Habits

The Duck Night Returns!

I don't often hang out with Dewey and Launchpad, but when I do it's typically to supervise. And of course, today was no different.

We were in a parking lot of some sofa store, for the opening of said store, watching a Darkwing Duck episode. LP's idol, Jim Starling, and the guy who played Darkwing Duck was opening the store, I guess? I'm not entirely sure how these celebrity signings worked.

Darkwing, on the screen of course, suffered a few very painful explosions before unintentionally tackling the villain. He pulled him up by his collar.

"Now let's see who you really are," He muttered, pulling off the mask to reveal... himself.

"Me?!" He gasped.

"Woah, what a twist!" Jim Starling commented, pausing the tape.

"What?!" Launchpad giddily exclaimed, clapping, "I never saw that coming!"

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Wait, haven't you seen this episode?" Dewey asked.

"75 times," LP answered, "But, never in a parking lot."

Ah. Makes complete sense.

Jim Starling kept talking, before cutting the ribbon to the store.

"Let's get comfortable!" He exclaimed, pausing for photos.

"I'll be signing autographs for one and all," People began walking away, "If one and all want one."

Almost everyone had deserted the parking lot, and Mr. Starling slumped. "Buncha ingrates," He muttered, dragging his large pair of metal scissors on the ground.

I cringed at the sound of the scissors, and tried to block out the noise. Launchpad and Dewey turned to face the growing line.

"You good?" Dewey asked LP.

"Yup. Totally cool. Thanks for being here," LP answered.

I patted LP's arm affectionately in response.

I looked up at Mr. Starling, who was passive aggressively signing someone's poster. Hm. He doesn't look all too excited to be here.

"Okay, keep it together," I heard someone behind us mutter to themselves. I turned to see a duck who was stimming as an attempt to calm themselves down. They wore a purple button up, and a darkwing duck ballcap. They were pretty tall, but the Duck family isn't exactly known for their height, so my judgement is a bit skewed.

"I... am your biggest fan. No, I have modeled my entire life after yours- ... I wanna keep you in a big jar in my closet!" He exclaimed, nervously trying to figure out what to say.

Launchpad laughed, putting a comforting arm on the guys' shoulder. "Calm down, buddy, Jim Starling is just a regular guy," Yeah, maybe a regular jerk, it seems, but I digress, "I've been to plenty of these signings and one day, I'm actually gonna meet him."

I almost shook my head at that. Poor Launchpad and his fainting problem.

"Wait," The guy eyed LP suspiciously, "If you've seen him so many times, how come you've never talked to him?"

"Next!" Mr. Starling called.

Launchpad froze, before fainting on the guy. He didn't seem too phased by Launchpad's weight, surprisingly.

I looked down at the pair, and Dewey walked over to me, to address the duck.

"This is why," He explained, and I laughed at that.

~~~

I helped the guy, who's name I learned was Drake, out from under Launchpad, before hovering over LP.