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“Statement of” it didn’t sound quite like him, it was wrong. Jon cleared his throat and tried to sound less full of phlegm “statement of Elizabith Alderson regarding the strange noises in her house at night. Statement given twenty eighth of may two thousand and four. Recording by Jonathan Simms head archivist of the magness institute. Statement begins.” he began coughing again “damn it all” he said taking a drink of cool water and clearing his throat once more, his voice didn’t sound like how he wanted but it was just going to have to do “Statement begins. ‘It was late october of last year when I heard it the first time. Really I thought it was my phone ringing so I went to go check-’” he broke into another coughing fit and had to catch his breath this time. He took another drink of water and was about to continue when there was a soft knock on the door. “What is it?!” he shouted and tried to suppress another cough he could feel tickling the back of his throat.
The door squeaked open and Martin popped his head in “I heard you coughing and-”
Jon cut him off “my lungs are none of your business now leave me to my work, I’m sure you have plenty of your own.” he brushed the hair out of his face and grabbed a tissue off of the box on his desk, blew his nose and threw it into the trash next to him before squirting three pumps of hand sanitizer onto his palm and rubbing into his hands and past his wrists.
“Well-” Martin said hesitantly “I brought you a cup of tea.” he held a hefty black mug out in front of him as he stepped fully into Jon’s office “it’s lemon with some honey in it, it’s supposed to be good for a sore throat.” Martin approached the large sturdy oak desk and placed the steaming mug just above the statement Jon was currently reading.
Jon lifted the mug, pulled a coaster out of one of the drawers, placed it exactly where Martin had set the cup, and placed the mug atop it. “Very thoughtful” Jon mumbled he did not release the mug however he placed his other hand on it. The warmth soothed the aching muscles of his hands. His whole body hurt in that way that is indicative of a bad cold and his head pounded with congestion.
“Is there anything else I can get you boss?” Martin asked as he stood near the desk awkwardly, not wanting to leave the poor man alone to suffer in his illness.
“No, I'm quite alright, thank you. I was in the middle of a statement so you can go, I appreciate the tea but I do not however appreciate the interruption” he had not removed his hands from the mug but his eyes had drifted back to the statement in front of him.
“Well just let me know if you change your mind Jon, I’ll be around and I’m happy to help” Martin turned and quickly left, closing the door behind him.
Jon scooted the mug and coaster closer to himself and removed his hands from the mug. He placed the palms of his hands on his tired eyes and attempted to rub some of the heat into them to melt the tired aches away. “Statement resumes” he began clearing his throat once more “I went to check on my phone on the bedside table but it was sile-” he began coughing again this time for long enough he had to gasp for air when it finally subsided. He sighed and took a long drink of the tea Martin had brought him. The sweet honey coated his throat and the lemon and heat helped to relieve a bit of the pounding pressure in his sinuses. He held the mug in his hands as he continued “but it was silent. There were no missed messages or calls but the strange rhythmic buzzing had not stopped.” he took another long drink of the warm tea, it seemed to be helping his voice to sound more normal as well. “I couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from, it seemed as if every time I focused on the buzzing and I was able to recognize a direction and start heading toward it the buzzing would stop for a moment and suddenly reappear elsewhere.” Jon put the mug down, blew his nose again, applied hand sanitizer and picked the mug backup. This audio file is going to be worthless. He continued nonetheless “Eventually I decided that the buzzing noise must be coming from another apartment and I layed back down to-” the coughing began again. The violent coughing fit and mug of hot tea did not mix as Jon spilt half of the tea into his lap. “Christ” he muttered setting the tea down on the coster and pushing the chair back to stand. His trousers were soaked and as he stood he became light headed. He attempted to make it across the room to his jacket hanging on the wall but this ended up being the wrong choice as the first step away from the sturdy desk, his legs gave out from under him and he fell to the ground with a large crash as he pulled a chair down with him.
Maritan came rushing in as if he had been right out the door the whole time and heard the collision. He scooped Jon off the floor to check if he was okay.
“Martin, I'm fine! Leave me be” Jon struggled to stand up but fell again.
“Jon, you're sick, you need to go home and rest” Martin spoke softly as he helped Jon to his feet.
“I do not” Jon protested “I’m fine and I have work to do here, now leave me to my statement”
Martin considered for a moment and then took a deep breath, he may regret putting this idea in Jon’s head but he thought it the only way to get through to him “you could record the statement at home Jon, please let me drive you home and you can record your statements where you can be comfortable and maybe have access to some cough medicine”
“I can take myself home Martin” Jon stood and walked past Martin with purpose, he was winded by the time he made it to the door frame. Marttina gave him a disapproving look but quietly gathered up his papers and the tape recorder and put them neatly into Jon’s bag before helping him out the door. “Fine, I admit I may be a little under the weather” Jon said hesitantly, “would you please drive me home, I don’t know that it’s a good idea for me to attempt to navigate these streets in this state.
Martin’s heart skipped a beat. He never expected Jon to take him up on the offer but he was excited nonetheless “absolutely!”
Jon and Martin made their way back to Jon’s flat on the other side of London. It was a long trip but they didn’t talk much. Jon was still sulking slightly and Martin didn’t want to push his luck.
“Take a left-” Jon covered his mouth in a brief coughing fit “sorry, turn left and it's the third building down”
Martin did just that and they parked on the street just outside Jon’s flat. Maritan hesitated as Jon got out of the car. Is it too forward to offer to help him to his flat? He hardly finished his thought when Jon went into another coughing fit and Martin decided Jon probably couldn't make it up the stairs safely alone anyway. “Here,” he said softly, “let me help you”
Jon didn’t protest this time, he was feeling incredibly tired and honestly didn’t much feel like finishing the statement anyway but he realized he wanted Martin's help. He wanted to be able to relax and let someone take care of him “thank you” . His voice was soft but hoarse from the coughing.
Martin helped Jon up the three flights of stars to his flat where Jon opened the door. Martin stopped unsure how to proceed. “Do you want me to come help you get settled or-”
Jon’s face flushed but he tried to push it down and he cleared his throat trying to ignore the way having Martin in his flat made him feel. We work together, this is completely inappropriate Jon get yourself together. He is a colleague helping you out when you are feeling unwell that is ALL. “Yes, I think that would be nice” he said despite his better judgment.
Martin smiled and helped Jon into the house pulling him close to fit through the door together but not breaking apart once they made it past the threshold. “Where would you like your set up?” he asked.
“Just at the coffee table in the living room,” Jon said.
Martin set the things on the coffee table and helped Jon to the couch, “can I get you anything, do you want some tea? I would make you some soup”
“Martin, you don’t have to make me anything you’re-” he began coughing agian “you're my guest, don’t worry about me.”
Martin raised an eyebrow at the man sat before him on the couch and sat next to him. Without really realizing what he was doing he pushed Jon’s long, dark and greying hair out of his face and tucked it behind his ear “you're sick, Im happy to help”
At this Jon felt his face turn bright red. He quickly tried to rub the color out of his cheeks but it was too late, Martin had already noticed.
“S-sorry” He said, “I don’t know why I did that- I-”
“No” Jon said he sniffled a little trying to pretend to not be as sick as he was, he didn’t want to ruin this moment. “It’s okay, thank you” Jon moved the hair from the other side of his face and pulled it all back into a loose disaster of something between a pony tail and a bun. “Thank you for bringing me home Martin” it wasn’t until that moment that he realized just how tired he was. He let out a big yawn “I don’t” another yawn “Mean to be a bad host” he kicked off his shoes and drew his feet up to his chest. He tried to make himself comfortable on the couch without invading Martin’s space.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind, I don’t think you're a bad host at all” Martin smiled at Jon and faked a yawn of his own to stretch and put his arm around him. Jon let out a small chuckle at the cheesy gesture and leaned his head on Martin's shoulder.
Jon knew he should thank Martin for all his help and head to bed but he didn’t want anything of this moment to change. “I don’t want to keep you here if you have other things you have to do” he mumbled.
“I don’t mind” Martin ran his fingers through Jon's hair and relished the feeling of Jon's hands on him in the softest and loveliest way, “if you want me to go I can help you up to bed and let myself out.”
Jon mumbled something about “bed” and “should sleep off the cold” as he struggled to keep his eyes open. His head slipped off of Martin's shoulder and gently to his lap and he curled his knees up to his chest and finally let his eyes close.
He wasn’t sure how long it had been but he felt movement and Martin’s arms around him. He opened his eyes and saw he was being carried toward his bed, he curled up and made some contented noise as Martin smiled down at him. Jon usually had such strong defensive walls that it was hard to see how he felt about anything, but in this moment it was clear to him that Jon was happy in a way he didn't know he had ever seen before. Martin made his way to Jon’s bedroom and laid him in the bed, he covered Jon in the blankets which were piled up on one side of the bed where they had assumedly been pushed that morning. As Martin set him down gently, Jon smiled slightly and snuggled into the covers around him. Martin gave his arm a small squeeze and turned to leave when he felt a gentle hand on his “stay” Jon mumbled.
“Oh” he wanted to stay so bad but knew he shouldn’t. Jon was tired, and sick, and honestly, probably delirious. He probably didn’t mean what he was saying, There was no way Jon felt the same way Martin felt about him. “I really should get going, it’s late-”
Jon cut him off “please, Martin”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, what will the others think, they saw us leave together, I don’t want them thinking that I took advantage of you being sick to-”
“Martin” Jon pressed “I won’t force you to stay if you don’t want” he was more awake now and pushed himself to sit up “but I want you to stay, I don’t care what the others think, for all they know you stayed to make sure I didn’t cough up a lung in the night”
At this Maritan let out a small chuckle, “Okay, fine. Do you have some extra blankets or something for me to make a bed on the couch?”
“Its a king size bed Martin” Jon layed back down and curled up on one side of the bed “if you don’t want to be in contact I’m sure you won’t be, I just don’t want to be sick and alone in this room, it already feels so big for just me” He turned away to clear his throat and take a small sip of water from the cup on his night stand. “I can get you a new pillow case and separate blankets if you’re worried about whatever virus I have, but you did carry me here-” he yawned and tried to rub some sleep out of his eyes, the tiredness had stolen the rest of his sentence so he trailed off.
He hesitated, Jon couldn’t be serious. He wasn’t just going to sleep in the same damn bed as the man, that was absurd. Martin knew it was absurd, he must be asleep too, this could not be actually happening. He became once again aware of the soft hold Jon had on his wrist, silently begging him to stay “Jon, I'm not exactly a small man, I don’t want to take up your space” he said “and I move all over in my sleep, I worry I’d kick you or something”
Before he could finish speaking he noticed Jon had fallen completely asleep and was snoring softly. He looked so peaceful in sleep in a way Martin didn’t know could even be possible for Jon the hard ass archivist. “Okay” he said only to himself and removed his own shoes and coat and climbed into the bed on the other side. Martin had not realized how tired he was and quickly fell asleep as well, trying hard to keep himself on the opposite side of the bed. It was not long before he too was asleep.