"Papa! The door!" Mo had taken to informatively screeching through the house every time the doorbell rang.
Louie wheeled towards the front door, eyeing his toddler, who was eyeing the door.
"Mo, up please." He pulled Mo into his arms so that his little boy couldn't run off when he opened the door.
"Go outside?"
"Later, Morio. When daddy gets back." Boyd was running errands, and wouldn't have been the one who rang the door. But Louie wasn't too surprised by visitors, family had been dropping by as often as they could and so Louie was always kind of expecting company.
He was not expecting Scrooge McDuck.
"Louie," Scrooge said, seeming just as surprised despite being the one who had rung the doorbell.
"I guess I was kind of wondering when you'd drop by. I thought it would be sooner. Goldie beat you by a month."
The old man blushed.
"Goldie was here?"
"She wanted to meet her newest partner in crime. Uncle Scrooge, this is Mo. Mo, this is your great, great Uncle Scrooge."
"Hi! Play outside now?" Mo had grown indifferent to the constant stream of visitors, especially if they didn't have a present for him.
"Gyro! Will you take Mo to play on the playset outside? I'm kind of in a meeting." Gyro emerged from the guest bedroom, a little bit disheveled from his hard work.
"This isn't a meeting," Scrooge said, looking awkward, "I. Um. Well, I thought that I would be allowed to visit as a concerned uncle. But if you wanted to talk business instead I'd understand."
Louie passed Mo over to Gyro and wheeled into the dining room, Scrooge following behind. They both knew that Louie held all the power here, which was usually what Louie wanted.
Not today, though.
"None of this was your fault, by the way. In case you didn't know all the details or misconstrued something or just felt guilty because of general anxiety. All of this," Louie gestured to his whole body, "was my own doing."
"I know, but-"
"But you still hold yourself semi-responsible for the twenty-one years I've spent living life dangerously since the day the truth about mom came to light? Yeah, none of that is your fault either, even the mom stuff. I was a dick to you," Louie looked around to make sure his son hadn't overheard the swearing, "and I will never stop apologizing for what I did back then. And trying to make amends. I'll spend the next twenty-one years apologizing if I need to. You'll be alive that long right? You've made it this far."
"I will probably be alive that long, yes. I didn't always think you would make it to 31, though."
"32."
"Even more surprising."
Louie laughed sadly and looked down at himself
"Yeah. I have people to live for. I'm trying to do better. I'm trying to be better. For Boyd, for Mo, for my siblings and niblings, for Uncle Donald and Aunt Daisy, for you, for everyone. Being alive for the sake of being alive. I'm not living for spite anymore, Uncle Scrooge."
"I'm glad you have new motivation, Louie. You're already a new person."
"No… Not a new one, just a better one. I still have my flaws and scars and I clearly still make impulsive decisions. And I spent all of last year flaunting being better but it took nearly losing myself in April to realize how superficial all of that was. I have done so little to actually rectify any of my wrongs. I left people I led down dark paths out on the street, I bought a few self-serving properties and called it philanthropy, and I threw money at people who are better than me hoping that they'd do good with it. That's not really me being a better person, or even a good person. But I'm going to remedy it. And I'm glad you came because I'm going to need your help."
Scrooge looked surprised and delighted.
"I've been waiting a long time to hear you say that."
Louie faltered and then smiled at Scrooge, "Thank you for caring about me…"
"Of course I care, you're family."
Louie smiled even wider at that.
"Our family is growing… I never dreamed when I let Boyd into my life that I'd have a son a year later."
"And I had no idea when you let Boyd into your life that I'd get my family back." Louie frowned for a moment.
"I'm so sorry-"
Scrooge held his hand up.
"You've apologized to me enough, lad. What did you need help with?"
"I know that you're paying Gyro for his mobility project. I really appreciate you doing that for me and I'm glad that something good can come from the Jailbird armor. I think, if this proves successful, we should make it accessible to more people. For as inexpensive as possible. Because everyone deserves to live the lives they want to live. I'm going to spend as much of my life from here on out trying to make healthcare resources more accessible for everyone. For this particular project, since it's your scientist, I'm asking for your help."
"I would be happy to help, Louie. I just want to make sure you're sure because it sounds like you may lose a lot of money on this."
"I have money to spare. I have made my money and helped my family exactly as I intended. I have stocks and business ventures and stacks of cash to fall back on. I'm not worried about money, I want to help people. I want to do good."
Scrooge nodded solemnly.
"Let's do good."
Boyd came in a little after Scrooge left and found Louie, Mo, and Gyro sitting in the kitchen enjoying a round of juice boxes. Mo cheered when Boyd showed up and proudly held up his box of fruit punch.
"I see. Drinking without me," Boyd joked, grabbing himself a box and sliding in next to Mo.
"Daddy I played outside!"
"That's fun! Did you wear sunscreen?"
"Yes," Louie and Gyro said in unison.
"Good. If you've had outside time and," Boyd glanced at the Oreo crumbs on Mo's shirt, "a snack, then maybe it is time for little cuddle bugs to take a nap."
"Nooooo," Mo whined, clearly a little sleepy.
"I'll read you a chapter of Percy," Boyd bribed.
"Two," Mo negotiated, and Boyd instantly caved to Mo's puppy dog eyes.
"Love, after you're done reading to Mo can we talk? Nothing bad." Louie offered Boyd a smile.
"Now that you've said nothing bad I'm nervous."
"It is nothing bad! Just business."
Boyd shook off his nerves as he carried Mo to his room and tucked him in, beginning to read the first of the two chapters he'd promised, stopping early when the tuckered-out kid fell asleep, holding a stuffed Cthulhu that Huey had gotten Mo as a joke. The joke gift had, of course, become Mo's favorite toy, though he called the Lovecraftian horror "Kool-aid'' instead.
Boyd kissed Mo's head and then, as an afterthought, Kool-aid's head, and then watched Mars take his protective spot at the end of Mo's bed. Boyd had expected the cat to be territorial but he had not expected Mars to instantly claim Mo as part of his territory.
Then he went to go see what Louie needed to talk about.
"We had a visitor today."
"Yeah? Who?"
"Uncle Scrooge."
Boyd's eyes widened, remembering seeing past Louie interact with the billionaire. Many of those past versions of Louie were still burned into his mind. Especially the ones where Louie had gotten hurt. It probably wasn't normal or healthy to hate your husband's high school boyfriend that much but Boyd couldn't help it.
"How'd that go? What did he want?"
"He just wanted to see me, but I was glad to get the chance to talk to him. I wanted to ask him for help with something."
"Is this something I should know about? Is this on the calendar?"
"The calendar hasn't been accurate since before April. Except today is National Hug your cat day and it is pride month. That part is accurate."
"I knew about pride month and I don't intend to hug our cat. I don't have a death wish."
"Fair. And to answer your question, no, Scrooge was kinda the first person I've told about my idea. But I think I want to start doing good with my money and my power. I'm assembling a team to work on making healthcare more affordable and accessible for the people of this city and hopefully beyond. And it starts… Well, funnily enough, it starts with Jailbird, and the robo legs your dad is designing. Those are hopefully going to change the game when it comes to mobility aids."
Boyd looked at Louie with intense love in his eyes.
"Louie, that's amazing. You're going to help a lot of people."
"Well, I learned from the best." Louie returned Boyd's look of love.
Boyd thought back to how Louie had called him a hero the day he got hurt. How Boyd being a hero had led to Louie getting hurt. He frowned a little.
"Boyd? You okay?"
"There's a lot on our plate, huh? With you becoming like, a full-time philanthropist and us both taking care of Mo and my day job which I've been neglecting-"
"What are you saying, babe?"
"I think it's time for Silverwing to retire. I think I wanna just be Boyd."
"Well, lucky for you I fell in love with Just Boyd."
"I'm going to keep us safe, love, without the mask. We're going to be okay." He leaned down to kiss Louie.
"Is that a promise?" Louie asked with a smirk against Boyd's lips.
"Yeah. I think Just Boyd is the kind of guy who can make promises." They kissed again, and Boyd really believed that this was one promise he would be able to keep.