Work Text:
“Raph! You mind helping me with this?” Leo called from one side of the lair. After their fight with the Krang, they had to do a bit of work on their lair. Luckily, their new home had survived the invasion, unlike their old one that was unsalvageable after what the Shredder did.
Sister Krang had broken into the lair while April and Splinter tried destroying the key. Donnie's lab was destroyed, the main area was wrecked, and the tracks and train cars outside were barely standing. Donnie’s lab was easy to take care of for the others. Just take all the unsalvageable stuff out and Donnie did the rest. And they didn’t really use any of the outside tracks anyway, so they could ignore those.
It was the main area of the abandoned station that required the most attention. But they couldn’t work on it because of all of the injuries the turtles gained after the invasion. Donnie and Raph were up first and worked on moving all the stuff out of Donnie’s lab. Then once Mikey was free to use his arms again, he started helping with moving all the rubble around the main area to the sides and into more manageable piles. And that just left Leo.
Leo was hurt the most out of all of the turtles, after willingly trapping himself in the Prison Dimension. He was alone with Krang One and was too hurt to defend himself. Leo was beaten black and blue by the time the others were able to get him out of the Prison Dimension. He broke his left leg, popped his shoulder out of his socket, and cracked his shell.
For over a month and a half, Leo was stuck in the med bay being treated for his injuries and had only just been allowed to get out of bedrest a week ago now that his shoulder was healed and his leg and shell were healing steadily.
Leo was currently trying to move some stray pieces of concrete from the main area of their lair into some more manageable piles. Small pieces were fine, he could just sweep them up with a broom. It was the larger pieces that proved difficult, hence why he was calling Raph over. He waved Raph, who was talking with Splinter, over to help.
“Leo! What are you doing!” Raph ran to Leo the moment he caught on to what he was doing with Splinter right behind him. “You only just got off of bed rest, you should be resting, not trying to move concrete!”
“Come on, Raph. That was a week ago and I've been fine!” Leo ignored the crutch he's been using to hobble around.
“I agree with your brother. You shouldn’t be working when you are still healing, Blue.” Splinter told Leo.
“But I’ve been cooped up in the med bay for weeks . I need to do something or I’ll go insane.” Splinter and Raph both stared at Leo in uncertainty. They could understand the need to get up and do stuff, but Leo still had a broken leg and cracked shell. “Please.”
Raph and Splinter looked at each other before finally relenting. They knew Leo wouldn’t settle down, even if they told him to. And Leo had been complaining about cabin fever for weeks. Plus, it wouldn’t be that bad to let him help.
“Alright, fine. You can help, Leo.” Raph sighed before smiling at Leo. You could blame Leo feeling cooped up for too long, but the old Leo would’ve used being hurt as an excuse to avoid any and all chores.
“Thanks, dad.” Leo smiled at Raph before freezing. When he realized what he just called Raph, his face turned as red as Raph’s mask. “I-I mean Raph! Stop laughing! Dad was right there and I got confused…”
Raph couldn’t help himself as he doubled over laughing at Leo’s mistake. Doesn’t matter how much Leo has grown, he’ll always make fun of his little brother. Neither of them noticed Splinter freeze. Nor his dejected look or how he slipped away from Raph and Leo, who were too distracted. By the time Raph was done laughing, Splinter was gone. Much to Raph’s confusion.
“Huh? Where’s Dad?” Raph looked around, but found no sign of their father. “Leo?”
“Splinter? I’m not sure.” Leo’s cheeks were still a little red, but still looked around. “I think he left when I accidentally called you dad.”
“Oh.” Raph had a sinking suspicion. Raph knew their father, and Raph knew how insecure Splinter is about if he was a good father. “He’s probably in his room, then. You should go check on him.”
“Wha- Me? Why not you? You’re the oldest, aren’t you?” Leo pointed at Raph.
“Yeah, but it’s because of you that Dad ran off. So it’s your responsibility” Plus, Splinter would listen to Leo more than Raph at the moment. If his suspicions were proven correct. “Now go.”
“Ugh, fine. I’m going.” Leo put his crutch under his arm and slowly walked over to Splinter’s room.
Splinter wouldn't call himself the best father. He wouldn't call himself a great father. Hell, sometimes, he wouldn't even call himself a good father. He doesn't have the right to after ignoring his sons for so long. Splinter will be the first to admit that, for too long a portion of his sons’ lives, he wasn't a father to them.
He used to be. Years ago when he was a man who had escaped not one, but two kidnappers who wanted to use him for his deadly combat abilities. He had escaped a changed man, mutated, with four small turtle sons. But then he stopped acting like a father and wallowed in self loathing while his sons grew up. And just when he thought he was doing good again, Leo calls Raph ‘Dad'.
He shouldn't be surprised. While Splinter buried himself in old Japanese shows and his old movies, Raph was the one taking care of his brothers. Raph was the one acting like the father Splinter should have been.
“Dad? You in there?” Leonardo called from the outside of Splinter's room. “You kind of…well, I wouldn't call it storming out, but…never mind, I'm getting side tracked. I'm coming in.”
Splinter made no attempt to stop him. He knew Leonardo enough to know that he wouldn't care if Splinter told him not to come in. Instead, Splinter took a deep breath to ready himself for the coming conversation. He waited patiently for the door to open.
“Oh, good. You are here.” Leo poked his head into Splinter’s room to see him sitting on his bed before walking the rest of the way in. “So…you kinda left quickly. Which is fine! But Raph said I should check on you since he thinks I said something wrong…I didn’t, right?”
“No, you didn’t say anything wrong, Leonardo.” Splinter shook his head. No, it was Splinter that did something wrong. For over a decade.
“Oh. Alright, good!” Leo was glad that he wasn’t in any sort of trouble. He turned around to head back to Raph. “Well, I’m gonna go back out to see if I can help with cleanup. So you, dad.”
“You shouldn’t be calling me that” Leo stopped in his tracks when he heard Splinter say that. He slowly turned around to see Splinter curled into himself.
“Call you what? ‘Dad’?” Leo slowly slowly closed the distance between himself and Splinter. He was confused about what Splinter just said. “W-What are you talking about?”
“Let’s be honest, I haven’t been much of a father to you or the others. I mean, I only started acting like one because of the Shredder.” Splinter explained to his second eldest son, if he had the right to call Leo that.
Leo watched his father silently for a moment before sighing. He set his crutch aside and sat down next to Splinter. He wasn’t nearly as good as Mikey was when it came down to emotions, but he liked to imagine himself at least pretty alright with them. At least better than Donnie. Leo sat there silently, right next to Splinter, as he thought about what to say. Eventually, He just opened his mouth and said the first thing that came to his head.
“So that’s what this is about.” Leo watched Splinter out of the corner of his eye for any reaction. He thought he’d have to continue when Splinter spoke up.
“For ten years, I sat and wallowed away, drowning my sorrows in cake and shows while you boys grew up. Raph had to step up to raise you, boys.” Leo saw Splinter sink into himself as he spoke. “I don’t even call you boys by your real names. I call you by the color of your headbands. And I don’t even do that right. I tried talking to Pur- Donetello a while back and he told me the last time I talked to him, I was actually talking to Raphael.”
Leo stayed silent as he listened to his father. He wouldn’t lie if he said he hadn’t thought a lot of this about Splinter before, but that was in the past. They know much more about their father now. They know much more about Hamato Yoshi now. About everything that he’d gone through before being mutated and forced to raise a bunch of mutant turtle babies he never asked for. Leo took a deep breath before speaking up.
“Look, I won’t say that none of that is true.” Leo went silent again to figure out how he was going to say the rest of his piece. “And there were definitely a few…moments…where the others and I were…less than pleased about our relationship at the time.”
Splinter hunched deeper and deeper into himself as Leo spoke. He seemed to be confirming all of the doubts and fears plaguing Splinter’s mind. His doubts of his ability as a father. His fears that his children didn’t view him as a good father; didn’t view him as a father at all. Just as Splinter thought that Leo was finished, he spoke up again.
“But.” Splinter looked up to his son to see not a hint of hatred or frustration directed at Splinter, but understanding. “We know more about what you’ve been through than we ever did back then. You left the Hamato Clan after losing someone important to the fight against the Foot Clan, you moved to New York and became a movie star despite your grandpa’s disapproval, and then you got kidnapped and forced to fight in a massive, gladiatorial arena. And when you finally escaped, it was because of an insane warrior alchemist that wanted to turn your DNA into a super soldier serum, only to escape a giant rat man with a bunch of children you never asked for.”
Both of them were silent once Leo was finished giving an abridged version of Splinter’s life. The topic of his life was always a heavy subject to Splinter. There are moments he missed the fame and spotlight of his time as Lou Jitsu. Moments where he regretted leaving the Hamato Clan as Hamato Yoshi. There were even moments early on in his boys’ lives where Splinter still thought he was trapped in the Battle Nexus, forced to fight day after day.
“You went from Girl Boss to Single Mother.” Leo finally said to break the silence and, hopefully, improve Splinter’s mood. Thankfully, it seemed to work as Splinter couldn’t help himself. He let out a small, but audible snort of laughter.
Once more, silence filled the air between father and son. Much less tense, this time. Splinter was still upset about his previous actions, but Leo had made things easier for Splinter.
“It still doesn’t change the fact that I wasn’t there for you boys as a father for too long…” Splinter whispered, and Leo replied instantly.
“It doesn’t. But you’re trying now, and that's all that matters.” Leo wrapped his arms around Splinter, pulling him into a hug, which he gladly returned.
“Thank you, Leonardo.” Splinter whispered into Leo’s ear in the hug. “Don’t tell the others, but you’re my favorite.”
“Don’t worry, pops. Your secret’s safe with me.” Leo let go of Splinter and grabbed his crutch to leave the room. He had to gloat to his brothers about being Splinter’s favorite. But of course, Splinter could guess that was what Leo was gonna do.
“You’re going to tell them, aren’t you?”
Leo smiled.
“I’ll leave out all the emotional parts.”