Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

If you were to ask Leo about it later on, he would say that it all started at Run of the Mill; a fitting place, to say the least.

It had been almost two months since the failed invasion, and, overall, things have been pretty calm. It seemed like everyone was mostly focused on recovering from the shock that the knowledge of actual aliens existing, as well as fixing the damage they were left with, rather than starting trouble. As such, the turtles hadn’t really had a lot to do when it came to actual missions or fights, something that they were all grateful for. After all, they were free to do basically whatever after a cursory patrol, which usually meant that they got food or just hung out or something. Naturally, a frequent destination was Run of the Mill.

Luckily, Señor Hueso had managed to get out relatively unscathed - surprised, for sure, but unscathed - and was pleased that they had all made it out okay as well, though after their first meeting he acted as annoyed as ever. Especially with Leo, but that was okay; it just meant that he was his favorite!

This past patrol had honestly been pretty boring. They claim that New York’s the city that never sleeps, but it seemed like it was sleeping pretty soundly to Leo. There weren’t even any old ladies who had their purse snatched by some hooligan! He knew that this should give him a warm, fuzzy feeling about the goodness of humanity, how they can all come together after a near-miss of a tragedy and finally get some semblance of peace, but the thing about peace when you’re a hero is that it really does get boring as all get out after a while, once the warm fuzzies have receded.

Tonight, they’d just finished eating at Run of the Mill, and had just left the restaurant. Or, rather, Hueso told them (told Leo) to leave before he banned them all permanently.

Leo had been about to open the portal back to New York City proper when a blur raced by them, slamming into the dumpster with a crash and a strange squealing sound. He jumped, almost dropping his swords. “What the hell was that?!?” He said, definitely without a surprised vocal crack in the middle of it, scrambling to keep a hold of his swords while also trying not to injure himself.

“Uh, I think something just launched itself into the dumpster.” Raph deadpanned, which - thanks, bud, super helpful.

The thing - whatever it was - lifted its head, and Leo could now tell it was some kind of lizard. It looked like it was maybe about the size of a chicken, mostly green with some brown speckles, and it-

Mikey let out a gasp, pressing his hands to his cheeks with excitement. “Ohmigosh!” He squealed. “That’s a freakin’ dinosaur!” At the sudden sound of his voice, the lizard (dinosaur?) startled, hissing at them and backing up further into the corner it had found itself in. It bared its teeth with a growl, hunching up on itself in a display of obvious fear and aggression. It made Leo feel a bit bad for the poor lil guy, seeing how wide its eyes were.

Donnie made an interested hum, pulling up a screen from one of his wrist cuffs and aiming it at the thing, causing it to snap its teeth. “It looks like a compsognathus.” He announced, reading whatever information had come up about it. “So yes, indeed: dinosaur. A small carnivore of the Jurassic period.”

Leo had reached a hand out to the compsomething, withdrawing it quickly as it snapped its teeth again. “Yep, that’s a carnivore alright.” Leo straightened - ha - from where he had been hunched over. “Not the weirdest thing we’ve seen.”

Raph looked almost scared of the thing, which was hilarious due to the immense size difference. “What do we do about it?”

Mikey, who had been rummaging around for something in his bag, pulled it out with a ‘ta-da!’ and a grin. “Found it! I knew I had some bacon in there.” He broke off a piece and knelt down, reaching out to the dino cautiously. “Come on, little fella. We all like bacon, right? I promise I won’t bite - so long as you don’t!” The animal stretched out its neck, sniffing the offering slowly. It kept its eyes on Mikey, but, hesitantly, it took the piece of meat and retreated. It seemed to enjoy the bacon, snapping its jaws excitedly and licking its lips when it was done. It still eyed the turtles with wariness, but it didn’t seem like it was about to attack them anymore, so that was something.

Donnie put the screen away. “Well, I’d be interested in studying it. I may not be a paleontologist, but I don’t think any scientist would pass up the chance to be able to examine a dinosaur.” He procured a cage from his battle shell. “We’d need to put it in this, though. I can’t imagine what kind of germs that thing has - if it bites you, you might get extinct diseases. Or something like that.”

Raph shrugged, moving out of the way. “So long as you don’t hurt it.”

“If we can catch the thing.” Leo muttered, still looking suspiciously at it. He could swear it was glaring back at him. “It looks feral.”

Mikey broke off more pieces of the bacon, starting to make a trail into the cage Donnie had set up. The dinosaur looked at him as he worked, and, when he turned his back to it, it started to sniff at the nearest piece before snatching it up. Slowly, it made its way into the cage, and, when it was all the way in, Donnie closed the door behind it, with it letting out an annoyed squawk. “Got it!” Mikey cheered, pumping a fist in the air.

“HEY!” A voice from behind them cried out.

The turtles whirled around, and, honestly, Leo couldn’t have guessed what they saw at the beginning of the alleyway. A white rabbit yokai was pointing angrily at them, and - if Leo was being honest - he was absolutely adorable. His face was scrunched up in frustration, big brown eyes glaring fiercely at them. His ears were up in a ponytail, and he was wearing all blue; a man of taste, clearly.

Before Leo could say anything - which, trust him, would definitely have been flirtatious - the rabbit spoke again. “How dare you?!? Kidnappers!”
Wait, what?

The words came out of his mouth before he was even fully conscious of them. “Kidnappers? Please; we’re just helping the little guy. He was out here all alone! We’ll be sure to give him a good home.”

The bunny’s foot stamped (cute) in frustration, letting out an annoyed huff of breath at his response. “He already has a good home! His name is Spot, and he’s mine so back off!” It was then that Leo noticed that he was clutching at what was obviously a sheathed sword. Holy shit, this guy’s nuts!

Donnie gave him an annoyed glance. “I didn’t see any collar.”

Another huff, and the rabbit shoved his other hand forward, revealing a green harness. “He slipped it off when I was walking him!”

Raph held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, we didn’t mean any harm!” He said, obviously trying to keep the peace. “The little guy ran straight into a dumpster. Here, we can give him back - “

“No.” Everyone turned to look at Leo. “What’s your proof, other than the harness?” Honestly, he still wasn’t really sure where he was going with this; he just wasn’t going to let this guy walk away with the dinosaur without proving that he was actually the owner. This guy might be cute, but being cute didn’t automatically mean he was right. “If you’re actually the owner, then he’ll let us know, right? He’d react to seeing you.”

Mikey winced, probably at Leo’s lack of tact. “Leo!” He hissed under his breath.

The rabbit turned his glare primarily on Leo, a literal, actual growl rising in his throat. “Fine.” He spat out. “Let me see him.”

Donnie, who seemed to be mildly amused by the whole situation, stepped out of the way of the cage, nudging it forward. At the sight of the yokai, the dinosaur gave a squeal, practically throwing himself against the cage.

When he saw what was now obviously his pet, the rabbit’s eyes softened. “Spot!” Now, his voice was higher pitched, almost like baby-talk, and showed how happy he was. Donnie unlocked the cage, and Spot ran towards his owner, who leaned down to meet him. The dinosaur leapt into his arms, drawing a giggle from the yokai that Leo couldn’t help but melt at. “Oh, Spot, I missed you so much! Oh, silly little guy! My silly little baby boy, oh so silly!” The yokai devolved into nonsense, nuzzling into his pet and peppering Spot’s head with kisses that the dinosaur seemed to enjoy, letting out tiny chirps.

Leo gave a laugh. His brothers also seemed to be finding the whole thing cute - well, Mikey and Raph did. Donnie seemed to be mildly amused. “Aw!” Leo cooed. “So adorable!”

The yokai froze, seemingly realizing that he was in front of others. His ears stood straight up, turning a brighter pink. Aw, he’s blushing! “I’m not adorable!” He protested, clutching Spot closer to him. At Leo’s answering snort, he wrinkled his nose unhappily, before rolling his eyes. “ANYWAYS. I guess you guys aren’t kidnappers.” He squirmed awkwardly, seemingly uncomfortable now. “So. Sorry. And also thanks for keeping him safe.” With that, he whirled around and ran off.

For a moment, they just watched him run away. “Well,” Donnie began. “At least I wasn’t the most socially unaware in this conversation.”

Raph laughed at his comment. “To be fair, I’m betting that was pretty embarrassing for him.” He said, clearly sympathetic to the yokai’s plight despite his obvious amusement at the situation.

“I think it was cute!” Mikey laughed. “He obviously cares a lot about Spot.”

Leo smiled, still looking at the entrance to the alley where the stranger had disappeared. “Yep! It was funny, seeing him switch up like that. But, then again, he was still cute when he was angry.” This was probably one of the best encounters Leo could have had; he got to see a cute animal, a cute guy, AND he got to get said cute guy flustered. (Kind of. It was more that he was flustered due to there being witnesses, but still.)

Donnie gave him an unimpressed look. “I knew you were gay, but the furry part was a surprise.”

Interrupting Leo before he could respond and inevitably start an argument, Raph cleared his throat. “We should probably get back home.” He told them. “Pops’ll get worried.” They all knew damn well that it would take more than that for Splinter to start to get worried, but Leo made the portal anyway, getting them all home safe and sound.

It had been a week since they’d met bunny-boy, and it seemed like the crime scene was kicking up. Finally, people were getting bored of being peaceful and not doing anything wrong, and were actually getting up to their old antics. Part of it was disheartening, sure, but then again, at least it wasn’t boring? At least, that’s what Leo thought.

When Donnie’s newly-installed radar went off that there was a robbery in a Hidden City store, all four brothers were ready to be back in business!

“Okay gang, time for our first new mission!” Leo proclaimed, cracking his knuckles on top of the nearest building to the jewelry store the alert had come from. “This’ll probably be a pretty easy one, so we shouldn’t have to worry too - “

Before he could finish, Mikey interrupted. “I think someone might be already dealing with it.”

It was then that Leo noticed, in the large windows of the store, that somebody indeed was fighting the intruders. They were a white-and-blue blur, seemingly fighting with a sword against what must have been at least four or five different assailants. Leo watched with his jaw open, not even sure what was going on, before the pieces clicked together in his mind.

“Wait… is that the bunny dude?” Raph asked, right as Leo reached the same conclusion. It did indeed seem to be the same yokai as before, confirmed when the figure paused as he managed to cause two of the robbers to knock into each other.

Donnie glanced at his brothers. “Well… I mean, he looks like he’s handling it.” He started. “So…”

Mikey made a noise in protest. “Dude! That bun’s going up against way more than he could handle. Sure, he’s doing some fancy tricks, but we’ve gotta help!”

Leo brought himself back to reality from having watched the yokai weaving around his opponents with practiced ease. “Yeah. Yeah!” He nodded, grabbing his swords and starting to hype himself up. “We should lend him a hand. It’d be nice to gain an ally.” He gestured to his brothers and they started to move, jumping down and ducking into the jewelry store.

Their entrance temporarily distracted the robbers, yes, but also managed to distract the rabbit. The yokai gave them an incredulous look as the turtles sprang into action, looking almost offended. Leo didn’t understand - who wouldn’t be happy about help?

“Here come the Mad Dawgz, ready to help!” Leo announced, throwing himself into the fight with a wild grin, his brothers following him into battle. He went to attack the one closest to the bunny, who had managed to recover from his surprise and had started up his own fight again. “Nice sword, by the way! Hope you don’t mind if I slide right in! Couldn’t resist.” Despite being in the heat of battle, he felt the glare on his back.

The bunny snorted. “I can handle myself, kappa.”

Leo caught his eye and stuck his tongue out at the yokai. “Sure, sure, but five against one isn’t fair! We were in the neighborhood and decided to lend a hand.”

He gave Leo another glare, but quickly was caught back up in his own fight, which was how Leo noticed that he wasn’t only fighting with a sword. Alongside the blade danced another weapon, this one far more surprising - a yoyo.

“Didn’t take you for the type, honeybun!” Leo snarked. “You seem a bit too serious.”

The rabbit scoffed. “You’re the first to tell me that in a long time!” And wasn’t that interesting! Leo had assumed this bunny came with a stick up his ass, but maybe he was a bit more fun than all that. Whatever the case, he was clearly annoyed by Leo, though the turtle couldn’t imagine why.
The fight didn’t last long after that - turns out, robbers generally aren’t keen on fights when they don’t outnumber their opponents - and they managed to make it so that they didn’t escape with any jewels. Donnie and Mikey went to talk to the owner, a grateful crow yokai, most likely to talk about upgrading her security system or hiring some guards, leaving Leo and Raph to stick with the bunny.

“Y’know, you’re pretty good with your sword!” Raph grinned at the bunny, clapping him on his back, which, to his credit, only made him stumble a little bit. “It was nice to fight with you! We don’t usually have allies, so it’s a nice change of pace.”

Leo nodded in agreement. “Yeah! You’re not bad!” See, he’d meant to just add to the compliment.

However, the words only seemed to piss the yokai off. “‘Not bad’?!?” He screwed up his face again, like he’d done last week, and Leo held back a laugh at the cuteness. “I bet I had more training than you guys! I’ll have you know that I was handling it perfectly fine before you showed up.”

The yokai stamped his foot, and Leo couldn’t hold back his laugh any longer. “Sorry, Thumper!” He apologized when he got the Angry Look pointed his way. “I’m sure you were doing fine, cottontail, but it’s always better not to be outnumbered, no? Besides, you may have had more training, but we’ve been doing this for longer! ‘Cause we’ve been doing this for years, and we only just ran into you on an alert today.”

Again, just like before, his ears seemed to burn. “After what happened last month, I realized that someone needed to be out here, actually DOING something.”

Those words… they just rubbed Leo the wrong way. Was this guy implying that they weren’t doing anything? The logical part of Leo said that no, he’s not, what’s wrong with you, but, as so often happened, he pushed past that part. Ever since the almost-invasion, Leo had been… sensitive, to the part he had played. Had almost played. This rabbit boy had, even if (probably) unintentionally, pressed on the bruise. “Listen, dude,” his voice was harsher now, and he could see the yokai’s look of surprise (his face is very expressive) at the shift. “We’ve been on the scene for years. I think we know this better than you do, so maybe stay off our turf, yeah?”

Raph frowned at him, putting a hand on Leo’s shoulder. Leo winced, both at that and the fact that he could see a flash of hurt and regret in the yokai’s deep brown eyes. “Dude,” Raph started, tone soft but firm. “Not necessary.”

The air between them was tense, feeling almost like static electricity - like the time before a lightning strike. The rabbit opened his mouth, and -

“Guuuuuuuuyysss!” Donnie groaned, throwing his head back. “We’ve been here for too long. Ms. Harley wants to kick us out, but she’s too polite to say anything about it.” The bird yokai owner, evidently Ms. Harley, looked embarrassed at his statement, but didn’t dispute it. “We need to head back to the lair, anyways.”

Mikey bounded over, ignoring the tension Donnie had broken and hanging off of Raph’s arm. “Yeah! Plus, I’m super hungry.”

Leo looked over to where the yokai had been just seconds before, but was left staring at nothing, the bunny evidently having run off again. He’s good at that. Leo groaned, smacking his head with his hand. Now, he couldn’t even think of apologizing. “Alright, alright. Let’s head out.” He acquiesced. “Bye, Ms. Harley! Hope you don’t have another break-in!” He was aware of the woman staring at him in abject confusion, but honestly, Leo just wanted to get out of here. Still, he didn’t want to annoy her too much, so, instead of portalling directly out of her store, he walked outside.

Raph gave him a look. “If we run into that guy again, you need to apologize.” He said quietly. “I know what he said raised your hackles, but he didn’t seem to mean any harm.”

Leo nodded, opening the portal without another word. Donnie and Mikey seemed to notice his bad mood, but didn’t comment on it other than sharing a worried glance. When they made it back to the new lair, Leo ignored Splinter, who tried to ask them how their patrol went, which added another stab of guilt within his gut. Great.

He sighed, allowing himself the ritual of a classic angsty-teen door slam when he entered the subway car he’d claimed for his bedroom. Leo flopped down on his bed, glaring up at his ceiling.

He’d thought he was getting better. That he was going to get back to normal. This rabbit guy had been snipping at him before, but one line that probably wasn’t even meant as a jab was what got to him? Leo kept revisiting the look of surprise and the flash of hurt in the other teenager’s eyes, and he rubbed at his eyes to get out some of the frustration. Raph was right; he did need to apologize, if he saw him again.

That was, if he got the chance to. The last two times, he’d been meant with immediate hostility, which wasn’t the best feeling in the world. To meet a cute guy your age with a cool sword and a freakin’ dinosaur for a pet, and have him immediately hate his guts felt like yet another punch in the gut. Like he hadn’t been dealt enough.

With another sigh, - this one more dramatic - Leo rolled on his side, clutching his pillow to his chest. He hoped that his apology would be enough to make it all water under the bridge, but he couldn’t help but be pessimistic.

After all, with his luck, this guy would hate him forever.

Chapter Text

It had been two weeks since Leo’s recent embarrassment (or, well, his embarrassment with the rabbit yokai - he’d been embarrassed several times since then) and he and his brothers had decided that it was time for a lazy day. Technically, you could count their recoveries after the failed invasion as being ‘lazy days’, but this was a true one; they were all perfectly healthy, for one. They had all just woken up, looked at the lack of alerts, and decided to stay in and just hang out. Due to the principles of a proper Lazy Day, rather than eating out, they drew straws to see who would go to get their pizza order at Run of the Mill. Leo managed to draw the short straw, because life wasn’t fair, but hey - at least he could portal to keep up with the general theme of laziness.

All was going well, until, at least, Leo opened the door.

At first, nothing seemed unusual. A bunch of yokai of different sizes, shapes, and conformities were enjoying their pizza - all was fine. However, within only a few seconds, Leo spotted something that made him freeze: the rabbit was there. And not only was he there; he was working there?

Now, one thing is important for anyone looking to understand Leo to know: sometimes, even he isn’t entirely sure why he says things. He honestly, truly couldn’t explain why, instead of turning around and leaving or trying to discreetly get his attention in order to apologize, he instead blurted out “Bunny boy, you didn’t tell me you worked here!”, in a voice that was loud even to his ears. People turned to look at him, and he gave a grin to those who met his eyes. Only a fox yokai in a waiter’s uniform returned it, looking like she was holding back laughter as she glanced at said ‘bunny boy’.

The rabbit jumped, eyes widening as he saw Leo. He almost felt bad with how surprised the other teen was; and he felt even worse when he saw the look of embarrassment on his face.

The yokai opened his mouth but, before he could say anything, a voice came from behind Leo. “Ha! You really think little Chichi could hold down a job like this for longer than a day?” Senor Hueso laughed like Leo had said the funniest thing ever. The bunny (Chichi? Leo thought with amusement) looked even more embarrassed. Hueso looked at Leo with a smirk. “Conejito here is just helping out for the day. A couple employees had to call out, and he offered to help out. Even brought one of his little friends, too!”

“I told you to stop calling me that.” The rabbit muttered, crossing his arms.

Leo laughed a little. “What, you didn’t feel like calling me in for back up again?” He asked Hueso.

The skeleton glared at him. “Yuichi is at least 10% less annoying than you are.” He explained dryly. “His Auntie was much better at whipping him into shape than your dear Papa evidently was.”

Yuichi - it was so good to finally have a name - pouted at Hueso. “Only 10%?” He seemed genuinely disappointed. He was about to say something else, when the fox yokai called his name, causing him to let out an annoyed huff before going back to work. Hueso caught Leo’s eyes with a smirk, as if to say ‘this is what I was telling you about’.

Leo chuckled. “So; guessing you guys know each other?” He asked, trying to aim for casual interest, but clearly, it didn’t land, judging by how Hueso looked knowingly at him.

“Since he and his Auntie moved here. Must’ve been… what, twelve years ago now? They have a small farm, and I’ve bought produce from there every so often ever since.” Hueso explained. The skeleton looked at Leo for a moment. “You know,” He started, voice quieter than normal. “The two of you have a lot in common. And not just the fact that you both drive me crazy.”

Leo nodded absently. After a few moments, he sighed. “I think I might’ve ruined that.”

Hueso rolled his eyes (pupils?) at Leo with a scoff. “Please. Teenagers are always having drama, usually over things that don’t matter. I’m sure if you apologize, everything will be fine.” He clapped his hand on Leo’s shoulder. Leo was able to bask in the paternal affection for a moment or so, before the almost-smile on Hueso’s face melted away. “Now, please, just give me your order so I can get you out of here sooner.”

The turtle grinned sheepishly, doing as he was told. Hueso nodded, turning to take care of it. Leo was left standing there semi-awkwardly for a few minutes, knowing that all of these yokai had absolutely heard his outburst earlier.

After what felt like forever, it was, of course, Yuichi who handed him the pizza box. Hueso sure did enjoy embarrassing teenagers, huh? “Here you go.” He said, handing it over. It made Leo feel a little better that the other boy seemed just as awkward as he was, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“Thanks,” Leo murmured. He hesitated for a moment. “By the way, uh. My name’s Leo.” At Yuichi’s look, he gave an awkward chuckle. “It’s only fair you know my name now that I know yours.” He explained, rubbing at the back of his head with his hand. God, he hated being awkward. Sure, he was self-deprecating and all, but that was inside his head! On the outside, he needed to be the most confident, awesomest guy around! He had an image to maintain, after all. In order to cut himself off from any more awkward moments, he didn’t even give Yuichi a chance to respond, instead immediately turning around and striding out of the restaurant, opening a portal as soon as he stepped outside.

Because his life was awful, all his brothers as well as his dad were there waiting for him when he came back. Mikey smirked at him, looking smug. “Seems like that took a bit longer than usual.” He crooned, looking mischievous. “Any reason for that?”

Screw this. Mikey couldn’t know Yuichi was there! “Nah; it was just busy.” He lied easily; at least he still had that.

Splinter, who had opened the pizza box, let out a hearty chuckle. “Now, Blue,” He snickered, holding up a wrinkled scrap of paper. “I always told you boys not to lie!” Leo, so surprised that he ignored the obvious, ironic lie that that statement was, practically leapt over the couch to snatch the piece of paper from his father’s hand.

‘I’m sorry for being a little bitch the other day - I promise I’m not usually like that! Can we just start over? -Yuichi’

Leo must’ve read the note five times, all with his family laughing at him, Splinter evidently explained what he had found. He’d been mentally beating himself up over not taking the chance to apologize, but he’d never thought that Yuichi would apologize first!

“Should I ask who this Yuichi is?” Splinter managed to get out through his laughter.

Donnie was smirking like a supervillain enacting his latest scheme. “I don’t know, but I’d be willing to bet money that it was that rabbit dude that we ran into the other day.” Et tu, Donald? The mortifying ordeal of having a sibling. Leo made a mental note to plot towards his downfall later.

He snatched up the pizza box. “Bold words to say to someone in charge of your food distribution.”

His mood was immediately lifted when they all immediately dropped the teasing in order to apologize and beg for their food. It felt good to have power like that. Luckily, when Leo was appeased and set the box down again, it seemed that everyone had elected that it wasn’t worth it to keep teasing him, at least for now. That meant that he didn’t have to worry about it anymore, and could safely put the incident out of his mind until he went to bed, where he could mull over it for hours instead of sleeping.

Two weeks later, Leo was walking around the Hidden City on his own. Sure, he loved his family, but he also liked his alone time, especially when he was free to explore. Even after being fairly used to the existence of the Hidden City, he still wasn’t quite used to the reality of it. Being raised by a former-human wasn’t the best introduction to yokai culture, after all, and Leo still managed to notice something different and cool about the city every time he went there.

Today, he was having a great time looking at the different shops, both the weird ones and the ones that seemed to be just like their counterparts in New York proper. Everything was going as it usually was, until Leo heard a loud squawk from somewhere behind him. He made to turn around, but, before he could, a sudden weight slammed into the back of his knees, bowling him over.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” A familiar voice exclaimed.

Leo groaned as he turned over and sat up. The thing that had bowled him over was still on his legs, and he paused when he realized what it was. It was Spot, equipped with his proper harness and all. Which meant that the voice was Yuichi, standing hesitantly over him with a worried expression. He was wearing his more casual clothes, opposed to the uniform Leo had last seen him in. Leo hadn’t noticed it before, but he had a messenger bag slung over his shoulder, the strap of which he was clutching as if to ground himself

He smiled at the other teen, trying to play off publicly falling on his face. “Hey! It’s no problem at all, dude. This little guy was just happy to see me, is all.” Despite how snappy he’d been before, the dinosaur really did seem excited to see Leo. He was wagging his tail like a dog, making cute little excited chirps. When Leo leaned down to pet him, the dinosaur leaned into it happily, butting his head up into his hand. “You know, he’s awful cute. I still haven’t quite gotten over you owning an actual, literal dinosaur, y’know.”

Yuichi laughed, only sounding a little awkward, holding out his hand to help Leo up. “He is very cute, yes. He can be a bit of a brat, though - and he’s a hell of an escape artist.”

Leo took the offered hand and stood, Spot making an annoyed sound as he was displaced from the turtle’s lap. “That’s part of the charm with pets.” There was a pause where it seemed like neither of them knew quite what to say. Leo cleared his throat. “Hueso said you moved here from Japan, right?”

He seemed to perk up at that. “Yeah! We moved when I was five. Compsognathus is a pretty common pet in Neo Edo, where I’m from - kind of like a Hidden City. Well, we still call them compsognathus, but they’ve obviously changed quite a bit over the years. They live quite a bit longer than we think they used to. There aren’t a lot here, but my Auntie got in contact with a breeder when she noticed I was homesick, and that’s how we got Spot.” He gave a timid chuckle. “Sorry again. I didn’t mean to go off on a ramble, there.”

“I don’t mind!” Leo said quickly. And he really, really didn’t. It was nice to actually have a chance to talk to the guy. “Trust me, I come from a long line of ramblers.” He looked around, noticing a nearby bench. “We should probably sit down, though.”

Yuichi nodded, something that actually kind of surprised Leo; he hadn’t really expected him to be so willing to talk to him. When he went to sit on the bench, it actually took Leo a half-second of hesitation before he followed. “So, I’m guessing that you didn’t have to make a move across the world at the age of five, then?” He joked.

Leo shook his head. “Nah. We’ve always been in New York City; we never really knew about the Hidden City until recently, though.” At Yuichi’s confused look, Leo continued. “Well, we’re not actually yokai. We’re mutants.”

He could see the exact moment it clicked for the rabbit yokai. “Oh! Oh. Wow, this place must be pretty confusing for you, then.”

Leo chuckled a little. “Yeah. But it was really cool to find out about! My brothers and I have had a great time finding out about all of this. I guess it’s kind of similar to moving like that? With the culture shock and all.”

“There was less culture shock than you might expect, actually.” Yuichi clarified. “After all, hidden cities are generally pretty similar. I had to learn the language and all, but yokai culture is a lot more fluid than humans; at least, in my opinion.” He glanced off to the side. “It was still an adjustment, but… for different reasons. Going from living with your parents to with your Auntie isn’t an easy thing for a kid.”

Oh. “I’m sorry.” Leo said quietly.

Yuichi tugged awkwardly at one of his ears. “It’s fine.” He sighed, giving a joyless smile. “Well, it wasn’t. But it is now. Nothing we can really do about it. Besides, my Auntie is a wonderful woman. She’s the reason why I’m trained as a samurai, actually. Our family’s traditionally been trained like that, but my father had always been a pacifist. I had to beg my Auntie to learn, but it ended up working.”

“My pops is Lou Jitsu.” Leo blurted out; yet another case of him saying whatever popped into his mind.

The yokai blinked at him blankly. “...should I know who that is?”

Leo reared back over-dramatically with a gasp, pressing his hand to his chest. “You don’t know who Lou Jitsu is?!? Blasphemy! Okay, that’s it; next time we meet, I’m kidnapping you and forcing you to watch at least one of his movies.”

Yuichi cackled in surprise. “Alright, I guess I’m going to have some movies to watch! Does it count as kidnapping if I willingly go with you, or will you keep calling it that in order to make it sound cooler? Because my friends say they’re kidnapping me all the time. Well, Kitsune does, at least.”

He considered it carefully. “Hm… yes, still a kidnapping.” They both laughed at that, even though it really wasn’t all that funny. When they calmed down, Leo gave Yuichi a small smile. “You know, slipping the note in the pizza box thing was pretty great. I’m glad you went with it; Hueso was right when he said we have quite a lot in common. For the record, during that fight, I also was acting like a bit of a little bitch towards the end.”

Leo was met with a blank stare, before Yuichi visibly became embarrassed. “Oh God - Kitsune!” He groaned, tugging frustratedly on his ears. “I threw that note out because I thought it was lame! She must’ve dug it out of the trash.”

Kitsune… that must’ve been the fox yokai he’d seen, and the friend that Hueso had said Yuichi had brought with him. “It’s not lame! I thought it was cute.”

After he said it, he remembered how embarrassed that Yuichi had been when they’d first met and he’d called him cute, and, though it was much more subdued. Leo was not disappointed by this reaction. Yuichi bit his lip, moving to slightly hide his face in his hands. “I guess my friends just really like to embarrass me.” He sighed.

“That’s what friends are for.” As if agreeing with Leo, Spot let out a chirp and lightly headbutted Yuichi’s knee with his head. “But really, you don’t need to worry about it! My friends - especially my brothers - embarrass me all the time. Seriously, I’d be willing to bet you that they’ll embarrass me in front of you the next time we meet up.” And Leo would be lying if he said that he didn’t want to meet up with Yuichi again. Despite the fact that they’d only had a few interactions, he felt like he had a connection with the other teenager. “That is, if you want to meet up again.” He tried not to make the words sound as pathetic as he felt saying them, giving Yuichi a hopeful smile.

Luckily, he got a smile in return. “I’d like that.” Yuichi said quietly, his tone probably the most genuine that Leo had heard from him.

Spot let out a squawk, grabbing his leash with his teeth and tugging at it impatiently. Leo chuckled. “Looks like the little guy is getting a bit impatient.” He said, a little disappointed. None of these meetings had lasted very long; it seemed like they kept getting interrupted by the universe. Yet more evidence that it was actively working against Leo.

Yuichi stood up, an apologetic look on his face. “Yeah; he’s pretty strict in his routine.” He opened his bag, taking out a pen and a scrap of paper and quickly scribbling something down. “Here, take this.” He pressed it into Leo’s hand with a shy smile. “It’s my phone number.” He explained, fidgeting with his bangs as he talked. “So we can, you know… actually have a chance to talk to each other.”

Before Leo could process that holy shit, he just got a boy’s number, Yuichi gave a little wave and walked away, being tugged along by Spot all the while. Leo just stared after him for a moment before being able to gather himself. When he got up, he immediately opened a portal back home, because fuck that, he did not have the energy to deal with anything else.

Neon Leon: hey there, bunnyboy! this is your new best friend Leo speaking
Neon Leon: tell Spot i said sorry for interrupting his walk lol

Bnnuy: Hi! Don’t worry about it, he’s just a huge drama king like his dad

Neon Leon: can definitely relate
Neon Leon: he can get away with more bc he’s cute as hell

Bnnuy: How I wish I had the same privilege…

Neon Leon: who says u dont?
Neon Leon: ;)

Leo was interrupted from smiling at his phone as he jokingly (yes, jokingly) flirted with Yuichi by Donnie throwing a pillow directly at him. He let out a yelp, phone having been knocked directly out of his hands. “Hey!”

Donnie rolled his eyes. “Quit flirting with your boyfriend. You’re making me even more homophobic than I already am.”

Raph sighed, giving an eyeroll of his own. “Donnie, you’re bi.”

“I mean, bi people can still be homophobic.” Mikey pointed out, clearly not even paying attention from where he was reading one of the teen magazines that April made sure to bring him every visit. “And, to be fair, Leo’s rizzless behavior is enough to make just about anyone homophobic.”

Leo’s life was endless suffering with brothers like these. “He’s not my boyfriend! We just met, and we also only just started getting along. He’s just cool. Plus, who wouldn’t want to be friends with a guy with a dinosaur?”

Donnie wasn’t even looking at him anymore, focusing on whatever he was tinkering on in his lap after Raph told him to come hang out with them instead of shutting himself in the lab. Still, Donatello was nothing if not a multitasker, and he loved verbally (and, occasionally, physically) attacking Leo. “Just meeting someone doesn’t mean you don’t want to be his boyfriend.” He glanced up, a smug smile on his face. “I knew you were a homosexual, but I have to say, I never knew you were a furry.”

Raph frowned, clearly thinking about something. “Would we count as scalies?” He asked, sounding intrigued. Leo elected to ignore that.

“I can’t stand you guys.” Leo grumbled. Still, he didn’t take the teasing all that personally. He knew he didn’t want to be Yuichi’s boyfriend, so why would it bother him? Besides, he knew Donnie was just being an asshole for the sake of it. It wasn’t like there was even a hint of reality to it.

(Leo didn’t know this, but, when he got up to go to the bathroom, Mikey looked up from the ‘what dessert are you’ quiz he was taking in the latest edition of Girls Forever, a knowing look on his face. “How long until he realizes?”

Donnie snorted. “Knowing Leonardo? Either two years or two weeks.”

Raph was still thinking about if they counted as scalies or not. After a moment, he spoke up. “Do you think we could go to furry conventions and not freak anyone out?” At his brothers’ blank, unbelieving stares, he registered what they were talking about. “Oh, yeah. I think he’ll come to us in the middle of a freak out in about a month.”)

Chapter Text

Leo had thought that the teasing was over, but, the very next day, he was reminded that one person had not yet mocked him: April O’Neil, the girl he had (perhaps regrettably) adopted as his sister years ago.

The happiness that he felt upon seeing her stop unannounced by the lair was dissipated nearly instantaneously when she gave him a demonic grin. “Leeeeoooo!” She crooned, which set him into fight or flight mode as soon as he heard it. “A little birdie told me that not only do you have an absolutely adorable bunny not-boyfriend - which, by the way, I cannot believe I wasn’t the first to know this - but he’s got a freakin’ dinosaur as a pet?!?”

He had the urge to scream. “How many times do I have to tell you utter animals that this is completely platonic?” Leo groaned, running a hand down his face.

April gave a too-innocent giggle. “Listen, babycakes, I’m gonna need to see some pics ASAP. I need to pass judgment on this dude as soon as I possibly can, since these bozos refuse to let me give him a shovel talk.”

Leo huffed. “How do you know I have pictures of him?”

“Donnie told me he sent you selfies of him and his dino-buddy.” Was her immediate reply. Of course he did, the snooping bastard. “Which, by the way, is absolutely adorable. Me, personally? I would give anything to receive regular pics of a bunny rabbit and a dinosaur , so consider yourself lucky.”

Leo gave a dramatic sigh, before passing over his phone - he knew that, if he didn’t, the drama would be more trouble than it was worth. Mainly because April would absolutely, without hesitation, start wrestling him in an attempt to pry his phone from his hand like the demoness she was. “I can’t believe you. You’re the worst, and I should have killed you when I had the chance when we were eight.”

April lets out an audible ‘ooh’ when she sees the pictures. They were mostly Spot sniffing at and clawing at the camera, using the selfie camera due to him being in Yuichi’s lap, but you could see Yuichi’s laughing face in the corner. “He’s cute. They both are.” She nodded, evidently giving her approval, before starting to type.

“April!” Leo hissed, lunging at her in order to stop her, but she was faster than him and stood on the couch in order to dodge him.

“Relax!” She assured him, which totally ended up doing the opposite of assuring him. “I’m just sending him pics of Mayhem! Plus telling him that we should set up a playdate. Can you even begin to imagine how cute that would be?”
He was still pissed, but, he had to admit, that would be cute as hell. Leo crossed his arms, sitting back down as April tossed his phone back to him. “You’re still the worst sister in the world.” He muttered. He grabbed his phone just to make sure that she’d done as she said without adding anything embarrassing, having to scroll through approximately ten pictures of Mayhem.

Neon Leon: This is Leo’s friend April!!! And that’s Mayhem :) we should set up a playdate lol. You should come to the lair!

As he read the text, a ding came from the phone, Yuichi’s reply coming through.

Bnnuy: Hi April! I would love to have a playdate. Mayhem is so cute! I’m free tomorrow around 2?

Neon Leon: Leo here - she stole my phone bc she sucks

Neon Leon: but the playdate is totally still on, 2 sounds good

Bnnuy: Nice! Can’t wait!!!

April gave a witch cackle as Leo smiled at his phone at Yuichi’s reply. “You can thank me later, bro.” 

The next day, Leo was starting to feel regret. Was it really a good thing to expose Yuichi to his brothers and April? Sure, he’d met all the turtles before, but they had a different energy when April was around, especially when they could gang up on one member of the group. But Leo didn’t have time to cancel, because as soon as he had this thought, Yuichi texted him to let him know that he’d arrived.

Luckily, he was quickly distracted by the combined cuteness of Mayhem and Spot. They introduced them first while they were held by April and Yuichi respectively, letting them cautiously sniff at each other. When that seemed to go well, the pets were let free, and, after only a few minutes, they were playing happily, wrestling with playful growls and yips. The difference in body shape didn’t seem to affect them much, though they probably thought the other looked weird. Spot was confused when Mayhem teleported away when he was pinned, letting out a betrayed yowl when the little guy reappeared on Spot’s back.

“Are we just going to watch small animals beat each other up for an indeterminate amount of time?” Donnie asked dryly.

“Nobody asked you to watch, Don.” April flicked his forehead, causing him to pout.

Yuichi laughed from where he sat on the couch next to Leo. “This is good for Spot. He needs to let his energy out; he tries to bite me way too much for comfort.” At the sound of his name in Yuichi’s voice, Spot let out a happy chirp, before being bowled over again by Mayhem. The dinosaur made a scream like he was dying, making Yuichi giggle. “He’s the most dramatic beast in the world.”

Raph seemed to be enjoying watching them play, and made an upset noise. “He’s not a beast! He’s a sweet little man.” Mayhem hissed at Raph as soon as he spoke, making him pout even more.

“Do you play with him?” Leo asked. “I bet he could fuck up some dog toys. We’re not actually sure if Mayhem is more of a dog or a cat, so he’s got a lot of both categories. He seems to like dog toys better, though… probably because they’re tougher, and he’s a little freak who loves violence, as you can see.”

Yuichi nodded, lifting his legs up onto the couch so the pets didn’t crash into him. “Yep; I try to play with him every day, but having a playmate to wrestle with is probably better for him.”

Just as suddenly as they’d started, Mayhem and Spot decided that playtime was over, simultaneously flopping over with matching groans and closed eyes. The dinosaur curled up around the small mammal with a sigh.

Mikey squealed, whipping out his phone to take a picture. “Aw! They’re cuddling!”

“Good. I was kind of worried that they’d kill each other.” Donnie said, still watching them cautiously.

April had joined Mikey in being the pets’ personal paparazzi, kneeling down beside them. “Yuichi, you’ve got to give me your number so I can send you some of these!” She looked at him over her shoulder, sending a wink his way. “Plus, I can tell you embarrassing stories about Leo!”

“That is, if Leo lets him take a break from texting him.” Raph teased, snickering when Leo shot him a glare. 

Leo flipped him off. His brothers had been giving him shit about texting on patrol, but honestly, they were boring most of the time, so why should they care? Raph always worried about him falling off a building, but, if he did that, he could just portal out of there! “I didn’t know that it was make fun of Leo day.”

Yuichi smiled. “I’d love to get your pictures, April. And, kappa, didn’t you know that every day is make fun of Leo day?” He caught Leo’s eye, giving him a wink.

Even though the rest of the playdate went well, Leo kept thinking about that wink, despite not knowing why. Yuichi was probably just imitating April, but his seemed less of a joke than hers was, for some reason. But surely it was, right?

Right?

Three days later, Yuichi sent Leo a text inviting him over that afternoon. After all, as he wrote, it was only fair after he’d seen their home (Leo did not think about the fact that he didn’t invite the others). And, for some reason, the invitation made his nerves act up. Yuichi had said that his Auntie would be there and, by all accounts, she was a badass. What if she hated him? What if she told Yuichi to stop seeing him?

By the time he portalled over, he was sweating, and he didn’t even know why. Adding to his nerves was the fact that, on the porch, an older rabbit yokai was waiting alongside his friend.

Yuichi grinned, jogging out to greet him, Spot running alongside him with a churr. “Leo! I’m glad you could come by on such short notice. Auntie realized that I hadn’t offered to host, and insisted that I invite you over.” He seemed to freeze. “Not that I didn’t want you to come! But she just told me that I should text you about it as soon as I could.”

Leo laughed at his friend’s flustered state. “Don’t worry about it, cottontail. I know you love me.”

At this, Yuichi’s Auntie, who had walked up to the boys slowly, cleared her throat. She was surprisingly short, but it made her no less intimidating, with a stern face that contrasted with her nephew’s friendly one. “Hamato Leonardo.” Leo hadn’t been this intimidated by an older woman since Big Mama; he can see how she was able to stand up to the spider yokai. “My name is Usagi Akane. I have heard so much about you from Yui-kun. I hope that you can live up to my expectations.”

“Auntie!” Yuichi hissed through his teeth, eyes darting between her and Leo.

Leo forced himself to stand up straighter. “It’s nice to meet you, Usagi-san.” He was so, so grateful that Dad had reminded him to remember his manners - though, a bow would probably be too much. Instead, he held out his hand.

That seemed to be the right move, as the corner of Akane’s mouth angled slightly upwards. She took his hand in her own, shaking it with a tight grip. “And it is a pleasure to meet you.” She gave Yuichi a meaningful look. “Yui, I will be in the dojo. Be sure to be a good host to Leonardo-kun.” She then gave a proper, albeit small, smile, reaching out and patting her nephew’s cheek affectionately. “And make sure to keep your bedroom door open, dear.”

Yuichi sputtered as she strode off to the room that extended off of the small farmhouse - evidently, the dojo. As soon as she closed the door, he quickly turned to Leo. “She’s - very overprotective!” He explained, voice higher-pitched than normal. “Ever since I came out as bi, she’s been insistent on me keeping the door open for literally all of my friends, no matter how much I try to explain to her that she’s being weird about it. Sorry.”

Leo finally let the laughter he’d been holding in since her order loose. “It’s fine, really!” He assured his friend when he could catch his breath. “It’s just - God, I did not expect that!”

Seemingly seeing the humor in the situation, Yuichi chuckled, before leaning down and scooping up Spot in his arms. “Come on; let’s head inside. I want to show you my room - and I’ll leave the door open.”

The Usagi family house wasn’t the biggest, but it was nice. April would probably call it cozy. It was a mix between Japanese and Western aesthetics from what Leo could see, and it looked… warm. Yuichi’s bedroom was similarly ‘cozy’, walls painted a pale blue and covered with posters and pictures. Yuichi flopped down bonelessly on his bed, making Leo laugh. “You tired already?”

“Honestly, I was just very worried about what Auntie would say to you.” Yuichi explained breathlessly. “I love her; she’s amazing, but… she can be a lot.” He sat up, biting his lip. “I’m her only family, and she worries. But her worry kind of comes across as intimidation. Trust me, my friends got the same treatment when they first came over.”

Leo nodded, perching on the edge of Yuichi’s bed. “That makes sense. I don’t mind it, really - she cares about you, and it’s nice. You don’t have to worry about it - trust me, a lot of yokai have tried to intimidate me.”

Yuichi hugged his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them. “I just wish she didn’t treat me like a kid sometimes. I feel like when she looks at me, she just sees her baby Yui, and not me .” He gave a somewhat hysterical laugh. “And I get it. I was messed up when I moved in with her. Any kid would be.” He seemed to hesitate. “I don’t know why I’m oversharing here, and you’ve probably figured this out, but my parents died. So she had to deal with losing her brother, and taking in her traumatized nephew when she’s never wanted kids. But Auntie’s the worst when it comes to me being independent. You know, she doesn’t even know I go on patrols? I just sneak out. And my friends are all dealing with awful things of their own that are way worse than whatever I’m going through, so I feel like I can’t even talk about it to anyone, which makes me rant about it out of nowhere to someone I barely even know and -” Yuichi cut himself off with a frustrated groan, rubbing at his eye with the heel of his palm, averting his gaze. “I’m sorry. You probably think I’m crazy now.”

There was a few minutes of quiet between them as Leo tried to think of what to say. He was surprised, yes, but he definitely didn’t think Yuichi was crazy. “I don’t think you’re crazy.” He said quietly. “This clearly has been bothering you for a while. I’m sorry you’re dealing with that, and you deserve a chance to vent. And… I know how you feel.” Yuichi finally met his gaze again. “I’ve also been dealing with a bunch of shit for a while, and I don’t know how to deal with it. But just because you feel like your shit is less than your friends, that doesn’t mean that it’s not affecting you. I mean… shit is shit, right?” He ended up awkwardly saying.

Yuichi let out a sudden snort-laugh, covering his mouth with his hand. “Shit is shit.” He agreed, voice trembling somewhat.

Leo smiled at him, wrapping his arm around Yuichi’s shoulders. “And hey - you don’t have to feel bad about the fact that you ranted to me, no matter how sudden it was. Trust me, as my friend, you’re going to end up being ranted at quite a bit, even about stupid things, so it’s only fair.”

Yuichi leaned on Leo’s shoulder with a hum. “Thank you,” he breathed quietly.

There was another few moments of silence, but this was less awkward and more comfortable. Finally, Leo stretched. “Welp; we’ve officially had a trauma dump. That means we’re on, what, friendship-second base?”

Though that seemed to make things go back to normal, with them just having a normal enough hangout session. But, after he got back to the lair, and especially once he went to bed, he couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation - specifically, the last part of it. How Yuichi leaned on his shoulder. His cute little snort.

Leo groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes. He wasn’t sure why he was thinking like this. All the teasing he’d gone through had definitely gotten to him. He probably was just thinking about Yuichi like that because his brothers and April kept poking fun at him. Yuichi was just his new friend - sure, things had moved rather quickly in regards to his friendship, but he was probably just mixing things up in his mind.

A ding came from his phone, and Leo rolled over to check it.

Bnnuy: Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for listening to me again. I really appreciated it. Also, you can totally rant to me about whatever you want whenever you want for this: it’s absolutely warranted.

Neon Leon: oh honey bun, youre absolutely gonna regret that!

Neon Leon: but i dont care. get ready for the rants of a lifetime next time we meet up

Neon Leon: and not even rants about shit that matters. it’s gonna be the most worthless and useless shit in the world that nobody cares about

Bnnuy: I can’t wait!

Bnnuy: And I think anything you rant about wouldn’t be worthless. 

Bnnuy: And I’ll care about it.

Neon Leon: ur the greatest person ever

Neon Leon: its official now youre my new best friend

Bnnuy: The highest honor I’ve been given <3

Leo smiled at his phone when he read the newest message, reacting with a heart emoji of his own before setting it down on his bedside table. Sure, things had moved pretty fast, but Yuichi had quickly wormed his way into his heart; now, alongside April, the rabbit ranked as his best friend. That, plus the fact that he was being teased all the time, made him think about Yuichi like… well, like that. With the constant thoughts of his smile and laugh and all. That was it; that was all it was. As such, he didn’t need to worry about it, and he could put it safely in the locked box in the back of his mind that he kept his complicated emotions the vast majority of the time. 

His stupid brothers (and April, who he was scared of referring to as being stupid even in his head in case she found out) had just confused his stupid brain. 

Plus, it wasn’t like Yuichi thought of him like that. So, even if Leo did feel something that might possibly be more than platonic towards him, - which, by the way, he didn’t - it wasn’t like it would ever be returned.

Right?

Chapter Text

In the week following Leo’s visit to Yuichi’s house, the two had been texting nearly all day, every day. Surprisingly, the teasing had died down, though Leo still occasionally got a smug look or a comment. April and Mikey were the main culprits of this, with Donnie being more likely to groan when he noticed Leo laughing or smiling at his screen, and Raph sometimes giving him a thumbs up. Leo would have thought that Splinter had forgotten about it, if it wasn’t for the fact that he immediately asked “Is Blue dating that rabbit yet?” as soon as he left the room that Friday. Still, it seems like they had finally (mostly) moved past it, which Leo was thankful for. It was just straight up awkward, especially when he kept having weird thoughts that he had to ignore. Thoughts like his fur is so soft , or his smile is so pretty , or, worse of all, I wonder what it would be like to kiss him . Still, Leo was used to having weird thoughts randomly pop into his head, so he managed to ignore them whenever they came up.

It was a Sunday night, and Yuichi had invited him over again, to, in his words, “Make up for the fact that I fucked up last time”. Even though Leo had reassured him that it really, really wasn’t all that bad, he’d accepted the invitation. After all, why would he turn up a chance to hang out with his newfound bestie?

“So, thoughts?” Leo asked, a cocky smile on his face. They’d just finished watching the first Jupiter Jim movie, huddled up close together under Yuichi’s comforter with his old laptop. As is the tradition of watching movies of varying quality with friends, there was a mostly-finished bowl of popcorn between them, with snack and candy wrappers on the bed around them. There was probably enough sugar in their bodies to kill lesser men. “I need to warn you, bunny; the way you answer will affect my opinion of you. Choose your words wisely.”

Yuichi turned to him, with a deliberately straight face. “Well, in my humble opinion… it’s the best movie ever made. It should have won every Oscar award. It’s the peak of cinema; nothing could compare. I could write a thesis on this.”

Leo bumped his shoulder into Yuichi’s. “Hardy har; very funny.” Yuichi snickered, making Leo shove him again. “Now, drop the sarcasm and give me an honest review, conejito.”

Yuichi shook his head. “I mean, it was a fun watch? It was entertaining the whole way through, and I definitely liked it; I can see why it’s so popular. But the special effects didn’t really age well, and you can tell there were budget restraints. Still, it’s only the first move, so I can’t judge it too harshly.”

Leo made a show of thinking it over, stroking his chin. “Hm…” He hummed thoughtfully. “I’ll allow it. Not as thorough of an analysis that such a masterpiece deserves, but, I suppose, you can pass.” He patted Yuichi on the head. “Congratulations, Chichi. You have passed the Jupiter Jim test. You may continue being my friend, and your phone number will remain unblocked.”

“I regret the fact that you heard Senor calling me that every day.” Yuichi complained with a roll of his eyes.

He was met with no sympathy by Leo, who just cackled. “ That’s the nickname you have a problem with?!? Dude, I’ve been calling you every name for rabbit and bunny I can think of this whole time we’ve known each other. I called you Bugs the other day.”

Yuichi pouted. “Those are cute!” He paused. “Or, well, it’s cute when you do it.”

Leo grinned, batting his eyelashes teasingly. “So, what you’re telling me is that you think I’m cute? Why, Yuichi! How forward of you! I’m flattered, really!”

The rabbit yokai smacked him lightly on the arm. “Maybe in your dreams, weirdo.” Still, Leo counted it as a win, because he could tell that Yuichi was still flustered. He could really tell that the other teen had never really flirted before, just by how he always got embarrassed by Leo’s joke flirting.

“Wow, how domestic!” A feminine voice came from the doorway. Both boys froze. Leo looked over, seeing the fox yokai from that one time at Run of the Mill, alongside a cat and a rhino yokai. The fox - didn’t Yuichi say her name was Kitsune? - was smirking, a phone in her hand like she had taken their picture. The cat was giving them an incredulous look that Leo could feel the judgment of, and the rhino seemed to be actively holding back laughter. “I mean, you’re practically cuddling!”

Yuichi scowled. “Kitsune!” He scolded, ears pinned to his skull in what was probably an attempt to hide his blush. “Don’t tell me you picked the lock again!”

The cat cleared her throat. “Actually, I picked the lock this time.” She corrected. “You weren’t answering our texts. I told them that you had obviously forgotten about our plans, but Gen wanted to check on you just in case.”

Leo leaned forward, glancing between these new yokai and Yuichi. “Uh, am I going to be introduced, or should I just fade into the background?” He couldn’t lie, he was a little annoyed at the interruption (only because of the fact that it interrupted their Jupiter Jim marathon, of course). 

Yuichi hesitated for a moment, before sighing. “Leo, the fox is Kitsune, the cat’s Chizu, and Gen’s the rhino. They are, regrettably, my friends.”

Gen snorted. “Please; you know you love us!”

“Again - regrettably.” Yuichi snarked, before freezing again. “Wait - what did I forget?” Chizu gave him a look as the pieces visibly connected in his mind, before he gasped. “Oh! Oh my God. I’m so sorry, guys, I can’t believe I forgot about our karaoke night! I didn’t know that it was that late.” He pushed the comforter off of him, getting up with an apologetic smile.

Kitsune smirked. “No, no; we wouldn’t dream of depriving you of the opportunity to hang out with a cute boy.” 

So Yuichi was also being teased about their friendship. Leo felt a little bad about that. “I can leave.” He offered quietly. “I don’t want to hog your time. I know you have other friends; I’m fine.”

Chizu shook her head. “You don’t need to do that.” She assured him. “So long as you just answer a few questions for us. We’ve heard quite a lot about you from Yuichi; we’re very curious about you.” She gave a small smile, though it didn’t serve to make her any less intimidating - Leo wasn’t sure he’d ever been this intimidated by a cat (or, in this case, cat-like yokai) before. “After all, we need to make sure that you’re worthy of our dear Yuichi.”

Yuichi sputtered, clearly not having expected that. “You don’t have to -”

“Sure. I can answer a few questions.” Leo answered easily, much to Yuichi’s visible surprise, getting to his feet. He understood the interrogation; after all, his brothers and April had expressed desires to do the same, even though he hadn’t let them. It just meant that they cared about their friend… even if it was a bit too protective.

Almost as soon as the words came out of his mouth, Kitsune let out a whoop and clapped her hands together. “Yay! Okay, first of all - you’re a ninja, right?”

That… was a confusing first question. Chizu had said that they’d heard a lot about him, hadn’t she? Wouldn’t they know that, then. “Yeah. Our dad is Lou Jitsu; he raised us, and we learned from him.” Well. Technically, they had. It wasn’t anything like Yuichi, who had actually been trained, but, well. He’d said he wasn’t going to be bitter about Splinter’s parenting anymore - it wasn’t productive. Besides, he’d apologized, and he really was doing better recently.

Chizu looked him up and down, and he had the distinct feeling that he was being analyzed. “You don’t look like the ninjas I am used to. You certainly don’t act like them, either.” She gave him a smile, then, toothy and fierce. “That is a good thing, in case you were wondering.”

“You have brothers, right? What are they like?” Gen asked - much more normal questions there, thank you big rhino guy.

Leo chuckled. “Oh, they’re the best. Or the worst. It all depends on when you ask me - and what they’ve done recently. My oldest brother is Raph; he’s a big guy, but he’s a real softie. He’s also pretty smart, when he’s not being dumb. Donnie’s my twin, and he’s the tech guy. We fight sometimes, but he can be cool on occasion, I guess. Mikey’s the littlest, and he takes his title as youngest sibling seriously. He’s a good kid. We have a friend named April that we’ve known long enough to basically be our sister. She’s great, but she can be a real pain. Y’know, regular sibling stuff.”

Gen nodded at the words, giving him a small smile. “I understand completely. I have a sister myself; she is… well, she certainly takes her role very seriously, like you say Mikey does with his.”

Chizu gave Leo a long, hard look. Once again, he got the feeling of being analyzed, of being appraised for value to see if he was worth it. Though she was relatively small in stature, she was definitely the friend he was the most intimidated by. She was very good at keeping her emotions to herself; not so much as an ear twitch to reveal what she must be feeling, and her smile from before had seemed more of a practiced thing. Finally, she asked her own question. “Do you care about him?” She asked, voice quiet and yet the furthest thing from soft.

“Of course I do.” Leo answered, almost offended at this point. “Why wouldn't I? He's great. Hell, we only met, like, a little more than a month ago, and I already know that he’s probably one of the most amazing people in the world. I love hanging out with him.” A bit worried about all of this genuine praise in front of strangers, he swung his arm around Yuichi’s shoulders, pulling him close with a teasing grin. “Besides, how can I resist him? He’s just so damn cute!”

Gen gave him a knowing smile. “I think he passed, girls.” He shared a look with Chizu and Kitsune, which rubbed Leo the wrong way. What did these guys know that he didn’t? “I think we should be going; we can still go karaoke.”

Kitsune let out a cackle. “Hell yeah he passed! Let’s leave these weirdos to be cute together. If I stay here any longer, I’m gonna start searching for Auntie’s jewelry box.”

“Well, we definitely should be going, if that’s the case.” Chizu deadpanned. She gave Yuichi a knowing look, before blowing him a kiss, the gesture strange when it came to her still-intimidating aura. She turned and led the others out of the room - and it was an almost comical sight to see the hulking Gen, who probably rivaled Raph in size, following what was essentially a tiny cat girl.

Yuichi let out a huge sigh, flopping back down on his bed like the interaction had drained him of all his energy. “I’m so sorry about them. They’re just… well. Like that. I promise I’ll tell them off in our group chat later.”

Leo laughed, joining him on the bed. “It’s fine; that’s just what friends do. I mean, I know I’d do the same if I saw you hanging out with some new guy.”

At his words, a weird expression crossed Yuichi’s face; for a moment, Leo could have sworn it was sadness. But before he could ask what was wrong, a slightly-too-big smile replaced it, and Yuichi was sitting up, grabbing the laptop again. “We might as well get started on the next movie, right?”

Well. That was weird. Still, Leo could never bring himself to turn down Jupiter Jim. He resigned himself to asking about it some other time, giving Yuichi a grin in return. “Let’s get this party re-started!”

Two weeks later, Cass and Casey were finally free to hang out again (it turns out, trying to get legal documents on someone is kind of time-consuming). The benefit of not having seen them in a while was the fact that they could fill them in on all that had gone on since then. They’d been talking for a while about what mainly accounted for random nonsense (turns out, future Donnie had set up a fairly comprehensive ‘home’ schooling curriculum for Casey, which intrigued present Donnie), until Leo inevitably brought up Yuichi.

“Of course; he can’t go an hour without talking about his silly rabbit.” Donnie grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Cass, meanwhile, had been fixated on Spot. “You’re telling me that this guy has a dinosaur? And you DIDN’T immediately call me over?!?” She was gripping Leo’s phone like a vice, having zoomed in on the dinosaur. Raph shrugged from where he was looking over her shoulder, never being one to pass on the chance to see a cute animal.

April smiled sheepishly. “Would you believe me if I said that I thought you would be more interested in the ninja thing?” At Cass’ capital-L Look, she sighed. “We might have been a bit too focused on teasing.”

“I think we might not have been focused enough on teasing.” Mikey added.

Leo had been about to add in a snarky comment of his own - he wasn’t quite sure what, those he usually came up with on the fly - when he noticed that Casey Jr. hadn’t spoken up yet, which was unusual. Sure, the kid (Leo didn’t care that they were the same age, he’d forever be known as ‘kid’) was socially awkward at times, but he usually at least tried to participate in the conversation. When he looked at Casey, he saw that the boy was wide-eyed and frozen, somehow looking even more like a deer in headlights when he caught Leo’s gaze. Casey got up from where he was sitting and retreated to the nearest room, which happened to be Leo’s, causing the conversation to still as everyone realized something was wrong. Cass, who had grown attached to her not-son since he moved in with her, moved to get up, but Leo was faster. “I can handle it.” He assured her.

He wasn’t sure what had happened, but Casey got like this sometimes, when something reminded him too much of the future. It happened at seemingly random things, and while he didn’t usually want to talk about it, sometimes he just had to get it out. Either way, he usually needed company, even if he didn’t ask for it, not wanting to be a burden. The ‘present gang’ didn’t like to talk much about what they’d learned about the future; that would make it too real. It had taken Raph finding out how he died to set that rule in motion. Luckily, Casey hadn’t locked the door behind him. “Case? You good?” He asked quietly, opening the door slowly.

Casey didn’t look up at his words, sitting on the bed with his knees hugged to his chest. Leo was reminded of how Yuichi had looked when he was talking about his Auntie. “I didn’t think you’d find him again.” He mumbled. “I didn’t know if it would be better or worse for you to not have him in your life, but I wasn’t sure if you’d manage to meet him without the invasion.”

Now, Leo may have been called stupid, and he generally won’t argue with that; he was pretty stupid sometimes. But he wasn’t that stupid. “Are you talking about Yuichi?

The boy nodded. “Yes. I knew him as Usagi-san, most of the time.” Casey smiled, then; a small, sad smile. “He was a great general in the resistance. He was always very nice to me - he helped me with my katas. The two of you - him and Sensei were very close. Aunt April called it being attached at the hip.” He was quiet for a long time after that. “The base was attacked two years ago. Or, two years ago to me. Everyone who could fight was split between helping those who couldn’t to evacuate, and fighting them off. I was seen as too young, so I was supposed to help. I kept complaining about it - I was old enough, I said. I should fight off the bastards. Usagi was with me, and, when I tried to slip away, he followed me. He was too caught up arguing with me, he didn’t even notice one of them was there until it was too late.” Casey was fully crying now, breath hitching. “He died getting me out of there.”

Leo’s heart sank, both at the story and at Casey’s obvious trauma. He crossed over to the bed, sitting beside the kid. “I’m sure he wouldn’t have blamed you. I may not know his future self, but I know who he is now, and I don’t think he would want you to beat yourself up over it.”

Casey gave a wet, bitter laugh. “It haunts me - obviously it does. He was surrounded, and I was freaking out, so I couldn’t even really help him. He didn’t want me to see how badly hurt he was. But that’s not what I think about when I remember it.” He paused to take a shaky breath. “Sensei found us, y’know? After Usagi… yeah. He let out just - the worst noise. I can’t even describe it. And he fell to his knees.”

Leo wasn’t sure when he’d hugged Casey into his side, but he felt the wetness on his shoulder with a chill. Quietly, almost inaudibly, he began to ask the question that had been slowly brewing in his mind. “And… we were…?”

He didn’t have to finish. Casey fished out a thread that had been tied to form a necklace that Leo hadn’t ever noticed him wearing, hidden as it was under his clothing. Attached were two rings. “They were married.” Casey clarified, continuing like he hadn’t just caused Leo to bluescreen. “They met during the resistance; got together a year in, I think Usagi said? Sensei proposed when he lost his arm - he was high on pain meds. When he got back in his right state of mind, Sensei insisted he had to follow through.”

Married . This should be Earth-shattering information, right? That he had been married to his completely platonic friend? But it wasn’t; or, at least, it wasn’t as surprising as it should have been. It was more the fact that, after all of the suppression, after all of the teasing that he’d never once thought of as being based on his family’s actual thoughts, he had to finally accept it.

Simply put, perhaps it was less of a moment of realization, and more of a moment of acceptance.

He didn’t just think Yuichi was cute in the way simple, innocent things like animals or drawings or plushies were. He didn’t think about his laugh because he thought it was weird. Leo didn’t think the way he wrinkled his nose was funny. He didn’t just feel platonic feelings for Yuichi. Yes, he did like him as a friend - he would be more than happy to just hang out for the rest of his life. But he couldn’t put the thoughts of kissing him, or cuddling him, or dancing with him to cheesy love songs on the radio away as random, inconsequential impulses; not anymore. 

After what must have been at least a minute of quiet, Casey spoke up again. “You know, just because you were married then doesn’t necessarily have to mean anything. You could ignore this, if you wanted to.”

“Do you think I should ignore it, then?” Leo asked.

Casey looked at him with an unreadable expression. “If you want to. If you don’t feel that way, or if you only think you do because of what you know now.” He sighed. “Sensei - you really changed after he died. It was like… the light left from you. You still tried to do things like karaoke or movie nights, but it wasn’t the same. I think… you really leaned on each other. Relied on each other. It’d be different, without the invasion. I don’t even know for sure if it would work.”

Leo swallowed, his throat dry from nerves. “And… what if I want it to work? What then?” He asked, hardly believing what he was saying. He could feel his heart in his head, and that both was and wasn't a metaphor.

He was met with a genuine, if still wet, smile. “Then, I think you should give it a try.” Casey said softly. 

He nodded, squeezing Casey to him and ignoring the persistent, heavy beating of his heart. “Well… I guess I’ll have to deal with that at some point.” He didn’t know how, or when, that would happen. But, now that Leo was letting himself think of it, he found a sort of giddiness alongside the fear. There was a sense of excitement toward it; he’d never thought, growing up, that he’d manage to actually get to be with anyone like that. He knew that finding a partner wasn’t everything, but that didn’t stop the ache in his chest. Even finding out that there was a whole host of yokai who wouldn’t blink twice at him and his brothers, he’d never really thought about it. And now, not only did he have the chance to actually have a boyfriend , but it was with one of his best friends.

Leo knew that, by the chance he woke up, he would be freaking out. Hell, he might not even end up sleeping, with all the worrying that was in his future. But that was for later, when he would have his brothers and April to calm him down and help him out. Right now, he was allowed to feel a quiet sense of happiness in the fact that he liked someone ; someone who might, maybe, just possibly, like him back (they were married in the doomed future, after all; future Yuichi had said yes to future him’s proposal, even if he had one less arm than was normal and was seemingly high off his ass on pain meds).

He could deal with what to actually do about all of this new information later. RIght now, he could bask in it.

Chapter Text

Even though he’d literally predicted it, Leo still hadn’t been quite prepared for when all of his anxious nerves hit him all at once with the weight of a semi-truck. 

As it was, he managed to stare at the ceiling that morning after waking up for what must have been ten minutes, though switching between oh my god, holy shit, I can’t do this to I literally need to tell him right this minute or I will die before he actually thought to get up.

Leo stumbled into the main room to the scent of pancakes. At least Mikey was making a decent last meal for him. He wondered idly if he should ask to be cremated or not, mechanically eating his share. His family didn’t seem all that worried at first; it generally took him a while to get up, and his moods upon leaving his bedroom seemed to go between constant whining to dead silence.

However, when he’d finished his share as well as his mug of coffee, that was when Raph, ever the big brother, looked at him suspiciously. Before he could say anything, though, Splinter, who had been trying to actually keep up a conversation (one of his parenting books had claimed that talking around the dining table during a meal was a good way to support a bond) beat him to it. “Blue, you have been rather quiet this morning. Is there something on your mind?”

Now, Leo could have phrased his problem delicately, or alluded to it. He could have said something simple but effective, asking for help; he could have even asked for Splinter to leave, if he was uncomfortable with his dad hearing about his feelings crisis. However, because this was Leonardo, and his brain-to-mouth filter had been diagnosed as being broken at the ripe age of six by his twin, what he ended up saying was “I am so fucking gay, help.”

The rat mutant blinked so rapidly that it almost looked like he was seizing. He opened his mouth as if to reply, then sighed, pushing out his chair. “I have not reached this stage of the books yet. Please, boys, help your brother; I am going somewhere where I cannot hear this conversation.” With this, Splinter excused himself. Fair enough .

His brothers, who had burst into laughter at the explanation, seemed to laugh even harder at their father’s words. Raph was the first to recover, though he made a show of wiping away fake-tears. “You came out when you were 12, Leon. Mind telling us what prompted this?”

Leo groaned, slamming his face down on the table with a thunk (thankfully, Mikey had managed to move his plate in time so that he didn’t break it and/or get sticky with syrup). “I think you guys know full well what prompted this.” His accusatory tone was muffled by the table. “In fact, I think you guys have known the cause of this a lot longer than I have. Why can’t I just let you deal with this?”

“Hold on, I gotta text April; this is happening.” Mikey whipped out his phone. “Go on, Leo; don’t mind me.”

He could practically feel Donnie’s eye roll. “Finally. You would not believe how much we’ve been suffering. I mean, really, Nardo - the pining is one thing. But the repression? That was almost too much to bear. I had to stop at least five matchmaking schemes between Raph and April, with no help whatsoever from Mikey.”

Leo turned his face so his cheek was resting on the table - he wasn’t quite confident enough yet to sit up completely, but his forehead was starting to hurt. “You guys didn’t make any betting pools, did you?” He asked suspiciously. “Because if you do, I demand at least half of the money. You were betting on me, after all; I deserve it. Wait, no; give me all of it so Yuichi and I can split it. That’s only fair.”

Raph shook his head. “Nah. April tried, but I shut it down.”

“April wants to know if you’re actually going to tell him, or if you’re going to, in her words, ‘pine like a Victorian maiden’.” Mikey reported, barely looking up from his phone. “I also want to know, so I know what to give you a pep talk on. I gotta make sure those are personalized, bro, you know that.”

Leo let out a loud whine. “I mean, I want to but I also don’t? Because this is killing me, and I feel like I’m gonna blurt it out the next time I see him no matter what, but also the thought of doing that makes me feel like I’m going to vomit.”

Donnie made a mildly disgusted face. “Eugh. See, this is why I personally would never like anyone.”

Raph gave him a confused look. “But how would that work? I thought you said you weren’t aromantic or anything when we had our last big Feelings Talk. I know you remember that - that was the sexuality and gender identity edition, when April joined her school’s GSA three years ago.”

“I simply would not feel - and, if I started to, I would tell myself not to.”

Mikey spoke up. “Okay, that is totally not healthy and we are absolutely going to have a Dr. Delicate Touch meeting about that later, but we have something more immediate to talk about. Anyway, Leo, it would probably be for the best to tell him soon, if you feel you can’t handle keeping this all to yourself. April agrees; she’s writing a list of ideas from fanfics she’s read right now. How do you want to go about this?”

Leo let out another big, dramatic sigh. “I mean, I want it to be nice. Maybe not, like, overboard. But it’d feel weird to tell him when we’re just hanging out like normal.”

Raph let out a thoughtful hum. “Maybe you can get him flowers? Those’re romantic. Plus, I read that since guys basically never get them, they’re a great way to show appreciation. And there’s basically no way for him to read that platonically.

Donnie huffed. “Don’t be so sure about it; the guy’s already got a case of the Leonardo Brain Worms, and those are terminal. We can’t be certain how badly that’s affected his reasoning skills.” Leo swatted at Donnie. “Look, I don’t know; I’m not a lovey-dovey kind of guy. Maybe just text him that you want to hang out and then surprise him?”

“April says that mood lighting is important.” Mikey added. “Personally, I think that a rooftop at sunset would be a good way of getting that.”

Leo frowned, thinking it over. “That… actually doesn’t sound so bad.” Yeah; he could do this. He’d saved the world from alien invasion, after all. Even the version of himself that didn’t do that had fought off said aliens for, like, twenty years! And that guy had managed to ask Yuichi out! Hell, he’s even got it down before that version of him; Casey had said they only got together a year into the apocalypse! (He was conveniently ignoring the fact that having an epic romance was probably harder when you’re resistance leaders against world-destroying aliens.)

Raph gasped, clapping his hands excitedly. “Ooh! Yuichi said he hadn’t had any human candy before, right? Like Sour Patch Kids and all? You can bring some! Plus, that gives you a reason to invite him to hang out!”

A few moments later, Mikey piped up. “April likes that idea. She says she can get you some by tomorrow.” The youngest brother looked at Leo with a comforting smile. “You can handle tomorrow at sunset, right? That gives you time to prepare, while also being soon enough that you don’t, like, actually explode.”

“He better be able to handle it.” Donnie snarked. “Seeing as Yuichi just agreed to it.”

Leo let out a yelp upon seeing Donnie with his phone, practically hurling himself out of his chair to tackle the phone out of his twin’s hand, getting a strong sense of deja vu from when he had done the same to April.

Neon Leon: do u wanna meet up tomorrow to try some human candy

Neon Leon: i can do sunset - heres a nearby rooftop thats pretty isolated

Bnnuy: That sounds great!!

Bnnuy: I can’t wait <333

Leo was torn between being a little weirded out by how good Donnie was at impersonating his texting style, and a feeling of excitement at how quickly Yuichi had replied.

“He sent a heart. I assume that means your chances are pretty good.” Donnie pointed out, gesturing to the message. “Plus, there are three ‘3’s in there. I think that probably makes your chances somewhere around 85%, but I’m no expert in the science of emojis.”

Okay. Leo can do this. He’d gone over what he wanted to say in his head so many times he was starting to call it his script. A string of affirmative texts from April, Raph, and Mikey had been sent to him - with Donnie just sending “it’s probably going to be fine, since he’s an idiot”, which was as close as he could get to the endless thumbs-up emojis peppering Raph’s paragraph-long texts. Plus, it wasn’t like Yuichi was a dick or anything; Leo knew that, even if his feelings weren’t returned, he would probably be let down easy. Which… well, it might be pretty humiliating in its own right, but he knows that it wouldn’t be the end of the world or anything.

His nerves were somewhat calmed by Yuichi sending him a picture of Spot laying on his jacket, saying he was on his way. Leo always appreciated pictures of a cute dinosaur, even more so when it was sent to him by the person he’s actively working up to confessing to.

Leo had come up to the roof fairly early, almost a half an hour before they’d agreed to meet, because he felt like he was going to die if he spent one more minute at home. It gave him some time to prepare; the flower idea, while cute, had seemed a little much for a confession, so it was just him and a wide variety of candy. He told himself that, on the off chance that he got the best case scenario - IE, that Yuichi actually liked him back and agreed to be his boyfriend - he could save it for a future date.

And wasn’t that an exhilarating idea? The fact that the word ‘date’ could actually be applied to their hangouts now. But that was getting ahead of himself; Yuichi hadn’t even showed up yet. Which, he reminded himself at the internal panic that thought brought up, didn’t mean anything. After all, it was still ten minutes until they’d agreed to meet up. 

Leo found himself actually following Mikey’s advice for calming himself down (ignoring the fact that said advice had actually been to help calm himself down from panicking after the failed invasion). He watched his breathing, making sure to inhale through his mouth and exhale through his nose - or, was it the other way around? Oh, well. He was sure it would work just as well this way.

Leo was contemplating how ten minutes could seem like ten hours when he heard a throat clearing behind him. “Leo? You alright?” Yuichi’s voice came out.

He automatically froze up, before he forced himself to relax, turning around in what hopefully seemed like a casual motion. “Bunny boy! I’m fine; always am. What makes you think otherwise?” Leo could hear that his voice was stilted, and he just prayed that Yuichi couldn’t tell.

Yuichi, who, despite not wearing anything out of the ordinary, just the normal semi-athletic wear he had on when he wasn’t out patrolling, still managed to look absolutely amazing, with his sweet, big brown eyes and utterly-pinchable cheeks. Yuichi, who was frowning at him with obvious concern. Leo’s eyes were drawn to the cute way his nose scrunched at the expression, like they’d been even before he’d realized his feelings. “Are you sure? Because you’ve been pacing while doing deep breathing exercises for the past minute or so, at least.”

Shit. Shit, shit - Leo was the ninja! He was supposed to be the one that was doing the sneaking. Deflect, deflect: say something stupid! He let out a forced chuckle. “So you were watching me, huh? Did you like the view?” God, flirting was so much different when he was actually aware that there were real feelings involved (at least on one side). 

The deflection didn’t seem to work. Yet more proof of an uncaring cosmos. In fact, Yuichi’s eyes narrowed; great, now he was suspicious. He took a few steps forward, observing Leo closely - which, yeah, did not feel great now. Who would have thought, having your crush try to analyze what you’re hiding from them is not a nice experience. “Is something wrong? I can go, if you want -”

“No!” Leo nearly shouted, clearly startling Yuichi. Leo really was just the best at this, wasn’t he? “No, no, you can stay. You should stay. Nothing is wrong, I promise. I’m fine, everything is fine. It’s just…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say. The problem with having scripted this out means that he wasn’t prepared for the possibility of deviating from it.

Great, now Yuichi was looking a little annoyed. “Leo, I can tell when you’re lying to me.” He pointed out, voice soft yet firm. “You can tell me what’s really going on.” Those brown eyes drifted away from him, which didn’t make Leo feel any better than when they had been analyzing him. “Unless… this isn’t about me, is it?”

Leo wanted to scream at the quiet hurt apparent in that question. How do you say ‘yes, but it’s a good thing I promise - or it could be a good thing? If you want it to be?’ without sounding crazy? “It’s nothing wrong, I swear, it’s just - “ He groaned, sitting down on the half-wall surrounding the edge of the roof, head in his hands. “It’s nothing wrong.” He repeated, quieter this time. “It’s just - really, really hard for me to say, apparently.”

He could hear Yuichi sigh, before he strode over to sit next to Leo. He sat farther away than they usually did - what did future April say about them? Attached at the hip? He supposed that was accurate - which led to a stabbing pain in Leo’s heart. Then, Yuichi rested his hand on Leo’s shoulder, which sent a somehow entirely different pain. “You can tell me. Anything that’s bothering you, you can always tell me. I don’t care what it is; I’ll always listen to you.” Then, almost inaudibly, he added “I thought you knew that.”

Leo let out a strangled noise. “And that’s the problem!” He snapped, whirling around to look at Yuichi and immediately regretting it when the hand on his shoulder was pulled away. The expression on the other boy’s face was awful to see, making Leo scramble to reassure his friend. “That came out wrong! It’s just that I had a whole thing prepared, and I’m not sure how to keep going with it.”

“Just tell me.” Yuichi urged, still obviously a little upset.

Leo sighed, looking away. “It’s just… look, I only recently found this out, so it’s still pretty new to me. But… I just can’t seem to stop thinking about you.” He could see Yuichi’s eyes widening in his peripheral vision, but it was like Leo couldn’t stop talking, now that he started. “And, look, my brothers and April and even my Dad kept teasing me about liking you? So I guess I kind of just ignored the signs that I obviously, really did. And I was just left being an idiot about it, and pushing past the fact that I kept wondering what it would be like to kiss you, or thinking that your eyes were really pretty, or that the way you fought fit so well with me. And I just feel so stupid because it took the fact that someone from the actual, literal future - well, an apocalyptic one, but we averted that - told me that we were married when he knew us for me to accept it. Because I don’t deal with difficult feelings like this, so I just pushed it away when it inconvenienced me, which really isn’t fair to either of us. And you totally don’t have to accept this - like, I would not blame you at all if you decided to ignore that this ever happened - because, honestly? Just being near you in any capacity at all is more than I feel like I deserve. I just couldn’t keep this hidden after so long spent repressing it, I hope you can understand that even if you don’t feel the same -”

See, Leo had been so caught up in his rambling that he didn’t really notice anything that Yuichi may or may not have been doing, so he really wasn’t prepared for the other teen to gently grab his face in his hands, turn it so that they were facing each other, and kiss him.

Most people describe first kisses as being like fireworks going off - everything is perfect immediately, and there’s a sense of magic in the air. In movies, this is where the score would be going crazy in the background. This wasn’t that. It was clear that, despite this bold move, Yuichi wasn’t experienced, not that Leo was any better, judging by how there was just a bit too much force in the action, mouths clanging together in a move that must’ve hurt both of them. But, then, that wasn’t what mattered. Ultimately, how it went wasn’t what mattered, here; it was the intent behind it. It only lasted a second or two, but when Yuichi pulled back, clearly nervous, he touched his forehead to Leo’s with a smile. “You really do talk too much.” The yokai murmured, his voice wavering.

It took a few moments for Leo to respond to that, blinking dumbly. Finally, he managed a strangled sounding laugh. “That’s not fair! I was going to do that!”

Yuichi gave a slightly-hysterical giggle. “Were you, now? I thought you were just going to keep rambling until we both died.” Still, the way he looked at Leo was almost fond enough to hurt, and he gently nuzzled their foreheads together. “In case it wasn’t clear: I like you back.”

“I think I’ve got that one figured out, at least.” Leo still wasn’t quite sure that this was real when he felt Yuichi’s arms wrapping around him in an embrace, but he still readily returned it. He took a deep breath, before pressing forward to kiss again, this time with much less force behind it. It was still a weird thing to experience, their noses bumping together awkwardly before they adjusted it, but Leo had to admit that it was nice. Warmth was steadily spreading through his chest, and the feeling of Yuichi’s lips and his breath against Leo’s face was certainly something that he could picture getting used to.

When they pulled back this time, there was clear amusement in Yuichi’s gaze, and his eyes flicked to somewhere over Leo’s shoulder. “I think that we have company.” He said, and the somewhat-breathless tone of it was almost enough to distract Leo from what was actually being said.

There was a sound of cursing, the voices familiar as the audible scuffling began. “You know it’s bad when I’m the one who thinks that we’re invading someone’s privacy.” A familiar, wry voice that he’d known since they got mutated complained. Leo wasn’t quite sure why he hadn’t expected his family to spy on him - they were far from above doing something like that, as Donnie had so clearly pointed out.

Leo finally managed to tear himself away from Yuichi, throwing a glare over his shoulder. “Y’know, you guys really are the worst. Both as people and at hiding.”

While Leo had expected his brothers and April to poke their heads up from the other side of the roof - likely balancing on one of Donnie’s larger drones, if Leo had to guess - with varying degrees of guilt on their faces, he did not expect the additional three faces.

“I take offense to that!” Kitsune protested, a smirk clear on her face and an excited sparkle in her eyes. “I’ll have you know that, if it weren’t for the turtle-squad, we wouldn’t have been caught. You wouldn’t believe how many times we’ve sent Yuichi pics of the back of his head in public to freak him out.”

“You two do that. I do not, because I actually don’t think stalking my friends is funny.” Gen pointed out, but Kitsune ignored him.

April rolled her eyes, scrambling up to get up on the rooftop. “Listen, dudes, this was for your own good. Do you even know how annoying your pining has to be when two months seems like a long time before you get together?!?”

Chizu was far more graceful when she vaulted up on the roof, ending with a truly admirable superhero landing. “Every day, more doubt in my heart grows about your alleged ‘ninja abilities’.” She grumbled, but she did lean back to accept Mikey’s up-until-then-ignored offer of a high five, so clearly she couldn’t have been too annoyed at their so-called incompetence.

“I agree with Leo. You are all horrible people, clearly, and I think that we are being attacked. Oppressed, even.” Yuichi’s voice still showed his amusement, and Leo almost couldn’t believe he was allowed to look at that smirk as long as he wanted to.

Raph threw back his head with a groan. “Oh, God. The allegations of homophobia are going to be even worse now! I regret rooting for this already.”

Leo got up, walking over to them and feeling just a little more of that overwhelming warmth when Yuichi followed him and twined their hands together. “You know, if this is so bad for you guys to deal with, you really don’t have to be here. In fact, you really didn’t need to spy on us in the first place if you think about it - though I know that none of you did any of that before arranging this.

Mikey shook his head. “Nah, this was necessary. Blackmail material gathering is a very delicate art, one that needs to be refined and practiced whenever possible. We take this very seriously, you see.”

Yuichi and Leo shared a look, and, when Leo glanced towards his swords, Yuichi grinned and nodded. Mind made up, Leo unsheathed them. “Y’know, I really didn’t want to do this - we didn’t even get to try the candy - but you leave me no other choice.” Before any of them could protest, he was opening a portal, and the two of them were stepping through it to land on Yuichi’s bed.

“You know, that feels different than I was expecting.” Yuichi managed to get out through his laughter, likely at the confused and disgruntled looks of his friends - evidently, they had not known that about Leo.

Spot, who had yelped and scrambled away from them, hesitantly stepped towards Leo’s outstretched hand, letting out a pleased chirp when he gave the dino a scritch. “You get used to it.” He assured. “Besides, it really is useful; in more situations than you would think.” There were a few moments of silence, but it wasn’t awkward at all. In fact, it felt a little exciting, now that they were really, properly alone, with all feelings in the open. “So,” Leo started, causing Yuichi to look up from where he was reassuring Spot. “Does this mean that you getting mad at me for calling you adorable when we first met was actually just you having a gay panic, or -”

Leo laughed as the pillow Yuichi had thrown at him made contact. “I did not agree to be your boyfriend to be mocked!” The yokai protested, obviously flustered.

He felt a sense of giddiness at Yuichi using the word ‘boyfriend’, but, of course, the urge to participate in some loving mockery was too strong for him to ignore. “It’s okay, babe! You can admit you had a little crush on me!”

Yuichi had covered his face with his other pillow at the mere use of the word ‘babe’. Oh , Leo thought with a smirk, this is going to be fun . “I literally did admit that, though. It wasn’t even fifteen minutes ago.” Oh, and Leo definitely wasn’t going to forget that anytime soon, believe him.

“I can’t believe you liked me, that’s so embarrassing of you. I thought you didn’t like me at all, but it turns out, you just liked me too much! That’s so cute, babe . I just can’t believe you were such a tsundere at first - Hey! No more pillows! Gah, gah - stop it! You’re going to suffocate me! You’re killing your boyfriend after only having him for fifteen minutes!” Leo protested as Yuichi hit him with the other pillow, causing Spot to finally give up and scamper away.

“Then perish.”

Before Leo could scold Yuichi for using a dead meme, he was tackled. He guesses that’s just what you have to deal with, with a boyfriend.