Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jon blinked slowly at Elias. “What do you mean we're judging a song and dance competition? We are an Archive.” He was very much annoyed and not very good at hiding it.

Elias smirked. “I thought you could all use a change of pace for a bit, what with the whole ‘corpse in the tunnels’ and ‘help, my creepy boss is stalking me, somebody call HR!’ predicaments of the past several months.”

Jon looked down at his shoes, feeling embarrassed. He wished he wouldn’t keep bringing that up. Elias enjoyed his discomfort. It was rather akin to fear. He drank it in with a pleased sigh.

“You are not making me work alongside him!” Tim was furious. Here he was, just trying to mind his own business and avoid his creepy stalker boss, and Elias was forcing him to work with him - in an auditorium, no less - for the next two weeks. Not even separate rooms, just one big room with rows of seating where he could only assume they’d be sitting near each other. Oh, he would not let Elias sit them next to each other. Though it occurred to him that Jon was likely the kind of man to sit on the end of a row and Martin would most definitely claim the seat adjacent. This made him feel a bit better.

Martin for his part looked pleased. “Ooh, this could be good for you Jon. Get you out of the Archives for a bit, maybe enjoy a change of pace?” He also had some hopes that maybe a change of scenery, especially one filled with musical numbers and dancing, would give him a better idea of how Jonathan Sims really felt about him now that he didn’t seem to think he was a cold-blooded killer anymore. He desperately hoped his feelings were mutual.

Not!Sasha tried to look like she had any idea what Elias was talking about. Singing… dancing… What were those again? Probably human things. She’d have to check the internet when she had a moment of privacy. “I have to use the restroom,” she declared, remembering that’s how humans usually went to check their phones in private, and went off in search of the room she knew existed but couldn’t for the life of her remember what it was actually intended to be used for.

Elias smiled at the archive staff and smugly informed them that yes, in fact, this would be happening, and they would be taking the Magnus Institute’s official van over tomorrow so they’d better bring two weeks worth of changes of clothes and any toiletries and other supplies they might need.

“We’re not even going home at night?!?!” Tim was practically shouting with rage.

“No, Tim. This competition is about five hours away from the Institute by car which would be rather impractical to drive to and from every day. I’m booking us an air BNB. I thought you could all use some time to get to know each other a bit more on a personal level.”

The room filled with groans from Tim and Jon and a rather pleased, hopeful sound from Martin which he quickly stifled.

“How many bedrooms will there be?” Martin asked the question with hopeful askance.

“Four. Two of you will have to share. I’m not sharing with anyone so you all work it out amongst yourselves.”

“Oh H No-” Tim started but Martin cut him off.

“Oh, um, I suppose I could room with Jon-”

“Just so you know, there’s only one bed per room.”

Martin blushed furiously at this but it only made him more invested. “I… I don’t mind.”

Jon shot him a look.

Martin let out a nervous chuckle and Jon looked at his shoes. He was not going to rock the boat again so soon after being the ‘crazy stalker boss’ and reckoned this was probably as good as it was going to get. At least not everyone was avoiding him like the plague. “Alright, fine.”

Martin let out a squeak of pure angelic glee.

Elias beamed at the group. “So it’s settled then! Make sure to bring your toiletries and clothes for a two week ‘Work Trip!’ We’re leaving bright and early tomorrow so don’t be late!”

Chapter Text

Jon set his suitcase on the floor next to the left side of the bed. “I claim the left side,” he declared. Fortunately the bed was positioned in the middle of the wall so neither of them would have to climb over the other. However, the left side was somewhat farther from the door and Jon preferred that if any of the others tried to come in to kill him he would have more time to escape. He also briefly mused that Martin might actually be a helpful ally in this - he doubted he’d willingly let someone knife Jon to death.

“Sure!” Martin was rather indifferent to such things and was simply absolutely thrilled at the sleeping arrangements. “Do you think you’ll be comfortable or should we check the hallway closet for more blankets?”

“I’ve… I’ve actually not shared a bed with anyone in quite a long while. I don’t remember how warm it can get. So… maybe bring in an extra quilt and put it next to the bed and we’ll play it by ear?” Jon felt awkward.

Martin readily agreed and went out to fetch a second quilt. Jon sighed and sat down on the bed. He was exhausted. Maybe just a little nap? He pulled up his feet and curled up in the fetal position on top of the covers. He would just have a brief lie-down, that was it, while he waited for Elias to tell them all their next task.

Martin walked back into the room not even a minute later to find Jon softly snoring away. He held back a squee of adoration and draped the quilt he was holding over him, making sure that he looked nice and cozy. He also gently removed Jon’s glasses and sat them on the bedside table with a gentle tsk tsk. “That doesn’t look very comfortable.” Then he himself got himself comfily propped up against his own pillows and started browsing through his social media accounts on his phone. He was rather distracted between the gentle snores coming from beside him and the adorable puppy photos from the accounts he followed so he didn’t notice Tim quietly come into the room.

“Oh, so our creepy boss is sleeping is he?”

“Quiet!” Martin hissed softly. “Don’t wake him!”

Tim let out a soft wicked chuckle and pulled out his phone, snapping a quick photo.

“Tim!” Martin gently scolded.

“What? I just want this for later in case I need it.”

Martin raised an eyebrow.

“You know, photo evidence of Jon actually looking unintimidating for once.”

“He always looks unintimidating-”

“Of course you’d say that.” Tim suddenly smirked. “I can send you a copy?”

Martin blushed furiously at that but couldn’t help himself from giving a slight nod. Tim winked at him and messed about on his phone for a few seconds. Martin saw a new text notification come up on his phone. Oh no, what had he done? He looked over at Jon but he was still sleeping soundly, occasionally twitching slightly. Oh goodness he was adorable. Martin didn’t even notice he was staring until Tim cleared his throat.

“Okay then, so I’m just going to leave.”

Martin jolted to attention with a start. “Oh, right, right. Do you know what’s on the itinerary for today?”

Tim let out a brief snort of amusement. “No idea. I’m personally hoping Elias just leaves us alone today - I am not in a hurry to get started on judging a singing and dancing competition. I’d much rather just fool around on my phone.” With that he took another photo of the sleeping Jon next to the somewhat startled Martin and headed out of the room, texting. Martin was pleased to see another text notification from Tim come up.

…

Jon let out a yawn and stretched, feeling more well-rested than he had in quite a long while. Then he looked up to see a somewhat startled Martin staring at him, a pencil in hand and a notebook on his lap.

“Um, hi Martin… what’s… what’s up?” He groggily sat up, looking about the room. It looked like he’d been out for several hours.

“Just writing poetry. Elias has left us to our own devices so far today - I get the impression that the competition doesn’t actually start until tomorrow and he just wanted to get us situated first.”

“Ah.” He rubbed his eyes blearily - where were his glasses?

“Your glasses are on the bedside table. You fell asleep with them on so I removed them.”

“Oh, thank you.” Jon somewhat awkwardly put his glasses on and scrutinized Martin. Why was he being so nice? The archive staff hated him, right? Martin noticed the scrutiny and blushed. Why was Jon staring at him? This only made Jon stare all the more scrutinizingly which made Martin blush all the harder. They were both rescued by Elias as he knocked on the doorframe.

“We’re ordering dinner. Menu is on the table, come pick out what you want. I’m calling it in in fifteen minutes.”

Jon cursed inwardly as he realized that apparently he had slept through the entire afternoon. How embarrassing! Martin got up, interested in what dinner would be as he was really quite hungry. They had left the institute around 9 and had arrived here around 2 but Elias hadn’t actually mentioned food until now. Thank goodness he finally had. Martin shot Jon a glance for a moment as he sat stewing in embarrassment, staring in evident interest at his socked feet and the patterns on the quilt, before gently getting his attention.

“Jon, I’m headed out. Do you want to join me?”

Jon started at this. Clearly he wasn’t fully with it yet. Goodness, this was embarrassing. “Um, sure.” He got himself up from the bed in as dignified a manner as he could, wincing slightly at his worm injuries. Martin looked somewhat concerned but quickly turned away as Jon finished standing up and looked over at him and the pair headed to the living room.

“So. Takeout. Delicious.” Tim’s voice was absolutely dripping with sarcasm. Martin didn’t understand why - takeout was delicious. Tim was just being a grouch. It figured. Not!Sasha was seemingly trying to read the menu but she had it turned at a ninety degree angle and Martin wasn’t sure how she was actually obtaining any information from it that way. Elias was sitting in a stuffed armchair and flipping through a newspaper. Sheesh. Martin knew he was old but… a newspaper? Did he bring that with him from home? Why?

Elias was in actuality simply enjoying Watching his employees without their notice and he’d discovered that a newspaper was the perfect way to hide his facial expressions as he did so while appearing like he was focused on something else. He also rather liked newspapers, seeing as they’d been around since he was young. The whole internet thing still didn’t make much sense to him. He was currently getting a kick out of how Not!Sasha clearly wasn’t actually aware of how to use a menu and how it was confusing Martin. And how Tim was paying her absolutely no mind. And Jon… Jon was still half-asleep in a world of his own, shifting through paranoid possibilities in his head like a disorganized card catalog. It was delicious.

“I’m calling it in in five,” he declared, wickedly pleased to see Jon jump in startled concern as he realized that, once again, he had not been paying attention and was now going to have to rush in picking out his dinner. It was those little bits of fear that kept Elias going - the large fears were really quite scrumptious, like a delicious home cooked meal, but the tidbits of sudden piercing anxiety… they had a nice appetizer-like appeal to them. And you'd never get too full. It was just beautiful.

Jon hurried over to the table and looked at the menu, instantly overwhelmed at all the options. How was he supposed to go through all these possibilities in five minutes?!?! He flipped through the pages, growing progressively more and more agitated, and Elias excused himself to his bedroom to have a quiet guffaw in private. Martin noticed Jon's discomfort and suggested maybe they both just get the pasta. Jon felt himself relax immediately - a viable solution. Thank the universe. He quickly agreed and awkwardly stood there for a minute or so wondering if anyone would engage him in conversation. Upon realizing that nobody would, he retreated back to the bedroom.

Chapter Text

Dinner was a surprisingly pleasant affair, helped by the fact that apparently Elias had ordered wine for the table. And by wine for the table… he ordered two bottles of Cabernet each. “Just thought we ought to have some fun to start our trip off,” he said, barely hiding the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He was very interested in seeing what would happen once he got his employees good and drunk. Jon was feeling very uncomfortable to be with a table full of mostly people who hated him so he quickly downed a few glasses, hoping it’d help him relax a bit. Martin watched him with a raised eyebrow - he reckoned for someone his size this probably wasn’t the best idea - but to each his own he supposed. Presumably Jonathan Sims knew his own tolerance level.

The next thirty minutes passed with Tim steadily getting more and more drunk and Martin was relieved to see that even with Tim’s recent personality change he was a rather jovial drunk.

Tim slurred, “Look at us! Archivists judging a singing and dancing competition! What will we even say, “your singing is positively unlike any of the supernatural statements I’ve gone through in the past week so I guess that means… good job?”” He hiccuped and laughed, pouring himself another glass.

Jon meanwhile clearly did not know his own tolerance level. The man just kept going and going. “I -” he hiccuped, “I am positively thrilled to be judging your singing. It is so very much better than -” he hiccuped again, “So much better than listening to stories of despair and horror. But honestly-” he hiccuped again, “But honestly I think I might have liked the worms’ song more?” He collapsed into a fit of maniacal giggles and reached for the bottle which Martin quickly moved out of his reach. Jon only responded by falling into another fit of laughter and Martin let out a snort of laughter, pouring himself a glass.

Not!Sasha spent the first part of the evening trying to figure out how to open her wine bottle and eventually resorted to just poking a claw into it and chugging like she was at a fraternity party drinking beer out of a hole in a can. She was rather pleased with the feeling it gave her so after an hour or so she did the same with her second bottle. Martin initially eyed her with some confusion but by the end of the first hour he was also incredibly drunk and just started laughing at her antics. “Sasha, you are a RIOT! I never would have guessed you’d be this much fun at parties!”

Not!Sasha was pleased. She had never been called ‘fun at parties’ before and it was a nice change. She reckoned she rather liked this group of humans. Pity that she eventually planned to brutally murder them all while they screamed for mercy. Oh well. She joined Martin in laughing. Jon and Tim joined in as well, the former extremely hiccupy and the latter slapping the table in between guffaws for emphasis.

By the time Elias declared it was time for everybody to go to bed, he was the only one even remotely close to sober. He noted with some amusement that Not!Sasha didn’t exactly look super human anymore and instead kept shifting from creepy form to different creepy form yet the others either didn’t notice or found it funny. “Look at Sasha! Wow, she really knows how to dance!” It didn’t matter that there was no music to speak of, Tim was dancing to some song in his head and apparently assumed Not!Sasha was as well. He was rather far gone.

Jon tried to stand up from the table and instead collapsed, giggling, into Martin. Martin let out a guffaw and tried to help him up but the two only succeeded in falling into an exceedingly drunken pile on the floor, both laughing hysterically. Elias smirked and decided he’d go back to his bedroom to see how the rest of the night would unfold. After all, he could watch it in his dreams if he got too tired.

Tim eventually danced himself to bed and Not!Sasha crawled back to her room looking more spider than human, pushing the alarm clock off the bedside table and curling up atop it. For some reason a table seemed more of a reasonable place to sleep than a bed. She gouged some webbing patterns into it since it just felt right.

Martin lay semi-conscious on the floor, draped over a hiccuping Jon. “Martin-” Jon hiccuped, “I think -” he hiccuped again, “I don’t think I can Move.” He collapsed giggling.

Martin opened his eyes, turning them towards where Jon’s voice was coming from… but he didn’t see anything? “Jon, where are you?”

“You’re lying on top of me!”

“Oh.” Martin took a few seconds trying to remember exactly how to move his limbs and eventually managed to roll over, kicking the table with a thud as he did so and knocking a bottle of wine over so it spilled over the both of them. They both laughed hysterically at this. “Look at your clothes, Jon. I don’t remember you wearing red this morning.”

“I-” he choked the words out through his laughter, “I guess I must have changed!”

Martin somehow managed to laugh even harder at this and Jon turned to face him, suddenly very invested in keeping Martin amused. “Easiest way ever, I suppose. Just get the -” he hiccuped, “the clothes colors changed while still on your person!” Martin let out a snort of laughter at this, only to hear a cranky half-asleep Tim call from his room.

“Keep it down out there and go to BED!”

This only made Jon and Martin collapse into another fit of hysterical giggles but eventually Martin started crawling for the bedroom. Jon agreed this was probably the wisest course of action and he followed behind. Unfortunately this did not feel very good with his worm injuries so he collapsed, whimpering, to the floor. Martin turned around, concerned, and noticed Jon seemed to be in pain. “Are you okay?”

“Just… just the worm injuries.”

Martin gave a thoughtful pause then with a, “I’ll be right back,” he finished crawling for the bedroom and yanked the second comforter off the bed, spreading it out next to Jon. “Just get onto this and I’ll pull you.” It seemed a reasonable plan to Jon so he did just that and Martin spent the better part of the next hour trying to figure out how to drag the quilt with Jon on top of it without jostling his various injuries. Eventually he just shrugged in dismay, turning to face Jon, and was surprised to see him staring right at him, inches away from his face.

“Do you mind…?”

Martin didn’t know what Jon meant but he was sure he didn’t mind, whatever it was. He would actually probably rather enjoy it. He hoped he would, anyway. He realized with a pleasant surprise that he was right as Jon was suddenly fiercely kissing him, sending him backwards to the floor with a quiet thud. Martin joyously kissed him back and the next several minutes were spent in a glorious haze of chuckles and kissing.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Elias came out of his room to find Jon and Martin still in the living room, fast asleep. Jon was lying somewhat curled up, his head on Martin’s chest, while Martin was lying on his back flat on the floor. They’d somehow managed to pull the quilt over them in the night and actually looked quite snug. Elias let out a wicked chuckle - this was going even better than he’d hoped - and quietly went to wake up the others.

Jon woke up to find himself lying in a puddle of drool, asleep on Martin’s chest with Tim, Not!Sasha, and Elias staring down at the both of them. “Well, I assume you had a nice rest?”

He quickly sat up, groaning at a pounding headache and wave of nausea, wiping his mouth, and determinedly looking anywhere but at his colleagues. Oh… what had he done? A quick glance over at Martin showed that he was still sleeping peacefully, a faint smile on his face. Oh… Martin. The one person in the entire archival team who didn't seem to actively hate him and he had drunkenly kissed him the night before. Rather a lot, if he remembered correctly, but it was all rather hazy. He desperately hoped this wouldn't make things awkward between them. After all, he had actually been growing rather fond of Martin as of late and it would hurt to be suddenly shunned by yet another employee because he was a “creepy boss." Especially an employee he now had to admit he had feelings for. What had he done?!?! He put his head in his hands in shame.

Martin woke up slowly, feeling absolutely great. Other than the raging headache and nausea of course but emotionally he felt amazing. Why did he… oh, yes, he and Jon. He spent a moment in blissful memory of the night before opening his eyes to see where Jon was… and looked straight up into the judgemental faces of Tim, Elias, and Not!Sasha. Ohh… He sat up with effort and saw Jon hunched up next to him, his head in his hands. The poor man looked quite miserable and Martin felt a sharp pang of sympathy and the strong urge to comfort him. So Martin gave the others a classic awkward Martin-smile and with effort got to his feet, gently pulling Jon to his as well, and led him back to their shared bedroom and closed the door.

“Jon, are you okay?” He could already tell by his facial expression that no, he was absolutely not okay, and he gently but hurriedly helped him to the room's attached bathroom, sat him down in front of the toilet, and pulled his hair back. The next hour was… not great. They took turns absolutely paying for their decisions the night before and weakly staring at each other during pauses in between. Eventually Jon was lying on his side on the bathroom rug, incredibly still, groaning softly. Martin was leaned against the sink, his feet propped up against the bathtub, staring at the ceiling feeling extremely lightheaded and dazed.

A knock at the door drew his focus back. “W-who is it?” Martin barely got the words out.

“It’s Tim. I reckoned the two of you might need some water and breakfast? We’ve all been listening to you retch for the last hour and seeing as it finally ended about ten minutes ago… we were hoping you were finally done.”

Martin let out a weak chuckle and welcomed him in. “Thank you, Tim. We’re both in the bathroom.”

Tim hesitantly opened the door and handed Martin a glass of water. “Is he… is he okay?” He looked dubiously at Jon who was still curled up on the floor, moaning softly. Martin just stared at him, trying without success to make sense of what Tim was saying. Tim forced him to drink some of the water and knealt down next to Jon.

…

Just to be on the safe side, Elias had Jon and Martin checked into the local hospital. He didn’t exactly want to have Jon get marked by the End just yet and he reckoned it was better to make sure Martin wasn’t too dehydrated before they started on their new task as that would be a distraction for the others if he was. Besides, someone needed to stay with Jon. So he, Tim, and Not!Sasha went off to the auditorium to set up while Martin and Jon rested in a hospital room, Martin in some embarrassment, Jon too sick at this point to really care. Martin looked over at Jon - he was already personally feeling a lot better after getting some fluids and food into him - but Jon was looking rather unwell. He groaned softly and Martin let out a sympathetic sound. They hadn’t been able to get him to keep anything down so he was looking quite pathetic all hooked up. He had also given Martin the distinct impression that he wasn’t exactly a fan of that part of it all since he’d been barely conscious and very ill but had still managed to struggle just a bit and let out some rather pitiful whimpers. Martin just felt very sorry for him.

…

Tim was meanwhile dealing with his own hangover, though was more used to heavy drinking than Jon and Martin so was handling it better. He assumed it was what made Not!Sasha look so… strange today. Not!Sasha had never had alcohol before but was not human so the alcohol didn’t lead to any dangerous health issues but did lead to some interesting temporary physical changes that Elias was pleased left Tim somewhat worried about his own mental stability. Elias called Tim and Not!Sasha to the front stage.

“Tim, Sasha. If you could start setting up the stage so it’s ready to go by the time Jon, Martin, and the contestants get here it would be much appreciated. The contestants will start arriving in four hours.”

Tim opened his mouth to protest but Elias cut him off. “In exchange, the two of you will not have to actually deal with any of the contestants today after Jon and Martin arrive - you’ll instead simply be working on getting the notes that they take into a nicely formatted spreadsheet. It should leave you both with rather a lot of downtime once the initial sheet is set up.” Tim rather liked this aspect of the deal and proceeded to bring in chairs, sweep the floor, and generally set up the stage. Not!Sasha mostly just stood in place, swaying side to side, trying to remember how to ‘human.’ She was not having much luck so far.

…

When Jon regained full consciousness, he first noticed Martin sitting in the chair next to his hospital bed then realized that he was, in fact, in a hospital bed. He shuddered - that was an unpleasant surprise. Martin noticed and was quickly on his feet, hurrying to Jon’s bedside and asking if he felt okay. Jon just tried not to think about his current predicament and instead focused on Martin’s expression - he didn’t seem to hate him, anyway. No, in fact he seemed quite concerned and even gently grabbed his hand for a second before immediately dropping it awkwardly. Jon didn’t want to admit that it actually made him sad when Martin let go. This was… this was inappropriate. He looked down at his lap to avoid looking at Martin or any of the medical equipment in the room. Unfortunately he was covered with what was very obviously a hospital blanket so that didn’t help. He let out a sigh.

“Jon?”

Jon slowly turned his eyes to Martin, nervous at what he might find there. Instead of disgust or discomfort however, he saw a faint smile. “... Martin?”

“Jon! I’m glad you’re finally up. It’s been a rough morning.”

Jon had to reckon it had been - after all, he was in a hospital room. That had never happened to him before even though back in his university days he had seen it happen to several of his compatriots. Compatriots he had, at the time, made fun of with Georgie because how could they let that happen? Welp. He must have drank way too much the night before. “How… how are you feeling, Martin?”

Martin let out a soft sigh of relieved amusement. “Better now that I know you’re okay.” Jon looked up at him in surprise and opened his mouth slightly to say something - but at that moment the nurse walked in and Jon forgot about whatever he was going to say. He was not exactly a fan of medical situations.

“Mr. Sims, how are you feeling?”

“I-I’m… I’m okay, I t-think.” Jon hated how scared he sounded, especially in front of Martin. This was embarrassing. Martin turned to look at him with a faint smile, his expression quite soft and compassionate, and Jon felt himself blush. The nurse seemed unperturbed by his response, however, and simply went about checking the readings on the various devices in the room.

“I think we’re ready to release you, do you feel up to it?”

Jon just wanted to get out of this place. “Yes, please.” He tried not to pay attention as he was unhooked and looked at Martin instead. Martin was watching him quite intensely and he felt himself blush again - what was he thinking? Judging him for acting so pretentious and self-assured at work but such a coward in a medical setting? He couldn’t believe how far he had fallen in the last twenty four hours and was sure Martin would never look at him the same way again. Not that, he thought wryly, he had probably had the best opinion of him previously with the whole “creepy stalker boss” thing.

“Okay, you’re good to go.” Martin stood up and offered his arm to Jon to grab which he gratefully took as he got down out of bed.

“Um… where are my clothes?”

“Ah, they’re on the chair in the corner of the room.”

…

Jon was somewhat relieved to see the hospital was only about a few block’s walk from the auditorium where they’d be working so he and Martin were able to get there without needing to bother Elias - oh he was going to kill them, Jon just knew it - and honestly the fresh air was quite nice. He kept glancing over at Martin to see his facial expressions but the man was keeping it rather undercover. Or maybe Jon just had trouble reading faces. It could have been that.

It was in fact a bit of both - Jon really was quite terrible at reading facial expressions but Martin was trying to not creep him out as well so was keeping his face as neutral as possible and sticking to looking straight ahead. After all, he had made out with him and woken up on the floor the next morning, only to end up in the hospital from being so drunk. He didn’t want to come off as some creeper who’d planned it all out or something - he hadn’t, of course he hadn’t, he would never - but he could also see why someone as suspicious as Jon would assume that he had. To be fair, it wasn’t exactly a huge leap. Certainly not as big as the leaps he’d been making in regards to Gertrude’s murder. So he did his best to give Jon his space.

Jon meanwhile really wanted Martin to say something. Anything, really. Even Martin furiously yelling at him would have been preferable because then he’d at least be able to gauge the situation. But instead he was left in silence, trying and failing to determine what Martin was thinking.

“Welcome, Jon, Martin.” Elias greeted them at the doorway, dragging Jon from his thoughts. “I’m glad you’re okay.” Jon was too tired to even question how he happened to know exactly when they’d be arriving and just assumed he’d been waiting on them.

“I hope you weren’t waiting too long on us… I truly am deeply sorry for my… indiscretions… last night.” Jon forced himself to look at Elias’ face to see what he might be thinking. It was difficult - he wanted to sink through the ground with shame as he seemed to have a vague memory of waking up to find Elias staring at him - but he figured he owed him that. Elias for his part rather enjoyed how absolutely miserable Jon looked, his intense anxiety about the situation tasting quite delicious. He savored it for a few seconds, giving Jon a judgemental glare and watching him shake and stew in his paranoia. Then he turned to Martin. Martin who was… not even looking at him but was instead rather pointedly looking at his shoes, clearly trying to hold back tears and rather failing. Of course. Elias held back a smirk as he addressed the pair.

“I expect you both to behave more professionally in the future but we’re going to start receiving contestants within the hour so for now I need you to get set up.”

Martin and Jon mumbled apologies and hurried into the building, glancing at each other as soon as they were out of Elias’ earshot. “That went better than I expected…” Jon softly said, hesitantly testing the waters.

Martin let out a faint chuckle. “It definitely did - I thought for sure we were going to be fired on the spot.”

Jon felt himself grinning involuntarily. “Or at least reprimanded quite harshly, likely in front of the others.” He paused in thought for a second and felt his grin slip away. “Maybe… maybe he’s planning on doing that later.”

“Oh G, I hope not.” Martin looked nervous.

“If it helps, I’m sure he’ll come down harder on me if so… after all, I’m your boss and I’m supposed to maintain a certain air of… professionality.”

Martin let out a harsh chuckle. “That doesn’t really help - I don’t like it when he talks down to you.”

Jon looked at him with some surprise. “What do you mean?”

Martin responded by blushing furiously and sputtering something or other incoherently, quickly making the last couple steps to the auditorium and holding the door open for Jon. Jon raised an eyebrow slightly but took the proffered open doorway and made his way into the auditorium.

“Jon, Martin. Welcome back.” Tim sounded surprisingly pleased to see them. Jon was confused until Tim patted him on the shoulder with a soft laugh and walked right past him. “Sasha and I have the stage set up for you as well as your judging table - it’s right in front of the front row of chairs and the tablet password is “MagnusInstitute16” no spaces, and the 16 is the number sixteen. It’s the same password for both tablets. We are now going to be compiling your reviews into spreadsheets from the quiet privacy of an office while you both get to deal with the public. Have fun!” Tim chuckled at the both of them and departed, the door closing behind him with an ominous thump.

Martin looked at Jon, somewhat shocked. “So… it’s just us then?”

“I… I guess so.”

“Do you… do you even have any idea of what we’re supposed to be rating? Or rating them on? Or the scale?”

“Um… no. I’m hoping the tablets have some more info…?”

Elias was watching this interaction with great amusement. No, there were no instructions. He was using this as a sort of ‘test’ of Jon’s progression in the Beholding. And however well he did… well, that would determine the difficulty of the next two weeks for these sorry souls. Elias won either way - if Jon did well, he knew his plan was coming along. If Jon didn’t… well, he’d just feed on Jon and Martin’s fear as they hopelessly floundered and that would be quite pleasant.

Jon sat down in one of the chairs, turning with slight shock to Martin as he sat down right next to him. There were at least ten chairs and yet he chose to sit there of all places. He had to admit, this gave him a pleasant fluttering feeling in his chest and he did his best to quiet it. “So…” he trailed off as he tapped the passcode in and found… a page of apps with random names where none of them were exactly self-explanatory. Helpful.

“Um, Jon… I’m really not sure what to make of this…”

Jon was stressed. “I’m not either, Martin. Give me a minute to think.” Eventually he came to the conclusion that the app labeled “Ratings” looked promising so he opened it and saw a simple number wheel going from 0 - 10. When you typed in a number, it asked who to assign it to and opened up a list of names as well as a keyboard option. Okay. He tapped “1” and scrolled to “Test Name.” He noticed another tab opened up and, when clicked on, it showed “Test Name - 1.” This seemed rather simple. But… what were the ratings on exactly? He closed the app and began clicking some more.

“Hmm, I think I found something.”

Jon turned to Martin hopefully. “What?”

“This document titled ‘Categories.’ It lists several categories and different ratings for each.”

“Hmm that sounds promising.” Jon leaned over, looking over Martin’s shoulder and Martin tried not to smile at the feeling of Jon’s soft hair gently brushing against the side of his cheek. He hadn’t cut it in quite a while and it was very nearly shoulder-length at this point and very very fluffy. So feathery soft… Martin felt himself losing his composure and quickly glanced at Jon to make sure he hadn’t noticed. He was still engrossed in trying to figure out the ratings system, his eyes narrowed in thought as he worked through the puzzle. Jon did love himself a puzzle, Martin mused. He hoped that also meant he was good at them. He did not want to deal with an angry Elias.

Chapter Text

When the first contestant entered, Jon was in no way ready but he thought he had at least a general idea of what he and Martin were supposed to be doing. She walked into the room, looking somewhat nervous, and Jon found himself feeling relieved. Good. Nobody too intense to start. Maybe she’d cut them some slack as mediocre judges.

Then she started singing. Jon wanted to die. It was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life and that included the worms burrowing into his flesh. He found himself wishing they’d simply eaten him. Even becoming like Jane Prentiss would have been better than this. What was she, the lead singer from Grifter’s Bone? He didn’t realize he was writhing on the floor and screaming bloody murder until he opened his eyes and saw Martin staring at him with an extremely concerned expression on his face, his hands firmly grasping both of Jon’s shoulders trying to hold him still.

“Jon, do I need to call an ambulance?”

Blessed relief, she had stopped singing when one of the judges had an apparent medical emergency. Jon breathed a few deep breaths to calm himself down. “I’m… I’m okay,” he finally gasped out. His voice sounded ragged and barely came out as a squeak. Martin eyed him dubiously - he reckoned this didn’t exactly look like something a healthy person would do. “I-I’m fine, seriously.” He sat up with effort, realizing as he did so that his head was pounding.

“Jon, your head is bleeding.” Huh. Sure enough it was - he must have hit it on something when he fell. Ah, yes. The metal chair. Well that was unfortunate. Fortunately it was just a scratch. Unfortunately he couldn’t exactly put a bandage on it as it was under his hair. He’d just have to put pressure on it, he supposed. Martin went off to fetch him an ice pack and a towel. He just put his head down on the desk and tried not to cry.

The contestant fortunately was blissfully unaware that she had caused this and was only concerned for Jon’s health. When Martin got back, he helped walk Jon to a quiet nearby room to ice his head and said he could handle the contestants on his own for a bit while Jon got to feeling better. He was a bit concerned to leave Martin alone in the room with her singing but seeing as he had remained seemingly unbothered the first time he reckoned it was probably fine. And he was dreadfully tired.

Meanwhile Martin walked back into the auditorium and smiled weakly at the contestant.

“Sorry about that, would you mind starting again at the beginning?”

She quickly nodded and cleared her throat before beginning to sing again. Martin could have sworn he felt his ears bleeding but he scolded himself for being so judgemental. After all, she was just a random singer, right? Just a very, very bad one.

Drip. Martin felt something drip onto his shoulder and absentmindedly reached up a hand. It came away bloody.

“OH G! OH G!” Martin fled the room, screaming.

Elias chuckled as he watched this. She wasn’t literally Grifter’s Bone, no. Just a singer with a similar skillset who wasn’t quite a full Avatar yet. But it really was quite funny. He decided, however, it was probably time to intervene so he left the office where he’d been Watching from and went to check on Martin and Jon. They were both hiding in the room Martin had left Jon in, staring at each other in horror, and looked up at the same time when Elias walked in, both staring in terrified anticipation. Clearly they had expected the singer. Elias chuckled - he’d already had Peter remove her. All was well.

“Elias… what… what was that?” Jon sounded scared.

“Don’t you know, Jon?” He tried not to emphasize it too much but couldn’t quite help emphasizing it a little.

“I… I… think it might have been… something akin to Grifter’s Bone?”

“You’re quite correct, Jon. Good job.” He spoke this last part like you would congratulate a dog for finally not wetting the floor but instead going outside… yet they woke you up at 2 AM in the middle of a good dream to take them to do so. Needless to say, Jon didn’t feel exactly proud, just… somehow like he had crossed a line he hadn’t meant to.

Martin spoke up. “What exactly is ‘Grifter’s Bone?’”

Jon shakily turned to Martin. “It’s a band that… drives people mad. They kill each other, their ears bleed…” at this he reached a tentative hand to Martin’s ear and gently touched it, holding back a sniffle. Martin reached out with his own hand and gently took Jon’s in his own, upon which Jon broke down and started sobbing. “Oh G, Martin, I am so sorry, I didn’t… I thought you were fine…”

Martin choked back a sob and wrapped Jon in a hug. “It’s okay Jon, it’s okay, everything will be fine-”

Jon continued sobbing, getting progressively more hysterical, “When I said their ears bleed, I meant forever, Martin.”

Martin made a choking sound and turned a horror-stricken face back to Elias. “Why did you send us here?!?”

Elias was perhaps calmer than the situation warranted. “I had no idea that this would happen.” This was a lie but they didn’t have to know that. “However, Martin, I think if you clean off the dried blood you’ll realize your ears have already stopped bleeding. Quite frankly the two of you are being rather over-dramatic.”

Jon and Martin stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds but then Martin got to his feet and began making his way towards the bathroom. “Jon, can you come with me?” Jon was only too happy to get away from Elias and he hurriedly stumbled after Martin.

“I hate that man.” Jon’s voice, though shaky, dripped with venom.

“I hate him too.” Martin held the bathroom door open for Jon and the two made their way inside. Martin craned his neck to try to see his ear in the mirror and Jon grabbed a paper towel and handed it to Martin who wet it and started wiping out the blood. Both stared scrutinizingly at his ear. Martin removed the paper towel and Martin leaned down so Jon could take a better look.

“It seems clean. Huh.” Jon was pleasantly surprised and very relieved.

Martin let out a breath he’d been holding in and gave a shaky sigh. “Thank goodness.” He hugged Jon on impulse then, realizing what he’d done, quickly pulled back and apologized. Jon looked up at him, muddy green eyes shining. Martin tried to recall if they’d always been this color - he could have sworn that they were brown when he first met him but right now in the fluorescent lighting of the bathroom they clearly were some mix between brown and green. He supposed he hadn’t been paying enough attention. Jon dragged him from his thoughts by standing on tip toes and, ever so gently, kissing his cheek. Martin went bright pink and looked at Jon with wide eyes.

“J-Jon, d-did…. Did you mean to do t-that?”

Jon smiled nervously. “Um… yes.”
“... Was it okay?????”

Martin let out a squeak of joy and pulled Jon in for another hug and fiercely kissed the top of his head. Jon let himself melt into Martin’s arms. They were so very soft and warm and he just felt so… peaceful. More peaceful than he’d felt in a long time. Possibly since when he was marked with the Web.

Martin was surprised to hear the soft snoring from his arms and looked down to find Jon had actually fallen asleep, standing there in his arms. He looked so relaxed, eyes closed and breathing evenly, leaning up against Martin’s chest. Upon adjusting slightly, he realized Jon wasn’t actually standing but simply leaning. If he let go… he’d definitely hit the floor. He stood like that for a minute, looking at the two of them reflected in the mirror and wondering how things had ended up this way. Then he heard the door open and turned to see Tim.

“Hi, I heard something went wrong with the first contestant?” Jon stirred and blearily turned to face Tim.

“Oh, hi Tim. Yes… something went very wrong.” He stumbled a bit and Martin caught him, resulting in a squeak from Jon before he once again melted into Martin’s arms.

Tim let out a soft chuckle. “Though somehow I don’t think that’s the most interesting story going on in the archives these days.”

“Hm mmm” Jon’s voice was muffled from his face being buried in Martin’s sweater and Martin started to worry Jon might have a concussion. This just wasn’t like him.

“Jon?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Mmm hmm.”

Martin gently pushed him away from him, holding him by the shoulders and looking into his eyes. Martin couldn’t tell. Jon just looked at him somewhat dazed. “I’m taking Jon to get checked out, could you tell Elias for us?”

“Um sure. But Elias told me to let you know that we’re done for the day - we’re all just going back to the air B and B after today’s little ‘incident’ while he goes through the list of contestants to make sure they’re actually fully human.”

“Sounds good to me. We’ll hopefully be back soon.” Martin grabbed Jon’s hand and was somewhat concerned as he stumbled slightly as he led him out of the bathroom.

…

For the second time that day, Jon was in the hospital. But this time in the waiting room. And he didn’t like being here. “Martin, I’m fine!” he insisted but the fact that he couldn’t really walk straight and looked like he might fall over any moment wasn’t convincing Martin of this fact and he kept gently pulling him back into his chair when he tried to get up. It also didn’t help that his complaints were getting steadily more and more slurred. Eventually Jon resorted to sleepy grumbling and rested his head on Martin’s shoulder, closing his eyes. Martin recalled that you weren’t supposed to let concussed people sleep until they’d been looked at if they were showing symptoms such as Jon seemed to be showing currently so he gently shook him back awake.

“Whyyyyy?” Jon let out a petulant whine.

Martin couldn’t help but chuckle. “Just until we wait to make sure you’re not seriously hurt, okay?”

“Martin I’m sure I’m fine - well, no, that… maybe that isn’t right…?”

“Hmm?”

“I… I don’t know…?” He trailed off, staring vaguely at something in the distance. Martin didn’t see anything. This was somewhat concerning.

Fortunately they didn’t have to keep waiting long however as before he could ask what he meant, the door opened and the doctor called Jon back. Martin went with him.

…

On the way back, Jon started crying and clutching at his head and sank to the floor. Martin sat with him while the doctor went to fetch him a wheelchair and Jon kept crying. When the doctor returned, he helped Jon into the chair and tried to comfort him. It was a relief when they finally got to the room and Jon was able to get into a bed, whereupon he immediately started to fall asleep again. Martin watched him with concern but he reasoned he was likely safe here and settled into the chair in the room to wait.

…

Fortunately it was a small bleed that they caught early and managed with medication but Martin made sure to make a mental note of this for later - Jonathan Sims was rather abysmal at taking care of himself. Here was yet another instance where he would have avoided care and could have died if not for Martin. Martin decided he ought to have a talk with him about that when he was feeling better. He had a feeling that if he didn’t his reckless behavior would only continue.

Unfortunately they didn’t get back to the air B and B until five am the next morning. When the cab Martin had called finally got them back Jon was relieved to collapse into bed and Martin snuggled up next to him, much to Jon’s pleased surprise. By the time Elias went to wake them up a few hours later, the two were quite peacefully snoring, Jon snuggled up in Martin’s arms. Elias raised an eyebrow - this wasn’t supposed to happen. Oh well - he could use this.