Tittle: abnegation

Summary: "There's a 98% chance we'll get caught. A scientist has to try any and all possibilities no matter how slim the chance of success." Kowalski and Marlene. On rejection. [Friendship. Others implied.]

Rating: T+. (I can't justify the rating, but I'd rather be on the safe side.)

Warnings: None, I think. Unless cross-species romance squicks you?

A/N: The good thing about having younger siblings is that you can watch cartoons and no one asks you why. The bad thing is that you can probably only watch half of said cartoon. This is one of those rare shows that makes me laugh every single time I watch an episode. Inspired by Marlene and Kowalski's weird dork-ish interactions. Unbeta-ed.

I'm unsure of this fic, I don't know where I was going with this. Marlene/Kowalski sort of friendship. The breakdown and rebuilding of another.

[Standard disclaimers apply.]

Chapter 1: Chance

It started with an idiotic idea that popped into her head (stupid really, because she has no impulse control with things that she enjoys. She's an otter of action, she needs the adrenaline, needs to keep moving, needs to do things or else she'll feel stuck, but then her brain disconnects from common sense and she's doing things she really shouldn't be).

No. It's not an idea, it's a necessity. She saw it, saw it in action, it was cool, it was exhilarating (it was painful to watch it crash), she just needed one little ride in it. Just once. That's how she made up her mind to convince Kowalski to give her a joyride in their car.

Soon she'll realize it was truly an idiotic idea.

--

Marlene devices a quick, effortless plan, now all she needs is to put in action. With that thought, she glides into the penguin's habitat as casually as possible, though her stomach was turning on itself from nerves.

The first penguin she sees is Skipper. He raises an eyebrow at her, expectantly, "Marlene." She shakes her head at the bland greeting, she should never expect more than that, Silly Little Otter.

"Skipper, hi." She tries for a charming smile. Everyone seems to buy it.

"How can we be of assistance?" Skipper makes his way over to her with a hint of smugness she had learned to accept (kind of, because sometimes she still found herself rolling her eyes at him), and it's not like she really wants to read too much into it. She does. A little. She shouldn't.

"Actually," Marlene feels like she needs to lay it thick, to smile as cute and honestly and naively, as possible since Skipper was a walking, breathing, talking radar for lies and he doesn't trust her all that much (she should not take that personally, but she does. A little. She shouldn't), "I need to talk to Kowlaski."

The four penguins stop for a second and stare at her, she hears paper rip, and when she looks over to Kowalski, he's frozen in confusion.

"Oh." Skipper says skeptically. She doesn't blame him but in the back of her mind, Marlene does anyway, because, because. Aren't they friends?

"Me?" Kowalski is still paralyzed on his corner which amuses her a little. When he notices her amusement he flinches and hurriedly flips through his notebook actively avoiding her stare.

"Yea," she smiles wider, hopes it's warm and that Kowalski will look over and relax, "Just for a minute."

"Um," careful of her gaze Kowalski fixes his eyes over to Skipper, (he's still staring at her with sharp awareness, and if she's not careful she'll step on a landmine and then this whole thing will blow up in her face).

"Go ahead." Skipper assents, finally, forehead drawn in suspicion.

When Kowalski walks past Skipper she hears, "Watch yourself, Kowalski."

As if she was a real threat (oddly, she's flattered. A little, just a little, because. Aren't they friends?)

--

Marlene drags Kowalski to her place, even though it was not necessary, but she feels it's necessary anyway--uses her front door as it's function deemed-- and asks him to sit.

He does, automatically. Trained, and mechanically. He has wide eyes she would mistake for fear if she wasn't so sure he was surprised at the weirdness of the entire thing. His eyes quickly narrow as she regards him carefully.

"How can I be of assistance, Marlene." Read: what do you want?

"Okay, you'll love me for this Kowalski," later, much later, Marlene would look back at this particular conversation and think famous last words, Marlene, "I can get you a date with Dorris."

"Dorris?" His face breaks into a wide grin, and this dumb, stupid smile is something she imitates without meaning to, and then suddenly she feels a little dirty for suggesting the thing in the first place--and, and she's feeling a bit guilty too, since there are ulterior motives underneath this all, and that's not really fair no matter how freakin' amazing it would be to go wild in that car of theirs.

But that car is really cool.

So she nods shoving her guilty emotions aside, "That's right, Dorris the dolphin."

"But Dorris would never..." then he's suddenly very sober and serious, and looks at her with something akin to cautious doubt.

"What are your conditions."

"Well..."

"State your terms, Marlene." he says a bit harshly which only means he's almost about to agree with her.

"Let me ride in your car." She says scurrying so her face is almost pressed against his, taking him by surprise (trick of the trade: unbalance your target, easier to push your demands).

Kowalski pulls back swiftly, "What?"

"The car! The car! Look, I could ask Skipper..." she feels like her face betrays her when he stares at her coldly and expectantly, and understandingly so she sits back a bit because suddenly she's the one off-kilter, "I could ask Skipper, but he'll say no--"

"How can you be sur--"

"He will." It's Marlene's turn to stare at him. He's smart, he can figure this one out. He nods once, nearly imperceptably. She lets a breath out, (she didn't know she was holding it, but she was, and she's not about to read too much into that).

"Rico would be easy to tric--er--I mean I can ask him, but he's too much of a loose canon, no finesse. We could get in a lot of trouble. Or he could cause a lot of trouble. And, and Private. He would never be able to really keep this to himself."

"True. Private is aware that Skipper lik--" Kowalski stops himself sharply, like he's changing gears. He stares at her with that weird stare of his again, "Skipper will have my head if he finds out."

"That's why I am asking you so he never finds out."

"But-"

"Please! Just once around the zoo. You get a date with Dorris and I'll never ask for something like this ever again."

His brows raise, surprised, "Really?"

"...Maybe. What do you say?"

He taps his notebook rhythmically looking torn, just another little push and he'll agree, "Live dangerously, Kowalski. Just this once. You and me, no one needs to know."

"But, Skippe--"

"Please?"

For a second he hesitates, holds out his notebook and pencil and sets to scribbling furiously. Just as she starts leaning to peek at his work, Kowalski stops abruptly. Then he looks at her in all seriousness, "There's a 98% percent chance we will get caught," he points sharply at his notebook with his pencil, like that's supposed to convince her.

"Kowalski," Marlene says patiently, gently moving his notebook away, "You're a scientist. Shouldn't you explore any and all possibilities, no matter how small?"

"That-That's not the same--"

She grabs his flipper in her paws, pleadingly, "It is. Come on, Kowalski, just this once."

He looks away flustered (but does not pull his flipper from her paws), shoulders slumped, says Fine.

---

Date night is Wednesday, which is a funny night to have a date, but she's not Dorris, so whatever.

Everyone knows about Kowalski's date just like everyone knows about his crush.

No one knows why Dorris agreed, except her, and (there is a betting pool in progress with the most likely outcome of the date: a kiss on the cheek, a slap on the cheek or a second date. No one's bet on the third option yet. She holds unto hope), Marlene feels really low and stupid for even considering the plan, but she's already set it in motion.

Plus Dorris wants to give it a go since Marlene convinced her that Kowalski is actually really charming. That's not a lie, he's just a bit of an idiot. And a bit clueless, but his heart is in the right place, that's what counts, right?

That night, Marlene's cave is nice, and warm, and quiet, and this is how she usually likes it, but she's staring up at her ceiling waiting for Kowalski to pop up from the manhole underneath her carpet to tell her if he was charming and won Dorris' heart or if he was his old usual self and analyzed the entire thing to death and now the poor dolphin will never speak to him directly, so. So she feels like the openess of her home is literally suffocating her.

She falls asleep, and because she's not woken up (none of the penguins understand the rule of privacy outside themselves, so she expects to be woken up, but she isn't and that only means two things, which only really means one thing), she understands Kowaslki's inconspicuous absence.

The next morning she meets the tall penguin's eyes, and he waves at her (slow and dishearteningly, but totallyhonestly grateful (and heart seems to drop down to the vicinity of her feet), while Skipper keeps trained eyes on them both, and she knows he knows, so after she smiles and waves back guiltily, Marlene walks away.

--

She's no coward. Marlene just stalls a little because she's upset he's upset. She wasn't sure when she had become so invested in his relationships (liar), and maybe it was because a kindred spirit is a kindred spirit (maybe), or that in the back in her mind she knew she threw him to the lion's den, (or maybe it's because, if she's honest, she acted selfishly and thoughtlessly) but.

She stalls until she can't stall anymore.

(Because she can turn her cheek the other way and hope he'll forget the favor, and so she'll forget the favor, and it would be business as usual.

Kowalski isn't like her).

"My end of the bargain." He says to her when he corners her behind the lemur's habitat, "Three weeks from now. Funday. 0200 hrs."

(And so maybe she's still stalling.

Guilt is a funny thing.)

A/N:I love King Julien. Just saying. Also, this fic is kind of plot less. R&R?