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Leonardo spent several days trying to convince himself that his teeth were not hurting and his jaw was not sore and he did not, in fact, have to do something about the pain.
But when he bit into a slice of pizza and the electric slap of pain made him let out an involuntary chirrup of distress, there was no hiding it.
Donatello slammed his hands onto the table as he shot to his feet, “Leo! How long!?”
Mikey and Raph frowned, glancing between the two, as Leo put on his best innocent, lazy grin, “How long what, my brother? How long is it? I thought we’d stopped the dick measuring contest after Raph—”
“LEO!” Raph flushed, half in embarrassment and half in rage, his voice cracking.
“Naarrddoooo…” Donnie narrowed his eyes and Leo saw the tension coiling in his brother’s limbs.
“Oh, would you look at the time, I think I’ve got places to be that are not here!” Leo jumped out of his chair and was bolting out of the room. If he could get to his room, he could snag his swords and portal away before Donnie had a chance to—
“Initiate protocol Containment Breach! Version Leo! Non-lethal, code red, no exit, priority!”
Damn it.
Raph and Mikey were on Donnie’s heels, following after as Donnie chased Leo out of the kitchen. They had no idea what was going on, but Donnie had just activated a Containment Breach and that meant Leo was avoiding something and avoiding it Big Time.
“Donnie? Is Leo hurt!?” Mikey called, latching onto the back of Raph’s shell as they followed their brother down one of the halls.
“He was supposed to tell me when he—gah, that idiot! Doesn’t he realize the kind of damage he could be doing to himself!? Of course he doesn’t!” Donnie didn’t so much as answer as he did rant. The sounds of clattering and yelping came from the other end of the hallway and Donnie put on a burst of speed.
“Don! Focus! What do we need to do?” Raph shouted after him.
“Nardo’s wisdom teeth need to be pulled!” Donnie shouted back, “Help me pin him down!”
“We have those?” Mikey asked and Raph only shrugged in response.
They spilled out of the hall to see Leo dodging the reaching metal arms with some impressive backflips and aerial maneuvers, using the arms as footholds and springboards to climb higher and away. He was making a beeline for his bedroom door. If he got a hold of his swords, they’d never catch him.
“Mikey, go high!” Raph ordered, taking initiative, “Try to cut him off before he gets in his room! I’ll try and corner him from below! Donnie—”
“Don’t worry, he won’t be getting into his room anytime soon…” Donnie had that smug and mean little smile on his face that told his brothers he’d likely done something stupid without their permission again. Mikey shot a questioning look at Raph, who just jerked his head up, and Mikey launched himself off of the snapper’s shell and began to rapidly scale the Lair to get to Leo.
Leo yelped when he saw Mikey coming and nearly missed a jump, flailing and kicking at the air until he rolled onto the walk in front of his room. He let out a cry of triumph and turned to dive through the door...only to slam face first into something very hard that echoed with a resounding BANG! through the Lair. Shaking the daze from his head, Leo pressed his hands to the door and found it sealed. By a wall of steel.
“Going somewhere, Nardo?” Donnie’s voice was mocking as he floated up to Leo’s level, Battle Shell whirring and his arms crossed over his chest. The smile on his face was absolutely insufferable. Leo spun to glare at him but he’d lingered too long in one place. The robotic arms clamped around his wrists and ankles, pulling him taut and suspending him in the air. Mikey landed on one with a little smile, though it fell somewhat when he saw the mixture of embarrassment and anger on Leo’s face.
“Did you barricade my room!?” Leo screeched, “Pardon my French but I think I’ve got every right to ask: Donatello what the ACTUAL FUCK!?”
“Language!” Raph barked, emerging from the lower floors with a deep scowl on his face. He wrapped an arm around Leo, prompting the robotic limbs to release him, and pinned his brother to his side. As he stomped back towards the medical bay, he jabbed a finger at Donnie and hissed between snaggle toothed fangs,
“We are discussing this later, Donnie, and you are not getting out that easy!”
“Whhhaattt? What did I do!?” Donnie threw his hands up in the air, scowling after Raph’s retreating shell, Leo kicking and squirming under his arm, “I stopped him from getting into his room, didn’t I!? Hey! I have those sealed doors on all our rooms for emergencies!” He was shouting, still hovering in the air, stomping his foot on nothing, “I could turn this Lair into an impenetrable bunker with the press of a single button! I built this stuff to keep us safe! Oof!”
He dropped several feet lower, wobbling dangerously, as Michelangelo hopped from the retreating metal arms onto Donnie’s shoulders, expertly avoiding the spinning rotors. Donnie scowled at him but didn’t shoo him away, begrudgingly carrying his younger brother down to the med bay.
“It’s okay, Don-Don, we know you meant well,” Mikey told him brightly, patting Donnie’s head.
Donnie grumbled something unintelligible but didn’t press the issue. He paused as he landed, letting Mikey hop down before he folded up the wings of his Battle Shell. Then he drew himself off, brushed off the criticism, and marched into the med bay where Leonardo was trying to barter with Raph for his release.
“Two weeks of dishes!” Leo was saying from where Raph had him pinned to exam table with one massive hand on his plastron, “A-and I’ll clean your room for a whole month!”
“No can do, Leo,” Raph shook his head, “Donnie says you need somethin’ done and we all heard you chirp. You’re hurting and it’s not okay to keep stuff like that from us.”
“I don’t know why you’re kicking up such a fuss,” Donnie admonished, pressing a few buttons on his vambrace tech to switch out his Shells. The rotor shell disengaged with a hiss and flew back to his lab on its own. The spider arm shell would be making its way in shortly, “You’ve never had a problem with the med bay or performing surgeries or having them performed on you.”
“Yeah, so why’d you run, bro?” Mikey planted his elbows on the edge of the exam table, propping his chin in his hands and smiling down at Leo.
“I just—with the teeth thing and—that’s like major surgery right? I just, haha, none of us have really—except for maybe with Raph’s teeth but, I mean, that’s not really—this is different!” Leo stammered, keeping a brave face, even though his smile was paper thin and didn’t reach his eyes.
Donnie cocked an eyebrow at him, bracing when he heard the tell-tale clicking of his spider shell’s legs. The med bay doors hissed open and the Battle Shell settled itself on his shoulders, clamping down and running through a quick diagnostic to make sure things had calibrated correctly.
“Leo,” Raph had that serious big brother voice on and he was giving Leo a look of open sympathy, “It’s okay if you’re nervous. Raph’s scared of the med bay all the time. But this is important.” He glanced up at Donnie for confirmation, brow furrowed in question, “Right?”
“Very important,” Donnie said, striding across the room to wash his hands and arms in the sink, speaking over the splash of water, “Wisdom teeth—or third molars, if you will—are the last set of adult teeth that humans grow in. They’ve actually become unnecessary to the point that evolution is starting to weed them out; only about half the human population actually have wisdom teeth.” One of his robotic limbs turned off the faucet while another handed him a towel, “Most of the time, the jaw doesn’t have room for the wisdom teeth to grow in and they get stuck in the gums or jawbone, which can lead to infections and all kinds of oral health issues. I’ve done a lot of reading since the check-up where I found Leo was growing wisdom teeth and if he’s in pain, it’s likely that those teeth are not coming in correctly and will need to be removed.” He grumbled to himself as he pulled on a pair of his rubber gloves and donned a face mask, “If dad would just let me have an x-ray machine all of this would be so much easier…”
Leo looked nervous as Donnie approached the table, “Uh...well, maybe they just hurt right now and they’ll get better later?” Donnie gave him an unimpressed glare over the face mask, “Riiiggghhttt...can I, uh, talk to Raph a second? Alone?”
Donatello rolled his eyes to the heavens with a weighty sigh but motioned for Mikey to follow him and they both stepped out of the med bay together. Raph caught sight of their father starting to lay into Donnie about the robotic arms and asking what all the ruckus was about before the doors slid closed and silence fell. He kept his hand on Leo’s plastron, watching his little brother, not saying anything and waiting for Leo to take initiative. Leo picked at his fingernails, snout scrunched up as he sorted through the thoughts clamoring in his head. Eventually, he took a deep breath and said,
“I know...it’s okay to nervous and all...but I feel so stupid about it.”
“Why?” Raph asked. Leo wasn’t looking him in the eye, staring into a far corner of the bay.
“’Cause it’s dumb, Raph! This is a dumb thing to be scared of! I know Donnie would never do anything to hurt me, not on purpose! And I know he takes this stuff super seriously!” Leo flopped back onto the table, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes with a groan, “I dunno! Something about being unconscious or whatever while somebody’s poking around in my mouth and pullin’ things out just makes me ick!” He shivered, toes curling in the chill air of the med bay, “And I just feel so stupid for being scared of it!”
“I don’t think it’s stupid.”
Leo peered through his fingers at his big brother. Raph’s face was open and honest, as sincere as it ever was when he was trying to reassure his siblings. Raph rubbed his thumb over the front of Leo’s plastron, feeling the tiny nicks and scrapes that came from daily life,
“I mean, I’m scared of a stuffed rabbit. And this very room. I’m scared of being alone and of the pressure we get put under and I’m always scared of accidentally hurting you guys. I’m scared of Donnie’s bad habits and of how Mikey doesn’t look before he leaps and of your nose for trouble.” Raph met Leo’s gaze and offered him a tender smile, the softest, big brother smile he could muster, “And when I say ‘em all out loud like that, it does sound kinda silly. But it’s what makes Raph who Raph is. And the stuff that scares you? I don’t think it’s ever stupid to be scared. Besides…” He gave a little chirp, a throaty and grumbling thing that rumbled inside him, wide and large and as comforting as he was.
Here. Here. You are here. You are safe. You are family. Here. We’re here. With you. You are safe. You are home. You are not alone.
The deep breath that Leo took made Raph pull his hand off his brother’s chest. Leo appeared to take a moment to gather himself, then he let out a sigh and relaxed, arms bonelessly flopping over the sides of the table. He stared at the ceiling with the look of someone who was accepting their fate.
“All right...call Donnie back in here before he blows a fuse or something. Or I lose my nerve. And, uh, Raphie?” Leo quirked a smile at Raph, “Thanks.”
Raph patted Leo’s knee as he walked to the door, a reassuring smile on his face. He was just about to shout for Donnie when the med bay doors opened and Splinter plowed directly into Raph’s midsection, knocking them both over.
“Dad!?”
“Oooohhh Baby Blue, my poor brave son! Let you daddy hold you one last time!”
“What the shell!?”
“Dad, it’s not that kind of surgery!”
“I told you not to lead with that!”
“My ssooonnnn! My baby booooyyy!”
“Dad, stop!”
It took a bit of wrestling and stern lecturing to get Splinter to understand that Leo was not, in fact, dying and that the surgery was just to remove his wisdom teeth. It took further wrestling to get Splinter to leave the med bay and not try to stand vigil at his son’s bedside.
“You can visit after we’re done!” Donatello snapped, snout wrinkled in discomfort as he glared at Splinter, “Raph, keep dad occupied! Mikey, with me! I’m going to need an extra pair of hands to keep an eye on Leo.”
Leo was waiting for them with a frown on his face and an arm thrown over his eyes. He might have been asleep all stretched out on the exam table if not for the way his foot was nervously tapping the air. He looked up, lowering his arm, when he heard them approach, propping himself on his elbows to watch.
“So we doin’ this thing or what?”
“Yes, Nardo, we are “doing this thing”,” Donnie hummed, “Not on the exam table, though. Come on, open up, I just want to double check that this is necessary in the first place.”
“What’s Mikey here for?” Leo asked before he opened his mouth wide for Donnie to peer into.
“Assistance.” Donnie said shortly, leaning in to peer into the back of Leo’s mouth with his tools.
“And! Emotional support~” Mikey added with a winning smile. He reached out and patted the back of Leo’s hand and Leo turned it, capturing Mikey’s hand in his own and giving it a squeeze. Mikey squeezed it back, firm and strong and reassuring, and chirped sweetly into the cold air of the unforgiving med bay.
You are not alone.
Donatello pulled back with a heavy sigh and a furrowed brow, “Yeah, it’s hard to tell without a proper x-ray, but it looks like at least two of them have impacted. Which means they need to come out before they start causing problems.” He glanced at Leo when his brother tried in vain to stifle the whine that wormed its way up his throat and something in his expression softened,
“We can do this now or we can wait until you’re feeling up to it,” He said and the usual sarcastic edge of his voice was tempered by concern and affection, “But if we wait, there’s a risk of infection and damage to your jaw. I’d rather we do this now, Leo, but if you don’t think you can…”
Mikey squeezed Leo’s hand again, tighter this time. Leo took a couple of deep breaths, letting them out slowly, trying to ease the sick coil of tension in his gut until he could plaster on a cocky grin,
“Nah let’s get this done and out of the way. I’m trusting you with my life, Donald, don’t make me regret it.”
Donnie rolled his eyes as he went about preparing for the surgery, “It’s just a wisdom tooth removal, not chemical engineering.” He smiled at Leo, an actual one of a kind, very rare Donatello smile,
“You’re in good hands, brother.”
Michelangelo had been indispensable not only in assisting Donnie with the surgery, but also with encouraging and reassuring him. Donnie had never performed such a surgery before and though he did his best to quell his nerves, the ever perceptive Mikey had easily picked up on his brother’s agitation. He’d given Donnie instructions from the laptop propped open on the nearby table, and supportive feedback, eyes crinkling into smiling little slits behind his medical mask whenever he caught Donnie’s eye.
When it was over and Donnie had finished the clean up, check ed the dose of painkillers and the heart monitor clipped to Leo’s finger, stuffed his brother’s mouth with gauze, and peeled off his gloves, the relief was almost palpable. He collapsed into a nearby chair with a groan, stretching his arms and arching his back beneath his Battle Shell. Mikey flopped onto the wheelie stool next to him with a heavy sigh, staring at Leo’s slumbering form, completely knocked out on the medication he’d been dosed with. The only sound for a while was the steady beeping of the heart monitor.
“Soooooo what now?” Mikey asked, idly kicking his feet to make the stool scoot back and forth a couple of inches across the floor.
“Mm, just wait for him to wake up,” Donnie waved a hand at Leo, looking exhausted, “He’s got a bit of healing to do afterwards. Soft foods, for a while, uh, painkillers while everything heals. Shouldn’t take too terribly long. Just have to keep him from—” He failed to stifle a yawn, “—from acting stupid.”
“Get some rest, Donnie, I can watch Leo,” Mikey reached out to pat Donatello’s shoulder.
“Just a power nap…” Donnie mumbled, slumping down in his seat, eyes drifting closed as his chin dropped to his chest, “Jus’...a short one…”
Mikey had meant for his brother to actually go lay down, but Donnie was already out like a light and there was no point in waking him up now. Mikey shook his head and pulled out his phone to text Raph and let him know that the surgery was done, Leo was recovering, and Doctor Donatello was taking a little nap. Raph replied that he had also managed to get Splinter down for a nap, but that Draxum and April would be dropping by in a bit for a visit and to check on Leonardo . Mikey sent him a thumbs up emoji as confirmation and set about scrolling through the internet. Donnie had said no solid foods, so Mikey was determined to find some delicious recipes that a recovering Leonardo would be able to actually eat and enjoy.
R aph crept in a few minutes later, shuffling nervously into the med bay and fidgeting with the tails of his mask. Mikey beamed at him and the tension in Raph’s shoulders eased somewhat. He hovered beside Leo’s bed for a moment or two, just observing his brother’s sleeping form, and then crossed the room to sit on the floor beside Mikey.
“So, uh, how’d it go?” He asked in a low voice, still watching Leo’s sleeping form.
“Well I’ve never seen a wisdom tooth surgery before, but I think it went really good!” Mikey leaned over to rest his arm on Raph’s head, propping his cheek in his hand as he continued to scroll through his phone, “Donnie was so awesome! I know he was nervous but he made it look so easy!”
Donnie snorted in his sleep, shifting slightly in the chair. Both Raph and Mikey watched silently as Donnie wrinkled his snout, let out an unimpressed huff, and settled down once again. Mikey had to cover his mouth to stifle his giggling, but Raph just sent his sleeping brother a fond little smile.
“Hey Raphie?”
“Yeah, Mikey?”
“...nevermind.”
Raph tilted his head back to look up at his baby brother, “You know you can always talk to me, buddy. Are you okay? Something bothering you?”
“Mm, not really…” Michelangelo slid off the stool and let himself puddle into Raphael’s lap. He didn’t look at Raph, still watching Leo with an expression that Raph couldn’t place, “It’s just...when I was helping Dee, and Leo was all...when he was just layin’ there unconscious and everything, I kinda...I dunno, I kinda got it a little bit.”
“Got it?” Raph echoed curiously.
“Ya know, the big brother thing. Why you guys are always so...overprotective and stuff. I thought I got it before but now I think I really got it. Understand it, I mean.” Mikey finally switched his gaze to Raph and their eyes met and there was something so mature and kind and wise there that it nearly took Raph by surprise how much his baby brother had grown up, “It’s...it’s kind of scary.”
Raph smiled at him, put a big hand on top of Mikey’s head in reassurance, “Yeah, it’s scary sometimes. But I wouldn’t trade being your guys’ big brother for anything.”
That got a stifled giggle out Mikey and he squirmed to throw his arms around Raph in a hug, one that Raph gladly returned.
Their moment was interrupted by a muffled groan from the hospital bed.
“Leo!” Mikey jumped off of Raph’s lap and skipped to the bedside, “You’re awake! Are you okay? How do you feel?”
Leo blinked slowly up at Mikey from the bed, his gaze bleary and unfocused. Then a lopsided and wobbly smile crossed his features and he spoke in a slurred, lilting voice muffled by the gauze stuffed into his mouth,
“I feel...like a ddrreeaaammmm.”
Mikey stared at him and looked helplessly up at Raph.
“Ooookay, I’m waking Donnie up,” Raph heaved himself to his feet and prodded Donnie with a large finger, jostling the other.
“Mmhn, stop touching me,” Donnie swatted sleepily at Raph, shoving him away as he straightened up in his seat and rubbed his eyes, “Why’re you poking me? What do you want?”
“Leo’s awake,” Raph couldn’t keep the smile out of his voice. His little brothers would always be cute to him, even when waking up grumpy from a nap.
“My lips are on backwaarrrrddssss,” Came Leo’s dopey voice, filled with wonder as he pressed his fingertips against his numb face.
“No they’re not, Leonardo. Get your hands away from your mouth.” Donnie got to his feet with the stretch that popped his joints and crossed the room. He gently took Leo’s wrists and tugged them away from his brother’s face, “How do you feel? Any pain?”
Leo hummed, head lolling on his pillow, “Only in m’heart, brother…”
“Your heart—!?” Donnie repeated in genuine alarm.
“What if...you guys dunno how much I love you?” Leo’s eyes got all wet and his voice wobbled as he looked up at the unimpressed Donnie and starry-eyed Mikey, “I never say iiiiiittttt! How do you know I love you if I don’t say iiiittt?”
“We know you love us, Leo!” Mikey reassured him, patting Leo on the shoulder with a grin so wide and bright it could light up the world, “You just have different ways of saying it, is all!”
“Yeah, buddy, you don’t have to say the words for us to know you care,” Raph had lumbered over, giving Leo a classic warm, strong, big brother smile.
Leo stared at the three of them for a long moment and then promptly burst into tears. Mikey and Raph immediately began to scramble and attempt to calm him down and reassure him. Donnie just sighed in tired aggravation and stepped back from the bed to type away on his wrist tech. He was definitely recording all of this for later; for entertainment purposes only and certainly nothing resembling blackmail.
“I j-just really want you guys to knooooowwww,” Leo wailed, as much as he could with a numbed mouth full of cotton, fat tears dripping down his cheeks as he blubbered, “You gotta knooooww how much you mean to meeee! I would be nothin’ without my fam! My best fam! Family faaammm! I don’t care if you see me crrryyy! I don’t caaarrreee!”
Raph was attempting to hush Leo’s crying when the med bay doors slid open and Splinter came barreling through in flash of fur and naked tail. He scrambled up onto Leo’s bed, grabbing his son’s hand and holding it tightly,
“Oooh, my son, Baby Blue! You’re all right! I was so worried for you! How are you doing? Are you in pain? Why are you crying? Purple! Come over here and make sure your brother is not in pain!”
Donnie rolled his eyes, “Dad, he’s not in any pain, he doesn’t need anymore painkillers than what he’s already on. He’s just—”
“Daaaaddddyyyyy!” Leo cried, grabbing at Splinter’s face with his clumsy hands, “Daddy, I never say it but I love you sssssssooooooo much!”
“—really high.” Donnie finished with an amused smirk.
Donatello ushered them all away after a while,
“All right, that’s enough, everybody out. Nardo needs to rest and I need to keep an eye on him. The less he talks the better and I’m not just joking about that. Go on, shoo! You can visit one at a time in a bit.”
There was some grumbling and protesting and much dragging of feet, but eventually the rest of the family filed out and let the med bay doors slide closed. Donnie huffed, hands on his hips as he turned his back on the closed doors to frown at Leo. His brother was still in bed, thank goodness, but he was back to prodding listlessly at his numb face with that hazy look in his eyes.
“I told you to keep your hands away from your mouth,” Donnie strode across the room and pulled Leo’s hand back, pressing it firmly into the mattress with a scowl, “Stop. Touching. Your face.”
Leo blinked up at him. “Dee…? Dee...m’face...I think it’s gone…”
Donnie sighed, stepping back to check Leo’s vitals and start gathering some things for his aftercare, “Your face isn’t gone, Leo, it’s just numbed. You got your wisdom teeth removed, remember?”
“You took my teeeeettthh!?” Leo’s eyes bugged out at he gaped at Donnie in horror, “Brroooooo whhyyyy!”
“Your teeth are all still there too, for the most part,” It took a lot of effort for Donnie to keep his voice even so as not to betray his annoyance, “Just relax, don’t move, and keep your hands away from your face. Take a nap or something.”
“M’not sleepy.”
“Close your eyes and pretend you are. You’ll be more tolerable if you sleep.”
“Mmmmmmm nuh-uh.”
“You’re insufferable.”
Leo beamed at him sloppily and Donnie felt the corner of his mouth twitch in an almost smile.
“You’re sooooooo good to me, Don-Don, even though you stole my teeth, you're so goooooddd,” Leo burbled through the gauze, smiling with a bright innocence more befitting of Mikey, “I love you man…”
Donnie rested his hand on Leo’s head, earning a little chirrup of happiness from Leo,
“Love you too, ‘Nardo.”
Leo’s eyes closed and he relaxed into the bed, purring contentedly. A sound that cut off abruptly when Donnie took his hand away to start typing into his tech. Leo let out a sad little whine and made the most pitiful face Donatello had ever seen.
“Don’ leave me, Dee…” Genuine tears welled in Leo’s eyes, “’S dark aaaaaaand scary in here.”
“All the lights are on, it’s not dark.”
“Don’t leeaaaveeee meeeee!”
Donnie rolled his eyes to the ceiling, asking whomever may be listening why he continued to burden himself with the nonsense his siblings thrust him into. But he stepped back to hook a foot around the leg of a chair and drag it closer. He plopped down with a dramatic sigh, gesturing to himself as he gave Leo an exasperated look,
“There, see, I’m not going anywhere. I’m sitting right here and I won’t move. For now. Are you satisfied?”
In response, Leo reached out and made a grabby motion at him. Donnie sighed, resisting the urge to insult his brother, and instead held his own hand out. Leo latched onto it immediately, beaming like he’d won the best prize in the world, and settled back into the pillows that were propping him up. He let his eyes close, as if simply by holding his brother’s hand everything was now right in the world and he could finally be at peace. He looked ridiculous, with his mouth bulging full of gauze and the wrap around his head keeping him from opening his jaw too wide.
But when Donatello gave Leo’s hand a squeeze, he couldn’t help but smile a little himself when Leo squeezed his hand in return.
To say that the family all had a good laugh at Leo’s expense would be a bit of an understatement.
Drugged out of his mind as he was, Leo seemed to have lost the filter he usually had in place to keep everything “uncool” below the surface. Without it, all his quips and witty one-liners and smug grins fell away and a combination of drugs, pain, and vulnerability left him a clingy, overly-emotional teenager with nowhere to go.
Everyone took full advantage of it.
Except perhaps Draxum who was dragged into the med bay by April with a sour expression that said he would rather be home.
Donnie was still sitting in the chair beside the bed, idly scrolling through his phone while Leo hummed along to nothing with a dreamy look on his face when April and Draxum burst in. He spared them a glance and a nod before saying,
“Keep it down and try not to rile him up. He’s still recovering. Nardo, you have visitors.”
Leo jolted at his nickname, blinking rapidly as if that could clear the confusion from his system. Then his hazy eyes landed on April and he smiled, thrusting his arms out and making grabby hands, demanding a hug,
“Aprrriiiillllll! My fave sissssssss! Hhhhiiiiiii!”
April didn’t bother to stifle her laughter as she leaned in to give Leo a hug, rubbing the top of his head so he made his muffled little chirps, “Hey Leo! You doin’ okay? How do you feel?”
“Don thinks I dunno he did it,” Leo responded in a loud whisper, still holding onto April, “But I knnnooowwww he took my teeth out. He stole my teeth, Apes! Foooooorrrr his evil science!” They parted and Leo was giving her a significant look, bug-eyed and conspiratorial, as if they were in on a secret.
“Rrrriiiiggghhhtttt…” April fought down another laugh as she looked at Donnie, who just stared at Leo with an unimpressed exasperation, “Are you sure about that, Lee?”
Leo began to nod vigorously until Donnie pressed a hand against Leo’s forehead, pinning his head back against the pillows, “None of that. You need to lay still.”
“You could always strap him down,” Draxum rumbled from the foot of the bed, only a sprinkling of sarcasm in his voice. His arms were crossed and he was looking around the medical bay without once glancing at Leo.
“You!” Leo’s attention snapped to Draxum, his eyes wide as he fumbled to shove Donnie off of him and point dramatically. His entire arm swayed around in the air, his accusatory finger drawing squiggly figure eights, “D-Don! He—the guy—it’s him! Why’s he here!?” Leo slapped his blankets, making an agitated noise, “Donniiiiieeeee! Donnie you gotta get out of here! It’s Dad! Evil Dad! Evil Dad is in here!”
Silence.
April, Donatello, and Draxum all stared at Leo with wide eyes and open mouths. Leo was breathing heavily, staring hard at Draxum, but when no one responded to him, he glanced at his siblings, brow furrowing,
“Guys? Hey...heeeeyyy…”
“You…” Draxum’s expression was difficult to discern, a crease between his brows, something like confusion tangled up with concern and something softer, something warmer, “You...you called me…’Dad’?”
Leo stared.
Donnie stared.
April stared.
And then Leo started crying. Again.
“I called Barry my ddaaaaaaddddd,” He wailed, flopping backwards on the bed, sprawling there like he’d been tossed aside, tears running down his face all over again, “He’s my dad toooooo! Don’t tell Pops, guys, you can’t Pops I called Dad my daaaaddddyyy!”
Donnie slapped a hand to his own face with a groan of exasperation, “If it’s not one thing he finds to cry about, it’s another…”
“Aawww, Leo, do you think of Barry as part of the family?” April cooed over the crying turtle, smiling in good humor as she rubbed Leo’s shoulder and tried to get him to calm down, “That’s really sweet of you. You should tell Mikey, he’ll be over the moon!”
Leo sniffled, almost poking himself in the eye as he scrubbed at the tears on his face, “M-Mikey? Is on the moon?”
“No, that’s not what I...ya know what, nevermind. Lemme tell you about this school project I’m working on.” April nudged Leo over on the bed and climbed up next to him, sitting shoulder to shoulder with the slider as she pulled out her phone to show him pictures. Leo appeared to be listening, but it was hard to tell when his gaze slid out of focus and drifted to random parts of the room before snapping back to April again. His head was slowly starting to dip towards resting on April’s shoulder, his lids getting heavy as drowsiness began to set in. But April didn’t seem to mind being used as Leo’s impromptu pillow, looping an affectionate arm around Leo’s shoulders and tucking him close to her side.
“What happened to him?” Draxum asked in a low voice, moving to stand beside Donnie’s chair as he watched the usually animated Leo slouch further into April and the nest of pillows, eyes falling completely closed.
Donnie was digging the heels of his hands into his eyes, fighting off the urge to take another nap. He squinted up at Draxum with a huff, “I thought April told you; Nardo had to get his wisdom teeth removed. He’s just recovering from the surgery right now, high on the painkillers I gave him. It’s stronger and a little different from the usual stuff we use, but this was a major operation with a longer recovery time so I had to use them.”
Draxum gave Donnie a look of confused disgust with a light dusting of horror, “You removed a portion of his wisdom? His mind!? This one is already so stupid—OW!”
“Don’t call him stupid,” Donatello said coolly, as if he hadn’t just kicked Draxum in the shin hard enough to leave a smarting bruise, “And for someone who wanted to eliminate the human race, you sure know shit all about them.” He ignored Draxum’s scowl, reorienting himself in his seat to drape his knees over one arm rest, his back pressed against the other. It gave him plenty of ample kicking space and Draxum was still well within range, “Wisdom teeth are just extra teeth that typically don’t fit a human jaw format and have to be surgically removed. Here, see for yourself.” One of Donnie’s spider limbs unfolded from his shell and reached across to a table that held a shallow basin of tools soaking in cleaning solution. He didn’t even look around as it plucked up a small, plastic package and retracted back towards him, dropping it into his outstretched hand.
When he held the clear package up for Draxum’s inspection, Draxum frowned at the sight. Four ivory lumps of bone were inside the little bag, all different sizes but each of them equally splattered with blood. A lot of blood. Most of the bag was blood.
“And why are you holding onto those?”
Donnie shrugged, “Figured Leo would get a kick out of seeing them when he wasn’t high as a kite. Hey, April!” He grinned as he held up the bag and shook it, getting April’s attention, “You wanna see Nardo’s teeth?”
April’s eyes lit up and she squirmed her way out from underneath the dozing Leo to inspect the bloody display with utter glee.
“Psst, hey...Don...Donnie…”
Donatello’s brow furrowed and he cracked his eyes open (when had he closed them?) to squint blearily up at the hazy figure standing over him.
“Raph…?” He croaked in a sleep hoarse voice, shifting to sit up further in his seat, “What…?”
“You fell asleep,” Raphael was giving Donnie a fond, if concerned, smile, speaking in a low murmur from where he was leaning against the back of the chair, “You should go to bed, get some actual rest.”
“Mm, can’t,” Donnie pushed the edges of his mask up to rub the sleep grit from the corners of his eyes, “Gotta keep an eye on Leo. Dunno what it’ll be like for him to come off the meds. Don’t want him to be in too much pain.”
“Buddy, you’re dead on your feet,” Raph said gently, “Even Mikey’s taking a nap. Just go lay down in your bed for a bit, yeah? Raph’ll keep an eye on things here.”
Donnie made a doubtful noise, glancing over at Leo. The slider was still asleep where April left him when she had to head home, breathing wetly through the gauze still in his mouth, his body lax. Once in a while, he’d twitch a hand or leg, but for the most part he was still and quiet. His heart monitor kept a steady, solid, reassuring rhythm.
“He’ll be fine, Donnie, you did amazing,” A broad hand rested on Donnie’s upper arm, drawing his attention back to Raph. It might have been something Donnie normally pulled away from, but in the med bay with his post-surgery sibling, it was comforting somehow,
“And you deserve a break,” Raphael continued, “You also been wearin’ your Battle Shell for too long, I can tell by the way you’re trying not to move your shoulders too much. Just tell me what to look out for and I’ll keep both eyes on Leo for you.” When Donnie still looked unconvinced, Raph added, “I’ll call you the second anything changes with him, yeah? You need rest—you get all fuzzy when you don’t sleep and that’s kinda the last thing Leo needs right now.”
Donatello sighed, annoyed with the sense that Raph was making but too worn out to argue. He heaved himself to his feet, shaking the numbness from his limbs, and motioned for Raph to follow him to the bed.
“He’s off IV so you don’t have to worry about that. Just make sure he doesn’t exert himself too much if he wakes up; no opening his mouth wide, no eating or drinking yet, don’t let him take the gauze out, and don’t let him poke his face.” Donnie explained, watching Leo’s sleeping face. He wrinkled his snout when he saw the drool pooling on the pillow by his brother’s head and one of his spider arms plucked up a tissue to wipe Leo’s mouth, “And, yeah, he’s gonna drool a bit. If he wakes up and it seems like he’s in pain, come get me. He’ll need an injection for it and I know you’re not capable of doing that.”
Raph nodded along with Donnie’s words, brow furrowed as he listened, “Is it okay for him to talk?”
“Like you could stop him,” Donnie smirked as his spider arm tossed the soiled tissue in the bin and folded back into his Battle Shell, “I’m going to set an alarm to wake me up in an hour—”
“Two hours.”
“Hour and a half.”
“Fine. Hour and a half.”
“I’ll be back in an hour and a half,” Donnie continued, tapping his vambrace, “If you need me before then, I’ll be in my room. Don’t leave Leo alone, but you can text me. If that doesn’t wake me, it will at least ping Shelldon and he’ll get me up.” He looked up at Raph, hesitating, fingers clenching in the air, “Um…”
“It’ll be fine, Donnie,” Raph gently shoved Donatello towards the med bay doors, “Go lay down for a bit.” Donnie still fidgeted, glancing back at Leo and Raph grumbled in his throat, “Donnie if you don’t get your little turtle butt into bed right now, I swear I’m gonna swaddle you and tuck you in myself.”
“Do not!” Donnie snapped, skittering out of Raph’s reach with a scowl, “I’m going!” He still lingered on the threshold of the med bay, glancing at Leo’s slumbering form, before Raph made a shooing motion at him. Donnie huffed, but finally left, the doors sliding closed behind him with a soft hiss.
Raph let out a heavy sigh, shoulders sinking as he shuffled across the room to drag the wheelie stool away from the desk and to the bedside. He flopped down onto it, folded his arms on top of the blankets by Leo’s hip, and rested his chin on his arms. Leo’s limp hand was resting on the bed inches away and Raph absently curled his fingers around it, rubbing the pad of his thumb across his brother’s palm in small circles. His mind was wandering towards wondering what to do for dinner when Leo’s hand tightened around Raph’s in a friendly squeeze.
“Leo?” Raph looked up in surprise; he hadn’t expected Leo to wake up at all while he was watching him.
“Mmhng...Dee…?” Leo mumbled, peeling his eyes open like they were stuck together with tacky glue, blinking hazily at the ceiling.
“Nah, buddy, it’s just me, your big bro Raph. Donnie’s takin’ a nap. You need something?”
Leo’s head lolled on the pillow and he struggled to focus on Raph, squinting at him with a wrinkled snout. Realization brought a tiny spark of clarity to his eyes and he smiled sloppily, still sleepy and doped up on the last dregs of the painkillers in his system,
“Raaaaappphhhhh...best big bro…”
Raph chuckled, giving Leo’s hand a squeeze, “Yep, your best big bro. I’m glad you’re doing okay, Raph was kinda worried about you.”
“Aawwww, about me?”
“Of course! Donnie’d never done a thing like this before and I knew he was nervous. And I was nervous for both of you!” Raph put his other hand on top of Leo’s, cupping his brother’s smaller hand between Raph’s two giant palms, “You guys mean the world to me and I just want you to be safe and happy.”
Tears bubbled into the corners of Leo’s eyes and he hiccuped, “Raapphhhiiieeee, you’re so niiiiccceeee! You’re the nicest! Soooooooooo nice!”
“You’re really nice too, Leo.” Raph said with a humorous affection.
But Leo shook his head, scrunching up his nose into an almost comical frown, “No! No I’m noooottt! I’m not nice, I’m a’ asshole!”
“Language,” Raph reminded him automatically. He jumped when Leo let out a wail.
“Seeeee!” Leo thrust his free hand towards the ceiling, thumping his head back against the pillow, “Can’t—I can’t even! I can’t eeeeeeeven! I’m baaaaddd! I’m bad bad bad!”
“Hey, hey, no, come on, Lee, no you’re not,” Raph reached up and cupped Leo’s face in his hand, leaning over his brother so he could meet his gaze, “You’re my little brother and sometimes you’re a brat and you’re stuck-up and you don’t think before you jump, but you’re not bad, Leo. You’re just you. And I wouldn’t want anyone else, ‘kay?”
Leo stared at him with large, watery eyes for a long moment. Then he poked Raph between the eyebrows and muttered,
“Cliff.”
Raph frowned, “Uh...what?”
But Leo just let out a sleepy sort of chuckle and smudged his finger around Raph’s forehead. Raph grabbed Leo’s wrist and gently pulled it away, shaking his head,
“All right, little brother, that’s enough.”
“M’not little.”
“Yes you are.”
“Not.”
“You’re all little to me,” Raph rumbled out a growling-chirp and Leo answered back with a warbling one of his own, “So you will always be my little brothers. No matter how old you get.”
“Even Dee?”
“Especially Dee,” Raph smiled, pushing Leo’s other hand away from him when those questing fingers tried to poke his forehead again.
Leo hummed, a smug little smile on his gauze stuffed face, “Hmhm, don’t...don’t tell Donnie but I think he’s so cool. He’s so...he’s so smart, Raphie. How’d he get so smart? Does he know how smart he is?”
“Pretty sure he knows, yeah.” Raph chuckled. He knew he should probably go let Donnie know Leo was awake, but since Leo didn’t seem to be in any pain and was acting fairly calm, he figured it was all right to let Donatello catch some much needed Z’s.
“Goooooodddddd I have the coolest brotthheeeerrrrsss,” Leo said in a loud whisper, waving his hands sloppily at the ceiling with wide eyes. Raph once again maneuvered Leo’s hands back down onto the bed sheets, “And—and Donnie? Oh maaaannn, like, everything he makes just…” Leo mimicked an explosion sound (albeit a very wet sounding, muffled one) and flared his fingers around his head. He stayed that was for a long moment and Raph could swear he saw gears turning behind Leo’s eyes. Then Leo’s gaze darted to Raph and he jabbed a finger at him,
“Don’t tell Don-Don!” He hissed, “He can’t know I think he’s cool!”
“Hate to break it to you Leo, but I’m pretty sure Donnie’s got cameras in the med bay. And he records everything.” Raph said with an apologetic smile.
Leo looked absolutely devastated, tears welling up in his eyes again, “Nnnnoooooo, no, no, no, Raph, Raaaphhh, you gotta delete the footage! He can’t—he can’t knoooowww!”
“Shhh, Leo, it’s okay, don’t cry—”
“I’m not cryiiiinngggg!” Leo wailed as tears trickled down his cheeks. He raised his hands to wipe them away but Raph tsked at him and gently ran his thumb over Leo’s face.
“Why don’t you want Donnie to know you think he’s cool, huh?” Raph asked, trying to distract Leo even while he fussed over him, “He would love to hear that from you!”
“’Cause he wouldn’t believe me,” Leo pouted, burrowing himself deeper into his blankets. He looked genuinely upset, “I know him and he’s ssssooooo smart but he’s so stupid too! He doesn’t—doesn’t believe—he thinks it’s a joookkkeee! He’ll just think I wanna make fun of hiiiimmm! But I just love hiiimmm! Even though I know he stole my teeth, he's gotta know I still love hiiiiimmm!” Leo started blubbering again and Raph sighed. He carefully climbed into the bed, scooped Leo onto his lap, and tried to shush his brother with a hug and a cuddle. Leo sniffed miserably and squirmed back against Raph’s plastron until Raph chirped softly at him, pulling the blanket up to tuck Leo in.
“What if Donnie doesn’t know I love him…?” Leo mumbled, letting Raph swaddle him completely.
“He knows,” Raph assured him, settling down with Leo slumped sleepily against him, “Just like he knows that I love him, and Mikey loves him, and April loves him, and Pops loves him. Dunno about Draxum, not sure he’s capable of love.”
“Mm...Mikey can make him...Mike’s good like that…” Leo was starting to doze off again; getting worked up and crying had worn him out, “...hey….m’ mouth kinda hurts…”
“You had surgery, remember?”
“Oh…” Leo purred, letting his eyes close, tension unspooling between the safety he felt in Raph’s arms and the exhaustion of his body still recovering, “Tha’s good…”
Raph smiled, gingerly tugging out his phone to hold it at arm’s length so he could get a good picture of Leo falling asleep on his chest,
“Yeah Leo, you’re good.”
When Donatello walked back into the med bay an hour and a half later, he sighed dramatically and tutted at the sight of both Raphael and Leonardo fast asleep on the bed, the elder sibling curling protectively around the younger. He grumbled about it, puttering around the bay to attend things, but made no effort to wake them.
Two weeks was, by Leonardo’s standards, quite a long time to be recovering. This was made worse by the fact that it was his face that was recovering.
And he made it everyone’s problem.
He was insufferably whiny and demanding, complained frequently about how much his jaw hurt, sulked for hours when he was denied solid foods, and pouted every time he was told to take a nap or to stop talking or was reminded not to touch his face. When Donnie caught Leo trying to poke his fingers into the back of his own mouth to feel the stitches, he threatened to duct tape socks to Leo’s hands to get him to behave.
Even more mortifying was telling Leo exactly how he’d behaved when he’d first woken up post-surgery.
“I did not!” He exclaimed with an offended gasp in April’s direction. They were all sprawled across beanbags and couches, clustered together to ignore a movie in the background while they teased Leonardo. His face wasn’t so swollen anymore but he still wasn’t allowed anything more solid than applesauce to eat.
“You did!” April shot back with far too much glee, cackling at the dawning horror on Leo’s face, “You called Barry your dad and then you cried about it!”
“No!” Leo cried, a hand to his chest, “I would never!” He rounded on Donnie, who was pretending not to listen with his head in his phone, “Donnie! Donnie, tell me she’s lying! April’s lying, right? I didn’t!”
Donnie slowly looked up from his phone with bored look of neutrality on his face. He met Leo’s frantic gaze and just sat quietly for an agonizing fifteen seconds of silence.
And then he smiled.
It was a gleefully wicked smile that spread ever so slowly across Donnie’s face, his lips peeling back to show his teeth in what might have been a threat display had this been any other circumstance. When he spoke, it was with a calm and righteous glee that said he’d been waiting for this moment since the beginning,
“Would you like to see the footage?”
Leonardo screeched in horror and threw himself onto his beanbag with dramatic proclamations that his life was over, his reputation was ruined, his brother was a monster, and he could never show his face in public again. Mikey patted Leo on the shell, trying to assure him that it wasn’t that bad, until he gave in to a fit of laughter and rolled away, kicking his feet in the air. Raph was struggling to keep his own laughter contained, face buried in his hands as his entire body shook. Splinter hadn’t even tried to hide it; he was barking out raucous laughter that was louder than it should have been coming from such a small body. April was cackling and punching the arm of the couch and she nearly screamed herself into tears when Donnie started projecting the security footage of the med bay onto the screen from his wrist tech.
Leo wailed in exaggerated despair, until he too couldn’t help but laugh at himself and all the stupid shit that was pouring out of his gauze-filled mouth. It made his jaw hurt to laugh so hard, but the stinging ache was well worth it for the sounds of mirth from his family.