Soul to Squeeze

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

The room was, as always, near-instant relaxation. It was back to the simple room with the couch and chairs, bright, inviting, and with enough memories attached that Dare felt the tension melt a little the moment he walked in.

Dare headed straight for the couch, dropping his sketchbook onto one of the chairs and wishing he could think of something to talk about besides the massive mess he'd made of the morning. As though on command, a copy of the last Daily Prophet appeared on the couch at Dare's side as he sat. He picked it up curiously. "Do you read this?" he asked Michael.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael looked over at the paper as he sat beside of Dare, fiddling absently with the rose he put in his lap. "Yeah," he said, grimacing, "Nothing really updates that often, the gossip's generally only half right, the advice sucks, and the interviews...well, Dahlia's over the interviews." That didn't mean he didn't drink it all in every time a new issue came out.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Hm." Dare opened the paper anyway. "Someone warned me like, months ago about the gossip column. Something about watching out." He thought it was Lucretia, but Emilian had said the same. And called one of the writers a whore, too. "Not that I was worried, but I've been here, what, three months or something and I haven't read one yet." Dare purposefully sought out the gossip column, then folded back the paper to hold it easier as he skimmed through, angling the paper so that Michael could see it if he wanted to. He skipped entirely over a paragraph about that Chase guy and one about Ryan, who he didn't know. Then his gaze stopped moving, and his brows rose. They'd actually made it into the paper.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael didn't skim, he read the whole thing. He knew that, though things were generally exaggerated or skewed, the gossip was based in truth. His eyes narrowed at the knowledge that Chase had been the guy Anna had been with that night, that made two of his exes that had went to Chase. He moved on quickly, past the Masquerade, and muttered something about Ryan needing to get his act together before getting to the part about Silver and Dru. It brought a smile that quickly left when his name was brought into it. Michael couldn't bring himself to grin when he and Dare were mentioned, the Prophet was focusing on his past. How was he to move on when it was constantly brought up like that?

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's eyes had paused on something that had to be some kind of British slang; Adam and Eve it. He decided he didn't care enough to stop and ask, so he moved on. He'd paused again at the mention of Chase and Michael, but Michael had told him about that, so he just gave a quick prayer for Silver and went on. He read the paragraph about himself a few times. Nothing about them being more than friends--he'd been worried about the times they'd slipped up. There was a mention of that night Michael had told him about, but Michael had told him about it, and he'd moved on. It was uncomfortable to be reminded, but that was in the past. He knew Michael. Dare's brow arched as he looked up from the paper toward Michael. "I've been itching to spend some one-on-one time with you," he said, his lips quirking into his crooked smile.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael had shied away from that last sentence, it had brought back memories he didn't care to have, memories about those two girls that had come to him after he had turned himself in. He had thought that all of those people were gone, though he had heard rumors about a small girl with curly dark hair at the school that had given him a remembered ache in his back. But when he brought his eyes up and saw Dare's smile, he couldn't help but feel good. "I surely hope it's a different one-on-one time from what she's talking about," he said, his eyes sparkling faintly with ideas of what Dare intended, the normal shine dampened by the immediate thoughts he had had.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

The corner of Dare's lips crooked just a bit further at Michael's reply. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe I was thinking I might let you try to corrupt me," he suggested, his moss-green eyes sparkling. He knew he was pushing close to dangerous subjects, but he meant to. He was okay with Michael's past, and he wanted Michael to know it. He'd said it before, and he believed it; the past was just part of Michael, and he wouldn't be the same without it.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Yes, Dare was pushing very close to subjects Michael would rather have been able to forget, ones that Michael wasn't okay with, things he still had quite a bit of guilt squirreled away for. He smiled and, though it was truly a natural smile, there was still a part of his mind that couldn't let go of the guilt or discomfort that came with his memories. "But I like you as you are," he argued, raising an eyebrow.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's smile softened a moment, then his eyes glittered again. "Maybe I'll corrupt you, then," he suggested, one hand rising, slipping beneath the curtain of Michael's hair to tease at the sensitive spot on his neck. "I'm the one who's been doing the corrupting here so far, haven't I," he asked teasingly. If you could call him tempting Michael over the fence corruption, then that was definitely what he'd been doing.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"And doing a fine job," Michael agreed, smiling, laughter showing in his eyes. He was doing his best to push back what the words in the paper had brought back to the surface of his mind, or he would have tried to take a more active role. "I'm sure I could try, but I would hate to take away from something you're so very good at."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Maybe I'll make you wrestle control from me some time," Dare teased, going back to their conversation the day they'd gotten together. That had been an amazing day, despite the way it had started. Dare leaned closer to Michael, pausing for just a second to absorb the look in Michael's eyes, to remind himself how far they'd come since that day. He loved Michael. Dare's free hand rose, settling lightly on Michael's jaw as he brought his lips to Michael's.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael remembered that conversation, though if Dare made him take control, then technically, wasn't Dare still in control? He didn't have time to remember that and to think up a reply before Dare was kissing him, not that he minded in the least. For a few moments he just let himself focus on the kiss, then he brought up his hand to run to the back of Dare's neck and up into the curled hair.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare parted his lips against Michael's, reveling in the freedom to do so, the freedom to shift toward and against him. It felt so good, even better than it had that day on the grass, with the sun shining down, the breeze cooling them. The room began to shift with the vivid memory, duplicating the outdoors, the edge of the forest where they'd spent that long afternoon. Dare's hands shifted as well, the one at Michael's jaw sliding back into his hair, the other sliding down to Michael's shoulder.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael moved his hand to set the rose beside of him and turned towards Dare, twisting one shoulder and sighing into the kiss. He didn't notice the room changing until he realized it wasn't a cushion beneath him anymore, but grass, even then he didn't open his eyes to see, just brought his newly freed arm around to put his hand on Dare's side.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare hadn't realized that the room could change this much. He'd thought it was a room alone, that it could only change into other rooms, though if he'd thought about it, it would have made sense to him. Thought was fading, though. It was melting into Michael with the kiss, with the motion of Dare's hand down Michael's back to the hem of his shirt. Dare's own shirt was chafing his tender skin, a still-forming sunburn he had yet to recognize. The soft cotton itched, but all Dare could think was that he wanted it off. He wanted to feel Michael against him.