Calling him professor didn’t work in social situations where we wanted him to be able to color and tell us about his toys. It would make him think he had to be a grown-up and that wasn’t the tone we wanted.
Hell, even I wasn’t that big of a dick.
Gary snickered as he pulled out whatever monstrosity I’d been given. “You need to practice seeing him as Dante’s sub and boyfriend. Ignore theyou know him from workkind ofvibe. Think of the friend kind of stuff you know about him. He likes mac-n-cheese. He’s got to like playing in some way. He’s probably a chatty little since he’s so grown-up at work.”
Yeah, a lot of the professors treated work like we were in a circus but he always did his best to be professional.
“Good point.” I could do it. “What do you think about going out later this week and picking out something for him for Christmas and some kind of welcome gift for when we eventually get to hang out with him?”
Nodding, Gary brought my takeout torture over to the stove, not understanding that the white container held more lentils. “Something fun so he knows we’re good with him being little. I was thinking about doing a Christmas dinner before everyone left for home?”
We could do that.
“That sounds good, but I haven’t been a dick to him, so I don’t need to apologize.” He was one of the only people on campus I’d been careful to keep my crappy mood away from. “So we know he’s not the one sending me soup.”
Barely holding back laugher, Gary shrugged. “He seems like he could hold a grudge, so you might want to be careful.”
It couldn’t personally get worse than soup, but I didn’t want to fuck with Dante’s relationship either. “Noted.”
I could fake it for short periods.
“You don’t mind if I help you make this edible, right?” Gary looked up from studying whatever soup was in the container and laughed at whatever he saw on my face. “I don’t even know why I asked.”
Me neither.
“You’re polite?” I could fake being a functional human for him too, so I sat down at the table and tried to shove back my attitude. “And you’re a good cook who likes tinkering in the kitchen?”
He barked out a laugh, probably not believing my change in attitude for a second. “You think I’m a sucker.”
“I think you’re nice and you like to see the best in people. You also don’t like seeing a hungry college student punished when he doesn’t know what he did.” Someone was very frustrated with me and very creative.
“Okay, I like that one, so I’ll help you.” Mumbling to himself about something that seemed to be related to my food, I watched as he grabbed a small pot and poured…yep, more lentils into it. “I can work with this.”
Hopefully.
“I would appreciate it.” The little beans themselves weren’t bad but there was so much broth. “With the dining hall closed, I’m not willing to throw it away.”
Gary glanced over at me and rolled his eyes as he scooped something from his big pot into the little one. “And you’re feeling bad about the money too. I know you, asshole.”
Fine.
Just because I grew up without having to worry about money didn’t mean everyone else was in the same situation.
“I’m going to feel even worse if they’re living in their car because I was a dick.” It didn’t feel like that was right, but worries weren’t rational.
“If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t heard of anyone on campus in that kind of situation.” Gary seemed confident about that, and he would know because he’d spent the past year working in the admissions and housing offices. “We’ve got a few people we’re watching but no one in that position.”
Good.
“Okay, then I’m going to assume pissed off and at the very least saved up enough money to fuck with me.” Maybe it was their Christmas gift to themself? “This is getting ridiculous, though.”
Chuckling, Gary nodded. “Yeah, considering how often you’ve had soup lately, I’d say so.”
Duh.
“How are you going to figure out who you need to apologize to?” Gary grinned as I groaned, but he kept tinkering with my food, so I wasn’t going to be an ass about it.
“Maybe I can try to narrow it down since most people aren’t on campus?” I’d clearly been attacking this from the wrong angle considering the bark of laughter he let out. “What would you do?”
