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"Why are you such a screw up Louie! You could've killed your brother's by setting off that trap! Were you even paying attention!." Della went on and on, not letting Louie or any of the others get any words in
"I'm sorry that I'm such a screw up I know I always fuck up." He saw his brothers and sister looking back and forth between him and their mom.
Huey had tried to point out to their mom that he was the one to set off the trap, not Louie. She kept talking over him.
Dewey looked like he was fuming and Webby was just looking at the one sided argument with a worried look.
He looked away from them and back to Della who was looking at him in disappointment and anger.
He still hadn't been getting along with his mom and in the three years she's been back their relationship has only gotten worse. They get into pointless arguments at least four times a week.
His siblings tried not to pick sides except Webby who was normally on his. He understood why his brothers tried to stay neutral.
They'd say something if either one of them ever went too far but they wanted to maintain the relationship that they had with Della. He got it, it's fine.
"You should just leave Louie." Della seemed to be quieting down
"Fine, I'll leave." He glanced at his three siblings before he turned right around and walked out of the front doors.
He didn't want to hear what else Della had to say about him screwing up the adventure if he had stayed, the adventure that he just almost died on, not to mention Huey and Dewey who also almost died.
But of course this was his screw up not an accident, a screw up. Just like he was.
He walked down the long driveway at more of a jogging pace, mindlessly making his way to a certain person's place.
He didn't pay too much attention to his surroundings, more focused on calming down from his fight but as all the anger left it got replaced with resignation and a bit of that recognizable emptiness he's been feeling more lately.
He wasn't ever going to have a good relationship with Della, for fuck's sake he didn't even call her mom anymore. If he had to address her it was mother or more often as of late Della.
She obviously didn't like that and many fights between the two started just because he called her Della and not mom.
He felt his phone buzzing in his pocket and he took it out to see at least thirty missed texts and a few missed calls.
He ignored them and just put his phone back in his pocket as he waited at the bus stop, he'd probably call one of his brothers or his sister when he made it to where he was going.
Della might not think so but he did care about the family and wouldn't want to worry his siblings too much.
The bus rolled up to the stop eventually and he got on, payed and sat down. It'd be an hour until he got to his destination.
He scrolled on his phone for fifteen minutes before all the calls and texts became too annoying. He turned his phone off with a sigh and put it away.
He tried not to think too much, he didn't want to be pissed off or achingly depressed on public transport.
Eventually, he arrives at his stop getting off the bus and thanking the driver he walks up to an inconspicuous apartment building.
He enters and goes up to the fourth floor, fishing the key he always had on him for emergencies out of his pocket and unlocking the door.
When he entered he knew that it'd be empty, he'd talked to the occupant just yesterday on the phone and she wasn't supposed to be back in Duckburg until that night.
So probably a few hours. He turned on the light and got comfortable on the couch that sat in the middle of the room.
He pulled his phone out again, having even more missed texts, calls and voicemails even.
He rolled his eyes.
He unlocked his phone, not bothering to read any of his siblings worried texts instead he clicks on Della's contact.
She sent him two messages.
della: get your ass back home right now you cant just run away like that youre worrying your siblings
della: when you come back youre grounded
He sighed.
He clicked out of those messages and instead clicked on Dewey's contact as he was the last to send a text to him he was at the top.
It picked up on the first ring.
"Louie!? Where did you go, are you okay, are you going to come back?" he could hear all three of his siblings on the other side of the phone.
"And don't worry about mom, Huey and me already gave her a piece of our minds." - dewey
"Yeah no grounding either!" -webby
"Thanks guys, and I'm fine I don't know when I'm coming back." He finally got an in to respond.
"Where are you though? Are you safe?" Huey's worried tone carried through the phone.
"Yes, and if I tell you then you can't tell anyone." the three gave their confirmation before he answered.
"I'm at Goldie's."
"Ah we really should've guessed that, well if you don't come back tomorrow make sure you call us!"
"I will, bye." He hung up before his siblings got anything more than a wait out. He was tired now so he laid down on the couch he was on and took a nap.
Which he was woken up from two hours later when a disgruntled Goldie entered her apartment after her trip and saw him passed out on her couch.
"Sharpie!" He jumped up and looked around wildly before landing on Goldie's face and remembering where he was.
"Hey aunt Goldie, what's up?" he looked at her sheepishly.
"Don't what's up me, why are you here? Something happen?" she sat down next to him on the couch and looked at him expectantly.
"I got into another fight with Della." she winced.
"Bad enough you ran out huh?" he nodded.
"She called me a screw up. Wanna know why?" Goldie nodded, "Because I almost died on an adventure, apparently that makes me a screw up."
"Wait, let's backtrack, how did you almost die?!" Goldie's eyes were slightly wider than normal and she looked at him worried.
"Oh, Huey, Dewey and I got caught in a trap in this ancient temple and almost got like gassed to death or some shit. It wasn't even me who tripped off the trap, it was Huey!"
"You almost died in a trap that you didn't even set off... and Della called you a screw up because of that?" He nodded and aunt Goldie looked mad?
"Did anyone say anything to her about that or do I need to head over and give her a talk?" Louie shook his head.
"No Huey and Dewey handled it, even got me ungrounded. Of course she listened to the kids she actually likes." He huffed an crossed his arms.
Goldie was about to respond when her phone started ringing, she pulled it out to see it was Scrooge calling her. She showed the screen to Louie who blanched slightly and then picked up, putting it on speaker.
"Goldie! Have you heard from Louie he ran off after another fight with Della, the kids said he hasn't contacted them and it's been a few hours." Goldie looked to Louie who's eyes were wide and staring back at her.
He shook his head frantically, she got the message.
"No, he hasn't contacted me. He got into a fight with Della and ran off? What'd she do to cause that." Scrooge groaned over the phone.
"I'm not even sure, she's so hard on the lad it could've been about anything all I know is Huey and Dewey weren't very happy with her. Well if he does reach out to you can you let me know?"
"Course, I hope you find him. Maybe you should talk to your niece so this doesn't just happen again when he comes back?" she suggested.
"Aye, you're probably right. I'm going to call a few other people first before that but I'll talk to her." then he hangs up.
"Thanks for covering for me, aunt Goldie." Louie slumped into the couch with a sigh.
"Don't mention it, shouldn't you talk to your brothers though wouldn't they be worried about you?" he shakes his head.
"I called them when i first got here they're all covering for me. They know I'm here they're fine." She nodded.
"Alright then, you hungry?" Louie nodded and they decided to look on DoorDash for their dinner.
The next day Louie wakes up on his aunt's couch, she was already in the kitchen making herself a coffee.
"Morning aunt Goldie." Louie greeted as he grabbed a water out of her fridge.
"Morning, are you going back today or at least want me to tell your uncle where you are? He called me again and said no one's seen you, obviously. He is worried though." he thought about it and shrugged.
"I don't know, Della will probably just start on me the second I get home. I don't feel like dealing with all that right now." He said with an eye roll.
"She's really that bad?" Louie sat down and watched Goldie make something for them to eat.
"Oh my god it's like every time she sees me she finds something to yell at me over. Once I was literally just watching Dewey and Webby destroy some part of the mansion and she yelled at ME." he had his head on the table and let out a groan at the end of his sentence for emphasis.
"And it wasn't even for not stopping them, it was for being a bad influence? Like I caused them to blow up the toilet, it was Webby's idea I was an innocent bystander." He sighs.
"Hm, well I'm sure Scrooge talked to her by now, but if she doesn't lay off you I'd love to give her a piece of my mind for you." he sighed again.
"That'd be nice aunt Goldie but I'm not sure how the others would feel about you chewing Della out."
"They'd deal with it, no one fucks with my sharpie except for me." he rolled his eyes fondly.
They had a nice conversation about Goldie's last scheme as they ate breakfast and after they were done Louie said they should probably tell the family where he was now.
"I feel bad letting them worry for so long to be honest."
"Eh don't be." Goldie replied as the phone rung.
Scrooge picked up after the second ring.
"Goldie?"
"Sharpie has been here since yesterday." she turned the phone down before the scream could come.
"What do you mean and you didn't tell me! We've been worried all night, especially the kids!" she turned the phone back up before responding.
"Unless the kid was lying then the other kids already know and have been covering for him so no worry there and I didn't tell you because he didn't want me to. I bet you can guess why"
They heard a sigh on the other end.
"Of course they knew, why am I ever surprised and yes, I can guess why. I did talk to Della and she told me what happened and then the kids told me what was actually said instead of the paraphrasing from Della.." she hummed.
"Anyway, is he going to come home today? I'd understand if he wanted more time away." There was another sigh from Scrooge's end.
Louie reached for Goldie's phone and she handed it over.
"Hey Uncle Scrooge, I'll be coming back later today don't worry."
"Louie, I'm glad you're alright lad. and don't worry about your mom, she knows to just stay away from you now. I don't know what was going through her mind to blame you for that gas chamber trap! Like she hasn't set off multiple traps in her time-"
Louie cut his uncle off before he got on another one of his rants, he felt a warm feeling that this angry rant was on his behalf.
"I got it Scrooge, thank you for talking to her."
"Aye lad."
He hung up the phone and gave it back to Goldie.
"Alright sharpie, how about we go out. I actually was going to go on a quick little business meeting today.." She smirked at him and he smiled slyly back.
"Ohh a business meeting huh?"
"That was NOT what I thought a quick business meeting would be like." Louie ran after Goldie to her car and as soon as they were both in the car she drove off.
"Ah well that's what happens when you get caught scamming a group like that!" Louie groaned.
"You just couldn't resist pickpocketing a guy with eight eyes could you?"
"What! I've succeeded at picking a spider's pockets before this guy was just more observant." Louie face palmed.
He started to get anxious though, since they were heading to the mansion. He really hoped Scrooge talking to Della actually did something.
It isn't like she hasn't gotten talked to before, even by Scrooge a few times! Who's to say it'll really stick this time.
Yeah this time it was a bit more serious, he didn't do anything, she called him a screw up, he ran away and the adults didn't know where he was.
It wasn't like it was the first time he ran off though, he only did it a few times after Della had really upset him or pissed him off. Or that one time she had slapped him.
Soon, the two pulled up the driveway to the mansion Louie sinking slightly in his seat.
"You ready sharpie?" Goldie looked over to him after undoing her seatbelt.
He took a deep breath in, "Yeah, are you coming in with me?" he looked at her hopefully.
If she wasn't already planning on it the face Louie was looking at her with would've convinced her.
"Yeah, come on then." She got out of the car and walked over to his side and they walked to the door together.
Before they even got up the stairs Huey, Dewey and Webby threw open the door.
All three crashed into him, knocking all of them over in a big hug.
"Jesus I was gone for one night." He patted who he thinks is Webby on the back, he can't tell as they're basically limb noodles but he thinks its her.
"We were still worried about you!" Dewey pouted.
"Can you at least get off me. You guys aren't a very good weighted blanket."
The three climbed off of him and they all stood up, Webby leading them back into the house with Goldie following amused.