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Jon let himself into Georgie’s flat and flung his jacket over the radiator. He wandered into the living room and saw Melanie sprawled across the sofa.
“Where’s Georgie?”
“Tesco.” Melanie didn’t even look up as she moved her legs for Jon to sit down.
“I thought I was on snack duty today?”
Melanie sighed and sat up a little. “She’s gone to get some extras because I apparently forgot to tell her I had invited people this week so she assumed I hadn’t told you either.”
“You didn’t though.
Melanie gave his thigh a kick. “I know that but I don’t like that she assumed it.”
Jon just laughed. “Who did you invite? Tim and Sasha?”
Melanie nodded. “And the new guy, Martin.”
Jon cocked his head. He hadn’t been in work for a bit since Melanie had cashed in his holiday days for him behind his back. He was vaguely aware of someone new working with them but he hadn’t actually met them yet. The thought of meeting someone new tonight actively tired him out.
“Seriously? Georgie has had me running errands for her all day I don’t have the energy for new people.”
“Georgie had you run one errand.”
“It took a whole day!”
Melanie removed her legs from his lap and sat up next to him properly.
“It’ll be fine. Martin is very chill and lovely. Ok actually I don’t know if chill is a good word. He can be a bit nervous and wired but he means well and you’ll be fine! You know that if it gets too much you can always go sit in our room with The Admiral.”
Before Jon could answer he heard a key in the door.
“Honey I’m Home!”
Melanie and Jon simultaneously waved as Georgie flung her jacket at them.
Jon got up and followed Georgie into the kitchen with his bags. He started pulling out the snacks he’d brought along.
“So I heard Melanie’s invited people.”
Georgie just nodded as she grabbed bowls and started pouring M&Ms into them.
“Oh before I forget,” Jon dug to the bottom of his bag and pulled out a box, “Your business cards. There was a whole faff where they had spelled your name wrong and refused to admit it was their fault so I spent like 30 minutes asking them to show me your email which was a whole thing but eventually they did and they admitted it was their fault and I sat in a pub on my own for 2 hours while they reprinted them but here they are.”
Georgie laughed. “Oh god I’m sorry. If I had realised it was going to be such a disaster I would have waited and gone myself.”
The doorbell rang and Georgie left Jon on his own to sort out the crisps and drinks.
He heard voices that he recognised as Tim and Sasha and sighed. So it began.
He poured a glass of coke for himself and shoved everything on a tray to take through to the living room. When he entered he smiled a little despite himself. Sasha and Tim were just coming in from the hall looking only a little drowned from the rain and Melanie was bent round the tv trying to plug in a hdmi cable. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t make him a little warm.
“For those among us who are drinking there are beers in the fridge.”
He put the tray on the coffee table and curled into a corner of the couch.
His announcement was met by grateful cheers from Tim and Sasha and they rushed over followed by…
Ah.
Jon tried to school his face into something resembling neutrality as their last guest walked in from the hall. The first thing Jon registered was how tall he was. But even aside from that he was frighteningly Jon’s type. He had soft eyes and dark skin and fantastic dreadlocks that made him look much cooler than his worried posture suggested he felt.
Jon was vaguely aware of a weight dropping onto the sofa next to him and turned to see Melanie grinning at him.
“It’s rude to stare Jon,” she whispered before calling Martin over sit between them. “Martin! I’m so glad you could come! This is Jon. He is our supervisor technically but he’s been on forced leave for a couple of weeks.”
Martin glanced confused at Jon. “Forced by who?”
Jon looked unimpressed past Martin to Melanie who just shot him fingerguns before getting up to set up the laptop. Jon just rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Martin.
“She cashed in holiday days behind my back because apparently I work too hard.”
Martin bit back a smile. “Well at least you know she cares about you.”
Jon hummed in agreement and frowned.
“I’m sorry Martin I’m not very good company tonight. I have had a somewhat stressful day and I wasn’t prepared to have this much company.”
Martin’s eyes widened. “Oh I’m sorry! I was invited I didn’t know – I mean I assumed”
Jon waved his hand slightly as Martin’s stuttering faded out. “No no don’t worry it’s not your fault. I also wasn’t prepared for Tim and Sasha and in Melanie’s defence, it was not supposed to be a stressful day. I just don’t want this to be your first impression of me.”
Martin nodded. “That’s ok. I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed. If you don’t mind me asking what made the day so stressful?”
Jon sighed and started relating the story of the business card fiasco to Martin. Tim and Sasha listened along intently but Jon found that no matter how much he tried to keep his attention on the room, his eyes kept falling back on Martin’s face. As the initial anxiety seemed to leave Martin Jon saw a soft smile and he let out little laughs every so often that made him want to run for the hills.
Jon remained just as wired but for a completely different reason.
He hadn’t felt this drawn to someone since Georgie and it was scary.
Eventually Melanie had the laptop set up and everyone settled down a little. Jon let his mind rest as the comforting opening credits of Doctor Who started. He let himself relax in the familiarity of the episode he had seen so many times before.
He soon become aware of Martin’s surprised reactions and frowned.
“Have you not seen this before?”
Martin looked a little sheepish. “Uh no. I new of it of course. I remember it being rebooted because everyone in my town was so pleased he was going to be northern but I didn’t really have time to watch tv growing up.”
**
Martin watched Jon’s eyes widen and he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. Did he say something wrong? He didn’t think that was such a weird thing to say.
“Excuse me a second.”
Martin watched as Jon climbed off the sofa and almost bolted into the corridor.
Melanie looked up curiously from where she was seated on Georgie’s lap and raised her eyebrows at Martin. Martin just gave her a panicked shrug.
He tried to watch the show a little more but his mind kept wandering back to Jon who was somewhere in the house on his own possibly because of something he’d said.
And it had been going so well!
Once Martin had managed to get his brain past “hot” and then past “BOSS hot” he had managed to relax a little. He watched Jon tell his stupid story about the business cards and found himself mesmerised. His enthusiasm was contagious and it was beautiful to watch.
But of course, something had to go wrong.
Eventually Martin put down his drink and leaned over to Melanie and Georgie.
“Where is your toilet?”
“Hallway. First door on the left.”
He nodded and got up.
He reached the hallway and he could hear soft noises of talking from further up. Quietly he made his way down the hall before he got to the door where the talking was coming from.
“… and he wouldn’t want that would he admiral? No because he’s a nice normal man who doesn’t need to know more about Doctor Who than he already does and I’m just too tired and comfortable to successfully filter my stupid self and you are my prisoner…
Martin knocked gently on the door and the chattering stopped abruptly.
“Uh hi?”
Martin considered for a moment whether that was closer to ‘who is it’ or ‘come in’ and decided not to take chances.
“Can I come in?”
“ok.”
Martin carefully pushed the door open and peered inside. He saw Jon sitting cross legged on the bed with a very large cat in his lap. He was looking at Martin with wide terrified eyes and Martin’s heart broke a little.
“Oh I didn’t realise you had company.”
Jon looked confused for a second before the cat gave a disgruntled “mrow” and recognition flooded his features. He seemed to loosen up immediately as he returned to stroking the cat in his lap.
“Ah yes. This is The Admiral. Admiral this is Martin.”
Martin came over and reached his hand out for the Admiral to sniff.
“Was it something I said, Jon?”
Jon seemed to jump a little.
The Admiral lost interest and Martin came to sit next to Jon on the bed.
“No! Sorry I just. I got overwhelmed. I’m really tired and we were in the middle of an episode and I didn’t want to infodump on you. I’m sorry. I figured you didn’t need that and also I really want you to like me so yeah.”
Martin tried to process Jon’s words.
“I do like you. Well so much as I know you so far. And you can infodump on me here if you want? That way you don’t have to worry you’re annoying anyone.”
Jon seemed to fidget with his hands a little and the Admiral jumped off his lap to go and settle on a nearby pillow.
“Are you sure?”
Martin nodded.
It had a stuttery start but Jon slowly let himself launch into his rant about how important Christopher Eccleston was for the reboot and Martin listened intently. The more comfortable Jon got the more he started to move his arms with his words and as a smile slowly started to settle on his face Martin found himself grinning along.
Eventually Jon petered out and left a charged silence between them. Martin felt his heart melt a little at the hopeful glances Jon kept throwing his way.
“How do you know all of that stuff?”
“Um I just… do? I’ve just always gone looking for information about things I like and I just kind of… hold it all in my head.”
Martin nodded. Jon’s hands were getting more fidgety by the second and it was taking so much of Martin’s energy to not put his own hands in Jon’s so he had something to hold.
Also for selfish reasons, Martin really just wanted to hold Jon’s hands.
“That’s kind of amazing, Jon.”
Jon smiled even wider and laughed. “Ok that’s new.”
Martin just looked at him sadly. How was he supposed to answer that? He wanted to pull Jon into a hug and kiss his head and tell him that everything was going to be ok and he deserved to be appreciated and told he was smart and interesting. Martin tried to stop his mind running too far into the distance but he was struggling.
Without warning Jon swore and backed away and Martin jumped.
“What’s up?”
Jon groaned into his hands.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
Martin frowned. “Like what?”
Jon took a breath. “Never mind. Martin please ignore me it is going to be much easier to work together that way.”
And with that Martin watched as Jon marched himself out of the room. He had absolutely no idea what had just transpired between them.
**
The night ended and Martin, Tim and Sasha went home. Jon excused himself from the goodbyes by doing the dishes in the kitchen. He mostly stood staring into the bubbles polishing a, by now, very clean glass, thinking about Martin.
Why were his feelings this messy this early on? Maybe the holiday had made him soft and now he was vulnerable to bouts of overwhelming emotion like a dramatic Victorian lady. Maybe that in itself was an incredibly dramatic thought. Maybe he was just lonely and getting tired of third wheeling for Melanie and Georgie. Ok that was unfair he loved the time he spent with them. In which case he couldn’t chalk it up to that.
“Jonathan Sims I can hear you thinking from over here and it is exhausting me.” Georgie came and stood next to him. She grabbed a tea towel to start drying the couple of dishes Jon had actually done. “Want to tell me what happened? I assume you didn’t have a weird loaded conversation with the Admiral.”
“I can’t date Martin.” Jon interrupted before Georgie had even finished. She just sighed.
“You can. You just won’t.”
“Fine. I won’t date Martin.”
Georgie slung the towel over her shoulder. “And why not?”
“Because I’m his boss and he deserves to have a clean start to his new job.”
Georgie was about to say something when Melanie came rushing in with Jon’s phone.
“You're being called, Unknown caller ID.”
Jon frowned and hit answer.
“Hello?”
“Hi! Jon!” Martin’s voice crackled through the speakers and Jon felt his heart jump to his throat.
“Martin?”
Melanie and Georgie both shared a look and quietly left the kitchen for which Jon gave them a heartfelt middle finger. Martin continued.
“Hi sorry I realise it’s late but I just got an email from another job actually. It’s the little indie music venue up the road and it’s just much more my vibe so I thought I’d uh let you know.”
Jon closed his eyes and tried to make sense of what Martin was saying. “Wait… are you quitting?”
“Uh yes effective immediately I’m afraid. Sorry. I can do that right? I’m pretty sure two weeks is still in my probation period.”
Jon had absolutely no idea how to react to anything that was happening. He just gaped at his phone.
“Jon? Are you still there?”
Jon sat down. “Yes. Yes sorry. Um. I’m sorry you’re leaving us so soon I think everyone really liked you. I’m sorry we never got a chance to work together.”
Martin let out a nervous chuckle. “Well I mean It would have been awkward after tonight anyways so. I think it’s better this way.”
Jon thought about the evening. He thought about the way Martin had looked at him in the dim light of Georgie’s fairy lights. He thought about the way Martin’s entire face softened as Jon infodumped a whole load of useless information. He thought about how kind and warm Martin had been the whole evening and how all he wanted to do was learn more and more and more about him. He thought about how he stopped himself from kissing him because it would be inappropriate for the workplace.
“Martin where are you right now?”
“Uh I’m just at the tube station now.”
“Right there’s a pub that’s open until 2 just up the road called The King’s Arms. Would you mind meeting me there?”
There was a brief pause in which Jon held his breath before Martin’s voice jolted him back to life.
“I see it. Looks pretty empty, I’ll grab a table.”
Martin hung up and Jon bolted for the door.
“Go get him Jon!” came Melanie’s half-hearted shout from down the hall before he pulled on a coat and keys and started down the stairs at breakneck speed.
He stood outside the pub and tried to catch his breath. He could see Martin through the foggy window. He could still back out. But that would be pretty shitty seeing as he literally asked Martin to take this detour while he was on his way home. Jon took one final deep breath and pushed open the door to the pub, making a beeline for Martin’s table.
“Hi.”
Martin jumped at Jon's presence.
“H-Hi”
Jon slumped into the chair in front of him. “For all the talking I did I actually didn’t say anything that I should have.”
Martin gave a tense smile. “Oh, straight to it. I was going to ask if I could buy you a drink. Not alcoholic, of course, I noticed … never mind. Carry on.”
Jon just stared at him dumbfounded. “This is exactly what I mean though! You are so good at being a person and I am so incredibly not good at that. I have no idea what I’m doing here. Wait no I know what I’m doing here. I meant I don’t know what I’m doing in general. Sorry not the point. What I am meaning to say is… Can I buy you a drink?”
Jon watched as Martin bit back laughter. “Yes Jon. You can buy me a drink.”
Jon smiled and pulled his wallet from his coat. Ok this wasn’t yet a disaster. “What do you want?”
“I’ll just have a coke, thanks.”
Jon nodded. Before he turned away to the bar he watched Martin’s face soften and he turned back.
“There! That look! That was the look I told you to stop doing earlier!”
Martin blinked and leaned back in his chair. “Ooooh. Oh no I know what that look is.”
Jon felt his chest tighten. “What does it mean?”
Martin had the decency to blush. “It’s the look I get when I want to kiss the person I’m talking to.”
Jon didn’t know exactly where the strangled noise that left his mouth came from but he very quickly slapped a hand over his mouth. Martin looked sheepishly at his hands.
“Hold that thought. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Before he knew it, Jon found himself in the bar ordering drinks.
When he got back to the table, he could see the tension in Martin’s shoulders was back.
“I shouldn’t have said that.” Martin said.
Jon just looked at him questioningly so he continued.
“I thought – the way you were acting and speaking – I thought… but I’m guessing you don’t want to… kiss me?”
Now it was Jon’s turn to laugh. “Sorry! Sorry Martin. It’s just. That is pretty much the only thing I want right now. I realise I’m going about this all wrong and”
Jon was interrupted by Martin leaning over the table and pressing their lips together. Jon’s hands came up to rest on Martin’s face and he kissed back with full conviction.
It wasn’t a long kiss but when they broke apart both of them were grinning.
Jon sat back in his chair.
“Are you certain about this, Martin?”
Martin just laughed and reached his hand across the table. Jon took it silently.
“Seriously you’re overthinking this way too much. Yes. I’m certain.”
Jon nodded happily and changed his grip on Martin's hand slightly. "I think we should get coffee tomorrow."