I had lots of fun writing this! (And it only took like, two days but whatever)
Oh my gosh, the first line just gives me Dr. Seuss vibes.
It was a normal day, that day.
Donald really didn't expect it.
He looked outside his window before going to bed. Something told him today he should do it, despite the bad memories that came with it. Like something would be out there.
It was right.
Donald saw a bush rustle. He didn't know what was in it, but a blur ran out and he grabbed the nearest thing- a coat hanger.
He took it, and followed the noise. It led him to the front door. He decided he'd wait until the count of 3.
'One…'
'Two…'
'Three…'
Donald swung the door open, it slammed against the boat house but he didn't care.
"Hello…" His voice called out "Anyone there?"
He took a step forward and felt something under one of his feet. He looked down and spotted an envelope.
Donald bent down and picked it up. It was pure white. He flipped it to the other side who it was addressed to.
To Donald Duck
Keep it. All of it. It's all yours. I'm sorry.
-Your old friend, D
Sorry? Sorry for what?
Donald opened the envelope and pulled out a wad of cash (which he would later discover was 1000 dollars.) Donald sighed and shoved it back in.
It was Scrooge. Of course it was! He was probably trying to apologize!
Well, Donald wasn't going to forgive him! Not yet at least… not after that.
He took the envelope with him inside. He wasn't going to use it, and he couldn't return it. The best thing he could do was to hide it in his safe (Yeah, he had one already. Sue him.)
Donald clicked the lights off after that and fell asleep.
What he didn't know though, was that there was an adult duck-like figure watching him from not too far.
They sighed. It looked like it would take more. That's not to say they didn't expect it.
They kept coming. Every 15th day of the month, 'D' (Read: Scrooge) sent in 1000 dollars. He had 3000 dollars from 'D' by the time the triplets hatched.
He also got money a few hours after they hatched, which added up to 4000
It piled up. From 4000 to 5000 to 6000 to 7000. And each envelope had a little note.
The day after Donald got 1000 dollars again, getting 8000 in total, he was fired.
He had enough for a while, longer than he'd expected, but it eventually ran dry, and he was still looking for a job.
He had no choice.
Donald entered the combination to the safe, unlocking it. The little door opened and he grabbed some cash- 2000 was more than enough to go shopping. (Hey, sometimes he got more than expected and he did have triplets after all. And what's wrong with being a little (over)prepared?)
He called a babysitter- the same one he used before losing his job- and when he arrived, Donald left, stuffing the money in his wallet and then putting it in his pocket.
The same duck was there from the last time, just like they'd been every month. They smiled, happy at the prospect of Donald trusting them.
They jumped into the time tub behind them, taking it off camouflage mode.
After the time tub incident, maybe it wasn't the best idea to use it.
Now, They knew this, so they used the Woodchuck Guidebook to not only fix it, but upgrade it.
The duck selected their time and with a flash of light that was missed by everyone, left to another time.
Fast forward to when the triplets are 6 years old. Donald had more than enough to at least rent an apartment, but he preferred the good old houseboat. It also saved money and he spent some of it on repairs for the houseboat, which was doing really well.
Now, we're not focusing on Donald this time. We're focusing on the triplets.
The triplets were being babysat- Poorly at that. Donald had to get a new one when they were 3. She was an old bird with grey curly hair and tiny glasses they give grandmas on TV.
She was almost always sleeping, and they always took this chance every single time to play outside.
Today was not different.
The trio was outside playing with one of their balls.
It was all normal, until…
"Hey! Give that back!" Louie demanded
"Nerp!"
Dewey ran around the beach, his brother following him, trying to reach the beach ball above his head. He laughed at his brother and called him short.
"We're the same height!"
After a while, Louie managed to smack the ball out of his hands, and on the doorstep.
"I'll get it!" Huey didn't mind. He was closer anyways.
Huey closed the book he was reading and waddled over. He picked up the beach ball and to his surprise, there was a white envelope under it.
"Guys! Look what I found!"
The two came running and arguing.
"It better be good."
"It is."
Huey lifted the envelope for them all to view. "Hey, it says something."
"To Donald Duck
Hey there Donald, here's a gift from you to me!
-Your old friend, D"
"D? Who's D?" Louie asked
"I'm not sure…" Huey replied
Dewey gasped and his brother looked at him. He was wearing a huge grin. "What if Uncle Donald has a secret admirer!?"
"A secret admirer? Doesn't that seem, you know, weird."
"Yeah, but it's so cool! It's just like-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there." Louie interrupted. "We don't need you to talk about your shows."
Behind him, Huey nodded. "Yeah, it took you 5 hours to stop you last time."
Dewey sighed and kicked a rock before perking up again. "Hey, maybe we can ask Uncle Donald when he gets home."
"Ask me what?"
It was that day again.
The 15th day of the month.
After work, Donald rushed home as fast as he could. It always came at 5:00 sharp, right in the same place it always was.
He couldn't let the boys see. He just couldn't.
They would ask who delivered it and he would have to explain! And they would learn about Scrooge! And their mother! They weren't ready!
He wasn't ready!
As he ran to the boathouse, something flew into his face. Donald pulled it back. It was an advertisement for a sports drink and how it could improve how you play.
"What a lie." He grumbled.
And just like that, a lightbulb made its way above his head and said ding!
Of course! Lying! He could lie!
It's not like he liked lying, it was just too soon, even if it had been 6 years.
He already had a plan by the time he reached home.
"-ask Uncle Donald when he gets home."
"Ask me what?"
The trio froze.
Huey stammered "Oh, uh-"
"We wanna know why this was at our house!" Dewey blurted. Louie elbowed him in the ribs
"Uh… yeah… we wanna know who sent this."
Huey held up the envelope and Donald felt his blood run cold.
"It's, uh, from an old friend yeah! That!" He half lied.
"Uh huh…."
Donald was pretty sure he was sweating at Huey's intense stare and he stared right back.
Donald and Huey held contact like this for a little before Donald looked away and sighed.
"L-look, it's something I'd rather not get into. I'm not even 100% sure myself, but I have a good idea." He lowered his voice into a mutter while saying the last part. "The first one came here 3 months before you three were born."
"But what's inside?"
"Here, I'll show you,"
Donald plucked the envelope out of the duckling's hand and opened it. When he took out the cash, he could hear their gasps of wow and awe.
"How much is it?"
"One thousand dollars."
"WHAT!? ONE THOUSAND!?"
"SOMEONE GAVE YOU ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!?"
"Each months on the same day since that first day."
"HOW DO THEY HAVE THAT MUCH!?"
'Oh, I know how.'
The three boys stood there in a daze. Louie said something that broke them out of their trance.
"Hey, wait a minute… today's the 15th… and if you get it every month-"
"-Then you get one on our birthday-"
"-Every single year…"
"Yeah, I use those to buy your presents and keep the leftover money."
That probably explained the expensive gifts to them.
"Wow… Thanks Uncle Donald…"
"Huh?"
Huey tackled him into a hug, and he fell. Dewey and then Louie came right after.
"Thanks for telling us and not lying. Thanks for spending some of the money on us…"
'Oh…'
"Your welcome…"
It had been three years since Donald told them, and it worked out pretty great. When Donald asked them to not tell anyone, they agreed.
Every day, at 5 PM, the triplets grabbed the money and put it in their uncle's room so he could put it in his safe
Some days they opened the door and saw a blur and the paper fall to the ground. None of them got a good enough look to see anything besides the fact that it was an adult and that they had some hair. Also they wore grey. Besides that, nothing.
Huey spent nights looking for clues. He looked for anything dropped. Hair, footprints, feathers you name it, he probably looked for it. Occasionally his brothers stayed up too, but it was just him for the most part.
But today, little did they know they would finally find out who it is.
The duck themselves always stopped anyone from finding clues. They couldn't let the family know, because for all they knew, it could destroy everything. Plus, it was all going well, and hopefully it wouldn't take much more to get Donald to speak to Scrooge again.
To be honest, they were scared Donald was going to rip it up the first time. After all, they'd known Donald their whole life.
They always smiled when they saw the family together, doing things. They wanted to be there too, but they couldn't do anything.
All because they couldn't get caught.
The person sighed sadly and turned away from the scene. The family was laughing and having fun. The four of them seemed like all their worries washed away with each other.
They put on the hood of their cloak to hide their hair and face and hopped into the time tub. They turned the knobs and they were gone.
It was the next month. They landed far away from where they usually were in the time tub. They hopped out and used the camouflage mode.
They grabbed one of the envelopes at the bottom and ran to the doorstep, but something happened. They ran as fast as they could and the next thing they knew, they'd fallen, and they were on top of Dewey.
They pulled their hood down and got up. They darted to the door. Apparently, Huey had spotted the envelope and started telling his brothers. Then they realized they really had to rush. The screams blended together as the wind passed their ears.
Donald must've heard the triplet's yelling, because they bumped into him. They brought their arm up, the one not used to prop them up to hide their face.
They felt Donald take off their arm and push back the hood of their cloak.
He gasped.
And then he said their name
"Over here!"
Huey passed the frisbee to Dewey and he caught it.
Dewey prepared to throw it to his other brother. He pulled his arm back but before he could toss it back, something hit him from the side.
"Ow! What's on top of me!?"
Whatever was on him got up and left.
Huey and Louie went to check on their brother, but Huey spotted something in the stranger's hand.
"Hey! Wait a minute! Look at their hand! They're sending the envelope!" Huey almost laughed at the possibility of figuring out who it was. "This could be our chance!"
Dewey looked back. He saw they had it. He gasped. Dewey decided to go with his first instinct.
"UNCLE DONALD!"
His brothers instantly got the memo and started doing the same.
Donald had a free day today. It was nothing really, but he was hoping he could take a nap, but it looked like he just wasn't destined to.
"UNCLE DONALD!"
More followed. He started panicking. His mind ran through the what-ifs as he ran from his room to the door leading outside.
The moment he took a step outside the door, something hit him.
He looked down and there was a person. They were covering their face, trying to slowly back away. His eyes darted to his nephews.
"It's the stranger that keeps giving us money!"
His mouth fell wide open. This wasn't Scrooge.
He shut his mouth and shook his head. He could think about this later. He kneeled down so both his knees would be on the ground. He peeled the arm off and the hood off their head.
He gasped.
He recognized that face anywhere.
"Louie…?"
He waved and smiled awkwardly.
"Hey Uncle Donald…"
Did you expect that? Huh? Huh? Because I had this idea a few days ago! I had this other time travel idea where one of the triplets went back in time to stop something, and we never got the name, and you have to guess which one it was! Then, I had this idea where it was the same thing (Where you have to guess the triplet) but the triplets didn't know his name, and as soon as it was gonna be announced, the fic ends, and then I read this one fic from another fandom that completely surprised me and I got this idea!
Wow. I talk a lot.
Aaaaanyways! Did you expect it? I know you probably thought it was Della! (Oh, and I'm thinking of adding art with this! Maybe the last part, or when Donald discovered the first envelope bc I think that would really fit!)