It was another ordinary, slightly rainy night in St. Canard when an orange car, painted with yellow thunderbolts, came to a high-pitched, squeaky hold in front of a 7/7 self-service laundromat. A huge umbrella was shoved out of the car door, preventing the owner from getting the tiniest dribble onto him.
Not wasting any time outside in the damp air, the obscure figure rushed towards the automatic doors of the brightly lit store. Carrying a basket under his left arm, he closed the umbrella on his way inside by pressing the button located at its handle. Only to twitch insignificantly as the sudden snappy movement splashed water on him. Luckily, he survived the attack and threw the umbrella into the bucket next to the door, where a wet trenchcoat was dangling.
He wrinkled his nose, which made his whiskers twitch and took in a big sniff, before shaking his head. „I swear on days like these, my sinuses just clog up completely." he mumbled to himself, before letting out a sneeze. Being unable to smell the mix of detergent, softener and dirty socks, wasn't all that bad tho. The annoying part was the fact, that he wouldn't be capable of smelling much for the next few days either.
Quietly cursing the weather, Megavolt walked farther into the store filled with rows of washing machines, decorated with abandoned socks and perked his ears. Somewhere in the back, he could hear the rustling of clothes. Obviously he wasn't the only one doing a midnight wash. Not giving any more thoughts about his unwanted company, the rodent simply moved as far away from the noise as he possibly could. Even tho the rodent wasn't wearing his usual outfit, he still didn't feel the need to cause any panic, just because a villain like him was washing his clothes at a public place like this and started to shove his dirty laundry into one of the machines.
For a second, he stared at the coin slot, before a wide grin spread across his face. The electronics whisperer gave the machine a few almost gentle pets, before sending a little current straight through it and without further needed convictions, it sprung to life with a beep and a rumble and got to work.
Satisfied with his daily dose of mischievous activity, the still sniffling villain was about to sit down and wait for his clothes to finish rotating when a loud stomp, followed by an angry sounding voice, broke through the buzzy but somewhat quiet ambience. With a mix of annoyance but also with quickly growing curiosity, Megavolt made his way to the other end of the store and risked a look around the corner. Raising a brow in disbelief, he simply took in the scene, that was displayed in front of him.
A duck, wearing nothing but red-orange striped underpants and a unique, familiar looking jester cap on his head, seemed to have an argument with one of the machines. Kicking the poor electronic device resulted in a pained, one-leg jump around himself, which made the bells on the end of the birds cap jingle angrily. After the pain had subsided, the upset avian citizen tried another set of curses, to get the door of the disobliging thing to open up again. To no avail.
„Quackerjack?!" asked the slightly confused rat and stepped out of his more or less effective hiding spot. Pretty much startling the underdressed villain, who froze in place before he slowly turned towards the fully dressed, highly charged rodent. Realising, that he had been caught in the act by the one and only Megavolt, the jester gave off a single chuckle, before regaining his cool again and greeted the other with a heartful grin.
„Megsy! What are you doing here?" he asked, completely forgetting about the anger he felt seconds before his favorite playmate had stepped into his vision.
„I'm here to ask for a cup of sugar." was the quick, deadpanned reply the duck received but before Quackerjack could respond to the absurdity, Megs quickly added: „I'm doing my laundry. That's what people normally do in here."
Feeling his excitement crumble rapidly, the outfitless duck crossed his arms in front of his chest and turned his attention back to the machine. „Very funny. If you're here to mock me, then you might as well just leave. I'm gonna smash this thing open myself and wash my stuff elsewhere."
„What's the problem anyway? Is it broken or something?" Ignoring most of the words of his friend, Megavolt moved closer and gave the machine an observing look and careful touch. Much to the distress of Quackerjack, who felt the mighty need, to kick the damn thing once more with feeling.
„Seems like it. I just wanted to go for my usual delicate cycle but I accidently pressed the wrong button." He started elaborating, grabbed onto the ends of his cap and crossed them in front of himself. „It was set to hot wash! My outfit wouldn't survive that! I panicked, so I pressed all of the buttons, to make it stop and now that meany wont open again! I don't have any more change on me!" The jester explained in full detail, talking faster and faster, as he got more upset with the whole situation. At least his clothes weren't doomed to shrink or lose their stretchability.
„Delicates huh? Let's see." murmured the other villain and managed to just focus on the most important parts of the ducks outburst. Money was not the problem, as he had never paid a penny for his own laundry. So all he had to do, was to fix the mistreated and confused device and give it the right instructions and maybe a gentle hand. After fiddling with the settings and sending it some love-shocks, the machine sprung to life and began to work as intended.
„There. Done. These guys are ancient. You just have to show them some love and they do anything for you." he said and slowly movied his ungloved hand over the blinking panel of the washer.
As the completely sane criminal kept declaring, how to handle these machines, Quackerjack just rolled his eyes and watched his costume tumble around behind the round glass window. It took the partially dressed jester a moment to realise, that his outfit was indeed saved but when he did, his mood turned upside down immediately. With a happy smile on his beak, he simply jumped right ontop of the unsuspecting rat. The completely startled villain barely managed to catch the feathery body and after a few seconds of trying to keep his balance, they both ended up on the hard, tiled floor.
A few minutes and dirty clothes spinning in circles later, they both sat down on the most uncomfortable looking red plastic chairs that probably existed and started the waiting game.
Shifting around, the furry villain tried to get as comfortable as possible since his butt still ached from the fall. He gave up pretty fast and just leaned backwards, before eyeing the duck next to him. The seminude bird had made himself comfortable in a cross-legged position and slowly swang back and forth in his spot. Luckily the place was nicely heated and even with the pouring rain outside, he didn't feel cold at all.
While Quackerjack kept himself occupied, Megs couldn't help it but to keep his eyes glued to the white feathered chest, which seemed to miss a bit of fluff here and there and overall didn't appear very healthy, at least as far as the rat could tell, since he didn't know much about feather care. It sure had been a week or two, since they had worked together and even longer, since they had a 'fun' dress up and pretend coup but he didn't remember, if his friends feathers always had looked this messy. His intense staring didn't remain unnoticed for long and the sudden jingle of bells, induced him to look up.
„Is there something wrong?" the feathery fiend demanded to know, cocked his head and stopped his teetering motion. Quackerjack proceeded to copy the other criminals behavior and also leaned back against the uncomfy chair, without ever ceasing his cheerful smile.
„Uh yeah... I was wondering..." Megs started and scratched his nose. „Where's Mr. Bananabrain? The poor guy isn't drowning inside the washer, is he?" the rodent asked and finally tore his eyes away from the duck.
Visibly confused by the unexpected and completely unrelated question, Quackerjack couldn't help it but feel, that his friend had something else on his mind. „Oh you're worried about him? He's at home. Mr. Bananabrain HATES laundry day. His clothes are dry clean only, so he has to run around naked till thats due." he replied with a frown on his face. „He can be a real handful sometimes."
Nodding understandingly, even tho the mental image of a grinning banana running around naked somewhere gave him chills for some reason, Megavolt didn't question any of the info he had just gotten. That doll always did have a mind of his own and it was best, to just play along.
„You think Puddlebrain and Saladbutt ever run into each other like this?" he asked after another minute, which earned him a snicker at the mention of the rest of their unusual teammates.
„Let me think real quick!" Quackerjack pretended to think real hard but couldn't help but stare at the not quite sane rodent next to him before an even larger grin spread across his features.
„They don't wear clothes Sparky! So, the answer is: No. I doubt they have any laundry they could do. Besides, Liqui would probably take care of Bushies dirty laundry." he added, crossing his arms behind his head and released his legs from their current position.
Blinking at the realisation, Megavolts mouth formed a nice wide O-shape. „Yeah, I guess you're right. And for the last time, don't call me that!" he said, knowing quite well, that his request would fall on deaf ears. The day had yet to come, that Quackerjack refused to tease him with his most hated nickname and today, wasn't that day. Today was the day, he would wait and stare across the room and observe a bunch of shorts, shirts and underpants, that tumbled around in bubbly water.
„Ooooh c'mon Sparky! Don't be like that. If you want to be called something else, give me some nickname suggestions! Otherwise, Sparky it is." the jester replied and leaned a little closer towards the grumpy rat. „Or maybe it's the way I say it? How about I give it a little extra emphasis? Sparkyyyyyyy! Or maybe you prefer: Spaaaaahhhrky!" teased the more than lightly entertained duck and couldn't resist to lower his voice, as he said the hated nickname into his disgruntled friends ear and watched, as it twitched slightly.
„I don't see why that would change anything! You would still call me Sparky, and I would still hate it and ..what are you doing?!" Unaware of how close the other criminal had gotten, he turned around and the next thing he felt, was a squishy beak rubbing against his nose and a pair of curious looking eyes. He blinked a few times and just stared into his friends face, who simply stared back at him, without moving a muscle.
It surely wasn't the first time, they had a staredown like this but this one felt strangely different than all the other ones that had went down. Megs didn't know, if it was just his imagination but it felt as if his friend was ever so slightly pushing towards him and without thinking further, the rodent accepted defeat and turned his head away from the others piercing gaze. Maybe that was the payback for staring at the others ruined plumage for so long. He couldn't tell.
They both remained silent after that awkward moment. The rumbly machines, drippy rain noises and the sound of a by passing car, was all that could be heard, which was a miracle, since neither neither of them was known to keep it down for longer than necessary. After what felt like forever, Megavolt sighed deeply and stood up.
„Soo..." the rodents voice broke the silence and before he could continue, Quackerjack jumped from his place with an anticipating grin on his big beak.
„YES! Yes, I want to! I thought you'd never ask!" he yelled as if he had kept all his energy from the past twenty minutes inside of him and did a quick backflip to exaggerate his excitement.
„Eh... I just wanted to say, my stuff is done. I should go now." Megavolt said as a beeping sound made clear, that his clothes were indeed ready to be taken out.
The ducks energy seemed to evaporate immediately and his happy aura turned into full gloomy mode. Unsure, of what to make out of all this, the electrical rodent just walked away towards the machine, gave it a light pet and removed the somewhat wet, somewhat dry clothes from its maw. The eyes of a very disappointed and sulking looking Quackerjack followed him.
„Awwww... I thought you'd want to go on a fun adventure with me and wreak some havoc... Or AT LEAST rob a candy store! It's so much more fun together." he complaint, pouted and dragged his long shoes across the floor. Where was the fun in chaos and destruction if he couldn't share it once in a while with his favorite playmate? But obviously, that same guy had better things to do, like ironing his clothes. Devastated, the duck flopped back onto the red chair.
Still busy with removing his laundry, the not so menacing looking, fluffy villain sighed deeply.
„Didn't we do that last week? I remember clearly, that someone was rolling on the floor, screaming and moaning about 'his belly betraying him' or something like that. My teeth still hurt from all the sugar. Urgh." he said and grabbed his basket full of laundry.
„FINE! Mr. Fuzzypants. No candy then! It's not like we could rob other things! How about we go on a pottery class or we go to the movies and spoil the ending for everybody there!" Quackerjack was far from ready, to let his friend leave so easily. Was it really too much to ask, to have a little fun together? Luckily, he was not the type, that ran out of ideas quickly.
Done with his now clean clothing, Megs was all set and ready to go, while the duck seemed to refuse to give up. Something about the way the jester kept coming up with possible activities, made it quite clear, that he didn't want to part ways anytime soon. Talking usually kept people from leaving, at least if the one they were talking to, were polite enough, to listen but the highly charged and highly busy rodent, was not one of those people.
„You know, if you want to have some company for tonight, why don't you just say so? We don't have to blow up the city just to hang out together. We could do that on Friday tho. There's going to be a BIG parade and a lightshow, I don't want to miss that. I hope it won't rain anymore by then. I hate rain. Its wet." the hydrophobic villain said, put his basket on the ground and sat back down next to the bird.
Blinking in disbelief, Quackerjack wasn't sure what to say or how to react and instead just gawked in awe, while he watched his partner in crime sit down again. To him, it sounded like an invitation to spend the night together and since Megavolt didn't leave, it also looked like the electrically charged rodent would wait for him till his own laundry was done and they could leave this place together. All he knew for sure was, that the offer alone made his insides tingle with happiness.
Instead of answering the question, which didn't feel like a question at all but rather like an obvious statement, Jack physically demonstrated, that he indeed would love to have the company of his favorite playmate for a little longer. The pleased bird leaned his whole body weight against the other villains side and with a soft jingle of his bells, he placed his head against Megs's shoulder.
A relieved, deep sigh escaped the rat. Even his fried brain understood, that every soul could use a break from time to time, besides, having something warm snuggled against him, didn't feel so bad after all. Especially since he knew that crazy toy maker for quite some time and understood him better than anyone in their group of super villains.
With a quick peak to the side, Megs made sure, that there was no beak he could bump into again, before he turned his head a little and realized, that his feathered companion had closed his eyes. Being so jumpy all the time, obviously had taken its toll. At least it seemed that way. Not giving it a second thought, Megavolt decided it was a good idea, to take a little nap as well and without bothering to ask, he simply nestled his head against the soft fabric of the ducks jester cap.
It was indeed exhausting for the agile bird, to always be on his toes and getting a spontaneous timeout like this, was a welcome change. It was another welcome change, that the usually moody rodent didn't push him away, which helped the hyperactive duck to relax even more. Crashing a parade, sounded like fun and even if Megavolts main focus would be on the luminaries, he would surely have a great time anyway, as long as he had such a great company.
After an unknown amount of time, Quackerjack slowly opened his eyes again and moved his head upwards, only to realise, that his movement had also woken up his current resting spot.
„Quacky..? Are we there yet? Oh..." asked the rather drowsy sounding rodent before the memories flooded back into his brain and he remembered where they were and most importantly why.
„Almost..." the duck replied with a chuckle and couldn't stop smiling at the rare sight, his friend displayed for him. Most of the time, he only witnessed the rat fully asleep, whenever he sneaked into his buddies home for a little surprise visit but seeing the sleepy villain slowly come to his senses, was a whole other experience. Thus it was only natural, that he couldn't stop observing this new insight he was getting. The playful bird did feel the itch, to poke the rat in nose, just to see how he would react to that but luckily for him, he refused to give into that mighty need.
The more Megavolt regained his consciousness, the more he noticed, that his feathery partner was looking at him, as if he was waiting to say or do something. Unsure, what exactly he was supposed to do, he just returned the same, less smiley, more confused stare. For the second time that day, they ended up staring at each other as if their brains simply experienced a crash and tried to reboot, but took their sweet time in doing so.
„You're a very comfy pillow Megsie." Quackerjack said with a contented smile and finally broke the silence between them but still remained close to the warm body next to him.
„Thanks!... You too, I guess." the rodent replied, still a little irritated by the others weirder than usual behavior but didn't bother to move away either. He couldn't remember, when he had adjusted to the crazy ducks touchy-feely ways but he did know, that he didn't mind it that much anymore and rather responded to it.
„You guess?! Gee! Try me again then! Second time's the charm!" was the prompt remark from the now clearly offended toy maker, who already raised his arms to pull Megavolts body back against himself, not expecting any kind of resistance from the mostly complying rodent.
„I believe you mean third!" the voltage loving villain responded grinning from ear to ear and was pretty much ready, to give the Quackerjack™ pillow another try, as a sudden loud, slightly distorted Bleep Blurp Beep of an obviously broken washing machine made the rat wince. He got up from his seat in such a quick motion, that the scrubby duck flopped to the side and just barely managed to catch himself, before he hit the warm, empty seat next to him.
„I'll get it!" the twitchy rodent squeaked and walked away from the scene as fast as if a bomb was about to explode, leaving a completely confused and mostly disgruntled jester behind.
Quackerjack felt as if life itself was mocking him or wanted to really get on his bad side today and his electrifying partner did his part, to make everything worse. He got back up and while sinking his teeth into his bottom beak, he crossed his arms in front of his still bare chest. Megavolt obviously couldn't get away from him any faster. With a deep sigh, he scratched at his chest, only to notice, that a few loose feathers fell onto his lap. For an unknown reason, that was too much for the already insane toymaker and he furiously started to pluck at the plumage of his chest, until the duck got a big amount of loose and broken feathers in his hands.
He stared at the remains of his feathery coat, not spotting the bit of red substance at their quills, before blowing them away carelessly. As the feathers fell to the ground, the unlucky bird didn't notice the sound of a basket being dropped to the floor but he did notice the pair of feet, that stepped into his vision. Feeling caught in the act, he looked up and smiled sheepishly, while his hands tried to hide his now even more ruined chest.
Quackerjack bent forward and tried to avoid the worried gaze of his friend as best as he could, to no avail as he could still feel the eyes of his friend on him. It wasn't like him, to feel any kind of shame in front of Megavolt but at this very moment, he sure felt vulnerable, since he had no jolly smile or costume to cover up his current state.
The next thing the disturbed duck felt, were hands on both of his shoulders, grabbing them firmly and slowly guiding him back into an upright position. Even tho Megs didn't have a degree in avian biology he did know, that losing a bunch of feathers at once, was never a good sign. It was beyond him, what caused this sudden outburst but since he was present, he wouldn't just watch as his friend struggled to keep the last bit of his sanity intact.
Jack winced at the touch and still averted the others gaze which forced Megavolt to crouch down, so he could make sure, he got the mad ducks attention. Being on eye level with the upset bird, didn't help at all, since the pouty villain just closed his eyes and made it clear, that he wasn't willing to continue their little stare-off from earlier.
„What? You're still here? I thought you left already." the frustrated jester said and tried his best, to sound as disappointed as possible, when his friend didn't want to play with him. Sadly he did feel more than just disappointed.
„Quacky...listen..." Megs tried his best, to get his friend out of this state but he already knew, the stubborn duck needed some extra persuasion.
„I'm sure your iron is desperately waiting for you at home." Quackerjack continued his bitching.
„Quacky."
„I'm sure you two will have SO MUCH FUN together." The bird got louder and louder with each word and blocked out anything the lunatic in front of him had to say. What he wasn't able to block out was the feeling of the others warm arms, that wrapped themselves around his body and pulled him into a deep embrace.
An unpleasant tremor went throughout his muscles and made the skin hurt. The feeling subsided quickly as he remembered, that this thing was called 'a hug' and was actually a positive action towards people. Releasing all the air he had held inside of him till now, he sighed extensively and was about to return the gesture but Megs already let go of him, much to the growing dismay of the unstable criminal.
This action finally restored their eye contact, which send an almost agonizing sting through Megavolts chest as the sight of the one, none electrical being in this entire city, which he didn't despised, hit him with full force. He couldn't recall, if his friend had ever looked at him with such a hurt and completely defeated expression but if he ever had, he had fully scratched that from his memory. Being at a total loss for words, the concerned rodent lowered his head slightly, before he looked up again with a hardly noticeable insecure smile on his face.
He leaned forward, lingered for a bit before ultimately closing the space between them. Sealing their fate by placing his lips onto his best friends beak. For how long it lasted, the only thing that mattered was the fact, that it felt like the right thing to do in this unfathomable situation. At that very moment it hadn't yet occurred to him, that he had just invented the most efficient way, to shut up the insane duck if need be.
Luckily that strategy wasn't needed at this time since Quackerjack remained quiet and simply slumped down a little from his prior tense pose. It took him a second before he could react and return the soft touch but as he did, he couldn't help but grin happily into their first of many kisses, in which they would indulge in, in future get-togethers.
Nothing could have had prepared him for this and so he simply remained in position and mentally already mourned the moment, it would be over. His chest was still kinda itchy but for now, he was more than willing to ignore that because a hot, fuzzy feeling grew deep inside of him and quickly took over his whole body, leaving no room for other sensations.
The moment the magic was gone, the already slowly healing toy maker sighed quietly and kept his focus on the rodent, who had already stood up and brought over the ducks laundry basket. The warm and gentle touch was gone, but a weird ghostly feeling still lingered on him as if the other lunatic had just imprinted himself onto his beak. Unable to look elsewhere, Quackerjacks attention laid on the only other individual in the room and he could almost see, how his best friends brain was considering their next action. It wasn't hard to see how Megavolt finally had decided on what their next step would be.
„I don't know about you, but I have a mighty need for bacon, eggs and toast! And you're lucky, because I have all of that at my place!" were his first, rather energetic words and they didn't really surprise the jester in the slightest. Nothing had changed. The only thing that changed, was the bond they had always shared, which was now quite a few thousand volts stronger.
„Only if you have strawberry ice cream at your place too! Otherwise we absolutely need to make a quick detour." demanded the refreshed, still half-naked duck and jumped up from his spot, only to perform a one armed handstand on his chair.
„I'm always stocked for this kind of emergency! I'm not an amateur." the rat said and stacked the two laundry baskets on top of each other for easier transportation, making sure, the one with Quackerjacks outfit was on top of his own, so it wouldn't get squashed, while Quackerjack slipped back into the brown trenchcoat he had brought with him.
„One more thing before we go..." Megavolt announced, just before he raised his fingers and pointed towards the machines to his left and right and send out a strong shock into them all. The washing slaves started to beep vigorously and the containers with quarters started to spill over, scattering their contents all over the floor. The money rain had Quackerjack jump with glee, clapping his hands and even tho he didn't bother to pick up any of those coins, he still enjoyed the visual display and acoustic in front of him.
As they walked towards Megs's car, they shared his umbrella and put the laundry in the trunk. The charged up rodent drove them back to his beloved lighthouse, where he quickly prepared the promised bacon, eggs and toast for them. Plus dessert with extra cream. They ended up watching a cute movie about a lost duckling and went to sleep cuddled up on Sparkys couch.
Quackerjacks feathers would grow back in no time. He was sure they would, especially now because a huge chunk of horrible thoughts was lifted off of him. How they would go from here, was nothing he would worry about tonight.
The next day, they would surely have enough time to cause panic and destruction again or attend that pottery class the jester had talked about. Nothing was impossible anymore.
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After the pottery class, they used a crooked vase to knock Negaduck out for good, send Darkwing on 2 year vacation and ruled the city with a playful fist.
The End.