Work Text:
The next day, Splinter was tasked with teaching a private class. This wouldn’t have been a problem if Splinter had remembered to pick up ingredients for a rather special dinner he had planned for that night.
“Oh, Raph and I can go get everything.” Donatello volunteered. “It’s only 5 ingredients, right? We’ll be in and out in no time.”
Raph rolled his eyes.
“If it’s only 5 ingredients, you can grab it yourself. You don’t need me to babysit.”
“It’s not a matter of babysitting, Raphael.” Splinter interjected. “It’s a matter of public safety. It’s a big city with many opportunities for danger present.”
Rpah growled.
“Fine, I’ll go. But only if you promise to buy me Cheeto Puffs, Donnie.”
Donnie smirked and rolled his eyes.
“Accepted. Come on, let’s go before it gets too busy.”
=====================================================================
It took them all of about 30 minutes. 5 to walk to the store, and another 25 to find all of the ingredients.
“Ok, so we have everything: chicken breasts, roma tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, balsamic vinegar, and sugar.”
“...that’s 6.”
“I couldn’t find balsamic syrup, but you can make it at home with just balsamic vinegar and sugar. Takes like, 5 minutes.”
Raph rolled his eyes again and took his bag of Cheeto Puffs to the self-checkout. Donnie just shrugged and headed to the shortest check-out line. Scanning didn’t take too long, and to his surprise, he was able to use Splinter’s debit card with no questions asked.
“Here’s the receipt. Have a good day, ma’am!”
Donnie froze awkwardly.
“...thank you.”
He took the bag and met up with Raph at the front entrance. He had already ripped open the bag of Cheeto Puffs.
“You only have that look on your face when people call you “ma’am”.”
Donnie did indeed have a perplexed look on his face. Truth be told, he didn’t mind being mistaken for a girl, but it was still off-putting.
“But why do they always say “ma’am”? I’m sure “Have a nice day” is more than enough.”
Raph just stared at his younger brother.
“You have shoulder length, curly ass hair, and are wearing a sundress from the 1970s. People are gonna assume you’re a girl.”
“...it’s not a bad thing, though.”
“...no. Obviously not. Honestly, I thought you were going to ask me if you were pretty.”
“No need to ask that, I know I’m not.”
Raph angrily sighed.
“I’m sorry, you walked down the runway at New York Fashion Week, and you have the audacity to say you’re not pretty?”
“It was an accident! The model got sick, and I just happened to be the same height!”
“Eh, small details. Come on, though. I wanna go home.”
“Right.”
They started to walk home, not eager to start up a new conversation. Just as they were about to arrive at the apartment complex, Donnie ended up tripping on a sewer grate and getting his ankle caught in the open space. Raph had managed to catch the groceries as they fell out of his brother’s hands and just looked at them awkwardly.
“Yeah… I’m gonna go home.”
“Home? Raph, I’m stuck in the fucking sewer grate.”
“Look, Don, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s 4pm, we’re due home in 30 minutes. If you don’t get home, it’s on you.”
Raph left, much to his younger brother’s dismay. It took Donnie an extra minute or two to get his ankle out of the grate, and when he did, he was met with the familiar pain of dislocation and even a possible sprain.
“Again? God, this is getting old…”
He slowly sat back up, trying to fight off a sudden bout of lightheadedness. He was about to wonder what was causing this until he noticed quite a bit of blood on the sidewalk. Confused, he looked all up and down his legs to try and figure out if anything was gashed. Surprisingly, he found nothing. He was about to brush it off until he pressed his hand against his nose, only to be met with the familiar feeling of an active nosebleed.
“...did I seriously break my nose tripping on the sidewalk?” He angrily grunted. “God fucking damn it.”
He stood up abruptly, which introduced a wave of dizziness. He tried brushing this off and slowly walked back home.
=====================================================================
Donnie suddenly opened the front door.
“Sorry I’m late, Sensei.”
“Late? You’re 10 minutes early. Get in, though.”
Donnie closed the door and slowly walked to the kitchen to meet his father. Splinter, to say the least, was not impressed to find Donnie in the state he was in. Not only was his nose bleeding and his ankle dislocated and even sprained, but there was a fresh bruise covering his right cheek.
“My son… what happened?”
Donnie shook his head.
“Tripped on a sewer grate. This was about… 30 minutes before you wanted us home.”
“Did Raphael help?”
“...he brought the groceries home?”
Splinter shook his head.
“Raphael ditched you? He saw you trip and just left you?”
“I mean, we had the deadline…”
“That’s not important right now.”
Splinter handed Donnie a spare kitchen towel to hold up to his bleeding nose.
“I can’t fucking believe this. Shit like this is why I don’t let you all travel anywhere alone.”
“But I got myself out…”
“Not the point, Donatello.”
Donnie shrugged and slowly stood up.
“If you want to help, you can shred the basil. Almost everything is done.”
Donnie nodded and Splinter helped him to the dining room table. Donnie quietly resigned himself to shredding basil while Splinter started on the balsamic syrup and waited for everything to finish cooking.