Chapter Text
If there was one thing Donald hated about himself, it was his almost supernatural bad luck. He can never seem to catch a break.
Oh, did you get a new job? Well, now you don’t have one because the boss doesn’t like how you talk nor the explosion of anger that followed right after. Did you just fix your car last week? Well, apparently the engine’s busted again so now it won’t work. Did the weatherman say it was going to be a sunny day? Well, it started out sunny.
Now it’s raining like no tomorrow, and this just so happened to be the day he forgot to bring his umbrella. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.
So, after he left his car in the hands of his usual mechanic (another busted engine, Donald?), who he suspects is actually purposely not fixing his damn car so Donald has to keep coming back and pay him more than he really needs to, and calling the boys that he’ll be home late and to prepare a hot bath when he does come home, he’s now navigating through the dark and rainy streets of Duckburg back to his houseboat.
Donald cursed every deity he has ever heard of and encountered in his previous life as an adventurer as he dragged his rain-soaked self through the streets and hopes that he doesn’t get lost.
If this was all that happened in Donald’s day, he would’ve taken that nice relaxing bath he wanted back at the houseboat, crash into his bed for a good long nap (not forgetting to give his boys a goodnight kiss, of course), and spend the next day job hunting again .
But the world is rarely kind to Donald, so of course something else had to happen on his way home.
Under the cover of rain, Donald noticed a small figure making its way through the streets and peeking through trash cans. Squinting his eyes, Donald notes that the figure looks like a- a child? What?
Donald decided to see what the child was up to, and approached them. “Hey, kid,” he calls out and the child turned to face him.
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"Another day, another garbage raid,’ Lena grumbled in her mind as she trudges through the barely lit streets of Duckburg. Of course, just her luck, it started to rain so now not only is she hungry she’s also soaking wet.
She’s normally not so deep in these streets. Usually, she just hangs around the amphitheater, see what the Beagle boys were up to, sneakily steal the money that they stole first (so she’s technically not in the wrong there), and buy some food from the convenience store that she often frequents to.
Today is not one of those days. Today is one of the days where she attempted to explore the areas around the McDuck manor to find a way inside so she can find the dime that her aunt Magica has so single-mindedly obsessed about for the last fourteen years, so much so that Lena is able to recite that revenge monologue that her aunt’s been practicing in her sleep (involuntarily, she might add).
Did she actually go through with it? Yes, she did. Did she find anything worth the time she’s spent wandering around like a stalker around the areas of the mansion? Hell no, and now she’s stuck out here looking for food in trash cans because she just spent her last dollar on bubble gum like a total idiot (the gum wasn’t even that good if she was being honest).
Had that been all, Lena would’ve just called it a bad day, scour the trash some more for edible food, head home, crash into her bed, and spend the next day thinking about yesterday’s experience and the valuable lessons she’s learned (no, it’s not sulking, shut up).
But as if the world wanted to shove a fat middle finger right to her face at breakneck speeds, she wasn’t alone in these dark and dreary streets.
“Hey, kid,” a voice calls out, and Lena felt her heart leap into her throat. It was a very quacky-sounding kind of voice, like a chain smoker that just came down with a terrible cough. With her luck, it’s probably some crook wanting to make easy money.
Prepping up a fist, she turns to face her would-be assailant. “Alright, pal, touch me even once and I’ll deck you in the face so hard you’re gonna need an entire set of dentures to even smile.” When she caught sight of the other person under the thin light of street lamps, she was met with a sight of an equally soggy duck wearing what appeared to be a sailor uniform.
“Easy, kid. Not gonna hurt’cha, just wanna know what you’re doing out in this weather scouring through trash cans,” says the grown-up duck who is also out in this god-forsaken weather, so really who’s the suspect here?
Lena, rather than voice her thoughts, simply inched away from the duck. “None of your business,” she hissed.
“And your parents?”
“Down at nowheresville, working for nonyabusiness incorporated.”
The older duck snorted before murmuring something far too soft (and incomprehensible, given his weird voice) for Lena to hear, though she did hear something like “runaway”. Lena continued to inch away.
A hand quickly took hold of her sleeves. “Come on, kid,” the older duck said, tightening his grip when she tried to move away. “You’re coming with me to the police station.”
Oh no. No way, now how. She is not going anywhere near any station, thank you very much. Lena opens her mouth to retaliate, but she was interrupted by a loud clap of thunder.
Then the rain started pouring harder.
“Aw, phooey,” the older duck gasped, though Lena may have heard it wrong considering his quacky voice. “Ok, change of plans. You’re coming with me.” He then started to drag her.
“Woah, woah.” Lena dug her feet to the wet pavement of the streets, to no avail. “I’m not going anywhere with you, pal.”
“Look, my houseboat’s just near here, and I’d rather drag you over there than leave you out for some hoodlum to grab you and hold you for ransom.”
Lena was caught off-guard by the term. Houseboat, she mouthed in silent bewilderment. Her head came up with an image of a full-on house floating precariously above sea water. This momentary distraction was enough for the older duck to drag her with little to no struggles, but oh did she try to get free.
Lena wished she just stayed in bed this morning.
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If there was one good thing that happened today, it was that Donald secured the houseboat extra tightly. It rocked and shook under the stormy weather, but held itself securely.
“That’s where you live?” the younger duck scoffed. “How you haven’t drowned living in that, I don’t know.”
To be honest, Donald often wondered about that too, considering his bad luck. But such things were not only dangerous thoughts, but also stupid thoughts. He’s Donald Duck, he’s never once crashed or sunk a boat in his life (barring a few times he’d rather not get into details on whose fault exactly it was).
“Just be glad it’s not a typhoon, or that’s a real cause for alarm,” Donald replies before opening the door and stepping inside the houseboat with the girl in tow. “Boys!” he calls out, and in response, his three boys came popping in.
“Good evening, Uncle Donald!” Huey greeted.
“We just finished cleaning the houseboat just like you asked and without any babysitter,” Dewey declares, puffing up his chest with such bold confidence
Louie was quick on the draw. “And since you promised to take us to Funso’s Fun Zone if we did all our chores before you get home—”
“Which we did!”
“Which we did.” Louie rolls his eyes before continuing. “We decided to set up your perfectly warm bath as a bonus.”
“Although some of the water may have spilled and it’s not actually quite hot because, you know...” Huey waves his hand in gesture. “Weather, and stuff.”
Donald’s brows furrowed. Right. He did promise that, didn’t he? Before he could reply, the girl behind him snorted.
“Funso’s Fun Zone? You mean that place for babies?”
That reply instantly drew the attention of the triplets as they tilted their heads to catch a look on their new guest. The triplets and the girl stared at each other a good long while, and Donald could almost feel them scrutinize each other.
It was Louie who broke the silence. “So who’s the soggy hot topic reject?”
And there goes the floodgates.
“Woah! Uncle Donald, where’d you find her?! Did you kidnap her? Tell me you kidnapped her! Don’t worry, Uncle Donald, we won’t tell!”
“Dewey! Look, maybe she’s just the daughter of one of Uncle Donald’s friends at work.”
“Friends? I’d have heard about them by now.”
Donald interrupts them. “Boys, this is...” he trails off, realizing that he never got her name. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Up your butt.” The boys gasped at her reply.
Donald inhales deeply. Okay. Alright. A runaway and a smart aleck, huh? Fine. He can handle those; he’s got plenty of practice. “Alright then,” he says before turning back to his boys. “Boys, this is Garbage Diver Mary.” He tries not to take immense satisfaction when he heard her choked gasp. “I found her in a dumpster, and she’ll be staying here until the rain settles down. Be nice, and have fun.” With that, Donald marches to the bathroom.
His boys can handle the dumpster girl while he takes his well-deserved bath.
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“Hey! Get back here!” Lena could only stare at the retreating form of the duck that brought her here. She shifts her attention to the three boys in front of her, who were staring at her intently. They were an oddly color-coded trio; one was red and wears a cap over his head (Lena shall henceforth call him Nerd because that’s what he looks like), one was blue with his hair sticking up unabashedly (this one shall be dubbed Tryhard), and the last one was green with his hands tucked away in the pockets of his hoodie, and coupled with his half-lidded eyes, he gave off a very laid-back feel (he shall be known as Lazy).
Lena can tell that she already doesn’t like any of them.
“So, what’s your story, dumpster girl?” Lazy asks, his brow quirking and his lips curling upwards like he just heard a joke that tickled his fancy.
“Louie!” Nerd chastises Lazy with a glare before fixing her an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. What my brother meant to say was where did Uncle Donald find you.”
“Ooh, let me guess! Are you running from the law?! Did you get in trouble with some gang and got roped up in an unpayable debt and now you have to hide otherwise they’ll lock you in a box and throw you in the ocean?!”
Lena can feel the headache coming in. She opens her mouth, a scathing reply ready to fire, but was interrupted when her stomach let out an audible growl because oh yeah, she hasn’t eaten anything yet.
"Oh, that’s why,” the three of them said at the same time, which creeps Lena out because that can’t be natural.
Nerd walks out which prompts Tryhard to lose interest and walk out as well with Lazy following suite, and Lena was left to awkwardly stand in her spot for a good long while to think about her situation.
God, Lena wished she just stayed in bed this morning. That way, she didn’t have to deal with a kidnapping duck and his three creepy kids. If only she didn’t listen to her stupid aunt and just stuck to messing with the Beagle boys (heck, maybe even join them in one of their heists, at least that’ll be fun), then she wouldn’t be stuck out in the rain in the first place!
“Here.” Nerd’s voice shook Lena out of her thoughts, and she was greeted with the sight of a sandwich. “It’s not a lot, but we’re not really very liquid right now.”
Lena regarded the offered food with a good long stare. She doesn’t accept hand-outs. She’s been living on her own and doing just fine. She—
Her stomach growls for a second time, and Lena barely registers the fact that she yanked the sandwich out of Nerd’s outstretched hands and wolfed it down, savouring the flavour of something that wasn’t junk food, snack bars or cheaply made cold rice meals.
“Wow.” She hears Nerd remark, which makes her feel like punching him straight in the face for that. “Uh, we have some towels for you to dry in, but if you wanna take a bath, you’re gonna have to wait for Uncle Donald to finish.”
Lena doesn’t pay him any attention, focusing more on savouring the sandwich she was eating. God, this was so good.
A few minutes later, “Uncle Donald” (she’ll just call him Sailor) came out of the bathroom, looking very much relieved now that he wasn’t drenched in rainwater. The two of them shared a look, and yet another bout of long stares commenced.
Sailor was the first to break the ice. “You should take a bath.”
Lena will forever deny that her mouth hung open as she processed the statement directed to her. A bath. She never had a bath before (not counting those times where she shoplifted some soap and took a bath by the beach), and this was yet again something she didn’t know how to react to. The thought of an actual proper bath kind of made her giddy (oh god, what is she feeling? stop it right now).
“Uh, thanks, but I’m good.”
(Goddamn it, girl. Not cool, completely messes up our image)
Sailor snorts. “You’re taking a bath, young lady, you smell like you haven’t taken a shower in a month. I’ll drag you into the bathtub myself if I have to.”
“Going! Thanks!” Lena rushes to where she thinks the bathroom is, while also cursing the fact that she just thanked her kidnapper.
It didn’t take her long to find the bathroom, but Lena will never admit that she got a bit lost for a bit.
The bathroom was small, hardly like any way she imagined it would be. But she is inside of a houseboat, and it was already small from what she can see outside, so she really shouldn’t have expected much. Lena stares at the bathtub before her, taking in its rather small appearance, and for reasons that eluded her, felt trepidation bubble within her chest.
Why is she feeling this? It’s just a bathtub, no big deal. She went face to face with the Beagle boys, and even Ma Beagle herself at one point (though both scenarios were hardly anything bad now that she thought about it).
Lena continues to inch closer, treating the bathtub like it was a ticking time bomb, until she’s close enough to lay a hand on its edges. She inspects it, and notes that it was smooth. Yes, it was smooth. And wet. Those are very important characteristics to take note of a bathtub.
A knock on the door caused Lena to yelp in surprise. “Geez! Knock first, damn it!”
A pause...
“Uh, I did?” And now Lena just made a complete idiot out of herself. Great. Just let the floorboards swallow her now and end her embarrassment. “Anyway, Uncle Donald wanted me to give you some hot water for your bath, so uh... You decent?”
Lena considered taking off her clothes and saying yes just to mess with Nerd, but ultimately decides against it lest she gets kicked out before she could experience an actual warm bath. “Yup,” she says, and the door opens with Nerd coming in with a kettle of boiling water.
“Here you go. Make sure to properly balance out the temperature, you don’t want it to be too cold or too hot, just the right amount of—”
“Okay, I get it! Just get out!” Lena shoos Nerd out before promptly shutting the door and locking it.
Finally. She’s alone. Just her, the bathtub, and a kettle of boiling water.
Lena quickly pours in the boiling water into the tub, mixing it in with the cold water before taking off her soggy clothes and shoes, and finally jumps into the bathtub with barely restrained excitement.
Boy, did she immediately regret that.
Lena yelps and flails as boiling hot water soaks her entire body. “Hot hot hot hot hot!” She reaches for the valve and turns it, releasing cold water into the tub and cooling it. She sighs in relief, posture relaxing as she sinks into the tub.
“You okay in there?” Nerd asks from behind the door. “I heard screaming, and that’s likely you not really taking my advice or listening to it for that mat—”
“Go away and leave me alone or I swear I’m going to punch you in the face!”
“Got it! Sorry!” And Nerd quickly scurries away, leaving Lena to her bath.
Lena sighs once more, and reaches for the soap. Oh, she is going to take her time with this. As she scrubs, Lena thinks about how riled up her Aunt Magica would be if she told her about this.
...
On second thought, she might just keep this to herself. No sense in letting the old hag ruin her fun (not that she’s planning on staying or coming back here at all, it was just a thought).
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After finally wrangling the boys to bed (and didn’t that take forever with the arrival of the garbage girl), Donald lounges around in his kitchen and just relaxes. He waits for the girl to show up so the two of them can finally address the elephant in the room.
And as if summoned, the girl appears and is covered up with a red towel. The two of them gave each other a look before the girl clears her throat. “You got any clothes I could borrow or...?”
Donald stands up from his chair. “Wait here,” he says and walks out of the kitchen to grab some clothes for the girl.
A few seconds later, Donald comes back with one of his old sailor uniforms and hands it to the girl. “Sorry it doesn’t fit; I don’t really have anything for teenagers.”
The girl takes it and puts it on. She looked ridiculous wearing a sailor uniform a few sizes too big for her, but he doubts she’ll complain about it straight to his face.
“This is the stupidest thing I have ever worn.” Aaaaand she just proved him wrong.
Donald snorts. “It’s either that or one of the boys’ shirts, and they won’t fit you any well either.” He gestures to one of the chairs. “Have a seat, kid. It’s time you and I actually have a talk about what to do with you.”
Lena did as she was told and sat in one of the chairs.
“Alright, kid, let’s start this nice and simple. What’s your name, and no back talk this time or I’ll put you in time out if I have to.”
Lena scoffs, but the stern look he gave her assures her that he will go through with his threat. “Lena,” she replies.
“Lena...?”
“LeStrange. Lena LeStrange.”
Donald quirked a brow, but didn’t question it. “And your parents?”
“I live with my aunt.” A flash of sourness passed through the girl’s expression, but Donald didn’t comment on it.
Okay. A runaway with family issues perhaps?
“Right, and can you call your aunt to tell her that you’re fine?”
“She doesn’t have a phone. She wouldn’t even know how to work with one.” Lena answered rather sharply. “We live in an apartment, and we travel a lot.”
Donald doubts that, considering he saw her rummaging through trash, but frankly he’s too tired to deal with whatever else this girl has up her sleeves so he lets her excuses convince him for now.
Donald pinches the bridge of his nose. “Alright, Lena, here’s the deal – it’s late at night, I’m tired, and I have a busy day tomorrow. And since I don’t want to send you out in this weather—”
A clap of thunder served to remind them that, yes, it is still raining heavily outside, and it is not calming down any time soon.
“You’re staying here for the night, but first thing in the morning, you’re gonna go back to your aunt. She must be worried sick for you right about now.”
Lena seemed to scoff, but quickly held herself back. This did not escape Donald’s observation. “Uh, yeah. That sounds real good right now, Sailor.”
“Donald. My name is Donald Duck.”
Lena blinks at him. “Duck, huh...? By any chance, are you related to Scrooge—”
“No,” Donald interrupts her with a pointed look. “No relation.”
“Okay...” Lena shuffles awkwardly. “So, where do I sleep?”
“Ever slept in a hammock, Lena?”
Lena’s lips curled upwards just a tiny bit. “I’ve slept on worse.”