An accidental kiss x3, a kiss in secrecy, and an impulsive kiss x2 - 2/20/18 - Polyarchives Notes: This one's loooooong ------------------- There is a well known fact in the Institute staff's gossip, and that would be the fact that everyone knows all of the Archives staff have kissed each other. There are many rumors about how or why, but in reality it was a series of accidents that really started it. The real story starts on a normal Tuesday, when Martin is thumbing through papers in the Archives, a mug of tea on the edge of his desk. He loses his grip on one of the papers, and in his haste to grab it before it hits the ground, he bumps the mug, which topples to the floor with a crash. Hoping that no one heard the noise (especially Jon, who would /kill/ him for getting tea on the carpet), he begins to clean up the shards of ceramic. However, Sasha, who was in a nearby hallway, did hear the noise, and came rushing in to check on him. As soon as she sees the mess on the ground, she immediately bends down to help him, taking a spare roll of paper towels off a nearby shelf and beginning to mop up the spilled tea. They are both engrossed in their quiet cleaning work, so neither of them pay any particular attention to each other's movements. That's how when Martin looks up to see Sasha's face inches from his, he startles and attempts to jerk back in surprise, but of course manages to stumble forward instead, connecting their lips for a brief moment. After this, Martin manages to properly back away, and stammers a hurried apology, face bright red. Sasha quickly tells him it's fine, blushing rather intensely herself. They do not say another word about this interaction for a very, very long time, but that doesn't stop them from thinking about it more than they both think is probably appropriate. It's Tim who slips up next. He's walking towards Jon, who is distracted by one of the statements filed on a nearby shelf. He's planning on telling his boss about the work he'd done to follow up a different statement, but he instead trips over seemingly nothing, and lets out a noise of surprise. By this point, Tim is rather close to Jon, who turns to him when he makes the sound, and when Tim topples forward, he crashes into the smaller man. And of course, their heads happen to be at the perfect levels for their lips to connect. Tim quickly gets up off the floor to free Jon as quickly as possible, thoroughly embarrassed. "What the heck Tim?" Jon snaps, trying his best to hide his own embarrassment as he gets to his feet and dusts himself off. "I just tripped- gosh I'm sorry," Tim apologizes in a way that is very un-Tim-like. Probably because he just kissed his boss and doesn't want to get fired. Jon is half considering firing him, but knows that wouldn't do any good. "I'm not gonna fire you if that's what you're worried about," Jon informs him. "But don't you /dare/ tell anyone about this ever." Tim nods fervently, and leaves quickly, not even telling Jon what he originally needed to. Neither of them want to admit that they would kind of like to do it again. The third and final of the accidental kisses comes because both Jon and Martin are very, very distracted by their previous experiences kissing their coworkers. They happen to be walking toward each other, Jon thinking way too much about how cute Tim was when he was flustered and immediately banishing the thought, and Martin remembering how Sasha hadn't even asked any questions before she'd started helping and hadn't left even when he'd accidentally kissed her. And then they run into each other. The two are around the same height, and Jon is wearing heels that day, which covers the couple inches Martin has on him, so they end up, of course, kissing. Very, very briefly, because as soon as Jon feels another human being's touch he leaps back. "Watch where you're going!" He snaps quickly, and doesn't even give Martin a chance to reply before he takes off, leaving the man standing flustered in the middle of the room. Now, having kissed two of his coworkers, Jon, curious by nature, can't help but wonder what kissing Sasha would be like. This thought is one he tries to banish for multiple days, but eventually he gives in. He's unfairly curious about this. "Sasha," He asks one day. The woman looks up at him. "I have something to ask you." "I'm listening," She replies, interest sparking in her brown eyes. "Uh- well," Jon stammers lowering his voice. "Can we uh- go in my office? I don't want anyone overhearing-" He glances over at Tim, who is working, but clearly listening to the conversation. Sasha follows his gaze, and looks back at him. "Course," She replies, voice dropping to a whisper. "Come on." The two head into Jon's office, and he shuts the door. "What was it you wanted to ask me?" Sasha inquires, tilting her head. ++++++++
READ DESC FIRST ^^^^^^ "Um. So, I have, managed to... accidentally. Kiss. Both Martin and Tim." Jon says quietly, trying his best to keep his voice nice and steady and not flustered at all. He fails. Badly. Sasha can't help the jolt of jealousy that shoots through her at his words. The problem is, she can't tell if she's jealous it wasn't her he kissed, or whether she's jealous that she's not the only one who's kissed Martin, or if she's jealous because Tim hasn't kissed her. "And I've been kind of curious," Jon continues. "What- uhm, kissing... you, would be like." At this, Sasha's eyes widen and the jealousy melts away. She has definitely not been wondering the same thing about Jon (and Tim, for that matter). "Well, that would be fine with me, if that's what you want to do," She manages, and Jon perks up. He hadn't actually been expecting her to accept. "Okay! Uh, do we just," Jon says awkwardly. "Yeah." Sasha is equally awkward. The smaller man leans up and presses a quick kiss to her lips. Both of them liked it much more than they are willing to admit. "So..." Sasha trails off. "Interesting science experiment that we will never mention again." Jon concludes, and Sasha nods. When they exit the office, Tim raises a knowing eyebrow at them, to which they both immediately deny that there were any remotely romantic things about their conversation. They're both lying, both to Tim and themselves. Tim, having already kissed Jon and being prone to bouts of impulsiveness, is the reason that the next couple kisses occur. The first happens when Sasha announces she's managed to get her hands on a retro CD player, which Tim knows has been one the most prominent items on her wishlist for /years/. And not to mention the fact he himself has been wanting to see one in action since she got him into it. Sasha's excitement is contagious and soon Tim is just as ecstatic as she is. And sometimes, when he's excited, Tim makes decisions that have no thought behind them at all. On this particular occasion, it happens to be kissing his best friend. On the lips. With the rest of the Archival staff in the room. "TIM!" Jon shouts as soon as he does. "NOT IN THE ARCHIVES!" Tim, realizing what he's just done, pulls away /very/ quickly. "Duck- um." He backs towards the door, as Sasha stares at him. "I think I am going to take my lunch break," He concludes. "Have a nice day bye forever!" Then he takes off down the hallway. "NO RUNNING IN THE HALLWAYS!" Jon shouts after him, but Tim does not slow down. That leaves the rest of the Archival staff sitting in mildly stunned silence. Sasha will not admit that she wishes Tim would do that again. Tim, being the guy he is, does not learn from his first mistake and does something very similar the very next week. This time, it's not even anything particularly exciting. He and Martin are just talking, and Martin offhandedly mentions he restocked on all the Archival staff's favorite teas. Tim is thinking about how much loves Martin and his willingness to help every one of the Archives staff, and how much he would like to give Martin a kiss to thank him for that. He doesn't fully mean to do it? But he definitely does kiss Martin on the lips. And he definitely stutters another apology and leaves for a very early lunch break. None of the Archival staff quite know how the word got out. All four of them hadn't even been aware they had /all/ kissed each other, they only knew of the ones they were a part of (and, well, the time Tim kissed Sasha with everyone watching). They are all sure Tim found out about all of them somehow and let it slip to one of the other Institute staff. He did not. In reality, Elias saw all of the kisses happen, and his dislike of the activity caused him to tell Rosie about what he'd seen (although he pretended he'd simply been there). The rumor spread from there. And somehow none of this has helped any of the Archival crew properly work out their feelings instead of endlessly pining for each other. --------- And then they all lived happily ever after and nothing bad happened to them YAYYY this one's long but I really really really like it :>>>> They mean everything to me,,,, polyarchives me beloved,,
