Chapter Text
The time was 5 pm on a particularly chilly late November evening. What this meant for Larry Daley was that he was about to spend another long but exciting night in the New York City Museum of Natural History.
A night of Teddy Roosevelt riding around the exhibits with Sacajawea, a night where despite its long, tiresome hours driving him to exhaustion, Larry would never get bored of working the night shift.
However, it was Larry's birthday that made this evening even more memorable than the wax figures and constellations coming to life. God only knows what the museum inhabitants would do with that information, so he had no intention of telling anyone and was going to keep it that way.
Little Texas's hooves made a soft clip-clop on the marble floor as he settled into the front office for what he assumed would be another evening of tending to the exhibits.
His voice reverberated through the eerily quiet museum office: "Evening, Lawrence; just the man I was looking for!"
"Hey Teddy," "How are things going?" Have the Mayans managed to initiate yet another civil war? He laughed to himself and sat up straight, ready to do whatever the nobleman asked of him.
"My boy, nothing like that!" However, if you follow me while the night is still young, you will understand why I needed your help. With his sword aimed at the "Hall of African Mammals", Teddy declared, his moustache twitching uncharacteristically.
Teddy charged the two-man fleet straight into the hall, not daring to look back at Larry.
"Hey, Teddy, is everything ok? You're extra quiet today. Have I missed something?" Larry asks behind gasps of breath, trying to catch up to the swiftly moving president.
Larry reaches towards his security belt, and as he turns around, he notices that he is no longer in the presence of Teddy or Texas. They were completely gone.
‘Hey, I'm serious, man. I don't have time for ghost stories; I have a museum to look after.'
He is answered by silence.
The deep scraping of the wooden doors behind him startles him; flinching, he turns around, yielding his flashlight towards the darkness that was emitting the sound. Pushing the large door open, he is once again greeted by darkness and even stranger. Silence. Which in any other museum would be normal, but not this one. Silence was never good. Larry felt his heart quicken as he reached for the light switch.
‘SURPRISE!’
The whole office erupted in a cacophony of noises: the cavemen slam cabinets open, the constellations hover through the sky, and the beautiful twinkling of stars all ease the once-tense night guard.
Larry stumbles back, his jaw dropping with a smile.
‘You guys… What is all this?’
Teddy finally reappears, standing in front of the crowd.
‘A celebration of your birth, Lawrence! Our supreme commander deserves nothing less than a celebration on his birthday’
Dexter then appears from the ceiling and lands upon Larry’s shoulders before Akhmenrah quickly takes hold of Larry’s arm, leading him further into the main room.
‘And now, some music to start the festivities.’
Silence
Everyone turns towards the desk where the two miniature leaders were trapped in a high-intensity wrestling match.
'Release me, you stubborn centurion!'
Jedediah snarled, the brim of his cowboy hat brushing the sides of Octavius’ chestplate.
'I told you, we're playing the frontier ragtime!'
My boys didn't spend three hours practising a square dance just for you to put on some ancient Italian opera!"
"It is a triumphant Roman march, you uncultured ruffian!"
Octavius bellowed back, his arms wrapped entirely around Jed’s waist as he tried to tackle the cowboy away from the needle of the record player.
Both men were clearly too invested in their own brawl to notice the crowd forming around them—everyone was used to them having their disagreements, but never like this. And until now their bickering was merely background music to the museum; nobody had ever paid much notice to the small intimacies of their brawls. The way both men would lock eyes while pinning each other against the floor, declaring themselves the victor, or how, despite their rivalry, they both constantly remained in close proximity to each other no matter the situation.
The museum had fallen silent, everyone observing their bickering.
Larry burst out laughing, leaning over the desk to gently scoop both of them up in one giant hand before they could tumble over the edge.
"Woah, woah! ...Guys—Jed, Octo, what's going on, guys? Break it up!'
Jedediah sat up in Larry’s palm, quickly snatching his hat back and shoving it onto his head, his face flushing a bright, embarrassed shade of wax.
"He started it, Gigantor. Roman military aggression, clear as day."
"Your accusation is a historical falsehood!"
Octavius snapped, quickly straightening his armour and clearing his throat, desperately trying to salvage his dignity.
"I was merely enforcing artistic discipline."
"Well, how about we just play both?"
Larry smiled, setting them safely back onto the desk ledge next to a giant cupcake with a single lit candle.
As the party officially began, the noise of the crowd faded into a comfortable museum hum. The larger exhibits drifted toward the centre of the room to dance, leaving the two miniatures behind on the high desk ledge.
Before leaving, Larry turns around one last time.
"You guys do know you're allowed to get along. All this rivalry nonsense is stupid. Just try to be pals, or amigos, whatever you call it.’
He winks and is quickly ushered away by Sacajawea, who has presented him with an array of homemade gifts.
A few minutes pass, and both men sit quietly on the ledge of the desk, not saying anything but simply being in each other's line of sight, their knees occasionally touching, not long enough to mean anything, but neither man moving away.