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 Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 8:38 pm
He had an old Hedgren brand set of luggage, 2 different sizes of rolling suitcase and one large, hiker’s backpack that could stuff even larger. It was all he needed, since the school provided a bed and a dresser. Really, he didn’t own too much more than could fit in them. His few clothes were in the smaller suitcase, along with toiletries and over-the-counter medications like Advil or sports cream. His larger suitcase had two sheets sets, his pillow, his two prized vellux blankets, and a conspicuous plush, hand-sewn circus strongman from his aunt (it even wore a stereotypical cat-print tarzan toga.) His backpack had his basic hand weights, a calendar of old time strongman, his school supplies, a family group photo from last year’s Europe trip, and a laminated poster of Charles Atlas. The hall was Spartan at best, dingy at worst, seeming ill cared for by the students themselves. Well, it was a load of troubled boys. He furrowed his brow, considering how well he’d fit in to the various social structures ….packs…that would probably have formed. Boys packed. It was all hierarchy. If he was lucky, he could keep out of any more fights. The paper that had come in the mail just gave him a room number, what day he could move in, and a list of what was forbidden in the dorms. If he had a roommate, and what the boy would be like, remained a mystery. He knocked once on the door when he got to it, and waited.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:11 pm
Inside a room that was far cleaner than the dubious hallways that led to it or the scuffed and scarred door Bjorn had rapped his knuckles against, a dancer lept.
And then crashed against something, swore roundly and limped over to open the door. "Hello-oooh?" Green eyes blinked once, twice, three times at the very large person standing before him. "Uh...can I help you?" Colin's curly hair was held back with a sportsband (not a ******** headband, thank you) and he was wearing short-shorts in blue and a once-white wifebeater shirt. Obviously the current resident had absolutely no clue that this hulking man was knocking at his dorm door - wait, why did he have bags?
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:15 pm
"You must live here" otherwise why lounge around in shorts that were practically underwear?
"We're to be roommates."
The boy was practically eye-level with his pecs, and probably only wide as half of one. His bicep diameter was probably this boy's waist-size.
"Björn Guildson" He held out his hand to ....engulf the smaller one at the boy's side with a firm shake. "May I come in?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:53 pm
Colin cocked his head at the massive blond before him;when the guy opened his mouth it was even stranger - he had an accent and a kind of weird-ish way of talking. "Well then. I'm Colin Hargrove." So weird having his entire hand swallowed by another's - god but he was big!
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, of course!" when his hand was returned to him from the Land of the Beefcake, the blond would usher his new roommate on in. "Uh...that's your bed, but..." Looking over at the bed made that statement absolutely ludicrous - Björn was massive! A regular twin-bed wasn't going to accomodate him - maybe the Dean was going to upgrade or something? He hoped so, for the big guy's sake.
At the least the newcomer seemed fairly friendly.
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 9:59 pm
"Colin" He repeated it quietly, like adding post it notes to some imaginary pin-board. "It is a pleasure."
He waited to be allowed through the door, paying no initial mind to the size of the bed. Of course it was too small. Things were ...always too small. He let the pack off his back slowly so that the weights didn't cause too much noise when they clanked on the floor.
"What to do about the bed..."
"Do you mind if I move the mattress to the floor? It is what usually happens in hotels. It isn't too far if my feet or arm are off the bed. Is it a good idea?"
"I can move the frame in the hall, or if they have a spare furniture room? Are there dorm mothers, so to speak? Or we could..." he trailed off. What did you do with an extra bed frame? Turn it on it's side and call it a shelf?
How long had Colin been at Hillworth? He looked very clean if scantily put together. Not much like a boy who should be at a school for the troublesome. Were they in the same grade? These would probably come up later, so he pushed the questions aside. The bed was the first thing. Well, second, since introductions had been first.
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:31 pm
Colin flopped onto his bed, sitting with his hands against the duvet, leaning forward to watch the larger man - boy. "Well...I practice--you know what, that's totally fine with me...I don't know if we'll need permission or anything." Colin shrugged a little bit after that; whatever happened, it wasn't staying in the room. "There's a storage room, it's kind of creepy but we can put it there."
As to Bjorn's question regarding a 'dorm mother' the blond nodded and rubbed at the back of his head. "We have upper-classmen that serve as uh...I guess prefects or something? They're mostly in charge, above them are teachers. Most of them are dicks, but...I somehow don't think they're going to want to mess with you." Colin gave his companion a very meaningful once-over.
"Hey, do you snore?" Of all the questions!
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:48 pm
"A storage room, then....very good." He cradled one elbow in a hand, the other thoughtfully pulled at his goatee.
What did prefect mean? 'in-charge' meant enough. it was a title then? Some sort of ranking that put them above other boys. It confused a little with 'perfect' in his brain, but he was fairly certain no boy at this school would meet that sort of qualification.
He laughed at Colin's question, smiling over his own knuckles. "Oh yes, very bad."
After laughing again, "No, no, it is a lie. I do not snore. My lungs and breathing must be very open and precise to work as I do. If I couldn't breath right at night, I would wake with too much fatigue. Did your last roommate snore? "
He let his hands drop and put them to work while he listened for Colin's answer. The mattress was lifted like it was made of paper, set on the floor, and the frame raised to support on his shoulder. "You can lead the way?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:04 am
The "joking" about snoring had Colin groaning and falling back on the bed as though he were a tree felled by a lumberjack - he pushed himself up on his elbows when assured that no, Bjorn did not in fact saw logs all night.
"Oh thank god." He sat all the way up and chuckled a little bit, "That's one way of putting it. I thought I was going to go crazy." Yes, his last roommate had been more than just a little bit of a snorer and had nearly driven Colin batshit with his endless nighttime "noises".
Wow. WOW. Colin watched Bjorn moving the bed and frame around like they were absolutely nothing at all with wide, staring eyes. He was so shocked he continued to sit there for a minute before shaking himself into motion. "Uh..sure, down this way--" Little blondie would lead Big blondie out of the room, along the hall and down a set of large, creepy-looking cement stairs that lurked at the end of the entire building.
Along the way a few cranky looking 'inmates' peered out of their dorm rooms to eye Bjorn following 'Twinkle-toes' and decide (wisely, perhaps) to still their acidic, troubled-youth driven tongues.
The storage room smelled like damp and mold, dank and rot and something even nastier: boy-bedding. Bedding and other fabric-covered objects that had been used by various teen-aged boys at Hillworth for years until they were too disgusting or broken to be used further...but that the management thought might "one day be salvaged".
"Oh groooooss--"
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:34 pm
From behind, despite his size, Colin looked well kept. Athletic, even. But Björn did take note of the faces that popped briefly out of doors as they passed. Some looked just ugly, some calculating, others like they'd eaten something bitter, none friendly. Did Colin have friends on this floor? At the school? It was probably too close a question to ask. It was certainly rude.
When they got to the room, Björn squinched his nose. At least at a gym they wiped down equipment with a sterile mix and in the locker rooms they cleaned once in a while. "It is a quite a few months back, I cannot remember Smithsonian or National Geographic....but they gave a small history of chemical warfare. This is like throwing sick blankets into a city. If we ever have war with another boarding school, we have ammunitions. "
He set the frame down and slid it into a place in the mess like a beer glass down a bar-top, not deigning to walk any further into the filth than the door. "Let's go quickly..."
It was a suggestion, but a heartfelt one. Hopefully Colin didn't want to try to salvage anything from this room or stay a moment longer for any reason.
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:30 pm
He was! Well kept and athletic, that was. Colin danced and worked very hard, it was his passion just as being a Strongman was Bjorns (though shortie didn't know that, yet, he might have guessed it if pressed). As though feeling Bjorn's questions, Colin opened his mouth to explain "I'm a dancer and I look like a short, pretty guy that can't hold his own - easy prey for the guys here. It pisses them off that I'm not."
Quite a few had gotten into it with Colin and come out on the worse end; he didn't start fights but you'd better believe that he would finish 'em - and give at least as good as he got!
Colin laughed as Bjorn shoved the frame down and pushed it into the den of disgusting. "I think you're right. Maybe that's why we get government money sometimes. But don't quote me on that, it's just what mom said, anyway."
The suggestion to skedaddle was met with an affirmative and he led the way back to their now-shared dorm room. Once safely back inside, he sat back down on his bed and gave the bigger boy a considering look. "Do you need help unpacking or anything? That dresser is yours, and the narrow closet too...I don't have much here, so if you do, feel free to spread your stuff out."
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:01 am
" A dancer? "
He tried hard to think of what one did as a dancer. As a PROFESSIONAL dancer, who was male. Well, there were all those people in music videos? Sometimes they were male. Like that old, old video his mother had shown him of Madonna and a Vogue performance while telling him he needed more 'panache' in his showmanship.
Was break-dancing a professional sport now? He didn't know. He didn't know anything about dancing, come to think of it. He tried to avoid the activity himself. Partner dances were just awkward at his size, and dance-hall stuff just seemed like flailing madly about in the same way for 3 minutes. He hoped Colin would elaborate, given his very open ended, very vague question.
"Oh...I don't have much." He looked at his three pieces of luggage. "This is it except for the weight cart, which they had me put in the field house."
"I have a poster...you can look at it and see if you mind it? It is okay if not. Wall space is seen by everyone, so even if this is my side, you would have to look at it everyday. I'm not..."
What would be the right word? "Territorial? About my space. But if you are, I can certainly keep my things to a side. Do you have a preference of ...cleanliness? I am not messy, and I can clean. But I don't often make my bed when I get up in the morning. It made some arguments at home, but there just isn't time most days. I can try if you prefer it."
He took the roll out and offered it over to Colin for perusal.
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:20 am
"Hmm? Yeah, I do modern dance, ballet, jazz, swing...a bit of everything, really. Classically trained but I've also done a couple music videos - small stuff in the background." The biggest thing he'd ever been in was a musical movie...but he'd ended up in the female's chorus due to some girl getting a sprained ankle, so he wouldn't say s**t about going in drag and being on film! Colin shrugged a little and gave his companion a sheepish kind of grin, "It's not the manliest thing ever, but it makes me happy and I'm good at it."
Looking at Bjorn had Colin trying to imagine just how difficult it would be to do any dancing at all. Probably not real fun for the big guy...and awkward as hell for his partner, god was he ever TALL!
"Oh, not really. I don't care about things like that. The only thing I get territorial about is safely locked away." Very likely he would have killed anyone that touched his precious script, but...thankfully that was back at home, in a small, fire-proof safe where no one could mess with it. "I prefer clean, but beds were meant to be messy. Unfortunately, they actually make us fix 'em up in the mornings before we can go for breakfast."
As his hands took the proffered poster and unrolled it, Colin made a sound of an ill-abused animal; he hated having to make his bed when he was just going to get right back in it and mess it up that night anyway! When unrolled, the poster showed a rather nicely built man, nude save for some boot-shoe-sock things. It wasn't grotesque, pornographic or anything - just a tasteful shot of a man in excellent health. "Charles Atlas...world's most handsomw man, huh?"
Now, Colin wasn't really one to judge, but here was a very large guy with an accent, shoved into Hillworth...carting around a poster of a mostly-naked guy dubbed "most handsome". It did make one pause - but then he just dismissed it, 'cause hey - if Bjorn was gay, he was gay. If he wasn't, then he was secure with himself (seemingly so) and/or just really liked this guy. "He's got great form, wasn't he some sort of bodybuilder or something?" Vaugely did Colin recall that Charles Atlas held some titles or something like that.
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:52 am
“You are already industry!” Björn smiled ear to ear, “ That is wonderful. You are young to have such a start. Do you prefer….TV stuff, or stage? I guess maybe one must do both. It is hard to make a living in entertainment. But doing and preferring are different.”
“Do you have copies of the films? Or playbills?”
They were required to make their beds? What a waste of time. He would do it, they must have a reason. Maybe trying to get all the boys into a rhythm and routine. Things were easier in routine.
Colin actually had some idea of who Atlas was!?
He face lit up, a surge of excitement and energy that he immediately put to work in unpacking his things and putting them away in drawers so as not to appear ridiculous. “He was famous in the 30’s and 40’s. He made a complete course…exercise, nutrition, and life suggestions called Dynamic-Tension. Even King George VI of England bought it….it was advertised in magazines, comics…New York newspapers. He was inspired by statues of old gods and Coney Island. And animals in motion. He got some awards for contests about the perfect build and body…he was a model for sculpture artists. He was very amazing. He’s one I emulate, for old-fashioned strongmen. “ He could go on and on, but that was probably enough for someone not already a fan. If there were books he’d read back to front with slow, deliberate effort, they were the biographies and histories written about Angelo Siciliano…the man who became Charles Atlas. “For new style I like Magnús Ver Magnússon. He’s from Iceland. Do you have heroes?”
He looked over from his crouch next to his dresser, scanning Colin’s side for posters, photos, action figures, anything really. But then he remembered some of the vague lectures and the notations on the school rules. Uniforms, decoration was frowned on, and this whole bed making thing. "You know...I think there was a thing about no decorations...no pets... it could go rolled up in the closet."
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:07 pm
Colin blushed a little bit at Bjorn's excitement over his small 'claim to fame'. "It's nothing big, really...but Mom's got one of those scrapbook things going. It's got everything in it from the first ultrasound to slide-shows and dvds of all the crap I've been in. If you'd like, I'll have her send it over sometime..." But really, Colin was embarassed by many of the things in that book - role after role in school plays, choruses...his mother pushing him into competitions and performances of swan lake and other bullshit. He did have a few things in the dorm though, so he pulled out a very slim volume that was a small photo album with several still shots (and some glamour-style posed ones) from a modern dance production - low budget but very full of bright lights and tight clothes (and cute dancer girls!)
"Hillworth used to be a military academy...they've just kind of kept the old rules. Some of the guys here really need it...others, not so much." Some, like himself, had been sent there for stupid reasons - they didn't really deserve to be shoved into a spartan hell academny, but whatever.
"Yeah, yeah...I remember that - one of my old instructors lived and breathed by all of that. It's pretty cool...is that why you're so big, because of the Dynamic-Tension method?" Colin was smiling, watching Bjorn with interest. "Magnus...that's a name I've heard but don't really know - do you have anything on him? I guess I could check on my laptop..." Did he have heros? "Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers were amazing for newer dancers, but Anna Pavlova was amazing, truly incredible...Martha Graham, Darcey Bussell...Sascha Radetsky--" He stopped, expression sheepish. "I respect a lot of classical dancers, even though I don't focus soley in those areas anymore. Aaliyah, Rozeta Ahalyea and Rudolph Nureyev are some of the more modern ones that I admire."
Colin's side of the room was fairly barren, per the school's rules but he did have a laptop (with some StarTrek symbols on it) and a neat workspace for homework. There was also a picture of him with a group of dancers, all in street clothes but obviously doing some random spur-of-the-minute dancing. "You might want to...unless you want one of the Prefects to take it away. Sorry Bjorn, I think they'd probably see it as pornographic or something..."
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:41 pm
He finished stacking the drawer he was working on neatly and closed it before coming over to one-knee next to Colin's bed. He didn't know dancers, but the first two he was pretty sure had been in movies. He couldn't remember the exact images, but he thought he's seen pictures in history magazines.
He didn't presume to take the folio into his own hands, but rather looked at it in Colin's lap, allowing the dancer to page through at his convenience and speed (in case he wanted to skip anything).
"You should have her send over copies probably. I think everything is contraband here."
It was always great to see evidence of passion in work, and all the pictures of Colin looked like he was really into what he was doing. Even the ones with the really odd makeup or outfits. "You look very natural in what you are doing here."
He indicated the whole folio with a wave of his open palm. "It is great to see. You should keep doing it. Be the best. "
At the word 'pornographic' Björn laughed long and heartily. It took a moment before he could speak, rubbing the start of tears from his eyes. "I think sex is in the person, not in the image. But maybe they know better? Do you think it is? I never really looked at it that way."
His own family had never commented one way or the other about taking hims to museums to see art, or on tours to look at sculpture. "Do you think it is because it is a poster and not a picture of a piece of art? "
The suggestive part, not the illegal to have part.
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