Chapter Text
“Sure. Give me just a second.”
He sent a quick note in Teams that he was off the floor for a bit, set himself to “away” and grabbed a notepad and his favorite pen. It was the one lathed from a single piece of walnut that Shane had gotten him for a birthday or something. He felt like he needed a little something extra with him today, and a government issue pen was not going to cut it. He hated the way they dug into the paper. Well, they were from the lowest bidder, so…
“How’re you doing?” David asked as they walked toward the elevator.
“Oh, you know how it is,” Charles said.
“Yeah, I do.” He was sure he did not.
He didn’t know if walking through the rows of cubicles and past the open office doors to the elevators was like a prisoner going to his death, or some kind of weird walk of shame. So he just walks next to his boss’s boss, hoping he’s not going to get fired a year and a half before retirement.
Everyone was staring at him and Charles. They knew this couldn’t be good, either. Knowing the general mood of the office, they were probably all desperate to find out what was happening, and the moment the elevator closed behind them, they’d be out on the main floor, speculating.
That was a lawsuit, though. Yuna had already retained a workplace discrimination lawyer for Shane, should it get to that. She was sure Cheryl Kitt would LOVE getting MORE money from them for another case. The problem was, while Shane had money, he didn’t have LEAGUE money. They could tie him up in court until his considerable resources were depleted. And honestly, the government could do the same to David. So, really, he’d like to avoid it if at all possible.
Charles pressed the up button on the wall and stepped back, waiting to see which car arrived first.
David tried to let out a steadying but discrete breath. “Get any golfing in since the weather changed?”
The man lifted one shoulder noncommittally. “You know.”
“I haven’t either.” He’d been busy helping keep a secret. He had no one to play with, currently. Shane was busy with Ilya every moment he was free lately, and to this point, it wouldn’t make sense for Shane Hollander’s father to be golfing with his son’s sort-of-friend. Not that Ilya played much. He knew he enough and had enough natural talent to fake his way through charity functions with a little help and advice.
Well, maybe now that everything was in the open, he could convince Ilya to learn for real. Shane didn’t play often, but found it relaxing.
The elevator ride was too quiet. David knew he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the man, so he decided to just let the silence ride. He’d sound nervous or guilty if he tried to fill the void. (And what did he have to be guilty over? His name wasn’t Brad.)
Once they were in Charles’ considerably larger office, the man shut the door and gestured for David to take the chair directly in front of his desk. “Please.”
Somehow, the ‘please’ sounded like a commandment, instead of an invitation.
Taking his time in an attempt to convey how un-nervous he was, David sat down and opened his notepad to a fresh page.
Charles likewise sat down, but he opened his laptop. He logged in, then skimmed something quickly, clicked to something else and skimmed that as well, his eyes flying across the screen.
If he was hoping to wait David out, or hope that David would fill the silence with something self-incriminating, he had another thing coming.
David had been in government service for decades. He knew when to play the game. He also knew when to not be complicit in his own demise.
Charles clicked to something else, skimmed, then closed the laptop again. “So I understand you’ve had a difficult weekend.”
With a tight smile, David said, “you could say that.”
“A lot of people are very angry.”
Why did this feel like he was in the hot seat for someone else’s actions? “People can feel any way they want. They usually do, about public figures.” And even though Shane shied away from the high profile part of being a high profile athlete, it was there.
And he was even more high profile now that the story had broken containment from the sports world and had ended up on entertainment news, and even the regular local and national news. Everybody fucking knew.
David had never been shy about being proud of his kid. He liked to think he didn’t brag. Bragging was just… crass. But sharing how proud he was his son had gone second in the draft? Every time he made the all star team? Every time he lead the league in something? If a dad couldn’t share that once in a while, what could he do?
Charles stared at him, carefully choosing his next words. “It’s distracting everyone in this building.”
“It’ll die down. Some new scandal will eclipse this, and everything will go back to normal.” That was wishful thinking on David’s part, this scandal was here to stay for a while unless a politician got naked on television or something. That wouldn’t be too much to ask for, would it?
“But how long will it take?”
What was Charles saying, exactly?
“Give it a news cycle or two.”
“But will things die down here?”
David lowered his pen. He doubted there’d be any actionable items at this meeting. “What are you saying?”
“That this is too big of a disruption. Especially with all of the projects you are in charge of.”
Alright. But what was the man SAYING? “Ok. I don’t think I follow.” Suddenly, he understood what Shane meant when he said people were far too indirect. This conversation was moving along at a glacial pace and accomplishing nothing, unless there was something that David was just oblivious to.
“I think you should take some time off.”
That was ridiculous. “I really don’t think—”
“It’s not really a suggestion.”
“Ok. Let me digest this. My son gets outed, and I am being punished?”
Charles leaned forward. “It’s a lot. I’m sure you’re going through a lot and could use the time,” he said, trying to inflect a sympathetic tone, but it didn't quite come off right.
David stared at him, daring him to elaborate. To say what he really meant.
"It will give things time to cool down here."
He couldn't be serious. "They've all got opinions. Fine. It doesn't bother me." It bothered him. Deeply. But for the sake of this argument, it did not. "They're entitled to their opinions."
"The workplace has been disrupted."
Again: so? "Then THEY are the ones that should be more professional. I came in to nearly a hundred emails about this. That isn't my fault."
Charles' head tilted like Cindy had. David can hear the subtext: is it? "I'm giving you a chance to do what's best for the department."
David decided to take his shot. "No."
The man on the other side of the cold gunmetal grey desk blinked rapidly. "No?"
"No," David repeated. "If you want things to settle down, tell them all to keep their curiosity and opinions to themselves."
His boss's boss's eyes narrowed, and David knew it wasn't about the other employees in the department. It was about him, specifically. "You can take the time or be forced to take the time."
David nodded slowly. "What's HR offering?"
"What?"
"Are we talking about paid leave?"
By the blank look, he could tell the answer was no.
"I'm not wasting my remaining vacation days for the year on this... ridiculousness. My son is a grown man. He makes his own decisions. You can tell everyone to cool it, or I can. It doesn't matter to me, either way."
"If you are put on administrative leave, it will have to be unpaid."
"I feel like a representative from HR should be here right now." Human Resources did not exist to protect employees. It existed to protect employers. One way it did this was by making sure employers did things by the book. This was not by the book.
"They'll sign off on any paperwork I provide to them."
Then David found himself quoting his son. "Will they, though?"
"They want what's best for the department."
"I have a lot of projects running. Is shoving me off to the side what's best for the department?"
Charles folded his hands in front of him, like he had been enjoying the exchange, but was now quite done. "Our new program roll out is under intense scrutiny by other areas of government. We do not need any distractions." Ahh. David got it. CHARLES was under intense scrutiny right now, and David's situation was a distraction and worse--it drew attention to David, and away from Charles and this project--his baby.
This gave David some leverage. "I'll go if it's paid."
Charles ignored the statement entirely and pressed onward. "You can come back on the third, after the rollout."
"You need me for the rollout." The project was still in the testing stages. "You need my formulas."
"There are other math guys. In fact, this is a building full of math guys."
They'd fail to stress test everything properly and then if it failed, they'd probably just blame it on him. David had been in government service long enough to know how that went. "Ok. If you think I'm expendable."
"We are all expendable here." He didn't know if Charles actually believed that, though.
They'd be reinventing the wheel if they tried to come up with the formulas on their own. Maybe it would serve them right. "Paid leave," David said. "It's the only way I'll go."
Charles stared at him for an uncomfortably long beat. "Fine."
David smiled tightly. "I'm glad we could come to an arrangement."
Charles regarded him for a moment with something unreadable in his eye, then stood. "Good. Give me an hour to talk to HR and we'll have everything finalized."
David also rose, flipped the already-used note pages down on his notebook. "What would you like me to do with my workload?"
Charles looked like he'd just thought of it for the first time. "Pass it to Kareem."
David moved to the doorway. "All of it?"
The other man shrugs.
Well, that was ambiguous. Which meant David wasn't going to do that. Kareem did not need two jobs to do during a rollout.
Maybe Larry would like some additional spreadsheets.
No he wouldn't. That was why Larry was first on his list.
Before he got back to his office, he was stopped three more times. Trish had more feelings that he put down with the 'do you want to do this?' look he used to use on the ice when another player's gloves came off. Still effective in an office setting, he was pleased to see.
Clancy wanted to take him to lunch. Probably to grill him. He appreciated the man's audacity, though. He said he probably wouldn't be around that long today, but thanked him. No sense in pissing Clancy off--he was the one he was planning on dumping all the final checks off onto.
Ari from the programming team stopped him last, holding an open laptop. God love her, she actually had real work for him. "I was wondering if you could test these numbers one more time? So I can figure out if it's a problem with our code, or if the end results really look like this?"
He looked at her final numbers on the screen. Didn't the department have tablets for this sort of thing? "That... doesn't seem right." She was right. Something was broken somewhere. "Can you ask Larry, though? I'm leaving soon."
"Tomorrow will be ok, if we get it early tomorrow morning."
He shook his head. "I'll be out for a while."
The pleading look in her eye suggested she'd rather talk to anyone than Larry right now. Which... fair. "Sorry... I am passing all of my dataset work over to him."
She suddenly looked very tired. "Ok. I'll hit him up next." She turned to walk away.
"Ari, thanks."
Turning, she had a 'for what' sort of look.
"For not bringing up my son. You're the first person to refrain it all morning."
She blushed a little. "I um... just didn't know what to say. Felt kind of rude to say anything at all, really. Not my business, you know?"
"Saying nothing is deeply appreciated. Sorry for passing you over to you-know-who."
Nodding, she continued back toward the elevator.
Back at his office, he started reassigning tasks to people below and parallel to him within the department. Until the third? Until after the rollout? Fine. That's what he wants? He can have it. Good luck, asshole.
Mail auto response set, Teams messages sent and tasked reassigned, David had at least forty-five minutes to kill. So he pulled out his phone. His first message was to his wife.
David: Want to go to lunch?
Yuna: What's wrong?
He read her message and immediately laughed out loud. Yeah. She was the pessimist between them. She didn't see herself as a pessimist. She saw herself as more of a Cassandra-type. She spoke the future and no one believed her.
He did his best to temper her pessimism, but he had to know when to say something. There were a lot of times she was right. Mostly his comments were relegated to asking what the best thing that could happen, in addition to the worst that probably will happen.
David: I'm going on paid leave until the project rollout. My boss's boss thinks I'm a distraction.
David: Mostly from him and his baby. There's a promotion he's vying for.
Yuna: As long as it isn't going to affect your record.
David: I'll make sure it doesn't.
Yuna: Otherwise, I already have a lawyer for that.
David: I know. Depends on how badly my pension is in danger.
Yuna: I'm in the middle of something. How's about 1 p.m. at Stella's?
David: How's about 11? I have nothing to do until 1.
Yuna: Only if I can bring my laptop with me.
David: NO.
Yuna: Fine. 11 and no laptop.
David: Thank you.
He hadn't said anything about her phone, however. She was just as dangerous with the phone as she was the laptop.
Sitting back in his office chair with a sigh, he pulled up another text thread. Looking at the clock he tried to decide if texting was just checking in again, or if he was being a pest.
Realizing, he was probably being a pest, he did it anyways.
David: Just wanted to make sure you're both alive and ok. Mom and I are going to lunch if you are still in town and want to join us.
Shane: What happened?
David: Why does everyone assume something's happened?
Shane: Did something happen?
David: I'm taking a little time off.
Ilya: Because something happened?
David: Don't worry about it. I'm off till the 3rd.
David: It's fine.
David: Lunch?
Shane: It's going to be weird.
David chuckled. Every lunch with Shane was weird. Someone wanted a signature, someone else wanted a picture. People wanted to talk. Now they just wanted to talk about something stupid.
David: If you're not up for it, that's OK.
Ilya: We can do it. You just need to know it is going to be weird.
David: No weirder than trying to get from the elevator to my office door this morning. I'll be fine.
Shane: Sorry.
David: Neither of you have anything to apologize for.
David: Hayden, on the other hand...
Shane: He apologized.
Ilya: A lot.
David: Ok. I'll let it go. Lunch?
Ilya: I will make him go.
David: This is why you are my favorite. Stella's at 11?
Ilya: Brunch!
David: It's technically lunch time.
Ilya: Brunch.
David: Ok.
David: See you then.
He sent one more text he wasn't expecting a response from right away. Stewart was retired, but spent a lot of time outside. He asked if his old friend wanted to go golfing anytime soon, seeing as how David had all the time in the world, suddenly.
They hadn't talked in a while, so it would be good to catch up, he supposed.
Seeing as how he still had time to kill before he heard from Charles or HR, he decided against his better judgement to crack open a few news sites.
Yup. Still way too much Shane and Ilya on the front pages.
The only problem now was that people were starting to move from having "reactions" to having "opinions."
One fellow, who's reporting he'd respected until now, was saying it was the end of integrity in sports. David sighed and opened another site.
Then another. The sports websites got on his nerves. The entertainment websites were somehow worse.
He eventually went to a corner of the internet he'd never ventured to before: the queer news websites. The reaction was at least split and seemed a little less incendiary.
One writer felt this was going to make the sport worse for queer people. They made an interesting point about backlash in the league. And from what David was seeing--that had already begun.
Just as he began looking at the rest of the site, a knock came to the door and it opened without him saying anything. He had just enough time to put his phone face down on the desktop.
Charles had the paperwork in hand.
He wasn't happy that David read all of it. But he knew better than to NOT read the whole thing. He'd been in government service long enough to not be that foolish.
The reasons for the administrative leave were vague. Could be personal, could not be. He decided to leave it and just sign. When he was done, he gathered up his things and left the laptop as Charles watched.
"Good luck," he said as he locked the door behind him and went to the elevators, knowing if this project launch failed in his absence, they would probably find a way to blame him. That said, he was a lame duck employee. He had a year and a half to go and there wasn't much they could do to him.
Folks looked at him as he crossed the floor. He just smiled at them. Ari was talking to Larry (poor woman). He gave her a little shrug of apology.
Just as he got on the elevator, Trisha dashed in with him. Shit.
The door closed, and he was trapped. "So what should I tell everybody?"
"I don't care what you tell them, Trish. But if you want, you can tell everyone I'm apparently a 'distraction,' and that's why my workload got redistributed."
Her eyes grew round again. "Because of your son?"
David shrugged. It did seem that way. And Charles' promotion.
"When I went to management, I didn't think..."
Rage boiled up in David, his nose flared and he drew in a deep breath.
Trish stepped back, as far as the elevator wall would permit.
Holding his breath for a moment, David let it out slowly. "Well, you buttered your bread," he told her evenly. "I assigned all new datasets to you."
Her eyes narrowed.
"I don't know what you THOUGHT would happen."
The elevator slowed and came to stop. Trisha was still silent as he exited.
"Have the day you deserve," he told her with a wave.
The moment he got two steps away from the building, the heavens opened up and pissed down rain. Looking up, he sighed, put his head back down and kept walking.
He was, of course, completely fucking drenched by the time he got to the garage. He turned on the heat since he didn't really have enough time to go home and change, and just kind of hoped that'd dry some of him out.
When he got there, Yuna's car was already on the street half a block away. She must have gotten in early the lunch parking was already mostly taken up and it was barely eleven.
He ended up two blocks past that. Grabbing his umbrella from the back seat in a too little, too late gesture, he headed for the Stella's. His feet were soaked by the time he entered. Fortunately, Yuna was in the back, at a table that would fit all four of them because in that moment he realized he'd forgotten to tell her he'd invited the boys. He waved.
She smiled, happy to see him, but she was also tired. She'd been working hard.
As he approached, she tucked her phone away. Still working, then.
Taking the seat closest to her, he kissed her cheek as he sat down. "How goes fighting the forces of darkness?" he asked with just a touch of playfulness.
She smirked. "Terribly. Now tell me what happened? You were saving that time off for this summer when Shane and Ilya--" She didn't need to finish. When they had their wedding.
He grimaced. "Apparently I'm a distraction."
"Do I need to call the lawyer?"
"Probably not?" His current assessment was that he could probably just wait this out and things would get back to normal. "It'll be fine." He hoped.
"Just say the word," she told him, hand resting on his.
"I will." It would honestly have to be pretty bad before he'd take that route. Year and a half to retirement, and all that. "Oh. I forgot to tell you I invited them."
"Ilya sent a group text that they would be late. That's how I figured it out," she said with a little smirk."
He felt his pocket for his phone. He hadn't even felt it buzz. "Oh. That's too bad. Did they say how late?"
"They got held up at the store grabbing a few things. It turned into a... whole thing." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I tell them just to have stuff delivered, but no one listens to me. 'It's just a few things, mom.'"
David chuckled. "He'll never learn. So what have you been up to?"
She waved a hand. "Oh, you know. Trying to manage interview and quote requests. I have a few I think they should do. I know Shane will say no to both, but..." She shrugged. "I can say I tried."
He lifted the hand that was resting on his to his lips and kissed it. "He always says no, though. So I don't think it counts."
She sighed with exhaustion. "Yeah. I just don't want to fight with him. Especially with everything going on."
"He has to see that a little good press will go far."
"You know how he is."
David did. He had no patience for anything that wasn't actually hockey. He put up with it. But it was always under duress. "Do you want me to say something?" It could be perceived as ganging up. Or as a show of solidarity.
"Nah. I'll handle it. Maybe Ilya can talk him into it. Either way, I'm not going to press too hard right now. There's time."
"Good." He squeezed her hand, then slipped his own away and opened the menu. He got the same thing every time. But he still felt compelled to look. Maybe this would be the time he ordered something else. "Listen--don't mention to them that I'm on administrative leave. Just tell them I took off. I don't want it to be a whole thing."
"They have enough to worry about," she agreed.
He liked that they were usually on the same page about Shane. They had been since he was little. Whatever one proposed the other usually found to be fairly reasonable.
The waiter came over and took their drink orders.
When he left, she lowered her menu and looked over the rims of her glasses at him. "Other than the harrowing bit, how was your morning?"
He thought about it. "Nope, That's all of it. Harrowing." He gave her a rundown of the various office concerns about the situation. He also showed her a few of the things he'd found online, including the think piece that made an argument for things getting worse, instead of better with homophobia in the league.
Yuna skimmed it. "That's why he needs to do a sit-down with a queer publication."
David had no idea how that would fly. Shane wasn't uncomfortable with being gay, exactly. It was more that he was just the straightest gay man David had ever encountered. He just had no frame of reference for gay culture.
Not that David did either, exactly. But he knew the moment Yuna brought up interviews with queer publications, his son would shift uncomfortably in his seat and start with the litany of excuses as to why he couldn't or wouldn't do it, and would commit to the other interview out of spite.
"What's the other outlet?"
She named a national news outlet and David whistled. "Nice."
"Oh, that wasn't my work. They contacted him."
"Still, it will disseminate their side of things in pretty short order. Faster than anything else they could do, really."
It wouldn't matter to Shane, though. He'd always been intensely private, and he couldn't imagine that suddenly changing just because some of the details of his private life had been thrust into the public consciousness.
Yuna went back to looking over the menu. "He needs to do the interview before the league forbids him to do interviews, which I'm sure is coming soon. So I have to find the balance between not pushing him too hard to fast and..."
"Actually talking him into it," David said with a nod.
Their drinks were delivered. It was definitely one of those days, so his was very alcoholic. he took a small sip and was pleased to see it was the good stuff. He was on edge (surprising absolutely no one) and this would definitely help.
Yuna got a soft drink, which told him she felt like she she was still working. And she might be. Who knew what the next phone call or email might bring?
"How're the brands taking it?" Shane would be happy to have exactly none of them. David saw how keeping at least some of them was important for public perception.
Yuna sighed. "You know how it is. The more conservative brands are shocked. Others are intrigued. I got them all to at least wait to see how this plays out. KC, God bless them, wants a joint campaign, regardless of how this plays out."
David chuckled. "Good on them, I guess." That was unexpected but pleasant news.
"Anyhow, after I talked to you, I scheduled something with Farah for this afternoon to check in and see where we stand. I want you to know how ridiculous this is."
"Oh, I know how ridiculous this is." He reached out again for her hand. "It'll work out." Someone had to be the optimist here.
Shane and Ilya entered the restaurant and spoke to the hostess, who pointed them toward the back. Both of them smile when they see David and Yuna.
They came around the other half-full tables, hand-in-hand and the smile does not fall on either of them. They seem genuinely ok. Maybe even a little happy.
He looks down at his hand, still resting on Yuna's and smiles. This is what they wanted. The timing is terrible. The way it happened was terrible. But now they get to do what he and Yuna have always taken for granted. Sit. In the open. Together. Showing even the simplest sign of affection and taking comfort in each other.
He knows Yuna will keep fighting for that. And he knows he'd put up with a thousand Charleses and Larrys and Trishas just to see them have what everyone else does. Just the ability to BE.
Shane looked around as they sat down, probably gauging everyone's reactions. When he realized no one was really paying attention any undue to the, and they were pretty much the same as any other couple, he grabbed Ilya's hand again and held it on the table.
Ilya turned his hand and squeezed Shane's back with a smile.
David did smile as well at that. He gave Yuna's hand a pat as well, knowing, as usual, that they were on the same page and they'd do just about anything for these two to have as simple as this.
THE END.