KoJu: Love is Love Part Two

Kowalski continued to give chase to the lemur. Julien ran fast, but Kowalski slid just a bit faster. Kowalski gradually got closer and closer to Julien and eventually was just close enough to reach out and trip him. However, just before he did, Julien jumped over the edge of a wall and into his own habitat.

"Damn it Julien! Give me the spring!" Kowalski yelled out as he jumped over the wall after him without thinking.

They landed directly on to Julien's bounce house. Julien, who used the bounce house all of the time, was easily able to use it as a landing pad and jump up onto his feet without falling over. Kowalski, on the other hand, had never been on any sort of bounce house and was surprised when he jumped over onto it. He landed on his back and started to bounce uncontrollably. He tried to stabilize himself, but ended up just flailing around and making things worse. He started to bounce even higher and was unable to stop. At first, Kowalski was even more frustrated, but after a few seconds of bouncing, he began to break out in laughter. Julien had never seen Kowalski laugh before and he couldn't help, but start to laugh as well.

"Why are we laughing silly penguin?" Julien asked, trying to hold back more laughter.

"We-I-its." Kowalski tried to answer, but was laughing too hard to even speak. After a little bit of this, Kowalski's bouncing finally stopped and he stopped laughing and just laid down on the bounce house and tried to catch his breath. Both he and Julien still had large smiles on their faces.

"I am not understanding of this…you were being all boring and such just a minute ago." Julien said.

"Well I dunno," Kowalski responded with a loopy grin on his face "I guess that was kinda…fun!"

"I didn't know that the smart-y penguin could have fun!...well…here's your spring-y thing-y I guess. Sorry for taking it and such." Julien said, suddenly concerned about upsetting the bird that sat in front of him.

Kowalski took the spring, but instead of leaving back to the base, he just looked up at Julien.

"Thanks Julien, but, I don't have to be back quite yet…do you have anything else that's fun here?"

Juliens eyes widened at the question. He was so excited about the opportunity of making a new friend that he didn't know where to start.

"Why yes! There are many fun things here! There is da volcano, and da party ground, oh, and my throne is being over there. Do you want to see my throne?"

"Uhh…yeah. Sure, why not?"

Julien jumped up and down and then grabbed Kowalski's flipper and started to drag him towards the throne. Kowalski was startled by Julien holding his flipper, but he decided not to pull away. He was in a really good mood and something about it just felt right to him.

Julien guided Kowalski up to the throne where Maurice and Mort were going about their own business. Maurice looked up and noticed Kowalski and Julien.

"Hey your majesty…uh, what's the penguin doing here?"

"He is being my new friend! I am showing him around."

"Well uh, okay then. And do you need me to do anything?"

"No, I can be showing him around myself. So Kowalski, dis' is my throne, but I guess der's really not being much to do here. Let me go show you where I throw my parties!"

"Oooh, can I come?" Mort asked.

"No Mort! You cannot come."

"But whyyy?"

"Because I said so. Now go away!"

Mort stood there and looked up at Julien and Kowalski with wide, pleading eyes. Julien was angry, but Kowalski just chuckled a bit and gave Mort a pat on the head.

"I like him." Mort said.

Julien grabbed a hold of Kowalski's fin again and began to pull him in a new direction.

"Okay. Dis is the party place." Julien announced as he gestured around the small grass field. Tons of party lights were strung over the field and a wooden juice bar was at the far end.

"Hey Kowalski. What is your favorite type of music?" questioned Julien.

"Umm, well I don't really know. I don't listen to it much back at the base."

"Is it because of the mean-y short penguin says it's too loud?"

"Yeah…Skipper is not a big fan of noise."

"Why is he always being so boring?"

"I'm not sure actually. It's just because of years of military discipline I guess. He was born into the army actually. I doubt he's ever lived a day without battle plans on his mind."

"Oh…I see. You know, I thought you were boring like him until just a little bit ago."

Kowalski shrugged "I usually am boring. I think I just forgot how to have fun."

"I will help you remember den'. If you don't know your favorite music, I'll just show you mine." Julien said as he reached over to the boom box behind him and flipped on the power switch. Loud techno music started to play, but instead of getting angry over it like he normally would, Kowalski really enjoyed the blaring song.

"Do you know how to dance?" Julien asked with a large grin on his face.

"Nope…I don't think I've ever really danced before in my life."

"Never?! Well now is being your chance den'!" Julien stated as he began to dance to the beat. "Just do something like I'm doing and do it to the music!"

Kowalski was hesitant at first, but he quickly got the hang of it.

"Dat's good! Keep doing what you're doing."

The two of them danced for what felt like hours and they soon became extremely tired. Julien clumsily tripped over Kowalski's foot and the two of them fell to the ground.

"Oh, I am so sorry!" Julien said, afraid that he had hurt Kowalski.

"No, its fine. I needed to lie down anyways," Kowalski said, breathing heavily. "That was really fun."

"I think so too."

The two of them lay side by side and gazed up at the clouds in the dying light and neither of them spoke for a while, but Kowalski broke the silence.

"Yeah…that was probably the most fun I've had since I was Private's age. Hey Julien?"

"Yes Kowalski?"

"It…it might sound kinda weird. I don't want you to take it oddly, but…I, I really like you a lot. I've been around Skipper so much that I never really got the chance to get to know you."

"Dat's sweet of you to say Kowalski. I am being really glad we could become friends as well."

"No, its…Julien, look. I don't know how to say it, but I think I LIKE like you."
Julien stared into Kowalski's eyes and he suddenly knew what Kowalski had meant by it.

"I love you too Kowalski."