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Dex hated Nursey patrol. He had hated it before he was Nursey’s roommate, and he hated it more now that it was usually the default assignment given to him, since Chowder was the new Taddie wrangler with Farmer.
Tonight Dex didn’t want to be in charge of Derek. They had a major win this past week, and Dex just wanted to let go and enjoy the victory. It also didn’t help that Nursey had decided to wear this perfectly fitted purple short-sleeved shirt that showed off his bicep tattoo and accentuated his muscles in all the right places. Dex definitely had not noticed that at all.
Turning to watch where Derek had wandered off to, he saw him by the tub juice stand, now being manned by Whiskey and Tango because Tango had asked Shitty enough times during his visits what went into said juice that he knew the perfect combination to turn every kegster into a veritable bacchanalia.
Watching as his defense partner took another cup of juice Dex sighed knowing he wouldn’t be able to control Derek much longer.
Figuring now was the chance to get his own bit of reprieve, he wandered to the kitchen to talk to Bitty and Ford. He realized after a good while though, Nursey hadn’t stumbled through like he usually did to scavenge for food.
Walking around the party, he searched for his partner and eventually stumbled upon him in the living room. The only problem was that Nursey wasn’t talking to Chowder, dancing on a table, or falling asleep under a box of natty ice. Rather he was leaning against a wall, another guy crowding his space, and was looked as if he was flirting.
Dex didn’t bother to stick around and confirm his assumption, and instead turned on his heel, heading back to the kitchen where he could find another drink, or three, and hang around Bitty, trying to ignore his anger.
No not anger. Jealousy.
He wanted Derek to look at him the way that he looked at that random guy, and that realization made him take two beers out of the fridge.
Leaning against the counter, he listened as Bitty and Ford continued their debate over sweet versus salty cornbread, a debate Dex didn’t know had so much depth, but found himself engrossed.
***
Dex never noticed Nursey going outside. None of the guys had. None of them knew of the new lax bro initiation ritual.
All Dex knew was that Nursey was currently sitting on the back porch with a black eye and he hadn’t been there to have his back.
“What do you mean it was a dare?” Tango was asking, very confused and very hurt.
“Apparently they gave the incoming lax bros a task list worth certain points. Dude with most points at the end of it gets some weird prize, I dunno,” Nursey mumbled, having found the list on the floor after the scuffle.
Dex was reading over it. Usual college shenanigans were peppered with some rather illegal tasks that made Dex too angry to think, as they basically amounted to sexual assault and larceny. But it was clear that a handful of the tasks involved the hockey team and used language that told Dex they were targeted because of all the ways they were different from the lax team.
Derek clearly was the victim of #15 - sucker punch one of those queers during a Kegster (doesn’t matter which one they’re all fa-
Dex stopped reading and tucked the paper away. He turned to Whiskey and pinned him down with a glare.
“I’m going to ask you one time, Connor, did you know about this?” he asked, his voice icy.
Whiskey looked at him eyes wide, partly stunned that Dex thought he would know and wouldn’t say anything, and partial stunned because Dex looked murderous.
“I didn’t know a think. Fuck those guys,” he replied, stating rule #13 of the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team Haus Bylaws for the first time.
“Good,” is all Dex replied, and stalked out of the backyard, through the Haus, getting his wrench, and walking across the street.
Farmer and Chowder saw him do this and immediately began to chase after him, but Dex ignored him and walked past the door to the Lax house and straight to their backyard.
Using the wrench and his brute strength he fucked their water pipes beyond simple repair and then found the main that would short their electricity.
Soon enough, their basement began to flood, their power went out, and the sprinkler system they had installed after a fire incident two years ago went off.
As the yells erupted from the house, Dex stood on the front lawn pleased, waiting for the few that would inevitably run outside. Sure enough they did and as soon as they laid eyes on a very angry defenseman wielding a wrench they stood frozen.
“Come near the team or Derek Nurse again, I’ll short your gas line and we’ll all wake up to a rather tragic headline. Also, if you even think about calling the police, I have a copy of your rapey scavenger hunt in my pocket so seriously, try me,” he spat out, and turned around before he could see that they were all just nodding.
***
Back at the Haus no one talked to Dex, all of them a little unsettled by the way he went off.
“I thought he was going to beat them with a wrench,” Chowder confessed to Bitty over the kitchen table as the southerner busied himself making tea for everyone.
Nursey listened on and after the adrenaline and alcohol began to wear off, wandered upstairs to see where Dex has disappeared to. Unable to find Dex in their room, the reading room, or the bathroom, he walked down the steps to the basement.
Sure enough Will was beating on the punch bag that was put down there last year, his knuckles red, and his face tear streaked.
Knowing better than to interrupt him, Nursey came and just held the bag steady for him, letting Will punch it silently until he was unable to anymore.
“I’ve had worse you know,” he offered once Will’s breath had evened out again.
“I don’t care. It was my job to watch you and I let feelings get in the way,” he grunted, walking to the fridge to get water.
“Feelings?” Derek asked, a little confused.
“Yeah. I was pissed that you were flirting with some guy so I didn’t watch out for you. You were drunk, and I should have made sure you weren’t going off with anyone under the influence,” he explained, not meeting Nursey’s eyes.
Derek’s immediate thought was that Dex had ignored him because it was a guy he was flirting with, but reminded himself that Dex wasn’t the same guy from freshman year and they’d talked about his sexuality before moving in to try and clear the air. Turns out Dex just didn’t know things.
Knowing this, Derek’s second thought was that Dex was mad because he wasn’t flirting with him. That made Nurse grin.
“You know if I knew that I could flirt with you, we could have avoided you causing what I assume is a few thousand dollars in property damage and a threat of murder.”
“First, even if you knew that, it wouldn’t have stopped their game. Second, I shouldn’t let my feelings for you dictate how well I watch you at parties,” he countered, clearly missing the fact that Nursey was flirting.
“Fine, let me put it a different way. If I knew I could flirt with you I would have been flirting with you, Poindexter,” he grinned, and took a few steps forward, enjoying the stunned look on Dex’s face and the rising blush.
“Also, I’m not into the rescue/reward coding that society constantly feeds us, but I’m willing to let it slide this time,” he smirked and pressed a chaste kiss to Dex’s lips.
“Oh,” was all Dex managed to get out before he broke into a brighter blush and covered his face.
***
It took Dex a few minutes to recover, but soon the two boys were sitting on the bottom bunk, Dex icing Nursey’s eye between soft kisses.
(Chowder found them asleep curled around each other the next morning and snapped a photo for future use.)