Title: Not for the Queasy
Summary: Leonardo has just come down with something but he'd rather suffer and die than tell his family. What is wrong with him? And who is the diabolical mastermind who caused such a terrible fate to befall our blue-clad hero?
WARNING: Leo might be a bit OC for some people's standards. But I for one think that Leo is actually pretty weird up there in his noggin. What?! My opinion! Lol
Anyway, here you go! ENJOY!
Leo's face contorted slightly as he felt pain crawl up his stomach. Almost inaudibly, he moaned into his pillow, trying to smother out what noise may have leaked out. What may have been mere seconds felt like minutes turned into hours as he waited for the pain to pass. Leo was never one to fall ill. In fact, the last time he got sick, discounting injuries incurred through the constant violence they encounter, was when he was around 7 or 6. A good whole decade of pure healthy living. Yep.
So, why in God's name was he suffering through this pain and torment right now?
What the heck had he done to deserve this punishment?
And just then, as the pain receded and his thoughts became clear did he remember. Oysters.
I will never eat Oysters again.
"Mikey…" Leo muttered, voice filled with as much malice as he could muster up. He should've known, it was too good to be true. Michelangelo and Raphael had come up late last night with a whole crate of Oysters instead of the Pizza that they promised to get. Starving, Leo didn't even give it a second thought.
Where did they get it? Who cares. What did they do with the money for the pizza? Who gives a damn. Why does this one smell slightly funky? In reply, Leo just shrugged and gobbled it all up.
Of course, he did all this with his usual dignified manner of eating. Only faster… and with a lot of second helpings.
Back to the present, Leonardo curled up into himself as much as his carapace could allow as another round of stomach cramps hit him. He winced, trying to crawl even further into his blanket, seeking warmth and solace in it. But just then, his door banged open startling him out of his pain. And there they stood. Both of them, in their red and orange masks. Smiling. Why the heck aren't THEY suffering through this like he was?
"Wha-" Leo began but was cut off by the noise the two were making with their rough housing.
"HAH! Told ya he was still in bed." That was Raph.
"What?? It IS possible you know. Leo, The responsible one. Gone off the deep end. Tries to go Vigilante and stays out all night bashing in some random thug's head." And that was Mikey. "Hmmm… seems familiar don't it Raphie m'boy?"
"You shut up, you bonehead." Raph muttered, blushing slightly at the memory. "Yeah, anyways. Hey Leo, we guessed you were tired so we let ya sleep in a bit. Grab some breakfast downstairs quick and meet us at the dojo right after alright?"
In the middle of a gastrointestinal attack, Leo could barely contain himself from whimpering, but he finally managed a small murmur of assent. He tried to make it look like he was annoyed at being woken up when he obviously didn't want to get out of bed. Leo guessed that it worked because his two brothers went off cackling like hyenas over a joke at his expense.
As the door slammed, he let a breath out with a big grunt.
Why? Leo asked himself again. Why am I the only one sick here?
He thought about Donatello, thinking, maybe he wasn't the only one. "I mean, come on. Mikey and Raph can eat just about anything," Leo said to nobody as he felt the pain dissipate. Once, they even ate a whole carton full of expired kung pao and didn't even flinch. But just as the thought started to take form in his mind, Leo shook his head and berated himself. He was the elder brother, he should be the one who takes care of his brothers, and he definitely shouldn't be thinking about wanting them to be sick.
"I shouldn't even be sick in the first place," he thought as he clicked his tongue against his teeth.
Leo sat up and decided that he felt much better. It was all in the mind after all. What was a stomach cramp or two between him and his duties as a big brother and a ninja. He's had a hand at hiding an injury before and got away with it, it can't be all that difficult right?
He stood up and stretched a little, testing if he could move well enough to not arouse suspicion. When he was satisfied with himself he went out of his room confident and standing tall.
Only to be brought down by a big ball of green, red, orange, and purple.
Leo groaned as he rubbed the back of his head that hit his bedroom's doorknob, all the while wondering if his brothers had finally lost it and planned an en masse assault against their eldest brother. He looked up just in time to see one of his brother's elbows come straight down his abdomen, triggering a series of painful reactions. Now, Fearless Leader here, as his brothers would affectionately call him, has become quite accustomed to hiding pain. Being THE stubborn patient that he was, he had a reputation to uphold. Still, this was a bit too much. Like a wound aggravated with salt, or lemons, or even muriatic acid.
In any case, it was painful. Excruciating, if he had to be precise.
Leo grimaced, managing to drag himself out of the heap of green that was his brothers.
You guys… are so Dead.
Was his last thought before he stealthily made a getaway to the pristine confines of their bathroom.
- - - - - - - - - -
- Outside the bathroom walls -
"Ugh… sorry donny, I got you good there."
"Huh? What're you talking bout mikey?"
"just now, I hit you in the plastron with my elbow…?" Mikey turned and looked at his brother, one eyebrow ridge raised.
"Raph?" Don said, turning to the turtle at the bottom of the heap.
"Gerroff me you idiots."
- - - - - - - - - -
-Back to the story in Leonardo's POV-
I now held a new found respect for all those who have been through what I am enduring at this moment. Amoebiasis is no joke. If the stomach cramps weren't bad enough, the damn simple gushing of -… I bet you wouldn't like me to finish this sentence now would you?
As I pushed the button to flush away the evidence, the thought occurred to me that this wasn't going to get better all by itself. It also occurred to me that this may get worse over time. But for once, I ignored that tiny voice in my head and walked out of that bathroom. Resolved to try my best to keep this a secret; to keep the others from worrying.
I walked out of the bathroom and tried to keep up a façade of normalcy. This involved of course walking up straight, face kept as emotionless as possible, eyes set as if no force of nature could move me.
With the exception of Bowel Movements it turns out.
My 'jaunty' walk turned into wobbling as the pain shot up my abdomen once again. I barely pulled myself together as I leaned over at the wall and heard my brothers walk right past me. Glancing at the clock, I realized that I was in the bathroom for longer than I thought. No time for breakfast now, I dashed towards the dojo and quickly took my place between Raphael and Donatello. Master Splinter sent me a questioning gaze but went ahead to acknowledge all of his sons.
"My sons, now that we have all gathered here, we shall begin our morning training session."
- - - - - - - - -
-THE AFTERMATH-
Well, that last training session certainly turned out beautifully, Leonardo mused as he scowled at the leather straps that bound him to the bars around his bed. He sincerely hadn't expected anything strenuous for their daily training yesterday, what with all the rigorous work and missions they had been doing the past two or three days before that.
Leo suddenly lifted his head to glare at his only company in the sick bay; who was snoring obnoxiously (if that was even possible) he might add.
Being paired with Raphael right off the bat too. He thought as he remembered that day's events once again. Things had just turned from bad to worse. He tried to keep his face as straight as possible, the strain of it all making him sweat hard. But in the end, fatigue and pain won out and he simply slid into sweet, sweet unconsciousness not even three-fourths into the spar.
The blue clad turtle sighed at the memory of his brother's faces when he woke up moments later in the arms of his brother. He didn't really mind his blacking out, his health be damned actually, but he just couldn't stomach the thought of his family worrying so much about him.
-FLASHBACK-
"Leo! Oh my God, Leo!"
"Leonardo! My son! What is wrong?!"
The blurry image of a large mound of green and brown slowly cleared up and Leo came to the realization that he was being held by Donatello and was face to face with his father.
In the haze of pain, Leo struggled to lift his hand and point it his finger at Mikey and Raphael. Determined to make known the perpetrators of this heinous crime committed against his being.
"Leo?" Mikey whispered, tears springing into his eyes, misunderstanding the meaning of his brother's actions. Raphael could only blink rapidly to keep the tears that threatened to spill out from well… spilling out (cascading down his cheeks lololol). They both wondered what he meant by singling them out now in Leonardo's moment of anguish and torment.
"Oystersssss~"
Leonardo breathed out malevolently before he finally conked out for good.
Well, a good full 18 hours anyway.
Then again, now that he recalled how painful the whole experience was, Leo was more than willing to get some payback for this incident. Why must he feel guilty when HE was the victim here!
Looking at his unsuspecting brother, who had his head bent at an awful angle (Hah! He's in for a painful state when he wakes up, thinks Leonardo), he began to formulate a plan of epic proportions. One that would make his brothers think twice before buying a bad batch of oysters and feeding it to him ever again!
*CUE EVIL LAUGH
A/N:
On a side note, Leo DID consider that, seeing as none of his brothers got sick from the meal, it might have just been bad luck and a dash of stupidity on his part for eating a rotten oyster out of "hundreds" of good ones. But does he care? NO! Compensation must be made! (So he says.)
LOL.
Anyway, I'm sorry about the ending. It might've become quite apparent that I went a bit crazy with that part haha!
STILL! R&R please! I would really appreciate it if you guys left comments, no flames though please :D
Thank You!
Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT, I'm just using Laird's characters to amuse myself. :D