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It didn't start with anyone in the archives. With how things were going these days if somebody had asked Jon that he'd have set it was a miracle.
But nobody did and Jon preferred to keep this comment to himself as he followed Martin, Tim, and Sasha around. Jon was fiddling around with harmonica in his pocket, preferring to sneak back to the archives rather than face embarrassment. Unfortunately for him, Basira and Tim had joined up in forcing him to socialize.
The lobby was far more crowded than Jon had expected to see. Almost every single one of his coworkers were loitering around the entrance. Rosie was attempting to coordinate where everyone would go and was barely making progress. Martin softly tapped him on the arm and pointed at a stocky, black woman wearing noise canceling headphones near the makeshift stage.
"That's Hannah," Martin said. He'd tried describing her to Jon before but Jon swore he'd never met her before. Maybe because he'd worked in research and Hannah worked in the library but Jon had gone down to the library many times before and he'd never seen her.
GP, Basira, and Brian were messing around with their instruments, getting them in tune. Nikola had messaged saying they'd be by soon and everyone agreed it be better off asking when. Rachel and Kofi were carpooling as soon as they got off work. Jon was determined to avoid all of them until the music started.
He couldn't avoid them forever, however much he wanted to. Thinking back on how this started, Jon was started to regret agreeing to all of this.
*** Two weeks before***
Tim was playing with a tennis ball. Jon could hear it despite being in his office and his door being closed. Unfortunately he was supposed to be recording statements today and couldn't put his headphones in.
He wondered, not for the first time, why he'd picked Tim as one of his assistants. Then Tim would manage to get some extremely important information out of a filing clerk and would make his eccentricities less annoying. He was at least better than Martin at that.
Jon knew he was too harsh on Martin, too quick to snap at minor inconveniences, but for someone who was way more qualified for the job Martin was remarkably bad at his job. He made up it with bringing tea whenever someone was stressed but Jon felt more stressed around him and turned down the offer for tea every time.
When Sasha suddenly yelled at Jon to come out, he'd jumped and slammed his knee into his desk. Grumbling under his breath, Jon did just that. Not because she'd told him too, no matter how much she scared him with how much she knew about his past, but because yelling for him was surely something important.
Sasha was pacing back and forth, waving her hands around in anger. Occasionally Tim would have to dodge whenever she got to close and would almost hit him. Martin was stirring his tea. Honey with two sugars was too sweet for Jon but Martin seemed to prefer it.
Whatever Sasha was attempting to say, her anger made it almost incomprehensible. Turning to Tim, Jon asked, "Why was I called?"
"Elias has pissed off most of the company and Sasha just learned why," Tim explained as he rolled the ball along his hands like he was about to do a magic trick.
He then told Jon everything, how Elias has stumbled across a Hannah from the library listening to sea shanties and told her that her music tastes were disgusting and Hannah told Sonya who told Rosie and how the three went around playing different bands too see which one made Elias more mad until they found some band that made Elias go bonkers.
" I quite like the band," Martin chimed in. Jon had to do everything to not jump. He'd been so quite that Jon had forgotten he way there.
Jon however was quite shocked to learn Martin listened to sea shanties. He'd thought the kind man would listen to classical stuff like Jon's Nan had. "Why did this make everyone so mad?" Jon questioned.
"Because most of research and artifact storage really like that band and Elias went and banned them from being playing in the building," Sasha exclaimed. Whatever group made everyone revolt had to be popular. Hopefully it wasn't something mindless like One Direction, Jon thought, although if they were still popular Jon wouldn't know.
"Right, so I'm assuming most of our coworkers are like this, "Jon said, gesturing to Sasha's pacing, "who are they?"
Martin seemed to perk up at that, "Oh they're a somewhat popular band who does mostly concept albums. Here I think I have a photo of them. " Martin pulled out his phone and scrolled for a few seconds before turning it to Jon.
He nearly had a heart attack when he'd found himself staring at his own face. The lighting mascara around his eyes and the outfit seemed to obscure that they were the one and the same from his assistants. Not for the first time, Jon was so grateful for his work attire to be long cardigans and wool pants.
Tim grabbed Martins phone and the sound of Jon's voice narrating High Noon over Camelot filled the archives. Jon had to fight the urge to fidget or to run back to the comfort of his office.
"So why is this my problem?" Jon asked, Sasha wasn't the type to ask for permission to do something. Nobody was except maybe Martin but apparently what Jon knew about Martin was now in question. Sasha gave him a threatening grin, all teeth and a intense stare, "Everyone whose a fan is throwing an impromptu karaoke day in two weeks but the Heads of each department don't want to sign on without a guarantee they won't be fired."
She didn't need to say anything else, Jon had noticed how everyone in the archives could get away with more than any other department. Tim wore Hawaiian shirts everyday despite being told by Elias that it went against the dress code, Sasha hadn't even called two weeks ago when she went to go visit her sister and wasn't fired, even Martin brewed tea in the archives with no regard for the chance of destroying any of the ancient notes and documents just because the lunch room was too far away.
"They want me to endorse it, don't they," Jon sighed, already done with this. He could say no and Sasha would surely tell everyone all the things she knows but if he said yes then the whole company could know what Jon did in his spare time. Jon was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. "Fine, but how do you plan to pull this off?"
Sasha explained her plan, "Rosie's gonna give Tim a key the night before so he can bring his surround sound stuff in, Sonya has some lighting she's gonna give Tim, and Hannah has noise cancelling insulation we're going to use to deafen Elias office so he can't hear us setting it up."
Jon raised one eyebrow," And what are you going to do about music?"
Her enthusiasm faltered until Martin spoke up, "I have all the cd's I'm sure someone can separate the instruments and voices before we do karaoke day."
"What's that about karaoke?" A remarkably familiar voice came from Jon's right. He didn't need to look to see Basira coming down the stairs. As if his day couldn't get any worse, Sasha and Tim started explaining everything to her. A mischievous grin spread over her face and, looking Jon straight in the eyes, said, "I can play the bass and I know a few other people who can play the rest if you want to have a live band."
Giving her an evil eye, Jon tried to convey his annoyance without saying anything. Basira give him a deadpan look. Martin, seeing their unspoken conversation, told Jon, "We'll try to keep it as quiet as possible so you can record statements that day."
That was the least worrying thing Jon had to focus on, but Jon shot him a grateful look nonetheless.
*** Present Day***
Nikola had shown up covered in dirt. Why she was covered in dirt and how it didn't stain her clothes were above Jon's pay grade so he gave her a quick nod before turning back to the group. Almost all of the instruments were in tune and they were just waiting for Hannah's go ahead.
They'd split D'Ville into two roles and Martin was doing all the narration. Each album had a different set of singers from each of the departments. Everyone in the band had kept quiet about them being the actual members except for some cryptic posts Jon had just done on Tumblr. Which he almost immediately regretted when he saw clumps of people check their phones and soon everyone here had seen the post. Thankfully the idea that the Mechanisms where here was an outlandish thought nobody even considered it.
Jon had to hide his grin. He had to keep a modicum of respectfulness, even at a karaoke party to spite the boss, and got to work finishing setting up the microphones. They'd have to readjust the heights after each album but that wouldn't take long and it would give everyone a small break.
Once everything was in place, Hannah gave them a brief checkup before stepping up to the microphone. She gave it a gentle tap and a reverberating sound rang out. "Attention everyone, " she said in a soft voice that nonetheless commanded everyone's attention, "let's get this party started! Research your up."
A few people made their way towards the stage. Most of them Jon didn't recognize but one or two of them he thought he remembered working with them before Jon was promoted. They took their places and, seeing they were nervous, Basira gave them a round of applause with the rest of the room following suit.
Martin looked nervous now that they were almost about to begin, Jon gave him a nudge and some words of encouragement. He remembered his first time playing in front of a crowd and how nervous he was and Martin looked like he was about to start apologizing to everyone before bailing to make tea.
That might have been the wrong thing to do, Jon thought when Martin's face flushed and he stared down at the pages of lyrics Martin had printed off. Martin said he'd memorized them all but had printed them just in case.
When all the karaoke singers were sure, Martin began speaking. Hearing the lines of 'Once' coming out of sweet Martins voice was jarring. Thankfully, Jon had to focus on the timing of when he'd start playing. Not that he really did anything until later in the album but if Jon focused on anything else he'd come in late and if it ever got out that he was Jonny D'Ville he'd never live it down.
They really got into character, the members of Research did, singing with such enthusiasm it almost seemed like they'd been possessed by the spirit of D'Ville himself.
Everyone in the crowd sang along but the microphones made sure that the singers were still heard.
*** five days before***
Basira had gotten the rest of the band to agree to it. Nikola had jumped on it before Jon had raised any objections and soon everyone ganged up on him. They'd agreed to meet at Basira's to practice since she was the only one who didn't have to worry about rowdy neighbors.
"Can't believe you agreed to this," GP said, giddy with laughter, "especially with how you reacted when I showed up before." Jon threw a pillow at him. He might have overreacted when he'd seen GP in his office after Prentiss' attack. "I didn't learn about this until they'd already planned it," he said, pouting.
Georgie just laughed at him, completely unsympathetic to his plight. "Oh no, poor Jon. His employee's and coworkers are gonna learn he has a sense of humor the world surely must be ending.
Jon huffed, "There's no need for sarcasm, Georgie." Georgie made a mocking face at him before going back to setting up the programs needed for the karaoke to work. When Melanie had heard from Basira what was going on she'd told Georgie, who volunteered to do all the sound mixing. Never mind the fact that she was already going to play the viola that day.
Everyone had gotten dressed in their costumes even though they were only practicing. Jon had painstakingly drew on his lighting bolts coming out from his eyes in Basira's bathroom alongside everyone else. What could he say, they were theatre kids at heart.
Marius gave a strum on his guitar and they all said in unison, "FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR TRAIN!"
Soon they were singing songs at random, bouncing from a song from Ulysses dies at dawn into another from Once upon in time in space until they couldn't breathe. Jon's cheeks hurt from grinning so much. All the stress from Prentiss meant he'd had to miss some events and couldn't relax and scream his voice hoarse.
Giggling, Basira pointed the tip of her guitar at him, "You better be nice to Martin. I've heard how you talk to him from Sasha and I won't have you bring the mood down."
Jon promised to behave even though he was already planning to do that. Martin had volunteered almost as soon as Sonya and Rose had split D'Ville into a narrator and a singer and had even shown them some of his poetry despite not needing to.
"Are you going to sing at all Jon," Nikola asked in her high pitched and creepy voice they'd all gotten used to. "No, " Jon said, "I'd prefer if they didn't know I went around prancing on stage as a steampunk pirate."
He'd worked to hard to keep that a secret from everyone and so far only Sasha had learned about it. That was still one person two many in Jon's opinion.
*** Present Day***
A thunderous round of applause deafened Jon for a few seconds as the last line was sung. Everyone was feeling the excitement and cheered out all of the Research departments names as they all took a bow before walking off the stage. They'd planned a few minutes to let Jon and everyone else rest before they'd jump into the next album with Artifact Storage up next.
Last Jon heard a fight almost broke out between two people who wanted to play Ashes and was only decided by a coin flip. Even then the loser had accused the winner of using the weighed coin that some statement giver had brought years ago. Sonya had stubbornly put an end to that and the loser had stubbornly grumbled until karaoke day had arrived.
"Here you go Jon," Martin said, passing over a small paper cup of tea. Earl grey with half a teaspoon of sugar just like Jon liked it. He didn't know when Martin had learned his favorite tea but he thanked him anyways. Rubbing his shoe into the tile, Jon took a sip and told Martin, "I apologize for my behavior these past few months. I should not have treated you so harshly."
Martin shrugged, "Apology accepted."
Jon gaped at him, "I was a right prick to you."
"You were but I didn't take most of it to heart," Martin told Jon, "Just don't tell anyone about my resume being forged."
A grin graced Jon's face as he remembered their conversation in the tunnels and how Martin had lied to get his job in the library.
He'd finished drinking his tea before Martin had and in an attempt to be kind took the now damp paper. "Looks like Hannah wants to talk to you, "Jon said as he spotted Hannah making her way towards them. Martin gave him a quick thanks before turning towards Hannah and walking away.
"That was bad Jon," Georgie's voice came from behind him.
Jon spun around, holding his own empty cup over his chest. "Christ-"
"Nope just me."
"- don't sneak up on me like Georgie."
Georgie gave a shrug and, grinning, gave him a playful shove. "You weren't as bad as that when you asked me out in college."
"I wasn't that bad, and if I remember correctly you asked me out."
Teasingly, Georgie put on a mocking voice," Oh really cause I remember you offering me a book and asking if I wanted to go to the library you'd got it from."
Jon could feel his face flush. It had made more sense in his head and after he had asked Georgie he'd sworn she'd laughed for a good five minutes before agreeing. "And beside I don't know what your talking about."
"Right, so that definitely wasn't you flirting with Martin."
"I'm glad we are on the same page," Jon said before leaving Georgie behind who wasn't even trying to hide her laughter.
Hannah had just tapped on the microphone again and called up artifact storage. Everyone who was playing instruments followed suit from all over the hall.
*** Two days ago***
Elias is a right prick Jon thought as he climbed the multiple floors to Elias' office. Never mind the fact that Jon has work to do and was actually enjoying himself for once. Tim had taken to playing The Mechanisms on repeat for the entire work day. Martin, Sasha, and Basira when she showed up were having their own mini impromptu karaoke since they wouldn't be singing. The archives had lost the coin toss for High Noon over Camelot to the Library.
Pushing the door open, Elias was sitting at his desk like a movie villain. The only thing he was missing was a cat to stroke. Jon cleared his throat, "What did you need, Elias" He didn't care to try and put a nice facade up.
The only answer he got was a smug smile.
After a few minutes in a uncomfortable silence, with neither wanting to concede, Jon turned around to leave. Finally Elias spoke up, "What you have planned is a nice distraction but I expect you to continue progressing on your work."
Panic surged through Jon. How did Elias know about it? Elias could shut it down if he wanted to and Jon couldn't for the life of him figure out why he wasn't. Maybe he was waiting until they'd actually committed a crime to inform the police. Jon didn't think hosting karaoke at work was a crime but he was sure Elias could spin in such a way that would make it sound like it was.
"You needn't have called me up for that Elias I was planning on working up until the last minute." Jon finally said over his shoulder.
He strolled out of Elias office before Elias could reply. As soon as the door closed, Jon broke out into a sprint towards the stairs leading to the Archives. He slowed to a respectable stroll, though why he couldn't say since his reputation was firmly shattered when Basira voluntold him that he was playing harmonica, and as soon as he was comfortably situated in the stuffy, air-conditioned main area of the Archives told everyone nearby what Elias said.
Sasha cursed under her breath before saying, "How'd he learn of it?"
Everyone threw out suggestions. Maybe he saw it on someone's phone, overheard somebody talking about it, or maybe someone had told him. The last one was the most unlikely but it couldn't hurt to cover all their bases. "I'll let everyone else know, "Martin said, gathering up a few papers he was working on, "maybe someone from Research knows something.
Jon gave him a brief smile and told him to be back quickly. Martin's ears turned red as he went around Jon.
"We'll continue on with karaoke but keep an eye out for Elias," Jon told everyone before heading back towards his office.
*** Present Day***
Even after two hours everyone seemed to be getting more energetic. Jon certainly felt more energized than he'd felt in a while. Although he'd taken to hiding in a corner as soon as the final guitar strum faded.
Unfortunately, Melanie had had the same idea and Jon found himself standing next to her. He had nothing against Melanie though he knew he'd come across a tad ruder than he'd intended when she'd first come down to give a statement.
"So, "Jon started to say, "are you enjoying yourself?"
Melanie let out a sharp laugh. "Pissing off a jerk always makes my day, Sims."
The silence between the two returned. They didn't have much in common and Jon's social battery was already running on empty.
Looking over the crowds of his coworkers, Jon was amazed at how many of them had been singing along to the albums. Though why he was so surprised he couldn't say, the Magnus Institute seemed like it was designed to attract his bands fans on certain days.
With no warning, Melanie suddenly grabbed his arm and shoved something into his hand. "Bring this to Marin, " She told Jon sternly, " lord knows he probably needs it right now."
In his hand was some caramel flavored candies.
She must have talked to Martin at some point Jon figured. She gave him a sharp shove out of the comfort of their shared corner into the crowds of coworkers.
Finding Martin was easier said than done. His jumpers that were normally out of place in the archives were replaced with some cheap steampunk from thrift store that everyone was wearing. Eventually, after what felt like hours but what was probably on ten minutes, Jon spotted Martin's light brown hair near the entrance.
Heading towards Martin, Jon saw him talking to Georgie. In much more of a hurry now, Jon did a sort of half-sprint that way just in time to catch Georgie saying, "-and that's how he ended up getting arrested."
Interrupting them, Jon told Martin, "Melanie wanted me to bring these to you." Holding out the handful of candy to Martin, Jon was terrified which time he'd been arrested Georgie was telling him about.
Martin took them with a short thanks before popping one in his mouth.
"What are you talking about," Jon asked Georgie.
Georgie gave him a mysterious smile before answering, "Nothing bad I assure you. But I see Melanie waving at me so I'll leave you two here."
How Georgie could see Melanie was a mystery that Jon didn't care to find out. Before he could speak to Martin however, the ringing of the microphone signaled it was time for High Noon over Camelot to begin.
*** A few hours before**
Tim came into work carrying a bunch of bags and calling for everyone to come out. He was grinning like a madman, not to dissimilar to the man in the statement Jon had been reading. The sight made Jon very uneasy.
Thankfully Jon was saved from having to ask what Tim was up to by Sasha. She gave a small frown before asking, "What's in the bags Tim?"
All she got in response was a bag thrust in her arms. Tim gave out each bag to everyone in the office, including Melanie, Basira, and Georgie. Jon gave those three a confused glance before looking inside his own gift.
A bolt of electricity shot down his back. Inside were steampunk clothes, a cheap pair of swimming goggles that looked like they'd been used as a base for some air-dry clay, and some drugstore makeup. Jon had managed to avoid revealing himself to be Jonny for two weeks and if he put any of this on his cover would be blown.
Basira gave him a look, somehow laughing at him without making a single sound.
"What is all this for, "Martin asked as he pulled out a burnished brown vest. Tim spun to face Martin and said, "The final piece to our wonderful bit of spite. Our costumes!"
Jon would rather die than put these on. His horror must have shown on his face since he heard Melanie cackling.
Sasha, the voice of reason, spoke up," We can't be the only ones dressed up."
The bit of logic didn't dim Tim's shine though, "That's the good thing, we wont be. Hannah, Sonya, and Rosie got everyone in their departments their own costumes."
Bloody hell Tim planned all of this a while ago. Tim sat at his desk and, using the blackness of the computer screen, put the drugstore makeup on. Sasha gave a shrug, put her own on with a surprising quickness before turning to help the others, leaving Martin and Jon standing there.
"I'm not putting these on," Jon said, more to himself than Martin. Martin, not knowing why Jon was so against it, gave a soft nod and told him, "I wouldn't blame you. These have got to be far outside your normal tastes."
A quick pitstop to his office to hide the bag and Jon made his way to the lobby. He and Georgie were supposed to be helping set up the stage and getting all the instruments in place.
*** Present Day***
The final album finished way to quickly in Jon's opinion. Even more when instead of Hannah stepping up to give the final speech, Tim got up in front of the microphone, his crazed grin making Jon want to bolt.
"Hello everyone, " Tim started, whether he was somehow drunk or buzzed was a complete mystery, "thanks for all the hard work from our volunteers" He gave a sweeping gesture to everyone on instruments before continuing. "But it wouldn't be fair for them to not get a turn."
Confusion showed on everyone of Jon's friends face. He was certain that his face mirrored theirs. Except Basira's. A nagging feeling started to grow in Jon as Tim paused before saying, "That's why they're going to perform any song of their choosing," He paused as if considering something, "If they want to that is."
Nikola stepped forward and in her twisting voice, "Oh we'd love to."
GP followed suit, " That's nice and all but we'd still need one of you to play Jonny since we're missing our own."
That's when Basira spoke up, "Nonsense, Jon played the harmonica during Once Upon a Time in Space he can play Jonny."
Basira gave him a wink and that's when it hit Jon. She'd been planning this since she'd volunteered to play life. Giving her his meanest glare, which only resulted in Basira chuckling, Jon slowly made his way to the stage. "Fine, "Jon said with more than just a small bit of annoyance, "but your answering all the phone calls, Tim"
Tim just gave a shrug, said fine, and hopped back into the crowd that Jon so desperately wanted to be hidden in.
When Rachel started singing Lost in the Cosmos, Jon could see a few peoples eyebrows furrow. They didn't connect the dots however until Kofi started singing the origin song he'd come up with recently. When it came time for Jon and Basira to sing Lucky Sevens, most of Jon's coworkers had figured out that karaoke night had been crashed by the band members themselves.
As the guitar beat for Lucky Sevens started, Jon shot Tim a evil grin and started to sing. "In the dying light of Malone's twin suns-"
Martins face when Jon started singing was almost enough to make Jon burst into laughter and it was only the slimmest bit of focus Jon could conjure up stopped him.
Basira soon joined in, all of Jon's colleagues were staring in blank disbelief. They'd done such a good job separating stuffy, sweater vest wearing Jon and respectable cop Basira that seeing Jonny and Ashe's was enough to burst a few braincells.
The two finished their duet and Jon immediately started cackling, the mad cackle he'd deliberately trained himself not to do at work.
"Surprise, " Jon grinned.