A/N: My first published English actual story - yay! It's set after Monkey Love and it's slash. Lots of thanks to my beta RageRunsStill! Enjoy and review if you like :-)

Mason watched how Lulu grabbed Phil's hand and walked off with him. He should have been happy that he made it to help his friend but actually he wasn't. Instead there was some sort of... hurt inside him. He'd had this feeling before, especially when Phil had told him how he felt about Lulu in the first place, but it had never been as strong as it was now.

He tried to wonder what this could be, maybe some sort of cardiological disease, but he knew he couldn't fool himself. It was obvious what was hurting him so much...
"Hey, Mason, why do you look so upset?" asked a voice from below.
"I'm all right. I'm just afraid I helped the love of my life to be with someone else," answered Mason, still lost in his thoughts.
"Oh... I didn't know that you, well... actually liked Lulu that much."

This jolted him out of his thoughts and he looked down to see Private looking at him suspiciously.
"Huh? Lulu? Err... yes, exactly. It's about... her. Yes. Because she's... you know. And so on. She's the one I was talking about. That's why I'm sad." He took a deep breath. Talking about this, even while lying, made him get teary-eyed. "Because the most amazing person I ever met in all my life is walking off with that stupid, random oh-my-gosh-I-am-sooo-great-chimp, having no idea how much I love him." There fell an awkward silence until Mason realized his last word. "Err... I meant 'her'. How much I love her. Because it's... Lulu. Yes. And she's female. Of course. I mean..."

He sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. Hushed sobs shook his entire body.
"Mason?" Private stepped closer and tried to pet the chimp's back but didn't reach that far. "Are you sure you are all right?"
"I'm okay, Private." Mason's voice sounded sad but confident. "It's all right. Don't bother. I'll get along with it. I always did." He gave Private a sad look. "Please leave me alone, Private."
The little penguin nodded and took a step back. "But if you want to talk, you can come to me. No matter whether it's about Lulu or... someone else." He gave Mason a last gaze before he turned around and walked away.
"More about someone else, I guess," whispered Mason when Private was gone.