"He's got googoo eyes for your friend, doofus! Isn't it obvious? He blushes and stutters every time she's in the room and let's not forget all the hair fixing that goes on when she's not looking." Louie threw his hands up and then stuffed them back in his pockets, curling into his corner of the couch away from them.

"WHAT?!" Losing all sense of brotherly affection, Dewey pushed Huey off his shoulder and shoved him into the couch. "No, no, no, no, no. This is not happening. NO!" He paced the room, pulling at his feathers. Gosalyn and Huey. BLEGH. He wanted to throw up just thinking about it. "NO, Huey, noooooo! Why, Huey, WHY?!"

Huey gripped his sore leg and cringed with a slight smile.

Ughhhhh. "Ewwwwww." That dumb smile only confirmed it. "No, stop whatever you are thinking right now. You are not going after my friend. She's my penpal! She's like my sister after all these years."

Louie rolled over the arm of the couch, his face dark under his hood. "Well, think of it this way, now she really could be your sister. I've never seen Huey so smitten."

Dewey dragged his hands down his face. "NOOOOOOOOO! Hubert, you are banned from ever looking at her again."

"But I-"

"Ba-a-ann-duh. Do you hear me?"

Huey rolled his eyes, folding his arms, and smirking. "Why? You don't want to date her, do you, Dew?"

"What? Ew, gross! Are you insane?"

"Then she's fair game. Not that it matters now anyway because Louie ruined it." Huey's gaze shot daggers across the room at their little brother.

Louie shrugged with as much expression as a frog. "If I remember correctly, that was the Duke that ruined it. Not me."

"But you coaxed him out!"

Louie blew out a sigh. "Ugh, get over it. If she doesn't like that side of you, then, trust me, I did you a favor."

Huey only huffed and glowered at him.

Their little brother rolled over onto his back, hanging his head upside down off the armrest. "Dewford, did I happen to mention that I walked in on them making eyes at each other in the lab… and someone was wearing a cute pair of glasses."

Huey's face grew redder by the second. "Shut it, Lou. I think he gets the point."

WHAAAT?! Dewey almost went full Duke himself. "What were you thinking?!" He grabbed Huey by the collar. "You can't just do that! If you dare make another set of googly eyes at her, I'll… I'll… I'll-"

Huey raised an eyebrow. "You'll what, Dew? I'm clearly beat up as it is. You want to add to that list, be my guest."

Dewey dropped him and threw his hands up. "Ugh! I can't believe you, you know that? The one normal friendship I have all on my own and you have to…to come in and encroach on it like some kinda bloodsucking pest. Gosalyn is my friend, not Louie's, not yours, and she's especially not your girlfriend. Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Wow. Possessive much?"

"Don't patronize me after trying to woo my friend behind my back." Dewey narrowed his eyes. "I do not need that right now."

"I don't know, Dew."

Dewey glanced over his shoulder at Louie as he sat up like a meerkat and stared out the window.

"It may be too late for that." He smirked and plopped back into the couch as Gosalyn came through the front door.

Dewey's jaw dropped. Noooooooooo. This can't be haaaaappeniiiiiiing! Gosalyn Mallard was wearing her geeky glasses. He knew from her letters that she absolutely hated wearing them out and refused to even in the dark when she couldn't see well without them. If Huey managed to convince her to wear them and she was still wearing them… there was only one explanation. She likes him back. UGHHHHHHHH. This is my worst nightmare.

Gosalyn walked over, balancing a thick stack of folders in her arms. "I went back to the lab and was able to find all of Ludwig's family files. One in particular might be especially interesting to you." She dropped the stack on the coffee table and smiled at Huey. "Look who's awake! How are you feeling?"

Dewey took a step behind Gosalyn so she wouldn't see the look of absolute horror mixed with disdain that he knew had to be plastered on his face.

"I have a headache but that's gotten a little better." Huey smiled up at her. As she looked at his bandaged head, he sent Dewey a devious smirk that made him look like Louie for a second.

Speaking of Louie… he glanced over at his little brother who gave him a lazy smile and mouthed the words, "See? I was right."

Dewey's gut twisted and his blood burned.

"I'm sorry about that. Dad shouldn't have used the tranquilizer smoke on you. I think he was worried about Bushroot getting his plants back in order and escaping again." Gosalyn sat on the edge of the coffee table, her focus entirely on Huey. It was like he and Louie weren't even in the room.

How on earth did I not see this happening before now?

Huey rubbed the back of his neck - the very neck Dewey wanted to wring right about now. "I don't hold it against him. I was out of control." He sat up on the couch and stared at his feet. "I'm sorry you had to see that side of me. I was really hoping it wouldn't come to that."

"Are you kidding? It was epic! You're a total wild card!"

"Not sure it's a great thing." He smirked, lifting his head to meet eyes with her.

There's too many eyes meeting in this equation. Dewey scooted a little closer so he could watch her face. There's no way she's into him. And even if she is, it's weird. He literally has the same face as I do. Does that not bother her? It sure bothers me!

Gosalyn smiled and set her hand on his shoulder.

Dewey cringed. No, Gosalyn, why? In what world is this okay?! It's Huey for heaven's sake!

"We all have parts of ourselves that we don't always like but you showed me how to embrace mine." She adjusted her glasses on her beak. "I mean, you were right. Seeing is kind of important, no matter how much I hate the glasses. It feels kind of freeing, letting go and having more confidence to wear them. But in the same way, that raw, emotional side of you is important too. It clearly saved us last night. Maybe you just need to be more confident in it."

Huey propped his chin in his hand. The way he watched her made Dewey physically gag.

"You're probably right. Uncle D says that too… but, then again, his anger issues are out of control 24/7." He chuckled. "Thanks for… you know… not seeing me differently after that. Not many people have seen me turn into the Duke to that degree."

"The Duke?"

Dewey clenched his jaw. "The Duke of Making a Mess… Huey's raw, emotional, out of control persona." But then again maybe Huey is just always the Duke because he's clearly making a mess of my life right now.

"That's so cool! Although, I have to say, I can't not see you differently after last night." Gosalyn smiled and moved to sit on the couch next to him. "But in a good way. I'm honored that I was able to see the side of Huey Duck that not many people get to see. And I will definitely keep the Duke in mind if I ever need a strong, unpredictable wild card on my missions."

Huey's face flushed. "Haha, yeah. I'm just glad you're not scared of me."

Dewey was close to grabbing the trash can. This is too much.

"Scared of you? Why? What's not to like about the Duke?"

A lot of things. Dewey had to clamp his beak shut so he wouldn't say anything. If I say something now, I could hurt Gosalyn. In the slight chance that we're all misreading this and maaaybe she's just being nice to him… I can't risk embarrassing her or making her mad at me. Hold it in, Dewey. Hold. It. In. He glanced across the room at Louie who waggled his eyebrows. Ugh, what does Louie know about girls? He's flirted more with a can of soda and the dumb khopesh than he ever has a girl. Maybe he's wrong and Huey's just barking up the wrong tree again. His throat tightened. I hope he's wrong. I hope we're all wrong.

"Trust me, I've seen crazier stuff. That part of you is awesome and the more you learn to control those emotions, the more awesome it could be. The Duke has so much rawm untapped power you could use for the better."

The eyes. Ewwwww. They were staring at each other again. Dewey's heart rate picked up. If he didn't do something quick, something awful was going to come spilling out of his mouth and he could ruin his friendship with Gosalyn before his brother did. His eyes darted around the room. Come on… come on… I can't take this anymore!

Finally, his eyes settled on the stack of folders on the table. He practically fell on top of them and started sifting through them. "SOOOOOO, anyway… what did you find, Gos?"

Hallelujah! That turned the focus on him.

Gosalyn leaned over and pulled one folder out of the pile. "It looks like Professor VonDrake had files on all of you in case he ever lost his mind or something weird like that. Who knows? It's VonDrake. Anyway, this one seemed important.

Dewey took it from her hands and opened it. A picture floated out onto his lap. In that moment, he forgot all about Huey and Gosalyn along with Louie's "borrowing" habit. Nothing else mattered as he stared down at the worn polaroid. Dad.