Dinner finished quickly, and if it wasn't for their waiter continually checking in on them asking if they needed anything, Alan was sure they could be here talking for hours. Eventually, they finished their food and the waiter left them their bill.
"Here's for that promise," Shane joked, moving it towards him and taking out his wallet.
"Oh, you really don't need to do that. I don't mind splitting it. It's fine," Alan said, already taking his wallet out to take out some cash.
Shane looked amused. "Oh, no, I'm really more than happy to."
Alan placed some bills at the center of the table anyways. "Don't worry about it."
Shane hesitated, something like uncertainty and surprise on his face before he turned it into a smile. "Well, I owed you for the Peruvian food."
Alan lowly hummed. It seemed that Shane was insistent, but so was he -- although he didn't want to push it too far.
"Alright. Well, at least let me cover the tip," he said, landing on a compromise instead.
Shane nodded, looking relieved as he took out a credit card. "Deal," he said with a laugh.
Not long after, they finished paying up and then left the restaurant. It was still evening, and the sun was beginning to hang low in the sky. The streets were livelier than before, but Alan didn't plan on taking him around Boston. They had to get on the train to Cambridge, which wasn't too far off, although he did have to do extensive research ahead of time since he didn't take this route often.
Of course, he didn't tell Shane any of the plans. Yet.
"This way," he said as he led Shane away from the main downtown strip and back towards the main station they passed earlier on, just a block over. Alan spoke again before Shane could ask too many more questions, because he saw the look of intrigue on his face. "Your parents went to Ivy and Harvard, right? Which parent went to which school?"
"My dad was the Ivy student, and my mom went to Harvard," Shane said.
"Have you ever visited the Harvard campus before?" Alan asked.
Shane looked up, like he was recalling old information. "I've seen it, but I've never been on a tour of it. Have you?"
"I've only passed it, really. Back when I was a freshman and getting a grasp on the new city. Plus, naturally, I was curious to compare it to Ivy's campus." He gestured to the subway entrance, glancing over to him with a smile. "We're taking the Red Line there, by the way."
Shane's look turned more curious, scanning Alan's face again, before he laughed and went with him down the subway steps. "Got it."
They both scanned their way through the gate, and Alan followed the signs towards Cambridge, following the northbound train. Conveniently, the train was already ready to be boarded when they arrived, so they rushed in and sat down. Surprisingly, it wasn't as busy as he thought it would be. Maybe they got lucky.
It was only a fifteen minute ride, and Alan resumed conversation as normal.
"What's your family like?" he asked. "I know how they met, and that your mom is Greek and went to Harvard, and your dad is Irish and went to Ivy. They seem like great people, but I'm curious to know what they're like-- in your own words."
Shane laughed. "They are both great people, yeah." He shifted his position to face Alan a little more. "My mom was born in Santorini, but her family moved to NYC when she was five, I think. She works at Amazon, like a lot of the people in Seattle. She's really cool. I'm pretty close to her, which is probably part of being an only child, I guess. I got a lot of my love of history from her, because she took me to museums a lot. She probably didn't know she'd be making me a historian, but I think she's happy she did."
"I think it's really lovely that she had a great influence on you," Alan said, then paused. "You said she works at Amazon? Does she work in their offices?"
"Systems and software engineering," Shane explained, before he added with a chuckle, "She did not instill that interest in me at all."
"Oh wow, yeah, that's pretty different," Alan said. He was surprised of the stark difference in the types of career paths they took. "What about your dad?"
Shane paused. "Funnily enough, he does the exact same work, just at Microsoft. They have a relationship of friendly, light-hearted rivalries, as you can see."
Alan let out a breathy laugh. "Seems that their rivalries transcend their schools. How does it feel studying history while being the child of two competitive software engineers?"
"I guess it seems like they would have guided me towards their careers or at least something in STEM from the sound of it, right?" Shane laughed. "It would be funny if I'd gone down that road and then had to flip a coin for a choice between Amazon and Microsoft. But no, they really let me choose for myself. Of course they exposed me to computer science growing up, but they also taught me about their cultures-- my cultures, I guess-- and showed me a lot about the world and how it came to be that way through its past. Apparently, I was more curious about that than about whatever a computer could do."
"Wow, that's really interesting. I'd never would have guessed that your parents were software engineers. It's great that they were supportive of your different career path, although they did seem to guide you in that direction anyways," Alan said with a smile.
"Yeah," Shane said, grinning shyly. "Does the rest of your family play music, too? I remember that your brother doesn't."
"Oh, yes," Alan said eagerly with a bigger smile, his thoughts drifting to his parents. "My story is opposite of yours. My parents are both musicians. My mom -- maybe unsurprisingly -- plays piano and sings. She performs with a group and also by herself, usually at jazz clubs or bars. My dad -- also unsurprisingly -- plays violin, but he also knows the other string instruments well. He's a luthier and has a violin shop, but also gives private lessons. They may not play the same instruments, but they did meet each other through music."
Shane laughed. "You picked up two different instruments, one from each parent. I had two parents doing the exact same thing and took after neither. That really is an opposite story."
"It is ironic, isn't it?" Alan said with a grin. "It wasn't like I purposefully wanted to play both, though. My mom taught me piano when I was really young, so I grew up learning it, and I didn't mind it. The violin was more of a free will choice that I made when I was old enough to have actual opinions on things."
"It's a good thing you didn't flip a coin between them," Shane joked. "You got really good at both."
Alan let out a breathy laugh, shaking his head. "Lucky me, I guess. Although, I still have a lot to learn. Playing with other Ivy students is definitely a humbling experience."
Shane hummed in agreement. "Have you got plans to play in an orchestra one day, after Ivy? That sounds like it'd be amazing."
"You mean professionally? Like to be paid to play rather than pay to play?" He scoffed, but shook his head, still smiling. "That's the dream. I'd love to one day play in the New York Philharmonic. It's competitive -- but it's still the dream."
"The New York Philharmonic? That's a really great symphony, and a wonderful dream too." Shane matched his smile. "I'll cross my fingers for you, but I'm sure I won't have to. It's bound to work out for you."
Shane was being very kind, offering compliments and encouragement to Alan -- although he knew that he didn't hear him play yet. When they first met, Shane did mention that he heard his solo during the previous performance season, but that was when Alan was sitting at the second violin section, which he felt was not indicative of his capability. Shane hadn't heard him play a worthy solo -- yet. Alan wondered when would be the next best time to let Shane listen in.
"Thanks. I hope so," he said with a smile. "What about you? What's your professional dream?"
Shane chuckled, almost nervously. "I guess-- well, I know I want to be a historian. It's just a matter of the steps to get there and what that looks like. It means grad school, either a Master's or PhD program, and from there... I'd like to go into historical research and interpretation, write papers or maybe even a book. It feels a bit vague next to your dream, I'll admit."
"I don't think that's a bad thing at all. Everyone's dreams look a little different from one another. I think it's lovely that you have different possible branches you'd be happy to take. Each one sounds fulfilling in their own way, and it's uniquely yours."
Shane's smile spread a little wider. "Thanks. That's helpful to hear, actually."
They eventually made it to their last train stop, and Alan led Shane out of the train station. He made a few turns, not revealing the destination yet -- although it started to feel obvious since Alan was taking him through Harvard's campus. There were some students passing by, but for the most part, the campus was more empty than usual since it was Friday evening.
Finally, Alan turned one last time until they were in front of the large brick building, standing in front of the double doors.
"We're here," Alan announced, gesturing to the sign that read Harvard Museum of Natural History. "You said you preferred to learn new things outside your areas of study, didn't you?" He smiled and held up two tickets for Shane to see. "I know the coin flip wanted you to stay away from Harvard, but turns out, they open the museums to late hours once every month. Today is that day."
Shane's gaze flicked between Alan, the tickets, the doors, then back to him, green eyes shining with excitement. "I have to say, you're on point with these surprises," he said with a grin and a laugh.
"I think you bring it out of me." He beamed, offering Shane one of the tickets. "Ready to go in and spend our Friday night learning about the world together?"
Shane was quick to nod and accept the ticket, grinning even brighter. "I couldn't think of a better way to spend it."
They went through the double doors, stopping in front of the museum map, and Alan let Shane choose an exhibit to start on. After a few moments of thinking, Shane suggested they start with the evolution exhibit of fossils and skeletons, and they went up the marble staircase to find it.
The room was wide and tall to allow for the towering displays of long dead dinosaurs, mammals, and sea creatures to stretch to the ceiling. Shane first drifted to the central display-- an impressive structure of bones that made up what had once between a large, predatory dinosaur. Its jaw was now split in a silent roar.
"I think it must have been really surprising for the first person who found one of these," Shane remarked, tearing his gaze away from the dinosaur and back to Alan with a smile. "We only know about extinct animals because of their bones, so what must they have made of this? A sign of a past that no one could have imagined?" He shook his head. "It might have been scary, but that seems like such an exciting discovery. Breakthroughs like that don't happen often."
Alan hummed, placing his hands in his pockets as he lifted his gaze from Shane back to the dinosaur. It really was a spectacle and a fascinating point of history, and it was amazing that this could be put up on display millions of years later so they could have this conversation.
"It is amazing, isn't it?" he mused, pausing for a moment to think. "I imagine that whoever discovered the first dinosaur bones had more questions than answers. It would be haunting, I think, to discover ancient remains and not understand its history. It makes the world feel bigger, and your place in the world smaller."
Shane nodded. "It's so hard to grasp the magnitude of millions of years of time. This might have been one of the world's first glimpses at how far back history goes."
"And they likely thought, 'What else used to roam the Earth, and how long ago was this?' I think fossils are a good snapshot in time to tell us select information of the past, but there's also an element of luck," Alan went on. "Not everything that was once alive can be preserved. What other species existed that we don't know about because they decayed before they could tell their story? What crucial piece of history went unwritten and was therefore forgotten? And most importantly, did any other life forms think the same thought, or will think the same thought, millions of years in the past or in the future, because the universe is so vast, and time is so limitless?" Alan smiled and shook his head. "Food for thought."
Shane smiled again, laughing softly. "I would love to know the answers to those. I doubt I'd figure those out, but I'm already learning tonight, about new ways to see the world, and about you." He then pointed to the exhibit sign with a grin. "With some fun dinosaur facts thrown in, for good measure. Apparently, these ones hunted in packs of ten to fifteen."
Alan found himself grinning as well. "Funny. I'm pretty sure I took you to the museum to learn about the Earth's natural history, not about me. But that can easily change." He gestured to the same exhibit sign. "For instance, I usually hunt in a pack of two, including myself."
Shane laughed. "Perfect. It seemed like we were hunting knowledge." He scanned the sign for a moment longer before he looked back at Alan. "If we're here for more than natural history, the exhibits aren't the only thing with history here. Can I ask for a piece of your history?"
Alan smiled, letting out an airy laugh. "Of course. What do you want to know?"
Shane thought for a moment, tilting his head to the side with a slight smile. "Let's see. What's something that's haunted you? That can be in the good way, as we know, of course."
It took half a second for Alan to remember their past wordplay with the word haunting, and he nodded, wondering if he ought to say an actual haunting memory for the irony. Instead he slowly nodded, quickly thinking through a few options. There were a couple memories that came to mind, but considering this was a date, he didn't want to share anything insensitive, too personal, or negative.
Alan finally smiled and met Shane's captivating green eyes when he decided on an answer. "That's a complex question, but I have a simple answer for you: it would be when I played my first violin solo. I was fourteen and it was for high school orchestra, and thinking back on it now, it really wasn't that impressive, but it did feel like a turning point for me. I was quite proud of it at the time."
Shane nodded, smiling softly. "That must have been a really lovely moment. What about it stuck with you?"
Alan briefly tilted his head up to think. "Hmm. It was my first time being in the spotlight in front of an audience. I practiced hard for it, and I felt like it paid off. Both my parents also attended, which was rare, so it felt extra special. And since they're both musicians, they were very proud." He turned his attention back to Shane with another smile. "But most importantly, that was when I came to the conclusion that I wanted to pursue violin professionally."
Shane grinned. "That's wonderful. I'm glad you had that moment, and the world of music must be glad too. It sounds like it was pretty defining."
"It definitely was," Alan said, still with the wide smile, pausing for a brief second but continuing on before Shane could say anything else. "What about you? What's your life's haunting?"
Shane paused to think, but he didn't seem surprised that the question was being returned. "It's of a different nature, I guess," he said. "There was a summer when I was ten that my family went on a vacation to a lake, out by the Pacific coast. We rented a cabin by the lakeside and stayed there for about a week. One of those days, I was out by the water, and my dad was out on the other side of the house, making smoked salmon for dinner-- that's my favorite food. It smelled so good." Shane hesitated, chuckling for a moment. "It's also a grizzly bear's favorite food, and one of them must have smelled it too, because a bear showed up in the yard while I was out there."
Alan painted the picture in his head as Shane went on, making sure to note his favorite food. At the last sentence, he raised his brow in concern and curiosity. "This is a memory that's a good haunting, right?"
"It is, it just starts out a little dramatic," Shane assured him, nodding quickly. "I saw the bear, but I didn't know what to do. It was starting to move towards me, because I was between it and the food, but I couldn't seem to move. I'd seen bears in zoos before, but they all seemed so small next to this one. I was scared, but I couldn't scream out of fear or for help." Shane paused again, with a slightly distant look in his eyes as he pursed his lips together thoughtfully. "I don't know how, but my dad noticed and came running from around the house, picking me up in his arms and lifting me off the ground. He broke all the rules when it comes to bear encounters-- he ran towards it, he was loud and shouting, he confronted it directly-- but somehow, the bear backed off and ran away. It didn't come back." Shane shook his head as if to clear it, chuckling quietly. "I hardly understand it, but I remember it clearly. My dad totally would've fought off a grizzly bear for me."
"Wow," Alan said in awe when he finished. "That's quite a story. Your dad was brave and acted so fast. I can see how that would be a thrilling but also a scary memory."
Shane nodded, laughing again. "It's one I don't share all that much, because it would rarely ever come up, but it does make for a good story, I guess. I have a lot about my dad, but this is one of the best ones. It's definitely stayed with me."
Alan smiled, admiring how Shane talked fondly of his father. "It's a good one. I'm sure he thinks the same thing and retells the story with pride. Do you think it's also one of his core memories?"
Shane's smile seemed to slip just the slightest amount before it brightened again, but this time it looked more wistful. "I think it would be, yeah."
Alan's smile and gaze lingered, noticing how Shane seemed to be lost in thought, possibly thinking through more memories with his dad.
"Come on," he said as he gestured with his head for Shane to follow as he headed towards the hallway of various fossil exhibits. "We may be here to learn about each other's history, but the world awaits us."
Shane followed along, his smile turning teasing. "Wouldn't want to miss any of it."
"It's nice to hear you talk about your dad, though. I always like hearing treasured memories, but it's even better when it involves family," Alan said as they walked.
"Yeah, they can be really great," Shane said with a nod. "That moment showed me a lot about my dad, and I would guess it showed him something different about me. There's something about knowing that someone else valued a moment as much as you did."
"Very true. It's what makes it special." Alan glanced over to smile at him again. "Thanks for sharing it with me."
Shane smiled back. "Of course. Thanks for sharing your history as well."
They drifted away from the large structures of skeletons, moving towards the array of display cases. The fossils behind the glass were smaller but more numerous, with bright lights shining on them to highlight them in all their detail. Many of them were easily recognizable-- impressions of trilobites, mollusks, or dinosaur prints-- but there were plenty in shapes of completely unfamiliar creatures.
Like Shane, Alan did enjoy learning new things, even if it was outside his comfort zone. He didn't often go out of his way to learn about subjects more technical and scientific in nature, like the scaling or history of the world that one would learn about in natural history museums. That only made his few trips even more fascinating and humbling, since he was guaranteed to learn something new and broaden his horizons even more.
They both spent a few minutes walking down the pathway, reading in silence about the different arrays of hollow husks and shells left behind. The hallways started with older exhibits, and gradually they stepped through hundreds and thousands and millions of years of time, which by itself was a compelling thought.
Every once in a while, either of them would make a short statement here and there about what they read, but it wasn't until they reached the ammonite section-- a display of gleaming iridescent shells that were placed next to a slab of rock that bore the inprint of the familiar spiral-- that Shane started to think out loud.
"The shells themselves are very pretty, but there's something almost poetic about fossils like this one," Shane said, and Alan saw he was referring to the stone. "A lot of people think of these fossils like they're the animal itself, because that's what they're imagining when they look at it, but it isn't. It isn't even the remains of an animal. It's the stone's memory of what used to be a real creature, the rock remembering its shape even when there's nothing left of it except for its print. I think it's strangely wonderful that we know it existed because of what's essentially art that the world made and left for us."
Alan nodded, running with this train of thought. "I like that. That is hauntingly poetic, and this time I say that sincerely." He paused. "This art, or the stone's memory, withstood the test of time for us to wonder of what was. It makes you wonder if, someday, the same would happen to us."
"It's happened to some," Shane reflected. "There's people calcified in ash in Pompeii, and while that's an extremely tragic and sobering example, it might be one of the only ones we have of people. But there's far less tragic ways to leave one's mark on the world-- the art we create ourselves, if it lasts, can do that for us."
"True," Alan replied. "There are less tragic ways to leave one's mark, but tragedy is the loudest. It is often the artists with inner demons who are the memorable ones. From cutting off one's own ear, to putting one's head in an oven, to writing the most famous piano songs despite being deaf... one could argue that it is because of this that these artists are so famous. The tragedy is the art left behind."
Shane nodded in agreement. "Van Gogh, Plath and Beethoven definitely were some of the loudest voices in their fields. It's hard to separate them from that tragedy." He paused. "I have a job at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, actually, and there's a few paintings of Van Gogh's there. The job isn't anything too special, it's mostly biographical work on artists, but I did get to contribute a little to his biography for an audioguide. He really did immortalize his pain in his artwork, but I can't help but wonder what he would have done if he'd had a happier life. What all of them would have done, really."
Alan had to delay the urge to smile brightly upon hearing that Shane not only easily understood all of his references, but that he worked at the Museum of Fine Arts. "It's debatable. Beethoven's music composition skills wouldn't change, or perhaps even improve, but his motivations may be different. The sad reality is that happier lives tend to take away from art. Maybe he wouldn't have written all his symphonies if he was too busy with a spouse, or children, or friends, or family. Maybe he wouldn't have written his symphonies if he had full hearing, instead using the time to listen to music instead of creating music. It's hard to say, but it's an interesting hypothetical."
"Or maybe we'd have a dozen more Ode to Joys if he had more joy to compose about," Shane mused. "But maybe not, if he would've found a calling elsewhere and didn't need to pour tragedy into his music. I feel like there's a music history thesis in there somewhere."
Alan let out a quiet laugh, glancing back at the ammonite exhibit before turning his attention back to Shane. "Well, I do have to write a paper with a topic of my choice in my music history class. Maybe I'll choose this topic and use you as my personal study guide."
Shane grinned. "Really? Well, I would be happy to help."
"I'll keep that in mind," Alan said with a growing smile, but then paused. "I disagree what you said earlier, though. You said that your job at the Museum of Fine Arts is nothing special. And you are so wrong." He tilted his head with a raised brow, still smiling. "You said it yourself -- there are Van Gogh paintings there. That already makes it special."
Shane laughed. "You know, I get to invite one person per month to visit free of charge, which is a special perk now that I think about it. Just let me know if you ever want to see those paintings for yourself."
Alan's smile turned to a grin, still watching Shane. "I definitely will. It'll be a date."
Shane matched his grin. "It'll be a date," he confirmed.
It was refreshing to see things fall into place. Alan hadn't expected to be invited like this, but it was a pleasant surprise, and one he looked forward to.
The rest of the night felt like that. Although the late night museum closing seemed to attract a louder crowd that slowly trickled in, that didn't seem to stop either of them from reflecting out loud. Alan learned that Shane was incredibly insightful, quick to draw connections, discover patterns, and create depth across all subjects. He was passionate and brilliant, and Alan enjoyed hearing him talk to enthusiastically and deeply about the subjects that interested him. It was endearing and cute.
And of course, Alan gladly followed along his thoughts when invited. He was happy to think through thought experiemnts and exchange ideas. It often led into interesting conversations, and before they knew it, they had been standing in front of specific exhibits for far too long, engrossed in each other rather than the exhibit itself.
Alan had anticipated that they only spend two or three hours in the museum, but as they talked and slowly made their way through the halls, the clock struck midnight and they were beginning to get ushered out the door. They didn't see every exhibit, but they did see most of them.
Although Alan had said that he brought him here so they could learn, Shane was right that this trip was about learning about each other. That was also Alan's intention, and as the night went on and they headed home, he thought about where to go from there.
He had offered to take Shane home first again, so they took the train from Cambridge back to Boston, taking the same route back to his apartment. There was a brief silence as they crossed the street and drew near to his place, but Alan seized the opportunity to speak.
"I had a really good day today. I enjoyed spending time with you. Thanks for coming along," he said, leaving it at that for now.
"I had a really great time, too. Thank you for letting me spend it with you." Shane smiled. "Tonight was a very nice surprise."
Alan smiled back as they drew to a stop, standing in front of the now-closed cafe that Shane lived over. "Speaking of which... do you have any plans tomorrow night?"
Shane smiled a little wider, raising an eyebrow. "I do not."
Alan hummed. "There's something I want to show you, but it's a bit out of the way, and you can only see it at night." He paused. "I assume you don't have a car?"
Shane shook his head, a look of intrigue in his eyes. "I don't have one, no. Is that okay?"
"It's fine. I was just considering the different options." Alan paused, thinking for a moment. "I don't have a car either, but my brother has a small motorcycle I could borrow. Would you be comfortable riding along on that? No problem if not. I'll make something else work."
Shane nodded. "No, don't worry, that absolutely works. As long as your brother doesn't mind."
"He won't," Alan said with a smile, even though he actually didn't know. But knowing Alistair, he'd ask a suspicious question or two before shrugging it off. "Alright. I'll make plans tomorrow and will text you the details." He smiled a little wider. "It'll be a surprise."
Shane's smile turned into a grin. "Another surprise sounds perfect. I'll let the curiosity haunt me for a bit."
Alan mirrored his grin, glancing over his shoulder towards the direction of his apartment. "Good. It's a date." He paused, gaze lingering on Shane. "See you tomorrow?"
Shane met his gaze, his eyes bright with excitement as he nodded. "See you tomorrow, Alan."
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