Leon Gilbertson was not entirely in the most pleasant of moods that night as he lay on his bed in his bungalow. In all fairness, today had gone fairly well. After all, the mission had been a success, the rescued animals were all settling in well and the adult male allosaurus europaeus (who had been affectionately named Broken Jaw) had gone through a successful jaw correction surgery. So why was he now feeling so glum?
The answer was quite simple. The mission had been successful… however, he himself, despite being on it, had had very little part in it. In fact, Drew seemed to be actively trying to omit him from taking part. And in a way, it was all thanks to the very thing that he'd been living with for so many years in his life.
From a very young age, Leon had always felt… different compared to most other kids in a way that he couldn't quite fully explain. It had all started with a tendency to line up his toy animals in very specific ways and throwing fits if the order was swapped or any were removed from the line, followed by him imitating animal sounds and showing a selective interest in very specific topics while ignoring in others. Once he'd begun speaking, he somehow couldn't fully articulate his thoughts, understand sarcasm or certain forms of humour as jokes, or maintain consistent eye contact or conversations with other people outside his immediate family. It had been frustrating.
Even his parents and sister, whilst loving him all the same, were perplexed as to his… oddities. At school, however, these quirks and his natural social awkwardness had led to him being a social outcast, teased and ostracised. But out of all the teasing he'd undergone, the absolute worst of his torment had been inflicted upon him in his middle school years by a girl named Fiona Winters. Her (eventual) boyfriend and one of Drew's basketball teammates Billy Summers, had also often played a key role in tormenting him alongside her. Even now the memory of them was enough for him to grit his teeth and clench his fists in rage. He couldn't even apply the "a nerd is someone who you'll be working for" thing – Fiona was now a high-powered businesswoman and Billy was now a lawyer, of all things.
But despite all this, his life had finally taken a turn for the better when, at 13, he had been assigned to work in a group alongside Adrian and Drew for the sake of a project in their biology class. Over the course of the project, they'd come to realize just how much they had in common; most notably, a shared passion and knowledge for animals; and become fast friends. The following summer, he'd gotten a proper explanation behind his unusual nature by finally receiving a diagnosis of mild high-functioning autism. This should have been a relief… however, it wasn't.
With him now being friends with a member of the popular crowd, the teasing Leon had undergone had largely gone away. Having the star of the basketball team as your friend was like having a flick-knife – people stayed away from you if they knew what was good for them. However, the popular kids had changed their view of them – they'd started viewing him and Adrian as hangers-on. However, that was preferable to what he had gone through before. If you had asked him, he was glad that he'd befriended Drew and Adrian and somewhat glad that they were all back together again. However, there was also a part of him that considered it just as much of a curse as it was a blessing.
He'd never admit this, but his views on Drew were… complicated. On the one hand, Drew was one of his best friends. In fact, Leon's admiration of him had grown into a subtle idolization; with his charm, charisma and bravado, how could one not idolize him?
However, at the same time, he also couldn't help but resent him. Ever since they'd met, people seemed to always consider Leon second best to Drew. Drew had always been the golden boy, the knight in shining armour; Drew had been on the debating team, had straight A's and was a popular student. Drew had even had a girlfriend in high school and throughout college before breaking up with her on horrible terms shortly after graduation.
That aside, even after they'd graduated, success after success had come to Drew; and nothing summed that up more strongly than the fact that he was now coordinating the Prehistoric Park project.
Leon, on the other hand, had always been the sidekick; the follower, the hanger-on. The only thing Leon could outdo Drew in was academics – Leon had always gotten the better grades out of the two. However, nobody thought, realistically, that was a strength.
Now, Leon cared about Drew deeply… but it wasn't hard to be a little jealous. It left him feeling slightly inadequate; like he was playing second fiddle.
To make matters worse, his two friends had been much more successful than him, following the pet store. Drew's list of successes needed no explaining and Adrian had done well after they parted ways from the pet store – he'd gone around the world, learning falconry and had become very, very skilled at it.
Whilst Leon…what had he done? After the pet store, he'd slalomed between jobs – from a library to a pet sitting business to working at various zoos and animal shelters as an animal handler… None of the jobs had lasted long; generally a result of either incompatible coworkers, inconvenient distance, or simply it was just a bad fit. He was hoping Prehistoric Park would be different.
However, he did not seem to be off to a good start. For starters, word of his unpleasant stumble in the Morrison Formation seemed to have spread. And he could tell that, outside the chiefs of staff, who respected his knowledge, the majority of the staff didn't have a high opinion of his ability – whilst Jack and the reptile crew were the most vocal about it, everyone seemed to think that he was a walking textbook, hired only due to nepotism on Drew's part. And what was worse, even Drew seemed to think the same, keeping him on the sidelines on the last mission.
He dismissed the thoughts from his mind; he had to remain optimistic. It was early days yet.
"Isn't that what you said at the start of every school year?", said a little voice in his head, sounding eerily like Fiona.
He clenched his fists, eyes narrowing and teeth gritting at the memory, hissing angrily as he did so, before shaking his head to clear his thoughts and calm himself down.
"I'm probably lucky Jack isn't listening," he thought bitterly to himself. He scoffed. "From the way he acts, I'd probably never hear the end of it. After all, what better way to validate his calling me 'Dolittle' then hearing me engage in one of my old animal vocalization impressions..."
He paused, eyebrow now raised as he thought to himself some more. "People always said they were pretty good," he thought to himself. He then looked at the nearby radio and the microphone next to it. It was at this point that he also remembered how some of the people in the research division were recording the vocalizations made by the rescued animals. At that moment, he remembered a very important detail about his nickname – Doctor Dolittle had learned from his parrot Polynesia to actually talk to animals.
He placed his finger to his chin, thinking carefully to himself. An idea was beginning to germinate – an idea as to how he could improve his standing, "Might be a good idea to sleep on it a little," he thought to himself. "See if I can flesh it out a little more. I might very well drop by the technicians tomorrow to see if they can whip a little something up for me to use for it..."
He smiled, and nodded his head. At that moment, while still very much in the planning stages, he did at least have the beginnings of an idea on how to improve. And all inspired by a mocking nickname for him. Granted, there was still every chance that it could turn out to be a long shot. However, sometimes, you just had to go with your gut – no matter how difficult that would have been for him. Filing the beginnings of his new idea to the back of his mind, he got into bed. And within half a minute, he was fast asleep.