#The Others Were Helping Draxum Buy Important Stuff

[rottmntquotes]

Promise

“Y’know, you wouldn’t have to be down in Japan right now if you hadn’t tried to stab father. You could have just talked to one of us. Actually, strike that, you could have talked to Raph or Mikey.”

Leo chuckled at his twin brother’s words, shifting on the mat he had been sat upon to get as comfortable as possible. It had been nearly a month now, and Leo was already starting to sense the discomfort and frustration in his family’s demeanour. An upset frown appeared on Donnie’s face, clearly visible through the mystic mirror Leo was using to talk to him. “Look Dee, I get that you miss me, but-”

“Missing you is an understatement, my son.” Splinter chimed, appearing behind Donnie with a smile. “You should hear his constant complaints about how my decision was foolish and unfair.”

“Wow, I knew you guys were upset, but constant complaints? Damn, Dee!” Leo took note of Donnie’s light blush, deciding not to bring it up for fear of starting a fight. “Anyways, beyond the fact that I’m loved enough to make an impression, where are Raph, Mikey, and April? Hell, I’m even up for talking to Draxum!”

“Leonardo, how many times must I tell you to rid yourself of such immature words?” The loud booming voice that came from the Daimyo was enough to make even Donnie and Splinter flinch, a surprising feat, considering how they were literally across a different plane.

“Shazai shimasu, Master Daimyo!” Leo turned his head to directly address his sensei, silencing himself so that he could hear a more soft-spoken command. Once the Daimyo was done speaking, Leo sighed, turning his attention back to his brother and father. “Looks like I won’t have time to talk to them today.”

“I am assuming that the Daimyo is preparing your next training session?” Splinter asked knowingly. When Leo nodded, Splinter shook his head playfully. “Well then I suppose you should go. I will tell your brothers that you love and miss them dearly.”

“Seems a bit less personal and thoughtful not coming from Leo himself, don’t ya think?” Donnie remarked, looking down and suddenly finding his claws much more interesting than his far away brother.

“Aww, is someone giving up his emotionally unavailable bad boy image just for his little twin brother?” Leo teased, laughing at his own words. “Don’t worry about me, Donnie. I’ll be back home and beating you at Mario Kart in no time.”

“Hmm... promise?” Donnie’s head stayed down, but Leo swore that he caught Donnie’s eyes flicker up in hope every so often.

“With all my heart!” Leo assured, giving a playful thumbs up. “Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to teach you guys a thing or two when I get back.”

“That will be the day.” Splinter muttered, a small smile on his face.

“Leonardo!”

An annoyed whine escaped Leo’s throat, but he kept it as quiet as possible. “Hai, Sensei! I’m saying goodbye now!”

“Very well. Do hurry! We do not have all day!” The Daimyo moved to finish setting up Leo’s training session.

“I guess this is it. For now, anyways.” Leo sighed, giving a light laugh despite his sadness. “I love you guys.”

“We love you too, Leonardo.” Splinter replied, looking up at Donnie expectantly.

“With all of my heart, little bro.” Donnie finally looked Leo in the eye, a few tears sliding down his cheeks.

“Ah, c’mon Dee. You know what happens to me when you guys cry.” Leo’s voice cracked a bit, and he used his shoulder to wipe away a tear that had made its way down his face. “I’ll be back soon, yeah?”

“Okay.” The mirror ended the family’s communication there, and Leo sniffled, taking a deep breath before standing and walking towards the Daimyo. This was going to be a rough... however long Leo was in Japan, but he swore to himself that he would do what he could to get home as soon as possible. He did make a promise, after all.

And, no matter what happened, Leo never broke his promises.

[fanfic-inator795]

RotTMNT/Baron Jitsu fanfiction: Dating… With Children - BONUS CHAPTER

((Just consider this a bonus chapter that could pretty much take place at any day during the story, since it's more drabble-like than the other chapters.

As much as I LOVE writing cute Baron Jitsu stuff, the other main part of this story is Draxum also bonding with the boys and learning to become a worthy stepdad. (or, second dad? Since Lou was never married before? Whatever) And I really didn't want that part of the story to sorta fall by the wayside in favor of romance so, here's a whole chapter focusing on Draxum and the boys. Enjoy! ^v^))

Draxum had never really had much experience with kids in his adult life. No brothers or sisters meant no nieces or nephews, cousins or other distant relatives weren’t really much of an option either, and the lab he worked at wasn’t exactly the type to get field trips.

Still, dating a man with four young boys allowed him to learn quickly and pick up on little things. One of the things he had noticed right away was that once a child thought of you as a good person - or at the very least, considered them someone they trusted enough and didn’t mind being around - they wanted that person to know every single detail about them.

Whether that be their favorite food (pizza, though each of them had vastly different favorite side dishes, snacks, desserts and juice. Draxum honestly wasn’t sure how Lou could keep it all straight), their favorite colors (that one was as obvious as, well, as the colored shirts they were wearing) or, the most ‘important’ of all, their favorite toys…

“-And this is The Annihilation, an’ this is Liberty Bill - he’s part of the Liberty League.”

“Naturally,” Draxum said dryly, adjusting his position slightly on the boy’s floor so that his legs didn’t fall asleep.

“Yeah, they’re okay. My brothers really like them though. But my favorite is-” Raph grinned, holding up an action figure in an orange leotard with a white cape and bear ears on his mask. “GHOST BEARRRR!”

“Ghost Bear, hm?” The scientist could hardly keep himself from rolling his eyes. How on Earth did these wrestlers come up with such ridiculous names and costume themes? Then again, they probably had to do something to help keep the audience’s attention, along with all the manufactured drama between the so-called ‘athletes’. It was no wonder so many children were fans of it.

“-and he’s always won every fight, and he’s super strong and just SO COOL!” Raph continued as he shook the figure around, “An’ sometimes, when I’m playing wrestling with him, I have him tag team up with other bears!”

The boy in red raised back over to his closet and began to pull out not more action figures, but instead plushies. First a small black bear Beanie Baby - “This is Capt’n Snuggles-” then a much bigger, much more plush bear with a small lab coat- “and this is Dr. Huggenstein, you’d probably like him ‘cause he’s a doctor like you-” and finally, a slightly smaller and very well-loved brown bear plushie covered in stitches and patches- “And THIS is Cheech! He was my first teddy!”

Raph’s smile softened a bit as he hugged the toy. He and Cheech had been friends for a long time… Since before he met Lou, since before he met his brothers! And as far as Raph was concerned, they were going to be friends forever.

“...It- er, He definitely seems special then,” Draxum commented.

Raph nodded. “Yeah, he’s great…” He then scowled slightly. “Some of the older kids back at my old home didn’t think so though. They said havin’ teddy bears makes you a baby, but I didn’t believe them…” Even when their words hurt. “Teddies are cool, and so are real bears.”

“Indeed,” the scientist agreed, “After all, they’re resourceful, resilient, protective of their young-”

“Yeah!” Raph smiled, hugging Cheech again, “And strong too! Really strong, like me! But they’re not jerks or anything, they’re just bein’ bears! That’s why I like them!”

Draxum smiled a bit, watching as Raph began to make Cheech wrestle Liberty Bill. “A good choice for a favorite animal, then...”

….

“I can’t believe you’ve never heard of Jupiter Jim!” Leo shook his head. What, did grown ups just miss out on ALL the fun stuff in life? “My brothers and I have seen all his movies!”

“Oh? All of them?”

“...Weeeell, maybe not all of them-” Sixty movies was a lot, even for a young fan, and some of them hadn’t been re-released on dvd yet- “But we’ve still seen a lot of them, and that’s more than you!”

“Hmph, fine, fine, I’ll give one of them a watch sometime,” Draxum half-promised. He enjoyed the sci-fi genre well enough but, much like the Lou Jitsu movies, Jupiter Jim always just seemed too cheesy for him. At least with the Lou Jitsu movies, he could still count on well done and realistic fight choreography as well as a performance by who he considered was a much more charming lead. ...Not that he had any biases or anything.

“You gotta watch ‘em,” Leo insisted as he dragged out yet another plastic vehicle, this one being a moon buggy (or at least, the Sci-fi Hollywood version of one) with a miniature version of the titular character himself in the driver’s seat. “Especially the ones where he’s gotta make an escape in his buggy, they’re SO cool! And he explores planets, and fights the bad aliens and monsters while saving the good ones!”

With a hop and a determined smirk, Leo activated his light-up space sword. Draxum made sure to take a couple steps back as the boy began swinging it around, but thankfully Leo had practiced enough (and seen the movies enough) that he knew the moves well enough. “Jim’s just the best!” Leo continued, “He’s cool, he’s good at sword fighting, and he can always think of a plan to win and get away and save the day! And he gets to do this all while in space! On the moon! In SPACE!”

Draxum smirked. “I take it you like space?”

“Don’t you?”

“Point taken.”

“It just makes everything cooler and awesomer,” Leo shrugged, “And I’m gonna try to go to the Moon sometime too. You know, in the future. But until then, I’m just gonna keep watching Jim go there.” Suddenly, the boy went quiet, glancing around for any eavesdroppers before bringing his voice to a loud whisper. “And don’t tell Dad but… Sometimes I think Jupiter Jim is even better than the Lou Jitsu in the movies!”

Draxum nearly snorted at that, managing to just barely hold back his chuckles as he promised, “I won’t say a word…”

…

“Leon might’ve said that Jupiter Jim was the best, but he’s wrong ‘cause he just can’t see who the REAL best character in those movies is!” With a bit of a dramatic flair, Donnie spun around to reveal the doll he had taken off his bookshelf. “Ta-daaaa~!”

Draxum raised his eyebrow, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at. The doll had spiky bright-green hair, pink skin, eyes that as far as he concerned were much too big for it, and a blue and purple outfit with an atom symbol on it’s belt. The doll also had a giant plastic hammer in it’s hand. “Oh. Well, it’s-”

“Her name is Atomic Lass!” Donnie stated, smiling as he went into the explanation, “She’s a friend of Jupiter Jim’s! She comes from this town on a far away planet called Uraniumville, where she fights crime using her metal hammer and these really neat radiation beams that come from her hands!”

“Ah, I see,” Draxum nodded. That sounded about right, totally in-line with the style of those movies. “Is that why you like her then? Because she’s powerful?”

“Well, yeah,” Donnie replied, looking at the doll, “But she’s also super cool, and super pretty, and tough and, of course, smart.” He smiled at that. “Really, REALLY smart. That was how she got her powers, ‘cause she was also a scientist on her home planet before she became a crime fighter!”

Draxum nodded again, completely understanding now. When most heroes only seemed to rely on muscles and power boost, he could understand rooting for one who also had a brain. Donnie then sighed, fiddling with the doll’s hair a bit. “I know radiation makes humans sick, but I still wish I could just get some uranium and be a hero too instead of just dying from it. And it’ll take me forever to be strong enough to use a giant metal hammer!”

“...” A bit concerning but nonetheless all part of the childhood fantasy, Draxum assumed. “Why don’t you just focus on the things you can do now that make you feel smart and strong, and then figure out the ‘hero’ parts later?” he suggested.

Donnie thought it over. “...I’m trying to get Pop to let me do another science experiment at home, but now I wanna do something else, like… Like making my own robot! They’ve got books on how to make ‘em, you know! I just gotta find the right library… There’s robots you can buy at the toy store too but, I really wanna make my own - and I KNOW I could!”

With how smart and talented the young boy in purple seemed to be, Draxum had no problem believing that Donnie very well could make his own simple robot. Making a mental note to look up robotic projects for children later on, Draxum just smiled back at him. “Sounds like the perfect project to me.”

Donnie was full-on grinning now, eyes determined and mind already whirling with ideas. “Yeah! First robots, and THEN figuring out a way to get superpowers!”

“Well, I’d still maybe put that idea away for now…”

…

If Mikey wasn’t holding a crayon or marker or paintbrush, then he was usually holding one of his brother’s toys. One of their many action figures, or one of Raph’s plushies or Leo’s toy cars or Donnie’s puzzle toys. All of these toys were happily borrowed, and as long as they were taken care of and eventually put back, the other Jitsu boys didn’t mind whatsoever.

Of course Mikey had his own toys - including a play kitchen where he could ‘practice’ until he was tall enough to safely reach the stove - but more often than not his brothers’ toys were just more interesting to him. ...Still, what he did have that was all his own and that he played with happily was all the more unique, as well as all the more fitting for the young artist.

“Here!” Mikey proudly beamed, shoving the large shoe box into Draxum’s hands, “Look!”

“Wow…” Slowly, Draxum picked up each item one by one. Dolls made out of clothespins and spoons covered in paint, string and googly eyes. Birds and nimals made with paper and sticks and glue (loooots of glue, much to the doctor’s slight annoyance). Creatures that Draxum had no idea what they could be, created with puff balls and chunks of styrofoam and pipe cleaners, but still obviously made with lots of love.

And finally, folded carefully at the bottom of the box, a crane made out of a single sheet of bright orange paper. “Origami, right?” Draxum asked.

“Uh huh,” Mikey nodded, gently taking it from him, “But I didn’t make this one, Papa did! He made it for me the first night we came here to live with him, when I was too excited to fall asleep.” He pulled at the tail a bit, making the crane’s wings flap. “He said that paper cranes caused good luck, and that some people try to make a thousand so they can get a wish! But I don’t need a wish, so I just make ‘em whenever I feel like it.”

“That’s fair,” Draxum smiled, “I’m not sure if you could fit a thousand cranes in this house, even if you wanted to.”

“Heh, yeah, it’d be wayyyy too crowded!” Mikey giggled. He looked at Draxum, and then back at his crane. “...Stay right there!” Mikey told him as he ran over to his small desk, pulling out a sheet of paper. Not having much of a choice, Draxum leaned back slightly on the child’s bed and watched him work.

Mikey was surprisingly meticulous for his age, his tongue poking out in concentration as he carefully did each fold, though not once stopping or making a mistake. It was as if this sort of craft just came naturally to him, or perhaps he’d just done it enough times to know the steps by heart. Either way, it was pretty impressive, Draxum had to admit. Once the actual crane was done, it was onto adding markings and designs with markers and crayon along with the finishing touch of a bit of glitter before finally being given to Draxum.

“Here!” Mikey said, holding the teal crane up as far as he could, “Now you can have a good luck crane too, and it’ll make sure you’ll find a neat science thing at your work, or that you have good dates with my papa!”

Draxum chuckled, taking the crane. “I don’t think I need good luck to have a good time with your father, but thank you very much, Mikey.”

The boy beamed, and quickly climbed back up onto the bed to give Draxum a hug. “You’re welcome!”

The colorful crane never did find its way to Draxum’s lab, whether that was on purpose or on accident. But, it did however find a nice home on his nightstand, silently greeting him each night at bedtime and each morning when he woke up.

So, good luck or no, at least there was the small smile that it always seemed to put on his face whenever he noticed it - which only made sense, considering the place (and the family) it came from...

((It's been several episodes since Raph's mentioned his teddy bear collection in 'Mascot Melee', just SHOW US THE TEDDIES ALREADY! His collection sounded so cute, and I absolutely loved the names he had for them, lol. Also Leo being a huge space/scifi nerd in any incarnation is just amusing to me, heh. But yeah, hope you guys liked this! Next time, more Baron Jitsu with a bit of drama thrown in! See you then!))