Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Chap 17/18

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Chapter 17

The next day, Colin found it difficult to concentrate on his projects. The conversation with Brad kept playing in his head, no matter how many times he tried to dismiss it and he hated himself for allowing somebody he barely knew to have such an influence on him. He trusted Ryan, he should trust Ryan. And if Ryan said he was happy and that he wasn’t going to change his mind about the two of them, then that should be enough… Only it wasn’t. He knew it was mainly his own insecurities that made him so vulnerable to Brad’s suggestions but he couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t entertained the notion of Ryan walking out on him before but to actually hear somebody else say that it was unlikely Ryan would stick around, well… that was more difficult to ignore.

He had locked himself in his office and as a result, nobody had bothered him but eventually, his growling stomach had intervened and he decided to go out and get something to eat.

The minute he opened his door, Brad appeared. His dislike was probably written all over his face because Brad immediately threw his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. “Please, I need to explain…”

“As I told you last night Mr. Sherwood, I really am not interested. You said quite enough.” He turned his back on Brad, locked his office and made a move to walk away when Brad grabbed his arm.

“Please, I need to-”

“Take your hand off my arm,” Colin growled. “I have nothing to say to you.” He freed himself from Brad’s grasp and was about to storm off when Brad’s words halted him in his tracks…

“It was a test! I was lying!”

He turned round and faced the janitor, confusion and anger striving for dominance. “What?”

“Look, can we not have this conversation here?” Brad whispered to him, “I’m embarrassed enough as it is,”

“I don’t understand what you mean,”

“I’ll explain everything but can we please go into your office?”

“I must be insane…” Colin muttered to himself, as he unlocked the door to his office again. He sat down behind his desk, waving towards the empty chair in front of it, “Sit and talk.”

Brad sighed, “Okay… here goes… first off, I’m really sorry about last night. It wasn’t supposed to go like it did,”

“No kidding…”

“I know, I know, but hear me out, alright?”

“Go ahead,”

“Look,” Brad squirmed in his chair. “Wayne and I have been friends with Ryan for a long time and well… We’ve never seen him like this and we were worried about him…”

“What, living with another man… It’d be better for you if he kept screwing around with women?”

“Nooo, I don’t mean it like that!”

“How exactly did you mean it Mr. Sherwood?” Colin felt his anger rising again and the apparent snub from Brad.

“He’s so… so… happy…” Brad said, a little miserably.

“What? And this is bad how?”

“No! No! It’s good! But…we’re worried what would happen if you dump him.”

“What? Why would I-”

But Brad interrupted him, “Listen, we didn’t know you... All we knew is that we didn’t want Ryan to get hurt and we…well…we wanted to find out what-”

“You wanted to find out what my intentions with Ryan were? So you attempt to seduce me and get me to doubt him? Who the hell are you to meddle like that?” Colin was back to full blown anger. “Do you know what you could have done!?”

“I didn’t say we were right-”

“Like hell you were!” Colin got up from his chair and Brad shrank back in his. “You two are idiots! This isn’t high school anymore! You don’t do this to people you call your friends! All this crap about Ryan not sticking around and how you would like to get to know me better… Jesus! You have any idea about the morning I’ve had thanks to you two clowns!?”

“I was going to tell you last night but you kicked me out before I could-”

“Damn right I did! How the hell did you think I would react?!”

“We’re sorry, we’re sorry...but Ryan really cares about you, you know and we were worried you weren’t as serious about him. It would destroy him. Please don’t tell him I said that?”

“I’m just…Good God…I-I don’t know what to say…I’m stunned…I’m sure your intentions were honorable but you went about it with all the grace and finesse of a drunk, clubfooted, one legged ballet dancer… Destroy him you say?”

Brad nodded furiously, “He’s never been this relaxed or happy…and he looks better too. Must be because he’s getting decent food now and-” but Colin held up his hand to stop Brad’s chatter.

“Look,” he sighed, “ I’m sure you meant well but you really overstepped a mark last night. Up until the… er… episode… in the kitchen, I was having a good time. I was happy for Ryan that his friends seemed to accept him as he was, but now it turns out you were just playing us and…”

“No! No! Everything I said was true…well…except the part about…you know…Not that you’re not a nice guy but I like women… and breasts… and everything,” Brad blushed, as he hastened to add the last part.

“Dear god… the love of my life has dumb and dumber as his friends.” Colin rubbed his face in exasperation.

Before Brad could even shrug in embarrassment, the loud speaker in Colin’s office clicked and fuzzed with static before the Admin’s assistant spoke. “Professor Mochrie, would you kindly report to the Administrator’s office, Professor Mochrie, please report to the Administrator’s office,”

Colin sighed and rolled his eyes. “This just keeps getting better and better,”

Brad opened his mouth but was once again cut off. This time by the walkie-talkie at his hip. “Mr. Stiles, please report to the admin’s office, thank you.”

“Will do,” Came Ryan’s irritated reply.

Both of the men looked down at Brad’s walkie-talkie before Brad’s eyes widened. “Do they know?” he asked, a little afraid.

Colin swallowed past the lump in his throat. “They can’t do anything even if they do,” he said firmly, though his eyes belied his fear.

Colin hurried to the Administrative building, ignoring ‘hello’s’ from student and colleagues alike. “Ryan! Wait up!” he called when he saw his tall lover walking towards the building, hands in his pockets.

Ryan turned and frowned, smiling nonetheless. “Hey Col, what’re you doing?”

“Going to the Admin’s office…” Colin said quietly.

Ryan looked at him before he paled, his jaw going slack and his eyes widening.

Neither of them thought to say anything else as they walked into the squat, ugly building and into the waiting room at the office. The lady behind the desk, Adeline, blushed and gave them a look that made them wonder when they ran over her first born. Colin tried to smile and nod as they took their seats, but she turned her nose up at them and went to go busily file papers. Colin shared a worried glance with Ryan, who scowled and shifted on the uncomfortable wood and cheap fabric chairs.

Just then the admin’s door opened and Mr. Quentin Cumber stuck his fuzzy head out. “Messrs. Mochrie and Stiles?”

Colin and Ryan shared another nervous glance and walked into the spacious office and sat in the fancy but still cheap and uncomfortable chairs Mr. Cumber waved them to. And there they sat in silence, Ryan’s leg bouncing at a steadily increasing speed as Cumber ignored them, moving papers from one spot to another on his desk. Finally, just as Colin felt Ryan beginning to crack and yell at the man, Cumber looked up at them and laced his fingers together, looking very paternal. He must’ve confused them for the students he saw now and then instead of two grown men. “Gentlemen, I’ve called you both up here for a tiny matter concerning your living arrangements,”

They blinked, not really believing what they were hearing.

Cumber continued. “Now, I know that it’s none of this school’s business what you do when off campus, but on campus, you are seeming to forget that you’re around young adults. Young person’s who are very impressionable… prone to distractions or conducting illicit activities. That’s why you’re here, both of you,” he smiled ingratiatingly. “The school needs to maintain a code so that we influence the youngsters in only positive ways. Which means that…” his lip curled momentarily, “that your relationship, in full view of the students, is becoming a distraction. And I don’t want the students distracted by this sort of thing…”

“What do you mean, ‘this sort of thing’?” Colin asked, voice hard.

Cumber leaned forward, looking angrier than he should have been. “Whatever illicit activities you two have been indulging in since your trip to Florida. It was on the school dime, so it wasn’t a singles cruise for gays,” he snapped.

Colin was so shocked he sat back, his anger gone leaving him pale and his jaw hanging somewhere near his feet.

“Hey buddy, just who the fuck do you think you are?” Ryan snapped, leaping to Colin’s defense. “This kind of shit’s illegal,”

Cumber turned to him, eyes narrow, “Mr. Stiles, if you continue to disrespect me, you will be dismissed.”

Ryan opened his mouth, but Colin put his hand on his arm. “Ryan, please… don’t…”

Ryan glared over at Colin, straining at the gate, but Colin gave a minute shake of his head, brown eyes strong. Ryan subsided, crossing his arms. Colin turned to Cumber. “So what are you asking us to do?”

“Well, I think we can both agree that seeing one another on campus is wrong and not to mention a little obscene,” Ryan bit back mentioning all of the other, hetero affairs he’d been witness to, some of which included Cumber himself. “As for your addresses, I’m asking you nicely that you once again take separate addresses. Some of our staff workers find that sort of thing very upsetting, and I’d rather not deal with the payroll department going on strike.”

They felt like they’d been punched in the face, “No.” Ryan spat when he got his absolute shock under control.

“I’m sorry?” Cumber growled, pleasantness gone.

“No. I will not move out from living with my boyfriend just because some old biddies can’t get the fuck over something that isn’t even their business,” Ryan took Colin’s hand, and Colin squeezed it back.

“Do not talk to me like that, Mr. Stiles,” Cumber grated.

“Or else what?”

“Ryan!” Colin hissed.

“You’re fired, Mr. Stiles.”

“Why am I fired?” Ryan asked, rising.

“Because of your insubordination, lewd behavior on campus and sexual harassment!” Cumber snapped back, rising as well. His attempt at intimidating Ryan failed when he didn’t reach more than Ryan’s breast bone.

“Well guess what Cucumber-”

“Don’t call me that!” Cumber flushed

“-I fucking quit,” And with that, Ryan pressed a kiss to Colin’s dumbfounded forehead and left the office, giving an outraged Adeline the finger on his way out.

Cumber sat down, shaking with anger and turned to Colin, shaking his head. “I certainly hope you understand where I’m coming from, Professor Mochrie, coming from one learned man to another…”

“You were going to fire him anyway, weren’t you?” Colin asked, studying his fingernails.

“Unfortunately I was. However, he quit, so he can’t say we fired him for anything unfavorable,” Cumber smiled.

Colin studied the man with absolute distaste. “Were you going to fire me?”

“Oh heavens no! You’re one of our most valuable Professors!” Cumber looked affronted.

“But who cares about a janitor, right?”

“Well,” Cumber’s eyes slid to the left and he smirked.

“You know what, Cucumber,” Colin said, rising. “I believe I’ve discovered a specimen that makes rotting fish look positively saintly.” Cumber purpled. “I quit.” As he left, he turned, straightening his cuffs. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyers. Have a nice day.”

Colin made his way out of the office, not bothering to acknowledge the woman behind the desk. She was an admin assistant…who knew, it could have been her who‘d been upset by their living arrangements. He was halfway across the quadrant before he realized he had just quit his job, been outed and promised to sue his now ex-employer. And it wasn’t even one O’clock yet…

He found Ryan in the parking lot, leaning against the car. “Hey…” he said quietly, trying to gauge his lover’s mood.

Ryan looked up at the sound of Colin’s voice, pushed himself away from the car and wrapped his arms around him. “I’m sorry I fucked things up…” Ryan mumbled into Colin’s neck.

“Hey, hey… you didn’t do anything wrong…” Colin gently stroked his back.

“I shouldn’t have stormed out liked that, I shouldn’t have been rude. I just… got so angry you know… whose business is it anyway what we do in our private lives…”

“I know, I know….and I agree…but-”

“Maybe I should go back and apologize? Maybe they’ll hire me back?”

“I doubt that Ry, he told me he was going to fire you anyway,”

“What? Why?”

“Like he said, they have an issue with us being together on university property… So, I quit too. Told him he’d hear from my lawyers,”

Ryan released him from the hug and leaned back slightly, “You quit your job? For me? But…you love your job…”

“Yeah, well, I love you more. I don’t want you to move out…or…you don’t want to move out, right?”

“Are you crazy? Of course not!”

“That’s settled then… I’ll call my lawyers… I’m no legal eagle but I’m pretty sure they can’t fire us because we live together,”

“Hm…”

“What?”

“I know it isn’t right that they fired us but… do you really want all the attention? I mean, this is gonna get big, right? What if we win and they have to give us our jobs back, do you really want to work for these people?”

Colin had to admit he hadn’t thought of it that way, he had just been so focused on the whole injustice of it all but Ryan had a point. If this went to court, it would probably garner a lot of attention, attention he didn’t necessarily want. “I don’t know Ry, hadn’t thought of it like that… Maybe we should think about it eh? You want to go home?”

“You think we should?”

“Pfff, well, we both quit so…” Despite the severity of the situation, Colin couldn’t help but grin. He felt a little as if he were skipping school.

“Ok…” Ryan shot him a watery smile, “Let’s go home,”

“I’ll need to go by my office to pick up my jacket and keys though. You want to come along? We could hold hands, maybe even do a little hop-skip down the hallway…”

The image made Ryan smile a little more convincingly, which was all Colin had been after. “OK, but I’m drawing the line at the hop-skipping. With your hand-eye co-ordination we’d probably skip straight into a wall,” he paused and bit his lip before continuing. “I suppose I’d better let the guys know I won’t be back,”

“I think Brad knows something’s up. He was with me when I got called in and he heard you being summoned through the walkie-talkie,”

“Huh…why was he with you?”

“Not important…don’t worry about it,” Colin tried for what he hoped was a reassuring smile but Ryan didn’t seem overly convinced.

“What is going on between you and Brad anyway? I couldn’t get a crowbar between the two of you for most of last night. Then I leave you alone for 10 minutes and when I come back you’re barely on speaking terms, and now I find out he came to see you? What for?”

“Ry, please, it’s not important. Just let it go,” Colin could see this conversation unraveling faster than an alcoholic at the end of The Prohibition.

“No, I think I’m on to something… what happened last night when I was fixing Wayne’s car?”

Colin sighed and turned to face Ryan, taking the frowning man’s hands in his own. “Okay, they had some concerns about you because they didn’t want you to get hurt, so Brad made it clear he and Wayne were looking out for you. I made it clear I would never hurt you, and it’s fine now.” He smiled warmly. “I dealt with it, don’t worry,”

Ryan squinted but nodded and they continued back towards the building.

Colin couldn’t help but blush and grin when Ryan’s hand caught his and they walked past the staring people, matching silly smiles on their faces.

When they got to Colin’s office and began loading up his personal items, a knock on the door made them pause. Greg was equally confused. “I- hey guys, did I miss something?”

Colin and Ryan snorted. “Yeah, we both quit.”

“What?” he shouted, his voice high and angry. By the time they finished telling him what had gone on in Cumber’s office, he was helping shovel things into boxes they found while plotting how to best destroy Cumber. “Ryan, you’re a janitor, you know how to dispose of things, right?” Ryan chuckled as Greg continued. “And I know Mikey from chemistry, he can get us a fifty gallon drum and some hydrochloric acid, no sweat,”

“Come on Greg, be serious,” Colin sighed, smiling nonetheless. “Don’t do anything rash, because you don’t need to be mixed up in this stuff. I don’t want you getting fired for consorting with gay trouble-makers,”

“Fuck man, I’m spreading this to the staff and we’re gonna fuckin’ picket this shit. They can’t do this, this is fuckin’ California! The Govinator himself will come down and kick Cucumber’s ass!”

“Greg, we don’t want it to get messy!” Colin said, trying to calm his furious friend. “We don’t even want them to give us our jobs back,”

“Colin, all you need is a settlement, you do know they’ll try to screw you out of your severance pay if they can, right? How will you start afresh? Cumber won’t give you your severance pay, he won’t give you a good resume, and he’ll do his best to make sure you never have another decent meal ever! All because you let him push you around,” Greg crossed his arms, glancing at the two of them. “You have an excellent case against him, and if you get a juicy settlement, or hell even his ass booted from his admin’s chair, you can start somewhere fresh… preferably in San Francisco,” he smiled faintly.

“Why San Fransico?”

“A buddy of mine, as well as myself, is starting up a company in the bay area. We’re gonna supply diving equipment to marine biologists, eventually go national, potentially global. And with you along for the ride… Discovery might want to fund us…”

Colin’s mouth gaped and watered. What an opportunity… but… “But what about Ryan?” he looked to his lover.

Ryan smirked ruefully. “I could be your janitor…”

“No…” Colin frowned… then smiled. “I might need a helper, you know… for papers and stuff…”

Ryan smiled, blushing, and turned to Greg. “Greg?”

Greg grinned, “Hell wouldn’t be the first time the boss has been boinking his secretary. I just don’t want to hear any of it, clear?”

They crossed their hearts, feeling possibly like they weren’t going through such a terrible thing after all.