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“You look like shit, Nurse.”
Awesome, because he feels like it too. He flips off Whiskey at the table and heads straight for the counter to fix himself a mug of coffee only to find the coffee pot is fucking empty.
“Kill me now,” Nursey mutters. Another shitty day awaits him. He doesn’t have enough time to brew more before he has to run to class and he doesn’t think he’ll make it through class without coffee because honestly, he is exhausted—he definitely should’ve gone to bed earlier. “We need a bigger coffee pot already,” Nursey announces to kitchen, even though it’s just Whiskey there.
“Noted.”
Nursey sighs and scratches at his scruff as he heads to the grab-and-go cabinet instead, knowing a granola bar really will not sate him this morning but accepting it will be better than nothing at all. He grunts out a goodbye to Whiskey before heading toward the door, his hand nearly on the doorknob when he watches it twist anyway.
Quickly, Nursey takes a step to the side, dodging the door as it opens.
“Oh shit,” Dex greets on the other side. “Sorry.”
“Hey, all good.” If anything, starting the day with a glimpse of Dex is enough to turn it all around for the better. Nursey smiles and shifts, like he’s opening the door for Dex, and Dex smiles too as he enters.
“Here, glad I caught you,” Dex says before passing Nursey completely. In his hand is a to-go coffee from Jerry’s. Nursey blinks at the offering, not entirely sure what to make of it. “It’s for you,” Dex adds when Nursey doesn’t move to take it.
Nursey’s hand flies up then, startled, almost knocking the cup from Dex’s grip—he’s sure he would’ve if Dex hadn’t pulled it slightly back at the last second.
“Careful Nurse, jeez.”
Nursey’s a little dazed, is all. “Why did you—?”
“We always run out on Mondays.”
When Nursey accepts the drink his chest starts doing something funny.
“Thanks, man.” He’s gonna be late if he doesn’t go now, and Dex steps out of the way like he knows this; Dex’s smile is small but sure, the kind of smile that always make Nursey want to linger for as long as he can so he can poke and prod until it grows wider, more reckless. “Um,” Nursey starts, but Dex waves his hand in dismissal.
“See you later.”
Nursey nods and slips past Dex, glancing over his shoulder once he’s out on the porch, just in time to watch Dex close the door behind him.
One sip of the drink and Nursey knows it’s perfect, just like it always is when Dex procures a treat for Nursey out of nowhere for no reason at all.
Or, well—Nursey thinks maybe there’s a reason. Or that there could be a reason. One that’s deeper than d-men just looking out for each other, but… he’s probably getting ahead of himself.
His first class today is his Senior seminar and it’s centered around healthy online habits and how to spot misinformation and it’s generally pretty gripping, but today Nursey’s mind wanders. Every sip of his coffee takes his thoughts elsewhere again; he trails his finger over the written Will in sharpie on the cup and wonders if Dex even got anything for himself.
When’s the last time Nursey did something for Dex like Dex does for him? Just this week alone Dex fixed the squeak in Nursey’s door, changed the lightbulb in his desk lamp that’s been dead for an embarrassingly long time, and agreed to a ridiculously late night walk with Nursey when he had too much anxious energy and couldn’t sleep (even though Dex was definitely drowsy at that point).
Dex does so much for him.
Even last night after Chowder had finally called it and slipped across the hallway back into his room, Dex lingered in Nursey’s and let him ramble about the psych essay he’d been frustrated with. He knew what he wanted to say but every time he sat down to write his head felt empty again and any sentence struggled its way out.
“So here,” Dex offered, moving toward where Nursey sat in his desk chair. He grabbed Nursey’s shoulders and pushed him lightly. “You pace, let me sit here.”
His laptop was open to the blank document and Nursey frowned, peering over his shoulder as he moved from his seat and let Dex settle in, already clicking different settings for fonts and spacing.
“Stop,” Dex muttered. He held up his hand to block Nursey’s face from the screen and then turned, looking at him directly. “Now say it again, what you were saying earlier.”
Nursey was flustered then, always a little taken aback when Dex met his eyes so easily, and turned to pace like Dex had offered. He shook his head to send any thoughts of Dex elsewhere and thought back, recalling what he’d been ranting about, and then—Dex wrote it out for him. At first Nursey paused, turning in shock at the sound of the keyboard (what else was he expecting when Dex sat down at the computer, honestly?) but picked up right away.
A few minutes later Dex said, “Here.” Nursey paced back to him, and the threat of a blank document had been eliminated. Dex moved seamlessly from the seat while Nursey eased into it, like he’d been anticipating Nursey’s eagerness to actually start. Some of the sentences were fragmented thoughts but others were real, usable sentences that Nursey had said but Dex had transcribed.
It was a perfect starting point and exactly what Nursey needed.
“Nurse, your room is a mess,” Dex said soon after, which Nursey waved off. Things had been kind of crazy with classes lately and he hadn’t been taking the best care of himself, maybe that was reflected in his slightly-too-messy room. (He figured with a closed door it’d be easier for his housemates to not notice when it got out of control.) Nursey tried to hold higher standards for himself but it’d been a while since he really cleaned up. “Can I—“
“Sure, whatever,” Nursey interrupted. Making a dent on his essay had been the only thing on his mind, other than a warm hum of gratitude for Dex and his ways.
Twenty minutes later when he’d poured out most of the talking points that had been lodged somewhere in his brain for the last couple of weeks, he exhaled and finally turned back to Dex. Who was cleaning.
“What are you doing?” Nursey asked.
“You said sure, whatever,” Dex reminded him, glancing over his shoulder from where he was half-heartedly making Nursey’s bed.
“I didn’t realize the last half of that question was going to be clean my room.”
“I’ve been cleaning for 20 minutes and you haven’t said anything.”
“I’ve been in the zone.”
Dex hid his smile as he turned back to Nursey’s bed, spreading out the final blanket on top. “Yeah, I know.”
It wasn’t a lot, really. All of Nursey’s dirty clothes had found their way to his hamper instead of the various piles on the floor, and all the small pieces of trash (mostly from snack wrappers) had been relocated to an actual trash can. The bed was a nice touch, even though it was late enough that Nursey was going to have to climb into it soon enough anyway.
“You didn’t have to—“
“I know,” Dex stopped him.
Nursey slouched back in his chair. He stared at Dex, waiting until the other man turned around to face him again. When he did and their eyes met, Nursey was the first one to look away, his cheeks warmer than he’d realized they would be.
“Thanks Dex,” he said.
When he looked up again, Dex was smiling, the kind of soft, late-night smile that Nursey loved drawing out of him in quiet moments like this. Like the smile itself was another sweet gift, just for Nursey.
“Don’t stay up too late,” Dex told him. Then, with a quiet goodnight, he slipped from Nursey’s bedroom without any fanfare.
Nursey shook his head, laughing quietly to himself once Dex was gone, trying his hardest to ignore the way his heart was skipping beats; after that, he definitely stayed up too late—jazzed about his essay, thoughts lingering on the d-man in the basement…
Still, when he finally climbed into his bed a few hours past midnight, already dreading his alarm in the morning, the sheets had been made, and held him tightly as he settled in.
It’s afternoon and he’s here again, back in his room after class with his door shut, trying to decide which essay he wants to type two sentences on before giving up and crawling back into bed for a nap.
A little bit later there’s a light knock on his door and Nursey calls out for them to open it. He knows even before the door moves that it’s Dex, but Nursey grins at the sight of him anyway, entirely too pleased that Dex has sought him out again.
“What’s up?” Nursey greets from his desk chair.
Dex lingers in the doorway, just a step inside his room. “How are your plants?”
Nursey’s eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “Sorry?”
“I’m—“ Dex gestures to what he’s holding, and Nursey’s eyes finally drop down from his beautiful freckled face to find the Haus watering can in his hands. It lives on the kitchen counter for easy communal access but Nursey always forgets to grab it on his way up and then swears he’ll do it later, which inevitably leads to under-watered plants. (He has a lot going on mentally right now, okay?) “I did the ones in the bathroom and the hall, and I figured—”
“Uh, yeah!” Nursey gestures for him to come in. “No, really, they’re probably in need of a drink.”
Nursey has three plants in his room that are all pretty hearty—his dieffenbachia is maybe more droopy than he’d prefer right now, but his snake plant and his pothos haven’t let him down yet, even when he’s missed a water or two.
“Some light too,” Dex murmurs, heading right for the curtains before anything else. He draws them open and bright afternoon sunlight floods Nursey’s bedroom.
After that Nursey leans back in his chair and watches as Dex eases his way around the room to give his plants all a deserving splash of water.
“How’s your day been?” Nursey asks.
Dex looks a little taken aback at the question. “Oh, fine.”
“Thanks again for the coffee this morning,” Nursey adds warmly, and Dex smiles at him over his shoulder. “And last night…” he trails off and Dex looks away, moving from one plant to the next. “Surprised you didn’t water them then.”
“I mean, the soil was dry, but I wouldn’t just—”
“No, I know I know,” Nursey eases quickly at his defense. Can’t water someone else's plants without permission—that’s a dangerous game. Nothing like changing light bulbs or fixing squeaky door hinges. “Just, thanks.”
Dex shrugs, moving onto the last plant. The Haus is quiet, most people in class or tucked away in their rooms, and the sound of the water seeping into the soil of each plant is a little silly for how weighted the air feels right now.
“Dex,” Nursey says. Dex stops, his shoulders drawing him up a little straighter as he turns back to face him. Nursey has to ask. “Why…?”
Dex seems unconcerned by the question, his face neutral as he answers, “You’ve had a lot going on lately.”
Nursey shakes his head. “No more than you.” Just school, hockey—if anything, Nursey’s sure Dex is busier with his captain duties tied into it all.
Finally Dex’s gaze shifts, eyes elsewhere as he murmurs, “Well, you feel far away sometimes.”
Nursey shakes his head more but Dex doesn’t look up right away. “No,” he insists. “I mean, I’m right here?”
But Dex shrugs a little again and it opens up something in Nursey’s chest. He feels breathless and confused, not sure what Dex is seeing that Nursey is missing. Maybe this semester has been a little more challenging than the previous, but it’s spring semester, senior year. Nursey kind of expected it and has been doing his best to trudge his way through alongside everyone else. Isn’t everyone locking themselves in their rooms for days at a time to get their work done?
“Alright,” Dex says.
Nursey’s chest rattles with warmth as he tries to figure out what to say. “It’s just that…” Dex looks up to him again as Nursey trails off, and he makes no indication that he knows where Nursey’s going with this. “You don’t have to take care of me, Will.”
“That’s not what I’m—”
“It is,” Nursey interrupts gently.
Dex takes care of him in so many ways that Nursey can’t even name them all. Not only with coffee and cleaning and handy work, he just cares. He wants to know how Nursey is, checks in on him; there’s a touch of love behind it all that makes Nursey delirious and hopeful if he thinks about it for too long.
Dex blinks a few times before his eyebrows pull together in thought. “What if I like taking care of you?” he asks, low.
Nursey’s breathless in an instant. Dex holds his gaze—his eyes are golden and clear, free of the confusion that feels tightly coiled inside Nursey about all of this now.
“Why would you like doing that?” Nursey whispers.
Dex visibly deflates and it only makes Nursey’s stomach ache more. His tongue darts out to wet his lips and Dex sighs, shaking his head. “Never mind.”
“Will—” Nursey moves to stand but Dex has already turned, quickly fleeing Nursey’s room and pulling the door shut behind him. With the sound of it closing, Nursey freezes, his feet heavy where he stands now in the middle of his bedroom with Dex just out of reach.
He listens to him take the stairs down, and it’s quiet enough that Nursey even hears the door to the basement when Dex finally finishes his retreat a few minutes later. He’s still standing in his room, not sure what to do or where to go next.
Eventually he settles back down at his desk but the thought of getting any work done now is even more of a joke than before Dex stopped in. Instead, Nursey waits until he hears Chowder getting back from class an hour or so later; he gives him five minutes of time to decompress alone in his room before Nursey gathers himself and crosses the hall, knocking gently on Chowder’s door.
Chowder calls to let him in and Nursey peeks in through the cracked door before Chowder ushers him more. “You have a minute?” Nursey asks.
“Always, dude, what’s up?” Nursey sinks into the bean bag chair with a sigh and Chowder settles down on the edge of his bed, looking worried. “What happened?”
“When’s the last time Dex brought you a coffee?” Nursey asks.
The worry on Chowder’s face evaporates immediately, replaced with something playful. “What’s the question you really wanna ask me, Nursey?”
Nursey’s never explicitly told Chowder about his feelings for Dex, but he kind of assumed that C figured it out at one point. He feels a little embarrassed now to want to talk about it without having ever really done so.
Nursey sighs. “He said he likes taking care of me.”
Chowder looks a little impressed. “Really?”
“Why would he…?” Nursey trails off, shaking his head a little. That isn’t the question he wants to ask—he knows there’s probably an easy answer in there somewhere, as much as he refuses to look it in the eye. “Do you think I need taken care of?” he asks instead.
“Well I mean, what does that mean?” Nursey offers him a few examples of what Dex has been doing lately—the coffee this morning, the tidying last night, small fixes here and there—and Chowder offers, “Sounds like he’s just helping you out. Look, it’s—yeah, Nursey…” Chowder trails off a little. “You’ve kind of fallen off these last couple of months.”
Nursey frowns. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you come home from practice and you’re in your room with the door shut. And you come home from class and you’re in your room with the door shut. And when we do get time with you it’s like you’re not always…” he trails off again, maybe thinking he’s gone too far. “Sorry.”
“No,” Nursey insists, shaking his head. “I didn’t…” He kind of thought everyone was doing that. “It’s been a tough semester,” he finally accepts.
Chowder nods, slowly sliding off the bed so he can join Nursey on the small bean bag chair instead. Nursey shuffles to the side to make room but there really isn’t enough for both of them. Still, Chowder drapes his arm over Nursey’s shoulder, who turns and rests his head against his side.
“I like Dex,” Nursey admits quietly.
“Mmm really?” Chowder leans heavy on the sarcasm. Nursey laughs a little and Chowder smiles too. “Well, it’s been a long time since Dex brought me a coffee,” he adds, finally answering Nursey’s first question. “If that tells you anything.”
Nursey sighs, rolling his head forward until his forehead is pressed into Chowder’s shoulder. “He’s a good friend,” he murmurs. “What if he’s just… worried about me?”
“Should we be worried about you?”
Nursey pulls back so he can look at Chowder then, his question having been laced with so much unease it turns Nursey’s stomach. “I don’t think so,” he answers, and it’s the truth. “It’s been worse before.” He wouldn’t even really say he’s having a bad depressive episode—he’s still getting out of bed and going to class at least, and he’s been in many before where that wasn’t true. So maybe a small one, but. “I don’t know,” Nursey admits. He doesn’t want to lie, either.
Chowder nods again, teetering perfectly between a look of kind concern and frightening worry.
“Well maybe he is,” Chowder finally says. “Dex is a worrier.”
“Yeah,” Nursey agrees. It’s the easiest explanation for all of this.
“But you can worry about someone and also have feelings for them,” Chowder adds gently. “Duality of man, and all that.”
Nursey exhales a little laugh, feeling more grounded than he had when he first entered Chowder’s room. He’s not really sure he has the answers he was looking for—in fact maybe a few more questions—but he does feel a little better.
“What’d he say?” Chowder pushes a little, poking Nursey on his shoulder. “Dex,” he adds, as though Nursey had suddenly forgotten who they’ve been talking about this whole time.
Nursey swats his hand away and hides his smile. “Nothing.”
“He likes taking care of you?” Chowder echoes, a lift in his voice like he wants to sing. “Nurseyyyy.”
“So?” He lifts his hands to cover his face. “Ugh.” Chowder only laughs. “Come on, like what does that even mean? He likes me more when I’m a mess?”
“No,” Chowder stresses with a laugh. “Just probably that—whether you’re a mess or not, he still likes being around you.”
“I’m always a mess,” Nursey mutters.
“Disagree.”
“Usually?”
“Slight disagree.” Nursey sighs again, lowering his hands from his face. “Do you want him to stop?” Chowder asks.
“No,” Nursey whispers. “Or—well…”
If Dex is just being a caring friend, then yeah, Nursey probably wants him to stop. It’s too many messy mixed signals. But if Chowder’s right—if Dex really does have feelings for Nursey…
“Okay,” Chowder picks up when Nursey doesn’t continue. “I hear that.”
There’s enough coffee in the pot the next morning for Nursey to fix his own drink in the kitchen, but Dex is gone before he gets downstairs. Nursey joins Hops and Tango at the table and has nothing to say about any of the obscure manga series that Hops keeps rattling off about.
He draws out his phone while he sips from his mug and musters up enough courage to send a text.
Nursey
hi wanna do something tonight?
He’s barely set his phone down when Dex texts him back.
Dex
Maybe. Like what?
Nursey doesn’t know what to suggest. Even just looking at Dex’s response is making his chest do ridiculous, fluttery things. He flips his phone screen down so he doesn’t have to look at it because thinking about this—about talking about feelings with Dex—
“You good, Nursey?” Hops asks, and Nursey lasers back in on the people surrounding him.
“Oh, totally,” he answers too quickly.
“Are you sick?” Tango asks. “What’s up with your voice?”
Nursey’s phone buzzes and he rolls his eyes at the two of them, flipping it over to check the notification instead.
Dex
Dinner with C?
Again he turns his phone screen down so he isn’t tempted to respond too quickly. He’ll reply later, something charming and witty and maybe a little flirtatious but not too flirtatious because Nursey is actually really fucking afraid to actually cross that line.
They’ve shared a few lingering looks, but that’s not flirting. Nursey’s seen Dex flirt before—there’s laughter there, his hand on their shoulder or arm—a smile that Nursey’s never seen for him alone, just witnessed in the presence of others, something mischievous and wanting.
“I have class,” Nursey tells Hops and Tango, who exchange a curious glance without prying. “And I’m not sick.”
“Well, feel better!” Tango calls as Nursey leaves the kitchen.
“Dude,” Hops sighs.
Nursey really hopes he does feel better, so it’s a fine wish. All of this is stupid and confusing and suddenly very pressing, which doesn’t make any sense. Just the other night he sprawled out in his favorite of Dex’s recliners and listened to Dex rant about some stupid algorithm for half an hour and it was totally normal—even the thought of doing anything remotely similar now makes Nursey dizzy.
He has to talk to Dex. There’s no use in waiting. Nursey’s going to be a mess tomorrow and probably the day after that too—so Dex either has to stop worrying about him, or…
God, feelings. Fucking feelings. Nursey never expected feelings like these for Dex but he has so many of them they make him delirious.
He spends the first half of his class trying to think of what to respond to Dex that isn’t yeah sounds great and ends up forgetting to reply altogether because his lecture is about family dynamics and his professor ties in pop culture references and it’s all very fascinating.
Anyway, he texts their group text after class instead.
Nursey
i feel so dumb
how does anyone ever remember anything
Chowder
???????
Nursey
professors are WAY smart
WICKED SMART
they know so much sometimes
Dex
You could be a professor.
If you wanted
Chowder
agreed!!!!!
some professors are dumb
NOT THAT YOU’RE DUMB
Nursey
lmao
Dex
They have note cards
And do the same lessons every year.
And care about particular things
Nursey
YOU care about particular things
Dex
Ok
Chowder
so true
Nursey slips his phone back into his pocket and tries not to think about Dex.
That night Nursey gets dinner with Chowder and Farmer (no Dex) and thinks about Dex the entire freaking time. It’s been his whole useless day. He opened up a blank document to take notes in one class and by the end of the class there wasn’t anything on there. Nursey at least usually writes the date.
“You’re quiet tonight,” Farmer says.
Nursey considers how truthful he wants to be. “You ever feel hopeful about something so it’s the only thing you want to talk about but you’re also terrified you’ll ruin it if you talk about it before it actually happens?” he asks.
Farmer looks a little amused. “Yes.”
“Well, that’s me.”
“Okay, got it.”
“I say be hopeful!” Chowder encourages. “Hope is a practice, you know.”
“We don’t need to talk about me,” Nursey promises. The odds are high that Farmer knows exactly what Nursey doesn’t want to talk about because Chowder told her, and that’s totally fine, but Nursey really cannot talk about it.
Just think about it. Like if he were here now, it’d be the four of them, and it’s always the four of them when they do things like this, but—they could do other things, the four of them, if Nursey and Dex were really together like Farmer and Chowder are. Double date type of things, that were actually dates.
Would Dex even want to go on dates? Nursey tries to think of Dex going on a date in the last couple of months, and then years, and—sure, he has, but is dating your best friend different?
Fuck, he’s getting ahead of himself again. Nobody said Dex wants to date him.
Or well, Chowder has implied it. But.
Nope. Too much indulging in fantastical thought could also jinx this entire situation.
“Where’s Dex tonight?” Farmer asks, because of course she knows, and it takes Nursey everything he has not to frown at her—she looks incredibly amused by whatever his face ends up doing anyway.
“Told me he wanted to drop into some office hours,” Chowder says. “We’ve got this midterm coming up and I think he’s stressed about it.”
“Yeah?” Nursey asks.
“You know Dex, he never says anything.”
“Yeah,” Nursey agrees.
God, fuck, what if Dex has too much shit going on right now to talk about any of this anyway? Is there ever a time when anyone doesn’t have anything going on? Maybe like, immediately after midterms, but before the Frozen Four really gets underway?
“Hey,” Chowder nudges Nursey’s foot under the table.
He makes a face that asks you good? and Nursey nods, shrugs, forces himself back to the moment. He knows he needs to not overthink this, but that’s the only thing he knows how to do. Overthinking is Nursey’s speciality.
Farmer changes the subject, launching into a rant about this dude in her class who likes to play devil’s advocate, and it’s easy enough to join the conversation. They all chat about classes and their workload and some new meme that’s floating around and then dinner’s over.
Nursey starts toward the Haus as they all leave the dining hall and Farmer sighs. “Aw, Nursey, you can come if you want!”
She and Chowder had been talking about getting ice cream from another spot during dinner and Nursey had fallen back into his quiet thinkings. He figured they would wrap it up just the two of them since the volleyball house is the other direction and Nursey had started feeling a little third wheel-ish.
“Yeah?”
“Always,” Chowder agrees, beckoning him with his hand.
Nursey joins them with a smile and is relieved that he gets to distract himself a little longer.
They go to an on-campus food joint where they can use their meal cards to get treats instead and order their ice cream to go. It isn’t quite warm enough outside to go longing for ice cream, but it isn’t too cold to not enjoy it. Nursey gets chocolate with crumbly s’more bits and it's the perfect way to end the evening.
When they reach the volleyball house Farmer hugs Nursey goodnight, and then Chowder walks her to the door for a proper kiss while Nursey finishes off his cone at the end of the sidewalk. Nursey waves goodbye another time before she tucks inside, and then Chowder rejoins him for the walk to the Haus.
“Always safer in numbers,” Chowder tells him.
Nursey laughs. “Okay.”
“You never know!”
“Are you still watching true crime deep dives after 8pm?” Nursey asks. “You know they’re no good for you.”
“You’re the one who got me hooked!”
Nursey elbows him with another laugh and Chowder drapes his arm over Nursey’s shoulder, keeping him close. It is safer in numbers, really, both in reality but for Nursey’s wildly loud brain too, which is currently telling him a lot of dumb things he knows he should ignore.
“Do you think he has too much going on right now?” Nursey eventually asks.
Chowder waits a beat. “Who?”
“Dex.”
Chowder’s thinking. “What?”
Nursey sighs, shrugging his friend’s arm off of him. “I don’t know. You said he was stressed about that midterm. So I’m thinking—”
“Oh, Nursey, no!” Chowder’s quickly shaking his head, hands up with an alarmed look on his face. “Jesus—don’t not say something to Dex because I said he wanted to go to office hours. He always wants to go to office hours!”
Nursey wraps his arms around himself, hugging his elbows tightly. “I don’t want to add to that. If he’s stressed.”
“What if he’s thinking the same thing?” Chowder asks. “About saying something to you.”
Nursey actually laughs, but then immediately remembers that everyone has kind of recently expressed their concerns about him. Dex seems fine for the most part—good, even. Midterm stress isn’t anything new.
“And—Nursey,” Chowder insists quietly, “you wouldn’t be adding stress. Feelings aren’t bad.”
“Disagree.”
“Oh you absolute liar,” Chowder jests, and he’s right. Nursey loves feelings. He smiles regretfully, cursing his romantic heart.
“Slight disagree?”
“Feelings are complicated, fine, sure, but they’re still good. And Dex—” Chowder grows quiet, and Nursey thinks it might be because they’re closer to the Haus now. “Just—if you want to say something, you should.”
Nursey’s chest rumbles, like the sky during a thunderstorm. He feels too charged up.
“I do,” he admits. “Want to say something.”
“Well.”
Nursey nods. “Yeah.”
Tonight or tomorrow? Tomorrow or Friday? Would the weekend be better?
Nursey’s sitting at his open laptop and he has a list of upcoming assignments due up on his screen and honestly, his next one isn’t for a while. They’re all papers and projects he should be actively working on, and they’re all started (to various degrees of completion), but nothing that’s looming over him right now.
Well and reading, but Nursey’s always got reading to do, and he’s (mostly) caught up right now.
He doesn’t know Dex’s assignments. He’s always busy, typing away on his computer and muttering to his rubber duck and paging through his notes, scratching at his forehead and frowning and looking miserable while he works. But that’s maybe just how Dex looks while he does school work, and Nursey enjoys watching the frustrated dip between his eyebrows.
It’s a school night, probably not a good time for a confession? It’s not late, really, but everyone has to be up early for practice tomorrow morning. Maybe Dex wants to go to sleep early so he’s well rested for the team.
Nursey sighs, reaching for his phone because his computer is too big of a screen and he needs a smaller one. He ends up on Instagram because why not, and finds that a few hours ago Dex sent him a post from this cat account that they both follow where the cat is making this adorable honking squeaking meow sound.
How do animals even sound like this, Dex wrote, and Nursey is overwhelmed with a rush of affection for him all over again.
He has to do it tonight.
Nursey’s on his feet before he thinks too hard about it, hurrying down to the basement without much plan as to what he’s going to do when he gets there.
He knocks five times on Dex’s door before he finishes with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest while he waits, terrified to lose his nerve. There’s movement on the other side of the door and then Dex answers it, eyebrows high on his forehead.
“Did you need to knock that many times?”
“So much for hanging out tonight,” Nursey says in an attempted greeting, barrelling past Dex the moment he opens the door.
Dex lets him in without any protest and responds, “I said maybe. And then you never responded to my suggestion.”
When Nursey turns back to find Dex closing the door, he also finds him shirtless. The basement does run warmer than the rest of the Haus because of the furnace and it’s not like Dex never walks around shirtless, it just always catches Nursey slightly off guard like this. Add in the fact that he came down here specifically to talk about feelings does not particularly help the situation.
“Where are your clothes?” Nursey blurts. Dex arches an amused eyebrow at him. “Never mind,” Nursey hurries. “What are you doing?”
“Just coding, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Okay…” Dex trails off as he slowly. He’s still lingering by the door, even though he’s closed it at this point.
“I did still have dinner with C,” Nursey tells him, not really knowing where to start.
“Yeah,” Dex nods. “He mentioned it.”
“Did you eat?”
“I made something here.” Dex narrows his eyes at Nursey a little suspiciously, clearly not believing that nothing is wrong. “You can come work down here if you want?” he offers.
Nursey settles down on the edge of Dex’s bed—which of course is made. His desk is the only thing in his room that shows any signs of dishevelment (and his hair, which he tugs on often while he codes, Nursey knows)—plants probably watered, no door hinges squeaking or blown light bulbs in need of replacing.
“Look,” Nursey starts, ready to launch into some version of the speech he’s been practicing in his mind all afternoon, “I won’t say that I don’t need taken care of.” He looks up to Dex but then looks away, flustered and entirely too distracted by the shirtless-ness of it all. “I mean, I like being taken care of. Who doesn’t! But—”
“Derek,” Dex stops him, sounding a little annoyed. He folds his arms over his chest and sighs. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to help. I thought—”
Nursey nods and says, “You do help.”
“This is just what I do. I don’t—I do things for people.”
“I know!”
Dex waits one long horrible beat. “I’ll ease off.”
“No,” Nursey practically yelps. He covers his mouth, embarrassed at the sound that just escaped him, and turns a little away from Dex so he can take a steadying breath. “I mean you don’t need to do that,” he finally says, turning back. “I just—I don’t… know… what you…” Nursey gestures to himself.
Dex shakes his head a little, another smile already on his face, this one making Nursey want to do sinful things; he’s already half-dressed, Nursey would love to feel his hands fan out across Dex’s warm skin.
“You don’t know what I… what?” Dex asks.
“I mean,” Nursey manages a laugh. “I don’t—fix things for you.” Dex’s smile only grows, but his eyebrows pull together ruefully. “I don’t bring you coffee, or… make your bed.”
“You don’t need to,” Dex murmurs.
“Well—!” Nursey extends his hands dramatically, palms up as he surrenders. “Then what! What—?”
Dex’s grip on himself tightens a little as he meets Nursey’s gaze again. “I don’t know what you’re asking me,” he says.
“What do I do for you? What makes it worth it?”
“Worth it?” Dex echoes, shaking his head. “Nursey, you’re—” he stops himself with a tight laugh of his own. “You’re you. What do you mean what makes it worth it?” Nursey’s taken aback again. He feels entirely too fragile right now. “I like… being with you.”
Dex grows pink as he admits this and Nursey feels flushed too, his heart racing as he whispers, “Is that enough?”
Just being himself, being there, giving Dex what little he has to offer in stolen moments of energy or late night texts about nothing just because; Nursey doesn’t know how he can ever compete with Dex, who will physically get on his hands and knees to fix something for someone that they didn’t even know was broken.
“Derek,” Dex starts quietly. His arms fall from around him to hang loosely by his sides, his warm golden eyes meet Nursey’s. “You’re more than enough.”
Nursey is terrified that he’s going to say the wrong thing. “You’re the best thing in my life right now,” he says, overwhelmed with needing Dex to know it.
Dex pauses a few steps away. Quietly he asks, “Because I take care of you sometimes?”
“No,” Nursey rushes. He can’t even believe that Dex wants to do that—he’s had feelings for Dex for years now, long before he was sneaking in treats here and there. “Because you always say yes when I want to go on a walk,” he says. “And you fix my shit and know my plants need watering and always listen to every song I send you.” He pauses. “And you’re my best friend.”
Dex looks away, eyebrows together again. “That doesn’t mean you want what I want,” he says quietly. Nursey moves to his feet while Dex shakes his head, quickly trying to correct himself. “I don’t—”
“I do,” Nursey tells him. He reaches Dex just as he looks up, reaching for him with both hands—one for his waist, delirious with the need to finally touch him, the other to catch his cheek so as to not miss.
Dex saves the kiss by catching Nursey’s cheek too, guiding him the rest of the way—and makes it better by smiling into it sweetly.
Nursey groans with Dex’s lips against his own, his hand easing from Dex’s waist to press firm along his spine. Everything inside of Nursey is buzzing, they’re actually kissing. Dex hums and they both shift closer, and then an idle step here sends Nursey tumbling back down toward Dex’s bed—
Nursey ends up perched on the edge on Dex’s mattress, hands outstretched for Dex who’s still standing, shaking his head as he covers his mouth—to wipe his lips? His free arm wraps around his waist and he turns away just slightly.
“Definitely not something I saw happening tonight,” he murmurs, breathless.
Nursey’s hands are back in his lap but he’s feeling restless. “Dex.”
Dex looks back to him, eyes dark, dropping his hand to reveal a smile that lights Nursey up from the inside out. He takes a step so he’s no longer out of reach and Nursey stands again, needing to be closer. They’re nose to nose again before Dex leans in and closes the distance himself.
Nursey could kiss Dex all night—wants to kiss Dex all night, wishes he could do nothing but this for as long as humanly possible, gasps into Dex’s mouth when his hand slips below Nursey’s t-shirt to move across his bare skin—when he peels back just enough to reach down and take the stupid thing off, Dex pulls back again, more fervently this time.
“We, um.” Dex is flustered and his whole chest is pink and Nursey is not looking respectfully. He licks his lips and Nursey watches all of it, feeling drunk as he takes the sight of Dex in. “You…” he takes a breath. “Okay.”
“Are you speechless?” Nursey asks. He’s breathless himself. “Have I made you speechless?”
“No.” Dex kisses him again, but just once, because Nursey knows his real answer was yes. “I really did need to, um.” He shakes his head a little, annoyed. “Fucking homework.”
“Oh, shit.”
Dex laughs, leaning forward until their foreheads are pressed together. “Yeah. Um…”
“Fuck,” Nursey can flirt, “you’re kicking me out.”
“Noo,” Dex protests, kisses him another time because Nursey’s good at flirting, and pulls back with the most brilliant grin Nursey’s ever seen. “But then?”
Nursey grins too, not even caring for a second. “I can work down here,” he lies.
“Liar.”
“I can pretend to work down here,” he corrects, grin widening. “For some non-short amount of time. Whatever you need.”
Dex kisses him again and Nursey doesn’t know why, and he doesn’t care.
“We have practice in the morning,” Dex reminds him, not actually in any real hurry, it seems, to let Nursey go. “You could…” he trails off and Nursey’s mind wanders. He could get an early night? He could skip it altogether. “If you want to stay with me,” Dex finally says, “you should bring your things down.”
Dex wants Nursey to stay with him.
“You just want more time to do your homework,” Nursey teases.
“Added perk.”
Nursey kisses Dex this time as a quick and sweet goodbye, and appears to only let him go because he’s maybe a little dazed and rooted to his spot.
On the other side of Dex’s door Nursey takes a breath, giddy. He takes his time upstairs so he can cool down, also knowing Dex wouldn’t ask for time to work unless he actually really needed it. The Haus is mostly quiet, everyone settled into their evening routines—lo-fi on the other side of Chowder’s door, Whiskey on the phone with someone and ranting about something.
In his own room, Nursey takes another breath, sated. Calm. Deeply settled in ways that he doesn’t know he’s ever felt before.
He leans back against his door and shakes his head, smiling. His bedroom isn’t half as messy as it was yesterday, and when he got out of bed this morning he threw his comforter back on top so it looks mostly made. It’s easy to find his practice stuff—he’ll definitely have to do laundry sooner rather than later.
He can’t believe this. Nursey is in a loud state of disbelief. He tries to imagine Dex back downstairs taking a moment to collect himself after all of that too and it just makes Nursey giggle again. He lifts his hands to cover his face, laughs to himself a little longer, and then starts getting his things ready.
Nursey takes his time, wanting to give Dex as much as he can to get work done without Nursey clouding his space. He changes the sheets on his bed, he brushes his teeth, he throws all of his practice shit into his duffle.
Before heading downstairs again Nursey lingers a step in the hallway, considering a quick knock on Chowder’s door, but ultimately he decides against it. He heads down to the kitchen and fills up his water bottle before returning to the basement.
Nursey knocks quietly and lets himself in this time, waiting in the doorway until Dex actually calls back to him. “Yeah, you’re good.” When Nursey finds Dex, he’s settled down at his desk and is now wearing his SMH hoodie.
“You’re ridiculous,” Nursey says.
“Save it.”
“Oh I’m saving it,” Nursey promises with a grin.
He drops his practice duffle by the door after closing it and settles down with his laptop in his usual spot, sitting sideways in the chair with his legs hanging over the side, acutely aware of Dex’s eyes following him. When Nursey finally looks back, Dex is smiling—he purses his lips like he’s trying not to let it grow and returns to his work.
Nursey scrolls Twitter because he can’t focus on anything but Dex. He knows it’s useless to even try. His thoughts drift between Dex’s bed and how he’ll be sharing it with him in the incredibly-soon-to-near future, and just listening to Dex as he types, thoughts empty as he enjoys the sound.
It’s not like they haven’t shared a bed before—but honestly Nursey can count the number of times roadies have shunted them together on one hand, this is different territory completely.
His heart dances between a quiet building anxiety and a deep aching excitement to just climb in with Dex already until finally Dex looks to him, does a double take, and moves his hands away from his keyboard and into his lap. Nursey folds his laptop screen down halfway in response, attention easily given.
“What time do you want to get up tomorrow?” Dex asks.
Nursey shakes his head, shrugging, and closes his laptop completely. “Whenever your alarm is for is probably fine.” Dex rolls his eyes a little and reaches for his phone on his desk nearby and clearly sets a new alarm. “How much earlier?” Nursey whines.
“You need to lay there for at least five minutes before actually making moves so I’m just—”
“Five!”
“Eight, usually. Minimum.” Dex gets up and moves to plug his phone in to charge, somewhere weirdly away from his bed which is like an actual horror story to Nursey. “My alarms never wake you up anyway,” Dex reminds him.
Nursey pouts, but not really. Dex crosses the room to him and takes the laptop from Nursey’s hands to set aside while Nursey quickly stands, swinging his legs over the side of the chair to do so.
“Still gotta brush my teeth,” Dex says, “but you can…” he tips his head toward the bed and Nursey nods, his racing heart pounding away any lingering fears.
Dex slips out of his room (there’s a sink in the basement so he doesn’t have to go all the way upstairs) and Nursey climbs into Dex’s bed, sighing as he snuggles beneath the blankets. It all smells like Dex, like sage and honey, like the soap he uses in the shower—Nursey could fall asleep in an instant.
His eyes snap open again when Dex returns and Dex laughs immediately, shaking his head at him. “You really made yourself comfortable, huh?”
“Sure did.” He’s never laid in Dex’s bed like this. Always on top of the comforter, often kicked off because he still had on outside clothes and Dex hates outside clothes on his bed. “Your bed is so nice.”
He crosses the room to turn on his bedside table before crossing again to turn off the overhead.
“I could’ve hit the light,” Nursey says as Dex returns to climb in beside him.
“It’s fine,” he soothes. With him climbing in he lets in a wave of cool air and Nursey huffs, enjoying Dex’s smile throughout it all. “You’re always so warm,” Dex hums.
Nursey doesn’t think he’s ever going to get used to Dex like this.
He pulls on the front pocket of Dex’s hoodie. “Take this stupid thing off,” he murmurs.
Dex laughs again and easily reaches down to pull it up and off. “Better?” He stretches out his hand until he hits Nursey’s shirt. “Yours.”
Nursey’s happy to shed it, tossing it to the floor alongside Dex’s sweatshirt—and then they’re skin to skin, both drawing the other closer until they meet in the middle, Dex’s lips tasting like cinnamon instead of something minty like he’d expected.
“Do you use cinnamon toothpaste?” Nursey asks.
Dex shifts them both until Nursey is pinned beneath him, their legs slotted together in the most intoxicating way that if Dex shifts his hips forward just a little bit then Nursey may actually fall to pieces. “Shhh yes.”
Nursey giggles, and Dex is still smiling and the feel of it against his own mouth makes Nursey feel delirious. “Sicko.”
“Oh my god Nursey,” Dex laughs, breathless. “It’s toothpaste. Mint is gross.”
“It so is not!”
Dex pulls back and looks at Nursey with dark, hooded eyes, taking a moment to take a breath. Nursey feels hazy and dreamlike, almost worried he’ll wake up tomorrow morning in his bedroom after all.
“Derek,” Dex exhales. “I really.” He takes another breath and shifts, slowly moving into the open space on the bed beside him. Nursey turns as he moves so they’re looking at each other the whole time. “I don’t know what to say,” Dex whispers.
Panic seizes Nursey’s heart for a moment. “What do you mean?” he whispers back.
Dex swallows, like he’s building up to another burst of courage. “I mean I really like you.”
Nursey laughs nervously. “But?”
Quickly, Dex shakes his head. “No.” He reaches out to cup Nursey’s cheek. “I just really like you.”
Oh, man. There’s a bird inside Nursey’s chest singing a song.
“Yeah,” he exhales, leaning into Dex’s hand. “I mean, yeah, Will.” Nursey feels like his luck stats are out of control right now. “You’re so good to me.” Dex makes a face and opens his mouth like he’s going to protest but Nursey kisses him quick. When he pulls back he admits, “I didn’t realize that I seemed…”
“In need of support?” Dex offers after a beat.
Nursey shrugs a little. “You’ve got the team—Chowder has Farmer… I don’t know.”
“The team doesn’t keep me busy enough to not miss you,” Dex murmurs. “Besides, you’re my soundboard. I can’t captain without you.”
Nursey scoffs, trying to ignore another wave of warmth. “You definitely can,” Nursey says.
“Then I don’t wanna.” Nursey turns, burying his face into Dex’s neck, sighing contentedly when Dex lifts his hand to smooth along his back. “It’s not… bad, really,” Dex tells him quietly. “You’ve just seemed far away. More texting, but less hanging out, I don’t know.”
“No, I know what you mean.” He really figured everyone was doing it. “Still shaking off the winter blues, maybe.”
“Maybe,” Dex agrees.
Nursey shifts again so he can see Dex, and Dex turns so he’s looking at him too. “Can you tell?” Nursey asks. “When it’s bad.”
Dex nods, so small, just once. “But—so can you, with me,” he murmurs.
“What?”
“Whenever I’m spiraling I swear you know.”
Nursey’s surprised by this in the best way. “Really?” Dex nods again, shrugging just a little. Nursey supposes he does know what an in-over-his-head Dex looks like, all the way down to the way he fidgets with the hem of his shirt to a certain wrinkle between his eyebrows. “Must be my sixth sense,” Nursey says. “My Dex sense.”
“Shut up,” Dex mutters, drawing Nursey in for another kiss.
They really need to get some sleep since it’s already late and practice is already early, and Nursey knows Dex is thinking about this too as they tangle themselves together. Mostly they move until they’re more comfortable, a few long kisses helping to facilitate the shift, before they settle in side-by-side.
“Bed time?” Nursey wonders.
“Annoyingly.”
The adrenaline from all of this has wiped Nursey out. He chuckles as he closes his eyes, finally drifting off to sleep.
At some point in the middle of the night Nursey wakes up because he’s incredibly thirsty and much too warm. He remembers his water bottle in his duffle but his sweats are actually going to suffocate him if he doesn’t get them off.
“Will,” Nursey rasps. Is it weird to strip down in the middle of the night the first time you share a bed with someone like this? “Dying.”
His alarmed response is immediate, “What?”
“Cool if I take my sweats off?”
Dex settles, bubbling with half-asleep laughter. “Yeah.”
Nursey climbs over Dex and out of bed to do it because if he also doesn’t drink something now he will shrivel up into a little dehydrated bug. He crosses the room until he finds his duffle where he left it and chugs half of his water bottle before blindly stumbling back toward Dex’s bed. He stops to kick his sweats off at the foot of it. Dex has shifted in the meantime, moving into the warm space the Nursey left and leaving his side of the bed open for him.
“Better?” Dex asks as he climbs in.
“Mmmhm.” They re-settle in bed, Nursey with his back pressed against Dex’s chest while Dex slides one of his legs between Nursey’s. He drapes his arm over Nursey’s hip, and even though he’d been too warm just minutes ago, all of this feels incredibly comfortable.
Easily safe in Dex’s arms, all of this familiar despite never having done it before.
He drifts off again, and the next time he wakes up it’s because Dex is actually trying to wake him up.
“Derek,” Dex murmurs. Everything about him is gentle, from the low cadence of his voice to the slow finger trailing down Nursey’s arm. They’ve turned in the night again somehow, Nursey now facing Dex, their ankles still twisted together somehow.
“Time to wake up?” Nursey murmurs back. Dex hums in the affirmative and Nursey sighs, sinking into the warmth around him. “Eight minutes.”
Dex chuckles. “Okay.”
He keeps tracing soft and slow patterns on Nursey’s arm, down to circle the bone of his wrist, then back up his forearm again. Nursey squints, peeking out from one eye, and Dex looks just as sleepy as Nursey feels. He’s focused on his tracing and doesn’t notice when Nursey opens his other eye too, just to watch him.
Any minute now he’ll wake up from this.
Dex finally realizes Nursey’s watching him and his eyes shift over to meet his gaze. “Hi,” Nursey greets.
Dex smiles, tipping his head more to the side so he can look at Nursey more easily. “How’d you sleep?” he asks.
Nursey smiles, too. “Good.”
“Good,” Dex echoes. Maybe Nursey can still fall in love with mornings. Like this, it seems like it might even be easy. “What a night, huh?”
Nursey giggles and Dex’s smile grows wider, too large for his beautiful freckled face. “Yeah,” Nursey agrees. “That was crazy.” His eyes drift down toward Dex’s mouth. “How urgently do we need to get out of bed?” he asks.
Dex shakes his head. “Not that urgently.”
This is the second time in so many times they’ve been kissing like this that Dex ends up on top, Nursey thinks as their legs slot together, and he groans against Dex’s lips while his mind drifts with implication. They’ll get to do this again, later, longer.
This is a dangerous game this morning because Nursey’s already a little hard and he would happily skip practice to stay in bed. But then Dex’s alarm starts going off, across the room because that’s where his phone is, and Dex struggles to pull back.
“Okay, now more urgently,” he mutters.
“Nooo.”
Dex chuckles, leaning in for another soft kiss before forcibly extracting himself from bed. Nursey groans again, this time sinking back down in disappointment.
“Lights,” Dex warns. Nursey squeezes his eyes shut just in time for Dex to turn on the overhead, and from there he slowly eases his eyes open so he doesn’t blind himself. “Take your time,” Dex adds over his shoulder as he starts getting ready.
“Urgent how?” Nursey whines.
“Urgent where if I stayed in that bed any longer it would be unsalvageable.”
Nursey hums and laughs, rolling onto his stomach so he can watch Dex get ready. He looks around until he finds the clock across Dex’s room and realizes yeah, he does have a few minutes to just lay here still. Perfectly comfortable in Dex’s warm bed, swaddled in the smell of him.
Eventually he sits up to stretch and Dex watches him without being too obvious about it. They both change quickly, Nursey digging through his duffle to get his clothes, but they’ll have to change again in the locker room so it’s not a huge deal what they wear.
“Uh, Derek,” Dex murmurs as they finish dressing. Nursey glances at him over his shoulder and finds Dex looking a little uneasy. “Do you—we can talk about this?” he offers quietly. Nursey’s heart starts beating a little faster, starting to feel uneasy himself. “Just—good things,” Dex adds, moving toward him quickly.
“You and me,” Nursey clarifies, just as quiet.
Dex’s answering smile sends Nursey’s chest roaring with heat, like a fire catching after just a few sparks. “Yeah,” Dex says. They’re closer now but only their hands are touching, fingertip to fingertip.
“Yeah,” Nursey agrees softly. He’d been worried he would have to be the one to say something, already dreading it—the relief that overtakes him now is immeasurable. “I’d—yeah.”
Dex nods and squeezes Nursey’s fingers. “Okay.” Nursey knows he didn’t mean right now—they have to get to practice—but maybe after. “Um, well—if you’re ready,” he tips his head toward the door. “I’ll be right up.”
Nursey smiles, feeling settled, and reaches to collect his duffle and his phone.
Upstairs, Nursey’s the first in the kitchen, which seems hilarious to him for some reason. This never happens. The coffee pot is chugging away having already been set the night before, probably by Dex honestly. He hangs out by the counter after grabbing a clean travel mug from the cabinet and filling it with some creamer from the fridge while he waits for the coffee to finish brewing.
Whiskey and Tango join him in the kitchen next, Tango already with way more energy than Nursey thinks he’ll ever be able to muster in the morning (whether he falls in love with them or not), and Nursey greets them both with a nod.
“Morning Nursey, you feeling better today?” Tango asks.
“Hey, yeah thanks.”
“You look well rested,” Whiskey comments, and Nursey smiles. He feels like he’s keeping a secret all of a sudden.
Maybe he is—he doesn’t know what Dex will want from here. Maybe tell the Haus but not the rest of the team? Nursey’s up for anything, just excited to figure it out.
“I slept well,” Nursey answers.
Whiskey’s not really a suspicious person so he just nods, and everyone’s attention turns to Dex when he exits the basement a couple moments later anyway. He murmurs his good mornings and crosses the room, straight to Nursey.
“Forget something?” Dex asks quietly.
Nursey sets his mug on the table and accepts his forgotten water bottle with a growing smile, shifting his bag on his shoulder so he can more easily reach down to put it away. He’d totally forgotten about waking up for some water.
Tango’s rambling on about the plot of the anime Hops got him to watch last night but Whiskey was watching the interaction between them carefully, his eyes widening as something must click. He turns to follow Dex with his gaze, now crossing the room to fix his own coffee for the walk to Faber, before Whiskey glances back to Nursey.
Their eyes meet and Whiskey arches a curious eyebrow, but says nothing. In response Nursey presses his lips together to hide his ridiculous smile of confirmation for whatever Whiskey might be thinking.
Nursey picks up his travel mug again and Dex joins him, having finished getting his drink. “Ready?” he asks.
“Should we wait for C?”
Dex tips his head side to side, considering. “He’ll understand.”
He definitely will.
Nursey looks toward Whiskey and Tango and says, “Wait for Chowder, yeah?”
“What?”
“Why?”
“Because it’s still early and the sun isn’t all the way up and there’s safety in numbers,” Nursey answers.
“Yeah, that,” Dex agrees, though making a face. “And so he knows not to wait for us. Are you watching those true crime deep dives again?” he asks Nursey as they turn to go.
“No!” he laughs. “I mean sometimes Forensic Files but those are always solved. That comforts me!”
Dex shakes his head and rolls his eyes fondly, his hand drifting to Nursey’s lower back as he guides him toward the door.
Outside, though the sun has barely risen, it’s already casting a brilliant spill of colors across the sky; Nursey and Dex pause a few steps out of the Haus and look up to take in the marvelous pinks and neon oranges that electrify their morning. Dex reaches out and offers his hand to Nursey, who transfers his drink to his other hand so he can accept it, and then Dex squeezes before pulling forward to start their walk.
Nursey has a feeling it’s going to be a really good day.