My first Ice Age fic, awesome! Anyways, I've really enjoyed the films and so I finally decided to show my appreciation for them. I was inspired to do this story after seeing a website going over Peaches' and Julian's wedding that also included a brief history of how they met.

I own nothing. Ice Age and all its content belong to Blue Sky Productions. I don't own the cover image either.

Enjoy the story!

First time, it was a nervous, sweaty-hooved mammoth who couldn't even make eye contact with her before stuttering. Not enough confidence.

Second were the ones who lived at home with their parents. They didn't bother trying to get on with their lives and still depended on their parents. Too much dependence.

Third, and in her opinion the worse, were the mammoths who asked her if she wanted "two tickets to the trunk show". So much arrogance and vanity, so little commitment to a real relationship. Among others things she'd rather not continue talking about.

She was starting to believe that the spider-run web-site, Tusker, was just an excuse to keep mammoths away from their homes where she made her webs. Not only had it been a bad choice, what with all the bad dates it brought forth, but it was starting to make her lose all interest in dating whatsoever.

Her date tonight was just awful. She fit all the negative criteria above. He lived at home with his mother, he was a sweaty-hooved dork, and yet, somehow, at the same time he was an overly-cocky narcissist. Not to mention incredibly bad-mannered and immature. While he was trying to 'impress her' by making a battle scene with his and meal and tusks, she desperately tried looking away, seeing if she could find anything to distract her from this terrible date.

Antelope eating? No.

Beavers talking? No.

Hyraxes... she didn't know what they were doing? No.

Aardvarks... sucking up their food through their nose? Eww, no. At least mammoths had the dignity to just suck up water through their trunks.

Mammoths...

Her eye caught onto the table next to her. Another date was set up, with both mammoths sitting across from each other. One, the male, was looking rather depressed. Her eyes stared at him, then to where he was looking at.

An overly glamorized mammoth with way too much makeup on was taking selfies, completely ignoring him and instead focusing on looking her best. Her eyes fell back onto the male, taking notice of his suffering. She suddenly realized her cheeks were heating up and she quickly looked at her hooves. She was taking notice of his glistening brown fur and his even darker hair on top, which, in her honest opinion, was pretty hot. He did seem like a decent guy, seeing as how he wasn't acting rude or irritated at his less-then-stellar date.

She watched him sigh and her breath suddenly hitched and she froze as his light blue, gorgeous eyes lazily looked over and landed on her's.

Her own eyes quickly looked over at his date, pretending not to have noticed him. Suddenly, a giggle erupted from her throat. Her eyes snuck back a look at him as he stared strangely at her. Her trunk quickly pointed to his date, and he soon found himself stifling his laughter as well.

Who knew mammoths could be so good at duck faces?

The rest of the date could not go fast enough. When it became late enough she politely excused herself from the obnoxious mammoth and charged out the door, almost crushing a waiter in the process. When she reached the outside world, her lungs inhaled as much of the cool, ice age air as they possibly could. She exhaled and felt some relief wash over her, glad to get away from that date.

Her ears suddenly picked up talking and for some reason she found herself in the bushes, peering out behind some leaves to see where and from who it was coming from.

"That was the worst date ever!" She flinched and saw the couple from earlier. The female looked steamed while the male slowly and sadly walked beside her. "The food wasn't even good, the atmosphere was bland as tree bark, and they didn't even have good service. Ooh, if I ever go to that place again it will be too soon."

She stopped off, passing her, still crouched in the bushes, and leaving the male behind. She waited a few moments until the stomping footsteps had passed before rising up from her hiding spot. He was standing just a few feet away from her, still and look depressed at the ground. Her heart went out to him. Her dates might had been bad, but they had never ended up quite like this.

Taking an ounce of courage and a deep breath, she slowly and quietly made her way out of the bushes and towards him. She cleared her throat once she was close enough, and tried to struck up a conversation with him.

"Wow, and I thought my date was bad. At least mine paid attention to me, even though he was very awkward and cocky about it." He flinched and she almost regretted speaking up. He turned back at her, shocked at first, and, after a moment, gave a small smile and nodded.

"What?! Oh, um, y-yeah. Guess we both got unlucky tonight. Wonder what the chances of two mammoths getting bad dates on the same night are?"

"Probably not common. Of course, your date did some pretty good duck faces back there." Her trunk lifted up, exposing her lips as she pursed them as far out as possible to mimic a duck's bill. He let out a genuine laugh that sounded warm and jovial. she felt her heart flutter in her chest.

"I honestly wasn't paying much attention. However, I think my personal favorite was the cross-eyed one with the tongue sticking out." His eyes looked at the bridge of his nose as he tried to best copy the expression. Now it was her turn to laugh before he broke out of it and joined her.

"Yeah, well, let's hope any future ones don't end up as horrible as the previous ones."

"Agreed all the way to that." His trunk then reached out halfway to hers. "I'm Julian by the way."

"Peaches," she replied, grasping his and giving it a firm shake. "You know, I don't think I've seen you here before. Do you live in the valley or by the forest?"

"Um, both actually. I live right in the edge of the forest, valley, and the mountains. I've got my own home set up there. It's close by my folks so I can still visit and check up on them, but far enough that I can call it all my very own. You?"

"He lives in his own home? Plus one point," she thought to herself. "Oh, I live right in the valley, right beside the forest. I only go to the mountains a few times a year to go hiking, so I guess I just missed seeing you those times."

"Yeah, guess so," he replied. He stared at her for a moment and she could see the kindheartedness within their crystal-blue irises. He blinked anfd broke a gaze before scanning the world around him. "Whoa, heh, it's gotten pretty late. Well, um, since my house is not too far from yours and I take the path that goes by your home, I-I could walk there if you like," he asked, partially stuttering at the end.

"A bit nervous there, but he quickly caught himself. Plus he's confident in his approach. Plus two points." "Sure, I would very much like that."

Though the dates could have gone off much better, she had to admit that the rest of the evening was quite enjoyable. Apparently because he was closer to the mountains, Julian enjoyed other activities such as snow-tumbling, snowboarding and ice hockey, as well as the hikes up them. Still, he enjoyed this walk through the forest because it was a bit warmer and more colorful then what he was used to seeing on a regular basis. The leaves had just begun to turn fiery colors and the last of the fireflies played through the treetops, sometimes brightening up the canopy with an illuminating glow.

All through the walk they were engaged in conversation. They managed to talk about their favorite foods, pastimes, hobbies, interests, colors, heck, they even managed to get into a long discussion on how bad their previous dates had been for them.

"Doesn't try to make everything all about himself. Check. Let's me in on the conversation. Check. Talks about himself, but isn't too arrogant or proud about it. Check. Possible future date? ...Double check."

While the walk was overall wonderful, she was disappointed when they finally reached their destination, her house.

"Welp, here we are. Nice place, you've got a good neighborhood here."

"Y-yeah. It's a real good place to live, she replied as they stepped right outside her cave and stopped. "Thanks for walking me home again." He smiled and nodded.

"You're very welcome, Peaches. I enjoyed our walk and talk," he replied. His pleasant grin sent her heart a flutter again. "Well um, I-I guess I should probably head back home now. Goodnight, Peaches."

He turned around and began to head off back to his own home. She stood there frozen, watching him leave, her mind in turmoil. She thought about all the nice qualities about him and the enjoyment they took in each other's company tonight. He was king, he was sweet, he was polite and helpful. In all her past dates, none of them had treated her as well as he did now. And none of them had been as enjoyable as the time she spent with him. She wanted to spend more time with him, get to know him more. In a split second, she made her decision.

"Hey Julian?"

"Yeah," he asked, coming to a stop and looking back over his shoulder at her. She rubbed her shoulder awkwardly with her trunk as she tried to avert her gaze from his look.

"I-I know we just met and that we just had bad dates tonight, but... but maybe you'd... you'd like to maybe go out on a walk with me again sometime? M-maybe grab a bite to eat too?"

He looked stunned at her and she once again began to worry about speaking up again. She nearly melted in relief when he turned around and sent her a warm smile,

"I-I'd loved to. Does tomorrow morning work for you?" She smiled in return and nodded.

"Around, maybe, nine? By the boulders with the pine trees growing right by it?"

"Perfect. I'll meet you there." He then turned back to go, but not before shooting her one last smile from over his shoulder and waving his trunk to her. "See you then. Goodnight, Peaches."

"Goodnight Julian," she called out, watching him leave for a few more seconds before heading back into her cave.

"Hey sweetheart," her mother called out once she entered the main den. "I saw you calling to that boy outside and set up a date with him. I guess the date went well then, right?"

"Nope. It was terrible," she replied, turning away from her mother's confused face with a wide grin on hers. "Actually, Julian wasn't my date. He was just someone I met while there."

"Oh? And what's your impression of him so far? He seems nice."

"Well, yeah. He is. He's nice and sweet and funny and adventurous." She looked back over her shoulder at her. "I just think it's nice that I've met someone like him that shares some similar hobbies and interests with me and I think it would be really good to get to know him some more."

"Well as long as he treats you right, honey, then he's fine with me and I think it's great that you're getting to know him."

"As long as he doesn't try to do anything you don't feel comfortable with then he's fine with me," her father added.

"I'm sure Julian wouldn't do anything like that, dad," she replied. "He seems, mm, decent and I'm very sure he is."

"Well, get to know him more and be careful."

"I will, dad. Don't worry," she said, coming over to him and giving him a hug with her trunk.

After saying 'goodnight' to both her parents, she headed over to her part of the den, wrapped her tail of a branch in the rock, and hung upside-down to rest. As sleep began to tug at her eyelids, she smiled as she thought of Julian one last time. His warm smile, his funny and engaging personality, and his kind eyes. With that last sweet image in her mind, she tucked her head closer to her chest and fell asleep.

To be honest, I haven't seen the fifth movie yet, though I really want to. I had to guess a bit what Julian is like, but I could already tell from the trailers and short film scenes online that he's a great, enjoyable character. I really hope that I get to see the film soon.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading my story. Please leave a review and feel free to check out some of my other stories. Sincerely, v.t.7