G.E.M.G.Dynamight - Deku : Hero Partners 

I didn’t notice this before but the way Leo flinched at the word “ failed “ ☹️

can you believe she ran away from it all?

NO BC 12 LEO WAS LEGIT EXPERIENCING PSYCHOSIS.

WE CANONICALLY SEE WHAT IT'S LIKE FOR THE TURTLES TO TALK TO SPIRITS / THE SPIRIT OF THEIR FATHER. ESP IN VISION QUEST AND AT THE END OF THE DEMODRAGON ARC.

SPLINTER'S ALL GLOWY AND STUFF AND GHOSTS IN GENERAL IN THE SHOW DONT LOOK LIKE SOLID BEINGS.

LEO WAS 100% THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD SEE SPLINTER WHEN HE TALKED TO HIM AFTER HE DIED.

BESIDES, SPLINTER TALKED TO ALL HIS SONS BOTH TIMES HE WAS IN SPIRIT FORM. THE FACT DONNIE COULDN'T SEE HIM JUST CEMENTS THE FACT THAT SPLINTER NEVER REALLY WAS THERE.

I'M JUST- I NEED A MOMENT-

don’t tell rise mikey what ‘12 leo did to his toaster.

Where’s that post about Leo actually being the least talented of his brothers and he has to train constantly to reach the level that we see him at

I’m thinking about it again

Leo's Mom Moments™ counter in Turtle Temper:

Shushes and lightly scolds Raph and Mikey to be quiet on missions

Stops them again with a, "Alright, enough," when Raph is forcing praises out of the youngest.

Grabs Raph's arm, stopping him from pulling out his sai and attacking human Spiderbytez and says, "Let's go."

Gets mockingly called Mommy by the dude right afterwards.

Is the first one to reach forth and hold Raph back when his brother's weapon was called Salad Tongs and Raph tried to attack. (Donnie and Mikey join later.)

Elbows his brother so he would say, "Please"

"Okay okay. Thankyou, Raphael, I will take over." (Manages to make him mellow out with just an upset pout like a child)

Worries about Raph walking away from the fight all of a sudden and gets distracted enough to be downed temporarily.

Disappointed Mom Lecture ™

Going, "Not now, Donnie," when in lecture mode.

"Hey." Stops Donnie and Mikey from beating each other up when they're pulling their silly shenanigans and then shushes them with a glare.

Shushes human Spiderbytez

"Don't worry. The four of us can handle it." (Tries to reassure)

This proud smile:

"Well, you've been punished long enough. Come join us." (If this isn't a Mom dialogue, I don't know what is.)

Gives a proud compliment at the end.

.........

Also, just seeing Raph listening to Leo throughout the episode (when he wasn't too angry that is) like a duckling following it's mother. Like, he mellowed down with an angry pout so many times!

Counting all these moments, it makes sixteen in total, in a single episode! Imagine how much could there be collectively throughout the series and in-universe comics and the Half-Shell Heroes movie.

I think I should do Leo's Mom Moments counter for every episode I rewatch now. See how high it actually is throughout the series.

Something I noticed about 2012 Leo is that he doesn’t seem particularly comfortable with hugs.

The only times he initiates a hug are 1) “Riddle of The Ancient Aeons” when Leo hugs Raph to calm him down on the Angey planet, 2) “Journey to the Center of Mikey's Mind” with smol Mikey, and 3) those times when the boys all group hugged Splinter after SPOILERS would happen.

Every time he is hugged he is for whatever reason somewhat uncomfortable with it.

Raph hugs Leo in “Follow the Leader” and Leo struggles at first thinking Raph’s attacking him, before Leo pulls out of the hug and goes for a fist bump instead.

Raph hugs him in “Clash of the Mutanimals” and while Leo smiles, he still goes “alright alright,” showing he’s not totally comfortable with the hug

April hugs him in “Eyes of the Chimaera,” and he is surprised at first before hugging her back

He dismisses hugs from Mikey repeatedly (such as in “New Girl in Town”)

In “Within the Woods” we have the double-whammy of Mikey hugging Leo when he first wakes up, and then Raph side-hugging him later. Leo flinches both times (tho that can obviously be explained as him being in pain lol, but it doesn’t help his track record)

In “Earth’s Last Stand” after Leo comes back from his one-man mission, Raph (followed by the others) all hug him and he looks confused

Leo is a decently affectionate person. He gives head pats, wraps his arm around his brothers, leans on them, etc., but he canonically doesn’t seem to be too particularly fond of hugging. He’s not averse to it, he’s just uncomfortable/surprised whenever someone hugs him.

cover illustration for the needle's eye, a collab with @sapphicflower-ao3 for the @ever-after-bkdk bang

it's been a long time since i last collaborated with a writer, so i'm extremely glad to have worked on this with rani!! we worked on brainstorming + figuring out story beats together, and i helped beta for her too! such a fun process throughout it all :]

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