Work Text:
“Come in.”
Jon waved Melanie inside and wandered back into the flat to put the kettle on.
When he realised Melanie wasn’t following him, he poked his head back out of the kitchen. Melanie was just standing in the doorway, frozen.
“Uh… is everything alright?”
Melanie slowly stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
“I didn’t think Georgie had any clothes that would fit you.”
Jon looked utterly confused. Then realisation dawned on him and he looked down at his clothes.
He was wearing a loose black sleeveless tank top that had safety pins holding it together on either side, skinny tartan jeans that had more zips that was entirely reasonable, and his bare feet meant his black painted toenails were on full show.
Jon sheepishly came back into the hallway.
“Ah. She doesn’t.”
There’s a beat of silence.
“You motherfucker no one is going to believe me.”
Jon cracks a smile at that and heads back into the kitchen. This time Melanie follows him.
He busies himself making tea and Melanie watches as he tucks his hair behind his ear and catches a glimpse of silver.
“You have piercings as well?! Why do you never wear them to work?”
“There’s a dress code Melanie.”
“You know that’s bullshit.”
Jon pauses. He can’t deny that.
“Honestly I like separating my professional life from my personal. I see no reason they should mix.”
“They should mix so that people actually think you’re cool! I always wondered why Georgie thought you were cool but honestly I get it now!”
Jon laughed a little and put the cup of tea in front of her.
“I don’t have to be ‘cool’ at work Melanie, I have to be professional. Also, I struggle sometimes to switch off when I’m at home. Separating my personal and professional life so drastically like this helps. Well… helped.” He looks at his hands guiltily. “Do you have the files?”
Melanie seemed to be broken from a trance. She dumped the files on the table between them.
*
They pored over the files for a couple of hours before Melanie noticed it start to get dark around them.
“I’ve got to go. Some of us are going out for drinks tonight. You should come along, Jon.”
Jon smiled weakly. “I don’t think that’s the best idea for morale, Melanie.”
Melanie’s shoulders slumped. “Right. Well… see you then.”
Jon waved and watched her leave.
When she was outside, she practically sprinted to the pub.
*
“Bullshit. Pics or it didn’t happen.”
“I didn’t exactly stop him for a photoshoot, Basira”
“Then I don’t believe you.”
Melanie shrugged and downed her beer. “From one lesbian to another, he looked kind of hot.”
Basira rolled her eyes. “I don’t think I’m the target audience for that comment.”
There is a beat of silence as everyone around the table spins to look at Martin. Martin looks confused for a second before shrugging.
“I knew.”
And with that there is chaos.
Martin just laughs.
“Guys! Calm down. When I was staying in the archives back in the worm days I found a box of clothes under the bed. It was, like, a couple of faded punk band t-shirts and a pair of ripped black skinny jeans. I assumed they were a relic from Gerard Keay’s time. I mentioned them in passing to Jon and he told me they were his. Something about helping him leave work on the weekends.”
“Have you ever seen him in them, Martin?”
Martin blushed deeply at that. “No”
*
The rest of the evening passes with little issue. As the four of them say goodbye in the freezing London night, Melanie pulls Martin aside.
“Hey I forgot to drop something off before I came here and I know the address is on your way home. Is there any chance you could swing by for me?”
Martin nodded and took the envelope from Melanie’s hands.
“You’re a saint.” She rattled off the address to him and it was indeed on his route home.
He didn’t know who he expected Melanie to be dropping things off for but when he heard Jon’s voice crackling from the speaker, he was caught extremely off guard.
“Uh it’s Martin. Melanie asked me to drop something off.”
There’s a pause before the door buzzed and Martin let himself in. His mind was rushing. He’d not properly seen Jon in so long. Sure he was back at work but, going from getting lunch together almost every day to not seeing him at all for months and then barely seeing him as he gets flung around like a paranoid messenger pigeon was not something Martin was used to yet. It’s not something he feels like he wants to get used to. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder but Martin didn’t think he could get much fonder than he already was and he really wanted to get to the next bit after that.
Before he knew it, he was standing in front of Jon’s door. He knocked gently.
Martin swore under his breath as the door swung open.
‘Kind of hot’ had been an understatement and Melanie King had a lot to answer for.
He realised he must look like a deer in the headlights and tried to collect himself.
“Uh h-hi. Melanie asked me to drop this off.” He handed the envelope over to Jon and took a step back.
Jon frowned a little but took it from him. The air between them felt heavy and stifling. Martin was trying really hard not to Notice how Jon’s collar bones looked under the jagged chopped collar of his tank top but he found himself failing spectacularly.
“I know it’s late but do you want to come in?”
Martin’s eyes shot up from Jon’s neck back up to his eyes.
“Yeah ok.”
Martin followed Jon inside. As Jon turned around, Martin could see that the side of his tank top was basically open and he caught a glimpse of bare skin and he thought this might just kill him. He found he didn’t really mind.
He followed Jon to the kitchen and sat at the small cluttered table as Jon filled the kettle.
“You know back when you first told me this was how you dressed outside of work I couldn’t picture it. It suits you though.”
Jon smiled. It was warm and it was the first sign of real comfort Martin had seen on his face in months.
“Thanks. I think I nearly killed Melanie earlier today.”
“Oh I know. It’s all she would talk about at the pub for the first 20 minutes.”
Jon sighed. “Oh fantastic.”
Martin chuckled. Jon handed him a cup of tea and sat across from him. Martin gratefully wrapped his hands around it and stared into the mug in an attempt to stop staring at the sheer amount of Jon’s skin that was thoughtlessly exposed.
“I’m sorry I haven’t had time to go out to lunch with you recently.”
Ok that was not what Martin had expected to hear.
“I’ll admit I’ve missed our dates more than I thought I would.”
The words were out of his mouth before he could even process them. Maybe Jon hadn’t noticed the dubious wording.
“Dates?”
No he’d noticed.
“I didn’t mean to say that.”
He could feel Jon’s eyes boring into him. “But you did mean it.”
Martin was so sick of lying. He didn’t want to lie to Jon. He barely even trusted himself to be able to right now. So instead, he said nothing.
“Would it help if I said that I would have liked them to be dates too?”
Martin’s face flushed as he looked back up at Jon. He was fiddling self-consciously with one of the silver bars in his ear and Martin wanted to melt.
“R-right. That’s good that definitely helps. I realise that everything’s a mess right now but do you want to try this? No time like the present right?”
Jon chuckled. He leaned over the table and paused briefly before Martin brought his hands up to Jon’s face and closed the gap. Martin’s hands slowly came to rest on Jon’s exposed collar bones and he couldn’t help but smile into the kiss.
When he pulled away, he looked down, blushing. Jon was still leaned over and the table and the ridiculous tank top was exposing more of his chest than Martin was used to and -
“Jon do you have more than one tattoo?!”
Everyone knew about Jon’s lion tattoo on his forearm. He usually kept it covered but it got hot in the archives and he started rolling up his sleeves eventually. He had brushed it off as supporting his ex when she was training to be a tattoo artist. People tended to stop asking after that. They didn’t need to know that Jon had three other ones and that he was still on fond terms with his ex.
Jon glanced down and pulled away so he was sitting on the chair again. He pulled his tank top down slightly to reveal the outline of an anatomical heart on the right side of his chest, over his own heart.
“I have a few. I’ll show you if you swear on your life you won’t tell Melanie.”
Martin leaned over the table quickly and pecked Jon on the lips again.
“I promise.”