Work Text:
Judelow has joined the game
<Judelow> hey
<Conexion> hi
<Judelow> wyd up this late
<Conexion> ?
<Judelow> we have finals trmw lmao
<Judelow> did u even study???
<Conexion> no lol
<Judelow> tf you doing?? atleast get some sleep in bro
Sharpness stares at the message with a blank face. He was peacefully practicing pvp until interrupted by one of his fellow classmates. Placing his cold hand to his face’s cheek, he considers how long he’s been in the game and decides to go check the time. 4 am in the morning. He rubs his dull emerald eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.
<Judelow> Hellooooo?????? r u just gonna air me like that?
<Conexion> Sorry was checking the time
<Conexion> yk ur asking me that like ur not up too
<Judelow> Ok well i was doing something productive
<Judelow> studying
<Conexion> On minecraft? lmao
<Judelow> nah was taking a break then saw u online
<Conexion> Alr wtv u say ig
Silence emerges from both sides. To be honest, Sharpness didn’t know what he was doing, farming Minecraft all night before his big finals seems kinda stupid, no? Sharpness, knew that he wasn’t an academic weapon but instead, for sports. After all he did get invited into Strength University for his outstanding performances in volleyball. Perhaps if he placed a little more effort into it he could’ve been passing his classes but his stubbornness won’t allow him to hit the books because they don’t interest him in the slightest.
<Judelow> So uh, wanna call?
<Conexion> ???
<Judelow> kinda wanna hear ur voice
<Conexion> Dude wtf
<Judelow> bro cmon ive been reviewing notes in silence for like idk forever? Parker fell asleep a long time ago
<Conexion> if u wanna break the silence then turn on some music?
<Judelow> Nah i want ur voice specifically since ur being so bitchy abt it
<Conexion> fine
Joy was lit in Jude’s dead eyes. Finally, he can talk with Sharpness again. He's been itching to have some kind of interaction with him ever since this summer, where his volleyball competitions started. Seeing Sharp less has already worsened Jude’s yearn, making him feel bitter whenever he sees anything related to Sharpness. He clicks onto Discord, scrolling through his dms to find the white profile picture with the user ‘Sharpness” next to it. He moves his cursor eagerly to the call button.
Ring, ring ring.
The sounds of the call swirled inside his head. Awaiting for the next sound effect, the joining one to be heard.
Ring ring ring.
His ears twitched, demonstrating annoyance. Why wasn’t this blond answering when he quite literally agreed not even 30 seconds ago? A little pressed, he switches to his minecraft tab where he notices the messages Sharp has left behind.
<Conexion> Nvm now that im thinking about it im tired af
<Conexion> im going to sleep
<Conexion> gn jude
Conexion has left the game
Jude lets out a long disappointed sigh. And just like that another missed opportunity added onto the list, he glances around his bright monitor in his dark dorm room before deciding to log off. He turns his head around to see Parker bathed in the light from his monitor, still knocked out, drooling onto his books. Slowly registering what he’s looking at, Jude rushes to get off his chair and pull the books from under Parker's head.
He throws the wet textbook onto the floor before giving Parker a disgusted glare, did this idiot seriously fall asleep while studying? Crouching next to the bed that Parker was slubbering on, he turns his head towards the window behind him, staring at the full moon. As his screen’s light slowly faded away, the moon’s took over. It was bright alright, there was faint mists of clouds and tiny sparkles surrounding it, making it feel too much ertheral to be real. This sighting kinda reminded him of something, but he couldn’t quite put his tongue on it.
Jude sits in his echoing thoughts. Great now this mystery is bugging him. Scratching his purple hair he tries to convince himself that it was some picture that the professor shared during a lecture. Wait no- that doesn’t sound right. That has little to no correlation at all. So then what? Was it included in an add or- oh. One of Sharpness’s bags had a pin similar to it. His memories come gushing back, he thinks back to when they spoke about it after he pointed it out. Apparently, Mugm has gifted it to him as a good job for hard-carrying their team.
Volleyball huh. Something aside from culinary and the internet that peaks Sharp’s interests. Jude wasn’t the worst or the best at it but if he does something that impresses Sharp then-
“Miss him already?”
Jude quickly turns his head back looking straight into Parker.
“What the hell? I thought you were sleeping.”
“Yeah- were. Could've been a little more gentle swiping the books away.”
“Can’t blame me. I was saving the books from a torturing bath. What did you say earlier? You were literally mumbling it out.”
Parker closes his eyes shut. “Nevermind, aren’t you tired dude? Been up all night.”
“I guess. Just wanted to talk with Sharp for a little.”
Parker lets a little giggle escape before rolling over to face the wall. Jude furrows his brows before getting up to head towards his side of the room. He slides off his slippers before crashing down headfirst onto his messy bed.
“Soooo. You gonna make a move? Y’know, with the volleyball cap?”
What a question to ask. It’s 4 am, pitch black and the both of them are half awake.
“When I get the chance.” Practically humming his words out, he closes his eyes shut to drift off.
. ——*.
Jude is spotted by Tai, he’s walking out from the lecture hall chatting with Parker. They had just finished their big finals and seemed to be heading to a spot to hangout in as usual.
“Yo Judddeeelowww!” Tai shouts weirdly loudly . The rabbit, alerted, whips his head around.
“Tai! What’s good? Of course, he matches the black haired man’s energy. Tai approaches the two men to get lost in a conversation about pretty much anything they can think of. But, it’s brought to an end when noticeable blond hair appears in the corner of J’s eye. He cuts Tai off by shoving his face outta the way and shouts Sharp’s name out.
“Oh hey Jude, Tai and Parker .” His voice was raspy, his eye bags were contrasting to his pale skin, hair tied in a loose messy bun and eyes droopy. He looked like he was homeless or something, but despite that he still looked surprising, really pretty . Almost even prettier than his everyday appearance.
“How are you doing princess? Seems like you didn’t sleep well huh.” Jude motions his index finger to point under at S’s eyebags as he leans in. Sharp rolls his eyes at the comment containing the pet name. He places his hands onto the strap of the tote bag he carried on his shoulder.
“Yeah like you didn’t either. You look like a panda too.” Sharpness snaps back.
“Well, I’m just glad I stayed up that late to get some alone time with you.” Jude’s stupid grin was becoming harder to ignore. Sharpness tilts his head, trying to ignore the scarlet forced onto his face.
“Whatever.” Was the only word Sharpness muttered out of his lips before shifting his body to begin leaving. As he started walking away, he was stopped short by a tug coming from his bag.
“Oh hey before you go, uh, have any spare time to spend? Could be now or later, don’t care tbh.” His tone obviously changed a little too much. It went from being mockingly loud to a shy sincere one.
“Uh. I’m not sure. Parents want me to visit over the weekends, I agreed to plans with Theo and-“
“The rest of your schedule is packed with volleyball or whatever sport related stuff. Alright, I get it.” Jude let’s go the only thing keeping Sharpness here and look the other way. Sharpness is oblivious and usually gets called ‘dullness’ by friends but I suppose you can say he was sharp enough here to catch the disappointment featured in the purple haired man’s reaction. He narrows his eyes, trying to understand why Jude would ask him this all the sudden. I mean don’t get me wrong, he enjoys being company for his friends but this is new.
“I’ll see how things go. If anything comes up you’ll be the first one I text.” He offers a light smile that expresses a bit of comfort before turning to continue walking his path to the flight of stairs.
“He’s not getting that text is he?” Tai scoffs, trying to hold in his laughter. Parker too is covering his mouth almost like he knows that it makes it even more obvious that he's on the brink of bursting out laughing.
“Dalright guys, clown on me all you want.” Used to all this teasing, Jude waves them off.
“It’s alright, maybe next time.” Parker wraps his arm around Jude seemingly trying to comfort him.
“Maybe next time your princess won’t be so busy with his duties!” Tai adds on. Is all this commentary even necessary? Are they trying to comfort him or not? Trying to stay nonchalant, Jude doesn’t respond to their sincerity and instead changes the topic.
“Kay, so where’s that one place you wanted to go to? It was a cafe?” Jude stares blankly at Parker.
“Oh. Uh. Right, I forgot.” Parker whips out his phone to begin searching.
.——*.——*.
A few days have passed and expectantly, Jude unfortunately did not receive a text from Sharpness’s number. He shared a dorm room with Parker, his childhood best friend, for his stay at the university. As he stares at the ceiling waiting for Rust to load in, the door creaks open and in Parker, who is carrying groceries for the both of them.
“Hey, I’m back.” Closing and locking the door behind him, he glares at Jude who’s back was turned and ultimately on Rust.
“Uh so I assume no text from Sharpness? Cuz you know, you’re lik-“
“Don’t even needa assume.” Immediately, Parker noticed how upset this guy sounds. Not trying to make it awkward, he walks into the kitchen part of the dorm and opens the fridge’s door to start restocking.
“There’s gotta be at least one day where Sharp's free.” Parker mummered.
“And willing.”
“…. That too I guess. You saw the way he smiled at you, he likes being around you. Maybe he already likes you enough for him to agree to go on a date with you.”
“It’s not a date what? Just two friends hanging out.” A laugh emerges from the kitchen.
“Hah! I know what you really want Jude.”
Jude groans and continues playing his video game. Parker exits the kitchen to notice the mess they left from last night and decides to tidy it up since Jude is too busy coping. A buzz came from the purple phone resting on top of the bed frame.
“Yo someone messaged you.”
“Yeah, I heard the notification, can you check for me im bouta hit this clip.”
“Mhm.” Parker grabs the phone and walks towards Jude, he shoves the phone in front of his face to unlock it before reading the notification. Eyes widening and so does his mouth.
“Yes! Let’s go! Noob owes me so much money!” This sudden reaction made Jude unlock in from his game to turn his head to Parker who is smiling like he won the lottery.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jude’s narrowed eyes stare into Parker’s crescent eyes.
“Maybe you should see for yourself.” Parker faces the phone straight in front of Jude. He squints and adjusts the phone to make reading the text easier.
Sharp: theo got sick so he canceled his plans with me
Sharp: u still up to hang out?
.——*.——*.——*.