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"Howdy, Ock!" Jedediah called out a little after sunset, running over to their friend at the leg of a bench.
"Good evening, Diah!" Octavius echoed. "What shall we do tonight? Scour the vending machine for Mars Bars? Fly our plane until Rexy tires himself from trying to each us?..."
He then quirked a brow, looking at the cowpoke's arms. "Is that a new look?"
"Yeah. Glad ya noticed! I asked Gigantor to make a few slight tweaks to my paintwork over the day. Whaddaya think of 'em?"
Jedediah put his forearm up next to Octavius'. For his whole life as a miniature, the Roman was relatively short-sleeved, his forearms covered by protective arm bracers. Jed's arms were typically covered fully by his shirt sleeves and tucked leather gloves. Octavius was well aware of their aversion to touch up until the last few decades or so, when they became comfortable enough to embrace both him and Larry (well- his finger, at least).
This time, however, Jed's forearms were covered by some long, gray strips over his sleeves. And he wasn't wearing his gloves anymore- it was odd to see his bare hands out in a setting that wasn't out of necessity.
"I will admit, it is extremely rare to see you with your gloves off. Is there anything that you wish to do now?"
"Yeah. I know it looks funny, but I'd like to get more familiar with feelin' things in general," Jed spoke, wiggling their fingers, "like the flowers in the Expedition display, the stones at the Halls of Gems n' Minerals, the hard wood n' metal tools of my own diorama... your own hand..."
He paused as he made eye contact with Octavius, who was positively beaming. The two leaders smiled as they brought their hands together into a tight clasp. They had come a long way from engaging in fisticuffs and being reserved around each other's touch altogether. This new skin-to-skin contact felt real nice to Jed- he could really feel just how calloused and warm and loving the general's hand was- and they had no doubt that he was thinking of something similar of Jed's own hand.
Jedediah let go of his hand to compare their forearms again. "I also got some cowboy cuffs in gray- these'll prevent rope burns, fraying, brushes, and the like. And look 'ere where they line up..."
He bumped them together with a soft clink for emphasis. "Our arms match now, Ock!"
"Ohhh." Octavius' smile grew fond at the realization that the gray cuffs resembled his own metallic bracers. "You are clever, Jedediah. But you don't suppose that our liege would start to mistake us for each other now, would he?"
"Boy, that'll be the day!" Jed snorted. He giddily took hold of Octavius' hand again as they ran towards their car. "C'mon, let's go see him now! D'you think he'd let me wear a red cloak next?"
"If he does not," Octavius smirked, "perhaps I shall ask young Nicholas to paint my tunic blue..."