So it seemed the dolphin had an even more futuristic kitchen than his lab. The floors were tiled and smooth so his Segway just glided across the floor. The walls where a cool colour of grey, with white cabinets which illuminated the room. Strips of lights ran across the ceiling. Kowalski couldn't even tell what half of the kitchen appliances were. There was a huge oven and stove top which looked so sleek and shiny. Come to think of it, what would a dolphin need with so many kitchen appliances? Did he cook? What was the point since all he nutritionally required was fresh raw fish.

On the far side of the kitchen, on a granite countertop was a coffee machine. Not a silly instant coffee machine like the penguins had back at the HQ. No, this was an espresso machine, which took freshly ground coffee beans from the next machine over and made real coffee. So Blowhole was a barista too, good to know.

Blowhole began to process of making the coffee. Kowalski just watched in silence wondering why someone would go through all that trouble just for a cup of coffee. As the machine started to steam and do it's own thing Blowhole turned back to Kowalski with the same smug look on his face. The one Kowalski knew was about to rub all of his possessions in his face again. This was getting old now.

"Coffee for you?" Blowhole asked.

Kowalski looked a little starstruck but nodded.

"Latte, cappuccino, Americano, flat white? What do you want?"

Kowalski took another moment to think then just stared back blankly.

"There's a difference?"

Blowhole looked a little perplexed and then sighed.

"Strong or weak coffee?"

"Strong."

Kowalski had no idea what the dolphin was going on about with the coffee. Kowalski was a scientist not a caffeine enthusiast. That was Skipper's thing. But before long the coffee was made and the pair found themselves sitting around a polished wood table in the middle of the room. Or, rather, Kowalski was sitting on it while Blowhole sat at it.

Kowalski had to admit the coffee was good. It wasn't at all grainy like instant coffee or watered down. It was flavorful and smooth.

Kowalski was starting to get comfortable until the door suddenly opened and in scuttled a lobster. Kowalski had no idea which one. They all looked the same to him.

"Ah, Doc, there ya are. Why haven't you sent the report yet? Have you even finished the beta test for-" the lobster looked serious. Seriously annoyed and suddenly lost his tense expression as he looked up and noticed Kowalski sitting there.

Kowalski stared at the little red guy as he stared at him. If Kowalski's memory served correctly then this one sounded like Red One. It had to have been a lobster close to Blowhole for him to get away with speaking to him in a tone like that.

Blowhole rolled his eye and put his chin in his flipper, leaning sloppily on the table.

"Speak."

"You didn't tell me he was here today."

"Irrelevant. Speak."

The lobster grew more and more aggravated. Kowalski couldn't tell why. He had no idea of the relations Blowhole had with his lobsters. Though, he had said they were friends, perhaps this was tension from something that had happened previously.

"Have you completed the beta test for the Behemothvirus?"

"Yes, I did this morning."

"Then why haven't you sent the reports yet?"

Blowhole looked away from the lobster and picked up his cup of coffee before replying in a quieter tone.

"I haven't written them up yet."

The lobster took a moment, looked at Kowalski and then back to Blowhole who looked like he wished the ground would just swallow the lobster up.

"Then what have you been doing all afternoon? I don't want to flip out again but how do you justify punishing us for being behind schedule when you never meet your deadlines either?"

Kowalski looked away. This was awkward. Was Blowhole getting a scolding right now? Now that was a funny thing to witness.

"It will get done. Just have everyone finish early today."

The lobster spun around and headed back out the door, mumbling what sounded like, "you try my patience, you really do."

The door closed and the room was thrust into silence. An awkward silence. Kowalski could have sworn he could hear both his and Blowhole's heart beats. He cleared his throat after taking a sip of coffee and chuckled nervously.

"That was uncomfortable."

Blowhole perked up and rolled his eye after an exasperated sigh.

"Tell me about it. He's always on my case about the littlest and most insignificant things."

Kowalski chuckled again.

"Sounds like Skipper."

Blowhole cocked a brow and took a sip at his coffee.

"How so?"

"Well, he's always on my tail about my inventions. I can't just go out I have to declare where I'm going. I know we're military services and every man needs to be accountable at all times but sometimes I feel as though it infringes on my rights of privacy."

Blowhole looked up and nodded. He seemed to understand somewhat, and Kowalski couldn't tell if that put him at ease or made him feel slightly uncomfortable for relating to a villain.

"Red's just too serious. The only time I'm allowed to enjoy myself and do something that's not work related is when I'm sleeping."

"You don't enjoy work?"

"No, I love work. But I also love being me."

Kowalski didn't know how to feel. He was getting to know the dolphin more and after every piece of information he began to feel as though they were maybe one in the same. A lot more similar than he had previously thought. Blowhole was a bad guy. There was no denying that he deserved jail time and torment for some of the horrible things he had done. Heck, he almost murdered Skipper once. But bad guys don't pledge their lives to mutiny over nothing. There's always a trigger. Blowhole had been wronged and Kowalski didn't deny that but how one deals with the trauma is what determines who they are. In Blowhole's case he could have used his experiences to better himself and help others. Instead of killing off all of the humans he could have helped to free others trapped in tanks that where forced to perform as he did. But he let anger dominate his mind and take over. He was fueled on rage and that's where his mistakes manifested.

Perhaps a little understanding was all he needed to see the error of his ways. Or like some, he was in too deep and the only escape would be his impending death.

Kowalski sighed a little awkwardly. Just what had he gotten himself into? He was entwined deep in these vines now that he couldn't see the sunlight any longer.

"So, how are you going to structure my learning to read?"

Blowhole was snapped out of his little daydream and thought for a moment before downing the rest of his coffee and giving a pleasant smile.

"I'll assess what you know already. The alphabet, words you may already know. We'll start with some phonics. That's always a smart way to go about it. You're not the first I've taught to read so don't panic, I have experience."

Kowalski nodded eagerly. He was kind of excited to learn to read. The skill would certainly make a few things easier for him. Note taking would be far more sufficient and maybe he could pick up a new hobby like book reading. He was quite a fan of the forensic shows on the TV, except Private found them unsettling so he wasn't allowed to watch them most of the time. But being able to read would mean he could read stories all he wanted and none of the other penguins would have room to complain. Though, the actual learning part posed a small challenge.

Kowalski found himself in Blowhole's office, sitting on the desk while Blowhole held out a piece of paper he had written on. Kowalski was almost 100% sure this was the alphabet. There were 26 letters so it had to have been the alphabet. Kowalski had already explained to the dolphin what letters he did know and small words like 'I' and 'a'.

Blowhole was also surprisingly patient. Kowalski knew he was picking everything up much faster than anyone else Blowhole had probably taught but even then, Blowhole had shown hints of a short temper before so it was surprising to see him so at ease. Though, it was probably because he felt superior to Kowalski at this moment in time and that kept him content.

"One more time. Repeat," Blowhole said as he pointed to the letters marked on the page.

Kowalski continued to recite the alphabet perfectly, which granted him a smile from the dolphin and they moved on.

Blowhole grabbed a clean sheet of paper and a pencil and leaned back in his chair after folding the sheet of paper containing the alphabet. He gave a smug look as Kowalski looked confused and picked up the pencil.

"Alright, write me the letter F," Blowhole said.

Kowalski looked down at the sheet and wracked his brain for the letter F. He couldn't quite see it. He could identify it if it was laying in front of him but now with the dolphin scouring over him his mind went blank. He did put something on the paper though. It looked like an F only...

"It's upside down. How did you manage that?"

Blowhole tried not to chuckle as Kowalski sighed and tried again. It was a little wobbly and his lines weren't perfect but it was readable. And anyway, he was a penguin with no fingers to speak of.

"Now how about an E? A lowercase E."

"Lowercase? You haven't shown me any lowercase letters," Kowalski replied.

Blowhole smirked and crossed his flippers.

"I'm trying to challenge you. Learning is no fun unless it's challenging."

"Yes, but learning becomes actually possible once you teach me what I need to know."

Blowhole's smirk faded as Kowalski congratulated himself on the clap back.

Blowhole snatched the pencil back and began writing more on the piece of paper. Probably the alphabet but lowercase this time. Kowalski just sat there and stared as Blowhole's flipper smoothly glided across the paper, creating cohesive lines. It was oddly mesmerising to watch someone write.

But upon closer examination, Kowalski noticed something besides Blowhole's flawless handwriting. He had very small grey freckle like spots on his flippers. He had never noticed them before. Probably because he had never been so close to the dolphin before. Of course, a dolphin can have freckles, spots and shifts in skin pigment but it looked strange for him to only have them on the tips of his flippers. Doris didn't have any freckles par that one beauty spot below her eye. But then her flippers were a lot darker than Blowhole's and so was the rest of her skin. In fact they didn't look anything alike. Were they sure they were siblings?

Kowalski was harshly snapped out his trance as Blowhole shoved the end of the pencil right into his partially open beak. Kowalski panicked for a moment, coughing and grabbing the pencil away from Blowhole as he cackled in laughter.

"Can we not be professional about this?" Kowalski snapped as he slammed the pencil down on the table.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. What were you even thinking about? You were so far away." Blowhole couldn't help let out a few more giggles.

"I was thinking about Doris," Kowalski said truthfully.

Blowhole rolled his eye and leaned away like he had heard enough already.

"Do you have to be so pretentious?"

Kowalski shook his head and then pointed back to Blowhole's flippers where they rested on the table.

"I couldn't help notice your freckles and recall if Doris had them too."

Blowhole looked down and picked up his flippers to inspect them. He didn't look too happy about the topic of conversation though after hiding his flippers under the table as if he were ashamed of his imperfections.

"They're new. And I'd appreciate if we could get back to this," Blowhole said nodding his head back to the paper.

"You were the one joking around."

"I didn't know my sister was into guys with no sense of humour," Blowhole mumbled.

Kowalski ignored the jab and thought it better not to fight back. He had a sense of humour, one that was more complex than just poking people with sticks apparently. And so the lesson continued. Though, now he made sure not to zone out in case Blowhole tried anymore of his funny business.

The lesson was eventful. With Kowalski having fully memorized the alphabet and all its letters, both upper and lowercase. He had also started on words too. Small sentences with short words like the famous 'the cat sat on the mat'. Blowhole had also joked around just a little with literacy jokes such as why can't you hear a Pterodactyl go to the bathroom? Apparently the answer was because the P is silent but Kowalski didn't get it. Perhaps he would in time but for how he didn't even want to imagine how the word Pterodactyl was spelled.

Soon enough, the day was drawing to a close. Kowalski couldn't quite believe how much time he had willingly spent with the dolphin but at the same time he couldn't wait to leave and get back to his own comrades. He also had his knew shoes and matching gloves to bring back too. He was looking forward to showing them off to everyone and showing how he could make a working invention. He obviously wouldn't tell them it was half Blowhole's work and that made him feel slightly victorious. Taking credit for someone else's work didn't seem right to him but if it meant taking credit away from Blowhole then he was all for it.