The Weekend Arrangement

What Would You Do if You Weren't Afraid?

It all seemed so incredibly clear once Jon had made up his mind. He'd quit- just leave the whole damned Institute and be done with it. His own needs were relatively spartan and there was enough money in various funds and accounts that he could never work again if he so chose.

Of course he should just quit. How stupid- how obvious. The Institute shouldn't get to have any say in his life. Shouldn't get to use vague, poorly explicated rules and incomprehensible reasoning to keep him away from Martin. It was just a job, and not even a particularly good one- compared to the unfamiliar joy he had found with Martin, it was a pale substitute, and letting the one interfere with the other was a terrible mistake that shamed Jon.

He had run home, breath and legs uncertain as he rushed to get his resignation typed up. Did this need to be professional? Subservient? Jon didn't really care- it wasn't as if he'd come back to the Institute grovelling; he wasn't planning on giving a full two weeks or anything- he just needed to be out, away from the reach of Elias and the Magnus. Simple then. Clear and forceful- no possibility of misunderstanding.

I quit.

Effective immediately.

Jonathan Sims

He could simply- leave the Institute. He could have ALWAYS just left and Jon feels foolish and selfish that it hadn't occurred to him before now. Had their situations been reversed, Jon is certain Martin would have come to this conclusion months ago and this predicament could have been entirely avoided. Martin was just so practical and in tune with people; always seeming to know exactly what they needed without any prompting.

It sends Jon's thoughts back to the very first time they had met.

He had always had an interest in the paranormal, and getting on with the well established- if not particularly well esteemed- Institute had seemed at first like a stroke of excellent luck. Instead of the staid, academic atmosphere he had been anticipating though, Jon found the place to be a gossipy, clique-y nightmare. Interdepartmental feuds seemed common and he had heard rumours about himself make the rounds and come back to him in whisper campaigns before his first full week was even up.

The library had worried him more than any other department. All the gossip seemed to run through there, a King's Cross station of getting into other people's business and Jon had quailed at the thought of becoming so much more fodder.

He had been a new researcher and nervous about finding materials in the library. The Institute was frightfully outdated and the library stacks used an elaborate pastiche of various cataloguing systems that made navigating them all but impossible to outsiders. Jon had needed to find someone who worked there to help point him in the right direction and had spied him ; the first friendly face he had seen since starting at the Institute.

There he was, shelving books under a flickering lamp. When Jon had asked for help (and looking back he didn't think he was particularly polite about it either) the lamp had found its feet and glowed brighter; bathing the tall, curly haired librarian in golden light. The librarian had offered him a genuine smile, and made him tea prepared just the way Jon liked without the man even asking- two sugars, no milk. The librarian had stayed in the break room with a cup of his own giving Jon a crash course in navigating the crowded stacks and afterward had simply hung around to talk. When the librarian had set down Jon's tea, he had asked if Jon was sleeping all right- remarking that new jobs were stressful and the library was always very quiet and Jon was welcome to come down anytime he needed a break. It wasn't gossipy or prying- none of the intrusive, personal questioning he was used to from other Institute staff. Just easy, friendly conversation. Jon is pretty sure he had nattered incessantly about something stupid, and yet the handsome librarian had smiled and asked questions that sounded like he was really listening and not just waiting to talk. The unanticipated kindness accompanied by an open, handsome face inspired the stirrings of something Jon hadn't felt in years.