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“So,” Casey frowns at the plate in front of him, resisting the urge to poke at it, “this is a cookie?”
Leo snorts, taking a seat next to him at the table and pulling the freshly baked cookies towards him. They just came out of the oven according to Mikey before he ran out the kitchen to alert the rest of the family.
“A chocolate chip cookie, to be precise, my dear Casey,” he passes over two empty glasses and pulls a carton of milk seemingly out of nowhere, probably for dramatic effect to impress the younger teen. He’s kind of dorky that way. “Mikey’s been working on perfecting this recipe for months, something about getting the shape and look right, I dunno. Tastes like chocolate to me.”
The explanation leaves Casey a little more confused than before, he didn’t know baking was so complicated. He knew that Master Michelangelo had a knack for cooking and baking before life went to hell in his timeline, but he never imagined he’d actually get to try his food. He wasn’t kidding when he said all he’s really eaten before is rats. The fanciest thing he’s ever tried before this was some canned food they found in an abandoned house- oh, and that pizza after the invasion. That’s all though.
Leo pours the milk into the glasses, adding a little less to Casey’s cup out of caution. After all, who’s to say what his body can’t and can’t endure after a lifetime of malnutrition and just plain suckiness?
“I’ve never even had chocolate before,” Casey suddenly murmurs, still not taking a cookie to claim as his own.
Leo peeks up at him, and an immediate wave of overwhelming sympathy washes over the turtle. He can honestly tell why his older self took to the kid like he did, Casey is hard not to love. He’d like to give him the whole world if he could, which is a funny feeling to have about someone you haven’t even known for a full year yet. But it’s true, Casey is someone he wants to protect with his life and give all the things he could never have before. He wants Casey to be happy, and damnit, if he’s so lucky that can give him that happiness, then he’s prepared to abuse that privilege tenfold.
“Yeah?” He asks with a lazy, snarky tone, one that covers up all the bursting emotions in his chest, “well there’s a first time for everything! But, a word of advice?” He slides the plate back over in front of the boy, “eat them while they’re hot.”
Casey gives him a small smile, and finally pulls one off the plate. There’s no more than a few seconds of hesitation before he takes a bite- a small one, he doesn’t know why he’s weirdly nervous about the whole thing, but new stuff is scary, right? He’s glad he did though, because his whole mouth erupts with the addicting, sickly sweet flavors of chocolate and vanilla, warm and delicious.
“This is incredible!” He exclaims, sending a few crumbs flying on the table, but Leo pays it no mind. He just watches in amusement as Casey shoves the rest of the treat in his mouth like a starving man.
“Told ya!” He chuckles, plucking a cookie for himself. If he doesn’t, Casey might just eat his way through the whole batch. “Stick with me, Junior, and we’ll eat our way through this crazy city within the week!”
The idea of it makes Casey smile, but he’s immediately caught on Leo’s offer. He’s been connected at the turtle’s hip ever since they saved the world together, but he’s never really acknowledged it before.
“Leo, do you really mean that?” He asks slowly, a little less confidently, “you want me to stick with you?”
Leo gives him a curious look, chewing his cookie through and swallowing quickly. “Yeah, obviously. You’re our brother now, Case, and we stick together.” He holds out his hand in a closed fist, “cool?”
Casey smiles, and bumps their firsts together. “Cool,” he nods, then adds, “thank you, Leo.”
“No problem,” Leo waves him off, but it doesn’t even remotely reflect what he’s feeling inside. Warm, fuzzy feelings that he only gets around his family, and Casey fits right in. He hands him another cookie from the pile, “now let’s eat as many of these as we can, I can hear Raph and Donnie down the hall!”