Middle School
Louie was shivering in his arms. It was the first time Boyd had ever held someone this cold and he willed himself to become warmer to fight the chill settling inside of Louie. He was soaked to the bone, as water rushed out of the lab.
"I'll get someone! You'll be okay- I'll get Dr. Dad. I'm so sorry, Louie. It's going to be okay, don't worry, don't worry, we'll get you dry and warm and…"
Louie wrapped his arms around Boyd's neck, shuddering and shaking seawater out of his hair. In the underwater lab, there were water breaches like this all the time. Usually, no one ever got hurt, because the environment was quick to respond to that kind of thing. But this time Louie had been here and he'd gotten knocked over and drenched, hitting his head on the hard lab floor.
"Don't let go," Louie said woozily, continuing to cling.
"I won't, I won't. I'll hold you until everything is okay." Boyd scooped Louie up and rushed to find an adult who could help them, trying to pour every ounce of warmth he had into Louie's shivering frame.
High School
"Damnit," Louie muttered, sinking down onto the bathroom floor and holding his arm to hide a bruise, noticing Boyd at the sinks for the first time.
"What, what's wrong?" Boyd asked, scanning his friend. Louie had more bruises than he had hands to cover them with and he looked a little sick.
"This guy is gonna keep beating up on me until I pay him back."
"What do you owe him?"
"I don't owe him anything, but he's extorting me for a thousand."
Boyd's eyes widened, "A thousand dollars? What the hell- who does he think he is? I'm gonna have a word with that chump."
Louie laughed and then winced.
"Thanks, Boyd, but it's okay. I just need to keep my head low."
Boyd sat down on the ground and wrapped an arm around Louie, who rested his head on his shoulder.
"Say the word, Lou, and I'll deck the guy."
Louie laughed again, "I appreciate it, Boyd, but this is enough. I don't need anything more than your friendship."
College
Louie was pressed up against the wall, Boyd's mouth pressed against his and his legs wrapped around Boyd's waist.
"Don't drop me," Louie said breathlessly, the first second their mouths were apart.
"I won't, I won't, I've got you. It's okay."
"Okay," Louie said, before going back in.
Wedding Night
They were still drunk on "I Dos" while Boyd carried Louie over the threshold of their Honeymoon Suite.
"I love you, Boyd Gearloose-Duck," Louie whispered, his arms wrapped tightly around Boyd's neck.
"I love you too, Llewellyn Rebel Gearloose-Duck."
Louie howled with laughter before burying his head in Boyd's shoulder
"You just had to pull out my full name. Jerk."
"I thought you loved me."
"I do love you, more than anything in the world. This is the best night of my life."
"It's always going to be this wonderful, Louie. Being with you. You have this way of making everything okay."
Louie laughed in surprise, "It's funny, I was going to say the same thing about you."
The Accident
When Louie got in a car crash and was left bruised and dizzy by the impact and the airbag, the only part of him that Boyd could safely hold was his hand. So Boyd clung to that hand and Louie clung to him.
Boyd had been so scared when his precious human husband had gotten hurt, he'd seen Louie get hurt so many times before, and each time it terrified him. But holding onto Louie's hand made things better. They were safe together. They were going to be okay.
Homecoming
Louie couldn't tear himself away from their son. They had just brought Morio home for the first time and both of them were the happiest they'd been since their wedding night, if not happier.
"He's so amazing," Louie whispered, cradling the sleeping toddler close. He was sitting on the couch, afraid to stand and wake him up.
Boyd nodded and sat next to the two of them, wrapping his arms around his boys. They didn't need to say anything, they could read each other's minds at this point. They didn't need anything more than this. If their life stayed this beautiful forever, they would be perfectly content. Boyd would be happy to hold his family like this forever.
Anniversary
Sometimes, now that they were parents who also both had careers, they forgot to make time to celebrate their relationship. But on their anniversary they tried to make time for each other.
Gyro was watching Mo for the night and so Louie and Boyd had the house to themselves.
"What do you want to do?" Boyd asked with a smirk.
"Hmm…" Louie smirked thoughtfully, wrapping his arms around Boyd's neck. Boyd took the hint and lifted his husband off the ground, allowing Louie to wrap his legs around him.
"To the bedroom?" Boyd asked.
"To the bedroom," Louie agreed.
Soon they were entangled in the sheets, clinging to each other like their lives depended on it, fast asleep. The only way to celebrate.
The Fight
When Mo became a teenager his rebellious streak started to show. It wasn't Boyd's place to tell Louie that Louie, whose middle name was literally Rebel, had also been a rebellious teen. It was Boyd's place to comfort Louie whenever Morio and Louie argued. He had to comfort Mo as well. It was kind of exhausting sometimes, playing mediator for father and son.
"Pop doesn't get it," Mo ranted.
"You're right, your pop was never a teenager," Boyd said sarcastically.
"I just wish he would trust me! I'm fourteen, I'm not a little kid anymore, dad."
"I know that. Your pop knows that too. That's what scares him. He worries about you."
"Because he doesn't trust me."
"Because he was like you. He doesn't want to see you make the mistakes he made when he was younger. He doesn't want to see you get hurt."
"If he'd talk to me, instead of freaking out…" Mo's anger was gone. His teen just seemed tired at this point.
Boyd nodded, "You're right. He's not perfect, none of us are. So cut him some slack. I'll talk to him. You are growing up and you have earned our trust."
Mo grinned.
"Trust can be lost though, Morio, so you're going to have to keep earning it."
"I understand. You really think you can make pop trust me?"
"I'll try my best. Your pop cares about you, I know I can at least make him listen to you."
Mo decided that was good enough.
Louie was also upset when Boyd went to talk to him.
"He hates me."
"No," Boyd said, sitting next to Louie and wrapping his arms around him, "he just wants you to listen to him."
"I'm a failure."
"You're not listening to me, either. You're not a failure and your son doesn't hate you. You just need to get out of your own head a little and remember that Mo is his own person. Maybe he'll make some of the same mistakes you did and maybe he'll make some different ones. We just have to be there for him, try to guide him when we can, trust him when we can't, listen to him when he's talking to us."
Louie nodded, leaning against Boyd.
"I'm still learning…"
"That's okay. He'll understand. You just have to talk to him, and listen, and apologize."
Louie frowned, "Do I really have to apologize?"
"Yes."
"Fine… I will, before the day is over, I promise."
"Good. Mo is a good kid. A smart kid. He deserves our trust."
"You're right. You're always right."
"Not always. Sometimes I need to apologize too."
"Boyd?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Will you just hold me for a while?"
"Of course. I'll hold you as long as you need."
Graduation
Mo was gleaming with pride, holding up his college diploma like it was solid gold.
"I did it!"
"You did it! I didn't doubt you for a second," Louie said. Mo beamed at him, wrapping his arms around him.
"Thanks, pop. I love you."
"I love you too. We're so proud of you."
Boyd joined the hug and they stayed that way for a minute before Mo pulled away. He glanced to the side, where his partner was waiting, and then back at his parents.
Boyd laughed, "You can go be with Oz. We'll see you two for the celebration dinner."
"Thanks, dad!" Mo hugged them once more before running off. Boyd kept his arm around Louie.
"We did good," Louie said, tearing up a little.
"We did great. I'm really proud of both of them."
"Me too. Our boys."
"Our boys." Louie kept his arm around Boyd's waist, and they stayed that way for a little longer.
Mo's Wedding
One of the happiest nights of Mo's life reminded Louie of all the little tiny arguments he and Boyd had had leading up to their own wedding. None of those arguments had ultimately mattered. Their wedding had been perfect because they were perfect for each other. It was the same for Mo and Oz.
Mo didn't want to be walked down the aisle because he didn't want to pick a parent to walk him and he didn't think it was fair that Oz wouldn't be able to be walked down the aisle too in this hypothetical wedding. And he didn't want to hyphenate his last names like Louie and Boyd had, he was happy to take Oscar's last name, no longer Morio Atlas Gearloose-Duck, now just Morio Atlas Luna. The whole time Louie was fighting the urge to tell his son that this isn't how he would've done it. The whole time Louie was fighting the urge to burst into tears because his little boy was grown up.
The whole time Louie was thinking how perfect this was, because it was Mo and Oz's wedding, and it was exactly the way they'd wanted it. It was exactly what they deserved.
"I can't believe you didn't cry," Boyd said as they were cleaning up after the reception, their boys headed off for the honeymoon.
"The night is young," Louie said with a laugh that was threatening to turn into a sob.
"This reminds me so much of our wedding," Boyd said, setting down a decoration he'd been dismantling and heading over to his husband. They were the only ones left in the building.
"This wasn't anything like our wedding," Louie said with a laugh.
"Okay, maybe not. But that doesn't mean there isn't magic in the air." Boyd took Louie's hands in his, "May I have this dance?"
Louie grinned, "I'm gonna swoon."
"If you do I'll catch you." Boyd pulled Louie close and they swayed in the half-decorated reception hall, to a song that only they could hear.
Retirement
"I'm so old," Louie complained.
"Mm, yeah, ancient," Boyd said, pressing a kiss to Louie's neck.
"You're not supposed to agree with me."
"Sorry, grandpa," Boyd chuckled.
"That's not funny," Louie said, "and stop kissing me. You're supposed to be fixing my tie."
"Sorry, I keep getting distracted by your ancient, kissable face."
Louie rolled his eyes, "I can fix my own tie if it's that much of a distraction to you."
"Noo," Boyd whined, liking any excuse for small moments of tenderness, even after years and years of marriage.
"I honestly wish we weren't having a retirement party. There's too much spectacle in that. I loved my business, I don't want to be immortalized as a quitter."
Boyd finished with the tie and wrapped his arms around Louie, "You're not being immortalized as a quitter, you're being immortalized as an entrepreneur who knew when to slow down and step aside for the next generation of entrepreneurs. Your business is in good hands."
Louie would have liked to pass the business down to Mo or Oz, but they had their own lives to live. Instead, one of Dewey's children would be taking over. Louie knew that Louie Inc. was in good hands, but he was still a little bit sad that those hands were no longer his hands.
"You're sure I'm making the right choice?"
"Positive. Just think about how much time there will be for us after this. And for the rest of the family."
Louie smiled, wrapping his arms around Boyd's neck, "That does sound nice."
Louie was just about to initiate a kiss when there was a knock on the door.
"Dads? Everyone's waiting for you," Mo announced.
"Ah, I guess we better get out there," Louie said with a sigh.
"I'll be right by your side the whole time," Boyd promised, stealing a quick cheek kiss before they walked out, arm in arm.
The Checkup
Louie was fine, just a little bit more out of breath lately. Just a little more tired lately. He was fine. He told Boyd not to worry, that he could go to his checkup on his own, but Boyd wasn't having any of it.
"If anything happened, I wouldn't forgive myself. I'll be with you the whole time," Boyd promised.
"I'm fine," Louie said again, but Boyd's promise was reassuring.
"I know you're fine. Everything will be okay. I wanna be there, just in case." Boyd was saying that things would be okay as much for himself as for Louie.
"I love you," Louie said, out of the blue. They exchanged these affectionate promises all the time, but this time it caught Boyd off guard. Like Louie was only saying it to make sure it got said, just in case…
Boyd blinked tears out of his eyes, not allowing himself to succumb to what-ifs. He took one hand off the wheel and reached out to squeeze Louie's shoulder. Louie felt a lot frailer than Boyd remembered, and it was all Boyd could do to keep his eyes on the road.
"I love you too. Everything will be okay."
The End
"Dad? Dad?!" Mo was crying out, Mo was sobbing, but Boyd could barely hear him. Boyd couldn't hear anything, except a voice repeating in his head.
"I said I'd hold you until everything is okay, I said-" Boyd let out an audible sob, a heartwrenching groan that could be heard from rooms away.
"I'm sorry, I said I'd hold you, I'm sorry…"
"Dad, dad, it's okay, let go-" But Boyd couldn't hear his son. He cradled his husband close, trying to feel Louie tremble and breathe, trying to feel Louie strain to keep living. But the strain was over, and Louie was at peace. Louie was okay again, Louie was content, but Boyd could never be okay without Louie. Boyd had lost his piece of peace. Boyd would hold on until the body was pried from his hands, knowing that "okay" was now nothing more than an empty promise.
