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Martin entered Jon’s office with his usual cup of tea. “For you.” He said, leaving it on Jon’s desk.
Jon was used to that habit now. He was even starting to like Martin’s attention, so he thanked him instead of yelling at him to leave his office because he was working.
Martin seemed to appreciate the decision, and left anyway, with a proud smile on his face.
Later that day, Jon turned off the tape recorder and took the now empty cup in his hands. He was extremely tired now, but he needed to archive the new recording properly before he could leave.
He just needed a pause.
“Ahem…” Martin showed up again, this time announcing himself before entering the office.
“Come in, Martin. I’m not recording.” Martin nodded and clumsily entered the office. “What do you need, Martin? Speak already.” Jon hated having to understand the implication in any situation.
“I was wondering if…” Jon tried with all of himself not to yell at Martin to speak again, his patience being tested a lot in that moment. “Um… We could go home together, couldn’t we?”
“I still have work to do.” Jon retorted.
“But, you’re exhausted. You need to rest too, Jon.” Martin wasn’t wrong.
“I’ll go home right after I’ve stored this recording correctly.”
“I’ll wait for you.” Martin decided immediately.
Jon rolled his eyes. “What about Basira? Or Melanie? Why can you not go home with them?”
“Because I want to make sure that you actually leave the Institute and go home to rest, Jon.” Martin crossed his arms. “Besides, my house is next to your neighborhood. Basira leaves the other side of London, and Melanie… Well, I don’t really know much about Melanie.”
At that point, Jon gave up. “Fine. Go home with me.” He sighed even more seeing the big smile that appeared on Martin’s face.
“I’ll wait for you outside the office then.” Martin decided, determined. “And, um, I thought you said you were not recording.” Martin indicated the active tape recorder.
“I wasn’t.” Jon turned it off again, confused.
“I want to take you somewhere.” Martin entered Jon’s office without a warning.
“Martin!” Jon didn’t like the sound of knocking, but he didn’t like to get startled too.
“I’m sorry, were you recording a statement?” Martin seemed more determined and less insecure than usual.
Jon took a deep breath. “No, not yet.” He admitted, honestly.
“Oh, good. You can come with me then!”
“What’s with this hurry, Martin? Where do you want to take me?” Jon crossed his arms, slightly annoyed.
“Come on, just come with me for once!” Martin smiled, determined, and for some reason, Jon gave up.
“A second-hand clothes shop?” Jon was confused when they reached the place and Martin held the door of the shop open for him to enter. “Why are we here, Martin?” That was really the last place in which Jon expected Martin to take him.
“I… I come here every now and then,” Martin started to explain. “And there’s something I thought you’d look good in.” Martin was blushing now, and Jon was even more confused than before.
“You brought me here to… buy some clothes?”
Martin nodded timidly. “Please, come see them with me and try them on. I swear I’ll pay for them. I’m sure they’ll fit you.”
Jon was so confused and speechless that he simply followed Martin. He had no idea of what was happening.
“Um, I saw that thing somewhere down here…” Martin mumbled, searching with the same attention he had for the files in the Archive. “There it is!” He took something from the display and turned before Jon could see anything other than some brown fabric.
He kept following Martin in silence. He wasn’t made for places like that. He hated choosing clothes. Maybe the last cloth he bought for himself was a warmer cardigan to wear in the Institute, but that was two years before, when he had started working there.
Jon got distracted from his thoughts by Martin’s voice. “I found the top too!” Jon found himself smiling a little for the silly situation Martin had put him in. All of this felt so weird.
Martin brought him towards the changing room to try the clothes he had chosen for Jon. He seemed so happy when he handed them to him.
Jon wasn’t as happy. “You are joking, I hope.” He said, serious. “It’s not fun, Martin.”
Martin seemed to blush even more at Jon’s reaction. “I know, I know. But please, try them on. I would like to know how they look at you.”
“This is a skirt, Martin.” Jon lifted the long brown cloth in his hands. “And this thing… This is so short that-”
“I know Jon.” Martin interrupted his protests immediately. “I just think this would fit on you. Try it on, please. If you don’t like it, I’ll put these clothes away and we’ll go back to the Institute immediately.”
Jon glared at him, upset.
“Please Jon.” Martin could probably see that he was really considering the idea, because his smile was getting bigger and bigger.
“Fine. I’ll try these.” Jon quickly entered the changing room, determined to ignore Martin’s happiness.
“Have you done?” Martin checked, some minutes later.
Jon hadn’t said a word since when he had entered the changing room. He was looking at himself in the mirror in disbelief.
“Jon?”
“I…” He didn’t know what to say. “Yes, I have.” He stepped out of the changing room, hesitant. He felt so good looking at himself in the mirror with those clothes on. And seeing how Martin was looking at him now, Jon was sure that he was now blushing.
“Say something, Martin. Don’t stand there in silence.” Jon crossed his arms to avoid starting fidgeting anxious. “It was your idea after all.”
“I…” Martin was speechless too, but he stepped forward, hesitant. “I’m so sorry, Jon.”
Jon wasn’t sure that he was apologizing for. “For w-”
Jon didn’t even get to finish his question, because Martin leaned forward with another step and took his face in his hands, kissing him.
Jon was so shocked that he stood still for a couple of seconds.
“You look so good, Jon.” They were both blushing now, but Martin was the first to step back.
“I… um… I’m sorry for all this… Maybe-”
“Oh shut up Martin.” Jon leaned forward and kissed Martin back, not sure of what he was doing, but sure that he wanted to do it.
“Did you… like it?” Martin asked timidly, his nose still touching John’s.
“The kiss or the outfit?” Jon asked back, rolling his eyes with a smile.
Martin blushed more. “Both… I guess.”
“This was all unexpected,” Jon admitted, taking a deep breath and stepping back. “But I cannot say I didn’t like it.” Jon turned again to look at himself in those clothes. He loved how that skirt looked on him, and the top was short, yes, but it was the perfect green for his skin, and Jon loved it so much. He looked at his face in the reflection, and he was right, he was blushing.
“I… think I’m gonna change back to my clothes though. I don’t know if I feel comfortable going outside with a skirt.” He said, turning to look at Martin.
Martin understood, and nodded in silence, not wanting to overstep much.
“But I like these clothes.” Jon conceded. “You can buy them for me.” After these words, Jon quickly entered the changing room a second time, not wanting Martin to see how much he was blushing now.
Once they went back to the Institute, Jon released Martin’s hand. They had held each other’s hand without a word, but they didn’t know yet how to act in a place where people knew them, and could ask them questions.
Jon walked a couple of steps ahead of Martin, entering the Archive first.
They thought they could reach their working places without encountering anyone, but instead they found Elias.
He looked like he was waiting for them in the hallway.
“How was your date?” The man asked, smirking.
“How…” Jon was confused to see him there. “We didn't bring any tape recorder with us!”
Elias crossed his arms, smug. “Are you sure? Martin, what’s the thing in your bag?”
Both Jon and Elias turned to look at Martin as the boy looked inside of his bag. He found a small tape recorder inside of it, and it was on. “You…” Martin looked at Elias in disbelief. “When? How? I always put my bag in the locker and-”
“Oh Martin, you didn’t think that I could let you go out without my supervision, did you?” Martin didn’t know what to say.
“So you… You saw everything?” Jon asked, embarrassed.
“Sure!” Elias smiled in victory. “You looked really good in that skirt. I’m glad you decided to buy it!”
“So we are not allowed to quit our job at the Archive, but we are not allowed even to go out for a couple of hours?” Martin asked, pissed.
“Oh Martin,” Elias looked at him with pity. “you could. I never spend too much time thinking about what you do.” Elias smirked, seeing that those words made Martin even angrier. “But our Jon here. I cannot allow him to go and do what he wants unsupervised. And it was fun seeing you two going on a date, I have to say it. It was quite romantic.”
“Oh shut up. You don’t get to say a word on that!” Martin retorted, turning the recorder off.