Archive of Our Own

When Judelow requested to take a trip to a frozen ocean biome for blue ice, Sharpness agreed without much thought. 

It was for a new escape idea he had where the player was launched thousands of blocks in an instant with a combination of a boat cannon and a blue ice bridge, and it definitely sounded effective. Where it would be placed, he didn’t know, but it certainly wasn’t his problem.

“Okay, let’s see.” Judelow flipped through a list of preparation items with a cute bounce to his steps, a characteristic sign of excitement. “We need really good silk touch pickaxes, helmets enchanted with aqua affinity and respiration— ooh, maybe a turtle helmet for the extra water breathing?” The sound of his quill scratching hastily across paper filled the room. “Materials to set up a campfire and build a warm shelter, blankets, hot thermoses—”

Sharpness shook his head in exasperation. “It’s not going to be that cold, is it?”

Judelow gave him a brief look before going back to looking over his list. “You’d be surprised.”

“Whatever you say.”

“—spare changes of clothes, sleeping bags, and shulker boxes to carry all that blue ice back,” Judelow finished off. “Hey, Sharp, could you get us turtle helmets and enchant them?”

Sharpness nodded, already on his way to the turtle farm. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Remember, killing turtles doesn’t make them drop scutes.”

“Fuck you.” Sharpness flipped the other man off before he turned the corner.

He went through the motions of gambling at the enchanting table for aqua affinity and respiration, which were thankfully easy enough to get. While he searched for any spare silk touch books for their pickaxes, he listened to the sounds of Judelow rummaging frantically through chests with a slight smile on his face. The trapper always got so excited for expeditions, not only because they were a welcome change from farming the same materials over and over, but also because of the exhilaration that came with fulfilling a new trap idea.

Sharpness had to admit, it was a little (a lot) cute.

He returned with two sets of enchanted items, tossing them in a nearby shulker box before grabbing some food from a nearby chest. By then, Judelow had gathered the other materials into his own shulker and was now making hot chocolate to put in a pair of thermoses. 

“Are we, like, leaving now?” Sharpness asked absentmindedly, taking the thermoses from the other man to pack those as well.

Judelow shrugged. “Why not?”

“Mm. Alright.”

Sharpness took a glance at the clock on the wall of Judelow’s base. It read around late morning, which probably meant they could make it to the frozen ocean by early afternoon and spend the rest of the day there, and potentially the night if needed. Not bad.

Although, if Judelow kept packing at this rate, they wouldn’t be able to leave by the evening. How much stuff was he going to bring?? Surely it wouldn’t be that bad, right?

Right?

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

The frozen ocean biome was fucking cold.

Sharpness had fallen into powdered snow a few times in the past, mostly due to carelessness on his part. It had been freezing, as one might have expected, but it was nothing compared to this.

It was mostly flat ice as far as the eye could see, broken only by a few sparse icebergs here and there, meaning there was wind— and a lot of it. Sharpness sorely regretted not bringing something to tie up his hair; it was getting in his face constantly. To make matters worse, a light snow was falling, blocking out what little warmth they could have gotten from the sun.

Sharpness tamped down a shiver, pulling his fur coat tighter around him. Initially, he had been skeptical of Judelow’s urging to wear coats over their armor, because surely the padded inside of armor would be enough insulation, right? Now he was profusely thanking the other’s insistence (internally, of course. His pride would never let him admit to Judelow being right). 

Unfortunately, even that small movement didn’t slip past Judelow’s senses. The trapper slowed his pace slightly to fall into step beside Sharpness, grinning from ear to ear. “What, cold?”

Sharpness forced himself to drop his hands from his coat. “No.”

“Sure, “ Judelow scoffed, clearly seeing right through him. Somehow, the other seemed almost unaffected by the cold, the only indicator of even a very slight discomfort being his fur-lined hood, which was pulled firmly over his head. Sharpness was envious.

They walked for a while longer in relative silence, boots clicking over ice and pushing through snow. Sometimes, when they came across larger icebergs, Judelow would go to examine them, but returned shortly after with a shake of his head. 

“What are you even searching for?” Sharpness had to ask as they continued their trek. The icebergs had looked good enough to him, but then again, he wasn’t an expert.

“Better icebergs,” Judelow answered, laughing when Sharpness scowled. “No, I’m being serious! Blue ice spawns at the bottom of icebergs, but most of them are too small to have any, so we have to skip past those.” 

Sharpness blinked. “At the bottom?” He clarified. 

Judelow nodded. “Yeah, you’ll rarely find blue ice above the water level, so we have to find a sizable iceberg with a water entry point near it—” He perked up suddenly, spotting something in the distance. “—like that one!”

They picked up the pace, jogging towards a tall iceberg that was quickly coming into view. On one side, some small, meter-wide holes were scattered around the ice.

Judelow stopped at a hole close to the iceberg, trying to peer into the water. When that apparently had no success, he rolled up his coat sleeve, plunged his arm into the water, and blindly hacked around with his pickaxe until something hit. 

“Got it!” Little shards of ice floated to the surface, and Judelow grabbed one of them, examining them under a torch. “Yeah, this is blue ice. Let’s set up camp here.”

Sharpness stared at the ice shards for a long moment, wondering how on earth Judelow could possibly distinguish them from normal packed ice. Then he went to set up a small cabin where the other man was laying planks on the ice. 

As usual, they worked together quickly and efficiently. Judelow built the actual structure, since Sharpness was abysmal at making roofs, and the latter carefully started a fire on top of some cobblestone a few feet away.

In only half an hour, they were done. Sharpness couldn’t help but wonder why they needed an entire cabin just for ice-gathering, but Judelow probably had a reason.

“Ready to start?” The man in question asked as he exited the newly-made house. He had a few shulker boxes with him that he placed by the water. 

“Yeah.” Sharpness took a quick glance at the fire to confirm it wasn’t going to die immediately, before joining Judelow there. “So, are there like… rules? Or do we just go in and collect as much as possible?”

“Okay, well— there’s no rules, but obviously you need to stay safe, so here’s how we’re going to do this.” Judelow rolled his shoulders, taking out the turtle helmets from a shulker box. “These holes seem to be the only entry points in the near area, so make sure to always keep them in your sight.”

Sharpness nodded absentmindedly, his attention quickly being drawn by the fact that Judelow’s helmet was off. The snow was starting to collect on his hair, dusting it in little glimmering specks of white.

“Make sure to keep track of how much air you have left when you’re underwater…”

His bunny ears were exposed to the cold too, tucked halfway back in his hood but gathering snow as well. There was a slight flush dusted across his face due to the cold, and a few snowflakes clung stubbornly to his eyelashes.

“...and if you start feeling symptoms of hypothermia, stop immediately…”

Judelow’s eyes were glittering, the little sunlight peeking through the clouds refracting off his magenta irises. As he motioned to points of interest around the iceberg, Sharpness noticed a slight bounce in his step. To be honest, it was really cute—

“—Sharp, are you even listening?”

Sharpness blinked. “Yeah, of course,” he replied on instinct, even though he had caught none of whatever Judelow had been yapping about.

The trapper’s eyes narrowed, but he shook his head anyway, beckoning Sharpness to come sit at the edge of the point of entry. “Fine, just don’t blame me when you freeze and die.”

“Don’t be dramatic.” Sharpness took a seat at the edge, fixing his turtle helmet over his head and bringing out the silk touch pickaxe. 

Judelow scoffed. “You really are underestimating the ocean, aren’t you?”

And with that slightly ominous line, he pulled both of them into the water.

Sharpness let out an involuntary gasp as the chill hit him, muscles locking up for a long moment. Then he got his bearings and swam for the surface, managing to grab the edge of the ice and tread water there for a few moments.

“Shit— fuck, that’s cold…!” Sharpness let out a flurry of choice words, grimacing. This cold, unlike the gradual chill of powdered snow, stabbed mercilessly under his skin and into his flesh. 

Beside him, Judelow laughed, even though he was also floundering a bit. “What, did you expect it to be a hot spring?”

Sharpness shoved a wave into his face. Judelow sputtered momentarily, shaking his head out in a cutely indignant way, before retaliating with his own splash of freezing-cold water.

Soon enough, both of them were drenched and shivering from their little war. Sharpness rubbed his arms vigorously, trying not to smile at how Judelow looked like a soaked cat in the rain. Or a bunny; that was more accurate.

Clearly, his efforts failed, because Judelow shot him a death glare. “You look like shit too, don’t laugh at me.”

Sharpness ducked his head underwater in an attempt to hide his obvious laughter. Clearly, by the way Judelow’s stare had gotten several times more lethal when he surfaced, it didn’t work.

Judelow crossed his arms. “Well, are we going to collect the ice or not?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Sharpness coughed, recomposing himself. “Uhh, what do I do again?”

“So you weren’t listening.” Judelow gave him a look full of disdain that could make even grown men cry. 

“I was—” Sharpness tried to protest, but was interrupted by the other man’s sigh.

“It’s really not that difficult.” Judelow shook his head, taking his pickaxe out. “You dive to the bottom of the iceberg, get as much blue ice as possible, and get back to the surface before you run out of air. Rinse and repeat, and if you get too cold early then just dip and I’ll finish it up.”

“What?” Sharpness asked, affronted. “You think I’m going to freeze that easily?”

Judelow dunked Sharpness’s head under the water. A stream of surprised bubbles burst from his mouth before he twisted his way out of the other man’s grasp.

When he surfaced, Judelow was giving him an unimpressed stare. “Humans are very sensitive to the cold.”

“You say that like you’re not one.”

Judelow nodded his agreement. “Not fully.” His bunny ears twitched, as if to emphasize his point. “Rabbits run warmer than humans, dumbass.”

Sharpness rolled his eyes. “Just say you have a superiority complex.”

His comment was received with another splash to the face, before Judelow disappeared under the surface. Sharpness peered through the water inquisitively, watching his silhouette descend towards the bottom of the iceberg.

After a moment, Sharpness realized that was probably his cue to follow him down and start working on the very reason they were there in the first place. He cleared his throat, took a gulp of air, and went down.

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

Despite the less-than-calm way the expedition had started out, Sharpness found the motions of swimming back and forth from the surface and hacking at the iceberg with his pickaxe surprisingly relaxing. He and Judelow couldn’t talk underwater, obviously, so they communicated by pointing to somewhere or occasionally making a hand signal. It was a little disconcerting at first, not being able to hear Judelow’s ever-present voice, but he got used to it quickly enough.

Based on the reading of the clock Sharpness had brought down with him, an hour or so had passed since they had started. Between them, they amassed two shulker boxes full of blue ice, and needed one and a half more.

Again, Sharpness dove back down into the ocean, already used to the song and dance. He passed Judelow on the way down, returning his offered wave.

By that point, the two of them had wordlessly made an agreement on who worked on which side of the iceberg. Sharpness was on the far side, simply because he had beaten Judelow there and had been ready to fight for it, despite the other’s protests of safety and needing to be near the entry point in case of danger.

But nothing had really happened. It was peaceful behind the iceberg, and Sharpness was making smooth progress. He had a small cave hollowed out inside the ice that was quickly beginning to expand.

He returned to the edge of that little hollow, floating just outside of it, ready to continue the collection process. He grabbed the pieces that were hovering around near the top, ones that he had missed last time around, and put them in his inventory. Then he pried a particularly large chunk off the iceberg with a triumphant grin, raising his pickaxe to break it into smaller pieces to carry—

—But suddenly, an unpleasantly urgent prickle ran down the back of his neck. Entirely on instinct, he threw himself several blocks away from the iceberg, just as a trident slammed into the exact place where he had just been.

“Shit,” Sharpness cursed. Normal drowned were easy enough to deal with, but ones with tridents did pose an actual threat. 

He twisted around to scan the area where the trident had come from. Instantly, his eyes zeroed in on another coming his way, and he ducked under it halfway on autopilot.

Damn, that one’s annoying.

Sharpness drew his sword, trying to peer through the water. It was unnervingly dark and murky, hiding anything that could be there.

He cautiously started paddling towards the source of the tridents, on careful watch for any more. Absentmindedly, he noted that the water breathing from the turtle helmet was starting to run out. Whatever, he would be done with this drowned in no time; he could refill air afterwards.

Or, at least, that was what he thought.

But then he saw that the drowned was riding a zombified nautilus as well, and bearing straight down on him alarmingly fast.

It all happened before he could even begin to react. What remaining air Sharpness had was knocked out of his lungs as the nautilus slammed into him with the force of what felt like a freight train. A flurry of bubbles burst from his mouth as he tumbled through the water, quickly losing sight of which direction was which. 

Shit!

Sharpness gasped involuntarily, an instinctual reaction to not having air in his lungs. Burning, freezing, salty water filled his mouth immediately, forcing its way down his throat.

In front of him, the nautilus emerged into view again, along with the head of another trident. In a panic, Sharpness twisted forcefully, ignoring the sharp, popping pain that came with the sudden, violent motion, feeling the water behind him buckle as the trident just barely missed him.

His mind was running through fragmented thoughts a mile a minute, diluted by the water quickly filling up his lungs. 

First priority; kill the drowned.

Sharpness’s boots found the seafloor and, semi-consciously, he hurtled himself towards the nautilus. His free hand grabbed the edge of its shell and yanked it downward, and his sword slashed through the neck of the drowned with much more difficulty than he expected. 

Second priority. Air.

His vision was already starting to dot at the edges, and an overwhelming need for oxygen was searing into the back of his throat. He fumbled with the handle of his pickaxe while kicking towards the surface, nearly dropping it in the process.

Finally, his shoulder hit the layer of packed ice covering the ocean’s surface. He swung his pickaxe, digging the point of the head into the ice before pulling with what little might he had left. A small piece, much smaller than he would have liked, broke off and floated away.

Sharpness gritted his teeth, repeating the movement. Vertigo was pulling at him from all directions, turning his own pickaxe into a blur of gray. His arms were quickly losing strength; he had to—

—there. The ice split, fragmenting into several large chunks. Sharpness threw his hand at one of the gaps between them, pushing one out of the way to grab the edge of the hole. 

With the last vestiges of his energy, he yanked himself up, willing his arms not to collapse. The world tilted on its side as he threw himself onto the packed ice, rolling over to the side so he wouldn’t fall back in. 

That was all he could do before his throat spasmed painfully. Sharpness turned onto his side just in time to upheave a torrent of water onto the floor beside him, clutching his pickaxe with white knuckles.

Then; blessed, fresh air.

Sharpness inhaled roughly, coughing at the lingering burn in his throat. Relief slammed into him like the swing of a pendulum, relaxing the claws around his neck. 

He spent an unknown amount of time laying there, just gasping for air. His breathing gradually started to calm, slowing down into something less panicked.

Absently, he wondered, where the fuck was he? None of the icebergs around him looked anything familiar, and the smoke column of their campfire was nowhere to be seen. Surely the nautilus hadn’t sent him that far, had it?

He half-turned to look over his shoulder at the other side, gaze hardening when he recognized nothing. How was he going to get back?? Ah, but that was a problem for future Sharpness; several various points of discomfort were starting to make themselves known to him, and they probably had to be assessed first.

Numbness was already beginning to set into his limbs, particularly his arms and shoulders; those were going to be sore as fuck the next day. His fingers were beginning to sting, so Sharpness pulled his gloves off with his teeth since they were wet and would only make his hands colder. A dull ache throbbed in his chest from the point of the nautilus’s impact, even through his armor, a testament to the strength behind that hit. He was also shivering all over, an unforgiving cold having settled into the marrow of his bones, especially since he had just been submerged in glacial water…

Too late, he realized that he still had a third priority to take care of.

He was probably freezing to death, wasn’t he?

That would explain why his breathing was becoming shallower and shallower. Thinking was also starting to feel like walking through molasses, and—

Sharpness glanced down at his hands and recoiled. Shit, his fingers were— blue. Like, actually blue; what the fuck?? He had thought that only happened in stories or movies. Not— not—

—where was Judelow?

He tried to lift his head, feeling like it weighed a ton of bricks. As far as he could tell, there was no ugly bunny in sight. 

Surely Judelow would have noticed he was gone by now. Surely he would care enough to go looking for him, right? How far could Sharpness possibly be for him to not have found him yet? It had been so long—

—how long had it been?

Sharpness furrowed his brows. That fight with the drowned had taken… two minutes? Five? Ten? Twenty? No, wait, that couldn’t be; he couldn’t possibly survive underwater for twenty minutes even with an enchanted turtle helmet. Maybe closer to ten. Eight? A bit more; nine, then…? No, that didn’t really feel right—

—either way, Judelow wasn’t here, so Sharpness would have to find him himself. 

He slowly, gingerly sat up, wincing as a wave of nausea seized his head. He braced himself with an arm, pushed up with a leg, and…

…immediately fell back down as his knee buckled.

—shit. Shit. He heaved a soft, hysterical laugh. He was really going to die here, wasn’t he? He quite literally couldn’t get up to save his life, could barely think straight, and— was he hypothermic? Probably frostbitten, too; considering the pins and needles creeping up his fingers.

So this was it. Sharpness Conexion, top PvPer, legendary swordmaster, frozen to death. Because of a fucking drowned zombie. That was… humiliating, to say the least.

Sharpness rolled over to lay on his side, tensing initially at the feeling of cold ice against his cheek, before allowing himself to relax. Some faint part of him couldn’t help but wonder how pathetic he must have looked.

He hoped Judelow wouldn’t be too sad, finding his body splayed out uselessly on the ice. Maybe he should throw himself in the ocean; at least Jude would then be spared the sight of his cold, dead remnants. Although, was never seeing someone again really better than finding their corpse? Sure, it was less traumatizing, but maybe it was a matter of closure…

Sharpness let out a soft, rueful sigh, pulling his hands up to his eye level to stare at them. The tips of his fingers were beginning to go numb. 

He reached out, not enjoying the way his forearm trembled. Slowly, clumsily, he pulled the side of his thumb through the thin layer of snow he was laying on, so he could leave Judelow a message, at least. He definitely couldn’t write in this state, but… maybe he could draw a heart?

Sharpness pushed himself up onto one arm to scrutinize his work, before frowning and scattering the snow. That abomination of a drawing could not be any further from a heart. 

He sighed again, letting himself fall back down to the ice, closing his eyes. 

Some tiny part of him was urging himself to get up, to save his own skin. He was Sharpness; he didn’t just give up like this. He couldn’t—

—couldn’t think—

—if he imagined hard enough, he could hear Judelow’s distant voice calling his name. 

Sharpness laughed internally, and would have likely shaken his head if he could. The wonderful hallucinations his brain could come up with to pass the time.

He basked in the warmth of that imaginary voice, a singular bit of solace to distract him from the unrelenting cold. It got louder, his name leaving a nonexistent mouth in a gorgeous, sweeping arc, coming closer until it roared in his ears—

—that voice was real.

“Sharpness!” Judelow’s shout echoed between the icebergs and across the flat plains of frozen sea. It was panicked in a way Sharpness had never heard him before, and it activated a searing burn in the forefront of his mind. His head turned automatically towards the direction of Judelow’s voice, and— there. A blotch of blue, sprinting across the ice towards him, rapidly coming into focus.

“Jude,” Sharpness mumbled, lips pulling into a shaky grin, letting his head drop back to the floor. “Took you long enough, yeah?”

“What— you—!” Judelow fell to his knees by Sharpness’s side, grabbing his hand, before immediately recoiling at whatever he felt. “Shut the fuck up; now’s not the time.”

Sharpness let out a soft grumble of protest as he was rolled onto his stomach, before being hoisted up onto Judelow’s shoulders in what seemed like a classic fireman’s carry. They were up and moving in a matter of seconds, and he couldn’t help but be impressed by the other man’s efficiency.

The walk was silent for a while. Judelow was probably focused on carrying Sharpness to safety, considering the former’s heavy breathing and tense muscles, and the latter just wanted to sleep. His eyelids were starting to droop, and keeping them open was getting more difficult.

“‘M just gonna take a nap for a moment,” Sharpness started in a mumble, blinking sluggishly.

“No,” Judelow said forcefully, his voice strained from exertion. “Stay awake, Sharpness.”

Sharpness closed his eyes. “Don’ wanna.”

“Sharp, if you dare fall asleep, I’ll—” Judelow cut himself off. There was silence. “C’mon, where’s the shit talk you always give me? I didn’t know you could go this long without insulting someone.”

“I dunno. You’re pretty cool,” Sharpness slurred. “Your traps are really smart, and you’re not bad at PvP…”

“Okay, you’re definitely hypothermic—”

“—you’re cute, too. …When you blush, I mean. Ooohhhh, and your bunny ears too; those are adorable.”

“You— shut up. Just stop.”

“I thought you wanted me to keep talking…?” Sharpness managed out. He received an elbow to the head as a reward. “Ow— okay. Geeeeeez…”

Judelow huffed, readjusting Sharpness’s position on his shoulders. “Keep talking. Just not about me.”

“What am I supposed to talk about, then? I only know you, Jude. You’re the light of my life… my guardian angel—”

“—Sharpness.”

The bickering continued as the cabin came into sight. Judelow opened the door, and Sharpness was immediately hit with a wave of warm, blessed air. He let out a soft, content sigh, eyelids sliding closed before remembering he was supposed to keep them open.

“Okay, let’s see—” Judelow set Sharpness down on a blanket with surprising care. “Your clothes are wet; I’m going to have to take them off.”

Sharpness tried to push his mouth into a grin as his armor was unbuckled. “What, you gon’ give me mouth-to-mouth next?”

Judelow answered by yanking his coat off with unnecessary force.

“Heyyy,” Sharpness grumbled. “Aren’t you supposed to be gentle with me…? I’m literally dying overrhere.”

“No,” Judelow said darkly. Sharpness blinked at the sudden change in tone. “You’re not dying. I’m not going to let you.”

“...how sweet of you.”

Judelow ignored him, pulling a clean, dry shirt over his head. He had to admit, it was nice not being smothered by three soaked layers.

Then Sharpness found himself being pushed into his sleeping bag. He squinted blearily, before startling as Judelow took off his own armor and coat and began to get in with him. It was certainly a tight squeeze… also, why was he even doing this in the first place?

“...um.”

Judelow gave him a stare that bore holes into his very being. “Don’t say anything. I’m rewarming you via skin-to-skin contact.”

“I—” Sharpness blinked several times as the other man wrapped his arms around him. He was really warm, but— “...Ooookay… are you sure you’re not just using that as an excuse to hug me? I know I’m very huggable…”

Judelow sighed, looking like he was fighting off his inner demons. “When you are fully rewarmed and not delirious, I hope you remember everything you said so you can be utterly humiliated and I can laugh at you.”

Sharpness tried to shrug, but it was pretty unsuccessful. “I dunno. It’s jus’, you’re literally getting in my bed…” he trailed off with a long yawn. 

“Don’t make it weird.” Judelow snapped. His face looked pretty red. Pretty and red, that was. “I’m literally saving your life right now.” A pause. “And don’t you dare fall asleep either.”

“Wwhyyy?” Sharpness whined. His tongue felt clumsy in his mouth, dragging the syllable on for far too long. “We’re in a shelter and I’m warm now. I wanna sleep.”

Judelow sighed again. “Fuck, you’re such a toddler. Stay awake for thirty more minutes.”

“Thirty?” Sharpness complained. “Sleeping isn’t gonna kill me, y’know."

“It could,” Judelow retorted. “Your breathing rate goes down when you’re asleep.”

“Fine.” Sharpness grumbled, resigning himself to his fate. As a petty act of revenge, he wrapped his arms tight around Judelow’s waist and stuffed his face into the other’s torso, revelling in the sharp inhale he received for the action.

He did actually intend on trying to stay awake, but he quickly found it much harder than he expected. His eyelids were practically chained down with weights, and he was just so comfortable.

It really was a losing battle.

So, he slid his eyes shut, when Judelow said nothing about it, allowed himself to fall into slumber.

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

Judelow’s hands hovered awkwardly over Sharpness’s back, frozen in place.

The more he replayed the moment, the hotter his face burned. Especially when he thought about how Sharpness had just— pulled him close and shoved his face into his chest?? The fuck???

Of course, Sharpness was probably confused and delirious from hypothermia, but— still, what had that been?! 

A soft breath interrupted Judelow from his panic, and he glanced down to see Sharpness fast asleep. Shit.

“You little—” Judelow sighed, letting his hands rest on the blonde’s back with no lack of hesitation. The worst part was, Sharpness was the definition of a sleeping beauty. The way his face relaxed and his lips curved into a half-smile, the way his bangs fell over his eyes… it was a sight for sore eyes, to say the least.

He was all sharp eyes and intense concentration when awake. But asleep, he almost looked at peace, lost in dreamland. A rare sight, and one that Judelow couldn’t help but treasure while it lasted.

“Damn, I don’t even want to wake you up anymore.” He shook his head in exasperation. It would probably be fine if he checked Sharpness’s pulse every once in a while, right?

Judelow let out a soft huff before making himself comfortable. Stay with the other man for another hour or two to make sure he was fully warmed up, and then go finish collecting all the ice. Yeah, that was a good plan.

He settled fully in the sleeping bag, allowing himself to relax in Sharpness’s embrace, and contented himself in looking anywhere but the other man’s soft smile.

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

As soon as Sharpness woke up, he was practically assaulted with the worst migraine of his life. 

“What the fuck,” he groaned, flinching away from the light to bury his face into the sleeping bag. Spots in a myriad of colors danced behind his eyelids, there was a throbbing pain behind one of his eyes, and—

“—Sharpness?” 

A shadow fell over the sleeping bag, blessedly blocking out the light. The magenta eyes of a certain bunny hybrid peered inquisitively at Sharpness. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” was his automatic response. There was a scoff from above him, and he tacked on, “well, as fine as I can be after—” he paused. “...What happened again?”

Judelow was silent for a long moment. Sharpness turned his head and painstakingly blinked his eyes open to see… huh. Was he hallucinating, or was the other man blushing?

“You…” Judelow began carefully. He was seated on a nearby block of wood, one leg crossed over the other, and his hands were in his lap, fidgeting in what would have seemed nervous if Sharpness didn’t know better. “I don’t know what exactly happened, but you disappeared from the iceberg area. I looked for you and found you lying a couple hundred blocks away. You were hypothermic and frostbitten, and… well, at first, I thought you were dead.”

“Oh.” Sharpness furrowed his brow, holding his arm up to block the light. “Yeah, that kind of rings a bell… you, uh, carried me on your back, right?”

Judelow coughed. His face was definitely red. “Yeah.”

There was a long pause that was strangely awkward for a reason Sharpness couldn’t quite decipher. “Um… was that all that happened?”

“I, uh, brought you back here,” Judelow answered after a beat, motioning to the interior of the cabin. “I actively rewarmed you for about an hour and then passively for two. And. Yeah.”

“Oookay.” Sharpness nodded slowly. That did sound about right, but it still felt like there was something crucial he wasn’t quite remembering.

Ah, well. If he couldn’t remember, then it probably wasn’t important. 

“So.” Judelow cleared his throat, looking away for a moment. “Do you, uh, remember anything? N-Not just about your recovery, but um… how you got so far away in the first place, maybe?”

Sharpness furrowed his brow, trying to think. He also got out of the sleeping bag and went to take a seat as well, since it was a bit weird having Judelow stare down at him while he talked.

“I think… it was a drowned? It had a nautilus which rammed into me and kind of sent me flying, so I think that’s what launched me that far.”

Judelow nodded hesitantly. “Okay, and… do you recall anything else?”

Sharpness stared contemplatively at the wall for a long moment before shaking his head. “Not really. The only reason I remember the nautilus is because my chest is still aching from the hit.”

For some reason, Judelow seemed to relax. “Yeah, okay. Makes sense.”

“Uh, what?” Sharpness frowned. “Jude, are you alright? You’re acting kind of weird.”

“No, no, nothing!” The trapper waved it off. “Just wondering.”

“...Sure.” Sharpness narrowed his eyes but decided to let it go for the time being. “So what did you do, then? Surely you didn’t just watch me sleep, because that would be kind of creepy.”

Judelow cleared his throat loudly. “No, of course not! A-After I finished actively rewarming you, I went out to finish collecting the blue ice.”

Sharpness blinked. “You did? All of it, or…?”

“Yeah.” Judelow tilted his head towards the four shulker boxes stacked against the opposite wall, a proud smile on his face. “Don’t worry, I checked every twenty minutes to make sure your pulse was stable.”

“Oh.” Sharpness pursed his lips. “But weren’t you cold too?”

Judelow scoffed. “Obviously, but I had the common sense to take care of myself.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean??”

Judelow said nothing, only heading over to collect the shulker boxes. Sharpness let out a sigh, briefly closing his eyes to fight back the fading remnants of his headache.

“Are you feeling good enough to move?” Judelow asked him, his form once again thankfully blocking the light. Sharpness nodded, opening his eyes again and stretching for a moment. 

“Alright, then, let’s go. I don’t want to stick around here any longer than we already have.”

The two of them left the cabin quickly, with Judelow carrying most of the supplies despite Sharpness’s protests. By then, it was early morning, and they had to hold torches to see in the dark.

Their walk was strangely quiet. Sharpness wasn’t much of a talker, but Judelow did like to ramble on and on one trap or another… was he just not a morning person, maybe? But that didn’t explain the thick, uncomfortable silence permeating the air between them like a charged wire.

“Um.” Sharpness coughed, glancing over at the other man, whose eyes were fixed firmly forwards. “Are you sure you’re alright? It’s… not like you to be this quiet.”

Judelow waved his hand through the air absentmindedly. “Just tired.”

“Did I say something?” Sharpness asked. “While I was hypothermic? Or did I do something weird?”

There was a long pause.

“...Did I?”

Judelow cleared his throat. Sharpness glanced at him again to see a red flush beginning to spread across his face.

“Ah. So I did.”

“N-No!” Judelow hurried to say. “You— didn’t. It was just...”

Sharpness frowned, hurrying to keep up with the other, who seemed to be walking faster now. “Just…?” He prompted.

“Nothing. Nevermind.”

“Jude.” Sharpness crossed his arms, falling into stride beside the trapper. “What did I say? Did it make you uncomfortable?”

Judelow shook his head quickly. “No, no. It was…”

A beat.

“...A necessary measure.”

Sharpness threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “What does that mean??”

Judelow looked away, kicking a stray piece of ice and watching it skid across the frozen floor. In the distance, a birch forest was beginning to come into view, and the sun was beginning to rise.

“Well. You were kind of freezing to death.” Judelow mumbled. “And like I told you, I actively rewarmed you.”

“Uh-huh. And I’m supposed to know exactly what that means.”

Judelow sighed. “...Skin-to-skin contact, Sharp.”

Sharpness blinked a few times, furrowing his brow. “...So you hugged me? And that’s it?”

“...I guess you could say that, yeah.” Judelow sped up again, nearly jogging at the pace he was going. There was definitely something else to it that he wasn’t saying, but— what could it possibly be?”

“And… did it go further than that?” Sharpness chanced, purely because that was the only thing he could think of that could possibly cause Judelow to act like that.

“What— no!” Okay, theory disproven.

“Then what?” Sharpness demanded, easily keeping up with Judelow thanks to his height. “I know you wouldn’t react like this just because of a hug, and if it didn’t escalate into anything, then—”

—an idea struck like lightning.

“...Oh. Is that why you’re blushing?”

Judelow startled, immediately turning away. “What? I’m not blushing— wait, what do you mean??”

Sharpness couldn’t help a tiny smile from creeping up onto his face. “Jude, did you like it when I hugged you?”

“I— w-what— no???” Judelow sputtered unconvincingly. “W-Why would I like—”

“So you did like it.” Sharpness let out a teasing laugh, stepping closer to the other man, grinning as he shied away. “Do you want to hug me again, Judy? Come here, I won’t bite—”

“Shut the fuck up, Sharpness.” Judelow hurled a snowball at him, hitting him square in the face. “Literally go die in a corner.”

Sharpness huffed in amusement, entirely undeterred. He began rolling up a snowball of his own. “Come on, don’t be rude.”

“I swear to god—”

And just like that, the banter was back.

The two of them sprinted across the biome, lobbing snowballs and chunks of ice at each other with reckless abandon, eventually turning to rocks of various sizes once they reached the forest up ahead. At times, Sharpness chased Judelow around trees and through the underbrush until either one of them got tired. Most of the time, it was the former, since his muscles were very much still sore from hypothermia. 

The forest passed by in a blur of leaves and birch, beginning to transition into oak the further they ran. At one point, they passed a very confused Dolphin and Nufuli, but those two were quickly left behind in the dust.

As they neared spawn, Sharpness started hurling sticks he found on the ground like javelins. They weren't as easy to throw as rocks, but damn, were they accurate. Unfortunately, Judelow somehow managed to rip off a large piece of bark from a nearby tree and started using it as a shield, so that tactic was rendered useless almost immediately.

Soon enough, they passed through spawn and reached Judelow’s base. Sharpness slowed to a stop outside, taking a moment to put his hands on his knees and catch his breath.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Judelow’s shadow as the trapper walked up to him. “Are you feeling alright?” 

Sharpness laughed and nodded, slightly winded but still functional. “What, worried?”

“No.” Judelow turned around and headed down the stairs into his base.

Sharpness snorted. “What a fucking tsundere,” he muttered under his breath.

“Hey, I heard that!” Judelow’s voice echoed up the stairwell. 

“No you didn’t,” Sharpness called. He straightened, shaking the hair out from his face, and descended the stairs as well.

He found a chair near the foot of the stairs and collapsed into it, stretching out his muscles with a groan. It probably hadn’t been a good idea to chase Judelow for hours after having a near-death experience just the day before, but— well, it had been worth it.

On the other side of the room, Judelow in question was putting the shulker boxes of blue ice away in a chest and unpacking the stuff they had brought with him. Sharpness watched in his peripheral vision, appreciating the efficiency of which the other man moved.

Judelow took out the blankets, sleeping bags, and turtle helmets, before tossing them into another shulker box (Sharpness never really understood his organization system). Then he brought out two thermoses with a noise of realization.

“Oh. We never really got to drink these, did we?”

Sharpness blinked as one of the thermoses was handed to him. He unscrewed the cap and was hit with the characteristic aroma of hot chocolate that wasn’t really hot anymore. “Huh. I guess we didn’t. Is it still good, or…?”

Judelow shrugged, taking a long swig of his. “It’ll be fine. “

“...If you say so.” Sharpness tried a sip. It was lukewarm, but not that bad, all things considered. “If I get food poisoning I’m blaming you—” he was cut off by a yawn.

In an instant, Judelow was by his side, peering into his eyes. “Are you tired? Here, I’ll take you to bed—”

“You’ll what?” Sharpness asked incredulously, and was met with a (gentle) slap to the face.

“Not in that way.” Judelow turned away. It didn’t take a genius to know he was blushing. “Well, do you want to sleep or not?”

Sharpness yawned again. “That would be pretty nice… now that I think about it, didn’t you forbid me from sleeping while I was dying yesterday?”

Judelow scowled. “You weren’t dying.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Sharpness dragged himself up from the chair with a huff, heading over to Judelow’s bedroom. It was closer than his own, and he didn’t feel like walking all the way down the hall.

“W— Sharpness, where are you going?”

Sharpness collapsed on Judelow’s bed, burying his face into a pillow and haphazardly pulling the blanket over himself. “G’night, Jude.”

Judelow stopped by the bed, crossing his arms. “Okay, first of all, it’s the middle of the day, and second of all, you have your own bedroom. Third of all, why is your armor still on??”

Sharpness hid his smile behind a yawn as the other man began unbuckling his armor straps despite his apparent grumpiness. “Thanks.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“Rude.”

Judelow’s sigh was very loud and pointed. The sound of Sharpness’s armor clattering against the floor echoed through the room. “See if I do anything nice for you ever again.”

Sharpness laughed softly, easily seeing through the empty threat. “I know you will. You always do.”

“Go to sleep, Sharp.”

“What, you don’t wanna admit you adore me?”

The lights flicked off and the door swung shut. Silence fell.

“...I see how it is.”