A/N: Okay, this is a oneshot I wrote for Wallflowerz for a competition for my main story Second Star to the Right, and it's set within my Conspiratio AU :) Technically, you do need to have read that for this to make complete sense, but I suppose it doesn't really matter! Though do go and check my other stories out if you haven't already :)
So, Wallflowerz, I hope this is okay for your prompt, it's not strictly just about the twins, but about all of them in the future :) However, do prepare yourself for some overprotective!Jeff and Sebastian being Sebastian!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
From the outside, the street in Athens looked rather ordinary; all the window shutters were open, and there was a soft breeze drifting around the houses and down to the cobbles on the ground. There was the occasional laughter from a child, or the sound of a parent comforting a crying infant. But altogether it was particularly calm in that part of the city.
However, the same could not be said for a certain house, around halfway down the middle of the street.
"Nick! Get back here!" Jeff was yelling hurriedly, "He's about to speak, I know it!"
From the other room, Nick's sigh was audible.
"Jeff, you've been saying that for the last two hours," he said, "I'm not sure that it's going to happen this evening."
"It is, Nicky," Jeff insisted, from where he was kneeling on the floor in front of their twins, who were playing together.
Sebastian had been looking like he was about to say his first word for the past few hours, yet every time Jeff thought he was going to, he'd find something else to occupy him and he'd forget about it.
Nick and Jeff had decided, almost as soon as they'd adopted the two little boys, that Jeff would be known as 'daddy', while Nick would be 'papa', and since they had two children, they were hoping that one child's first word would be one of their names, and the other child's would be the name of the other parent.
"Maybe we should stop waiting for them to speak and get on with something else," Nick suggested, coming back into the room and pressing a kiss to Jeff's cheek as he sat down next to him.
"But what if he speaks while we're out of the room?" Jeff asked, "I don't want to miss my baby's first word!"
Nick had to refrain from laughing at Jeff's panic.
"We have Seb and Hunter coming over for dinner tonight," the brunette reminded his husband, "And neither of us has cooked anything for them yet."
"But…" Jeff's protests trailed away. They did have guests that night, and Sebastian had been acting the same way for a few hours, and still nothing had happened.
Nick looked pointedly at him.
"Fine," he grumbled, picking up Sebastian, while Wesley held out his arms for Nick.
Just as Nick had predicted, neither Sebastian nor Wesley spoke a word while they were preparing dinner, but Sebastian did succeed in throwing a grape at Jeff and then squishing it into his hair.
Just as Jeff had handed Sebastian over so that Nick was holding both children and he could go and clean himself up, there was a knock on the door.
Three short knocks and two longer ones.
Sebastian and Hunter had clearly arrived. Cursing Jeff's lack of hurry when he was dealing with his hair, Nick shifted the babies onto only one of his arms so that he could open the door and usher their friends inside.
"Sorry about this," Nick said, quickly glancing back at the mess that had been made of their main room, "Jeff'll be back in a minute, he got grape in his hair and he's just getting it out."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow.
"I take it he didn't put it in there by himself," he said.
Nick looked at his friend dryly.
"No, the one with your name did it," he retorted, motioning to the twin in his arms, who giggled happily. "And he thinks it's funny." The older Sebastian laughed. "Like you do, clearly," Nick added.
"Come on, don't tease Nick," Hunter said gently, pushing his husband further into the room. Sebastian pouted, but dropped the conversation topic.
"Sebastian!" Jeff appeared from one of the side rooms and practically tackled his friend into a hug.
"I swear you get more confident every time we see you," Sebastian muttered, thinking back to the times when Jeff had been so shy that he would only speak to Nick.
Jeff grinned and bounded over to hug Hunter as well.
Hunter and Sebastian had eventually moved to Athens permanently so that they could be near to their friends. Sebastian had been given a position as the sort of Roman ambassador to Greece, while Hunter was there as a military liaison officer between the two armies.
"Here, Jeff, would you mind taking one of the twins before my arm falls off?" Nick asked, as he offered Sebastian to his husband.
Jeff cooed loudly and took the baby from Nick's arm.
"Did you miss Daddy? Did you, Sebby?" Jeff asked, making faces at the child he was holding, who just looked highly unimpressed with him.
"Jeff, you were gone for barely any time at all," Nick pointed out, "Think about when they'll go out to play with friends for hours at a time."
Jeff gasped, and clutched Sebastian to his chest.
"I shan't let them," he said fervently, as they moved from the hall and into the main room, "They'll have to stay here forever."
Nick laughed and nodded.
"Of course, Jeffy, of course."
After leaving the twins to play on the floor beside the couches, the adults sat down to eat their dinner.
"They're going to speak any time soon," Jeff said proudly, looking down at the babies, "Sebastian almost said something today."
"We spent most of the afternoon waiting for it," Nick added, "It has yet to happen though."
"Maybe they were waiting for us to arrive," Sebastian suggested, and as if on cue, the younger Sebastian looked up at them.
"Sebastian," he said proudly, or, at least, it sounded like that, since it was more like: "Ba-tion."
"He said his own name!" Jeff cried, abandoning his food and picking the child up so that he could cuddle him. "Oh, Sebby, Daddy is so proud of you!"
The baby in his lap shook his head and pointed across at the opposite couch.
"Ba-tion," he repeated.
Jeff looked down at the child in confusion, and then up at where he was pointing. He frowned, while the child's namesake whooped in delight.
"Yes!" Sebastian cried, "His first word was my name! He wasn't even talking about himself, he was talking about me!" He smirked at Jeff, who was glaring at him. "Guess who his favourite uncle is, then?" he cried, poking Hunter, who just smiled.
Nick laughed.
"Oh, Jeff," he said, "It's alright, there's still a chance for Wesley to say your name first."
At that point, the child in question reached up and took the grape that Nick had been holding out of his hand.
"Papa," Wesley said happily, eating the grape and then going back to playing.
Nick looked at Jeff sheepishly.
"Or there's not," he said, "Sorry."
Jeff pouted.
"It's not fair," he whined, "Sebastian and Wesley, Daddy is very disappointed in you. You've let him down."
"Daddy?" Sebastian asked, looking up at Jeff, his eyes filled with tears.
Jeff's expression changed rapidly at the sound of his name.
"No, I didn't mean it!" he amended quickly, "I'm very proud of you, Sebby. No, don't cry, please don't cry now that I've apologised."
"If it's any consolation," Hunter cut in, "They've yet to say my name."
Jeff glared at his friend.
"They're not your children," he said, "I had a right to be one of the first names that they said, and your husband stole that from me." He turned and glared at Sebastian, who shrugged and then went back to celebrating his victory.
Jeff got up, passing he child in his arms off to his husband, and then clearing away a few of the platters on the table in front of them.
"Don't be too mad, Jeffy," Nick said, "At least they did speak eventually."
Jeff smiled mischievously.
"Oh, I'm not mad, Nicky," he said.
He paused and leant down to whisper in Nick's ear.
"But I think you owe me now."
Nick's eyes widened and he blushed in embarrassment.
From the other end of the couch, Sebastian whistled in amusement.
Jeff closed the front door behind Nick, and then turned back to the twins, who were together in the main room. Tonight was the first night that he'd been alone with the children, because Nick was going out to a reading at a dinner party. Sure, Nick had been out to readings before, since it was his job as a poet, but every other time, Hunter or Sebastian had been over to help him. Nick had been alone with the children before, such as the time that Jeff had had a tutoring session with a child from a very rich family who wanted individual teaching, and he'd assured Jeff that he'd do just fine with the twins by himself.
Jeff taught classes of children by himself every day, how hard could it be? Granted, the children at the school were not four years old, like the twins were, but still, the principle was there, wasn't it?
"Alright, Wesley, Sebastian," Jeff addressed his children, "Papa has gone out, and it's just me tonight. So, are you going to be good boys for Daddy and behave?"
Wesley nodded, he'd always been the calmer child, and was often much happier just to sit in a corner and occupy himself, whereas his twin was much more excitable and would rarely stay still.
"Maybe," Sebastian replied, and Jeff sighed. He'd recently taken to replying to every question like that, and, sadly, he actually meant it; Jeff would have to wait and see whether he would act out or not.
"So, what do you want to do?" Jeff asked, sitting down on the floor next to Wesley.
The twins were silent for a moment, as they thought about Jeff's question. Eventually, Wesley opened his mouth to say something, but Sebastian got there first.
"Attack Daddy!" he cried, and before Jeff could protect himself, he found he'd been jumped on by a four year old.
Wesley stood to one side and considered Sebastian's proposition, before he decided that it was a better idea than the one he'd been thinking of, and he launched himself on top of Jeff as well.
Jeff groaned from somewhere underneath the twins, as one of them started to attempt to tickle him and the other began pulling at his hair.
"If only it weren't for Nick and his stupid poetry," Jeff muttered to himself, "I'm going to personally decline all future invitations that he receives for readings."
The twins continued for a while, until there was a sudden lull in the onslaught, and Jeff breathed a sigh of relief that they'd stopped.
"Daddy, you're supposed to fight back," Sebastian said, "It's no fun if you just lie there."
Wesley's voice also chimed in with an agreement.
Jeff closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head, before rolling over and tickling the nearest twin mercilessly. No, he wasn't going to be outdone by a four year old.
Nick returned three hours later, only to find Jeff trying and failing to put the twins to bed.
"No, Sebby," Jeff was saying, "I said you have to go to bed, you've had a drink and you can't need another just yet."
"Having trouble, love?" Nick asked, wrapping his arms around his husband from behind and leaning his head on the blonde's shoulder.
Jeff sighed heavily.
"Every time I get one of them into bed," he said, "The other one either gets up or needs something."
"Oh, Jeffy," Nick said, reaching up to kiss Jeff on the cheek, "It's not your fault."
"I'm a failure," the blonde moaned in frustration.
"No, you're not," Nick frowned, rather upset by Jeff's lack of faith in himself, "You're doing absolutely fine."
The brunette turned and looked at the twins; Sebastian was sitting up in bed, while Wesley was standing next to his.
"Now, Daddy has said that you have to go to bed," Nick said firmly, "And you have to listen to Daddy when he tells you what to do, so, I think you boys should both get into bed and apologise to him."
"Yes, Papa," both the twins said, sounding rather ashamed of themselves as they lay down in bed, and Nick and Jeff quickly tucked them in with their blankets.
"Sorry, Daddy," Wesley said, as Jeff wished him a goodnight and kissed his forehead, "We didn't mean to be naughty."
"That's okay," Jeff replied, "Sleep tight."
He moved over to Sebastian's bed and the little boy threw his arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"I'm sorry, Daddy," he said, "I'm really sorry."
"I know you are," Jeff said gently, kissing Sebastian's forehead, and then wishing him a goodnight.
"You did good back there," Nick said, once they'd closed the door to the twins' room and were walking towards their own.
"Really?" Jeff asked, "Sometimes I just feel like I can't control them, and that they don't respect me at all."
"Of course they respect you," Nick said, "And as for controlling them, they're at the age where they'll act out if they get a chance."
"Then why do they listen to you?" Jeff asked.
Nick smiled.
"Because they know that I won't give into them after a while," he explained, "Whereas they know that if they wear you down, then you'll let them get away with more things."
Jeff pouted.
"But I feel so bad about punishing them," he protested, "Because then they just look so sad, and I feel like a bad parent; what if they hate me because of it?"
"They're not going to hate you," Nick laughed, "If anything, you're probably their favourite parent."
"But what about you?" Jeff asked, "They love you just as much."
Nick opened his mouth to reply, when a cry filled the air.
"Daddy!"
Nick turned to his husband.
"I think that's you that Sebastian is calling for," he said.
Jeff turned to him and glared.
"It's your turn next."
"I don't want to go to school," Sebastian said crossly, stamping his foot in annoyance as Nick tried to straighten his tunic. Wesley was already standing next to him, looking neat and tidy, and also ready to leave.
The twins were almost seven years old now, and Jeff had decided that it was time that they attended the local school, where he was the teacher. Nick had thought that it might have been better if they'd gone to a different teacher, but Jeff wouldn't hear anything of it; they were his children, and he wanted to teach them.
"You have to go to school, Sebby," Nick said, "Anyway, Daddy will be your teacher for the next few years, and so I don't know why you're complaining."
"But what if Daddy's tells us off more than the other children because we're related?" Wesley asked, sounding thoughtful.
Nick laughed.
"Do you think Daddy is able to tell you off?" he asked, to which the children paused for a moment and then shook their heads; Jeff had once felt so guilty for putting them to bed early after they'd smeared mud around the main room, that he'd been apologising to them both for days afterwards.
"Are you laughing about me?" Jeff asked, walking into the room, looking even less ready for school than the twins did.
"Of course not," Nick said with a grin, "We wouldn't do anything like that, would we?"
The twins shook their heads sincerely, and Nick silently rejoiced that they'd played along with him.
"I'm not stupid," Jeff said finally, grabbing the nearest piece of bread from the side and eating it.
"No, but you are going to be late," Nick pointed out. He reached over and attempted to get Jeff's fringe to sit flat on his forehead, while his husband ate his breakfast, but it only seemed to make the mess that his hair already was, even worse.
Jeff cursed under his breath, earning a glare from Nick and two giggles from the twins.
"Don't repeat that," he added hastily to the children, who both promised not to.
"See you later," Nick said, hugging both the twins and kissing their foreheads.
"Bye, Papa," both Wesley and Sebastian chorused.
"Goodbye, love," Nick stood up and kissed his husband, who wrapped an arm around the brunette and pulled him closer.
"Ew."
"Stop it."
Nick and Jeff pulled apart and looked down at the twins, who were looking at them in disgust.
"Grown ups shouldn't do that," Wesley said.
"At least neither of you are girls," Sebastian piped up, "That would be worse."
Jeff laughed and began shepherding them out of the door.
"See you later, Nicky," he said, looking over his shoulder at his husband, "I love you."
"I love you too, Jeffy," Nick replied, closing the door behind his family and revelling in the peace and quiet. Finally, some time to write his poems in silence.
"Where are the twins, Jeff?" Nick asked, quickly glancing at the door behind them.
"They're out playing with their friends," Jeff replied, "And should be for the next few hours."
"Good," Nick's reply got lost by the fact that Jeff was pressing his lips against his own.
Nick reached up to rest one of his hands at the base of Jeff's neck, while placing the other on the blonde's waist. Jeff tangled both of his own hands in Nick's hair.
"It feels like ages since we've been able to do this," Jeff said, breaking away from Nick for a moment so that they could both breathe.
"It was only a few hours ago that I last kissed you," Nick muttered, pulling Jeff back into another kiss.
"Exactly, too long," Jeff replied against Nick's lips.
"That's what having children entails," Nick said, detaching himself from Jeff quickly.
Jeff almost growled.
"Stop talking," he hissed, pushing the brunette onto the bed and then crawling on top of him.
Nick smirked, and brought his arms to Jeff's waist, beginning to run his hands underneath his husband's tunic. Jeff moaned loudly and let Nick flip the two of them over so that the brunette was on top of him.
"Daddy?" a small voice interrupted them, "Papa?"
Nick quickly removed his hands from under Jeff's clothing, and Jeff sat up, so that the brunette fell into his lap.
"Wesley," Nick said breathlessly, "Is everything okay?"
"Sebastian fell over," the small boy said, "And he's calling for both of you."
"My baby!" Jeff cried, practically throwing Nick off of him, and getting up hurriedly.
"Where is he?" Nick asked, standing up as well.
"Just outside," Wesley replied, and led his parents out of the room.
"He hasn't said anything yet," Jeff said, glancing at his son, and then back at Nick.
"Maybe he won't," Nick hoped.
"Daddy, Papa, what were you doing back there?" Wesley asked clearly.
Nick and Jeff groaned simultaneously.
"Nothing," Nick said quickly, "You'll understand when you're a bit older."
Wesley nodded.
"It was still disgusting," he added, with the sure sounding tone of a seven year old, "And I don't think you should be doing it anymore. Papa, Daddy sounded like he was in pain."
Jeff's eyes widened.
"I'm fine," he corrected quickly, "So don't worry about it."
Wesley shrugged and led them out into the street.
"That was close," Nick hissed to Jeff, but when he turned around, Jeff had already disappeared and was halfway up the street to Sebastian. Nick shook his head and ran after his husband.
"I don't like the fact that Hunter and Sebastian are taking the twins out without us," Jeff said to his husband.
Nick laughed.
"What's wrong with it?" he asked, "The twins are almost ten years old and Hunter and Sebastian are our two closest friends, don't you trust them?"
"I don't trust Sebastian," Jeff muttered.
"Seriously, after almost fourteen years?" Nick said, "You know he's harmless really."
Jeff didn't look convinced.
"Nick, the first time I met him, he gave you the address to a brothel as your birthday present," he pointed out, "I mean, what if…?"
"Sebastian is not going to take our children to a brothel, Jeff!" Nick cried in horror, "You don't seriously think he's that stupid, do you?"
Jeff glared at his husband.
"No, of course I didn't think that!" he retorted, "But now you've got me thinking, Nicky, you're making me worry more!"
Nick shook his head, and crossed the room to sit beside Jeff, wrapping an arm around him and rubbing his back soothingly.
"They're going to be fine, Jeffy," he said reassuringly, "And I promise you that Sebastian and Hunter will take good care of them."
He reached up and cupped Jeff's face in his hands.
"Don't worry, love," he said, leaning in and kissing his husband tenderly.
"Thank you, Nicky," Jeff smiled, "You always make me feel better."
Nick laughed.
"No, you just worry too much," he said, leaning in for another kiss. "And meanwhile, we have the entire day to ourselves…" He let the unfinished sentence hang in the air, while he studied Jeff's reaction.
Jeff closed his eyes and tried to regulate his breathing, much to Nick's amusement.
"No interruptions?" he asked, sounding hopefully.
"No interruptions," Nick promised, leaning forward and dragging his hand up Jeff's leg and all the way up his body, "Just us."
Jeff moaned and gave in easily.
Meanwhile, Hunter and Sebastian had opted to take the children for a walk along the dockside, knowing that both the twins liked to see the sea and the foreign oddities that the ships from places such as Egypt and the East brought in. Wesley and Sebastian ran among the docked boats, while Hunter and Sebastian either spoke to the captains to enquire about their voyages or to ask whether they brought news from any of the places that they'd travelled from.
While the pair showed an interest in whatever they were told, they were in fact searching for any news from Rome, for though they received the official reports sometimes, they longed for information about the casual happenings within the city. However, most sailors could not give them anything, just the average response and a good word about the people they'd met, but there was never any mention of anyone or anything Hunter or Sebastian could recognise.
Actually, they'd not seen anyone from Rome in years, it was as though their lives in Italy were separate existences altogether; not even Nick or Jeff spoke about the years before very often.
That was until Sebastian slipped on some seaweed on the wooden boarding around one of the ships. He wobbled a little on his feet, before going to topple over the side; however, a foreign pair of arms reached out and grabbed him, gently placing him back on his feet safely.
"Thank you!" the elder Sebastian cried, rushing forward to check that the child was unhurt, and also to profusely thank his saviour.
"No problem," a rather familiar voice said, and Sebastian finally looked up at the speaker. "I couldn't just let him fall like that."
Sebastian let his mouth drop open in shock.
"Blaine?"
The man in front of him smiled.
"I was wondering whether you were going to recognise me," he said, "Kurt's around here somewhere, he was just instructing the sailors about some of the luggage; half of it is his new Egyptian cotton and he doesn't want it ruined."
Sebastian laughed.
"You've just returned from Alexandria, then?" he enquired.
"Yes, and then back to Rome," Blaine replied, before noticing the almost wistful look on the other man's face. "You miss the old city, don't you?"
"Yes, I do," Sebastian nodded, "Hunter and I were going to stay there, but Nick and Jeff were here, and we couldn't just leave them behind forever. We live here now." He paused. "Sometimes I feel as though we should have gone back, since Wes left us a letter asking us to keep an eye on the city for him, and maybe by leaving we failed him."
"Is Wes not here with you?" Blaine asked.
Sebastian shook his head sadly.
"No, we lost him a few years ago."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Blaine said, reaching out and touching Sebastian's arm comfortingly.
Sebastian managed a rueful smile.
"I didn't mean that he'd died," he corrected, "Well, he may have done, but I think we'd, you know, feel it if he had. I meant that we can't find him; we've literally lost him."
Blaine nodded understandingly.
"You said that Nick and Jeff live here as well?" he asked, smoothly changing the subject.
"Yes," Sebastian said, "These are their twins actually, Sebastian and Wesley. Don't ask me which one is which, because even after all these years, I still can't tell them apart."
"Trust Nick and Jeff to manage to have a family," Blaine laughed, "Those two always were lucky."
Sebastian nodded.
"Especially after everything that they went through," he agreed.
At that point, Kurt emerged from below deck, and waved to Blaine.
"I guess I have to go," Blaine said, "It's a shame that this boat has to leave immediately, otherwise it would have been nice to have seen Nick and Jeff once more."
"Maybe next time," Sebastian suggested, sounding rather too optimistic.
"Yes, maybe next time," Blaine grinned, and waved, before disappearing back up the gangway to the ship.
Sebastian sighed and turned back to Hunter, who was trying to detach one twin from clinging to his leg, and also fend off the rapid questions of the other.
"Come on," Sebastian called, "I know a place around the corner that sells the best pies in the whole of Athens."
The twins whooped in delight, and ran off in front of the two adults.
"And then we'd better take them back to their fathers, don't you think?" Hunter said, smiling after them.
"Yeah, I guess we should," Sebastian replied, still feeling rather nostalgic from his meeting with Blaine.
Hunter looked over at him and slipped an arm around his husband's shoulders comfortingly.
"It's alright to be sad," he said.
Jeff was just tidying away a few wax tablets, when the front door opened and his husband entered their home.
"Afternoon, love!" Nick called, coming into the room and setting some rolls of parchment on the nearby table. He gave Jeff a quick kiss, and then looked around for any sight of the twins.
"Wesley is in his room," Jeff told him, understanding immediately who the other man was looking for, "Sebastian is out again."
"He's always going out," Nick commented, heading for the bedrooms at the back, "I wonder what he's doing."
"Probably seeing some friends of his," Jeff replied, going back to sorting out the tablets in front of him.
"Maybe," Nick shrugged, "Is it your turn to make dinner?"
"I think so," Jeff said, "I'll go and see what we've got in a minute."
"Thank you," Nick said, "I'm just going to go and say hello to Wesley. And Jeff, I love you."
"I love you too," Jeff replied, still not being able to stop the grin that spread across his face every time that Nick said that; he'd been saying it for over eighteen years, but it still had the same effect on him.
Nick laughed at his husband's reaction, before disappearing into his son's room.
"Hello, Pa," Wesley said, looking up at his father, "How was the reading?"
Nick came further into the room and sat down on a chair in the corner.
"Rather dull," he said, "Just some rather old man talking about farming, or something like that. Sadly, I think I may have dozed off halfway through."
Wesley laughed.
"Sounds fun," he said, "Have you ever thought that maybe you're the one getting old?"
Nick gasped, pretending to take offence at his son's comment.
"I'm not getting old," he said, "And neither is your dad, so don't tell him that."
"Sure," Wesley replied, "I'm pretty sure that the other day he practically screamed the house down when he discovered a single grey hair."
Nick smiled at the memory, Jeff had had a bit of a panic, he supposed.
"Well, we all know that he can be rather dramatic sometimes," he said, watching as his son rolled his eyes.
"More like all the time," the boy replied.
"Don't be cheeky," Nick chided, but he didn't really mean it.
Wesley finished scrawling on the parchment in front of him, and then set it aside. He sat up and faced his father properly.
"Did you know that Sebastian has a boyfriend?" he asked.
There was a pause as Nick digested this information, except he never got to answer, since his husband, who appeared suddenly in the door way, beat him to it.
"Sebastian has Hunter," Jeff said, sounding confused, "He doesn't have a boyfriend."
Nick sighed, while Wesley just stared at his father as though he'd gone mad.
"I find it rather odd that when I say Sebastian, you immediately think of your best friend rather than your own son," Wesley pointed out.
Jeff frowned.
"No, as soon as it was associated with actually dating someone, I knew it wasn't my son," he said.
"What?" Wesley asked, still not understanding what his father was going on about.
"I think what Jeff is trying to say is that he is being far too overprotective and he doesn't want either of you boys to grow up," Nick explained.
"No way," Jeff said forcefully, "You're going to stay my babies forever, and I forbid you to get any older."
Wesley laughed and rolled his eyes; such behaviour from Jeff was normal.
"Of course, Dad," he said, "Anything you say."
"I'm serious!" Jeff cried, while Nick put a restraining hand on his arm.
"Jeff, love, you're taking this a little bit too far," he told his husband, reaching up and giving him a quick kiss, "The boys are going to grow up, whether you want them to or not."
"I'm almost fifteen," Wesley chimed in.
"See," Nick said gently, pulling Jeff into his lap and wrapping his arms around the blonde, "I think we need to start treating them like the adults that they're going to be soon."
Jeff pouted.
"What if I don't want to?" he asked.
Nick laughed.
"You have to, love," he said, kissing Jeff again, "Even if you don't want to."
Jeff's protests were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, and then there were footsteps heading their way.
"Hello, Dad, Pa, Wesley," Sebastian's cheerful voice floated up the hallway, and he finally appeared in the doorway. He paused. "Dear me, what's been going on in here?"
"Your dad had a bit of a panic over your boyfriend," Nick said simply, as the three occupants of the room watched in amusement at Sebastian's sudden look of horror.
"How did you know?" he asked, "You're not going to be mad at me, are you?" He looked worriedly between his parents.
"I told them," Wesley said, "Because I didn't think it was a secret after you…"
"I don't want to know!" Jeff cried, causing everyone else to dissolve into laughter.
"And no, son, we're not mad," Nick said gently, "But your dad may interrogate him when we meet him."
Sebastian's eyes widened.
"Dad!" he whined, as Jeff got up and hugging him tightly.
"I can't promise anything," he said, "It's just slightly overwhelming that you and Wesley are growing up."
"Talking about growing up," Nick said slowly, "I think we should all go into the main room, it's time your dad and I told you something."
"What, Pa?" Wesley asked, as he and Sebastian followed their father over to the couches in the middle of the room.
"You're not having another child, are you?" Sebastian asked.
Jeff laughed.
"No, we're not," he said, "But it's something that we should have told you a while ago."
"Wesley, you know how you were named after a friend of ours, but you've never met him?" Nick began, and his son nodded.
"You don't speak of him," the boy said.
Nick and Jeff exchanged glances, and Nick reached over to take Jeff's hand.
"No, we don't," Nick continued, "And there's a reason for that." He paused. "Boys, I think it's time that your dad and I told you the story of your Uncle Wes. It's not exactly an easy tale, it involves how we met, and how Uncle Sebastian and Uncle Hunter met as well, but most of all it explains what happened to one of our dearest friends."
He bowed his head for a moment in remembrance, and Jeff mirrored him.
And so, Nick took a deep breath and began:
"Saying that Rome was one of the greatest empires that the world had seen, was an understatement; in my opinion, it was the greatest empire ever…"
A/N: And weirdly, that leads onto my Conspiratio story, as well as following it...I like making this AU confusing :)
Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought :)