Chapter Text
Hayden, Jackie, and Shane have been having dinners together for years, since before they knew about his boyfriend – now husband – and before they knew that it was Ilya Rozanov. Whom Hayden found irritating and egotistical at the time; though truthfully the opinion hasn’t changed much. Hayden doesn’t hate Ilya as much as he used to. By now, he was sure that Ilya wasn’t playing a shitty practical joke, or black mailing Shane into a fake relationship. By now, he knew Ilya loved Shane and Shane loved Ilya, for all his faults. And Ilya had plenty. He was brash, loud, sarcastic, and pretty much just an all-around asshole. He had toned down most of his worst qualities since Hayden found out about their relationship, and actually became a really good uncle to his kids. He was good with them, which endeared Hayden to him far more than he would have liked. It helped that Jackie and Ilya seemed to get along well too.
“So,” Hayden spoke up, breaking the silence of their dinner. “I heard something interesting at school today.”
“Oh, did you finally learn something?” Ilya responded. Still an asshole.
“Actually, I did.” Hayden put his fork down. He knew he had a royal flush, so Ilya’s bluff didn’t bother him. “I learned that our resident good boy, Professor Shane Hollander, is cheating on his husband.”
Silence filled the room. Shane’s face was a ripple of confusion and shock, followed by dismay and betrayal. Ilya on the other hand was stoic. His eyes were boring into Hayden’s soul. Hayden could feel the anger coming from him.
“Hayden!” Jackie snapped. Hers was the only face he was not looking at. This was a calculated risk, and all Hayden had to do was withstand Jackie’s disappointment in him for a few minutes. He put a hand on her arm and squeezed it, letting her know he’s listening but to also be patient.
“Apparently,” Hayden continued, “a group of history students were out at some restaurant, and they saw their professor with someone in a secluded corner booth.” Hayden looks pointedly at Shane, who looks murderous, “Naturally, they assume it’s his mysterious husband whom no one seems to know anything about. And of course they’re curious, so they start trying to get a good look at the man who is in the booth with our beloved Shane. To their dismay, they find out that they were wrong. It’s not Shane’s husband.” Pause for dramatic affect. “It’s just Professor Rozanov.” The entire table looks at him with nothing but confusion. Ilya’s anger has subsided, though he does look to be about five seconds away from calling Hayden an idiot. Hayden cuts him off at the pass.
“But then!” Hayden leans his hands on the table, “They kiss. Their gentle but strict Professor Hollander kisses the known philanderer Professor Rozanov! Can you imagine their shock and confusion? Professor Hollander was always so kind, and yet he goes and cheats on his husband? With Rozanov?”
The moment of silence that followed wasn’t as heavy as the initial one had been, which had been filled with shock and confusion. No, this one was entirely fueled by bafflement. Ilya’s loud snort of a laugh broke the silence. He leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh, followed by a light chuckle.
“Oh my god. They think Shane is cheating on me with me?” Ilya spoke loudly. Shane looked at Ilya, eyebrows scrunched together.
Hayden finally glanced at Jackie, who clearly was going to talk to him about this later, but currently looked like she was trying not to laugh.
Walking into class on Monday morning, Shane was feeling a mix of emotions. He knew he shouldn’t feel good about embarrassing a bunch of young adults, but also, what a wonderful way to teach his student a lesson. As the clock struck 9:00 exactly, Shane opened the slides to begin class and cleared his throat.
“Today, we are going to start with a review of some materials, then a short discussion, then we will move onto the next chapter.” Shane flipped the slide on the projector to one he had shown very early on in the semester. Critical Thinking in Research it read. “We will be reviewing proper research procedure.”
Shane had the slides memorized. He went through them with every class, at every level, to ensure all his students knew what he expected of them and how to deduce and use reliable sources. Every student had access to the slides, and were encouraged to keep them for future use. None of it was complicated, and Shane knew none of it should be new to anyone taking his courses, but apparently a refresher was necessary. The slides were filled with statements, questions, or hypotheticals. What is the claim? Who is making this claim? Do they have personal biases? What is the source of the claim? Do they have data? Is it scientific or anecdotal? Where did it originate? Can it be substantiated? Is the source reliable? How can you tell it’s reliable? Is the claim an interpretation of data? Of human experience? On and on. Not every question needed to be answered, but knowing the kinds of questions to ask was imperative to critical thinking, to be cognizant of the world and its psychological pitfalls.
As Shane finished quickly flipping through the slides, he stood up from where he had seated himself at his desk, and moved over to the rolling white board.
“Now that we have finished our review, I would like us to put it to work,” He spoke to the class, “I have written a claim on the board. Using what we just reviewed, discuss my claim with those at your tables and within the next few minutes, determine if this claim is true or false, and write down three issues with confirming your determination that may be used to argue the other side.”
Shane looked around the room, all eyes on him, it seemed everyone was listening. He rolled the front white board away from where he had written his claim before class had started, and watched as the looks of intent listening shifted to a variety of unsettled expressions. Shane turned to the board, where in large black writing it said,
Professor Shane Hollander is cheating on his husband with Professor Ilya Rozanov.
Shane smiled and looked back at his class. “Any questions?”