Chapter Text
Jon was exhausted.
Which, to be fair, made perfect sense considering the last…year or so, minimum.
He still hadn’t really recovered entirely. In fact, he’d been unconscious more often than not since they’d arrived.
Jon smiled softly, eyes closed as he rested his head on his own crossed arms on the desk that he and Martin had procured.
He and Martin.
They made it. And they were not only alive but together. It was, quite honestly, more than he could have ever dreamed.
He still sometimes thought it was a dream.
Jon opened one eye a crack, unfocused and tired, at a familiar sound of frustration. Martin, his Martin, had gone off to Document Storage to find a file that they needed, leaving Jon quite chilly and bereft.
But, Jon smiled again, hearing the frustrated grumble once more, at least I have a good view from this desk. He opened the other eye, both now trained, as always, on Martin, the younger one, whose desk coincidentally was in direct view of their own.
Jon had quite forgotten how…nervous Martin used to be, especially around him. Any him, it seemed, though maybe for slightly different reasons.
Martin had always been so worried about being too noticeable, about Jon looking into his past too deeply, about being seen as the ‘terrible assistant’ he always saw himself to be (a notion that Jon was still trying to make up for, to be entirely honest).
Martin had also always seen Jon as someone that was enjoyable to look at, and to listen to, so long as he never thought too deep into his words, at least in the beginning.
Martin had actually said once that Jon had always looked hot until he opened his mouth. Then he'd always sounded hot until the words registered. Jon had sighed and Martin had giggled. Overall a good memory, if not one that made Jon feel a bit bad at the time.
Point being, while Martin hadn’t always liked Jon as a person, that came after Jane Prentiss had trapped him in his flat and he’d interacted with Jon in more than a strictly work capacity, he had always thought he was…pleasant to look at. (Jon refuses to call himself cute, on principal.) And Jon did so enjoy flirting with Martin, or looking at Martin, or listening to Martin. So having two of his favorite person around was a wonderful thing indeed, especially when one version blushed so easily, and so often around him.
Jon’s smile grew, Like now, for instance. He watched intently as the splotchy pink blush slowly grew from the younger Martin's ears to his cheeks, he’d noticed Jon watching him.
“Martin?” Jon called his name softly, not bothering to hide the affection that always painted that name in his voice. Martin startled, still with a furrow in his brow betraying his frustration at the task he was working on.
“Uh. Y-yes, um, Jon? Did you, ah, n-need, something?” Martin stammered, still blushing a bit from the attention he was still not used to.
Jon’s smile grew even more, And he calls ME adorable, blasphemy. “Hmmm, yes,” Jon replied, slowly. He was still not fully recovered, still sleeping more often than not, or ‘fighting sleep’ as Martin kept telling him. Though, apparently his ‘sleepy Jon’ voice wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as he’d seen time and again on both Martin’s faces.
“Could you come here for a moment?” Jon took a breath and slowly raised his head from the desk, instead resting his head sideways on his fist. “Bring the…file, or whatever it is you have there.” Jon spoke softly on his slow exhale, upturned lips twitching slightly at the rapidly spreading blush on the younger Martin’s face.
“Oh! Uh, s-sure? I–,” Martin hurriedly gathered the pages back together and bundled them into his hands. He stood up quickly, knocking into his chair and slouching down a bit anxiously. “I’ve got them, uh, bit mixed up, I’m afraid. S’that, uh. Okay?”
Jon’s smile finally broke into a grin as he chuckled, “Yes, Martin. That’s perfectly okay,” He watched, happily, as Martin made his way quickly to Jon's desk, looking down and not at Tim, who he was sure was watching him (he was). Martin stopped right in front of Jon’s desk, looking down at him, blushing and nervous. Jon took a second to just stare at him, still grinning happily.
“Ah, J–, uh. Jon?” Martin almost whispered, nervously.
“Mmhmm. Over here, sit.” Jon waved a hand lazily through the air, gesturing obviously to his Martin's chair.
Martin sucked in a quick breath before nodding and making his way around and down into his dopplegangars chair. He stiffened as, almost immediately, Jon practically melted against him, resting his cheek against Martin's arm and humming contentedly.
“Hmm, sorry. Still quite…tired, Martin.” Jon mumbled, voice rough with sleep, grin falling into a much softer smile, hard-pressed to ignore the comfort of being in one of his favorite places, leaning on Martin.
Martin opened his mouth to reply but closed it almost as suddenly, nodding in quick, jerky motions instead.
“Now,” Jon breathed out the word, delighting in the shiver that went through his companion at the feeling. “Show me what the issue is.” Jon murmured, leaning further against Martin in an effort to better see the file he’d brought, which he had yet to place on the desk.
“Oh! Right, well. Uh,” Martin looked down at him, nervously, “I don’t, uh, know what I–er, he, um, may have told you?”
Jon let out a slow, rumbling chuckle, “Just assume I know literally everything, Martin. Don’t worry.” Jon’s eyes fluttered closed at the full body shiver Martin had just done and reopened them intentionally trying to focus on the still closed file before him.
Martin took a shaky breath in and let it out before finally opening the file and holding it out to the side for Jon to see, “Well, uh. I’ve not. I–, uh don’t know what this…is. Cause of, y’know.” He shrugged pointedly, ducking his head in embarrassment.
Jon looked over the page for a moment and found the acronym in question, “Ah, yes. Means ‘write once read many’. There should be a connected external storage of some kind connected to this file. Probably somewhere in Document Storage. I’d find it for you, but, uh. Standing is. A lot, right now.” Jon spoke slowly, ensuring that each word was deliberate and understood, considering his energy levels at the moment.
Martin hummed in understanding, then sighed with the knowledge that he had to now go on a scavenger hunt in the stacks.
Jon suddenly grinned and reached up two fingers to turn Martin's now much redder face towards his own, “Martin,” he began, voice now syrupy and teasing, “does your search history just say ‘WORM’ now?” Jon snickered at the embarrassed groan Martin let out, lowering his hand when Martin set the file down and covered his eyes with both of his own hands.
Jon sighed contentedly after a moment, nuzzling lightly further into Martin's shoulder.
“Uh, Jon? Thank you so much for, uh, this, but…” Martin trailed off, eyes flickering around the room, skipping intentionally over Tim and Sasha who were both studiously not looking at him.
“Ah, yes. Just. A little longer please? Martin will be a bit longer, and you’re just…lovely.” Jon murmured tiredly into Martin's sweater, smiling at the blushing mess he could easily picture in his head.
“I, uh. Really should get back to work. There’s still. Something I can do without the, uh. Thing you mentioned.”
Jon let out a very put-upon sigh, slowly melting away from Martin and back onto the desk, cheek pillowed on his crossed arms and eyes once again staring straight at Martin, twinkling. “Fine, I suppose. Wouldn’t want your boss getting irritated, would we?”
Martin chuckled nervously and stood up, careful not to jostle Jon. He grabbed his folder and, eyes flitting back and forth between Jon’s gaze and his file, walked around the desk and toward his own.
Jon watched him go, smiling softly, and kept watching him after he’d sat down, immediately starting in on his computer and doing his best to pretend that no one else was there.
Almost as soon as Martin had logged back into his computer, the younger Jon stalked out of his office, gaze fixed firmly on the files in his hands.
“Or, more specifically, one particular assistant…”
Jon, still resting on his arms, eyes drowsy and lidded, let out an amused huff of laughter at the thought that floated towards him from his younger self. It was much harder to block out his own thoughts after all, even if they were years earlier, technically.
He kept his eyes on Martin as the younger Jon stalked through and into Document Storage, smiling a bit at the fun he was certain his own Martin would be having soon. He had told him he’d enjoy this, after all.
He felt his eyes drift closed in long, slow blinks, eventually noticing the arrival of his Martin and the subsequent cool breeze of the file he’d brought back landing on the desk. He found his gaze lazily drifting between two iterations of the love of his life and he hummed happily at the sight. He finally allowed them to close fully once his Martin disappeared through the break room doors, only opening again at warm, familiar fingers running through his hair and the smell of tea near his face.
“Mmmm, Martin you are perfect,” Jon murmured happily, breathing in the scent of tea and Martin and smiling.
Martin chuckled warmly, “Hmm, that so? Bout time you admitted it.” Jon peeked through one eye to drink in the lovely sight of Martin, happy.
“I’ll say it as much as you want, love,” Jon replied softly, sitting up and reaching forward to curl around his warm mug of tea.
Martin’s smile brightened and he ran his hand through Jon's hair one last time before turning around again and heading back to the break room, presumably to get his own mug of tea, as the others in the office seemed to have their own already.
He closed his eyes and soaked in the steam from the tea, breathing deep and long.
He heard his counterpart returning to the office and Martin giving him tea. He simply listened until he heard Martin mention giving his tea to Tim of all people and let out an unintentional sound of distress, cracking his eyes open to watch his younger self fumble around in his conversation with Martin and grinning smugly at himself from over the rim of his mug.
He watched as the younger Jon blushed brilliantly when Martin leaned forward slightly to cup his cheek before finally returning to his seat, allowing Jon to happily return to his favorite place, plastered up against Martin, smile turning softer and content, though no less smug.
<¤> 《☆》 <¤> 《☆》 <¤>
Martin was going to combust, he was certain of it.
Tomorrow, he would be the statement, given by Tim or Sasha or something.
Ever since the other two had arrived, he had blushed so much and so often that he had started to wear lighter clothing. He had to.
The older Jon and Martin hadn’t been there that long, really. Only a few weeks or so, though those first two were a bit more…stressful.
Martin could still remember Tim's shout and the subsequent chaos…
Martin closed his eyes and shook his head lightly. No use dwelling on that now. It's over, everyone's fine, Jon's fine, it's all…fine.
Fine, he supposed, except for the fact that now there's TWO Jons to distract him. And one of them was always, ALWAYS right in front of him. Usually looking straight at him.
Martin chanced a quick glance off to the side and, yep, there was an older version of his boss, more scarred and much more tired, but still beautiful, and with longer hair, and with such a soft look on his face, and such a lovely, low, sleep-addled voice…
No, stop it. Martin scolded himself, that's Jon, not some…some band singer you can just daydream about or something. Jon. Your boss.
Unfortunately, his brain was a traitor and didn't care one whit that the person he was currently, and had been for quite a while at this point, crushing hard on was his boss. He didn't even like Jon. Or, at least, not…in anyway other than the, uh, physical aspect.
Just because his boss was a dick didn't mean Martin couldn't appreciate his sharp eyes, or his lovely voice, or his general appearance. He wasn't blind.
Martin was fine with daydreams about a Jon that was nice and sweet, and he was fine with keeping those as daydreams, as they should be. He would never have to worry about actually developing feelings for him since he acted so differently.
Martin sighed forlornly, used to losing this battle, and blatantly ignored the snickering to his left. He loved Tim, he really did, but my god did he love to tease his friends, especially about their crushes.
Martin took a breath and squinted at the page in front of him, making a soft noise of frustration at the capitalized ‘WORM’ just…written on the page. Like, what even was that. Honestly.
He tried reading around the area for some context, to no avail.
“Obviously this must mean that someone just had a spooky experience with worms, cause what else would it be.” Martin grumbled under his breath.
“Martin?” Martin about jumped out of his chair. He was still very much not used to hearing his name said with such…emotion, and with that voice. All low, and soft, and sexy…
NO, stop it! Martin reprimanded himself. You can't think that about him!
Well it's not like he's making it very easy, is it?
Martin closed his eyes and held back a whimper of helplessness, just barely.
“Uh. Y-yes, um, Jon? Did you, ah, n-need, something?” Martin stammered, unable to make it through the sentence entirely without hitching his voice. He could hear the muffled giggling from Tim nearby and internally groaned.
“Hmmm, yes,”
Martin's eyes fluttered closed and he could feel the shiver threaten to overtake him at Jon’s response.
Martin could hear Jon hum softly and breathe in slowly. “Could you come here for a moment?”
Martin squinted open his eyes, watching as Jon slowly lifted his head from his desk to his fist, head tilted to the side and that lovely soft smile on his lips. “Bring the…file, or whatever it is you have there.” He breathed out, smile twitching at Martin's unfortunately physical reaction to his voice.
“Oh! Uh, s-sure? I–,” Martin hurriedly gathered the loose pages back together and bundled them into his shaking hands.
He stood up a bit too quickly, knocking into his chair and shrinking in on himself anxiously. “I’ve got them, uh, bit mixed up, I’m afraid. S’that, uh. Okay?”
Martin watched with wonder and delight, and still a good amount of anxiety, as Jon's face split into a wide, happy, beautiful grin. “Yes, Martin. That's perfectly okay.” Martin broke himself of the spell he was apparently under and walked towards Jon, studiously ignoring Tim.
He stopped in front of the desk, nervously looking down at Jon…who was just watching him. Wide, happy grin playing on his lips, large cozy sweater almost overtaking his hands, eyes sparkling up at him despite their fatigue…
“Ah, J–, uh. Jon?” Martin almost whispered, nervously, trying so hard to rid his brain of the lines of poetry that kept wanting to form in his mind at the view he had just then.
The light that plays over the brilliance in your eyes…
STOP
Jesus
“Mmhmm. Over here, sit.” Jon waved his hand lazily through the air, gesturing obviously to the chair next to him where the other Martin sits.
Martin inhaled quickly, bracing himself before nodding and walking around the desk, popping down inelegantly into the chair.
And then immediately froze as his, apparently very cuddly, boss plastered himself to his arm. Jon leaned into Martin, nuzzling his cheek into his arm and humming in contentment.
The purr of your voice lulls me…
No! Stop it!
Jon apparently noticed his frozen state and muttered, “Hmm, sorry. Still quite…tired, Martin.” He spoke the words slowly, the rasp of his tired voice caressing each syllable lovingly.
Stop thinking about it, Martin. This is your BOSS, your DICK of a BOSS.
Never mind that THIS version's much nicer. And softer. And also is constantly glued to an older version of you like a needy sticker.
Stop. It.
Martin tried to reply, to keep the conversation going, but his voice wouldn't work and he instead nodded, like that was a proper answer.
Martin was trying. He was trying so hard to not react, but. Well. How could he not?
“Now,” Jon breathed out the word over his exposed forearms, causing an involuntary shiver to race through his body, and his heart rate to skyrocket.
“Show me what the issue is.” he felt more than heard Jon ask as he leaned even further into Martin's space, ostensibly to better see the file. But Martin hadn't even put it down yet.
“Oh! Right, well. Uh,” Martin suddenly stopped, unsure about what exactly this Jon knew about him.
Martin looked down at his cuddly, soft, gorgeous…boss. His boss, and replied, nervously, “I don’t, uh, know what I–er, he, um, may have told you?”
He felt his heart race again at the slow chuckle that Jon gave, and then felt at least a bit of his anxiety dissipate at his response, “Just assume I know literally everything, Martin. Don’t worry.”
He took in a slow, shaky breath in and out before opening the file and holding it to the side for Jon to see it better.
Martin swallowed, still nervous despite the assurance, “Well, uh. I’ve not. I–, uh don’t know what this…is. Cause of, y’know.” He shrugged pointedly, ducking his head in shame.
He felt Jon move yet closer, looking intently at the page in question, “Ah, yes. Means ‘write once read many’. There should be a connected external storage of some kind connected to this file. Probably somewhere in Document Storage. I’d find it for you, but, uh. Standing is. A lot, right now.” Jon spoke slowly, ensuring that each word was deliberate and understood, and Martin was paying close attention, as always.
Martin hummed in understanding, then sighed with the knowledge that he had to now go on a scavenger hunt in the stacks.
He felt Jon grin at his shoulder, reaching up to touch his jaw with two long fingers, turning him gently to face him. Martin could feel how red he was, because obviously he never gets a break.
“Martin,” and there went that low, sweet, velvety voice saying his name again. Martin couldn't stop the small strangled noise from leaving his throat if he'd tried. Martin thought wryly to himself that Jon could ask for just about anything in that voice and he would do his damndest to get it for him.
“Does your search history just say ‘WORM’ now?” Martin groaned, covering his eyes with his hands.
He felt Jon sigh, happily, and nuzzle into his shoulder as though he wanted to be in his lap, not up against him.
Martin could only take so much.
“Uh, Jon? Thank you so much for, uh, this, but…” Martin trailed off, eyes flickering quickly around the room, skipping intentionally over Tim and Sasha, who were both studiously not looking at him.
That's going to be a joy to deal with later…
He felt Jon hum again before responding in a much softer voice, “Ah, yes. Just. A little longer, please? Martin will be a bit longer, and you’re just…lovely.” Martin really needed to calm down. Lovely? Why would he say that? Is he trying to melt him into a Martin-flavored puddle?
That must be it. He must be doing this on purpose to, to…bully him, or something…
“I, uh. Really should get back to work. There’s still. Something I can do without the, uh. Thing you mentioned.” Martin's lips twitched a bit at the very put-upon sigh Jon let out, but he was free to move back to his desk again, so he'd take it.
Martin focused on the file in his hand as he moved, studiously not looking at Jon when he replied, “Fine, I suppose. Wouldn’t want your boss getting irritated, would we?”
Martin chuckled nervously and stood up, careful not to jostle Jon. He stiffly walked around the desk, eyes flitting back and forth between Jon’s gaze and his file, focusing on his own computer as soon as Jon's eyes were no longer in view.
Okay, Martin. You're fine, it's all fine. He's not gonna…gonna fire you or something, you couldn't help your reactions.
Martin kept telling himself that on loop, focusing on his work.
He mostly tried to avoid looking at anyone else, only really looking up from his research when his older self stopped by.
“Tea, Martin?” Martin looked up into his older face, holding out a mug of tea.
“Oh, uh. Sure, thanks.” He reached out to grab the warm mug, closing his eyes in contentment. Usually both Martins seemed to almost trade out the task of making everyone tea, and today was his older counterpart's turn.
“Mhm. You doing alright? Bit, uh, red there.” Martin looked up again, sharply, seeing the amused smile on his own older face.
Martin swallowed, eyes flicking over to the older Jon, currently bundled up in that too-large sweater and asleep on his arms. He immediately stared back into his doppleganger's eyes, blushing once more.
“Oh, ah. Yeah, makes sense. He's very clingy, though you wouldn't know it by how your Jon acts.”
“O-oh, ah. Yeah. He is,” Martin looked back towards the sleeping man, whispering, “s'nice though.”
The Older Martin beamed, “Yeah it is. Feel free to push him away or tell him off if you want. Can't have him getting a bigger head than he already has.”
The younger Martin snickered and watched as his older iteration slowly woke up Jon, running a hand through his long hair, and handed him his mug of tea.
Martin had to look down again at the, honestly, besotted look on Jon's face. He knew that they were close, much closer than himself and the younger Jon, but still, it hurt to think of them potentially being that close.
Martin decided to just focus on his tea and his work for the rest of the day. He didn't know if his heart could take anymore right now.