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When Nursey wakes up, it’s to the incessant buzzing of his phone on the dresser next to his bed. Text after text is rolling in on the SMH group chat, as his teammates celebrate the pristine snow that’s piled up high overnight and Ransom and Holster whip everyone into a frenzy over their plans for “bruh, the sickest snowball fight this Haus has ever seen.”
Nursey scrolls down in his texts to find notifications for two of his classes’ group chats. Turns out their professors have canceled class in an unprecedented act of mercy; assignments are due at the usual time, but suddenly the day feels much more open without a block of his time devoted to lecture.
He’s planning on rolling back over and catching another hour or two of sleep when another text—this one from Dex—catches his eye.
“U going to the haus?” it asks. Nursey wars with himself and his desperate need for sleep for approximately two whole seconds before texting back that he’ll probably be over later.
“Good,” is Dex’s response, “because I think Bits is making pancakes.”
Nursey’s stomach chooses that moment to growl and remind him that he didn’t have much to eat last night while he was staying up writing an assignment for one of his classes today. All Nursey’s hopes of sleeping in are demolished with the promise of a Bitty pancake breakfast and time spent with Dex that isn’t focused solely on homework.
He neglects to think on his motivations further and instead busies himself with responding to Dex’s message and hauling himself out of the warm cocoon of his blankets.
“Sounds great,” he sends back, and then he rolls entirely out of bed to bundle himself up in preparation for the long, cold walk to the Haus.
_X_
Nursey is only barely regretting his decision to leave the cozy bubble of his dorm as he trudges through the fresh snow on his way across campus. Snow is just so much prettier when you’re watching it from the comfort of a heated dorm room with a warm drink in your hands.
Less so when you’re on a cold, lonely hike towards breakfast and your hipster beanie doesn’t cover your ears properly.
It’s times like these that Nursey wishes his chill poet vibe wasn’t so literal.
He’s musing on his devotion to pancake breakfasts and cute, angry gingers when the Haus comes into view down at the end of the street. He hikes diagonally across the road, admiring how the newly fallen snow softens the normally grungy effect of a narrow street almost entirely inhabited by jocks and lined with rows of rowdy frat houses. The glittering surfaces of the yards are nearly undisturbed by footprints or tracks, and thick icicles gleam and wink at him from the Haus gutters as he approaches. The pristine snow blowing off the roofs sparkles in the air and creates the effect of a snow globe as the flakes settle. Add some white picket fences and the scene would look downright suburban.
Nursey is chuckling at his own mental image of the Haus in a copy-paste suburb when his thoughts are rudely interrupted by a shower of snow to the face. He jolts backwards in shock as the sharp sound of laughter cuts through his musing. Behind him, the snowball that grazed his ear and dusted his cheeks lands with a soft paff against a row of bushes. He brushes the snow off his face to reveal Dex grinning at him from the front yard of the Haus, cheeks and nose flushed pink as he packs another snowball to fling at Nursey.
“Sorry to interrupt your daydreams there, Nurse!” he crows, not sounding particularly sorry at all.
“Man, are you gonna take that?” Holster bellows from behind Dex, where it looks like he’s been creating a lopsided snow shelter. “Come over here and get your revenge!”
Nursey offers up a grin of his own and jogs over to join the fray.
All thoughts of pancakes cast aside, Nursey throws himself into the energy of his teammates’ excitement and joins Holster in his barrage against Ransom, Dex, and Lardo. Despite her size disadvantage, Lardo’s prowess in beer pong apparently extends to snowball fights as well. Her perfectly round snowballs easily find their marks and leave wet slush dripping down the backs of her victims’ necks.
Ransom and Dex are a slightly more even match for Holster’s lopsided snow fort, but Lardo’s merciless barrage eventually drives Nursey and Holster to raise the white flag and attempt to flee into the Haus for hot chocolate.
Nursey only makes it part way over the edge of the fort towards the front door and the promise of warmth before he trips. He’s taken the rest of the way to the ground by an incoming Dex, whose bulk flattens them both into the snow churned up by their skirmish.
Nursey feels all the breath leave him in a whoosh as Dex’s pointy elbow catches him in the kidney. He can hear Dex cursing under his breath as he uses Nursey’s back as leverage to haul himself out of the snow, pressing his big hands all over Nursey in the process.
Nursey lays there with one of his ears stinging cold where his hat’s slipped free, his flushed cheeks darkening further as Dex accidentally pats his ass on his way up out of the snow.
He rolls onto his side once Dex frees himself, one eyebrow cocked to lazy perfection and a hand resting casually on his hip as he glances up at him in silent judgment. He channels as much placid “what the fuck” energy into that eyebrow as he can, his face perfectly schooled into nonchalance. Nursey knows this expression is infuriating in its insouciance; he’s practiced it in front of the mirror enough times to be absolutely sure.
And sure enough, Dex rolls his eyes so thoroughly his head tilts back a little with the motion. When he looks back down, his red cheeks have reddened further, spreading his flush out to the tips of his big, dopey ears. Nursey feels a bolt of fondness fracture his expression, letting a genuine grin creep into the corners of his mouth.
When Dex extends a hand to haul Nursey out of the snowbank, Nursey does what he tells himself is entirely justified and yanks to pull Dex down with him. His arms pinwheel comically, but because Dex is actually more coordinated than a baby giraffe, he manages to catch himself in an awkward stance with a hand in the snow by Nursey’s ear. He blinks dumbly down at Nursey for a moment before his eyebrows tip into flustered anger and he uses his free hand to toss a light handful of snow into Nursey’s face.
“You asshole!” he snaps, with his pretty flushed cheeks right within kissing distance, if Nursey were to lean up a bit. “See if I try to help you again!”
“I’d like to remind you that it’s your fault I’m in this situation,” Nursey says, as Dex rights himself and leaves Nursey to struggle out of the snow on his own.
“Oh, shut up,” he huffs, but Nursey can see the smile fighting to curve over Dex’s mouth.
Nursey turns his attention to the snow caked along the sleeves of his coat, attempting to brush himself off with his useless wool gloves. His head pops up in surprise when Dex’s hands push his away, chafing vigorously up and down Nursey’s arms all brisk and business-like. Dex doesn’t meet his eyes, but the freckles scattered across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose almost blend into the cherry red flush of his exertion, even though they’ve had plenty of time to catch their breath in the wake of the snowball fight.
“Thanks, Dex,” Nursey says softly. Dex’s eyes dart up to meet his, and his answering smile is equally soft, just a gentle upturn of his mouth. He holds it for a minute before looking back down and giving Nursey’s significantly less snowy arms one last firm pat. Nursey involuntarily recalls that one of those hands was on his ass not two minutes ago. It wasn’t even hockey-related!
His wandering thoughts are interrupted with Dex’s brusque voice. “Yeah, well, you obviously weren’t getting it on your own.” His tone isn’t gentle, but his smile widens and he jostles Nursey’s shoulder with his own before pointing back towards the Haus.
“Let’s go in and get some of Bitty’s hot chocolate, yeah?”
Nursey grins and bumps him right back.
“Sounds great.”
If their gloved hands brush against each other as they crunch through the snow to the front porch, well, Nursey certainly isn’t complaining.