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It had been a little while since the Karmic Court incident, and the events of that day had been swirling in Louie’s head non-stop– especially what happened with Doofus Drake . It made him feel sick to his stomach.
The way that Doofus caressed his face , and licked him– Louie shuddered in disgust and fear every time it crossed his mind.
He’d distanced himself from everyone at home too, because the thought of anyone at all touching him just brought his mind straight back to that day, with Doofus .
He didn’t tell anyone what was going on with him. What would it do anyway? Cause unnecessary worry? He could deal with it himself.
- - -
Louie woke up in a cold sweat.
Another nightmare.
He’d been getting them a lot more frequently since.. that day.
Each time he’d tried to be as quiet as possible — which is a little hard to do when you’re hyperventilating — and each time, he’d accidentally ended up waking Huey.
Louie heard Huey climbing down the ladder — right on cue — as he attempted to steady his own breathing.
“Louie, are you okay?” Huey asked with a voice of concern, stepping off the ladder. He didn’t step any closer, as he’d learned from the previous times that it was best not to.
“I’m fine,” Louie insisted, as he did every time, even if his breathing patterns would have suggested otherwise, “don’t worry.”
“You sure?” Huey asked again, like always. He was gripping onto the bed frame and looking down at Louie. He looked concerned, and almost sad, too.
“Yeah. Go back to sleep.”
- - -
Huey was worried; there was something off with Louie but he didn’t know what it was.
Louie had been spending as little time with everyone as he could: He’d leave the dinner table before finishing his food, he’d seize every chance he got to stay in bed— he wouldn’t even sit on the couch to watch Ottoman Empire in the TV room anymore.
Between this and the nightmares, something was clearly wrong.
Louie started acting strange on the day he got whisked off to another dimension with Scrooge. He seemed fine when he got home, but as the day went on he got more distant. Huey could sense that Louie was growing more and more anxious about something, but he rejected any sort of comfort.
Huey had never seen Louie act like this before. He would typically get tired and stressed after adventures, but never to this extent.
- - -
Huey sat across from Louie at the dinner table, eyes fixated on his little brother instead of his food.
He watched Louie closely, who was taking small bites of his food but spending more time staring at it; his eyes stayed pointed downward, and Huey wondered what was running through his mind. His stomach twisted when he noticed his brother’s hands were beginning to shake.
Huey wanted to be there for him– to tell him that everything was going to be okay, but how could he do that when he didn’t even know what was wrong?
He looked up from Louie’s hands to his face, to find that Louie was staring right back at him, blankly.
Huey darted his eyes back to his plate immediately, for he’d been caught. He wanted to know what was wrong but didn’t want to push Louie away further.
- - -
Louie.
Just.
Couldn’t.
Stop.
Thinking about it.
He couldn’t do anything without the imagery of Doofus Drake doing those things at the Karmic Court flooding his mind.
He could barely eat, he could barely sleep– and when he did, he would always, without a doubt, be woken by a nightmare.
It was hell .
He’d hardly interacted with his family for days — and even when he did, he barely remembered any of it.
It felt like TV static was constantly running through his head.
He was present, but only physically– and most times, not even that.
He laid in bed, “watching” Ottoman Empire on his phone (it was really just background noise to his fuzzy racing thoughts at that point), when he zoned somewhat back into reality after hearing Scrooge call for him.
He slipped out of his room and walked down the steps to find the rest of his family geared up and ready for another adventure.
Oh no. No no no no no.
This was the last thing he needed.
For some reason, though, he couldn’t say that out loud. He found himself staring at them, blinking slowly, with the same blank expression he’d been wearing for days painted upon his face once more.
“Go wait in the Sunchaser, Louie and I’ll be there in a moment.” Huey said to the group.
Louie watched them walk out the door, before directing his attention to Huey, who was walking toward him.
Louie subconsciously took a step back once Huey got nearer, and Huey picked up on the action and stopped himself from walking closer.
“What is going on with you, Louie?” Huey asked.
Louie didn’t know what to say.
What was going on?
He’d been caressed and licked by Doofus Drake, that’s what. But it was silly, silly to be so off-put by such a seemingly small thing, wasn’t it?
He needed to gather and organize his thoughts, and he couldn’t do that standing in the middle of the room.
He silently walked over to and slid down against one of the walls and Huey sat next to him, ready to listen.
“I uh, I don’t know,” he started, “you know how I had to go to that court thing with Uncle Scrooge, right?”
Huey nodded, and Louie could tell he was giving him 100% of his attention– which almost felt intimidating.
“Well, there- there were a lot of scary people there,” he continued.
Suddenly, he felt embarrassed. Embarrassed by the fact that being hugged and caressed messed him up more than the other hundreds of times where he could have been sliced and diced to death.
Was it immature of him to let it affect him this much?
“And uh, that’s it.”
Huey didn’t need to know the rest. It wasn’t important.
“That’s it?” Huey echoed, “Really?”
“...yeah.” Louie lied.
Huey’s expression became sterner. “Louie, you’ve been nearly silent since you got back, you’ve barely been eating, and you have nightmares every night—”
Louie looked down when he felt tears forming in his eyes.
He figured Huey’s speech came to a halt when he saw them.
“I’m just really worried about you.”
He leaned in closer to Louie and cupped a hand on the side of his face just like he used to when Louie was in distress.
For a split second, it comforted him like it used to. He placed his own hand over Huey’s, holding it there.
The comfort didn’t last long.
Suddenly, he was back there. Back at the Karmic Court, with Doofus’ hand on his face, against his own will. He felt scared, and helpless, and so, so gross .
‘Louie?’
He just had to endure it. And Scrooge didn’t seem to care, so he must have just been overreacting.
‘Louie,’
The feeling of disgust rose in his stomach and he shuddered. He wanted to be anywhere but there. He wanted to go home–
“Louie!” Huey yelled, and Louie looked back up at him.
Right. He was home.
Louie realized he was shaking, and hyperventilating. He held his knees up to his chest, burying his head in them.
“Louie, you need to breathe.” he faintly heard Huey over the sounds of his quick breaths and the TV static that hadn’t left.
He did need to breathe, but he couldn’t remember how. His head was spinning.
“Follow my lead,” Huey said, leading Louie to make eye contact with him again.
“In..” he started, and Louie inhaled shakily, in sync with Huey’s words.
“Out.” Huey said.
Louie exhaled.
They continued that for a few minutes.
After Louie’s breathing had calmed down, Huey asked him once again:
“Can you tell me what it is that’s been bothering you this much?”
“Okay.. yeah.” He answered, reluctantly.
He felt so childish and ashamed. It was pointless, insignificant, it shouldn’t have affected him so greatly.
“Doofus Drake was there,” he paused, staring at the ground. He didn’t want to see Huey’s reaction to any of what he was about to say, really.
“And?” Huey prompted him to continue.
“And he- he got, like, really close to me, and like,” Louie squeezed his eyes shut— “he kept touching my face,” he shuddered, “and he licked it too.”
Louie hesitantly looked up to see Huey sitting there silently, eyes widened and jaw dropped in shock. He wasn’t saying anything yet, so Louie continued.
“And I- I felt so,” he put his hands in his pockets, “so uncomfortable , and like, helpless? I don’t know.”
“Oh my god, Louie.” Huey started, “That’s awful . Why didn’t you tell us?”
His words sounded like a mix between anger and pain, his protective nature abundantly clear.
“I just- it felt like a weird thing to be so upset by. I felt like I was making a big deal out of nothing. I–”
“You weren’t.” Huey cut him off immediately.
“What?”
“You weren’t making a big deal out of nothing, Louie.” Huey repeated.
Louie was a little surprised to hear this, but the reassurement felt good.
“What Doofus did sounds terrifying , and being upset by it is not weird at all.” Huey continued, holding steady eye contact with Louie, seemingly to make sure he was listening.
Louie looked away, and pulled his knees back up to his chest to rest his chin on them. “..okay,” he said in a small voice.
“And you can always tell us about what’s bothering you. We’re not going to judge you for any of it.” He paused for a moment, and frowned, looking around. They were sitting against a wall in the corner of the entrance room, and everyone was outside waiting for them. Huey turned back to Louie, who was still squeezing his knees to his chest, his face turned away.
“I hate seeing you like this, Louie.” he said, the pain visible in his expression.
“I know,” Louie looked back, “I hate it too.”
He hated being seen like this, and he hated being like this, so whichever way Huey interpreted that, he wouldn’t have been wrong.
“I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. It- it just- won’t go away .” Louie sighed resignedly, bringing his hands to cover his face.
A phone started ringing.
Louie moved his hands away to see Huey pulling the source of the noise out of his hat.
“It’s Launchpad.” he said, glancing at the screen then back at Louie.
Louie let out a small “oh” before Huey answered the call.
Louie didn’t know how long it’d been. They would have to go out to the plane soon. Out on another adventure . That did not sound like a good idea– he looked and felt like an absolute wreck.
“Hey Launchpad,” Huey said to Launchpad through the phone, “um,”
He paused, looking over at Louie. Launchpad and the others were probably asking what was taking so long.
Louie wondered why Huey spent a moment silently examining him. Maybe he was trying to figure out how long it would take to get Louie stable and ready to leave, or maybe he was trying to see if Louie would be okay left behind by himself. To Louie, neither of those options seemed very pleasant.
“I’m gonna stay home with Louie.”
“ What? ” Louie caught himself reacting out loud.
Huey put up an index finger, signaling for Louie to wait a moment– until he was off the call.
“Yes,” he continued on the phone, “yeah, we’ll be fine. Bye!” he hung up the phone and slid it back under his hat.
He faced Louie.
“I’m staying home with you.”
“Yeah, I heard,” Louie replied, “but, why?”
Honestly, he could probably guess. After their previous conversation it was pretty obvious that Louie was in no state to go out on another adventure just yet, and Huey probably didn’t want him to be left by himself.
“Because you need to rest, and you shouldn’t be left alone.” he said matter-of-factly.
Louie hit the nail on the head with that one.
“But- but don’t you want to go with them?” he still felt it in himself to ask. Huey obviously wanted to go, even if he wouldn’t admit it.
“I’d rather stay to make sure you’re okay.” he said in a softer tone.
“Are you sure?”
Louie felt a little guilty, he knew how much his brother enjoyed going on adventures; he loved to record lost artifacts, learn new information, and gain new experiences from them.
Today, Louie didn’t want to just take all of that away.
“Definitely.” Huey replied confidently, not a trace of hesitation in his voice.
The guilt faded a little, getting washed out by feelings of warmth and comfort. Huey was going to stay there with him, and he couldn’t be more thankful.
“Okay,” he replied.
- - -
They decided to spend their time off watching TV— Ottoman Empire, to be exact. Huey made sure Louie was comfortable on the couch before bringing two cans of Pep back from the kitchen. They sat there and watched together for the rest of the day, and Louie was starting to feel a little more relaxed– not great , but better than before.
Louie began to feel tired pretty early– which was definitely expected after the day he had.
“You should go to sleep now.” Huey said immediately, after seeing Louie yawn just once.
“No, I’m fine!” Louie snapped without realizing. He saw Huey jump a little. “..not yet.” he added, his voice quieter.
He didn’t want to sleep. Sleep came with worries, with nightmares, with the next say arriving sooner. He didn’t want any of that.
“You need to get some rest, Louie.” Huey asserted. “Please?”
Louie frowned. “Fine,” he mumbled, lifting himself up off the couch.
“Thank you!” Huey responded somewhat cheerfully. Maybe he expected his tone to make Louie feel happier about it. It didn’t really work.
They made their way to their bedroom. After putting on his pyjamas, Louie sat on the edge of his bunk facing the door.
“Are we gonna tell them why we stayed home?” Louie asked, looking up at Huey, who was closing the door.
“Hm, they’ll probably want to know.” Huey replied, clearly thinking to himself.
“Are we going to tell them?” Louie repeated himself, needing an answer.
“We should.” Huey answered, sitting down next to Louie.
“Ugh..” Louie leaned back to lie on the bed, landing with a thump.
It was already hard enough talking to one person, the last thing he wanted to do was face the whole family.
“If you want, I can tell them for you.” Louie’s thoughts were cut off by Huey’s words.
“Really?” Louie asked, a wave of relief washing over him.
“Yeah,” Huey replied, “you should focus on getting some sleep anyway.”
“Okay,” Louie sat up again. He turned toward Huey, giving him a weak smile, “thanks.”
Huey returned the smile.
Louie got comfortable on the bed, laying on his side to face the door, and Huey tucked him in under the covers.
Just as they were about to say goodnight, they both heard the front door open, and loud chatter echoing through the mansion.
Well, everyone was home now.
Huey and Louie made eye contact before looking over at the door.
“Goodnight, Louie.” Huey said turning back to him, about to head out the door.
“Goodnight,” Louie replied with an anxious tone, eyes still locked on the door.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be okay.”
“..okay.”
Louie watched Huey flick off the light switch, quietly slip out the door, and close it softly.
He was probably off to tell them everything right now. Louie didn’t want to be awake for that.
He closed his eyes.
- - -
Louie didn’t know how long it had been, but he still wasn’t asleep.
His mind had been racing, between the events that freaked him out and how his family might react to them.
His eyes stayed closed, though, because he knew if he opened them, it would be impossible for him to keep them shut again.
Eventually, the silence he’d been focused on broke, with the sound of footsteps filling its place.
It was Dewey.
He didn’t even need to open his eyes. He just knew. It was a mix of sibling intuition, and having inadvertently memorized the footstep patterns of someone he’d known his whole life.
Louie heard Dewey getting closer. He didn’t climb up the ladder, though. Louie heard him stop, and stand before his own bunk. He sensed that Dewey was just standing there, looking down at him. Probably in pity.
Louie began to feel embarrassed. Embarrassed by the fact that all of his family knew what he had dealt with. It was a good thing that they knew now— he knew it was a good thing, but the feeling didn’t go away.
He wouldn’t dare open his eyes now.
After a few seconds, he felt the bed shift. Dewey was sitting on it, he guessed.
Dewey was probably still looking at him. Louie wasn’t sure though, so he made the nerve-wracking decision to find out himself.
Louie opened his eyes to see his brother sitting at the edge of the bed, facing the floor.
His hands were clenching the bed sheet, they looked a little shaky too.
Louie directed his gaze toward Dewey’s face.
Oh. He was crying .
Louie wasn’t sure what to do. Dewey didn’t even know he was awake.
So he watched.
Dewey was staring at the floor, every few seconds he’d blink tears from his eyes.
Louie hated seeing his brothers cry. He didn’t see it very often — he was the one who cried the most — but when he did, it sucked . And this time it was practically his fault too.
Well, no. It wasn’t entirely his fault.
He tried to think of what reassuring words Huey would say to him if he could hear his thoughts. Louie was good at persuasion. Maybe it would work on himself.
It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t cause this.
And just because his brother was sitting there crying, that didn’t mean he was supposed to feel guilty for it.
He continued to watch Dewey.
Weirdly, it was kind of comforting.
It was comforting to know that Dewey cared so much about Louie to the point where finding out what happened to him brought him to tears.
Louie’s previous guilt faded, and the newly empty space was filled by this comfort—
Louie seemed to have forgotten that while he was watching his brother that he was visible too. He was very quickly reminded of this when Dewey looked over at him again, and to Dewey’s surprise, made eye contact.
Their eyes locked for a split second before Louie shut his swiftly.
He’d been caught.
Maybe Dewey didn’t see?
No, he definitely did. Damn.
Despite knowing it was no use, Louie still attempted faking his sleep.
Dewey didn’t buy it.
Louie could tell he didn’t when he felt the extra pressure on the bed getting closer to him.
In fact, it was uncomfortably close.
Louie felt his heart rate increasing at the memories this discomfort brought.
Louie squeezed his eyes shut further.
He did not want to spiral right now.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t push away the thoughts, and his eyes being closed only made them come faster.
So he opened them.
He was met with Dewey hovering over him. Dewey was leaning over Louie, looking down at him from directly above.
He blinked.
Then Louie blinked.
“Hey.” Dewey was the first to speak.
“Hi.”
Louie coiled in on himself a little in reaction to Dewey practically trapping him against the mattress.
Dewey presumably took the hint, and he shifted himself a little further, giving Louie more space.
“Um..” Dewey started, wiping the tears from his eyes with his sleeve– he was probably embarrassed knowing that Louie saw, well, all of that .
Louie sat up, directing his attention to Dewey who looked like he was about to say more.
“H-how are you..?” Dewey asked shyly. He looked nervous, like he didn’t know what to say. Louie couldn’t blame him though– he wouldn’t have known either.
“I’ve had better days.” Louie replied tiredly, “Welcome home.”
“Thanks..”
Dewey looked away toward the door for a moment, then back at Louie.
“Look, I.. I had no idea about what happened with you the other day, and, I just wanted to say I’m so sorry you had to go through all that,” he paused, focusing his gaze on Louie’s tired eyes, “And I’m sorry we couldn’t be there for you sooner.”
“It’s okay.” Louie said in the same tired voice, pulling his knees to his chest to rest his chin on them.
“No, it’s not!” Dewey snapped back,“You were suffering alone, and,” he paused to take a breath. “...I don’t want that to happen again.” he said in a quieter voice than before, looking at Louie with a sad yet protective stare.
Louie only blinked, not knowing what to say. Turns out he didn’t need to know, because Dewey wasn’t done.
“From now on, I promise I will always be right by your side. I will always have your back.” his brother continued.
Louie could tell from the sense of determination in his voice that he meant it.
He brought his knees down from his chest and stretched his legs out onto the bed sheet.
“Thanks, Dew.” he said softly, holding eye contact.
“Of course! I’ll always be here for you, that’s a Dewey Duck guarantee!” Dewey smiled brightly.
After this, Louie felt capable of falling asleep.
And he was.
- - -
Louie woke up with a jolt. Just a second ago he was there again, reliving the torture that was Doofus Drake.
His breaths were faster than he could count, and his whole body was shaking uncontrollably.
Before he could even process what was happening, his brothers were next to him on his bed, trying to calm him down.
“Louie, it’s okay!”
“Louie, you’re okay. You’re home. You’re safe.”
At first, Louie couldn’t process their words over his own rapid breaths, but they kept repeating themselves, until to him, the words made sense.
It was okay. He was okay. He was home. He was safe.
His breathing slowly returned to it’s normal speed, and the shaking was still there, but not as intense.
Louie looked at Huey, then Dewey. They both shared the same concerned expression.
He looked down at the bed, and his hands– which were shaking lightly. He curled them up into weak fists for a brief moment, before letting them lay limply again.
He sighed, “Thanks.”
“We’re here for you.” Huey said.
“Right here.” Dewey echoed.
“Do you want to talk about the dream?” Huey asked.
“Um,” Louie averted his eyes from Huey’s, “not- not really.”
Dewey, who was previously sitting up next to Louie was now lying on his stomach, using his hands as a chin rest. “Do you wanna talk about something else?” he asked playfully, rolling onto his back, his face now upside down from Louie’s perspective.
“Sure!” Louie liked this suggestion. Anything would be better than reliving those memories again . “Like what?”
“You remember that Ottoman Empire episode where that kid got stuck in the Ottoman?” Dewey asked.
Louie liked this new conversation topic.
“Know it by heart.” he replied confidently.
Huey chuckled at Louie’s response.
“Apparently their parents are trying to sue the company!” Dewey shared dramatically.
“What? Isn’t the whole show staged?” Considering the hijinks they get into on that show, Louie had come to this conclusion a long time ago.
“I dunno man, reality TV is wack.” Dewey said, a small laugh escaping him.
“Sure is.” Louie couldn’t help but join in on the laughter– it wasn’t even that funny, but seeing his brother so innocently entertained by this made the joy spread to him.
It wasn’t long before Huey started giggling with them, and they stayed laughing at the smallest thing for a while. It dawned on Louie, and likely on his brothers as well, that they hadn’t really talked with each other in a while. Louie had been so closed off, and he missed this. He missed the chatting, he missed the laughing, and he missed the sharing of bright uncontrollable smiles with the two people he’d grown up with.
He felt so, so much better.
The TV static dissipated.
- - -
Louie had no idea when he fell asleep, but he did know that when he woke up his brothers were right beside him. Dewey’s entire left side was hanging off of the bed, he looked like he could slide at any moment. Truly living life on the edge , Louie thought. Huey was sitting up, reading the JWG. Louie looked up at his eyes, which were carefully making their way across the page.
“Hue?”
Huey looked up from the book in his hands, “Oh, good morning.”
“Good morning,” Louie replied.
It felt so nice to say that first word and mean it.
‘Good,’
Things were finally starting to feel good again.
Even if it wasn’t great, it was a start.
“And,” Louie paused for a moment, holding Huey’s kind gaze close, “..thank you.”
Instantly knowing what Louie was referring to, — despite it happening many hours ago — Huey nodded, giving him a warm smile.
Louie smiled back.