Thomas stepped into the frat’s kitchen. It’s still surprised him that despite its size, needing to accommodate the many guys lived here, it was nothing like an industrial kitchen. The appliances were large and heavy duty, but in browns, reds with only highlights of grays, instead of the chrome or steel he’d seen when restaurants were on TV. He could easily imagine these in his parent’s home, and his mother recording a cooking episode with them. Not her cooking on them at the frat, certainly not recording a show. He didn’t need her to smell the sex that seemed to permeate everything in the frat, and her audience wouldn’t appreciate guys showing up and having sex. He finished assembling the sandwich, poured himself a coffee, then headed to his room. He pulled the chair away and confirmed no one was hiding under the desk. Spewing cereal all over the table as a hot mouth closed around his cock had been memorable, but not something he wanted happening too often, or at his desk with his work opened. He looked at the guys’ reflection as they walked by his door. To make sure none of them tried to sneak into his room and molest him, Thomas told himself as justification, while fully appreciating the naked bodies. Which was why he nearly choked on his coffee when a fully dressed monkey stepped into the doorway. “Thomas,” Limbani said, as if there was nothing unusual about him wearing pants, “why aren’t you dressed? We need to get going?” Why was he naked? This was Sigma Theta Gamma. Why was the monkey dressed? “You know,” Limbani said, as Thomas kept staring, “the course we’re giving?” Okay, that was…. Not enough. “I’m going to need more. I think someone spiked the house’s coffee with decaf, because this is clearly not doing the job of chasing the cobweb my history class filled my head with.” “Studies for Success,” the monkey said. Thomas tried to think of why tomorrow morning’s class would be this afternoon. “The hour class we need to give for the points toward our credit?” Now even he sounded unsure. “Wait.” The balls dropped. “You were serious?” He remembered Limbani suggested it now. “Aren’t I always?” the monkey replied with a confused tilt to his head. Thomas had no idea what to make of that question. It was nearly impossible to tell when Limbani was serious, unless it involved sex. And it was what had been happening when he’d suggested they took the safe sex course from the ones available, as for their credit. He’d added that it would be fun to know more than the supervising instructor. Thomas had said yes. Well, yelled it, as the monkey was fucking him hard and his orgasm was approaching. He’d kind of forgotten about it as the high went away. “I…” Thomas trailed off. “Kind of didn’t sign up for it.” “Oh.” Limbani dismissed the comment with a wave of the hand. “I signed you up at the same time I did.” Of course he had. Thomas was momentarily surprised the common ‘I saw you’d be there’ wasn’t uttered, but then remembered he said that when he wanted sex. He glanced at his phone. “I don’t have anything prepared.” Would the walk there be enough for him to put something together? “All you need to bring is that sweet ass of yours,” the monkey said, and Thomas looked at him suspiciously. “It’s all in here.” He replied, tapping the phone at in the leather hip holster and sounding offended Thomas thought he meant to give a live demonstration. Thomas wondered if it was worth putting himself through whatever the monkey had planned for the points. He wouldn’t be penalized for not going. He’d just have to pick one of the classes left over to give, or another activity to helm and he’d get points. As a course for undecided majors, Studies for Success was filled with campus activities the students picked to get the points needed to get the credit for the class. The one downside to passing on the safe sex course was that it was among those offering the most points. He’d noticed that when he’d gone over the list, trying to decide which he’d take. “Okay, I guess I’m in.” He pulled clothes from the dresser. “What should I bring? Other than my sweet ass,” he added. “Why would you need anything else?” Limbani replied with a far too innocent smile. “To be clear,” Thomas said, putting on a shirt. “You aren’t getting me naked in front of a class full of people.” “Thomas,” the monkey said, hand to his head. “It’s a safe sex class.” He grinned. “We will have to give a demonstration, or three.” Thomas froze with the shirt half on, an arm in the air. There was no way Limbani could seriously— The flash from the monkey’s phone snapped Thomas out. Limbani looked at the screen and grinned. “She was right. That stunned look of yours is a keeper.” “Judith?” Thomas blurted, and the monkey nodded. “If you’re going to start talking and listening to my sister, maybe I should sit this one out.” The smile Limbani gave him had none of the innocence the precious one did. “I’ll make it worth your while.” To go give the course with him, or endure whatever ideas his sister had given the monkey? There was a lot Thomas would put up with for the kind of payback Limbani gave, but was that one of them? With a sigh, he finished dressing, then joined Limbani, who headed toward the stairs going up. “The way out’s in that direction,” Thomas pointed. “I want to see if I can get Gil to help out.” Now, he was no longer sure he should be part of that. He caught up to the monkey. If the house’s pyromaniac needed to be involved, things were going to be very interesting, and he wasn’t certain it would be of a sexual flavor. “Gil,” Limbani called as he banged on the door. Something fell on the other side, followed by cursing. Stuff moved. Thomas glanced at the monkey, who looked unconcerned by what was happening behind the close door. The last time Thomas had been in that room, there had been nothing that should make those sounds, unless the armadillo had stacked his furniture. No, that cacophony would sound completely different. The door cracked open only enough for Gilbert to look out. “What?” he demanded. He shifted as Thomas tried to look around, but he still saw the bed sheet thrown over a mountain of something in the middle of the room. Probably what had fallen over. “Me and Thomas are giving a safe sex class,” Limbani said in a matter-of-fact tone. “We could use your help.” “Is that a joke?” Gilbert asked, putting his entire naked body in the opening and giving Thomas something other than the content of the room to look at. “Only the implication it’s going to be hands on teaching,” Thomas said, “I hope.” He ignored the offered sight and pushed on tiptoe to look over the armadillo. “You’re hiding a nuclear bomb under there, aren’t you?” Gilbert looked at Thomas in concerned, while Limbani burst out in laughter. “Why would you think that?” the armadillo asked. Thomas shrugged. “Well, I heard about the firecracker incident and the implication that was small caliber for you. You’re a nuclear chemistry grad student and you’re pretty damned evasive when I asked what your thesis was about.” The monkey’s laughter stopped. He looked at them, then placed a hand on the door and pushed. The door stayed as it was until Gilbert stepped aside with a sigh. Now that he didn’t have to strain to see the covered pile, Thomas realized it was nearly as tall as the armadillo. Limbani sighed at the sight. “Does Henry know you have all of that in here?” he asked as Thomas noticed the corner of a white box poking out from the bottom. He couldn’t tell what it was, but there would be a lot of them under there. “Yes.” Gilbert’s response was so fast it could give a passing listener whiplash. That didn’t sound as an honest answer to Thomas. Limbani shrugged after a second of contemplation. “Well, it not my ass that’s going to suffer when he finds out.” “Did you see something?” Limbani smiled. “Just tell me you’ve refilled the fire extinguisher.” “Lim, did you see something?” “You’re seriously asking the monkey if he’s seen the two of you fucking?” Thomas asked. “No,” Limbani said with a chuckle. “He’s worried I—” “Yes.” Gilbert cut off the monkey and pointed to the three extinguishers on the desk. “Lau been dropping by daily since then. And if I blow something up again, he’s going to report me, and I’ll have to have a long talk with Colby.” “He’s your…” Limbani glanced at Thomas. “He’s the head of the Rowling estate, right?” “In a few years,” Gilbert said, also glancing at Thomas. “But his dad’s having him deal with any trouble as part of his training and… well…” he rubbed the back of his head. “If you’d met him, you’d know you don’t want him to think you’re trouble.” “I see.” Limbani smiled. “Then could some light threats about calling your family estate and mentioning some of the things you’ve been up to help you decide to give us a hand?” Gilbert crossed his arms over his chest. “Only if you want to be woken up by one of my surprises one morning.” “Come on, Thomas,” Limbani said, all humor gone. “It’s just the two of us, after all.” “What is under that sheet?” Thomas asked as he followed the monkey down the stairs. “You know about Lau’s gun collection, right? Well,” he continued after Thomas’s nod, “Gil shares in the Rowling obsession with collecting… armament, but he likes his caliber higher.” He raised his hand over his head. “A lot higher.” Thomas faltered as he processed the information, then hurried to catch up once on the ground floor. “You are talking about firecrackers, right? Nothing… illegal?” The monkey shrugged. “When you have enough money, anything can be made legal. Gil might be pushing the limits, but he’s a brother. I won’t be the one telling on him.” He fixed Thomas with a hard look. “Will you?” Thomas swallowed and decided he never wanted to see Limbani with that expression again. That happy-go-lucky, ‘let’s make everything about sex’ version of the monkey hid a rather scary serious one when he put his mind to it. * * * * * Thomas headed for the back of the classroom, only for Limbani to grab his arm and pull him to the front. “You’re helping, remember. No hiding in the back this time.” He lowered his voice. “Not unless you have someone waiting there to make things interesting. If you do,” the monkey continued over Thomas’s attempt at a protest, “you better be willing to share.” He grinned. “Brother’s share everything.” “Mister Adesida, Mister Hertz.” The dalmatian motioned them to the podium. “I’m Mister Heron, I’ll be supervising your course. I hope you have everything in order.” “We do,” Limbani said. “I’ll just need access.” Thomas groaned. “To the audio-video system network,” the monkey said, offended, and waving his phone. “I have slides and a couple of videos.” “Nothing in appropriate, I hope,” the dalmatian said. “I have heard of you, Mister Adesida, and your tendency to introduce sexual topics at inappropriate times and places.” “That’s an understatement,” Thomas muttered. “This is a safe sex course,” The monkey stated. “It’s going to be tough to avoid sexual topics.” “Then let’s keep those topics from turning explicit, shall we?” the dalmatian gave the monkey access to the class’s network. Limbani handed Thomas his phone once it was logged in. “The slides are all in order. Just tap when I signal you and they’ll show up. Oh, when we get to it, just skip the one called ‘Thomas takes it big’. If we’re not going explicit, we don’t want that one to play.” Thomas hurried through the slides, looking for that one, so he could delete it. He didn’t know what it was, but he wasn’t letting the monkey keep anything with his name on it. He reached the end and glared at Limbani, who smirked. “I hate you,” Thomas said. “I’ll change your mind after this,” Limbani promised, then took position behind the podium. Thomas sat in the front row and glared at the monkey. Limbani nodded to him, then pointed to the phone and Thomas realized they were starting. He tapped the first slide and behind the monkey, the title of the course appeared. Sexual Security in the Post Mid-Twenty-First Century. “With the advances in science,” Limbani opened, “you’d think that something as important as sex would have been made as safe as it can be. And mostly, it has.” Unfortunately, Thomas discovered as he sat there, listening to the monkey talk, reading the statistics, the excerpt of articles and medical studies, as they appeared on the wall at his prompted tap. Mostly seemed to not include a lot of what Thomas has been doing since joining the frat. The more he read and listened, the bleaker his future seemed.