Work Text:
JON
Hang on, have you been recording this?
TIM
Oh! Yeah! I – just thought it might be nice, you know, something to look back on when we’re all old and sick of each other.
SASHA
You probably should have told us, Tim.
TIM
(laughing) What, are you afraid we’re going to get sued over the Happy Birthday song?
MARTIN
(slightly higher) Oh, oh, well I am now!
SASHA
It’s just a bit of a privacy thing.
JON
(under his breath, hmph) Oh, hypocrite.
TIM
(overlapping) Alright, alright, fine, look. I’m turning it off. Any last words for your future selves?
JON
Yes. (to the tape) Fire Tim.
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Two years later, Sasha, Tim, and Martin find themselves in a pub. Jon couldn’t make it, not wanting to be hungover at work the next day, and Martin doesn’t blame him.
Currently, they’re all huddled together, reminiscing on all the things that have happened in the last two years. They haven’t moved to a different job or anything like that, but none of them were living with or dating each other two years ago.
“Speaking of Jon,” Tim starts, only a bit tipsy. “Isn’t his birthday coming up?”
“Yup! Next month.” Martin says, zoning back in slightly.
Tim ponders this. For Jon’s last birthday, they gave him a gift each, but it wasn’t anything special. Jon had shared that he wasn’t much of a birthday guy, but Tim was convinced that Jon just hadn’t had a good birthday before. It makes him almost sad, knowing Jon’s feelings about birthdays. That doesn’t stop him from proposing something, though.
“What if we do something for it?”
“You think Jon would want that?” Sasha pipes in.
“Not sure. But I want to give him a birthday that’ll make him like birthdays. What if he just hasn’t had a good one? We can do this! Let’s do-” Tim says in quick succession, but is promptly shut up by Sasha putting her hand over his mouth.
“Shush it. Let’s think this through.”
So they huddle together more, and try to drunkenly come up with something they could do that Jon likes for his 30th birthday. They were unable to, however. They can’t get their thoughts together enough to come up with something coherent.
Defeated, they walk home to their shared flat, hopping into bed next to Jon and passing out cuddling each other. They’re not quite sure if they took their shoes off, but if they didn’t, Jon took care of them.
When they get to the Magnus Institute the next day, they rifle through their drawers for paper, and as many pens and highlighters as they can find. With all their supplies together and very hungover, they get to work.
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The first stage of this plan would commence in the first week of March, on a Monday. Martin volunteered to go first, so when Jon woke up to mostly empty sheets, he would open his eyes to see Martin sitting above him, the sunlight covering him like a halo.
Jon immediately flushed. He’s usually the first one up, unsure why only Martin is here and staring at him while he sleeps. He wondered if his blush was visible.
“Um… Hello.”
“Hi, Jon.” Martin’s smile widened slightly. It was a warm smile, and Jon finds himself looking at him, wondering if this might be a dream. He’s unable to say it out loud, as Martin leans down and kisses him. As he pulls back, Jon can see a pink blush coloring his entire face.
“You should get up, we have work today. I have a surprise for you after work.” Martin continues, brushing his hand through Jon’s curls.
“Oh– Um. Okay.”
And just like that, Martin is grabbing clothes from their closet and leaving the bedroom. What was that!? Why is Jon getting a surprise after work? He really should have resisted, said he doesn’t need one, but he was a tad distracted.
Jon would follow the rest of his partners onto the tube and ride the way to work in comfortable silence, though he kept sneaking glances at Martin to see if the secret surprise would just spill out of his lips. It didn’t work.
Throughout the day at work, Jon couldn’t focus. He wasn’t supposed to spoil the surprise, but it was making him too antsy. If it was just a one-time thing, Jon guessed it would be fine to keep the surprise a… Well, surprise.
And once Jon is packing up, Sasha and Tim are already leaving the Archives and going back home. It raises eyebrows, but he supposes that this is meant to be just between Martin and Jon.
“Where are we going?” Jon asks as Martin puts a blindfold on him outside of the institute.
“Surprise. If you really want to know, I can tell you, but it’s just a short walk.”
And so they walk. Jon holds on to Martin’s hand and walks as forward as he can on the sidewalk, trying not to sway. After about five minutes, Martin stops Jon in his steps and faces him in a certain direction.
Jon recognizes the place immediately when the blindfold is taken off. It’s a quite expensive bookshop that only sells first editions and signed copies of books. He’s wanted to buy something here for ages, but it was too useless and cost too much money for him to consider it extensively.
“... Why are we here?” Jon asks stupidly.
“We’re going to buy a treat for you, silly. Is that okay?”
“Can you afford it?”
“Yep! I saved up for it. And no, you will not pay me back. Your birthday is quite soon. This is one of your surprises.”
Jon stills at that, looking up at Martin. “One of them?”
“Mhm. I picked Monday and Wednesday of the first week of March to do mine. Tim picked Tuesday and Thursday of the second week of March, and Sasha picked Wednesday and Friday of the third week of March.”
“That’s… a lot of surprises.” Jon wasn’t sure how to feel. When did they plan this? Why so many surprises for his birthday? What will they even do on Wednesday?
“They don’t have to be surprises. Just wait until the day of to ask, okay?”
“O- Okay…”
“Are we ready to go in?”
Jon nodded, and he and Martin held hands as they walked in. The shopkeeper seemed reluctant to even sell anything, but that’s stupid. It’s a bookshop for a reason.
They strolled through all the different aisles, taking their time. Jon’s never even been in here before, and he wants to pick something that will mean a lot to him. Martin and Jon ended up stopping in the middle of an aisle, the latter infodumping to him about one of the books they saw.
“But it’ll never work out for them. He’s gay and she’s an alien, y’know? Anyways, I think I know what book I’ll pick out.”
And he picked up the book he was talking about. He’s read it quite a few times before, but this seems to be both a first edition and signed copy of it. It’s old and tattered, but he’s gonna give it some more love. Perhaps annotate it if it isn’t already.
They end up being able to buy the book, still to Jon and the shopkeeper’s reluctance, and he and Martin exit the shop happily. Martin’s never been one to collect books, and neither has Jon, but the latter actually wants to. Maybe this’ll be the start of a collection, and Jon will actually take up a hobby for once.
Once they get home, Sasha and Tim are acting normally again, and they kiss him hello. Jon decides to put his book on the mostly empty shelf next to their bed. Later tonight, he’ll start annotating and reading it.
When everyone is heading to bed, Jon makes sure to give the biggest kiss to Martin, as a ‘Thank you’ for the trip. Martin understands what he’s trying to say, and giggles as he lays down. Jon doesn’t end up actually going to bed until the early hours of morning, too busy captivated by his book, but he’ll handle it.
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On Wednesday, Jon had already thoroughly gone through the book. It was more tattered than it had been before, the pages filled with ink from his favorite ballpoint pen and highlighters from annotations. Martin was glad he was enjoying it so much.
They decide to all walk to the institute today, as it’s sunny outside for once. As Martin and Jon get a little behind Tim and Sasha on the sidewalk, Jon asks what today’s surprise is.
“Hm? Today’s surprise? Well… We might be going to an animal shelter so you can play with some of the cats there.” Martin’s cheeks redden, scratching the back of his neck as he scopes out Jon’s reaction.
Jon’s eyes lighten up, clearly excited. “Really?”
“Yes, really. But we’re just playing with the cats, okay?”
“Okay. Okay!” Jon seems to have a bit more pep in his step, looking forward to the end of work. A cat shelter is the perfect place to chill out and enjoy himself after an exhausting day.
And like on Monday, Tim and Sasha leave early today. Martin and Jon hold hands once they’re outside of the institute. Jon leads the way to his favorite shelter, a bit of a longer walk, but no biggie.
They ended up staying at the shelter for a while longer than intended. As in, they were there for two hours. Those two hours are just Jon playing with the cats, not including what happens afterwards.
Because as Jon’s playing with a British Shorthair kitten, he almost cries at the prospect of leaving this specific kitten alone. There’s a connection here, but Jon isn’t sure what the origin is. Is it caused by him loving cats, or him needing this cat specifically?
And like a light, Martin wraps his arms around him from behind and asks, “Do you want this one?”
Jon sniffled, unsure what Martin meant by that. “I- Are you sure?”
“Well, um. It wasn’t according to plan, but Tim and Sasha won't mind if it’s just your cat and you take care of them. But you need to be sure. I’m not adopting them unless you’re absolutely sure.
Jon ponders it for a few minutes alone. He needs to make sure he has all the right supplies for this, or if he’s even ready. If necessary, he knows Georgie would happily babysit this kitten for a few days while Jon gets used to it. He also has food and other supplies for when he babysits The Admiral, so he should be okay.
Jon finds Martin again and tugs his sleeve. “I’m sure.” Martin sighs, knowing he will be blamed for this later, and nods.
“Ok, let’s talk to the lady at the counter.”
And they end up staying at the shelter for another hour, making sure Jon’s house is in good condition and the cat has all of their vaccinations. Luckily, everything seems to go well, and they exit the shop with Corporal Snout (co-named by Jon and Martin).
Just in case, they go to the nearest pet store on the way home and pick out a collar, toys, and some extra food for the kitten. Once they get home with their hands full of supplies and a new cat, Sasha and Tim stare at them with their jaws dropped.
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Corporal Snout’s welcome into the house was actually a lot more smooth than Jon thought it would be. After a few days of getting used to the cat, Sasha and Tim started treating the cat as their own. Now, it’s next Tuesday, the second week of March. This is supposedly the day where Tim gives Jon a gift.
Knowing the days when these things would happen helped Jon put it into his plans and routine, making it easier to handle the surprise of it. He’s glad he got some time off before being given anything more.
When Jon wakes up that morning, he hears a purring in his ear. Smiling softly, he opens his eyes and turns his head towards Snout to see that Tim’s also there, cuddling into his side.
“Jesus! You scared me…”
Tim smirks, clearly not sleeping. He leans over and kisses Jon’s cheek.
He kept sneaking glances with Tim throughout the day, always catching his eye and causing Tim to wink at him. Jon rolled his eyes every time, trying to get back to work, yet excited. He’s never been quite this excited for a birthday before. It’s strange, and he’s not sure whether he likes it or not.
Once the workday was over, Martin and Sasha waved them goodbye and exited first, leaving Tim and Jon alone.
“So, bossman, how much do you know?”
“Well, I know the days I’m getting gifts and from whom… That’s it.”
“Do you wanna know where I’m bringing you?”
“Yes, please.”
And then they found themselves in front of a thrift store. Jon didn’t quite understand why he needed new clothes, his old ones from uni still fitting just fine, but he supposes his tastes have changed a bit.
“Here we are!” Tim says. “Ready to go in?”
Jon nods, and they hold hands as they walk in together. The first thing that Jon notices is that, somehow, it’s all color coordinated. It fills Jon with satisfaction, seeing these organized clothes. He immediately goes towards the yellow section, his favorite color, and tries to find some clothes up to his taste.
He knows Tim probably expects him to get actual casual clothes rather than formal clothes, so he tries. Jon ends up finding a bunch of clothes with cats on them, reminding him vaguely of those ‘Hang in there!’ posters. He also looks for some other types of clothes, mainly pants, since he really needs something other than his ripped jeans, and Jon finds what he needs.
Tim leaves Jon alone so he can try his clothes on in the changing room, and Jon leaves the room with all his clothes fitting just fine. With his regular clothes back on, he carries all the clothes he’s buying in his arms as he tries to find Tim.
“Ooh, some good ones you found there.” Tim says. Most of the clothes are dull colors of yellow, green, red, and black. Tim even picks out some clothes of his own, much more colorful than Jon’s, and they head to the checkout.
“Why didn’t you get any sweaters?” Tim asks
“I like certain people’s sweaters more.”
Once they’re home, they would try on their clothes and show each other. Tim came out of the bathroom wearing tan mini-shorts and a pink collared crop-top. Jon came out wearing a red beanie, a yellow T-shirt with a cat illustrated on it, and an ankle-length black skirt.
Martin and Sasha especially enjoyed their new clothes, saying it made them look pretty. Jon would blush and wave it off. Corporal Snout ended up poking holes into the skirt as they climbed up and onto Jon’s shoulder.
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Tim seems rather excited on Thursday. It worries Jon. He really doesn’t want to go anywhere too exciting. He knows what Tim’s like, praying it isn’t something like an amusement park (even though it isn’t quite the time of year for that).
When work is over, Jon can’t wait anymore.
“What are we doing today?”
“Ice cream!” Tim responds with a big grin.
And true to his word, they go to Jon’s favorite ice cream shop. It surprises Jon that it wasn’t something more extreme, but he supposes Tim would be that excited about getting ice cream. As if reading his mind, Tim reassures him.
“Don’t worry. I know you like simple things. So I’m doing simple things for your birthday. Martin loves gift-giving and doing more meaningful things, which is why he brought you to that bookshop and the animal shelter. Meanwhile, I’m not going to be spoiling Sasha’s gifts. She planned the most out of anyone.”
Jon nods along, now kind of dying to figure out what Sasha’s doing, but he can wait. He orders his usual rum raisin ice cream, whilst Tim orders chocolate with sprinkles.
They talk about nothing in particular, and suddenly it feels like a date. It makes Jon a bit embarrassed, but he’s not opposed to a date for his birthday. It was a short gift, but they still enjoyed it nevertheless. They walk home, continuing their conversation happily as they eat their ice cream. Jon saved most of his for home, wanting to savor it.
It’s as they get onto the front steps of their house, though, that Jon trips on a step and falls. And damn! It hurt more than it should. It was especially distressing because he both scraped his knee and spilled melted ice cream all over himself. Tim was immediately at his side, checking in on him.
“Holy shit! Are you good?”
“Mmh…” Jon whined. He was in a bit of a shock, trying to keep himself from melting down entirely. Luckily, Tim has this handled.
“Let's get you inside.”
Tim picks up Jon bridal-style, and carries him into the house. Seeing him with ice cream all over himself and his scraped knee, Martin and Sasha immediately panic. Tim chills them out, just asking them to get the ice cream outside into the freezer as he brings Jon to the bathroom.
“Can you speak?” Tim asks as he looks away, waiting for Jon to undress. Tim only gets a whine in response and a sniffle, so he thinks about what to say.
“Ok. Turn on the bath and find a temperature you like. Just make a noise when you’re ready for me to turn around.”
After a few minutes, Jon clears his throat. Tim turns around and looks at the scene in front of him, Jon grumpily sitting in a filling bathtub with ice cream slowly melting off of him. It almost makes Tim chuckle, but he knows how Jon feels, and holds it back.
“You doing okay? Am I baby-ing you too much?”
Jon thinks about it for a moment before shaking his head, leaning back in the bathtub. Tim thinks he has himself handled, knowing he doesn’t like being cleaned while completely nude.
“Ok, I’ll give you some privacy–” Tim tries, but is cut off by a whine.
“... Do you want me to keep you company?”
Jon nods his head, looking a bit ashamed. That won’t do. Tim kisses his cheek and sits against a wall. It’s a bit of a one-sided conversation, but Tim talks about nothing in particular as Jon cleans himself.
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Jon looked semi-forward to the Wednesday of the third week. The whole knee-scrape thing tanked his mood toward this whole birthday plan, but it was only one thing that went wrong compared to all the good things that happened.
As he’s waking up that Wednesday, he expects to see Sasha next to him, but the entire bed is empty. As he blearily looks around, he feels a tap on his shoulder and a ‘boo’ is whispered in his ear. Jon almost jumps a foot in the air.
“Oh good lord!”
“Rise and shine, soldier!” Sasha says to his right, standing next to the bed with all of her work clothes already on.
“Goodness… Give me a minute.”
Sasha chuckles slightly, “Too much?”
“No, no, it’s fine…”
He got ready rather quickly after noticing he slept in a bit, and Sasha gives him lots of kisses to make up for scaring him. After about twenty minutes, everyone was out the door and heading to the tube for work.
Jon was most excited for Sasha’s gifts. He thinks she knows him best, and he knows she put a lot of work into hers, even without Sasha saying so. Jon wonders what it could possibly be.
When they’re heading out of work, Sasha easily loops an arm around Jon’s and exits the institute with him.
“Where are we heading?” Jon asks.
“The local museum!”
Jon thought about it. He’s never been there before, but that’s mostly because of the target demographic. The museum tends to cater more to children on field trips, even though the museum is for all ages. It feels like a ruse, like something bigger is supposed to happen, but Jon will enjoy a good museum.
“I can feel what you’re thinking,” Sasha says. “My big gift is on Friday. Today is a chill day, okay?”
Jon nods. When they get there and walk in, Jon realizes how big it actually is. It has tons of different sections, and they first head to a clock room. It seems to be a tiny room full of different types of clocks and clock pieces and parts. It looks like a room to go insane in, but Jon enjoys it anyway. Especially all the clocks themed around cats.
There’s also different types of bikes, and Sasha and Jon make fun of the huge wheels on some of them, while also talking in great depth about how interesting they are.
Finally, there’s a painting section. It’s Jon’s favorite. While Sasha is actively an artist, Jon just used to be. They both are in awe of the wonderful artwork there, and they stop walking to take a break on a bench.
Behind them is an artwork of a couple kissing on a bench, and it makes Jon’s face burn to realize why the bench is there in the first place. Sasha seems to come to the same conclusion.
“Do you want to recreate it?”
“Um… Yes, but not while so many people are around.”
So they wait for the area to clear out more, and once it’s mostly empty, Sasha takes the same pose as the woman in the painting. Jon awkwardly takes the pose of the man, and they take a selfie of them kissing.
Afterwards, Sasha exits the museum hand-in-hand with an embarrassed Jon.
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When Jon wakes up on Friday, he’s still a bit sore from walking so much in the museum, but he really liked going there. It’s not something he does often, but even only for a little bit, he enjoys taking a look at history.
He gets up, feeding Corporal Snout and going to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Seeing Sasha there, he sits down with her and sleepily asks what they’re doing today.
“You’ll see.” Sasha says.
…
“I cast Acid Splash!” Jon (the wizard) says. Sasha, the DM, rolls a dexterity saving throw and fails.
“Roll to hit.”
Jon rolls a D20 across the table. They’ve been stuck in this battle for the past ten or twenty minutes, Tim (the ranger) and Martin (the bard) getting rather low on health. The dragon ends up taking enough damage to finally die, and everyone quickly loots the body of its goods.
He doesn’t know where Sasha found out he used to play DND, but Jon’s glad she did. He sort of missed it, and hasn’t had a good enough friend group to play it with in ages. Sasha had pre-made character sheets for everyone, and she would be DMing a one-shot for Jon’s birthday.
With the dragon defeated, Jon gets a few high-fives, and they all move onwards. It’s been a few hours now, and they’re nearing the end of their story. Jon wonders what Sasha has planned.
What she had planned turned out to be very emotional. The gem they’ve had on themselves for the entirety of the journey needed to be returned to the final boss somehow. They ended up being able to tranquilize it, but the fates for the characters were set as soon they got the gem.
Throughout the journey, the gem had held back the majority of damage they were given by enemies, allowing them to live. But with the gem no longer being used, the three of them died in each other’s arms with the people they loved, which ended the story and the campaign.
After a few minutes of discussion from everyone about how lovely it was, Sasha notices Jon crying.
“Was it a bad gift?” Sasha asked, nervous.
“What? No! Of course not… It just made me. Um. A bit emotional…” Jon covers his face when Tim ‘Aww’ -ed and Martin laughed slightly. Emotionally constipated, they called him.
“Aww, well I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jon.” Sasha says, and Jon simply nods. They all give him a group hug, and it just embarrasses Jon more.
As they’re cleaning up the table, Jon stashes his costume into the dresser drawers, something he wants to wear again soon.
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Jon almost forgot about his actual birthdate when he woke up that morning. Now is the last week of the month (and his birthday), and Jon wakes up surrounded by all of his loved ones. It feels nice to be so loved, and Jon almost wants to sleep in more, but he also wants to do work. Sure, it’s the weekend, but there’s still lots of organizing to do.
As he tries to sit up, three hands stop him, slowly dragging him back down to lay on the bed. He scoffs at his partners, who are all smiling in their ‘sleep’ .
“Why won’t you guys let me up?”
“It’s your birthday.”
“... And?”
There were moments of silence before Jon continued.
“30 isn’t that exciting of a number. Why can’t we just do nothing instead?”
“Exactly. We’re doing nothing. Having a lie-in.” Tim pipes up.
“You need it.” Martin adds on.
With nothing else to add and knowing his loved ones won’t let go of him, Jon turns over onto his side and sighs. Sasha giggles and gets up, Martin following.
“Where are they going?”
“Breakfast.” Tim replies.
And about ten minutes later, Sasha and Martin come back with some sandwiches for breakfast. They bring it in on an old tray, along with some water and his morning medication.
Jon props himself up on his pillows and takes the tray, thanking them. He takes his meds and starts eating the sandwiches, something he always enjoys. Jon really likes peanut butter sandwiches, though mostly for the peanut butter.
“Are they as good as always?” Sasha asks.
“Martin makes the perfect sandwiches.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. Martin makes the perfect everything.” Tim mumbles, kissing Jon’s cheek.
“Whatever you guys say.” Martin replies, kissing Jon’s forehead.
“My turn!” Sasha yells, kissing Jon’s lips.
By the end of it, Jon was left giggling and covering his face so they couldn’t kiss him anymore. Jon never liked his birthday, but he’s glad that this year’s birthday went the way it did. He’ll need to better prepare for it if they do it next year, however.
He doesn’t think that he’ll ever like his birthday, but his partners sure made this one much more tolerable. That night, Jon will go to sleep knowing how much his partners love him, and he’ll love them just the same.
