Chapter Text
It’s not uncommon for Leo to be reminded that he lives in the lower-class tax bracket, but sweet Jesus, he’s never seen a house so big before.
Mansion, he corrects himself, as he rings the doorbell. It’s a freaking mansion.
He’s surprised when Karai opens the door herself, and it must show on his face. She raises an eyebrow. “What?”
“I just-- wasn’t expecting you to answer the door.”
Karai snorts, and gestures for him to follow her inside. “What kind of girlfriend would I be if I let the butler bring you up?”
Oh. We’re starting this now. Suddenly Leo is all nerves and sweaty palms. He looks down at Karai’s hand and wonders if he’s supposed to hold it, but she seems content to have him walking beside her. He settles for keeping his hands to himself but he does let their shoulders brush as she leads him through the labyrinth.
“So where’s your dad?” Leo asks, keeping his voice quiet.
Karai glances at him, and he can’t tell if she’s confused by the shoulder brushing or by the question. “Japan. That’s why I’m filling in for him at events, remember?”
“But if your father isn't here to see us then what’s the point in acting like we’re together right now?”
Karai hums, sounding amused. “Because the gossip will make its way to him eventually; the staff likes to talk.”
Only then does Leo realize that the staff have been watching them; eyes flickering up with interest, heads turned to the side, whispers floating through the house. “They’re not very subtle,” he observes.
If Leo was feeling nervous before, then when Karai rests her palm flat against a door and stops to flash that smirk she wears so well, he’s on the brink of having a heart attack.
“No, they’re not,” She agrees. “But if they’re going to watch, then we’re going to put on a show.”
--
Karai’s bedroom is triple the size of Leo’s, with moody, dark purple walls. There’s a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall; a door that reveals a walk-in closet bigger than his kitchen; a desk; and a large, plush bed that Leo is trying to avoid looking at. He’s acutely aware of the fact that he’s in Karai’s bedroom, alone with Karai, and they’re supposed to be dating.
This, Leo decides, was a horrible idea.
“You can sit on the bed,” Karai says flippantly, shuffling through papers on her desk.
“I’m fine standing,” Leo says, and he winces at the sound of his own voice; nervous or not, he doesn’t need to sound like it.
It catches Karai’s ear, too. She looks up at him, then. “You know I’m not about to pounce on you, right?” She teases.
“I know,” Leo says, more defensive than he has a right to be. “I just like standing up.”
Idiot.
Karai actually looks like she’s trying not to laugh at him. Then she straightens up and Leo starts scanning the room for emergency exits. The way her hips sway as she walks toward him is distracting enough that he completely forgets about the unlocked door right behind him.
“Leo,” she practically purrs, flattening her palm against his chest, right above his heart, can she feel the way it’s about to pound right out of my chest-- “Here’s your new schedule, weirdo.”
He blinks as she turns around and walks into her closet. When he looks down at the piece of paper she laid against his chest, he sees its an NYU schedule with his name at the top of it.
Confused, Leo asks, “You rearranged my schedule?”
“Not me, obviously. I know a guy.” Even though he can’t see her face, smugness oozes from her voice.
“But, why?”
“To prove my point,” Karai responds, stepping out of her closet wearing a cropped black hoodie and sweatpants. “It pays to know the right people. Also, your schedule was terrible. It wouldn’t have worked with my schedule at all.”
His eyes follow her as she walks across the room and falls onto her bed, the mattress dipping cozily beneath her weight. He clears his throat and asks, “About that. When is the first event we need to attend?”
Karai flicks her fingers dismissively. “Banquent next Friday.”
Leo balks. “Less than a week?”
“Don’t freak out, it’s not like you need that much polishing. And you already have a suit, don’t you?”
A memory flashes across Leo’s mind; standing in front of a mirror the morning of Splinter’s funeral and struggling to tie his tie around his neck, adding it to the list of things he wished he knew to ask Splinter about before he passed away. Eventually, he’d found a YouTube tutorial and then helped his brothers, one by one.
Trying not to make a face, Leo says, “I have one, but I don’t know how it fits anymore.”
“Alright, so you need a new suit. We can get that before Friday.”
Annoyed, Leo says, “Karai, I don’t have the money to buy a new suit.”
“Leo, my dad’s credit card is going to buy it. Part of the plan to piss him off.”
But Leo is already shaking his head. “No, absolutely not. Your dad can hate me for not being well-bred or whatever, but I’m not spending his money. That’s-- stealing!”
Karai rolls her eyes. “I’m the one swiping his card, not you. Think of it as a nice gift for my new boyfriend.”
He can’t tell if the heat in his face is from his mounting frustration or how casually she already refers to him as her boyfriend. Taking a breath to cool down, he starts, “Look, maybe I should skip this banquet and wait for the next--”
“You don’t even know who it’s for.”
Leo pauses. He’s almost afraid to ask, that the answer will be too sweet of an opportunity to pass up. If he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on, then…
In the end, he doesn’t have to ask. Karai is happy to offer the information on her own. “Doctor Rockwell: scientist, NYU alumni, and known for donating graciously to the science department.” She tips her head to the side, smirking. “I bet he would be thrilled to meet you.”
No, Leo despairs. He would be thrilled to meet Donnie. But Donnie will never have the opportunity to walk through that door unless Leo opens it for him. Whatever connections Leo manages to make will benefit him, sure, but they could benefit his brothers too.
Raph is building his clientele as a personal trainer but he’s a jack of all trades; Donnie’s such a genius that he skipped a grade but he could have graduated alongside Leo if Splinter would have allowed it; Mikey is the most athletic out of all of them, and if he could get recruiters to watch him play then he could seriously make a career playing basketball.
When he thinks about it like that, it sounds ridiculous to fight Karai on letting her insanely rich father buy him a new suit.
“Fine,” he relents, sighing.
Karai eyes him like he’s something foreign. “That’s the first time I’ve ever had to work at convincing someone to let me spend money on them. You might take more polishing than I thought.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, my father’s associates are sharks and they’ll see right through you if you don't at least learn how to fake it til you make it.” She studies him for a moment, then adds, “Introduce yourself as Leonardo.”
“Nobody calls me that,” Leo protests.
“It’s unique, it’s memorable, it sounds snobby,” Karai counts off. “The only other Leonardo is DiCaprio, so you have that instant connection.”
“Da Vinci?” Leo asks, slightly offended.
Karai rolls her eyes. “Whatever. At the very least, it’s a good conversation starter. Some old lady will say ‘wow, what a unique name!’ and you can segway into ‘thank you, my brothers also have unique names’, and they’ll be eating out of the palms of your hands.”
That catches him off guard. “You know my brothers?”
“I do my research. Besides, nobody else in school was named after Renaissance artists. Your parents must have been the artsy type.”
“Or drug addicts,” Leo’s counters. Suddenly his entire body feels heavy, and screw feeling awkward around a hot girl, he’s tired. He walks over to the bed and sinks down into it, leaning back against the wall.
Karai sits up and copies him, looking interested. “Were they?”
“I thought you said you do your research.”
“I looked through your Instagram page, I didn’t launch a full-on investigation.”
Leo shrugs. “You wouldn’t have found much on them, anyway. They dropped us off after the twins were born, and then we were adopted when I was five.”
And now here comes the inevitable, I’m so sorry, that must’ve been so hard on you, I don’t know what I would do if my parents dumped me--
“If you find a way to slip that in during the banquet, they’ll start writing you checks.”
“Seriously?”
“Sure, the orphen storyline always tugs at the heartstrings. That, or they’ll say, ‘wow, like Batman!’”
That gets a laugh from him. “You’re lying.”
“Scout’s honor,” Karai swears, holding up the three-finger salute. “You’re in for a time, Leonardo. Rich people are weird.”
“Makes sense,” he says, feeling comfortable enough to tease. “You’re weird.”
“You have no idea.” Her head falls on his shoulder, and his entire body goes rigid. Karai feels it. “You know this is part of the deal, right? You’re going to have to relax around me.”
“I’m working on it,” he says defensively.
“Do you want to make out and get it over with?”
Inhale, exhale. Calming breathes. Don’t have a heart attack.
“Why,” he starts slowly, “would we need to get that over with? Do you usually make out with your dates at high-profile events?”
“Only once they get boring. But seriously, if you tense up every time I touch you then no one is going to believe we’re dating, least of all my father.”
“I’m working on it,” Leo says again, and Karai doesn’t press; she doesn’t move her head, either. Her hoodie rises and exposes her midriff. Leo tries to relax but he starts fidgeting with his fingers like they’re suddenly the most interesting thing in the world, and then Karai takes one of his hands and starts playing with his fingers, and yeah, definitely the most interesting thing in the world.
“Forced contact,” Karai explains, even though he didn’t ask. Leo hums in response.
He doesn’t know how to explain that he can’t be around her without being reminded of the most mind-blowing kiss he’s ever had. Admittedly he’s not kissed many girls, but enough to worry that nothing will ever compare to Karai’s.
Searing. Hungry.
And the harder he tries not to dwell on the kiss, the more old memories are dug up.
He played sports in high school, and baseball was the one that stuck. He was good, good enough to be made caption his senior year. He played a lot of good games that year, led his team all the way to the state championship, but the game that sticks out to him is the one where Karai showed up.
She was hooking up with one of Leo’s teammates, so it wasn’t unusual to see her around. But when Leo noticed his teammate’s last name on the back of Karai’s shirt, jealousy spiked through him. He had no reason to be jealous, he didn’t interact with Karai outside of petty remarks and teasing, but…
“Hot damn,” another one of his teammates whistled. “Chris, you lucky dog.”
Yeah. That about summed it up.
Leo went on to play the worst game of his life, acutely aware of Karai’s gaze piercing through him the entire time.
“You know,” Leo says suddenly, unthinking. “High school me would never believe this was possible.”
“Which part?”
“Any of it. But the part where we can be in the same room and get along pretty well would be the most unbelievable part.”
Karai snorts, amused. “I guess high school me wouldn’t believe it either.”
“I still think it might be a trap,” admits Leo.
“Oh, sure. This entire plan is just a ruse to get you in my bed.”
Leo watches as she spreads his fingers apart and laces their hand together. “Or to kill me.”
Karai looks up at him and flashes that same smirk, the one she wore throughout the entire baseball game, and says, “Either way, I’ve got you in my clutches.”
Their faces are only a few inches apart, and if Leo were braver then he would kiss the smug expression off her face. Instead he mentally applauds himself for not going completely rigid again and asks, “So when do you want to go suit shopping?”
--
Tomorrow, Karai decides.
So Leo tells his brothers that he’s going to work out, and they can order a pizza for dinner. April and Casey are coming over later and Casey is bringing his old Wii, so they’re guaranteed to stay occupied for a few hours at least.
Leo spends most of the bus ride thinking about how he’s going to tell them about his deal with Karai; if he even needs to. He’s going to be out of the house more than usual, but he can give them the “college stuff” excuse if they ask any questions.
The problem is that Leo doesn’t like keeping stuff from his brothers.
Unfortunately, he’s gotten good at it since their father died.
His stop is coming up. Ultimately Leo decides that there’s no harm in not telling his brothers about Karai, but he will be subjecting himself to varying reactions if he does tell them; Raph’s innate paranoia, Donnie’s hole-poking logic, and Mikey’s devastation that Leo would do something so deceitful.
The bus comes to a halt, and when Leo climbs off, he finds himself standing in front of an expensive-looking outdoor mall. Leo looks from one side to the other until his attention is caught by a menswear store.
A little bell rings above his head as he pushes the door open, and immediately Leo feels out of place in his worn blue jeans and sweatshirt. The looks he gets from the shop staff imply they agree with him. He tries to ignore their looks as he browses, waiting for Karai to show up.
He stops in front of a display showcasing ties and shirts that cost… two weeks' worth of dinner? Maybe a month’s worth? He knew formalware could be expensive, but holy shit, this was ridiculous.
He’s almost convinced himself to bolt, to tell Karai that he refuses to let her spend this kind of money on him, but then she walks in. Curious, Leo watches the staff to see how they react to her; they don’t. No strained smiles, no whispering behind their hands. Leo can’t even blame them. Karai walks with the confidence of somebody who knows they could buy the entire store if they felt like it.
Walking over to join him, she asks, “Anything catch your eye?”
“The pricetags,” Leo mutters.
Karai rolls her eyes. “Alright then, your job is just to stand still and look pretty.” She turns around and catches the clerk’s eye, and smiles. “Hi there. We need to be fitted for a suit.”
--
Leo had no idea what shopping for suits entailed; or maybe it was just because he was shopping with Karai. Every time he walked out in a new suit she found some reason not to like it, whereas Leo thought they all looked… just wrong on him. He wasn’t the type of person who wore clothes that rivaled mortgages.
Fake it til you make it, he reminds himself, as he walks out in what must be the tenth suit he’s tried on. He makes sure to look straight ahead and not slouch and something about that must work because when Karai looks up from her phone, she looks caught off guard.
“Something wrong?” Leo asks. He steps onto the pedestal to examine himself in the floor-length mirror, but he can’t find a single fault. As a matter of fact, he kinda likes this one.
“It looks good,” Karai remarks, standing up. She waves over the clerk who was helping them. “How much is this suit?”
“Two thousand dollars, miss.”
Leo’s stomach bottoms out the same moment Karai says, “Great, we’ll take two. You took his measurements already, didn’t you?”
“Yes, miss.”
“Hold on,” Leo speaks up, frantic. “Two suits?”
Karai turns around to study him. “I know, we really should get a couple more…”
“Why do I need two of the same suit?”
Karai meets his eye and looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Different colors,” she says slowly, and Leo glares. Speaking to the clerk again, she says, “We’ll do black of course, and… steel blue. Leo, do you have a preference for shirt colors? Or ties?”
Leo continues to glare, staying silent.
Karai rolls her eyes and hands the clerk a black credit card. “Just ring up a few standard colors for the shirts and ties, then. And you’ll have to excuse my boyfriend, he doesn’t get out much.”
“Hey!”
“Not a problem, miss.” The clerk gives Leo a once-over and when he’s finished, Leo swears he’s seeing him in a different light. He walks behind a counter with the card, and when he’s gone, Leo huffs.
Karai dismisses him with a wave of her hand. “Stop sulking and go get undressed. For God’s sake, you're embarrassing me.”
Leo chooses to ignore her as he closes the fitting room door and is more than happy to shuck the suit onto the floor.
--
Karai gives the clerk her address; she says it’s because they already have it on file, but Leo has a feeling she doesn’t trust him with the suits. He doesn’t bother arguing with her over it. If the suits were delivered to his house then they would be covered in pizza sauce before they ever reached him.
They leave the shop together, and once they’re outside Karai says, “You can drop the whole “This money could feed starving kids in Africa” act now.”
“Over five thousand dollars for two suits and some ties,” Leo gripes. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s adorable you think that’s expensive for made-to-measure,” Karai says, rolling her eyes for the third time that day.
“I didn’t like the suit anyway.”
“Oh please. You tried to play it off, but I saw your face. You loved the suit.”
“I’m paying you back for all of it, one day,” Leo swears.
Karai takes a deep breath, and Leo can sense she’s at the end of her patience. “Listen, Leo. My father didn’t become filthy rich by keeping his hands clean.” At that, he looks at her, but Karai is stubbornly staring across the street. “If there’s one person whose money you shouldn’t feel guilty about spending, it’s his. So, seriously, don’t worry about it.”
Leo swallows. There’s a story here, but he isn’t sure he wants to know more than he already does. He already assumes that most people who have millions didn’t earn it through hard, honest work anyway. For now, he can leave it at that.
“When do I need to see you again?”
“Friday after class,” Karai replies, still not quite looking at him. “You can come over, get ready, and my driver will take us to the event together.”
“You think I’m ready for my first event in high society?” He asks, only half-teasing.
“Frankly I’m starting to worry that you’re a lost cause,” she retorts. “If worst comes to worst, I can do all the talking and you can just stand by me and look pretty.”
Trying to lighten the mood, he asks, “You think I’m pretty?”
Karai snorts. “After all the work I'm putting into you, you better be.”
--
He takes the bus halfway home, then jumps off and jogs the rest of the way back. By the time he reaches the house, he’s worked up a convincing sweat and there’s a nice flush to his face, thanks to the early-fall chill in the air.
April’s car is in the driveway; he can hear shouting from outside the house. Sounds like the Mario Kart tournament is in full swing.
“Knock it off, Raph!” Mikey shouts as Leo steps inside. “You’re not even trying to win, you’re just hitting me with turtle shells!”
“Don’t worry Mikey, I’ll avenge you,” Casey crows, elbowing Raph on the couch.
“Donnie, you’re driving in the wrong direction,” April says helpfully, tongue poking out of her mouth as she dodges a banana peel.
“There’s supposed to be a shortcut on this map,” Donnie explains, driving off the course. “If I can find it, then I beat all of you!”
“Cheating is the only way you’re going to win,” Casey snarks. “Take that, Raph!”
Leo politely clears his throat and asks, “Are any of you actually trying to win?”
“I am!” Mikey exclaims, throwing his hands up. “Leo, tell Raph to stop aiming for me!”
“You’re in the lead, crybaby,” Raph retorts.
“No, I’m not, April is! She’s Daisy, I’m Yoshi!”
Leo shakes his head as he swipes a slice of pepperoni pizza. “Raph, play nice.”
He eats his slice, then another, and then he takes a shower. This might be easier than I thought, he thinks, rinsing the shampoo out of his hair. If all he has to do to avoid being interrogated is distract his brothers with pizza and Mario Kart, then it’s their own fault for being so competitive.
--
His brothers are one thing; his friends are another, unfortunately.
“So, Leo,” April says, turning around on the couch as he re-enters the room. “Do you want to tell us whose phone number was on your wrist the other night?”
Leo stops pulling his old laptop out of his bag and blinks until something clicks, and then he throws a glare at Donnie. “Dude, what happened to bro code?”
“Uh, dude, you didn’t say not to talk about it,” Donnie retorts. “Actually, you didn’t say anything about it at all.”
“Is she hot, at least?” Casey asks, grabbing another slice of pizza. “I bet Leo pulls baddies.”
“You remember Karai Oroku?” Raph asks, selecting a new map.
“Mega hot senior? Yeah, why?” Everybody politely gives Casey a minute… and then his head whips around to gawk at Leo. “Wait, that's who gave you their phone number? Dude, Leo, she’s a baddie with a capital B!”
“She’s another word with a capital B,” April mutters. “I thought you two had some crazy intense rivalry going on?”
“In high school,” Leo replies, opening up his laptop. “That was two years ago. Now we share a biology class.”
“And she gave you her phone number because…?” April trails off.
Leo stares intensely at the blank screen. “We’re partners on a project. We have to, you know, work together.”
“Isn’t her dad, like, stupid rich?” Casey asks. “What’s she bothering with college for?”
Leo sighs, closing his laptop. Clearly he’s not going to get anything done tonight. “What is this, twenty-questions? I don’t know, we’re just working on a project together. I’m not asking her about all her life goals and aspirations.”
“Well do me a favor and ask her if she wants to be a sugar momma,” Casey says, and then yelps with Raph smacks the back of his head. “What?! If Leo isn’t interested, then I am!”
“You know what, Mikey, I want to play a round.” He takes the remote from Mikey and settles down on the couch, in between Donnie and Raph, Mikey sitting on the floor and leaning against his legs. “Just out of curiosity, Casey, which character are you?”
“Mario! Duh. Why?”
Raph snorts when Leo replies, “No reason.” The first turtle shell he gets has Casey’s name written all over it.