Work Text:
Chuuya
When you first give chuuya the glistening pebble he rolls it around in his gloved fingers while looking mildly confused, gifts in a relationship were normal and you were more so on the receiving end of it. But if this rock was precious enough to give it to your partner he'd treasure it truly. What he didn't expect though was for you to launch into a whole lecture about how penguins give each other pebbles to build nests together. That just made him chuckle, only you could think of something so sweet and endearing at the same time.
"This your way of asking to move in with me doll ?"
The proposition left your mouth hanging a bit agape because you didn't mean it like that ?! You just thought it was a nice memento to have especially after your Aquarian date the other day but he didn't seem opposed to the idea of living together "If you don't mind"
A smirk tugs at his lips as he drapes an arm over your shoulder "Course I don't. The nests looking a little bare how 'bout we go shopping this weekend ?"
Lucy
Lucy was offended when you plopped a glossy pebble in her hand instead of the 650 yen for your latte. Ever since the two of you had made it official you made an effort to stop by the cafe she worked at as often as possible but this was the fist time you didn't pay with card or cash.
"If you think you can just pay with a stupid rock you've got another thing coming !" She raged with a furrowed brow and tightly clenched first but once you explained it was mating ritual her grievances were silenced and instead replaced with loud squealing as her hands tried and failed to cover a now reddened face.
"No fair you can't just say stuff like that ! At least gimme a warning next time !" All you could do was poke her cheek as she crouched behind the bar. She was just too cute !
The next time you came in your head rested at the cool wood of the table and noticed a suspiciously family rock dangling from a very pink beady necklace "I guess it wasn't just a dumb rock after all" you giggled with a wink that apparently sent her over the edge into a flustered mess
"Be quiet or else I'm not making your coffee !"
Tecchou
Tecchous face flushed the most beautiful rouge you'd ever seen as the small stone fell into his large gloved hand. The man was intimately familiar with penguin courtship rituals and this touched him deeply. You of all people, a noble honest angel and the embodiment of the goodness in this world he must protect choosing simple lowly him. This was one of the few times his stoic expression dropped as the sparkle in his eyes were so bright you could've easily seen it from space and his fingers curled around the precious stone and placed it securely in the breast pocket of his uniform.
"I see. So when do you want it ?"
"Want what ? It's just a rock you don't need to get me anything in return"
"No I mean our wedding" even for someone like tecchou who couldn't read people if his life depended on it he couldn't deny that there was a definite look of shock on your face with how big your e/c became and he felt like he should probably explain.
"Penguins use them to court their life partner. So if i accept we're now mates for life. Correct ?" You couldn't even be mad at this dimwit, he was just too clueless that it bordered on endearing despite his expectations for being proposed to being very low, but so were most of his other standards, the man ate raw eggs with the shell on for gods sake! It took a few tries but eventually you convinced him to wait a little while longer before making such a commitment. He compromised by making the precious pebble a good luck charm he kept on him at all times.
Sigma
"So it's like a bird but it …. can't fly?" You nodded enthusiastically while scrolling through cute images of penguins. Sigma only being alive for 3 years which mostly consisted of being human trafficked and running a casino didn't leave much time for learning animals so he'd never seen a penguin before and was thoroughly confused at what exactly he was looking at.
"Uhuh. They live in the cold and give stones to other penguins they care about !"
Care ? You cared about him ? Truly ? Every night in his miserable life sigma dreamed about a home and family to call his own, someone who'd be anxiously waiting for his in a house positively overflowing with all sorts of memories and memorabilia from their time together with so much more to add. The casino was the closest thing he ever had but this massive fortress in the sky wasn't a home exactly, something precious to protect ? Absolutely but customers came and went often without uttering a single word to him and his employees knew him as manager and manager alone. He ultimately had no one who cared for him as a person, everyone had an aim or a goal where he was a pawn stuck on the board until some entity told him where to go before being discarded once again. That was until you came along, an at first average customer who was quick to start a row when another patron started harassing a woman. He arrived on the scene just in time to see you slap the man across the face while yelling that he was a pig, usually sigma would have compromised not wanting to leave anyone unhappy but your bravery that day stopped him dead in his tracks. Once the man had been banned from the casino he offered you some vouchers for the restaurants, you kept returning and each time you'd sneak away to start conversation, at first he thought you were just chatty but the moment you asked him out its like a switch had flipped. Suddenly a warm feeling overtook him and all the colours in the world became so much more vibrant and hearts were always following you around.
The weeks following he had his subordinates bring him back every pebble they could find in order to give you the most perfect one in return. Not too small, not too big, not too rough, not too smooth, not too sharp, and not too round. It had to be just right for you