Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Old fic is old. Not sure why I haven't posted this until now.

Second Rate

He's not really sure why he leaves Duckburg. It could have had something to do with things slowing down as Scrooge got older, a stubborn sense of adventure that Launchpad wasn't ready to give up just yet. Or maybe it had been something that was a long time coming, a need for change and something new. He couldn't really be sure, as he was still in the process of figuring himself out. He was still young and had his whole life ahead of him, so why not spend that time wisely? After all, if he didn't like wherever he ended up, it wasn't like he couldn't come back to Duckburg.

He doesn't get very far, only to St. Canard, Duckburg's neighboring city. He thought he could have gone farther, but he thinks this has something to do with a yet-to-be-acknowledged homesickness. He toughs it out, though, one of the few things he's actually good at, and finds a place to settle down. He stores the old world bi-plane away and tells himself things are going to be different this time around, calmer and he'll keep his feet on the ground.

But then he comes along, so flamboyant and mesmerizing and he turns Launchpad's whole world upside down. Darkwing Duck is every bit the hero Launchpad always wanted to be but never seemed to be able to capture. He's daring and brave and mysterious, and when the chance comes along, Launchpad doesn't turn the offer down to work along side him.

And suddenly, things are the way they used to be; dangerous and loud and terrifying and wonderful. The quiet life was never for him and he realizes this now, and that's what had been wrong and why he left Duckburg. He revels in piloting the Thunderquack, in helping Darkwing in any way he can, and some deeper part of his brain wonders how he ever lived without this.

This is short-lived, however, and soon he realizes something he somehow overlooked. Darkwing is the hero, and he is the sidekick. He offered, yes, but he had thought this would entail certain heroic rights. This is not the case, and he's almost constantly reminded that he's not the hero of this story.

Years pass, and finally he decides to return to Duckburg. He tells Drake that it's a whim, really, but it's not. It's something that's been building up in him for years, and being the sentimental fool he is he's been too overcome with guilt to bring it up until now. Drake acts aloof, pretends he doesn't notice, but he knows, and so he lets Launchpad take how ever long he needs off.

He hadn't expected anything after he called Scrooge and told him he'd be coming by, but he was more than pleasantly surprised to see a small turnout at the mansion for him. Scrooge and Duckworth and Mrs. Beakly and Webby and Donald and the boys, all there and just for him, and something wells up inside him and he thinks this is what coming home feels like.

The boys are older and he can't help but notice they've grown into their own personalities, not that it ever really mattered. He'd always been able to tell them apart, anyway. They all but tackle him to the front lawn and start bombarding him with question after question, because he works with the Darkwing Duck and that's so incredibly cool.

He gets up from under the boys and smiles and answers their questions and he gets so wrapped up in his stories he almost forgets his loneliness. Almost forgets that this isn't a vacation he's coming home from, that he eventually has to go back to Drake, because it's his job now to be Darkwing's sidekick.

The others don't seem to catch on, but Scrooge does. He notices almost instantly that there's something wrong, that there's a light in his ex-pilot's eyes that just doesn't seem to shine anymore. Had he been anybody else, Scrooge would have assumed the world had just finally caught up with Launchpad, but Launchpad's tougher than that, and it takes more than the weight of the world to bring him down. So as he listens to Launchpad's stories, he starts to understand.

There's a sense of pride in Launchpad's voice, a certain passion to the way he speaks of his job and Darkwing Duck, but there's something missing.

As much as Launchpad enjoys being the sidekick, he really misses being the hero.