Chapter Text
Everyone knew Professor Novak was married; he wore a silver band on his left ring finger. If a student got close enough, they could see two small blue gems and a third deep green one that sat in the middle. No one had ever seen his spouse; however, if a student happened to leave slightly later in the afternoon, they may have seen Professor Novak enter the passenger side of a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala (those who could name the car were extremely jealous). No one ever saw the driver enter or exit the vehicle. But Professor Novak's marital status was not what was intriguing about him; occasionally, well, more often than not, an orange cat would accompany him to his lectures. He wouldn’t simply walk in with the cat; it walked through the campus with him, weaving in and out of his legs. Once both he and his cat were inside the lecture hall, the cat would first jump onto the chair, and then it would make itself comfortable on Professor Novak's desk. Sometimes it would sleep, other times it would watch the students in the hall, and obviously it was impossible, but it seemed to get irritated when it noticed they weren’t paying attention, or contributing. Novak would always make an effort, when the cat accompanied him, to pet its head, or scratch behind its ears, or lightly stroke it, while he spoke.
He often referred to the cat as Dean, which many just assumed was its name, seeing as it didn’t appear to wear a collar. Few pointed out that it was irresponsible for Novak to first bring his cat to work, and second, for it not to wear a collar, but no one was brave enough to bring it up with him. He was, after all, a professor of Ethics and Theology.
It was rare but not impossible for a student studying ethics and mythology to also be studying engineering, specifically mechanical, for which their Professor would be Professor Winchester. He wasn’t necessarily more liked than Professor Novak, but he did have a more laid-back attitude. He had an affinity for flannel over shirts, and all his jeans appeared to be slightly torn at the knee. On particularly cold days, he donned a brown leather jacket with the collar always upturned. Everyone knew Professor Winchester was also married. He also had a silver band which he wore on his left hand, but no one had ever gotten close enough to see that it perfectly matched Professor Novak's, and if they had, they hadn’t put two and two together. He always spoke fondly of his husband, and his car, whom he exclusively referred to as his ‘baby’ (some students questioned whether he actually loved the car more, but again they didn’t bring it up) despite him constantly talking about said car, no one could figure out what it was, and he became weirdly ominous if asked answering with “if you can figure it out then you should tell me” he would say with a straight-face and then go back to cracking some joke about hydraulics.
Two of these rare students taking both Professor Novak's and Professor Winchester's courses were Kevin Tran and Ben Braeden, who also happened to be best friends. I mean, when you both take obscure courses, you're bound to end up becoming friends.
“He’s never more than five minutes late,” Kevin said impatiently, tapping his pen rhythmically on his table in the corner of the lecture hall. “I mean if anything he and his cat are usually early, so i wonder what’s holding them up”
“Maybe the guy overslept?” Ben said though he wasn’t sure either. As if on cue the door in the front of the room swung open to reveal, a very long tan trenchcoat (technically its an overcoat but no one likes a smart ass) attached to a very deshelved looking man, and of course striding in from between his legs was a slightly shaggy orange cat. After placing his bag down, removing his coat, and his cat got comfortable, he addressed the class
“My apologies everyone, I was… held up” he shot an oddly pointed look at the cat, who just huffed and laid it head on its paws. “Shall we begin?”
Ben turned to his friend “What do you think that was about? I mean those two seem oddly close like I don’t think its normal for cats to be this close with their owners, no matter who they are”
“I think its cool honestly, he’s got his very own companion, the man’s like John Wick, I honestly wouldn’t doubt that he would kill anyone who even looked at that cat wrong” Kevin whispered back, and both boys failed at concealing a snicker and just before they could refocus a distinct Hiss was heard throughout the classroom and they both jumped before reflexing to the noise. At the front of the room the cat, Dean, was fully standing up, almost in an attack stance. Teeth bared at them, and its eyes, deep green eyes staring directly at them. Startled was an understatement, if you to ask the boys, they would probably saw they both remained cool calm and collected, but at the present moment they were terrified. By this point Novak seemed to also be watching them, he shot them a knowing look before walking over and petting the cat, though he didn’t stop the lecture. Ben and Kevin refused to even look at each other till about 10 minutes to the end of the lecture, when Professor Novak paused and leant down and whispered something softly into the cats ear, which resulted in dean standing, stretching and bounding out of the room. The boys turned to each other, confused expressions on their faces but didn’t say anything.
“Alright everyone, I’ll see you all tomorrow at 9, or if you wish to talk to me I have office hours from 2:30-3:30 today” and the students grabbed their things and exited quietly.
Their next class was Professor Winchester’s and it start in about 5 minutes, but it was only the next building over so they didn’t rush. “Dude that cat scared the shit out of me, i swear it was watching us closely the rest of the lesson” Ben said as they walked down the stairs to the ground level.
“Yeah it was definitely freaky, its like it got made at us for not paying attention, but its just a cat surely it wouldn’t care… right” Kevin responded, pocketing his phone into the side of his bag. Ben shrugged, could a cat care enough to make sure people listened to its owner, he supposed so. “And what was with Novak whispering to it, and it absolutely bolting it out of there? Isn’t he worried about its whereabouts? Is he getting it back?” yet again Ben shrugged as they crossed the lawn.
When they entered Winchesters classroom the man was sitting on his desk with his legs hanging off the edge, he appeared to be reading a book, not a science book but a regular book, upon closer inspection it appeared to be the bible, Ben and Kevin stared at each other. “I though you weren’t religious Professor?” Ben blurted out before he could stop himself. Winchester looked up at them, seeming freed from his reading trance.
“Please, we are far enough into the semester now, call me Dean, and I’m not, my husband is and I though it would be nice to read it to help him out” he said swinging his legs slightly.
“Dean? What like Professor Novak's cat?” Kevin asked confused at the coincidence. Winchester lips curved up wards and his teeth were revealed in a cheeky smile, and they could almost swear a light rose colour filled his cheeks.
“Yes” he confirmed “Just like his cat” and he gestured for them to find a seat before the class started.
“Very odd” Ben leaned into Kevin once they were settled, he nodded in agreement. Who the hell reacts like that to such a simple joke-question?