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Jon had forgotten the simple joy of not having more adrenaline in your veins then blood (or whatever his blood once was, it had appeared darker, when he was the Archive, much like ink) he had forgotten the simple domestic joys of his biggest problem being what recipe should he make for dinner. It was…amazingly blissful. Martin and him had planned to go out to a local bookshop, Martin wanted to check out a new poetry book (Jon was slowly pushing Martin into looking at publishing for his own poems) and Jon had learned, after the fears were dead and buried, he now only needed true crime to feed the eye, something Martin was happy to oblige (one thing Jon learned is that Martin was very much an enjoyer of True Crime podcasts) and he enjoyed listening to podcasts, it allowed him to feel productive (Even if when he did anything other than listen he would tune out and suddenly the Murderer is in jail and trying to be his own lawyer).
The bookstore was quiet, sans the clicking of keyboard as writers typed essays, papers, stories, and more on their laptops, parents wrangled their children away from the toy sections near the back, groups of teenagers chatted quietly under their breath in the cafe corner, the barista looked fondly annoyed (a group of her friends perhaps? Joining her at work to keep her company?) Jon didn't Know and it was wonderful. Jon was happy. He couldn't remember before Martin a time he was happy. Something clawed at him day and night before, but that gnawing ever present feeling was gone with Martin.
“I apologize for being so hard on you at first Mar-” Jon started, Martin gave a very unimpressed look “Jon, we have settled this,” Martin said “I don't care,” Jon snorted “Lucky for me, because I got the best boyfriend, possibly in the whole world.” Jon grabbed Martin's hand and kissed his knuckles. Martin spluttered a moment, before kissing Jon's cheek, “off to go book hunting?” he followed that up with, Jon nodded “I am glad you are willing to deal with my rambling about true crime after I finish these books”
After that they split up, Jon went to get some new reading material, Martin went over to the poetry section, occasionally they would see each other in separate isles and wave, then go back to their shopping (Jon was dangerously good at wandering away quietly, one minute Martin would see him, the second Jon would be halfway across the store because he remembered a book recommendation he saw.)
After they had gotten their books, they walked their way down to a quiet cafe they both enjoyed. They sat opposite one another in a booth, holding hands, otherwise distracted by reading as rain pattered quietly on the window.
