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“Martin. Come here a moment.”
Martin looked up, confused, at Jon’s voice. It was not coming from his office like it usually would, but was, instead, coming from the hallway leading to Document Storage.
He sighed, anticipating yet another issue he must have found with something Martin had done. He pushed himself up out of his chair, “Coming, Jon.”
He walked into the hallway and tilted his head in confusion when he saw the door to the storage room open, not Document Storage. He walked to the door and looked inside, seeing Jon standing on a very old, and very not safe, box and glaring up at the top shelf.
“Uh– h-hi, Jon. What, uh…do you need?” Martin tried to hide his flinch when Jon turned his glare onto him. It, unfortunately, didn’t work, and Jon frowned at him.
He let out an angry huff of air and pointed, “I think that box–,” Martin followed his finger to the cardboard box that looked exactly like the ones they used to store the statements, “–has the rest of a statement I’m looking into. Unfortunately, while I can reach the corner, it seems to be stuck or something and I can’t get it down. Tim and Sasha are out, so I need you to help me get it down.” Jon replied, seeming very annoyed. “Please.” He added, as an afterthought.
Martin looked up at the box, eyeing it with a small grin, “Amazing. Tim said it would happen, but I never believed him.”
Jon looked at him, confused. “Excuse me?”
Martin gave him his most charming grin, “Someone finally only wants me for my body.”
There was a tense moment of silence when Martin worried he really, really misjudged the camaraderie he and Jon had been enjoying a little bit lately. But then…Jon laughed.
Or, more accurately, he choked, snorted, and then guffawed.
Martin, beaming, waited for him to calm down a bit. “To be fair, Tim always said it would be in much different circumstances, but I’ll take it.”
Jon bent over, hands on his knees, and finally laughed himself out, taking big, gulping breaths. “Oh…good Lord, Martin. I– well, I should probably be mad at you, but…I really, really needed a laugh, I think.” He stood up, dazzling Martin with the joy and happiness in his face, and the disarray of his hair, and he backed up, extending a hand to the shelf upon which the required box rested.
Martin looked up at the box, tilting his head side to side. He looked around and saw a broken broom handle off to the side. He grabbed it and used it to push up on the…whatever it was that was catching on the lid of the box. It didn’t stay up when he pulled the handle away.
“Hmm. Jon?”
“Yes?”
“Can you hold this, uh, th-this handle just…here for me?” Martin set the handle up again and stepped back, letting Jon stand just in front of him and grab the handle with both hands, standing almost on his tiptoes.
“O-okay, I got it…I think.”
Martin clicked his tongue and reached up to grab the box, pulling it easily off the shelf.
Unfortunately, not only was the box in a hard to reach location, but it also, apparently, had had a very weakened base, and the contents ended up covering both Martin and Jon.
This wouldn’t be as bad of an issue, if the contents had been paper, as was assumed. However, instead, the box had been home to years old Halloween decorations…specifically, the large stretchy cobwebs, complete with little plastic spiders tangled throughout.
Thankfully, Martin and Jon were both grown adults, and the door to the storage room was open.
Or, at least, it would have stayed that way if Jon, when encountering a spiderweb of extremely large proportions, had not immediately shouted and jumped backward, slamming the door shut and removing their source of light.
“Jon! Jon, you’re– hey!” Martin, also covered in the stretchy plastic nightmare, grabbed Jon by the biceps.
Jon yelled even louder, incoherent and angry, and– terrified.
Martin kept hold of him, he couldn’t let him go because he knew the moment he did, Jon would flail himself backwards and trip over a box, pulling Martin with him because he was also stuck.
He pulled him closer under the webs, and put his arms around him, holding him tight to his chest, “Shh, shh shh shh, Jon. It’s– it’s okay, Jon. Just– Just close your eyes, listen. Listen to my breathing, okay? In and out, come on.” Martin rubbed one palm up and down Jon’s back, trying to calm him down. “You’re okay, we’re in the Archives, yeah? It’s just– just a stupid decoration, okay?”
Jon took a few minutes longer to catch his breath, matching Martin’s breaths eventually, before he swallowed, “I’m– thank you, Martin. I’m okay. I just– had a, uh, bad experience with…spiders. Once. But, I’m, ah, okay. Now.”
Martin loosened his grip, but didn’t fully let go. “O-okay, Jon. I’m gonna…I’m gonna get this, uh, stuff off us. So just– hang on, yeah?”
Jon nodded, and Martin let him go completely, beginning to pick and pull at the threading that covered them, focusing on Jon first.
It took a few minutes, but he was able to uncover Jon entirely, and reached for the doorknob, letting in the light. Once the door was opened, Jon immediately left, taking deep breaths of the– well, maybe not fresh, but…fresh-er air. Martin finished pulling off the white, spider-speckled strands off his clothes and out of his hair. He was about to walk out, but noticed a few pages on the ground. He picked them up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. “Hey…Jon?”
Jon exhaled shakily, “Yes, ah– y-yes, Martin”
“I, uh, think I found your statement pages. Maybe.” Martin smiled and held out the pages.
Jon tilted his head and looked at the papers, eyes widening before he grabbed them and began to walk away, “Yes! This is exactly– perfect! Now I just need to–.”
Martin laughed once and Jon paused, turning around, eyes roving everywhere but to Martins for any longer than a second at a time, “Ah…thank you, Martin. Really. I appreciate your help.”
Martin felt his face heat up as he grinned back, “Anytime, Jon.”