Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you

Or

Morning time is Family time

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Suzaku rolled over in the tiny twin mattress and grunted at his stomach growled audibly. It was barely 5am and the night before Cecile had encouraged him to sleep in, almost demanded it in fact. Not one to disobey orders from his superior, Suzaku stayed in his bed quietly and tried to pass the time between shushing his stomach and counting the bricks in the far wall. When his clock rolled over to say 6am Suzaku reasoned that an hour counted as sleeping in and he sprang out of bed eager to try the cereal Cecile had bought at the market the other day. He pulled the door to his room open and paused. Was it okay to walk around wearing his pajamas? Would he get in trouble if he wasn't in his uniform first thing in the morning? Suzaku had been looking forward to a slightly less formal atmosphere. New things always intrigued him, but the social etiquette one must have when sharing a dorm with a woman… Suzaku closed the door and decided it would be best to put on most of his uniform. He could leave the jacket hanging in the closet and run and grab it if Lloyd or Cecile scolded him.

Cecile was already in the kitchen when Suzaku entered. It looked like she was trying to cook something that was a. on fire and b. smelled like someone had left it to sit in the trash can.

"Good morning Ms. Cecile." Suzaku said as he reached for the handle of the refrigerator door. Cecile jumped back in alarm and squeaked in surprise.

"Suzaku! Gracious me, I thought I told you that it was ok to sleep in today! Now my surprise breakfast is ruined."

"Oh don't worry about that Cecile." Lloyd said with a yawn as he too entered the kitchen. Suzaku noticed that they both were still in what could be classified as pajamas. Lloyd even had slippers with little robots on them. "I'm sure the meal itself will be a BIG surprise."

"I'm sorry Miss Cecile. I typically wake up at 5. I assumed that was standard. That's how it was in the barracks at least. I could go back to my room and wait if you'd like." Suzaku apologized.

"Why are you in your uniform Suzie Q? We have the day off today…more or less." Lloyd said as he propped his feet on the table and opened the newspaper.

"Suzie Q? Now honestly Lloyd, is that any way to treat your new…is son an appropriate word for this situation?" Cecile pondered. She absent mindedly tasted the pancake batter she was making and tapped the tasting spoon to her chin.

"Ward, protégé, charge, responsibility, or dependent would fit more aptly, but you could say that Kangaroogi is my son. Actually the Lancelot is my son. He can be its adopted brother." Lloyd adjusted his glasses and smiled fondly at the paper he didn't seem to be reading.

"So…the Lancelot is my brother?" Suzaku asked feeling more confused than he was originally.

"No. You are the Lancelot's brother. If he was YOUR brother he'd be human, and that would have been a waste of my wonderfully large budget. Now go change out of your uniform. You do have something casual to wear right? Just looking at you makes me feel like I'm slacking off." Lloyd whined and dismissed Suzaku with the flick of the wrist.

"You always slack off Lloyd. It's a wonder things get done in our department with you as the supervisor." Cecile chided as Suzaku went back to his room. He was noticed that he was smiling slightly and happily put his pajamas back on.

"Much better." Cecile greeted upon Suzaku's reentrance. "Would you mind setting the table Suzaku?" She pointed to a cabinet door and a sliding drawer to her right. "Cups and plates are up there, and silverware is down there. Feel free to push Lloyd out of the way."

Suzaku grabbed the plates and cups and balanced them in one hand while he fished around the silverware drawer for forks. Cecile smiled when she noticed that he managed to grab all matching plates (which was no small feat since almost nothing matched in a kitchen shared by Lloyd and Cecile). Suzaku put everything down on the table and spread it out how he'd seen done on television shows and in magazines. Lloyd peeked over his newspaper and chuckled at how orderly and pristine a job Suzaku had done.

"Nothing is ever half-way with you is it Suzaku?" He asked as he flipped to the crossword puzzle.

"What do you mean sir?" Suzaku asked as he adjusted the tilt of his fork ever so slightly to match the angle of the other two.

"Nothing. Ceciiiiii~le I need a pen. It's time to do the crossword."

"No, it's time to eat. Ta-dah! Pancakes ala Cecile. Lloyd, grab the syrup and butter and whipped cream." There was a whine of protest from the scientist. "Suzaku already helped me this morning. You need to pull your own weight in the house too." Lloyd whined even louder but surprisingly he did what she asked.

"This looks…delightful Miss Cecile." Suzaku said with a grimace as she plopped four undercooked and slightly green pancakes onto his plate. "Did you use a family recipe?"

"No, this is actually my first time making pancakes. I added nori to the batter, you know, that dried seaweed stuff. I heard it was a popular item in many eleven dishes so I used some that we bought the other day." She smothered her stack of pancakes in syrup and added a ridiculously large spoonful of whipped cream to the top.

"So Suzaku, we didn't really get much of a chance to talk before. How are you?" Cecile cut into her pancakes and didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Suzaku poked his and noticed that Lloyd had conveniently put his pancakes back onto the main stack of pancakes.

"I'm fine I suppose. I didn't have too much to unpack last night so I'm not very tired. I'm very grateful that you two are letting me live with you and permitting me to be a part of ASEEC. I'll work my hardest every day, so don't worry." He tried to sound chipper and confident, but Suzaku worried that he sounded boastful.

"That's good to hear. I hope that you'll be less formal around us though. Please feel free to just call us Lloyd and Cecile. No "sir" or "miss" please. We aren't as formal here. Do you have anything you want to know about? Questions about ASEEC that we can answer for you?"

"A-actually, I'd like to get to know you better m-Cecile; you too, Lloyd." Suzaku smiled and carefully nibbled at the forkful of nori pancakes. They tasted overwhelmingly salty.

Cecile blushed. "Oh my. Well since you asked so sweetly, my name is Cecile Croomy, I'm 24 years old and I was born in the homeland. I've been working with ASEEC since before I graduated from the Air Force Academy. My hobbies include cooking, watching monster movies, and playing pool."

"Earl Lloyd Asplund, 27, I like anything that has to do with electronics." Lloyd had somehow managed to procure a pen without Suzaku noticing and was wrapped up in doing his crossword.

"Thank you." Suzaku smiled and finally gave in to his growling stomach and attacked his plate of pancakes. He swallowed the last bite twice.

"And what about you Suzaku?" Cecile asked a she cleared the plates away. "Can you tell us what your hobbies are? Or what kind of music you like? A bit about your past or family?"

"Oh, uhm. I don't really listen to much music, but I enjoy anything that I can do with my body, I really like sports. And I'd prefer not to talk about my past or family. Those are sad subjects." Suzaku glanced at the crossword that Lloyd was filling out. He was already half finished.

"Oh. Well we are at the university campus. I'm sure we could get them to let us use the pool or basketball courts. I used to play tennis when I was in high school. Let's think of something fun to do today." Cecile smiled.

Suzaku smiled back at her. "Sure. But you know, I wouldn't mind getting some more casual clothes…all I have are my pajamas."

Cecile muffled a giggle and Lloyd slammed his pen down on the table with a triumphant "HAHAHAHAH~AAAA" Suzaku and Cecile looked at him for an explanation.

"I just beat my old record." Lloyd beamed as he pointed to the Crossword puzzle. Suzaku laughed with Cecile and helped her load the dishwasher while Lloyd performed a small victory dance around the table.