Chapter Text
Leo couldn't lie, he was nervous beyond belief, there were a million different ways his brothers could respond to this news playing through his head and none of them were very good. Downright awful, even.
But he couldn't not tell them, it'd get pretty fucking obvious pretty soon, and unless he went with the other option he really had no choice!
About a week ago Leo had been feeling ill, he could barely get out of bed without immediately having to run to the bathroom to do nothing but dry heave over the toilet, his mood has been swinging horribly and he's been eating more food than even Raph could chow down.
It wasn't until he was finally convinced it wasn't some weird stomach bug that he started looking through all his medical textbooks to figure out what was wrong with him.
He looked through every single one he could think of before… an idea hit him.
Honestly he had gotten the book as a joke, 'one day April's gonna get knocked up' kinda precautionary that he never actually thought he'd have to use on himself much less.
But no, there he was holed up in his little makeshift office thing in the medical bay roving over each page carefully. He even looked up a few articles about turtle pregnancies!
It was a long night, to say the least.
And now here he was, nervously pacing the floor of their living room waiting for his brothers to get home (Raph had put him on bed rest because of how badly the 'stomach bug' had been affecting him).
They should have been home an hour ago, he tried to reason with himself that they might have gotten into a spat with some thugs or something. But his hormones were telling him otherwise.
Mates gone mates dead gotta take care of babies alone mates gone and dead-
Yeah, thanks turtle brain.
He's blessed with the sound of Donnie's complaining entering the lair as the three finally arrive, he nearly tears up at the joy of seeing them alive-
Nearly, being a very important word there, mind you.
"Ok Leo, Raph got your text. What'd you need to talk to us about?" His oldest brother asks once the three of them reach the living room, Leo opens his mouth and takes a deep breathe to say something funny to keep the mood light and easy (and to hide how scared he was)-
But nothing comes out, he falters, stands there a good second before clicking his beak shut tight and staring at his brothers with what he hopes is pretty well hidden fear.
Apparently, he is very wrong.
"Lee? You okay Hun? You look kinda… pale…" Mikey starts, hand coming up to hover in front of him like he's scared to actually reach out and touch him.
He tries again to speak, but instead he just chirps pathetically and feels warmth behind his eyes, he wasn't supposed to cry while telling them this!
"Oh… Leo you ok? D-do you need a hug?" Raph asks, opening his arms just enough to be an invitation and damn does a Raph Hug™ not sound perfect right now?
He nods fervently, another chirp gets around the lump in his throat when his eldest brother's arms are around him.
Leo smushes his face into Raph's chestplate, whining when he still can't get actual words out. The sound is quickly quoted by Raph's gentle shushing, the snapper scooping the slider up and settling on the floor with him in his lap.
Leo always feels so tiny in his brother's arms, tiny and safe here within the confines of hard muscles and gentle hands.
Mikey takes a spot next to him, a gentle smile on his face as he sets a hand on the slider's knee.
He feels sick again, gross, he's definitely not gonna puke all over the place when he was supposed to be telling his boyfriends about his whole 'being pregnant thing'.
He tries a few more times to speak, to make a joke about it and play it off as something not completely life changing. Donnie comes to lean onto the back of Raph's shoulder and looking down at him, his face is calm and neutral in the exact way Leo knows means he's very much freaking out about something. Great, he's gone and freaked them all out.
He makes a frustrated noise when he loses track of another joke, deciding fuck it just rip the bandaid off and-
"I'm pregnant."
There's a long silence after that, a long long painful silence that only makes him feel worse, watching the news settle in each of his brothers faces one by one.
He sees it on Mikey first, the slow creep of realization in his eyes making them the size of sauce pans. He can feel in Raph, his muscles tensing for a moment before big arms are coming to wrap around him tightly.
He can't see Donnie's face anymore with the way his beak is squashed into Raph's plastron, but he feels a new hand comes to rest on his head and stifles a sob.
It's the complete opposite of what he was expecting, all the fears and worries he had of his brothers hating him for this or pressuring him to interrupt his pregnancy come washing away as Raph pulls away just enough to pepper kisses all over his teary face until it finally brings laughter out of him.
"Oh Leo thIS IS AMAZING!!" Mikey screams, whooping and hollering as he jumps from place to place in excitement before he stops long enough to kiss him.
"WE'RE GONNA BE DADS! Wait- we have to get a nursery together! And baby clothes and formula- and-"
"All of those things can be done later Mike. For now, let's just be happy, ok?" Raph reasons, tipping his head to the boxshell turtle before turning back to Leo.
"How far along are you? Do you know? Are you even able to tell?" Donnie rapid fires at him, stepping around to appear just in the corner of Leo's sight. He's wringing his hands together and rocking back and forth, he's nervous, scared, but Leo thankfully doesn't think he seems angry.
"About two weeks? I found out a week ago." he answers, nuzzling into the warmth surrounding him. It makes him sleepy, and the panic and worry leaving him doesn't help much with the exhaustion clinging to his eyelids.
Raph seems to realise this, chuckling softly and standing up with Leo still in his arms. "Ok, it's late, and I'm sure we're all tired. Let's get some sleep and we can keep talking about this in the morning." His voice rumbles against Leo's tympana as he speaks, gentle and calming as barely nods up to his brother.
Not even a few minutes later they're all bundled up together in Raph's room, the snapping turtle curling around all three of them protectively while Donnie and Mikey wrap themselves around Leo.
Donnie stays on the outside of their little pile, so he can leave it easily and get his space without waking them. For now though, he stays firmly pressed into Leo's left side, their hands intertwined between them.
He knows Dee's still awake, even after Mikey and Raph's breathing evens out and he can feel unconsciousness start to really weigh down his eyelids.
He lets it take him, safe and warm and oh so happy. He falls asleep with a contented look on his face, wrapped up tight in bed with his three favourite people in the world.