Archive of Our Own

  Donald pulled up in the temporary standing space outside the airport, praying that José was still in the habit of being fast enough to avoid more permanent parking costs. He'd done airport runs like this all the time when they were younger, but it had been quite a while since all that. He stopped the engine and unbuckled his seatbelt, looking to Della in the passenger's seat.

  "Ready?" 

  Since the twins roared away from the mansion, Della hadn't been able to wipe the smile from her face. And who could blame her? Oh, it's been so long since we’ve all been together! But as much as Donald could tell that Della was beyond excited, he could see that there was still a level of anxiety underlying her features. When the car pulled over and her brother looked at her to get out, something seemed to stop the duck in her tracks. 

  "Y'think he'd still wanna be my friend? Things change and I..." her voice trailed off as she looked at the floor, aimlessly stretching her metal leg. Her hands found their way to her scarf and each finger looped and twirled around the fabric, a self calming motion he knew. “I mean, how am I supposed to greet him? What happens if we don't bounce off each other like we used to? What if—"

  "He's changed a lot less than you'd think,” Donald reassured with a softer smile, the tension in his sister's face all too familiar, “he's still the same ol' knucklehead. Really, we all are." He looked ahead through the windscreen at nothing, remembering the texts from an hour ago. "In a good way, of course."

  From what the ducks could see, the plane was a smaller affair than your standard 747, and crowds of homecoming vacationers were already pouring out and being greeted joyously by family and friends. It was towards the end of deplaning when the last of the passengers were coming out that the flight attendants began to file out with their minor overnight luggage. One of these, a green parrot in standard airline uniform and carrying only a black umbrella, donned his characteristic boater hat with a whistle and a bounce in his step.

  "Até mais, Zé!" a female Brazilian attendant called cheerily to him as they all parted ways. José flashed her a wink and a casual smile, waving back before turning his eyes to scan the crowd for his ride.

  Donald rolled down the driver's side window and raised his eyebrow as he caught the interaction. "See what I mean?" 

  A heavy sigh escaped from Della. "Okay, right. Yes, gotcha. Everything's fine. Let's go!" The duck cracked a smile and flung herself out the door.

  Donald couldn't help but be excited too, as much as he tried to stifle it and drag himself out of the car. He leaned against the station wagon and cupped his hands to his mouth to call over the crowd. "José! Vamos! I'm stuck in a 15-minute zone, here!" He didn't know how much of that would actually come through over the hubbub, but he figured his voice would catch, at the very least. 

  Zé for his part had been walking slowly out the gate, looking carefully about until he spotted his friends coming towards them. He jumped high, almost high enough to overtake the heads of the crowd and rushed forward, stopping only to throw his arms wide when he was a mere few yards away. "Minha velha amiga! É Pata Della! E Pato Donald, meu querido! Vem, vem pra mim!"

  Donald met him halfway, tackling him in a bear-hug that just about lifted the parrot off the ground. "Good to see you again, amigo!" he cheered before forcing himself to calm down a bit and let the poor man breathe. He didn't realize how much he'd missed his friends before the past few months, but the impact of seeing that familiar and dear face was undeniable. 

  José gave as good as he got, however, actually lifting Donald off the ground and spinning him while speaking in rapidfire Portuguese, as was typical. "Donald, meu querido, meu precioso, tá sempre tão bom te ver." He did not let go too quickly.

  Della was close behind Donald and he could hear her laugh as he’d tackled José. Upon being released, he turned to regard his sister as she absentmindedly started to twist her left leg around while she waited for her turn. "Heya Zé," she said, giving him her biggest, warmest smile, the kind of smile that made her eyes squint and her beak scrunch up at the top.

  José let go of Donald only to grab an armful of his sibling and squawked with delight in even faster Portuguese. "É tão maravilhoso te ver, velha amiga! Que beleza cê é! Que benção tá vivo! Como isso é possível? É um milagre!" Della's head jumped from one place to another, likely moreso due to José's speedy vernacular than being bounced up and down in his embrace. By the end he had both twins in his arms and was practically dancing with them.

  "Missed you Zé." Della squeezed the parrot back as hard as she got before pulling away from the boys to look at José properly. Donald knew, better than anyone, that José was an expert at putting people immediately at their ease, and by the looks of Della, he’d succeeded in doing exactly that. 

  Told you, he hasn’t changed a bit, Donald thought, feeling a warmth spreading through his chest. Feels just like being home.

  "Sooo," she dragged out the vowel until it didn't sound like the word anymore, "how’ve you been?"

  "Não, não, do not ask after me, the humble flight attendant!" Zé exclaimed in response to Della’s question. "Nothing I could do could compare to the famous Duck Twins"

  Something about their conversational tone snapped Donald back to reality. He pushed past both of them as he saw airport security staff rounding the corner. "15 minute zone. Get in the car. Then talk," he urged, hands on both their shoulders to push and hurry them all along.

  José easily allowed himself to be pushed towards Donald's car as he chattered away. "Nossa! We have so much to talk about, my friends! Like, how did you survive the Spear of Selene, Della, and what were you doing during the Moonvasions, Donald, and—oh, so many things! You both must tell me everything—and let's do it over drinks! And food! Pelo amor de Deus, but I am starving, amigos! Nothing but airline food from here to Rio."

  The car was already running by the time the others piled in, Donald taking off before even hearing the click of seatbelts. "Whoa, easy Donnie! I know you gotta be hungry too but—" Della teased.

  "Yeah yeah, sure, I’m famished," Donald rolled his eyes as he sped off..

  "Oh, meu caro amigo, you are too funny,” he could hear Zé chuckling in the backseat behind him. “Now Della, lindeza, you must tell me all! Start from the beginning and don't stop until we toasting over cachaça."

  Della snickered lightly, "Heh heh, oh y'know, nothing spectacular. Just crashed on the moon, learned rocket science, came back to my wonderful family, the usual." She was trying to sound light-hearted and fun while glossing over specific details, the kind of details that she had come to Donald with in the dead of night when sleep alone seemed entirely impossible. No wonder she didn’t want to dwell. "But boy am I hungry! Anything pique your fancy, Zé?"

  "Bem, seu irmão and I have a place we used to go to—a hole in the wall, but great food. But I think this momentous occasion calls for someplace special, né? How about Chez Swann?"

  "Chez Swann?" Donald whipped his head around to face the two in the backseat. "I thought I came clean that I'm not a billionaire."

  "Não, my friend, do not worry your head. I have us, como se diz... ‘covered’, as you Americans say."

  "Maybe you have changed more than you let on," Donald joked as he steered toward the aforementioned restaurant. "Unless you plan on springing another dine-and-dash on me?"

  "Quem, me? Why Donald, you would accuse me before your own sister? Por que?" Zé fluttered his lashes in mock hurt and shock, gloved hand pressed melodramatically to his breast.

  "Don't order dessert, Della. Just in case. He's faster than he looks," Donald shook his head as he noticed José's expression in the rearview mirror, cracking a smile in turn. Honestly, he almost felt like he could do something that reckless and stupid for the first time in a decade. He wouldn't, everyone in town knew him and where to send the bill, but almost.

  "Dessert's the best part, my dear brother. And—oh no." Della paused for dramatic flair and patted down her coat. "I seem to have forgotten my wallet at home. Seems I can't help out for this one."

  José laughed at Della’s antics before pressing on with the questions he was dying to ask. "So, minha amiga, you mentioned something about learning rocket science on the moon?"

  Della scooted to the side of the passenger seat and looked over at José. "The landing could've been better, Zé. But of course nothing could stop Della Duck from rebuilding the Spear of Selene!" She threw up a fist in the air triumphantly. "It took... a bit longer than expected but at least I understand rocket science." Della wiggled a few fingers before catching a glimpse of Donald's worried look at her position on the seat. She readjusted herself so that the seatbelt safely held her in place. "No biggie," she finished.

  "Well," Zé said diplomatically, appearing to sense the slight shift in mood, "if anyone could do it, it would be Della Duck. And all that matters now is that you made it home safely. I am muito feliz to see you return, don’t you agree Donald?"

  Donald nodded vehemently as Della sighed with relief, forgetting that nobody but her could really see him properly from his place in the driver’s seat. "Never thought I'd see the day, but yeah! We're finally both, uhh, home."

  "Perdão? Why do you say "both?"

  Donald froze up. He hadn't told anyone that didn't already know he'd been missing for a whole month, to keep attention off of himself, a fact he only remembered after committing to the sentence. ‘Both??’ You idiot, Donald Duck.

  José tried to catch Donald's face in the rear view reflection, his own beak pressing together as something like worry sliced through the confusion on his features. Then—

  "Oh! But how silly of me! You meant of course being back from fighting the Moonvaders. I saw your face on the news, meu querido, and I am so proud! Nestor, I said to my friend, esse é o cara mais corajoso de muitos mundos. Bravest man on many worlds, is my friend Donald."

  Relief washed over Donald as José redirected the conversation just enough. "Uh, yeah, yeah. I'll tell you about it back home, though, n-not over lunch." He sat up straighter in his seat and tried to move the conversation along. It wasn't often he had a friend around to talk him up like that; he might as well capitalize on it. "We really did give those aliens what-for, huh?"

  He elected to only look over at Della for the rest of the trip, scared that José would recognise guilt in his eyes.