“Sounds great,” Vic said with a small smile. They shifted to wrap their arms around Joe as well, connecting the hug that lasted for a full minute. “Thank you so much. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Joe whispered. He pulled back and Vic could see his smile go from reassuring to almost a smirk. “But now that you’ve told me this, about the professor, expect for me to ask so many follow up questions. I have a whole arsenal.”
“You can ask me about the other thing too,” Vic said. They stood up and cleaned up their mess before heading to the bedroom. “I’m still figuring it out for myself, but don’t feel like you have to tip toe around me okay? I’m not going to be mad if you use my full name or say the wrong pronouns. I’m still catching myself doing it sometimes, especially still around my family.”
“Would it be too much to ask to see you in the skirt?” Joe waggled his eyebrows at Vic. “I’m kidding. Sort of. But I hope you know that I’ll be there to stand up for you or help with whatever you need. What pronouns are you wanting to go by?”
“They, them.” Vic pulled back the cover while Joe pulled up one of the streaming sites for movies and shows. “But like I said, if you-”
“You can’t dismiss yourself like that, Vic. If I slip up, call me out on it.” His words were so casual, like he had no idea how much Vic appreciated the words. “Call anyone out on it. Now, do you want a rom-com or action?”
Chapter Fifteen
~ Tawson ~
“Knock, knock.” Several knocks followed on the other side of his office door. The voice was older, probably another faculty member. Tawson closed the file he’d been reading through and looked up.
“Come on in,” he called out. The relief that flooded through him when none other than Daniel Cadman opened the door was quite evident. “What are you doing here?”
“Donor dinners,” Daniel said. He shut the door behind him and Tawson stood up to greet him properly. They bypassed a formal handshake and hugged. “I might not be teaching here, but I do have obligations for other things. How is everything going here?”
“It took a bit, but I think I’ve finally got the hang of everything.”
Daniel sat in one of the two chairs while Tawson went back to his behind the desk. “And how are the students? Classes? Give me something.”
Tawson chuckled at the joking tone. “The students are great. It’s a change not having to force them to write their papers orread the chapters. The classes are engaging, the sizes aren’t too overwhelming. They’re talking about giving me a teacher’s aide because they have an influx of students that need the hours for their courses. Guess since I’m a first year, they think I need the most help.”
“Hey now,” Daniel scoffed. “I had a few aides during my time here. Use them to your advantage. And how is the rest of your life going?”
Vic’s face popped up in his mind, smiling, laughing, lounging in his bed mostly naked while Tawson made them breakfast. They’d kept mostly the same routine every week. Tawson had only come over to his apartment once more, when he had a late night at the office and Vic offered to make dinner. Dinner led to watching a movie, which led to other things and Tawson stayed the night. Vic was getting more confident too. They’d bought some new clothes, nothing drastic. A faded pink shirt, some new jeans, a pair of sandals. It took some encouraging but Vic wore the outfit to their sister’s soccer game. Vic’s whole family was there but both of them got to the game late, because of reasons, so they had to sit in a separate section. No one commented on their clothes and Vic was on cloud nine the entire night after that.
“That good, huh?” Daniel’s laugh brought him back and he realized that he didn’t answer.
“Sorry. Yeah, I’ve been settling in. I’m thinking of maybe trying to find an apartment in the city soon.”
“Wanting to plant some roots, then? That’s a good sign.” Daniel wasn’t pushing, but Tawson needed someone to confide in. He didn’t know how to bring up the fact that he was dating a student. Vic had brought it up to him soon after talking to Joe. Neither of them wanted to really label things, but they didtalk about being exclusive again and being honest if something wasn’t working for them.
“I might have met someone,” Tawson said. “It’s still early and we’re keeping it low but I can see staying here for a while.” The next four years at least.
“Well that’s good,” Daniel said. “It’s about time you start moving on.”
“Yeah, well it’s still early so we’ll see.”
“And I’m not going to get a name or anything?” Daniel wasn’t prodding, but Tawson still felt that bubble of anxiety build up. He was so far gone for Vic, but that didn’t mean he didn’t think about how it would be when they did go public with their relationship. “Is it another professor or maybe someone I might know?”
“When we decide to tell others, I’ll make sure you’re the first I call.”
“As long as you’re being safe and it isn’t anything illegal.”
“I promise.” Vic had done more research into the legalities of it, wanting to make double sure that he wasn’t risking his job or Vic’s future at the school. The university handbook discouraged relationships between professors and students they were actively in a superior role to. It wasn’t super clear on those that they were not teaching. “But the Queer club is doing well too. We’re gearing up to start putting together the Halloween booth. The theme this year is Pumpkin Smash. One of the students suggested having something similar to the plastic fishing game but using little pumpkins to fish out. We’re going to be carving pumpkins at the meeting the week before.”
“That sounds fun,” Daniel said. “We did a zombie theme last year, I think. There was a spot set up where kids couldwrap the Dean in toilet paper.”
“Oh, that sounds like it would have been fun to see. Was that his plan or one of the clubs?”
“Definitely not his plan, but it was for the kids in the community and he can’t say no. It was all in good fun and he claims he had a good time afterward.”
“I’m excited for it.” Tawson said. “We’ve had a lot of good students and staff coming through the meetings each week. It’s a great thing that was started.”
