A/N: Chapter 12 already! Okay, so brace yourselves for this chapter, it's gonna be a rollercoaster :) Thank you to everyone who has reviewed again, it makes my day reading your kind words :)

Warning: Angst at the end, yeah, sorry...I'm not going to go into too much detail, but I did want to warn you...a little...

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.

"Nicholas, I have some wonderful news to announce," Nick's father said loudly, while he, Nick's mother and Nick himself were all enjoying their dinner. Jeff and a few other household slaves were standing around the outer walls, waiting to be summoned for a chore or task.

Nick's heart immediately sank; his father's idea of good news was completely different to anyone else's. He just knew that something wasn't right, especially when he caught sight of his mother smiling proudly at him. What had they done?

"I met with another of the senators, a man by the name of Flavius, a few days ago," Nick's father began, "And we've been arranging something that I'm sure you will be very pleased about. Now, Flavius has a daughter, just a few years younger than yourself, a very pretty and well-educated young woman, who would be an eligible match for anybody."

Nick's heart missed a beat. Was his father suggesting what he thought he was suggesting? He hoped not. He kept repeating the word 'no' over and over in his head, as though it might dispel any thoughts of what his father wanted; as though this chanting would save him from this fate that he did not want. He knew what he wanted. Nick knew that he wanted Jeff; he felt so strongly for the other boy, that there was no way that he could just crush these feelings entirely. And there was no way that he could ever love another person in the way that he loved Jeff, especially not a random girl that his father had chosen for him. Wait; love? Yes, there was no doubt about it anymore, Nick was in love with Jeff.

"So, Nicholas," his father was continuing regardless, clearly unaware of his son's distress, "The two of you will be betrothed as soon as possible."

Nick felt his chest tighten painfully as his father spoke the words that he had been dreading. There was no way of escaping this now; he didn't know what to do. The room started spinning, and he had to clench his eyes shut so that he stopped feeling so dizzy. He couldn't do this, he just couldn't.

"So, what's your answer?" his mother asked, clearly not very pleased that he hadn't responded immediately.

"Yes, what do you say, son?" his father added.

They wanted an answer from him; they were both watching him expectantly. He didn't know what to say, but he had to say something; anything to get away from them so that he could clear his head. In the end, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I'm in love with someone else!" he cried, and then he ran from the room as fast as he could.

Jeff listened to the entire conversation from his position near the door. All of his hopes appeared to be crushed when Nick's father announced that Nick was to be betrothed. Any glimmer of a chance he had to have Nick reciprocate his feelings had vanished into thin air.

He should have expected it to happen. Nick was the son of a wealthy and prestigious family, he was a very good catch for any other family of a similar social standing, and so it was an imperative that he marry well. There was no way that he and Jeff could have ever been together.

Jeff waited for Nick to give the answer to his parents; he waited for him to say yes and seal Jeff's fate of pining over someone he couldn't have for the rest of his life. But then Nick paused, and Jeff held his breath to wait for his answer.

"I'm in love with someone else!"

By the time Jeff had registered what Nick had said, the other boy was gone from the room, and the sound the front door slamming echoed throughout the house. Both of Nick's parents remained where they were, but his mother threw down her cup with a clatter.

"That boy is so ungrateful," she snapped, as Nick's father nodded, "We give him the best things in life, and he just storms off like that. He's too young to know what love is. Anyway, where's he met anyone he could have fallen in love with? All he does is hang around with those friends of his and that slave boy."

At that point, Jeff didn't feel he could stay any longer, and he slipped out of the room. His mind was spinning too fast for him to cope. Nick was in love with someone. Nick was in love with someone who wasn't him.

He had to find Nick, and he had to find out who he was in love with immediately.

Jeff headed for the front door, running out into the street without a second thought. He knew where Nick would go at a time like this.

"Nick?" Jeff called softly, pushing open the door to the abandoned building that they'd made theirs.

Silence.

"Nick, I know you're here," Jeff persisted, stepping into the room and closing the door softly behind him. "Nick, please talk to me."

There was the sound of quiet sobbing, and then Nick's head appeared over the top of one of the couches. Nick's face was red from crying, and Jeff had to restrain himself from going over and comforting his friend.

"Jeff?" Nick whispered, "What are you doing here?" He was horrified that Jeff had found him. Jeff had witnessed his outburst; he would ask him about it, wouldn't he?

"I came to find you," Jeff said softly, coming further into the room and sitting on the end of the couch. "You ran off suddenly and I wanted to know what was wrong."

Nick looked at him silently.

"Nick, I heard what you said," Jeff added, in a voice barely above a whisper.

Nick was still silent, his heart starting to race as he panicked. What was Jeff going to say?

"Is it true?" Jeff asked, "Do you love someone else?" He couldn't help it, his voice cracked emotionally as he spoke and he could feel tears rising. He couldn't even begin to comprehend the idea of having to see Nick in love with someone else; it was going to break him completely. At least, beforehand, when he hadn't known anything about Nick's feelings, he had been able to imagine that there was a possibility that Nick felt the same way. But now…Jeff didn't know what to do.

"I can't marry that girl, Jeff," Nick's voice sounded just as emotional as Jeff's had. "I can't marry anybody I don't love, especially not now."

"Nick, you never answered my question," Jeff sounded desperate now. He had to know; he had to prepare himself for what was to happen in the future. He needed that absolute proof so he could resign himself to definite heartbreak. "Do you love someone else?"

Nick froze, not quite sure how to respond for a moment.

"Yeah," he said finally. He dared to look up at Jeff; he took in his defeated expression and the tear that had dared to escape, and was now trailing his way down his face.

Then Nick knew. He just knew what was wrong, and everything fell into place.

"Yeah, Jeff," he repeated, "I'm in love with someone else." And then he leaned forward, and captured Jeff's lips with his own.

Jeff didn't have time to register anything, because Nick's lips were suddenly pressed against his own. Nick was actually kissing him! Jeff's mind did a happy dance to itself, before remembering to respond, and Jeff leaned into the kiss.

Slowly, Nick brought his hand up to rest on Jeff's cheek, while his other hand grasped the back of the blonde's neck and pulled him closer. Jeff settled his hands on Nick's waist, and shifted himself so that he ended up half in the brunette's lap.

Eventually, they broke away from each other, both staring shyly at the other. Jeff bit his lip nervously, a happy smile sneaking across his features; one that was mirrored by Nick.

"You're in love with me?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah," Nick replied softly.

"Good," Jeff smiled, "Because I'm in love with you too."

He shifted even closer to Nick, and crashed their lips together again. Nick tilted his head so that he could deepen the kiss, and within seconds it had turned passionate. Jeff slowly leant even further forwards, so that Nick was lying down on the couch, and Jeff could crawl on top of him. After a few more minutes of kissing, they eventually broke apart, and Jeff moved his head so that it was resting on Nick's chest, while Nick wrapped an arm around Jeff's waist to hold him close. He then took Jeff's hand and delicately entwined their fingers, before guiding their joined hands and laying them between the two of them.

"I've been dreaming about this moment," Nick admitted aloud, "The moment when I could finally voice my feelings for you."

"Me too," Jeff agreed, attempting to curl even closer into Nick's side. "How long have you known about your feelings?" he asked suddenly.

Nick didn't even hesitate before answering.

"It was that day we found this place," he said, "When I went to get us a drink while you were practising the alphabet. What about you?"

Jeff grinned and lifted his head to look at Nick.

"It was the same day," he said, "While you went out of the room, I realised how I felt."

"We're such idiots," Nick laughed, "We could have told each other before. And I kept saying how oblivious Huntbastian are, and we were the totally oblivious ones."

Jeff giggled.

"Huntbastian?"

"It's their collective noun," Nick explained, "Like, we're Niff."

"We are Niff," Jeff nodded, "At least, now we are."

Nick smiled happily, and leaned down to kiss the top of Jeff's head.

They lay there in silence for a while, until Nick spoke again.

"Jeff," he said, "What do we do about my parents? And this marriage they're setting up?"

Jeff's face fell when he was reminded of that.

"I don't know," he said helplessly, "I don't want them to separate us."

"I don't want that either," Nick replied, "We'll have to figure something out. I promise you that I won't let them take you away or tear us apart, I promise you, Jeff."

"I promise you too," Jeff said, leaning up to kiss Nick passionately again.

A little while later found them lying next to each other again, trying to catch their breath from the last kiss.

"I don't want to go back just yet," Nick said suddenly, "I don't want this to end just yet."

"We don't have to go anywhere," Jeff answered, making himself comfortable as he curled into Nick's chest, "We can stay here all night. It's already getting late. We can deal with your parents in the morning."

"I like that idea," Nick smiled down at the blonde, "We'd better get some sleep then."

"Night, Nick," Jeff said, as Nick reached down for one last kiss before sleeping, "I love you."

"I love you too, Jeff," Nick replied softly.

Both boys fell asleep with a smile on their faces, wrapped up in each other completely.

Jeff woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, and was immediately reminded of the previous events. He smiled at the thought, and went to settle back down, when something caught his attention. What was that strange smell? He lifted his head, and started panicking.

He could smell smoke.

"Nick," he said hurriedly, shaking the brunette awake, "Nick, wake up!"

"What is it?" Nick asked groggily, blinking a few times in the darkness until he could see Jeff's worried face looking down at him, "Jeff, what's wrong?"

"I can smell smoke," Jeff said, "Nick, something's on fire."

"What?" Nick sat up quickly, pulling Jeff with him so that they were both standing in the darkened room. "I can't see any flames or anything."

"There's definitely a fire somewhere," Jeff said, looking around, as though searching for the fire itself, "I don't think it's here yet, but it's close."

Suddenly, as if to confirm that, there was a strangled scream from somewhere outside, followed by a loud noise and more screams. Jeff turned to Nick in terror.

"What do we do?" he asked.

"We have to get out of here," Nick said, "There's often fires here in Rome; they travel quickly and can destroy whole buildings. We need to get out into the open, Jeff, and warn more people. It's the middle of the night, so most people will be at home asleep; they're all in danger."

Jeff nodded as Nick took his hand, and led him out into the street. The smell of the fire was stronger outside, and both boys could see large columns of smoke rising further down the street.

Nick drew Jeff in closer to him, and held him tightly.

"It's almost here," he said, "We've got to warn these people who are still asleep in this street and the next one."

"What then?" Jeff asked, sinking into Nick's embrace, as the first few people started running past them.

"The fire will have spread in all directions," Nick said, "We've got to hope that the soldiers organise putting it out, or that it burns itself out quickly. For now, we have to head back towards home and make sure everyone is alright there."

Jeff nodded. He and Nick headed to one side of the road, both violently banging on the doors and shutters.

"Fire!" both boys yelled as loud as they could, "Fire!"

Soon, more people were pouring out into the street, most still hazy from sleep. Now, the first few flames could be seen. They moved at a terrifying pace through the buildings, and Nick and Jeff knew that they had to keep moving.

"We've got to go now, Jeff," Nick said, taking the other boy's hand again as they began to run, "We've got to get home and warn everyone. I hope Sebastian and Wes, and everyone else hears about it."

"They're going to be fine," Jeff said, more to convince himself and Nick, than actually knowing that, "We're going to be fine."

"I hope so, Jeffy," Nick said, bringing Jeff's hand up and kissing the other boy's knuckles, "I seriously hope so."

By the time they'd travelled across a few streets, sporadically yelling if there were still houses that looked undisturbed, the entire city appeared to have come alive. People were calling for water, for relatives, for friends, for help. There was the occasional heart-wrenching scream that made Nick and Jeff cling tighter to each other.

As they rounded a street corner, and found an intersection, they felt a blast of heat hit them; further down the road they wanted to turn down, they could see the flames already demolishing a number of buildings.

"The fire's spreading faster here," Nick noted.

"But that's the way home," Jeff said in a panic, "How are we going to get there now?"

"There's another way," Nick said, pulling Jeff in another direction, "It's longer, but it should be a reasonable distance from the fire."

They ran down a few more streets, until they finally reached the end of the road that led to Nick's house.

"The fire got here faster than I'd imagined," Nick said worriedly, looking down at the flames already rising at the far end, "We have to hurry, Jeff, we need to get to the house."

The two boys reached the house, just as Nick's parents and the slaves were emerging.

"Boys!" Nick's father actually seemed too shocked to even address them by name or remember that Jeff was really a slave; he also didn't seem to notice their joined hands. "Where were you?"

"We fell asleep," Nick explained, dropping Jeff's hand, but moving closer to him, "And when we woke up, we discovered the fire."

"Alright," Nick's father didn't appear to be in the mood to discuss what had happened before, at that moment, "It won't be long until the fire reaches here, the palace will be able to offer us shelter, and will be out of the way of the fire; we're going there." He gave an order to the slaves, who were carrying a number of expensive possessions.

Nick and Jeff had just turned to follow them, when Nick stopped.

"Jeff, my poems are in there," he said in a panic, "My parents won't have got them out. I need to go in there and get them; they're my most prized possessions."

Jeff looked up at the fire, which was now just about to reach the far side of the neighbouring building.

"No, Nick," he shook his head, "It's too dangerous."

"Jeff, I have to," Nick's voice was desperate, "I need to."

He leaned up and quickly gave Jeff a kiss, while his parents were preoccupied, and then he spun around and dashed back towards the house.

"Nick! No!" Jeff screamed, throwing out his arms to catch the other boy, but he was too late; Nick had already reached the side door, and was pulling it open.

"Nicholas!" His mother turned around at Jeff's cry and was just in time to see her son re-enter their house.

"What's the matter?" Nick's father turned around as well, "What's happened?" He noticed the lack of Nick. "Where's Nicholas?"

"He's gone back into the house," Nick's mother said in a rush, "He's gone back in!"

Nick's father came back down to where Jeff and Nick's mother were still standing in the street.

"Damn it!" he cried, "What was the boy thinking? It's too dangerous!"

Just then, there was a gust of wind, and it blew the flames closer to the house itself, until they latched onto the wooden front door and began burning furiously.

And that was when Nick's mother finally showed some humanity and love for her son.

"Nicholas!" she screamed in terror, "Somebody save him! Somebody save my son!" She started sobbing uncontrollably, and her husband quickly caught her as she appeared to go limp in his arms.

Nick's father looked up at Jeff suddenly, and Jeff just knew that he was appealing for Jeff's help. Jeff had seen that expression before, on the faces of all the people who'd been killed in his village; on his mother's face; on his father's face; and on his brother's face. Once again, he felt frozen in place with fear. He didn't know what to do or think.

But could he let this happen again? Let someone else he loved die?

Suddenly, Jeff could hear Nick's voice in his head.

"You're not a coward, Jeffy."

"You're so brave, Jeffy, so, so brave."

"Now, don't forget how special you are."

And lastly:

"I love you, Jeff."

Tears poured down Jeff's face. He couldn't leave Nick in there. He turned to Nick's father and nodded.

"I'm going to find him," he said defiantly, and then he was sprinting to the already open side door, and disappearing inside.

The first thing Jeff noticed was the smoke. The entire house was swirling with it, although the flames didn't appear to have reached the main rooms just yet. Jeff ducked lower, so that he practically crouching; he remembered his father once saying something about the cleanest air being lower down. He coughed a few times, and then covered his nose and mouth with his hand.

Nick's room was just to the left of the side door, and Jeff went stumbling in its direction. He felt along the wall with his hand, until he reached the opening. He quickly crawled inside, catching sight of a flame from the entrance hall as he did so. The close proximity made his heart race in panic.

He cast his eye around Nick's room hurriedly, peering through the smoke.

And then he saw him.

Nick was collapsed on the floor, his poems clutched tightly in his hand. If the room wasn't full of smoke, or the house on fire, it would have looked like he was sleeping.

"Nick, no, no, no," Jeff muttered to himself, crawling closer to his friend, "Nick, this can't be happening. Nicky, you have to be alright. Everything was going so well; we were both so happy. I love you, Nicky, please wake up." Despite shaking the boy a few times, he didn't stir.

Slowly, Jeff reached out for Nick's neck.

His trembling fingers failed to find a pulse.

A/N: I am so, so sorry about the ending...the next chapter will be up soon...hopefully...at least, Niff happened, right? And then I ruined it...sorry...

Historical Points:

1. Nick's father uses the word 'betrothed' when announcing Nick's impending marriage, but this isn't exactly what the Romans used, they had the word nuptiae, which is the name of the entire process of getting married; which started with a party to celebrate the marriage, and then the marriage itself. I could have used the word 'engaged' because it means the same thing, but 'betrothed' is a more archaic way of expressing it, so I used that instead.

2. The fire in this story is the Great Fire of Rome, which occurred on the night of 18th/19th July 64AD. Rome regularly experienced city fires, due to the close promixity of many wooden buildings, but this particular fire is most famous for its level of destruction to the city. There will be more explained about this later in the story.

Once again, I'm sorry for the evil cliffhanger, but please do still leave a review...even if it is to tell me how mean I am for leaving the ending like that...