Leo helps out Reader in the kitchen.
_________________________________________
Y/n had invited the Hamato brothers and April to her apartment for a hangout.
As much as she loved hanging with the boys at the lair, she was pretty sure they all needed a little something more "normal" from time to time.
April's place wasn't spacious enough plus, her parents were gone for a few days, so.
She had however, not expected Leo to be an absolute menace in the kitchen.
"Leon, I left you alone for 10 seconds. 10!"
The walls and counter were battered with... Well, batter and so was a very sheepish looking Leonardo with a mixing bowl still in hand, which he drops the moment Y/n sets foot in the room.
Thankfully it's made of plastic so it doesn't shatter.
But still, how the hell does one mess up pancakes?
She had decided to quickly whip some up when they arrived at her place and Leo seemed really eager to help, so she let him.
Against the warnings of his brothers mind you, which she more than very much regrets now.
Leo guiltily eyes the floor, his brothers and April are peeking in from a safe distance.
Donnie quietly snickers at the inevitable scolding about to unfold in front of him.
To his dismay it never comes, Y/n just calmly sighs.
"It's alright, I was warned so this is technically my fault." She says that but Leo just looks even more miserable when she does.
Y/n runs her fingers through her black locks with a huff.
"It's okay." She says more to herself than Leo.
Making a mess of somebody's kitchen was one of the only things the slider actually felt bad about.
The fact that he ruined Y/n's leaves an especially bitter taste in his mouth.
"I'll help you clean it up.."
"Damn right you will." Leo flinches at her firm tone.
Y/n lets out another sigh.
"But not right now," She picks up the bowl that he dropped, depositing it to the sink.
"Right now," She repeats.
"I will teach you how to make pancakes. The proper way." Leo gets a hopeful glint in his eyes.
"Right after we cleaned you up, that is."
Both Leo and her share a giggle at that.
The moment is cut short when they hear a gasp though.
The two teens snap their heads towards the sound.
"What? Not even an 'oh my god Leo, you absolute moron'"? Donnie waves his arms around in disbelief. "Nothing?" He scoffs.
"Beating down ones self-esteem by throwing hurtful words at them will do no good, Donatello. You'd think someone as smart as you would know that."
"You literally just did exactly that, hypocrite."
"Feels bad, doesn't it?"
Donnie shuts his mouth at the blank expression Y/n gives him.
Leo stares at the ravenette in awe, to think she'd stand up for him against his genius of a brother like that..
Wait..... Are those butterflies in his stomach?
"Ha, she gotchu good, D." April jabs the purple wearing turtle in the side with her elbow.
"Now then," Y/n snatches a rag from one of the many drawers.
She briefly soaks it then wrings it out.
"Sit." She all but orders the slider who obeys without a second thought and takes a seat in front of her at the dinner table.
April promptly drags Donnie away before he can start an argument.
"So," N/n begins wiping the batter off of Leo's plastron and arms.
"How on earth did you manage to mess up pancakes?" She snorts.
"I may or may not have stirred the batter a bit too fast...?" Leo scratches the back of his neck.
Y/n gives him a look and he smiles awkwardly.
The girl shakes her head now smiling as well, then moves onto cleaning his face.
"Is it okay if I take your mask off?"
"....What?"
"It's got some batter on it.. I'll wash it for you." N/n doesn't move a muscle until Leo gives a somewhat shy nod of confirmation.
When the girl's warm fingertips brush his skin as she fiddles with the knot Leo unconsciously straightens his posture.
He wonders what it'd feel like to have her scratch along his neck..
No! Get a grip Leonardo!
Y/n's chuckle snaps him back into reality.
"They really suit you," She rests her palm on Leo's cheek, tracing the edge of his red mark with her thumb.
The slider tilts his head.
"Your markings." She says. "They look good on you."
Goddamn those scandalous butterflies....
Leo breaks out of his momentary stupor. "O-Of course!" He smiles widely as if he didn't just stutter.
"Everything looks good on me." Thankful that his confidence returned he smugly winks at the female who then withdraws her hand.
Leo instantly begins to miss the warmth.
"Hah, whatever you say, hotshot. Way to ruin the moment." Y/n rolls her eyes in annoyance but she's smiling.
"But, I suppose you aren't wrong." She makes her way towards the bathroom with Leo's mask in hand, she barely misses him start choking on air.
"Did she just hit on me?" He gapes.
"Have been for the past 3 months but thanks for noticing!" N/n yells from the bathroom.
Leo's eyes grow wide and he looks at April for help.
She just shrugs with a smirk.
-
"Okay, now stir it, slowly."
Leo holds down the newly filled mixing bowl with one hand and stirs its contents with a whisk in the other while Y/n watches his every movement.
"But won't the flour like, clump up if I don't stir it fast enough?" Before he could pick up pace she puts her hand over his on the whisk.
"No Leon, trust me. It's fine just do as I say, I refuse to clean my kitchen twice in one day." She stirs the batter with Leo's hand.
"There, keep that pace." She briefly narrows her eyes at the turtle before leaving his side to dig her pan out from the depths of a cabinet.
-
"I can't be the only one who thinks she's going too easy on Leo..." Donnie is glaring daggers into his twin's carapace from across the livingroom.
"You're just salty because Y/n told you off." April snorts, following his line of vision to see the whisk god only knows how, fly out of Leo's hand and collide with the ceiling.
Y/n turns around eerily slowly and Leo nearly flings the bowl after it.
"April, you cannot seriously think that she is right!"
The ravenette runs her dominant hand down her face as Leo scratches at the back of his neck.
April chuckles.
"Doesn't Leo seem more genuine to you? More serious, in a way?" She side-eyes Donnie.
The soft-shell raises one thick eyebrow.
"Leo is just as much a person as you or me." The brunette gives him a sad smile. "No matter how confident he acts, how big his ego is or how everything you throw at him seems to just bounce right off of him.." She drops the smile. "He loves you guys the most and your words hurt him, Donnie."
"Look," She points towards the two in the kitchen.
The turtle follows her finger.
Leo had just managed to get his first pancake to be a perfect circle after about 4 tries.
Y/n is wearing a wide, proud smile as she playfully bumps the slider in the hips with her own, making Leo grin just as wide.
His snout is scrunched up in a dopey way and Donnie sees what is called 'smiling with ones eyes' for the first time.
His brother truly looks... Happy, and carefree.
As if nothing besides the two in the kitchen exists right now.
When Donnie looks back to April she's wearing a gentle smile.
"Leo looks really happy, huh?" Mikey chimes in, although he hadn't heard what they were talking about.
The genius turns back towards his twin to see N/n wipe a battered finger across his cheek.
The slider gasps in fake horror.
"Yeah," Donatello smiles ever so slightly,
"He does."
-
"Woops!" Y/n licks the remainder of the batter off her finger.
Her mocking smile could rival Leo's iconic shit-eating grin.
"Oh-ho-ho, you little minx!" Leo quickly flips the pancake then jabs his own finger into the batter.
"Leon." The girl's smile falls.
"I'm warning you, don't you dare,...." She holds a finger up.
Leo swipes his finger right across her lips.
"NOOOO!" N/n screeches like a banshee at the icky feeling, pretty much drawing everyone's attention.
"Ew Leo! That is nasty!"
"An eye for an eye, sweetheart." He licks the batter off his finger. "Man, revenge sure is sweet."
"More like disgusting," The ravenette shivers like a dang leaf in the autumn breeze when she touches the batter on her lips in an attempt to get it off.
Leo snorts in amusement.
"I can help you with that, if you'd like?"
He scoots closer with a suggestive smirk, now it's Y/n's turn to snort.
"What, you wanna lick it right off of my mouth? Be my guest." She sticks her tongue out, daring him to do it with her eyes.
"I mean..." The turtle leans slightly forward, raising his 'eyebrows'.
His tail is swaying in anticipation.
"NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILD!"
The two snap their heads towards the livingroom couch, N/n without pulling her tongue back.
"Raph, I wanna see what happens!" The snapper is covering a whining Michelangelo's eyes and Donnie looks about ready to book it for the toilet.
April bursts out laughing.
"Fiiiine," N/n licks the batter off her lips with an eyeroll.
"Guess a peck on the cheek will have to suffice for now." Before Leo could process the meaning behind her words, the girl's plush lips press firmly into the corner of his lips, lingering just the smallest amount.
"Oh my god..." Donnie holds a hand to his mouth.
Leonardo's eyes and face both light up.
He rubs at the area her lips had touched just a second ago.
"Again!"
N/n snorts into her palm.
-
"Leooooo, let gooo,"
Everyone is now sitting on the couch with a plate of pancakes in their hands.
Well, everyone expect for Y/n and Leo...
The girl is trapped in the slider's arms on his lap.
"Not until you do that thing again."
"Kiss you?"
"Whatever it is, it makes my stomach feel all woozy and my chest feels like it has drums in it."
April and Y/n both wheeze at his explanation as his tail smacks against the couch repeatedly.
"What? I'm not kidding, look!" Leo snatches the ravenette's hand, turns her on his lap and puts her hand over his heart on his plastron.
Sure enough, his heart is beating real heavily.
Concerningly so... She can clearly feel it even through his plastron.
Nevertheless N/n's face flushes red.
"He really doesn't know what he's doing, does he?" She giggles in April's direction who returns it.
"No," She shakes her head, barely able to contain another wheeze.
Donnie facepalms in the background, glad that he chose to sit the farthest away from the pair.
"Leon how can you not know what you're feeling?" N/n continues to giggle, poking at her captor's cheek.
"Dunno. Maybe because it's the first time I feel like this?" An actually innocent, confused smile spreads on the turtle's face.
Oof, that hit right in the feels.
"Oh my god..." Y/n turns away and hides her face behind her hands.
"And I thought Mikey was the innocent baby... April, I thought you said he's an annoying flirt, not a cute clueless idiot!" She sighs in defeat and wraps her arms around Leo's neck, pulling his still maskless face into her chest.
He happily burries his snout in her collarbone, taking her scent in as his tail picks up speed.
"He's so stinkin' cute, what the heck," Y/n groans in sweet frustration.
"You have it real bad, huh," April shoots her friend an apologetic glance.
"Tell me about it." She huffs.
"Oh well...," She absentmindedly starts gliding her nails across the skin of Leo's neck.
That earns her a little surprise,
because he starts chirping.
Donnie not very politely spits his pancake out at the sound his twin makes.
His and Raph's faces turn redder than the latter's bandana while April stares at the two.
Mikey just looks confused.
"H-How can you make that sound so shamelessly?!" Donnie sputters, he looks mortified to the bones.
Raphael silently stuffs more pancake in his mouth.
Leo shrugs indifferently. "I'm real comfy right now- Ooh, a little to the left~" He basically melts at the mercy of Y/n's hands.
Donatello looks more horrified by the second.
"I didn't know turtles can make these kinda squeaky noises," The ravenette muses.
"It's called churring, and we only do it on.. Very rare occasions...." Donnie clears his throat, trying to calm his wild blush down.
"It kind of reminds me of a cat's purr, I can feel the rumbles through my whole body." Y/n giggles in amusement.
Then she suddenly shrieks.
"Y/n? You okay?" April puts a hand on her lower arm in concern but Y/n is a bit occupied by something else right now.
"Did you just bite me?!" She stares down at Leo in bewilderment.
"No.......?"
"You did!"
"..."
"Leo!"
The slider goes back to churring happily as if nothing happened.
Y/n turns to Donnie for an explanation and so does April.
The soft-shell flinches under their gaze.
"Don't look at me!"
-
"Nooooooo!" Leo makes grabby hands at N/n like a child, being held up by Raph in one hand.
Y/n sweatdrops with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry Leo, but we've gotta go home." Raph scratches the back of his neck with his free hand.
"Thanks for having us, N/n!" Mikey enthusiastically waves from beside the eldest.
"We will be on our way then, ladies." Donnie waves at them without looking up from his phone.
Poor Leo looks about ready to cry a river.
"Wait Raph," N/n taps him on the shoulder- or more like his lower arm before he could exit through the window.
He turns towards her.
"Put him down." She gestures to the slider in his grasp.
"You sure?" Raph cocks an 'eyebrow' and Y/n nods.
He lowers Leo to the ground and he locks her in his arms right away.
"You really like Y/n, don't you?" April teasingly raises an eyebrow at Leo from behind the ravenette.
His eyes widen and the brunette can tell that he finally realizes what his actions mean.
He blinks at her a couple times and his friend's eyebrow raises higher.
However he has more surprises up his sleeves, it seems.
"Yeah." His voice is low and.. Relieved? Almost a whisper but that isn't what shocks April.
What shocks her the most is the sweet smile on his face.
Not a smirk or a grin, a genuine smile.
He squeezes the girl in his arms, cheeks tinted a little red.
"Leo,"
He pulls away from Y/n so he can look at her when she says his name.
"Yes?" He tilts his head slightly.
"Bend a little forward," She instructs and he does so, although confused.
When the girl leans closer, his eyes slip closed.
N/n's hands trail along his skin to the back of his head and his heart picks up speed in anticipation.
After a few seconds her hands pull back and she giggles.
Leo, confused, peeks an eye open.
"Huh...?" He narrows his eyes into a baffled frown, touching his face.
Oh... It's his mask.
She had put his mask on him.
"Ah, thanks.." He straightens up, laughing awkwardly. "For a second I thought you were gonna-"
A tug on his bandana tails and a pair off warm lips cut him off.
Y/n's hand lets go of the blue fabric to cup his cheek instead, tilting her head to the side for a more comfortable angle.
Leo quickly loses himself at the feel of her lips on his and he shuts his eyes in bliss.
His chest feels tight and his head is spinning yet he feels like he's walking on clouds.
They part a few times with little smacking noises only to peck at each other again.
Y/n ends the moment with a final peck on the tip of his snout, knowing that his brothers are waiting for him.
"Aw, noo!" Leo whines when she pulls away and she chuckles.
"Your brothers are waiting for you." She pecks him on the snout again.
"Let them wait!" Leo huffs with a pout.
Y/n chuckles again, escorting the pouty slider out her window.
"Tell you what I'll come by tomorrow and give you all the kisses you want, sound good?" She smirks.
"Fiiiine," Leo leans on his elbows on the windowsill and rolls his eyes in pretend annoyance.
The ravenette cups his face again, dropping a kiss on each of his infamous markings and he lets out a brief churr.
"Dang it, I really like your red moons." She kisses them a few more times repeatedly.
"I've noticed," Leo lets out a breathy laugh at that.
He leans in for a last peck on the lips which she gladly returns.
"I'll see you tomorrow evening..?" Leo asks hopefully, cradling her hands in his.
"Yeah, tomorrow evening." Y/n squeezes his hands reassuringly.
The slider nods, reluctantly letting go.
He smiles at her one last time and drops down from the fire escape, landing by the manhole he quickly lifts the lid and slips inside.
"Leo where were you? What took you so long?" Raph is the first one to turn and spot his brother.
"And what's with the dopey smile?" Donnie movies his wrist in a circular motion before he points at his brother's face.
Leo is holding his two fingers to his smiling lips.
There are literal sparkles around him as he closes his eyes dreamily.
"She tastes sweet." He blurts out.
April doubles over and bursts out laughing.
Donatello's face turns a wild shade of crimson.
"I DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT!"
~💙~
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