The Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, Sunday Afternoon

[myownface]

Yes, Sparkle was blowing off his job at Demon Marcus again today. And why not? He was sore after his detention yesterday (running Alenko's obstacle course four times was tough enough. Running it about fifty times before getting it right had been brutal) and he had good company. Hell, it was a date. Sparkle hadn't been on many proper dates in his life, but a trip to the zoo with Alec was setting a high bar for future ones.

Well, that's what he figured, anyhow.

"They have kinkajous here. I don't even know what the hell that is but we gotta see them before we go, right?"


[For the boy! NFB for off-the-island-ness!]

Comments

[nottrivial]

"Definitely," Alec agreed, turning over the giant map he had insisted on collecting from the information desk so they could maximize efficient zoo-navigating. He trailed a finger down the map. "I'm not sure what they are either, but apparently they're not far. First stop?"

[myownface]

"First stop," Sparkle agreed, grinning and bouncing (ow) as he leaned over to check out the map. "What's on the way? Anything good?"

It was all good! They were at the zoo. What was not to like about this?

[nottrivial]

Alec held the map at a slight angle so that Sparkle could see. "There's polar bears there," he offered, indicating a spot not far from the kinkajous. "And right next to that is something called the 'African journey.' That's... geographically unusual, but okay. Do you have a preference?"

[myownface]

Sparkle's wrinkled nose probably indicated just what he thought of the African journey.

Step in one dead zebra carcass...

"Polar bears sound like a stop worth making," he decided, perking up again a moment later. "I mean, polar bears. What's not to like?"

They were huge! And white! And Canadian!

[nottrivial]

"Well," Alec said with exaggerated pompousness as he turned the map over to the other side, where facts and information on the different kinds of animals were listed, "according to this..."

And then he took his time before concluding, "No, there's nothing to dislike about polar bears."

[myownface]

"See? See, I so told you!" And that would be more bouncing (still ow) before Sparkle reached to grab Alec by the arm, because if they weren't going quickly enough toward those bears, someone was going to get dragged. "Shit, this is awesome. I haven't been to the zoo since... Since I don't even know it was probably a field trip or something. Or maybe I broke in while I was high once..."

[nottrivial]

Alec smiled and allowed himself to be dragged, because Sparkle's enthusiasm was making it hard to walk at a leisurely pace here. "I think it's probably a little nicer when you're allowed to be here," Alec pointed out gently. "Less... fleeing, I'd expect."

[myownface]

"Riiight, like I ever did any fleeing at a zoo. What would there be to flee from? I only tried to steal that camel that one time, and that wasn't at the zoo, you know."

Which totally gave him some sort of twisted moral high ground.

[nottrivial]

"I assumed from the zookeepers," Alec said, tilting his head somewhat. "Unless you were especially careful getting in, I guess, but--"

But -- what? Hard to say, really. Because Alec was currently a panther cub.

[myownface]

At least Sparkle was holding on to the panther cub?

... By the arm, granted, so there was a moment of confusedly letting said cub dangle there for a minute before kind of freaking out- "Oh, shit!" - and pulling him into his arms.

"This sort of thing follows you?"

Or maybe it just followed Sparkle in particular. Who knew?

[nottrivial]

Alec didn't know, because this had never happened to him before, which meant his eyes were huge and confused and he couldn't quite help clinging to Sparkle as best as his paws would allow. He wasn't going to whimper, as that would be undignified and also might draw attention to the delinquent-looking teenager with the potentially stolen zoo animal in his arms, but he also was more than a little alarmed.

So, hope you didn't mind being frantically pawed at, Sparkle. At least the pawing locations were pretty PG?

[myownface]

Sparkle and his chest were appreciative of that, really. Normal kitten claws were pretty fierce, and Alec-as-panther had significantly larger ones. Sparks was just going to make faces, and try not to squirm, and...

"Relax," he crooned as he ducked behind a shrub. For all the good that did, since most of the shrubs were still just sticks, this time of year. "Just relax, we'll get you back to the island and wait this out, it's all good."

Poor, poor Alec.

[nottrivial]

This time Alec-the-panther did make a noise, but it was just a soft Tsk of worry.

And then he kind of burrowed into Sparkle's chest, because he was a panther cub and rules about personal space kind of went out the window when you were trying not to get dropped, right?

[myownface]

Just be thankful that Sparkle wasn't making high-pitched squealing sounds, Alec. Because his boyfriend turning into a tiny big kitty was kind of the highlight of his weekend, now.

"Hey, it's fine," he mumbled, giving Alec a scratch behind the ear. It worked to calm Velcro down, so why not give it a shot, right? "But I'm gonna have to stash you somewhere if we're gonna get you out of here. How do you feel about riding in my backpack?"

With his stolen half-burned candles and sauce-stained tupperware! It was a great haul, you shut your face.

[nottrivial]

It actually did help calm Alec down, truth be told.

Alec couldn't reasonably object, considering that he didn't want Sparkle to go to jail or anything for supposedly stealing a zoo animal, so he shut his eyes in a very Alec-like gesture of resignation and gave a slight nod of his head.

His fuzzy, panthery head.

[myownface]

Hims fuzzly, panthery, most adorba wickle head evers.

"It won't be so bad," Sparkle decided, shrugging his backpack off his shoulders and rearranging the food he'd packed in there for dinner. Peanut butter and banana. Supper of champions. "We got this even if getting you out of the zoo'll be the easy part."

He had to find his own way back to the island. With the saddest panther cub ever in his bag, smushing his sandwiches.

[nottrivial]

Alec -- well, he didn't exactly sigh, but it was close. His big kitty eyes were wide with concern, but without the use of (way too many) words to express that concern, he just looked up at Sparkle for a long moment before dutifully climbing into the bag.

Please be careful, Sparks.

[myownface]

Sparkle's bag went with him, like, everywhere. It wasn't like he was going to forget Alec on the bus or anything.

... Mostly because he was going to be hitchhiking his way back to the causeway, as best he could. It's not like he had a credit card, or cash for a cab, or even an American debit card. Fandom's bank was pretty accepting of foreign bank cards, after all.

"Now," he said, peering into the bag as he half-zipped it shut, "you're going to have to stay quiet in there, or else I might have to give you to that crying kid in the gift shop that we saw on our way in."