Disclaimer: I don't own Ducktales!
Title: Just Breathe
Summary: Something firm grabs her wrist, drawing her arm over their shoulder. A kick and they're floating up, breaking surface. Webby pitifully hacks up a lung while being led to the side of the pool. "Breathe, Webs," Louie says, surprisingly gentle. "I know everything is scary and wrong and you just wanna get away, but you gotta breathe, okay?"
Warnings: Spoilers for The Ballad of Duke Baloney!
...
Time is still at night for Webby. During the day, everything feels so fast- even after almost a full year of family and fun and adventures, it still feels like it can slip from her if she so much as blinks, and at night, when everything is still, Webby fears she's imagined it all. Maybe she had- or maybe she still was. And, like the shadow she'd once known well, they dissipated in the dark.
Having new obstacles doesn't make the mansion any harder to traverse, however, and she soon found herself outside. Her feet make quiet smacking noises on the stone as she approaches the pool, the smell of chlorine and kielbasa almost enough to make her turn around. Her stomach wriggles at the waves, a worm trying to hide under the dirt when the birds come swooping in.
Webby jumps in.
This proves to be a dumb idea.
Time is still at night, but it's practically dead when you're flailing for your life, screaming bubbles that never quite reach the surface. Webby wonders if she'll get amnesia like Glomgold. If she'll be half as nice as Duke Baloney had been if/when she does. What kind of name would she have? Something with swordhorse in it, if amnesiac Webby has any common sense. Swordhorse Death Cupcakes?
Something firm grabs her wrist, drawing her arm over their shoulder. A kick and they're floating up, breaking surface. Webby pitifully hacks up a lung while being led to the side of the pool.
"Breathe, Webs," Louie says, surprisingly gentle. "I know everything is scary and wrong and you just wanna get away, but you gotta breathe, okay?"
It's stupid- Louie is far from a professional medic, which she is- but Webby clings to him anyway, sucking in deep breaths. Her eyes burn from a lack of blinking as she stares into space. She climbs out herself, sitting on the edge. Her feet are still in the water, which makes her heart do jumping jacks, but she's too exhausted to move further away.
"You gotta ease into these things, Webby." Louie is rubbing circles into her back. "I know jumping in is your thing, but sometimes it's a step by step process, y'know?"
Webby curls her knees to her chest. "Do you know?" she asks, voice hoarse.
Louie shrugs. "I'm not exactly brave, Webby."
She leaned on him, shivering. Her nightgown is ruined, and his nightshirt and pajama pants haven't fared much better. "What're you doing out this late? You love to sleep."
"I knew this was still bugging you, and Huey and Dewey had no idea, so it was basically my responsibility to make sure you didn't do something stupid." He paused. "This was stupid, by the way. I mean, I get it, but it was stupid."
Webby's fingers dug into her knees. "I know I shouldn't be so scared. I had a life jacket on. But still..." She shuddered as she remembered the momentary weightlessness as she was flung overboard, the fear in Louie's eyes as they grabbed hands. "I've never been the strongest swimmer."
"No worries, Webs," Louie says. "We're good at it."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Huey and Dewey 'n me. Uncle Donald always wanted us wearing life jackets, but he made sure we were good at it naturally too, in case we sunk or something and they popped." He grabbed her shoulder and squeezed. "You don't gotta be a professional swimmer. You're good at most everything else; let us take the slack for you on this one."
"Did you ever almost drown?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. We all did. Duck luck, y'know? Huey got caught in a tide and panicked. Dewey got tangled in some weeds. I, uh... I kinda fell asleep?" Louie carded his fingers through his top feathers thoughtfully. "Huey got it worst, obviously, but I couldn't swim for months after that." He returned the leaning. "I didn't get over it overnight. No one says you have to either."
"But, Uncle Scrooge-"
"I will fend Scrooge off with a broom if he tries anything, alright? I mean, realistically, I'll probably just give Dewey the broom and tell him to have at it, but my point is that he will be broomed," Louie said. "Sometimes you gotta take the kiddie steps and take breaks between the kiddie steps to take deep breaths. That's just how fears work."
"You're being oddly logical about this. And nice."
He shrugged again, kicking up a wave. It was too small for Webby's brain to register it as a threat. "I mean, you kept us out of pyramids for like three months after Toth-Ra. I owe you, and Louie always pays back family."
Webby snorted, wiping her face. "You still owe me fifteen bucks."
"Let's not ruin the moment with trivial facts."
Author's Note: Random headcanon with Webby and swimming, I guess, but she was pretty freaked out when Glomgold chucked her over the water (for obvious reasons), and she used her grappling hook to get over that pool during the spy mission, but never offered to help Scrooge across, so I guess it has some viability at this point? I mostly just wanted to write Louie and Webby being good buds.
Fun Fact- I once developed an aversion to the school pool in high school. I decided the best way to deal with it was to jump in. That works for some things. It did not work in my favor at the school pool. (I sat on the edge and breathed through it and got re-acclimated, and i'm right as rain now!)
-Mandaree1