Slowly Learning That Life Is Okay
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/23087077.

by puck1919

Chapter 1: But It's Warm In Bed

"It's cold out there, but it's warm in bed
They can dance, we'll stay home instead"
— Wham!, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"

Fenton woke up, bleary-eyed, with a splitting headache. He tried to sit up and his brain tried to escape out of his eye sockets.

"Ow..."

"Might want to slow down there."

Fenton blinked, his vision clearing. A white duck had been lying next to him, shirtless.

"Drake?"

Fenton scrambled, almost falling off the edge of the bed. Drake caught him and pulled him back.

"It's cool, we're cool," Drake said. "You're okay."

"I— I need to call home, what time is it?"

"Three AM," Drake said.

"...oh."

Drake laughed softly, leaning against the pillows. "You're really wound tight there, Fen."

"I guess," Fenton said, rubbing his forehead. "What happened last night?"

"A McDuck family-free night," Drake said, getting up on his elbows. "Me and Launchpad, You, Mrs. Beakley, Gyro—"

"Dr. Gearloose?!"

"Please, he was even more smashed than you," Drake said, his voice almost distractingly low. "If Gyro remembers anything, I'd eat my hat. How much do you remember?"

"Getting to the bar," Fenton said. "At least... two drinks? Mrs. Beakley drinks hard scotch..."

"That she does," Drake said, putting his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I'm gonna guess you blacked out about halfway through. Gyro's a lightweight, if you ever need something over him."

"What? No!" Fenton said. "No, I don't need that!"

Drake laughed again.

"Did-did I..? Did we..?" Fenton asked.

"No," Drake said. "No, you just needed a place to crash. 'So drunk you forgot English' is too drunk to... yeah."

Fenton nodded. "Yeah, that... that makes sense."

Drake sat up, putting a hand on Fenton's back. "Is everything okay?"

"I just... I've never woken up in someone else's bed before." Fenton blushed and turned away.

"You mean, you haven't—"

"No! I mean, yes. I just... I never stayed," Fenton said.

"Uh-huh," Drake said, nodding. "That's... that's too bad. It can be nice, not having to leave."

"Sure," Fenton said. "But I should still go. M'ma doesn't know where I—"

"Actually you kinda called her last night," Drake said. "I let her know you were gonna crash here, she was fine with it."

"Oh," Fenton said. "Okay."

Drake laid down. "Get back to sleep, or that hangover is just gonna get worse."

Fenton laid back, turning to face away from Drake. It was hard to ignore the weight of the duck next to him. Why bring him to his place, why not just take him home? If he had called M'ma, it would have been to ask for a ride, right? It wasn't even like he knew Drake that well— he was Launchpad's friend, wasn't he? He probably worked for McDuck ( who doesn't at this point? ), but Fenton was always down in the lab, or else out in Duckburg as Gizmoduck. Drake was an actor, maybe he worked in Marketing..?

Fenton fell asleep before he noticed the wide-brimmed hat hidden in the back of Drake's open closet.

Chapter 2: Call My Name or Walk On By

"Will you recognize me?
Call my name or walk on by?"
— Simple Minds, "Don't You (Forget About Me)"

Drake needed an excuse to visit McDuck Labs.

"Yer... cute," Fenton had muttered, about three drinks in.

Like, needed .

Taking Fenton home had probably been a mistake on a personal level. Sure, it was probably the right thing to do (or maybe he should have taken Fenton to his own home, or let his mother pick him up, or wasn't Launchpad the DD that night?, or... ) but it was like every other thought was a distraction in the shape of a friendly, very nervous scientist. He was worried it was going to start effecting Darkwing.

The plan— first, find an excuse to go to the lab. Second, ask Fenton out. Third... ok, he hadn't actually gotten that far, but the first two steps were solid.

Except for the part where he had absolutely no legitimate reason to be in McDuck Labs.

Sure, he had Gyro help with his gear once he'd run out of props from the movie, but Gyro had made him so many boomerangs and smoke bombs that he still had another year's worth. He could ask for something new, but Gyro's... acerbic disposition didn't make him think he could just... do that.

Or maybe it was an excuse not to go.

Because there was always the other plan— move to St. Canard and never speak to anyone ever again.

Something told him that was not viable.

So he paced in the lobby of the Money Bin, trying to find any excuse to go downstairs and risking pissing off Gyro (again).

"Hey, DM!"

Drake froze. "Launchpad!"

Launchpad walked in with a woman in a flight jacket and scarf.

"What are you doing here?" Launchpad asked.

"Oh, I— I mean, I was— er..."

"Have you met Della yet?"

The woman waved. "Della Duck."

"Duck! You must be the kids' mom," Drake said, offering his hand. Della shook it.

"Wow, strong grip there," Della said. "Though I am still regaining bone mass from my little... excursion."

"Sorry?" Drake said.

"I was trapped on the moon for ten years," Della said. "It's how I got this!"

She showed off her leg prosthesis.

"Or, uh, how I lost it."

"Ah."

"We're going down to the lab," Launchpad said. "Gyro's got some new flight stuff he wants us to test. You wanna check it out?"

Perfect! "Sure, yeah."

Which was how Drake found an excuse to go down to the lab. Drake stepped off the elevator to Gyro's standard disappointed look.

"Oh. You two," he said. "And you brought the actor."

In the background, Drake spotted Fenton look over, nearly dropping the glassware he was carrying.

"DM's a friend," Launchpad said.

Gyro sighed. "Fine. But he doesn't touch anything. Prototype's over here."

Gyro lead Della and Launchpad off to another part of the lab. Fenton put down the glasses.

"Hey," Fenton said. "I... I thought I'd wait to call."

"I mean, you did leave before I woke up," Drake said. "Without saying anything."

"Yeah..." Fenton scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry about that."

"Fen, it's fine," Drake said. "I'm just glad you're okay."

He put a hand on Fenton's back. Fenton blushed.

"So, ever been in an underwater lab before?"

"Can't say I have."

Fenton started showing Drake around the lab. To be perfectly honest, Drake could barely understand half of what Fenton was saying. He'd played a mad scientist on a soap opera for half a season, but he was fairly certain none of the science in that was real. Mostly certain.

Fenton showed Drake something called Fentonium and started talking about molecular structure and—

"You really know your stuff," Drake said.

"My masters is actually in electrical engineering and robotics," Fenton said. "But I've always had a certain fascination for molecular chemistry."

"Robotics, huh," Drake said. "You must have helped work on the Gizmoduck armour then."

"Gizmoduck? I, uh..." Fenton stammered. "There's still a few bugs."

"Oh, no doubt. Why is his choice of weapons either missiles or pie ?" Drake asked. "Seems like there should be some middle ground there."

"We've been working on it," Fenton said. "Though, er, Gizmoduck has found the pies to be, ah, tactically advantageous."

"They're a good distraction," Drake said. "Yeah, I can see that."

Gizmoduck. Drake... Well, Darkwing had rather mixed feelings about Duckburg's favorite hero. He did a lot of good, but there was just something about him...

"The other two are leaving." Gyro materialized behind the two of them. "Please leave with them."

"Oh, ah..." Drake looked to Fenton.

"I'll walk you out," Fenton said.

Fenton walked Drake past a row of windows into the bay.

"I did want to call," Fenton said. "I just... I haven't really had much success with this kind of thing. And I wasn't sure if this even was this kind of thing. Or even if it was any kind of thing."

"There's no pressure for it to be anything," Drake said.

"I have a hard time with the whole 'no pressure' thing," Fenton said.

Drake laughed softly. "You really are wound tight, Fen."

"Yeah, I know," Fenton said, laughing.

They met Della and Launchpad at the elevator.

"So..."

"I should, ah..." Fenton pointed back to his workstation.

Della looked at the two of them.

"Hey," she said. "The three of us were going to grab lunch."

"We were?" Launchpad said.

Della elbowed him in the ribs. "Wanna come?"

"Sure! I can take a break," Fenton said.

Fenton and Launchpad got on the elevator. Drake leaned over to Della.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"You looked like you wanted to jump out one of these windows and drown yourself."

"Ah."

Chapter 3: Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

"Anything you can do, I can do better!"
"Ha!"
"I can do anything better than you!"
— Annie Get Your Gun, "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better"

The cafe's outdoor seating was just across from city hall. Drake fiddled with the menu to avoid eye contact with anyone. He wasn't sure what was worse, Launchpad's standard obliviousness or Della's palatable smugness. Fenton at least seemed a little more comfortable. Not physically— the duffel bag he had stuffed under his chair was throwing off his balance— but his nervous rambling was much more like excited stammering, which Drake figured was a step up.

"So," Della said. "Beakley said you guys had a pretty good night the other night."

Drake hid behind his menu and Fenton turned a bright red.

"We sure did!" Launchpad said. "Mrs. B, DM, Fenton, Gyro, and I went over to House of Mouse and had a few drinks. It got pretty crazy."

"Right..." Drake said.

"It's more of a blur..." Fenton said.

"Who knew Mrs. B could party like that?" Launchpad said.

"Well, she did live through the sixties," Della said.

Then the ground shook. Della and Launchpad looked around. Fenton looked down at his bag. Drake's panic started up, because of course I left my gear at home...

The street burst open in front of city hall and a huge rock creature crawled out of the hole.

"Well that's not good," Della said. "Launchpad, call Uncle Scrooge. You two—" she turned to Fenton and Drake "—take cover. This is gonna be dangerous."

Drake smirked. "Then let's get dangerous."

The monster roared and smashed his fists on the street, cracks shattering out as the ground shook underneath them. The facade of the building behind them crumbled.

"Brace yourselves!" Della yelled.

Drake grabbed Fenton and dragged him to the ground, stone falling around them. When the dust settled, Drake had landed on top of Fenton, pain radiating up from his leg, but they were both still breathing.

And their faces were inches from each other.

"You know, I've actually had worse first dates," Drake said. "Not— not that this was a date , I mean, unless—"

"Can we possibly talk about this when we're not about to be killed by a giant rock monster?" Fenton asked.

"Sure, yeah." Drake moved so that he wasn't completely on top of Fenton, but the pain in his leg got worse. He looked and saw that the table had been warped to make a cage around his left foot and a shard of metal was digging into his ankle.

"I think I'm stuck here for now," Drake said. "Can you make it out?"

Fenton looked around the pile of stone. "I think I see a way where I don't disturb too much of the debris and bring the whole building down on us. I'll go get help."

"Just tell someone I'm down here," Drake said. "Then get to safety, it's too—"

"Dangerous?" Fenton finished.

Drake had nothing to say to that.

"I'm going to get you out of here," Fenton said.

Fenton slowly climbed out of the debris. The fire brigade was there, helping get people off of the street. He found his duffel had been knocked across the road and he ran behind a dumpster, out of sight of everyone.

"Blathering blatherskite!"

Drake felt the stones overhead start to shift— were they coming down? The stones moved and light came streaming in, blinding him for a second. His eyes adjusted and standing over him was—

"Gizmoduck?"

"Hello there, citizen," Gizmoduck said. "Need some help?"

Drake wasn't exactly in a position to refuse.

"My leg," he said.

Gizmoduck put the stones aside and bent the metal, freeing Drake's leg. Drake hesitantly stood.

"Are you okay?" Gizmoduck asked, his tone almost disarming.

"It's not too bad," Drake said. "I can walk on it."

Gizmoduck nodded and turned to look back at the rock monster, which had grabbed Della and Launchpad and was now spewing lava. Gizmoduck wheeled over, and Drake looked around for Launchpad's limo. He had to have left an extra costume in the trunk...

The limo had been crushed under debris, which had actually forced the trunk open. Drake grabbed his hat and cape.

Launchpad was spraying the monster with a firehose and Della was beating the hell out of it with her detached leg. A smoke bomb went off in front of city hall and purple smoke billowed down the steps.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the aa stone under the foot of villainy. I am—"

"About to get your butt kicked too, if you don't stop grandstanding and help!" Della yelled.

"Right."

Darkwing pulled out his grappling hook and fired, catching the monster's shoulder. He pulled and the monster lost his grip on Della, throwing her. Darkwing started to run towards the thing, but his bandaged leg gave out and he tripped, falling down the stairs. Drake groaned in pain, forcing himself back up.

"Do you need help?" Gizmoduck asked.

"Not from you."

He fired the grappling hook at the monster again, launching himself onto its back. He slipped, but held on with a grip in the thing's shoulder. He pulled something out of his utility belt.

Alright Gyro, let's see how well these work.

"Eat ice, you blundering boulder!"

He threw the ice bombs into the creature's mouth and jumped off before they exploded, freezing the thing solid.

Drake landed on his injured leg and collapsed in pain. Looking down, he was bleeding through the bandages. Launchpad ran over and picked him up. There was a bitter taste in Drake's mouth.

"I got you DW," Launchpad said.

"Is he okay?" Gizmoduck asked.

Darkwing tried to say something but it mostly came out as a pained moan.

"He's gotta go to the hospital," Launchpad said.

"You go," Della said. "We'll take care of everyone else."

Launchpad ran Darkwing over to an empty ambulance.

"Don't worry DW," he said, getting into the driver's seat. "Your secret identity is safe with me."

"Wonderful ," Darkwing groaned, putting his hat over his face. His last thought before he passed out was a lingering hope that Fenton had made it out okay.

Chapter 4: Just to Cure It, Cause I Can't Ignore It

"How much longer will it take to cure this?
Just to cure it, 'cause I can't ignore it if it's love"
— Counting Crows, "Accidentally In Love"

Drake woke up in a hospital bed, which was becoming a far more regular occurrence than he'd care to admit. Fenton, Launchpad, and Della were talking quietly by the window. He tried to sit up and hissed as pain shot through his leg. Fenton looked over.

"Woah! Hey, relax," he said, walking to him and handing him a remote. "This'll help."

Drake pressed the button for pain medication. He looked down. His leg was in a cast.

"What happened?"

"Well, I got out and got Gizmoduck, who, y-you know, was there. Because of the rock/lava monster thing," Fenton said.

"Then Darkwing showed up!" Launchpad said, a little too loudly.

"Darkwing was amazing!" Fenton said. "The ice bombs were exactly what they needed to stop the creature, he actually climbed on the thing himself, and I'm not entirely sure he feels pain, but—"

"Guys, I think he meant his leg," Della said. "Doctor said you pretty much shattered your leg below the knee. They had to do some surgery, but you should be fine in a few weeks. Fenton said you saved his life."

"Heh." Fenton scratched his neck and looked away, turning red. "Something like that."

"Hey, you got the guy who got me out," Drake said. "We're even."

"I... yeah."

A nurse walked into the room. "Okay, guys, Mr. Mallard needs his rest."

Della ushered Launchpad out of the room. Fenton stayed behind for just a moment.

"Hey, they said they'd be releasing you tomorrow," Fenton said.

"Well that's good," Drake said. "Seriously, though, don't sweat about the whole 'life saving' thing. The McDucks are like a magnet for weirdness, this is not the last time something like this is gonna happen."

"Sure, yeah," Fenton said. "But maybe I owe you dinner?"

"Yeah, I'm probably not going out for a while," Drake said.

"I can get take-out," Fenton said. "Bring it to your apartment."

"I dunno, do you need my address?"

They both laughed.

"I'll be there around 7," Fenton said. "Chinese?"

"Sounds great," Drake said.

Drake sighed, leaning back into his bed. Amazing. Fenton thought he was amazing . Now, he hadn't specifically used the phrase "better than Gizmoduck", but they could work on that. Broken leg or not, that one word made the pain worth it.

Though he'd take another hit of morphine because wow did his leg hurt.

Chapter 5: Needless to Say

"So needless to say
I'm odds and ends
But I'll be stumbling away
Slowly learning that life is okay"
— a-ha, "Take On Me"

Drake had his broken leg up on the coffee table, eating shrimp fried rice, with Fenton resting on his shoulder.

"So how long have you been working for McDuck?" Drake asked.

"I got my internship right after I finished grad school," Fenton said. "So... about four years now. You?"

"Almost six months. I, ah..." Drake blushed. "I've been directing the new safety videos."

"Really? I knew they were getting better," Fenton said. "But I thought you were an actor?"

"I was— I am ," he said. "I still go for auditions and stuff, but it's steady pay and good benefits."

"Fair enough," he said. "I don't know if this is a strike against me or not, but I'm not sure I've seen anything with you in it."

"It's not, I hate watching the things I'm in," Drake said. "Do you ever hear yourself in a recording and not realize it's your own voice?"

"Sure."

"It's kind of like that, only for an hour and a half," Drake said. "They're saying Gizmoduck saved the day again yesterday."

"Y-yeah," Fenton said. "Well, he had a lot of help."

"Sure, sure," Drake said.

"He always has help," Fenton said. "Dr. Gearloose and I worked on that suit together, and we both build updates when needed. Gizmoduck is more than just the suit, too."

"Right," Drake said.

"It's not really fair that Darkwing got left out," Fenton said. "I know a lot of people don't really know what to think of him, but we couldn't— er, Gizmoduck and the others couldn't have gotten everyone out if Darkwing hadn't stopped the monster."

Drake paused. "He's trying."

Fenton exhaled. "They're both trying. It's... hard, you know. Doing the right thing. It's hard to know what the right thing is ."

"Darkwing... seems to me that he just wants people to see him," Drake said. "That it's possible to do the right thing, even if you're not the richest duck in the world, or you don't have a robot suit."

Fenton looked away. "Gizmoduck just wants to help. I know him, he doesn't feel like a hero most of the time. And it's even harder on him because he knows he can't be everywhere, but he's needed so much. If anything, he was grateful when Darkwing showed up. He's not alone anymore."

Drake paused. "I hadn't thought about it like that."

It made a certain amount of sense to Drake— of course Fenton was friends with Gizmoduck. How much of that suit was Fenton's work? But not being alone... the McDucks had been there, and dealt with things like that. But the more Drake thought about it, the McDucks usually were the focus of the problems that they solved, if not the outright cause. Who was looking out for everyone else, if not Darkwing and Gizmoduck?

And Drake couldn't even say that he didn't feel alone in being Darkwing at times.

"So are we going to have the talk?" Fenton asked.

"The 'what are we' talk?"

"Yeah."

"I mean..." Drake sighed. "What do we want?"

"This is nice," Fenton said. "Just being like this."

"I don't disagree," Drake said.

"Maybe," Fenton said. "Maybe I could try the 'no pressure' thing. I mean, the last time I went on a date with someone, Mark Beaks almost destroyed the lab—"

"Please tell me you weren't on a date with Mark Beaks."

"I was not on a date with Mark Beaks."

"Good." Drake put down his food and wrapped his arms around Fenton. "That guy seems... kinda nuts."

"No more than any other McDuck nemesis," Fenton said.

They both laughed at that.

"When I say 'no pressure', I mean it," Drake said. "We work for some very demanding people. There's going to be things that come up."

"We work for the same demanding person."

"Right, but you also have Gyro."

"True," Fenton said, nodding.

Drake paused, then kissed Fenton's head. Fenton sat up, facing Drake.

"What was that?" Fenton asked.

Drake shrugged.

Fenton leaned forward and kissed Drake. Drake's back pressed into the couch and a knot he didn't even realise was resting in his chest started to untie.

"If you're going to kiss me, do it right."

Drake laughed. "Yeah, that's a line from All's Fair in Love and War."

"...okay, I've seen one of your movies."

Chapter 6: You're My Lover, Not My Rival

"Everyday is like survival
You're my lover, not my rival"
— Culture Club, "Karma Chameleon"

It wasn't often that Scrooge came down to the lab. Fenton was working on the Gizmoduck armor, adapting the ice bombs that Gyro developed for Darkwing into a workable weapon for Gizmoduck. There was a slight misfire, freezing Scrooge's feet on the floor as soon as he came in.

"I am so sorry, Mr. McDuck!" Fenton said.

"Ah, I've had worse," Scrooge said.

"I've got this." Fenton went and grabbed what looked like a blue fire extinguisher.

"What is that?" Scrooge said.

"An ice extinguisher," Fenton said, aiming the hose at the ice and firing. "It shoots a focused beam of infrared radiation at the target and melts ice without causing damage to anything around it."

Scrooge raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"I figured since being frozen in icebergs is a specific and oddly common occurrence..."

"Certainly," Scrooge said. His feet free, he walked over to the Gizmoduck armor. "So, how are things going?"

"It's been pretty busy," Fenton said. "No one's seen Darkwing in a few weeks, so I've kinda been working overtime."

"I heard," Scrooge said. "And the boyfriend?"

Fenton blushed. "I— I didn't—"

"Sonny, I cannae keep calling myself 'smarter than the smarties' if I cannae surprise people every now and then," Scrooge said. "So, what do we think?"

"He's perfect ," Fenton said. "Well, not perfect , it's better than perfect, but, he's... amazing ."

"I heard he broke his leg," Scrooge said.

"Yeah," Fenton said. "He's getting his cast off today. He actually works for you, too."

"I know," Scrooge said. "And he's okay with—" Scrooge gestured to the armor "—all of this?"

"Ah..."

Scrooge sighed. "I thought as much. When are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know," Fenton said. "He's... I'm worried what he'll think."

Scrooge put a hand on Fenton's shoulder. "Listen here, lad. I don't let just anyone work here in the Money Bin. You, Gyro, Launchpad, Quackfaster— you're all as much kin to me as the kids. So let me give you some advice: you cannae lie to the people you love forever, and hiding things will only make it worse."

Fenton sighed. "I know. We're going out tonight, I should tell him then."

"Good lad," Scrooge said. "Now, back to work. You've almost got it."

Scrooge went back upstairs. Fenton looked back to Gizmoduck.

"But it's not just you, is it?"

Chapter 7: In A Way That's Different Than Who We Are

"You know the world can see us
In a way that's different than who we are"
— High School Musical, "Breaking Free"

Drake felt great. His leg was still tender, sure, but he was up and walking and didn't have to struggle with crutches or trip over the walking boot. Plus, with as many hours as Fenton had been working lately, he had to have earned some serious overtime, and the place Fenton had booked for them was nice.

He figured it'd be good to get out as Darkwing again. Maybe next week, he thought to himself, once my leg is better. He adjusted his tie in the mirror as someone knocked on the door. Drake opened it and saw Fenton in an all white suit straight out of the eighties, holding a large bouquet of white and blue roses and bright violet tower-like flowers.

"I- I wasn't sure which ones you liked, or even if you liked flowers, or—"

Drake kissed him. "They're gorgeous, Fen. Let me go put them in water."

Drake pulled out a "vase" (actually a nice glass pitcher with as few chips on the brim as he could find) and filled it with water.

"What kind are these?" Drake asked.

"Hyacinthus orientalis," Fenton said. "I thought they looked nice."

"They do," Drake said, offering his arm. "Shall we?"

Fenton laughed softly. "Sure."

Launchpad was gracious enough to drive them to the restaurant. Fenton kept looking out the window, leaning forward, and playing with his hands. Drake put a hand on Fenton's back.

"Hey, no pressure," Drake said.

Fenton smiled. "Right, no pressure."

But that smile didn't last long.

"Everything okay?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, just something that happened at work," Fenton said. "We can talk about this later, right?"

Drake nodded. "Sure."

The restaurant was almost silent and had very dim mood lighting. Drake sat across from Fenton in the booth and tried to guess what his boyfriend was thinking. It happened at work, was it something that Gyro said? Did an experiment go wrong? Did Gizmoduck—?

"Mr McDuck came down to the lab today."

Oh, dear lord, he was fired.

"Hey." Drake reached out and took Fenton's hand. "I'm here for you."

"Drake, there's something you should know," Fenton said. "I'm—"

"May I take your order, sirs?"

"Can you come back in a..." Drake looked up at the "waiter", who wasn't at all dressed like the others. His cape was tattered, his yellow jacket frayed at the sleeves and missing buttons. The notched brim of his hat turned up and Negaduck grinned.

"I hear revenge is a dish best served cold ," he said.

"Jim," Drake said. "My god, you're alive."

"No thanks to you," Negaduck said.

Negaduck pulled out a gun and aimed it at Drake for a moment before pointing up and firing into the ceiling. There was a scream. Negaduck turned around.

"Everybody out."

The patrons and waitstaff rushed out the doors.

"Fenton, get out," Drake said quietly.

Fenton started to move and Negaduck aimed at him, looking back at Drake.

"Nice try," he said.

Fenton stood up. "Sir, you don't know what you're doing."

"Oh, I think I do," Negaduck said. He started to laugh, which turned into a full cackle as his eyes went wide.

Fenton balled up his fists. "Blathering blatherskite!"

Fenton squeezed his eyes shut, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes and looked down at his hands.

"What the—?"

"Looking for this?" Negaduck pulled out the Gizmoduck helmet. Fenton gasped, stepping back.

"How did you get that?" Drake asked. "Fenton, why does he have that?"

"Oh, you don't know," Negaduck said to Drake. "He hasn't told you yet." Negaduck turned back to Fenton. "Lies are unheroic, young man."

"I didn't lie!" Fenton said. "I just... I hadn't..."

"Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera," Negaduck said, "is the one and only Gizmoduck."

Chapter 8: Or Touch Your Defenses

"I won't harm you or touch your defenses
Vanity, insecurity"
— Simple Plan, "Don't You (Forget About Me)"

Fenton slowly climbed out of the debris. The fire brigade was there, helping get people off of the street. He found his duffel had been knocked across the road and he ran behind a dumpster, out of sight of everyone.

"Blathering blatherskite!"

The Gizmoduck armor surrounded him, snapping on at their places. The brain docking was still pretty painful, but he'd configured it to be as short as possible. He rolled out to go back to the collapsed building. Clearing the debris, Drake was even worse than he looked from under it. His left foot was at just slightly the wrong angle from the rest of his leg.

"Gizmoduck?" Drake said.

"Hello there, citizen," Gizmoduck said. "Need some help?"

Drake was wincing, in obvious pain.

"My leg."

Gizmoduck bent the bars and Fenton helped Drake out of the rubble.

"Are you okay?" Fenton asked.

"It's not too bad," Drake said. "I can walk on it."

Fenton didn't want to leave Drake, but that rock monster wasn't going to stop itself. Fenton nodded and wheeled off to face the monster. It was spewing lava now, and had grabbed Launchpad and Della. Gizmoduck grabbed the arm holding Launchpad and bent it back. Launchpad dropped to the ground.

"Gizmoduck!"

"Go get water," Gizmoduck said. "Let's see if we can put this out."

"On it!"

Della unscrewed her prosthetic from her leg stump and started whacking the monster with it. A smoke bomb went off in front of city hall. What now?

"I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the aa stone under the foot of villainy. I am—"

Oh no, not this guy... Fenton thought.

"About to get your butt kicked too, if you don't stop grandstanding and help!" Della yelled.

"Right," Darkwing said.

Darkwing pulled out his grappling hook and fired, catching the monster's shoulder. He pulled and the monster lost his grip on Della, throwing her. Gizmoduck rushed over and caught her before she fell in the lava. Darkwing started to run towards the thing, but his bandaged leg gave out and he tripped, falling down the stairs. Fenton saw that Darkwing's left foot was bent in the wrong direction.

"Drake," he whispered.

He wheeled over to him.

"Do you need help?" Gizmoduck asked.

"Not from you," Darkwing spat at him.

Oh, right, Fenton thought. Darkwing hates Gizmoduck.

Darkwing fired the grappling hook at the monster again, launching himself onto its back. He slipped, but Gizmoduck extended his arm, wrapping it around the monster and giving Darkwing some support. Darkwing pulled something out of his utility belt.

"Eat ice, you blundering boulder!"

He threw the ice bombs into the creature's mouth and jumped off before they exploded, freezing the thing solid.

Drake landed on his injured leg. His foot twisted even further out of alignment and he collapsed in pain. Launchpad ran over and picked him up.

"I got you DW," Launchpad said.

"Is he okay?" Fenton asked.

Drake groaned in pain. He was bleeding through the bandages, and there was exposed bone.

"He's gotta go to the hospital," Launchpad said.

"You go," Della said. "We'll take care of everyone else."

Fenton wanted to help, but Drake wasn't going to accept it, not while he looked like this. Besides, there were other people trapped in the wreckage. Gizmoduck's job wasn't done.

Don't worry Drake, Fenton thought. Your secret's safe with me.

Chapter 9: All the Times I Never Let You Down

"You called me strong, you called me weak
But still your secrets, I will keep
You took for granted all the times I never let you down"
— 3 Doors Down, "Kryptonite"

Drake stepped back in shock.

"Gizmoduck?" he said. "No. No, that's not — "

Fenton sighed. "Yeah. I am."

"Why didn't you..?" Drake sighed, looking away. There was one really good reason not to say anything. "You know that I'm Darkwing. You knew the whole time."

"Drake, I—"

"Well, this is all very touching," Negaduck said. "But aren't we wondering how our intrepid heroes are going to stop me?"

"What did you do to my suit?" Fenton asked.

"Oh, I disabled it," Negaduck said. "By the way, Mark Beaks sends his regards."

"Beaks?" Fenton said quietly. "Oh, no..."

"Don't worry, I didn't tell him about our little impostor friend," Negaduck said. "That's you, by the way."

"Yeah, I figured," Drake said.

"Of course, maybe it's not completely disabled," Negaduck said.

"What?" Fenton said. "It would have to be, I said the passcode, it should have..." A look of terror fell over Fenton's face. "You reprogrammed it. You reprogrammed my suit!"

"I just needed the magic words," Negaduck said. "Blathering blatherskite."

Negaduck slammed the helmet down on Fenton. The armor swirled around him, snapping on. Drake backed up— he couldn't believe what he was seeing, but there was Gizmoduck. And it really was Fenton. But then the visor turned red.

"Drake, I'm not in control of this thing," Fenton said as Gizmoduck turned on his rockets. "Get out of here, now!"

"Who's controlling the suit, Jim?" Drake asked.

"Who else?" Negaduck pulled out a phone, which displayed a "Waddleduck" remote app on it.

Negaduck jumped on Gizmoduck's back.

"And don't even think about coming for him," Negaduck said. "It'd be far too dangerous."

Negaduck cackled as Gizmoduck took off, breaking through the roof and disappearing into the night. Drake scowled.

"Then let's get dangerous."

Launchpad was tied up and thrown in the backseat of his limo. Drake undid the bonds, mentally kicking himself for not figuring it out. Of course Fenton was Gizmoduck— he disappeared right before Gizmoduck showed up, the way he talked about the armor was obviously from experience, and even the way he talked about Darkwing...

"He wanted me to like him," Drake muttered. "And the easiest way was talking up Darkwing, because between McDuck's net worth and my ego, I'm not sure which — God! I'm an idiot..."

He undid the gag on Launchpad's mouth.

"DM!" Launchpad said. "It was Jim Starling! He—"

"I know," Drake said. "Launchpad, he got control of the Gizmoduck armor. He... he has Fenton, LP."

Launchpad nodded. "Okay. Let's go get him."

Drake smiled. "Thank you."

"So how do we find them?" Launchpad said.

Drake thought for a moment. "We find the suit, we find Fenton. I know where to go."

Gyro was working late, Li'l Bulb sitting on the desk as he made notes on his diagrams. A smoke bomb went off, filling the lab.

"Oh, great," Gyro muttered.

Darkwing grabbed Gyro by the vest, shoving him on the table.

"Where. Is. Gizmoduck?"

Gyro rolled his eyes. "Get off me."

He pushed Darkwing off of him and brushed himself off.

"Why isn't he with you?" Gyro asked. "I thought you two were on a date tonight."

"Change of plans." Darkwing crossed his arms. "Someone reprogrammed the suit and Fenton is spending the evening as a hostage. Now are you going to help or not?"

"Fine," Gyro said. "Li'l Bulb?"

Li'l Bulb jumped up on Gyro's hand. Gyro handed it to Darkwing.

"What do I do with this?" Darkwing asked.

"The suit can be tracked through the Bulbtech network," Gyro said. "The amount of projects that go rogue on me, I make sure they can be hunted down. Have Launchpad follow Li'l Bulb, and that should take you to Fenton."

"Okay," Darkwing said. "Thank you."

He turned to leave.

"Drake?"

Darkwing looked to Gyro.

"Bring him back alive."

Chapter 10: This is Ourselves

"This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure"
— Queen & David Bowie, "Under Pressure"

Fenton's brain had docked with the suit as soon as Negaduck smashed the helmet on him. It hurt a lot, even more than when Huey hotwired the suit to him the first time. And the pain didn't stop, just dulled, in a way that seemed intentional. The visor, usually a heads-up display with a clear image of what was outside, had darkened, blinding him. Fenton fought to regain control of the suit from inside, pulling on anything he could reach to override the new programming. The suit didn't budge. Next step was to try and abandon the suit. As soon as he got a shoulder out, an electric shock went right through his chest and he fell back in.

"You're gonna kill me," Fenton said, barely breathing.

Negaduck cackled. "Not at all, young man. That was just enough not to kill you. Your brain is the central processor for this... thing."

Fenton could feel Negaduck rap the suit with his knuckles.

"From what I've been told, I can't run the thing without you," he continued. "But that doesn't mean I can't override your commands. And it doesn't mean I need you conscious."

Fenton continued to struggle against the suit, when he heard the sound of a smoke bomb going off.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the sand in the eyes of injustice. I. AM. Darkwing Duck!"

Drake landed on the floor of the abandoned warehouse Negaduck had been hiding in. He could see Fenton fighting the suit and his heart broke. He shouldn't be here...

"No. You're. NOT!"

Negaduck fired at Darkwing, who caught the bullet in his shoulder. Drake took a deep breath, focused on not hyperventilating. He slowly moved forward.

"Jim," he said. "You're not well. You need help."

"Not from you," Negaduck said. "Now, let's see how you handle this!"

He pressed a button on the app and Gizmoduck wheeled over between the two of them.

"What's going on?" Fenton asked. "Drake, I can't see, what's happening?"

"Brace yourself, Fen," Drake said. "This is about to get dangerous."

Gizmoduck's arms extended, trying to grab Darkwing. He dodged, gripping his shoulder to stop the bleeding. He fired his grappling hook to get up into the rafters so he could regroup.

"Okay, Drake," he said to himself. "Your boyfriend's stuck in a robotic suit of armor, that's being controlled by your former hero, who's trying to kill you."

He leaned against a beam and sighed. "Fen, I think we've passed the point of 'no pressure'."

"Is now really the time for this?" Fenton's voice was strained.

"I've got even odds on one of us dying tonight, so..."

Drake stalked around in the rafters. He had to get that phone, but he couldn't scope out the right angle.

"We might not have that long," he finished.

Negaduck spun Gizmoduck around and fired a volley of missiles up into the rafters. Darkwing fell to the floor, landing on his injured shoulder. Gizmoduck wheeled over, looming above him.

"Come on," Drake muttered to himself.

He pushed against the floor, and his arm collapsed under him. His strength had given out. But he could do one last thing.

"Jim!" Drake said. "You win."

Negaduck cackled. "Of course I have!"

"Just promise me one thing," Drake said. "After you kill me, you let him go."

"Drake, no," Fenton said. "I've almost got this, we can—"

"Jim," Drake said. "Please."

"An interesting proposal," Negaduck said. "Here's my counter."

The Gizmoduck armor started sparking and Fenton cried out in pain.

"You're in no position to make demands!" Negaduck said. "I can send enough electricity through that suit to deep fry your little scientist. He's dead as soon as you are."

Drake looked up and saw tears collecting at the bottom of Gizmoduck's vizor.

"Drake, please," Fenton said. "Get back up."

Slowly, and very unsteady, Darkwing stood. He reached up to touch Fenton's face.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this," Drake said.

"We're heroes," Fenton said. "This was always going to be dangerous."

Drake smiled. "So let's get dangerous."

He grabbed the helmet and ripped it off Fenton's head. There was a whirring noise as the suit powered down, and the whole thing fell over onto the floor.

"No!" Negaduck yelled.

"What are you doing?" Fenton asked.

"A hard reboot," Darkwing said. "Get out of there, I'm getting your suit back."

Negaduck pounded at his phone, but the suit didn't respond. Darkwing ran over, reaching for the phone. Negaduck hit him in the injured shoulder and Darkwing staggered back.

Fenton fell out of the suit. He looked it over, trying to find a way to bypass the Waddleduck programming from the outside. L'il Bulb walked over.

"Hey," Fenton said. "Come here for a sec."

Negaduck kicked Darkwing in the chest and he slid across the floor. Negaduck grabbed him by the collar and beat him repeatedly across the face.

"WHY. WON'T. YOU. DIE?" he screamed.

"Hey, Starling!"

Negaduck turned around to see Li'l Bulb running to Fenton with the phone. Fenton took the phone and smashed it on the floor.

"No!" Negaduck yelled.

"Blathering blatherskite!"

The Gizmoduck armor swirled around Fenton, snapping into place, and the vizor faded from red to blue, the HUD and visuals returning. His arm turned into a cannon, which he aimed at Negaduck.

"Darkwing? Duck."

Darkwing jumped out of the way as Gizmoduck fired, freezing Negaduck in place. Darkwing collapsed on the floor. Gizmoduck wheeled over.

"Need some help?"

Drake grinned. "Sure."

Fenton helped Drake to his feet. The armor's chest piece buzzed and the front panel opened to a screen. It started counting down from 30.

29. 28.

"That's not normal," Fenton said.

Negaduck started to laugh.

25. 24. 23.

"Jim, what did you do?" Drake asked.

"Beaks left a little surprise in the code," Negaduck said. "A bit of insurance."

19. 18. 17.

"I can't get out in time," Fenton said. "Drake, you need to run."

"I'm not going anywhere," Drake said.

13. 12. 11.

"I'm not arguing with you," Fenton said. "I'll be fine, I've survived worse."

"Not happening!"

7. 6.

Negaduck laughed. "You're going to die!"

5. 4.

"You have to leave," Fenton said. "Drake, I..."

3.

"I know," Drake said.

2.

Drake pulled Fenton down and kissed him.

1.

Chapter 11: That Would Be Enough

"Look at where you are
Look at where you started
The fact that you're alive is a miracle
Just stay alive, that would be enough"
— Hamilton, "That Would Be Enough"

Fenton woke up in a hospital bed, which he supposed was better than the alternative. Drake was sitting next to the bed, his arm in a sling. He gave a small smile.

"We gotta stop meeting like this," Drake said.

Fenton laughed weakly, before groaning in pain.

"What happened?"

"The countdown was to an electrical spike," Drake said. "It... it stopped your heart."

"I've gotta get Beaks' code out of there. I thought I got rid of it all the first time..."

"Fen, you almost died," Drake said. "You've been in a coma for two days and they had to do heart surgery. Is that really the priority?"

Fenton paused. "Okay, Drake, I can see you thinking. This is not your fault. You thought he was gone. You couldn't have planned for—"

"You almost died," Drake repeated.

"Does that ever stop you?"

Drake sighed. "Maybe this time it does."

Huey and Webby burst into the room, followed by Della.

"Fenton, you're awake!" Huey said.

"Hey, kids," Fenton said, his voice still weak.

"Don't exhaust him kids, he's still recovering," Della said. "Hey, Drake, how're you doing?"

"Been better," Drake said.

Della paused.

"Come here," she said.

He followed her out into the hall.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I almost lost him," Drake said. "And I... I feel terrible. But it's complicated."

"He's Gizmoduck, you're Darkwing, and you've been acting like a jerk to him for the past several months, and now he's nearly died, which you feel could have been prevented if you had just known who he was," Della said, crossing her arms.

"...Okay, maybe not that complicated. How did you—?"

"The kids know everything," Della said. "But anyways. Do you really think Fenton hasn't already forgiven you? That he wouldn't if you asked?"

Drake looked away, scratching his neck.

"Look, you're angry at yourself," Della said. "I've been there. But don't let that keep you from the people that care about you. We're all just one big, dumb mistake from... being stuck on the moon for ten years because you couldn't handle the fact that your life was about to change drastically and the only thing you actually learned, despite everything your uncle tried to teach you, was how to act on impulse and instinct and—"

"Okay, stopping you there," Drake said. "Please tell me there's something relevant in all of that?"

"You can't ignore it," Della said. "You're angry and you're scared because you don't know what's going to happen next. Because you can't see the angles. And what you do next is going to change your life, forever."

"So what should I do?" Drake asked.

"Talk with him," Della said. "Tell him how you feel. Apologize. He's in love with you, Drake. That will be enough."

He sighed. "Okay."

In the room, Webby jumped up on Fenton's bed and badgered him with questions.

"How many volts was the electric shock? How was Negaduck able to take over your suit? Was the date going well before he showed up? How did Drake—?"

Huey grabbed Webby and dragged her off the bed.

"You're going to give him another heart attack, Webby," he said. "So is everything going to be okay?"

"I don't know," Fenton said. "Something about this was different. I... I think Drake's mad at me."

"Not really," Webby said. "He's barely left the hospital since you got here."

Fenton looked away, taking as deep a breath as he could.

"He... knows I'm Gizmoduck," Fenton said. "And he... hates Gizmoduck. And I knew it, so I didn't tell him."

"But he doesn't hate you," Huey said. "And there's a lot more to you than Gizmoduck."

Della and Drake came back into the room.

"Okay, kids," Della said. "Let's let him rest."

Della ushered Huey and Webby out of the room. Drake sat back down, sighing.

"Everything okay?" Fenton asked.

"I'm sorry," Drake said. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry about dragging you into my fight with Jim. I'm sorry I've been such a jerk to you and to Gizmoduck. I love you, Fenton. It kills me that I've done things that have hurt you. And I didn't even know."

"Of course you didn't," Fenton said. "Drake, I never told you I was Gizmoduck. You couldn't have known."

"And you didn't tell me because..?"

Fenton sighed. "Because as soon as I figured out you were Darkwing, I knew you would hate me."

"I... I don't hate Gizmoduck," Drake said. "I just... I thought I could do this. I thought I could be a hero. And now my hero has tried to kill me, twice, and almost killed you too— how on earth am I supposed to do this if I can't even keep you safe? How could I have ever thought that I..?"

Drake covered his eyes, not wanting to even look at Fenton.

"What did you think?" Fenton asked.

"I..." He started to laugh as tears formed in his eyes. "I said to Launchpad at the beginning, that... 'I am better than Gizmoduck', how stupid am I?"

He wiped the tears from his face. "You fell in love with an idiot, Fen. An idiot, drop-out, arrogant bastard that... that doesn't even deserve to be here."

"Doesn't deserve..? Drake," Fenton said, reaching for Drake's hand. "I love you. That's as much a choice as it isn't. You ran into danger on a broken leg because people needed help. You're a hero, whether you think so or not. For what it's worth, you're my hero."

Fenton smiled, and Drake's heart broke again, laughing through his tears.

"What is it about Gizmoduck you don't like?" Fenton asked.

"Fen, do we really need—?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "It's okay, I can take it."

"I just... Everything seemed to come so easily for him," Drake said. "The suit does everything."

"I didn't pick the suit," Fenton said. "Everything I've done to add on are things I've felt I could use. And it's not like Darkwing doesn't use gadgets."

"It's not just the suit though, isn't it?" Fenton asked.

"He was always right there, always saving the day, I..." Drake sighed. "Launchpad said I could do this, and... and I thought Jim had died saving me. It had to be for a reason, right?"

Fenton looked away. "I just wanted to help. I never thought about if you wanted it or not."

"I know, I just— Can I just get this off my chest?"

"You know, you're really wound tight there, Drake."

Drake paused, then laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so," Drake said. "You can't do everything. And you can't be everywhere. But, then again, neither can I. I'm guessing all that overtime was to cover for my broken leg?"

"Maybe a little..."

Drake smiled. "Well, now it's my turn."

Chapter 12: All The Things I've Got To Remember

"Oh, things that you say
Is it a life or just to play my worries away?
You're all the things I've got to remember
You're shying away
I'll be coming for you anyway."
— a-ha, "Take On Me"

Detective Cabrera fussed over her son as Drake helped him into a wheelchair.

"Oh, pollito, are you sure you don't want to stay for a bit longer?" Det. Cabrera asked.

"I'm sure, M'ma," Fenton said. "It'll be nice to be home."

"Plus, they won't let him stay," Drake said.

"Hey, when your kid has open heart surgery, you're going to want him to stay in the hospital as long as possible," Det. Cabrera said.

"I don't doubt that," Drake said.

They helped Fenton into the car. Det. Cabrera shut the door and turned to Drake.

"You've been causing my son a lot of trouble, Darkwing," she said.

Drake blinked. "Sorry?"

She gave him an annoyed look. "I'm a detective. You're dating my son."

"...Okay, fair enough."

Fenton rolled down the window. "M'ma, are you threatening him? We talked about this."

"I'm just trying to protect you, pollito," she said.

Drake looked at Fenton. "I see where you get it from."

Fenton blushed.

Drake turned back to Det. Cabrera. "Ma'am, I—"

"Ma'am?" she said.

"O-officer?"

She nodded. "Better."

"Officer, with all due respect," Drake said. "We're superheroes. What could happen?"

Down the road, there was an explosion at the Second Municipal Bank of Duckburg. A near horde of Beagle Boys ran into the bank. Drake winced and looked down at Fenton.

"You know, I'm probably going to have to sleep when I get home," Fenton said. "Bring me dinner around 7?"

"How about Thai this time?" Drake asked.

"Sounds good."

Drake leaned down and kissed Fenton.

"Go get dangerous," Fenton said.

Drake grinned and ran off. Det. Cabrera sighed, leaning against the car.

"You're sure about this one?" she asked.

"Yeah, I am," Fenton said.

She shrugged. "Okay, then. Let's get you home."

At the bank, the Beagle Boys closed in on the bank vault. A smoke bomb went off in front of them.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the bad penny that turns up on the streets of crime. I am—"

Ma Beagle pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

"Darkwing Duck!" she said, spitting his name like a curse.

"Oh, so you've heard of me." Darkwing dropped into a fighting stance. "Let's get dangerous."

END

Afterword

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