In this prompt Octavian acts more like a jerk than I normally write him as. Also CW: ableism.
Octavian wondered what Reyna wanted to talk with so much urgency. Couldn't she wait just a little more? His leg was still hurting a lot because of the injury Fulano caused on him in the training.
He hated the attention his limping brought to him and how he could not stop it. At least, he was being able to hide how much pain he was feeling.
He passed in front of some people from the First Cohort.
"Yeah, my dad is really proud of-" Fulano saw Octavian and smiled with malice "Got hurt in the training again, Octavian? Are you sure the legion is the place to you? I mean, you cannot even fight a fake fight."
Octavian did the best to ignore, but he was full of rage. It was Fulano who hurt him and he still was there making fun of him.
It was time to deal with that situation. Octavian stood up, ready to go to talk with Fulano. He had all the conversation planned on his head.
The only problem would be getting into where Fulano was. He was problaby in the forum and that was a little too far from where Octavian was. The fact he was limping didn't help the situation.
When Octavian got to the forum, he leaned against a wall and closed his eyes before entering it. He waited his breathing to calm down, he didn't want to look weak.
It took Octavian some minutes to go look after Fulano and some more time to find him. Luckly Fulano was sitting alone on a table.
When Octavian sat down he immediately made eye contact. He knew this could make people unconfortable.
"Wow. I cannot believe you were capable to walk all the way to the forum. Or should I say limp?" Fulano laughed a little "Now you're not even capable of walking right"
Octavain tried to look bored.
"Fulano. Please, enlighten me. You are the legacy of what god? I don't remember it quite well"
Fulano frowned his eyebrows.
"Mercurio... why do you-"
"And this is from your mother side or father side?"
"But" Octavian got closer to Fulano "you are not a legacy of Mercurio, are you? No. You are his son." Octavian opened a mischievious grin "Your mother cheated on her husband"
Fulano's eyes were wide open and his breathing was becoming faster.
"It... it is not that simple. She-"
"It would be a pity if her husband discovered that, wouldn't it?"
"I? I would do nothing. That is just the way secrets work. They spread really fast. But lucky you. I'm really good and keeping secrets, well... secret. I just need you to do something for me in return."
"Forget it. I'm not going to do shit for you!!!"
"Be careful there you don't want to scream your secret to everyone on the forum, do you?"
Fulano looked like he would punch Octavian. Octavian liked it. He could use the other emotion to his advantage.
"But are you sure about your answer?"
"You know in Portuguese fire can be two words. Fogo and incêndio. Fogo is that fire you can get with matches, stoves, etc. It is manageble. You can control it. Incêndio is the opposite. It is the fire that spreads and burns everything on its way. You can't just turn it off. It is out of control. It is fire that can destroy an entire house"
Octavian smiled with his last sentence.
"There is a reason why secrets are often compared to fire. In the moment this secret is like fogo. Only four people know. Your mother, Mercurio, you and me. But how much time until it becomes an incêndio? How much time until other person discovers it? How much time until the number of people who know the secret doubles? How much time until the number of people who know about it becomes ten times bigger? Twenty? Thirty? How much time until it is not a secret anymore and everyone knows it?"
Fulano wasn't looking for Octavian anymore, he was starring the table. But Octavian? Octavian was paying a lot of attention on Fulano's face and expressions.
"How much time until your stepfather discovers it? How much time until he knows everybody knows it? He can find out in the begining of the fire or way later. Personally, I don't know what would be worse."
"I am very interested to know how he will react. Will he continue to provide to you after being that humiliated?"
"My father..." Fulano's voice was cracking "My father loves me"
"Stepfather, not father. And that might be true, however how much strenght do you think he has? Does he have the strenght to endure the fact that the child he provided and loved for so long is not his child? Does he have the strenght to deal with the fact he was lied to for years? Does he have the strenght to deal with the public scrutiny? You know well how people here can be mean. Does he have the strenght to look weak? Because that's exactly how he will look like if he does nothing about you and your mother. Especially when your image is so important around here."
"You know what I think? I think that no. Your father doesn't have the strenght to deal with all of this. And I also think you agree with me. So imagine your stepfather, the man you love so much, dealing with all this. Imagine your poor mother suffering, because she feels so sorry and everyone is being so mean. I mean, she was so young and it was a big mistake. She deeply regrets cheating her husband, why should she pay so much for this? Imagine you, without your home, your friends, your family. With all of that in mind, what do you say about my deal?"
He didn't worry about the silence that fell between them. He knew he had won.
"What do you want me to do?"
"First, stop hurting me on purpose on the trainings and to respect my physhical limits. Second, due to your family, or should I say your stepfather's family you have some influence over the Second Cohort. Besides you also get along with them pretty well. What I want is to you convince them to support me on Senate Meetings."
"How am I supposed to do that? They hate you!!! It will be impossible!!"
"Yeah. Years of bullying made me well aware of how much the Second Cohort hates me." Octavian's voice was harsh "But I guess this makes out deal fair. We both have impossible tasks to do. You need to make the Second Cohort support me and I need to keep a secret a secret."
"I'm going. Just would like to say that it might be better if you don't talk about out deal to anyone. It is easier to deal with only one secret. Have a nice day!"
When he was in the exit of the forum Octavian met Jason.
"What were you and Fulano talking about? He seemed really angry."
"Oh. I just covinced him that my plan to the War Games is way better than his. Maybe I was a little too mean."
"A little? He look furious!!"
"Well, that is on him. He started it all. I'm just answering his endless bullying."
"Bullying? Don't you think you are exaggerating a little Tav?"
I don't know Jason, ask that to my limping leg.
"Yeah. I actually meant teasing. But I forgot the word."
Jason giggled discomfortably.
"This happens with me all time. I really dislike it."
"Me too. Anyway, I'm going. I'm tired."
"Okay. Congrats for having a better plan."
Octavian liked the way things ended up. But he wasn't satisfied, it took him too much time to deal with the guy. And there was also most of the second cohort that he needed to handle. Too much work and he wasn't as near to end it as he would have liked.