Hello, and welcome! This is a one-shot I came up with one day, and I decided to write it down. And now it's here, just for you!
Read, review, enjoy!
Skipper sat at the table, resting his head against his flippers. He sighed deeply.
"What's wrong?" Kowalski's voice asked behind him.
Skipper turned around, slightly startled.
"Nothing," he said.
Kowalski walked around the table. "You're not fooling anyone, sir," he replied calmly and took a seat opposite of Skipper.
"What's wrong?"
Skipper sighed again. He closed his eyes for a moment.
"I... I asked Marlene if she'd go somewhere with me," he began.
"On a date?" Kowalski said quickly.
"Correct. And she said yes," Skipper continued.
"But?" Kowalski asked.
"She wants to go dancing, Kowalski," Skipper said and looked at his lieutenant with sad eyes.
"And you know I can't dance. But I don't want to let her down," he concluded with a slightly quieter tone.
Kowalski nodded. "I can help you," he stated calmly.
"Kowalski, if you're talking about using one of your inventions..." Skipper started, sounding suspicious. But Kowalski interrupted him.
"I'm not talking about any invention," he said.
"I can teach you to dance".
"You? Can teach me? To dance?" now Skipper sounded even more suspicious than before.
Kowalski nodded with all the confidence.
"I'm sorry, Kowalski, but I need some real dances, sophisticated ones, not that.. disco-y hip-shaking-thing you do," Skipper said.
Kowalski remained calm. "Would waltz be good then? Or tango, perhaps?"
"Since when have you know waltz? Or how to dance it?" Skipper asked, this time sounding surprised.
"Well, not too many years ago I decided to learn some dances," Kowalski shrugged.
"Unfortunately though you need to get a girl to like you first before you can dance with her".
Skipper grinned slightly, not knowing what else to do.
Kowalski looked at him in the eyes. "You've got nothing to lose," he said.
Skipper thought for a while, and then nodded slowly. "Alright. Teach me to dance," the leader smiled.
"But we shall train at dawn. I don't want us to be seen".
Kowalski nodded. "Understandable, sir. Let's start tomorrow morning".
And so, an hour and a half before sunrise next morning, Skipper and Kowalski began their dance training. With breakfast first, of course.
But after that, they got to work.
"Alright," Kowalski began.
"Now Skipper, this can feel awkward, but trust me, it belongs to the nature of this dance to stand close to your partner," he said, and Skipper nodded.
"But let's not start with that," Kowalski continued. "Let's do some basic exercises first".
"So, Skipper, the time signature of a waltz is three quarter notes per bar," Kowalski said.
"Do you know how the basic steps of the dance go?"
Skipper had to shake his head. "I meant it when I said I can't dance," he said.
A sigh escaped from Kowalski, but he kept his calm.
"Okay," he replied. "Umm, let me show you then," the scientist continued and walked to a stereo system in the back of the HQ and pushed the 'play'-button, and suddenly quiet waltz played by a symphony orchestra filled the HQ. Kowalski counted the beat for a while and then began to dance.
"Watch carefully now," Kowalski said to Skipper, who nodded.
The leader didn't have to be told twice to watch carefully. He was fascinated by the movements of the other bird. They were so smooth, firm and soft at the same time. No question any lady would've been lucky to dance with the lieutenant. Skipper couldn't help but admire Kowalski, and he wished he'd be that good after his training.
Kowalski stopped his dancing and paused the music. "Any questions?"
"No, I don't so," Skipper replied.
"Alright, then do after me," the scientist said, walked back to the stereo-system and pushed 'play'.
Skipper began dancing. Or it least he tried to. His moves were not nearly as smooth as Kowalski's had been; Skipper did stay on rhythm, but his feet did not do what he wanted them to, and all he did shone with uncertainty.
Kowalski watched for a while, but paused the music quite soon. "We need to work on that," he said quietly.
"On what?" Skipper asked.
"Pretty much everything," Kowalski replied quickly. "But let's start from here," he said, walked up to Skipper and corrected his posture.
"You don't need to be that stiff; in dancing you can't have the posture as in the military, you have to be able to move to the rhythm".
But 'military' was deeply rooted in Skipper, and getting him to 'loosen up' was not an easy job.
Now Kowalski sighed deeply. But suddenly, he had an idea.
"Do after me," he grinned to Skipper, changed the CD in the stereo and pressed 'play'. Disco music filled the HQ, and Kowalski started shaking his hips.
"C'mon Skipper, shake it," he exclaimed as Skipper stood still, not knowing what say or do, except staring at Kowalski with huge suspicion. This was exactly the opposite of what they were supposed to do, Skipper thought.
"C'mon Skipper, I'm not stopping before you join me, and we don't have much time!"
Had it been any other situation, the leader wouldn't have tolerated any sort of blackmail, big or small, serious or not, and particularly not from his own men.
But he knew he didn't have a choice. Kowalski was controlling the situation and he knew it. Very slowly Skipper took a couple of steps forward.
"Trying to humiliate your commanding officer, Kowalski?" he hissed quietly.
"No, not at all," the first lieutenant replied, sounding very sincere. "This is to get you to relax a bit".
"And you think this will do that?" Skipper hissed.
"Give it a go," Kowalski nearly pleaded. "I won't ever tell anyone you did".
Skipper sighed very, very deeply. But he gave Kowalski's suggestion a go. If Kowalski, the brains of the bunch, thought I would help, maybe it would.
"Like this?" Skipper asked as he joined Kowalski on the 'dance floor'.
"Well, you are doing it right, but I can see that your heart or mind is not in it," Kowalski said.
"What do you want from me?" Skipper cried out.
"Close your eyes," Kowalski said. "Imagine you're all alone, and let the beat move you".
Skipper couldn't believe those words came out from the scientist's mouth, but he decided to ignore that and just do what the man said; their time was running out anyway.
"Yes, now that's more like it," Kowalski supported. And so the two danced. But just as Skipper was almost starting to really enjoy it (which he didn't want to admit - even to himself) Kowalski stopped the music.
"We're out of time," he whispered.
So, Kowalski and Skipper adapted their normal morning routines like nothing had ever happened, just in time before -like clockwork- Rico and Private woke up.
"Good morning Skipper," Private greeted the leader, and then noticed the scientist was also up, and nodded to him: "Kowalski".
Both Skipper and Kowalski returned the greeting, to Private and Rico. And then Skipper told all of them what they'd be doing that day.
-:-:-:-
And so went a week and a half; besides the usual things they did during the day, Skipper and Kowalski woke up early every morning to practice dancing. And now that Skipper had learned to loosen up and to put himself fully in to what he was doing, the practicing was really starting to have an effect; there were few little things to work on, but Kowalski was sure that by the end of the week Skipper would be perfectly ready to take Marlene dancing.
"Alright, Skipper," Kowalski began. "We've made some really good progress, and because we've only got few days left, we'll move on to the final phase: dancing with a partner. Are you ready?"
Skipper nodded firmly.
"Good. First, I shall be the leading part, just to show you how it's done. And then we'll switch," Kowalski said, waddled closer to Skipper.
"May I have this dance?" he smirked, bowing and offering the leader his flipper.
Skipper raised his eyebrow, but snorted in amusement and grabbed Kowalski's flipper. The scientist led his dance partner to the center of the HQ, and pulled him close, as was in the nature of the dance. Skipper placed his flipper on Kowalski's shoulder, and felt the scientist wrap a flipper around his waist. They were holding each other's flippers, dancing so close Skipper felt the warmth of Kowalski's body, could almost hear his heartbeats, and yet... Skipper didn't feel awkward. He wanted to, but he didn't. He knew he should've been secretly mocking Kowalski's dancing skills in his head, but instead he couldn't help but admire Kowalski's lead. There was no nerdy, science-y, awkward guy dancing, but a firm, charming, smooth bird; real dancer. And Skipper didn't feel bad about not being the leader.
"Alright," Kowalski said as the song they were dancing to was ending. "Your turn".
Skipper quickly opened his eyes and looked at Kowalski. Then they stopped, and Skipper grinned and made a deep bow.
"Yeah yeah," Kowalski snorted a little playfully. "Let's dance already".
-:-:-:-
It was the D-day. The night when Skipper would take Marlene dancing, and he'd find out if the dancing lessons were of any good.
Kowalski stood a bit further away as Skipper tried put on his bowtie in front of a mirror. But as the bowtie just wouldn't obey, no matter direction he tried to pull or twist it, Skipper got frustrated.
"Argh, this is not going to work!" he groaned as he threw the untied bowtie to the floor of the HQ.
Kowalski rushed to pick it up.
"You'll do fine," the scientist said as he tied the bowtie perfectly with few smooth moves.
Skipper turned to look in to the mirror.
"Are you sure, Kowalski?" he asked as he examined the neatly tied bowtie.
"Because this might be my only chance to impress Marlene".
"100% sure, sir," Kowalski nodded calmly.
"Good. I'm off, then," Skipper said, turning on his heels. "Wish me luck".
"You won't need that, but, good luck," Kowalski replied as the leader disappeared through the fishbowl entrance out of the HQ.
Skipper waddled towards the otter habitat, growing more nervous with each step. That happened almost never to the leader, but this was one of the most important nights for him.
Skipper jumped to the habitat and arrived to Marlene's cave. Although he usually didn't knock, Skipper decided this time it'd be only appropriate.
"Marlene? Are you there?"
"Yes, come in," was replied from inside, and Skipper did as it said.
"Hello, Skipper," Marlene smiled as she turned to look at the penguin.
"Marlene," Skipper smiled back as he made a small bow. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, I think I am," Marlene said. "How do I look?" she asked and made a spin.
"Pretty," Skipper said softly.
"Aw," Marlene sighed. "And you look quite handsome too," she smiled.
"Shall we go then?" Skipper asked, offering Marlene his flipper.
The otter wrapped her paw around the flipper and the couple left the habitat.
Skipper and Marlene walked quite a while, but to Marlene it felt worth it as they came to a small café which had a string quartet playing live music. And even they couldn't go inside, dancing outside under the stars didn't bother Marlene at all.
"Oh, isn't this just lovely?" she sighed, holding her paws together.
"Yeah," Skipper smiled, trying to hide the awkwardness of it.
The penguin wished he could've been as excited as Marlene was. But he felt uncomfortable.
"So, miss..." Skipper began as he grabbed Marlene's paw and bowed. "May I have this dance?"
"Of course," Marlene giggled and pulled herself close to the penguin's body.
Skipper guided Marlene to the right position, and they began dancing.
"I didn't know you were such gentleman," Marlene whispered teasingly.
"And such a good dancer," she sighed as they swayed smoothly to the rhythm of the music.
Skipper snorted, slightly amused.
"There are many things about me that would surprise you," he replied, feeling happy and relieved that the dancing lessons hadn't been in vain.
-:-:-:-
They danced under the stars for hours; twirled around in the night while the string quartet played their music.
"I've had such wonderful time, Skipper," Marlene said as she looked into the penguin's blue eyes.
"Yes," Skipper replied, glancing away.
"I'm afraid I'll have to end it short".
"You do?" Marlene asked sadly as they stopped dancing.
"Yes," the penguin leader said, gently pushing the otter apart from himself.
"We've.. got an early operation tomorrow, and I've got to make sure they hit the hay on time," Skipper continued hesitantly.
"Aren't they old enough to go to bed by themselves?" Marlene asked slightly teasingly.
"Please, Marlene. I'll feel uneasy if I stay," Skipper said.
The otter girl sighed. "Yes, I understand".
"Thank you," Skipper smiled softly. "C'mon, I'll walk you home".
As the pair walked home, Skipper felt odd cheerfulness. He hadn't lied when he said he'd feel uneasy if he'd stayed, but the reason he had given for that was not the real one. Marlene had been right; the penguin team knew that 'lights out' was at ten, even if Skipper wasn't there. So why did the penguin leader want to go home? He wasn't quite sure. Something had just felt... uncomfortable on the date with Marlene. It didn't feel right, and Skipper couldn't think of a reason why. It had felt right when he had asked Marlene out... What had changed?
Skipper and Marlene arrived to the zoo, and Skipper walked Marlene all the way to her habitat.
"So, I guess this is where we part," Marlene spoke and let go of Skipper's flipper.
"Yes it is," Skipper nodded, seeming slightly distant to Marlene.
"I had a lovely time tonight," the otter continued, smiling slightly.
"Me too," Skipper said slightly hastily.
"Will we... Will we see again?" Marlene asked shyly.
"We... are bound to," Skipper replied, hiding the slight awkwardness in his voice.
"Well... Good night, Skipper," Marlene said, and wrapped her arms around the penguin for a hug.
"Good night, Marlene," Skipper replied slowly, responding to the hug with one flipper. Then he gave her a quick smile and left.
Marlene stood at the door for a while, watching Skipper's figure disappear to the distance, towards the penguin habitat.
The penguin arrived home, jumped over the fence and quietly went down to the HQ through the fishbowl entrance, for he didn't want to wake up his men who were supposed to be sleeping by that time, since the journey home had taken longer than Skipper had anticipated.
"Skipper?" the leader heard a faint whisper in the dark, and it made him stop on the ladder.
"Yes?" he whispered back, trying to listen carefully for a reply.
"How come you're back so early?" Kowalski came closer to the stairs where Skipper was.
"Did the date not go well?" the scientist continued, sounding empathic.
Skipper climbed down and softly jumped next to Kowalski.
"It went… great, actually," he replied, sincerely.
"So, why… Why are you home already?" Kowalski asked.
"Because… I realized something on that date, Kowalski," the leader answered.
"There's someone else I'd rather dance with," he continued, since the scientist had tilted his head questioningly.
After a short silence Skipper made a small bow and smiled.
"Kowalski… Would you like to share tonight's last dance with me?"