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Dex has never had privacy. He grew up in a house with four bedrooms and five siblings. The children in the Poindexter household included Charlotte, Alice, Samuel, Matthew, William and Joey. Dex was the second youngest in his house, the youngest being Joey, who he shared his room with. Dex and Joey were the closest in age out of all of the siblings, and they were like two peas in a pod growing up. As a result of spending his life in the company of many, he hadn't had the opportunity to discover himself. There was never any privacy, everyone knew everybody's business if they meant to our not.
Dex however was a private person, and with the fear of others knowing his personal business looming over him, he simply never investigated anything private about himself.
In short, Dex didn't know he was gay until he moved out of his house and the ever watchful eyes of everybody in his family, and moved to college. College wasn't completely private, he still lived with other people, but for the first time in his life, he had his own room. And he was scared. The nights were silent and still and with nothing to distract him, he was able to think for once about himself, to analyse his thoughts and feelings with no fear that somebody would pick up his laptop and see what he had been searching.
He allowed himself to start questioning, when he met Derek Nurse. His perfectly styled hair and flawless skin made Dex's head stutter and in his fight or flight instinct, he fought. They argued a lot, but in the moments of privacy, Dex allowed questions and fantasies to fill his head.
Nursey, on the other hand was literally born in privacy. He was an only child and enjoyed the run of an empty house for most of his life. Both of his parents worked long hours, and when he was deemed old enough to safely get himself home from school (age ten) he was presented with his own house key. From there he became very independent. He would cook for himself and enjoy the quiet peacefulness of his house. However with the privacy often came loneliness. Nursey never had many friends growing up, especially not friends outside of school. But he was content with his means of amusing himself; he developed a love for books and poetry. And in the often empty hours, he was never afraid to question himself and experiment.
When Nursey met Dex he felt an instant spark, but then the arguing began and he didn't know how to take it. He's always distanced himself from anyone who didn't like him and with having no siblings he wasn't exposed to many arguments. However Nursey didn't want to leave Dex, he knew he was attracted to him and ended up arguing back out of fear. He felt that he didn't have control of the situation whenever he was with Dex and argued with him because of it.
Over time Dex began to mellow. He stopped picking fights with Nursey and allowed himself to feel comfortable in his presence and in his own body in general. He still hadn't told anyone he was gay, but he knew it in himself and was finally accepting it. Nursey noticed the gentle changed to their interactions and took pleasure in being able to simply enjoy Dex's company.
Late at night, the two of them holed up in Dex's room, Dex confessed to a sleeping Nursey. They had been at a kegster and Dex had taken him back to his room, to make sure Nursey didn't wander off to god knows where, and actually had somewhere safe to sleep. Dex had tucked Nursey in and as his eyes shut and his breathing got deeper, Dex told Nursey his biggest secret. "I'm gay, and meeting you helped me realise it."
"Okay" Nursey sighed to Dex's horror. Dex froze in shock, unsure if Nursey had actually heard the words he had said, or was sleepily mumbling. As he was scrambling to leave the bed, Nursey continued with "me too" and wrapped his arms around Dex's waist before he had chance to leave. Dex let out a wet laugh, surprised to to find himself crying at the sudden feeling of relief.
The next morning Dex was ready to fight. He was scared and in those instances his instinct was always to fight. But Nursey had other ideas, and with a gentle and understanding voice he coaxed Dex's feelings out of him. Dex told Nursey everything. All of his thoughts and feelings had been bottled up for so long that with a little encouragement he allowed himself to say everything he had never said aloud before.
By mid afternoon they had finished talking. Nursey had told Dex his experience of discovering his sexuality and reassured Dex that no two people were ever the same and he was fine for having a different experience.
With a growing confidence that Nursey instilled in him, Dex felt ready to tell more people. He decided to start with his brother Joey. He was scared, but with Nursey's hand gently rubbing the small of his back, he felt ready. His fight or flight instinct kicked in when he heard Joey say hello, but this time he wasn't fighting to protect and hide himself, this time he was fighting for love and who he was.