Chapter Text
Louie could never look at himself the same way again.
Whenever he caught his empty gaze in the mirror, all he could think about was the things Doofus did to him. Shame and guilt and disgust filled his mind anytime he saw his disgusting reflection. He could still feel his hands wandering over his body, brushing up against his face and running along his arms and legs. It made him feel so dirty, yet no matter how many showers he took, he never felt clean. And every time he looked at himself in the mirror, he was reminded of how he was used and touched.
And the worst part? Louie had let Doofus do those things to him.
Sort of.
It first started happening when they were both 10 on that horrid Only Child Day that Dewey had made up. Louie thought he had a foolproof plan. He thought he could make a new friend who just so happened to be insanely rich and spoiled, and maybe use him a little to get a taste of that life.
But he wasn’t prepared for how badly his plan would backfire.
…
Louie tensed up, pressing his back against the wall to get as small as possible, not knowing what Doofus was going to do to him but terrified anyway. Doofus had a look in his eyes as he stared down at him, a look Louie had never seen before. He couldn’t place it, but it filled him with fear, like some primal instinct deep down was telling him he was in severe danger. He shut his eyes tight, his breath hitching painfully in his throat as he felt Doofus move beside him, placing a hand under his beak, and bringing his face up.
He shuddered as he felt his gross touch against his skin, opening his eyes but not daring to meet Doofus’ gaze. His eyes trailed down to the gold magnetic bracelets that bound him to the floor—he tugged a little at them, but they kept him held against the floor. It made a throbbing pain shoot through his arms as he felt the bracelets cutting off the blood circulation to his hands, making the tips of his fingers all tingly.
His thoughts were interrupted by Doofus pressing a quick kiss against his forehead, which made Louie yelp and attempt to jerk away again as a wave of disgust rushed through him. But the bracelets kept him pinned down. He stared up at him, feeling his skin crawl at the feeling. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out.
Louie Duck, the boy who was known for being able to talk his way out of anything was silenced for once in his life.
He looked down at him with an adoring, almost possessive look in his eyes. “You look so pretty when you look up at me like that.” He reached out, taking his face in his hands.
He felt the tears in his eyes threaten to spill over, his brow furrowing as Doofus moved to get closer to him. He didn’t want to be here, he was so confused and scared.
He just wanted to go home.
Endless minutes ticked by, each second feeling like decades to Louie, and each was filled with either Doofus kissing Louie or whispering some disgusting words into his ear, most of which Louie didn’t fully understand but made him want to throw up anyway.
It was so strange. For most of the time he kept him bound to the floor, Doofus just stared at him. His eyes would wander up and down his body, flickering down before trailing back up to his face. And he did that for, like, fifteen minutes! It was uncomfortable and awkward—Louie didn’t understand why anyone would want to just stare at someone for half an hour.
But eventually, Doofus decided he had enough. He stood up, taking the remote out of his pocket and pushing a button. Louie let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as he felt the bracelets loosen their grip on him. He slipped his wrists out of them as he sat up, feeling blood start to flow back through his almost fully numb hands. He reached up, touching the ring around his wrists where the bracelets were. His tear-filled eyes darted back and forth as he tried to process what just happened.
A handful of twenty and fifty dollar bills were shoved in his face.
He looked up to see Doofus holding the money, expecting him to accept it. Louie cautiously reached up with a shaky hand, taking the money. He glanced down at the bills in his hands, feeling like he needed to say something. “...Thanks?” He forced out the first word he’d spoken for almost thirty minutes, his voice hoarse and shaky. But why did he give him money?
“Consider it payment. A reward,” Doofus said, almost reading his mind.
Louie quickly and silently counted the money. 120 dollars! His eyes widened. “Uh… Yeah. Okay.” He slowly stood up, watching as Doofus started to walk away.
“See him out,” He ordered his servants, who immediately started to lead Louie to the door. Doofus caught his gaze one last time, flashing him a strange smile. “Until next time, my dear.”
The front door slammed behind him the moment he was shoved outside, and he just stood there for a moment on their porch, trying to process what happened.
His thoughts faded as he looked back down at the handful of bills in his hands. 120 whole dollars, all for himself! A smile grew on his face as he thought about all the things he could buy with his money.
He immediately rushed home, using a 20 dollar bill to buy a good number of Pep cans. He brought the extra cans into his room as he sipped another, putting them in the mini fridge next to his bottom bunk. They filled his fridge up, and he still had 100 bucks!
As he stood up, smiling to himself, he caught his gaze in the mirror hanging on the wall across the room. He stared at himself, his smile slowly fading off his face. He felt… gross in a way he couldn’t put into words. He could hardly meet his gaze in the mirror like he was ashamed and disgusted with himself. He blinked, looking away, confused.
…
At the time, Louie didn’t understand what was happening or what the strange words Doofus said to him meant. But he knew now. He was much older, and he fully understood. During the first time he kept him to do stuff like that, he whispered strange things to him, things Louie just fully didn’t understand. But looking back, Louie now understood completely. He had been saying things 10 year olds should never say. It horrified Louie when he thought about how Doofus managed to come across those types of things.
Louie almost pitied him.
Almost.
Eventually, it had turned into more than a bit more than a few touches and kisses and stares.
…
The money, Louie desperately thought to himself to keep his mind off of Doofus’ gross touch making its way across his neck, kissing him on the cheek and making him shiver. Think of all the money you’ll get. After Doofus was done with him, he could get around 100 dollars and he would buy as much Pep as he wanted. And although Doofus had been getting a lot more… touchy lately, it was almost worth it most of the time.
He glanced up at the big golden clock hanging on the wall to the left of him. It had been almost thirty minutes since Doofus started touching him, which meant he would probably be done soon. Louie let out a soft sigh of relief.
His thoughts were cut short as he felt Doofus’ hands travel down his side, resting a hand on his inner thigh. Louie jerked his legs away, his brow furrowing with confusion. Doofus had never gone down to his legs before. “Don't,” He muttered, tensing up.
He felt Doofus’ glare harden at the rejection. “Why not?”
He opened his mouth to respond, but he wasn’t sure what to say. That feeling of his hand on his thigh made a feeling of dread tingle through him, a feeling he had never felt before. “...I don’t want you to.”
Doofus looked at him with an amused expression like he didn’t believe him… or care enough to take him seriously. He scoffed, bringing his hand back to his thigh and shifting so he could look into his eyes better. “I’ll give you an extra 20,” He said, leaning in for a kiss as he kept his grip firmly on his leg.
Louie squirmed in his grasp, feeling a wave of disgust wash over him as Doofus pulled away from the kiss. He hated the way he could still taste Doofus on his beak even after he stopped kissing him. “No. No, I don’t want you to.”
The refusal seemed to make Doofus angry. He didn’t say anything as he laid both of his hands on Louie’s thighs, spreading his legs apart.
Louie felt that feeling of dread shoot through his body again. He yanked once more at the magnetic gold bracelets that bound him to the floor, his breath catching in his throat. “Stop,” He mumbled. Doofus didn’t stop. “Stop!” He said again, almost yelling this time. When he didn’t stop, Louie brought his legs up, kicking Doofus in the stomach with enough force to make him let go of his legs, letting out a wheeze as he clutched his stomach in pain.
A few seconds passed and Doofus looked back up at him. They stared at each other for a moment before he silently brought out the remote, and the bracelets loosened. Louie let out a soft breath as he took his wrists out, shaking them a little to get the blood flowing again. He stared up at him, waiting for his money.
Doofus glared down at him. His gaze was filled with anger and an emotion Louie couldn’t comprehend. “Well? Are you leaving, you ungrateful brat?”
Louie hesitated, tilting his head slightly in confusion. “What about my money?”
“I’m not giving you money this time. You didn’t let me touch you where I wanted.”
An uncomfortable silence filled the room before Louie spoke with a shaky voice. “But I still let you do all that other stuff, the kissing and the touching…” His voice trailed off.
Doofus pointed to the door, his eyes narrowing, refusing to pay him. “Maybe next time you’ll make smarter choices.”
Louie felt his heart sink. He slowly stood up and went out the door, walking home slowly as a look of anger spread across his face. He just went through all of that and didn’t even get a penny! How unfair! He stared down at the path, kicking a rock in front of him as he walked.
His mind wandered back to the feeling he got when Doofus brought his hand up to his thigh; it was an overwhelming feeling that he couldn’t quite place. He hated it though. Whatever feeling it was, he never wanted to even think about it again.
...However, he really wanted the money. He was getting pretty well paid off of these visits, and it wasn’t like he was old enough to get a job yet, not like he had the energy to work though, anyway.
He silently weighed the pros and cons of the situation. On one hand, he hated being near Doofus. He hated his touch and the look in his eye and the weird noises he made when he touched him and kissed him and the strange, gross words he whispered to him… But on the other hand, he got around a hundred dollars every time, and the visits and touching almost never lasted more than thirty minutes.
A frustrated sigh escaped his lips. He didn’t know. It was so confusing.
…
Louie forced back those memories, shaking his head as if to clear the thoughts.
He was sixteen now, and he hadn’t even talked to Doofus for almost four years. He wasn’t sure why he was still thinking about it. He had learned when he was around thirteen that what happened to him was, supposedly, sexual assault. He hadn’t realized that at the time since he didn’t know what sexual assault was when he was ten, but even as it was happening, he felt as if something was really wrong.
And he knew it was stupid, but he didn’t feel like he actually was a victim of sexual assault. After all, he allowed Doofus to do those things to him for three years, and it wasn’t like Doofus ever raped him—the worst he did was touch him. That’s why he hadn’t told anyone about it. He remembered that Huey and Dewey knew briefly about how strange Doofus was, but Louie never told them the extent of his creepiness, and he certainly wasn’t planning on telling them now either. After all, it had been almost four years since he even saw Doofus. It was so long ago, and they were both so young… Louie was probably exaggerating it. He was probably just desperate for attention, seeking sympathy for any minor inconvenience that crossed his path, exaggerating it to make him seem like the victim.
Yeah, that was it.
He was just desperate for attention.
Louie slowly rolled out of the bottom bunk of his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he stifled a yawn. A quick glance up at the empty bunks above him told him that his brothers were already awake. He sighed, taking off the shirt he slept in and grabbing another and his usual hoodie. Before he put the clothes on, his eyes trailed back over to the mirror still hanging on the wall, and he forced his eyes down to avoid looking meeting his gaze.
He slid the hoodie on, standing awkwardly in the middle of his room as he tried his hardest to ignore the urge to turn back to the mirror.
The door to his bedroom burst open and Louie jumped. Dewey rushed in, grabbing Louie’s hands and practically dragging him out the door. “Louie!! Uncle Scrooge found a treasure map with a hidden message on the back!” He dragged him down the stairs and out the front door, grinning at him as they approached the plane. “We get to go through this super old and, I assume, dangerous temple with hopefully a bunch of death traps and stuff, and who would say no to that?!” Dewey shouted, his storytelling keeping Louie distracted as he was thrown into the plane before he had a chance to say no.
“The Phoenix's Gem,” Huey read from his guidebook. “A priceless ruby sought after by many but never found. Legend says that it’s located in a temple near small town a bit from here but no one has ever been able to find it. However!” He grabbed the treasure map, flipping it over to reveal a message on the back in a strange language. “This says that the temple is hidden within thick mists and that today the mists should clear which will reveal the temple and the priceless gem!” He explained to the rest of the people on the plane.
Louie slunk backwards into a seat towards the back of the plane, barely listening to the conversation around him. He leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes as the sound of all the voices started to mix together.
"Louie," Huey's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Louie lifted his head up, looking up at his brother as he stared down at him. "Are you even listening?”
“Hm? Yeah. Yeah, sorry.”
He hesitated. “You're being really quiet. Are you okay?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. He nudged him, smiling. "Come on, priceless gem? Doesn't that get you excited?"
Louie tried to act interested, forcing a smile onto his face. "Of course, a priceless gem sounds great. I'm just a bit tired," He said, glancing at the floor of the plane.
A silence filled the air between the two as Huey didn't look entirely convinced, but before he could say anything back, Dewey started talking to Huey and his attention was immediately turned back to him.
Louie let out a soft sigh of relief, grateful that his older brother’s attention was no longer on him. His smile faltered, and he rested his head back against the wall again, staring out the window as the plane started to take off. He didn’t want to be here, this was practically the last thing he wanted. He wanted to stay at home in his room where he was safe.
He tried to look on the bright side. Maybe the adventure would take his mind off all the thoughts he was having. That’s all he really wanted at this point.