Zach hadn’t received any messages from Shane that morning. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Surely Shane would contact him if he was actually fired, though. He was probably just busy and stressed. Zach wanted to do what he could to make his day easier, so he had decided to bring him some lunch. He’d texted to make sure he arrived at the right time, and grabbed some takeout barbecue from the best little shack in town. Who didn’t enjoy some old-fashioned Texas comfort food?

He had to sign in and show ID before he was allowed past the front lobby of the school, but he managed to sweet talk his way into getting a visitor’s pass. He had to ask directions from a student wandering by, but soon he was walking up to the classroom Shane used for his science classes. He peeked in through the little window in the door to make sure he hadn’t gotten the times mixed up. It’d be embarrassing as heck to interrupt a class. Thankfully, it looked mostly empty.

Shane looked up from the paperwork on his desk when he stepped in, flashing an oddly flustered smile. “Hey, wow, you really came.”

“Did you think I was just going to taunt you with fresh delicious food and not come through?” Zach asked, brows raised. “You should know by now that I enjoy feeding you.”

The teacher chuckled softly. “Yeah, I know. I’m gonna get fat at this rate.” He leaned over to sniff at the bag of food. “Oh my god, that smells so good. Way better than the soup I brought.”

“Eat up,” he insisted while pulling out the wrapped pulled pork sandwiches, along with small styrofoam containers of sides and plastic silverware. He’d even brought a nice cold sweet tea.

Shane unwrapped his sandwich and grinned up at Zach. “I love a man with some big juicy buns. Especially when they’re stuffed with meat.”

Zach coughed shyly, then dragged over a chair so he could sit down on the other side of the desk.

“Bet you do.” He cleared his throat. “Tell me how your day has been?”

“It’s been…” Shane took a hungry bite of sandwich, chewing as he thought over the words. Once he’d swallowed, he continued with a more serious sigh, “It’s been hard. The superintendent was here waiting for me, when I came in this morning.”

He frowned worriedly. “Yeah? But… you’re still here, at least?”

“By the skin of my teeth,” Shane grumbled. “He was five seconds from kicking me to the curb, but then this group of old ladies swept in and rescued me.” When Zach’s brows bumped upwards in surprise, Shane chuckled and continued. “Yeah, I know. I was kind of blown away too. It was apparently a group of women from his church? I only spoke to one of them, myself. Her name was Cora.”

“Oh!” Zach’s eyes brightened. “Wow, yeah. There’s this church group of older women that are like, crazy supportive of the community. Cora runs one of the biggest farms outside of the city, so is like… this big matriarch of the town. Everyone knows her, pretty much. They’re a kooky bunch, but really sweet.”

“Seemed like,” Shane agreed, before taking another bite of barbecue. “Anyway, they were talking to him like he was some spoiled brat. He was so mad. It was amazing. I guess they must have put the fear of God into him, because he came back a couple of hours later and said that I could stay—for now. But… it still seems kind of obvious he’s looking for any excuse to fire me. So I dunno… It’s still really stressful.”

“I can imagine.” Zach nodded slowly. “But it’s good he’s not gone through with it yet. The pressure on him is only going to build as the article gets around more. The longer he waits, the worse he’s going to look if he does it.”

“Hm. Yeah, I guess so.” Shane licked sauce off of his lips. “Even if he does, I’ll deal with it. For now I just gotta take things one day at a time, I figure. On the plus side, I haven’t gotten any death threats yet.”

“That’s… good?” Zach agreed grimly, poking at some mac and cheese with a plastic fork. “Though I hope that doesn’t happen, either.”

“To be honest, I’ve just ignored my social media since yesterday. It’s been too stressful to deal with. I’m more worried about the kids, anyway.”

“Have they said anything…?” Zach asked worriedly.

Shane shook his head. “I haven’t seen Jesse or Millie yet today. Usually they come in here to eat lunch…”

As if on cue, the door to the classroom opened again, and both men looked up to watch several teenagers slip inside—Jesse and Millie among them, holding each other’s hands. Jesse had a small camera hanging around their neck. They all had some food they’d snuck out of the cafeteria or had bought from vending machines.

“Speak of the little devils,” Shane muttered, but was smiling with concern towards the couple. “How are you two?”

The teens exchanged a glance, and it was Jesse that spoke up, and even smiled. “We’re doing okay. There’s a lot of haters, but… we’ve both actually gotten contacted by a lot of awesome people, too.”

“Yeah,” Millie agreed. “We’re not, like, interrupting some romantic lunch date, right?”

“No, no, not at all,” Shane assured, waving his plastic fork. “Please, sit. What’s been going on? Is everything all right?”

The group of teens moved to sink into chairs while Jesse perched on top of a desk. “Well… I guess the article is starting to go viral? There’ve been a lot of kids that have sent us messages, like… thanking us. People going through similar things, you know? From all over Texas, and other places. And people telling us they’ve always been afraid to come out at school and stuff. So like… it’s been hard, but weirdly satisfying?”

“Yeah,” Millie agreed. “And Jesse’s mom gave them a camera, so we’re going to start recording everything—whenever someone harasses us or a teacher is shitty, we’re going to record it. That’s legal in Texas, ‘cause it’s like… a one-party consent state. I looked it up online. So long as Jesse says it’s cool, it’s legit. And with it we’ll have more proof to show to the Board of Education that it’s going on. Then hopefully they’ll actually do something about it—though I told Jesse we should just put it online, now that people are actually paying attention.”

Jesse chuckled. “That’s just you wanting to start more drama,” they teased affectionately.

These kids really had come a long way since Zach had interviewed them. They had seemed so hesitant, beaten down and afraid. But now they were taking initiative to assure they would be treated fairly, not just for their sakes, but to represent other children in similar circumstances. It was beautiful to see them grow up in such a short time.

“I think it’s an amazing idea,” Shane said, smiling widely. “I’m really proud of you two.”

“Thanks, Mr. H,” Jesse mumbled shyly. “We figured with you sticking your neck out like that, we should really take advantage of the opportunity.”

“I was happy to do it,” he replied, shaking his head.

Zach looked between Shane and the kids, relief washing over him. Maybe they’d all be all right after all. If nothing else, seeing them come together to support each other was incredibly heartwarming. He was honored to have contributed to it.

This was exactly why he had become a journalist.

Jesse focused on Zach, rubbing their arm sheepishly. “And, uh… thank you. For getting me Harrison’s number. I’ve been texting him the past couple of days. It’s been really cool. I never would have thought there’d be someone kinda like me in this town. Like, Harrison is trans and I’m agender, but… he gets it.”

“There’re a lot more people around you that understand what you’re going through than you’d think,” Zach replied softly. “But you’re welcome. I’m glad it worked out for you. It really seemed like Harrison wanted to help.”

“Yeah. He’s been great. Anyway—yeah. Thanks.” They smiled shyly, then received an encouraging shoulder bump from Millie.

“Aaaanyway,” Millie spoke up. “You two should continue your totally not-romantic lunch date. We’ll be over here. Totally not eavesdropping.” She snagged Jesse’s hand with a smirk, then moved with the other students to cluster around a table in the back corner of the room, to give the two adults some “privacy” while they ate and chatted.

Shane eyed them with amusement for a moment, then smiled at Zach. “Guess I shouldn’t worry so much after all.”

“See? Things are looking up.” He grinned.

“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Shane said, scooping up the rest of his sandwich to finish off. He watched Zach as he chewed, looking like there was something on his mind.

Zach eyed him in return, but finished off some more of his own food too, giving Shane some time to speak up on his own.

Eventually he was rewarded when Shane cleared his throat, looking flustered again. It was an odd look on the man, but pretty cute. Usually Shane always looked pretty confident and laid back, but maybe the stress was just getting to him.

“Do you think your week will be busy?” Shane finally spoke up, sounding nonchalant.

He’d expected a more serious question based on how he was acting, so blinked in surprise for a moment before replying. “Not too much. I’m working on this one story… This auto mechanic shop is rebranding itself, with a new flower shop that just opened beside it. Already done the interview, so going to write it up today. Otherwise—I’ll probably try to slip in a follow-up piece if the Board does end up changing their mind.”

Shane perked a brow. “Huh. You can get your oil changed and buy some fresh flowers? Kind of a weird combo, but hey, sounds like it’s crazy enough to work.” He poked at some baked beans. “There’s a Board of Education meeting going on this Friday afternoon… So hopefully we’ll know by then, at the latest. The Winter Formal is that evening, so surely they’ll give us an answer. Either way, I’m on chaperone duty for the Formal.”

Zach nodded while continuing to watch him curiously. “That’s good. Going to get dressed up and everything?”

Shane chuckled. “Don’t have much of a choice. Got an old suit I can wear, thankfully. It’s going to be pretty nice, I think. They’re having it at this old place—Moore Heritage House, or something.”

Zach froze. Moore Heritage House was a historical landmark, but also a space that could be rented out for personal or community use. It also happened to be where he had nearly married Noah. It was beautiful, but the thought of returning there made him feel uneasy.

Shane looked briefly worried, but before the teacher could ask what was wrong, Zach spoke up again. “That’s great. But um, why’d you ask if I was busy?”

“Well…” Shane bit his lip, then smiled wider. “I was wondering if you maybe… wanted to get together sometime this week. Like, um… a date?”

“Oh.” Zach felt his face warm, but he couldn’t repress the wide grin spreading across his face at the thought of going on another date with Shane. A real one, that hopefully would go a lot better than their first. “Definitely. I can find some time.”

“Maybe Wednesday or Thursday?” Shane asked with relief.

There were some echoes of giggles from the teens’ back table, which just made him blush deeper.

He rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to glance over his shoulder towards the giggles. “Yeah, sure. Just tell me a time, and where, and I’ll be there.” 

“All right.” Shane poked at his food sheepishly, though he was now smiling. 

Zach returned the smile, though after a glance at the clock he had to scarf down the rest of his food quickly. 

“I should probably get back to the office,” he said after he’d wiped off his face. “But I’ll talk to you soon?” 

“You’d better,” Shane teased, sitting straighter as Zach stood. “Thank you for bringing lunch to me. It was great.” 

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it. Just figured you could use a good meal.” He grabbed up trash to tidy up, stowing away the garbage in a bin in the corner. “Let me know if anything else happens?”

“I will. See you, Zach.” 

He nodded, then gave a wave over to the kids’ table, receiving a few in return before he headed out and towards his car, already looking forward to the next time he’d see Shane.