#archisa

Archie Rochester had only been Deputy Mayor Lawson’s assistant for a week, and already Sebastian was concerned that Lawson was going to permanently damage his vocal cords with his constant bellowing at his assistant. 

Not that Sebastian could particularly blame him. Archie was a very unlikable, self-important young man. Sebastian was civil to him, but some days prior, he’d had the great misfortune of being stuck in the same room as him while the mayor and deputy mayor had a private meeting. Archie had prattled on about his accolades and his family’s power, while Sebastian had employed his talent of appearing attentive while barely paying any attention to Archie. Sebastian had dealt with people ruder than Archie, but Sebastian knew better than to antagonize the Rochesters. 

After all, because of Archie’s Mr. Alastor parties, six people, seven if you counted his valet who had taken his own life, had died. Even if Archie had not killed anyone himself and the murderers had worked independently without Archie’s influence--with the exception of his valet, of course--Sebastian was not about to make an enemy of him.

And that was not even mentioning Archie’s father, Senator Rochester, whom Sebastian had seen far more frequently. The man was cheerful and affable, especially to the mayor, but Sebastian was not an idiot. He knew tragic, unexpected, and mysterious fates tended to befall people who criticized the Rochesters or did too well in political campaigns against the senator. 

Sebastian sighed deeply away from the confines of the courthouse as he walked down the busy streets of Ivory Hill. He had been feeling somewhat helpless this past week. Mayor Castletown had recently, conveniently, disappeared for a fishing trip around the time Archie had been appointed as Deputy Mayor Lawson’s assistant. Sebastian suspected Castletown had done so in hopes that the anger his deputy mayor was feeling towards Malcolm Rochester would fade after the senator passed the bill monopolizing the press, and Castletown would be able to return to a harmonious Concordia. A Concordia free of strife between the deputy mayor and senator; a Concordia free of the multiple problems that had been recently affecting it.

Given how Deputy Mayor Lawson had had three verbal confrontations with Senator Rochester within the past week, all of which ended with Lawson either angrily shouting at the senator or storming from the room while Malcolm looked on with an innocent smile, Sebastian suspected the mayor’s hopes would be in vain.

Justin Lawson had taken the helm as much as he could as interim mayor while the actual mayor was gone, but many things he truly wanted to do--such as throw Malcolm Rochester out of office, Sebastian suspected--were unable to be done without proof of wrongdoing, or were outside of the limits of his office. Sebastian could not help but wonder, however, if Lawson was better equipped to be mayor than Castletown. Lawson was unlikely to blatantly ignore the severe problems Concordia struggled with, such as poverty and corruption. Sinner’s End and parts of New Haven and Coyote Gorge were testament to the fact that homelessness and poverty had only worsened over the past years, something Castletown had barely made an effort in fixing. 

Today, however, Justin Lawson might finally get a break from one of his least favorite members of the Rochester family, because although it was ten in the morning when Sebastian had left the courthouse some minutes prior, Archie had yet to appear at work.

Lawson had been simmering in his office for nearly three hours until he had finally approached Sebastian, who was sitting in the mayor’s office, trying to figure out what exactly he could do with his very limited power in the mayor’s absence as problems continued to mount, and said with an angry yet exasperated huff, “Sebastian, my assistant has decided not to appear at work today. I usually have him fetch me a cup of coffee…do you mind doing that for me, please? With all the sleepless nights I’ve spent recently, I desperately need it.”

Glad to be doing something useful to combat his growing sense of helplessness and feeling great amounts of pity for the deputy mayor, Sebastian had readily accepted the deputy mayor’s money and was now walking to Lawson’s favorite coffee shop to buy him a cup. He was halfway to the shop, a quick ten to fifteen minute walk away, and was passing by one of Ivory Hill’s illustrious parks.

His eyes wandered over to the park. Although it was November, Concordia was not a particularly freezing city, and while many people donned jackets and some blankets, several people were lying in the sun outside, napping, reading, or quietly conversing, carefree and free of worry, unlike him. His eyes fell on one particular young couple talking to each other on a blanket under a tree. Sometimes he wished that he could--

Wait.

Sebastian abruptly stopped walking and stared at the couple, shading his eyes from the sun and squinting at them.

Was that…?

He took a few steps closer to get a better look at the pair and his suspicions were correct. 

Archie Rochester was indeed one of the members of said couple, lying on his partner’s lap, looking up at her. 

Sebastian had seen several odd occurrences in his career, but still, his jaw dropped incredulously. For a start, he had not predicted that any woman would be interested in spending time with Archie after his Mr. Alastor scandal.

Sebastian searched his memory. He had seen that young woman before. She was a prominent party planner. Her name….Melody. Emma? Eliza? Elisa. That sounded right. Elisa Melody. 

Sebastian continued staring at Archie and Elisa. Although they were talking to each other, they were too far away for Sebastian to hear anything they were saying. 

Considering what had happened the last time Archie had attempted to woo a girl, Sebastian could not help but be slightly alarmed at Archie’s evident attraction to Miss Melody. Then again, when Archie was hosting his Mr. Alastor parties, Giulietta had not been aware of Archie’s obsession with her. Miss Melody was clearly very aware of Archie’s infatuation with her, given how she was allowing him to rest on her lap and seemed to be very much at ease. 

This was all a very rare moment of Archie being decent, deciding to casually speak with someone rather than what he would normally be doing now: antagonizing Lawson.

Well, for whatever reason Archie had skipped work, evidently to be with a young woman in the park, Lawson would still-- 

Lawson!

His coffee certainly wasn’t going to buy itself, and Lawson certainly deserved at the very least, a quickly-bought, hot cup of coffee. And standing and staring at Archie Rochester and Elisa Melody together in the park was not going to lead to Lawson drinking his coffee.

Forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the bizarre sight, Sebastian continued walking.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some forty minutes later, Sebastian entered City Hall and hurried to the deputy mayor’s office with a cup of coffee in hand, taking care not to spill the liquid onto his clothes, hands, or the floor. The line had been somewhat long at the coffee shop, and Sebastian had waited anxiously for his order to be taken and processed, his thoughts swirling between concern regarding Lawson’s high-strung emotions, and Sebastian’s puzzlement regarding Archie and Elisa. Upon hurrying back to City Hall, he had vowed that he would not be distracted by looking at the bizarre couple in the park. However, his curiosity had betrayed him, and he had been unable to stop his eyes from flitting back to the two of them ever so briefly as he passed the park. They had ceased talking, and instead appeared to be sleeping, nestled quite close to each other, which had only created more questions in Sebastian’s mind. 

“Thank you, Sebastian,” Lawson said, gratefully accepting the coffee. “It is wonderful to have a cup of coffee that is actually hot. Archie seems quite incapable of ever delivering coffee in an acceptable state to me; that brat always delivers room temperature coffee at best and cold coffee at worst, all with an insufferable smirk on his face; that pest is such a--”

Sebastian allowed Lawson to continue to air his grievances about his assistant, nodding and making verbal assents when appropriate, but his focus was elsewhere. He supposed that he could imagine Archie displaying public displays of affection, given his… strong feelings for Giulietta Capecchi, but his actions as Mr. Alastor were quite the red flag, so to speak. He was still not entirely sure why anyone would bother to enter into a romantic relationship with him. 

But while, unlike Archie, Elisa Melody was not morally questionable and Sebastian had never spoken to the party planner, he had heard that she could be somewhat rude and snappy, even if she was excellent at her work. It was difficult to imagine such a young woman like her, not being known for holding back her opinions, being interested in someone like Archie, who was not known for his kindness. 

But there they had been, both looking happy in each other’s company, Archie being unconcerned that he was skipping work, certainly privileged enough to believe he could get away with such truancy. But none of that explained how--

“Sebastian?” Lawson said, Sebastian’s attention snapped back at the deputy mayor, realizing he had been staring vaguely at the man, but not focusing on him. “Are you alright?”

Sebastian was no worse than he had been that morning, he supposed, just madly confused. But he knew that mentioning that he had seen Archie in the park would lead to nothing positive. He had a sudden image in his mind of the deputy mayor storming from City Hall, running to the park, and searching for his unruly assistant, yelling Archie’s name. That would be quite the embarrassing spectacle, although the press would be sure to love such a show. 

Lawson was already angry at his assistant. Either way, Sebastian mentioning he had seen him would worsen Lawson’s mood, and perhaps cause more rounds of ranting and gesticulating about how irresponsible, immature, and useless his assistant was. 

Sebastian would certainly visit Archie later and update him on his employer’s state, imploring him to return to work the next day, however. Lawson was close to his breaking point, and his assistant abandoning his duties a second day was sure to drive the deputy mayor closer to the edge and create more headaches for Sebastian.