Archive of Our Own ^beta

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?

Chapter Text

Winchester’s class wasn’t not uneventful, however no matter how many jokes or quips the professor made, Ben couldn’t shake the experience with Novak’s cat. It seemed, for lack of a better word, protective and to be fair they weren’t even distracting anyone, they just failed to contain what was barely laughter at an unfunny joke. The cat’s look of attack, Novak's lingering gaze, the pointed look they gave each other after entering the room, it was all very… strange. Well stranger than a professor bringing his cat to his lecture but still, strange. He couldn’t help but feel like maybe there was an untold story here, something to figure out, a small mystery that only he and Kevin could solve, like the scooby gang, and they would reveal Novak to be some vampire or something. It was ridiculous but it made him smile, I mean who wouldn’t wanna solve mysteries rather than be in college. He and Kevin could start a business and-

“Isn’t that right Mr Braeden?” Winchesters voice pulled him from his thoughts. Oh crap, he had not been paying attention.

“Pardon sir?” He said weakly trying to ignore the heat of embarrassment rising to his ears.

“I was just saying how we shouldn’t be measuring vehicles on their ability to go from zero to one hundred we should be testing them on their ability to go from one hundred to zero without impact, do you agree?” His question hung in the air as Ben processed it.

“If by impact you mean other vehicles, structures or people then yes, sir, uh Dean” he took a breath as he watched for the professors reaction “I do agree”

“Very good” Winchester praised, winking slightly at him, in a blink and you’ll miss it fashion before clapping his hands and moving onto the theories of inertia and the external and internal forces operating on machinery. Kevin gave him a playful fist to the side of his shoulder and Ben seemed to forget the cat incident… almost.

Professor Dean Winchesters class finished at two, which meant they had a half hour to kill before hopefully stopping by Novak’s briefly for a small recap of the relevance of the book of Exodus to modern theologians. Thrilling stuff really, Novak’s office was a 10 minute walk from the engineering building which still left a remaining 20 minutes, with nothing better to do Kevin and Ben decided it was time for a mid afternoon coffee break at the campus cafe.

Bean and gone, as it was aptly named was quite quaint compared to the campus size, it’s atmosphere consisted of exposed brown brick walls, maroon leather chairs and dark stained wood accents with ivy dressing up and down the windows and walls, it gave a very almost humourish dark academia vibe, which of course made partial sense but was still comical.

They ordered their drinks from Krissy the barista, before sitting down in a corner booth against the large window. “Alright, so I was thinking” Ben began and Kevin raised an eyebrow.

“Oh god that’s never a good sign” he quipped earning a stern stare from his friend.

“Anyway, how do you feel about solving mysteries?” Phrasing it like a corrupt sales person, Kevin appeared to consider that question, that or he was taken off guard.

“Mysteries? What mysteries are there to solve, we go to college in the middle of Kansas, and last I checked Dorothy was just dreaming or something”

“Not those kind of mysteries dork, real ones, the one that’s been begging to be solved” Ben quirked an eyebrow at the dark haired boy but he still seemed completely lost, “the professor and the cat? Who the owner of that black Chevy we see Novak enter and exit but never the driver? Come on it’ll be fun, we could buy a camera and take photos like private detectives, and we can set up a cork board in the dorm with red string and push pins” be said jerking his head slightly and biting his lips.

“First of all, is there a mystery, I mean it’s probably one, just his cat, and two like his husband or something?” Kevin retorted

“Husband? Novak’s not gay!” Ben exclaimed probably too loud.

“There is no way a man who doesn’t seem to go anywhere without his cat is straight Ben! And besides I’d rather figure out what car Winchesters mysterious ‘baby’ is, that’s a genuine mystery I think he wants someone to solve” Kevin made sure to lower his volume to avoid eavesdroppers.

“Fine” Ben said mock offended, “we’ll do both, the cat and the car,” he raised his hands as if revealing something “I can see it now, the mystery of TWO professors and a cat”

Their drinks came and they drunk them with relative speed, before hauling ass to Novak’s office under the logic that if they were the first there they could leave earlier. They waited outside for the clock to strike 2:30, no one dares challenge Novak on their promptness, if he says 2:30 he means not a moment before. The door swung open as they were about to knock, jet black hair still unkept in a similar fashion to earlier although it seems slightly more ruffled, his tie is backwards, although that’s also not too out of the ordinary for him, as it’s 50-50 most days, and he had shed both the trenchcoat and his suit jacket, standing before the boys with sleeves rolled to his elbows and his arms crossed. “Good afternoon, gentleman” his piercing blue gaze seemingly inspecting them, and his voice rough as always “please come in” and he stepped out of the doorway to allow them entry. As they stepped inside he gestured to his desk, which to no one’s surprise really, held an orange cat, sitting up and swaying its tail from side to side. As Novak walked back to side behind his desk, Kevin noticed the tips of tattoos poking out from underneath his sleeves, what appeared to be feathers around the same spot on both arms though he couldn’t be sure and chuckled to himself at the prospect of someone like professor Novak, whom he didn’t even know the first name of, having tattoos, that seemed like a professor Winchester thing, and for all he knew he probably did as well.

The cat stared at them, but it didn't seem angry this time, just observant and Novak scratched it’s head absentmindedly, soft purrs escaped it but it kept watch. “Can I just ask professor? How long have you had, erm, dean?… the cat?” Ben exhaled on the word cat, already regretting the question but Novak didn’t seem to mind. He looked at the cat fondly, and it turned its head to muzzle into his touch.

“I believe Deans been mine for 7 years now” he stated and the cat paused briefly and opened it eyes before swatting a paw at Novak’s ring, as if to confirm the statement. He cleared his throat, “anyways what can I assist you boys with?” Ben paused at the phrasing of his earlier words ‘been mine’ what a weird way to position the words.

The boys were not right, they took the entirety of the scheduled office hours to finish the topic, and they would have probably took longer if the cat didn’t protest as the final minute ended. “Well, I trust I’ll see you two tomorrow” Novak stood up and put on his jackets and practically rushed them out the door. “Have a good rest of your evening” he stated before walking off, Dean dancing between his legs.

Kevin and Ben both turned to each other, “we should follow him” they said in almost perfect unison. They waited until Novak and the cat were a good distance ahead, as they began their definitely not suspicious stalking of an ethics professor. They did however not see the irony.

Chapter Text

Novak and Dean strided ahead, very unaware of the two boys on their tails. The professor's mysterious car was always parked in the far lot, at the very edge of campus, so all four of them had a long trek.

“We should get closer” Kevin whispered leaning behind a pillar, he and Ben both waiting as Novak paused to readjust his bag briefly. “I wanna see if he says something to the cat.” As soon as Novak began moving again he jotted out, Ben in silent protest but followed quickly. Calculating Novak’s path was easy, he mostly stuck to the corridors and hallways, which meant that Ben and Kevin could take small short-cuts to get a little ahead of him in hopes of hearing his conversation on the way past. Leaning behind a solid concrete wall they heard the clicking of well maintained shoes on the floor.

“-I told you that it would be pushing time to have you at eleven o’clock today. You almost didn’t make it” His head was turned to face the cat, his eyes roaming as it walked briskly beside him. It let out a soft ‘mrow’ as if to acknowledge Novak’s statement. “And-” his voice came again, “I appreciate you pointing out students who are not focusing, however I believe you truly startled those two I don’t want you scaring my students, honey bee, no matter how hilarious their expressions were” The cat began weaving in and out his legs again, as he normally does in the morning. They passed the corridor where Ben and Kevin were ‘laying low’ and they were also on the move again.

“Honey bee?” Ben Muttered to himself, of course it wasn’t completely insane for pet owners to give their pets cute nicknames, and everyone talks their pets like they can understand them, like they want it to understand them but the professor seemed completely under the impression that Dean (what an odd name for a cat) did understand him, or at least it responded like it could. Instead of waiting for the man and his cat to walk past them again, the two boys headed straight to the parking lot, hoping to catch a glimpse of the person who drove Novak to and from campus everyday.

They crouched down behind an old silver Prius, parked diagonally across from the impala. And they waited.

“Who calls their cat ‘honey bee’ of all things, like I know pet names are a thing but people don’t use ones like that on their cats?” Kevin murmured to Ben. His sneakers were creasing at the toes but he didn’t really mind.

“Yeah” Ben replied, “he seems like a very odd man” as if on cue the professor appeared from behind the library at the edge of the parking lot. “Shhh” Ben whispered in barely an audible noise, as they watched the orange cat and the dark haired man approach.

Now if anyone was to say that since no one had ever seen the driver enter or exit the car, and the only person who they had seen, was Professor Novak, than it would be reasonable to assume that he was the driver, however anyone who had witnessed him leave or enter the vehicle noted that he made a distinct effort to enter from the passenger side. Those who knew enough about classic muscle cars could argue that the driver's seat and the passenger seat are linked, and therefore he could just scoot across to get to the wheel, the only thing they couldn’t understand was why the cat always entered first. If he was going to simply shuffle over to the drivers side, then wouldn’t the cat be in the way? And if the cat got in first and ended up in the passenger seat, why wouldn’t Novak enter from the driver’s side? This puzzled anyone who was nosy enough to care, and you could definitely place Kevin and Ben on that list.

Not straying from tradition they watched as Novak opened the right side door, and tossed the keys on the seat? Why wouldn’t he just hold onto them? The cat lowered itself in preparation and leapt into the car. Within a moment it lowered slightly to the ground, as if getting used to new weight, but it couldn’t have been reacting to the cat’s weight, the reaction was too delayed and Novak hadn’t entered yet.

“Hello Dean” came Novak’s voice before he lowered himself into the passenger seat. Definitely the passenger seat because they could still see the arm of his tan trenchcoat against the window. The car purred to life and began reversing. The boys looked at each other stunned, because a dark figure was in the driver's seat, but it wasn’t Novak, and the car was definitely empty before they had checked, and no one else had entered the vehicle besides the cat? So what, the driver had teleportation abilities? He could pop into the seat when Novak needed him, they had to admit it was a pretty cool idea.

As the car’s engine grew fainter, the puzzled expressions remained on both Ben and Kevin’s faces. They were right, there was a real mystery here, and they would be damned if they weren’t the ones to solve it.

They made the small walk to the camera store. Hoping to purchase a cheap one that they could capture Novak with, and yeah maybe they also got push pins and string, and a cork board, sue them if they're gonna have a bit of fun.

They walked back to their dorm, it was off campus, but wasn’t very far so they didn’t mind walking to class everyday. They placed their new item down and ordered some pizza before deciding what to do.

“Alright” Kevin began, “I’ll admit, I’m very intrigued about Novak now, but I do still want to solve Professor Winchester’s mystery, but” he said again, “we should definitely figure this out first” Ben nodded in agreement as he propped up the cork bored on the back wall.

“Okay” he started “Here’s what we know, Professor Novak has a green-eyed orange shaggy cat, named Dean that follows him almost everywhere on campus, and occasionally disappears randomly, and Novak doesn’t seem to care”

“Right,” Kevin responded, “is it that he doesn’t care or that he knows the cat will be safe? Because it was in his office at 2:30”

Ben flicked his finger towards Kevin and wrote some notes on some sticky notes they had bought. Before pinning them to the board. One caught Kevin’s eye it simply said ‘DEAN’

Pointing to it Kevin asked “Is that in reference to the cat, or the professor?” Ben turned around fast, as if he hadn’t considered it. It seemed like hours that they spent just pondering the note, but it couldn’t have been longer than a minute.

“Hey do you remember his weird reaction to your question, whether his name was like Novak’s cat? I could have sworn he blushed” Ben paused, “Who the fuck blushes at a question like that?” he remarked again. The words settled between them before Ben sat on his bed, a pondering look grazed his face. “What’s Professor Winchester’s husband’s name? I swear he’s mentioned it before.”

“Uhhh, I haven’t been paying that much attention to him when he speaks of him, but he really loves him.” Kevin said. Ben shot him a look of annoyance.

“You remember any names he’s called him? Anything at all?”

Kevin pondered the question, he was evidently deep in contemplation and Ben went back to writing the notes. “Chris, or something, I don’t know, it starts with a C definitely as ends in an S. Why?”

“And what’s professor Novak’s first name?” Ben added

“No one knows, he only asks us to address him ‘Professor Novak’” he lowered his voice in an attempt to mimic Novak’s deep and gravelly tone. They both chuckled and Ben placed a final sticky note on the board, just with the words “Novaks Spouse” with a large question mark. The pizza arrived, and the boys ate slice after slice of pepperoni pizza while admiring their hard work.

Chapter Text

The previous night Kevin had set his alarm to 7 am, hoping to get to the campus parking lot in time to maybe catch another glimpse of the Chevy driver. The constant toning made Ben groan but he also wanted to know so it was curiosity that drove them out of bed. Like Novak had said at the end of yesterday's class, he would see them at nine, and they were half sure that he had no earlier classes. The boys made their way out of the dormitories and headed towards the campus. “We should try and get a copy of his and Winchester’s class schedules, maybe they could clue us in on when they will be going to their cars.” Kevin pulled out his phone as they finished crossing the road.

“Do we have Winchester today?” Ben asked as they turned the corner and were met with the northern end of the campus library wall. Kevin stroked his thumb along his phone screen,

“Uhhh, yeah at 12:00” he answered looking up from his phone.

“So what it's 8 now, we have Novaks at 9, and about an hour and a half ‘til Winchesters” Ben asked, partly rhetorical, Kevin nodded in response. “We wait here for that Chevy, try and capture a photo of the driver with this,” he wriggled his camera in his left hand “and then we follow Novak to the Theology lecture, and maybe do a little stalking afterwards” a pleased smile sat on his lips. They leant against the northern wall of the library that overlooked the parking lot, testing out different standing positions in order to look the least suspicious but likely failing miserably. The path the wrapped the building was approximately two metres wide, and on the opposite side was a range of plants that met the boys around their waist in a makeshift hedge though it didn’t extend the full length.

At 8:27 (no they were definitely not checking the time every minute), the roaring engine of the impala turned their heads, and they watched as it pulled into the parking lot. Professor Novak was in the passenger seat, to no one's surprise. A dark figure of a man sat in the driver’s seat. Now that they had a slightly better look at him they could see he was around the same height of Novak, and had from what little they could see of him, roughly the same build. Ben snapped a photo as the car came parallel to them, hoping to maybe enhance it later like in those spy movies or something. The car turned to pull into a carpark with the back of the car facing them. Their view of the men were reduced to their heads, somehow Novak's hair still looked as unruly from this angle as it did up close. The driver shuffled closer and Novak leaned in and they were… Kissing? Huh, so the driver was most likely his husband, maybe Novak was gay after all. Kevin and Ben stood stunned, the silence remained thank god, because they didn’t wanna be caught. A wave of guilt washed over them both, feeling as if they were now imposing on a private moment, however they were still determined to solve a mystery. There was nothing they wouldn’t do, well almost nothing, they still had respect for their professors afterall.

Kevin pulled out his phone again, pulling up Winchester's schedule to see when he might pull in and they could finally get to see who his ‘baby’ was. He let out a noise of surprise something along the lines of “huh” and turned his phone to face Ben. “Winchester also has a 9 o’clock lecture, so he should be pulling in soon.” They turned the phone back around to check the time. 8:39, they waited partly watching the two men in the car, but the awkwardness took over them. They got a photo but they mostly were just waiting for the two men to exit the car, and of course for Winchester to show himself. At 8:50 Novak’s door opened, and the other head belonging to the driver disappeared? It was definitely there a second ago. As their professor emerged from the vehicle an orange cat jumped out by his feet before he shut the door, he leaned down and scratched its head. They saw his lips moved but they couldn’t discern the words from their distance. They wandered through the parking lot and when Novak got the edge his hand moved in a small wave, and the cat sprinted off in another direction.

Ben and Kevin stared at each other, was the cat not coming to today’s lecture? Why would he bring it if it was just going to leave? They looked at each other weighing their options and they came to a silent agreement to follow Novak to the lecture hall. Once they were further into the campus they were comfortable to no longer hide from Novak as it now made sense for them to head the same direction as them. He pushed the door to the lecture hall open and Ben and Kevin trailed in behind. Muttering apologies though they still had 3 minutes till class began, they took their seats, and Novak removed his trenchcoat and placed his bag on the desk, and his cat did not get comfortable because it wasn’t here. Curiosity got the better of Kevin and he raised his hand, “Sir, uh, I don’t mean to pry, but no Dean today?” the professor piped up, offering them a look as if he was contemplating his response.

“No,” he cleared his throat, “Not for this lecture, Dean is, uh, attending to other business right now” and he turned back around ending the conversation as the last few stragglers wandered through the door. The lecture was boring, but the lack of the cat held Kevin’s thoughts as well as the lack of Winchester in the parking lot, he should’ve been there otherwise he would be late for his own lecture, which was very unlike him.

The class ended at 10:30 Novak waved them off, saying something about office hours being from 3-5 today. Ben and Kevin purposely took longer to pack up so they could linger around Novak trying to analyse any weird mannerisms. He was leaning against the front side of the desk keeping an eye on them. When they couldn’t delay any longer they made an effort to head to the exit, when they reached the floor Novak gave them a small smile and continued packing his satchel. As they got to the door, been gently pushed it with his hand, however before he they could exit a lump of orange fur attached to four legs gracefully leapt into the room, Ben didn’t jump at all, totally, Both boys turned in the direction it headed and saw as Novak’s face lit up at the sight of it. It jumped on his desk and nuzzled into his arm. “Hello Dean,” Novak’s gruff gravelly voice broke the silence. The two boys were still in shock neither had moved, so the cat could navigate the campus? It wasn’t that strange Kevin supposed. The cat shot them a strongly pointed look, as if quietly kicking them out, and if the cat could speak they were sure that was the intention. “I’ll see you tomorrow gentlemen” he shot them a single nod, and they definitely got that hint. They scurried out of the hall without a word. The door slammed behind them and no they didn’t jump this time… obviously. Professor Novak was the only professor in his respective subjects, this meant that there weren’t ever more than 20 students per class differential, so he had a designated lecture hall, with only one entry or exit. The one which Ben and Kevin had just used, and they almost missed it when they were about to walk off but they paused double checking themselves with a sure look. They had both heard the same thing, a conversation, they knew that their professor spoke to himself occasionally, this was not that though. There were two very distinctive male voices exchanging back and forth from the smaller lecture hall behind them… and one of them sounded like? No it couldn’t be Professor Winchester could it? Kevin shot Ben another questioning look, but the look on Ben’s face confirmed his suspicions, they knew the sound of his voice anywhere, a cheerful tone always with an underlying chuckle, how the hell did their mechanical engineering professor get into their theology lecture hall, without them noticing when they were standing less than a foot from the only door.

Chapter Text

It would’ve been too obvious if the boys had reopened Professor Novak’s door to confirm what they already knew, so they headed to the cafe instead. Krissy was there again and she actually looked at them this time, and her grumpy frown was replaced by a small smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. They ordered the same drinks as yesterday and took up the same corner booth.

“So what do we know?” Kevin asked, exhaling slightly, the early start was beginning to catch up to him.

“Well, Winchester did not park in the designated lot this morning, Novak’s mystery driver is still, well, a mystery. The cat went the opposite direction to him this morning but managed to get back to Novak about 5 minutes after the end of his lesson, and then Professor Winchester was somehow in Novak’s office when we left despite the impossibility” Ben summarised, half defeated, still he refused to give up, every mystery movie he had watched, the case became harder before it got easier so there was a glimmer of hope in him still.

Kevin’s eyes grew wide “wait, Winchester also had a 9 am lecture today, remember” ben nodded, “-and it would have ended at 10:30 like ours” Ben nodded again, very confused “and the engineering building is at least a 5 minute walk, so…” Ben leaned forward in anticipation. What had Kevin figured out? Finally a break in the case? “I don’t know I got nothing, it just makes less sense now, a room takes approximately 2 minutes to clear it’s students, making it maybe 10:32, assuming he finished on time, and we left the room at 10:35, leaving a three minute gap, I don’t care how fast you are, no one could make that distance in 3 minutes, not to mention without being seen”

“Makes you wonder though,” Ben began, trying to hide his disappointed tone “what the other professor was doing in that lecture hall anyway, he obviously knows Novak otherwise he wouldn’t have reacted the way he did when you asked him about the name coincidence.”

“Right” Kevin tapped his fingers on the metal table.

“I got a medium white chocolate mocha, and a caramel iced coffee.” Krissy’s voice made them jerk their heads. As she placed them down in front of the boys.

“Thank you” Kevin managed, staring at the caramel concoction now in front of him.

“You’re welcome Kenny” she said before she walked off back behind the counter to take someone's order.

“It's Kevin” he tried but she was already off. Ben blinked at him but chose not to comment instead bringing the lingering topic back to them both.

“What other classes does Winchester have this week, you know, besides this one” he asked before curving his lips around the straw sticking out of his drink. Kevin opened his backpack and pulled out his silver laptop, before placing it on the table in front of him. After about 2 minutes of waiting patiently he turned the laptop around to reveal the ‘Class Schedule of Professor D. Winchester’ revealing that he had one today at 12:00, their lesson tomorrow at 10:00, one at 2:00, one on Friday at 9:00, and the final one for the week was also Friday at 1:30. Ben pulled out the same sticky notes he had been using yesterday out from his bag and wrote the times down. ‘Okay what about Novak’s? After turning the laptop around for a minute it was back facing Ben again, displaying the ‘Class Schedules of Professor C. Novak.’

Ben almost missed it but he opted to also write that down. ‘C Novak?’ The question mark was large and Kevin gave him silent praise, it wasn’t much but they now knew Novak’s name started with C so that was a breakthrough, they took the small victory. Comparing the two class schedule’s Novaks aligned with 2 of Winchester's remaining 5 for the week. Novak had their Class at 2:00 tomorrow, and the 1:30 timeslot on Friday. They noted that in case they need it. The boys also tried brainstorming male names beginning with C with the help of one of those baby name websites, but nothing seemed to fit him. He was way too formal to be named something like Cameron, they thought maybe Christopher but opted against it. Kevin proposed that since he was a professor of theology it could be Cain, but they doubted the prospect of someone willing naming their son after the father of murder so it offered nothing more than a new inside joke.

They finished their drinks, attempted to spend some time studying to no avail, well Kevin managed too, but Ben gave up after 10 minutes. At 11:45 they exited their corner booth and made their way toward the engineering building.

As they chatted about the latest videogames they had bought to play together, and the possibility of this year maybe being the year they both get into relationships. They hiked across the grass quad, several decades old trees, offering shade to students sitting on picnic blankets and towels. Ben threw his head back at a hilarious mockery of the face the cat gave them before they left Novak’s room, and as he pulled it back to refocus himself he spotted from the corner of his eye, a flash of shaggy orange fur. Ben stopped abruptly and pushed his arm in front of Kevin to stop him before sprinting off toward the direction he’d seen the cat go. He heard Kevin groan but the off beat sound of quickened footsteps told him that his friend wasn’t far behind, they were pushing time by following the cat but Winchester was laid back enough to let them run partially late.

They slowed down to walk, trying to quiet their footsteps as they got within a few metres of the cat ahead of them. As it kept moving it either didn’t seem to notice them or didn’t care enough, either way it was on a mission. To their surprise it entered the engineering building, and went up the stairs, from there it turned left, and Ben and Kevin both froze as it looked like it was about to enter Winchester’s classroom. If this was a mystery movie, Ben and Kevin would have maybe figured part of it out right here, but its not, and the cat actually did know they were following it so it instead ran straight past the entrance to the room and into the bathroom.

Deciding it would be weird to follow a cat that wasn’t theirs into a bathroom, when their class started in 1 minute and was right in front of them, they entered the room. Several conversations were in motion as they approached their seats, they noticed that the professor wasn’t there yet but they didn’t really mind. Kevin leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head until he heard a distinct ‘pop’ from somewhere between his shoulder blades. He also yawned, his eyes closing tight as his jaw tried to lower further to allow for more air to enter his lungs. His eyes popped open as the sound of a sharp clap echoed through the hall, and everyone looked down to see Professor Winchester, walking into the room and sitting on the front of his desk.

“Alright look alive people, I have graded your last assignments, and I will hand them out at the end of the lesson, today though, we will be focusing on thermodynamics” he grinned widely as a collective groan escaped the rest of the class. “Oh come on, it’s not that bad, could be worse honestly you could have Novak teaching you guys the misinterpretation of the 10 commandments. He wasn’t wrong and that shut the class up, Ben and Kevin chuckled, amused at first the joke, and second why Winchester decided on one that only two of the 30 students in the room got. They looked up again and Winchester… winked at them? Huh, it was strange but they didn’t dwell on it, instead pulling out a book to take notes. Somewhere in the lesson a student managed to get the professor off topic, talking about his husband, No one really minded as everyone was happy not to be doing work, and Winchester loved talking about him, Kevin silently wished that one day he would love someone as much as his professor did.

“Cas is actually hilarious when he wants to be, the level of sarcasm he has is unattainable for most people. On sunday afternoon I was putting groceries away, and he walks into the kitchen covered in black ink, and I turned around and absolutely lost it, I mean the guy looked both defeated and so unimpressed, and that may sound easy but i’ve only ever seen him pull of that specific expression. Anyway i said “What happened, did a squid eat you?” and he turns his gorgeous blue eyes to me and says” he cleared his throat and lowered his voice deeper “ahem “No Dean, I kissed it too hard” Just completely deadpanned” the professor genuinely had tears in his eyes. The class chuckled lightly, they couldn’t doubt it was kinda funny, but there was obviously more to the story they tried not to pick up on. Wait, Cas? Ben realised. Professor Dean Winchester was married to a man named Cas, well that solved part of that then. If Ben was smart, he would’ve remembered that he had quite literally just learned that professor Novak’s first name started with C, and that he does in fact have blue eyes whom he’s called many refer to as gorgeous.

5 minutes before the lesson was set to end, Dean told them to pack up early and they could collect their assignment grade on the way out. As Kevin and Ben made their way to the front and he handed them each a stack of paper with a single staple in the corner fighting for its life, a flick of silver from the professor's upturned palm caught Kevin’s eye. “How long have you been married sir?” He asked as he accepted the papers.

Winchester smiled fondly, and stared at his ring, the gem engraving just out of Ben and Kevin’s line of sight, because again this isn’t a movie, “7 years this September”

“Oh,” Kevin muttered “uh congratulations” and he tapped Ben on the shoulder ready to leave, taking the hint, and the now stale awkwardness, they wandered out the door. They didn’t have anything else to do today, on campus anyway, but they decided to go back to the grass area with the nice trees, to soak up some fresh air. Reaching into his bag Kevin pulled out an apple he must have packed this morning and bit into it with a loud ‘crunch’ Ben laid down, and he probably could’ve gone to sleep right there if he wasn’t desperately holding onto his consciousness. The apple slowly depleted, and the rest break was ending, they decided just to head home, they didn’t need to see Novak again today and their beds seemed to calling to them from miles away.

As the door to the dorm swung open they b-lined straight for their beds, letting their bags slip off of their shoulders, Kevin’s landed on the floor with a quiet ‘thud’ and Ben’s on his bed. Laying on his stomach Ben propped his head on his arms which were folded in front of him. Staring at the cork board, he remembered some of the sticky notes he had created in the cafe. Reaching inside he pulled out the one that held D. Winchester’s class schedule for the week and certain times circled in red where Novak shared a time slot. He stuck it on the board and promptly fell asleep

Chapter Text

The next morning, when Ben’s eyes were pierced by the sun's early rays he groaned. Turning his head the other direction to escape, but it was too late. His body had entered a state of consciousness and he wasn’t going back now. He sat up slowly and swallowed, oh god, his throat felt like sandpaper, and his eyes were puffy and watery. He was sick, that’s just great, they were getting so close to figuring something out and he’s sick, what luck.

Kevin’s alarm buzzed again this morning, he changed it to 8 last night because 7 was just too early and not worth the exhaustion by the end of the day. When he didn’t hear Ben groan he knew something was off. He tapped his phone and sat up to see his friend leant against the wall, head back and slightly discoloured.

“You alright there” he asked, and Ben’s eyes shot back open and stared half-heartedly across the room. Kevin saw that his eyes were slightly bulging.
“Peachy” Ben murmured but it came out slightly broken.
“Dude, how the hell are you sick, we didn’t do anything yesterday”
“I don’t-” Ben coughed “I don’t know, but the show must go on” he made an effort to slide off the bed, but Kevin came bolting over to him, forcing him back.
“You’re not going, dude, you need rest” Kevin said, his tone stern
Ben chuckled but didn’t protest “Okay mum” dragging out the vowel. He relaxed back into the bed, as Kevin stood up. Ben watched his friend fix two bowls of cereal and milk out of the fridge, pouring some into each before sitting back down on the bed.
“Can you get me some notes from Winchester’s and Novak’s classes today, if I’m staying home I at least want to know what I’m missing,” He paused as Kevin handed him his bowl, moving the spoon around to make sure each piece was able to soak up some milk before taking a bite. “Oh and also” he began again not caring for table manners, the food still in his mouth “take the camera and stalk out the parking lot again, Winchester’s gotta be there this time.” He put another spoonful into his mouth.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it, Stay here, the quicker you’re better the quicker we can figure out what the fucks going on” Kevin said also taking a mouthful, when they finished he took Ben’s bowl so he didn’t have to move, and packed his bag. Then he saluted Ben as he walked out the door.
The walk to the campus was the same as always. He didn’t have Ben to accompany him so he made the journey quicker than he normally would, of course he wouldn’t tell him that. When he reached the library and headed to the northern wall, before he got there the door opened and he bumped into a man exiting.

“Oh sorry” the man said apologetically, putting out his hands to seem non threatening, which helped a tiny bit because he was huge. He must've been around 6’3 or 6’4 and his hair reached his shoulders in a shaggy sort of way, like it hadn’t been properly cut in a while. He was definitely older than the average college student, if professor Winchester was 32 like he claimed this dude was 32, like he stated he was, this guy must be mid-late 20s Kevin assumed. “You wouldn’t happen to be able to show me to the engineering building would you?” he asked, placing the book Kevin just now realised he was holding under his arm, something about zoology.
Kevin looked back up at him, mouth slightly agape before he cleared his throat, “uh, Yeah” he said, eying the man. “My class is over there anyway” he was weighing up waiting to spot Winchester, or the black impala, but it was pointless now, and he needed to get to class anyway so why not help this guy out.
“I’m Sam by the way,” the tall man said, holding out his hand for Kevin to shake.
“Kevin” he responded, shaking the hand lightly. He cleared his throat again and gestured vaguely in front of him. “Uhhh this way,” and Sam nodded as they headed off. “So, I haven’t seen you around before, are you a new student?” He asked, attempting to make small talk, Sam chuckled.
“Nah, I went to Stanford, I’m here to see my brother, he teaches in the department.”
“Oh” Kevin gasped, not really sure where to go from here, as they passed the grassed area they saw Professor Novak, and his cat heading in the same direction and Sam threw Novak an enthusiastic wave, and Novak smiled in response, was Novak Sam’s brother? Kevin couldn’t really imagine it but he supposed it was possible. The cat scurried ahead, clearly motivated to be somewhere, and seeing as he himself had about 8 minutes to reach his class, he picked up the pace. Sam seemed to notice but he made sure to keep up with him. At some point they lost sight of the cat, it disappeared down a hallway. They approached the large glass doors to the engineering building and just as Kevin was about to bid Sam goodbye he stopped at the confusion on his face. To be fair the building was huge, he couldn’t count the amount of times they’d got lost trying to get to Winchester’s room, so he waited an extra moment to see if Sam knew where he was going.
“Sorry, but you don’t happen to have Professor Winchester right now do you?” Sam asked him, his eyes growing soft.
“Uh, yeah I do actually,” Kevin responded “is that who your brother is?” He supposed that made sense looking at the man in front of him now; they shared similar features. Sam chuckled and nodded. “Follow me then” they walked up the stairs and to the door of the lecture hall. Kevin peaked his head in, and as normal Winchester was sitting on his desk, legs dangling over the edge. He wandered in, but noticed Sam hadn’t really moved from the doorway.
“Hey Jerk” Kevin had never seen Winchester’s head move so fast, and that looked like it definitely hurt.
“Sup, Bitch” The professor said, hopping off the table and walking over to the taller man, arms stretched out and pulling him into a hug. He groaned, pulling back the hug and Kevin was left standing by there, surprised and amused. The professor reached up scuffed his brother’s hair. “Dude you look like a mop” he managed through a barely contained laugh.
“Yeah, you’re not too bad yourself” Sam responded, tapping his shoulder. “Well, Jess and I have a hotel room downtown, I was gonna just say Hi, so I’ll let you get back to work.” he sent a mock salute with a partial nod.
“Hey man, why don’t you two come by for dinner tonight, I’m making burgers and Cas’ll wanna say hi too” Winchester said, his left hand rubbing his jaw. That's when he saw it, the flash of silver, the top of the band had…

Ben must’ve gone back to sleep because he woke up sweating in his dorm room. He was so out of it he almost started freaking out. Then his throat scratched and he remembered. Man, of course he would be the one to get sick. He tapped the screen of his phone to check the time. 10:05, so his lecture would’ve just started, that’s not too bad. He reached down the side of the bed and his hands found his bag. Hoisting it up so it sat on his bed he rummaged through it. Pulling out his laptop and the exercise book he used to record his engineering notes yesterday. There was nothing else to do, so why not revision, god he couldn’t believe he wasn’t there right now. Kevin had probably unraveled a part of the mystery and he was stuck in bed. As he put the bag back down on the ground a flash of yellow caught his eye, at the bottom of his bag was a crumpled sticky note, the one he had forgotten about yesterday. He reached in to pull it out and undid. The words ‘C Novak’ with the hilariously loud question mark were written on it, and he turned to the cork board to add it to their findings when he saw the one about Winchester’s spouse…

Silver, blue and green. Almost identical to Novak except the gem colours were swapped, where blue was on Novak’s, green was on Winchester’s. But that would mean…

Ben stared at the cork board, admittedly he was a bit slower today, seeing as he was sick but when the gears finally dusted off in his brain he understood.

“Oh my god” both boys muttered simultaneously. Novak was Winchester’s husband. ‘Cas’ is Novak, it all made sense “Cas’s gorgeous blue eyes” and that weird lowering of his voice that Winchester did yesterday to sound more like his husband, his husband who is Novak .

Kevin must have been staring at the ring like he was trying to burn holes in it, ‘cause Winchester pulled his hand away from his face to stare at it himself, and Sam just looked between them, pausing whatever he was saying, Kevin had stopped paying attention a while ago.
Winchester looked up at him. “You like it?” he asked “Cas insisted we have these specific ones, I can’t complain, they remind me of his eyes, always watching over me”
Kevin just nodded, if he could speak in that moment, it would probably come out a squeak, key word being could, because for the life of him he could not get his vocal cords to vibrate to make any noise at all. He turned around awkwardly and found his seat, he could feel the heat in his cheeks and his eyes were still wide. He opened his phone to message Ben but when he opened it their was already three notifications from his friend.

>> DUDE NOVAK IS MARRIED TO WINCHESTER
>> NOVAKS NAME IS CAS, THATS WHAT THE C IS
>> I JUST FIGURED IT OUT

>> DUDE I KNOW
>> I JUST SAW WINCHESTER’S RING
>> IT”S IDENTICAL

He placed his phone back in bag, and fumbled for his exercise book and pen, when he looked up Sam had left and Winchester was ready to begin. He made sure to note everything for Ben, he wouldn’t let his friend fall behind because he got some bullshit sickness. As he was writing down some equations, a stray thought popped into his head, something that had underlined this whole ‘investigation’ , something that didn’t make sense from any angle…

When Ben finished his revision he checked his phone again, he laughed at the fact that he and Kevin both figured something out today, despite not being in the same space. Then he really thought about it…

If Winchester’s husband was Novak… and they hadn’t seen Winchester in the car park yesterday with Novak… then who was Novak kissing in the Impala yesterday? Does Winchester know his husband is cheating on him? They should tell him right? Anyone should deserve to know if their partner, especially their husband is cheating on them. The boys definitely thought so.

Chapter Text

“Alright everyone, I’ll see everyone tomorrow at 9, enjoy the rest of your day.” Dean Winchester’s voice echoed throughout the room, as its inhabitants began shuffling and packing up their stuff, the sound of zippers, and Velcro, and light conversation enveloped the room. Kevin eyed Winchester with a sorrowful look. 7 years he’d said. Novak didn’t seem like the cheating type, especially as an ethics professor, and wasn’t one of the ten commandments thou shalt not commit adultery? It was they had spent an entire lecture on three commandments, and Novak seemed to feel extremely strongly toward that one in particular, saying something like “Anyone in a relationship, deserves each other's full attention, if you are not ready for a such a relationship you should not enter one” and of course he was stroking his cat, Dean, rather fondly. Did he name his cat after his husband? Wouldn’t that be weird?

“Mr Tran?” Winchester's voice cut the silence again, “Are you alright?” It was at that moment that Kevin realised he had been sitting in the hall, half packed up, and it was only him and the professor. Who had a slightly worried look on his face.
“Uhh” Kevin began grouping his things and shoving them into his bag. He cleared his throat as he stood up. “Yes, I'm fine,” he muttered as he walked towards the exit.
“I wanted to thank you for guiding my brother here” the professor said again, hands folded in front of him, his leather jacket creasing at the elbows.
“Of course,” Kevin replied, looking slightly more alive now. Winchester propped himself up onto his desk so his legs were dangling off the edge.
“I noticed a distinct lack of Ben Braeden today, is he alright?”
“Yeah, he got sick somehow” Kevin answered before heading for the door, this conversation was awkward and all he felt was guilty at the prospect of knowing something his professor clearly didn’t, he was about to cross the threshold when he heard the professor's voice again.
“You both take theology don’t you? With Professor Novak?” Kevin nodded, “Could you give this to him?” he looked down to see a small brown envelope, with possibly a card or a letter inside, as he reached for it the hand holding it jerked backwards “You do have him at two don’t you?” His voice was weirdly stern, but there was an underlying playful, or cheery, maybe mischievous tone layered underneath, but Kevin couldn’t tell if he was imagining it or not.
“Yeah, I do” and the envelope reached out again, Kevin took it in his hands and looked back up at the professor for a second. He received a childlike wave, and he turned around and exited both the room and the building as fast as possible.

It was 11:45 by the time he made it to Bean and gone, Krissy wasn’t there today, instead replaced by an older gentleman with an orange and grey beard, and one of those hats they wear in Peaky Blinders.
“Hey brother, what can I get for you?” he asked as Kevin approached the counter, his accent was southern? Maybe from New Orleans, Kevin was never strongest on dialects.
“A Caramel Iced Coffee please” Kevin asked, pulling out his wallet.
“Sure thing brother” the man said, that's when Kevin eyed his name tag, ‘Benny’ Kevin smiled at the idea of Ben probably beating the shit out of him if he ever tried calling him that. He snapped himself out of it, shot Benny a mumbled thanks and then sat down a row back from where they normally go, as 3 students were using it at the moment.
He stared out the window. It was sunny today, the sky was a pale blue and it refracted into the café, painting the maroon seats to a deep purple. Something about this whole thing didn’t make any sense, he just couldn’t put a finger on what it was. He reached inside his bag and pulled out his laptop and some other books, in hopes of studying again between classes.
He was deep in thought when he heard the bell above the door of the café. He glanced down at the time on his computer ‘12:37’ he still had plenty of time before Novak’s lecture so he almost paid it no mind… that was until he heard the voice of at least on of the people who entered the café.
“Benny!” Winchester exclaimed, and Kevin looked up to see the man behind the counter shuffle outwards to hug the professor, standing partially awkwardly next to him was Novak, tan trench coat and all. So it was true, not that Kevin had doubted himself, but he didn’t entirely trust himself, either way they definitely knew each other, and Novak was likely cheating on him, oh yeah, there was that there.
“Hey Brother” Benny’s accent was hard to miss, he pulled backwards out the hug, Dean looked between Novak and Benny and awkwardly chuckled before Benny gave Novak a tip of his hat and Novak responded with a small nod.
“We just wanted to let you know that Sam’s back in town, and he and Jess are coming ‘round for burgers, and that you're welcome to join us” Although the man had his back to Kevin, he could hear the smile in his tone. “Oh and Cas is making cherry pie” Winchester’s arm snagged around ‘Cas’s’ shoulder and he rubbed it lovingly.
“Sounds good brother, I’ll let Andrea know to cancel the leftovers we had planned, You’re cooking and company is always more enjoyable anyway” The edge of Novak's lips quivered in response to the compliment on his husband, and Kevin felt sick.
Winchester clapped his hands, “Well, we are off to have lunch” and a distinct clicking noise followed the comment, which normally accompanied a wink, and Kevin watched as Novak grabbed the taller man's hand and led him out the door.

An hour later the bell jingled again and Kevin looked up to see Ben? The fuck? He watched as Ben’s eyes searched the café, eventually landing on him and Ben walked over and planted himself into the opposite booth seat with a small groan of satisfaction.
“Dude what the hell” Kevin began but Ben stuck up a finger
“I was feeling better, so I thought I’d come for Novak’s class, Can’t let you have all the fun can I? He stretched out across the seat, arm wrapping around the top of the bench he was leaning against.
“Speaking of Novak” Kevin leaned in, the pen in his left hand vaguely rotating while he spoke, “They were physically here like an hour ago, they were inviting the older guy behind the counter to dinner with, Oh yeah I met Winchester’s brother earlier.”
“What?” Ben exclaimed Winchester having a brother didn’t change anything toward the mystery but he felt like he should’ve learned this information earlier. “Alright so here’s the plan, after theology, we follow Novak, and possibly the cat, to the car, and then once the driver and Novak are both in the impala, we pop up by the window, snap a photo, and produce it to Winchester tomorrow, and boom!” He lifted a leg up onto the seat and lounged backwards, “We save the day.”
Kevin chuckled, “And ruin a marriage?” he asked sarcastically.
“Hey man, if Novak didn’t want his marriage ruined he shouldn’t have ruined his marriage” Ben paused for a second afterwards, visibly calculating if that made sense and when his face rested into a small smile, hand hovering in the air in question Kevin dipped his head in acknowledgement.

Chapter Text

They sat in the café for another hour or so, nothing interesting happened, Ben ordered his drink, Kevin passed him his notes from that morning, and copied them down as fast as he could though they had plenty of time. When they watched the time flick over to 1:45, they packed up and headed out the door, they heard Benny wish them well as they headed for Novak’s room. They bustled in with the small crowd, though Novak was not among them.
“He and his husband are having “lunch” together in his office” Kevin whispered to Ben as they sat down, Ben just shot him a disappointed look but didn’t say anything, he was very disappointed that he missed the clearly exciting events of the day.
The door swung open to reveal Novak, hair untamed (different from how Kevin had seen it twice today.) He waltzed in, evidently ignoring the stares and silence that had befell the curious room, him and huh, no cat today either? That's a bit odd. Twice in a row the cat hadn’t accompanied him to their class, but it was definitely here today, Kevin had seen it.
“Apologies everyone, my lunch ran later than I expected” The professor explained, Kevin turned to find Ben fighting for his life to contain his laughter, but Novak either didn’t notice or pointedly chose to ignore it and started the lesson.
It was the same as any other one, Novak spoke about some historical fact, or religious text that contradicts modern belief, everyone attempted and failed to pay full attention, the cat- oh that's right, the cat wasn’t there, it was so lonely without it, and Novak had been noticeably, what’s the word? Less enthusiastic without it present than he normally was, did he know that he was? Was it a subconscious thing? Kevin didn’t know. When the class finally wrapped up around 3:30, pack up was swift. Ben basically tried to drag Kevin from the room, probably hoping to talk about something outside of prying eyes and ears. As he got nearer to Novak he remembered Winchester’s envelope and then he remembered something else… Winchester had seen him between his class and this one. Why didn’t the man give Novak, Cas, his freaking husband this envelope? Why did he entrust Kevin with the task?
He kept approaching the man, as he was slipping his coat back on he hadn’t quite noticed them lingering yet.
“Um, Professor?” he asked, his voice wavering but he tried to hold strong
Novak’s head whipped up and his eyes met Kevin’s “Yes?” The question was sincere, and filled with genuine curiosity.
“I was told to give you this” and he held his hand out towards the older man, similar to the way the envelope had been presented to him.
It was subtle, Novak’s expression change, that is, his eyes hardened slightly, and his mouth thinned into a line as he pointed to the gift in Kevin’s hand.
“Where did you get that?” the tone no longer held the curiosity, now demanding and almost cold
“P-professor Winchester, uh, he told me to give this to you?” stumbling over his words was the worst thing to do, but he didn’t really give himself a choice, Novak was a threatening dude, he had tattoos, Kevin reminded himself.
The professor reached out and snapped the envelope, not even waiting for Ben and Kevin to escape before he tore it open pulling out a letter, the paper was thin, thin enough to see through with the way the lighting in the room was placed, the ink on the other side was black and working backwards on the written letters he could make out a strange word he had never heard before… ‘Poughkeepsie’ Novak gasped before almost dropping the paper, hoisting his satchel over his shoulder in a motion so fast it almost did a 360, he rushed for the door, not evening wishing them good bye, some extra paper that he’d left on his desk went flying and Ben and Kevin stared at each other, too in shock to move. Their eyes met in silent agreement before also booking it out the door in chase.
If you were to look at professor Novak in a normal setting, he was always wearing either a black or deep blue suit, with either a solid blue, or striped tie. His trench coat hung just below his knees and had wide lapels that varied in starting crease. He wore formal leather shoes, varying in black and brown, and he NEVER wore sun glasses. He carried an old worn brown leather satchel that was very well cared for but also was not falling apart. It was also important to note that he was approximately 5’11. Now if you were to look at this man, you would assume, based on all contributing factors, that he could maybe run at average speed, and he wasn’t by any means unfit, Kevin had noted his muscles a few days ago when they went to his office hours and he had his sleeves rolled up, but make no mistake, this man was FAST. Faster than you can believe. Ben and Kevin barely made it down the stairs just to look up and see Novak turning a corner, the next building over, which was about 120 metres away. It was very evident that he was running to his car, so without losing too much speed, Ben advised Kevin to cut through the engineering building, and Ben remained in pursuit of Novak on his path in case they were wrong.

While sprinting somewhat irresponsibly through the lower level of the engineering building Kevin spun his head around quickly to look back in the direction he came from. The glare was partly blinding and as he turned back forwards suddenly he was on the ground with papers flying everywhere his vision blurred slightly as he looked over to see a woman with red hair shuffling the papers together.
“I’m so sorry Professor Bradbury,” he jumped to his knees to help pick up what was still on the ground.
“Ha, that's alright, it's such a movie cliché isn’t it?” she asked, finally standing up, she placed everything into the bag she was carrying, probably a smart decision in case anyone was to come speeding through the hallway. “Can I ask what movie I’ve been dragged into the chase scene of?” her voice sounded as if she was letting something slip, like a hint at Kevin that she knew something he didn’t
“I was, uh, Chasing down Professor Novak” he said, now realising just how out of breath he was.
“Oh?” Her smile widening, “I’ve been meaning to say hi recently, to him and his… cat” there was a cheery playfulness and confusion hit Kevin like a train. Why the fuck was everyone who worked at this campus so weird? “We are very good friends” her tone now sincere, “Well, I got to go, you know what they say, happy wife happy life” she flashed him her gold wedding ring “I believe I’ll see you next week won’t I?”
“Yeah, definitely” Kevin and Ben were both supposed to be taking some kind of computer skills class (They were keeping their options open, they weren’t 100% set on mechanical engineering and thought maybe computer engineering would be worth a gander, trial and error never hurt anyone did it?) for which their Professor was Professor Charlie Bradbury, one of the greatest computer engineers in the state.
That's when Kevin remembered he was still supposed to be chasing down Novak and took off in a hurry. Out of the engineering building and towards the library, He made sure to avoid the streak of running into people exiting doors so he went wide as to not allow that to happen. When he got there he saw Novak slowing and approaching his car, Ben came skidding to halt at the other end of the building and they locked eyes. Through another silent agreement, they waited till Novak hopped in the car and they sprinted before it could pull out of the car park.

Kevin pulled out his phone ready, to snap a photo of Novak’s side piece for Professor Winchester, were they possibly about to ruin a happy marriage, yes, were they about to make one, maybe two of their favourite Professors hate them? Also yes.
They approached the window slowly, Kevin on the left Ben on the right, and then they panicked. What would they actually see? Curiosity still got the better of them and the black impala sparkled in the sunlight. They heard the voices of two men inside the vehicle, one was Novak, and the other was definitely… Nah of course not. As Kevin peered through the window, he couldn’t see much inside the car as the glass was tinted, and he almost called out to Ben to back off but then the window rolled down.

Chapter Text

Now if you were to ask someone if it was possible to be completely paralysed from shock, they would probably say yes, however Kevin never believed that up until now. The window was fully down, and staring back at him through the small silver rounded side mirrors were the most confused and questioning green eyes Kevin had ever seen (he now understood what Winchester had meant, which was ironic given the situation) Winchester’s eyes, undeniably, sat behind the wheel, he watched him sigh, turn to his right and open the door.
Kevin instinctively took a step back, and Ben looked terrified on the other side of the car. The door slammed behind the older man, and he sighed, crossing his arms across his chest.
“Good afternoon” he said, his eyebrows meeting each other above his nose. “Can I assist you?” his tone was laced with so much sarcasm compared to their earlier interaction, yeah this guy was pissed, or at the very least heavily annoyed.
“Uhhhh…” Kevin tried but the words seemed to conveniently catch in throat, god that was such a cliché. He turned desperately to Ben again, but his friend was no help, offering only a shrug. “We thought your husband was cheating on you?” the words flooded out of his mouth so fast he barely had time to breathe. He was eye locked with Winchester, whose expression had lightened into a smirk. His trance was broken by the other door slamming, and a very angry looking Novak was evident looking over the roof, his head turned to Ben.
“You followed me?” Novak growled to Ben, and it was a growl, his teeth barely detached from each other.
“Uhhh?” it was Ben’s turn to freeze, “well we did think you were cheating on Professor Winchester” He gestured lazily, still partly terrified of incurring Novak’s wrath.
“And you thought sneaking up on my car would be what? Change that?” Winchester asked them, dropping his hands. His definite smirk returned.
“You thought I?... That I could possibly commit adultery?” Novak asked if his voice was now more offended than angry, but don’t be mistaken the anger was still there.
“Alright, y’know as funny as this whole miscommunication is, I think we gotta talk this out somewhere that isn’t the parking lot? C’mon guys I’m sure Benny has a booth open” Winchester turned to address everyone, with individually timed nods as recognition, Ben and Kevin turned around to lead the way out of the parking lot, They heard the doors of the Impala locking and two pairs of footsteps behind them, but looking back seemed like a bad idea right now.
When they got to B&G, they snuck inside, and the corner booth was open, but it seemed more appropriate to sit in a more central part of the café. Benny shot the four of them a raised brow before going back to drying glasses, and Kevin and Ben slumped into a booth on the right side of the café, Ben on the end, and Kevin against a window. Novak let Winchester in first, or did they have the same last name? Mr. and Mr. Winchester? Mr. and Mr. Novak? Anyways Winchester gave them one of those forced smiles, the ones adults do when you say something stupid.
“So… you two wanna explain yourselves, and none of this funky crap, from the damn beginning please” he asked, his arms resting on the table in front of him, and he was slightly hunched over. Novak had relatively lost his anger, his eyes on the side of his husband's head filled with love? Adoration? It was so adorable Kevin forgot he was being interrogated.
Ben cleared his throat “Well, uhhh, we wanted to figure out what your car was? I guess, everyone was wondering and it seemed so cool, which it is uhhh by the way, very nice uhh” He could tell he was rambling, but it was hard when the older men’s faces were so stern, like they waiting for the full story to be spilled, like one of those procedural cop shows where they can calculate if you’re lying or not based on how your shoulders are sitting.
“And?” Winchester’s gaze held firm, unwavering, his forehead wrinkling at the question he gave.
“Ahem… and it's a 1967 Chevy Impala?” Ben’s voice didn’t jump three octaves, fuck you, what was he? some kind of school girl?
Winchester gave them another of those mock smiles, and his eyes hardened.
“Okay” he leaned in further, “Still doesn’t explain how the hell you both got the conclusion that Cas was cheating on me” the man leaned in further, and Novak turned to meet Kevin’s eyes questioningly. Ben stuttered, shifting his eyes between the two professors and Kevin in search of assistance, which Kevin soon picked up.
“Well, you always speak so fondly of Professor Novak, and uhhh” the boy scanned his brain for the right words, and phrasing, and a way out of this situation. “Well. I saw your ring this morning, when you were talking to Sam, your brother” Kevin paused again to clear his throat. “And when we” he gestured between Ben and himself, were in the carpark the other morning” the reason for it seemed creepy to state outright “We uh, saw Professor Novak kissing the driver of uhh what we now know is your car? And since no one has ever seen you exit the car, or enter it, till today we just assumed it wasn’t…” he took a breath realising how fucking stupid it was “you”
Winchester swallowed disappointingly, and turned to his right, his expression matching his body language, and Novak held a similar one as they met eyes, a quiet conversation in midst which Ben and Kevin were not privy too in the slightest. When Dean turned back toward them again, his face broke into a upside down smile before completely bursting into laughter.
“Oh god, I’m sorry” he managed through broken breaths “You two buffoons assumed that cheating was the first viable option for what little you witnessed of the situation” his eyes were filling to the point of tears and he leaned back, head resting against the booth clearly ill composed.
“I think what Dean is trying to say is, your lack of evidence in your conviction is deeply concerning if you consider the implications of your accusations” Novak stated, he always spoke well, to the point where you might find yourself jealous of his vocabulary.
Now, obviously there was the elephant in the room, and Ben and Kevin had sort of silently agreed not to mention the mysterious behaviour of the cat their professor had named after his husband which was weird enough in itself, also it would not help their case to tell the people who they were actively investigating that they were stalking them and their cat, they might end up on a watchlist. However, Ben being Ben, couldn’t stop his thought to mouth feature quick enough to let the conversation die.
“Uh, Professor Novak?” who met his gaze in acknowledgement to continue, “Are you not worried about the whereabouts of your cat right now? I mean is he okay? Kevin said he saw him this morning but not since” to which his friends' eyes grew wide in embarrassment and realisation. Novak seemed to process the information doing what the boys did earlier, and what Ben seemingly failed to do just then and thinking about what he had to say.
“I do believe that Dean is just fine” His hand reached up from under the table to meet and grasp Winchester's on the surface as their eyes met, and indulgent smiles were exchanged.
Ben and Kevin’s eyes also met, but with nothing so intimate, in a ‘what the hell does that mean’ way, which they had to quickly abandon at the sound of Winchester’s throat clearing.
“Well, why don’t we just forget about this situation, considering how hilarious it is, No hard feelings alright? Plus Cas and I have a meal to cook and guests to feed so if you’ll excuse us, and I do believe we will see you both tomorrow.” he shuffled along the seat as Novak stood out and waited at the end of the table. “Baby’s been waiting to get home all day” and the professors bid them adieu, before the bell above the door jingled and Ben and Kevin watched through the window as Winchester’s leather coated arm stretched around the shoulder of that tan trenchcoat and they headed back in the same direction the four of them had arrived from less than 20 minutes ago.

Chapter Text

The walk back to their dorm was not eventful in the slightest. They both stayed pretty quiet, when they unlocked the door, dropped their bags and dramatically collapsed on their beds (Cause they are really just drama queens, let's be honest.) That's when they noticed their mystery board, still scattered and on the brink of looking like a hitlist.
Ben sighed looking at the scattered notes and photos they printed out as he shuffled some around, moving the Winchester’s husband and Novak’s spouse ones together, as well as connecting the Chevy Impala to the couple, all that was left was that goddam cat, where could he possibly fit into this.
About an hour had passed by now and it was starting to get dark, and if Ben or Kevin stared at this borderline serial killer arrangement either their brains would explode or it might spontaneously combust. Plus somewhere along the line they had ordered a pizza and it had just arrived, steaming, and with melting cheese and they decided to let the mystery solving go just for tonight, they were after all, pretty proud of themselves, they had basically solved two in one day, I guess you could consider them professionals.

Ben must’ve fallen asleep because when he woke, Kevin seemed to perched right in front of the board, just staring at it again, scratching his chin like some old man. Ben groaned and Kevin’s head spun around so fast, it basically had streak lines chasing it.
“Oh you’re awake” he said, his voice hoarse, like it needed rest.
“Dude what the fuck? Did you even go to bed?” Ben asked, concerned and confused.
“Not really, I did try I suppose, but something has been bothering me about this fucking cat.”
Ben sighed, sitting up against the wall, he grabbed the glass of water off his side table and chugged the whole thing, it could be two weeks old, but he didn’t really care right now.
“Alright” he started now that he was more awake, “What’s bothering you”
“You see this picture?” Kevin pointed towards one they had taken the other morning when they had spotted whom they now know as Winchester kissing Novak in the front seat of the Impala in the morning. It had been taken mere seconds after Winchester just disappeared. “Where could he have gone? I mean you and I both saw him there, and even if he had laid down we would have seen him repositioning himself, and then he definitely did not get out of the car.”
Ben was a little slow in the morning but he tried his best to keep up, Kevin had a point that they seemingly forgot about. Even though they now knew Novak was not a cheater and it was just his husband, that still doesn’t explain the disappearance.
“Look,” Kevin began again. His hands were flying about the place, maybe this really was a procedural cop show. “Something is up with those two, It’s not normal to be THAT attached to your cat, and normal people don’t just appear and disappear out of thin air”
“Well we could always kidnap the cat” Ben said half heartedly, Kevin shot him the most disappointed look anyone could muster.
“We are not kidnapping a cat Ben, They already forgave us for what would have been meddling in their personal lives, And plus do you remember when I said he would probably kill for that Cat? That could very well be true and then we wouldn’t even get to solve this thing”
“Yeah Yeah” Ben responded, finally joining the world. “No Kidnapping the cat, Got it” he shot his friend a forced smile and they stayed in silence for the next couple minutes.
“Maybe Novak gives the cat to Winchester for the lessons it's not with specifically,” Kevin was just thinking out loud now but Ben had nothing to focus on so he still listened intently. “You know since it wasn’t there on Wednesday when we realised they had a class at the same time?”
“Right, I guess, still doesn’t explain the teleportation from Winchester but I guess it's a start” Ben had slid off his bed and joined Kevin in the pondering state. “Why don’t we make a list of when Novak and Winchester have the same class timeslots, and we’ll see if the cat’s with Winchester or not?”

So that's what they used their morning for. Wary of their 9 am with Winchester, they wrote it down in a spare notebook.
Of their classes next week, for Novak they had; 11:00 am Monday, None on Tuesday, 10:00 am Wednesday, 2:00 pm Thursday and finally 12:30 pm Friday. For Winchester, they had 9:30 am Monday, 1:30 pm Tuesday, 12:00 pm Wednesday, 11:30 Thursday and 9:00 Friday (same as always) Plus, their computer course started next week with professor Bradbury, so that took up, 9:00am Monday, 10:00 am Wednesday, and 10:30 Friday. Novak and Winchester had classes at the same time as each other at 11:00 am for Monday, 1:30 pm Tuesday, 2:00 pm Thursday and 9:00 Friday.

They hauled ass to campus, they had left leaving till a bit later in order to figure out schedules, they were basically sprinting down the street and past the library when they saw the cat, without Novak, heading towards the engineering building like it had on Wednesday, maybe it was just meeting up Winchester before that lecture Kevin realised, but then he remembered that it hadn’t been with him at all that whole class, so unless he had it hidden somewhere that was likely not an option. Both Novak and Winchester seemed good friends with some other faculty and adults working on campus, so there was Benny, but it's also unhygienic, (And likely against regulations) to keep a cat in café that was not marked as cat café or animal friendly so he cut that idea pretty quick too, There was also Professor Bradbury, but she hadn’t been on campus till yesterday, so that was also not a viable option. Where the fuck did this cat end up on Wednesday?
Realising he’d been deep in his thoughts, and basically following Ben around like a zombie, who when he came back to himself was seemingly just following the cat, which kinda worked cause they actually made it the hall in time (the cat had again, disappeared towards the floors toilets) suspiciously making their way to their seats in the back corner, he eyed the door, waiting for the cheerful approach of their Professor.
Kevin’s watch ticked over to 9:01, and the door burst open and in strolled Winchester. He shot them a smile followed by a chuckle and both boys lit up red. So Winchester really had forgiven them.

The class flew by pretty fast, they both made sure to pay attention as not to upset Winchester, they still wanted to remain in his good books, and when it ended they made their way to the front.
“Sir, can I just ask?” Ben really could never seem to keep his mouth but it was strangely working for their situation.
“Mmm” Winchester’s arms were pressed against the desk he was perched on, he did seem to enjoy sitting on his desk, but to be fair sometimes it was just more comfortable than pacing around, which was understandable.
“Uhhh well we saw Dean, the cat, not you obviously” and he was rambling again, Kevin stepped on his foot to get him focus and Ben stifled a grunt through his teeth “Well, is he okay? Where does he go when he's not with Professor Novak? Because we saw him head towards the bathroom, and we would be happy to check on him if you want us too?” The question was weird but it was sincere.
Winchester chuckled again, though he could understand what was funny about this. “Awww man” he took a minute to compose himself, “I assure you, Dean, is fine I know exactly where he is” and Winchester was back to his ominous crap, which reminded Kevin.
“Nice car you have professor” And he practically dragged Ben towards the door. They heard Winchester chuckle again as he grabbed his stuff, a muttered thanks was maybe said under his breath but who knows what’s happening at this point..
Novak’s class came, he was already in the room before Kevin and Ben, and he gave them a smug but welcoming smile. A distinct lack of cat was also evident but they were already on thin ice so they didn’t bring it up.
They walked back across campus on their way back to the dorm.
“Ughh, thank god its Friday” Kevin groaned, as he made a note to himself to never under any circumstances stay up late on a Thursday night, it just wasn’t worth it when the weekend is so close.
“Dude, don’t get too tired, we do still have a mystery to solve.” His friend playfully punched his shoulder. Passing the wall of the library had kind of become their default route this week, and they hadn’t forgotten their earlier curiosities about how and where Winchester gets in the car. They were earlier than the professor’s it seemed.
“You know” Ben began, staring at the lovely old car, “We could just wait for them again, have a better angle for a photo, it might give us something to off” Kevin just huffed in response. Ben, taking that as a yes, dragged him over by the surrounding cars, and crouched in front of a red ford hatch, they had to angle themselves perfectly, if they were too far in one direction, the professors would see them coming and their stalking days would be over. Ben ran his hand through his pockets before finding his camera, and found the best angle from his limited availability. Kevin was on the other side of him keeping watch.

“Dude he’s coming” Ben caught an elbow to the side but he held strong in his motions. The sound of Novak’s shoes along the crisp bitumen, and four fast moving patterns allowed for them to calculate rough distance without having to look anymore.

“-Sam and Jessica seem right for each other, I’m happy for them” the gravel of Novak’s voice made them jump, just for a second, they regained their composure quite fast if you were to ask either of them. “-If I had the luxury of meeting you earlier I would’ve taken it Dean” he said as he opened his passenger door, and the muffled jingle of keys were heard as they hit the leather seat. Kevin could see the very bottom of the tan coat, and black pants pooling over his leather shoes. The cat let out a delicate ‘meow’ before launching into the car.
“You’re such a sap Cas” Cas? The boy's eyes widened in shock. Winchester. He had been nowhere near them the whole time, not when Novak was approaching, he wasn’t already in the car that was for sure, they weren’t stupid they checked.

Where the fuck did he come from?

They didn’t even have time to even try and take a photo cause Novak was not in the car yet. Its engine started and he did finally enter but they were out of the car park before they could even attempt a peak. That may have been due to pure shock, Ben could feel Kevin’s eyes on him.
“You’re such a sap… Cas” Kevin repeated, “Wait, wasn't he talking to the cat?”

Chapter Text

Kevin and Ben made it back to their dorm with little issue, only the one question plaguing them the whole way and even now as they stare at their connections of bright sticky notes and string. Some words are barely legible while others are in the most gorgeous print anyone could lay their eyes on.

“He was talking to the cat right?” Kevin asked, breaking the silence “I wasn’t going crazy?”
“No he definitely was.” Ben replied. “Also Winchester appeared from fucking nowhere, still leaning towards teleportation”
“Teleportation is impossible Ben, it defies the laws of physics”
“Well how else do you explain it Newton?” Ben was of course being sarcastic but it came out angry. He was very tired, so give him some slack.
Kevin got up and opened the fridge, pulling out the leftover pizza box and placing a slice on a paper towel before microwaving it. “Right well, what if we subtly interview Bradbury, when I bumped into her earlier this week she seemed to know something about Novak and his cat, or she was just weird about it.” He turned to open the microwave door, waving away the steam before sitting on his bed and taking a bite. “Either way I think she’s our ticket to this big conundrum.”
Ben hummed in response, they had a half hour intro to their computer class Monday at 9, before Winchester’s at 9:30 so they could also miss the first part for detective work. The cork board stared at them, if inanimate objects could make facial expressions it would be smirking at them, laughing at their stupidity.

The weekend passed with nothing exciting, and far too quickly it was Monday morning. The boys zombied their way into the computer lab, sleepiness plaguing their senses. Bradbury waltzed in not a moment too late, her voice cheery but not irritating, which was the best thing for the morning Kevin deemed. Thankfully she played by the rules and there was no actual content covered in the introduction, and to be fair the class passed relatively quickly, almost a blink and you’ll miss it but that may have been ‘user error’ as they might say. (Kevin’s a little out of it at the moment).
“-Alright, thank you for coming everyone, and we will start Wednesday, I hope to see you all through the entire course” she placed her hand in a Vulcan style salute as the room started clearing out. Ben and Kevin headed to the front as she too was packing up. “Ahh, yes, haven't you wondered about any other clichés have you?” she asked, directed at Kevin. Ben held his fist over his mouth and turned his head in a failed attempt to conceal a chuckle.
“Well none that I know of” he smiled in return. “Look we have a strange question, and we just hope that you can maybe help us out? If you don’t mind of course” his hands fidgeted with his bag strap as he spoke, and Bradbury definitely noticed.
“Well that depends, what could possibly have you two so worked up? Also I'm assuming this isn’t course related?”
“No, it isn’t. Look,” Kevin replied, ‘spit it out’ he screamed it himself “you mentioned you were… friends with professor Novak?”
Her lips curved into a wry smile. “Yes, I should hope so, I had dinner with him and his husband the other night”
Kevin cleared his throat. “Who is Professor Winchester right?” she nodded and Kevin reminded himself that this is not Jeopardy. “Was his cat there?” and his voice was not three octaves higher thank you very much. He stomped Ben’s foot so hard he may have broken a toe.
“No” humour present in her tone “the cat wasn’t there”
Ben finally decided to add himself. “Well why not? Does it not live with them?”
“It doesn’t not live with him” fucking vague professors.
“Look,” Kevin really needs a better sentence starter “Is there something… different, or special about the cat? Like in an unusual way?”
“Ohhh” she mused. “I suppose you could say the cat is its own person. I’m really not meant to say anything but if you two seem very determined, and Cas mentioned something about the both of you so I feel obligated to see where this lands” she pulled a sticky note pad from her bag and a pen before writing something down. “This may help you, If I think you're heading in the direction of the relative truth” she handed Kevin the orange tinted paper and the writing read “A study of transformation” and then a very abrupt shooing motion for them to get.
The boys left so fast they almost forgot to thank her, yelling over their shoulders before sprinting up the stairs to Winchester’s room.

“Ohhh, lovely of you to join us” The professor remarked. Their mission of being ninjas and sneaking in failed. They doubt they missed much but it would be best to aim to be on time for the next one, just in case.

As they were packing up, Kevin still had the note from Professor Bradbury in his hand, and Winchester made an effort to sneak a peak over his shoulder.
“You know, that’s a pretty rare book… let me guess Charlie gave it as a recommendation?”
They nodded in sync and he wore a look of childish mischief.. He patted Kevin’s shoulder and turned around shaking his head and sniffling in a way that's only possible if you're laughing too hard, which was also evident from his bobbing shoulders and the hand he dragged down his face.

“Okay this day is getting weird” Ben stated once they were well on their way to Novak's.
“Yeah I agree, I just hope this book isn't a wild goose chase” Kevin responded.
“Bradbury wouldn’t do that to us would she, she seems to know what we don’t and wants us to find it out, whatever it is, there is definitely something here, and at first it was just funny and I was bored but now? This shit is genuinely weird.”
Kevin hummed his agreement and they approached their next lecture hall. They sat down and Ben had the idea of noting down that the cat was not present. Novak had a dark blue suit on today, his usual trench coat, and a blue tie with white stripes. His was spiked on in some parts, like when you run your fingers through it after rubbing a balloon on your head, Ben chuckled more at that idea than he paid attention but Kevin was taking notes so it did not matter too much, besides it was still before noon on a Monday. At exactly 11:03, Novak dismissed them and as the first first student exited an orange cat slid inside and bounded up and onto the desk before laying its head on its paws and in return receiving head scratches from Novak.

The boys decided to try the campus library before online, you never know what kind of books university libraries carry, and of course there was always the internet. The library was cold, well you could definitely feel the air conditioning and it smelt like cold air. By the entrance there was a wooden counter with a middle aged woman in a wheeled office chair with crochet hooks in her hands.
“What can I do for you boys” her voice raspy as they approached
“We were wondering if this book might possibly be here” handing over the now slightly rumpled sticky note. The woman muttered under her breath before tapping a few keys on the keyboard.
“We do have one copy of this book… but it was scanned out last week, in fact I remember who it was, a tall man, with very nice hair”
Kevin’s eyes widened, That is just far too coincidental. Choosing not to admit defeat they headed back towards the door, and before they could step out you will never guess who waltzed their way in, and avoided hitting Kevin this time.
“Sam?” Kevin asked, long hair shuffled as his head turned down to look at them both.
“Yeah… hey, I remember you, thanks for your help the other day” Sam held in his hands the same book from last week, except it wasn’t about zoology, it just had some kind of animal on it, and it looked older, like it was not printed in this century.
“You wouldn’t happen to be returning that would you?” Ben pointed to the book.
“Uhhh, yes” Sam eyed them suspiciously “you guys aren’t looking for it are you?”
“Yeah actually” Kevin chimed, holding up the orange note.
“Really? No offense but I don’t think you would enjoy it.” he swallowed almost nervously.
“Its just a research project that's all” Ben tried his best to come off light hearted, Sam was being… odd, for lack of a better word. Sam nodded in acknowledgement before heading to counter to see the older woman. The boys waited patiently for him to walk straight back out that door before going to see her again. They took the book out in Kevin’s name, as Ben hadn’t set up his library card even though he’d been here for a while.

Book secured in Kevin’s bag, they headed back to the dorm, despite having a busy morning, their afternoon was relatively clear.
“Alright well,” Ben sat down on his bed, and Kevin pinned the orange note right in the centre of the board. “Everything related to this bizarre…” he flapped his hand around like a maniac “everything should be answered from this book right?”
“God I hope so,” Kevin replied, dumping his bag on the floor next to his bed before rummaging through it and pulling the book out. The cover smelt of dust and wood, and the animal was some kind of griffin? Whatever it was, it does not exist, which red flag right?
“Who’s the author?” Ben pointed towards the hardback book, snapping Kevin from his daze.
“It's not listed on the front,” He flipped the book over, “or the back” Kevin opened the cover and scurried through the first few pages.
Ben unsheathed his laptop, his fingers frantically tapped the keys before his face scrunched in confusion, after a little more of the same thing, he turned the laptop around to a webpage, some online encyclopedia website from a European university, like an old old one.
Kevin’s eyes scanned the page thoroughly muttering them as he went along before his eyes widened “very few copies remain for the lost collection thought to contain ideas and practices of ‘cults.’ These ‘cults’ believed that one could harness the power of the soul in order to give whoever a range of abilities. The authors of the books were lost to time, no one has managed to find a full set as each cover bears a number. What did remain of the books were passed down through different families throughout the centuries with many scholars writing their contents off as pure fiction”
Kevin swallowed hard “What the fuck does that mean? Oh my god we’ve run into freaky cult shit, I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to this” through a few deep breaths he calmed himself, barely.
“Yeah I know, but imagine if it is true? We have one of what could be the only remaining copies of that book, supposedly, and you're holding it in your hands. That is lost history right there.” Ben pointed again to the book. It wasn’t by historical standard, a large book, which was probably a good thing, Kevin enjoyed reading and Ben forced himself through it normally.
Kevin swallowed hard again, his hand splayed over the book's cover “Should we open it?”
“Dude quit with the weird movie suspense, hell yes”
Kevin opened the book and stared at the chapter index it was a long list, the first few most likely explaining how the supposed ‘transformation work’ the rest of the chapters seemed to explain how you could do it, but in the last few chapters, one title caught Kevin’s eye: feline morphogenesis.
“Feline’s are cats right?” he asked, and Ben nodded frantically, enthusiastically picking up as he basically jumped the gap between their beds before yanking the book from Kevin's hands. He flipped frantically to the page before reading out the passage.
“A feline transformation if completed properly, can be inherited either maternally, or in rare cases where a female offspring is not produced will become dominant in the male. The ability to change form should manifest during the period from child to adulthood. The change can either be embraced or ignored. If embraced, the ability to transform at will is given to them.
The colour of the animal when transformed is based on human genetic traits such as eye colour, hair colour, and complexion, each one no more important than the last and one becomes dominant when the child is born.”
“Holy fuck…” Kevin breathed “You think? I mean… could it be a possibility?”
Ben nods in understanding, “that…”
“Winchester” they both say in unison.

Chapter Text

A few hours have passed since their revelation, Ben is laying face up in bed, mindlessly fidgeting, staring at the ceiling in contemplation. Kevin had begun pacing the room a while ago.
“I mean it all makes sense kind of, the way Novak is so weirdly affectionate towards the cat because its HIS FUCKING HUSBAND, all the half sided conversations between them cause the cat could actually understand him. The car, the passenger seat, the pointed looks, the 7 years, the time between classes that he could make it in time, Oh my god it all makes sense” Kevin may have been losing his mind. Panting furiously he ended up just sitting back on the bed.
“Dude,” Ben was still staring at the ceiling “does that make magic real? Or is it just some weird soul thing? Does this prove the existence of souls?” okay so maybe they were both tweaking out. The only thing they could do was wait until their next class, which was 1:30 tomorrow with Winchester, and hopefully either Novak will come to Winchester’s after the class, or they could follow Winchester to Novak’s or they would wait until office hours if they bloody had too. Whatever happens they want their professors to know that they know what they don’t want people to know.

To get to 1:30 on a Tuesday goes slower than you might think, especially when you spend the whole day in anticipation for something that may not even happen. The boys were debating flashing the book in front of Winchester to get his reaction however considering they were still mentally teenage boys and wanted to enjoy Novak’s reaction just as much as Winchester’s. But they weren’t above a little teasing. So once Winchester finally rolled into class, leather jacket, cocky smile and all, they waited. And waited, and waited until finally. (they could swear their classes take longer everyday) While the rest of the class shuffled out of the room they decided to have a not very quiet conversation about professor Novak’s cat.
“I mean doesn’t he brush it?” Ben said as he stood from his seat, although he was trying a bit hard his voice clearly has a different tone to normal, "It's always so scruffy.”
Kevin gives him a look but doesn’t say anything, he's both trying to form the next part of the conversation and can feel Winchester’s gaze on him but he's too scared to turn his head.
Ben’s eyes widen slightly in horror as he scrambles to do more improve, “I mean it reminds me of that cat from harry potter”
Both boys freeze again when a very loud chuckle erupts from the front of the class, they turn to see the professor leant against the front of his desk, arms folded and ankles crossed.
“You two knuckleheads gonna get a move on? Or is the topic of my husband's cat keeping you here?”
Kevin raises an eyebrow, “Your husband's? It's not yours as well?" Of course he knows the answer but what's a little antagonising between friends.
That makes Winchester falter, only slightly but it is noticeable, “Yeah, I mean- well he definitely isn’t mine, like-” he scratches the back of his neck as he regains his composure, “Look it doesn’t matter, Do you two wanna sleep here or can I finally go home?”
Ben and Kevin scramble for their things and all but sprint towards the door. They hear another chuckle from Winchester but don't turn around. They head home having achieved what they wanted to for the day.

The next morning Kevin’s alarm goes off, both boys groan incredulously at having to actually get out of bed, they had received an email last night apologising for the mix up with their time tables, and that Professor Bradbury’s class had been moved to 1:30 pm today.
After a not so hearty breakfast of whatever cereal they could scrape together they headed off for Novak’s class which was still at 10. They did not go through the carpark, instead opting for the opposite entrance past the other side of the library. The boys were seated and ready at 9:57, which is probably a good decision considering the unknown consequences if they dare be late. Novak was not as forgiving as Winchester, surprisingly. 2 minutes later the entire class was seated and waiting for the professor, who opened the door not a second after 10 am. His suit was black today, but he wore the striped tie instead of the solid one, which he hadn’t done before, and considering it was properly done it likely wasn’t him who picked it. Of course no one else knew that, just Ben and Kevin. What everyone did notice was the lack of the cat, which Ben and Kevin also knew, not that Novak knew they did. He placed his leather satchel on the desk and began the lesson on the impact accepting christianity had on the roman empire in the early centuries.

Novak glanced down at his watch, “That concludes the lecture, I expect your papers to be complete by the end of the month, if you have any reason that this is not achievable please let me know, and for anyone looking to review any content, I’ll be in my office from 3 this afternoon.
Ben turned to Kevin and winked, or attempted too, this was their opportunity, Novak’s “cat” had always joined him when he held office hours. The stage is set, the plan’s in motion, time to confront their professors for using soul magic or whatever.
After the lecture they headed to Bean and Gone, “What can I get you two?” Krissy’s voice was mischievous but not bored like usual. Kevin turned back to Ben, who just waved his hands impatiently towards the counter.
“Just two cappuccinos please” he swallowed and tapped his card. They found their booth, and sat down, they had 20 minutes until they had to be in the engineering building for the next few hours.
“Alright man, you ready” Ben leant forward, intertwining his fingers in front of him.
“Should we really be doing this? I mean, yeah it's cool and kinda weird but like won’t we get kicked out of college” Kevin was tapping his fingers nervously on the table.
“Dude, first of all, calm down nothing's going to happen, and second of all, they can’t “kick us out” because we will have blackmail”
“Oh will we?”
“Yeah” Ben’s eyes widen like it should be obvious, the gesture makes Kevin’s shoulders slouch.
“What “blackmail”” He mirrors Ben’s previous air quotes.
“Ughhh, the soul magic cat transformation cult shit” Ben flaps a hand around in the air, “Obviously” he adds because that statement isn’t insane enough as it is.
Kevin smirks, “uh huh” he adds, Krissy arrives just then with their cappuccinos and then it's time to head off.

On their way to Winchester’s part of the engineering building, Ben stops Kevin abruptly, throwing his arm out to halt him altogether and points to a very orange, very shaggy cat bounding out of the computer lab where their next class is scheduled. They give each other a look of understanding and decide to walk slowly up the stairs behind it, to avoid suspicion (Yeah they may have lost their minds). To literally no one's surprise, Winchester is leaning against the desk when they get their. They both give him a nod before finding their seats.

An hour and a half later and… “Alright I’ll see all of you tomorrow” Winchester’s voice is met with a few groans but other than that the room clears relatively fast. Ben and Kevin with it but not before a little tomfoolery, see Kevin did bring the book today, and he may have taken it out during the lecture, and he may have made a not so accidental decision not to put it back, and so he's holding it in his hands the cover facing upwards, and towards Winchester as he walks by. He is very careful not to turn and see his reaction but he can feel his eyes following him as he and Ben head towards the computer lab.

“Ahh how are you two trouble makers?” Professor Bradbury greets them on the way in.
“Making trouble” Ben replies, she smiles and nods before looking towards Kevin her eyes lingering on the book he is now busy trying to shove in his bag again.
“So you did get it” She props herself to sit on the nearest table, “what did you find out?”
Ben swallows, and Kevin’s head shoots up.
“Uhhh” Ben chuckles, “Is it true?” his voice did not waver, definitely not.
“That depends, can you explain how else it could happen”
“No” Kevins states.
She taps her nose twice and then walks back towards the front of the room to start the lesson.

It's 2:30 when the class ends, and you could say the reality of their situation (which they put themselves in by the way no one is forcing them to do this) is beginning to encroach upon them. Being too nervous to do anything else, they hung awkwardly in the engineering lobby.
“Holy fuck, their gonna kill us” Kevin says, trying desperately not to pace the entire floor.
“They aren’t going to kill us, maybe they’ll sacrifice in the name of their ancient cult, but they probably kill us like today”
“You are not funny” Kevin glares at him.
“Nah i’m hilarious” He checks his phone before looking back up “alright we should probably make the journey now, you know Novak may just leave if we aren’t there on time and we can’t let him.”
Rolling his eyes, Kevin follows.

It is now 2:58, and the fuck if they ain’t gonna be polite about Novak’s insistence on promptness, they aren’t monsters, and hopefully he isn’t either. Also it’s important to note that Dean (the cat) is definitely in the room, it would be pointless otherwise. One minute passes and Ben and Kevin get to share one final glare of confirmation? Understanding? Before the door opens to reveal Novak, minus the suit jacket, sleeves rolled up, and somehow his tie is backwards.
“Hmm” he notes looking between them, “I thought it was you two” whatever that means. He gestures to them to come inside the room and they don’t waste any time sitting down. As Novak circ;es around the desk a very disgruntled cat jumps from his chair to his desk before sitting on the side and glaring at them.
“What do you two require assistance with?” Novak asks them to bring their attention back to him. The boys share a look as Kevin slowly unzips his bag.
“That’s just it professor,” Ben leans forward “see we found something recently and we were hoping you could help us with it” he smirks
If Novak is taken aback its not shown on his face except for the very small twitch of his eye. “Go on” he says.
“Well, we were curious about your knowledge of…” he clicks his fingers together a few times, “what was it Kev? Oh yeah Ancient cults” that makes Novak stiffen, and the cat makes a subtle move to place itself between them and him.
“And what is the relevance of your question to the semester’s content?” he asks, and its Ben’s turn to falter.
“Well,” Kevin begins, “we were just curious, we found a book on one, in the um… library, and we thought it was relevant to you.” Novak's eyes widen even more so his deep blue iris are swimming in them. Kevin reaches down and pulls out the book from his bag, the cover almost slipping from his sweaty hands but he places it on the table and slides it towards Novak, like some mafia boss.
Novak’s eyes scan the front he swallows Adam's apple bobbing in his throat and he glances back up. “I see, and why would this relate to me? I am your theology professor I'm not exactly well versed in ancient cult practices.”
Ben adjusts his legs in his seat and points towards the professor, “See, I think you are” Novak glares at Ben, and I mean challenges him to a staring contest which feels like it lasts forever before Kevin breaks it.
“What we are trying to say is, we know.” He gestures towards Dean, “We know your cat is Professor Winchester, We know it stems from some freaky ritual that allows his soul to let him transform or whatever.”
And with that Dean leaps off the desk towards Novak, the soft sound of paws hitting the floor can be heard and Novak glances down briefly before the space is filled with their 6 '1 engineering professor dressed in the same outfit he wore 3 hours ago.
“Well Cas, that's a first” his green eyes look down towards his husband and they share a moment in silence before Winchester sits back on his desk, as a human this time. “So, Scooby and shaggy, how did you come to that conclusion?”
The boys are momentarily, multimomentarily? Stunned, before they snap out of it. “Uhhh,” Ben clears his throat “well first of all who brings their cat to work” he tries to awkwardly chuckle through it but no one else is laughing. He clears his throat before trying again, “okay, originally we just wanted to figure out who you were both married too,” He gestures between his two professors, and glances at Kevin who is not willing to offer assistance at the moment, “cause, you know we were bored college students, and then we wanted to also figure out what type of car you had, cause it was all anyone was talking about after class, because you were secretive about it” Ben looks at his shoes before continuing, “and whatdya know, we solved both of those basically together right?” his awkward chuckle returned.
This time Kevin finally wanted to join. “I ran into Sam outside the library last week and he was checking out this book and I didn’t think anything of it because that's when we figured out you two were actually married, and then I ran into professor Bradbury and she said she was like friends with you, and then our classes started this week and she gave us the book title and said we could get it from the library but when we went there we had to wait for Sam to return it who was suspicious of us rightfully so I mean if some broke college students suddenly became interested in a book about a lost cult that happened to have very few copies and specific circumstances, and then we figured it out after reading a passage about feline morphogenesis” He inhaled air like he hadn’t tasted it in years, he somehow said all that in basically one breath. All three pairs of eyes were staring at him, and yeah that makes sense.
Winchester placed his hand in front of him and opened his mouth a few times before finally deciding on a way to break the silence. “Man, I am gonna kill Charlie” he reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “So you two” he pointed between them “you know what, I’m not even mad, that’s…” he huffs out a breath and frowns "that's kind of impressive”
Novak turned his head to glare at him. “Of course, you two cannot tell anyone, it is of incredible import that this stays between us” Then he pinned them with a stare.
“Uhhh yeah” Ben held up three fingers, “scouts honour” before Kevin stomps on his foot.
“Of course” Kevin says before standing up and basically hoisting his friend from his chair, “We won’t tell a soul” Winchester’s lips curl up at the unintended pun.
“Wait” Ben and Kevin freeze, looking back, as Winchester hops off the table, grabbing the book from its place on the desk and handing it back to Kevin, “wouldn’t want you to misplace this now would we?” Kevin shakes his head and the boys all but sprint out the door followed by a hearty chuckle from Winchester and some muted voices between the two professors.

The next day they hurried to their engineering lecture, Ben overslept because he insisted that they didn’t need an alarm, and when they waltzed in late to Winchester’s class he smirked at them.
“Look what the cat dragged in” which was met with open mouthed gapes from the two boys, and a chuckle from their professor. They were never living this down.

Later as they were leaving Novak’s he stared at them before saying, “Curiosity killed the cat you know” Ben and Kevin went bright red.

When Kevin once again ran into Bradbury in the hallway she screamed “Cool your beans man” which made Kevin pause and meet her eyes.
“No cat pun?” he asked in disbelief.
“Figured I’d give you a break from them, seeing as Dean will never let you and Ben forget” and she shrugged and walked off. Yep the Mystery’s Solved.