He's breathing so heavily there has to be a lead weight sitting in his lungs. Leo hunches forward and grips the dust under his fingers as though it's the only thing tethering him to the earth, his bandana tails dangling next to his face. His muscles bunch in explosive tension when Raph's hand touches his shell.

Then he snickers. It starts deep and breathy in his gut, then trembles forward until there's wicked laughter choking out from his mouth like rolling waves at sea. He shakes his bowed head in amazement, then lifts it to angle a piercing gaze at Raphael. There is nothing quite so disgusted as the sneer on his face.

"You looked like the stupider one."

In the next heartbeat he rams into Raph with his shoulder using all of his weight, trying to shove him away. Then he leaps from all fours in the direction of the campsite, landing in a mad sprint towards the abandoned katana.