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He walked into Owens' Bungalow with two coffees in hand. Even though it was an ungodly time in the morning, he didn’t mind because it gave him a chance to be alone with Owen as they prepared for the day, both of them going over each other's notes.
“Good morning.”
He turned on the light, surprised it was off, and Owen wasn’t already awake. The man hissed, glaring up at the light.
“Turn it off.”
He whined, covering his face with a blanket. He quickly complied and watched Owen shuffle under the blanket.
“You got sick, didn’t you?”
“I’m not sick.”
“You sound sick.”
Owen tried to get up, and he pushed him down before taking a quick step back. His hand burned from the touch, and he took a quick step back before he could do something stupid. He also didn’t want to risk getting sick, knowing that one trainer down was bad enough, especially when it was Owen; having two was really bad.
“Don’t you dare get me sick.”
“I’m not sick.”
Owen argued, rolling his eyes like a teenager, and he wondered where the girls got their sass.
“I told you not to stay in the rain.”
“My girls needed me.”
Owen whined, covering his face, and he shouldn’t find it as endearing as he did.
“They need you healthy. I can already imagine how they’re going to react to you not coming in today. We can forget about training.”
“What? No, I can come in today.”
He looked Owen over, who was covered in sweat. His eyes were bloodshot with large bags underneath. His nose was red and he looked more pale than usual. Even though he looked terrible, he still felt his heart pound in his chest like an idiot.
“You're not going. You are sick.”
“Not sick.”
Owen. I’m serious, you are not going. Today will be hard enough without me having to wrangle you in.
“The girls will get worried.”
“They’ll be even more worried if they see you like this. You’ve said it before, their smart animals. The moment they see you, they’ll think you're dying.”
“My girls are so sweet, they love me so much.”
He rolled his eyes, not wanting to have this argument again. Owen always claimed he knew they were apex predators, and then he’d say something like this, which made him doubt his sanity even more than usual. It also made him fall a little more in love with him, which was so stupid.
“Get some rest, I’ll deal with the girls. After all, we wouldn’t want to scare them.”
Owen thought about it for a moment and then sighed, looking defeated, and he smirked, knowing he’d won.
“Get some rest.”
“Go check on our girls.”
He left his bungalow and went to the raptor padlock. When he got there, the girls were eagerly waiting for their breakfast, and he quickly grabbed it, trying to distract them from noticing Owen wasn’t there.
“I know I’m coming.”
After feeding each of them, they ran off in a different direction except for Blue. She stood there looking up at him as though she knew something was wrong. He knew she was smarter than her sisters, but he didn’t think she’d realize something was off quite so soon.
“He’s fine, just sick.”
Blue stared up at him, and he eventually sighed and went to do paperwork. He didn’t know if Blue understood him or not, but he should brace for a difficult couple of days.
Even though he hated paperwork just as much as Owen. The gates were getting past their warranty, and to keep them up to date, they needed to be replaced. Something everyone was dreading, considering how difficult the task was. Besides Owen, everyone else was terrified of the raptors, and it would be hard to get someone down there who would be willing to do that kind of maintenance.
Halfway through, he heard a crash and ran outside to see what was happening. Blue must have found a weak spot in the gate and had just caused it to come crashing down. Heart beating rapidly in his chest, he looked around for Owen and realized he wasn’t there. He cursed himself for not watching the girls. That was usually Owens' job while he did the paperwork. He still hadn’t adjusted to their routine being broken, and now he was paying for it.
He ran back into his office, knowing it wouldn’t do much to stop the raptors if they wanted to eat him. Although he hated to make the call, he couldn’t risk the girls attacking people. He pulled out his phone and told security that the raptors had escaped.
He then waited in silence, grabbing whatever he could to use as a weapon. He knew Owen wouldn’t hurt them and would just accept being eaten, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. After thirty minutes of standing in the dark. He realized something was off. He hadn’t heard the girls in a while, and he nervously crept forward. Being as quiet as possible, he opened the door and found the raptors gone.
Because of the rain, he saw their muddy footprints leading away from the padlock. He decided to call Owen and tell him what happened, only to get no response. He cursed and decided to drive over and find him. If anyone could get the girls to settle down, it would be him.
He was shaking the entire time he drove over. All he could think about was where they went and if they’d somehow find their way into the main park. When he arrived, he was surprised to find a raptor standing outside. He nearly crashed and found himself slamming on his brakes. He looked up at Delta, who simply ran inside the bungalow. His heart was racing, and he realized why Owen hadn't picked up the phone. It was because he’d been eaten. A moment later, he heard Blues squawking and then, by some miracle, Owen appeared. He was trying to leave the Bungalow, and Blue was trying to stop him, looking worried.
Charlie came over, and Owen leaned against her for support when he began swaying. He was so shocked that the only thing he could say was.
“Get back to bed.”
Owen laughed, and Echo pushed her snout against his chest.
“The raptors have escaped, and that's the first thing you say to me?”
He cursed both Owen and his stupid heart for falling in love with this idiot.
“Owen, I swear.”
“Relax, I’m feeling better, and the girls just wanted to check on me, that's all.”
“What am I supposed to tell security?”
“Tell them the raptors have been contained.”
“But they're still out?”
Owen sighed and walked over to his car. He eyed the raptors nervously and watched as he opened his passenger door.
“Owen, I swear if you get me sick.”
He said, instead of the million other things he wanted to say.
“I won’t. I just need a ride to the raptor padlock.”
“Why? You should be resting.”
“I need to get the girls back home, and they won’t go unless I go.”
He looked at the four deadly predators and nodded.
“Fine, but they're not coming in here.”
“They can run back.”
Owen whistled, and the girls got into position around the car.
“Let's get going.”
He sighed and drove Owen to the raptor padlock while being flanked by raptors on either side. When they got there, Owen hopped out, and Blue helped him stand. He took the girls back to the raptor padlock, but instead of leaving and going back home, he lay down in their nest.
“What are you doing?”
“They’ll only escape again if I leave.”
“You’re sick. You shouldn’t be out here like this.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Owen brushed off his concern, and he went to his office. He made a quick call to security, telling them the situation had been handled, and grabbed a blanket off the couch.
“You should at least have a blanket if you insist on being out here.”
He stopped before the raptor padlock, feeling uncertain as he held the blanket in his arms. He looked at Owen, wondering how he was going to give him the blanket. Blue came over, and that's when he remembered the door was busted. She easily walked through and nudged him in the back.
He made a sound of surprise, and Owen laughed.
“She wants you to join us.”
He glanced at Blue, who huffed as though it was obvious. Walking into the raptor cage, he wondered if Owens's insanity had been rubbing off on him. He could see the other raptors watching him as he entered their territory, and he carefully walked towards their nest, very aware that he could be killed at any moment. He handed Owen the blanket and planned to leave as soon as possible when Blue carefully pushed him to the ground.
“She wants you to stay and cuddle.”
He blushed despite the danger he was in. The idea of cuddling his crush was too much to handle. Owen didn’t seem to notice and just wrapped the blanket around both of them as though it was that easy. Since the blanket wasn’t that big, they were pressed together with Owen leaning on him.
“You’re so warm.”
He mumbled and drifted off with his head on his shoulder. Despite the danger, he found himself relaxing, and he pulled him close,r ignoring the fact that he could get sick.