Chapter Text
Maybe this new job will be interesting.
Thats all you could hope as you arrive to the new (partially built) Jurassic World.
Claire was welcoming and walking you through the general areas of the park. Guest areas, backstage, even showed the staff trailers --which are less than desirable.
You had no experience with dinosaurs. Not in the slightest. You trained orcas at Sea World, but after that job busted you got scouted out for this one.
A mosasaurus trainer. Thats what they wanted. And, from your brief research, mosasaurus wasn't even a dinosaur. It was a prehistoric fish; a big one. Well, it's an aquatic reptile. But fish was close enough for you.
You pass by the Velociraptor paddock. There was a man inside, standing and interacting with the strangely calm creatures.
"They were just fed... so they aren't out for blood right now," the man said, apparently noticing your rather static gaze.
You nod silently and he chuckles at you. "A quiet one, eh?" He said, pointing at you. The raptors share his gaze. His was somewhat relaxed, but theirs was alert.
You nod again. People were never quite nice to you. Its why you tend to stick to animal training.
"Ah, don't worry. You'll fit right in soon enough," he says, "Oh, I'm Owen, by the way. You have somethin' I can call you, darlin'?"
The nickname makes you freeze, all you can do is stutter out a soft reply of your name.
"Yeah, I didn't catch that. You can just be darlin' for now," he smiles.
The raptors don't seem to favor you. What you can assume to be the lead one, a velociraptor with a blue stripe, walks closer to the fence, cooing and chirping at you.
You shift nervously, because honestly, who wouldn't? The lead raptor growls, but is called back with a small clicking noise.
You look at the man and notice he's making the noise with a small clicker in his hand.
"They can sense your fear. Most of these creatures can," he says, feeding the blue raptor something out of his hand.
"Thanks. I'll keep it in mind," you mumble back.
"Ah, so you can talk. Nice," Owen says, "I'll leave you to it then. Have fun with your Mosasaur."
. . .
Its been almost 5 weeks since you got here. Owen was right, you were definitely warming up to the other staff.
Between imprinting with the hatchling, training it, and watching it grow to be almost 30 feet long now, you were busy.
While you certainly had free time, most of it was spent eating and sleeping. But you did make time to talk with Owen.
Random meals, walking eachother to padocks or pools, you got attached to him pretty quickly.
He didn't seem to mind either. If anything, it seemed like he was enjoying your presence.
Today, Owen wanted to take you in with the velociraptors. He kept assuring you it was perfectly safe. And while your heart believed him, your brain did not.
You'd seen the injuries on workers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
You still decided to go through with it. You didn't know why, but you couldn't bring yourself to say no to the beautiful man.
Which is how you ended up here, next to Owen, with a very territorial pack of prehistoric murder chickens in front of you.
They had the same attitude about you that they had five weeks ago. If they could feel hatred, they definitely felt it towards you. And you didn't know why.
"Owen?..." you say nervously, holding his arm.
"Breathe. Slow and even. The faster you breathe, the easier it is for them to sense your panic," he soothes quietly, "I'm--... I'm the leader of their pack. The alpha, I guess. So they are protective of me."
"Oh, great. Thanks for mentioning that before," you scoff quietly.
Your hand tightens on Owen's arm, causing Blue to chirp at you. You decide to test something.
You take your hand off Owen's arm and take a step away from his and the raptors seem to calm.
"Okay... I'll stay back here then," you sigh, listening to the advice the man had given you and taking slow breaths.
Blue tilts her head, observing you closely as you hold your hand out in the same manner Owen does. She doesn't have any kind of negative reaction, but more so a silent acceptance of your presence.
You return to Owen's side, which the raptors seem okay with, but you don't try to touch him yet.
You slowly back yourself out of the enclosure, Owen following your movements and keeping himself between you and the velociraptors.
As soon as the gate is closed, you let out a long sigh of relief.
Owen groans and nervously shifts.
"I'm so sorry... I didn't think that would happen. But hey, you handled that well and you looked pretty damn amazing while you did it" Owen grins.
You nod, "Right... lets not do that again," you say, wringing your hands together before wiping sweat off your palms on your shorts.
You must have made a face, because Owen's smile faded and he nodded.
"Yeah... you're right. Lets not."
You bite the inside of your cheek and look away from the pouty man. It was hard to shunn him. You learned that quickly. He's too handsome to say no to.
You had to tell yourself to keep the inside thoughts inside because you had seen him flirt with Claire.
But you'd also seen him flirt with a nurse. And another handler. And maybe even one of the male scientists.
"You okay? You're making your overthinking face..." Owen says, resting a hand on your shoulder.
You feel your face heat up and from the glint in the man's eyes, Owen sees your blush too.
But he doesn't say anything. You've told him to not make fun of you, even if it was a joke. Somehow, he respected that. And that just made you love him more.
"I have some stuff to go do. Mosie needs to feed," you say quickly before turning and running off.
Owen seems shocked, but he doesn't move. Just mumbles a small, slightly disappointed, "Bye."