Chapter Text
Jon stiffened as he heard a snuffling sound outside his office. Offices were confusing to begin with - he was still used to living in the forest but he was finally starting to get somewhat used to his new ‘life’ (half a life, really) living among the humans. He was, as many dryads were forced to these days, just trying to survive in a steadily more and more degraded world. He counted himself lucky that his tree was in a tree-protection area and therefore he was still alive. Unfortunately he couldn’t still live there and now he was stuck with a sound that was unfamiliar and had him on edge.
A small furry head poked its way through the doorway and Jon jumped up onto the desk just in case, berating himself for forgetting that one was supposed to close doors. That's what they were for, after all. The creature came closer and Jon Knew it had sharp, pointy teeth. Oh no. He shivered with fear, hoping it couldn't get to him. This was a new kind of creature but he'd felt other forest creatures’ reactions to ones like it before - terror. It was a scourge to squirrels and frogs and rodents, rabbits and birds. Part of him briefly reflected upon the fact that those were all small creatures and it was quite possible they were only scared of it because it could eat them. However it would be folly to simply assume safety with one of the human world’s creatures. So instead he huddled at the top of his desk praying to the woods that it would not be able to reach him.
A human face poked into the doorway, nervous and freckled with a bright fluff of orange hair, bangs half-covering his eyes. “H-Hi. Have you seen a dog?”
Jon looked up. “A… dog.”
“Yes.”
“What is a dog?”
“Oh.” Martin looked faintly confused. “You… don’t know what a dog is?”
Jon shook his head. “No.” Then he looked down at the creature snuffling around the back of his desk. “Is it perhaps, um, this creature?” He pointed and Martin walked into the room and around his desk.
“Oh, yes. Thank you!” He led the creature out and Jon was relieved to see that it didn’t immediately begin mauling him.
“So…” Jon hesitantly started. “Dogs… they’re safe?”
Martin turned to him and nodded. Then elaborated. “Well, it depends. Some aren’t but this one is. It depends on the dog.”
Jon nodded slowly. “Okay.” He slowly climbed down off the desk and walked up to Martin, sniffing him and putting his hands around his face and gazing into his eyes.
Martin blushed fiercely. “Um… what are you doing?”
Jon stopped, confused. “Reading you?” Then he remembered. “O-Oh, sorry. I forgot, that’s not… that’s not how humans greet each other.” He looked down at his feet. “I suspect… that was… rude.”
Martin simply stared for a couple seconds. Then, “Oh. You’re… you must be Jonathan Sims.” He’d heard that the new boss was brand new to the organization and there were rumors he wasn’t human. He was beginning to wonder if they had some truth to them.
Jon nodded. “...Yes.” The name that apparently closest approximated his actual name which was, well, impossible for humans to pronounce. It didn’t help that half of it was outside the frequencies the species was even capable of hearing if they had access to the farthest possible human ranges. “But you can call me Jon.”
“Hi Jon, I’m Martin.” Martin reached out a hand and Jon stared at it for a couple seconds before grabbing it in both hands and pressing it to his cheek, staring into Martin’s eyes. Okay, humans proffered a hand then. That made sense, he supposed. However Martin was simply staring at him with an expression of bemusement and his eyes didn’t flash as expected.
“Um… are you…”
“... Jon, what are you doing?” Martin blushed, his eyes sparkling.
“Can… can you not… can you not read me?”
“... No. I… I don’t think so? I don’t know what you mean.”
Oh. Jon released Martin’s hand and awkwardly began fidgeting with his hands. “S-Sorry. I’m not… I’m not used to humans.”
Ah, so he definitely wasn’t human then. Martin decided not to further confuse the man by informing him that not all humans greeted each other the same either - as presumably none of them psychically read each other - and simply nodded. “It's okay."
Jon sniffled. “How… How do you greet each other?" Martin felt a surge of sympathy for the man and reached out, wrapping him in a hug. Jon startled for a second before relaxing into it and burrowing into Martin's chest with a satisfied sigh. “Warm."
Martin hadn't thought he could blush harder but he did. Goodness, was he seriously crushing on his new boss? “So… how does your greeting thing work?”
Jon pulled back and gave a slight smile. "Do you want me to show you?”
"Mhm!”
Jon gently took Martin's face in his hands again and stared into his eyes. "Now just meet my eyes and I can read you -” he broke off suddenly, blushing furiously. "... Um if there's something you don't want me to see just imagine it behind a wall.”
Martin felt a pang of anxiety go down his spine - had Jon seen what he had just been thinking about him? His continued blush and suddenly averted eyes seemed to point in that direction. “Uh, heh, sorry…”
Jon looked back up at him, his eyes wide. "Oh, no no it's on me. I… I forgot that you probably didn't know how to, um…” he broke off, blushing furiously and looking at his feet. “It's my fault, I'm sorry to, um… intrude."
Martin let out a laugh, suddenly finding the situation simply too hilarious to keep it in any longer. He meets his new boss, who isn't even human and is probably way out of his league, and immediately makes everything very awkward. Then he crushes on him. Then he inadvertently shows this man presumably exactly how he feels about him within five minutes of meeting him… good going, Blackwood. This isn't going to be an awkward work relationship at all.
“Is… everything okay?” Jon stared up at him with wide, anxious eyes. Had he offended him? He really hadn't meant to pry into his personal thoughts. It's what he got though, he supposed, for trying to act human when he wasn't. He really should have avoided talking to others until he was better at it, now he's out embarrassing his new employees and finding out about private feelings they probably didn't want him to know about. It also didn't help that now he couldn't stop thinking along the same lines - he was kind of cute after all, his hair the color of autumn leaves and his yellow sweater the color of other autumn leaves. He loved autumn - it was so cozy. As were Martin’s arms. And he loved cozy oh so very much.
Martin stared back, in awe of the green and brown irises staring up at him. Was he seriously worried that he had offended Martin? Goodness. “Everything’s okay, Jon. Don’t worry.” Jon still looked nervous so he wrapped his arms around him for good measure. “I promise.”