AUTHOR'S NOTE!

Hello again. I'm posting my second anti-fanfic. My sister told me to write another one about Glee (cos she really enjoyed my first one, woo!) so I reluctantly started one. Obviously, since I hate Glee, I added something extra, to feed my obsession with the Romans. So it's set in a gladiator school, with the Glee characters. If that doesn't sound like your type of thing, I understand, so click the back button!

Aha, you're still here. Good. Well I hope you like my story. As my sister requested, it's got more emotional depth and soppy bits. Btw, if you see a word in bold it means it's going to be defined (if it's a technical/Latin kind of word) after the chapter.

Thank you for clicking here anyway! Enjoy!

Chapter I

"Salve!" Blainus said. "What's wrong? Kurtus? You look sad!"

Kurtus looked up from having his head buried in his hands. His face was moist with tears and his eyes were red. He looked positively miserable.

"Didn't you see, at the Saturnalia games? Varro lost, and they killed him. My Varro! Gone forever! HOW CAN I NOT BE SAD?"

Blaine punched the air. Well, mentally. It was highly inappropriate to do so in Kurtus' view. Now he could finally seduce him and they'd be the hottest new couple in the ludus. All the other gladiators would be so jealous. It was a well-known fact Kurtus was very sought after amongst the gay population in their ludus. Was it his effortless style? Was it his effeminate looks? The gods only knew, but whatever it was, he had some serious sex appeal. Some serious sex appeal.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Blainus nodded sympathetically. "I understand you. When I lost my parents, I was crushed. I couldn't even get out of bed in the morning from depression. But it'll be OK, just stay strong. You've got a shoulder to cry on, in the form of your friend Blainus." He dipped his shoulder down, tapping it.

"Thanks," Kurtus wiped his eyes. "I need to get back to training. Bricius is going to kill me." He stood up and walked back to the training area.

Blainus stood there, daydreaming and fantasising about how amazing their first kiss would be, puckering his lips and kissing the air passionately. It was going to be good.

"WHAT IN HADES' NAME ARE YOU DOING?" Anastasios screamed in his ear. "YOU NEED TO GET BACK TO TRAINING RIGHT NOW!" He clubbed Blainus with his vine staff, bringing him to the ground with a volley of blows. Once he'd got up, Blainus walked in Kurt's direction, Anastasios at his heels with the staff poking into his back.

It was an endless day of running around the ludus. The new recruits were shaping up well, Puckus remarked. At his command, they would be amazing gladiators in no time. Except those two. Those rich kids Blainus and Kurtus. They were from patrician families; why the hell would they need to become gladiators? Puckus suspected they joined for the fame. Although that Kurtus had a gay aura about him, as he'd seemed pretty glum after the last games. Must have been a boyfriend of his getting killed.

"HURRY UP!" he yelled, jogging after the slowest novices.

One in particular was slowing down considerably. Kurtus again. Great.

"What's wrong, boy?" Puckus asked, finally lowering his voice to a normal level.

"Nothing, I'll hurry up... sir." Kurtus made to continue, feeling emotionally and physically drained. There was no point arguing with the trainer.

Puckus saw Kurtus' hopeless look and put a firm hand on his shoulder.

"I know something's wrong. You can tell me."

Kurtus felt a lump rise in his throat. He couldn't talk about Varro to this soulless, unsympathetic monster.

"No, really, it's nothing. I should keep running." He set off at a quicker pace.

Damn it. Puckus was determined to find out what was wrong with Kurtus. He did care about him. He wasn't going to have any of his new recruits getting depressed on him. The last thing he needed was a suicide in his first month on the job. Sueia would murder him.

GLOSSARY!

Salve= means 'hello' in Latin.

Saturnalia= a festival the Romans celebrated in late December. Usually the roles of the masters and the slaves were reversed, and it was an excuse for general revelry in honour of the god Saturn. The words 'Io Saturnalia!' were cried to signal the start of the festival.

Ludus= the gladiator school.