Chapter Text
There were more people and cameras around than usual. Kurt didn’t notice or care though. They could do whatever they wanted so long as they stayed on the other side of the glass and didn’t drop things into the enclosure.
He dove through the crystal clear water, intent on the bottom of the tank. The bottom of the tank was where all the good pebbles were: the shiny and sparkly pebbles that the others were too lazy to go after. The other pebble penguins wanted quick and easy, so they foraged around the ersatz ice flows for pebbles that had been left over from previous nesting seasons. Kurt couldn’t settle for leftovers though. He’d accept nothing but the best for him, his nest, his potential mate and his future offspring.
The other penguins were already starting to pair off. The lazier penguins that just went after any old pebbles had completed their nests days ago and had already begun trying to impress potential mates. Pretty soon, there wouldn’t be any penguins left for Kurt and that thought worried him. He didn’t want to be alone, not for yet another endless year.
He was only a few meters from the bottom of the enclosure. He could spot the tiny pebbles at the bottom of the tank: beckoning, calling to him. The closer you got to the bottom of the tank, the darker it got, so it took a discerning, well-trained eye to figure out which of the multitudes of pebbles would glint the best in the sunlight once he got back up on the ice flows.
Several dark shapes jetted passed him, the rush of moving water created by their path pushing Kurt out of the way and making him topple end over end. The last shape to pass brushed up against him, further jostling the surprised penguin. “Hey!” The shape, an emperor penguin, glanced back at him momentarily before speeding up to catch up with the rest of his friends. They were hunting the fish that the handlers kept stocked in their tank. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put the sensible pebble penguins in a tank with the large, rambunctious walrus-brained emperor penguins was a dumbass. The emperor penguins were complete idiots as far as Kurt was concerned. They spent all their time hunting and never even bothered with nests. Why waste precious time and energy hunting fish when the caretakers handed them perfectly bite-sized little fish several times a day? He’d never understand the allure of hunting; it was completely beyond him.
He swooped around the bottom of the tank, eyeing over all the possible pebble selections. Some of the pebbles were large, some were small, some were rough, some were smooth, some were round, some were oblong, some were grey, some were whitish, some were purplish, some were bluish. There was any number of color schemes or textures to choose from when designing and building a nest. But Kurt wanted shiny. One particular pebble caught his attention; it was a bit larger than he normally liked, but it had a smooth white and tan side and a rounded, mottled, backside. The flat side should reflect the sun’s rays nicely. He plucked it up in his beak and started his ascent up to the surface, dodging fish and emperor penguins as he did so.
He erupted from the water like a torpedo and landed with a delicate grace on his stomach. He had come up out of the water at just the right place and speed so he slid right up beside his nest of pebbles. He delicately stepped over the raised side of his nest and looked for the perfect place for his new acquisition. There was a small recess in the wall that was in desperate need of some filler; he placed the new pebble there and was dismayed to see that it didn’t lie flush with the rest of the pebble wall. He pulled it back out again and looked around his nest for what he could rearrange. A few pebbles could fit in nicely in the recessed spot, and he could put the new pebble where he had taken the old pebbles from and then he could get rid of a few pebbles that didn’t meet his high standards. He found a good sized cluster of pebbles that he could afford to move without completely wrecking his nest and began the tedious process of pulling them out delicately and relocating them one by one.
He told himself he was being a perfectionist. In truth, he was trying to make busy-work for himself: trying to get himself to think of anything but the sad fact that he was one of the only penguins not to pair up this season. Of the pebble penguins, Tina had Mike, Mercedes had Sam, even Artie – the penguin with the broken wing that couldn’t swim very well – had Sugar. All that was left really was Brittany. Kurt couldn’t make a nest with her. Her nest was full of funny colored pebbles, sticks, leaves, and even a twist-tie. Where had she even found a twist-tie? The humans usually took things like that away from them.
Kurt put the larger pebble into the spot where he had taken the grouping of pebbles from. It didn’t fit. Kurt was just so frustrated with everything – the pebbles not fitting right, all of the penguins pairing off, the stupid emperor penguins getting in the way while hunting their stupid fish – Kurt was just about ready to smash his entire nest and start over. Not like he had anyone to impress, anyways. He pulled one of the stupid pebbles that had gotten in the way of the stupid new pebble out of the nest by his beak and spat it out trying to get it back in the water. He acted quicker than he looked, though, and noticed a moment too late that he had actually spat the pebble at someone. Kurt gasped as the pebble ricocheted off the chest of an emperor penguin: an emperor penguin that was easily four inches taller than Kurt. Kurt ducked his head down, trying his best to look apologetic and meek. He had no doubt this penguin would shove him into the water and wreck his nest in retaliation.
The emperor penguin cocked his head to the side before bending down and placing something in front of Kurt’s nest. Kurt was too busy focusing on the emperor penguins pointed beak to notice what he had placed down and continued watching his face as he stood back up. “Hello.”
Kurt could feel his neck tense, preparing for an assault. “Hi.” He kept his voice low and delicate.
“You collect the shiny pebbles, don’t you?”
Kurt nodded. The emperor penguins almost never talked to the pebble penguins; why was this one here at his nest, talking to him?
“I found this one a few weeks ago and thought you might like it. One of the trainers dropped it in the tank.” The larger penguin bent his head back down and pushed the shiny pebble forward with his beak. Kurt had never seen such a shiny pebble. It was clear and glinted and shimmered all over. It almost glowed it was so shiny. “It had a yellow circle attached to it, but I was able to pry it loose.”
Kurt slowly moved forward, bending over the side of his nest to pick it up ever…so…delicately in his beak. Still afraid that the emperor penguin might hurt him, he slowly backed into his nest, trying to make himself invisible. Even more than being hurt, he was afraid the emperor penguin had only brought the shiny pebble to tease him and would try to take it back. He placed the pebble solemnly down in the center of his nest and started surveying the walls; there was nowhere good enough for this pebble that shined like a star. He would have to rebuild his entire nest to make this perfect little pebble the centerpiece.
Once he had reached that conclusion, he looked back up to thank the emperor penguin only to see him waddling away, back to the colony of other emperor penguins. Kurt tripped over the wall of his nest in his hurry to catch up with the other penguin, not caring that the wall crumbled under his weight. “Hey! Hey, wait up! Wait up.” The emperor penguin turned around and looked at Kurt. “David? It’s David, right?”
“I, um… yeah.” The big penguin’s voice got soft at the end, sounding surprised and pleased that Kurt knew his name.
“I…um… thank you.”
David penguin lowered his head down and nudged at the ground with his webbed-foot, like he was being bashful. “Was nuthin’”
“No, really. You didn’t have to do that. I know emperor penguins don’t really care about pebbles, but that one is just so gorgeous I’m sure your mate would have loved it even still.”
David looked up, his head tilted questioningly. “My mate?”
“Ummm…” Kurt knew all the emperor penguins (after all, they all lived in the same enclosure – seriously, who had really thought that would be a good idea?), but it still took him a second to pull up her name. “The big one. Santana?”
David shook his head. “She’s my friend. We hang out and fish together, but we aren’t mates. She actually wants to be mates with a pebble penguin.”
“A PEBBLE penguin?” Kurt wasn’t sure he’d heard right. He’d never heard of an emperor penguin and a pebble penguin wanting to be together.
“I don’t see nuthin’ wrong with that. They like each other.”
“Who?” Almost as soon as he asked, he knew the answer. “Brittany?” He’d seen them swimming around together, but he’d never thought anything of it.
David nodded. “I don’t see anything wrong with likin’ one of you pebbles. You’re kind of a cute species.”
Kurt could feel his face warm up. “Um… thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” They stood quietly after that, looking at each other and wallowing in the awkwardness of the silence. “Umm…I should go. I’ve got a demonstration with some humans soon and I think they’re getting ready to feed you pebbles.”
Kurt looked over his shoulder to see the big, fake rock-wall opening up and a human, dressed up in a black wetsuit stepping through the wall. He turned around to say goodbye to David, but the emperor was already gone.
Chapter 2: 2
Chapter Text
Kurt had intentionally destroyed his nest. He had spend hours meticulously putting it back together all with David’s pebble in mind. He had to arrange the new nest so that all of the other pebbles complemented David’s pebble and made it stand out; they had to flatter it, not detract from it. Even though David had given it to Kurt, Kurt still thought of it as David’s pebble. He hadn’t done anything worthy of such a special pebble, he certainly didn’t deserve it, so while he may have loved it dearly, he wouldn’t have been shocked if David reclaimed the pebble as his own. He wouldn’t have been able to say ‘no’ if David had asked for it back.
But, then again, there was nothing to stop him from hiding every time he saw David come near. The second he saw the regal (yet oddly slouched) baring of the emperor penguin, he would snatch up David’s pebble and hide behind a nearby rock formation or dive with it into the water.
Even though seeing David made his heart pleasantly woozy every time he saw him.
He thought about what David had said about Santana liking Brittany and about pebble penguins being ‘cute’. He thought about it a lot. Mostly while he watched David. He liked watching the bigger penguin when he was certain he himself couldn’t be seen. Or wouldn’t be seen. David did several demonstrations for humans throughout the day. He wasn’t the tallest of the emperor penguins, by any means (that distinction went to Finn), but overall he was the largest. His size, lack of fear when it came to humans, and his grudging acceptance of their horrid poking and prodding made it really easy for them to use him for classes. He was at a class right now. A human had scooped him up and carried him to the highest point on their makeshift ice flow and was pulling his wings out and making him lift his feet to show the adoring humans on the other side of the glass. David took all this manhandling (penguin-handling?) in good stride. And why wouldn’t he? The handlers gave him the good fish for being patient and accommodating: nice little sardines he could swallow in one gulp.
Content that David would be busy with his demonstration for a while, Kurt busied himself with his nest, taking this pebble from here and putting it there or pushing out this wall and bringing this one back in. Everything had to be perfect. He got caught up in his work and didn’t even hear the shuffling of webbed-feet approaching him until a soft, wet plop announced the presence of a dropped fish. Kurt looked up and almost jumped when he saw David standing in front of him, a fat, smelly sardine at his feet. “Hi.”
Kurt looked down at David’s pebble, down at the sardine at David’s feet, up at David, and then at his nest. He was positive David was here to repossess the pebble in exchange for the plump sardine. “Hello, David.”
“I brought you this.” David pushed the sardine closer to Kurt with his beak. “I prefer to hunt my own fish.”
Just like he had with David’s pebble, Kurt cautiously stepped forward, bent over and picked up the gift with his beak. He swallowed it down in a hungry slurp. He’d been so fixated on his nest lately he’d been late to many of the feedings, only getting the smaller remaining fish. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” David stared at his feet, shuffling them nervously. “I uh…I see you’re redoing your nest.”
Kurt nodded. “Yeah, I had to make it look good for that pebble you brought me.” Kurt was careful not to say gave, afraid that would remind David that he had come to take it back. “And I kind of tripped over one of the walls with my big ol’ feet.”
David huffed in laughter. “You call your feet big? Look at these ginormous polar bear feet.” David lifted up one of his black webbed feet to how Kurt. Kurt lifted his foot and placed the bottom of it against David’s in comparison. He was positively Lilliputian in comparison.
“What’s a polar bear?”
David thought about that for a minute. “You know, I’m not really sure. It’s a really big animal of some kind, I’m sure. Humans always ask if polar bears eat penguins. Almost every demonstration we get that question.”
“I saw you doing one of your demonstrations earlier. I don’t know if I could stand a human touching me like that.”
“The humans pet me. I like being pet. And sometimes, the girl-human, she rubs my tummy.”
“The vet pets me before he gives me shots. That’s why I don’t like being pet.”
David had never really thought of associating petting with the vet, but now that Kurt brought it up, the vet did usually pet him right before he got a shot. “Then I guess I won’t pet you, if you don’t like it.”
Kurt blushed. “I wouldn’t mind it so much if you were petting me…” Kurt could feel his face get violently hot at what he just said and was quick to amend, “That is, so long as you keep bringing me fish. I mean if you’re having fun petting me I should get something out of the deal.”
David stepped closer to Kurt until he was right outside the nest. “I will bring you all the fishes you could ever want.”
Kurt ducked his head down, afraid of looking at David and giving away his feelings. “I’d like that.”
David bowed deeply to Kurt. Kurt had seen the emperor penguins do that before; it was part of their mating dance. Kurt wasn’t sure of all the steps, but that much he knew. He bowed deeply in return.
xoxoxo
Kurt was small enough to stand between David’s feet, warming himself against David’s downy tummy the way mother and father penguins warmed their babies. Kurt was the perfect height for David to rest his head on while they slept like that. Kurt loved the reassuring feel of David’s head resting on his own; it was a constant reminder that he was loved and, more importantly, was no longer alone in the world. Ever since his own parents had been moved to a different zoo, he had felt horribly alone. He didn’t fit in with any of the other penguins; he’d always been different, but had never realized just how different. Not until he fell in love with an emperor penguin, that is.
The nest wasn’t finished yet, but David didn’t seem to care. David went fishing throughout the day, whenever he didn’t have demonstrations, while Kurt stayed home and worked on the nest. Several times a day, David would erupt out of the water, a fish in his beak, and remind Kurt to stop working and eat. Sometimes David would chase Kurt out of the nest and into the water so that they could swim together. Kurt loved David’s childlike playfulness.
The only other time Kurt had ever felt like this was when he’d been temporarily transferred to an aquarium. When Kurt’s parents had been relocated, he had stopped eating and the humans had decided it was best for Kurt to move him somewhere with more penguin specialists. The aquarium had been a wonder – for a while. He had become amazing friends with another pebble penguin and was certain he had finally found his mate. The other penguin, Blaine, hadn’t been as interested in Kurt as Kurt had been in Blaine and the allure of the aquarium died down. Once the specialists at the aquarium were positive Kurt was happy and healthy they had returned him to the zoo.
And he was glad for it.
If they hadn’t returned him to the zoo, he never would have met his beloved emperor penguin.
xoxoxo
Neither Kurt nor David understood the stir they were causing with the humans that visited the zoo. While Santana and Brittany were low-key and quiet about their budding courtship, Kurt and David nested together for all the world to see. While there were usually lots of cameras around the penguin enclosure, there were more now than there had ever been…and most of the cameras were pointed right at Kurt and David. The fact that two male penguins, of different species, were sharing a nest together, occasionally even building a nest together (when Kurt could peck at David enough to get him to help him with the walls), for some odd reason astounded the humans. Kurt neither knew about this nor cared.
Neither of them were working on the nest right now. It was finished and Kurt had been upset since then. David wanted to cheer him up. A brief glance around the enclosure told David what was making Kurt so sad. Most of the other penguin couples, emperors and pebbles alike, had laid eggs. Kurt wasn’t jealous, per se, he was just depressed. He told himself he should be happy he had David, but his instincts told him that a mate wasn’t enough. A mate had a purpose and Kurt and David couldn’t fulfill that purpose.
David head-butted Kurt in his back, pushing him out of the nest and towards the water. “I don’ wanna swim today.”
“Stop whining. We’re not gonna swim – we’re gonna slide.”
There was a ramp and slide built into the back wall of the enclosure. Kurt had never really had any interest in the slide. Sliding was something emperor penguins did. Penguins like Puck and Finn spent almost all of their time on the slide. Kurt just couldn’t picture himself, an intelligent, sensible pebble penguin playing on a slide.
David herded him towards the slide, not giving Kurt any choice in the matter. Kurt popped out of the water onto the ramp with David close behind. As David steered Kurt up the ramp, giving him occasional nudges of encouragement, cameras flashed from all around the enclosure, trying to immortalize the moment of bonding between the two male penguins. When Kurt got to the top of the ramp, he looked over the side and backed up. “Oh, no. No, no, no. I’ll break my neck sliding down that.” Kurt tried to scuttle passed David, but he blocked his path.
“We’re at the same height whether you take the ramp down or the slide down. May as well take the slide; it’s more fun that way.”
Kurt tried to duck around David on his other side. “No…no, no, no.”
David held up a wing to stop Kurt. “There’s only one way you’re getting off this rock and it’s not through me.”
Kurt looked at David, then over his shoulder at the slide. Down at the bottom he could see the bobbing heads of other penguins watching him from the water. “Slide!” One of them shouted.
“Slide!” Came another voice.
The bobbing emperor penguin heads took up the chant, egging Kurt on. “Slide! Slide! Slide!”
Kurt sighed and looked at David, pleading with his eyes. “Are you really gonna make me do this?”
“Make you have fun? Yep. Now slide.”
Kurt took a step towards the slide and lowered himself onto his belly. He looked one more time over his shoulder at David. David nodded encouragingly. Pushing off with his feet, Kurt began hurtling down the slide. He dragged his feet against the smooth surface of the slide, trying to slow himself down. It didn’t seem to work. He landed with a loud sploosh! in the water below. As much as he hated to admit it, it was kind of exhilarating. He came back up to the surface spluttering for air. “Did you see that? I did it! Did you see, did you see?”
The emperor penguins weren’t too impressed. “My grandma moves faster than that.” Said one penguin.
Another said “Ha! My egg moves faster than that.”
“Not if I stomp on it.” Kurt turned around to see David bobbing in the water behind him. David must have gone down the slide immediately after Kurt. The penguin David had threatened glared at him. David lurched forward threateningly at the other emperor penguin.
Kurt pressed his forehead against David and pushed him through the water until they were back on one of the ice flows.
“Don’t listen to them, Kurt. They’re just walrus-brains. I’ve seen some of them fall off the slide. You were incredible for a first-timer.”
Kurt could feel his face heating up again. David was so kind to him.
As they waddled back to their nest together, a human came along and scooped David up. She cuddled him and coo-ed at him. Kurt sighed as his mate was taken off for yet another demonstration and waddled home, alone.
When he got there, he was greeted with a surprise. One far better than the special pebble David had given him.
xoxoxo
David had bit the human. He didn’t like the way she poked and prodded at him. He didn’t even want to do a demonstration today. He just wanted to relax in his nest with his mate. The human hadn’t even really seemed to notice the bite. She laughed it off with the audience, “Aw, he’s given me kissies!” Little children squealed with delight.
He did notice he didn’t get as many fish out of her as usual. Kurt would be disappointed. He loved the fish David got for demonstrations better than any other fish.
He rounded one of the rock formations in the enclosure as he neared his and Kurt’s nest. Kurt was puffed up, waiting for him. He appeared to be standing with something but David couldn’t be too certain. “Whatcha got there?”
Kurt looked lovingly at him. “An egg.”
David stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at the egg perched on Kurt’s feet. He looked at the egg. He looked at Kurt. He looked back at the egg. He looked back at Kurt. “You’re a girl?!”
Kurt’s eyes went wide. “No!...I mean…I don’t think so.” Kurt looked himself over, first his front side, then his backside, wiggling his tail when he looked at his backside. “How do I tell?”
David thought about that. He knew he was a boy because the humans always called him a ‘he.’ “I have no idea.”
David approached his mate, his nest, and what was, apparently, his egg. He bent over to look closely at the egg. It looked different than any of the other eggs. Around the enclosure, humans, both staff and spectators, waited with baited breath. “Are you sure it’s an egg? I’ve never seen one like that before.”
“What else could it be?” Kurt looked down at the ball sitting on his feet, not knowing, or caring, that it was a soft ball. “Maybe it looks different because it’s half-emperor, half-pebble?”
David thought about that. It was as good a reasoning as anything he could come up with. He pushed at the egg with his beak, pushing it up Kurt’s feet and more snuggled into the warmth of Kurt’s feathers. “What do you call a penguin that’s half-emperor, half-pebble?”
Kurt thought that over. “’Pemblerer?’”
David shook his head. “No, how about ‘pemple?’”
Kurt tried that out. “’Pemple’…hmmm, not quite right. How about Emble?”
“Emble?”
Kurt parroted back his mate. “’Emble’…an ‘emble’ penguin. I like it.”
David stepped over the wall of their nest, and settled behind his mate. Kurt scootched himself backwards, mindful of the egg balanced on his feet, until he was warmly snuggled against David.
Chapter 3: 3
Chapter Text
Kurt and David traded off on the egg every few days. Sometimes Kurt would watch it while David hunted or did demonstrations, sometimes David watched it while Kurt swam, stretched, and kept their nest perfectly upkept. Now that their nest had an actual purpose Kurt had to make certain that it was the best nest anyone had ever seen. Weeks went by and they took turns feeding each other and keeping their egg warm, completely unaware that nothing was growing in it.
When the other eggs around the penguin enclosure started hatching, Kurt got nervous. Where was their baby? When was their baby coming? But David just reminded Kurt that they had laid their egg well after all the other penguins.
The humans continued to swarm around the penguin enclosure snapping photographs of the male penguins taking care of an egg together. It was the human-interest story of the year. Kurt didn’t know or care about this. All he cared about was the little egg sitting on his feet. He delicately turned the egg every so often, making sure that their growing baby wouldn’t get too hot on one side and too cold on the other. The longer he had the egg, the more nervous he got about it.
And the longer Kurt and David cared for the egg, the more guilty the zoo staff felt. What would happen when the two penguins realized that their egg was a fake? Would they ever realize it, or would they continue to take care of it until their breeding years had ended?
As intent as Kurt was on taking care of that egg, he was starting to get disheartened. David took his turn for a few days and couldn’t help noticing that, every time Kurt came back to the nest and saw the egg still un-hatched, his shoulders slumped a little bit more. David nuzzled at the egg. He had had a gut feeling the first time he saw the egg that something was wrong with it, but it made his mate happy, and that’s all he cared about. He just wanted Kurt happy.
They switched again and it was Kurt’s turn to watch the egg while David hunted. He waddled home one day from the far side of the enclosure, a fish in his beak, when he saw a human scoop up Kurt and walk away with him.
Kurt struggled and thrashed, but there wasn’t a whole lot a penguin could do against a human. David chased after the human with his mate squawking angrily. Neither of them saw the other human sneaking over to their nest to take the egg away.
xoxoxo
Several weeks ago, at a zoo several hours away from Kurt and David’s zoo, a penguin lost all interest in its egg after only a month of watching it. The egg was just abandoned. It had been taken to the zoo infirmary where diligent veterinarians and technicians made sure it was incubated properly. All of the zoos, of course, knew about the two male penguins caring for a fake egg, and the zoo had made the decision to donate the newborn chick to the zoo where David and Kurt lived, curious to see if the two males would care for a real baby.
xoxoxo
The vet check-up had been a nightmare. Kurt worried constantly about his egg. And his mate. He’d seen his mate being taken away; David had been biting and thrashing like his life depended on it. David had been checked out by the vet, as well, and then put aside until he could calm down. Meanwhile, Kurt had been returned to the enclosure. He waddled back to his and David’s nest feeling defeated, positive that their egg had gotten too cold without their protection. But there, in the center of their nest, looking around dazed and confused and frightened was a tiny greyish chick. It caught sight of Kurt and chirruped inquisitively at him.
Kurt slowly approached the little baby, almost afraid that if he got too close it would turn out to be a hallucination. As Kurt got closer the little chick puffed up and let out another chirrup. Kurt felt his heart getting heavy; the chick was so precious it almost hurt. He had never thought love at first sight was possible, but seeing this chick, his chick, he knew it was real.
xoxoxo
David thudded back to the nest grumbling under his breath. It was difficult to “walk angrily” when your main method of walking was waddling; waddling made it hard to properly display aggression or discontent. When he rounded the rock formation he quickly spotted his mate’s back and made his grumblings audible. “I’m gonna bite every single one of them. From now on, every human that comes near me is getting bit: fingers, noses, eyes. They better watch out.”
“Now, now David.” How could his mate always be so calm about everything? “You’re setting a bad example for her.”
“Her? Her who?” Kurt shuffled around so that he was facing David. A small ball of soft grey feathers sat on Kurt’s feet and stared up lovingly at David. “I…who’s this?”
“She’s ours. She’s our egg.”
David stepped over the side of the nest and bent over to see her more closely, more clearly. “Ours? Our egg?” Kurt nodded while the little chick looked up at David with comically large and beautiful eyes. “What’s her name?”
“I haven’t named her, yet. I wanted us to name her together.”
They talked about it for a few minutes and quickly reached a consensus. That night, David, Kurt and their daughter fell asleep together, Kurt sleeping between David’s feet, the chick sleeping on Kurt’s feet, and for the first time in his life, Kurt could rest easy, because he had found the first, and only, truly perfect Pebble.