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Sharpness had always held himself at a high standard.
His head was held high at all times, not taking shit from many as one of the strongest swordsmen on the strength smp.
Right now, sharpness was anything but the strongest fighter.
He sat slumped against the arena walls, his vision blurring at the sides as he made out the dark figure infront of him that was the enderling Tai.
Every point in his body ached, the gashes in his arms and chest throbbed tremendously as his head rolled forward.
If I can't be the strongest, then who am I?
The thought was brief yet nagging, who really was he if he wasnt the best?
The thoughts were immediately chased away by the sudden surge of pure, red hot pain ripping through him body. The faint laughter of Tai ringing in his ears as his heart finally stopped, promptly respawning at his "base"
(It was totally just a hole in the ground with torches)
He braced himself on his desk, barely daring to look up at the face in the mirror.
What he would see wouldn't be the face of a proud warrior.
It was the face of a man who had lost his way.
Strayed from the path he was still so desperately clinging to.
"You're strength is now one."
The shrill message rung in his communicator that sat on his bed, the sound of it reading the notification out loud was grating to say the least.
How could he let himself become so much of a shell of his former self?
His arms shook slightly as he gripped the edges of his desk, still not looking up at the mirror in pure shame.
He had worked so hard, and for what?
His chest felt like a hole had been pierced right through it, the faintest sense of excitement that lingered after sharpness won a fight was not there, replaced by a heavy stomach and a caught throat.
He quickly fell backwards onto his bed, the feeling of the hard mattress and the smell of soil was anything but comforting.
His vision blurred at the sides once again, a migraine forming behind his eyes, the dull throbbing was rhythmic and in due time he had fallen asleep, his eyes red and puffy.
It was hours later, sharpness was hook in the pure darkness as his communicator rung multiple times once again.
Judelow: <"sharp">
Judelow: <"sharp">
Judelow: <"SHAERP">
Judelow: <"i want a rematch loser">
Judelow: <"I KNW YOUR ONLINE">
Sharpness sighed, his migraine returning as he saw who was now private messaging him, the idea of having to deal with judes bullshit on top of his own was far from appealing.
Conexion: <"genuinely fuck off">
Conexion: "I dont have time for your bullshit today."
He threw the communicator off the bedside, said communicator making a loud metalic clang on the stone as it shattered (hopefully)
He sighed again, shivering in the freezing pocket of air underground as his thoughts weighed on him once again.
Like creeping vines, the thoughts started to seep deeper into his thoughts, plaguing every memory how a drop of blood infests clear water.
How long until sharpness couldn't bear this feeling?
Hours later, he begrudgingly mined himself out of his little base, the air was thick and humid, the clouds looming drearily overhead with the rumbling of thunder slowly creeping closer.
He huffed, rubbing his eyes and disregarding the signs of a storm imminent, carrying himself to the training arena. The thought of losing another match made his skin crawl, the embarrassment of having another player drive their nasty sword through his chest made his hair stand on end.
Losing was not an option anymore.
Blow after blow to the dummies and nothing had changed, barely a scratch made to them as his hits grew weaker and less precise. His arms trembled in the grip of his heavy sword, every limb screamed in retaliation as he charged for another attack.
The rain was heavy, like a blanket of freezing bullets pelleting down around sharpness as he shivered, shapes started appearing in his vision, eyesight blurring at the edges as the dummy slowly moved farther and farther away from him. He felt like throwing up, or screaming, or just lying down.
It was too late by the time he had stumbled to the ground. Now unconscious on the grass he was just a month ago standing proudly against opponents, striking fear into those who dared to mock him. the rain peleting his body as it made slight clinking sounds as it hit the armor he wore religiously.
-☆
Jude was out gathering materials while the storm raged on, the odd interaction he had with sharpness earlier that day still ringing in his head as another tree tumbled to the ground. Hauling them in a giant bundle over his shoulder and adjusting his hood, beginning the trudge back to his base as a clap of thunder spooked him.
Something odd caught judes eye though,
In the corner of his eye, a flash of pale blonde was recognizeable in the training arena, although the sounds of a swinging sword was not.
He shifted his attention from the path ahead to the familiar sight, placing the logs on the ground as a growing sense of concern bloomed deep in his chest.
He walked, then slowly shifted to a run towards the arena, the full sight of sharpness laying on the ground, soaked to the bone and twitching graced his eyes as he pushed open the gates hastily.
He stopped for a second before quickly snapping into action, rushing over to sharpness as the storm grew more aggressive around them. The wind whipped branches around as the lightning struck the trees and houses alike, horrifyingly loud claps of thunder booming around them.
And even with all this happening around him, jude only had eyes for sharpness.
He deliberated quickly on what to do, before deciding to grab sharpness and try and pearl the both of them back to his base. The forest was the worst place to be right now.
Jude hastily got sharpness and himself back to his own base, disregarding the logs somewhere on the forest path for later.
Just as jude was about to close up his base with a makeshift blockade, a bolt of lightning struck a tree near the arena and collapsed with a sickening Crack straight through it.
Spooked, jude closed up the barrier and then rushed back over to sharpness.
His eyebags were painstakingly prominent, the tissue around his eyes was red and puffy, his hair that normally cascaded down his back like a gold waterfall was now matted and pale, the black bow dangling uselessly to a tangle in his hair.
-☆
Sharpness shot up in an unfamiliar room, his vision blurry and head aching as he haphazardly tried to gather up his thoughts from the last couple hours.
A vanity stood across from the bed, different notes plastered to the mirror, some scribbled in awful handwriting, others neatly drawn out.
He wasnt wearing his armor, instead he adorned a slightly oversized hoodie and sweatpants, the hoodie a deep purple with something embroidered on the back he couldn't see.
There was a faint smell of Redstone powder and lavender mixed in the air, something so distinctive but he just couldn't quite put his finger on it, like a voice misplaced throughout a collection of winding hallways.
You never know who it is or where it came from, but you still have a pit in your stomach knowing something is near.
In this case, the voice was the slight comfort Sharpness had from being in a room with jude or near him.
And the pit in his stomach was all the same.
sharpness' eyes widened as he slowly recognized the room he sat in, one he had lived in for for long, one he had shared with his former only good friend in this cruel world that was strength smp.
The door burst open with a loud bang a few moment later, causing the pain in his head to bubble over the edge again as he winced ferociously at the loud noise.
He tried to really adjust his vision, but all Sharpness could really see was the faint violet hues of an agitated jude staring directly back at him.
In less than a second, Sharpness had the overwhelming urge to throw up, but at the same time couldn't tear his eyes off jude.
They held eye contact for what felt like an eternity, the whistling of the wind outside and creaking of the base was the only thing audible.
Sharpness sat in the room he was once so comforted by, but now would rather claw his way out than stay. In the room of his former best friend, judelow.
Judes ears twitched again as he finally snapped out of his trance-like state immediately.
"Sharpness conexion what the FUCK were you doing practically napping in the middle of a thunderstorm?? A tree was less than five minutes away from crushing you, you moron!!"
Judes eye twitched as his eyebrows furrowed, glaring bullets at sharpness.
In reality he wasnt angry as hard that was to admit, he was quite frankly just worried. Sharpness had been acting way off these past couple of weeks and jude kind of missed the cocky, overconfident and cheery Sharpness.
-☆
Sharpness, already in an awful headspace and a throbbing headache took the words to heart immediately. His mouth twitched slightly as his eyes glossed with a thin layer of tears. His throat closed, blinking desperately to try and keep himself from sobbing on the spot.
He felt so.. vulnerable.
And he hated it.
Jude immediately perked up, seeing the demeanor change on sharps face made him worried. Quickly his scowl changed to a look of concern, the odd display of emotions out of nowhere caught him off guard.
"Sharp... did I.. did I say something..??"
Their normal banter included little insults that were never taken seriously, but this time it felt more real, even if jude didnt mean it like that, it was real for Sharpness.
Sharp quickly shook his head, ducking his head into his hands as the dull pain throbbing just behind his eyes methodically grew. Rubbing his eyes and sniffling.
"N..no you're fine,, its whatever.."
His voice cracked slightly while speaking, muffled by the hoodie sleeves and rain pouring outside, jude still heard it.
Sharpness was absolutely not okay, you'd have to be absolutely blind to not see that.
Jude immediately rushed over to sharpness' side, crouching to be eye-to-eye with him and wrapping his arms sharpness and trying to get him to calm down.
"Sharp--- i..im really sorry, I didnt know it would hurt that much and..It was awful of me to say, you've been acting all weird lately and I should've gotten the hint!"
He murmured hastily to sharpness, the sniffling slightly slowing as he peeked out from his hands. Eyes red and puffy, cheeks damp, and wet eyelashes.
Sharpness sat for a moment, before jumping onto jude for a hug, clinging desperately to him as if jude might dissappear if he let go.
Jude, surprised at the sudden movement hesitated for a moment before melting into the hug. Sharpness had his face pressed into the crook of judes neck, his wet eyes slightly transferring onto jude as he softly cried, shoulders trembling as he clung hard.
After another moment of just silence, jude threaded his fingers through sharps slightly knotted hair, finally getting the courage to speak.
"Cmon sharp, whats been up with you..?"
With his other hand, he traced methodical circles on sharps back.
When they were still teammates, sharpness had a habit of overworking himself and then not being able to sleep, so jude learned the best ways the (try) and calm him down enough to either talk to him or finally sleep after four all-nighters.
"I dont know its just-- why am I so awful all of a sudden?? I lost to Tai for fucks sake! Who really am I if im not the best swordsman?"
He spoke, voicd breaking ever now and then as his shoulders shook a bit more.
"Everyone makes fun of me 'cause I suck now.. why cant I be the one everyone's afraid of anymore! No one even cares if I try and jump them becuase I keep losing.."
He sniffled, pulling jude closer as he tried to will himself to stop crying, but the tears kept coming like a leaky faucet.
Jude immediately understood why all of a sudden sharpness took his comment to heart. Being made fun of and being any less than perfect was one of sharpsness's biggest fears, even if he didnt announce it like he did everything else it festered under the surface like an ugly virus quietly growing inside him.
And it didn't help people on strength were particularly cruel with their jokes, even in the name of content it went a little far sometimes.
Jude huffed, before slowly moving under the covers with sharp as well, still letting him cling to jude like a baby koala.
"Well, you know im bad at comforting people..-" jude laughed slightly "-but you really are one of the most skilled people I know sharp.. I know you and your "perfectionist- need-to-be-better-than-everyone" but in reality you migh lose some but that doesn't mean you're any less skilled than you already are."
Sharpness quietly exhaled at judes words, the reassurance from arguably the person he cared most about of this server made his struggles slightly more bearable.
"You...you really think that..?"
Jude nodded, raking his fingers through sharps hair and slowly detangling it with his fingers.
"Yeah," jude sighed "I definitely mean it, dont make fun of me for this one but when we first met on strength I totally thought you were the coolest person here."
Jude snickered softly, pulling away just enough to wipe sharpness's eyes and gaze at him for a second.
He muttered under his breath-
"I really dont know how someone as pretty as you could ever be ashamed of yourself.."
He placed a hesitant, quick kiss of sharps forehead and quickly pulled him back to the crook of judes neck, the heat rising in sharps face just below him was prominent as he continued to rake his hand through sharps hair.
Even with the storm going on around them, they still found some comfort in eachother.
Partners, Friends, Best friends, lovers? Jude didnt care.
As long as sharpness was content, he was ecstatic. Even if he'd rather not utter that to any living soul.
-☆
BONUS BECUASE I LOVE TAI SO MUCH MWAH MWAHAHWHMFKSA78GV8W7V
The air was stiff in judes base, the soft light casting a glow at the end of the darkened hallway as Tai wandered through, precautions not to step on a tripwire or get crushed by a giant boulder or some shit.
"Jude!"
"Juuuuude! You totally owe me a trapping lesson idiot! You're an hour late, where the fuck are you!"
Tai got more agitated every minute he had to waste his time on trivial things like this bullshit.
After finally making it to judes room, Tai flung open the door angrily and huffed.
His gaze shifted around the room..until.
Is that who he absolutely thought it was???
Jude and sharpness tangled under the covers together, sound asleep with judes lips still pressed on sharpness's cheek.
Tai immediately suppressed a fit of laughter as he hastily took out his phone and snapped photos of the two of them, exiting a few moments later and immediately posting it on the community strength group chat.
(THIS IS TOTALLY SLEF INDULGENT AND ADDS LIKE NOTHING TO THE STORYLINE I JUST LOVE WRITING GROUPCHAT PARTS TO MY FANFICS LMAO THIS DOESNT FULLY CENTER AROUND SHARPLOW JUST SOME BULLSHIT I WANTED TO PUT IN)
-strenghsmponthemroidsohyeahhh-
-TAITHEBESTEST- *sent a photo*
"Look at my trappa dawgg I am NOT getting my trapping lesson😭✌️"
-Flowwashed-
"No fucking way bro"
-parkergamebrainbutcool-
"LETS FUCKING GO FLOW AND LUIGI OWE ME MONEY"
-flowwashed-
"I never specified WHEN id give you the money idiot just that id get it to you eventually lmao"
"A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except for thoughts"
-funnygreenman-
"Im not giving you shit parker they havent announced it yet🥹"
"We agreed on ts"
-Parkergamebrainbutcool-
"I fear i may have just been swindled"
"Be careful using your bases guys there might be a surprise hidden in them"
-TAITHEBESTEST-
"HELLO??? ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM THEYRE KISSING💔💔"
"IM GENUINELY ABOUT TO RETCH FUCK BEJNG HAPPY BRO"
-judehighoncrack-
*sent a picture*
"Lmao imagine genuinely whining about sum "i dont get bitches"
"Could never be me"
(Imagine the picture was like him and sharpness still cuddling but jude taking a selfie or something shii)
-TAITHEBESTEST-
"GET OFF THE GROUPCHAT AND GO BE GROSS WITH YOUR STUPID BOYFRIEND OR WHATEVER"
-Judehighoncrack-
"YOU'RE CRYING CAUSE YOU GET NO BITCHES LMAO"
"AND I WILL THANK YOU"