Brotherly Blunders

Mind if I join you?

Donatello was in the garage working on the Shell Raiser. With all the wear and tear situations the subway car had been through recently it was in desperate need of repair. Dings, scratches and dents covered the entire car. Donnie had promised himself that he would have her back in tip-top shape before dinner, but here he was after everyone else had already eaten. He was quickly growing increasingly frustrated. Every time he tried the engine it misfired the purple-banded turtle had been poking around underneath it for hours and he still hadn't found the problem. There was a loud knock before someone walked quietly inside. Donatello slid out from under the Subway car and looked up. His immediate older brother stood with one hand on his hip, the other holding a pizza box. Donnie stood, using a nearby rag to wipe the grease and sweat off his head as he approached his hot-headed brother. As soon as he was close enough Raph shoved the pizza box into his hands. "We saved those for you."

The younger turtle looked at his older brother. Considering that Raph was the one bringing it in to him, he was probably the one who saved it for him. 

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it, brainiac." Raph looked at the Shell Raiser, and then back to his younger brother. "Whatcha working on?"

"The stupid thing keeps misfiring. I've been checking it over for hours and I still can't seem to find the problem." Donatello cleared a space by his computer, sat down and started eating his pizza.

Raphael looked at the Shell Raiser, his green eyes filled with concern. "Do you..." his voice faded away and he rubbed the back of neck nervously, shifting from one foot to the other. "Mind if I have a look at it?"

The purple banded turtle was left a little wide eyed by his brother's proposal, but he recovered quickly and narrowed his eyes. Letting the terrapin of destruction into the Shell Raiser's inner workings? I'd probably ended up with even more broken machinery. Still, I suppose he could do much more damage. Finally, after much deliberation, Donnie nodded and Raph moved over to the creeper and laid down on it before sliding under the slightly elevated subway car. Donatello had designed it so that the engine spanned the bottom midsection of the car to increase the vehicle's balance and stability.

Raph moved in and took a look. Don had said it was a misfire, so the most probable cause was a faulty cylinder, the problem was which one was it? The red-clad turtle slid back out for a moment, "I'm guessing you have a diagnostic scanner?"

The olive green turtle looked over to his older brother with shock written all over his face, practically dropping his pizza. He floundered about for a couple of seconds before recovering. "Don't bother. I already used it. All the cylinders check out."

Raphael frowned and slid back under the car. "Did you check the sparkplugs?" He yelled out.

"Yes." Donatello said, moving over to lean against the Shell Raiser and kneeled down so to speak with his brother.

"Fuel injector?"

"Checked it."

"Compression?"

"Checked."

"Did you make sure that the air to fuel ration is balanced?" Raph's question was met with complete silence and the red-banded turtle grinned before pushing himself out from under the car to see the look on his little brother's face. He stood and went over to the counter, using the same rag Donnie had used earlier to wipe the grease off his hands.

Donatello face-palmed. "How could you have thought of that and not me?"

"Geez, Donnie. You can't always be the smart one ya know." Raph smiled. "Every once in a while you gotta let someone else take a turn."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll get to work on that then. If that doesn't fix it, nothing will."

"Mind if I join you?"

Donatello looked up at his red-clad brother for a moment. Donnie was almost always in his lab working and Raph was the toughest of his brothers. The two of them never really spent much time together unless it was with their brothers. This might give me a chance to get a little bit closer to Raph. Or as close as he'll let me, anyway. The purple-masked turtle smiled at his older brother. "Not at all." He pointed to the toolbox.

"Cool, so what do you want me to do?"

Raph was asking to be told what to do? The world is ending. "Well take these," Don handed his brother the welder and mask. "You can start by welding the cracks."

"Sure thing."

"Oh, and Raph," the older turtle turned back to his little brother. "Try not to set anything on fire."

Raphael smirked. "No promises."

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Leonardo and Michelangelo were out in the main room watching Super Robo Mecha Force. In the middle of the episode, Mikey turned to look at the lab door before turning back to his older brother. "Hey, Leo."

The leader responded automatically, deep blue eyes never leaving the television. "What is it Mikey?"

"Raph went into Donnie's lab to take him his pizza hours ago and he never came out."

Leo's gaze snapped up as he realized his little brother was right. He reached for the remote and paused the show before getting up and heading towards the lab, Michelangelo following behind him like a puppy. They paused just outside the door when they heard laughter, laughter that wasn't Donatello's. Raph is still in there? And he's LAUGHING?!

The ninja brothers stepped silently into the room, both stopping short in the doorway when they saw that Raphael, their scowling hotheaded brother, was openly laughing. They vaguely heard Donnie muttering something before Raphael's laughter died down and was replaced by a snort and a snicker. As soon as Raph saw them his relaxed countenance returned to his customary glare.

"What's going on in here?" Leo asked Raph, who was leaning against the Shell Raiser his arms crossed over his plastron, holding a welder in one hand, the mask lifted, but still on his head.

Both the purple and the red-clad turtles ignored him. Raph began heading for the door and Donnie spoke up, "Hey Raph." Green eyes looked back at the brainiac. "Thanks for the help."

Raphael grinned. "Anytime, Don."

The orange and blue clad brothers stared shell-shocked as the normally hot-headed turtle left the room without another word.