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“It was a brilliant solution!”
“Sure, sure,” you said, walking into Leo’s room. “But let’s not act like Ryan had that planned. He’s good, but he didn’t even know that planet existed-”
“No, of course not.” He followed you, taking your coat and bag from your hands and moving to set them on his desk chair. “But he adapted quickly, rolled with the punches. He had it planned by mid-episode.”
“That’s giving him a whole lot of credit, Leo. Just because you would have figured it out that quickly-”
“You saw his face on the bridge! He was cool as a cucumber. There’s no way he didn’t have a plan.”
You smiled and shook your head, switching on his speaker. “Sure, fearless. Whatever you say.”
“You don’t agree?”
You glanced back at him with a smug smirk. “Let’s just say I know what it looks like when a leader is totally winging it.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, playfully stern.
“It means,” you drew out the word, tapping through playlists on your phone, “That I’m an expert on his kind.”
“S'that so?”
“It’s so.”
Music flowed through the room, light and happy, just loud enough to make Leo’s already nearly-silent movements truly inaudible. Luckily, you anticipated the way his arms looped around your waist.
What you didn’t expect was his hand snaking up and taking your phone to move it to the desk- or him lifting you up a moment later.
“Leo!” You exclaimed as he quickly crossed the room to his bed and deposited you on top of it, prompting a little oof as you landed.
“Tell me, oh wise expert,” he grinned over you, “Did you know that would happen?”
“No,” you admitted, biting back a laugh and schooling your expression into something serious. “This is new behavior to me. I’ll need to study it.”
You didn’t need to be an expert to catch the mischievous sparkle in his eyes as he placed his good knee on the bed and leaned down, boxing you in with his hands on either side of your waist. “You’d better be ready to take notes.”
It was times like these that dating a speedy ninja had its disadvantages: by the time your clever retort reached your throat, it dissolved into shocked giggles- he was tickling you.
“Leo, Leo-”
“What, drawing conclusions already?”
“Only that-” you shrieked, squirming backward to try to escape his fingers- “You’re clearly- clearly- evil!”
Leonardo laughed. “Interesting conclusion.”
“Mercy!” You managed between laughs of your own. “White flag, uncle!”
He relented, stilling his fingers and moving to instead rub up and down your sides affectionately. “Evil doesn’t usually respond to ‘uncle’.”
“Maybe I had more faith in you than I thought,” you said breathlessly.
“Doesn’t sound very scientific of you.”
“It was plenty scientific. I knew from repeated experiments that you’re a merciful specimen.”
“So, not evil.”
“Not evil,” you confirmed, “Unless you’re tickling me.”
“Good to know.”
You realized the song playing had ended. or, more accurately, the distinct opening of the next song caught your attention, making you huff out a laugh in exasperation.
“What is it?”
“The song. The timing of it.”
The turtle hovering over you paused to listen, eyes shifting towards the speaker. “I don’t think I know it.”
“Ah.” You smiled sheepishly, blood rushing to your face. “It was uh… it's… it’s my you song.”
That brought his curious eyes back to your own. “Me song?”
You nodded. “Yeah, like… you.” With that, you looked away, studying the wraps on his wrist instead of his face. “Always makes me think of you. Has for a long time.”
Leo crawled the rest of the way onto the bed and quietly settled down beside you- opposite the speaker.
Feeling his eyes on you, you hid your face in your hands, making him chuckle.
The two of you sat quietly, listening to the song play. You couldn’t help feeling exposed; it was like he was reading your diary in the chords of the guitar.
When Leo finally spoke, it was to tease you. “… I don’t have hair to-”
“Shhhh.”
You heard him laugh again. His hand landed softly on your wrist, gently pulling your hand from your face to intertwine your fingers.
The singer finally reached the chorus, and you studied the cement blocks of the ceiling as the most damning line of the song played.
“Oh, I see.”
“Mhm.”
“I don’t think I’ve dragged you anywhere head first.”
You snorted. “A, you’re taking this too literally. B,” you turned your head to meet his gaze, “You absolutely have. Missions, obviously- repeatedly, okay- but-” your voice dropped, less confident as you moved out of teasing him and into something more serious- “Dragged me head first into loving you, so.”
His smile took on a distinctly bashful note as his grin grew. “I see.”
“Oh,” you grumbled, looking back at the ceiling, “Shut up.”
He did not shut up, but his voice did soften. “I’m not sure I did the dragging.”
“I’m sure.”
Leo pressed a lingering kiss to your temple, falling silent again to hear the rest of the song.
You could see him bobbing his head out of the corner of your eye, and suspected that if you actually looked you’d find that his grin was replaced by a much calmer smile. You did not look. Instead, you let your eyes slide shut, savoring the way his hand felt against yours.
You wondered how many times you’d listened to this song. How many times had you found yourself flustered by it over the radio? How many times had it been the background music to butterflies in your stomach and heat in your cheeks?
What would the you of listenings past think of this moment?
You almost laughed at the thought. the idea that you and Leonardo would ever be together had been almost forbidden in your own mind: he was the leader, he was a mutant, he was almost certainly not interested.
That last point had been proven incorrect.
Leo’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts as the song ended. “It’s a good song.”
“It’s a great song,” you corrected, emboldened by your trip down memory lane. You had come a long way, the both of you. “It’s- the lyrics always- they fit. but…”
“Hm?” he prompted gently.
Your new-found confidence faded again at the softness in his tone, at the way he rubbed a thumb over your hand. You glanced at him and found yourself feeling sixteen again, shy under his gaze.
To fight it, you screwed your eyes shut again. “It sounds like the feeling I’d get around you,” you admitted quietly. “That fluttery feeling. The guitar, that sparkly sound in the background, the way she sounds giddy- especially at the end of each verse, how she like, raises her voice? Like she’s excited?”
Silence.
You peeked one eye open to find him staring at you, a bewildered smile on his face. “I love you,” he breathed.
You rolled to face him, opening your eyes completely and melting into his mattress. “I love you too.”
He scooted forwards, wrapping you in his arms and tossing a knee over your own while pressing a smiley kiss to your forehead. “That was the cutest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
You found yourself without a response.
Instead, you wrapped an arm over his shell, bringing your other hand to trace his jaw.
“I should show you my you song some time, huh?”
Your eyebrows shot up and Leo laughed. “You have a me song?”
“What, you think you’re the only one that listens to music?”
“No,” you huffed, struggling to put your question into words. “But… me?”
You were almost overwhelmed by the answer in his eyes, by how much love was visible- how much was directed at you. “Of course, you,” he mumbled, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, impossibly quiet, “Of course it’s you.”
Your shriek of laughter echoed through the lair, followed by Leonardo’s quieter but no less genuine chuckle, and Raph felt Casey glance at him. “Dude, I can’t remember the last time I heard them laugh like that,” Casey said quietly. “Didn’t know Leo even remembered how.”
April hummed from the beanbag chair in front of them. “I think it’s nice.”
“Nice and loud, maybe,” Raph mumbled, his words lacking any real bite. “Can barely hear the TV over all that.”
“You should try watching Crognard when Mona’s over.” Casey threw his voice up into a high pitched squeak. “Oh, mona, you’re so cool, I may faint-”
Raphael tossed a pillow at him, satisfied by the whump of it hitting him in the face and knocking him sideways onto the couch. “Shuddup already, will ya?”
April and Casey laughed, and Raph barely managed to bite back his own grin. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but it had been nice to hear Leo goofing off- add the mention of his own girlfriend and the delight of hitting Casey with something and you had the start of a great mood.