Antonio still couldn't quite believe what happened to him, though it had been two weeks since his life had changed completely. He had been living in Emerita Augusta with his parents and one of his brothers and they had been rich enough to live the comfortable life of a patrician. His brother had been about to marry and he also had been advised to think about it.
But things weren't as perfect as he had thought. His father had a secret obsession – dice game. He had lost all of their money on these games, and then had borrowed money which he hadn't been able to pay back. At the end when he had been forced to pay, he had done the easiest and cruelest thing one could do. He had sold his two sons as slaves. Antonio knew that his father hadn't been fond of them, but to do this to his own sons…
They had been sold to a senator and moved to his latifundium to work. They were both strong so it wasn't the physical part of the work that made Antonio suffer. It was the fact that he was sharing the fate of the slaves, what he had never thought he would have to do. His brother was younger than him and he didn't want him to live this life, he wished he could do something for him, that only he would have been sold… But at least they were there for each other and it was a bit easier to endure their new… life that way.
Antonio wasn't sure this should be called life. It was nothing like the real life, the life he had before. They was working whole day, only got enough food and water to cope with the work without collapsing, the foreman often hit them with his whip alongside with the other slaves – it hurt for Antonio to even think this – if they weren't working good or fast enough. Or because they weren't as obedient as they should be. Though that happened more rarely as they slowly accepted their fate and got used it…
After a month of working there, their owner sold a few of his not enough affective slaves to a dealer, including Antonio and fortunately his brother too. They were close and not being separated gave them some hope and a reason to live on. The property where they had worked was already far from their hometown, now they were even moved to another province, to the northern part of Hispania. They travelled whole day and night, walking under the supervision of the dealer's hired soldiers who were ready to kill anyone trying to escape. After a week of constant walking, only stopping when the dealer felt like resting – ironic, considering as he was travelling on a horse -, they arrived to Tarraco.
There they're sent to take a bath, given food and water as much as they wanted and a day of rest. Then the next day they were brought to the market and displayed with a plaque hanging from their neck, showing their good and bad points, abilities and price. Antonio never felt this humiliated. Standing there like this, like an animal… But he didn't try anything, didn't say a word about it. He had learned that he should just accept what was happening to him and be happy that it wasn't anything worse and that he was still alive. He had been whipped and beaten enough to remember this lesson. He had quite a high prize, he was one of the dealer's big chances to get money, he and his brother. They were strong, hard-working, intelligent, now well-tamed and good-looking with their wounds and bruises healed.
For the night they were brought back to the edge of the city. When the dealer fell asleep and only the soldiers were watching over them, Antonio woke his brother up.
"What's it? It's not morning already, right?" he asked silently, his voice husky from tiredness and not drinking whole day at all, only at dinner.
"No, it's not… I just…" Antonio mumbled and sighed, looking at the starry sky. "Today I was almost bought. Tomorrow maybe I will be. Or maybe you. If that happens, we will never see each other again" he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"I know" his brother nodded and turned to look at him, giving him a faint smile. Antonio admired his power to smile in such a situation. He was sure he will never smile from his heart again. "I loved to be your little brother"
"And I loved to be your older brother" Antonio said back but it only made tears forming in his eyes which he quickly wiped away before they could be visible. A Roman didn't cry. Not in the most hopeless situation. Not even now when he was losing the only person who he could consider as family.
"Promise me something" his brother started, his voice now tense and somber. "Promise me, that if you ever happen to meet father, you will kill him without mercy or a thought of pity"
"I promise" Antonio nodded and looked at his brothers. "You can be sure, I won't think for even a moment."
His brother gave a small smile again, then closed his eyes with a sigh.
"I never thought I would regret not joining the army… I didn't want to die on the battlefield, far away from my family. And now, I don't even consider those people my family and no matter what way I'll die, it'll be pointless… That way at least I would die for Rome..." he whispered, his smile becoming bitter.
"You won't die. Even if as slaves, but we'll live" Antonio shook his head.
"Maybe I don't want to live as a slave…" his brother looked at him with an apologizing smile, then turned away again, closing his eyes. "Let's sleep for now and… hope"
Antonio bit his lips at his brother's words, maybe they were something he should consider as well… He wasn't sure. He closed his eyes too and tried to sleep, he needed his energy for standing through yet another day on the sun.
After two other days of waiting to be bought, his brother was sold. Antonio wasn't even allowed to say goodbye to him. Antonio really feared for him, he hoped he wouldn't get to a property again or to a mine… Those were the worst.
On the fourth day as Antonio was standing there, watching the shopping crowd as he couldn't do else, his gaze met with a pair of hazel eyes. They were looking back at him for a few seconds, then turned away as their owner hurried on. Antonio couldn't see the person completely, but those set of eyes were familiar to him, he had seen them earlier, he was sure… Those were the only eyes from that color he had ever seen, that's why he was sure of that… He just needed to remember but for that he had to see more of the person they belonged to though that would possibly never happen. He couldn't go after them, and they might not have any reason to come here again and look at Antonio again…
"…you! Hey, you! Move already!" the dealer suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the line, glaring at him. "While you were daydreaming, someone made an offer for you" he hissed silently, angered by the disobedient slave. "You better behave now" he warned him before putting on his ingratiating smile as he turned back towards the man who was interested in buying him.
Antonio took a closer look at him. The man wore an elegant toga, one made out of good quality wool, Antonio could tell by how white it was and how gracefully it draped. He was clean shaved and his hair cut short according to the latest fashion. Maybe he would be lucky to get to him, these high up patrician usually treated their slaves as humans…
Then he spotted him standing next to this man. The one with hazel eyes, a man, a few years younger than him with a strict look on his face, his eyes wandering on the crowd but not sparing a single glance to Antonio. But he saw those eyes, he recognized them and now was trying to identify him, searching in his memories as he was examining him. Slim, noble jawline, elegant nose, brown hair and an unusual curl standing out… Of course, he knew him, how could he not remember the minute he saw him?
He knew Lovino from school when they both had been small kids. When the other had started at the age of seven, Antonio had been the first to speak to him, to make friends with him, even though the boy's… unusually unfriendly behavior. But they had become good friends and Antonio had been really sad when the family moved here when Lovino was sixteen.
Lovino. He never imagined he would get to see him again. He had missed him so much back then and now… Oh, now he was going to be his slave… or as it looked like. This was going to be really awkward, for sure.
Though so far his dealer didn't seem to be so happy about how their bargaining was going, the patrician wanted to pay a slightly lower price than that the dealer would like to get. Antonio could imagine why and he would wish that the dealer couldn't sell his ware – if it wasn't him who was the ware! But he now was hoping to get to this patrician, he sure would make him work in the household or in the worst case in his fields, and these weren't that bad options at all. Finally, with a sigh, the dealer nodded and the patrician handed the money to him. Then they both turned to Antonio, the dealer took off his plaque, his men got off the chains from his ankles and with a satisfied smile over his new purchase, the patrician beckoned to him to follow them as he started on the streets. Without a word, Antonio walked after them with their two slaves to see where he was going to live.
It wasn't that bad, just as he supposed. It was nothing compared to the life he had before, his real life, but it wasn't as horrible as in the latifundium where they had been whipped whole day… Also, here he got breakfast and dinner too, not as much as he wanted, but enough to not feel hungry whole day and he could drink that much water he needed, there wasn't any limit for that, not even for the slaves.
Antonio's task was to help out in the kitchen, not with the cooking of course – he wouldn't be able to do that, he'd never cooked -, he was helping out with slicing the meat, washing the dishes, setting the table and serving the food. He was a really, one of the favorites of the foreman, and he rarely got to be punished if at all.
But one day when he was doing his daily work in the kitchen, the foreman stepped in with a serious look on his face. Everybody became silent and looked at him.
"Antonio, you come with me now" he said only that and turned to leave immediately.
The slave quickly put down whatever was in his hands and wiped them clean, then hurried after the foreman. He didn't know where he had to go and why, and what he did wrong. So far he didn't remember breaking anything or talking back, he did his job silently, quickly and as perfectly as possible.
For his surprise, though, the foreman didn't lead him to the garden but the living room where the whole Vargas family was resting and discussing something. They went silent as the foreman and Antonio stepped in and everyone looked at the slave which made him uncomfortable. He didn't know why he was there on the first place…
"So? Is this the one you said you wanted?" the head of the family turned to his older son.
"Yes, you said that he comes from a once noble family, didn't you" Lovino looked at the slave, then at his father and nodded.
"Well, he's yours then. I paid too much for him to only work in the kitchen anyway" the old Vargas said and excusing for himself, he quickly took his leave.
Antonio started to understand what was going on, he got a new task. But how was it connected to Lovino? He looked at him curiously but didn't dare to ask, speaking without being spoken to first was rude.
"You are going to be my own, personal servant from now on" Lovino finally started to explain. "The one that I had so long will do whatever you have been doing so far. I hope you'll be better than him" he said and beckoned to Antonio to follow him as he went to leave the room as well. "You know, it's hard to find a slave who knows how to wear a toga or how to shave at all" he explained with a sigh, like this was the biggest problem on the Earth. He wasn't really looking at Antonio as they were walking, like he wouldn't take notice of him, but he was speaking to him constantly. "That's mostly because of the consul's expansion wars, they bring the barbarians to be our slaves. It's fine until they work in the garden, but when it comes to everyday life, they know nothing" he sighed with a shook of his head and opened the door to his room. "But you must know that feeling" Lovino looked at the slave for the first time since they'd left the living room but turned away just as quickly. "You've come from noble blood, so you must know how bad it is to have a personal servant who doesn't understand anything. No? Well, you were lucky with slaves, then."
Antonio listened to him and nodded agreeing every once in a while, except when he was asked the question. He, personally, never had this problem, he was almost satisfied with the servants he got.
"Well, don't just stand there, come and help me take it off!" Lovino raised his eyebrows as he looked at him, holding his arms out to the side.
Antonio nodded and went closer, taking hold of the toga's free end and started unwrap it from the patrician. It was slightly… weird for him though, to undress someone… Though he remembered being undressed and he was completely fine with it, it wasn't anything extraordinary for him. But from this end, it was.
He took off the whole toga and undid the clasp that was fixing the fabric to the tunic. When he finally took it off, he started folding it as good as he could, as he could remember seeing his servants do this. Lovino watched him and didn't say anything, only nodded.
"I store the togas in that closet. If I were you, I'd spend some time with studying them because I won't describe you all of them every time until you learn it. Now, the tunics are there, get me a simple one" he ordered as he unbuckled his belt and threw it to the bed, while beckoning towards another closet with his head.
Antonio, again, nodded obediently and stepped to said closet, taking out a simple, everyday tunic for Lovino who already got rid of his own, now standing only in his underwear. He couldn't help but get embarrassed. He wasn't used to this, seeing anyone almost naked. Okay, in bath houses, of course he did, but that was /bathing/ and that was different. He took a deep breath, accepting that this was part of his new life and went to the patrician who wasn't happy that he was so slow. Lovino wasn't very patient – he had never been, as much as Antonio remembered.
He helped him take on the cloth, then got a belt, handed it to him and stepped back, waiting. He knew that being a personal servant was the best he could hope for. He only had to help with the daily routine, accompany him to everyone, prepare the bathing and help dressing. There were no whipping, shouting, or punishment as there was nothing to do wrong. Small chance to fail something as only being late or dropping the tunic in the water in a bath house were that could cause trouble for him. He should be happy about it, that he was so lucky – but seeing a patrician, especially your former friend who didn't recognize you wasn't that good for him. He'd prefer to stay at the kitchen…
