Jily Oneshots (pt2)

Toucan Play At This Game

by gryffindormischief and PetalsToFish on archiveofourown.org

It was half an hour to closing at Blarah Zoological Park and all zookeeper Lily Evans had left to do was set her otters habitat for the night. She'd grabbed extra smelly smelt from the freezer and diced up some frozen cucumbers as an extra treat for her two favorites, Pepper and Razzle. Half an hour was plenty of time to finish all her closing duties, so much time that Lily moved slow as she finished up her routine.

Lily should've never fed into her false sense of security because there was never a 'slow' day as a zookeeper. Something always came up to ruin plans. None-the-less, everything was quiet and atypical as she made her way through the virtually empty zoo. The back of the otter habitat was untouched as she wandered up to it. Skillfully balancing the tray of food in one hand and unlocking the otter gate with the other, Lily slipped into the back holding area no problem. As she closed the gate behind her, Pepper and Razzle began their normal high pitched screams for attention.

Nothing was out of the ordinary...yet.

"Hello girls." Lily called cheerfully to her babies as she walked over to the night house and gave each otter a small piece fish. As the otter girls munched on their treats, Lily closed them into their nighthouse so they wouldn't have access to the exhibit while Lily was out cleaning up. Neither otter cared that they'd been locked in, both girls knowing that Lily would reopen the door once she was done out on the habitat.

Lily tossed a few more pieces of cucumber in with Pepper and Razzle before moving on. Lily unhooked her keys from her belt loop keys and began unlocking the door that lead out onto the otter exhibit. It was a routine that she'd done hundreds of times before, so she exactly check her surroundings. Lily pushed the otter habitat door open with her shoulder as she balanced the tray of frozen goodies. After many years, she'd become pro at balancing things in her arms while opening up doors and gates. Still, she stayed concentrated on making sure she didn't spill cucumber or fish all over the doorway. Not that Razzle or Pepper would've really cared in the end, but Lily still liked to try and vary how she delivered their food to them.

She was so focused on her tray that as she backed herself out onto the habitat carefully, a movement out of the corner of her eye startled her.

"Holy shit!"

Lily jumped out of her skin and the food tray slipped, depositing bits of fish and cucumber around the doorway. Her imagination went into overdrive as she thought of all the animals who could've somehow managed to get into the habitat with her. All Lily saw was a lot of black hair at eye level. Anything big and hairy in the otter habitat was definitely not supposed to be there. Not waiting another second to find out if the bears had somehow taken a accidental field trip, Lily reached for her belt, whipping out her pepper spray. Lily twisted her arm around, aiming the pepper spray right into the face of the invader..

Of course, she was startled to find a human male standing in front of her, hands up in the air in defense. Lily's stance stayed firm, she refused to drop her guard when there was a strange man in her otter habitat. Slowly, her other hand started reaching for her radio.

He wasn't wearing a zoo uniform so it definitely wasn't one of her coworkers playing a practical joke on her. Instead, he wore a buttoned down shirt with a pair of trousers that were a dark green. The clothes stuck to his frame, suggesting he'd recently gone swimming in the otter pool. No doubt he'd jumped in, seeing as that was the only way one could even get into the exhibit besides the back door Lily had come through.

His face was shadowed by a light stubble along a sleek cut jaw and his eyes were covered by dark black sunglasses. Lily didn't switch her radio alarm, not yet, she had to make sure he wasn't about to attack her or anything.