Chapter Text
“Now, it’s not going to look exactly like it did before the damage, but I did see to it that anything that couldn’t be replicated would be improved upon,” Scrooge explained to his research team as the elevator descended below the sea. “I think you’ll be quite pleased.”
“So long as it’s a lab,” Gyro Gearloose spoke up, matter-of-factly, “I’m perfectly satisfied.”
Scrooge gave a knowing smile as the elevator door opened, and he invited the group to step out. “Take a look around.”
Gingerly stepping out of the elevator and onto the shiny tile floor, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera took in the sight of the new workspace he’d be inhabiting for the long haul and made no effort to hide his delight as he looked around. “Wow look at all this new stuff! New furniture, new tables, new tools and-GREAT FLYING FLAPJACKS! IS THAT MY OWN DESK?!” He gasped, rushing over to see his new workspace, complete with technology and seating. No more bathroom office for him!
Upon seeing the fresh haybale with a computer setup next to it, Manny, Gyro’s other assistant, gave a tap of the hoof in thanks to Scrooge as he stepped over and got comfy on the packed straw.
Lil Bulb leaped from Gyro’s shoulder to run its feet across everything inside the lab, to get accustomed to it and store it in its databanks. Blinking its light in approval at Scrooge, it ended up turning a corner behind a desk, destined to be missing for at least a couple of hours until it would be needed.
“Want to take a look around, Gyro?” Scrooge invited his longest-employed researcher.
“I can see everything fine from here,” Gyro assured flatly, a slightly unimpressed look on his face. All this new technology, and Scrooge couldn’t have bothered to put the coffee machine a few feet closer to his desk?
“Dr. Gearloose, you have to sit on these new chairs!” Fenton exclaimed from his desk. “They’re really comfortable!!!”
“Don’t get too comfortable, Crackpot,” Gyro muttered under his breath, only to get a chiding tap of Scrooge’s cane against his leg.
“Gyro, remember. He’s not your intern anymore. He’s your equal,” Scrooge warned, a fatherly furrowed brow aimed at him.
“Right,” Gyro gritted through his teeth. “Forgot about that.”
It had been two months since he’d been in the same room as these people, back when Magica de Spell’s siege on their town resulted in their lab flooding. And it had been two weeks since Gyro had finally been cleared of most all injuries he’d inflicted during the battle. A harsh blast of the sorceress’ magic and a 50-plus foot drop into the water didn’t prove too kindly on his body. At least Mr. McDuck had been generous enough to pay for his three days in the hospital where he received treatment for some cracked ribs, a concussion, several bruises, sprained ankle and fractured wrist. He ended up needing physical therapy for that last one, and the painkillers didn’t help enough to allow him much time to work on inventions at home. He still had a splint on his arm that wouldn’t be allowed to come off for another month. In short, his two month ‘vacation’ from work had been miserable, and a new lab wasn’t making him feel any better.
“Think you can play nice, lad?” Scrooge playfully teased the chicken as he pressed the elevator button to go back up.
“I’ll manage.”
“Good. Do you have the cards?”
“They got... unfortunately destroyed in the flooding,” Gyro muttered, trying not to look too smug that he might have deliberately dumped the infernal things.
“No matter, I made new ones. New lab, new socializing tips! Welcome back to the drawing board!” Scrooge happily passed a stack of 3X5 cards into Gyro’s visibly unhappy hands and stepped into the elevator. He was gone once the doors shuttered.
Sighing and watching as his boss disappeared from his view, Gyro glanced down to the cards. He skimmed them as he started to idly walk toward his desk, reading them under his breath. “Hello, my name is Gyro Gearloose,” he grumbled in a mocking tone. “Is there anything I can d-”
He was cut off abruptly when he felt himself collide with something, causing the cards to drop from his hands and onto the floor. Whatever it was made a small, startled sound, something that Manny, Lil Bulb or any other inanimate object in the space couldn’t do. That left only one option, and it was the least favorable of the four.
“Sorry, Dr. Gearloose!” Fenton gasped, a nervous frown falling across his face upon seeing mess he’d caused. “Here, let me help you with th-”
“I’m perfectly capable of picking up a few cards by myself, Cabrera, ” he snapped, bending over and trying not to visibly wince at the mild pain from his injuries. “Now, go to your room and leave me alone.”
The duck gulped and looked to the side, drumming his hands together. “I’m there….”
Gyro’s eyes shot open in realization and immediately lowered into a glare of disappointment and annoyance. Oh yeah, that’s right. He had to share a space with him now.
And he could already tell that it wasn’t going to be fun.
“Right,” he deadpanned, finally collecting the cards in his hands and raising up with a slight groan. “Go to your corner of the room then. And don’t say a word.”
“O-Okay….” Fenton grimaced and gently tapped his leg with his fist, scooting over so he could let his co-worker pass him. Once he had, he made his way back to his desk and sat in the leather chair Scrooge had put there for him, instantly smiling. “Wow! This sure feels better than that toilet seat-”
He cut himself off upon being able to physically feel the daggers that Gyro was shooting his way. “Right. No talking. Sorry.”
Gyro rolled his eyes and finally sat behind his own desk, having to do so slowly and very carefully seeing that he was still sore and probably would be for another few weeks. They had warned him at the doctor’s office not to take more than two painkillers a day, and he’d taken two before lunchtime even came around. He hated listening to the so-called doctors who he had to share the title with (Did they ever invent sentient artificial life? He didn’t think so!!), but since taking more painkillers than advised would scientifically and statistically result in less pleasant side effects, he begrudgingly would agree to it.
Manny tapped his feet on the floor in communication.
“No, Manny. I’m afraid none of our inventions from the previous lab were salvaged,” Gyro sighed. “We have to start everything from scratch.”
“Except for the Gizmoduck suit,” Fenton piped up. “It’s still in my garage!”
“And why is it in your garage?” Gyro asked, almost accusingly. “Could you not find a dark alleyway with thugs to guard it?” He glanced over with sarcasm dripping from his voice.
Fenton’s brow furrowed. “My garage is perfectly safe, Dr. Gearloose. My M’ma keeps the doors double locked all the time.”
“Well,” the inventor consented, “the sooner you can get it in here, the better. I want to keep an eye on it.”
“No problem!”
Fenton smiled a little too optimistically for Gyro’s liking. When the inventor was back to muttering and organizing his personal affects on his desk (which wasn’t much beyond tools and pencils), Fenton tapped in morse code to Manny discreetly. “ When do you think he’ll lighten up? He’s not my boss anymore. ”
Manny tapped back quietly enough for Gyro not to hear.
“ No, I don’t think it’s just the medication making him grouchy. I don’t think he likes me much, ” Fenton responded to Manny’s eloquent response in regards to side effects of painkillers.
“If you two are finished playing bongos on your desks, I think we should be getting back to work,” Gyro suddenly spoke up, looking more than a little irritated.
“Y-yes Dr. Gearloose,” Fenton gulped, casting a glance to Manny that said “I told you.”
The duck went back to studying his new space. Although he hadn’t felt like dragging all of his various nicknacks and decorations to work today, he noticed that Scrooge had already put a few things out for him. There was a tape dispenser, a pack of sticky notes, a stapler, a mug with various pens and pencils (and it was even red; his favorite color!) and a brand new desktop computer, along with a mouse and keyboard.
It was perfect….until the hauntingly familiar W logo on the computer caught Fenton’s mind, and he felt his stomach turn a little. He quickly grabbed a pen out of the mug and ripped one of the sticky notes off, spending a few seconds on a little doodle. Once it was done, he stuck it to the bottom of his computer, replacing all traces of anything Waddle-related with a roughly scribbled G-logo that resembled the one on his beloved Gizmoduck suit.
He smiled. Now it was perfect.
However, as a thought crossed his mind, he couldn’t help but frown. Fenton knew he shouldn’t pipe up any more, and that Gyro wished to be left alone, but this was a pretty important matter.
“So, uh….” he began, feeling a little nervous when the other whipped around to face him with a cold stare, “what exactly are we supposed to be working on today?”
Gyro raised an eyebrow and sighed, looking away. “Rebuilding all the tech we lost when our own shadows destroyed nearly everything we had, basically.”
“Oh….is there anything you need me to-”
“I’m not your boss anymore,” Gyro cut him off. “Just do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t involve bothering me.”
Fenton knew he probably shouldn’t continue this conversation, but he was still feeling rather confused. “But….aren’t I supposed to be helping you?”
“Technically, yes, but I don’t need help with my work. You can help me by leaving me alone.”
The duck felt his heart sink a little in embarrassment and slight disappointment. He’d been excited to get back to work. “Are you sure?”
“Yes!” Gyro replied, raising his voice slightly. “I’m positive. Now, be quiet.”
Fenton’s face grew warm as he tried to think of something else to say, but before he could open his bill again, a loud alarm rang through the lab, startling him and visibly irritating Gyro.
“Ah. Yes. Scrooge did mention something about installing an alarm for your little hero exploits.” Gyro rolled his eyes and gave a very insincere smile. “You better go up above and see what ‘Gizmoduck’ can do for our fair city, hmm?”
In spite of the other’s obvious distaste, Fenton was more than eager to leap into action as Gizmoduck and loudly screamed ‘Blathering Blatherskite’ into his phone as he whisked up the elevator. Gyro smiled to himself, glad he would be able to get several hours of peace and quiet, maybe not even needing to see tooth nor tailfeather of the other bird for the rest of the day.
And yet, after only a blissful two hours, did the elevator ‘ding’ again, with ‘Gizmoduck’ wheeling unstably out of the shaft with pie residue dripping from the armor.
“The suit...may need some upgrades,” Fenton spoke up sheepishly as he wheeled back to his desk, ejecting out of the suit and sinking into his chair.
“Mm. Fascinating,” Gyro muttered. “So what even were you able to accomplish, if anything?”
“I helped put out a fire! Well...I just sort of collapsed the roof OVER the fire, which put it out by default…”
“So you destroyed a building? Bra-vah.” Gyro smiled a little too smugly.
Fenton furrowed his brow. “It’s not that funny.”
“I’m just congratulating you on accomplishing something beyond giving me a larger headache than I already have.” Gyro was almost having a little too much fun, cards be damned.
Giving the other a bit of an unapproving look, Fenton decided now would just be a good time to put headphones on, crank up his music and ignore Gyro for now. Grumpiness he could put up with, but he wasn’t too keen about dealing with this brand of bitter. Not for a workday and most certainly not for his entirety of employment.
When 5:00 hit, Manny had already left, tapping something out about heading for the stables (wherever those were). This left only Gyro and Fenton behind as they gathered their personal affects for the day.
“Lil’ Bulb, we’re leaving!” Gyro called out, waiting for his robot assistant to reappear. He grabbed for his coat, passing by Fenton. “What’s keeping you around, Cabrera? You have your belongings, so why haven’t you left?”
“I was just going to hold the elevator for you,” Fenton confessed, trying to be polite. “Save it two trips?”
“Save the elevator the trouble of doing its job? How thoughtful of you,” Gyro sneered, voice heavily sarcastic. “Would you like to hire it as your intern?”
And that was just what it took for Fenton to decide this was not going to continue.
“Y’know, you could be a little nicer to me. We’re working together every day as equals now, and I believe-”
“And what a sacrifice I have to make for it,” Gyro replied dryly, still waiting for Lil’ Bulb to answer to him.
“Shut up.”
Gyro had to double-take. “ Excuse me ?”
“I said, shut up !” Fenton snapped at him.
There was a few seconds of silence throughout the room as Gyro took a moment to process exactly what was going on. When he finally snapped back to reality, a shocked gasp left his throat.
“Hey!” he spat, narrowing his eyes at Fenton and starting toward him. “You can’t talk to me like that!”
“Why not?” the other replied, standing his ground. “You talk to me like that all the time!”
His words caused Gyro to stop in his place, freezing up a little. “But I’m-”
“Your equal, whether you like it or not,” Fenton reminded him. “And you need to start acting like it.” He began to edge closer to the other, causing him to take a few steps back.
“Listen, Dr. Gearloose,” Fenton continued, voice trembling, “I’m trying my best. Ever since I started working here as your intern, I’ve done all I can to make sure I’m doing everything right, but there’s always something wrong. I’m always screwing something up, and you’re always quick as ever to remind me. Nothing I do, no matter how many times I try to perfect it, is good enough for you!”
Gulping and trying to hide how nervous the whole situation was making him, Gyro opened his mouth to speak. “Heh, yeah, well-”
“Nope, it’s my turn to talk,” Fenton was quick to snap back. “Every time you turned any of my ideas or gestures down, I always felt like the problem, but you know what? I’m not the problem, Dr. Gearloose. It’s you .”
Gyro wanted so desperately to take the upper hand in this conversation. He wanted to knock the little nuisance off his pedestal, to make him feel like he was wrong. But he couldn’t even get a word out if he tried, despite how quick he normally was to respond to similar situations.
“Why are you such a jerk all the time?” Fenton continued to rant, throwing his hands up in frustration. “All I ever try to do is talk to you and help you out like I’m supposed to, and you have the nerve to treat me like garbage? Do you treat everyone like this? Is that why nobody ever comes to visit you in the lab, and you have to carry cards to talk to people? Have you made it your life goal to push everyone away with how bitter and rude you are? Because if you have, that might be your biggest success yet!”
Gyro’s beak looked ready to fall right off his face and clatter to the floor. Clenching his jaw shut, he tried to come up with something to say in retort, but all that could come out was, “I...have a diploma.”
Fenton stared incredulously at the other, amazed at such a stupefied response and slapped his forehead. “Oh for heaven’s….”
He trailed off for a moment, but then said something he’d never imagined saying to almost anyone in his entire life.
“ Fuck you , Gyro. I’m going home.”
The astonished inventor just stood there, brain on dial-up as he tried to think of some witty come back, but it honestly was hard to come up with anything with the same amount of bite that “Fuck you, Gyro” had coming out of Cabrera’s mouth.
“What are you-” Gyro suddenly managed to spit out in question as Fenton entered the elevator with a frustrated glare, letting the door shut sharply behind him and not extending the courtesy of waiting for his coworker to board.
The noise of the elevator rising to the surface soon quieted, and Gyro realized he was standing alone. Before he could process what had just occurred, he felt a tug on his pants leg, and looked down to see Lil Bulb gazing up at him with its tiny arms crossed in disapproval.
Gyro sighed and tried to think of something to say to the little robot, but in all honesty, he was at a complete loss for words. Even his thoughts felt incredibly jumbled. Did Cabrera really just stand up for himself? That was a first. Normally, the guy was the biggest pushover in all of Duckburg.
And come to think of it, maybe he did take advantage of that. A lot.
Feeling his stomach start to knot up with anxiety and something that felt a little like regret, Gyro sighed and pushed the button on the elevator. Hopefully, his coworker had gone home by now, and he could postpone their next awkward encounter until tomorrow.