Who would have thought Pep! and Depressed would come back from the grave? I'm Dewtermined to drag this story to fifteen chapters, though. I didn't initially envision this chapter to be so louyd-centric but I can't resist my OTP and so the story is going to veer slightly in that direction. If I'm fully motivated maybe there will at least be an epilogue after chapter fifteen, or maybe a second arc.

Go read Jailbird though, I've completely popped off with Jailbird. There are 55 chapters so far and I only started it a little over half a year ago. We're getting real close to the inevitable conclusion of the story so support and comments for that would mean the world for me.

Also if you have any suggestions for Ducktales fics I am always open to hearing them though I may not always want to write them.

"I don't know why you came in today," Scrooge said, looking over the squad of kids, "I know you won't be doing any work."

"What…?" Louie laughed, trying to appear innocent and failing.

"It's fine. Mess around with your siblings. Just don't do anything that costs me money, and be prepared to come in two days next week."

"Yessir," Louie smiled, exchanging a thumbs up with his siblings. The first thing they were gonna do when they got to the bin was find Boyd and pull him into their shenanigans, who knew what would happen from there?

...Probably shenanigans.

Boyd seemed delighted to see the four of them, exchanging a long hug with Huey and cheerful greetings with Dewey and Webby. But his gaze definitely lingered a little longer on Louie than on anyone else.

Huey, Dewey, and Webby both noticed the adorably awkward tension between Louie and Boyd, and it took everything in Huey not to squeal and demand they addressed their very obvious feelings. But he knew that that really wouldn't help Louie, so he kept his squeals to himself.

"So what do you do around here, Boyd?" Huey asked, feeling nostalgic for all the time he used to spend in this lab.

"Oh, anything, everything. Whatever Dr. Dad tells me to do, really. But mostly it feels like I translate for him. Like I'm the ambassador of our little underworld, communicating with our patrons."

"So do you get to work much with Louie?" Dewey asked, not much for romance but ready to abandon his principles if it meant seeing Louie smile.

"Not as much as I'd like to," Boyd said innocently, and Louie's face flared up in a blush.

"So, what do we want to do today, folks?" Louie hastily tried to change the subject.

"Folks?" Huey mouthed. Louie rolled his eyes.

"Well, uh…" They hadn't really thought it out from here, had they?

"We can mess around in my old room," Boyd suggested. Louie really wished Boyd would stop using the phrase, "Mess around."

"Sounds good," Webby said, and they headed over to the small bedroom off to the side.

"None of you have seen my new apartment, have you? It's much nicer than this little room. Doesn't have as good of a view, though. No fish or stars outside my apartment." Boyd pressed a button and metal blinds raised to reveal a view of the ocean. Louie's eyes widened.

"You grew up here? I don't know how I would have been able to fall asleep. I would just want to stay up watching the fish…"

"I didn't know you liked marine life so much, Louie."

"Well, I've always liked the water, 'cause of the houseboat. I'm not as much of a nerd as Huey, but I appreciate cool things."

"It was pretty cool, growing up here," Boyd agreed with a wistful smile.

Louie glanced around once more and his eyes widened when he noticed something tucked into the bookshelf.

"Is that...?"

"Oh yeah!" Boyd pulled a little red toy car off the shelf and spun the wheels and Louie felt warmth bubbling up inside of him.

"I didn't know you kept that."

"Of course I kept it, you gave it to me. That makes it special."

"Am I missing something?" Webby asked quietly.

"Louie gave me this when I first moved in with Dr. Dad. Because I didn't have a lot of kid stuff back then."

"Aww, Louie, you big softie," Webby grinned at him.

"It's no different than your friendship bracelets," Louie muttered, a little embarrassed and a little close to swooning.

Webby gave him a look and he got the message. She and Lena were a thing now, and if he was saying that the toy car was the same as the bracelets she'd given Lena then he might want to re-evaluate his feelings.

"I should take this back to my new place," Boyd mused before sticking it in his pocket, "and we should go raid the bin kitchen. Scrooge acts tough but he splashed out for the good snacks when he found out you guys were coming today."

"He's a big softie too," Webby said.

"It runs in the family," Boyd said, offering Louie a smile. Louie thought he was going to melt on the spot.

Dewey and Huey exchanged a grin. Maybe things weren't perfect yet but Louie clearly had people here who cared about him and made him happy, and that was a good start. It was nice, also, to see him eating. Even if it was just a snack, it was reassuring.

"We should go camping," Boyd said.

"All of us?" Louie asked.

"Oh sure. Or just you and me."

"Ah!" Louie nearly choked on his chips.

"Louie, okay?" Boyd asked and Huey rushed to Louie's side.

"Yes, I'm fine! That sounds… Fun. We can talk about it later."

Now Webby and Dewey exchanged a look. Louie hated camping. He must have fallen hard.

After snacks, they decided to go around visiting their old friends, Launchpad, Fenton, Manny, etc. Everywhere they went, Louie and Boyd seemed to only focus on each other. And when the day came to a close, the pair were holding hands.

It was all Huey could do to not call Louie out in the car on the way home. But when they made it back to their own room he didn't hold back.

"You like him! You were holding hands- I saw that! I saw that!"

"I saw it too," Dewey said.

Louie didn't try to deny it, simply flopped down on his bed, a dreamy smile on his face as he held his own hand.

"I'd hold his hand forever if I could. Gods, he's so beautiful. And… I think he likes me too. Am I crazy? Am I missing something? Am I overthinking it?"

Huey thought about it, answering quickly and confidently, "You're not crazy. Boyd sees something really special in you. And he's right, Louie. You are special. You and Boyd could have a future together."

Now Louie sat up and frowned, "I don't know if I can…"

"Louie, he likes you. It's worth a shot, isn't it? Like how I'm shooting my shot with Violet."

"Yeah, Louie. We'll support you completely if you want to date Boyd," Dewey agreed.

"I want to! I really want to. It's not that I don't want to, guys. It's that… I know I'm not fully better yet. And I don't want it to seem like I'm using him to make me better."

"I don't think it would be like that, Louie. You're getting external help, you're working on being better outside of the people who love you. You can let those people help build you up without entirely leaning on them. And Boyd wants to build you up."

Louie buried his face in his hands, then, looking embarrassed.

"I've never asked a guy out before! How does it even go?"

"Uh… We're probably not the ones to ask," Huey admitted.

Dewey nodded seriously, "Ask Webby. Or Uncle Donald."

Louie cringed as he thought about it. Uncle Donald would know what to do. But it would be such an awkward conversation…

"Yeah, okay. Let's talk about you and Violet, Hue. How's that going?"

"Well, we went to that lecture thing. That was kind of a date. I'm going to ask her to do something else with me after Thanksgiving break. I'm gonna make my move."

"Dewey, anyone on your horizons?"

"Hell no."

"...I should have expected that. Want to play video games?"

"Of course. Just like old times." The three settled into their routine and for a moment they could forget their fears for the future and the good and bad that came with growing up. For a moment, everything was normal.