CoolestCowboyInTheWest

I Just Took Jed And Oct Out To Bowling With My Family And Apparently Oct Is Better At Bowling Then Jed Cause Octavius Got 71 And Jedediah Got 47... (Done By Me DUH) Oct Bragged About It Anddd Jed Got Jealous And Started Fighting Octavius But I Broke Them Up Thankfully! Anddd During Lunch They Started Making Out So ig That's To Make Up For It...? But They Had Fun Overall!

Some Photos I Took! (By The One And Only Me~)

And The Scores If Y'all Are Curious!

and jedediah boiling inside on the sidelines when lancelot wins the knights tournament and gives a flower to octavius like in the old stories bdhdjsjshdhdh

octavius coming to see him after the tournament and jed is furiously taking care of the horses and not looking at octavius and throwing : "shouldn't ya be with your knight ?" above his shoulder like it's a swear word

which gets octavius confused for exactly 2 seconds because then jedediah keeps running his mouth because the day he stops talking is the day he stops breathing, and he goes on about how lancelot only won because jed was the one to train that horse, really, she's an amazing horse and he doubts that that good for nothing googly eyed knight would have stood any chance without her, so really jed is the true winner of the tournament, but does anyone think about him ? about the work he does ? noooo, yall high and mighty fancy pants types only ride the horses, never even think about all the work and care and training that goes into all of it, no one ever thanks ol' jedediah and-

and really through all of his monologue octavius has to bite his tongue not to laugh because, oh gods, jed is jealous like a 3 year old who just got eclipsed in his mom's heart by his newborn sibling, and it's insanely ridiculous but also extremely endearing, and jed does deserve more recognition, but he really can't let him go on like this. especially not when he knows exactly the right thing to say to send jedediah in such a frenzy that maybe, hopefully, he'll get fucked silly in the hay, or at the very least kissed senseless until he can't remember which one of them is royalty

soooo jed wasn't always the stablehand, of course. i feel like Rome made an alliance with the west kingdom (whatever okay i suck at names), and since they have amazing horses, that's part of what they trade. and since these horses are for the fucking emperor, they also send horse whisperer jed with them, to train and care for them. jed is unhappy, to say the least, but he's spent years on these horses and he's not letting some roman dimwit sully all of his hard work, so he goes.

octavius doesn't meet him right away of course but he does catch a flash of blonde hair when the horses/gifts/diplomatic envoys arrive.

i suppose there's a sort of welcome banquet that night, and octavius stays as long as is needed of him, but his social batteries are almost completely flat and the whole diplomatic hypocrisy is starting to make him want to stab someone, so he finds an excuse (most likely pretends to retire for the night) and he leaves for the stables because 1) as i said, animals calm him down and 2) he wants to see the new horses for himself, he's heard so much about the west's horses

he goes, and most of the usual staff is gone and all of them know better than to say anything about his visits anyway. he gets close to the horses, admires them, and finds a beautiful appaloosa that's looking at him curiously and doesn't seem scared. in fact it almost seems... blasé ? and octavius is an impulsive noble man who loves anything that makes him feel more normal, so of course, a horse that doesn't give much of a shit about his presence one way or the other is intriguing and appealing. so he gets even closer to pet the horse. (i imagine he's talking to it softly in latin because hjfudyjfgsuyfg)

and then an unknown voice behind him almost makes him jump out of his skin :

"you're spookin' mah horses."

octavius turns around to see a strange blonde man he's never seen before, and if the accent didn't give up the fact that he's from the west, his clothes would. the man's leaning on a pitchfork, looking very unimpressed. now, octavius could say something about how jed's the one doing the "spooking", but he's not about to admit that he got scared to a stranger (no matter how handsome they might be - who said that ?)

"your horses ? are you the one who bought them ?" yeah okay, octavius is being a sarcastic ass, but to be fair he's been holding it in for the entire day so.

and jed catches that immediately but he gives it back just as good. he rolls his eyes so dramatically his whole head follows.

"yah, well, i'm the one takin' care of 'em. i don' see any of yall big hats gettin' down an' dirty in this here stable."

and of course, octavius, the emperor who clings to anything that still makes him feel mortal, alive, is hooked instantly. and of course, jedediah, who loves having someone keep up with his needless need to fight everything always all the time, is just as smitten.

next tournament jed sabotages lancelot's saddle so that he ends up falling on his face just after parading like god's biggest mistake (jed's words)

and the moment it happens octavius looks at him and sees jed looking all smug but trying (badly) to hide it behind lancelot's horse while he's calming her down, poor girl, she was only doing what that idiot knight asked of her, it's not her fault he's too stupid to tie his saddle properly 🙄

and after the tournament ends (even if there was a delay and a lot of shocked nobles), octavius joins jed in the stables to confront him - not that he didn't find it funny. because he did. but still.

and jed smiles like a complete idiot while leaning on his pitchfork seductively - it makes his shirt rise up on his lower back and he knows octavius is weak for it - and batting his eyelashes in a mockery of innocence and says : "i have no idea what you mean."

and octavius honest to god snorts. because this man, this gorgeous man that he's completely stupid for, is ridiculous.

so he reaches for one of the strands of blonde hair that hang in jedediah's face and softly puts it back behind his ear while smiling that horribly fond smile that he always gets whenever jed does something that, if he didn't have all the expectations of royalty, he would have done himself (they're both just as reckless and stupid as the other, let's not forget that). and he voices his thoughts : "you're ridiculous."

"you're ridiculous-er" jed barks back with no bite whatsoever, seizing the opportunity to lay a quick kiss on octavius' retreating fingers.

oh, he knows what he's doing. jed has won the tournament earlier by getting his petty vengeance, and now he's going to win again. with no complaint from octavius, mind you. in fact, octavius is willing to hand him this particular victory. he leans down slightly to kiss jedediah, his fingers light on the side of his face, all soft and warm and loving, almost domestic. they've been doing this long enough to know the taste and feel of each other by heart, and now their kisses feel like coming home. (making myself cry over here they're so cute aaaaaaaaaaaaaah)

when they part, octavius keeps his hand on jedediah's face. "are you going to spend the night in the stable ?" he asks in an almost whisper. an invitation. but jed is in a teasing mood, still mentally running winning laps around the castle from humiliating lancelot publicly.

"i don' know, am i ?" he wears a cheshire cat smile that has octavius weak in the knees. oh, he's going to eat this man up. and now he wants to play, too.

he raises one eyebrow defiantly : "are you ?" like he's on the verge of rescinding his offer - they both know he's not. he couldn't if he tried.

jedediah looks at him like he's deciding where he wants to bite first. but then he stands back up, lets the pitchfork fall against the nearest wall, and comes up close, too close, so close their chest almost touch, all broad chest and shoulders crowding octavius in. he can feel his warmth and his smell and his eyes don't leave jed's, even as one of jed's hands comes to rest on his waist (GOD i love when men do that hbjsdfhjsdghjzs it's insanely hot like holy shit, the predator strut ??? i could die).

he's way too intense for their little game when he says : "somethin' tells me ya don' want me to"

IM TWEAKING OUT BRO IM EATING THIS UP