The fight might have ended at Castle McDuck but I imagine HDL had to have a talk in the car over something Dewey said.
This is a pretty fast turn-around, haha, since the episode aired yesterday. I know it was a divisive episode, but I really liked it. I just want the brothers to work things out sometimes, lol.
I was gonna write a second chapter to Hu-Bot (go read Hu-Bot) after The Trickening, but after this newest episode, we're here on this new one-shot instead.
Webby and Scrooge were in the front of the car and Huey, Dewey, and Louie had crashed in the back, sleepily leaning against each other. Louie had his hood up and Huey was fidgeting with his hat, which he held in his lap. When Huey pulled away with a jolt Dewey and Louie fell toward him, startled wide awake.
"What's wrong?" Dewey asked Huey as Louie groaned sleepily and rubbed his eyes.
"I'm the worst triplet, Dewford?" Huey asked, clearly exasperated. Dewey's eyes went wide and Louie pressed a fist to his mouth to pass a laugh off as a yawn.
"I said that in the heat of the moment, obviously, I don't mean it."
"So who's the worst triplet?" Louie asked with a smirk. It seemed that Scrooge didn't actually have favorites, or at the very least, Webby was his favorite, so now he was just teasing Dewey.
"Well now it's you," Dewey said, sticking his tongue out at Louie. Louie laughed but Huey wasn't laughing.
"I'm serious!" Huey snapped, "This isn't a joke. Those words didn't come from thin air, Dewey. Those feelings didn't come from thin air. Do you guys just hate me? It seems like you hate me sometimes. For being careful, for going slow." Huey sounded so heartbroken as he looked at his brothers.
"You think we hate you because you're smarter than us?" Louie asked, "Because we don't. You're just different. We're all different. It would be like, the worst if we were all the same. I'd hate it if there were two more Louies. I'm the worst triplet."
"No," Dewey said, hanging his head, "I'm the worst triplet. I'm sorry I made you feel bad, Huey. It really was just words."
"It wasn't just words, it's repeated sentiment. You treat me like a robot or a nerd or a hassle. Maybe my way isn't always the right one but you never listen to me, you never trust me. You guys gang up on me."
"What are you talking about we gang up on you? You and Louie are always the ones coming up with big plans you know I can't keep up with," Dewey pointed out.
Louie opened his mouth to contribute and then closed it and started to laugh.
"Okay, these are all valid complaints, but you guys know there's a difference between two of us hanging out together and two of us excluding the third. We all have different dynamics. You get that, right? So sometimes we pair off." Webby glanced back and waved, feeling a little excluded from the conversation.
"Sometimes," Louie continued, looking directly at Dewey, "You and Webby go off and keep our moon mom a secret for months."
"Louie's right," Dewey said, looking embarrassed, "It's just hanging out, not exclusion."
"No, I remember that time, that one was exclusion," Huey remarked.
"Now you guys are ganging up on me!" Dewey squirmed in his seat.
Webby shrunk in her seat, "I'm going to stay out of this one," she whispered Scrooge, who nodded approvingly and turned on the radio.
"Let's just get this all on the table," Louie said, trying to talk his way out of an argument, "I don't hate either of you. Huey, do you hate either of us?"
"No, of course not, I'm just-"
"Good. Dewey? Do you hate either of us?"
"I could never."
"Well, that's settled then, right? Why are we fighting?"
"We're fighting because you call me a nerd, literally all the time Louie. And you try to rush things and never trust my judgment."
"Oh," Louie said quietly, "I did this. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, you say that but it never changes. I just want you guys to trust me, and respect me, sometimes."
"You're right," Louie buried his hands in his pockets.
"So Halloween isn't going to happen again?" Huey asked.
"No. It won't. We need to talk more, don't we?" Louie asked.
"Yeah. We do. It's all in the guidebook, you have to communicate with your troop. Which means we have to talk, and we have to listen."
"Okay," Louie agreed, "I'll listen."
"For free," Huey added, and they both smiled a little.
"Okay, you guys have been talking, now listen," Dewey said, crossing his arms, "Today proved it, there can't be favorites, it'll drive me insane. You guys are my best friends and I know we fight and it's bad sometimes but I… I need to know I'm your best friend too. I know that we have Boyd and Violet and Gosalyn now and so many friends and people but… I just… I don't want to be left behind." Louie wrapped his arms around Dewey.
"We couldn't leave you behind if we wanted to, Dewdrop. And we definitely don't want to."
"Yeah, the fact that we have more friends than we used to doesn't mean that we don't have each other, first and foremost."
"Promise?" Dewey asked, laying his head on Huey's shoulder. Huey wrapped his arm around him.
"We're a good team, Dewey. All of us. Nothing is ever going change that, no fights, no insecurities, no favoritism."
"I don't have favorites," Scrooge said from the front, turning down the radio.
"It's okay Uncle Scrooge, you don't have to tell us that it's Webby," Louie responded, making everyone laugh. A quiet fell over the car. There would be other squabbles, other fights even. They were so different, and often that was a good thing but sometimes it clashed in destructive ways. But there was no doubt that they cared about each other, and they would have each others' backs, come what may.