A/N: So this is what happens when I decide to scroll to Tumblr for a while. Excuse my writing, I have been writing this since 3 AM, with my neck awfully stiffed. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! ;D
"Among the Stars"
The one where Leo gets a date with a girl out of this world~, Karai plays wing woman and ultimately regrets it and alien drinks are mysteriously bitter. Credits for idea and art to the talented Arishynya on Tumblr.
"Will you just stop laughing like this?"
"Sure, once you do something actually not laughable," Karai crunched her nose, trying to keep another spurt of laughter but the look of embarrassed terror on Leo's face as his eyes wandered on the female alien across the bar was simply too much, too amusing, and she snorted soundly before Leo sighed annoyingly next to her.
"C'mon Leo," she nudged him playfully, darting her eyes at the alien girl's googly eyes, just one more time. "I'm just teasing, you know that."
"Yeah, uh-huh," Leo pressed his lips together into a thin line, before taking a sip from his bubbly grey drink.
The alien woman did something with her long eyes and tentacle-y hands, that Karai guessed was some sort of an alien mating call and had to compress another chuckle at Leo's expression.
"Don't be a stick in the mud," she scolded, smiling and mimicked him, taking a gulp of her own fuzzy drink but immediately regretted it once the bitter taste filled her mouth.
She turned her head to the barman and spoke idly, motioning to her drink in her hand, "Um, can I have something sweeter please?" The blob behind the counter shrugged and nodded, moving his tentacles.
Karai left the drink on the bench and moved her gaze towards Leo.
She couldn't believe they were in space. She couldn't believe her father, her true father, was really dead. The whole thing was unbelievable to her and made her stomach churn and twist in painful angles.
And she hadn't managed to even meet her father, actually get to know him. How could she even feel the grief truly? (as Raphael had put it, oh, so gracefully, before.) But she did. It was there, laying like a rock in her stomach and haunting her mind.
And if she sensed it so lively, she couldn't even imagine how Leo felt.
Or maybe she could, because she knew him. Warm and familiar. His smell, green tea, mint and hugs, not what you would expect from a sewer habitant, the excited rasp in his voice when they fought on the rooftops in midnight, the glum in his face when he's sitting next to her. Karai knew him intrinsically. Karai would be able to find him in a storm, in the dark, in another life completely.
And that way, somehow, she knew what he needed; to forget, just a little bit. And what a better way than some humor?
She tapped Leo on the shoulder, taking her firm pose, all smugness, and proudness.
"Tell you what-"
"Hmm?" Leo hummed, lost probably in his own thoughts, and Karai grasped his chin so he could turn his head to hers. She moved her fingers to his neck, feeling his pulse, his heart beating furiously, stubbornly and chuckled, loving the warm blush on his green cheeks.
"I'll help you out from zero to an A-level Don Juan. Though, most possibly, I'll regret it later…," she murmured the last part, taking her hand off Leo's face so she could grab the new drink that was ready for her in the counter. She took it in her hand, swirling it, to see the color change and the ice glow like stars.
Leonardo cleared her throat. "And that cause?"
"I don't wanna be seen with someone that can't flirt to save his life-I've got a reputation to keep. Now, pick a girl."
"I'm pretty sure your reputation was ruined when you tried to push that pull door. If I hadn't told you to pull-,"
"Yeah, cause my next plan was to start lifting from the bottom," she deadpanned, scowling, face heating only a little bit, despite herself, and scooted closer to Leo, wrapping one of her hands around his shoulders, "C'mon, goody-three toes, which one?"
She felt Leo relax in her playful embrace; as if it made so much sense to lean unconsciously his head on her as it did to breathe.
She waited patiently as he darted his eyes and poked her once apparently he had found a candidate. "Uhh… this girl seems kinda nice…"
She let her gaze fall on the alien girl he was pointing at.
She looked like she had come out of an 'Alien Wanted' police poster or a punk rock music video about drugs and alcohol and Karai didn't know which was worse. "No."
"Why?" His tone was almost juvenile, like the voice of a toddler asking why they can't have a candy snack before dinner.
"Well," she rolled her eyes, wondering how a pure boy soldier like him could always end up eyeing women who looked ready to kick his ass all over across Uranus. Oh, well, that was what made him so unbelievably adorable, "you've got a type. Try to find someone less deadly and possibly able to maim you and more… I dunno, normal?
"We're literally in space, checking out alien girls and drinking mysterious liquids," he looked suspiciously at his drink that was now fiery red, as if he was hoping it didn't contain something like alcohol that would ruin his ninja honor.
"Shh-just keep looking!"
The whole place looked futuristic, with bright colors and alien beings, glowing suns and open skies, a planet so different from Earth, not that Karai expected otherwise, that felt sort of home, ironically, not because of the differences that made Kara's head spin, but because of Leo's crooked smile that almost, for some reason, reminded her of Splinter, of her father, that warmed her from the inside out.
She wouldn't be able to handle it if it was him that was gone.
"How about her?"
Karai moved her gaze at the alien woman. "A good sense of fashion, cool hairstyle and looks actually kind of nice? Approved!" she said with vicious triumph.
"Good!" Leo made a turn to leave but Karai tugged him back at her hug from the tails of his bandana.
"Ohoho, wait, Casanova… what are you doing?"
"Going to talk to her?"
"Without your Flirting 101 lesson? Ughh.. no, no, no."
"Wha-,"
Karai grinned at the disbelief on Leo's face and tugged him a bit closer. "Let me teach you the ways of flirting, darling. You don't just go and talk to her. She'll think you're a boring, inexperienced nerd, which you are-,"
"Ahem!"
"-but, we don't want her to know that. You have to make her think you're smoother than you actually are."
"That's what you do?"
"No, my smoothness is no illusion, I'm charming as hell."
"Now, listen," she declared with the voice of a Broadway Musical Star and was pleasantly surprised to see him waiting for her to continue with such anticipation.
She found it thrilling that he was looking at her, like he was hanging from her lips, with a quiet, almost childish adoration on his face, as if there was nothing more interesting to look at for miles.
"Flirting is a three-step process, Leo," she started, "Step One, a dramatic entrance: Don't walk towards her like you're tripping over your huge feet. Walk with certainty and determination; like you own the ground you're stepping on."
"Walking, walking, okay, I can walk, I walk every day, check," Leo nodded, eyes bright and glittery like she was the ultimate source of learning for him.
"Step Two, an easy-going compliment: Say something nice, but not about her body or face; about something she chose herself or worked for. Her clothes, her accessories, those are stuff she picked on her own to wear; Compliment her style."
"Compliment, okay, got it!"
It was nice to be able to hang out with him, create some good memories with him between all the chaos, hoarding every good thing away like a brittle treasure that might lose its shine.
"And Step Three, possibly the most important, the body language. Your body must radiate smoothness and confidence, gumption and pride. You know why you're there; you don't beat around the bush."
"That's kind of hard when you're a mutant turtle."
"Um, no?" Karai said dryly and bit down the edges of a smile at the overheated sound Leonardo made, but her eyes softened. Sometimes she wondered just how insecure the boy was.
Maybe this was the reason why he seemed to adore their new-found adventure that much. (Except his obvious hope to get Splinter back, something that she was sure haunted his nightmares, because it haunted hers too, and apparently his dedication to a cheesy 90's sci-fi cartoon.)
Here, they were seen as the normal. Karai didn't know how much they probably needed that kind of acceptance, to go out, and have fun and act like the humans they watched crouched in front of their glowing TV when they were little.
She gave Leo a lopsided smile as she grabbed his shoulders with a sudden determination that made Leo's head turn and flame in red, as his eyes widened in bewilderment.
She left a giggle, as indifferently as she could, trying to not betray her attachment to that creature.
He didn't deserve to feel insecure. "Leo, you've fought aliens and robots, monsters and mutants- you're a NINJA! Insecurity is not in your vocabulary, is it?"
"No?"
"Hell no! Repeat after me, 'I am a handsome young man',"
Karai had to bite back a laugh when Leo's expression twisted into something scandalized. "Karai, people are staring…," he said barely above a whisper.
"Repeat!"
"'I am a handsome young man'," annoyance dawned in Leo's face, chased by an embarrassed flush and looked down at his feet.
"That's right. 'And I'm going to enchant and amaze that alien lady!"
"'And I'm going to enchant and amaze that alien lady'," he waffled, with rolled eyes.
"You, my friend, are ready. Go, go, go and make mama proud, lover boy," she pushed him with a little slap on the lower part of his shell and could practically hear him smile as he walked with sure steps.
Ah, her big boy was growing up so fast.
Karai laughed once Leo left and took her drink in her hand, staring at it persistently.
She thought it was amusing, how hilariously obedient he was, how eager to learn the outside world, with an ample grin of anticipation on his face.
He surely needed some comfort after all that had happened, a good laugh to take his mind off the things that troubled him, some delightful distraction only she could provide, she thought with a smirk.
She heard a laugh and lifted her head, just in time to see Leo and that alien girl actually leaving together and her eyes widened.
As if Leo sensed her gaze, he moved his head at her, making a thumbs-up and gave her that grateful, dopey smile of his.
Karai felt her stomach drop, but she answered him with one of her own snide smirks, raising her brow.
But, when Leo turned his back, she chewed on her lip and took a sip from her glowing drink.
Even being sweeter than the previous one, it still left a bitter taste on her tongue.
Or maybe, it wasn't the drink this time.