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"And last but not least, it's Leeeeeeeo!" Leo cheered softly to the empty room, trying to fill in how April would have announced him, like she had for his brothers. "Wooo! You're my favorite one! Can't be a team without you, big guy!"
Splinter emerged from the kitchen with a slice of cake, heading towards his room. Leo looked at him hopefully.
"Party's over, Blue," Splinter said, uninterested. "Go to bed."
Leo closed the curtain of his bedroom behind him, leaned his odachi up against the wall, and fought down the absolutely ridiculous urge to cry.
He was just tired, and that was making him emotional! He wasn't the only one. He could already feel the bass of Donnie's "really sad" dubstep thudding through the concrete.
So it was fine. He was fine! So what if April had hyped up each of his brothers with a cool introduction and then just… stopped, before getting to him? So what if he'd actually kinda really really wanted to hear what she thought was cool about him?
Ha ha. Yeah.
April had started with Donnie because, like, duh! Of course she had! April was friends with all of the turtles, but she was best friends with Donnie. They'd always clicked so well with each other, which was great! They both needed someone to do nerd stuff with, and it saved Leo from so many Donnie Monologues over the years.
And she'd announced Raph next. April and Raph were the closest in age, which kinda set them up to be, like, emotionally closer, being more mature or whatever. Plus, they both had that "rush in head-first with no plan except our fists" thing going on, so they bonded over that.
And then April had announced Mikey, because who didn't love Mikey? He was warm and daring and loveable and made you feel better by being around him! Mikey was great! He totally deserved to feel cool and strong and appreciated!
Leo guessed the others hadn't been into April's act as much as he was, and they were all tired from the fight they'd lost, so it had just sapped April's momentum. And so she'd read the room (the way Leo never quite seemed to manage) and stopped with the MC shtick. She definitely (probably) had one ready for Leo! Maybe he'd ask her about it later.
Then again, Leo didn't want to put April on the spot. Maybe it had been harder for her to come up with something cool to say about Leo.
It's not that he thinks April doesn't like him! He knows she likes him! Pizza Supreme knows that no one else appreciates his awesome puns or sick one-liners the way she does—and wow does he wish she had heard Raph's awful vampire-stake-out pun, because it had been almost hilariously terrible. Leo just wasn't as close to April as Donnie, or Raph, or Mikey. Leo was just…
her least favorite.
Like clockwork, the air vent in Leo's room started rattling with his dad's snoring. Splinter always passed out after milk and cake.
Leo had claimed that he was Dad's least favorite during the last Rat Flu epidemic. Which wasn't true, of course! It had been a joke! A gaff! A last-ditch attempt to throw one of his brothers under the Captain-Cuddle-Cakes bus!
It wasn't true. It wasn't true because parents don't play favorites. It's against the rules or something. And that's why it didn't matter that Dad always picked Raph to be Lou Jitsu during their movie-marathon "training" sessions. That's why it didn't matter that Dad thought Donnie was the funniest, or how he always caved to Mikey's puppy-dog eyes.
That's why it didn't matter that when Dad heard Leo trying to hype himself up a little after a rough day, he just shut him down instead of playing along. Like, c'mon. Was a pity laugh too much to ask for?
"Last but not least." Yeah, who did Leo think he was kidding.