Carter's Vanguard - 18. Chapter 18

It was a hot day, all Will had wanted to do was go home, but Andrew had been waiting in front of the school. Resting with his arms crossed leaning up against his car looking determined. It was a pleasant surprise, and on any other day Will would have been thrilled, but he was exhausted and mildly cranky from a long day.

"What's going on?" he asked, tucking his satchel under his arm, as he walked up to his boyfriend.

"Are you free to go to a meeting with me?" Andrew asked looking mildly hopeful, "Robyn bailed on me, and I kinda promised I'd be there."

"Meeting?" Will asked already pushing his satchel into the backseat of the car, straightening up to look over at Andrew.

"Yeah, down at the university." Andrew said, again being vague. Ordinarily Will would have picked up on his boyfriends evasiveness, but he was distracted as a couple of his students exited the school heading for their bus. Little Peter McCormick trailing a few steps behind.

Peter, recognizing Mister Carter shyly waved before he scampered to catch up to his friends.

"Sure," Will said to Andrew as he got into the passenger seat, staring thoughtfully after Peter as he undid his tie and rolled up his sleeves.

"Great," Andrew said, sounding relieved as he piled into the drivers seat, starting the car with a turn of the key and pulling out of the lot, "I think you might enjoy this. It'll do you some good."

"Mmhmm," Will stated, turning his head to follow Peter, who had been shoved aside by a couple of larger boys as he had tried to get onto the bus. The boy's head, bowed and his spirit broken yet again.

Will rubbed his eyes, his talk with Peter the day before hadn't done any good. And he had no idea what he could do next. It wasn't as if he could fight Peter's battles for him, it wasn't the kind of fight Will could ever hope to win. Sooner or later Peter would have to learn to stand up for himself, or he would be pushed around for the rest of his life.

"I'm glad you're coming," Andrew was saying, oblivious to the fact that Will wasn't listening to him, "I didn't want to go there alone. And..." he trailed off as he saw Will lost in his own thoughts, "Hey Carter, are you in there?"

Will shook his head and smiled, "Yeah, it's been a long day. You'll be happy to know I survived a full period in the same room with Coach Thorburn and I only thought about throttling him four times."

"You don't have gym this semester," Andrew said in surprise.

"He's sitting in on my second period history class, making sure I don't teach the kids that England won the Second World War."

Andrew looked confused, "I thought England did win the war..."

"Not the way Thorburn teaches it," Will said with a shake of his head in bemusement, "He seriously thinks that America beat England soundly and sent that fascist Churchill to one of his own concentration camps."

"I don't get it," Andrew said as the car entered the highway heading for downtown, "What about Hitler and Germany?"

"Oh that was the first world war," Will said affixing a pretty decent impression of Coach Thorburn, he even managed the displeased eye-squinting thing that was classic Thorburn.

Andrew laughed, "They don't pay him to be a history teacher." He said grinning, "He's a damn good gym teacher. One of the best coaches in the province too..."

"Yeah," Will said dryly, "You're just saying that 'cause he liked you. Those of us not gifted with the abilities of an Olympic god..."

"You think I'm an Olympic god?" Andrew asked with an even broader grin.

Will turned in his seat to look straight at his boyfriend, "Not tonight dear I have a headache."

Andrew pointed to the glove compartment, "I have Tylenol in there," his expectant grin growing broader.

Will opened the glove compartment and pulled out the bottle, he held it up and read the label, "Extra strength, fast acting..." he turned to Andrew, "Do I want to know why you have this in the car?"

"Well," Andrew said with a slight blush, "it's just in case you have a headache..."

"Uh huh, keep dreaming," he said with a grin as he slipped the bottle away, and turned up the radio, rolling down the window to enjoy the late spring evening.

He looked rather surprised when the car pulled into the University parking lot. Trying to remember why Andrew wanted him to come with him, drawing a complete blank he climbed out of the car and looked at Andrew thoughtfully.

Andrew was uncharacteristically nervous, distractedly looking about him as he adjusted the simple beige spring jacket he was wearing. Trying to make himself presentable, and Will found that odd, Andrew didn't get nervous.

"Everything okay?" Will asked in concern.

"Yeah," Andrew said as he smiled, "Come on we're going to be late."

They entered the large modern looking building that sat squarely in the middle of the campus. Will following Andrew's determined strides, glancing about him. It was his first time in Ottawa University and he wondered at how large it seemed. Especially compared to the rather small world of South Carleton High, the University seemed like a place where a person could just get lost and vanish into his own identity, no wonder people reinvented themselves when they went to University.

Andrew was walking with his casual loping strides, hands in pockets and looking as calm and in control as ever. Nodding to people he passed, even earning a few nods back. And that impressed Will, in just a few short days; Andrew had found a way to fit into his new university. Not just fit in, but also look as if he belonged.

They entered a large square area, with a small Tim Hortens at one corner, and Andrew gestured to it, offing Will a cup of coffee. Will was glancing around seeing a bunch of tables with people sitting at them, a couple were looking a little too closely at him.

"What kind of meeting is this?" Will asked accepting the double-double Andrew handed to him.

"It's...well... its..." Andrew grew very nervous.

Will had that sinking feeling in his stomach, "Andrew Pierre Highmore," he said in a low voice, calm and even like he used to keep his students under control, "what kind of meeting is..."

A strange looking man in glasses with papers in his hand walked over, his eyes sweeping over Will as if weighing up a shark. "This your boyfriend?" The guy asked Andrew, as if referring to a piece of property.

Will felt his hackles rising, something about this man rubbed him to wrong way.

"This is Carter," Andrew said, "Carter, RJ he's the director of the Pride Center."

"Pride center?" Will choked on his coffee, "As in Gay Pride?"

"Well pretty and he has basic observation skills," RJ said derogatorily, "He'll fit right in. You should take your seats we're about to get started."

Will blinked at how rudely he had just been treated, "Excuse..." he started to say, but Andrew was already tugging him towards the seats. Will seethed, "You dragged me to a Pride meeting without asking me? I mean don't I get a say in this?" Will demanded suddenly growing very uncomfortable.

"You get a say," Andrew said in that calming manner of his, "Front or back?"

Will glared at his boyfriend, "That isn't funny." He whispered as they sat down towards the back. "You know this sort of thing isn't my scene."

Andrew sighed, "It'll do us both some good, you know to have some gay friends."

"I have friends," Will murmured petulantly as he sat down folding his arms and glowering into his coffee mug.

"As much as Jared can't get a girl to save his life, he's not gay." Andrew replied, he actually enjoyed it when Will was grumpy. There was an endearing quality to it, a Brit grumpy and sarcastic was just a humorous sight, and he kept expecting Monty Python lines to be thrown about like holy hand grenades...

Will on the other hand was not amused in the slightest. But Andrew wanted this, so he was stuck. He figured, the least he could do was give it a chance and try to enjoy himself. There were a few attractive guys in the meeting, though none had Andrew's kind of good looks. And certainly the dress sense in the room wasn't what Will had come to expect from the stereotypical gay guy, wasn't there supposed to be a mandatory fashion requirement? Some of the guys looked like they shopped in the women's departments.

It really hit him then how little he knew about gay culture. Most of that was limited to stereotypes and what he saw on Television. He'd never even been to a gay bar. In fact aside from Andrew, he'd never had a conversation with another gay man until then. That was scary, that he'd just never even thought about it.

"Well," RJ was saying, "Linda and Kerry were thrown out of the sportsplex after they kissed in public. Apparently there is a policy," he accented the word by making his fingers act as quotation marks, "That they don't allow any body to do that. I think its just another example of a general rule put in place but only ever enforced towards gay people."

Will rolled his eyes; he looked at Andrew, who was frowning in concentration. Well at least Andrew was getting something out of this. He leaned over and whispered to Andrew, "What's the point to this?"

"Do you have something to say?" RJ asked in a haughty tone, as if upset at Will's interrupting him.

"I was just wonder," Will said, "what the point was? If someone asked me to stop kissing my boyfriend in a public place then we'd just move on..."

"Stand up," RJ said, now obviously very annoyed, "Have you ever been discriminated against? What do you do?"

Will blinked, "I'm a teacher, I teach grade Seven..."

"Any of the parents have a problem with you being gay?" RJ demanded.

"No..." Will said.

"Ahhh I see, so they're careful not to because you're gay..."

"No," Will said slowly and deliberately, "The fact that I'm gay has nothing to do..."

"The point is," RJ said no longer listening to Will, "Every one knows that we are still being discriminated against, that is any of us that bother to read the newspapers or watch the news or actually acknowledge the world around them rather than hiding in the closet." He turned back to Will, "You can sit down now." He said dismissively.

Will blinked, his jaw setting, who did this arrogant little piece of....

Andrew pulled him back down before he got up, "Hey," he said in a loud term, "Before you go dismissing someone like that, perhaps you should listen to what he has to say." Andrew was angry, seething that someone would treat Will that way. "He was just asking you why we have to make a big deal out of something that isn't a big deal at all. Arenas are usually places for kids, and the management usually enforces its policies on conduct equally. I know, I've been around arena's most of my life..."

"I forgot," RJ said turning, equally as angry, "Captain Amazing here used to play hockey. If you don't mind, some of us who are actually trying to do something for equal rights would like to finish our discussion."

Andrew looked apologetically down at Will, "Come on, we're leaving." He said firmly.

Will licked his lips, and from his seat he folded his arms, "No, no we're not." He said setting his shoulders and locking eyes with RJ, "We're staying."

Surprise flicked across Andrew's face as he looked about him uncertainly; sitting back down beside Will he gave him a questioning look.

RJ seemed puzzled himself, but instead flipped through some papers, "Well any way, I was thinking we should stage some kind of protest..." he faltered, his eyes kept darting back to Will who hadn't moved, only sat there a dark countenance on his face as he stared at him, "I was thinking something like a kiss in."

"What's a kiss in?" Devon asked skeptically from the front row.

"It's where we send couples to the arena and have them kiss, and see if the management can throw out all of us." RJ said still shuffling his papers.

"But," Devon looked confused, "Wouldn't that require couples?"

"Yes we send people in relationships." RJ said firmly.

"Ummm," Devon again looked skeptical, "As far as I know there's only one member of the Pride Center in a relationship right now..."

"Who?" RJ asked.

Devon looked pointedly across the room to where Andrew was sitting next to Will. The look on RJ's face would have amused Will greatly, were it not mirrored on Will's own at that moment. He looked desperately over to Andrew.

"No." he said with complete firmness.

Andrew nodded, "I think it's a dumb idea." He said.

"Too gay for you two?" RJ demanded, angry again that his idea was falling apart on him.

"Sorry we're just not gay enough for you." Andrew replied getting to his feet again, "But as Will said, there's no real point to this. You could get more accomplished by just talking to the management than by trying some publicity stunt that won't work."

"Yeah well you wouldn't," RJ seethed, "Its easy for you to judge something as having no point when you're used to sitting with the popular kids, you know, trying so hard to fit in." He sneered, "the rest of us in the real world don't have it so easy. It's people like you that used to beat people like us up."

Andrew shrugged, "You don't know me, you have no idea what I've been through. You're just as set to judge off appearances, that makes you no better than the people that beat you up."

"I judge based on appearances because that's the way I have always been judged, being picked on just because of who I fall in love with." RJ seemed oblivious to the other people in the meeting, throwing his anger out at Andrew, "You have no idea what that's like."

Andrew shrugged at him, "You're right I have no idea what you went through," he said glancing at Will, "That doesn't make me any less gay."