"What a night, huh?" Duke said as he got off the duck-cycle, now back in the Pond's garage.

"Yeah," said Mallory. "We should do this again sometime."

He looked at her in disbelief, holding his aching back. "Are you kiddin' me?"

"I mean, I could do without the falling."

"And drinkin'?"

"That's... debatable."

Duke chuckled. "Yeah."

"But I had a good time. Thanks for that."

"Anytime, sweetheart."

Mallory shuffled uneasily for a moment. "Duke?"

"Yeah?"

She hesitated.

Then, before she could say anything more, Nosedive jumped out from behind some crates. "Traitor!" he yelled. Mallory jumped, Duke bit back a curse, and he stormed up to them.

"Nosedive?" Mallory said, more shocked than annoyed.

"I can't believe you just left me like that," he said angrily.

"Well, what did you want me to do?" she retorted.

"Oh, I don't know," said Nosedive. "Maybe tell me you left with Duke so I don't have to spend the night in a broom closet!"

"Oh, yeah." Mallory looked smug. "Guess I forgot about that."

Nosedive glared at her.

"You know I was never really lookin' for ya, right?" Duke chimed in.

"Yeah, I got that. Well played," he replied coolly, before shifting back to Mallory. "He was in on it the whole time, wasn't he? I should've known you would rat me out. You're just too good to steal his precious secrets, aren't you?"

"Nosedive, I went along with your whole stupid plan until it failed, okay?"

"She's not lyin', Dive."

Nosedive paused. "So you were never really mad at us."

"Well, I did tell Mallory off after you ran away like a wuss. But then we went out for drinks and you locked yourself in a closet, so we'll just call it even."

"Okay, you know what? That's just– Wait, did you just say you went out for drinks?"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

Nosedive paused again to consider this. "Okay, follow-up question," he said, plucking a twig out of Mallory's hair. "Why do you look like you rolled around in a ditch?"

"Uh–"

"It was more like a big hill," said Duke.

Nosedive continued to stare at them with an expression of utter confusion. "Okay, back up, let me get this straight. You two – you two – went out for drinks together..."

They nodded.

"Like at a bar..."

"If you use the word 'bar' loosely," said Mallory.

"And there was also a big hill somewhere where you... what?"

"We just, uh, lost our footing," Duke said dismissively.

"And fell," Mallory added.

"No big deal."

Still confused, Nosedive looked back and forth between them, then burst out, "Did I miss something here?!"

"Nosedive," Mallory said, clamping his beak shut, "please stop talking. I have a massive headache, and I'm going to bed now, so good night."

She walked off without another word, and Duke followed her, giving Nosedive a pat on the shoulder. "'Night, kid. No hard feelings, all right?"

Nosedive, still bewildered, watched them walk to the elevator, side by side, weirdly close. He wondered if he should just let them go, let them discuss their mysterious escapade alone and not bother them about it. He probably owed Duke that much at least.

But on the other hand...

"Hey, I want some details," he said, trotting after them. "Like how did you fall down a hill? Were you drunk or something?"

"Oh, yeah," said Duke. "We got totally wasted and decided to go mountain-climbin'. It was amazing."

Nosedive scowled. "Fine, don't tell me."

"Exactly how long were you in that closet for?"

"Shut up."

They stepped into the elevator and Nosedive punched the button, sulking. As the doors closed, Duke glanced at Mallory. "Did you wanna tell me somethin' before?" he asked her quietly.

"It can wait," she said.

"Hey, don't mind me," said Nosedive, leaning lazily against the wall. "Whatever's going on with you two, I don't care."

"There's nothing going on," said Mallory.

"Uh-huh," Nosedive replied flatly. "Just sayin'."

As he stared blankly at the doors, Mallory inched closer to Duke, ever so subtly taking his hand in hers. When the doors opened, she stepped out of the elevator without so much as a glance at him. Nosedive followed her, but Duke stayed behind, staring after her with a far-off look in his eye.

"Yo, Duke," Nosedive said, looking back, "you coming or what?"

Duke stepped out of the elevator, an almost imperceptible smile on his beak. Nosedive noticed this, but he didn't say anything. He had decided it was best not to pry into Duke's secrets.

For now at least.

Well, let me know if you guys want more Duke/Mallory stuff. This was really fun to write and I hope you all enjoyed it. Till next time... –Dragon's Ember