Chapter 3: The Morning After

Hans slipped into the Central Park Zoo as the sun was beginning to rise. He had every intention of catching the chubby penguin leader off-guard for once.

Olive green eyes peered around a bush, easily spotting the penguin commando drinking his morning coffee above the hidden base... alone. Perfect. Awww, and he was wearing a cute little army jacket too. How adorable.

The puffin jumped across the water, landing silently on the rock. To his amusement, the other bird didn't even seem to notice his arrival. Tiptoeing forward, Hans extended his wings to wrap around his foe's plump body.

'Oh, Skippah. Guess who...' the puffin smirked, tightening his grip and enjoying the sound of Skipper's surprised gasp.

'Well, good morning to you too, handsome. You're up early,' Skipper leaned back into his wings, beak rubbing against the astonished puffin's neck.

Hans froze as the nuzzle sent a pleasant chill down his spine. Ocean blue eyes blinked up at him without a hint of suspicion, even as a smile lit up the penguin's normally stern features.

'Skipper, I... HANS! Kowalski, Rico, come quick!' Private leaped out of the base and into a martial arts stance, glaring at the puffin. Two shadowed shapes were only moments behind him, flanking the smallest penguin on either side.

'Let Skipper go, you fiend!' the youngest penguin declared.

'Stand down, men. Hans is not a threat... although I seriously question why you'd attack your yoga instructor, Private,' Skipper took a sip of his coffee and didn't even attempt to move from his lover's warm hug.

'Yoga instructor? Hans isn't a yoga instructor... not in this dimension anyway,' Private pondered aloud, throwing Kowalski a look.

The scientist slapped his forehead with a flipper and sighed. It seemed that the alternate dimension Skipper had befriended his mortal enemy. 'Skipper... Hans is not a good guy. He's a very evil puffin. Every time we see him, he tries to kill you.'

'Oh please, Kowalski. Sure he's a complete flirt, but a killer? Oh wait... alternate dimension Hans. So, you're not joking about him being a bad guy,' Skipper's eyes widened at the team, before darting up meet the puffin's confused gaze.

'Wait, I am confused. What is all this nonsense about alternate dimensions and yoga?' Hans demanded, refusing to release his prize. After all, it wasn't every day that he got the drop on the penguin commando.

Kowalski sighed again and gave the puffin the short version of the past day's events. The alternate dimension machine pulling Skipper into another reality and leaving them with an AU Skipper.

'How dumb do you think I am?' Hans growled, tugging the captured penguin closer. The coffee mug slipped from Skipper's flippers and cracked on the rock beneath their webbed feet. Skipper let out a surprised gasp and froze in the puffin's grasp.

'It's true. That's not our Skipper. And if you hurt him, then we may never get our Skipper back,' Private announced, getting more worried by the second.

'That's right. The most logical thing to do would be to work together to get our Skipper back so that you two can fight to your hearts' content. After all, you're sworn enemies and such,' Kowalski nudged Rico in the side, prompting the weapon's expert to put down the flamethrower he'd regurgitated the moment he'd seen Hans.

The Dane narrowed his eyes at the penguin group, mulling the information around in his head. {If they're telling the truth, then there is no point keeping this strange Skipper hostage. Even if he is warm and soft and far too trusting for his own good}

'Hans...' blue eyes were blinking up at him again, waiting for an answer to an unspoken question. It almost hurt to see the pain in the penguin's expressive eyes. His Skipper wouldn't look at him like that.

The puffin sighed as he released his grip on the other bird, stepping back to give himself room to escape if the other penguins decided to attack.

'Yes, I'm going to check on it right now,' Alice's familiar voice broke the silence, prompting Private to yank both Skipper and Hans down into the base.

'Sooo, you come here often?'

Hans blinked at the penguin sitting next to him as the others rushed around the base in an attempt to help Kowalski fix his invention.

'What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?' the alternate Skipper smirked, narrowing his eyes playfully at the puffin.

'You are not finding this weird, Skippah? You are in another dimension and I am your enemy. We should be fighting, not chatting like old palsy-walseys,' Hans commented, feeling rather out of place.

'I'm slowing getting used to idea of living in a zoo and being surrounded by nudists. I'm pleased to see that you've kept in shape,' the penguin's eyes held a hint of lust as they gazed at the puffin's unclothed body. Hans fought the urge to cross his wings over his waist and frowned instead.

'So, I'm a yoga instructor and we're... friends?' Hans asked, his eyes drawn to the white t-shirt under the penguin's open army jacket.

'Something like that. Actually, you're Private's yoga instructor. We only met about a month ago. Private insisted that I come to at least one class. Something about being a workaholic and needing to loosen up a bit. Yeah right. I'm not stressed out, I'm just dedicated to my work,' Skipper snorted, leaning back against the wall.

'And you decided to hit on the yoga instructor, which is me?' the puffin rolled his eyes, ignoring the strangeness of sitting here with his enemy, chatting like old friends.

'Hah. More like you kept flirting with me the entire class. I'm pretty sure you were doing some groping when you were "helping me" fix my posture. Private found it amusing and practically forced me to accept your invitation to coffee,' the penguin let his eyes wander around the room as he watched the alternate squad bustling about.

'So, we are dating?' Hans raised a brow at the rather handsome penguin commando sitting next to him.

'Who has time for dating? We're more like friends with benefits. You're sexy, persuasive... and flexible. Very, very flexible,' Skipper purred, drawing the puffin's attention to the flipper that was now caressing his leg.

The puffin held his breath as the flipper moved up to his chest and the penguin leaned in, closing the distance between their beaks. 'Hans...'

'Help me, neighbors! The Clemmyson fellow is back to steal my throne...' Julien dropped down from the entrance-way, followed by Maurice and Mort.

'Well, this is awkward,' Maurice commented, prompting a giggle from Mort.

'Someone is quite amorous today,' the lemur king grinned.

'You have lemurs here too,' Skipper stated with a sigh, pulling away from the puffin to frown at the ring-tailed mammal.

..tbc...

Note: As you can clearly see, the alternate Skipper is a somewhat wary of romantic commitment. Alternate Hans, on the other hand, seem to adore the pudgy penguin commander.