Chapter Text
The morning was more than terrible for Penguin. As one of the few who hadn't gotten completely drunk, he spent his time after getting up putting his comrades to bed who were stranded in the corridors on the way to their rooms, or cleaning up vomit stains. It was anything but pleasant and Penguin swore to himself that he had to take better care of his friends. Especially when the redhead pirates were around. Not that he didn't like them, on the contrary, he had gotten along with all of them splendidly. It was just that the red-haired pirates were a lot more hard-drinking than his friends and their easy-going nature encouraged others to drink more than was good for them.
After Penguin had finished his morning inspection and believed that he had not forgotten any of his friends or missed any spots, he went into the kitchen of the submarine, where he was greeted by the wonderful smell of pastries.
As if alerted by Penguin's footsteps, Hudson emerged from the ship's pantry. He had taken off the top of his overalls and tied the sleeves around his waist. The white T-shirt he was wearing underneath had a few stains that revealed what Hudson was cooking or baking.
As good as he was as a cook, he was also clumsy. Not only did something constantly fall out of his hand, he was the one of the crew who had the most accidents and had to be looked after. He was also the reason why the first aid kit in the kitchen was bigger than anywhere else on the ship.
"You're awake surprisingly early for the amount you drank yesterday," greeted Penguin, looking over the worktops that were full of cookies, muffins and cupcakes.
"I couldn't sleep anymore," Hudson confessed.
"And then you start baking?" Penguin asked, raising an eyebrow.
The Heart Pirates could hardly eat as much as Hudson had produced over the next few days.
"Yes... Lucky Roo wrote down a few of his recipes for me last night and I just had to try them out," the blue-haired man mumbled sheepishly and fiddled nervously with the tea towel on his hip.
Penguin looked at Hudson with interest.
He had never seen his friend so nervous. Not even when he had asked Law to be part of the team and Law had made it more than difficult for the then 16-year-old to join up. Hudson was always positive, energetic and seemed to have no sense of shame. The fact that he was now standing in front of Penguin like this aroused Penguin's interest.
"And then you try them all? One would have been enough," Penguin grinned.
"He also said that he liked to eat all of them, so I thought... so... maybe he wants some of it too," Hudson mumbled sheepishly.
"Of course I baked for all the redhead pirates, not just Lucky Roo," Hudson added energetically and the blush on his face only got stronger.
A diabolical grin crept onto Penguin's face as he realized why Hudson was behaving like this.
"So you were thinking about the redhead pirates, were you?" Penguin grinned broadly and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Well, if that's the case, Shachi and I will take a few baskets over to them later. We'll let you know if they liked it."
Hudson's eyes grew wide and he opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't get anything out. His expression changed in a flash from frightened to desperate and then to embarrassed.
"Wait... Peng I... so... I'm coming with you," Hudson finally stammered, causing Penguin to burst out laughing.
"Relax. We'll take you with us," Penguin finally said.
He still had a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
"I would never come between you and your first crush," Penguin teased, giggled and walked past Hudson, who was paralyzed with shame, into the pantry.
Hudson had given Penguin an idea. He was planning to look after Uta today anyway, so he might as well bring her some of Hudson's cookies. A girl was always happy about something like that. At least that's what Penguin thought.
He wasn't a ladies' man, never had been and probably never would be. He was usually the one who stood to the side and fawned over women from afar, while they were interested in men like Law. Even though Penguin knew it was wrong, he couldn't help his jealousy. Again and again he tried to be friendly and nice, to make women feel good, to be helpful and obliging. He did everything he could to be seen as a perfect gentleman by women, but he always ended up in the friend zone, if he was noticed at all.
With Uta, however, things are about to change. Penguin was trained by Law as a nurse and assistant. He hopes that this will enable him to stay with Uta and as soon as she wakes up and sees him first, she can't help but see him as her hero.
"Why are you grinning so stupidly?" Hudson asked.
Penguin flinched sharply and looked startled at the smaller boy. He had been so engrossed in his thoughts about Uta that he hadn't noticed Hudson approaching him.
"Because I'm going to make Uta my girlfriend soon," Penguin told his friend cheerfully.
"Uh-huh... Good luck, you'll need it," Hudson said with raised eyebrows.
Penguin snorted, reached for one of the baskets on the shelf and finally left the pantry.
He lined the basket with a tea towel before carefully placing various pastries in it.
"Here," Hudson addressed him again and held out a bottle.
"Tea," he added when he saw Penguin's questioning look.
Penguin grinned and stowed the bottle in the basket as well.
"Thank you."
"Thank me when my baking skills get you your first girlfriend," Hudson teased, earning a friendly punch to the arm.
After that, Penguin leaves with a huge smile on his face.