At this moment, Ned is eternally grateful for the poker face the military instilled in him.
"The only reason we're having this interview is that Lehrer's a friend; he sent me your file," The man in front of him flips open the file in front of him, hawk-like gaze locked onto Ned's own hardened steel. Ned knows what he's doing. He's trying to intimidate him, make him slip up, show some fear.
Unfortunately for him, Ned Nickerson's seen a lot scarier shit than some old geezer with an attitude problem.
"You were on the pre-med track before you got drafted. Why'd you switch to journalism?"
Chuck Guillory, the man currently interviewing Ned, had been an NCO in the army in the Second World War. He had turned his own military training into a tool to crack the toughest stories. Something Ned hopes to do. The man had never agreed to intern one of Emerson's journalism students before, but Ned had convinced Professor Lehrer to let him try and convince the old ass.
"When I was over in Nam, The Brass kept a tight hold on all news. They didn't want us listening to any radio other than the army broadcast, didn't want us finding out that we were losing. They were afraid that the news of what was really going on would be bad for morale."
The old coot is still staring at him, but Ned thinks he might have seen a flicker behind those steely, old eyes.
"I'm tired of not knowing the truth. I want to go out and find it."
The old man stares at him for a long moment and then begins to laugh.
"Well, son. You may end up almost getting yourself killed in this line of work, but you wouldn't be doing your job right if you didn't get a few death threats," Chuck tosses the file into his desk drawer and then grins across the table at Ned. "You free on Tuesdays and Thursdays?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. You can start tomorrow. Be here at seven o'clock sharp."
Ned stands up slowly. "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir. I appreciate this opportunity."
Chuck waves his hand in a vague gesture at the door, "Get on, boy, I'll see you in the morning."
Ned practically floats down the stairs. He'd done it. He'd gotten the River Height's Gazette's best investigative journalist to take him on as his intern.
He pushes the door open and steps out into the blinding sun. Ned is halfway down the stairs when he hears a warm voice to his right, "How'd it go, Pal?
He looks up to see Frank standing at the bottom right of the stairs, waiting for him.
"Well! Judging by that grin, I'd guess it went pretty well!" Frank laughs.
Ned reaches out to curl his hand over the back of Frank's neck, pulling him close enough to rest his head against his for a moment. "Yeah, man, it went great," He pulls back and grins down at the shorter man. "I got him to take me on."
Frank's ears had turned red at the sudden show of affection, but he's still grinning up at him. "That's great, man! We'll have to tell Nancy."
"I thought you both had classes today," Ned says, turning to walk towards his car.
Frank shrugs, "We did. Mine was just a test review though so I bucked out. Nance wanted us to meet her at Emerson."
"You can't be skipping class all the time, Frank." Ned sighs.
Frank punches him in the arm, "I don't skip class all the time, just on days when my boyfriend has a life-changing meeting. I wanted to be there for you when you came out."
Ned freezes for a moment, Frank passing him up and then turning back to look at him in confusion. "Ned?"
"Boyfriend, huh?"
Frank's face flushes red again and he shoves his hands into his pockets as he looks everywhere but at Ned. "I mean…I know we said we weren't going to, you know, use labels…but…I love you, Ned," He finally looks Ned in the eye as he says those words that make Ned's heart beat faster. "I love you. Just as much as I love Nancy and I want both of you. Not just to be one of Nancy's boyfriends, I want to belong to both of you." He sighs and looks back down at the ground where he's been scuffing his shoe against the pavement. "I want to be able to call you my boyfriend, same as Nancy's our girlfriend."
Ned lets out a long, slow breath and then starts walking towards the car. "C'mon." He says as he passes Frank, "Get in the car."
"Seriously? I just bared my soul, and you're just gonna get in the car?"
"Get in the car, Frank," Ned says sternly.
They drive in silence, Frank staring out the window, unable to turn and see what look Ned's face might have. They'd talked about this before, they'd had an agreement. Nancy wanted both of them, they were okay with that, they cared about each other too, but letting Nancy have both of them and actually being together as three people who loved each other equally were two different things. They'd set up their boundary lines then and hadn't talked about them since. Frank had just crossed every single one of them.
Ned pulls into the student parking lot and puts the car in park. Frank reaches for the handle, but suddenly Ned is grabbing him, pulling him in close and then Ned's lips are on his and oh…oh wow.
Kissing Ned is different than kissing Nancy, and yet somehow the same. It's everything that Frank's imagined in the past few weeks.
Ned pulls back just enough for Frank's eyes to be able to focus on his, their noses still brushing, breath mingling between them.
"I want to belong to both of you too."