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Any college, university, no, even every high school is a place that is overrun by gossip and hearsay and everything in-between. Anyone could tell you that, just as everyone could point out that the people who work there, from the janitors to the academics, are the worst offenders of the bunch. Oh, of course it’s fun to gossip about things you don’t know if you’re an outsider to, but if you actually have to face the people you’ve been gossiping about every day on the corridors… it adds a certain je ne sais quoi, a bit of a thrill, and even in a place like Harvard, that is quite something because one has to have some fun, now, doesn’t one.
And so, as soon as Dean Winchester arrives at Harvard, first only as an adjunct, of course, since Ione has to do things in the proper order, the rumour mill starts.
It’s not just that he made his way here from Kansas. Even Harvard has had to go with the times, and they welcome all kinds of people, nowadays, as some would call it.
There’s also the fact that he immediately becomes involved with the running of several queer students organizations and proudly displays a bisexual flag on his wall, which some of his older colleagues, who believe that such things should be firmly kept private, take issue with.
All of that, though, pales in comparison to what happens when he meets Fergus Crwoley.
Now, the later has been a part of the school for so long that some claim he’s just always been there, an immortal sent to make students’ lives miserable, which of course is far from the truth, but he seems to enjoy the whisperings. It’s also a well-known fact that he keeps away from students as much as from his colleagues – a feat that no one can entirely explain because – well – it should be part of his job to get along with people but for some reason isn’t.
But in all of that – his dedication to research, his office that’s as far from everyone else’s as it can get, his solitary rambles – Crowley, as he prefers to be known, apparently did not imagine someone like Dean Winchester ever arriving in their holy halls, because barely a week after he has, they are spotted having lunch on campus, which is a sensation in itself because as far as memory goes back, no one has seen Crowley eat or drink before.
But, as people say, he might just have wanted to welcome a new colleague. Just because it has never happened before, doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, and Dean Winchester is well-known for his papers, so he might actually be interested in his opinion on certain subjects he works on, too.
Why it keeps happening, though, is harder to explain, and the wonder of it is only surpassed, when – well –
Now, there have always been those who claim they like studying under Crowley. Boot-lickers, most other students think they are, those who think his takedowns of their work “funny”, who feel he could help them set foot out in the world (he never does), those who believe there has to be a mystery as to why he is the way he is – if there is, they never learn. But apart form them, few if any ever saw him around on campus – the common joke is that he knows how to teleport, or just never leaves his office, like some kind of old-fashioned Victorian vampire or other monster.
Yet, only a few weeks after Dean Winchester first arrived, long before the excitement caused by his appointment can calm down, he and Crowley are actually spotted walking around together. At first, only a few students notice because they pick some distant corner (on Crowley’s insistence, as everyone knows, because Dean Winchester has no trouble at all with being asked for help at any point of his day) but then the news quickly travels.
That said it’s not just that Dean Winchester and Crowley spend time together. No, it’s that, according to all reports, Crowley was actually smiling and laughing the entire time.
The first thing that comes out of anyone’s mouth is, “Are you sure? It can’t be! I mean… it’s the strangest thing I ever heard!”
But it proves to be true, for soon, the two seem to be taking almost every meal together, and eventually, they even do so in cafés usually preferred by students.
At the same time, it seems that Crowley somewhat comes out of his monastic seclusion, opening up a little more to students and actually working with the other professors.
It’s not difficult to guess why, although it’s still a shock when it comes out that eh and Dean Winchester are dating.
At least their nuptials only take place an appropriate time later, so that people have time to get used to the idea.