Chapter Text
Martin has had a thing for Jon from the start. He remembers the day he met him for the first time, granted the whole interaction was pretty embarrassing and he’s gone through about two hundred different times he could have handled it differently but there’s really no changing it. He’ll have to live with bullying himself over the awkward encounter for the rest of his life. But who hasn’t done that at least once?
Regardless of how embarrassing that interaction was, he remembers seeing Jon and just thinking, wow. He remembers exactly how he felt when his eyes met those gorgeous hazel eyes. He was absolutely mesmerized by the man. Maybe that’s why he was so nervous talking to him.
So, there he is, pacing back and forth and trying to think of something to say to Jon that WON’T make him sound like a complete love-struck moron. After about fifteen minutes of trial and error of trying to figure out what to say and almost tripping over his desk, he makes his way towards Jon’s office, letting out a silent prayer to whatever would listen to him.
“Uhm Jon?”
The man doesn’t look up from his desk, he’s clearly in a foul mood which causes Martin to silently curse at himself for bugging him
“Yes, Martin?”
“Well I uhm.. I was going out to grab something to eat when I’m on break and I was.. I was wondering if you’d like to join me?”
He sounded extremely flustered and nervous, the exact thing he would have liked to avoid with this interaction.
“I brought my own food and the mere thought of going out in public to eat is a bigger nightmare than this damn job.”
Oh wonderful. Not only did Martin sound and probably look like a complete moron, he foolishly decided that today would be the day he purposely didn’t bring any food so he could ask Jon to grab something with him. And of course he’d choose a day that Jon was clearly in a foul mood.
“O-oh uhm right my bad… You alright?”
Martin can’t help but fidget with the sleeve of his sweater, hoping he isn’t the reason Jon is so irritated even though the only other time he’s interacted with the man today is when he greeted Jon when he had arrived at the
“I have a grueling headache and got two hours of sleep last night. What do you think?”
“Is there… Anything I can do?”
“Just leave me alone. Please.”
Martin just nods and stumbles out of Jon’s office, feeling extremely frustrated with himself, not only because he feels like he upset Jon, but the fact that he’s too nervous to just ask Jon out. It would save a lot of the humiliating conversations.
So now, Martin has to go out to eat. By himself. All because he was under the impression that his irritable, reclusive, but all the while incredible boss would actually want to go out in public with him.
Sasha seemed to notice that something was wrong with Martin because she walked up to him with a look of slight confusion, concern, but still that hint of playfulness that both her and Tim carried at all times.
“You okay Martin?”
“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine. Just… I think I pissed Jon off.”
“Well that’s quite an easy accomplishment. What’d you do?”
“I asked him if he wanted to grab something to eat during break and he seemed pretty pissed when I did.”
“And why’s that?” Sasha peers at Martin through her colorful glasses, her head cocked slightly to the side. The concern in her eyes much more subtle but it’s still obvious she cares.
“He just told me he had a nasty headache and didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Ah. So it’s not your fault.”
Hearing that last part, Martin realizes how stupid blaming himself for Jon’s irritation really was. If only he realized before he spent a whole five minutes berating himself over that.
A tiny smirk crosses Sasha’s face, finding it slightly amusing seeing the gears turning in Martin’s brain and watching his usual awkward expression faltering into one of realization and slight exasperation.
“Well if you want, Tim and I could go with you to grab some food. Or just me if you feel like you’d just be a third wheel.”
Martin is honestly a bit surprised at the offer, despite the fact that Tim and Sasha were quite close to him.
“Actually, yeah that would be nice. Thank you, Sasha.”
She nods enthusiastically, walking off, presumably to ask if Tim wanted to tag along. Though, the answer was pretty obvious. Tim and Sasha have been practically attached by the hip for months now. Wherever Sasha is, Tim is most likely within hearing range, and vice versa (partially since they both work together but that’s beside the point).
The twenty minutes before they all went out felt like an eternity to Martin. The guilt and awkwardness was still clinging to him, making him feel almost frozen like a mouse in a glue trap. Pathetic and stuck. He felt like that a lot actually. At least now he wouldn’t have to go and eat by himself like a fool.
“Seriously? Out of anyone in the world, Jon?!” Tim was unable to wrap his head around the fact that the person Martin liked was probably the most unpleasant man any of them had ever worked with, prompting an embarrassed groan leaving Martin.
“He has a point, Martin. Why Jon??”
“Both of you, shut it. I did not accept Sasha’s offer solely to be made fun of.”
Martin has his face buried in his hands, evidently trying to hide how red his face had turned.
“Okay we won’t make fun of you. But please enlighten us.”
“I suppose he’s just… Oh I don’t know.. He’s just lovely”
Tim raised his eyebrows, a humoured look spreading across his face.
“Jon? As in Jonathan Sims? As in our boss? Lovely? Are we talking about the same person? Did he get replaced by some weird doppelganger or something???”
Sasha can’t help but laugh at Tim’s statement. It was true. Lovely was not the word either of them would use to describe Jon.
“I-I mean he can be… When he’s not in one of his moods.. So I guess not often but he’s kind of interesting.”
Sasha shakes her head, “seriously Martin, you need to raise your standards.”
“Are you guys actually here to give me company or are you just making fun of me?”
Tim raises his arms in defense, his face failing to find how amused he was “hey calm down Martin, we can be doing both!”
“Ugh you two are insufferable. I should’ve just come here by myself”
This time, Sasha spoke up, wearing the same look of amusement as Tim. “Oh admit it, you love us.”
“Love is a bit of a stretch. I’d rather say I tolerate you two.”
Upon hearing Martin’s sarcastic remark, both Sasha and Tim simultaneously say, “Now you’re starting to sound like Jon.”
Martin mumbles something about how annoying the two were, though, the grin on his face proved otherwise.
“See, Sash? He’s smiling. He loves our company” Tim teases, jabbing Martin’s side with his elbow.
Martin swats at Tim’s arm, choosing instead to focus on the sandwich in front of him. “You guys are the worst.”
Tim grins once again, amused with how easily Martin got flustered and embarrassed. That being said, he understood how Martin felt, in a way. Not necessarily the whole flustered part but how Martin specifically wanted to be with them because he didn’t want to go out by himself. At least Martin isn’t as tense as he was beforehand.
Martin finishes his lunch, the comfort of having Sasha and Tim alongside him eased any leftover anxiety from his interaction with Jon earlier, even if they did love making fun of him quite a bit.
Even though they’ve all finished their meal, the three of them continue to sit there in silence. Not awkward silence, but the kind that somehow brings an odd, comfortable sort of feeling.
Eventually, Tim speaks up, “I suppose we should probably head back to the archives before Jon skins us alive.”
Sasha and Martin nod in agreement. They pay for their meal, and step out of the cafe. The air is cool and the weight of earlier has lifted completely off of Martin, at least he feels much better on the walk back to the archives than he was walking from it.
Though, once he entered the archives, another wave of worry washed over him at that thought that Jon was still angry or that he would start going off on Martin for ‘being such an interruption’ or something like that. But the interaction (thankfully) never came.
Maybe he’ll ask Jon again tomorrow. Or say that he will and will be straightforward and confident but when it comes to the moment he’ll mess up every single word or trip over his feet or make some other embarrassment out of himself. Maybe he won’t. Either way, it’s not the end of the world.