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Gladstone should have known something was off the minute he walked through that door with the curls he hadn’t worn since childhood. That, and a stupid combination of a yellow hat, blue scarf, and orange jacket. He would have never worn any of that willingly!
Gladstone was stuck helping Della, Scrooge, and Louie fix Scrooge’s office for the family photo. It was not until Huey said something that Gladstone found himself agreeing with him. Something was off, and it wasn’t just that things were falling apart around Gladstone Gander, of all people.
“In all this time fixing the room, have you noticed it only has three walls?” Huey asked Gladstone, Della, Scrooge, and Louie.
“Don’t be daft, lad,” Scrooge replied. “Of course there’s a fourth wall.”
“Oh, really? Have you actually looked at it?”
Gladstone, with the rest of his family, looked at the fourth wall. That’s when the illusion broke for them. Somehow they were on a set, with stage lights and a studio audience watching their every move.
“Okay, that is a little weird,” Della commented.
Scrooge found the door out of the office had been replaced with a brick wall. They decided the best way to get out was by breaking the floor. Huey used a hammer, Della a pickaxe, and Scrooge a saw. Louie and Gladstone just stomped on it.
Gladstone grumbled, “If I could become Black Cat right now, I’d totally Cataclysm this floor away.”
The others blinked and Scrooge asked, “Gladstone, where’s your ring?”
The Black Cat ring was gone from his hand. They all slowly realized Donald wasn’t wearing his earrings earlier, and Scrooge was lacking a certain jade bracelet. They damaged the floor harder, even more determined to break through now.
Soon, they fell through the broken floor into the garage. The family had been brought together by the noise, and collectively, they remembered what happened before they wound up in a sitcom. Gladstone had learned that magic interfered with his luck and the Kwamis. That magic in the past included sorceresses and luck-sapping spirits. Now he mentally added genies to the list.
Gladstone asked Donald, “You let some genie change our lives around? After all the supernatural shenanigans we get into on a weekly basis, you thought that was a good idea?”
“I wished for this five times a day,” Donald answered. “How was I supposed to know this time there would be a lamp under me?”
That was when Webby realized the genie from their memories looked familiar. Under the effects of the wish, Gene (the Genie) had taken the form of the photographer she had been suspicious of. He dropped the masquerade and told the family only the one who made the wish could reverse it.
Gladstone was firmly against Donald’s wish, and with the rest of his family. Still, he felt his heart break as Donald, his crime-fighting partner, slammed the door on them. His cousin would rather have some stupid family photo than save the world.
Beakley asked Gene, “If Donald won't wish us out, how long will we be stuck in here?”
The genie explained, “Well, next week, Launchpad and Gladstone find out they’re dating the same girl, then Louie loses his pet snake in the house, probably at least three seasons, plus spin-offs, and I assume they'll reboot the show eventually.”
“So, forever?” Huey asked.
“Yeah, sorry.” Gene frowned.
“Aw, it's not so bad, guys,” Dewey said. “We get to stay here, where I'm a star, and everyone thinks I'm hilarious.”
Like Dewey, Gladstone didn’t mind being the center of attention… for the right reasons. He liked drawing a real crowd, and making real headlines, whether it was as himself or the Black Cat. But performing for a fake crowd on a fake set wasn’t him. It reminded him too much of Liu Hai, an experience that still made Gladstone’s skin crawl.
Gladstone helped in the fight with his family against the monstrous studio audience. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the audience he had to deal with. The date that Gene mentioned had appeared, trying to take a form that would be both Launchpad and Gladstone’s ideal woman.
Launchpad was too nice to hit her. Gladstone attacked her while apologizing profusely. He grabbed a fire poker to replace the staff he usually fought with. He really hoped Donald would reverse the wish soon, because he was starting to miss Plagg, too.
Somehow, Goofy convinced Donald to help the rest of his family fight the studio audience. It wasn’t long afterwards that the wish was reversed. With his last wish, Donald asked for a framed photo of the fight.
Yet, when everyone came back to the mansion and got ready for another adventure, something didn’t feel right. The triplets noticed Uncle Donald was strangely quiet. Black Cat found Lucky Bug was strangely quiet during the next Akuma attack, too.
A week after they had found Collie Baba’s lost lamp, Gladstone knocked on the door of Donald’s houseboat. He called out, “Don’, you better be in here, because you spend like, 90 percent of your life here!”
Donald answered the door with a hostility Gladstone hadn’t seen in years. “What do you want?”
Gladstone flinched, but only for a second. “You should know what this is about. You’re not talking to your family. You’re not talking to me. Is this about your wish?”
Donald sighed, his hostile expression dropping too. “Sort of. It’s hard to explain.”
“Can you at least try?”
“...Come in.”
Donald let Gladstone into the houseboat. The cousins weren’t the only ones there, with Plagg and Tikki staying closeby. After the wish, they didn’t want to leave their holders’ sights.
Apparently, Gene and the Kwamis had met in the past. They got along, for the most part, strangely bonding over their powers being used by cruel masters. However, Gene’s wishes were powerful enough to interfere with the Kwamis’ powers.
Donald sat on one end of the couch in the houseboat’s living room while Gladstone sat on the other end. Donald looked Gladstone in the eyes as he asked, “You know about the Ultimate Wish, right?”
“The…what?”
“Uh, Webby talked about it during one of her lectures?”
Gladstone had pretended to be awake by painting fake eyes over his eyelids during Webby’s many lectures about the Miraculous. Because of his luck, nobody ever tried to wake him, and he always woke up before the lecture ended. Gladstone answered, “I… might have zoned out on that one.”
“The Ultimate Wish can be made by bringing the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous together. That’s why Hawk Moth is after us: he wants our Miraculous to make this Wish.”
“Oh… Did you making the wish with the genie remind you of that? Don, you’re nothing like a supervillain–”
“Remember I said I wished for a normal life five times a day?” Donald looked away, fidgeting. “I… might have thought about using the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous.”
“Oh, Donald,” Gladstone sighed.
Everyone was quiet for a minute. Donald Duck, the cousin Gladstone had grown so close to these past couple of years, had secretly wanted the same thing as the villain they’d been fighting. Well, sort of - Gladstone wasn’t sure what Hawk Moth would wish for, exactly.
Gladstone sighed again and got close enough to throw an arm around Donald’s shoulder. “Donald, you are not a bad person for wanting a normal life. You were supposed to be taken on a relaxing vacation, but you ended up on the Moon and then on a deserted island. Then you’re thrust back into adventures with your family a week after aliens invade Duckburg. You at least deserve some real time off.”
Donald looked hopeful. “You really think so?”
“I know so. You can come on a vacation with me. I’ll keep the bad luck away, I promise.”
It was time for the Kwamis to speak up. Tikki went first. “Donald, if you need some time off from being Lucky Bug, I’m sure Webby can fill in for a little longer.”
Plagg added, “And I’m sure one of the boys can fill in as Black Cat!”
Donald smiled. “Aw, thanks, guys.”
Gladstone hugged Donald. Then Tikki and Plagg joined in on the hug. After a good minute of hugging it out, Gladstone commented, “Hey, look, we all made up. Just like your perfect sitcom family.”
Donald gave his cousin a half-friendly slap on the shoulder.