Legacy - A Ducktales Fanfic.

10. Partnership?

 Louie crossed the street, headphones in, coat on, hood on, and a bag of Chinese food hanging from his arm. He'd just walked to the small restaurant around the corner from his building, and picked up his food, for his meeting with Maria.

He shook off the rain, as he entered into his lobby. Greeting the night Doorman as he passed. He rode the elevator up to his apartment, but when he opened his door, he saw someone he didn't expect to see, standing in his apartment.

"How are so many people getting into my apartment?" - He muttered to himself, as he stepped inside. - "Cyrus. What are you doing here?" - He hesitated. - "And please, help your self."

The middle-aged duck stood in the in his kitchen, pouring himself a glass of the expensive whiskey, from the limited stock Louie kept for guests or when he'd have a really rough day.

"Thanks." - He capped the bottle, placing it back on the counter. - "Heard, your family came around." - Cyrus remarked, ignoring Louie's question, while taking a sip from his glass.

He placed his bag on the coffee table. - "Yeah, I thought you said that it was okay."

"I did say that." - He agreed. - "But I didn't think you would pause heist preparation just to cater to them."

Louie began unpacking his dinner. - "I've left heist prep to my friends, and I had to hang out with them to make sure that they could continue working on it. You know how family is."

Cyrus swirled his drink. - "Not really."

"You not have a family?"

"Not a traditional one." - He admitted. - "The guild's the closest thing to family."

"So no kids, no parents, nothing like that?"

"I'm an orphan, I haven't spoken to the closest thing to a parent in at least a decade. I have a couple of kids, never really had a relationship with them." - He apathetically explained, before finishing the rest of his drink.

"Sounds lonely."

He shrugged. - "My career was always my first priority."

"Well, may I ask again, what are you doing here?"

"You've got a date with a rival."

"It's not a date." - Louie corrected, entering into the kitchenette, and pulling out some cutlery, plates and glasses. - "And, so?"

"You have a date with a rival, who managed to play you, and cause you to lose out on a score." - He continued. - "I can see this whole situation going up in smoke, along with your application to the guild."

"No." - Louie argued, finally finishing set up his dinner. - "This will help with my application. The next time some thief tries to steal a treasure from me. I'll have some back up, to make sure it doesn't happen."

Cyrus smiled. - "I'll be honest kid, I'm not that knowledgeable in the notions of love. But I do know a few things about life... And the one definitive rule of life, is that in the end, you can trust nobody but yourself."

"I've got people in my life, I trust whole-heartedly."

"I've met thieves who believed that as well." - The older-duck added, recalling memories of old friends. - "They were good thieves. Good people. Do you want to know the difference between them and me?"

"They have social lives?"

His smile fell. - "I'm alive."

The two stood, silently staring the other down for a few moments, until there was a knock at his door. - "Louie, it's me!" - Maria called out.

The teen glanced over to the apartment entrance, before turning back to Cyrus, or where Cyrus had been standing, the career thief, having seemingly vanished in the second, Louie had looked away.

"Woah." - He muttered, before shaking his head. He jogged over to his apartment's main entrance, and opening the door. - "Hi."

"Hey." - Maria replied, the two stood staring at each other for a few moments.- "Are you going to invite me in?"

"Uh, yeah- yeah." - He stood to the side of the door, creating enough space for her to enter into his apartment. - "Come on in."

Entering into her apartment, she dropped her umbrella into the stand, before shrugging off her orange coat, revealing an intricate sapphire coloured dress, she was wearing underneath, the pendant still hanging from her neck.

It was a stark contrast to what Louie was wearing, which consisted, of a white tank-top, he  wore while working out, and hadn't bothered to change, as well as a pair of loose grey sweatpants.

Maria smirked, noticing Louie's awe-struck expression. - "Aww, it's so cute to see you all flustered."

"I'm not flustered."

She strode on past him to the living room, where their dinner was set up. - "Keep telling yourself that."

"A bit extravagant, for a take out dinner, don't ya think?"

"At least I like to dress up." - She smiled, looking over her shoulder. - "So are we going to eat or what?"

Thanks to the little bit of banter, the teen quickly regained his confidence. - 'This isn't a date. It's just dinner and a discussion.' - He reminded himself, as he walked to the spacious kitchen. - "Would you like anything to drink?"

"What've you got."

"Louie opened his fridge. - "Water, wine, Pep..."

"I'll have some water." - It made sense, she didn't like Pep, and neither of them were big drinkers. 

"So," - Maria began, scooping rice onto her plate. - "You got a letter too?"

"Yeah," - He replied, taking a bite of his chow-mien.

"Oh."

"Oh?" - He questioned. - "What is that supposed to me? Do you not think I'm not as good as you?"

"No," - She replied, a grin breaking out on her face. - "I know you aren't."

It was his turn to gasp in a faux tone. - "I'll have you know I am a master thief!"

"I can put world-class chef on my business class, doesn't make it true."

Louie thought back to the time when they were still together, and she'd made him casserole, it was a special memory, as it was the first time she'd ever cooked for him, due to them travelling a lot for work, and preferring to dine at restaurants. Or, on the odd occasion they'd have some time off, Louie would cook, trying out different recipes he'd collected during their trips.

However, after they'd tasted the casserole, they'd both decided, that this would be Maria's last venture into the kitchen. The only thing, Louie could compare it to would be a hot-pocket, being both too-hot to eat, as well as severely undercooked in places.

"Yeah, you're definitely not a world-class chef."

After a laugh from Maria, the two fell into a comfortable silence, focusing on eating the meal that was in front of them.

"Do you want to talk about this partnership thing?"

Louie shook his head. - "We can talk about it later, let's just enjoy our dinner."

"Sure." - Maria said, smiling. Neither teenager ever really got the chance to just sit down and enjoy a meal, always hoping from place to place, running from people they'd swindled or stolen for. So both enjoyed their meal and company, knowing it would be a while before they could do something like this.

 Thanks for reading Ch.10 of 'Legacy', I'm sorry for the late upload, I took a little break, I got sort of burnt out. Also, for those who didn't know, I've started a new Ducktales story, 'Spider-Duck', the first two chapters have been posted, and I implore you to check it out. Anyway, I also hope you comment, vote, follow me and read Ch.11 - MM