and play interference with Splinter.
He’s planning to tell Master Splinter soon, he just has to figure out how exactly he’s going to tell him, but he can figure that out later.
For now, he pulls Yuichi to his room after a particularly ruckus patrol, the pair of them quietly slipping inside and shutting the door behind them.
“Man, that was insane,” Yuichi says, unlatching his swords from his belt and tossing them on Leo’s nightstand before flopping back on to his bed. Leo chuckles, carefully detaching his own swords and reverently placing them on their stand by the bed before lying down next to him.
“Yeah, they’re a pain in the ass, but dealing with the Krang is certainly never boring, that’s for sure.”
Yuichi turns over, his warm brown eyes staring back into Leo’s, his eyes filled with that soft admiration that always made Leo’s heart melt. He pulls Leo in close, running a hand down the nape of his neck while one of his fingers fiddles with his mask tails. This close, the pungent smell of their combined sweat mixes, a hint of something else under the surface that is just oh-so Yuichi, filling his nostrils as their noses press against one another. God, they both really need a shower. Before the rabbit can lean in any further, Leo presses his hands up against Yuichi’s kimono, playfully shoving the rabbit away as he sits up. “Ugh. Get away, stinky.”
“You’re one to talk, mister lives-in-the-sewers,” Yuichi says, grabbing on to the strap across Leo’s chest and pulling him in close bumping their noses together. Leo can’t help but laugh as his boyfriend pulls him in close, peppering his face with kisses.
His lips hover a mere hairs breath away from his own as he waits for Leo. He smiles before closing the gap. He hums into the kiss, relishing in the lingering taste of matcha on the rabbits lips from earlier that day. Leo pulls him in close, wrapping him up in his arms and deepening the kiss. His entire being buzzes with contentment as Yuichi does the same in return.
He dimly hears the sound of his bed room door opening behind them and curses himself for not locking it before he pulls back from Yuichi, ready to reprimand one of his brothers for walking in with out knocking only to come face to face with Master Splinter.
Leo can feel all the blood drain from his face as his eyes land on his sensei standing in the doorway. Splinter’s face is an unreadable mask.
“Sensei!”
He immediately puts a healthy amount of space between the two of them, Yuichi putting in the extra effort and scrambling back right off the bed, hitting the ground with a resounding thud. Leo winces, rushing to the edge of the bed and quickly helping the awkward pile of limbs that is Yuichi back to his feet.
“I’m okay,” Yuichi mutters as he stumbles to his feet, his eye still glued to the ground. Once he’s sure Yuichi isn’t hurt, he turns back around to face his father, who is still standing in the doorway. Splinter doesn’t appear to have moved an inch from the moment he first set foot in the room, but as Leo’s eyes land on him, he seems to recover from his shock quickly looking between the pair of them.
Leo’s never really seen his sensei at a loss for words before, but he appears to be right now. He can practically see the way Splinter’s mind turns as he consider his next words.
“I- I was just coming to inform you that dinner is ready,” his father says.
That…isn’t what he’d been expecting. Leo looks over to Yuichi to confirm he’d heard that right, but his boyfriend looks just as confused as him. He looks back to his sensei, but the man doesn’t say another word, only looking over at him expectantly.
“I- uhh, yeah… we’ll be out there in a minute,” Leo says, not able to come up with anything better before his father’s form retreats, shutting the door behind them and leaving them in awkward silence.
“Shit,” Leo mutters, flopping back down onto the bed, burying his head in his hands.
Yuichi settles down next to him, lying a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’s fine.”
“How do you know?”
“I mean, he didn’t yell at us, so that has to be a good sign, right?”
Leo sits up and leans heavily into Yuichi’s side.“Yeah, yeah, you’re probably right. But this… this is just not how I wanted him to find out.”
Yuichi leans in close, grabbing his hand and running his thumb in soothing circles over his back. He bumps his forehead against Leo’s. He looks up into the rabbits honey brown eyes, their depths welling with sympathy.
“I know, but there’s nothing we can do about that now.” Yuichi stands up from the bed, tugging him forward and encouraging him to get up. “Now, come on, let’s get out there.”
He reluctantly lets Yuichi pull him up and follows him as he leads him to the door. They just have to get through dinner. How bad can it be?
The answer; awkward. Painfully awkward.
Both he and Yuichi spend the entire meal deathly silent as they pointedly avoid Splinter’s knowing gaze. He can sense that Splinter wants to talk and there’s nothing Leo wants more but there’s no way he’s broaching that subject here at the table in front of everyone.
His brothers can clearly sense the tension in the air. Raph tries more than once to catch his eye from across the table. Leo only gives his brother a look that says to drop it. Once the meal is over, Splinter gives him one last look from across the table before silently clearing his plate and making his way back to the dojo. As soon as he’s gone, Leo quickly clears his spot and bolts for the pit with Yuichi and his brother’s footsteps following right behind him.
Leo lets out a long, drawn-out groan, slumping into the couch with his face in his hands as Yuichi rests a comforting hand on his shell.
“Dude, what the hell is going on with you and Splinter?” Raph asks, stomping his way up to the two of them.
Leo looks up at his brothers all standing in front of him, mixed expressions of concern plastered across their faces. He darts one last nervous look towards the dojo and sits up slightly before speaking.
“Sensei caught us kissing when he came to get us for dinner.” Now that he’s spoken the words aloud, he quickly buries his face in his hands once more.
“What?” All three brothers exclaim at once.
“SHHHHH!” Leo and Yuichi both hiss, frantically motioning for them to keep their voices down.
“Shit…” Raph says, his eyes darting over to the doors of the dojo. “What did he say?”
“I-I don’t know - nothing,” Leo says, pulling his head out of his hands to look up at his brothers. “He stood there for a moment and then just told us dinner would be ready soon and walked out.”
“That’s it?” Mikey asks, aghast.
“That would certainly explain why dinner was so, well…” Donnie gives a vague gesture of his hands that speaks for itself. “He didn’t react at all? Mad, sad, happy? Anything?”
“Not really. He looked surprised for a second before he told us dinner was ready and turned around and walked out.”
Leo darts a glance over towards the dojo and wrings his hands in his lap, his shoulders going tense as he stares over at the door. A gentle hand rests on his shoulder and he looks over to find Yuichi looking at him with a reassuring smile as his other hand rests atop his clenched fists.
He let’s out a long breath, letting the tension drain from his body. “I don’t really know what to make of it. What am I supposed to do now?”
“I don’t know, man, I would say make sure you lock your door next time, but that doesn’t really help you now,” Raph says.
“Yeah, thanks, Raph, really helpful,” Leo scoffs
“I don’t know what you want from me, man,” Raph grumbles, his eyes firmly glued to the doors of the dojo, as if he could make Master Splinter come out and give them answers with his glare alone.
“He didn’t blow up on us or anything, so we have to assume that’s a good thing, right?” Yuichi asks hopefully, running soothing circles over Leo’s shell and looking to the brothers for confirmation.
“Yeah, I mean, it seemed like he wanted to say something to you, but he probably realized it would be better to wait and talk to you alone rather than doing it over dinner,” Donnie reasons.
“Don’t sweat it, man,” Raph says. “If he hasn’t yelled at you yet, then I don’t think he’s going to.” He settles down on the couch and gives Leo a playful punch to the shoulder.
Behind them, the doors of the dojo slide open with a scraping sound that has everyone turning their attention all at once toward the noise. Sensei stands in the doorway, eyes scanning over the gathered crowd as they all go silent. Leo finds himself freezing up as Splinter’s gaze lands on him and Yuichi, the rabbit quickly removing his hand from Leo’s shell and putting a little distance between them.
“Leonardo.”
“Yes, Sensei?” Leo says, jumping to his feet.
“May I speak with you in private for a moment?”
Leo darts a look to his brothers as all of them look back at him expectantly.
“Uhhh, yes, Sensei.”
Splinter simply nods and retreats into the dojo, clearly meaning for Leo to follow. He moves to push himself up off the couch, but before he can get very far, Raph stops him with a hand to his shoulder. Leo turns around to see his brother’s face is set in an expression of steely determination. “If you need anything, just give a shout, dude. We’ve got your back.”
Behind him Donnie and Mikey wear equal looks of support.
“Thanks, guys.”
Yuichi grabs one of his hands, cradling it between his own.
“You gonna be okay? I can come with you if you want.”
As much as he would like Yuichi there, this is a conversation he and Master Splinter need to have alone. “I’ll be fine. Just… just give us a few minutes.”
Leo takes one last look at the supportive faces of Yuichi and his brother before taking a deep breath and walking toward the dojo. As he enters, he find Master Splinter already sitting seiza at the base of the tree, and quickly makes his way across the dojo before sitting down across from him.
“Sensei. I…” Leo has to pause, barely able to choke out the words past the lump in his throat. “I… I was going to tell you… I didn’t mean for you to find out like that, I just…”
Before he can continue, Splinter raises a hand and Leo immediately snaps his mouth shut, looking down at his own hands in his lap while he waits for his father to speak.
“Leonardo, my son, you are not in trouble…please look at me.”
Leo tears his eyes away from his lap, forcing himself to look his father in the eye. Splinter’s expression is open, yet uncertain, as he looks over at him. It’s not an expression Leo can say he’s ever seen on his fathers face as he opens and closes his mouth a few times before speaking.
“Leonardo, I… I never expected you or your brothers to grow up and have…normal relationships looking the way we do. I felt it would be a blessing if even just one of you got to experience that kind of happiness in your lives. I am happy you have found someone who can give you that happiness.”
Leo feels hope bloom in his chest at his fathers words. He looks up at him and waits for his next words with baited breath.
“I suspected there might be something going on between you two,” Splinter continues.
“You did?”
“Love is not easily hidden, and quite frankly, my son, you have no poker face when it comes to matters of the heart.” Splinter chuckles as Leo ducks his head in embarrassment.
“Leonardo, I don’t ever want you to feel like you have to hide a part of yourself from me, my son.” Splinter rests a reassuring hand atop Leo’s knee.“He is a good boy, and an honorable warrior. In another time, he might have made an honorable samurai. I can think of no better fit for you.”
“I… thank you, Sensei.” Leo says, choking on his words.
Splinter smiles at him before getting to his feet, Leo quickly following his example. He’s about to walk back out of the dojo when, in a rare show of affection, Splinter reaches out towards him and pulls Leo into a hug.
“I love you, my son.”
“I love you too,” Leo says, hugging his father back and doing his best to hold back the tears in his eyes threatening to well over.
After a moment, they pull back and turn to leave the room.
Leo feels inexplicably lighter as he makes his way back to the living room. His brothers and Yuichi all look up as they enter.
Raph in particular looks like he’s ready to jump out of his seat at the first sign of distress, so Leo smiles and gives them a small nod of reassurance. Before he can take another step, Splinter’s hand lands on his shoulder, prompting him to look up.
“Sensei?”
“Your door stays open when he is in your room. I might approve, but I don’t want any funny business under my roof,” Sensei says with a knowing smile.
“Master Splinter!” Leos' cheeks go flush as Raph and his brothers erupt into raucous laughter behind him. Yuichi jumps to his feet, racing over to Leo’s side and smiling at him before turning toward Sensei.
Master Splinter looks down at Yuichi, causing the rabbit to straighten up under his sensei's discerning gaze. “You and I will need to have a talk, young man, but for now,” Splinter says sternly before turning back to Leo, his expression softening. “Make sure he gets home safe.”
“Hai, Sensei. Goodnight,” Leo says, bowing respectfully.
“Goodnight, my son,” Sensei says before turning and walking back into the dojo just as April and Casey walk in through the subway entrance.
Leo’s brothers are still dying from laughter on the couch.
“What's so funny?” Casey asks.
His brothers laughter only grows louder in the face of the teens’ confusion. Leo scowls at his brothers, but he is quickly distracted as a soft hand grabs his own. He turns back to Yuichi, still standing at his side, concern etched across his features.
“Hey, everything okay?” he asks, squeezing Leo’s hand.
“Yeah, everything’s great,” Leo says a grin spreading wide across his face before tugging on the rabbit’s hand and pulling Leo in close. Yuichi’s other arm goes up on instinct, wrapping around the back of his neck and pulling him in close until their lips meet. They both pull back a few seconds later, smiling at each other like they’re the only two people in the world. Somewhere nearby someone clears their throat, and Leo looks up to find everyone staring at the two of them, including Casey, who’s jaw is practically on the floor.
Ah, right. He hasn’t told him yet has he? Well, then that’s their cue to leave.
“I’ll see you guys later.” Leo grabs a hold of his boyfriend’s hand and drags him out toward the subway tunnels and over the turnstiles before anyone can protest, Yuichi laughing hysterically behind him the whole way.
“Wait, you two are dating?” Casey shouts, his voice echoing down the tunnels. “When the hell were you guys going to tell me?”