The door slams so hard Nursey feels the whole room shake, and he nearly jumps out of his chair. When he spins around in his desk chair, he sees Dex, oversized hoodie hanging off his lanky frame and baseball cap pulled down over his eyes. Dex doesn’t even acknowledge him, just drops his bookbag on the floor and face-plants onto the bottom bunk - Nursey’s bed.
Nursey knows the Bad Day drill by now, so he flips his desk light on before getting up and turning their room light off. Bad days for Dex mean a nap, a run, and a pie, in that order. After that, he’s usually feeling well enough to talk to Nursey about it. Nursey just has to wait him out.
He’s intending to do just that when he hears the sniffle, so quiet he’s not even sure if he really heard it. He stops what he’s doing, trying to subtly lean back in his chair. He hears it again, and he immediately turns around. Dex is still lying face-down on the bed, but when Nursey really watches him, he can see the way his shoulders are shaking with the effort to keep his crying quiet.
Nursey’s off the chair before he can even think about it, climbing into the bed to curl around Dex and hold him as tight as he can. He feels the way Dex’s muscles tense, then immediately go lax as he turns his body in towards Nursey’s, and then suddenly Dex’s quiet sniffles turn into full-blown sobs, wracking through his body.
“I just - I - I -” Dex whimpers, but Nursey shushes him, pulling him closer into Nursey’s chest and rubbing circles into his back.
“Shh, sweetheart, it’s okay,” he whispers into Dex’s hair. Dex doesn’t try to talk after that, just buries his face into Nursey’s shoulder and lets Nursey hold him through it.
Nursey’s heart hurts, hearing Dex cry like this. He always been sensitive to other people’s emotions, even more so with Dex’s. He wills himself not to cry, even at the worst of it, when Dex’s whole body is shaking and it feels like he may never stop. He’s scared, because Bad Days have never involved crying, and he’s never really seen Dex be this upset.
Eventually, the crying stops.The room goes quiet as Dex tries to regulate his breathing. Nursey just keeps holding him, hands still stroking down his back. He doesn’t know what else to do - should he ask Dex about it? Should he wait for Dex to talk first? Should he get him a water? He doesn’t know the protocol here.
“I had a bad day,” Dex mutters into Nursey’s shirt, voice quiet and scratchy.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Nursey asks, tentative.
Dex hesitates for a moment before he says, “I think if I talk about it now I’ll just start crying again.”
“It’s okay to cry,” Nursey shrugs, “I’m here for you, babe.”
“I know, but I don’t want to cry any more. Can we just... can we just stay here like this for a little bit?” It breaks Nursey’s heart how small Dex sounds.
“Of course we can,” he answers, tugging Dex in even closer.
It only takes a few minutes for Dex to fall asleep, still wrapped around Nursey. His arm is definitely going to fall asleep soon, but he resigns himself to the pins and needles because he already knows he’s not going to move it. He just lays there, chest aching as he looks at the tear-tracks on Dex’s face and the way his cheeks are still a blotchy red.
He manages to reach out and grab the remote after a few minutes. He mutes the TV and turns the captions on, too scared that the noise would wake Dex up. He gets through two episodes of Friends before Dex is finally stirring in his arms.
“Hi, baby,” Nursey murmurs when Dex opens his eyes. He gets a sleepy half-smile in return. “Feeling better?”
“Much better,” Dex nods, “I just - everything felt like it was going wrong today, you know? And usually when that happens, I’m, like, angry or frustrated, but today I was just sad. It just... it just felt like everything was too much.”
“I know the feeling,” Nursey says, and he does. That’s how his Bad Days go - it’s like he’s overflowing with emotions and even little things feel like a lot. “My suggestion is a hot shower and some ice cream.”
“Hmm,” Dex hums, “I think we should try making out a little, first. See if that helps at all.”
“Good plan,” Nursey laughs, getting a hand under Dex’s chin to tip him up into a kiss. He hates the Bad Days, and he hates to see Dex cry, but at the end of the day, he’s glad Dex trusts him enough to let Nursey hold him - and kiss him, apparently - through them.
So... A few days ago Skully may or may not have done a particular favor for a friend with a particular need, resulting in some pretty dire consequences due to some unintended mixed signals, and if asked the mime would admit that the current situation had them in a kind of way.
And not the good kind; bubbling around inside of them was a good amount of anger, some guilt, some anxiety, concern, all mixed into a confusing mess. Today they’d agreed to visit Rufioh for a bit and just kinda chill with him, catch up with him and understand what all actually happened... because so far the mime only understood one thing: that they want to fucking kill Horuss for beating on the lil ninja when he didn’t even cheat.
Thinking about it got them, well, that kind of way.
Emotional messages went back and forth through the night when either side could manage, ending in someone accidentally calling the other babe, but finally Skully was on their way over to their friend, settled on only bringing themselves in... some flops to switch easy into some home slippers and some comfy spanx, a hoodie, a tanktop. Easy clothes considering the week and yesterday’s knife party.
A moment later and they’re poofed into the hive, slipping into slippers by the door and texting Rufioh a quick “yo”.
@cardamums oh shit i remember you said you was gonna go 😭 😭 hope you enjoyed your time there (and whats left of your holiday if you still have it)
its understandable with how short summer is but the lack of A/C’s everywhere that isnt a supermarket is torture
i dare u to steal something from the first person on ur dash
‘ @alaricpls is out here kissing people left and right — what an oblivious fuckin’ IDIOT ! snatching his wallet and keys when he’s sucking face will be all too easy. give me a REAL challenge. ’
