A/N: Right, here's the seventh chapter, which clears up the nasty cliffhanger from last time :)
Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed - I have over 20 reviews so far and I am so pleased, especially considering this is my first story!
Also, the offer about the book for Riker still stands if anyone is interested.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
"It's you."
Now it was Sebastian's turn to join Nick with the confused fish expression.
"What?" he cried, when he regained his speech, "You know each other? Well, that's one way to ruin my moment, I suppose."
Both Jeff and the other boy remained silent, just staring wide-eyed at each other.
Eventually, the other boy seemed to shake himself free of his shock in order to speak. He held out his hand to Jeff.
"I'd better introduce myself properly," he said, "My name's Hunter."
Jeff reached out with his own hand and took Hunter's offered one.
"Jeff," he replied, the surprise evident on his face. "And I guess that I owe you a thank you."
Hunter smiled warmly.
"Excuse me," Sebastian interrupted quickly, "But Nicky and me, over here, have no idea what you two are talking about. Which is surprising, because I thought Nick and Blondie knew everything about each other."
Nick blushed violently.
"Wha…?" he spluttered, "Everything? Sebastian, really?"
Sebastian smirked.
"For once, I meant that innocently," he said, "But obviously not, little Nicky. Is there anything that you and Jeffy want to share?"
"No!" Nick exclaimed, "And stop making this about me and Jeff, I thought we were focussing on Jeff and Hunter?"
"Oooh," Sebastian grinned, "It's like that, is it?"
Nick groaned, and reached over to slap his friend, only to find that by the time his hand reached Seb's face, the taller boy was already clutching his cheek.
"Seriously!" Sebastian cried, wincing in pain, "What is wrong with you?"
"I didn't…" Nick began, only to look up and discover Hunter standing by Sebastian with his hand raised. "Oh."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Hunter said, "I just thought it was appropriate."
"Appropriate?" Sebastian cried, still rubbing his cheek.
"No worries," Nick said, grinning at Hunter as they both ignored Sebastian, "I would have done it otherwise."
"Sebastian, are you okay?" Jeff asked suddenly, looking in concern at the other boy, who was still recovering from the slap.
"Oh, finally someone acknowledges my presence!" Sebastian said, straightening up and removing his hand from his face, "I'm fine. It didn't hurt, much. I was just wondering whether anybody would actually show any sort of concern for me." He directed the last part at Nick and Hunter, who both just shrugged. "Clearly not, then."
"Okay," Sebastian clapped his hands together, "Back on topic: gossip. So, Hunter and Jeff, how do you know each other?"
"It's not really gossip," Jeff said quietly, "So do you think that we could go somewhere a little more private?"
"Sure," Nick said, glancing over at his blonde friend and starting to become slightly worried, for Jeff looked almost upset now. Slowly, Nick managed to understand what was happening. Jeff had never been to Rome before he'd met Nick, and therefore, Jeff must have met Hunter previously. But how and where, Nick had no idea, and, why was it upsetting his friend so much?
"My father rents a private room here," Sebastian said, "We'll go there."
While he and Hunter led the way, Nick trailed behind with Jeff. Slowly, he reached over and took the blonde's hand, squeezing it tightly.
"You know, if you don't want to, you don't have to remember it," he said.
Jeff shook his head.
"It's fine," he said quietly, giving Nick a grateful smile. He was glad that Nick could understand him, even when he didn't know the whole truth. Maybe, one day, Jeff would tell Nick everything that had happened to him, but today he was just going to explain some things; he didn't think he was ready emotionally to relive exactly what he had gone through.
Sebastian ushered them all into a small room in a complex adjacent to the baths, and motioned for them all to sit down on the chairs that were already positioned there.
"So, do begin," Sebastian invited either Hunter or Jeff to start talking.
"Well, I'll start," Hunter said, "My legion was travelling through the south of Italy recently; we had orders to take as much land as possible so that more Roman farmers could produce more food to be sent to the city. We had come across a small agricultural village, absolutely perfect for what we needed, except the locals weren't too enamoured by our ideas. It was pretty much to be expected. I mean, we were just arriving and asking them to hand over the control of their land and their way of producing enough food to survive. A few of us tried to convince the centurions in charge to change their tactics, negotiate with the people and not threaten them, but they wouldn't listen."
He nodded to Jeff, who then continued.
"In the end, they decided to take everything they could: the land, the livestock, and the people. I guess I was one of the lucky ones, they were going to kill me too, but Hunter saved me and convinced the other soldiers that I'd make a better slave than a corpse." He took a deep breath and clutched Nick's hand even tighter. "I owe you my life, Hunter, thank you."
"And I guess I should thank you too, Hunter," Nick added, "Otherwise Jeff wouldn't be here, so I'd never have met him, and that would have been awful." He was sure that he saw Sebastian making a heart symbol with his hands, but he ignored him, desperately hoping that Jeff hadn't seen it, but he didn't seem to have done.
"Just looking out for a fellow human being," Hunter said, "It's a shame that more people don't do that."
Jeff nodded gratefully, trying not to blush when he caught Sebastian making a heart symbol. He willed himself to have had a stroke of luck and for Nick to have not seen it. The other boy didn't react though, and Jeff felt relief wash over him.
"So, you're a soldier?" Nick asked Hunter, while also trying to change the subject away from the previous topic in case Jeff felt uncomfortable.
"Yes," Hunter nodded, "Well, until a few days ago, I was; I've just been promoted to the Praetorian Guard, I guess the city is my new home now."
Nick congratulated him on this honour, but in reality he had just realised the great potential that Hunter had to help their cause. He was a friend of Sebastian, and he'd helped Jeff out of the kindness of his heart; he seemed like the sort of person who wouldn't stand for the nonsense of an incompetent ruler. He was also a member of the Praetorian Guard, which meant that he would be constantly close to the Emperor, and could inform them of his movements. Oh, this was too good an opportunity to miss, and for once, Nick was prepared to take the risk and invite Hunter, as well as Sebastian, into their group.
"Listen," he took a deep breath and began, "Me and Jeff have something very important to tell…"
"I knew it!" Sebastian crowed, waving his arms in the air, while Hunter glared at him, Jeff ducked his head, and Nick groaned.
"Okay," he said, "I could have put that better. We have a proposition to make to you two. Wes' father has been arrested for treason by the Emperor and…Sebastian, don't interrupt me, go and see Wes if you want the full story." The other boy frowned and quickly closed his mouth. "Well, basically, Wes wants his father back, and, in doing so, he wants to change the way that this country is run. He feels that the Emperor is becoming unfit to rule, and that his methods are cruel and inhumane; in short, Wes wants to start a secret society for those who support this cause. I'm asking if you two wish to join us."
Nick's speech was met with silence from both Hunter and Sebastian, and he began to worry that he should have just kept his mouth shut. His mind considered the possibilities of what might happen if he'd completely misjudged everything. If Sebastian and Hunter ever turned them in, then both he and Jeff would be forced to face whatever was judged for them.
Nick knew he'd probably escape the vas majority of his punishment, his father would just buy his freedom to save his family, but Jeff…Nick's father would just leave him; he'd blame everything on Jeff. And Nick couldn't let that happen; he'd rather defend and save Jeff, than worry about his own life.
To his left, Jeff was wondering the same thing. What if it turned out that both Sebastian and Hunter were loyal supporters of the Emperor? What if they informed on them? What if…?
No, Jeff would not think of that, because then they'd separate him and Nick; they'd take Nick away from him. He couldn't let that happen. If he was honest with himself, he was more worried about the consequences for Nick, rather than himself. He was just a slave, Nick was the son of one of the most powerful men in Rome, what sort of fallout would that cause for him?
"A secret society, you say?" Hunter eventually spoke, startling both Nick and Jeff back into the present, "To overthrow the Emperor?"
"Yeah," Nick said slowly and carefully, trying to gauge Hunter's reaction.
"Well, I agree with your motives," Hunter said, "In my opinion, the Emperor is slowly going insane, especially with the number of people that he appears to kill for fun, so I'm going to say yes. Tell your friend Wes that he's gained himself one more supporter. Do you plan to meet anywhere?"
Nick nodded.
"In secret, whenever Wes organises a meeting, we'll contact you when there is one," he said, "And thank you, we need all of the help we can if we are to get anywhere with this."
Hunter nodded.
"And Seb?" Nick asked, turning to his other friend.
"Oh, me?" Sebastian said, looking surprised, as though Nick had startled him out his thoughts.
"No, not you," Nick replied sarcastically, as Sebastian shrugged, "Of course you! How many other Sebastians around here, are there?" Sebastian just shrugged again, clearly not paying much attention to what Nick was saying. "I would have said you were thinking about something," Nick continued, "And then I was like, nah, it's Sebastian."
"True," Seb replied, nodding without even hearing what Nick had been saying, while Hunter and Jeff laughed quietly. "Hang on, wait, what did you say?"
"I'm trying to talk to you," Nick said, "About Wes' plans for a secret society. Are you going to join us or not?"
"Oh, yeah sure, I'm in," Sebastian said, "I was already dreaming up the look on my father's face if he knew that I was going against everything he's ever stood for."
Nick breathed a sigh relief.
"Good," he said, "I was slightly worried about whether you'd agree to this or not. You know, I wasn't sure how you felt about your father and his views."
Sebastian snorted with laughter.
"Nicky-boy," he said with a smirk, "You're giving me the chance to oppose authority and my father to become a proper rebel, that's practically all I live for!"
"That's exactly what Wes said," Nick replied, realising that Sebastian had practically echoed Wes' words from the day before; it was bordering on creepy how similar it was.
"He did?"
"Yeah, you know Wes," Nick explained, "He knows everything, I swear! I don't think anyone could hide anything from him, he'd see through them in a moment!"
The smirk fell from Sebastian's face in an instant and he gulped, desperately hoping that Wes didn't know everything.
It was the day after their encounter with Sebastian and Hunter, and Nick and Jeff were back to just sitting together in Nick's room, enjoying each other's company. Nick had promised to teach Jeff how to read and write, and so they'd started with some basics; Nick had given Jeff a copy of the alphabet, and Jeff was slowly attempting to repeatedly copy the first few letters onto a wax tablet.
Jeff had just finished copying the letter 'F' for the sixth time, when Nick suddenly got up.
"I'm just going to get us both a drink," he said, "I'll be back in second."
Jeff nodded, as Nick smiled back at him and then left the room, leaving Jeff alone for a bit.
Jeff put down the stylus he was using, and leant back against Nick's bed, his hand was cramping badly from the unfamiliar sensation of writing, but he was determined to continue and succeed with it. He was doing this for Nick, he decided, he wanted to make Nick proud of him.
Wait. He'd thought that he'd been doing these lessons so that he would have an education, but why was he bringing Nick into this now? Whether he succeeded or failed would not affect Nick. Nick had just agreed to help him because he wanted to help Jeff; he didn't do it because it was his duty. So why was this now all for Nick?
Jeff considered this thought for a while, but he couldn't come up with a proper answer. His mind gave him random ideas, such as that if he learnt something new, then Nick would smile, and Nick's smile made Jeff happy; not to mention how cute Nick looked when he smiled.
Cute? Jeff wondered why his subconscious had chosen that word in particular. Maybe it was because that was how he viewed Nick now. He realised that he'd been noticing more things about his best friend recently; like how whenever he talked about his poems or his dreams, his eyes would light up with a determined fire, and whenever he saw Jeff, he'd give him a blinding smile that he appeared to reserve just for him.
Actually, was Jeff making that up? Was he imagining that Nick treated him differently to everyone else? As though he was someone special.
But Nick had always made him feel special, as though Jeff was the other half of his being. Yes, that was it, Jeff was Nick's equal; they completed each other.
Jeff had never felt this way about anybody before, granted, he'd never really had any friends before, but he knew that this connection was something different and unique; something that only he and Nick would ever share.
But, despite all of these thoughts that were floating around in his head, he still had not answered the biggest question of them all.
Why did he suddenly feel like this towards Nick?
And that's when the revelation hit him with such force that he actually gasped aloud.
He had feelings for Nick. Yes, those sorts of feelings.
A/N: Hope you liked it!
Just a few historical points to clear anything up:
1. The Praetorian Guard were a legion of elite soldiers that served as the personal bodyguard for each of the Roman Emperors. However, although the Emperor Augustus created them to be fiercely loyal to each ruler, they did end up becoming synonymous with conspiracy, disloyalty and assassination. At the point that this story is set, 64AD, the Praetorian Guard had only assassinated one Emperor, Caligula, but there were more occurrences like this that would follow in later years, and the Praetorian Guard became very important for political power until they were disbanded by the Emperor Constantine in 312AD.
2. Also, Jeff is writing with a wax tablet and stylus, which is typically the equipment used by Roman children when learning to write, as it did not ruin expensive parchment if they made mistakes, because, on a wax tablet, the wax could be smoothed over to remove anything that was previously written.
Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions about the story or the history behind it, then please just ask! Please review and tell me what you thought :)