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“Hey, can I ask you something?”
Reluctantly Louie peeled his eyes away from one of his favorite reruns of Ottoman Empire to side eye the one who had dared to interrupt a rare and lazy afternoon with questions. Huey was standing at the back of the couch, his arms handing over its plush surface, a small, somewhat uncertain frown touching at the corners of his beak.
Louie could feel his own gaze narrowing further as he took in his brother’s expression.
While Dewey was no doubt the most confident out of the brothers and normally always believed he knew what he was doing or what needed to be done, Huey wasn’t to far behind in his own form of confidence. After all, if he didn’t know something, all he had to do was flip through his Junior Woodchuck guidebook and vola. Questions and uncertainty answered.
So, what was he coming to ask Louie questions for? What did Louie know that wasn’t already in his book?
He let the seconds drag on, watching how his silence made Huey’s shoulders curl and his eyes dart to other areas of the room.
Hm…
With a sigh he hoped clearly translated his disappointment with being disturbed, Louie heaved himself to be sitting more then slouching on the couch, patting the spot beside him in acceptance of the interruption. Huey moved like he thought that the invitation might be revoked if he didn’t teleport himself to the spot instantly, and Louie gave a small grumble of annoyance as his brother’s jerky movements jostled him a little more then they would have normally.
“Sorry…”
“Easy Hew.” He muttered, shoving his hands deeply into his hoodie pocket while attempting to get himself comfortable with his brother sitting so close. “I’m not going to kick you out.”
“I know that.”
There was a bit more tension to that statement than Louie thought was warranted. It wasn’t an annoyed tense though, or even a bitter one. It almost sounded, small, frail even. Like he didn’t quiet believe what he was saying.
Side eyeing his brother hard now Louie didn’t bother beating around the bush.
“Okay man, what’s up? You seem… weird.”
Obviously, confrontational wasn’t the way to go.
Rather than getting his answer, Huey just let out a peel of pitched laughter, the sound high and just on this side of too loud, making Louie flinch as his shoulder jumped up in an attempt to protect his ear from the sound.
“Weird? I’m not acting weird. I’m just- I’m just enjoying a show with my baby brother! That’s all!”
Ugh.
Louie didn’t bother trying to hide his eyeroll at the sibling title he’d been dubbed with since his brothers had learned about age orders.
Even if a part of him didn’t mind the title of the baby brother so much, or the extra attention and leeway it gave him sometimes that they didn’t exactly grant each other. Their Uncle Donald even played into it sometimes, more susceptible to Louie’s puppy eyes then either of the others.
Regardless of his thoughts on it though, that didn’t stop him from pointing out the flaw in his brother’s words. “I thought you wanted to ask me a question?”
Huey’s whole body seemed to lock up at the call out, his smile becoming nothing more then a stiff line across his beak. He was acting like he’d just been touched with the Madusa Gantlet, Louie’s eyes darting worriedly to his chest just to make sure that he was still breathing.
Had he just… Had he just broken his brother?
“Uh…” Sitting up and leaning forward so he could really take in the eldest’s face, Louie felt his brows furrow as he slowly reached out a hand to hover over the other’s shoulder. “Huey…?”
His hand snapped back to his side, his whole body jolting when Huey let out a burst of laughter so forced he was almost surprised there wasn’t any air bubbles appearing over him announcing, ‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’
“Nope! No questions here!” As if the lie needed him to physically remove himself from the situation Huey jumped from the couch, his hands on his hips as that stiff smile stared at Louie through the reflection in the TV. “Oh, would you look at the time? I should be getting to my-,”
Whatever stupid thing was about to come out of Huey’s mouth, Louie didn’t bother waiting to hear what it was.
Snatching the back of his brother’s shirt before he could slip out of his reach he yanked him back hard. For a brief moment Huey flailed his limbs, Louie only managing to keep his face from getting smashed by using reflexes he didn’t enjoy having to utilize outside of their adventures taking a deadly turn. Once Huey had flopped back onto the couch, Louie sat up, crossing his arms and hitting the supposed eldest of the three with a pointed look he stole right from their Uncle Scrooge.
“Spill.”
“It’s not-,”
“Hubert Duck.” Mimicking the tone of his Uncle Donald, Louie narrowed his eyes to mere squints. “What’s up?”
Whatever it was that was bothering Huey must have been weighing on him for awhile, because Louie’s question only made him sink into himself, slumping like he was wishing the couch might swallow him whole.
It wouldn’t.
Louie had attempted to lose himself in the cushions enough times to know.
Not that, that was neither here nor there right now. Louie had more pressing matters to attend to then becoming one with the couch.
Like the fact that Huey wouldn’t even look at him now, his eyes glued to some distant thing on the floor and his chin so far tucked into his chest his beak was pretty much squished against it. He looked like a pouting child
…
Which, to be fair, he was, but it was such an odd state to see Huey of everyone in that Louie almost felt uncomfortable to witness it.
Wondering if maybe he’d pushed him to far or if he’d been too harsh, Louie scratched at his cheek just more so to give the jittery energy building in his limbs something to do than anything as he found himself having to look away from his brother’s slumped form.
What was he… supposed to do here? While he was good at reading situations and people and their motives… When it came to their emotions..? That was a whooole other ball game, and he didn’t much care for sports. Still, Huey was his brother, and even if the situation he found himself in made him feel like slipping out of the room to go find some quiet place to ignore it, he refused to leave any one of his siblings in such a distressing state.
So, shoving his hands back into the large pocket up front and drawing his shoulders up so he could hide a little deeper into the neck of his hoodie, Louie twisted himself sideways and flopped into his brother.
Huey let out a small oof of a sound, but fell quiet not even a moment later, almost as if the action had stunned him.
It wasn’t often that Louie initiated contact with his brothers, or anyone for that matter, outside of when he was fearing for his life of course, so he hoped the small gesture was enough to let his brother know he was there for him and that he was willing to listen.
“Come on Hew,” His voice was softer now, his eyes directed at his own lap instead of forcing Hubert to be pinned by the demand in his gaze. “What’s bothering you?”
The air was still for a moment. The only sound passing between them being the voices softly murmuring from the tv that created a somewhat soothing background noise. Then, Louie could feel the tension bleeding out of the one at his side, Huey going lax and leaning back into him as a long sigh escaped pass his beak.
“It’s… stupid.”
Wondering when a stupid question had ever stopped his brother from asking it before, Louie kept that bit to himself as he shifted just enough to make their new position more comfortable.
“I dunno man. If it’s making you act this weird, I don’t know how it can be stupid.” He muttered, feeling the way Huey’s shoulders lifted as he shrugged. “Just spit it out.”
“I…” Huey choked, his voice growing tight while Louie’s concern was starting to reach new heights.
“Yeah? You what?”
“I just-. I-. Why wouldn’t you let me pet you!?”
His shout made Louie jump, jerking away from his brother and sitting up so he could turn wide eyes to him. His jaw was hanging agape, but for once he couldn’t seem to get his silver tongue to twist any sort of sense into what was happening other then a choked, “Uh, I-. Wha…?”
But Huey was already curling in on himself, his head buried in his hands as he groaned. “See? It sounds stupid.”
Aw phooey…
He’d just told his brother to open up to him, and he had and now Louie was blowing his chance to show that he could handle it just because the answer had been weird. To be fair though, it never would have crossed his mind that Huey would ever be this out of sorts over something like… not being able to pet him?
Unable to relax the creases created by the furrow of his brow Louie at the very least sat himself back down and forced himself to try and act somewhat normal.
“Well, it’s not… It’s not stupid.” He tried, though he wasn’t sure it sounded believable even to his own ears. “Maybe just a little… weird?”
Huey let out a rough sigh, dropping his head against the back of the couch as he glared at the ceiling, his hands tossing themselves up as he grumbled a line in his own defence. “Look, I know it’s weird, okay? But like, you let everyone else pet you-,”
Huh?
When had he ever done that?
“-but then when I go to do it you- you bit me! And pretty hard might I add. Those fangs were no joke even if it was only a dream.”
As Huey continued to grumble and pout, jerking his arms down to cross stiffly over his chest, Louie’s brain slowly worked out what he was talking about.
Fangs? A dream? Everyone petting him…?
Oh!
Oooh.
“You’re talking about the night when we all got stuck in the same dream together? And I… dreamed of being a cat?”
“Well, yeah.” This time it was Huey who shifted an arched brow his way. “What else would I be talking about?”
Louie opened his mouth to respond, only to find himself coming up with nothing and simply settling for staring at his brother because, he supposed he had a point.
With his silence being his only answer though, Huey’s eyes fell back to his knees with a sigh, his legs kicking out in little jerks before settling once more.
They found themselves sitting in an awkward silence as neither seemed to be able to come up with something to say. For once Louie was almost wishing that his Uncle Scrooge would come bursting in, telling them to ‘grab their spats and their hats’ because it was time for another adventure or whatever. That wouldn’t fix the turmoil that Huey was going through now though and if anything, leaving it like this might only make him feel worse.
Louie might be willing to let a lot of things slide and go by the wayside, but his family’s wellbeing was not one of those things.
Sucking it up he racked his brain for the only question he could think to ask.
“Is that really what’s bothering you? It happened months ago. Why’s it such a big deal?”
Okay, maybe not the most tactful way he could have worded it, but from the way that Huey huffed and rolled his eyes skywards, obviously he was finding it easier to talk about now that the main issue had been addressed.
“It’s- it’s not a big deal, okay? It’s just- I’m just being stupid. I shouldn’t have brought it up and it doesn’t matter to me anywa-,”
“You know, you’re a terrible liar.” Switching back to the blunt approach he watched as Huey clammed up again, his cheeks going red as his whole beak pursed like he’d eaten something sour.
Then he caught it. The slight glint in Huey’s eyes, the unmistakable gloss of someone holding back tears they were trying not to let fall.
Louie panicked.
Normally, he was the crybaby of the family. Granted, half the time he only did so as a low handed manipulation tactic but still. Seeing his brothers cry was rare. Seeing Huey cry was rarer still.
“Hew?”
“It hurt.”
Huey’s voice came out strained, like he was trying to speak passed a knot in his throat, each word pressed out like it was a challenge to do so, but he still did it, still pushed passed his own discomfort to explain himself to the one clinging on to every sound.
When he didn’t continue, Louie felt his stomach twist, guilt shredding a wound throughout his core and leaving him feeling gutted as he sat uselessly beside his brother. Not having the courage to face such an expression of wounded honesty caused by him, Louie’s words were almost a whisper when he asked, “When I bit you?”
A humorless chuckle dropped like a dead weight into the silence, and Louie’s heart dropped right along with it.
“You had a mouth full of fangs Louie. Of course it hurt.” Before the shame of truly injuring his brother could pierce its way into him however, Huey’s next admission really twisted the dagger to drive it home. “But I meant like, it hurt. You asked everyone to do it, you let them all do it. You seemed happy, they looked like they were having fun, and than I went to do it and you didn’t even hesitate you just… Why?”
His arms were wrapped so tightly around himself that it looked like he was trying to hold himself together, as if maybe he thought he’d fall apart if he let himself go because there was no one else there to do it for him.
He looked, so… alone, and it broke Louie’s heart that his brother might have been feeling this way for months and he hadn’t noticed, hadn’t even bothered asking.
Maybe Huey was a better liar than the family gave him credit for…
“I wasn’t going to hurt you. You know that right? I know I was being a bit of a jerk about the whole ‘lazy cat’ dream thing, but- but I’d never… Or was it because it was me? Even if we hadn’t been arguing about it, would you still have bitten me because it’s me and you don’t…”
The sentence was trailed off into a sharp inhale, Louie catching the way Huey’s bottom lip trembled before he tugged his knees up to his chest and buried his head in his arms.
Louie didn’t need him to finish the sentence though to finish the thought.
He understood what Huey was trying to say, what was really getting to him about the whole thing.
Heat burned behind his own eyes as he tilted himself closer, trying to catch a glimpse of his brother’s face in the shell he’d created around himself.
“Huey…” He tried to be soft, gentle, reaching out and hesitating once more as his hand hovered just over Huey’s back, his shoulder. Afraid of touching him. Afraid of making it somehow worse. Feeling like he might just somehow taint his brother with his own awfulness through contact alone, Louie pulled his hand back and placed it on the cushion instead to help find his balance as he leaned in closer. “Do you think… Do you think I don’t… like you?”
The muffled sob was all he needed to confirm that his suspicions were right.
This time he didn’t hesitate.
Louie made a grab for his brother, wrapping him up in his arms and tugging him in tight.
It must have been the right thing to do because Huey immediately twisted in his hold, burying his head against Louie’s shoulder and clung to him like he was afraid Louie might somehow disappear if he didn’t.
He didn’t fight to get out of it, even when Huey’s hold became almost suffocating in its grip. He just held his brother, rubbing his hand up and down his back like their uncle used to do whenever one of them had run to him in tears.
As the seconds ticked by, one episode of Ottoman ending and another beginning, Huey slowly settled down. The heavy sobs that had wrecked his frame subsided to sniffles and a lingering tremble in his limbs, but he didn’t let go, so neither did Louie.
Only once he was sure that his brother was calm enough to hear him over his own thoughts, did Louie attempt to speak, knowing he needed to say something to his brother, even if the idea of talking about his feelings genuinely made him want to pluck out his own feathers and pull his teeth.
“I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t enough and he wanted to say more, but before he could Huey let out a long sigh, sniffling once more as he lifted his head from Louie’s shoulder to rest his chin against it instead.
“It’s… You’re fine Louie.” Huey mumbled, Louie unable to read his expression, his eyes forced to look across the room as Huey continued to hold him in a hug that felt like it would linger long after they’d let go. “It’s not your fault, my brain just… I was overthinking it and then I made it your problem and I’m sor-,”
“Neeerp.” The word slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it, mentally facepalming as he outwardly winced at his own stupidity. Still. Feelings. He wasn’t good with them when he wasn’t fronting them, and he wasn’t sure how else to go about stopping his brother from writing off a situation that had clearly affected him so deeply.
Breezing passed his tone-deaf interruption while making a mental note to blame Dewey for rubbing his childish habits off on him, Louie managed to peel himself away just enough to grab Huey by the shoulders and force him to meet his gaze.
“You’re not going to apologize to me because you have feelings about a situation I put you through.” He scolded, Huey looking every bit the chastised kid as his shoulder curled up and his chin dropped down.
Easing up on the sternness in his glare Louie let out his own sigh, his fingers, tap-tap-tapping against his brother’s shoulders, built up energy and nerves escaping him with the calming habit.
“Look, Huey… I really am sorry, alright? If I even thought for one second that you would be so upset by what I did I never would have done it, okay?” There was a small flicker of hope in Huey’s eyes as he spoke, Louie’s own expression softening as he tugged him back in for one last hug. “I love you Hew, and you should never have to doubt that.”
A small whimper escaped his brother, one they both chose to ignore as they pulled each other in tighter for one final hug.
“Okay. Aaand now that’s enough of that.”
With that as his only warning Louie pulled back, officially to overstimulated with emotions and feelings and touch and just everything else to want to continue feeling the pull of someone else’s arms around him.
Huey didn’t take offence though, letting out a small laugh that had a smile coming to Louie’s face as he fondly watched over his brother as he wiped at his face with the back of his hand.
“That’s fair,” Huey hummed, his eyes red rimmed when he sat back but his smile bigger and brighter than it had been since he’d entered the room. “Thanks Louie.”
Feeling like he could do better, Louie plopped his butt back on the cushion next to his brother, tilting the top of his head towards him as he shoved his hands back in the pocket of his hoodie. “You can still pet me if you want. This time I won’t bite. Promise.”
It was as if he was offering him the first addition of the Junior Woodchucks guide book.
Huey’s eyes lit up like falling stars, his hand already reaching out and halfway there before he held himself back, eyeing the top of Louie’s head even as he made sure to double check.
“Are- Are you sure? I really don’t need to-,”
“And this invitation will be revoked in three, two, o-,”
“No! No! No! I want to! I do!”
Snickering at the panic in his voice, Louie stared down at the couch cushions as Huey’s hand ghosted over his head.
He could feel the presence of it hanging there, could almost swear he could feel the vibrations in the air from where it trembled. Just when he was about to ask his brother if he was okay, the hand finally made the softest of contact with his head.
Now again, the shared dream event had been months ago, and Louie really hadn’t cared to remember the feeling of the others petting his cat head back then past the fact that it had been nice for the few seconds it had lasted. This also felt rather nice, even if it wasn’t nearly the same as before. Without fur or ears protruding from his head, his feathers separated themselves differently an yet it was no less pleasing as he allowed himself to bask in the attention of it.
When a second hand joined in, Louie squinted an eye open- though when he’d closed them, he wasn’t sure- and peered up at his brother with a small frown. “If you fluff my feathers up like Dewey’s…”
Huey gave a snort of a laugh at that but thankfully shook his head as he continued. “Don’t worry, I’ll flatten everything out when I’m done.”
Figuring that was good enough, Louie allowed his eyes to slip closed and just enjoy the feeling.
He was right. Being a cat really would have been the dream. Head pets were nice.
As Huey’s hands started pressing down on the top of his head, no doubt flattening everything out again, Louie found he had to shake himself out a bit from the dozy state he hadn’t noticed himself slipping into, letting out a large yawn before flopping against his brother’s side.
If Huey had a problem with his shoulder doubling as Louie’s pillow, he didn’t say anything about it, snickering instead as he made himself comfortable against the back of the couch.
“You really would have made a good house cat.” He said, Louie letting out a mumble of agreement as his eyes slipped closed again, the low murmur of the TV and the warmth of his brother beside him helping to lull him to an early nap.
“Meow.”
Huey laughed, bright and happy and soft and perfect for his older brother.
Louie let out a chuckle of his own, the corners of his lips lifting with an easy warmth of his own before he allowed himself to surrender to the siren’s call of sleep.