Title: Promises to keep
Fandom: Penguins of Madagascar
Pairing(s): Rico/Kowalski
Warning: Homosexuality, furries
Summary: Rico has an odd almost prophetic dream, and the whole day, he mopes and mulls it over, though he isn't exactly an Einstein or Da Vinci.

Mort screamed incomprehensibly, mixing the names of Julien and Maurice as he cried. Julien, more worried than he would have ever admitted, called down into the sewer, "Mort! Are you okay down dere?"

"Y-your majesty…" Maurice began, "Maybe we should ask the penguins for help—I mean, this is the type of thing they—"

"Say no more, simian." Skipper shook his head, flippers folded, and his men held their positions nicely. When Skipper finally dropped his façade, so did the others. Rico eyed Kowalski with a snarky grin and Kowalski snorted, but smiled back. "What's the deal? We were getting ready for bed when—"

"KING JULI-HE-HEEENNN!" Mort echoed from the manhole. Private gasped.

"Oh! He's down there, Skippah!"

"Good observation, Private!" Skipper patted the youngest crewmember's back, feeling rather liberal with compliments. He pointed to the strategist. "Kowalski, options!"

"Uh," Kowalski paused; Rico was standing behind him, a little closer than 'friends' should. "Ahem, we could lower someone down via cable or rope to collect Mort and transfer him safely…" The tall one tapped his beak with a pen, and pointed at a specific spot. Rico taped down an X on command. "There!"

"Hmm…" Skipper peered around the group, and his eyes happened to fall upon, lo and behold, Private. "You think you're up for a mission, Private?"

Looking a little more than hesitant, Private gulped and ambled to his leader. "Uh…sh-sure, Skippah…" He wasn't one to refuse his flat-topped prince.

Rico coughed up a long rope, which Kowalski pulled from his gut like a train of scarves from the mouth of a clown. When he felt there was enough, Kowalski snipped the thick chord and tied it tightly around the small bird's middle. The end, he handed to Rico, the strongest of the four. "Hold tight to that, Rico." He advised, Rico nodded vigorously and clenched hard, determined. For a moment, Kowalski admired that look, until Rico averted his eyes nervously.

"Ready, Private?" Skipper mumbled, patting his young friend's back. Private blushed and nodded, clenching his eyes.

"C-could you push me, Skippah?"

"Already way ahead of you!" Skipper called as Private plummeted. The poor boy let out a squeal and choked on it when the rope hauled him to a stop.

At the surface, Rico grunted, and fed the rope until he felt Private pull and the reverberation of, "Got 'im!" rang to their ears.

Julien sighed in relief and took the dirty, shaking lemur from the penguin's grasp, standing exactly on the X Rico had made. Maurice took him from Julien and hugged the mouse lemur, ignoring the grime, then sat him down gently. "What is to be wrong with you!" Julien scolded, "You scared m…" he paused. And pointed to Maurice. "You scared poor Maurice half to the grave!"

"S-sorry, King Julien…" Mort shivered under his king's cruel gaze. "I felled in…" he hugged his tail and fell silent. Maurice sighed.

Guiltily, Julien picked him up off the ground and said complacently, "Let us return to the home."

"YAY!"

"Ah, shut up, you are so annoying."

"Hehehe."

Skipper turned to his men, "Well, boys, I think it's…uh…" he peered at his tallest crewmates, who seemed to be in some sort of one on one staring match, even if neither of them looked particularly competitive at the moment. Private didn't seem to notice, he was too busy making googly eyes, at what, or whom, Skipper didn't know. "…time for bed."

A/N: I got that 'push me' joke from Futurama. The episode with the balls, you know the one. If you don't, well, you're **** outta luck because I don't know the episode name. And those stars (I don't know what else to call them) are for a cuss word, you can choose which one you want it to represent.