Hush, Little Penguin

Happiness Comes in All Colors

A/N: Happy Easter, people! I'm trying hard, but I'm running out of ideas. Keep suggestions coming!

Peso had trouble walking nowadays. Belly-sliding was out of the question. He couldn't pick himself up. It almost made the Octonauts want to let him rid himself of diapers for good.

Of course, that wasn't possible. But, something came along that they hoped would cheer Peso up. Spring, with it's warm weather and bright colors. They were near land, and hoped to bring Peso out for a walk.

"Come on, Peso. I doubt anyone will notice the difference." Barnacles encouraged, showing Peso how to dye eggs. Peso shrugged, putting stickers on a little green egg. Barnacles smiled. "Won't this be fun?" Dashi thought it would be proper to hide eggs for Peso to find. He'd never even heard of Easter, and to let him miss it didn't seem right.

Kwazii wandered in, and smiled at what they'd done so far. "Good job. How're you feeling, matey?" Peso mumbled something. They knew he didn't want to go  out there looking like this, but, if they were being honest, Peso would most likely blend right in with the other children. He had chubby cheeks, a button nose, and a pudgy belly. He looked like a six-year-old.

At least Peso seemed fascinated in the stickers. He liked the colors and shapes, and he liked the fact that if you put them in certain places, you could make an illusion. For someone who handed out stickers all the time, he seemed pretty fascinated with them, like he'd never seen them before.

With the eggs safely hidden in a soft basket, Dashi hopped in the Gup A, and they were off. Peso held tight to a stuffed bunny, which had been waiting for him in his high chair that morning, and stared out the window. He knew they were only trying to cheer him up, be he still felt frightened. Even if he did blend in with all those kids, kids could still be cruel. How would they react when they saw a penguin?

It was warm, but not too warm, and a nice breeze was blowing. Peso started to see things he'd never seen before. He sat in his baby carriage, playing with his bunny, when he noticed some strange, colorful dots poking out of the ground. He tugged on Shellington's shoulder, and pointed. The otter nodded. "The flowers are coming out earlier than usual this year." Peso tipped his head. "Do you know what flowers are?" Shellington inquired, and received a negative response. It made sense, though. Peso grew up in Antarctica, where it was too cold for most plants. He had probably never even heard of flowers or grass.

Sure enough, when they reached the park, Peso was nervous to be set down on the grass. "You can walk in it," Kwazii encouraged, gently placing him down. "It's just grass." Peso reached down with his flippers, and felt it. He giggled. It felt strange, but the kind of nice strange, like something soft and squishy. The Octonauts smiled at one another. Things seemed to be going well.

Dashi and Barnacles stayed with Peso, and tried to help him make friends with other little ones in the park. None of them seemed very interested, except for a little, female lion cub, who crawled up, and touched his feathers, curiously. "Birdie!" The cub's mother, a frantic-looking lioness, came rushing up, and scooped up her child. "I'm so sorry! Staci has a tenancy to wander." Barnacles chuckled. "No harm done. I think she likes him." Peso was playing with her tail. Staci let him.

They played together for a half hour. Staci played a little rough, but Peso seemed to like her just fine.

Finding eggs was new to Peso. He wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do. Kwazii took him around for the first couple of eggs, helping him find them. Soon, he was finding them on his own. Staci helped too, by getting into places Peso couldn't. Or, at least places he was too scared to go. One of them had rolled into a bramble bush, but Staci had no qualms of wriggling in there after it. She got brambles in her fur, distressing her mother, but she got the egg.

Peso enjoyed playing in the grass, and fiddling with the flowers. He really seemed to like the pretty colors. He had even made a new friend.

By the time they left, he was fast asleep, all tired out from the day's excitement.