Chapter Text
~Six Years Post Krang Invasion~
"If you love her you should tell her."
"She's a convicted criminal! We don't belong together!"
"How do you know she wouldn't be willing to change that part of her life for the right person!?"
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Listen, Dee..."
Donnie turned his back to Leo, leaning hunched over his computer desk as his brother put his hands out, an empathic look on his face, his body language relaxed and displaying the loving concern he felt for his bro as he tried to reason with him.
"When I look at Kendra, I don't see a criminal mastermind anymore, I see someone who's doing what she does because she feels she has to, someone's who's stuck. Maybe . . . I don't know, she wants to get out of that life but she doesn't know how." His voice softened when Donnie's tense composure did the same, and he added: "Just talk to her bro. What do you got to lose?"
After a brief pause, Dee huffed out through his mouth in contempt, and in a sour tone of voice he replied as a statement and not a question: "How about my dignity."
Leo huffed out of his mouth, but his was more akin to a laugh, and with a crooked smile on his face he tried to lighten the mood by commenting in a joking tone: "You always say you fall for the cute, mean girls."
Donnie turned his head slightly to look at his twin brother out of the corner of his eye, and his tone softened a little when he replied: "Of course. I can't fall for just anyone, I do have my bad boy image to uphold after all."
Both brothers smiled, but then the weight of the world seemed to come crashing down on Donnie's shoulders, he whipped his head back around to stare blankly at the computer keyboard in front of him, and his composure tensed all over again.
"Remind me why I told you about this?" he asked in an obviously annoyed tone.
Ploughing right over Donnie's attitude, Leo tipped his hip to the side to rest his hand on it and his smile grew when he replied with his usual cheerful attitude:
"You didn't bro, I figured it out for myself. Remember the night we stopped the Purple Dragons robbing that tech store? I saw that twinkle in your eye!"
But his light-hearted response didn't elicit the reply he was expecting. Instead of relaxing or replying in kind, Donnie tensed so much his tail curled up under his shell, his eyebrows furrowed in anger as he glared at the keyboard as though that was the cause of all his woes; and clenching once of his fists in preparation of slamming it into his desktop, he barked out the harsh words: "There was no twinkle in my eye because I" *BANG!* "do not love her because shes a CRIMINAL!"
Raising his voice in response to Donnie's angry tone and gesturing vividly to the room in general with his hands, Leo countered back with the words: "Do you have any idea how hard it is for someone to get out of that life when they've been a convicted criminal since they were a teenager! No one wants to give somebody a second chance when they show up at a job interview with a criminal record!"
At his words Donnie whipped around, glaring daggers at Leo, and - gesturing even more wildly than his brother had been - he raised his voice louder when he forcefully demanded: "You're a mutant turtle who lives in the sewers and you're trying to tell me about how hard it is for a human to get a human job in a HUMAN WORLD!!! What's next!? BAKING lessons!!?"
Breathing heavily through his scowling mouth Donnie stared Leo down. But instead of challenging him further Leo surprisingly softened his composure and his voice when he replied: "Trust me Dee, I saw the way you looked at her. And I saw the way she looked at you. She likes you, too. Why don't you just give her a chance? See what she's capable of? Maybe she'll surprise you. It's amazing what someone will do for love."
Instead of reciprocating by softening his composure and tone of voice, Donnie clenched his fists, gritted his teeth; and deciding this conversation was over he screamed so loudly at his brother the vein in his head throbbed and his eyes were squeezed shut when he yelled:
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LOVE!!?"
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say with the way the entire atmosphere changed in an instant. So-much-so that even before he opened his eyes Donnie could feel the shift in the air. And when he did open them he saw Leo's staring back at him, absolutely no angry tension being held anywhere in his body with his mouth hung open in shock.
But why?
His response didn't make any sense!
What did he know about love?
When Donnie saw the look on his bro's face - the way he stared back at him with hurt in his eyes that were glossy and looked about ready to overflow with tears - he straightened up his stance from his surprise, unclenched his fists, let his tail drop down limp behind his back, and maintained eye contact with his twin in one of their stand-offs.
The silent stare-off lasted for a moment before Leo surprised him yet again by uncharacteristically being the first to look away - his cheeks blushing a bright red and his entire countenance falling as he gently hit the side of his fist against his leg over and over as a type of nervous habit, standing uncomfortably as if he was a balloon and Donnie was the needle that deflated him.
"Uh, yeah, you're right. I uh . . . *ahem* don't know what I'm talking about."
He abruptly spun around and briskly left the room, leaving Dee behind dazed and a little confused.
What had happened?
Or, more importantly...
What was Leo hiding?
Chapter 2: Bella-Notte
"...her nickname was Bella-Notte. It means 'beautiful night'...Her eyes dazzled like a starry night sky, that's how she got her nickname. They were the most . . . beautiful set of eyes I ever saw."