Like Father Like Son [ROTTMNT]

Chapter Two: Draxum's Gift

Splinter rummaged through the fridge, searching diligently for his tub of sour cream. He hummed to himself, tail waving as he clutched the bag of potato chips in one hand and tried to grab at the half-empty tub in the way back of the fridge. His arms were too short, though, as with every attempt he made, the sour cream slid away from his nails and became that much harder to reach. Ah, well. He supposed this is what having four taller kids was all about.

“Boys!” he called, wandering back into the television room from the kitchen. He spotted them easily enough; they were all clustered around his chair, armed with a dozen different blankets and pillows. Or, wait: one, two, three… where was Blue? Splinter turned to look at the clock, and he frowned, puzzled. It was 8:30 pm, and yet there was no tell-tale smell of pizza or dirty boxes lying scattered around.

“Boys,” he repeated again, softer. “Weren’t you supposed to order pizza?”

There was another moment of silence from them, Splinter only answered by the distant chatter of television superstars and loud sound effects backed by upbeat music. Then Purple blinked, his gaze darting to meet Splinter’s own before he turned back to the television. “Yeah, yeah,” Purple answered, eyes glued to the screen. “Leo’s on it.”

Orange blinked, the first to shake himself from his movie stupor. “Wait,” the youngest said, frowning. He got up, looking around for something... or someone. Did he also feel like something was wrong? “Wasn’t that like, an entire hour ago? We’re on the fifth movie of this arc, we started on the fourth.”

“Eh, hard to tell with autoplay,” Purple commented, waving a hand dismissively. “They all seem to blend together.”

“An hour,” Splinter repeated. He pushed down his fear, keeping his expression calm. Young and inexperienced as they may be, his sons were large, powerful mutants. They had gone largely unknown to anyone except their little human friend, and Splinter couldn’t think of any enemies out to get them. Two faces flashed in his mind, and Splinter shook his head slightly. No, any of his own enemies thought he was dead. Blue probably just got lost or distracted, and the others could go get him, easy. An hour wasn't that long, just twenty minutes longer than usual... but still...

“Maybe it just took Leo a while to get back while carrying the pizzas,” Red suggested, unknowingly following Splinter’s same line of thought, but the eldest had also stood up, his brow furrowed. "Or the deal for cheap pizza made the place so busy that the pizzas are taking forever? That happens sometimes, right?"

“Ugh, you’re making a big deal out of nothing, I’m sure,” Purple groused. “He’s done this hundreds of times.” The soft-shelled turtle, however, still hit pause on the movie, and joined his brothers in standing. “If I had known this would happen, I would’ve just sent a drone or something. You’d think that with a teleporting sword he’d be a bit quicker about it.”

“Not now, Donnie,” Red said, shifting uncertainly from foot to foot. “Pop’s right; it’s been a suspicious amount of time. It wouldn’t have taken him forty minutes just to get back here. We need to go and search for him.”

“You– you think something bad happened to him?” Orange asked, his voice small.

Splinter smiled, patting his youngest on the shoulder. “No need to worry, Orange, I’m sure Blue would have called if anything was seriously wrong. Why don't you three go out and find your brother, I’ll stay here and call if he shows up.”

“Good idea, Dad,” Red agreed. “C’mon guys, let’s go.”

Splinter watched his sons all walk off, the three chattering quietly amongst themselves. Orange was clearly anxious already, but Purple and Red were doing a decent job of keeping their cool, their only giveaways Red’s constant checking that his other two siblings were still there and Purple refusing to look up from his wrist tech, probably already trying Blue's cell phone. Splinter stood there, watching his sons until they were all out of sight, before he climbed into his reclining chair and popped open the bag of chips.