Chapter Text
Monday
“I’m going to grab coffee down the street,” Jon announced as he entered the main archives room.
Sasha didn’t even look up from her laptop to respond, finding the report she was reading more important at the moment, “You don’t even drink coffee.” It had been a little over a month since their group intervention, and there had already been major improvement within their group dynamic, especially with Jon and Martin. She wasn’t sure what changed between the two of them, but all of a sudden Jon seemed a bit more… well, definitely less short tempered with him, that was for sure. It had made communication between the assistants a lot easier too. Jon was less afraid to ask for help, while Martin was starting to seem more self reliant on his own cases. Everything seemed to be working out for the best.
“Just seems like one of those days,” Jon sighed as he put on his coat. Sasha noted that as Jon speak for I need to get out of this building for at least five minutes or I may go stir crazy. There were a few things Sasha had begun to pick up on like that over the time they had been working together. “I’m even offering to buy you all something if you’d like.”
Tim wasted no time jumping on that, “If you’re buying, then I’ll get a large iced mocha with a muffin.”
That made Sasha look up from her laptop, but then again, the opportunity to look at Tim judgingly will always take precedence over most anything else. “ Iced coffee? You know how cold it is outside, right?”
“But it’s warm in here,” Tim grinned at her, “Especially because you’re-“
“Shut it,” Sasha rolled her eyes as she turned her attention to Jon, “I’ll just take a hot caramel macchiato, whatever size is fine.”
Jon nodded and was just on his way to leave when Tim’s voice stopped him. “Jon, why don’t you take Martin? Just in case you need help carrying the stuff.” Tim’s suggestion seemed to pull Martin out of whatever it was he was writing.
“Oh, uh,” Martin looked from Tim to Jon. It almost reminded Sasha of a puppy still not knowing he had permission to go on a walk. “Sure, if you’d like me to.”
“Sure, fine, let’s just get going,” Jon crossed his arms over his chest and hovered by the door as Martin quickly lept up to throw on his own jacket before leaving with Jon. A quiet settled for a moment as Sasha went to return to her work.
Tim, however, had other plans than actually getting his work done. “I’m not the only one who sees it, right?”
“Dare I ask what?” Sasha replied half interested, trying to find where she was in the report she was reading.
“The way Martin looks at Jon?” When Sasha only shrugged, Tim took that as an invitation to lean on her desk, “He has it bad for Jon, I can tell.”
She had to admit, Sasha had been seeing the same thing. How Martin would always seem to get just a touch anxious whenever Jon would enter the room, how he always made sure to pick up Jon a little breakfast in the morning whenever he could, the way he always asked for his opinion even when the rest of them knew Martin was right. It was almost kinda cute the puppy love Martin seemed to have for him. Brushing her dark curls behind her ear, Sasha leaned back a bit in her chair, finally fully looking up at Tim. “Yes, he does, but you should probably drop it,” she warned as she kept her gaze on him, “It’s not like Martin is going to do anything about it.”
“That’s exactly my point!” Tim had that look on his face, that look that would most likely land him in trouble, “So what if we did something about it?”
Sasha looked him over, hesitating to encourage him before she was unable to help herself, “..Like what?”
“Like what I just did,” Tim shrugged despite not having a nonchalant bone in his body when it came to this, “We give them opportunities to be alone together. We start pushing them closer bit by bit and see if maybe they can figure out the rest.”
Sasha thought for a moment. On the one hand, she knew that tampering with their love lives would probably lead to even worse outcomes. On the other, it would finally alleviate the tension that was definitely beginning to build. Finally giving in, she let out a sigh, “Fine- but! We only do this for a week. Then, if it doesn’t work, we let it go. Got it?”
“Deal,” Tim reached forward to shake her hand.
After taking his hand, Sasha smirked, “And once Jon finds out what we’re doing and ultimately gets mad at us, I’m telling him this was all your doing.”
Tuesday
Jon heard the heartbeat in his ears as he sprinted down the street, gripping on to his book bag as he ran. He could see it, just a block away: his bus stop, with his bus already there. Knowing that he could not be any more late than he already was spurred him forward. Just passively, he cursed whatever function of his car that had failed to make him have to get it fixed and leave him taking public transit for the week. Thankfully, the driver had seen him, giving him just enough time to step into the vehicle and grip the side rail as it started its journey down the road. Paying the toll, Jon bee lined to the first seat he could see and let out a long sigh as he crumbled into the seat. At least now he could relax and pull himself together before-
"Jon..?"
He knew that voice. He knew that voice too well. Looking over to the seat directly next to him, he locked eyes with none other than Martin. Of course it was Martin . This was just how his day was going to go, wasn’t it?
“Martin,” he nodded, trying his best not to seem as out of breath and frantic as he felt.
“I didn’t know you took this bus," he questioned as he removed his headphones, obviously getting ready to have more of a conversation than just 'hello'.
Damn it. “I normally take the earlier bus, but…” He really didn’t want to admit this. The last thing he wanted was to seem incompetent enough to forget to double check his alarms. “I missed it today.” He saw Martin nod out of the corner of his eye. Really, he should have left it at that and rode the rest of the way in silence. Maybe even close his eyes and claim just a moment of calm in this chaos of a morning before the two of them made it to work. However… he could feel Eyes on him. Probably Martin stealing glances when he wasn’t looking. Letting out a sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses and looked over to Martin once more. “My car’s in the shop, so I have to take the bus for a few days. I meant to catch the earlier bus, but my alarm didn’t go off, so I just barely made this one. That’s how I ended up on this bus,” he gave him the information quickly with a tone that made it clear that he was doing it just to avoid any more questioning gazes. However, as he looked over at Martin once more, he saw that he was looking forward. Odd.
Martin nodded, as if he was processing the information. “That makes sense,” he replied easily, “I think I would have seen you by now if you took this bus regularly.” Jon nodded back, and finally, he was ready to sit on the bus in peace.
That was, until he felt himself growing restless, like there was more he wanted to say. Jon actually wanted to talk to Martin more now that they had the chance. Not in a way to cut tension between them, or to fill some sort of awkward silence, but to fulfill a want to know more about him. Which… was odd. Lots of things had been odd about that morning. “So,” he began, suddenly remembering his inability to have any sort of meaningful small talk, “You.. take this bus regularly then?” If it wasn’t awkward then, it had to be now. However, as he stole a glance to Martin, he saw a look of surprise the blonde man couldn’t quite hide fast enough.
"Yep," Martin nodded, his tone still a bit tentative, as if unsure of how to answer Jon in the first place, "Haven't had a working car in a while, so I've gotten really good at figuring out the transit system around the city. This bus just seems to be the most direct one to the Institute."
"Glad I chose the right one, then," Jon stole a glance out the window as the bus came to a temporary stop. They were still a good few stops away from what he could tell, but what else could they even talk about?? His eyes caught the headphones Martin was holding. "What.. were you listening to?"
That seemed to get Martin excited, no matter how much he was trying to hide it. Pulling out his phone, Martin showed Jon an all too familiar album cover causing his heart rate to spike to what he was sure was dangerous levels. “A band I really like called The Mechanisms. They’re coming to the area soon, and I have no idea if I’ll be able to get tickets, but it’s made me want to listen through all their stuff again,” Martin answered with way too much enthusiasm than Jon was prepared to experience that morning. “They’re still pretty underground, but they’ve been getting gigs all over, and they’re finally coming to my part of London again.”
“I see,” Jon nodded, trying to only seem mildly interested when in reality he couldn’t help but want to know more about what Martin thought, “Never heard of them.”
“They’ve been around for a while,” Martin continued as looked back at his phone, “They used to have a different lead singer when they first started, but they ended up getting a new one a few years ago,” it took everything in Jon to keep up his poker face at that, “A few of the band members have left at this point, but they’re still going strong.”
He couldn’t help himself. “Do you… prefer the new singer to the old one?”
The moment Martin took to think about his answer was the longest moment in Jon’s life, despite not really understanding why he cared so much about Martin’s opinion in the first place. It was just Martin after all. “I think the new one is really good, don’t get me wrong, but I think I prefer the original.” That was an ego boost Jon was not expecting to get that morning. Martin chuckled a little to himself before continuing, “It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but maybe I’m just biased because I had a bit of a crush on him.”
Jon’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor as he stared at Martin in disbelief. The announcement of the next stop took Martin’s attention as he stood up.
“Well, this one’s ours,” Martin sighed as he stood up before looking to Jon with a smile, “Let’s go.”
Wednesday
"I'm telling you, Sasha, I couldn't think of anything!" Tim sighed exasperatedly, looking over to his partner in love crimes as they walked back to the archives from their shared lunch, "I swear, I thought the first two ideas would at least do something. They seem as awkward as ever!"
"And after all the trouble I went to change Jon's alarms from AM to PM," Sasha shook her head, "Face it, Tim. We're not some magical matchmakers. We'll probably have to let this grow organically- i mean, if it even does."
"Nooo! That's quitter talk!" he gave her a playful elbow, "We've gotta think of something!"
Sasha rolled her eyes as she walked through the door he opened for her, " No , what we have to do is our jobs. "
"You're no fun," he complained as he followed her in. As they entered the archives properly, the foreign sound of humming greeted them. It was Jon humming. Tim had worked with him for years, and he had never heard Jon hum before. Jon didn't hum. Sasha must have realized it too because, without talking to each other, they both grew quiet and slowly poked their head around the corner to look into the large main room of the archives. Jon was sitting at Tim's desk, but there was something different about him. As he continued to hum to himself, he was leaning back in the chair, as if he was getting comfortable, tapping his finger against a tin of mints and reading over some of Tim's notes from a recent statement they were working on. The two of them paled as recognition dawned. Those weren't just any mints. "Hey there, Jon," Tim greeted gently as he approached his desk slowly, "You doing ok?"
"Hm?" Jon looked up from his notes and gave Tim a smile. Oh no. "I'm doing great, actually," he answered easily. Oh my god. "And I hope you don't mind, I had a few of your mints. I needed something to chew on to focus, and I was out of gum." Of fucking course . "They tasted a bit funny, though."
Sasha stepped in before Tim could say anything, "Jon, how much did you take?"
"No, I didn't take these notes," Jon waved the papers in the air as if to show them before returning his gaze to them, "Though, I think I'm getting tired or something, because I think I've read the same sentence… at least 3 times now."
Tim couldn't help it. He couldn't hold back the laugh building in his gut. "Oh shit, Jon!" he laughed, ignoring the look he was getting from Sasha, "Alright buddy! So, what kind of tolerance do you have?"
"Tolerance for your antics? It's getting lower every day."
"No, weed tolerance," he asked bluntly between laughs, knowing full well there was no getting around it at this point. When he was met with a blank stare from Jon, he reached over and grabbed the mints, raising them up to his boss's gaze, "They've got cannabis in them." Jon snatched the tin back and examined them closely, and Tim couldn't help but feel Jon was looking for a miracle.
Finally, after what felt like a solid minute, Jon looked back up at Tim, "I… should be a lot madder- more mad?- at you. I haven't done anything like this since… Oh god, since Uni."
Tim saw the opportunity. Pulling over a chair, despite Sasha's obvious look of protest, he settled in for storytime with high Jon. "So you smoked in Uni?"
"Not a lot, but definitely with my band-"
Before Jon could expand on this sudden lore drop, the door to the archives swung open. Tim had to stop himself from cursing at whoever interrupted the true blackmail he was about to uncover. "Sorry I'm late, they mixed up my food order which made me miss my bus back here, so I had to walk," Martin entered in a flurry, setting his stuff down at his desk quickly and heading into the kitchenette, completely missing what was happening. Tim spotted a smile appear on Jon's face as his boss's gaze followed the newcomer. Wait a minute . He was about to say something when Martin entered the room again. "Alright, I'm here now, I can eat lunch later. What are we up to?"
"Martin!" Jon greeted, a little too excitedly to be ever considered normal, "Martin, it's good to see you."
Tim watched Martin stare at Jon for a moment, most likely processing more than just the greeting, before he looked to the other two, "What's wrong with him?"
"He can't just be happy to see you?" Tim grinned. He finally knew what he was doing today.
"Tim accidentally got Jon high on his medicated mints," Sasha summed up with a sigh before walking into the kitchenette. Martin looked at Tim with a look of frustration and concern, one that truly, only Martin could reproduce. Tim put up his hands, as if to convince Martin that he was innocent.
"He took them by accident! I promise!"
Martin sighed and rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses before looking over to Jon, the worry really starting to kick in. In all honesty, Tim wondered if all he had to do is sit back and watch just to see what Jon would say. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long. "Jon, are you alright?" Martin asked as he went over to Jon, crouching down next to the chair he was sitting in, "Do you need anything? How are you feeling? Can I get you anything to try and help you with this?"
Jon looked at Martin with that smile he had when he first saw him. "I'm ok Martin," he shook his head, leaning in the chair towards him, "Did you know how it is cute when you fuss over me?"
Tim watched Martin freeze, having to hide the satisfied smile on his face. This should do the trick today. He watched as Martin backed away a little, a slight blush on his cheeks that he couldn't quite get away with. "Jon, please," he tried again as he tried to keep gaze despite the obvious embarrassment, "Just tell me what you need. Water? Food?"
"I'm serious Martin! You're cute!" Jon reiterated, almost as if he wanted to make sure Martin knew it. This was the best thing Tim could have asked for. Martin sputtered, trying to think of something to say, but Jon waved him away and looked to his notes, as if he could even dream of doing any work right now, "I know you're going to say no, but it's all in your freckles. Your freckles are cute, the way you fret over people is cute, so you're cute." He said the last part like it was the most logical thing in the world.
Tim couldn't hold it in anymore. He had to go somewhere, anywhere, to laugh about this and not disturb it. "Don't worry Martin, I'll go look and see what we have," Tim smiled and gave the silently pleading Martin a wink before getting up, "How about you make sure Jon here doesn't fall out of his chair or something. Sound good? Sounds good." With that, he was out of their way and into the kitchenette.
Sasha was standing in front of the coffee maker, looking over in the doorway. Tim gave her a double finger gun greeting, but all she did was shake her head in disappointment. "I can't believe you're letting this happen," she sighed, turning her attention back to the pot of coffee she was brewing. It was barely used as much as the tea kettle was (mostly by Martin), but in times like these, it was definitely useful.
Tim put a hand to his chest. "Ouch!" he sighed dramatically, "I am wounded!" Chuckling a little, he walked over to her, watching the coffee brew from behind her. "Really, if you're making this for him, that's about as much as we can do right now, anyway." Still feeling her mild frustration, Tim stepped to the side and poked his head into the fridge. "And it's not like I set them out on purpose. Besides! You should hear what he's saying out there! He called Martin cute. Cute! This is the best thing that could have happened to the plan." Finding what he was looking for, he grabbed one of his Greek yogurts he had stashed in the fridge for easy snacks and showed it to her. "Think that would be good for him?" When Sasha gave him a nod, he gave her a smile and made his way out to the door, pausing as he heard Jon and Martin still talking.
"-really think so?"
"No but- Martin, you see it too, right?" Jon was insisting something to the other, leaning into Martin, who seemed to be getting more flustered by the second. Jon must have been talking about Martin. "I mean, he's just… He's got a nice ass." Pardon? "And his attitude… I don't know what it is. It does annoy me, sure, but something about it… There's something attractive about it."
"Alright Jon, why don't I get you a glass of water? Maybe then you'll start-"
"No, but Martin, here's the crazy thing," Jon put a hand on Martin's shoulder, keeping him knelt beside his chair. Neither of them had seemed to notice Tim yet, thankfully, but he didn't want to leave either, especially after a confession like that. "The thing is, I realized, everyone I work with is so attractive. You, Sasha, Tim, even Elias-" that was blackmail Tim could use, "-but the crazy thing is: I don't want to do anything about it!" Martin tilted his head slightly, looking at Jon in confusion. "Well, like, except for maybe Tim, but that's only because I've known him the longest." That nearly made Tim drop the yogurt right there. "But, I'm just worried, because what if one day, I do want to do something, but it ruins what we have going, or something like that?"
Oh no. Tim could hear where this was going. Jon was starting to dip into emotional high territory. Time to do damage control. "Hi guys," he made his presence known with a smile as he waved around the yogurt, "Found Jon something good to eat- lots of protein and all that jazz! Sasha's making him some coffee, so hopefully we can sober him up real quick- Well, quicker than just letting it run its course."
"Thank god," Martin sighed, getting up to intercept it. As Tim passed the snack off to him, he could see the overwhelmed look on his face. Maybe he bit off a little more than he could chew.
Hearing Tim's voice, Jon turned his attention over to him with a smile, as if completely forgetting the conversation he was just having with Martin. "Tim! I wanted to tell you, these notes, are great."
"You didn't even finish reading them, buddy."
"But I know they're going to be."
"You know, Martin," Tim grinned as he followed the other assistant back to the desk, "You sure we can't just keep him like this all the time? He's really boosting moral today." Martin looked like he wanted to respond, but instead he opened up the snack and handed it to Jon who proceeded to eat like it was the first thing he had eaten all day. Maybe it was? Wow, no wonder this was hitting him so hard. As Jon examined the now empty container, he looked up at Tim with the cutest expression of confusion he had ever seen on the man.
"Is there any more?" Jon asked with such wonder.
Tim nodded, trying to keep himself together. The look on his face, the way his face looked, it made Tim's chest tighten up slightly. Why… did he think he was so adorable?? "I'm sure we've got something. Let me take a look."
"He can have some of my lunch," Martin suggested as Tim started to turn back towards the kitchen again causing him to almost run right into Sasha.
"Careful! Hot!" she called out, moving the mug away quickly. He paused, watching her as she maneuvered her way around him and the nearby desk she almost hit to reach Jon's desk. Seeing all three of them together like this… "Jon, I know you don't drink coffee much anymore, but I made you a cup to help sober you up faster," she explained as she set the mug down in front of her, winning her another smile from their spaced out boss, "Why don't you drink some while we fix you up some more food?"
Humming softly again, Jon took the mug and sipped it slowly, grimacing at the taste. "Fine, whatever you say," he replied, almost like he was pouting. Taking another sip, he sighed and looked up at her with those big, golden eyes, "I'm sure it'll work, though. You're so brilliant, I'm sure you have a plan for everything." Tim watched as Sasha smiled at Jon before heading back past him and into the breakroom, most likely to heat up some of Martin's food. She always kept her composure so well.
Finally, they were settling into a comfortable vibe. Jon swiveled slowly as he continued to hum to himself as he sipped the probably still too hot coffee, Martin paced back and forth between the desk and halfway to the kitchenette waiting not super patiently for Sasha to come back, and Tim? Tim just wanted to be front row just in case Jon started another storytime. It almost seemed like he would until the door opened once again.
And the worst thing that could have walked through the door.
Elias strode in, papers in hand, heading straight for Jon who was still leaning back at Tim's desk. Jon looked over his coffee, meeting Elias's gaze, as if nothing in the world could phase him. Tim and Martin seemed to jump up at the same time, Tim faster to Elias's side and Martin quickly to Jon's.
"Elias, hey!" he greeted with a big smile, trying very hard to seem casual- which, in hindsight, probably didn't seem casual at all, "What's going on? How's it going? What brings you all the way down here?" Elias stopped in his tracks and looked at Tim. Tim spotted Martin start to quietly try to usher Jon into his office, but from the looks of it, Jon in this state had no idea why they were so nervous.
"I was looking for Jon," he answered slowly, looking Tim over, "Tim, is everything alright?"
He could do this. He could keep Elias distracted so that Martin could get Jon away. If he just talked him up enough, he'd maybe even forget why he needed Jon in the first place! Opening his mouth to speak, he didn't even get the chance.
"Elias!" Jon greeted him with a smile, despite Martin's continued efforts to push him back. Damn it. Well, Tim wanted something interesting to happen. Getting fired sure would be interesting.
Elias looked past Tim to Jon, raising an eyebrow. "Jon, are you alright?" he questioned, stepping around Tim as he walked right up to the grinning Jon.
Upon seeing Elias, Jon started to laugh a little before doing a poor job at covering it up. "O-Oh, Elias! I get why everyone's nervous now. They don't want you to know-"
"How much of a good mood you're in!" Martin chimed in, trying desperately to do damage control. Tim could already see that Elias wasn't buying it. Their boss looked from Martin to Jon, leaning in slightly to look more closely at Jon.
"Jon.." he began, "How high are you?"
" No , it's hi, how are you?" Jon replied, looking at him like he was crazy.
The Archives went silent, all eyes on Elias's every movement. Even Sasha, who was just about to come in with the food scraped up for the inebriated Archivist. Elias stared at Jon for a moment before a chuckle escaped him. Hearing Elias chuckle made Tim laugh a little, a wave of relief washing over him. It almost felt like Elias wanted to full on laugh, but he leaned back and took a breath before looking around.
"These are probably the cause, right?" Elias mused as he picked up the tin of mints still on the counter, looking them over, "Not much. Probably only used for microdosing? But I bet Jon here had more than one on an empty stomach, by the looks of him."
"Elias," Tim looked his boss over in a new light, "Are you… a secret stoner?"
Elias put a finger up to his lips, as if keeping it a secret. "I used to be," he shrugged. Tim dug this look on his boss, that's for sure. Elias looked around the archives before letting out a sigh. "Alright, here's what we're going to do," he began, looking at Martin, "You're going to drive him home for the day. Even when Jon sobers up, he won't be feeling very well, so no use keeping him here," looking to Tim and Sasha, he continued, "You two are going to stick around and get your work done for the day, including Martin when he gets back," finally, looking at the four of them, he concluded, "And none of you are going to bring this up again. Don't bring this day up to me or anyone else, because if I wasn't in as good of a mood as I am right now, this conversation would have gone differently. Understood?" The four of them nodded, even Jon. He was being surprisingly fair about this, Tim had to admit. When satisfied that everyone understood the circumstances, Elias began to walk out. "Oh," he added as he was halfway out the door, "And I'm confiscating these." He waved the tin of mints he had snatched from the desk earlier. "Have a good day!" And like that, he was gone.
A quiet fell over the archives once again as they all came to terms with the fact that they were not getting fired that day. Finally, it was Sasha who was the first person to say something. "Anyone else find it odd that he always seems to show up when we find ourselves in trouble?" Tim couldn't help but agree. Elias seemed to have the worst possible timing.
"Well, you heard him, Martin," Tim grinned, "You should take him home." He could see the soft blush on Martin's face that he was trying to hide. "Oh come on, you've done it before!"
"How can I? I don't have a car right now," Martin sighed. Tim could tell he was just looking for excuses at this point. Rolling his eyes, he took out his keys and tossed them to the surprised looking Martin.
"Take my car," he instructed with a smile, "Sasha can just give me a ride home."
"I can?" Sasha questioned from the other side of the desk, but Tim waved her off.
"Sasha will give me a ride home, and I'll just get my car back from you tomorrow after you pick him up to bring him back to work- or better yet! Stay the night! Make sure he gets through the night fine." Tim was spinning ideas as fast as his brain made them, ideas that made Martin more and more flustered.
Eventually, Martin caved, raising the keys like a white flag of surrender. "Fine! Fine. I will take him home and get him back tomorrow. Just… Just stop getting crazy ideas in your head."
"I'm just throwing out suggestions!"
"Well save them," Martin rolled his eyes before helping the completely spaced out Jon to stand up, "Alright, come on Jon, let's get you home."
Jon gave him a tired smile, "Alright. Bye bye everyone!"
"Yep, see ya, bye Jon!" Tim grinned as he watched Martin, still red in the face, lead the smiling Jon out of the archives. After a moment, Sasha joined him, standing next to him.
"You know," she began after a moment of silence between them, "I will say, if this doesn't work, we may have to go with the nuclear option."
Thursday
Martin flipped through the files locked away in storage, letting out a long sigh. He didn't care how useless the task Tim gave him seemed, he was just thankful to be away from Jon and all of them. After what happened yesterday, he needed it. Jon's intoxicated ramblings about his looks- just thinking about it made him begin to blush again. Sinking his head slightly into his sweater, Martin waited patiently for the heat to leave his face, half scanning the names on files as he did. Why did Tim need a discredited file from storage anyway?
Before he even had the chance to think about it, the door opened. Looking over his shoulder, Martin was greeted by the image of a very distracted Jon, eyes down in a notebook. The door closing behind him finally made the other man come back to reality, his eyes raising to take in the fact that someone else was, in fact, standing there. An awkwardness shoved its way into the room quickly
"Oh- Martin. Sorry, I didn't-"
"Sorry, let me get out of your way, I was just-"
They tried to say at the same time when the sound of the lock clicking stopped both of them in their tracks. Jon turned around quickly, trying the door handle. It jiggled in defiance.
"The door is locked," he announced. Martin gently maneuvered his way around Jon the best he could in such a tight space to try for himself. Sure enough, the handle barely moved, keeping the door firmly in their way.
Martin quickly patted his pockets before turning to Jon, asking, "Do you have your phone?"
"No, I keep mine in my desk," he rushed his answer before taking up the small space not occupied by Martin next to the door. Knocking loudly, he shouted out, "Hello? Can someone help??"
"Is anyone there?? The door's locked!" Martin followed suit.
Nothing.
With a sigh, Jon sunk back into the small space, using a few small boxes as a makeshift chair, and held his head in his hands. "This can't be happening…" he muttered into the palms of his hands. Something about Jon seemed… so tired. Martin hadn't seen him like this in a while. Crossing the small distance, he leaned against one of the nearby filing cabinets.
"It's alright, Jon," he attempted with a small smile, "Tim and Sasha will have to notice that we've been gone soon. Then they can let us out of here."
"It's not just that," Jon groaned, keeping his head down as he pulled his hands into his lap, "It feels like… something about this whole week has been… I just didn't think so much could go wrong in a week."
"Just bad luck, I guess," Martin shrugged, hoping making light of it would help, "And yesterday wasn't really your fault."
"Yesterday!" another groan as he leaned back against the wall, "Yesterday was a disaster…" he stole a glance over at Martin before continuing, "which… I am sorry about."
The blonde shook his head. "Like I said, not your fault." Martin truly didn't want an apology. "You don't need to apologize." He didn't want to think about it at all. It wasn't every day your crush admits that he finds you cute then turns around and tries to take it back while you're driving him back to his place. He kept his eyes forward, worried that the look on his face would be too obvious.
Thankfully, Jon seemed to be in his own little world. "Thank you," he said after a moment. That finally made Martin look at him.
"For what?"
"You… You have every reason to be upset, and I understand if you are, but… you're still being reasonable," Jon continued, shifting a bit on his boxes, "So, thank you. For not torturing me with this like others would."
Despite knowing that he, instead, would be the one tortured by this, Martin couldn't help but smile.
Jon motioned to a nearby step ladder, "Why don't you join me? Doesn't seem like anyone's coming anytime soon." With a nod, Martin unfolded the small ladder and set it next to Jon. Despite trying to give him as much room as possible, somehow, their knees still touched. Martin couldn't remember the last time the simplest touch made his face feel so hot. Maybe it's just been a while. Silence fell between them again, a silence Martin really didn't know what to do with. He had to say something, but what?
"Can I ask you a question?" Martin asked without even thinking of what the hell his follow up question would be. Jon gave him a look of suspicion.
"Go ahead?"
Shit. Without thinking, Martin blurted out the first question he could think of, "W-What's… your favorite color?"
Jon couldn't hold back a chuckle at that. Martin chuckled back, feeling the anxiety lift a bit. "Um… Well, orange, actually," he admitted after a moment's hesitation. Martin blinked in surprise.
"Oh. I… really? You wear a lot of… greens, so I expected green?"
"I look best in earth tones," Jon shrugged a bit, as if he had already resigned to the idea, "It's also what's professional, so I tend to lean towards those."
"Right." Orange was not the kind of color Martin was expecting, but it… almost made sense.
"What about you?"
"Oh," Why didn't he expect him to ask him back? Martin thought through colors in his head, which ones brought him the most joy recently. One seemed to stand out in particular. "Gold." Wait, shit- "N-Not like- Well, more like- Like a sunset gold, you know? That gold color the sun gets right at sunset when the weather had been nice that day." Definitely not like the gold of his eyes or anything. Definitely not. Not at all. "That kind of gold." When he looked at Jon, he spotted a furrow in his brow. Was he… confused?
Finally, after a moment, Jon asked seemingly out of nowhere, "Martin, do you write poetry?"
His heart stopped. Did he find one of his notebooks? Or a draft he had thrown in the trash? Or- God forbid- one of the tape recorders he was using?? "W-Why do you ask?"
"Well, just… the way you describe things sometimes. You seem to paint these… overcomplicated word paintings, so I just had a feeling," Jon shrugged.
Instantly, the panic subdued. "Right. Makes sense," Martin nodded, maybe a little bit too vigorously, "I write from time to time, nothing professional or anything. Do you like poetry?"
"Not particularly," Martin felt like a balloon stabbed with a crochet needle, "I just don't see the point in it," Jon continued, breaking his heart little by little, "Sometimes it feels like… just, write some prose and get on with it, you know?"
"Haha… right," Martin tried to laugh it off, but the direct, unintended attack on his favorite hobby just strung too much.
He must not have hid the expression on his face well enough because, after a moment, Jon added, "I mean, probably not all poetry. Maybe I could read some of yours sometime? You could… help prove me wrong."
Right as Martin was about to reply to that heart attack of a suggestion, the door knob began to jiggle. They both got up out of their makeshift seats at the same time, causing them to collide and lose balance. Before he truly lost his footing, Martin caught himself on the nearby filing cabinet as Jon caught himself on Martin, his hands on his chest to steady him. Before Jon could pull away to stand up straight, the door swung open, revealing Elias with a ring of keys. Immediately, the two pulled away. Martin had half a mind to try and explain that it wasn't what it looked like, that they were just talking, but he knew that would only make things worse.
"Are you two alright?" Elias asked, looking between the two of them, "I saw you two come in here on the cameras, but when no one came out, I started to get worried."
"The door got locked, and we don't know how," Martin explained quickly, "We called for people, and no one came, so-"
"Thank you for the assistance," Jon interrupted flatly. Martin stole a glance at him out of the corner of his eye. His face had darkened to all shades of embarrassment. "We're just fine. Now please, excuse me." With that, he grabbed his forgotten papers and rushed out of the room.
Friday
Jon rubbed his eyes under his glasses as he read over the statement one more time. It was one that seemed to be able to be digitized, so in all honesty, he wasn't thinking much of it. His mind was everywhere but this office. This has had to have been one of the strangest weeks he had ever gone through, but it wasn't… completely terrible. Despite Jon's early assumptions about Martin, he had to admit, he wasn't awful to talk to, and this week had them talking to each other a lot for some reason.
He almost was getting excited thinking about seeing Martin again.
That was, until Tim walked in. Jon still had half a mind to chew him out about what happened on Wednesday, but something about the smile that was on his face made it seem like little he could say would really affect him. So Jon would save it for his performance review.
"Afternoon, Tim," he greeted coldly, the annoyance from the incident still ever present, "What do you want?"
"Wow. No need to keep up the cold shoulder," Tim waved him away as he walked fully into the office, "In a week or two, it'll be a funny memory! We'll all be laughing about it."
"I'm not laughing, Tim."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," he rolled his eyes and set his pile of papers down, "Just need you to go over these- Oh! But more importantly. Sasha and I have these two tickets to see this really good indie band soon, but I don't think we're going to be able to make it."
Jon looked at him from over his glasses, unimpressed, "Your point?"
" My point ," Tim began by mimicking Jon before continuing in his normal voice, "Is that you and Martin should go instead!"
"What- What would you- Why-" Jon finally stumbled into the sentence caught in his throat from shock, "Why would I go with Martin? Why would he even want to go? I mean, I don't even know him that well."
"What'd'ya mean, boss?" Tim smiled that I'm too innocent to be innocent smile, "You and Martin had plenty of time to get to know each other when you two were locked in that supply closet."
"Wait, hang on," Jon paused, his gaze snapping to Tim as he glared over his glasses, "How did you know about that? Martin and I didn't tell anyone about that accident. We didn't think anyone would believe us, considering the door only locks from the outside-" That was when it clicked. "Wait… You couldn't have known. Martin and I left for the day after that, and the four of us have been together all day today, so there was no way he could have told you. Unless…" Jon set his papers down on his desk with a huff as he straightened up, glaring up at the taller man, "Tim, did you lock us in there??"
"Oh, Jon, I- Jon, come on, really? Would I? Me? Really?" Tim fumbled, "I mean, me? Lock you two in? What-“
Sasha seemed to appear in the door way, rolling her eyes at Tim's antics, "Give it up, Tim. I told you that one was a bad idea."
Jon's glare switched to Sasha before softening slightly, becoming more confusion than annoyance when considering her. "Sasha, you were in on it too?" Jon asked, not sure whether to be impressed at her ability to keep it completely under wraps or frustrated that she would stoop to Tim's level.
"I tried to talk Tim out of locking you two in there, but he just wouldn't listen," she shrugged with a soft, almost wistful sigh, "It was my idea to change your alarms on your phone for that one morning you were running late and ended up taking the same bus as Martin, though. Though, all of this was Tim’s idea." They shared a look, but Jon didn’t care to know what it meant between the two of them.
He looked between them, annoyance quickly becoming frustration. "You mean to tell me," he began, taking a breath to try and regain his composure enough to keep his voice steady, "That the reason Martin and I have been falling into these unexplainable circumstances recently is you two ?"
"Pretty much," Tim nodded, taking a seat in one of the office chairs.
Another breath. " Why ?"
"Because you've needed a break, boss," Tim smiled widely, his grin hoping to deflect the malice coming his way from Jon's glare, "For some inexplicable reason, Martin seems to like you, so we thought, maybe, spending time with him- or, anyone outside of this office, honestly- would be good for you. Also, he-"
Jon didn't let him finish. "No," he shot, his glare steady on Tim, "No no, I know what this is. This is a prank - you've been pranking me! Because why else would you choose Martin of all people if it wasn't a prank?" He turned his back on the two of them to look towards the bookcase, trying to still get some damn work done around here. "Sure, the man has learned how to hold a research job decently, and he's pleasant to talk to, I guess, but even if this wasn't a prank-"
"Jon-" Sasha tried to speak, but he wasn't listening.
"What makes you think I would want to date Martin ? Of all people! It would never work!"
"Ok, Jon, you can stop-"
But Jon didn't stop. He kept talking as he started to skim through the books, "He's incompetent and meddling and sometimes truly annoying to be around. Do you know how embarrassing it was to have Elias let us out of the closet because he saw us on the cameras? What if he thinks we're an item now? The last thing I want is Martin complicating another thing around here-"
The soft sound of a tea cup being set down on his desk made the room go silent. Jon turned around quickly to see Martin standing there, face set in a smile, but anyone could see how obviously strained it was. He heard everything. Jon's anger disappeared immediately, a wave of guilt flooding the hole it left.
"Just wanted to make sure you've eaten today, but I'm sure you two have that handled- or were you going to wait to set us up for dinner too?" Martin looked to Tim and Sasha before back to Jon, "I think I'm going to head out now. Don't stay too late." Without waiting for a response, Martin turned and walked out of the office. As he watched the other man leave, such an intense need to fix… whatever this was between him and Martin hit Jon like a ton of bricks. After everything… He would consider him a friend, and suddenly, Jon realized he didn't want to lose that.
"Wait, Martin-" Jon attempted to stop him as he rushed out of the office into the greater Archives area, but Sasha shook her head. He was gone.