Contains language and situations which are not suitable for younger audiences or those offended by two hot men together.
Movement I: The Villa
"Holy…" Marcus's voice trailed off in wonder as he craned his neck in an effort to take in the surroundings. He knew Uncle Aquila had been rich, but this place was amazing. The beautiful white, gravel road stretched along, seemingly guided by tall trees on either side that reached up high and blossomed near the top.
As the actual villa came into view Marcus gasped. The cream building looked like something out of a history textbook. How had he never seen this wonderful place?
Small water features were incorporated with the substantial gardens that surrounded the building. Marcus stepped out of the silver rental car and walked up the stone pathways that weaved towards the front door. He felt his pockets of the keys he'd received from the lawyer.
The inside was shockingly blander. All of the beauty and grandiose of the outside seemed tamed inside. There was a plant here and there, some nice old furniture, but nothing over the top.
The sound of metal scraping made Marcus flinch and freeze. Someone was in the house. Marcus crept towards the room the sound had come from. He flipped around the corner into what appeared to be a completely empty kitchen. The oven was on and a pan was sitting on top heating.
Marcus slowly made his way across the kitchen towards the only exit. Suddenly from the doorway to the pantry a man appeared holding a loaf of bread. "Holy fuckin' shite!" He screamed.
Marcus jumped at him knocking the man to the ground and pinning him to the tiled floor. "Who the hell are you?"
It seemed the man, who couldn't be more than a year older than Marcus, couldn't speak from the pressure Marcus had placed on his neck. Marcus released his neck but held him to the tiles. Coughing the man struggled for breath before weakly answering, "Esca, who the fuck are you?"
Marcus cocked his head, "Esca?" The name sounded familiar. "I'm Marcus Aquila and this is my house."
Realization flooded Esca's face however the annoyance never left, "Will you get off me Mr. Aquila?"
Marcus leapt up before extending a hand to help the smaller man up. Esca accepted the help before grabbing the bread and continuing towards the oven. He placed two pieces on the pan before adding two slices of cheese.
"What are you doing here?" Marcus asked.
"I live here," Esca shrugged.
Marcus was so confused. "Wait what? No, my uncle lived here and he just died…."
"I know your uncle is dead," Esca snapped interrupting Marcus and returning his cold gaze. "I know your uncle better than you do." His voice was short but not raised.
Marcus pulled out the letter from the lawyer that had accompanied the keys. Scanning it he looked for any sign as to what was going on. As he reached the bottom he saw the postscript, which he'd ignored previously. PS: Watch out for Esca. That's why the name was familiar; he'd thought Esca was a dog or something.
"How do you know my uncle?" Marcus surrendered.
Esca sighed returning to the grilled cheese he was expertly crafting. "I work for him…" He dipped his head before correcting, "worked for him."
"He had servants?" Marcus gawked.
"I'm a cook," Esca shook his head. "And yes, there were a number of people employed by your uncle for the last ten years. I however am the only one that lives in the Villa."
"You live here?" Marcus seemed shocked.
"We do," Esca's voice lowered more. It seemed like he was having trouble meeting Marcus's gaze.
"We?" Marcus repeated before he heard the front door slam open and a rumble come racing down the hallway.
A beast came barely into the kitchen, black and grey fur and roaring with fury. Esca's face lit up with happiness and got to his knees and lifted what turned out to be a boy in some sort of wolf costume. The boy only broke character when Esca showered him with kisses.
The now laughing child stood waiting for the grilled cheese which Marcus now realized was made specially for him. "Here you go!" Esca said wrapping the sandwich in a paper towel. "Not anywhere in the house, and careful, it's a little hotter than usual, just took it off the stove."
The boy hungrily grabbed the wrapping growling like a wolf and made his way out towards the door leading out of the kitchen and into the backyard. He froze the instant he noticed the hulking, foreign man sitting at the dinner table.
Instantly all character left and the boy just stared with no words. "This is Mr. Aquila, can you say hi to him?"
The boy motioned for Esca to come closer. Esca knelt and offered his ear. The boy cupped his hand and began to whisper. Esca's face melted into a somber expression, "No, this is a different Mr. Aquila. We'll talk more about it later, go on, shoo!" He said as he ushered the boy out of the door and into the beautiful weather.
Esca stood for a moment at the door watching the boy pick and place to lie down and enjoy his snack. "As you see Mr. Aquila, your uncle's death affected more people than you might realize."
"How old is he?' Marcus asked, feeling like a peeper watching Esca watching the boy.
"He's eight," Esca sighed.
"And you both… live here?" Marcus asked haltingly.
Esca finally took his eyes off the boy and turned to Marcus. "Yes, we both live in that shack there." Marcus stood to look. Sure enough a small home lay past the backyard though still within the confines of the property. "It's not much, but it's wonderful. Mr. Aquila, uh… your uncle, was a good man and he gave us that to live in."
"I didn't know him," Marcus blurted.
"Wha?" Esca asked.
"I never met my uncle," Marcus hung his head in shame. "It was one of those things, you know? I always thought I'd have a chance to come out and visit… but I guess life got in the way. And then…"
"And then he died," Esca finished.
"Yeah," Marcus choked.
"And your da?" Esca looked back out at the boy. It seemed he couldn't keep his eyes off of him for any long period of time.
"He's…" Marcus didn't feel like explaining it again. "Not in the picture."
Esca understood. He kept silent, figuring asking about Marcus's mother may end the same way.
"What's his name?" Marcus broke the silence.
Esca laughed, "Cub."
Marcus raised an eyebrow, "Cub?"
"Yeah… His real name is Lancelot but he responds to Cub mostly," Esca was beaming with this change of subject. "Don't know if you noticed the outfit…"
Marcus laughed, "Hard not to. What's the story behind that?"
Esca shrugged. It seemed both of the men had their secrets. "Oh! There he goes!" Esca laughed as he jumped out the door. Only seconds later Marcus heard the cries.
Cub had fallen. Nothing worse than scraped up knees, but Esca was by his side and lifting him up. Marcus heard Esca with a calming voice soothing the child. "You're all right," Esca assured him.
Marcus took the break from Esca as a chance to explore more of the home. His initial assessment of it had been unfair. Though the inside did not match the outside, the interior was still beautiful and immaculately cared for, no doubt Esca or another servant's doing.
Coming out of the kitchen Marcus made his way towards the locked door. When he'd spoken the lawyer handling the estate he'd been informed that this door was locked and there hadn't been a key. Marcus tried the door. Sure enough it wouldn't budge. He'd break into it later when he started going through more stuff. He wandered off and began to explore more of the home.
It seemed Marcus had wandered his way into the master bedroom, likely the bedroom of his late uncle. It had an air of having never been slept in, though Marcus again noted that the villa had probably been cleaned and organized since the passing.
A few picture frames on the dresser caught his eye. Three to be exact, the first was a picture of his father and his uncle. Both much younger, it seemed to be before his father had met his mother, as his father's left hand had no ring. With that knowledge Marcus was able to date that his father must have been about twenty-five, Marcus's age.
Marcus felt his breath hitch as he reached the second photo. It was a single picture of Marcus. He remembered the photo. His dad had taken it when they'd gone hiking. He remembered because it was taken only a few months before his father died.
The third picture was certainly the most surprising. His Uncle Aquila, much older now, was standing happily with a beaming and younger Esca, a young woman, and in the young woman's arms was… a baby.
"You never said what you do," Esca's voice startled Marcus into a straighten posture.
"Excuse me?" Marcus asked.
"What do you do for a living?" Esca asked again.
"I… I run an online business service that helps large corporations streamline their investigative and hiring practices," Marcus shrugged.
"Aren't you a little young to have your own business?" Esca cocked his head obviously impressed by Marcus.
"I started it with a friend when we were still in college," Marcus avoided the answer he felt he might have to give. "But he pretty much left the business to me when he married."
"Where did you get the money to start the business?" Esca asked.
There it was. Marcus sighed with a twinge of shame, "My uncle."
Esca's eyes widened with surprise. The judging silence that followed made Marcus's face blush. The man who'd funded the starting of his now incredibly successful business had not only been family, but he'd never met him.
Marcus turned back to the photo, "This is you."
"Yeah," Esca replied.
"And your wife?"
Esca grunted, "Will you be staying for dinner?"
"What?" Marcus was thrown.
"I'll be fixing dinner," Esca continued. "Requests?"
"You don't have to do that," Marcus assured him.
"I'll have it ready at six thirty, sir," Esca said bowing slightly as he backed out of the room.
Marcus felt entirely uncomfortable by the idea of having a cook. However the discussion of food had reminded him that he hadn't eaten and his stomach grumbled. He'd avoided the major jet lag during his first night at the hotel before trekking out to the villa. Having done many business trips in the first few years of the upstart of the company he'd learned to circumvent the effects of time changes.
Not an hour later the amazing smell of whatever Esca was preparing began wafting from the kitchen. Marcus had not made any headway on sorting through his uncle's belongings. Instead he'd managed a few issues that had arisen stateside before going through more of his uncle's pictures he'd found in the living room.
The two photos of Marcus from the living room were both from his early childhood when both parents were still around. Marcus began to wonder if his uncle would have even recognized him today. That familiar shame heated his cheeks.
That ball of faux-fur barreling down the hallway interrupted his thoughts. Apparently Cub had already warmed up to Marcus's presence as he ran up to Marcus's side and began pulling on his jeans and barking.
"Hey little man!" Marcus laughed. "Is dinner ready?"
Cub nodded emphatically before taking off towards the kitchen. "Calm yourself child!" Esca shouted from the kitchen.
"It smells amazing," Marcus said with aw as he entered the kitchen. Esca had prepared some sort of casserole and freshly baked bread. His uncle must have eaten quite well.
Esca ignored the compliment, "The dining room is prepared for you. I'll be in shortly with the hotpot."
Marcus shrugged and made his way to the dining room, which he'd found earlier. The table wasn't enormous, but it would comfortably seat eight people. Despite its size, there was only a single place setting.
Esca appeared behind him with the casserole and bread both balanced expertly, in tow was Cub with a silver pitcher filled with ice water.
"You're not eating?" Marcus asked as he took his seat.
Esca shook his head, "We will eat at the kitchen table when you're finished."
Marcus laughed at the absurdity, "Oh come on! You're not seriously going to make me eat alone. Did my uncle make you eat in the kitchen?"
"No," Esca replied. "Cub and I would eat with him every night."
"Please Esca, eat with me. I'm not as heartless as you think I am," Marcus said with a twinge of sadness.
"I don't think…." Esca began.
"It's all right, just join me please," Marcus interrupted.
"Lance!" Esca said with a hushed whisper. "Stop playing with your food." What had previously been an airplane forged out of a slice of bread quickly returned to being dinner.
The look on the little boy's face was mostly disappointment. Marcus grinned at the exchange before silently grabbing the attention of the child and "flying" his own slice of bread into his mouth.
Cub brightened but still kept his own bread grounded for fear of his father's backlash.
Esca smirked only slightly as to not let on either party at the dinner table in on the fact that he'd witnessed the exchange. Maybe he'd been unfair to judge Marcus so quickly.
However that sinking feeling was ever present. He still had not asked what Marcus had planned to do about the property. He assumed the young entrepreneur would not be inclined to stay at the villa and being that he was obvious of a sound business mind he'd know that property was worth a pretty penny.
He'd been saving as best he could. Mr. Aquila had treated him well, including salary-wise. However most of what he'd saved had gone towards Sarah's medical bills, something Esca had been too damn proud to allow Mr. Aquila to pay. The assurance that Mr. Aquila would always be around had been too alluring and Esca had allowed it to define his pride.
Now his future was in the hands of Marcus. Even in his thoughts he sneered the name. The unusual businessman with his hulking frame and substantial muscles distracted Esca's lingering eye. It had been a while since Esca had talked to a regular guy, much less one as attractive as Marcus. Sarah would say he was a regular muscle god.
"Hey Cub, why don't you starting clearing the table and then get to work on those dishes?" Esca asked nicely expecting a fight or at least some resistance.
Cub barked and jumped up grabbing as much as he could for the first trip and balancing his way into the kitchen. That was odd.
"Let me help out," Marcus said grabbing his own dishes. "It's the least I can do since you cooked this incredible meal."
"Thank you, sir," Esca said clearing his own place as Cub pranced back in for his second trip.
"Esca," Marcus sighed. "Please stop calling me sir."
"Sorry about that," Esca laughed. "Old habit."
Cub and Marcus did mostly a good job with the dishes. Though somehow they managed to get a fair amount of water splashed over much of the kitchen.
"I think it's your bedtime," Esca said ruffling Cub's furry head. Cub whined sleepily only proving Esca's point. "Story?"
Cub nodded and headed out the kitchen door to their little home. "I'll be back to clean this up in a bit, Mr. Aquila."
Esca cleared out before Marcus could correct him on the name. He never liked being called Mr. Aquila, sir, or anything other than Marcus. Even the software engineers and other personnel he employed called him Marcus.
Marcus began wiping up the mess he and Cub had made. That had been fun. He'd never had a sibling, but he always imagined it'd be something like that. Though in reality he knew there'd have been much more fighting too.
As he finished up the last bit of soapy water Esca came back in through the door. "Mr. Aquila, I'm sorry. I was going to take care of that!"
"Holy crap Esca," Marcus laughed. "Please for the love of God call me Marcus. And I can handle my own chores, I'm not an invalid."
"Your uncle was not an invalid," Esca said bluntly. Marcus winced. That hadn't been what he'd meant, but that definitely was what it had sounded like.
Knowing he had nothing to say to correct himself, Marcus simply opened the fridge door and found exactly what he was looking for. Holding up two beers Marcus smiled, "You, me, back porch, beers."
Esca laughed. "Sounds good to me."
"What was my uncle like?" Marcus asked opening finishing up his first beer. He was interrupting what had been a nice silence.
Esca sighed, "Your uncle was such a good man, through and through."
Marcus nodded. After a bit more silence Marcus asked, "And what about your son? Where's his mother?"
Esca sighed. "Don't get me wrong, Lancelot is my son… but I am not his biological father."
Marcus turned to face Esca with a puzzled face.
"Sarah, my best friend. Lance is her son. She was a maid here. She died two years ago," Esca rubbed his forehead with his fingers. "Lance's dad wasn't in the picture… so she left him to me. That was two years ago."
There was a deep sadness in Esca's voice. "When did he start wearing that costume?"
"Two years ago," Esca sighed. Marcus had figured as much. Children dealt with things so differently than adults. Marcus was too afraid to have children of his own for that very reason. The fear of screwing up kept him single and childless.
"So you and Sarah were never…" Marcus couldn't bring himself to say "romantically involved" so instead he just took a sip of beer.
"Naw, I'm a homo," Esca answered with his seemingly usual bluntness.
Marcus choked violently on that sip of beer. Esca chuckled as Marcus tried desperately to get a handle on his fit of coughing. He wasn't ashamed of who he was and figured Marcus would be letting him go any day now anyways.
Marcus was quiet after his coughs settled. "Are you dating someone?" Esca asked.
Marcus shook his head, "No time."
Esca nodded letting the conversation fizzle out for the more comfortable silence.
"Shit it's getting late," Marcus yawned.
"Aye," Esca said standing and grabbing his two bottles and Marcus's three in one swipe.
"Esca," Marcus groaned. "You don't have to…" But Esca had already disappeared in the kitchen. Marcus had felt the shift when Esca had told him he was gay. Marcus had never met a gay person, not really. Instantly he felt way too uncomfortable.
"Good night, Marcus," Esca said as he reentered the back porch and began to make his way to the cottage.
"Good night," Marcus replied with barely a whisper. That had been the first time Esca had called him Marcus… he like the sound of his name when Esca said it. Flushing, he shook his head and made his way back into the villa. His uncle's bed just seemed too charged of a place to sleep so Marcus found the largest couch, which he still did not entirely fit in and fell asleep.