Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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-OVERAL INSPIRATION-

kamikaze by missio

1

-CHAPTER ONE-

sirens by kailee morgue

2

-CHAPTER TWO-

are you satisfied? by marina and the diamonds

Chapter Text

The Hidden City was beautiful in the autumn. The usually vibrant streets would mellow and cool. Vendors packed up for the year, emptying the complicated paths. The thorny vines wrapping buildings and street lamps became black and brown and died off, the yōkai of the city beginning to cover themselves in wool jackets and pink scarves from grandmothers. In this annual shift, the colorful Hidden city becomes a town of mustard yellows and grayish purples. The city began to smell of pumpkin and squash and nutmeg and cotton, instead of life and grass and lavender. 

It was admirable how the Hidden City always somehow managed to stay breathtaking and breathtaking no matter the season. The turtles blamed the witches. 

Leo pulled his jacket tighter around his torso, a thin leather jacket he always ended up pairing with scarves and sweaters. He ambled down the streets of the city, taking in the trees and sky. 

Leo was somehow brought back to the day a handful years ago-Leo had been twelve-when Raph had dragged them all to a Goodwill to find new winter jackets. Being the older of the four, Raph and Donnie had been smarter about their choices. Raph picked a rust colored coat filled with faux feathers. It was rather light and plain but as soon as you slipped onto it the coat it was surprisingly warm. Donnie choose a fur-lined coat the shade of grape juice, which was conveniently covered in pockets for gadget keeping. The jacket was nearly the same as being in a sauna, which Donnie adored. 

Mikey, well, Mike loved the winter. It was his favorite season (mostly because of Christmas) and the box turtle thrived in the cold. Mikey was always vocalizing how much he enjoyed the feeling of the cold kissing his shoulders and cheeks. Naturally Mikey choose the burnt orange vest, which he customized later with blue and purple paints. It was more meant for summer, but Mikey found it suited him just right.

Leo, on the other hand, absolutely hated winter. When it was was his turn to pick, the slider rebelled and went for the black biker's jacket (which ended up hurting him more than winter). 

Leo held one serious grudge of the fact that the others always seems to be perfectly fine during winter, especially Mikey. According to Donnie, his brother's won the gene pool lottery and are only affected by winter the same way humans are: cold fingers, runny nose, pink cheeks. Leo ended up with a bad lottery ticket. 

During the last fourteen winters of his life, Leo ended up catching serious seasonal colds. Puking his guts out, a tender nose, bad lungs, raw throat. Every year. So, yeah, Leo hated winter. He did love summer, though, and warmer autumns. 

Leo sighed, kicking a rock. 

It bounced off into street. Around him was the sludge of the closely built in streets in the poorer district of the Hidden City. The leaning buildings and cracking sidewalk. The smells of gasoline and rock and mildew. Leo sighed and found a seat on a rotting bench, slumping into it. He pulled his navy blue scarf up higher, his toothpaste fresh breathe warming his cracked lips and stiff eyes. 

Leo was miserable. He was cold, hungry, and felt crudely guilty. Emotions swelled in his torso painfully like the allergy prone Donnie to a bee. 

It had been a simple mistake. 

He hadn't meant it. 

It wasn't suppose to happen.

Leo had discovered a decade-old and warning labeled tunnel while cruising New York's underbelly a few weeks ago, suggesting that he and Donnie skateboard the tunnels. It'd be thrilling to have a challenge for once. Donnie had protested of course, so it took weeks for his to agree. Those tunnels were taped off for a reason, but Leo still managed to drag his moody brother with him.

And guess what, Donnie was right about the tunnels being dangerous. Donnie's board slipped into a concrete crack and the soft-shell turtle was shot off down the tunnels, painfully rolling down a shallow hill, and catching his foot in between two boulders. 

Leo was by his side in an instant, but it was to late. Donnie had broken his ankle. 

The argument the ensued between he and Raph was still fresh in Leo's mind-probably the cause of his pounding headache. It was the worse fight he and Raph had in years. The fight rose past the boiling point for over twenty minutes before Leo decided enough was enough and stormed out. 

At least he managed to get a coat.

The headache continued to throb as a memory surfaced.

"Irresponsible! Well let me remind me you of how 'irresponsible' you were as a kid, huh? I recall you haven broken Mikey's arm after going American Psycho because somebody stole your, get this, your phone charger!"

A flash of pain lit up in the snapper's eyes. That had been one his worst moments. It was one of the things that kept him up at night. 

God. Leo crumpled forward and cradled his flushed face in his hands. Why had he said that? Leo knew how stupidly guilty Raph felt about it, you couldn't count how many times he apologized to Mike. 

It was an extremely low blow. 

Leo's own guilt laid heavy like weight's on his shoulders. It threatened to crush him into strawberry jam. Leo was a real asshole when he got pissed off and he hated himself for it. Why was he so bad at holding his tongue? 

Not that guilt was the only thing on his mind. Raph had been cruel with his own words, too.

"Big words for a little weasel like yourself. All you want is for everybody to love you, for Leo to be the center of attention, for you to be the handsome king at the top of the hill, well it's disgusting. There's other people too, Leo! Have you ever looked around and seen anybody else except yourself?"

"Your not our god."

"You know what I see in front of me?" 

"A vain, selfish, and arrogant little boy who will be nothing other than that."

Leo felt a tear slip past his mask. It left a trail of burning cold behind it. He hurriedly whipped it away with the back of hand before anybody could see, squinting to keep the other tears at bay. 

Leo looked at his feet.

Was he really all those things? He knew he enjoyed being the center of attention, but Leo always tried his damnedest to put his brothers first. They were his whole world, his everything, and he would go down fighting before anybody tried to hurt them, argument or no argument. 

But...Raph knew all, right?

Maybe Leo really was what Raph said. A selfish weasel. 

Leo's heart dropped to the ground thinking about it. 

"...join the Rabbits, m'am, and you'll be lifted from the hell of poverty. We are fighting for the day that all yōkai are equal. We are fighting for the day that your kid comes home with a slip saying they need fifteen dollars for a field trip and you will smile and say: 'Sure thing, honey'."

Leo tilted his head up. A few feet ahead of him two yōkai stood at the door of a run-down Chinese restaurant, faded gold letters declaring it the Golden Pork. There appeared to be apartments above. A stubby red panda yōkai was half-in, half-out of her door- her fluffy tail wrapped around a leg shyly. She held a yellow pamphlet in her hand and carried a look of shattered hope in her eyes-aging her considerably.

"So, what do you say? Join our cause?" The other yōkai asked calmly, his voice laced with a lively hope. Leo couldn't really get to good of a look of the yōkai, since he was hidden behind a tree already infected with fall. 

The red panda shook her head slowly. "I am sorry. We do not have the resources or the time to join your cause," she mumbled. 

The women shut the door softly on the spokesmen. 

Leo heard the yōkai sigh heavily and pad down her broken steps. His slapping footsteps carried the same direction Leo was. 

"Shit," Leo cursed under his breathe, panicky, quickly snapping his head back to staring at his feet. He tried to seem causal but it must've come off strained, because he could see the spokesman yōkai staring at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Crap," Leo whispered, raising a fist to act as a fake receiver. "I've been compromised, Houston."

Leo swallowed and shot up, waving a gloved hand. "Hi! Can I help you, amigo?"

The yōkai, a red and blue scaled Komodo dragon, smiled. "Did you hear me and Mrs. Chen's conversation? She shot me down quickly, eh?"

Small talk? Great, that was Leo's weakness. "She sure did," he said, with a borderline fake sounding enthusiasm. He tried to shove his hands into his jacket pockets, but it only came off as awkward and rushed. 

"Would you like to hear the spiel? I need at least one more yōkai before I meet the quota," the dragon called. 

At least it wasn't small talk. "Er-sure."

Leo watched as he saw the fresh faced dragon's mouth tore into glee and he bounced over to Leo's bench. It reminded him a lot of Mikey, actually. 

In view, Leo got his first good look of the dragon. There was a stack of yellow pamphlets in his right clawed hand. The dragon had thick limbs and thick hands, his neck just above average length neck keeping up his massive snouted head.

He wore a tight blue vest and steel gray slacks, his massive feet covered in genuine leather wingtips. It was the first good sign to Leo. A good fashion sense. The second was his trustworthy face. The dragon's eyes were wide and gooey with curiosity and his mouth was pulled into a welcoming grin. The third was that he smelled like cookies. Fresh out of the oven, warm and sticky, cookies. 

It didn't stop Leo's usual ebb of doubt. This dragon truly seemed like a great dude to Leo, but his cause? What was all that about "being lifted from the hell of poverty?" 

Pretty damn shady. 

The dragon held out a hand. It was long-fingered and heavy. "Sebastian Flinn, at your service." 

Leo stared at the hand. Donnie and him had gone over this a million times. What were you supposed to if an adult held out their hand to you? Leo felt the panic start to make him sweat. He must've looked like a real weirdo, giving the cookie-smelling Komodo's hanging hand the stink-eye. 

Okay, okay, breathe, Leo. It was gesture of manliness, so...

Leo clamped the dragon's scaled hand with his and connected their hands into a fist. He stuck his thumb out and moved it side to side of Sebastian's thumb.

"Uh, what are you doing, kid?"

Leo, who had been focused on pinning the dragon's thumb down, looked up. "Thumb war."

The dragon looked at Leo strangely and then burst out laughing. So much so he folded in on himself and earned a shout from the street's inhabitants to shut the hell up. 

"What! What did I do?" Leo gushed. What did he do wrong? It was invitation for a thumb war right?

"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong!" Sebastian said through tears, keeping himself together by wrapping arms around his abdomen. "I just didn't expect that!" 

Leo bite his lip, his the teeth slipping into the indents he had built up over time. How did he fuck it up this time? "What was I suppose to do?"

Sebastian, who had been calming himself down with deep breathes, slapped a hand on Leo's shoulder. He gave Leo a soft smile, one dripping with about as much kindness as Raph. "You got to shake it, kid. See..,"

Sebastian stuck his hand out again and led Leo's to cup it. The dragon shook their hands. "Like this."

In a flash, Leo suddenly remembered the lesson Donnie had given him on gentlemanly etiquette. 

All you gotta do is shake it. Like in the Batman. Nardo, are you listening?

He groaned. "Of course that's what your suppose to do. Dee should've given me an acronym."

Seb's interest piqued at the name of this "D" yōkai, but he decided to ask about it later. "Wanna try again?"

"Mucho, lagartija."

Sebastian cleared his throat and extended his hand out. "Hello, my name is Sebastian Flinn. And you are?"

Leo shook the hand. "Leonardo Hamato."

"That's an interesting name," Sebastian commented, gliding onto the bench. He bent over and set the flyers down on the ground.

Leo joined him, returning to the corner he had once been guilt-tripping in and shrugged. "My father is a weird dude."

"I would certainly like to meet this yōkai, after all he created this," Seb motioned to Leo and all his pizzaz. "The Rabbits are dominated by mammals, so it would be nice to meet a fellow reptile for once," Sebastian commented. 

"Sorry, amigo, my pop's a rat. You got the handsome and powerful Leo though," Leo gave the dragon one of his signature charming smirks, jerking a thumb his way. “Also, me and pops are mutants not yōkai.”

Sebastian raised his eyebrows. "Somehow you have surprised more in the past five minutes than I will ever need in a lifetime," he stated. “Well, we should be getting to business. It's getting dark out and I'm sure your farther wants you home." 

Leo wanted to say that pops wouldn't care all that much, that it was Raph who's, well, wrath he feared. If Leo was a second late over his ten o'clock curfew, it would only end in another argument.

"Let's hear about it then, Seb," Leo said, already nicknaming the dragon. He casually wrapped a hand around the bench. 

Sebastian nodded. "Well, first I want you to tell me when the last time you watched the news was."

Sebastian explained his cause in a soothing tone. Basically, Sebastian stated that the poverty epidemic in the Hidden City was higher than it ever had been. One in every eighty people lived in in-yōkai-ish conditions because of bankruptcy, debt, or lack of/poor income. 

Sebastian explained that the reason for such was simple and easy to see. The rich and city leaders were robbing the lesser of their hard earned money through outrages taxes. 

Leo was surprised to learn that Sebastian was actually the leader of the Rabbits. Seb had gone into crippling debt after college and ended up living in a ramshackle apartment with nothing but pork flavored ramen and dollar store Pringles to survive off of. He had gone to college to become an doctor, but decided to leave the profession and begin an organization that would help end the city's poverty epidemic. He bestowed the group the name of the Rabbits since white rabbits brought luck and begun recruiting right out of his own home.

Seb and the Rabbit's purpose is to end the social hierarchy and provide everybody equal opportunities through reform. He hoped to gain enough followers to legally overthrow corrupt leaders and replace those in power with Rabbits.

Leo still wasn't convinced, but kept his tongue.

Revolution was a little extreme for high taxes. The United States didn't just revolt because of taxes- there were other factors. And he always heard April complain about high taxes but she never went to revolution status.

Seb himself was the only reason he listened, really, definitely not his cause. He was a little crazy, but Leo was okay with crazy. Leo really liked Seb and just like how he would listen to one of his brother's rants, he kept on open ear. Plus, he was fascinated by the way the yōkai reality wove his words and the hand motions he put with them.

Then, somehow it was Leo's turn. Seb's spiel was to the point where it got to statistics and such, which he had a feeling Leo would never focus though, so he wanted Leo to take the mike. Seb was interested in what Leo's life was like. 

So, Leo talked. 

Talked about his brothers (which Seb rose an eyebrow at when Leo said he had three), about how his favorite video game was Assassin's Creed and how he and his brothers loved pizza, his favorite being Hawaiian. How he got mutated, all about his dad and how he was Lou Jitsu, April going to college, Casey working through her anger issues to join the family. Draxum technically being his step-dad, Leo being the new leader, the epic fight with Shredder, him practicing the guitar. Then something magical happened during his rant when he began to talk about Raph and his argument. 

Sebastian actually sympathized with the slider. He was soft faced and spoke comforting words. It lifted the ten pound brick off his shoulders just to know that this adult actually cared about him.

It made Leo feel closer to Seb somehow. 

After all that, Sebastian (who had to force the shock of how complicated this kid's life was off) offered to help Leo find a portal to the upper world. Leo could teleport whenever he wanted to, but he decided to be nice to his new friend. The dragon brought the slider to a portal hidden behind a trash can. 

"I like you, Leonardo."

"Thanks, I like me too," Leo said with cheek. 

"No, really," Sebastian assured. "I know you don't care about my cause, because your young and all, but I would love for you to come to my elite meeting tomorrow."

Leo cringed at the "cause your a kid part." Leo hated it when people treated him like a four year-old. He was some-what smarter than that. Occasionally.

"You’re a good kid and I think you would help loosen up all the old yōkai attending. All we’re there doing is keeping my investors in the loop-so you'll get a good deal more of information on what the Rabbits do. And you don't have to do much, just smile. Things can get a little rough, so we need something to help liven things.”

Investors? Maybe Seb's rabbits movement was a little larger than a hundred people. Leo thought about coming. It was tempting...but only because he knew if disappeared for a few hours it'd silently piss Raph off. 

Seb decided to sweeten the pot. "There's refreshments?" 

Oh hell yes. "I'm in," Leo threw finger guns at the Komodo. "But just so you know I'll probably loose my mind with boredom and eat all of your cookies."

Sebastian laughed. Much like Leo's smirk, his hearty, deep-throated laugh was his thing, his signature of sorts. "Very well. Tomorrow at noon at Run of the Mill. Do you know where that is?"

Leo scoffed. "Know where Run of the Mill is?Hueso and me are best friends!"

"Well, see you then, Leonardo."

Leo stuck a leg into the portal, saluting his new friends, launching himself in, and shouted: 

"Adiós, señor!"

☻︎

Sebastian leaned on the alley wall, a foot pressed into the brick. He had a phone to his ear and a frustrated expression. 

"Shut it, Tony. Trust me, it was the right call. I talked to this kid and it appears he has the right kind of home life for this to work. He was raised in poverty and currently tensions are high with his family members."

“You know how I get feelings. I got a good feeling about this one."

"The kid already knows how to fight. Apparently he and his brothers defeated that cursed armor that rampaged through New York."

"Yes, yes, I know that last one was a failure. I already have a foolproof plan. Just trust me."

"Tony, c'mon. This kid is the leader. He will be the one to lead us to our revolution."

"Thank you, Tony. You won’t regret this."

Chapter Text

Leo had been expecting some sort of apology the moment he got home. Raph was a master of pent-up anxiety and Leo was so sure that Raph would be waiting by the door, Mikey in tow, ready to squeeze and smother Leo in his arms and apologize profusely. 

Raph was nowhere to be seen.

The sleeping liar was haunting-pitch black and fuzzy. 

It threatened to swallow him whole.

Leo shrugged off the sudden feeling of sadness stabbing his chest and went to Donnie's room to check-up on him. He was still out cold from the painkillers he had given himself, stuffed in between the moth-eaten blankets Mikey had brought up, his casted ankle nestled on pillows. 

His soft breathing was deep and peaceful. It made Leo remember simpler times, when he and his brothers would pile on top of each other to sleep. Raph was their blanket of security.

Leo had an urge to lay at Donnie bedside and take in his warmth. Wrap his arms around his twin and allow himself just once to let those heavy walls down. He wouldn’t do such a thing. The days of cuddling were long gone.

Instead, Leo stood in the doorway.

What would he say when Donnie woke. Donnie was angry with Leo for being reckless, so would he take the soft-shell’s wrath or would he ran away? Would he give a witty remark? A pun? An apology for putting him in danger? 

Leo didn't really know what to do. 

So, he ambled into his bedroom and sat on the edge of his bed, face in his hands, waiting. Maybe he was hoping Raph would burst in and apologize right there and then, so Leo could apologize right back. Maybe he just needed to process what all had happened. Maybe it was Leo's insomnia.

Leo slipped his mask off and slept on his sheets. 

☻︎

"Donuts!"

April's voice echoed throughout the halls of the lair. She had only been in the home a few times after the reconstruction, she always busy with college now. But each time she walked in marveled at how well Dee had designed it. 

The main hall was a square shape with two floors. The first floor had Draxum and Splinter's room-plus a few spares rooms- and the skateboard ramp. The second floor was in a circular shape, with balconies shading a few feet of the open first floor. The second floor had the turtle's rooms, the arcade, and Donnie's lab.

They had to go with a concrete vibe for everything, since it was cheap, but Mikey had painted basically every square inch. Leo joined in to, who surprisingly had some artist ability. And damn they had done a good job.The designs crawling on the walls were fantasy scenes pulled from Mikey's imagination, blue trees and electric lions and horned frogs and bears with fire abilities. The ceilings was perhaps his best work, however. A  Renaissance pastel fresco stretching from end to end of the Hamoto clan locked in battle with Shredder. It was breathtaking, but also chilling. A reminder of what they went through.

"In here."

April snapped her eyes away from the hall and glided to the kitchen, a pocket in the wall of the lair. Leo sat at the island, his face propped up by a hand, and a cup of tea in front of him. 

April joined him on the island and threw the pink donut box on the table, ripping the tape open with her thumb. She was stuck between the glazed donuts and the maple Long Johns, and went with the Long John. Raph usually wanted the glazed ones all to himself.

April glanced at Leo. His eyes were stiff and hallow. She wasn't used to seeing Leo with such eyes. "What's up?” she asked, through a mouthful of dough and icing.

Leo sighed and leaned over to the donut box, hovering while he looked for his favorite, smiling grimly when he found it. Raspberry filled. 

He gnawed a bite off and chewed. "Fight with Raph."

April nodded, swallowing. "That would do one in."

Splinter had put a new stress on the family by making Leo the leader. They had the lair's reconstruction to keep them busy and distracted, so there wouldn’t be to many fights. Yet now that the lair was done, everybody's feelings and grudges would be coming to the surface. It was bound to happen soon.

April just hadn’t expected it to be this soon. It had literally been a week. 

"You guys haven't made up?" April asked. The usually did. It was they operated. 

Leo shook his head slowly. "No."

"And do you plan to?"

Leo took another bite of his donut, red jelly now on the corners of his mouth. Last night, after he woke up in the middle of it for no reason and his body refused to let him go back to sleep, Leo came to a decision. If didn't Raph didn't want to apologize, Leo wouldn't either.

"No. Not until he apologizes, too." 

April internally groaned. These boys.

She frustratingly took a chomp at her own donut. Leo and Raph would be at a stand still for the rest of their lives with that logic. "Well, somebody has to make the first move. Why can't that be you?" April pushed.

"Because Raph started it!," Leo suddenly sprang up from his chair, slamming the table with his palms. "We only got into an argument because he provoked me! Idiota! The only person I'm going apologize here is Donnie!"

"Did you get into a fight with Donnie, too?" 

"What? No,” Leo cocked his head.

"Then why do you need to apologize to Donnie?"

"He broke his ankle on patrol and technically speaking it was kind of my fault," Leo deadpanned. "You didn't know that?"

April leaned back in her chair, flinging herself forward and launching up. "Oh my God, why don't you guys ever tell me anything!" April snatched the donut box, before Leo's greedy fingers could take another, and lunged away. He heard her rocket up the stairs and fling open Donnie's door. His excited chatter at the prospect of donuts echoed through the lair.

Leo sat back in his chair and watched his green tea swirl as a subway train went over head, arms crossed. It was a weak attempt, but it made him feel somewhat guarded. After all, a familiar sadness was engulfed him all over again. 

There was to much apologizing needed to be done. Leo had yet to apologize to Donnie, had yet to apologize to Raph. Things were a mess and he hated it. It made him feel out of control.

The tea water began to vibrate. Seven Nation Army blasted throughout the kitchen. 

Leo picked up his cracked phone. It was still in the same navy blue phone case he has since he was ten, a flaming sword slicing through the middle. Mikey had painted the sword on not soon after. 

It was an unknown number. 734-5556.

Leo ended the call with his thumb lazily. It was probably spam and he didn't feel like listening to their monotonous squabble. Leo set the phone back down.

It rung again, another bout of Seven Nation Army. Same number. 

Suddenly anger swelled in him. Leo's eye twitched "Your interrupting my pity session, asshole," he scolded, jabbing a finger at the phone. 

He answered furiously, sticking the speaker to his mouth to blast the receiver’s ear drums. "I swear to sweet Jesus if you call this number again I'll twist you into a pretzel and bake in my easy bake oven!"

"Pardon? Leonardo?"

Oh. Oh! "Seb?!"

"The one and only," Seb replied. 

"God, Seb," Leo relaxed, his shoulders slumping. "You shoulda told me it was you before I threatened to bake you."

Seb laughed. "All right, kid."

Leo smiled. It felt good to hear his new friend's voice.Then the initial pleasure wore off. "Uh, how did you get my phone number?"

"You gave it me...remember?"

Leo frowned, his brow creasing. His memory defiantly wasn't Donnie's, but he was sure he would remember giving his number out. "I don't think I did."

"Well, no matter, I just wanted to call and see if your still coming to the meeting," Seb asked. 

Leo was mildly shocked by the way the Komodo completely slide from one question to the next. He avoided the question with such ease and made the fact that Seb had Leo's phone number, something Leo hadn't told him at all, irrelevant. 

Leo licked his lips. The dragon was a leader of an apparently growing organization. He must've had had one of "friends" pull some strings to get the number. Seb honestly just wanted to make a home call to Leonardo. 

"I am. Coming to the meeting or whatever," Leo eased, taking a sip of tea and gaging. He must've took out the bag to early because it was a little to bitter. 

"It's at noon, do you remember?"

"Yup. Noon at Run of the Mill. How could I forgot?"

"It's 11:40, Leo."

Leo slumped in his chair and slapped a hand on his face . "Damn. Okay, uh, I'll be there. K, bye! Hugs and kisses and punches to the face!"

Leo hung up quickly and slide the phone into his belt. He had have to teleport there for the best results. He didn’t want to be late for Seb.

Leo ran up the stairs and flew into his room, picking up his blue-clad katana from their resting spot at the edge of his bed. They were a little dinged up from patrol a few nights earlier, so he made a mental note to run them through Donnie's sharper. Leo began to unsheathe one, but then overheard a snippet of a conversation next door. 

He turned his head, eyes wide.

"I'm sure Leo was just hoping to have some fun with you, just like old times."

"Yeah, well, even in the old days he was careless. I'm handicapped for six weeks and he's still going to be walking around like the mini Jesus he thinks he is!"

"Dee, I'm sure Leo doesn't think he's a "mini Jesus".

"Have you met him, April?"

There was an intake of breathe. "He is a little convoluted, but that's just Leo! Leo wouldn't be Leo without his huge ego and whopping arrogance."

"For scorn. It might've been cute when he was just a kid, but now he's a leader with responsibilities and good leaders don't strut or brag. Anyways, I'm sick of it. Leo needs to grow up."

"Just promise me you want fight with him? It sounds like he already got a good scolding from Raph."

Silence.

☻︎

Leo clawed at his face, three longs red marks dragging down his cheek. Maybe if he stayed in the corner long enough he could drown out his throughly and emotions. 

☻︎

The meeting took place in a back room of Run of the Mill, completely cut off from the rest of restaurant. Leo to ask a few waiters to get there, since Hueso was nowhere to be seen, and immediately regretted it. 

It kept on giving him Shinning flashbacks. 

Leo had never seen the section of the restaurant, an endless hallway of double doors labeled with numbers. The carpet was splotchy and murky, the creek colored walls dotted with pictures of Spanish Civil War war heroes. The lights flickered occasionally, for effect. 

Leo spotted his Komodo friend at the end of the hallway. As he progressed he was smacked in the face with the smell of bitter cigarette smoke. It more of a nostalgic smell then anything to the slider. Splinter used to smoke at least two packs a day until the moment he realized it was in some ways irresponsible to smoke and raise four sons. 

Yet sometimes, when Splinter had fallen face first into yet another muddy depression, he'd shave himself pink and buy a pack of Camels-choosing a single cigarette and throwing away the rest.

Then he'd smoke it alone in his room. The smells of ash and chemicals and nicotine stuck to him honey.

It was sign of bad luck to Leo. 

Seb was loitering outside meeting room four, near the end of the skinny hall. The dragon sat in a fold-out chair, his legs folded and an elbow resting on his knee. It was to keep his lit cigarette at just the right angle that it didn't burn his face off. 

Leo snuck-up to his friend, light footed. 

"I didn't know you smoked cancer sticks," Leo jeered, leaning on the chair. It actually made him curious. Leo didn't smell it on him all. 

Speaking of smells, Seb didn't smell like cookies anymore. It more of a musky cologne now. Leo missed the cookie smell. 

Seb looked up surprised. Where had he come from? Then he remembered this kid was suppose to be a ninja. Of course he could appear out of nowhere.

"My worst quality," Seb sighed, shaking his shock off. He took one final puff and flicked it the ground, crushing it with his wingtip. "We're waiting for you. You actually came quicker than I thought. Youth tend to be late."

Ignoring the rude comment, Leo eyed the crushed cigarette. "Shouldn't we thro-."

Leo was cut off when Seb took his shoulder and dramatically flung open the heavy double doors. They crashed into the wall with a painful thwack. Leo flinched.

The room was spacious and windowless. The walls were in a red cherry color, with white trim all around the room. Around a mahogany round table, sat thirteen diverse and pompous seeming yōkai. They were old and crusty, in glossy Italian suits, unhappy frowns plastered on their faces's.

"I call them the Scrooge's," Seb whispered. "But we have to play nice. These yōkai are the Rabbits only source of income after all."

Leo scanned the room again. They did look rich, even smelled it to Leo. Like fresh ink and buttery soap.

Seb clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Hello! Welcome all of you prestigious guests to another meeting."

The greeting wasn't reserved to well.

"Who's the kid?" One grumbled. He was a heavy looking bear, covered in brown fur and waves of skin and fat. There was chorus of agreement from the few others. 

"Why is here?"

"Are you bringing a spy to us?"

"A snitch!"

"This is my friend, Mr. Hashimoto. I'm here to give him the experience. My friend is considering joining," Seb still had his hand on Leo's shoulder. He squeezed it, maybe a little tighter than Leo would've liked. "Introduce yourself, my friend."

Leo suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He didn't know he had to actually talk to these Wall Street douchebags, Seb said he didn't have to. He was just there for their enjoyment.

And what was that about joining? Leo never once said he wanted to join, and yet Seb kept on insinuating he did. Leo liked Seb a lot, but he seriously needed to lay off. 

Seb gestured for Leo to speak. 

"L-," Leo started. It was too quite, too meager. He needed to be more blunt.  

"Leonardo Hamachi," Leo conveyed. He changed his last name a tad, to make sure these dudes and dudettes couldn't track him down. He straightened his back and bowed to them, raising slowly and flashing his signature smirk. "Wonderful to meet you all."

"Leonardo is safe, my friends," Seb assured. 

The group of rich and powerful yōkai grumbled. They clearly didn't want Leo there, but they would put up with it. Seb finally seemed satisfied with the introduction and slide into his seat at the table. The dragon patted the chair next to him, motioning for the turtle to join.

Keeping up with the bravado, Leo took it gratefully and sat with his legs crossed-similar to Seb. 

The bravado didn't last long, however. He tried to listen in to their conversations, but they were just so boring. Leo felt like he was listening to Donnie drone on about some new invention he had planned. His head felt like mush and his eyelids dropped.

The slider was forced to occupy himself by going to the refreshment table (which Leo was pleased to find Seb had kept his promise on) and filling up a plastic cup with Heuso's freshly squeezed lemonade and snatching a cookie. 

He'd return to his semi-lumpy chair and sip at the liquid.

Munch on the soft cookie.

Refill.

Sip at it.

Munch on a cookie. 

Refill.

Sip on the drink.

Cookie.

Refill.

Sip.

Cookie.

Refill. 

Repeat. Until...

"Seb," Leo leaned over and whispered to his dragon friend. The Scrooge’s were discussing among themselves about new recruitment tactics or whatever. Seb was listening intently, throwing in his own ideas.

"Yes?" Seb whispered in the same tone. 

"I gotta take a wiz, hermano"

Seb let out a short laugh. "I'm not your father, Leo."

"I know, I just-."

"Just go before you make a spectacle of yourself."

Leo nodded gratefully and slipped out of the room. He walked down the hallway, noticing that the cigarette smell had cleared. It had returned to the same pepper and lime and crushed corn scent that Heuso's restaurant. 

Speaking of cigarettes...

Leo turned to the chair where Seb had smoked and picked up the smushed stick, brushing the ash away.

Clack.

Leo’s ears twitched at the familiar sound of bones jarring and mashing together. Before him, Hueso carried a large half-eaten Creepy Special pizza in his hands, exiting one of the meeting rooms some ways down with his usual bored look of discontent.

So, that’s where Hueso was hiding.

"Boneman!" Leo waved eagerly.

Heuso turned to look at the figure vaguely. Oh it was just Leonardo.

Wait.

Why was the turtle anywhere near room four?

"Pepino?” he crowed. Hueso looked from side to side skittishly and hastily swept over to Leo. "What are you doing here? A-are you with the Rabbits?!" Heuso urged. 

"Ah-ha-ho-ho, looks like somebody's jealous," Leo grinned, hands on his hips. He opened his lips to go into a intricate speech of how great and handsome he was and how it was okay for Heuso to be jealous. He was even going to speak completely and utterly in Spanish for effect (the two had an unspoken agreement to use sprinkles of Spanish when they could to keep up on the language), but Heuso ruined it for him.

"No! No estoy celoso!," Hueso hissed. He grabbed Leo's left wrist and dragged him further down the hall, until they well out of earshot of the last meeting room. "I am not jealous. Do you know who you are dealing with!"

Leo gave his skeleton friend a confused look. Hueso was acting Raph level panicky and was fidgety with his hands. The skeleton kept on looking back at the room, shifting from foot to foot. Even during the whole portal jacking incident, where Hueso was literally being tracked down by the Hidden City fuzz, he was more composed than this.

"Is it the gente rica?" Leo could understand if the powerful yōkai only two fours down that had once put him on the Most Wanted freaked him out a bit. 

"It's the dragon."

Leo flayed backwards in shock, nearly slamming into the door behind him "Seb? You gotta be kidding me!"

"I'm sorry. Did you just call the leader of the powerful Rabbit rebellion Seb? Sebastian Flinn, Seb?"

Leo scoffed "Yes? He's my friend, he invited me to his meeting."

It was Hueso’s turn to sputter. The skeleton restaurant owner let out a small gasp, his lower jaw bone nearly falling off in shock. "He-he invited you!” he snapped, his voice carrying down the halls. 

Leo clamped his hands over his ears. "No need to shout, dude."

"Do you know how dangerous that yōkai is? He-.”

Hueso's outburst why cut short by Seb himself. The dragon stood behind the skeleton man, with cup of lemonade in one hand and a cookie in the other. 

"I would love for you to go into detail about how 'dangerous' I am, Heuso," Seb smiled. 

"O-oh señor Flinn what a surprise!" Heuso chuckled. 

It wasn't to hard for Leo to notice the tension between the two yōkai. Growing up with three  brothers, he had sixth sense for this kinda stuff. He coughed, interrupting their glaring match, and slide over to Seb. 

"Is the meeting done?"

"Oh no, but I got bored without your constant refreshment refills," Seb admitted with a shrug. "How about we ditch this popsicle stand and go down the Hidden City for ice cream? I know a place that makes the world's best."

Leo felt the child in him ignite. A goofy grin spread across his face. "Yes! Ice cream!"

"You should use the bathroom before we go, might be a long ride," Seb said. Leo saluted the dragon and ran off, already bursting into a song about ice cream. 

Sen flashed the slider a grin as Leo fist-bumped the air and disappeared into the main part of the restaurant.

Now. 

To business. 

Seb didn't even want to look at the lowly skeleton. He was disgusted by his shaking bones. Seb lifted an arm and rested it one Heuso’s boney shoulder.

"What were you going to say to him."

No words, not even a breathing sound. 

Seb's lip curled. It irked him when yōkai didn't respond to his questions immediately.

"Tell me."

"T-the truth," Hueso gulped and found a lick of courage in his hallow body. "I do not know what game you are playing at, but you better leave Pepino alone."

Seb rolled his eyes. "Or what?"

"Or what?" Heuso repeated, making it even more a question than before.

Seb pushed more of his weight onto Hueso’s  shoulder. "What are going to do if I don't leave 'Pepino' alone, skeleton man? Punch me? Kick me in the balls?"

Hueso looked up and bore holes into the dragon's face. "Me and his family will track you down and make you learn your lesson.”

White hot fury flashed in Seb. He usually had a pretty damn good hold on his anger, but the sight of cowards like Hueso made his teeth grit. The dragon balled his fists together and unleashed the anger full-force, socking the yōkai in the gut. The skeleton crumpled to the ground and groaned, tears spilling to his eyes.

Seb sneered, his split tongue slipping out and curling. "You will never do such a thing. I own this restaurant so therefore I own you. If you tell the boy of my reputation, if you tell his 'family', if you even mention me causally in conversation, I will take away your restaurant and then send my dogs to kill your family. That disgusting lump of rotting flesh you call a brother? Dead in hours. I'll even kill the boy's family while I'm at it."

Hueso cradled his wounded ribs, chunks of bone falling into his hands. He kept his jaw locked tight, to keep him from making any noise. He might've been just bone, but unfortunately he still felt pain in one way or another. 

Seb bent down and took Hueso by his maroon red tie. He pressed their faces close, so that Hueso could smell the cigarette on his breathe and study his sedated teeth and stare into his nauseating eyes.

"Do you understand me?"

Hueso swallowed thickly. "Y-yes."

Seb dropped him, leaving Huseo to lick his wounds. "Remember that I'm always watching, señor." 

Hueso heard the dragon's shoes slap away.

Hueso was grateful the hallway was empty. His own cowardice and betrayal made him want to throw up until his own stomach acid burned his mouth. Hueso somehow found a grip, scooting himself to a wall and leaning against it. The popcorn texture of it jabbed his back. 

"Please be safe," he whispered. "Pepino."