A/N: Okay, so here's Chapter 8! I can't believe that I've managed to get this far, and also, thank you again to everyone who has reviewed or followed or favourited - it means so much to me :)

There's a bit of a Jeff angst warning for this chapter, I just thought I should give you a heads up about that!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee

Nick had grabbed two drinks for both him and Jeff, and then decided to busy himself by trying to find something to eat for the two of them as well.

He was incredibly proud of Jeff for being so determined to learn to read and write; and he was overjoyed that he had been able to help the other boy so much.

Actually, the more he thought about it, the more Nick was convinced that he wouldn't have acted quite the same way with anyone else. Yes, he believed in helping others, but he wasn't sure that he would have been so eager if it had been anyone other than Jeff.

There was just something about Jeff that drew Nick in. The other boy constantly surprised him as he became more confident in himself, and Nick hoped that he would continue to surprise him for a long time. Jeff was different to Nick's other friends, Nick had always known that, but suddenly, Nick was seeing just how different their relationship was.

He was constantly noticing new things about the other boy that he'd never even considered in another friend. He noticed how, when Jeff was nervous, he played with his hair; and how whenever he was excited, he'd bounce around like a hyperactive rabbit and just look so happy all of the time.

In Nick's eyes, Jeff really was remarkable. The poor boy had been through so much in his life, and although Nick did not know all of the details, he could hazard a few guesses.

If Nick was honest with himself, Jeff made him just want to pick the blonde up and run away with him to shelter him from the horrors of reality. Except, that wasn't actually practical, and Nick thought that Jeff might have something to say if he suddenly picked him up.

Anyway, what had brought on these sudden feelings towards Jeff? Nick knew they had a very close friendship, but that was all this was about, wasn't it? It was about their friendship only, right?

And then, he knew why, his realisation coming to him almost as quickly as it had done to Jeff. He wanted so much more than friendship from Jeff; he wanted something that went so much deeper. That was why he'd never felt that way before; it was why his heart beat faster every time Jeff so much as glanced at him.

"I really like Jeff," he whispered to himself, "I really, really like Jeff."

He groaned and leant his head back on the cool wall behind him.

Sebastian was going to love this.

A few hours later, both Nick and Jeff found themselves outside in one of Rome's less crowded streets, having decided that they could do with some fresh air after sitting inside for a while. They talked as they went, neither letting on that anything was different between the two of them, and if the other noticed that fact, then they didn't mention it.

At one point, Nick looked up at the sky and frowned.

"It looks like it's going to rain," he said, just as the first few raindrops started to fall around them. Nick surveyed the street they were in. "We're too far from the house to get back before it starts pouring." Just as he spoke, the rain became a lot heavier, a loud crack of thunder echoed overhead.

"We can't stay out here," Jeff said, "Where do we go?"

"I don't know," Nick replied, hurrying over to one of the buildings at one side of the street. He knocked hurriedly on the door, hoping that it might be opened by somebody who would either give them shelter or direct them to someone who could.

The door remained unanswered, and so Nick tried knocking even harder, until the door flew open all by itself.

"It wasn't even locked," he said, motioning for Jeff to follow him as he went inside.

The interior of the building was almost completely bare, with only a large couch in the centre of the first room. There was a door leading off into the back, but no upper level.

"Hello?" Nick called out, already suspecting that the building was abandoned. His call did nothing but echo around the room, so he shrugged and decided not to explore further.

"Do you think we can stay here for a bit?" Jeff asked, casting a worried eye around the room.

"I suppose so," Nick said, "We're not doing any harm. We're just trying to save ourselves from catching a chill outside."

Jeff nodded, and then went to join Nick, who was already making himself comfortable on the couch.

"I wonder what or who made the gods angry this time," Nick mused, as more thunder reverberated around the room.

"The Emperor?" Jeff suggested.

Nick shook his head.

"Nah," he grinned, "If it was, it would be constantly thundering!"

Jeff laughed.

"You have a point," he said, "Maybe it's because of Sebastian?"

"Maybe," Nick said, smiling a little, "Goodness knows what he's going to get up to with Hunter!"

Jeff blushed at the thought, looking at Nick with a slightly shocked expression on his face.

"Nick!" he hissed, "You're becoming as bad as Sebastian himself!"

"Oh, come on, Jeffy," Nick laughed, poking Jeff in the ribs, "I'm just getting him back for all the times he's teased me. So, what do you say? Him and Hunter; friends or more than friends?"

Slowly, Jeff smiled; it wouldn't hurt to give Sebastian a taste of his own medicine. And Jeff had always been reasonably good at reading people, he'd had plenty of time just to observe others when he was younger, and, therefore, he thought he could hazard a guess at the situation between Hunter and Sebastian.

"At the moment, I think they're just friends," he said, watching Nick's face fall as he thought that Jeff wasn't going to agree with him, "But I reckon that Sebastian's got his eye on Hunter, but Hunter himself is completely oblivious."

"So," Nick said mischievously, "It wouldn't hurt to give them a nudge in the right direction, would it?"

Jeff laughed.

"Don't go interfering too much," he said.

Nick pouted, and looked up at Jeff with big eyes.

"Please, Jeffy," he whined, "I'm just having a bit of fun. Join in with me?"

"What are you? Four?" Jeff had to laugh; he was having a hard time resisting Nick when he just looked so adorable, "Alright, I give in. You can tease Sebastian and Hunter all you want."

Nick clapped his hands together, and then burst out laughing.

"Did I really just ask you for permission to tease Hunter and Sebastian?" he asked, as Jeff nodded and then joined in with the laughter.

After a while, their laughing ceased, and they just sat in a comfortable silence until Jeff spoke up.

"Nicky," he said quietly, turning to look at his friend, "I never told you exactly what happened to my family."

"No, you didn't," Nick said, "And you don't have to if it's too painful to remember."

Jeff shook his head defiantly.

"No, I want to tell you," he said, "Because it's reality, and I want to face it properly; I need to face it."

Nick nodded encouragingly, urging Jeff on, while not actually saying anything.

"I used to live in a village in the south," Jeff began, "The only jobs around there were ones in agriculture, and my family didn't exactly have much money, but we were happy. There was me, my parents, and my older brother, Marcus; I suppose I was always the odd one out. I used to look up to Marcus so much, he was everything I ever wanted to be, but everything I was never going to be; he was brave, smart, popular. I always used to tag along when he and his friends were playing together. They all hated me, I'm sure, but it never seemed to bother me all that much. I guess I was just desperate to enjoy some sort of company. Everyone used to think I was weird, I was always quiet and on my own, so they just assumed that I didn't like other people. I remember once, when I was about ten, my brother and his friends were trying to impress some girls who were travelling through the village to the next town, and one of the girls said I was sort of cute. My brother thought this was hilarious, and dared her to kiss me, which she did. I hated it. I ran away crying in the end, wondering whether there was anything worse than kissed by a strange girl; I guess I've learnt now that some things are so much worse, but at the time it was awful."

Jeff paused to laugh ironically.

"Well," he continued, "By running away, I didn't help my cause. After that, all of the other children avoided me like the plague, as though there was something wrong with me because I didn't want to kiss a girl. It's funny, I suppose, but I think my brother was actually jealous of me because of it; none of the other girls so much as spoke to him properly. I guess that prejudiced him against me in the end; he told my father what had happened, I don't know what he hoped to gain, because my father told him that I could do what I wanted, and that I didn't have like girls, even if the other boys did."

"Your parents sound wonderful," Nick said quietly, feeling slightly envious because his parents rarely cared about anything he did.

Jeff nodded, sniffing slightly as tears started to well up.

"They were," he said, "And I loved them so much."

"You don't have to go on with this story," Nick said, "Not if you don't want to."

"I want to," Jeff said, "I really do." He took a deep breath. "You've heard from Hunter, how the soldiers arrived to take our lands. At first, lots of people were optimistic; they wondered whether we could gain from their propositions. But I always knew that it wouldn't end well. My father held the same views as me, he was always telling my mother that there was trouble ahead for us, and he took the precaution of arming as many people as possible, with weapons like pitchforks and cooking knives. In the end, we were proved correct, the negotiations turned ugly, and, early one morning, the soldiers came down from their camp and forced us out of our homes. They killed…"

Jeff trailed away as tears started to roll down his face. Nick reached over and took both of Jeff's hands in his own, reassuring Jeff that he was there for him.

"They killed…" Jeff began again shakily, "They killed all the really young and really old first; the ones that either couldn't leave their houses, or just wouldn't stop crying. I was so scared at that point; I thought that nothing could get worse than it already was. But then one of the men gave some sort of signal, and suddenly everyone was fighting back. No one in our village was a match for the soldiers, it was a slaughter. My father yelled at my mother to run for safety, and she told me to go with her. We started running, but my brother just screamed at me for being a coward, for not fighting back, and so I…" Jeff hit the couch beneath him violently. "…I hesitated. If I hadn't hesitated, even for those few seconds, my mother would have kept on running, and wouldn't have been killed. I know it; she would have made it to the safety of the woods. We knew those woods better than any of the soldiers, my mother could have survived, but she died because I'm such a coward. I'm an utter coward, because I didn't even die fighting for our freedom. I was left standing in the middle of this massacre, and I didn't even try to help; it was like I was frozen in place and I couldn't even move. I watched my brother die first. He was begging for mercy by the end, and I think he was begging for my help, but everything seemed muted around me, as though I wasn't really there. My father was killed as well, just as he died, he turned and looked me in the eye; he didn't even look disappointed in me, he just seemed to look straight through me, as though he was so disgusted at the fact that I hadn't done anything to help anyone, that he couldn't bear to acknowledge me properly."

Jeff stopped for a moment to sob even harder. He wiped his tears away fiercely so that he could continue his story.

"I was the last one left. Everyone else in my village was dead. Imagine that, being the only one left alive, but knowing that you deserved to be dead more than anyone else. Others had died fighting bravely or tending to the wounded; yet I survived because I did nothing. Nothing at all; apart from cause my mother's death, and leave my father and brother to die. I would have been killed too, but Hunter managed to convince the other soldiers just to sell me to a local slave trader. I've tried to forget all of this; I'm trying to move on, but sometimes I can't because I feel so guilty. I'm such a coward, Nicky, I'm a coward."

Jeff stopped talking and broke down in tears.

"You're not a coward, Jeffy," Nick said soothingly, pulling Jeff into a hug and stroking the blonde's hair rhythmically.

"I am," Jeff said forcefully, "If it wasn't for me they might be alive. I miss them so much, Marcus as well, even though he was never kind to me." He buried his face into Nick's shoulder as his sobs echoed around the room.

"Don't blame yourself, Jeffy," Nick said, in the same soothing tone as before, "There's nothing you could have done. If you'd fought back, they would have killed you instantly. There is nothing you could have done against those soldiers, Jeff. They're trained to fight and kill, it's what they do. It's not what you do. And you'll never be a coward, Jeff, at least, never to me. You're extremely brave for dealing with everything and for coping so well. You're so brave, Jeffy, so, so brave."

They sat together like that until the rain stopped; Nick holding Jeff protectively, and Jeff clinging to Nick as though his life depended on it. Eventually, when they finally knew that they had to move and get home, they decided that they'd keep this place as their secret, and go there whenever they wanted to speak in private or get away from Nick's parents.

They walked home in silence. Jeff's eyes were still red from crying, and Nick kept hold of the other boy's hand.

They both needed each other so much.

"I call this first meeting of our society to order," Wes said, standing up at the head of the table, "For those who haven't met them yet, we have Kurt and Blaine joining us." The two boys in question waved at the sound of their names. "Blaine's father is a senator, while Kurt's father is a…Kurt, sorry, what is it that your father does, again?"

"He fixes carts," Kurt answered.

"Thank you," Wes nodded, and then continued with his speech, "Okay, how do I start this?"

He paused for a moment, twisting the gavel in his hands over and over.

"David," he said, nudging his friend, "What is the point of you giving me this gavel?"

"I thought it would look good," David shrugged, "But if I'm honest, I have no idea really."

"Well, it's too quiet to use if anyone is talking really loudly," Wes said, "And I look slightly ridiculous with it. In fact, the only thing it's good for is this." He leaned over and hit Sebastian on the back of the head with it.

Sebastian, who clearly hadn't been paying any attention to what Wes had been saying previously, yelped loudly and cast an accusing eye around the table.

"Who was that?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head.

Wes shrugged, as everyone else tried to hide their laughter.

"I have no idea, Sebastian," Wes said, "Maybe if you started paying attention, then you'd know these things."

Sebastian frowned and continued to rub his head.

"At least I haven't been slapped yet," he mused.

"Oh, I shouldn't think that novelty will last long," Nick laughed, as everyone else around the table snickered loudly.

"Okay, first order of business," Wes decided, "We need a name."

"I've already given you a name," Sebastian cut in, "So why do we need another one?"

Wes sighed loudly.

"Sebastian, 'The Secret Society for Freeing Wes' Father and Taking Down the Emperor At The Same Time', is not a good enough name," he said, "One, it's ridiculously long; and two, we need something that won't make people suspicious, if we use that one, we'll have revealed our entire purpose in one sentence!"

Sebastian shrugged.

"I thought it was a good name," he said sulkily, as Hunter reached over and rubbed his arm sympathetically.

"So, any name suggestions?" Wes asked, ignoring Sebastian.

There was a low murmur around the table, until David suddenly spoke up:

"What about 'The Warblers'?"

A/N: So, the Warblers have been formed! And also, Wes isn't going to become gavel obsessed in this and run away with his gavel, or anything like that, he's already found that it only has one use, and that's hitting Sebastian.

Here are some more of those historical points, which I'm pretty sure are annoying people by now:

1. The Romans believed that thunder and rain was caused by Jupiter, the King of the Gods, and also the god of thunder and the sky, so a particularly violent storm could be interpreted as Jupiter punishing people for their sins or wrongdoings. One famous example of Roman belief that the gods were punishing them, was in Pompeii in 79AD, when they believed that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius had been caused by the anger of the gods, in particular, Vulcan, the god of fire.

2. The Romans didn't actually have gavels, so this idea of Wes having one is highly inaccurate, especially since they were never really referenced until the Middle Ages, at the very earliest, in England. The closest the Romans had to a gavel was a fasces, a bundle of wooden rods with an axe protruding, which symbolised a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. I have included the gavel in this story, just because of the symbolism with Wes, and because it was funny.

Please review and tell me what you thought, or ask any questions about the story or the history behind it :)