Under the Shining Lights

Nailed it

Leo stumbled into his room and struggled out of his clothes, throwing them on the floor in his haste to put on his gear. He was so screwed!

"Leo! There you are!" Raph shouted, throwing open the door of his room. "Where have you been!?"

"I was...on a walk?" Leo stuttered. Raph crossed his arms.

"Without telling us?" Raph huffed, "You were gone for hours!"

"I'm sorry, I lost track of time!" Leo started pushing Raph out the door, "It won't happen again, I promise!"

"You can't promise that!" Raph rolled his eyes. Leo paused.

"You're right, I can't promise that," Leo mumbled, "I have terrible timing!"

Raph snickered before quickly stifling himself, trying to stay mad at Leo. They soon made it to the other two members of their team.

"Hey, Leo~!" Mikey greeted, seemingly uncaring of the fact that his older brother was M.I.A. for the past few hours. "How was your 'walk'?"

Mikey knew something.

"It was good..." Leo said slowly, squinting at him. 

"What's with the flowers?" Donny asked. Leo just looked at him until he gestured at his mask. Leo reached up, feeling the vine that was still securely tucked there.

"Oh! Oh, um!" Leo quickly pulled it out, feeling his face flush, "I-I thought it was really cool, so..."

"Since when have you been interested in plants?" Raph asked, squinting down at Leo. 

"Ever since I started taking walks!" Leo blurted, fiddling with the vine, "Besides, check this out!" Leo gently blew on the vine, watching in delight as the flowers brightened and bloomed again. "Isn't this cool?"

"Wha- how'd you do that?" Donny asked, reaching for the vine, only for Leo to reflexively pull it away, "Okay, strange reaction,"

"G-get your own!" Leo stammered, painfully aware of how strange he was acting, "Th-there's a whole forest of this stuff!"

"If there's so much of it, then why do you care if I touch that one?" Donny asked, crossing his arms.

"Because I don't want you to dissect my thing!" Leo went into the kitchen, grabbed a cup, and filled it with water, "You know, like all those cool bugs?"

"First of all: half those things you thought were bugs were just rocks," Donny huffed, following Leo as he took the cup back to his room, "And second of all: it's a plant! I wouldn't dissect it!"

"Donny! It's fine!" Mikey grinned, watching Leo place the vine in the cup, "This is clearly a special thing for Leo!"

Leo looked at Mikey, watching as his little brother gave him a thumbs up. He definitely knew something.

"Okay, Leo being weird aside," Raph sighed, rubbing his temples, "We're late for patrol- wait, what's that on your neck?"

"What's what on who's neck?" Leo asked, making sure the vine sat securely in the cup.

"Your neck!" Raph said, "You've got a bruise,"

A bruise?

Leo slapped a hand over his neck, face feeling as bright red as his stripes. Only the gods could save him now.

"Did you get in a fight?" Donny quickly asked, trying to move Leo's hand so he could look at the bruise, "Please, don't tell me you were that stupid!?"

"I-I wasn't!"

"Leo, why are you hiding it?" Raph stepped over, ready to grab Leo, "What happened?"

"Nothing! I was, climbing trees and stuff!"