Hey all! I'm back from my longer-than-usual break between chapters. In response to Silver Draggon's comment, Seto comes in a bit later, and, yes, you could say he's royalty… snickers But anyways, I thought I'd take a break from all the fighting-ness seeing as I am not very good at writing fight scenes, and since we all want more Bakky-chan. Okay, maybe nobody said they wanted more Bakky-chan. But you were all thinking it. I know you were. shakes fist On with the chapter!

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Bacura strolled down the street, his toga flapping in the light breeze and his many rings twinkling as brightly as his crimson eyes. A pair of gladiators tagged along at his heels, although they weren't nearly popular enough to be recognised as anything more than slaves. They might as well have been- one carried Bacura's small oil-pot and a discus, while the other an assortment of dull metal hooks, known as strigils. There was a spring in his step as he made his way through the crowded streets of Pompeii, on his way to one of the four public baths in the city. He smirked lightly to himself, unconsciously speeding up. It had been far too long since his last romp at a bath. Besides, he could use a massage.

"Salve, Bacura!" Shouted a man standing on the steps leading up to the bath complex, waving to get his attention. Bacura grinned and returned the gesture.

"Salve, Marcellus! Tu hodie non laboras?"

"Non." The man grinned, shaking his head to emphasise the point. "Today is my day of relaxation! No work for me until tomorrow." Bacura laughed, doubting the truth of the statement. He nodded once before climbing up the steps and depositing a pair of coins in the doorman's awaiting hand. Looking back over his shoulder, Bacura glared at the pair of slaves and urged them to keep up.

He walked through the impressive colonnade to the exercise room, greeting several other people before discarding his heavy toga, throwing it to one of his attendants and straightening out his tunic. His eyes quickly found their way to where two men were arm wrestling, grunting like wounded boars while their faces turned the shade of an expensive wine. He wandered over and watched with interest, shouting out encouragement whenever there was a break in the noise of the crowd that watched with him. Finally one man collapsed, and the victor began to boast.

"Impressive." Bacura commented, crossing his arms and smirking, a challenge in his eyes. The other man grinned, seeing the remark as a dare and holding out his hand.

"Care to find out for yourself?" Bacura's smirk widened, and his hand grappled the other's before he could blink.

"Indeed I do." With that said, all his concentration went to the sport that arm-wresting provided, his thick biceps tensing, the tendons stiffening in preparation. "Go!"

Riou watched from a distance, adjusting the toga in his arms so that he didn't tread on it by accident. His eyebrows shot up in surprise when Bacura forced the other man's arm back within a matter of seconds without even breaking a sweat. So it was true- Bacura had been a gladiator once. This was repeated again and again as people challenged Bacura, whiling away time amid laughter and friendly competition. After a good while, he grew bored and rose, motioning to Riou and Diodorus that they were moving on.

They followed him through a hallway and into the passage used as a changing room. The several naked males did not perturb any of them in the least, as they knew what made them men and were not ashamed. Riou placed the toga in a niche in the wall, turning around as Bacura pulled the tunic over his head to reveal his bronzed chest. Riou felt something akin to guilt as he couldn't help but admire his well-toned abdominal muscle; which was odd, as he knew it was only admiration in the loosest sense of the term. Diodorus took the tunic and placed it alongside of the toga, averting his eyes suddenly from Bacura. Riou quirked an eyebrow, befuddled by the blush that graced the cheeks of the younger man, and tried to figure out what Diodorus had been looking at. Riou had to bite his lip to keep from laughing when he realised that Bacura was the source of his companion's embarrassment; he had just removed the last of his clothing. Bacura, however, was less considerate of other's feelings, and burst out in loud, raucous guffaws.

"Have you never seen another man before?" He asked, the amusement apparent in his voice. The blush on Diodorus' face deepened, and he risked a glance in Bacura's direction to nod quickly.

"I- I have, but you don't understand, you see, I- uh-" Bacura snorted, laughing even harder.

"If you're one of those strange men who's uncomfortable around others, then hang back for all I care." Riou watched Diodorus flush with awkwardness, knowing him well enough to understand why he was so distressed by the whole situation. So Riou approached Bacura, to explain to him so that maybe he would stop teasing Diodorus, and, failing that, they could get on with the bath so that he could get back to the school.

"Bacura…" Riou paused, reconsidering his phrasing. "Dominus… Diodorus loves men." Bacura grinned, crossing his arms.

"I guessed at much. Hurry up then, we can't stand here all day when there are fortunes to be boasted of and baths to be had- come on." And with that he continued on through the corridor and went into the tepidarium.

Riou hung back, feeling a bit bad for Diodorus. Being gay wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it was encouraged in the army; it was thought that lovers would fight harder to impress one another. It wasn't all that uncommon around the gladiator barracks, considering Riou had found out a while ago that Eugi was interested in men too. Still, anyone would have been embarrassed in a situation like this particular one.

"Sorry I told him. It was the only way to shut him up."

"It's not your fault, he would have figured it out anyways…" He mumbled, staring at his feet.

"Ah well. Shall we wait here until he calls for us, or do you want to go in?" At Riou's question, Diodorus looked up.

"Why wouldn't I want to? Just because one man caught me staring doesn't mean any others will." Riou chuckled, punching him softly in the shoulder.

"There's the Diodorus I know. Come on then- you can cover for me while I try to find a way into the women's area." He smirked, and Diodorus punched him in the same fashion.

"I think I'm rubbing off on you. Hardly a good thing."

"Riou! Diodorus! Get in here!"

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Salve – Hello, Greetings

Tu hodie non laboras – Are you not working today?

Non – No

Dominus – Master

Tepidarium – "Warm Room" Like a steam room, which the men would sit in and sweat for a while before going into the Caldarium ("Hot Room") to swim and talk and bathe.

Bah, that was hardly a chapter. But I felt like ending it there so that I can collect my thoughts and make the next chapter better. Oh, and Riou is gay too, he just hasn't realised it yet. He spends so much time around guys, he doesn't know the difference between attraction and admiration- plus, he doesn't get to see many women, so he doesn't know that he's not attracted to them, so he simply assumes that he's "normal" and that he is attracted to women. Did that make any sense? I hope so.