Author's Note: So I've had a long stressful week and the new few months will only grow more stressful. My response to this is to imagine turtles. And where does my mind go?
To the next generation of Hamatos, of course.
Enjoy this one-shot of a day in the life of the turtles and their families (following the Penance and Ryoshuu timeslines). If at any point the identity of the children grow confusing to you, remember: every kid's name starts with the same letter as his or her turtle parent.
Anywhoo.
The dojo was quiet. For now.
Leonardo paced, his hands behind his back, blue eyes sharp and focused. Back and forth he moved, unblinking and unrelenting in his inspection. Then, without warning, he barked out a name.
"Luka!"
A slim Asian boy of twelve stepped forward with a twirl of his kamayari.
"Damon!"
A taller teen with a crop of strawberry blond hair moved, nunchucks whistling soundly in his hands, relaxed.
"Daniella!"
A ruby-haired young woman next, stunning black tessen skillfully tossed in each hand.
"Mira!"
Tiny and bushy-haired, a girl of fifteen was nearly dwarfed by the pair of katana she wielded with a wily grin.
"Roman!"
Last, a tall, broad-shouldered young man appeared with a cocky smirk, a pair of lethal chigiriki snapping forward with a deadly crack. Leonardo paced the line of teens and came to stand at their center.
"Hajime!"
"Oh man," Damon groaned as they left the dojo. "That was rough."
His twin shrugged a kink out of her shoulder. "Just wait until tomorrow," she muttered exhaustedly. "Rooftop training with Uncle Raph." Behind them, the eldest of the lot gave a happy whoop.
"Hell yeah," exclaimed Roman. "That's my favorite." As they rounded into the kitchen, a turtle came into view, one elbow balanced on the counter as he read from a newspaper. A mischievous grin split the Roman's features. "Speak of the devil," he whispered.
Hopping into the kitchen, he darted around Raphael and knocked the turtle's propped arm out from underneath him. "Watcha' doin' old man?" he smirked. Raphael yelped and nearly fell over before he rounded on the teen, and even though Roman tried to leap out of the way, Raphael managed to snatch him up in a grapple.
"You little punk! Come 'ere!"
"Whoa!" Mira ducked out of the way to avoid being trampled, because now Raphael and Roman were destroying the kitchen in their furious brawl. "Just trying to get some food here, people!"
"Mom's bringing us some," Daniella collapsed onto a stool in at the kitchen island, her cellphone already in hand as she typed away a rushed message. Mira snatched up her dodgy old baseball cap and put it firmly back on its usual backwards position atop her head. Her untamed brunette hair poked out from underneath like a mushroom cloud.
"Awesome," she said, plopping onto another stool across from the twins. Luka, silent and unaffected by the chaos as usual, took a seat at the end of the counter. Finally through with his roughhousing, Roman came to a stop at the counter just as his youngest cousin stood and pushed up on his tiptoes to reach the paper towels on the top of the fridge. Luka was small and had little hope of growing very tall, but it hardly mattered. At 6'1, Roman dwarfed all of their cousins, not just tiny Luka.
"Here ya go," Roman plucked the paper towels down and handed them to Luka, and the two exchanged smiles. They had the greatest age difference between them, but that didn't stop them from being close.
"Thanks," murmured Luka. They took seats next to each other at the kitchen island.
"Oh my god!" Daniella jumped up excitedly from her seat, her eyes glued on her phone. "Damy, I need a spotlight!" Her brother reached in his pocket and pulled out a small flashlight to shine on her.
"Why do you indulge her?" murmured Roman with a smirk.
"Makes my life easier," grinned Damon.
"This is the moment you have all been waiting for!" declared the sixteen year old female. "Yes, you are correct. Matthew Laird has asked me to go out with him Friday night." She beamed and flicked a piece of red hair out of her pretty freckled face.
Roman and Mira made identical whistling noises while twirling their index fingers. "Whoop," added Mira. Dani's expression dead-panned before she resumed her seat, prompting Mira to pick up an empty cereal box, toss it up in the air and then smack it with a dough roller. It flew across the kitchen and straight into wall, where it promptly fell into the trash bin below.
"Yeah!" she shouted with a triumphant grin. "That's that Hamato swing right there, baby!" She flexed and shifted in a semi-circle, nodding and winking at her admiring fans while her cousins rolled their eyes and snickered in turn.
"Food's here!" April Hamato rushed in, arms laden with bags of carryout food, all of which was instantly removed and placed in front of the ravenous teenagers. "Whoa, geez. Like a bunch of lions in here," she rolled her eyes before offering affectionate pats on the head for her two. "How's training going?"
"Brutal."
"Same."
"Boring."
"Awesome."
After a long pause, everyone looked over at Luka, who peered up from his styrofoam plate of food and offered a small smile before he returned his attention to his chopsticks and shoved some noodles in his mouth. The conversation resumed in earnest again, deafening in its volume.
"I hope we don't have to do anymore of those pull-ups," said Daniella with a sigh, and at the questioning looks from the others, she shrugged. "I don't want to look like a pro-wrestler, okay? Defined muscles on girls are not okay."
"Oh, what a load of crap," Mira said around a mouthful of noodles, most of which she had to suck hurriedly back into her mouth, earning a disgusted look from her only female cousin. "Guys dig muscles."
"It's true," said Damon, and Roman and even Luka offered agreeing nods.
Daniella rolled her eyes and addressed them each in turn with a point of her polished finger, starting with her twin and then pointing to Luka and Roman.
"You're gay, you're twelve, and you date skanks." She turned her attention back to her phone. "Your opinions are null and void."
Mira said dryly, "She gets more charming with every day."
"Like a blossoming flower," Roman waved his hands grandly. The teens dug into their food, rare silence making its way into the lair that had been their fathers' childhood home. However, when Raphael re-entered the kitchen, Roman jumped to his feet.
"Heyyyyy," he skidded to a stop right in front of Raphael. "So, about that motorcycle."
Raphael opened the fridge and didn't look at him. "Not until you turn -" he paused, his motions freezing as he stopped himself mid-sentence, alarm growing as Roman's devious grin amplified.
"Not until I'm what? What was that, Dad? Huh? Not until I'm how old?" And then he burst out, before Raphael could speak. "Not until I'm eighteen! And guess what?" He thrust a fist triumphantly in the air, his muscled bulk looking ridiculously child-like in his glee.
"Two more weeks!" he crowed. "EIGHTEEN!"
Raphael groaned and slapped a hand over his face, making Roman drop his hands. "Oh, come on! You've had a motorcycle since you were fifteen!"
The turtle in question folded his arms. "Oh, yeah? How would you know that?"
"Uncle Mikey told me," he smirked.
"You gotta get it past your mother," said Raphael before he and Roman left the kitchen, still bantering in a way that would almost certainly lead to more rough and tumble scuffles that honestly should have left someone with a broken arm, but somehow never did.
At the counter, Mira leaned over and peered at what Luka was doodling on his napkin. "That's good," she whispered to the youngest cousin, her smile encouraging. Luka returned it with a shy shrug. "Are you still planning on asking Uncle Leo and Aunt Ame for a drawing tablet?"
The youth sighed. "I don't know," he murmured.
"You should," Mira gripped his arm and gave him a light shake. "You're really good! Just talk to them."
Luka tilted his head at the small drawing and his lips lifted in a smile. "Maybe I could ask for Christmas," he said softly, and Mira nodded enthusiastically in reply. Then she turned back to her food, which she shoved into her mouth with little to no decorum.
"Chew with your mouth closed!" Daniella groaned, to which Mira responded by opening her mouth wider and smacking on her noodles. Dani shrieked and slapped her hands on the counter. "Gross, Mira! Stop!" When her cousin only laughed wildly in response, Daniella turned to her twin. "Damy, a little support please!"
Without looking up from his food, Damon picked up a magazine and held it in front of Daniella's face so she could no longer see Mira. His twin relaxed. "Thank you," she said haughtily.
"Geez," muttered Mira on the other side of the magazine, still squelching as loudly as possible on her food. "You are such a baby. Get off my balls already."
"Mira!" snapped a voice, and the remaining cousins looked up to see Michelangelo standing in the doorway, his arms folded. "How many times have I told you not to say that?"
"Aw, Dad -"
"Ten flips. Go."
Mira shrieked. "Wha – I just got done with training!"
"You did it to yourself," said the turtle casually, entering the kitchen with a wiggle of his finger in her direction. "Go. Now." Groaning loudly, Mira jumped up from her seat and snatched off her hat, which she dropped on the counter so she could step just outside the kitchen.
With an irritated grunt, she bounced into a back handspring, her feet and hands slapping on the cold lair floor. Clip Clop. "One," she grunted. Clip Clop. "Two."
Mikey turned back to the counter with a shake of his head, even as he secretly smirked at April as she re-entered the kitchen. Glancing over her shoulder, she let out a quiet laugh. "Was she talking about balls again?"
"Yes," Mikey said, exasperated.
Clip Clop. "Three." Mira's voice floated in from the living room from, out of sight. Clip Clop. "Four."
"Oh," April perked up. "I ended up having to cancel the class I was going to teach, so I'll be able to make Mira's softball game after all."
Clip Clop. "Five." Clip Clop. "Six."
Mikey smiled. "That's great! I'm glad they built that new stadium. It's so much easier for me to watch from those rafters. And it's closer to the concession stand." He wrapped his arms around his torso and hummed happily. "Mm, nachos."
Clip Clop. "Seven." Clip Clop. "Eight."
Mikey and April turned back to the entrance of the kitchen and moved to go back to the living room. "Yeah, this is the semi-finals, right? There are so many games in the season, it's hard to keep track," April continued as they entered. Mikey opened his mouth to reply before he spotted Mira.
Who was currently hopping in place, clapping her hands loudly in front of her. Clip Clop. "Nine," she said, eyes on the ceiling boredly. She stopped in mid-motion for the tenth and final "jump," her father's disapproving stare freezing her to her spot even as Mikey fought the urge to laugh.
She flashed him an innocent grin. "Uh... Ten?" she tried.
"Nice try," said Mikey as April burst into a fit of giggles. "From the top."
"Aw, Dad!"
Author's Note: If anyone is interested, all of these kids have backstories. Mira's in particular is very cool (she is the only one of the Hamato children to be biologically related to one of the turtles) and yeah, feel free to hit me up on my tumblr if you ever have any questions. Or send me questions on here and I'll add them to this author's note. Thanks for reading! And for clarification -
Leo/Ame – Luka
Donatello/April – Damon and Daniella (Damy/Dani)
Raphael/Aniyah – Roman
Mikey/Mel – Mira