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Louie wasn’t doing good. He sees all the angles, the good and the bad, and there was a lot of bad. Hundreds of ways the adventures could end poorly and it felt like his job to make sure that wouldn’t happen.
But it became too much and he needed ways to let go of that bad energy and hurting himself works.
It’s not like he’ll get caught…..right?
~~~~~
The adventure was a couple of hours ago and it was a lot. Lena and Violet came on the adventure with everyone else, and were a handful.
Violet was looking in a book half the time, and she couldn’t see the danger till it was too late (so was Huey) with that book in her face. Lena was goofing off with Webby and Dewey too much to be concerned about their safety, and the other only adult this time was Scrooge, which means there was no sane adult.
After almost dying a couple of times, they got back to the mansion. Where he immediately took a nap.
~~~~~
He just woke up from that nap and he felt sore as hell.
After looking around his room he quickly realized he was alone after looking around longer his eyes fell on a spot on the floor….a hidden floorboard.
After lifting it up he found a box cutter and a journal. He only grabbed the box cutter though. He sat back on his bed and pulled up his sleeve. It was definitely a sight to see. Tens of scars traced his arms, poking and moving feathers around, from his wrists to his shoulders. His first one came after Tenderfeet and it got worse after that.
He grabbed the box cutter and started cutting. Blood slowly rose to the surface but he kept cutting. At first the pain hurt but the relief felt even better. It got to a point where he’ll have to cut over old scars and wounds to make new ones. He knew it was bad…and it was but this was his way of staying strong, like his brothers do. His way of keeping that smirk on his face. Because he was the lazy one, the one that didn’t care, and that was perfectly fine with him because that’s how he wanted it to be.
But he slipped up and left the door unlocked, and Huey walked in.
They just made eye contact neither moved….just froze. Then heard another noise, Violet walked in, stared at the situation then said “I should get Dewey” then ran away. The comment snapped Huey out of it and he ran to Louie and grabbed the box cutters and just threw them. (Which was probably a rule in the junior Woodchuk guidebook about throwing knives…which he just broke.) Look around and ran to his desk to grab the first aid kit and back any starting cleaning and wrapping the cuts.
Then Dewey walked in, stared, then ran at him at full speed like he usually does in danger, looked him up and down and grabbed his face. “Who hurt you?” he gasped. But Louie just looked down. And that said all that needed to be said.
Three seconds later he was piled into a hug. And no one said anything for a little bit after that.
Till Huey broke the silence.
“Why?” Huey half sobbed half whispered. “I-I you..” he cried more. “Talk to us, Lou” Dewey looked at him with such seriousness it made him want to cry more. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” added Huey. Louie took a deep breath in. “I-just-I” he cried a bit harder. “It just feels like I’m a prisoner of my own mind, and a prisoner who can see all possibilities but only the bad ones will come true. Although I can see it I’m never prepared, never ready, always fails.” (It failed with Doofus’s birthday party, it failed with the timetub, it failed with…he decided not to go down that road and just glare at the floor “….and cutting just helps, it gives me a sense of control….comfort.” “Well stop” Louie looks over at Dewey. “Find another way, not this one.” “It never should have been this one.” Huey adds “….and I’m sorry-“ “We’re sorry” Dewey corrects “…and we’re sorry we didn’t notice.” Huey finishes “But just talk to us,” Dewey looks at him “….you know we can’t read minds, right?” Louie gasps with sarcasm “Really!?” Huey rolls his eyes and hugs him tighter “Really.” And then Dewey joins the hug.
They just talk and bond after that.
~~~~~
A little while later the triplets walk out of the room, closer than they were before. But Louie separates from the group to find Violet. “Hey, did you tell anyone other than Dewey?” “No” she replied “I figured Huey would tell an adult if I don’t, and I didn’t tell Webbigail sense it wasn’t my secret.” “Thank you.” “No problem, it’s a woodchuck’s job to look after others.” And with that she walked away