Work Text:
It was another, fairly normal day, the sky was a beautiful shade of cerulean and the sun shone down warmly. Sharpness had ambushed Jude from the treeline, jabbing into his chest with his sword. Just the typical day.
Jude cursed, half directed at himself and half at Sharp for catching him off guard, “You bastard!” He hissed, leaping back and quickly pulling up his shield.
The rabbit looked around somewhat frantically, only making Sharp grin. He had no idea what to do. If Sharpness had to guess, they were probably pretty far away from any of his traps.
“It’s about time!” He responded, dragging his sword through the grass and stalking closer. “Can’t let you have the last win, after all.”
That’s what their whole… relationship, had become. It was like a game, one of cat and mouse. They each took turns jabbing at each other, enacting revenge, fighting and trapping.
Jude grimaced. This was probably the worst kind of timing. He was completely alone in the middle of the dense forest, miles away from any of his traps. No allies were nearby, and his inventory was almost completely full. Though it wasn’t filled with fighting equipment, instead with raw resources.
He was practically backed into a corner by the wolfish fighter. Jude really only had two options.
1. Fight (and die)
2. Run
It was obvious what he was picking.
Emulating his inner Sharpness, “We can talk this out!” Jude exclaimed, though he himself had no intention of that, instead turning tail and sprinting the other way.
Sharpness gave chase, a grin plastering his face, “What is there even to talk about?” He asked smugly.
Horror filled Jude’s chest. He was becoming prey.
The rabbit ducked between trees and leaped over large roots on the forest floor. He normally prided himself on his speed, but Sharpness was only getting closer. The damned wolf. He probably had speed potions.
After an unbearably long chase, Jude’s rush of adrenaline had run out, instead being replaced by waves of exhaustion. It practically brought him to his knees, the rabbit attempting to desperately catch his breath.
He had ducked behind a tree and dug through his inventory, finally getting a chance to pull out what he was looking for. His last mode of defense.
Jude splashed an invisibility potion on himself as Sharp came back into view, storming through the forest.
He was confident for a moment, and then he came to the stifling realization that he had nowhere to put his armor. His inventory was completely full.
Sharpness laughed, lunging towards Jude, “Looks like that won’t work this time!”
If Jude felt like he was backed into a corner before, he didn’t know how to describe how he felt now. Sharp had him pinned him to a tree, stuck in some cobwebs, and was swinging wildly at him.
It took all Jude’s effort to merely stay alive, switching desperately between his shield and golden apples.
It wasn’t long before his invisibility ran out. Jude was starting to wonder when he should just give up.
His armor already had, the scratches and chips in it worsening as Sharp continued his barrage. Inevitably, it started to break completely.
His helmet broke, and his ears sprung up. But that’s when the attack’s slowed.
Sharpness was no longer paying any attention to Jude’s weak spots or the chinks in his armor. Instead his gaze drifted upward toward the trapper’s ears, now fully on display.
His ears were distracting. Sharpness liked to see the way they twitched and reacted to everything, little noises, talking, and emotions. He always thought it was a shame that Jude hid his ears underneath a helmet.
So seeing them out like this, Sharpness was definitely a little distracted. He became sloppy, Jude even managing to get a couple hits in.
“What the hell are you even looking at?” Jude asked, his sword meeting Sharp’s in a desperate attempt to get the other to back off.
Sharp met his hostility with a little smile,”Nothing!” He responded cheekily. “Just cute, is all,” his voice softened.
In the back of the otherwise rigid swordsman’s mind was this swirling thought that he wanted to touch the rabbit’s ears. That thought startled him and made him feel slightly warm, but Sharpness just pushed it aside.
Meanwhile, Jude could clearly tell that Sharp was thinking something weird. As much as Sharpness liked to deny it, you could read him and his expressions like an open book. Jude didn’t even have to try to analyze anything. If the swordsman was thinking about something, his eyebrows would twitch in a certain way and he’d move his lips into an almost pout. It was so obvious it sometimes pained the rabbit.
Taking this opportunity while Sharpness was thoroughly distracted, Jude ducked under the swordmaster and escaped the webs, beginning to flee.
This switch up made Sharpness stutter just enough for Jude to escape.
“Juuuuude” The blonde whined, “That’s unfair! I got distracted!”
Jude knew that Sharpness was just trying to make him feel bad. Unfortunately, knowing didn’t stop it from working.
How could such a merciless killer, Sharpness specifically, who had killed Jude hundreds of times, make him feel bad and like he was in the wrong? Jude shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. It made him think back to what Parker had said to him a while ago that Jude never could utter aloud.
“He’s fluffy.”
Despite his better judgement, Jude had to shout back from his hiding spot. “That’s on you!”
“If I had known all it took was my ears to distract you, I would’ve been fighting you without my helmet a long time ago,” he said with a grin, teasingly.
Though Jude was the one teasing, his own face was heating up, but he tried to ignore the sensation, blaming it on the fact he was still hot from running.
Sharpness hadn’t responded to that one, instead calling out, “Juuuude come on out! I just want to talk!” (lie)
Jude was not going to risk it. Taking his chance, he slipped into a cave and waited for the footsteps and faint shouts to disappear.
*
After Jude’s narrow escape, Sharpness’ lust for blood only got worse. He hunted Jude any chance that he got until he finally got his kill that he so desperately wanted.
Jude wasn’t even that mad about it, at least until the swordsman refused to give him back any of his things. And then on top of that, the man somehow had the audacity to waltz right back into his base after the incident. Jude could barely hide his irritation as he heard the familiar clack of the blond’s heels traipsing down the staircase.
“What do you want now?” He asked, his back turned away from the hunter, busily digging through his chests. “I literally have nothing.”
“Just saying hi!” Sharpness responded with that annoyingly loveable tone of his.
Jude hated it so much. Some days he acted like a ravenous wolf, while on others he was just a puppy fishing for attention. He hated it even more that he found himself liking both versions of him, as well.
“Whatchya doing?” The blond asked, leaping off of the last step and onto the ground.
“Reorganizing,” Jude responded, slamming his chest shut and turning around. He crossed his arms and looked back at Sharpness coldly. “When are you gonna get your own base?”
Sharp laughed. It was that giddy, child-like laugh that Jude both abhorred and found comfort in. It was just so hard to pick one thing with Sharpness. He simply couldn’t choose between “hatred” or “fondness,” it just wasn’t that simple.
“I have plenty of bases!” Sharpness responded, eliciting an eyeroll from Jude.
“Yeah, sure, sure,” Jude said, returning to his chests. While his back was turned, he still kept an eye on Sharpness through his peripherals. He wasn’t dumb enough to place his full trust in him again. “Those definitely all belong to you.”
Throughout the two’s banter, Jude was beginning to notice a disturbing phenomenon. Every time he spoke, the swordsman’s eyes would unconsciously glance up to look at the rabbit’s ears. At first he thought he was just imagining things, but after a couple of times, Jude knew it had become a pattern.
“Are you still looking at my ears?” He finally mentioned, catching Sharpness off guard, “Are they really that distracting?”
“I’m not!” Sharpness said, lying and turning the other way, giving a slight pout. “You’re imagining it,” he said, though it was hard for it to be convincing when the blond was already flushed.
“Well since you’re soooooo interested,” Jude started, reaching his hand out with a teasing energy, “We could make a deal!”
Sharpness immediately felt his stomach drop. While in front of him was an otherwise innocent and defenseless Judelow, the situation gave the energy of making a deal with the devil. He couldn’t help but be skeptical and back on guard. Even if Jude had nothing, there was always the chance that he could pull a new trap that Sharpness didn’t know about.
“Don’t look so scared,” the rabbit smiled, though his voice was shaking. Jude was going to slap himself once this whole thing was over.
It was honestly funny being able to approach one of the strongest players on the server with no gear on and still have him flinch. Closing the distance, and now standing directly in front of him, Jude gently reached out and grabbed Sharpness’ wrist. And for whatever reason, Sharp let him. Jude could never understand the trust the swordsman placed in him, even after every encounter they had. But you wouldn’t catch him complaining about it.
“Look, if I let you touch my ears, then you give me my gear back, sounds like a deal?” Jude asked, though he was already regretting it after seeing Sharpness’ expression.
The blond looked like a little kid that was offered a trip to the candy store. “Deal,” he said without a second thought.
“But first, I want my armor back. You can give me the rest of my gear after,” Jude said, letting go of the other's wrist.
Sharpness was on board surprisingly quickly, making Jude feel a little embarrassed. Jude had all of his armor back in no time at all. Once it was returned, Sharpness looked at him expectantly with his big round puppy eyes. Just seeing the face he was making, Jude started feeling a little warm. It still hadn’t really hit him what deal he just made.
Reluctantly, Jude said, “..Well, go ahead then.”
*
Jude cursed himself for being an idiot. In what world was this a good idea? In what world was his gear worth this? It was actually humiliating.
He never let anybody touch his ears. Not even his closest friends or teammates. But apparently his greatest enemy was the exception. Jude was beginning to question everything that had brought him up to this point.
The two had ended up sitting on the floor, with Jude facing away from Sharpness. He genuinely couldn’t bear to look at the other, especially with the embarrassing shade of red he was turning. This was his idea and still…
Sharpness gently touched his ears, petting at the soft fur as if he was a dog. “..So soft,” he whispered, sending a shiver down Jude’s spine. Though, the rabbit was far from cold. It felt like someone had surrounded them with lava with how hot it suddenly became.
“You have no idea how lucky you are,” Jude mumbled, his voice low and raw. It wasn’t his usual teasing tone, or his blind rage, or the one he got when he was outsmarting people. It sounded real.
Sharpness smiled, “So every time I kill you, I can do this?” His tone was joking, and yet there seemed to be some sort of underlying hope in it.
A hope that Jude immediately shut down, “This is never happening again.”
“Awwww,” Sharpness whined, softly flipping the long ears onto Jude’s face. “You’re so mean."
The two continued their banter even in their rather.. soft situation. There was no heat or anger to it. Just warmth. Eventually even that died down, leaving the two in a somewhat comfortable silence.
Sharpness was absolutely shocked by how long Jude was letting him get away with this. Initially, he figured it’d be just a couple minutes at most… And yet, he was still here. He even seemed to be leaning into his touch at this point. He was probably enjoying this then, no matter his insistence otherwise. But Sharpness wanted to make sure.
“..Why don’t you face me?” He whispered in a tone so soft that Sharpness didn’t even think he was capable of.
It was quiet for a moment, “You really want to torture me, huh?”
For whatever reason, Jude actually turned around and faced Sharpness. Whatever sort of energy in this moment was absolutely doing a number on the trapper’s brain. If anything, it was probably short circuiting.
Sharpness barely got a look at his expression before Jude had burrowed his head into the nook of his shoulder. While not exactly what the swordsman wanted, he really couldn’t complain. It felt like his heart was beating at a million miles an hour. If you had asked him to predict how this night would go whenever he came to antagonize Jude, he could never have predicted this.
The bickering, deals, and schemes? Absolutely. The trapper resting his head on him while he ran a hand through his hair and petted his ears? Sharpness didn’t want someone to pinch him, even if he was dreaming.
“Hey… Can you look at me?”
After a couple seconds of consideration, and against all better judgement, Jude reluctantly raised his head.
His face was beet red and somehow turned even more so when meeting Sharpness’ gaze. The moment had only lasted a couple seconds before Jude averted his eyes. But those few seconds were enough to scare the trapper.
Not because Sharpness was particularly scary. Jude had already gotten past that point with him.
But because of the softness in his eyes. The way he was looking at him. Like he was the only other person in the world. Chances were he didn’t even realize the expression he was making.
Maybe Jude was scared of intimacy. Maybe he was scared that he was experiencing it with his enemy. Or maybe he was just scared of getting hurt.
After all, the next day, everything would return back to normal. The game of cat and mouse would resume. It didn’t matter how many times the two chose to team up or have a truce, it always ended up with betrayal. Jude knew that this time likely wouldn’t be any different.
And yet…
No.
“..That’s-”
“That’s enough,” Jude said, trying to appear stern even through his shaking voice.
He silently grabbed Sharpness’ wrist and took it away from his head before standing back up. Immediately, he turns the other way. He dusts himself off before crossing his arms and saying, “Give me my tools and get out of here.”
“Jude-” Sharpness started, clearly a little disappointed.
“Tools and out,” he repeated.
Sharpness pulled himself up and reluctantly started digging through his enderchest. As he pulled out Jude’s things, he paused and looked at him. With likely unintentional puppy dog eyes, he asked, “Did I do something wrong?”
Jude was quiet. Covering his mouth, likely to hide his flushed face, he mumbled, “..No. Just..” He really couldn’t take it anymore. “No.”
Sharpness, surprisingly, upheld his end of the deal and gave back Jude his tools and weapons.
Brandishing his sword, Jude pointed it at Sharpness, “...Thank you. Now out.” He watched the swordsman carefully. “And if you mention this to anyone, you’re so dead.”
Sharpness couldn’t help but smile at that. He put his hands up in defeat, “Of course, of course!” He gave Jude one more glance before hesitantly turning back toward the staircase. “Well… see you around, then.”
And within seconds, Sharpness was gone again.
Jude’s hand was still shaking as he lowered his sword. Seeing the blond’s silhouette disappear up the staircase was disturbingly dispiriting. His base that had felt so full of warmth just a few minutes ago felt empty now.
His head still felt like it was spinning, having a hard time processing first of all why that just happened, and what exactly happened at the same time.
He knew it was stupid. He knew that he should have hated it. But at the same time, he knew that if his irritating enemy had asked to do it again, that he would have a hard time saying no.
Damn Sharpness.