#so Hueso having no connection but still sticking by Leo’s side in Leo’s moment of weakness…it probably means a lot

[whattraintracks]

#again OBVIOUSLY SPLINTER LOVES HIM DEARLY#but I wouldn’t blame Leo for thinking he’s loved the LEAST#Splinter also blatantly thinking Donnie is funnier doesn’t help#Leo being a Leo and thus being a Daddy’s Boy at his core doesn’t help#man splinter if you tell Leo he was the first one you held he’d be riding that high for MONTHS#but yeah I just think that with all of Leo’s insecurities…this all isn’t all that unlikely a conclusion to make#and I’ve said it before but…Leo and Splinter don’t really have a softer moment between them unlike the others#that must sting#this isn’t to say that Splinter was WRONG in being upset with Leo in Many Unhappy Returns#because Splinter had no way of knowing Leo’s plan would work out#but again - Leo has to be so confident and cocky because goddangit SOMEONE has to believe in him#so he lets it be himself#hell even the hug that comes after they incapacitate the shredder was more of a ‘Leo was there but it’s to all of them’#I want them to have a good father son talk so bad#is it any wonder why Leo imprints so quick on Hueso#when the man sees him break and decides to help?#can you imagine how much that means to someone like Leo#that someone with all the reason in the world to leave Leo to deal with things alone#chooses not only to help him but to actively protect him after as well#I bet with Splinter there’s always a voice in the back of his head#that says his dad’s love of him is more obligation than anything#and if they didn’t have that DNA connection it wouldn’t be there#so Hueso having no connection but still sticking by Leo’s side in Leo’s moment of weakness…it probably means a lot#it’s a shame we didn’t truly get that with Splinter and Leo#now I want Hueso and Splinter to meet bc like…they’re both dads! and it’d be interesting

I think about Leo’s “I’m your least favorite” comment to Splinter in “Down with the Sickness” a lot. It’s likely just a throwaway comment, a way to get Splinter to leave him alone before Leo gets sick too, but I can’t help but wonder if Leo believes it on some level.

Obviously it’s not true, Splinter loves him as much as he loves the others, but…it wouldn’t be shocking if Leo believed otherwise. After all, just in “Many Unhappy Returns” alone, Splinter has, with no hesitation, said comments like “my other sons would have taken this seriously” and “I knew I should’ve brought purple”, said “no” to Leo’s “I love you”, and pretty blatantly didn’t extend any trust in Leo’s plan even after Leo was fairly effortlessly defeating their opponents.

It was only after, when they’d already won, that Splinter finally gives him a “it was all you my son!” And…that’s basically it. Raph is the one who announces his trust in Leo. Not their father, even though Splinter is the one to witness Leo lowering his walls for once (which Splinter doesn’t react well too, because Leo only lowers his walls in the most hectic of times, and because he lowers them only then, either no one is around or no one is in the right state of mind to respond properly, leading to Leo building his walls back up, and the cycle continues.)

Again, it’s not because Splinter doesn’t love Leo, but Leo…can’t be feeling too good about all that. The way he never reacted surprised about any of Splinter’s words too…

He may know that Splinter loves them all, as a group, but individually…I don’t think Leo believes he ranks all that high with that love. Gives another meaning to “I’m nothing without my brothers” huh?

(Of course, I’m willing to bet the invasion changed that understanding, but with that comes the potential misunderstanding that his father’s outright love is tied to Leo sacrificing himself.)