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Sharpness was still welcome in Jude’s base, even after the betrayal.
Well, he thinks he is. Jude never officially kicked him out, so…that means he’s safe, right?
“All my traps have been harder now that my teammate betrayed me!” Judelow complains loudly, shooting a meaningful glare in Sharpness’s direction. “Now I have to be the baiter and the puller!”
Sharpness ignores this obvious jab, instead focusing on sharpening his sword. He wasn’t going to let Judelow rage bait him, not when he had already fallen for one of his reverse reverse psychology tricks (seriously, who’s crazy enough to have not only a backup trap, but also a backup backup trap?)
Later, while heading down to the turtle farm, he hears another one of Jude’s pointed remarks. “I hope you know how to use it this time! Last time, you murdered half my turtles. Do you have any idea how long it took to get them all in one place?”
Again, Sharpness ignores this but it’s starting to get on his nerves. Every time he saw Judelow, he would make a complaint about Sharpness’s betrayal, or an insult to his intelligence, or even just straight up insulting Sharpness.
But, unfortunately, Sharpness needed Jude. Or, at the very least, Sharpness needed Jude’s base.
He was still kinda homeless. You’d figure the server’s best pvper would have their own grinding base, especially with the new season already months old, but no.
Sharpness sponged off of everyone, scraping a little of this and a little of that out of everyone’s base. He was like an annoying leech that no one could get rid of because, well, as Judelow once gracefully put it, he might lack a brain, but he can swing a sword pretty damn well.
Like, really well. It was almost inhuman the speed at which Sharpness can swing his sword, or the stamina he has to take on long, drawn out 2v1s and still come out on top.
Which may be the reason why Judelow never officially kicked Sharpness out of his base, even after the betrayal. He was smart, smart enough to know that if Jude himself asked Sharpness to get out, that would only make Sharpness more determined to stay.
So he just resorted to passive aggressive remarks instead. A complaint here, a thinly veiled insult there. And so far, it was working. Jude could practically see Sharpness’s resolve weakening with each passing comment.
One night, as Sharpness is coming home late at night after another successful pvp victory, he notices the lights in Jude’s base still on. Strange. He knew Jude didn’t like to sleep much, or at all, really, sometimes going days with barely a wink of sleep, but it was really late.
Frowning, Sharpness walked down the creaking oak stairs to find Jude at his desk, hard at work scribbling another design. As Sharpness approached, Jude jumped a little, looking up from his work.
Sharpness audibly gasped. Jude looked terrible. His hair was mussed, he had dark eyebags under his eyes, and he looked like a zombie.
“Jude! When was the last time you got any sleep?” Sharpness exclaimed.
“Hmm?” Judelow still looked a bit dazed. “Oh. I don’t know. Maybe…five days ago?”
five days.
FIVE DAYS?
”JUDE! You need sleep right now!” Sharpness reached over to turn off the lamp light on his desk.
”No! I’m fine, really. Just go to bed and let me work on my trap ideas for a little longer,” Jude tried slapping Sharpness’s arm away.
”Jude. You just missed my arm by half a foot.” Sharpness deadpans. “You clearly need some sleep, come on,”
”No, I don’t. I’ve gone-“ Jude gets cut off with his own yawn. “I’ve gone longer without sleep,”
”Jude, this isn’t healthy. Come on, you can work on these tomorrow morning.” Sharpness urges.
Jude just rolls his eyes and goes back to sketching his trap.
They may not be teammates anymore, but seeing the way Jude was quite literally rotting away in his chair, Sharpness made the executive decision to force Jude to go to bed.
“Nnghh hey! What are you doing? Put me down!” Jude shouts.
Sharpness ignores Jude’s kicking feet and carries him bridal-style into his bedroom. Plopping Jude down on the bed, he pins him down when he tries to get up.
”Get…off of me!” Jude grunts, but it was no use. Not against Sharpness, who’s body was rock solid, packed with muscle from his daily training sessions.
“You’re going to go to sleep,” Sharpness says calmly, voice brooking no room for negotiation or protests.
Jude stopped struggling after a couple more minutes. “You’re so fucking dead, Sharp,” Jude promises, but there was no venom behind it.
In fact, Judelow could barely keep his eyes open. Was his pillow always this soft?
“You’re welcome,” Sharpness teases.
As Judelow is drifting in and out of consciousness, he realizes Sharpness shifting their positions so that Jude was cuddled up against Sharp.
Maybe it was the sleep deprivation kicking in, but for whatever reason,
Judelow cuddled Sharpness back.
The next morning, Sharpness awoke to an empty bed. Disappointing, but not unexpected. Sitting up, he stretched his arms with a yawn. Was last night a dream? It suddenly felt too good to be true.
Stepping outside, he see’s Jude back at work on his trap designs. Sighing, Sharpness walked to the kitchen, intending to get something to eat.
“I made you breakfast,” Jude calls, voice laced with annoyance.
Eyebrows raised, Sharpness looked over to where Jude was pointing — and sure enough, a steaming bowl of mushroom stew was waiting for him there.
“I made it as a thanks for last night,” Jude admitted. “I hadn’t realized how desperately I actually needed sleep.”
”Awwww is this your way of telling me that I’m welcome in your base?” Sharpness grins.
”Don’t fucking push your luck,” Judelow mumbles, but Sharpness could see the small smile he was trying to hide.
Every day from that day on, Sharpness always checked and made sure Jude was getting enough sleep.
And Sharpness always awoke with a hot plate of breakfast ready for him.