[So this is how it is going to be. Cruel word after cruel word, spilling like cold glass from lips he's had against his own, not very long ago.
It shouldn't hurt him. He has faced a world of people's dislike, even hatred, toward him. One more is nothing. Yet the onslaught earns the intended effect — a flicker on Sasuke's face, there and gone. Like the child's fear he showed before, there is hurt, wounds made. He doesn't have his brother's composure. Unhappiness is at home on him, mouth downturned and brows furrowed, eyes avoidant. Whatever tenuous foundation had been built between them is dust; it was someone else's life.
He knows better than to fight in this state. That would only feed whatever dark thing has repossessed Laurent and further confirm his own powerlessness. He doesn't say a word, only returns to the pallet, and it is easier than he thought it would be — shutting down. A slip backward into familiar grooves.
The bedding is soft when he lies down on it, back to the bed, chains jingling with each movement. The confinement is also familiar. Sasuke doesn't know when he sleeps, because he doesn't feel tired, but it happens, and eventually the light is bright in the windows and Laurent is gone. He didn't hear him leave.
A man named Radel arrives to tend to him, assuming responsibility for the new slave's station, although Sasuke doesn't miss the puzzled look on his face. It isn't for him to explain. He endures being bathed and dressed with similar detachment; the gold chains are replaced with silver, he notices, by Radel's insisting. The color suits him better. His clothing remains sheer and pale and humiliating. All of this, and he is simply returned to Laurent's room and tethered to the ground to wait to be summoned. If it should happen at all.]
i hope a little timeskip is ok
It shouldn't hurt him. He has faced a world of people's dislike, even hatred, toward him. One more is nothing. Yet the onslaught earns the intended effect — a flicker on Sasuke's face, there and gone. Like the child's fear he showed before, there is hurt, wounds made. He doesn't have his brother's composure. Unhappiness is at home on him, mouth downturned and brows furrowed, eyes avoidant. Whatever tenuous foundation had been built between them is dust; it was someone else's life.
He knows better than to fight in this state. That would only feed whatever dark thing has repossessed Laurent and further confirm his own powerlessness. He doesn't say a word, only returns to the pallet, and it is easier than he thought it would be — shutting down. A slip backward into familiar grooves.
The bedding is soft when he lies down on it, back to the bed, chains jingling with each movement. The confinement is also familiar. Sasuke doesn't know when he sleeps, because he doesn't feel tired, but it happens, and eventually the light is bright in the windows and Laurent is gone. He didn't hear him leave.
A man named Radel arrives to tend to him, assuming responsibility for the new slave's station, although Sasuke doesn't miss the puzzled look on his face. It isn't for him to explain. He endures being bathed and dressed with similar detachment; the gold chains are replaced with silver, he notices, by Radel's insisting. The color suits him better. His clothing remains sheer and pale and humiliating. All of this, and he is simply returned to Laurent's room and tethered to the ground to wait to be summoned. If it should happen at all.]