Chapter Text
“Ok, but where did you even get the money for this?” Jesus asked as he opened the brown paper bag, taking out a to-go box. Inside was a large cheesesteak. “We don’t have the budget for this, we never did.” Judas brushed his hair out of his face. It was something he always did when he was nervous or embarrassed. Jesus narrowed his eyes. “Judas…”
“I didn’t steal it!” Judas blurted out. He cringed. That just made him sound more suspicious. “It’s a DoorDash order. I went to pick it up but the customer cancelled. They just let me keep it.” This explanation satisfied Jesus. Judas sat down next to Jesus on the curb. “And I heard you talking about how much you miss sandwiches from Gino’s. I figured…”
“Judas,” Jesus said earnestly. “You didn’t have to do this.” Judas shrugged.
“You seemed hungry anyway.”
“Thanks.”
It had been a difficult few weeks with the ministry. A lot of the money they had raised in this span of time had immediately been thrown away because Simon had to be bailed out of jail… again. Jesus had warned him about shoplifting from convenience stores, especially ones that he is already a regular customer for, but he just had to get a carton of cigarettes and couldn’t pay for them. It would have been maybe a day in jail and a stern warning, but they got him on the other little things that he managed to get away with taking out of the stores. That was another six hundred dollars taken by the government just to keep him out of the county jail. Judas was pissed at Simon for that, but Simon was passionate in helping with fundraising and recruiting, so he couldn’t hold too much against him. It sighed, taking out a container of chewing tobacco from his pocket.
“You’re thinking about Simon again, aren’t you?” Jesus’s voice rang out, interrupting Judas’s thoughts. “He’ll be ok. He’s got a lot of law knowledge, if he has to go to court, he’ll be able to handle himself.”
“It’s not that,” Judas said as it began to chew on a wad of tobacco. “You’ve warned him already about getting into legal trouble. He knows the feds hate us right now. And we can’t afford legal fees right now, not with all the money we promised to donate to the shelter and–”
“Shhhh…” Jesus rested their hand on Judas’s. “We don’t have time to worry about that right now. All we can do is just wait and see.” They were right. Worrying about this wasn’t going to help matters. Judas sighed.
“Alright,” it said. “So… what do we do now?”
“We keep doing what we’re doing now,” Jesus responded. “Just… without Simon’s petty theft.” Judas laughed.
“Where is he, anyway?” he asked.
“Crashing on Matthew’s couch for the week. He’s helping him to get a new job.”
Judas spat out his tobacco. “Let me guess, the McDonald’s near the college campus fired him when he got arrested?” he asked. Jesus nodded. “Damn,” Judas responded. “At least there’s always construction projects going on around here. Maybe he can get a gig with one of those.”
Jesus crumpled up the paper from the sandwich given to him by Judas. “I really hope so,” he quietly said.
The Twelve had always had issues with money, especially recently with the rising prices of food and other essentials. Most days they could only really afford to eat instant meals or whatever cheap crap that could be fit into a can. Fresh fruit was a luxury. Occasionally, Peter would get lucky and catch some brook trout from the creek, but that was only if they weren’t full of whatever pollutants had been dumped into the water. Spam, Treet, and other ungodly canned meat amalgamations fulfilled their protein needs. So, the windfall of Judas being able to get its hands on a decent meal because of a cancelled food order was nothing short of a miracle.
And it was obvious that Jesus appreciated being able to eat something that didn’t come from a can or a package. They had been neglecting their health recently, giving the people the Twelve had been helping any higher quality food and drink that would have otherwise been given to him. This generosity was an admirable trait, but not when it came at the cost of his health and happiness.
Judas looked up at the clouds peeking through the buildings. There weren’t any big cities in West Virginia, but the buildings and the mountains made it hard to get a clear view of the sky sometimes. “You know,” he sighed. “Even if that person never cancelled their order from Gino’s, I probably would have gotten you something from there anyway.”
“But we don’t have the money for Gino’s,” Jesus quietly said. “We barely have money for takeout of any kind.” Judas shrugged.
“I’ve been making okay money from DoorDash,” it replied. “I would have saved up enough eventually.” He looked back over at Jesus. “Or… is it just that you’d rather the money not go towards you right now?” Jesus didn’t answer. Not verbally, at least. But Judas knew what they would have said if they did say something. “I guess that’s fair, considering everything that has happened recently.”
Jesus stood up from his spot on the curb. “We should probably go,” they said. “It’s starting to get dark.” He was right. If they stayed there after sunset, it was pretty much a guarantee that the cops would harass them. And they couldn’t deal with that now that Simon was in legal trouble. Judas stood up with Jesus.
“Where are we staying this time?” he asked. Jesus took out his phone. He scrolled for a minute before putting his phone back in his bag.
“John and James have their pullout couch fixed. We can stay with them for tonight.” Those two were lucky to get a decent price on the lease for their apartment. They probably took advantage of the lower prices given for college students coming to town, even though James’s old student ID was long expired. The landlord probably didn’t pay too much attention to the date on it. Judas picked up his bag and walked over to where he had locked his bicycle.
“Meet you there?” it asked as it unlocked its bike.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”
With that, Judas got on his bicycle and rode off. Hopefully Jesus was right about things working out with Simon.