"Okay, lay it on me, Dew," Gosalyn said. The redhead leaned against the wall, just opposite from him.
He cleared his throat, feeling more than a little self-conscious at the fact that they were both sitting on his bed. He fought to keep a blush from forming. "Okay. Just keep in mind that this isn't something I wrote myself. I found it on TikTok."
"Aren't you kind of young for TikTok?"
"You're not that much older than me. Besides, Uncle Donald put parental controls on all of our phones. Now, do you want to hear it or not?"
She shrugged, but motioned for him to continue.
"Here goes." He cleared his throat once more, but noticed she raised an eyebrow at his action. He chose to ignore it (and his ever-increasing blush) and began, "You are...annoying."
Her look turned skeptical.
"Just so...obnoxious." Dewey closed his eyes, starting to get into the rhythm. "Believe when I say...that you are adopted."
He heard Gosalyn snicker, but kept going, "Tell me why you can't do anything right. Tell me why I want to fight you on sight. Tell me why I never want to hear you say...that we are related."
She started clapping after the last verse. Dewey opened his eyes with a grin. "That was impressive. Now, why don't you tell me how you really feel about your brothers?"
He rubbed the back of his neck as laughter escaped him as well. "They're not all bad. Huey's the smartest person I've ever known, and Louie's pretty clever, and we've saved each other's butts multiple times. Then there are the times when Huey tries to pull me into his Woodchuck stuff and Louie will sometimes get too greedy, which makes me a bit sour."
"Is that why you created 'Only Child Day'?" she asked.
Now Dewey was confused. "Wait...how do you know about 'Only Child Day'?"
"I heard about it from Lena. She told me the last time I was here."
Dewey rubbed his face in slight exasperation; only one person could have told Lena. "Thanks a bunch, Webby."
"What's up, Gos?"
The two of them stared at the new arrival with several degrees of alarm. It was another, identical Dewey. While Gosalyn looked between the two Deweys with a healthy amount of confusion, the actual Dewey was nonplussed. "Webby," he said with a sigh, "can you please not do this 'Dewpelganger' thing again? It wasn't funny the first time. Honestly, I still have nightmares about it," he said in an aside to Gosalyn.
She snorted. "'Dewpelganger'?"
"Don't ask."
Gos looked tempted to ask anyway, but before Dewey could even begin to stave off her questions, another voice started singing, "Dewey and Gossie sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G…"
Dewey was only semi-thankful for the interruption and held back from rolling his eyes. Did Huey suddenly revert seven years in age? Considering this was the McDuck family, it wasn't entirely implausible.
Huey didn't seem to realize Gos was here, and she looked murderous.
Thankfully, Webby and Dewey traded a glance and after a quick nod, she leapt off the bed, exclaiming in Dewey's voice, "Boom! Dewpelganger!"
"Aaah!" Huey shouted. "Not this again! Safe zone! Safe zone! AAAaaaaaaaaaaaa!" His screams quickly trailed off as he fled the room with Webby in hot pursuit.
Dewey's smirk fell away as he looked back at Gos, who still looked furious. Her arms were crossed and her hair seemed to vibrate in tune with her anger. He scooted over to sit beside her in the hopes of calming her down. "There are always going to be moments like that, too. We teased Uncle Scrooge mercilessly after we found out about his ex-girlfriend. At least, I think she was his girlfriend. He's never been very clear about that. Anyway, Huey has a crush on Violet that he's absolutely not subtle about, so…"
"Do you have a crush on me?" Gosalyn suddenly asked. She no longer looked angry, merely curious. She was also looking directly in his eyes.
Now Dewey was stymied. He took a few seconds to come up with an answer. "To be honest? I'm not sure. I mean, I'm only twelve. It's not like I've had other crushes I could compare it to. I guess? I feel nervous sometimes when you're close and even now I'm trying not to blush, so I suppose the answer would be yes."
Gos raised another speculative eyebrow, but a smile started to form on her beak that emphasized her dimples. She pushed a loose strand of hair away from her eyes, appearing a bit nervous herself. "You realize I'm a year older than you, right, Dewey? We can't go out on a date just yet."
He held up his hands. "Whoa whoa. Did I say I wanted to go on a date?" His own smile reappeared. "Well, yes, I do, but that can wait for a more reasonable time. For now, I'm fine just hanging out with you." He was glad though, having taken note of her words "just yet". It definitely wasn't an outright refusal and, because of those words, his future, undefined as it was, seemed a little bit brighter.
Author's note: I'll be honest, this is just a product of my insomnia-addled brain, though I really appreciate how it turned out. I might not pull another Dewey and Gosalyn story out of my hat, but I won't discount it entirely. I hope you enjoy it and please remember to tell me what you think.
Also, here's a link to the original TikTok video with the song "The Sibling Anthem" in question: ZMRwRUqAH/