#final count is 50268

[kingofdirtandnothing]

@polyfacetious big ass Christmas Drabble Extravagaza: Day Twenty Five

“Archaeology is the search for...fact.” The sound of the chalk hitting against the chalkboard is loud in the quiet of the room, a percussive sound followed by the squeak of the letters being drawn out in big, capitalized block letters. The underline beneath it serves as emphasis before he turns back to face the class. “Not truth.”

In the back of the room, a young man sits with a New York Giants hat pulled low over his eyes. The voice coming from the front of the room is the same one that he remembers, though the scruffy undergrad that Wan Li knew all those years ago has aged like a fine wine into the talented orator in front of him. 

A suit and a bow tie is not something Wan would have ever been able to picture Indy in. The short shorn hair was another surprise. It made him look older. More professional. (The glasses, Wan remembers. Nights around the fire in India had given him a few glimpses of the man doubled over with glasses low on his nose, scribbling notes about the day’s finds. 

“If it’s truth you’re interested in, Dr. Tyree’s philosophy class is right down the hall.” There a low hum of laughter from the classroom at that, soft enough that it was obvious the sound was either polite or from people who didn’t want to detract from Dr. Jones’ words. “So forget any ideas you have about lost cities, exotic travel and digging up the world.”

Wan is the one who snorts at that, quiet enough in the back row of the auditorium that there was no way he was at risk of being heard. Leave it to Indy (Dr. Jones, that would take some getting used to) to stand in front of a class and tell them that their job wasn’t going to be adventure or truth seeking, when Wan had spent part of his early life doing just that with Indy. 

“We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and ‘X’ never, ever marks the spot.” It was true. The map only led them to the general direction, and there was no ‘X’ when they found the stones in the abandoned halls of Pankot Palace. Just dust and time and careful consideration from the man at the front of the classroom.

“Seventy percent of all archaeology is done in the library.” Another truth, though this one didn’t have as many facets as the rest of the spiel. When he was twelve year old out on an adventure, Wan had thought that Indy was infallible, that he knew everything. But in his time in America and beyond, Wan had learned the truth. Indiana Jones was neither infallible nor all knowing. He was just a diligent, well read men. 

That didn’t do anything to get rid of the boyhood crush Wan had been carrying around since then, and seeing Indy here with elbow patches on his jacket and his bow tie wasn’t doing much to help either.

“Research. Reading. We cannot afford to take mythology at face value.”

And that’s what Wan was doing here, wasn’t it? Refusing to take the myth of Indiana Jones at face value. He wasn’t a kid anymore. There was no way the man could be as sauve and infuriatingly charming as Wan remembered. He needed to look at the facts compared to his memory and find the truth there. 

Dr. Jones looks at the clock on the wall, and the class begins to shuffle, a susurrus of sound as laptops are closed and bags are lifted for things to be put away. He was a man of routine here, that much was obvious. 

“Next week: Egyptology. Starting with the excavation of Naukratis by Blinders Petrie in 1885. I’ll be in my office if anybody’s got any problems for the next hour and a half.” One of the girls from the front row slides a piece of paper across the desk towards Dr. Jones, and Wan doesn’t have to be able to see her face to know she’s giving him the bedroom eyes. 

At least it wasn’t just him.

Indy doesn’t look up at the highest seats in the auditorium as he grabs his books and makes his way towards his office. Wan already knows what he’ll find there. A mob of students, wanting everything from genuine help with their assignments, to an easy fix for their problems. And a few like the brunette from the front of the class who wanted a little one on one attention. 

And when Dr. Jones slips out of the window to his office as an escape route into the garden outside, Wan is there waiting, hands in his pockets. 

“They don’t pay your poor assistant enough.”

Dr. Jones is dusting off the knees of his slacks when he speaks, without looking up. “They don’t pay her at all.” He stands upright, and that smug look finally falls away. It’s been twelve long years since the last time they were in the same place, but Indy’s look says it all. “Shorty?”

Wan remembers staring up at the big brownstone and the older couple waiting on the steps, their fingers clasped together. The woman was on the verge of tears before Wan was ever introduced to her, and as soon as she knew his name, she took him into her arms and whispered ‘welcome to the family’ in Chinese. 

The Kings were never the ones to make Wan feel out of place. The other kids at his boarding school took care of that. Which meant Wan spent most of his middle school and high school years taking diction classes online and after hours until his accent was wiped away. He would never sound like he was from New York, but at least he would sound like he was American when someone spoke to him. 

“Long time no see, Dr. Jones.” Of course, Indy wasn’t Dr. Jones the last time that Wan saw him. He was still an undergrad student with a dream, working on writing the thesis that would help him get his doctorate. 

“Look at you, kid!” Indy’s laughter is warm, and so is his touch as he bustles up and pulls Wan into a hug, smacking his back affectionately as he squeezed him. It was the same kind of hugs that Wan remembered from being a kid, the kind that the sweet and gentle Kings never could manage to replicate. “What brings you all the way out to Monaco?”

The facts are that Wan is here for one reason, and one reason only. To see Indiana Jones with his own two eyes to try and finally put his boyhood crush to bed so that he could move on with his life. But the truth could be less than that and a little to the left, and still be true. “I decided to take a semester abroad.”

“Yeah? What are you studying?” Indy steps back, hands still on Wan’s shoulders as they talk. It’s still weird, being so close to him in height. He was used to Indy being monolithic, and larger than life. Now he was just a guy. 

A gorgeous, charming guy who held a whole class in the palm of his hand just a few minutes ago with an ease that should be criminal. 

“What do you think?” But it’s easy to fall back into this rhythm, to be the smart alec that Indy liked so much that he couldn’t leave him on the streets of Shanghai when it was time to move on. “Do I look like I’m here to be an accountant?”

Indy laughs, warm and low and pleased and Wan feels that same burst of childish pride that he did at twelve years old. He’s twenty four now, it shouldn’t still make him feel like he’s accomplished something to make the guy laugh. “Guess not.”

Wan glances over Indy’s shoulder and sees the door to his office start to open. He grabs the man by his sport coat sleeve and starts tugging him further into the garden and away from the office building. “Hurry, Dr. Jones. Before they find you and you actually have to help your students with their assignments.”

Indy mutters ‘har har’ but he lets himself be tugged along, out of the back end of the garden and into the parking lot of the adjoining building. There wouldn’t be any of Dr. Jones’ students here, this was the arts building. It was as close to a clean getaway as they were going to get. 

But Wan doesn’t stop walking when they get to the parking lot. He keeps striding towards the far end of the parking lot, and the quaint street on the other side of it. “Come on. You’re going to buy me lunch.” Wan isn’t asking. This was just an easy way to buy more time to get to know the man behind the myth. 

This was research. It didn’t always take place inside of a library. 

“Oh I am? And why’s that? How come you’re not buying me lunch, junior?” Indy strides to keep up, his face screwed up into faux indifference. “I’m the one who took you all around the world. The least you can do is repay the favor with a patty melt.”

Wan rolls his eyes. He knows he’s being wound up, but he’s never been able to stop himself from falling right into the argument. “You make it sound like it was a vacation! It wasn’t a vacation! We got shot at in Macau!”

“Oh, that was one time!” Indy is walking right up beside him now, shrugging out of his suit jacket to throw it over his shoulder before he starts in on his bow tie. “You always bring up Macau. What about the car you stole in Shanghai, huh? Prepubescent grand theft auto is no big deal, but one little scuffle over grave robbing and you clutch your pearls!”

The conversation devolves into a petty argument, and by the time they’re stepping into the diner down the street from the campus, it’s entirely in Chinese. The bewildered waitress looks between the two of them before she clears her throat, and it’s like watching a curtain lifted over Indy. (Or dropped. Wan isn’t sure what is an act and what isn’t.)

Indy turns a charming smile on the woman, clearing his throat. “Sorry about that honey, you know how kids can be.” Wan makes a face behind Indy’s shoulder, and he knows that the man can feel it. Kids. It’s not like he was twelve years old anymore. “Table for two, please. Actually, can you make that a booth? Thanks, sweetheart.” Indy wouldn’t be able to get away with talking to women like that if he wasn’t so damn handsome.

The woman blinks at him, trying to decide if she was charmed or offended before she shakes her head, leading them over to a booth in the corner. Indy sits in the far side of the booth, so that he can watch the room at large. Still careful, even if he wanted to pretend he wasn’t. 

“So.” The sentence stops long enough for the waitress to bring them both cups of coffee, and take their order. As promised, Indy orders a patty melt and fries. Wan orders a BLT. It makes him miss the food they used to eat when it was just the two of them. Whatever the locals were having, bright and fresh flavors in everything they had. “What made you decide to come here for your semester abroad?”

Wan doesn’t have a good answer for that. At least not one that doesn’t include pointing out to Indy that he’s here for him, and him alone. “Why not? Mom and Dad were paying and the Archaeology program had an open slot here.” One that Wan has been applying to every three months for the last two years. 

Indy’s expression softens at ‘mom and dad’. Wan knows how worried he was when he left him in New York with the King family. But Dr. Jones was a good judge of character and the Kings were a kind, loving couple who couldn’t have kids of their own. They folded Wan into their life without a moment’s hesitation. 

“And then I saw your name on the website. I thought I might sit in on your class. Maybe I could get a good nap in.”

Indy rolls his eyes, and parrots Wan’s favorite old phrase back at him. “Ha ha. Very funny.”