Moving on... (Adara/Michael/Dare)

[Adara Snow]

Adara smiled, pleased that she had spoken her thoughts, since the boys seemed so happy at hearing it. She watched the byplay, but did not want to interrupt whatever was passing between them right now, as they looked entirely carefree, everything the opposite of the seriousness of yesterday.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael momentarily forgot about Adara, bringing his eyes up to meet Dare's. "Liar," he said lightly, nudging him back, "Trust me, I'm the lucky one." Though he realized that Dare would probably just shoot back at him, Michael did think that he was lucky. The remnants of the ink on his arm weighed heavy on his skin, reminding him of the peace he had found as Dare had drawn.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare leaned close to Michael, dropping his voice to a murmur. "We'll just have to be lucky together," he said. "Though getting lucky is debatable, isn't it?" Dare arched an eyebrow suggestively, but his eyes laughed. They'd already had the discussion, and come to an easy agreement, though Dare, for one, had found himself tested last night.

[Adara Snow]

Adara found herself watching them like a tennis match for a moment, her eyes shifting back and forth between the two in an attempt to determine whatever it was that she was missing. She caught herself, however, and diverted her gaze. For some reason, it felt as though she were watching something private. She looked out at the lake, content to watch the water while she waited for the conversation to resume.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael raised an eyebrow at Dare, but couldn't keep the grin off his face as he remembered the tension of their last meeting. He couldn't help the ghost tension that spread through his muscles, though he thought it much too soon, at least out in the open, in the heat of the moment it wasn't as easy to make that decision. He debated, but resisted, kissing Dare, Adara was still in his subconscious even if he wasn't completely aware of her.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare felt the same tension Michael did, and it was everything he could do not to lean just a bit further and kiss him. Dare's gaze dropped with the thought, considering, but denying himself. He flicked a quick glance at Adara, who wasn't looking at them, then returned his gaze to Michael, the tempation only heightened. But he knew their tendency to get carried away. Instead of the kiss he wanted, he dusted his hand off on his jeans, then lifted it, smoothing the pad of his fingers against Michael's lower lip.

[Adara Snow]

Adara wasn't specifically listening, but even as her attention faded into thoughts of Emilian, part of her recognized how quiet it had grown. That quiet only encouraged her mind to wander further, and soon, she was lost to imagining what Emilian might be doing now, or perhaps what he might do if she were with him now.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael's eyes flicked up to Adara, she seemed lost in her own world, which was perfectly fine by him even if he did feel a twinge of guilt at ignoring her. Dare was just so distracting. One hand came up to take Dare's and he kissed the fingertips on his lip, his eyes glued to Dare's, barely sparing a thought that Adara would turn and see them. He grinned, thinking how far he had come from turning from the possibility of a kiss in the forest in just a few weeks.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

The kiss against his fingertips, as light as it was, translated to far more in the tension in Dare's body. His lips curved in an echo of Michael's grin, and his eyes glittered with awareness. At the moment before he would have broken and stolen a kiss, he swept his fingers once more against Michael's lip, then retreated with a long exhalalation of breath. He gave Michael a playful smirk, then dragged himself back to his drawing, his gaze the last thing to move away from Michael. Dare cleared his throat. "Weather's nice," he said absently.

[Adara Snow]

Adara blinked, the words recalling her from her thoughts, which, upon recalling, sent another flush of rose across her cheeks. She only flicked the barest glance at Dare, who she could have sworn had just said something, though she'd been too absorbed to catch the words themselves. She murmured a polite mmhm and hoped that it would suffice.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael suppressed a laugh and turned his eyes resolutely back to the lake, shifting slightly as he did so to find a more comfortable position. He moved his hand across the paper, but it stilled a few moments after, his mind refusing to concentrate on drawing, instead reliving his time with Dare and imagining times to come. The thoughts did nothing to ease the tension in his body, if anything they made it more intense, but he couldn't make his mind stop and go on a different path.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

He wasn't the only one distracted, it was obvious. Dare didn't push for conversation, but just drew, adding details to this picture or that, until his page was satisfactorily filled. Then he stopped, looked at it a moment, and raised his head. "Do you want to see?" he asked Adara. "If you like, I can show thse to Emilian next time I see him and let him decide if he wants me to make a portrait of one of them. If you have any ideas..." Dare realized he was rambling and stopped himself. "Well, anyway, go ahead and look."

[Adara Snow]

Adara accepted the sketchbook, her head inclining as she looked over the images Dare had drawn. He had drawn a lot in a very short time, and she was both flattered and impressed. As she handed the book back to Dare, she said, "I would like to help you with ideas, but I do not know what Emilian would like." She realized as she said the words that it wasn't entirely true and blushed, her gaze dropping again.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael leaned over to look at the page, his eyes trailing over the different views and poses that Dare had caught. "I would have a hard time choosing," he said, sitting back, away from the warmth of Dare's body. He wouldn't have been able to choose, he knew, with his inability to make decisions, he grinned as the memory of his conversation with Dare about that played over in his mind. He would have ended up having to just have more than one done.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare shrugged. "I'll talk to Emilian, then, see if he has a preference. Otherwise, I can do a couple more studies, and I'll decide." It would be easier once he knew Adara better, but for now, he was starting with very little information. Dare shut his sketchbook and started to pack up his charcoals. "So I guess that's it for today. If we can meet again next week, I'll probably know what I want to try next, if that's all right with you."