Chapter Text
Thunder shook the sky as Jonathan Sims curses. He had somehow slept through his alarm, though he had stayed up all night researching for a statement that had given Sasha and Tim a little bit of trouble. Of course he couldn’t ask Martin to do it, he said he was busy in the afternoons. Whatever that meant. After throwing on what he thought was clean clothes and snatching his keys and wallet he bolted towards the bus stop. He didn’t even stop to tie his tye.
He knew it was gonna be a long day when he woke up, but what really solidified it was the fact he dropped his bus pass twice in an effort to board. The bus driver was nice enough about it, giving him a small sympathetic smile before allowing him to go to his seat. It was when he was 5 minutes into the bus ride that Jon realized he had forgotten his phone at home. Great.
As he got off at his stop, a good few blocks from the institute, the bottom fell out of the sky. Rain poured in buckets as the archivist allowed another string of curses pass his lips. He couldn’t stay under the bus stop awning all day. Taking his jacket off and covering himself as best he could, he jogged the rest of the way to the institute. His socks and the bottoms of his pant legs got soaked as he stomped through a particularly deep puddle that had formed right in from of the institute.
He wanted to scream. If it weren’t for the fact that Rosie was standing outside taking a smoking break he might have actually done it. She looked him up and down with a face of pity.
“Your an hour late,” she took a long drag “ Elias hasn’t noticed yet, so you might be alright if you hurry on in.”
Jon just nodded stiffly and walked in the double doors. Shoes squeaking cartoonishly as he made his way down the hallways towards the archives. Thanking whatever force allowed him to make it to his office before he ran into any of his assistants.
Hanging his coat on his chair he decided he needed to dry off as much as possible before getting started. He was already late so what’s a few more minutes to at least get presentable. Standing he hit his foot on the corner of the desk, cursing loudly as it clipped it perfectly.
Cautious footsteps approached his door as Sasha peeked her head in.
“Hey I heard you shouting are you—oh goodness Jon are you alright?” Her hair was as in neat bun and her brow crinkled in concern.
“ You look like—“ she was cut off by Tim who popped up behind her. A shit eating grin creeping onto his face.
“Damn boss you look like shit, you fall out of bed this morning?”
Sasha slapped him on the arm as he laughed, completely missing the seething stare Jon sent towards him.
“I’ll have you know I’m perfectly fine, the rain just came as a surprise. Now then,” Jon pushed passed them and headed towards the break room “I’m going to try and dry off before someone else decides to comment on my appearance. “
After using some paper towels Jon finally deemed himself presentable enough to start working. Walking back to his office he noticed he hadn’t seen Martin yet. Usually he was already here, bumbling about and doing god knows what. Lost in thought Jon didn’t realize someone was barreling towards him until impact. It sent him sprawling while the other person somehow kept upright. A long string of frantic apologies flowed through the air as Jon tried to recover. He hit his head when he landed on the white tile floor and now had a pulsing headache. As the stars faded from his vision he felt hands on his upper arms and the ground left him for a split second before he found himself standing upright. As a reflex he grabbed onto the arms of whoever just hoisted him up like a sack of potatoes.
“Jon, oh my god I’m so sorry—I should have been paying attention to where I was going,” an intake of breath “are you hurt? I heard your head hit the ground but your not bleeding so I don’t know if that’s a good thing—“
The voice rattled on for a good minute before Jon finally became aware enough to see that it was Martin that ran into him. He also noticed Martins hair and clothes were soaking wet from the rain that still fell in sheets outside. Jon could have laughed at the one piece of hair that stuck up while the rest clung to his scalp. He almost looked cute—
Jon quickly pushed him away, remembering his boundaries and the fact his sleeves were wet again from Martin’s hands. Which were surprisingly warm (though he would never admit it).
Giving Martin a scowl he huffed as he dusted himself off,
“I’m fine. Just stop running in the building.”
Martin just nodded, rubbing his hands together embarrassed. Walking away Jon added,
“try to come in on time. It looks bad when you’re late.”
Back in his dimly lit office Jon finally sat down, pulling out his laptop. He made it through about two statements before his computer to start getting all staticy and unresponsive. Groaning he dragged out the old tape recorder and a new tape from his desk drawer. Popping in the new tape he pressed the record button. Picking up the third statement. Before he could even start speaking however, there was a quiet knock at the door.
“Come in” he drawled, anger already starting to bubble up.
Martin popped his head in, smiling sheepishly as he walked in with a steaming mug.
“I-uh..I brought you some tea? I just thought that—well since I did knock you over this morning I’d make it up to you——“
And that’s when it happened. Martin wasn’t paying attention as he crossed the room and his feet got tangled and he tripped. Falling forward, he caught himself before he face planted. The mug went flying, just barely missed Jon. Instead it’s contents splashed all over his desk. Covering the pile of statements and the tape recorder, which continued to record surprisingly. A beat of silence before Jon finally snapped. Martin was standing up straight to apologize profusely but he couldn't even get a word out. All the rage that had been building up since this morning came flooding out as Jon stood abruptly and slammed his hands on his desk. The words flowed out a little too easily,
“DAMN IT ALL MARTIN YOU USELESS IDIOT!”
Jon continued to shout at him but Martin froze. Those words caused him to quickly mumble an excuse before booting for the door with his head hung low. Jon just barely caught the way Martin’s shoulders shook as he fled. He definitely wouldn’t have caught how Martin’s eyes started watering as he headed towards the stairs. Unlike Tim who bumped into him, but Martin just mumbled an apology before continuing towards the entrance of the institute. Tim had heard Jon shouting and now it was his turn. Storming into his office he found Jon with his face in his hands mumbling something he couldn’t quite hear. When Tim entered, jon jumped at the sudden entrance.
“Tim what the hell—“
“His mom is in the hospital.”
Jon froze, “What?”
Tim sneered and said it again with more venom. “Martin’s mom is in the hospital. It was why he was late. It was why he was in a hurry in the hallway, so he could be at your beck and call.”
Jon felt like he had just being hit by a train. His throat felt dry and a pit began to grow in his stomach.
“He...he’s never mentioned—“ he croaked before Tim laughed loudly,
“Oh yeah! Like you’ve ever asked him anything about himself. Hell, you don’t even ask anyone how their day has been much less have any concern for the ones around you.”
Jon went silent. Tim was right, but it wasn’t like he was going to admit it outloud. It was petty, and he felt horribly guilty about what he’d done.
Tim scoffed at his silence and said something about Jon going to apologize before Martin decided to finally quit. Jon just nodded and headed towards the stairs.
It had stopped raining a few minutes ago, but it’s not like Martin noticed. He had scolded himself after he hid behind the institute. Not understanding why he’d go there of all places. After a few minutes of trying not to cry he finally gathered himself. Resolving to go back inside to fix his mess and to just stay away from Jon for the rest of the day. When he turned to go however he saw someone standing in the shadows of the buildings around him. It was a woman, though he couldn’t make out more than that. Martin cleared his throat and called out to her,
“Hello? Miss? Do you need help or something—“
He stopped in his tracks when she stepped out of the shadows. She was covered in dots-no holes. As she walked towards him slowly he saw small silver things crawl out of her skin and fall to the ground. When they started wriggling towards Martin, he bolted for it. He didn’t know where he’d go but he’s heard enough statements to know he wasn’t going to let himself get killed easily. As he ran in the alleyways he found that a thick fog had started to settle in on the ground. Though...it didn’t feel like normal fog. Nonetheless, he continued to run, even as buildings and street signs started to disappear.
As Jon finally came to the front desk where Rosie just sighed and shook her head. Placing the phone away from her face and covering the microphone she hummed,
“Martin went out towards the back. He looked really upset. You better fix it, I like that boy.” And with that, she put the phone back to her ear. Walking out the doors he headed towards the back of the building. When he got there, he saw a man dressed like a sailor smoking a pipe. The smoke curled around him oddly, as if it were trying to make him disappear. When he saw Jon he grinned widely,
“You must be Jon! Elias has told me a lot about you.”
Jon frowned, “Who are you? And where’s Martin?”
It was more of a demand than a question. The man just threw his head back and laughed.
“Oh, the man who was just here a minute ago? He ran off into that fog over there, but mind you he’s never coming back.”
An unpleasant shiver went down Jon’s spine when he said that. He was getting annoyed at how cryptic he was being and decided he’d had enough.
“What do you mean never coming back?”
Tapping his pipe on the wall he was leaning on the man smiled even wider.
“I mean you got your wish, you know the thing you said when Martin bolted from your office like a scalded cat? What was it again? Oh yes,” the man leaned closer to Jon and said in a sing song voice
“I wish that damn idiot would just disappear already~”