Chapter Text
Mars didn’t know what to do. Or think. Or feel.
Last night had been so good. Appius had been what Mars could only describe as a gentleman. A very horny gentleman, but had still asked before doing anything. They’d had what Mars suspected people meant when they said they’d had a wild night (that didn’t involve an orgy) and Mars’ thoughts had even whited out with the pleasure at one point. Which had been very welcoming. And he’d then had the best night's sleep he’d had in ages.
And the care this morning had been the cherry on top. Not that Mars was a fan of cherries; it was a figure of speech. And then…
Mars sighed.
Master Marcus’ brief explanation had helped a bit, but Mars was still confused and upset about being dumped and abandoned like that. What, in Appius’ past, had been bad enough to cause that reaction? Mars knew the man had his own trauma; he’d told Mars as much. But this…
Not having answers to what had happened, and also not having any instructions about what to do when not with Appius, Mars had reverted back to helping with the housework. He and Roan had thoroughly cleaned the upstairs balneum, which had taken several hours. The girl hadn’t had much to say and Mars had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts to want to talk, but the familiar work had helped. And having silent company. Really, for being identical twins, Roan and Suca couldn’t be less alike.
This job had led to Mars getting rather dirty, and so he’d then had a shower. He hadn’t thought to take off his green tunic or the belt to put on older things before starting, so he’d had to get a fresh tunic. And his old belt, as the cloth one Appius had given him needed washing. Which he’d done by hand. It was now hung up on the clothes rack inside to dry, and the tunic was in with the rest of the washing to be done the next day.
Not knowing what else to do, Mars had drifted downstairs. Encountering Suca on duty in the atrium (and ignoring her giggles which started the moment she saw him) he’d learnt Appius had gone out. Without saying a word to him.
That had hurt. A lot. Way more than it reasonably should have. Mars felt…well. Betrayed. Which was ridiculous. Appius didn’t owe him anything and could do whatever he wanted. But…
Still not understanding his feelings, he’d spent some time with Tremenda. Talking to her didn’t really help, but he felt a bit better for saying things out loud. On his way out of her room, he’d encountered Cupido, looking like death-warmed-over. Remembering the secretary had orders to clean Master Marcus’ room once he was mostly over the hangover, Mars had taken pity on him and helped, vacuuming and putting clean sheets on the bed.
He’d also spoken a little bit, even though Cupido hadn’t been in a chatting mood. But it was abundantly obvious Cupido was drowning in guilt because Sidonius had had his phone taken away. Cupido was adamant it was his fault, and Sidonius was the one who was suffering for it. Not that Mars was able to get out of his friend exactly what had happened.
Honestly, it wasn’t out of the question Cupido didn’t know what had happened. The Fates both loved and hated him, and it was well-known to anyone who associated with Cupido that his relationship with the forces of chaos was a…well. A chaotic one.
Once he’d done that (and Cupido hadn’t let him do anything else, saying looking after Marcus wasn’t his responsibility anymore), Mars had decided he needed proper answers. From someone who knew Appius. Who’d known him for a long time. Who’d lived in this house for a long time. That would be the only way he’d get some answers.
Bilius seemed like the best person to talk to about this. He was the oldest in the house for a start, and from all Mars knew had been owned by Appius’ family all his life. After talking to Cupido, and seeing how miserable Sidonius was (he’d been moping around upstairs), Mars just wanted things to be like they had been last night.
Yes, talking to Bilius would be the best way to go for answers.
Mars questioned the wisdom of this decision, though, when he entered the kitchen to find Therin looking a bit frightened in the cook’s direction. Bilius had a nasty scowl on his face and was obviously talking to Roan.
“Sidonius asked you politely if he…” Roan started, but was interrupted by Bilius.
“You can tell Sidonius equally politely, that he has to ask me himself if it doesn’t concern Appius or Senator Aemilius, which I suspect it does, indeed, not!” Bilius snapped. “And tell him that I know as well as him why he avoids me. He can pull his head out of his arse, grow himself a pair, and come down here himself, the little coward.”
Roan didn't seem impressed with that answer and only nodded, before leaving the kitchen. Mars swallowed and exchanged an uneasy look with Therin, who only shrugged, having clearly no idea what was going on. Gemina was also in the kitchen, but was seemingly ignoring the drama happening in favour of checking something in the oven. Meanwhile, Bilius sighed and turned in their direction.
Surprisingly enough his scowl vanished, and he even gave at least Therin a small smile.
“Mars. What can I do for you?”
“I… have some questions. About Master Appius.” Mars answered, after a long moment.
Bilius nodded in understanding.
“I bet you do.” He muttered, before turning to the youngest slave in the room. “Therin. Leave. I will call you later. And close the door behind you.”
Therin hesitated, but just for a moment, before following the order. He did give them a curious glance, though but seemed to realise this was neither the place nor time to ask questions. Gemina also looked up, closing the oven door.
“I should leave as well. Bilius, I’ve put the timer on. The bread needs to come out when it goes off, but that shouldn’t be for another twenty minutes or so.”
Bilius nodded.
“I’ll keep an eye on it.”
Once they were alone in the kitchen, Bilius sighed. Before turning off whatever was cooking on the stove, putting the lid on the pot, and going to sit down at the table.
"All this drama, I tell you, boy. I'm getting too old for this. And I raised several kids." He said without any heat in his voice, when Mars sat down too. "Now, what do you want to know?"
Mars hesitated, trying to sort out in his head how to answer that question. What didn’t he want to know? What he had been going to ask was now taking a backseat to what he’d witnessed upon entering the kitchen.
“You…you are also mad at Sidonius.”
Bilius grunted in agreement.
"Rightfully so, believe me. Drinking for fun is alright, but getting this drunk when you know certain things, is…" Bilius shook his head angrily before looking sharply at Mars. "I know you’ve talked a lot with Appius the last few weeks. Did he tell you about his father? Or his parents in general?"
“Just that they were…manipulative.”
Bilius laughed without an ounce of humour in his voice.
"That's actually one of the nicer things to say about them. They were alcoholics. His father especially was a violent drunkard."
Bilius shook his head again before he continued.
"Never in public of course. The public thought they were just a nice older couple who had the luck to have a child very late. But as soon as they were home… Appius' father had a very specific idea of how his son should or shouldn't behave. That, of course, didn't always work. And if that man got angry you’d better pray you weren’t in the same room."
Mars winced.
“Did he - punish - Appius?”
"Harm him bodily you mean? His only heir? No. He was a bit cleverer than that." Bilius answered with clear disdain in his voice. "No, good old Kaeso figured out pretty quickly it would drive the message home if he hit Taras, Appius’ caretaker, right in front of his son. The one slave in the house that the boy adored more than anyone else. Take a guess how long it took Appius to not make any mistakes. He was a very well behaved child before he was even six."
Mars flinched.
“He - that’s why he doesn’t do physical punishment?”
Bilius nodded.
"That and… Well, Appius has a temper. And he knows it. I know him well enough to say that he decided a long time ago to never hit anybody in anger. He doesn't want to be like his father. Ever."
Bilius sighed deeply.
"And that's why I'm mad at Sidonius. Because Sidonius knows all of this. How drunk and hungover people remind Appius of his father. Which makes him angry. And that anger reminds him also of his father. And that he can’t control how this trauma resurfaces. If I had to take a guess he got angry at Sidonius this morning for being still half-drunk, lashed out verbally in anger, and then panicked because he acted like his father at that moment. Which is not true, by the way. Appius is a far better human being than Kaeso could have ever hoped to be. Somebody should give Taras some medals for that achievement alone."
“He initially forbade him to speak to Anca for ten days. Senator Marcus…objected. He reduced it to five, then bolted.”
Mars still couldn’t wrap his head around what had happened this morning. It just - didn’t seem like it could be real.
Bilius only shrugged.
"Like I said: Appius lashed out in anger and then panicked because of his own reaction. He probably bolted to avoid doing even more damage. And I’ll bet my whole peculium account that he started kicking himself for all of it just seconds after he punished Sidonius."
“Does Cupido know about this? Or Senator Marcus?”
Cupido hadn’t said anything in their recent conversation, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know. Then again, it was Cupido. Who knows what went on in his head at any time.
Now Bilius looked thoughtful.
"Senator Aemilius… Maybe. They have been friends for over twenty years, so I suspect he's at least drawn his own conclusions. I don't know about Cupido. But even if he did, Cupido always stumbles in this sort of chaos without meaning to, doesn't he?"
“Well, yes. But he also wouldn’t deliberately do something that would hurt another human. He - doesn’t usually end up taking others with him.”
"Sidonius doesn't either. That's why I'm also worried. Besides being angry. Sidonius probably didn't think this one time. He’s probably kicking himself too right now for hurting Appius like that."
“Cupido’s drowning in guilt.”
"I bet he is." Bilius grumbled, before shaking his head again. "It will be alright soon, Mars. Don't worry. Appius… He does have a temper, but he's also a very forgiving person. He only needs a small nudge in the right direction, and maybe not even that. I highly doubt that Sidonius will have to go through his punishment for five full days. Appius will probably give him the phone back tomorrow evening, if not sooner. And then Cupido can let go of his guilt too."
Mars frowned.
“Wouldn’t that seem like caving in though? It - would make it seem Appius can’t be trusted? I mean, he said the punishment was for five days…”
Mars rubbed his forehead, trying to make sense of all this. He was really tired, and physically drained, and still sore from last night. He could also feel a migraine coming on. His head felt funny. He didn’t often get them, but it had happened. And it was never fun when it did.
The older slave nodded in agreement, but also with a small smile.
"If Sidonius goes to Appius and apologises, sober this time, Appius can easily say that he believes Sidonius learned his lesson. Then it doesn't look like he's going back on his word, but like he's showing mercy to poor Sidonius. And I believe that will be exactly what will happen."
Mars couldn’t think of anything more to say to that. He knew he would have to confront Appius about events soon, but at least he had some context now. Even though he had no idea where Appius even was. He hadn’t seen nor heard him since his exit from the atrium this morning.
“Bilius…where is Appius? Is he even in the house? I - haven't seen him.”
"He did what he always does when he needs to clear his head." Bilius grumbled. "Going to the baths and swimming until he can't go on anymore. He'll probably be back soon though. He knows avoiding problems only makes them bigger. I expect that he will want to talk to you when he gets back, since he left you without much of an explanation."
“Yeah.” Mars muttered. “He basically dumped me on the couch and took off.”
Now Bilius chuckled.
"He probably feels very guilty about that too. Expect him to be apologetic."
Mars groaned. His head was starting to throb, and he didn’t feel like dealing with what an Appius Apology of this scale would be like. He just wanted to take some painkillers and curl up in bed.
“Could I please have some water?”
Bilius nodded and stood up, bringing Mars a glass full of water only a couple of moments later.
"You don't look so well. Do you need…" Bilius started but was interrupted by the kitchen door opening. "Oh, what now?"
"Master wishes to see Mars. In the tablinum." Menon informed them, without even looking fully at them.
He also didn't stay but left immediately after. Bilius sighed.
"Well." He said but didn't add anything else. Mars finished the water, taking a few minutes to compose himself before standing up.
“Guess he finished his swim.”
Bilius frowned.
“Are you okay to do this? You really don’t look great.”
Mars attempted to smile.
“Just got a headache. It’s been a tiring day.”
Bilius nodded but didn't look convinced.
"It was. You better go then. No need to keep Appius waiting."