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"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Donnie asked. The giant duck suit he was wearing, while an effective disguise, was not breathable in the slightest.
"Relax, Dee, I know what I'm doing," Raph replied, which would've been a heck of a lot more convincing if he hadn't just tripped over his own feet. He was wearing the hippo suit from that one time they tried to get a gift for Splinter. "The pharmacy should be right around this corner. I think."
"You think?" Donnie sidestepped to avoid stepping on a little kid. When they rounded the corner, the pharmacy was nowhere in sight. "Raph, this is the... 'Brightwood Junior Science Fair'?"
Forget the pharmacy, Donnie was standing at the entrance of a real science fair! All around were tables and booths and elaborate displays. Kids beamed with pride as they showed their magnificence off to parents and a pair of adults with clipboards. Those must be the judges.
"Donnie? Are you listening to me?"
Donnie hadn't even realized his brother was talking. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. I just want to get a closer look at some of these."
Raph grabbed his shoulder before he could take his first step. "Are you crazy? Dad told us to stay under the radar."
"Um, no offence to Dad, but I don't think these suits are the most subtle thing in the world. I'm a duck and you're a giant hippo."
Kids and parents alike were staring at them with expressions that seemed equally amused and confused.
"We should just go," Raph insisted. "I think I figured out which way we have to go. If we head East—no, West—along this road, then take two lefts...Or was it a left and then a right..."
The rest of his sentence was lost to Donnie. He couldn't tear his eyes away from a short kid in the back corner, smudging away tears as the judges walked towards him. None of the other kids seemed upset, so why was he?
This called for an investigation.
"And then we'll use the money Dad gave us to—What are you doing?"
"Investigating," Donnie replied with a grin his brother couldn't see. He walked as casually as he could through the crowd, ignoring Raph's hisses to "Slow down," and "Remember what Dad said!"
Donnie ducked (no pun intended) behind a tree, even though he knew it would do little to hide him.
Thankfully the judges' backs were faced to him. He couldn't hear all of what they were saying, but judging from the way the kid's face fell more and more, he could tell it wasn't good.
"It was right here!" The kid cried, pointing to his machines. It appeared as though he'd made three fans attached with wires to...were those vegetables? "All of my fans had this red piece, about this long..."
Snickers came from behind him. When Donnie turned, it took all of his willpower not to summon his tech and pin it on these little brats.
There were three of them, each twirling a red piece in their hands. They high fived each other before setting the pieces down on the table where nobody could see them.
Donnie had never wanted to hurt children as much as he did in that moment. They stole from this inspired young man, this mini genius, a visionary of the scientific community. The Fan Kid, as his mind had expertly dubbed him.
"People are staring," Raph huffed, ducking down next to him. "We should go."
"Not yet," Donnie shot back, tearing his eyes away from the group of inconsiderate jerks. "I have a plan, but I need your help."
He could feel the unamused look Raph shot him through the hippo head.
"Please?" he tried, clasping his hands together. "It's important."
After what seemed like an eternity, Raph nodded. "Alright. What do you need me to do?"
"I need you to cause a distraction," Donnie glanced back to make sure the pieces were still on the table. They were. If this was going to work, he needed to move fast, before the judges left the Fan Kid's table.
"I gotcha. Distraction is my middle name." Raph said.
Donnie's lips quirked into a confused frown. "I thought your middle name was Atsuko."
"It is," Raph confirmed. "I was just makin' a joke."
"Ohhh," he drew out the word. "So can you cause a distraction or not?"
"Duh, distraction is my mi—I mean, yes. Yes I can."
Donnie held out his hand. "Good luck, comrade."
Raph reached out and gave it a firm shake. "Likewise."
The next thirty seconds were complete and utter chaos. Raph stampeded through the crowd, yelling gibberish and falling to the ground dramatically. While everyone was paying attention to that, Donnie grabbed the red pieces from the bullies' table, darted over to the Fan Kid's display, and began the process of reattaching them. His giant duck hands made it difficult, but he eventually heard the three telltale clicks that meant they were secure.
He ducked behind the nearby outhouse as people seemed to gravitate away from Raph and back to their own things.
"Where were we?" One of the judge's drawled. They couldn't sound more bored.
"I'm telling you, the switches were right here when I set up, somebody must've..." Fan Kid trailed off, eyes lighting up.
Donnie leaned in to listen as the kid explained his project. Apparently it was common knowledge among his class that a potato could conduct enough electricity to power a fan or light up a lightbulb, but he wanted to try it out with other vegetables as well.
Fan Kid was just getting to the good part when he heard a pssssssst sound. Raph's costume was dirty and had holes in a few places, but he looked alright otherwise. He gestured for Donnie to follow him, frantically eyeing his surroundings like a scared animal.
"Coming," Donnie whispered back, taking one last glance at the judge's impressed faces.
None of them would ever know what he did today, but Fan Kid's million-watt smile was all the thanks he needed.
He may or may not have shed a few tears as he walked away from the fair and towards his older brother. When they were out of sight from any prying eyes, Raph yanked off his hippo head, face glistening with sweat.
"Thanks," Donnie punctuated the word with an embarrassingly loud sniffle.
"Donnie, are...Are you crying?"
For once, he was grateful for the coverage of his giant duck suit. "Of course not. I just...I have baking soda volcano in my eye. I should probably get that checked out, actually, because the chemicals are very corrosive and whyyyyyyyyy are you looking at me like that?"
Raph was full on grinning at him. "Is your middle name 'Secretly-A-Softie' and you didn't tell me?"
"It's Sho," Donnie corrected. "You know, like our great grandfather Sho?"
"...Nevermind." he ran a hand down his face. "Let's just get what we need for Dad and get home before I overheat in this thing."
"Sounds good. Once we find it, it'll be smooth sailing from there. What could possibly go wrong?"
The answer to that question was a lot.
A lot could go wrong.
If looks could kill, Donnie would be six feet under. Raph sighed, taking off his gloves to sign, "Why did you have to say that?"
"What?" Donnie shrugged, signing back. He failed to see how this was his fault. "You mean, what could possibly go—"
Raph grabbed his hands before he could finish (the sign language equivalent of clamping a hand over his mouth), then let go to inform him, "Yes, that! Whenever somebody says that, something bad always happens!"
The last minute or so had been a blur. One moment they'd been standing there scanning the aisles for constipation capsules, and the next, the shelf was toppling over and people were rushing over to see what was going on.
Raph did the first thing he thought of and pulled the fire alarm, which is how they ended up standing alone in the store with this mess on their hands.
Luckily Donnie had his noise cancelling headphones on him. If he had to endure the shrill sounds of the alarm they were going to have another problem on their hands.
"Someone's here," Raph signed, eyes flicking to behind Donnie.
An all-too familiar figure bursted through the doors, eyes flicking between the two turtles on their mascot suits. At that point both of them had taken off the heads. Pros: They could breathe better and actually see their surroundings. Cons: April knew it was them.
April's mouth moved furiously, but Donnie couldn't make out what she was saying. If facial expressions were anything to go by, though, she was furious.
"I'll get her to turn off the alarm," Raph signed. "If I have to endure her scolding, then so do you."
Donnie groaned, but let him go.
A moment later, they were both back. Raph, with a sheepish smile on his face, and April with her hands on her hips.
"Wanna hear about how I fixed a kid's science project?" he asked in an attempt to diffuse the tension. Gosh, he was spending too much time with Leo.
"Oh, definitely!" April clapped her hands together. "As soon as you two clean this up."
They spent the next few minutes putting everything back with intense focus. Raph pulled the shelf back up with ease, then he passed bottles and boxes to Donnie to put in the right sections.
By the time they were done, it was like nothing had ever happened.
"What's going on in here?" A voice called.
April's expression twisted with panic. "Shoot, that's my boss! You guys gotta get out of here!"
Donnie grabbed the box they needed for Splinter and handed her all the money they'd brought. He hoped that it would be enough.
After retrieving their masks, Donnie and Raph booked it towards the back door, disappearing just in time to hear April telling them, "Fire alarm? I didn't hear anything. Must've been a false alarm, heh."
Donnie felt like collapsing from exhaustion, stress, and just how sweltering it was inside the suit.
"So..." Raph gave him a thumbs up. "That went well."
Donnie hummed thoughtfully. "Well, considering we got what we needed, got out of there without being seen, and April didn't lose her job...Yeah, I'd say it did go pretty well."
"Celebratory fist bump?" Raph held up his fist.
Donnie knocked their knuckles together, and in unison the two of them exclaimed, "Team Brains and Brawn for the win!"