IM ALIVE! So, uh, yeah! :) Hope you guys forgive me!

Cooking Lessons

"Are you SURE this is a good idea, [Y/N]?" Mikey nervously asks you as you both make your way to the kitchen.

"Positive Mikey. I'm going to at least try. And I can't do it alone so I need your help." You say. He groans. "C'mon Mikey! It won't be that bad!" You two round the corner to the kitchen and then stand there. You both see Leo sitting at the table and sipping tea. He sees you both enter and smiles.

"Hey [Y/N], Hey Mikey." He says.

"Ready for your cooking lesson Leo?" You smile and drag Mikey in the kitchen with you.

"Yeah!" He says and stands. You elbow Mikey in the plastron.

"Ow!" He whines. You give him a look. "Yay! Cooking lessons with Leo! Hope we don't die." He says, mumbling the last part.

"Alright," You continue after hitting Mikey. "Leo we're going to start off with something simple. Spaghetti and meatballs! Okay?"

"Okay." He says.

"Will you go get me the sauce out of the cabinet?" You ask and he nods. You quickly turn to Mikey. "Mikey, at least TRY and be encouraging, okay? Has he ever given up on teaching you something new in training?"

"…"

"Mikey." You say.

"… No…" He says.

"Well then don't give up on him! He can't be that terrible!" You say. Just then, you hear the sound of cans toppling over. You both turn and see a bunch of cans lying on the floor around Leo's feet.

"Shell. Hang on, I've got it." He mumbles and puts all the cans back in place. When he's done with that, he hands you the spaghetti sauce can.

"Thank you!" You say and set the can on the counter. "Hey Mikey, can you start making the meatballs? I'm gonna go get the spaghetti." He nods and you rush over to a cabinet and pull out the box of noodles. "Here Leo." You hand them to him while you get out the pot and fill it with water.

"Why are they stiff?" Leo asks, shaking the box around and examining it.

"They aren't cooked yet." You slightly laugh. He just nods in understanding. "Why don't you help Mikey ball the meatballs?"

"Alright." He says, sets the box down, and moves to your other side to help Mikey.

"Okay Leo, I'm gonna make this really easy to understand. Grab meat, roll into ball, set on pan. Got it?" Mikey asks, demonstrating how to do it. Leo crosses his arms.

"Yeah." He says.

"Don't form them into squares or triangles. They aren't called meatsquares OR meattriangles. They're round, therefore they are meatBALLS!" Mikey says.

"Okay Mikey, I get it!" Leo says, getting even more annoyed. Mikey puts his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I was just making sure you got it." Mikey tells him. You just roll your eyes over their bickering. Leo starts helping Mikey while you manage stirring the noodles. Once they are under control, you move to start making garlic bread.

"Leo, can you come make the garlic bread?" You ask. He wipes his hands off on a towel and then comes to stand by you. "All you have to do it cut the bread in pieces like this," You say, showing him. "Then spread butter on it, and then put these on." You point to the garlic salt and herbs.

"Okay." He says. You smile at him before rushing over to stir the noodles again. You get another pot out and start heating up the spaghetti sauce. Mikey puts the meatballs in the oven and then he gets out stuff for salad. While you stir, you carefully watch Leo with a smile. He furrows his eye ridges as he tries to perfect the garlic bread. You laugh a little and leave the noodles for a while so you can set the table. Master Splinter walks into the kitchen followed by Donny and Raph.

"Hey, what smells good?" Raph asks.

"The spaghetti and meatballs me, Mikey, and Leo are cooking." You smile. Raph and Donny stop in their tracks.

"Did you say Leo is helping?" Donny asks.

"Is it even edible?" Raph asks.

"I'm right here guys." Leo glares at them. He hands you the pan with the bread on it and you stick it in the oven for a couple of minutes.

"He's doing really well." You tell them.

"I believe cooking is a good skill for Leonardo to have. Especially when the lessons come from an amazing cook such as [Y/N]." Master Splinter says. You smile brightly at the compliment.

"Thanks Master Splinter." You say. He smiles and nods. Soon, all the food is ready and you start serving it on plates. You finally take your seat in between Leo and Mikey and start to eat. You eat some noodles first, then take a couple of bites of salad. You look around and see no one has touched their bread. You eye everyone suspiciously before picking yours up and taking a bite. Leo watches you to see what your reaction is. You stare off into space as you chew and determine what you think of it. Finally, you fight back a choke. There was WAY too much salt on the bread. You gulp it down, take a quick drink, and give Leo a thumbs up. He smiles and goes back to eating his food. You see Raph take a bit of his bread, then spit it back out.

"This is terrible!" He says. Your eyes widen and you quickly look to Leo. You see the blank look on his face before he starts laughing.

"Good." He grins. Your mouth drops.

"What do you mean 'good'?" You ask.

"Good. Maybe now you guys will know I can't cook to save my life. I never have been able to and I never will. And honestly, I don't care. I can't be great at everything." He looks at you and smiles.

"I am proud of you Leonardo. Learning to embrace your flaws is a great lesson. It shows you are not proud. You are humble." Master Splinter smiles at his eldest.

"So… we don't have to eat the bread, right?" Mikey asks. Leo shakes his head. "Phew! Good! I did NOT want to go down that road." Everyone laughs and continues to eat. You and Leo keep sneaking peeks at each other and smiling. You don't know what you did to deserve him in your life, but you're glad you did it.

Aw! Adorable! :) Well, at least you and Mikey tried! You cant blame him for not wanting to cook! Im in the same boat as Leo... I cant cook to save my life either. :/

Thank you to my beautiful readers and reviewers, dondena, Giai Kame, mr nice puppy, ZathuraRoy, Secret, and I Love Kittens too! :)

So about the song fic for this story... Im really stuck. :/ I was going to do Fearless by Taylor Swift (Kind of explains itself) but I dont know what to do for the story behind it. So, if you guys have a story idea to go along with it or have a song that would be perfect, PM me! I would love it if you guys helped me on this! Please and thank you! :)

Yours truly,

CowabungaChick