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“Shush! He’s coming!”
“It’s not a surprise birthday party, Raph…”
“We do this every year. This time is no different either.”
“You two are so…” A bunch of grumbling noises escaped the snapper’s frustrated beak.
A short, overweight rat entered the kitchen when the conversation between the four turtles was being held. “Boys?”
All four turtles turned around, grinning and opening their arms in an arch, exclaiming loudly, “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, DAD!”
Though it was pretty obvious that Mikey was the loudest and Donnie was the quietest. Raph and Leo were loud enough to just be heard over Mikey.
Splinter blinked, looking at his adult sons before glancing to the large banner behind them. “You boys don’t need to do this every year.”
Though he gave them an appreciative smile anyway.
“We want to. You may not have been the best, but you still took care of us,” Leo told his father which brought a small smile to the old rat’s face.
“Thank you, Blue, but don’t forgot that it’s a special day for you too,” Splinter pointed out to the slider.
Leo laughed, nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s something I still need to get used to.”
“Where are those little rascals anyways?” Raph asked his brother, a frown marring his face.
“April said she’d be looking after them for the night and bring them back this morning. She didn’t specify when though.”
“Suspicious…” Donnie mumbled to himself, eyes squinting at his brother.
Mikey and Raph glanced at each other with raised eyebrows and small smiles. They had a feeling they knew why their sister decided to babysit her niece and nephew the night before Father’s Day. And it definitely wasn’t to give her poor blue brother a break.
It was something else.
Something she had planned long ahead of.
The four knew their sister and it made the other three wonder how Leo hadn’t caught on yet.
Or maybe he was purposely being blissfully ignorant?
Maybe he did in fact want it to be a surprise and ignore the obvious.
“Anyway, I’ve made breakfast!” Mikey cried out as she gestured towards the table.
The family sat down at the table, eating and chatting about what was new in their lives. Leo explained how he was planning on getting the kids enrolled in a school in the Hidden City that Heuso had mentioned to him. It was to give them a chance at what he and his brothers never had. A chance to grow up among other kids and also get education. Leo had also applied into a Yokai medical University. He liked helping people and he knew a lot about medicine and he always saw himself as the teams medic, so it fit him.
His brothers lives weren’t as full on as his.
They didn’t have kids to raise and weren’t planning on going to any Yokai universities.
They had planned to do things from the ground up.
Donnie was planning on going forward with his technology and apparel business ‘Genius Built’.
Mikey is planning to start his own graffiti business, but he still needed to work out more of the kinks on it as he’s gained a big following online.
And Raph is busy taking care of their Father. He doesn’t mind it as he still puts in time to patrol the city for criminals, but the brothers can sometimes see the glimmer in his eyes of how he missed the days of when they would all patrol together.
Leo can’t because he’s got kids to take care of.
Donnie can’t because of his new and upcoming company.
Mikey helps more often than the twins do.
However the brothers are still close and always make sure to call each other often and see each other on holidays. Leo always brings the kids because he knows his family wants to see how big the little sliders have gotten.
It always makes him a bit embarrassed hearing his Dad say he used to be this small at one stage.
He knows he was, but it was sometimes hard to believe with his big he was now.
It wasn’t too long ago where his kids could fit into the palm of hand five years ago.
He almost misses those days…
“HELLOOO!!!” A familiar shout echoed throughout the lair causing Donnie to roll his eyes and Leo to laugh.
“We’re in the kitchen, April!”
There was a coarse of running feet as April ushered his kids into the kitchen. She soon, stood in the doorway with Isabelle and Pablo in front of her. The two five-year olds were either fiddling with their hands or avoiding eye-contact with their Father.
Leo lifted a brow at this behaviour, looking over to April for some form of reason of why they were acting this way.
“Hey, what’s wrong, my little champions?” Leo turned around in his chair and leaned down to be eye-level with his kids.
The two looked up at their Aunt; who gave them a wide grin and nod, gesturing for the two to go on. Leo eyes this gesture that April gave his kids, raising an eye-ridge in suspicion.
“Daddy?” Leo turned at the sound of his daughter’s voice as she glared down at the floor as if it would swallow her up whole. “Aunt April helped us with something.”
She was very brief which didn’t give Leo much information.
The brother and sister looked at each other as if wondering if their present was good enough to present before finally deciding to go ahead. They wanted to know what their Dad thought of it. The two turned around, going through a bag that Leo hadn’t noticed was behind them until now. The two seemed to look over the present one final time, leaving their Father, Uncles and Grandfather in suspense before turning around.
Leo stared in wonder at what it was they were holding.
“Do you like it?” Pablo asked, nervousness in his voice.
Leo stared at his kids before he got out of his chair, collapsing in front of them and hugging the two. “Yea, I do. I love it…” he could feel tears on the edge of his eyes as his voice cracked from emotion.
He couldn’t cry.
No way was he going to cry in front of his family and kids.
But this just got him so emotional…
He couldn’t believe that they had made this for him.
He felt so proud of them.
The present was a photo frame made out ice-block sticks that had been painted different shades of blue. The photo in the frame was of the whole family from last Christmas. Raph was in the back with Mikey and April on his shoulders. Donnie was leaning on the couch armrest while Splinter sat on it and Leo sat in front of the couch hugging his two kids close to his plastron.
Everyone was smiling in the photo.
Leo didn’t think he’d get a Father’s Day present so soon and he didn’t think it’d be such a thoughtful one.
He used to think being a Dad would be a burden, but now … his kids are his world.
He’d do anything for them.
And he was going to cherish this gift forever…