Rolling out the welcome mat

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"Dominus can go whistle," Attis informed her cheerfully. "He's done without me for two months, another night isn't going to kill him, is it? Anyway, if he does, I'll be the one moving, you won't need to go anywhere." He wound a loose strand of her copper-coloured hair around a finger. "Don't go anywhere," he added. "You can shift your things inhere, it's big enough for two of us, and better than your poky room. A bit better, anyway."

They were both slaves, neither of them lived in exactly palatial rooms within the slave quarters, after all. "I'll try not to mess up like that again, I bloody missed you."

 

@Chevi

[Chevi]

Metella hoped Longinus was not going to call for Attis for the rest of the night. It would have been a pity to get out of the cozy warmth they found themselves in. But if he did, there was little either of them could do about it, unless they wanted Attis to go into exile again...

"Dominus can go whistle. He's done without me for two months, another night isn't going to kill him, is it? Anyway, if he does, I'll be the one moving, you won't need to go anywhere."

"Don't let him hear you talk like that" Metella warned him, half-joking. With the mouth Attis had, he was bound to piss off the dominus again unless he was more careful.

"Don't go anywhere. You can shift your things inhere, it's big enough for two of us, and better than your poky room. A bit better, anyway."

Metella sighed as Attis ran his fingers through her hair. They did not have much, between the two of them. Or anything, really, considering they themselves and everything around them was owned by the dominus. Not exactly the life situation one would get romantic about. 

"I'll try not to mess up like that again, I bloody missed you."

"You have to ruin it don't you" she huffed, wrinkling her nose at him. What, were they going to move into his room and make some babies? Metella was much more of a pragmatist than that. But she was also not in the mood to put up a fight. "I missed you too. But you know I don't do the wife thing."

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"You know, out of the both of us, I think most people would expect that you would be the one doing the pursuing and I would be the one reluctant to enter into any such sort of binding agreement," Attis said. "Why won't you, though? It would be so much more comfortable for us to both share a room and be regarded as contubernales." Gods knew that Attis wasn't the romantic sort - he didn't have a romantic bone in his body, but if it would help persuade Metella that it would be a far better arrangement for them to be contubernales than whatever they were right now, he'd learn to write (terrible!) poetry and strew her path with flowers and gods knew what else!

On second thoughts, Attis didn't have a romantic bone in his body - and would make a complete ass of himself, and Longinus would no doubt die laughing.

Screw Longinus and whatever he'd make of it; he'd never said Attis and Metella couldn't bunk up together. For real, permanently.

"You're too good for the likes of me, though," he added sadly. "Who is it who's caught your eye, then? The gardener? The baker's slave down the street?"

 

contubernalis: a companion, tent-mate, dorm-mate. In the plural, it referred to the two partners in a slave marriage

@Chevi

[Chevi]

Metella sighed and rolled to her side, tracing her fingers on Attis' chest, halfway hoping she would distract him from his current train of thought. She really did not want to ruin a perfectly steamy reunion with talking about shacking up in one room and having babies or whatnot. 

"You know, out of the both of us, I think most people would expect that you would be the one doing the pursuing and I would be the one reluctant to enter into any such sort of binding agreement. Why won't you, though? It would be so much more comfortable for us to both share a room and be regarded as contubernales." 

"Would it?" Metella arched an eyebrow. Two people in one room, it just sounded crowded, even if it was with someone lie Attis, whom she actually liked. As for contubernales... she wondered what the dominus would think. 

"You're too good for the likes of me, though. Who is it who's caught your eye, then? The gardener? The baker's slave down the street?"

Metella's brow furrowed. She was not sure if Attis was joking or not, but either way she did not care much for his guesses.

"Both, actually." she deadpanned "The gardener, the baker's slave, the delivery boy from the butcher's, Vitus, Celsus, Chlorus, and your grandfather, you bloody idiot. So what?"

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"You don't even know my grandfather. Hades, I don't know him. And Chlorus is Florus now, and I hope he's finally had the guts to stop mooning over Sulpicius Rufus' body slave and actually do something about it - the pair of them were making eyes at each other so much a blind man could have seen it, and neither of them was going to say a damn thing." He grinned up at the cracked ceiling. "Trying to get the two of them together was about the only fun possible in that house - everybody there needs to lighten up, they're all sex-starved. Especially Sulpicius Rufus."

He'd stop asking Metella one day; too many refusals were bad for a man's self-esteem - which wasn't necessarily that great anyway when the man in question was a slave, the legal property of someone else.

"At least I've got a room and don't have to find some odd corner of the atrium to camp out in, like they do in some houses," he added, and sighed, dropping the subject. "So, how were things while I was away?"

 

@Chevi

[Chevi]

Metella did not like her life questioned. She was already owned by someone, and not likely that she would ever be free, even if she knew what to do with the freedom. She was going to keep whatever was left of her options. She liked Attis, maybe loved him even, but she was not so keen on the concept of being anyone's wife. Even if it made her a slut in some men's eyes.

"You don't even know my grandfather. Hades, I don't know him. And Chlorus is Florus now, and I hope he's finally had the guts to stop mooning over Sulpicius Rufus' body slave and actually do something about it - the pair of them were making eyes at each other so much a blind man could have seen it, and neither of them was going to say a damn thing."

"So you did." it wasn't a question. Metella chuckled; she knew Attis enough to guess what happened next.

"Trying to get the two of them together was about the only fun possible in that house - everybody there needs to lighten up, they're all sex-starved. Especially Sulpicius Rufus."

"Poor things." she was only half joking. Being without sex, or intimacy, or affection, that was not a good way to be, even for the head of a Roman household.

"At least I've got a room and don't have to find some odd corner of the atrium to camp out in, like they do in some houses. So, how were things while I was away?"

"Not much to report" she sighed, snuggling closer, burying her nose in his neck "I took some time off, went to the baths, took some walks, went to some of the temples... I bet there's gonna be more work now that all of you are back." she glimpsed up at him with a mischievous smile "But also more fun."

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"They would never have said a thing to each other if I hadn't," Attis pointed out. "Though whether they've managed to get over their shyness enough to do anything is a question Venus can answer better than I can." They had both gone bright red and stammered their way to silence, near enough, when he'd prodded.

"I bet the dominus has been a right miseryguts," he said, idly tracing a line over Metella's stomach. "He looked like he hadn't bathed or shaved in weeks when Sulpicius Rufus and I got to the villa."

 

@Chevi

[Chevi]

"They would never have said a thing to each other if I hadn't. Though whether they've managed to get over their shyness enough to do anything is a question Venus can answer better than I can." 

"Well, not everyone just walks up and sweeps people off their feet like you do" Metella grinned. In fact, she had done at least as much of the sweeping as he had, but Attis liked to think of himself as a romantic. One had to allow men to think that. He could be quite charming when he wanted to, and he sure did not need a lot of prodding from outside forces to make his attractions known.

"I bet the dominus has been a right miseryguts. He looked like he hadn't bathed or shaved in weeks when Sulpicius Rufus and I got to the villa."

"Thank the gods you are back. He has been taking things hard." Metella agreed, snuggling closer. "He is going to have to find some comfort. Or distraction. Other than you."

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"Maybe I should practise more with that," Attis said. "The sweeping people off their feet, I mean." He wouldn't, though, not really. He enjoyed sex - who didn't? - but Metella was the only woman he wanted to be with, and what he got up to with Vitus was nobody's business. As to what he and Longinus did together, well, it was every master's prerogative to make use of their slaves however they chose to, and Attis wouldn't breathe a word of what happened in Longinus' bed beyond letting people think it was precisely what any master would do with any male slave they owned who took their fancy.

"I don't have any idea how to get him past this, you know. I don't mind if he wants me for a distraction, I just don't think I'm a very good one. Wrong shape and body parts and all, even if he does like that on occasion." Metella already knew at least some of what transpired in Longinus' bed between their master and Attis, after all.

 

@Chevi

[Chevi]

"Maybe I should practise more with that. The sweeping people off their feet, I mean." 

"Practice makes perfect" she grinned, rolling over and stretching. She felt all relaxed, for the first time in days.

"I don't have any idea how to get him past this, you know. I don't mind if he wants me for a distraction, I just don't think I'm a very good one. Wrong shape and body parts and all, even if he does like that on occasion."

"It's not about the shape, or he would have found me." Metella pointed out, pursing her lips "The man needs care. The kind we can't give him, because he knows we have to. He's lonely. And hurt."

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Attis wanted to say that he did it because he wanted to, not because he had to or because it was expected of him, but knew that wasn't, strictly speaking, quite true. He sighed.

"You're right, and I wish you weren't, but you are, which makes you a lot wiser than me," he said. 

He wished there was something they could do, but of course they were only slaves and that meant they were limited in what they could offer.

 

@Chevi