[Leo's actually been sleeping pretty well lately, all things considered. His talk with Huvrye all those months ago in the Diadem had been the start, like he'd opened a release valve, and Donnie's arrival had only helped. As he's settled into his routine, found more people he can rely on, had more days where he was safe, he's had more and more peaceful nights.
Huvrye getting shot had messed him up just a little, insomnia catching him in its clutches for a few days yet again, but even that's ebbed as time has passed.
Still, his sleep has been light, like his body is waiting for another shoe to drop - and it seems like it has when he hears Huvrye scream.
He wakes in a flurry of motion, grabbing for his swords without even thinking about it. His immediate thought is that the guys who shot him (or someone worse) have shown up and are on the attack. He rushes into the hall, still in his pajamas, and for one dizzying second he debates if he should go for Huvrye or Donnie first before deciding to follow the screaming.
So Leo opens the door and shoots through it, one sword out and ready, the other slung over his shoulder, expecting enemies and finding only Huvrye, breathing hard and fast and tangled up in his bed sheets. His brain catches up with the situation, and he realizes what he's actually looking at.
I've had nightmares like that before, Huvrye had said. The kind where your body wakes up and your mind doesn't for a bit. The kind that take your worst memories and trap you in them.
Leo lowers his sword, straightens out of his fight stance, and nudges the door shut with his foot.]
...Huv?
[He watches him for signs that Huvrye is aware. That his mind is awake.]
[Huvrye is still trying to catch his breath when his door slams open and Leo bolts through it, and instantly he's back on alert. Something's wrong- she's here- she can't be here- but something's wrong-]
[He tears the sheet off him and gets to his feet, and Leo- relaxes? What-]
[It should mean everything's fine- Leo wouldn't relax if they were in danger-]
[But he can't look at Leo without seeing blood on his face and his shell torn open- Leo's death rattle is still echoing in his ears-]
Leo-
[He crosses the room quickly and wraps his arms around Leo, holding him tightly. He's okay. He's okay. But Huvrye needs to make sure-]
[He loosens his grip and runs a hand firmly and carefully over Leo's back. Even through his pajamas, it should be obvious he's checking Leo's shell for injury - for that monstrous crack that had become a gaping hole. He has to be okay.]
[Leo doesn’t fight the hug, just angling his katana away so no one gets hurt. The hug is more desperate than any Huvrye has ever given him before, and Leo reaches with his free arm to hug back.
Huvrye rubs his hand up and down Leo’s shell, and it feels too hurried, too methodical to be an attempt at comfort. He’s searching for something, and Leo wonders what that could possibly mean. What kind of nightmare this was.]
…I’m okay. [He says this because he thinks Huvrye thinks he wasn’t. That’s why he’s touching Leo’s shell, like he’s expecting cracks, but there are none there.] Don’t know what you saw, but it was just a nightmare.
You’re okay. [He grips Huvrye a little tighter, butting his head against his chest.] You’re safe.
[Echoing the words Huvrye says to him, when his own horrors wake him up at night.]
[The crack isn't there, and Leo is fine: he's hugging back, talking normally, not flinching under Huvrye's touch like he's in pain. He's not hurt. He's okay. It really was just a nightmare.]
[You're okay. You're safe. His own words, turned around and used on him.]
[He stops checking Leo's shell and hugs him again, shaking slightly as fear and adrenaline ebb from his system.]
I know.
[He's a mess. Leo shouldn't have to deal with this. He needs to pull himself together, but right now he's just grateful Leo is alive.]
[Leo doesn’t break the hug or pull away, letting Huvrye hold on as long as he needs to. He can feel him shaking, and it worries Leo, but he thinks all Huvrye needs is to breathe through it. He’s healed from the gunshots, physically, but maybe not emotionally.
Or maybe this is about a wound that goes deeper than the gunshots.
I’ve had nightmares like that before.
So he lets Huvrye hug him and he hugs him back, and he doesn’t ask any questions. He just waits for Huvrye to finish coming back from wherever his mind took him.]
[It's quiet - as quiet as an apartment in the city ever gets, at least. Leo says nothing, lets Huvrye hug him, lets him breathe until his breath is back under control and the shaking subsides.]
[Leo shouldn't have to deal with his breakdowns. Leo shouldn't have to worry about him like this. Leo has enough to deal with - throwing Huvrye's problems onto his plate is unfair to him at best.]
[So Huvrye pulls himself together, squeezes Leo gently, and lets go. He's fine. He has to be, because he knows just how heavy the burden of his problems is, and he refuses to put any more of it on Leo. He's done too much already.]
[Huvrye is a liar, out of necessity. They both know he's not okay, but that's not going to stop him from trying to sell it in order to keep the burden of his problems off Leo's shoulders.]
[He doesn't say anything to Leo's reassurance - there's little he could say without running into the argument lying in wait there, and he's not sure it's one he could win, so no-selling it from the start is the way to go. But the question-]
[There's a right answer here, and it's probably not the one Leo's looking for. Talking about it just puts his problems on Leo, accomplishing exactly what Huvrye is trying to avoid. Just saying no probably leads to another unwinnable argument.]
[(He can't win anything, can he. Not tonight, not ever - not when Kyriena and Effiom are involved, and they have their fingers in everything.)]
[But if he gives Leo something else to work with...]
[He sighs and steadies himself.]
No. Just- If you ever see anything from my world here-
[That is not specific enough, and Kyriena looks inviting if you've never seen the poison in her smile-]
If you ever see a woman with red hair and rainbow wings, run. Don't talk to her, don't let her see you, just- run.
[Maybe, if the worst comes to pass and his past follows him here, he can at least prevent his nightmares from playing out in the waking world. He can at least keep his family alive.]
[Leo can agree to that easily enough. He'd want Huvrye to do the same if the Krang ever showed up here, after all.
Though that makes him wonder if this woman with red hair and rainbow wings is really like the Krang - cruel, heartless, and powerful. From the way Huvrye is warning him about her, it sounds like she is, and that makes a chill run down Leo's shell.]
[He's a little surprised that the redirect had worked - well enough to keep Leo from pursuing getting Huvrye to talk about it. It's the smallest of successes, but he'll take it.]
[Sure, admitting that his nightmares are about Kyriena is still talking about it, but not to the depth that the initial question had entailed. Good enough.]
Yeah. If I never see her again, it'll be too soon.
[Leo debates that answer, shifting a bit on the spot. How much is he supposed to ask? Huvrye said he doesn't want to talk about it, and Leo gets that, but at the same time...
He's still worried about it.]
Did she hurt you?
[He'll start with that question - it feels easy enough to answer, to Leo.
(Though, with the way Huvrye was checking his shell, maybe she hurt someone else.)
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Huvrye getting shot had messed him up just a little, insomnia catching him in its clutches for a few days yet again, but even that's ebbed as time has passed.
Still, his sleep has been light, like his body is waiting for another shoe to drop - and it seems like it has when he hears Huvrye scream.
He wakes in a flurry of motion, grabbing for his swords without even thinking about it. His immediate thought is that the guys who shot him (or someone worse) have shown up and are on the attack. He rushes into the hall, still in his pajamas, and for one dizzying second he debates if he should go for Huvrye or Donnie first before deciding to follow the screaming.
So Leo opens the door and shoots through it, one sword out and ready, the other slung over his shoulder, expecting enemies and finding only Huvrye, breathing hard and fast and tangled up in his bed sheets. His brain catches up with the situation, and he realizes what he's actually looking at.
I've had nightmares like that before, Huvrye had said. The kind where your body wakes up and your mind doesn't for a bit. The kind that take your worst memories and trap you in them.
Leo lowers his sword, straightens out of his fight stance, and nudges the door shut with his foot.]
...Huv?
[He watches him for signs that Huvrye is aware. That his mind is awake.]
no subject
[He tears the sheet off him and gets to his feet, and Leo- relaxes? What-]
[It should mean everything's fine- Leo wouldn't relax if they were in danger-]
[But he can't look at Leo without seeing blood on his face and his shell torn open- Leo's death rattle is still echoing in his ears-]
Leo-
[He crosses the room quickly and wraps his arms around Leo, holding him tightly. He's okay. He's okay. But Huvrye needs to make sure-]
[He loosens his grip and runs a hand firmly and carefully over Leo's back. Even through his pajamas, it should be obvious he's checking Leo's shell for injury - for that monstrous crack that had become a gaping hole. He has to be okay.]
no subject
Huvrye rubs his hand up and down Leo’s shell, and it feels too hurried, too methodical to be an attempt at comfort. He’s searching for something, and Leo wonders what that could possibly mean. What kind of nightmare this was.]
…I’m okay. [He says this because he thinks Huvrye thinks he wasn’t. That’s why he’s touching Leo’s shell, like he’s expecting cracks, but there are none there.] Don’t know what you saw, but it was just a nightmare.
You’re okay. [He grips Huvrye a little tighter, butting his head against his chest.] You’re safe.
[Echoing the words Huvrye says to him, when his own horrors wake him up at night.]
no subject
[The crack isn't there, and Leo is fine: he's hugging back, talking normally, not flinching under Huvrye's touch like he's in pain. He's not hurt. He's okay. It really was just a nightmare.]
[You're okay. You're safe. His own words, turned around and used on him.]
[He stops checking Leo's shell and hugs him again, shaking slightly as fear and adrenaline ebb from his system.]
I know.
[He's a mess. Leo shouldn't have to deal with this. He needs to pull himself together, but right now he's just grateful Leo is alive.]
no subject
Or maybe this is about a wound that goes deeper than the gunshots.
I’ve had nightmares like that before.
So he lets Huvrye hug him and he hugs him back, and he doesn’t ask any questions. He just waits for Huvrye to finish coming back from wherever his mind took him.]
no subject
[Leo shouldn't have to deal with his breakdowns. Leo shouldn't have to worry about him like this. Leo has enough to deal with - throwing Huvrye's problems onto his plate is unfair to him at best.]
[So Huvrye pulls himself together, squeezes Leo gently, and lets go. He's fine. He has to be, because he knows just how heavy the burden of his problems is, and he refuses to put any more of it on Leo. He's done too much already.]
I'm okay.
[He should be saying thank you, but-]
Sorry for waking you.
no subject
At the apology, he shrugs.]
Not like I haven’t done the same to you. …A lot.
[More than just once.]
You wanna talk about it?
[The question comes to him easily, because it’s obvious to him now, isn’t it? You talk about it, and that makes it better.
If it can work for him it can work for Huvrye, right?]
no subject
[He doesn't say anything to Leo's reassurance - there's little he could say without running into the argument lying in wait there, and he's not sure it's one he could win, so no-selling it from the start is the way to go. But the question-]
[There's a right answer here, and it's probably not the one Leo's looking for. Talking about it just puts his problems on Leo, accomplishing exactly what Huvrye is trying to avoid. Just saying no probably leads to another unwinnable argument.]
[(He can't win anything, can he. Not tonight, not ever - not when Kyriena and Effiom are involved, and they have their fingers in everything.)]
[But if he gives Leo something else to work with...]
[He sighs and steadies himself.]
No. Just- If you ever see anything from my world here-
[That is not specific enough, and Kyriena looks inviting if you've never seen the poison in her smile-]
If you ever see a woman with red hair and rainbow wings, run. Don't talk to her, don't let her see you, just- run.
[Maybe, if the worst comes to pass and his past follows him here, he can at least prevent his nightmares from playing out in the waking world. He can at least keep his family alive.]
no subject
[Leo can agree to that easily enough. He'd want Huvrye to do the same if the Krang ever showed up here, after all.
Though that makes him wonder if this woman with red hair and rainbow wings is really like the Krang - cruel, heartless, and powerful. From the way Huvrye is warning him about her, it sounds like she is, and that makes a chill run down Leo's shell.]
Is she who you're having nightmares about?
[What did she do to hurt Huvrye that badly?]
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[Sure, admitting that his nightmares are about Kyriena is still talking about it, but not to the depth that the initial question had entailed. Good enough.]
Yeah. If I never see her again, it'll be too soon.
no subject
He's still worried about it.]
Did she hurt you?
[He'll start with that question - it feels easy enough to answer, to Leo.
(Though, with the way Huvrye was checking his shell, maybe she hurt someone else.)
(Or both. Both is always a possibility.)]