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Ransom could appreciate art. He could! He didn’t, often, and he didn’t get it a lot of times– he preferred practical things to appreciate, like Bitty’s pies, or good goals. Or, of course, Nursey’s ass, which he’d stolen a few furtive glances down at as he walked in front of him. It was a great ass, okay? Sue him. Now that was art to appreciate.
Right now, however, waiting for Nursey to finish what he was doing was sort of killing him.
Ransom… the thing was, he didn’t want to bother him. He knew he could snap like a twig if someone interrupted him, and Nursey had said something about a homework assignment, so he didn’t want to interfere with that. Even though Nursey wasn’t the type to snap, it felt rude not to give him the same respect he always gave him. Besides, he looked kind of cute sitting on the floor, all hunched over his journal, tongue sticking out just the smallest amount. But he was bored. He was mad fucking bored right now.
He tried going through his phone, systemically hitting Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but it was a dead day– not much posting, only a few notifications, some tagged pics, some snapchat selfies–
Oh. Ransom sat up and went to snapchat. He could probably entertain himself for at least a few more minutes with snapchat filters.
Dog filter, bunny filter, gold butterflies, truck driver, the little frowny face– he glanced over at Nursey and pouted just a touch because a face swap would be hilarious, honestly. Instead, he pulled one of his selfies from his phone and captioned it “missing you”, before posting it to his story.
Ransom looked up. Nursey had shifted towards him a little– he whipped out his phone and zoomed in to his face as much as possible, grinning a little before taking the picture; he yawned right at that second and Ransom decided to save it and send it to the group chat.
[TO: SAMWELL MEN’S H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS]
[text: doctor ransomstein] [attached: payattentiontome.jpeg]
[text: dr ransomstein] look at that. gotdam
[text: raggedy ann] is that a piece of kale stuck in his teeth, fucking vegan
[text: sharkbait ooh haha] nursey I can’t believe you’re doing homework
[text: sharkbait ooh haha] aren’t you guys on a date
[text: horse teeth] who does homework on a date
[text: a manager for ants] 👀👀👀 rans
[text: dr ransomstein] n o i f u c k i n g d o n ‘ t
[text: sharkbait ooh haha] 👀
[text: horse teeth] 👀
[text: raggedy ann] 👀
[text: poop emoji] 👀
[text: the muffin man] 👀
[text: dr ransomstein] SHITS WHAT THE FUCK YOU’RE AT HARVARD (fuck harvard) SHUT UP
[text: rich kid asshole] 👀
[text: dr ransomstein] nursey if you’ve been on the gc the whole time i s2g
[text: big booty judy] why is everyone sending eyes
[text: rich kid asshole] only a minute or two :P
Ransom looked up and glared over at Nursey, who was already smiling crookedly at him, flicking at his new septum piercing, the gold glinting in the soft natural lighting of the museum.
“You’re lucky you’re so fucking cute,” he grumbled, and Nursey laughed, pushing up from the ground to come over to him. He misjudged his weight a touch, falling back on his ass, but managed to stand without crashing into a multi-million dollar painting and putting them both in debt.
“I zoned out,” he admitted when he came to settle next to him. “And then you started sending pictures of me to the groupchat. Wasn’t looking before that, swear.”
“I’m not mad,” Ransom murmured, settling his head on Nursey’s shoulder. He was never mad at him, and it took reassurance after reassurance to assure his boyfriend of that sometimes, but it was worth it. He was worth it. “Just wanna hang, we never have time to do much. I don’t care what we do, just…”
Nursey slid his hand down his arm slowly, distracting him, until his curled his hand around his and laced their fingers between one another’s.
“Together?” Nursey finished.
“Together,” he agreed.
Nursey made a pleased noise that he only somewhat managed to stifle; Justin cupped his chin and pressed their lips together and it drew the noise out of him again, a little softer, a little gentler. He thumbed along the line of his jaw– he had shaved and his skin was so fucking soft, just a little prickly– and Nursey opened up for him, sighing sweetly into his mouth. God, but Justin loved the way his boyfriend melted for him like winter giving way to spring, walls tumbling down around him as he fell into the rhythm of it, the slick slide of their mouths deepening–
A surprised “Oh!” came from behind them and they broke apart, startled. Ransom’s head snapped to the source of the noise, fingers tightening around Nursey’s to keep him from tugging away; it turned out to be an older woman with a scarf around her neck, which she clutched delicately, flushed. Derek took one look at the woman and buried his face in Ransom’s neck, hiding his likely-embarrassed laughter.
“Sorry,” he called out sheepishly, the hand at Nursey’s jaw sliding back to cup the back of his neck, “We’ll move.”
“You’re fine!” the woman squeaked out. “I was just surprised! This part has been, ah, fairly empty, eh?”
“Right, haha; we were about to get going anyways, though,” Justin said, an apologetic smile on his lips. He rose quickly, pulling Nursey to his feet. “Have a nice day, sorry again!”
They walked as quickly as they could without running, stifling laughter as much they could until Ransom shoved Nursey into a family bathroom and they both burst out loud, giggles and snorts and laughter ringing in the empty room.
“I fucking hate you,” Ransom said, shoving Nursey slightly. Nursey shoved him back, grinning, and Rans yanked him into a headlock and scrubbed roughly at his head, making Nursey shriek and try to tug out of his grip– he nearly succeeded until Ransom hooked his ankle and he stumbled, falling back against the wall.
Justin took Derek’s wrists and grasped them firmly, sliding them up against the wall; Derek sucked in a quiet breath as his arms were raised above his head, effectively pinning him there.
“The look you’re giving me right now doesn’t say ‘I hate you, Derek Nurse’,” Nursey murmured.
“People make out with people they hate,” Ransom argued weakly, even as he switched from two hands to one at his boyfriend’s wrists and slid his arm around his waist, tugging his body flush to his own.
“You don’t.”
“The only person I make out with is you.”
“And your life sized poster of Alexei Mashkov.”
“I was drunk, Derek.”
“You’re not drunk now and i’m right in front of you, so–”
Justin rolled his eyes and pressed his lips to Nursey’s. He could feel the smile his boyfriend still had and nipped at his bottom lip, kissing away the answering sound of protest, soothing his bite with his tongue and Nursey sighed into the sensation, lips parting for him. When he pulled away to breathe, he nosed along his jaw until his head tipped gently back and he kissed at his bare neck: he could feel the beating pulse beneath the skin and sucked hungrily at his pulse points until Derek was gasping weakly, fingers twitching up against the lock they were in. “Stop, stop,” he breathed, fighting his pinned state– he broke his hands from Justin’s grip and pulled his face to his own to kiss him once again.
Ransom loved kissing at Nursey’s skin and driving him crazy, but even more so he loved the soft sighs and sweet sounds his boyfriend made when he kissed him properly. Nursey was so, so easy for kissing– if puppy dog eyes didn’t work then pushing him down in his chair, the bed, a couch, and kissing him like this, a slow drag of lips, tongue teasingly flicking over his open mouth and then dipping in to taste him– it almost always got Rans what he wanted. Granted, usually what he wanted was Nursey, but that was a moot point. Sometimes he wanted–
As if cued, Derek’s stomach growled, loud in the quiet of the bathroom, and Justin pulled back, eyeing his boyfriend. A flush was already staining his cheeks, though he didn’t know if that was from all the kissing, or– ah, no, it was growing darker.
“Baby,” Justin admonished softly, tilting up Derek’s chin. His boyfriend bit at one of his swollen lips tentatively, drawing it into his mouth, and Justin let his thumb drag over it, parting his lips once again.
“Yes…?” he mumbled. He looked… appropriately abashed, and he shook his head fondly at him, giving him a quick kiss.
“You forgot to eat again, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Justin’s hand slid up Nursey’s shirt, caressing over his stomach softly. “Can’t take your meds on an empty stomach, Der, you know that.”
He cursed softly. “Forgot my afternoon meds at home, I broke my phone again so my alarms don’t go off.” He gave him an apologetic look, a “sorry” clearly on the tip of his tongue, but Ransom kissed the apologies from his lips and pulled him off the wall.
“We’ll make a pit stop at yours before we go to that pho spot on main?” Ransom asked, searching for confirmation from Nursey, and Nursey nodded, a little smile gracing his lips.
“Sounds good, Rans,” he agreed, something a little funny in his tone.
He looked at him curiously as he took his hand and started walking out of the bathroom. “What?”
Derek shook his head, self indulgent smile curving on his face. “Nothing. You’re just… a really, really good boyfriend, dude.”
Ransom’s answering smile was a little bewildered. “I mean, it’s not a big deal? You need your meds or you’re gonna be miserable, and I wanted to take you out to eat anyways. Healthy boyfriend is a happy boyfriend, right?”
Bemused, Nursey kissed their joined hands as Ransom guided them out of the museum– fuck, where did he park? goddamned big ass museum– and said, “Sure, Rans. Healthy boyfriend is a happy boyfriend. And you parked in the green lot.”
“Oh, shit, ha. Thanks, Derek.”
“No prob.”
And it wasn’t– their relationship was like that, soft and quietly loving and easily giving– it kind of made his heart feel tight with how much he adored Derek, every time he looked at him, and maybe they were only three months deep into their relationship (February first, two weeks before his birthday), but really, damn. What a feeling.
I love you, he thought suddenly, abruptly, fully, as he opened the door for Nursey and he rolled his mossy grey-green eyes at him before sliding into his seat.
I love you, he thought again as Nursey said breathlessly, “Sorry! I couldn’t find them, my med cabinet is a disaster–” clicking on his seatbelt and giving him that wind blown smile.
I love you, he thought once more, as Nursey tripped trying to get to the door before him to open it, catching himself at the last minute and smiling triumphantly, holding the door open for him.
“I love you,” Justin said to Derek, out loud, as he gestured dangerously closely to his tea trying to tell him about his shitty professor– “I mean, come on, who doesn’t think rap is poetry? It’s literally in the name. Rhythm And Poetry, how much more blatantly racist could you get?”– and Derek paused.
“What?” he said, a little startled.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” Justin said quickly.
“But, like– really?”
“Yeah. I… yeah. I love you.”
Derek looked at him for a long, long moment. Slowly, a smile unfurled on his pink lips and he leaned carefully over the table: his palm curled, a little cool, at the nape of Justin’s neck and he kissed him tenderly.
Soft, quietly loving, easily giving.
“I love you too,” he murmured against his lips, and then sat back and continued his story, as if Justin’s whole life hadn’t changed.
I love him, he thought. He loves me.