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“Yeeeaaah, sorry big guy, but I don’t think you’re gonna have to lay off on the training.” Leo leaned back in his office chair, biting an already well chewed pen. “And by lay off I mean like, stopping. Completely. For a while .”
“Stop!? For how long?”
His big, red, beast of a brother looked at him with wide, unfocused eyes, concern crossing his face and his signature chasm deepening. Leo’s view of his brother has shifted many times over the years, but right now? In his brand new med bay’s bed? He looked smaller than ever. “Look Leo, you can just be honest with me, how bad is it?”
“Well… You reopened your plastron, strained your shoulder real bad, and then I can only assume that you then dropped the whole dumbbell on your big ol’ skull.” The slider popped his lips as he stood up, propping a hand on his brother’s good shoulder, an exaggeratedly grim expression on his face. “And considering you don’t even remember that last part? Yeah I’m not gonna lie hermano, that’s pretty bad. ”
The snapper frowned, causing Leo to snicker and break his expression.
Raph sighed, leaning back in bed, squeezing his eyes shut. “Of course something like this happens when we’re the only one’s home.”
Donnie and Mikey were out at the moment, having taken a short trip with Draxum to some mystic spring for mostly Mikey’s benefit. April had taken Dad on a little vacation, and it felt like everyone else they knew was out of town.
It was just the two of them here to take care of the place, and now, it seemed, it was just Leo’s job.
“Hey! Listen, you’re going to be just fine. Doctor Leo’s in the house!” He smiled, nudging his brother’s shoulder. “Besides, from the looks of things, the concussion is mild, so your prescription is just some painkillers and a few days of rest… followed by a few days of only light activity.”
Raph looked almost… grim. Clearly not enthused by the news, and not very uplifted by Leo’s usual antics either. The slider’s smile began to waver.
“How am I meant to take care of things now?” The snapper muttered, rubbing his forehead in gentle circles, almost looking like he was holding back tears. “I can’t hold down the fort like this!”
Leo clicked his tongue awkwardly, leaning off to the side but still fixed on his brother's expression. “I mean, I uh, I dunno Raph, maybeeee…. a certain dear brother of yours could do some of that fort holding?”
The silence that followed… stung.
Ah. Clearly there was still a want for confidence around here. Go figure.
“Here, why don’t I get you something to eat, huh big guy?” Leo slid back, making his way to the door. “Mac and cheese or instant noodles?”
“You’re not going in the kitchen are you?” His brother sounded accusative. Leo knew it was just teasing, but right now, he found himself biting his tongue.
“Relax! I’m not touching anything but the microwave.” The slider looked back with a strained smirk. “And somebody needs something to take with their meds anyways. So, mac or noodles?”
After a few moments, Raph relented. “Noodles…”
“Coming right up.”
── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──
It had been a long few hours already, morning turning to night, and Leo could already feel Raph growing more and more irritable and antsy. He wanted to help, he wanted to do good so bad, but man was his brother making it hard right now.
He stayed in the room, making sure to keep watch of his brother and attend to his every need, chatting with him, dealing with the exasperation when he told Raph that no, he couldn’t watch great british bake off right now unless he wanted to throw up again, grabbing him plenty of water, tracking his meds, and easing his concerns a thousand times over. Things got better, but it was exhausting work.
For once, Leo needed a break from talking, and had turned to making some notes over a shoddy, thrice owned textbook and the dim light of his phone on the small desk in the corner. He sighed, rubbing his eyes as he struggled to concentrate.
“So… where’d you learn all this medicine type a stuff anyways?” Raph said idly, turning over a paper he’d grabbed from the table next to him in his hands. “And we call Donnie a nerd, heh.”
Leo perked up in an instant seeing what he was holding, rushing to try and grab it from his brother’s hand. “Woahoho! Hey there buddy. Aha uh, maybe we don’t do reading right now either?”
“Nah. I wana see.” Raph pointedly ignored him with a mischievous grin, shoving his little blue brother lightly out of the way despite his protests and pulling the paper out of his reach. “Raph’s just never seen you write and study this much before is all! It’s real impressive.”
Leo stopped stock still, his brain short circuiting and his persona collapsing, unsure how to take the unexpected praise. “Well, it’s just, pssh, y’know. I already was GREAT at baby first aid stuff, so it was just the next, like, obvious step!”
Raph raised an eyebrow, but smiled, looking back at the paper. “Ok, so Raph’s not great and making sense of this, but what’s this one all about?”
“Oh that?” Leo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, starting to pace a bit around the room. “That’s just the sheet I was using to write down all your injuries and tests I did and stuff. It’s not the way proper medical systems work but y’know, I’m not Donnie, I can’t figure out all the software on my own.”
He knew Raph was onto him about something, he had that look in his eye and he didn’t like it.
“Tests?” Raph blinked at him. “Was you asking me to walk around in circles and shining lights and fingers in my face tests?”
“I mean, yeah.” Leo shrugged. “That's more or less all I’ve got to check for concussions. I was seeing if you were able to move alright around and checking your vision. And how I knew turning the lights down was probably a good idea?”
Raph looked up, blinking, suddenly now aware of how dim the room was. He hadn’t even noticed. “Huh, well then…”
The slider smiled, propping a hand on his hips in a gesture of pride. “What can I say? Turns out your brother knows a thing or two.”
The snapper huffed in soft agreement, willing to give his little brother too much praise, apparently.
“And what I also know, is that one of the best things you can do for concussions is getting plenty of rest, and it’s getting pretty darn late now.” Leo began to pick up some of his effects from the desk, shoving them haphazardly in an arrangement he considered organized. “You feeling tired yet chief?”
“Tired of you talking, maybe.” Raph smiled, to which Leo stuck his tongue out in response. The large turtle yawned however, smacking his lips exaggeratedly. “Yeah, Raph’s feeling pretty tired.”
“I’ll leave you to it then big guy.” Leo leaned over to pat his brother lightly on the arm before heading to the lightswitch.
“Love you Leo, proud of you.”
The slider stopped himself a moment before turning back, smiling wide. “Love you too Raphie.”
── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──
Leo had swept himself up in the next few days doing everything he could around the house, on top of doing patrol on his own, and dear pizza supreme he was tired. Normally this was easy! Normally this house had a whole five to seven-ish people in it at any given time, most of which didn’t expect Leo to take care of household chores on account of his terrible sleep schedule and general lack of talent at all things household related, but here he was.
He knew in theory he could be lazy, that’s probably what everyone expected from him anyways, but something about Raph’s seeming lack of confidence earlier had him driven.
Raph had started helping with some basic things as he got better and less dizzy, but Leo often used every excuse he had to shove him back to bed to get more rest. It was his moment to prove himself, and he wasn’t about to let his brother take that from him.
Even if he was starting to feel a little dizzy himself.
It was early evening on the surface, and Leo now found himself struggling climbing up the ladder to the surface. It was time for a patrol, he had to get up, but he found himself frozen in the middle, almost forgetting what he was doing there to begin with.
“Leo? Leo?!” A voice called out to him from below, somewhere off in the lair. He couldn't place it. “You left your maccy cheese in the microwave, it’s gonna get cold!”
Cold. His hands felt cold.
“Raphie?” The slider called out, his words a little more slurred than he wanted. “Where are you? I can’t see you, I can’t see-”
“Leo?”
It took a few moments for his brain to catch up, but the next thing Leo knew, he was weightless. Untethered, like floating in water in and out of sleep.
The next thing he knew was a sharp rush in his ears, a loud roar for just a moment, and then…
Nothing.
The first thing that came back was a sharp, unbearable pain. He felt like he was swimming, searching for other sensations only to find it all split into hazy nothing. His chest hurt, his ears stung, his head felt like a sack of violent rocks.
Where was he? Was that Raph?
…
The next few moments were nothing but a blur. He thinks he was propped up on his feet once, only to flop down again like a dead fish. There were lights, motion, other things. Sound felt like it was coming through and underwater radio and he could make out shapes again slowly, but it seemed like an eternity before things made sense.
The first moment of clarity came back just as his brother was about to leave the room.
“Raph?”
His brother whipped around to look at him. It was a little hard to make out right now, but even with the mask his eyes looked puffy. Was he crying?
“Leo? Leo can you hear me, please tell me if you can hear me.”
Leo nodded, only to find himself wincing, which seemed to make Raph panic more.
“Hey hey hey, don’t… don’t move. I don’t want you to get hurt.” The snapper pulled the blanket further up over him as he tried to get up. Was he in bed right now? “Please don’t get more hurt.”
“Where are we?”
“The… the med bay?”
Leo looked around briefly, confirming what Raph had said. Oh, yeah that would…
“Oh…” The slider bit his cheek, face flushing in embarrassment. “I ate shit didn’t I?”
“You ate concrete , what were you thinking?!”
Leo frowned, his lips pursed. “I wasn’t thinking of falling wise guy, that part was an accident.”
Raph huffed, stepping back from the bed for a moment to stomp himself a circle. Leo shrank a little, realizing how worked up his brother was getting. Raph calmed himself a little before turning back to him though.
“I just… I’m sorry Leo. Raph’s just real worried is all.” The snapper admitted, rubbing the back of his head as he kneeled down to the bedside. “You looked real tired this morning and I should have said something!”
“Nah, I kinda avoided that topic on purpose.” Leo snickered, trying his best to smile, even now. “I had things to do.”
Raph deflated, looking at his brother in a way that made his skin crawl, with pity.
Eugh.
“Why are you doing this?” Raph muttered.
The question sat for a moment, and Leo was unsure if it was the probable brain trauma or just his general him related problems that the question seemed lost on him. “What?”
“All of this! The extra work stuff! You don’t work yourself to the bone. I know my own brother. And I know you care about me and all but…” Raph’s face was scrunched up, and Leo could see more tears rolling down his face. “I can’t protect you like this.”
“Well maybe I don't want you to, how about that?” Leo bit out, having to stop himself once he realized he said that out loud. “Wait, no, let me backtrack a little that’s not… that's not quite right.”
A few different expressions passed over Raph’s face, but he remained quiet and patient.
“Earlier… I just, I dunno, I got the impression that you just didn't trust me to take care of things? I feel like none of you guys trust me most of the time anyways and like…” Leo took a few deep breaths. This was hard to get out, but something about his brother’s face and the pounding in his head pushed him forwards. “That’s… that’s kinda why I got into the medical stuff to begin with. I wanted something that was like, my thing? Something you guys could trust me on? And that I could be good at and take care of you guys instead of like… the other way around. All the time.”
He felt like shit right now. He was shaking. Talking about this made him feel almost sick. But the next thing he knew, he was being pulled into his brother’s arms. He squeaked a little, not expecting this kind of response.
“I’m proud of you, Leo.” Raph said, smiling with a face full of tears.
Leo, on his part, was confused. Because he just admitted to doing something really selfish, right?
“I’m sorry for… not having more faith in you. You’re a good brother.”
Before he knew it, Leo was sobbing too. This was unlike him, but he couldn’t help it, but he held himself in his brother’s arms and let it out. It was just a few words, but it meant so much. “Th-thank you…” He said quietly.
After this, Raph walked him through what happened after the fall. Apparently, he’d hit his head pretty hard and had received a concussion of his own, something that Raph suspected and he confirmed after the snapper had diligently walked through some of the same steps he’d talked about a few days before. Apparently he’d listened real closely and looked through a lot of Leo’s own notes, and while it wasn’t perfect, Raph had done a pretty good job in Leo’s opinion.
They both were, as they were now realizing, a little far out of commission to do much of anything, and mutually agreed to do as little as possible until everyone else got home.
Settling down and after tending to the rest of Leo’s injuries, the two decided to set up camp in the living room, stuff the couch with as many pillows and blankets as they could and binge jupiter jim, with the requirement that Leo wear his eye mask the whole time.
Not that he minded much, he’d seem each movie enough times to know what was going on by sound alone.
It was during a quiet part of the movie when Raph leaned over, shuffling out his phone from between the cushions. “Hey, you think that that new pizza place would be willing to deliver to a manhole cover?”
“Worth a shot.” Leo smiled.