Chapter one:
"Please Leo. Help me with this and I'll do a favor for you too." Raph tries to convince Leo as the two are in the leaders room.
"I just don't see how you pretending to date me will get you Donnie. He's already got two partners. Surely you could just try to be his third. Casey seems like he might as well." Leo points out to which Raph rolls his eyes.
"Nope. It's all about Mikey and April. Go figure right? But if he sees I'm with you he'll grow jealous. Until he realizes that he doesn't need to date them. He just needs me."
Leo still thinks it's a stupid plan and he feels even more stupid for what he's about to say. "Fine." He can see the other get rather excited at this. "How long are we supposed to have been secretly dating? It's probably best to have the same story or Donnie will notice something off."
"Ok. Don't worry I've already planned that out. We'll have been dating for about five months. We'll pretend it started around November eighth when we are all cooped up in the lair needing to lay low."
"Alright. By the way you should get some sleep. There's an early morning patrol."
"Okay!" Raph places a kiss on Leo's head making him blush. "Gotta keep it all authentic looking." He hurries off with a glee in his step.
Leo is just sitting there where he had been meditating. He is now wondering what he just got himself into. He's going to be acting out his feelings for the other with the goal for his love to get another. He sighs to himself, figuring that since Raph likes someone else there's no way they can be together. He gets up heading to bed himself as there's no way he can get some meditation in now.
The next day...
The turtles are out for a rather early morning patrol. They are standing on a rooftop looking down below for any signs of trouble. They stand in different spots to cover as much area as they can.
Leo glances to Raph as he comes to join him at his spot on the roof. He finds the other moves pretty close to him. He feels him nudge his cheek with his head. "Raph. We gotta focus on the patrol."
"Fine." Raph slightly grumbles before heading back.
Leo's eyes are drawn to Mikey and Donnie who have noticed looking a little curious.
Mikey hops over to Raph. "Hey. You trying to flirt with Leo or something?" He nudges Raph playfully with a wink.
"Maybe I am." Raph slightly confirms causing Mikey to start doing happy hops, plus Donnie comes over to Raph.
"You need any help bagging him there?" Donnie also teases a little though doesn't show any jealously.
Leo groans to himself as patrol seems to have been all but forgotten now. He supposes that having Donnie attention is what Raph wants so maybe he'll let it slide. He does want to help his brother even despite his own feelings. He turns away as the two begin whispering with Raph. He'll just try to do a little extra of the patrol while he waits. He notices just after a little bit Mikey and Donnie hop onto a roof.
The two lay low as if trying to not be seen.
So Leo pretends he doesn't see them but keeps an eye on them. He notices Mikey give Raphael a thumbs up, as he gestures it to behind Leo, making him wonder what in the world they planned while his back was turned. He holds back a sigh as he'll just go along with it. He's starting to wonder if he's really going to regret agreeing to this. He turns feeling an arm come around his shoulders finding Raph standing there.
"Say maybe we should go out somewhere after patrol?" Raph mentions trying to seem smooth about this. "You can play hard to get." He whispers quietly. "Donnie said if I have trouble he'll let me come so he can help me in his lab."
Leo knows that this was the whole reason to be doing this. He just can't help feeling a slight bit of hurt at the reminder. He shouldn't have let himself get slightly caught up in the invitation to go out together. He looks back pretending to have just noticed the other two aren't back there. "Wait. Where'd Mikey and Donnie go?"
"They went off to continue the patrol." Raphael tells him and Leo knows he's lying but he'll play along. "We don't have to talk about them right now." He pulls Leo closer who slightly blushes when their bodies touch. "Damn you've got great acting." He whispers and Leo refuses to tell him he's not acting that blush. He returns his voice to its normal volume. "So what do you say fearless? It'll just be the two of us."
Leo tries to settle his slightly wagging tail as it feels like he's in a dream, even though it's an act Raphael is flirting with him. He has to try to calm down since it's kind of not actually happening in a way. He slightly looks around just to sneak a peek at Mikey and Donnie. He spots them giving a small high-five seeming proud of themselves. "We can discuss this later we really should focus on patrol. Plus finding Mikey and Donnie. Just in case something comes up."
"Fine." Raphael gives a groan though before he lets Leo go he gives a slight bump of affection against his cheek. He moves away afterwards and moves to hop to the next roof.
Leo stands there for a brief moment trying to gather himself. Though he can't help but watch his crush skillfully jump to the next roof. He slightly glances away hating that he's not actually the source of Raphs affections. He pushes it away as he can deal with it. He just hopes that if this does work then Raph will just be included with Donnie's other two mates. He doesn't want to actually disrupt the happy relationship Donnie already has. He quickly follows after Raph spotting Mikey and Donnie heading their way as he does. "Lets continue patrol." He says as the other two join them and they head off. He lets them be as the two whisper with Raph to see how things went.
The patrol comes to an end with no trouble in sight so they return to the lair.
Leo sees Raph duck into Donnies lab a little after Donnie went in. He gets a message on his phone, and sees that it's his only friend who asks if he wants to hang out. He agrees figuring it'd give Raph some good time to get close to Donnie. He heads out and meets Usagi where the other asked him to meet him. He finds his friend already there. "Hey."
"Hi." Usagi gives a small nod as the only response. "Let's go for a walk."
The two begin walking making sure to stay away from where they can be seen. They both know that they shouldn't be seen by people.
"You'll never believe what's been going on. Raph got me to agree to let him pretend we're dating and flirt with me. Just to get Donnie jealous so Donnie will want him."
Usagi just makes a small sound of acknowledgment to it.
This causes Leo to blink at his friend. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. Just not in the mood for much talking. Just wanted a walk but not alone."
"Oh. Okay sorry." Leo goes quiet as he just continues to walk with Usagi. He wonders if maybe his friend is just tired. He turns to where they're going which doesn't really seem to be in a particular direction.
They take turns and go down alleys.
Leo contemplates asking his friend as he's not sure if he really believes that nothings wrong.
"Hold on." Usagi stops them and Leo blinks wondering what's going on. "Do you hear that?"
Leo listens though he doesn't really hear anything. He supposes that Usagi does have better hearing than he does.
"It's this way." Usagi leads the way towards an abandoned looking house.
Leo follows wondering what Usagi can hear. As he gets closer he can hear people inside of this building, one that's definitely not where someone's living.
"I think they're doing illegal things in there. We gotta stop them." Usagi whispers to Leo and carefully approaches the door.
The two hear a muffled cry and Leo knows Usagis right.
"You go through this door. I'll find another way around to free whoever they have. You fight them off." Usagi tells Leo and not waiting for an answer he heads off around the building.
Leo sneaks through the door drawing his weapons once he closes the door quietly. He follows the sounds of the voices and peeks into a room. He thinks it was once a living room.
There's four men and one mutant sitting on his knees tied up in a small cage.
Leo remembers that mutant as being Usagis other friend Naru the girl fox.
Naru lowers her head and it seems like the men are discussing what to do with her.
Leo looks over the four men quickly deciding how he's going to take them on. He spots Usagi peek around from another hall. He focuses on the first man that might be the biggest problem. He takes a leap knocking the first guy out with the handle of one of his katanas.
The other three scramble to try to grab weapons but Leo has the surprise advantage.
Leo swings his katanas cutting their arms making them drop their weapons. He swings a kick sending two to the floor before he takes a swing at the other.
The third guy jumps back only to fall backwards knocking himself out on a piece of wood. He had gone right into a hole in the floor that made him lose his balance.
Leo charges for the other two while he hears Usagi trying to free Naru. He stays focused on the enemies as he dodged a kick from one then another tries to lunge at him. He dodged out of the way delivering a kick to the guys head knocking him out. He quickly turns and manages to punch the last guy in the face also knocking him out. He turns as Usagi helps untie Naru.
"Lets go." Usagi orders and the three of them flee the scene heading a good distance before slowing.
"I'm so glad you saved me!" Naru sighs in relief. "Were you just passing by? You know what it doesn't matter. Thank you so much!"
Leo already put his swords away while they were fleeing. "It's fine Naru. Glad you're okay."
"I think I'll take her home. You can go. She's been through enough today." Usagi tells Leo who nods in understanding. He leads her away with an arm around her shoulders.
Leo hopes that the two get together. He knows Usagi likes Naru. He doesn't mind as he doesn't see Usagi as anything more than a friend. He also isn't really friends with Naru and more just acquaintances with her. He turns away and heads back to the lair. He enters and spots Raph glancing around before spotting him. He waits as the other comes over to him.
"There you are!"
"Sorry. Went for a walk. How are things going?" Leo apologizes to which Raph waves it off.
"Come on. Come on a little outing with me and I'll explain." Raph tells him so the two of them leave together. He leads his brother to a pizza joint that has hired some mutants, so they come here to get their pizza.
They sit at one of the back tables meant for mutants.
One of the mutant servers, a bulldog mutant, comes over. "The usual you two?"
Raph glances to Leo letting him decide so Leo just nods his head.
"Okay. Coming right up." The server heads off with that.
Leo focuses on Raph now. "Okay. So how are things going?"
"Great! Donnie wants to give me all sorts of advice! And said I could come to him if I need help! This is working! Plus I can hang out with him more and get him to see that he loves me!" Raph explains excitedly to Leo.
"That's good." Leo kind of hopes that it'll be over soon as it's kind of torture to have to do all of this, though a part of him does kind of want to keep it going which he tries to push away.
"Yeah! Hes so amazing! He's so smart and just seems to always know what to do. His curiosity is really adorable as well."
Leo starts to tune out Ralph's rambling about how great Donnie is. He finds it's interrupted by their food arriving. He listens to Raph again as the server leaves and the two begin to eat.
"I mean it's not like me and you with him. There's surely no way we could work out." Raph has no idea how much that small thought said out loud hurt Leo. "We have a totally different thing going on. Plus I don't argue with him as much as I tend to argue with you. Surely that's better."
"Yeah." Leo just agrees and gets out of saying anything else by eating.
"Well anyways thanks so much for doing this for me! It means a lot!" Raph mentions between bites to which Leo makes a confirmation sound. "Okay so I do have a plan. You'll play interested to keep Donnie interested for now. We can change the initial idea to fit that I'm spending time with him to try to get you. So we don't have to pretend we're actually dating. Just me showing interest in another seems to be enough to get things going. Well do those little acts together and sometimes go out together to keep up the act. Got all that?"
"Yeah I did." Leo tells him and the two decide to take a break to finish eating.
Raph pays for the meal claiming it's a thank you then the two head back to the lair. He heads off to his room likely to craft scenarios to drum up Donnies interest.
Leo heads to his own room needing a little time away. He sits to meditate to try to calm himself down. He clears away his thoughts keeping his breathing steady. He closes his eyes to focus though this time keeps his head empty. He usually prefers to try to think during these sessions and can get deep in his thoughts. Though on days like this one he just needs to be able to calm down. He can slowly feel his hurt slipping away at least for now at least. He enjoys the moments of peacefulness as he stays there. He can at least be thankful for that. He however finds something trying to push its way into his head. He tries to keep it out not wanting to think about it. He resists it until it disappears again. He has a feeling that what he's trying to run from might be back sooner than he wants.