The ‘Big Brothers’

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril had yet to actually meet his roommate; any of them, well he only had one. Apparently most of the staff liked to be in the Co-ed Dorm or the ladies picked to be in the Female Staff Dorm. It didn’t bother Cyril that much either way since he knew he picked the Male Staff Dorm for a reason. If he was living with other women, well it would not be the same and living with the guys. Cyril was a pretty neat and clean guy but someday he just wanted to be messy. To leave his underwear on the floor or have muddy shoes sitting near the door in the common area. He would clean up after himself of course, but when you wondering in a drunken stupor late at night a mess, you didn’t want to have to worry about taking care of the clothing you dropped in the common area on the way to your room while you passed out on your bed as soon as you hit it.

Cyril still did clean up after himself and that was what he was doing right this second as he gathered up his clothing off the floor and started to toss it into his dirty hamper. It was only when he heard something go thud in one of the rooms that he stopped what he was doing. Was his roommate and him finally in the room at the same time? Would he actually get to see this guy up close and person? He sure enough was going to try, hungover or not. After messing with his hair to make sure it was spiky like he liked it, he headed over to his roommates door and knocked on it. Completely forgetting that he was just standing in his boxes. Eh, they were both guys with muscles so there should not have been anything weird or creepy between them. Plus Cyril was one thousand percent sure he only went for the ladies.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade grunted faintly at the sound of the knock at his door. He wasn't in the mood for company but, then again, the big man rarely was, these days. He's been stuck doing the one thing he'd hated all the way back when he first enlisted in the military. Paper work. It was the bane of every soldier's existence. An only sometimes necessary evil that he now found himself immersed in. There was still a great deal of work to be done before he felt the reorganization of the Academy's security protocols were up to par. The terrible attention paid to it before had ultimately led to a quartet of escaped students and cost the lives of too many when SPECTRE had come knocking. One good thing about his pending promotion was it came with a hefty raise. The first thing he planned on doing was looking for off-campus housing.

Maybe, though, the interruption would serve as a proper distraction. Getting up from his desk, Slade crossed the small dorm room and pulled open the door. At least the guy on the other side was somewhat dressed, even though, thankfully, Slade was more covered with a pair of athletic shorts and a t-shirt. "Cyril." He said with a nod. He knew the other teacher's name and face, of course. You didn't work and live with someone and not know that. Although, that mostly came from Slade's need to be familiar with as much of the staff and student body as humanly possible for his new position in security. It was his job to be able to identify everyone who belonged on campus at any given time. Still, though. He had no idea what the hell the other guy wanted.

[Cyril Kingsley]

Slade was at least more dressed then Cyril was, but he had no shame. Not even when the other man opened the door and Cyril could see just how much of a hulk he really was. Wow, this guy was huge. Taller than Cyril by two inches and for sure had a lot more muscle then Cyril had on his very muscular body. "Wow." Cyril could not help but to let out as he looked the other gentlemen over. This was his roommate, how had he not actually talked to this guy yet? He was huge! You could not miss him, but yet Cyril didn't even here his roommate moving around the dorm all that much when he was in. Still, it was good to have a roommate and to actually get the chance to meet them after having been at the school for now a month or two. He needed some friends, some adult friends. Maybe Slade could be that adult friend Cyril was seeking, if Cyril could get over how beastly this guy was.

"What do you lift, mate?" Cyril asked then, full respect and admiration for, but that didn't mean that he didn't feel like challenging Slade in some way. Asking how much the guy could lift was not really his big question, but it just sort of popped in now that he was seeing the guy up close and personal. "I know you said my name, but I figured I properly introduce myself." Cyril said as he held out his hand to the other man, now thinking about challenging him to an arm wrestling match. Cyril had the feeling he would have to use his power to even be on the same level of Slade. He figured he could at least do some damage in a fight, but one 'I'm Bane' move and Cyril would probably be down for the count. "I'm Cyril Elias Kingsley and I'm your fellow staff roommate. I work down at the stable." Cyril said, being proper and gentlemen like as he was in most situations that called for it.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade chuckled at the broad, but still much smaller man's reaction. He didn't flinch or blink when asked about his lifting capacity, it was a question he heard far too often and he'd grown tired of getting annoyed by it. It wasn't as if he didn't know, given the meticulous nature of his workouts. "Four-oh-five." He answered, accepting Cyril's offer with a firm handshake.

"Slade Konrad." Came his reply. Slade didn't see much purpose in offering his middle name at the moment. He looked over the guy a little and the curious question of why Cyril had opted to greet him formally now, with that choice of attire floated through Slade's mind. It wasn't as if he was modest, nor did he really care, he was military, after all. He'd seen his share of males in various states of undress. It was just... odd.

But there was the flash of recognition. Slade nodded. "Right. The stables." He said, remembering now having seen the other man's name on a form that had to be signed before Slade had taken Zoe to the stables. "I'm the phys ed-." Slade stopped abruptly and shook his head. He still hadn't gotten the hang of his new title. It wasn't as if he introduced himself to many people these days. "I was the phys ed teacher. At the beginning of the school year I'll be taking over as head of security." He explained.

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril was only two inches smaller, two inches! He would point that out if Slade had called him smaller, but that was only in terms of height. Slade had him beat in the overall muscle category. This guy was built like a tank. Cyril did wonder for a moment if he ever like accidently crushed anyone he made love to. This guy like had to be a bottom for the safety of his partner. Hearing how much just added to that fact that Slade could probably just lift up anyone ibn his arms and carrying them around as if it were nothing. No big deal at all. Cyril gave the other man’s hand a squeeze when he shook it, wanting to make sure his hand was not going to be crushed and also want to show a little bit of his strength. Yes, his testosterone was telling him that he had to step it up, show what he could do, and that he was a man. Well his testosterone and mainly the fact that Cyril did feel a little bit challenged by this man and wondered what it would be like to get into a fight with him.

Cyril gave a nod, knowing Slade's names already but he was big on introducing yourself officially to someone. As for the middle name thing, it was a habit of Cyril's that he had never dropped from when he was a kid. His name just flowed so well out of his mouth that he loved saying all of it when he introduced himself. He did figure it was probably a little odd to introduce yourself to your roommate in just your boxers, but oh well. Too late to go back and put something else, and Cyril was feeling pretty warm and needed to cool down. Best way to do that was naked, but that would be even worse and super awkward to come visit your roommate in that condition. Even more so when you were a straight guy who liked the ladies. He didn't need his rep being tainted by a rumor that he liked to be around other guys naked. Cyril gave a nod when Slade put him with the stables. That was him, the Stable Hand that didn't really get to meet that many people other than the kids in his club or who came down to check out the horses.

Cyril's light blue eyes blinked when Slade went to say what his job was, but then retracted it and stated that he was going to be head of security. That seemed like far less fun than being a phys-ed teacher was. Less personally involved with the kids and more just going around and making sure things were safe and no kids were beating one another up. Maybe Slade just didn't like kids; it was not Cyril's place to judge so he didn't think about it too much. "Ah, so promotion in other words?" Cyril asked, wondering if it was just that and then recalled why else he was here. "Oh, I was wondering if sometimes you would be up for joining me for some drinks. I like to drink a little with me new mates." Cyril stated, and even had the drinks ready here so they could drink inside since this was not really the drinking hour.

Well anytime was great for drinking in Cyril’s book but not any time was great for getting drunk unless you were going to be in your room.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade shrugged a bit. He didn't consider being pulled to work mostly in an office and sign incident reports to be much of a promotion, but everyone else seemed to think so. If the position didn't carry with it the weight of responsibility of keeping everyone on campus safe, which he also knew included his fellow staffers and administrators along with the students, Slade would've gladly remained as the physical education teacher and head of his beloved martial arts club. As is he didn't know if he'd have the time to fully commit to the club, although he was certainly going to try.

"Pushing papers isn't my idea of a promotion." He replied, but he understood the role he'd accepted even though it didn't seem like that was the most pressing thing on Cyril's mind at the moment. Slade didn't drink much, but when he did, he could put down the booze like few others. His sheer size as well as his time spent in the military saw to an alcohol tolerance that was the stuff of legend. He smirked. "Yeah. A drink sounds damn good." Why not? It was five o'clock somewhere, or at least that's what people said. He still had a habit of thinking of Middle Eastern time, which would've made it well past the socially acceptable drinking hour. "I don't have anything going today." He jerked his head toward his room where the small fridge sat beside his bed. "Only got a couple beers left, myself." He said. "Whaddaya got?"

[Cyril Kingsley]

"Ah, the dreaded paperwork. Sounds like a promotion to me." Cyril said with a nod, since the higher you got up the ladder it seemed like you started to do less of what others were doing and more of the paper work and meetings. Cyril was the only one that worked down at the bar so he had to do all the paper work, show up to the meetings, and take care of the horse. It was not overwhelming for him since he was used to a lot of paper work here and there. Plus most of his paper was mostly about the horses and the meetings tended to be the general staff meetings or talking about how the horses were doing down at the bar. A few of the horses were half his personal, other was the schools, and then there were even a few from outside the school they were occasionally borrowed or looked after from certain students families who owned horses as well.

All in all, Cyril just mainly dealt with horses and he liked horses so to him it made all his work easy. Slade was smirking at Cyril's drinking offer which basically meant that drinking was a go. Cyril liked his drinks after all, and if he had someone to drink with then it made it all the better since Cyril was a big social drinker. His light blue eyes looked to where Slade jerked his head and heard the words about only having a few beers. "I have some beers, scotch, and vodka. I'm still getting used to some of these America brand names, so sorry if they are not like the best out there." Cyril said as he gestured Slade to follow him into his room where he had a mini cooler with his drinks in it. His used the main fridge for like milk and common drinks and food.

He went into his cooler and got himself a beer, allowing Slade to go in a grab anything that he would like. Moving to sit down on his bed and crack open his beer. "Go ahead and have a seat and let’s talk about...umm...women. Yeah women." Cyril said with a small nod. Women were easy to talk about and he liked women and figured Slade did too so they could talk about that with ease.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade shrugged. Why not? There was no law that said you could only start drinking at a specific time. He was a soldier, after all. If only people knew how much liquor their US Army put down they probably wouldn't be so confident in them. Pausing a moment as he ducked back into his own room to retrieve the six pack he still had he went to follow Cyril. A deep chuckle escaped as Cyril seemingly struggled for a topic of conversation and finally settled upon women. It was a strange subject to abruptly throw out there, but Slade was already beginning to think his co-worker and roommate was a little off to begin with.

Although Slade wasn't dense. He wasn't a fool. He had a sneaking suspicion why women were on Cyril's mind. Either the stablehand really liked all women and had a bevy of them, or there was just one, in particular, that had captured his attention. Either way, Slade figured it'd be an interesting story. "Women, eh?" He said with a bit of a snort as he found a home for the six back and withdrew one of the bottles from the cardboard case and twisted off the cap. "You got one you wanna talk about?" He asked, taking a pull from the bottle.

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril liked to drink; it was a big thing for him to do back home when there was pretty much anything to celebrate. Holidays, sports, party events, hanging out, and pretty much if he was going to be with a group of people then he was likely going to end up drinking. Tea was still his favorite but that was more of a drink he liked to have by himself, when doing something relaxing, and at a certain time of day. Tea time was a few hours away so he figured having a few drinks in his room with his roommate would not hurt at all. Cyril really had been out of practice still in talking to others his age since he had been mainly been dealing with horses and the young children, but he still felt that he could at least talk to someone. He just didn't know what topic to bring up so went with the whole talking about the ladies, a default for him back when he was in high school.

What straight guy didn't like to talk about the ladies after all? Especially with the ladies that were walking around this campus. The mutant gene seemed to affect females and those females seemed to develop into smoking hot girls. "Women indeed, mate." Cyril said with a nod as he moved a little on his bed and sipped at his beer for a moment before raising an eyebrow at Slade's next words. "Don't we all have one that we want to talk about at some point?" Cyril asked the question back and smirked, taking a longer sip from his beer. "But, I'm not the kind of guy who chats no stop to other guys about who I fancy, feels to girly. I want to talk about all the ladies. There are so many attractive ones here, don't you agree?" Cyril asked with a grin, already wondering who Slade would bring up first as his mind recalled the ones he had either met or seen around.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade chuckled lightly. He wasn't quite sure what this guy was all about but, hey, he had booze and seemed alright enough. The big man wasn't going to complain even though he did find it a bit strange that Cyril seemed to insist on lounging around in just his boxers. No matter, there was beer and the company of a similarly aged person, two things Slade didn't seem to get enough of these days. He cared deeply about the safety and well being of the students on campus, but there was only so much conversation a teacher could have with them.

"I can't say I do." He admitted with a chuckle as he lifted the beer bottle back to his lips. "I've never really had much time for ladies." He said once he'd swallowed his latest pull from the beer. Which was true. He'd spent far too much time bouncing across the globe going from station to station and being deployed at the drop of a hat wherever his team of operators were needed. He certainly had his share of bar stories and, if given a ghost writer, could probably write one hell of a book about it all but it left precious little time to establish much of a connection with anyone save his brothers and sisters in arms. "Even now I tend to keep to myself."

[Cyril Kingsley]

If Slade brought up the whole boxers thing, then Cyril certainly would have been fine getting dressed. He was just a big sport player growing up and he hung out with a lot of guys during that time. From all the different levels of undressed because of hanging out in the locker room with one another. He just simply got used to not being fully clothed when around guys and just felt free in a way. Didn't have to worry about clothing been in the way and it was nice to feel the cool air against his skin. Cyril would not have objected even if Slade decided to get down to his boxers and enjoy drinking beer in just his boxers with Cyril. He would only have a problem with it if say Slade did not wear boxers and instead wore like men’s underwear. Cyril was not sure he would be able to handle such an image and now that he thought about it he could not help but choke on his beer for a moment.

Girl talk was practically a must now to get that image out of his head and get the wonderful sight of women floating around in his head instead. "What? Come now Slade, you have to at least think about them from time to time." Cyril said in disbelief because with a guy that big he had to be full of testosterone and that did get your blood boiling for the ladies, or at least some of the down and dirty in the sheets. Cyril started to shake his head at hearing Slade's words about not having time, but understood the whole being too busy to get around to meeting some ladies, but still. There were like TV shows, magazines, and all sort of the internet to at least entertain your mind. Cyril just chugging on his beer as he tried to think of a life without women and felt like the world would end.

"Ooooh, a self-pleaser. I got it. You have at least seen a few of the babes around here or even in the town. Even if you didn't want to like jump any of them, did you at least think any of them were pretty...or any guys?" Cyril asked, now wondering if maybe Slade just swung a different way, which was cool.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade remained where he was for the moment, beer in hand, as he looked to Cyril curiously. This guy couldn't be for real, could he? "Not really." Slade replied with a shrug of his broad shoulders. His late teens and nearly the entirety of his twenties had been spent knee deep in some of the most brutal and violent conflicts no one would ever hear about. By the time he'd become a civilian, Slade figured he'd outgrown the childish, hormonal phase of his life. Sure, everyone had their little thoughts now and again that couldn't be helped, but for the most part Slade was a focused individual who liked to stay busy with either work or his personal pursuits. He didn't dedicate much time in a given day thinking of sex or lasciviously eyeing his co-workers and seeing a beautiful woman, while appreciated, didn't send the big man into a fit of adolescent, lustful mania. Slade had, after all, been there before and acted like it.

The second half-ramble that came from Cyril caused a brow to quirk. Slade was beginning to think this guy had problems. Self pleaser? What was implied by that was painfully obvious and Slade just simply shook his head. Was this what this guy thought adult men talked about in each other's company? Which of their co-workers they thought were attractive or would have sex with? Slade chuckled faintly as he thought they might as well be sitting in their pajamas, eating ice cream and going through teen magazines and looking at all the pictures of pretty people they thought were dreamy. "Yes, Cyril." Slade answered in a professional tone. He wasn't going to be lured into such a childish conversation. "We do work with a number of very attractive women." That was about as far as he was going to go with this one. He wasn't sixteen, after all.

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril didn't even feel like he was talking to a human being at the moment when Slade responded back. Sure Cyril understood not being a love sick puppy when it came to the ladies around you, but to not even really have thoughts about them from time to time? It just didn't really click in Cyril's head and he could not help but to just stare at Slade for a moment before going back to drinking his beer. Cyril was not love crazed boy who would just fall head over hills at any beautiful lady, but her certainly would flirt and appreciated their company. Plus if the other flirted and enjoyed his company back, he didn't see a problem with turning into a little bit of a love sick puppy. It showed that you were at least interested in them, and that was flattering if done the right way. "Are you Asexual?" Cyril asked then as he sipped down the last of his beer and was already moving to grab another. Cracking it open with the bedframe and going right to drinking it.

Yes, Cyril did in fact mean self-pleasing with his question directed at Slade since he was having a hard time believing such a big man that had to have a lot of testosterone didn't have needs that needed to be met. Unless he was taking like hormones to get his body like that and caused him to be a lot more sensitive and less concerned with matter of the body. Then again Slade could very well be an Asexual, or it was something that just came along with his power. Cyril honestly didn't know and there were too many things that could be the cause of Slade's views so he could not really judge or figure it out without paying too much. Cyril leaned back on his bed with Slade's response, his chipper mood dropping to one that was more pissed off than anything. Here he was trying to have some fun, be laid back with his roommate with some beers, and Slade was being like some brick wall.

Well this is not going at all like I thought it would. Cyril thought as he just gave a small nod that Slade at least agreed that they had attractive co-workers. Clearly Slade must have been misunderstanding what kind of conversation Cyril was looking for. "Well, since that topic is clearly not working. Anything that you can think of talking about?" Cyril asked, his tone short because his chipper mood was gone and he felt like this guy pretty much ruined his day. "If not, you might as well get back to what you are doing so I'm not bothering you or wasting your time." Cyril said after a sip of his beer and just look at Slade. Displeased.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade went to speak just a moment before he registered what Cyril had asked. Asexual? The big man's mouth snapped shut and he gave a low chuckle in response. That was about as much emotion as he usually displayed. "No." He replied with a faint shake of his head. "I'm not asexual. It's just not my preferred choice of conversation." The response wasn't an admission, Slade wasn't confused or repressed about his sexuality or exploits, he just felt it his own business and opted to remain quiet, for the most part, when it came so such talk.

But still, Slade didn't want to end such a brief conversation in such a negative way. It was obvious the two of them got off on the wrong foot, which was unacceptable. You didn't have to like everyone you worked with, but at least had to get along and interact when necessary. His mind searched for something else he could engage Cyril in conversation with that may salvage the situation. "How long have you been taking care of the stables?" He asked, actually genuinely curious. The passion in which Cyril approached his job was no secret to many of the staff and students. Slade was no stranger to horses and had actually spent a great deal of time with them on a couple of his deployments overseas. That and anyone who enjoyed and appreciated their job as much as Cyril obviously did was worth talking to.

[Cyril Kingsley]

Cyril heard the low chuckle from the other man when he asked if he was Asexual, assuming the chuckle meant that he was not Asexual. Alright, he understood not wanting to talk about your sexualities or anything like that. Cyril didn't want to talk about their sexualities; he wanted to talk about the pretty ladies on campus. He never said he wanted to talk about having sex with them or what naughty things you could do with them. He just wanted to sit down with a beer, talk about beautiful ladies, and have a good time. Was that so hard to get out of the other guy. There was nothing that was really weird or uncomfortable about what Cyril had wanted to talk about. At least Cyril did not see it that way, but he was not Slade so he could not just sit there and judge the other man for being all odd about wanting to talk about the ladies.

Cyril was pretty much done with all of this and would have preferred Slade to leave since he was being a spoil sport about it all. Yet Slade brought up a question about horses that Cyril knew had to be an attempt to change the subject. Thankfully it was about the horses and that was enough to at least put him in a better mood then he was in before. "Not long at all. I only moved to the states a few months ago when my sister transferred to this school. Before that I was in the UK as a vet." Cyril informed Slade as and then took a moment to have another sip at his beer. Cyril did enjoy his job but having a fully time job at stables was a bit of a new thing. "What about you? Well in terms of working at this school." Cyril asked trying to make the conversation keep going and move along.