I spotted Adrien almost immediately when I entered the museum lobby: sitting at the small café near the entrance, long legs stretched under the table, a cup of coffee in his hands. Even in that crowded hall he stood out easily: tall, straight posture, that calm, slightly distant expression he often wore.
When he noticed me jogging toward him, slightly out of breath, he raised an eyebrow:
“Hey Steph. Glad you made it.”
“Sorry,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “I got… delayed.”
“That much I figured.”
There was a faint smile at the corner of his lips. Not mocking, more amused than anything else.
“You ran all the way here?”
“Mostly,” I admitted.
Adrien stood up, towering over me as usual. Up close he smelled faintly of coffee and soap.
“Well, good. I was about to start without you.”
“I told you to.”
“Yeah, but it’s nicer with a guide.”
Yeah…
Maybe reading that magazine earlier hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Let’s go.”
A few minutes later we were inside the Han dynasty exhibition.
The first rooms were dimly lit, with long glass displays filled with ceramics and bronze objects. The atmosphere felt almost hushed, like the place demanded quiet respect.
Adrien walked slowly beside me, hands in his pockets, leaning occasionally toward the display cases:
“So,” he said casually, “teach me something.”
I cleared my throat slightly.
“Well… the Han dynasty started around 206 BCE. It’s considered one of the foundational periods of Chinese imperial culture. A lot of administrative structures we associate with China really developed during that time.”
Adrien nodded thoughtfully:
“It lasted around four centuries, right?”
“More or less yeah.”
“Not bad,” he said. “That’s longer than most European kingdoms.”
We moved toward a case displaying elegant clay figures: servants, soldiers, horses.
“These were burial objects,” I explained. “Miniature versions of things the dead might need in the afterlife..”
Adrien tilted his head:
“Oh I thought this was mostly an old Egyptian thing.”
“That’s more of an elite and noble thing, all around the world. Look at those stones, it’s a wealthy guy buried here. Jade was believed to preserve the body and protect the spirit.”
“Such a nice color.”
We moved deeper into the exhibition.
Bronze mirrors decorated with intricate patterns, iron swords and spearheads.
Scroll fragments protected under glass.
Adrien kept asking questions:
“So iron weapons were already common then?”
“More and more toward the later Han period.”
“And writing?”
“Paper was actually invented during that dynasty,” I said.
Adrien looked genuinely impressed.
“Wait seriously? That’s another I thought the Egyptians invented with papyrus.”
“Well, papyrus is it’s own thing, just like writing on scrolls existed at that time already. Paper is a specific method that was invented around the year 105 in China. It grew quickly, almost at the industrial level you could say.”
“Well I sure learned a few things already.”
He crossed his arms, thinking.
“So… paper, bureaucracy, imperial administration… that’s a pretty big technological package.”
“Exactly.”
“And we have to thank them: without that invention I wouldn’t be reading all those books”.
“Aha, yeah.”
As we walked from case to case, I realized something that slowly relaxed me:
Adrien is really paying attention.
He wasn’t just politely nodding or pretending interest. He read the descriptions carefully, asked questions, pointed out details I hadn’t even noticed.
After the chaos of the afternoon (Julien, the plug, the rush to get here) this quiet museum visit felt almost unreal.
Adrien listened carefully while I explained a few things I had read earlier that morning in the magazine: trade routes during the Han era, early diplomacy with Central Asia, even a small anecdote about court rituals.
And to my surprise, he seemed genuinely fascinated.
Not because history was his field, it clearly wasn’t.
But because he liked understanding things. He craved answers.
More than company.
A few rooms later the exhibition shifted tone.
The lighting grew warmer, the objects smaller, more intimate. Instead of weapons or imperial symbols, the displays focused on daily life: household ceramics, painted screens, marriage contracts, small personal items.
Adrien slowed down almost immediately:
“Oh, different vibe here,” he said quietly.
Shit…
Are we getting close?
To the things I saw in the article earlier?
We stopped in front of a display showing painted pottery scenes of banquets and domestic life. Men seated on cushions, servants pouring wine, musicians playing zithers.
Adrien leaned closer to the glass.
“Look at this one.”
I stepped beside him. The scene showed two noblemen sitting very close together:
“They seem very important,” Adrien said. “And pretty damn close.”
His tone wasn’t mocking. Just curious.
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Actually… that’s kind of a thing during the Han dynasty.”
He looked at me:
“What do you mean?”
I felt a small spark of excitement: the same one I’d felt earlier that morning when I had read that article.
“Oh! Wait, I read about this today.”
Adrien raised an eyebrow.
“Of course you did.”
“No seriously.”
We moved to the next display case. Inside were scroll reproductions and explanatory panels about court culture and relationships.
I pointed to one section:
“See? Apparently, a lot of important figures in the imperial court had relationships with men.”
Adrien blinked:
“Really?”
“Yeah. Not in the modern ‘gay identity’ sense obviously. That concept didn’t exist, but male/male relationships are actually pretty well documented.”
Adrien leaned closer to read the panel:
“Huh.”
“Especially among nobles.”
His expression shifted from surprise to genuine fascination.
“It even has a name,” I continued, remembering the line from the article. “The ‘Passion of the Cut Sleeve.’”
Adrien turned toward me, his green eyes bright as hell:
“Sounds poetic. What’s the story?”
“It comes from an emperor from this dynasy. His male lover fell asleep on the his robe’s sleeve. When the emperor had to get up for an important meeting, he cut the sleeve off rather than wake him.”
Adrien let out a small laugh:
“That’s… actually kind of sweet.”
“Right?”
He looked back at the display, thoughtful.
“So this wasn’t hidden?”
“Not really,” I said. “A lot of emperors and nobles had wives for political reasons but also male lovers. It was mostly about status and affection rather than identity.”
Adrien crossed his arms, absorbing the information.
“I guess it makes sense. You have the official wife that’s supposed to carry your legacy. And then you have all the mistresses and… the male lovers? Maybe their genders didn’t even count.”
“Guess you could say that yeah.”
He glanced sideways at me again:
“Well, the more you know...”
Adrien studied another painted scene a bit further in the corridor: two aristocrats sitting together on a terrace on a sunny day.
“So these could be… couples?”
“Possibly,” I said. “Or close companions. The sources are sometimes ambiguous.”
Adrien nodded slowly:
“I like that.”
“Like what?”
“That history keeps reminding us that people were always more complicated.”
For a moment we just stood there looking at the artifacts.
Peace.
Something about sharing that knowledge with him felt… nice.
Adrien finally smiled faintly:
“Good call bringing me here, Steph.”
I shrugged:
“I mean, you suggested it. Plus I only did my regular guide’s job.”
“You could do that for living sometimes.” He winked at me.
He was being nice.
Maybe only because he finally had some time out of his scientific articles.
But inside, I couldn’t help feeling a small, quiet pride.
After the museum, Adrien suggested we grab a drink. I didn’t have anything planned for the evening (and to be honest, I wouldn’t have minded avoiding the other roommates for a while), so I gladly followed him.
We ended up in the bar attached to his graduate school.
“Sometimes I come back here,” he told me as we walked in. “A bit out of nostalgia. But most of the time I try to avoid it. There’s always a chance I’ll run into some of my students.”
“I see. What are you having?”
“I think a nice blond beer is in order.”
“Any recommendation? Since you know the place.”
Adrien guided me through the intimidating list of fermented drinks, pointing out the ones he usually ordered here. There where so many choices! I didn’t have much experience with IPAs, so I was immediately tempted by the one he warmly recommended: “La Vedette”.
“If bitterness doesn’t bother you man, plus there’s a tiny acid taste on top of the hops, you should enjoy it.”
“I trust you.”
We clinked our glasses together, and the foam sloshed gently as they met. Somehow, through that simple toast, I could already feel Adrien’s exhaustion passing into the moment.
He had a strong tolerance. He finished his beer while I was still slowly sipping mine, which was a little too strong and bitter for my taste, but undeniably rich in flavor.
We were sitting at a small table tucked into the back corner of the bar, on deep red carpet, almost completely alone. Adrien had probably chosen this quiet spot to avoid running into the undergraduates.
For a moment, I felt strangely privileged to be sharing this moment with him. He was clearly a busy guy, yet he seemed genuinely happy to spend this time with me.
Adrien kept the conversation moving. I mostly responded and let myself drift along with it:
“I keep thinking about those Han dynasty emperors you mentioned,” he said. “I mean… what do we really know about those people’s culture in the end? What if all dynasties were like them at some point and we had no idea?”
“To be honest, we might never know.”
“Yeah, sadly.”
Adrien shifted slightly in his chair, letting himself sink back heavily, his head tilted a little. The fatigue was starting to catch up with him.
His long neck stretched under the dim bar lights. For a second it looked almost too slender to support the weight of his head: too full of knowledge and whatever thoughts were weighing on him.
“It’s nice having a roommate like you,” he continued. “Not just someone to play sports with like those other two disasters. You’ve got something: curiosity.”
“That’s pretty important in research.”
“You’re damn right it is. And actually, that curiosity has been on my mind.”
I stayed quiet.
Where is he going with this?
It felt like he was leaving little clues along the path of the conversation, and I was supposed to pick them up one by one.
“As you know, I haven’t been single for very long,” he said. “We still talk sometimes. It’s… complicated.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I heard you on the phone one night.”
Adrien winced slightly.
“Oh. Sorry about that, man. Hope we weren’t too loud.”
“No, no, don’t worry. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” He ran a hand through his messy dark hair.
There was something wild about the way it stuck out in every direction. I liked it. It was so different from my own hair, always carefully kept in place.
“Honestly,” he went on, “I’d rather move on. Forget about her a bit. The way she did with me. Pretty quickly, actually.”
He spread his legs slightly wider under the table, one knee now angled more directly toward me.
“But at the same time… I don’t want the same kind of thing again. You know?”
“Uh… not really.”
“Well…” he began.
He was interrupted by the server passing between the tables, asking if we wanted another round.
Adrien ordered another beer without hesitation. I followed his lead, even though I wasn’t entirely sure I could handle a full liter in total.
“You don’t want another serious relationship?” I tried. “Like Greg seems to want.”
Adrien laughed :
“Greg’s worse. He only wants fucking. And he fucks quite roughly. You’ve heard him.”
“Oh yes,” I said with a knowing chuckle. “Hard to sleep when he gets going.”
“Exactly. But I don’t want that either. At least… I don’t think I do.”
The beers arrived. Adrien took a long first sip.
“I’m not even sure what I want anymore.”
I let a moment pass.
Adrien seemed different now. More vulnerable somehow. Like he was on the verge of confessing something heavier.
“Try a dating app,” I suggested.
Adrien snorted loudly through his nose.
“Not a chance, Steph. I’ve heard way too many horror stories.”
“What about colleagues?”
“Yeah, no thanks. Most of them are already taken anyway. And if something goes wrong, it would just create problems in the lab.”
“Then…”
“Are you single, by the way?” Adrien suddenly asked, raising his glass toward me.
I clinked mine against it, slightly unsure.
“Yeah. For a while now.”
“How long?”
His questions were coming faster than I could prepare for them.
“Almost a year, I guess.”
“Okay. And nothing since then?”
Oh yes.
So many things.
Just… not the kind I had expected.
“I… well.” I ran a hand nervously through my hair just like him. “I had a few things. Mostly physical.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie.
Just… incomplete.
“And did it help you get over your ex?” he asked.
“Hard to say. I was the one who left her.”
“What happened? If that’s not too private?”
“She cheated on me.”
Without really thinking about it, I emphasized the word she, as if I needed to underline my heterosexuality. The moment it left my mouth, it sounded ridiculous. Adrien probably didn’t care in the slightest.
Still, my answer clearly caught him off guard:
“Oh damn. Sorry, man.”
He was already finishing his second glass:
“Does it still bother you?”
“No. Not anymore. It’s just…”
Should I tell him?
About what had been happening with the others?
Adrien was watching me closely now, almost hanging on my words.
“It’s just that I’ve… started experimenting.”
No comments.
“With guys.”
There.
I’d said it.
Just like that.
Right in front of Adrien.
And suddenly the anxiety hit me.
What if he laughed? What if he didn’t want me as a roommate anymore?
Adrien seemed like a decent, open-minded guy: calm, educated. It would be surprising. But still.
Instead of reacting the way I feared, he simply smiled slightly.
And strangely, that almost annoyed me.
This was the first time I had dared talk about it with anyone: Greg certainly hadn’t managed to get it out of me, and Adrien looked like he was taking it almost… lightly.
“Why… why are you smiling?” I asked.
“Don’t take it the wrong way, man, but…”
Adrien placed his empty glass back on the table with a soft thud and looked straight into my eyes.
“I’d already guessed.”
If you enjoyed this story, consider supporting the author on Patreon.
