****This is a story with a plot line. If you are looking for something to get your rocks off, this is not for you. This is also a m/m story. Again if this is not your cup of tea, the leave.
"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck".
I was trying my best not to have a heart attack as I paced the room at a speed which didn't help in calming my already racing heart beat. This was it. Today was the day that would either make me or break me. I had been waiting for this for...geez...three years now? Today was the day of my presentation to the board of directors that would either allow me to go ahead to Phase 2 or send me back to my laboratory to square one.
I had been working on Phase 1 of the project for about three years. I started as a lowly undergraduate student lucky enough to get a spot as an undergrad researcher in the most respected laboratory in the entire Biology department. How I landed this spot, I had no fucking idea, but I didn't complain, too much.
I started college right after I turned 18. Once there I had always known I wanted to major in Biology. The dynamics of the world around me has me completely enchanted. I landed a spot in the lab my sophomore year. At first I was just a tech; meaning I was stuck with slave duty cleaning beakers and making petri dishes. But I quickly moved up the ladder and became the lead researcher on the Kaolin project. Now for any who doesn't know what Kaolin is...it's clay. White clay. Extremely messy white clay. Phase 1 of my project was to isolate and determine the species of micro bacteria living in the clay causing it to spoil and therefore negating any use for the clay at all. This may seem fairly simple right? Wrong. It took me three years to develop the proper protocol for extracting the mirco organisms, grow them, and run their DNA through the system.
By the end of all the Phases, we should be able to easily identify and kill the micro organisms living in the Kaolin. This will save companies millions of dollars and help to also keep the environment clean by eliminating the waste. All in all, if things went well, I could make some serious money and earn a lot of respect and prestige in the scientific community.
My thoughts of all I that had been through were suddenly interrupted when the professor I had been working under burst through the door. He looked like he could kill someone at that exact moment, which would not surprise me in the least. He was in his fifties and had grey hair flecked with white streaks. He had cold grey eyes and a matching heart. He was Russian and spoke with a thick accent that took quite some time to get used to. I hated him.
"Ben, what you doing?! You talk in 5 minutes! I hope you are prepared, you better not embarrass me. I expect the best in my laboratory. You better......"
I tuned him out and just stared and nodded at him. He eventually left mumbling to himself in Russian. I rolled my eyes and sighed.
" Ha! As if I would embarrass you. I had to tell YOU everything about Phase 1. You hardly come to the lab, and when you do, it's to belittle me..." I huffed. That man made me crazy.
I sighed once more and headed to the door to present my speech. I stopped to look in the mirror before. Good thing I did. My hair was all over the place due to the fact I nearly had pulled it out just a few minutes ago. I did my best to tame the beast. Once satisfied, I drank in my appearance. I'm not going to lie; I was pretty good looking for a biology nerd. I stood about 5'11'' and had the body of someone who obviously took care of themselves. I played soccer and ran track in high school and continued through college so my body was extremely toned, but not overly muscular. I took pride in keeping in shape. I had jet black hair that looked to have blue tones in it with the right light that fell just past my shoulders. It complemented my ice blue eyes extremely well. I keep clean shaven due to the dangers of having facial hair in a lab (another tale for another time) and my skin was soft and pale. The only feature that blemished my face was a 4 inch scar that ran down my right cheek that I got from an explosion in the lab. It was light pink now and not too noticeable, as it looked like a small welt. The story about how I got it makes me laugh now; but at the time, it was terrifying. I wasn't at all bad looking for a 22 year old science buff, or any 22 year old for that matter.
I took in a deep breath and held it as I walked out of my room and into the conference area to face my future.
****
"Congratulations Mr. Johns. It seems all your hard work has paid off and there is enough proof to move onto Phase 2 of the project."
It felt like I could breathe again. I just stood there taking it in.
"We have some issues we would like to discuss with you of course. We would like for you to stay project leader and we feel as if you could best do that without the presence of Dr. Markov. He is of no use to us in this project. You would need to move to Michigan in order to have the proper equipment necessary to complete the project. We would pay for you to mover there and of course this would become your thesis for your PhD. We would pay for the entire cost of the tuition fees and give you a stipend of $50,000 a year as a salary. You will not be working for the school but for IMERYS, so you would report to us not them..."
After hearing about that much, I was lost in my thoughts. No more Dr. Markov? This was like a dream come true. And it kept getting better and better hearing all of the details of my new life. I was on Cloud 9.
"Mr. Johns?"
Crap. What had they asked me? "Oh, sorry. Could you repeat the question? I was.."
" Haha. Of course. I understand you had zoned out. This is a lot to take in. I asked if you would like to take the job?"
"Of course! Thank you so much for this opportunity!"
"Excellent. You need to be in Michigan in a week. I will have my assistant email you the details. I implore you to find a house immediately and begin packing. You will need to spend all of your time of this project. See you soon."
****
A few short, but whirlwind days later, I found myself in Ann Arbor, Michigan staring at the building in front of me. I still couldn't believe it. I pushed open the doors to the science building and walked into my new world. Here is where I would spend most of my days.
I had the key to my office and lab space and begin to look for them. I found it pretty quickly. When I opened the door, I looked at the most beautiful lab I had ever seen in my entire life. It made my previous lab look like a dungeon. The walls were white and in the middle of the room there were three large islands with black counter tops. There were tons of cabinets that were fully stocked with any chemical I could possibly ever need. The drawers of the islands were stuffed with beakers, pipettes, petri dishes, and pretty much any sort of disposable equipment I would need. The main room had a door on the left, which was my office, and also opened up into another room on the right that held all the machines I would need. An electron microscope, and PCR machine, qPCR machine..I could go on forever. I had died and was in biology heaven.
I stepped out of the lab and noticed the golden plaque hanging on the wall near the door.
"Mr. Johns, MS Microbiology. That's got a nice ring to it." I smirked thinking soon that MS will be a PhD. A small clearing of the throat caught my attention and I turned around to match a face to the sound.
"Mr. Johns?" a small Asian woman in her late forties asked.
"That's me. And you are...?"
"Forgive me. I'm Dr. Cho. I work in the Genetic lab down the hall. You can call me Ellen though. I just wanted to come and welcome the newbie. I have heard a lot about you!" she squeaked.
This woman was a fire cracker and I instantly knew we would be great friends. She was rambling on and on about how wonderful it is to see a new face around here and how she could show me around the campus.
I cleared my throat and she said "Oh sorry, dear, I know I must be talking your ear off by know. I'll let you be. "
I finally sat down in my office and began to surf the internet when I heard a noise in my lab.
"I have got to remember to lock that door." I said to myself as I opened the door to my office expecting to see Ellen again. I was pleasantly surprised. I opened the door and saw the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my entire life. He looked to be in his late twenties. Now I am pretty tall but he towered over me and stood at what I guessed to be 6'5''. He had chocolate brown hair and the greenest eyes I have ever seen. I want to say jade green, but that does not do them justice. He had a very strong jaw line and a perfectly sculpted nose. By looking at his chest and arms, it was obvious he worked out and kept in shape. He was wearing a black button up that showed off his arms and a pair of black slacks that made me very much to see what was underneath them.
