"You know, Ray, I figured after all this time, you would have figured out how to keep yourself dusted," Flynn muttered under his breath as he commando-crawled on his stomach through the air vents, seeing the smudges of grey dust that were accumulating on his clothes as he went. Eve had said before that he couldn't be sneaky if his life depended on it, well, he wondered how surprised she'd be when he showed up in her office, having successfully crawled all the way through the vents without being seen.
And if Jones could do it, well, then he could do it, too.
Flynn came to a T-section and tried to remember which way it was to her office. Was it two lefts and a right, or two rights and a left? It was left. Definitely left.
Wait a minute. Flynn glanced down through the grille. Oops. This was not Eve's office, it was Jacob's. Damn. It must've been two rights and a left. He couldn't turn around in the tight space of the vent, so it'd be easier to climb out and climb back in. He loosened the fixtures on the grille, hooking his fingers through it so it wouldn't fall off.
Just as he got to the last fixture, the office door swung open; Flynn went entirely still, even holding his breath for a moment.
Jacob walked in, laughing quietly and leading someone in by the hand. Wait, what? It wasn't Cassandra, she was still seeing Estrella, and it obviously wasn't Eve, so…. Oh, if Jacob had brought some stranger into the Library just so he could get laid, Flynn was going to kick his ass. Wait, no, he wouldn't. Jacob was a lot stronger than he was. He'd get Eve to kick Jacob's ass. That'd work.
Ezekiel came in behind the historian, still holding Jacob's hand tightly in his own and laughing as well. That was not something Flynn expected to see. The thief glanced back out into the hallway, then shut the office door. Jacob tugged on his hand and brought Ezekiel flush to his body, wrapping an arm around his waist.
Oh. Wow. That…was not expected. What?
As Flynn watched, frozen in place, Ezekiel stood on his toes and flung both arm around Jacob's neck, kissing him deeply, practically climbing up him like a tree, backing Jacob up until he met the edge of the desk.
"Pushy, pushy," Jacob chortled as they pulled apart.
Ezekiel rolled his eyes and unwound the other man's blue scarf, flinging it in the direction of the desk chair. "Hush up, you."
"Did you lock the door?"
"'Course I did." The thief unbuttoned Jacob's flannel shirt and pushed it back off his shoulders, tossing it in another direction, then made an exasperated sound, grabbing the bottom hem of Jacob's t-shirt. "You and your bloody layers," he muttered.
"It's like opening a present. The wrapping is half the fun," Jacob replied teasingly, lifting his arms so Ezekiel could pull the shirt up over his head. A quiet groan escaped him as Ezekiel ran both hands down his chest, then followed the path of his hands with a trail of kisses, reaching down to unbuckle his belt.
Flynn needed to leave, and he needed to leave, like, now. But he knew that if he moved now, the vent would echo and give away his position, and if he let go of the grille, it would make a sound as it resettled. He watched with wide eyes, rooted in place.
"You are wearing entirely too much clothing," Jacob growled in a husky voice, pushing the thief's hands away from his jeans, and he yanks Ezekiel's shirt up, too, throwing it aside, then unbuttoning the top of his trousers before opening his own jeans.
Oh, no. Nope. Not happening. Flynn needed to go right now, before he saw anymore of this, because this was not something he was supposed to ever see. It was private, between those two (really? Those two?) and not for him. He started to slide backwards as quietly as he could as Jacob turned around and leant over the desk, holding himself up on both hands.
But of course, there was that little saying about the best laid plans. As soon as Flynn let go of the grille, the last fixture chose that very moment to come loose, and it dropped from the ceiling, rebounding off the filing cabinet with a resounding clangor.
Ezekiel swore and dove for his shirt, and Jacob yanked his jeans back up before marching over, tilting his head up. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Carsen?" he snarled.
Oh, damn. Even after seeing the man about to get fucked over a desk, Flynn was just a little bit scared of the look on Jacob's face. He'd fought monsters, deities, demons, evil cults, and he would have gladly taken any of them over a glowering, furious Jacob Stone. Given that he had no choice now that he was busted, he scooted forward and dropped down out of the shaft; crawling on his stomach, he couldn't get his balance back fast enough to keep from pitching forward and collapsing into a heap on the floor.
"Ow."
Pulling his shirt back on, Ezekiel joined Jacob in glaring down at Flynn, and his glare was almost as bad, given that he wore the expression of a man about to hack everything that Flynn had ever loved and make it all dissolve into the darknet. Still, Jacob was scarier, given that he looked ready to break Flynn over his knee like a toothpick.
The tension was thick enough to cut through with a dull butter knife as he got to his feet. Neither of them offered him a hand up.
"I, uhm, I'm sorry. Really, I am. I didn't mean to…." He fluttered one hand in the air. "I didn't see anything. Well, not much of anything."
"Exactly how much did you see?" Ezekiel demanded, his voice climbing an octave, strung tight with anger.
With Jacob still looking ready to break his knees with a baseball bat, Flynn couldn't find it in him to lie. "I was about to climb out of the vent when you guys came in."
The thief's eyes widened in shock, and Jacob's glower darkened a little more, if that was even possible. "You were there that whole time? What the fuck were you going to do, watch?" Jacob demanded.
"No!" he exclaimed quickly. "No, no, no, I was leaving when I realised that you were gonna…. When I tried to leave, the grille fell off." His mind spun with about a thousand and one different questions, and without his permission, one just jumped out of his mouth. "You really date guys? I mean, not just Ezekiel, but guys? Really?"
Something behind Jacob's eyes shuttered, and his shoulders tensed a little more. Before Flynn could ask, Ezekiel snapped at him, "Oi, say what you want about me, I know you're gonna do it anyways, but lay off the cowboy."
"No, sorry, I was just wondering, I mean, you just…don't seem like the type, I guess—"
"Shut it, Carsen!"
For a moment, they were silent, staring at him, then exchanged a glance. "What are you going to do?" the historian asked at last.
Flynn frowned a little. "What do you mean?"
"Are you going to tell anyone else?"
"No. That's not something for me to say," he replied.
Jacob narrowed his eyes slightly. "And you? Hm?" His hands flexed at his side. "Is this going to be a problem, you working with us?"
"No!" Flynn was a little stung that they thought he would really be that narrow-minded, then shook his head; maybe he deserved that. "Am I surprised that it's the two of you? Yeah, completely. I-I-I don't even think that I ever considered you two being…well, anything, really. And am I embarrassed by this? That's a resounding yes, too, but, I wouldn't let it change anything at work."
The two of them stared at him for a moment longer, but then the murderous intent seeped out of Jacob's eyes and the tension eased out of Ezekiel's shoulders. After a moment of silence, Jacob holds out a hand. "Thank you."
Flynn blinked a few times in shock, then shook Jacob's hand.
The door of the office opened, and Eve walked in, a file in hand, mouth open as if to speak. She froze in the doorway, hand still on the doorknob.
Jacob looked at Ezekiel accusingly. "You did not lock the door."
Her gaze slid between the three of them—Jacob, still shirtless and scowling, with a hickey on his neck; Ezekiel, shirt misbuttoned and trousers still unbuttoned; Flynn, dusty and rumpled, with the vent grille next to his feet. She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. "Oh, for God's sake, you guys," she sighed. "C'mon, not at work, okay? Flynn, stop trying to be sneaky, it's doesn't work."
Flynn ducked around the two of them and walked over to Eve. "Wait a minute, you knew about this?" he asked.
"Of course I did," Eve replied.
"You did?" Jacob and Ezekiel echoed in tandem.
She rolled her eyes and cuffed Flynn lightly on the ear. "C'mon, you Muppet, keep up, would you?" she scolded, then looked at Jacob and Ezekiel. "And yes, you two, of course I knew. And Cassandra knows. And Jenkins knows, too. Literally everyone here knows except for this idiot here, and that's because Flynn wouldn't notice anything unless it hit him in the face. We just didn't say anything because we figured you'd tell us when you were ready, okay? Now, please, clothes back on, we've got work to do. And you, let's go." Eve grabbed Flynn by the ascot and towed him out of the office, pulling him down the hallway.
"You really knew about all this?" he asked as they walked down the corridor.
Eve gave him one of those looks, that 'you're being particularly stupid, but I love you anyways' look; he was very fond of them under most circumstances. "Yes, Flynn, I did. And please, no more crawling around the vents. I heard you all the way from the training room, you were echoing around in there so loud."
"Yeah, no, definitely. Not doing that again." He glanced back at the office and laughed aloud, running a hand back through his hair; Eve threw him an inquisitive look. "I really did not see that coming."
Eve just shook her head.