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watchforstars · 5 years

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Bonding With Red- RotTMNT fanfic

@fanfic-inator795

“For a prompt: What things did Splinter do to bond with his boys when they were turtle tots (what games/activities did he do with them, did he have something special for each of them or did he do the same thing with all of them, etc.)?”

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Raphael: Martial Arts

‘This is starting to be a problem,’ the rat mutant thought as he flipped through the pages of a six-month-old, tattered copy of ‘Parenting Today’ magazine.

His assumed oldest son, Raphael, was getting out of hand. Out of all his sons, Red was the biggest and most aggressive—which by default at this age—made him the strongest. It didn’t help that Raphael was snapping turtle either which likely exacerbated his aggressive instincts. Sibling play always seemed to end in one of his younger sons crying or injured from a slap of his muscled tail, a scratch from his sharp claws or spiked shell, or a bite from his powerful jaw. Even if his sons where mutant turtles, this was starting to become excessive and placing a strain on the family dynamic. But the worse part was as a newly single dad, Splinter did know how to stop it.

“WAHHHHHH!”

Splinter straightened his back as he was startled from his thoughts. A high-pitched shriek echoed throughout the tunnels from their sewer home. The rat darted up from the couch he was sitting on, and haphazardly tossed his reading literature to the floor.

‘They were playing fine 20 minutes ago!’ He thought as he rounded the corner to the largest space in the tunnels—likely to become the living room if they remained here permanently.

“What’s wrong, my sons?! Are you injured?!” He practically shouted once he arrived.

His eyes instantly fell to the blue banded turtle, Leonardo, and the aforementioned, Raphael, gnawing on the smaller one's left leg. His other sons, Donatello and Michaelangelo, huddled up next to each other a few feet away watching with wide, worried eyes at the scene before them.

The red-banded turtle looked up expectantly and released his brother’s leg when his father entered the room. He chirped excitedly and wagged his long-spiked tail as the rat approached. Leo, now free from his confines, rolled on his shell and flailed his arms and legs around as a desperate cry for attention and comfort.

“Red One—NO! No biting!” Splinter admonished as he darted to the two turtles and gently lifted the younger in his arms.

He inspected the leg for any injury—luckily there wasn’t a puncture wound, and it didn’t appear it would bruise. At least Red knew to restrain some of that strength when engaging with his brothers. His right ear had been at the mercy of those powerful jaws a few months ago when Red was teething. He had taken a chunk out of the said ear, so he knew firsthand the damage Raphael could cause. Thankfully, Leo was more frightened than hurt.

“There, there...you’re okay, Baby Blue,” he rocked the blue-banded turtle in his arms to give him comfort, “you’re okay. I’m here.” The red-eared slider’s tears slowly subsided as he snuggled closer into his father’s furry grey chest.

Splinter let out a breath of relief he didn’t know he was holding. He kneaded his temples with his available hand. Apparently play would need to be supervised at this point.

He looked down as he felt four other hands latch on to his legs—Orange and Purple. The latter two had quickly scurried over and sought comfort from their mutant father now that the incident had calmed down. Raphael stood off the side isolated, head hanging low and hand in his mouth from being reprimanded.

“Red, stay here,” Splinter said with a clipped tone as he scooped down to gather his other boys in his arms. Purple and Orange chirped happily while Blue slowly started nodding off, drained for an afternoon of play. “I will put your brothers down for their nap, and then we can talk about what you have done.”

Splinter started towards the boy’s shared room but paused with he heard a weak whimper from behind.

“Pa...?”

Looking over his shoulder, the rat noticed the tears threatening to fall from Raphael’s eyes and the tremble of his lower beak. The eldest turtle locked eyes with his father and started shuffling over to the rat and his brothers, arms outreached begging for comfort.

“No, Red One,” Splinter said as he fully turned to the red-banded turtle, “I wish for you to stay here. Away from your brothers...for now. I—”

Red tucked his head down and placed a fist back in his mouth. He turned away from his father and brothers guiltily. He lowered himself to the ground, hugged his knees tightly, and sobbed.

With empathetic eyes, Splinter bowed his head and sighed, turning as he resumed his walk to the bedroom.

He had to act now before things escalated for the worse.

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After tucking in the younger tots for a much needed afternoon nap, Splinter went to find Red. Perhaps if he could find a way to teach the older boy about restraint, he could learn to play with his brother without harming them. It was clear to the rat—even after several accidental injuries—that Red didn’t understand his own strength and was only wanting to play.

But he didn’t know much about kids or turtles—let alone mutant turtles, so he was at a loss of what could be done. All he knew is acting and martial arts.

Splinter steadied himself on the nearest wall as he made his way back to the living room. His yellow eyes fell right to the turtle in question who was sadly looking over one of his worn teddy bears. The occasional whimper could still be heard from the tot as he tried in vain to independently soothe his loneliness.

“Red One,” Splinter calmly started as he walked over to the turtle in question. He knelt next to the boy so he could be eye level to him—as the parenting magazines had recommended, “I am—”

The rat paused as he looked at the pitiful sight that was his son and let out a light, yet wistful sigh. He reached over and affectionally rubbed his red-banded son’s head. A calming gesture, so his son would be more receptive to his teachings and to hopefully, convey his emotions on the incident to the child.

“I am not mad at you, my son,” he chuckled as Raphael hesitantly giggled at his antics. The rat placed his hand on Red’s shoulder. “We must learn to control your powerful strength and impulses. It is not okay for you to bite your brothers. I know it was not intentional, but—”

Raphael slowly blinked and cocked his head to the side in confusion.

“W-what I’m trying to say,” Splinter backtracked to make the lecture easier for the tot to understand, “is that you must play gently with your brothers, so they do not cry.”

Raphael furrowed his brow as he tried to comprehend his father’s teaching. ��

“...wlay nice?” He eventually wondered aloud.

“Yes! Very good, my son,” Splinter nodded in confirmation as he stood up “We must play nice with your brothers. I want to teach you to master your strength, so I have decided during your brother’s naptime, we will have our lessons. I will teach you martial arts.”

His son’s blank expression clearly indicated the child did not understand what his father was talking about. Perhaps a demonstration was needed.

The rat took a few steps back and took a deep breath to center himself. It had been several months since he was able to do any heavy physical activity due to his weakened state and mutation by that warrior and psychotic scientist mutant sheep, Barum Draxum. He actually hadn’t done any martial arts—let alone katas, since his mutation. Splinter suddenly doubted he would be able to do any of his skills in this new body, but looking at his son’s question-filled eyes, steeled his resolve once more.

“HOT SOUP!” he exclaimed as he delivered a flurry of punches and kicks to an invisible foe.

Adrenaline rushed through his veins as each practiced move was executed as if he had never lost his human form or had an extended hiatus from the arts. An emotion Splinter hadn’t felt in a while—excitement—bubbled to the surface from his innermost being. A familiar confident grin graced his lips jumped up for a mid-air round-house kick. This was the Lou Jitsu he longed to be again! As he landed, he went for another kick but paused as he heard the gasp from his son, Raphael.

Instantly, all the excitement died down, and he was brought back to the reality of his mutation. He could never go back. This was his life now—parenthood and sewers. He slowly placed his leg down and turned towards his son. When they locked eyes, another emotion replaced his sorrow and disappointment.

“Ooh,” the red-banded tot shouted in amazement. “HOT SOUWP!” he emulated as he punched the air, dropping his forgotten teddy at his feet.

Love. He felt...genuine love and happiness.

“Yes, Raphael,” he chuckled as the tot toppled over attempting the aerial combination. “Come, let us begin our first lesson before your brothers awaken. The rat held out his hand to his son as an invitation.

The red turtle pushed himself off the cold floor and scurried over to his father’s extended hand, grasping it greedily with chubby fingers. He nuzzled his head against father’s robe, releasing a happy chirp at the attention.

His initial hope was that martial arts would quell is eldest son’s instincts and teach him control; however, he didn’t anticipate the bond he would create during this one-on-one time with Red. Perhaps his other sons would be interested in learning this craft in a few years. They didn’t quite have the motor skills or dexterity yet but learning self-defense would likely be beneficial for his mutant children.

“HOT SOUWP!” Raphael shouted again in excitement as they wandered towards the back of the lair.

“Hot Soup!” Splinter echoed a bit softer but with no less zeal.

Looks another trip to the surface was in his future. He’ll have to salvage some supplies for a dojo.

---

Thoughts:

So as I may have mentioned in an earlier post, this was supposed to be just a prompt, but I felt like writing, and it got out of hand. Story of my life. I will be writing for each turtle and will be releasing them in age order, so next up is Donatello.

I have a head canon that Raph was a bit of a handful growing up due to his size and species of turtle. If you have never met a snapping turtle in person, they are mean little shits. I lean more towards sociological ideas—an individual’s personality is formed from environmental interactions such as with family, community, etc. But as children, we are more instinctual and follow our basic needs until we are able to be taught from our environment. Therefore, Raph was a bit more aggressive as a child until he was able to be taught otherwise.

I literally see Raph chewing through furniture and toys while he was teething.

So anyway, he had to learn how to control and reshape his natural instincts so he wouldn’t harm his brothers. And he very clearly has learned this as displayed in RotTMNT. He’s so sweet.

I also head canon the turtles started talking later in childhood that an average human child would as they are mutants—turtle and human DNA. In this case, I imagine around age 4-6 they develop the mental capacity to form words, so Raph is just learning to use his vocal cords. He has a limited vocabulary, but he is able to comprehend. The other boys can’t talk yet but are able to walk.

Splinter was also difficult to write as we still don’t really know much about him. The boys are clearly well cared for and love their dad, but there was a shift in his character when they got older...maybe depression? Anyway, I tried to convey he is struggling to do the right thing by caring for the boys while dealing with his new mutation, etc. etc. In other words, I based him off of other Splinter’s, so yeah...

Hope you enjoyed! Reblogs and comments are always welcome and appreciated. My plan to release the next part of this prompt later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience, and feel free to leave more turtle tot ideas!

#tmnt #tmnt donatello #tmnt raphael #tmnt mikey #tmnt leonardo #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #tmnt splinter #fanfic #writing prompt

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