Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Oneshots

5 ~ Chess

TW: Child abuse/neglect; Suicidal Thoughts/Behavior; Depression; PTSD (?); Self esteem issues;

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Honestly, Leo didn't understand why he felt so much fear around Draxum. He was nice to his siblings, he'd apologized to Splinter, and he kept his distance with Donnie and Leo because they asked. Leo also didn't understand why whenever Draxum was with them on a mission, Draxum seemed confused that Leo wasn't doing anything productive. That was reserved for his siblings, not the guy who created them to be weapons of mass destruction and hysteria. Leo was less scared of Big Mama then he was of Draxum, and Big Mama was a crime lord.

Leo stared at Draxum in surprise as the words rang through him. "Leonardo, what ideas do you have?" Leonardo wasn't- Why was Draxum asking him? Raph was the leader, not Leo.

"Leonardo?" Draxum started, staring at the slider.

"I-" Leo looked at his brothers, they were confused. Mikey was just flat confused, Raphael glanced up but returned to planning already deciding not to take any idea Leo would give, and Donnie was examining Leo for any sign of uncomfort. "Maybe grab some cloaking broaches from Big Mama while we're in there?"

Donnie tilted his head slightly, but Raph didn't make any movement to acknowledge his words. Mikey looked to Donnie with hope and started begging for a cloaking broach. Donnie's attention was shifted to Mikey, so Leo looked towards Draxum.

Why would Draxum specifically ask him? It wasn't like Leo was any good at strategy, if anything most of his strategies failed. He'd stopped caring about his strategies a long time ago, no one else seemed to care about them.

Did Draxum hear whispers about his actions alone? Leo needed to be more careful how he reacted around Draxum, any slip up was dangerous.

Draxum was examining him, for what Leo didn't entirely know, but Leo reacted all the same. Leo turned towards his brothers and pointed to a pizza joint near Big Mama's. He'd used it multiple times to spy on the spider Yokai.

"What about we send her pizzas with the worst possible combination of toppings after tonight's mission?" Leo pushed a smile as he looked up to Raph.

"Uh huh, pizza sounds good." Raph muttered.

Leo didn't let his brothers see the gaping hole of emotions at any point in their lives, let alone let them see the way the hole grew at the offhand comment. Leo instead cheered with the idea of his prank. Donnie was already pushing aside what happened, and Mikey was halfway to forgetting. He felt his eyes land on the paper, and had to pry them away before his mind got too creative.

The back doors were almost always unlocked, cloaking broaches could disguise them as employees, Leo could chat up Big Mama while sneakily stealing the broaches, knocking out some of the guards could-

He wasn't the leader and his strategies never worked. Two truths that had been burned into him. His brothers needed his jokes and careless demeanor, if he lost it his entire world would crumble around him. His effort over the past ten years would all be for nothing. Locking away everything that made him someone in a world where their personalities were all they had, would be for nothing. His family would never see that side of him, and he would never let that side free from the shackles that weighed him down.

…

Leo stared around the office as he held his sword. Big Mama wasn't one to cheap out. He could count twelve 'hidden' cameras, three audio recorders, a heat and motion sensor above the large stained glass window, and a seismic activity sensor on the window itself. It wouldn't be long before Big Mama rushed in here with her guards.