Two Boys in Love

Aftershocks

Octavius blinked himself awake. It was 9:30 and the entire museum began to come to life. The events of the night before were immediately in the front of his mind. He was somewhat embarrassed, but at the same time he felt a strange elation within him. The image of the cowboy's flustered face swam around in his head, and he wondered if his face had been a similar color.

He put on his helmet and let out a small groan of frustration. It wasn't that he regretted any of his decisions, but he dreaded the confrontation that he would inevitably experience upon their next encounter.

He looked around at his soldiers,  who milled about the grounds as normal. He felt a strange emptiness. The new peace agreement with the western people had created a mellow environment, which Octavius appreciated, but he felt a strange disappointment now that he had no excuse to see Jedediah. 

Octavius no doubt admired the cowboy, but Jedediah was less convinced of his own feelings. He sat in the corner of a quiet saloon and desperately tried to repress the thoughts racing through his mind.

He was jerked out of his stupor by the sound of a loud crash from outside, where a group of his men were setting off plastic dynamite in an attempt to breach the wall between them and Rome.

Jedediah rubbed his temples. 

"I don't have the energy for this," he grumbled to himself.

"I told y'all to stop blowin' up that there wall!"

The cowboys turned to him with the expression of a child caught in a lie. 

"This don't concern you! We got a personal bone to pick with them, 'n your little peace treaty ain't going to stop us,"

As though Jedediah wasn't embarrassed enough, Octavius poked his head over the wall between them in response to the general ruckus. Jedediah wanted to shrink into the ground and die, especially when he realized that he felt delight on top of the obvious embarrassment. He didn't want to admit it, but he was happy to see the soldier. He was glad he wasn't avoiding him after the events of the previous night.

"We made peace, did we not?" 

"Come down here n' face me like a man, pretty boy!" Shouted one of the demolition dummies that had set off the explosives a moment before.

Jed smacked the man on the back of the head with his hat. 

"Sorry Octavius, they didn't mean anything by it, a bit of friendly fire 's all!" He said, attempting to hide the embarrassment in his tone. 

"Control your men, Jedediah." He said, disappearing back over the wall. 

"Dag nabbit! look what y'all did. Do I have to explain this to you guys again?"

"Why do you care so much, it ain't even been a week since you'd a been on our same side!"

"We have an agreement now, we are contract-ually obligated t' extend our southern hospitality to them now."

"I think you jus' got a thing for pretty boy over there..." One of them mumbled. Jedediah turned red with anger. 

"Well who's the one calling him pretty? Cuz it sure as hell ain't me!" He responded a bit too defensively.

He huffed away, afraid that if he stayed any longer they might take their cronie's offhand comment seriously. He opted to leave the quaint western scene and instead he aimlessly wandered the museum corridors. 

After some time he came to rest on a window sill. The stained glass mudied his vision. He sat and watched the warped snowflakes fall  in a seemingly infinite loop and contemplated what to do next. He let out small sigh. He didn't know what to do with these new feelings. He didn't know where to put them, or how to respond to them. Maybe it was happy? Or scared? It was a feeling that seemed to pool in his stomach like hot oil and crawl up to his chest like smoke, and yet he didn't want it to go away.

It was a strange battle inside him of refusal and elation. He hated that he liked the feelings he was having. He hated that he was feeling them in the first place. 

In the midst of all this, Jedediah failed to notice that someone else had entered the dead-end hallway in which he sat. 

"Hello, friend!" Called a cheerful voice he knew all too well. Octavius waved to him from the ground below. 

"May I join you?"

Before jedediah could answer, Octavius hoisted himself up with a grappling hook. 

"I was hoping to find you here."

"Are they causin' more trouble, cuz I can-"

"No, no. They're just fine. I'm here of my own free will,"

Jedediah raised an eyebrow. 

"Am I not allowed to enjoy your company?"

"Well you can do whatever 'n sam-hill you want, but I don't usually think of myself as someone whose company is worth enjoyin'."

Octavius laughed. He appreciated the man's way of speaking, and always found himself fascinated by the western slang. He knew just a well as Jedediah why he was there, but neither of them was ready to accept it. 

They sat together in a silence that was not altogether uncomfortable. 

"I kind of miss out battles, to be fair." Octavius said.

"I enjoy the peace, but you were a very formidable enemy."

Jedediah looked at the man incredulously. His eyes softened when he saw octavius' serious expression.

" I know what you mean. I was just thinkin' about that." 

Octavius sighed and looked down. 

"That's all I had to say. I look forward to your companionship." 

Jedediah gave a sheepish smile and nodded.

" I think it'll... It'll be real nice."

Octavius nodded and turned to leave, but he couldn't stop himself from looking back at the cowboy on the window sill. The colorful glass reflected against his blond curls, and in that moment Octavius knew he was looking forward to their companionship all too much.