Chapter Text
Martin is riding down the tube after a long day at work when it first happens. After a long day in the archives Martin is simply put, very tired. Between running around to try to prove to Jon that he’s not an incompetent useless idiot and Tim’s unhelpful mocking, today has been a handful and a half.It’s late, far later than when Martin would usually be heading home. Martin can’t help but think that it must really be later than he thought when he notices that nobody else is on the same wagon as him. Something that has probably never happened to Martin before. Usually they’re overcrowded but that’s mainly because Martin always takes them during rush hour.
Martin likes to have a fixed schedule, arrive to work at a specific time, leave work at a specific time and take the Tube at a specific time. This unfortunately means that his routine of being stuck in the busiest time of day has now been cemented forever. The only times he deviates from his routine is when he goes out with Tim and Sasha (and sometimes Jon when he feels like it).
Martin sits back and decides he’s had enough of the monotone whirring and rumbling and takes out his phone and headphones to listen to some music. He decides to listen to the best hits of the seventies to nineties because why not.
He’s five songs in and one station away from home when the wagon abruptly stops moving.
Martin takes out one of earbuds to hear what’s happening. Just as he does so a voice crackles over speakers he’s unable to spot. He can online assume it’s the conductor speaking because who else would it be.
“Passengers, we are currently experiencing some... mechanical problems. This could take a while so sit back while we try to deal with the situation.”
As soon as the message ends Martin falls back into his seat with a sigh and his hand tiredly covering his eyes. Of course this would only happen to him, probably the only passenger on board right now.
Martin really hopes that this won’t take too long because if it does it will be way too late to get any good sleep and he’ll have to call in sick tomorrow. He doesn’t like to lie at his job most of the time but there is a limit to how much he is willing to go through for the institute. Being sleep deprived is one of the those things he isn’t going to put up with just to get money. He’s not a workaholic like Jon, he can handle not coming every once in a while.
Looking out the metro window all Martin sees is darkness. It almost looks as if the carriage he’s in is buried but that’s just his imagination. The thought creeps Martin out a bit but it leaves his mind as soon as the next song comes on.
The first few notes of Gimme!Gimme!Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and suddenly Martin doesn’t care about getting home late. To say Martin loves ABBA would be an understatement.
Seeing as nobody else is around and Martin is stuck underground he decides to get up and start dancing. He can only hope there are no cameras in the metro car he’s in otherwise he’d probably die of embarrassment.
At some point he starts dancing AND singing not really caring about anything. He sometimes feels like he’s hitting the walls in front and behind of himself but he does not care in the slightest about that because the song he’s currently listening to is just that good. He keeps his eyes closed the entire time to try to not be self-conscious.
By the end of the song he’s a bit flushed and his voice is a bit hoarse but he’s happy. He doesn’t exercise nearly enough so it’s no surprise that he’s a bit out of breath.
Suddenly the carriage lurches forwards and Martin finally opens his eyes in time to catch a pole near where he was standing moments ago to stop himself from falling on the ground.
As Martin straightens himself and brushes off imaginary dust on his shirt he notices that for some reason there is a significant amount of dirt on the ground that was definitely not there before he started dancing. He tilts his head to read it and is immediately embarrassed and only a little bit creeped out.
It reads ‘Nice moves’.
Martin looks around to try to see if anybody could have possibly, somehow, poured out dirt on the ground and written something from it, to no avail. He is entirely alone in the wagon.
The metro comes to a stop and Martin suddenly remembers that his station was next and he needs to get out. He also notices that there is someone coming onto the metro watching at him with a strange look. Then again he probably looks weird all flushed out standing up in front of a pile of dirt. He’s actually feeling more and more embarrassed as time seems to slow down just so he can feel more embarrassment for a longer period of time.
Finally, he snaps out of his reverie and steps on the pile of dirt to get out. As he’s walking out of the station he can’t help but to think that he has no idea what he’s gonna tell the others when he heads back to the archives tomorrow.