Work Text:
It was a normal day in the Archives for everyone but Martin.
While he was prone to spacing out, it was rare that he actually would not work or at least attempt to. This day in particular had him in a chokehold, and it was winning. A date. He had a date after work. That was all it took for his brain to collapse in on itself.
He had done next to nothing, and there were only a few hours left until he planned on leaving (Jon willing). The pile of documents staring at him had started to stress him out more than the Thing he spent most of his workday worrying about. Eventually, he made up his mind. He was going to finish all of his work for today so Jon would have no excuse to make him stay behind.
And by God he did.
It left him in a right state, but he was quite giddy about it. Like he had turned in a paper at 11:58PM and started it that night. Was his work good? Probably not. But was it finished? Absolutely. Off into the void it would go. The consequences were for Next Week Martin. And that Martin would be riding on the high of this date, too out of it to care about Jon scolding him for accidentally missing an Oxford comma or something dumb like that. He loved Jon in a hideously embarrassing way, but his nitpicking did wear on him. Mostly when Jon was ranting at him, and then he would spend the next few hours thinking about being alone together in his office, like the exact same thing didn't happen to the others on occasion too.
After taking a few deep breaths and sadly eyeing his cold cup of tea, he looked up from his desk and immediately yelped. Both Tim and Sasha were very not subtly sneaking glances at him.
"What?"
"Nothing, we were just surprised to see you go from an empty yet somehow anxious husk to a speed running machine. I mean, that was impressive." The way Tim spoke made it sound like it was not nothing. He knew what they were going to ask next, so he saved them a step.
"I, um, have a date after work." He plugged his ears.
"YOU HAVE A WHAT!?" They shouted in sync, in that way twins do. That was what they were, really. They were close enough to be.
Jon's office door creaked open enough to where he was heard without having to commit to a social interaction. "How many times do I have to tell you Tim, no yelling in the Archives, and Sasha, I expected better from you. Keep it down."
"But Boss," Tim whined, "Martin's got a date!" Jon was the last person Martin wanted to know about this, so of course he would find out.
There was a slight pause before he responded. "That's great. Get back to work." The sarcasm dripping from his tone really inspired a lot of hope in Martin for their relationship. The guy who asked him out in a bookstore had already made more progress. And in that silly desperate part of himself, he hoped he would move on because of this.
Jon left the door ajar but went quiet. On the other hand, Tim didn't shut up. "Martin, this is pretty soon after—"
Sasha jumped to cover his mouth. "Not now Tim." She smiled up at Martin while still holding Tim in place. "Anyways, where did you meet him?" He licked her hand, and she cringed before letting go. "Are you five years old?" He stuck his tongue out at her.
"A-A bookstore." At least someone was supportive.
"Aww, that's cute. When is it?"
"It's at six, so I was hoping to leave work early to get ready, but I doubt Jon would let me do that." They both nodded along in agreement.
Sasha turned toward his door. "Well, what do you say, Jon?"
They heard him fumble around in his office before he crept out of the room. This was the first time he had gotten a good look at Jon today. His hair was short and straightened. He had gotten it cut recently, Martin was sure. Something about maintaining professional dignity.
Jon cleared his throat. "I apologize," starting off with that caught everyone off guard, "but a date is not a valid reason to leave work early." Immediately getting shot down, now that was familiar.
"But it's a Friday. And we're caught up, maybe even a little ahead." Sasha nodded along to Tim's remark.
"And by leaving early, Martin means four thirty instead of five. What would he do in those thirty minutes? Panic more about his date?"
"Wh-No! I would be productive. As usual." Martin sputtered before he shut right up seeing Sasha mouth at him 'do you want to leave or not?'
Jon took on his 'about to go on a boss rant' tone. "I understand that, but if you leave early, it may develop into a habit. Also, I would be giving preferential treatment to you which would cause an imbalance in the workplace, so I would have to let everyone leave early whenever they want."
They protested at this.
"Jon, you know that's stupid—"
"It's ONE time, Boss!"
Martin cut through all of their overlapping voices.
"It's our first date." His voice wavered like he was about to cry. The others heard it too. Even Jon looked taken aback, before he reverted his face to an unbothered expression again.
"I don't see why that changes anything. There's no reason to keep track of that kind of superfluous information."
Tim and Sasha exchanged pointed looks as if to ask, 'are you seeing this?'
"Haven't you had a girlfriend before, Jon? You went on dates with her? Right??" The fact that Tim had to confirm this with Jon did not bode well for his ex. He really shouldn't have found that slightly endearing, but he would be lying if he said he didn't.
Jon paused for a moment as if to think. Not the best sign. "That's personal information, and I don't see how that's relevant. Also how did you figure out I had a girlfriend."
Tim winked. "That's personal information. And wow, you're cold, Boss."
"Yeah, you need to learn how to treat people right." She motioned for Martin to make his escape while Jon was distracted. He tended to close his eyes while deep within a debate. "Maybe your next partner will care a lot about going on dates and keeping track of them." She smirked at Martin while saying this as he was attempting to sneak away. He slowed down to make sure he didn't alert Jon. Not because he wanted to know what Jon would say.
"That's not the point, and it's very doubtful I'll date anyone while working at this institution. Now, can we get back to work?"
He opened his eyes to see the back door shut. They smiled at him and shrugged.
"Ohh no, I guess he left. Whoops!" Tim always liked to get in the last word.
He directed a tight lipped smile their way. "Alright you two. Since you're still here, get back to work, and be sure to do his work too." They both groaned.
"Aww, c'mon, what was he even working on? I'm pretty sure he was finished."
They went to his desk to find a stack of average quality but finished documents, and a small sticky note with a bunch of doodled hearts around the cursive letters 'J+M.' Tim side eyed Sasha who raised an eyebrow right back. They twisted around to face Jon. A puzzled look crossed his face.
"J plus M? I wonder what that means."
Tim's eyes lit up, and Sasha shook her head at him while poorly holding back her laughter. "Tim, stop. Don't say it—"
"JOE MAMA!"
"Right." Jon let out a very long sigh before he retreated back into his office.
---
A long few months had passed since then. And when he learned that Jon actually believed in his job, that did not quell any of his feelings. Having seen this new side of him made him greedy. What more could he find out about Jon? Would he ever be told something only he and Jon would know?
It was probably his fault for attempting to have a heart to heart during a worm attack, but he didn't expect to get called a ghost while being vulnerable for once. He saw how Jon pouted after being questioned for saying that, and how he was quick to rummage through his cluttered brain for a less idiotic topic. Martin wanted to kiss his stupid face so badly. He noticed Jon needed a haircut. It was starting to cover up his eyes, and he kept having to brush it out of his face. Maybe a hair clip to hold it back—oh that was a bad train of thought. Thinking that did not stop him from imagining putting a hair clip in Jon's hair and how starkly it would contrast to the rest of him.
"A-Anyways," he almost jumped out of his skin when Jon spoke up. "I forgot to ask. How was your date?"
Martin couldn't help himself from scoffing at this. "It's been months, Jon. What do you think?" He regretted saying it like that. The first time Jon had shown any interest in his love life, and he had messed up the conversation within seconds. Great.
"Well, I don't know." He fidgeted with one of the holes already beginning to scab. "You don't talk about your personal life too much. I'm assuming that it didn't go well?" Martin nodded. "I'm sorry about that."
"We'd been texting a bit, and I had sort of hoped to date him for a month or two. It was nice because I was okay with it going either way, like I wasn't too attached to him by that point, but I felt like maybe I could be. And so we were there at dinner, and I made the mistake of bringing up that I was excited about this being our first date, and he just looked at me before asking 'why?' He was so genuinely confused. I didn't know what to say. So I changed the topic, but I could tell we were not going to be on the same page about love if he thought like that." He continued to talk without looking up. Too nervous to see if Jon was listening or not.
"The dinner itself was fine, but the rest of the time this feeling weighed me down. Like, 'wow, this person could never understand me.' After we left the restaurant I told him we should end things here. He said he expected me to say that before smiling and wishing me a good night. I could tell he wasn't that broken up about it, but I remember going home and crying. I realized we could've dated, and maybe things would have worked out. But I was so hung up on this small thing, I ruined the possibility all together. It was selfish of me."
He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. "I guess you're not alone in not caring about first dates." Really, Jon had no reason to care about any of this. Had he even been listening?
Jon patted Martin's hand. It sent a shock of warmth up his arm, and he had to physically keep himself from reacting, though he was sure it showed on his face. If he had looked at Jon's expression, he would've seen him blushing and grimacing at the same time.
"It's alright, Martin. I apologize that you had this unfortunate experience." It didn't take a genius for Martin to know that Jon was carefully choosing his every word. "But I believe it's likely you dodged a bullet there. Any proper partner realizes the importance of respecting what their partner considers important."
He peered up to see how Jon's face had contorted into regret. This only further fed his foolish hope. Jon understood he wasn't the best boyfriend before, so maybe that would make him want to try harder in his next relationship, maybe he would want it to work out more, so maybe it would. God, he wanted it to be him.
Tim broke into the room seconds later (not missing that he was interrupting something despite the fumes), and the conversation died there. But his love did not stop festering.
---
The countryside is filled with a quiet dignity. He's so used to sirens and shouting in the distance, but out here, there is comfort and beauty in how natural the absence of bustle feels. It's not totally devoid of life though. How could it be? He hears the same rooster every morning, and if the rooster doesn't wake him up, the birds do. His neighbor's animals say hello to him when he takes walks, and in the evening crickets and frogs create a cacophony of noise he's begun to associate with this home. Their home. For a little while, anyway.
Daisy offered them a safe house to get away from everything for at least a few months. Only a few weeks have passed, but Martin has gotten so used to this simplistic bliss. He's not sure how he's going to give it up. Maybe he never will. It might settle in his mind as a distant yet very possible future for the two of them. A bit less messed up than gouging their eyes out and eloping. Somehow one of the most romantic things that had happened to him at that time.
He's still not really sure how they got to this point. It was hopeless—they were hopeless. But something inside Martin, and inside of Jon too he would later find out, could not give up. He wouldn't trade this for the world. They're happy here.
Lingering in the back of Martin's mind are the plans they made when they first settled in here. They promised to have a picnic and pet some good cows. To Martin's delight, a real, proper date . But they've been so busy doing errands, tidying the place up, and well, mostly cuddling inside as the weather has been quite dreary. It does give them the perfect excuse to stay in, bundle up, and drink tea for days on end.
Today, the sky is a brilliant after rain blue. The sun's rays flicker off the morning dew and reflect in grassy puddles. Though it may be a little muddy, a lot of the storm has run off into the fields. The weather has softened from the rain. He wakes up with his face smushed into Jon's chest, and their limbs tangled together. With a start that rustles Jon awake, he realizes the heavy clouds have moved on. They should go outside now.
He manages to coerce Jon into getting up by allowing him to cling to Martin the whole time. He never knew Jon could be so needy, but with that amount of repression stored in one man, it makes sense. It's not like Martin isn't equally touch starved. Jon's hands are always cold, but Martin doesn't mind. He would definitely feel worse without constant loving touches.
They make tea and eat breakfast before Martin tells Jon his plans for their day.
"Since it's so nice out, I was thinking we should have our picnic and cow petting day. What do you think?"
Jon gives him a soft smile before asking, "what do you want to bring?" Martin kisses him on the cheek before listing off suggestions for picnic foods.
They spend the rest of the morning dutifully cutting up each other's favorite fruits, creating little sandwiches, and baking a small batch of cookies. Martin makes a pitcher full of iced chai tea, and Jon gets out the china and quilt his grandmother passed down to him. And also a buffer blanket, just in case it's muddier than they expect. Martin finds an old picnic basket lying around the house, so they pack everything in there. Then they put on their favorite dresses paired with rainboots. Jon's semi-transparent green dress flows around him. The sleeves billow out, but the bottom of the dress reaches the top of his boots. Martin's dress is a peachy pink with a strawberry field embroidered at the bottom which reaches his knees. Jon puts a floppy sun hat on Martin and fondly tells him not to get burned. He still finds himself blushing at Jon displaying how much he cares for him so openly.
It's not a very far walk to the field across the cow farm, but they take their time to enjoy the sun on their skin for the first time in a few days. There are a few scattered puddles around, but Martin resists the urge to jump in them since he doesn't want to ruin his dress. He loves to watch how the ripples reflect the sky. They make it to a nice area with freshly cut grass, and thankfully the sun is beginning to dry up the leftover dampness. Jon still puts the buffer blanket under his grandmother's quilt. They start setting out everything they brought on the even ground.
This is not what he imagined he would be doing while dating Jon. To be fair, most of his fantasies were about them cuddling and kissing, especially after Jon had told him he didn't care about keeping track of dates. Not that he was snooping, but he did see Jon mark the day they got together in his calendar, so at least he cares about anniversaries. Martin would be incredibly torn up otherwise.
He loves checking things off his mental list that he and Jon have done together. What else could they do? Take care of each other when sick? Go on a road trip? Be bound by fate? Write poetry for each other? Adopt kids?? Grow old together??? Become lesbians???? He's getting ahead of himself. It's so easy for Martin to think of the future they're going to have together, and that makes him liable to zoning out during the present sometimes. He shakes his head. He can dream of all the future dates he wants to have with Jon tonight.
After they've unpacked everything, they begin pouring each other cups of tea, exchanging sandwiches they made for each other, and enjoying all the fruits and sweets they brought. They've packed and eaten the perfect amount of food not to get a stomachache from, but they're still content and satisfied. He hears birds singing in nearby trees, and the taller grass sways in the distant wind. The hills behind the farm stretch out into woodlands farther than they can see. The world is kind as it cradles them here.
He notices how Jon's long hair falls down to his back and flutters in the soft breeze. It's beautifully splayed out, but some of it is falling in his face. Martin takes the liberty to tuck a strand back with a strawberry hair clip. Jon pauses before turning up to smile at him, the kind of smile Martin hadn't been expecting to receive from such a simple gesture. He's learning so many new things about Jon every day. He takes Martin's hand and nuzzles into it, looking up at him with eyes full of gentle love and tenderness. Martin feels his heart surge in that way it tends to do now whenever he looks at Jon. He wants Jon's hair to always go down to his back, he wants to run his fingers through the waves, and he wants to loosely braid it so he has an excuse to braid Jon's hair over and over again. He can already see Jon fondly shaking his head at him before letting Martin undo and redo his braids.
While they're staring into each other's eyes, they hear slow footsteps padding up to them. They turn their heads to see one curious cow approaching the fence they're sitting by. A couple more hesitant cows follow behind. Since they walk by here so often, the cows do recognize them. They've waved and said hello before, but nothing so personal as this. Martin wasn't sure if they'd actually get to interact with the cows, so he's really excited now. He helps Jon to his feet and leads him to the cow. Still holding Jon's hand, he sticks out his other hand about a foot away from the fence. Close enough for sniffs, far enough not to be scary. He hopes that's how it comes off anyway.
The other cows come up too, and Jon inches closer as well. Martin has been creeping his hand toward the fence. His palm is only a few inches away from the cow's face. He pauses there, and the cow does too. The fluffy brown looking girl stares for a long moment before licking and then full on lapping at his hand. It takes a couple more minutes, but another cow starts brushing her sandpaper tongue against Jon's skin for the alluring salty flavor. Martin read up on cows before attempting to pet them, of course. They both eventually graduate to petting their curly and fuzzy fur, so then it's them holding hands and petting highland cows. Like god intended.
He speaks up to fill the silence, but also because he's missed hearing Jon's voice for the past ten minutes. "I'm so glad this worked out. I was really worried they weren't gonna come up to us, you know?"
"I'm happy this is our first date." Jon doesn't look up at him while saying this. He's probably too embarrassed to. Martin feels his eyes well up with tears. Jon wants to share in his silly traditions and joys found in small instances too. What more can they learn from each other? He wants to find out, hand in loving hand.