maculategiraffe

This is the story I've written for prompt #16 over at

lothy created with the following challenge:

The idea of this challenge is to take plot themes which are usually associated with relationship fics, and write them as gen.

I set the story in the Slave Breakers universe. It's connected with the current arcs, but I think-- at least I hope-- it also stands alone if you haven't read the rest of the stories.

Title: Comfort
Prompt: 16. General: One character is another person's slave, but they are not lovers. Instead, they are more like family.
Summary: When a man's highborn lover rejects him, to whom should he turn for comfort but his pretty, naked slave girl?

It had been a long and painful evening for Andrei, and it wasn't until he'd finally stumbled, tired and miserable, from his lover's-- ex-lover's-- house and towards his car that he'd realized how late it was. Unlocking the door of his own house and switching on a light, he reflected. Mona would be in bed already-- she hadn't expected him home tonight-- and ordinarily Andrei wouldn't have disturbed her, but he was afraid if he didn't have company tonight he'd drink himself into a solitary stupor. Besides, what was the point in owning a slave if you couldn't wake her up occasionally for comfort on a cold night?

He climbed the stairs to her bedroom, sat down on her bed and looked at her peacefully sleeping face for a moment before pulling back the blanket to gently touch her shoulder; only then did he realize, with a faint shock, that she wasn't wearing anything but the blanket.

"Master?" she mumbled, blinking at him blearily with large brown eyes, her round face pink with sleep. When he looked back at her, she said in a more alert tone, "Master, what happened? I thought you were spending the night at Lord Tamirov‘s."

The immediate worried warmth in her voice was so soothing that it almost didn't sting to say it. Almost. "He dumped me."

Mona sat up abruptly, shocked; the covers fell from her naked torso, revealing the full, lifting young breasts with their irregular pattern of ugly small round scars.

"Master--" she began before she noticed Andrei blushing and averting his eyes, and pulled the sheet hastily back up with one hand to cover her breasts while she rummaged with the other in the second drawer of her nightstand, presumably for a tunic. Did she always sleep naked? Maybe the slave tunic wasn't comfortable enough to sleep in; he should ask her if she wanted some proper nightwear. "Sorry-- I wasn't expecting--"

"That's okay, honey," said Andrei, carefully not looking as she dressed in the corner of his eye. "Sorry to wake you."

"You can look now," she said. "Why on earth would Lord Tamirov break up with you? I thought things were going well."

"So did I." Andrei cleared his throat. "Apparently Victor's, um, well, he's getting married.”

“Married?” Mona’s voice sounded so much like Andrei’s had, earlier that evening, that he almost smiled as he nodded.

“He said it was time to stop playing around,” he said, “and, and start a family. You know. With a wife."

"Oh, master." Mona took his hand. "That jerk. I never liked him."

"Yes you did," said Andrei, amused. "I wouldn't have dated him if you hadn’t."

"No, no, I always hated him," Mona insisted, deadpan. "Don't you remember all the times I told you he was no good for you? Maybe next time you'll listen to me, master."

Andrei grinned at her. "Maybe I will." He reached out and smoothed down a wild cowlick of her sleep-rumpled chestnut hair. “Mona? How tired are you?”

Mona shook her head and squirmed from the bed; Andrei caught a confused and accidental flash of thigh and pubes before she smoothed her lavender tunic down to her knees and took Andrei's hand again. "Come on, master. I'll make us something to drink and we can think up horrible fates for Lord Tamirov and his evil wife and pack of screaming brats. Who's he marrying? I always hated her, too."

She got him settled at the kitchen table, patting him tenderly on the shoulder before she moved efficiently around the kitchen, locating milk, cocoa, a saucepan and two mugs without even asking him what he wanted-- not that she needed to. He saw her eyes dart briefly to the liquor cabinet, then away, and was rather grateful for that implicit proscription on his drinking tonight; he didn't want to get sloppily miserable.

She poured hot milk into one of the mugs before adding the cocoa powder to the milk that remained in the saucepan.

"Make yourself some chocolate if you like," he told her, and she turned and raised her eyebrows at him.

"It's okay, master," she said. "I don't mind that you woke me up."

"I know, but I might be whining at you for a while and you'll need some sustenance. Go ahead."

"You spoil me," she said, but she was smiling as she poured the plain milk back into the saucepan and added more cocoa.

"Someone should." He watched her stir, thinking how pretty and graceful she was, even so recently awakened; it was ridiculous that he'd gotten her so cheaply, just because of a chipped tooth that he thought made her look even cuter, and a few unsightly scars that he never had to look at anyway. After a minute, she brought the two steaming mugs over to the table and set one in front of him before sitting down herself and taking a sip.

"Oh, gods, that‘s good," she nearly moaned. "All right, master, whine away. I wish you would. But you look like you're about to start making excuses for him instead. You are, aren't you?"

"He wasn't cruel about it or anything," said Andrei to the surface of the cocoa. "I just-- I don't think he ever took the relationship that seriously. I don't think he even realized I did."

"And that's supposed to make me hate him less?" Mona took another sip of cocoa and licked her lips slowly, the taste seeming to take the edge off her indignation, until she added, "He damn well should have realized."

Andrei was surprised and, he admitted to himself, a little gratified by the uncharacteristic vehemence; Mona didn't usually swear.

"Maybe he's right," he said after a moment, still looking at his untouched mug. "Maybe all this-- maybe I'm just immature. That’s what he said, that I was immature. He said he liked me a lot, but grown-ups realize that when it's time to settle down you do it with someone who can-- bear your children."

Mona scowled. "Because having children is the end-all be-all of existence? Please. If that were true, I might as well just kill myself now."

"Oh, honey," said Andrei, horrified. "I wasn't thinking-- I--"

“Oh, master, don‘t be silly. I didn‘t mean-- Of everything bad that's happened to me in my life, I'd say getting tied off when I was fifteen was the least of it. Really, I'm kind of glad for that part of the slavery laws. Can you imagine if they'd been able to get me pregnant?"

Andrei reached for Mona's short, broad-knuckled hand across the table and squeezed it hard, hating to think of the they she referred to so casually, and, even more, of the everything bad. She squeezed his hand back briefly before letting go.

“Drink your cocoa before it gets cold, master,“ she said. "Anyway, if a person wants children, fine. But if you ask me, Lord Tamirov’s just scared his father will disinherit him if he doesn't start making babies."

Andrei nodded, having finally taken a sip of the cocoa and liking the sugar-fueled warmth that spread through him. "And I knew that. I mean, I knew his father didn't approve of our relationship. But I thought he didn't care. He used to laugh about it. I guess-- well, it was because he never took me-- seriously. As a, well, a long-term partner."

"His loss," said Mona firmly, and sipped again at her chocolate. "He's a bad person, master. You're better off."

"He's not a bad person." Andrei sighed. "You really did like him, didn't you?"

"I did," Mona admitted reluctantly, and added, "but I don't any more."

"But, I mean, he was nice to you. People who are bad people-- you can usually tell from the way they treat-- helpless people. Slaves."

"That's true," said Mona, sounding rather sad. "He never tried anything. You could leave us alone and everything and he still just-- talked to me." She looked down for a moment. "Well-- okay, so he's not evil. But he's still terminally stupid, to have let you go."

"You're so sweet," said Andrei, and lifted her hand to press it, briefly, against his cheek. “Mona--”

Mona licked a stray drop of chocolate from her full lips, flushed from the warmth of the drink. “Master?”

“I was thinking,” said Andrei slowly. “On the way home. Maybe you’re right, about getting another slave. A boy.”

Mona peered at him thoughtfully.

“You know I’m in favor of it, master,“ she said. “If nothing else, it would be nice to have another slave around, for company. But--” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Why the sudden change of heart? Why now? This isn’t because you’re convinced no one will ever really want you again, or anything ridiculous like that, is it?”

“No, of course not. I’m a great catch,“ said Andrei, and Mona grinned at him before taking another long swallow of her cocoa. “It‘s just-- well, most unmarried noblemen my age are under pressure from their families, to get married and start producing heirs. The pool is narrowing. I’m not saying I’m giving up on finding someone, but if I had a boy at home, it might take some of the pressure off, so I wouldn‘t end up-- desperate. Dating people just because they‘re the only ones available and it’s been too long since I’ve gotten-- um-- to be with anyone.”

Mona considered this, then nodded. “Fair enough. Do you think you’ll buy from Mr. Larssen again?”

“Hey,” said Andrei, laughing a little. “Slow down. I just said maybe. I still feel a little weird about buying someone to have sex with. What if he doesn’t like me?”

“If he doesn’t like you, you won’t buy him,” Mona answered reasonably. “You can tell when a person likes you, can’t you?”

“I thought I could,” said Andrei darkly, and Mona sighed.

“You know this didn’t have anything to do with whether Lord Tamirov likes you, master,” she said firmly. “And if you ask me, anyone would be lucky to have you for a lover-- or for an owner.”

Touched, Andrei smiled back at his slave. “Thank you, honey. I’ll definitely think about it-- but I’ve kept you up long enough. Let’s go to bed, and I’ll sleep on it.”

“Yes, master,” said Mona, and drank the last of her cocoa, licking her lips again, before she got up and took the dishes to the sink.

“Leave those,” he said. “Come here.”

As she sank willingly into his lap, putting her head down on his shoulder, he stroked her hair, thinking of the slave dealer’s incredulous response when he’d asked to buy the girl.

"I didn't think I'd have to clarify this about Mona," Holden Larssen had said, in that voice of his that never seemed too far from the edge of laughter-- but friendly laughter, "but you are aware that she's female, right? Do you have perversions I'm not aware of, Andrei?"

"No," Andrei had answered, flustered. "I mean, yes, I know she's female. But I don't want to have sex with her. I just want to buy her."

"You want to buy a sex slave to not have sex with?"

"I've never had any trouble finding lovers who didn't have to be bought," said Andrei with what he hoped was a haughty air, although he could never quite seem to pull such things off around Holden. "You know I admire what you do, Holden. I hate to think of what could have happened to Mona when she attacked her mistress, if you hadn’t been there to buy her for retraining. I support you completely-- but there's a reason I've never bought from you."

"The young and pretty don't usually need to," Holden agreed, and Andrei felt his cheeks go hot, but Holden didn't seem to notice. "So why do you want to buy now?"

Andrei shrugged uncomfortably. "I like Mona."

"She is a sweet girl, isn't she?" Holden said, watching Andrei curiously.

"Sweet, and fun, and interesting, and just..." Andrei gestured, trailing off. "And I think she likes me, too."

"Sure she does. What's not to like?"

"And I don't think she likes sex very much," Andrei added, managing not to blush again. "Does she?"

"No," Holden agreed. "She's very obedient, but... no, she's not particularly interested in sex. Although I've been hoping that might change if the right person came along."

"Maybe it will," said Andrei. "I wouldn't mind allowing her to have sex with other people if she wanted to. It would be only fair-- I'm sure I'll be having sex with other people. But I think she might like... a rest."

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?" said Holden, staring at Andrei with a somewhat unnerving intensity.

Andrei nodded, his throat tightening at the thought that Holden might turn him down.

"Please," he said with a surprising amount of difficulty. "I'm very serious. Mona is... special to me."

"I see that," said Holden mildly. "Well, I'll talk to her about it, Andrei, and I'll let you know what she says."

The memory of one particular part of that conversation made Andrei pull Mona back by the shoulders and look into her face.

“If I did get a boy, do you think you’d want to sleep with him?” he asked.

Mona put her head on one side, considering. “How would you feel about that, master?”

“Whatever you wanted would be fine,” said Andrei honestly. “And really, I’m sure you’d have plenty of say in the buying process either way. I wouldn‘t like to get anyone you wouldn‘t get along with.”

“Then-- can we just cross that bridge when we come to it?” Mona asked, almost shyly, and Andrei nodded, smiling, before he leaned forward to kiss her gently on the cheek.

“Of course,” he said, and let her stand up and pull him to his feet. “Let’s get you back to bed. Mona, do you want me to get you some pajamas?”

"My lord--" With a spontaneity Andrei had never seen in the girl before, Mona came at him; he just had time to open his arms before she was on him, her own arms around him. "My lord, is it true?"

"Is what true, honey?" Andrei asked, hugging her to him.

Mona pulled back slightly, and looked up at him, her pretty face radiant with joy. "Are you really buying me?"

Andrei looked up at Holden.

"Who am I to stand in the way of--" Holden looked from Andrei's face to Mona's. "Of whatever you two are in. True… like?"

Mona laughed and hugged Andrei harder. "Please write the check quick, my lord-- I want to call you--”

“You won’t hurt my feelings,” said Holden, and Mona, after a quick searching look at the slave trainer, cupped Andrei’s face in both her hands and stared at him with such affection he had to pull her closer before she whispered, “Master.”