First off, a note from the author...

So I saw A Matter of Loaf and Death on Christmas Eve, and all of a sudden I found myself interested in Wallace and Gromit again. I also found that I was infatuated with the pairing of Gromit and Fluffles... God help me. :P There is so much potential there for so many fics, it's scary. A pity really, that only one other author on here besides myself has written any GromitxFluffles stories at the time of writing...

Anyways, I get home on the evening of the 25th. Christmas night, tired, full of nice food and drink from the day's festivities, but my mind was just as active as it always is. I got out my Fan Fiction journal, and began writing this story. It took me until 2am New Year's Day to finish writing it up... a total writing period of almost exactly five days, which is incidentally the shortest time I've ever taken to complete a story. Also of note is that this is only the second fanfic I have ever actually completed. Yay for me. (No kidding, nearly all of the other ones I have stashed away are nowhere near finished. :/)

Moving on, I hope you enjoy my first real attempt at a sappy romance story. It's cheesy in places (no pun intended), and the whole thing's a little rushed to me, but it's the best I could do. Please, PLEASE read and review, and let me know what you think. Something terrible would probably happen if I didn't receive feedback. O_O

-Cnfzld

Dusk on West Wallaby

Gromit watched as the sun began to dip below the horizon. Or rather, the skyline. West Wallaby Street didn't have much in the way of dramatic views, and the smog put a slightly dull air on things, but nonetheless it was always nice to watch a sunset on a summer day such as this one.

He was sitting out on the grass in the front yard of number 62, where he and Wallace had spent the better part of their lives. The inventor had, in the past few months, given up on the bakery business they had been operating – in keeping with their past ventures. Wallace, being the indecisive man he was, simply said that he desired a "new challenge". Whatever he was hammering away at in the basement, this typical change of direction was good news for Gromit, as he was able to grab the very ripe chance of some free time. What little of that he had was usually spent combing through the pages of the various 'For Dogs' guides he had stacked up in his bookcase, or minding his master to make sure he didn't have an accident and deal himself a whack on the head.

The dog felt it was high time that he kick back and watch a proper sunset for once, and give himself the time to think about a few things... mainly the most valuable, lasting thing to come out of their bakery experiment.

Her.

He tilted his head to one side and allowed his eyelids to droop as he filled his head with thoughts of his love. Fluffles was her name, but it didn't do her justice. Never had Gromit seen a more beautiful creature – she was always the one with the longest eyelashes, the softest fur... the wettest nose...

Gromit lay down on his stomach and propped his head up on his forepaws, still watching the sunset. He thought about what drew them together – the Baker's Dozen serial killer incident. Piella Bakewell, the killer and Fluffles' former owner, had been cruel and tyrranical to the poodle, going as far as harming her when she foiled the plan to murder Wallace. But when the former Bake-O-Lite girl was killed by a crocodile, Fluffles was crushed. Despite her cruelty and sinister ambitions, Piella was still her master – the one who had brought her up, taken care of her, and provided her with food and water.

It was Fluffles' understandable sorrow that really compelled Gromit to take her in. She needed comforting and reassurance, not to mention the love that Piella never gave. And with Wallace being his cheerful but clueless self, Gromit was realistically the only one who could give her these things.

Though it was known from the start that they harboured a fancy for each other, as the weeks passed, the two had grown closer than they had ever thought they would. One thing led to another, and soon enough, the inevitable happened: they were smitten.

The problem was, neither of them had found the capacity to show or share their romance. It was clear to both Gromit and Fluffles that there was something there, but they had yet to realise the feeling, admit it to each other. Back in the present, Gromit wondered whether the dream would ever materialise... physically embody itself, in all of its glory...

A soft pitter-patter of paws interrupted his train of thought. Though he willed it not to, his canine instincts dictated that he raise an ear slightly to better hear the sound.

He kept on looking straight ahead, the sunset now at the back of his mind. The pawsteps on the soft grass came to a stop to his left, and he sensed that the paws' owner had sat down.

Gromit chanced a slight glance out of the corner of his eye. There she was, sitting next to him, staring out at the sunset with an empty, faraway look in her eyes.

He raised his eyebrows. She seemed sad... maybe fretting over her loss again. Whatever it was, all he wanted to do was reach out, touch her, alleviate the negative feelings... but as usual, he couldn't pluck up the courage to. And it seemed that she couldn't do it either.

Could she?

No sooner had Fluffles begun turning her head in his direction did he snap back to looking straight ahead. Gromit didn't want her to know that he had been looking at her; yet, he could feel her eyes on him, trying to probe his expressions and his thoughts.

Gromit blinked once and shifted his paws on the ground slightly. Though he would not have admitted it, even to himself, fear had taken a hold of him. Fear of what may transpire, fear of what he or she might do... Animals feared the unknown just as much as humans did.

But all of that fear took a back seat when he heard a sound, halfway between a sigh and a whine.

Almost immediately he turned his head in Fluffles' direction, to see her hanging her head, and staring at the ground with regretful, embarrased eyes.

She was ashamed... Gromit didn't want her to feel that way. He sat up, and moved to her side.

She noticed this gesture, briefly looking up at him before bashfully lowering her eyes again.

Gromit attempted looking into them, an expression etched onto his face as if to say sorry.

After a small pause, she glanced up at him again with a shy smile in her eyes.

It's okay.

She looked out at the sunset, then back at Gromit. They made eye contact, and while they could not put their thoughts into words, they didn't need the power to speak – for their expressions said everything.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

Gromit slowly nodded.

Yes... Yes, it is.

Fluffles slowly tilted her head to one side, and blinked.

I love you. You know that, right?

He nodded again.

Yes... I've known that for a long time.

Then, he tenderly placed his paw on hers.

...And you know that I love you, right?

Flattered by his physical affection, she cast her eyes to the ground yet again, and gave a single, slow nod.

Yes... Yes, I do.

There was a momentary pause, before Gromit gave Fluffles' paw a soft squeeze. This brought her eyes back in line with his. They just stared into the opaque orbs that filled each other's eyes sockets, getting lost in their thoughts, hopes and dreams.

Everything – the empty street, the garden, the buildings, even the sunset – melted into a single, blurred mass. There was nothing else – just the two dogs, alone with each other, looking into each other's eyes.

It felt like an age and a half, yet didn't seem long enough, before Gromit found himself slowly moving closer to Fluffles, inch by inch, and she found herself doing the same.

As their faces neared each other, they closed their eyes, anticipating the moment they had been waiting so long for

Their snouts were mere millimetres away from touching. Finally, the dream they had preserved in their minds was coming true...

"...Er, Gromit?"

Both dogs' eyes snapped open at the far-off call. Gromit, surprised and annoyed, shot a sideways glance at the house. It had come from inside...

"Could you get me a spanner, lad?"

He scowled. Wallace.

He turned back to Fluffles to find her in the same dejected mood as before: head bowed, shoulders slumped, eyes close to tears. She gave a quiet whimper, and nodded towards the house.

You'd better go...

Reluctantly at first, Gromit left her side, and started back towards the house with anger smouldering within him.

Wordlessly, he carried out the deed requested of him by his owner, taking a spanner from the toolbox, handing Wallace the spanner and storming out of the basement in a huff. Wallace merely raised an eyebrow at Gromit's frosty behaviour, before shrugging and returning to his project, thinking nothing more of it.

As the dog walked through the house, he was silently fuming.

He had missed so many opportunities because of that bumbling man. Yes, Wallace seemed to have little to no luck himself, but did that mean that he could go ahead and mess it all up for Gromit, who had to get him out of sticky situations more often than not?

The master gets his hide saved by his dog, and helped through the bad patches, too many times to count, and in return ruins possibly the only chance the canine would get at a romantic moment. How very nice.

By this time, Gromit had reached the front hallway. He continued firing off ramblings of frustration in his mind.

Wallace was never one for the ladies. Every one of his romances had ended in tears – Wendolene Ramsbottom was allergic to cheese; Lady Tottington simply drifted away; and the relationship with Piella Bakewell ended badly, for obvious reasons. Gromit wondered whether this was a factor in the awkward situation he was in now. Wallace never knew true love... so how could he know anything about it? Its codes, the customs one needed to follow? He was too engrossed in his life as an inventor, or entrepreneur, to worry about romantic issues like Gromit was now. He didn't know when to respect love's prescence and boundaries, so obsessed was he with his own matters...

Gromit opened the front door and stopped. The feelings of aminosity melted away as he saw the most wonderful sight of his life.

The sunset had overcome the smog blanketing it, and had entered its most glorious stage, the final gasp before it finally sank to give way to night. The entire garden, and their part of the street, was bathed in this amazingly bright, rich light, the shine reflecting off the blades of grass, the plant's, even the gnomes – and the sun's final beams exploded out over the rooftops, giving the sky an eerie glow.

And framed, bang in the middle of it all, was Fluffles.

Gromit stood there, frozen by the scene. Though he was colour-blind, the picture that had been painted for him lost none of its impact.

It was beautiful – she was beautiful. From the very top of the bun of hair on her head down to the tip of her tail, she seemed carved by heavenly beings.

Yet she was sad again... crying. Crying for a chance lost.

Gromit allowed his paw to slide off the doorknob, his arm hanging limply by his side. What all of this could mean had finally hit him.

Was this to be a case of 'like owner, like dog'? Was Gromit like Wallace in that, having his life commandeered by mechanics and inventing, he was fated to have no real romantic future? Was it all pointless? Would he have to let go... leave the one he cared about so much?

Gromit shook himself out of his stupor, and made his conclusion.

No. He would not let himself be that way. Fluffles would be destroyed inside... and they shared too much for their love to collapse. His care and support for her insecurity, and her affection and returned love for his full, rigid, stressed mind. They were like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in a way; each had empty spaces that the other filled, and together they created a beautiful image. They completed each other...

Suddenly, with finality and determination, Gromit started running. Dashing on all fours down the path, through the garden, across the lawn... towards Fluffles.

As he neared her, she sensed his approach. She looked over at him, surprised yet joyous, the last of her tears soaking into her fur, never to be seen again. The moment was near-perfect.

Gromit skidded to a stop, right next to Fluffles, and stared into her eyes as she stared into his. Then, throwing everything else to the wind, they seized the instance in time, pressing their noses together gently and lovingly. Their vision has been realised.

As they breathed deeply, filling their nostrils with each others' scents, Gromit made himself take an oath: one that he would follow diligently for the rest of his days.

He would care for Fluffles. He would let her know that he loved her, day after day, year after year. He would chase after her, he would keep on giving, and he would show her that he meant Forever.

Wallace, more than likely, was doomed to be alone. But come hell or high water, Gromit vowed, he would not let the same thing happen to himself.

-THE END-

[confuzzledAussie] – December 2009/January 2010