#solution from the comfort of your couch. the hell with you and your voting and all of your sick hijacked ideas of autonomy and freedom

[sweetest-devotion]

only shedding your liberal tears at brunch today is nothing but your shameless lack of accountability, i hope you cry forever the way you treat your american inflicted genocide and the shredded bodies of our kids by amerikkan "isra*li" weapons as background noise and an afterthought because your full fledged power and privilege have to come first before the dead bodies of 600,000+ Palestinians. the natural cycle of life actions is doing its consequential work of exposing and burning down that garbage dump of a colony that you've been depravedly trying to recycle into relevance every four years at the expense of the extermination and total destruction of whole nations.

[musicprincess655]

Haruichi had seen Jun at practices before. He’d been on the team last year, and he still came by sometimes to help out, even if his version of helping mostly involved shouting and insults.

Today, though, it didn’t look like he was here to help. He looked flushed an excited as he called over Ryou and Kuramochi. Haruichi drifted closer, Furuya and Eijun close on his tail.

“You all have to come over later,” he was saying, gesturing with his hands. “I’ve finally had a breakthrough.”

“You can unbind us?” Kuramochi asked. Haruichi couldn’t read Ryou’s expression.

“I’m going to run it through with Rei-san while you’re practicing, and try it out on some more complex animals than a mouse, but I think we’ve got it,” Jun said. “If it goes well now, we could have you two unbound by the end of the day.”

That should have been good news. Haruichi wasn’t so sure, though. Both Ryou and Kuramochi were looking subdued over news that should have made them both happy. Haruichi had already seen how they were getting attached to each other, but he hadn’t realized that it had gotten this bad.

“Aniki,” he asked quietly as they left the showers after practice. “Are you and Kuramochi okay?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Ryou asked.

“Because I don’t think I’ve seen you look him in the eyes since Jun-san told us about the reverse spell.”

Ryou muttered something about troublesome under his breath.

“It’s not like I’m going to leave right away,” he said. “I want to stay until your contract is done. It’s your first one, and I want to make sure you finish it with no problems.”

“Does Kuramochi know this?”

“Does it matter?”

“I bet it matters to him,” Haruichi said. “And that makes it matter to you. Something’s been different with you two for the last week.”

Haruichi didn’t miss the way Ryou’s face twitched.

“You two are together now,” he realized.

“If you call a physical arrangement together, I guess,” Ryou said.

“Don’t be like that,” Haruichi said. “I know he means more to you than that.”

“Like Furuya means more to you than just a contract?” Ryou asked. Haruichi blushed. “Yeah, I noticed that. What are you thinking?”

“We’re going to figure something out,” Haruichi said. “I have at least two years before I have to eat his soul. I’ll find a way to keep him alive in the time I have left.”

“A lot of hope you have there for someone with no clue what he’s doing.”

Haruichi wanted to argue more, but they’d gotten to Jun and Tetsu’s apartment, and he had to let the subject drop.

“So here’s the circle,” Jun said, pointing to a pre-drawn circle on the floor. “Courtesy of Kuramochi, because he draws better circles than me, and supervised by me, because we’re not fucking up a spell meant to correct a fuck up.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kuramochi said. He looked even more dejected than he had earlier. Haruichi felt bad for him.

“Ryou, we’ve worked in that idea the two of you had of having you help with the spell to stabilize it,” Jun went on. “I have the words written out for both of you here.”

“Thank you,” Ryou said, stepping into the circle.

“Audience, are you guys ready?” Jun asked.

“OSH OSH OSH!” Eijun cheered. He was squashed on the couch between Furuya, Miyuki, and Masuko. They’d all been part of breaking this bond, and they all deserved to see it come to an end. Haruichi perched himself on the arm of the couch, leaning against Furuya for balance. Furuya wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him.

“You two can start any time you like,” Jun said, sitting down to watch next to Tetsu on the chairs they’d dragged over. “It might feel a little bit weird, but if you think something is really wrong, stop the spell immediately and we’ll do damage control.”

Kuramochi took a deep breath before lifting his paper to start reading the spell. He still hadn’t really looked at Ryou.

It was a long chant, mostly done by Kuramochi, with only some interjections from Ryou. Haruichi couldn’t see anything happening, even if he could sense the flow of magic. He couldn’t really see magic circuits the way Eijun had once described them, but he could easily sense them. And right now, there was a lot of magic flowing back and forth between Kuramochi and Ryou.

Kuramochi’s voice faded, and the flow of magic slowed to a stop.

“Well?” Jun asked, breaking the silence. “Did it work?”

Kuramochi and Ryou looked at each other for the first time since Jun had told them he could break the spell.

“We’re not bound anymore,” Kuramochi said finally. Eijun and Jun both cheered. Haruichi couldn’t bring himself to be happy when he was too busy looking at his brother and Kuramochi’s faces.

“I’m really going to miss you, Onii-san,” Eijun said, and Haruichi could hear the tears in his voice without having to see him. He really did wear his heart on his sleeve.

“Yeah, I’ll have to admit, it was interesting to have a demon around,” Jun said. “Figuring this out was a lot of fun. I’ll be sad to see you go.”

“I’m not leaving yet,” Ryou said. Kuramochi’s face was almost heartbreaking in its hopefulness. “I want to stay until Haruichi finishes his contract. Anything can happen, and I want to be here to stop it when it does.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Haruichi muttered.

“I’ll be covering half the rent for now,” Ryou told Kuramochi. “So I hope you’re prepared to keep buying me chickens every week.”

“Yeah, of course,” Kuramochi said, and that grin that was a signature of his expressions was back in full force. “You can stay as long as you want.”

“Make sure you don’t regret making that offer,” Ryou said. They both looked happier, though. And that was what mattered.

It wasn’t until they were filtering out of the apartment that Ryou spoke up again.

“I’ll meet you back at the apartment, Youichi,” he said. “I’m going to go out with Haruichi.”

“Going celebrating?” Kuramochi asked.

“Something like that.”

“Want me to get some drinks to celebrate when you get back?” Kuramochi offered. Ryou’s smile turned into a leer.

“Youichi, you aren’t trying to get me drunk so you can have your way with me, are you?” he asked dangerously. Kuramochi’s cheeks blushed pink, but he didn’t back down from the teasing like he had before he and Ryou had started their relationship. “But yes, if you want to buy alcohol, I’ll drink it with you.”

Everyone had waved them off as they split from the group, Haruichi assuring Furuya that he would be home soon. He’d probably still have to smoke into the apartment. Furuya wouldn’t be awake for much longer.

“Just to be clear, I’m not going drinking with you,” Haruichi said as they walked down the empty street.

“Of course you’re not,” Ryou scoffed. “I’m not taking you clubbing or anything like that. Maybe I just want to spend time with someone who understands what it is to be bound. It wasn’t long, but you were bound when you made a contract with Furuya. You understand what it would be like for me all this time.”

“Kuramochi understands that too,” Haruichi pointed out. “He probably understands better than I do. He was bound to you all this year.”

Ryou gave him a sideways look.

“This isn’t just so you can interrogate me about Furuya, is it?” Haruichi asked.

“I have better things to do than hear all about your lovey-dovey new relationship,” Ryou said. “Just promise you’ll use a condom and we’ll call it good.”

“Aniki!”

“What?” Ryou asked, looking unashamed. “You’re innocent, Haruichi, not ignorant. You know what sex is.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to talk about it with you,” Haruichi said, cheeks burning. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk about his lack of a sex life with his brother.

They walked in silence for a while, and Haruichi got the feeling that his real appeal to his brother right now was that he knew about everything that was going on with him and Kuramochi, and wasn’t Kuramochi. If there was anyone Ryou could talk to about all this, it was him.

“It’s nice to not have to go back,” Ryou said, stretching his arms above his head.

“But you want to,” Haruichi said softly.

“What?”

“You should stay with Kuramochi,” Haruichi said. “You’re happy here, happier than you were back home.”

“It’s not that simple,” Ryou argued. “We’re demons. We were built for Hell, not earth. This isn’t my place.”

“Why not?”

“Because no matter how much I want to stay, it’ll be hard on me and everyone around me!” Ryou snapped. “I have to have a chicken sacrificed to me once a week to even stay here long term! I drove off Youichi’s roommate and left him hanging on the rent!”

“Which you’re picking up with your job,” Haruichi said. “It sounds like Kuramochi will be fine as long as you’re here.”

“So I can keep living off a chicken sacrifice a week?” Ryou asked. “So I can go track down some new idiot to sign his soul over to me every few years? So I can stay the same age while I watch Youichi age and die? What kind of life is that?”

“I didn’t say it was an easy choice,” Haruichi protested. “But it is the best one, and you know it. You’ll figure something out.”

“Like you’ll figure out something for you and Furuya?” Ryou asked. Haruichi looked down at his feet. His brother had a point.

“I have time to figure something out,” he said. “I have a few years. There has to be some way for a human to live without a soul. And there has to be some way for a demon to comfortably live on earth. We’ll find answers, I can feel it. We just have to look.”

Ryou looked at him for so long that Haruichi was worried he would dismiss everyone out of hand again. When he finally did speak, it was the last thing Haruichi expected him to say.

“There’s something Mom and Dad told me that I’ve never told you,” Ryou sighed. “Something about demonic nature that I didn’t want you to know, because I didn’t want it to be turned against you.”

“What is it?” Haruichi asked. Something he didn’t know about his own nature?

“With any luck,” Ryou said, “it’s the solution to both of our problems.”

[texanredrose]

Celebrity Matchmaker (Part 7)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 (here) / Part 8  

"Well, Remnant, there you have it!" Coco cut in at that moment, stepping around the four to address the cameras and the audience beyond. "Our daring romantic lead has made her decision. Will Blake, Pyrrha, Yang, and Weiss enjoy their happy ending? The choice is yours, Remnant, here on Celebrity Matchmaker!" A cold weight dropped into the bottom of her stomach at those words; despite having come to a satisfying conclusion, whether or not they would get the opportunity to pursue it still hung in the air. "Now, using the mobile app on your scrolls or our CCT website, cast your vote. Give our daring foursome a thumbs up to approve this celebrity union or a thumbs down to end the happiness now!" Blake pushed closer to her side, offering her comfort and desperately needed support, and Pyrrha and Yang quickly followed suit, the four of them huddling together and waiting with bated breath. "Everyone has twenty minutes to cast their vote, but don’t go anywhere! We'll come back after this commercial break to deliver the verdict on this season's finale of Celebrity Matchmaker!"

A few moments later, they were off air, with the audience breaking out into a chattering mess as they all pulled out their scrolls and began voting. They weren't the only ones- the camera crew, those helpers standing off set, even the host pulled out their scrolls and let their voices be heard.

"Guess we just gotta wait out the rest, huh?" Yang offered, reaching up to fiddle with the hair tie holding back her unruly mane.

"So it seems." Pyrrha hummed, looking at the movie star. "I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

"I'm not so sure." Weiss bit her bottom lip, trying to keep the racing thoughts swirling through her head from stampeding out of control. While she thought she had a firm grasp on the odds when making her original decision, now there existed a whole slew of variables that put everything into question. How would the purists react? Could Remnant handle something so far from the mainstream ideal of romance as a polyamorous relationship? And then there was their careers to consider- how would their fans react? Would any of them even have careers after this? So caught up in the euphoria of a solution that didn't mean sacrificing the bonds she'd forged with each of her potential partners, she hadn't stopped to think of the ramifications of such a decision. "What if-"

"Stop." Blake's voice, calm and steady, was at odds with the flush still present in her cheeks. "There's no need to ask those questions right now."

"She's right, Princess." The rock star chuckled, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. "We've got less than twenty minutes until the decision comes out, and worst case scenario we keep any interactions between us out of the public eye for three years. Ducking the paparazzi is, like, old hat by now, right? We'll be fine."

She winced, lowering her gaze sightly. "Actually, my contract with the show is worded a bit... differently." At the three curious looks she received, Weiss sighed and began a truncated version of the events leading her to this position in the first place. "I only agreed to do the show under the condition that, by completing the show's full run and remaining compliant with the finale's decision, it would remove my father as my agent and handler. As such, my contract lasts... considerably longer. If I attempted to exit the show or the relationship produced by it, my father regains his position and complete control over my life."

Blake and Pyrrha’s brows shot up, obviously surprised by the rather... extreme measures included in her contract. The blonde, on the other hand, looked a tad horrified.

"Wait, time out, can we go back a second?" Yang's brows furrowed, her expression screwed up in confusion. "Like, ten minutes ago, you were going to choose none of us. Wouldn't that have voided your contract anyway?"

"Yes," she replied, running a hand through her bangs. "My decision to not choose one of you wouldn't have fulfilled my obligation, so my father would've become my agent again." Holding up a hand, she prevented the inevitable follow up question by simply answering it without prompting. "I realize I could've chosen any of you and fulfilled the contract's requirements, exited the rather toxic professional relationship with my father, and simply approached the other two after we'd left the set... but... it honestly didn't occur to me to do things that way. I’m not as... familiar with the concept as you two are.” She nodded towards Blake and Yang. “Even now, I’m still not sure it would’ve occurred to me. Choosing just one of you... I wouldn't be able to escape the sensation that it would negatively impact our relationships regardless; I wouldn't want anyone feeling like they were the second choice, or the runner up, or... something other than the truth. I couldn't bear that, not even for a moment."

It probably sounded a tad bit ridiculous. It was true, of course, but in hindsight, perhaps the terrible anxiety eating away at her gut might've been avoided entirely had she simply abided by the expectations of the audience and chosen only one of them. Of course, she also hadn't truly considered the four could be together, on equal terms, and that would be agreeable to all parties, and there really was no way of her knowing at the time, but-

Suddenly, a finger gently tipped her chin up, so she could see Blake's tender expression. "All these years, they should've been calling you Ice Cream, considering your soft heart." As soon as the words left her mouth, the Faunus' face fell into one of despair. "Wait, did I just-"

"That was a pun!" Yang clapped her hands together, looking entirely pleased. "You just made a pun, Kitty Cat!" She reached up, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye. "I'm so proud." Blake rolled her eyes but didn't resist as the blonde threw an arm around her shoulders. "Seems like all my hard work has paid off."

"Great, you're slowly tainting all of us with poor humor." Weiss dryly commented, ignoring the way Pyrrha chuckled, as if she genuinely enjoyed both the joke and the ensuing exchange. "We're already beyond saving at this point."

"Aw, sounds like you're already givin' up, Princess."

"I guess you could say she's... met her match?" Pyrrha managed to cut the rocker off just in time, a sly smile on her lips.

Not even Weiss could resist laughing that time, having barely contained it when Blake's unintentional one slipped out, and she was joined a few moments later by the others. Maybe it was just their breaking point or a brief moment of levity everyone felt compelled to join in on given the situation, but before she knew it, she was surrounded again, catching her breath and looking at those who had grown so dear to her heart in recent weeks. Yang, on her right, with her wide smile and shining eyes, Blake on her left, with her ears up and out in relaxed enjoyment, and Pyrrha standing just behind her, a strong and comforting presence at her back.

"I suppose there's nothing left to do except wait, hmmm?" The movie star sighed, finding two hands slipping into hers and a set of arms encircling her waist, a chin resting atop her head. "We've done all we could."

"And we're not out of the fight yet." Yang pointed out, her voice much softer than usual. "If you honestly think we're just going to take whatever decision gets handed to us without a fight, you're dead wrong, Princess."

"We are the ones who decide our fates," Pyrrha said, brushing a soft kiss against the top of her head. "Our destiny is crafted by our choices and our deeds, and I think we're meant to be together. Therefore, we will be. One way or another."

"A compelling argument." Blake noted, squeezing her hand lightly. "And we're all committed enough to see it through."

"Yeah, someone promised me a kiss when we're alone, and like hell I'm letting her off the hook that easy!"

Amid the Faunus' groan, Yang's laugh, Pyrrha's chuckle, and the all encompassing embrace, it was difficult to feel the pressure of Remnant's imminent decision. At the very least, she could shove it to the side and simply bask in their presence, allowing her idle mind to drift towards the future, crafting little scenes she direly hoped would play out. Standing just off stage with Pyrrha and Blake while Yang 'rocked out' with thousands of screaming fans, sitting in box seats watching Pyrrha compete while Blake and Yang cheered beside her all decked out in team colors, attending a release party for one of Blake's books with all of them dressed to impress and Yang struggling to remain on her best behavior while Pyrrha and Blake slipped in and out of conversations easily, coming off set to find three pairs of arms just waiting to hold her while she prepared for the next scene, the four of them in the living room of a house they could call their own, curled up on the couch to watch a movie or simply reading while the blonde picked at her guitar- the possibilities were endless and she direly wanted to see them come true. It would be hard, of course, even harder than when she imagined the scheduling conflicts just two of them would have, nevermind four, but... damn it all, she would move countries and oceans to make it work.

"Hey, you four." She didn't even noticed she'd closed her eyes until Coco's voice called her back to the present, finding the host approached them bearing a familiar little basket. "Figured you might want these."

Contained within were their scrolls, which they'd naturally turned over at the onset to keep their opinions unbiased- and to reduce any anxiety regarding the ridiculous antics of gossip magazines. The first few weeks were stressful, being unable to check on any pending business relating to their careers, but they'd all come to enjoy the vacation, as evidenced by the slight reluctance in reclaiming the devices.

"Thought we weren't getting those back until after we wrapped up?" The blonde raised a brow at hers- battered and beaten from being dropped a few too many times- before preparing to tuck it away.

"Yeah, but I figure if all of Remnant gets to vote on your relationship, maybe you should get the option, too." She glanced over her shoulder. "Plus, no one's paying attention right now; the producers are catching hell from the illustrious Mr. Schnee."

"For not specifying the number of candidates a romantic lead can choose or for not making me follow through with my initial choice?" Weiss reclaimed hers, flicking it open and pulling up the website rather than wasting time with the application that would do the same. She would consider it a lesson learned to download all available external sources for any show she agreed to be on in the future, flicking her gaze between her screen and the amused little smile on Coco's lips.

"A little of column A, a little of column B, and a little of column the producers could care less about his objections because our ratings are through the roof." She shrugged. "Something about the drama bomb really got people tuning in; I wouldn't be surprised if we set a record or two tonight."

Casting her vote- and wishing there was some sort of preview function so she could see how the whole thing was going- and handing her scroll to Blake for safekeeping, the movie star turned her attention back to Coco. "So the producers..."

"They're on your side, trust me." She winked. "Seems like your old man can't claim breech of contract no matter how much he yells." A small relief, she thought, even as Pyrrha gave her scroll to Yang for the moment. "We're about to come back live. You four ready?"

"Do we have a choice?" The Faunus sighed, tucking her own scroll away the same as Yang and smoothing out her jacket.

As they went about preparing themselves for having the eyes of Remnant upon them again- smoothing out fabric, fiddling with hair, and it was so very nice to have someone else to help this time around- Weiss noticed one of the crew slip onto the set and deposit two more ring boxes on the pedestal. Now, there were four, and it made her heart leap into her throat to think how close she was, how close they all were to a tangible reality.

"Where should we get married?" The question sprang to her tongue and left almost before she could register it but now, she wanted to know. And, it was actually a very good question. They all hailed from different countries, different parts of Remnant- where could they hold a wedding between the four of them that would be equally meaningful?

"Vacuo," Yang replied immediately, smirking. "Not that I've done extensive research on the subject or anything, but they definitely allow for unions of more than just two people. And, since none of us are from there, we can all have a happy memory to claim it. Think of it as the next step in our plan to take over the world."

The Faunus laughed, shaking her head. "That is the silliest thing you've said so far."

"But she has something of a point." Pyrrha acknowledged. "We're in four unique fields that could possibly overlap and from four different countries, where our fanbases are largest. It does stand to reason we embody the phrase 'power couple' more than just about any other union in Remnant."

"Except for the 'couple' part," Blake replied, though she had a smile curling her lips. She also seemed too happy to be embarrassed by all the attention, her blush beginning to die down, but it could easily be the furrow in her brows as she searched for a word. "What would it be instead?"

"A quad, typically." The blonde seemed to not even register the questioning look she received, rolling right along while checking her hair tie again. "Three is a triad, four is a quad, five is a... quint? Although most people just go with 'moresome', which is cute, but I've never really considered having that many partners before, honestly. Triads and quads are more my style, so that's what I have experience with, really."

"Well, at least one of us knows what she's doing." Weiss offhandedly offered, reaching up to bat Yang's hands away. "It's driving you insane keeping it up like that, isn't it?"

"Just a little." The rock star puffed out a sigh. "But, ya now, it looks more formal and I was really trying."

Looking over her shoulders, Weiss noted the identical looks both Pyrrha and Blake wore. "Down?"

"Down," they both replied, and the redhead quickly reached over and, with careful fingers, pulled the hair tie out, allowing golden locks to rest freely against the woman's shoulders.

"Better?"

"Oh, so much." She ran her fingers through her hair, relief showing plain in her face. "I hate having my hair tied up, period."

They knew. The nearly identical looks the three of them bore said as much and Weiss almost couldn’t believe she’d missed it before.

"Alright, we've got thirty seconds!" Someone announced, and the four exchanged a few quick looks as the reminder of the looming results threatened to steal away the calm they'd managed to forge. But then Coco strode up to them, demanding their attention with a few quick commands.

"Alright, let's move you four this way. Come along, we don't have much time." She pulled them towards center stage, just behind the pedestal. "There we go, Blake up a little more, Pyrrha a half step back, Yang turn towards me a little, Weiss just a hair to your left, alright, there." The fashion designer stepped back, peering at them for a moment before nodding. "Good. Stay just like that. And a little PDA wouldn't hurt. There's still another ten minutes left of voting and people are still logging on; if you want to win this, now's not the time to hold anything back." She started to turn away but stopped, looking back at them- well, one in particular. "And no, Yang, that wasn't a suggestion for something lewd."

"Aw."

"It'd probably get your fans' attention, though." Blake acknowledged with a thoughtful hum, fidgeting slightly. "Perhaps we should-"

"Kitty Cat, if you're about to suggest something we haven't done already, don't worry about it." The blonde flashed a smile. "We don't need to dig that deep for this, promise. Princess already tried the whole 'valiant sacrifice' thing and I don't pull the same stunt twice."

"Much to our never ending concern," Pyrrha said, though there was a hint of a smile around the edges of the words.

Weiss wished she could turn around, because looking at the three was a good deal easier than the camera at present, the audience beyond kept barely shrouded by the lighting even as the man behind the camera counted them back in, meaning the deadline drew every closer no matter what they did or didn't do. She'd never felt so nervous, straightening her shoulders as Coco launched into her spiel, hoping a retreat into her calm facade would bring with it a measure of comfort.

[rythyme]

9. Cuddling // Nurseydex

« {Part 9 of my Valentine’s collection.} »

a/n: gratuitous cuddling and dumb boys being dumb. established relationship, but they haven’t told the team yet. enjoy!

“Okay,” Holster said, holding up the two DVD cases in either hand. “The official Samwell Men’s Hockey movie night vote has come down to Mighty Ducks, 1992, or MVP: Most Valuable Primate, 2000. As your captains, Ransom and I will be abstaining from the poll, so…. Gentlemen—and Lardo—your votes, please?”

“Mighty Ducks,” Lardo said immediately.

“Agreed,” said Dex.

“No, no, no. MVP!” said Chowder. “It’s a monkey who plays hockey! C’mon guys!”

“Ditto,” said Nursey, taking a spot between Chowder and Dex on the couch.

“But the monkey’s name is Jack,” Bitty said insistently. “Are y’all seriously going to make me watch that?”

“Hold on, its name is Jack?” Lardo asked. “I’m changing my vote. Count me down for the monkey one.”

Bitty sighed. “Et tu, Lardo?”

Lardo shrugged.

“Okay,” Ransom said. “That’s two for Mighty Ducks, and three for MVP. Whiskey? Tango?”

“…Mighty Ducks…”

“Um, I guess I’m the tie breaker then?” Tango said. “Um, I guess I’ll vote for MVP?”

“Alright, we have a winner!” Holster hollered. “Get ready for the most talented non-human hockey player ever, because we’re about to watch MVP!”

“…Yay,” said Dex.

Nursey didn’t really care about which movie they watched, but voting against Dex was always fun. He looked a little sullen now, his hands crossed over his chest as he slouched back against the couch. It was cute. It made Nursey want to kiss him.

There was no real reason why he shouldn’t kiss him. They’d been dating for two months, and they’d talked about coming out to the team. Neither of them had any particular reservations about it, but they just hadn’t… done it. Not yet. It was hard to find the right time, what with their rigorous practice schedule and midterms coming up. Maybe tomorrow, they kept saying. Maybe next week.

He could’ve just kiss Dex and gotten it over with, but he didn’t. He didn’t especially feel like trying to explain anything at the moment.

Instead, Nursey just draped his arm casually over the back of the couch behind Dex’s head and settled in to watch the beginning of the movie.

After about ten minutes, it was clear that Dex had no intention of actually paying attention to the movie. He started out by criticizing the movie’s plot—“There’s no way they would hand over custody of an animal like that. That’s not what happens when a lab loses funding.”—but the others shushed him enough that he eventually kept quiet. After another few minutes or so, Dex was on his phone.

That wouldn’t do.

As surreptitiously as he could manage, Nursey took his own phone out of his back pocket and opened up his text conversation with Dex. r u 2 good 4 this movie? he typed, then tapped ‘Send’.

Nursey waited until he heard Dex’s phone buzz. He could feel Dex’s eyes on him, but he refused to look. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dex tapping out a response.

Are you too good for spelling out full words? came the reply a moment later. Nursey tried not to laugh, but there was no way he was suppressing his grin.

rude. im an english major, u kno

And I’m a CS major. Now we’re both saying things that have no relevance to this conversation.

u kno i only use chatspeak 2 annoy u bae <3

Yeah, I do know. I’ve seen your text conversations with Chowder.

As casually as he could manage, Nursey moved his arm from behind the couch, tilted sideways, and leaned his head against Dex’s shoulder. As if by reflex, Dex draped his own arm over Nursey’s shoulder in response. They could probably play this off as platonic, if they wanted to. Ransom and Holster did worse all the time.

Nursey started to lose track of the movie, devoting most of his attention to chirping Dex via text instead. When his neck started to get stiff from leaning onto Dex’s shoulder, he shifted so that he was lying mostly on Dex’s lap instead. None of the others commented, so he figured they were safe. Dex began to run his hands through Nursey’s hair, his long fingers tangling in Nursey’s curls, and it became increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open.

The next thing Nursey knew, the room was dark and someone was shaking his shoulder. “Hey, Nursey,” Dex murmured. “The movie’s over. Let’s go home.”

“Mmh,” Nursey mumbled. He tried to bury himself deeper into Dex’s lap but Dex just shook him harder.

“Nursey. Babe. Everyone else already went to bed.”

“But I don’t want to…” he whined. “Can’t we just sleep here tonight?”

“Here? On this biohazard of a couch?”

Ugh. Dex had a point.

“Fine,” Nursey sighed, picking himself up off of Dex’s lap and groaning. Fuck, it was going to be hell to walk all the way back to his dorm. He couldn’t wait until one of them got dibs next year. Dex got to his feet and offered Nursey a hand, and he took it, letting Dex pull him most of the way off the couch.  He kept Dex’s hand in his as they left the living room and headed for the front door.

“God, you’re really fucking clingy,” Dex commented, slipping into his shoes. “You better not sleep on top of my arm again tonight.”

“Baby, that was one time,” Nursey said, regretfully letting Dex have his hand back to put on his jacket. “One time in the two months we’ve been dating.”

“Once is still too many times. I couldn’t feel my arm for like, an hour after you did that.”

“Babe, can’t you just let that go? Don’t you love me?”

“You know I love you, but—” Dex stopped, staring at a point beyond Nursey’s shoulder. Nursey turned around, and—oh. Well then.

Apparently, when Dex had said that everyone else had gone to bed, he really meant that everyone else was in the kitchen, sharing one of Bitty’s pies, sitting only a few feet away from where he and Dex were currently standing and staring at them with an interesting variety of shocked expressions.

No one moved.

Usually, Nursey was a pretty reasonable and mature person—but not tonight. For some reason, the only solution his tired and mildly panic-stricken brain could come up with was “RUN.” Nursey caught Dex’s eye, and knew almost telepathically that Dex was thinking the same thing.

They flung open the front door and bolted.

“What the fuck are we doing?!” Dex laughed as they raced across the street and cut through the lawn of the LAX house. He sounded giddy and out of breath. “What the actual fuck? It’s midnight! We’re running!”

“I don’t know, just roll with it!” Nursey replied. They sprinted towards the bridge over the Samwell river, the echoes of their feet slapping against the pavement and their breathy laughter the only sounds on the empty street.

“I cannot believe we’re doing this,” Dex said.

“Hey, did you want to try to have that awkward conversation right then?”

“Fuck no.”

“Then I’m pretty sure this was the best solution,” Nursey grinned.

“And the most stupid solution.”

“Who cares? We’re in love. We get a free pass to be stupid.”

They slowed when they got to the bridge, coming to a stop at the apex and gazing out onto the still water side by side. It looked a little like a postcard, the moon and the streetlamps reflecting on river. Their dorm building wasn’t too far from here, but Nursey didn’t really want to leave just yet.

“Hey,” Dex said. Nursey turned, and even though it was dark, he could still see the fond look in Dex’s eye and the freckles on Dex’s cheeks.

“Hey yourself,” Nursey replied. Dex bumped his shoulder lightly.

“I was just going to say,” Dex murmured, “that if there was one romantic spot on this campus right now… it would probably be here.”

“You think so?” Nursey said, but Dex was right. The dim moonlight was making Dex’s skin look damn near ethereal. “Maybe we should rise to the occasion.”

They both leaned in for the kiss, meeting in the middle and slotting their lips together with a sigh. Dex felt warm, his breath still coming a little harder from all the running. He swiped his tongue across Nursey’s lower lip. The soft pressure of his mouth against Nursey’s was so fucking perfect, Nursey couldn’t help but melt into it.

They made out on the bridge for a little longer than was probably sensible, considering how cold and late it was. When they finally broke apart long enough to catch their breath, both their lips were swollen and tingling. Nursey had to stop himself from going back in for another round of kissing.

Dex leaned back against the stone ledge separating them from the river and pulled out his phone. “The group chat is on fire,” he said. “There are literally too many questions for me to read right now.”

“What are you writing?”

“Uh,” Dex paused. “How about, ‘We’re safe, we’re going back to the dorms, we’re sorry we ran out, and we’re dating’? Does that sound good?”

“Perfect,” Nursey grinned. A cold breeze blew over the water, making him shiver. “Let’s go. It’s cold.”

Dex nodded, and they started walking back to the sophomore dorms. “…Is your roommate home?” he asked after a moment.

“Dex!” Nursey said, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. “I like your enthusiasm, babe, but I am fucking exhausted. It’s late, and we just ran most of the way home.”

“I wasn’t talking about—not tonight,” Dex said quickly, sounding flustered. “I meant… tomorrow…. In the morning, maybe….”

“Oh. Well, in that case. Yeah, my roommate’s gone for the weekend. He’s visiting his parents again.”

“Cool,” Dex said.

Nursey’s dorm room was dark and silent when he unlocked the door. It didn’t take either of them long to take off their clothes and slip under the covers. Nursey really hadn’t been kidding—he was exhausted. The warmth of Dex’s skin against his own was comforting, safe. Before long, his eyelids felt too heavy to lift, and his thoughts started to go down that scattered, disorganized route they always did just before sleep took him.

“Hey, Nursey?” he heard Dex whisper into the darkness.

“Yeah, babe?”

“I love you.”

“And they say I’m the romantic….” Nursey mumbled. “Love you too, babe.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

And then, finally, he was asleep. In the morning, he and Dex would make out, maybe do a little more, and then they would fix things up with the rest of the team. Until then, though, he was going to rest. The world could wait until morning.