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[im_chuckbass]

Jesus, these dorm room beds were small.

That was the first thing Chuck thought as he began to groggily surface from sleep. Dorm room beds were small, there was someone else in his, and most worryingly, it did not feel like a girl. With more than a little apprehension, he cracked one eye open just enough to see that the head next to his on the

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[im_chuckbass]

The other reason that Chuck was so sanguine about this entire situation, the one that he couldn't quite bring himself to give voice to, was that he'd pretty much always realized that it was within the realm of possibility. Expected it, really, and not even in the relatively harmless way that it had actually come to pass. Not that he'd ever spent a particularly significant amount of time dwelling on it, but hey; you put two guys with healthy libidos and curiosities in close quarters for an extended amount of time, and some things were just inevitable.

But that was neither here nor there for the moment. Knowing that now was the moment he really ought to be getting up and seeing about clothes, he instead just let his eyes drift shut, the lack of light immediately easing his headache, if only a little. "You're going to have to learn to live with it, Nathaniel," he murmured. "And anyway, in the end, it's all just sex." When you'd had as much of it as they - well, as Chuck had, anyway, your perspective on it tended to be a little better than the average guy's.

[throw_it_off]

It's all just sex. Nate kept repeating that in his head like a mantra, waiting for it to drown out his doubts or lull his headache. There was sex, just plain old sex that didn't matter at all, and then there was sex. Even completely drunk on bar at the Shepherd's wedding, sex with Serena hadn't just been sex. Sex with Blair, for both of them, hadn't just been sex. It didn't work like that with the female half of their quartet, so why would it be that simple with them?

The more he thought about it, the more he repeated Chuck's words, the more they sounded like a lie, and one he wasn't comfortable telling.

"Hey, man," he said, nudging Chuck's shoulder. "Get out of bed so I can get dressed." And get out of here. "...I'll have to borrow some clothes."

[im_chuckbass]

"Yeah, sorry," Chuck said, and finally stirred himself enough to get up. He felt heavy, somehow; part of it was undoubtedly the hungover grogginess, but it also seemed like it must somehow be the unfamiliarity of once again male limbs. Still, it was definitely good to be back, there was no denying that.

He almost got up, and then realized he had a new dilemma: take the sheet, or leave it? Sex itself might be simple, but jesus, this shit got complicated fast. "Give me a second," he said; not that he thought Nate was actually looking, but a little warning never hurt. After a second he got up and rooted through his clothes quickly, throwing on a pair of boxers and an undershirt before putting his robe on over it. "Take whatever you want," he said, half out the door already. "I'll be right back." Actually getting out of bed had made the whole thing seem ten times more awkward; ironic, he thought as he ducked into the bathroom.

[throw_it_off]

Compared to every other time Nate had ever seen Chuck get out of bed, or not as the case may be, that was almost quick. He did not look when Chuck got out of bed, tilting his head back so he could stare thoughtfully at the ceiling.

Once Chuck was out of the way, Nate climbed out of bed and get dressed as quickly as possible. He didn't care about what he was wearing, since he could just jog downstairs and get something else, but he wanted to get dressed and get out of there in hopes of avoiding more irritatingly sensible conversation.

[im_chuckbass]

Chuck almost hoped that Nate would be gone by the time he got back to his room; it would be easier, certainly, to be able to just crawl into bed and go back to sleep, forget about the whole thing. On the other hand, ignoring these kinds of things rarely made them better, and given the current state of Chuck's social life he could not afford to alienate his best friend. No matter how hot he'd been as a girl.

Nate was still there when he got back to the room; probably for the best, he decided, and tied his robe a little tighter. "Do you want to hit up the clinic for aspirin, or make the coffee?" he asked, knowing that the basic necessities had to be seen to first. After that, they could talk about whatever needed to be talked about. Or not talk about it. Whatever.

[throw_it_off]

Nate froze at the sound of Chuck's voice, caught with a polo shirt he would never, ever under any normal circumstances wear half on his body. At least he had pants on now.

"Uh.." The question didn't take that much thought, and he cursed himself silently for hesitating. "I got the coffee."

Why were they making a morning of this? Girls rolled out of Chuck's bed in the morning and were shown the door. Shouldn't Nate have been the same, if it was just a one night stand?

Why was he thinking about this so much?

With a blink, he pulled the shirt on fully and headed for the door.