Chapter Text
Jedediah was sick, thats what he told himself, i mean there had to be a reason for acting like this, for thinking like this, so he must be sick. Even if he wasnt, he was in other ways, nobody thought of their best friend like that, no matter how attractive they are.
Not if they are a roman that probably has experience in sparkin’, not if they have short, dark curls that he would love to run his hands through, not if they have striking, rich brown eyes that he could fall into, not if have a voice like honey and a laugh like an angels song, not if they had a sculpted body and sunkissed olive skin, and the scent of wine, honey, and sea salt lingering on their clothes, not if they had soft, rosy red lips that he could spend hours tracing with his o-
NO! Get a hold of yourself jedediah! This is exactly the time of stuff you are gettin in trouble for in the first place, well….technically he aint in any trouble yet but, this isnt right!
Jedediah isnt particularly a religious man, his real self was, a devout who swore off sex, drugs, drinkin’, cursin’ anything you would get in any trouble with the big man upstairs. He had questions about the romans gods, polytheistic, they said they were and they have gods over everythin’, but he didnt much think of that too much. Theres two groups in the western diorama, the ones who do believe in God, catholic or christian it dont matter, and there are the ones who dont. He teetered on that line like a balancing act.
He didnt believe much but this, this was too much. Its wrong, people have died just by bein’ this, it was wrong, he couldnt. He didnt know what went wrong, when he started thinking like this.
The priest. He would talk to the priest.
The sand crunched under Jedediah’s boots as he walked, panic rose as he saw the cross of the small church building near the edge of the diorama. Maybe he truly was sick, thats why the panic shot through him. He was a demon walkin’ onto holy ground, and he might not come out again, but he had to know if this could be cured. So he pushed his nerves down and opened the door.
Nobody was inside, but he knew Elijah, the priest would be here, he liked to be alone here with his thoughts, he said once. Jed stuck his hands in his pockets and walked down the aisle like he was walking to an execution block. He looked around and eventually made his way to the raised platform, lifting himself onto it, he was about to call out to find the man he was looking for but he looked to his right. Nobody could have prepared him for what he saw.
The priest had his hands on another cowboy’s waist, Jed hadnt talked to that particular cowboy all that much, but he knew his name, Arthur, he also knew that he was a pretty damn good fighter, but this….werent a fight, it seemed that Elijah had pushed the cowman up onto a nearby table off in the wing. Arthur had his legs wrapped around Elijah’s middle, his arms around his neck while they kissed….passionately. Jedediah didnt even know if he should say anything or just start hightailing it so they didnt catch him, while trying to decide, Elijah had pulled away “we’re gon’ get caught one day if we dont be careful, darlin’” Arthur smiled “yeah? And will that be before or after you end up with a hickey you cant hide?”
“That was one time!” Arthur pulled him back to kiss him again, when Elijah started sliding his hand up Artur’s shirt Jedediah spoke up “am i…interruptin’ somethin’?” the two snapped their attention over, Elijah held his hands up while Arthur slid off the table “J-jed! Howdy!” he said, rubbing his neck, sheepishly. “I- uh, wanted to talk ‘bout somethin’ but i can come later if ya two need” Arthur put his hat back on and walked over to pat Jed on the shoulder “ya know, i was just ‘bout to head over to the saloon, see ya” he said, walking out. Jedediah didnt miss the wink he directed to the priest as he walked out.
Elijah straightened out his clothing as he talked “so, jed, what was it that you wanted to talk ‘bout?” Jedediah sighed, sitting down at the edge of the platform, legs dangling off “i dont think ya would get it no more” Elijah sat down next to him “try me” the cowboy sighed again “well i….i dont think i…….i mean i think….ugh im sorry” Jed muttered, planting his head in his hands “hey, take your time, you dont gotta spell it all out at once”
Jedediah took a deep breath, thinking about it before saying “i think i like fellas” Elijah had blinked at him owlishly “...and?” the cowboy was taken aback “w-whatcha mean ‘and’?! Thats what i wanted to talk ‘bout!” the priest nodded “and, what about it do ya wanna talk ‘bout?” Jed spluttered, turning away, ashamed. Silence passed over them before jedediah looked down to the floor, confused and upset “a-aint it a sin? To be a….a queer?”
“Ah, that, right” Elijah set a leg up, resting his arm on it “listen jed, ‘m a priest, but a certain cowboy captured my heart 50 years ago, do ya think im any less worthy of bein’ a priest?” the cowboy looked at him and shook his head “then why do ya think its different for ya?” jed fiddled with his hands, looking down again “the…the good book says its wrong”
The priest sighed “im gonna tell ya a secret” the cowboy looked over, intrigued “most of what the bible says is bullshit” Jedediah felt more shocked than when he saw Elijah frenchin Arthur “the bible is ‘bout as old as our romans friend’s place by now, and it werent always in English. Last i had known, it was in Hebrew, actually learned a thing or two ‘bout the language from miss may, but the thing is, things are said differently, and most people who translated it, they put stuff in it that they didnt like, that thought was wrong, and who could say they did their job wrong? No one, cause they were in a special place and the people who say it is wrong? They were gonna think that even if the bible said it was a-okay”
“And, for the record, we are technically already dead, you gonna stop yourself from lovin’ just cause some people said God wasnt okay with it even though you yourself, had a second coming?” the cowboy looked down, processing it, and smiled, Elijah took off a ring and put it in jeds hand, it didnt look all that expensive, a simple silver ring, but inside, a small saying was inscribed Mi estrella de Norte , Elijah smiled “Arthur gave me that ring, he was all flustered and nervous, half of his confession was in Spanish because of how nervous he was, he actually ran off after. But then i found him and i said that i fell for him too, we were sparkin’ ever since then”
Jedediah looked at it again “you’ve had this ring for 50 years?” Elijah nodded, then pulled out a necklace from under his shirt, a gold ring hung from a string “ive had this one for ‘round 40 now” the cowboy looked perplexed until it hit him “y’all are married?!” the priest laughed “yep, we never told nobody ‘cause we didnt know how y’all would react, and i am a priest n all so we just kinda did the whole weddin’ in here one day, a couple of folks know but i guess it never really came up that much for anyone to find out” the cowboy looked at the ring again, and handed it back.
Elijah shook his head, and clasped his hands over Jed’s “this is for you, Arthur gave me this to tell me he wanted to start sparkin’, you gotta give it to your roman to tell him ” Jedediah smiled and nodded, before he processed all of it “wait, how’d you know who it was?!” Elijah lifted a brow “Jed, if you thought you were bein’ subtle about your feelin’s of the general, you were not” Jedediah flushed and walked out muttering about how he didnt even know until a few days ago while the priest had a laugh.