Work Text:
“And… done!”
Leonardo slammed his pencil down, because he was finally done with his chemistry homework.
Homework was an understatement, looking at the entire length of it, it'd be worth a project grade for sure. But he knew his chemistry teacher, she would assign it as a homework grade. He was so worried over doing the work WHILE doing the work that he couldn’t help but feel restless the entire time he was doing it.
He leaned back on the chair, almost falling down before yelping and balancing himself before he could fall.
And that was another mini heart attack he had successfully lived through.
He had been stressing all week over this packet, Mrs. Argon had made it a big point at the start of the week that the homework she assigned was an important grade due by Friday.
However, Leo couldn't bring himself to do it until today, Thursday, because of the other abundance of homework he was given this week. (He admits, he gets a bit lazy after finishing a few pages, but he tries!)
But that didn't matter because right now he was finished! Free of the shackles of school.
Leo got off the small table and ran over to put his homework back in his bag in the living room. Upon zipping the bag, he left out a sigh of content (and relief) over finishing.
But now, what’s the next thing to do… well… nothing!
Yeah- wait, nothing?
Leo finished all his homework, his brothers were in their shared room doing a random activity that he’d need to roll a 20 to not get roped into, April was working on a project and his dad took their new roommates to get more familiar with the layout of the sewers.
So… He was temporarily out of anything to do.
With this he plopped down on the couch. What to do now?
Again, nothing, but then why did he feel like there was still something…
Usually he didn’t feel like this because usually he had something to keep his mind worried about, which, other than school, would usually be due to his brothers’ shenanigans.
And yet there was nothing to get anxious about and he was stuck with this anchor in his chest about something to get anxious about… did that sound weird?
And there wasn’t really anything he could think to do to distract him.
"Well, shit." Leo cursed himself for driving his internal monologue to this direction, maybe if he talked about something else like, I don't know, the economy, he would atleast HAVE something to worry about.
The more he worried about nothing, the more the problems that weren't on his mind began to surface. Suddenly he was worried about everything! All the problems they left unsolved, all the problems that were going to happen, it was all merging in together now-
"OKAY," Leo yelled at no one in particular. He rolled his hand into a fist and started lightly hitting his head like a rock, "I NEED to focus."
Jesus. He sure knew how to get himself worked up, now he feels himself twitching in anticipation, like he was getting ready for a fight.
As he forced his mind to settle down, he stared at the ceiling and thought of options.
He could draw. His skills were getting rusty due to lack of motivation because of how busy school kept him.
Or he could read, it didn't have to be a book either. He figured he could just grab some manga that Donnie forgot to put away.
Speaking of his brother, maybe checking on what the rest are doing isn’t a bad idea.
If nothing else, he could take out his homework again, what if everything he wrote was completely wrong-
“Hey, Leo? You there?”
A five-fingered hand waved across his face to catch his attention.
"Ack!" Leo sharply sat up, startled, and looked up at the voice, which belonged to one April O'Neil.
"Oh... April, I didn’t notice you the- Wait!” Leo jolted out of the couch, and April tried to hold in a chuckle.
Leo immediately fixed his posture in an attempt to look more laid back and cool, “Wh.. When did you spawn in? I thought you were... uh... working on your project.”
She rolled her eyes, “And that’s been done, man. I got here just now! I sent you a text to let you know like, half an hour ago.”
“...Ohhh."
Leo slowly sat back down, face reddening in embarrassment. Just another minor thing he'll probably think of when he goes to bed.
“Well, sorry haha… I was doing Mrs. Argon’s homework...”
Which is a perfect excuse that he hoped wouldn’t make April mad. He had turned off his phone doing the work, if he had it turned on even just to check the time, he would get sidetracked and start scrolling, and then we’d be here all day!
April fondly shook her head, “Oh, don’t be sorry, silly. I’m stressed out of MIND every time I remember I have her for my next period."
She points a finger upward and puts a hand on her hip, putting on a glare.
“If you don’t finish this worksheet with about approximately 71 questions, you'll need to do a thousand of these to keep that A in my class!’”
Leo, caught off guard, started laughing. April joined along, finding her own impression accurate.
“Haha- No- No! That’s literally her!”
“I know! Maybe when Mike needs help on his improv act again, I can put on my best Mrs. Argon performance!"
“No one would tell the difference!”
As their laughter died down, April sat down on the couch next to him, Leo’s face still red.
Of course she did have to ask one thing, “Before I got here, you looked bored out of your mind, what were you thinking up in there?”
Leo looked at her before letting out an audible sigh, slumping down, “Bored out of my mind is one way to put it, usually I’m stressed about one thing or distracted with the other… and now I have nothing to do, so like, my life is like flashing through my eyes… I think.”
April hummed in response and Leo couldn’t help but think that this scene looked like an amateur skit about therapy, but without the humor.
"That sounds like a lot, Leo. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Leo smiled, "I appreciate it April. But this isn't anything new." Leo saw how April frowned, "...Right now though, I would like to keep my mind off the mental olympics I just did, then preferably, get tons and tons of homework tomorrow so it's wiped forever from my memory."
He did manage to crack a smile out of her with that, but honestly he did kind of hope the math homework he'd inevitably get tomorrow would keep his attention.
Suddenly, as if she had remembered something, April's eyes widened and she turned to him.
“Right! I came here to hang out with you, and I was planning on getting my game on in Mario Kart. 8 Deluxe! What do you say?”
Leo thought for a few seconds, the answer was obvious, and how could he even decline when the girl he liked wanted to hang out with him? It would get his mind off his… well... mind.
“Hmmm… Do I?”
April paused before looking back at him with a smirk, “Hmhm, well, unless you don’t like 2nd place, you should.”
“Is that a challenge, well, I accept!” He said, striking a superhero pose.
April snickered, mumbling “dork” while standing up to get the game.
Leo followed her off the couch to help set up the game and April couldn’t help but get her unofficial last word in.
“By the way, I call dibs on Peach.”
She wished she took a picture of the offended look he shot at her after that.