"Master?" Malachi seemed to understand Lucrèce's struggles to say the word, humming some. "Usually it's for as long as the night goes. Sometimes he doesn't come back at all until the morning because someone bought one of the workers for the entirety of the night instead of the usual hours available. Most nights it's just a few hours though until all the customers leave." The boy offered a smile, laying back on the bed.
"When Master knows he won't be back for the night he sends Rafael in to spend the night with me instead! He doesn't like me sleeping alone while customers are here."
Lucrèce leaned back against the headboard, resting his hands over his stomach as he watched Malachi. He nodded solemnly again. For a moment he was almost convinced Alcides wasn’t as horrible of a person as he had previously thought, but the idea quickly dissipated with the memory of who master was and what he had done to him. What he would do to him. “That makes him at least somewhat decent, I suppose. It’s good you’re safe.”
"He's a good person, you know," Malachi said, voice soft. "He's mean when he's… breaking someone in, but he's a lot better than most." Malachi laid on the bed, looking up at the ceiling with a soft sigh. He sat up when the door opened, though, only looking a little disappointed to see it was just Rafael again.
Lucrèce rubbed his thumb soothingly over the top of his other hand. “Forgive me, but I’m struggling to believe that about him. A man like him…” His last words trailed off in a murmur when Rafael walked in. He lifted his gaze up to the door, watching the other man curiously, and as opposed to Malachi’s disappointment, found himself a little relieved.
Malachi glanced at Lucrèce wearily, then back to Rafael. He motioned for Malachi to come with him, the small boy nodding and making his way over. Rafael made a few signs with his hands, not looking at Lucrèce.
"Oh! I'll see you in the morning, then!" Malachi turned to Lucrèce to give him a smile, taking Rafael's hand. "Master wants us to sleep in the other room tonight, he'll be in in a moment!"
Lucrèce pulled his legs up tighter against himself, and sent a weak smile back to Malachi. Careful to avoid looking at Rafael either; he didn’t really want to look at the man who was serving as an foreshadowing for who would be walking in through the door nex. Though he knew, sadly, Rafael was likely just as innocent as Malachi. “See you in the morning,” he answered just above a mumble.
"Bye!" Rafael led Malachi away by the hand, the boy humming to himself as he walked away. Lucrèce was left alone for a good ten minutes before the door opened again, revealing the master of the house. He didn't say a word as he closed the door behind himself, taking his jacket off and making his way to the bed.
"Happy with yourself?" Alcides asked, smirking some. "All you had to do was talk to the man, but now you've got to deal with me for the night."
Lucrèce opened his eyes at the sound of the door opening again, then seeing Alcides, shut them tightly again. Against all odds he’d actually found himself enjoying the quiet between the time of Malachi’s departure and now, even if it was only ten minutes. He’d take the few minutes of quiet over anything else, if he was being honest with himself.
Lucrèce groaned softly under his breath when Alcides started talking. His eyes opened again, but only to glare at his captor. “I did talk to him. He seemed fine to just sit there, I even asked him.”
"See, you were a noble, weren't you? Learn to read a room, Lucrèce, he was obviously uncomfortable with what you were doing but too shy to speak up about it." Alcides moved to the bed, taking Lucrèce's chin in his.
"Now, though, we're going to stop this silly discussion and get right to it, hm? It's clear you need more… breaking in, and I think it's a fine idea to keep you in here for the next few days."
Lucrèce pulled his chin away again. Like he always did, too indignant to let Alcides think he was doing anything more than just acquiescing enough to not get hit. He wrinkled his nose at the sound of his name, and opened his mouth to retort something but closed it again when Alcides shut down the conversation. Frankly he was more than glad to put that issue to rest too. He eyed the other man carefully at his idea, searching his face for any clues that would suggest ulterior meanings. There were likely ulterior meanings, he concluded. “You want to keep me prisoner in a luxurious room?”
"No, I want to have my fuck hole available all the time," Alcides corrected, not bothering to hide his motives. He took Lucrèce by the neck, pushing him down on the bed. "We're going to get you properly used to your job, eh? Maybe if I like you enough, I'll just keep you all to myself still, as I said in the other room." Alcides smirked some, towering over the man he had trapped on the bed.
Lucrèce let out a yelp that in later contemplation he would be embarrassed of, but in the moment there were more matters to be worried about, when Alcides had him by the neck. When he stared wide-eyed with fear at the man above him. Bile rose up his throat, had his breath hitching. At some point he was only shallowly aware that he had begun to cry.
(Skip?)
(Sounds like a good idea to me aha)
Alcides was up in the morning with no trouble at all, standing from the bed to dress. He'd taken the time to clean himself up after he had finished for the night, but Lucrèce was to learn the hard way the only one who would take care of him was himself. Alcides smirked some, hand going to rest on top of Lucrèce's head.
"Up."
Lucrèce’s breaths throughout the night, even asleep, were shaky and strained. Sleep was a blissful escape from the pain, and so he stayed that was as long as he could. Until Alcides woke him, that is. Unlike the bed in the slaves’ room with his own space—albeit slim space—he couldn’t imagine himself in his own room. Too much had happened here, too much to pretend he was anywhere else.
He startled at the hand on his head, but didn’t jump up. Just tensed, awake yet not daring to agitate his wounds by moving.
Alcides moved his hand from Lucrèce's head to his chin once he was sure the other was awake, having the man look up at him.
"You're to be cleaned up by the next time I come for you, understood?" the man said calmly. Lucrèce would just have to deal with the pain on his own. Alcides didn't care much at all, so long as Lucrèce finally learned his place. If he wanted security in one person, he could have it.
Lucrèce did look up at Alcides with half lidded eyes. Tired, and laced with some strange mixture of apathy and resentment. “And just…how am I supposed to do that when you want me locked in your room?” he said with the same weakly veiled contempt he held in his eyes. That wasn’t to say he didn’t want to clean himself up. He did, but it felt like giving up to do so because Alcides told him to.
Alcides rolled his eyes some, still smirking at Lucrèce's reactions.
"I'll have Rafael bring the washbin in. I can't have you soaking in this filth all day, after all." Alcides patted Lucrèce's cheek a few times before finally pulling away. He went back to ignoring the man laid out on his bed, fixing his clothes once before walking to the door.
"And if you try to escape, I'll know. I'd suggest not learning the hard way just what the punishment is."
Lucrèce cringed at the hand patting his cheek, but he said nothing else while Alcides was in the room.
He wondered to himself what exactly the punishment would be if he tried to escape, but in the end he figured his curiosity wasn’t worth having to experience it. Any escape attempt would likely end in failure given his current condition anyhow. So he just buried his face deeper into the pillow, and tried to fall back asleep.
Lucrèce didn't have much time alone to fall asleep, however. The door to the room opened, revealing Rafael. He'd come with the promised washbin, as well as old clothes for Lucrèce to use to wash. The man was silent as ever, moving to lightly shake Lucrèce's shoulder to let him know.
Lucrèce, having only fallen half asleep, groaned at the interruption. He lifted his gaze up to Rafael, closed them for a moment more, and then pushed himself up by his hands to sit. As much as his muscles protested at the movement, he had to admit that it would be nice to wash up.
He looked over at the washbasin Rafael had brought in, then the old clothes. “Can I at least have some privacy?”
Rafael glanced to the door, then nodded. That shouldn't get either of them in trouble. So, with everything sat down, Rafael retreated, closing and locking the door behind him. Lucrèce was left alone again, and this time no one would come in to him for a long, long time to come.
It took a while for Lucrèce to muster up the energy, and the willingness, to push himself off of the bed and towards the washbasin once Rafael had left. He winced at every step, arm curled around the bruises painting his torso. He washed slowly, methodically, careful not to rush and risk straining himself at some weird angle. And when he finished, used one of the pieces of old clothing to pay himself dry.
At last Lucrèce staggered back to the bed. Laying on his stomach hurt, but using any effort to turn over didn’t seem worth it. His eyes closed again, and soon enough he drifted back into sleep.
It was some time, but the door was unlocked once more. Alcides stepped into his bedroom, ignoring Lucrèce as he sat down on the bed. Malachi had followed him in, his small tray in hand. The boy sat it down, though, moving to climb up into Alcides's lap instead. The man smirked, patting the boy's head before looking at Lucrèce.
"Up, up," he said, shaking Lucrèce's shoulder. "You don't get to sleep all day."
Lucrèce opened his eyes at the sound of the opening door. He hadn’t slept the entire time, too uncomfortable to really let himself drift away too far. He grimaced, shrugging his shoulder away from Alcides’ hand as he pushed up to sit again. His eyes were laced with exhaustion, muscles shaking as he kept himself propped up by his arms. “Of course not,” he grumbled under his breath. He glanced over at Malachi in Alcides’ lap, to which his frown deepened.
Alcides's hand fell back to Malachi's head as Lucrèce sat up, the boy offering a small smile and waving some. He couldn't hold back a yawn, though, pressing his face into Alcides's chest.
"Tired?" The man asked, smiling some as he looked down at the boy. Not a smirk, an actual smile. Malachi nodded some, rubbing at his eyes.
"Yes, Master…"
"I can tell, it's almost nap time." Alcides wrapped his arms around the boy, patting his back.
