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lunar-lair · 1 year

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a new star is born...

(but hes more than just a star.

SURPRISE! @ashwii im BACK with the casey idea i mentioned!!! i ended up landing on him being sort of...the gods deciding leo would need someone, at the end of the day. or, uh, universe. and, well, creating stars is so dang confusing, and there was risk later on of it becoming too much for leos power alone to contain all the history and the reactions of or something like that. so they set up a failsafe of sorts: instead of leo collecting these reactions and collisions and beginnings, it would be delegated to a part of him, instead, that would grow slowly and become its own god inevitably. hence, casey! and why hes so late to the party, hehe. ill warn you, this one isnt as Godlytm and more kind of just...familial? and dialogue heavy, and lovey dovey. im tired idk how good this thing is tbh lmao. gonna put it under a read more cause its 2.5K. yeah i went a tad feral on this one. casey and leo r just <3 2 me ok)

It was a slow, quiet thing.

Leo felt it, in the corner of his brain, his heart, his soul, every inch of him. Like a new star, but bigger. Like a new star, but greater.

It was like…almost like a supernova, but in reverse. It was so slow. Not agonizing, no, more…

Like something was blooming, like the flowers on earth. Like something was slowly waking up, warm and tired and sleepy.

Like it was building itself up from scratch, carefully crafting itself inch by inch.

Leo waited, patient as could be.

He knew it was one of his, and he’d always wait for his stars.

It was sudden, sharp and clear and bright and warm. This calling that swallowed up his entire being, this question, asking,

Are you there? I’m home.

Casey woke up.

He felt…small. No, that felt just right. He was tired. Really, really tired. How long had he been asleep? How did he know what being asleep was? Wait, no, too many questions, he needs to…

He jolted, but calmed immediately.

Oh. The stars.

He was home.

It was an innate thing, something he couldn’t shake off if he wanted to. He was warm, and he was made for this endless black, a blink of light shining in the dark.

He stayed there for a while, but reached out. Not with his hands, with his soul.

There was something…someone.

Warm yet cool. Blue. Gentle and focused and ready, sharp, and silly and carefree and-and-

He wanted to see him. He was lonely. These were his brothers and his sisters, he knew that, he knew.

He didn’t need to be told.

He was part of this-this, whoever. This warm person he needed to see, needed to be held by. He was part of them, and he was part of this family.

And he missed them, even though he hadn’t met them.

So, he reached out, quiet and careful.

And waited.

After a moment, he curled into himself, starbursts on his forearm catching his eye.

He could be patient. He could be, he knew he could be. He waited so long to wake up, he knew that.

But he was still so cold out here.

He didn’t want to be alone anymore.

Leo started to make his way through the cosmos leisurely, waving hi to stars here and there and asking them what they knew about the new kid.

According to most of them, he seemed a little more powerful than the lot of them. A demigod, maybe? Leo wondered, though he wasn’t sure how that would happen. Maybe…a minor one…or just a cluster of-

He froze.

It was quiet, at first, but he could hear it. Could hear it loud and clear.

He could hear, vaguely, the call of any star, when they truly needed him. Like a ripple, on the edges of his form, stars shifting and moving like an itch that needed to be scratched. He’d always find them, of course he did, but it would always take a moment of thought.

This was like a shout. A call. A plea.

It was like someone had whispered right into his ear, like they were right next to him.

Please. It’s cold.

Dread and worry and pain and guilt and love all poured themselves out into Leo’s core and he was by the starchild’s side in a mere second.

He softened, an instant thing.

Oh, he was beautiful.

He looked like newborn stars. Bright collisions and nitrogen and helium slowly mixing and clashing, stardust and love and new warmth, new light in the sky. He was small, just a kid. Not too young, but about as young as Leo was when he started out.

He looked like bright light, like the beginning of everything Leo loved.

The starchild jolted and turned the moment Leo appeared, leaping into his hold and shouting, “You’re here, you’re here!!”

Leo laughed back, pulling back with a grin like honey. Nothing less, for this bright boy. He was human, but well enough, for the beginnings of his stars, for the complex mix and match of chemicals and light. “Woah, hey, slow down, buddy!” He framed his face in his hands, softening when the boy leaned in. “What’s your name, starchild?”

“Casey,” he hummed back, grin quiet and tired, and warm like nothing else Leo had ever seen. “I’m really glad you’re here. I missed you.”

Leo laughed, quiet and only a fraction of the bonfire this boy gave off. Blinding, he was blinding. Leo already loved him with everything he had. “You hadn’t met me yet, starlight.” They both knew better, but they laughed anyways.

“Yeah,” Casey hummed back, sitting down on thin air and pulling Leo with him. He looked around, at all his brothers and sisters and everyone Leo would have to introduce him to when he could, and-oh, Raph is gonna love this kid, he knows it-”I woke up with everyone else around me, but I just…” He took Leo’s hands in his, five fingers folding perfectly between Leo’s three, like he’d been doing it for centuries. (Maybe he had. Maybe he had always been part of Leo, brewing, forming slowly. Like a world egg or the calcium that made his shell, the beginnings of his stars, the delightful afterbirth of the many that had come and gone.) “It was cold. And you’re warm, in-in a special way. None of the other stars are you.” What Casey left unsaid was, they don’t care like you. They aren’t safe like you. I love them, but they can’t hold me like you, and they can’t understand waking up and being and living and holding like you can. And I missed you, and I’m so so glad you’re here, now.

Leo didn’t get it, really. He knew that his stars cared for him like a caretaker and a father, and he would never let them think he didn’t love them just the same back. But he’d never had that, himself. He had his brothers, and…well, he got lonely in a certain kind of way when they were off doing their own things, sometimes. Maybe it was about this star-no, this minor god, his mind shot back, that innate knowledge that stirred from within on occasion-well, maybe it was about Casey being like him. Given form by the Gods, being…simply more than the stars and the humans and the moons and the planets, however much they were beloved.

Well, he was here now. And, if Life had deigned to give him the gift of this bright, bright starlight, he’d never let him go.

Leo laughed softly and pulled Casey in, unsurprised when he clung to Leo’s shell like he’d disappear if he didn’t. He set Casey on his hip and stood, an instinctual thing, even though he hadn’t done it before. Stars were never this…physical compared to his form. He couldn’t hold them, couldn’t feel their every-burning warmth.

Maybe that was the difference. Maybe Casey was just cold.

Leo pulled him in a little closer, and Casey happily reciprocated, hiding his face in his shoulder. “Well, I’m here now, starburst. Say the word, I’ll be there.”

Casey laughed-a soft and bubbly and quiet and absolutely adorable oh Leo was smitten-little thing, but only held onto Leo’s neck and nodded. “Ok.”

They sat there, for a while, Leo curling up a little and just…letting Casey sit there and breathe. It was a lot, to wake up. It was a lot, to miss someone like that. He didn’t want to ever leave him like that again. Never, he promised himself, he never would.

Eventually, finally, he smiled and huffed a soft sigh, Casey’s stardust hair drifting slightly in response. He looked up at Leo, eyes wide and face curious. Always so bright, even with eyes as gray as a rainy day down on Earth. Leo grinned back. “I should probably introduce you to my brothers.”

Casey brightened immediately, sunny and sudden and beautifully blinding. He pulled his arms back and pumped his fists up and down, nodding all the while, saying, “I’d love to!!” because clearly he was determined to be the cutest thing Leo had ever witnessed.

Leo grinned back, a little toothy, and only said, “Hold on tight.” before blinking away to a star near their usual hangout spout above Earth.

Casey only laughed with glee, though, throwing his arms around Leo’s neck again, grin wide enough to show teeth. (Somehow, they were crooked, and somehow, it was perfect.) “That was so cool!!! How do you do that??”

Leo laughed, one part cocky fool persona and ten parts warmth. “When you’re every star around, you can get anywhere, anytime, starlight. Just another perk.”

Casey grinned. He knew exactly what Leo was gonna say next (because he knew, he knew, how much he loved them and the warmth radiating from Leo’s soul and mind and everything he was a part of, all of the love he refused not to share with every single star he held), but he still asked, “And the other?”

Leo nuzzled his beak into Casey’s forehead, heart bursting with adoration when Casey giggled back. God, he loved his stars with everything he had, but nothing could compete with being able to hold one, with being able to hold Casey and his bright fire, his neverending warmth. He wondered, for a moment, if he could play favorites, and the playful cheering on that rippled back told him he absolutely could. “You and your siblings of course, silly!”

Raph interrupted any response Casey could’ve given, taking Leo by the shoulders (not noticing as Casey ducked away and Leo carefully pulled him closer) and shaking, asking, “What happened where’d you go?? You left so suddenly I felt a new star show up but it was way brighter than usual wh-”

Mikey pried him off, Donnie following behind with a raised eyebrow. “Raph! Leave him alone, at least give the man a chance to explain!” He huffed, turned away, busy scowling at Raph.

Donnie turned down and gave a soft gasp, catching his brother’s attention.

Leo was busy pulling Casey’s hair back, eyebrows drawn. “You ok? Raph kinda spooked you there, huh?”

Casey didn’t bat his hands away, though, only shook his head. “No, no, I’m fine.”

Mikey was the first to lose it, yelling loud enough for Earth to probably hear (and for a comet to go splashing into the atlantic in response). Donnie pushed Mikey away, officially ending his onslaught and far more carefully introducing himself (and Mikey, since he’d been too busy crying over how adorable the boy was to do it himself). Raph was a little sheepish, but he loved the boy immediately, just as Leo predicted. They were bright, the two of them, in a way none of them could compete with. Sunny like Mikey, warm like Raph, smart like Donnie, loving and careful and a bit sassy like Leo. He was always meant to be here; he just showed up a little late to the party.

“And,” Donnie finally hummed, the other three crowded around Casey at a respectable distance, “who might this little brightspot be?”

Casey grinned, big and wide, crooked teeth and dry lips making him all the more charming. He raised a hand, and said, “Hi, I’m Casey!! I’m the creation of all of Dad’s new stars.”

They all went silent, though for different reasons.

Stardust started falling and everyone else started talking amongst each other-he must’ve woken up like us, just like Leo but more specific, I wonder what this means for future gods-while Leo was busy pulling Casey in, blubbering about “Ohhh Dad that one’s such a classic I haven’t heard it in ages!!! Casey I’d be so glad to be that you can stay forever and ever even after all the stars go out I love you so much-”

Casey only laughed, bright and bubbly, and even Leo’s brothers shut up, even as Leo kept blubbering and pulling Casey in close enough that stardust stained his cheeks. “Calm down, Dad, we’ll have forever together! As long as stars are born, I’ll be here.” Leo settled, but only a little, stardust falling. He seemed more frozen than anything else, Casey still held close to his chest. Casey smiled up at him, gentle, understanding, warm, loving. He knew, he knew. Of course he knew. “I’ll be with you ‘til the end, and I’ll have you ‘til the end, too.”

Leo curled up, pulling Casey in as close as he possibly could. His brothers gathered around as Leo started crying in earnest, Casey only patting his plastron.

“You will be, won’t you? We’ll have each other…”

Til the end of time.

Stars will form, and stars will die, and stars will live and exist and be.

Leo will never have to be alone.

And neither will Casey.

Leo pulled back after a while, setting his forehead against Casey’s, smiling, syrup and honey and every comforting thing that Casey knew Leo alone had, soft starlight a perfect match to his bright beginnings. “Well, Case, I’m ready and willing to keep you for forever, long as you’ll stay.”

Casey grinned softly back and pulled away just to dive into a hug. “‘Course. You’re warm, anyways.”

Casey was a new addition to their daily lives, but one taken happily. Him and Leo were rarely ever apart, Casey even taking to welcome new stars with him. Besides Leo, he was closest with Raph, but that was a given. Him and Mikey raised hell together, little hydrogen and helium creations and megalith comets that Mikey could only rain on Pluto, lest all of humanity be forgone. (They looked epic as hell, though.) As soon as Casey was old enough to figure out a corporeal form on Earth-and Leo was assured it would be fine, even if he wasn’t as powerful as them, though he refused not to stick to Casey’s side like glue regardless-they introduced to April. Of course, she was smitten, but as Leo claimed, head held high and grin proud, who wasn’t?

The kid was pretty easy to get along with, anyone would give him that.

True to his promise, Leo kept Casey close. They always knew where the other was, anyways, but it was rare they wouldn’t fall asleep and wake up together. (Raph would always be grateful to the kid for fixing Leo’s sleep schedule, if nothing else.) They lived every moment they could together, warmth and love and beginning and living and ending.

Casey was always there for Leo to hold when a star died. Leo was always there to make sure Casey was never alone, always there to be the safe comfort he needed.

But no matter what happened to them, if Casey really did have to go before Leo did, if Casey was ever left without him, Leo would always have Casey’s bright, starlight smile, and Casey would always have Leo’s stardust tears and ever-warm eyes.

Beginning and living. They were the start and the living and the end of the same thing, one apart of the other.

There was no such thing as loneliness for stars. Not if they had a say in it.

#HAD to add the little Post Concept concepts to it. could not leave you all w/out the 'how the boy adjusts portion'#it is my firm belief that casey jr is the sweetest boy in existence actually you cant prove me otherwise #hes also a little hellion. and hes also got some bark. but hes also very very sweet this is just true #rottmnt #rottmnt celestial au #lunas lies #lunas library #finally. ive been itchin to write this one for a WHILE #idk how good it turned out? maybe i shouldve waited idk #but i had the IDEAS the MOTIVATION so i went ahead #maybe if i rlly want to ill rewrite it at some point idk #now! time to crosspost to ao3

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