Chapter Text
Jon finishes the statement and rolls his eyes. Stupid. A ghost spider? Really?
Still, certain aspects had hit rather... close to home, and he finds that his heart is racing and his palms shake as he goes to turn off the recorder. A break is in order after that one, only a short break, but he needs a moment.
His bag rustles as he rummages around until his hands brush soft artificial fur. He takes Frog from the bag to lay on his chest, and pets her. Yes, it’s silly for a stuffed frog to be furry, because they’re amphibians, but she’s terribly soft and that makes up for the herpetological inaccuracy. A soft creak sounds from the other side of the room and a gentle voice sounds.
"Oh, who have you got there?"
He freezes. He had locked the door to his office, hadn't he, but earlier he got up to get a file and he must've left it open a crack, and now…
Martin hovers in the doorway, smiling softly and looking right at his hands, still holding Frog. The mortification hits him all at once.
"Just, ah, a stuffed frog," he says.
"It’s adorable. Does it have a name?"
"Sorry, did you need something or did you come in here to bother me about my stuffed animal?" He snaps, cheeks warm with embarrassment. Martin's cheeks are flushed too, but that’s not unusual. He's easily flustered, and must get hot in those jumpers he dons every day. Wonderful, he said my stuffed animal, now there can be no question that it’s his, that he’s a grown man who brings a stuffed frog to work. Whatever respect his assistants might have had for him is going to evaporate the moment Martin tells them this.
"I brought tea."
"Ah." Of course he brought tea, he brings tea every day, get it together Jon. “Thank you.”
"I'll leave you to it."
"Wait. Martin," he says frantically. "Don’t tell Tim or Sasha about her."
"’Her?’"
"The stuffed frog." They would laugh at him. Sasha and Tim can be mean when they want to be, and sometimes Jon's feelings are hurt even when they aren’t trying to be cruel.
"Of course I won’t, Jon," he sighs. “But you know, it's nothing to be embarrassed about, plenty of people have stuffed animals."
“Thanks.” He feels a bit foolish for being so defensive, now. Leave it to Martin to be ridiculously kind when he’s done nothing to deserve it.
Martin nods and goes to leave.
“And... Martin,” he calls. "Her name is Frog. Because she’s a frog. Not the cleverest name, but...”
“No, it really suits her!” Martin squeaks.
“You think so?” he says softly, more vulnerable than he intended. He clears his throat.
Martin nods, purses his lips with an odd squeaking noise, and walks backwards into the door. He then turns and fumbles for the doorknob, apologizing as he slams the door behind him.
“Right.” He sits heavily in his chair and glances at Frog. “Back to work.”
-
Martin makes it all the way to his desk before he has to sit down from all the emotions he’s having. He can only take so much. Jon goes around doing cute things regularly, like struggling to reach high cabinets and tucking his hair back behind his ear only for it to fall forward again immediately, or scrunching his face in concentration when he’s reading. But this takes the cake. He’s got a stuffed animal! And he named it! His heart could explode, thinking about Jon cuddling his frog, which leads into thinking about cuddling Jon, and-
“What’s got you smiling like that? Did Jon tell you your work ‘isn’t as bad as expected’ again?”
He looks up and there is Tim. He must not have noticed his entrance, too caught up in his thoughts.
“Tim! He could hear you,” he hisses, glancing at Jon's closed office door. “And it’s not about Jon at all.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” he snorts. “C’mon, tell your pal Tim the gossip.”
“Fine, you win, it’s Jon. He was being friendly today.”
“A good mood? From Jon? We should invite him to come out with us tonight, then.”
Martin chuckles. “You know how that went last time.”
“I hate to say it, because he really was an ass about it, but… I kind of get why he was so cranky last time? He had a pile of work this high,” Tim motions with his hands, indicating the size of the stack, “because Elias is the devil incarnate. I don’t think he even went home that night. The man needs a bit of work-life balance. If he hangs out with us just once, he’ll realize how much fun it is to not be at work!”
”He sees us every day, if he wanted to hang out he would have already.” Martin is well aware that Jon wouldn’t want to hang out with him after work. It’s a miracle that people as cool as Tim and Sasha want to, really.
”No, sober, day job Jon sees us every day. Sasha went to some work party thing with him when he first started here, and he got wasted and hugged everyone and I want that for us, Marto!” Tim stops wildly gesticulating, and sighs. The three of them have talked about this before, and Martin knows what Tims thinking. He and Jon used to be closer, back in research, and Jon’s gotten colder, more stressed out, ever since the promotion.
Martin can’t argue with that. “Suppose it can’t hurt to ask.”