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Ahkmenrah’s instagram account has almost fifteen thousand followers. There’s lots of praise for his editing skills, but he honestly rarely uses more than a filter. Of course, the masses don’t know that his Jackyl guards or Jed and Octavius are real and actual size, and no one would believe him if he said as much, but it’s just one of those convenient aspects of magic. It also helps museum attendance, since he tags the museum in all his photos, and quite a few of them have gone viral.
McPhee is so happy about this that insists on buying Ahk a phone as a company expense, and Ahk picks the same phone as Larry, since that’s the model he’s most familiar with. It just has a basic plan, since he doesn’t really need to text or call anyone except for Larry, if him at all, and it proves to be a good investment.
There’s a new exhibit on samurai on loan from a Tokyo museum. The suits are displayed on mannequins who, of course, become mobile at sundown, and their area that’s been made to resemble a shinto shrine has really good aesthetics and good lighting (and, according to McPhee, needs publicity), so when Ahk wakes up, that’s where he heads.
Along the way, of course, there’s trouble. Larry’s covering a situation with the Mayans in the hall of miniatures, and Teddy is enjoying his so Ahk handles the huns, who have apparently decided to start their own wrestling federation in the main hall. Experience has taught him and the others that it’s best to let them just have their fun in a controlled environment, so Ahk sets up a ring and match roster, designating Christopher Columbus as referee before getting back to business.
He scoops up his phone, which he left on the front desk, and heads to the Japan exhibit, opens the camera to get a few pictures of just the environment, some of the samurai meditating or stretching further in the room, but most of them exploring elsewhere in the museum. He’s just opened the front camera to get a few pictures of himself when the phone buzzes. Peculiar, considering Larry usually just seeks him out when they’re here together instead of texting him.
But when he opens the message thread, it’s not Larry.
He knows who Rebecca is. She used to be a docent at the museum. One of the few people that knew about everyone at the museum coming to life because Larry had really wanted to have her meet Sacagawea, with whom she had a mild obsession. Her book, which had expanded on her thesis about Sacagawea, had taken off and though she no longer worked at the museum, she did very occasionally visit and she and Larry had remained friends. Or maybe, if they were texting at this time of night, more than that?
Ahk realized then that he had Larry’s phone. And he should probably immediately return it. But, despite being a godly ancient royal with dashing good looks, he did have his flaws. One of them being borderline invasive curiosity. And maybe just the tiniest crush on his night guard that made him just the tiniest bit jealous that he was speaking to a very pretty girl at three in the morning.
So, against his better judgement, he read the message, which says, simply, ‘Don’t be too obvious now ;)’.
And hey, that’s vague, but also doesn’t really help the thought that maybe Larry’s been dating the really cute former docent and just never bothered to mention it, so he may scroll up a few messages to get a little context.
Which is when he sees it.
It’s a picture of him, apparently taken earlier that evening. He’s talking to Sacagawea about something rather animatedly and he knows he looks good. The caption underneath, made by larry, says ‘Would you just look at his smile? I can’t handle it’.
The next message, from Rebecca, says ‘How do you expect me to focus on him when she’s in the picture? You’re right, though. He’s adorable.’
There are a few more pictures and messages, and Larry saying ‘I really want to tell him, but I know what a bad idea that is.’
‘Well,’ Rebecca responds, ‘I don’t think it’s such a bad idea, really. Even if this is a onesided thing, at least it will have been addressed you know? Can’t be easy working around someone all the time and feeling that way.’
‘Hold on, 911 in the HoM. I’ll brb, probably with more pictures lol,’ is Larry’s last message, followed by Rebecca’s response. And Ahk just sort of stands there for a moment, dumbfounded by what he’s read, feeling flattered and embarrassed and happy all at once. Also, a little bit of secondhand shame in regards to Larry’s shorthand texting, but mostly just dumbfoundedness at the fact that Larry likes him and gushes about him privately.
He sends the pictures he took of the shrine to his own phone and then walks back into the entryway, where Larry’s waiting. “Phone mix up,” he says shyly, passing Larry’s over to him and picking his own up, “I was just trying to get some new shots of the Japanese exhibit, you know.”
Larry nods, looking at his phone, “Did you um… Did anyone text or call by chance while you had it?”
Ahk shrugs, “Just Rebecca.”
Turning suddenly pale, Larry laughs nervously, “That so?”
“She’s right you know,” Ahkmenrah says with a sly grin, “You should try being a little less obvious. I know I’m cute and everything, but…”
He trails off when Larry frowns. That made Larry feel bad? Well of course it did, Ahk reflects, he probably thinks he’s being made fun of for having a stupid crush on an immortal museum exhibit. So Ahk does the only thing he can think of to put it right.
Leaning over, Ahkmenrah places a small kiss on Larry’s cheek and pulls back, “If you’re going to shower me with praise,” he says, “Just do it to my face next time, that’s all. I promise I won’t mind.”
“Oh,” Larry says, smiling slightly and touching his cheek, “O-okay, I’ll definitely, um… I’ll do that in the future, okay.”
Satisfied, Ahkmenrah gets back to work. He gets several good shots of the Japan exhibits, some of the samurai suits in action, and a few of himself in the backdrop of rich reds and mahoganys. Before the end of the night, he also gets one of him and Larry, pressing another kiss to Larry’s cheek, hashtagged #bestnightguardever.
When he wakes up the next evening, that picture has more likes than anything he’s ever posted, McPhee is working with the board on an equality and human sexuality & gender campaign with Egypt’s first ‘Known Gay Pharaoh’ at it’s helm, and he awkwardly gets a speech from the museum director about ‘keeping it professional,’ one Larry’s apparently heard already based on the look on his face.
“So…” Larry says walking up to him, “This kind of got intense fast. Are you sure you’re okay with this? Because if not, I can probably talk the board out of it. We haven’t done any publicity yet, so…”
Ahk just smiles at him, “I’m not ashamed of caring for you, Larry,” he says gently, “If the museum is choosing to run with that and make a big deal of it, I don’t really care. The support is actually rather comforting. They will have to come up with some archeological finds to justify this new marketing move, but,” his eyes sparkle mischievously, “I’m sure I can help them with that. So I guess the real question is: are you okay with this?”
Larry nods,”You know, surprisingly? Yes. Already got all the awkwardness out of the way. Erica - you know, my ex wife? - called and congratulated me and her husband Don said he’d always known, whatever that means. And McPhee already chewed me out for making out with a delicate, thousands-years-old pharaoh. Kind of had to explain that you aren’t exactly delicate when you’re awake, and that we weren’t making out, so. I think the worst of it’s over? If you’re okay with it, I’m okay with it.”
“I’m very okay with it,” Ahk grins, “And we can certainly work on making out, if you want to.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Larry smiles.
Rebecca shows up a couple nights later, excited and pretty as ever, visiting from where she apparently now lives in Virginia, “I am so happy for you guys!” She exclaims, hugging them both, “I don’t believe this! Do you have any idea what this means about rhetoric in regards to ancient human sexuality? Ancient Greece was obviously okay with homosexuality but in Egypt they don’t have much record of it, so it’s been under debate literally for centuries! This is so awesome.”
“And did you know, the Shoshone had no prejudice against homosexual marriage or cohabitation for most of their prominence,” she adds, shooting a look Sacagawea’s way,
“Colonization kind of ruined that for some of the more Western tribes, but..”
“Would you just go talk to her?” Larry asks, “She was very happy with your book, I’m sure you have a lot to say to each other.”
Rebecca nods nervously and goes over to her, and soon she and Sacagawea are engrossed in conversation, walking further into the museum. “They are rather cute next to each other,” Ahk comments.
“But so are we,” Larry says, suddenly so close and in such a tone that it makes Ahk’s toes curl.
“So are we,” he agrees, before kissing his night guard.