The young man opened one eye and squinted in the direction of the newly opened doorway. It was quite dark in his little room, the young man having blown out his solitary candle rather than waste it, and so the light from the hallway was painfully bright. His arms were propped up behind his head but he moved one now to try to shield himself from the glare, squinting to see the face that went with the familiar voice.
"Missing me already?" he asked sarcastically, not making any move to obey the gruff order. "I thought I was in for the night. No?"
"Don't you start being a smart erse or I'll leave you in here!"
"Go on then. I was going to be here anyway so... where's the threat, Fred? Did you forget that a threat is actually supposed to be, you know, threatening?"
"You little clocking chroveshit!" the patron hissed, marching into the room, hand raised in silhouette. Predictable, endlessly predictable. He let it hit, turning his head away at the last moment so that it only glanced off his cheek. It stung, but he'd had worse and it had brought the older man close - too close. He found the other's groin, fingers pinching into sensitive flesh even through cloth. He tightened his grip and twisted, earning a high pitched mewl from his would-be aggressor. Fred panted, whimpering and crying and swatting helplessly at his junior. If he tried to lay a hand on him, the grip would somehow tighten and the man obviously didn't want to prolong his agony.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll have me kiss it better," he remarked bitterly, shaking his head in the dark. "What do you want, Fred? I'm not in the mood for this."
"Moving you."
"Moving me? What? Out of solitary?"
There was a nod in the dark, a frantic jerking that was easier to see now as light and shade had split into subtler hues, making more discernible than before.
"What they're gonna have me dorm with guys again?" he questioned, the grip loosening gradually until the other was released, beating a hasty retreat, wheezing and moaning.
"Yeah. After that... mind to keep you here... give you the buckets in the morning."
Fionn snorted. The buckets. So they'd haul him out in the cold and drench him in icy water. Yeah, it was a shock at the time and he often caught something after such treatment but they couldn't damage him. He was useful sometimes. Besides, he was a passive so he was innately dangerous; if they prodded him too sharply, he might blow up.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm shaking already," Fionn threw back, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet, feeling around for his uniform so he could dress in a haphazard fashion. The jacket was flung over his arm, the shirt barely buttoned and unevenly at that, buttons definitely not placed in the right holes.
"One of these days, you're going to be sorry, do you know that? One of these days, the gollies will sort you good and proper. You'll be properly fucked then," Fred commented with a nasty little laugh.
His patron had retreated to the doorway, regarding him sourly. When the young man stepped out, he reached up to straighten the other's collar.
"Look, no harm done, right? Little sore but you've had rougher," Fionn retorted with a wink, slapping him on the chest before his hands found their way into their habitual place in his trouser pockets. There might have been a slight softening in expression, a hint of an almost-smile on Fred's face before he jerked his head in the direction he wanted his charge to walk.
"So... what is it this time? Worried about what I get up to alone in the dark or hoping I can be reformed? Or is it that they're worried about what others get up to in the dark with me without people around to snitch?" the young man asked, his expression sly as he glanced back to the patron. Honestly, it'd been better when it'd been dark because at least then he hadn't had to look at the bastard. Thinning red hair, an unpleasantly ruddy and pockmarked face, otherwise pasty skin with unpleasant texture and the beginning of a paunch. Fionn was willing to put up with plenty of things but by the Circle, it was a lot easier when he didn't have to see what he was doing.
"Just shut up, will you? Don't need everyone overhearing what your sorry erse is up to this time. They're all sick of you as it is, they don't need to hear your prattle."
"Oooh, prattle, excuse us. Did the golly masters teach their little pet such a fancy word?" the blond asked with a twisted grin, shaking his head. "Doesn't matter. It always goes the same way, doesn't it? Not like I need the details of the sorry sods. I'll know all about them soon enough."
He lapsed into silence, the older man muttering darkly behind him but he took no notice, allowing himself just to enjoy the freedom to stretch his legs. It wasn't as if he hadn't been able to move around before, only today he'd been let out to the kitchens to be put to work, but this was better. Sure, he couldn't go behind the walls of this cursed place but he had more opportunity to move now, more chance to get up to no good before they came down on him like a ton of bricks again.
"Here!"
The bark made him slow, head twisting to see which door the patron meant. He stopped and pointed to check but the redhead was already moving to it, rapping on it sharply to give some warning before he entered. Fionn wondered with amusement how often patrons must walk in on some form of fornication, their pretence of warning not really much of one at all.
The room that was revealed wasn't too crowded, only two occupants within and the blond allowed his gaze to skim over them with disinterest, seeking out the nearest empty bed and making a beeline for it. He had to twist his body sideways to slip by Fred to do so but there was no stopping him.
"Fionn, this is Lars and- Clock it all, can't you ever have manners?" Fred snapped as he was barged past.
"Manners? Are you serious? You're a slave, I'm a slave, we're all slaves together! Let's all drop to our knees and thank our golly masters for crushing us under their boots! Piss off, Fred, this isn't my first room change," he threw back cockily, dropping onto his new bed. "One or both of these lads are supposed to reform me, right? Yeah, doesn't really matter, does it? You're all either too passive - haha, see what I did there? - too stupid or both to actually make an effort so you're all pretty much the same. Leave me alone to find out which sort these lads are, all right? There's a good man now, off you pop."
Something was twitching in Fred's face in his cheek just below his left eye. He'd really struck a nerve, he could see that. It just made him grin. Oh he was fun to wind up, even though it wasn't much of a challenge.
"Buckets tomorrow," the man growled by way of a goodbye before he slammed the door shut behind him.
"Talk about bottom of the spice pack! Right, you scraps! Might as well tell me about yourselves and tell me anything useful. Save me beating it out of you later," he told Lars and the other boy, cracking his knuckles as he said the last, the smile he shot them predatory in nature.