oooh man I'd like to see you write a fic of dex's move into the basement but from Nursey's pov - how it got to that breaking point and how nursey dealt with dex leaving maybe 👀
“I think I maybe fucked up this time,” Nursey said, flinching as the sound of a slamming door echoed through the Haus.
“What did you do?” Chowder asked, leveling him with a suspicious glare.
“You know how Dex built that little house thing around his bunk?”
“His Fortress of Solitude? I’m well aware,” Chowder said, pointedly.
“He just finished it, right? So I went in to check it out. But typical Poindexter, dude freaked out and just ran down to the basement, screaming about moving into the darkness,” Nursey shrugged. He still couldn’t believe how tightly wound Dex was, that something so little had set him off.
“Derek Nurse,” Chowder growled, “He built literal walls around himself because he needed his own space, and your immediate response was to invade them?”
“I didn’t think it would be such a big deal! He’s way overreacting.”
“You’ve been pushing his buttons for months and you think him finally breaking is an overreaction?”
“That was just messing with him, he needs to learn to chill,” Nursey said defensively.
“That may have been how you saw it, but it wasn’t how he did. He told me you’ve been trying to drive him out of the room since the day he moved in, and the Fortress of Solitude was his attempt to compromise.”
“Wait, he thought I was trying to drive him out?”
“We all did, Nursey. It didn’t exactly seem subtle.”
“Oh.” Suddenly, Nursey felt cold. He hadn’t really put much thought into how Dex had been feeling this whole time. It just had been fun to mess with him, and god, did he make it so easy. But hearing it from Chowder, he was seeing it all from a new perspective. Now, Dex’s retreat to the basement didn’t seem quite so much an overreaction.
“Shit, I really fucked up, didn’t I?”
“I say this with love, but yes, you did. Kinda big time,” Chowder replied, giving him a soft smile.
“I need to go apologize.” Nursey turned to leave, intending to go find Dex and say sorry for his dickish behavior since his injury.
“Wait,” Chowder said, causing him to stop short. “Give him time to cool off. He has made it quite clear that he wants space right now, so the best start to an apology would be to honor that.” Nursey nodded in agreement, and retreated back into his room. It seemed so empty without Dex there, he realized. He’d grown used to sharing the space with him, in spite of the bickering and near constant disagreements. He was startled at the thought that he was going to miss him.
“I hope it’s not too late to apologize,” he sighed.
