I think this is the longest chapter in the set! Thought we should check in on the niblings.
As the Duck family grew and got older it got harder and harder to get everyone in one place, but at least once a summer Louie hosted a reunion of sorts, mostly for his siblings and their kids as well as Uncle Donald and Aunt Daisy. Gyro, Tara, and Yuri came occasionally but this year they couldn't make it.
Mo was up early the day of the reunion, practically watching at the door for all of his cousins to arrive. He loved all of them, but he was particularly excited to see Raph and Azure since he didn't get to see either of them a lot.
Of course, neither of them was the first to show up. The first people through the doors were Dewey and Leo, Leo immediately slinging his arm around his Uncle Louie.
"Unca Lou," Leo said with a shit-eating grin on his face, "Settle an argument between me and dad."
"Gladly." Leo was still his favorite, even though he loved all of his niblings, old and new.
"I get a car on my 16th, right? Like that deal is still on, I did well in school, I'm seventh in line, that's how it works, right?"
"You sound a little entitled, Leonardo, but yes. Why was this an argument, it's my money, my present to the kids, Dewey why would you argue about that?"
Dewey rolled his eyes, "Respectfully, Louie, if you'd seen this kid drive you would not want to give him a car."
"He has his permit, yes?"
"Yes…"
"Leo, as soon as you get a license, the car is yours. Until then, no car."
Leo smirked and high-fived Mo, whispering, "Once I get my license, we can go anywhere."
"You're still going to have a curfew," Dewey said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh come on! Raph got to do whatever he wanted when he was my age."
Dewey snorted, "You're remembering things how you want to. Just because a rule is inconvenient for you doesn't mean your siblings didn't have to go through the same thing. Now you're setting a bad example for your cousin so let's discuss this later, okay?"
"Fine. Lame." Leo looked at Mo, "Got any new games, or something? Until the others get here?"
"Oh, I got this new mystery game, it's super fun-"
"I meant like Mario, but okay. Show me the mystery game." Mo beamed at dragged Leo to his room, chattering the whole time.
"They grow up so fast," Louie said wistfully, putting a hand on Dewey's shoulder.
"I'm gonna have another kid," Dewey said decisively.
Louie let out a bark of a laugh, "What? You can't just- you can't just decide to have another kid."
"Why not?"
"Because! Because you- you're single, man. And most of your kids are adults, and most of your kids were like, found. Finders keepers or whatever. Where are you going to find another kid? Why can't you wait for grandkids like the rest of us?"
"And wait forever, for my gay son, my trans daughter, and my ace son to provide me with grandkids? Leo is like, a maybe, but he's not going to be having kids any time soon."
"That's what you told mom and then you adopted the twins."
"They'll be here soon, they promised."
"I know they will," Louie said, offering his brother a smile. Dewey seemed nervous.
"Yeah, it's just. I know they flaked for Mo's Middle School Graduation but it won't be like that this time. They'll be here."
"Is everything good between you and the kids?" Louie asked, concern entering his voice.
"They're good between me and Raph." If Louie had been drinking water, he would've spit it out. If Raph was the golden child now, what had the world come to?
"Do you have a light, Louie?" Dewey asked after a moment.
Louie felt like he'd been smacked in the face.
"I don't- why would I- what do you mean?"
"A cigarette, Louie. Remember those?"
"I don't smoke anymore, Dewford."
"Yeah you do, gimme."
Louie reached in his pocket and reluctantly withdrew his contraband.
"I won't tell Boyd," Dewey said, lighting up a cigarette and letting out a little puff of smoke.
"When did this start, Dewey?"
"When did this continue, Louie?"
"Touché. Is something going on with your family?"
"Leo's been driving me crazy, lately."
"He's sixteen, that's how we were when we were sixteen."
"He's not sixteen, he's almost sixteen. Won't stop reminding me. Like he's racing to grow up, like he's racing to leave me."
"Hey, I'm sure it's not like that."
"I don't know, Lou. I just feel like I've failed as a parent, no one seems to want to stick around."
"Well, Raph has a new job and the twins are in college, Leo just wants to take after them, no doubt. Mo looks up to his older cousins, too. He practically worships the ground Azure walks on."
"Mikey is leaving," Dewey blurted.
"What?" Louie frowned.
"As soon as he graduates, he's moving far away with one of his college friends. I don't think Raph and Leo know yet but he told me a week ago and DJ has known the whole time. I got a little scared, we might've argued... And I just feel like it's my fault. That he'd be staying if I were better, somehow."
"Dewey, you know how your dream, since we were like ten, was to be a pilot? To see the world from the sky? You just have to understand that Mikey has dreams to stretch his wings, you have to accept that. And you have to show him that he'll always be welcome home and that you love him no matter what choices he makes. Right?"
Dewey sighed, "Right."
"Cherish the time you have with them before they leave. Stop fighting with Leo about curfew and stuff and let him just be a kid. I know it must be hard, Dewey, but you're a great dad, and your kids are never going to really leave."
"Thanks, Louie. I needed to hear all of that. So uh, where's Boyd?"
"Out back, prepping the grill. He's become quite the grill master. How's DJ?"
"Good, except her newest girlfriend seems like… A real handful, to be honest."
"And Raph and Nick are still going strong?"
"Eight years last March."
"Do you know if they're planning on tying the knot anytime soon?"
"Well, they don't have to, obviously, to be complete, but a little birdy told me there'd be a proposal in the next month or so. Nick's coming today, that's alright, yeah?"
"Yeah, all the niblings seem to like him. He's part of the family."
"Yeah, he's great. He makes Raph so happy, you know? And it makes me so happy to see. They deserve each other."
There was a knock at the door, interrupting their gossip session. When the door swung open the newest guest sauntered in like this was Project Runway.
"Aunt Shi has arrived, the party may begin." Shiloh looked around and let out a dramatic sigh when she realized there were no niblings to witness her arrival. Within seconds, her own son, Gus, was pushing past her, looking up at Louie with shining, excited eyes.
"Uncle Louie?"
"Leo and Mo are in his room, you can go play with them."
Gus beamed and bolted, calling through the house, "Morio!"
"It's cute how much he looks up to Mo," Louie commented, watching the nine-year-old get pulled into Mo's bedroom, excited to chat about the stories they'd been reading and the mystery Mo was solving.
"Yeah, I'm glad my son has some good male role models," Shiloh said with a smile, wrapping her arm around Louie and resting her head on his shoulder.
"And I'm glad Mo has you and May as role models."
"Aww, you're a big sap. Anyway, what were we talking about? What's the tea? Dewey has Raph proposed yet?"
"No, but Nick recently asked me for my blessing…"
Louie's eyes widened and he swatted Dewey's arm.
"You didn't tell me that!"
"Well, I'm telling you now. But none of you can tell Raph."
"Tell Raph what?" Raphael asked as May stepped aside to let Raphael and his long-term partner Nicholas Moore inside.
"How much Mo adores you," Louie said, covering smoothly for his brother. Raph didn't fully buy it but he didn't press the issue.
"Oh, I already know that. Where's that kid, anyway?"
"He's in his room with Leo and Gus, I'll go get them and we can start moving towards the backyard."
As Louie stepped away from the group, Raph went to hug his dad, which Dewey greatly appreciated, hanging on a little longer. Raph didn't mind, holding on until his brother and cousins appeared.
"I like your shirt, Leo," Raph said. Leo was wearing a dark blue button-up covered in pink jellyfish.
"Thanks, I like your jacket." Raph wore a leather biker jacket and a tank top that proclaimed the glory of "Chemical Terrarium," a dumb punk band he liked. Nick was wearing a similar tank-top except in white instead of black, with his muscular arms on display.
Mo tugged a little on the sleeves of his comfy, oversized reddish-pink hoodie (it was way too hot for the summer but Mo didn't care), waiting for someone to compliment him.
Raph inspected Mo with a hum and nodded, "I like your style too, Mo."
Mo practically vibrated out of his hoodie, buzzing from the compliment.
"Can we go play in the backyard?" Gus asked impatiently.
"Yeah," Mo said, "Let's go."
"You guys head out, I'll wait for everyone else," Louie said.
"Want some company?" Shiloh asked, May going ahead to watch their son and make sure he didn't get into any trouble with the older boys.
"If it's yours, always."
Shiloh laughed, "You really are the sappiest person I know."
"I'm sure May gets sappy in her own way."
"Well, yeah, but that's different. She's my wife and you're my best friend."
"How are things at home, Shi? How's Gus?"
"You saw him, just as excited about life as ever. He's been working on this story about a cyclops who's trying to fit into normal society who meets and falls in love with this girl who has three eyes. It's very cute and very sad."
"I'll have to read it sometime."
"Oh, he'd love that. He wants his stories to be read by everyone. He was talking all the way here about showing Mo his story."
"I'm sure Mo would be happy to read it, too." Louie smiled, feeling more at ease with Shiloh than he'd been feeling earlier. He loved Dewey and he was happy to talk him through shit but he was happy to talk casually about Mo and Gus, without any problems looming in the background. Well, almost…
"How are things with you and Boyd?"
Louie inhaled sharply.
"Lou, are you two fighting?"
"No, no. We're not fighting, Boyd and I don't fight. I just got a little blindsided, recently. Boyd wants to go back to heroics. He still hasn't told Mo yet, and I know he's not going to go forward with anything until he does, but I just feel nervous. I'm going to support him, though. He thinks it's what's best for him, so I have to support him. I married him, for better or worst. "
Shi nodded sympathetically, "That must be really hard. You're doing the right thing, though, Louie."
Louie nodded, "I'm nervous for Boyd and I'm nervous for how this will affect Mo."
"Mo will be okay, he's a tough kid."
Louie thought about Dewey's sadness about Mikey moving away, "I just don't want anything to tear a rift in our family."
"You just have to be honest with Mo and Boyd and trust that things will work out."
"Right. Thanks, Shi, I love you."
"Love you too, Lou… I think I hear a motorcycle. Who rides a motorcycle?"
"Azure." A moment later, Azure and Emerald appeared at the door with helmets under their arms, Emerald fixing her makeup in a compact as she walked.
"Hey Uncle Louie, Aunt Shi," Azure greeted, a cool smile on their face.
"Hey, Zur. Mo and the others are in the backyard. Hey, Em, how's school?"
Emerald, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
"School's fine. School's normal." Though pretty much everyone knew about her spy school, Emerald pretended not to know anything about the Academy.
"Good. I'm sure you're already top student, keep it up."
"Not going to ask me about school?" Azure laughed.
"Are you taking classes right now?" Azure had an on-again off-again affair with education, insisting he was going to get an accounting degree like Great Uncle Donald but preferring to spend his time hunting the supernatural on his motorcycle. They aspired to be a lot like their mom and Aunt Lena in that aspect, and their sisters supported them despite having very different life goals.
"...No. But I like to be asked."
"I'll remember that for next time, go have fun."
Mo lit up when Azure arrived, running over and practically tackling his older cousin in a hug.
"Oh, I like the hoodie, very cozy."
"I like your hair!" Mo exclaimed, staring up at Azure's soft pink hair with a look of awe.
"Yeah, I thought I'd try something new. You don't like nail polish, right? Because I have some I could give you if you wanted it."
"No, it makes my hands feel weird and I can't concentrate when I'm wearing it. Sorry, Zur."
"No, no, fair enough. I'll give it to Mikey or DJ, then."
"I want nail polish," Gus piped up. Azure glanced at him, as he was wearing typical kid clothes and seemed indifferent to his appearance.
"You do?"
"I wanna try it."
"Okay, but adult supervision, alright? Get one of your moms to watch you while you do it. What color do you want, Gussy?" Azure showed him the selection, drawing it from their bag like it was a magic trick.
"Silver," Gus decided, snatching the bottle and running off to show May, who was chatting with Boyd and Dewey.
Boyd had caught the scent of cigar smoke on Dewey's clothes but he hadn't said anything, since Dewey was an adult. If it had been Leo, Boyd would have said something, but Dewey and Louie could technically do whatever they wanted in secret as long as the kids weren't affected.
To be honest, Boyd was a little bit worried about Louie. Since Boyd had mentioned getting back on the horse Louie had been acting, well, normal. How Louie always acted when he got stressed out. He was running around like a chicken with his head cut off, making sure the reunion was in order, preparing for the start of Mo's freshman year, and scheduling the annual nibling mall trip. Just doing everything he could think to do, all the time. And Mo was just like him, always going, it wasn't healthy.
Maybe Boyd would intervene after the party. But first, he had to mingle with the steady stream of guests.
Webby, Lena, and their girls Benny and Jules were the next to arrive. Ten-year-old Benny dashed over to Gus and began chattering, about her swimming lessons and the ghost story Mama Lena had told her and his cyclops story. Seven-year-old Jules took inventory of all the people who were there and decided to go play by herself on the playset, getting more joy out of the swing than socializing.
Donald and Daisy followed soon after the Sabrequack family, with DJ and Mikey arriving soon after and joining the older cousins, except for Raph who peeled away to check on and gossip with Jules.
Last but not least, Huey, Violet, Gosalyn, and Scarlett arrived. Scarlett was the only one of the adults who technically lived at home, though it was clear that that was up in the air as she argued with Gosalyn.
"O'pa, grandpa said I could use his lair."
"Yeah, as a lair, for heroics. You can't just move into my dad's garage."
"Yes, I can, he said I could."
"We'll talk about this later, Scarlett."
"He said I could. I need this, o'pa."
"You have a place."
"My childhood bedroom? There are still trains in it from Azure's train phase. That lasted like two weeks over a decade ago, I need my own space."
"Scarlett, we'll talk about it later!"
"Fine. Whatever. Hi, Uncle Louie." Scar hugged her uncle and then swiveled back to Gosalyn, "Maybe I'll just live in my car."
"You're not living in your car," Violet said, finally intervening, "Let's just put a pin in it and you can lay out your argument when we get home."
Huey lingered while they went ahead.
"Are my other kids here?"
"Yeah, they arrived together a little bit ago."
"Am I the last one here?" Huey asked with a sigh.
"Yeah."
"I miss being punctual. I'm going to get that back when Scarlett moves out."
"So you're on Scar's side with this one?"
"Well, I don't want her living in her car but I recognize the need for space. Gosalyn is just worried she'll end up like Azure."
"Why? Azure seems happy."
"They are, but they don't really have a place right now. When they're not on a job they basically sleep on Em's couch."
"Well, as long as both of them are okay with it, that's okay, right?"
"That's not going to stop Gosalyn from worrying. They've been a little anxious and restless since they retired."
Louie sighed, "Boyd is the same way."
"Yeah, he told me he was going to get back into it."
"He told you?"
"Well, he's my best friend. Has he… Has he not told you?"
"No, I'm sure he told me first. Just makes me nervous."
"So you started smoking again?"
"What?"
"I can smell the smoke, Louie."
"Oh. I mean, to be honest, yes. But I didn't today."
"Did Mo start smoking?" Huey asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"He better not have. Dewey bummed a cigarette off me earlier. You should talk to him, Hue, he's going through it with the whole empty nest thing, and your perspective might be invaluable."
"He's not an empty nester, though…"
"Yeah, but he's still really upset about DJ and Mikey growing up."
"Ah. I'll talk to him. As for you-"
"I'm 43, Huey, I can smoke if I want to."
"Just talk to Boyd about it. Your anxiety drives you to do things, and you end up putting up walls. No one wants a repeat of Jailbird."
Louie inhaled sharply when Huey mentioned his former identity. He wanted to leave Jailbird buried and the scowl on his face showed that.
"Sorry," Huey said quickly, "I shouldn't have brought it up."
"No, you're right. Things are changing. I need to talk to Boyd and make sure we're not falling into old, destructive routines."
Huey nodded, studying his brother's face with a hint of worry.
"We should get out to the party," Louie said after a moment, his dazzling smile back in place, "Since everyone's here now."
"Right, yeah, let's go."
Louie wrapped an arm around his brother and herded him to the backyard and they both chose to let go of any lasting uneasiness. Huey went over to Dewey and Boyd and Louie veered towards his son and niblings.
"What're we talking about?" Louie asked with a warm smile.
"Mikey's changing his name," DJ said, already laughing like it was a joke.
"Stop calling me Mikey! I'm not changing my name I'm changing my nickname," the 21-year-old turned toward his uncle, "I'm going by Angelo now."
DJ snorted.
"Angelo? Short for Michelangelo? I like it."
"Well, technically it's short for Michelangelo, Mick instead of Mike, but I didn't want to start going by Mickey, so, Angelo. I like it too."
"You took one art history class and now you're such a nerd." DJ rolled her eyes.
"Why don't you like the name Angelo?" Mo asked, innocently picking at a scab. Leo immediately decided that he wanted to go see what Raph was doing, instead of staying in the line of fire. He was on the Turtle group chat, he knew how to recognize when a storm was brewing.
"It's a fine name, it's whatever. I just think it's weird that Angelo is reinventing himself."
"Oh, so it's only acceptable when you reinvent yourself, DJ?" Angelo angled an eyebrow at her.
"That's different."
"It's not! My identity is just as valid as yours."
"Your identity is easier," DJ snapped, now that they were both getting under each other's skin.
Azure grabbed Mo by the shoulders and Scarlett and Emerald followed suit with Gus and Benny, steering them away from the argument.
Angelo sputtered for a moment, weaving a hand through his hair in distress. Louie recognized that look and attempted to intervene before his nephew could panic.
"Hey, you don't have to argue about this here."
"It's not easy," Angelo shot back, ignoring his uncle, "it's not easy being aspec, it's not easy trying to find yourself in college, and it's certainly not easy being your brother when everyone in our life compares me to you."
DJ was really quiet for a minute.
"So that's why you're changing your name and graduating early?"
"Who's changing their name and graduating early?" Dewey asked, having come over to attempt to keep the peace between his kiddos.
"Dad, I'm going by Angelo now. And I'm graduating in December, instead of May. I plan to move in January."
"Who moves to a farm in the middle of January? You can't even grow stuff in January."
"Well, you can grow some stuff in January," Louie said quietly from the background.
"Well, my son Angelo is not going to be selling weed, Louie." Dewey gave Louie a look, causing DJ and Angelo to both giggle, their argument almost resolved and put on the backburner now that the adults were fighting. They had weathered all kinds of storms together, this would just be another bump in the road, everything would fix itself.
"I was talking about flowers," Louie said, "I own a flower shop, not a dispensary. Dumbass." The last part was mumbled as he walked away, leaving Dewey and his twins to work things out amongst themselves.
He wandered over to Boyd, "Something must be in the water, Dewey and the twins are in such a mood today."
"Growing pains," Boyd said with a shrug, wrapping an arm around Louie's waist.
"Oh, and Mikey is going by Angelo now."
"Fancy, I like it."
"Yeah, it's clear he likes it too. He's really trying to find himself and I think it's working. DJ and Dewey are just having a hard time adjusting, I guess."
"Well, change takes time. Speaking of, how are you?"
"How's that related to change? Who's changing? Nothing's changing."
"Well," Boyd said with a hum, "something is in the water."
"I don't think I've said hi to Jules yet, I'm gonna go chat with her and Benny," Louie decided, untangling himself from Boyd, continuing to run like he'd lost his head. Boyd sighed and turned back to the barbeque.
Louie found Jules hiding behind the slide on the playset and knelt down.
"Hey, little jewel, how are you doing?"
"Good. I like reunions."
"You do?" Louie asked, offering his arms and lifting the little girl when she latched on to him.
"Yes. Everybody talks about their drama at reunions. DJ's girlfriend apparently flirted with Angelo and Scarlett is trying to be a superhero and Mo has a new mystery and Raph and Nick are thinking about having kids."
"You collect secrets, huh?" Louie said with a laugh, smoothing down Jules' light hair.
"Yeah!"
"You should talk to Emerald, she collects secrets too."
"Emerald scares me," Jules admitted, snuggling into Louie's shoulder.
"Do I scare you?"
"No. You don't scare me and Raph doesn't scare me."
"What about Uncle Boyd? Or Mo? Or Azure?"
"Mo's a vampire and Azure is a witch."
"Mo is not a vampire. And I think the correct term is sorcerer."
"Sorcerex," Jules said.
"Did you come up with that yourself?" Louie asked.
"Yeah!"
"You should tell Azure, I'm sure they'll like it."
"Okay," Her pride overrode her shyness, and she ran over to Azure as soon as Louie set her down.
Louie wandered over to Lena and Webby, "Jules is such a sweetheart, but you cannot keep secrets from her, can you?"
"Nope. But it just forces us to be honest with our kids and that's never a bad thing," Webby said.
"Speak for yourself," Lena laughed, "we can't hide birthday or Christmas presents from her because she always figures it out."
"Relatable," Louie said with a nod.
"Mo gets into his presents too?" Webby asked.
"Ah, no. I used to when I was a kid. Mo's pretty good about surprises if we tell him not to pry. But he becomes a full-on detective when he thinks we're keeping secrets."
"It's a wonder he hasn't found out about, you know," Webby said, lowering her voice.
"I don't really want to talk about Jailbird, Webs."
"I wasn't- sorry. Let's go check on Jules and Benny." Webby pulled Lena away and Louie was left standing there, feeling a little lost, until he noticed his son near the porch looking the same.
"Mo? You okay, bud?" Louie could tell that Mo was scratching at his hand inside his sleeves and gently pulled his hand away to prove his theory.
"Sure, yeah. I was just talking to Leo about high school."
"Oh, Bug. Are you nervous about high school?"
"No! It's just that Leo walked away in the middle of the conversation. So um, I was talking to Azure, and Azure got distracted too. It's nothing, really, pop."
Louie nodded sympathetically.
"It's just really busy today, Mo, everyone's trying to catch up. No one's trying to ignore you."
"Yeah, I know. Like I said, it's nothing."
"If you want to hang out with me, you can. Or if you need to go inside and take some time to yourself, that's okay too." Mo hugged himself, thinking about it for a moment.
"Can I hang with you?"
"Of course. I'm about to go talk to Violet and Gosalyn, okay?"
"Okay."
"Come on." Louie didn't touch Mo, unsure of how Mo was feeling about affection right now, but he led his son over to Violet and Gosalyn, finding out that the moving-out argument was still going on.
"Hey, guys, everything going alright?" Louie asked, immediately trying to de-escalate.
"Yes," Violet said immediately, giving her partner and her eldest a look.
"Uncle Louie, don't you think I should have my own space?" Scarlett asked, peering at her uncle.
"Of course I do," Louie said, giving her a smile, "but this is still something you have to work out with your parents. All three of them."
Now Gosalyn grimaced because they knew Huey was on Scarlett's side and Violet just wanted to get this sorted out and make sure everyone was happy.
"Fine, whatever. I'm going to go talk to Em and Azure." For the first time, Scarlett seemed to notice Mo, "Hey, dude. How's your mystery going?"
Mo lit up, "Do you want to hear about it?"
"Yeah, definitely." Mo went off with Scarlett and Louie let out a sigh of relief of his own, though he'd keep an eye on it.
"Why is parenting so hard?" Gosalyn asked when their daughter had walked away.
"Because it's worth it, probably?" Louie suggested.
"Oh, yeah, it's definitely worth it. I just need more ibuprofen than what's commercially available." Louie laughed at that and Violet rolled her eyes, leaning over and kissing Gosalyn.
"Dear, you're just going to have to agree with our daughter."
"And have two of my kids live on the street?"
"I don't live on the street," Azure said, passing by with a cup of lemonade, "I stay in motels while I'm on the job and with Emerald when I'm not."
"Yeah, yeah." Gosalyn turned to Violet, "At least you and Lena had places to come home to when you were out hunting ghosts."
"Azure knows they can always come home if they want, and they have Emerald to stay with as well. Our kids are adults, dear. We have to trust them."
"If it makes you feel better," Louie said in a low voice, "Dewey is also stressing out about his kids growing up."
"Yeah, I might have overheard that," Gosalyn nodded.
"What about you, Louie? Do you worry about Mo growing up?" Louie glanced at Mo, chattering happily with Scarlett and Gus.
"I used to when he was little. But I know things can't stay the same. Eventually, everything is going to change."
The three Gearloose-Duck men were all exhausted by the end of the party. Mo excused himself to his room "forever" and Louie and Boyd barely managed to change into pajamas before crashing in their bed together and beginning to cuddle.
"I miss your arms every second they're not around me," Boyd moaned into Louie's ear.
"You're so hot," Louie whispered back, caressing Boyd's face.
"Sorry if I'm overheating, love, I just want to be close to you."
"You're not overheating, you're perfect in every way."
"Louie?" Boyd asked, pressing his head into Boyd's neck.
"Yes, baby?"
"Are you still mad at me?"
"No, why would I be mad at you?"
"You got upset when I mentioned things changing."
Louie took a deep breath.
"I'm just worried… You're going back to Silverwing and the last time you were Silverwing we both nearly died. And I know that wasn't your fault but it still happened."
"And then we brought Mo home. That was a big change, but it was also the best thing we've ever done. All of life is changes, it's uh, it's like that one movie. Change is nature."
"Are you quoting Ratatouille at me?"
"Ratatouille! I knew that was the name."
"It's like that other movie. It's futile to resist change, man."
"Did you just quote Cars 3 at me?" Boyd asked, pulling away.
Louie began to giggle.
"I hate Cars 3," Boyd groaned.
"You hate all of the Cars movies."
"Well, some things will never change."
Louie lay back, staring at their ceiling.
"I know things change. And I know I can trust you, and I'm working on shaking my paranoia. Be patient with me?"
"Always. I love you, Louie, I'll always love you."
"I'll always love you, too," Louie said, settling into Boyd's arms once more.
"I just don't want to change right now. I'm happy right where I am in life. So I'll adapt to your changes, but I never want to go back to being Jailbird. I can't go back."
"I know, Louie. And you'll never have to. You're not that guy anymore. Another very good change."
Outside the door, Mo found himself eavesdropping a little, having just gotten up to ask about a late dinner but deciding to eat a Lunchable in his room while he followed this new thread.