Chapter Text
‧˚꒰🐾୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ
"Welcome to Evergreen Zoo! I'll be your tour guide today and we're going on a special round trip in the buggy. Established in 1934..." You began your regular spiel, checking your mic volume was okay and started up the zoo tour buggy.
The school holiday season was over so during the week was pretty quiet, only a couple of retirees on a sight seeing holiday and your regular Tuesday attendee were seated.
Your regular was a man by the name of Adrian Chase and today he was wearing his classic attire of a heather grey sweatshirt under a teal jacket and washed jeans. A sparkling white pair of new balances finished off the endearing ensemble.
Adrian always joined your tour on Tuesday mornings, his day off work, despite your tour usually going through the same beats if any newcomers were onboard.
Halfway through your tour the old timers were ready to get off and stretch their legs by the cafe. Meanwhile Adrian stayed, seated at the back row and nodded for you to keep going.
"Hey Adrian, I really appreciate you going on my tours but don't you find it kind of boring? My tour doesn't change too much and you must've heard that stuff like a thousand times by now..." You asked him bashfully.
"Huh? Boring, no way you could never be, I love you- your tours!" Adrian caught himself at the very last moment.
He loved going along every week to the zoo to see the animals of course, but most of all he had become smitten with you.
Infatuated even.
It didn't matter how many questions he asked, you patiently answered them and seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to him.
The way you spoke lovingly about all the animals and explained the exhibits, gave out so many interesting animal facts with a bright smile made Adrian's heart nearly explode with how full it got.
But he didn't want to seem creepy or bother you while working and if there were other passengers aboard, he sat at the back patiently.
Careful not to cross any line or boundary with you and evoke the reaction of you're annoying Adrian! That he always seemed to elicit.
"Aw thank you! How about you come sit up front? I doubt I'll get anyone else today." You suggested with a bright grin, waving him over.
Wow you wanted him to get closer? That pleasantly surprised him.
"Awesome, yeah that'd be rad!" Adrian sprang up and shuffled to the front row, sitting right beside you.
"You're like my favorite audio book I get to listen to!" He gave you a dopey grin and slid those large wire framed glasses back up his nose.
"Wow that's quite the compliment!" You found yourself blushing.
Adrian really was handsome, even more so up close. But he never indicated any interest in you outside of the tours or animals.
"Tapirs are related to pigs right?" He asked as you stopped by the little group of them.
"They're actually odd-toed ungulates, making their closest living relatives rhinos and horses." You corrected him gently.
"Cool!" Adrian enjoyed that you never made fun of him getting a fact wrong or made him feel silly for asking a question.
"What's a group of tapirs called?" You quizzed him back and Adrian adorably rubbed his chin thinking on the answer.
"A herd?" He guessed.
"I gave you a bit of a trick question there. It's a candle because they are generally solitary animals." You grinned as Adrian wrote that fact down in his phone for later.
"Ready to keep going?"
"Hell yeah, let's get this show on the road!"
You giggled at how eager he was, checking out all the enclosures with a sense of wonderment.
"You really love animals don't you Adrian?" You remarked fondly.
He could feel his heart thudding away faster when you slightly leant into his shoulder while taking a sharp corner. "Uh yeah I do!"
I also really love you. Adrian could feel the words at the tip of his tongue but kept them at bay. He didn't want to ruin this.
Having this time with you was so special to him and whenever he had confessed to the few crushes in the past it had always ended horrendously.
In high school when he asked out a girl in science class who was assigned his lab partner to prom she cried.
She was so upset that 'someone like him' thought of her that way and that really affected Adrian to this day.
Ugh I can't believe such a creep like you would even ask that?
How could you begin to think I'd ever say yes?
He wasn't allowed to put his creepy crush onto you like that. Surely you'd just run away and tell the teacher to switch classes and call your older brother to beat him up after gym class for daring to catch feelings for you.
"I think anyone who loves animals is a good person in my book. We have so much to learn from them don't you think?" Your kind voice broke through the dark thoughts plaguing him.
"Um yeah. We have tons to learn from them, I love learning new facts and stuff..." He gulped when you stopped at the lemur enclosure and smiled right up at him.
Wow you were so pretty...Adrian caught himself staring down at your lips instead of the lemurs.
Stop staring at me you freak!
Another woman spat when he went over to ask if she wanted to go for drinks at the Fennel Fields Christmas party a few years ago. Turns out she was pretending to be nice but making fun of him behind his back according to Taylor.
Adrian snapped his gaze straight ahead. No gazing at you, try to act normal!
"Lemurs have female dominant structures where they..." You continued on but Adrian found himself thinking he'd like that structure with you.
But you were an awesome zoo keeper and he was a lame bus boy! There was no chance here.
"Your job is so cool, all I do is clean tables and get yelled at." He lamented.
"What? Who could ever want to yell at you? You're so lovely!" You were shocked.
The tips of his ears went bright pink at your praise, "Me? You really think so?" Usually girls only told him he was annoying or strange.
Outside of Leota and Harcourt but they didn't really count, they were like his strict older sisters or aunties or something.
"Yeah you're super sweet."
Super sweet? Adrian must've misheard, but no you'd definitely said that in his direction. It gave him a sliver of hope but surely this was because you didn't really know him.
A myriad of horrible memories flooded back to him, shouting against his fluttering heart at your kind words.
Adrian is such a weirdo...did you see his dorky getup today? So cringe!
All he wants to talk about is pointless animal facts and lame television shows.
Who would ever want to date him?
Did you know he still lives with his mother, what a pathetic loser!
Yuck he's probably a serial killer like Norman Bates or something. Those glasses of his are terrible.
Adrian hadn't realised the rover had stopped until you gently tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey, if you're still free did you want to come and feed the meerkats with me?"
You watched as his green eyes widened behind those cute glasses of his.
"Uh...fuck yes I do!" Adrian pumped the air in joy at your proposal.
"Great! Just follow my lead through the gates." You instructed him and Adrian nodded, careful to not trip up.
Getting out the feed bag, you both dove in for the insect meal to toss out for their lunchtime.
"There are dried scorpions in here?" Adrian wondered aloud and you grinned.
"Yep! Meerkats love eating scorpions, they are immune to the venom."
"Killer!"
Digging your hands back into the bag, they brushed up against one another and Adrian's whole body seized, face flushing bright pink.
"Ah shit sorry, I seriously didn't mean to!" Adrian wrenched his hand right back and held them up as if he'd committed a crime.
Don't touch me weirdo!
A colleague had told him that recently when he tried to help her with a precarious stack of plates about to fall.
"It's okay, you're fine Adrian. It was just an accident, hey look at all the little babies! Meerkats have usually one to eight pups per litter, on average and this gal had a magic eight. She's an octomom!" You laughed so brilliantly, carefree and loud.
It made Adrian immediately forget his worries and join right in, marveling at the cute little meerkat babies trying to crawl about after their mom.
"Woah! She could have her own TLC show!" That silly joke of his made you laugh even louder and Adrian found himself staring back down at your lips.
Shaking his head clear of that ridiculous line of thought, Adrian focused back on the adorable meerkats.
"So cute! I want to put one in my pocket."
"I know right! The temptation is real." You agreed.
"Meerkats actually have a complex language with over 10 different calls, barking for threats, purring for contentment, and a vurruk-vurruk sound for hunting!" Unabashedly you mimicked all their sounds and Adrian tried them out too.
After the meerkats were all full and happy, you led Adrian out of the enclosure.
"Well feeding time here is over, I have to get to the other non-visitor access enclosures now sorry."
"Oh that's all good, thanks for letting me tag along!"
"Anytime Adrian it was fun, I'll see you next tour?" You waved and got back into the buggy.
"See you then!" Adrian waved you goodbye.
A whole week seemed like a really long time now to see your beautiful face or hear your kind voice talk to him about animal facts again. But he couldn't let himself get greedy or delusional.
There was no way you would be interested in him.
When Adrian caught up with the gang that night he was still trapped in a daze from getting to hang out with you.
"Dude what's going on with you?" Chris waved a hand in front of his face.
Adrian still didn't fully snap out of it, "Huh?"
"We were saying what did you get up to on your day off?" John asked.
"I went to the zoo."
"Damn, you really do always go on Tuesdays!" Adebayo giggled.
"Yeah that's when the best tour is on." Adrian explained, downing the rest of his beer.
"She's really knowledgeable about all of the animals. It's so cool and today she let me feed the meerkats with her!" His expression got animated the more he spoke excitedly all about you, cheeks going pink.
Adebayo and Harcourt raised conspiratorial eyebrows at one another.
"And does it also help that she is pretty?" Adebayo ventured a cheeky guess.
At that Adrian's hand slipped and he dropped his drink on the ground, glass and foamy beer splattering against laminate. "Fuck!"
"And no, I mean objectively she is like super mega pretty and attractive, but that has nothing to do with it!" He snapped defensively, going to try and clean it up.
John flagged down a staff member to help out with the mess so Adrian wouldn't cut his palms open and add to the puddle.
"Aww I think our Adrian has himself a little crush!" Harcourt teased.
"I fucking do not! I'd never let myself have a crush!" Adrian shouted, glowering at her.
"Let yourself? What does that mean?" John asked with a concerned frown.
Gripping at his curls anxiously, Adrian ground his teeth, not wanting to discuss the stupid topic any further.
"Ugh just drop it!" He pleaded, but they wouldn't back down.
"Why do you not let yourself have a crush Adrian?" Harcourt pushed him on it.
"Because nobody would ever want me to think of them that way. So I don't bother anymore all right?!" Adrian wanted them to stop teasing him about this already.
It wasn't funny anymore. He knew it was stupid having a crush on you. But the feeling persisted and twisted him up inside.
"Adrian, that's not right. Come on, you deserve to find someone like anyone else." Adebayo tried to give him a comforting hug on the shoulder but he reeled away.
"I said leave it. Now I have to go take a shit, if you'll excuse me!" He yelled back, storming off to the bathroom.
"I'll go talk to him..." Chris sighed and quickly followed after Adrian.
When Adrian slammed the stall door closed, he couldn't help but think of you.
Your smile was so gorgeous, wide and bright.
You laughed with your whole body, letting your head tip back.
Your hair was pretty in a ponytail underneath the khaki cap you wore.
You're super sweet! When those words left your lips, he wanted to steal them into his, wrap his arms around your waist.
And never let go.
No, this had to stop! It was a ridiculous train of thought.
Kissing...he couldn't even get that right.
His one and only terrible kiss was years ago now.
I dare you to kiss Adrian!
Some girls in his high school class had whispered loudly to each other, pointing at him like he wasn't in the room.
Eww gross I'm not going to do that!
Yeah, make it something else!
Adrian didn't even really want the kiss from her but they all circled around him and he was scrawny. Plus he didn't want to hurt their feelings. His mother always said he had to be extra nice to girls.
I'll do it, but you owe me twenty bucks!
Another girl pushed past, shoving him roughly against the blackboard.
Close your eyes loser! I'm doing you a favor.
He closed them tightly, trembling.
Tears dripped down Adrian's nose when his first kiss was taken with a scornful smacking of lips and then a ring of mocking laughter.
Ugh yuck, there I did it. Now pay up and give me my money bitches!
She sounded so disgusted by him, wiping her mouth like there was something wrong with his lips. Was he not a good kisser? Was he really that weird?
Is he seriously crying?
Another girl scoffed and they all turned around to glare at him.
What the hell?!
They called Adrian rude, and said he should feel grateful for being bestowed such an honor. But all he felt was lesser, different and ashamed.
Adrian avoided kissing anyone so he couldn't make whatever mistake he pulled, the Vigilante mask stayed on during sex bonding.
If he tried to kiss you, he'd surely mess it up somehow. Ugh, why was he even considering that like it was a possibility?
"Fuck." He felt a wetness brimming his eyelashes. Tears spilt down before Adrian could try and stop it.
"I'm sorry..." Adrian apologized to you with a hiccup. "I won't think about you that way anymore, I promise!"
A small knock at the door interrupted his muttering.
"What's wrong buddy? You can talk to me." Chris offered, but Adrian stayed put.
"Nothing. I'm just taking a massive dump over here, leave me alone." Adrian said, trying to hide his shaky voice by speaking in a strange low register.
"It sounds like you might be crying in there BFF." Chris said gently.
"Yeah that's because it's painful. I'm really constipated or something." Adrian lied, grabbing a handful of toilet paper to dab his stupid teary eyes away.
"Dang that sucks bro, want me to keep you company while you work through that killer shit?" Chris asked, leaning against the stall door.
It was obvious by the insane public restroom gap that he was standing up crying but Chris played along.
"Yeah okay, you can if you want." Adrian nodded, sniffling.
"You're allowed to have feelings for her. I get that it's scary and all..." He began after a little while.
"I don't!" Adrian argued. "And I can't...she would hate it if I loved her. Which I totally don't, so this conversation is pointless."
"How do you know that she would hate it?" Chris asked.
"Because, that's what the others all said. I'm not cool and suave with the ladies like you are P."
"Not true at all! Those chicks in the threeways always have a good time with you." Chris insisted.
"That's different. I do that stuff when I'm Vigilante, and it's bro friendship bonding."
"How's it so different to go ask out the cute tour guide at the zoo as Adrian?"
Adrian gave a deep shaky exhale before providing an answer.
"B-because dude when I'm Adrian Chase..." He said, voice choking up. "I'm just a pathetic creepy loser who still lives with his mom."
Adrian bit down on the shuddering sobs into his palms, praying that his idol Peacemaker couldn't hear them.
"Hey come on, that's not fair on yourself."
"It's true. Why would she ever want to date someone like me?" He gulped for air, nose blocked.
"You'll never know if you don't ask." Chris told him sagely.
"Come on dude you're Vigilante, you've taken on a whole butterfly invasion and fucking travelled across universes! We're about to start up Checkmate thanks to you and your awesome blood curse money."
With that pep talk, Adrian unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open with a creak.
Chris grinned at first, but as he walked out to splash water on his face, Adrian still wasn't convinced.
"I appreciate all of that but I can't do it P. She's so cool and smart. I'll fuck up somehow and then she won't want me to go on the tours anymore."
"Sometimes the things that are worth the most need a little risk!" Chris urged him to reconsider.
"It's a risk I don't want to take." He said firmly, washing his hands. Adrian's eyes were slightly puffy but outside of that he seemed back to normal.
"Dude, come on..." Chris knew better, this wasn't right. Adrian was hurting.
Adrian stared back at his best friend through the mirror for a moment. What if he took the gamble and you said yes?
But then he caught a glimpse of himself and was reminded how unlikely that was.
No, he couldn't afford to lose you and the joy you brought him out of his life for these selfish feelings inside. He'd bottle them down and enjoy your warmth from afar.
"I don't even get crushes like normal people do." He lied, heading back out to the bar.
The rest of the night was tense but Adrian paid it no mind, laughing his head off and ordering drinks like there was no tomorrow.
Anything to dull the ache he felt in his gut.
He hadn't drank this much in a really long time, getting loose, dancing and swaying, words slurring and tying together. Adrian was a total mess and loving it, his mind didn't focus on you at all anymore.
Until it did.
By that point he was walking outside and the ground spun around, concrete, traffic cones, streetlights, melding into one big blur.
"You're super sweet!" Your melodic voice replayed in his mind on loop.
Oh no.
"Fuck...I'm gonna be sick." Adrian whined, hurling into a nearby bush.
John patted his back through the vomiting and Adebayo went to get you some bottled water.
After he had something to drink and could stand back up, Adrian felt the flood hitting and couldn't stop it.
"Shit, s-she said I was super sweet..." Adrian burst into a drunken sob against Chris' shoulder.
"That's a good thing buddy." Chris replied, gingerly rubbing his shoulder.
"Nooooo! She was just being nice!" He refused to accept that and continued to bicker with them all in the taxi ride home.
"It's promising Adrian! Hey, what if we go with you, for support?" Adebayo suggested and the whole gang nodded.
"You guys would seriously do that for me?" Adrian asked quietly with a big squint.
His glasses were confiscated, currently folded and in Adebayo's purse for safe keeping after he took them off and nearly sat on them.
"Yeah! We can do a group tour. Put in some good words for you." Harcourt added, completely onboard.
"I've booked next Tuesday." John showed the Evergreen zoo confirmation email.
"See, you'll have the 11th Street Kids with you! No matter what her answer is, it'll be okay." Chris grinned, clapping him on the shoulder.
"O-okay then...don't take me home though. My mom freaks the fuck out when I'm drunk." Adrian nodded back at them and they all giggled at that.
"Sure buddy, you can crash at mine." Chris nodded.
That night Adrian conked out on Chris' couch, drooling on the cushions and dreaming about you taking him around the zoo but this time hand in hand.