When a penguin meets a giraffe.

Kyungsoo is an African penguin.

He knows he’s an African penguin because, well, that’s what he is so he just knows. Normally, penguins don’t have a name, but Kyungsoo does. He didn’t give himself the name; he didn’t even know what a ‘name’ was. No, he was given his name by a human, who had helped him out before. Kyungsoo couldn’t understand the human language, but he understood that the human had named him Kyungsoo because during their first meeting, the man would always smile at him while making the sound “kyung-soo”. The man would also point to himself and make the sound “se-hun”; the penguin supposed that was the human’s name.

Kyungsoo didn’t mind humans much, not that he had actually met any before Sehun. He remembers seeing some of them when he went feeding before. He thinks humans are weird animals. They like to stay on top of big chucks of white things and sometimes they take too many fish out of the ocean all at once. They are also horrible at swimming, Kyungsoo would always think when he sees a human flapping about in the water at a distance and moving at an incremental speed. Then again, he could understand why and feels pity towards these weird animals: their flippers are all deformed! They are not flat enough and there are slits at the tip. Kyungsoo thinks Sehun too has got some messed up flippers, but the little penguin decides that he will not judge this particular human because Sehun had help him out before.

The little penguin first met Sehun the human on the beach. One day, Kyungsoo was out feeding with his brethrens when a black wave hit them. Instantly, a coat of thick, black liquid stuck to his feathers and the small bird became immobilized; the black liquid stuck his flippers to his body. Panicking at the situation, Kyungsoo wiggled around in the water, eventually freeing his flippers from his side. However, when he emerged from the water, the black tar was still covering him all over, making his feathers stand up in weird angles. In distraught, Kyungsoo plunged back into the water, hoping the thick liquid would gradually wash off as he swam. So he swam, and swam, and swam. Finally when he could swim no more, he was also lost. He did not recognize his surroundings anymore and his colony was nowhere in sight. He’d navigate back and look for his colony, but feeling hungry and weak, Kyungsoo decided against going for another aimless swim. If penguins could pout and yell in frustration, Kyungsoo would have done that. But alas, he is a penguin, and all he could do was bob his head up and down and let out a loud, braying call. Slowly he floated to the shore and wadded up the soft beach. He found a rock to his liking, hopped on it and began to preen on a growling stomach. However, no matter how hard he tried, the thick, black liquid could not be easily cleaned off and it left an unpleasant taste in the penguin’s beak. Eventually, Kyungsoo gave up and stared at the orange sun on the horizon. How will he return to his nest before the day ends?

Suddenly, the little penguin heard noises on the beach and realized he was not alone. He hopped around and came face to face with a human. Kyungsoo blinked and looked up at the human in front of him; he had only seen these weird creatures from afar so he never realized how tall and intimidating humans could be. Fear quickly washed over the little penguin and out of instinct, Kyungsoo cried out in frantic calls and flapped his flippers despite the stickiness of the black liquid. The human in front also panicked, and his long arms reached out to the penguin and grabbed hold. Kyungsoo froze feeling pressure around his body. Even though he was young, he understood that he was captured. This human was going to devour him like how a seal devoured his friend before! After struggling for a few seconds longer, Kyungsoo realized the grip around him would not loosen. He dropped his head and accepted his fate.

But it turned out, Kyungsoo was wrong. The human didn’t eat him; rather the human took him inside what he presumed to be the human’s nest and washed him clean with water. The water was different from what he was used to. For one, it tasted different from the sea water, and it was also a lot more slippery and shiny. More importantly, it washed the black liquid off of his feathers. Kyungsoo hopped out of the water and shook his body happily, wiggling his cute little tail. All of a sudden, warm breeze hit his feathers and the little penguin squinted his eyes comfortably, enjoying the warmth that enveloped him. The human’s big hand ruffled his feathers lightly and Kyungsoo let him. Maybe humans are not so bad, the little penguin thought while continue to enjoy the warm breeze.

---

Since that day, Kyungsoo stayed with Sehun and the human put a tiny red sweater on the small penguin. Kyungsoo didn’t particularly like the sweater; he learnt from Jongdae that what he was ‘wearing’ was called a ‘sweater’. Jongdae said he’s Sehun’s best friend and that he was a beagle dog. Kyungsoo had only seen a wild dog before and Jongdae kind of looked similar, so Kyungsoo decided to take his words for it. The little penguin likes Jongdae because the dog is not only very friendly, he also taught Kyungsoo many things, like what is a name, what is a sweater and what is a backyard. Jongdae loves the backyard and every morning, he’d wake Kyungsoo up bright and early so they can go play in it. The penguin never understood what was so fun about running aimlessly in the grass and chasing a ball. Sometimes when they were in the backyard, Sehun would toss him a ball too and Kyungsoo just stared at it as it rolled by. Was he supposed to chase after the ball like Jongdae? He’d rather swim really. So the next day when Sehun removed the penguin’s sweater and set up a large water tank in the space, Kyungsoo felt like he could also come to love the backyard.

Kyungsoo doesn’t know how long it had been since he stayed with Sehun, but he knows that it had been a long while. At one point, he really wanted to return home. As much as he enjoyed the delicious fish Sehun fed him every day, his large water tank and also Jongdae’s company, he also missed his nest and his colony. However, recently Kyungsoo finds himself thinking that maybe it won’t be so bad to stay with Sehun forever, just so he could always be close to that other animal. He thinks maybe, just maybe, he’s in love. Not with Sehun, not with Jongdae, nor with Jongdae’s wild dog friend whom Sehun had named Baekhyun, but with that tall giraffe beyond the backyard. Sehun named him Chanyeol.

---

Kyungsoo first saw Chanyeol when he was swimming in his tank. Through the glass, the penguin noticed the animal with a really long neck in the distance. He hopped out of his tank and waddled towards Jongdae.

“What is that?” The little penguin asked curiously, his beady eyes still glued to the animal’s long neck.

Jongdae perked up from chewing on his bone and followed Kyungsoo’s gaze. “That? That’s a giraffe. Hey, it’s Chanyeol!” The beagle barked happily and bounded towards the animal with long neck. Kyungsoo had never seen a giraffe before but he trusted Jongdae because the beagle had never lied to him before, so this Chanyeol must be a giraffe. Following Jongdae, the little penguin waddled through the flap door Sehun had set up for the two of them in the fence. A row of white pickete fence separated the human’s backyard and the savannah that seemed to stretch on forever. Kyungsoo doesn’t understand why the human needed the fence, but Baekhyun has told him once this was how humans mark their territories. What strange animals, Kyungsoo thought while shaking his head.

When Kyungsoo finally made it close to Jongdae and the giraffe, he saw Baekhyun was also with them. Kyungsoo recognized upon their first meeting that Baekhyun was a wild dog, and although Kyungsoo had only seen one other wild dog in his life before, he thought Baekhyun was probably very handsome for wild dogs. Jongdae circled around Baekhyun and the two sniffed each other’s , both shaking their tails animatedly.

“Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun toddled over to the penguin and closely sniffed the small bird all over. Kyungsoo lifted his flippers a little and waddled backward, trying to put some distance between himself and the wild dog.

“Hi Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun stepped back and barked excitedly at the penguin. “Oh, you’ve never met my giraffe friend, have you? Sehun named him Chanyeol. He’s the baby of his pack.”

How did a wild dog become friend with a giraffe? The same way a dog befriended a penguin of course.

The little penguin lifted his short neck and looked up at the giraffe. ‘Baby of the pack and he’s still this tall?’ the penguin thought with his peak slightly open. Back in his colony, Kyungsoo was also considered the baby. Out of all the eggs that hatched two springs ago, he was the last to hatch; his parents almost gave up on him thinking maybe he had already died as a chick in the egg. He was also one of the smallest in his pack and because of his small size he was often bullied by the other penguins. That was why Kyungsoo always admired tall things and now Chanyeol; they may both be babies, but Chanyeol was so much taller! Later, Kyungsoo felt silly when he saw the rest of the Chanyeo’s herd. Of course, all giraffes are really tall.

“Hi I’m called Chanyeol.” The giraffe lowered his neck and placed his head at the same height as the little penguin. His voice was deep but cheerful, and happiness reflected in his large eyes. “You are…?”

“I’m an African penguin,” Kyungsoo replied as he flapped his wings, sounding a braying call that’s characteristic to his specie. “Sehun the human named me Kyungsoo.”

“I’ve never met a penguin before!” Chanyeol fluttered his long lashes and raised his neck, laughter reflecting in his eyes. “Well, nice to meet you Kyungsoo. Let’s be good friends!”

Kyungsoo bobbed his head eagerly at the giraffe’s suggestion, excitement visibly shining in his beady eyes. A tall friend, just what the small penguin had always wanted.

From that day on, if any human or any animal passed by the back of Sehun’s small wood house, they’d see a beagle, a penguin, a wild dog and a giraffe often staying together on the wide-stretching savannah. Occasionally, Sehun would watch them within the enclosure of his white picket fence while holding a little black box in his hand, but he’d never cross over and join them. Sometimes, Chanyeol would follow Jongdae and Kyungsoo and walk over to the short fence, letting the human given him a few pats on the neck. Baekhyun rarely joined them, always choosing to keep his distance; he had some not so pleasant encounters with humans as a pup, so even though he knew Sehun was a nice human, he’d rather not get too close. But when he was in a good mood and joined the other animals in visiting Sehun, the human would just smile at him, still holding the little black box in his hand. 

When the four of them were together, Jongdae, Baekhyun and Chanyeol often chased each other around while Kyungsoo watched them from nearby, perched on the small rock underneath his favourite marula tree that was not too far from Sehun’s house. Sometimes, Chanyeol joined Kyungsoo underneath the tree and the two would talk about their lives as a penguin and as a giraffe. Kyungsoo told Chanyeol about his parents and his colony, the sandy nest he had recently burrowed, and the beach and rocks he used to walk on and climb when he was not in the ocean feeding and swimming. He talked about how it felt to swim, to feel water flow through his feathers and the pressure build up in his head when he dived too deep. The small penguin didn’t think his life was very exciting, but Chanyeol always looked keen to hear more. Kyungsoo preferred to listen to Chanyeol talk instead because the giraffe was always so animated and illustrative; the little penguin sometimes felt as if he was there with his tall friend, walking through the lush thickets and strolling across the windy savannah. Chanyeol would describe to his small friend the migration trips he had taken in the past seasons, of all the natural wonders and animals he had seen along the way, as well as the members of his herd. Kyungsoo learnt that since a year ago, Chanyeol had separated from his mother and started to travel loosely with several other males in the herd. Apparently Sehun had seen them before and named each one too; the human named the oldest giraffe that Chanyeol was closest to Kris, another younger one with darker spots Kai, and two older ones that always stuck together Changmin and Kyuhyun. Kyungsoo wondered why Sehun had named all of the animals around him; is it because the human felt lonely? That must be it. The little penguin noticed that Sehun like himself was the only one of his kind around. It was only occasionally, another human by the name of Luhan would come and stay with them for a while.

Whenever the two humans were together, they’d be inseparable and there would always be laughter in the small wood house. Kyungsoo learnt from Jongdae that humans laugh when they are happy, and that Luhan made Sehun happy. Kyungsoo doesn’t understand why, but he liked that Sehun is happy. He liked it even more when the two humans’ lips touch because afterwards, they’d both start laughing even more with red faces. The little penguin later asked Jongdae why they’d touch lips and turn red, the beagle said it’s because the humans love each other.

“What is love?” Kyungsoo asked curiously. Jongdae turned his head and pointed his nose at the two humans siting closely next to each other on the couch. “That’s love,” the dog replied, twitching his ears, “it’s when you want to stay with the other forever, and you wouldn’t mind sharing everything with them. You feel sad when the other is not around, and you want to be the first one the other sees when they return. You feel warm when you see the other and when you are together, everything feels alright. As long as you two are together, you feel at home. Love is the best feeling in the world!”

“How do you know so much about love?” the little penguin questioned the beagle, his eyes slightly widened with amazement.

“It’s because I love Sehun, that’s how.” The beagle replied, still keeping his eyes on the two humans.

The little penguin turned to look at the humans too. “Can a penguin love?”

Jongdae looked at his small friend and nuzzled the penguin’s plump belly lovingly. “Of course! All animals love, including penguins.”

Kyungsoo bobbed his head up and down. He watched as the two humans move even closer against each other and for reasons his little head could not comprehend, he thought about Chanyeol. Kyungsoo doesn’t know if he’d want to stay with the giraffe forever, but he sure would like to stay with his taller friend all the time. He also wouldn’t mind sharing his fish and swimming tank with the giraffe and even his rock under the marula tree if the other insists. He did feel really sad when Chanyeol left some time ago at the start of the dry season and when the giraffe finally returns, he does want to be the first one his tall friend sees out of their small group of friends. Thinking hard back to all the time he had spent with the giraffe, Kyungsoo can’t remember if he felt warm, but he does know when he was together with Chanyeol, everything felt alright and he no longer missed his nest and colony because he had the giraffe by his side; those time he spent being with Chanyeol under the marula tree made him feel at home.

“I love Chanyeol?” the small penguin whispered, not sure if he asked himself or Jongdae. Next to Kyungsoo, the beagle snored lightly, having fallen asleep after a long day of running around with Baekhyun. Not receiving an answer from his friend who always knew everything, Kyungsoo tilted his head in confusion and continued to watch the two humans. Sehun and Luhan touched lips again, but for a much longer time than what Kyungsoo had seen earlier.

That night, Kyungsoo swam in his water tank and wondered about how it would feel to touch lips with Chanyeol if they were both humans and he actually had lips.

---

The rain starts to fall more frequently and with it, the herd of giraffes returns to the savannah behind Sehun’s house. Kyungsoo watches, perching at the edge of his tank, as the tall and majestic creatures comes into the view on the horizon. Next to the tank, Sehun also watches the herd with a pair of binoculars in one hand while he speaks into his other hand that’s holding a small recorder. Kyungsoo had just learned the name of the two ‘gadgets’ as Jongdae called them; he is always amazed at how Jongdae could understand so much human language. After a while, Sehun goes back to his little wood house and Kyungsoo hops off his tank. He waddles out of the backyard and into the wild savannah. When he reaches the marula tree, Chanyeol was already there, chewing on the new leaves that had just sprouted.

“Hi.” The little penguin says, watching his giraffe friend. He thinks Chanyeol has grown taller again.

“Hi!” The giraffe replies cheerfully, “Did you miss me while I was gone?” he questions his small friend as he folds his long legs to sit on the damp grass, “I sure missed you! I have so many stories to tell you!” Chanyeol lowers his head a bit and looks at Kyungsoo with sparkles in his eyes.

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer but looks back at Chanyeol. Flapping his flippers, he climbs up the little rock he always stands on. Since that night when he asked Jongdae what is love, the little penguin has reached a conclusion. He thinks he loves his friend, who’s a giraffe, even though he’s a penguin. Now seeing Chanyeol in front of him, Kyungsoo is sure he loves the giraffe because he feels warm inside and he’s so very happy that his tall friend has returned. If he has lips, he thinks he’d like to touch them with Chanyeol’s lips. But he has beaks and knows Chanyeol will not like it if he pecked the giraffe; after all, the last time he peaked Sehun out of affection, the human made a funny face and yelped.

So letting his instinct take over, the little penguin shows his love in the only way his body knows how. Gingerly balancing himself on the rock, Kyungsoo spans his wings and lets out a deafening braying call. Next to him, Chanyeol’s whole body flinches and his long neck shakes out of surprise; but he remains seated and stares astonishingly at this friend. The little penguin takes no notice and begins to move his head in a swinging motion, still making braying cries. Finally after a few seconds more of head swinging, Kyungsoo extends his head and neck upward with one last harsh call. Then he bows down with his beak pointing at the ground where the giraffe’s legs are folded.

Chanyeol stares at the bowing penguin and blinks. “Uh… Kyungsoo, what are you doing?”

“I’m showing my love,” Kyungsoo answers, still bowing, “I love you, Chanyeol.”

“Oh. How do you know you love me?” Chanyeol asks again, dropping his neck as low as possible as he tries to catch Kyungsoo’s beady eyes. “What is love?”

“Jongdae said love is when you want to stay with the other forever, and you wouldn’t mind sharing everything with them. You feel sad when the other is not around, and you want to be the first one the other sees when they return. You feel warm when you see the other and when you are together, everything feels alright. As long as you two are together, you feel at home. You make me feel all of that, Chanyeol, so I must love you.” The little penguin says still maintaining his stiff position.

“Well I must love you too then, because that’s how I feel when I am around you too!” Chanyeol replies and touches his nose with the tip of Kyungsoo’s beak, nudging the small penguin to stand up straight again. “I love you too, Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol nuzzles his lip lovingly on top of the penguin’s head, then on the bird’s chest and belly.

Kyungsoo flaps his flippers happily and leans his body against the giraffe’s. Jongdae was right, Kyungsoo thinks to himself, love is the best feeling in the world!

---

The Afterwards

Sehun watches from behind the camera screen at the small penguin and sitting giraffe underneath the marula tree.

“Are they… nuzzling now??” he whispers to himself while squinting his eyes to get a better look at the tiny screen. Few moments later, he turns off the camera and walks back into his little wood house. Once inside, he begins uploading the video he just took and dials a video call.

Sehun is a researcher that studies animal behavioural science at Seoul University. A year ago, he arrived at this house, the only house located on the edge of the national park, where a herd of giraffes usually stay for the rainy season. His main research revolved around the relationship between male giraffes that travel in loose groups and how the dynamics between these males affect the dynamic of the entire herd. However, even since he rescued an African penguin about half a year ago, he has been seriously considering if he should change his research to understanding how different species of animals form strong bonds with each other, like between the little penguin and the young male giraffe.

Purely out of boredom, Sehun named a couple of animals around him after people he knew back in Seoul. He knows this is highly unprofessional, but when one is out in the middle of the nowhere by himself most of the time, he needs adequate entertainment to stay sane. So he named his beagle Jongdae after his ex-roommate, and the wild dog his beagle befriended Baekhyun, after the real Jongdae’s boyfriend. He also named a couple of the male giraffes after the hyungs he hung out with because all of them were quite tall; one of the younger giraffe in the small group of males, he named it after his best friend and colleague Chanyeol because just like the human, the young giraffe never seem to stop moving. Later when he rescued the penguin, he named it Kyungsoo, his best friend’s crush and also his colleague because well, frankly the penguin just really reminded him of Kyungsoo.

In real life, the relationship between Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had always been ambiguous and Sehun sometimes just wanted to smash their faces together so they can kiss and make things official already. But he can’t, partially because Kyungsoo will definitely kill him for doing so, and partially because he is stuck out here in South Africa while the other two are back in Seoul. However, as if God is playing some weird prank on him or granting his wish in an awfully twisted way, Kyungsoo the penguin and Chanyeol the giraffe have seemingly just gotten together! Sehun have been observing the two animals for a few months now and their relationship really can be considered an anomaly in the animal kingdom. He has videotaped as much evidence as possible, and out of both academic and personal interests, he sent all of them to the human Kyungsoo and Chanyeol in Korea.

The video call connects and Kyungsoo’s stoic face shows up on the computer screen.

“This has better be a report on the herd’s return and not another call about the penguin.”

Sehun grins and points to his camera that’s only shown partially through the webcam. “Hyung, penguin-Soo just performed the mating call to giraffe-Yeol and giraffe-Yeol totally accepted his love. I caught everything on tape too!”

Kyungsoo slaps his hand against his forehead hard and curses under his breath. “For ’s sake Sehun, enough with this nonsense. A penguin cannot be attracted to a giraffe or vice versa. Yes, they share a close relationship, but how do you know it’s love?! And why are they named after Chanyeol and me??” The more Kyungsoo spoke, the louder his voice got and his face also turned redder from both anger and embarrassment.

“I know it’s love because penguin-Soo did a mating call. You’ll see in the video when I send it to you later. He spread his wings, did a loud braying call, and then bowed; you studied African penguins before, hyung, there’s no way you wouldn’t know the meaning of those actions.” Sehun replies calmly and watches as Kyungsoo’s face turns another shade darker, “and I named them after you and Chanyeol hyung because you guys resemble each other. Look at yourselves!” the researcher shouts excitedly at the screen while he holds up a picture with human Kyungsoo and Chanyeol on the left and penguin-Soo and giraffe-Yeol on the right. He needs to thank Luhan again for photoshopping this brilliant image.

On the other side of the video call, Kyungsoo gives up and slams his head down on the table with a groan. In the background, a lanky man wearing a black snapback comes into the view of the webcam. “Chanyeol hyung, Chanyeol hyung! Penguin-Soo proposed, no I mean performed the mating call at giraffe-Yeol this morning!” Sehun shouts excitedly at the man approaching the webcam, causing the frustrated Kyungsoo to snap his head up and glare.

“Oh did he? That’s fascinating!” Chanyeol replies with a huge smile on his face and he takes the seat next to Kyungsoo, who continues to glare. “What did giraffe-Yeol do afterwards?”

“He nuzzled penguin-soo,” Sehuan says with a silly grin.

“Like this?” Chanyeol bends his neck sideways and nuzzles his shorter companion. A slight blush is visible on his face and Kyungsoo freezes at the public display of affection.

“Yah, like that.” Sehun giggles, “Hyung, you guys should just go out already. Penguin-Soo and giraffe-Yeol are even together now; this is a sign from God.”

Chanyeol laughs heartily at Sehun’s comment and Kyungsoo’s exasperated yelling echoes in the background. “There’s no ‘getting together’ with these two animals! They just share an abnormally good relationship with each other, that’s all! Sehun, you’re a scientist so speak like one!”

Sehun rolls his eyes, but before he could open his mouth to defending himself again, Chanyeol’s voice interrupts him.

“Maybe it is a sign from heaven.” Kyungsoo turns and faces the giant next to him with widened eyes. Chanyeol grabs the shorter man’s hands and presses them against his broad chest. “Kyungsoo, we’ve been friends for a long time and believe it or not, I’ve loved you since we first met in first year biology class. So um… I love you, I really do! Will you be mine?” Chanyeol looks straight into Kyungsoo’s wide eyes and the latter stares back in shock. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, for both Chanyeol who was anxiously waiting for an answer and for Sehun who was trying really hard not to burst out laughing any moment with his hand clasped tightly on his mouth, Kyungsoo breaks out his heart-shaped smile and nods. “Yes, yes I will. I love you too, Chanyeol.”

Dropping his hands, Sehun laughs obnoxiously and shouts at the top of his lung while clapping his hands in celebration. “Bbo bboe! Bbo bboe!” Chanyeol’s hearty laugh returns and complying to his dongsaeng’s wish, he leans forward. However, right before his lips touch his new boyfriend’s plump ones, Kyungsoo cuts off the video call at Sehun’s dismay. Feeling somewhat cheated, Sehun complains loudly at the black screen, but a big smile is still plastered on his face. Jongdae toddles over at all the commotion and Sehun picks him up into his lap. He ruffles the dog’s head and kisses Jongdae on his wet nose.

“Ah, seriously. Kyungsoo hyung is so stingy.” Sehun mumbles with a sly looking grin on his face while he plays with Jongdae. “Whatever, I’m sure they are doing more than kissing now.”

Giggling to himself, Sehun closes his laptop and walks outside again with binocular in his hands. If he cannot see the real Kyungsoo and Chanyeol being lovey-dovey, no problem; he’s still got penguin-Soo and giraffe-Yeol.  

---

FIN.