A/N: a wittle angsty haha. Basically Leo does a thing that makes him insecure and you both try to get to the bottom of it.
"Leo!" You whined, trying your best to drag your boyfriend out of the dojo. "You promised!"
He tried his best to hide his amusement as you barely moved him an inch, but he couldn't help but smirk slightly. "Hmm, I don't remember doing that."
Now you knew he was pulling on your leg, and you weren't going to stand for that. You set your plan into action as you put on your best puppy dog eyes and wrapped yourself in his arms, hands gently cupping his face.
"Are you sure?" Your thumb casually stroked his cheeks as his hands casually rested on your waist, basking in the attention. You had the perfect shot. When he was least expecting it, you began tickling thr crook of his neck, catching him off guard as he began to squirm and made a sound resembing a cat's purr. Your jaw nearly dropped as his turned to a look of pure horror. He jerked back from you, face heating up, rendered speechless.
"...What was that?" You said in a low tone, slowly inching foward like you would an injured animal.
He avoided your gaze, clearly embarrassed at what had happened. After a while, he finally responded.
"We call it a 'churr.' It's a stupid turtle thing. I hate it. Can we go now?" You still had a million questions, but decided they would be better off answered later.
~
You arrive at your apartment and rush upstairs to let Leo in through the fire escape; it was cold out, and you knew how he got when he was cold. You slid open your window and immediately felt his cold hands jolting onto your arms, making you sqirm in detestment.
"Leo!" You hissed, trying to push away from his icy grasp. He always did this, trying to feed off of your body heat. You were like a little furnace, and he was a lump of wet logs. He kept at it, mischievous laughter quickly turning into churrs, and you both paused.
"I-I don't know why that keeps happening today." He mumbled under his breath, finally letting you go. His eyes flashed a deep blue in the moonlight, not having time to turn on any of your lights. You grab his hand with both of your own, bringing it up to your mouth.
"I like it." You whispered against his hand before giving it a soft kiss, leading him to your couch. "But what is it exactly?"
You could tell he was uncomfortable, but as he let out a long, shaky sigh, he began to talk.
"It's this thing turtles do when experiencing an intense emotion, usually positive. It's sorta like... a trill. We can control it, surpress it if we want to, or we could do the exact opposite, and do it whereever, whenever."
You nodded, scooting closer to him and resting a hand on his arm. His head turned to look at you, his deep blue eyes sinking you deeper and deeper. You could hear a roll of thunder outside as rain began to poud against your windows. Your grip immediately tensed against him, burying yourself within his shoulder. He instinctively wrapped his arms around your quivering form as another strike of lightning hit; this was routine at this point. Even before the two of you started dating he knew about your fear of big storms, and he'd be your sheild.
His fingers gently traced up and down your back as you craved his touch. You needed to feel safe, and he was home. He leaned to the side of the couch and reached for a stray blanket, encompassing it around the both of you as you let out a soft sigh. Your head leaned against his chest, taking it all in. Whenever you began to freak out, Leo was always there. He would protect you.
"I guess we're both facing our fears tonight, huh?" You quipped, meeting his confused gaze. "My fear of storms, and your fear of churring." You chuckled at the last bit as Leo puffed out his cheeks, glaring to the side.
"It's not a fear... it's just embarrassing, y'know? I'm like a cat, or a... a..."
"Turtle?"
"...Yeah, that." His voice became hushed, as if it were a bad thing.
"And what's wrong with being a turtle?" Leo's grip softened as you looking him in the eye, pratically gluing your hands to the side of his face. His eyes almost looked a bluish-gray now, as if you were revealing old scars that haven't quite healed properly. Did he... not like being a turtle?
"There's nothing 'wrong' with it, it's just sometimes..." He paused, hands coming up to unite with yours. "Sometimes I wish I could be the man you deserve. Not a turtle. I'll never be able to give ot you what you deserve. Nice, sophisticated dates, long, moonlit walks in the park, a big, beautiful wedding where you can invite anyone you like because there will be no stigma of you marrying a giant... freak." He had caught himself, lowering his hands hesitantly.
This... You had no idea. Your heart ached at every word, every empty hope and dream, every wistful want that you never knew he wanted.
"Leo." You cooed his name, immediately leaning into him and holding him as tightly as you could. "I wanted to be with you because I wanted you, not because I wanted all of that. Just because we can't do all of those things yet doesn't mean I don't deserve you." You tugged his bandana strings gently, looping them carefully around your fingers.
"Everything you do for me, you do out of pure love, I can tell. Anyone could waltz up to me amd promise me all of the things you just told me, but that doesn't mean anything. What matters is who you are, and you're beautiful."
You could hear him sniffling slightly as he burried his head into your neck, feeling his lips curl up against your skin. The way he held you felt different; it was vulnerable, raw emotion. Maybe it was the revelation that there was some sort of invisible wall keeping him from being completely happy, and it had been toppled down.
It felt different, but it felt right.
