Chapter Text
Don’t date your coworkers. Gerry has seen enough shitty daytime work dramas to know that that is the first rule of surviving any job. On the other hand, those dramas are abysmally heterosexual, and grasping at any straw shocking enough to get a renewal of contract for the umpteenth season. Also, none of them feature anyone quite so enchanting as tall, blonde, and anxious who is the first person to greet him as he walks into the office for the first time.
Gertrude says he’s also a transfer. Gerry doesn’t actually know where he transferred from, or if 'transferred' is just the word Gertrude uses to describe the stray assistants she picks up on her investigations. What he does know is that the man with curly blonde hair and the too long scarf is enough to make him wish he’d majored in library science if it meant the chance to see him every day. Luckily, it looked like he wouldn’t need to.
Michael, he says his name is. Michael Shelley. Gerry introduces himself in turn. He sees Gertrudes’ eyebrows dart up when he says his name is Gerry- she only knows him as Gerard- but they settle back almost instantly into her perpetual poker face. It isn’t any of her business, really, but if she disapproves of the comparatively chummy attitude, she doesn’t say so. Michael offers to show him around the building. Gerry doesn’t hesitate to accept.
It’s smaller than it looks from the outside. Though that may be because they stick mainly to the archival portion, rather than touring the whole building. The library is mostly used for research by the upstairs assistants, and you can’t even go into artifact storage without a bevy of signed forms due to “frequent accidents.” Gerry doesn’t bother to ask what he means by that. He has a pretty good idea what sort of ‘accidents’ have happened in a place like this.
Eventually they end up in the small break room, where Michael had left the kettle going on a cheap hot plate. “Tea?” he asks, “Or coffee, I don’t know your preferences. We’ve only got instant though, and it’s terrible so be warned.”
“Coffee’d be fine.”
Michael passes him the tin of grounds, and plucks a tea bag out of a cupboard for himself. In no time, they are leaning against the counter next to each other. Michael inhales the steam coming off of his cup as he waits for his tea to steep. Gerry tentatively sips his drink, and makes a face. Michael hadn’t been exaggerating.
“So this is the whole place then?”
“Basically, yeah,” Michael says. “We’ll pass Elias’s office on the way back, and then you’ll know it as well as the rest of us.” He pauses for a moment before adding, “He runs the place.”
“He any good?”
“Honestly? He’s a dick. He usually stays holed up in there, though, so it’s not too bad.” He sips his tea.
“And Gertrude? Can we trust her?”
Michael doesn’t seem taken aback by the question at all. “Probably not,” he admits, plucking the tea bag from his steaming mug and tossing it in the trash. “I’ve heard she has a history of misplacing assistants. Nothing but rumors though, and she’s fighting the good fight. I think. It gets hard to tell after a while.”
“And what about you?”
Michael laughs, and the sound is golden. “I certainly hope you can trust me. It’s been just me and Gertrude for a while and I was looking forward to the company.”
Gerry can feel his face growing hot.
“No I meant… I meant what brought you here? To the Institute.”
Michael sips his tea again. “Same as anyone, I guess. I know what’s out there, and I can’t just let myself sit by and watch it happen, you know?”
“Yeah,” Gerry says, “Me too.”