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It had been about 10 years since Jon intentionally trespassed, he thought it was fun during Uni and had scaled the fence of a couple old buildings, he rarely considered the risks of this, mold, weak/dangerous infrastructure, the general danger of it. He briefly considered when the wanderlust got bad to find some more in London, but he never got to (even he wasn't stupid enough to try climbing a fence in Oxford shoes.). All this to say, when Elias requested that he and the rest of the Archival staff explore an abandoned building for a statement, Jon was positively intrigued.
“How high are the chances that Elias didn't get permission for us to do the ‘exploration’?” Tim asked, half joking, as the group approached the fence, “Fairly low,” Jon answered, sounding shockingly carefree. “Okay, why are you so calm about this,” Sasha questioned “I thought you were to be the least excited for this.” Jon shrugged, “I have been itching to scale a good fence,” Tim gave a confused grin “Im sorry, you've done this before,” Jon nodded “Now, we need to get started on that if we want to get out before it gets too dark, you all know how to climb, right?”
Jon decided that instead of Oxfords, combat boots seemed smarter, (and as a plus, they made him look taller, at least for the day he didn't have to take a step back to look at Martin and Tim). The day before the excursion, Jon decided to check the place out, see if there were any security guards, any weak spots in the fence, the works, he couldn't spot any easily accessible weak points, so he brought wire cutters, just in case.
They all nodded, Jon nodded “Right,” he then turned to the fence and started scaling it, he reached the top and looked behind him, seeing the mildly astonished faces of his friends colleagues (and a blushing one from Martin, hm) He then dropped to the ground, he wobbled slightly as he stood up (he was not as young as he once was, and he hadn't done that in quite a while) He waited as they all individually scaled it, Martin was much more hesitant.
“I…I cant, I'm sorry, I cant,” Martin took a step back. Jon's face hardened “Yes you can. Do it.” Jon said, not unkindly (though, the difference was hard to tell, he could admit) Martin shook his head “Jon. I can't." Jon sighed, “I did bring wire cutters.” Jon paused “Im checking if there's is a gate I missed, while exploring is fun,” Jon grabbed his backpack and got wire cutters “Getting arrested is much less so” Jon set the cutters down and went to patrol for a gate, or even just a place where a hole in the fence would be less conspicuous.
Sasha watched him leave “Does that mean he's been arrested before?” she laughed. “Sounds like it,” Martin nodded. Jon called from around the corner “I found a gate. Bring the wire cutters!” he popped out from the corner and gestured at the gate, which was covered in ivy. Tim grabbed the wire cutters, Martin followed from the opposite side of the fence, Jon snatched the wire cutters and, using them as makeshift gardening shears cut the ivy off, then threw the gate open (with only a little dramatics).
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The building was an old factory, from the early 1880s, it went out of business after The Great Wars end. Allegedly, before the war ended, people believed they saw and heard ghosts, and apparently modern urban explorers had reported similar sightings. The door gave with merely an eerie creak. Jon despised the word spooky, it took too much seriousness away from the actual story, but if he were to describe anything as such, this place was spooky. The door slammed shut behind them. The group exchanged looks, Jon grabbed his torch from his backpack. Tim made a startled grunt, he pointed at the staircase, there was the clearly visible, outline of a man, not a modern man, not by any standards, he wore a coat (a frock coat, if Jon's vague knowledge of Victorian fashion was anything to go off of), stiff legged trousers, and he was glancing at a pocket watch. He didn't seem to notice them, Jon stepped in front of the group, to protect them? The room had dropped several degrees, as they watched, the man vanished into wisps of smoke, the pocket watch clattering to the floor, echoing. “Oh…That's…” Jon walked slowly over to the pocketwatch, he reached for it, before pausing, grabbing a handkerchief out of his pocket and picking it up, he felt the cold through the fabric, as he walked back toward the group, he felt something that felt like hands covering his eyes, they were cold, before he could react, he couldn't see, something was covering his eyes. And Jon had a few major no’s. Spiders, and Being out of his own control, a strong panic started filling his chest
He stumbled around for a few moment before colliding with Martin, “What…the everloving fuck” Jon whimpered out, the words coming out panicked and borderline manic. Jon couldn't see much, but he could see the light levels quickly darkening. Martin saw that Jon was…incapacitated, and grabbed his hand, Jon's hand tightened around Martins without a second thought, he felt Martin's pulse quicken, adrenaline, most likely. He couldn't hear Tim and Sasha, “Where-” he paused to regain his composure “Where are-” Martin squeezed his hand “Upstairs, they’re upstairs,” he answered, Jon nodded, “When did they go up there?” Martin sighed “About 10 minutes ago,” Jon tilted his head “I was still with you guys 10 minutes ago, that can't be right,”. “Nope, you walked away for about 20 minutes, just…staring at that”
They both paused then exclaimed “Pocket watch!” Jon grabbed it from his pocket, he felt Martin walk towards where he found it, he felt Martin's other hand grab his wrist, and he set the watch down. Near immediately, the cold around his eyes faded. He didn't feel any inclination to let go of Martin's hand, he heard fabric drop to the floor, he looked down. Twin silk handgloves lay at Jon's feet, he left them alone, He heard Tim and Sasha stumble down the stairs.
Jon looked back at the pocket watch, the engraving of an eye lay on the back, a red gem lay where the pupil would on a normal eye, he could swear he saw it move. Sasha looked at the 2 “Okay, what just happened,” he sighed, “I don't know,or frankly care for that matter,” Jon admitted, “Lets just…leave.” Jon wiped at his eyes, slush lay on his face instead of tears, he was still shivering. No one objected to leaving. They all walked out, Jon and Martin still had their hands intertwined, something that Martin remembered first, he went to let go, Jon gave a saddened look. “Do you want my jumper? Jon? You look frigid, and I don't want you freezing to death,” Martin asked, not waiting for an answer before taking it off and handing it to Jon, who blushed and slipped it on, it was warm, and smelled like Martin, like tea. “Thank you, Martin,”
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They all made their way to the tube, they didn't discuss where they were going, but they all unanimously decided, seemingly, to go back to the Institute. Jon didn't realize this, as he fell asleep on Martin's shoulder, their hands still intertwined, (he got all of this out of pictures taken) Jon wasn't woken up when they arrived, Martin carried him in, and put him on the couch in the breakroom. Which is where he awoke the next morning, still wearing Martin's jumper, (much to his shocking chagrin, wasnt holding his hand. He looked over, Tim and Sasha had pirated the table for an impromptu pillow, Martin, Jon noted, wasnt anywhere he could see, but he heard pen scratches from his office, and decided to leave Martin to it after walking in, quietly and seeing Martin look more at peace then he had in all the time Jon had known him.