#iloveanimals

Zookeeper!reader x Mature Michael

2k+ Words!

A/N : wassup guysss I’ve been ITCHINGGGGG to post this one it’s been on my mind foreverrrr I hope yall enjoy it too!

Warnings: your co-worker throwing you under the bus lol! nothing else , Just Michael his kids and you enjoying the zoo. :))

“Alright Kiki time for a little snack don’t you think?” The little monkey perched on your shoulder visibly excited.

You giggled reaching your dominant hand into a utility belt of different types of animal food and pulling out some blueberries for the baby spider monkey on your shoulder as she happily grabbed them and carefully piled them into her mouth.

“What a hungry girl, I should’ve brought more then!” you cooed to Giselle taking her off your shoulders and gently giving her a tiny hug before putting her down to leave her enclosure.

The sun was now setting into a pinkish hue—the spider monkey enclosure was your favorite to visit before heading out for the day, so you left saying your goodnights to Giselle and all her brothers and sister and the rest of the animals in the zoo.

After doing your nightly checks you make your way to the front of the zoo to grab your stuff from your locker passing by your colleague Robert, he had been working longer than you have you were just interning until you could become an actual zoologist.

“Hey y/n! I gotta let you know before you leave tonight that the zoo will be closed off from the public tomorrow for a VIP visit, no one knows who it is yet but they just said be prepared for them to be the only people there.” Robert explained.

“I feel like we at least deserve to know who we’re supposed to be giving a tour y’know?” You replied your focus being on hanging up your khakis, grabbing your keys, and getting all the way up out of there until tomorrow.

“Oh no girl not ‘we’ IM off tomorrow it’s most likely just gonna be you and this mysterious VIP.” Robert stated before grabbing his own bag and heading towards the front door his hand only his fingertips reaching the handle before you retaliated.

“WHAT? No, no, no I couldn’t do that! Listen animals are my thing ok.”

“Come on I’ve seen you do a couple of zoo tours by yourself.”

“I guess so.. but this is different! This is some VIP guest none of us know yet and what if I just mess everything up.”

“Trust me y/n I wouldn’t let you do the job if I didn’t trust in your ability to do it, now come on we gotta get out of here before night crew comes.”

You sighed following suit of Robert trying to convince yourself this was a good idea.

You adored animals, you don’t know where you’d be if you didn’t have such a passion for wildlife conservation— if you didn’t you would’ve never agreed to this arrangement of course.

“ughh…” you groaned into your palms cupping your face, you just couldn’t believe the predicament you were in— and in about 30 minutes the VIP guests would be arriving.

You decided to try and clear your mind by pacing around the zoo campus clearly looking as if you had drunk 10 cups of coffee, who could blame you? This was all so sudden— it even seemed as though the animals you passed by could tell you had a lot on your mind as they tried to ‘cheer’ you up in their own little ways.

“Artie stop it!!” You laughed at the African bush elephant resting his heavy trunk on your head playfully— you knew that elephants were smart and Artie could definitely detect the anxiety beaming off of you.

“Alright I got this…I got this!” You reassured yourself with help from the Artie the elephant thankfully— you walked back up to the front of the zoo with pace, when you finally made it you straighten out your khaki uniform with your hands and just tried to rid yourself of ways to embarrass yourself on first appearances.

“Alright Mr Jackson right this way and our newest intern Ms. y/n will show you around, have a nice stay!”

“Mr Jackson…” you just started blankly into the universe hoping to GOD it was not the Jackson you were thinking of.

You took a breath before stepping into the lobby after the front desk lady had introduced you trying to put on the bravest face you could but probably managed to look more like a nervous hamster.

“Great.” you thought to yourself, after snapping back into your reality that didn’t seem all to real you walked over to Michael taking in his delicate features from his black silky hair that sort of turned a deep brown when the sunlight of the open roof hit it his usual flashy style was toned down to a more casual look— you know, something fit for a day at the zoo.

Not only that but after accidentally staring at his beautiful face too long you notice the two little faces standing next to him holding his hand tightly.

“Ah! Who are these little adorable adventurers!” You said to the little cuties resembling their father.

“My name isn’t adorable I’m prince! and I wanna see a real lion!!” He yelled so loud it could be heard from outside of the zoo.

“Well I’ll make sure you will prince don’t worry your ador- I mean your brave little head!” You quickly bought your slip up before turning to the little girl.

“And who might you be little lady?” You asked kneeling down with one elbow on your knee.

“My name is Paris ma’am, does this zoo have monkeys?”

“We sure do sweetheart, in fact there’s a species of monkey that’s my absolute favorite here her name is Kiki and she’s a baby spider monkey, their usual habitat is a a nice warm tropical rainforest because that’s where they originally came from.”

Michael was most definitely captivated by the facts you were telling the kids nodding along as if he was taking notes in his head, you noticed this too— You may have been really nervous before but now this seemed like a piece of cake, this “VIP” guy much less intimidating than expected, still intimidating but not quite as much.

“What’s a habeetat?” Prince asked questioning half the words you just said.

Welll…. If you follow me I’ll explain everything that we’ll explore— and Prince a ‘habitat’ is where an animal can live comfortably and safe, just like your house for example.”

“Ohhh.”

“Now come on adventurers the fun’s only just begun!” You say using your hand to beckon them forward to follow you onto the zoo’s main path the children following after you like little ducklings and Michael strolling behind taking in all the animal sounds in their glory.

“Alright do you two know what animal this is?”

“ITS A GIRAFFE!!” All of them yelled giggling at each other.

“Thats right guys! Did you know that giraffes spots help them regulate heat in their bodies?”

“ I did not know that! That’s interesting I always assumed they sweated like most animals do.” Michael said truly shocked at the fact that giraffes didn’t sweat.

Truthfully he already knew that, he didn’t spend half his life fixating about different animals for nothing—he just wanted to hear you talk about them, you just had so much passion for animals he found it admirable, cute almost.

“Well Mr Jackson they technically can but it’s not their primary way of regulation of temperature due to their habitat and type of climate they live in.” You grinned at him— to Michael it felt like his own body was working against him as heart raced.

“Like tiny umbrellas?” Paris blurted out smiling.

“Thats a fun idea Paris, you could think of them like that!”

“Now enough about giraffes facts I don’t wanna bore you all, now’s the time to move on to the next exhibit lady and gentlemen(s).” You pointed to the reptile exhibit right across from the giraffes.

“When are we gonna see a lionnn…” prince groaned who would’ve been basically dragging himself on the floor if he hadn’t been holding his fathers hang.

“Soon honey I promise you’re gonna love the reptiles just as much as the lions.”

After you all had made your rounds of the zoo and the blue sky was turned a more orange hue, you decided the last stop should be the lion enclosure just as you promised Prince.

“WOAHH” Prince gasped releasing himself from his father grasp as her ran up to the lions enclosure.

“Careful Prince lions are very territorial!” Michael yelled following after him closely with Paris still in his hand.

“That is right Mr Jackson but from our enclosure we make sure that there is ample distance from the visitors and the lions for everyone’s safety, every good zoo makes sure that the animals also feel comfortable when being put on display like this so we make sure they have the option to be seen or not!”

“Huh.” Michael hummed looking down into the closure impressed to say the least.

“Now who wants to hear a fun fact about lions?” You asked everyone.

“ME ME MEEEEE!!!” Prince yelled enthusiastically.

You and Michael laughed at the sheer volume of excitement exuding from Prince.

“All right then, did you know that a group of lions is called a pride? To me I think it suits them because their so confident and strong they remind me of you Prince!” You pointed at him earning a little giggle and a giant smile from him.

“I think I can agree with that.” Michael sighed rubbing his temples with a tiny grin.

You glared at Michael with a knowing grin—you could tell Prince was a bit of a handful but still nevertheless a little cutie pie.

“Alright that concludes the tour you guys thank you guys so much for comming! I’ll walk you back up to the front of the zoo.”

Just as you were about to leave you feel a hand grab your own.

shocked, you swiftly turn your head to see Michael surprisingly, he quickly let go he didn’t want to seem like a creep for just gabbing your hand, your soft, manicured, fingers...

“FOCUS MICHAEL.” He internally panicked before pulling back his hand.”

“Sorry for grabbing you so suddenly.. I just wanted to let you know that you really made today special for the kids and me, I really appreciate all the work you guys put into animal conservation.” He looked into your eyes his cheeks turning a slight pink.

“O-Oh, of course! Thank you so much Mr. Jackson! To think I thought that you guys wouldn’t have a good time was just silly of me then.” You scoffed to yourself as your own face heated up.

“Not have a good time?? ma’am you were amazing, honestly.” Michele looked at you with genuine enthusiasm— it looked as though he enjoyed the experience a little more than the kids it seemed.

“I’m glad to hear it michaal.” You turned to face him completely your hands grasping eachother in front of you.

“…”

okay this staring thing is becoming a problem with you it seems.

“Well if you don’t mind me asking, would you maybe want to… I don’t know.. go out to dinner sometime? I’d love to hear more about your passion for your work.” Michael offered nervously.

It felt as though you were stuck on glue, THE Michael Jackson asked you out on a date, you truly thought you were God’s favorite today.

“Of course! I mean yes that would be great, What time?” Your enthusiasm showing greatly from your smile.

“How about this Saturday afternoon? You know what..” he grabs a piece of paper from his left pocket and a pen and writes down his number and hands it to you.

You didn’t know many men who just so happened to carry a pen and paper on them nowadays so to you he seemed like he meant business.

“Great, I’ll see you then. For now let’s make sure Prince and Paris don’t run off to far without us. ” you giggled shoving the paper into your back pocket of your khakis.

“Right behind you mama.” He murmured to himself

“What was that?” You turned around only hearing him mumble behind you.

“N-nothing! Let’s go like you said.” He stumbled across his words before running off passed you.

“Come on I’ll race ya!” He yelled from a distance.

“Oh you are ON Michael!” You yelled back playfully as you ran after him.

A/N: alright I hope y’all had as much joy reading this as I did writing it! Also I forgot to mention my little introduction post so people can find my other works so I’ll link it belowwww!!!! Luv yall saur much thanks for supporting!!! 😊😊😊

-WINKIE OUT!

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