Chapter Text
Huey was excited
No, he was more then excited. He was absolutely squealing with joy.
He finally figured out the secret location of where FOWL was located. He was surprised that after all of this time, it was hiding at Funzo’s.
Of all of the places that Bradford could have chosen for a secret hideout, it had to be Funzo’s. Though Huey had his suspicions that Bradford chose Funzo’s as it was the kind of place where no one would even suspect an evil organization to hid out in, as it was mostly made for kids and their families.
Huey looked at the board that he made. He had borrowed one of Louie’s schemes boards and before him was a well thought out plan on how to infiltrate Funzo’s, including doing a secret birthday party for Webby, which would be seen as what she would probably call it ‘a surprise spy raid’.
Honestly, in Huey’s opinion, there was no better way to describe it.
Huey was proud of the plan that he had made. He was going to show this plan to the rest of his family and he knew that they were going to feel the same way.
In just a couple of days, they wouldn’t have to worry about FOWL anymore and Huey could rest a bit easier at night, knowing that there was an evil organization out there trying to destroy the one thing that made his family special.
Huey put the board in his closet and was just about to sit at his desk and do some more planning when Dewey busted into their room.
“Ahhh Huebert. Just the brother that I wanted to see” Dewey replied, acting all innocently. “What did you do Dewey?” Huey asked, without even looking up from his desk. “What makes you think that I did something?” Dewey asked, clearly offended that his big brother would think that. “Because I know you and I know that you only act like that when you did something wrong” Huey replied, turning around in the desk chair. “Ok for once I didn’t do anything wrong. And secondly, I actually need your help with something”
Dewey had that begging look on his face and Huey knew how rare it was for his brothers to ask for his help. “Alright fine” Huey sighed. “What do you need my help with Dewey?”
“I need you to talk to Louie for me” was all Dewey said. “Why?” Huey asked, generally curious on why Dewey couldn’t talk to Louie himself. “Well, it’s because ever since we got back from Cape Suzette a couple of days ago, he has been ignoring me for some reason. And every time I approach him and ask him what is wrong, he just won’t talk to me. I hate getting the silent treatment from him” Dewey explained, clearly getting upset.
It was no secret to Huey that Louie was ignoring Dewey. To an extent, Louie was also ignoring him as well and while Huey did admit that it was weird, Huey just assumed that Louie just wanted some alone time. Still, it had been two days since they came back and he hasn’t seen Louie much. Only in the mornings and at night before bed. It was definitely odd becoming from the youngest triplet. Louie never went this long without talking to either one of his brothers. Unless he was mad about something.
“Did you say or do something to him to make him mad?” Huey asked. Dewey shook his head. “Not that I know of. At least I hope not” Dewey replied back. Huey could see how upset Dewey was and decided to help out his brother. “How about I go with you and talk to him?” Huey suggested and Dewey gave a small smile.
The two of them walked out of their bedroom together in search of Louie.
They found him in the TV room, watching Ottaman Empire, because of course he was. What was different this time was that Louie had his hood up. Huey knew that he only had the hood up when he was upset about something or whenever he was scheming.
Huey had a feeling that it was the former rather then the latter.
The two older triplets walked into the TV room and got close enough to where Louie could see and hear them. “Louie, we need to talk” Huey said, trying to get his brother’s attention.
It seemed to work as Louie pulled down his hood, turned the volume down a bit and turned towards his brothers. “Sure, what’s up bros”. This was the first time in a least a day since they heard Louie speak to either one of them.
“Dewey here has something that he wants to ask you” Huey replied. Huey gestured Dewey forward and Dewey nervously stepped beside Huey. “Why have you been ignoring me, Louie?” Dewey asked his brother.
Louie quickly ducked his head and didn’t meet their eyes. He was not ready to have this conversation.
To avoid the question, Louie just shrugged his shoulders.
This seemed to really annoy Dewey and Huey could see the early signs of Dewey getting angry. Huey put a hand on Dewey’s shoulders in an effort to calm him down.
He then turned his attention to his little brother. “C’mon Lou there has to be a reason for why ever since you came back from Cape Suzette you have been ignoring us. Is it something that happen while we were gone?” Louie shook his head, still not looking at his brothers. “Is it something that we did? That I did?” Dewey asked his brother.
Louie took a sharp intake of breath and moved slightly further away from his brothers. Dewey face felled. “So, it was something that we did” Dewey said quietly. Huey went to go sit on the couch and put a hand on Louie’s shoulder. “Louie what did we do?” Huey asked clearly hurt as well.
Louie sighed. “You guys went on an adventure. With mom. And without me. And to Cape Suzette no less” Louie said sadly.
A lone tear escaped from his eye, though his brothers didn’t see it as they were both looking at each other. They both felt guilty. Dewey came to sit on the other side of Louie and try to pull him into a side hug, with Huey doing the same on the other side.
“I’m sorry that we didn’t tell you Louie but we had to leave really early as Dewey was flying the plane and you were still asleep” Huey said. “We figured that you wouldn’t want to come anyway and we also figured that Uncle Donald would tell you later” Dewey also replied.
In a split second, Louie quickly got off the couch and out of his brothers’ embrace, which threw the older triplets off guard. Louie turned to face his brothers and he looked mad. Huey wasn’t sure when was the last time he had seen Louie this mad.
“So, you mean to tell me that you guys went on an adventure without me because you didn’t think I wanted to come?!?” Louie said angrily. Huey and Dewey looked at each other and Dewey just shrugged his shoulders while giving a hesitant ‘yes’.
“Well guess what? You guys were wrong. I was worried when I saw that you guys weren’t there. I thought that you got kidnapped by FOWL or something. It wasn’t until Uncle Donald told me later about where you guys had gone that I found out the truth. That you had went with mom to Cape Suzette to find another Missing Mystery”
“And do you know what the worst part is?” Louie asked his brothers, to which they shook their heads. “It wasn’t the fact that you guys went on an adventure without me or went to Cape Suzette without me. No I can deal with that, though the last one does hurt a little. No it is the fact that you two once again got some QUALITY TIME WITH MOM!” Louie yelled at his brothers.
Louie took a minute to compose himself. He looked down at the ground to hide his tears that were beginning to fall. “Proves once again that I am her least favorite” he said quietly, sniffling and trying to hold himself together.
Louie immediately felt a pair of arms around him. Huey and Dewey had got up from the couch and had enveloped Louie into a hug. He could he them both sniffling, clearly upset by what Louie said.
“Louie, you know that is not true” Huey said through his tears. “You know mom doesn’t have a favorite” Dewey also replied tearfully. Louie just scoffed, not even bothering to return the hug. “Of course, you would say that, Dewey. You are obviously her favorite” Louie remarked back.
Dewey quickly let go of Louie, with Huey following suit. “That is not true” Dewey tried to argue. “Oh, don’t even kid yourself Dewey. You were the first one to jump into mom’s arms. You are the first one that she went on an adventure with. You are like her perfect son. Heck, you two are so similar. I can’t stand it sometimes”.
Dewey thought he felt bad for Louie and maybe a part of him still did. But now he was just getting annoyed at Louie’s accusations. Most of what Louie said was true but he still didn’t believe that their mom had a favorite. Dewey wanted to believe that their mom loved them all equally.
However, Dewey couldn’t kid himself. He saw the way his mom treated Louie. It was clear that the two of them didn’t have the best relationship. But Dewey thought that since Moonvasion, they had a better relationship. Clearly, they were still some issues that his mom and baby brother still needed to work out.
It frustrated Dewey to no end though. Why couldn’t Louie just get along with his mom like he and Huey did?
“You know what I can’t stand Louie? The fact that you don’t get well along with mom. I mean she literally fought for 10 years to get back to us. Why haven’t you made an effort with her? I thought you guys have a better relationship?” Dewey asked, not understanding that he just unleashed something inside of Louie.
“You don’t think I have tried? Oh, that’s funny. I have tried ever since she came back. I tried to include her in my schemes. I have tried to bond with her. Ever since Timephoon, I longed for the kind of relationship that you guys have with her. Every time I do though, I get shut down. She is either off with one of you guys or doing something with Uncle Donald or Penny. No matter how hard I try or what I do, nothing works” Louie finished bitterly.
“What about that time in the Impossbin?” Huey asked, who had been rather quiet the whole time. “That was different. There wasn’t much bonding more like avoiding horrible death traps, to which I did not enjoy by the way” Louie answered. “I would say that is bonding time” Dewey said. “Of course, you would” Louie said through his teeth, though Dewey heard it.
“Do you have a problem with me or something Louie? Is my so-called ‘perfect’ relationship with mom getting in the way of our brotherhood?” Dewey asked, staring down his brother.
Louie flinched and Huey realized that he needed to step in. “Ok guys that’s enough. Let’s cool down for a second before we say things that we might regret”
“You know what Dewford? Maybe it is” Louie said, completely ignoring Huey. “Things were fine until mom showed up. Maybe things would be better if mom wasn’t in our lives”
Dewey gawked at that. “You can’t say that!” Dewey said, clearly shocked. “I can and I did” Louie replied, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Dewey a smirk look. “You wanted a mom since we were little” Dewey tried to argue. “No Dewey. You wanted a mom since we were little. I was totally fine with just having Uncle Donald as our parent” Louie replied.
Dewey was trying to find a good comeback as Louie was constantly beating him with the truth. And boy did the truth hurt.
Maybe Dewey could use that.
“Fine. If I’m mom’s favorite, then you are Uncle Donald’s favorite” Dewey said, acting like he won the argument. “Oh please. Uncle Donald does not have favorites and if he did it would be Huey. I mean heck those two are so much alike it’s crazy. But unlike you and mom, I actually like that comparison as it is comforting rather than discouraging” Louie said, pointing to their older brother, who clearly did not want to be part of the conversation.
“Ok that is so not fair! You are basically saying that Uncle Donald is the superior parent and that Huey is basically the better brother!” Dewey pointed out. Louie looked between his brothers. “Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not” Louie said vaguely.
Dewey gave a loud groan. “I JUST CAN’T DEAL WITH YOU ANYMORE LLEWELLYN. I HATE YOU! YOU ARE THE WORST BROTHER EVER! I WISH YOU WOULD HAVE DIASPPEAR INSTEAD OF MOM!”. Immediately, Dewey covered his mouth with his hand. He could not believe that he said that to his brother. Huey couldn’t believe it either as he stood there in shock.
As soon as the words left Dewey’s mouth, Louie features crumpled and he began to cry. Dewey began to approach his brother in an attempt to comfort him. “Louie I’m…”, but before he could get the words out, Louie turned on his heels and ran out of the room.
Dewey tried to follow him but Huey stopped him. “Don’t Dewey. You have done enough” Huey said, clearly angry and hurt by what just happened.
Dewey wanted to protest but decided against it, letting Huey run after Louie and clean up the mess that he made.
Dewey sat on the couch, with Ottoman Empire playing in the background. The last few minutes rang in his head. All of the fighting and all of those awful words that he said to his baby brother were still fresh in his mind.
In this moment, Dewey didn’t know whether to feel angry or sad. He settled on somewhere in the middle as he let out a load groan and placed his head in his hands, not bothering to wipe away the tears that were falling down his face and landing on the floor below him.
Neither triplet spoke a word to each other that night and if any of the adults or Webby noticed the quiet behavior, they didn’t say a word.