#au where martin blurts out his feelings to the other assistants and we get a whole season of them trying to play wingman for him | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pitviperofdoom · 4 years

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It’s impossible for me to get into a fandom without coming up with an AU or two. Or ten. I’ve got several for TMA, and I’ve written for a few of them already.

Under the cut is the beginning scene of the one that I’ve developed the most. I’ve been sitting on it for a while, and I don’t have enough to start posting on AO3, but I thought I’d share this here at least.

Hope you guys like Head Archivist Martin!

***

When Martin received the e-mail summoning him to Elias Bouchard’s office at his earliest convenience, he thought, Well, that’s it then.

It was only a matter of time. Honestly, it was a miracle he’d made it this long. It was a miracle he’d made it in at all; he’d applied to the Magnus Institute almost on a desperate whim, because surely an academic institution would take the time to run basic background checks on new hires. But then he’d gotten a call back, and then he’d gotten a second interview, and then he’d been called in to fill out all the necessary paperwork, and that had been years ago, now.

And now here he was, staring at a formal message from his boss, requesting his presence for a meeting to discuss “his future with the institute”. And that could only mean one thing.

Of course, Martin thought distantly as he typed out some generically polite response. All things come to an end eventually. It might be a stretch to say all good things come to an end, because sometimes he wondered if this job really was a good thing, if the stress of waiting to be caught in his lie was worth it when he still had to stretch his funds to cover rent and food and Mum’s care and scrape together a rainy-day fund for any inevitable disasters.

Martin got up from his desk, half-heard Hannah’s greeting as he passed her on the way out of the library, and numbly pointed himself in the direction of Elias’s office. Already his mind was racing through the math, calculating how long he could afford to hunt for a new job.

At some point he shook himself. It was no good to walk in panicking. He just had to stay calm, somehow. Be polite. Hope like hell that he’d made himself useful enough to at least broach the topic of listing someone as a reference.

…Yeah, right.

He was lost deep in thought—so deep, in fact, that he didn’t notice his coworker until he was already colliding into them.

Luckily, he was walking slowly enough that the crash wasn’t terrible, even if the other employee seemed to be in a hurry. It was more surprising than painful, and they both kept their footing, so… could have been worse, really.

“Sorry, so sorry—” Martin stammered out, stumbling back, and froze when his eyes landed on his coworker’s face. “O-oh. Morning, Jon.”

The look he got in return could have split rock. “Do try to watch where you’re going.”

Martin couldn’t help but wilt under the glare, for all that Jonathan Sims was nearly a head shorter than him. “Sorry, again,” he said. “Are… you alright?”

“Obviously I’m alright,” Jon retorted, already storming away.

“No, I know, I didn’t mean us crashing into each other, it’s just, I was wondering if…” Martin hesitated, with the growing dread of someone stepping into a minefield. Jon had paused but was looking increasingly impatient, so Martin ripped the bandage off. “I mean, are you alright, work-wise?” Jon’s scowl deepened. “It’s just, if you ever need—I dunno, an extra set of hands, or—” Jon left without a word.

“Guess not,” he muttered, mentally kicking himself. It was stupid to offer anyway, when he was probably minutes away from being let go.

Something about literally running into Jon had knocked his growing nervousness off balance, and he was almost paradoxically calm when he knocked on Elias’s office door. It was mostly open already, but it seemed the polite thing to do.

“Ah, hello, Martin.” Elias’s voice, calm and clipped though it was, brought the nervousness rushing back. “Close the door behind you, if you don’t mind.”

Martin did as he was bade, then took the chair that Elias indicated for him and tried not to fidget. “You, er, wanted to see me?”

“Yes, of course.” Across from him, Elias shuffled papers that Martin was too nervous to look at. “It’s a matter of some urgency, so thank you for coming so quickly.”

“Of course,” Martin said, trying not to fidget. He opened his mouth to say something else, couldn’t think of anything, and closed it again.

“You’ve been with the institute for about six years now, haven’t you?” Elias went on.

“A-almost, yes.” Martin replied, heart pounding in his throat. Distantly he wondered if Elias could hear it.

“Good, good. As I said in the e-mail, I was hoping to discuss your future with—”

“Have I done something wrong?” Martin blurted out, and immediately regretted it. For a moment he longingly imagined vanishing into thin air just to escape the situation. Or a hole opening up underneath him, maybe.

Elias raised an eyebrow at him. “If there’s anything you can think of…?”

“I mean, the wording was a bit ominous,” Martin stammered out. “So I was just wondering if—if there was something wrong… with how I was doing things?”

“Hardly, Martin,” Elias replied, and the relief that flooded through Martin made him light-headed. “Quite the opposite, actually. I was more than satisfied during your last performance review, and you’ve yet to give me any reason to change my mind.” Elias leaned forward, hands clasped neatly in front of him. “I’m sure you’ve heard about… recent developments, with Gertrude Robinson.”

“The head archivist? Y-yes.” Against all odds, he did know about recent developments with Gertrude Robinson, namely that no one had seen her in a while. She was already a reclusive woman—Martin had only met her twice and seen her from afar a few times besides that—but lately she seemed to have vanished outright.

Martin wasn’t close with anyone at the institute, either in the library or elsewhere, but that didn’t mean he didn’t hear the gossip. It didn’t mean he didn’t notice things, like the lack of people coming in to give statements. Or how dark and still the Archives had been over the past week or so.

Or how sullen and angry Jon had been, for about as long.

“Well, work in the Archives is never done, and unfortunately she was already somewhat… understaffed,” Elias went on. “Since the beginning of her absence, I’ve been reviewing employee files in the hopes of finding a replacement.”

“Oh,” Martin replied. In the back of his mind he thought, No, absolutely not, he can’t possibly mean…

“Simply put, Martin, I think it would be best for the position to go to you.”

“Oh,” Martin repeated. “M-me? Really?”

“I can think of no one better for the job,” Elias said with a thin smile.

“Really.” Martin struggled to keep most of the disbelief out of his tone. “No one better? Not… I-I don’t know, the person who’s already been working in the Archives for the past year?” He swallowed, with some difficulty thanks to his dry throat. “I… sorry, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful? But I thought… I thought Jon would replace her, as her assistant… since he’s already been working under her, a-and he’d know the archives better, and…” His voice trailed off.

“I understand,” Elias assured him, his smile turning almost friendly. “And you’re right, I did strongly consider him for a time. But, his duties were largely research and clerical work for Gertrude, and he unfortunately lacks a background in library and information science.” He indicated one of the papers in front of him—a familiar CV, Martin realized. His CV. “You, on the other hand, have been working in our library for the past six years, and you listed a previous job at a records repository.”

“Oh, right,” Martin said faintly. What his CV didn’t say was that he’d been in the night cleaning crew, not the accessions department.

“I understand if it feels a bit daunting, but don’t worry,” Elias went on. “I have great faith in you, Martin. And as you said, Jon’s familiar with Gertrude’s system, so you’ll have his expertise to fall back on.”

Oh God. Oh God, if he took this job then he’d be Jon’s boss. Unqualified, clueless, and living a lie, and Jon—with actual experience and competence and an existing predisposition to dislike him—would be his subordinate.

Oh, the thought made him ill.

Martin took a deep breath. He’d just have to turn it down. There was no upside to taking it; he was technically unfit for the job he already had, and he certainly wasn’t prepared to be anyone’s boss, especially not Jonathan Sims in the archives of the Magnus Institute. If he took this job, they’d find him out for sure.

“So, if that’s settled, we may as well discuss a pay raise and expanding your benefits,” Elias went on lightly. “These things come with a promotion, of course.”

Martin froze in his seat, uncomfortable and stiff in spite of its padding.

He thought of the bills on his kitchen counter, and the perpetually empty rainy-day fund. He thought of his mother, in that care home in Devon that wasn’t going to pay for itself.

“A-alright,” he said quietly, slumping a little in defeat. His eyes were fixed on that damned CV, and because of that he almost missed the look of calm satisfaction in Elias’s eyes.

Twenty minutes later, Martin wandered back out of Elias’s office in a daze. His feet carried him not back to the library, but down to the archives where the air turned dusty and stale. He wasn’t sure what he was there for. Maybe to apologize? Jon must have heard. Elias must have told him first, and that was why Jon was so irritated with him when they ran into each other.

Not that it mattered, in the end. Jon was nowhere to be found down there, and Martin could only search for so long before the air of the place got to him and he fled back to the library.

Even down there, away from the rest of his coworkers and well away from Elias Bouchard’s office, Martin couldn’t shake the feeling that every eye in the institute was on him, just waiting for him to screw up.

#the magnus archives #tma #tma fic #fanfiction #assistant au #tales from the pit

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minah-delacroix · 3 years

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At any price (Part VI)

Universe: Dynasty AU

Characters: Minah and Tyler

Word count: 1,7 k

Blame someone

“You can’t punish the guy for trying to move on” Tyler grunted as he followed Minah through the driveway of Delacroix Manor, lined up with luxury cars and clusters of chauffeurs conversing and smoking behind them. The woman could feel Tyler’s eyes boring holes in the back of her head, but she was too focused on the obnoxious feeling of the cool December air hitting her exposed skin to care “I don’t even know why you’re acting up” he continued, making Minah momentarily stop and look over her shoulder with a frown “You weren’t even interested in Sungjae when you had him wrapped around your finger” Minah rolled eyes and continued walking, heels clicking on the pavement. “That’s why I introduced him to Ashleigh”

Minah stopped abruptly, Tyler’s words causing her to look at him skeptically for the briefest moment and then huff furious.

“Wait, you introduced them?” Minah made a pause, thinking to herself before putting the pieces together “That night at the club-” she scoffed free of any amusement “So this is all your fucking fault!” She spat, ignoring what seemed to be hurt flashing in Tyler’s eyes. Minah’s first instinct was to slap him for sabotaging her relationship and meddling in her personal life, but she eventually took notice of her surroundings and decided that she needed to act like a Delacroix.

“If you have to blame someone, then yeah, it is my fault,” Tyler said impatiently “I was just trying to push him away”

“What do you have against Sungjae?” Minah’s voice came as a cross between disbelief and rage

“For fuck’s sake, Minah, I’m talking about you!” Tyler made an exasperated gesture and massaged his forehead with a hand, but Minah still looked puzzled so he gave her a look that almost made her feel like the dumbest person on Earth. “I love you” he finally confessed.

It took Minah a minute to process Tyler’s words. Of course, she’d known he liked her since they were two careless teenagers attending school in some remote place in Switzerland, but she’d always thought it was some sort of silly infatuation. At most, she represented a challenge for the irresistible Tyler Lee. ‘Love’ was a heavy word. Especially when Minah had the clear remembrance of Tara suspecting her brother was secretly seeing someone. Among the evidence Tara had gathered, there were several family plans and work meetings canceled, receipts for expensive luxury items, and intriguing visits to exotic places like the Bahamas, Saint Tropez, and Singapore. Minah didn’t really give it too much thought before, but there was something off about this sudden confession. Or at least Minah desperately wanted something to be off because otherwise, things were about to become awfully complicated for her. For all of them.

“But you’re seeing someone” Minah tried to reason, but the genuinely surprised expression on Tyler’s face made her falter. “Tara said you were. The trips to the Bahamas and Singapore-“ she trailed off. Thinking about the time Tyler canceled an important appointment at the very last minute and disappeared mysteriously only for him to show up two days later looking like he’d been partying in L.A. or gambling in Las Vegas.

“Since being unavailable seems to be the only way to get your attention, then yeah, I was with someone” Tyler conceded, making a near helpless gesture with the hands “And she was hot. Very.” He blurted, looking as though as he couldn’t believe he’d pronounce those words “But she wasn’t you, Minah. She was not the girl I’ve been madly in love with since I was a kid”

______

The ride to Lee Manor was painfully quiet and awkward. Minah’s brain replayed Tyler’s confession over and over and over as though trying to dissect it apart, trying to find a crack where probably there was none.

She recalled being fifteen when she first met Tyler. He was a year older, captain of the polo team, and had girls practically eating out of the palm of his hand. He’d started to pursue her from the moment he saw her —one of the reasons she never took him seriously—, then Maude Olivier came into the picture and dated Tyler for the rest of their high school years. There was nothing too memorable about their history, except the wild parties and follies of youth. Though now that she gave it some thought, Maude’s hatred for Minah had always felt a bit too personal to be downplayed as a simple family feud between the Olivier’s and Delacroix’s.

Tyler’s confession was definitely a turning point for them. Whatever Minah chose to do afterward it was meant to affect greatly her friendship and business with Tyler and probably Tara as well.

However, there was something she knew needed to be done first.

Minah typed two quick messages.

From: Minah Delacroix

To: Suho Kwon

So I could be wrong, but there are

two people stuck on the roof.

So maybe you can help them out if

you’re feeling in the holiday spirit.

I know I am 😏

From: Minah Delacroix

To: Mr. Rausing (CEO of IN-Eco Corp)

I visited Ashleigh at work and I heard

you’re having problems financing

your cotton farming project in Peru.

Thought it over and I am willing to help.

Use me

“I knew you’d be here burning the midnight oil” Later the same night, Minah walked into Tyler’s study room. She found him sitting in front of his computer dressed in his signature dark blue silk pajamas with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his hair didn’t look as nearly as immaculate as it did in the party and he’d put on his Gucci reading glasses. He looked so different from the collected and perfectly refined man he schooled himself to be on the daily that for a second Minah hesitated before walking further into his office.

“I need to work harder if I have to keep up with you” Tyler hurried to close his laptop and when he did Minah realized there was a half-empty 1k bottle of scotch on the desk with a Baccarat tumbler next to it. There was also a book that looked suspiciously like their high-school yearbook. Tyler covered it up placing that morning’s newspaper on top of it. “What do you need Minah?” He asked, jaw visibly clenching.

“I just came to say I’m sorry” Minah could feel herself sinking in size as Tyler’s eyebrows furrowed, looking at her as though he’s trying to bit down his emotions. Minah inhaled deeply and then gave a few steps toward the window. She saw an Aston Martin pull up the driveway of the manor and thought she could recognize Daniel sitting in the passenger’s seat. “I don’t know why I brought you up to that roof” Minah didn’t dare to look at Tyler so instead she observed Daniel making out with the man in the Aston Martin until she heard the sound of Tyler’s Antonio Citterio highback chair and noticed him approach slowly.

“I do,” he said with a sour smirk “You were trying to get over that assistant” Though his voice was calm, Minah could recognize spite lacing Tyler’s words “Only that’s been harder than you thought, so you were using me” his expression tight with a seriousness Minah couldn’t quite decode if it was a product of anger or disappointment. Both probably.

Minah looked down, feeling the guilt overtake her. She played with the hem of her ruffled georgette pajamas simply because she couldn’t even look at Tyler. She was perfectly aware that she’d done nothing but take and take from him in a never-ending succession of selfish acts. She did the same with Sungjae and ended up pushing him away forever. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Tyler too. “I-“ Minah attempted to mutter some sort of half-assed apology, but the words died in her throat.

“So, use me,” Tyler said, confidently coming forward. The golden frame of his glasses glowed under the dim light coming from the crystal chandeliers, briefly distracting Minah from her plain confusion. When she came back to her senses she noticed Tyler stood in front of her.

“What?” The tension between them was thick, but Minah still managed to keep her composure, though the way Tyler’s eyes darkened caused Minah to gulp almost imperceptibly

“You were only with that guy because it was easy for you” Tyler’s eyes looked right into Minah’s “Convenient” he added “You don’t have time for a real relationship because you’re too busy conquering the world” Minah deliberately took a step forth, then they were only inches away from each other. “Where else could you find someone with the same schedule?” He rolled eyes at the same time his hand brushed against the skin of her thigh “But you know? I could fit you in” Tyler’s expression shifted, as he moved behind Minah, his breath on the back of her neck “If you fit me in”

Minah was about to respond with some witty remark, but she gasped when the pads of Tyler’s fingers came in contact with her neck and gently moved her hair onto one shoulder. Minah pivoted on her heels to face him but was taken aback when she realized she practically threw herself into his arms. They were closer than she had anticipated. “Are you possibly suggesting you want to be my rebound?” She managed to conceal her surprise and went on

“Isn’t that why you’re here so late?” Tyler raised a brow.

Minah chuckled and shook her head, there was something particularly annoying about the high regard Tyler had of himself, but truth to be told, he wasn’t entirely mistaken. As a matter of fact, Minah knew that something was bound to happen if she stepped into Tyler’s study room. And she still went to look for him. Nevertheless, she hopelessly tried to find an excuse “But we’ve agreed to keep this strictly business-”

“And we’re at work, aren’t we?” A soft chuckle escaped Tyler’s lips before he closed the gap separating him from Minah and crashed his lips against hers in a flurry of desperation.

Before any of them noticed or did anything to stop each other, Minah was lying half-naked on Tyler’s presidential desk, his mouth gliding a path down her body.

...

#oc #story #dynasty au #minah #tyler

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