"Machi says she hasn't sensed anything else since that day with the wolves and she doesn't really want to work on the ability."
"And Akito?" Raph asked, watching Leo pick up another one of Woody's famous wings to eat. Leo had woken up again later that night and announced that he was hungry, so while the kids, and probably the rest of the clan, slept peacefully, the two of them sat side by side at their kitchen island, eating delicious buffalo chicken.
"Akito is refusing to practice using his energy."
"Refusing?" He watched Leo nod. "And what's the word on Violet?"
Leo swallowed and kind of shrugged. "I called the bunnies' mother again. And she apologized again that they haven't been here for training. But she said Usagi took them on a mission and she's been waiting to hear from them herself. She didn't sound too pleased, actually. And if she hasn't heard from them, I can only imagine that Usagi has left their dimension."
"Ya worried?" Raph asked as he pictured Leo's students. He'd watched those kids grow up as well and missed seeing them around the building. The little furballs felt like family.
Leo picked up another chicken wing. "Trying not to be. They're with Usagi and he wouldn't want anything to happen to them."
"And they're well trained," Raph said with a smile in Leo's direction.
"I feel bad for Akito, though," Leo said after giving Raph a grateful smile. "It's a lot happening for him all at once. I think he'd be handling the energy ability a little better if he had Violet around for support."
Raph nodded and watched Leo pick up another wing. "Ya know, my heating up all the leftover wings wasn't a challenge for you to eat all the leftover wings," he teased.
"Sensei didn't raise a quitter, Raphie."
Raphael chuckled and leaned over to plant a quick kiss on Leo's neck before he watched Leo devour another chicken wing. He'd been thinking about eating a few himself, but Leo was clearly starving.
"Ya still think we need to dimension hop?"
Leo's eyes shifted towards Raphael. "I know you don't want to."
Raph sighed and pushed a glass of milk towards Leo. "I really don't."
Leo considered his emerald turtle. They both sat without any gear or masks and Leo let his eyes scan over Raph's face minus the typical cut of red they were all used to. It always felt like a privilege to see Raphie without his mask, because no one else got to see him this way.
"Why not?" he finally asked. The last time he'd tried to bring this up, Raph had cut the discussion short, which left Leo to only guess at Raph's reasons.
"Nothin good ever happens in that dimension."
"Some good has happened there," Leo argued, thinking back to signing the papers that granted them permanent guardianship of Akito and Machi, their day at the amusement park, sitting in a baseball stadium to watch a live game, eating out in an actual restaurant across from Raphael.
Raph watched Leo think and knew Leo was picturing good things, while Raph only pictured Leo chained in a cave, Leo bleeding out in the woods, Akito running away, Leo being shoved and slobbered on by the fuckin rabbit.
Leo, in turn, watched Raphael think. He quickly wiped his fingers clean before reaching over to pull Raphael's face towards him so he could kiss him before saying "Don't worry about it, Raph. We don't need to go. Kids are fine. We're fine. We'll figure out how to help them."
Raph let out a breath. They'd had bad experiences there, but there was something else about the possible trip that he didn't want to voice. There was something about searching out members of the kids' birth family that didn't sit right with him. No one else had stepped forward to claim the kids after their birth parents, or even the evil uncle, had died. And if anyone was available, he worried about how much contact they might now want with the kids. But if Leo had really wanted to go to the other dimension, Raph knew that he would've gone with him. Leader Leo didn't make decisions lightly. But it looked like Leo was okay giving up on the idea and for that, Raph was grateful.
He scooted his stool closer to Leo's and let his legs bump into Leo's legs.
"Come back here," he said, pulling Leo's face back towards him. He kissed Leo again and greedily twisted his tongue around Leo's spicy buffalo chicken tongue. Leo chuckled, which broke the kiss, as he realized Raph had let him eat all the chicken wings without eating any for himself. He began pressing kisses to Raph's jawline and then used his nose to push Raph's face to the side so that his mouth could reach Raph's neck.
"This is my favorite thing, by the way," Leo murmured as he continued his assault on Raphael's neck.
Raph let his eyes close and leaned forward so he could rest his hands on the tops of Leo's legs. "Which part? Me lettin ya eat our entire snack?" He listened to Leo hum as Leo continued to move his lips across his neck. "The middle of the night discussion?" Another hum from Leo.
Leo's tongue traced up one of the prominent veins in his neck and Raph huffed out a small growl as he felt heat begin to spread across his skin. Don hadn't said just how restrictive Leo's physical activities were supposed to be in his concussion recovery period. And the genius probably wouldn't appreciate being woken in the middle of the night in order for him to ask, although hearing pure aggravation in Donnie's voice might be worth making the call.
"The part where yer drivin me fuckin crazy with just yer tongue and there's nothin I can do about it?" He growled again when he heard Leo's chuckle.
Leo lifted his face so he could meet Raph's eyes. "All of it, Raphie. Everything I do with you is always my favorite thing. Although, I do prefer it when you can do something about it." He turned himself on his stool so that he could lean further into Raphael but stopped immediately when the sudden movement made him clench his eyes shut.
Raph moved his hands to Leo's shoulders and squeezed, reassuring Leo with his own strength. "Dizzy?"
"Yes," Leo said, forcing his eyes back open. He smiled an apologetic smile at Raphael.
Raph stood and pulled Leo up onto his uninjured foot before looping Leo's arm around his shoulders for support as they began to walk. "Let's get ya back to bed. For sleep," he said pointedly when Leo's eyes sparked up at him. "Don't look at me like that. Ya have a head injury."
He could only chuckle at Leo's pout as he helped Leo get situated on their bed so that they were soon curled around each other. Raph listened to Leo breathe and pressed a kiss to the top of his head before saying, "This is my favorite thing, too."
"I hear you were a riot when you came to last night," Miwa said to Leo as soon as he emerged from his bedroom the next morning.
Leo scowled at her as he limped over to take a seat next to her and Sam in his and Raph's kitchen. He turned his scowl to Raphael as Raph placed a plate of food in front of him.
Raph threw up his hands in his defense and said, "I didn't say anything to her," before turning back to the stovetop where he continued cooking breakfast. Raph was pleased that Leo had slept in, by Leo standards, although he probably needed more sleep considering the two of them had been up half the night and this wasn't actually considered sleeping in by normal standards.
Miwa accepted a second helping of eggs and toast from Raphael before turning back to Leo. "I really wish I could've seen Mr. Rules and Honor go punch drunk crazy."
"What she means, Leo, is that she was very worried last night until we got word that you were awake again and we're glad you're okay and feeling better this morning," Sam said around a mouthful of eggs as he leaned around his still chuckling wife to grin over at the blue-clad turtle.
"Thank you, Sam," Leo said as he shot Miwa another dark look. He dropped it though and quickly held out an arm for a side hug from Machi as she entered the kitchen.
"Feeling better daddy?" she asked, peering up at him as if trying to judge for herself how he was doing. "Your face is all scratched up." She hadn't noticed that the night before, maybe because she'd been distracted by his loopy behavior.
"I'll be fine, Mach. You ready for breakfast?" Leo asked, quickly trying to distract her. He glanced over at Raph who reappeared with a plate for Machi as she seated herself next to Leo.
Akito entered next and merely glanced over at Leo before filling his own plate and sitting heavily down on a stool at the island as well. Leo watched Akito in his peripheral. He missed their happy, carefree boy and wished there was something else they could do to help bring him back. He'd tried to help him explore and control this amazing new power he seemed to possess but had failed miserably. He'd tried to get Violet back, but she was Usagi's family and as such, Usagi had the right to pull her and her siblings for whatever mission he deemed necessary, although Leo wished Usagi had at least told him beforehand that he was taking the bunnies away.
He'd even increased the number of patrols Akito went out on, although now that he himself had been grounded, he wasn't sure how he felt about Akito going out. Akito had patrolled without Leo in his own team before, but Leo had always been out somewhere on the streets.
Of course, he could remember being sixteen. And at sixteen, he and his brothers had had free reign to roam the city. That was part of the problem, though. Sensei had allowed them to roam because they were a team. Leo had always been one of four. And while Leo had raised Akito with the bunnies, he had clearly been too dependent on the thought that those bunnies were always going to be around. Instead, Akito had suddenly been reduced to a team of one. And as a result, he was about to be contained mostly inside their apartment building.
It wasn't fair and Leo knew it. But completely understanding the problem didn't immediately give Leo any idea on how to fix it. He felt uneasy knowing that for the first time, regarding Akito, he didn't have a plan.
Meanwhile, their apartment filled. Miwa and Sam were just the first of the visitors. Master Splinter soon joined them. Then Donnie, Sadie and Gabe. Casey had sent a text to ask about Leo as he and April took Shadow to school. But everyone else had shown up, piling in around them in the kitchen and spilling out into the main room. They wanted to see Leo. They hadn't been allowed in Donnie's lab the night before. His brothers had kicked everyone else out, even their father, leaving just the four of them in that room. Just the turtles huddled around their fallen brother. His brothers hadn't been there when Leo had gone down and they needed the time alone with him until they could be reassured that he would be okay. Surprisingly, no one had really complained about being kicked out and Raph, Donnie and Mikey had been grateful that the other clan members seemed to have understood.
Raph leaned against a kitchen counter now, happy to give up the chef position to Mike and Woody when they arrived, and watched Leo. It was clear that Leonardo was deep in thought and if he had to guess, his thoughts centered around Akito, considering Leo had ducked into his own head when their son had arrived at the breakfast table. Raph wasn't even sure Leo had noticed how crowded their home had become.
He moved through the group and edged himself in next to Leo as their family sat talking around them. No one seemed upset by Leo's silence. Apparently, seeing him upright was enough for them. But it wasn't in Raph's nature to let Leo sit and stew within his own head for too long.
"Fearless," he whispered, nudging Leo's shoulder with his own. He watched Leo jerk himself out of his thoughts and turn to him before glancing around the room at their crowded home.
Leo returned his eyes to Raphael and smiled, thankful as always for his emerald turtle's ability to pull him out of his head when needed. He gave Raphael a quick kiss and turned towards the rest of the group, much to the group's subtle relief, to join in their loud morning conversations.