Work Text:
Crash!
"Shoot, sorry Ahk!" Jedediah yells. "Didn't mean to bump into ya like that." He steers the car away, pausing long enough for Ahkmenrah to murmur that it's fine, then goes careening down the hall.
In the meantime, Ahkmenrah picks up his crown from where it has fallen. He inspects it, continuing to walk with Sacagawea. She remains silent, also looking over the item. The silence is only broken when she points out the dent.
Ahkmenrah swallows, putting on a smile before Sacagawea can notice otherwise. "I'm sure it will be fine. Gold is quite malleable."
"If you say so."
And so he ignores the wriggling feeling of anger in the pit of his stomach, as he always does.
The next night brings no accidents, fortunately. Instead Larry kindly gives him something called "twinkies". He had heard about them before, curious about what they actually were. He did wonder, though, how Larry knew of his interests. He always makes sure not to ask for these things.
In any case, he now has four. He wants to eat them all, but he couldn't do that, it would be unfair to those who got nothing. So he eats one for himself, then wanders around the museum, offering a bit to anyone who stops to talk to him.
He pushes aside the weighty feeling of longing as he watches them disappear.
The night after that, there is a storm. Larry is late, the animals are spooked, and everything is even wilder than usual.
Not to mention the miniatures.
He can hardly blame them, though. At such a small size, the loud crashes of thunder must be earth shattering. Although he does calm them down in the end, he can't help feeling that he's wasted the night. He had wanted to observe the lightning properly.
But he pushes away the swell of disappointment and hides behind his mask.
The next couple days are calm. Ahkmenrah decides to spend more time with Attila, as he finds he enjoys his company quite a bit.
Of course, no sort of relationship can be without argument and anger for long.
As such, Ahkmenrah somehow angers Attila, and try as he might to explain himself, Attila refuses to listen. Attila storms back to his group of huns, and Ahkmenrah goes off for a walk, now alone.
But words need not go far, here, to reach the next pair of ears. Soon the whole museum is whispering, buzzing in his wake. It's torturous but also too early in the morning to apologize, so he heads back to his tomb. He has a terrible sinking feeling, and climbs into his sarcophagus determined to make it up to Attila tomorrow.
Attila has calmed down the next day, but still Ahkmenrah apologizes profusely, walks on eggshells, goes out of his way to help not only Attila but anyone he sees.
Some exhibits notice. Most do not. No one makes a comment, it is how has always acted. Larry, though, thinks his behavior a little odd. He asks Teddy about it, then Wea. When neither suggest anything out of the ordinary, though, he brushes it off as some pharaoh thing.
In his tomb, Ahkmenrah tries to brush off his growing sense of fear.
A couple of weeks later, Ahkmenrah has decided to "hang" with his favorite night guard. He gathers up some ingredients, intending to make tea. He has found mugs, tea bags, and - miraculously- a jar of honey. He is startled, though, when Larry walks in unexpected, and he drops the jar.
Eyes wide, his eyes flicker to Larry before he drops to his knees, attempting to pick up the slippery glass. He freezes at a hand on his shoulder blade. "I'll pick it up, Ahk. Sit down."
No no no no no, that calm voice only means trouble he can not get in trouble again trouble will land him in his sarcophagus again he can't go back no no no pick up the glass-
Glass crunches in Ahkmenrah's clenched fists. Larry sighs, pulling him up from the floor, and seats him on the couch with a towel and a lingering hand on his arm.
Ahkmenrah watches in horror as Larry cleans up. He makes no move to clean off his hands, or to shift into a more comfortable position, and his breathing has nearly stopped- but the tears have not, they come rolling down, unnoticed at first. When he finally realizes he's crying, he feels the overwhelming urge to hide himself because crying is weak, but if he moves he'll draw attention to himself and drawing attention might be even worse. He does not wipe his eyes.
Larry straightens up, throws the soggy mess into the trash can, then returns the tea things to their places. He sits down next to Ahkmenrah. Seeing his hands, Larry takes them, gently cleaning the glass and honey. Ahkmenrah's tears are dripping onto his arms now, and Larry asks if it hurts. No, it doesn't- but he can't bring himself to say the words, instead shaking his head, a soft sob slipping out. His hands are clean now. They return to Ahkmenrah's lap.
Larry takes them back.
"Ahk? What's going on with you lately? You're acting weird. Like really quiet, and apologetic..."
"I will change." The words are taut.
"What? No! You don't have to do anything, no, it's just. I could get everyone to leave you alone for a while if..."
But he's lost Ahkmenrah at 'alone' and now he's sobbing, hands clenched in his lap again and he's pleading with Larry. "Please don't put me back don't lock me up again I'm so so sorry I didn't mean to I don't wanna go back its so cold and it hurts and please don't put me back I don't want to back please please I don't want to be alone I can't be locked up again-"
And the words run into incoherent wailing as Ahkmenrah rocks back and forth in his seat. Larry is shocked and hell, He's almost crying too, but this needs to be fixed. So he pulls Ahkmerah closer, rocks back and forth, anything to comfort him, reassurances for every tearful plead.
It takes an hour and a half but finally he's calmed Ahkmenrah down some, but not without a few tears of his own. He can tell Ahk is tired and definitely still feeling terrible, but he has to know what's wrong. It isn't fair to make anyone feel like this, much less Ahkmenrah, the sweetest person he's ever known.
"Ahk?"
He receives a sniffle and an "I'm sorry", but muffled through his shirt it's difficult to understand.
"No, don't. You haven't done anything wrong."
Ahkmenrah sits up, wipes his face. "I ruined your night and I broke the jar 'nd now that stuff's wasted because of me, and I can't stop crying and it's stupid and weak, Larry, I'm just weak. An' if- I can't- if I don' hide it they're gonna send me back to my tomb and I can't do that again, I can't I gotta stop crying..." More tears accompany those terrible sentences and there is silence as Larry deciphers them.
All he can think of is that Ahkmenrah is terrified of his tomb, and maybe even of Larry himself.
So he pulls Ahkmenrah back to him, into a tight hug. There's another silence and he can just feel the apology coming.
"You're wrong, you know."
"What?" Ahkmenrah sounds desperate and strangled and lost.
"You're wrong about- I think all of that. I'm- my night isn't ruined, and the jar was an accident. And I think there's a reason you're crying, but it's not because you're not strong."
There's no response, so he goes on.
"You're crying because you're hurt I think, okay? You told me about Cecil and the others yelling at you? It was them, the lies they said. You're- not even close to weak. God, not even close. You took all that for years, and I'm proud of you that you admitted it okay? And I'll never lock you up, either, you don't have to go back if you don't want to."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
The silence returns but it's better this time, and Ahkmenrah is relaxing into his chest for the first time that night. He looks down, smiles at the top of Ahkmenrah's head. He makes a silent promise to fix this.
But right now, this is better.