#and damnit the reboot gave me artsy kevin you will pry that from my cold dead hands

[kariachi]

Who wants some fic?

Future fic, Gwen pov and Kevin's work.

Boy deserves a better future and better job than fucking OV tried to give him.

~~

Could Kevin have probably done more given the chance? Yes. Was the display in place still incredibly impressive, to a standard Gwendolyn’d never realized she was missing in her museum visits? Absolutely.

She handed a bottle of water to Kai as she flopped down onto the floor beside her, in amongst the cluster of workers and volunteers all taking a well-deserved break from getting the new exhibit in place. It’d been a long morning so far, full of moving fake plants and other décor to carefully marked locations and then back again, forever and ever as the final layout was, well, finalized. Mostly everybody had been working at the whims of Kai, trying to make sure everything was displayed exactly right to ensure visitors got the full experience, the other artist Margarida, who had words every time it seemed they were going to hide key details of her carefully made plants, and Kevin, who even in that very moment was still doing checks and tweaks of his work.

A collection of half a dozen life-sized, animatronic dinosaurs to serve as the centerpoint to the museum’s new wing for native prehistoric life. Each one done in exacting detail- Kevin had never half-assed his work- each unique and each perfect. Nearly two years had gone into the project and it showed in the quality, both of he and Margarida’s creations. Nobody’d said how much the museum was spending on it all, but even knowing Kevin was giving them a discount (according to Irene he’d almost done it for free, scared the shit out of her) she was certain it was more funding than she’d have ever spent. Kai said it was a good investment, would get people coming in and really give them a sense of what California was like tens of millions of years ago.

Grinning like his face was about to split, Kevin finally stepped away from the machinery and carefully made his way over to the other side of the display.

“Everybody clear?” Everyone took a quick look around, a few people got up and moved a few more feet back just in case.

“Yeah!”

His eyes shining, Kevin pulled out a remote and hit a button.

With a seconds delay the animatronics started moving. One of the large hadrosaurs nuzzled under the other one’s neck, while a younger, smaller one ‘rolled’ in what was going to be fake mud. A baby sniffed at the club of some sort of ankylosaur that was chewing on a fern they hadn’t put in place yet, pulling back as it languidly swung its tail. Not-so-hidden by a row of foliage, some sort of therapod’s upper body moved from side to side as it judged its potential prey.

Smiles and small claps made their way around the group as the minutes passed. Everything, if the look on Kevin’s face was any indication, was more-or-less in order. A sharp look at one of the hadrosaurs, but otherwise no signs of trouble. Just when everybody seemed ready to turn back to their water and snacks, he gave a sharp nod, somehow grinned wider, and whistled as loud as he possible could.

The herbivores stopped, their heads snapping to face him.

The therapod froze.

So did everyone else.

One, two heartbeats passed before somebody cheered, laughter rolling through the room as the animatronics turned to face the new noise. Kevin, all teeth and looking about ready to bounce out of his skin, took a deep bow before hitting a few more buttons, waiting for the machines to return to position and stop before heading back in to fix whatever problem it was he’d seen. Gwendolyn just shook her head, a painfully wide smile on her own face.

“You know the worst part of this,” she asked, half-turning to see Kai easily as fondly amused. “I think this is the second time I’ve seen him this happy, and the other one was his wedding.”

“Huh,” Kai answered with a chuckle, “I thought you were gonna say this will make kids around here insufferable.” Gwendolyn barked a laugh.

“Besides that.” With another shake of her head, she took a swig of her own water. “Bet you’re glad you work in another wing.” Still chuckling, Kai took a swig of her own.

“Never been so happy in my life.”