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It was always chaos when the two of them were together.
The adrenaline of a fight; running, yelling, laughing, loud. It was loud and constant. It was a high like no other. When it finished, it left you wanting more; without it, life was understimulating. An addiction is what it was. Jude and Sharpness knew that best.
Ever since they teamed up, that’s been their life. Every day was full of noise. But they didn’t complain. For Jude, it was all he wanted. The spike in dopamine he got when he saw someone plummet into the ground from his traps, when the loot he got from that same body was godly, when he heard Sharpness’s voice beam with excitement—he felt that the hardest.
Jude quickly found out how readable Sharp is. The more time he spent with him, the more he noticed. How his shoulders hunched, how his jaw tightened, how his eyes sparkled. His eyes were a phenomenon to Jude. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but Sharp’s eyes were his favorite.
That exact openness Sharpness had with Jude, whether Sharp noticed or not, was what led them into their current position. In the bedroom of Jude’s base at spawn. Still riding that oh-so-familiar high from fighting and respawning, but that feeling had faded out a while ago. And without it, all that was left was quiet and truth.
The truth was they were exhausted.
Without the adrenaline, all that was left was the fatigue of countless sleepless nights spent building and rebuilding and testing and fixing. All that is left are the thoughts in their heads, and they are blaring.
At least for Jude, because for some reason he couldn’t stop staring at his teammate. The same teammate he is waiting to betray. It is inevitable, it always is. Yet for some reason, Jude’s brain is currently only focusing on his teammate’s perfectly sculpted physique.
Elegant collarbone, a long torso with defined contours, strong back and arms, a slim, small waist—Jude wondered if his hands would touch if they were wrapped around it. Bare, no signature red-trimmed armor that made him look like a god of war, no perfectly pulled-back hair, as the ribbon that usually held it together lay on the table next to him. He just looked—like Sharpness.
But with that, Jude also saw how tense he was. How Sharp’s strong jaw tightened at every movement, how his steps are heavier, how his shoulders don’t fully relax when they are left alone.
And the worst part—
How Sharp’s beautiful pale green eyes held pain in them.
Don’t ask Jude how, but he just knew. Sharpness was more expressive than he first thought. And now he knew something was wrong.
Long days of fighting had taken a toll on both of them, but especially on Sharp’s body, and Jude noticed. Jude noticed when Sharp would sigh just a little too hard, when Sharp looked for physical support so his body wouldn’t drag him onto the floor. And now he was sitting across from Jude, his elbows resting on his knees, head hung low in spent energy, shiny golden locks cascading like waterfalls down his body—god, that body—the death of Judelow. Still, through his hunched posture, Jude could see his chest rising and falling steadily.
Jude watches him shamelessly; he’s too tired to care properly, and that tiredness is probably what led the words in his head to spill out from his mouth.
“...How bad is it?”
Jude questioned before he could even really think.
Sharp’s head snapped up in surprise, then confusion. “Huh?” was all he uttered, now looking directly at his teammate.
Jude took a sharp inhale. He was in this situation now, no getting out of it. “You’re in pain,” he started matter-of-factly and asked again, “How bad is the pain?”
Sharpness now looked slightly flustered at being read so easily as he looked for words. Those doll-like eyes looked away from his teammate to somewhere on the floor as he thought. Angelic features framed by straight blond locks, truly a doll. “I—it's fine, I guess,” Sharpness finally answered, thick accent now fully audible. Some would say it was aggressive, grating, impossible to listen to, but Jude was so familiar with it by now, he didn’t know how to live without it. A part of him wished he’d never have to.
Jude knew Sharpness was lying; battling players for days on end was no easy task for the body, even one as trained and conditioned as Sharp’s. He just wouldn’t admit it. In a server where you had to be strong to no end, he couldn’t admit it. He just pushed through the pain, as everyone else would. Jude couldn’t stand that.
Knowing his teammate was in pain, that his body ached to no end, broke something protective in him. “Sit,” he said, patting the spot on his bed next to him—not sharply, not an order, just... firm.
Sharpness hesitated.
Then slowly stood and lowered himself onto the empty spot on the bed. That movement alone made his shoulders tense. But from here, Jude could really see him. The usual driven sparkle in porcelain eyes now something softer, dare he say... vulnerable. “Do you want a massage?” again Jude asked without thinking.
Sharpness looked at him with surprise. “Is Judelow caring about me? What kind of character development is this?” he joked, but truth be told, Jude always cared—especially for Sharpness.
He knew what he was doing was self-sabotage, that it would only lead to more pain down the line, but Jude had been holding back for months. For months, he reminded himself of the consequences of trust, of vulnerability, of the heartbreak he would face after. Months. But Jude was selfish, and weak. Weak for Sharpness. “Do you want me to help you or not?” Jude raised his elbows with open palms in an offering gesture while he spoke. He didn’t know what had gotten over him, but all he kept saying to himself was that it was too late now.
Sharp breathed as a faint redness covered his cheeks, and his eyes looked away again for a moment, looking so pure and delicate. Jude’s stomach did a little flip at that. “I mean, sure, I guess,” he broke the silence while taking his long hair and flipping it over one shoulder. Sharp’s long, slim fingers trailed down to the hem of his shirt before curling around it and pulling it off with difficulty. Sharp grunted at the tension in his body, with no need to cover it up anymore.
Jude moved behind him and had to restrain himself from immediately caressing the visible muscles on his back. His face was covered in a light red that Sharpness gratefully couldn’t see from where he was sitting.
Jude tugged off the thick gloves on his hands, tossing them aside.
His hands were warm on Sharp’s skin. He felt him breathe in at Jude’s touch. Jude worked slowly, starting on his neck, the tension in his muscles slowly releasing.
Little by little, the knots began to dissipate. From his neck down to his upper back, Jude’s hands worked mindfully, caressing perfect, pale skin which was warming up under his touch. Jude wished he could feel it until he died. He paid attention to Sharp’s breathing, which was slowing. His head and shoulders fell limp in relaxation. Every now and then, Sharpness reacted—a quiet breath, a shift, at one point a low sound that he clearly didn’t mean to let out.
“Still okay?”
Jude’s voice was quiet and soft, a way it hadn’t been in a while. His hands rested on Sharp’s back, grounding, while he waited for an answer. Sharpness only nodded and hummed in agreement. Jude continued.
Jude worked lower down his back, soaking in the beauty beneath his hands. He imagined wrapping his arms around that ethereal torso, the feeling of safety in his teammate’s presence. He didn’t act on it; he would never.
Jude gave in just a little bit, going over spots he already covered. His excuse to himself was that he was making sure he got every little section, even if it was just rubbing circles into Sharp’s back. Again, Jude was selfish and had no self-control, but everything must come to an end. As he slowly disconnected his palms from Sharp’s back, he watched as Sharp’s eyes, which were previously closed, slowly fluttered open, his back straightening with a new range of motion he hadn’t experienced in days.
Jude chuckled quietly at the pure bliss on Sharp’s face.
“Uff—we should do this more often,” he sighed, voice croaky while leaning back on his arms. Jude swore he was posing. His body on full display, neck elongated, head tipped back, smooth, soft hair that was now touching the bed falling perfectly.
Jude would say Sharpness looked most beautiful when he was happy—smiling, laughing. When his eyes sparked with passion and drive and energy. When he celebrated after using one of Jude’s traps successfully.
But looking at him now—
He looked gorgeous like this too.