#this is going great

[dandylovesturtles]

For @thecaptainstevie , Future Leo & Present Leo, trick

Doing it this way so I can keep the ask in my inbox in case I want to do any of the others later. Some of these are duos that other people have asked for, though, so I'll probably answer those and circle back to this if I have another idea.

I did see this prompt though and knew what I wanted to do. I don't think I've seen this particular twist on the Future Leo/Present Leo relationship, or at least haven't seen it very often.

CWs: sibling death (mentioned), discussion of the bad future timeline

Enjoy!

---

Leo's in the sewer tunnel by the wall, leaning forward so his shell doesn't touch, scrolling through his phone. Leonardo can't see what he's looking at from here, but it's probably Instagram, based on what he remembers.

He clears his throat a little awkwardly. Leans on his crutch and waits to be acknowledged. The still-healing wound in his side throbs, but he doesn't like how foggy the painkillers make him so he doesn't bother.

Leo's got his own crutches and his own wounds that Leonardo hopes he's taking medicine for, but Leo doesn't want to listen to him, so he doesn't bring it up.

Leo sighs dramatically, eyes not moving from his phone screen. "You're really bad at taking hints."

"I'm really good at ignoring hints," Leonardo rebuffs. He doesn't go any closer. "Come on, April's here and she brought Chinese."

"They couldn't just text me that?"

"I wanted to come talk to you."

Leo scowls and scrolls through his phone with more fervor. Leonardo rubs the back of his neck. Geez, why is this so hard...

"I know you want me out of your hair," he pauses for Leo to point out that they're bald, but he does not, so Leonardo continues, "but I'm stuck here until this wound heals. The least we can do is pretend to like each other. For everyone else's sakes."

"I already promised Raph that I wouldn't pick fights with you," said Leo with a petulant tone. "It'd be easier if you wouldn't come bug me."

Leonardo sighs. Maybe he should just drop it here, but every time he thinks maybe Leo will warm up to him, the temperature gets chillier.

"...Can I just ask why you hate me?"

Leo stops scrolling. He's quiet for so long Leonardo thinks he should just leave, but finally Leo speaks.

"From how Casey tells it... you were incredible. The greatest ninja to ever live. I didn't know how I could live up to that." Leo finally looks at him, and his expression is distinctly unimpressed. "Now you're here. Just a sad old man with nothing left."

Leonardo tries to let it slide off him. Like always, he pulls for a joke, a habit that he's never grown out of. "Okay, sad, I'll give you, but old? Splinter's older than me."

Leo doesn't laugh. He just regards Leonardo coolly and says, "Mikey died opening the time portal."

It's not a question, but Leonardo answers anyway. "Yes."

"Because you asked him to."

It rubs at a nerve still exposed. "I had to. He knew the plan, we talked about it before-"

"It was still your decision." Leo straightens as high as he can, even on the ground, even with his cracked shell and injured limbs. "You ordered Mikey to die."

Leonardo can't say anything to do that.

Leo grabs his crutch and pushes himself to his feet. He's angry; Leonardo can tell from the set of his shoulders and the fire in his eyes.

"How many others died from your decisions, huh? Donnie? Raph? April?"

Every name is a stab to Leonardo's heart. He's silent, doesn't bother to defend himself, doesn't bother to explain because what does it matter? They're all dead, Leo's not wrong there.

He's not going to use their sacrifices to win some kind of argument.

It's not satisfying to Leo, though. He squints up at Leonardo's face, challenging, like he wants Leonardo to push back, prove him wrong, and Leonardo leaves him wanting.

"...You're a failure," says Leo finally.

Leonardo looks down at him, and smiles sadly. "And you're a hero."

Leo scoffs. Swings his crutch to maneuver past Leonardo and back down the tunnel.

"My little brother died to send me a message, and I almost got everyone killed again anyway." He gives his head a shake. "Some hero."

He's retreating now. Leonardo fumbles, says, "Leo-" and Leo raises a hand in dismissal.

"Don't worry, old man. I'll smile for everyone else."

Then he's gone around the bend ahead.

Leonardo sighs, and follows him back.

[sirianasims]

Chapter 34

So It Goes…

It was Saturday morning and things were becoming predictable.

I had just gotten out of bed as Samuel entered the room. He came straight from the shower after sleeping on the couch again.

I missed him. Even when he was home, he just seemed so far away. By the time he came back from the hospital, he was exhausted. Every second of sleep was precious.

We barely talked. I couldn’t remember when we last had sex. A couple of months, at least.

He was in an even worse mood than usual today. He glared at his phone before going to the closet to get dressed.

“Samuel? Something wrong?”

“Charlie.”

Even with his back to me, his entire body radiated annoyance.

“Charlie? What’s with Charlie?”

“He’s in Copperdale and he wants to visit us.”

There was venom in his voice as he pulled the belt through the loops of his pants with angry movements.

“Oh. But isn’t that a good thing?”

“I guess. I guess I should be thankful that my brother finally deigns to grace us with his presence. Do you know how often I’ve heard from him since the wedding? Twice. To congratulate us on Hailey and Ivy. That’s all.”

“I know, but aren’t you still happy that he wants to visit?”

Samuel sighed heavily.

“Sure. It just pisses me off that everything has to be on his terms. Always. He’s practically been gone since he moved out, doing whatever the fuck he wanted while someone had to be the responsible one. And then he thinks he can just walk back in like nothing happened and be all, hey bro, care for me to drop by for dinner?”

“Admit it, Samuel, you miss him. And he’ll get to meet the girls.”

“I know. And of course I want him to meet my family. He suggested dinner tomorrow. And he even invited us to see his band play at the old warehouse tonight.”

“Tonight? We should go. I could ask Amelia to look after the girls, make it a date. We haven’t gone out forever.”

“You know we can’t do that, Freya. I have another long shift, I won’t be home until early morning.”

I said nothing. Of course. All he ever had was long shifts, and he didn’t even take the time off he was technically allowed to. I only saw him when he slept, and lately he didn’t even come to bed.

My husband was slowly becoming a stranger in the house, just dropping by for the occasional nap.

“Freya? Are you mad? If you really want me to come home early, just say so.”

He always said that. But it was a risk-free offer. He knew that I’d never demand it. I tried to rearrange my face into something less pouty.

“No. You know I can’t do that, your job is important. I just… I wish you felt that your family was just as important.”

Samuel sighed.

“Ah, yes, because you always seem to think that I’m putting my job over my family. Of course you and the girls are more important to me than my job! But as you very well know, my job is also important, I have a lot of patients depending on me.”

“Whereas we are fine without you, I guess.”

I regretted it immediately. I was stepping onto a well-trodden path and I didn’t have the energy to have this particular argument again.

Neither did Samuel. He just turned away from me as he finished tucking in his shirt.

“You know what, I don’t have time for your shit right now. I need to be at the hospital in half an hour. And if family is really the issue here, why don’t you go see Charlie’s band? You’re his family too. Then you can ask His Highness what he would like for dinner tomorrow.”

He stalked off. Less than a minute later I heard the car start.

The sun was barely up and my husband had already left in a huff. Great.

I wondered if he’d come back.

I wondered if I wanted him to come back.

beginning / previous / next

[whimsywinter-2]

love how double life spoilers range anywhere from "lol joel is wearing etho's face" to "impulse experiences actual psychological anguish"

[oceansrose2002]

Guess who’s twenty two today. It’s me I’m twenty two. I’m old….god damn it I’m old.

[downp0urr]

am i doing it right

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

@changes: We fixed reblog activity items!

My reblog activitiy items:

[kimisnthere]

I'll be so real this jerd fic ain't going as kind as I was hoping it would be LMAO

all I'm saying is that the editing of this fic is going very well and almost completed :') just a few more minor fixes after the main big edits and we're so back

and also that this is definitely NOT gonna be only two chapters I'm actively gonna kms this is more writing what am I doing

[tara-fantastico]

Just started a paper with the sentence "in this analysis I will analyse"

[shouldprobablybereading]

home exams suck for many reasons but mostly because being stressed and tired is the last time you want to read academic english

[hoarding-stories]

Two points of exhaustion

Cold don't fuck around

[deputyash]

:/

I messed up my food because a certain family member decided to completely ruin the evening. Now it’s going to take me twice as long to finish cooking and I feel absolutely terrible. Wonderful times as always…I just love it here….

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Bro I just commented on YouTube on an anti pjo post and I commented "Most greeks I've talked to say pjo is kinda trash anyways" and some one replied saying "What does them being greek have to do with it" im........

I-.......................................

(we enjoyed it when we were teens but it's very far from the great, accurate and respectful series the americans think it is)

[panic-in-the-multiverse]

Is there anyone else who accidentally sent a mail to the wrong teacher and when you realized it, it’s too late to unsend it, so now you’re just anxiously waiting for said teacher to answer so that you can explain that it was to the wrong teacher, this is giving me way more anxiety than I actually need

[cometblaster2070]

GOD REALLY DOES LOVE US 

THE TRAILER FOR THE RUIN DLC CAME OUT 

HOLY FUCK THIS IS GREAT

[murasaki-cha]

Oh god I’m starting uni in three days and my anxiety said now it’s time to kick in hahahahahh!

So now I’m laying down on my bed stressing out about my end of term finals WHEN THE TERM HASN’T EVEN STARTED YET!!

[buff-borf-bork]

Shout out to whoever made the Joseph chat ai. The concept of being sent back in time to prevent his death is one I've had so much fun daydreaming about and they you made it is incredible. I'm the secret time travel agent of my dreams. Thank you, who ever you are!