Work Text:
Jon was still shaken up.
He'd been up late recording a statement that was particularly horrible. It made his whole body ache and he was getting a bit light headed.
He swore he was seeing things, too.
There was movement in the corner of his eye, crawling.
He quickly turned to look at the shelf. Nothing there. Nothing real to worry about.
He went to pull out the cot he slept on when he worked late, it was nearly 4:00AM at this point, but kept getting distracted.
Movement, a phantom feeling of something brushing his leg, and once the pitter-patter of a creature with too many legs.
He just wanted to sleep.
He opened the drawer in the far end of his office to grab the folded up cot. He unfolded it, set it down and opened the drawer to grab his pillow and blanket.
He swore something shifted when he opened it.
No pillow for tonight, then. His jacket could be a blanket.
He grabbed the jacket from the back of his chair and noticed distantly that there was a thunderstorm.
Jon laid down and closed his eyes. He must just be overtired. That's it. He hasn't slept for a while. That's all that was happening.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, Jon was awoken by a painful tug on his arm and the feeling of being cut open.
He blearily looked up to see a dark, many-legged figure looking above him.
Before he could even make a sound, it was gone. The only thing remaining was a thin, bleeding cut that wrapped around his wrist. It reminded him awfully of a string being pulled too tight, tight enough to bleed.
Maybe he should just stay up.
There was no way he'd get any work done, but he went back to his desk anyway. It was closer to the door if he had to leave.
Jon really wanted to go home. At home there was no creepy archive, an actual bed instead of a cot, his melatonin that he'd sadly forgotten to bring today, and was also not so bitterly 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥.
As the seconds loudly ticked by on the unnerving clock on the wall, Jon mulled over what he saw.
It was so similar to what he saw when he was eight.
But it was just a nightmare. Not real.
Except for the cut on his arm, but he could have just snagged something.
Jon sat. Staring into the distance with glossed over eyes for a period of time he wasn't aware enough to count.
His phone rang.
He picked the vibrating device up to see who it was, to see Martin was calling him. What was his boyfriend doing up so early? Was he okay?
Jon picked up. “Are you alright Martin? You're never up this early.” Jon tried to hide how worried he was, but he had no idea if it was working.
“Early? What-” There was a brief pause. “Oh I'm so sorry! I got up and just assumed it was the time I normally got up! I'm sorry if I woke you!”
That was a relief. “Martin, it's fine. Really. I was still up anyway. What was it you needed me for?”
“Well, I was wondering what flavor of tea you wanted me to bring in. The box is empty and I thought you could decide which flavor would replace it.”
To Jon, this was the cutest thing ever. He was going to tell Martin to bring whichever one he liked the most, as he deserved to have his favorites in stock after taking care of the team so much, but before he could get a word out his boyfriend spoke once again.
“Wait, did you say you were still up? Jon! You know I told you to not stay up so late at work. You really should just leave when your shift is over, it's not healthy!”
Despite the fact that Jon felt horrible, hearing Martin talk seemed to drown out all of the weird bits of the world for once.
“I know, I know. I'm sorry. I tried going to sleep, but I forgot my melatonin and I had an… off putting dream.”
“Oh, I'm sorry Jon. Maybe I can come in a bit early so you don't have to be alone for several more hours?”
“I think I'd like that.”
Maybe today wouldn't be that horrible.