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Everything was perfect. It had to be. Martin stepped back from the little table and felt himself light up. He could hear the doors leading into the Archives opening - Sasha’s laughter flitting and filling Martin’s heart with a touch of anxiety. But this was perfect.
“Martin we missed you-” Tim’s voice and then his whole body was on him, hugging him and Martin couldn’t help but laugh too. The arms fell away and Martin turned to see the rest of the Archive team in states of removing outerwear and preparing to go back to work.
“Sorry you had to miss lunch with us, it bummed Jon out.” Sasha’s grin goes wide when the man mentioned huffs. Jon’s fidgeting with the scarf around his neck as Tim adjusts his hair in a small mirror beside the threshold.
“I was not bummed out, Sasha. It isn’t often we can enjoy ourselves in group settings. Really it would have been nice to have Martin with us to...”
Jon continues talking but as Martin moves away from the table and the archivist falls silent. He’s not the only one as both Sasha and Tim’s chatting has drifted into quiet as they finally see the set-up Martin has made.
“Happy Valentines day, everyone.”
The table in question was the communal table made for files that needed to be resorted, things left up for grabs from other departments in the hopes the Archive Team would either dispose of it or find some sick use for it.
But the table was clean, cleared of useless lost umbrellas and weird objects of power. A cloth was spread over it and a top was a basket of flowers. Some cookies, and small cakes were laid out and three envelopes crowd one corner. Martin can feel their eyes on him and a blush begins to drown out the freckles across his nose.
“I know you all just went out to lunch but I wanted to give all of you a nice little treat to celebrate the holiday….” He doesn’t dare look up, finding Sasha’s Converse much more entertaining. They’re tye-dye.
Sasha is the one who moves first, wrapping her arms around Martin and her giggle shakes him.
“This is the sweetest thing, Martin!”
Then Tim is there hugging him from the other side.
“You did all this for us?”
Martin, surrounded by his friends laughs a little, wrapping his arms around the both of them and looks to see Jon gingerly picking up the envelopes.
“Those are all ah, cards I made for you, too.” There’s that blush again, when Jon takes his card and tucks it into the book he’d been carrying with him. He takes a few cookies and one of the small cakes while the other two assistants dote on him.
Jon breaks them up with a reminder that they do have work to be doing and after the snacks have been divvied up, work returns to normal. There’s research that needs to be done, statements to be recorded.
Tim is the first to call it a night, proclaiming that he has a date and both Sasha and Martin roll their eyes. They wave as Tim pops by Jon’s office before heading up the stairs and it’s quiet again. Not for long though, as Sasha too begins to look restless.
“Some friends wanted to have a girls night, are you,” she’s tucking her phone into her back pocket and shrugging her coat on at the door. Martin knows the drill, waving her off.
“I’ll be fine, I’ve got some work left and then I’m planning on going home.”
Sasha gives him a sympathetic look and Martin ignores how her eyes flick toward the closed door of Jon’s office. He doesn’t need that pity, not tonight.
They hug as she leaves, Sasha kissing his cheek.
“Text me if you want, we’re probably just going to watch some movies and talk about dumb things.” She smiles and Martin mirrors the gesture and waits till she’s gone and heading up the stairs before his shoulders slump.
At least alone, Martin can play music while he works, something low that he can hum to while reading through the old tomes Tim and Jon had pointed out in their morning meeting. He’s mid reading, mouthing the words to the current song and far too distracted that he nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears knocking on the desk next to him.
Jon looks just as startled when Martin turns around, holding a small envelope and two of the flowers from the basket at the table. It looks like Jon was about to say something but his mouth is agape, useless. It’s after a few moments of trying to work out the words Jon moves forward.
He’ll place the envelope into Martin’s hand, and he moves forward to tuck one of the flowers behind his ear. There’s a deep flush across Martin’s cheeks when Jon’s hand lingers. Looking up, their eyes meeting, it seems Jon’s stumbling over something to say.
“I-- I wanted to, give these to you.”
Martin can’t help the chuckle, bubbling laughter that arrested the butterflies in his stomach. Jon looked affronted until the other man took one of the hands beginning to pull away. He makes sure the archivist is looking when he brings one of Jon’s palms up to his mouth and lets his mouth rest on his skin, the center of Jon’s hand. Words are mumbled into the calloused, parchment and ink stained skin, tender.
“I didn’t peg you as romantic, Mr. Sims.”
Watching the way that blush bloomed to Jon’s ears and down his neck would endlessly please Martin. Jon looks away then, not moving his captured hand but the free hand twitches, settling to rest on several freckles across Martin’s cheek. He’s trying to speak in that flustered way, mouth moving but nothing coming and it’s so endearing.
They’re like this for a good moment before Martin finally leans away from the hand he’d been kissing only for Jon to tense his fingers along his jaw. He pauses, searching as Jon closes the distance between them.
A chaste first kiss that Martin all but falls into once he realizes what’s happening. It doesn’t last long, light and searing that sets Martin’s heart to beat faster than a hummingbird. He sits back in his chair as Jon pulls away now, keeping one of the flowers to tuck behind his own ear.
“I wanted to also let you know that I was heading out for the night and,” Jon looks toward the door for a moment, back to Martin.
“If you’d like to join me for dinner, perhaps.”