Chapter 1:

Zookeeper

"Al, you need to wake up now," a voice complained from the doorway. Alfred rolled over in his bed and shoved his head underneath the pillow, groaning and whining. He seemed to say something, but it was muffled by the bed.

"Five more minutes, Mattie," he groaned again, this time understandable, and Matthew could almost hear the pout in his voice.

"You need to get up, we have work in an hour," he explained to Alfred, going to the window and throwing open the curtains. He chuckled when his brother hissed in annoyance, Alfred really never liked mornings. Next, he made his way to the bed and ripped the bedsheets off, earning another groan. "Go shower and get ready, or you won't get any pancakes."

Peeking out from his hands, Alfred looked up at his brother cautiously. He made a few unintelligible noises before asking, "Pancakes?" When his brother nodded, he grinned and shot up off the bed to run to the bathroom.

Matthew shook his head fondly as he ran past him, skidding in the hallway and almost hitting the wall. His brother was a handful, that much was sure. True to his word, he made his way to the kitchen, shuffling in his teddy bear slippers. He stretched his arms above his head, and began making the promised pancakes, which was nearly second nature to him.

Really, he shouldn't have been surprised that Alfred would already be sitting down at the table by the time he finished making pancakes. He smiled affectionately at his brother, and put the plates down in front of the duo.

"You'll need to dry your hair before we leave," Matthew commented as he drowned his pancakes with maple syrup. Apparently, that's how he was so quickly: Alfred showered, but didn't properly dry himself. "I don't want you getting a cold."

"You're such a mother hen," Alfred snorted in return. He watched, mesmerized, as the pancakes disappeared under the waterfall of syrup.

They ate in comfortable silence for a few moments, enjoying the morning before it would get hectic. Matthew tapped his fork on his plate thoughtfully, in deep concentration, while Alfred just gobbled his breakfast down.

"I heard your favorite bear is pregnant," Alfred recalled randomly, starting conversation.

"Kuma? Oh yeah, she is," he answered, beaming with pride. Most of the bears he cared for, like the Grizzly bears, were indifference or maybe only a little bit affectionate, but not Kuma. She bounded up to him every morning for her breakfast and brushing, and Matthew couldn't help but feel loved. "She's such a sweetheart, you know?"

"Yeah I totally get it," Alfred agreed, pancakes in his mouth. He waved his fork and knife in the air animatedly, trying to speak without words. Figuring out his brother couldn't understand him, he swallowed and continued. "Yeah, I get it, like when one of the animals likes you, it's a really nice feeling."

"Who's your favorite again, Al?" Matthew asked politely. He knew he had been told already, but he kept forgetting.

"Dakota, of course," he declared with joy in his eyes. "She's so bad ass though, like she's a lioness, right? So she does all the hunting and she's the ruler in the pride and stuff, it's great. And I mean, who thought that I would be best friends with a pride of lions? Not me, but man am I loving it!"

Matthew smiled, totally understanding what his brother was explaining. After all, it had happened to him with all the different types of bears. Noticing his brother had only paused to take a bite, he tuned in again to hear what was being said.

"You know, I heard the other day, the difference between the male and female lions," Alfred exclaimed, hands moving in the air, and bouncing in his chair excitedly. "It's like, the males fight until someone backs off, but the lionesses fight to the death. How cool is that?!"

"That's very cool, Alfred," Matthew assured, glancing at the clock. "However, you need to go dry your hair. We need to leave soon. Let me do the dishes so we won't be late, alright?"

"Yes, mom," he teased, standing up and leaving to dry his hair.

"Hi, Dakota, did you miss me?" Alfred called out cheerfully, and strolled into the area of the zoo reserved for the lions. Smiling, he laughed joyfully when his baby girl jumped on him, licking him nonstop. "I missed you too, girl."

The other lions and lionesses circled around him, eager for their breakfast. He kept grinning as he handed out the raw meat to the pride: he really, really hated raw mean, but really, really loved his job. Even when the big cats attacked their breakfast with ferocity he hadn't even seen from his brother in hockey. And his brother playing hockey is brutal.

He did a quick count to make sure everyone was there, but he knew none of the lions would've gotten out. Going about the morning, he made sure the giant water bowls were filled and he did the least favorite part of his job: clearing out the poop. Yuck. But if clearing poop meant being friends with lion, then damn it all, he would clear all the poop in the world!

It also made him feel a little bit better considering his brother had to do it, as well.

Alfred checked his watch, almost 15 minutes until opening. That was another down side though, since the zoo opened at 9am every morning, he had to be there by 7am, which meant getting up ridiculously early. But again, it was okay, because the animals definitely outweighed the cons.

"Hey," Matthew called out when he finally got to the employee-only area. "How'd it go with your precious lions?"

"They're amazing, like always," Alfred responded easily, stripping off his shirt. "Hey, I just thought of something. Why do I shower in the morning when I just have to shower here later?"

"Because you already stink by then, I don't want to be stuck in a car for a half hour with some smelly guy," he scoffed in response. Ignoring the very obvious middle finger courtesy of his brother, he continued to towel off his hair. After a couple seconds, and Alfred very obviously starting to shower, Matthew flipped his hair down and tied in in the twisty-towel that he had always admired his mom for.

Matthew looked up from his magazine a few minutes later to see his brother fresh out of the shower. He smiled when Alfred did the same twisty-towel thing; some things just ran in the family. Alfred went to his employee locker and quickly changed into his zoo employee shirt.

"Hey, what do you have next?" he asked his brother from behind the locker. It was quiet for a moment, when Alfred slammed his locker closed and plopped down at the table.

"Well, it's like almost 9:30am, right?" Matthew asked rhetorically, checking his watch. "I have to watch the birds and make sure the visitors don't try to tempt them with anything until lunch break at 11."

"Ouch, you have the birds? That sucks, man," he drawled in response, leaning back in his chair. "At least we have the same lunch break today. I gotta check out the reptiles till then, too. Then there's some like, vending and guest services. The usual."

"Don't you like the reptiles?" Matthew asked, confused. Alfred only shrugged, seeming uninterested, while he stood up to leave. "Well, I gotta go now though. See you at lunch!"

Alfred collapsed at the employee table with his lunch and groaned. He put his hands in his face, oblivious that his brother sat across from him with a sympathetic look on his face. Opening his lunch as loud as possible, Matthew thought maybe the sound and smell of food would wake the other up. When it didn't, he started to worry.

"Alfie, what happened?" he asked carefully, and calmly. "What's wrong?"

"Bro, you know I like reptiles, you get that, you said that earlier," Alfred babbled in response. Matthew could only nod in slight confusion. "Yeah, it's true, I like them. Yeah. But bro, the snakes… they were more active today. It was scary. Boa was slithering all over the place and - oh god the rat…"

"Did Ivan feed the big snakes rats in front of you again?"

Alfred whimpered, answering his question. Matthew sighed, and crossed his arms, telling himself he'd have to talk to Ivan about that. Scared Alfred meant Alfred having nightmares which meant Alfred sleeping in his bed.

"Al, I'm gonna need you to take your hands off your face," Matthew requested gently. "Now eat. You'll feel better. I even packed you an extra candy bar."

"You really are a mother hen, Mattie," he teased affectionately. Tentatively, he ate his lunch and was beginning to perk up after every bite. His brother was such a good cook, it was ridiculous. Alfred looked up at his brother to smile and let him know he was okay, and suddenly, all was well again.

"Hey, Dakota," Alfred said, petting her fur gently. "The zoo closed at 5 today, so I can feed you guys dinner! Isn't that great?"

He watched with awe as the entire group of big cats attacked their meat, downing it within moments. Sometimes (always) he was glad he was the feeder, not the food. Staring out into the large area of land, he wished he could feed his babies every day, but Alfred got too tired after a day of 7am-5pm, so there was no way he could feed them on Friday nights, for example, which close at 9pm.

That thought led him to the new guy he was teaching, his prodigy. Although, he kind of had a feeling that he would be getting possessive over his lions, even if the intern only fed them while Alfred was gone. Honestly he wouldn't be surprised if the intern got bit. Even if his babies were really gentle and just over grown house cats, the intern seemed to be so up in the clouds, it was ridiculous.

He briefly wondered if his brother had the same problem, before shaking his head and moving to do the finishing touches for the dinner. Alfred paused outside the gate, smiling affectionately at all the animals he loved and cared for, before walking away to meet up with Matthew at the car.

"Goodnight!" He called loudly over his shoulder, even if they couldn't understand him. When not only Dakota, but all the big cats roared in response, he stopped in his tracks. Alfred was so overwhelmed with love and emotion for a moment that he forgot how to breathe. A low grumble brought him back, and he had never been happier to be a zookeeper.