fgdgdsfgfd (poindexter) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-07-28 04:25:00 |
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Nursey & Dex have a Moment in the midst of the waterballoon fight.WARNINGS Mild warning for discussion of a racist family and some suggestiveness but not much really? Mostly fluff!
Speaking of, where was Dex? Nursey snuck through the haus with one last water balloon hidden behind his back. He had on red swim trunks and a white tank top and the really obnoxious flip flops that made this whole sneaking around thing a complete joke, but he was a couple beers in and not really bothered about it.
"Yo...Poindexter," he whispered dramatically, sticking his head in through the swinging kitchen door. "You in here?"
The Fourth was a weird holiday for Dex. His parents were painfully patriotic and then he’d come to Samwell where the regular talk about how America actually wasn’t so great had pushed Dex into a weird spot where his memories of the holiday were fond but his actual current relationship with the holiday was somewhere hovering around ‘complicated’. Still, it was an excuse to do nothing all day and hang out in the sun with a barbeque and fireworks for the evening, which had always been a good time with the Haus.
Still, he’d needed to come inside for a moment. It was hot and he could practically feel his skin burning to a crisp in the sun to the point that he’d accepted defeat and dug through the cupboards in the kitchen for the sunscreen in the medicine cupboard, glancing over his shoulder when he heard the sound of flip flops slapping down the hallway, raising an eyebrow. “...Are you trying to be quiet? It’s not working.”
Nursey lit up at the sight of Dex, whose poor face already looked flushed and freckled. His flip flops slapped all the way across the tile, even though he did actually try to walk quieter. "Shhh I'm in stealth mode," he smirked. "You weren't supposed to be in the kitchen though. I can't start throwing these around in here." He pulled the water balloon out from behind his back and sighed. "Bits would probably have me beheaded."
Instead of risking it, he popped open the fridge and pulled out a cold beer as well as the squeeze bottle of aloe vera he stashed in there for Dex's sake. "Hey if you get a little too crispy, I can rub some of this on you later." He gave two pumps of his eyebrows. "My roommate Junior Year at Andover said putting it on right out of the fridge is like instant relief."
“Maybe that’s why I’m in the kitchen,” he deadpanned at the sight of the water balloon, rubbing sunscreen on his face to try and stave off the inevitable burns he’d have from sitting outside all day. The Aloe Vera actually caught him a little by surprise - it wasn’t something he had thought of. They did have a couple of aloe plants back home but they hadn’t been much use when he was sunburnt on a boat in the ocean and he’d just sort of accepted that this would be his fate.
He just wasn’t used to somebody thinking of him. “Sure this isn’t just your roundabout way of asking to feel me up?” he asked, but he crossed the room to kiss him gently, his cap half-pushing off of his head as he did. “I- thanks? Thanks. It’s-” he gestured to the Aloe. “I’m going to burn anyway, so it’s probably going to be useful.”
"I mean it's definitely that too," Nursey shrugged, shameless about this in particular. He would happily use any excuse to touch a willing Dex, even if he'd prefer he not be in pain from a sunburn at the time. The aloe vera was put back into the fridge for safekeeping and he smirkingly met Dex's kiss halfway. How domestic, in the kitchen next to an open fridge. Nursey reached out to trade his beer for the sunscreen bottle still in Dex's hand.
"You don't have to thank me for caring about your white boy skin, babe. I know you survived the lobster boats long before me." His words were chirpy but his eyes were soft and fond. More than fond. There was another four letter word rattling around inside his head and heart but he needed to ease into it. He nudged Dex towards a chair at the table. "Sit down and I'll give your back and shoulders some of this magic stuff." He tugged the back of Dex's tank top half up his back. "Take this off for me?"
Dex took a sip of the beer Nursey had swapped into his hand as he was led to a chair, flipping it around so he could sit on it with his arms over the back, getting the idea somewhat about what Nursey was trying to do here. "My white boy skin," he repeated with a soft snort but he was smiling as he set the beer down to grab the neck of his shirt and pull it over his head in one movement, the tips of his ears flushing red. At least he could put that down to the sun, this time.
"It's still- appreciated," he murmured. He really was trying to be better with his feelings when it came to Nursey, even if they scared the shit out of him at times. He wasn't sure when he'd gone from wanting to push him into a pile of leaves to wanting him to move into his room even if they did still bicker - it just had a different feel to it now, somehow. "I'm kinda glad you won't get to meet my parents. They're the kinda people who would take offense to you saying that," he rolled his eyes a little.
"Yo, chill, Poindexter." Nursey sounded distracted by a shirtless Dex but also maybe a little stung. "I'm not a complete idiot. I wouldn't say that around your parents." Both of Nursey's moms and his dad had made visits to Samwell over the years so Dex had met them all at one point or another. He and Dex hadn't been dating of course, but Nursey's Ma had seen through Nursey's fake chill around Dex in an instant.
"I wish I could reintroduce you as my boyfriend," he admitted quietly. He missed his family desperately and he was proud of his relationship, how far they'd come. He squirted sunscreen into his hands and started rubbing it into Dex's shoulders. "Ma would probably yell I called it and make Mom pay up."
Dex huffed a soft sigh at the sudden cooling sensation of sunscreen on skin that was already too hot - with a wince, he realised that meant he probably was already burned. He was definitely the whitest guy of their group in that respect and it weirdly made him appreciate more that Nursey had actually thought of that. “Think they’ve got a bet on?” he grinned over his shoulder at him, just glad that he had a good family.
“I didn’t mean that you would say that around them, though. I mean- y’know, you shouldn’t have to think about that shit?” he frowned as he tried to come up with a way to word it better. “Like. It’s their fault that they’d take offense, uh- not yours. I just don’t want them to be dicks to you and if we ever do meet them, don’t worry about holding back. I’ll call their shit out if they say anything,” he shrugged, leaning back into Nursey’s hands. “Ow. That bit’s already pretty sore.”
Nursey rolled his eyes affectionately at the thought of his moms arguing about his love life. His hands gentled and lifted away as he could tell Dex's shoulders were starting to hunch a bit with the sting. Nursey was too stunned stupid by what Dex had said to keep applying sunscreen anyway.
"That...that means a lot, Will." It actually kind of surprised him how much it meant. How warm he felt at the thought of William Poindexter standing up to his family for him. "I know that wouldn't be easy." He leaned down to kiss Dex behind the ear and then on the shoulder. It tasted of sunscreen now but he didn't really care. He wanted to hug Dex to him, to press all this sudden tenderness in his heart through his chest and into Dex. He settled for wiping his hands off on a kitchen towel nearby and then stradling Dex's lap like he'd imagined once while they were fighting in this very kitchen freshman year.
"I love you, you know," Nursey said plainly, earnestly now that they were face to face. Because fuck it, why not? It was a fundamental truth. "I love you like…like..." The quote spilled out of him like he'd breathed life into the words himself and not just imprinted on them the first time he'd read Sonnet XI by Pablo Neruda. "Like all day I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps kind of love."
Dex smiled at the familiar weight of Nursey in his lap, hands automatically moving to hold him and steady him, pulling him a little closer. He had been about to open his mouth to respond with something along the lines of /it doesn’t matter whether it’s easy or not/ when Nursey beat him to the punch, leaving Dex just sat there for a long moment with his jaw dropped, staring up at him.
He almost wasn’t sure if he’d misheard him at first, honestly. It wasn’t until Nursey repeated it and then started spouting poetry that his disbelief started to wane slightly and he admittedly didn’t fully understand the quote, but he tightened his hands on him just a little, clinging to him. It was a moment before he realised he hadn’t said anything in return, dumbfounded and flustered and bright red that flushed from the tips of his ears down to his chest. “Shit, Nursey,” he murmured, moving to press his face against Nursey’s chest to hide it, embarrassed. “Really?”
Nursey huffed. He wasn't upset really - he knew Dex and he knew that flush to his skin. He knew he was dumping a big thing on Dex, in the kitchen, while they were half dressed and smelling like sunscreen. But he also knew he just had to be patient and he could get to the emotions in William Poindexter's heart. It was a good one; he was sure of that much.
"Yeah, Will. Really. Do you think I'd say that if I didn't mean it?" He hugged Dex's head, smiling into his hair. "And use Neruda on you?" His tone was overly serious and clearly teasing. "There's a line bro."
“You can’t spring- Naruda on me when I don’t have my phone on me to google who that is subtly,” he grumbled into his skin, closing his eyes for a moment. Nursery was warm and apparently loved him, which was one of those things that was going to take a lot of convincing for him to actually believe. He’d heard it said before that love and hate were so close to each other they might as well have been the same thing and he wasn’t entirely convinced it hadn’t been something along those lines the entire time. People had sometimes said they argued like an old married couple, after all.
“I love you too,” he murmured again, eventually and still into Nursey’s stomach where he’d slipped down a little, pressing his forehead against him. He hadn’t responded and he didn’t want him thinking that it wasn’t returned, as terrifying as it was to actually admit to him.
"I mean I can. I definitely just did." Nursey ran his fingers through Dex's hair, massaging at his scalp. He'd have liked to pretend that it wouldn't have bothered him if Dex didn't say it back. It certainly wouldn't have changed how he felt. But it would've probably spiked his anxiety. Was he asking too much? Was he pushing too fast? Was this where Dex remembered they were very different people?
It was a small surprise to hear the words anyway. No one but his family had ever said them to him. He tended to distance himself before they could. He pressed a little closer and braced his hands on the sides of Dex's head to try and urge him to look up.
"You're lucky I have excellent hearing, Poindexter," he teased, soft and smiling. He tweaked Dex's ear. "I might still ask you to say it again later. When we're wearing less clothes."
Dex let his head be tugged up to look at Nursey even if he was finding it incredibly difficult to meet his eyes all of a sudden. His words had been truthful but that didn’t make them easy to say, even when Nursey had been the one to say them first and with such poetry that it somehow made him feel even more bashful. These kinds of things just seemed to come so easy to him in comparison to Dex, who had the eloquence of a.. Well, a hockey player, maybe. It was an apt description.
“I think there might be a limit on how many times I can say it,” he murmured. “Y’know, before my blood glucose level spikes dangerously or something.”
Nursey rolled his eyes and leaned into kiss him, gentle at first, a smirking peck to the corner of his mouth. Then a little more heated, with his hands tracing the edges of Dex's face. When he pulled away, he scooted back to give Dex a little breathing room, even if it was hard to convince himself to do.
"You can always say no. Or be distracting." He frowned a little. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable...or cornered, you know? I want you to feel like I'm a safe space, always." He reached for the sunscreen and smirked crookedly as he squirted some onto his fingers and lifted them to Dex's cheeks. "Now let me protect those beautiful freckles and we can get back out to the party, huh? Gotta get your blood glucose levels back to normal."
The heated kiss really wasn’t doing any favours for the warmth in Dex’s stomach after the confession, pressing up into him with an edge of the desperation that always seemed to be there with Dex, like he might up and walk off at any given moment or like this was the final kiss before a dramatic voyage. He didn’t particularly need the breathing room, but it did give him a moment to cool down and lean back in to peck his lips again, standing up.
“Well. They might survive, but you’re the poet. I’m going to need a day and a dictionary to come up with anything remotely as romantic as what you just said, even if I still don’t really get it,” he closed his eyes and leant into his hands even if they were just spreading sunscreen on his cheeks, glancing behind him when he heard what sounded like an indignant squawk coming from somebody outside. “I’m betting there’s more water balloons there,” he smirked a little, reaching down to grab his slightly sunscreen-y hand. “Let’s go? Hopefully the grill masters haven’t managed to kill it yet. I’m starving.”