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When Leo heard about Usagi for the first time, he was delighted. It wasn't every day they met other mutants. Even rarer were the ones who weren't trying to kill them, let alone attend high school.
“He says his owners told him to,” Mikey, who had the opportunity to meet him first, recounted. “I mean, they're like his parents now? He's a bit confused about that; it's all new to him. He says that one moment he was eating a carrot on the balcony, then a mutant fly came through town, sprayed him with some ooze, and boom! Suddenly he had thumbs.”
Leo glanced down at his hands, as if to assure himself they could bond over this experience. Less traumatic in his case, since he remembered absolutely nothing about it, but still.
He didn't even notice when Donnie leaned over him.
“You're already into him, aren't you?”
Leo whipped his head around so quickly that something popped in his neck.
“What? No!” he protested, feeling himself blush. Which didn't help at all, especially since Raph had already picked up on the topic and was almost choking on his pizza, laughing.
“Dude! You totally are! You should see your face!”
Leo pursed his lips and buried his face in his hands.
When he came out a few weeks ago, he was a little afraid of his brothers' reaction. Not really afraid, just a little bit. A small, quiet thought somewhere in the back of his mind.
But to his relief, all three of them turned out to be quite supportive. Very supportive, actually. Strangely supportive.
Supportive in the “We'll try to set you up with every guy we can find” kind of way.
It could have been worse. Although it was hard to remember that at times...
He'd only managed to meet Usagi before his last lesson. By then he'd heard enough from others to have a pretty good idea of him, and he wasn't at all disappointed when he finally spotted a pair of long, white ears above the crowd.
Usagi was tall, taller than most students, which earned him a spot on the school basketball team upon entry and the right to parade around school in a sweatshirt bearing its logo. He also had, befitting a mutant rabbit, comically large feet, thick white fur, and a flat, pink nose.
Leo was so sick of looking at the far less pleasant mutants every day that he almost called him “cute” out loud, biting his tongue at the last second. Luckily, because when Usagi finally noticed him, his mouth twisted into a wide, not at all friendly, smile.
“You're Leo, aren't you?” he asked, looking him over without trying to hide it. His nose twitched slightly. “Nice sweatshirt.”
Leo felt the ground slipping from under his feet.
He prepared well for the start of high school. He did his research, checked all facts, and watched every movie he could find, jotting down the most important information. He didn't quite understand why so many people were singing instead of talking to each other, but he decided not to bother with the details.
He knew that some teachers were kinder and more understanding, especially those who sat on their desks instead of chairs. That sweatshirts with the school logo were like trophies, awarded only to a select few; that everyone had everyone's number and could easily send a compromising photo throughout the school; and that the worst possible humiliation was eating lunch alone at a table next to the trash can.
He also knew exactly the type of student he was dealing with. The popular jock who everyone admired and who could get away with murder if he kept shooting the ball.
Everything Leo absolutely was not and never intended to be, in his Batman sweatshirt, which he suddenly liked a little less.
He tried to swallow, but the saliva caught in his throat, and he could only mumble something incoherent in response, turn on his heel, and walk away as quickly as he could without running.
When he glanced over his shoulder, Usagi was still standing in the same place, looking at him as if he were something very funny.
And he never stopped looking. Sometimes Leo felt his eyes on him at completely random moments. When he tried to eat his lunch in peace, when he struggled with a jammed backpack zipper, when he just wanted to drink water but someone bent the tap and most of it ended up on his shirt—a sudden chill ran down his spine, and he knew that somewhere in the crowd of students he would see a familiar face with that same mocking smile.
He tried to avoid him as much as he could, tried to ignore him, tried to always stick to one of his brothers or April, and tried not to eat, not to drink, and ideally not to breathe, but none of it worked. If anything, he only made things worse, because Usagi clearly decided he would get his attention, one way or another.
The first time, Leo could have sworn he almost had a heart attack when a hand slammed into the locker next to his head. He whirled around, out of pure instinct, but froze instantly, flinching. Usagi was leaning over him, one hand braced against the lockers, the other tucked nonchalantly into his hoodie pocket.
“Hey,” he said, raising an eyebrow slightly. “Going somewhere?”
Leo swallowed hard and clutched his books tighter to his chest. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, and he was almost certain the rapid pounding in his ears was actually his own heart. If he weren't so terrified, he'd feel foolish about how vulnerable he felt. He'd seen far more terrifying things and faced opponents a million times stronger, but under different circumstances, which he might as well call a different life.
He wasn't a ninja now; he was a student. Getting into fights was forbidden, and he didn't want any trouble, especially if it meant harming the school team. And knocking out a key player probably counted as harm.
So Leo wasn't a coward; he simply chose common sense. And he didn't run away—he retreated to a safe place so he wouldn't be tempted by the easy path of violence, that's all. But maybe, maybe it looked a little different from the outside. And maybe Usagi could have taken it as a sign of weakness, smelled fresh blood, and targeted him, this time without any leniency.
Leo, in any case, felt like a deer on the prowl: hunted, cornered, and without any chance of rescue. Only now did he realize how many lessons he shared with Usagi. He discovered with even greater dismay that somehow the boy always sat close enough for his presence to become almost tangible, settling on Leo with all its weight. No matter what he did, Usagi always found a way to mock him, some excuse to comment on everything.
“Did your dad make these for you?” he sneered, stopping at their table in the cafeteria. He nodded at the sandwich in his hand, a smiling face imprinted on it by the cookie cutter. “That's so sweet.”
Leo slid lower on his desk, pursed his lips, and sat there hungry until the end of the break, because the sandwich would sooner stick in his throat than reach his stomach.
Two days later, Mrs. Wilson praised his essay, holding it up in front of the class as if it radiated wisdom.
“Good job,” she said, placing the note on his desk and patting him on the shoulder.
As soon as she moved on, Usagi leaned out from the next row and poked Leo with a pen.
“Yeah, Nardo.” He grinned. “Good job.”
Leo had a strong urge to knock out all his teeth with one well-placed punch, but he limited himself to gripping his thigh with such force that it left bruises. He was patient and understanding, and he tried, he really did try, as hard as he could, but for the first time in his life, he was on the verge of understanding what Raph meant when he said violence brought him relief and satisfaction.
What irritated him most was that everyone around him ignored not only the problem itself but also all his complaints. He wasn't stupid enough to go to the teachers, of course, but he complained to his brothers at every opportunity, to no avail.
“I'm telling you, he's bullying me,” he hissed, keeping his head low over the table and his voice as low as possible in the noisy cafeteria. “How can you not see that?”
Only Mikey glanced at him from his lunch, but he didn't show the proper seriousness.
“Well, I don't know... I think he just doesn't really understands social norms, you know?” he said. “He's kinda like Dad. He claims he got it, but he's just messing around, emberrasing himself.”
Leo barely heard him, staring at Raph as he shoved an entire slice of pizza into his mouth at once, downed it with a Coke, and swallowed it with a look as if he'd just won a battle.
“Who are we even talking about?” he asked without much interest.
“Usagi.”
“Keep it downt!” Leo hissed loudly, practically lying down on the table, but was completely ignored. Again.
Raph wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Who?”
Mikey raised an eyebrow.
“Usagi? You know, tall, long ears, plays basketball...” He gave him a moment to think. “The only other mutant in this school?”
That finally brought enlightenment.
“Oooh... That Usagi.” Raph pulled Leo's untouched lunch tray toward himself without question. “So many of them here, it's hard to remember.”
Mikey made a face at him.
“You just forgot his name.”
“How was I supposed to remember? Everyone always calls him 'Rabbit'!”
“You won't believe it when I tell you...” Donnie muttered from his phone.
This whole discussion was leading nowhere and was only making Leo's frustration slowly approach its breaking point. He wasn't asking for much; he just wanted someone to finally take him seriously and maybe even care a little about his problem, that's all. The bar was on the floor, but neither of his brothers had the will to even try to cross it.
He was about to point this out, in the most emotional, guilt-inducing way possible, when he saw something white out of the corner of his eye. Something white, tall and fluffy in a blue sweatshirt.
Instinct kicked in, hard, and before he could think, not twice, but even once, he dove under the table, between his brothers' legs and a few used napkins.
Everything became as quiet as it could be when a hundred students gathered in one place. Leo tried not to move, not to breathe, and preferably not to think too loudly, but it didn't really surprise him that he was out of luck again. First, he saw legs behind the chair he'd just been sitting in, and then Usagi leaned forward, bracing himself with one hand on the counter. He looked at Leo with utter disbelief but quickly got over it.
“Looking for something?” he asked and again smiled in that irritating, mocking way that made Leo's fists itch.
If he could, he would gladly make sure Usagi came home today with half his teeth missing. If he could, he would show him that he wasn't some kid who could be intimidated. He would prove that he knew how to defend himself, that he was brave and honored, and that he wouldn't let himself be victimized, especially not in front of his brothers.
But he was curled up under the table, which didn't exactly make for great speeches about self-respect and severely limited his range of motion. On top of that, his heart was pounding so loudly it drowned out almost everything else, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, and when he finally found his voice, all he managed to get out was
“I'm not looking for trouble!”
Great. Just perfect. Now he felt completely humiliated.
Usagi raised his eyebrows, as if he weren't the reason for all this mess.
“That's... good?” he hesitated but finally just shrugged. “See you in math.”
Ah yes, math. Because this day wasn't shitty enough yet.
He waited a moment longer to make sure Usagi had actually left and wasn't lurking nearby until Raph finally nudged him in the back with his foot. And then again, when Leo managed to crawl into a chair, flushed and embarrassed. It didn't help at all that all three brothers were suddenly very interested in him.
“Dude, now I want to bully you,” Raph said, as if he hadn't been doing exactly that their entire lives.
“Aren't you being a little dramatic?” Mikey at least looked like he felt sorry for him. Or pitied him, more likely. “Why would he bully you? You never did anything to him.”
Leo pulled his hood over his head, trying to blend into his chair.
“He doesn't need a reason,” he grumbled. “That's what popular kids do: bully guys like me for sport.”
His brothers exchanged glances.
“He's 'popular'?”
“Never crossed my mind.”
“I've already forgotten his name.”
They were completely useless, all three of them. Leo had no idea why he'd ever assumed otherwise.
He reached his limit on Friday afternoon. The day had been exceptionally bad anyway; everything was going wrong, and most of it wasn't even his fault. It wasn't his fault they overslept because Donnie hadn't set his alarm, it wasn't his fault his locker was jammed again and he couldn't get his textbooks out, and it wasn't his fault Mrs. Harris was such a bitch who couldn't understand that “Dad's girlfriend threw up on my homework.”
So he was angry and resentful, deeply disappointed with the justice system even before he was sent to detention, where he threw his backpack on the floor and sat down in his chair with such force that it creaked. Mr Turner, who was on duty, gave him a long look over the stack of tests he was grading, but he clearly decided it wasn't worth it, because he immediately returned to his own work. Leo stretched his forearms out on the desk, rested his forehead on them, and closed his eyes, trying to focus on the coming weekend.
He straightened only when he heard a loud clearing of the throat a few minutes later. Turner was already standing at the door, one hand on the doorknob, the other clutching his briefcase.
“I have to step out for a moment,” he said, which wasn't surprising. He seemed to believe the students were only interrupting his teaching, and he'd happily spend all day speaking to an empty classroom. “I hope you'll both still be here when I get back.”
He left the room without waiting for a response, and it took Leo a moment to realize he'd used the plural. For the first time, he actually looked around the classroom, and in that instant, the day went from bad to tragic.
Usagi smiled at him from his spot by the window, in the same mocking, superior way he always did.
“Hey, Nardo,” he whispered teasingly, propping his chin on his hand. “And I thought you were so good at following the rules.”
Leo turned his head and stared at the desk, trying to pour all his frustration onto it and break it with sheer force of will. It didn't make him feel any better. Maybe worse, because he was more than certain he was blushing despite himself. Why did he even care? Why did he take stupid comments personally, and why did he care what someone like that had to say about him? He should be more than that. He was a ninja, he was a hero, and he had saved the city. He deserved better; he deserved peace and respect, and...
Something lightly slapped his shoulder, bounced, and fell to the ground. Leo blinked in surprise, ducked automatically, and froze, a crumpled ball of paper in his hand. He gritted his teeth and must have bitten his tongue, because he could have sworn he tasted blood.
“You know what?” He set the ball down on the counter and stood up, surprised that his voice wasn't shaking half as much as his hands. Usagi was still looking at him in that same, unbearable way, as if he couldn't sense the atmosphere had thickened. “I'm done. I'm done with you, and I'm done living in fear, and I'm done with you thinking you're better than me just because you're popular.”
He moved the chairs out of his way and stepped closer. For the first time, he towered over Usagi, whose smile had already been replaced by astonishment.
“I have no idea why you're so obsessed with me, but you're not funny. You're annoying, and I'm so sick of you, and I don't care what you think of my clothes or my sandwiches or anything at all! I won't hide anymore, and I won't hold back, and I'll punch you if you talk to me again!“
He probably shouldn't have raised his voice, especially when he was threatening to beat someone up, but at least he'd unburdened himself a bit and felt better. His hands were still shaking, and he felt like he was about to faint, but even so, at least he'd regained some of his dignity.
Usagi stared at him, frozen with a particularly stupid expression, his mouth half-open. Finally, he regained enough composure to close it, licked his lips nervously, and clenched his hands on his shoulders.
“You think I'm popular?” He asked quietly, suddenly very interested in his shoes.
Leo rolled his eyes.
“As if you didn't know!” He snorted. “You, in your stupid sweatshirt. 'Look, I can throw the ball, that is sooo important!'” he mimicked.
Usagi wrinkled his nose.
“Well, I can. Our team sucks, though. Everyone knows it.” He started tapping his ridiculously large shoes nervously. “But the sweatshirt is cool.”
“Sure.” Leo crossed his arms, not at all impressed by this admission. “Much cooler than mine.”
This time Usagi looked at him with utter astonishment.
“I never said that,” he said, sounding offended. “I like your sweatshirt. I literally told you it was cool!”
“With that mocking grin!”
“Mocking... What does that even mean?” He jumped up from his chair. “Have you ever tried to smile with those?” He pointed to his mouth and, indeed, disproportionately large teeth. “I've only been a mutant for a few months; I don't know how it works yet! And I didn't mean to be 'mocking.' I was trying to be nice to you because I like you!”
Leo took a step back, hit the nearest table with his thighs, and sat down on it in shock.
“You what?” he stammered.
Usagi took a deep breath and let it out loudly.
“I tried talking to you, but you always run away when you see me. My friend said I should try to be more, uh...” He grimaced. “Straightforward.”
Leo raised his hands, but immediately lowered them helplessly.
“So you threw some garbage at me?”
Even with the thick layer of fur, it was obvious Usagi was blushing. He pursed his lips, walked over to Leo's desk, and grabbed the completely forgotten ball from it.
“Open it,” he said so firmly that Leo didn't even think to protest. He felt more and more disoriented with each passing moment, and it didn't help that when he unrolled the paper, he revealed a clumsily scribbled text.
“Will you go for pizza with me after school?”
[ ] Yes
[ ] Sure
[ ] Of course.
He read the whole thing three times, line by line, lingering a little longer on the empty squares, one of which he was supposed to select and mark. He wasn't sure what he felt or thought about all this anymore. He was still angry, a feeling that had been building for weeks and wouldn't just disappear, but he was beginning to suspect he might be wrong about his reasons.
“Are you serious?” he asked, looking up.
Usagi rocked back and forth on his heels, nervously tugging at the sleeves of his sweatshirt. He looked nothing like the rabbit that had blocked Leo's path two months earlier and almost pushed him into a locker.
“You don't like pizza?” he asked, flushed red again under his ruffled fur. Leo wanted to grab his cheeks and squeeze it hard, and he had no idea if that was a good or bad thought.
“And you have to throw that at me?”
To prove it wasn't nice, he crumpled the paper again and threw it straight at Usagi's chest. However, Usagi managed to catch it mid-flight and toss it back.
“I didn't! I just missed!”
Leo was hit in the arm and gasped with indignation.
“You're playing basketball! How could you miss?”
“I told you our team sucks!” Usagi stomped his foot and immediately cringed in embarrassment. “Uh... and you make me nervous.”
They both fell silent, looking anywhere but at each other. Usagi rolled his ears over his shoulder, smoothing his fur, while Leo bit his lip, trying to make sense of it all. It slowly began to dawn on him that he'd just heard something akin to a love confession, and something tickled his stomach.
“Were you serious?” he asked, confirming. “Were you really just trying to talk to me?”
He shifted on the desk and patted the space next to him meaningfully, which Usagi gladly took advantage of.
“Why else would I bother you?”
Actually, a pretty good question.
“I thought you were making fun of me. Because you're, you know... a popular kid? And I'm anything but.”
Usagi raised an eyebrow.
“I hate to disappoint you, but I'm literally a nobody at this school. The only thing people know me for is that I might be a part of your team somehow. And I'm not even that.”
Now that he no longer associated Usagi solely with slapping books out of his hands and pushing him into dumpster, Leo suddenly realized he'd never stopped thinking he was pretty. Maybe he'd even tweaked it a bit in his head to better fit the movie plot. He wondered if his fur was as soft as it looked. The thought of asking, or even better, checking in person, did something very strange to his stomach, and he was sure he blushed. That was exactly how he'd once felt around April, and his brothers never stopped teasing him, detailing how ridiculous he looked, staring at her with that loving gaze.
They were being overly dramatic, because Usagi's eyes were just as hazy and soft now, and it didn't make him look stupid at all. Leo could get used to someone looking at him that way. And he certainly wasn't going to complain if that 'someone' wore a sweatshirt with the school logo and played on a team. Even if they sucked.
He bit the inside of his cheek and experimentally shifted until their knees touched. He couldn't say he minded the closeness. In fact, it felt surprisingly natural.
“Well, maybe you're gonna be, in a way. Part of the team, I mean.”
Usagi's ears perked up, and his fur fluffed up.
“Is that a yes?” He asked, confirming. His foot was bouncing again, this time with excitement. “We'll go on a date?”
Leo blushed but nodded.
“Why not?” He tried to sound as if it didn't affect him at all. “But where did you even get the idea that all this was 'flirting'?”
Usagi shrugged.
“I watched a few movies. It was either that or singing. I figured I'd spare you the suffering.”
That... sounded strangely familiar. In a 'Maybe let's not go into details' way.
“Yeah, movies can be misleading,” he admitted, then hesitated. “In movies, guys like you usually aren't the nicest.”
Usagi shifted his leg, nudging Leo's foot lightly.
“I would be very nice to you. I can prove it. I can...” He fell silent, deep in thought. “Um... Take you to the prom?”
He was clearly guessing, but Leo found that it didn't bother him at all. It's not like he was an expert at being a normal student himself. Or normal at all.
They could just as easily be weird together.
“Maybe you can. Who knows?” He shrugged. “But for now, pizza sounds good. I just need to come up with an excuse for my brothers.”
Usagi frowned.
“Can't you tell them the truth?”
“So they can spy on us? Absolutely not. Siblings are a pain in the ass. The movies are right about that, for once.”
Excitement was slowly building inside him, and if he could, he would suggest they go eat right now. He could finally take someone to his favorite pizzeria and not hear them complain that the cheese wasn't stretchy enough, the crust was too thin, and there were at least five better places on the same street.
Unfortunately, he still had to serve out the rest of his sentence, or at least wait until Mr. Turner returned and let them leave early. Although, truth be told, Leo wasn't in any hurry. He was actually quite comfortable.
And maybe he was even brave enough to actually test the feel of Usagi's fur.