So, I found some videos on Youtube with Ben Schwartz (Dewey's voice actor) and this guy named Amir doing random contest videos like "Soda Drinking Contest" & "No Sleep Contest" and the whole time I kept imaging Dewey & Louie doing them instead (minus the minor cursing, of course). So, that's where this idea came from! If you wanna watch these videos (which you totally should 'cause Ben Schwartz is hilarious), the channel is called CollegeHumor.

Yeah, so, this is a chill oneshot 'cause I love the triplets caring & worrying for each other, but I also totally dig the really chill and casual moments where they're just brothers, y'know? This might be lame. Oh well. Enjoy :)

"What time is it?"

"8:05 in the AM."

Louie groaned. "When'd we start this, again?"

Dewey glanced at his phone again, scratching his forehead. "Like, nine."

"We haven't slept in, like, twelve hours."

"You wanna give up?"

"In your dreams."

The brothers glared at each other across the kitchen table. Dewey forced down a yawn, refusing to show any signs of weakness. Louie's eyes widened in hopes of keeping them from falling shut. Behind them, a timer went off on the oven. Dewey broke the contact just to slide out of his chair and check on their sweets.

"Huey's probably gonna be mad," Louie guessed. "You know he hates our contests."

"Maybe we can distract him with these," Dewey suggested, carefully laying the pan of cookies on top of the stove. He took a deep breath, humming happily at the sweet scent of chocolatey goodness. Tearing off his oven mitts, he leaned across the stove and turned the oven off.

"Do they look okay?" Louie asked, joining his brother.

"They look pretty good considering we've never made cookies from a bag before." Louie's head felt heavy. He leaned on the stove, not even paying attention where he was about to put his arm. Dewey caught Louie's wrist before the younger could burn his forearm on the hot stone and gently pushed Louie away.

"Maybe you should call it quits, Lou," Dewey advised. He led Louie across the floor and sat him down at the table.

"That's exactly what you'd want me to do," Louie mumbled, a tired yawn escaping his lips.

"Well… Yeah, but you almost burned your arm just now."

"You almost fell down the stairs a few hours ago."

"That…" Dewey couldn't help but snicker. "That's a different story." He remembered the almost-incident clearly. Walking down the stairs, suddenly feeling himself fall backward, pulling the muscles in his shoulder as he caught himself on the rail before banging his head against the steps, Louie at the bottom, laughing so loudly that his voice echoed throughout the foyer. Dewey's surprised Mrs. Beakley didn't storm in and catch them in the act.

"I'll just stay away from the oven," Louie promised.

Dewey shrugged. As he turned to grab a plate for the cookies, the ceiling creaked with activity. Louie perked up, realization dawning on him.

"Uh Dew, I'd hurry up with those cookies. I just remembered that Huey's an early riser," he said, twisting in his chair to look at his brother.

More movement had Dewey face palming. "So is the entire rest of the house."

"Well, we're dead."

"Maybe not!" Dewey argued, sliding a spatula under the cookies and placing them on a plate. "Maybe Uncle Scrooge will think it's… Funny that we are so competitive."

"You know how Uncle Scrooge hates us lying around and doing nothing all day, which is exactly what we're gonna be doing once we crash."

"I didn't know he hated that," Dewey said with a frown.

"Oh, well, he does." Louie yawned. "That's why he dragged me to his business meetings that day."

"You were there to sit in on his business meetings… Yet I saw you getting chased by a giant, deadly robot." Dewey sat the plate on the table and looked at Louie expectantly.

Louie shrugged. "It was Gyro's fault."

"I'm sure it was," Dewey snickered.

For a moment, they forgot about the lectures and the punishments they were probably going to get once the rest of the house came downstairs. All it took was a creak in the floorboards for the ducklings to be jolted back to reality.

"Oh right, we gotta run," Dewey said, biting into a cookie.

Louie groaned. "I'm too exhausted to move."

"Get on my back then. I can at least make it outside or something."

"There's no way you have more energy than I do."

"Like I told you twelve hours ago little brother, I can last the longest without sleep."

Louie scowled. "You can not. Just because nearly falling down the stairs gave you a second wind of energy doesn't mean you can last longer than me."

"Um, yes it does, because you look like you're about to fall over."

"I have enough strength to punch you in the face."

"Eat a cookie and shut up, dude."

"Why don't you make me."

Dewey rolled his eyes. He reached behind Louie and pulled the boy's hood over his head. Louie yanked the hood off and smacked Dewey's hand.

"Since when are you two up before me?" a skeptical voice asked. Louie leaned back in his chair and Dewey spun around, the ducklings staring wide eyed at their older brother.

"Oh, hey Hue," Dewey greeted with a tired smile. "Cookie?"

Huey raised an eyebrow, unamused. He crossed his arms over his chest, noting the bags under his brothers' eyes and the way Louie is just barely managing to hold his head up.

"You guys haven't slept, have you?" It was a question, but Huey already knew the answer.

"It was Dewey's idea," Louie blamed, pointing at his brother.

"Wha- Liar! He suggested it!" Dewey argued.

"You basically challenged me, though."

"No, I was just stating facts."

"Sounded like a challenge to me."

"Stop," Huey growled. His brothers fell silent. Huey rolled his eyes. "Do you guys remember how long it took you to get back on a normal sleep schedule the last time you did this?"

"A week," the boys mumbled.

"Exactly. You've wasted an entire Saturday now. We're gonna go on some really fun adventure and you two will have to miss out 'cause you're too tired."

"I can still-" Dewey tried.

"Dew, I swear, I'll hit you," Louie warned. Dewey snapped his beak shut.

"Now, go upstairs and sleep," Huey ordered. "Okay?"

"Okay," his brothers agreed.

"But I really am too tired to move," Louie said sheepishly.

"Get on my back, Lou," Dewey offered.

"You can't make it up the stairs," Louie laughed. "We'll have a repeat of a few hours ago."

Huey frowned. "What happened a few hours ago?"

Dewey ignored him, "Then let's just go to the TV room. The couches are comfy in there."

Louie agreed, "Okay." Dewey walked out of the kitchen, avoiding Huey's disapproving glare as he passed. Louie slipped out of his chair and began to follow Dewey, but he stumbled and yawned. Huey shook his head.

"Lou," he sighed, rushing to his brother's side. He slipped an arm around Louie's waist and helped his little brother to the next room.

"Thanks bro," Lou muttered.

Huey rolled his eyes. "What am I gonna do with you two?"

"You could join us next time. Things got crazy."

"I'm sure they did, but I'll pass. How am I supposed to watch out for you guys if I'm sleep deprived as well?"

When they reached the TV room, Dewey was already curled up on the couch and fast asleep. Louie grinned and stated triumphantly, "I won!"

Huey chuckled. "Good job, Lou. Now, get some sleep." Louie fell onto the couch eagerly, sighing with relief when his head hit the pillow. Huey left to grab some blankets. When he returned, he draped the cloth over each other his brothers.

"Hey, Hue?" Louie mumbled as Huey laid the blanket over him.

"Yeah?"

"You don't have to watch out for us as much anymore, y'know? I mean, we're not really on our own much anymore."

Huey stared down at him, at a loss for words. He'd been thinking the same thing since moving in with Uncle Scrooge, but hearing it voiced aloud made it all the more real.

With a smile, Huey said, "Sorry Lou, but I'm still gonna watch out for you guys. Pretty sure you'd be dead or something if I didn't. Sweet dreams, little bro."

Louie mumbled something incoherent and Huey knew he was gone. Quietly, he took a step back and looked over his brothers. His dumb, full-of-bad-ideas brothers. He smiled, because deep down, he wouldn't want it any other way.