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[the-smartest-mallard]

♥ 25 likes ha.mallard Views from the minivan...  Moving day is actually here! Who knew it would actually happen, eh? It’s been fun Swynlake, but i guess it’s onto the next adventure... Cambridge, I’m coming for you!

[the-smartest-mallard]

[the-smartest-mallard]

A Handprint on My Heart ❤️ [Huei]

princess-mei​:

Mei was surprised by the hug, but not about to complain. She saw it coming a split second before it happened and didn’t object. After all, she needed to get all her Huey cuddles in now. 

Though, as she wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head against his shoulder, she tried to remind herself this wasn’t the end. She wasn’t saying goodbye to someone else. It wasn’t over yet. He was still alive, still breathing. Even if they didn’t see each other as much. Even if they never saw each other again. As long as he was alive and breathing, that would be enough for her. That was all that mattered. How did that quote go?

It was better to have loved and lost, than to never had loved at all.

She had no idea who said that, but it was absolutely true. Even if it sucked when people left. It wasn’t Huey, it would have been her. After all, she was planning on leaving with Lock, just after the New Year. They had been mostly packed and ready to go. She had procrastinated telling anyone and now she was glad. It stayed hers and Lock’s secret. Their dream. 

This was Huey’s dream. And she wouldn’t begrudge him it. She was proud of him. Really. Truly. She wanted him to become some famous archaeologist like Indiana Jones, so she could brag to all of her friends and her family about him!

Mei squeezed him tight and didn’t want to let go. Her voice was wet and wobbly as she spoke. “You don’t have to miss me. We will see each other. Sooner than you think!” 

They would. Because Huey would make sure of it, would go out of his way to do it. He could buy some cheap little run-around car with his student loans, or learn the train timetable off by heart and be home every other weekend. There was phone calls and face time and maybe they could go all old fashioned and write letters, 'cause getting letters was always fun.

Even if Huey did find new people to do things with, new friends to take him clothes shopping, or to go to dances with, Mei would always be the ones he did those things with first. He wasn't going to give her up so easily.  

His voice was a little off when he spoke, warped by the lump that had formed in his throat. He smiled, though, still holding her tight. "I know. I know we will."

He could see the look in her eyes sometimes, when he said he'd come back and see her, or that he'd talk all the time, that told him that she didn't quite believe him. But that was alright; Huey would make her believe it. If there was one thing he could be, it was annoyingly persistant. He would be back before either of them knew it. And besides, he wasn't done with Swynlake just yet, and he doubted it was done with him either.

[the-smartest-mallard]

How to begin an ending || hueing

princess-ting-ting​:

–

“Oh no, I totally understand,” said Ting-Ting. She nibbled away at a cookie. “If there is one great big piece of wisdom I can impart on you it’s that even though these things seem like they’re set in stone and irreversible, the real world is way more forgiving than it might seem. You can change your mind. You can mess up. It’s not like high school where everything is rigid and if you step out of line once, you get detention.”

Not that Ting-Ting ever got detention; in fact, she had never ever gotten in trouble at school, which was not necessarily a good thing, because it spoke more to a fear of authority and stepping out of line with societal expectations than it did about any moral character — but that was something to unpack at another time, and Ting-Ting was trying to save Huey from the same fate. 

“So if you decide you want to switch majors, it may seem like the biggest thing ever, but really, people do it all the time. Heck, I didn’t think I’d even ever end up working in accounting — I majored in what I did to help my dad’s business, but then I got a bit restless in Swynlake.” She made a little face. “I remember being your age and thinking that everyone needed to decide exactly what they wanted out of life by 21. And I know it’s weird to hear, but that’s not the case at all. You have your entire life to mess up and keep trying new things and no one is gonna get upset.” 

Huey had in fact gotten detention, over that whole frog business, but it had been the one and only occasion. And he'd lived his entire life in fear of it happening, too, and he'd lived the rest of secondary school career worried it would happen again. Detention hadn't even been that bad, he'd mostly just done his homework and occasionally stared blankly at the wall ahead, but he had been worried about his permanent record, or something.

Not that it had mattered. Not that Cambridge uni cared; did they even know about it? Probably not, come to think of it. Which made Huey really wonder why he'd spent so much time worried over stuff like that when in the end, it hadn't made any difference either way.

Which only reinforced Ting-Ting's point, didn't it? The real world was not so scary nor so serious. Nothing he did was set in stone. "Yeah," he said slowly, around the entire cookie he had shoved in his mouth, half out of anxiety and half out of simply being a teenage boy, "No, it - it makes sense." It wasn't even that weird, really. Average life expectancy was, what? 80 years? It seemed kinda dumb for him to have to have it all mapped out when he was just a quarter of the way through. "I guess you don't know until you get there anyways, do you?"

That was it, he thought. He was just going to have to wait and see, even if the waiting was sort of painful. "Thanks, Ting-Ting," He added, giving her a small, grateful smile before raising his cup of tea to his lips. He still wasn't exactly sure that any of the decisions he had made up until now were right, but at least he wasn't so worried about it anymore.

[the-smartest-mallard]

A Handprint on My Heart ❤️ [Huei]

princess-mei​:

Mei’s heart skipped a beat when Huey said: I do. It flipped over, clenched, did all sorts of acrobats. It hurt. Because not a lot of people trusted Mei the way that Huey did. It was almost blind, the faith he’d put in her from the very beginning. Mei wasn’t foolish enough to think she had earned it, but she certainly wanted to live up to it. 

And she didn’t want Huey to go. He talked like they were going to speak every day, when Mei knew better. She had gone through this before. When she had moved from San Fran, all her friends had promised they’d talk every day and they would visit and they’d see each other but every day turned into once a week, turned into once a month, turned into liking Instagram posts and sending “Happy New Year” texts. 

Granted Huey and Mei were adults now. They could drive. They’d only be a few hours from each other. Mei could come up on a weekend and spend time with him. He’d probably be home for holidays, as long as Uncle Donald stayed in town. Mei wasn’t aware of him trying to leave. 

Still. They weren’t going to talk every day. Part of Mei wanted to get angry, but she knew better. Being angry at someone you cared about simply wasn’t worth it. 

“Oh yeah, we can just preplan all your outfits for the week. I’ll keep a very strict schedule for you,” she told him with a playful wrinkle of her nose. “You will be fine, though.” She met his eyes over the pile of clothes and her expression was more serious than she meant it to be. “You’re gonna be brilliant.” 

She wrinkled her nose in that way she always did when she was teasing him, and Huey smiled automatically, ducking his head and hiding just a little, the way he always did in response. He would miss that. There were so many things they did that were second nature. Little motions that almost felt like one of Mei's dance routines - when they'd walked through the halls at school and she'd announced her presence by slipping her arm through his, or when they'd meet for lunch and he'd peeled the clementine he'd brought along, offering her half without a second thought. Would he find someone else to do stuff like that with at uni? Did he even want to?

No. He supposed he'd find other routines to get into. Someone to grab a coffee for before lectures started, or someone to share a headphone with on the walk back to halls from the dining hall. New habits with new people, providing he met anyone he liked well enough.

He hoped that she was right. He hoped that it would be fine, that he would be fine.

He looked up at her from the pile of clothes in his arms, his heart feeling like it was too heavy, that it might sink right down to his toes. He didn't want to cry in a boutique in NTO, so instead he shifted the clothes he was carrying to one arm, using the free one to pull Mei into a lopsided hug. "I'm really going to miss you."

[the-smartest-mallard]

A Handprint on My Heart ❤️ [Huei]

princess-mei​:

Mei turned to shoot Huey a glare, seeing that he was already smiling goofily at her. She just rolled her eyes and shook her head at him in put upon annoyance. Really, she found all of this fun. The fact Huey was hopeless at this just meant that she was able to dress him up like a doll, which she enjoyed. It was fun. Though, Mei always had fun with Huey.

Her heart gave another pang as she thought it and she shoved the thought away harshly, trying not to think too hard about it. 

“At least seven, but don’t worry, we’re going to get you things to mix and match.” She piled on another pair of tan chinos, then reached for a black pair, thought about it, and grabbed a maroon pair. 

“There. Now we can just get a bunch of shirts that you can mix and match. A few blazers maybe? Would you be opposed to a bomber jacket, because I really think you could pull it off and they’re so in style. Then you really only need one solid pair of shoes. Maybe two if we want a normal pair and then a fun pair. And then we can do a few cute scarfs. Ohmigosh, I bet you could totally wear an ascot. That’d be so cute. You’ll definitely get plenty of attention,” she winked at him, knowing this wasn’t exactly what he wanted to hear.

“Trust me, I’m a love witch.” This did not, in fact, qualify her as a stylist, but she liked to think that it did. After all, it was all about confidence! 

Huey didn't know if he wanted that much attention, to be honest. Though come to think of it, he'd probably get at least a little anyway, 'cause he was deifnitely going to be that person who sat near the front and always put his hand up to answer questions and always did the msot work in group projects, so he might as well get some positive attention as well, right?

Would all of that be bad attention anyway, though? University was different, he knew that. He was going to be on a course with people like him, people who were nerdy and a little too interested in niche topics and who liked answering questions and taking copious amount of notes. Right?

That was what he kept telling himself. It was less scary that way.

"I do." He said simply, from behind the pile of clothes that were quickly piling up in his arms. It was true, he did trust Mei. He pretty much always had, even when they'd first met at that nearly-empty lunch table and he had, for some reason, admitted to trying to find his father.

"As long as you trust me to mix and match everything," He added. "You can lead a horse to water, and all that. I'll just have to get your approval before I leave the house every morning, I guess. Well. Dorm. But y'know."

[the-smartest-mallard]

How to begin an ending || hueing

princess-ting-ting​:

At this point, Ting-Ting supported Mei’s decision to not go to college and all that. But that didn’t mean she didn’t feel a little sad that she didn’t get to do all of this stuff — this stuff meaning buying dorm decor and helping Mei pick her classes and sitting through whatever slog of orientation they needed the parents for. She smiled fondly, thinking back to her own college days. It had been exciting, but also terrifying, but mostly exciting — the first time she’d been on her own! Sure, she came back home very frequently, but still.

“Oh, that’s so exciting,” said Ting-Ting, setting out the milk and sugar. “I mean, totally nerve-wrecking, of course, but I remember those days… everything feels so new and it’s so intense, but you kinda feel like an actual adult for the first time.”

The water was still heating up, so she took a seat at the table and reached for one of the cookies from the bag. 

The reagents bouncing around Huey were prickly and anxious. Ting-Ting didn’t want to focus too hard on them, to give him some privacy, but also she remembered being a nervous teenager about to move out for the first time.

“It’s scary,” she admitted. “You never really feel like you’re doing it properly, but it’s also that time of your life where you can really start figuring out what that even means.” 

Huey's vigorous nodding was probably a little bit too eager, but... he didn't really have anyone to talk to this stuff about. The university thing. Uncle Donald had never done it, and if Uncle Seamus had done it it would've been like, a century ago, literally, so he probably couldn't even really remember it. And Huey didn't really have anyone else in the way of adult role models, so...

He hadn't wanted to badger Ting-Ting about it though. He knew she'd gone to university 'cause Mei had mentioned it often enough when she'd decided not to do it herself. What Ting had studied Huey didn't excatly know, he only really knew the basics, but still. She had done it. Been there, done that, presumably gotten the t-shirt or hoody or branded cap. Huey didn't want to pester, but he was kind of hoping, maybe, that Ting might be able to convince him that it wasn't going to be so horrible.

(Not that Huey was expecting it to be horrible. He thought it would probably be difficult, but only for a little bit. It was an upheaval, a big change, and once he had settled into it he'd be fine... right?)

Huey felt like he couldn't sit still in his seat. He tried to use the cookie in his hand as something to focus on, nibbling on it whilst Ting-Ting spoke, but it didn't exactly help. "Yeah, it's - it's a lot. I keep having to make decisions and stuff, and half the time I don't even know if I'm choosing what I really want, 'cause how do I even know what I really want. Y'know?" He paused, and reached for another cookie. "That probably sounds stupid."

[the-smartest-mallard]

A Handprint on My Heart ❤️ [Huei]

princess-mei​:

“Oh my gosh, you are so useless.” Mei reached out to pinch his shirt sleeve between her fingers and dragging him toward the trousers. “C’mon. Seriously, what are you gonna do without me?” 

It was a rhetorical question, of course. One that she would say in any other circumstance too. The only difference that Huey was leaving. He would be without her soon. And Mei–well, she knew that Huey was responsible. More responsible than Mei anyway. He would be just fine without her. That was the real answer to that question. 

And that hurt to think about, because Mei had no idea if she was going to be okay without him. Sure, she had other friends: Phineas, Vanessa, Eilonwy, etc. It was just that Huey was…special. IT felt like he’d always been there. Slotting into her life quietly, but with a big presence. Not having him around felt like Mei was losing a limb. She had already lost a limb with Lock. Soon, she was going to have no limbs left to lose. 

It was scary. It felt way too much like growing up and growing up fast. 

There was no way to stop it, either. Just like there was no way to stop growing up. Huey was going to leave and Mei was going to be without him. Or…he was going to be without her (but it really was the other way around, wasn’t it?)

“Here,” Mei said when they reached the trousers. She pulled a pair of nice tan ones off the shelf and handed them to Huey, already knowing his size before they had arrived.

Huey considered making some kind of comment about how he supposed he was just going to have to find another Mei if he wanted to keep his head screwed on right whilst he was away, but he bit away the words before he could say them. The idea of him replacing her wasn't one he wanted to put out there, not only because it would definitely ruin their day, but because it wasn't true to begin with.

Huey didn't want to replcae Mei. He didn't want to, and he didn't plan on doing it either. No matter where he was, whether it was Cambridge or London or America or some far flung corner of the world, Mei would always be his best friend. Huey was many things, but loyal was top of the list. So long as Mei wanted to be his friend, Huey would want to be hers.

Besides, he knew he definitely wasn't going to ever find anyone even remotely like Mei, no matter where or how hard he looked. She was one of a kind, that was for sure.

He took the chinos without argument, not at all surprised that she had the right size, and folded them neatly over his arm on top of the shirt. "Okay, so that's one outfit - I guess they have laundrette's, so that'll do?" He knew what kind of look such a joke would get him, so he was already grinning when she turned to look at him. "Kidding, kidding. But how many outfits does one person need, anyway?"

[the-smartest-mallard]

How to begin an ending || hueing

princess-ting-ting​:

“That would be lovely,” said Ting-Ting, who didn’t actually need help with the tea, but she had been a nervous high school student over at her friends’ houses when they hadn’t yet arrived, once upon a time, so she knew how it went. It was a relief to be kept busy, so you didn’t have the awkwardness of sitting around and waiting and wondering what to say or do next.

Not that Huey was an unwelcome presence. Ting-Ting liked most of Mei’s friends and she liked Huey more than most. He was polite and sweet and frankly, a good influence on Mei. 

“I’ll grab the milk and sugar if you want to grab the tea bags from the pantry,” said Ting, nodding towards the door. “And you can pick any goodies you want from there. Seriously, please eat some before I end up inhaling it all.”

She laughed a little at her very bad joke, then hummed to herself as she opened the fridge.

“Any big plans for the summer?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. 

Huey was very grateful to be kept busy. In general he liked to have something to do, whether it was reading a book or doing sudoku puzzles on his phone or anything, just to keep him occupied. Standing still for too long... he'd never really liked it. He had a bad habit of getting caught up in the runaway train that constituted his thoughts, if he allowed himself to, so grabbing the tea bags and a little box of wafer cookies from the pantry was a relief.

Big plans for the summer. Huey took a deep breath, staring at the contents of the pantry for a little too long. Sometimes, he wondered if he was making the wrong decision. Did he really want to leave? Was he ready to?

Maybe he would never be ready. Maybe he would never find out until he did it. Huey grabbed the box of cookies and turned around again, returning to the counter with his spoils.

"Just getting organised, really." He told Ting, setting the tea bags down. For as polite (and anxious) as he was, he didn't hesitate to open the box of cookies; despite everything, he was still a teenage boy, which was to say a black hole that simply couldn't be filled. "There's a lot more to do than I thought. Mei's taking me clothes shopping soon, though, so that's one thing sorted. And then I just need to get the stuff for my dorm, and I need to set up my student bank account, and then I have to pack up my room here..."

[the-smartest-mallard]

A Handprint on My Heart ❤️ [Huei]

princess-mei​:

It actually made Mei feel a little better that Huey was so quiet. It meant that he was at least a little guilty for leaving her. And maybe Mei shouldn’t want him to be guilty. That was a selfish feeling, but it was also kind of how Mei felt. She wasn’t perfect by any means. Sometimes, she wanted people to feel guilty that they were leaving her. Was that so bad?

She was proud of Huey. Of course she was. This was what he wanted. The whole time she’d known him, she knew this was what he had wanted. Just like Mei wanted to leave Swynlake too. Though, she had wanted to go back to California. She supposed she should be glad that Huey wasn’t going super far away, they could still visit. Going to Tahoe usually took more time than it would to drive up to Cambridge. She didn’t have a car but…maybe she could guilt her dad into buying her one. 

Guilt was a very handy emotion, after all. 

Mei didn’t want Huey to feel guilty. It wasn’t his fault that he was getting to pursue his dreams and had to leave Mei. She was going to leave first, once upon a time…

“Bow ties can be chic!” Mei announced. “Please stay away from tweed, though. I mean…it’s so cliché. You wanna dress like Indiana Jones on an adventure, not a professor or whatever.” Yes, Mei had watched Indiana Jones, thank you. 

“Plus, you’re not actually gonna be like…digging in the dirt are you? I mean–not all the time, anyway.” She wrinkled her nose before pulling out a nice shirt. “What about something like this? It’s linen. That’s archaeologist-ic…you could wear it with some tan chinos.”

Huey did feel guilty, though. And not just about leaving Mei - about leaving everyone.

He was the eldest brother, which didn't really mean anything when you were only older by a couple of minutes, but still. It meant something to him. He was the eldest and that meant he was supposed to take care of everyone... though he hadn't really been doing a good job of that lately, had he? Maybe they would all be alright without him. Maybe he'd thought he was doing everyone some grand service this whole time, looking out for them all, when actually they were just fine whether he was there or not...

Thinking like that made him feel worse, though, so he put a stop to it for now.

His lips twitched into a smile when Mei said he should be aiming for Indiana Jones; he wasn't sure he could really see himself in that kinda role, but it was a nice thought. To be honest, he hadn't really thought about how much time wouild be spent digging around in the dirt - some, he suspected, but he also imagined there was going to be a lot of sitting in big lecture halls and listening to people talk. Which, for the record, was just fine with Huey. As someone who could talk the ear off of just about anyone when discussing something he was passionate about, he didn't mind listening.

He looked down at the shirt Mei handed him, blinking a few times. Huey had never had any sort of specific "style", so he couldn't comment on that, but it was nice. "It's good." He nodded. "But are you expecting me to already have a pair of tan chinos? 'Cause you're about to be disappointed."

[the-smartest-mallard]

Hey I’m Questing Here || Huey & Mim

madmagicmim​:

Now, if you were to ask Mim, she could say confidently that the Mallards were triplets. But after that, info started to get fuzzier. There was Louie, twitter presence, Pip’s ex, and fellow Prom Court winner. There was Huey who did…stuff. And then there was Dean or whoever who was away so she’d literally met him once before he skipped town. 

So considering all of that, it wasn’t hard for her brain to make the leap it did as she shoved the wand back in her inner pocket. 

“Well hell Louie. What do you expect if you’re sneaking around a forest literally everyone says is full of creatures that would attack you as soon as look at you? I’m not exactly Fighty McBeeferson.”

Huey was in no way offended by Mim thinking he was Louie. It happened like, twenty times a day -- sometimes even Uncle Donald got them mixed up with one another, and admittedly they did sometimes actively try to confuse people. Well. Louie did. Huey and Dewey just went along with it, for the most part.

And for a second, Huey did think about just playing along, but he always felt kinda bad about it when he did that. He felt kinda bad for correcting people, too, 'cause they were usually kinda embarassed, but... anyway. He didn't really see any point in trying to act like his brother right now.

"Huey," he corrected. "If it helps, I'm pretty much always wearing this hat." He pointed to his head, and the thread-bare red cap that sat on top of it. It actually kind of fit him, now that he'd cut his hair off. "And I'm not sneaking, I'm just... walking. That's what people usually do on walking trails."

[the-smartest-mallard]

A Handprint on My Heart ❤️ [Huei]

princess-mei​:

@the-smartest-mallard

Huey was leaving soon.

Mei had tried not to think about it, but it was impossible not to. She wanted to be mad at him. Because she needed him, didn’t he know that? She wasn’t ready to let him go. It was scary to think about. After all, Mei had been through this before. When she had moved from California to England, she had left friends behind that she’d known her whole life, like Daisy. And now, Daisy and she chatted every few weeks and liked each other’s Instagram posts, but that was about it. It wasn’t the same. They had drifted apart and now Mei felt like she had changed too much to ever go back to the way they were.

Her friendship with Huey hadn’t lasted half as long so far. It was still so new in comparison and they were so different. Mei worried that Huey would go to Cambridge and meet a bunch of awesome nerds and forget that Mei had ever even existed. She knew that wasn’t in his nature, but she couldn’t help feeling insecure about it anyway.

She wasn’t going to hold him back, though. It was important to her that Huey was able to do the things that he wanted. He was so successful and smart and he was going to do so many amazing things. 

It was bittersweet. It was hard. But, Mei knew what losing people felt like. 

So, she had pushed it down into that place that she locked inside of herself and tried not to think about it. 

Instead, she invited Huey shopping. If he was going to make a good impression on all those stuck up Cambridge people, he needed a new wardrobe. Which meant a trip into NTO for proper shopping.

“You’re going to be the coolest dressed nerd at Cambridge when I’m through with you,” Mei declared as they waltzed into the store. She said it bright and loud, so that it covered up any other emotion. She smiled just as bright and loud as she looked over her shoulder at Huey.

[outfit, minus heels]

At this point, Mei could tell him that they were going down to London to get their eyebrows tweezed out, hair by hair, and Huey would agree. Time was ticking by; the days were passing faster than he could count them, and soon he wouldn't be able to just go over to her house and hang out in her kitchen, or meet up with her after her work at Mistress Alexander's house, or whatever it was they had planned.

In hindsight, Huey could see that before he had met Mei, he'd never really had a proper friend. His brothers had been his friends, and he'd thought that was just fine, and he'd been content with it. And when he had first spoken to Mei, when she had read his palm and he'd admitted to looking for his dad, he hadn't thought that they would be friends. Mei had just seemed way too different, their interests incompatible, but maybe that was what Huey had needed, actually.

Or no, scratch that, because their different interests had never actually mattered. They were friends because Mei had been there for him through that whole father fiasco, and they were still friends now because they had taken it in turns to let the other lean on them, when they needed to.

Huey really didn't know what he was going to do without her.

And he had to keep reminding himself that he wasn't jetting off to the moon. He was only going to Cambridge. It was a few hours away by train, and with any luck, he'd have his own car soon, and then he'd be back even sooner. He could still see her. And they could still talk, big thanks to Alexander Graham Bell and all those guys in Silicon Valley.

It didn't make him feel any better, though. He knew he was being a little quieter than usual (which meant, like, super quiet), but he was trying his best. He didn't want to ruin their day, after all. "That seems like an oxymoron," He pointed out, following along behind her. "I'm gonna be an archaeologist - I think that means I have to start investing in bow ties."

[the-smartest-mallard]

Hey I’m Questing Here || Huey & Mim

madmagicmim​:

@the-smartest-mallard​

Mim was determined to prove that Zira could rely on her and hat Mim was a valuable member of the team. She didn’t know exactly what it was Zira was up to, but she was involved in some kind of huge crazy spell that was going to shake up the town, and that was what Mim cared about. Because this was a crazy spell, it required a lot of weird components. So obviously, Mim had taken it upon herself to try and get some of them. 

The only problem? She had no idea where to find any of it. She figured Enchantra was the best place to look for stuff like Underworld water or cave fire, but she’d never actually been inside. Martin had been pretty strict that it was a bad time and she needed to stay on the paths and blah blah blah. 

(But all things considered, she was maybe more scared of Zira then that warning, so here she was.)

With a map she had printed off online, she had wandered confidently into the forest so she could try to figure out where this stuff might be. She didn’t know how long she had been walking around, when she heard a rustle behind her, and she quickly turned around, pointing her wand in that direct. 

Huey was maybe, kinda, definitely acting like he was never coming back to Swynlake.

Which obviously wasn't true. He'd be back all the time for Christmas and Easter and the summer, and odd weekends here and there when he could get them. It wasn't like he was moving to the moon! He could get the train, or he could drive (he had yet to pass his practical test, but he would do it before he actually went to uni, he was sure of it, and then he'd just have to get a car...).

But still, he wanted to try and do as much as he could, see all the parts of Swynlake that he'd never really thought about before now. So he was out in the forest, determined to walk all the different trails until he'd seen all that could see out in the forest.

He was doing all of this hiking alone, though. Dewey was away and Louie had never really been one for hiking, Mei was pretty busy with her apprenticeship, and... well, Huey didn't really have that many other friends. But that was ok! He liked doing things on his own, and he had a new episode of Invisibilia to listen to, so he was pretty happy, all things considered...

Until he wandered into a small clearing and found someone pointing a wand at him.

Huey threw his hands up immediately, accidentally snagging his headphones as he did so they hung limply in front of him. "Hey! Please don't, um-- do whatever it is you do. Didn't mean to scare you. Was just walking."

[the-smartest-mallard]

How to begin an ending || hueing

princess-ting-ting​:

“Oh, she’s over at Hera’s now, but she should be back soon,” said Ting-Ting. “Well, that’s what she said anyway — come in though, you can wait inside for her. I actually just put the kettle on if you want some tea.”

It was true — she’d been in the kitchen with a kettle when she’d seen Huey walk up the sidewalk through the kitchen window, and then made it a little game to see if she could race to set it on the stovetop before he knocked on the door. She’d won. 

MuHou was in the living room already, reading through a copy of Rolling Stone magazine. She looked up from it briefly to give Huey a toothy smile, before reaching for a peanut from a bowl she balanced on the arm of the couch, and cracking it open between her teeth.

“Please don’t spill all the peanut shells on the floor,” said Ting.

“You worry too much,” said MuHou. “You want a peanut, Huey?”

“I’ll get another bowl for the shells.” Ting rolled her eyes playfully, then darted to the cabinets to grab a bowl. “If you want another snack, we’ve got the usual fare, Huey.” 

Oh. Huey hadn't accounted on that, for some reason. Maybe he thought Mei would take a break from all that, until she felt better, or maybe he had just assumed Mei was out for the summer too. Did sorcerer's apprentices get holidays? He hadn't really given it much thought...

And Huey's immediate, knee-jerk reaction was to apologise profusely for disturbing Ting-Ting's day, and say he would come back later once Mei was home. That was nothing to do with Ting, it was a Huey thing. He absolutely hated being an imposition; whether he actually was one or not was a relevant. He was the one to judge whether or not he was imposing, and usually, he absolutely was.

But Ting-Ting was already inviting him in and making space for him to enter, and it would be more rude to turn her down, he thought. Besides, despite Mei's eldest sister definitely being some kind of authority figure, by Huey's reckoning, he felt pretty much at ease with her. He and Ting had more in common than Huey had ever really considered, and she never had done anything to make him feel unwelcome.

Come to think of it (and Huey was thinking of it, as he stepped into the Qin household, setting his shoes to one side and shutting the door behind himself), Huey was pretty much entirely at ease when he was at Mei's house. He had sort of come to think of it as an extension of his own, and Huey had never thought he'd ever be comfortable enough to just be himself and relax outside of his own home. The thought made his chest pang, just for a second, enough to cause him to pause a little before returning MuHou's smile.

"I'm good, thank you." Even if he was comfortable, he could never say yes to anything offered -- at least, not on the first go. "I can help with the tea, though."

[the-smartest-mallard]

How to begin an ending || hueing

@princess-ting-ting

Huey wished he could be the type of person to just walk into his best friend’s home. He always felt kind of like he was being watched as he stood out on the steps of the Qin home, though by who, he had absolutely no idea. He just couldn’t quite bring himself ot just saunter inside, even if he was probably welcome to, and even if it would make things easier. He wasn’t the type. He liked to obey rules. Rules were there for structure, and Huey definitely liked structure, which was probably why he freaked out about this uni thing if he thought about it for longer than five minutes...

But nope, not thinking about that now: right now, he was thinking about Mei. Because prom had been good up until it wasn’t good anymore, and Huey had been busy shopping for uni supplies and getting his hair all chopped off and every time he texted Mei she seemed like she was fine, but text messages could so easily hide what you were actually thinking, couldn’t they? Huey would know. He was quite good at seeming chill over text. Or at least, he thought he was.

So there he was, on the porch of the Qin house, looking semi-respectable -- helped by his new haircut, hindered by the way he kept fiddling with the frayed pocket of his jeans. He had knocked three times in quick succession, as was his custom, and then he had stood back, looking around. Usually he could hear Mei coming -- she pretty much always skittered down the stairs at top speed to get the door -- but it was kind of quiet. When the door did open and Huey was met with Ting Ting, though, he wasn’t immediately caught off guard. Ting lived there too, after all.

“Oh, hey!” He smiled, stopping with the fidgeting. “Is Mei in? I just came to see her.”

[the-smartest-mallard]

Huey’s outfit for prom!

[the-smartest-mallard]

Say I do || Huei

princess-mei​:

There was a spotlight now and Mei was smiling even wider. Huey sounded a little rough, but it didn’t matter. Mei still had no idea what he was doing, but that didn’t matter either. Because she knew it was for her. He sang it right at her, as soon as she figured it out, changing the words to fit her name–though it was a bit awkward since it was only one syllable instead of two like Donna. Not that she was criticizing!

Even if it was a dare, it was certainly cheering her up. And Mei needed all the help she could get to cheer up these days.

She squinted as he bent down to try and see what he was doing, moving toward the stairs as if she had a mind to go help him with whatever it was. She didn’t have to squint for long though. A sign appeared. A very sparkly sign that was very easy to read.

Mei, say I do…to prom!

Her eyes widened and she wasn’t sure what the squeeze in her heart was. It felt like it had just released and like it was a huge weight. All at once. The feeling kept her frozen for a moment as she stared at Huey. 

Everyone was very quiet too. The whole theatre, suddenly so quiet that all that could be heard was the music, which had been turned down. Supposedly so everyone could hear her say yes. Because Mei was supposed to say yes. Mei wanted to say yes. 

But why was she frozen? 

Someone coughed, the sound echoing. Mei jumped slightly. It had only been two or three seconds, but it had been long enough. 

Taking a breath, Mei smiled again–just as bright as before. “Yes!” she called across the auditorium. A few people cheered. It was mostly half-hearted, people probably annoyed their rehearsal had been interrupted by this girl they didn’t know. Mr. Simba was whooping the loudest.

Mei ran down the seats and up the aisle toward Huey. “I mean, I do!” she called breathlessly before she came to a stop in front of him. She threw her arms around his neck, stepping up onto her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

The few seconds of silence that followed the end of Huey's singing and Mei's answer was potentially the longest few seconds of Huey's entire life.

He tended to put a lot of planning into... well, pretty much everything he did. Leaving the house every morning was planned down to the second like some kind of rocket launch at Cape Canaveral, but he had thought extra long and hard about this one. If this was going to be Huey's last summer in Swynlake (which... it probably wouldn't be, but it felt like it would be, and it was symbolic and stuff so he as treating it as such), then he was going to do things properly. And doing things properly meant prom, and to be honest... Huey really couldn't think of anyone he would rather go to prom with than his best friend.

And Mei deserved a good night. But more than that, she deserved a good... well, everything. Huey didn't really know how to put it into words. It wasn't that he was worried about Mei, he sort of just wanted to make up for lost time. Or give her something to remember him by, even though they'd hopefully still speak all the time...

Huey was just panicking. Which was unnecessary, because before he could fully process that she'd said yes and he could probably put the sign down now, she had already clambered down from the stage and ran over to him. He had enough sense to set it to one side, though, wrapping his arms aoround her and hugging her tightly, lifting her off the floor for just a second. He was definitely blushing and he was definitely going to need to hide from society for like, at least a day to recover, but it had worked!

"Sorry for hijacking your rehearsal," He told her with a grin. "Well, I mean, I'm not that sorry, but y'know."