Lucrèce made an effort to suppress his frown, forcing a smile on his lips instead. Malachi was happy, but in a way that made his own heart ache knowing the story Daren had told him. “So there are other kids.” He took another bite as he considered asking about them too. Eventually he concluded that he didn’t want to know, whatever the answer. “I see. And where do you keep those toys?”
"There were," Malachi corrected. "I'm the only one allowed in the house though." The boy looked ready to continue down that conversation path, but he lit up as Lucrèce asked about his toys.
"Master lets me keep them under his very own bed!" he announced, looking quite proud. He hopped off of the bed, pushing the blanket up so he could reach under and pull a small crate out. There were simple wooden toys inside, but some of them did seem to be of high quality.
Lucrèce wondered for a moment if he should feel relieved that the children weren’t allowed in the house. It seemed like a good thing, considering what happened inside the house, so he let those concerns float away right along with a soft sigh from his nose. He peered over the edge of the bed to examine the toys. While simple, he was surprised Alcides would be a man to indulge a child with such high quality toys. He reached down to pick one up. It seemed he still had a lot to learn about Alcides, even if he didn’t particularly want to.
The toy was simple, as the rest were, a duck on wheels with a string attached, but there was more to it than that. It was well maintained, polished to a soft sheen, and the wood was high quality as well. The string attached to a metal piece, which easily reflected Lucrèce's face back up at him. The wheels were wooden, but the axels were metal, and they too had the same level of polish as the rest.
Malachi looked up at Lucrèce as he picked the toy up, humming some.
"That's one of the first ones Master got me when I was little," he explained, smiling some. "He'd let me pull it along while I walked with him! I was too little to do anything, so I got to go with him all day!"
Lucrèce set the toy back down after he’d sufficiently examining the makings of it. He’d had one of his own, or at least one similar, in his own childhood. “How old are you?” he wondered aloud. How long had Alcides imprisoned the boy—as gilded of a cage as it seemed. How long had this horrible business been going on under his nose? “You make him sound so kind.” Kinder than he was to Lucrèce.
"I'm…" Malachi started to count on his fingers before holding his hands up. "Seven years old! Master always lets me go out into town on my birthday with one of his friends!" Malachi moved to push his toys back under the bed, pulling himself back up to sit next to Lucrèce.
"And he is! He's really kind, we just gotta make sure we behave. He's a lot better than some of his friends… but, he always gets mad at them if one of them hurts me! He keeps me safe…"
Lucrèce finished his last bite of food, and pulled his legs up into the bed as he watched Malachi count on his fingers. He couldn’t help let his heart warm at that. The boy was just so young, it hurt to think that Malachi didn’t know how life was supposed to be. Men weren’t supposed to just be decent when subjects behaved. Even his own father, a firm supporter of discipline, wasn’t like Alcides. “I…That’s good. I’m glad he’s good to you.”
Malachi went back to kicking his legs over the side of the bed, humming a tune to himself as Lucrèce thought.
"Master is good to everyone, once he's sure they'll listen and behave," the boy said. "I'm sure he'll be nice to you as soon as you do that!" The boy gave Lucrèce a sweet smile of encouragement, humming again as he laid back on the bed to stare up at the ceiling.
"So, why did Master send you here so early? Aren't the customers still here, or did Master end things early tonight?"
Lucrèce couldn’t even force himself to smile back at the boy’s naïve encouragement. It only made him angry, if anything, but he swallowed down that emotion too. He said nothing in reply, trying to keep his expression flat, in the space between Malachi’s well-meaning comment and his question—the question earned a despairing sigh. “No, he didn’t end things early. He just ended my own time early.” His hands came together in his lap, pressing one thumb into the middle of his other palm in a self soothing gesture.
"A-Ah." Malachi paused for a moment, smile faltering before returning to normal. "Master must really like you, then, if he'd let you do that." The boy was grasping at straws, trying to not give up how shaken this seemed to make him. It didn't really work, though.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Lucrèce frowned right back. His eyebrows furrowed together. He noticed the way Malachi faltered, and he thought he might as well have the grace of changing the subject of conversation again to make the boy more comfortable. It was the least he could do, after all. “Do you and Rafael get along well?”
Malachi did seem to relax some at the subject change.
"Mhm! We're both Master's favorites, so we both spend a lot of time with him. He says I'm too young to be around the customers, though, so I wait in here while Rafael helps instead. He's really nice, if a bit quiet. Master said he lost his tongue in an accident." The boy moved to sit up again, facing Lucrèce on the bed.
"Do you think you'll get to be one of Master's favorites too? It's just been me and Rafael for as long as I can remember!"
Even with the subject change, Lucrèce stayed tense throughout their conversation. An accident. He wasn’t sure how to respond to the slight flaw in Malachi’s story, other than using it as another clue to piece things together. It was what Alcides had told him, and kept him away from customers, so he protected the boy’s innocence. If not, then to an extent. “I don’t know. But if I do, it won’t be entirely a bad thing if I get to spend my time talking to you.”
"That would be nice! Me and Rafael get a lot of alone time when Master isn't around, but it'll be nice to be able to talk with you." Malachi smiled, back to being completely relaxed.
"It'll be nice for someone else to join us."
Lucrèce nodded solemnly. It would be a good thing, he supposed, for the boy to have more company, and a better chance for survival for himself. “How long is m-…” he tried to force the word master from his throat, just to try and get used to it, but he could manage it yet, “is he gone for? How long are you alone, I mean.”
"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.