I grunted as I put the bags of food and supplies back into place on my shoulders, making my way back down to the lair. I've been going on supply runs once every week, making sure that the tots were asleep before I left but back before they were awake. I know that they didn't like the idea of finding me gone. I know what you're probably thinking, 'Donnie, that's a lot of supplies for you!' Well let me remind you, I am the father of four growing ninja turtles and they eat a lot, especially Rapheal since he looked to be the biggest out of the four.
I finally made it to the door to my lair and started the whole process of opening and let me tell you, it was quite difficult with the bags but I finally got it. I looked around the lair, seeing and hearing if anything was amiss and thankfully, it wasn't. I let out a small breath, knowing that once again, I made it back before the tots woke up. It's only been a few weeks since the tots have been with me and I could tell that I would need to find a new place soon before they get much bigger.
I made my way to the kitchen and set the bags down on the counter, unloading everything and putting them all away. But as I was putting the food away, I heard shuffling behind me and I turned to see Leonardo standing behind me, rubbing his eyes. "Da..?" It didn't matter how many times I heard one of them call me Da, my heart melts everytime. I walked over to him and picked him, holding him close to me. "What are you doing up, little man? You're supposed to be sleeping." He only whined and held onto me, hiding his face into my neck. It was then I felt the tears on my skin. I instantly knew what the matter was, "Bad dream kiddo?" I could feel him nod and I only held him tighter.
"Come on, let's go lay down with your brothers." I began walking to the living room, seeing the other tots in a turtle pile. This was another reason why I needed to start looking for a new place soon, so that they could have rooms when they get older instead of sleeping in the living room. I decided that I'll start looking tomorrow after they're asleep.
I laid down on the floor next to them, rolling onto my side and curling myself around them, Leonardo still tucked into me. I felt the others start to move closer to me, causing me to smile at them. After they got comfortable again, I closed my eyes, feeling tired myself.
I felt someone patting my cheek, chirping. I groaned as I opened my eyes, seeing a blurry figure above me. I sat up, cause the turtle that was apparently on me to fall off my chest. A small chirp told me that they very much did not like being thrown off. I chuckled and grabbed the tiny tot and held him up. "Well maybe next time, don't sit on my chest and you won't get thrown off Michelangelo." He only stuck his tongue out at me, crossing his arms over his chest. I chuckled at this, finding it all very adorable. With him in my arms, I had the chance to look around and see the other tots sitting around the living room, playing around with each other or by themselves.
Even after weeks of them being mine, I still couldn't believe it, like it was all some dream that I'm gonna wake up from. But I pinched myself enough times to know that this wasn't a dream and that it was all real. I stood up with Mikey in my arms, causing the other tots to notice me and make their way to me as quick as their little legs could let them. I smiled down at them, watching them latch onto my legs. "You guys hungry?" They all nodded and I tried to make my way to the kitchen but the tots didn't let go of my legs. I looked down at them again and saw them smiling up at me.
"You guys have to let go of my legs if you want food." All three of them said, "No!" And held tighter onto my legs, giggling. I sighed and shook my head with a soft smile. Ever since the twins said 'Da' weeks ago, they've slowly been learning new words to say. Not talking like Raph was but was still talking. With a tot in my arms and tots on my legs, I made my way slowly to the kitchen, dragging the three older tots with me, causing them to laugh.
We finally made it and the tots finally let go of my legs and climbed up into the chairs around the table. I set Mikey down in an old highchair I found and fixed and began to make breakfast. This morning's breakfast was going to be eggs with what they wanted to be in them. Raph liked having bacon in his eggs. He'll probably want more in them like my Raph does when he gets older but right now, it was just bacon. Leo liked having cheese on his eggs, I don't know if he'll add more to his eggs as he gets older but we'll just have to wait and see. Donnie liked having his eggs plain, just like mine. Must be a Dontello thing. Mikey gets his eggs plain as well till he's old enough to show me what he liked having in his eggs.
I set the plates in front of them and sat down myself with my plate and Mikeys. The tots started to reach for their food before I held my hand up to stop them. "I wanna start doing something with you guys every morning at breakfast. Wanna know what it is?" The tots looked at each, confused, then looked at me. I smiled and said, "With my family, we always say a small prayer every morning at breakfast. How would you guys like to do this?" The three older tots seemed to be thinking, looking at each other. I know that this was different than what they're used to, saying a prayer before eating. I wouldn't mind if they didn't want to, yes, it would hurt me a little but I wasn't going to make them do something they didn't want to do if they didn't want to.
But it turns out that wasn't the case because they looked at me with smiles and nodded. "We try dada!" I smiled at them and said, "Okay, it's gonna be hard to do for a little while because it's in a different language so I'll be saying the prayer until you guys are old enough to start learning to read and then I'll teach you how to do it. Does that sound like a good idea?" They nodded at that. I smiled some more and held my hands out in front of me, and started to explain. "Okay, first, I want you to make a fist with one hand." I showed them how to do it. Mikey didn't understand what was going on but he wasn't touching his food.
With Mikey, he didn't eat until everyone else started eating. I smiled at them and nodded my head when they made their own fists. "Good job, now put your fist in the palm of your other hand. Like this." I put my fist into the palm of my hand, watching the others do it as well. I got up and helped Donnie with his, making sure that it was centered in the palm of his hand. He smiled up at me and I smiled back down at him, rubbing the top of his head. I walked back to my seat and sat back down, putting my fist back into the palm of my hand.
"Okay, now close your eyes and I'll start saying the pray." They each closed their eyes and then I closed my eyes, saying a prayer I haven't said in so long. "Watashi tachi wa kono tabemono wa kami ni kansha shi masu. Watashi tachi wa mimamotsu te kure te. Watashi tachi ga ikinobiru tame ni hitsuyo nani mono wa teikyou suru tame ni. Watashi tachi wa ćwatashi tachi ga motsu te iru subete no mono wa kami ni kansha shi masu. Arigatou gozai masu." I opened my eyes and saw their eyes still closed. "Okay you guys, you can start eating now. They opened their eyes and started eating.
I chuckled and began to help Mikey with his food and began to eat mine as well. As They were eating, I decided to bring up the idea of a new place. "How would guys feel about moving to a different lair?" They stopped eating and looked at me. "Wat dada ean?" Raph asked. "Well, you guys are gonna get bigger and at some point, you're gonna want your own rooms when you do, right?" That seemed to get him thinking.
"And we'll need the extra room with how big you're gonna get Rapheal. You're gonna be the biggest out of your brothers after all. And we'll need the extra rooms for lots of other things." That confused them now. "Wat ooms?" I chuckled and set down the fork that I was feeding Mikey with and looked at all of them. "Well, once you guys get old enough, I wanna start teaching you how to defend yourself. Just like how I was taught." That seemed to peak their interest. "Which means we'll need a dojo for training and such. We would also need a lap for me and this little one." I reached over and rubbed the top of Donnies head, "I saw you trying to take apart an old camera." He looked away, trying to seem innocent.
I chuckled and went back to feeding Mikey, "So what do you guys think about that? Finding us a new home?" The three older tots nodded, Mikey nodding along because he saw his brother doing it. But that also caused food to start flying off the fork and onto the table. I looked at the food on the table but before I could get it cleaned up, food started flying everywhere. I yelled out and ducked from a piece of egg aimed for my head.
I managed to sneak away from all the chaos and towards the archway, standing there and staring at the chaos that was happening. Food was flying everywhere, the tots laughing as they played. I rubbed my head and sighed, knowing that it was going to be a pain to clean up. Both the kitchen and my boys. My youngest son managed to somehow start a food fight without even trying. I looked upon the chaos once more and let out a small smile, seeing them smiling and having fun. Listening to the laughter that bounced off the walls in the kitchen.
Breakfast was chaos but so was my family and I loved these boys with all my heart.
"We thank the gods for this food. For watching over us. For providing what we need to survive. We thank the gods for all that we have. Thank you"