Work Text:
It was a seemingly normal evening on Helios Space Station, the base of operations of the Hyperion Corporation. Workers buzzed about the halls, going to important meetings, going to offices, and commuting as usual. They all had places to be, and most of them were either early or on time to get to their jobs. Some people had bad luck enough to be really late, some slacked off and never showed up, and a choice few would show up just a tad late. Many of the jobs on Helios weren't very strict on time of arrival, but board meetings were. If someone were to show up to a meeting late, there were severe consequences. One such worker, by the name of Timothy Lawrence, knew all too well what the consequences were to being late to his job. He had never been late in his life, until that day. Things had gotten out of hand that morning, and he was caught off guard. He ran down the hallway from his apartment, more panicked than he ever had been in his life, even more panicked than when he had to go to Elpis and had gotten chased by kraggons and had been shot at by not-so-friendly locals. The reason for that: He worked for Jack.
Timothy wasn't used to the maze-like halls of Helios, even though he had been there for quite a long time. He looked around frantically for a reference point as he ran down the long corridor, only to come to the utter realization that he was lost. It didn't help that the construction on Helios consisted of new halls, which only added to the already confusing jumbled mess of halls. Timothy had no time to waste, seeing as how he was two minutes from being late. He stopped at an intersection of 6 different halls, and tried to look down each one to find a familiar landmark to go off of for navigation. By the time he found the hallway he was familiar with, he only had one minute left until he was officially late. He reached the familiar part of Helios, the Hub of Heroism, and only had thirty seconds to spare. He looked at his watch and realized he would really have to book it if he didn't want to be strangled. He started to run, but wasn't fast enough, and it was hard for him to see through his own tears as he ran. He was extremely scared as he finally arrived at Jack's office a minute and thirty seconds late. The doors to Jack's office slid open, revealing a late, petrified, breathless, tearful Timothy to Jack. He silently stared Timothy down as he walked in the door.
"You're late, pumpkin..." Jack said with a slightly annoyed tone. Timothy winced at Jack's words and he walked to Jack's desk with his head hung in shame. "We discussed the consequences of being late, didn't we..?" Jack asked sitting up in his chair slightly more. "Y-Yes.. Sir..." Timothy half squeaked in a nervous tone, holding back tears. "Sit down in that chair." Jack said, pointing at the chair in front of his desk. Timothy did so obediently, mostly out of fear of Jack. Before Jack could even say another word, Timothy bursted into tears and started to repeat over and over again how sorry he was for being late and told him what had happened. "I.. I'm s-so sorry J-Jack S-Sir..! I.. I didn't m-mean to be l-late..! I s-swear..! I'm s-so sorry..! It w-won't h-happen again S-Sir..! I r-really didn't m-mean to be l-late..! Things just... g-got out of hand this m-morning, and I couldn't g-get here i-in time.! F-First I c-couldn't f-find my ID, a-and then I tripped a-and dropped a b-bunch of papers, then I-I h-had to h-hurry out of m-my apartment, a-and th-then I got lost in the h-hallway..! A-Again, I-I'm t-terribly sorry, Sir.. H-Honest..!" He said, tears streaming down his face, not wanting to be given a rough treatment for being late. Jack stared at Timothy the whole time he was talking, realizing how scared of him the doppelganger truly was.
When Jack saw Timothy sobbing after he confessed his reason for being late and said sorry over and over, a strange feeling suddenly hit him. It was a feeling Jack never truly knew before. It was a feeling of sympathy. Seeing the emotional wreck of a man in front of him that Timothy had suddenly turned into made him feel a strange feeling of sympathy. Jack felt like for some reason he couldn't bring himself to get angry with Timothy when he saw him that way, as if all the anger in him oddly disappeared. No one had even been able to do that to Jack before, so why was Timothy any exception in his mind? Jack couldn't seem to figure out why in his mind that he felt the way he did towards Timothy. He tried to be stern, but when he tried to speak words of repremand, it seemed as if all of the words he was going to use had dried up in his throat, and he only uttered a low, short, crackling noise from his throat. Before he knew it, he had stood up and walked around his desk and bent down to be level with Timothy. He suddenly wrapped Timothy in a warm embracing hug, and spoke calmly and soothingly to him. "It's alright.. It's okay... I'm not mad.. It happens sometimes... You're alright, pumpkin.." Jack said, holding onto him in an unusually caring manor. Timothy had half expected Jack to beat the living shit out of him for being late, and when all Jack did was hug him and tell him it was alright, he was severely confused, and at a loss for words.
Timothy's eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn't believe Jack wasn't trying to strangle him, and he sure as hell didn't expect what Jack did afterwards. Jack suddenly picked Timothy up in a gentle fashion and carried him to the leather couch in the lounging area of the huge office. He sat on the couch and sat Timothy on his lap, then held him tightly and kept reassuring him that everything was alright and that he wasn't mad. Timothy started to feel glad that Jack wasn't trying to murder him, but was still nevertheless confused as to where the sudden behavior of Jack came from. Timothy looked at Jack after a long time of looking down. Jack looked back at him and smiled. It wasn't one of Jack's usually wicked smiles, it was a smile of caring. Timothy's eyes still had remnants of tears in them, which Jack gently brushed away with his thumb. Jack proceeded to run his fingers through Timothy's identical-to-his, neatly-done, soft brown hair. The feeling of Jack's fingers gently gliding through his hair put him into a suddenly sleepy, relaxed state of mind. Timothy started to feel really relaxed, and he started to drift into a deep sleep. Jack felt him starting to grow sleepy and turned so that he was laying on the couch, Timothy's head on his chest, and his body between his legs.
It seemed as if the heat Timothy was giving off as he started to drift off to sleep made Jack start to feel drowsy as well. After all, it was the evening, and Timothy usually worked the late evening shift, and Jack had been working since the early morning. Timothy hadn't gotten much sleep the night before because he was up late finishing college-related assignments, and because the fact that for some reason, he couldnt sleep after he finished. Timothy started to hear Jack's heartbeat and it pulled him even deeper, until he eventually drifted off completely. Jack ended up falling asleep shortly after, drifting off with a smile on his face.