Hi,
This is a continuation of my story Birds of a Feather, exploring the evolving relationship between Duke and my OC Roxie. I was going to keep this as part of my other story, but I felt like it should be it's own story. I also didn't want to up the rating of that story.
This is a mature rated story, as that's how I think their relationship would be. A little like Monica and Chandler from Friends, there is even a modified quote from Friends.
The title and chapter titles are from a song by Maroon 5, and as soon as I heard some of the lyrics I felt like they suited this couple.
I also know that the show didn't use the real names of other hockey teams, and most fanfiction writers don't either. So, I've decided to keep with that. I know the team from Chicago are the Blackhawks, one of the few things about hockey I actually know. So I took the hawk part, and changed it for another bird.
please enjoy
TFG
Try to tell you "no" but my body keeps on telling you "yes"
The first time Roxie and Duke slept together was a complete drunken mistake, which neither fully remembered making.
Yet both knew it had happened as there was plenty of evidence to support the night of passion had happened. All night long. And included various different positions in various different locations.
There were the shoes that were haphazardly left in the Rec Room. The dent that was in Mallory's locker. The back door of the Pond that was half of its hinges. The sore muscles that were tired from overuse. The bruises that covered most of Roxie's skin and the bite marks that were luckily hidden by Duke's darker plumage. Plus, there was the security footage from the front entrance to the accommodation wing that Duke deleted off the system before anyone else saw, after making himself a copy.
It took Duke days to get his room back in order as he had to replace various knick-knacks and personal items. It was amazing how much money he had to spend repairing things from a night he couldn't remember. Whereas Roxie had to take several weeks off work so her bruises could heal. She also had to wear high-necked, long sleeved shirts so as not to draw attention to the sheer number of bruises that covered her skin. Which was awful in the Southern Californian climate, but every time she took off her high necked shirts she was given domestic abuse hotline numbers. At least she knew people cared though it did get rather irritating after a while.
There was also the completely humiliating and embarrassing trip to see Dr Butcher, the head of the medical facility. Both Duke and Roxie had to see the doctor as neither remembered using a condom during their escapades, and had no idea what that could mean. They were sure that their DNA wasn't compatible enough to create life, but there was the uncertainty of whether what was normal genital flora would be harmful for the other. And Tanya complete refused to check this out for either of them. Though she did give the good doctor all her medical files on Avian sexual health.
What resulted was both Roxie and Duke going to see the middle-aged, tiny and terrifying, doctor for a pelvic exam. And since Dr Butcher was not an idiot, she was able to piece two and two together fairly quickly and concluded that Roxie and Duke had had a night of unprotected, drunken sex. Luckily, since she was bound by her code of ethics she couldn't say anything to anyone. Not that she wanted to. If two people wanted to be stupid together that was their own business, as long as they were sensible and used protection. And she said this to both of the offending parties once she had concluded that Roxie couldn't get pregnant, and that they hadn't caused any form of venereal disease. She then pushed a multipack of Trojan Magnums at each of them and told them to leave.
Then, after a few days, the blurred memories of that night started to come back. These caused both parties to become rather embarrassed, quiet and super turned on. In one case Duke actually had to excuse himself before training began to go back to his room and relieve himself before he could put on his cup. He did file each of these memories away for use during his private time though. And Roxie didn't have an easy time either, every time Duke would look at her she remembered the way he had looked at her that night. It was enough for her to need a cold shower.
There was also the added bonus of how Duke and Roxie interacted afterwards. As both had no idea how to be around each other nor how to talk to each other. Before the semi-forgotten night, the two would flirt with no real substance behind it, but now they knew what passion they could ignite in the other. They knew what the other looked like while in the throes of ecstasy. And this made conversation hard, especially when you couldn't look at someone without a blurry memory of the several orgasm they caused you. Not to mention the added awkwardness of everyone knowing what you did.
Luckily for both it was kept out of the media. This was a major fear of Roxie's as something like that could jeopardise her scientific career. That was part of the reason she used her stage name more than her real name, to keep the two looks separate. But this meant that Roxie did have to tell Johner about the incident and while her friend was shocked he did make very subtle inquiries around town to find out if anyone knew the story. And no one did.
But, thankfully, everything did return to what was regarded as normality around the Pond, largely due to the mutual respect Duke and Roxie had for each other. Though, it did take a few weeks and a little avoidance of the topic.
-OMN-
The second time they slept together was much a repeat of the first.
The Ducks had an away game in Chicago near the start of the season and Roxie had decided to join them on this trip. Her family was lived in the Chicago area and she hadn't been home to visit them in almost a year, since she had moved in with the Ducks. This meant that she could get free trip home if she tagged along in the aerowing. She could have flown commercially with Johner, Phil and the rest of the support team, but she always enjoyed going in the aerowing for away games. Plus, she didn't think she could stand being on a cramped aircraft with Phil for several hours at a time. The portly manager had been pushing for her alter-ego to give a performance during one of the games, which she kept on refusing as Phil was refusing to pay. She was now starting to understand why Wildwing was always irritated and avoiding their managed. She was also sure that this was the reason all the Ducks took the aerowing to away games instead of flying commercially. Wildwing even arranged tickets for Roxie's whole family to attend the game as a bonus for all her hard work around the Pond.
The trip was fairly uneventful, with most of the Ducks asking a lot of questions about Roxie's family as they hadn't met any of Roxie's siblings or her extended family. And Roxie asked questions about their home life on Puckworld. Normally this would have been a sore subject with the Ducks, as they missed everyone from home quite a lot. Each of them had lost family during the invasion and some of them weren't sure if various friends and family members had even made it through the occupation. They would often stop interviews when they came to this question, but they all knew Roxie wouldn't repeat anything to anyone. Plus, she was joining in with the homesickness as she hadn't seen her family in a long time.
"For Spring Festival my mom, our mom, would host the biggest dinner. I mean everyone would want to come. She was the best cook on the entirety of Mallar! All of our cousins would come, and Canard's family would join in too, it was one of the best parties of the year!" Nosedive exclaimed after explaining some of the differences and similarities in Earth and Puckworld festivals.
"Same, for Christmas the house was so full it was unbearable. That's what happens when you come from a big family, with parents who come from big families. I usually spent most of the time hiding out somewhere, so I didn't have to deal with everyone. Why is it so easy to love our families, yet so hard to like them?" Roxie asked with a sad sigh.
"Didn't really have anything like that, Angel, my father died when I was twelve and my mother when I was seventeen. Didn't really have anyone else except for… I did try to keep holiday stuff though, for a while," Duke said rather morosely, trying not to give too much of his past away. He doubted the others would understand everything he did and everything he went through.
When they arrived at the hotel the manager and coach of the Chicago Eagles were there to meet them. This was a team that the Ducks got on very well with, with each of the players and the support team always enjoyed hosting and being hosted by the Ducks. They were only going to be staying in Chicago for two nights as they couldn't be away from Anaheim for too long in case Dragaunus causes any trouble. The coach of the Eagles knew this as the Saurian Overlord had once tried to destroy Chicago, but was defeated by the Ducks a few years back. So, he had tried to do everything in his power to make their stay memorable, including upgrading their rooms, booking early rink time for them and arranging for a great night out.
The room upgrade was a nice surprise to the team, as usually they doubled up with the twin rooms. But now each duck had their own room and king sized bed in a luxury hotel. Unfortunately, the Eagles management team forgot about the newer members of the support staff, since the Ducks didn't used to have that many people joining them for their away games. This meant that there was not a room for Roxie. As well as Johner needing to share with Phil.
"Don't worry about it, I can either crash at home or on the couch in Nosedive's room," Roxie said to Wildwing as he was trying to sort out an extra room in the solidly booked hotel. The white drake conceded to the plan after a while and the Ducks went to settle into their new rooms before having a quick dinner. After dinner they had booked to go on the ice while Roxie went home to visit her parents.
After the very satisfying practice was over Roxie stormed into the locker room and told Wildwing that she didn't need the tickets anymore. She then asked if she could sleep on the couch in Nosedive's room as she refused to spend the night at home.
"What happened, Roxer-roo?" Nosedive asked as he changed out of his practice gear. Each of the Ducks were changing and stowing their gear ready for early morning practice tomorrow. Their equipment manager had already been by the arena earlier to organise their extra gear and get the locker room ready for the Avian team
"My evil twin sister Jessica happened. She got tickets for my family to go to the theatre tomorrow night instead, knowing that I got the tickets for the game as a surprise for my family. And when I said that I couldn't go I got such a hard time from my parents. Saying that I'm really inconsiderate. I can't believe she would do this! I swear we haven't had a nice thing to say to each other since we shared a womb! And then my older sister and oldest brother chimed in, and it all basically turned into a 'let's bash the freak' competition," Roxie complained loudly, sitting down next to Duke, who was taking off his skates. The older drake then put his arms around the girl and comforted her until Nosedive had finished changing into his pants. Once the younger drake had sat down he handed off the girl to her best friend for a hug.
Despite the looks that were being shot his way by the female members of his team, and the curious stares of males, Duke really didn't have any problem handing Roxie to Nosedive. Yes, he was still feeling rather guilty about what he did to the younger drake, but they had mostly worked past it over the last few weeks. Besides, what right did he have over a one-night stand compared to her best friend.
-OMN-
The next night saw the Ducks winning four to three in a nail-biting game, with both teams battling ferociously over possession of the puck. There were a few instances where Wildwing looked like he was going to let in another point, but he always just kept them one point ahead.
Once all the interviews were over and done with, and both teams had changed out of their respective uniforms the two sides met in the home player's lounge. The plan was for the teams to have a friendly meal before heading out to some of the better bars and clubs in Chicago. So far most of the major support staff of both teams were enjoying what was on offer while discussing the differences between their teams. The catering team for the Chicago side had put together a huge spread of all their player's favourite foods, minus anything that included eggs or poultry. The Ducks had insisted many times that they don't actually come from eggs and it was the mammals on their planet that produced eggs instead, yet the idea that they had hatched still prevailed.
There was a rather high number of vegetarian dishes on offer as well as seafood while normally there would be a lot more beef and pork. When other teams ate with ducks they did tend to go vegetarian as they didn't know what other humanoid species the ducks had encountered and they never wanted to offend the ducks. Since she had been living in the Pond, Roxie had almost completely stopped eating meat, same with Johner and a lot of the support staff. The only one who seemed determined to only adjust their diet as minimally as possible was Phil, who only dropped all the poultry from his diet.
There was also a large bar with several different hard liquors set up. This was where they found Roxie deep in conversation with Johner. And drinking quite heavily while looking slightly miserable.
Since she had moved in with the Ducks seven months ago the rainbow-haired girl had attended every home game she could, and quite a few of the away games. She still claimed that hockey wasn't really for her but that never stopped her from cheering from right next to, or sometimes in, the player's box. She had even begun to learn to play as a sort of exchange between herself and Nosedive. He was learning to dance, and both were doing rather poorly at the exchange. The Ducks did love looking over and seeing their friend sitting in the stands, wearing one of their jerseys and cheering herself hoarse. But that night she had been rather quiet, still cheering while wearing the number fifteen jersey, but not with as much gusto as she usually did.
She had somehow managed to find somewhere to change, and was no longer wearing the jersey donated by Mallory. She was wearing a long black leather skirt with a loose, low cut burgundy silk blouse and knee high boots. Her hair was swept back and her make-up was once again quite dramatic. And, although she had more flesh covered, she still looked like sex on legs. And the men on the Chicago team were fully appreciating the newest member of the Mighty Ducks entourage. Not that Roxie seemed to notice, she was having such an in-depth conversation with Johner and drinking deeply from her glass.
"Yo, Wildwing! Who is that babe by the bar and what is her story?" Asked one of the centres as Nosedive made his way towards his friend. The two twenty-year olds had stayed up quite late, airing their various grievances about their families. And it looked like Roxie was still feeling rather hurt by hers.
"That's a friend of ours, she's been maintaining a lot of our equipment," Wildwing said, feeling a little uncomfortable by the way most of the offensive line were looking at their friend. And once the players figured out that Roxie was a burlesque performer as well they were all over her. Not that Roxie noticed, she looked like she would have rather been anywhere else but in the sumptuous player's lounge trying to avoid making small talk with professional athletes. Her friends were doing their best to cheer the young woman up, but it didn't help that she had seen two of her brothers in the stands that night. It just reminded her of how out of place she was within her own family.
After a few hours a lot of the people in the lounge headed home or back to their hotels, but most of the players were determined to show the Ducks a good night out. They had organised several cars and been put on the VIP lists of several of the most exclusive clubs in the city. And the Eagles refused to take no for an answer, and absolutely insisted that Roxie and Johner join them on their outing.
If she was being honest with herself Roxie really didn't feel like going out anywhere. She just wanted to get out of Chicago and back to the lab in Anaheim. But Johner and Nosedive had managed to convince her that dancing her troubles away might help to lift her spirits. Duke and Mallory had also promised to help her beat the tar out of the training dummies in the underground gym once they got back if she came out that night.
As the night wore on, and all the members of the party got a little drunker and a little more explicit, Roxie found herself saying no to hockey player after hockey player from the Chicago team. The last one was one of the left-wingers. He was cute, but she really wasn't interested in any of them. All she wanted to do was wallow in self-pity and drink her way through the bottle of whiskey that she had been sharing with Duke and Mallory.
She hadn't been on the dance floor much, preferring to just hang out at the bar and away from all the attention she would normally get. That had been something her sister had brought up, that she always seemed to go out of her way to get male attention. From her seat she could see each of the Ducks having a good time, and Johner deep in conversation with one of the defencemen of the Chicago side. As he had been since they got to the club.
"Not your night tonight huh, Angel?" crooned Duke's voice as he sat down behind Roxie at the bar. She hadn't even noticed the older drake making his way over.
"You could say that," Roxie said, taking a deep drink from her glass while Duke ordered two more.
"Want to talk about it?" Duke asked handing his companion her fresh drink.
"It's just, I know they don't understand me, and I know deep down they love me, but a lot of the time I'm sure they don't like me. They're my family and not one of them can ever say or do anything nice to me. And Jess is the worst. She's my mom's favourite cause she's going to Julliard to be a dancer and that brother who came tonight but didn't want to go with me, that's my dad's favourite. I mean, I don't understand what more I can do. It's not my fault I'm me, and I'm tired of having to make excuses for it, or just not expressing myself. The only one who ever comes to my defence is my dad, and even then he does it in such a way as to still make me feel bad about myself," Roxie said as she stared into her whiskey, as if the answers were written on the ice cubes.
"I don't know either, Angel. But if they can't see what a wonderful, vivacious, witty, intelligent, kind and considerate person you are, then they aren't worth your time, even if they are your family. And that sister of yours sounds like a grade A bitch, if you don't mind me saying. I guess that would make you the nice one then, huh?" Duke said with a smile while he brought the girl closer to his body in a friendly hug.
"Besides kid, if you really wanted to make yourself feel better I've been asked what your deal is by half the offensive line, while Wildwing got asked by half the defensive. Any one of those guys would be more than willing to make you feel better tonight. I bet your sister can't claim the same honour," Duke said causing Roxie to laugh loudly and bury her face into his shoulder.
It was almost as if they had returned to their status quo, mild flirting with a lot of camaraderie. It was a nice moment that was ruined by a photographer's flash. Both the human and duck dropped their arms and glared at the offending photographer. Everywhere they went they seemed to be photographed. After almost four years the six Avians hoped that their adopted planet would have just gotten used to them by now. But it seemed they were still a matter of morbid fascination. And if Roxie or another one of their female human friends were with them, they knew that a photo would be in the tabloids the next day.
"Wanna go somewhere more private, Angel? Somewhere where creeps like that can't see and misconstrue?" Duke said both gesturing at the man who had yet to put his camera away and the curtained, circular booths that made up the VIP section.
Roxie agreed to the course of action and allowed Duke to flag down one of the hostesses to get one of the booths. The woman showed Roxie to the booth and closed the curtain, while Duke disappeared into the crowd. He showed up a few minutes later with both a roll of film and a leather wallet.
"Well, Angel, this is the from our photographer friend. Looks like the next round is on him," Duke said with a smile holding up the roll of film. He pulled at the loose film, ruining it and all photos that was on the roll. The drake then buzzed the bar through the intercom and asked for a round of shots. When Roxie asked how he got it, Duke explained the basics of pick-pocketing. Not that he had many opportunities to practice now that he had gone straight. But it was always fun to bring that trick out every now and again.
The two fell into easy conversation while they waited for their drinks to arrive. It was nice, being able to talk to each other again. Over the last few weeks they had been avoiding being alone, as Roxie really didn't want to talk about their night together. And Duke just felt guilty and turned on every time he looked at her. But now, with the social lubricating effect of alcohol helping the situation, the two found themselves talking to each other as they had done before.
It didn't take long for their shots to arrive, on a very long tray. There were many different, multi-coloured shots, each with a specific way to drink them. It seemed to be a speciality of the club and Duke had watched some of the younger players from Chicago work their way through it earlier. When Roxie had explained how to drink the blow-job, Duke couldn't help his loud guffaw before demanding a demonstration. Which she did, and then challenged to older drake to figure out how to shot the drink without his hands and with his beak.
There were many moments of hilarity while Duke tried to shot the sweet, cream-covered shot with Roxie looking on. After a while he figured he would either have to shot it off of something or would have to throw it back with his hand. Unfortunately, Roxie didn't like that idea as it would break the rules of the blow-job shot. The rainbow-haired girl looked around the booth for a moment before coming to the drunken conclusion that the only thing to do would be to balance it on her thigh so allow Duke to shot the drink.
Duke couldn't help the smile on his beak as he regarded the shot in front of him. He wasn't drunk enough to lose control over his actions, but he was drunk enough to think that shooting something from Roxie's thigh was the best idea that he could think of.
While the two had been drinking in the private booth, away from the eyes of the paparazzi and fellow hockey players, they had moved closer. Both so they could hear each other over the noise of the club and the alcohol in their veins had refuelled something. They were sitting flush up against each other, with Duke's arm around her shoulder and Roxie's hand on his thigh.
With a longing look towards the slightly giggling girl, Duke slowly lowered his head and ran his hand up her thigh. He took the shot easily, throwing his head back before slamming the shot glass down on the table and locking eyes with the still giggling girl who had suddenly burst into hysterics at his look of pride.
"Well, Angel, it's your turn now," Duke said smoothly as he lowered another shot glass onto his thigh, levelling a challenging gaze at his drinking companion.
Roxie, of course, accepted the mission as she had never backed down from a drinking contest. And certainly never backed down from a challenge like Duke was proposing. She even moved the shot glass further up his thigh with a sly smile before she bent down and threw back the shot.
"This could end badly, Angel," Duke warned as he buzzed for another round of shots.
"Aw, you scared, Sweetheart?" Roxie said, taking a salt shaker and a wedge of lemon.
"Of you, Angel, never," Duke replied as he turned his body and regarded the trail of salt that now covered Roxie's bare shoulder.
-OMN-
This time around they were more careful. They had not consumed nearly as much alcohol as the time before, so didn't start feeling each other up publicly in the middle of the dance floor. This time they started feeling each other up in the privacy of the secluded booth. Their shot contest had descended into an excuse to fondle each other while drinking.
They both managed to get out of the club without anyone seeing them, and managed to get a taxi back to the hotel. During the taxi ride they both managed to keep their hands to themselves, same with the elevator ride up to their floor and down the corridor.
As soon as they had entered Duke's luxury room and locked the door the drake had slammed Roxie against the door, causing both to groan out in frustration. He tried to hike her leg up to hook it around his hip, but her tight leather skirt didn't allow. However, this didn't cause a problem to the lustful drake as he merely ripped the skirt apart by the slit.
"I'll replace that," Duke murmured into her collarbone, causing a delightful trilling from his companion.
He lifted Roxie up, so that both legs had wrapped around his hips while he nipped at her skin. This allowed him to carry his companion to the king sized bed and to feel up her silky smooth legs. Once he had deposited her on the bed he stepped back to take in the sight of the rainbow-haired vixen submitting to his mercy once again. The silk, capped sleeve blouse was open, exposing a deep plunging bra and ample breasts. Duke was so entranced by the girl kneeling on his bed that he didn't notice her gripping his shirt until she gave an almighty tug. Ripping open the designer shirt and sending the buttons soaring through the room.
"I'll replace that," Roxie said, imitating his words from earlier with the straightest face she could pull.
"Oh, you're gonna pay for that," Duke said huskily as he shrugged off what remained of his shirt without breaking eye contact with the vivacious girl on his bed.
Without warning he tackled the girl, hard, into the bed, pulling her legs out from underneath her. He rolled them both so that Roxie was now sitting on top of him, straddling his waist. In this position she was able to yank off her blouse and bra so that all that remained was her black lacy thong. Which Duke appreciated greatly as he started to fondle all the flesh that was on offer to him. But he needed more, he needed to feel this girl underneath again, and hear her call his name as the half memories and blurs had been driving him slightly mad for weeks.
He decided he would take it slower than last time, they could go harder and faster later as they had all the time in the world. He hooked his fingers under the waistband of her thong as he rolled them again, so that she was now underneath him. By the time he had changed the position he had slipped off her underwear while she had started to push down his pants. Allowing his very excited, and very erect member to spring forth. As he pushed his pants the rest of the way down his legs, Roxie very carefully removed his eye-patch once again and placed it on the bedside table.
This caused Duke to chuckle in appreciation. Even on Puckworld he had kept the prosthesis in place whenever he was having a night of passion. Many ducks were often freaked out by the dead looking eye and painful looking scars. Yet it seemed Roxie was very focused on having both of his eyes on her. Another reason why he had hoped to have a repeat performance.
When they were both, at last, fully naked they let their hands explore everywhere. Fully intent on enjoying everything that was on offer. This time was Duke was less frantic. He wanted to take his time to explore every nook and cranny of the exposed skin before him. After all, he had to make up the fact that he couldn't kiss the girl the way he would have wanted to, leaving her breathless and begging for more.
There was something extremely sensual about the completely bare skin on offer to him. With the rainbow coloured hair before the only hair on her body. Her legs and torso were so smooth it was like caressing silk, and the noises that she made were like music. On ducks their plumage covered almost their entire body, but during arousal the feathers had a habit of fluffing up slightly and causing the skin underneath to become flushed and super sensitive. Same with their beaks. You could always make out the nipples, belly-buttons and vagina from underneath the feathers, even the thicker ones that covered the genitals. But Roxie had no body hair to speak off, so he could see just how aroused she was. And Duke had to admit that he was very appreciative of the change.
"So, Duke, wanna try an actual blow-job?" Roxie said thickly as she writhed under Duke's expert touch. The way those fingers made her feel was almost euphoric and she wanted to return the favour.
"A what?" Duke mumbled into breasts, not really paying attention to anything but the body that was now pushing him off.
Now, being the gentledrake that he was, he immediately moved off the girl assuming that she had had second thoughts about what they were about to do. Duke of course felt extremely disappointed about the turn in events, as he was so turned on it was taking all his self-control not to just pin Roxie down and start thrusting. But, if she wanted to stop he would respect her decision and then take an extremely cold shower. He watched her as she sat up and moved to between his legs, entirely confusing the sex addled brain of the drake. Until he saw she slowly started to kiss and lick her way down his very sensitive feathered torso to his very aroused groin.
What he experienced next was something that no duck could do and caused him to proclaim all sorts of things in fifteen different languages. All thoughts of team mates and friends had once again left their mind as they descended again into a haze of lust.
-OMN-
The incessant ringing of the phone was what woke Roxie up the next morning. But it was shift in the bed that reminded her where she had once again found herself. Her eyes shot open to watch the grey, feathered hand reach out and take the offending object off its base unit.
"Hello?" Duke said groggily as he held the phone to his ear and let his other hand rest above Roxie's head.
"Good morning Mr. L'Orange, this is your wake-up call," came the obnoxiously loud and cheerful voice from the other end of the line.
"Thanks," Duke said before he put the phone back on its cradle. He then put his free hand gently on Roxie's duvet covered hip and pulled himself closer to the naked human girl who was still pretending to sleep.
"I know you're not sleeping, Kid. Ya flinched when I started talking and when I put my hand on your hip," Duke said evenly as he continued to lightly stroke the girl's hip.
"Do you think anyone saw us this time?" Roxie asked, giving up all pretences of sleep.
"Nah, we were careful this time 'round. Besides, nobody saw us last time until we tried to escape," Duke said, bringing his beak closer to the bare shoulder that only help a few hickey-like bruises. It seemed he had been gentler this time around, but he couldn't fully tell until he saw her fully naked again.
It also seemed that the two were not as drunk as last time they had succumbed to their primal urges. As Duke remembered everything about last night, including one very interesting sexual act for which the shots they had taken had been named after. The memory of that had Duke instantly becoming aroused again. He hoped that the girl might be up for a little morning fun, but it appeared that she was in just as much of a rush to leave as she was the last time.
"Oh god, I was sharing a room with Dive last night, what's he going to do?" Roxie said burying her head into the extremely soft pillows.
"Don't worry, Angel. No one saw us last night, so how bout you go shower, change and wait here. When everyone's down at breakfast I'll call up to the room so you'll know it's safe to leave. You can just tell Dive that you hooked up last night, which you did, you just have to be vague 'bout who," Duke explained with his trademark smirk back in place.
It was a good idea, Roxie admitted, since everyone was so distracted by the Chicago side last night. She was sure that she had seen Johner talking almost exclusively to one of the team's defencemen, while Nosedive had been dancing with all the girls on the ice teams. The other ducks were all having a pretty good time with everyone else. Duke and Roxie had pretty much stayed in the private booth once they had started talking, as it was quieter and they were unlikely to be disturbed or photographed. Then, once they started to get a little friskier, they had left to make sure that no one came in and spotted them. They had even kept their hands to themselves for most of the journey back up to Duke's room, with only a few fleeting touches here and there.
"Um, could you not look," Roxie said with a slight edge to her voice as she attempted to get out of the bed. She felt slightly uncomfortable standing fully naked in front of Duke, even if they had now slept together twice.
"Angel, I don't think you have anything to hide from me now," Duke said with a wink but still complied to the request. He handed the girl his ruined shirt so she could cover herself up while he turned over to find his eye patch. He could feel the bed moving as Roxie got out of the bed and heard the girl searching around the room looking for her missing underwear. He didn't turn around until he heard the door of the en suite bathroom close.
Once the water had started running Duke began to gather up everything that he would need for a quick shower. He didn't particularly want to go downstairs smelling of sweat and sex, as he didn't want anyone to guess what had happened again. It had taken weeks for everything to return to some sort of normality after the last time, and he really didn't want to upset the friendship between Roxie and Nosedive again. He knew that they had talked a lot about their relationship, but he didn't know if Nosedive was still holding a torch for his human friend or not.
A sudden, sharp knock at the door pulled Duke out of his thoughts. He quickly pulled on a pair of loose training pants before he looked through the peephole and saw Wildwing standing at his door. It was a little strange but not unheard of for the team captain to check to make sure that all of his team mates had woken up in time for breakfast after one of their nights out. But, since Duke was usually one of the first ones up, it was strange for Wildwing to be at his door. Especially since he had been the one to arrange the wake-up calls.
"Hey, Duke, did you see what happened to Roxie last night? She didn't come back to Dive's room last night, and now she isn't answering her phone," Wildwing said, worry clearly evident on his maskless face. And he had good cause to worry as Roxie had been captured a few times already.
Unfortunately, Duke was not expecting that question and hesitated long enough for Wildwing to take note of the room. He heard the water running and then being switched off in the bathroom. He saw the ripped skirt that was by the door and the silk blouse that was hanging off the back of a chair. He saw the lipstick that marred some of Duke's feathers. And Duke saw the way his team captain quickly looked around the room and the change in his facial expression. It finally became a staring contest to see which one of the drakes would give their hand away first.
"Hey, Duke do you have any…" Roxie suddenly said, opening the bathroom door not realising that someone else was in the room.
When she saw Wildwing standing at the open door she couldn't help but recoil slightly. Especially when the stoic drake looked at her wearing nothing but the training jersey that Duke had hung in the bathroom, since the shirt that Duke gave her was destroyed.
"I'll tell Dive that you met up with a friend, and stayed with them. But we are going to talk about this later," Wildwing said after a few moments glaring at the older drake who had yet to say a thing. The offended drake then turned on his heel and closed the door behind him, letting his feelings for what he had just witnessed be known without expressly saying it.
-OMN-
The ride back to Anaheim was oddly tense, and no one could figure out why. Wildwing hadn't said much at breakfast and had become even quieter once Duke had joined them. Meanwhile Duke just acted as he normally did, laughing and joking with everyone at the table, which seemed to infuriate the leader more. And when Roxie and Johner joined the table, both looking a little sheepish at everyone assembled the table descended into complete silence. The only noise at the table was the sound of Phil on his cell phone trying to arrange another public appearance.
During the ride back Roxie mostly sat with Nosedive, chatting about some of the things that had happened the night before. And when Nosedive asked where Roxie had disappeared to the girl had explained that she had ran into an old friend at the club.
"So, you just went home with someone who you hadn't seen in six years? Seriously, do you have no common sense? What if that had been a robot, or the Chameleon in disguise?" Mallory berated from her seat behind Wildwing.
"I sure she was safe last night, so lay off Mallory," Wildwing said, breaking his self-imposed vow of silence. It also put an end to all conversations as his tone was very hard and no one else felt like risking their captain's ire. Especially when they didn't know what had caused it in the first place.
Once they had arrived back at the Pond most of the Ducks disembarked from the aerowing quickly. The only ones who remained were Wildwing and Duke, who had to have a serious talk about what the captain had witnessed that morning. Though neither wanted to start the conversation and the two merely stared each other down for a few minutes.
"Look, Wing, why don't you say what's on your mind and get it out in the open," Duke said after becoming agitated by the way the younger drake was looking at him.
"What do you think you're doing with her? You do realise that she's half your age? You do realise that it'll break my brother's heart if he finds out? Or what about what it'll do to the team? Did you think about any of these things before you succumbed to your own selfish needs?" Wildwing said, getting angrier with each statement.
"Hey, now that's enough! I don't need to take this from you," Duke said heatedly as he turned to leave the aircraft.
"Oh, yes you do! I want you to think good and hard about this. You could seriously be jeopardising this team and for what?" Wildwing said, moving in front of the other drake and barring his exit.
"Look, it was a mistake. We both know that, and we both feel terribly about it. We had a little too much to drink, and got a little too friendly, again. I don't want to hurt anyone, and I definitely know that Roxie doesn't want to hurt anyone, especially your brother. It won't happen again," Duke said sincerely to his captain. He was irritated at the much younger drakes tone, but he could understand exactly where he was coming from. Something like this could really upset the equilibrium they had all worked so hard to achieve. Plus, he really didn't want to upset Nosedive again.
"See that it doesn't," Wildwing said simply as he exited the aircraft, leaving Duke to consider what he had done.
Meanwhile, Roxie was in her room unpacking while Nosedive lounged on her bed. Her room was a lot smaller than any of the Ducks, as it had once been a storage closet that had been repurposed when she moved in. While the other rooms had a living area as well as a sleeping area, much like a studio apartment, hers was just a bedroom. Not that she ever complained, as she was living there rent free. It was fairly large, considering where she had lived before and she liked it enough. The light blue walls and real oak furniture was better than anything she could have afforded while still being a student. She did have plans to move out, once she had obtained her doctorate, but she had a feeling that might never happen as she enjoyed life in the Pond too much.
"So, what was this guy like? The one who actually put a smile back on your face," Nosedive said while he watched his friend sort out her clean laundry from her dirty laundry. The girl looked up at her friend incredulously. They had not had a discussion about her love life since before the Sportsmen Dinner.
"Um, he was, he was nice," Roxie said, determined not to talk about her night with Duke.
"Only nice, come on Roxer-roo. You were ready to dive into a pit of despair last night, now you're smiling again. He had to be some guy to put that smile back on your face," Nosedive continued.
"Do you really want to talk about this?" Roxie asked, finally putting down her luggage and facing her friend. She had avoided even alluding to her love life in case it upset him. Now, here he was asking questions about it.
"Yeah, I really want to know. I want you to be happy, and if someone makes you happy, you should go for it. Besides, it keeps you from knocking boots with Duke again," Nosedive said lightly, laughing at his own joke and failing to notice his friends tense reaction to the name.
Roxie decided to play along, making up the names and details but keeping very close to the actual events. That way, if anyone asks again later it would be easier to keep the story straight. And it was actually really nice to be able to talk about the topic of her love life with her best friend again. She missed just talking to him about anything, and he missed living vicariously through her. It was almost like the had reached a new level of friendship where they could once again be themselves.
While she was talking to Nosedive she realised that Duke had actually made her feel better. Yes, she now felt awkward about the fact that the drake had now seen her blissful agony of intercourse twice. And that she now had to lie to her best friends about where she was last night. But, he had put a smile on her face. And he was very kind and considerate. Plus, it might have been the best night of sex she had had in a long time.
There was nothing uneasy or uncomfortable about the night itself. And he had been really sweet about trying to ease her anxiety about Wildwing finding out. No other one-night stand had ever been that considerate of her feelings. He had even volunteered to take the brunt of Wildwing's anger about them sleeping together again, so that she didn't have to feel even guiltier about it.
After a while she managed to kick Nosedive out of her room so that he could go unpack. Usually, he left it as long as he could before either Roxie or Wildwing would berate him into doing it. The two had been tag-teaming recently to get Nosedive into some better habits. Roxie claimed that she wanted to go over some notes before going to lab tomorrow, but in fact she wanted to go and talk to Duke.
Normally, the bright and energetic girl would do everything in her power to prevent having to have difficult conversations. She hated discussing her feelings, she hated having feelings a lot of time. She definitely had no desire to enter any sort of relationship. She would often get a little antsy about her friendships as she couldn't see why anyone would want to put up with her when her family could barely stand her. But, she felt like she actually needed to talk to Duke about what happened, or else everyone would start to figure out what had happened. So, with as much determination as she could muster she walked down the corridor and buzzed the intercom outside Duke's door.
"Roxie?" Duke asked, surprised to find the human girl at his door. He had only just arrived back a few moments ago. After being berated by Wildwing the only thing he wanted to was to shower, unpack and lose himself in the book that he was reading. He had slowly been working his way through the one hundred most influential books of all time, to try and understand Earth culture more.
"Mind if I come in?" Roxie said quietly, refusing to meet the drake's eyes. Duke didn't answer, he merely moved out of her way and allowed her access to his decidedly masculine and obsessively neat room.
Duke kept quiet while he moved to the small kitchenette that was in his room. It wasn't much of a kitchenette, only really housing some food, something to make coffee, and a huge selection of wine and alcohol. He had put some coffee on earlier and, since he now had company, made a cup for both himself and Roxie. The girl silently accepted the cup while she sat on the comfy leather couch and watched Duke sit next to her.
"Listen, I just wanted to tell you that, um, well I was going through a really hard time last night. With parental issues, and my evil sister and brother. And you were so sweet and considerate. Well, last night really meant a lot to me, so I just want to say, thanks, I guess," Roxie said finally looking Duke in the eye with a small smile.
"Last night meant a lot to me too, Kid. Not cause I'm going through a hard time or anything. It's just you're really hot and so much fun to be around," Duke said causing his companion to laugh.
"And, if you ever need to talk, or whatever, I'm here for you, Kid," Duke said putting his hand on her shoulder in a friendly gesture.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Listen, I better get going, got rehearsals soon and work tonight. I'll see you later," Roxie said as she stood up and made her way towards the door. Duke got up to accompany her to the door, giving her a goodbye hug.
The hug lasted a little longer than it should, and both Duke and Roxie may have inhaled the other's scent a little too deeply to just be friendly. And when they broke apart they may have looked a little longingly at the other before Roxie opened the door and exited.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm in trouble," Duke said to himself as he made his way towards his bathroom and his now necessary cold shower.
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TFG