The plastic steering wheel fit perfectly beneath his leather gloves.
The seat was amazingly comfortable beneath him, almost as though it was made exactly for him.
The ride was perfect, and the engine purred like a kitten, the sound glorious to the cowboy's ears.
He would name it 'Oliver'.
—
Needless to say, Jedediah drove Oliver everywhere. He would climb down from the Wild West diorama and get into the small car - which Larry would place in the Hall of Miniatures before sunset - even if he wasn't planning on leaving the diorama room; he would drive circles around the bench, and even park up and instruct his men from the driver's seat.
—
Octavius was fed up with Jedediah's obsession with the car. The westerner would refer to the vehicle as 'him', talking fondly of it during the rare times he was not driving it. If he was honest, the Roman general was jealous of 'Oliver'.
—
Jedediah pulled up to the base of the Roman diorama, beeping the pathetic horn of the car.
Octavius had been spending most nights in miniature Rome, rather than exploring the museum with the Cowboy, like he used to do.
"Octavius!" the blond called, sticking his head out of the driver's side window.
He spotted the Roman general's helmet peeking over the edge of exhibit.
"Come on Octy! Let's go for a drive!"
That was the first time in a couple of weeks that Jedediah had invited the Roman to join him - most nights he would forget about the general, or the elder man would have to invite the cowboy - and Octavius wasn't going to turn down the offer. He was starting to grow bored of the same scenery Rome provided; the limited space meant that there was not much to do, even with the diminutive size.
—
The American drove them all around the museum, finally ending in a deserted corridor, with a large window, that the pair scaled up to. They sat on the edge of it, legs dangling from the sides.
"Oliver looks a beaut' from up 'ere dun'e?"
Octavius sighed heavily, closing his eyes.
"What's the matter?" the cowman asked, turning his whole body to face the irritated Roman.
"All you ever talk about is that car!" Octavius ranted. "You call it a "him", even though it is an inanimate object with no assigned gender!" By this time, the dark haired man had stood, and was pacing the windowsill, whilst the blond watched, silent, and worried. "And that's when you're not driving it! When you're driving it, you call it pet names! You fawn over it! You treat it like it's your boyfriend! I'll admit I'm jealous! You can't date an inanimate object, Jedediah! You need to stop obsessing over it!"
Because he was so worked up, the Roman's verbal filter had stopped working, so he ranted everything he thought.
Jedediah, concerned over his friend, was listening with rapt attention, and heard everything. His ears perked at the man's admittance to being jealous.
When the elder man paused to regain his breath, the blond spoke. "You're jealous of my car?" the words were almost whispered, soft and gentle.
The Roman collapsed back where he had been sitting previously, and answered with a "Maybe…", refusing to look at the younger man. "It's just that you spend so much time with the automobile, that we hardly spend anytime together nowadays. I miss spending time with you."
Jedediah smiled shyly. "I didn't realise I was spending so much time with hi- it."
The blond sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, knocking his hat off in the process.
"I do love that car, though… But there is one thing I love more."
Octavius looked up at this. "And what is that?"
"You." Jedediah answered, a bright red blush spreading across his cheeks.
A bright smile spread across the Roman's face, and he leaned over to press a kiss on one of the coloured cheeks.
"I love you too."
A/N: The car, Oliver, was named after my most favourite car in the world. A 1963 Opel Kadett A, that one on my most favourite presenters, Richard Hammond, called Oliver, on one of my most favourite episodes of Top Gear; the Botswana Special. I'm aware that cars are inanimate objects, but Oliver is actually such a cutie 3