After school, the end of the day after movie night, I walk home with a boatload of stress on my shoulders. Out of nowhere teachers were assigning projects in just about every class now that it's that time of year. Most are due by the middle of next week which really doesn't enough time. On top of that, for some reason, my girl hormones randomly decided to punch me in the face with a surprise start acting up today. So I was pretty much an emotional train wreck the entire day with no energy to deal with it. The smallest action could've made me want to cry, blow up at someone, or just walk out of school altogether. Somehow I was able to keep it together for the day but now, altogether, I just feel really crappy. My bones are heavy and even putting the effort into walking back to the lair felt like a chore. I had no energy before and now I just want to eat something and act like this day never happened. At the very least I don't have to stay hours after school for f/a today.
I walk into the lair and notice Leo training in the dojo when I pass by. He swiftly swings his katanas, in deep focus as usual. I stop outside the door and quietly set my bag down, leaning against the doorway and watching.
"Back from school already?"
"No f/a today." I respond, noting how he didn't even see me yet when he said that.
He grunts in response, eyes being more serious as he gets back to focusing on his movements more. Which, out of nowhere, gives me chills, and for some reason makes me blush. He stops in mid-kata, then looks over to me and relaxes from his stance. I'm sure he can already tell how different I'm acting. Placing his katanas back into their sheaths, he walks over to me.
"You ok?" He frowns in concern and tilts his head.
"Yeah. Just tired is all." I answer lazily.
He nods and offers me a smile. "I'm about to finish up and get something to eat in a few minutes. You can go ahead if you want and I'll join you."
I nod at him and make my way into the kitchen, not even bothering to waste energy by picking my backpack back up. I look around. Not really having the energy to search around in the kitchen either, I reach for the first thing in sight, I grab an apple and look around for something to cut it with. I can eat this until Leo comes in and heats up the frozen pizza. I spot a knife laying on the counter so I use it to start cutting up the apple.
The only thing is that I'm still pretty tired from the day and wasn't paying complete attention while using it. The knife cuts in closer to the center, and Leo walks in just as it slices and cuts into my finger. I hiss in pain and instantly pull my hand back, dropping the knife and apple in the process.
"Y/n, what are you doing?!" Leo immediately rushes to my side, holding my hand and looking at the cut.
"Ow..."
"Are you okay?" He looks at the subtle slit across my index finger, then to me. "This is why you can't touch our weapons! Why would you use a kunai to cut an apple?"
I look back at the knife and realize it wasn't a regular kitchen knife after all like I thought. It was one of their throwing blades that actually look a little to close to kitchenware, the same kind I've always seen Leo carrying before. "I thought it was a regular knife..."
"A regular knife? These things are way worse than a kitchen knife, you have to be careful!" Even though he's freaking out, his hands engulf my cut finger gently.
I frown, unsure if he's worried I'm more hurt than I am or mad about me using one of their wrists. I look from the knife, back to my finger that just starts to let some blood through. Suddenly, I feel like a huge screw up; I wasn't paying enough attention. "I didn't mean to–"
"You're bleeding!" He reaches over and rips off a paper towel, holding it around my hand. "This is why you have to pay attention, Y/n, so stuff like this doesn't happen!"
I flinch as he escalates to yelling, a bit shaken at how biting his tone can get. It didn't help I was too tired to have my emotional defenses up as usual... or that it was upsetting hearing him mad at me. My nerves were too rattled today to bear this.
"W-why are you yelling at me?" I can't help but ask defensively, not able to force my voice into covering up how flustered I was. My emotional hormones were kicking in and I feel my eyes water in embarrassment. Ugh, emotions are so stupid.
Leo hears the shakiness in my voice and looks at me. There's a pause for a moment while my eyes stay glued to my reddening finger, away from his gaze. After he's quiet for a while, I hear him take a deep breath. I avert my gaze further, kicking myself for making him this angry, even if it was over something minor. But to my surprise, his voice is softened now. "Oh geez, Y/n I didn't mean to..."
Great! He sees I'm getting emotional, which is just as embarrassing.
I look away, trying to push these stupid reactions away so I don't start crying for no reason. It must be all over my face how hurt I am from his harsh tone. Too much built up frustration is really about to make this the worst day by making me cry over nothing, in front of Leo of all people. If I'm gonna have emotions I'd much prefer to have them privately in my room, alone with a carton of ice cream tucked between my arms.
"Com'ere." Leo says softly, and guides me with gentle hands to the sink. I don't say anything as he starts running a cool stream of water over the incision, the leaking blood washing away. I see his hand hesitate when it lets me go, but it engulfs my unharmed hand closest to him, and his other arm wraps around my back to pull me into a hug. I immediately sink into the embrace, wanting the comfort. I rationalize in my head that his getting upset really wasn't a big enough deal, but it doesn't stop my nerves from feeling so shaken.
"I didn't mean to be so harsh on you, Y/n. I didn't realize I was yelling... I guess I got carried away." I huff and hide my face against his chest. I feel his hand rub my arm in response. "I just get so worried about you being around all these dangerous weapons lying around and... I know I shouldn't have yelled. I'm really sorry."
"Jerk." I mumble into his embrace.
I feel his lips smiling a little bit against the side of my head where his head rests. "I know... I just don't want you to get hurt because you're staying with us." He strokes my hair and uses his thumb and forefinger to lift my chin to finally look at him. "But I am sorry. I should've remembered you're still not used to being here. And it was on the counter after all."
I take a breath and force myself to nod, still trying to calm my swelling emotions. "It's okay..."
He frowns as he looks in my slightly watering eyes. "I– I didn't mean to make you cry!"
"No it's okay. It's just stupid hormones acting up lately. I'm just so tired." I say quickly, pulling away from him. Him seeing me break down for no reason because of girl hormones he wouldn't understand is the last thing I feel like dealing with right now. I press the ends of my sleeves to my eyes and face away from him as I wipe my eyes while he can't directly see, even though it's pretty obvious. "I'm not like crying crying, n-not really... It's just a stress overreaction–" I ramble on, surely embarrassing myself further.
Briefly, I can sense Leo's stare on me for a second. I can feel his guilt radiating from his body alone. But it's when he's cupping my face and pressing an apology kiss to my cheek that I'm really shocked. I look up at him, my cheeks undoubtedly burning red. Leo immediately flushed a light pink once we made eye contact. I guess he didn't realize what he was doing then either.
He chuckles nervously and, in turn, starts tripping over his words. "S-sorry I– uh... I just... That's meant to say, I'm really sorry."
My lips slowly curl into a smile as I watch him. But geez, is this what I sound like to him? Of course– don't get me wrong– on him it's actually pretty cute. But if this is what I do someone please keep me from ever babbling in front of him ever again.
"Ya know what? This is probably Mikey's, he's... always leaving his stuff around and..." It's his turn to ramble now as Leo tries to save himself and grabs the knife from the counter. "It's got pizza grease on it so I'm just gonna go and uh... take it to him, and uh, get you a bandaid or something... yeah." He picks up the knife and rushes out of the kitchen. My smile widens and I can't help but look down and bite my lip in happiness at what he just did.
"Dang girl, you got it going on." I look up to see Raph smirking from the doorway.
"W-what?"
"Don't think I didn't just see him kiss you... or that lip bite." My cheeks glow even redder. He chuckles and sits down across from me when I say nothing. "Huh, but I never heard him scream like that about a little cut before." I look back at my finger, seeing it's still bleeding, and grab and wet a paper towel. "It's a good sign really I guess. Last time he yelled like that it was when Mikey broke his arm from skateboarding in the sewers. He only does it with people he really cares about."
I stare at the turtle sitting across from me, pondering what he just said, and possibly implied. Until Leo walks back in, then pauses at seeing Raphael sitting with me. "Oh, no. He's been talking to you hasn't he?"
Raphael's signature smirk comes back to his lips. "Of course not. Not a single word." He gets up and walks out.
"What did he say to you?" Leo asks immediately, looking at me.
"Nothing really... Just something about Mikey," I add somewhat truthfully.
He nods and exhales. "Um, I got you a couple bandaids and ointment for when the bleeding stops."
I smile softly. "Thanks..."
"Sure. Now... uh," the bashfulness is still hanging thick between the both of us. I'm not any better at finding out what else to say while still standing over the sink and waiting for this cut to stop gushing. "Should I find something for dinner?"
I chuckle a bit and nod, remembering both of us have still yet to eat.
"Any preferences?" Leo opens the door to a fridge full of old leftover pizza.
"I think there's some edible pizza somewhere in there."
He chuckles, still a bit nervous after kissing me on the freaking cheek– still internally swooning. He nods and pulls out a frozen pre-made pizza from the freezer. "Right." He turns to me and then stops when he looks at me still rinsing my finger and trying to peel out a bandaid at the same time. "So– I'll slice the pizza..." He trails off, and this time I just give him a subtle look for his remark. He smiles guiltily, but continues cheerfully as if the idea he's proposing is so fun. "And you can go clean yourself up with Donnie until I'm finished with all the sharp objects!"
"Oh, very funny." I make a face at him.
{{Heeey I'm back. Wasn't really feeling this chapter at first but I posted it anyway 'cause I haven't been able to post as much as I've wanted to lately. Wasn't sure if I got mad/overreactive Leo down right, but I still like the chapter I think. But, please still remember to vote if you enjoyed the chapter 😉}}