Chapter Text
It was the start of winter, Jon had begun to turn up the temperature in the archives as the heat outside slowly shifted instead to cold. The archives felt the exact same, like nothing in the world had shifted.
The few things that did change had since then chalked up to the longer shifts, that etched away at his perception and sleep schedule. There aren't any windows throughout most of the building after all, so he often lost track of time. Whenever he left, the hallways he used as the path to the exit felt longer like someone had stretched them out.
Jon set his glasses down, rubbing his eyes. He shoved the statement he had been viewing to the side. It was late, too late in his opinion. He shouldn’t even be there, but for some reason he couldn’t fathom it was better than simply returning home. Jon got up from his desk, deciding to get water. Maybe he would even go home.
The breakroom was dim, the only light was from the opposing side of the hallway and the blue numbers on the microwave.
He flicked on the light switch, realizing he wasn’t even alone in the archives. Martin was still there, dead asleep with his head laid down on the table. What the hell was Martin doing here? Usually he only stayed as long as Tim and Sasha did.
No, he probably just fell asleep a while ago. This is why he needs to get out of his office more, no one even bothered to wake up an employee who could get in trouble for sleeping on the job. Now that he was thinking of it, he was the one who was in charge of what happened next.
For a moment, he simply waited, as if Martin would wake up just because he was there. Of course he didn’t though. Jon hadn’t made a sound since entering the room.
The hard part was actually waking him up, should he, or should he just leave him there and have a talk about this tomorrow. Though, that’d mean if he worked longer, like he wanted, then Martin might find out about him working way too long. Then he would tell Sasha or anyone else who worked there. Then maybe he’d have to go home, to that empty house.
“Martin?” Jon poked his shoulder.
How do you even wake someone up? He groaned, grabbing his shoulders. “Wake up already.”
Martin jolted awake, slapping his hands awake. Then looking up at his boss, he immediately regretted it.
“Jon? Why- Wait, I'm still here?” Martin looked around. “I am so sorry!”
“Yes. You are still here, you fell asleep.”
He checked the clock on the wall, then the look on Jons face. Martin felt like he could just run away. He had been asleep since he was supposed to be on the clock. He got up, pretending he wasn’t currently beating himself up for such a careless mistake.
“Oh uh right, you’re right.” Martin shoved his hand in his hair, pushing it around randomly trying to fix it. “I’ll go grab my stuff.”
“Hm, good.” Jon said. Martin stood there. He took it as Martin waiting for him to say something, but Martin was thinking what he should say. “When did your hair get so long?”
Martin, who was about to say something completely different from the subject Jon just mentioned, froze.
“Not that it matters.” Jon added to his statement.
“Huh, I guess I do need a trim.” Martin grabbed a lock of his own hair, staring at it now with disdain. “Well I should probably get out of here, it is… Oh I forgot it’s 11pm! You should leave too.”
He ran out of the room, before sticking his head back in. “Though not that it matters!”
Jon had no other thoughts than how odd that was. Well, he did think Martin was a weird guy at times but for once the conversation was weird because Jon had made it weird. He just had to make a comment about his hair didn’t he? It wasn’t a rude comment but it wasn’t on subject but maybe, if his tone was off it could have been passive aggressive.
It was fine, but was it? Well no, he was simply being unfair on himself Martin probably didn’t even care that much about such an offhanded nothing comment.
It was another long day at work, shifting to night and Jon had made it colder than normal today in his office and the thought of what time it was had completely drifted from his mind. It was just him, a tape recorder, and the cold.
There was a knock at the door. “Come in.”
Martin opened the door, about three papers in hand and a grin on his face. “So I was following up on that statement you were curious about, and I found a few papers on the housing situation and the neighbors…” Though one thing stood out; Martin had gotten his haircut.
It was shorter than ‘a trim,’ a lot shorter. The hair that was once grazing his shoulders and collarbones was now not reaching past his ears.
Martin walked over, and placed the papers down on his desk. “It’s quite interesting actually, turns out there was supposed to be no one in that apartment. It’s all down here on this paper, along with what two of the tenants said about the place.”
“Good, I’ll be checking these.”
“Anything else?” Martin asked.
“Yes actually.” Jon knew he was asking about work, but he couldn’t just not mention it. He wasn’t very good at just ignoring things. “Did you… Did you cut your hair?”
Martin looked up, suddenly nervous as ever. Any confidence he had had been turned into him being a stuttering mess trying to explain himself. Like it was a moral dilemma that he had simply just gotten his haircut.
“Well uh, I told the hairdresser to do what I normally get and then she got me confused with someone else and I got this uh.. Mullet type of hair… I know it looks horrendous but I tried everything to make it more presentable!” Despite his blabbering on and on it was clear he didn’t want to admit that he ruined his hair because of one comment Jon had made.
And, Martin was obviously insecure about how it had turned out. It wasn’t the most conventional hairstyle but surprisingly, Jon kind of liked how it looked on him. Something you would never expect Jon of all people to say, the guy who started to let his hair grow out even though he tied it up to pretend it was still short, he wanted to look like the clean intellectual type. But he didn’t notice his own eyebags and the way his shirt was never tucked in; anyways being so obsessive over how his hair looked didn’t help at all also because the way he tied it up was messy and unprofessional looking.
But, despite all that, Jon did think it made the guy look nice.
“Oh, uh well you don’t care but my hair is completely fucked up- Uh- Messed up!”
“Martin, it looks good.”
“You’re just being nice.”
“No it looks hot- Well no wait, how do I put this, it’s a really attractive haircut and I like it.” The skin around his eyes and nose turned ever so slightly red. “And I was just asking.” Oh god, he used the first word that came to mind. If he had continued with his original thought it could have been some sort of violation. He had no attraction to his coworker, he was simply not thinking, and it was clear no one was thinking in that room because both of them had seemed to have gone brain dead after what he said clicked completely between both of them.
Martin stopped talking after hearing his sentences. “Really, okay, I guess I was a little too harsh.” Opposing Jon, he was bright red and hid it not-so perfectly with his hand. “But uh, do you need anymore follow up Jon?” He asked, as Jon tried to avoid staring at him clearly blushing.
“No, but maybe you should go get a drink or whatever you need you seem to be…” He twirled his hand, thinking of the words to use. “Stressed out..” The more accurate word would be frantic or maybe even flustered. But Jon couldn’t point that out to him.
Martin nodded. “Yeah… Am I getting in trouble for sleeping on the job?” He finally admitted.
Oh right, that's what this is about. He should have just left him to sleep in the archives then Martin wouldn’t be this panicked over simple work conversation.
“I’ll.. don’t mention it, you don’t have to worry about it just go calm down.” Jon kept his head down. “Or get a prescription for anxiety meds what the fuck…” He said under his breath.
Jon grabbed the papers he had originally placed down on his desk and aligned them all. Martin practically ran out of the room, shutting the door with a little too much force. Which left Jon alone again, like he had always wanted, but this time he was left alone with his thoughts too. And all he could think of was that he had made it weird again.
Jon put his legs up on his chairs and leaned his head back, sighing. He should have probably done something since he is his boss, but he for some reason saw it as less of a hassle to simply let it go. It would be best for Martin and his ability to work if he didn’t give him a reason to have a panic attack.