Chapter Text
Taehyung glanced out the window of the keeper’s hut at the morning sun, barely risen and casting an orange glow that made everything seem prettier. Smiling softly, he turned back to his prep, huge buckets of fruit and veg sat waiting to be chopped for the elephants. As a kid, Taehyung dreamed of being a zoo keeper, with his heart set firmly on the gentle giants for as long as he could remember.
It’s kind of surreal to think he’s actually become a keeper, not many people can say that they are what they dreamed of when they were younger but Taehyung was proud he had stuck with it.
People had tried to warn him that it was a lot of work for not a lot of money but Taehyung was never in it for the cash. The job was easily the most rewarding he’d ever done, and he’d take less money for contentment every day.
The road to the elephants hadn’t been easy and it took many hours of volunteering before he’d been properly hired and even then, he’d worked with multiple departments until he was finally assigned to the herd. They were like his family, he was sure they recognised him by now and although he shouldn’t, he definitely had favourites.
Mona was the matriarch; she was a magnificent creature, Taehyung thought, big and imposing but so caring for her herd. The second oldest was Mona’s little sister, Ruby, who often seemed like a little bit of a loner, but Taehyung knew she just liked her space away from the calves. Elsie and Esmerelda, another pair of sisters, were boisterous and were often seen chasing the younger ones around or rolling around in the mud in their enclosure. There were currently 3 calves and another one due any time now.
Tuffi was the oldest of the calves at 3 years old and was wise beyond her years, Taehyung had a special bond with her and she’d often come running over when he was around, playfully curling her trunk around him if he stood still for too long. Tuffi was Mona’s current youngest child, though that would change once the Matriarch gave birth, but Taehyung was sure Tuffi would make an amazing big sister.
Both Elsie and Esmerelda had given birth weeks apart to two beautiful boys just a year ago. Ezra and Micah were very different characters. Where Ezra was ballsy and a bit of a brute at times, Micah was shy and easily pushed around. Ezra was also noticeably larger than Micah and Taehyung often caught the females protecting the smallest calf from his cousin when Ezra got too rowdy. Males weren’t kept with the herd generally, given they lived a Matriarchal life, so when a mate was brought in, he was to be kept in a nearby enclosure of his own. Once the boys grew old enough, they’d be sent to a different zoo to be the breeding bulls.
Overall, Taehyung had no real complaints about the beautiful creatures, even when he spent his days shovelling dung there wasn’t anywhere else he’d rather be. He also got on well with his fellow elephant keepers, Namjoon, Jinyoung, Jisoo and Seulgi, to name a few. Namjoon was working quietly beside him right now, humming a nameless tune to himself as he bundled long grass together to go in the tall feeders.
“Jisoo said Mona was looking a bit lethargic yesterday, we’ll need to keep an eye on her today, see if we need to call in the vet” Taehyung nodded at Namjoon’s comment, eyebrow creasing in concern. An elephant’s pregnancy was far longer than a human’s and the poor girl had been carrying around a huge baby for long enough, at this point, it was a day to day wait for the calf. They’d been mulling over names but no one could decide on anything yet; Taehyung was a firm believer that the name would come to them when they saw the baby and so was content to wait.
“No problem, I’m heading over to do morning feed, guests should be arriving around now” The displays were easily one of Taehyung’s favourite parts of his job. Getting to show the public how amazing these animals were was always great, especially to raise awareness and hopefully increase donations in their boxes around the fences.
He loaded the buggy with the buckets of fruit and veg and set about the short drive to the elephant enclosure. Someone on the morning shift will have already let them out of their house and Taehyung was happy to see them perusing around without a care (with the excepting of Ezra who was charging around, clearly with energy to burn). Pulling down into the employee only area, Taehyung grabbed the first two buckets and walked out into the enclosure.
Jimin, who handles the small mammals had once asked if he was ever scared about walking with such huge creatures, but the thought had genuinely never crossed his mind.
Whether it was smart or not, Taehyung trusted these elephants with his life; plus it was always a bonus to be hands on with animals that you’d otherwise never come across. He was spotted pretty quickly by Tuffi, who had been drinking from her mother and instead stopped to trot over to him, trunk flailing and curling over his head the second she was within reach. Giggling, Taehyung pushed her trunk away long enough to distract her with a piece of fruit.
The commotion attracted a few of the others as Taehyung dumped some of the food into troughs, keeping the rest for hand-feeding for the little crowd that was gathering up on the viewing platform.
He waved up at them, hearing the distant sound of children’s laughter when Tuffi mimicked his action, trunk waving around, mouth open wanting more fruit. The older elephants were more bothered about the trough, less fussed with the play, leaving the younger ones to bother Taehyung. Handing Micah half an apple, Taehyung let his eyes drift over the crowd, taking in the smiles on faces of families, couples cooing over the elephants and the occasional group of teens wanting something to do for the day.
However, his eyes lingered on a familiar forest green uniform, one much like his own. It wasn’t uncommon to bump into other animal keepers around the park, even if Taehyung hadn’t necessarily spent time with most of them, he was good with names and faces. It was however, uncommon, for keepers to stop to watch other enclosures.
Cocking his head, Taehyung’s eyes met Jeongguk’s; the younger man worked with the big cats, which were on the other side of the zoo, there was really no reason for him to be over here at all. Jeongguk nodded at him, a small smirk playing at his lips before he turned and headed off down the path leading towards their keeper hut. Weird. There were several huts and this certainly wasn’t one that Jeongguk would use on a normal day.
He must have been dawdling too long, because Ezra promptly knocked him over the head with his trunk, blowing dirt at his face as he tried to get into Taehyung’s bucket of veg. “Calm down, Ezra, you can have a carrot” He continued his duties until his buckets were empty and the elephants grew less interested in him, instead bothered by the toys that had recently been bought for their enrichment.
Locking the gate behind him, Taehyung set above driving back to his hut, half expecting to find Jeongguk gone by the time he got there.
He was wrong. The boy was casually leaning against one of the counters, chatting with Namjoon as if it wasn’t weird that he was there. Taehyung had somewhat of a love-hate relationship with the other keeper. Something about Jeongguk just really riled him up; he was always a little bit cocky, walking around like he knew how attractive he was. Which he was. But Taehyung would never admit that out loud.
Everyone else Taehyung knew raved about Jeongguk and how amazing he was at everything, maybe he was a little bitter that Jeongguk had never made the same effort with him that he made with everyone else.
“Taehyung, how was Mona?” The two sets of eyes were firmly on him and he made an effort of only looking at Namjoon as he replied.
“She’s doing alright, a little tired, but she’s eating well” Namjoon seemed pleased with the news, telling him to take a little break and that he and whoever else was around would handle the enclosure cleaning while he did whatever was needed in the hut. Taehyung agreed easily, slouching onto the small sofa in the corner of the room, eyes flicking briefly to Jeongguk, who was evidently still watching him.
“I’m headed out, I’ll let you know if I need anything, alright?” Taehyung nodded with a smile, grabbing his water bottle from the table next to him. “See you around Jeongguk”
“Later Hyung” The door slammed behind him and the two were left in an awkward silence. Jeongguk turned to observe him with a look Taehyung couldn’t quite read, pushing off the counter. “Guess I better be going too, wouldn’t want to interrupt your hard work” The damned smirk was back and Taehyung frowned.
“Why were you here in the first place?” The question slipped out before Taehyung could stop himself. Jeongguk simply shrugged.
“I was in the area, figured I’d stop by to say hello to Namjoon Hyung” The whole situation was a bit weird, but Taehyung simply nodded, turning his attention away from Jeongguk and towards his phone, shooting a reply to a text he had from Jimin. There was another prolonged pause before Jeongguk excused himself with a mock salute and a ‘See you later’. The door swung shut behind him and Taehyung was left to his own thoughts, which were unfortunately now filled with Jeongguk. There were times where Taehyung thought that Jeongguk genuinely didn’t like him, or that he’d done something to upset the younger man. Maybe it was Taehyung, maybe he was the one who needed to make more of an effort.
Frowning, Taehyung played with a loose thread on the sofa cushion, debating with himself. If it went well, then whatever weird tension they have may disappear and Taehyung would have a new friend. But if it went wrong, he could be humiliated and Taehyung didn’t deal well with embarrassment. Maybe he could chat to someone else about it first. His mind wandered to Namjoon; the older man was by far the most intelligent person Taehyung knew and he could probably shed some light on the situation. But he was also friends with Jeongguk and Taehyung didn’t want to make anything more awkward than it was.
His phone pinged with a message and suddenly Taehyung saw his opportunity. Pressing the call button on Jimin’s number, he waited all of 5 seconds before his best friend’s voice sounded in his ear. “Tae Tae, this is unusual, you good?” Jimin really was a sweetie, with not a bad bone in his body and sometimes Taehyung really wished he could be as perpetually optimistic as him.
“Yeah, nothing serious, just a bit confused” The other hummed, showing he was listening. “Jeongguk watched me feed the girls earlier and then was hanging around in our hut with the excuse of talking to Namjoon. I don’t know Jimin, I’m just confused why he’s weird with me and no one else. Have I done something wrong?”
“Don’t be silly Taehyung, you’re as gentle as your elephants” The sentiment made him smile, thoughts drifting to Tuffi. “Want my honest opinion?”
“Of course” Taehyung sat up, ready to accept whatever Jimin said.
“He wants to fuck you” There was a pause as Taehyung’s brain caught up with his ears, before he spluttered, feeling a flush creep up his neck. “I’m being serious Tae, he’s clearly into you, that’s why he’s playing it cool, hard to get and all that” Taehyung was still trying to process Jimin’s theory, which was surely absurd.
“You’ve lost your mind Jimin, he clearly has an issue with me, if he wanted to fuck he’d have said something by now, no?” Jimin chuckled, which did nothing to ease Taehyung.
“It’s an act, he’s trying to wind you up, Jeongguk is a soft baby really. Have you ever actually had a real conversation with him, before you write him off?” Taehyung’s silence said it all and Jimin sighed, his voice taking on that tone he does when he’s trying to calm Taehyung down. “Listen Tae, it doesn’t really matter anyway if you’re not feeling it, why the sudden interest?”
“I – I don’t know, he just…” Taehyung didn’t know how to word it. It wasn’t exactly that he wasn’t interested; under better circumstances, he’d definitely be pursuing Jeongguk.
“You know what, forget I said anything. Let’s go for dinner tonight, the little dumpling place near yours?” Taehyung hummed his consent, mind totally lost in thoughts of the other keeper. “Alright, I’ve got to get back to work, see you later Tae!” ‘See you later’. There was that phrase again. Normally you’d only say that to friends or people you see around a lot. Jeongguk had no real reason to tell him he’d see him later.
Shaking his head, Taehyung ran a hand through his hair, brushing his bangs out of his face. He was clearly just sleep deprived or something, that’s all.
His moment of peace was disrupted by the little radio clipped to his belt. “Taehyung, you there? It’s urgent” Namjoon’s voice crackled out and startled Taehyung, who fumbled with the clip before bringing it up to his face to ask what was wrong. “Mona’s going into labour, I need you to contact the vet and get them down here immediately” Oh fuck.
“Shit, yeah, I can do that” He was on his feet in seconds, rushing for the hut phone, which had the vet on speed dial. He reported the situation and quickly grabbed anything he could think they might need from the hut, breaking out into a run when he saw the buggy had already been taken. He got some concerned looks from the public as he swerved past them until the staff door of the elephant house was in view.
Busting through the door, Taehyung could hear Mona’s loud trumpet noise from the other side of the fence and jogged over to where Namjoon, Jinyoung and Jisoo were currently stood trying to calm her down as much as they could without intervening. She had managed to make it inside of the elephant house alright, which was good. The last thing they needed was for the public to distress her during birth. Ruby and Tuffi were lingering by the open door, clearly keeping an eye on their matriarch.
“How is she?” He turned to the others, just as the vet pulled up outside.
“She seems OK, in pain obviously, but no complications yet. It’s going to be a long while yet before she actually gives birth” Jinyoung commented, waving the vet over.
“He’s right, as you all know, elephant labour can last several days, and normally they like to give birth at night. Even if she was ready now, she’s probably trying to hold off until it goes dark, it’s just innate behaviour” The vet explained, watching closely as Mona wandered around, looking like she couldn’t find a place to get comfy. “If we could get her some extra bedding, that would be good to cushion the fall” The team dispersed to do as asked and Namjoon asked Taehyung to start prep for their lunch, as it would take a while to do it by himself.
Taehyung didn’t really want to leave, but he knew that he wouldn’t really be missing anything and it would keep him busy enough not to worry. So reluctantly he wandered out, heading in the direction of the hut. Prep was a lot of hard work, especially for such big herbivores, but it had to be done. He also knew Namjoon had given it to him because the others would be less likely to be distracted around the enclosure. Taehyung was simply a sensitive soul and all he could now was wait it out.