WARNING: fluff

a day at the museum

'soulmate's names show up on the inside of each other's wrists when they come into contact with something regarding the other.' or so the book says. 'black lettering of the soulmate's full name will appear once contact has been made.' the book also says. 'contact may never be made, for those unfortunate few. but for those who make contact, it's only a matter of luck whether you meet the other or not.'

(Y/N)

it was a normal day at work for you. you got in early (as usual) and allowed yourself tome to tidy and set up the class room for the hoard of 25 9-year-olds who would shortly come bustling into the room. everything was set and organised when veronica (the head of fourth grade) walked into the room, handed over a pile of paper with a sweet smile.

"i see your tattoo's finally showing," she mentioned, pointing at the black writing on your wrist as she handed over the letters.

"oh," you glanced down at it. "that must have shown up this morning, i haven't seen it before today."

"maybe you'll meet this 'tim murphy' at the museum."

you giggled at veronica's remark. "i'll be too busy watching the kids to meet my soulmate."

"never say never." she smiled before stalking out of the classroom, leaving a lingering thought in your brain. as you put the papers down, you saw that it was a school visit to the american museum of natural history. a week ago, the fourth grade began learning about dinosaurs; a very exciting and aweinspiring topic for a group of 9-year-olds. although you loved the museum, thinking about having to spend a whole day there walking them around made you feel whoozy. that was, until, you saw that an expert would be guiding you and the class around, making your job a whole lot easier.

the trip would happen a week to the day, giving you ample time to teach the class the rest of the course on dinosaurs before they excite themselves silly at the museum in the next week. as soon as you had finished reading the whole letter, the bell rang, signalling the arrival of your class. noise and corruption from the hallway soon died down once the children where in their respective classrooms, but once you mentioned the trip, the class erupted again, the excitement being too much for them to handle.

once they were calm, the letters were handed out and placed safely in each of their bags. you were bombarded by questions about the museum, the exhibits and the guide who would show you all around. you answered each question as best as you could, leaving the questions about the guide unanswered. you too wanted to know who this person was.

TIM

it was a normal day at work for tim. he arrived at the museum at 8am, knowing he was early for when his pay check started, but caring little about that. like usual, he inspected the fossils, checking for the tidiness of the exhibit and positioning of the bones (once, an elderly cleaning lady had knocked over a bone or two and tim swore to checked every dinosaur in the morning since then).

when he was satisfied with his check, he made his way to his office, preparing himself for whatever tour or paper work john (the head of the paleontology department) had for him. tim barely had time to sit at his desk when john walked in. there was no stack of papers in his hand, only a note which signalled that tim would be a tourguide today.

"good morning, mr murphy," john smiled as tim stood. "another tourguiding note for you," as tim took the note, he realised it wasn't for today. it seemed he had been booked in for a tour a week to the day for a class who had been studying dinosaurs recently. "i know it's in a week, but i wanted my best paleontologist for the job."

"thank you, sir." tim took the compliment almost sheepishly. john extended his hand for tim to take, which he did.

"i see your tattoo's showing, murphy." he mentioned, twisting tim's wrist slightly to show the black lettering.

"that must have appeared this morning. i haven't seen that before." tim looked at his wrist, his mind wondering to when it could have appeared.

"maybe she'll be a teacher of the group, this '(y/n) (y/l/n)'."

"maybe." tim's voice was soft, still looking at his wrist.

"i'll let you get back to work, murphy," john walked backwards towards the door, his eyes never leaving tim. "there's some theses i want you to look over!"

"okay."

"now, murphy," john ordered, leaving the office and expecting tim to follow. "murphy!"

"coming!" that was the last time tim looked at his tattoo that day.

(Y/N)

the week went by fast. the excitement of the children learning about dinosaurs relight your love of dinosaurs, too. although work was hectic, what with the children being so excited, you loved every second of it. now, it was the day of the trip. each child was packed with food, crayons, paper and knowledge as they all, one by one, pushed they way onto the bus.

you had drawn the short straw of sitting towards the back to keep an eye on them, but not before you had checked each and every seatbelt was clipped in. the museum was about 30 minutes away, meaning you'd only have to watch the students for a short while.

they entertained themselves with little games, quickly passing the time before you arrived at the museum. just pulling up in front of the grand entrance brought a new buzz in the air. the extravagance of the museum had brought everyone into a stunned silence. the children had clamoured over one another to get a view of the museum, pushing and shoving to look out of the window.

as much as it was your job to settle them, you yourself had to marvel at the entrance. it's grand pillars doing wonders for the scenery. eventually, the bus stopped outside of the museum and the children hurried to grab their bags. they quickly got off, leaving you last to check everything had been taken.

the whole class quickly found themselves in the entrance of the museum. it wasn't too busy, there were a few people around, but it was quiet nonetheless. you and veronica tried to settle the children while you waited for the tour guide. for him.

well, you hoped it would be him.

TIM

the week went by slow. the theses that john had asked him to read over took longer than either of them had expected. many of them were accurate and detailed, others wouldn't have been enough to get their degree. with deadlines approaching, tim had to work quickly.

as he was preoccupied with the theses, he missed out on the enjoyment of tours and guiding families or class groups around his favourite exhibits. the thrill the children would get when they saw a dinosaur fossil or one of the giant structures would melt his heart and, honestly, he would admit that he missed that.

tim reminded himself each day that it was one day less until his next tour. reading the theses made him happy that there were people who loved paleontology as much as him, but on the other hand, they were so boring. many times tim had found himself falling asleep at his desk due to his sheer boredom. being in his office all day had really taken its toll on him.

once the day of the tour came around, tim woke with more excitement, and nervousness, than he had done since his first day. knowing that he could possibly meet his soulmate, he wore his best shirt and blazer, ready to make a lasting impression on her. it was his favourite shirt; purple with white and red stripes.

he arrived even earlier than he usually did. double checking (and even triple checking) the exhibits, tim didn't stop looking around until everything was perfect. everything had to be perfect. for you.

well, he hoped it would be you.

MUSEUM

it wasn't long until you saw a man who looked official walking towards the group. he had a blazer on and underneath was a purple shirt with white and red strips. you instantly decided that you liked his shirt, regardless of who he was. as he walked over, you tried to read the lanyard which hung around his neck, but just as you thought you caught sight of his name, the lanyard was taken off and placed into his pocket.

"morning explorers!" he greeted the class cheerily as they all turned and beamed towards the man. "are you ready to meet some dinosaurs today?" a jumble of replies followed his question, making you, veronica and the man chuckle.

"i'm doctor tim murphy and i will be your guide for today; how about we start at the beginning of the entire world with the big bang?" a louder chorus of cheers followed his question as the man, tim, began to walk towards the first exhibit. the children seemed in awe of him already as you and veronica followed behind.

"doctor tim murphy, eh?" she nudged your elbow with hers, seemingly more excited about this than you. "you've gone and landed yourself a doctor, Y/N," she giggled with you. "and he's not too bad looking either." you almost stopped walking at that. she wasn't wrong, it had crossed your mind, but you weren't going to say it out loud.

you and veronica stayed back for the whole tour. both of you agreed to allow doctor murphy to guide the children around and stay back unless absolutely necessary. except, there was nothing you were needed for. the children behaved perfectly, hanging on to tim's every last word.

once the tour had ended, tim lead you all into a large room while fossils and dinosaurs bones galore. the children instantly went around the room, darting towards different fossils and bones. tim quickly glanced around before walking towards you and veronica.

"i'm sorry i haven't spoken to you much today, i get carried away with the tours sometimes." he spoke bashfully, a light blush covering his cheeks.

"it's okay, doctor murphy," veronica discreetly nudged you. "i'm going to have a look at the fossils, don't wait up." she strode off, leaving both of you alone. before she completely left you, though, she turned around and gave you the thumbs up over tim's shoulder. he saw the blush which lightly covered your cheeks, but chose to ignore it.

"i'm Y/N Y/L/N," you put your hand in front of you. "it's nice to meet you, doctor murphy." tim took your hand and shook it, not even thinking to check your wrist discretely for his name.

he suddenly remembered, "Y/N Y/L/N? as in this Y/N Y/L/N?" he asked, twisting his wrist around so you could see your name in bold letters on his wrist.

"tim murphy? as in this tim murphy?" you copied his actions and showed him your wrist, revealing your matching tattoo of his name in bold. neither of you could believe why was happening. tim couldn't even process the next thing that came out of his mouth, until,

"hi."