*squints at you suspiciously* I’m starting to think you like hurting these boys…
40. “That is some severe bruising.”
Nursey was used to
catching his breath a little (just a very
little, definitely not enough for anyone to notice, never that) when Dex took
off his jersey in the dressing room, but not like this.
“Bro. That is some
severe bruising.” Chill, he needed to stay chill. If he seemed too concerned, Dex
would take it the wrong way and stop listening to him entirely.
Dex lifted one
shoulder in an irritable shrug. “It’s fine. You know my pasty skin; everything
always shows up worse than it is.”
Nursey eyed the
mottled bloom of color across his chest and frowned. While Dex wasn’t wrong,
Nursey was very sure he’d never seen colors that deep on him. Or that showed up
that fast. He knew exactly what check that had come from, and Dex had just
gotten up and skated through it. Hockey was a tough sport, sure, but surely
this was excessive.
Nursey let the other
sounds of the dressing room swirl around him as he showered and dressed on
auto-pilot, always keeping track of Dex out of the corner of his eye. He sat on
the bench in front of his stall fiddling with his phone for another minute or
so until Dex was ready to leave, too. Dex was definitely moving slower than
normal, more carefully, though anyone who didn’t habitually watch him as
closely as Nursey did (entirely without meaning to, he just couldn’t help it) would
probably have missed it.
Nursey picked up his
bag and headed out next to Dex like everything was normal. Then, just as they
were passing the trainers’ office, he “tripped” sideways, knocking Dex through
the open doorway.
“Whoops,” he said. He
didn’t work too hard to sound convincing.
Dex glared at him and
rehitched his bag over his shoulder, wincing ever so slightly. “Jesus Christ,
Nurse.”
Sheila just raised an
eyebrow at them.
Nursey took the
opening. “Well, hey, look at that, as long as we’re here, why don’t you get
that bruise looked at?”
Dex straightened up
in anger, a pose Nursey was unfortunately entirely too familiar with. “I told
you it was no big—!”
Nursey knocked the
door shut with his foot. Sheila took Dex’s bag and pointed at the table
imperiously.
“Traitor,” Dex
hissed.
Nursey crossed his
arms and leaned back against the other table. “And I’d do it again,” he said,
utterly serious.
He wasn’t sure what
Dex saw on his face at that, but his glare faded away to be replaced by
surprised confusion, and a faint blush stained his cheeks as he looked away.
“I didn’t know you cared, Nurse,” he muttered, still trying to downplay.
Fuck it. Nursey was pretty sure he’d shown his hand already, might as well go all-in. “Then you haven’t been paying attention.”
[My other OMGCP stuff]
theproblemwithstardust 