"Ding, ding, ding," Mo called out cheerfully, his new way of alerting his dads of the door ever since the doorbell broke on Halloween.
"Thank you, Bug." They were waiting for Huey, who would be watching Mo for the evening, so when their tiny doorbell went off Louie assumed it was Huey.
It wasn't Huey.
"Goldie! Hey!"
Goldie stared at him for a second.
"Y-you're walking."
"Yep."
"I should've known you'd find a way, Sharpie. Your Uncle has always been one for miracles, too."
"This is all him, actually. Uncle Scrooge paid his top scientist to put Humpty Dumpty back together again." Mo, who didn't know what was going on, giggled at the nursery rhyme reference.
"Hm," Goldie smiled distantly, thinking about Scrooge.
"So why'd you drop by? Don't get me wrong, I love your visits, but tonight is kind of busy."
"Oh, I came for Mo's birthday." Goldie produced a poorly wrapped present from thin air.
"You're about three weeks late, but okay."
Mo's eyes were shining as he stared at the present in Goldie's hand, eyeing it like a hungry vampire in a blood bank.
"Here you go, little dude." Goldie passed it over and mussed up Mo's hair. He tore into it and then stared at the box, confused.
"Papa, what's that?"
"Goldie, what is this?"
"Baby's First Lock Picking Kit!"
"You can't give this to a child, Goldie."
"Can't be more dangerous than the bike Donald gave him." Louie made a mental note that apparently Goldie checked his Instagram stories and thought about making his account private again.
"The tricycle is perfectly safe. But you're not going to make my son into a tiny criminal."
"What if he wants to be a tiny criminal?"
"I want to be a vampire," Mo informed her, before dropping the box on the ground and running off to go badger daddy for a story.
"Well, that's that I guess. I'll let you get back to your evening, but if Mo ever wants to be a criminal vampire let me know."
"Thanks for the present, Goldie. I'll let you know if he likes it." They both could tell he didn't really like it, but they'd pretend.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Will you be at Thanksgiving this year?"
"I haven't decided. But I'll be at your wedding, Sharpie. Wouldn't miss it for the world."
She'd missed so much, never fully committing to being there for Louie the way a mentor and role model should. But every time she made a promise Louie chose to believe her. This time was no different.
"Who was that?" Boyd asked, stepping back into the living room with Mo.
"Junior Woodchucks. Just bought us some cookies."
"You're a terrible liar, Louie."
"No, I'm not. Just not trying very hard. Goldie dropped by with Mo's birthday gift, though I don't think he's very interested in the lock picking kit she got him."
"I really don't… Uh, what's the word…"
"Like?"
"Yeah. I really don't like your aunt."
"Oh, she's not so bad. Anyway, Huey will be here soon. Do you have Mo's overnight bag?"
"Mm-hm. All packed and ready to go."
"You excited to stay with Uncle Huey, Bug?" Louie asked, leaning over to give Mo a kiss on the head.
"Yeah! I'm gonna play with Azure!"
"And Scarlett and Emerald."
Mo looked dubious. He definitely liked Azure the most out of the three.
"I can't believe he's spending his first night away from us," Louie said as they waited for Huey.
"I can't believe we haven't had a date in over half a year," Boyd said.
"Not much different from when we first met."
"Yeah, well I didn't exactly want to go back to that, Louie."
Louie put on a pained smile, silently asking Boyd to drop it until Mo left. The truth was that, no matter how much they had healed, his past would always haunt them.
"Huey will be here soon," Louie said, feigning cheerfulness to hide any fear beginning to creep into his mind. He didn't know why he was so scared.
"Good. I know he'll take good care of Mo."
"I'm so excited!" Mo cheered, looking around as if he expected Uncle Huey to materialize. When he didn't, Mo looked up at Boyd and tugged at his shirt.
"Daddy! Where's Cthulhu?"
"He's in your bag, Bug." Mo let out a sigh of relief.
Then, there was a knock on the door.
"Ding, ding, ding!" Mo announced, even though both of them were staring at the door, waiting for this.
Louie opened the door, relieved to see his brother.
"Uncle Huey!" Mo squealed, launching himself into Huey's arms.
"Hey, buddy! I'm so excited to have you over tonight! We're going to have such a good time!"
"Thank you for doing this," Boyd said, smiling at his best friend. Louie nodded, but he didn't have any words other than a goodbye to his beloved son.
And then for the first time in six months, Boyd and Louie were truly alone.
Louie felt extremely fragile all of the sudden, sinking down on the couch.
"Louie? Oh gosh, you look pale… You stay seated, can I get you something?"
Louie took a deep breath and hugged a pillow.
"Louie, honey." Boyd grabbed a water bottle and then sat next to Louie.
"Can I rub your back?"
"Y-yeah."
"Did something happen, love?" Boyd asked as Louie sipped water.
"I'm just feeling tired. Do we really have to go out tonight? I don't think I could spend another moment on these legs, and I just feel weird."
Boyd was already helping to undo the clamps keeping the Jailbird legs on Louie's frame.
"I'm so sorry," Louie said, his voice shaking.
"What? No, no, Louie! You have nothing to apologize for! We still have tonight. We're still together. I'm with you. I'm happy."
Louie let out a sob.
"Are you not happy? Louie, baby, you can tell me anything."
"I feel so weird. That's bad, right? Because I should feel happy, should feel free. I've wanted this date night for so long. But right before Huey got here I was sent spiraling back to where we were when we started dating. And I mean- it feels like nothing has changed sometimes! Because I'm still such a disaster, still doing dangerous things and getting hurt and failing you…"
Boyd felt sick. Wake up from a reboot kind of sick.
"Louie… Have you felt this way for a while? That you, that we're stuck in some kind of loop?"
"I don't know… I have these nightmares about being Jailbird and losing you and Mo. And sometimes the shame in my head is inescapable but- I mean I talk to my therapist about it. I know it's all just in my head."
"Do you know that? Because everything is different now, a lot of it for the better, and you're still living in last year's guilt."
"Sorry," Louie was quick to mumble.
"No, no, don't apologize. You just need some perspective."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Can I tell you how I see it?"
"I'd like that."
Boyd smiled at Louie and wrapped a blanket around their shoulders so that they were cuddled close.
"Too much has happened for you to still be the same person you were in February of last year. So much has happened. Your nemesis was revealed to be your boyfriend-"
"You were never my nemesis, Gosalyn was, but proceed," Louie interrupted.
"-And then, despite being from different sides of the fight, we moved in together and adopted a cat. You started going to therapy, and got sober, and began apologizing to the people you previously hurt. You invested in some local businesses! I left you on a roof and you still decided to stay with me. You reconnected with your uncle, we memorialized your mom, and spent our first Thanksgiving and Christmas together. Got engaged, went on a road trip, got married… And yes, you got injured, but you were trying to protect me and Mo. And since then, we've become really awesome dads, you've turned the Jailbird initiative into a mobility aid, and you've done everything in your power to undo the hurt you've caused. You're a good person, Louie. And I believe you've always been a good person, it just got buried under all the hurt. But that goodness is shining through now."
Louie sniffled, letting Boyd's words sink in.
"I know it's hard to wake up every day and choose to show yourself grace but you deserve to feel good about yourself. You are not in the same place you were a year and a half ago. You will never be that person again. And you should be proud of that."
"I'm proud of us. Of what we made together."
"And we're going to keep doing this together for a long time, Louie. For the rest of our lives. Till death do us part."
Louie was quiet for a minute, thinking about everything.
"Do you think it would be okay if we still did date night like we used to?"
"Taquitos and k-dramas?"
"Unless you'd rather watch Cars," Louie said, a teasing smile appearing.
Boyd groaned and rolled his eyes at the mention of the movie Mo couldn't get enough of, Boyd's least favorite film in the world. But despite his eye roll, he was happy that Louie was joking and smiling again.
"I think we should stick to Meteor Garden."
"Sounds perfect to me."
"I've always liked our little date nights, anyway."
Louie smiled and leaned against Boyd, "Me too."
Of course, the pair were asleep before they'd even finished the whole plate of taquitos, sleep more important than food or Korean television. And of course, Louie woke up with a nightmare about losing Mo. But this time when he woke up afraid, he woke Boyd up and they faced the fear together.