Behind Closet Doors (A Rome-ance)

Chapter 3: Please Stop Saying Kill Caesar!

              Brutus busied himself with work the next day. He was trying to get Caesar out of his head. Brutus figured the best way to deal with Caesar was to pretend as if he didn't exist. That proved difficult when he came home to find his mailbox full of letters. Upon opening the letter, Brutus realized they were letters from citizens of New Rome claiming Caesar was an unfit ruler and wanting Brutus to take over. Brutus didn't know what to think. He didn't realize this was how people felt about Caesar. As far as he knew, people loved Caesar. Maybe he was wrong. Did the people really like Brutus better than Caesar? That was a first.

That afternoon, Brutus did what he always did. He practiced fencing with Cassius. In university, they both joined the fencing club, and became friends. They both enjoyed fencing so much that after they graduated, they wanted to continue. So, every other day, Brutus and Cassius would meet up at the activity center to fence.

"You're getting slow," Cassius teased Brutus after he scored his fourth point on Brutus.

Brutus sighed as he blocked another one of Cassius' swings. "I have a lot on my mind." Brutus advanced towards Cassius and hit him on the stomach.

"Well, what's up," Cassius asked, parrying another swing. "Is it your boy toy?"

Brutus rolled his eyes at that. "Partially." He swung again at him and got another point. "Earlier today, I got home to find there were a lot of letters in my mailbox."

"Really?" Cassius asked. The fencing mask made it hard for Brutus to see his reaction.

"Yeah," Brutus replied. "The weirdest thing was all the letters were from people of New Rome who like me better than Caesar."

Cassius scores another point on Brutus. "I win." Cassius takes off his fencing mask. "Of course, people like you better than Caesar. You're a better ruler."

Brutus took off his fencing mask, and put away his sword, "How would you know. I've never been in charge."

"You just give off that vibe," Cassius replied.

"So, what?" Brutus asked. "You think I should overthrow Caesar?"

"No," Cassius said. "I think you should kill him."

Brutus quickly looked around to make sure no one was near them, "I'm sorry, you want me to do what?"

"Kill Caesar," Cassius replied bluntly.

Brutus was flabbergasted. He didn't know how to react or what to say. He finally settled with, "What makes you think I'm qualified to do that?"

Cassius laughed, "Well, you wouldn't do it alone. I'd help you, and I can find other people who'd be willing to help kill Caesar."

"Yeah, can you please stop saying 'kill Caesar,'" Brutus replied. "You have to be insane. He's the fucking Head of State."

"Yeah, that's the point. He's in that position of power, but he shouldn't be. He's underqualified and has a God complex."

"You're wrong, Caesar is super qualified," Brutus argued.

"Okay, fine he is," Cassius snapped. "But the point is, he's letting the power get to his head, and it's getting out of control."

"So maybe you're right, and Caesar is getting power hungry, but that's not a reason to kill him."

"If we don't do something now, he's just going to get worse. Men like Caesar, you can't just overthrow them and expect them to stay down. He's going to fight to get back into power. Caesar is very emotionally unstable. Us overthrowing him could lead to him killing other people. It would just be too much trouble. The best thing to do is kill him."