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“Sasha. Sasha, you have to come here right now.”
Sash sighed, pretending to be annoyed, but closed her laptop anyway. “What, Tim?”
“Just come here, okay? I have to show you something.” He was calling to her from document storage, hiding somewhere back in the stacks.
“Jon is gonna kill me if I don’t get this report finished by 5. Or worse, he’ll make me stay late.”
Tim scoffed. “Jon is in a meeting with Elias right now, and who knows when he’ll manage to escape from that. C’mon, take a tiny break? Please?” He drew the last word out.
Sasha hesitated, but ultimately she was no match for the Tim Stoker puppy dog eyes, even when they were only in her head. “Ugh. Fine. This better be worth it.”
She strolled into document storage, peering down the shelves as she went. “Tim? Hello?”
Suddenly, a figure stepped out in front of her, making her jump back. A pair of wire glasses flashed at her, and a posh accent bellowed, “Miss James! Why aren’t you at your desk. I told you I need that report by 5.”
“…Tim.” Sasha raised an eyebrow incredulously. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Tim? I’m not Tim! Don’t you recognize me, your boss?” He wiggled the glasses on his nose and scowled absurdly.
Sasha burst out laughing. “Oh, my god! Where did you even get those?!”
Tim pushed the glasses down and winked. “Found them lying around in a filing cabinet. I don’t know if they’re actually Jon’s, but they look a hell of a lot like his, don’t they?”
“Yeah. But your impression could use a little work, frankly.
Tim gasped, faux offended. “How dare you! Nobody can imitate our grouchy boss the way I can.”
Sasha held out a hand palm up. “Hand them over.”
Tim sighed long-sufferingly and passed them to Sasha, who perched them on her nose and assumed a straight-backed posture. She cleared her throat haughtily. “Tim, this is extremely unprofessional. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go sit in my office alone and sulk. Tell Martin to bring me a cup of tea so that I can ignore him.”
“Yes. Right away, boss.” Tim nodded solemnly.
They both dissolved into giggles.
By the time Jon returned to the Archives, Tim and Sasha were both back at their desks, by all appearances hard at work. He had no way of knowing about the pair of glasses stashed in Sasha’s desk drawer.
It quickly became a fun little game they played, in the rare times Jon was out of the office. Martin knew, of course, but he just watched and didn’t really play along. It seemed to embarrass him a bit, so they didn’t push it. His crush was obvious, and aside from some gentle ribbing, they usually left it alone. Martin was like a little kitten, Tim commented one time, at that age where they just look so sad, with their big, watery eyes. It made them go easy on him most of the time.
Still, those sad kitten eyes didn’t prevent his name from coming up on occasion when they were messing around. Only when he wasn’t there, of course. Sasha felt a little bad, but it really was funny to watch Tim play the Martin role, stammering and hiding behind a folder when ‘Jon’ scolded him. He had turned out, surprisingly, to be the better of the two at that.
One evening, they were lucky enough to have the Archives to themselves. Jon and Martin were out following up on a statement, and so Tim and Sasha were, unsurprisingly, slacking off. Sasha’s email snooping was going nowhere, and so she opened her desk drawer.
“Pst. Tim.” She waved the glasses at him. “You busy?”
Tim grinned and scooted his rolling chair over to Sasha’s desk. “I should be, but I’m not.”
“Cool.” Sasha was about to assume her Jon persona when Tim rolled past her towards their boss’ office. “Where are you going?”
“While the cat is away, the mice will play… or whatever.” He smirked as he rolled into the doorway of Jon’s office.
Sasha stood and followed. “Tim. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“C’mon. Jon’s basically gone for the day. We can just take a peek. Get some fresh inspiration.” Tim wiggled his eyebrows playfully.
Sasha just sighed. She just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to snoop- her fatal flaw. Might as well make sure Tim didn’t get them in trouble. “Do not touch anything,” she ordered as she followed him into the office.
“Yes, boss.” Tim let out a breath as he stared at the stacks of paper covering Jon’s desk. “Jeez, look at all this. No wonder he’s so miserable all the time.”
“It’s not entirely his fault. The entire Archives is a mess, it’s impossible to be organized here.” Sasha turned the glasses over in her hands. While Tim was still distracted, she slipped them onto her nose and tsked loudly. “Excuse me. Can I help you?” She said in her Jon-esque accent. “This office is private.”
Tim actually jumped a little as she spoke. “Jesus! You scared me, Sash,” he said as he turned to face her. He was grinning roguishly. “Oops, sorry- let me get into character. One second.” Tim cleared his throat dramatically.
When he looked at Sasha again she knew right away he was play-acting Martin. It was the particular way he widened his eyes and pushed out his lower lip, pulling his shoulders up a little to emulate Martin’s nervous posture. “I-I’m sorry, Jon! I was just looking for something…” He whimpered.
The pleading tone in Tim’s voice made Sasha’s breath catch. It wasn’t something she heard out of Tim often, but damn if it wasn’t a good look on him. Sasha stepped forward authoritatively, forcing Tim back towards the desk, and glared at him over her glasses. “This is highly unprofessional, Martin. I think we ought to have a talk about your performance.”
“Oh, no. I’m really sorry. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.” Tim’s voice was a little breathy now. He bit down hard on his bottom lip, and Sasha watched. They had joked around as their coworkers many times before. This was… something different altogether. This was a different kind of play.
The energy wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. They had, a while ago, developed a nasty habit of getting tipsy at Institute events and hooking up in broom closets, bathrooms, etc. The first time they really had been drunk- that seemed to be less of a requirement the longer it went on. At the last Christmas party, Tim had only downed one spiked eggnog before dragging Sasha into document storage.
It wasn’t… something they talked about, really. Which was okay- Sasha valued Tim enough as a friend and coworker without getting romance involved, and usually it didn’t interfere with their work relationship. But right now Sasha very much wanted to kiss him. And judging by the way he was looking at her, he wanted something similar.
Sasha stalked forward until Tim was pressed up against the desk, bracing himself on his arms. She fixed him with an appraising stare, and said, “Anything, hm? Good. I think some extra training is in order.”
Some little voice in the back of Sasha’s head was shouting that this was a bad, bad idea, not to mention an entirely inappropriate use of her coworker’s likenesses. That voice shut the fuck right up when Tim sighed and arched his back just a little. “Yes. I think that’s a very good idea, sir.”
Sasha grabbed him by the front of his shirt, making him gasp. “You’ll have to do exactly as I say,” she muttered, “or else I’ll have to… reprimand you.”
“Oh, how dreadful.” Tim swallowed hard. “But I really do need some, mm, hands-on guidance, sir. Please.”
He rolled his hips forward, making both of them groan. Sasha felt heat kindle low in her stomach. She reached up to tug lightly on Tim’s hair, drawing a whine from him. “You’re such a bloody tease, you know that?”
Tim smirked, momentarily dropping his shy persona. “You ought to do something about it, then.”
Sasha kissed him, hard enough that her teeth bit into his lips. Tim gasped and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, clinging to her desperately. Sasha kissed him until he was breathless. She moved her hands up under his thighs and pushed up, not quite strong enough to lift him but urging him up onto the edge of the desk. He moaned, wrapping his legs around her waist and pulling her in for another kiss.
Tim bucked his hips, grinding himself slightly against Sasha’s stomach. Sasha drew back just enough to get her mouth up under Tim’s jaw and suck. He shivered. “Fuck, Sasha…”
The door swung open with a sudden creak. “Martin, would you- Good lord!”
Sasha jumped back as though she had been burned. Tim nearly fell off the desk. Jon stood in the doorway looking utterly aghast. Martin peered over his shoulder. There was a moment of profoundly uncomfortable silence before Jon sputtered back to life. “My desk. Out of all places in the office? How utterly… unprofessional! And- are those my glasses?!”
Tim and Sasha exchanged a look, and did their best not to laugh.