“It’s not enough.” Leander smiled ruefully as Daren pulled away from him, his hand resting over his stomach to rest just a second or two longer while Lucrèce stirred awake.
Lucrèce blinked open his eyes and groaned softly at being roused awake, then again as he realized what being awake meant. He braced himself against the wall to push himself up to stand. “Tell me it’s the end of the night.” He glanced sleepily between Leander and Daren, suppressing a yawn. He couldn’t imagine having to approach another man, and with his luck probably one like the first one he attempted making advances to.
"Unfortunately, no," Daren said, shaking his head. "Just the end of the time. We'll have to go back to work soon, it isn't worth it to pretend that we're too sore to continue." Daren offered his hand to help Lucrèce stand, looking back to Leander.
"Even if it isn't, it's still good." Daren could help point Lucrèce to someone gentle, when they went out again.
Lucrèce accepted the help as he stood. “Ah.” He closed his eyes again, and it wasn’t worth it to him to try to hide the obvious signs he was disappointed. He didn’t argue about it, though. There was no point. Daren was right, and Leander had done all he could.
Leander pushed himself off the bed after a moment, smoothing out the wrinkles in his coat and straightening the lapels. He offered a small—encouraging he hoped—smile to Daren when he looked over. “I’ll try my best to come back tomorrow.” Thanks to the thousand he spent on Lucrèce yesterday, there wasn’t enough money in his wallet to pay for the next night let alone more time for the present. He would have to ask his father for another part of his inheritance, or wait for his own paycheck.
"Don't do anything suspicious," Daren said in turn. He didn't want Leander to spend all his money here, after all, he needed to keep good standing in the community and live his own life. Daren was just one whore in a house of them, after all, and Leander's brother wasn't going to be able to leave any time soon either.
The man moved over to gently kiss Leander one last time, turning to Lucrèce and smoothing his own dress down.
"I'll try to help you get one of the nicer men," he offered. If not someone who would just talk, then at least someone who would be gentle and understanding.
“Hah, I’ll try my best.” Leander leaned over to kiss Daren back quickly, but just as affectionate as ever, just before he finished straightening himself up and crossing the room towards the door. He opened it partially, pausing for a moment to make sure his brother and Daren were ready.
Lucrèce nodded in acceptance of the offer. He wasn’t one to accept help very often as he prided himself on being a very independent person. But this was a special case, after all. “I would appreciate that, actually. Thank you.” He could only hope ‘nice’ would mean someone who would just like to talk and not expect any advances to be made.
Leander, assured now that Daren would put his brother in good hands, opened the door.
Daren let himself smile as Leander kissed back, then arranged his face in a careful mask. He went ti Lucrèce's side, taking the other man's hand and leading him out of the room.
"Have a good evening, sir~" Daren said once they were out, curtseying to Leander and offering a sly smile before pulling Lucrèce back towards the main room. Alcides glanced up when they came in before returning back to his work, satisfied to know they hadn't tried anything. Daren scanned the room once, lightly tapping the back of Lucrèce's hand with one finger and using it to point. It was a quiet man, more in a corner.
"Him," Daren said softly, offering a smile before pulling away to find his own work.
Leander curtly dipped his head in response to Daren’s smile, murmuring something that resembled a thank you as he weaved through the other men in the room towards the exit.
As much as he disliked his brother still, Lucrèce watched with disappointment as Leander disappeared out of the room. Without him, his only sense of familiarity was gone and he felt too exposed. Too vulnerable. At the very least he had Daren to point him towards the quiet man in the corner. He dipped his head in thanks, curtly like his brother had done—a shared family mannerism, perhaps—and made his way over to the corner. “Good evening, sir.” With sleep still in his eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to assume any sort of flirtatious tone. Instead he decided just to be polite, like inevitably meeting someone on the street.
Daren had to keep himself from watching Leander go, as well. He couldn't be caught doing that. Lucrèce had an excuse, he was new. With Lucrèce with the man, Daren disappeared into the groups of the other men. Time to get to work.
The quiet man looked up when Lucrèce approached him, surprised by his tone.
"Ah, hello," he said. His voice was as soft as his expression and seemed to be as small as him. He offered a nervous smile to Lucrèce, hands fidgeting in front of him.
“Hello.” He looked over the man almost appraisingly, noting the way his hands fidgeted in his lap and his smile looked more hesitant than Lucrèce felt. The was completely different than the last man he approached, almost completely opposite in every way. Lucrèce didn’t particularly fancy either personality, but he inwardly decided he favored this one than the former. It took a moment for him to school his flat expression into something softer. “Is this your first time here?”
The man seemed to flush some as Lucrèce looked over him, nervous.
"One of my first," he admitted. He seemed to relax some as Lucrèce softened his expression, hands ceasing their movement for a moment and resting one on top of the other.
"I haven't seen you around, before."
“It’s one of my first times here too,” Lucrèce answered, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He swayed a bit with the movement. “That’s why we haven’t ever seen each other.” It was easier to communicate like this in just a normal conversation, but he still felt just as awkward as any other time under the paint, under the expectation that money would have to be exchanged at some point for whatever reason during their encounter.
"A-Ah," The man said. He hesitated, then motioned for Lucrèce to sit with him.
"I will admit, I ah… I don't really come here to ah… do that," the man said softly. "My friends like to bring me along, and they always end up pressuring me into buying a room, but I-I'm not really interested in doing anything…" The man couldn't quite bring himself to say buy a 'lady.'
Lucrèce visibly relaxed at the man’s words. “Oh, thank god.” He sank down to sit, albeit a few paces away, with the man. “If I could go the entire night without being assaulted, I would consider that a victory.” He folded his legs in front of himself and cradled his hands there in his lap. Comfortably, and at ease knowing he at least didn’t have to worry about this man. “Who are your friends?” he wondered aloud, scanning the room to try and scope out just who he had to be wary of.
"One of them tried to hire you earlier," the man admitted. "I'm sorry he's so handsy, he's very… forward." It seemed to trouble the man when Lucrèce referred to his work as being 'assaulted.' The 'ladies' here weren't being hurt, were they? The man thought that they all wanted to do this, that's why they were here.
“Forward is one way of putting it,” Lucrèce answered with a partial scoff, part snicker. He didn’t sound very amused either way, but his negative feelings weren’t directed at the anxious man. Not at all. He didn’t notice the way the man was troubled about his word choice, or he didn’t seem to care if he did. His gaze wandered over to Alcides, which reminded him. “You…you’re going to have to pay for me.”
"R-Right!" The man was quick to stand when Lucrèce pointed out the fact he had to pay, jumpy and nervous. "Of course…" He made his way over to Alcides, wringing his hands in front of him.
"A-Ah, sir," he started, catching Alcides's attention.
"How might I be of service, my good sir?" Alcides asked, giving a bow of his head to help the man be at ease more. It'd mean more money, after all.
"I, ah… I was wondering if I could hire that lady out for a time," the man said, motioning to Lucrèce. Alcides looked up, a bit surprised Lucrèce had managed to find himself another customer so soon.
"Of course, sir, the going rate for her is one hundred an hour."
Lucrèce watched from his seat, indignantly meeting Alcides in the eyes when he looked over. He was more confident knowing what was not going to happen, and he was sure the master would likely pick up on the dissonance there. Confidence bordering on arrogance whenever sex was not an immediate danger, and timidness when it was. But then again, if Alcides did know, why should it be any of his business when he was getting the money either way?
Alcides scowled some to himself, the look dropping as he turned back to the customer. Soon enough the money was exchanged, enough for at least another hour of Lucrèce being out of harm's way. The man moved back to the other's side, offering a hand to help him stand.
"Shall we head back to our room?" he offered, nervous it could be taken the wrong way.
Lucrèce reluctantly accepted the help to stand, on one hand wishing he was more independent, but on the other he knew tiredness would get the better of him. He grasped the man’s hand and pulled himself up to his feet, wiping nonexistent dirt from his clothing. “I suppose we shall.” Lucrèce trusted that the man meant what he said about not coming here to take advantage of the ‘ladies.’ He appreciated the money given to Alcides, in fact, and the privacy that went along with it. “What’s your name?”
"Micheal," the man said. He looked around, leading Lucrèce to one of the open rooms. He closed the door behind them, moving to sit on the bed with a soft sigh. He let out a small sigh, rubbing at his eyes.
"How long have you been working here?" he asked finally.
Lucrèce stayed near the door like he had when he was in the room with Daren and Leander, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his stomach. “I suppose it’s nice to meet you Micheal.” Considering meeting him would be no more than a nice chat. He watched the man for a moment until the question was asked, and echoed the sigh. “This is my second night,” he replied, holding out one of his hands to examine his fingernails there. Again, like they were particularly more interesting than anything else in the room.
Micheal held back a wince at how Lucrèce addressed him. It felt like the other didn't care about any of this, which didn't help the man relax at all. If this was how all the 'women' here thought about the customers, he didn't think he'd be coming back any time soon.
"A-Ah, okay then…" Micheal looked to the side, suddenly finding himself highly uncomfortable.
(if Alcides found out Lucrèce dissuaded a customer from returning)
Lucrèce was quiet for a long time, more shutter about his situation than thinking to pause and see how his reaction affected Micheal. He did say after a long while, “Thank you for paying for me.” He was genuine, even if his flat tone didn’t do much to make him seem sincere. “Do you mind if I just rest?”
(ahaha that isn't going to be good for him at all)
Micheal didn't really see how Lucrèce was being genuine. He'd never been good with social cues anyway, so trying to sort sincerity out of a flat tone was almost impossible for him.
"N-no, not at all," the man said, moving to stand from the bed and offer it to Lucrèce.
(noo poor Lucrèce)
Lucrèce nodded his head and murmured a thank you as he took a seat, then shedding his shoes before laying down. He faced away from Micheal, if just to avoid the awkwardness between them. His head rested on a crooked arm over the pillow. Perhaps it would have been better to spark some conversation or small talk to make the man more comfortable, his job probably even required it, but Lucrèce couldn’t bring himself to care.
(Skip to the end of the hour?)
