Ronan glanced at the essays in front of him with frustration. There were many, many things he would rather be doing than grading college essays. He checked his phone for the time and held back a groan as he noticed how late it was. He clicked his pen a few times in impatience and underlined yet another spelling error. His frown deepened as he wrote yet another note in the margin of the essay, leaving a helpful note to the poor freshman who wrote the essay. It was his bad luck that Ronan was uncharacteristically annoyed at that moment and decided to be extra thorough with his grading that day. He glanced at the man sitting across from him with mild, unjustified hostility.
Alexander Crane, a 24 year old professor who was quite obviously too young to be at this particular institution. Ronan wondered fruitlessly about the man's past and had even asked a few questions only to recieve a cold glare and a reminder of the conditions of his employment. Ronan shook himself from his thoughts and froze as Alexander met his eyes. Those strikingly dark eyes met his gaze head on and held him in place. Alexander tilted his head curiously to the side and rewarded Ronan with a small smile. Ronan blushed in embarrassment at being caught and finished reading the three page essay, giving it a fair grade as he added it to his now complete pile.
"All done?" Alexander gestured to the small mountain of papers infront of Ronan. They were around a quarter of the papers he had to grade, the rest sitting infront of Alexander.
"Yes," Ronan looked at his phone again and huffed in annoyance as he almost threw it across the room. Again? He fucking canceled on him again! Ronan frowned and put his phone on the table. He took a very deep breath and centered himself before he glanced up to find Alexander looking at him with a mixture of amusement and concern. He managed to give him a faint smile, "Well, it looks like you have me for a while longer. Need help with the rest of the papers?"
Alexander shrugged and handed over half the essays. He was itching to ask what was wrong but as he watched Ronan throw himself into grading the essays, the words died in his throat. He shook his head and went back to grading, sending a small prayer to the universe for the unlucky student who's grades would suffer from Ronan's mood.
As Ronan graded the essays, he lectured himself. 'This is why you should never get your hopes up Ro... nothing's ever goes to plan with Devin.' Ronan rolled his eyes as he reread a rather confusing paragraph. He left a comment about tenses in the margin and moved on before he could let himself correct more spelling errors. It's like these people have never heard of spellcheck. He finished reading the essay and gave it a decent grade before adding it to the finished pile.
As he reached for another essay from the dwindling ungraded plie, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen before sighing and answering it, not even bothering with a greeting, "What happened this time?"
He could hear the distant chatter of people in the background as Devin answered, "Come on babe, don't do that. You know I'd make it if I could. Dad wanted me to meet some associates of his to do a little networking. The dinner is taking longer than I thought it would."
Ronan frowned, "Another dinner?" He motiones to Alexander that he'd take the call outside and stepped out of the office and into the hall, "Is she there this time too?"
"Natalia? Yea. Her Dad showed up with her," He could hear people calling Devin's name in the background. "I've gotta go babe. I'll see you at the apartment around 11pm ok?"
The call ended with the ceremonial 'I love yous' and when he heard the dial tone, Roan couldn't help but sigh. He pressed his back against the wall and tried to keep his shit together as he thought about Natalia.
Natalia Kwatz was the daughter of Devin's father's old friend. Devin's dear old Dad had never approved of their relationship, going as far as to call it a phase when Devin introduced him to his parents. Ronan knew Devin's father was trying his best to get him and Natalia together. Even a fool would be able to see that. She was perfect. Ronan had met her and she was indeed perfect. Beautiful, successful..., female; everything Devin's father wanted for his son. Ronan shook his head and took another deep breath. Maybe he was overreacting. Devin was gay. There's no way he'd pick a woman over him right? Right.
*******
Alexander watched Ronan carefully. The man had been frowning since he returned from his phone call and Alexander could practically see the storm cloud hanging over his head. He watched as Ronan wrote a grade at the corner of the last essay he had to grade for the night and sighed dejectedly.
"Ok, that was the last one. Do you need any help recording the grades? I don't have to be home till 11," Ronan's brow creased as he glanced at his phone to check the time.
Alexander finished organizing the pile of essays and binded them with rubber bands, labeling them so he wouldn't forget which class they were for. "No... I can record them later. Is something wrong? Usually you'd be dying to run through the door."
Ronan stiffened a little bit and then blushed. Was it that obvious that he didn't want to go home? He glanced at his phone again, it was 9pm and it would take him 20 minutes to walk home if he decided not to call a taxi. He had over an hour to brood and he'd rather not do so alone. "It's my anniversary. This is my second year with my boyfriend...," Ronan's hand immediately covered his mouth and he looked at Alexander in shock. Why did he just say that? He sighed, well it wasn't like him being gay was a secret. He was sure there wasn't anyone he had interacted with on a daily basis that didn't know. His own parents had known the moment he found out.
He just wasn't sure why he was about to spill everything to Alexander. The man was nice enough. Kind and gentle. But the moment Ronan brought up anything personal, Alexander would go silent and cold.
"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have..."
"It's okay... I'm the one that asked and I'll listen if you really want to talk about it," Alexander smiled gently at him and leaned forward, resting his elbow on the desk and cupping his cheek.
Ronan took a deep breath, "Well, like I said, today is our anniversary and we were supposed to spend it together over dinner but now he's off having dinner with his dad and the woman his father wants him to marry..." Ronan felt his chest tighten.
He and Devin had talked about this before and Devin was always quick to assure him he was overthinking it. That his father wasn't trying to set him up with her and that he didn't even consider Natalia Ronan's rival at all. And Ronan wanted to believe him, but for over a year now, Devin's father had been constantly inviting Devin to conferences and dinner parties and networking events...and Natalia just happened to be at every single one.
Ronan had gone with Devin to a few of these events until Devin's father had gone out if his way to embarrass him by making underhanded comments about their relationship. Ronan ended up storming out of that event, enraged by the comments and the fact that Devin had said nothing to defend him or their relationship even as his father insinuated that Ronan was only with his son for money.
Ronan rolled his eyes at the memory as he recounted it to Alexander who chuckled a bit.
"That's ridiculous. Does his father not know your last name? Ronan Harper, youngest son of the CEO and founder of Harper & Juliette Industries, is with someone for money?" Alexander laughed at the idea and shook his head in disbelief.
Ronan chuckled as well and smiled bitterly. He could bet Alexander was right that Devin's father didn't know his last name. Ronan was sure that the man was quite content to forget he existed and wished he didn't exist at all. It was as if he blamed him for Devin being gay.
Ronan shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, sighing as his phone lit up again. He raised an eyebrow in slight surprise and motioned for Alexander to give him a minute. "Hello?" he stood up from the chair and paced a little.
"Hey Ro, I'm on my way from the dinner. Father wanted me to drop Natalia off and we're going to pass by the university. Are you still there? Want me to pick you up?"
Ronan frowned and kept pacing. He took a few inaudible deep breaths and forced a smile, hoping his voice wasn't too strained, "Yea, I just finished grading some papers. You can pick me up. How far along are you?"
He started to pack while he spoke, checking if he had everything.
"We're about ten minutes away. Need my held carrying anything?"
Ronan shook his head and answered, "No. I'll meet you out front.... I'll see you in a bit." He hung up the call and rubbed his temble with his thumb.
"Let me guess, that was the boyfriend?" Alexander's question reminded Ronan he was there.
"Yea, he's coming to pick me up...with Natalia."
Alexander frowned and shook his head, "Are you serious? And you said yes?"
Ronan smiled weakly and grabbed his bag, checking for his keys and his phone, "Yes... It's our anniversary and I don't feel like fighting with him about this tonight. I'm gonna get going. I'll talk to you tomorrow Alexander. Be sure to send me a message if you need me tomorrow!"
Alexander watched Ronan leave with a frown. He shook his head and sat back in his chair. 'No. Stop it Zander. It's none of your business.'