23. the one where once you meet your soulmate, it’s physically uncomfortable to be apart from them for too long.
Dex has had a headache for the last two days.
It’s driving him crazy, because there’s no reason for him to have a headache, and he’s not the kind of person who usually gets them. He used to get chirped for it growing up, about how he never gets sick, about how he can stare at his laptop in the dark for hours and never have a problem, about how he’s always the last person standing when some plague goes through the rest of the family.
He probably got it from Nursey, he thinks, a little grumpily. They’ve been texting off and on since Dex got back from Samwell, and Nursey’s been complaining about a migraine that came out of nowhere. Dex doesn’t think migraines are supposed to be contagious, but he’s picked up all sorts of things since he started dating Nursey, so spontaneous headaches might just be one more thing he has to put up with.
The point is that he’s had this stupid headache for like two days, and he’s annoyed.
“Take another Advil and drink some water,” his mom tells him, when he whines to her about it from the couch. “Honestly, Billy, you’ve been moping since you got home from school. Are you going to spend the whole break like this?”
“Oh,” Dex says, and his mom blinks at him from where she’s just come back from the kitchen with a glass of water from him. “Oh, fuck.”
“Billy?” His mom frowns. “What is it?”
Dex doesn’t answer, is too busy fumbling his phone out of his pocket, tapping Nursey’s name in his contacts and shoving his feet into his sneakers while he waits for the call to connect.
Nursey’s voice sounds sleepy, and strained, and tight with pain, and Dex’s heart clenches in his chest. “Babe,” he says, and pointedly ignores the way his mother’s mouth drops open. “When did your headache start?”
“I...” He hears a rustling, and recognizes it as the sound of Nursey moving around in bed. “I don’t know, a few hours after you left? I kinda lost track of time, I’ve been trying to sleep it off. It’s doing fuck-all. Why?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dex breathes. He grabs his jacket. “Are you still at the Haus?”
“Yeah. My train home doesn’t leave til tonight.” Nursey sounds confused. “Dex, what’s going on?”
“Just stay there, okay? Just stay. I’ll tell you when I get home.”
“Just trust me,” he says, because his head hurts, and he can’t do this over the phone, but he’s never been surer about anything in his life. “Derek, just trust me, okay?”
Nursey’s quiet for a moment, and Dex holds his breath. “I,” Nursey says finally, and then, “Okay. Okay.” And then, softer, almost unsure, “You’re coming home?”
“I’m coming home,” Dex says. “Go back to sleep.” He hangs up the phone, and turns back to his mother, who’s gaping at him.
“Billy,” she says. “What the ever-loving hell?”
Dex gives her a lopsided smile, strained through the pounding in his temples, but it’s already receding, has been since he told Nursey, I’m coming home. He takes the cup of water from his mom’s almost-slack fingers, swallowing the two Advil in her open palm and draining the glass. “Sorry,” he says, and picks up his keys. “I have to go.”
send me a ship and a soulmate au, i’m fighting a losing battle against jetlag