Page 52 of Collin: Episodes 4-6
Collin carefully kept his face blank. “Then none of those languages. Maybe I should do something African?”
“For your first second language, it’s best to choose something where there are sufficient resources to learn. So something common enough you can practice. If you wanted to take something like Swahili or Kazakh, I’d suggest waiting until you’d already learned how to learn a foreign language.”
“But haven’t I already done that, in school?”
Mr. Reevesworth shook his head. “Hardly. Truly mastering a language requires very different study methods than you find in most classrooms. For one, you spend far too little time on the subject and have far too little practice.”
“Fine.” Collin made a face. “Can I use my phone?”
“Certainly?”
Collin fished out his phone from his side pocket with a little difficulty and searched most spoken languages. He pondered the list of the top twenty most spoken languages for a while. “What about Chinese?”
“Which kind? Mandarin or Cantonese.”
“Um…” Collin read deeper into the subheading. “Mandarin. There are more speakers for that one.”
“There should be sufficient resources for you to learn that.”
“It seems practical. Can Ash study with me?”
Mr. Reevesworth raised an eyebrow. “You want my resident IT squirrel to learn a foreign language? He’s already barely intelligible.”
“But I’ll understand him.” Collin pointed at his own chest.
Mr. Reevesworth leaned down and kissed Collin between the eyes. “You’re already the best Ash interpreter I have. Very well then, agreed, if you can convince him to study with you. I’m guessing you’re doing this because he needs socializing.”
Collin widened his eyes. “Why, sir! Ash needs nothing! He’s the epitome of balanced and socially adept.”
Mr. Reevesworth laughed so hard he had to put his head back on the couch.
Collin barely moved anything that night. Instead, he woke early Saturday morning with his bladder complaining. He wiggled around and put his hand on his sleeping dom’s wrist.
“Yes, Collin?” Mr. Reevesworth murmured without really rousing.
“I need to pee, sir?”
“Oh. Of course.” Mr. Reevesworth rolled over and slipped the key off his wrist where he kept it on a wristband at night. Collin stared up at the ceiling while Mr. Reevesworth freed his dick and slid the probe out. He needed to pee so bad even that little bit of jostling was almost too much. He was up and running to the bathroom before Mr. Reevesworth had even given him permission to move.
Mr. Moreau slept late. Collin prepared breakfast for all four men. Damian was hard at work at a computer desk in the living room, taking calls between gulps of coffee. Collin didn’t even ask him if he wanted food. He just scrambled eggs, pan-roasted sausages, toasted and buttered English muffins, cut up fruit, and then brought everything to Damian on a tray.
Damian startled, looking up. Collin held the tray in front of him and made a questioning face.
Damian covered the speaker on the phone. “Is that for me?”
Collin nodded.
“You are the best, little brother. I swear.” Damian moved a file and pointed to a free space. “Just put it all there.”
Collin did so and went back to the kitchen. Mr. Reevesworth was eating while reading from his endless supply of books. He didn’t pay any mind as Collin made a second tray and slipped out of the kitchen again, taking it to the bedroom. He put the tray down on the bedside table on Mr. Moreau’s side and knelt down.
“Sir?”
Mr. Moreau didn’t stir.
Collin grimaced. He looked toward the alarm. It was high time Mr. Moreau got up. Collin sighed. He put out a hand and touched Mr. Moreau’s bare shoulder. “Sir?”
Mr. Moreau’s one visible eye blinked open. “Huh?”
