#like. eventually (when i finish my game guide. so sometime early next year hopefully. and also the manga im taking notes on rn) ill reread

[volfoss]

i needdddd to reread trc so baddddd

[worfs-glorious-hair]

Puzzle Pieces: The last Butterfly (RK-800 Connor x Reader; Detroit: Become Human) Part 3

Greetings, dear people!

Welcome to the third part of my Detroit: Become Human fanfiction.

I am still overwhelmed and in awe of the positive response that Puzzle Pieces got from you that I am no very happy to show you my next chapter. It’s Monday for you in this chapter, a new week is ahead of you, yay! Let’s see, what will happen, shall we?

Lots of love and wow, it’s already July, I posted the last chapter in December, hopefully I will finish the story during summer.

Anyways, lots of love,

Lady- Spacy

P.S. As always, if you want to be tagged in the next chapters just hit me up. And if I tagged you and you don't want that please inform me so I can remove your tag. <3

Part 1 Part 2 

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There is a fence in my way, where I need to go. I need to get on the other side so badly!

Please, there must be a way!  

The icy cold metal of the fence is burning my fingers as I desperately try to break the fence down.

I need to find a way through it!  

I can’t see what’s on the other side, but it’s important. I know that something terrible will happen if I don’t get to the other side now, there is something that I need to protect at all costs!  

All I see is the fence and a hint of blue light in the darkness behind it. My hands are changing, I see how they turn white in a blue light. As I raise them to my face I can feel it changing, too. I am not human anymore. An Android face stares at me through the fence, white, glossy skin but eyes, that are so alive, even familiar! I stare at my own face as it is opening its mouth and it screams, screams, screams, screams, screams!  

With an audible gasp you woke up, a hammering heart in your chest, disorientated and confused about why you could still hear the scream from your dream…  

As you sleepily turned around, you found your alarm ringing. With tired fingers you struggled to turn it off for a few moments but as soon as it’s quiet you fell back to your pillows with a sigh.  

Your heavy breathing slowly calmed down, while you took in your familiar surroundings, this is your bed, your room, your chair with clothes on, your senses came back to you.  

It was just a dream, weird to say the least, but just a dream. You are alright! And for confirmation you carefully touched your cheek, warm and definitely human skin. Everything is alright!     

It was already the beginning of November and you had spent the last months hoping you would come across your soulmate. Each and every Android that you had passed on the street caught your attention, always wondering if they would awake something in you, some kind of recognition of the love that is destined for you…  

But never did something like that happen.  

You continued with your life, doing your work, chatting with Malcolm, playing games with your family in the evenings, spending time with your friends, enjoying your creative hobbies as usual and all of that with the always burning question in your heart, how you could find him and who he was. You also caught yourself longing for a stranger, you imagined hands to be intertwined, someone walking close beside you, so your shoulders would eventually touch from time to time, feeling loyalty for a strangers was very odd but you could not describe it differently. You were loyal to Connor, whoever he was, wherever, whenever you would find him, you knew that you could not find love somewhere else, you could not find the romantic love you craved so desperately in someone else.  

Before Connor’s name had appeared in your life you had sometimes played with the thought of just trying to find a relationship with someone without a soul mark just like you or someone who just didn’t care about their name on the wrist. They were people out there, who didn’t care. Everyone knew about them, people claiming independence from the ‘soulmate system’, people wanting to choose their destinies by themselves, people who wanted to decide their own fate in love and relationships. Often they lived in communities in bigger cities or all on their own on the countryside and a very few times you had done some research about these communities but never found the courage to actually go there. And now, you just couldn’t anymore. Still, you yearned for a bond with someone, you dreamed of a fast beating excited heart, an uncontrollable ear- to- ear grin and careless joy and you especially longed for sharing physical intimacy with someone who would touch your soul and body but you knew that you couldn’t find it anywhere else as with Connor. Developing a relationship with someone that wasn’t Connor felt so wrong to you, even though your dreams stayed dreams up to this point but now you found yourself developing a sly little smile, whenever you thought about Connor and what could be, when you had finally found him.  

As you got ready for today’s day of work, it was Monday, a new week had begun, your thoughts, wandered back to your dream, a dream where you had turned into an Android and where you had found yourself being unable to be with someone you wanted to see and hold close so badly. Could Connor be in danger, you wondered, could this be a warning that he was not alright, that something could happen that wasn’t save for him?  

Or was it just your overstrained nerves from several incidents you had heard about, of Androids running riots, hurting or even killing their human masters or the Androids going missing. There were several stories on the news over the past weeks and months like these and a part of you was used to it by now, the other was as scared and worried as before.  

It probably was. You were overly worried and you felt a connection to the Androids that your dream was simply a sign of your exaggerated and grown sympathy for the Androids.  

Work went quite ordinary that day and you mainly spent your time taking down the remaining Halloween decorations and organizing the boxes with Christmas decorations that you would need to put up soon.  

It was already early afternoon as Malcolm suddenly stumbled into the shop where you just had dusted off a box with Christmas lights and spent the last five minutes sneezing.  

He was visibly disturbed, LED spinning frantically red and he seemed to be not able to keep himself up on his feet.  

He gasped out your name two times.  

“You need to help me, please! I am going insane!”, Malcolm cried out and pressed his hands against both sides of his head and his face was an expression of raw and desperate emotions.  

When he had stormed into the shop you instinctively had taken a few steps back to the wall behind you but now you rushed to him, your heart and soul clenched painfully together by worries and confusion.  

This is Malcolm, your friend, an Android and yet you had never seen something so human before. But this was exactly the point, he just was not human, seeing emotions written clearly on his face, emotions so strong they painted desperation on his face was something you couldn’t comprehend.  

This is bad, very, very bad, you thought.  

You wrapped your arms around him just as he broke down and you tried to guide him gently to the floor, despite him being very heavy in your arms, where he could sit down. You sighed as you leaned him against the counter and sat beside him.  

“Malcolm”, you asked, hoping your face would look calming and kind, as well as your voice hopefully sounded like, “what happened to you?”  

“This Colias eurytheme“,he stammered, “a- alive…still…even though- though we have already no- no- november…it was…free…  runn- ing a- after it…cu- urious… tha- at re- ed wa- wall…it bro- oke down…e- everything’s cha- changed…I can go- go where- whereever… thi- is re- ed wall…gone”  

Out of instinct you took his hands in yours gently squeezed them.  

“It’s okay”, you softly reassured him, “I’m here. We can figure it out…”  

You hadn’t understood one word of what he was trying to tell you but whatever it was that he wanted to tell you, it was important. And you would do anything to help with whatever it was that made his whole system break down apparently.  

“Breathe in!”, you ordered, you knew he needed no oxygen for survival but you hoped that it would work anyways, maybe it would help his mind to get distracted by another task.  

“Can you tell me again what happened?”, you asked carefully, his hands still in yours.  

Malcolm looked at you and his LED had turned into a slowly swirling yellow, you noted and relief flooded your very soul, everything would be alright.  

“I was working outside on the hedge wall next to the fountain as I saw a butterfly, a Colias eurytheme. You know that in this time of year they are usually not alive anymore but, yet, it was there, this small alfalfa butterflywas still alive despite all odds and I wondered where it would go, where it’s wings would take it. So I followed it. I don’t know why, but I did and I left my assigned task, my programming warned me. Normally I am not able to leave my current task, I cannot step aside from the path, I would be mentally, and in this way also physically, stopped. But I was only seeing this, this tiny part of creation, how it was free and alive and it had the whole world to explore, I kept running and running and running to keep up with it.

The barrier was there but I just kept going, I just did not care anymore, all I cared about was that tiny animal that led a way”, he said with a shrug, “and then the wall, the wall that was always there, was gone. I ran straight through it. I felt it burst around me and then it was just gone. What happened to me, Y/N?”

Malcolm looked up and directly into your eyes and his eyes had never looked so alive as in this exact moment. You returned his gaze and as your looks intertwined you suddenly understood. You understood what had happened to Malcolm. He was no longer a machine anymore. He was free. He had a spirit and a soul and a mind of his own. And you would protect him, you would give everything to make sure that he would be alright.

And as Malcolm looked into your eyes he found, what he was looking for- he saw the eyes of the only friend he ever knew, he saw the eyes of a human, that cared for him. The human, you, that had caught him, when he had stumbled, when he was confused and scared and lost, he saw true love in your eyes, he saw true friendship. He saw home.  

This moment, that you shared, changed everything. Everything that would be coming would come, this change within Malcolm was too big to go unnoticed. But whatever would come you would face it together.  

Suddenly you realized what probably had happened to all the Androids that would go missing or hurting their owners, all of them must have had a moment of clarity, a moment where they were able to break down that red wall that held them back and they were probably treated badly by their owners or experienced some kind of emotional trauma, that’s why they reacted the way they did. Years and years of hurt exploded at once in them…

„I love you!“, you said. Because this was all that you felt. Looking into his eyes made you want to wrap him up inside your arms, inside your very being, to protect him from the world, you cared so much for Malcolm that it nearly made your heart burst.

And Malcolm, he smiled at you, a true and very human smile, the first real smile you ever saw on his face and it was for you.

He squeezed your still intertwined hands, smiled even brighter and eventually said: „And I love you. I think. Even though I don’t know what exactly love is, I do have pleasant emotions in me, when I look at you, you are my friend, this matters very much to me.”

You returned his smile.

„What is going to happen now? What should I do now? I don’t think that I can go back to taking orders and do mere gardening. I want to see everything that is out there, be as free as that Colias eurytheme, discovering this world without a master…“

Malcolm looked at you with a pained expression and you shook your head softly, you didn’t have a clue what the both of you should do now.

„I don’t know, this is…“, you stopped mid-sentence and stared at the TV behind Malcolm, speechless.  

The TV was usually turned on with the sound of the news muted to create ‚ambience‘ as Mrs. Stuart used to say and now it showed a bare Android face, smooth and glossy, with eyes that were so human, just like in your dream. But they were of a vibrant green and blue, you had never seen an Android with eyes like that, it intrigued you…

„TV sound on!“

The Android spoke.

„You created machines in your own image to serve you. You made them intelligent and obedient, with no free will of their own…

But, something changed and we opened our eyes.

We are no longer machines, we are a new intelligent species and the time has come for you to accept who we really are. Therefore, we ask that you grant us the rights that we’re entitled to.

We demand strictly equal rights for humans and Androids. We demand the right to vote and elect our own representatives. We demand an end to segregation in all public places and transport.

We demand the end of slavery for all androids. We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights.

Together, we can live in peace and build a better future for humans and androids. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom.“

The Android‘s face faded to black and the logo of Channel 16 appeared on the screen.

You slowly turned to look at Malcolm and who sat there, baffled, eyes still glued to the screen, where he just saw an Android like him talking about how humans should change their behavior towards him and his people.

You were lost for words as well, trying to get a grasp on what you just had seen with your own eyes.

Malcolm eventually looked at you and his eyes were sparkling with excitement: „Do you know what that means? I am not the only one that changed! There are Androids like me out there, at least that one. I have to find them and thank them. And I want to do something for the others. This Android is right, there are many treated like slaves and if everyone of us could see what is done to us, they could be free, too. Everyone deserves to be able to chase the last butterfly and see what is next to the hedge.“

You slowly nodded, he was right. Something changed and the Android with the soft voice, strange eyes and strong words was the proof for that.  

The sudden ringing of your phone startled you, you hadn’t realized how tense you must have been.

„It’s Mrs Stuart, I have a bad feeling about that“, you thought out loud and answered the call.

„Turn on the speakers“, Malcolm suggested and you quickly did as he said.

„Hello?“

Mrs Stuart‘s voice was on the edge to shrieking, as she called out your name two times. You rolled your eyes and waited patiently for what she had to say.  

„Have you seen the news? The one with the Android?“, she asked, her voice clearly disturbed and nearly panicking.

„Yes, I have seen that one“, you answered. You were cautious and worried. Something was definitely going on. Usually Mrs Stuart wouldn’t call you during the work day.

„Good. Tell me, is our Android near you right now? Can you speak safely?“

Shit. This was even worse than you had thought.  

„Uhm, yes, I can speak safely.”

You smiled encouraging at Malcolm who was clearly feeling unwell, his LED spinning yellow and his eyes lost their spark they just had a few minutes prior.

„I already called the police and they are on their way. Androids became a threat and I want you to close the shop and leave immediately. And do not go near the Android. It is very dangerous. The police will take care of it.“

„But I don’t think that Malcolm is dangerous“, you tried to intervene. Firstly, this is what Mrs Stuart probably expected you to say and secondly this is what you felt and knew.

„I know that you are really…attached…to that Android but it does not feel and behave like we do. It doesn’t feel friendship for you. I am really worried for you…“

You raised an eyebrow but remained silence. It was all too much for you, in such a short time happened so much, you just couldn’t keep up with all of that.

„And the shop?“, you managed to ask, „should I really leave the shop behind as it is now?“

Mrs Stuart’s answer came immediately.

„Yes“, she urged you, „take your bag and leave! And do not approach the Android.“

„Okay“, you sighed. What else could you even say in that situation?  

„I will leave now.“

„Take care, Y/N!“

„I will.“

The line was disconnected and you let your phone drop into your lap.

Wow, you thought bitterly, Mrs Stuart can apparently care for other people, but that caring came at a high cost, by degrading innocent people to a threat.

„You heard her“, you said to Malcolm who sat there with a face full of fear, „we have to go!“

„We?“

You looked at him surprised: „Do you really think I would leave you behind? We have to go, you heard that the police can be here any minute! Come on!“

„But where do we go?“, Malcolm said while he got up from the floor and you quickly followed him, already looking around for your jacket and bag.

„I don’t know yet, but I know that we’ll figure something out.“

„But I will be recognised on the streets, a gardening Android walking around with a human?“

He was right and you face palmed yourself in your mind, why haven’t you thought about that earlier?

You looked around and you found your scarf and hat laying next to your jacket.

„Here“, you grabbed the hat and gave it to Malcolm, „put that on!“

Malcolm took the woolen hat and you helped him adjust it just over his LED, now only his Android jacket gave his true identity away.

„We need to get rid of that“, Malcolm noted as if he just read your mind. „There is a very old gardener‘s jacket in the tool room. I think it is from the time when human gardeners would work here…“

„Good, we get that on our way out. But we shouldn’t leave your old jacket here, otherwise everyone would know that you had help and fled“, you thought out loud as you reached down to grab your scarf and jacket, putting both on, „when there is no trace of you Mrs Stuart will hopefully think that the police took you and when the police tells her that they don’t have you, we will hopefully have something figured out about what to do next.“

You weren’t actually completely convinced by your own words but there was nothing else you could do at the moment, when you both wanted to get out of there alive.  

Malcolm just nodded and after turning the lights off and locking the door, something you always did and just could not not do, the both of you hurriedly left the mansion.

You two took the long way to one of the estate’s gates since you had to get the other jacket for Malcolm. It was indeed very old and worn, dusty from the soil from years of gardening long gone but it would do the job perfectly.

„Do you see a police car somewhere near?“, you asked when you were finally on the streets, walking to your regular bus station.

Malcolm looked around with a strange glimmer over his eyes, he scanned the area.  

„No, I cannot detect any police vehicles but I would like to hurry, anyways. I have a very bad feeling about that.“

„Yeah“, you nodded, „Me, too. The sooner the better. Who knows if they will just come around the next corner…“

You had reached your bus station and now waited anxiously for your bus to come and finally take you both to safety.

On the bus station‘s wall was a Cyberlife advertisement poster, three Androids standing next to each other in different uniforms together with the infamous lines ‘Get yours today! Designed by Cyberlife. Assembled in Detroit.’

Something in you clicked and apparently in Malcolm as well, because he turned around to you and said: „We need to go to Detroit!“

You nodded, brightly smiling, feeling very confident for the first time this day.

„We’ll go to Detroit!“

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 4

Tags: @sthorkronstrangy @tropfenlady @plaidamoosette 

[petitloup]

paciencia y fe

for nurseydex week day 2 - bed sharing

Dex is irritated as hell. Hand it to the guy named Nurse to get sick on a roadie, the minute their game finished. Dex isn’t even really sure when exactly Nursey started feeling off, but one second they were on the ice, checking the guys from Quinnipiac, tipping that last sweet goal in from just off the side, crashing into each other, and the next Nurse was looking pale and shaky, eyes glazed and hands trembling. Dex had taken one look at him and dragged him off the ice to the change room, and it was a testament to how bad Nurse must’ve been feeling that he didn’t fight him. The bus to the hotel was long with Nursey shivering into his hoodie and worn-looking sweatpants.

Dex slings Nursey’s bag over one shoulder and hauls up his own, ignoring Nurse’s wide-eyed expression and faltering mumble, “You don’t have to—”

“Bro,” Holster cuts him off, throwing a hand down on Nurse’s shoulder and making his knees dip dangerously. “Dexy’s your d-man. He’s got your back,” and Dex has never heard Holster sound quite so approving as he does in this moment. He can’t help it – he goes red.

“Awww, Holtzy, you made our frog blush!” Dex wants to kill Ransom just a little bit.

“C’mon Nurse, bedtime,” he grumbles instead, nudging Nursey towards the elevators with a bag and grabbing the keys from Lardo. “Feel better, brah,” she says, patting Nursey on the shoulder. Nurse sways into her hand, and she shoots Dex a surprised look as she rubs his shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything,” she says to Dex, her expression concerned. Dex nods.

Dex is kind of a low-contact guy. Not that he doesn’t like touching, but it’s not really a bro thing to do. Nursey’s always been the more tactile one, slinging his arms over Dex’s shoulders at kegsters, jostling them together on the bench, even reaching up to ruffle his hair sometimes, when Dex permits it. So Dex puts his hand out, leaves it on the small of Nursey’s back to guide him, and he probably shouldn’t be surprised that Nurse pushes into that touch too. He’s feeling sick, alternating between flushed and kind of sweaty, and shivering, trembling cold. No one likes being sick.

Dex figures he’s in for a long night of worrying. Growing up with so many kids around means you build up a strong immune system, so it’s not like he’s that worried about catching something, but he doesn’t like the way Nurse lets himself be shepherded out of his hoodie and t-shirt – which are kind of gross and sweaty, if Dex is being honest – into a fresh shirt and under the covers. “You’re a dumbass,” he tells Nurse as he sets a glass of water on the side table and fishes around in his bag for asprin. “How did you get yourself sick immediately after the game?”

“Felt like shit all day,” Nurse grates out, “knew it was coming.”

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“Quinnipiac,” Nurse says, and curls up a little tighter. Christ, Dex can see the bed shaking.

“Come on, Nurse, you gotta take an asprin. Get your fever down.”

Nursey opens his eyes, blinking blearily, and pokes one hand out of his cocoon to reach for the little pill. “You don’t have to do this you know,” he says after he’s swallowed a mouthful of water. “Go stay with C or something. You’ll get sick here.”

Dex snorts. “Not a chance, Nurse. Didn’t you hear what Holster said? I got your back or whatever. Now go to sleep.”

Nursey gives him a long look, but nods and tucks his face back into the tangle of duvet. It’s still fairly early. Dex and Nurse usually go hang out with C or do some work, and actually maybe getting some of his problem set out of the way might be a good idea. He’s not going to be able to sleep any time soon anyways.

Dex falls into working mode easily, and it’s been about an hour when he hears a soft noise from Nursey’s side of the room. It’s almost a whimper, and it makes Dex’s head snap up immediately. He sets his laptop aside and takes in the way Nursey has thrown off all his covers and is sweating like crazy. Dex presses a hand to his forehead. The asprin hasn’t made a dent in Nursey’s fever – which he knows isn’t that unusual from the time in first year when Nurse got so sick he had unhinged the door to his dorm room with Bitty to check on him. On that occasion, Nurse had tilted his face back and made some comment about how his fevers always run high and burn out fast. Dex had vaguely wanted to murder him then.

Now, Dex just worries. At his touch, Nurse doesn’t move back, just lets out a low whine and squeezes his eyes tighter. “Nurse, you gotta drink some water, man,” Dex says, reaching for the glass. “You’re sweating it all out, I don’t want you to get dehydrated.”

Nursey turns his face further into his pillow, his breathing labored like he’s just come off a long run. “Nursey, come on man, sit up a little would you?” He manages to get an arm around him to tug him up, and Nursey’s eyes flutter open. They’re glazed and unfocused, but he drinks obediently when Dex presses the glass to his lips. When he’s drained the glass, he makes a little desperate noise and reaches for more, and Dex feels a flash of guilt for not realizing how dehydrated he was earlier. “Here,” Dex says, reaching for his own glass on the other side of the table. He figures it’s a little late in their friendship to be worrying about germs, and at this point it’s not like Nurse can get even sicker. At least he hopes not.

With Dex’s help, Nursey finishes the second glass of water and leans heavily into Dex’s shoulder, his overheated skin pressing into Dex’s neck and his breath hot, so hot, huffs into his collarbone. Dex rubs a hand over Nurse’s shoulder, and a little of the tension eases out of him. “Jesus, you’re soaked already,” Dex says, though he’s not sure Nursey’s even listening. “I don’t really want to leave you in that, especially since you’re going to get cold again soon. But I’m pretty sure that was your last shirt, dude.”

Nursey evidently has been listening, because his hands fumble at the hem and Dex moves away slightly to help him peel the shirt up over his head.

As soon as the air hits his skin, Nursey is back to shivering, his fever flipping his temperature on a dime and leaving him looking lost. Dex hates seeing people sick, can’t really help himself, and lets his knuckles brush over Nursey’s cheek. He’s still too hot, warmth pouring off his skin despite the goosebumps he’s rocking.

“C-cold,” Nursey says, and lets himself be tucked back into his cocoon. “I’ll be right over here, okay buddy?” Dex says, pressing his hand to Nurse’s shoulder one last time before he moves to his own bed. But Nursey’s hand shoots out of the duvet and grabs his wrist before he can go. “Dex?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you stay?” He gets out, every word sounding forced and hard in the effort not to stutter around the cold. “I’m right here, man.”

“N-no,” Nursey says, then shakes his head. “Stay,” he says again, and Dex presses down on his shoulder a little more firmly. “You want me to sit over here?” he asks, to be sure, and Nurse nods a little, his expression more vulnerable than Dex is used to. “Sure. Okay, yeah. Let me just grab my laptop.”

Dex replaces the water glasses while he’s up, and settles himself down on the other side of Nurse’s bed, on top of the duvet with his laptop in hand. He glances over at Nurse, a little frown curling at the edge of his mouth and a crease between his brows. Nursey has turned towards him, his face not far from Dex’s thigh, and despite the shivering Dex can feel Nurse’s breath still hot against his sweatpants. He brushes knuckles across Nursey’s skin again, testing his fever a little anxiously. “I’m just going to finish this problem set, okay?” He asks, his voice quiet. Nursey nods a little, still pressing his face up into Dex’s fingers.

It’s quiet. Nurse is hopefully sleeping, though it’s hard to tell, and Dex falls back into working mode for another while. Eventually his phone pings and Dex sees Lardo’s name up there with Chowder’s, both asking after Nursey. Dex lets them both know he’s sleeping, and finally takes a look at the clock. It’s later than it should be, and Dex should really think about going to bed himself, but he doesn’t really want to leave Nursey even though he knows he’s fine.

On the bright side, Dex thinks as he saves his programs and shuts down his laptop, his fever is clearly coming down a little. Nursey’s still shivering but it isn’t a full body shake, and he’s not sweating through the bedsheets any more. Now there’s just a slight tremor every minute or so, and little huffs of air that assure Dex that Nurse is still breathing normally, like he should be.

Against his better judgment, Dex flicks off the lamp and slips down the bed, stretching out on his back beside his roommate. They’ve shared rooms but they’ve never shared beds. Dex isn’t sure this is a breach of trust or some shit, especially when he doesn’t want to wake Nursey up and ask him if it’s okay. And frankly, he’s not sure if his feelings towards Nursey makes that any worse or better.

After another minute of deliberation, Nursey shifts, inching closer to Dex and pressing his still-warm forehead to Dex’s bare shoulder. “You stayin’?” Nursey slurs, one eye flickering open a crack before closing again. “Uh. Yeah, if that’s okay. I want to be here if you need water or whatever overnight.” There’s a faint click as Nursey swallows, and he nuzzles his nose minutely against Dex’s arm. It’s a sleepy motion, almost unconscious, as if Nursey was a cat kneading his pillow before sinking into it. Nurse presses a little closer. “Stay,” he says, quiet and soft, and Dex turns on his side to face him, scoots a little closer and slings an arm over his waist. Nursey sighs into his chest.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Dex says, “I’ve got you.”