Chapter Text
After spending the morning attempting not to lose all hope and will to live at the sight of the mess that was the archives and the workload ahead of them, plus then having to spend a good hour trying to corral a dog and fix the mess left behind, the newly-minted archival team were all quick to agree to a lunch break the moment that they had caught their breath. Thanks to Tim’s charisma -read: persistent and annoying badgering- even Jon agreed not to instantly go back to his office, though he didn’t look happy about it.
Though that may have just been his general annoyance at the dog situation. Martin sure was still caught up twisting himself into knots about it, red in the face, and somehow getting redder anytime he glanced aside and met Jon’s glare. Tim was almost concerned for his health, poor guy.
“That was a bit of a mess.” Understatement of the century, really, but he couldn’t stand the silence anymore.
“If anything, it made the archives neater . I wish I knew what Gertrude was thinking when she organized those files.” Jon rubbed a hand over his face but, success, at least he was being social. Tim did his best not to give him an encouraging thumbs-up.
Martin looked like he was breathing again, at least.
“Maybe he makes a habit of hiring under-qualified people?” Sasha’s hand flew up to cover her mouth. “Oh sorry I didn’t mean-”
Much to Tim’s surprise, Jon gave her an encouraging smile.
“Oh no, I agree. Elias was… persistent about me taking the promotion.”
“Now, now, Jon. Already talking badly about double-boss?” Tim teased and tried to nudge Jon with an elbow but he side-stepped out of the way. For a slightly clumsy man, he was surprisingly adept at dodging things.
“All I’m saying is that either he’s a sexist capitalist bastard or he’s an evil eldritch being who has plans for all of us and that somehow involves a guy like me being here. Who knows?” Jon said. His tone is no matter-of-fact that even the janitor walking by had to tamp down on a snort.
Declarations like that were exactly why Tim ended up befriending Jon in the first place when they worked together in research. At first, he had given the guy a wide berth - Jon always looked so professional and strict and, honestly, like an absolute bore. But then on one assignment that led them into artifact storage, Jon had looked at an amorphous mass of black inky goop that seeped from a newly-uncovered Leitner, looked back at Tim, and then calmly declared, ‘You know Tim, this really reminds me of home. Just needs more eyes, that’s all’.
After that, Tim decided to take the poor antisocial guy under his wing because honestly, his sense of humor and creative tales were a thing of beauty. His constant anecdotes about his radio internship could make for a fiction bestseller, and even the true-er tales from his childhood were a blast to listen to. Wherever the fuck his hometown was -Tim wasn’t sure since Google was no help- sure sounded like a place Tim wanted to visit. Wheedling Jon into taking him along during some vacation or other was still a work in progress.
All in all, Tim was used to Jon’s declarations enough that while Sasha and Martin looked at each other in a silent debate whether it was polite to laugh or not, Tim brought down a hand on Jon’s shoulder with enough strength to nearly make the smaller man trip, whoops.
“Don’t spill all of Elias’s secrets. He might murder us with a rusty pipe or something.” He advised in the loudest whisper he could manage, struggling to keep his grin under wraps.
“Less work to do - that’s a win-win.” He sounded so wistful that Tim couldn’t help it, he laughed. Soon Sasha and Martin were joining in, while Jon just regarded them all with something that on him was as close as people got to a smile.
“Look at the bright side, boss, less creepy research to deal with!”
It was Sasha who spoke up, though Tim wasn’t quite surprised - she was the one going through all the boxes instead of loitering about before the dog ran in. “If you think that even half of those statements were followed up on properly and are fit for archival, you would be wrong.”
“Well, at least I know that our new boss here-” Tim threw an arm over Jon’s shoulders while still grinning at Sasha “-is chill with breaking and entering.”
Jon’s glare didn’t quite measure up to the one he gave Tim over the ‘hypothetical’ dog situation, so that was something. “That was once.”
“No, I’m rather sure you also mentioned climbing through a window into a closed library for your radio internship.”
There must have been some skill involved in making a single sigh sound so disapproving. “Fine, twice .”
Martin’s concerned voice made Jon jolt under Tim’s arm. “You broke into a library?”
That was exactly the opportunity Tim needed. Jon would thank him for this later, once he got over his professional facade being smashed to pieces. “He didn’t tell you? Well, our Jon here has apparently had the wildest time working at a small-town radio-”
Despite Jon’s protests, Tim regaled the archival team with the second-hand tales of work at Night Vale radio all the way through lunch.