Kevin felt beads of sweat trickle down his back and forehead as he mended yet another hole in the savannah exhibit fence. The giraffe occupants had been moved to a holding pen, for fear that they might stick their heads through the slowly expanding fissure. He was careful not to move his lips as he internally argued with Barry. He really didn't need to be seen talking to himself.

"Come on!" Barry whined, "we never get to go out and do anything fun."

"No," replied Kevin, knowing he would lose this battle eventually, "you know crowds and noise and drunk people aren't my thing." Kevin had met Mrs. Ellington, who was retiring from zoo-keeping after 30 years, a total of five times over his four years at the Philadelphia zoo, and thus had little interest in attending her retirement party bar crawl.

"Dude, you need to get out and socialize. This whole loner thing you have going on can't be healthy." Barry continued.

"Fine. I'll think about it." Kevin relented.

"Awesome!" Barry exclaimed triumphantly. "I wonder if Ana will be there."

Ana was the zoo's newest vet, who had started working at the zoo the year before. Barry had introduced himself immediately, as Kevin of course, because they really didn't need every random co-worker knowing their entire mental health history. Kevin, however, had taken three months to gather the courage to speak to the woman himself, and had had trouble thinking of much else for the rest of that day.

"Hi, I'm Kevin." Kevin had begun, forgetting that Barry had already introduced him.

"Yeah, we've met," Ana had responded, confused.

"Oh right, sorry," Kevin had responded awkwardly, his face heating. He could feel Barry snickering at him. "How's Uma?" he continued, desperate to change the subject to anything, even a pregnant rhinoceros.

"She's still got a few weeks left. Everything looks good though. Fingers crossed, we'll have a healthy new baby rhino next month."

"That's great. Well, I'd better get to the leaking pipe at concessions," Kevin had trailed off.

"Good luck." Ana had said before heading off in the opposite direction.

"You like her," Barry had teased.

"She's alright," Kevin had replied, trying not to admit his attraction to her.

"Dude, we share eyeballs. I know when you look at her," Barry had rebutted. "So… you should ask her out."

"Not happening!" Kevin had responded, mortified. "As soon as she finds out about us, she'll run screaming the other way. Better she not notice us at all."

"So you can continue to stare at her backside when she's not looking, you mean? Fine, have it your way. Go on living your lonely, boring life, and never have any fun," Barry had relented melodramatically.

Kevin and company had been with a few girls since moving out on his own, but it had never lasted longer than the amount of time it took one of them to utter the words "I'll call you" on their way out the door. Kevin had spent most of his young life thinking he didn't deserve anything more. With the persistent encouragement of Dr. Fletcher, he was starting to let himself believe that wasn't the case, but he still thought their was no way anyone would stick around after learning how much of Kevin there was. When he thought about it, he realized he was more afraid of what they would have to deal with, and what they might find out, if they did stick around.

After he finished tightening the last bolt affixing the new section of fence to its post, Kevin straightened his back, stretching as he did so, and thought he saw someone looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw Ana heading quickly toward the snow leopard exhibit. He thought he might smile if he caught her eye, but she was looking straight ahead, intent on her destination.