Work Text:
Living in a fairly small London flat with only two bedrooms and four flatmates probably wasn’t the best idea in hindsight. It’s just that after the whole Prentiss incident, none of them wanted to let anyone in the group out of their sights from then on. And no one wanted Martin to go back to living in his flat alone, especially after finding out about his regression. Though to be fair, Sasha and Tim sharing a room made the situation slightly easier and neither Jon nor Martin really minded sharing a room that much… well, they were okay when one or both of them were regressed.
But at least they didn’t have to share a bed anymore. A week after Martin had first moved in, they had enough insight and money to buy a second bed so that the two didn’t have to always either be sharing Jon’s bed or sharing a bed with Tim and Sasha. Not that any of them minded. Jon always clung to any source of heat closest to him while he was asleep and Martin didn’t like being left alone for too long when he was little.
But when the two boys weren’t regressed, one of them almost always spent the night out on the couch in the living room, feeling too awkward about sharing a room even if they were cuddled up together literally the night before. More often than not it was Martin since he still felt bad for suddenly barging into their living space but it wasn’t too surprising to see Jon there from time to time after a night spent looking over some files and statements he brought home from work.
This morning, Tim had found Martin curled up on the couch covered by a throw blanket adorned with little cartoon highland cows. The sight would’ve been cute if it wasn’t for the fact that Tim knew that sleeping on that couch was absolute hell. Poor Martin was probably going to wake up with a stiff neck and a crick in his back. Either he and Jon had to learn to be okay with sharing a room or…
“*yawn* Good morning, love.” Tim felt a hand on his shoulder and was pulled into a sleepy morning kiss by none other than Sasha. “What’re you doing standing around in the hallway?”
Her eyes followed Tim’s line of sight until they settled on Martin’s sleeping and rather uncomfortable looking form on the couch. She hummed in acknowledgement and padded off to the kitchen, stretching in an attempt to wake herself up before her morning cup of coffee. And after a few more seconds of watching Martin’s chest rise and fall under the throw blanket, making sure that they didn’t accidentally wake him up, Tim followed suit.
“Hey, Sash?” Tim asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table and watching as his girlfriend navigated around the small kitchen.
“Yeah?”
“Um, I’ve been thinking…” Tim tapped his fingers on the table as he tried to think of the best way to approach the idea of all of them possibly moving somewhere else. It’d be the best thing for them; more space, Martin and Jon getting their own rooms, a way for all of them to stay together and keep an eye on one another, it really was the most sensible thing to do at that point in Tim’s opinion. But moving was such a hassle, not to mention it can also be a huge life changing event for some people. Though probably not as life changing as having to face a supernatural entity. Still, it was a lot and Tim didn’t know how to best express it. He’s had this thought in the back of his mind the second Jon had first started staying with them and it only grew once Martin officially moved in. But trying to piece it all together into proper words was proving to be… difficult. “I, um, I just think that we- uh, we should all-”
“Good morning.” Jon’s scruffy yet curt morning voice cut off Tim as he entered the kitchen and wrinkled his nose at Sasha’s cup of coffee. “I just received an email from my landlord this morning. It seems as though the lease on my flat is set to expire next month and I’ll either need to find a new place to stay or… properly move in here. Um, what do you two think? A-about me either getting a new place or moving in… with you… if that’s alright.”
Oh right, Jon still technically had his own flat. God and he’d been paying full rent for it while practically living in Sasha’s flat too? Okay, moving was actually starting to seem like a really good idea to Tim.
“Jon, you are not finding a new flat since you basically already live with us. Of course it’d be alright if you properly move in. You don’t have much stuff in your flat, right?” Sasha asked, leaning against the counter and sipping on her mug. “I mean you already have most of your clothes and books here, not to mention all of your toys and stuff for when you regress so I don’t think fully moving in would be too hard for you. Hmm, but you do have actual furniture there still, and it’s all actually really nice so it’d be a waste just to donate it.”
“A lot of them are antiques,” Jon added, “Heirlooms from my grandmother so I’d rather not just donate them. Maybe I could sell them? They could go for a lot if we find the right antique stores.”
“Oh but they all look so nice! I’d kill for a dining table set like the one you have, it’d be perfect in the flat if the table wasn’t so big. God I wish this place had more room or that we could find a place that was bigger and affordable, it’d make things a hell of a lot easier for us.”
Jon hummed in agreement and took a seat across from Tim who quietly fidgeted with the hem of his shirt as he listened to the conversation play out in front of him. “Actually, I’m pretty sure we’re all due to get bonuses around the holidays. It was briefly discussed during a department heads meeting with Elias but I think it's already set in stone. Maybe with that extra money we could, I don’t know, look into some places in London?”
Sasha’s eyebrows furrowed as she thoughtfully sipped her coffee. “You know, that isn’t that bad of an idea. I mean with four incomes like ours, finding a place to live shouldn’t be too hard, right? What do you think Tim-”
“I think we should move!” Tim blurted out, happy to not be the one to bring up the subject first.
“*yawn* Wha’s this about moving?” Martin’s sleepy voice called from the doorway.
The kitchen stood quiet as the four occupants began to really take in the situation. And as the seconds ticked by, no one daring to move or break the silence (or more like trying to properly wake up in Martin’s case), Tim finally took a breath and stood up dramatically.
“As much as I love this flat and all the memories we’ve made in it, I feel like this little family of ours is beginning to outgrow it. Jon, your flat’s lease is almost over and Martin, there is no way in hell you’re going back to living on your own. So I completely agree with the idea of us looking for somewhere new,” Tim’s squared shoulders and determined expression floundered slightly as he looked at his friends’ fairly lackluster response, “And, uh, I’ve actually been thinking about this for a while myself. Heh.”
“Um,” Martin interjected, “I have no idea what I just walked into but if it means I don’t have to sleep on the couch anymore then I’m all for it.”
Sasha smiled and shook her head as she worked her way back to the counter and turned on the electric kettle, “Well, it’s settled then. Looks like we’re moving.”
“Tim, this house completely counters the whole reason we’re even looking for a house in the first place.” Jon grumbled as he leaned over from his spot on the couch’s arm to the house Tim had pulled up on his laptop. “And the shade of green painted on it is atrocious.”
“But it’s so close to the institute! We could just walk to work instead of having to take the Tube or driving. And I actually happen to like that particular shade of green, thank you very much.”
“Okay, you both make good points.” Martin said in an attempt to diffuse a possible fight, “Except for the color, I have to side with Jon on that one. But this house does only have two rooms. I thought we agreed on finding somewhere that had at least three.”
“Plus this is way out of our budget, Tim” Tim frowned as Sasha reached over and swiped the laptop from him, clicking away from the current realty page and inputting their price range into the site's search bar, “I know you mean well but this one is definitely a no go.”
Finding a three bedroom house in London with the combined salaries of four fully employed adults sounded easy enough in theory, however like almost all adult-type things in life it was much harder to actually execute. In their defense, finding a place to live in London was hard enough as it was. They had only started looking at houses a few days before but whenever one of them found a potential house there was something that didn’t meet a certain requirement or cost too much. And when they did find the perfect house, it was snatched up from beneath them before they could even request a tour. But at least they had the internet to make things a tiny bit easier for them all.
“Okay, so I got our budget range in here, the house should be sort of close to work, we want at least three bedrooms, a big kitchen and possibly a separate dining room, I want two bathrooms even though I know that’s going to be impossible to find… ” Sasha’s fingers flew over the keyboard as she voiced their grocery list of requirements, “Anything else?”
“Um, a back garden? You know, where Jon and I could play when we’re, um, small.” Tim and Sasha found Martin’s shyness endearing. Even though they’ve openly discussed his and Jon’s regressing multiple times, it was still cute to see them blush whenever it was brought up. “And I’ve always wanted to try gardening but I’ve never had the opportunity to do so.”
Sasha’s smile widened as she continued typing, “And a back garden for the boys. Alright,” she clicked the trackpad and turned the screen so the others could see the list of houses available for them, “Let’s get started.”
~A few weeks later~
It wasn’t easy and their offer was nearly turned down a few times, but somehow they had finally found a house. It was a beautiful shade of light blue with a brown roof, had the three rooms they were all looking for, was within walking distance of a Tube station and only a few stops away from work, had a large kitchen with a connecting dining room, one and a half baths which pleased Sasha, and a nice open garden. It wasn’t perfect (the garden was full of weeds while all the rooms needed a good dusting) but it was something that all of them were able to call home. Plus, it had something Tim had pointed out during their first tour of the property that he and Sasha had kept secret from the boys.
“Okay, I think that’s the last of the boxes.” Martin huffed as he dropped a box full of Jon’s books into the living room.
“Which means, pause for dramatic effect,” three pairs of eyes rolled in unison as Tim stood in the doorway that connected the living room and hallway, “That we are officially moved into our new home! Woo! Now all we have to do is unpack.”
Tim chuckled as he was met with a mix of groans and tired sounding cheers. They had all started the day at the crack of dawn, having to pile four people’s worth of furniture and boxes of clothes and books and such into a large rented moving truck and Tim’s compact car, then heading to Jon’s old flat to get the last of his things and finally to their new house. Even when they got to the house it had taken them ages to unload everything themselves and put the boxes and furniture in relative proximity of where they were supposed to go. Though Martin and Jon’s toys were mixed together in several boxes piled in the hallway and they would have to sort through all of that later. But to say they were all exhausted and in need of a much needed break was an understatement at this point.
“We can unpack later. First we need to handle lunch,” Sasha suggested as she took her phone out, “How does pizza sound?”
“No olives,” Jon mumbled, slumped over on the armchair they brought over from his old flat.
“And no pineapple please,” Martin added.
“You two just don’t have taste!” Tim called out as he dramatically strode down the hall.
“Okay then, I’ll just get us pepperoni,” Sasha laughed. “Looks like it’ll be half an hour. Do you two want to rest until it comes or do you want to explore the house?”
At the word ‘explore’ Jon and Martin picked up their heads, a certain familiar haziness now lingering in their eyes. They hadn’t been able to look around the house in person between busy schedules and the hassle of packing, but Sasha and Tim had shown them plenty of pictures of the different rooms inside. But there was one place in particular that was always overlooked whenever it was asked about.
“Um, can we go check out the back?” Jon asked, his voice quiet and an octave higher than it was mere minutes ago.
“The back?” Sasha asked, tilting her head to the side in mock confusion, “Why would you want to see the back?”
“Garden!” Martin chirped now obviously leaning toward regressing.
“Oh right! The garden. We’ve been forgetting to show you two pictures of the garden, haven’t we?” Jon and Martin excitedly nodded their heads and shot up from their respective resting spots. Sasha smiled and held out her hands for the boys to take, “Well, that’s because it’s so nice that pictures can’t do it justice. And there’s a super special surprise too.”
At the word ‘surprise’ Martin and Jon tightened their grips on Sasha’s hands and practically dragged her down the hall, only stopping so that Martin could grab Winnie who was sat on the new antique dining table, then stomped over to the door in the kitchen that led to the back garden. Through the small window on the door, they were able to see Tim stood beneath a towering tree in the back, a large excited smile plastered on his face. Once he got sight of the trio, he stepped aside and gave a grand gesture to an old tire swing tied to one of the more sturdy branches of the tree.
The two boys gasped in unison and were instantly out the door. “Swing!”
“Hey, fellas,” Tim casually greeted, “I see you’ve spotted the deal breaker on this house.” He chuckled as his words went unnoticed by the two regressed boys who were now completely enamored by their new toy.
“Papa! Can we go on it now? Please please pleeeeeease?” Jon squealed, his hand already on the swing’s rope.
“I don’t see why not.” Tim shrugged as he helped Jon into the tire and gave him a mighty push.
Jon’s laughter filled the air as he kicked his feet and swung to and fro and the simple actions brought smiles to Tim and Sasha’s faces. However, Sasha’s faltered once she walked over and saw Martin’s timid expression. “Hey, you’ll get your turn after Jon, alright?”
Martin squirmed and hugged himself, eyeing the makeshift swing and squeaking branch. Following his line of sight, Sasha let out a noise of understanding and smiled, “Don’t worry, love, you’ll be able to go on it,” Sasha reassured, seeming to read Martin’s thoughts on the stability of the swing vs his weight, “Papa and I tested it every single time we came to visit the house and it’s been able to hold both of us just fine without anything happening. And if anything does happen then we’ll just make an even sturdier swing.”
Martin’s nervous squirming ceased and he visibly relaxed, “I swing?”
“Yes, Martin, you can swing. Just remember to take turns with Jon and never use it without your Papa or me, okay?”
“Kay! Swing swing swing swing!”
And swing they did. For the next two hours, Jon and Martin took turns on the old tire swing while Tim and Sasha took turns pushing. The only break taken was when the pizza arrived and they had a late lunch. They might have spent the rest of the day in the back garden swinging and running around the small yard, almost completely forgetting about the entire house full of things they had to unpack, but it was worth it. Besides, they had plenty of time to make this new house into a proper home.