"So it comes down to a question of Hamlet's sanity." Chris Patterson turned to address the class. "After discovering his father's death was at the hands of his uncle, now King, not to mention seeing dad's ghost floating about the castle, which has got to make any normal person start to question their faculties," pause for laughter, "almost everyone in Denmark believed Hamlet to be mad. But Horatio never doubted his friend and even after Gertrude's strange little pseudo-seduction in her bedchamber, Ophelia's suicide and even the whole Rosencrantz and Guildenstern debacle, he believed in Hamlet and stood by him to the very end."
Chris moved away from his blackboard, closer to his class of third-year English Lit students and parked his weary behind on the edge of the desk. "And this is my challenge to you," he said with a smile as he watched once bright-eyed young adults now lowered their heads and closed their eyes in preparation for the inevitable homework assignment. "Two thousand words on whether you believe Hamlet was mad, or just really clever. Are you a true believer and take the side of Horatio, his trusted ally, or do you stand cynically in the corner with Polonius, Claudius and Laertes?" His almost imperceptible nod had become well known to his students by this point in their second term and as one the forty or so people listening began to gather their belongings and file out of the room.
"Questions by email or in person during office hours, please don't forget to pick up your assignment sheets on the way out!" He called to the rapidly exiting gaggle of student bodies as he began to wipe the board clean, his head starting to pound a little both from overuse and from the excessive amounts of caffeine he had consumed since his day had begun seven hours earlier. At twenty-six he was still fairly new to the world of university lecturing and the long hours had him reaching for the coffee more often that was strictly healthy.
"Doctor Patterson?" A quiet voice had Chris turn back in surprise to face the lecture hall again. He searched the now empty rows of chairs in an attempt to locate the speaker, his heart leaping into his throat when his eyes settled on the figure sitting to the left, four rows from the front.
"Jake, what are you still doing here?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady as he stepped closer to the young man sat staring so intently at him. "It's Friday afternoon. Go and enjoy your weekend."
"I am. I mean, I will," Jake replied with a shy smile. "I just...I have a question. About the homework."
"The homework." Chris parroted dumbly, then closed his eyes. Turning back to the blackboard and the task at hand, he began cleaning it with gusto. "I have office hours on Monday afternoon."
He was so intent on not paying attention to the only other person in the room, that when Chris had finished wiping the board a moment later he was certain that Jake had left. So it came as somewhat of a surprise when he turned around to gather his books and came face to face with the man himself.
"I have questions," Jake repeated as he stepped impossibly closer to the lecturer, causing Chris to suck in a deep breath and hold it as his heart began to pick up quite a pace. He took a step backwards to try and gain a little ground and a little room to think, but found his legs trapped against the side of the desk.
"Jake," He tried again, desperately trying to keep his voice from shaking. "Someone could come in here at any moment." But the younger man simply shook his head and smiled crookedly and Chris' heart leapt again.
Over the last six months of teaching this class he had tried, really tried not to pay attention to the twenty one year old God in the fourth row, but every class he taught it became harder and harder to ignore him. With his huge brown eyes, his sporty, but not overly muscular frame, and his hair the colour and style that Chris hadn't seen since his teenage years, masturbating frantically to images of Jared Leto in My So Called Life, each class had the lecturer practically on his knees. But it was the smile that had him hooked. This smile was the reason Chris made silly little jokes in class. Crowd pleasers that he knew would get a positive reaction from the students in his lecture hall. Every time he made a joke, his eyes would be drawn to Jake and the crooked smile that just made Chris melt.
Chris knew Jake was gay; had seen him once walking through campus holding the hand of some cute little blonde guy in a too-tight top and baggy jeans but the moment Jake had spotted him, he had let go of the hand as if to deny an attachment. The memory had always made Chris a little giddy and the attraction between the two of them had remained mutually electric but without resolution because for a student and tutor – well, even at degree level, they both knew it was wrong.
But something must have snapped inside Jake because there they were, at four on a rainy Friday afternoon in a dimly lit lecture hall, about to break all the rules.
Desperate for some kind of barrier to be placed between them, Chris raised his right hand and placed it in front of Jake's chest, desperate to touch but knowing that if he did, there would be no going back. Already he could feel the heat emanating from his student's body and that was temptation enough.
"What's your question?" He asked quietly, almost a whisper, as if any louder and the spell would be broken.
Jake nodded as if understanding Chris' need for some breathing space and took a small step back. He stood silently for a moment, regarding the other man with his piercing brown eyes before drawing himself up to his full height and took a breath. "It's about Hamlet's relationship with Horatio."
Chris cocked his head, almost disappointed that Jake really did have a question for him. Still, at least on this topic he could be sure of himself. "What about it?"
"With everything that Hamlet went through, and put his friend through because of it. I mean, the risks that Horatio took – he could have been arrested for treason. Do you think...I mean... is it possible...?"
Chris could see uncertainty in Jake's face, mixed with something that looked very much like true embarrassment. "Yes?" he asked gently, not wishing to push too hard, but suddenly desperate to know what Jake was getting at.
"Was Horatio in love with Hamlet?" Jake suddenly blurted out and immediately looked at his shoes as if ashamed for asking something so ridiculous.
Chris laughed. He couldn't help it. Not at the theory – it was a perfectly reasonable assumption, but Jake really did look priceless and entirely adorable at that moment. "Absolutely," he replied as he calmed his voice down to mere joviality. "There are a lot of theorists who've suggested as much. In fact, many believe the two of them were in a relationship for much of the play." Chris lowered his voice as if he were about to impart a great secret. "It's been the cause of much contention amongst Shakespearean scholars," he added conspiratorially.
"And what do you think?" Jake looked up at Chris and suddenly things didn't seem that funny anymore.
