Title: sit here and watch the sunlight fade
Fandom: The Magnus Archives
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Elias Bouchard/Jonathan Sims
Wordcount: 1.2k
Content notes: None.
Author notes: Also for the "morning" prompt in the fffc Mixed Prompts Table.
Summary: Elias and Jon go out on a business trip.

Jon's head hurts from the jetlag. The plane trip was awfully long, as they went to Tromsø— seven hours of being next to Elias in a plane. He almost wishes something entertaining and/or deadly had happened, like a Vast avatar being in the flight, or something of the sort. At least then he wouldn't have to hear to Elias prattle on about Norwegian architecture. He passed out into the fourth hour of flight, and woke up to Elias looking at him, staring as he said the flight was done with.

The weirdest part of going into places full of people now that he is almost fully realized in terms of his powers was the fact he could feel the trauma and strange experiences with the Entities exhuding out of so many people. He had to resist the urge to go up to them and tell them to tell him their stories. Elias probably can tell what's going on in his head, but he doesn't tell him to do it— which would only cause him to control himself more out of spite, anyhow.

His tape recorder turns on as soon as they walk into their bedroom. He's supposed to be in this stupid business trip with Elias, all the way to Norway, because there's another Beholding institute by there and Elias really wanted to talk with his chums from when he was here a few years ago. Whatever it is, matter of fact is that they're here, alone, just the two of them and their suitcases as they stare at the queen sized bed in front of them.

He immediately turns to Elias accusingly. "Why on earth—" he starts.

"I booked two beds!" he exclaims. "I booked two beds, Jonathan, I gain nothing from sharing a bed with you, Jesus Christ, I promise you, I booked two goddamn beds!" He goes up to the bed and pushes at it, trying to see if it's just two beds put really close together. Alas, it is not. "God... goddammit. I promise you, I gain nothing from sleeping with an unwilling man in the same bed, if I wanted to do that I'd go home to Peter, thank you very much..."

"You're rambling," Jon replies. "I... are you really going to sleep on the floor?"

"I mean," he says. "If you'd prefer for me to."

He raises a brow at that. "You're not throwing me off to the floor?"

"Oh, why would I do that, now?"

He groans. "You're horrible."

"Let's just," Elias says. "Let's just go sleep."

"Yeah," Jon agrees.

They change clothes with their backs to each other. It's not like they couldn't see each other, anyway, Beholding avatarhood and whatnot, but Elias doesn't comment on anything about his body, so maybe that means he's leaving him with some hint of privacy for the time being.

When he turns around, Elias has a silk robe on. Of course Elias Bouchard has a silk robe.

"Hey," Elias says as he curls into bed. "Come, get comfortable, something. It's big enough for us to not touch."

Jon groans. The tape recorder follows him and he grabs it, showing it to Elias as he gets into bed.

"Our sharing a bed dilemma that important to the Eye?" Jon asks, yawning a little as he gets comfortable.

Elias laughs. "I suppose it is. No one likes a bit of embarrassment and awkwardness more than the Eye."

"That's fair," he replies. He leaves the tape recorder on the nightstand. "This bed is really comfortable."

"Yeah," he says. "I can give it that, at least. Even if it shouldn't be here. God, I will write a strongly worded message to whoever booked our room because I—"

"Are you going to speak to the manager?" Jon says, muffled slightly by his position against the pillow.

Elias rolls his eyes. "Yes, Jon, I will speak to the manager," he says as he pulls up the sheets so he's more comfortable. He scoots all the way to the very edge of the bed, so much so that as Jon watches his back he thinks he will roll out of bed during the night, probably waking him up in the process. "Good night," he says.

"You are going to fall like that," he replies. "You're at the very edge of the bed."

"I won't fall," he replies sharply. "Good night," he repeats.

He hums. "Good night, Elias."

---

Jon wakes up the next day much better than the last. He hums as he gets comfortable on the bed, squirming. Elias didn't fall off, apparently, because as much as he's a light sleeper, he wasn't woken up through the night. Elias is, in fact, a little closer to him; it's not like in a romance movie where they're cuddling after complaining about not wanting to sleep in the same bed. But matter of fact is that he's closer to him, legs touching. He pulls away lightly.

"Morning," Elias says.

"Morning," he replies.

It's quite quiet. He looks over at the tape recorder, which isn't running this time around. The Eye has granted them some privacy, it seems. He looks back at Elias, at his stupid haircut and horrid facial hair. Or something of the sort. He just feels like he's being sucked into a romance movie while trying to stave off the apocalypse. It's ridiculous.

"I still don't understand how you and Peter are a thing," he says.

He laughs. "The Lonely and the Beholding don't seem like they should get along, do they?"

"They really don't," he says. "But from what I've gathered you two have gotten divorced many times."

"Oh, we have." He smiles and he yawns a little. "Is the jetlag gone for you?"

"Yeah, I think I slept it off. What about you?"

"I'm still a little woozy," he says. "But I was far worse yesterday. The airport gave me an incredible headache. Everyone else didn't seem to be faring much better, though."

"Hmm." A pause. "They didn't."

They fall into comfortable silence after that. Jon looks through his phone and replies to a few texts from Martin, who seems to be worried about what the hell is happening in Norway. There's nothing happening, though, except for a stupid business trip and Elias not knowing how to book hotel rooms, by the look of it.

"Are we going down for breakfast?" Elias asks. "Otherwise it's going to be late and they'll close the breakfast buffet. I hear it is quite good. As much as you don't really need food anymore, this place has quite a bit of delicacies here. We should try them out."

"Maybe," he replies. "The bed is just really comfortable, so I'm a bit, uh, reluctant."

Elias laughs and gets out of bed with that, putting on his silk robe once again. "It is quite the bed. I am going to get my suitcase for an outfit, if you'll excuse me."

Jon watches him as he goes over to what he supposes is the bathroom, opening the door. He stays there, stock-still, for several seconds before returning to him with hurried steps, his face flushed a ghastly pale.

"There's another bedroom," he says.

Jon can't help it— he breaks out laughing, his face flushing darker from the situation. "Oh my God."

"Don't laugh at this!" Elias exclaims. "I shared a bed with you for nothing!"

"Well, it's not like we cuddled," Jon snarls. "Your dignity is still in one place, Elias." He picks up the tape recorder that appeared last night. It's running once again. He lets out another laugh and shows it to him. "After I share this with everyone else, though, it may not be."

"Jonathan Sims!"