Work Text:
Gerry wasn’t working at the institute, which worked perfectly fine for him, he already felt too closely aligned to the entities anyway, but he was working close enough with Gertrude that he dropped by fairly often.
Often enough, in fact, to know some of the employees. Rosie obviously, a few of the researchers, Elias the prick himself and of course, Gertrude’s assistants.
He didn’t have much to do with Emma, surprisingly since she seemed to be the closest to Gertrude, but she was pleasant enough when they saw each other, always greeting him with a smile and a few friendly words before vanishing in some dark corners.
Sarah was often with her, but when she wasn’t then, she usually stopped for a bit of chat. During those times Gerry had gotten a good look at the many marks that had been left on her. None had really stuck, and he hoped that it would stay that way, but he wasn’t delusional.
And then there was Michael, sweet, anxious Michael, with soft sweaters and his too-large cardigans. Michael was easily the assistant Gerry spent the most time with, simply because Michael was the only one to actively search him out when he was there.
The first time they had met, Gerry was pretty sure that he had nearly given Michael a heart attack with how the other man had jumped and dropped all of his files. Gerry had quickly apologised back then and had helped to gather stray papers back together. And after the initial nervousness of Michael had faded he seemed quite happy to see Gerry around, always greeting him with a bright smile.
And Gerry liked him. He really did.
He liked how Michael talked with his entire body when he was excited about something and the quiet intelligence hidden in his eyes that usually got overshadowed by anxiety and an urge to believe in the good that bordered on naivety.
But he wasn’t, and it didn’t take long until Gerry realised that while Michael might not understand everything that was going on that he also was far from oblivious as anybody else seemed to think.
“Why are you pretending?” Gerry had asked once, and Michael had given him a startled look before he had offered him a weak smile and a shrug.
“Ah, uhm I…. They don’t seem like they want me to know.” he had shrugged again. “so just letting them believe that I don’t understand anything is easier.”
“Aren’t you worried?” Gerry had wondered, and Michael had only snorted.
“I’m always worried.” he had admitted and then Michael told Gerry the story how he had finished his A-Levels two years sooner than typical because he got caught up in a lie and pushing is academic carrier had been easier than dealing with his anxiety and how he had then ended up with two degrees a nineteen.
Which only reinforced Gerry belief that Michael was, in fact, smarter than everybody thought and got severely underestimated, but if Michael didn’t want anyone to know, then Gerry wasn’t the one who would tattle.
So Gerry knew that there was more to Michael than one would assume. Hell, he had seen Michael taking down members of the People’s Church with a knife and then play the unassuming victim not half an hour later in the archives. Sometimes Gerry wondered if the mark of the Spiral that had been left on Michael was somehow responsible for Michael excelling at lying or if it was simply how he was. The fact was that Gerry was more than aware that Michael hidden depths that didn’t seem evident on the first glance. He knew that, but he still hadn’t expected this.
Gerry stared at Michael’s forearms, where colourful ink swirled beneath his skin while simultaneously wracking his brain to try and remember if he had seen Michael’s forearms before. Gerry was sure he had, but he couldn’t come up with one instance, and he would’ve certainly remembered those tattoos.
“Gerry?”
Gerry’s face snapped up to look at Michael, who looked at him questioningly.
“You have tattoos.” Gerry said numbly.
“I, oh yeah I do. So do you?” Michael seemed surprised, and a bit confused and Gerry snorted.
Michael did have a point there.
“Since when?” Gerry asked.
“Oh, uhm I got them while I was in college, not long after I turned eighteen actually.” Michael said, rubbing absentmindedly over his arms.
“Can I see?”
“Uh yeah, sure.” Michael said, holding his arms out.
“ Can I?” Gerry asked again, his fingers hovering over Michael’s skin. He waited for Michael to nod before he wrapped one hand around Michael’S wrist while the other traced over inked skin. It didn’t feel any different than any other patch of skin, of course, it didn’t, they weren’t fresh tattoos, but Gerry ran his fingers over the ink anyway. Trailing over colourful splotches that looked like someone had spilt paint over Michael’s arms that turned into lines, which turned into fractal patterns only to dissolve into watercolours stains once more.
They were pretty and very fitting with their bright colours and swirls, complimenting Michael’s personality. Gerry’s fingers stopped at Michael’s sleeve, and he pushed slightly, frowning slightly when he realised that he wouldn’t be able to push them back much further.
“How far up do they go?” he asked, giving up on baring any more skin, instead turning his attention to Michael’s other arm.
“The entire arm and then a bit over my shoulders,” Michael answered. “Can I...Can I look at yours too?”
Gerry looked up from Michael’s forearm to fixate Michael’s face instead. Michael’s cheeks were flushed pink, and Gerry had to smile.
“Sure.” he agreed. “All of them? Because that probably wouldn’t be work-appropriate.” he added with a wink that made Michael’s flush deepen.
“How...How many are there?” Michael wanted to know.
“A lot.” Gerry chuckled. “One on each of my joints, knees, hips, my entire spine….” he trailed off.
“That is a lot.” Michael agreed softly, taking the hand Gerry held out for him, gently turning it left and right before running a slender finger over the small eyes. First the ones on his fingers, then the one on his wrist. Michael stepped around him, brushing his long hair away to take a look at the few eyes that were visible above his collar.
Gerry suppressed a shiver when Michael’s fingers trailed down his neck, tugging a bit on his collar to reveal a few more eyes. Gerry felt Michael’s gaze on him, and it made him want to fidget, but he forced himself to hold still. Instead, he closed his eyes and slowly let out a breath as Michael’s fingers danced over his neck.
“Is it really your entire spine?” Michael asked, and Gerry hummed in confirmation. “Did it hurt? Nevermind of course it hurt.” Michael mumbled.
“Wasn’t that bad.” Gerry chuckled. “my hands were worse honestly.”
“I can imagine.” Michael said, stepping a bit to the side so he could brush Gerry hair behind his ear instead. Gerry opened his eyes slightly to glace at Michael out of the corner of his eye.
The flush was still on Michael’s cheeks, and he looked highly concentrated, gnawing on his lower lip as if the ink would be able to tell him the secrets of the universe.
Michael’s face was so close that Gerry could swear that he could count every single freckle splattered across Michael's skin.
Michael stepped back in front of Gerry, pushing lightly against his jaw to make him tilt his head. Gerry slowly placed his hands on Michael’s hips, loose enough that Michael could step away if he wanted too, but he didn’t.
Instead, Michael stepped closer, guiding Gerry’s chin until he tilted his head back, blinking up at Michael out of half-lidded eyes.
"Gerry?"
"Hmm?" Gerry made, raising an eyebrow.
"Can I kiss you?"
"I had hoped you'd ask that." Gerry hummed and leant up. "Please do. " He stopped shortly before Michael's lips, leaving it to the other to close the gap.
Gerry didn't have to wait long, Michael's fingers slipped into his hair and his lips pressed against Gerry's, soft and searching and absolutely perfect.
Gerry tightened his grip on Michael's hips, tugging him closer as he traced his tongue along the seam of Michael's lips.
Michael sighed softly, and Gerry used the resulting opening to deepen the kiss.
When Gerry pulled back, it was only to pepper butterfly light kisses along Michael's jaw and down his neck, nipping playfully on the soft skin.
"Maybe we shouldn't do this in the Archives." Michael mumbled, making Gerry snicker because Michael seemed far from willing to stop this anytime soon with how he leant into each touch.
"I think it's exactly what we should do in the Archives." Gerry disagreed.
"What if Miss Robinson finds us?"
Gerry scrunched up his nose.
"Gertrude wouldn't be that bad, but imagine if Elias found us."
Michael broke out into giggles. "Oh no." he whispered, and Gerry chuckled.
He leant his head against Michael's shoulder. "Okay, okay, no more snogging in the Archives."
Michael sighed, frowning a bit before he muttered something under his breath.
"What was that?" Gerry asked.
"Oh, uhm." Michael flushed. "I just said that if I had known that showing you my tattoos would allow me to kiss you, I would've done it way sooner." he admitted glancing at the floor.
Gerry grinned. "Oh, you know I still want to see the rest of them." he said with a wink, simply to watch Michael turn even redder.
"Oh, I uhm." Michael stammered, and Gerry pressed a finger to his lips to make him stop.
"Listen, I would really like to see your tattoos, and if you want too then you can see the rest of mine in return, but how about a date first? We could get some coffee if you want?" he suggested.
Michael nodded slowly, and Gerry pulled his hand back.
"Coffee, yes. I can do that. I mean coffee date sounds good."
"Perfect," Gerry said. "Today? I could pick you up after work."
Technically Gerry had only wanted to drop by and pick something up before he got derailed, but he totally didn't mind to drop by again later to pick up Michael.
"That, yes, that sounds good. I'm off at four."
"I know," Gerry said and leant up to steal a last kiss. "I'll see you then, until then you should probably at least pretend to do some filing instead of smooching goths between the bookshelves."
"Gerry!"
Gerry laughed and waved at Michael before leaving with a "maybe remove the lipstick smudges before someone sees them!" which earned him another scandalised "Gerry!!"