#my nurseydex

[childrenoftheradking]

two dudes chillin’ (for the next 5 mins before they start arguing abt something stupid again)

[omgpoindexter]

“It’s going to rain.”

Dex looks up.

Neither he or Nursey have spoken in the last hour, seated in a comfortable silence on the front porch. It’s been the sort of day that makes it uncomfortable to talk, anyway; there’s been a heavy heat smothering them for almost a week now. It makes them antsy and annoyed, so they’ve resorted mostly to silence in a way that would never have happened their freshman year. It’s a development in maturity resulting in long silences that frustrate Chowder and impress Bitty.

Dex is the kind of guy that knows when the rain is coming. He always has been - years of hot, sticky summers on the lobster boat have drilled it into him - but it’s Nursey that squints up at the clouds and makes the statement.

“Hmm,” Dex says, which is neither an agreement or disagreement. Nursey doesn’t seem to notice.

Instead, he cocks his head to one side and smiles up at the approaching dark clouds. “It’s gonna be the kind of rain that makes people take the bus,” he says absently.

Dex frowns reflexively, but inside he’s softly pleased. It’s such a Derek sentence, in its simplicity and its observation. Nursey, however, catches the frown and raises a cool eyebrow. He doesn’t know Dex is gently, sweetly analysing his words.

“Why do you say it like that?” Dex asks, to explain himself before Nursey points out his reflex frown. “The kind of rain that makes you take the bus? Just say it’s a lot of rain.”

Nursey blinks at him, surprised. “I don’t know,” he says after a moment. “I like thinking about it in people terms. It’s more fun.”

“People terms?” Dex asks him. He thinks he knows what Nursey means, but he likes the explanation.

“Yeah,” Nursey shrugs, looking out into the street. The clouds are dark and heavy above them. “People will rush to their cars, or run to bring the laundry in - and if you weren’t sat right here, you’d do it too.”

Dex, surprised, laughs. Nursey looks over at him. He’s smiling a little, and there are crinkles by his eyes.

Then comes a low rumbling noise that echoes through the streets; a clap of thunder quickly follows. Nursey looks away and back at the sky just in time to see it open, and the rain starts, as he said it would.

Dark spots begin to litter the sidewalk and the garden path, rain drumming on the porch roof. Dex hears Bitty shut the kitchen windows somewhere in the Haus behind them.

There’s a shriek from a house a few doors down that makes them both jump. A girl Dex vaguely recognises sprints past them and hurries into her car. Dex looks at Nursey, expecting to see him looking smugly back over at him, but his eyes are fixed on the sky.

He watches Nursey analyse the clouds for a moment.

Dex can imagine the beginnings of a poem forming in his mind: something atmospheric and melancholy that Dex will try to understand but won’t quite, something that encapsulates Derek Nurse in a way Dex wants to be able to do but isn’t quite there yet.

“I guess you’re right,” Dex says, smiling. “Maybe I would.”

[beansprean]

frog tweet redraws!!!

(ID in alt and under cut, tweets under cut)

ID: 1. Nursey, wearing a gray peacoat, and Dex, wearing a brown canvas jacket and a backpack, are walking side by side when two samwell students, one a white girl with a brown ponytail and red sweater and the other a brown boy in a black hoodie, rush up to Nursey surrounded by hearts. The girl asks, "Is that you on the back of the fall schedule?" The boy adds, "We like, need to know!" Nursey grins at them, flattered, and presses a hand to his cheek as he replies "Oh? Yeah, that's me." Dex scowls and rolls his eyes so hard it looks painful, sighing, "Oh god."

2a. Nursey, wearing a yellow puff vest over a long sleeve purple shirt, sitting next to Dex, who is wearing a blue button down over a tee shirt. Nursey grins and nudged Dex with his elbow, asking, "Guess how many cards I got today, Poindexter." Dex, mouth full of pie and another bite poised on his fork, sighs heavily and glares away into the distance, replying after a long pause, "Like 20." 2b. Repeat. Nursey pulls up his hands, one holding out five fingers and the other holding up three, and looks down at them as if checking his count. He says, "Eight. One was from my mom." Dex startles and hunches up, trying to stifle a loud snort of laughter. A chunk of pie flies out of his mouth.

3a. Nursey and Chowder standing side by side in the kitchen, Nursey holding a bowl of filling and Chowder chopping something on the counter offscreen. He is not looking at his hands, but off to the right, where text indicates a Falconers game is playing. Dex is in the background, holding a fresh pie with oven mitts, and calls out, "Hey Chow, pay attention! 3b. Repeat. Chowder says "Huh?" and looks down to his hands just as the knife slips and sends a spurt of blood upward into frame. Dex and Nursey startle, eyes bugging out in shock. Nursey goes visibly gray and drops the bowl he was holding. 3c. Repeat. Nursey slips offscreen completely, fainting. Dex smirks at him and lets out a little "heh" laugh. Chowder looks down at him in concern, pressing a washcloth to his bloody finger. 3d. Later, Nursey sitting on the gross Haus couch with a glass of water, Dex standing next to him with his arms crossed. Dex smirks down at him and teases, "You fainted a little there, huh?" Nursey looks up at him, stern but clearly embarrassed, and says "Chill, that was a lot of blood." Dex pushes, "Boy, you were pale!" Nursey replies blankly, "...Poindexter."

4. Screenshot of a series of tweets by Eric Bittle. a. Nursey: Guess how many cards I got today, Poindexter? Dex: [a long sigh] Dex: like 20. Nursey: Eight. One was from my mom. b. Ah, Dex tried to hide that laugh but there's pie everywhere. c. 15 minutes ago. Chowder: I was paying attention to the Falconers game and I think I cut my finger? Dex: I think Nursey just fainted. Dex: Heh. d. Dex: You fainted a little there, huh? Nursey: Chill that was a lot of blood. Dex: Boy, you were pale! Nursey: ...Poindexter. e. -Nursey Fans- Girl: Is that you on the back of the fall schedule? Boy: We like NEED to know. Nursey: Oh? Yeah that's me. Dex: Oh GOD. /end ID

[petedavidsonscock]

dex: —and anyway, nurse is so—he needs a lot. and i just don’t think i can do that for him, you know? i can’t be everything he needs in a partner. and i’ll be happy for him when he finds it, because he deserves to be happy. why are you looking at me like that.

chowder:

chowder: no reason. hey, what are you doing?

dex: oh. uh. i’m packing—like, he has three classes back to back on thursdays because he didn’t listen to me when he was making his schedule and he gets all bitchy when he skips meals which is why i told him—

chowder: so you’re making him lunch?

dex: kind of!

dex: what.

chowder: no, nothing. what were you saying?

dex: never mind.

[atlasthemayor]

Idea came from this old post from before I even joined the fandom

(made by @unchillnursey who's frog posts I simply adore)

[zim-tits]

Preview for my entry to @omgzineplease vol 2!!

[zimms]

new york city

you called me last night on the telephone and i was glad to hear from you cause i was all alone you said, "it's snowing, it's snowing! god, i hate this weather" now i walk through blizzards just to get us back together

Derek twists the telephone cord around his finger, straining to hear Will's words down the phone. "Sorry, you're cutting out. The landline's a little dodgy."

He definitely doesn't fail to hear the crackle of Will's laughter down the phone. "A landline? What is this, Nurse? The eighties?"

"Shut up! My moms prefer it for some reason. And, I don't know, it has a bit of je ne sais quoi, a bit of nostalgia, a bit of style, y'know." To emphasise the point, even if only to himself, Derek winds the cable around his fingers a couple more times.

"I don't, but I'll take your word for it."

Derek huffs his own laugh before softening his voice. "Look, the point is that I missed what you said the first time. Please could you repeat it, babe?"

Will's voice comes through the phone. "I said that it's snowing here."

"Isn't it always snowing in Maine in December?" Derek says, "Like I thought that was a given?"

"Yeah, but it's the first time I've seen snow since I last saw you." Will's voice goes quietier. "I miss you."

"That was literally two weeks ago, Dex." Derek rolls his eyes, knowing full well that Will can't see him. "You can't possibly miss me that much; you literally went almost two years without talking to me between leaving Samwell and the spring." He sighs and grins to himself "But- I miss you too."

we met in the springtime at a rock and roll show it was on the bowery when it was time to go

One second Derek is bouncing along to the song that the band is playing, the next, his gaze is fixed on a very familiar head of red hair that's darting through the crowd at the gig.

Dex?

Derek is too packed in by the surrounding crowd to do anything but watch, tracking the figure of a man who, two years ago, he never thought he'd see again. Well, maybe not never, after all they'd been to two weddings together this summer alone. But the point is, it would never be just the two of them again.

He allows himself to be swept back up in the words of the song, singing along with the rest of the crowd, but he never truly stops staring at the back of Dex's head. It's fine; Derek will catch him at the bar after the show. He has to.

The gig is in a tiny bar that masquerades as a club/concert venue, packed to the brim with people here to see bands make their first stumbling steps into the music industry. Derek first listened to these guys in his Senior Year at Samwell and fell head over heels in love with their music. They were even the soundtrack to his alarms for the year, greeting him before every 5am practice (because Dex was a total hardass).

After the final song, the crowd starts to disperse and Derek seizes his moment to chase after Dex.

He can't let him slip away from him.

Not this time.

Derek pushes through the crowd, apologising every step of the way, until Dex is finally within reach. Naturally, as soon as Derek goes to close his hand around Will's shoulder, the man in question takes a step forward and Derek takes a big handful of just air. "Dex! Hey! Dex!"

Will spins around and suddenly they're chest to chest for the first time in- Derek doesn't even know how long.

He forgets how to breathe.

"Nursey?" Dex's eyebrows furrow in that familiar way: the way they would when he couldn't figure out the problem with a particularly tricky bit of code, or when he was trying to figure out the best way to shut down the opposing team's attack. Derek hasn't realised until now just how much he missed that expression.

"Dex!" he says, trying desperately to sound normal and not at all breathless and relaxed. "How are you? I didn't- I didn't know you were in New York?"

Dex rubs the back of his neck. "I'm, erm, I'm not really, but I guess, I am?"

"Dex, I say this lovingly, but genuinely what the fuck does that mean?" Derek takes the opportunity to step back, breaking the physical contact between them at last. He can finally breathe.

"I'm living over near Lincoln Park, but I'm working for a start up here."

Derek laughs. "Dude, you could have just said that!"

"I was suprised to see you, okay!" Dex mumbles. "Though I'm not sure why I'm that surprised considering that you were the one that got me into this band, but it's whatever."

Derek pauses and considers what to say for a second, looking Dex up and down to try and gauge how much interaction with him Dex would be willing to stand. He takes another second to throw all of that consideration out of the window and just say fuck it.

He grins up at Will. "Can I buy you a drink?"

we kissed on the subway in the middle of the night i held your hand, you held mine, it was the best night of my life

One drink turns into two and two turns into four and so on and so on until the two of them stumble out onto the Bowery and into the open air at 3am.

Derek doesn't know how to describe it, but everything always feels easier at 3am. As they walk along the street towards the subway station, he brushes his hand against Dex's once, twice, three times until finally Will takes his hand in his.

They tangle their fingers together, relaxing into the easy rhythm that they lost at some point during senior year, and falling into each other's orbits yet again.

Derek tugs Will towards the Houston Bowery Wall, gravitating towards the explosion of colour in the night light. "C'mere." He squeezes Will's hand. "This is the Bowery Wall Mural. It's one of my favourite pieces of art in New York, especially this one."

"This one?" Will's voice trembles a little as if they're in a holy place rather than stood on the intersection of two busy streets in New York.

"They change the wall every so often, a constant fresh start, constant new opportunities. Sometimes they decide that a mural has had its time, sometimes other people decide for them, covering up the work with graffiti, showing the world what matters to them. But the wall always comes back with a newer piece of art, a never-ending cycle of hope and new beginnings."

Derek looks down at his and Will's interlocked hands and gives them another squeeze. "Last year, they decided to stop commissioning new murals because they kept being destroyed, but out of the ashes came this mural."

The wall is painted in a bright array of portraits, depicting people of all shapes and sizes. It takes Derek's breath away as he looks at it, even though he walks past it every week; there's something different about bringing Will here.

Will's voice catches in his throat. "It's beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here."

Derek grins back at him. "Thank you for coming with me."

Will's expression shifts and his eyes begin to dart around. "I should be going."

"What? All the way back to Jersey at this time? You're not going to get back until like 8am. Seriously, come back to my place; you can take the guest room."

(Internally, Derek kicks himself.)

"No, no, I can head back; I wouldn't want to impose."

"No, seriously I insist," Derek says, slowly beginning to steer them towards the subway station. "We're like ten minutes from my place on the subway; way better than going back to Jersey."

Will huffs a sigh, knowing that he's lost this battle. "Okay, fine. But I'll pay you back somehow, y'know."

Derek smiles at him as they enter through the ticket barriers. "I know."

(Derek will unashamedly admit that they made out in the empty subway carriage. Like c'mon, how could he resist waiting until he got home?)

because everyone's your friend in new york city and everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty the streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to see but the best thing about new york city is you and me

Derek wraps his arms around Will's waist and pulls him in closer, letting their bodies slot together in the warmth of the bed. "I'm so glad that I spotted you at that gig," he whispers into the crook of his neck. "I couldn't let you get away again."

Will leans back into the embrace. "I'm glad you found me too." He wriggles a bit, getting more comfortable. "It feels like I was stumbling blindly around the city before you found me. Like New York and you are so intertwined; you are New York, New York is you. It was weird to be in the city without you, to be honest.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.” Will turns around to look at him. “Seriously, Derek. I’ve loved the past four months of you dragging me around the city.”

Derek tickles his sides and Will squirms in his arms. “Drag?! I seem to recall you were the one that made a whole list of places that you wanted to see, including Co-Op City.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Will mutters, ducking his head. “Maybe we shouldn’t have trekked all the way out to the Bronx just for it, but I thought I should see it, okay? It was a big case study in my urban planning class.”

“I know, I know. I’m just teasing you.” Derek leans down to kiss his boyfriend. “I think it’s sweet, honestly. Especially considering you didn’t think to do any of this stuff in your first two months of living here.”

“I was getting used to a new city! I wasn’t trying to sight-see; I was trying to survive!”

Derek hums to convey his total belief in Will’s statement. “Uh, huh.”

“It’s true!”

Derek hums again and grins down at him. “Anyway, do you still have that list somewhere? I need to figure out what’s left on your New York bucket list.”

Will blindly flails his arm onto his bedside table. “Yeah, yeah. Lemme just find it.” He rummages around a bit more, before finally producing a crumpled-up piece of paper. “here you go.”

statue of liberty, staten island ferry, co-op city, katz's, and tiffany's, central park, brooklyn bridge, the empire state, where dylan lived, coney island, and times square, rockefeller center

“Okay, I think I have the perfect idea for what our final stereotypical New York sightseeing trip will be,” Derek says.

“Mhhm, am I allowed to know what it is?”

“You’ll find out in, like, three months, I promise.” Derek can’t resist and gives Will another peck on the cheek. “It’ll be worth it.”

wish i was there

Derek finally removes his hands from where they’ve been covering Will’s eyes for the past ten minutes. “Surprise?”

They’re stood just outside the Rockefeller Centre ice rink, which is filled with a hurricane of screaming children and couples desperately trying to keep their balance whilst holding hands.

Will chuckles. “I’d say yes, but somehow the fact that you blindfolded me when you caught me looking at a sign for the Rockefeller Centre says otherwise.” He pauses. “Also, the fact that I caught you stealing my skates from my apartment the last time we were there.”

“Okay, you got me,” Derek says, “but it was good choice, yeah?”

“Yes, definitely.” Will threads his hand in Derek’s. “It was a great choice. Plus it’s like full circle, y’know. We first met at an ice rink and it’s nice to bring the list to a close with an ice rink too. Especially considering how much our relationship has changed over the past seven years, though it was a bit touch and go for a while, eh.”

Derek can’t help himself; he laughs. “Eh? Have you been spending too much time with Jack, huh?”

“Shut up.” Will lets go of his boyfriend’s hand so that he can elbow him instead. “I’m trying to be romantic and poetic and shit; don’t make fun of me.”

“Okay, okay.” Derek says. “You said exactly what I was gonna say, is all.”

“Oh?” Will mock-gasps. “So, I was in fact being poetic and shit?”

Derek kisses him – mostly to wipe the smug grin off his face – and then pulls back. “Are you ready to go and show these kids and tourists how it’s done?”

“Aren’t we technically tourists for this exercise?”

“Shhhh.” Derek kisses Will again, just for the fun of it this time and as they break apart, he feels something wet on his cheek. “Wait, are you crying?”

“No, you idiot, it’s snowing.”

Oh.

So, it is.

Derek feels a little stupid right now, but he can’t tell if that’s because of the kiss or because he was so obviously wrong.

Will taps him on the shoulder. “Come back here, idiot. This feels like a pretty perfect ending to my first year in New York.”

Derek waggles his eyebrows at him. “Yeah?”

He’s met with an eyeroll, but Will also rewards him with a “yeah” and another world-stopping kiss.

Derek has to agree with Will: with the snow falling down on them and the hubbub of the city around them, it does feel like a pretty perfect ending to their first year in New York together.

you wrote me a letter just the other day you said, "springtime is coming soon so why don't you come to stay" i packed my stuff, it's on the bus, i can't believe it's true. i'm three days from new york city and i'm three days from you.

Will has to laugh when his mom hands him the mail stack, an envelope with his name on it sat on top. Did Derek seriously send him a letter for the two weeks that he was back in Maine? Well, yeah, clearly – that much is evidenced by the fucking letter in his hand.

In fairness, the gesture does have Derek written all over it.

He carefully rips open the letter, thankfully not wax-sealed like some of the love letters that Will had watched Nursey send in his earlier years at Samwell, and the contents spill out.

Will pick up the letter first and begins to read it.

Dear Will,

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been nine months since I found you again at that gig on the Bowery; it feels like we’ve been exploring New York together for years. But springtime is coming soon again and I’m hoping that I’ll never have to find you again, but instead that you’ll always be in easy reach by my side. You know how you said one night that to you New York is me? Well, in the past nine months, New York has instead become You and Me. I feel like you’re pulling back the curtain and I’m seeing the city I’ve lived in for my whole life in a completely different light. Everything is suddenly so much brighter and more beautiful with you around. I hope that this new light continues with the dawn of this new spring, a third new beginning for us perhaps, but just to make sure, would you do me the honour of moving in with me? I mean, if nothing else, it saves you (and, rather selfishly, me) the commute the Lincoln Park every other night.

I know it’s only been a week, but I miss you so much.

I love you.

Derek.

The other item sitting on the kitchen table in front of Will is a keyring with two keys and a picture of the one of the windows from the current Bowery Mural. The keys are engraved with the numbers #24 and #28 and Will can’t quite hold back the mistiness that begins to gather in his eyes.

Of course, after everything, Derek brings it back to hockey, back to Samwell, back to that period of time when they were inseparable, but constantly at odds with each other, so similar, but so different.

Will carefully threads his old keys onto the new keyring. A third and final new beginning sounds perfect to him.

because everyone's your friend in new york city and everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty the streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to see but the best thing about new york city is you and me

[zimmerdouche]

they have dinner reservations in less than 3 hours.

inspired by that one scene from sunny

[various-feelings]

[larkral]

It's me! The person who's just now literally responding to comments from last year's EGF. (I don't know, I can't explain myself. Reading nice things about my writing is my one true joy ™️, and also looking at them for too long burns my face off.)

N.E.Way, I realized that Friday was Groundhog Day and my Holsom timeloop fic is called Friday Prime, and the humor (and waiting on hold during 12+ calls to medical bureaucracy) took hold and I posted Chapter 1. Excited for it to be out in the world.

BUT! Don't take that to mean I won't be posting the first chapter of Simon's mums soon too, because I WILL. I even went through and removed my weird notations of things like <<whatever a barrister does for their first job>> and <<government place>>, so we're getting closer and closer by the day.

Anyway, here's seven sentences (oops) from Simon's mums, which I've tentatively titled finally (already, always). Simon POV

"The Easter bunny?" "I don't think magical creatures are particularly attracted to Christian holidays."  "So no Father Christmas, then?"  "Nope."  "Too bad."  "Simon," Penny says, "You have magic. The Normal myths about magical creatures are just trying to convince kids that magic exists, you know it exists, you can't be disappointed that Father Christmas doesn't exist when you've seen a dragon." 

And another also seven sentences from Friday Prime, aka Holsom Timeloop:

"So, is this like, a thing now?" Lardo asks. "SMH defensive pairs hooking up—Ollie and Wicks, you two…" she looks at Dex and Nursey, who've gravitated towards each other through the course of the exchange. Dex flushes bright red. "Oh, we aren't…" "We could be," Nursey says, as smooth as he's always pretended to be. "I mean, if you want. I'd be down."

I think I'm kicking this off because it's, you know, just midnight, so I'm tagging everyone (below the cut)

Happy Sunday! Come out and play, friends. And if you're not feeling it, have a hug, chocolate truffle, or tall glass of water, to your preference. :) @stitchyqueer @thewholelemon @confused-bi-queer @raenestee @facewithoutheart @cutestkilla @hushed-chorus @sillyunicorn @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @basiltonbutliketheherb @ileadacharmedlife @asocialpessimist @bookish-bogwitch @aristocratic-otter @captain-aralias @petedavidsonscock @takitalks @artsyunderstudy @yeonjunenby @carryonvisinata @takenabackbytuesdays @martsonmars @nausikaaa @nightimedreamersghost @chen-chen-chen-again-chen @ionlydrinkhotwater @aroace-genderfluid-sheep​ @shrekgogurt @forabeatofadrum  @palimpsessed @fatalfangirl​ @blackberrysummerblog​ @valeffelees @imagineacoolusername @orange-peony @j-nipper-95 @whogaveyoupermission @wellbelesbian @rimeswithpurple @youarenevertooold @emeryhall @mooncello

[unacaritafeliz]

[Image ID: An Image of Nursey, Dex and Chowder from Check, Please! A pride flag is edited over the image, along with the text "I don't like 'em putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin' frogs gay". /End ID.]

[textless version under the cut].

[Image ID: The same image as above, without text].

[be-bisexual-eat-hot-chip-and-lie]

check please psych au where

holster is shawn and ransom is gus and theyre in love (of course they are)

jack is lassiter and shitty is juliet, they go from reluctant partners to absolute ride or die besties

lardo is chief vick because she would 100% see through the psychic nonsense but would also allow holster to keep it up because of results and also for the bit (yes shitty and lardo eventually do get together no dont ask me if thats allowed by police dept. rules)

bitty owns a bakery next to the psych office and occasionally helps r&h with crime-solving because he was over at the office giving the boys some food. r&h rave about bitty at sbpd, shitty is a big fan and drags jack to the bakery + brings baked goods to meetings. eventually zimbits ensues

the frogs are police officers like mcnab, and yes nursey and dex have a rivalry that is entirely because their only settings are instigate or confess their crushes and instigating is safer

johnson the metaphysical goalie is woody the medical examiner (no explanation needed)

[omgpoindexter]

pov ur flirtationship is internet famous

[beansprean]

From this post by @omgpoindexter

(ID in alt and under cut)

ID: 1. Dex and Nursey sitting at a table together, Dex idly typing on a laptop and Nursey digging his hand in a bag of veggie chips. He grins over at Dex and asks, “Would you slap your best friend for a million dollars?” Without looking up, brown creased in irritation, Dex replies “I would kick you in the face for free.”

2. Nursey pulls out a single chip and stares at Dex, eyes gone all big and shiny, cheeks flushed, and sparkles surrounding his head. He shakily asks, “I’m your best friend?” Dex jerks his head up to gaze into the middle distance, mouth pursed and cheeks flushed. /end ID

[petedavidsonscock]

They've been studying in Founders for a few hours when Nursey says, apropos of nothing, “Get me a blueberry muffin too?”

Dex and Chowder both glance up at him; Dex, who’s been tapping his right hand against the table faster and faster for the past few minutes, stills for a moment, then nods and stands.

“Yeah, sure,” he says, shutting his computer. “Chris, you want anything from Annie’s?”

“Um,” Chowder says, “when did you say you were going?”

“Oh, he didn’t,” Nursey supplies. “But he was getting all fidgety.”

Dex shrugs in confirmation.

“Okay,” says Chowder, who, until now, would have been pretty sure that Dex works in total stillness from the start to the end of a project. “I’ll take an iced latte. Wait, Cait’s last class is over soon, can I ask if she wants something too?”

“Sure,” Dex says. 

Chowder sends the text. While they wait for a response, Nursey goes back to work (on an… essay? of some sort? Chowder’s not really sure), and Dex remains standing, scrolling on his phone. Cait replies a few minutes later.

“She wants an oat milk matcha latte and a croissant,” Chowder reports.

Dex nods once, frowning. “One blueberry muffin, one iced latte, one oat milk matcha latte, and a croissant.” When no one corrects him, he nods again. “Be back soon.”

And then Chowder’s brain breaks, because Nursey, who’s clearly absorbed back in his task, raises his head a little, not even really looking away from his computer screen, and Dex steps forward and kisses him on the mouth. 

Chowder hears himself make a noise like a dying fish. They both look over at him, because the kiss was really short, and it’s over now. It wasn’t a real kiss, just a little ‘goodbye see you soon’ kiss, which Chowder can recognize because he kisses Cait that way all the time, and Bitty kisses Jack like that, and Chowder’s aunt and uncle who actually still like each other kiss each other like that. Why the fuck are Dex and Nursey kissing like that??

“Oh,” Dex says after a moment. “Uh.”

Nursey has gone back to his work, but, sensing the atmosphere, looks up. “What? Oh.”

“Is there something you guys want to tell me?” Chowder can tell his voice has gone up roughly two octaves, but he doesn’t know what to do about it.

They look about equally sheepish.

“We’re, uh, practicing?” Nursey suggests finally, at the same time that Dex says, “Nursey has a thing for blueberry muffins.”

Chowder stares at them. “Sit down,” he says to Dex, who sits. He takes a breath. “Okay. I don’t know what’s going on, but you guys have been acting weird all day. I saw you holding hands on the way to practice. And—and looking at each other. All day! A lot!” 

Dex raises an eyebrow, but Chowder plows on. “It’s like you’re together all of a sudden, but you can’t be together, because Nursey would be way smugger right now if you just got together. And you don’t seem like you just started dating. It’s more like you’ve been together for ages. But you’re both terrible at secrets.” He feels like he’s unraveling a puzzle. “And if you were keeping it a secret, why would you make it so obvious now? It doesn’t make sense! None of it—wait.” He has an idea and bites his bottom lip, considering. “Nursey, can you open Instagram?” 

“What?”

“Open Instagram,” Chowder repeats, feeling more sure by the second. “On your phone.”

“Uh,” Nursey says. He fumbles at his phone, the way he’s been fumbling it all day. Chowder watches him tap the phone screen as if expecting that to turn it on before catching himself and pressing the power button. Then it takes him almost fifteen seconds to navigate to the app: he tries to swipe up instead of sideways three separate times, and clearly doesn’t recognize the icon when he first sees it. Finally, he gets it open and says, weakly, “See? Easy.”

Dex thunks his forehead gently against the table.

“Okay,” Chowder says slowly. “Stop me if I sound crazy. But what if the reason you both clearly don’t know how to use your phones, and forgetting to go to your classes, and talking about how young we all are, is because,” he pauses, “you’ve been replaced with future versions of yourselves. When you’ve graduated and have cool new phones and have been dating for ages.”

He finishes, cringing a little at how silly it sounds out loud, but Dex and Nursey are staring at him, wide-eyed. 

“Uh,” Nursey says finally. “Yeah, that… the second one.”

Chowder blinks, then feels himself grin. “So you two do get together! That’s ‘swawesome! I’m so happy for you guys! I knew you’d make a great couple! Do you live together? Where do you live? How long have you been together? How did you start dating?” He pauses. ��Wait, how far in the future are you from? Why are you here? Are me and Cait still together in your world? Are we all still friends?”

Dex and Nursey exchange a look. Chowder can’t read the conversation that passes between them, but after a moment, Dex’s shoulders drop down, and he takes Nursey’s hand in his. That makes Chowder’s brain spaz out a little: if the rest of… everything hadn’t been enough to convince Chowder that these Dex and Nursey aren’t the ones he knows, this would: he literally can’t imagine Dex willingly reaching out for affection. Especially from Nursey. Wow, the future must really be different.

“Okay, so,” Nursey says, grinning. “First thing, Dex and I aren’t dating, we’re married.” 

Dex rolls his eyes. 

“And second, here’s how it all went down.”

~~~

thanks for reading! i'll post the second part in a few days. and as usual here's the ao3 link if you want to leave me a kudos/comment :)

[griffther]

there’s so many ppl enabling me in the notes of this post, so here enjoy some Thoughts i’ve had about the nurseydex maine road trip so far:

they do a road trip up the coast of maine over fall break their senior year so that nursey can see acadia national park while the leaves are changing

william “acts of service” poindexter decides that it is his Responsibility as nursey’s captain and fellow d-man to become maine’s official tour guide barbie. he plans the entire thing out and even prints them little itineraries and maps and shit because this boy is nothing is not Efficient

nursey makes them stop to see every single lighthouse they go anywhere near just to be a little shit (there are 65 lighthouses in maine, this would take So Long even if you just stopped at like a quarter of them)

the only canonical reference i could find for any actual locations in maine in the comic is that dex said his uncle who owned the lobster fishing boat he worked on over the summers lived in portland

(a side note to the above, i find this hilarious. portland is an pretty solidly liberal urban city - imagine a very small boston - and not somewhere you’re very likely to find small family-owned lobster fishing boats, at least in my experience. it would make way more sense for his uncle to live somewhere like rockland but i digress)

dex is 100% positive that nursey would Love portland so he carves out two whole days of their trip for them to stay with his uncle and explore. they go to the art museum and old port and the port head lighthouse and the top of the world lookout at fort sumner park and all the little shops and hidden places dex had found from living there every summer for years

nursey does end up loving portland but it might be more about the boy that shows it to him

even though his uncle lives in portland, i am still personally convinced that dex’s family mostly lives around the rockland area. i will go on a rant about nursey meeting dex’s close family another time, but while they’re in rockland, nursey continues his dedication to seeing all the lighthouses he can by forcing dex to make the almost mile long trek out to the breakwater lighthouse with him (don’t think about them standing alone next to this little building almost a mile out from land. the wind is chilly and strong and it makes dex’s hair look ridiculous and his cheeks flush and nursey definitely doesn’t want to kiss him ITS FINE ITS CHILL)

dex has them make a detour up to bangor and surprises nursey with going to see stephen king’s house. he doesnt understand why people are interested in looking at some dudes house At All but he does know nursey would love it so he does it anyways. the fence is cool and nursey gets so excited he almost face plants jumping out of the car, so dex counts it as a success

some random places i feel like dex would make them stop at along the way: freeport (nursey is both so confused and so delighted by just Everything about that place, but he loses his mind over the mcdonald’s and the ll bean outlet), ogunquit (dex purposefully takes highway 1 instead of the maine turnpike going towards portland so that they drive through ogunquit and he can see nursey’s face when he realizes they’re driving through the single gayest town he’s ever seen in his life and it’s in southern maine), moose point state park (there are a billion lil state parks in maine but i just randomly like this one in particular idk i think it’s cute), camden hills state park (it’s too foggy when they get there to drive up to the top so nursey makes them go on a hike instead so they didn’t “waste their time.” they get lost within like 10 minutes and are wet from the fog by the time they make it back to the car like 2 hours later), the desert of maine (it’s kinda boring to dex bc he’s seen it a dozen times since he was a kid, but nursey gets enthralled by the science behind it so it’s worth it), cushing (this is where the famous painter andrew wyeth lived at the olson house and was the subject of a lot of his work and i just feel like nursey would have fun seeing this place)

when they eventually make it to acadia, nursey ends up spending like two solid hours just sitting at sargent peak staring out over everything and desperately scrawling out lines of poetry into his notebook (dex spends most of those 2 hours staring at nursey but somehow doesn’t notice that nursey definitely isn’t writing about the scenery)