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Sharpness had a problem.
The problem was the fact that he was teamed with JudeLow at all, obviously, but more specifically, he had a problem that wasn’t entirely Jude’s fault.
Look, Sharp couldn’t exactly say anything. It would be rude, to complain about Jude being an omega. And he wasn’t shy about it, so it wasn’t even like he was ashamed.
Not that he should be ashamed. Secondary sexes were nothing to be self-conscious about, and Sharp wasn’t trying to go after Jude being comfortable in his own body.
Thing was, Sharp wasn’t sure he was that comfortable, around Jude’s body. He was human, and it just made him even more paranoid, if anything. He didn’t know how omegas worked. He didn’t know how rabbit hybrids worked.
All he could say so far was that Jude worked on his own terms, to put it mildly. Sharp wasn’t sure he’d seen a less obedient omega in his life. Again, he wasn’t trying to stereotype, but Jude had sheer unmated omega energy sometimes. Reckless, making a point of giving less than zero fucks, giddy and self-serving and stubborn and arrogant.
Sharp was scared. For himself, and Jude.
Mostly himself, in matters non-omega related.
Jude was a dangerous son of a bitch. As Sharp had learned, too many times already, because apparently being aforementioned little bitch’s teammate didn’t exempt him from being dropped onto dripstone at least twice a day.
Like now. And Sharp was pissed about it, once again, Jude’s cackling echoing down the hole.
“Again! You need to stop trusting me, Sharpness! That’s- that’s three fucking times, god, you’re an idiot!”
“Shut up, rat!” Scowling, Sharp dug a bow out of his inventory, loosing an arrow straight up to get his teammate’s attention. “Get down here, my ankles hurt.”
Maybe Jude deserved whatever downfalls biology decided to throw at him. His heats weren’t going to be Sharp’s problem. Heats were for mates, someone the hybrid trusted, and Sharp was going nowhere near that. Not when not-trusting the rabbit hybrid was already breaking his ankles more than they needed to be already.
Jude’s laughter disappeared, and Sharp leaned on the stone wall, scowling and rubbing his shoulder. He wasn’t salty. It was an occupational hazard, he’d accepted it. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t bitch about it.
In mere seconds, Sharp caught a glimpse of heavy metal boots, and huffed, standing up a little straighter.
“Alright, alright… these things aren’t meant to be deconstructed, so y’know… I’m doing you such a favour right now.”
“Shut up and get me out of here.”
Jude giggled, high and manic and somehow even more deranged than he usually was. Sharp pulled a face.
Jude pulled him out by the wrist, quicker than he’d been expecting, and Sharp stumbled. He nearly fell on the rabbit hybrid, actually, and only just caught himself.
Surprisingly, Sharp wasn’t shoved off immediately. Jude moved to push him off, but stilled, for a moment.
Sharp moved away himself. Frowning, a little, at the spacey look in Jude’s eyes.
“You good, dude?”
Jude whimpered.
For a second, Sharp thought he’d imagined it. It had been a tiny noise, barely audible, and so nonsensical as to not fully compute.
“…Jude…”
“Wh- what?” Jude pulled himself together, ears twitching through the metal plating he protected them with. “You should be thanking me, bro. I just- saved your fucking life, or something.”
Sharp narrowed his eyes. Jude’s cheeks were red, but they always seemed to be, when he’d been running around, all excited and showing off his traps.
Maybe he was overly paranoid. Rabbits didn’t go into heat that often.
“I want out of here.”
“Your wish is my command, princess.” Jude dropped into a bow, tail twitching teasingly, and Sharp battled back a warmth in his own ears. “Follow me!”
And he was off, scampering away, and Sharp tried to breathe normally. Omegas didn’t go around going into heat every day. And Jude could probably handle himself, he must have, every other time he’d been alone.
For some reason, Sharp felt a little sorry for his new teammate, at that one.
——————
“Ugh.”
Jude didn’t even make it to the sofa, just collapsed onto his own floor, rolling onto the back to stare viciously at the ceiling.
From the sofa, Sharp looked up, worry he couldn’t quite conceal spiking in his throat.
“You good? Rat.”
He couldn’t quite resist. Sharp wasn’t letting Jude think there was any fondness growing, between their forced proximity.
As it was, Jude didn’t seem to care, just groaned dramatically, and flicked one of his ears like he was dying.
“No. I’m dying.”
“Heat?”
“What? Ew. No.”
Jude shot him a glare, and Sharp felt blood rush to his face. He hadn’t been trying to be weird. He was just worried, and a little unused to being around hybrids at all, let alone omegas.
“Sorry. But-“
“Dude. You don’t think about that shit.” Jude rolled over again, tail fluffier than usual with indignation. “That’s my problem, understood? I’m just tired as shit.”
Sharp looked away, deciding to stare at the floor instead of anywhere near his teammate. He wanted to be helpful, aware, not intrusive. Not that he was sure what he’d even do with the information.
“I’m just- team. New thing. Want to- make sure I’m… helping.”
“Bro.” Jude sniggered, kicking his legs in the air like a schoolgirl. “If you’re volunteering to- y’know-“
Going dizzy for a moment, Sharp’s head snapped up, and he stuttered, for a few seconds.
“Hey, I- I’m not- I- I’m not weird.”
“You sure?” Pushing his hands out in front of him, Jude pushed his hips back, stretching like a cat and grinning like he was trying to wind Sharp up. “I mean, you can just watch, if you really want.”
Sharp wasn’t enjoying this. He felt awful, squirmy and an awful lot like he was being a creep, even if Jude was the one actively presenting at him, under the guise of stretching obnoxiously.
His tail was cute.
Making a small, strangled noise, Sharp covered his face, strongly considering leaving the room entirely.
“Aw, c’mon.” There was the sound of Jude moving again, and Sharp didn’t even want to know what he was doing now. “You can look. You’re not a- man, that feels good- weirdo alpha, or anything.”
“Are- are a lot of people?”
Sharp wasn’t looking, for the record. Based off Jude’s noises, he wasn’t going near this until it felt a little more safe. He wasn’t going to be weird about this, absolutely not.
“Most alphas, for sure. Hey- you’re not looking.”
“I- I don’t want to…” Sharp trailed into a whine, pulling his legs onto the sofa. “Dude, I don’t- wanna be creepy, or anything.”
For a moment, there was nothing.
Then, Sharp felt Jude sitting beside him, and turned redder, shifting away slightly.
“Aw, Sharpness…” Jude was grinning. Almost laughing, probably, because he was always trying to wind Sharp up. “You’re being nice. That’s- kinda hot, to be honest.”
“God, Jude-“ Sharp pushed out a hand vaguely, catching a certain rabbit hybrid’s face with a little more force than he’d intended. “That’s not- I’m being normal, not nice.”
“Nah. Most people’d be going at me already. Didn’t expect you princess to be so restrained.”
Jude didn’t even remark that Sharp had basically just slapped him.
Fingers digging into his cheeks, now, Sharp glared at his teammate, something blocking his throat a little as he tried to speak.
“Jude, please- please tell me you’ve had a- a halfway healthy relationship in your life.”
“Not… as far as I’m aware!” Beaming, Jude leaned forward, resting his elbows on Sharp’s knees. “Why, pretty boy? Want to change that?”
“Yes.”
Jude blinked. So did Sharp, as both of them lagged for a few seconds around that single word.
Somehow, the rabbit hybrid recovered first, ruffling his ears and pulling back, businesslike.
“Right. Well- you’re weird, Sharpness, and I am not.”
“Jude.”
Sharp wasn’t sure why he was still talking. He just knew that Jude froze, and his ears flicked straight up, and that seemed encouragement enough.
“Jude, have you… ever actually spent a heat with anyone? Really?”
Jude was right. He was weird. Way too focused on this tiny thing, even when it suddenly seemed important, as his teammate’s mouth opened, and stayed there, wordless.
“…Y- Yeah, of course I have. Loads of people. I’m not- a loner, pretty boy.”
“Really? Properly?”
Jude’s ear twitched. Sharp could feel his own breathing, shallow and careful from how close the omega was to him.
“M- Maybe not. Not- not always.”
“How many that you… liked?”
The amount of blood in Jude’s cheeks must be getting to him. He sat back on his heels, staring but not seeing at Sharp, something unreadable on his face.
“Loads. All of them. Obviously.”
“That’s a lie.” Sharp scoffed, doing Jude the courtesy of not staring directly at him. “Try again, rat.”
“All of them.” Jude shifted, hugging himself awkwardly, a waver in his voice. “I- I wouldn’t- I mean- they didn’t always ask, but I wouldn’t ask them if- if I didn’t-“
This was an awful conversation. But they were both way too far into it to back out now, and Sharp wasn’t giving this up and still living with himself.
“They didn’t always ask?”
Jude looked up, glaring, but it was obscured by the tears gathering in his eyes. Sharp stayed neutral, nonjudgemental, even if his heart was aching.
“What- what does it matter to you, princess?”
“You- you’re my teammate.” He didn’t deserve this. Sharp wasn’t sure how to say that. “I should know, if you’re gonna freak out.”
“Well, I won’t.” It felt like he’d said the wrong thing, as Jude wiped his eyes, an edge to his still-raw voice. “I’m not an idiot, Sharpness, unlike you. I can handle myself.”
Sharp had hit a bit of a wall. He wasn’t sure he wanted to say anything else, wasn’t sure what he could say that Jude would accept.
But Jude didn’t seem quite happy to leave it here either. He was twitchy, shifting his weight, and his irritated glare was the note of something else Sharp had been getting used to.
“If you’re not going to ask, do you want to hug me?”
Sharp twitched, sitting up a bit, and hesitated. Jude had expected him to do something. He hadn’t been planning on it, but more out of respect for his teammate than anything else.
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Wow, I’m feeling the enthusiasm.”
Rolling his eyes, Jude swatted at Sharp’s legs until he moved them out of the way, then crawled into his lap, settling comfortably like Sharp had been being annoying by not offering from the start.
Sharp held his breath, as Jude curled against his chest, ears relaxing back down to his neck. The rabbit hybrid was careful not to actually let his ears touch him, but it was close, and Sharp was terrified.
This was trust. Even if Jude might not agree, after everything he’d said, he was choosing to be here, determined, even, to show how little he feared Sharp. In his own frustrating, played-for-shocks way.
Sharp hadn’t realised he knew that, about Jude. Hadn’t realised he could read him so easily.
But it felt like second nature, as he shifted himself, holding Jude gently against him, just so he didn’t feel like Sharp was letting him do all the work.
“‘M not gonna freak out. Not- because I’m me.” Jude nuzzled against him, gently, voice muffled and with no inclination to change that. “Because you’re you.”
Sharp wasn’t sure what to make of that.
Honestly? He didn’t have a clue what to make of Jude.
But he wanted to know. To do this right.