A.N.- Happy Valentine's Day everyone! In the spirit of the day, here's a little Valentine's one-shot of the science dorks.

Kowalski fiddled with the pebble box in his flipper. He and Francis had been dating for a little over a year now and things had been going pretty well… Perhaps even very well. He looked down at the box and swallowed. Zoo penguins may not propose with pebbles anymore, but they were still used to signify love and wanting…. But would Francis get that from the pebble, too, seeing as how he was not a penguin?

He gripped the box tighter in his flipper and opened his door to Blowhole's newest lair and walked in. Kowalski liked to think of it as his door anyhow, it really was just a small door the smaller agents used to enter and exit, but to him it was a door he could open and not get tangled in a booby trap, and he had permission to use it.

Kowalski waddled along to the lab, looking around for Francis. However, he wasn't there. Hmm. He headed out now, just looking for, well, anyone at this point.

Where the heck was everyone?

Finally, he came across a lobster, Red 36 maybe? He still was working on knowing them by number. Lucky Francis and his excellent dolphin memory who could just remember things whereas he himself had to write everything down or he would probably forget.

"Hey...You know where Dr. Blowhole is?"

The lobster looked up from his phone. "Uh yeah, he's out."

"Out?" Kowalski raised a nonexistent brow. "Out where?"

"No idea. Just out." He then scuttled away.

"Oh." He watched the lobster leave before sighing and waddling on to the lobby. Once there, he found a spot to sit and wait. He knew eventually Francis should enter through the water way. He couldn't help but wonder what he might be doing. "Probably just visiting Doris or his mom." He nodded to himself. That would be reasonable for Valentine's Day after all.

Kowalski smiled a little as he thought back to last Valentine's Day. Francis had caught him off-guard with giving him the wifi password. Francis did not just give out his wifi password. That was something you earned through building trust.

And then, the two had tried to destroy each other playing assorted video games. Kowalski couldn't remember who they decided won over all, but it had certainly been one of his better Valentine's Days.

He flipped open the box again to look at the pebble. In a way, that's what he wanted to give Francis this year. He knew Francis knew he liked him and was serious about their relationship, but it never hurt to actually show it every once in a while….And sharing it by means of penguin tradition sounded like a good idea to him, at least when he was looking for a nice pebble.

Kowalski flicked the box closed as he heard movement in the water to his left. He looked up and smiled as he saw that familiar dorsal fin poke up from the water. He sat the box on his feet where it would be hidden in his egg pouch as he waited for him to surface.

Blowhole bobbed his head up. "Oh hey, Kowalski, think fast!" He said before dunking his head back down into the water.

For a second the penguin sat in confusion, wondering what he was supposed to be thinking about when suddenly Blowhole surfaced again, this time throwing a wild sponge at him. "Asdljfsdf!" Kowalski fell back from the bench as the sponge hit him in the face.

Blowhole cackled as he hopped up onto the floor with a segway. "I told you to think fast." He said, looming over him. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Kowalski looked up at him from the floor and then held up his own little box with a nervous smile. "Happy Valentine's Day." As Blowhole got the box, he looked curiously at the sponge. Was this like...a pet? It must mean...something? Francis wouldn't just get him a random sponge...Right?

Blowhole opened the box. "A rock?" He glanced down at the penguin with a raised brow.

"Well, a pebble." He sat up, now holding the sponge. "It's a...penguin thing." He smiled sheepishly. "We uh...give pebbles to those we're uh...interested in."

"Oh." Blowhole nodded and gestured to the sponge. "That's what dolphins throw at their potential mates."

Kowalski looked at the sponge himself now and blinked. He had no idea dolphins had similar mating rituals as penguins, just with different objects. "Oh." A smile slowly grew across his beak. "Does...Does this mean we're getting a little more serious?"

Blowhole side-glanced him. "What do you think, Mittens?"

The penguin looked away with raised, flustered feathers and a chuckle. "Oh."

"Come on, it's time for me to seriously pwn you in Mario Kart again, peng-u-in." The dolphin smirked as he started rolling away.

"What?!" He gasped, quickly getting up and following. "Nuh uh. You're going down, Bottlenose!"

"In your dreams, loser." He cackled.

"Oh yeah?" Kowalski slid and caught up. "How about we make it more interesting? How many kisses do you want to bet?"

Blowhole looked down at him. "We're doing bets in kisses now?"

"...Maybe."

The dolphin just rolled his eyes with an amused smile. "Alright, how about this Valentine's edition of game night? Loser has to kiss the winner between games. Overall loser for the night pays for dinner tonight. I'm thinking we'll call in pizza."

"You're on!" Kowalski grinned and slid ahead of him for the game room.

"Such a dork." Blowhole chuckled, shaking his head as he followed him.