Hush, Little Penguin

Happy Birthday

Peso went to bed early that night. So, it was a surprise he woke up the way he did.

Peso didn't know why, but he couldn't stop crying. He had woken up grumpy, and couldn't quit pouting, but no matter how hard they tried to cheer him up, it turned from pouting to crying.

He sobbed uncontrollably, and rubbed his eyes with his flippers. He woke up in a bad mood, and didn't know what to do.

Barnacles sighed, rocking Peso in the den. he knew Peso couldn't control it. It said so in the book. But, it didn't make it any less sad to see a crying baby.

"WAAAAAHH! *sniff* WAAAHHH!" Peso curled up further against his father's chest, and cried into his shirt, leaving patches of tears, but Barnacles didn't care. Right now, Peso needed him. Even if it was just for Barnacles to hold him until he stopped crying.

"AAAAH! UHOOH!" Unhappy sounds caught Dashi's attention. Her big sister instincts flared up, and she hurried to the den.

"What's wrong?" She cooed, giving Peso a kiss on the head. Peso cried louder. It didn't make him feel better.

Barnacles rubbed his eyes. "I don't know. Peso's been teary all day." Shellington wandered in, looking for the source of the noise. "Well, sometimes babies cry, and you don't know the reason." He shrugged, patting Peso's head. "It's okay, wee one." Peso nestled further against the captain, and managed to take in some shaky breaths. For a moment, it looked like he might stop crying, but he only started back up again, sobbing uncontrollably.

Barnacles leaned back in the rocking chair, hugging Peso against his chest. Poor Peso gripped his blue shirt tightly. Whatever was bugging him, it must have been really bad.

"Does he have a fever?" Dashi inquired.

"No. I already checked."

"Maybe he's hungry?"

"I tried to feed him, but he didn't want it."

"He's clean?"

"Yes. believe me, I checked."

Dashi thought for a moment, before placing a paw on Peso's stomach.

"What are you doing?" Barnacles inquired.

"Checking for constipation." Dashi answered, carefully rubbing Peso's belly. "Does this hurt, sweetie?"

Peso shook his head, nestling further into Barnacles' chest, and whimpering. He must have been getting tired, because his cried turned to moans, and moans turned to whimpers, until he only whined every few seconds. He looked at them with the saddest face they'd ever seen, and they could tell he didn't like this any more than they did.

Kwazii entered the room with a pacifier and teddy bear, which Peso gladly took, not that it made him feel any better. "Y'know," Kwazii piped up, "My Mum once told me that sometimes, babies know something's up before adults do. Maybe Peso's worried about something." Dashi fiddled with her hair. "I can't imagine what."

"Shellington's right." Barnacles rubbed peso's back, watching him fall asleep. "Babies cry and you don't know the reason. Let's let him rest."

Peso napped for a little while. Barnacles stayed in the den, moving from the rocking chair to the couch, and cuddling him. Every time he tried to put Peso down, the little one would fuss.

Peso woke up, and glanced around. For a moment, everything was fine. Then, he felt a lump form in his throat, and his stomach twisted. He sniffled, and started crying again. Barnacles smiled sympathetically. "Oh, it's okay. honey." He cuddled Peso close. The cries steadily grew, until they caught the professor's attention. The octopus placed his book down, and followed the noise. Peso had been wailing all day. Surely, there must've been something wrong.

He entered the den, where a tired-looking Barnacles was fussing over Peso. The little one was rubbing his eyes fiercely, as if trying fruitlessly to stop the tears. He nestled against Barnacles, whimpering.

"Any idea?"

"No." The bear ran a paw down his face. he hated seeing Peso like this.

Inkling tried to take the baby into his tentacles, but Peso screamed, and he had to hand him back. "Maybe his brother?" Inkling asked, hopefully. Pogo, Peso's big brother, had been the only one Peso had ever trusted through his childhood, aside from Pinata. If anything was wrong with Peso, calling Pogo was the best idea. He always had tips for them.

They gathered in the HQ, where Dashi contacted Pogo. The elder penguin was about twice Peso's size, like most of the penguins in Whitewood. he looked an awful lot like Peso, thought, except for his bangs which hung in his face.

When he appeared on the screen, they could see him visibly cringe. "What's with the crying?" He asked, his father's thick, Cajun accent clear in his speech.

"We're not sure? We were hoping you would know." Barnacles admitted. Peso lay in his arms, wailing, bawling his little eyes out. The bear was bouncing him fruitlessly, in an attempt to comfort him.

Pogo pondered this for a moment, before muttering something along the lines of, 'be right back,' and leaving their sight. Barnacles smiled down at Peso, who sniffled and looked up at him with huge tear-filled eyes.

"Oh. That figures." They heard Pogo mutter in the background, before coming back. "I checked the calendar. Today's his birthday, and-!" He was cut off by a sudden stream of surprise. He held up his flippers for silence, allowing the noise to die down.

"Look, let's just say it doesn't take a detective to figure out why he hates his birthday. Now that he's a Little, he has less control over his emotions, and considering he always got a little emotional on his birthday, I'm not exactly surprised." Pogo glanced over at something off-screen, before saying he had to leave.

"Bye, peso." He cooed, promising to call back, before hanging up.

"Wonder what he did this time?" Tweak grumbled, gnawing on her carrot, the way she did when she was thinking of something unpleasant. The other';s had to agree with her. Koni must have made Peso's birthday a living nightmare.

Peso cried even louder after hearing about that, so Barnacles brought him back to the nursery, and cuddled him close. "Shh. it's okay, Peso." He smiled gently into Peso's tear-streaked face. Even when crying, he was the cutest little penguin ever.

"I bet some cuddles and kisses will cheer you right up." He kissed Peso's  adorable, pudgy face, and sang a lullaby.

"Don't worry, Peso. He can't hurt you anymore."

Peso napped restlessly, unable to shake memories of birthday's past.  His tenth birthday had been the worst. He had been forced to go to school in a pink, frilly dress and diaper, and spent time after school chained to urine-soaked sheets. His father came in every fifteen minutes, and beat him for not doing his chores. Peso knew better by then to tell him he couldn't do his chores while chained to a bed.

And the bullying after that was more than he could bare. Constantly attacked, even by his teacher, who, that year, had been an extremely strict woman, under the information provided by Peso's father that the boy was a lunatic, and needed extra discipline. If anything went wrong in the classroom, it was automatically peso's fault, which was a delight to all the other children.

Peso couldn't sleep. He closed his eyes, and saw one image after another. He finally stood up in his crib, and made a little noise into the baby monitor.

Barnacles carried him into the kitchen for supper. Peso wasn't crying anymore, but he looked exhausted from the day's events.

'Some birthday,' Barnacles thought to himself.

But at least they could make it better.

He hugged Peso close, and opened the door to the kitchen.

"SURPRISE!"

The others were already there. peso's eyes widened. he usually didn't like surprises, but this...was incredible.

He'd never had a birthday party before.