Ventus was beyond excited for his first day as an undergraduate volunteer at the Radiant Garden Zoo. During the orientation, the zoo staff had drawn slips of paper from a hat that would determine which department each volunteer would be a part of for the next six months. Ventus had gotten the lucky draw, in his opinion, though his classmate Sora expressed concern about his wellbeing afterward—big cats.

Ventus was going to work with lions! Tigers! Snow leopards! Hyenas! Even the little colony of mongoose were tossed into that category.

Each volunteer for this credit program was to shadow a mentor for six months in a professional animal care setting. Some classmates, like Ventus’ friends Aqua and Terra, were more interested in laboratory animals and had chosen companies to shadow with. Ventus, however, had always been too sympathetic toward lab animals, and knew zoos or rescues were a better choice for himself. And his course counselor had set himself and Sora up with one of the best zoos in the state! Currently, he was doing his best to look casual where he stood watching the lions, waiting where his counselor had told him to.

A tap on his shoulder drew Ventus from his thoughts. Beside him stood a man not much older than him with golden eyes and fluffy, chin-length black hair feathered like an early 2000’s scene-kid. He was strikingly attractive, even wearing an official zoo uniform—standard issue polo-shirt and jeans. Ventus had chosen the same forest green for his polo. He thought it was cute that they matched but had to stop his thoughts from going too far too fast—this man may be handsome but Ventus needed to remain cool as a cucumber.

“Ventus?” The man asked, sounding bored.

“That’s me!” Ventus tried to tone down his enthusiasm with a professional handshake rather than a big smile, but it didn’t work.

The man ignored his hand entirely.

“Vanitas. I’m going to be your mentor for the felines and a few other species management has designated. Follow me.”

With that, Vanitas turned heel and walked away. Ventus followed, trying his best to ignore the man’s stiff demeanor. Everyone he’d met at the zoo so far was incredibly kind. Ventus reasoned that this man was just preoccupied and wanted to get the training started quickly.

The first half of the day consisted of a tour. Vanitas showed Ventus both the guest-side and keeper-side of each species he would be working with. There were ten in total, and by the end of three months Ventus would be expected to complete the tasks for all ten animals in a ten-hour shift. Which, at first glance one hour each sounded reasonable. Vanitas warned him that that was not, in fact, reality and Ventus should prepare himself to work faster than he ever had in his life. Ventus was not one to back down from a challenge, but he wondered just how many volunteers had given up quickly because of Vanitas’ warning. Volunteering was easier than being part of staff, Vanitas had added, because volunteers only had to do one day per week instead of five, six, or seven.

“Who works here seven days a week?” Ventus couldn’t help but ask.

Vanitas had smiled at that, a small upward tug of his lips, “My sister. You’ll meet her at some point. This zoo is her entire life.”

Ventus loved zoos, and certainly entertained the idea of working for one full-time after college. But the idea of it being his whole life…there were other things he wanted to do! But Vanitas’ sister sounded like an exception.

As they were leaving the mongooses, Vanitas had asked what Ventus’ favourite species was. Ventus loved all animals so much, he always had a hard time choosing. But, he finally settled on one that made Vanitas give a real smile—fossa.

They turned a corner and came upon the next enclosure, one with a lot of thick foliage and fallen logs.

Vanitas pointed to a large, brown, cat-like figure hunched in one of the trees.

“See it?”

“No way.”

“Yeah way,” Vanitas gave a short laugh, “We have two female fossa. And they’re the last animal on your list.”

“No freakin’ way,” Ventus cheered, “That’s awesome!”

“Come on, we’re meeting my sister for lunch,” Vanitas clapped Ventus on the shoulder and led him away.

Despite his earlier standoffish attitude, Vanitas had relaxed as the morning waned. Though not outwardly and abundantly friendly as the other staff, Ventus was pleased he and his mentor were getting along.

“So, when you’re moving the tigers between pens, the most important thing to remember is never let them see you.”

Ventus snapped his head toward Vanitas, wide eyed. He’d just been eyeing the metal chutes which guided the tigers from their outdoor enclosure to their medical examination hold. Was that thin of metal really tiger proof? What if one did see him and thought he would make a perfect snack?

Then Vanitas broke into a grin and chuckled, “Just kidding. Sasha and Niki are sweethearts. Just don’t pet them even when they tempt you to. Can’t risk the lawsuit.”

Ventus pretended he found that less stressful. He had no desire to step into a courtroom—ever.

The tigers in question then walked by through the door below the catwalk, which led to their indoor sleeping area. They’d finally smelled the fresh meat Vanitas and Ventus had placed there a few minutes ago. Though sometimes meat was given as enrichment in the outdoor enclosure to prevent guests from complaining, the keepers more often provided it inside for the carnivorous species.

“Have you made friends with any of the animals?” Ventus asked as they headed over to the hyenas.

“I thought you were a college student, not a kid,” Vanitas snarked.

“Guess that’s a no.” Ventus mumbled to himself feeling a little silly.

But then Vanitas lightly punched Ventus’ shoulder, leaned in close, and mock-whispered, “You literally cannot tell anyone but I bribed the male lion into letting me pet him the other day.”

Ventus couldn’t help a laugh, “How do you bribe a lion?”

Vanitas winked and continued on without another word.

Maybe this internship would be alright, after all.

Three months in and not only was Ventus working harder at the zoo than he ever had at anything, he had a new best friend. Vanitas had, in fact, come around. Not only were they together most of the day aside from separate cleaning tasks, Vanitas had started inviting Ventus to hang out with his friends.

Those friends, Ventus quickly found out, were actually absorbed from his sister. Vanitas had admitted he had a hard time making friends of his own. Ventus had vowed to himself in that moment to become Vanitas’ best friend.

And so here they were, on Ventus’ last day of his volunteer stint. The pair of them stood on the backside of the tigers’ enclosure, wrapped in thick coats and watching the big cats play with a red plastic ball.

“So, final thoughts on zoo life?” Vanitas asked.

Though he was asking to fill out a review form so Ventus would get school credit, Ventus doubted he’d imagined Vanitas’ wistful tone.

“It’s been great. I’m really gonna miss it,” Really gonna miss you was what he wished he could say.

But, he hoped that since they’d become true friends they could still spend time together. Until this moment Ventus had assumed Vanitas felt the same—had he been mistaken?

“Think you’ll come back?” Vanitas asked, letting his clipboard droop to the side.

“At least to visit,” Ventus made sure to give him a reassuring smile.

“The fossa right?” Vanitas deflected, but Ventus caught a hint of hope.

Ventus reached out and poked Vanitas’ cheek, “And my favourite keeper.”

If Vanitas blushed, Ventus sure wasn’t going to tell him. Making Vanitas blush was one of Ventus’ favourite hobbies, but if he were to point it out he knew Vanitas would be mad at him.

“Um, Ven,” Vanitas shuffled his clipboard to his other hand and dug around in his pocket, “Since you’re done here, at least for now, I was curious if,” he pulled out two slips of paper, “…if you would go on a date with me? To Zoo Lights, next week.”

Ventus took one of the tickets and immediately tucked it in his pocket, “Of course! I would love to.”

It was rare for Vanitas to wear his emotions so clearly. But as they stood there, a soft smile slowly grew on his friend’s—no, date’s—face.

Ven was so happy. Things had gone really well between them.