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Louie doesn’t really understand why his siblings were so upset, especially since they barely knew the bigfoot. What made it worse is he figured out the con—pretty instantly, he’ll add—but they hadn’t. Part of him almost wishes they did, at least then he wouldn’t be alone in his feelings.
He sighed, doing who-knows-what on his phone. Huey and Dewey were out doing something in the den, probably watching TV. Louie tried very, very hard to get the idea of ‘Tenderfeet’ out of his head. It was pretty much impossible when all he could think about was him tearing that picture of his family up with his claws. I mean, how rude! And then that beast pretended Louie scared the life out of him. Other way around!
It baffled Louie about how his brothers fell for it. Well, Dewey wasn’t all that surprising. But Heuy ? Surely his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook had something in there to deal with cons. Only Louie’s sharp eyes and head caught onto the con. Disappointing.
The green duckling shivered. He tried not to think about what could’ve been. He never really was good at avoiding the what-if’s, especially when on adventures. Something that he assumed came with seeing all the angles, being sharpie than the sharpies. Okay, so maybe he’s a little scared of ‘Tenderfeet’ coming back to hunt his family for sport, or maybe hurt ‘em to show him a lesson! But that’s not his fault. He just can’t. stop. thinking.
Realistically, he knows Tenderfeet wouldn’t dare to come back. Scrooge could always come at him again, Beakley would beat him to a pulp if he tried anything, Duckworth would probably scare him off, and maybe Tenderfeet didn’t want to get ridiculed again by being shaven. Or something. So, Louie knows nothing dangerous will come out of this. Nothing bad can happen. The families been through worse, anyway. One bigfoot compared to a giant dragon or a giant demon dog in the basement of their ancestors is nothing.
That doesn’t stop him from worrying. Tenderfeet had no problem threatening his family. He had no problem turning Louie’s brothers against him. Why would he have a problem sneaking back into the mansion? He did it once, he can do it again. Maybe Huey will think he found a way to avoid Louie’s con to get him out (the “he needs the magical forest” was a stretch, anyway) and Tenderfeet will come to live in the mansion again. Could Louie think of a con his brothers don’t ‘find a way’ to fix?
Really, this is so stupid. None of that would happen. Huey might be upset, but he wouldn’t find a way to get rid of Louie’s con. There’s nothing in his guidebook, or any type of story about Bigfeet and a magical forest (at least that he’s aware of).
Louie slapped his hands over his face, dragging his fingers over his features to rest on his cheeks. His hands felt cold, but also too warm. “Calm down,” he muttered to himself. “Don’t be stupid.” This was so stupid!
He can’t really stop contemplating. What if Tenderfeet came back? What if his brothers went to the forest to visit Tenderfeet? What if they found out his con, and brought the beast back? What if they, again, find out his con and are upset with him for lying? What if Tenderfeet sneaks in and attacks the family? What if–
Vaguely, he heard the door opening. Snapping himself out of his thoughts, Louie looked over at the door. His brothers came in—he found himself looking at a window, it was late—and smiled shakily at him. (He finds himself feeling bad, despite knowing the truth behind his brothers friend.)
He looked away, forcing himself to zone out as he listened to his brothers get ready. Louie glanced over again when Dewey climbed up to his bunk, followed by Huey. He knows they’re going to sleep, but he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to.
He’s wrong, though, and Louie somehow manages to fall asleep an hour later by convincing himself nothing will happen to his brothers. And, maybe, checking on them a few times. But if you ask Louie that, he’ll deny it and call you crazy.
-
One second he’s in his bed, and the next he’s face-to-face with the bigfoot. It’s instant, and unsettling. In a moment of confusion, Louie looks around. He finds Tenderfeet under that big chair, ‘hiding’ from him. His brothers were cooing the beast, and Louie recognizes this as the time before he brought out his scheme.
Why is he back here, isn’t this over? Louie draws in a breath, watching his siblings ignore him and lead the bigfoot out of the room. To coddle him in their own, probably.
And, suddenly, it’s right before he shaves the hair off the con-artist. The sudden jump in time startles Louie, but he can’t stop his body from moving to go shave the hair off Tenderfeet.
Really, it’s all going as he remembers. So it’s fine, the time-jump just startled him a little. That is, until a giant hand grabs his wrist. Louie is suddenly snapped back into being able to control himself. He yelps, dragged right into the air as the tool he was using falls to the floor.
His eyes snap right to look into the bigfoots eyes, grinning at him. He was caught. Oh, this is the what-if he was considering while making his scheme. Louie tries to call out for his brothers, like he was going to do if this actually happened, but he can’t make a single sound. Well, other than the pained whimper when the grip on his wrist increases.
He shrieked when the bigfoot threw him to the wall. Louie forces himself to sit up, hesitantly looking up at the bigfoot. In the exact instant he looks up, Dewey and Huey are right beside Tenderfeet, cooing and coddling him.
“Is mean Louie scaring you?” said Dewey, Huey mumbling something about ‘don’t worry, he won’t hurt you’.
Louie wants to talk, to say, ‘he threw me at the wall! He’s conning you!’ But the words won’t come out of his mouth. No sound comes out of his mouth as he watches his siblings glare at him. Their mouths don’t open, but he hears words in his head, insulting and mean.
“You hurt him,” says one.
“You deserve this!” says another.
“How could you? We care for Tenderfeet more than you!”
“You’re a no-good, selfish brother!”
“Why can’t we have a friend that’s not you?!”
“It’s not all about you!”
There’s more, but Louie can’t make it out, too distracted by the static in his brain and the silent sobs that won’t leave his mouth. He can’t hear their words, but he can barely make out the water-y colors of Dewey and Huey letting Tenderfeet out of the room. To coddle him more, to adore him, to-
-
Louie gasps, shooting up from his original position. He slammed his forehead into the top of the bunk, and immediately lays his head back down on his pillow. He finds himself gasping for breath, tears oh-so-casually slipping down from his eyes.
It was a dream. It was a dream, a ruse, and none of it actually happened. He got Tenderfeet out. He saved his siblings, and himself, and his family. So why ? Why is this making him panic so badly? His hands slap over his eyes. Louie uses his sleeves from his iconic hoodie he couldn’t be bothered to take off; wiping the tears from his eyes.
He has to calm down. If his brothers wake up, they’ll want to know what’s wrong. He’ll have to tell them he had a nightmare. They’ll insist on knowing what his nightmare was. He’s too tired to think of a good lie, and he’s exhausted so he doesn’t even want to lie. If he tells them what his dream actually was, they’ll be upset with him for having thought of something so crazy. And he’ll probably have to explain the con Tenderfeet pulled off. They won’t believe him.
If he refuses to explain his nightmare, his brothers will remain concerned. They’ll either coddle him, and try to talk Louie into explaining. Or they’ll be so concerned they won’t be able to sleep or focus. Or something.
There’s also a possibility his brothers won’t bring it up, or won’t care enough to try and talk Louie into talking. But that would hurt just as much, because he really does want to tell them.
In a moment of frustration, he yanks at his green sleeves to better wipe his tears. He also kicks the bottom of Dewey’s bunk, and freezes for a moment because crap, he really did that . He hears Dewey shift.
Louie flings himself onto his side and brings the blanket up and over his head. He swallows his sobs, no matter how silent they are, because if Dewey sees it he’ll be questioned.
He thinks he’s fine, laying there for god knows how long, letting out a few shaky breaths. And then an accidental whimper. Slowly, Louie removes the blanket from his head. Cuddling his head into the pillow, Louie gently rubs underneath his eye.
Louie tenses, because he feels his bed dip. He instantly knows one of his brothers woke up. Probably Dewey.
He peeks his eye open and makes eye contact.
Definitely Dewey.
Hesitantly, Louie waved his hand. His brothers always waited to hug him when he was upset, until he gave them any type of hand gesture. He turned away while Dewey laid down next to him, feeling the way they blanket moved.
He still couldn’t breathe quite right, still trying to calm himself down. He let out a small sound before giving up, turning around to face Dewey again. He blinked, his teary eyes meeting Dewey’s concerned ones. Louie glanced at his open and questioning arms, immediately flinging himself into Dewey.
Normally, Louie wouldn’t do this without some encouragement to let his emotions out. But right now, he’s so glad his brothers are okay, and don’t hate him. They will when he explains the con, and think he’s lying No! He should not think like that, he’ll just cry more. Speaking of — actively, he’s sobbing into his brothers chest.
Louie is so, so glad to feel his brother hug him. He flinches, because he can vaguely hear Huey’s voice. He just woke up both of his brothers, wonderful. He lets out another weak sob right before he feels another dip in the bed, and another pair of arms are hugging him.
Maybe he can convince his brothers he’s just upset Tenderfeet is gone. But he really, really doesn’t want to do that.
He knows he’s being annoying, continuously sobbing into Dewey’s chest, having his brothers hug and comfort him with no change in his emotions. Louie wants so badly to calm down, to stop crying and to just go back to sleep. But he can’t . Maybe it’s because he knows once he stops crying, he’ll be questioned about his nightmare.
Louie swallows down another sob, curling his hands into fists. He really should stop, he’s sobbing for nothing.
“Breathe with me Louie,” he hears Huey. So he does. Huey is really smart, he should know how to stay calm. Well, that and Huey’s calmed him from a few panic attacks and/or post-nightmare freak outs.
Louie doesn’t really know how long it takes for him to calm down enough to talk, but after a lot of breathing and quiet sobs, Louie isn’t gasping for breath anymore. Slowly, he pulls back from Dewey’s hold and shifts to lay on his back. He swallows, because now he’s gonna have to explain.
“Was it a nightmare?” Huey asked. Louie nodded, closing his eyes. Okay, should he lie or refuse to talk about it? He does want to explain it to his brothers, but they won’t believe him. Nor is he interested in upsetting them, especially after their attachment to the bigfoot.
He knew Dewey and Huey made eye contact above him, and glanced at Dewey. “Wanna talk about it?”
Louie shrugged. Yes. Yes, he did. But, really, he’d have to explain everything. That would take forever, and he didn’t trust his voice. And his brothers wouldn’t believe him. Probably. Likely. Then he would need to talk about his nightmare.
It was all stupid. It was so stupid. He wanted to tell his brothers that the “pet” they were attached to was conning them. Except he has a reputation for lying, the duck who called wolf, something like that.
“You won’t believe me,” Louie mumbled. He fiddled with his thumbs underneath the blanket, leaning his head onto Dewey’s shoulder.
He glanced over when Huey grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Of course we will. Besides, it’s a nightmare—oh, was it based off something?”
“Yeah, I guess,” he sighed. “Uhm, I’ll tell you, but you can’t be mad,” Louie looked at his brothers. He watched them nod, then sighed. After a few seconds of collecting his thoughts, and chewing on his cheek, Louie can’t stall any longer.
“Okay, so, when we were looking for Tenderfeet, I found him in the living room. Or, I think the living room. It was right by the stairs. Whatever! Uhm, anyway, before I entered the room, I could hear he was downing Pep! and making a mess. Like, pizza and chips everywhere. And Tenderfeet was on a phone, I think it was one of Mark Beaks’, he was calling three other bigfeet. And talking . Teenager style. Said he was conning you two, and he’d throw a party with his bigfeet friends. And, I caught him, y’know,” Louie squeezed Huey’s hand. “Called for Uncle Scrooge. But then Tenderfeet—actually, I think his name is Gavin —he’s a giant bigfoot, and a strong one. I didn’t stand a chance. When Uncle Scrooge came in, Gavin hid, and I guess he found a picture of us pretty easily. It was that one of me, and you two, and Uncle Donald. On the house-boat, y’know? Using some claws, he just cut it, and I took that as a threat. Like, uhm, to hurt you. So I had to tell Scrooge I saw nothing. Well, then you know the rest— oh , right, he actually didn’t need the forest. I shaved him. Sorry.”
Louie swallowed. “Uhm, anyway, the nightmare was just that I didn’t shave him and he woke up. And he was just pretty violent, threw me around and stuff. You two, uhm, came in, and just agreed with him. Y’know, like before. But mostly, just, dream-you said a lotta things. Like I deserved it and stuff, and you cared for Gavin more… It’s fine, it just scared me.”
He slipped his hand out of Huey’s, putting his hands over his eyes. He felt so stupid, being so upset over something that’s already over. He didn’t even mean to spill all of it, just happened.
This silence was really getting to him. His brothers were probably exchanging skeptical looks, maybe contemplating playing along with what they’d probably think was a lie. Slowly, he moves his hands to look at Huey, who just looks furious . Louie flinches. Oh, was he that mad? Crap.
“Tenderfeet did what ?” Huey grumbled. “I can’t believe that!” Louie watched his eldest brother hop off the bed, pacing around their shared room. Oh. Wait— what? Louie looked at Dewey too, who was also looking furious.
“Oh,” he blinks. “Thought you’d think I was lying.”
“Lou, when you lie, it’s smooth , and normally not after you’ve been sobbing over a nightmare. You were ramblin’. Oh, and fiddling with your clothes and thumbs. You weren’t lying,” Dewey mumbled, pulling Louie closer.
Huey was grumbling to himself, before sighing and plopping next to Louie again. “We’ll deal with that tomorrow. You need to rest, the Juni–”
“Some rule says I need to sleep,” Louie yawned. He curled up under the blankets and hugged his brothers.
Maybe one day he’ll talk about the what-ifs he can’t get out of his mind. Maybe he’ll have more nightmares. But his brothers will be there for them, and he knows that.