Chapter Text
Mikey was in the kitchen making dinner while Raph and Donnie were in the living room. Leo was in his room.
"Leeeoooooooo!! Dinner is readyyyyy!!" Mikey shouted from the kitchen. "Raph, Donnie, that means you too."
"Alright, big man we're coming!" Raph said in a cheerful tone, while dragging Donnie along behind him. "C'mon Dee you have to eat too y'know!"
"I know Raph, you and Mikey remind me every day.." Donnie looks down at the floor as they're dragged along to the kitchen.
"Is Leo coming out or not?" Mikey asks as if anyone knows the answer to the question.
~~~~~~
"C'mon get yourself together Leo! You have to be strong! F-for your brothers! For.. everyone..." Leo looks at himself standing in front of his body mirror with scars all over his body as he holds up a knife to his wrist. "J-just one.. I promise!"
Leo's action are slow and stuttered as he lightly glides the knife against his skin. It's cool and stingy. Tears prick his eyes as he sees the familiar metallic-red dribble from the cut.
It doesn't end up being "just one." The cuts end up being both his arms; up and down and his upper thighs. Blood dripping down his arms and legs, not yet hitting the floor.
"Sh-shit.." Leo's voice trembling along with his entire body. He didn't mean to do that much but he had to clean the mess up before his brothers found him out.
He just barely hears Mikey's yelling voice. Dinner must be ready.
Leo's heart dropped and beat fast.
Quickly, he uses his sword to cut into air, like he did with skin, and teleport some wet cloth from the bathroom to clean the cuts covering almost his entire body. They exposed blood is gone, but the deep cuts remain.
His head felt dizzy at the putrid smell of blood. Everything around him felt like it was moving slightly.
Rubbing his temples, Leo started to throw away all the towels of blood and put on sweat pants that mikey made for him and a black hoodie that he stole from Raph a while ago.
"Leo?" Mikey knocked on his train-car themed door, waiting for an answer.
"Give me a moment Mikey! I'll be out in a second for dinner is promise!" Leo's voiced jumped.
"Leo are you ok?" Mikey had noticed how rushed and panicked Leo sounded but tried to brush it off. "I'mma wait here for you until you come out, alright?" He called through the door to Leo.
Leo started panicking as he threw away the last of the soaked, red towels, finished bandaging himself up, and clothed himself. His world continued to spin when he stood up.
"Im coming Angelo dont worry!" Leo opened his familiar door and came out for dinner, only to meet eyes with Mikey.
Leo avoided eye contact to not oppose suspicion, but Mikey continued to stare with a worried look as they walked together.
As Leo started walking with Mikey towards the kitchen to where Raph and Donnie were, he had been trying his hardest not to limp because of the pain. He almost tripped before catching himself. Everything thing hurt, his head hurt, his eyes hurt, and his body hurt.
"Leo-" Mikey was cut off by Donnie when they reached the kitchen.
"And where have the two of you been? Hmm?" Donnie was really wondering, but the slight smile in their voice made it seem like they were joking. Leo could tell they were being genuine just by brother instinct probably. The question still needed to be answered though.
"That's my fault- I was taking too long in my room again." Leo's words and vibe were unsettling to the others. Leo started to feel that all-too familiar fuzzy and relaxing feeling in his body, and tried his best to push it away.
It felt good, yet disgusting in the eyes of others. He couldn't let his brothers know his secrets of what makes him feel okay..
The small family began to enjoy the dinner that Mikey had beautifully cooked. They all sat uncomfortable, passing worried glances to Leo every once in a while. The blue turtle, who barely touched his food, announced himself finished, rushing back to his room with no explanation.
He left his brothers even more worried, which was not Leo's intention at all.
"Does anyone else have a bad feeling about Leo?" Mikey finally spoke up after Leo isolated himself in his room. "I just- something felt.. off.."
"I felt that too Mikey, it's not just you who has a weird feeling." Donnie sighed standing up to put their mostly clean plate in the sink. "To be completely honest Mikey, I am just as worried as you and Raph.."
"Raph's got a really bad feelin' 'bout this." The red turtle finally said himself after a few moments of silence. "He had no reason to rush off like that.. and Raph didn't like it one bit."
Mikey softly stood up, and took his and Raph's plates to the sink, just leaving them there for the night.
The 3 brothers made their way out the kitchen to the living room to figure out a plan to get Leo out of his room.
~~~~~~
Leo, now in his room again, quietly clicked the door shut and retreated to his bed. That fuzzy feeling in him grew bigger, and he couldn't fight it anymore. He let out a soft, quiet whimper, and tears that he didnt realize he was holding back started to fall down his cheeks.
Leo started to sob quietly as he felt himself get younger and start to feel smaller. He normally pushed the feeling away until he couldn't handle it anymore but he was just so tired that he couldn't fight it any longer this time.
"Nonono i- I can't do this right now! N-not while they're awake!" Leo's sobs become louder, and he let's out whimpers and soft distressed chirps. He reaches under his bed until he finds a box, covered in little drawings and stickers.
Leo's regression box. It had about three coloring books, two boxes of crayons, a blue freezable cookie monster teether, a bunny plush rattle, and a blue deco pacifier with Saturn in the middle and stars around it.
He set the box down on his bed then stumbled to his closet. He had gotten out a sky blue onesie with little cartoon clouds scattered all over it, a blue clouded sippy cup, and he got out a baby blanket that April gave him when she found out he regressed. When Leo changed into his onesie he immediately felt better.
"Mmmm!!" Leo let out happy little sounds as his voice turns more high pitched and more childish. He gave out a soft content churr and his tail wagged happily behind him. His sobs turn into loud sniffles as he stumbles back to his bed. He gets wrapped up in his baby blanket, gets out his favorite planet coloring book, his crayons, his bunny plush rattle to play with, his sippy, and his blue pacifier.
He takes the pacifier out of its plastic case and places it in his mouth, to that which he starts sucking on it immediately and contently. Wiggling around on his bed while his tail thumps on the mattress. Shaking his bunny rattle violently in his hand.
When Leo finally calms down a bit, he sets up his laptop that Donnie made him and puts on Jupiter Jim. He opens his planet coloring book, takes out his crayons, and is about to start coloring when he realizes that his sippy is empty. He gives out a soft whimper before trying to stand up.
Leo stands up and wobbles with his pacifier in his mouth, his sippy in one hand and a bunny plush in the other. He wobbles to his door and carefully opens it to peek his head out and listen for his brothers. Once he made sure he couldn't hear them for a solid three minutes, he stumbles out of his room and heads towards the kitchen.
Leo luckily hadn't seen his brothers while he stumbles towards the kitchen. Once he gets to the kitchen without being noticed he wobbles to the fridge and gets out orange juice. He opens his sippy and starts to pour the delicious orange liquid.
When suddenly he hears footsteps approaching him.
He starts to panic and almost drops the orange juice jug. He whimpers through his pacifier, screws the lid on his sippy and his eyes screw tightly shut, as he tries to hide behind the counter, from whoever is approaching.
He panics as the footsteps get louder and louder and louder until-
"Leo?" It was Donnie. Donnies voice was calm with a hint of concern, something you dont normally hear from Donnie.
Leo let out a sharp cry in shock and panic. He's now curled in on himself, trying to make himself as small as possible. Tail curled around himself, knees tucked into his chest, head in his knees so Donnie cant yet see his pacifier. His sippy is on the side of him that Donnie cant see from where he's standing, along with the bunny plush.
He's whimpering and shaking from fear now.
"What the..? Leo- ... what's wrong?" Donnies voice was sincere and calm. They didnt want to panic Leo even more than he seemed to be. So Donnie approached Leo with slow and short strides.
"Leo, its just me. It's Donnie! Hey, can you look at me Leo?"
Leo jumped at Donnies voice, but after a few minutes he slowly lifted his head just enough for his eyes to be seen. He looks at Donnie with wide watery ocean blue eyes, his eyes meet Donnies and he is quick to start muffled sobs
Donnies expression softened when they heard Leo's muffled sobs. "Hey, Leo! Can you look at me? So I can see your face?" Donnie didnt know what was happening but they didnt want Leo to panic even more then he was already.
Leo's eyes locked with Donnies as he slowly lifted his face completely out of his knees. His blue starry pacifier that's settled in his mouth now showing. He continues with his muffled sobs.
"What...? Leo- Leo are you-" Donnie takes a breathe and gets their thoughts together after adjusting to the sight in front of them. They reach out and places a hand on Leo's shoulder, which Leo jumps at the sudden contact but they keep concentrated. "Leo- how.. how old are you?"
Leo starts thinking about how old he is. The first thought of age he comes to is 3. So he makes sure Donnie knows. He holds up one hand of three fingers.
Donnies eyes widen at Leo's answer but they keep a calm tone when they speak. "Three? You're three?" Donnie keeps his features soft and calm as they now understands what's happening. "Hey bud.." they look at Leo in the eyes, keeping their tone steady and calm "hey, can you stand for me?"
Leo's sobs now turned into quiet sniffles and hiccups. Donnie stands up first and they reach out a hand towards Leo, in which Leo slowly and shakily takes their hand. Leo puts a lot of his weight on Donnie and they just help him get up off the ground.
Once Leo is off the floor Donnie then sees the blue sippy half full and the bunny plush. They sit leo in a chair and then kneel down to pick up the sippy and plush. They put the sippy on the counter and holds out the plush to Leo. In which he gladly takes it, although he's still really shaky.
It's weird seeing Donnie like this. Leo is in a vulnerable, disgusting state, yet they treat him with care.
Donnie unscrews the lid of the sippy and picks up the orange juice jug and finishes pouring it into his sippy, filling it to the brim.
Leo kicks his feet under the table happily as he watches Donnie top off his sippy with orange juice (his favorite). Once he sees Donnie screw the lid back on, he uses grabby hands towards the sippy.
"Okay, okay! Here you go starlight!" They quickly hand the sippy over to their twin, who's bouncing in place on the chair.
Leo happily takes the sippy into both hands, put his pacifier on the table, and starts to drink the orange juice as fast as the sippy will let him.
"Woah, okay, slow down there bud!" Donnie grabs the sippy away from Leo and they keep it until they think that Leo knows to slow down. Which results in Leo pouting. They hand it back to Leo slowly. In which he happily takes it back and try his best to slow down in drinking his favorite drink ever.
Before he knows it Leo's orange juice is gone and his sippy is empty yet again. He's pouty and looks like he's about to cry when he hears a pair of footsteps heading towards the kitchen. He immediately starts to tremble and tuck into himself.
Donnie saw Leo start to panic and they handed Leo his pacifier. Leo looked up at Donnie with glossy eyes and right then Donnie knew Leo was going to cry and probably have a panic attack. Leo shakily took the pacifier and lodged it in his mouth so it was secured.
The footsteps got louder and Leo was reminded why he was shaking and about to cry, he tucked further into himself, almost to where he's tucked into his shell,
Is Donnie going to laugh at him with their brothers? Or would Donnie protect him? Donnie doesn't care about agere right..?
At first Mikey only saw Donnie but then he saw Leo's sippy, and sure enough next to it, on a chair, and tucked into himself, was Leo. Mikey didnt understand why there was a sippy cup next to Leo, and he was about to ask when Raph walked into the kitchen.
"Hey Don? What's wrong with Leo?" Raph didnt see the sippy immediately but did when he took a closer look at Leo's position and where he was sitting, trembling.
Donnie was caught off guard with both Mikey and Raph showing up in the kitchen. Expecially when they had just calmed Leo down too! Now Leo was trembling and crying again, and Donnie had to calm him down again AND explain to their brothers what was happening.
"Well-" Donnie paused and looked at Leo, they went over next to him and kneeled down. "Leo?" They put a hand on Leo's shell rubbing soft circles. Leo jumps at the sudden touch but lifts his head just enough for his eyes to be seen, glossed over and tears streaming down.
"Hey bud, it's okay! I promise no one here will hurt you!" They look over to Raph and Mikey who look confused.
Their faces looked embarrassed of Leo. But before Leo could continue jumping to conclusions..-
"What in the-" Raph started but was quickly cut off by Mikey.
"OH MI GOSH!! Did you just call Leo 'bud' Donnie?" Mikey was practically bouncing with excitement, his voice really loud.
Leo flinched and tucked his head back into his knees.
"Mikey! Quiet down!" Donnie looks at Mikey with a stern look. Then they look back at Leo who's trembling even harder now thanks to the loud voice of Mikey yelling.
"Shhhhhh~ hey, it's okay! Mikey didnt mean to be loud, I promise nothing can hurt you while I'm here! Can you come out of yourself? Like can you untuck yourself?" Donnies voice was gental compared to what they had just used with Mikey.
Leo slowly looked up at Donnie and untucked himself, Raph and Mikey can now see that he has a pacifier in his mouth. He's immediately met with confused and worried looks. There's a silence for a little while before the snapper finally spoke up.
"Leo- what.. what's wrong? What happened?" Raph is genuinely worried about Leo and he's confused about the sippy and pacifier. But he doesn't want to trigger an unwanted shock response again so he keeps his voice calm.
Leo tries to speak but all that comes out is chirps and incoherent babbles. Leo must have slipped younger than he was when he first went little.
Donnie rubs comforting circles in Leo's shell trying to calm him down fully. They understand that Leo must have slipped further than three, because of the small babbles and chirps coming from him.
Mikey crouched down next to the chair Leo was sitting on. He looked at Raph, then Donnie.
"What happened to Leo? Why does he have a sippy cup and a pacifier?" Although he's worried and confused, Mikey keeps his voice calm so that he doesn't scare Leo again.
"Oh, we're just gonna get straight to the point then?" Donnie didn't know about how to explain this whole situation to Mikey or Raph.
Obviously Donnie had more knowledge than their brothers in this moment.
"Well, uhm- Leo here is age regressed" Donnie hopes they know what they're talking about, otherwise they'd have to explain very in-depth like they do with everything.