Chapter Text
Judelow was sorting through his stuff, organizing his rarities, sketches, and stuff needed just few hours ahead. His mind was wandering, letting his hand do everything needed to be done, automatically putting what needs to be where.
Before he decided to do a cleanup in his chests, he saw Spongs and Sharpness wander around spawn. He didn't bother to see what was going on, or ask what they were doing here. It wasn't any of his business, and he also didn't wanna get into a fight with the two. Not yet, at least.
Sharpness could do so much better. Jude sighs, his furrowed eyebrows relaxes, something he didn't even notice he needed to do up until now. He was being too uptight these days, and maybeee it was because he pulled an all-nighter without eating breakfast this morning, but to Jude: ideas come first! There were one too many times where he's forgotten things that's just at the tip of his tongue, and that pisses him off more than anything.
Other than Spongs.
Seriously, why was Sharpness still teaming with that guy? Sure, Evorai hasn't been around these days. Somewhere off to who knows where. He could do better, Jude thinks, shutting his chest with a thud. His ears twitch at the sound, making him groan when he noticed how frustrated he was getting.
It was because he hadn't eaten yet. That's why.
He stands up with a small bounce to his feet, his legs shaky from being in such a position for some time.
Pulling out a carrot from his big backpack that basically followed him everywhere; he chews, tapping his foot and looking around his base.
He doesn't have anything to do on his list, which is surprising... He may as well set up some traps around. More is better than less.
So around the hill in the plains, he starts to build a simple pizza trap - one of the easiest to remember. The items were already set up in his inventory, so before continuing he gives a big stretch with his arms out. He's underground, in a quiet, and dark place. The way he liked it.
He starts humming a tune while his gloved hands just worked their magic as he puts piston to redstone in place. He's always felt at peace doing his favorite thing.
"What's that.." A mutter comes from above, a voice that was too easy to recognize. Jude lowered his ears, crouched down and tilted his head up.
Sharpness' footsteps wander around, rubbing his head as he looks around in confusion. He swore he heard someone. kinda like mumbling.. Or humming. It was muffled, he confirms.
He had his guard up despite how confused he looked: his hand already on his sheath with his fingers gliding up to the grip of his sword. He had to admit, he's gotten paranoid at even the smallest sound of a person. It makes him think that a trap is just gonna open up underneath him, killing him right there! Gotta thank Judelow for that..
"What're you doing here?"
Sharpness turns, already aware of Judelow's presence approaching him. Speak of the devil.
He didn't know where he came from, though.
"Why should you know?" Sharpness tilted his head, looking over to Jude, noticing he wasn't exactly suited up for a fight.
Judelow scrunched his nose, "Jeez, just asking..." he huffed out. He doesn't know why he decided to come out of his hole. To see this guy, too? How pointless.
"Weren't you with Spongs? Earlier this morning?" Jude glanced over at Sharpness, curious on why he's alone.
Alright, maybe he came up because he wanted to ask about that, and maybe just to get some interaction in his life.
"He's out talking with the stupid pirates. He says that he's making a deal with them, but I doubt it's gonna be a good one." Sharpness gives the slightest pout, annoyed by his own teammate.
See? Even Sharpness disliked his teammate. Jude can see it, and maybe if Sharpness were to disdain Spongs more... Then maybe he could get Sharpness for himself instead?
Sharpness sees the little glimmer in Jude's eyes, making him uneasy to whatever the trapper could be thinking about.
"So you don't like your own teammate?" He begins, "Kinda weird to stick with someone who you don't get along with."
"I mean, I at least have a teammate."
Jude blinks at that, chuckling at the soft insult, "I don't need someone," He says with certainty, "I work for myself. Others just weigh me down. doesn't that say the same for you? It seems like Spongs is weighing the 'greatest swordmaster.'" He says playfully, stepping closer.
We could be great together. Jude shouts in his head, hoping the comment would reach Sharpness's head too. There should be space for it, anyway.
"Are you saying to ditch him?" Sharpness frowns, "He's a jerk, but he's still my teammate," A pause.
"I'd leave him if there was such a circumstance, though." He puts thought into it, making Jude's eyes glimmer once again. How the heck does he do that?
"Okay, dude. Stop doing that." Sharpness irks.
"Fine, I'll stop pestering you. But you're the one who showed your face here, just to remind you." Judelow scoffs, totally mistaking what Sharpness said, turning on his heel and replacing his backpack with his elytra, hugging his big luggage with his arms.
"See ya," Judelow hums, launching a rocket. He finished the trap, and things would just get more awkward by staying here.
Sharpness was left there totally confused with the interaction, "Since when was Jude so interested in me.."
---
Judelow couldn't believe it. Well, maybe he could, because he was gonna make them team up one way or another. He just didn't expect it to be handed to him on a silver platter! How lucky was that?
Sharpness is a daily occurrence in his base now, which was actually pretty often before. Just now, he's practically living in his place.
Sharpness has actually thought of them teaming up, which was right after that weird interaction in the plains. So perhaps Jude actually did get that comment into his head? A trapper, and a fighter. What duo could beat that? Sharpness made it clear that they should team in his head. He just didn't think he'd have to say that with his life on the line and a dripstone threatening to drop through his skull.
He's not gonna forget about all those deaths caused by Jude in the past.
"Sharpness, you think here would be a good place?" Jude called out to him, showing him the crowded corner of the forest: filled with trees and bushes. A knockback trap would be hidden well right here.
"Thought something would be better over here, no?" Sharpness pointed in the direction where it was just near a river, a place where it wouldn't be weird to cross.
"Already have one there. Oh, I haven't showed you it, have I?" Jude came to realization that he skipped that checkmark entirely when they passed that area. He pushed through the bushes, making his way to the recently built trap.
"Ugh, I thought you told me you were gonna show me all of em in the area?" Sharpness grunted, his trust lowering when he found out not all has been shown.
"Hey, I can't let you in on all of them. Imagine you started backstabbing me, I've gotta have an ace up my sleeve." He rolls his eyes, standing right over the trap itself. "Make a reminder right here.. And right over here is the ladder." He moves to the one dirt block in the corner, mining it out to check if he was 100% right.
"Why would you think I'd betray you?" Sharpness raises an eyebrow, setting the checkpoints on the spots Jude told him to.
"I know you, Sharp." Jude says slowly, a snicker making it's way out. He places the grass block back.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Sharpness flushes, a bit offended by something he didn't know entirely of. They just started being teammates, and Jude is saying that he knows him?
"You always keep a grudge, and it's pretty funny.." He shrugs it out, heading back into the forest.
Ugh... It pains Sharpness to know that Jude is actually right.
--
Down the ladder in his base, around the turtles that were kept safe, Jude is sitting in the corner: a billboard filled with notes and sketches hanging on the wall to the right of where he sat. He was dotting down on a thin paper, an idea he came up with when he was gathering more wood for himself.
Normally, he would've asked Sharpness to fetch the materials, but he was out and about. No clue where he was.
Jude scribbles out something right before his ears perked up.
"Jude? Why are you up this late?" Sharpness comes down the ladder, seeing the dimly lit room with only one torch lit up: that one torch being right beside Jude.
"Just writing something down..." Jude mutters, his eyes fixed on the sheet of paper. He becomes less tense knowing it was Sharpness who appeared.
"It's really late." Sharpness walked up to him, looking down on what he was doing.
"You're up too, ya know." Jude erases this and taps his led on that.
"Well, I WAS gonna go to sleep, but you look like you're gonna be up for a few more hours." Sharpness's eyes darken. He remembers the rare times he was out at dark in spawn, and whenever he passes Jude's base, he would always see a light on. No wonder the bunny has eyebags.
Whatever Jude is working on doesn't interest Sharpness. In reality, he has no clue how to make traps, and has only learnt a small bit from Jude these past weeks. It's too complicated, and that's why it just passes through his ear and out the other whenever Jude rambles about said traps. Only paying attention when he gets to step in.
"Just a few more minutes.. I almost got everything down." That was a lie. As Jude thought about this more -- more and more came to mind and questions about how this contraption would work.
"Tsk.." Sharpness clicks his tongue, rolling his eyes on how stubborn Jude was being. He sounded like a teenage boy getting woken up on a monday morning.
Sharp crouched, making his way beside Jude and sitting down, causing Jude to finally look up from his work and stare at Sharpness. His ears were perked up, something Sharpness found cute in a way..
"Uh, didn't you say you were gonna go sleep?" Jude asked, suddenly feeling hyper aware of his surrounding: how they were pressed up against one another, side by side. How Sharpness's hair was messy, but messy in all the right ways. But has Jude ever seen Sharpness look messed up? Hell, even when he's having a near death experience he looks drop dead gorgeous. (Get it?)
"I'm just taking a peak on what you're doing." Sharpness deadpans, too tired to really think about why he chose to stay by Jude's side.
Jude giggles, "Since when did you have an interest in the planning out part?"
Fuck. He could clearly hear his own heartbeat, and it almost makes him think that Sharpness could hear it too. It was all of a sudden too quiet for his liking, just the silent breaths coming from Sharp and the swallow Jude just done.
He snaps out of thought, the unnecessary sounds shutting out like it never existed. What he does notice is that he's been consistently tapping his pencil on the paper.
Jude shyly looks over to Sharpness, making himself cringe a little by how weird he's gotten around him lately; He's been noticing things a tad too much about Sharp. The singular torch didn't help either. It hit Sharp's face perfectly.
God, was there anything about Sharpness that wasn't perfect? Actually, never mind. There is. All brawn, beauty, but no brain. Jude guesses that's why he's here.
Sharpness' eyes are pointed directly at the paper that was scribbled with notes and a mini doodle of a plan Jude wanted. You know, Sharpness' eyelashes were also freakishly long too, another thing Jude noticed on his long focus staring at Sharp who just didn't seem to notice.
Pretty: is the best word to call him.
"You're not really getting everything down like you said," Sharp looked back up at Jude, making him tense back.
"You know, maybe I am sleepy." Jude says in a rush, folding the paper up and standing. Sharpness watches him pin the paper to the billboard along with the other plans.
"Told ya so," Sharpness let's out a light laugh, getting up himself without much trouble unlike Jude.
The other fwips his head around, "You didn't tell me anything." He denied, not letting Sharpness have the last word.
Gosh, and his laugh was also pretty. Jude knew Sharpness was good looking before, and it never bothered him! So fuck his stupid, smart brain of his, because why did Sharpness become even more of a hassle?
"Yeah, I did."
"You never actually told me to go sleep."
"I basically did!"
"Never said it, though." Jude smiled at seeing Sharp get more annoyed. They both climbed up the ladder to the two beds awaiting their arrival.
Maybe he does need to rest.
--
"You okay?" Jude asked Sharpness, leaning closer but still staying on the side where the chests were bundles up.
They had just finished a fight. Well, not exactly.. They were jumped without at all being prepared, so not much health pots or gaps in their hands. But hell, how would you expect to get attacked in the middle of nowhere, underground? Just how the hell did the guardians even find them.
The guardians obviously took advantage of their broke state, because they were left having to run back to their base because of that. And the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere means that there were no traps.
Right before him and jude actually got near to any traps, the opponents backed off before Jude even got to do anything! How unfair. Even if only two of the members of the guardians were present.
Sharpness nodded, re-tying his messed up hair. Jude was coming back with a bunch of health pots, already healed up himself and just looking to care for Sharpness now.
"They're gonna pay for that. Once we regear and actually are prepared..." Sharpness grumbled, taking the potion Jude handed out to him. The acking pain cleaned away like it was never there once he swallowed quickly from the bottle, wiping his mouth right after.
"Maybe it's time to use that new trap, huh." Jude hummed, stashing some pots his bag.
"Really?" Sharpness brightens up, an obvious, devious smile creeping its way on his face.
"You said you were really eager to bait for that one, so this seems like the perfect moment," Jude looked back to him, his heart skipping at the look Sharp gave him.
"I guess so." He moved to the ender chest beside Jude, shuffling through it and pulling out some shulkers. "Can't wait," Sharpness smiled, already feeling the adrenaline that's waiting to come.
Jude snickered, standing up and throwing his backpack back on.
They certainly fit well when it came to the motive to defeat their enemies. To feel the power, to dominate the other whichever it be using creative tricks to get your way, or to just get in there; it's something they both loved equally.
But this is strength. Who wouldn't love that feeling?