cute nurseydex stuff that will make you want to vom bc they’re so fucking cute:
ok im fully under the impression that these two would be so fucking extra when they finally get together. like. it took them so long to figure their shit out. when they finally get their shit together, it’s been building for months. years, even. they’d be all over each other
at first, chowder is so happy for them. they tell him by texting him a picture of them doing that gross, couple-y, one of us is holding the phone way too far away and both our eyes are closed, kissing selfies that every couple seems to have on facebook. chowder screams. he has to resist making it his lockscreen. he’s so fucking happy. he grins every time he sees them acting couple-y
this slowly turns into slight annoyance after he walks in on them making out for the fifth time in one week. also, they’re really loud. and the attic isn’t that far away and the walls of the haus are pretty thin, and between jack’s monthly visiting and his two best friends loudly going at it every fucking ten seconds, chowder is contemplating giving tango his dibs and moving back into the dorms for his senior year. at least him and farmer are considerate. c’mon guys.
They don’t tell the team right away. Not because they’re trying to hide anything, but because they figure it’s so obvious that they don’t need to.
Their friendship transitions so surprisingly easily into something more that it probably looks impossible from the outside. Strange, to say the least. Miraculous, maybe, but only if one really hadn’t been paying attention.
Dex now does homework with Nursey’s hand resting on the back of his neck, palm warm against the skin there and fingertips absently scratching up against the grain of Dex’s short hair and then softly back down.
Dex carries an extra beanie with him on cold days, and pulls it down over Nursey’s ears for him as they walk to class, despite Nursey’s token protests.
He forgets to eat breakfast on busy days, always has, but now finds black coffee and overpriced Annie’s banana nut muffins on his open textbook when he stops at his dorm room between his morning classes.
He smiles a little quicker, a little easier.
He still argues just as much as he ever did.
It’s… effortless. It’s good.
And okay, so maybe Dex has been waiting for the other shoe to drop this whole time–that’s just how his life tends to work–but he didn’t really expect said shoe to manifest in a stunned group silence at team breakfast in the wake of Nursey pressing a quick kiss to his temple as he sits down to join them.
It feels like the entire cafeteria freezes, even if it’s really just the chaos that is the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team during a mealtime suddenly stopping short in collective wonder.
The first time Dex lifted it, he would’ve told you it was weightless.
This time, five years later, he feels every ounce of that 34.5. This time, the cup is weighted down by the knowledge that this is the last time he’ll ever get it. The last time he’ll play in the NHL. The last celly he’ll have with his husband. It’s a good weight, he decides. He figures it’s probably as heavy as Claire was the first time he picked her up. It’s a good reminder of why they’re retiring, actually. They’d been talking about it from the beginning of the season, but the call that the adoption had finally, finally gone through in April had decided it. Going out on a win seemed like a fairy tale, but amazingly, impossibly, they pulled it out. When Dex hands the cup over to Nursey, they’re both crying.
By the time the parade rolls around, they’ve officially changed their names to Nurse-Poindexter – a little consistency that they’d both agreed would be good for Claire when they get her next week – Wednesday, to be exact. They’re both counting down the days. PR’s already got the press conference scheduled for Monday, and the media’s going crazy speculating that they’re retiring. It’s true, but Dex really doubts that will be the main focus of the media when they’re done.
“How long?”
It’s the million-dollar question, apparently. There’s no correct answer except forever.
“From the first time I saw him,” Nursey answers, and that seems about right.
Dex doesn’t think they could’ve planned this any better. Most of the media frenzy happens Tuesday, while they’re running around the house trying to be completely sure it’s ready for a four-year old with a penchant for getting into things she shouldn’t. Both of their families are there, holding their phones hostage and screening every call, just to be sure it’s not the adoption agency.
Nursey cries when Eichs brings over the present on behalf of the team. Three jerseys – 28, 24, and 2 – all under “Nurse-Poindexter.”
“Let me tell you, equipment had a hell of a time fitting all that on a toddler’s jersey,” Jack laughs.
Being back at KeyBank for the banner raising is heavy, and Dex can feel the waves of nerves coming off of Nursey. Claire can too, apparently, because she’s climbing all over him and tugging at his hair in what Dex can only imagine is an attempt to distract him.
Dex’s heart rate picks up when they start the roster. He holds his breath as he hears “Number 24, William Nurse-Poindexter.”
The crowd is cheering so loud Dex forgets to wave at the camera like he’s supposed to.
“Number 28, Derek Nurse-Poindexter.”
The roar gets even louder, and Dex thanks god for the headphones they put on Claire. Dex looks down to check on her, and has to laugh when he sees her pulling faces at the camera. He pulls her and Nursey both into a hug, and the noise reaches a crescendo. Eichs and the rest of the team are pounding their sticks on the ice, and Bylsma next to him is patting them both on the back.
@DNurse28: when your daughter asks for a @ChrisChowder jersey for Christmas because “Uncle Chris actually plays hockey, Daddy.” #wrekt
@WJPoindexter24: @DNurse28 #confirmed our daughter is a savage
@ChrisChowder: @WJPoindexter24@DNurse28 WHY DIDN’T SHE ALREADY HAVE MY JERSEY I’M HER GODFATHER
Okay I love nurseydex and the idea that Nursey is so excited to move in with Dex because he’s in love just as much as the next guy, but please consider:
Nursey was an only child, and came from wealthy parents, so they were probably away a lot. This boy probably spent most of his childhood with a nanny to talk to and nobody else, in a house that felt giant when it was so quiet and so empty.
He definitely had the money to be able to get a single dorm, yet as far as we know, he willingly chose to room with other people.
What if Nursey just cannot stand the silence that comes with being alone? He’s always with other people, because when he’s not, it goes from just being alone to isolating himself to being unable to completely convince himself anyone will be there when he leaves his room.
Living in the Haus would be a fucking dream come true because there’s always someone there, and they’re always shouting and talking and moving around and everyone has such a strong presence. Sharing a room means that even if he can’t quite leave his bed some days, all he has to do is look around the room and see Dex’s things, or see Dex, and assure himself he isn’t alone anytime he needs the reminder
Does…does Nursey not realize that Dex is one of the most stubborn fuckers on the planet and just for his comment about him moving out Dex will refuse to to spite him???
Nursey does realize this, and he says it just so that Dex will try his hardest to stay
Derek’s reaction to rooming with Dex is so clearly “fuck yeah! I can spend more time with Will! Maybe we can get closer, and maybe I can get something more out of this 😉” and Dex is all just like “oh my god no I’m too gay for this shit if we’re not sharing a bed we’re not sharing a room”
so i’m still thinking about the update and how dex’s reaction to the double dibs is …not just a joke. like yes it’s defs part of the enemies to friends to lovers thing that nursey and dex seem to have going on and it was humorous (i laughed) but i also keep coming back to this specific piece of dialogue right here:
and like the “–i can’t.” gosh i just…idk if i’ll say this right but those two words /kill/ me. cause this is dex still coming to terms with himself, still grappling with that internalized homophobia, imo at least.
we’ve seen this sort of develop as we’ve seen more of dex: there’s been that baking euphemism that first popped up in “tadpoles” when he offensively uses baking as a metaphor for being gay in reference to bitty. in the tweets, he had that moment when he asked if “1 in 4 maybe more” was really true, which i think he was talking both about others (the internalized homophobia is alive and well my friends) as well as himself in that moment (another way of him asking “am i gay?” without knowing how to).
but then he’s also shown to have regular convos with shitty talking about politics and gender and whatever else comes up. that baking metaphor comes up again: he bakes at hausgiving (“my brother won’t let me live this down”). he’s rethinking this world-view he’s been fed (his brother not letting him living baking and what it represents down suggests there’s a lot of homophobia at home) and challenging his position, starting to think differently.
then in the year 3 tweets the baking euphemism yet again: dex likes baking, he’s good at it, it’s something that makes sense to him, he helps bitty out in the kitchen regularly. while a very indirect way of saying it (maybe i’m reading too much into it lol), but if we follow dex’s original comparison of baking=gay, ngozi seems to be suggesting to the reader that dex is now no longer just accepting others, but that he is also gay and starting to accept himself. he’s starting to be okay with himself, and some of that internalized homophobia is chipping away.
that brings us to “dibs flip” which most people have interpreted as dex and nursey reacting to rooming with their crushes which isn’t a faulty interpretation imo. ngozi sarcastically suggested she doesn’t ship the frogs, and she’s talked about nursey and dex’s relationship in the same coy way she has talked about zimbits before they were canon. (whether nurseydex happens before bitty graduates is debatable but i think ngozi wants us to pair the two romantically). so anyhoo what i’m saying is: nursey and dex like-like each other lmao.
and dex’s reaction here screams some form of that remaining internalized homophobia. “–i can’t”: he can’t deal with these emotions he’s feeling – he hasn’t dealt with them cause it’s scary and it’s one thing to hypothetically be into dudes…it’s quite another to specifically want to kiss one and to have to live with him and see him all the time everyday.
this is way long what happened but i just. wow!! i feel a lot about dex learning to love himself especially in regards to this update cause he’s getting there but he’s still scared and unsure and boy!!! okay
just moving along like everyone else 