Lavellan

Max's face looked pretty displeased as he looked over the clothes. "If he's such a big boy why are you calling me a little boy?" He grumbled. In vain, he tried filing through the clothes for something not so- kid like. But there was nothing. "It's pretty dumb if you ask me."

"Nothing too babyish, please." Max begged. "How old was your brother?"

"To...to listen and obey." Max repeated the rule, a displeased look upon his face.

"Mmm...No? Please?" He tried asking nicely, but knew Kyle could get rid of Max's clothes if he wanted to. "Or maybe just in this room?"

Max felt dread fill his stomach at the sight of the bag. "Uh...thanks but no thanks..." He tried to politely refuse. "I think I'm good with what I have."

Max hopped down from his bed and walked over to his boxes. There was a small shoe box that had his figures that he put on his bed, but as for his clothes, they were shoved, unfolded, into a box with his textbooks. He pulled them out and started to throw them onto the bed in a pile. His collection looked to consist of about a weeks worth of clothes. "This was all I figured I'd need. I wasn't planning on going anywhere but class and I can always just wash them." What he didn't mention was that most of his clothes at home were hand me downs from his younger siblings as they grew out of their clothes. The clothes were admittedly very childish and he refused to wear them unless he had nothing else. "Other then that I have my textbooks, my class stuff, and some regular books. What else was there to bring?" He shrugs.

Max was certain that he would not be sleeping come 8:30 or any earlier. "Sure. Go ahead." He shrugged.

Maybe it was good that Max had younger brothers. Because now, a devious thought was entering his mind. "Okay. Fine." He agreed with his usual huff. "8:30."

Max genuinely pouted, but didn't have the energy to argue anymore. It was at this point he decided to take his battles one obstacle at a time. If he tried fighting off everything, he would only tire himself out. "What else?"

"I'm not a little boy." Max huffed, but slowly removed the blanket from his face. "I'm older than you and I'm older than my brothers." Max rubbed the tears of frustration from his eyes. "Just tell me the rest of your dumb rules."

Max slumped back onto the bed. Pulling at his blankets, he turned to face the wall. "You called my mom." He sniffled. The blankets were moved to cover his face. Effectively hiding from Kyle.

"We tried to encourage a bed time of 10pm, but often times we were ignored. You see, we had 3 younger boys to attend to. We couldn't often give him the private time he needed. But he could benefit from a good schedule. And Kyle? We really appreciate you taking care of our boy." The smile in her voice was obvious. "You have my number now. Call me if you have any questions or need anything, alright?"

"Hello?" A kind sounding woman answers the phone. "Oh?" She responded as Kyle introduced himself. She couldn't help but coo as Kyle said he'd be taking care of Max. "That's very sweet of you to do, Kyle. He's very small. Easily overlooked, you know. He could do well with a friend willing to take care of him." Meanwhile, Max's jaw dropped. "You called my mom?!" He whispered urgently. "I'd recommend making sure he eats enough. Poor thing is very picky and will forget meals unless you bring them to him." She lectures. "And if you can manage, no phone time after dinner or he'll never sleep!"

Max looked up at Kyle with worry. He didn't like not knowing what was happening. And Kyle not telling him things... "It's Hayes. But Kyle-" He leaned forward, holding onto Kyle's shirt to not fall off the bed. "What are you doing?" He asked again.

"Uh- It's..." Max stuttered. "12340..." A simple code, but Max found himself forgetting otherwise. "But why do you want my phone?" He shifted then, sitting up on his knees on the bed to have a bit more height. But even then he couldn't see what Kyle was doing.

Max's eyes widened. The entire conversation, Kyle hadn't once mentioned using his size against Max. But Max knew he could if he wanted to. Soft words or no, it was a promise as much as a threat...But he wasn't wanting to try him today. Slowly, he dropped his phone in Kyle's hand.

Hesitantly, Max pulled his phone from his pocket, but held it close to his chest. He gazed up at Kyle with slight suspicion. "...why?" He asked. Not that he had anything to hide, but he didn't quite know what Kyle was intending. And that bothered him.

Max sighed as he walked around Kyle towards his bed and sat down oce more. It was only two rules. And yet it felt like so much already. "I usually go to bed around 1am after playing video games. School never started til 8:30. I'd wake up at 8, get dressed, and walk a few blocks to the campus. Come home, do homework, eat dinner, and repeat..."

"But that's so embarrassing." Max complained. But even he knew it was a weak defense. After all, bullies could be ruthless. And, he was sure, when it actually came down to it, he could persuade Kyle to at least stand outside the bathroom... "Is that all the rules?"

"Oh come on." Max whined. "It's not even out of this building. Surely I can just run out and run back." He hid his face in his hands out of embarrassment, not able to look the hulking man in the eye when he basically asked to escort him anytime he needed to take a piss. "You can wait in front of our dorm room door even. But walking me there?!"

The praise was a demeaning, in Max's opinion. But he'd only further Kyle's childish opinion of him if he fought two simple words. And while he felt that Kyle could have put it a better way, he had a point. If even half the guys out there looked even half as intimidating as Kyle, Max was minced meat. "Fine. You can be my body guard outside this dorm. But I don't want to be a prisoner. I have places to be other than classes, you know." It was a weak negotiation. And if Max really felt Kyle was being stubborn, he could just leave. After all, what would Kyle do? Chase him down?

"I'm older than you." Max weakly argued to at least save some of his dignity. But, he comforted himself, they were just shoes. In the hall, in the room, on his feet, what did it matter? Was he really going to pitch a fit over where they went? And who knows, maybe he was being saved from Kyle's bad foot odor or something...either way, he wasn't going to feed into Kyle's delusion that he was a child. "What's your next rule?" He asked instead.

Max's jaw dropped. "But that's not fair!" He complained. "You may be cleaning but your shoes are bigger than mine so you'd bring in the most dirt! And I don't go running through mud puddles daily, you know." His volume grew loud as he protested. And as he finished he crossed his arms and glared defiantly at Kyle. "That's stupid."

Max nodded, tucking his socks into his shoes and hopping down from the bed. It was only as he was setting his shoes in the hall, neatly of course, that he turned to look at Kyle who didn't seem to be kicking his shoes off. "What about yours, Mr. Size 12? It's your rule." He pointed to his own shoes. "Mine are here. So yours go here too."

Max glared, blushing again. "Youth 4s." He grumbled, pulling his other shoe off with a bit of strain. His socks came off too and he set them aside. "What size do you wear? Freaking size 14s?" He peered down at Kyle's massive feet. Proportional to his height for sure.