My Fearless Leader | Leonardo x Reader

Barriers

Part 1.

Second POV

You had meant to be in your room studying. It was already two hours later since you got home, lying around and snacking and indulging in whatever activity the boys were doing while the need to knock out more schoolwork prodded the back of your brain. As much as the urge was felt, your body didn't bring itself to start just yet. Apparently it wanted to play a couple rounds of video games with Mikey—as zoned out and on autopilot as you were—shove more chips into your mouth—even though you weren't actually hungry—and doze off on Leo's shoulder for a little bit, which he helpfully coaxed you into.

You knew you were losing time. You could be pages ahead by now, but letting yourself lean against Leo as his hand rubbed your shoulder in soft circles until you dozed off on the couch was somehow so much easier.

You couldn't nap long before the nagging at the back of your mind finally won. Your brain just would't shut up, and clearly only one thing would make that go away.

It wasn't just school occupying your mind like any other day, either. From morning until now your mind rattled on with thoughts of all the things you needed to take care of. The issue of handling Mr. O'Neil's guardianship of you before the next meeting coming up sat on your mind for almost the whole day during classes. You still hadn't cracked the puzzle in figuring out how to keep him out of trouble or relieve him of the position without being moved back into a group home. No loopholes were to be found, and as soon as the stress gateway was opened it easily found other paths to torment your mind with for the rest of the day.

Rather than focusing in class you also came to think the possibility that if anyone had been watching you that day and continues to stalk, showing them the monthly time address for your visits to FCS's building probably wasn't a good idea... and that thought led to how long it had been since your last training session with Raph. How your plan for balancing all of these priorities was starting to fall apart. And as of right now, your brain was still lagging one step behind, trying to remember a single important thing from school today so at least you'd know you paid some attention. Apparently you didn't.

Leo had stayed with you until your head lifted from his shoulder, mumbling something about needing to get started. Seemingly satisfied with your cat nap, he rubbed your back and told you he'd be in the dojo.

Nearly dead on your feet, you dragged yourself into the kitchen in aim for Donnie's coffee pot. Or, maybe it was for anyone, but Donnie was the only one who used it. So much that it always made you wonder why he didn't keep it in his lab. Either way, coffee was a must-have right now if the buzzing in your brain and lead in your bones was any indicator. The burnout was coming soon and that was not good.

You had actually finally been on the way to the bedrooms to do your work, still really not looking forward to it for today, when you passed Donnie's lab on the way there. Those cracked lab doors tempted you all too well. One last brief distraction before you holed up in your room for the rest of the night.

You peeked in, unsure if it was an okay time to interrupt. "Heeey, Don Don."

He was sitting at his desk, leaned far back in his chair like he'd been sitting there in that idle position for a while. "Hey, Y/n."

You tentatively stepped in, a full mug in hand. His desk was never empty to begin with, but right now it just seemed scattered with random machinery parts all the place. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Just... tinkering." His tone was lighter than usual as he poked at a piece of tech until it flipped over. You could tell Donnie was either stumped for ideas, or sad about something.