Work Text:
"And... where have you been?"
Leo stopped dead in his tracks, clutching his blood covered arm tightly and tilting his body to the side, hiding it from view. He froze in front of Mikey, who was standing at the entrance of the lair with his arms crossed and his head held high, his posture making him appear stern and straight-forward. His expression however—depsite seeming angry—was full of concern.
"Yo..." Leo trialed off, laughing dryly and giving his brother a sheepish grin. He tried his best to seem a-okay and not like there was a huge gash in his already broken arm, and definitely not like he had a sprained wrist along with that, yet the quick and ragged breaths that escaped him probably weren't helping his case.
Staying frozen in place and rummaging through his head for an excuse, Leo stammered over his words and tried to hold off answering for as long as he could.
Why was he not in the lair despite it being three in the morning? Where had he been during the few hours he was gone?
That was... an excellent question.
Really, all he had to do was to play it cool. It was dark, it was late, he was tired, Mikey was tired, they were both exhausted no doubt, and Mikey couldn't see his injuries. All he had to do was act natural.
"So funny story..." Leo began hesitantly, "I... chased a rat around the city. It uh... it stole my phone. Yeah."
He cringed. That sure was a good excuse.
His younger brother blinked roughly at him. "Leo. It's three in the morning and Raph freaked the heck out when he realized you were gone. Do you know how long it took to get him calm enough to go back to sleep? All of that work, just for you to tell me that a rat took your pho—"
And then Mikey stopped.
Before Leo could make any excuse to go to his room, Mikey really, really looked him up and down. Leo could see him eye the arm he was poorly hiding, and the slider cringed at the way Mikey's eyes widened with disbelief.
Yeah, Leo probably didn't look so hot. His entire arm along with his hands were coated with blood. Said arm was limp and sagging like it wasn't able to move. Forming bruises definitely littered his face.
For a few moments, Mikey simply stared at him. Leo stared back blankly. This went on for a few seconds before the slider turned away shamefully, that nervous grin still stretched over his face. He didn't want to see how Mikey's shocked expression fell into a glare.
"Medbay. You. Right now." His younger brother hissed with a twitch of an eye, pointing to the direction of the room sternly. Leo held his head down in defeat with a long sigh. "Mikes, I'm fine, this is nothin—"
His little brother cut him off sharply. "Did I stutter? Now." He repeated, his glare practically a dagger through Leo's gut and his eyes wide like he was daring him to test his patience.
Without a word, the slider obligated shamefully, shuffling into the lair and towards the medbay. The silence between them was suffocating, and Leo could feel his brother's anger nearly boring through the back of his skull.
Now, you're probably wondering why Leo was covered in blood and actively limping towards the medbay. Well it all started out like this.
Leo snuck out of the sewers—again, because he was a moron—without permission. Same old same old. He usually did this whenever night rolled around; being a turtle who could never sleep was a chore and all he wanted to do was jump across rooftops and get some air.
Katanas swinging loosely in his hands, Leo jumped over alleyways and swung across light poles. He liked to get out of the sewers once in a while, without Raph nagging him about being careful, without Donnie and his science monologues nobody asked for, and without Mikey's insane razzmatazz. (as in yelling the entire time)
No brothers, nobody annoying him. He liked exploring alone when everyone else was asleep, when there were no missions, and when he could mess around on his own.
Leo loved his brothers, but they could be a pain. Having a family meant that you couldn't do anything. You didn't get to go on solo missions without Raph's worrying and all of his nonsense, you weren't allowed to be out at night without permission, you weren't allowed to do drugs, you were only allowed outside for a limited amount of time, you had to tell someone if you were leaving, and Donnie had multiple trackers on all of them.
So many rules. Such little will to follow them.
Leo basically had no freedom. He was fully capable of fending for himself outside of the sewers, without his brothers rambling about it being unsafe. His family didn't need to direct and know everything about his life all the time.
Besides, he wasn't even sneaking out, he was just... leaving the sewers without telling anyone. There was a difference. Totally.
Leo was the adventurous type, the wanderer, the explorer. He liked to run and jump and stretch his legs and swing his arms in the air. He loved the adrenaline rushes he got when he 'snuck out.' He lived for action and freedom.
Mikey was like that too, but the difference between them was that Leo was more rebellious; his style was about breaking the rules. Mikey was a goody-two shoes. Mikey wouldn't sneak out. He was too young and naive to wrap his head around the concept.
Leo snickered to himself at the thought. Mikey would so snitch to Raph if he found out that he was leaving the sewers unsupervised. They weren't supposed to be doing that, but honestly, what was the problem? It wasn't like he was going to get himself killed out here. All he was doing was running around New York in the middle of the night. No biggie.
It wasn't like he'd get kidnapped or murdered—he was a mutant turtle ninja, how could that possibly happen? And it wasn't like he was throwing himself into trouble and mischief out here.
So that was a lie. There may have been a few times where he ran into trouble. Maybe a few times did he jump into trouble. Usually it ended well. Sometimes... not as much, but he managed to keep a few injuries hidden and made a few excuses to keep his brothers off his tail. They didn't need to know that he was going out in the middle of the night. He didn't want that taken away from him.
It was fine. Whenever Leo ran into trouble, he dealt with it. He could handle himself alone, he was fine. It wasn't like he went out of his way to search for bad guys, so what harm could it do?
Leo was running across the buildings as he sang and monologued at the top of his lungs. And then suddenly, he stopped as something caught his eye.
The slider turned to the street and crouched over the ledge of the roof. Looking down at the street, and scanning the area, he made out two shadowed figures in the dark, maneuvering out of a truck and carrying a box.
Leo raised an eyebrow at the figures. They were large, larger than the average human. Maybe they were yokai. Yokai with a box.
Wait, yokai with a box? On the New York streets? In the dead of night?
That was... really suspicious.
A smile stretched across his face, and Leo's eyes lit up as he turned to the katanas in his hands, twisting them around his fingers in excitement.
Action? Action. He'd been waiting for that all week.
"Gee, bad guys in the middle of the night? That's terrible!" The slider snickered to himself with a cheeky grin of mischief across his face. A potential fight where he could kick some yokai butt and get some adrenaline pumping his veins? That sounded nothing if not totally awesome. Plus, he was always up for a challenge. Throwing himself into yokai business was exactly what he was looking for.
Before a voice in the back of his head (presumably Donnie's voice) told him to continue on with his night and to not be an idiot, Leo slid down a light pole and followed the two figures around the alley. The shadows turned the corner and he tailed them from a far, laughing quietly to himself all the while.
The voice in the back of his head was practically screaming at him to not do anything extremely stupid. To turn back, go home, and to definitely not follow these creeps. But for some odd reason, (there wasn't a reason, Leo just liked throwing himself into mischief) Leo wasn't listening to the voice. If anything, he was telling it to shut up.
It would be a great experience. If anything, it would add onto his already insane lore. You only live once. Might as well take the risk and live it up once in a while.
This was a chance to stretch his legs, bust a few heads, and stop a few bad guys. It was simple, really. A one man mission. I mean, there were two guys. Two yokai sparring him? Piece of cake. If they were up to no good, then it was a win-lose situation. Leo was confident that he was in the winning side.
The slider slid down the alleyway and around a few streets like the fucking boogie man in the shadows. Eventually, he watched the figures carry the box into an abandoned warehouse, next to the shady street around a local Costco. The two figures opened the garage of the building and slammed the door shut.
Leo crept up to the warehouse and eagerly peered through a smashed window. It was dark inside, and he couldn't make out much from there.
Before he could rethink his decision, the slider slipped through the window and stuck to the shadows in the room. Looking around a bit, he came to the conclusion that the place just looked like... any old warehouse. Dark, abandoned, and kind of gross.
The better question though—why were there yokai here? What were they planning on doing in a shady ass warehouse?
Leo then turned to the middle of the garage and he squinted. Instead of two figures—as he saw earlier—there was an entire group, huddled around a table and supposedly surrounding the box. He counted the figures. One, two, four, six, about eight guys were huddled around this mystery box. They were all infact yokai.
Leo watched as they all whispered amongst themselves. He took a step forward to take a closer look at this box they were all huddled around. He tried tuning into their conversation before coming to the conclusion that he couldn't hear jack from where he stood.
Before he could step closer however, he froze as an alligator yokai lifted the top of the box and pulled something out.
Green illuminated throughout the room. Leo's eyes widened as the color glittered in his vision.
Mutagen. The box held a few vials of mutagen.
Holy shit, did these fools steal from Draxum? No way.
Leo grimaced and blinked roughly at the bottles of ooze. He counted. One, two, three vials of mutagen.
Okay... where and how did they get their hands on that stuff? What were these chumps planning on doing with it anyways? Suspicious.
Leo crept forward and through the shadows. He slipped behind a large pole in the room and leaned toward the group that surrounded the box. Finally, he was able to pick up a bit of their conversation.
"—but there's three! We have three bottles of this stuff! How do you expect us to make mutants with this?"
"—we only need a few. They get us in, and we leave 'em behind. They're the bait. Simple."
"—I doubt this will even work. Is this enough to mutate more than five people? I don't think so—"
"—Yeah, we need a lot—"
"—it'll work! Why did we steal these if we're back tracking now?"
"—So what, we build a gang of mutants and do crime? That's dumb—"
"—Nobody asked for your opinion. Shut up."
Leo grinned to himself, twisting his katanas in his hands eagerly. All he registered from this conversation was the fact that these chumps were trying to make mutants. Anything else? He had no clue. He'd save the rest for a real mission.
The slider stepped away from the pole and into the light. "Eight guys? Piece of cake." He whispered to himself confidently, like that would improve his chances of winning. He'd win, all right.
Though he didn't know what exactly this group of yokai planned on doing with mutagen and mutating people, he wouldn't wait to find out.
Before Leo could prepare himself to pounce, a moth yokai perked up and twitched. She glanced around before her eyes landed on Leo, who was crouched down halfway in the shadows with a sly smile across his face. The two made eye contact, and Leo's grin grew wider as her own eyes went big with shock.
"Showtime." He whispered to himself with a chuckle. As he did so, the moth jumped forward and shouted throughout the room, "Hey, we've got company!"
The group sprung up in unison, and suddenly, every pair of eyes in the room was on Leo. It made his heart thump in excitement. He always loved the spotlight, if he had to be honest.
He wasn't worried about the obvious disadvantage he was at. Come on, one against eight? If anything, that added to the challenge. He believed with full confidence that he would make it out of this alive. This was a win Leo would take home.
The adrenaline rush he was gonna get from this would be insane.
Multiple shouts and curses were thrown at him as multiple people charged forward. Laughing all the while, Leo launched himself at the group, katanas in hand as he pounced on a large bear yokai. The person practically screeched as Leo swung around his neck and perched himself on the bears wide shoulders.
"Hey guys~!" He beamed with a wave, grinning towards a bee yokai, who looked more than ready to stab a dagger through his eye. "How come I wasn't invited to the party? Kinda rude if you ask me."
Multiple people sprung towards him, and Leo slammed his hands into the bear's head, pushing the guy to the ground as he took a jump forward. He swam through the crowd easily, sending a few people tripping over one another with a few flicks of his swords. Some of the yokai crashed into one another, shouting and cursing all the while.
"Hey, what are we all doing here in the middle of the night?" Leo asked to nobody in particular, casually sword fighting an alligator yokai and knocking the opposing blade out of his hands. "It's so late. Seriously, nobody could pick a better time?"
He was talking to himself at that point. Multiple people were shouting at him, wishing death upon him, and ruthlessly swinging their weapons his way. He managed to dodge them all as he sang, "I don't know, you could've picked eight in the morning. Or ten, either one would've worked!"
The slider dodged a few punches sent his way and grabbed a thick wire that hung from the ceiling, taking a leap of faith and slamming himself into the alligator yokai. He managed to knock him off his feet and the person hit the floor hard, taking a cricket man out with him. Leo swung onto the table and reached for the box full of mutagen, completely abandoned by its captors. He dug through the cardboard crate as he dodged a long blade slamming next to him.
"Get the fucking turtle!" Multiple people shouted, and three tall yokai sprinted towards him with weapons in hand. Leo was not worried in the slightest.
He flicked his sword up as he held the box under one arm. His single sword cut down the few large blades that swung at him. He managed to knock away a few ninja stars and a few daggers that flew throughout the room.
Leo picked out the three bottles of mutagen and held them up, ditching the box and taunting the three yokai that swarmed around him.
"Now now, nice turtle!" A bee yokai beamed, sharpening his daggers together with a sick grin on his face. Leo's smug grin widened at that. These weirdos.
Another yokai nodded along with the bee, "Don't mess around with things you don't know anything about, kid."
Leo laughed at the three. "Oh, these?" He started, "I know nothing about these?"
He held the vials up and in between his fingers. The three yokai stared at him and raised their weapons. "How funny! It's almost like mutants are made by this stuff. And I know nothing about them? Come on, now you're just making assumptions!"
The slider's cheeky grin grew as he let the vials slip from his grasp. The bottles slammed into the ground as ooze exploded from them. Glass shattered over the floor as mutagen splattered across the concrete, leaving the three yokai shouting and cursing. Leo shrugged, whistling innocently. "Whoops, my hand slipped."
In a split second, multiple blades swung down on him. Angry shouting pierced through the air, but of course, Leo wasn't paying attention to that. He dodged every blade and swam through the crowd of yokai, tripping a few of them with his swords and blocking a few strong fists sent his way.
"Come on!" Leo yelled with a laugh, "We've got all night, who wants to go? I've got time! Give me a challenge!"
He snickered at the angry curses that pierced through the air. The alligator and a leopard yokai threw a few punches at him, and Leo dodged them with ease. A few more ninja stars flew through the air, supposedly at him, and they were dodged. He easily sword fought multiple people and knocked them into the ground. People were tripping over one another, cursing and shouting, it was music to Leo's ears.
The slider laughed. This was a breeze. These guys were wimpy and weak, really bad at doing this 'bad guy' thing. They were people who didn't know what they were doing, completely inexperienced and incapable of defeating him. Level three at best.
Leo laughed once more. This was so easy.
And that was when he took it back.
A sudden stabbing pain exploded in his arm. Leo let out a startled yelp as he staggered backward, his katanas clambering to the ground as he stumbled over his feet. For a moment, all he could hear was his heartbeat.
His eyes flicked to the source of the pain and he went pale. A large dagger ripped away from where it had embedded his arm. A gash was left in its wake. Leo could feel himself grow nauseous as blood immediately began to pour from the wound.
Well, shit. That wasn't good.
He turned to the holder of the dagger and gave them a challenging grin. It was the moth yokai who had noticed him first, and she held the sharp blade as her scowl darkened. Swiftly, she wiped the blood from her weapon and fully tackled Leo to the floor. He didn't have enough time to react, as his vision was hazy and doubling.
Ultimately, he slammed into the ground roughly as the moth pinned him by the neck, and she raised her blade once more, fully intending to send her dagger through one of his fucking eyes.
Before she stabbed him through his face instead of his arm like before, Leo managed to grab her wrists and throw her to the side. Immediately, he staggered to his feet and grinned sheepishly at the yokai who were surrounding him.
Shit, he never should have let his guard down. This was the price he usually payed for getting too cocky.
Immediately, multiple fists slammed into his face and hit into his shoulders. And then he was ultimately getting beaten up. The slider stumbled over his feet, trying to find his footing to recover from the shock of being literally stabbed not even minutes before. He didn't pay the punches he received any mind. He wobbled to the side as the smell of blood bombarded his senses.
Static filled his ears as blood pooled from his left arm. The metallic liquid spilled onto the floor as Leo managed to block a punch from the moth yokai and the swipe of a dagger from someone he couldn't name.
He wasn't able to turn around in time before someone slammed a heavy, large metal pipe into his left arm, making contact with the already large gash in his skin. The ear piercing crack that came after it was deafening. The slash in his arm combined with the pain from the blow sent him tumbling back and hitting the floor. Nausea grew over him as he let out a heavy breath.
Shit, this was not supposed to happen. He was supposed to be coming out unscathed. Winning this brawl between eight people? Yeah, fat chance. He always overestimated his abilities whenever he threw himself into trouble.
Honestly? This was karma. He should've seen this coming. He'd laugh at himself for being stupid later.
Turning to the floor, Leo eyed his two katanas and reached for them in a split second. Before he could grab his weapons, a strong foot slammed over his wrist. It all happened too fast, he could barely even register the scream he had to bite back.
Man, getting stabbed, beaten like a punching bag, having a metal pipe break his arm, and he jacked up his wrist? He was on a streak today.
The slider tilted his head to his swords once more, ignoring the pain and trying his hardest to focus—his vision was blurring together at that point. But he eyed his swords anyways
All he had to do was pick them up. Simple, right? All he had to do was get his swords and get out. Easy.
One of the more responsible looking yokai—the leopard—growled in frustration, blade in hand and probably ready to fucking kill him. Leo managed to grin back the yokai's way, a smile still plastered over his face despite being literally stabbed and having a broken bone or two.
"So!" The leopard sneered, raising his blade over him. "I have to thank you for ruining our entire plan. Do you know how long it took to get our hands on that ooze?"
Oh, this fucking guy was gonna get it.
Leo managed to laugh, yet it came out raspy, just like his quick breaths. "Oh no, yeah, you are very welcome! It's been an honor, really! Listen, I'd love to chat, but I kind of have somewhere to be."
Finally reaching for one of his katanas on the ground, Leo hoisted himself forward "Sorry, gotta split! It's been fun!"
With a quick flick of his sword, Leo managed to stab a mutant in the leg before he kicked the same mutant's foot underneath him, sending the guy tumbling over and crashing into a few more people. The leopard went along with them, slamming into the ground as Leo reached for his other sword. And with a swish, he teleported out of there before anyone could kill him.
He counted that as a victory. Sort of.
——
"And... and then I dragged myself back here. The end." Leo wheezed out a laugh, then cringed as Mikey tightened a thick gauze around the gash in his arm. The slider hissed in pain and tapped his foot on the floor furiously. He could feel Mikey's sympathetic gaze on him and he tensed in humiliation.
God, this was so embarrassing.
It was silent for a bit. Mikey let out a huff as he examined Leo's arm, probably over giving him the silent treatment. His voice sounded shaken up and hurt.
"That might've been one of, if not, the dumbest thing you've ever done, Leo." He murmured as he wiped off a bit of blood that coated his older brother's palm. Leo snickered, yet it came out tired and sluggish. "Yeah, I know."
Mikey scoffed, his grip tightening around the slider's arm, and Leo's prideful smile faltered as he heard a sniffle break through the air. "So then? Why would you fist fight a group of yokai willy nilly?! Was it not obvious that you shouldn't have done that?! And without anyone knowing you were gone? What if you got kidnapped by those guys?! What if you couldn't portal away in time?!"
Leo's gaze fell to the floor. He knew that Mikey was probably on the verge of tears or already crying—he didn't turn to confirm either one. Mikey's voice was getting progressively louder with each word, "What if you got killed out there, with nobody knowing you were gone and with no way of knowing what happened?! What then, Leo?! What would happen if you disappeared one night and we never saw you again?! What if you left in the middle of the night and we found you dead the next morning?! What then?!"
Leo didn't spare his brother a glance. He knew he was in serious trouble when Mikey out of all people was upset. Mikey was the optimist; he didn't scold people and he didn't really get angry.
So in times like this, where Mikey was upset with him out of all people, that's when Leo knew that he might've fucked up. Mikey being angry was somehow worse than being scolded by Splinter. Michelangelo did not fuck around when he was actually upset.
Leo couldn't outright say why he decided to fist fight eight guys in the middle of some random Tuesday night. It was for the adrenaline rush, it was for shits and giggles, it was for the experience, and it was because he didn't necessarily care what happened to him. Broken arm? No problem. New scar? Didn't matter. Broken hand? It would heal. Injuries were temporary. His arrogance was infinite, he knew that much.
Leo was reckless. That was just a snippet to the fact that he wasn't worried about hurting himself. He didn't care—why should he?
But apparently, it mattered more than he realized. Because it mattered to his family.
Oops.
Mikey didn't like it when any of them were hurt or injured—no shit. Leo hadn't considered that. In fact, he didn't give it any thought. He didn't give the aftermath a thought when he threw himself into trouble, he never did.
"I... I don't know." He eventually mumbled in response, his foot tapping in the floor even faster than before. He clenched his teeth as Mikey let out a long sigh.
"Can you just... can you think before you do something like that?" Mikey eventually muttered, "I just— I don't like when you do this. None of us do. We don't like when you do something stupid and you pay the price. Sure, you may have gotten out of this one alive, but next time... who knows? Maybe next time, you won't come home. And that's what scares me."
Leo stiffened.
Shit.
There was a tense silence between them after that. Leo really wanted to crack a joke, to make light of the situation, to do something—but nothing came to mind. No words or laughter left him. He sat there silently, occasionally wincing in pain and muttering curses to himself.
"... How long have you been sneaking out? And does this always happen? Do you always come back with a new scar?" Mikey asked as he turned to Leo's sprained wrist and began wrapping an elastic bandage around in. Leo winced in pain and shrugged.
"Nope." He said, popping the 'P' with a grin. "Guess I was just unlucky today."
Mikey glanced at the foot Leo was anxiously tapping on the floor and raised an eyebrow. "Is it bad to say I don't believe you?"
Leo remained silent before he sighed. "Okay, usually, no. But I may or may not have sprained my ankle doing the same thing a month ago."
Mikey glared at him. Leo grinned sheepishly.
"Was your broken finger also from... this?" The box turtle asked hesitantly. Leo whistled innocently in response. "No..?"
He trailed off. "Maybe..?"
"And what about that gash in your leg? You said that was from your swords. Was that from sneaking out too?" Mikey asked with a disapproving glare.
Laughing under his breath, Leo shrugged. "No, that was actually from my swords. I was.. sneaking out... and I may or may not have accidentally sliced myself in the process. But it was fine! It barely even left a scar."
Mikey glanced at the sort of faded and very obvious large scar across his brother's left leg and grumbled. "Yeah, it barely left one. Thanks, Mr. In denial." he muttered as he swatted Leo in the head. The slider squeaked in surprise and raised a hand up defensively. "Okay, I'll be more careful! Listen, we can bargain! You don't snitch, and I—"
He was cut off instantly. "If you think I'm not going to tell Raph, you're crazy! I'm telling everyone—including dad." Mikey stated with a huff.
Leo groaned irritably response. "B—Come on, Mikes. Pops doesn't need to know, I doubt he'll even care. It's Raph I need to worry about."
Mikey blew a raspberry his way. "Including dad. Those were the rules, your fault you can't follow them. You're not allowed to go out by yourself, especially without telling anyone. Because then this happens! You do something stupid!"
The box turtle then let out a huff. "Donnie's gonna be so mad at you."
"Come on man, don't do this to me. He's not gonna let me out of his sight if you snitch." Leo said with a sigh. It was true; Donnie would put even more trackers on him at that point.
"And Raph won't get off my ass for the next month. This is so unfair." He added with a frown. Mikey crossed his arms with a disapproving shake of the head. "That's why you should think before you do. And that’s rich coming from me."
The box turtle took a damp cloth and began wiping the blood off Leo's arm. Leo shifted uncomfortably. The air was too tense for him. Too serious.
"Mikes, mi hermano, lighten up a bit. On the bright side, I'm alive. Give me some credit!" He smiled as his head lolled to the side in exhaustion. Mikey frowned at him and resumed wiping the blood away. "I just... I don't like when you get yourself hurt and then you act so casual about it. You like.. down play how serious this is. You make jokes while you're losing a bucket ton of blood. Raph's not the only one who worries, you know."
Leo shrugged, ignoring how his chest tightened at that last part. Sometimes, he forgot that Donnie and Mikey both could and would get on his ass just as Raph did. Just because they weren't the oldest, didn't mean that they didn't worry. He didn't give it any thought—as usual—and that made this scolding all the more horrible.
Eventually, he shrugged once more and uncomfortably laughed. It didn't loosen the knot in his chest. "You only live once, hermanito." He mumbled with his winning smile. Mikey didn't look convinced, so he added, "Everyone gets hurt in some way eventually. This won't be the last time you have to patch me up."
He then brightened, "But hey, at least you get to do my job and play medic!"
Mikey frowned at him, and Leo playfully shoved him in the shoulder with a smile. "Look at you, doing big man things and taking care of little ol' me! Isn't that great? How big and responsible! Wow, since when did you mature so much?"
The box turtle turned to Leo's nearly broken arm and began wrapping it in thick bandages as he shrugged. "I mean, yeah, it's cool to feel responsible and capable for once, but I don't want you almost getting murdered. And I definitely don't want to clean up your dead body one day. Yuck."
Leo laughed, then winced as Mikey wrapped his arm up and slung the bandage across his shoulder, lifting his arm and making a fine temporary cast. He cringed at the thought of having his arm in a sling for days. "How bad was it?"
Mikey took the damp cloth and grabbed Leo's face, wiping the dirt and blood from his cheeks with a thoughtful expression on his face. Leo tensed into his touch and grumbled.
The box turtle let out a hum as he said, "The gash in your arm wasn't too great. Ya lost a good chunk of blood. It wasn't deep enough to make you bleed out though, and I of all people could take care of it, so I guess that's something to celebrate about?"
Mikey then turned and wiped the remaining blood from Leo's plastron. "I think you broke your arm. And you definitely did something to your wrist, but I... dunno what it is. Might've broken it or sprained it. Listen, I'm not the medic here. I only know that bandaids solve everything."
Leo giggled at that. He took a long breath as Mikey leaned away from him, examining his work and looking his brother over. A few seconds went by before the box turtle nodded. "How about that? How are we feeling? Nice and comfy?"
Looking himself over, Leo turned to him and gave his brother a shaky thumbs up. "For a sling, just as comfy as waking up on the wrong side of the arm. Gracias, amigo, what would I ever do without you?" He beamed, raising his bandaged right hand and rubbing Mikey's head affectionately.
The box turtle leaned into the touch with a smile. The two sat in silence for a few moments before Mikey straightened back up. He took Leo's hand in his own and frowned.
"Promise you won't sneak out anymore?" He asked with eyes full of concern. Leo let out a long sigh and shrugged. "Yeah yeah, until I find a way to bend the rules. You have my word, I will not sneak out in the middle of the night and fist fight villains and get myself nearly killed."
Mikey raised an eyebrow. "Promise?"
Leo groaned in exaggeration. "What, you want a signed document? Yes, I promise. I swear on my life I won't sneak out. Happy?"
Mikey nodded. "Very. Now, it's the middle of the night and I am so ready to go back to bed. We can tell Raph and Donnie and Papa what happened in the morning."
Leo groggily nodded, awaiting his doom as he stood up and wobbled on his feet. Mikey zoomed to his side and took his arm in his hands. "Woah woah, carful! You were covered in your own blood, how do you expect yourself to stand up all'a sudden without getting dizzy?!"
Leo let out an exaggerated groan. "Jesus, little brother! I'm not about to die. I'm fine, chill."
Even so, he could feel a blanket of nausea drape over him. His vision doubled for a few seconds as his breath hitched. "Yeah, you know what? I take it back. I feel like I'm gonna vomit."
Mikey frowned, leading him out of the medbay slowly and sticking to his side. "You need some water?"
Leo shrugged, slumping over his younger brother with a queasy grin. "that'd be awesome, thanks. I dub thee my favorite brother."
Mikey nodded with a smile. "Anything to make sure you don't die. You're welcome."