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whatwouldfrogsdo · 8 years ago

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Don’t Screw Me Over

So it’s @nurseydexweek which means using that as an excuse to post all these hidden scenes I have! Prompt one: Mutual Pining/Getting together

AN: Parallel to chapter 10 of Fresh, starting from partway through Winter Screw, and also reveals things which Chowder doesn’t know until chapters 11 and 14, though it is not important to have read Fresh (which gives Chowder’s PoV of the events). Relevant information for those who haven’t read it: NurseyDex share a dorm in freshman year, and because of this set each other up for Winter Screw dates. Nursey is on the ace spectrum, though has recently been questioning the way he views and labels his sexuality. Also set a week after Restoring Order.

AO3

*Nursey*

Derek had originally thought that he could set Will up with someone who would just be happy with a friend-date and not worry about the difficulties of sorting a date out for someone he knew was closeted. Then, he had suddenly found himself a little worried that setting Will up with a girl for Screw might make him realize what he could be missing out on. Half an hour into the dance, it was clear that his worry had been unfounded. Will had apologized to Angie because he wasn’t interested in dancing with her and she had shrugged, pointed at one of the sophomores from the team and asked if she could have an introduction. Luckily, it was Will who did the introduction because Derek was now staring at the guy grinding against her, trying to think what his name was, apart from his hockey nickname of TiVo. Though another glass of vodka cranberry wasn’t going to help his memory, it was to the bar that he headed. He had lost his own date a while ago, but had no interest in looking for him.

Some amount of time, three drinks, and seven dances with different people Ransom and Holster had pushed him towards later, Derek was fed up. He was struck with the desire to dance with Will, to have him pressed against his body in the same way that Holster was pressed against his date. He wanted to pull him off to a quiet alcove and tell him that he couldn’t wait until they were back at their dorm — he just had to kiss him now.

A half-strangled noise left Derek’s mouth. The realization of what he was thinking, and the implication of such thoughts felt too heavy to be having in the middle of Winter Screw, even though he should have realized as such when he felt the surge of jealousy over Ransom and Dex dancing together. He and Will were just messing around. They hadn’t done more than cuddling and lazy kisses since August. Only a week ago, they had taken a break to become closer friends and let Derek sort his head out. That week had comprised of Derek spending every waking minute thinking about Will, and then finally calling his doctor to discuss whether his medication may be altering his libido. Derek wasn’t even sure how well the friendship thing was going, and yet…

And yet, Derek was already half in love with him.

He walked around the room with a purpose, now. He needed to find Will as soon as possible, before he burst out of his own skin. They had to get back to their dorm and talk. Every redhead turned his eye, but none of them were the right person, until, finally, he found him. Derek’s world slid to a halt. Will had found company in a girl after all, and the two were leaning into each other intimately. As Derek watched, the girl stood, and her hand rested on Will’s face for too long to be an accident before she started towards the bar. Derek’s heart plummeted. His only saving grace was that Will looked torn, and didn't watch her go, but closed his eyes. Derek had seen that expression on his face so many times — from him mentioning coming out, to Will talking about his family — so he knew that all was not bliss in paradise with the girl, whoever she was. His head turned again to try and figure out what the issue was this time. Her being female should make it plenty easier for Will. Then again, Derek had thought female was completely divergent from Will's usual type.

“Derek! Are you enjoying the dance?” A girl from his English class distracted his search for the girl who had stolen Will's attention.

“Oh, uh, sure.” He didn't look at Amy. He was instead scanning the bar. He found Chowder and Wagner talking to each other and— there. The girl appeared, the same hot pink dress which made her stand out, and she walked right up to Derek’s teammates and wrapped her arm around Chowder’s neck. Derek gasped.

“Derek, are you okay?” Amy’s voice drifted back to him. The truth was that he was the opposite of okay. His eyes returned to Will who was looking around the room. His eyes fell on Derek, just as anger and jealousy made a decision.

“I'm just getting a bit fed up in here. Do you want to get out of here? Go somewhere a little more interesting?”

He put an arm around Amy, making sure his hand was just low enough that it might be read as more than friendly, without being inappropriate.

“Derek, I'm sorry but I have a girlfriend. She couldn't come tonight because she's sick, but—”

Derek bit his lip. “Look, to be honest, I just saw the guy I'm totally falling in love with trying to wheel the girl my best friend came here with. I need to get away and if he sees me go with someone cute, all the better, but I don't want anything else. I promise. I just. I don't know. Forget it. I’m being an asshole.”

“You are being an asshole, but luckily for you, I’ve had enough, too, and I should go and check on Tina.” The look she gave him was far too pitying, but she let him keep his arm around her for a moment before she pulled away to take his hand as they left the building.

“I hope you figure it out,” she told him, amid a hug.

Derek just nodded and they parted ways.

*Dex*

Will had lost Angie a while ago, but he was hardly upset about it. She seemed to be having a good enough time with Ritvo when he last saw her on the dancefloor. Now, pushing Ransom back towards his date with a laugh, he cast his eyes around for Derek, but instead they fell on someone else, sat on her own at a table, so he approached and slid into the seat next to her.

“Caitlin Angelica Farmer. Long time no see.” He tapped her shoulder just in case she couldn’t hear him.

She jumped half a mile, then turned to him with wide eyes. “Billy?”

“Hi, Caity,” he said accompanying his words with some of the only ASL he remembered.

“Oh my god, what are you—”

“Did Chowder ditch you?” He frowned. It had been a long time since he had last had to choose where his loyalties should lie, and he didn’t fancy this being the first situation to ease himself back into such decisions.

“Chowder? Oh, you mean Chris? He said that the— Oh my god. You’re on the hockey team? Here? At Samwell?”

He nodded. “I got a full-ride scholarship so long as I’m on the team. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

“Will!” she squeaked excitedly. “I’m so proud of you! You know, it kind of stuck with me, the whole hockey thing.”

“What do you mean?”

Caitlin laughed. “Let’s just say Chris isn’t the first hockey player I’ve been on a date with.”

“Oh my god.”

“At least this one isn’t a Kings supporter.”

“You’re definitely good on that front.” They looked at each other for a moment, then dissolved into giggles. Will reached out and wrapped an arm around Caitlin’s shoulder, making sure that she could still see his mouth. “I missed you a ton, you know?” She nodded, leaning into him. He nudged her after a moment and she pulled away again. “How about you, though? How did you end up at Samwell, of all places?”

“It’s the place mom stopped off on her way down to California. Did you remember that?”

Will shook his head slowly. He tried to think back over the story their moms had always told them when they were growing up, but that detail had slipped through the cracks of time.

Caitlin smiled. “I’m surprised your mom didn’t mention it when you applied.”

Will took in a sharp intake of breath. Of course Caitlin didn’t know. Who would have told her?

Her smile dropped. “Uh. You know… You all dropped off the planet a bit. What— What happened?”

Will dug his teeth into his lips. “Uh. Car crash.” Then, because he couldn’t bear to look in her eyes or answer any more questions, he said, “How’d you end up on the volleyball team? You were always more of a softball girl”

“Will—”

The look he shot her was clearly enough to stop her from pushing it, because she took in her own shaky breath and shrugged.

“I switched to volleyball when I moved schools to be at the same one as Ally. They didn’t have a decent softball team, and I’d already played volleyball enough to know I liked it.”

Will smiled. “It's a shame you gave up softball, but if you hadn't it never would have been you I’d run into that day and you wouldn't have met Chowder. At least not then. Maybe at a kegster or something but that's not the same.”

“Oh my God, I can't believe you were the one who ran into me, and I never noticed.”

“Too caught up in Chowder?”

“He called you—” She frowned, clearly trying to remember the nickname.

“Dex,” Will replied, finger-spelling it to be sure. “It’s a hockey nickname. Short for Poindexter. The team have already been calling you Farmer or Farms whenever Chowder brings you up. Which is a lot.”

Caitlin laughed, a dark flush coloring her cheeks. “Talking of my date, I should go and look for him. It's so good to see you, Billy. I've missed you. I— I’m really sorry.” Her hand cupped his cheek in a motion so startlingly similar to how his mother used to that Will almost flinched. When she had walked away, he leaned his head against the wall. It wasn't easy seeing a reminder of what he used to have but at the same time he was glad that Caitlin was here.

He stayed like that for a minute and then sat up. He had talked to Caitlin and he had danced with all the Samwell Men's Hockey team except the one who mattered, so now he scanned the room for him. When he finally found Derek, however, it was to see him heading to the exit, all wrapped up in in a girl. With a jolt of jealousy, Will thought about how he had never seen Derek hook up with anyone else their whole time at Samwell; about how he knew that he was the only person Derek had ever hooked up with at all. Of course he knew that wouldn’t last, and if it was going to happen anywhere, Winter Screw was the place to start, but it didn’t make him feel any better about it.

After that, the night passed in a bit of a blur. He ended up dancing the night away with those of his teammates who were still around, then walking halfway back to the Haus with them. They only made it as far as the South Quad before they took up camp on the rain-soaked grass, passing Shitty’s hipflask around.

Eventually, Will stood and announced that he was headed back, “So fingers crossed for me that Nursey’s not still hooking up.” The team jeered, half-heartedly with fatigue, and Wagner joined Will on the walk back towards the dorms. They parted at the turnoff to Wagner’s apartment which gave Will the last five minutes of his journey to fixate on whether he actually would find Derek in bed with the girl from Screw.

When his roommate was alone and unsuccessfully pretending to sleep, Will couldn't help asking, “Did she go then?”

“She didn't come back here.” Derek didn't even open his eyes. “She's got a girlfriend. We'd just both had enough and wanted to leave.”

“Oh. Sorry. That you didn’t— That I assumed—” After kicking off his shoes and jacket, Will ignored his own bed and settled down next to Derek. “I'm kind of relieved. It was weird seeing you leave with someone else.”

“What the fuck?!” Derek’s eyes snapped open and he pushed Will so that he rolled off the bed. From the floor, staring up in shock, Will could now see how red Derek’s eyes were.

“I’m sorry! I know I'm supposed to be getting over you, but it'll take longer than that and I'm still going to worry about—”

“How fucking— it's kind of hypocritical of you to be so worried about who I'm hooking up with, isn't it?”

Will was confused beyond belief. “I know we said just friends, but I really don't… Hypocritical? I've not been with anyone else.”

“Okay, but it's not for lack of trying, is it?”

“What?” The whole conversation made no sense to Will, who had not remotely looked at another guy in the past couple of months.

“Chowder’s date of all people. I saw you getting all close with her tonight, flirting and everything. He's supposed to be your best friend.”

“Chowder’s—” The pieces started to fall into place. “Ew, gross, no. I mean — Ew. Not ew because she's with Chowder or because— I'm sure objectively she's a pretty girl and all not that she's my type and it would be weird if she was because she kind of really reminds me of my mom and— ugh, ew.”

“What?” Derek looked like he was having a hard time believing that Will really had no interest in Caitlin.

“Caitlin's my cousin. I just haven't seen her in seven years; we have a lot of catching up to do. It doesn't make me into incest.”

“Your— you looked— Oh my God.”

“You really thought—” Will wasn’t sure why he felt so hurt by Derek’s mistake. “I wouldn’t do that to Chowder. I wouldn't—” He took a deep breath. His relief earlier, and the truth that he was not thinking about anyone other than Derek, was burning in his mind. There was no point pretending when both of them knew how he felt. “I wouldn't do that to you, Derek,” he forced out in a croak. Derek just stared at him so he made himself talk. “I mean it. I know I'm supposed to be letting this got but I've not even thought about anyone else in so long and when I thought you were wheeling that girl tonight— God, well you probably felt the same seeing me and Caitlin talking if this is how— But knowing that was nothing. You and that girl. I'm so relieved, Derek, because I want you. I want you all to myself and it feels so selfish because you deserve someone who doesn't need to be in the closet. You deserve so much more than me, and I know you’re not even ready for all this, but—”

“But I changed my mind. I'm falling for you, so even if it's crazy and stupid and I don’t have a clue what I want, I'll go back in the goddamn closet for you, William Jacob Poindexter. I will fucking follow you to Narnia if that's where you need to be.”

Will froze at the speech, eyeing him like he was unsure if he should believe it, but Derek put a reassuring hand on his neck and he relaxed into the touch. “Idiot,” he said, fondly. When he surged up to meet him, Derek caught him, and there was only a moment’s silent consent before they rolled back onto the bed, lips seeking each other.

“Want you,” Will muttered into Derek’s lips. "I don't want to have to get over you. I want to know— I want you"

“You got me.”

“Mine. You mine, baby?” Will hated the desperation in his voice, but the words tumbled from his mouth without any restraint.

Derek stilled. Will pulled back.

“Not good? Me calling you baby?”

“Not that. That’s fine. Great, even. I—”

Will shifted onto his elbow, lying next to Derek on the bed. “It’s not a domination thing. I’m considering it equal. I’m yours, too. Does that make it better?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay.” Will pressed his lips against Derek’s neck. “No possessiveness. But can I still mark you up and call you my boyfriend in my head?”

“I don’t have a name in your head?”

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

Derek bit his lip. “I… don’t know if I’m ready for boyfriend. I’m sorry. I— Is it selfish to want us to be exclusive but not know what I want ‘us’ to be?”

“Of course it’s not. But even if it were, you’re allowed to be selfish. You’re allowed to take time to figure things out. I’ll be right here.”

His words seemed to do nothing except send Derek’s mind into overdrive; his eyes wide and panicked, and his teeth digging into his lips. “I'm sorry. I don't— I don't even think— But I don't know what I want from this and— I should stop speaking so soon because—”

“Derek. Hey. You don’t have to apologize. Breathe, please. You know I don’t ever want to do anything you don’t. It’s okay. Can I hold you?”

As soon as Derek nodded, Will ran a comforting hand down his arm, and then pulled him onto his chest. He dragged the blankets over them and cuddled in close.

“Can I kiss you?”

Derek didn’t move, so Will took that as a no.

“On the forehead?” he modified.

“Okay.”

*Nursey*

The touch was light and reassuring. Derek finally let out a breath and wriggled so that he could get his arms around Will in return. “I'm not ready for sex, but I don’t want to feel like I’m making you be celibate for me.”

“You know, I didn’t want to be your boyfriend for the sex. It was great, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve known for months that you’re on the ace spectrum. I’m here right now because I’m…” There was a pause. “I’m romantically attracted to you. We could never have sex again and I’d still want to be with you, at least right now.”

“Sap,” Derek replied instantly, but there was a smile on his lips as he pressed them to the part of Will’s collarbone right in front of him. “Look at you using the split-attraction model. You’ve been reading.”

“It was important to you.”

“We only decided to get together two minutes ago.”

Will stayed quiet for a while, before finally saying, “I had to understand it. I guess a part of me was trying to get how it would work if we moved past the blurry friends with benefits thing because I couldn’t figure out what it would change. We’d still have sex only if both of us wanted to at the time, so possibly not at all, and we’d still be living together, and we’d still have Wednesday night bonding even if we ended up calling it date-night instead or something. And then I thought if some of the time you feel less attracted to me, would that mean that our relationship would end up on-and-off. That’s when I found the split-attraction model in that dictionary you made me.”

Laughter bubbled up in Derek’s chest. Will had gone through all of that to figure out how to make him comfortable in a relationship that neither of them had talked about properly yet, and he couldn’t help but feel touched by the thoughtfulness.

“Yeah, it’s— You know, it’s not even that the sexual attraction fluctuates. I mean it does a bit in the way that sometimes you’ll put on those jeans that make your ass look huge and I’ll think fuck you’re hot, but it’s more my feelings towards sex itself that changes. I don’t even know if that’s a bipolar thing or a medication thing more than a gray-ace thing. I didn’t find that happened before, but I never felt much sexual attraction at all. Not at Andover. So that's why I'm hesitant about it. But I am… I'm pretty sure tonight confirmed for me that I am romantically attracted to you, too, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon no matter what shit my feelings about sex are doing. I just— I can’t use labels for it. Yet, at least.”

Will pressed his lips against Derek’s forehead again. “It doesn’t matter to me why that happens. You’re allowed to change your mind and feel different things. I’m here for you whatever you need, and we don’t have to rush to label it if you don’t want.”

Derek let his eyes flicker shut. “I wish I could give you more.”

“I’ve got all I want already. Go to sleep, now, baby.”

He smiled against Will’s collarbone as he drifted into dreams.

#nurseydex week #check please!#omgcp fanfic #nurseydex #stephwrites #i'll post this on ao3 soon #and i'm working on ch16 of fresh too #freshverse tag

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whatwouldfrogsdo · 8 years ago

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Stanley’s Solution

Day 3 of NurseyDex week is AU day, and this is one of the prompts where I didn’t have anything completed already, and I haven’t had time to finish one. Plus, the idea that I have has potential to be a much longer fic. So, I’ve decided to post the first chapter today and I intend to continue with it after @omgcpheartbreakfest is over, and probably also after I’ve finished Fresh. Anyway it’s basically a Freaky Friday AU with a bit of Stanley Cup magic thrown in and is set the summer after Dex and Nursey’s sophomore year (so 2016). It’s a direct sequel to Some Things Can’t Be Fixed (though, AU, obviously)

Background for those who haven’t read either that or any of my other works: NurseyDex shared a room in their freshman year, during which they started a secret relationship with each other. They chose to have their own rooms for sophomore year, and a combination of communication failings, mental health issues on both sides, and a desire for different things from the relationship led to their eventual break up after the Dib Flip.

AO3

The first day of four had passed of the Penguins’ prospect camp and Derek hadn’t quite bonded with anybody else there. He had tried to talk to the one other Black defenseman, but then they had been pitched against each other in practice and by the time he tried to track him down later, it was only to hear a sexist locker-room comment which would never be heard within Faber’s walls.

So, Derek found himself at the end of the day not particularly wanting to do anything except go back to his hotel room and Skype Ransom and Holster, who were currently in Cape Cod, or Chowder, who was at his own prospect camp in Tampa. There were still three days to get through, however, so he forced himself to stick with the crowd who wanted to socialize.

“Ready to go pick up some puck bunnies?” one guy asked Derek and a couple of others when they were dismissed from the day’s debrief. He was a recent graduate who was on his fourth prospect camp after having been drafted in 2012, and was acting superior about it towards all of those who were new to the deal.

Derek shrugged. “Ah, I probably won’t—”

“Wait!” another rookie interrupted; this one an eighteen year old who was more enthusiastic than Chowder, and had been nicknamed Giddy as a result. “I need another look at the cup before we go. Oh, God, do you think they’ll let me take a selfie with it? I mean, it won’t be here later in the week, will it? The tour’s about to start!”

The rest of them sighed, but hung back to wait for Giddy as he asked the Keeper of the Cup if he could take a selfie.

“Got a girl back home, then, Nurse?”

Derek hesitated. The assumptions in that question were immense. “No.”

“Ah, but there’s someone you’ve got your eye on.” It was a statement, and it was delivered with such a certainty that Derek didn’t feel like he could deny it. Especially not when his mind had suddenly darted to Dex.

“Yeah. Well, we were sort of— Uh. It’s my ex. But there’s certain things— I just wish we could see things from each other’s point of view, you know? Then we could sort it out.”

“Bro. That’s some hang up you’ve got there. Sounds like you need a lay.”

Derek winced. That was unlikely. He was saved the trouble of responding by Giddy tearing himself away from the Cup. An hour into drinking, and it would be easy for him to disappear, leaving his fellow prospects to assume he had hooked up with someone when instead he could go back to his hotel room alone.

Derek frowned, eyes still closed. Why he was hearing the repetitive tone of an Android phone alarm instead of Can I Kick It, he didn’t understand. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and looked up at the ceiling, which was much closer than it should be. The alarm was irritating, so he twisted around to look for the cause.

“What the fuck?” he whispered.

He must still be dreaming, because there was no way he had gone to sleep in a Pittsburgh hotel and woken up in the Haus. He couldn’t have gone to sleep topless and woken up wearing a long-sleeved button-up which was tickling at his collarbone. And yet, it seemed so real: the way he was clearly in Lardo’s bed and it looked like Dex’s Samsung which was buzzing away on the top of the cupboard-turned-bedside-table. And, when he reached out to silence the thing, it was with a white, freckled hand.

“Fuck this is a messed-up dream,” he said to himself, staring at Dex’s reflection in the phone screen.

It hurt when he pinched himself. Derek wondered if that was just a saying people used which held no truth. He was surprised, however, to find that the familiar pool of fear in his stomach grew as he looked down the steps of the lofted bed. It’s just a dream. If it’s just a dream, why did it feel so nightmarish to be a few feet off the ground? He would wake up in Pittsburgh in a moment.

His heartbeat was picking up at an alarming rate, and his chest started to hurt. He wasn’t waking up, and he was still staring down at the floorboards, which appeared to be spinning. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He typed Will’s birthday into the phone unlock screen.

Incorrect PIN.

He typed in his own birthday.

Incorrect PIN.

“What the fuck. If it’s my dream, shouldn’t I be able to guess the damn PIN?” he growled at the phone in frustration. His heart fluttered, and he expected to start feeling detached from the room in any second, but the feeling never came. Instead, the ache in his chest grew, and his breathing shallowed beyond his control. Three more fruitless attempts, (2428, 2824, and 1996) and the phone locked him out to try again in 30 seconds. By now, he was in a full panic, tears streaming down his face, his whole body trembling with his struggle to breathe. He fumbled with the bottle of pills next to where he had picked the phone up from, and eventually his trembling hands managed to force the bottle open and shake one into his sweaty palm. He didn’t have time to search for a water bottle, but he had seen Dex swallow his medication dry hundreds of times, so that’s what he did, surprised at how easily it slid down his throat.

“Stop,” he moaned, but his body carried on aching. He prayed for a blackout to bring the pain to an end.

The phone which now lay in his lap started ringing, and it was his own name which appeared on the screen.

“Yeah,” he breathed into the microphone.

“Derek?” It was strange to hear his own voice saying his name.

“Will,” he forced out.

“Shit. Derek, are you okay?”

“What’s going on?”

“I— I don’t know. I woke up in some hotel and I look like… Well, like you. So I rang me. Your password’s my birthday?”

“Yeah.”

There was a long silence in which Derek expected an admonishment, but instead Will started breathing exaggeratedly. “Breathe with me, baby,” he said, and that’s what Derek tried to do.

A few minutes passed of them breathing in synchronization, until Derek found the courage to ask, “You’ve been living at the Haus?”

“Yeah, it was easier to keep my job at Stop and Shop, and get another job in Samwell than to go back to Maine.”

“And you’ve been sleeping in the top bunk?”

“Like I’d let you go up there. You’d probably fall out of bed.” He hesitated. “You didn’t fall out, did you?”

“No. Nope. Just freaked out about how I’m ever going to get out, but I haven’t fallen yet.”

“Oh. I— You can do it. Just— Put me on speakerphone, yeah?”

Derek did as he was told, and bit his lip as Will talked him through getting his feet back on the ground.

“I didn’t want to buy the second bed until you were there and we could split the money,” Will said, as soon as he knew Derek was sat on the floor, phone back against his ear.

“Don’t be silly. If I’m going to be the one sleeping in it, I can buy it myself. We don’t need to split it.”

“Derek—”

“We don’t. It’s my bed. I’ll buy it. I’ll do it today, if we’re stuck in this Freaky Friday situation. What’s your laptop password? I’ll transfer some money to your card so I can do it.”

“You— You think we’re stuck like this?”

“It doesn’t feel like a dream any more.”

Will breathed heavily on the other end of the phone. “No, it doesn’t. God, how did this happen? How is this even possible?”

Derek shrugged his shoulders against the ladder of the bed. “I don’t know. In the movie it’s a racist trope about magic, and that isn’t—” He cut himself off, thinking back to the moment when they had been waiting for Giddy before going out. By the Stanley Cup.

“What?” Will apparently sensed the realization in his silence.

“It was me.”

“What?”

“I— Fuck. I wished we could see things from each other’s point of view and the Cup was right there.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Stanley Cup, Will. I’m in Pittsburgh for the Pens Development Camp. They had the Stanley Cup there, and I wished for us to— for this. Except not this because why would this be how I would want it solved, oh my God.”

“It’s not— Stanley Cup magic isn’t real, Derek.”

“Neither was waking up in your ex-boyfriend’s body as far as we knew yesterday, and yet here we fucking are.”

“Baby—”

“Don’t,” Derek snapped, “call me that.”

“I’m sorry.”

For the break-up, or for the term of endearment, Derek didn’t know, but he bit back the question. It was probably better not finding out.

“I have to get to work,” Will finally said, when Derek didn’t respond. “I’m just working nine thirty, three at Stop and Shop today so you’re getting off lightly. Uh. I’ll text you all my passcodes and stuff.”

“You— You want me to go into work for you? Can’t I call in sick?” Derek stared at the floor in shock.

Will clicked his tongue. “And you’d be happy for me to tell the Penguins you’re too sick to go to training today?”

“That’s different! We both play hockey! I have no idea what I’m supposed to do at your job. I’ll get you fired or something.”

“Yeah, and if you call in sick less than an hour before I have to be in then they won’t bother extending my contract in a month’s time. Please, Derek, it’s not even a full day. It’s so easy, you’ll be fine.”

“Shit. Shit, okay. Practice is at quarter to ten. I’ve already got a Lyft booked for nine to go to UPMC.”

“Okay. Wear suncream for the walk in. There’s some in my locker for when you’re coming back, but leave it in there. Um. My locker key’s on my staff card in my work jacket pocket. Number 67. You’ll want to make something for lunch to take, too, because the break length sucks, and trust me you want every minute you can sitting down instead of walking back down to the floor to buy food.”

“‘Kay,” Derek said, though he wondered how in hell they were going to pull today off like this. “Don’t have any dairy.”

“I know your diet, Derek.”

“Yeah, but… I don’t mind if you want meat or anything. I can’t guarantee my body will be too happy about it after this long of never eating it, but I don’t mind. Just you really do have to be careful of labels for the dairy.”

“I’m not going to eat anything you don’t normally. I couldn’t do that.”

Derek wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Well... you put suncream on too, okay? And don’t mess up my hair.”

“I’m going to be wearing a helmet, so no guarantees there.”

Derek sighed and leaned his head backwards. “Right. Okay. Call me later. And text me anything else I need to know. I’ll find you my flight details back to New York and if this is still a thing at the weekend, then you can drive up to Samwell Sunday morning. What’s your phone PIN?”

“6174.”

Derek frowned, trying to figure out some meaning to it. “Is that… Your parents’ anniversary? June 1st, ‘74?”

“What? No, my parents got married in ninety-four. It’s closer to their birthdays, but… no. It’s Kaprekar’s constant.”

“What’s that?”

“I… Just Google it. I need to shower if I’m going to get out of here by nine.”

“Wait! 6174, yeah?” Derek confirmed, scribbling the numbers on the palm of his hand when Will confirmed them. “And I’m taking Seroquel at the moment.”

“Fuck. Okay. You alright, though?”

“Yeah, I think so. Maybe you being in my head will help things stabilise naturally or something.”

“Or I’ll fuck something else up.”

Derek sighed. “Don’t do that.”

Will was quiet for a moment. “I’m just on Prozac and allergy stuff,” he finally said.

“And I just took Ativan.”

“That’s okay. Can you manage the eye drops?”

Derek groaned. The idea of touching his eyes — or especially touching Will’s eyes, and it still feeling like he was touching his own — made him feel a little queasy, but he also knew how red the pollen would turn them if he tried to skip it. “Yeah, I suppose.”

“Just Lithium and Seroquel, yeah?”

Derek made a noise of assent, “Make sure you’ve got my epipen in my hockey bag, but leave the Xanex at the hotel. I had it with me yesterday but I don’t think I trust those guys enough to risk it.”

“It’s only the one practice, anyway, right?”

“Yeah. It’ll be fine. Right?”

“Sure,” Will said, though his tone indicated that he was less than convinced. “I’ll talk to you later. Good luck.”

“You too.”

Derek hung up and collapsed into the fetal position. It was going to be a really long day, pretending to be the person he had been trying to forget.

#nurseydex week #omgcp fanfic #check please!#nurseydex #stephwrites #panic attack cw #medication cw #freshverse tag #but au

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whatwouldfrogsdo · 8 years ago

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Peeling Back the Layers (Part ii: After Hazeapalooza)

In terms of Fresh, this fic lines up with chapter 5, but it's actually more of a sequel to Mistake. It also repeats a part of Surprise because it didn't make much sense without that section. (actually it's more accurate to say that I used an extract of this for Surprise).

Nursey finally tells Dex about his bipolar

Content warnings: - Discussions of bipolar (including paranoia and dissociation) - Discussions of medication, and mixing medication with alcohol

AO3

Part i (does not have to be read to understand this part): Tumblr | AO3

“Oh, hey,” Skye said, glancing up as Derek walked into their freshman suite after class the day after Hazeapalooza. Derek raised an eyebrow. Skye was the quietest of all the girls in their suite, and he wasn’t sure that she had ever spoken to him directly before. “A girl came by looking for you. I let her into your room.”

Derek frowned. He wasn’t expecting anybody. Lardo, perhaps?

It wasn’t Lardo sat in Dex’s desk chair and looking incredibly amused as she pushed his pens slightly out of line with each other.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. He flips out if I touch his stuff.”

She turned to grin at him. “And here I thought you’d learnt not to touch other people’s things after I confiscated Tigger.”

“You didn’t confiscate him, you stole him, Lei. And I was three, you could have just let me play Barbie with you.”

She laughed, and jumped to her feet to throw her arms around his neck. “I missed you, Der-bear.”

“What are you even doing here?”

Her expression turned to serious when she pulled away. “Shitty rang me.”

It took Derek by surprise, sometimes, that Leila and Shitty were friends. He and his sister hadn’t overlapped at Andover at all, her being five years older than him, but she had been there the same time as Shitty. In fact, she had known him before he became Shitty, and it frustrated Derek no end that she wouldn’t reveal his real name. “What did he ring you for?”

“He said you weren’t doing so well.”

Derek groaned, and backed up so that he could sit on his bed. “I’m doing fine. I stopped sleeping, so I went on the antipsychotics and my first day on them they decided to do hazing. It just took me by surprise, and shit happened, but I’m fine. I’ve been taking benzos, too, just to be sure. It’s all chill”

“Have you seen a doctor?”

“I rang my one in Andover.”

Leila sighed and flopped down next to him. “Okay, aboowe , I’m glad you’re trying to take care of yourself, but you do need to get a doctor closer to here, and you need to let other people look after you properly when something happens.”

“It’s chill.”

“It’s okay if it’s not, though,” she told him. “And I’m serious about the doctor. If only because it’s ridiculous to have to drive up to Andover every time you need a prescription.”

Derek let his head come to rest on his sister’s shoulder and breathed out a sigh. “Okay.”

“Promise me you won’t deal with all of this on your own.”

“I promise. There’s a few people now, on the team, who know at least bits and pieces.”

“Including your roommate?”

“Er, no. Dex doesn’t know anything.”

“You know it’ll be easier if he does.”

Derek didn’t know what to say. Leila had no idea of the relationship between him and Dex, and trying to explain the complexities of how they got along, or the way that there was only a small collection of things Derek could actually talk to Dex about, was impossible.

When he didn’t respond, she just knocked her shoulder against his and pulled his laptop onto her knees, guessed his password right on the second try and brought up Netflix. Derek tried to remember the last time things were so calm and simple between he and Leila. Childhood had been arguments and tension and the constant feeling of being overshadowed. Even at Andover, the upperclassmen had all looked at him and immediately said “You’re Lei’s brother.” That had become his persona for two years until everyone who had known her had graduated. Derek wondered if what fixed their relationship was just them growing up or him finally going to a school where the only person who knew her was Shitty.

“I’m glad you came,” he muttered, and when she looked at him, he could see she wasn’t expecting him to say anything like that.

“Of course I did. You’re my baby brother. It wasn’t too bad a surprise, then?”

“Nah.”

They watched a film, and then two episodes of Brooklyn Nine Nine, and then Dex walked in. As Leila scrambled to cover her hair with the scarf she had abandoned on his pillow, Derek tensed. They had barely spoken the past couple of days — not since before Hazeapalooza. Dex didn’t look over at Derek’s bed as he strode across the room and dropped his bag in its place under his desk. He froze, head bowed over the desk, then a shaking hand came up to slowly fix the crooked pens. He turned back to Derek, eyes narrowed.

“That was her,” Derek said quickly, pointing at Leila.

“You always were a tattle-tale. Hi. I’m Leila. Sorry about that. He was late.”

Dex looked between them. “Derek’s sister, right?”

“That’s me!”

“He didn’t say you were going to be visiting.”

Derek scoffed. “Ch’yeah, you need to talk to me for—”

“Well, to be quite honest, I didn’t tell him, either,” Leila interrupted

Dex flexed his hand. “Oh. Just… I mean, no offence or anything but I kind of thought you two didn’t really—”

Leila snapped her head towards Derek. “What the hell have you told him?”

“Nothing about you!” Dex said quickly, hands up in surrender. “Just about your parents, and—”

Derek sucked in a breath. “Shit. Shut up, Dex.”

“What did you say?” Leila asked in Gujarati.

Derek flinched. “Nothing, just— Fuck.”

“Tell me,” she demanded of Dex.

“That they forgot his birthday,” he replied.

Derek flinched. “Lei, it’s not—”

“You ungrateful little brat,” she snapped, and he shut up.

“Is that not—?” Dex looked bewildered now.

“Ever since I went to Andover we’ve celebrated birthdays in the school holidays,” she told him, then continued in Somali for Derek’s sake, “And Diri knows better than to use mental illness as an excuse to be a dick about it.” Derek sunk backwards in shame.

Dex blinked. “That was a different language.”

The comment made Derek snort. “Yeah, ‘cause she doesn’t know how to say mental illness in Gujarati. That’s something we’ve only ever talked about in English or Somali.”

“Mental— What— How many languages do you speak?”

“English, Gujarati, Arabic, some Somali and AP Spanish,” Derek listed off.

“Oh my God, AP Spanish doesn’t count, you nerd,” Leila interrupted. “And fucking tell him before I do, because you need someone who can keep an eye on you so that the shit show of Monday night doesn’t happen again. You notice he wasn’t sleeping?” She pointed at Dex, whose eyes were bulging out their sockets.

“Uh… Maybe, yeah, I guess. But I didn’t think— That’s just college, though.”

She huffed. “Yeah, for some students it might be. Where’s your bathroom?”

Derek sighed and pointed the way she needed to go. When she had slammed the door behind her, he spent a few seconds pulling at the blankets where she had been sat. Finally, he looked up to meet Dex’s eye. “I’m sorry I lied about my parents. That’s not why that birthday sucked, but it was always the easier thing to say. It’s always what I told everyone else, and soon as I knew the truth about yours, going back on what I’d said seemed like it would hurt you more. I can’t— I don’t want you to think I’m a mess if I tell you.”

“I already think you’re a complete train-wreck, Nursey, it’s okay.” An amused smirk played on his lips, but he quickly seemed to realize it was the wrong thing to say, because he got up and took up Leila’s vacated spot on the bed. “Shit, I don’t mean that. I mean, you let me think you had shitty parents just because mine are dead, which is a bit messed up, but whatever it is, you can tell me, okay? No judgement.”

“I don’t know how to—” Derek shook his head and fell silent.

“Why don’t you start with what happened on Monday night. At Hazeapalooza, does she mean? You weren’t even drinking that much, so—”

“Yeah, but I was on pills that I’m not supposed to drink anything with. Well, technically, the ones I take every day say not to drink with them, but I know my limits with them normally and I can work around it. When I’m taking the extra lot I can’t. I got paranoid quicker, and dizzy and shit which didn’t help. But, uh, the short of it is that I have bipolar. And recently I’ve been slipping into a manic episode, so— Uh. Yeah, so that’s a thing, and now you know.”

Dex reached out and wrapped his hand around Derek’s. “What, uh… What exactly does that mean? For you. If you don’t— I mean, I can Google symptoms and stuff if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Right. Yeah. Uh, well before I was on medication, it got really bad. I used to hallucinate. It was like someone was sat there telling me to do things, and I had no sense of why it was a bad idea. There was this one time I was absolutely convinced that me and my friends would be able to go clubbing even though we were fifteen and none of us had fake ID. Mostly back then it was compulsively buying things, booking holidays, that sort of shit. I don’t sleep, and just feel really pumped up. I could do anything.”

“But Monday—”

“Monday we fought, and then I found out something I shouldn’t, and I got about as stressed as is possible for me. I hit a limit and it’s like my brain short circuits, and I dissociate. It’s like having an out of body experience, but… less spiritual or whatever. It wasn’t too bad. Shitty sort of knew what was going on, and caught it early. The further I’m into it, the harder it is to get me out, but Monday I was aware. I don’t think I even lost any time.”

Dex frowned and rubbed his thumb over Derek’s knuckles. “How long can it last, then?”

“I’ve lost three days before. I woke up on Monday thinking that it was Friday. The whole weekend had just gone. The longest I’d count as normal for me is a couple of hours, though, if I’m on lithium.”

“And bipolar… That’s swings, right? So you have, uh… downs? As well?”

“Depressive episodes. I guess I have a few months of mania and then some time of just normal, and then a few months of depression. But I’m on mood stabilisers, so you shouldn’t have to worry about that happening.”

“Let me know if it does, though. Please? You’re my d-man, I’ve gotta have your back. I won’t ghost you again, I promise. I just— it’s hard to fight with you when we can’t get any space from each other to cool down after. But me having your back is more important than a stupid little fight.”

Derek sighed and rested his head on Dex’s shoulder. “Okay. Thank-you. I will. Let you know, that is.” He felt the brush of Dex’s lips over his forehead and he smiled softly.

“So everything’s okay?” Dex asked, “With your parents?”

“They’re the best. They’re both coming to family weekend, actually, so you’ll meet them.”

After a moment’s silence, Dex spoke again. “AP Spanish definitely doesn’t count. I did that, too, and got a 5 and I only count myself as speaking one language. It’s like knowing a bit of ASL doesn’t count. I couldn’t hold up a conversation with a native speaker.”

“Are you saying you know ASL?”

“Not much. Most people can at least do the alphabet, right?”

Derek shrugged. “You wanna take Spanish with me next semester? Get the language requirement out the way?”

“Couldn’t you just take Arabic?”

“It’s more interesting if I get to learn something new. We only have to do one course of it if we got a 5, right?”

“Your sister’s right, you’re a nerd.”

Derek grinned and snuggled into Dex’s neck. After a pause, Dex tugged on him so that Derek ended up in his lap, and lay back against the wall, cradling him in his arms.

“Tell me what helps?”

Derek hummed. “This is helping. Touch. It’s grounding. I have my blanket and Tigger for that too. Reminders to eat and drink and take my pills are important but I’ll probably get irritated with you for not trusting me to remember them on my own. It depends on my mood, I guess. But… Yeah. This is helping a lot.” He suppressed a yawn. Dex’s lips brushed against his forehead, and Derek lifted his chin for a proper kiss.

They sprang apart when Leila walked back in, Derek tripping over himself to get out of Dex’s lap, but she regarded them both with a discerning look and shrugged. “Hey, I’m not going to judge what you two get up to in your own bedroom. I’m craving Thai.”

“Okay, let’s go get food.” Derek pulled himself up off the bed, and looked back at Dex. “Are you coming?”

“Uh, no, I told Chowder I’d meet him at dinner so we can work on some coding. Uh, and I think I need a bit of time to process. Research. Stuff like that.”

Derek nodded and walked away without saying anything else. He wasn’t sure how to handle the fact that he really wanted to kiss Dex again to say goodbye. That wasn’t something they did.

#nurseydex week #i know i know i've done two for today oops #and h/c isn't even really my thing so idk if either of them count as it #nurseydex #omgcp fanfic #check please!#stephwrites #freshverse tag

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whatwouldfrogsdo · 8 years ago

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new broadband router shooould be coming tomorrow! fingers crossed that a/ that actually happens; b/ that it works and i can get my antivirus mess sorted out on it, c/ we get some kind of refund for this shitty week of no internet, and d/ that it comes early enough for me to edit up this chapter and do all the research that i haven’t been able to do for it so that i can actually get it posted!

#stephtalks #freshverse tag

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whatwouldfrogsdo · 8 years ago

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Peeling Back the Layers (Part i: Chowder’s birthday)

“He didn't say for a reason and you forced it. Birthdays can be sensitive for some people, you know?”

Dex and Nursey talk after their fight on Chowder's birthday (parallel to Fresh Chapter 4)

This is the last day I'll be participating in NurseyDex week, because of various reasons, but to make up for it I'm posting two! (and who knows maybe I'll finally write these hockey games into the next chapter of Fresh to be posted and get it up before NurseyDex week is over because... reasons.)

Anyway, nominally the first is Nursey comforting Dex and the second is the other way around but actually this one I've tried to focus on both of them, and the next has some comfort from someone else as well

Content warnings for this chapter: - Grief//discussion of parental loss//mention of loss of a sibling - Implied family neglect (it's actually not true, but more on that next chapter) - Discussion of race and privilege etc. - Mention of homophobia

AO3

Will had figured out fairly early on that Nursey was messing with Chowder. It was slowly becoming their favorite game — to chirp their best friend who got worked up but still knew they liked him, while staying away from arguments with each other. Chowder didn’t seem like the sort of person who would hide his birthday for any reason other than to stop people making a fuss, so they figured that they could tease him about it without it causing any harm, and his reaction, though typically exaggerated, confirmed their suspicions. When Bitty found out anyway, though, more by their being too loud than anything else, Will suddenly doubted himself. He didn’t know everything about his new best friend and what if there was a reason that he had kept today a secret? What if their ability to turn the simplest of things into a competition and a fight had actually upset him? Will found himself struggling for breath as all the reasons he hated his own birthday flashed through his mind. So, he did the only thing that he could think of to keep his attention off his heart rate: he blamed Nursey.

“What the fuck. Chill, Poindexter, it's not—”

“He didn't say for a reason and you forced it. Birthdays can be sensitive for some people, you know?”

“For fuck’s sake, I know.”

“Oh, Chowder, honey did you not—” Bitty cut in.

“I just didn't want anyone to make a fuss. I do like my birthday.”

Will wanted to relax, but now that the doubts were swarming around his mind, he couldn’t help but worry that Chowder was just saying that, and the worst thing was that Nursey was still looking at him with that intense stare that he got sometimes when he wanted to make Will admit something. “Still your fault,” Will muttered in response to the stare.

“Lay off it. I wasn't even actually going to say anything. I'm not kidding when I say I know birthdays can be a sensitive thing.” When Will snorted, Nursey snapped. “Go on, then. What's your issue with birthdays? My parents have literally given each other presents on my birthday before and forgotten me. So don't try and preach to me about how they can be 'sensitive for some people'.”

His breath caught. It was the worst question to be asked for him anyway, but how could he reply when it would only look like he was trying to one-up Nursey? Not to mention that it was something he never talked about, and he definitely didn’t want to start here, with an audience no less. “I don't— Fuck you,” he stormed out, letting the door slam behind him.

Nursey’s words echoed in his mind as he walked down the road. Could it be true that the boy he had considered a spoiled brat, had actually been forgotten by his own parents on his birthday?

“Dex!”

It was Nursey’s voice, and Will scowled because this was the last thing he wanted to deal with when he had the alternative option of curling up in bed and crying because he missed his twin sister.

“Will, wait up. Please. I was just saying—”

Will snapped. “You were just saying what? That your parents don’t always buy you everything? Well at least you have fucking parents, Nurse, okay? You didn’t spend your twelfth birthday thinking about their funeral. You haven't spent every year since reliving their death. ”

Will closed his eyes as soon as he had said it so that he didn’t have to look at Nursey’s reaction, or see that pitying look he knew all too well. He heard the scrape of pavement as if Nursey had started to trip, but the thud of him hitting the ground never came.

“Will.” Nursey’s voice was close. “Will, look at me, please.”

Will squeezed his eyes tighter and shook his head. Warm fingers brushed against his cheekbone, and then he was pulled into a hug where he ended up crying into Nursey’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” Nursey murmured.

Will hiccupped. “Me too.”

“Can we — Will, we really need to talk about this. Not about your parents, if you don’t want to, but about us fighting like that when C—”

“Yeah.” Will pulled away. He felt sick to the stomach. “Yeah, let’s go home and talk.”

It had now been almost two months since they had shared a bed, despite having vaguely talked about a potential friends with benefits situation, but they now both curled up on Nursey’s bed, close enough that they didn’t have to watch the other’s expression when dealing with the difficult conversation.

“If we’re going to keep fucking, we have to sort our shit out in private and talk about things before we end up yelling at each other,” Nursey said into Will’s hair. “You’re the one who said that when we first started.”

It was a funny thing to say when they still hadn’t had sex since that first time; still not done more than occasional kissing after a fight or a kegster since that conversation. Will knew what Nursey meant, though. “I’m sorry. I think one minute we were just messing about and the next I was thinking about— Did Bitty come and talk to you earlier?”

“This afternoon? Yeah.”

“You think I’m privileged. You’re always going on about it around other people in the team, but—” He screwed his eyes up as tears threatened once more.

“But at least I have parents,” Nursey finished, with a bitter tone.

“Yeah. And you have money, too. And yet you still applied for the scholarship.”

“Shit.” Nursey leaned his chin on the top of Will’s head. “That was— Look, I know you see me as privileged and entitled, but you’re probably the first person I’ve ever spent a lot of time with who thought that. I grew up around people who were more privileged and more entitled and if not richer, at least in the same class, except that they were usually white. I heard you bring up the scholarship and I thought here we go, here’s another white kid who thinks he’s entitled to the world, and I got angry, because I’ve spent my whole life with people assuming all sorts of things about me and then taking opportunities like that away from me because of those bullshit assumptions. I— I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair to make you feel like you might lose out on the scholarship just because of a rich kid trying to prove a point, but yes you're privileged. And the fact that I'm rich is not the same as you being white. It just isn't. They're not things we can compare. It's not like I get so many privilege points for my parents' incomes, and you get some for the color of your skin and being Christian, and then I get a few more for going to a private school. That's not how it fucking works.”

Will nuzzled closer to Nursey's collarbone. “Sorry,” he croaked.

“You have a lot of privileges, which I don’t know if you always realize,” Nursey continued. Will bit on his lip to stop himself from replying too soon. “I thought you were starting to try but then you go and put a Republican sticker on your laptop and I don’t know what to think of that.”

“I did that because my foster family rang.”

“What?”

“My foster family. When I said I was going to Samwell, it was only ever because of the scholarship, but they still made sure I knew that they didn’t really approve. But that they’d still let me go back there at Christmas, and next summer and see my siblings, because they knew it wasn’t like I was one of— one of ‘those gays’ or anything.”

Nursey sucked in a breath. “That’s why you won’t come out? Because of some asshole—”

“Because my sisters need me. I mean… they're not really my sisters, just foster siblings but I always considered them more than that. I was even there when Chloë was born. But sometimes I worry. At any time, they could stop letting me go back. It’s not like they signed any contract or anything to still have me around after I turned eighteen.”

“So the sticker—” Nursey trailed off, waiting for an explanation.

“I thought if I can go back over break and show them that I got involved in Samwell Republicans, it would be okay. I’m not political. I’ve never had time to even think about it. I guess, yeah, I’m a Republican because that’s what I grew up with the most, and as far as the Buchard family are concerned that’s what they have to think I am. They don’t need to know that I just stole the sticker and that I’m really fucking gay. Of course it makes them assholes that they’d care, but—”

“Okay. I get it. It doesn’t— I’m— I’ll lay off about the whole coming out thing, at least?”

Will let out a sigh, and sat up so that he could look Nursey in the eyes. He had ended up so far down the bed that he had to turn around completely to be able to look at him. “Thank-you. I will try more to understand with the whole privilege thing. And I guess we all have our family issues.”

Nursey sighed. “I don’t have family issues. Not really. Not— But privilege— yeah, if you can understand that. Not just relying on me and Ransom to inform you on issues, or thinking you can get away with ignorance. It’s kind of a privilege you can be unpolitical in the first place.”

Will bit his lip. He hadn’t considered it like that before. “Right. So I’ll read more about it, and educate myself on all the civil rights stuff. And I’m sorry you got treated like that, and that I brought those memories back. That I contributed to that. That I still am. You— You deserve to be appreciated.”

The silence that followed dragged on for so long that Will had to put a hand on Nursey's cheek and turn his head to check if he was crying. He wasn’t, but when their eyes crossed, he offered up a strained smile. “Thanks.”

“Yeah. We, uh, we should go and apologize to Chowder?”

“Mm. Hey, one other thing first? Putting all the blame on me for fights? I know it's self-defense or whatever, but—” He shrugged, and never finished his sentence.

Will shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I don’t know— No, that's a lie, I do know why I did that, but it was shitty and unnecessary. I won’t again, I promise.”

“Thanks. What should we do for Chowder’s birthday?”

“That’s today.”

“And Target should still be open if we take my car.”

Will jumped up suddenly. “Oh my God, they had shark-themed dinnerware last time I was in.”

“Perfect. We could do an aquarium trip, too? I think he’d appreciate it if he thought we were trying to be friends.”

Will pulled a face. “How much does that cost?”

“Okay, so the aquarium trip is my present to Chowder, and I’m paying for us to go and be good friends there, as well. You can buy the shark things.”

“Derek—”

“Will.”

“ Fine. ”

Nursey smiled smugly. “Good. Now how about I go and pick them up, and you can go to the Haus first. We should probably apologize separately, and no offence but you are the one who left all angrily so you should probably clear the air first.”

#nurseydex week #nurseydex #omgcp fanfic #check please!#stephwrites #freshverse tag

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whatwouldfrogsdo · 8 years ago

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Check Please! (Webcomic) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter Characters: Derek "Nursey" Nurse, William "Dex" Poindexter Additional Tags: Living Together, Moving In Together, Sharing a Room, Sharing a Bed Series: Part 10 of Extra Fresh Mints Summary:

Five Six times Nursey and Dex share a room/bed and one time they decide not to.

(It's more like ... the time they start rooming together, then 5 times they share a bed, and then the +1)

#formatting for tumblr was doing my head in so i'm just gonna link it #nurseydex week #omgcp fanfic #check please!#nurseydex #stephwrites #freshverse tag

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whatwouldfrogsdo · 8 years ago

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*squints at current chapter in progress* is that... yes i have once again left myself with a bunch of hockey matches to try and write last

#stephtalks #why do i always do this #freshverse tag #gonna make that a thing now i think i need it

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whatwouldfrogsdo · 8 years ago

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Pop Tarts in Bed

Day 3 of @charmerweek - Hurt/Comfort. This type of fic isn’t really my typical style so it’s just a baby fic. Trigger warnings for grief/parental loss.

Also on AO3 here.

It was 5am when she woke, and Caitlin slipped downstairs as quietly as she could, so as not to wake the rest of the volleyball team living in the Dig. She took one of the spare balls from down the side of the couch, and headed to the beach. It might not be a real beach - she had given up on those the moment she got her acceptance letter from Samwell - but it was nice to pretend that she hadn’t traded in for indoor courts. Today, she kind of wished she could pretend she had never given up softball, or that she was any good at ice skating. Instead, she walked, dribbling the volleyball as if it were a basketball, to the beach.

She practiced until sunrise, serving the ball time and time again, pushing herself until she had worn a patch of grass down to dirt which her shoes slipped on with every jump. Then she hit it into the bushes and tripped on a branch trying to retrieve it, and at some point she had started crying to match the blood trickling down her knee and the mud-covered scrapes along her arms. She abandoned the ball as lost, and pushed her way out of the thicket. The journey back to frat row happened around her. She almost stepped in front of a car, but noticed it just in time, and an early-morning jogger shot her a concerned look. Caitlin shrugged both incidences off.

It was the Haus that she went to, rather than the Dig. The door was open, just as she had told the boys off for three times already in the month Chris had been living there. Nobody was up yet, so she kicked her shoes off by the door and went straight up to Chris’s room. Only when she was standing by his bed, looking down at him sleeping, mouth open and arms wrapped around his pillow, did she realize how muddy she was. She let out a shaky breath, which was apparently louder than she would have guessed, because Chris stirred. He blinked at her a couple of times, and his lips moved, but she didn’t bother to try and understand them. A moment later, he was stood in front of her, his fingers running carefully across her cheek, and then his hand coming up to rest on her ear. He tugged on her wrist and pulled her through to the bathroom. Slowly, he helped her peel off her clothes, and then his own, and they stepped into the shower together, her shaking against his body under the sudden warmth of the water. She borrowed a jersey and they curled up in bed together.

It was 9am when she woke for the second time. Chris winced apologetically as he closed the door, and then remembered that it couldn’t have been the noise which woke her, and his expression turned to one of concern. Caitlin shook her head, and sat up so that she could take the tray he carried off him. There were two cups of coffee, and a plate piled high with warm pop tarts.

“Are you okay?” Chris signed. He hadn’t picked it up terribly well, but he knew the basics at least.

Caitlin nodded in response, accompanied with the sign for yes. “I woke up early again.”

Chris covered his own ear, silently asking if she was in pain.

“No. Not any more. I think it was just habit, and I didn’t want to just lie there. I’d get thinking.” He frowned, and moved the tray, with his coffee, to the desk so that he could sit down. Caitlin nibbled round the edge of a strawberry pop tart as she gathered her thoughts. “My momma died this time of year. September’s difficult.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. You didn’t—”

Chris’s hand against her cheek made her stop, and she leant into him as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He picked the half-empty coffee mug out of her hand, and took the plate of pop tarts off her knee. When he finally settled back down, he wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her down to lie on his chest. The rhythm of his hands on her back, the knowledge that she was safe here with him, and the prospect of the day being one where they didn’t have to get up, thanks to it still being pre-season, lulled her back to sleep before she had even finished her pop tart.

#charmer week #omgcp #omgcp fanfic #chris chow #caitlin farmer #charmer #check please!#stephwrites #freshverse tag

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