Water.
Water everywhere, even the ceiling was wet. All of his things were scattered on the floor and soaked in water, all of his books were ruined, and it was all thanks to Mikey's newest prank against him. Leo tried to calm himself down, but he was failing because all he could see was RED, now he understood why Raph could get that angry at Mikey.
Leo knew he would need his brother later, but right now all he could think about was punishing the turtle, ``come here, Mikey'' he growled at him while moving toward him, his anger was at a level where he barely heard Mikey swallow loudly, even though he saw him swallow. Leo didn't have time to stop and read the look in Mikey's eyes, he was too angry to care right now.
He got a hold on Mikey and pulled him down onto the floor, and without a word started to spank him, while he was cursing Mikey in his head, when he was done cursing Mikey, he stopped and realized that he didn't know how hard or how long he had spanked Mikey, he didn't even seem to hear Mikey sobbing or see the tears running down his face.
Leo changed his tactics and growled at Mikey once again to clean everything up, when he heard the shaking `yes' from Mikey, he calmed down a little, but not enough to care. He went over to the door and stayed there watching Mikey clean everything up, it wasn't until he heard Donnie call, ``hallo anybody home?'', that his anger got a little stronger again, he growled again at Mikey, ``you are not done'' ``what happened Leonardo?'' Splinter asked with concern while moving towards him, ``Michelangelo here pulled a prank on me, and turned my room into a huge mess with water everywhere, so he is staying until he is done cleaning up'' Leo growled a little calmer, ``hmm I see'' Splinter said calmly before walking away.
``Is he only cleaning up or did you punish him in another way too?'' Raph asked curiously while looking at Leo, ``I spanked him'' Leo answered almost growling, ``now you know how I feel, when he pulls a prank on me'' Raph said calmly before walking away.
Mikey was finally done with the cleaning up, and Leo allowed him to leave the room.
Leo moved his hand and found out it hurt, so he went to Donnie's lab and found Donnie, ``do you have time to look at me?'' Leo asked calmly, ``sure, Leo'' Donnie said smiling, ``wow, you hit Mikey that hard, so you bruised your hand?'' Donnie said surprised, ``looks like it'' Leo said sadly, ``no wonder Mikey was crying when he came out of your room'' Donnie said worried.
Spending some time in the dojo practicing alone, was all he could do until his room was dry again, and he had to get the time to go with something. While he was practicing, Leo thought of how to gain Mikey's trust again, just in case he had lost it, along with how to control his anger better the next time Mikey would prank him.
The next day Leo got up and started his day as always, but when he came into the kitchen, he saw his family sitting and waiting for him, but without Mikey, ``morning?'' Leo said unsure, ``morning my son, come sit down we need to talk about Michelangelo'' Splinter said firmly, Leo made a deep sigh because he knew this was going to be a hard conversation for him, he saw down calmly and waited for his father to begin.
``You hurt your brother, Leonardo'' Splinter said firmly with a worried look, ``I know'' Leo answered sadly with his head down, he couldn't look his family in the eye right now, because he felt ashamed and he didn't like that, ``I know that I have to do something, but I don't know what to do right now, beside give Mikey some room to recover'' Leo said almost crying, ``I'm glad you understand Leonardo, which is why I told your brothers to let you handle Michelangelo, on your own, do you understand, my son?'' Splinter told him calmly, ``yes, father'' Leo answered sadly, Splinter nodded once and started to drink his tea again. Leo got up and got himself a cup of tea, he wasn't able to eat anything right now.
At every meal time, Leo would take a plate of food to Mikey's room, and leave it outside the door and every time he would hear Mikey cry, it broke Leo's heart to hear him like this. He knew he had to give Mikey his space to recover enough to at least leave the room. Leo knew that he would have to let Mikey come to him, if the trust was gone between them, and he hated the thought of losing the trust of one of his brothers, he knew it was going to take a lot of work to regain the trust, but he knew he would have to deal with it.
The days seemed to be longer than normal for him, along with the pain in his heart, that seemed to never stop. Then after seven days while they were eating breakfast, Mikey came into the kitchen and said ``morning'' to everyone, Leo gently answered ``morning Mikey'' and he noticed the small stiff jump Mikey made from head to toe, he didn't like to see that, but he knew he would have to take things slow with him, and that was what he would try to do. Mikey came over and sat down, but didn't look at anybody or say anything, therefor he wanted to make things a little easier for Mikey, so Leo got up slowly and calmly and walked calmly out of the kitchen.
Leo went into the dojo and tried to calm himself down, but the pain in his heart wouldn't stop. He noticed that someone had come into the dojo, and he saw that it was his father, Leo almost cried out loud, but stopped himself by covering his mouth with his hand. Splinter came over to him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and calmly said ``he is out of his room, and that is a step in the right direction'' Leo made a small nod and tried to stop crying, he then went over and sat down and waited for his brothers to join them.
When practice started, they found out that Leo and Mikey were paired up, Leo was unsure about it, but thought that `maybe it will help Mikey get some hurt out' therefor he went along with his father's decision, but to everyone surprise Mikey didn't say one word the whole time. The pain in Leo's heart seemed to get worse by the minute when Mikey was around him, and Leo didn't know what to do about it. Leo won the match and as always offered his hand, but Mikey didn't take it which only added pain to Leo's heart, `oh Mikey' Leo thought sadly while looking after him, he went over and sat down next to Donnie with his head down.
As soon as practice was over Mikey was gone, before Leo could even get up. The pain in his heart became too much for him, and he stayed and started to cry in front of everyone there, Donnie sat back down and put his arms around Leo, and tried to comfort him but was clearly failing, Donnie felt a hand on is shoulder and saw it was Raph, Raph then gently laid his other hand on Leo's left shoulder, while sitting down next to him and Splinter left the dojo.
Donnie and Raph helped Leo get back on his feet, and into the bathroom to take a shower, but no matter what they said to him to comfort him, Leo didn't hear them over the pain in his heart. They got Leo to his room after the shower, where they put him to bed and left the room. Leo was heavy with pain that he didn't noticed anything, until the next morning when he woke up in his bed, whit a soaked pillow and a small sting in his eyes.
Leo pulled himself together and started his day like normal, but a bit slower than normal. He found out that Mikey was staying in his room again, therefor he started to bring a plate of food to Mikey's door again, and this time the food got eaten, which made Leo a little bit happy, but what he really wanted was for Mikey to smile again.
After almost seven days, Mikey came into the dojo while Leo was in there practicing with Splinter, but Mikey said nothing to them, all he did was sit down and watch him, Leo tried to focus and not stare at Mikey, he wanted to show Mikey that he could be trusted not to hurt him, but after only two minutes Mikey was out the door, and Leo felt his heart sink again, he looked sadly at his father before trying again to focus on practice.
Everyday Leo noticed Mikey trying to be near him, but would fail after a few minutes, and each time the pain in Leo's heart seemed to get worse, and each night Leo would cry himself to sleep. One day after practice was over, he saw Mikey go to their father's room, Leo hoped that it would help Mikey to talk it over with their father, like it did for him when he needed it. He saw Mikey come out of their father's room, but he still looked sad, Leo tried to hold his head up, but then he saw the sad look his father had, and he knew the talk didn't work for Mikey, Leo felt a tear run down his face, he tried not to cry again, because he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop again.
Splinter told Donnie and Raph to go over to Leo, and hold onto him, before going towards the front door, where Splinter waited for Mikey, the others saw them and heard Splinter say ``safe travel, my son'' ``thank you, dad'' Mikey said sadly, then they hugged and Mikey left, Leo felt his brothers holding onto him hard until Splinter was standing with them, ``he needs to do this, my son, please understand'' Splinter said sadly while keeping a hand on Leo's left shoulder, Leo couldn't control himself anymore, he broke down onto his knees crying while holding his arms around himself.
The first week Leo stayed in his room crying and sleeping, his pain was too much for him to even eat anything, even though his brothers did try to get him to eat something. Leo seemed to had become a zombie, he would get up and do things like normal, but he never said a word, they saw that he would go to Mikey's bedroom door, and stand there with a look of heartbreak before bed time.
Leo didn't know how many days had past since Mikey left, but he finally woke up and went to his father's room, he knocked on the door and heard his father say ``come in, Leonardo'', Leo opened the door and went in closing the door behind him, he went over and sat down in front of his father, with his head down he said ``I need to go see Mikey and solve this once and for all, will you let me go?'' Leo lifted his head to look at his father and saw a small happy smile, ``of course you may go to him. Then you can tell him how much you love him, and when you come home, we will talk about romantic relationships'' Splinter said calmly with a smile, ``romantic relationships?'' Leo asked confused.
``Your brothers Donatello and Raphael are in love with each other, and you and Michelangelo are in love with each other, that is why it hurt him that much when you punished him'' Splinter calmly explained, everything suddenly fell into place for Leo, the pain in his heart, Mikey's distrust and all the crying, in love, he was in love with Mikey and Mikey loved him back, Leo felt his mouth hanging open with surprise.
He pulled himself together and gut up and gave a small bow to his father, before leaving the room and going to his own room to pack a small bag for the journey. When he came to the front door, he saw his family waiting for him, Donnie came over and gave him a hug and a smile, Raph did the same but told him ``bring knucklehead back will you'' Leo smiled at him and said ``I will'' Raph smiled at him, Leo gave his father a hug and left with his head held up.
Leo made it to Japan and found the ancient one's place, when he arrived, he saw Mikey and a stone monster turtle, that looked like himself, he saw Mikey break down crying, Leo felt the pain in his heart again, he dropped his bag and went over to Mikey and with two hands gently held him, and then two arms hugging him, ``I'm so sorry for hurting you, Mikey'' Leo said sadly, Mikey started to hit Leo in the chest and Leo let him without letting go of him.
When Mikey couldn't anymore and was still crying, Leo gently hugged him a little tighter and gently gave him a kiss on the top of his head, ``sorry, I'm so sorry, Mikey. Can you ever forgive me?'' Leo said sadly almost crying, ``you might have to earn my trust again and my love'' Mikey cried into Leo's chest, ``understood Mikey'' Leo answered with a small smile, ``wait why are you not mad at me?'' Mikey asked crying and confused, ``mad, about what?'' Leo answered confused, ``that I love you more than a brother'' Mikey told him sobbing, ``because I love you too, Mikey'' Leo said smiling before giving Mikey a tender kiss on the mouth, while kissing Leo felt the pain in heart go away.
Leo had decided to stay with Mikey and the ancient one for about one month, where they could work on the trust issue, the love part they would work on when they would be home again. When they were ready to leave, they said their goodbyes and gave a bow to the ancient one, before they turned and walked away, hand in hand.
The end.
