Characters: Jonathan Sims/Sasha James/Tim Stoker/Martin Blackwood
Rating: Teen
Summary:
“But what if-” Once again, Jon struggles to find the right words. He knows their situation is unorthodox to most people, and the thought of Martin looking at him differently is too much to bear. “What if he doesn’t understand?”
“Then explain it to him,” Sasha relays patiently, her hand never leaving his. Things are always so clear to her, Jon envies that. “You’re my partners, you’re dating Tim, sometimes me and Tim have-”
Or: How One Became Four.
It starts with Sasha and Jon.
She’s fresh off six months in Artefact Storage, shell-shocked and stand-offish. Jon starts a few months later and they learn the ropes together. She warms up, divulges little tidbits of her time in the other department that Jon devours. He’s young, hungry for answers and Sasha’s already jaded by her few years in academia. This is just a transitional job, she assures him. It pays better than most research gigs and allows her to keep up a certain lifestyle.
“I’m looking at other places, putting out feelers,” she confides in him one day over coffee. It’s become their daily ritual, a mid-morning break where they can commiserate on the staid academics that ask too much of them and the fanciful statements that end up on their desk. “Whatever you do, don’t get stuck here.” She leans back in her chair, gives a cynical little smile. “Or maybe you should. It’ll be different for you, you’re a man.” He starts a protest but she cuts him off. “It’s an old boys club and you know it. Besides, I know all about your extra meetings with Bouchard. He’s never done that with anyone else. Who knows - in a few years you might be my boss!”
[ID: Two portraits of Tim Stoker (a muscular east asian man with short black hair, moles, and circular scars on his arms and face) and Martin Blackwood (a fat white man with medium length red hair, beard, and freckles), respectively. Both of them have a wild look on their faces, as Tim is in the process of swinging a mace, and Martin is lighting a sheet of paper with a match, the fire’s light illuminating most of his face while Tim’s is partly obscured. Tim spots a big grin, yet one of the edges turns into a grimace, while Martin has an idle smile. //End ID]
bonus under the cut (that i got too lazy to properly shade and color and stuff u_u as one does)
[ID: A sketch in reds of Tim and Martin making out, as Tim is seated on a desk dragging Martin closer by the back of his head and grabbing onto his shirt. Fire spreads all around them, illuminating their profiles in the dark. In the background there are some empty bookcases, and behind them pieces of rubber, and what looks like a painting’s frame engulfed by the fire. //End ID]
