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“Your ponytail is my favorite.” He chuckled, leaning over to whisper to you. He kept eye contact with the movie and his hand in your hair, not baring a glance your way.
His self restraint surprised him. All he wanted to do right now was watch your reaction.
The two of you were amongst the others, watching whatever movie that was on the projector. To be honest, you weren’t the biggest fan of the turtle’s movie taste, but you watched nonetheless.
Or at least, you tried to. Throughout the film, you could sense Leo inch his way closer to you. You didn’t mind at first—if anything, you welcomed it—but then he started to play with your hair.
Throughout the more boring and idle scenes, he’d twirl your strands around with one of his digits, snickering to himself throughout the process. You couldn’t pinpoint why he was so amused, but as long as he was occupied and not constantly talking to you throughout the movie like usual, you were content.
You were dozing off when he whispered to you, so you jumped a bit in response, cheeks flashing hot in embarrassment.
“What?” You responded semi-groggily, despite knowing exactly what he said.
He didn’t respond, instead opting to play with your ponytail some more. He brushed it through with his fingers, and it stayed like this for a moment before he finally looked to you.
His breath hitched. He didn’t realize how close he’d gotten to you on the couch. You didn’t seem bothered at all, but he couldn’t help but feel a little shitty for taking up so much of your personal space. So he scooted back quite a bit to give you some air, his hand immediately leaving your head.
Your eyes were closed, drifting off the sleep at the repetitive motion of his hand in your hair. It was actually really nice and effectively soothed you into slumber. Then he stopped his motions.
You opened your eyes, only to see that Leo had scooted away from you. Had you done something wrong? The two of you made eye contact, and you shot him a confused look.
“Just wanted to give you space.” He whispered apologetically, making you smile. Despite Leo’s hyperactive and pestering antics, he always made sure to stop himself before it went too far into annoying and irritable territory.
Well not so much with his brothers, but definitely with you.
You shook your head and patted the seat next to you, signaling to him that you were completely okay with him being close. He sighed in relief before scooting back over to his original spot.
The movie continued on, and Leo didn’t know what to do with his hands. They were currently resting on his thighs, a stiff and unnatural position gracing his posture. He sat like this in silence, fearful of relaxing on behalf of possibly embarrassing himself again.
He just couldn’t help it. He knows that once he relaxes into the couch his hand will find its way back to your hair again on impulse. He didn’t want to irritate you or invade your space, but it was really nice. Fidgeting with your ponytail brought his mind some ease.
Even through your drowsiness, you took notice of his tension and sat up from your slouch, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Calm down a bit, Leon.” You spoke softly, sleep gracing your features. You didn’t really know what you were telling him to calm down about, but you could tell he was nervous.
For a moment, your head dropped onto his arm, but you woke up a bit more to take it off of him. You shifted to lean away from him as to give him some more freedom on the couch, but he grabbed your arm gently before you could.
“W-what? What’s wrong?” You mumbled, eyes trying their hardest to stay open. You rubbed at them, opening them again only to see Leo shushing you silently, holding a finger to his mouth.
You looked around the room. Everyone except the two of you were asleep, which made sense considering that it was well over midnight.
Raph leaned lazily against the arm of the couch on the far side, surprisingly being quiet with his snores. Donnie was perched on the bean bag, battle shell and other forms of his tech still equipped. Mikey was sprawled on the floor, alongside April who leaned against him.
It was a pitiful and amusing sight.
Leo looked to you, “Do you want to go to sleep? You can take my room if you want, I’ll just sleep out here with these guys.” He shot you a lopsided grin.
Not only did Leo genuinely mean that, but he felt like he needed to do something in order to pay you back for potentially pestering you earlier. Not that you showed any signs of annoyance with him, but he still felt the need to do so.
You accepted his offer with a nod, taking his arm to lead you there. The walk was short but felt longer due to your egregious concept of time, and you almost fell a couple of times on account of being so tired. He giggled at you—not for any reason you could remember—but you remember liking the way he sounded.
“Okay, we made it.” He winked, letting go of you.
The door to his room opened, and you immediately flopped onto his bed. Leo laughed some more.
“No no, hermosa, you need to get under the covers first.” Leo scolded.
You ignored him as you tried to remember what hermosa meant through your stupor.
C’mon, high school Spanish class, what the hell did that mean?
You gave up, too tired to think anymore. Leo soon got you situated, gifting you with so many blankets that you lost count.
“Comfy?” He asked, grinning at you stupidly.
You hummed back at him, relaxing into the mass of comfort he provided you with. He asked if you needed anything more before he left, and you raised your hands up to him.
“What?” He asked, unsure of what you wanted.
“Jus’ stay here.” You slurred matter of factly, all logic thrown out the window. Leo scoffed, putting his hands to his hips.
“(Y/n), you know I’m nocturnal. I’ll keep you up all night.” He grinned.
“Bullshit. Ure not nocturnal. You just say that ‘cuz you have trouble sleeping.” You grumbled. “I know all ure secrets.” You slurred some more.
Leo put on the theatrics and fake groaned, holding his hands up in surrender as he turned around and sat down beside you. He leaned his shell against the wall, looking down at you.
“Alright detective, sleep tight.” He breathed, closing his eyes to match yours.
Even through your limited consciousness, you thought that Leo’s distance was a little too far away.
Suddenly, he felt your hands grasp one of his. You lifted it up slightly to move it.
He opened his eyes, trying to see what you were doing despite the darkness of the room.
“What’re you doin’ silly?”
No answer, only your quiet maneuvers.
You eventually got it to where his hand lay on your head, giving him silent permission to play with your hair.
Once he realized what you were doing, his face shot red hot in embarrassment again. You felt his hand tense before showing appreciation for your offer, twirling your hair and brushing through it with his fingers. After just a few minutes of this, you quickly fell asleep.
Unbeknownst to you, he was currently melting. Your hair was so soft and so comforting to him. His heart was fuzzy and all he wanted to do was spoon your sleepy form and nuzzle into your head. The love he had for you was second to none—he wouldn’t dare be second—but so was his cowardice.
Fight in the Battle Nexus? Sure!
Defeat the Shredder? Hell yeah!
Take down an entire alien species in order to avoid an apocalyptic future timeline? Say no more!
Confess to you?!?
Oh boy.
He didn’t even want to imagine it.
Leo wanted to consider himself a pretty fearless guy, given all the crazy shit he’s been through, but his fear of rejection weighed him down.
He watched as you slept silently.
God, so pretty.
He chuckled nervously to himself, leaning his head back on the wall to try to get some rest. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, sleeping while sitting up, but he’ll take what he can get. Hand still in your hair, he closed his eyes and waited to sleep.
Needless to say, it was a pretty restless night for him.
He couldn’t stay asleep for more than fifteen minutes. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be restless, but fifteen minutes only was a new low. His body ached, begging for him to lay down properly.
He would never. Not with you already laying there!
He won’t get up either, he basically agreed to staying.
He stretched a bit, moving his hands to rub them over his face. They stayed there for a moment while he thought through his dilemma, unaware of the sudden shift in the bed.
He knows he won’t be able to sleep laying on the floor, so he comes to the conclusion that if anything, he should be leaning on the bed! Boom! That way, both his shell and his head could lean on a more comfortable surface.
He took his hands off of his face in his mission to move down to the floor, but then spotted you sitting up. He froze.
“Uh…(Y/n)?” He spoke quietly.
You sighed deeply, one of those, ‘I just woke up and am barely processing anything’ sighs. You raised your arms to him again.
“C’mere.” You beckoned.
Leo comically whipped around the room to see who you were talking to, but then realized you were talking to him.
He laughed dryly, one of those, ‘Girl what the fuck are you implying I do’ laughs. He stayed put, not daring to move, until you got closer to grasp one of his arms.
“Woah hey, are you— heh —are you really okay with-uh…this?” He garbled.
You grunted, “Not if you aren’t.”
Leo tittered, shocked at the discovery that your half-sleepy voice was actually really hot. You pulled him to your side with him facing up as you snuggled into his arm.
“Goodnight.” Was all you said.
Goodnight..?
Goodnight?!?!
How was Leo going to sleep now?! A full blown hottie just, attached to his arm like this, and he’s expected to sleep? Fifteen minutes tops? Psh, more like 2 seconds!
Leo gulped, unsure of what to do. Sleep? Cry? Say thank you? He ended up closing his eyes, trying to control his breathing.
He could feel your small breaths on his skin, and it made him shiver. How could something so comfortable and pleasant make him feel so freaked out?
He looked down for the first time since you put him in this position, and he got himself to finally relax. Seeing you attached to him for comfort definitely boosted his ego, and it wasn’t long before he gained his confidence back.
He moved his arm from you briefly, placing it underneath your head as he moved his body to face you.
You woke up for a moment, lifting your head in confusion.
“Wha..?”
“Shh…”
You laid your head down onto his arm, which meant that you also snuggled into his neck. Once you realized that he finally laid down, you giggled into him.
“Told you I’d keep you up.” He whispered, smiling against your hair. His face was on fire, but he found himself pretty content.
You shifted in your spot, grabbing at the hoard of blankets on your body to share with him. You tried your hardest—and with the least effort—to mush the blankets over him. You couldn’t tell if you got it, but you tried.
“‘s okay.” You spoke up,
“I like it.”
Leo laughed you off and dug his hand into your hair again.
The two of you were out like a light after that.