Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
Leonardo Hamato loves his family. He’s fought along with them, had their back, laughed over movies with them, joked with them, hell he’d sacrificed himself by tossing himself and Kraang into an Otherworldly portal for them!! He’d done everything for them.
So why the Fuck was he being treated like this?
Splinter, just after the invasion, had appointed Leo as the new Leader of the brothers and no one was more surprised than Leo. Him? A Leader?! Ludicrous. Raph hadn’t spoken a goddamned word to him since, other than “Move”, “Not now Leo” or “Don’t talk to me”. It had been over three months. Donnie made comments. Not like he usually did, no, these stung. “I knew you were an attention whore Leo but really?” “Pizza supreme in the sky how did you go from useless to more useless?!” “How the hell is Leo leader material? He’s a screw up that teleports, its literally the only thing he’s good at.” Leo guessed that he should be used to it by now. He wasn’t. Each line made him want to go cry in his room like a little kid all over again. Mikey would just go and help Donnie and Raph ‘work through the tough time they were going through’ then ignore Leo, only to make little comments in passing about how Raph wasn’t doing great or Donnie was depressed due to the situation. So, Leo guessed he didn’t have any right to feel like shit then, or at least, according to his brothers. April had stuck by Donnie, but at least she would wave to him in passing, wincing as Donnie said something. And Casey Jones Jr, the boy from the future? Well, he was Leo’s only lifeboat in this situation.
Casey was so……. Confused. He didn’t understand why they would treat Leo like this and was particularly angry at Splinter just dropping the title of Leader on Leo. Being a Leader wasn’t something decided on a whim, and his Master Leonardo drilled that into his head so much that it was appalling to see exactly that when it came to Splinter. Although seeing anything happen to the blue themed turtle was appalling, considering how much he meant to Casey. Leo may not have been his ‘Master Leonardo’ from the alternate future where the Kraang had won, and it was the apocalypse, but Leo still managed to take on a parental roll with Casey. He would call it brotherly, but the way Leo joked with him until the survivor’s guilt went away, would tuck him back into bed after a nightmare or make him Peppermint tea when they both couldn’t sleep? It felt like having his mom back. It highlighted the difference between ‘Master Leonardo’ and this Leo, that was for sure.
Leo loved that kid so much, even if he was technically only two years younger than him, but that honestly didn’t matter, that was his kid. But no matter how much that kid supported him, it was crushing Leo to have to see and hear his brothers obvious dislike of him. Finally, he went and asked Splinter, his father, what to do. The rat man had food sloppily placed on his lap, wedged into his dirty old chair, wearing a tattered robe. His Eyes were glued to a movie he’d made in his youth, back before the mutation, when he’d been a huge Hollywood action film star. Leo had barely gotten through the first sentence before Splinter had groaned. “I thought you said this was actually important! You’ll get over it Blue, now MOVE, you’re blocking the TV!!!” in heavily accented Japanese, and honestly, had Leo expected anything more? Splinter was like that since they were kids, prioritizing his entertainment over his kids. When there was a huge battle or problem, sure, then he did something, but otherwise? Hell, they had to go on a mission just to earn a hug from their dad! Leo started to realize then and there that Splinter wasn’t a good parent, and he never had been. Sure, the guy had a moment or two but that was it. Leo could literally feel the weight of all his problems taking a toll on him, and he hadn’t realized how far it had gone until they’d been fighting Hypno-potimus. Leo’s mask had been tugged off since he’d forgotten to secure it properly and Hypno had blinked at him, astonished, then quietly asked if he’d gotten any sleep in the last century or so. When they’d gotten back to the lair, Leo looked in the mirror, and realized that the bags under his eyes were so dark and noticeable that it was pretty obvious he wasn’t okay. So why hadn’t his brothers said anything? It was obvious enough that they would have Had to see the exhaustion on his face. Did they honestly hate him that much? He wasn’t an amazing fighter, he wasn’t the best or most valuable on the team, he’d always known that, he’d known he was nothing without his brothers. But he’d always thought they’d at least be there for him when they saw he needed help.
That night, Leo slipped out of the lair, running and leaping from roof tops to his favorite pizza joint. Run of the Mill pizza was a yokai restaurant run by Senor Hueso, a skeletal, Spanish speaking yokai that was tough as nails. Hueso had a soft spot for the turtles, but mainly Leo, and Leo had never been so grateful for that fact then now, when he needed an escape. Leo breathed a sigh of pure relief the moment he walked through the hidden entrance to the pizza joint, getting a couple waves of recognition from regulars he’d talked to, then slumping in the corner booth the turtles always took. His head made a dull thud against the table, mask tails hanging limp over the edge as he closed his eyes and breathed in and out deeply a couple of times. “Pepino? Que ocurre?” Hueso’s voice cut through Leo’s breathing techniques, and Leo glanced up at the worried looking bone man. “Hola Senor Hueso.” Leo greeted quietly, and Hueso’s face contorted to shock, concern, then a steely look Leo couldn’t decipher. “ALRIGHT! EVERYONE OUT! VAMINOS, RAPIDO, MOVE IT!” Hueso called out to the whole restaurant, and everyone cleared out as fast as they could, because when Senor Hueso said move, you Move. Leo sighed and started to get up, but Hueso whipped his head around so fast that if he’d been any yokai but a skeletal one he’d have whiplash. “Not you Pepino, you sit there, and I’ll get some water for you.” Leo blinked in shock but sat back down anyways, trying to Process what in the pizza supreme was happening. His mask was on, Hueso couldn’t see the eyebags, right? Sure, he’d been a little lackluster in his reply, but he didn’t think he seemed that bad, did he? Hueso closed up shop and came back with a glass of water, ice clinking around gently as he set it in front of Leo, then slid into the seat across from him. They were silent for a minute as Leo drank his water, Leo avoiding eye contact while Hueso studied him. “This is going on far too long, Leo.” Hueso said, making Leo jump in surprise at the lack of nick name, eyes shooting up to meet Hueso’s. “I mean it, this has to stop, your being destroyed from the inside out and it is now affecting you physically, as if mentally damaging you wasn’t enough.” Hueso sighed. “I understand you love your brothers; you’ve made that very clear ever since you crashed into my life, but you are not well, and it is because of them. I have listened and watched as you’ve deteriorated before my eyes, due to a situation that, I must make this point very clear, is not your fault. Pepino, you need out.” Leo’s eyes widened. “O-out? Out where Senor Hueso, I have no where to go! And- And I can’t leave Casey he’s-he’s- ““Like a son to you, I have seen.” Hueso nodded. “So, bring him with you.” Leo huffed a laugh at that, was he really so obvious in parenting Casey? “Still have nowhere to go Senor, even if I brought Casey, where would we go? Yeah, it probably would be best at this point to leave, I’m not arguing with that since my brothers seemingly hate my entire existence, but there is nowhere to leave to. Hell, even if you put us up, which I’m not saying you would, it still wouldn’t work cause my brothers come by on, like, a weekly basis.” Hueso nodded gravely. “I realize this, which is why I am going to make a rather…. Out there suggestion and offering.” Hueso shifted as he leaned on the table, arms sturdily on the surface, chin coming to rest on his clasped hands.
“What if you became a Battle Nexus Champion?”