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Moving in together had been a terrible, awful idea.
Jude hated every inch of it, and everyone who’d come up with it, and the universe too, just for good measure. The sheer levels of rage inside him would probably be enough to level a small city.
He’d just been chased up a ladder, and was now pivoting to making it his territory, because fuck Sharp, anyway.
“C’mon…” Sharp had been getting whinier, as Jude had gotten more frustrated. “Just put the lightbulb in, Jude, please.”
Jude crossed his arms. Sharp could do better than that. He knew Sharp could do better than that, because, to entertain themselves and Tai, when he wandered in apparently on accident, they’d been teasing each other most of the past few days.
Tai had been getting a good show, actually. Jude had thought he’d have Sharp begging for him within an hour, but it turned out his princess could play dirty when he had nothing better to do with his time. Fleeting touches, amused glances, offhand comments that didn’t settle comfortably. Jude was frustrated. In more than one way.
And, somehow, Sharp seemed entirely unflappable. Maybe it was Tai’s presence, but he was keeping a remarkably cool head, for all their games. It was annoying, and Jude wanted to get him back for it.
On the upside, he had a good opportunity for it. Until their furniture arrived, they were sticking with the opportunity for some bare bones renovation, and that lead to some… unusual arrangements.
Jude hadn’t been fond of the idea of a week-long sleepover situation, initially, but it had been more fun than expected. In the middle of every night, when he was still wide awake and mischievous, he got to roll his sleeping bag onto Sharp’s legs, and pretend to be asleep when his boyfriend woke up, pissed and tired, trying to shove him off.
It was fun. Every night, Jude found a new way to mess with Sharp, usually to Tai’s tacit amusement. He had the good sense to stay out of it, at least, stuck in close proximity to them and knowing better than to pick sides.
Not that he didn’t get caught in the crossfire. Jude had rigged a pulley system—still something he was pretty proud of—and used it to pull Sharp’s sleeping bag off in the middle of the night, a couple of days ago. It had ended up on Tai, nearly suffocating him, although he’d been in good company as Jude nearly asphyxiated laughing.
It was stuff like that, that made this worth it. Never let it be said Jude was the sappy sort, but sometimes he caught himself grinning for real, as Sharp chased Tai around the house for the good screwdriver he’d stolen. It made something in him buzz, with opportunity, and excitement, and maybe, the faintest sense of comfortable belonging.
Jude liked having Sharp and Tai so close. Mostly Sharp, admittedly. It was the part of him that wanted to tie his boyfriend to their bed and cuddle next to him forever. But Tai was a nice bonus.
There was a comfort, to stability. No more shitty rented studio flats. No more calling his landlord in a fit because his plumbing had broken down again, not when he had a boyfriend to fix all of that for him. No more sitting against the wall on his bed, staring at his phone with the lights dimmed around him, texting his friends to stave off a vague sense of abyss.
Just comfort, and a growing sense of normality, to Tai wandering into the kitchen, pausing, and grinning as he stopped to watch the two of them. They were all here. Together. Jude could do whatever he liked, because they knew him, and this was his domain, now.
“Fancy seeing you, asshole.”
“Jude.” Tai looked excited, like he was in for a show, and there was a distinctly pouty look in Sharp’s eyes as he looked around, vaguely betrayed. “What’s up?”
“He’s not putting the damn lightbulb in.” Sharp was whiny, and Jude was delighted, the happy tingling sensation of being a menace starting up. “Tai, tell him to just do it and get down.”
Jude shifted, sitting comfortably on top of the stepladder, and swinging his feet dangerously close to Sharp’s face.
“Yeah, Tai. Tell me to do something. Fucking try me.”
“Uh… no, actually, I think I’m good.”
“Fine. I’ll do it. Jude, put the fucking lightbulb in.”
“Nope. I can put something else in-“
“No. You’re being a bitch.” Sharp crossed his arms, and oh, they were actually going this far. “Stop winding me up, Jude, we’re trying to do something here.”
“Oh? So you notice-“
“Yes, Jude, I’ve noticed.” Sharp was getting bitier, and Tai looked increasingly like he was hiding his interest. “Stop it.”
“You stop it.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
He was. He was still playing. Jude knew serious-Sharp, and this wasn’t quite it. This was him toying around, pushing the limits.
He grinned, perched happily at the top of his ladder, leaning down to tap Sharp’s forehead.
“Well, you’re doing something to me, pretty boy.”
“Flirting…”
Both of them turned to look at Tai, who turned slightly red, but was still smiling. Sharp grinned, lightning fast and twice as sly, while Jude scoffed.
“Stay out of this, fanboy. You’ll have to hear the consequences.”
Tai was blushing, now, and Sharp had begun to turn a little flustered too.
“Jude- not that far. Not in front of…”
“What?” Jude was teasing properly now, sitting back and smirking down at his boyfriend. “You make very pretty noises.”
“I- I can go. If you two want… privacy?”
“Nah. Stay. Sharpy’s fine with spectators, isn’t he?”
Sharp looked a little like he was melting. He was trying to stay composed, stay in control, but he’d been the one to bring them to this edge, and Jude was just picking up the gauntlet offered.
“I- Tai, you can- Jude, please, just- screw in the lightbulb, please?”
“Anything for you, princess.”
With a quick grin, and a movement just provocative enough to make Sharp hiss, Jude leaned backwards, exposing his midriff as he screwed in the bulb in a few, quick motions.
He’d been shifting clothing, over the course of their week. Jude had levels. He either wore his boring, normal hoodies, or his nice suits, or his spot in between, some vaguely punkish crop tops and jeans from a phase a few years back he’d never really outgrown.
Sharp liked it. Jude suspected Sharp would like him even more in a miniskirt, but he had his limits of indulgence without making his boyfriend ask for it.
Now, it made him feel just sexy enough to pull this off, resting his chin in his hands as he sat at the top of a stepladder, eyeing his boyfriend smugly.
“Something wrong, princess?”
Sharp was staring at him, a little slackjawed, a little irritated. It was in the narrowing of his eyes, the faint parting of his lips, the way his hands didn’t know what to do with themselves. It was cute. Tai looked mildly terrified.
“You… know what you’re doing, Jude.” Sharp’s accent got stronger, when he was flustered. He glared up, a challenge in the quirk of his lips. “Get down here.”
“My pleasure.”
Jude hopped down in one smooth movement, perfectly prepared for Sharp to swing him against the wall, pinned, one arm lightly against his throat, the other hand pressed beside his head.
“Yes?”
“Try me.”
“That’s a yes, bitch.”
It was a testament to Jude’s faith in his boyfriend that he didn’t raise any more argument, instead going but limp enough to let Sharp start kissing him. Almost immediately, he started fighting back, pushing against Sharp’s lips as the arm pushed against his windpipe.
“Yeah, I- I’m gonna go.”
Despite what Jude was sure were Tai’s real interests, his footsteps confirmed his mutter, leaving the kitchen in a hurry as Jude gasped against Sharp’s cheeks.
“You- scared him off, dumbass.”
“Shut up.”
Sharp’s voice was the sexy sort of rough, as he kissed Jude into silence again, frustration in his every attempt to push his tongue into Jude’s mouth. It was a stupid power play, but they were both just as petty as each other, and Jude fought back more than willingly.
Still, he was in this for something. And that something might just be letting his boyfriend almost crush his windpipe as he went limp, letting his head be tilted back until his hair caught on the unpainted wall.
Jude was moaning, by the time either of them seemed to regain enough sense for awareness. He sensed Sharp’s displeasure before his boyfriend even pulled back, glaring at him for the small, breathy noises he’d been main with every breath he managed to get.
“What?”
A little innocent blinking never hurt anyone. Sharp got so cute like this. He was always vaguely angry, about being turned on. Cheeks flushed, eyes narrowed, his full strength on display. Unless Jude pushed him far enough, and he started melting again into a whiny mess. Science, if you asked him.
“You’re the worst.”
Without another word, Sharp turned and walked off, an impressive display from a man who’d just kissed his very attractive boyfriend into a wall.
And an irritating one, because it left Jude alone, palms pressed against said wall and breathing hard. His own arousal died down a little, and turned annoyed, as he glared at where his very attractive boyfriend had been not thirty seconds ago.
That was an asshole move. Jude was going to work out how to make Sharp pay for it, sooner rather than later.
——————
“Pizza.”
Jude looked up from where he and Tai were comparing cleaners versus their respective inclinations to deep clean an entire house themselves. His eyes met Sharp’s, and narrowed, even if his boyfriend looked entirely unconcerned.
“You’re good for something, then.”
“Hm?” Sharp seemed genuinely clueless, because he was either an idiot or a menace or both all of the time, and settled on the floor beside them, on the cushions he’d insisted on. They might not have sofas yet, but apparently they weren’t to sit unprotected on the floor. “Yes. I brought pizza.”
“I bought it though.” Tai rolled his eyes, sitting up and reaching for one of the boxes. “Only Jude gets zero credit for this.”
“Hey! I’ve been doing twice the work you two shitheads have.”
“Tell that to the mirror you broke this morning.” Tai took a bite of pizza, smirking up at Jude, who was considering murder.
“Wait- you broke a mirror?”
Adorably, Sharp actually looked concerned, like they’d managed to find a single thing in this place not in a state of disrepair.
“Now I’m cursed for the next seven years, haven’t you heard?” Jude picked up a slice of pizza meaningfully, waving his hand in Sharp’s face in hopes of scaring him. “And it’s contagious, princess, so back off.”
To his idiotic credit, Sharp did actually recoil a little, before leaning back in, eyes narrowing to dangerous, attractive slits.
“I don’t believe you.”
For a long moment, Jude just stared at him, side eyeing his boyfriend with a slice of pizza hovering near his mouth and eyebrows raised.
After that, Sharp seemed to get the message of how ridiculous he looked, and backed off, turning a little red. It was cute. The way he looked away, glancing awkwardly at Tai, then back to Jude, like he’d done something wrong.
“Uh- nevermind. Oops.”
Well, Jude wasn’t having that. Sharp was embarrassed just for looking cute enough to be teased over.
Shifting in what was a very gainly way, actually, no mater what Tai’s small noise said, Jude dropped cheerfully onto Sharp’s legs, taking a bite of his slice of pizza and leaning closer, holding it to his boyfriend’s mouth.
“Eat. I’m flirting.”
Sharp needed a little help. Jude liked watching his thoughts catch up, as his eyes went blank, locked onto his with gentle green confusion. He waited, with patience, for once in his life, ignoring Tai’s choking noises as he sorted out whatever he’d swallowed the wrong way while watching them.
“…oh. Ew.” Sharp pulled a face, but didn’t lean away, instead choosing to let his eyes linger on Jude’s face in a question. “Do I…”
“Yep.”
Taking advantage of his boyfriend’s mouth being slightly open, Jude fed him a bite of pizza, grinning perhaps a bit too much as Sharp’s eyes widened, like he hadn’t fully expected this result. Still, he ate it, and willingly too, and Jude was a little more satisfied.
“You two are awful.”
Tai’s complaints lacked any of the bite they could have had, when he was clearly watching, and Jude glanced over his shoulder with a smirk.
“Don’t think you’re getting to join then, asshole.”
Sharp tried for a retort of his own, but Jude was far more interested in continuing to hand-feed him. There was an adorably pouty look in his boyfriend’s eyes, every time he was stopped before he even managed to speak. Jude was having the time of his life.
Tai grumbled a little more, but gave it up pretty quick. Jude dropped it too, after one slice, by the time Sharp’s cheeks were burning red.
Patting his boyfriend’s head affectionately, Jude climbed off him, sitting obnoxiously close instead, for the hell of it. Sharp noticed.
“Hey. Go away, bitch.”
“I just fed you like a fucking baby bird, princess, suck it up.”
“Yeah. So carry on or go away.”
Jude glanced up. Sharp looked genuinely put out, and not a little turned on. It was kind of cute. A little bit. Not that Jude would ever stoop so low as to be flustered.
“Feed yourself.” Jude scrambled off him, cheeks burning a little as his eyes darted to Tai. He hadn’t really meant to go that far. “Uh- moving on-“
“Nah, you two can carry on.” Tai was watching, like an asshole, and Jude was beginning to feel a little trapped between them. “I really don’t mind.”
“Fucking pervert freak.” Jude sneered at Tai, just to assert some control of the situation, even if he still felt on the back foot. “Eat your fucking pizza.”
“Jude. Be nice.”
Jude did not like how he shut up. Still, by the time he realised, he had, and Sharp had ruffled his hair for it, and maybe Jude would cut his losses for today. This was fine. He’d accept this, grudgingly, and with utmost hatred for Tai festering in his soul.
His boyfriend’s fingers found his chin, and Jude barely had time to blink and open his mouth, before the action was entirely wasted as Sharp kissed him.
Let it never be said Jude didn’t take advantage of what was offered. Even if the circumstances might be shit, he wasn’t missing a chance to kiss his boyfriend. Even in front of Tai. Maybe especially in front of Tai. Nothing more fun than to tease someone with what they couldn’t have.
Regardless of intent and simmering frustrations, Sharp was kissing him, and Jude was kissing him back, more than happily. As usual, he was forcing Sharp to do most of the work, but responding happily to whatever he tried, so he couldn’t complain.
Way, way too soon, in Jude’s humble opinion, Sharp pulled away, closing Jude’s mouth with one finger and a sweet smile.
“Happier now?”
Jude was fuming. Sharp wasn’t allowed to just kiss him to keep him from biting Tai’s head off. That wasn’t fair. Not when it worked, and Jude’s head was still a little full of fluff and clouds.
Still, he wasn’t going to lie about it. Sharp might not take it upon himself to kiss him again without warning.
“Yes.”
“I’ve never seen someone so angry to be kissed by Sharpness.” Tai leaned back against the wall, humming like it was an offhand remark as he took a bite of pizza. “Sharp, you’d know.”
“He doesn’t kiss other people.” Jude couldn’t help himself rising to the obvious bait, bristling all over again. Joke was on Sharp, his emotions were just running higher now. “And I’m angry at you, shitface.”
“Jude, c’mon, baby.” Sharp rested his chin on Jude’s head, hugging his waist placatingly. “Can we be nice? Just for one day?”
Jude huffed, and glared pure death and annihilation at Tai.
“I’m killing you. So many times. You’re never going to be safe. Ever.”
Sharp’s hand pressed over his mouth, before he could carry on, and Jude had never been in more of a mood to bite his boyfriend.
“I think we can stop there. Let’s finish lunch.”
——————
“Dude- do you, like, ever sleep?”
“Not with goonballs like you around. Someone’s got to call the alarm if this shithole falls on our heads.”
“That’s gonna be you?”
“Nah, it’s gonna be Sharp. I’ll be halfway to the next state.”
“You’d leave Sharp?”
“Excellent point. I’ll leave you to die, how’s that?”
Tai didn’t look happy with that answer. Jude, on the other hand, wasn’t even looking for conversation right now, so he was more than happy to leave his roommate a little put out about the quality of discourse.
“No, but seriously.” Tai was getting whiny already, which was obnoxious any time of day, but particularly at coming up on midnight. “Are you just going to sit there like a creep?”
“Yep.”
“I’m not gonna feel safe, though.”
“Shame. Suck it up.”
“What if you jump me?”
“Tai, if I have a choice between you and my boyfriend, who do you think I’m more likely to try to bother?”
“Me.”
“Correct. Sharp gets to sleep.”
“See? Could you just- move away?”
“Nope.”
Jude popped the final few letters, eyes still fixed on his phone screen. It was burning into his retinas, more than a little, even with their bedroom light on dim. Well, he said light. Lightbulb. And he said bedroom. Still-empty room large enough for three sleeping bags. His eyes were burning, no matter.
Honestly, if Tai hadn’t decided to be a bitch, he might have gone to bed soon. It was late, and they had more work to do tomorrow.
No, actually. He wouldn’t have. Jude wasn’t tired. He knew when he was going to sleep, and it wasn’t tonight. This was a staying up until he saw the sun again kind of night, where he’d give himself a headache and down enough caffeine to kill a housecat tomorrow morning.
The door opened in the corner of Jude’s eye, and he barely even moved, beyond a small, unconscious twitching away on instinct.
“Hey.”
“Sharp, please tell your boyfriend to get away from me.”
“Jude?” Sharp dumped the towel he must have been using for his hair on the floor—bitch, Jude didn’t know why he couldn’t have left it in the bathroom—and took a few steps over to him. “You good?”
“Yep.”
“Whatcha doing?”
“Sitting.”
“He’s not sleeping, and it’s freaking me out.” Tai was getting more hysterical, which was his problem, really, because if he was this emotional, he must be tired, and he was choosing to not just suck it up and sleep. “He’s gonna jump me, I swear.”
“I’m not.”
He wasn’t planning to, but Tai could push him. Jude had been perfectly calm, before the asshole had started making a deal out of a perfectly normal nighttime routine.
“Jude… really?”
“Yep.”
He couldn’t really be bothered to make Sharp believe him. Jude wasn’t giving them anything. Tai could drive himself to paranoid hysterics, and Sharp could give him that stern tone that just made his cute accent stronger, but he was staying calm, and unbothered, and not particularly talkative.
“He says he isn’t, Tai. I’d trust him.”
“Yeah, you’d trust him. He said he’d leave me to die in a house fire.”
“I didn’t.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”
“Fuck you guys. Seriously.” Tai made a noise between a sigh and a hiss, and there was the distinctive sound of a sleeping bag shuffling across the room. It was a noise Jude had gotten pretty accustomed to, whenever Tai got sick of his shenanigans during the night. “You win, Jude. I’d better wake up.”
“Dumbass.” Jude rolled his eyes, feeling Sharp sit down next to him, and not bothering to complain. “I’m not even gonna so anything to him. He’s insane, Sharpy, I’m telling you.”
“I think you need to sleep, Jude.”
“Not you too.”
“Mhm. Me too. I won’t be able to, with that light on.”
Maybe it wasn’t just Jude’s eyes hurting, from the flashing colours dancing across his screen, probably reflecting lurid patterns across his face.
“Don’t care. Suck it up.”
Without warning, Jude’s phone vanished from his hands, before he even had time to react. Not that he did, for a few moments, staring at where it had been as his slightly addled mind tried to process.
Then, he looked up, meeting Sharp’s adorably worried eyes in bristling irritation, and glared right back.
“Give that back, Sharp.”
Sharp didn’t give it back. He didn’t say a word, in fact, as he stood up, and walked across the room, sitting on his sleeping bag in the middle and setting Jude’s phone beside him. Jude was left in a wordless sort of rage, unable to quite construct why he was so angry for no good reason.
“…Sharpness, give my fucking phone the fuck back.”
Jude almost expected Sharp to be angry back. He was almost yelling himself, a rise in his voice somewhere between a shriek and a more manly sort of rage. It would be justified, for his boyfriend to be angry, and maybe he wanted a fight, because he wanted something out of this.
“Come get it.”
Sharp wasn’t angry.
It caught Jude off guard, for a moment, and he just sat there, blinking. He didn’t know why he was thinking so slowly. But it gave him a headache to try to go faster, and he had to pause to rub his eyes furiously, and even then he wasn’t quite sure how to continue.
From somewhere in his peripheries, Tai raised his head, his stupid eye mask a flash of colour against his jet black pyjamas.
“Hey, you broke him.”
“I’m not trying to.” Sharp sounded genuinely puzzled, and Jude would have just gone to sleep right there, to the sound of his boyfriend’s voice defending him, if he hadn’t been a little unsure of what he was meant to be feeling, and childishly confused as to why he couldn’t find it. “Jude, can you just come over here? I… I can give you your phone back.”
That sounded reasonable. Jude couldn’t remember why he’d been so determined to sit here, against a wall they’d only painted a few days ago, and smelt like it.
He lost a bit of track of space and time, as he stood up, and somehow ended up sitting right beside Sharp, staring at nothing. His head was hazy, and possibly mostly offline. And his eyes were weirdly itchy, maybe he’d inhaled something toxic and it was going to fucking kill him.
“Tai, could you get the lights?”
“Yeah. So long as I’m not gonna wake up to him staring at me like a freak.”
“No, I think Jude’s going to go to sleep now.” There was something about the way Sharp said it, like a conversational teacher, hugging Jude gently to his side, that made Jude’s eyes itch in a different way. “No more phone, bunny boy.”
That sounded kind of fair, to be honest. Jude nearly collapsed, when Sharp stopped supporting him, even if it was only long enough for his boyfriend to guide him to his own sleeping bag as the lights shut off.
The darkness snapped Jude out of something. He blinked, and felt tears clump in his eyelashes, and yawned. He yawned for a while, actually, until his head started spinning and he decided to lie down.
“Sharpy?”
“I’m here.”
Jude stuck his hand out, pulling his unzipped sleeping bag mostly over him and dropping his head in relief onto his pillow. Sharp found it, apparently, because there was a gentle warmth around his fingers, and Jude relaxed, happiness smoothing over the bleary haze in his mind.
He must have tightened his grip. Or maybe Sharp did. Jude felt breath ghosting over his face, the scent of his boyfriend’s toothpaste, and his soft, perfect voice in the darkness.
“I love you, Jude.”
“Can you two not be weird for- one night?”
Jude grinned. Sharp felt mere inches from his face, and he could be obnoxious, or he could just play nice, for once in his life.
“Love you too, Sharpy.”