Chapter Text
It starts with a griefed trap.
Well, no, that’s not quite right— it actually starts several weeks before, with a trapped turtle farm, a couple pieces of dripstone, and a temporary pact made for selfish gain, but— the trap is really the true start of all of Jude’s problems.
See, the thing with trapping is that, as much as Jude and just about every other trapper in the world wishes, it is far from an exact science. Thousands of things can go wrong with one simple trap: redstone fucking up, griefers, lack of skill or mistiming or lag stopping your target from falling into a trap… the fucking arrow cannon incident, et cetera. And every trapper is aware of this little deficit with their own builds, even if some are genuinely skilled enough to just bypass any and all of those problems, which is why trappers still tend to be careful as all hell around their own traps.
To a nontrapper, though, trapping looks more like some sort of dark arts ritual than an actual science. Or, at least, that’s what Jude assumes, because if Sharpness knows how risky trapping as a business can be, then he really shouldn’t be making mistakes that ended with both of them stuck smushed together at the bottom of an armor stand pit.
…Maybe he should start from the beginning.
Some time ago, during Auction day, he got a new teammate. Yay! What was not yay was the fact that his teammate, Parker, happened to be one of his best friends and a fellow trapper. Why would that be a bad thing?
Well. The thing about best friends is this— when you get yourself into a stupid situation, whether or not it’s due to stupid luck or your own idiocy, they will never ever help you. Instead, they will stand to the side and laugh their ass off at your misfortune.
And wouldn’t you know it— Jude just so happened to get himself into a very stupid situation, two weeks after Auction day. He’d been hard at work afterwards, replacing and making new traps to make up for the ones that Nufuli and Tai had forced him to trigger in their scuffle, and Sharpness had decided to tag along— for support, he claimed, but Jude knew that he was really monitoring Jude’s work to make sure he didn’t end up trapping Sharp instead of their enemies.
“Is this the replacement trap? For the nine by nine?” Sharpness asks as he peers over the edge of the newly built trap, one situated in the edge of the desert. It’s another nine by nine, also covered by sand— this one uses a different mechanism than his previous one, though, to prevent the mob incident with Nufuli from happening again. “Wow. It’s… pretty big.”
“Yep. It’s not the prettiest, but it does its job well, and you can’t spot it at all until it opens up underneath you,” Jude brags. It’s also not exactly located in one of the most populated spots on the server, but that’s why it’s such a big trap— this way, it’ll only be in use in emergencies. He explains as much to Sharpness, who nods like he understands what exactly Jude is saying beyond trap get people equals you get loot. “You wanna see how it works?”
“Sure,” Sharp shrugs, and he follows behind Jude like a duckling behind its mother. It’s probably a testament to how weirdly close they’ve gotten since the turtle farm trap that Sharpness even considers looking closely at one of Jude’s traps— after all, the last time he did that, Jude trapped him for killing Fymada. That, or Sharpness just has no survival instinct, which, given the man’s track record, is equally likely.
“It opens up here,” Jude says, whipping out his shovel to remove two blocks of sand. “And if you go down here, there’s redstone that connects it to the centre block so you can run in there, place a pressure plate, and around you the sand will fall down into the trap. From there, they get squished into the one-by-one via pistons— I can show you how those work too, but I don’t know if you’d be interested.”
“I’ll watch,” Sharpness says. Jude raises an eyebrow— he’s honestly surprised that Sharpness actually took him up on the offer, given how lazy he is.
Sharpness seems to notice Jude’s wordless question, “What, did you think I was just going to leech off your work the whole time? I have a trapper teammate now too, you know. I have to start learning some of this stuff if I want to know how to help.”
“Huh. That’s awfully considerate of you,” Jude replies. He’s… pleasantly surprised, he supposes. Cow is one of his good friends, and it’s nice to see that Sharpness is actually thinking about him. There’s a part of him that’s offended that Sharp had never bothered doing this before while they were the only ones tentatively teamed, but he supposes that was a different situation, anyway. “You’re being a surprisingly good teammate.”
Sharpness levels him with a flat look. “Your only comparisons are Spongs and Evo. Don’t look so surprised that I can be nice when I want.”
“You were never nice to me,” Jude shrugs. He realizes a beat too late that that wording makes him sound like a whiny kid who didn’t get what they wanted for Christmas, but by then Sharpness is already snorting. “Hey, don’t laugh!”
“I am nice to you! I give you all my shit all the time,” Sharpness shrugs. “Besides, you’re not nice to me either.”
“You just said either, which implies that you’re not nice to me too,” Jude points out. Sharpness nudges him with an elbow— not strong enough to push him over, but enough to make him stumble a little. “See? You’re being rude right now.”
“Whatever,” Sharpness waves his protest away, “Just show me the trap.”
Because Jude is a kind and gracious man, he does in fact show Sharpness the inner workings of the trap. It’s clear to him that Sharpness doesn’t really get any of it— he has to stop Sharpness from nudging the redstone dust and fucking up the repeaters more times than he would like (which would be none, but beggars can’t be choosers)— but the fact that he’s trying, at least, speaks volumes for Sharpness, who can barely be bothered to learn how to use util half the time.
“Your traps are really complicated,” Sharp says casually.
Jude raises an eyebrow at him, “Not usually. This one’s just different because I wanted to make a trap less easy to grief.”
“No, I mean…” Sharpness trails off, seemingly searching for the right thing to say. “They’re… it’s very impressive, the way you… work with redstone.”
“Uh, thank you?” Jude blinks. Did Sharpness just try to compliment him? It was awkward as hell, sure, but that was definitely supposed to be a compliment of some sort. From the way Sharpness looks away right afterward, seemingly embarrassed, Jude has a feeling that that’s exactly what it was. “...Are you embarrassed, Sharp?”
“No,” Sharpness says, lying. His head is still turned away, and Jude’s enough of a gentleman not to make him look at him when it’s clear Sharpness doesn’t want to— not that he would be able to force Sharpness, anyway, given the difference in skill level between them. “Is there more to the trap than this?”
Jude snorts. Look, he’s not going to tease outwardly, but that doesn’t mean he can’t laugh at Sharp’s awkward diversion. “Nah, that’s it. It’s just the redstoning that’s complicated— you can activate it as easily as any other trap. If you’re done with looking at all the technical shit, then we can just go back up to the surface, patch it up, and I’ll go show you a few of the other replacements.”
“Sure,” Sharpness shrugs, and this is where Jude’s first mistake is made— he lets Sharpness go first up the stairs. While it is logical to let the guy behind you go back first, it’s probably not a good idea to let him use the exit in a possibly griefed trap.
And that’s his second mistake: not checking for griefing.
When Sharpness turns to go up, Jude notices three things: First, the sound of a redstone repeater clicking, then, the sound of a piston retracting, and lastly, the gust of wind in his face as the floor beneath them retracts and sends them plummeting down into his very own trap.
“What the fu—ACK!” Sharpness yelps as he falls to the ground in a heap, Jude managing to land right on top of him as a pile of armor stands and empty minecarts fall down on the both of them, effectively squishing them into a tiny one by one hole. Jude is just barely able to hoist himself up from Sharpness’ chest so that the other man isn’t completely crushed by all the obstacles, but that also comes with the side effect of having him repositioned in a very compromising position.
“Jude,” Sharpness hisses, and oh, fuck, he is mad as hell and also Jude is right between his legs and kinda sorta pinning him down to the ground and it is both very distracting and very terrifying. “What the fuck—”
“Fuck— okay, no, hold on, Sharp, before you kill me, I didn’t do this, and also I really need to move so that I’m not stuck between your legs,” Jude manages to catch Sharpness’ hand before he’s able to pull out his sword, one arm just barely keeping him hovering over Sharpness’ face. “Please, dude, I know it’s probably hard to believe, but I’m not about to trap an ally, and especially not when it ends with me trapping myself as well.”
In the darkness of the trap, it’s hard to see Sharp’s expression, but when Jude hears him sigh, he lets himself breathe a little easier too.
They end up having to do a weird little pretzel twist around each other to make sure neither of them are too dangerously close, but with the limited space they have, the most they can really do in terms of rearrangement is make it so that Jude is lying instead on Sharpness’ arm instead of his chest, both of their legs bent at awkward positions to make it feel less like they’re… well, you know.
“How did this even happen?” Sharpness asks out loud, after a few minutes of them trying to catch their breath. “That was definitely a trap. But I don’t think you were trying to trap me, or else you wouldn’t have also fallen in, especially when we were leaving. Did someone find your traps?”
“I don’t know,” Jude frowns. “It was griefed with a redstone trap, not just someone mining underneath to fuck the whole thing up. And the only other two redstoners on the server are your teammate and my teammate.”
“Well, can you reach your comm?” Sharpness asks.
Jude blinks. “What would that do?”
“Go ask them, Jude. Don’t be stupid, they’re our teammates.”
“Oh,” Jude mutters, slightly embarrassed that the thought hadn’t occurred to him (in his defense, he was under duress). “Right, let me just—” He fumbles around for a bit, but after a bit of difficulty, he does manage to wrestle the communicator from his pocket. The bright light from its screen makes him squint for a second, having to adjust to its screen before he flicks open his messages.
You whisper to ParkerGameBrains: yo
You whisper to ParkerGameBrains: parker do you remember that one trap i made to replace the 9x9
You whisper to ParkerGameBrains: there’s redstoen greifing in here and me and sharp managed to fall in and get stuck can you come help us out
You whisper to ParkerGameBrains: also do you know who griefed us
ParkerGameBrains whispers to you: HOLY FUCK
ParkerGameBrains whispers to you: oh my god LMAOOO listen Jude im so sorry
ParkerGameBrains whispers to you: That may or may not have been the trap I griefed the other day
ParkerGameBrains whispers to you: also don’t worry I’m coming rn
“I’m going to kill my teammate,” Jude mutters, driving his poor elbows deeper into the stone flooring in order to show Sharpness the comm message. Sharpness evidently feels much angrier than him about being fucked over, because his bright green eyes narrow with frustration as he struggles to pull out his own comm. He gives up after a moment of fumbling, choosing to instead try and rearrange them into a more comfortable position by letting his head rest against the wall of the trap, staring straight upwards at the opening.
“I swear Spongs was a better teammate to me than Parker has been to you,” Sharp mutters, and against his better judgment, Jude does laugh at that.
“Hey, man, no one deserves to be compared to Spongs. Anyway, Parker hasn’t been all bad, and he usually remembers to tell me when he fucks with my things. It was just unlucky this time,” Jude groans.
He lets himself sink a little into Sharpness, his arms rapidly growing tired from all the work they’ve had to do trying to hold him up. He half expects Sharpness to shove him off and back into the several carts and armor stands holding him down, but Sharp just huffs and repositions himself slightly so that they’re both in a more comfortable position. Or at least, as comfortable as two grown men can be stuck in a one by one atop each other.
There’s not really much else to do while trapped in a one by one hole, so at some point, Jude just gets bored. He pokes at Sharpness— basically the only thing he can really do at this point, given their really awkward position— and when the other man swats him away unceremoniously, he turns to asking Sharp random questions.
“So, what really happened with you, Evo and Spongs? I could’ve sworn you guys were a real strong team,” Jude hums, focusing his attention on twirling a strand of pale blond hair between his fingers. He notes absentmindedly that Sharpness’ hair smells sweet and floral, like honeysuckle. “I mean, you and Evo were basically attached at the hip, no?”
Sharpness scoffs. “Is that really what you thought? Dude, Evo left like a few months in. I heard he’s playing on Heartless Horizon now, and even when he was online he was a quickdrop.”
“Ha… that’s a bit mean to say about your boyfriend, don’t you think?”
“Your bits still aren’t funny, Jude,” Sharp rolls his eyes. Jude is almost surprised he can see the motion in the dark tunnel, but then again, Sharpness’ eyes are uniquely bright and green, like gleaming gemstones. “If anything, Evo and Spongs were the bickering married couple I had to deal with the whole time. They pissed me off so badly. Saps and Cow aren’t the best fighters, but Saps is at least more willing to learn than either Evo or Spongs, and I don’t really expect anything more from Cow than redstoning.”
“Huh,” Jude mutters. “Interesting. So… was that why you asked to team with me back in the farm?”
“Well, that and I didn’t want you to kill me again,” Sharpness coughs, seeming a little flustered. “You’ve been a good teammate, though. Way better than Spongs or Evo ever were.”
“Really?” Jude feels a small smile tugging at his lips. Before he can press Sharpness more, though— maybe wrench another compliment or two out of him— Sharp’s eyes widen and he shifts.
“Jude, there’s someone else here. Is that—?”
“Jude? Sharpness?!” Parker’s voice comes from above them, and Sharp relaxes again upon knowing that Jude’s teammate was finally here. “You two good down there?”
“Not really, but we’re in one piece, at least!” Jude calls back. He doesn’t bother craning his neck to look up, instead letting his head fall on Sharp’s shoulder. “Can you come help us out?”
“Yeah, just give me a second,” Parker yells back. “By the way, you guys should close your eyes in case any sand falls on you.”
There’s the sound of sand being dug through, then the signature squelch of boots on slime. Jude keeps his eyes closed until he feels Sharpness nudge him— there’s light in their tunnel now, and he has to blink for a few minutes to adjust to the newly lit tunnel.
“Did he decide to bring everyone to laugh at us?” Sharpness mutters incredulously, peering upwards at who Jude assumed was just Parker, but is apparently more than one person. “Jude. Jude, your teammate is actually a piece of shit.”
“I gathered that,” Jude mutters, finally finding a way to turn his head to crane upwards without breaking one of his joints.
And— ah, shit. All three of their respective teammates— Saparata, Parker, and Cow have all gathered around the edge of the trap, peering down at the two of them as Parker drops down a block lower to help clear out the obstacles and fences to get them out. He can’t exactly tell what expression Saps has on under his veil, but if Parker and Cow’s reactions are anything to go by, he’s not doing himself any favors.
Jude can feel his face growing hotter at the judging expression his teammate is currently sporting— and he’s sure from the grimace and dark blush on Sharpness’ face that the other man feels likewise unhappy with his own teammates’ scrutiny.
“Uh… Sharpness? Do… Do you guys need any extra help getting out? Or do you want us to maybe leave you alone?” If he had any doubts before at Saparata’s reaction, this sealed the deal. The little shit was totally trying to hold in a laugh. Fuck this. This is genuinely so humiliating.
“No,” Sharpness says, a little too quickly as he finally seems to come to his senses and crawls toward the now-open fence gate, wriggling his way out from underneath Jude and grunting as he swats away the armour stands keeping Jude stuck flat on his chest. “We’re fine. You guys, on the other hand—”
“Hey, hey,” Jude starts, grabbing onto Sharp’s boot to pull himself the rest of the way out of the trap. Still sprawled out on the floor, he pulls Sharpness down to his level to tell the other man quietly, “Don’t be so hard on them. Parker is the one who fucked us over, it’s not like it’s their fault they found it funny.”
Sharpness sighs, but his expression and features soften at Jude’s words. It makes him look younger, less on guard and more relaxed, and Jude finds himself staring at his temporary teammate’s face like he can commit it to memory simply by staring hard enough. Fucking sue him, Sharpness is pretty, and he’s not the first nor the last to admit it. “You’re letting your teammate off suspiciously easy, too. Are you gonna trap them?”
Jude shrugs, a casual smirk finding its way onto his face. Sharpness knows him too well. “Well, I’m not going to go out of my way or anything, but if they just so happen to get impaled by dripstone…”
Sharpness huffs a laugh, offering a hand to Jude as he begins to tower up. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll just pretend it was natural causes. Now, if you’ve planned out how to get our teammates back, let's try getting out of here.”
“Right,” Jude mutters, already mourning the proximity the griefed trap had provided them. He notes as he takes Sharpness’ hand with a sort of clinical curiosity, that despite the thin leather glove and netherite nail coverings that cover up all of Sharp’s skin under the neck, his hand is warm, and he holds on to that warmth perhaps a little more than he should. “Let’s go, then.”
What he didn’t know then, was something that would become rapidly more obvious in the coming weeks— this was just the start of an infatuation that could lead to him losing everything he had worked toward.