After finishing the last kata, Leonardo glanced at the clock. 17:00 he could go for just one other session. Sure, his brothers wouldn't like him training on his own for this long, but it would be worse if he died in battle and left them forever because he wasn't good enough.
Leo didn't have as much talent as Mikey, nor was he strong like Raph or smart like Donnie. He was just nothing. Yes, he was the leader, but master Splinter said it himself; all of his brothers could have been.
So Leo had to get better. And to do that, he had to keep training. Just one more round of katas, than he could join his brothers in the living room.
He kind of felt bad for not being there now. They probably felt rejected, they didn't deserve that.
But then again… they didn't need him. They had each other, they didn't need him to be happy. He was just a luxury, something extra. They could live without him.
He remembered what Raph once said. 'and the award for worst leader goes to…' yes he apologized afterwards, but it hurt anyway.
A sharp pain went through Leonardo as he started the next kata. 'maybe I should stop now.' He was sore all over. But he quickly shook that thought off. He needed to train. If he didn't train, he would fail his brothers. So he continued.
A few minutes later, Mikey came in. "Leo? You said you would be done by now, are you coming? I want to show you something." He said.
That surprised Leo. Yes, he told Mikey he would come when he was done, but he hadn't expected Mikey to come for him.
Normally, Leo wouldn't stop training just because his little brother wanted him to. But Mikey actually came to get him. And Leo had to admit Mikey had awoken his curiosity. He really wanted to know what his brother wanted to show him now.
So he answered, "Sure Mikey, I'm coming. Just let me put this stuff away."
Mikey's face brightened immediately, "fine, but I'm not leaving you. No going back to your training until I showed you." he said with a grin.
Leo smiled back and cleared up the dojo. Then he came back to Mikey. "So, what did you want to show me?"
Mikey's smile grew wider at that. "follow me, bro," he said as he grabbed Leo's arm.
Leo stumbled in surprise for a moment, but followed Mikey.
They walked out of the dojo…
…Through the living room…
… to the front door?
"Mikey? Where are we going again?" Leo asked, while he hesitantly kept walking.
Mikey just smiled at him innocently and said: "You'll see, bro!"
A few minutes of walking through the sewers followed. Leo kept asking where they were going, but Mikey wouldn't let anything slip, which was weird because Mikey usually couldn't keep secrets at all!
While thinking over this new revelation, Leo grew more and more uncertain about following Mikey.
Whatever it was Mikey was hiding, he was sure Leo wouldn't come if he told him.
…
"Mikey, I really should get back to training."
"No you don't. You've trained enough for today, or for the rest of the week for that matter."
…
"I don't feel so good, Mikey."
"You're just nervous, going back won't make it better."
…
"I really don't think this is a good idea. What if master Splinter-"
"Dude, relax. Master Splinter knows where we are. He even told me that this is a great idea."
…
Mikey stopped walking at some point. "Okay! Here we are!" he said.
Leo looked around. "I don't see anything special here, Mikey."
"That's because you're way too serious and only look with eyes. Use your imagination!" Mikey answered with a smile. "Don't worry, you'll get it soon enough."
"Okay, I'll try." Leo paused for a few seconds, acting like he was thinking, then he spoke again."So Mikey, what do you see in this place?" he asked with a glint of amusement in his voice.
"Well you see, the walls of this sewer pipe are really smooth, the place is abandoned and because of that, completely dry! Which makes it perfect for-" Mikey caught himself in midsentence. "Wait a minute… You're trying to trick me. Ha! Well it didn't work. I'm not gonna tell you a thing, bro!"
"Not even a hint?"
"Not even a hint. Well, not until Donnie comes."
"Huh? What does Donnie have to do with this?" Leo asked surprised
That's when a third voice joined the conversation. "Wow, Mikey. I can't believe you actually got him to come!"
"yeah, I can't really believe it either." The smile on Mikey's face as he said that was unmistakable.
"Wait, Raph's in this too?," Leo exclaimed as he realized what was happening around him. But his words were ignored and Raph just answered Mikey, "I'm proud of ya little brother."
Mikey grinned at his brother. "Oh yeah, have you heard anything from Donnie?"
Raph nodded. "yeah, he said he had to take a little while longer, but that's all he told me."
"I don't blame him, that stuff was in pretty bad condition," Mikey said. "It's gonna be a problem though, the longer we have to keep waiting, the harder it gets to keep him here…" When he said him, Mikey motioned at Leo.
Raph sighed and shrugged, "we'll have to try our bests. It's gonna be worth it."
Leo got annoyed because his brothers were ignoring him and snapped, "GUYS!"
That got both Raph's and Mikey's attention.
"I'm here too, you know. Don't talk about me like I'm not!"
Raph smirked at him. "We know you're here, and that's a good thing too. This wouldn't be worth the trouble if you weren't."
"I'm serious Raph! I want to know what's going on."
He bit his lip and glanced at Mikey. "I can't tell you Leo."
"Why not?" Leo could barely contain his frustration.
His brothers looked away.
Leo was about to ask again when a new voice interrupted, "Because it's a surprise."
Donnie walked towards his brothers. "He didn't want to say anything because that would ruin the surprise." He smiled.
While Leo was thinking of something to say, Mikey jumped up. "You got everything I asked for Donnie?"
Donnie smiled and nodded, "Yes, though I did have some trouble with finding the right lights." He turned to Leo, "So, are you ready to see your surprise now?"
Leo could only stare. Why would his brothers want to surprise him? He didn't deserve this, he wasn't that important. He was just a luxury, something extra. Why would they do this for him.
As if reading his mind Donatello said, "We thought you could use some free time, since you've been working so much lately."
"But I need to work more than you do, because-" Before Leo could finish Mikey interrupted him.
"We know you feel like you have to work harder than the rest of us. But we miss you. And we thought that maybe this would convince you to spend more time with us… can you please give it a chance?"
Not knowing what to say, Leo just nodded. There really is no way for him to say no to Mikey, even if he didn't like it.
Mikey cheered happily and pulled Leo after him, around the corner.
Leo's eyes widened. The sewer tunnel was covered with disco lights but none in a way they would stick out of the walls. It almost looked like a lightshow. But that was not the thing Leo was most surprised about. That honor had been reserved for the four skateboards that were lying in the middle of the tunnel.
"You just wanted me to skateboard with you?" he asked surprised.
His brothers grinned at him sheepishly in answer. "Will you?" Mikey pleaded.
Leo would have been angry at the silliness of it all, but he was really to surprised. So instead, he asked again: "You just wanted to skateboard?"
Donnie scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, we suspected you wouldn't come if we just asked, and this way we thought you hopefully won't say no," he said
It was true, he probably wouldn't have come if his brothers would just have asked, but still, "Why would you go through all this trouble just to get me to come?"
This time it was Mikey who answered. "Because it's not half as much fun without you. You're our brother, but we haven't seen you a lot lately. We hoped we could convince you this way."
In his perplexed state, Leo accidently asked the question that was on his mind the whole time, "But… you don't really need me, I'm just a luxury."
His brothers gave him a really sad look.
"You really think that, Leo?" Raph asked. He sounded genuinely worried and a little said, a way he rarely sounded. "Do you really believe that bullshit?"
Leo wanted to reprimand his brother on his language, but found he couldn't.
"Actually," Donnie interrupted his thinking, "there may be a bit of truth in that."
Raph looked like he wanted to yell at his immediate younger brother, but Donnie was faster. "Think about it, he says luxury, a luxury is something that's not essential but provides pleasure and comfort." He chuckled. "A toilet is a luxury, and I wouldn't want to live without a toilet."
The others looked at him baffled. "Did you just compare me to a toilet?" Leo asked surprised.
Donnie seemed confused but then he realized what he had just said. "Oh, uhm… I meant pizza?" he said in a uncertain tone.
Mikey looked offended at that. "What do you mean, pizza is not needed? You, of all people, should know that it is impossible to live without pizza."
Donnie blinked, sighed, looked at Leo and said, "The point is, even if we didn't need you for our survival, it would be a lot harder and not nearly as much fun."
Leo felt moved. "You mean it?" he asked, hoping his emotions wouldn't show through his voice.
"Of course I do," Donnie smiled, "and I'm sure the others agree."
"Yeah, bro," Raph said, "we really wouldn't want to miss you in our lives."
"We do need you though. Without you, we would have been dead years ago." Mikey hugged his big brother. "Do you want to skateboard now?" he asked softly.
Leo smiled gratefully and answered, "Sure."
Raph handed him his skateboard. "You could have just told us how you feel, you know?"
"That is not something I want to hear from you."Leo grinned. "But you're right, and I know that now."
Mikey smiled and said "Do you want to do the honors, Leo?"
"Sure," he said as he started skateboarding. This was going to be a whole lot of fun.