Dewey kicked pots and pans out of the way as he rifled through the RV. "Come on, it's gotta be in here somewhere." He lifted one of the seats and moved blankets out of the way to find a beat up, old toolbox with DONALD written in sharpie on a piece of duct tape on the top. "There you are!"

He dug it out of the seat, stirring up a bunch of dust and dirt. He coughed and sneezed, knocking the lid of the seat down and smashing his hand. "Yeow!" He clenched his teeth, his eyes filling with water as he pried his fingers out from under the seat. "Phooey!" They visibly pulsed red. He sucked on his knuckle as he climbed out of the RV and kicked the door behind him. It slammed into a pot and swung back open.

"Is this what Uncle D feels like every day?" he muttered, grabbing the culprit and chucking it back inside before slamming the RV door shut again and latching it closed.

Dewey dropped the toolbox on the ground and took a step back to look at Uncle D's pride and joy thaaaaaat he destroyed. He blew out a gust of air that bounced his bangs along his forehead. Boy do I have my work cut out for me. After taking a walk around her, he decided to start on the flat tire. It seemed like one of the most important things to get it moving again.

He found the spare tire in the trunk and rolled it around. He opened the tool box and knelt down to get to work. There was just one problem. How does one change a tire?

Okay, okay… Uncle D had taught them this. There's nothing to it. I just need to take these bolts off. He looked through the box of tools for the right size wrench. But, of course, nothing fit. If only he had actually listened when Uncle D was teaching them, instead of playing basketball in the driveway.

"No. No, Dewey, this is fine. You can Dewey this yourself," he murmured as he found a wrench that was slightly too big. "I'll make it work." He slid it over a lug nut and tried to tilt it enough to grab onto the whole thing. He jerked and twisted with all of his might but the wrench kept slipping and the lug nut didn't move an inch.

Dewey groaned and rolled his head back, dropping the wrench on the ground.

Whether it was classic middle-child energy, triplet roles, or just his lack of forethought, he didn't know, but regardless of the situation, Dewey always assumed that if ever they were stuck in a situation where they'd have to change a tire, Huey would do it.

We're always together. It just makes the most sense in my head. I fight the fights, Louie talks the talks, and Huey leads us out of whatever mayhem happens… including flat tires.

He looked down at the sagging rubber that wrapped around the scuffed metal rim. It all started to become real again. He'd always assumed they'd be together, filling roles they always did. In just a few weeks, that wouldn't be the case anymore. He'd be hours away from them at flight school, having to do everything alone.

Most of it was exciting. Finally, he'd get to make a name for himself apart from being a triplet, one of three. He wouldn't just be Huey's brother, Louie's brother, the blue one, or the third one. He could Dewey and only Dewey to everyone at school and everyone he met.

But as he glanced at the other tires on the RV, full and holding the vehicle upright, and then looked at the flat one that tilted everything out of balance and rendered the RV undrivable… fear overshadowed the excitement of doing it alone. Without those two, what is life going to be like? I don't know how to function without them. My brain naturally worked them into how I'd handle adulthood. I can't even change a stupid tire by myself!

"Need some help there, Dew-nut?"

Dewey looked up to see his older brother leaning against the RV with his arms crossed. He rolled his eyes and rifled through the toolbox to make it look like he knew what he was doing. "Are you done being mad at me then?"

"I'm still irked. But that's not going to stop me from going with you guys. You two are clearly determined to go, no matter what I have to say. But that doesn't mean I'm letting you go without me. We're in it together, no matter how dumb I think it is."

Dewey set his hand on the lid of the toolbox and stared at the ground. "Yeah." Together. No matter what.

Without invitation, Huey kicked the toolbox away and went to the back of the RV. "Not gonna lie, I've been watching you struggle and it's clear you have no idea what you're doing."

"Seriously? You've been here the whole time?" Dewey sat back on his hands and watched Huey lug a jack out of the back of the RV.

"If you're going to change the tire you'll need the jack and the tire wrench. Uncle D keeps it in the same compartment as the spare tire so that he doesn't lose it." Huey held up the wrench with a victorious little smirk.

Stupid smart Huey. Dewey sighed and sprawled out on the ground, making imaginary snow angels on the cold metal floor of the Sunchaser. "Fiiiiine. You're right. I didn't listen when Uncle Donald taught us. Teach me how to change a tire."

Huey tossed him the wrench. He sat up just in time to catch it before it hit him in the beak. His brother limped over with the jack and fixed it under the axel.

Dewey noted Huey's freshly wrapped sprained ankle. Ugh, he's seen Gosalyn again. Where is he even finding the time?

Huey gave him an expectant look that had him coming over and following his lead. He jacked up the RV while Huey watched. "Good. Now take off the lug nuts." He showed him how before sitting back to let him do it.

Dewey followed his orders, appreciating that Huey wasn't trying to do it himself for once and was instead letting him do it on his own. A few beads of sweat rolled down the side of his face as followed Huey's instructions on switching the tires out.

When all of it was done, he wiped the sweat away with the back of his hand and smiled. "Thanks. That was a lot easier than I expected." Maybe these are the kinds of things I need to do to not be afraid of leaving… be more purposeful and learn how to do the things Huey always does. He smirked. "And I'll remember for next time."

That made Huey's chest puff up. He slugged Dewey in the shoulder. "Hey, what are brothers for?"

Dewey gasped his shoulder and smiled back. What better time to start like the present? Huey works on our car all the time back home and it'd be nice not to have to fix it alone. "Hey, do you wanna help me with the engine too?"

"Uh, duh. I want to see how much you paid attention to Uncle D's list of RV maintenance." He chuckled, picking up the toolbox and leading the way.

Dewey popped the hood and met him at the front of the RV. "Hey now, I can pay attention when it counts." He tried to recall everything his uncle had said but, the more he thought about it, the more it became gobbledy-gook.

Huey climbed up and sat on the edge of the hood, smirking at him with his eyebrow raised. "Oh yeah? Prove it."

Dewey glared and pushed Huey's beak towards the engine. "Let's just start by facing the problem at hand. The thing was literally smoking by the end of the chase. I think we have more problems than maintenance, don't you, smart aleck?"

Huey stopped wise-cracking and got to problem-solving, the skill Dewey preferred between the two. Once they got to actually fixing the issue, things got quiet and more focused.

Dewey wrestled to loosen a screw on one of the filters, reaching elbow deep under the hood.

"Hey, Dew?"

"Yeah?" Dewey mumbled absentmindedly, sticking his tongue out as he felt around for the screw.

"I'm sorry for moving in on Gosalyn without talking to you first. I didn't realize you two were so close."

Dewey clenched his jaw, burying his face in the engine. "Don't act like you didn't know what you were doing. You knew we were friends."

"But I didn't think you'd get so defensive about it. You get freaked out about the weirdest things sometimes. It's hard to know how you're going to react."

Dewey grabbed Huey's arm that held the flashlight and yanked it closer.

"But if I crossed a boundary, I'm sorry. I didn't plan on falling for her… it just sort of happened."

"Like it happened with all those other girls? Yeah no. I don't want you treating Gosalyn like you do all of your other fleeting crushes."

"Gosalyn is different. It's not the same. I really care what she thinks about me… not just what she thinks about my hair or my outfit or any of that. It's different. It's hard to explain-it's just… ugh. Nevermind." Huey propped his chin in his hand and looked away, still holding the flashlight with his other hand.

Dewey lifted his head out of the engine. "Listen, I guess…" He stopped himself, weighing whether or not it was worth trying to explain how he was feeling. Sometimes it worked and other times Huey just looked at him like was a crazy person. They processed emotions differently so maybe it wasn't worth trying to explain.

Huey stared at him and the silence grew heavy.

Great, I should've just kept my mouth shut. Now I have to say something. He pulled his hand out of the engine and rested it on the edge of the hood, covered in oil and grime. "It's not really about her and you." He rolled his eyes. "As much as the thought of it does make me want to gag… it's not what bothers me the most."

"Then what is it?" Huey flicked off the flashlight and slid it between his hands.

Dewey rubbed the back of his neck with his clean hand and sighed. "You'll probably think it's stupid or childish… but I hate how everything is changing." He threw his hands up and stepped away from the RV, pacing around in a circle. "Gosalyn was the one thing that stayed the same throughout highschool. She'd send me letters about her daily adventures and I'd send mine. She understood me more than anyone. Coming here and seeing that she's still the same Gosalyn that I grew up sharing all of my thoughts with… it just made me feel at home. But seeing her falling for you? That woke me up to the fact that she's grown up and so are the rest of us. We're not the same fun-loving adventure kids that we used to be. There's love, hurt, loss, change… all of that stuff, and it's kind of disappointing."

"Dewey, I had no-"

Dewey held up his hand. "There's more to it than that. We moved out of the mansion to go to highschool, Louie went to prison, you changed how you looked and started going after girls… those were all changes that I learned to deal with. But now? Louie owes thousands of dollars to a gang leader and you're making enemies with Mom and Uncle D because you don't want to go to school. I'm leaving for college in a few weeks and I won't see you guys for months at a time while you are both facing your own problems. The longest we've been apart since we hatched was a week. I don't know what life will be like without you two… and I don't like the thought of us facing our problems alone. That's never been our thing."
He rubbed his temple and closed his eyes to try to come up with the words for how he was feeling to make his brother understand. "I was hoping we'd follow the plan and become the adventurers that Uncle Scrooge always envisioned… but now that vision is fuzzy and I'm afraid." Dewey swallowed hard, admitting the one thing he never wanted to admit. "Funny, we've faced every monster, every villain, every adventure in the book… and all the while I've been the fearless guts of the group. But, somehow, the thought of going to college scares me more than anything else ever could, because I won't have you two there with me."

Huey slid off the hood and limped over to him, smiling. "Dew, why didn't you say something earlier? You always act like you'd rather be on your own anyway. I didn't realize it was bothering you."

Dewey shrugged, letting out a breath. The weight in his chest lifted a little now that everything was out in the open. "I want to stand out and be my own person. I'll always want that. But my biggest fear is that we'll fall apart and, in reality, I don't know how to function without you two." He met eyes with Huey. "And I've never really had to… until now."

Huey nearly laughed out loud. "We won't fall apart. Be real! We're too close for that." He playfully shoved him. "I'm scared to be apart for that long too but we'll make it work. I promise. I won't let anything happen to us." He grabbed him around the shoulders into a tight side hug. "You may have to learn a thing or two without us right there but when you really need us, I promise we'll be there for you."

Dewey smirked and met eyes with him, feeling the stress melt from his limbs at being heard. "Promise?"

"Do I ever break my promises? Things will be hard, but nothing will get in the way of the Duck boys. You're stuck with us, Dewman."

That's all Dewey needed to hear. He closed his eyes and let out a breath.

"And if you really don't want me talking to Gosalyn… if it bothers you that much, I'll try not to."

Here we go. Dewey took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just as long as you don't screw it up and ruin our friendship, I guess you have my blessing." He smirked slightly. "Besides, I'll be too busy becoming the world's best pilot to worry about what's going on with you two."

Huey's lips spread into a sneaky smirk. "Good answer."

Dewey's face dropped into bland expression. "You already gave her your number and asked her out, didn't you?"

Huey blushed, shugging. "Heh. What can you do?" He spun Dewey in a circle by his shoulders. "True love is in the air, Dewford. Not even your drama could have stopped that train from reaching the love station."

"What does that even mean?" Dewey grumbled, planting his feet and shooing him away. "Alright, Romeo, let's just get back to fixing the RV." He grabbed the lovesick kook by the sleeve and tugged him over to the busted RV.

Huey climbed back onto the hood. "Hey so, I left my phone at home. Is it cool if I like, you know, text her from your phone on our way back to Duckburg?"

"NOOOOO."

"I just thought since you're okay with me talking to her-"

"In what world would it be okay for my brother to flirt with my best friend on my phone? That's just gross."

"It'd just be for a few-"

Dewey shook the butt of the screwdriver at him. "If you say another word about it, I will cram this down your throat."