---°♡ "Is This Okay?" A Jedtavius story ♡°---

Chapter 3: A Talk..

It had been a few weeks since Jedediah had found out about his feelings for Octavius. He'd been trying to avoid it, but just ended up avoiding Octavius altogether.

Jedediah was working on the railroad with the others. "Jedediah!" a young voice with a southern accent said. Jedediah turned around. "Yeah?" he said. "One of the Romans wants ta' see you!" the young cowboy said. Jedediah's heart started to race at the thought that maybe it was Octavius. He hoped it wasn't, but it probably was. "Alright, I'll get to 'em. Thank you." Jedediah said as the young cowboy ran off to his father.

Jedediah got up hesitantly and walked to the Roman empire, to see Octavius talking to another Roman general. Octavius turned around. "Oh, Jedediah! there you are! It's been a while!" he said, walking over to Jed. "Oh, shit... no, no, no..." Jedediah whispered to himself. His mind started to pace thoughts, as his body got warm and his heartbeat grew faster at the thought of Octavius, and the thought of messing things up with him.

"Oh- ahem- Howdy, Kemosabe!" Jedediah said nervously. "...Jedediah, you don't seem like yourself." Octavius noticed. Jedediah's eyes widened. He started getting extremely nervous.

"Oh, it's just-" Jedediah started. "It's... something's been gnawing at me for a while now. I also sorta gotta keep it a secret." He murmured. He had looked away from Octavius and his hand was rubbing his neck. "What is it, Jedediah? You can trust me with any information you tell me. I'll keep it a secret if you want it to be one." Octavius said. Jedediah looked back at Octavius, and just... looked at him. admired him. Octavius blushed because of how long Jed was just looking at him. Jed realized he was doing this, and cleared his throat again.

"Well," He said, "Um, how do I say this..." Jed realized he couldn't do it. He couldn't admit to Octavius that he liked him. What would he think?! He already started to say something, he can't just back out! Then, he decided. He had to back out and tell him something else instead. But what other secret does he have?!

"I, um..." Jedediah panicked. "Jedediah, you seem too nervous about this." Octavius sighed. He put his hand on Jed's shoulder. "It's okay. You can tell me anything. And if you can't tell me, then that's all right."

Jedediah blushed. "I-I don't think I'm quite ready to tell ya. Though, there is another thing that I think I should tell ya," he said. "Go ahead, you can tell me," Octavius said, calmly. God, Jed loved when Octavius comforted him.

"Well, I- hm. I, uh, have a crush on somebody, but I dunno anything about crushes, and I don't think h-" he almost gave away that it was a boy. He wanted to tell Octavius about this crush, but he wanted to hide the fact it was him. "She likes me back." he finished.

saved it.

"Oh, Jedediah, that's so sweet that you have a crush." Octavius comforted Jedediah, but on the inside he was heartbroken that his crush had a crush on someone else. "What're they like?" He asked.

"Well, they..." Jedediah started, "Would you dislike me if... if she were someone like me?" "...What?" Octavius asked. "Someone like me, as in... male. Not a she." Jedediah looked away in embarrassment. "No, of course not, Jedediah. If you ask me, it's perfectly normal to like someone of your own sex." Octavius comforted Jed. Jed looked back at Octavius.

"I've read before that men in your time could be open to everyone, is that true?" Jed asked. Octavius paused for a moment. "You're going to wanna have this conversation with me away from the dioramas." He responded.

~~~~~~~~

"So, now that we're away from everyone..." Octavius turned his head, making sure no one from the two dioramas heard, "My time... It was odd. You see, men could be openly 'homosexual'." Octavius air quoted, "But even then, we had to have a wife and at least one child. Now, it's not so big of a deal now, since there aren't any female miniatures. I mean, I'm 'homosexual' myself, I know the struggles." Jed's eyes widened as he heard this. Just as he thought Octavius's words couldn't get worse, they did.

"And another thing... Even if you had sex with another male, you had to be... more dominant. If you were being submissive and anyone knew, you could lose a lot of public status. So yes, in my time we could be publicly open, but there were a lot of cons to doing so." Octavius frowned. Jedediah copied the frown on Octavius's face. He was visibly worried about Octavius, and Octavius realized.

"Oh! Don't worry about me. I'm open to the Roman diorama, and I had a wife and child in the past." Octavius said. "Who was yer' child? What was his or her name?" Jedediah asked. "Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, was his full name. Named after me, and one of his relatives, Julius Caesar, but he ended up going by the name of Augustus most of the time, apparently." Octavius answered.

"Oh! So, your son is the first Roman emperor!" Jed got it. Octavius nodded. "I guess. I died when he was only 4, so I don't know him personally that well." He said a little quietly. Before Jed could question it, Octavius got back on track.

"Anyways, although being homosexual was okay in my time, it was like walking a tightrope." He said. Jed thought for a moment.

"So... my time and your time ain't so different?" Jed asked. Octavius nodded.

"If anything, your time is probably better than my time. I've never done much research, but..." He shrugged. Jedediah thought for a good moment. He still can't tell Octavius he likes him, so he'll have to keep some secrets still.

"So, how should I ask a guy out?" Jed asked hesitantly.

"I think if you're looking for something romantic, you should get to know this man and see what he enjoys. Now, a lot of men..." Octavius started to go into detail, and Jedediah tried to pay attention to everything he was saying. By the time the sun came up, Jed was baffled but knew what he had to do.