╮quack, quack, quack╰
After Fulton nervously asked Spencer to hang out, the two were always together. Fulton finally started talking to the girl in full sentences, something that Connie and Blair completely freaked out over. The taller boy had even taken to joining Connie, Spencer, Guy, and Charlie on all of their endeavors outside of hockey. Charlie and Guy took a fast liking to finally having the girls outnumbered.
Spencer was standing behind Fulton in the locker room, her arms looped around his neck with her head on his shoulder while he leaned against the wall, hockey stick in hand. She impatiently watched as her coach finally picked up a jersey from the box full beside him.
"The Ducks?" Jesse asked in shock as he stared at the animal on the jersey. "We're the ducks?"
"Man, what brain-dead jerk came up with that name?" Peter asked, a few small laughs coming from around the room.
"As a matter of fact, I did," Bombay responded, folding the jersey in half. "I didn't have a choice. We're being sponsored."
"By who, Donald and Daisy?" Averman asked, the whole team laughing with him.
"Hey, you don't want to be Ducks? You'd rather be District Five, some stupid number?" Bombay asked as he looked at Averman.
"Better than some stupid animal," Peter replied. The team 'ooh'd at the boys minor insult before their coach started walking.
"I'll have you know, Peter, that the Duck is one of the most noble, agile, and intelligent creatures of the Animal Kingdom," Bombay said as he approached the small boy.
"But they're wimpy," Connie said in defense of her teammate.
"And scared of everything," Spencer quickly added from where she was standing.
"They don't even have teeth," Guy added, backing up the two girls.
"Neither do hockey players," Bombay said, pulling a few small laughs from a couple of players before he continued, walking around the locker room as he talked. "Have you guys ever seen a flock of ducks flying in perfect formation? It's beautiful! Pretty awesome how they all stick together. Ducks never say die. Ever seen a duck fight? No way! Why? Because the other animals are afraid."
"Afraid? Of a duck?" Spencer asked in disbelief that anything would be scared of a tiny duck.
"Yeah, Spence, they're really scared. They know if they mess with one duck, they gotta deal with the whole flock." Bombay responded, walking back to stand beside the box of jerseys. Once he got there, he quickly pulled off his jacket to reveal a Ducks jersey underneath. The whole team gasped in shock. "I'm proud to be a Duck, and I'd be proud to fly with anyone one of you. So, how 'bout it? Who's a Duck?"
Everyone looked around nervously, seeing what their fellow teammates would do. Seeing that no one was making any kind of move, Spencer unwrapped her arms from around Fulton's shoulders.
"I guess I'll be a Duck if no one else will be," Spencer said as she finally started walking towards her coach.
"Alright! Come get your jersey kid!" Bombay said excitedly, high-fiving the girl as she approached. Spencer dug through the box until she found the jersey with her number - 14 - on the back.
"I'll be a Duck." Spencer heard Fulton say from behind her, quickly following her lead.
"Yeah, me too," Charlie said, standing from his seat beside his mom to walk to the box of jerseys. Spencer handed both boys their jerseys as everyone else approached.
"Look at this!" Spencer said as she excitedly held up her jersey to show Fulton. "This is so cool!"
Fulton watched the girl excitedly examine her jersey with a smile as he distractedly looked at his own.
"Connie, Guy, Charlie! Come here!" Spencer said, waving them over. The blonde excitedly held up her jersey for them to see. "Real jerseys! For the first time in the history of ever, we've got real jerseys!"
"This is the most exciting moment of my life!" Connie said as she and Spencer excitedly hugged and swaying side to side in excitement.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, girls are so weird," Charlie said from between Fulton and Guy. The two boys nodded their agreement as they watched the girls in front of them.
"Now we're the Ducks!" Bombay called out over the ecstatic chatter of the young kids.
"Yeah!" the team shouted in unison.
"The Mighty Ducks!" Bombay said, the energy growing more and more. "Who are we?" he asked.
"The Ducks!" the team shouted together.
✩
At the next game they played, the Ducks were out on the ice, all tossing a football around during warmups.
"Every time you get the puck, you're the quarterback," Bombay said as he walked through the circle of players, a football of his own in his hand. "Make eye contact with the receiver. Talk to him. Let him know it's coming. Come on, guys. This isn't a library. Talk to each other!"
✩
"I'd tell you to try not to be nervous but that doesn't help," Spencer said to Fulton as the two sat alone in the box. Fulton let out a short but nervous laugh before going back to anxiously picking at his fingers.
"Connie said picking at your fingers is bad for you," Spencer said, reaching over and taking his hand in hers. Fulton gave her a soft smile and lightly squeeze to ease his nerves. Spencer slowly pulled her hand away from his when she looked up and saw her coach approaching.
"How you doin'? You ready?" Bombay asked the nervous boy.
"I think so," Fulton said as he stood to follow his coach out onto the ice. Spencer gave him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up before she walked to stand by Connie who had just stepped into the box and was walking to the opposite corner. The two girls watched as Fulton skated out in front of the goalpost with Bombay.
"Okay, Fulton. Shoot your heart out," Bombay said after pouring a small box of hockey pucks between him and the boy.
Fulton nodded once, then picked up a hockey puck and got ready to shoot. Everyone watching stopped in amazement at the boys' slapshot. Guy pushed his way to the door of the box to get a better look. Puck after puck went flying with amazing force.
"I think you're drooling," Connie teased when she finally snapped out of her shocked daze and thought to look at her best friend.
"Am not," Spencer said, immediately shutting her mouth and wiping under her lip just to make sure.
"So, when are we going on a double date? Me, you, Guy, and Fulton?" Connie asked with a smirk on her face.
"As soon as I get asked out, I guess. I still can't believe Guy finally worked up the balls to ask you out last night!" Spencer said with a proud smile on her face. "They grow up so fast!" she said, her hand over her heart as she rolled her lip out.
"Guy said the same thing when you held Fulton's hand for the first time," Connie said with a smile.
"I'm older than him," Spencer responds, jokingly rolling her eyes.
Spencer and Connie jumped as they heard the sound breaking of glass and quickly looked in the direction the sound came from. Both of their jaws dropped as they saw that it was Fulton's slapshot that had caused the glass of one of the boards to spiderweb.
"Wow," Spencer uttered in amazement, turning to watch Fulton skate back to the box. Guy, Jesse, Charlie, Peter, and Averman tumbled out of the box, tripping over each other to get to Fulton.
"Dude, that was awesome!" Charlie said once the boys finally recovered from their shock enough to talk.
"So awesome! I've never seen a slapshot like that!" Guy added, chuckling from amazement.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Peter asked as he looked at the boy in amazement.
"Fulton Reed, Mister Slapshot!" Averman said, adding Fulton to the list of people he'd created some kind of nickname for.
"Thanks," Fulton said as he and the rest of the boys were ushered back into the box by Bombay.
"All right," Bombay started after gathering his team. "Let's forget the past. We lost a few games. Tough. That was District Five. Now we're the Ducks."
"Yeah," the team said, slowly getting excited.
"The Ducks are undefeated," Bombay said, a proud smile pulling at his lips.
"All right!" the team said, excitement growing and spreading.
"Quack, quack, quack, quack," Bombay started, everyone on the team slowly joining in. The cheer grew in volume as it spread and continued before ending with the team chanting the team name.
✩
Spencer flew down the ice after the loose puck. The girl watched as the puck got into the boards, promptly skating after it after Guy managed to dig it out. After taking hold of the puck, Spencer passed it off to Connie. Connie proceeded to pass the puck to Jesse who passed it back to Spencer. Seeing that Guy had a better shot at scoring than she did, Spencer sent the puck his way. Guy stopped the puck, taking his shot and making it immediately after.
"Yeah!" Spencer yelled in excitement as she and the rest of the players on the ice skated to Guy, all of them joining in a group hug on the ice. The players currently on the ice skated to the box to celebrate with the rest of the team.
✩
"C'mon, Karp," Spencer whispered to herself while skating down the ice, watching as Karp back skated intime with the Cardinals center.
Karp stopped when the Cardinals center did and dropped to his knees as the opposing player went to take his shot. The puck hit Karp in the center of his helmet, causing the boy to fall completely over. Bombay hurried out to check on the boy when he saw that he hadn't moved.
"I don't wanna go to school today, mom," Karp said as Spencer pulled off his helmet.
"Karp, how many fingers am I holding up?" Bombay asked, holding up four fingers as he and the rest of the Ducks currently on the ice stood over him.
"He wouldn't know that anyway," Peter answered, the coach quickly telling him to shut up.
"Karp, are you okay?" Bombay asked as some of the confusion left the boys' eyes.
"Look at this," Guy said, holding up the boys' helmet which now had a puck-sized dent in it.
"The Karpster, using his head to stop the puck, Mister Karpelandi," Averman said in his usual commentating voice.
"Let's get you off the ice. Come on." Bombay said as he pulled the boy to his feet.
"Put him on the bench, Charlie," Bombay said as he gently passed the boy to his teammate once they reached the box.
"Okay, Ducks, we still got a chance here," Bombay said, looking away from the scoreboard and back to his team. "Connie, Terry, Jesse, Guy, time for the secret weapon," he said, turning to look at Fulton once he was finished giving instructions.
"Okay, Fulton. Remember, just like we talked about." Bombay said as he looked up at the taller boy. Bombay gave him a quick fist bump before Fulton started out of the box.
"You've got this," Spencer said as she patted Fulton's shoulder in passing. Fulton paused for a second to smile at the girl before continuing to move with a slight blush spreading across his cheeks.
Guy passed the puck back to Jesse after the face-off started, the latter passing the puck forward to Fulton. As Fulton brought his hockey stick back to shoot, the entire Cardinals defense dove out of the way. While the Cardinals weren't paying attention, Connie skated forward and passed the puck to Guy who easily scored in the currently empty goal right as the buzzer sounded.
Spencer followed everyone in the box as they skated on the ice for celebration after she excitedly pulled her helmet off. Seeing that Guy had just skated away from Fulton, Spencer raced over to him, jumping on him excitedly. Fulton barely had time to recover, almost falling as the girl unexpectedly hit him.
"We did it! We tied!" Spencer said, a wide smile covering her face as she jumped down, her hands still on Fulton's shoulders. Fulton simply nodded at the girl, his smile matching hers.
✩
Fulton and Spencer attempted to calm down their laughter at the joke Spencer had just told as they finally approached her apartment.
"Go out with me." Fulton blurted out as they stopped at the bottom step of the apartment complex.
"Like, go out with you to do something or," Spencer trailed off, unsure of what the taller boy meant.
Realizing there was no point in backing out now, Fulton nervously said, "Like, be my girlfriend or something. If you want."
Spencer's heart raced as she looked up at the boy with shock covering her face. She quickly recovered by vigorously nodding her head, a giant grin covering her face. Relief flooded Fulton's nerve tightened chest.
"Nice," He said, smiling down at the girl.
Spencer quickly leaned in to kiss his cheek, whispering goodnight before running up the stairs and through the door to her apartment building. She shut the door to her apartment after getting off the elevator on her floor, leaning against the door with her eyes shut.
"Um, are you okay?" Blair asked as she stood in the middle of the living room, still in her work clothes.
"Is dad working late? Like is he here right now?" Spencer whispered, Blair barely hearing her.
"He's still at work. Spencer, what is going on? You're acting like a normal girl your age and it's scaring me," Blair said, worry starting to fill her chest.
"I have to call Connie!" Spencer's eyes flew open and she ran to the landline hanging on the wall, quickly dialing the number to the phone Connie kept in her room. Spencer waved her sister over to listen.
"Did you break on your way here or is this some sort of brain malfunction that only the younger sisters experience?" Blair asked as she watched her sister in confusion.
"Hi, what's up, Spence?" Connie asked after picking up the phone.
"I have a boyfriend," Spencer whispered, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes again.
"What?" Blair and Connie shouted in shocked sync. Spencer giggled once before hanging up the phone and running to her room, shutting the door behind her.
♡
Spencer's got a boyfriend! I'm excited! I'm sorry if it feels rushed but I thought it kind of fit.