Chapter Text
It had been about two weeks since the turtles had sunk the technodrome. Leo’s brothers had finally started letting him out of their sight, although Raphael still checked in on Leo at random times, when he thought the older turtle was asleep.
They had done it and the Kraang wouldn’t be back for a while, but the attack had left its mark. Which leads to right now, with Leo getting woken up by his door opening around midnight.
The sound of his door scraping as it opened woke Leo up right away. It was dark. He tensed, grasping the shuriken he kept under his pillow. Raph might make fun of his paranoia, but it paid off sometimes.
Back to the door, Leonardo could see his youngest brother duck his head through the door holding his arms close to his chest. He let go of the shuriken.
“ Leo? Are you awake? ” Mikey whispered.
He sat up, turning the lamp on his bedside table on. His brother flinched slightly when the light hit him. Leo was quick to dim the light.
Looking closer, he could see the dried tear tracks on the orange turtle's face. His eyes were red-rimmed and his face was scrunched up, like he was trying not to cry again. Leo’s heart broke a little.
Leo sat up straighter. “Mikey? What’s wrong?” he asked, motioning the younger to come towards him.
Mikey hesitated, before ducking his head and moving closer to Leo’s bed.
“I had a nightmare..” he admitted softly, scuffing the floor with his foot.
Leo’s expression softened and he pulled back the covers, scooting over to make room for Mikey. He patted the bed next to him and Mikey immediately laid down, moving next to Leo.
Leo wrapped his arms around his little brother, pulling him closer. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly.
Mikey shook his head, burying his face in the crook of Leo’s neck. Leo could feel the tears on his skin as Mikey started sobbing quietly. He just hugged his brother tighter, rubbing circles on his shell as the tears flowed from his eyes.
Leo kept holding him as Mikey hiccuped.
“You d-didn’t come back.” the younger rasped, clutching onto Leo. He sobbed. “We waited and” you didn’t,” another sob, “you never came out of the water.” Mikey was clinging to his older brother like a lifeline.
Leonardo felt like all of the breath had been knocked out of him. This was his fault. He made Mikey think..
He nuzzled the top of his little brother’s head. “I’m here. I’m right here. I promise.” he whispered.
The blue turtle held Mikey closer, rubbing circles on his shell again as the younger started crying again, reburying his face into Leo’s neck.
After a while, Mikey slowly started calming down and his breath evened out. Leo realized he had fallen asleep. Carefully, as not to wake the other turtle, Leo slowly reached over Mikey and turned the lamp off all the way, casting them into darkness. He pulled the blanket over them fully and laid down to go to sleep.
As he drifted off, he felt Mikey snuggle closer in his sleep. He smiled and hugged his little brother, letting sleep take over.
- - - - -
The next morning, when Mikey woke up, Leo was still asleep. The older turtle had his arms around Mikey and he was snoring softly.
The memories of the night before rushed back and Mikey blushed, squeaking softly. Leo pulled him closer, mumbling in his sleep.
Embarrassed, but not wanting to wake up the older turtle, Mikey closed his eyes and fell back asleep.
That was how Raphael found them later when he was checking why Leo wasn’t up yet.