Work Text:
“Oh my god, you’re so dumb…”
Crouching down, Sharp flicked at Jude’s stupid metal rabbit ears, hoping it echoed in his empty skull.
“Hey. Freak rat.”
No response. Maybe he was dead. Wouldn’t that be nice.
Too late, Sharp’s paranoia kicked in, and he took a small step back, looking around the darkened spawn.
Torches. Jude’s, presumably, placed like he’d really been working on something. Holes to match. Jude himself, slumped against a crate, out cold, as far as Sharp could tell.
It seemed suspicious.
“Hey.”
Sharp kicked him. What he couldn’t manage with his hands, a metal-toed boot seemed to suffice for, as Jude jerked, and nearly shot straight upright, flailing as his eyes snapped open.
“Whu- what the- fucking-“
Sharp kicked him again. Just for shits, to be honest, because it was funny to see him flinch and whip around, searching for whoever kept driving metal into his side.
Jude’s eyes found him, and narrowed, uneven red colouring glaring up at him from where he was sprawled on the floor.
“Sharpness.”
“Rat. You planning something here? Or should I be running already?”
“Yeah, you- you should scram.”
Jude pulled himself together, a little, huffing and adjusting his goggles, where they were perched on his forehead, tight enough to leave dents in his acne-scarred skin. Probably why his skin was so bad, those things looked like they had decades of infection on them.
When he looked up, Sharpness was still standing over him, one hand on his hip, eyebrows raised. Jude hissed.
“Go away. I’m not done, shop’s closed, come back in the morning. Lemme kill you then.”
Sharp could never tell when he was lying. This could be an elaborate trap, one he’d strode right into the centre of, and Jude’s flushed cheeks and jumpy atmosphere was just his eagerness to get another kill, like an addict looking for his high.
“Can you hear me? Go away. Scram. I’m letting you go, don’t take it for granted.”
Sharp scoffed. It wasn’t very impressive, when Jude was practically cowering at his feet, compulsively touching his utility belt, and his axe, and his goggles again, eyes flicking back and forth.
“You think I’m letting you finish this thing? I’m not dumb.”
“Hm.”
Jude looked stupidly pleased with himself for the tiny jab, and Sharp decided to take it personally.
Bending down, he grabbed the trapper by the collar, wrenching Jude to his feet and off them again, holding him just a few inches off the ground, to really make his point.
“I’m not dumb. And you’re not spending another second on this. I’ll nuke it in the morning.”
Jude squeaked, just a little, kicking furiously as he slapped pathetically at Sharp’s wrist. It was ridiculous, watching him struggle like a rabbit in a trap, so Sharpness dropped him, letting him land in a heap on the grass, gasping. He wasn’t light enough to be held like that for too long, anyway.
“Holy- bro, that is- warning, dude, before you choke me, fucking shit…”
Rubbing at his neck, Jude sat up again, staying cautiously on the ground as now-teary eyes glared up at Sharp.
“I’m not going anywhere. You can’t mess with my shit, dude, it’s not done. I’ve been at this thing for a week already, you can give me a couple more fucking days.”
“For you to pass out again?”
Sharp nudged the chest with his boot, and Jude fully flinched, hugging the wooden box like it held something precious, expression turning to pouty frustration.
“I’ve slept. Like, twice, bro.”
He was shivering. Sharp could see it, by the torchlight, and felt his eyes narrow, just a little. Jude was shivering, clutching the chest like he might slip off, breathing unsteady and heavy, and he should have been able to push Sharp off with relative ease, all things considered.
“Twice?”
“Yeah, twice. This shit’s hard. Not that you’d know, with your sword and pretty-boy face and-“
“Jude, how much have you slept this week?”
Something about his voice must have made Jude shut up, and it was funny how much less threatening he looked, trembling and lip quivering slightly, sitting on the ground.
Sharp waited. Frustration seeping in, making his fingers drum against the hilt of his sword, but he waited.
“Go to hell, Sharpness.”
More waiting, then. Jude was impatient. Sharp could outlast him, especially right now, when he was quite enjoying the view of the trapper looking bitchy and miserable at his feet.
“…Bro, maybe eight hours? Why’d you care?”
“Eight hours. In a week.”
“Oh look, the pretty boy learnt to put two and fucking two together.”
A thought crossed Sharpness’s mind. It was a good one, and his expression must have changed, because there was real panic in Jude’s eyes, just for a moment.
“Now hold up, we can- we can-“
“Hold still.”
In a smooth motion, Sharp crouched down, grabbing Jude under his arms and hauling him upright again, before switching to his hips, and straightening with the trapper thrown over his shoulder, squirming in discomfort.
“Dude- get off, I’m not-“
“Not that strong?” Sharp’s hand was on the back of Jude’s knees, holding him in place easily. “Or am I not inclined to leave you out here alone a second longer?”
Jude didn’t have an answer to that, or was preoccupied struggling. Sharp would give him determination, but not much more than that.
It was more difficult, to walk back out of the minefield that was Jude’s territory at spawn, with the aforementioned trapper wriggling on his shoulder. Sharp was keeping him in place, but god, he was fidgety.
“Stay still…”
“Put me down! Put me the hell down, dude, or- or I’ll-“
Jude stuttered, and failed, and huffed, trying to kick his legs out of Sharp’s grip.
It didn’t work. Sharp kept walking, using both hands to hold Jude in place, even as he tried to push himself off, but clearly didn’t have the confidence to face the five-and-a-half-foot fall to the ground.
“Dude…” Jude was whining, now, drumming his feet weakly against Sharp’s chest. “Put me down… I don’t need sleep…”
“Uh, yes, you do. And no, I’m not letting you run back to your latest way to kill me or all of us.”
“Ugh. I hate you.”
“Hate you too, rat.”
Jude went limp, dramatically, bouncing on Sharp’s shoulder for a few seconds before he made a pained noise, and went back to wriggling.
“Alright, we’re done with that.”
Stopping abruptly, Sharp hefted Jude off his shoulder, dropping the trapper on the floor unceremoniously. He’d stopped next to a hill, which would do fine, combined with his e-chest, and only for one night.
Sharp could feel Jude glaring poisonous daggers into the back of his head, as he mined out a small hole, deep enough to hit stone, which would make a perfectly fine room for the night.
“In.”
Jude glared. Sharp smiled dryly, and pointed, in case the trapper needed help.
“Fuck off.”
“Language.”
“Fuck you.”
Since he was already in the mood for manhandling Jude tonight, Sharp decided to cut to the chase. This time, he just grabbed the trapper’s upper arm, hauling him cheerfully into the small hole, to extremely vocal protests.
Which Sharp ignored, turning around to block them in and place a torch, then turning back, and pulling Jude to his feet.
“Fuck, bro, stop- stop doing this shit, I can’t-“
Sharp spun Jude on the spot, turning him around by his shoulders until he was stumbling, sounding borderline incandescent as the trapper staggered into him.
“-what the fuck, this- this is harassment, what was that for-“
“So you don’t know which way is out.”
Jude paused, and shot him a suspicious, sulky look, shoving the two of them apart like being close to Sharp burned him.
“…That’s kinda smart. For a blond idiot.”
“You know what’d be smart, for a blue rat?”
“For you to stop fucking touching me?”
Sharp paused. Jude said it with such vitriol, a kind of fury he hadn’t noticed before now, that his voice actually softened, for a moment.
“I can stop. If you don’t… if you don’t like it.”
He wanted to piss Jude off. But if he’d just wanted him not to finish his trap, he could have dragged him halfway across the server and dumped him there. Sharp wanted him to stop working, and to sleep, and he might need to go about it a bit more tactfully, if he wanted to actually get what he was going for.
Jude froze too, and for a second, they both felt suspended in an awkward, paused moment, where their joint barbs and anger ground to a halt.
“…I didn’t- I didn’t say you had to stop.”
Sharp’s gaze snapped up, narrowing instantly, because Jude’s cheeks had turned bright red, even in the dim glow of the torch, and he looked even fainter than he had under open air.
“Jude, you freak.”
“Ok- shut up? Shut up? You’re the one who was grabbing me and shit, and-“ Jude was shaking again, fully, taking small steps away until his back hit the stone wall, and his voice started to stumble even more than it had been. “And I didn’t want you here, you- you started this-“
“Dude, relax.” Sharp held his hands up, trying not to grin, because Jude looked like death right now, going pale and flushing red simultaneously. “I started it. And I’m not done, so you need to sleep-“
“Get- get the hell away from me.” Jude’s palm was flat against the wall, his other hand pointing at Sharp, swaying like he wasn’t sure what to focus on. “You’re- fucking with my head, bro, get- go away-“
“I’m not doing anything.”
Jude’s sexual preferences were his own lookout, and Sharp had a small suspicion he wasn’t fully in his right mind. Not sleeping for a week would do that to you, although he wasn’t sure the trapper would appreciate the reminder.
Sharp gave it another few seconds. Jude’s breathing was getting heavier, he looked faint, and Sharp gave him another minute, at most.
With a small, weak curse, Jude’s legs gave out, and Sharp was ready to catch him, gentler this time, not throwing the trapper around any more than was necessary as he placed a bed, and laid him on it.
Jude was still complaining, even as Sharp nudged him further onto the mattress, watching him curl up like he’d never slept before.
“Bro… you’re so weird, bro…”
“Shut up. You need to sleep.”
“‘M not sleeping here- you’re gonna kill me…”
“No sword.” Sharp held up his hands, hoping it was reassurance enough, to Jude’s addled mind. “I can sit here.”
Cautiously, he sat on the end of the bed, watching Jude’s eyes sharpen on him with something unreadable.
“No. Here.”
Jude gestured clumsily, voice cracking from sheer exhaustion. It was almost maddening, how stubborn he was, even when his body was actively shutting down out of need to rest.
Sharp shook his head, anyway. He wasn’t sleeping beside Jude. Not when he was like this, not when leaving him flustered was as far as he was willing to go.
“Dude. I- I’m not sleeping if you’re gonna stab me in my sleep.”
Sharp hated the logic. For the first time, he hated how little reason they had to trust each other. He was only calm because he knew Jude was no threat, because there was no world where the trapper would humiliate himself to this degree, act like this, just for the sake of getting a kill.
He could only imagine how scared Jude must be, under his bravado and arrogance.
Not that Sharp felt sorry for him. It was just logic, how he hesitated, then shuffled closer, keeping his hands in sight as red eyes followed him.
“Here.”
Jude tried to grab him, but he seemed half-asleep already, even clumsier than usual when he wasn’t working with his machines.
Sharp didn’t move. He petted Jude’s hair, adjusting his metal ears and goggles, but stayed firmly where he was. Jude would have to cope.
Even if it ate at him, a little, seeing how Jude gave it up, shivering as he went limp, eyes fluttering shut.
Just one night. Sharp would do this, just for one night, just so he still had Jude around to taunt and kill another day.
Jude didn’t need to trust him. But Sharp would keep him safe.