Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

April, 2024

School wasn’t what Leo had been expecting. 

To be fair, he wasn’t really sure what he had been expecting, in the first place. TV and the internet made high school seem so exciting. There was always some kind of hot tea or relationship drama or mean teachers. 

But in actuality, school involved a lot of sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher lecture for about forty minutes. Then the bell would ring and then you’d move to another classroom to do the same thing all over again. 

There wasn’t really any gossip that Leo was involved in and he liked most of his teachers. Sure, a few of them were pretty strict but never outright mean. His math teacher didn’t seem to be the biggest fan of mutants joining society but he never really took it out on Leo. A few weird looks or unnecessary comments every so often but mostly he just ignored him. 

Overall school was pretty mundane. It was a good kind of mundane. The kind of mundane all the boys had longed for. They loved being able to complain about homework and waking up early for school. They loved nagging their dad with permission slips and last minute trips to the store for school project supplies, they should have gotten weeks ago. 

High School had added a specific structure to their lives that they hadn’t had before and Leo loved it. He loved getting bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches with his brothers from the same corner store on their way to school. He loved arriving early so he could catch some extra study time while he sat in the cafeteria with April. He loved bringing home his A-B report card to his dad, even if it wasn’t as perfect as Donnie’s straight A report card. Which totally wasn’t fair because he studied way more than he ever saw Donnie study. 

Sure, his brothers may have nicknamed him a Teacher’s Pet but they were the same idiots who called him Splinter’s Golden Child, a Goody-Two-Shoes, and a Daddy’s Boy ( all lies) so really, he had expected nothing less of them. 

What did it matter if he happened to like following rules and didn’t save all his homework until the very last minute. He liked to talk with his teachers after class but that wasn’t because he was trying to kiss up to them. He was just being friendly. His brothers just had an innate desire to tease him. What jerks. Even with their petty name calling, he could tell they were all enjoying this new found structure in their own ways. 

Raph could finally get out all his energy in wrestling and Leo remembered him mentioning something about hockey try-outs. Mikey had way more people he could socialize with and he was a rising star on the school’s improv team. Donnie had found a group of friends that shared his love of anime and computers, plus according to Sai, the STEM club’s grad student volunteer, Donnie was showing great promise for a future in computer science or engineering. 

While Leo hadn't exactly found a new group of friends or any promising career prospects, he did find something else. 

A pair of familiar arms wrapped around Leo’s neck and a quick kiss was pressed to his cheek. Leo looked over his shoulder at April, a soft smile, spreading across his face. “Happy seven months,” she whispered. 

Leo leaned his head against her, “Happy seven months to you too.”

April slumped down in a seat, beside him. They were sitting at a table in the corner of the school library. His brothers all had their own after school activities to attend to so Leo had made it a habit to study in the library while he waited for April to get out of class. Advanced Media Studies had a tendency to run long.

“It’s so unfair, I’ve barely seen you today,” April pouted, as she leaned her head against the wood table. “You haven’t been avoiding me have you?” She teased with a sly smile. 

Leo looked back up from the textbook he had been reading. “No-no! Of course not!” He let out a tired sigh then looked back down at the wordy textbook in front of him. He was gonna puke if he had to read one more biology question. There was only so much he could read about the embryonic cannibalism in Tiger Sharks, before he started wanting to pull out his nonexistent hair. 

“Sorry. I’m just really stressed about these regents exams. Living Environment is gonna be the death of me, I swear .” Leo closed the book so he could lean his elbows against it. “All my teachers make it seem like it’s life or death if I don’t do well.” He ran a hand over his head, breath beginning to quicken, “And we’ve all worked so hard to even be able to attend school so if I do bad on such an important exam my dad is gonna be so disappointed and-”

“Whoa-whoa, Sweetie,” April placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “remember to breathe,” She said, keeping her voice soft and reassuring. 

Leo gave her a look then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It did feel better to have a consistent airflow reaching his lungs but that didn’t take away his lingering anxiety. “I know your teachers are trying to scare you into thinking regents are like the literal end of the world but I promise you they’re not.” 

Leo slumped onto the table, squishing his cheeks against the cool wood then let out a weary moan. Nice of her to try and make him feel better but this was really gonna be the end of him. He was gonna fail out of high school after one standardized test. April rolled her eyes, but with a soft understanding smile. “There, there,” she said, patting the upper half of his carapace. 

Leo lifted his head to give her a little glare that read, ‘Don’t patronize me.’

April scooted her chair closer to him so she could wrap an arm around his shoulders. “Oh, stop being so dramatic, Leo.” She tugged him close to her side, “I promise you’ll survive.” 

Leo planted his face back on the table with a little defeated moan. He should have taken up Donatello’s offer to tutor him. Even if it was only by an undetermined amount of minutes, Donnie was Leo’s younger brother and the thought of having his younger brother tutor him was slightly embarrassing. Leo wasn’t being prideful or anything, he just wanted to figure things out on his own. As the eldest, he was supposed to be the role model brother. 

“I mean I’m the one applying for college in a few months and you're more stressed then I am!” April continued, “Plus I doubt even a New York college is gonna look at your sophomore regents scores.” 

Leo perked up at the mention of college. 

Right, college. 

It was easy to forget that April was a whole year older than him. She was going to be a senior next year and then the year after that she’d be miles away in college. Would she even want to keep a high school boyfriend? Surely, in college, there would be all kinds of interesting and cute people. People that could easily develop feelings for April and that she could reciprocate. April was a pretty girl, and smart, and funny, and brave, and a really good kisser, and– well, Leo could go on, but the point was, it would be easy for someone like her to attract attention. 

Leo was still shocked that he and April were even an official couple. He thought surely after Prom, he had landed himself square in the friend zone. However, things just kinda happened and it had been so simple.

Leo and April were in the dark room together working on some post-production for April’s news show, April Tonight. After a bit of nervous fidgeting Leo had asked her to homecoming just like he had for Prom. Maybe it was lame of him to just outright ask instead of doing an elaborate proposal of sorts but it was the easiest way for him to do it without his nerves getting the better of him. 

April smiled at him with a sly look in her eyes. “I’d love to, Leo. But it's not as friends this time is it?” 

Leo’s face had gone so red and he felt like his heart was gonna pound out of his chest. “Is–is that okay?”

April had simply smiled back at him, her own cheeks growing rosey. She glanced off to the side then back at him, “Y-yeah,” she stuttered. “That’d be nice.”

Then things had only escalated from there. They had their first slow dance at homecoming. The night ended with them running off together to be alone in an unlocked classroom, where they spent the rest of the night talking. A month later they had their first and notably very awkward kiss in the middle of the lair. It wasn’t romantic in the slightest, they just mashed their faces together hoping somehow they would fit. It resulted in their noses being squished up against each other, their lips struggling to reach out for each other, and April’s glasses falling off her face. It was only made worse by the fact that at that exact moment, Donatello had waltzed into the kitchen to grab a drink and had witnessed the whole thing. 

Leo pulled Donnie aside, grabbing him by the mask tails, and made him swear on his life not to tell a soul. Luckily, Leo was well aware that Donnie didn’t buy a phone case from that Dakimakura sight. It was Leo’s own fault for going into Donnie’s tent to look for his phone charger. He would never look at Mikasa Ackerman the same.

The second kiss a week later was a much more successful attempt. 

April’s voice brought Leo back to the present “Hon , your shoulders are literally soo stiff, right now.” She lightly pushed her thumbs into his shoulders, rubbing little circles into his stiff muscles. Leo relaxed at her touch. She wasn’t wrong, his shoulders were incredibly sore. It was probably a mix of the exam stress and extra training he had been doing. “I’ve gotta take you for like a spa day or something during spring break.” 

Leo’s face brightened at the mention of spring break, “You know I’d love to but I’ve already made plans for spring break.” 

April leaned into her elbow on the table, “Ahh, right. Your little spread sheet.” 

Leo reached into his school bag and pulled out a color-coded excel sheet. “My brothers and I-” He paused, thinking to himself for a moment. They hadn’t exactly been as close as they used to since starting high school. Maybe Leo could have made more of an effort to hang out with them but he’d been busy and so had they. Being in a relationship, training, doing school, making time to work on his comic, and remembering to eat were all a lot of work so sometimes– just sometimes maybe he let time with his brothers slip. 

It’d only been the one time that he blew Mikey off to help April film at the last minute. Surely, Mikey was mature enough to understand that filming a breaking news story in Central Park was way more important than listening to him practice his newest monologue.  

“We’ve all been so busy,” Leo continued. “Raph, Mikey, and Donnie all have their things going on and well I’ve been spending a lot of time with you and y’know April Tonight can be a lot of work too.”

“And I appreciate all your help,” April said, giving his hand a firm squeeze “Like for real, your editing skills are top notch!”

Leo felt a little bashful as his cheeks grew red, “Well, Donnie and I used to edit AMVs together.” He patted his plastron proudly, feeling a sudden wave of confidence, “I made a TakixMitshua edit that got like 10k views, when I was thirteen!” 

April blinked at him blankly for a moment before laughing, “That is simultaneously cringe-y and kinda cute. You amaze me, Leonardo.” 

Leo smirked at her, leaning his head into his elbow, “So what you’re saying is, you think I’m cute?”

April rested a hand on top of his, her own sly smile spreading across her cheeks. “Just a little bit.” 

They both stared back into each other’s eyes for a moment. This wasn’t an appropriate place for a kiss but damn did Leo wish it was. Eventually, the couple broke off into a fit of giggles. Once they died down, April asked. 

“You’re helping your dad open that new dojo too, right?” 

The city had given them a large sum of grant money as thanks for defeating the Mega-Mutant. The boys were all ecstatic about the prospect of having real money they could spend. Donnie wanted to buy some kind of high tech drone, Mikey wanted to get a mic set up for a podcast, Raph wanted to buy a rowing machine, and Leo wanted to get a proper sheath for his katana and maybe a tanto as well or one of those fancy drawing tablets. 

Their dreams were all soon crushed, when after the picture was snapped the cheque was immediately handed over to their father. Something about them being minors and all. 

The boys had all complained about not getting to spend even a little bit of the money on new things but Splinter wasn’t backing off. He put a third of the money into individual savings accounts for the boys, that they could access once they turned eighteen. Another third was for their current living expenses and the last third was put toward the new dojo. 

Splinter explained to them that the grant money wouldn’t last them forever and stealing was completely off the table now so they needed a way to generate income, hence the new dojo. Martial arts was Splinter’s only real skill and there was a ton of buzz around #KarateTurtles which was generating a lot of interest for their new business. April even agreed to help run their social media account and advertise during April Tonight. She was so sweet. 

Leo nodded at April, “Well, we’re all supposed to be helping,” he grumbled. “But I swear it feels like it's just me and Mikey.” Leo reached into his school and dug around until he found a slightly crinkled piece of notebook paper, “I’ve been sketching up some ideas for the logo.” 

April took the paper from him and adjusted her glasses as she took a look. She smirked then looked back at Leo, “Are these your english notes?” 

“I got bored in class!” Leo protested, “Ignore the top half, just what do you think of the sketches?”

April looked back down at his series of sketchy thumbnails. “These are good, Leo.” She looked back up at him with a smile, “Are you gonna do it traditionally? Cause wouldn’t it make things easier down the line to make it a vector file?”

“Probably,” Leo admitted, sucking on his bottom lip. He had done a bit of research on logos, before starting and a vector file would ensure that the logo continued to look crisp across all their branding. “but I don’t have a drawing tablet and I don’t think I could draw it as well with just a mouse.”

April’s face dropped, “Oh, I didn’t think about that.” She looked back at the drawings in her hand, “Well, I still think they look great! I’ll just be sure to take you to the printing place where I print my photos. They have a really good scanner there.”

Leo smiled at her bashfully as he took the notebook page back, Thanks,” he said as he shoved the paper back into his school bag. “I don’t really know what I’m doing. I think my dad just knows I like drawing.” 

“Has he seen your comic book?”

Leo frantically shook his head, “Absolutely not!” 

April wasn’t supposed to know about Leo’s little autobio comic. His brothers weren’t even supposed to know. It was just quite difficult to hide something from his girlfriend and the three people he was forced to share a bedroom with. Especially when those three people were nosey and liked to go through his stuff. The jerks.

April leaned back in her chair, rocking it back ever so slightly. “Aww, why not? It’s sooo good.” 

Leo crossed his arms over his plastron, gripping tight at the sleeves of his polo shirt. “It’s embarrassing,” he tried not to whine, feeling his cheeks tinge with pink. “I have shown some of my other drawings though and he likes them.” 

“Did you show him the one you did of buff Donnie?” 

Leo chuckled, “ Buffatello is hanging up on the fridge where he belongs!” 

April rested her head against Leo’s shoulder, “Well, while you guys are going through your spreadsheet of activities, I’m gonna spend spring break looking into TCRI’s disappearance.” 

“Oh, you got a lead or something?”

April nodded, “Kiiinda. TCRI used to have a lab out in Massachusetts. I found some old job listings on Linkedin. They’re all deleted now.” April smirked, “But I’ve got the screenshots!”

Leo beamed, “Wow, that’s amazing, April! That’s like a huge lead. It’ll get a shit ton of traction on April Tonight.” 

“Yeah, it would,” April’s tone dropped. 

“Would? ”

April nodded, “Yeah, the screenshots only have the state and the town. I know it’s in South Hadley. I just don’t have an exact address.” 

Leo began to connect the dots and his face fell. “Oh, I see and I guess it’s not exactly financially smart to take a trip up there if you don’t have any idea where it actually is.”

“Well actually, I was gonna stay at my grandparents farmhouse in Northampton. It’s only like a twenty minute ride to South Hadley. My mom said I could take her van and drive up. She even gave me some cash for groceries.” 

Leo groaned, “Why’s your mom so cool?” 

Splinter was the exact opposite of cool. He had been trying to be a bit less of a helicopter parent, since they joined society but habits don’t go away overnight. Truthfully, he was being much less overbearing but was still strict. Curfew was when curfew was and your ass better be in that lair if you wanna see your phone for the next week. 

April stuck out her tongue playfully, “Cool moms raise cool daughters, right?”

Leo giggled, leaning his head against hers, “Well, I can’t say you're wrong.”

”Grosssss!” 

Raph’s voice brought the couple’s attention to the entrance of the library, where the other brothers were walking in. 

“Tone down the PDA!” Donnie said with a forced grimace. 

Mikey grabbed onto Donnie’s arm, “Hold on,” he gagged. “I think imma barf.”

Leo rolled his eyes, “Oh, shut up . we’re just leaning our heads against each other.” He said with a small snip in his voice. Though the look on his face made it clear he didn't totally detest the razzing.

“It’s triggering a trauma response,” Raph said as he sat down across from Leo.

“Trauma from what?” Leo sneered. “That time you came home and we were cuddling on the couch?” 

“It was traumatizing!” Raph groaned. Then the three brothers looked at each other and burst into laughter.

Leo looked unamused, “You guys are the worst.” 

“Yeah-yeah,” Donnie said, reaching into Leo’s bag to grab a bite of leftover Cheez-its from lunch. 

April stood up, holding out her buzzing phone, “Sorry, my mom’s calling.” She pulled her satchel over her shoulders. “I’ll see you guys after break!” She leaned down to give Leo a quick kiss on his cheek then waved to the other brothers, before heading out the door. 

“Yesss, spring break!” Mikey cheered, throwing his arms up in the air. 

“School’s been great,” Raph said. “But I’m so ready for this break! I can't believe Dad said I can go to Hockey camp.” 

Leo’s face fell. 

What?

“Try-outs are this summer,” Raph continued, “And this is the perfect opportunity for me to make a good impression on the coach.” 

“Yeah! And I can’t wait for Improv camp!” Mikey said, bouncing in his seat. “I’ve been practicing my accents all week. I think I’ve finally got French down.” He patted his chest, clearing his throat. He looked off into the distance, channeling his inner acting voice. “ It’s the anguish of time going by that makes us talk so much about what the weather’s like.” 

The other brothers cringed at Mikey’s attempt at the accent. 

“That’s great, Mikey,” Raph said, giving a forced thumbs up. 

Donnie nodded, still forcing a smile. “I’m sure all your Improv buds will be impressed by your repertoire of French Film quotes.”

“You think so?” Mikey asked, innocently. “Dad and I have been watching all the classics together. I think I’m still having nightmares about Eyes Without a Face.”

“So that’s why you’ve been screaming at night.” Raph said with a hint of realization in his voice. 

Leo let out a deep breath. It was fine if Raph and Mikey would be gone all break. He still had one more brother, after all. 

Leo tossed an arm around Donatello’s shoulders, earning him an annoyed glance from his brother who was still stealing snacks from Leo’s bag. “Guess it’ll just be Don and me then,” Leo said with an aloof smile. 

“Actually, Nardo,” Donnie said, pushing Leo off of him. “Sai is giving the STEM club a personal tour of the labs at NYU.” He adjusted his glasses as his smile grew. “We’re gonna stay at the dorms and we’re even gonna get to sit in on a few lectures that he’s teaching. He wants us to get that college experience.” 

“But we’re only fifteen,” said Leo, a hint of sadness seeping into his voice. He could feel his palms getting sweaty and his stomach getting twisty. It was hard enough thinking about April going off to college but his own brothers leaving was somehow even worse. 

“Sixteen in a few weeks!” Mikey cut in excitedly. Raph and Donnie both nodded with smiles. 

“This is gonna be our first birthday as part of human society,” Donnie said, trying to hold back his excitement. “And it’s our sweet sixteen!”

“How are we celebrating?” Mikey asked. “I’m thinking a massive, massive party! Like with the whole school and the mutanimals and dad, obviously.”

Leo wouldn’t consider himself anti-social but a big party with the whole school and the mutanimals. Wasn’t that just a bit much? Where would they even afford to hold such a grandiose event? 

Leo was used to the small gathering of his immediate family, in their living room. Splinter did what he could for them. Every year, he would homemake special cupcakes for each of them, decorated high with frosting and sprinkles of their favorite colors. Then they would sing the classic, Happy Birthday song, exactly four times, once for each of them. Splinter would usually manage to get them each a few gifts as well, but that was about it for their birthday celebration. 

It wasn’t anything like the extravagant party Mikey was talking about but maybe there were some things from their old life that could stay the same, and their birthday was one of those things. 

“Well, whatever we do it’s gotta be epic!” Raph cheered, pumping a fist, in the air. “I’m thinking like a wrestling ring in the center and all the guests can like sign up for matches and shit.”

“Oh-oh!” Mikey shouted, excitedly. “We could have a mic set up and I could do a comedy set!”

Donnie ignored Mikey and interrupted with his own idea, “Oh, and have you seen those arcade tables? The ones they have in cafes in Japan? That would be so cool!” 

Donnie nudged Leo, who had been deep in thought, staring at the wood grain of the table. “What about you Leo?” 

Mikey leaned across the table, smirking at his eldest brother, “I bet you want us to set up a kissing booth for you and April.” Raph and Donnie burst into a small fit of laughter. 

Leo crossed his arms over his chest with an annoyed huff, “Would you guys just shut. up,”  Leo snapped. 

The laughter immediately ceased and the other boys’ faces all dropped. “You okay?” Asked Donnie. 

Leo leaned his head against the table, averting his eyes from his brothers. “Yeah, fine.” 

The brothers all gave him the same look that read ‘cut the bullshit.’

Raph motioned to Leo with his hand. “This is not your fine look, Leo.” 

Donnie and Mikey both nodded in agreement. “After almost sixteen years of being stuck with you, I have to say I agree.” 

“The way your eyebrows are scrunched, this look is reading more like Mopey Leo than Fine Leo,” Mikey said. 

Leo glanced up at them, not moving his head from its spot on the table. “I didn’t realize you guys made plans for spring break,” he grumbled. 

The three younger brothers blinked blankly, going quiet for a moment. “Sorry, didn’t realize??” Donnie’s voice was flabbergasted. 

“We’ve only been talking about this stuff all month at dinner,” Mikey added. 

Raph crossed his arms across his chest, “Well, maybe if someone,” he glared directly at Leonardo. “Took their head out of their phone and actually engaged in family dinner conversation. Then he might know what’s going on.”

Mikey and Donnie both nodded. “Seriously, Dude,” Mikey said. “I know she’s your girlfriend and all but can’t you stop texting her?”

“For five minutes?” Donnie asked. 

Leo sat up, cheeks growing red. He wanted to argue back that ‘of course he could stop and that he never did that’ but he knew he had zero legs to stand on. When he and April had started dating they went through a major honeymoon phase and maybe Leo had checked out during family dinner so he could keep texting her. 

“I don’t know why Dad doesn't just take your phone,” Donnie grumbled.

“Yeah, he only ever asks you to put it away like a hundred times,” Raph said. 

“We all know why,” Mikey mumbled. 

“Uggh,” Leo rolled his eyes, “ Fine, I’m sorry I haven’t been super engaged during family dinner.” He took a deep breath through his nostrils, “I just thought that we were gonna spend spring break together. I had a whole spreadsheet and everything!” 

“A whole spreadsheet and yet you never asked any of us if we had plans for break?” Donnie asked, cocking his head. 

Leo averted his eyes, because yes that had been very dumb of him. He had just been busy and really hyper focused on school and helping with April Tonight. “Well, I–I’ve been busy,” he stammered, still refusing to make eye contact. 

“Too busy?!” 

“Dude,” Donnie said plainly. “I literally sleep like ten feet away from you. How do you not have time to ask a question?” 

“My bag is literally packed and sitting in the middle of our bedroom!” Raph added, his voice growing louder but not angry. 

“Well, you guys never asked me, ” Leo shot back, though he knew he wasn’t exactly on the winning side. 

“We all assumed you were doing some couples shit with April!” Raph proclaimed, still he didn’t sound angry. His voice held more shock at his own brother’s short-sightedness than anything.

“Well, I’m not.”

“Color us surprised,” Donnie stated. “Cause you two are literally attached at the hips.” 

Leo stood up, pulling his school bag over one shoulder. “Oh, whatever, Guys.” Leo really wasn’t in the mood for dealing with this conversation any longer. He heard his brothers make some comments as he stormed out of the library but he felt too pissed off to pay them any attention. 

Fighting with his brothers wasn’t exactly how he thought his first spring break would go and yet here he was. 

Leo took a deep, calming breath as he boarded the subway. If his brothers were all gonna be gone all break, that was going to leave him home alone with dad. Which made Leo the perfect candidate for all the manual labor work needed for the new dojo. Great. What a fun spring break this was turning out to be.

Chapter Text

“And even though you went through all the effort of making a literal spreadsheet, you never thought to ask them if they had already made plans?” April’s voice echoed through a video call on Leo’s phone. “Leo, you know I really care about you but like— what the fuck?”

“I know—I know,” Leo, whined as he rolled over on his bed, holding his phone in the air to keep himself in view. “I dunno, I just ended up getting–” he paused for a moment to think of a reasonable excuse but nothing came to mind. “caught up with things,” he finished, pathetically. “Please help me to not feel like a dumbass.” 

April sighed on the other end, “Well, I can’t exactly help what you are.” 

“Aragghhh,” Leo moaned, smashing his face into his pillow. “As my partner, can't you like–hype me up or something?”

“Not when you are, in fact, being a dumbass,” she said with a little chuckle. 

Leo moaned into his pillow again. He felt stupid enough and she wasn’t making things any better, but he couldn’t exactly be mad at her when she was spitting facts in his face. 

Leo lifted his head, when he heard a small knock on the side of the wall. Splinter was standing in the doorway, a hand holding the curtain open. Leo turned back to his phone, “Gotta go, Hon. My Dad’s here.” Leo hung up the call, then shoved his phone into the pocket of his khaki shorts. “Hey, Dad,” he said, his voice sounding a little raspy. 

“Hello, my son,” Splinter said as he entered the room and sat on the bed beside Leo. He had that we need to have a talk kind of look. 

Leo wasn’t exactly in the mood for a talk but still leaned his head against his father’s shoulder and groaned. “I’m so so stupid.”

Splinter wrapped an arm around Leo’s shell, pulling him into a comforting side embrace. “You’re not stupid.” Leo knew Splinter was lying to make him feel better but hat was kind of his job as a father so he appreciated it anyway.

“I am stupid,” Leo mumbled, pressing his face further into Splinter’s wiry fur. “We had talked about it one night a couple months ago so I just assumed that they weren’t making plans.” 

In hindsight, one conversation at 3AM in the middle of January wasn’t exactly the same as making concrete plans. Leo had been meaning to remind them. Life had just started moving so fast. It was almost too fast. Then suddenly spring break was the next week and Leo panic-made a spreadsheet. 

It was stupid. 

How had he been paying so little attention to his homelife to not realize his brothers had all made other spring break obligations?

“Well, Leo,” Splinter said, giving the young boy’s shoulder a squeeze. “You have been a bit.” The rat paused as if trying to come up with the right thing to say. “A bit distant at home,” Splinter finally admitted. 

A little distant? 

Leo wasn’t distant. Didn’t his dad know he loved his family? That he would do anything for his father and his brothers. Being told he was distant was not something he wanted to hear.

“I’m not being distant,” Leo argued, a little more defensively than he would have liked. “I come home before curfew and I attend family dinner every night.” 

Splinter let out a soft sigh, “And how many times do I have to tell you to put away that phone of yours?” His voice grew a little more brusque as he patted the pocket with Leo’s smartphone.

Leo felt his cheeks grow a little warm. It was true that he had been on his phone a little more at dinner these days. “It’s only because it’s April texting me, Dad!” Leo pushed. “If it was Scumbug wouldn’t you want to text her back right away?” 

“No,” Splinter responded almost immediately. “Scum knows that family dinner is my time with my kids and that will always take precedence over our relationship.” 

Leo twiddled with his fingers in his lap. Being the only other one in the family, currently in a romantic relationship, Leo had been hoping Splinter would understand. Maybe it was different because he and Scumbug were so much older. Maybe they just weren’t as serious about their relationship as he and April were. Half the time, Scumbug seemed more interested in proving herself as a good potential mother figure to the boys than as a good partner to Splinter. 

It was annoying. 

Leo was still trying to forget the time she had attempted to allofeed him. Luckily, Leo had a pretty strong upper kick and ended that interaction before things could get any more weird. 

“I wasn’t trying to ignore everybody,” Leo muttered quietly.  “It’s just–April’s really important to me and I don’t wanna mess this up.” He knew the stress about his grades at school were a factor as well but he didn’t want to admit to that and definitely not to Splinter. The last thing he wanted was for his father to think High School was too much for him. 

Which it wasn’t. 

He was handling school just fine. It wasn’t a bad thing to want good grades. Besides, he owed it to Splinter. He knew how hard it was for him to let them go. 

Splinter let out another exacerbated sigh. “I know April is important to you. We all love April and we’re all so happy for you two.” Leo gave a warm smile at that. “But you can’t brush off everyone else in your life to spend 24/7 with your girlfriend.”

Leo pulled a knee up to his chest so he could rest his cheek against it. “I’m not trying to spend 24/7 with April. I wanted to spend spring break with my brothers and I’m helping you with the dojo, aren’t I?”

“Right and I appreciate all your help.” The old rat smiled, and tugged Leo closer to his side. “It’s certainly nice to spend some time with you again. But–” Splinter’s face dropped back to a frown. “Even if you haven’t quite realized it, you’ve been brushing off your brothers a lot, lately.” 

Leo knew there were a few times that he had promised to spend with his brothers and changed plans at the last minute whether it was to help April with April Tonight, a sudden decision to go on a date or an influx of school stress. It was only a few times, though, but even only a few times could have been hurtful to any of his brothers. 

Leo honestly couldn't remember the last time he sat and listened to Mikey’s latest comedy material. It was always bad and unfunny, at least to him. It was hard to laugh, when half the material was based on yourself, but it had been nice to share the one-on-one time together.

He really had become distant.

Guilt was beginning to settle in. He might be a great boyfriend and a hardworking student but he was a terrible brother. 

“I really did want us all to spend spring break together,” Leo muttered into his knee. It felt like he had broken a few threads of the strong rope that was he and his brothers’ bond. He needed to make it up to them. He needed to come up with a schedule for April Tonight, studying, date nights, work on the dojo, and time with his brothers. Maybe squeeze in some time to work on his comic.

Leo wasn’t gonna be able to think about anything else, all break. His mind kept racing of all the times he had blown his family off. When was the last time he had attended any of Raph’s wrestling matches or Mikey’s Improv shows?

“Your brothers aren’t leaving until the day after tomorrow.” Splinter said, his tone a bit lighter. He must have known Leo was feeling remorseful. The rat reached into his pocket, piquing Leo’s curiosity. He placed a white envelope into Leo’s hands, giving him a warm smile. “You four enjoy your one day of spring break together. I’ll finish up whatever packing the others need to get done.” 

Leo put his knee down and opened the envelope. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. Maybe tickets for a Mets game or a Broadway show or maybe that Area 53 Laser Tag place in Brooklyn? 

Leo’s face lit up as he pulled out the tickets, “Wow, Dad! Luna Park?” 

Luna Park was the ever iconic amusement park located on Coney Island. It was on the Boys’ bucket list of things they could finally do now as members of society. It was easy to sneak into a movie or a sports game but going to an amusement park had always been out of the question. Leo was itching to ride his first rollercoaster and eat awful calorie-filled theme park food. 

Splinter nodded with a smile, “You boys have fun tomorrow.” He pulled Leo into a tight side embrace.”And take lots and lots of pictures! I could really use a new lock screen for my phone.” 

Leo struggled to get out of his Dad’s tight hold. “We will! We will. I promise.” He paused for a moment then he muttered, “Does it have to be your lock screen though? That’s so embarrassing. ” 

A sly smile spread across Splinter’s face, “Why isn’t that part of my job, hmm? To embarrass you four.” Leo was still wriggling, trying to escape Splinter’s tight grasp. 

“You’re the worst!” Leo whined, not bothering to hide the smile on his face. 

“Hi, Guys,” Leo said softly as he entered the living room, where his three brothers were scrolling through their phones on the couch. Mikey was sprawled across Raph and Donnie’s laps, his cheek squished against Donnie’s boney knee. 

Raph looked up at Leo momentarily. “Hey, Nardo,” he grumbled, then looked back to his phone. 

Leo held in his eye roll. Then let out a sigh. Why was he so nervous about this? 

“Look I’m sorry,” Leo said, bluntly. “I know we haven’t been spending as much time together as we used to and that’s probably mostly my fault,” he sputtered, his tongue feeling tangled up in his speech. 

“Correction,” Donnie cut in, “ Entirely your fault.” 

“Okay, I get it. I’m the worst.” Leo conceded, “ But I promise I’m gonna make it up to you guys!” He held up the tickets in his hand. “Dad gave me tickets to Luna Park. He said he would finish packing for you guys so we can all go together tomorrow!” 

“Luna Park?” Mikey asked, sitting up from his cozy spot across his brothers’ laps.

“That’s that amusement park in Brooklyn, right?” Donnie asked, setting his phone down. 

Leo nodded, a wide smile spreading across his face. “Yeah!” 

“It’s got that food stand that sells foot long hot dogs, right?” Raph asked. 

Leo nodded again. “Yeah, Nathan’s.” 

The three younger brothers exchanged looks with each other; a certain deviousness to their faces. 

“Oh, I dunno, Leo,” Donnie said, pulling up the calendar app on his phone. “I’ve gotta check my very busy schedule.”

“Same here!” Said Mikey as he pulled up his own calendar. 

Leo felt a little hurt, at first. He was already feeling guilty enough. Did they really have to rub in what an awful brother he had been? 

Raph shrugged, “Why don’t you take April?”

“Or your math textbook,” Mikey added, biting down on his lower lip to suppress a giggle. 

“Ooohh, I’m sure you can get in A in waiting in line by yourself.” Raph said with a cheeky grin. 

Leo rolled his eyes with a little huff, “You all act like it's a bad thing that I’m worried about my grades. Dad, practically had your head when you got a C in math last trimester!” Leo argued. 

Raph rolled his eyes, “First off, it was a high C. It’s not my fault my dumbass teacher wouldn’t raise my 79.8%.”

“That was literal bullshit,” Mikey cut in. “You literally did the extra credit and everything.”

“Pretty sure he has a thing against mutants,” Raph scoffed. “It’s whatever,” he mumbled, though by the tone of his voice, Leo was sure there was still some leftover hurt. 

“Sorry,” Leo muttered. “I just—“ he paused, his palms getting sweaty and his heart beating faster. He didn’t know how to explain it. Something about not seeing straight A’s on his report card made him feel wrong. 

He was the eldest brother, by what Splinter had estimated to be ten minutes at most, but even if it was by a minuscule amount, he was still the oldest. He was supposed to be an example for the younger three. He was supposed to be the leader. He was supposed to be perfect. 

“You don’t wanna disappoint Dad,” Mikey finished for him. 

Leo’s cheeks grew warm. He clenched his fists by his sides and nodded. That was definitely a big part of it. The brothers’ teasing nicknames of him being a kiss-up and a Daddy’s boy weren’t exactly unfounded. Leo hated to admit just how much he craved Splinter’s approval. “But I don’t want to disappoint any of you either,” Leo thought to himself. 

“Or April,” he added. 

Raph stood up and placed both his hands on Leo’s shoulder. “Nards,” he looked Leo straight in the eyes, their beaks practically touching. Leo fought the urge to both roll his eyes at the nickname and blow on Raph’s nose just to piss him off. “Dad isn’t going to be disappointed if he finds out you’re an average student and not some super genius like Donnie.”

Leo scrunched up his face at that. It wasn’t fair that Donnie got all the smarts in the family. He was the third kid, again estimated by Splinter, why had all their genetics decided to save all the smarts for him? What Leo would give for algebra to come a little easier and for him to remember the difference between mitosis and meiosis.

“Besides you're perfect little Leonardo.” Donnie mocked. 

Leo rolled his eyes. 

He wished. 

“Oh my god, stop acting like it’s not true,” Mikey said, giving Leo a swat on the shoulder. “ Mister I-got-a-split-kick-right-on-the-first-try.” He said, his voice getting high pitched in his awful impression of Leo. 

“For real, I don’t get why you're so worried about grades.” Donnie said, bluntly. “It’s not like you’re the one trying to get into MIT.” 

Leo felt a little pang in his heart. 

It was common knowledge in the household that Donnie wanted to go to some fancy smart person college and get a bunch of fancy degrees so he could rub in all their faces just how smart he was. 

As if they didn't already know.

Leo hadn’t thought much of college. In fact it was on his list of things to ignore because they made him too anxious to think about. 

Massachusetts was so far away. How could Donnie consider just dropping the family like that. 

“If you guys don’t wanna come it’s fine ,” Leo grumbled, bringing the topic back around to the potential theme park visit. Maybe he deserved to go by himself. 

“Of course we’re coming with you, you dumbass,” Raph said. 

“We were just razzing ya!” Mikey said, throwing an arm around Leo’s shoulders. 

“Even though you’ve been kind of a jerk, for the past few months.” Donnie squished Leo’s cheeks together. “We still, although very very reluctantly, love you and would love to spend the day with you tomorrow.”

A wave of relief came over Leo. “You guys suck.” 

Early the next morning, the four boys were sitting on the Subway, scrolling through the lists of rides and entertainment Luna Park had to offer. Leo rubbed some sleep from his eyes then took a bite out of one of the BEC sandwiches they had picked up at the bodega. 

Splinter had woken the boys at 6:30 AM sharp and lathered them up in SPF 100 sunscreen. Then handed them each $50 for the subway and food then pushed them out the door. It seemed he really wanted them to get the most out of their day together. 

Leo yawned as he swallowed the last bite of his sandwich. Then turned his attention solely to scrolling on his phone. He wasn’t sure what kind of rides he was looking forward to the most. Probably a rollercoaster or maybe one of those pendulum rides that swung you up in the air. Knowing Raph, he was going to drag all of them on every thrill ride they could find. Leo was up for thrill as a ninja he couldn't not be at least a little bit of a daredevil. That being said, that slingshot ball ride that literally flung you 150 ft over the city, that— that made him wanna hurl.

“Oooh, they have Go-Karts!” Mikey squealed as he shoved his phone into his brothers’ faces. “We totally have to do that you guys!”

“Whoa, those look sick!” Donnie said as he adjusted the glasses on his face. “It looks like they’re using bioluminescent algae to light the tracks.” 

Leo looked closely at the picture Mikey was showing them. Sure enough the edges of the tracks were outlined with big tanks full of glowing blue algae. “Whoa, it’s so pretty.” 

“Yeah, but like super toxic.” Donnie said matter-of-factly, “Touching that stuff can be lethal!” 

“Coo-ool,” Raph laughed, with a slightly devious smile across his face. “That makes me wanna touch it more.”

“Raphael, If you touch the toxic algae,” Leo said with a little dramatic flair, “you can’t try a footlong hotdog at Nathan’s.”

Mikey patted Raph’s knee, “Don’t worry, if the algae kills you, I’ll eat your hot dog. Your sacrifice is much appreciated.” 

Raph flicked him on the forehead, “Not a chance, Pipsqueak.”

Mikey pouted, giving Raph a flick back.

Leo relaxed in his seat. This felt good. It felt nostalgic. All of them together, poking fun at each other. Leo had been silly for worrying about there being any remaining tension between the four of them. He leaned against Donnie’s shoulder and smiled. 

The park was opening at nine and Splinter wanted them home for dinner so they needed to be home around seven. That gave them nine hours, ten if they really pushed it. Leo continued scrolling through the list of attractions on his phone as he began to formulate a plan in his mind. 

He had to make this day perfect.

Chapter Text

“There’s no way, you’re getting me on that thing, Raphael.” 

“Oh, come on, Nardo,” Raph pressed, giving Leo a firm poke in the shoulder. 

Leo gave him an indignant glare then crossed his arms to pull away. He wasn’t a wuss when it came to rides, by any means. They’d gone on every other ride in the park and Leo had made no protest. He just wasn’t nearly as much of an adrenaline junky as Raph was. “Why don’t you make Mikey or Donnie go!?” Leo said, feeling little guilt for dragging the two younger brothers into the conversation. 

Donnie practically choked on the soda he was sipping, then glanced at the ride in question. It was the most intense thrill ride in the entire park. A massive slingshot that guaranteed to shoot riders over 150 ft in the air, above Brooklyn. “Just looking at that thing makes me wanna vom,” Donnie replied bluntly then took another sip of soda. 

What a jerk!

He was going to remember this the next time Donnie tried to get them all to watch Attack on Titan or My Hero Academia for the umpteenth time. 

Leo turned his head desperately toward Mikey, who was innocently stuffing his face with popcorn. “ Please, Mikey,” Leo begged, grabbing onto his smaller brother’s shoulders and giving him a trifle shake. “You’re practically as much of an adrenaline junkie as Raph.” 

“I mean I would go,” Mikey said as he swallowed. “But I practically finished all this popcorn by myself and that doesn’t sound like such a good mix.” 

“ Wha–” Leo’s voice caught in his throat.

“Welp, that settles it!” Raph said as he swung an arm around Leo’s neck. “It’s you and me, Nards.” 

Leo rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore another cruel mutilation of his first name. It was totally not fair that it wasn’t as easy to mess with his brothers’ names as it was his.  

Leo planted his feet firmly to the ground and crossed his arms. “No way, Raph!”

“C’mon, Leo,” Raph whined, pulling at the sleeve of Leo’s shirt. “Aren’t you supposed to be our fearless leader or something?” 

Leo had never referred to himself as fearless but it was true that he, even if unofficially, did think of himself as the leader of their little quartet. Leo squeezed his fists at his sides, trying to push all the articles of people dying on these kinds of rides to the back of his mind. 

Leo wanted to reiterate that there was no way he would be getting on that deathtrap of a ride. Had they all forgotten that Leo had been deathly afraid of heights when they were little? The fear was pretty much nonexistent now. Mostly thanks to Splinter putting him through what could only be described as some form of rudimentary exposure therapy. 

Leo took another look at the ride, just watching it in action made Leo wanna hurl. He couldn’t understand how anyone could find this fun. Though one look at Raph and it was obvious clearly he did. Leo let out a deep breath. This was the only day all break they were going to have all together like this. He should have been willing to do absolutely whatever his siblings wanted as payment for being such an absent brother. 

He took another look at Raph then sighed and let out a reluctant, “ fine.” 

Raph’s face lit up with a mix of both excitement and shock. He pumped his fists in the air as he let out a loud cheer then grabbed Leo by the arm and dragged him towards the queue. 

Leo couldn’t help the wave of dread that spread over his body. There were so many stories online about the wires on these rides snapping or the harness not clicking into place or an important bolt coming loose. 

Maybe it had been a bad idea to watch Top Ten Amusement Park Tragedies at 3AM one night when he couldn’t seem to fall asleep.

Leo looked over at Raph, who was clearly pumped with adrenaline, giddily bouncing on the backs of his heels and couldn’t help the small smile that spread across his face. 

Maybe this was one of those big brother things? It was like an unspoken responsibility of the eldest child to give into your younger siblings just to make them happy, even if that meant doing something you absolutely did not want to do.  

Besides, the internet wasn’t known for being the most trustworthy of sources. 

The dread returned once they got on the ride. He and Raph were side by side in what could only be described as a massive clear hamster ball with ride seats stuck inside. The only thing keeping them from their deaths were four thin wires. There were two on each side that connected to two large metal supports about 80 feet in the air. 

Oh yeah. This seems safe. 

They both lowered their over the shoulder restraints, which each made a loud click once they locked into place. Raph gripped onto the handlebars and then bounced in his seat. 

How was he so excited for this!?

Leo wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts, then gripped onto his set of handlebars, his heart pounding heavy against his plastron. This was safe. There was no reason to be this freaked out right now. 

Leo turned his head to peer out into the crowd below. They weren’t too high up yet so he could still clearly see both Mikey and Donnie holding up their phones in an attempt to document the ongoing situation. That was one good thing about Splinter not opting to upgrade their outdated iPhone 8s. 

Their dad didn’t understand Donnie’s yammerings about lack of IOS support and how the new displays with OLED were so much better. Splinter just didn’t understand Donnie’s need for crisp anime. The phones still worked for their basic function so Splinter still considered them good as new. Which even Leo, who also didn’t understand Donnie’s yammerings, thought was totally unfair.  

“By the way Leo,” Raph said with a mischievous smirk. “I paid extra for the on-ride video of us.”

Of course he did. 

“Thanks, Raph,” Leo muttered sarcastically. “I’m so glad this is going to be documented.”

“No problem.” 

Leo closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat as the ride began to climb. He felt one step closer to his own demise as he heard each loud click of the ride’s mechanisms. Leo forced himself to swallow the pooling saliva in his mouth. Puking up here would surely make him go as viral as April and he really wasn’t looking to test that theory. 

He could feel Raph give him a hard poke in the cheek. “Open your eyes, Nardo.” 

Leo shook his head, squeezing them shut even tighter. “Not unless you want me to hurl.” 

“You won’t.” 

“Swear I will.”

Leo could feel the eye roll Raph was giving him. “You’re being dramatic.” 

“I am no—”

Leo was cut off by the sounds of both his and Raph’s screams. His eyes snapped open and he immediately stared down at the distance between them and the ground. Everything beneath them looked like a blur. His heart got caught in his throat and he could feel the saliva returning to his mouth. For a split second, he really thought he would be sick, until Raph shouted his name. Leo lamely grabbed for his hand and squeezed as tight as he could just as the ride began to hit its peak height. 

Leo leaned against Raph as they stumbled off the ride. “Stop being so dramatic,” Raph grumbled as endured Leo’s heavy weight onto his shell. Leo could admit he was being maybe a little dramatic but his legs really did feel like jelly and him falling over was a very real possibility. Raph was the one who dragged him on that ride so Raph could be the one he used for stability.

Mikey and Donnie ran up to them as soon as they spotted the older two brothers walking out of the exit. 

“How was it!?” Mikey asked, bouncing back on his heels. 

Donnie shoved his phone in their faces. “I tried getting a pic but it's pretty blurry.”

Leo tried to listen to what Donnie was saying but he felt so dizzy. He squeezed tightly onto Raph’s shoulder then leaned over his feet and let out an exaggerated gag. “ Shit!” Raph yelped as he pushed Leo away. 

Raph kept his eyes squeezed shut for a moment. Then opened them only to stare down at his dry sneakers. He blinked in disbelief, staring back at Leo, who had a devious, yet innocent, little grin on his face.  

“Oh, fuck off,” Raph grumbled. The other three brothers burst out into laughter.

Leo wiped a tear from his eye, “Sorry,” he muttered through a fit of laughter. 

“You’ve got everyone fooled that you’re some kind of goody two shoes but really you’re just as devious as the rest of us!” Raph huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. “I seriously thought you were gonna puke on me!”

“Well, that’s what you get,” Leo said, giving Raph a little shove of the shoulder. “I just saw my life flash before my eyes.”

Raph looked down at Leo with a little smirk, “And did it make you realize just how boring you are?”

Leo scrunched up his face then gave Raph a sharp flick to the nose. What a jerk. Leo wished he really had puked on him for that.  

Just as Raph was about to smack Leo back, Mikey grabbed his arm. “ Guys,” he whined. “I’m hungry.”

“I guess it is nearing lunchtime.” 

They argued amongst each other about what to do for lunch, before everyone but Donnie agreed on the old fashioned hot-dog station, Nathan’s. 

“It’s foot long hotdogs,” Raph exclaimed as they headed back toward the entrance of the park. “How could you say no to that?”

“Easily,” Donnie muttered. “There’s a new pho restaurant not too far from here.” 

Mikey wrapped an arm around Donnie’s shell. “We’ve had pho tons of times.”

“We’ve also had hotdogs before.”

“Not footlong ones,” Raph interjected. 

“Are they footlong? You hadn’t mentioned that,” Donnie muttered sarcastically. 

“Chill out, Donnie,” Mikey said with his arm still around his brother’s neck. “We can probably convince Dad to get take out pho for dinner tonight.” 

“He does really like that place on 31st,” Leo said as they all stepped up to the queue. “It’s got really good pho cuon.

“Ohhh,” Mikey tapped his chin, “that’s the place with all the pho puns on the walls, right.” 

“Don’t remind me,” Raph groaned. “Dad was repeating those for weeks after we went there.”  

“Twenty- pho seven!”

Raph grabbed Mikey by the collar of his shirt and pulled him close to his face so they were eye to eye. “ Don’t.” Raph snarled with an intense glower. 

A devious little smirk spread across Mikey’s face, “Don’t worry, Raphy.” The smaller boy reached out to pat Raph’s head. “Puns aren’t pho everyone!” 

Twenty minutes later, they were all gathered around a picnic table with paper food boats full of greasy  fries and hot dogs. Raph and Mikey had both opted in to the foot long option and seemed to be in a competition with each other of who could add the most toppings.

Mikey had won and declared himself hot dog champion, a title no one but him really seemed all that interested in. Still, Mikey felt the need to celebrate. “I gotta share this with my followers!” He declared happily as he pulled out his phone.

“Shit.”

The other three all paused their eating. “What?” Raph asked through a mouthful. 

Mikey peeked out from behind his phone, “Has anyone been answering dad’s texts?” 

They all exchanged looks with each other then immediately put down their food and pulled out their phones. Leo could have sworn he had left his ringer on and he didn’t recall receiving a single text. Maybe they had been too focused on the park or maybe there had been poor cell reception. Whatever the truth was; there was one thing for certain, Splinter was worried. 

Leo glared at his three brothers, peeking his head out from behind his phone. “Delete that,” he snarled in Raph’s direction. 

Raph didn’t look up from his phone, “sending to April, right now.”

“Don’t you dare!” He attempted to grab Raph’s phone from his hands but was held back by Donnie and Mikey. “ Stooop, that picture is soo bad!” 

“Whaaat?” Mikey smirked. “You look so cute grabbing onto Raphy like your life depended on it.”

“And. send.” Raph said with a confident smile. 

Leo huffed, face boiling. Suddenly the desire to have been part of a clutch of one was becoming very appealing. 

The brothers all side-eyed each other. Unless getting a bit of water from the Log Flume ride in their mouths counted as drinking water, then no they had not been keeping up with that or the sunscreen thing for that matter. 

Leo really didn't want to worry Splinter anymore then he probably already was but before he had the chance to text back his brothers had already beaten him to it. 

Leo felt his eye twitch. It was like they were trying to worry him. They all knew first hand just how overbearing and anxious Splinter could be. It was a wonder where Leo got it from. Leo turned his camera on then held his phone up in the air and motioned with his head for his brothers to come close. Leo snapped a photo and sent it along with a more reassuring message. 

Leo smiled down at his phone, feeling proud of himself.  

“Man, you are such a kiss-up.” Raph fulminated. 

Mikey and Donnie both nodded in vehement agreement. “I thought you moved on from kissing dad’s ass to only kissing April, now.” 

Leo scowled. They could never pass up an opportunity to razz him. “First of all, what April and I do together is none of your business”  

The three younger brothers all looked at each other with knowing expressions. They had all been privy to accidentally walking in on Leo and April. It had only ever been kissing or cuddling. Intimately, that’s all their relationship was at the moment and they were both satisfied with that. Though Leo imagined that didn’t make it any less mortifying for his brothers to walk in on their older brother curled up on the couch with April. 

“ and just because I don’t wanna make Dad worry. Doesn’t make me a kiss up.”

“I think it very much does.”

“Agreed.”

Leo opened his mouth to argue back just as a familiar smooth jazzy beat came from his pocket. 

“Speaking of April,” Donnie said a-matter-of-a-factly. 

Leo ignored him and opened the text April had sent, a dorky little grin appearing on his face. That faded as soon as he came face to face with the humiliating photo of him and Raph. 

Her locker was already full of plenty of embarrassing pictures of him; what was one more? Besides, he had his own share of embarrassing photos of April (and his brothers) hung up in his own locker. 

Leo stared in shock at the photo April had sent. 

At the top of the page was a photograph of an old building that had belonged to TCRI. Besides the lack of windows, it seemed normal enough. From what Leo could read of the article, this had been the grand opening of a new division of the TCRI company. 

Then near the bottom, there she was. 

Cynthia Utrom. 

Even sixty years younger, he recognized her immediately. She had that same lopsided jaw, prominent mole, even that same blue-dyed beehive hair style. It wasn’t in fashion then and it certainly wasn’t now. She even had the same wrinkles and same eyebags. It was as if she hadn’t aged a day. 

“Holy shit,” Leo muttered aloud. 

“What?” Mikey smirked. “April call you her precious little tomatillo , again?”

Leo practically choked on air. 

”Nah, if she did, he’d be all red and flustered!” Donnie added. 

Leo’s entire face flushed bright red as he gave Mikey a swat across the shoulder. “You overheard a private conversation one time!” 

It wasn’t even a serious nickname or anything of the sort; just something April pulled out when she was trying to embarrass him. The occasional “Sweetie” or “Hon” was about as far as they went with cutesy nicknames. A part of Leo wished they had cliche cringey couples’ nicknames for each other. It seemed so romantic.. Though that would only give his brothers more fuel to make fun of him so maybe it was for the best that they didn’t.  Besides, April wasn’t really the type either. 

“Well, maybe we wouldn’t overhear if you weren’t so loud when you two video chat.”

“We’re not loud,” Leo huffed with a childish little pout. 

“Not loud? We all hear you in the living room, giggling like a little school girl.”

Leo rolled his eyes, “It’s not like I have my own bedroom!”

“Yeah, but literally the whole lair can hear you.”

Leo rolled his eyes, “I’m asking for headphones for my birthday so you all can’t listen in on my private conversations.” 

“Our birthday ,” Raph coughed.

Leo ignored the dig and returned his attention back to his texts with April. 

Leo: Where did you find this?
April: Newspaper archives at the library

Ever since they had saved the city, last spring, there had been little to no word from TCRI, not to mention Cynthia Utrom. 

Seeing her face brought back a feeling of unease. It was no secret in the household that the boys had all experienced some form of chronic nightmares following the whole milking incident. 

Splinter had urged them all to try therapy. Which they had fallen off of after only a few weeks. Apparently, attending therapy meant you were expected to talk to the therapist about your problems; which none of the boys were very eager or willing to do. 

Leo stared intently at the photo in front of him. It felt unreal. It had been almost a year ago that the four brothers had been captured by TCRI and, at least in Raph and Mikey’s case, had the ooze sucked from the blood in their veins. Leo felt his own blood boil just thinking about it. His chronic nightmares had been plagued with Donnie crying and Mikey screaming as the machine did its job. 

Leo glanced over at his three brothers. They had finished lunch and were making their way back into the park for a few more hours before they needed to head home. Mikey was climbing on top of Raph’s shell, chanting about going on the Ferris Wheel. Donnie joined in on the chanting

“The Ferris Wheel? Really?” 

“Hey, don’t knock the classics,” Donnie teased, giving Raph a swat on the shoulder. 

“You suddenly afraid of heights or something!?” Mikey said, sticking out his tongue. 

Raph scoffed, “Absolutely not! Ferris Wheels are just kinda lame.”

“Sure, Raph.” Donnie said with raised brows. 

Leo knew he should tell them about this. They were the first people that deserved to know if anymore information on Cynthia was discovered no matter how small. 

But he couldn’t. 

Mikey slipped and fell backwards off Raph’s shell. He was caught just before he hit the ground by Donnie. 

“Raph, just admit you're afraid of heights.”

“Promise we won't judge.” 

“It’s only one little photo,” Leo told himself. It wasn’t like April had found where Cynthia was at that exact moment. There wouldn’t be anything they could do now. He could tell them later. The day had been going well so far, he didn’t want to bring up Cynthia and bring the mood down. 

"Stop staring at your phone!" 

"C'mon, Leo!" 

Leo sent April a quick heart emoji back and then shoved his phone into his back pocket and went to follow his brothers. 

“My feet are killing me,” Mikey whined as the four brothers stepped back into the lair. The other three nodded in agreement as they stumbled inside. Then proceeded to collapse onto the couch in a pile of turtle limbs. 

Raph was at the bottom as the biggest, his limbs intertwined with Leo’s, who was using Raph’s plastron as a pillow. Mikey and Donnie were both on top of Leo and Raph both their own limbs intertwined with each other. Donnie’s head was leaned against Leo’s plastron and Mikey’s against Donnie’s. They were just a knot of exhausted turtle limbs. 

“Guys.” Leo muttered, doing his best to keep his eyes open. “We gotta get up.” 

“Why?” Donnie whined, his eyes already half-closed. “It’s not my fault all the Salt & Vinegar chips you eat make your plastron such a cozy pillow.” Donnie teased as he nuzzled his cheek against Leo’s stomach. 

Leo scoffed, feigning true offense. He gave Donnie a pathetic and sleepy swat on the head. “Because Donatello,” Leo said. “Us being all cuddled up on top of each other. Looking all cute. This is prime real estate for Dad’s new lock screen photo if he finds us like this!” 

The boys’ faces all fell and they scurried away from each other. A picture of them cuddling together like puppies being visible to everyone on Splinter’s phone was mortifying.  Splinter was already the type of parent who liked to pull out photos of his kids without even being asked. He didn’t need their help getting material. Leo and Donnie would both forever be haunted by the photo of them nude in the sink covered in soap bubbles.

The boys hadn’t scurried far. Instead of laying on top of each other, they sat side by side on the couch, letting their heads knock sleepily against each other. 

Leo played with a loose string on his shirt. The day had been so nice. It’d been far too long since they’d all hung out together like this. 

He missed it.  

Leo rested his head against Mikey’s, letting out a deep breath as he took in the moment. Donnie had his head against Raph’s and his legs sprawled out against his and Mikey’s laps. 

How many more nights like this did they have left?

Graduation was creeping up on them, far quicker then Leo would have liked. 

What was going to happen in the future? Would these moments become less and less as they aged. Leo squeezed Mikey’s hand tight. 

It wasn’t fair.

Later that night, Splinter was sitting in the living room in his usual chair with a book in his lap. His head was leaned against the back of the chair and his mouth hung open as he let out not so subtle snores. 

Leo gripped his phone to his chest and considered sneaking out for a moment. He just needed to talk to April and then he’d be right back. He thought about it for another moment before the guilt got to him and he prodded Splinter in the shoulder. 

“Hey, Dad?”

Splinter stirred then blinked his eyes open. “Leo?” He rubbed some sleep away. “What are you doing up?” 

Leo checked the time on his phone. It was only eleven o’clock. They wouldn't even be in bed on a school night. 

“I just,” Leo paused. Splinter could take things the absolute wrong way if he told him that he needed to step outside to have a private conversation with his girlfriend. It wasn’t going to make things any better if he explained it was to discuss Cynthia Utrom. 

“I need to go on a walk.” Leo stated, bluntly. 

Splinter blinked as if he had been expecting something different. “A walk?”

Leo nodded, “Just through the sewers.” 

Splinter didn’t look convinced. 

“I promise I won’t go up to the surface. I just need to clear my head.” 

Splinter was quiet for a moment, then reached out to grab Leo’s shoulder. “Okay,” he said plainly. “But if you ever want to talk you know where I am.” 

Heat rose to Leo’s cheeks. Splinter definitely had the wrong idea. He probably assumed Leo was having issues with TCRI nightmares again. Which wasn’t exactly not true. At this point, Leo was sure those would never truly go away. 

Leo forced a smile, “Uh, yeah, of course,” he said awkwardly. “Thanks, Dad!” He called out as he headed into the sewers. 

Leo pulled out his phone and dialed April as soon as he was far enough from the lair that he was positive none of his brothers or his Dad could possibly hear him. 

“Hey, Hon,” April greeted as she answered the call. 

Leo felt his heart flutter, “Heyyy.” 

“I know exactly where the lab is,” she said bluntly. 

“Seriously?” Leo gasped. “I mean–I know you found the newspaper and that’s amazing and all but it didn’t exactly have any leads beyond the lab being in South Hadley and we already knew that.” 

“Yes, but what we didn't have was a photo.” 

“How’s a photo change things? I mean it’s totally suspicious that the lab has no windows. That really screams evil lab but like how does that bring us closer to finding the place?”

“TCRI may have scrubbed their digital footprint but the surrounding businesses haven’t. The building directly across from the lab is–well was a store called Montgomery Ward. It’s this old department store chain that doesn’t exist anymore.” 

Leo wasn’t connecting the dots. “So what’s that matter to us?” 

“There were only ever two Montgomery Ward locations in South Hadley. One was in an established part of the town and was most recently turned into a Sears and the other was in a much less populated area and never reopened after it closed. In fact, most stuff in that area of town is vacant.”

Ohhh

Leo smiled, “So you know where the lab is?”

“I know where the lab is!” She repeated gleefully. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning.” She paused. “If you can, I’d really like for you to come.”

“Yeah! That sounds—“ Leo cut himself off. 

The Dojo. 

Tomorrow, he along with several of the mutanimals were supposed to be helping Splinter move some boxes into the new dojo and begin some early set up. Leo kicked himself for trying to be a good son. He’d already done so much to help. Way more than he had seen the rest of his brothers do. 

“I promised my dad I’d help him out with the dojo tomorrow.” 

“Oh, right.”

Leo could feel her disappointment through the phone. Leo’s heart began to race. He couldn’t end the phone call there. He wanted more than anything to go with April. Traveling across state lines with his girlfriend to investigate TCRI sounded way more enjoyable than hanging out with his dad and the mutanimals all break. “But, we’re just moving boxes,” Leo sputtered out. “If you just wait until noon to leave, I can come!” 

He could sense April’s mood lightening. “Alright, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

It was an empty promise. He hadn’t even asked Splinter if he could go yet. Usually, he would worry about the inevitable no. Splinter had been trying to loosen up but he was still quite strict with the boys.

They had a nonnegotiable curfew of 10pm. They could only hang out with people Splinter first had already met (to make sure they were good humans like April.) and even if they wanted to go out they had to have all their homework finished and done chores around the lair. Sometimes the boys could get him to be a bit more lenient, especially if Scumbug was around.

But if there was one thing Splinter wasn’t that was a hypocrite. He was always very clear that the boys were all loved and treated equally and Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were all going away for spring break. It wouldn’t be fair if he didn’t let Leo go too  

Besides this was important. This wasn’t just a silly little trip. This was TCRI. The people he and April had spent the entire school year searching for.

Splinter just had to say yes. 

Chapter Text

The next morning, Leo strolled into the kitchen sometime after nine, texting April his usual good morning message. His nose was immediately greeted by the smell of eggs and bacon. Scumbug, who was a surprisingly good cook, had prepared breakfast for the three of them. 

Leo internally groaned. It’s not that he didn’t like Scumbug or was ungrateful for her making breakfast. Despite appearances, she could really make a mean scrambled egg. Leo had just been hoping to catch his dad alone so he could ask about the trip with April. Scumbug tended to bring out a side of Splinter that made him even more overprotective then he already was. 

“Good Morning, Leonardo,” Splinter greeted as he poured himself and Scumbug some tea. 

“Morning,” Leo replied as he sat down at the table, nose still buried in his phone. He was adding some additional heart emojis to his text to April. 

“I really appreciate you helping out today,” Splinter said. “I know it’s probably not the most exciting thing.”

Leo clicked send on his last text then set his phone down. “Oh, yeah of course, Dad.” He forced a smile, “I mean it’s not like I have anything else to do.” 

Scumbug set a plate down in front of him then muttered something in vermin that Leo couldn’t quite understand. He’d picked up a bit of the language from being around both her and his dad but he was still far from fluent. Donnie probably understood the language the best and often served as a translator amongst the four of them.

“Uh, thanks,” Leo said, setting his phone down on the table. He quickly snatched a piece of bacon and stuffed it into his mouth. 

“She said to eat up. You’ll need all your energy for today,” Splinter supplied as he poured Leo a cup of tea. Scumbug nodded, the semblance of a smile on her face. 

“I am,” Leo said as he reached for another piece of bacon. It was rare that he wouldn’t have to fight his brothers over it so he was taking advantage. “Thanks for breakfast, Scumbug.” She garbled out some more vermin that Leo could understand as, “You’re welcome.”  He reached for another piece of bacon but Scumbug quickly slapped his wrist away. She garbled out more vermin, that this time Leo couldn’t understand, then pushed a bowl of cut fruit toward him. 

“What?” Leo asked, staring back at Scumbug with a vacant expression. 

Splinter chuckled under his breath, “She just wants you to eat a balanced breakfast, my son.” 

“Oh, ” Leo blushed. 

He still wasn’t used to Scumbug trying to take on a pseudo mom-type role, in his life. It’s not that he didn’t like her or didn’t appreciate her trying. He just wasn’t sure how he felt about it. 

Having a step-mom wasn’t something he had ever considered, before. He had been perfectly happy with just his dad and his brothers. The thought of a step-mom just made him feel weird. He had thought his brothers had felt the same way. But as of late, Leo wasn’t sure they were on the same page about much anymore.

Mikey seemed to love when Splinter would bring Scumbug to his improv nights and he’d found Scumbug, on numerous occasions, up late with Donnie watching anime. One night, Leo had found them both sobbing over the ending of Grave of the Fireflies. Even Raph, who usually had a harder time trusting new people, was ecstatic when Splinter brought Scumbug to one of his hockey games. 

She had gone out of her way to do things for Leo too. Before he and April were officially together, she had attempted to give him romantic advice and he’d caught her watching episodes of April Tonight together with Splinter. 

It was sweet that she was trying but really it only made Leo feel more guilty for not seeing her that way. 

He just wasn’t interested in having a mom. He was fifteen, almost sixteen . At his age he was itching for parental freedom, not gaining a whole new parent all together. But he couldn’t tell Splinter any of that. It would break the poor old rat’s heart and Leo couldn’t handle doing that to his dad. So he did his best to pretend he was totally fine and not at all uncomfortable with Scumbug attempting to fill that motherly role in his life. 

“Did you sleep well?” Splinter asked between sips of tea. 

“Yeah, fine,” Leo said after he swallowed a slice of apple. Truthfully, after his brothers had left early that morning, he hadn’t had an easy time getting back to sleep. It was lonely. He wasn’t used to it being that quiet. Usually, he would complain about his brothers’ snoring but that morning he really missed it. 

The rest of breakfast was quiet and uneventful. April responded to Leo’s good morning text with her own and confirmed that they would be leaving around noon. Apparently there was a thrifting convention happening in Yonkers and April was trying to beat out the traffic. 

As soon as they all finished breakfast, the three of them met up with Wingnut and Leatherhead at the new dojo. It was a small building in downtown Brooklyn, squeezed in between two larger buildings on either side. One was a pizza joint, that Leo noted to check out later, the other was an old laundromat. Both seemed to be completely dead, despite it being only a little after eleven. 

Leo coughed and covered his nose as they all entered the building. It was a bit underwhelming. Had this really been the best option in all of the city for the dojo? Surely, there had to have been something a bit bigger, something in a busier area, something that didn’t smell like mildew, sandalwood, and dirty feet. 

The inside of the building was somehow even smaller than the outside. The entryway was small and narrow with only enough room to fit a couple chairs and maybe some storage for bags and shoes. On the inward facing wall, there were two large windows that showed the interior of the main room, which from what Leo could tell was an absolute disaster. 

The floors were absolutely covered in sawdust and woodchips. It looked as if the previous owners had done a hack job at ripping the floors apart before they left. The one good thing was that the walls were already aligned with floor to ceiling mirrors that would be perfect for practicing katas in front of. Though several of the mirrors were covered in ugly graffiti. Leo shamefully let out a chuckle at a crude rendition of a pair of human balls. 

“Who owned this place before you, Dad?” Leo asked as he walked up to a set of double wooden barres that were fixed to the wall. They stretched all the way across both the front and back sides of the room. Leo had never seen anything like it before, he assumed they must be for stretching or leaning weapons against.

“It was a ballet studio,” Splinter replied. “It closed during the pandemic so it’s been abandoned for a while but I got a really good deal on the rent!” 

Leo wiped a finger against one of the dusty bars, “Yeah, I can tell.” 

Scumbug interjected with some more vermin that Leo couldn’t understand as she held out a broom. Leo looked to Splinter for a translation. The rat took the broom from Scumbug and then handed it to Leo. “She says thank you for offering to help clean up.” 

“Oh,” Leo muttered as he took the broom.

“The delivery truck will be here in about half an hour so try to get done as much as you can.” 

Leo gave a nod and immediately got to work at cleaning up the floors. As he worked, Wingnut flew up toward the ceiling to dust some cobwebs. She hummed the tune of some K-pop song that Leo recognized Donnie listening to.

Splinter and Scumbug both took some towels and disinfectant spray and went into the office that was located in the right corner opposite the bathroom. Leatherhead took a small razor blade and began to carefully scrape some of the graffiti off of the mirrors. Good-bye poorly drawn balls.

Leo wondered what his brothers were doing as he sweeped up a slew of wood chips and sawdust into a dust pan then dumped them into one of the many trash bags, lying around the room. They were all out having fun and here he was doing menial labor for Splinter. 

Leo was still planning on asking Splinter about going to Massachusetts with April. He was just waiting for the perfect opportunity. Besides, he had already promised to help with the dojo months ago and if anything Leo was always true to his word. 

He checked the time on his smart watch. It was only a little after ten. He had until noon, before April wanted to leave. That gave him plenty of time to help with the dojo, ask Splinter about the trip, head home to pack a bag, and then meet up with April. 

Just as Splinter had said, about thirty minutes later the delivery truck arrived with a loud honk of its horn. While Splinter signed for the delivery, Leo dug around through the boxes loaded up into the truck. He knew most of what Splinter had ordered, mostly because he kept asking Leo for his opinion on which punching bags to buy or whether they should get red or white oak bokken. 

It was obviously white oak. 

Ever since Leo had accidentally broken a red oak bokken against Donnie’s shell, there was no going back. 

The next hour was spent moving boxes from the truck into the building. It was monotonous and seemed like it would never end but eventually a large pile of boxes began to form in the center of the room. 

Leo had never realized just how boring everything was without his brothers around. He loved his dad and the mutanimals but they didn’t exactly have the same chaotic energy that he and his brothers did. They were also old. It was weird being the youngest person in the room.

He couldn't make stupid internet references or complain about homework or teachers and he certainly couldn’t talk too much about his relationship with April. He was sure Splinter thought them holding hands was too provocative. All hell would break loose if Splinter had found out they had already done more than that. 

When Leo dropped off the last box, he wiped some sweat off his forehead and let out a low whine, regretting falling so far behind on his training. Just a few months ago, carrying boxes like this wouldn’t have so much as made him break a sweat. Education came with so many sacrifices. 

When he saw Scumbug helping Leatherhead and Wingnut open a particularly large box, Leo glanced over toward the office. The door was cracked open ajar. 

Splinter was alone. 

This was his chance. 

Leo gave one last look toward Scumbug and the others before entering the office. It was a small room. Big enough for only a desk and maybe a few filing cabinets. Splinter was on his knees scraping some graffiti off the concrete walls with a small blade.

Leo cleared his throat, “Uhh, hey, Dad?” 

Splinter turned around as soon as he heard Leo’s voice. “Oh, Leo.” He set the blade down then checked his watch. “A little early for lunch, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah,” Leo nodded, “I just needed to ask you something.” 

Splinter gave a firm nod as if to say, “Go ahead.” 

Leo nervously wrung his hands together then let out a deep breath, he hadn’t realized he had been holding. There was no reason to be this nervous. Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were all on trips. There was no way Splinter would say no. 

“April invited me to go with her to her grandparents farmhouse in Northampton!” He blurted out. “She found a lead on one of the labs TCRI abandoned. We’re gonna go investigate it for April Tonight! Her mom is lending us her car and some money for groceries so you don’t need to worry about food or transportation and it’s only a few days so I’ll be back before break is over!” 

Leo panted as he finished talking. Then looked back at Splinter with a crooked smile as he waited for his dad’s response. He had expected Splinter to respond immediately but instead the old rat was staring back at him with a disconcerted expression. 

That couldn’t be good. 

“I–” Leo stuttered, “ April says this’ll really boost the views. Everyone’s been asking for an update on TCRI and it’s not like the government is doing much about it and–” 

“No, Leo,” Splinter cut in; his voice was curt and unwavering. 

Leo’s heart sank, “ What? But Dad,” he tried not to whine. “You let Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all go on trips. Why can’t I go with April? Northampton isn’t even that far! It’s only like a three hour drive!” 

“Your brothers are all on trips with school groups with chaperones at safe places. You, on the other hand, want to cross state borders alone with your girlfriend and zero adult supervision to investigate an abandoned laboratory owned by the people who want to kill you.”

Leo wanted to argue but when he put it that way it really did make him sound crazy. “We’ll be safe.” Was all he could come up with. “I’ll have my katanas. It’s not like I can’t defend myself and–"

“No, Leonardo.” Splinter went back to scraping paint off the walls. 

Leo mentally kicked himself. He should have left out the part about investigating TCRI. He should have just said April invited him to her grandparents’ farmhouse and they were gonna do boring couple things. No dangerous investigation into an evil corporation. Just normal high school couple things. 

“But, Dad,” Leo bemoaned, “you’re being so unfa—“

Splinter turned back around to glower at his eldest. “ Leonardo,” Splinter snapped. “I’m not going to let you get yourself hurt by doing something so dangerous and stupid.” 

Leo scrunched up his face and glared back at his dad. He wanted to keep arguing but Splinter had that stern no nonsense kind of look on his face. Leo knew there would be no changing his mind. 

Didn’t he understand that this was important? 

He wasn’t just trying to run off to fool around with April. They were trying to investigate TCRI. The corporation that had a hold of their blood and could be doing all kinds of horrible experiments with it. The government certainly wasn’t interested in doing anything about it. 

The longer they stared at each other, the more angry Leo felt. He’d spent his whole morning helping clean up the dojo and moving boxes while his brothers were off having fun. It wasn’t fair. 

Splinter probably would have let Raph or Donnie go, hell even, Mikey. It was like Splinter was convinced Leo couldn’t handle himself. As if he hadn’t been training him in ninjutsu his entire life to deal with things just like this. 

Finally, after several excruciating minutes of uncomfortable silence, Leo rolled his eyes and then proceeded to let out the most passive aggressive angsty teenage sigh he could muster. Splinter called out to him but Leo ignored him. 

Leo prided himself on being level-headed and mature for his age but even he wasn’t completely immune to the powers of teenage boy hormones. He clenched his fists at his sides as he stormed out of the office and back into the main room.  Wingnut, Leatherhead, and Scumbug all watched as he walked up to a training dummy that Wingnut had just unboxed and gave it a swift punch. Then a kick and then another punch and then over and over again until he was out of breath and his hands were sore. 

There was a lot that Leo disagreed with Raph on but if there was one thing Raph knew it was how to get out anger and taking out his frustration on the punching bag really did help clear his mind. Once his head was clear, he took notice of everyone staring at him in absolute bewilderment. Scumbug cocked her head and then garbled out some vermin. 

This was so embarrassing. 

Leo’s face glowed bright red. He probably looked like Raph did whenever he would have one of his temper tantrums. Which was not at all what Leo was doing right now. He was just letting out some steam. 

Leo leaned his hand up against the punching bag, an awkward smile plastered across his face. “Yup, very good quality,” he said, giving the bag a little pat. When the three mutanimals didn’t respond, Leo turned his heels toward the door, “Welp, Imma go now.” 

He could feel their confused stares as he marched away with his head down. As soon as he was back in the entryway, he slumped onto the ground and buried his red face into his knees. He felt like screaming into a pillow or just disappearing all together. He took the one opportunity with his brothers out of town to make himself look like a total child. Even if he still was one, that didn’t mean he needed to act the part.

It was just so frustrating.

Splinter didn’t understand how important this was. 

They had been investigating TCRI all year and this was their first big lead. Not to mention April was going to be a senior next year. Which meant they only had one more spring break to spend together, before she would practically be gone from his life. 

Leo heard footsteps behind him. “Just leave me alone, Dad,” he mumbled, knowing full well Splinter wouldn't but instead of his dad’s voice he heard the familiar sounds of garbled vermin. 

When Leo looked up, he was face to face with Scumbug. She gave him a smile then reached out to hand him a tissue. 

Leo quickly wiped at his eyes. He hadn’t realized he had been crying. “I’m fine,” he snapped, a bit more harshly than intended. 

Scumbug gave him another sad smile, then took a seat beside him and tried to dab his eyes with the tissue herself. 

Leo let out a huff then pushed her away, “ Oh my God!,” he snapped. “You’re not my mom so stop trying to act like it!”

He didn’t look her in the face. Even if it was the truth, he regretted saying it especially so harshly. Scumbug was just trying her best and seeing the heartbroken look on her face would only make him feel even worse then he already did. 

Leo wasn’t sure how long he sat there feeling sorry for himself and not crying. Eventually he heard his dad’s voice. 

“Leonardo?” Splinter was standing in the doorway. Leo looked up at him but didn’t say anything. The rat let out a sigh then took a seat on the floor beside Leo, making sure to leave a comfortable space between them. 

“If this was a school trip. I’d let you go in a heartbeat.” Splinter finally said. Leo didn’t respond. He just kept his face smashed into his knees. 

“They have our blood, Dad. Who knows what they’re doing.” 

“I’d rather not find out.” 

Leo furrowed his brow, “Oh, what? And find out after they’ve created a bunch of new mutants that can properly kill us?” 

“I can’t risk anything happening to you.” He reached out to lift Leo’s head with his thumb so they were looking eye-to-eye. “ I can’t let those– those humans get a hold of you. I know the stuff that happened in that lab still bothers you.” 

Leo wanted to argue that it didn’t bother him anymore. He’d gotten over it months ago.  It was the others that were still bothered by it and as the eldest it was Leo’s job to be there for them. He’d spent numerous nights sleeping in Donnie’s tent or Mikey or Raph’s bunk after they had all had recurring nightmares.

“I’m sorry, Leo.” Splinter said as he wrapped an arm around Leo’s shell to pull him closer. “I just can’t risk you or April getting hurt.” 

Leo let out a sigh then rested his head on his knees. “Yeah, I know,” he murmured.

They sat in silence for a few moments until, “Tell you what. Why don’t you go on a walk? Get some air? You’ve already been a great help today.” 

Leo stood on his knees so he could see through the window into the mainroom. “Are you sure, Dad?” Scumbug, Leatherhead, and Wingut were all struggling to pull a series of large blue gym mats out of a box. 

Splinter then reached into his pocket and pulled out a crisp $50 bill. “Yeah, we’ll be fine. Just be sure to pick up more sports tape at the supply store on your way back.” He placed a hand on Leo’s knee, “And later tonight we’ll do something fun, okay? Think you can still beat me at Shogi?” 

Leo gave a soft but determined smile. “Oh, you’re on, old man!” Sure, it wasn’t exactly what he wanted but Splinter was trying.

Splinter swatted Leo’s knee, playfully, “Don’t go calling me old man, you little brat or I’m gonna stop making gyoza for your lunches.” 

“Nooo,” Leo let out in feigned despair. “You wouldn’t.” 

“Hey, just don’t be surprised if your lunches after spring break consist of nothing but lunchables. No more homemade bento boxes.” 

“Okay–okay, I'll take it back! You're not that old.” He took the bill from Splinter and shoved it into his pocket, “So just the sports tape?” 

Splinter nodded, “Yeah, though I won’t complain if you stop by the Trader Joe’s and grab some of those new cheese puffs. Y’know the ones that melt in your mouth?” 

Leo laughed to himself as he stood up, “Okay–okay. Sports tape and cheese puffs–got it.” 

Splinter grinned, “Alright, now, be safe. I love you.” 

Leo’s face softened a bit and he paused in the doorway. “Yeah, love you too.” He gave his dad one last wave before heading out the door and running down the street. It felt so good to get away from everyone and everything. 

About halfway down the street he paused. He looked to the left toward 21st street and the Trader Joe’s and sports supply store. Then let out a heavy breath and turned his heels in the opposite direction. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to call April. “Hey! I’m just grabbing some stuff from home. Can you pick me up there?” 

A heavy pang of guilt hit him in the chest but he shook it away. 

This was important. 

Cynthia could be cooking up something even worse than Superfly and the mega mutant. Who knew what she was capable of with such a plenitude of both Mikey and Raph’s blood. Splinter probably wouldn't notice him missing for at least a couple of hours. Besides, they would laugh about this in a few years. Leo even gave his full permission for him to bring it up at he and April’s beachside wedding. Even still, Leo couldn't shake the thought that he was a terrible son.

Chapter Text

Leo couldn't help but feel sick as he emptied out his school bag onto his bed. This was a terrible idea and he was a horrible son. This was some bullshit that Raph would pull. Not something that level-headed perfect Leonardo would do. The only time he could ever remember going behind Splinter’s back was during the whole Superfly fiasco and that had been a special circumstance.

Once the guys find out about this, they’re never gonna let me live it down.

As he emptied out his bag a pile of colorful sticky notes came tumbling out on top. At first, he assumed they were just old hall passes he had stuffed in his bag but his heart sank upon further inspection.

They were all notes from Splinter.

The notes that Splinter always stuck in each of the boys lunches. Usually these notes made him want to curl up in a ball and die of embarrassment, but right then they made his heart hurt and his eyes a bit damp.

Splinter was just looking out for him.

Like always.

He should call April and tell her that he was sorry but he couldn’t go. He should march himself back out of the lair and go do the errands he promised Splinter he was going to do in the first place.

No.

He couldn’t back out now. April was already on her way.

And this was important.

Leo shoved the sticky notes to the floor then went over to he and his brothers’ shared dresser to get a change of clothes. He stuffed them into his bag along with his toothbrush, his phone charger, and a notebook.

He might as well get a little bit of studying in.

Just as he finished zipping up his bag, he received a text from April saying she was on her way. Leo took one last glance at his empty bedroom. It was weird seeing it so barren. He had never actually been in the lair by himself. It felt wrong for it to be so quiet. His mind wandered to his brothers and he began to wonder what they were up to.

Probably, all having a good time without him.

Leo shook his head. He didn’t have time to worry about them. He needed to get going. April would probably want to hit the road as soon as she picked him up.

Leo took one last glance at the bedroom then with an anxious sigh he grabbed his belt. He wrapped it around his waist then sheathed his katana and stuck a few kunai and shuriken into his pockets. 

Just in case. 

Leo’s heart raced as he waited outside for April. He felt simultaneously guilty and giddy.

Was this how all teenagers felt when they did something behind their parents’ backs?

Leo had always prided himself on being the good boy of his brothers. He was always on time for curfew, he did all his homework, he did all his chores. He even managed to squeeze in time for meditation and training. He tried his best to be the closest thing to a perfect son that he could.

And he thought he was pretty damn good at it.

The only time he could ever remember going against Splinter’s word was when the whole thing with Superfly had happened and that was a special circumstance. Nothing to do with wanting to spend more time with April.

For a moment he considered calling April and calling the whole thing off altogether. He could turn around and go to the Trader Joes and the sports supply store like the good obedient son he was. If only he could get his feet to move.

Before he had the chance, April pulled up in her mom’s 2016 red Honda Odyssey. She stepped out of the car and waved. “You ready?”

Leo’s face flushed as soon as he saw her.

She was wearing a yellow and cream striped shirt with a blue denim pencil skirt and ripped grey leggings underneath. The skirt had slender straps that she had pinned various environmentalism buttons as well as one that Leo had made for April Tonight.

April had also recently combed out her locs so she could re-dye her hair her favorite shade of ruby red. Today, she had it pulled back into two identical fluffy pigtails that were peeking out under her signature blue beanie.

April was always beautiful but today she was just plain stunning and holy shit it was making him want to melt.

How?

How had he managed to convince this Goddess of a woman to date him?

He felt so frumpy standing there with her in his usual blue polo shirt and khaki shorts. To make matters worse, he was probably covered in sweat stains from helping with the dojo.

Shit, did he smell?

He tried to discreetly sniff his shirt but all that he managed to smell was an abundance of cheap cologne that he had practically bathed himself in that morning.

April blushed bashfully then looked away. “Do I look dumb or something?” She bit her lip, “I guess I don’t really have the body to pull off some—“

Leo immediately cut her off because there was no way he was even willing to hear April out on something so ridiculous. He hung his arms around her neck. “Sorry, I got a little dazed because you look so pretty, right now. You sure you’re not related to Aphrodite or something?”

Yeah, smooth, Leo!

April rolled her eyes with a shy smile, “You being real with me?”

Leo nodded, “Am I ever not?”

April shook her head, “I guess not.” Then she narrowed her eyes at him and leaned in, giving a playfully stern look. “And you better not ever start!”

Leo chuckled, “I swear—I swear I won’t.”

“Good.” April intertwined her fingers with his, a satisfied look on her face as she gazed at her reflection in the car window.

“I’m really glad your dad let you come,” April said as she turned the key in the ignition. For a moment, Leo considered telling her the truth. That his dad actually was not at all cool with this and that Splinter thought he was taking a walk to the grocery store but he was worried about her reaction.

Being so rebellious and disobedient really wasn’t like him. Maybe she’d force him to go home or would be disappointed that he'd so easily abandon his dad and Scumbug to galavant off with her to Massachusetts.

“Yeah,” Leo finally said. “Surprised me too.”

So much for being real.

April turned on some indie music from a band she liked as they struggled to leave the city. It felt like they had been driving along the Hudson for hours, before they finally saw some more suburban looking houses. Leo stared out the window, nervously clutching his phone in his hand.

He should have been back already. Splinter was gonna start to worry and even if he was being a tad more rebellious than usual, he still didn’t want his dad to worry too much. Especially since Splinter had a tendency to assume the absolute worst.

Kidnapping
Incarceration
Death
Murder

Leo stared at his last few texts with his dad. He needed to come up with something. Anything other than radio silence would be good enough and never could resist the power of Dad, I don’t feel well. Mikey in particular was an expert at this particular skill. He’d bat his stupid puppy dog eyes and stick out his bottom lip, maybe add a fake cough or two and then he had Splinter wrapped around his little finger and could get out of practically anything.

It was so annoying.

Mikey didn’t feel like sparring during training after he stole the last popsicle that Raph had specifically been saving, then he would just pull out the sick act and Dad would be wrapped around his little finger. He could get away with anything.

Leo wasn’t exactly the thespian that Mikey was but desperate times called for desperate measures so if Leo needed to stoop to Mikey’s lame tricks to get away with this then so be it. Besides if it didn’t work for him like it always did for Mikey then this would be pretty solid evidence that Mikey got special treatment for being the baby.

Leo let out a deep breath and started typing.

The text was sent but the longer Leo stared down at it, the more his heart began to race. He could practically feel Splinter’s worry from miles away. Being the overprotective helicopter parent he was, he could easily see Splinter stopping work on the dojo for the day to come home and take care of Leo.

Leo frantically added more on to his first message.

Leo’s heart was practically beating out of his chest as he hit send on the final message. He could feel the guilt circulating throughout his body. Splinter was gonna know. He was gonna read straight through Leo’s fat lies and make him come right home, where he was gonna get a stern talking to and be grounded for the rest of his life never to see the surface world or April again

“You okay?”

With a little jolt, Leo looked up from his phone and over at April. She had her eyes on the road but he could still see a slightly worried pinch of her eyebrows.

“Oh, yeah,” Leo forced an awkward smile, “I’m fine.”

It was clear from her unchanged expression that she didn’t believe him but she seemed to let it go and turned her attention back to the road.

Leo relaxed back in his seat as he waited for Splinter to respond. It wasn’t like him to not reply straight away. Splinter had that sixth sense that only dad’s had for knowing what their sons were up to.

What if he already knew?

He was just waiting for Leo to let his guard down and then he was gonna FaceTime him and start scolding him right in front of April.

Leo let out a deep breath then wiped his palms on his shorts.

He needed to calm down.

Splinter could barely figure out how to video call on a good day. He was probably just busy with the dojo. His phone was probably left on the ground somewhere. Splinter wasn’t exactly as glued to his phone as the boys were.

Leo reached into his backpack at his feet and pulled out his notebook. If his brothers had been there they all would have made fun of him. Studying while stressed, really? He already felt guilty enough lying to Splinter (and April) the least he could do to make it up to him was to get high scores on his regents.

Leo had only managed to focus on rereading his science notes for about ten minutes until his mind began to wander.

April was gonna be a senior next year, a senior. Then she’d be going off to college to live her big adult life while stupid baby Leo would still be stuck in high school. High school had seemed like such a big deal just last year to Leo but now it just sounded so babyish and lame compared to college. At least he would still have his brothers, but sometimes even they felt like they weren’t around as much as they used to be and he hadn’t exactly put in the effort to make other friends.

Senior year was gonna suck.

“Is that me?”

April’s voice brought him back to reality.

“Huh?” His whole face heated up crimson as he frantically moved to cover the notebook with his body. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized that he had, in fact, started sketching a doodle of April on one of the blank pages in his notebook.

“It’s really good.”

“It’s no-nothing,” Leo stuttered, quickly shutting the book. “I’m not like a real artist or anything. I’m just messing around.”

When he should have been studying.

“When you took the regents your sophomore year did—“

“Are you seriously still stressing about that dumb exam?”

Leo’s cheeks dusted pink, “I just don’t wanna fail,” he muttered under his breath.

My dad is already going to hate me after this weekend.

“I guarantee with how much studying you’ve been doing there’s no way in hell you’re even coming close to failing.”

“I hope,” Leo mumbled, leaning his head against the window to stare out at the highway. He was beginning to feel a little carsick anyway, made even worse when he felt his phone buzz.

He didn’t dare look. He didn’t want to deal with Splinter. He didn’t want to deal with anything. So he let his eyes slip shut and he dozed off with his head leaned uncomfortably against the window.

Leo woke up once he felt the car come to a stop. Even with a little nap, they couldn’t possibly already be there. His suspicions were proven correct when instead of a cozy farm house he was met with a view of the ocean.

“April, where are we?” He asked, voice a little groggy from sleep.

“Sasco Beach,” she replied instantly, a bright smile plastered across her face.

“Sasco Beach?” He repeated. “What for?” A beach wasn’t exactly the place he expected them to stop for lunch or a bathroom break. Knowing them they would probably get distracted and start fooling around like a bunch of dumb teenagers. “Isn’t your grandparents’ place still a few hours away? There’s only so much daylight.”

The smile on April’s face faded, “Yeah, I guess you're right.” She rebuckled her seat belt then adjusted her glasses on her face as she glanced off to the side. “I just thought–well,” she stumbled. Then let out a deep breath and turned her gaze back to Leo. “You seemed really on edge and we only have so many spring breaks left together in high school so I thought,” she paused, “maybe we could just be dumb teenagers for a little bit?”

Leo felt so stupid.

Here April was trying to be sweet and cheer him up by taking a stop by a beach and instead of gratitude he immediately starts making her feel stupid for thinking of him in the first place.

He didn’t deserve her.

“Though maybe it was stupid,” she muttered then stuck the key back in the ignition, “We’re wasting time and—“

“Hey,” Leo placed a hand on her thigh, “It’s not stupid. I’m stupid.”

April turned her head to stare at him, her expression a little unsure.

“Um, what I mean is that it’s really sweet of you to think of me and I’d really like to stretch my legs a bit.” He forced a confident smile to his face that he knew she saw straight through.

For a minute, Leo thought he’d ruined the moment between the two of them. That they were going to spend the rest of the car ride in painful silence giving Leo plenty of opportunity to replay the scene over and over again in his brain, but slowly the smile returned to April’s face and she grabbed his hand.

The couple ran hand in hand, their shoes left abandoned in the car so they could feel the sand between their toes. With a glance at each other and then back at the waves. They squeezed hands then ran into the freezing water.

“Holy shit!” Leo yelped as he felt the brisk water nip at his ankles.

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” April teased, using her foot to splash Leo with a bit more of the frigid water.

“Hey!” He squealed, his voice cracking.

April tried to hold back a laugh but a small snort managed to squeeze its way out.

Leo huffed a small blush appearing on his cheeks. “Oh, yeah?” He lunged forward and easily scooped her up into his arms. She let out her own embarrassing squeak as she was lifted off of her feet. “How about I dunk you?”

April glared back at him, no real malice in her eyes. “I just dyed my hair! You wouldn’t!”

“Oh, yeah!?”

Without skipping a beat, Leo tossed her into the air. April let out a shrill scream then a loud gasp as Leo caught her right before she hit the water.

“You ass!” She snapped, giving his plastron a few playful smacks.

He stared down at her with a cheeky smile, “Caught you.”

“I hate you,” April scoffed, a small smile sneaking its way back to her face. “You’re a terrible partner!”

“Are you breaking up with me?” Leo feigned an exaggerated pout as he placed April back on her own feet.

“Yup,” April smirked, wrapping her arms around his neck and allowing their noses to touch. “Consider yourself officially dumped.” She craned her neck upward so she could plant her lips against his. Leo leaned down to give her a better reach then wrapped his arms around her back to pull her closer.

They pulled apart, once a particularly big wave hit and soaked them from the shoulders down. “Okay, that’s enough ocean,” April said, laughing as she took Leo’s hand and guided him back to the sand.

They sat by the shore, legs sticking out so their toes got hit by the tide every couple of seconds. Leo had his head leaned against April’s shoulder, his arm wrapped around her waist and hers around his shell.

He wished they could stay like this forever.

“Hey,” April said, bumping her head against his shoulder. “Did you ever get around to reading that last issue of Batman I bought you last month?”

Leo’s heart sank. He dug his free hand into the sand and averted his gaze toward the ocean. “No,” he mumbled.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to or that he was ungrateful for her gifts. Honestly, a part of him hated when April bought him gifts. He felt guilty whenever she spent her money on him but another part of him swooned every time she told him she got him even just a small present. It was sweet that she thought about him enough to buy him anything. He’d gladly wear the ugliest sweater imaginable if she had been the one to buy it for him. 

“But I swear I’m gonna binge read them all once these regents are over with!”

April let out a miserable groan, leaning her head against Leo’s shoulder. “And I swear if you mention that damn exam one more time I’m gonna throttle you.” Her expression softened, then she reached over to grab his hand in hers, “Leo,” she said tenderly, cupping his cheek. “I know you’re stressing but can we just enjoy this trip together? I don’t want to look back at this years later and all we remember is you being stressed about a test.”

Leo squeezed April’s hand in his. “You’re right,” he admitted. “Sorry.” He gave her a soft smile, “I promise no more studying on this trip! I just wanna spend time with you and investigate the TCRI case!” Leo pulled out his phone to take a selfie with April then gasped once he saw the text from Splinter. He had been so caught up in the moment that he had completely forgotten about reading his dad’s response. 

“What’s wrong?” April asked as soon as she heard him.

“It’s nothing,” Leo said as he stared down at the text. “Just my Dad. He’s telling me about him and Scumbug and it's a little TMI.”

Lying to her should not come so easily.

“Eww,” April said, leaning her head against his. “Was he talking about the nuptial gift thing again?”

Leo gagged at the memory. “No. Just weird older couple things. He and Scumbug are going square dancing” Which wasn’t exactly a lie. In reality, they were planning to go dancing, it just wasn’t for a few more weeks. “Scumbug made them matching outfits.”

April snickered at the thought of both Splinter and Scumbug out at some old dance hall in egregious matching outfits. Scumbug had always been a big fan of mixing multiple clashing patterns together so one could only imagine what she had managed to scrape together.

“Tell him to send pics.”

Great.

“I will.”

Returning his attention to the text, Leo’s heart settled. It seemed like Splinter had bought the act, at least for now. The jig would be up in about an hour when Splinter arrived home to no Leo and he really didn’t have an excuse to cover for that.

Leo tried to focus his attention on the sound of the waves and April’s breathing but he couldn’t help the building anxiety in his chest.

Shit.