Wow, literally everything I've ever said has been a lie. Chapter 15 will be the epilogue, Louyd is an ever-present part of this fic even though it's not the main part, and it took me until chapter 12 to properly touch on either Huey or Dewey's mental health.

But I do love this fic and I'm going to try so hard to finish it this year. We're in the endgame now!

Also, I'm two chapters away from finishing Ghost Ship, which I also recently resurrected from the dead, so go read that one too.

Louie was healing. He really, really was, he was doing his best, he was getting back on the horse, he was healing. He'd been in a rut since quitting college but now he was finally starting to believe that that was the best decision he could have made.

And now he knew that he couldn't go back. He knew it with debilitating conviction.

That was his current problem. He was supposed to be getting in Gosalyn's car so that they could drive several hours and go see Dewey's play, but Louie was realizing that he couldn't go back to that school. It was the source of so much of his recent mental anguish and the thought of going back was enough to make him want to shut down.

"Louie? Are you alright?"

Louie looked panicked.

"Can you go without me?"

"What?"

"I don't want to let Dewey down but I can't go back there, Gos."

Gosalyn nodded. They'd volunteered to go with Louie in the first place because they knew he was in a rough place and probably shouldn't be making a trip like this alone, since Della, Donald, and Scrooge were, unfortunately, all busy.

"I'm sorry to put you in such an awkward place-" Louie started.

Gos held up their hand.

"Stop it, Lou, I want to see Huey, Dewey, Webby, and Violet anyway. Go inside, let your brothers know that you won't be at the show, and I'll text you when I get there, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you."

"Of course, don't worry about it."

"Let me give you some money for gas," Louie said quickly.

"Really, don't worry about it."

"No, please, Gosalyn, let me do this at least."

"...Okay. You can transfer me a little bit of money if it'll make you feel better."

"Thank you." Louie sent them some money, made sure they accepted the transfer and then headed inside.

Gosalyn got in their car, turned on a podcast, and started the journey by themself.

Louie got a cup of water to calm his nerves and, when he felt okay enough, he texted the sibling group chat that he was sorry but he wouldn't be at the play because he didn't feel like he should go back to the initial source of his panic attacks.

Huey was super worried about Louie, but at this point, he was even more worried about Dewey. Because Dewey was completely in Brigadoon mode, so his phone had been turned off and put away for hours at this point, and it seemed incredibly unlikely that Dewey would find out Louie wasn't there until the end of the show.

Dewey wasn't the only actor, though, and so Huey managed to push down his anxieties and put on a brave face for Violet, Gosalyn, and Webby.

Vi and Gos seemed to buy it, and Webby was kind enough to keep her doubts to herself. Tonight was about Dewey, after all.

"What's Brigadoon about anyway?" Gosalyn asked in a whisper before the show. They were holding a bouquet of dyed blue roses that Louie had sent for Dewey, as well as a program that they wanted to get signed for Louie.

"Love."

"I can't imagine Dewey in love," Gosalyn chuckled.

"Yeah, well, when he's on stage he completely transforms." Hopefully, he would be able to maintain his composure off the stage, too, when he finally found out that Louie wasn't going to be there tonight.

Dewey did an incredible job as Tommy Albright, an American visiting Scotland, and pretty much immediately cheats on his fiance with some girl he just met. Dewey had had more than one experience as an American who had visited Scotland but no experience of having a fiance or cheating on his imaginary fiance.

Dewey ran up to Huey, Webby, Gosalyn, and Violet after the play, looking around for Louie. A realization seemed to settle on his face, but he kept up the act for a moment to be sure.

"Where's Louie?"

Gosalyn awkwardly stepped forward, "I'm so sorry, Dewey, Louie wanted to come but he was worried it would trigger another panic attack. He sent flowers, though."

Dewey took the flowers from Gosalyn and threw them, with the expertise of someone who had always fantasized about playing basketball but had never actually done it, in the trash.

"I don't want his fucking flowers. He was supposed to be here!"

"Dewey, he was looking out for his mental health-" Huey started.

"No, no! He was supposed to look out for us!"

"Dewey, you're the one who said that leaving school was the best decision for him. You have to understand why coming back might have been too hard for Louie."

Dewey scoffed and swiped at the tears beginning to stream down his face.

"Dewey?" Huey asked softly.

"I just needed him to be here."

Huey offered him a hug but Dewey turned away.

"I think I need some space, Hue. I'm gonna go to the cast party."

Huey felt a lump in his throat. This wasn't good, Dewey was feeling betrayed, but he'd put on an act for his fellow performers and bury his feelings. Meanwhile, Louie was probably feeling guilty and was forced to deal with those feelings like himself. And Huey? Huey was just feeling like he was failing to hold his family together.

"I'm here to talk when you're ready."

"Yeah, okay, whatever."

Huey knew then that he wouldn't be seeing Dewey for the rest of the night.

"Hey, are you okay?" Gosalyn asked, putting their hand on Huey's arm.

"Not really," Huey admitted.

"Would snow cones help?" Violet asked, though her suggestion was more about a distraction than snow cones specifically.

Huey let out a sad little laugh, "It couldn't hurt. Gosalyn, Webby, you want to go for snow cones? There's a place just across the street."

"I'm in," Gosalyn said instantly, half for the promise of snow cones and half because they wanted to make sure Huey was okay. They really cared about the big nerd.

"I would, but I have a huge test scheduled for tomorrow and I need to study. I'll be checking my phone regularly though if you or Dewey need anything."

"Right, thanks, Webs." Huey turned to Gosalyn and Violet. "I'm going to text Louie again and then we'll go."

Huey stepped away and sent Louie a text, asking if Louie was okay. He was a bit relieved when Louie said he was with Boyd, though he did text Boyd to confirm, only satisfied when Boyd sent a selfie of the two of them with the caption, "Movie Night."

"Louie seems like he's alright, he's with a friend and Dewey will be with his friends, so we're good."

"And you'll be with your friends," Gosalyn said, slinging one arm around Huey and the other around Violet.

"Yeah, I will, thank you, both of you, for looking out for me."

"Of course," Gos said.

"Any time," Violet said, "within reason."

Huey laughed and they headed out for snow cones.

Lurking around the corner, Dewey slunk out when Huey was gone and dug the roses out of the trash. He didn't like lying to his brothers but he was good at it, and, when he was sure that no one could see him, he went and hid in the theater's prop closet for the rest of the night, spiraling while his brothers had fun without him.

Huey stayed out late with Gosalyn and Violet. He felt light when he was with them, like the problems that weighed him down weren't life or death. They convinced him, just for the night, that he wasn't responsible for his brothers' mental health.

He wasn't able to keep that conviction when Dewey came in the next morning, looking like shit.

"Hey, I think we should talk about this," Huey said as Dewey collapsed onto his bed, face down. Huey could see blue roses poking out of Dewey's satchel.

"You went to karaoke without me," Dewey mumbled.

"It was Gosalyn's idea. You didn't go to the cast party after all, did you?"

"Of course not. I'm not that good of an actor, I wasn't going to pretend to be okay in front of all my theater friends."

"I'm actually glad to hear that," Huey said, "It's not good to deny your feelings."

"Yeah, I know. Louie taught me that, at least."

"Are you still mad at him?"

"For not coming? No. For him hanging out with his boyfriend while you were off doing karaoke with your partners? Yeah. That sucks, Huey."

Huey blushed, "They aren't my partners."

Though as he was saying it, he was wondering why they couldn't be. He would file that away for later when his brother wasn't in crisis.

"Sure they aren't. You still went to karaoke without me."

"I know this isn't about karaoke, but I'm sorry, Dewey. You said you wanted space."

"You weren't supposed to believe me!" Dewey exploded.

Huey took a deep breath.

"Dewey. I love you and I want to be there for you, but you can't deny your feelings to me either, especially if you expect me to know what you mean when you lie to my face."

"I didn't-" Dewey started, sitting up.

"I'm not mad at you, Dewey. I just don't think it's fair to be mad at me when you weren't upfront with your feelings."

Dewey sighed.

"You're right. I just… You and Louie don't get it. I have friends but you guys have crushes, partners, people outside of families to have that intimate connection with. I'm never gonna have that."

"I didn't know you wanted that…" Huey said.

"I don't! Not the way you want it. But I don't want to be alone all the time. And with Louie back in Duckburg and you and Webby dating people… I'm afraid I'm looking at a future of loneliness."

"Hey, hey, that's not how it works. Our family will always be a family, and me and Louie will always be your brothers. That's literally what we do. You just have to talk to us about how you're feeling so we can be there for you in the way you need us."

"Well, Louie literally wasn't there when I needed him."

"You know why he wasn't there. But I was there. You didn't have to be alone last night. And you're not alone now. You wanna go to Waffle House?"

Dewey laughed a little, surprised by Huey's offer.

"Really?"

"Breakfast makes everything better."

"True, true. Do you think we can call Louie afterwards? I don't want him to think I'm mad at him, I'm really trying not to be."

"Absolutely. I think he spent the night with Boyd, so we can grill him about that."

Dewey laughed again, seeming a bit happier, "Sounds like a plan."

Huey hesitated, "Dewey? You can let me know if you're not feeling okay."

"Okay, I will. I'm really trying to be." Now he chose a more accurate word than what he'd used last night, "I just need time."

Huey nodded, "You can have as much time as you need. Now go change into clean clothes and we'll get breakfast."