Chapter Text
Jonathan Sims is not a short man, and he takes great pride in this fact. Tall people are taken more seriously, and as he has just been promoted to a position of superiority over others, his height will come in useful when giving orders.
The week before he begins as Head Archivist, Elias calls Jon to his office for a debriefing.
“Everything is ready for you to start,” he assures him. “Tim has agreed to transfer to the archives, as long as Sasha James can join him, but she is an excellent worker and knows her way around a computer, so I have no doubt she will be a good asset.”
Jon begins to protest about not being notified earlier about this arrangement, but Elias holds up a dismissive hand. It is somewhat difficult for Jon to take Elias seriously, seeing as he is significantly shorter than him, but he is his employer and Jon respects the hierarchy in his career.
What if he’s not taken seriously when he becomes the head archivist? He isn’t familiar with Sasha, what if she doesn’t respect him? No, it’s fine. She’s unlikely to be taller than him. Not many people are, and so, his height will help. That’s it, no need to worry.
As he’s leaving the building, Jon hears Tim talking to someone. He doesn’t pay them any attention until he hears him say her name: Sasha. Curious as to who he’ll be working with beginning from next week, Jon looks over and sees Tim speaking to a dark-skinned woman with a skirt and a blue jumper. They don’t see him, but Jon’s heart drops.
Oh no she’s tall. I think she’s taller than me.
~~~
It’s his first day as Head Archivist and Jon would be lying if he said he wasn’t extremely anxious about it. Why had he applied for this? He was doing well in Research. Sure, the pay is better, but is it worth his inexperience? No. No it’s fine. He’ll figure it out as he goes, how hard can it be? It’s just sorting through a bunch of lies made by drunks and the mentally unwell. Jon stands at the top of the staircase leading down to the archives and takes a deep, calming breath before strutting down the steps with as much confidence as he could muster. The door at the bottom is open. He will simply walk down and greet whoever may be down there already.
As he reaches the bottom, there’s a loud bang, and the next second, he’s sitting on the floor dazed, with a throbbing headache. “Fuck,” he says quietly to himself, pressing a hand to his forehead and looking up. The damn doorframe doesn’t take into account that there are a few very steep steps right before it and it looks (or rather, feels) like he walked right into it. Please let there be no one around-
He hears a suppressed snicker. Fuck. And then comes the polite, but gently amused voice, “Are you ok?” Sasha James stands above him, a hand out, offering to help him up. Tim is behind her, a hand pressed over his mouth, failing to hide his laughter. Jon shoots Tim an unimpressed look and pulls himself up with Sasha’s help and begins dusting himself off.
“Well.” He says, attempting to sound professional, “We will not be speaking of this again, understood?”
Sasha nods, but there’s a grin slowly creeping across her face and Tim is trying too hard to calm down to make any such gesture. “Don’t worry, Tim nearly did the same, but I warned him just in time,” Sasha explains, to which Jon just grumbles under his breath. This is not the first impression he had hoped to make on Sasha. Without even considering making a formal introduction, he dashes to the office labelled Archivist and closes the door behind him, cringing painfully.