"You have to see this," Leo murmured in a low voice to Raph at his side.
The family had gathered along the sidelines of the dojo that evening to watch a small competition that Leo had organized between his students. He'd split the group into two teams and had them battle one group against the other. Since Machi had turned seven this year, she'd been allowed to begin full-on training with the rest of the team, instead of the one-on-one training he'd begun with her over two years ago. Leo had watched her thrive in the structured team training and had to keep a smirk off his face as he watched her disarm one of the more experienced bunnies.
Raphael, however, felt free to smirk, especially when he heard Usagi make a disgruntled noise from the other side of Leo.
The bunny went to retrieve the sais that Machi had knocked to the ground but jumped back as throwing stars landed in front of his floored weapon.
"Where did those come from?" Raph said, eyeing the stars now embedded in the floor of the dojo as he felt slightly sympathetic to the bunny who retreated without the twin to his weapon.
"Keep watching," Leo replied, keeping his eyes on his students.
Raph shifted his eyes to Akito and found him with dual katana, a new skill Leo had been working on with him, sparring with Violet and her nunchucks. He watched the two grin at each other as they circled.
Violet spun the chucks and Raph glanced over at Mikey who was watching her closely with his own smile. Leo had asked Mike if he'd work with Violet and give her tips for her chosen weapon and Mikey had happily agreed. Raph could see the improvement in her already.
Violet spun the chucks and got one wrapped around Akito's wrist, forcing him to drop a katana. He advanced towards her despite the loss and Raph watched as Akito picked up his dropped katana with his tail as he stepped over it. He was able to pass the katana from his tail to his free hand as he continued to advance towards the purple bunny.
Raph looked to Leo who turned his head and smiled back at him.
"Have you ever noticed how they hug us sometimes just using their tails?" Leo asked. "Our tails have never been very useful in battle so I didn't think about it before. But their tails can actually grip."
"Was our daughter carrying around throwing stars in her tail?" Raph asked, narrowing his eyes at Leo.
Leo chuckled. "I told her not to. I don't even know how she keeps getting her hands on them."
"Really? No idea?" Raph asked, glancing down the line along the edge of the dojo to Miwa, who had also spent some one-on-one time training Machi and the two female bunnies.
Leo smiled again, glancing down at Miwa as well. "I checked her tail after the first time she did it and she manages to hold onto them without cutting herself."
Raph straightened and nodded. "So yer sayin she's already a bad-ass kunoichi?"
"She's your daughter. Of course she is."
Raph nudged the smirking Leo.
"Yame!" Leo announced and Raph smirked over at Master Splinter and then Donnie and Mikey as every furry student on the dojo floor, even Machi, immediately froze and bowed to their opponents.
Leo headed out onto the floor towards his students with Usagi following to listen in on the discussion about progress as Raph headed over to Casey and April. He reached up and tickled their five-year old daughter, Shadow, as she sat perched on Casey's shoulders.
"You keeping her up there just to keep her out of the action for as long as possible?" he asked.
"Yes, Uncle Raphael, we certainly are," April said, giving his shoulder a small nudge.
"Oh come on, April," Raph said. "Have you forgotten all of yer kunoichi skills?"
"Of course not. But watching all those little students flipping around with weapons and I just see danger now. I have no idea how my father even let me leave our apartment. Ever."
"If you'd never left yer apartment, you never would've met us. You would've been stuck with just this loser," Raph said, poking Casey in the chest.
Casey grabbed hold of Shadow's feet and lunged towards Raph with them, trying to force Shadow to kick him in the head. Shadow giggled as Raphael successfully dodged each attempt.
"Get him, Shadow!" Mikey yelled as he grabbed Raph from behind and tried to hold him still so Casey and Shadow's feet could get closer to Raph's head.
Raph twisted his body so that when he grabbed Mikey's arm and flipped him off his shell, he didn't hit Casey or Shadow on the way down. He went down a few seconds later when Mikey grabbed and pulled on one of his ankles.
He heard an "oomph" from Mikey as he made sure to fall directly on him, although he didn't remain there long as Donnie hit him from the side and knocked him off their baby brother. They laughed as Casey, minus Shadow, joined in their wrestling match. But all four froze when they heard another "Yame!" from across the room.
Their heads turned to Master Splinter, who stood by the dojo exit. "Since everyone else has already gone downstairs for Sunday dinner, would you be interested in joining us?" Master Splinter asked with a small smile as he turned and headed for the hallway.
They frowned as they realized that they'd missed everyone else leave and quickly hopped up off the floor and headed downstairs, shoving each other as they went.
When they reached Mike's apartment, Raph let everyone go ahead of him and smiled as Leo slipped out the door and met him in the empty hallway. Leo wrapped his arms around Raph and quickly kissed him.
"Get any new bruises, hothead?"
"Cant believe you ditched me," Raph said, kissing him again.
"Did you need me to save you?"
Raph scowled at him.
"I had to get the children away from the crazy wrestling adults," Leo said, smiling at the scowl. He slid his hands down to squeeze Raph's hands. "So what'd you think tonight?"
Raph squeezed Leo's hands in return. Leo wasn't one to want his ego stroked, so Raph had quickly learned over the past eleven years that they'd been together that these seemingly random questions from Leo meant he'd been harboring doubts for some time.
"Leo, ya know yer doin a great job with those kids, right? I mean, you saw them tonight. That's all due to their amazing sensei. We're all very proud of you, Master Leonardo, especially me." He watched the worry leave Leo's blue eyes as he spoke.
He didn't know why Leo, who worked harder than anyone Raphael had ever known, let his head fill with doubts. But he was grateful that a few words from him could easily chase them away.
He watched as the blue eyes suddenly sparked as Leo smiled at him again.
"You smilin cause I called ya Master Leonardo again?"
Leo nodded.
"You get me to say that way more often than I should, Master Leonardo." He couldn't help but smile at Leo's smile as he leaned forward to kiss him again. "Come on, let's go eat dinner."
The next morning Leo quietly rose from bed and silently padded his way into his and Raph's bathroom. He immediately noticed a post-it covered with Raph's handwriting stuck to the mirror: "You're as amazing on the inside as ya are from behind."
Leo huffed out a quiet laugh as he turned and headed back into their dark bedroom. He stood by the side of the bed for a moment and admired the sleeping Raphael, letting his eyes slowly wander over the muscular body until his wrist was grabbed and he heard Raph growl, "Get back in here" as he yanked Leo down on top of him.
Leo let himself be pulled back into bed and pushed his face into Raphael's neck, although he wasted no time swiping his tongue across one of the sensitive areas and released a churr as he felt Raph's hands slide down his shell to fondle his rear end.
"Ya liked my note?"
Leo smirked into Raph's neck and grabbed hold of Raph's upper arms as he felt one of Raph's fingers press into him.
"Ya feel like skippin meditation to spend extra time with me this mornin?" Raph teased as he moved his finger deeper inside Leonardo.
Leo moaned and lifted his head to cover Raph's mouth with his own. He began pressing his hips forward so that his lower plastron rubbed against Raphael and heard Raph release a churr in response.
"That better be a yes cause I'm not lettin go of ya now," Raph growled at him.
Leo chuckled as he rubbed against Raph again and tightened his hold on Raph's biceps. He moved his mouth down to Raph's neck again and nipped at the emerald skin. Raph added a second finger and the attention had Leo moving his hips faster as he began to pant against Raph's skin.
Leo gasped as his body jerked in response to Raph hitting his prostate. He dropped down and Raphael quickly took hold of him, pulling more moans from Leo with long strokes as he hit Leo's prostate again and again. "Jeezus, Raph," Leo groaned out, and Raph could only grin at the knowledge that he had Leo this close this fast.
"Let me see it, Leo," Raph said as he continued to work his fingers in and out of Leo and could only churr himself as Leo's body spasmed on top of him.
Leo pressed his face hard into Raph's neck with his release, breathing in Raphael's scent as he panted and collapsed down on the muscled body beneath him. He only stayed there a moment as Raphael rolled them to the side and kissed Leo again. Leo smiled as he reached down between them and began to stroke Raphael.
Raph churred again and pushed Leo onto his shell before climbing on top of him. "I'm gonna start leavin ya notes more often," he said as he pushed his way into Leo's body. He pressed his own face into Leo's neck and listened to Leo moan out his name.
"Aishiteru, Leo," he whispered as he began moving his hips faster.
Leo's hands scrabbled over Raph's shell, grabbing hold of the edges as he wrapped his legs tightly around Raph's waist.
"Love you, Raph," he huffed out. "Love you."
Raph covered his mouth again and pushed his tongue into Leo's mouth as he grunted and reached his own fast release. He collapsed down on Leo's body and rested his face on Leo's plastron. When his breathing slowed a few moments later he lifted his face and was shocked to find that Leo had gone back to sleep. He grinned down at him and whispered, "Thanks for staying in bed with me."
He remained where he was, content to watch Leo sleep, until he heard the kids get up and start moving around the apartment. He lifted himself slowly from Leo and made his way out to the kitchen to start making breakfast.
"I'm going upstairs to meditate with dad," Akito said, heading for the door.
"He's still sleepin, bud," Raph said.
"What? Really?" Akito said, stopping in his tracks.
"Is he sick?" Machi asked from the kitchen table.
"No," Raph said, laughing. "He's just restin. He works hard and doesn't let himself relax often enough." He turned back to the stove so the kids couldn't see his grin as he thought how well his relaxation technique had worked that morning. "Come sit," he said. "I'll have breakfast ready in a few minutes anyway."
Akito shrugged and sat next to Machi. He leaned over and eyed the math homework she was working on. "Isn't that due first thing this morning?" he whispered harshly to her.
Machi pushed Akito's face away from her paper and scowled at him.
He grinned back at her in return and then grinned up at Leo as he walked into the kitchen. Leo smiled back at him as he leaned down to kiss the top of Machi's head. He moved over to Raph and ran his hand across the back of Raph's neck.
"Have I said good morning to you, yet?" Raph asked, wondering if Leo knew about the shiver that ran down his spine every time Leo touched him like that. He smiled at Leo and then flipped the pancakes on the griddle.
"No, you haven't. Jerk," Leo responded, smiling back.
Raphael laughed and elbowed Leo away from the stove. He pushed him towards the fridge with instructions to just pour drinks for everyone's breakfast.
Leo laughed again and turned to pull cups down from the cupboard when he suddenly felt dizzy. "Raphie," he said harshly as he reached out to grab the kitchen counter. He lifted his eyes to Raphael's and felt confused as he watched Raphael's eyes actually widen in terror.
"Leo!" Raph said, lunging forward to grab Leo's arm. His hand swiped through the air as Leo disappeared right in front of him.