Pip & Freddy Stories (T.O.T.S.)

Can Beaks Kiss?

Pip the penguin sat at the lunch table at his job in his little light blue work uniform, thinking about something...

He's been thinking of his pink flamingo friend a lot lately. Freddy always made him feel happy, and sometimes flustered! 

Pip looked into it, and heard it was a good idea to watch some romantic movies or read romantic stories to learn more about it! He saw quite a few, and learned when birds or any animals get all flustered and blushy and like someone, it usually made them want to hug and kiss each other! And sure, he and Freddy have hugged quite a few times! They were pretty cuddly together, but... Pip's never kissed Freddy before...

"What would that even be like?" he wondered. He pictured himself with Freddy, standing side-by-side, turning to look at each other... Pip closing his eyes and leaning in... but... he's so much shorter than Freddy! He pictured himself falling over in front of flamingo, unable to reach his beak!

"Oh yeah, Freddy's so much taller..." Pip pictured himself... climbing a ladder, so he could meet Freddy beak-to-beak? "No..." he then imagined climbing a chair and standing on that? Maybe on his tippy-toes he could reach Freddy's beak! But, it felt a little awkward and not-so-romantic if he had to bring a chair with him any time he wanted to kiss someone...

He watched Mr. Woodbird walk by - he was a white woodpecker with pink hair who always made interesting inventions!

"Hmm..." Pip thought about it, maybe one of Mr. Woodbird's machines could help! Like... shoes that bounced him up in the air high enough to kiss Freddy! "No, too dangerous..." Or maybe really tall shoes? Or stilts? "...I don't want to look too funny!" The little black-and-white penguin then imagined something like a jetpack! That would look cool, right? ...Well, he pictured himself hovering in the air, leaning in all cool and smooth to peck his beloved birdy on the beak... but then imagined the jetpack going out of control and launching himself far away instead!

"...I think... maybe, inventions would be a little too risky..." He held his face in his wings, a little sad that kissing someone so much bigger than him might be tricky!

"Wait!" Pip realized, "Freddy leans down to talk to me all the time, what am I thinking?" he smiled as he recounted all the times Freddy would simply bend his long legs or tall flamingo neck so he could be face-to-face with his favorite ace. "Yeah! He would just..." Pip shyly got quiet, picturing Freddy crouching down so Pip could walk up to him and wrap his wings around him. He pictured looking into Freddy's big brown eyes, as his own big blue eyes sparkled. They leaned in close, their beaks right there... but... "Oh." Pip realized. Freddy's beak was pretty big and round! It was like a banana.

"And my beak..." he looked down at it and gave it a poke, "It's so small..."

He tried to think about how exactly his short and stubby penguin beak would kiss Freddy's long and curvy flamingo beak! He could peck it on top or the outside... but, was that correct? How did flamingos kiss? And how did anyone else kiss them? He tried to picture the lower part of Freddy's beak too... did Flamingo beaks open at the tip? Or was it lower and smaller near the bottom of his beak? He never thought about Freddy's beak so much!

"Maybe I wouldn't be able to kiss Freddy... at least not properly..." the little penguin frowned. He felt his heart beat a little quicker than usual. He felt like he really wanted to make it work! As delivery birds, Pip and Freddy have delivered plenty of babies to families that were a mix of animals. Anyone could be a couple, regardless of their species or gender, but he didn't think too much about how all that worked in specific. How would a mouse kiss a whale? Or a giraffe? There weren't any adult mice at the transportation center he could ask - but he did see three of his friends at a nearby table! They seemed to notice him, and waved him to come over.