@foralteregos I wanted to write something for Xenon and never found the time. I hope I characterised them right ^-^
(Do I know Magnus has a fiancé? Yes. Will I make Xenus ship work anyway? Also yes.)
Three harsh raps on the door knocked Magnus out of his workflow. The day was rather slow, especially compared to the past week of rush, and with the freed up time, Magnus thought to begin clearing out the backlog. With plenty to keep his mind busy, he paid no mind anything beyond his desk, including the few pots littered around the room, orchids and ivies reaching up to the roof, those of which he could find himself staring at when there was far less to do.
The trio of knocks returned with a bit more haste. "Magnus? Are you in?"
"Sorry, yes! Enter."
The door swift swung open, Xenon favouring his stronger leg as he swiftly made his way to the guest chair opposite Magnus.
"Xenon? I'm writing that report now, so you don't need to-"
"No, I'm not here for that. I- my leg has been acting up for the past few days and now that it's getting worse I wanted to get it checked."
"Really? You don't usually come in for those sort of things...."
"Are you not the one always telling me not to overexert myself? This- this is me not overexerting myself"
"Well, can't argue with that." Magnus chuckled, getting up to walk to the other side of the desk. "Are you fit to walk to the clinic?"
"Well, I wouldn't want to make you grab a chair from the clinic just to wheel me. I'm sure I could-"
Wordlessly, Magus lifted up the chair up from the ground, Xenon still in it. Magnus wobbled to counteract Xenon's shifting to brace himself against the armrest. Magnus shifted the weight onto his forearms, freeing his hand to grab Xenon's crutch. With everyone and everything secured, Magnus walked out the door.
Magnus should really start thinking with his frontal lobe and not his limbic system, huh. It turns out hefting a grown man up and down two flights of stairs is a little difficult. Who would've thought?
Magnus set down the chair near the exam table. Unlike most of the clinics and laboratories in the Science Department, Magnus' clinic had tessellating, brick-like tiles, and cool, dark purple wallpaper to match. It may be the smallest bit harder to see, but Magnus never really could relax surrounded by sterile white, and with their similar upbringing, he assumed Xenon was much the same.
"Could you sit on the exam table?"
"What? Did you blow your back out trying to carry me across a building? What happened to not overexerting yourself?"
"Har har, funny. You'd already walked a while to get to my office, and it's easier to examine joints that aren't in pain."
"Admit it, you like carrying me~."
Magnus huffed. "Get on the table." If he's sobered up enough to be cracking jokes, then carrying him to give his leg a rest was the right call.
The next ten minutes or so were used to carry out a physical examination, and though the japes had stopped, there was nothing that stood out as alarming or even noticeably different. Something that ate at Magnus alive was that with pain like Xenon's, it was difficult to concretely measure issues and irritants, to the point where many days the only thing he could tell him was to down some ibuprofen and sit down for a few hours.
"If the leg's still ticking at you, I can call down the radiologist? It may take some time, though"
"No need, I think it's starting to clear up..."
"Oh, that's good! It means the issue's probably environmental."
"I was only in my office and the break room the past week, and those places are usually fine."
"Only way to know for sure is to check!" Magnus held out an arm, which Xenon took to hoist himself down. "You said that the pain was 'starting to clear up', so if you still need it I can-"
"I can walk, Magnus." Xenon's deadpan expression threw Magnus off, where he then brought up his hands defensively, lightly scratching the back of his neck.
"I never meant that you can't, it's just that-"
"You really do like carrying me, huh?" The smug grin plastered on Xenon's face said it all. The tips of Magnus' ears turned red as he adjusted his glasses.
"......you can walk."
Xenon and Magnus turned the corner, deciding to head to the building's break room first. Something Magnus never regretted was pitching the idea to make break rooms per building and not per department. Though it was harder to share things between break rooms, it more smoothly dissipated the lunch crowds
"Is this walk too fast paced, Xenon? I can slow down if you need?"
"Magnus, what's with all the doting? Not that it is unappreciated or such, but- well, it feels you're doing a lot all at once."
Magnus averted his eyes, before letting out a light sigh and stopping to face Xenon. Xenon stopped with him.
"Well, you don't often ask for help, especially from me, so I wanted to tell you that I can help, if you need it."
A soft smile rested on Xenon's face. "How about this. I'll try ask things from you more directly, then you stop guessing when I might need help from you?"
Magnus mirrored Xenon's smile. "That... sounds good."
The pair continued on towards the break room, the odd "Do-" and "I could-" escaping Magnus' mouth every so often. The stifled attempts elicited small chuckles from Xenon, and every chuckle dyed Magnus' ears a deeper shade of red. Through the silence, Xenon threw out a question.
"Magnus?"
"Yes?" Magnus replied a touch too quick. Instead of responding with a characteristic chuckle, Xenon grinned.
"Could you hold my hand?"
"Hm? What for?"
Xenon's grin faded. "My leg's starting to hurt again and I want to squeeze something." With that, the grin returned.
"Oh. Yes, of course!" Magnus interlocked his fingers between Xenon's in his already outstretched hand. They let their conjoined arms hang like rope, letting it sway like a swing in the breeze. Xenon occasionally have Magnus a tight squeeze, and Magnus responded with his thumb lightly rubbing against Xenon's. They walked like that to the break room.
The break room was rather large, fully set with a mini kitchen and a kitchen island in one corner and a television in the other. Along the walls rested large soft sofas with a coffee table shared between pairs. The middle was mostly open, which let the blue design of the carpeted floor really shine through. An unfamiliar odour permeated the room.
"Does-" Magnus sniffs the air once more. "Does the room smell like lemons to you?"
"Oh yeah, it's been like that all week. I think someone brought a basket of them and kept them here to eat."
Magnus let go of Xenon's hand, moving to the kitchen. "It's odd that the smell is all over the room though, isn't it?" He rummages through the fridge and the drawers, even going so far as to check the microwave, but there were no lemons to be found. "I can't even find that basket you were talking about."
"It might not be a basket, I just assumed someone brought lemons since it started smelling like that." Xenon began looking in other places, with Magnus following in pursuit once he cleared the kitchen once more over. "We've been here five minutes and the room's already starting to piss off my leg."
"You aren't allergic to lemons, are you?" Not on the coffee tables, not under the coffee tables.
"I think I would've known if I was allergic to lemons." Not behind the sofa not behind the television.
"Wait, Xenon, I found something." Under the table that the television sat on was a round, flask-shaped device plugged into one of the nearby sockets. It was releasing a small jet of steam into the room. A jet that smelled like lemons. "It's a humidifier. Lemon-scented."
"Who brought it in here? In a public space? And why?"
"I have an idea who......" Bloom is into these scented stuff, and he might've come here to see Cobalt and left it behind. "I'll have a chat with the History Department."
Magnus switched off and unplugged the humidifier, placing the stilled device in the open on a coffee table away from Xenon. Xenon had sat down on one of the sofas, shoes and crutch tucked at the base as he brought his legs up to properly lie down.
Magnus opened up the blinds and cranked the windows up as far as they would go. "The open windows should get rid of the humid air, if you're planning to stay." Magnus walked to the door, remarking as he exited, "I'll leave the door open for you."
"Wait, Magnus!"
He stilled. "Yes?"
"...do you have any other work that needs to be attended to urgently?"
"Well, I have your report, but other than that? ...no, why?"
Xenon looked away, fidgeting with his hands. "Could you... perhaps... sit with me? While I nap?" He patted the free space above his head.
"...sure."
As Magnus sits down, Xenon shuffled up towards him, resting his head on Magnus' lap. Not daring to fill the silence with noise, Magnus gently rubbed his hand through Xenon's hair, careful not to pull on anything too hard.
So soft he would have missed it if he was at the doorway, Xenon called out, "Magnus?"
The lump resting against his throat pulled back any words Magnus could speak, permitting only an equally quiet "hm?" to escape his lips.
"Tell me about that new office plant you got, the Pothos plant?"
As if no longer pushing a boulder up a hill, but instead down the other side, the whisper of words came clear to Magnus as soon as commanded. "Well, 'Pothos' is the name of a genus, and the wrong genus at that! You see, it all started in..."
The lull of Magnus' history lesson carried Xenon to sleep.
