A Roman Heart

No, he hadn't been satisfied with himself since the night he'd practically scared Loki away.

Yes, it had been wonderful to be able to… what did Larry had call it? To discover that Jedediah reciprocated his feelings and that in his eyes, he was not some kind of transgressor, as he had feared after having researched more profoundly what was supposed to be the history of the time of the cowboy.

He sighed remembering how many nights he had spent questioning his actions in London, after Ahkmenrah returned to New York and all the exhibitions came to life again thanks to his table and that he could use the internet to delve into some attitudes that had seemed... puzzling of the man of the Wild West.

And he had come to an astonishing conclusion.

Rome.

Old Rome.

It had been too advanced as a civilization apparently.

With its nocturnal fauna and its constant diversions, at least for a man of its status, love knew no limitations and had they both lived in their glorious times surely, they would not have raised a single eyebrow with their relationship.

However, earth had evolved in a somewhat… strange way and, what was once seen as a behavior that did not attract much attention, had been penalized.

He shook his head trying to size up the chaos that would have occurred within the sacred city if someone had proposed such idea to the Senate.

Anyway.

For a short time, thanks to Jupiter, he had tried to "rebuild" the friendship between the two, considering that he had unnecessarily exposed it with his little tact when trying to present the idea to the leader of the diorama of the Wild West, that the leader of the diorama of the Roman Empire, had deep feelings for his person.

Venus will help him.

He thought lowering his gaze, as he felt the blush color his cheeks.

He had acted in such unsuitable way.

He, who on the battlefield was bold and direct, had tried to make the cowboy understand that he appreciated his light blue eyes, emitting an awkward compliment to the similar tonality of the London gentleman's. What had been a thousand times more embarrassing when he found out that the other would most likely find his advances insulting.

Oh, his heart had felt the thousand pricks that had always been sung about the pain of unrequited lovers in the theaters of his land.

He brought a hand to the lorica that covered his chest at the level of his heart.

How ironic that the famous General Octavius, who had never known of these pains in his first life, had come to experience them in his second as a miniature-sized museum exhibit.

But the Goddess who protected the lovers and the God of War, who had been his guardian in the past, had not wanted their fate to be tragic and he had discovered that in that chaotic world in which lived the one who stole his heart, the State had been tremendously absent from the private lives of citizens and, naturally, this had led to the fact that the different unions would not cause as much of a stir as had been supposed later.

In the words of his now partner when he had explained his fears in the date that had followed that night of discoveries: “As long as you ride a horse, shoot decently and do what it was necessary when the moment came, nobody cared with whom you spent your life. Especially when it could be finished in a snap of the fingers, Ockie. We played with dynamite, Laredo. Nobody expected to last too long"

And boy did Jedediah Smith have proven that, according to his thermometer of existence, he lived as if each day was his last. In his chivalrous way of requesting his permission, with that kiss on his knuckles, when he went to look for him the next day at his corresponding diorama, he had discovered that the leader of the other diorama had gathered it’s population and, taking him by the hand, had established that : "Any quickie among you lot that dare to consider to act like a donkey and try to steal my man, it’s goin’ to provoke that old Jedediah ask his Gigantor friend to get him real bullets for his pistols and whoever that brainless head is, it’s goin’ to end with more holes than a sieve. Comprende?"

The reaction that had followed had been surprising.

The whole diorama, far from being offended, had celebrated in a big way, with the mayor’s speech included, celebrating their union after such unfortunate times and they had ended up engulfed in hugs and congratulations claps, which had taken away from their night an obscene amount of time, but that had put such a smile on the cowboy's face that he hadn't had the heart to cut off his fun and happiness.

Less when, even if they had been able to escape from the celebration and that he miraculously prevented the blond from repeating the scene immediately in his own diorama (which he did anyway two days later for the unlimited entertainment of his commanders and legionaries), he had led the cowboy through his idea of a night worthy of rectifying his past mistakes, which had ended in the sweetest of kisses when they returned home.

He sighed smiling as he crossed his arms.

Jedediah was magnificent when he spoke, but he was much more captivating when he was silent under those circumstances. His eyes spoke for him in a way that made him want to hit himself on the face for having thought that Lancelot's approached in beauty and expressiveness to the one of his cowboy.

Which brought him back to the issue at hand: Loki.

His partner's friend.

The one he hadn't seen since that night, other than when he accidentally passed him a couple of times in the hallways.

"He has never seemed very healthy, too skinny and tall in that unflattering uniform” Teddy had commented “but these days, the poor boy causes me even more sorrow to see. Usually, the exhibitions, when they discover that they are going to remain fixed in the Museum, they tend to rejoice, but not him"

Yes, the Museum it was going to weak up every night once again.

Ahkmenrah was going to stay in New York permanently.

It seemed that as a new, much larger Egyptian exhibit was on its way to London, the British Museum, had needed space and, thanks to the intervention of Tilly and Dr. McPhee, a non-term loan agreement was made between both institutions and, very soon, the parents of the Pharaoh, would join their son and the family could live together again, while all of them could benefit from the power of the restored table.

Everyone except Loki.

He had gone through the plans for the renovation of the Museum that had included the exhibit of the black-haired man, that he had found on Dr. McPhee's desk and had discovered that this exhibition had been donated to him thanks to the fact that the itinerant show had another backup, but that the rest of the exhibitions corresponding to a Cinematic Universe of which the history of man seemed to be part, would remain on permanent tour.

Therefore, to the loss of the subject named Mobius, now he had to add the loss of his brother, his mother and his father, of which, from what he had been able to find out on the Internet page corresponding to that itinerant show, if it had been included in the museum's catalog, they would have come to life too, since they had their own sculptures.

His head had come to ache thinking that, because of his nonsense jealousy, the person who woke up every night like them had lost the possibility of finding in Jedediah a little balm to his loneliness and pain.

But his name was not Octavius, nor had he reached the post of General of the Roman Legions, for being a coward.

He was going to face his mistakes and find a solution to the predicament.

_Summon the apparatus. Dial the number - he told one of his commanders.

_Summon the apparatus! Dial the number!

Exclaimed his subordinate, as he stood next to the speaker of the old telephone in the guard area, which still used a pressure mechanism, which they could manipulate in a very similar way to the one they carried out on the computer keyboard of the information desk.

The buttons were hit several times until the call began to take place and he could hear someone answering.

_Hello!

_Am I talking to Nick Daley?

_Yes, who’s asking?

_Young Nick, I'm Octavius.

_Hey, Octavius! How are you? How are you all over there? Dad told me that Ahk returned to the Museum and that he is going to stay forever this time!

_We are perfectly. Getting used to nightlife again.

_A little bird told me that much more to get used to in your case.

He laughs a little.

Larry couldn't keep a secret from his son.

_That little bird is going to suffer the roman fury, I think.

_Nah, it's not worth it. When Akhk's parents arrive, he will already suffer the Egyptian fury.

Both he and his legionaries laughed loudly at the young man's insinuation.

Yes, that was quite a story to tell.

The night guard and the pharaoh.

Who would have thought?

_In any case, Octavius, are you happy? I don't need to threaten a certain mouthy cowboy we know with locking him in a room that only plays experimental electronic music, right?

He smiled with tender.

In his other life he had been a father and had cared for attentive young men like Nick.

It would never cease to amaze him how that little boy, now a man, had always cared so much about all of them.

_I am very happy with Jedediah, Nicholas.

_Better for him - said the young man - But you were calling me about something else I presume. What do you need?

_You see Nick, there is a new exhibit in the museum. It is about a very well-known series.

_Loki. My dad told me. I'm super eager to finish my job on the Côte d'Azur to go back to New York. In other words, the actor who plays Loki is not very difficult to know in the environment in which I move, but he is not the character. He isn’t Loki. It must be great meeting the guy for real.

He took a deep breath. He was sorry to disappoint him but the truth was the best path in this case.

_To be honest, young Nick, this Loki, is not in the best of conditions. He seems to be drowning in what Sacajawea calls depression.

_Shit - the boy let out with an exhalation.

_Exactly my conclusion about it.

_And do you have any idea why? - Nick asked him.

_I have not talked to him exactly about the subject but I know that it revolves around a certain Mobius, who looks like Jedediah.

_Oh, damn - said the boy - Octavius, buddy, you haven't seen much of the series, have you?

_I don’t have. To be clear, I was not very happy with the fact that this character was getting close to Jedediah, so I have avoided contact with the exhibit of his series and the little I have been able to find out is what is listed in the donation that deliver the exhibit to the Museum and that was noted on paper by Dr. McPhee. That he is part of a Cinematic Universe and that he has a brother, a father and a mother who are part of the itinerant tour that left him with us.

_Look Octavius, it is not something simple to explain. It would take a long time, so I suggest you watch the series as soon as possible and then call me again.

_ That is why I called. The series in question requires an authorization to be reproduced on the computers since it is part of something called streaming platform.

_And you assumed that, of the Daley’s, the one who surely would not live with Laa in the Stone Age was me, eh?

_I do not want to offend Larry, but...

_You did good. I have an account and password. Do you have how to take notes?

_I have.

He told him, indicating to his legionaries, that brought the piece of graphite they used on those occasions to rest it on one of the post-its, from the crowded desk of the Director of the museum.

_Only one thing before we do this Octavius: use the Doctor's computer or ask someone for his cell phone. Don't see it on the one that’s located on the information desk. Seriously. It is… I mean, for the Loki of the Museum it will be a tremendous violation of his privacy if you expose him like that in front of everyone.

_I promise Nicholas, I will not show anyone what I discover by watching the series.

_Perfect then, my username is ...