Work Text:
“What are those?” Ahkmenrah asks, eyeing the bowl of candy Larry had brought in.
“What are what?” Larry replies, turning around to look at Ahk.
“These.” Ahkmenrah picks up a lollipop and shows it to Larry.
“It’s a lollipop…?” Larry raises an eyebrow. He’s not sure what the question was referring to.
“Yes, but, what is it? What is the flavor?”
Larry flips it around. “‘Caramel Green Apple.’ It’s sour candy with caramel on top. They’re pretty good, I think. I haven’t had one in a while.”
“…Can I try it? Please?” Ahkmenrah asks hesitantly.
“Oh, yeah, sure, Ahk. Go for it.”
Ahk grins, unwrapping it and inspecting the candy. He cautiously takes a lick, then pops it in his mouth. As the caramel melts a bit to reveal the sour apple flavor, his eyes widen in delight.
“Good?” Larry asks with an amused smile.
Ahkmenrah nods vigorously, grinning around the large flat lollipop.
Larry laughs. “Glad you think so.”
///
The week passes on, the candy bowl in the lobby getting dwindled down by the museum visitors and the exhibits.
Even when Larry refills it, he notices that the caramel apple lollipops get taken rather quickly, quicker than they realistically should. He doesn’t say anything, not thinking too much of it, until one night he dumps a whole bag in, and a few hours later they’ve all disappeared.
“This is weird…” He thinks.
Larry asks Teddy, Attila, even goes so far as asking the miniatures; they all deny. Finally, he goes to Nicky.
“Have you been eating all the caramel apple lollipops?? I just put a whole bag in the candy bowl and they’re already gone.” He says, about ready to launch into a Dad Lecture™ about how ‘that much sugar is bad for you, Nicholas, you cannot eat that many lollipops’, When Nicky says, “Nope, I’ve had like, one. Or maybe three… Maybe five. Definitely not the whole bag though. Why?”
Larry raises an eyebrow at him, then continues, “Hmm. Any idea who it was?”
Nicky thinks for a moment. “Now that you mention it, I think I remember seeing Ahk eating one earlier. Try asking him.”
With this information, Larry heads to the Egypt exhibit.
When he gets there, the two jackal guards watch him closely. They don’t try to attack him anymore, but Larry is always weary.
Larry looks around the tomb. No Ahkmenrah.
“Ahk? You in here buddy?” Larry calls out, rounding a corner. He hears shuffling and a muffled voice.
“Ahk? That you?” Larry pulls out his flashlight, brandishing it in front of himself like a bat. He turns one final pillar, clicking his flashlight on.
Larry springs out to find a startled, trying-to-look-innocent Ahkmenrah, crossing his arms behind his back with wide eyes.
“Oh!- Oh, Ahk, it’s just you… What, uh… What are you doing in here, bud?”
“Me?” Ahk looks around behind himself, before turning back to face Larry. “Oh, me? What am I doing? Oh, you know, just… uh… polishing my…” He glances down at a glass display case beside him. “My amulets! Yeah, I’m polishing my amulets.”
He squints, looking closer down at the case.
“I don’t remember those…” He mutters more to himself than anyone else. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he looks back up at Larry, who simply raises an eyebrow.
Suddenly, a single lollipop falls out of Ahkmenrah’s ornate belt, and clatters to the floor.
Ahkmenrah silently stares down at it. He looks back up at Larry, who is also silent.
“Well, I think that answers my question,” Larry sighs.
Ahkmenrah flushes.
“Have you been eating all the caramel apple lollipops, Ahkmenrah?” Larry asks, already knowing the answer.
“Well, you see, Larry, the other night I tried one, and it was just so good, I simply could not help myself. I took a few, ate them, but my craving could not be satiated. I had to have more, so… yes. I took them. You’re not mad at me, are you? Oh, Larry- Mr. Daley, please, I’m sorry, I was wrong, don’t- ”
He is cut off by Larry reaching forward to place a hand on his shoulder. Ahkmenrah recoils, shuddering despite himself. Realizing his mistake, he is thrown into more hysteria. “Oh, no, oh, dear, Mr. Daley, I apologize. Please, please don’t, don’t hurt me- I’m sorry, I’m sorry- ”
Larry looks into his eyes, trying to calm him down.
“I- I… sorry…” Ahkmenrah says in a very small voice.
“Ahk. I’m not mad. I am not mad at you. Merely curious. You’re not in trouble.”
“You’re… I’m not?” Ahk’s eyes are blown wide and almost distant, his look of genuine confusion slowly being overtaken by dawning realization as he comes back to the present.
“You’re not,” Larry affirms. “And what’s with ‘Mr. Daley’? I’m just Larry. No ‘Mr. Daley’ here, right? We’re pals, right?”
“Oh, I… yeah.” Ahk nods. “Sorry.”
“Hey, no problem, man. Don’t need to be sorry.” Larry gently pats him on the back. “I’ll get more lollipops, no big deal.”
Larry knows it’s not really the issue with the lollipops that’s the problem here. Ahkmenrah has some serious unaddressed trauma caused by the awful treatment he got from the previous night guards and the other exhibits. Larry knows it needs to be worked through soon, but now is not the time. Ahk is already extremely agitated, no need to make it worse for the time being.
“Okay. Um… Larry?” Ahk says as Larry is turning to go.
Larry looks back. “Yeah, Ahk?”
“Thanks.”
Larry smiles. “You’re welcome.”