Chapter Text
Samuel Jacobsohn had known Ernest Lawrence enough in passing as Chicago students to find himself under the spell of the constant enthusiasm and ‘go-getter’ attitude of the boy from South Dakota; that same aura shined just as bright on that miserable rainy day in September of 1924 in New Haven when Jake (his preferred name having known too many ‘Sam’s) saw the giant bespectacled dark blonde and newly turned twenty-three year old enter the room at Yale’s Sloane Physics Laboratory where people gathered for afternoon tea and cookies that were served daily on the hour. Ernest was completely soaked to the bone, including the two wet baggages in each hand, and could do with a hot cup of tea. The boys had followed their mentor Professor Swan–who taught both of them at Chicago–to Yale like he was the Pied Piper of physics to get their PhDs, and the three of them chatted over their refreshments until late that afternoon when Ernest realized he still didn’t have a place to stay. Swann suggested trying the Y.W.C.A. which, in his words ”takes care of the matter of finding rooms” at this boys’ college; Jake had another idea.
“You are welcome to spend at least tonight with me,” Jake proposed almost coyly as if he had ulterior motives. “Or perhaps we can ask my landlady, Mrs. Rice, if we could share the room and split the cost.”
Ernest beamed at the idea, not picking up on Jake’s manner of speaking in the slightest. “That would be swell! I’m sure we will get along swimmingly seeing as we are studying identical subjects, perhaps even enough to study together.”
The rain had stopped and gave way to a stellar rainbow over the campus by the time they left the lab and made their two block journey to number seventeen Compton Street where the white clapboard house stood. Mrs. Rice was kind enough to rent the dormer room next to the attic to both of them–slashing the $4.25 weekly rent Jake paid to $2.75 each–and promised to find any extra furniture they might need. Ernest found the room that was two flights of stairs up to actually be fairly large with the two windows that stood side-by-side giving a view out towards the university with the towers of Sloane Laboratory peeking out over the rooftops and that rainbow now starting to fade away.
“Alright, we have a bookcase, a dresser that’s got enough space for both our things, a desk and chair that we can probably fit another set beside it so we can both have room to study, and, of course, the bed…” Jake kicked his shoes off and lied down on one half of the bed. “I think it could hold both of us, seeing as I just barely take up half the space.”
Jake had a moment of panic when he saw Ernest move to copy him and take the other side. “Hold on, Ernie!” he exclaimed as he jumped from the bed to remove Ernest’s coat. “You are still a wet dog of a mess in those clothes.”
“Ernie?” Ernest asked quizzically. “I mean I know you as a fellow student from Chicago but didn’t think we were at nickname level, Samuel.”
“Well, I prefer Jake so by default we already are,” Jake said with a smile as he unbuttoned Ernest’s shirt and pushed the wet clothing off his shoulders. “Damn, you really got soaked with this storm, even down to your undershirt.”
Ernest blushed a bit, that stammer he tried so hard to fight off his whole life starting to surface as he felt Jake’s hands slip under the last remaining item shielding his bare torso. “Y-yeah. It was b-b-bad. Glad it s-stopped so you didn’t get w-wet.”
Jake didn’t comment on the change in speech, not wanting to make the taller boy more self-conscious as he moved to undo Ernest’s belt and pants and push them down. “Even your briefs weren’t spared.”
“I-I-I-I,” Ernest stammered like a broken record as it didn’t go unnoticed to Jake there was now a strain starting to form in the front of Ernest’s underwear.
“I guess while we are on the subject, I would prefer if you desire to masturbate that we do it roughly around the same time just to make sure if the sheets do need to be changed, we at least are not just wasting it on one of our slip ups.”
“W-we w-w-weren’t o-on that s-s-subject!” Ernest finally unfrozen himself and turned to go towards his belongings to hopefully find dry briefs, almost stumbling over his pants in a bit of a panic.
“We’re both boys here, it’s not like you’ve never seen another’s cock before at a public shower. And you seriously can’t tell me you don’t masturbate? Or are you that much of an innocent, gentle Gentile?” Jake didn’t get an answer, but he did catch a glimpse of the half-mast before Ernest tried to cover it with fresh briefs. “Ernie, you need to take care of that. It’s erect enough for people to notice and it can’t be comfortable if you put your pants on.”
“Then l-leave so I can. I’m not queer.”
“Well I didn’t say you were and I don’t feel like changing sheets tonight if that happens. Plus if you were that soaked you need a warm shower so best just head down the hall and get acquainted with the bathroom. Should be some clean towels under the sink.”
Ernest grabbed his change of clothes and headed off down the hall while Jake took the wet clothes and tried to spread them around the room to dry in the least intruding places possible. Once he thought it was the best he could do, Jake set about rearranging the dresser, moving all his clothes to the lower set of drawers as a courtesy to not make the taller boy bend over for the bottom ones as much. Not wanting to upset Ernest in case he like his things a certain way, Jake decided to head downstairs and refill the plate he used to collect Concord grapes from the yard below that Mrs. Rice gladly let him help himself to; he had taken note that Lawrence was generous with the potions of cookies he helped himself to and wanted to make sure he kept enough of the grapes on hand in case the midwesterner was feeling peckish.
By the time he returned to the room, Ernest was already dressed and now boner free. Jake decided it was best to explain the food situation, offering him the plate of grapes and the collection of zwiebacks, cakes, and cookies his mom sent him as free to take. There was an electric plate in the corner Jake used to grill eggs and said he could have Mrs. Rice order milk so breakfast could be spent there without having to go out.
“I would hate to ravish your stock already. And I could use a full meal; perhaps we should go out so I can survey the university grounds and downtown New Haven?”
“This late in the day?”
“Well what else is there to do?”
Jake could think of plenty else to do that didn’t evolve a full tour at this hour that could wait until tomorrow with more guaranteed daylight, but Jake could tell Ernest wasn’t one to procrastinate on what could be done now.
Another thing Jake quickly learned was they walked at Ernest’s pace, and Ernest’s pace was quick, walking with his head and shoulders back. A streetcar passed them and Jake commented that it could take them downtown if one didn’t want to walk the fifteen minutes to get there, but at the rate Ernest was leading them, it might not have mattered.
“That’s the university Commons,” Jake pointed out once they were past the cemetery. “You can get a cafeteria style breakfast for sixteen cents. Lunch is an exorbitant sum of forty-one cents but I was so full after I went home for a half-hour nap. But we can even beat the breakfast price if we eat in our room.”
“Well there will be plenty of time to check it out later, let’s keep moving.”
And keep moving they did, never staying too long in one place other than maybe a peek inside, finally making their way to the New Haven Green, where Jake could see the Taft Hotel across the street on the corner. “See that there, the Taft Hotel? We’ll dine there sometime when we’ve something to celebrate–and after we’ve been paid for our duties.”
They ended up at Childs Restaurant in the town, but instead of the relaxing dinner Jake was hoping for where they could discuss their upcoming plans for the year that could hopefully lead to a reason to dine at the Taft, Ernest had practically licked his plate clean when Jake was maybe only a way of a third through.
“I’ll call for the check.”
“Ernie, I’m still eating.”
“Well eat faster, there’s still much to see!”
Jake looked outside and saw the last bit of sun slowly fading away. “I don’t think there’s much to actually see at this hour.”
But Jake ate faster than he wanted, even though it was nice to have the bill settled when he finished so they could just take off. Jake pointed out some old colonial residences that would be of interest but they would have to have to wait for another day if they wished to check them out. Once they were on the path they originally took into town, Ernest seemed to speed up, leaving Jake nearly a full person’s stride behind.
“Ernie, please. It’s hard to hold a conversation when you’re that far ahead.”
“There’s plenty of time to converse back at our room!”
“Well I was personally hoping for a shower… perhaps turn in early.” Or maybe something else entirely.
“But we should discuss our plans for the year so we can maximize our potential.”
“I wanted to do that at dinner but you were too busy wolfing down your food like a starved dog who hasn’t eaten in weeks! Ernie, slow down!” Jake made a push to spring forward to grab Ernest’s hand that was quickly swinging as he walked. Ernest finally stopped and turned around, looking startled and almost frightened.
“I-I-I’m not qu-queer,” Ernest stammered.
“What? Why is that the first thing you think of when I’m just trying to get you to slow down?”
“I have a girlfriend named Ruby so I’m n-not interested.”
“Alright. But when did I ever say I was a homosexual?”
Ernest thought over the day’s events and couldn’t recall it ever coming up. “Oh, sugar! You’re quite right. Well isn’t that a relief? Come on, let’s keep going!”
“Sugar?” Jake asked more to himself since Ernest was back ahead of them anyways. It would be the first of many times Jake would learn about Ernest’s colorful midwestern swears and the challenge he would make for himself to try to make Ernest slip and say a more vulgar one. But right now, Jake was more curious why Ernest was so defensive about not being queer; usually he would be the one being accused of being gay in these situations rather than the person saying they weren’t. And as far as Jake was concerned, he actually hadn’t thought much about it himself until Ernest. There was just this magnetic pull to him that made Jake want to be around him. Jake had first felt it at a distance in Chicago but brushed it off as nothing more than just an attractive personality. But there was something about seeing Ernest walking into the room today like a big, drenched golden retriever of a young man that needed a home that made Jake wonder how good a cuddler this guy could be, platonic or more.
Jake made good on his plan to shower when they returned while Ernest could finally settle in and put his belongings away. To Jake’s surprise–despite seeing proof otherwise earlier–the plate of Concord grapes was nearly empty, with Ernest popping one into his mouth as Jake went to dump his dirty laundry off to the side.
“How are you still hungry?? Is your metabolism on full drive or something?”
“My mom would call me ‘Skinny’ and said I didn’t eat enough. Besides, I don’t think I’ve ever had grapes like these before!”
“Right, Concord grapes are originally from Massachusetts, hence the name. And I don’t think your mother needs to worry about you staying ‘skinny’ for long.”
Despite the mere act of briefly holding hands sending him off into a homophobic panic, Ernest was completely unbothered at finding himself lying next to another man in bed. Sharing was practical if the purpose was to save money! Meanwhile Jake joked that his mother would probably be more concerned about him sharing a bed with a Gentile rather than another man.
They found themselves talking long into the night, discussing the course work they would have to do and how they had to help (“And flunk those who deserve it!”) any undergraduates when looking over their laboratory work. Their thesis would be the highlight of their doctorate requirements for the year, with Jake’s focusing on temperature radiation and thermal equilibrium; Ernest would be continuing with his experiment in Chicago on the photoelectric effect of potassium vapor as a function of the frequency of light. But first up they would have their first of two language exams in French and German; Ernest was confident in French and doubtful in German and Jake the opposite. Both agreed to take their strongest language first and help coach the other in the weaker one.
“Sollen wir ins Bett gehen?” Jake teased, enjoying Ernest’s struggle to figure it out.
“Should we go to bed? We’re already in bed.”
“Ah. This is true. I guess I mean go to sleep since the hour is late.”
“But I enjoy talking with you.”
Jake was glad the light was dim enough that Ernest couldn’t see him blush that much. “I must say I do quite enjoy conversing with you. I think we can do great things together this year.” Subconsciously, Jake’s hand went to grab Ernest’s, once again getting a worried look out of Ernest.
“So a-are you a qu-queer?” Ernest asked softly, but didn’t pull his hand away.
“I’ve never identified as one. I guess if I think about it I never was girl-crazy like some of the lads back home. But if I’m honest, I don’t think it really ever crossed my mind until today when I saw you. I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, and if you wish to find residency elsewhere tomorrow I will not stop you, even though I do like the idea of saving that extra $1.50,” Jake chuckled.
“Well, I have a girlfriend so I can’t possibly be.”
“Yes, Ruby. You’ve mentioned her. And I had one briefly in high school but that might not mean anything. Anyways, it’s been an exciting and auspicious day in spite of the rain, I guess we should turn the lights off.”
But neither felt like moving, nor did contact in their hands break for what seemed like an eternity before Jake realized he’d have to be the one to do it. He could hear Ernest shuffling to roll over to face the wall on his side of the bed as soon as Jake got up to turn the light off and proceeded to do the same when he returned. After all, it’s only been day one of what was potentially a nine month stay together, there was no need to rush into anything if there was something to be had.