Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Why is there a camera crew in the Archives?” Jon was very annoyed.

Martin was nervous. “I… I don’t know. Elias just said… to let them in?”

Jon glared. “Well, I didn’t hear anything about this.”

Martin shrugged helplessly and Jon went stalking off to Elias’ office. He knocked on the door furiously until it opened.

“Hello, Jon. What brings you to my office?”

“I want to know why there is a camera crew in the Archives! Nobody told me about this!”

Elias nodded slowly. “Well, we’re starting a reality TV show.”

“WHAT?!?” Jon was incensed. “This is an OUTRAGE!”

“Sorry, Jon. We’re running out of funding so we’re having to branch out into… new methods to keep the Institute running. Would you rather I start making cuts to personnel?”

“Well, Martin maybe…” Jon muttered then he sighed. “No, I would not. I would just appreciate it if you would inform me about these things in the future!”

“Of course, apologies. Now if you don’t mind, I have work to get back to.” Elias walked back into his office and closed the door, leaving Jon fuming in the hall.

…

Colin looked at the camera crew setting up in the computer room with a raised eyebrow. “So… what’s up with this?”

Jon sighed. “Elias is starting a Reality TV show to keep up the institute funding.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yes.” Jon grimaced. “You’d think an organization such as this would be funded by the state but no. Apparently we rely on the kindness of donors.”

“Well that… that sucks.”

“Yes. It really really does.”

Gwen burst in. “Excuse me, what are you doing here? I’m trying to work over here and you have all these people setting up cameras!”

“Sorry, ma’am. We’ve been told to set up here by Elias Buchard.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Of course. Of COURSE uncle Elias is bringing chaos to this place. I told my family that no, he hadn’t gotten over his useless-slacker-getting-high-in-the-back-room days, but did they listen? No. Because they never do. ‘He runs the Magnus Institute, Gwen. He’s impressive now, Gwen.’ Yah RIGHT!” She looked over at Jon. “And what are you doing down here?”

“Ranting.”

Gwen nodded, approvingly. “Okay, continue on.”

“Thank you. I mean, what was Elias even thinking? We’re not the sort of group you film for reality TV! We’re a bunch of -”

“Nerds sifting through old papers.” Alice flounced in, dropping her bag on her desk. “Yah, I’ve heard. And I’ve decided if they want a show? They can have a show.”

“Uh, maybe… maybe not, Alice? Maybe that’s a bad idea?” Sam looked nervous.

Alice cackled. “Oh, if we’ve got to put up with this I’m going to have some fun.”

Gwen rolled her eyes but she didn’t exactly know what to say so she just walked out. After all, Alice was agreeing with her about hating something for once. This was a rare occurrence and she wasn’t going to ruin it. Maybe she’d go to ask Lena about this but she assumed if it was already happening she’d given the okay. And after all, Elias did own the institute. Lena was only second in command.

…

Tim was boxing up papers with Sasha, somewhat frustrated. “I don’t know why we had to give up half our office for these giant cameras.”

“Not sure, something about funding?”

“Well, maybe we should have them set up in Artifact Storage… see what happens.”

Sasha chuckled, incredulous. “Wow Tim, that’s a bit harsh.”

Tim chuckled. “Yes, I know. But this is harsh. Elias making us box up how many years of statements just so some camera crew can move in? And no warning. I heard from Martin that he didn’t even tell Jon!”

Sasha covered her mouth with her hand to stop a guffaw. “So you’re telling me… that Jonathan Sims didn’t know this was going to happen? Jonathan Sims who thought it was the absolute end of the world when Elias replaced the coffee creamer with a new brand? Jonathan Sims who threw a fit when the breakroom tiles were changed from off-white to ivory?”

“Yep.”

“Ooh goodness, I do not want to run into him today.”

“Don’t worry - he’s currently down at the OIAR.”

“Ah. Well I feel bad for them then.”

Tim laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. He’s probably ranting it out with Colin.”

Sasha snorted with amusement. “Oh, Colin. He’s going to be rather peeved about this as well, isn’t he?”

“Exactly.”

…

Martin was currently hiding in his office. There were people everywhere. People he didn’t know. Doing new things. And he hated it.

“I HATE CHANGE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” He screamed into the empty room. He wished he could rant about it in the open like Jon but he had to always remain cheerful and friendly. Always. He couldn’t lose his ever-chipper attitude in front of the others. So instead he had faked a smile as he walked back to his office then locked the door, dumped the recycling bin out onto the floor, and started shredding the papers into tiny bits with furious wild abandon and howling out his fury at the walls before pounding at himself with his fists and fingernails until the pain brought him back. “Okay, okay.” He gasped. “It’s… it’s going to be okay.” He brought his breathing back to normal, put all the recycling back in the bin, then unlocked his door and walked out of the office to the breakroom to get a cup of tea. He smiled faintly and waved at Sasha as he passed her in the hall then felt his face break into a pained grimace as soon as she couldn’t see him anymore. He was fine. He was just fine.

Chapter Text

Jon sighed as he set up his statements for the day. The camera crew was looking at him. With all their cameras. He hated being watched, this was awful. He tried to withstand it for about thirty seconds before shoving back his chair with an exasperated huff and stalking off to the bathroom “for some actual PRIVACY!” 

Martin soon also retreated to the bathroom and heard Jon making a recording… from a stall. “Um, Jon?”

“... Martin?” Jon was somewhat embarrassed. 

“Are you… making… a recording?” 

“Yes. It’s that…” he sighed. “It’s that b camera crew. I can’t, I just can’t take it.” 

Martin nodded. This he agreed with. He sat down on the floor next to the sink and began to gaze about the room and hum softly. 

“Martin? Could you stop? You’re interfering with my concentration.” 

Martin flushed. “S-sorry Jon. I… I can leave…” 

Jon sighed. “No, I figure you’re hiding from the camera crews as well. You can stay. Just… Please don’t hum.” 

Soon the two relaxed into a companionable silence/statement reading sheltering from the camera crews. Elias was getting a little perturbed - after all, he couldn’t have two of his main stars off camera! So he made the decision to have a camera set up in the main area of the bathroom - not the stalls - and made a rule to not read the statements in the “b stalls - that is extremely unsanitary!” 

Elias called a meeting to address the new rules. Jon looked at his shoes as he was dressed-down by Elias in front of the entire Archives and OIAR staff. This. Was. Humiliating. Martin sniffled. He had thought he’d finally found a safe place to hide and now? There was nowhere safe. Also he felt really bad for Jon - did Elias really have to call him out like that? He could have just listed the rules but no, he had to point out Jon specifically. What a jerk. 

Fortunately none of the rest of the staff seemed to judge him - the only judgements here were judgemental glares at Elias and looks of sympathy towards Jon. Martin felt a twinge of jealousy - nobody felt bad for him, after all - but he kept his feelings under wraps. As far as everyone else was concerned Martin was doing just fine. Better than fine - he was the least bothered by this in the office, other than perhaps Alice who was known to be currently scheming on how to have some fun, whatever chaos that would entail, with the new situation. And he was going to keep it that way. 

…

A week later it was clear that people were fraying. It started with Colin. “GET OUT OF MY B COMPUTER ROOM YOU OBNOXIOUS VOYEUR!” He threw up his hands and marched out of the office. Yet again, the camera crew had managed to get between him and Freddie and he had accidentally dropped a wrench down a vent trying to finagle around them. And now he had to get it. Ugh! 

Alice heard him yelling down the hall and walked in. “Everything good, Colin?” Colin had to let out a laugh at today’s outfit - was she wearing literal sparklers in her hair? 

“They’re not actually lit - they’re just props. Very very realistic looking props.” She smirked. “They look like real fire though, right? I’m hoping I can freak out Gwen later.” 

Colin chuckled softly. Oh, Gwen. Poor, poor Gwen. He could only imagine what Alice had planned for her. He knew it was only a matter of time before she totally lost it. Not that anyone here was doing okay these days. 

…

Jon was trying to read a statement while the camera crews watched him. This was well-known to be the most boring part of the reality-TV show. Nobody cared to watch some guy read statements out loud. Elias had instructed him several times to try to “be more exciting” whatever that meant. And now he was interrupting him of all things. 

“What do you expect me to do? Dance or something?” Jon was perturbed 

“I don’t know, but something. Our viewership isn’t very high and we keep getting complaints about your section.” 

“Well maybe, ‘my section’ just shouldn’t be filmed! You should have known that nobody would want to watch me reading statements - it just doesn’t fit the ‘reality TV’ scene!”

“Jon.” Elias’ voice got soft and threatening. “You have got to talk to me with more respect. I am, after all, your boss.” 

“At what? A TV studio? This isn’t the job I was hired for and you know it!” Jon rapidly stood up from his desk in a fury, knocking the chair back on the floor with a bang. “I am SO FING DONE!” He stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. 

Martin heard the shouting and hesitantly poked his head out of his office to see Jon marching for the breakroom. Hmm, looked like the man could use some comfort? Maybe some… tea? He decided to wait and give him a few minutes to cool off when he heard the slam of cabinets from down the hall. 

Unfortunately it only got worse. Because what do reality TV shows love more than drama? Soon several cameras had congregated around the breakroom, filming Jon’s breakdown. “GO AWAY! GO AWAY!” Jon started throwing things. His hand-eye coordination was lacking so thankfully none of the cameras were damaged but it did add to the viewership. That night upon reviewing the ratings Elias was pleased to see they had gone up by 50 K. 

“Wow! I love the new direction you’ve gone with the show!”

“This Jonathan Sims character is awesome! He has just had it!” 

“#HowIFeelAfterALongDayAtWork LOL”

“You get ‘em, Sims!” 

“What’s up with Alice and Gwen? Is there supposed to be some long-standing rivalry going on here or are they besties messing with each other? It’s kind of hard to tell.” 

“Jon and Colin should totally just take on the cameras together - I bet they could wreck up the place.” 

Elias was pleased. The Eye was eating well these days.

Chapter Text

Jon decided after his breakdown that he was going to stop coming into the office so much for his own mental health. He came in, did the statements that he needed to, and left. He simply couldn't handle anything beyond that and had been having real trouble managing at home, with constant breakdowns nightly. As it was, even with his more relaxed approach he still couldn't keep the house clean but he at least managed to shower every day and appear presentable at work and he still got everything he needed to done and he supposed that would have to do. In the meantime he tried to ignore the messy house as it only made him sadder and more stressed.

Eventually after several weeks of this his mental stability was a tad bit better and he was managing to not go into full breakdowns all the time. He was beginning to actually get enjoyment out of some of his life again, even if it wasn’t ever enough and he was still always exhausted and one slight issue away from a fullblown existential crisis. Unfortunately Elias wasn't having it. “Jon, you have to come in the full time." Jon was horrified - he was getting all his work done and was hourly anyway and he'd thought it was okay - but that was life in this capitalist hellscape. He went to cry in his office in panic and self hatred for being such a worthless loser that he couldn't even handle the bare minimum. What would his grandmother think?!?! Nothing good, of that he was sure.

And the audience ate it up though they had varying opinions on the issues.

“Ooh, look at Jon! Wonder if he’s going to have another breakdown!”

“#IHateWorkTooDude”

“Wow, what’s wrong with this pathetic generation?”

“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, loser.”

“#CapitalismSucks”

Jon was having a hard time. It didn’t help that Elias projected the comments on the breakroom wall every day as an ‘inspiration’ for everyone to convince them to ‘be their best selves.’ One day after an exhausting, miserable time of pushing through half a shift he just… couldn’t do it anymore. He closed his folder of statements, scraped back his chair, and walked out of the office.

The roof of the Magnus Institute was a fairly lovely place in the best of times - nice breeze, a good view of the sunshine when it happened to shine in London, and a few potted plants in ceramic pots with eye designs on them for some reason. But this was not the best of times. Jon just needed a place where he could… go… without anybody seeing him. At least not until it was too late. He took a deep breath. Okay. Here we go. Then he walked to the ledge and looked down.

He felt woozy - he was so far up. Which, he reckoned, was a good thing. He’d hate for it to be just the ‘wrong’ height… he shuddered. Let’s not think about that. Elias… could find another Head Archivist. But he was done. He closed his eyes.

Martin was currently walking up the stairs to the roof. He’d discovered it a couple weeks previously during a search for somewhere private to escape to and as of yet it seemed the camera crews hadn’t found it. Possibly they knew it was there but it was too windy for their cameras. He didn’t know and he didn’t care. It was private and that’s what he needed in his job full of cameras. He hummed quietly to himself as he pushed open the trapdoor for the roof access and was surprised to find it unlocked. Huh. Uh oh, did that mean the camera-crew had finally found it??? He hesitantly stepped out.

Jon sniffled softly, eyes closed, tears streaming down his face. He didn’t exactly want to die but he couldn’t go on living either. So he was hoping that the wind would just give him a little push and he could simply… leave and not have to do anything. He stood right at the edge, his feet half-off, waiting for his center of gravity to shift just enough for physics to take him.

He was shocked when a pair of warm, soft arms grabbed him in a fierce hug from behind and yanked him backwards, keeping his arms pinned to his sides as he was dragged well away from the edge. He opened his eyes in confusion and felt himself gently but firmly turned around to face… Martin.

“JON!” Martin was staring at him with wide, horrified eyes. “What were you… what were you doing?”

Jon simply blinked at him sadly. Was this some sort of trick question? It was frustrating though - he couldn’t wipe his tears with his arms pinned to his sides like this so he instead just looked pathetically miserable. Martin wrapped him in a tight hug and sobbed into his shoulder. “Oh, Jon!”

The next few hours passed in a blur and soon Jon found himself lying in a hospital bed with Martin standing next to him, holding his hand comfortingly as doctors ran tests and prepared to have him sectioned. He hated this - frankly it was even more terrifying than the cameras everywhere - but at least Martin was comforting.

“It’ll be okay, Jon.” Martin squeezed his hand comfortingly as Jon tried not to think about things that made him feel woozy. “I’m just so glad you’re still here.”

Martin visited him daily and the two started to connect. They ranted about Elias and the Institute and laughed about funny things that had happened with the two of them and Tim and Sasha. Martin showed him some of his poetry and Jon confided in him that he didn’t actually have any hobbies but he’d really like to have one.

When he got out a week later, Martin was there to pick him up and greeted him with a smile and a hug. And for once Jon was actually happy to receive one. Martin was growing on him.

Chapter Text

One morning while going through statements, Jon received a text from Martin. “I'm not feeling well." Ah. Probably because of this wretched place he thought. He also considered ‘not feeling well’ and wondered how much he could get away with before Elias figured it out.

But soon it had been over a week and Jon was getting somewhat concerned. His phone buzzed. “I think it may be a parasite." Oh G. Martin?!?! He dialed and held the phone to his ear in a panic, not even caring about the camera crew for once but there was no response. He hoped Martin was okay.

He was greatly relieved when a worse-for-wear Martin came back to the office around two weeks after the initial text. “I have a statement," he gasped. The camera crews were intrigued - they'd get to film an in person statement? What fun!

Jon sat him down in the chair across from him, trying to ignore the camera crew. “So, what happened?"

Martin went into a long story about how he had gone to check out the Vittery statement because it sounded strange and had eventually ended up finding none other than Jane Prentiss. Then she and her worms chased him to his house and kept him trapped for two weeks before finally leaving which is when he made his escape.

“So… you believe me?”

"Well, you said you lost your phone right?”

"Yes.”

"Well it's been texting me the last two weeks saying you were sick and eventually that you thought it might be a parasite. And my calls back went unanswered. I take this very seriously. You can sleep in the back room in the Archives that I sometimes stay in when I work late if you'd like.”

Martin was surprised and grateful. “Thank you."

“Of course."

Unfortunately, this meant that Martin never left the show. He and Jon had originally assumed that the camera crews went home at night… but while they did they left the cameras. “Ugh… I'm sorry Martin.” Jon tapped at a camera lense with distaste as he prepared to leave for the evening. "Are you… are you going to be okay?"

Martin gave a nervous humorless chuckle. “Better than the worms, I suppose."

Jon awkwardly patted Martin's shoulder. He was not used to offering comfort but he felt truly bad for the man. "Uh… good luck I suppose."

“Thanks."

The next morning, Jon came back to find that Martin had not slept at all. He was drinking coffee in the break room - unusual for him as normally he preferred tea - and staring at the wall in paranoid exhaustion. He considered asking if he was okay but wanted to respect his privacy so he merely gave him a polite nod and headed off to his office.

Martin was still staring at the wall when the camera crews came in. He tried so very hard to keep his smile up but then one of them accidentally stepped on his foot and made him spill his coffee on himself. “OW!"

“Whoops, sorry." But even as he said it, he zoomed the camera in on Martin's face. And Martin felt something within him snap.

“GO AWAY! GO THE F AWAY! GIVE ME SOME GD PRIVACY!"

Jon heard the yelling from down the hall and curiously got up from his desk, walking to his office doorway.

“GO AWAY! GIVE ME SOME GD SPACE!" Martin was losing it, backing away from the camera crew into a corner of the breakroom as they followed him slowly, boxing him in.

Jon didn't know why but he felt the sudden overwhelming need to defend Martin from the voyeuristic cameras. He reached onto the shelf by his office door, grabbed a kitchen knife, and headed to the breakroom. “Excuse me, leave him Alone!" He brandished the knife as threateningly as he could. Which admittedly wasn't very threatening - the man was about five three and 70 kg soaking wet - but he tried. He really tried. And Martin appreciated it.

The camera crew began to focus on Jon as well, causing him to nervously back up into the corner next to Martin. “What… what do you suggest we do?” He muttered out of the corner of his mouth, glancing nervously at Martin. He didn't know what had possessed him to get into this mess.

Martin just looked at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. Jon looked from Martin to the camera crew and back to Martin again. The poor man was terrified. “Get BACK!" He lunged at the cameras. The camera people laughed at him and zoomed in more. One started paging for more to join in and ‘see the show.’ This was just cruel. In a spur of the moment decision, he grabbed Martin's hand in the hand not holding the knife and dragged him towards the door, pulling him towards the exit as fast as he could.

“Um…Jon, Martin…what's going on?” Tim was very confused to see Jon and Martin pelting and screaming down the hallway like they were extras in a zombie apocalypse movie, followed by several camera crew members.

“We're making a break for it!" Jon shouted and then hit the door…and fell with a painful thud. What? This was a push door! Elias had locked them in. “No no no no no no no no!" He started frantically messing with the handle and lock to no avail.

The camera crew had them backed up against the door and several were chuckling cruelly. Jon briefly wondered what sort of camera crew this even was that delighted in tormenting their subjects so but there was no time for contemplation. He suddenly darted forward, snatched a camera, and smashed it against the glass door.

“Ow!" Jon shook his hand in pain. The camera had done nothing, he simply wasn't strong enough. The camera crew simply laughed harder. Maybe…maybe they could exit through a window elsewhere? They were currently mostly underground but… maybe Colin would know something? “Come on!” He yanked Martin through a hole in the crowd and they fled for the sub-basement.

Colin and Alice looked up in shock to see Jon and Martin running into their office and quickly shutting and locking the door behind them. “What’s… what’s up?” Alice raised an eyebrow.

Jon’s voice was somewhat crazed. “Fleeing!”

Colin nodded. He knew it had only been a matter of time before something like this happened. “Come on, I’ve got a secret exit.”

“Thank G!” Jon and Martin hurriedly followed Colin as he led them to a shelf then pushed it aside, revealing a door. “Wait… what is that?” Jon was confused.

“Oh, it’s a secret entrance to some tunnels.”

“Ah, nice. Um… where do they… uh, go?”

“Beats me. But there aren’t any cameras in there.”

That was good enough for Jon and Martin and they fled into the tunnels.

Chapter Text

Leitner was minding his own business having a morning glass of wine when he heard rapid footsteps approaching. Goodness, why?

“Who… who are you?” Jon was out of breath.

“Um… who are you?”

Jon was somewhat annoyed. “Jon-Jonathan Sims. We’re hiding from the camera crews.”

Ah. “I’m hiding from them as well.”

Jon nodded. Seemed legit. He assumed he was just someone from a different department. “Do you know, um, maybe an… exit?”

Leitner rolled his eyes. He didn’t hide in these tunnels to handle the strays. That was Gerry’s job. But Gerry was currently… indisposed, according to Gertrude. As in ‘a page in a book of skin stuck back in the USA’ and that wasn’t very helpful. So he sighed and led Jon and Martin towards an exit.

“Uh…” Martin was a tad bit concerned. "Is that… a body?"

Jon looked over to where he was looking and saw a room with a corpse leaning over in a chair.

“Uh… yah, that's Gertrude.” Leitner awkwardly closed the door to the room.

"WTH?!?!” Jon was horrified.

"Oh yah, we were friends and then one day I came to visit and found her like that.”

“And you just… left her?” Jon felt like he might pass out.

“I mean… yah? I'm an old man, I can't be going about willy-nilly lifting heavy corpses.”

"Fair, fair.” Jon nodded. This made sense. “So… um…how do you think she died?”

"Oh I suspect it was Elias.”

"Um… WHAT?!?!”

"Yah, she planned to blow up the archives.”

"Uh… why?"

“Elias is evil. And this is his evil institute."

Jon gave a snort of amusement. “Yah that… that actually makes sense. I mean, what sort of non-evil person would turn the Magnus Institute into a reality TV show?”

"No I mean like, legitimately evil. Wants to take over the world and turn it into an eternal fear-pocalypse evil.”

Jon stared at him. "Um…what?"

“Oh yah. He wants to turn everything to this Eye. And watch everyone suffer for all eternity."

“That…" Jon felt himself growing incredibly woozy. “That doesn't…" then his eyes rolled back and he passed out.

He woke up with his head in Martin's lap, having his hair gently ruffled. It felt nice. He made a happy sound then remembered what Leitner had just said. That felt less nice.

“S-so… Elias is… trying to…take over the world?”

"Oh yes. And you're his puppet.”

"WHAT?!?!” Jon sat up with a panicked gasp and immediately fell back over. Martin reassuringly ruffled his hair some more.

“Yah, you know those statements? He's turning you into an agent of this Eye."

Jon was stunned. “What… what can I do?"

Leitner shrugged. “Not much, unfortunately. You can't leave the institute and you're already the Head Archivist so… it's basically a done deal at this point -”

Jon started to hyperventilate and Martin gazed down at him with concerned sympathy.

“ - But Gertrude was the former Archivist and she held her own pretty well until Elias brutally murdered her in cold blood and left her corpse to rot in a tunnel so you can just be like her."

Jon passed out again. It was a surprise to literally no one.