Lucrèce scooted back to press himself against the headboard. As far away from Alcides as he could get. He curled his legs up to his chest, and arms around his knees so he could make himself small. Whether consciously or subconsciously he didn’t know. He felt sick watching Malachi and Alcides interact, innocently, like they were family. Then again he felt sick in Alcides’ presence no matter the context.
Alcides ignored Lucrèce for now, holding Malachi close.
"Mm…" The boy yawned again, curled up some in Alcides's arms. "G'night, Master…"
"Good night," Alcides said, chuckling softly. He held the boy as he fell asleep before standing, laying him down in the bed and tucking him in. The man finally turned to Lucrèce, his smirk back.
"Now, to deal with you."
Lucrèce let his gaze linger on the boy tucked under the covers for half a moment after Alcides turned to him again. Then when the moment was over he glowered over at Alcides. Like any trapped creature would, terrified and pressed to the back corner of a cage, he reacted aggressively. “I’ve done everything you asked of me. What possibly could you have to deal with?”
"This Is exactly what I mean." Alcides took Lucrèce's chin in his hand, forcing the man's head up.
"You're too feisty. You need to be broken in more, and I'm going to take the great joy to do it personally. Aren't you flattered~?"
Lucrèce didn’t jerk his chin away this time. He stared up at Alcides with a piercing glare, jaw clenched. He figured the man holding his chin could feel the movement and that only made him tense even more, until he was practically trembling. “You wouldn’t. Not with Malachi on the bed.”
"We'll just need something to keep you quiet, hm~?" Alcides just held Lucrèce's chin, staring right back at him.
"I'm going to break you, sooner or later. It's your choice how long it lasts." The man pulled Lucrèce up away from the headboard, dragging him off the bed onto the ground so they wouldn't shake Malachi awake. He looked around once, smirking as he sotted the cloth Lucrèce had used to clean up. That would do.
"Besides, this time you won't be getting dirty from me, I don't have enough time to bother taking my pants off."
Lucrèce struggled to keep himself from yelping as he was dragged. For one reason, he didnt fancy showing Alcides how caught off guard he really was. And for the second reason, he guessed waking Malachi up wouldn’t end up being good for him in the end. He had to find a more permanent way to escape anyhow.
He couldn’t surprise the sound off his breath leaving his chest once he hit the ground, though. Or the soft choking feeling that rose in his throat making him cough. “You’re a monster,” he hissed when he finally caught his breath. “Why do I even matter so much to you? You-you got your damn debt paid.”
Perhaps stalling was his best chance otherwise.
"Because," Alcides said, grabbing the cloth, "You're mine, you're a new slave for me to break." Alcides turned back to Lucrèce, holding him by the hair.
"And I'm going to enjoy myself while I do it. This is how the world works, don't you know. Now, I'd suggest being a good little toy and opening your mouth so I can put your gag on." Alcides was only smirking. He enjoyed this, he enjoyed how he made Lucrèce feel. He loved to see him struggle.
Lucrèce wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It certainly wasn’t an answer he could give a quick witted retort to, instead it was one that bothered him deeply. Made the glare in his eyes soften for the slightest second to betray his unadulterated fear. “No.” But the word was more of a desperate plea to cling onto his world perspective than outright defiance. This wasn’t how the world works, he argued silently, his world was supposed to be books and privacy and blissful solitude.
Lucrèce wasn’t broken yet, too stubborn to give up completely, but he was getting closer.
Even so he wanted whatever Alcides insisted on doing to him to be over as quickly as possible, so he let his jaw go slack.
(Skip again?)
(Sounds good to me)
Alcides sat on the bed, watching over Malachi as he slept. He'd left Lucrèce on the floor, letting him take it all that the man had done to him. It was so cute, with how he had tried to tell him no. He'd learn. He'd break. And when he did, Alcides would be there to put him back together just the way he wanted the man to be.
The man hummed softly, running his fingers through the young boy on the bed's hair. His sweet, sweet child… Alcides had to admit he had a soft spot for him. He was just a kid, after all.
Lucrèce laid motionless on the floor on his back. One arm slung across his stomach and the other splayed out beside him. He stared up at the ceiling, focusing on the little details he could see just so he didn’t have to dwell on less appealing thoughts. Sometime in the last several minutes he’d started to cry, against his own attempts to stop it of course, and it made it rather difficult to breathe through his nose. So once every few moments he sucked in a labored, shuttering breath from around the gag.
Malachi reminded Alcides of himself as a child, really. The difference was that Malachi had a Master who would take proper care of him. Somewhat. For the most part, at least. Alcides was barely human, after all, and even he slipped around Malachi on occasion. The man ignored Lucrèce for the most part, occasionally nudging him with his foot when the man got too loud with his breathing. He could live with the gag for a while. Learn his place.
(When we skip next, how do you feel about going to some Dander (Leander and Daren) fluff?)
Lucrèce sent Alcides a half-hearted glare each time he was nudged, but couldn’t react more than that. He couldn’t help breathing too loud, he thought to himself, it was Alcides’ idea to put a gag on him in the first place. He closed his eyes after a moment and tried to pretend that this moment was peaceful. As if he could forget.
(I think that would be a great idea, and a very welcome break ;w;)
Alcides smiled some as he watched Malachi sleep, the boy shifting in his sleep and resting against Alcides's side. The man ran his fingers through his hair, smiling still and ignoring Lucrèce's glares. With a hum, the man tucked Malachi in more, finally looking to Lucrèce again.
"Think you can behave yourself enough to earn the gag getting taken off?"
(Yess very welcome break indeed ^^; poor Lucrèce is just not having a good time)
Lucrèce turned his head ever so slightly towards Alcides when he was addressed. His expression flat, or as flat as he could make it from around the gag. He blinked a couple times, silent for a moment while he considered how to respond. Until finally he let a heavy exhale out from his nose, and answered with a muffled “N-hmn.”
(He really isn't-)
"Sit up then, hm?" Alcides moved more to the edge of the bed, looking down at Lucrèce with his smirk. He rested his elbow on his knee, head in his hand as he watched the man gagged on his floor. This was all just a game to him, that much was clear. He was enjoying this.
Lucrèce closed his eyes again and groaned. The thought of sitting up made him feel sick, inconceivable, even, knowing it would only aggravate the nausea he already had. He considered just outright refusing. He could, and he knew it was probably what he should do to keep himself from completely breaking. He could clutch to the meager autonomy he had left. Although against his better judgement Lucrèce obeyed and turned over onto his side, pressing the palms of his hands against the floor to push himself up.
Alcides watched as Lucrèce gave in and finally did what he was told to do without fighting back.
"See, things aren't so hard when you listen," the man said, his smirk only growing. He'd break Lucrèce fully, sooner or later. It was just a matter of how much pain Lucrèce could take before giving out.
Lucrèce slouched in his seated position, deliberately facing away from Alcides. He didn’t react to the snide comment. Not noticeably anyways: he could hear the near palpable smirk in the man’s words, and he couldn’t keep the edge of his lips from curling with disgust from around the gag. Even Lucrèce, himself, didn’t know how much more he could take.
Alcides lowered his hands to Lucrèce's jaw, letting them trail over them before turning Lucrèce to face him.
"Now, just what are you willing to do to get that gag off, hm? And let's hope I'll agree that it's enough." Alcides patted the others cheek once, still forcing him to look up into his eyes.
Lucrèce shuddered involuntarily at the touch to his jaw, but he didn’t jerk away. That wouldn’t be good for him, he knew, not if he wanted the gag removed. He narrowed his gaze up at Alcides when he wouldn’t let him turn his chin anywhere else. It didn’t stop him grumbling from behind the fabric. Not exactly an answer. He had the faintest idea of what Alcides wanted from him, true willingness and total compliance, but he wasn’t about to suggest anything. He couldn’t even if he wanted to anyway, when he couldn’t speak.
Alcides just laughed some as Lucrèce grumbled, shaking his head.
"Looks like someone's finally learning to comply, mm?" The man ran his fingers over Lucrèce's jaw again, pulling him closer to the bed and Alcides himself.
Lucrèce had to awkwardly shuffle forward on his hands, practically dragging himself a couple paces, to keep up with Alcides pulling him. He didn’t jerk away from the hand at his jaw, but he did try to crane away from it—as futile as an attempt it was. So he scoffed instead.
Alcides laughed some at Lucrèce, ignoring his attempts and moving his head around some to examine the man.
"Now, what to do…" the man thought for just a moment, then smirked. "I'll take this gag off of you agree to this- you kiss me. You initiate it, you know me what you've learned. And I'll put this gag back on for the rest of the night if I decide it wasn't good enough."
Lucrèce thought about the offer for longer than it took for Alcides to come up with it. At first he didn’t like it. He wouldn’t like it as long as the man holding him hostage suggested it. But it was just a kiss, he reasoned. It didn’t have to have any emotion behind it, so slowly, he nodded. What was another moment of physical discomfort for being free of the gag? Even if the thought of initiating the kiss deeply troubled him.