Donnie was seriously getting tired of this crap. Once again Mikey ended up breaking something, because Raph ended up slamming him into it as a prank retaliation. He was more than fed up with their shenanigans. Every time they broke something he had to fix it. Didn't matter if it was the TV, fingers, furniture, legs, walls or teeth...it was always dumped into Donnie's lap.
Donnie looked over the latest victim, Vicky's hot water heater. She had one of those type of mobile homes where the storage room for the hot water heater had the door on the outside, opening into the small compartment that held it. It made no logical sense to Donnie really on why they did it that way. If the thing decided to blow up it didn't matter if the door was inside or outside...it still would take out that half of the house. Whoever designed this thing really needed their head examined.
The only reason Donnie was so annoyed about how this was set up, he was sure if he actually thought about it for a little bit there was a perfectly reasonable explanation on why it was set up this way, was because it had left it in a very vulnerable spot. It was protected from wind, rain, hail, the hot summer sun and all kinds of natural things, but it wasn't protected well enough from Mikey's dumbass. Especially when Raph was the one who slammed him into the damn door, which he ended up crashing through, which ended up in him smushing the hot water heater. Donnie looked in dismay at the twisted lump of metal that had just an hour before been a perfectly working appliance. This was going to take awhile.
He sighed as he shut the water and gas off that led to this little storage room, then began to try and pry the stupid thing out. It was so messed up he had to rely on brute force to get it out more than his tech knowledge. With a rattle and clangs as parts came falling off of it from the sudden movement, it finally slipped free of the compartment and Donnie just dumped it onto the grass next to him. It was already broke so no point in being gentle with it. He then returned his attention to the inside of the little room, surveying for anymore damage, and found plenty. Not to mention everything was wet from when all the water spilled out of the numerous ruptures in the tank. Those fucking idiots! This thing was heated with gas and they had come real close to rupturing the gas line! They could have blown the whole house sky high with their antics! Why was he cursed with such...neanderthals...for brothers?
Muttering to himself, Donnie began the task of fixing the room and adding some improvements when he thought they were needed. After a couple of hours he was almost done with that part of the current disaster, when one of the two responsible decided to show up. "Hey Donnie! You almost done with that? Can't wash dishes without hot water." Mikey...it had to be Mikey...
Donnie pulled his head out and glared at his little brother. "Well if you wouldn't have thrown goat shit in Raph's face right after training out here this morning, he wouldn't have thrown you and all of this would never have happened."
"Yeah, but it did, and now I need hot water."
"Then take the dishes to the lair and wash them." Donnie replied as he turned back to what he was doing.
"Dude..seriously? You want me to take the dishes all the way to the lair, wash them there, and then carry them all the way back? Waaay to much effort..."
Did he just...oh no he didn't... Donnie came back out and glared at him again. His amber eyes darkening a little with his anger and Mikey paled at the sight of a very pissed off Donnie. "Effort? Effort?! You want to talk about effort? Fine lets talk about effort..." Donnie stalked in on Mikey. "You have managed to break every single single thing we own, and most of them twice or more, and guess who gets to fix them." Donnie stomped closer. "And did I complain about it? No. I just keep repairing things you and that hothead always manage to break. Now that we have expanded our home to here, the two of you decide to take your destruction derby to Vicky's things, knowing she can't replace this shit on her own because she is tight on money. Especially with the twins being only a few weeks old and she can't work as much. So guess who gets to fix those things as well." Donnie was standing right in front of Mikey now and brought his face in close. "So don't you talk to me about EFFORT!" He roared the last word out and Mikey tilted back from him. "You can at least take the god damn dishes to the god damn lair and wash the god damn things there!"
Mikey was leaning so far backwards now that he fell over. He looked up at Donnie who was standing over him, hands on his hips, shooting daggers at him with those angry eyes. "Dude...you seriously need a chill pill..."
Donnie's anger filled scream was loud enough to send the birds flapping in fright out of the few trees nearby.
Mikey prudently scrambled away from his brother as shit started flying his way. Water heater pieces, rocks, sticks, more water heater pieces. If Donnie could get his hands on it, he threw it. Mikey was dodging all of them as he hauled ass around the house.
Trying to get his anger and frustration under control, Donnie returned back to the task at hand. He was almost done fixing up the compartment and was about to take the water heater itself back to the lair when he heard footsteps approaching again. Thinking that Mikey was dumb enough to actually come back, he snapped again. "What!?" He screamed at the footsteps as they stopped behind him.
Silence was his only answer and Donnie turned to look and see why Mikey wasn't talking. Maybe Raph had finally bricked his mouth shut... It wasn't Mikey however that was standing there. Dennis was staring at him wide eyed and close to tears as he held something in his arms. Now Donnie felt like shit. He had just yelled at an innocent eight year old boy. "Sorry kiddo, thought you were Mikey. What did you need Dennis?" He asked in a calmer tone then.
"I...I...was w-w-wondering if...you could help me fix my helicopter..." He said quietly as he watched Donnie apprehensively. Probably expecting Donnie to rip his head off or something.
The smart turtle sighed as he watched the little boy. So much had changed for this poor kid in the last few years and he was having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to it all. First his parents split, then the turtles just ended up popping into the boy's living room one night, then his dad moved away, the whole ring around the portal mess and now his mom had two new additions to care for. Dennis had always been the quieter one of the two, the shy one. The kid never asked really for anything and just accepted it all quietly. But even Donnie had noticed the boy had become more with drawn lately. He was barely there it seemed at times, just because he didn't want to bother anyone. And the one time he does ask for something...Donnie snaps at him. Good going there genious.
And there was something about the way he asked. Not 'fix this' but 'could you help me fix this'. He thought he saw something in the child, something Dennis really hadn't had a chance to explore for himself they way Donnie was able to when he was younger. Donnie thought about that a minute before he answered. "I'm sorry Dennis. I have to get this fixed."
He saw the slight hope that was in those small hazel eyes dim. "Oh...ok." He turned to leave Donnie to his work before the turtle could even finish.
"Dennis, wait." Dennis stopped and turned back to look at him. "If you want you can help me with this, and when we are done I'll take the time to help you with your toy."
"Really?" His eyes lit up again. "I can help?"
His earlier anger now forgotten, Donnie smiled and nodded.
Dennis rushed to the patio table and placed his helicopter down on it before rushing back, standing next to Donnie with his hands clasped behind his back and looking up to him with a wide grin.
"Well then, let's get started shall we?"
The rest of the day was actually pleasant. Together they had finished up with the compartment and Donnie carried the water heater to his lab with Dennis following behind. Donnie wouldn't let him close when he was welding the pieces together, but other than that he let Dennis help with every piece. He answered any questions thrown his way from Dennis, explaining why this went there and what that did and how this thing fixes that part. Dennis turned out to be a quick learner and knew when to stay out of the way and when to ask questions. The task took longer than Donnie had anticipated, but he enjoyed himself. And Dennis had a grin on his face every time Donnie handed him a tool. More often than not Donnie had to guide him, with his large hand over the boy's, as the water heater started to actually resemble one again instead of a pile of twisted metal.
The sun was starting it's evening descent by the time Donnie slid the good as new water heater back into it's compartment and hooked the lines back up and then they waited while it filled back up with water. "Well, kiddo, let's see if we did it." Donnie smiled at Dennis before reaching in to light the pilot light. It lit up easily and soon he heard the heating element kick on.
"It works!" Dennis had a big grin on his face. "We fixed it!"
"Yes we did." Donnie closed the newly repaired door back. "Now, go get you helicopter and lets take a look at it."
His eyes grew wide. "Oh! I forgot!" He quickly ran to where he had left it and came running back with it.
Donnie looked it over real quick. It was one of those remote controlled ones and when he tried to turn it on the main propeller wouldn't turn. He walked back over to the table and sat down at it, with Dennis pulling up another chair next to him. "Your motor went out that spins the propeller." Donnie told him as he pulled out a small took kit. "Should be an easy fix."
He pushed the small kit to Dennis who opened it up and looked inside. "Wow...look at these little tools! That's neat!" He pulled out a small screw driver.
"It's not always the big things that break and little things need little tools." Donnie winked at him. "Now that screwdriver you have in your hand should fit the screw right here." He watched as Dennis carefully removed the screw, then guided him through the repairs. Again Dennis listened to his instructions with care and Donnie let him do the actual repairs, only taking over if Dennis got confused or if delicate work was needed.
By the time the sun was setting Dennis was happily flying his copter around and Donnie looked on with a smile as the little boy sent it zipping through the air. The kid had that thing going all over the place. After a few test flights, Dennis landed it and turned to Donnie and wrapped his arms around the turtle's waist. "Thank you Donnie! You are awesome!"
Donnie wasn't sure exactly what to say to that but Dennis didn't give him the time to answer as he went back to flying his toy around.
"So, you corrupting my boy now with your bad habits?" Vicky asked as she came up behind him.
"No, why?"
She smiled at him. "Because I tried numerous times today to get you two to stop working long enough to at least eat something."
He blinked at her...he hadn't even noticed.
She laughed at his look just as Leo was coming out the door with a couple of plates. He walked over and set them onto the patio table. "It seems to me you might have found yourself an apprentice." Leo then grinned at Donnie.
"Kid has got potential." Donnie admitted.
"Potential I'm sure you are going to encourage." Vicky chuckled before she called her son to come eat. "You sit down and eat too." She then bullied him.
"Yes ma'am." Donnie had to admit he was hungry.
Dennis then came up, carefully placing the helicopter on the table before sitting next to Donnie at the table. They happily chatted as the sun kept lowering to the horizon, the fiery orange hues sparkling off of the metal of the toy that had set something into motion. Something that would eventually grow. Donnie smiled down at the boy next to him, maybe it was a good thing he got stuck fixing the water heater today after all.