Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

As soon as he heard what the smarty penguin said, Julien burst out laughing. He was aware of everyone staring at him, but he didn't care. He thought that was the funniest thing in the world. A penguin being his perfect match? I'm a king! he declared in his head, still laughing out loud. I can have anyone I want! Why would I want a penguin?

When he looked at everyone around him, he tried to get control of his laughter. The leader of the penguins was glaring at him, while the smart one grumbled to himself and crossed his flippers over his chest. The youngest member of the team had an uneasy look on his face as he took a step away from Julien, and the psychopath of the group just rolled his eyes but stood his ground as if waiting for orders from his commanding officer.

Still laughing a little, eyes watering, the king turned to see Maurice shaking his head and Mort looking confused. Julien took a deep breath when his lungs started to hurt from lack of air. He sat up and wrapped away the tears of laughter.

Then he saw her: Alex was staring at him with deep sadness in her eyes. She looked on the verge of crying at the way the king reacted to Kowalski's news. Instantly Julien regretted behaving in such a way, but he didn't really understand why. Surely he didn't have feelings for this penguin?

Shutting up, he smoothed down his ruffled fur, suddenly aware of all eyes on him and for once, he didn't want to be the center of attention.

He cleared his throat and walked over to the smarty penguin, looking him in the eyes. "How can I be her perfect match?" he asked calmly. "I don't even like her in that way!" He pushed away the nagging feeling that disagreed with him. Of course I don't like a penguin!

To his surprise, Kowalski's eyes flashed with anger, and the king took a step back, convinced that he would jump on him. But instead the tall penguin just snapped," I don't know. I don't think my Luv-I-lator is even working, so can we just forget about it?" He walked over to Alex, the anger fading from his expression as he faced the female penguin. "I just thought that you should know the truth."

It was obvious that he thought she would be thankful that he told her, but she clearly wasn't. She took a step back and glared at him. "That's why you turned it off before I could get a good look!" she yelled.

He flinched away from her. "When I first made the Luv-u-lator, I thought that science could help someone find their perfect match," he explained, looking down and shifting his feet. "But when I believed that I might lose you because of it, I decided that some machines can't choose who someone wants to spend the rest of their lives with." He glanced up at Alex.

Alex stared at him for a long moment. "Why did you have to hide it from me?" she whispered.

Kowalski shook his head. "I panicked. I didn't know what else to do. I don't want to lose you." He reached for her flippers, looking her in the eyes. "I've never felt this way about anyone."

"What about Doris the dolphin?" Private spoke up, and Julien remembered hearing many tales about the sea mammal that had stolen the tall penguin's heart.

Kowalski glared at the young penguin, and Private ducked behind Rico as if he thought the bigger bird would protect him, but Rico looked bored with the scene in front of him.

"Who's Doris?" Alex asked, taking a step away from Kowalski.

"Um…," Kowalski stammered, turning back to the female penguin. "I used to have a tiny… itty bitty… crush on her. But—"

"More like a major, obsessive crush," Skipper interrupted. "But she never liked him back." He folded his flippers over his chest and smirked at the tall penguin.

"Yes, thank you, Skipper," Kowalski muttered. "I'm over her though," he added to Alex. "And what I feel for you is stronger than what I ever felt for Doris, and it's different than just a crush; it's love."

"Didn't you write Doris a poem once?" Private asked, and Rico grunted an agreement as if he was suddenly interested in what was going on again since everyone seemed to be giving Kowalski a hard time at the moment.

Kowalski glared at his friends, and they all shut their beaks. Then he turned back to Alex and told her," Trust me, I'm over Doris. I want you. I believe that we are each other's perfect match... if you will still have me."

Alex stared at him for a moment later, and then she glanced at Julien, who had taken a few steps away from the penguins and was now standing beside his subjects. He froze when she looked at him. He couldn't read her expression, which frustrated him.

Finally she turned back to Kowalski and nodded. "Okay," she said. "I still like you." She playfully tapped his beak and reached on her tiptoe to lay a kiss on his forehead. Julien rolled his eyes, annoyed at the penguins for interrupting his party, but more annoyed that his subject was dating one of Skipper's teammates. Could he order her not to date him?

As he watched them hug each other, though, he couldn't bring himself to say the words to command her not to see him anymore for some reason. He sighed and thought maybe he was getting sick.

Suddenly not wanting to party anymore, he walked over to the penguins and started pushing them out of his habitat, saying," It was fun having you visiting, but you must go." He eyed his new subject, not able to get it out of his mind that she could be his perfect match, but he was determined to never bring it up again. "I'll see you later, subject," he told her as he continued to push them.

Skipper turned on him. "Stop calling her that, Ringtail!" he snapped, sounding tired of the whole thing, but before the lemur could think of a comeback, the leader went on to his team," Come on, men, let's get back to our HQ." After shooting one last glare at Julien, the lead penguin led his team and Alex out of the lemur habitat.

Sighing, Julien watched them go. He didn't realize Maurice was beside him until the aye-aye said," Who would have thought your perfect match would be a penguin?"

When he said that, Julien glared at him. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. He jumped off the platform and went over to his bouncy house, annoyed and frustrated. He rolled his eyes as he thought about Alex being his perfect match.

Yeah, right!

Please review!