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Cambridge professor of sociology Jason Arday is accused of plagiarism by another academic

the accuser is a "race realist" who believes that in a true meritocracy all university professors would be white. this is somehow not acknowledged much during the entire ordeal

this leads to several days of media coverage demanding an investigation, or that Arday is expelled from his post immediately

somehow this accusation that has no effect on the lives of 99.99% of the population becomes FRONT PAGE NEWS in all the newspapers for multiple days, above anything else happening in the UK or the world at large

following intense media scrutiny, Arday resigns his post as a Cambridge professor

today, august 14th, days after resigning, Arday is found dead at his home in Battersea

Unsteady (3/5)

11K words | explicit misunderstandings | coming out | accidental outing | getting together | first kiss | first time

feel what it's like to be new [on AO3]

Buck isn't the first person he tells. That's Chris, and he stands by that one. He's practicing honesty with his kid. It doesn't come easy to him, but he tries. Buck would understand. Buck will understand, when Eddie tells him, which he will.

Chris is the first living person he tells. Technically, actually, the first person he tells is Shannon.

The cemetery she's buried in is a nice place. Full of trees, green grass, well-maintained. He tries to come here with Chris at least once a month, and so far, at least, Chris hasn't balked, hasn't complained about spending a few hours eating a picnic lunch or dinner or takeout picked up on the way and talking to a woman who'll never talk back again.

This time, Eddie comes alone. He brings a batch of coyotas wrapped in paper—Shannon's favorite of the sweets his abuela used to send them. She always liked Shannon better than his parents did, part of the ongoing battle of wills between her and his mom. He'll stop by her grave today, too, kiss his fingers to the cold stone and imagine that she knows he's here. For now, he sits cross-legged in the grass, in the bright warm hum of a summer morning, facing his wife's headstone.

Ex-wife, he imagines her saying to him, dry and laughing. They never did get to have that ending, the one they both survived.