It's been a while since I've written fanfiction for this show. I forgot how much I enjoyed the idea of these two as a pair. :) Total fluff warning, slightly out-of-character W/M, rated Teen for implied adult content more than anything.

Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series copyright Disney, used with no intent to sell. Puckworld 'traditions/culture' and Mallory's history copyright me, as neither is mentioned in the show.

Wildwing fumbled with the box in his hand like it was coated with butter before managing to slip it into his pocket.

Saying he was nervous was an understatement.

He glanced at himself in the mirror in his room, smoothing the thick ruffle of feathers on the top of his head out of habit more than anything. He was in his street clothes: blue jeans and a basic t-shirt beneath a windbreaker jacket. Earth's style was a bit simpler than Puckworld's, and he actually enjoyed it.

He had never been very stylish on his home world.

It wasn't his intention to be casual tonight, but the female mallard currently taking a shower in his bathroom hadn't wanted to get dressed up.

One of the many reasons he loved her, in fact.

Granted, Mallory had no problem dressing up and going shopping, but it honestly was a mood thing with her. More often than not he'd see her opt for a brutal kickboxing session in the gym, practicing her puck shots on the ice, or even lounging in sweats in her room and watching a movie.

Okay, well, the sweats and movie thing was probably only something he'd seen.

The shower turned off in the bathroom, so Wildwing double-checked his pants pocket to make sure the box was tucked out of eyeshot.

They'd been together for almost two years, now. The rest of the team had only known about them for a year and half, though.

Sneaking around had not been easy.

Becoming an item in the first place was something of a fluke. Sort of.

Wildwing had liked Mallory from when he first met her: she had a respect for her teammates and to him that went far beyond strict military training. She probably would never admit it, but Wildwing could see that professional relationships were equally personal to Mallory in a lot of ways.

It probably had something to do with her strict upbringing, and the fact that her military dad and brothers were more interested in being professional to each other instead of a family. Either way, when things went awry—like that time the team had thought Duke switched sides—Mallory was affected differently than the rest.

In that particular instance it had been a personal betrayal to Mallory, and again because of her upbringing, the only defense she had was her temper.

And what a temper it was.

But, like all good ducks, Mallory was well too aware of her faults and was capable of apologizing for them.

Another reason he loved her.

When they were just acquaintances they'd constantly come across hobbies, or simple likes, that they shared together. And every once in a while Wildwing would get the courage to ask the redhead out to lunch or go see a movie.

They could easily talk for hours, and one night they talked right through the movie they'd planned to see.

Wildwing never thought he even had a remote chance with Mallory; she was beautiful, and seemed dead set on her and the others' mission to take down Dragaunas.

The idea that she liked him back never even occurred to him.

When they returned to the Pond that night it was late, and they walked through the corridor to their respective bedrooms without interruptions.

Mallory's room came first, and thanks to a few drinks he had the nerve (or stupidity) to bend down and kiss Mallory on the side of the beak.

Nothing romantic; a simple, friendly kiss.

Mallory, however, accidentally turned her head the wrong way at the precise moment, causing the kiss to end up straight beak-to-beak.

Human kissing with their mouths usually consisted of what the ducks thought looked like sucking the brains out of each other. Ducks couldn't and wouldn't do that, anyway.

Kissing beak-to-beak was, in their culture, considered extremely intimate. If a duck took either the lower or upper bill of the other duck in their own beak, it made human French kissing look like a platonic handshake.

Tanya said beaks were far more sensitive than human mouths, so that probably had something to do with it.

Either way, they kissed—broke off out of surprise—and came back for more within seconds.

Remembering that night always brought a smile to Wildwing's face, because after that began six long months of side glances, sneaking out and—eventually—sneaking into each other's bedrooms.

The sound of a blow dryer echoed from behind the bathroom door, which meant Mallory was almost ready. Wildwing tucked his hand in his pocket for the umpteenth time and traced the contours of the small box with his fingers.

Being found out by the others had been under less than ideal circumstances. It was both their own fault for postponing telling the others, seemingly indefinitely, but it was still a bit awkward:

Basically, the paparazzi exposed them.

They had been escaping to go on dates together for months, usually telling the others they were going off to do their own thing and at different times of the day. It wasn't really hard to sneak out, since most of the ducks were pretty different enough to enjoy each of their respective hobbies solo.

But they had never thought about the publicity surrounding them when they did so.

So when a full page spread showed up on a tabloid Nosedive read for humor, it was like being caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

Except, in this case, it was being caught kissing out by Sunset Beach, during a—you guessed it—sunset, and with a picnic visible in the background.

Neither Mallory nor Wildwing could keep themselves from turning bright red as they told the rest of their teammates that they'd been seeing each other for just over six months.

In fact, that had been their anniversary date of sorts.

The door suddenly opened, causing Wildwing to jump slightly. Mallory smirked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Daydreaming?"

Wildwing smiled and walked up to her, his arms snaking around her waist. "Just thinking about you."

Mallory rolled her eyes at that, but smiled nonetheless. "You ready to go, Romeo?"

The white-feathered duck nodded, releasing the redhead and glancing at his watch. "Yeah, our reservation is at six so we better head out soon."

Mallory grabbed a jacket that had been draped over the back of a desk chair, putting it on over her dark green blouse and blue jeans. "Reservations? I thought we were going to do casual tonight?"

"It is, don't worry. But it's better to get seats a bit more private no matter where we go, unless you want to be accosted for autographs."

Mallory smiled, taking Wildwing's outstretched hand as they exited his room. "I knew I loved you for a reason."

"Ha, ha."

Their seats were indeed private, keeping them in what was usually used as a banquet room for parties. Their server, however, seemed to not understand the idea behind where they sat.

"You guys, you won't believe who's here!" she exclaimed excitedly as she exited the room and back into the main area of the restaurant. Wildwing sighed and smiled sheepishly at Mallory.

"Well, the wine's pretty good at least."

"Hmm," Mallory agreed, taking a gulp rather than a sip of the merlot.

However, aside from a few individuals meekly entering the banquet room to ask for a couple of autographs, the rest of the meal went by nicely.

Until dessert.

Their server—Mindy—insisted on giving them dessert on the house. She then proceeded to wheel the dessert cart over and placed various pies, tiramisus, and fruit tarts on the table for the ducks to try. As they politely went to take a bite, Mindy shrieked, startling both of them.

"Oh wait! Stop! You have to pick a dessert wine first!"

"That's not really nec—"

"Here, this one's the best!" Mindy pulled a bottle out from a bucket of ice attached to the cart, wiping the beads of condensation off it with her towel. "Okay guys, I know you've been on this merlot for most of the night, but you must MUST try this amazing dessert wine!" Mindy placed two dessert glasses down and poured the yellowish liquid into each of the glasses.

Wildwing and Mallory both took a sip of the sweet wine reluctantly, since dessert—much less dessert wine—had not been on their plans for the evening.

"That's pretty good, what is it?" Wildwing asked out of politeness.

"Oh, I'm not very good with these foreign names!" Mindy bent over a little to catch the label in the light emanating from the nearby window. "To-ka-ji As—as—zu? Aszú? Whoops!"

Bending over and tipping a wine bottle had not been the brightest act on Mindy's part. Gravity, like gravity usually does, took hold of the liquid inside, and with a quiet pour it splashed down right onto Mallory.

Mallory gasped, unable to form any words or even a vocal expression. Her hands went up to tip the bottle the other way, as Mindy seemed to be frozen in shock and unable to move.

Snapping out of her daze, Mindy quickly turned and put the bottle down. "I'm so sorry, oh my gosh! Oh, and all over the desserts too! Here." Mindy quickly gathered the wine-soaked desserts, albeit too quickly.

When she tried stacking a second plate on her wrist, the plate in her hand holding the fruit tart tipped forward, and the crusty dessert had the help of liquid lubrication to slide right off the plate….

… into Wildwing's lap, upside down, with an insulting plop.

"AGH! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Mindy squealed, turning with her arms full to quickly drop the plates back on the dessert cart.

Unfortunately, with her arms extended as they were, her quick turn didn't take into account how close she was to the table, and to the occupant sitting across from Wildwing.

One of the dessert dishes met Mallory's forehead with a thwap!, causing the redhead's chair to tip backwards and send her tumbling to the ground.

Wildwing stood up quickly upon seeing her fall, sending the fruit tart still in his lap sailing to the floor. In his hurrying he failed to remember this, and his first step went into the slimy mess.

"Whoa!"

The notorious fruit tart caused Wildwing to slip, tipping him forward into the dessert cart. Mindy barely sidestepped out of the way.

The cart wasn't meant to take much weight, and Wildwing's bulky form sent the metal cart plummeting sideways, the remaining desserts, wine, and glasses catapulting over Mallory, their table, and Wildwing, who now was also on the floor.

Mindy had somehow managed to avoid the catastrophe, still holding a couple of the dessert plates that had been on their table. She cringed at the sight before her.

"I'm … going to get some napkins."