Chapter Text
Gyro, Fenton and Boyd returned home late the next morning, and even though Gyro couldn’t truly remember the time that’d passed it felt relieving to finally be back in his own home. It was a frigid cloudy morning, and the house had the strange empty smell that houses always get when left alone for a while. The first thing Gyro did when he got home was light a scented candle in the kitchen before flopping down on his bed, face-first.
Fenton collapsed next to him while Boyd went to put away some things in his room. Gyro eventually sat up, pulling the crushed remains of Lil’ Bulb from his pocket and setting them on his nightstand. He needed to fix him sometime, but he didn’t have the energy.
Lil’ Bulb had been in the Mad Ducktor’s black coat pocket when Mads had given it to Boyd to bandage Fenton’s arm, and the little robot had been left in the wreckage near the bridge. Beakley had gone over there early that morning after dropping Mads off at the Supercell, collecting the robot and the broken Gizmoduck armor.
Gyro had made a point to avoid Mads that morning, finally letting himself relax when Beakley drove away with him, Webby with her in the passenger’s seat. Blacklight had slipped away somewhere, Gyro had no doubt they were already hatching a scheme to get Mads out of the Supercell as soon as possible.
“I’m tired,” Gyro groaned, flopping back down on the bed.
Fenton turned his head to face him, his eyes closed. “Hmmmm me too.”
The inventor moved closer to his husband, putting an arm around him and kissing his forehead. “Do you think we could get away with spending the whole day like this?”
“I definitely think we can,” Fenton said, a faint smile on his beak. “I’m so glad to have you back.”
Gyro just smiled, resting his beak on the bed just above Fenton’s. Boyd came in a few minutes later, curling up in the small space between them.
Gyro was relieved it was all over. He was back, he had his family with him, and Mads was at last going to stop meddling in his life, at least for a while. Now he felt like he could truly relax, to soak in this time with Fenton and Boyd and let it stretch out into eternity, cherishing every moment. Like a gentle winding river he let himself be carried away in the moment, letting out a breath and closing his eyes.
It was the moments like these that he would always be grateful for.
Though they’d only woken up that morning a few hours before, the three of them soon fell asleep. Fenton went first, and Gyro smiled at the sight of the sleeping duck before dropping off himself. Then Boyd, satisfied that his dads were both happy and safe, let himself drift asleep as well.
Gyro woke several hours later to knocking on the front door, and he sleepily raised his head. “Who is it?”
Boyd was sitting up next to him, rubbing his eyes. “It’s Archimede!” He said, excitement in his voice. He immediately slipped out of bed, running to the door.
Gyro sat up, looking over at Fenton who was just stirring. He couldn’t help himself and bent down to kiss the side of the duck’s beak. “Good afternoon,” he said.
Fenton chuckled sleepily. “What time is it?”
Gyro was about to answer when Boyd ran back into the room, Archimede behind him. The blond bird was wearing a green cargo coat with flecks of snow stuck to his shoulders and the fluffy hood.
“It’s been snowing!” Boyd said excitedly, jumping back up onto the bed. “There’s so much!”
“I thought I’d come by before I left and see you guys,” Archimede said, leaning against the doorframe with one leg crossed in front of the other.
“You’re leaving today?” Gyro asked.
Archimede nodded. “I want to get back home before it gets too dark, but I wanted to see you all again too. Donald asked if I wanted to go out to eat with him on my way out of town, so I don’t have too much time though.”
“Oh! Papa!” Boyd said, scrambling over to Fenton. “Do you remember what we said we’d do once we got dad back?”
“What?” Gyro asked.
Fenton was just sitting up, pushing himself up with his good arm and still looking half-asleep. “Hm?”
“When it snowed?”
“Oh, right!” Fenton looked over at Gyro. “Boyd wanted to go out and have a snowball fight whenever you got back, and have hot chocolate.”
“And waffles for dinner!” Boyd reminded him, looking at Gyro. “And then come inside and get all cozy and play board games and cuddle and watch a movie! Archimede could do it with us too!”
Archimede grinned. “That sounds fun! I can probably just stay for the snowball fight though.”
“And there’s enough snow outside to do it!” Boyd told them. “It’s perfect!”
Gyro glanced between them. “Well then I guess the last one outside gets pelted with snowballs!”
Immediately all four of them scrambled for the front door, yanking coats on and stuffing pant legs into their snow boots. Due to being half asleep and unable to put a coat on correctly Fenton was the last out, but they decided to give him a free pass because of his arm.
“Which means dad was the second to last one out!” Boyd shouted excitedly, already making another snowball.
“Get him!” Archimede exclaimed, scooping snow up from the ground.
Gyro stumbled back laughing, covering his face. “You wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, would you?”
It turned out that they would, and they did. Gyro was soon covered in snow, being hit from so many places at once that he nearly fell over. Boyd could make snowballs at lightning speed, and soon Fenton and Archimede took to borrowing snowballs from him to throw at Gyro.
Eventually the inventor was able to get one back at him, and it turned into an all-out snowball war all around the house. Boyd was incredibly fast and dashed all around the yard, catching them in an instant. Archimede took to hiding behind bushes and sneak attacking people, before Fenton started doing the same thing and the two had their own battle in the backyard.
One of Archimede’s snowballs that had been aimed at Fenton in their one-on-one battle accidentally hit Boyd, and soon Gyro and Boyd were roped into the fight as well. Gyro ended up next to Fenton, and the two stood back to back, keeping Archimede and Boyd at bay.
Gyro felt a snowball whizz past his face, and he turned to see it heading right for the back of Fenton’s head. “Watch out!” He squawked, tackling the duck. The snowball went just over his head as he and Gyro fell, the inventor making sure to hold his husband just right so he wouldn’t hurt his arm when they hit the ground.
They landed heavily in the snow together, laughing as the flakes settled around them.
Boyd stood over them, grinning. “No teams!”
“He was saving me from getting decapitated by a snowball!” Fenton defended, still laughing.
Gyro sat up slightly, Fenton stretched out in the snow next to him. “The snowball was truly a threat,” he said seriously.
Fenton only laughed harder.
A few minutes later they went back inside, giving Archimede goodbye hugs as he left. “You can’t stay for cocoa and board games?” Boyd asked, hugging his waist tightly.
Archimede patted the parrot’s head before crouching down so Boyd could give him a proper hug. “Oh, you know I would, but I’m going to dinner with Donald first. And I’m thinking of stopping somewhere else before I leave too.”
“Where?” Gyro asked.
“Supercell,” Archimede mouthed over Boyd’s shoulder.
The inventor nodded. “Too bad,” he said aloud. “I guess you’ll just have to come back soon so we can do cocoa with you then.”
The blond bird grinned. “I guess I will!”
After the goodbyes were said, Gyro walked Archimede back to his car. “You’re going to see him?”
Archimede nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t get to say goodbye to him before Beakley took him over this morning, and I’m sure he’ll take that personally or something.”
Gyro knew that wasn’t why Archimede wanted to see him. “You can still want to help him and care for him, I won’t feel offended.” He said. “You don’t have to act like you don’t like him around me.”
Archimede looked at him. “Oh, alright. I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings, or make it seem like I didn’t care about what you went through-”
Gyro held up a hand. “Nope. It’s fine. I know this is all weird and complicated, and I know that he’s hurting too. Even if he did something horribly wrong. So while I don’t want to be the one to help him, I’m glad that there’s still someone who is willing to.”
Archimede smiled, throwing his arms around Gyro. “I’ll see you soon,” he said.
Gyro’s arms came up to hug him back, and he held his cousin tightly. “See you soon,” he murmured quietly.
Archimede pulled back, his hands still on Gyro’s shoulders. “You’ll be okay, right?”
Gyro nodded, glancing back at the house. The kitchen window light was on, and Gyro could see Fenton standing at the counter, smiling at Boyd, who was just too short to be seen. “I’ll be fine.”
“I know you have Fenton and Boyd to help, but feel free to call me too if you need anything.” Archimede told him.
Gyro looked at him, smiling. “Don’t worry, I’ve been going to you with my problems for over two decades, that isn’t going to stop anytime soon.”
Archimede laughed, hugging Gyro again. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Archimede.”
—
“So was this a date?” Archimede asked nearly an hour later as he and Donald stepped out of the restaurant and into the frigid late-evening February air.
Donald immediately went red. “I-if you wanted it to be.”
Archimede smiled slightly. “What do you want it to be?”
Donald looked down at his hands in his gloves, fidgeting. “Whatever you want it to be,” he said shyly.
The blond bird laughed, and he didn’t miss the way that Donald’s cheeks got redder. “I’ll think about it,” he told the duck.
He liked Donald, but he’d never thought of seeing him in a romantic light. After Mads had pointed out the duck’s crush on him Archimede had noticed it even more, and part of him liked the idea of spending more time with Donald. Donald was funny and mature in a surprising way, and though he didn’t read people well he himself was quite deep and knew how to talk about emotions. He was adorably loyal, and Archimede knew that Donald would do whatever he could to keep him happy and safe.
But Archimede still had to think about it.
Donald looked up at him, and Archimede could see the hope in his eyes. “Alright!”
“Thank you for taking me out, this was fun!” Archimede told him as they walked down the city sidewalk to their cars. Several cars whizzed past on the road, throwing up slush. The storefront windows on Archimede’s left lit up the darkening night with their soft glow. “I enjoyed it.”
“M-me too!” Donald said, still fidgeting. He hadn’t seemed to be able to hold still the entire night. “Sorry the breadsticks didn’t have enough garlic.”
Archimede nudged him, snorting. “They were fine! Besides, you didn’t have any control over that, why would you apologize?”
“I don’t know, I just wanted it to be perfect, because you went out of your way to come with me.” Donald said, stuffing his hands in his pockets self-consciously.
Archimede smiled at him. “It was perfect.”
Donald blushed again.
“Besides, I was sticking around for a minute anyway. I wanted to drop by the Supercell for a minute, and on the first day they’re really strict about visitors. I thought I’d wait and give it a few hours. So thank you for asking me out, it gave me something to do!”
Donald grinned, tugging at the scarf around his neck. “N-no problem!” Then he took a deep breath. “I-I’m still sorry about what happened. About… what I did. Sorry.”
Archimede sighed, thinking back to his confusion and panic when Della and Donald had handed the Mad Ducktor over to Gyro. “It’s alright. I mean, it worked out, didn’t it? Just… promise not to do it again?” He looked at Donald with a hopeful smile.
Donald smiled back, but his expression was more relieved. “Promise.”
Archimede’s car was parked on the side of the street, and the two of them stopped next to it next to a trash can. “Well… this is me.” Archimede said.
“Yeah…” Donald looked up at him. “Can I see you soon? It always feels like ages between every time we see each other.”
“Yes! I want to visit more often. Or…” Archimede smiled slyly at him. “You could always come visit me. I don’t get a lot of visitors, so you could come by anytime!”
“Oh, yes!” Donald said. “I could always get Della and Scrooge to watch the boys… and come by some weekend!”
“I’d like that,” Archimede said. “Well, I’ll see you then? Just text me a date whenever.”
“I will. See you then!” Donald grinned.
Archimede unlocked his car. “Bye, Donald.”
“Bye!” Donald exclaimed. He was grinning, and Archimede didn’t know now if his face was red from the cold or if he was blushing again. But Archimede was just noticing that Donald’s feathers looked beautiful in the golden light from the shop windows, and the duck’s blue eyes sparkled.
Before he could think through what he was doing Archimede leaned down and gently kissed Donald’s forehead, then quickly straightened up. Donald stared, his face going redder than Archimede had ever seen it.
Archimede grinned at him. “U-um, bye!” He then walked around to the driver’s side door, started his car, waved at Donald one more time, then pulled out into traffic.
It was only when he was driving down the road that Archimede allowed himself a blush, grinning and ducking his head as he drove away.
—
Gyro made waffles while they played board games at the kitchen counter, sipping on hot cocoa and letting it warm them up from the snow. They soon switched to card games, and after Fenton won nearly every round of Poker Gyro and Boyd started to get suspicious, before they realized Fenton had been hiding cards in his sling.
Once the waffles were gone and they’d played as many games as they wanted to, they moved to the couch, letting Boyd pick the movie.
The parrot ran back to the office to see if he could find the DVD he wanted, leaving Fenton and Gyro alone for a moment.
“How are you?” Fenton asked, nuzzling closer to his husband. Gyro put an arm around him, resting his beak on Fenton’s head and breathing in his soft smell.
“I’m alright.” Gyro told him softly. “It’s so nice to have you guys back. But I’ll miss Archimede, it feels like I barely even got to see him.”
“Makes sense,” Fenton said. “It’s so nice to have you back too. For a minute there it looked a little hopeless.” He raised his head, his eyes meeting Gyro’s. “I’m so, so glad to have you back. It feels like I can breathe again.”
Gyro smiled, leaning down to kiss him. Fenton’s hand came up to gently cup the side of Gyro’s face while they kissed, the duck leaning into it more than Gyro. Like so many of their kisses it was achingly soft. Like both of them were sinking into the soft warm waters where everything was okay, slowly getting used to the feel of their surroundings.
Boyd ran back in with the movie he wanted, and the three of them nestled down to watch. For much of the movie Gyro found himself not watching the screen, but watching Fenton and Boyd’s faces. The subtle changes in their expressions, the way they smiled at something funny on screen or frowned when it was sad. The way the light from the TV illuminated their features, along with Boyd’s glowing yellow and blue eyes.
They were both wonderful, and it almost felt unreal that he was here. Even if he hadn’t truly experienced the last couple weeks, it still felt like he’d been gone for ages. It felt relieving to be back, to know that everything would be better.
Everything would get better.
Gyro grinned, watching their expressions again. His smile widened when Boyd laughed at something in the movie. Sharing his happiness for a moment.
“It’ll be okay,” he said softly to himself. Unable to keep himself from saying it aloud.
“Hm?” Fenton asked, tearing his eyes away from the screen to look at him.
“Nothing,” Gyro kissed him. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” Fenton said with a smile.
“Love you dad!” Boyd piped up.
Gyro held both of them close, settling back against Fenton to watch the movie. He had both of them with him, and in the moment, that was all he needed. With the two of them to help him, he’d be able to work through whatever he was going through.
He knew without a doubt that they’d both be there with him.
Gyro had been lost for the last few weeks, while something else had been in control of him. His true self had been lost somewhere, his own mind banished somewhere deep inside that even he couldn’t find.
But now he knew that he’d been found.