Chapter Text
Jude lifted up the broken chain link fence as it rustled and clinked together. The air was slightly humid that morning, but otherwise comfortable. He was an urban explorer, by definition.
It had all started when Jude had discovered the concept online in his freshman year. Since then, Jude enjoyed exploring abandoned and restricted buildings in his free time, and sometimes he would even record his adventures to post on Youtube.
As a college student though, getting a whole day free was a rare treat, especially with classes and work, and as today was one of those rare days, Jude had been looking forward to it.
Today, he had invited one of his friends along, a sophomore he had met at orientation. Jude considered Sharp one of his closest friends, and they hung out pretty often. They just… clicked together. Sharpness was always joking, but he was always there for Jude. And, Jude always thought it was funner to explore with someone else anyway. Before they came, Jude had already scoped out the abandoned mall and found an overlooked part of fencing that had deteriorated and was easily lifted to create a tiny space to crawl underneath. When he arrived with Sharp, Jude already knew where to go.
"Yo, Sharp, crawl under here. I think it's the safest entrance onto the property," he spoke with a casual air, gesturing at the space between the fence and the ground. Sharp looked down at where Jude was holding up the fence and glanced back up at him before snickering to himself. "I don't think I can fit through there, Jude. I'm just too big… if you know what I mean," before flashing a smirk at Jude.
Jude sighed and rolled his eyes, dropping the chain links back down with a clink. He wasn't even going to acknowledge the last part of Sharpness's sentence. Sharp always acted like this, but Jude had to admit that he was kind of right. Sharpness had a good build. Not in a bulky, clumsy way, but more elegantly refined. The man was like a greek god. What else could Jude say?
After recovering from his moment of cringe at his friend, Jude returned back to the goal at hand. "Sharp. Please lock in for once. Just— just go under the fence," Jude sighed exasperatedly, pretending to be tired of his antics. It was how they worked, him and Sharpness. Sharp would make crude jokes, Jude would act disgusted by him, but inside they would both laugh. Sometimes Sharp would just laugh out loud to himself. That was how the two operated. Sharpness played along, making a show of trying to fit underneath the fence. "Fine, Jude, since you hate my amazing physique so much, I guess I'll try and shrink myself to your desires," Sharp's voice was teasing as he squeezed under the chainlink fence. Sharp had decided to go legs-first, and as he shimmied his body past the fence, Jude's fingers caught ever so briefly on his shirt. Jude's eyes widened as the cloth slightly moved up, and his fingers brushed against Sharp's skin. Jude felt his breath hitch for a moment, blush slowly gathering on his cheek bones. He shook his head, recollecting his thoughts. Why was he acting so weird? This wasn't normal for Jude, but his mind kept replaying the touch. It was almost like a jolt of electricity, and it sent a tingling through Jude's body.
"Jude, it's your turn now," Sharpness's voice interrupted Jude's thoughts, bringing him back to the present. For a moment, Jude just looked at Sharp in a little confusion before remembering what he was doing. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I— I'll go through now." Jude didn't know why he felt so… different. He could just ignore it… focus on your goal, Jude. First, get into the building. Jude squeezed under the chain links, his body much more compartmental beside Sharp's, giving Jude a much quicker time getting under the fence. Jude quickly stood up, before feeling the top of head collide with the arm Sharp was using to lean against the fence. A quick, sharp pain jolted through Jude’s skull as his head made contact with Sharpness’s forearm.
Sharp just laughed at Jude's plight snickering to himself. "So smol and short. Only need one popcorn," he joked out teasingly, dramatically leaning down to pat Jude's head. Jude looked up at Sharp while smacking his hand away. His height was always a joke that Sharp used, but of course there was some truth behind his jokes. It wasn't like Jude was super short or anything, but it didn't help that Sharp was super tall either. Jude could already feel his face burning again, a pink tint spreading across his skin. Sharp was staring right into his eyes, it seemed like he was analyzing Jude, paying too much attention. Jude turned his head away while pretending to cough. "Allergies, sorry," Jude lied through his teeth, not daring to look back at Sharp's face.
—
The two cautiously made their way to the entrance of the abandoned mall, with Sharpness lagging a little behind as Jude. Sharp's heart fluttered when Jude had stared into Sharp's eyes and got flustered when he joked. Sharp couldn't help but tease him, but behind it all, he was always looking at Jude. Sharp remembered how he had fallen in love. It had been freshman orientation at the college they went to, although Sharpness was a sophomore who was helping with introducing the 'youngsters,' when he met Judelow. He still remembered the shyness in Jude's voice when he walked up to introduce himself. After that day, they became good friends, at least, that's what Jude thought. But Sharp's heart always skipped a beat when Jude spoke, and he always caught himself thinking about Jude when he wasn't around. But Jude didn't like Sharpy back the same way anyways, and Sharp knew from the very beginning that Jude wasn't like that, and he never would be. It was okay, because Sharpness was perfectly content just being friends. Right?
"Okay, I think this is the entrance," Jude spoke while slowly opening a side door into the mall. It creaked ajar slowly, revealing the spacious area of the abandoned department store that was inside. Jude nodded back at Sharpness before stepping inside.
he The inside of the rundown department store was like a slice of the past, preserved inside the giant mall time capsule. It was littered with old shelves, and some shopping carts were still strewn about. The cash registers had all been removed already, but Sharp could still almost imaging people shopping there, checking out their purchases with little beeps and noises in the background. It smelled of a little mold and dampness that was probably coming from the carpet underfoot. Jude was ahead of Sharpness, shining a flashlight into the dark corners of the store. Sharp walked over to Jude, standing just behind him. "What are you looking at?" Sharp spoke, his voice cutting through the old air, causing Jude to jump in fright.
"Oh my gosh— Sharp, you scared me! I thought you were a stranger or something," Jude whirled around, before playfully punching Sharp in the arm, "don't ever do that again, you— um… You." Sharpness only laughed a bit, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he snickered. "Sorry for scaring you Judy," Sharp replied, in a sarcastic tone. Sharp liked to call him Judy when he knew it would make him stumble over. Of course, that's exactly what happened. When the name, 'Judy' left Sharpness's mouth, Jude had immediately went rigid as a board before stuttering out, "D-don't— don't call me that, Sharpness!" While gradually turning redder and redder, much to Sharpness's entertainment, who smirked before saying, "Okay, let's get out of this store though, I want to explore more of the mall." Jude only rolled his eyes at Sharp in response. "Sure," Jude spat out, before grabbing Sharpness's arm and walking towards the larger mall area.
The actual mall area, just outside of the department store, was gigantuous with two stories and a vast expanse of empty stores. Light filtered in through the skylights, illuminating the particles in the air. It almost felt like the mall was alive, buzzing with energy. It used to be bustling with shoppers, before slowly fading into obscurity. The scene was almost liminal in a way, with faded logos and colors on the walls. Jude finally let go of Sharp's arm, but his touch seemed like it burned an imprint into Sharp. Sharpness could still feel Jude's hand on his arm, prickling his skin.
—
Jude had walked a bit further down into the mall. For a little moment he just stood there, but he wasn't looking at the interior of the building. He was watching Sharpness. The sunlight from the roof seemed to shine down on him, it almost illuminated Sharpness. The glow of the sun softened his features. To Jude, he almost looked ethereal in the scene. Like a glowing angel. Jude memorized Sharpness's awe-struck expression, how his posture was relaxed and he looked so— beautiful.
Then, Sharpness turned his head and looked over at him. Jude quickly faked a cough, turning away while giving his head a quick shake. What was he doing? Did he really just check out Sharpness? No. He and Sharp were strictly friends. He wasn't— He couldn't be— gay. It wasn’t right. And it wasn’t like Sharpness would want him anyways…
—
Jude was staring right at Sharpness. He wasn't just casually glancing over either. It seemed like he had just seen a ghost, or something. Then, he turned away, coughing into his arm. Sharpness spoke first.
"Jude? Are you… okay? You just seem a little shocked or something," Sharp's voice was hesitant, like he wasn't sure what to say.
"Oh—" Jude coughed again, "yeah, I'm fine, hah, it's really big in this mall."
"Yeah, it really is. Which store should we go in next?"
Jude attempted to look at any store that did not have Sharpness in his peripheral vision. His eyes landed on one with faded lettering, just visible enough to make out the letters, 'J,' 'X,' and 'S.'
The interior of the store was quite empty, with a few shelves and a lot of dust. Obviously when ithad had closed, the store had relocated all the cool stuff. Sharp's eyes scanned over the interior, but failed to spot anything of interest inside the (unnamed) abandoned store. "There's nothing in here," Sharp said flatly.
"Really? I'm actually blind, Sharpness. I didn’t know that, thank you for informing me!" Jude's voice was coated in sarcasm as he closed his eyes and mimed while flailing his arms. However, as Jude was doing his 'bit,' Sharp slowly walked out of the store and behind the wall, out of Jude's sight. When he opened his eyes again, Sharp was nowhere to be found. For a second, Jude just stood there. Where did Sharp go? "Sharpness? Sharpness!” No response came, except the eerie silence of the mall “Actually, dude, this is not funny. Where are you?" Jude couldn't hide the slight panic in his voice, which was steadily becoming increasingly frantic. Sharp couldn't actually have gone missing, right? No. Nonono. That stuff only happened in horror movies. Sharp wouldn’t have gone far… Jude could find him.
He cautiously stepped out of the store. All was silent around him, other than the echo of his footsteps on the marble flooring. He turned his head right, cautiously checking around the corner, then slowly left—
"AHHHH" Sharpness yelled right into Jude's ear.
"AHHHHHHH!" At that moment, Jude had (metaphorically) turned into a rabbit, jumped about 6 feet, and fell onto his back. "Sh-" Jude gasped for air, "SHARPNESS! Oh my— Don't do that— ever again!"
Sharpness was doubled over laughing at Jude's reaction, uncontrollably shaking in hysterical laughter. He wheezed as he got up, still snickering to himself. Walking over to Jude across the tile floor, he managed to squeeze out a, "Ok, ok— I— I won't do— it again," Sharpness spoke through bursts of giggles, as he extended his hand for Jude to grab onto.
For a long moment, the purple haired man just glared up at him, eyes filled with annoyance, shock, and something else. Then, his hand reached up and grabbed onto Sharpness, pulling himself up. Jude hoped Sharp couldn't feel the racing pulse of his heart. Sharpness inhaled sharply, involuntarily, but just as quickly as the moment came, it was gone again. Jude was dusting off his clothes, but he couldn't quite shake off the feeling of Sharpness's hand in his.
—
The two had explored about half of the mall by then, when they came across the main area. It was a large space, with a dome-like glass ceiling and a giant playground in the center. The structure had red and yellow slides, walkways, climbing bars, all slightly discolored from years of decay. The walls were covered in old murals which were fading and slowly peeling off.
Jude's eyes lit up when he saw it. "Sharpness! Look at this! We have to go on it," Jude exclaimed in awe. Sharpness glanced at the playground, but he might have been glancing more at Jude, before saying, "Sure, why not?" Sometimes Jude was almost like a child, in a playfully energetic way. He proved it when Jude started giggling before tapping Sharpness's arm, yelling, "Ok! Tag, you're it!" And running towards the slides. Sharpness just laughed to himself before giving chase.
Jude had already made it to the top of the playground, waving down to Sharpness, and spewing random taunts. He closed his eyes and made a face at Sharp, while saying something along the lines of, "You'll never catch me! I'm the gingerbread man," or something like that. But then when Jude opened his eyes again, Sharpness wasn't standing on the ground beneath him anymore. In fact, Sharpness wasn't anywhere. Jude called out, "Sharpness! I know you're trying to prank me again and it's not going to work! I'm staying right here—" A ding resonated behind Jude. He slowly turned around. Geez… Sharpness is gonna be behind me isn't he?
The silhouette of Sharp barely entered Jude's peripheral vision before he was being tackled to the metal floor of the play structure.
—
When Jude was covering his eyes, it was like he was inviting Sharp to sneak away. Of course, he accepted the invitation. Sharpness had quietly slinked up the play ground, making sure Jude wouldn't see him. Softly stepping on his toes, he slowly creeped up behind Jude.
Sharp yelled in Jude's ear as he tackled him. Jude screamed back at him, for a moment he looked like he was going to faint.
"Oh my fucking god. SHARPNESS," It took Jude about two seconds to recover enough to start yelling, "YOU— YOU— YOUR'E GOING TO GIVE ME AN ANEURYSM." Jude grabbed his forehead in complete annoyance. "Christ, I thought you were some hobo trying to kill me," He seethed, glaring at Sharpness, who was doubled over laughing.
Sharpness felt bad for laughing, but it wasn't his fault that Jude's facial expressions were just so funny. He just couldn't help but smile whenever Jude was around. "Sorry, I would rather kiss you instead," Sharpness spoke his thoughts with relaxed ease, before realizing he had just said the words aloud. Why did his mouth always move faster than his thoughts??
In almost a millisecond, it seemed like the entire energy of the room went from playful energy to awkwardness and despair. Ohhh shit.
"What?" Jude asked in disbelief. Maybe he misheard. Did Sharpness really just say… he wanted to kiss Jude? This couldn't be real…