Crybaby.
He eyed himself in the mirror.
The boy dragged those sad eyes along his withered and beaten form.
‘This has to stop, I’ve got to stop it. Somehow, some way,’ he thinks.
Matteo Arrieta.
A generally weak and easily overpowered person, but a person nonetheless.
A person should not be treated the way he’s treated.
But he hasn’t stopped it yet. He’s let it carry on for far too long, and he knows it.
He just can’t bring himself to face the problem.
“Heya doll, I’m home!” a deep voice calls, scratchy and loud.
Ah, he’s here.
Matteo covers himself quickly, the baby pink sundress and cardigan effectively covering his bruises and scars, “Hi, Devon,” He turns and greets the larger man, gingerly planting a kiss on his cheek. Devon pulls Matt into a hug, “Did you finish your chores today, my little trophy?” The man questions, looking at his partner. Matteo nods his head vigorously, craning his head to look up at the man, “Yes sir. I even cleaned the sheets!” Matteo beamed. Devon smiled, “Good girl. Have you started dinner yet?” He pulled away from the hug, tugging off his blazer and hanging it on the nearby coat rack. Matteo choked, “Yeah, uhm.. I decided to go with chicken and rice.. Is that okay?” He rocked on his feet nervously, hands tugging at the loose fabric of his dress. Devon turned and sighed, “I guess so. Go and get it ready.” Matt whimpered and nodded, obedient as always as he shuffled to the kitchen quickly.
~
“I saw that some people are moving into the apartment below us,” Devon said, breaking the silence between the two.
“Oh? What is it this time, another couple?” Matteo perked up, immediately taking interest. It was always fun to meet new tenants. Hopefully they wouldn’t nose into his business.
Devon continued to stab at his food, stuffing a piece of chicken into his mouth before responding, “No, actually. A set of twins. They look to be a little bit older than you, actually.” Matteo smiled gently, and Devon looked up, “What? You’re not getting any ideas, are you?” The smaller man stiffened, eyes widening as he was filled with panic. Devon tensed, setting his fork down as his glare filled with rage. A noise escaped from the back of Matteo’s throat, and he managed to choke out a, “N-no sir..!” he turned his focus to his plate as he felt his eyes start to burn, “I was just thinking that it might be nice to have another neighbor..” His voice was shaky. Panicked. Devon noticed this, “Why? So I’ll back off? So there can be someone else to give you more attention? You little whore, you want them to know, don’t you? Always the center of attention, flaunting your body like that. Nobody could ever love you, you know that, right?” The man stands violently, knocking the wooden chair over. Devon moves swiftly over to Matteo, who is now crying and staring at his plate. He grabs the smaller man’s hair and yanks violently, “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” He growls. Matteo sobs, “Yes sir!”
~
Lucius shares a look with his brother.
There’s shouting and thumping coming from the apartment above them.
“You don’t think that..?” Chris questions, his eyebrows drawing in with worry.
“I hope it isn’t. It’s late though, we’ll go up tomorrow, okay? You’re off work, right?” Lucius asks, running a hand through the mess of black curls on his head.
Christian turns his attention back to his phone, obviously still concerned with the upstairs situation, “Yeah, actually.”
“So it’s settled.”
~
It’s 12:30.
Showtime.
Lucius makes his way up the stairs, his brother trailing behind him. The apartment above theirs, ‘B-23’, looks the same as just about any other door in the building. A bright blue doormat lay, a large ‘Welcome!’ greeting the brothers.
Lucius glances back at his sibling nervously before knocking loudly.
Behind the door, something falls, a yelp is heard, and the door opens abruptly.
A flustered boy stands, and he looks near tears. He’s short and scrawny.. Lucius and Christian are at least double his size. He couldn’t be older than 17, and he’s dressed in something.. ‘Different’. A large mint green sweater hangs off his shoulders, and that is tucked into a baby blue, high-waisted skirt. White knee-high socks cling to his legs. He’s cute.
“Y-yes?” He looks up and down Lucius and Christian, switching his gaze between the two. Lucius smiles down at him, “Ah.. my brother and I just moved in downstairs. I’m Lucius and this is Christian,” The boy beams up at them, “Oh!! Of course! I heard that someone moved in! Uhm- call me Matteo. Please, come in! Tell me about yourselves!” He moves out of the way, ushering the twins inside and leading them to the weirdly tidy living room.
Lucius and Christian follow him, taking a seat on the sofa. Chris shoots a nervous look at his brother, who’s ignoring him intently, and is instead taking a greater interest in the boy fidgeting in the chair across from them. Lucius speaks first, “So.. Do you live here alone? You seem to be a little bit young to live by yourself, haha.”
“No, actually, I share this apartment with my boyfriend,” Matteo explains, “He’s just off at work right now.” Lucius nods, furrowing his brow. Christian speaks up next, and he asks the question they originally came to ask, “So I’m sure you know that we heard what went on last night,” Chris trails off, rubbing the back of his neck gingerly.
“O-oh.. yeah. I’m sorry about that, I kind of got into a little bit of a scuffle with my vacuum cleaner, haha.” He says shakily, silently hoping that the questions would stop there. He tugs at his sleeves, suddenly becoming extremely self-conscious.
“..I see,” Lucius says after a few minutes of silence. Matteo coughs, and says, “Hey, ah.. Would you two like to join Devon and I for dinner tonight? As a little bit of a welcome?” Lucius looks at his brother, and before he can say anything, Lucius accepts the invitation. He sees the visible relief behind the smaller man’s eyes.
“So.. 6:00?”
“Sounds great.”
