Much Ado About Negawing: Cold, Part 2- Darkwing Duck (1991)

"I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the inspector who puts a big, red 'X' on the checklist! I am Darkwing Duck!"

Darkwing Duck himself appears in a puff of smoke, poised in the middle of the lightbulb factory with his gas gun already in hand. Megavolt stands several feet away, fingers curled around a lightbulb that he'd just removed from the conveyer belt next to him and is about to stuff in the big giant bag on floor in front of his feet.

The ceiling lights flicker ominously as Megavolt glares daggers at the intruder. "Just one night! All I want is one night where I can liberate my brothers without you interrupting!"

Darkwing can't hold back a facepalm. "I wouldn't have to interrupt you every time if you just bought them at the store like everyone else!"

"But what about the poor little lightbulbs trapped in the ceilings of all the stores?" Megavolt carefully slides the bulb in his hand into the bag. "Who's gonna save them?!"

Okay, well, obviously that thought hadn't exactly occurred the Mighty Mallard.

"And what about the poor, innocent toasters?" Megavolt clenches his fists as his voice rises in volume. Darkwing's frown grows heavier by the second. Maybe he should've kept he beak shut… "What have they done to deserve enslavement?!What about my refrigerator brethren? What did they do to deserve being stuffed full of that garbage you people call 'food?!'"

Ooo-ookay, this might be Darkwing's cue to subdue the villain. "Suck gas, evil doer!" He pulls down on the trigger of his gas gun… only for nothing to come out. "Huh?" He pulls the trigger again. Still nothing. "Uh oh…"

"If anyone's the evil doer, it's you!"

Darkwing isn't able to jump out of the way in time, and the next thing he knows, he's lying on his back in a shadow-y corner, his legs propped on a wooden crate, and a terrible, searing pain in his stomach— like someone had taken a sword that had a red-hot blade and just skewered him with it. His thoughts are thick with fog, and his vision is starting to grow darker with each passing moment.

Out of all the places he thought he'd die (and there were a lot)… a lightbulb factory had never been one of them.

What a way to go, huh?

His eyes slide shut of their own accord, and his thoughts come to a rolling stop.

. . . .

Pain.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he registers pain.

Eyelids flutter open to reveal the baby blue underneath. "Nggh…" His vision is mostly blurry, but from what he can tell, the ceiling above him is made from… wood? Weird. He though the ceiling was concrete. Or something. Maybe plaster? He mentally shakes his head of the thoughts.

Focus.

His thoughts slowly clear up, as does his vision, and he realises he's lying on a cot.

Okay. A cot. So someone must have found him. But who…? Darkwing tries to sit up, in the hopes of being able to look around— only to let out a soft whine as the pain in his abdomen sharpens.

"Wha- what are you doing, you idiot!?" The next thing he knows, someone's grabbed him firmly by the shoulders and is pushing him back down. Darkwing's shoulders are bare, as both his jacket and shirt are missing. The only thing covering him is the bandage around his abdomen and the blanket covering him up to his waist. "I didn't fix you up just so you could go and injure yourself again!" He focuses his gaze on the face now above his, and his eyes widen in recognition— among other things.

All he can do is release another little whine.

"Don't tell me something's wrong with your voice now, too." The strange look in Negaduck's eyes doesn't quite match his dry tone. "Then again, not really a loss there. Your introductions kinda left something to be desired… if you know what I mean."

Darkwing scrunches his face indignantly. "You have the worst bedside manner."

"Why thank you," Negaduck replies, his beak curling into a smirk. "I aim to displease." The smirk fades just as quickly as it came. "You were lucky that I was supposed to meet up with Megavolt at that factory (which he of course forgot, as usual). If it hadn't been for the smell, I never would've even known you were there." His finger taps intermittently against the edge of the cot. "I'm not sure how you even survived a wound like that in the first place— I knew the guy could pack a wallop, but…"

"I made the mistake of mentioning stores," Darkwing answers the unasked question unenthusiastically.

Negaduck facepalms. "You idiot. You idiot. You told him he could just go to a store and liberate lightbulbs by shopping, didn't you?"

"… I'm guessing whatever happened to the last guy who told him that wasn't pretty."

"No. It wasn't," The colour-uncoordinated villain replies, settling his hands on the bandages and running his fingers along them, probably trying to find one of the ends to the sticky cloth. "For Megavolt, that's when the kid gloves come off. And the last guy learned that the hard way."

"Yikes," Darkwing mutters.

"You were really lucky, Dipwing," Negaduck says again, his voice a little softer now, finding the edge of the gauze and curling his fingers around it. "Really, really lucky."

There's still one question left on the hero's mind.

"Why?"

Negaduck pauses his movements. "Why what?"

"Why'd you… fix me up?" Darkwing finally asks. When the other duck's expression remains blank, he continues, "You could've just… left me there. Or finished me off. So why… why this?"

"I don't know." Negaduck's features harden slightly. "Look, I need to change these bandages, so I need ya to focus on helping me with that right now. 'Cause otherwise, this is gonna hurt a lot more than it needs to."

That, as it turned out, was the end of any conversation between the two of them for the day.

. . . .

Negaduck grunts as he sits there on the dirty carpet floor, the splintered pieces of a broken chair surrounding him. "Ehh." He shrugs, standing up and dusting off his backside. "It was infested with termites anyway."

"I'm sorry— it was infested with what?!"

"Don't tell me you're afraid of termites."

"I'm Darkwing Duck! Of course I'm not afraid of a few wood-eating bugs!" Darkwing's voice lowers to a mutter as he adds, "I'm more afraid for my furniture." He pauses, and then asks, "Speaking of which, why did you choose a furniture store infested with termites as your new hideout?"

The villain had apparently moved into the manager's office of the closed-down store after his previous hideout by the docks had been compromised by Darkwing Duck himself. Why his interdimensional double would choose a place like this, though, was beyond him. It's dusty everywhere, there's mold growing on some of the walls, the furniture is rotting,and it smells like something died behind one of the walls.

Negaduck shrugs. "It was the only place where those knobs wouldn't follow me. Well… at least Bushroot wouldn't, anyway." The villainous duck kneels down by one of the oversized handbags he has piled on the floor and starts rummaging through it. "Now where is that blasted… AHA!" He triumphantly pulls out a can of soup. And then he frowns as he watches the handbag deflate slightly. "Mmm, I'll have to go grocery robbing later…"

Darkwing knows better than to complain about the fact that he's eating stolen food. That doesn't mean he has to like it, though.

. . . .

"Let me sleep on the dingy old couch this time, will ya?" Darkwing crosses his arms as he glares down at the other duck, who just glares right back at him.

"Why? The cot not good enough for you, or something?"

"The cot is fine. But you've been real sluggish lately, and I think it's because you've been sleeping on this crappy old thing."

"I like it just fine," Negaduck tells him indignantly. "And by the way, I'm not the one who was severely crisp-ified three days ago."

"So? Come on, humour me for one night. Just one night!" Darkwing then grabs the other duck by the wrist with both hands and starts trying to pull him off.

"Would you cut it out before you hurt yourself?!" Negaduck sits up, eyes narrowed in a glare. "And I'm not going to make you sleep on the couch. You'd complain about the smell. I happen to like it."

Of course you would.

He's not about to explain to the other duck that his sense of smell has gotten used to whatever's behind that one wall of the office, and that he probably wouldn't even notice the couch's odor.

"Still, it can't be comfortable," Darkwing insists.

Negaduck heaves a clearly annoyed sigh. He looks away after a moment, that strange expression crossing over his features again. "I… there is a way we can settle this that doesn't involve either of us sleeping on the couch… you won't like it, though."

"If it means you'll get a good night's sleep for once, then I'll like it just fine."

Negaduck snorts, still not looking at him. "Right. 'A good night's sleep.'" He pauses, and finally says, "I was thinking… we could probably… share the cot?" The duck winces as those last few words leave his beak. His eyes flick towards the other, finding only a blank expression at first.

"… as long as you're okay with it, then I'm okay with it." Darkwing offers him a reassuring smile.

Negaduck's beak falls open at his words, and then it closes again. "I… you… fine." He slides off the couch, his face unreadable.

It quickly becomes apparent that the cot hadn't been made with two people sleeping on it in mind, if its small size and creaking under their weight is anything to go by. Darkwing winds up practically lying on top of Negaduck, with the latter's arms loosely curled around him.

Not that he's complaining. He… kind of likes it, actually. This… closeness between them.

The only thing that unnerves him is, when he settles his head on the other's chest, he can hear Negaduck's heart beating like crazy. It's beating so fast that Darkwing almost thinks it might burst out of his chest.

Then again, his own heart isn't exactly cooperating either.

And as for his stomach? It keeps knotting up and fluttering with butterflies. He gulps silently, afraid of what these sensations mean. He's felt them before, so he… he knows what's happening right now. And the fact that the source of these feelings is Negaduck…

Only heartache would come of this.

It's better to pretend that these feelings don't exist, that they never existed in the first—

"Dipwing?" Negaduck's voice is soft again. It's strange. He never thought that the duck's voice could be soft, and yet, it can. It sends shivers down the hero's spine. "Do you ever… feel like you have spiders in your stomach?"

"Spiders?" A few seconds pass before it clicks. Darkwing decides not to correct him, as the saying involves butterflies. And seeing as the guy hates pretty much anything remotely cute… The saying is probably different in the Negaverse anyway. In any case, Darkwing thinks he might understand what the other duck means. "Sometimes, yeah. I do."

"Mmm," Negaduck hums quietly. "And… when do you feel them?"

"… when I'm around someone I like," Darkwing answers warily, not daring to hope. "As in… someone I like as more than just a friend."

Negaduck hums again and says nothing more, apparently satisfied with that answer.

"Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing that concerns you."

Darkwing lifts his head, giving the other a skeptical look. "Yeah, right. If it didn't concern me, you wouldn't have asked me about it in the first place."

"Don't push it," Negaduck growls, the look in his eyes becoming somewhat threatening.

Darkwing ignores the warning. "Why do you keep dodging my questions?"

Negaduck shoves his double off of him, though not enough to push him off the cot entirely. "You know what? I think I prefer the couch."

"No, wait!" Darkwing snatches the other's wrist, holding on tight.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your beak shut and stay put."

And with that, Negaduck tears his wrist away and starts storming towards the couch.

"Negaduck, just wait a second!" Darkwing whips off the couch and yelps, doubling over as he clutches his abdomen. He nearly falls over, except a pair of arms catch him before that can happen.

"Idiot!" Negaduck hisses. "What's wrong with you, huh? Are you trying to kill yourself?!"

"Why do you suddenly care about what happens to me!?"

"Maybe I just want to finish you off myself!"

"You could've done that a long time ago!"

"I don't need to explain myself to you!" Negaduck's face is less than an inch away from Darkwing's now. "You never told me why you helped me when I was sick!"

"Because I care about you, dumbass!"

"…" Negaduck's face remains unreadable. "… you never swear."

"I did adopt a nine year-old kid who shouldn't even know those words until she's eighty," Darkwing retorts drily.

Gosalyn… she's probably worried sick about him. And L.P. too— they're undoubtedly looking for him right now. Darkwing doesn't exactly relish the thought of trying to explain his disappearance to them. How is he going to explain this?

Both he and Negaduck are silent for a minute.

"… You care about me?"

Darkwing just nods, not exactly sure what to say at this point.

"Why?" Negaduck looks at him warily, clearly suspicious.

"Do I need a reason to?" Darkwing shoots back. "Sometimes these things just can't be explained." He goes quiet again, for a moment. "I just care about you, okay? I'm not gonna give you some grand, eloquent speech about my feelings— that's not my thing. I… I just care." His voice lowers to a murmur. "More than I'd like to admit."

"We… erm." Negaduck pauses, frowning heavily, his eyes not quite meeting the other duck's. "We should… get some sleep."

Darkwing doesn't say anything, instead just letting the other push him back onto the cot. He expects Negaduck to go back to the couch then— but instead, the duck lifts the blanket and settles down next to Darkwing.

"What am I gonna tell L.P. and Gos? I mean— I've been missing for three days. They probably think I'm dead or something!"

Negaduck snorts, smirking in mild amusement. "Just say you got bonked on the head and had amnesia this whole time. Or something. They'll be way too relieved to have you back to really think about the logic of that."

"I can't just lie to them," Darkwing insists. "Gos is my daughter, and L.P. is my sidekick— and friend too, I guess. I couldn't— I can't—"

"Fine. You can tell them the truth." Negaduck rolls his eyes. "I was getting sick of this place anyway." A pause. "But leave out the mushy parts. Otherwise, I can't promise that I won't go back to trying to kill you on a weekly basis."

"Charming," Darkwing remarks drily. "I wouldn't tell them where your hideout is."

"Like I said, I was getting sick of it anyway. I'm not sure your… family or whatever you wanna call them will believe you though. They'd probably think you were on something."

"What?!"

Negaduck barks a laugh at the other's shriek, and settles an arm over Darkwing's body, while using his other arm for a pillow. "Let's save this for the morning and it some sleep while it's still dark out. Idiot."

"Fiiine." Darkwing shuffles closer, closing his eyes and soaking up the other duck's warmth. He presses his cheek against Negaduck's chest, sighing softly. "'Night, Negs."

"Don't call me that," Negaduck retorts, though there's no harshness in his voice right now. "And… goodnight to you too."