Chaos Ensues [M]

[Chevi]

"She's a virgin." Lucius pointed out, although he still looked thoroughly embarrassed. Yes, they were idiots by anyone's standards... but they stopped just short of being fucking idiots. "Believe me, I'm aware." He added, as Titus pointed out he was not a patrician, and out of Ovinia's reach. Lucius picked up his own tunica, wishing to be less naked for this conversation. "If I was a patrician, I would have already married her."

[Sara]

Titus huffed and rolled his eyes at Lucius' explanation. Maybe he had the faintest modicum of sense, but then again... "Oh yes, it's fine, I'm sure her Papa will be delighted to know you haven't actually fucked her, just pleasured her naked on a couch in an abandoned domus. And what did she do for you Lucius?" He scoffed but that was too much for Ovinia and she bolted, sprinting from behind the tree to the stairs at the back of the domus, before either man could catch her. The sound of a door bolting and locking into place sounded through the quiet house and Titus huffed. He did not like to upset people...most people...but he had the firm impression she was just a typical insipid rich bitch, so fuck her.

Glaring down at Lucius he shook his head. "I thought you might be doing this, ever since Saturnalia, I just thought you had more sense than that. They would kill you for this...they will kill her for this...not to mention what they'll do to the centuria for you abusing your rank in the vigiles to get those fucking keys." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Lucius' cheeks burned bright red. As with many things people did when they were not thinking straight, laid out like this the facts did look pretty bad. Deadly bad.

"I know. I... it started a few weeks ago." he admitted with a sigh, running a hand through his tousled hair. He gave Titus a sheepish look. "I love her. I really, really love her. And we both know we can't marry, we know we can't be together... we are just taking what we can get."

[Sara]

A muscle in Titus’ jaw ticked and he huffed, shifting against the pillar. He had never been in love, he half believed it didn’t exist and people just confused it for lust. That explanation would work plenty well for Lucius and his rich girl.

“And when she gets married, what are you going to do?” He asked firmly, although a hint of concern shone on his face. “A few minutes of pleasure with her are enough to throw your life away for? Your career? You can’t have her, women like that-” He waved a hand in the direction of the stairs Ovinia has run up, “Will just hurt you in the end. She is going to move on and you will stuck here being a miserable fucking prick. She’s not worth it.”

[Chevi]

"She is." Lucius insisted. He knew the stupidity could not be defended, but the love part... that he was sure about. "I love her. It's not the pleasure. I could get pleasure in easier places... It's different. Very different. And I know... believe me, I know I sound like a complete moron." He sighed, shaking his head. "I already know this will end. She will marry, and after that, she'll be gone from my life. I know that. But until then... just for a little while. I want her to be happy." Yep, and now he sounded pitiful. "I am sorry you walked into this."

[Sara]

Titus groaned, shaking his head. He had some vague notion of sympathy for Lucius. The man looked…broken by the thought of it ending. Which it would, painfully undoubtedly. But the overriding feeling was one of deep annoyance. 

“You want her to be happy…” She scoffed, “Sure she’ll be perfectly happy when her father runs her through with his trusty gladius.” The muscle ticked again in his jaw, flexing. “And you’ll be dead too and guess what, so will I if anybody finds out I know about this.” Selfish but true. “Because I’m party to this now and guess what, I’m a freedman Lucius, and not a citizen. I wouldn’t get a nice clean death. Your love worth more than my safety, hm?”
 

 

[Chevi]

"Of course not." Lucius frowned. He had endangered Titus now. They were all trapped in a series of bad choices. "No one will find out. I told you. She's still a virgin. And... it will end and no one will know." He shook his head. "Titus, please. She's terrified. You can't tell anyone."

[Sara]

He scoffed again, shaking his head. “This is a dangerous fucking game. With peoples lives.” He glanced up at the ceiling above them where his woman had ran to. She couldn’t even face this conversation, he wondered if she could cope with the reality of what she’d done.

“If I was a lesser man, I’d say this is a perfect opportunity for you to bribe me for my silence.” He huffed. 

[Chevi]

"You know I trust you." Lucius told him. He knew Titus was not that kind of man. "With that said... now you have power over me. If you ever wanted me gone, or wanted me to promote you... You have my life in your hands." And he would comply, every time, because he had Ovinia's too. "But I know what kind of a man you are Titus. Mostly because you are my goddamn conscience." He gave him a small smile. "And if it ever comes to that... I'll deny you had anything to do with this."

[Sara]

“And you don’t get to be a sanctimonious prick anymore.” He retorted with a smirk. “I’ll keep this to myself. Mainly because I don’t want to get crucified.” 

He shrugged and pushed himself off of the pillar to leave, pausing just for a moment. “You need to get another set of keys cut or this will happen again.” He said matter of factly with a lump shrug before turning on his heel, speaking over his shoulder. “Hope she’s worth it, sir.” And with that he slipped out into the street. Day fucking ruined.

[Chevi]

"Thank you." There was not much else to say. Titus had power over him now, and power over Ovinia. He hated that last part, even though he knew that out of all the people in Rome, Titus was the least awful person to have this secret. Well... him, and Alexius, who was busy fucking a Vestal.

Lucius sighed, running his hand through his hair again, before he headed up the stairs. He found the door that Ovinia had bolted, and knocked. "He's gone, love. Everything is fine. He won't tell anyone."

[Sara]

Ovinia had only been this scared once before in her life, and it was an entirely different sort of terror, one caused by the knife of a madman. This was different - it was an overwhelming sense of dread that caused tears to stream down flushed cheeks, shook her limbs and made her curl up, back to the bolted door as she tried and failed to calm herself down. Somebody knew. Somebody knew. Lucia probably had a very good idea, Alexius too, but both didn't know the full extent, they hadn't seen the full extent of what she'd done. This man got a perfect view and he knew them, knew her. She felt sick and bile rose in her throat. 

Lucius' knock made her jump as she choked on her breath. She pushed her hands through her hair, making no move from where she sat back to the door, arm wound around her knees as she trembled. He might, a voice retorted in her head. "Wh...what are we doing?" She choked out, clearly terrified. "You'll be k-killed...what are we doing..." 

 

[Chevi]

He could hear from her voice that she was terrified, crying. He could also hear that she was probably sitting on the floor. Lucius crouched down, speaking in a soothing voice. "Open the door, love. It's fine. Everything will be fine." He didn't know that, no one could know that. He just had to believe it would. "Of all the people of Rome, Titus is one we can trust. He won't tell. Come on, open the door."

[Sara]

He was pleading with her, but it didn't move her from her huddle on the floor. "We've been so stupid...so fucking stupid..." She wailed. There was a reason it was so hard to meet, why it had taken months for her to get to this point after throwing so many no's in Lucius' face she was surprised he was still here. And yet she'd thrown everything away for a few sparse afternoons of comfort. 

"What if it's a warning..." She choked, head on her knees so she didn't even know if he could hear her. "From the Gods. They send us somebody safe as a warning for us to stop before it's too late..." The thought, though, of stopping, made her shudder with a cry that shook her. The thought of stopping this was as agonising as the thought of being caught. 

[Chevi]

"Oh year, we are both stupid as fuck, what else is new?" Lucius quipped. They had known from the start how dumb this was. And they decided it was worth it anyway. He sighed at her words. "If you really think so... then we'll stop. I don't want you to be scared. I don't want to hurt you." It would hurt him, and her, either way. But it was already bad enough. "Open the door, love."

[Sara]

She sobbed out loud at his words. I don't want to hurt you. No, she knew that. Of all the people in her life she trusted Lucius the most. Even more than her family - they would always have an agenda to play, rules to live by - even her favourite brother. Lucius was the only one who gave her the freedom to be herself and...loved her unconditionally despite it. 

Swallowing another sob, she moved on trembling knees, stretching up to unbolt the door and swing it open. Then she fell into his arms, collapsing into his chest in a hug so tight it sucked all the air from her lungs, her arms tightly wound around his neck. "I love you." She choked. "I can't let you go, e-even if it kills me." 

 

[Chevi]

Ovinia opened the door and fell into his arms. Lucius held her tightly, feeling her shaking and sobbing; he ran his hand over her back, making soothing noises as he buried his face in her neck. "It's alright love." he muttered. "It's alright. I love you. You don't have to let go. Not yet. I've got you. I love you."

[Sara]

"Not ever." She choked, not thinking rationally...well...not thinking anything at all. "We should go," She shuddered into his neck, "To Egypt or H-Hispania, get married and leave the c-city." She wasn't thinking it through, wasn't thinking anything beyond the feeling of him holding her and the simultaneous terrors of being discovered and being apart from him, even if they were diametrically opposed. 

She swallowed, tears wetting his skin. "I love you so much." Her fingers gripped his shoulders tightly, burning his skin. 

[Chevi]

"I love you too." Lucius murmured, gathering her up and carrying her to the bed so they could settle down. He didn't reply to her idea of running away. He had thought about it too, millions of times. He knew it would never happen. But he also knew he would do it in a heartbeat if she asked him. Instead, he just held her, stroking her hair. "I won't leave you."

[Sara]

No, you won't, because I'll leave you. Those words were implicit and rang loud and clear as day in her head. She would end things, once she was married. Out of a sense of duty and obligation she couldn't break. It broke her heart, as she knew it broke his. She curled against his chest, shaking lightly. "I-I don't know what's wrong with me," She  tried to help down a breath and her fingers gripped his hip, as if by being close to him all of this would go away. 

"H-he'll tell somebody. You heard how he spoke about me." With not so thinly veiled disgust. Her thoughts were already drifting away from the fantasy of running away together, even if in that moment, for that heartbeat she would have done it if he'd agreed. But he didn't, and reality was sinking back in. "My father will kill us." She breathed. 

[Chevi]

"You're scared. I know." He said, holding her as she burrowed closer. He would have given everything, anything to make her feel safe again. Happy. Loved. "He won't tell. Titus is many things... but he is not cruel. He might be permanently grumpy but he is a good man." He trusted Titus with his life. Quite literally, now for the second time. "Your father won't find out."

[Sara]

"How can you be sure?" She demanded and pushed herself up on his chest, blinking wide, watery, dark eyes at him, fingers curling into his tunica across his chest. "How do you know? W-what if he mentions it to somebody at the castra? What if somebody overhears you talking to him?" Her mind was running a thousand miles an hour and her upset and fear was now morphing into anxiety...and anger. 

"Why aren't you worried about this?!" She choked, pushing herself up to kneel by his side, peering down at him. Her breath was rapid, chest rising and falling almost painfully. "Why are you not scared?!" 

 

[Chevi]

"Hey! Hey. Love. Breathe." Lucius reached to hold her hands in his as she pushed away, frantic. He could tell she was still terrified. "I'm scared. I'm scared too. I'm scared of many things. I'm scared of losing you... of you being hurt. But, look at me." He looked into her wide, terrified eyes. His heart broke at seeing her like this. "The one thing I am not scared of is Titus telling anyone. I trust him with my life. That's the whole point of who we are. He was the first man I ran into a burning building with. I am not sure about many things, but I am sure of this. And that I love you."

[Sara]

She gripped his hand, despite her anger and anxiety, she gripped him for dear life and tried to steady her breathing at his command. Her chest felt on fire, all of her felt on fire. She inhaled through her nose and out through her mouth, gulping in air. Breathe. Listen to him. 

At his words, she did look at him and held his gaze. The anger on her face softened into one of clear pain, of worry but she listened to him. He was scared but he trusted Titus. That he was sure of. She swallowed, trying to take it in. He trusted the blonde man that seemed to hate her. She nodded silently and exhaled a deep, shuddering breath before nodding again, more sure and resolute. "You trust him..." She repeated. "You trust him..." She swallowed and nodded, gripping his hand and bringing it to her lips to press a kiss against his knuckles as he muttered. "You're worth it..." She breathed, "Even with all of this." 

Edited January 23, 2023 by Sara

[Chevi]

Lucius felt tears welling in his eyes. This was all overwhelming. How much he loved her, how much it hurt to know he would have to let her go. And how much he did not want to see her cry. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her again. "You are worth it." He replied, pressing a kiss to her forehead.