My Fearless Leader | Leonardo x Reader

If You'll Leave the Light On - Pt. 1

"Oh, man. I feel like so much has happened," Mikey got started, segueing into a list of household updates to relay. Although, it wasn't truly what the elder wanted to know at the moment. "We made Leo take some downtime yesterday. He's gotta catch up on some serious napping soon before he passes out. Oh! Raph actually listened for once and held off on the whole attacking-The-Foot plan. Leo didn't think it was a good idea, so he talked him out of it." Hamato listened closely as Mikey snatched at a freshly grilled cheese sandwich and shoved it in his mouth. "Raph and I still train most days now. But it's weird without everyone else there."

Mikey seemed in a daze as he relayed the information, the height of the usual endless cheer in his eyes softened by familial turmoil and emotional wear and tear.

Without realizing, Sensei placed a hand on Mikey's shoulder, causing the masked teen to meet his apologetic expression. "I realize that things have been torn in this household for too long. And as the head of it, I should not have let it be this way... I will try to be there for all of you more," he promised. "

"Really, Sensei, no one expects you to bounce back from all this so soon," he shakes his head, young and innocent eyes wide.

"I am your father. I should not have let all of you go through this by yourselves for this long." Splinter disagrees, repeating what he's been trying to coach himself to believe over the last few days. "Life must go on for all of us, and I can no longer let you all handle this on your own."

—

Leo's POV

Later in the morning, I set a bowl of steaming soup and a water bottle down on the wooden table, beside the other sides of food I brought in for us. I had walked to the kitchen to find something to scrap together for Y/n and I to eat before she awoke, but found a fresh feast already sitting out that made my stomach rumble for some much needed comfort food.

I really have to remember to thank Mikey later for making these meals for everyone. Even if all of it was less so for the family and more so for relieving all of the stress he was so good at leaving unacknowledged, having a dose of home cooked meals was helping in more ways than expected.

Luckily, last night was an easier one. Y/n slept more peacefully, however reluctant she was to get to sleep in the first place. But before that she had actually made it through the whole movie with me, although it was easy enough to tell towards the end of it that she was forcing herself to stay awake. And after a while of trying to talk her down to sleep, and her trying to change subjects, she eventually couldn't fight the fatigue, and fell asleep in my reassuring embrace. I stayed awake through the night while she slept like a rock at my side.

But I am getting worried about her growing unwillingness to ever let herself sleep again. I've seen firsthand how much resting has both helped her and terrified her over this healing process. It's obvious enough there was no way her brain was going to win the battle against needed sleep in the state that it's in, but I wonder if she can afford to lose sleep anymore than she can afford to keep having those bad dreams that chase her away from it in the first place. The nightmares hadn't gone away– even if they have become less severe and she's adjusted better to them. She just a has a new way of trying to deal with them.

But as far as I could tell, she didn't have any kind of nightmare last night, so I'm praying that'll help with the anti-sleep problem if it insists.

Now, I stand in the middle of her room, staring at the drawer of the beside table where I placed the files on her last night. I sat down on the bed slowly while my head mulled through this internal war, staring at the wood for a few moments more before finally reaching over and retrieving the documents.