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Walking down the hall, Peter took his time to admire the building: The Magnus Institute. It wasn’t often that he had the opportunity to visit, so this was rather nice. Often times than not, he was out sailing on his ship, far, far away from all civilisations. He quite liked the silence and solidarity of it all - it was his whole deal anyway.
Dark, teal-green wallpaper covered the walls and several lamps dimly lit the path down to the stairs that lead to the three stories above. Peter liked the design of the interior, he always had. Over the few times he visited over the years, the building never really changed in its aesthetics - keeping old-fashioned and absolutely wrecked, apart from the library which was well organised. People came and went, but the building remained as it is, never changing. And Peter rather appreciated it.
Soon he found himself upon the stairs, steadily holding the hand rail and making his way up to the top floor at his own pace. James has never expected him to arrive quickly or late, which he rather valued from the man, but always expected him to simply arrive whenever he pleased. The captain smiled softly at the fact, finding it to be one of the many small things he quite valued about the other.
“Oh, sir!”
A voice called from behind, forcing his train of thought to abrupt. Peter turned round slowly to see a young man at the bottom of stairwell, seeming to look a bit concerned.
“Hello, I’m simply off to a meeting with James Wright.” The young man at the end blinked, letting out a nervous chuckle.
“Ah, well, er.. I’m sorry he’s not- he’s- he’s not actually available.”
Peter raised a brow, clearly surprised. “No?”
“No, uh- he- he actually.. Passed away. Quite recently.”
“Oh.” He hummed, glancing up to the end of the staircase briefly before returning his gaze to the man again. “Who is the new boss?”
“Oh! Mister Bouchard. Ah- h-he replaced Mister Wright.”
“Mister?”
“Elias. Elias Bouchard.”
Peter nodded slowly in acknowledgement, nodding a little. “Well. I better put my congratulations in order?”
“Sure! Um, why don’t I show you where to go?” The young man peaked quickly, catching up to Peter and setting his pace beside him. “I’m Michael.”
“Peter Lukas.” He mused, looking back to the direction of the stairs. Normally he wouldn’t want company, he would rather make the journey alone, but brushing off the young man feels..Hm. He wasn’t quite sure. Why couldn’t he send him off? Alas, Peter’s mind drifted to analyse Michael.
Michael seemed a lot younger than what Peter would expect from a workplace like this, evident from his over politeness which he assumed came from naïvety and awkwardness, and also the lack of tiredness within him. Which could mean nothing, of course, but it sure does add up to the idea of him not knowing the full truth of the Institute and world.
“I-I’m sorry that.. That Mister Wright couldn’t conduct your meeting.” Peter casted a glance to Michael as he spoke, breaking his mind fog.
“Oh, no bother.” Peter smiled, shrugging slightly as they made it past the first floor and shuffling their way up to the second. “I’m sure he wrote it down somewhere for his.. Predecessor.”
“Yeah.. Oh! It was completely unexpected, actually.” Michael continued, indulging in this small talk more than Peter would’ve wanted him to. “Elias only worked here for a few years b-before he.. He uh, got promoted. A-Actually we all expected Miss Robinson-“
“Miss?”
“Gertrude Robinson, to-to become the new Head of the Institute. She’s the Head Archivist.”
Peter hummed in acknowledgement, giving no further response, hoping desperately that this chatterbox will tone down. But alas, he wouldn’t. Michael continued on about.. whatever he was on about, meanwhile Peter was doing his upmost hardest not to send the young man into the Lonely domain - knowing how rude it would be of him.
The light atmosphere continued on as they made their way up the stairs, Peter has managed to block out most of the noise from Michael with his own thoughts, busying himself with the imagination of sailing amongst the clouds. Whenever he was trapped in a much social situation, he placed himself in this headspace and everything felt a lot lighter. There were no expectations from the fog, no rushing from the cold embrace, no punishments from it. He sighed softly, blinking back to the present world as he found himself and Michael passing the second floor. He paused, looking to the latter.
“I think I’ll manage to go on my own beyond here.” Peter offered a polite smile, not at all guilty for interrupting Michael’s conversation, but rather relieved he did so.
“Oh. A-Are you sure? It’s only a-“
“It’s fine. Michael.” Michael held his breath, giving a small nod in response, becoming uncomfortable.
“Alright, well.. I’ll- I’ll be by the reception again, i-if needed.”
“Right.” Peter narrowed his eyes, smile dropping once Michael spun round. Finally. He let out a deep sigh, turning back to the stairs and steadily pacing forward, truly glad that the chirpy man is off to his own business again. What was it that James saw within him to employ him? Actually, Peter noticed this amongst his other workers too the last few times he visited: all of them had an air of awkwardness or indifference within them.
Alas, it didn’t matter anyway. All he needed was to deliver Elias a gift and get out of here as quick as possible before another staff member catches a conversation with him or Elias begins to try and pry a statement out of him. At the rate of things, he might as well just leave the gift by the door and leave immediately.
Peter found himself walking up towards the office door slowly, gazing at the new name tag that replaced the previous one, exhilarating an amused hum. He knocked on the door gently, awaiting the usual ‘Come In, Peter’ before entering.
“Mr Bouchard.” Peter teased softly, closing the door behind himself as he entered the room. It was a small office with a high bookshelf; number of books that were cuddled in dust sat on the shelves, a window that displayed a lot of the parts of London, and a dark brown desk that has never seemed to have been replaced ever since the construction of the building.
“Have a seat,” Elias responded with an easy tone, gesturing his hand to the seat opposite which Peter took.
Peter paused, his gaze lingering on Elias’s as his eyes bore into his, that same look of knowingness becoming once more familiar.
“Good travels, I hear?” Elias tilted his head, folding his arms on his desk, quirking a brow.
“Oh, you know.” Peter shrugged in response, lowering his gaze to the edge of the desk.
“Oh, I’m sure I do. But I’d love to hear about what you’re up to, from your own words.” Elias’s cool tone was consistent. Peter looked up, his smile fading - this was, what he came to recognise quickly, Elias probing at him. He shook his head slowly, folding his hands at his lap.
“All the same, I fear. Travelling across the seas, surrounded by fog..” his voice went quiet at the realisation of him beginning to ramble, swallowing. Even without Elias’s guide, he still managed to beging speaking of his time away, sharing his stories.
“Sounds lovely. Perhaps we should both go sometime?” There was a glimmer of amusement within Elias’s expression which released the moment of tension, making Peter relieved.
“I wouldn’t count on that. You wouldn’t be able to watch anything apart from me and my thoughts alone.”
“Splendid.”
Peter snorted softly, noting how refreshed Jonah looked. Within James, he saw how fatigued and old he became, but now, in Elias, there was a much more sense of youth and even a hint of rebellion within the man - although that may be just the previous conscious of Elias slipping in.
Peter was fascinated with Jonah’s work, how he could transfer between the two bodies, or even more as he mentioned in their previous meetings before, and no one noticing. For Peter, he noticed those same grey eyes peering into his, but perhaps that was the assistance of Michael telling him that prior to meeting him.
“What did you want to discuss, then?”
“Oh, nothing much.” Elias shrugged; “I was just curious of your adventures. I’ve got a keen eye in that field.” He finished with a small smirk.
“Ah.” Peter quickly understanding the need to feed the eye. “I’m sure there’s good books about sea’s and such, then - if you’re so curious.”
“Oh, no, I insist.” Elias tiled his head. “Tell me-“
“No.” The captain interrupted quickly, furrowing his brows a little. Elias paused, his smirk dropping slowly.
“Very well, then.” Elias responded quietly, reaching his hand over his ring finger and taking off his ring, rolling it between his index finger and thumb. “Admit it, Peter. You won’t get away from this easily.”
What Elias was referring to, Peter fairly guessed, was their bet from when they first met. Jonah proposed this wager: for until Peter wouldn’t give his statement, he would watch him, observe him, have him never be truly alone. At first, Peter took the deal with confidence, not believing what Jonah was proposing, but then he noticed it. The captain felt off when he was on his boat, like he was being perceived, and that rattled him badly. Nothing was on the boat with him, he checked thoroughly, yet this possessive feeling was engulfing him, feeding itself with his discomfort and fear.
“This isn’t over yet.” Peter at last responded, looking away.
“Fine.” Elias mused, setting the ring back around his finger.
“I don’t suppose you brought any..” Elias continued after a small beat, clearing his throat and dropping his arms to his lap awkwardly. Peter looked up to the other, tilting his head as he awaited for Elias to finish his sentence, “..Chocolates?” His voice was small, almost shy despite him eyeing Peter’s pocket - expectantly.
Since their very first meeting, Jonah has been requesting that Peter was to bring back any sorts of sweet treats from wherever he travelled to, and now it seemed no different.
“And here I was hoping that your sweet tooth only expands to one body,” Peter smiled softly as he fetched for the small bag of chocolate in his thick coat pocket, placing them on the desk for Elias to take; which he did gracefully.
“And these aren’t the ones from down the streets?” He eyed Peter with a small smirk, setting the bag beside the desk lamp. Jonah was well aware that Peter has done this trick before, multiple times even, yet never seemed to mind.
“Never you mind.”
Elias let out a content hum, looking fondly at the bag for a moment before returning his gaze back to the man opposite.
“I don’t suppose there’s anything else to discuss then?”
“I’d rather not.” This forced a small laugh from Elias.
“This was a nice meeting, then.” Elias shortly added, bringing his hands back onto the desk, folding them.
“Twas indeed.” Peter agreed, standing up and making his way to the door slowly.
“Oh, Peter?” Elias called.
The captain sighed, turning around briefly to see a smirking Elias.
“I’ll be waiting for you. Missing you, remembering you, just so that you’re not alone.”
“Brilliant.” Peter uttered through gritted teeth, leaving his office and shutting the door behind.