Spending the Night/Waking Up (2K14 - Leo)
I tried to post this yesterday on my day off but I've been sick and it just wasn't there. Also, I got a cat for the first time in a long time as a birthday present a couple months ago and learned they really like to mess with you when you're on the computer.
Implied female reader.
Was going to do all bros but Leo got long. Will do the with bros separately. I'm taking some liberties with describing Leo's room because I can't find a definitive lair layout for this iteration and I looked for quite a bit yesterday.
Not proofread. Getting ready to run to the doctor.
Leonardo: Spending the Night:
It's the same thing every time but somehow it's still as cute as the first time. Always busy juggling responsibilities of the family--those given and those self-inflicted--Leonardo prefers to schedule your 'spend the nights' to spare you the consequences of rushing above ground and carrying on with your human life. Leonardo is no stranger to you, a mix of polite and shy with a dangerous boyish smile, but there's a nervous fluttering in the air when you agree.
Donatello pointed out he twiddles his fingers more after you agree, which is a key behavior of turtles as they try to attract their mate. The eldest's fingers tremble like his heart. He's trying to yank his excitement beneath the composure expected of him as the leader and oldest brother. It doesn't work and everyone knows it, but he tries.
Leonardo puts extra energy into controlling or hiding his hands for the rest of the night.
Your 'spending the night' usually happens as a night on patrol bleeds into a stay-over. He's as gentlemanly as ever; you're always secured in the van, he shushes his bros to make sure your order is heard if you stop to get something on the way to the lair, and you're escorted through the sewers as if he's hand-delivering the most fragile antique.
Sometimes the boys pick and tease but Mikey is smart enough to stay back. Occasionally he'll pull the 'baby bro' card and flash those blue eyes. Raphael will shamelessly poke the bear, calling you princess as his lip curls up smugly with the way Leo's eyes cut dangerously to his while ducking under a low-hanging pipe with you in his arms. Leonardo may or may not have somehow hooked a toe under Raph's to put him off-center before they drop to a lower ledge; the second-eldest is forced to swing out, catch himself on the lip, and hold for a few seconds.
And get a face full of runoff while he's at it.
"Jackass," he hisses.
"Leo," you chide, Donnie and Mikey giggling at the other (dry) end of the pipe.
"What?" Leo's lips quirk in that 'I'm innocent and I have no idea what you're talking about' way. You stare at him, seeing right through that feigned innocence. "He's been on my tail all night," he defends as they finally enter into the lair.
Once you're in the lair, Leo is a mix of floating host and slightly standoffish brother who doesn't want to be made fun of. He doesn't know why, really, because Splinter and the bros have already accepted you and you're not new but something about it just makes him nervous.
He doesn't want to hover but he doesn't want to ignore you. HOW DO PEOPLE DO THIS? Leo's thinking too much and he knows it. Mikey comes in clutch with the save, offering something general and harmless that would let him be near you and play it casual.
Movie night is not uncommon in the lair; you and Leo tend to shift towards one another unconsciously as the movie goes on. By the end of it, as the wee hours of the morning creep in, the boys have wound down enough to sleep. Leonardo takes your hand and navigates seamlessly through the darkening lair
His part of the lair is marked by two Japanese folding screens that he and Donnie fixed the wood on, Splinter touching up the stitching in the nature scene. They don't make for perfect privacy, but it's nice. The stone underneath your feet is clean and smells faintly of the incense he burns. Leo is very much a 'place for everything, everything in it's place type' but doesn't like clutter. He tends to collect what interests him; vintage and oriental themes comingle with health, strategy, self-care, and the occasional knickknack.
There's part of a practice mat where he does daily warm-ups prior to the dojo, dented with his routine, separate from everything else. He needs room to stretch. Flush where wall meets screen is a stout two-door cabinet that used to have three shelves. He let Mikey take a panel for a project; Leo reserves the top shelf for the tiny random treasures. Books take up the rest of the cabinet, a blend of philosophy, strategy, history, language practice workbooks, and mathematics. Most of it is related to plants, medicine, herbology, and agriculture.
Atop that cabinet is the zen garden Mikey got him to 'teach him the art of chill.' Raphael followed that with a Bonsai tree so he'd learn to 'cut the shit out.' He paints on the opposite wall, private kanji practice and graffiti hidden from curious eyes. When in a mood, he'll sit for hours and just paint fish, flowers, or water scenes. It's very calming.
There's a random red lantern from a festival in Little China town he snagged one year; it hangs on the fringe of his painting space. Above his bed is a rich wood curio cabinet shaped like the moon that Donnie mounted as a birthday present. The glass face shows script-like woven insides holding glass bottles of herbs and roots he and Splinter use for medicine and tea. Floating shelves sit on either side of it; one is for his incense and the other is for his tea set (complete with tray, mortar and pestle). You know when he lights his incense, he's getting ready for bed.
Leo stands off to your left, eyes drifting down to you while he waits for the kiss of heat on the inside of his hand. Smoke wisps up and he blows out the ember. A crude mannequin sits to the side of his practice mat; he meets it and begins to take off his gear. You watch, sleepy and intrigued, as mottled scales and plate patterns reveal themselves.io
His eyes are impossibly blue, you think, as you see the weight of family and expectation come off with his mask. In this moment he is as bare and vulnerable as any human. Leonardo's eyes seem to glow in the dark as he slides smoothly, wordlessly into the tangle of salvaged sheets and snuggles up to your warmth. Here, he is contented little spoon basking in the warmth of your skin and comfort of your embrace. A churr rumbles in his chest as he flicks a button on the white noise alarm clock Mikey got him, starting river noises and gentle wood clattering.
Waking up:
Leo is an early riser by nature and requirement. There are rare moments, like this one, where you wake up before him. Fuzzy with sleep and just recognizing the hypnotizing clang of his wood block white noise, you prop your chin up on your hand and look at him. At some point he'd rolled onto his shell and you'd tucked yourself into him. It was smarter to lie as you woke; any extra movement would trigger the light sleeper in him.
Once he was up, he was up. He rarely ever went back to sleep again.
You listen to him breathe; he breathes mostly through his nose with a small rumble coming out of his lips at the end. It's cute, especially with the way his little nostrils flare. Only his cheek is smashed into the pillow; one leg is stuck out behind him like he's doing katas. You're not sure how he keeps his torso straight. A hand is tucked between your bodies and it's holding yours.
You trace patterns into his plastron, cheek pressing into it. He hums, hand squeezing yours. Leo begrudgingly reaches up to feel for the off button of his white noise machine; he can hear the click of static and change in pitch as the alarm gets ready to whine. Even in his half-asleep state, he doesn't want to wake anyone up earlier than the already have to be.
Kisses are exchanged before he musters the motivation to sit up. The sleep falls from his eyes as he slow blinks. He leans into your touch as you massage his face and sympathize with being up so early. "Want tea?" Leo rocks onto his feet and draws to his full height, already formulating a blend.
You never get the same thing twice. It's always a surprise.
He picks and pulls, placing a small collection on the tray. Leo balances the tray in one hand, offering you the other as you reluctantly abandon the warmth. You shuffle out to the kitchen, noise masking any he'd make (not that he does). He can't help but smile at it. Leo puts water in the kettle and sets it on the burner while he works at the mortar.
You're just starting to wake up when you see Donnie materialize at the mouth of the kitchen. He must've deemed it unsafe to get a cup of coffee with Leo so close to the stove. Donnie's not a morning person and doesn't like to be told about his habits. He retreats, leaving you and Leo in blissful quiet as he puts the blend into sachets and ties them off. The smell of tea permeates the room, something spiced orange and floral.
It's cozy.
Leo kisses your cheek sweetly as he puts the cup in front of you, murmuring a warning into your cheek. You let the warmth seep through your fingers and up your hands as Splinter greets the eldest. He offers him a cup of tea and the three of you sit in a happy silence.
This is a good morning. His favorite morning, he thinks, and he'd like to do it forever. Make them a little less rare. Leo's cheeks begin to burn at the thought as Splinter's brow raises curiously. The sip became a flustered mouthful and Leo rasps 'the tea's hot' as a cover.
Still a good morning. He loves waking up with you.




















