Chapter Text
It was two days after the adventure to Toth-Ra's tomb. Life had gone on as normal with the triplets and Webby causing chaos at every turn and giving the adults more grey hairs than they could count.
Webby woke up early as she always did and got ready for the day. Making her way downstairs where she intended to head for the kitchen, she was distracted by noises coming from the the spare living room that supposedly hadn't been used in years. Who else was up this early? Usually, she, Granny and Scrooge were the early risers, but the other two would already be in the dining room and kitchen respectively. And the triplets liked to take advantage of sleeping in as much as they could- albeit Huey still got up earlier than Dewey and Louie. But none of them would be up at, she glanced at the clock in the hallway- 7:30 in the morning. She changed her direction and headed toward the room in question. Despite how early it still was, she had honestly still been expecting to see Huey but she hadn't been expecting the triplet she did find. And she certainly didn't expect to find him attempting... well she didn't know what exactly.
"Louie?"
Louie let out a yelp, tumbling over from his unsteady pose and landing on his butt with an 'oomph'. Catching his bearings, he swung his head to look at his impromptu visitor. His face flushed in embarrassment and he took several deep breaths to calm his heart. "Oh geez, Webby. You scared me!"
Webby rubbed the back of her head at that, feeling her own face flush. "Sorry, Louie..."
Getting up, Louie winced at the sheepishness in her voice. "No, it's okay." He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I was too focused on what I was doing and wasn't paying attention."
An awkward silence settled over the two ducklings as Louie looked anywhere but at the girl.
After a few minutes, Webby cleared her throat and turned to leave. "Sorry, I scared you. I'll leave now."
Louie felt that same pang of guilt again at the tone of resignment in her voice. Shit. "You can stay," he called out quickly, trying to stop her.
The other duckling turned to look back at him unsurely. "Are you sure?
Louie diverted his eyes when Webby turned her eyes to his. "If you want that is. You didn't interrupt anything..."
"Um, sure." Webby turned to fully face him, walking over to him.
"Cool."
And there was that awkward silence again.
Webby was the one to break it. "So... what did I walk in on?"
Louie coughed awkwardly, heading over to the couch in the room. "... nothing?"
Webby followed him, arching an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"
He picked at a loose thread on his hoodie, looking anywhere but at Webby. He mumbled something that even the other duckling couldn't quite pick up on.
"What was that?"
"You'll laugh."
Webby's eyes narrowed in concern at that. "I promise I won't."
Louie sent her a disbelieving look, wrestling with whether or not he actually wanted to tell her. "I uh- I was trying out some yoga poses."
That... was not what she had been expecting. "Yoga? You?"
"Yeah, I know..." Louie sighed as he grabbed the remote as a way of distraction, frowning when he heard a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. He chose to ignore it. "I may not be the best at it."
Webby bit her tongue in an attempt to hold back any further laughs. She wasn't very successful.
He looked at her unamused. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"
"I'm not!"
Louie pulled his hoodie over his head, arms crossing his arms over his chest. "You and my brothers are the worst."
"Sorry, Louie. I promise, no more laughing."
It took a minute but the green-clad duckling was eventually coaxed out of the cocoon he had made for himself.
Another few minutes passed without either saying anything before Webby decided to press further. "So, is this something you do every day?"
And with that question, Louie was back to fiddling with the loose string on his hoodie. "It should be... It's one form of exercise I can do but... I haven't in a while. Mainly because I suck at it."
Webby couldn't hold it in any longer. She laughed. "I can tell."
Louie pouted at that, sticking his hands in his pockets again. "Was there something you wanted, Webigail?"
"Oh come on, Llewellyn!" She put a hand on his shoulder squeezing it good-naturedly. Her laughter eventually died down and she looked at him seriously. "I could help you. If you wanted that is."
It was his turn to look surprised. "You know yoga?"
The girl nodded as she settled next to her friend. "Granny taught me when she was teaching me how to meditate."
And it just got weirder. "You meditate too?"
Webby frowned at his tone not understanding the surprise. "Yes, what's wrong with that?"
Louie shook his head, trying to reassure her. "Nothing! It's just... well, it seems so calm of an exercise compared to everything else you like to do."
Ah, yes, well. That was true. She shrugged. "Well, granny says a spy must be prepared for everything."
Louie blinked at her, confused. "Excuse me?"
Webby waved her hands, letting out a sharp laugh. "Ah, there's still much you three don't know."
Louie gulped at the slight maniacal tone in her laugh. Still though, he wouldn't admit to needing help. He could figure this out, right? Right! "I think I'll be fine," he replied, not unkindly but with all the bravado he could muster. "See?" He got up off the couch to show her.
She gestured for him to try, hands folding behind her back in anticipation.
He attempted a simple warrior pose. And he fell. Again. Okay, maybe he didn't have a handle on this after all. Or the balance. He looked over at Webby who was laughing again and sighed. Well... he and Webby had never really had the chance to hang out just them before. This could be nice. He nodded. "Well... it might be nice to not fall on my face for once and have Dewey or Huey laughing."
Webby nodded in agreement. "I think that's for the best." She settled back in her seat, gaze scrutinizing him. "So why else have you not kept up with this?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Well, before you made it seem as if there was another reason why you didn't carry on with yoga. I just was wondering why?"
The green-clad duckling shook his head. "No. No other reason."
Webby arched an eyebrow at him. "Llewellyn."
"Webbigail."
"I'll find out eventually," she tutted. "I'm nothing if not persistent."
"... fine." He pulled away to look at her better, hands finding that loose string again (something Webby was learning might be a nervous habit). "I wanted to play Hockey." He nodded at her surprised expression before continuing. "And I know that sounds strange coming from me. I don't do much but... that was something I really did want to try at one point and I can't play because... well." He gestured at his chest.
Webby nodded her head at that, understanding. "Because of the pacemaker." She had read in her research that those with a pacemaker should avoid contact sports and heavy lifting so as not to disturb the device.
"Yeah... because of that." He sat back down, pulling at the string even more until it came free. "I was kinda mean about it too. Uncle Donald wanted me to keep up with some kind of exercise and decided this would probably be best. This was around the time though that I had been begging him to let me try out for the hockey team. The doctor advised against it and I- I wouldn't talk to anyone for a week."
Webby winced in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Louie."
He tugged at the string in his hands from both sides, pulling it taut. "Eh, it's in the past I guess."
"Why are you wanting to try all of a sudden?"
The green-clad duck only shrugged his shoulders. "No reason really." He groaned at the unimpressed look she leveled him with. "Uncle Donald brought it up again. That last doctor's visit brought up some concerns and they both think I need to be more active. As if running for our lives in the middle of an outing with the family isn't exercise enough."
Webby sighed, scooting over on the couch so she was closer to her friend. "I think he's leaning towards something calmer for you because of that."
"...I know." Louie looked out the window for a moment, staring straight at where the houseboat lay. "I just hate having this thing that I can't control. Normally I don't mind going with the flow but or I can at the very least see the angles of any situation and work a way out- okay I try to work a way out," he corrected himself at Webby's side-eye. "But with this whole thing? I'm not in control and there are so many endless variables and I can't see them all. I want to do this because I want to and not because someone else said to."
Webby nodded along with his words. She got it- she really did. "Well, it may not be your first choice but maybe if we worked on it together it could be something you liked." She grinned at him. "Maybe we'll even show you how to properly meditate if you promise to not fall asleep that is."
"Maybe one day." He looked over at Webby with a small, laidback smile before jumping off the couch. "Okay, coach- what would you have me do first?"
Webby chuckled at that before grabbing his shoulders to straighten him out and guiding him into the pose he had been attempting earlier. She smiled when he kept his balance this time.
"Maybe we can try this every morning."
"Uh, that means getting up at 7 every time, right?"
Webby chuckled as she moved him into another position. "Unless you want an audience every morning, you'll be up by then and you will like it."
"Touche."
An hour of practicing later found the two ducklings in the kitchen making breakfast together with Miss Beakley much to the surprise of everyone else in the house except the housekeeper. The two ducklings' time together became a staple in their lives and soon everyone grew used to the idea of seeing Louie and Webby working together in the mornings and sometimes at night when Louie found himself too restless to fall asleep.