Work Text:
Click, click, click,, John's fingers were dancing over the ancient rusty keyboard. He took a deep breath trying to keep himself awake while staring at the yellow-ish computer screen. He was bouncing his leg and growing more frustrated with his inability to focus. A while later he took a deep sigh and glanced around the room, filled with other researchers typing and researching away. It felt like the screeching sound of the chair being pushed back, as he got up, filled the entire room. It didn’t hold up as not a soul besides his own had heard the noise, but for that split second he couldn’t be convinced otherwise. He started walking out towards his typical smoking spot in the courtyard. As he opened the door, his breath and the frozen air met making it visible for a moment. The heavy metal door slammed behind him and it echoed in the mostly empty courtyard. While he fumbled trying to get a cigarette out of his pocket, a door on the opposite side of the courtyard opened. Out of the door came a deathly pale-looking man in a leather coat that he looked to be at least 2 sizes too small for. John observed him quietly for some time, the other man clearly not noticing him. He had walked out the door with a small stack of books that he put down on the ground. The books looked old and it made John's heart hurt a bit that such books just got put down on the unforgiving ground like that. John tried his best not to just look at the man, in case he got noticed. He finally pulled out a cigarette and took out a lighter as the man in the leather coat turned his eyes towards John. The researcher froze as the man started calmly walking towards him. “ You got a lighter? “ he asked, looking at John's lighter. “ ye-yeah? “ the answer came quietly as he handed over the lighter. “ Do you want a cigarette as- “ the man was heading back towards the books before John got to finish asking. He wasn’t even focusing on smoking his own cigarette anymore, his eyes were fixed on the stranger. Nothing he was doing was comprehensible to John but he just felt drawn to observing him. It was completely silent except for the wind blowing and the man's boots hitting the ground when he walked. He knelt down to pick up one of the books in the pile, John's heart skipped a beat when he saw the lighter being pulled out. He probably has a reason, there’s a reason, there’s a reason, there’s a reason. John’s thoughts were running wild but he attempted to calm himself down by taking a deep breath. Were the man to turn his head as he flicked the lighter on he would’ve seen John's piercing eyes on him. His fingers or at least knuckles were covered in eye imagery. Maybe that was what drew John towards him, wait, what? That didn’t even really make any sense. It was awkward, it was basically silent except for the sound of the flames slowly eating up the book. John’s eyes were fixed on the back of the man’s leather coast as his cigarette slowly burned out in his hand. He felt pulled towards this stranger who was doing something he normally would consider blasphemy. Without paying any mind to it John had started walking towards him. He didn’t know what part of the universe he should thank for the man not turning around. It was awkward and it felt like his body was being moved by strings. What was he even gonna do when he got to the man, he couldn’t just keep staring. The stranger’s eyes met his own and he froze. “ I- I’m- “ he fumbled wanting to explain himself. “ here, “ he said as he dropped the lighter into John’s hand. He looked down at the lighter in his hand “ tha-thank you “ he mumbled. Without any response, the man picked up the remaining books and walked towards the door. His fingers were numb, how long had he been standing out here? He put out the last bit of his cigarette and shook his fingers to get the blood flowing. Working at this institute had been an experience so far, but wasn’t that kinda what he signed up for? He started heading back towards the door.