Chapter Text
Yamamoto Taketora liked to describe himself as an ambitious Environmental Studies major and full-time tiger enthusiast. Maybe that wasn’t super impressive on a resume, but it was a great conversation starter.
Tigers were a part of Yamamoto, and not just because Taketora meant ‘fierce tiger’. They’ve always been his favorite animal, ever since he was little and grew up watching Winnie the Pooh, and relating to bouncy Tigger the most (Frosted Flakes also happened to be his favorite cereal, and it was so not just because there’s a tiger on the box).
His birthday just so happened to fall on Japan’s cat day. Plus, he would always dress as a tiger around Halloween, and had plenty of tiger plushies and blankets, even a bath towel! Tigers were in the cat family, and it was proven that every member of the Nekoma volleyball club was part cat (okay, that wasn’t 100% proven but semantics or whatever).
The point was, his love for tigers, helped him score the ultimate job and the ultimate guy.
Back during his first year of college, Kuroo, his beloved ex-captain and trusted mentor, was telling him how a zoo was opening, and looking to hire, and Yamamoto had never been so excited! He was going to get paid to play with his spirit animal! What other incentive did he really need to apply for the job?
He had been working at the zoo since it opened, which was about a year and a half by now. When Yamamoto arrived at the zoo for his Saturday shift, the first thing he did was drop his things off into the employee locker room. Kenma was there, playing one of his games. “Hey Kenma!” Yamamoto greeted, running over to fluff his hair. Kenma was too busy trying to beat a virtual monster, that he didn’t even bother swatting at Yamamoto like he usually would.
“Hi Tora…”
“Why aren’t you at your station? If boss or Kuroo comes in, you’ll get in trouble!”
“I’m waiting for Keiji.”
“Akaashi is on duty with you?” Kenma nodded his head, “Lucky that you get someone to work with! It’s gets a little lonely sometimes in the Asia exhibit.”
“Isn’t Oikawa-san in there with you?”
“Yeah, but he’s too busy yelling at the monkeys all the time. Hey, you know Lev sent in an application! You think they’ll stick him with the giraffes?”
“I don’t know, as long as he’s far away from me.”
“Aw, come on! You know you love Lev.”
“Please don’t say things like that. Those words upset me.”
“Sorry, sorry.” He wasn’t really sorry. Yamamoto put in the combination for his locker, stuffing his backpack inside and smoothing out the wrinkles on his safari shirt before putting it on. “You’ll be at the employee meeting tomorrow right? Sawamura-san, told me that they’re serving breakfast pastries… they’ll have the apple turnovers!”
“I have to be at the employee meeting, everyone does.” Kenma pointed out, but Yamamoto knew that didn’t stop Kenma from skipping out on some meetings. He only went when the owners and managers would provide food that he liked, particularly sweets.
“Yamamoto! Just who I was looking for!” Kuroo called out as he entered the locker room, Kyoutani behind him. “You and Kyoutani are going to transfer Tony and Tora to the tiger exhibit!”
“That’s right! It’s their first day!” Yamamoto said, quickly placing on his nametag while Kyoutani quickly put his own things in his own locker. Tony and Tora were two cubs that were finally old and healthy enough to be in the tiger exhibit with their parents, two younger tiger cubs taking their place in the nursery. “It seems like just yesterday we were bottle-feeding them.” Yamamoto wiped his invisible tears, earning a short snicker from Kenma, and an eye roll from Kyoutani.
“Enough with the dramatics. Hurry up, because I have other animals that need to be bottle fed. Kenma, go to your station and stop playing around.” Kuroo commanded before leaving the locker room.
Yamamoto happily followed Kuroo to the animal nursery, Kyoutani strolling behind at a more relaxed pace. “I’m so excited, now I get to see little Tora all the time!” Yamamoto exclaimed, hugging himself as Kuroo unlocked the back entrance to the nursery, leading them inside. They walked over to the tiger pen, where four cubs were waiting, two kids, two infants. Kuroo leaned over the side of the pen, picking up a cub and handing one to Kyoutani, before handing the other to Yamamoto, leaving the two infants inside. Yamamoto peeked over at them, all cuddled up into a blanket and sleeping peacefully. “How are my other two kids doing, Kuroo?”
“Boa is still a super lazy, but Zoro is getting more playful as the days go by. Now, go put those two into their new home. I have to feed Boa now.”
“Say bye to Uncle Kuroo, Tora!” Yamamoto called out, grabbing the cub in his hand’s paw, and making it wave to Kuroo, who scratched its head, doing the same to Tony, the cub in Kyoutani’s arms, before they left.
“Kyouken-san!” Yamamoto began, as they made the quick journey to the Asia exhibit.
“Don’t call me that.” Kyoutani warned.
“Right… Kyoutani-san, how’s the petting zoo coming? Isn’t the expansion under way?”
Kyoutani grunted in response, adjusting his grip on Tony who let out a big yawn, “We’re getting our new fact sheets soon on what animals will be added.” He explained.
“Awesome, and what about your internship?”
“I start in two weeks.”
“Are you going to do the same thing Bokuto does? Shadow our vets?”
“Yeah.”
“Man, that’s cool. Follow me. Entrance is this way!”
Yamamoto led the way to the giant enclosure for the tigers, unlocking the hidden entrance with his employee card. He then unlocked a gate with a key, and motioned Kyoutani to follow him. They placed the tiger cubs on the ground, watching them paw at the dirt. Kuroo had spent the past few weeks getting them used to the environment, to help the cubs adapt easier. “Thanks for helping.” Kyoutani grunted at Yamamoto, but happily said goodbye to the cubs before leaving the exhibit to head to his own. Yamamoto looked down at the two cubs who were now staring at him expectantly. “You two are going to love it here! Plus, no more gross kitty food. You get to eat meat like your parents.” Yamamoto began to venture more into the enclosure, the kids following him closely. He smiled when one of the adult tigers noticed him and walked over to greet him with a nuzzle of its large head against his arm. “Morning to you too, Maneki. It’ll be feeding time soon; I have to finish prep first.” Maneki then began to sniff at the kids, licking them too as greeting. Tora the tiger seemed to immediately recognize her as his mother, because he began to playfully paw at her, trying to jump on her back and such while his brother Tony just lazily lie on the ground.
*~*
Ennoshita Chikara had great patience for ridiculous antics. However, he was still human, and he had his moments were his patience would run thin. Like now.
He was on a train to Tokyo with his good, and annoying, friends Tanaka and Nishinoya. Both were excitedly hooting about the zoo and how nice it must be to know all the zookeepers, as well as talking about the possible free stuff they could score. That was only when they weren’t trying to feel the other up, causing a fit of giggles, and Ennoshita was close to snapping. All he wanted was a peaceful ride, was that too much to ask for?
“So Chikara!” Nishinoya called out, breaking out of his boyfriend’s embrace, “Are you still thinking about transferring schools?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You’re good friends with Keiji right?”
“Yes…”
“Well maybe he can give you the run down on schools here and stuff. Tora told me that he’s in film too. You two are like a match made in school heaven.”
“Of course, if you decide to leave us Ennoshita, it’ll just motivate us to visit Tokyo more! We wouldn’t want you to miss us too much.” Tanaka added. “I’m sure Narita and Kinoshita will feel the same.”
“I’ll miss them too, if I do transfer.”
“Them?! What about us?”
“We should almost be at our stop.” Ennoshita commented, turning his attention to his cellphone, a sign that he no longer wanted to be bothered with conversation.
The zoo was a short distance from the station, so the trio got there rather quickly, paying the admission fee and entering the zoo. “Which way should we go first? Left? Right?” Tanaka questioned, looking over the map at the entrance with great detail.
“Left.” Ennoshita advised, walking ahead to lead them. Tanaka and Nishinoya quickly followed.
The first exhibit was the petting zoo, and a familiar head of fair hair caught Noya’s attention immediately. “SUGA-SAN!” He called out, jumping into the air, arms waving madly. Sugawara looked up and waved them over. “You work with goats and llamas?! How cool!”
“One sec- Kyoutani! You can take your break now!” The tan boy with a permanent scowl nodded his head and quickly left the petting zoo after washing his hands.
“Mad Dog works with you? At the petting zoo?” Tanaka asked, surprised, and Suga laughed it off.
“Yeah, this is actually where he belongs in my opinion. The llamas really love him.”
“Hey Chikara, can we touch them?” Noya asked, fidgeting like a kid waiting for his parent’s permission. Ennoshita nodded his head and watched the loud mouth duo bolt off to the sink, washing their hands before entering the pen and petting the goats and llamas.
“Great, now I have to watch them.” Suga complained, “Tanaka! Don’t hold your fingers so close to his mouth!” Suga smiled at Ennoshita, excusing himself before running over to lecture their friend.
Ennoshita chilled by the gate, not all that interested in petting llamas and goats, he looked around watching Suga smile at little kids, guiding them on where to pet the animals before turning to yell at Noya or Tanaka. Ennoshita really felt like a parent now, a little happy that his burden was pushed upon someone else.
He felt a tap on his shoulder that made him jolt out of his thoughts, but quickly relaxed when he saw it was Akaashi. “Afternoon, Ennoshita-san. What brings you here?” Akaashi asked, he had a fancy camera strapped around his neck and Ennoshita made note to ask about it.
“Just hanging out with Tanaka and Noya. I thought taking them to the zoo would be a good treat since finals are over.”
“That’s very nice of you.”
“Yeah, I try to be nice. Are you all done with your semester?”
“Almost, I have a project to turn in on Monday, and then I’ll be done.”
“Does that explain the camera?”
“Yes, it does.” Akaashi replied, gently placing a lens cap on the device.
“You’re in film right?”
“Yes, we have a great program at our university, and my job here really helps me gain experience. I’m in charge of the zoo’s YouTube page, and I edit and post the videos.”
“Do you know anything about your university’s transfer policy?”
“A bit, thinking of transferring?”
“Yeah. I’ve pretty much exhausted all the aesthetic spots in Miyagi for filming, so why not come out to Tokyo and explore?”
“I can look into it for you. I’ll text you some details.”
“That’d be great!”
“Keiji-kun!” Noya called out skipping over to them.
“Did you wash your hands?” Ennoshita questioned and Noya blatantly ignored him.
“Hello Nishinoya-san.”
“Which exhibit does Tora work at? I need to know, for science.”
“Go wash your hands.” Ennoshita demanded.
“I will in a second, mom. So, which exhibit?”
“Yamamoto-san works at the tiger exhibition in the Asia pavilion.”
“Yes! Thanks a bunch, Keiji-kun! Ryuu! He works with tigers! Wash your hands or Chikara will have an aneurism!”
“I’m sorry about him.” Ennoshita apologized to Akaashi.
“It’s fine, I’m quite used to hyper activity, I deal with Bokuto-san on a daily basis.”
*~*
Yamamoto stood outside his exhibit. Guests had come up to him and asked a few questions about the tigers like their diet, life expectancy, etc. It was all pretty standard, and mainly because no one ever read the information displays. At the moment, there weren’t many really around so he was starting to get a little bored. He spotted Oikawa with a squirrel monkey perched on his shoulder. “What’s got you so down, Tiger Prince?”
“Just bored, hey can I hold your monkey?”
“He’s not my monkey, and he has a name! It’s Luffy.”
“Like the captain of the straw hats?” Yamamoto questioned, holding out his hands anyway.
“Yes, you know Bokuto names all the animals born in the zoo.” Oikawa complained. Luffy had a body harness that appeared more as a tiny backpack, and attached was a leash so he couldn’t get too far away from Oikawa. Usually, the zookeepers trusted the animals not to stray too far anyway, but since the zoo was open and guests could be walking around, leashes were used as a precaution. Grabbing a hold of Luffy’s leash, Oikawa stepped closer so Luffy could climb onto Yamamoto’s shoulders instead. Luffy screeched, his hands immediately going up to grip Yamamoto’s bleached Mohawk.
“Why are all the recent kids named after One Piece characters?”
“Bokuto was going through a phase. I don’t question, I just go along with it. Please, don’t hurt him.” Oikawa pleaded when it seemed like Luffy would slip off of Yamamoto’s shoulder. Yamamoto’s reflexes were fast though, and Luffy’s grip on his hair tightened.
“So cute! Hey, take my picture.”
“Let me go and get his food first.” Oikawa stated, handing Yamamoto the leash and walking away to the back storage area. Luffy squeaked, tapping on Yamamoto’s head as he watched Oikawa disappear.
“Aw, do you miss your zoo parent?” Yamamoto cooed at the monkey. When Oikawa returned, he had half of a banana in his hand, along with a few almonds.
“Be a good babysitter and watch after Luffy while I finish making the enrichment mold.” Oikawa advised, handing the food over to Yamamoto.
“Oh okay…” Oikawa quickly went back to the storage room. “I guess I’ll just take a seat here.” Yamamoto had a little stool resting under an umbrella for hotter days, and he sat down, Luffy climbing into his lap and grabbing at the banana. Yamamoto let the squirrel monkey peel away, taking messy bites before grabbing an almond to gnaw on. Although food chunks were flying everywhere, Yamamoto couldn’t help but think it was rather cute.
“Taketora, part tiger, and part monkey whisperer!” Tanaka called out, rushing over with Noya and Ennoshita a few steps behind him. Yamamoto quickly looked up, a huge smile on his face.
“Tanaka! Noya! E-Ennoshita-san!”
“Tora!” Noya called out, and Ennoshita just nodded his head in acknowledgment. Yamamoto could feel his face heat up, but he would just blame the heat if asked.
“What are you all doing here?”
“We came to see you! And the animals.” Noya explained, “Cute monkey.”
“Thanks, I’m watching it for Oikawa-san—”
“Oikawa-san is in charge of monkeys! This zoo has the greatest placements! Where’s Daichi-san?” Noya began bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Sawamura-san works the concession stand.” Yamamoto answered, looking down to see Luffy trying to pry his hand away from the banana. His grip was preventing the monkey from peeling more and eating some of the fruit.
“What’s this little guys’ name?” Ennoshita asked, taking out his phone to snap pictures. He suddenly wished he would have brought along his camera, but he didn’t want to risk damage with Noya’s spastic movements.
“L-Lu Luffy, is his name.” Yamamoto stuttered, and then quickly cleared his throat when Tanaka raised an eyebrow at him. Ennoshita just nodded, focusing more on the pictures he was taking. Luffy looked over at Ennoshita, and then hit Yamamoto’s palm, gesturing for him to open the hand that held the almonds. Yamamoto did so and watched with great interest as Luffy offered an almond to Ennoshita.
“No, you eat it.” Ennoshita laughed, the monkey cutely titled its head before taking a bite of the almond and offering it again to Ennoshita.
“Okay, I will be taking my monkey now.” Oikawa called out. He had witnessed the monkey’s sudden kindness, but he wasn’t jealous or anything.
“You said earlier that he wasn’t your monkey.” Yamamoto whined as Luffy quickly jumped onto Oikawa’s shoulder, using his hands to comb through Oikawa’s hair and occasionally patting Oikawa’s face.
“Don’t do that, Luffy!” Oikawa complained as he took the monkey away.
“Now that you’re free from babysitting duty, show us the tigers!”
Yamamoto gladly showed off all his knowledge on the beautiful creatures associated with his exhibit. He relayed all the names and answered any questions his friends had, occasionally stumbling over his words whenever Ennoshita asked a question.
Yamamoto had discovered his crush on the other male during their third year in high school. Seeing Ennoshita proudly lead the crows, had him intrigued more than their cute lady managers had when he first met the Karasuno crew. He got to spend a few training camps, confiding in Ennoshita about the hard ships of being a captain, and how sometimes it hurt to be your friend’s enemy when they weren’t doing their best during practice. It had been two years since high school, and they kept in touch via text, but Yamamoto knew Ennoshita didn’t talk to him as much as Akaashi or even Sawamura.
He was a little afraid to make a move, so he settled on just admiring from afar. It was getting hard though, now that Ennoshita was in front of him. He didn’t really know what to say. “Tora, when do you go on break?” Tanaka asked while Ennoshita took pictures of the tigers.
“I can go on break in a few minutes…why?”
“We need you to lead us to Sawamura’s concession stand.”
“Oh, sure, whenever you’re ready to go.”
“So… you know, our lovely Enno-san is thinking about transferring to your uni.” Tanaka informed, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively, but it just made him look silly. “You do know what this means, right?”
“No…”
“It means Yuu and I expect some progress to be made! For one, Enno won’t have anyone and we need you there to protect him!”
“But he’ll have Akaashi…and Sawamura-san, and-”
“He will need your help, Tora. This is your chance! Show him around campus, hook him up with a job here. Make progress.”
*~*
Yamamoto led the way to the concession stand, and took the trio to the back entrance. He knocked three times and waited outside the door. Yaku opened it, letting a hand rest on his hip, “Why aren’t you working?”
“I was asked to escort these three here. Is Sawamura with you?”
“Of course, he is, but he’s busy. So run along.” Yaku stated, but paused when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t be so mean, Yakkun.” Sawamura teased and Yaku’s eyes narrowed.
“You know, I’m not really a fan of Bedhead calling me that, so I don’t appreciate how it was passed on to you too!” Yaku complained.
“You can go on break.”
“Finally. See you later, suckers!” Yaku said practically skipping out of the back door and towards the employee break room. Yamamoto bowed as greeting to Sawamura.
“You don’t have to bow to me, Yamamoto-”
“Daichi-san! We missed you so much!” Tanaka and Noya exclaimed, running over to capture him in a hug. Tanaka hugged him from the front, while Noya hopped onto his back, latching on tightly.
“Missed you too, come in and have a seat near the ice cream freezer.” Daichi instructed.
Everyone piled in to the small food shack, sitting promptly like Sawamura asked them too. Yamamoto ordered some corndogs and fries to go around, and they made small talk as Sawamura started preparing them, as well as taking customer’s orders from the service window. He was a great multi-tasker. While they were eating, and Sawamura was doing a bit of clean up, Bokuto barged inside. “The penguins are doing a little parade! Oh, hi tiny crows!”
“Penguin parade?!” Noya questioned, quickly following Bokuto outside to watch the penguins, Tanaka and Yamamoto following closely. This gave Ennoshita an opportunity to talk to Sawamura.
“I’m thinking of transferring here, for film.” Ennoshita explained as Daichi leaned against the soda machine.
“That’s good news. Do you want me to put in a good word for you here?”
“That would be nice. Do you also know where I can start looking for apartments?”
“Why not ask Akaashi? I would invite you into mine and Suga’s humble abode, but Asahi just took our spare room.”
“Akaashi has space?”
“Surprisingly, Akaashi and Kenma live in a similar floor plan as your senpais. They’ve always had a spare bedroom, and I’m sure they don’t mind giving it to you. As long as you can deal when Bokuto goes over to visit… if you can’t, I give you permission to crash on my couch until we find something suitable for you.”
“I’ll ask Keiji, and then get back to you.”
“No problem, I’ll ask boss if there are any departments that need help. The zoo gets lots of funding from the university, as well as donations from the public. I’m sure once you get accepted to transfer, the boss won’t mind helping you out. He’s big on education. Kyoutani and Bokuto both have internships here with the vets, Tetsu works in the nursery because the vitamin dosages and vaccinations he has to give them helps him with his pharmaceutical sciences.”
“Suga works with llamas and goats, and you work with food…because?”
“Suga deals with a lot of kids, and paranoid parents, great practice for the future school teacher. And sure, food doesn’t seem like it’ll go perfectly with my finance degree, but working with inventory and budgets helps quite a bit.”
“Everyone seems to have a great fit, would I really fit in?”
“Of course you would! If Lev can work here, you can too.”
*~*
After work that day, Yamamoto grabbed his things from his locker and noticed Kuroo sitting down on the bench, typing away on his phone. “Hey, Kuroo, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“How did you muster up enough courage to ask Daichi out?” Yamamoto honestly didn’t expect Kuroo to blush, but he waited patiently for an answer.
“Uh… you sure I never told you the story behind Daichi and I?”
“No, you haven’t.”
“Well, at first, we were friends with benefits, great benefits, wonderful, amazing benefits… and then I got super drunk and called him, asking him to be my boyfriend, and now we’re here.”
“I was expecting something…much cooler.”
“You and me both, but that’s not how it shook out. Why are you suddenly so interested? Have your eyes on a certain someone with the initials EC?”
“H-how do you k-know?” It was Yamamoto’s turn to blush.
“Tora, I know a lot of things. I can help you too! As you know, I’m very kind…”
“What are you bragging about now?” Sawamura questioned as he walked over to his boyfriend. Kuroo just shrugged his shoulders, and Yamamoto turned even more red. Just the thought of Ennoshita had him flustered, but if Kuroo knew about his crush…did that mean Ennoshita knew as well?
“Thanks for this talk, but I promised to walk Kenma home.” Yamamoto rushed out, trying to leave the locker room, causing Kuroo to laugh.
“It’s okay! I have inclinations to think that he likes you too!” Kuroo called out before the door closed.
“Did you tell Kuroo about my crush on Ennoshita-san?” Yamamoto accused as he walked with Kenma to the train station. Kenma, whom was playing a game as usual, scrunched up his nose.
“Are you telling me that I am incapable of keeping secrets?”
“No, no! I was just—nevermind.”
“I did not tell Kuroo, he discovered it on his own.”
“But how?” Yamamoto whined, pout visible on his face although Kenma refused to look up from his game.
“You turn red whenever Ennoshita-san’s name is mentioned. Your crush is obvious.”
“I like it better when you ignore everyone.”
“I might ignore you, but I’m very observant.”
“What am I going to do? I have to get over this! It’s been two years!”
“You could just tell him. He’s going to transfer to our school, Daichi-san is going to get him a job here, and he’s moving in with Keiji and I.”
“He’s moving in with you?? You do realize, I will now visit more often.”
“I can always lock myself in my room, and never let you in.”
“Akaashi-kun, won’t allow that forever.”
“You shouldn’t allow your crush to be just a crush…forever.”
“What are you saying?”
Kenma sighed, pausing his game and meeting eyes with Yamamoto, “The Tora I know would try to get Ennoshita, even if he crashed and burned. He wouldn’t let a little insecurity stop him from trying. Tigers are a symbol of courage right? So why are you being a coward, captain?”
Yamamoto felt tears filling his eyes, “Kenma… I’m not a captain anymore.”
“I know, but the title whips you into shape.”
“KENMA!” Yamamoto wailed, wrapping his arms tightly around his smaller friend. Kenma went rigid, eyes darting around to see people passing by, looking in their direction.
“You’re attracting too much attention.”
“Just hug me back, and we can move on.”
“We’ll miss the train…”
“I’m not letting go until you reciprocate our love.”
“I hate you.” Kenma quickly patted Taketora’s back and then shoved him away, tilting his head down to hide behind his hair as he sped up his pace to the train station. Yamamoto laughed, running after him.