Chapter Text
Gyro was shivering with cold when he came back, and Fenton pulled off the lab coat from his costume and draped it over his shoulders while he filled the inventor in on what had happened. As it turned out Gyro remembered most of it, but there were a handful of gaps in his memory.
It was while Fenton and Lena explained everything to him that the others made it back downstairs, heading down after their shadows had suddenly disappeared. They’d found Boyd stashed in one of the closets along the way, deactivated. It was speculated that the Mad Ducktor had simply not wanted Boyd’s bright vision to cut through the shadows, which was why it’d taken Gloria’s flashlight as well.
Boyd was the first one down, stumbling to the bottom of the steps and walking into the nave.
There came a shout of “Dad!” and Fenton had quickly leaned back to let Boyd run to Gyro, throwing his arms around him in a tight hug.
“Ohhhh Boyd,” Gyro sighed as he squeezed his son in his arms. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Boyd pulled back. “We were so worried! I-I didn’t know if you’d be back o-o-or really what that t-thing was- I’m so glad you’re okay!” He threw his arms around his dad once more.
“I know,” Gyro said, catching Fenton’s concerned eye over Boyd’s shoulder. The little parrot usually only stuttered if he was really worried, scared, or sad, and it must’ve finally all caught up with him now that he’d had a moment to relax. “I’m so, so sorry. I should’ve just told all of you what was going on.”
Lena coughed. “Just like I said…”
There came more joyous reunions as the others arrived downstairs, some with hugs and some with happy remarks that Gyro was okay. Della greeted him with a punch to the shoulder followed closely by a hug so tight that Gyro’s back popped, and she hugged him for so long that it left him gasping for air as she drew back.
Eventually Fenton pulled his boyfriend to his feet, and that’s when he was faced with Gloria, who’d been standing a few feet away, watching the reunions with a happy smile on her beak.
“Oh,” Gyro hesitated. “I… didn’t know you were here.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, and for a moment Fenton was prepared for the worst. “Yes, I helped everyone fight off the shadows your evil echo attacked us with.”
“Ah,” the inventor swallowed. “Thank you.”
She smiled at him. “You’re welcome,” she told him warmly. “And.. after seeing how hard all of these people fought for you, I must admit that perhaps my… first impression of you wasn’t the greatest.”
“O-oh,” It seemed all Gyro was able to say for a moment. “I’ve found that that’s true for most people, Officer Cabrera.”
She held out her hand to shake. “At least call me Gloria.”
He shook it. And he did.
It was on the drive home in the limo- Della had called Launchpad to ask him to pick them up- that they finally got the whole story.
The Mad Ducktor was Gyro’s shadow that the inventor had accidentally pulled from the abyss while doing experiments based on what he’d heard from Scrooge about Magica’s magic. At first the shadow had been alright, clumsily trying to figure out its physical form while also mirroring everything Gyro did for the first few days.
But as time went on, it’d slowly developed a mind of its own, and was extremely defensive. It was after the shadow had yelled at three strangers for accidentally bumping into Gyro on a crowded street, gotten Gyro banned from a coffee shop when they’d gotten the inventor’s order wrong, had openly made death threats at someone who’d insulted Gyro and had growled at a woman for so much as looking at Gyro the wrong way- all on separate occasions- that Gyro had decided he had to get rid of it.
Since then the shadow had stayed, quietly biding its time and always finding ways to remind Gyro it was there. Those ranged from occasionally waving at him and playing tricks on his eyes with shadows to occasionally looming up behind him when it was strong enough and scaring people away. It was when the shadow had tricked several of Gyro’s promising- sentient- inventions into getting angry at the inventor and rampaging that Gyro had gotten his tattoos to better contain the Mad Ducktor there. And it’d worked, for the most part.
He hadn’t heard from it much, and had almost forgotten about it after their trip from Tokyolk. He had much happier things to focus on now, and the shadow had been cast to the back of his mind.
Then there came their trip to Cordelia’s house.
At first it hadn’t occurred to him that it may have been his shadow moving things around and calling them through the old phone, but as time went on, he started to grow more suspicious. Finally, when he’d seen the shadow for himself the night of the seance, he’d been forced to face the fact that the Mad Ducktor was after him once more.
That’s where Lena had come in. The duckling had seen the spirit clearly during their seance, and had seen it for what it truly was. Gyro’s malignant shadow. She’d tried reaching the inventor through dreams, suspecting that he wouldn’t want to talk about it while the others were around, but had been forced to desperate measures when he’d ignored her. He hadn’t wanted to face the consequences of the return of his shadow. That had led to her finally confronting him in the lab, and their secret conversation in the break room.
From there, they’d tried to come up with reasons for Gyro to miss out on Halloween. First they’d tried the option that Gyro was sick, but in the end decided that that wasn’t the most practical way to go, as it might make the others too worried for his health. Besides, he couldn’t keep up the act of being deathly sick around Boyd for three days. Then Gyro had thought of having to visit his sister for an emergency, and that was the plan they’d gone with.
“And all of this is my fault,” Lena said in an exhale as they finished explaining. “If I hadn’t given the Mad Ducktor more power in the first place, then none of this would’ve happened. Gyro…” she looked up at him. “I’m so sorry for ruining your Halloween.”
“What?” Gyro was taken aback. “This is not your fault, I’ve never blamed you for this. You couldn’t have known that it was my evil shadow. Blathering blatherskite, even I didn’t know at the time that it was my evil shadow.” He hesitated until she met his gaze. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
“See, Lena!” Webby exclaimed, throwing her arms around her. “I knew it!”
Lena laughed, and Fenton noticed she seemed much lighter and more at ease than he’d seen her that whole night.
“I’m just glad it's over,” Gyro huffed, leaning back. From his head Lil’ Bulb’s grip tightened so he wouldn't slip off. “I’m finally rid of that thing coming back.”
Fenton hesitated. “So, about that…”
Gyro wasn’t too happy about the idea that Fenton had promised the shadow that they’d help it communicate with all of them, but in the end there wasn’t much they could do about it. Fenton wasn’t going to let himself go back on his promise to the emotionally wounded shadow, so they resolved that at least before next week they’d find a way to interact with the spirit.
They drove back to the Cabrera’s house, all piling in in the living room to watch one last Halloween movie. It was nearly midnight and trick-or-treating was well over, but because Fenton hadn’t handed out candy, there was still plenty left for them to have.
By the end of the movie nearly everyone was asleep, and Gyro was just drifting off. Fenton sat next to him on the couch with Boyd wedged between them, and the duck was the one left to find the remote and switch the TV off.
Gyro stirred as Fenton nestled back down next to him. “Are you awake?” Fenton whispered.
“No,” Gyro replied, shifting closer. From between them Boyd gave a sleepy sigh, but still stayed fast asleep.
Fenton giggled softly, not wanting to wake anyone else up. His M’ma had gone back to her room halfway through the movie, and he looked around the dark living room. “Should I wake everyone up or let them sleep here?” He asked quietly.
“Let us sleep,” Gyro mumbled, leaning against his boyfriend. Fenton giggled again.
“How are you?” The duck asked. He hadn’t had a moment alone with Gyro to ask him about his feelings since they’d gotten him back.
“Tired,” Gyro replied. “...And I…” He said the words slowly, as if trying to convince himself to say them. “I feel bad for not telling anyone about the Mad Ducktor. Much of this could’ve been avoided if I’d told everyone from the start, that was very impractical of me.”
“I understand,” Fenton told him, leaning over to kiss his boyfriend on the forehead. “You’re still opening up to us, I’m not expecting you to be comfortable with everything right away.”
After all, all of this was still very new to the two of them. While they’d eased into their relationship as naturally as a flower blooming in the sun, there were things they still weren’t used to. On Gyro’s part, opening up was one of them.
“Still,” Gyro grumbled. “All of your lives were on the line, and I didn’t even tell you.”
“Well you didn’t know our lives were in danger!” The duck pointed out. “I don’t blame you for that. I don’t think anybody does.”
Gyro let out a deep sigh. “Thank you.”
“Just… next time you have some crazy thing from your past coming after all of us you’ll tell us, right?”
Gyro chuckled. “I’ll be sure to. You’ll be the first one to know.”
“Oh, I feel honored!” Fenton replied, and Gyro was forced to bury his beak in the duck’s shoulder to muffle his laugh, not wanting to wake anyone else.
“You should,” Gyro murmured affectionately, lifting his beak to kiss Fenton’s cheek. “You’re held in the highest regard by the smartest man in the world, how does that make you feel?”
“More honor than I could ever describe,” Fenton told him. “And I’m sure the smartest man in the world is quite humble about his position too.”
“Yes,” Gyro shot back. “Very.”
They both burst into quiet giggles.
The room was quiet as the two nearly drifted back to sleep, before Fenton heard Gyro shifting next to him, muttering something about his back. The duck sat up. “We don’t have to stay on the couch.”
Gyro raised an eyebrow, not opening his eyes. “What are you implying? With so many people here?”
Fenton hesitated, then turned bright red in the darkness. “Oh- well- I was just saying- a bed would be more- oh gosh but not like-”
Gyro laughed, cutting Fenton off. “I’m teasing you,” he admitted. “A bed sounds wonderful.”
Fenton stood, stretching as Gyro slowly pulled away from Boyd, laying the little parrot down against the couch’s arm rest instead. Boyd heaved another sleepy sigh, but otherwise didn’t stir as Gyro bent down to give him a kiss on the forehead.
“He called me dad today,” the inventor murmured, standing. “Several times.”
Fenton put an arm around his boyfriend. “He was worried about you,” He whispered, leaning against him. “He tried to be strong so he could help, but I could see it.”
Gyro let out a breath, resting his head against the top of Fenton’s. “I’m sorry,” he breathed. “I-I should’ve figured out a better way to handle this. I’ve kept secrets that’ve hurt all of you-”
“Hey, hey.” Fenton put a hand on Gyro’s arm, gently pulling the inventor to face him. “I didn’t mean that to make you feel bad, I meant that he really cares about you.” Though it was dark, he could still see the guilt in his boyfriend’s eyes. “We all do. And I know he loves having you as a dad.”
Gyro smiled faintly. “Thank you.” He glanced back over at Boyd. “I love having him as my son too.”
Fenton leaned up to place a small kiss on the side of Gyro’s beak. “I think it’d do him good to hear that.”
Then the duck pulled away, one hand still around Gyro’s wrist, leading him towards Fenton’s bedroom. Gyro shut the door behind him so Fenton could click on the lamp, and just for a moment Fenton was sure Gyro’s shadow projected up onto the wall and ceiling by the lamp didn’t entirely fit him, the hair was a slightly different style and his vest just a tad too long.
Something about the sight made Fenton smile.
“What?” Gyro asked him, glancing back.
“Nothing,” Fenton reached out a hand to draw Gyro over to him, before pulling him back onto the bed. “I love you,” he whispered, kissing the side of Gyro’s beak again. “A lot.”
Gyro nestled down on top of him, and Fenton pulled the blanket up over both of them. “I love you too,” he replied, shifting to get comfortable.
Fenton leaned over to flick the light off, running a hand down Gyro’s back. “Hey, next time you’re fighting shadows, will you tell me? I want to help you, and I don’t think there’s anything about your past that could scare me away.”
Gyro took a deep breath, getting comfortable. “I’ll… try.”
“And we don’t have to talk about it.” Fenton told him softly in the dark room, wrapping both of his arms around him. “You can just tell me, and we can leave it at that until you’re ready.”
Gyro raised his head. “Wait, you would’ve just left it alone if I’d told you I had an evil shadow that’d followed me around for eight years?”
Fenton hesitated. “Are we talking realistically, or how I’d like to answer that?”
Gyro laughed, burying his beak in Fenton’s shoulder. “I do want to tell you about this stuff,” he murmured. “But it’s just hard to reminisce on. And… I’m always afraid of what you’ll think of me.”
Fenton held him tighter. “You know I’ll always love you,” he said softly. “Even if you do accidentally bring back your shadow without telling us and it tries to kill us all.”
The duck could almost feel Gyro rolling his eyes. “Too soon, Fenton.”
“I’m just saying, it can’t get worse than that, can it?”
“Hmmm,” Gyro hummed sleepily, Fenton could tell he was ready to fall back asleep. “I don’t think so.”
Fenton yawned, settling in for the night, still running his hands down Gyro’s back reassuringly.
Usually that action would earn him a few soft clucks and coos every now and then that Fenton found adorable. They were always such a reassuring happy sound, and Fenton had tried- and failed- to record them once.
However tonight was different, as a few moments later Gyro rumbled out a soft sound that was similar to his usual clucks, but in a more continuous drone. It took Fenton a moment to realize that it reminded him very much of purring, and the thought made him grin.
Chickens purred?
The bird curled up sleepily and happily on his chest was proof enough of that to Fenton. It was a calming warm sound, vibrating through Gyro’s chest and against Fenton, making the duck yawn once more, grinning.
Tonight had been an unexpected emotional rollercoaster, and Fenton still could hardly believe half of it had happened, it seemed so random and strange. What with going from fearing Gyro’s shadow to feeling a deep well of pity for it and everything in between, he felt not just physically exhausted, but mentally and emotionally as well.
Part of him wondered if the reason Gyro had been able to improve so much on his mood and well-being since their trip to Tokyolk was his want to leave the shadow behind along with the rest of his past; to prove to it that he could escape the darkness even when it was literally trying to hold onto him.
And maybe the inventor had been trying to prove that to himself as well.
Thinking through everything, Fenton was now unsure if he’d done the right thing in trying to make the Mad Ducktor a part of their lives now, when it was something better left in the past. Either way, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to leave the shadow so bitter and hurting. They could figure this out, and Fenton knew in the end it would work out alright.
But in the meantime he had this, and that was better than anything he could imagine.
“Happy Halloween, Gyro.”
A momentary pause in the purring.
“Happy Halloween.”