Would you look at that?! A finished chapter?! And it didn't even take me a year.
Edit; lol this is what I get for switching computers between updates, hopefully this fixes everything for the forseeable future
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Neither Dana or Leo had expected to have a quiet night over a jigsaw puzzle on the living room floor at the O'Neil household. Dana had gotten off work a hair earlier than expected due to a bad fuse in the power supply, grumbling loudly at her boss that 3 people had seen the lights flickering last week and he'd ignored it, Leo being spotted settling at the coffee table with a large puzzle as she swung the door open.
"Hello Dana, Didn't expect you to be home yet." Despite the surprise, he seemed content to focus on gently pulling the box open to begin pulling the pieces out gently. Dana, on the other hand, sighed, slinging her shoes across the entrance rug and dropping her work bag with an unceremonious thud.
"Yeah, technical issues at work are a bitch, but at least we get a little insurance coverage if it's gonna take longer than a day to fix. What're you up to here? I thought April was out tonight." She certainly didn't mind the eldest turtle making an appearance, especially since he was usually in sparingly and disappeared somewhere in the usual din of another of his brothers dragging her attention away.
"Oh, yeah April's gone out, I'm just here to get a little quiet time. A little loud down in the sewers with 3 little brothers." Dana could see the faintest twitch of a sheepish smile as he continued to pull out pieces in groups of 2. Dana gave a low huff of acknowledgment, stretching backwards and shuffling to the kitchen. The apartment was silent with the exception of the sounds of the blonde opening the fridge and rustling around, so the eldest turtle continued his slow and calculated ministrations.
Dana stood awkwardly in the kitchen with her apple juice, trying not to look too invested in the guest settled in the living room, but truly she'd never had this much close one on one contact with Leo. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but the other boys were always catching her attention with something or other and, admittedly, his consistent cool demeanor made her nervous. This was easily the warmest he'd seemed in her presence, and she wasn't quite sure if she'd be able to go through with her plan to fuck around on her phone in bed until she fell asleep knowing he was just outside and if she could just figure out something to say-
"Wouldn't it be easier to make the puzzle on the floor?" Leo stopped briefly, raising his eyes up in what seemed to be genuine confusion
"I mean, I know it's a little trickier on here but I like to add a slight challenge so I'm still engaging in-"
"I could help with it! 2 people doing a puzzle is challenging and I'm really good at them and I promise it'll still be a calm experience because I'm not nearly as loud as Mikey seems to make me!" Dana thought maybe that approach might have been too aggressive by the way her juice sloshed over her glass and onto her socks, as well as the wide eyed stare Leo was giving her. She gingerly put the cup in the sink and began to inch toward her bedroom.
"Uh, I… think on that, I have to change out of my work clothes anyway. I'll be right back!" Leo was given no time to respond before she squirreled away to her room. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be interrupted in his solitude, but Dana wasn't known to be very easy to dissuade once she wanted something. He sighed quietly, he'd just have to come back later once his new assistant went to bed to get his quiet time. As if on cue, Dana came bolting out of her room, hair thrown up and haphazardly dressed in a large hoodie and basketball shorts, practically sliding across the floor to the living room couch. She beamed down at the turtle and plopped herself ass first to the floor.
"So…. Did you think on it?" She beamed up at him expectantly and Leo waved his hands toward the puzzle. His new host squeaked, pulling the puzzle box from the coffee table and unceremoniously dumping the remaining pieces to the floor. Leo grit his teeth, moving himself to sit across from her on the floor. Yeah, definitely not the relaxing he thought he was getting tonight.
"So, what kind of puzzler are you - wait! Let me guess, edges first? My dad taught me that way but I kept getting distracted when I found clumps that went together in the middle." She swore she could see his nostrils flair in annoyance. "Uhhhh but! We can do it however you want, how about I pull out all the edges I find while you get started?" An eyebrow ridge raised in her direction.
"What are you going to do once we find all the edge pieces?" He felt only a little bad that she'd felt pressured into ceding to his way, but he certainly didn't just want her to sit there staring at him; that might be worse than her participating.
"Well, if you're cool with it I can start finding middle clumps and once you're done with the outline we can start putting the chunks in." He wanted to argue, wanted to demand the system he'd used for every puzzle he's ever done, even when it meant he didn't finish it in one sitting and it left an unfinished section he either had to bother April to put safely out of the way until his next puzzle night or just start anew and hope he was faster; but she just looked so excited, and this wasn't one of his brothers who would just flip him off and call him pushy. Dana was, to put it lightly, a little soft; a little too susceptible to feeling the harshness of rejection, and dammit he had no experience with women that weren't his sister or his 'boss.' Leo ticked his mouth up in a tight smile, it won't be the end of the world.
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan."
And just like that, they dug in and proceeded in surprisingly comfortable silence. Once Dana had made him a nice pile of edge pieces (and tossed his small pile he'd left behind on the table at him) she went about picking random pieces that caught her eye and making clumps that would slowly connect together. After an indiscernible amount of time, he saw her rise to her feet from the corner of his peripheral, leaning back to crack her back with an audible pop.
"'Ts your favorite pop tart?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"I said what's your favorite pop tart, 'Nardo." Leo peered up at the blonde as she scratched her scalp absentmindedly, deciding to ignore the annoyed way she popped the D of his name.
"Uh, strawberry?" Without a word, she strode to the kitchen. He decided to continue his puzzle work while he heard her rummaging somewhere in the kitchen cabinets until she shouted back through the doorway.
"We have strawberry, want a pack? I promise no one licks the frosting off here." He let out a fond chuckle at the roast toward his little brother and debated; apparently too long because her head came peaking through the door from where she was clearly crouched on the counter top.
"Sure, since you're already up there. You could've asked me to get them if they're too high up." He heard her shuffling and saw her thud down to the floor with a bounce in her knees and a pack of pop tarts gripped in each hand. She strode quickly back to their work and dropped his package into his lap.
"Yeah, but you're a guest and I'm up there all the time so I'm used to it."
"Does April know you routinely climb your counters?" She popped her package open, making direct eye contact.
"… Do you want to know my favorite poptart?" The large terrapin smirked at her bold avoidance strategy.
"Sure, which one is it?" She preened, biting straight into her flavor of choice.
"Maple Brown Sugar, I'm a little basic but it's too good." And for the first time that night, she saw a full smile from the eldest turtle, even despite having her talk with her mouth full. Wordlessly, the pair redirected to their projects for a few mouthfuls before Dana's inner musings erupted out loud.
"Y'know, I was gonna suggest popcorn but the last time I had popcorn and did a puzzle I accidentally chewed on a piece." She caught Leo stop dead in his tracks and drop the puzzle piece in his hand, a look of abject horror; and she guffawed.
"Oh my god calm down it was at my parents house, none of these have my teeth marks in them. Also, you live with 4 other dudes, how is that even remotely gross?"
"Listen, I'm sorry soggy cardboard is just one of my few limits."
"It wouldn't be soggy anymore! You're such a baby." The shared giggles between them made Dana feel ecstatic; she'd been fine with Leo before, but to have the leader of her favorite family actually enjoy spending time with her was truly a different level.
As time went by and Leo finished the outline, his little assistant handed him chunks of the scene to place in and around as they each found spaces where the pieces matched; finishing the last point of connection shortly after. Dana rested back on her heels, clapping gently at their finished work.
"See, I told you having me put the middle bits together would be a good idea!" And the blue banded turtle couldn't disagree; despite his worries toward the beginning, a puzzle that was likely going to be left unfinished by himself alone was done, something he always found more satisfaction in, and it had been surprisingly calm with the addition of Dana. He reached out, gently taking her shoulder in hand and smiling wide.
"Nice job, 'Na." He watched the young woman fight the smile taking over her face and scrunched her nose in faux disgust.
"Mikey is so right, you can't make nicknames worth dick." Leo gently shoved the blonde, careful not to push too hard on the smaller girl, but let his shit eating grin shine through.
"You guys are so mean to me."
"Comes with that whole 'eldest' territory; ask April I insult her constantly. It just means we like you. So, I know this wasn't your planned alone time, but not too bad for unwinding without all the extra testosterone?" She looked hopefully, almost bashful at the idea that she wanted approval from the eldest brother, and Leo nodded, still having a smile lifting his face. Dana popped up, beaming only to be interrupted by an enormous yawn forcing itself out of her. Checking the time, Leo motioned her toward the bathroom.
"It's late, I'll clean this up before I leave, you should get ready for bed." And while normally he would expect Dana to argue back, she must've been more tired than she let on, plodding toward the bathroom without a peep. As Dana readied herself for sleep, Leo quickly disassembled the puzzle back into the box, placing it back on the little bookshelf April kept for games and sneaking out the window without a sound.
Several weeks later, when Dana was not so lucky to get off of work and join puzzle night, Leo would find a newspaper wrapped tube and a note that said "to 'Nardo, from your puzzle pal :)" and in it, a puzzle mat to roll up any unfinished puzzling for safe keeping. Raph was moody about his brother getting a gift for a week and a half, and Leo secretly thought it was the funniest thing in the world.