Soul to Squeeze

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's entire body had been tense with expectation, holding everything back while he waited for it all to end. But it hadn't ended, and there had been a moment of stunned disbelief before all the desire he'd been holding back had crashed over him again. Still, he tried to pace himself, to pay attention to Michael's body even while his own was screaming more. He paced himself, and in the end, it was amazing, the indescribable pleasure of it, and sharing it with Michael.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

In the end, Michael felt odd, his body was humming pleasantly and physically he felt amazing. But then, when his mind started to slowly come back to him, there was a feeling that he couldn't just ignore, however hard he tried. They could have gone farther, he knew it. It still felt almost like too much. He kept his arms wrapped around Dare, pushing the awkward thoughts away.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare could have been flying, he felt so light and free. His lips curved, and he pressed a breathless kiss against the mark forming on Michael's neck. "I love you so much, Michael," he panted, his eyes glittering as he lifted his head to look at Michael. He blinked at the expression on Michael's face, but it wasn't enough to cut through everything he was feeling. He set himself to trying to fix whatever was wrong without even wondering why something was wrong. "I love you," he said again, his eyes searching Michael's, trying to share everything he was feeling by willing Michael to feel it, too.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael met Dare's eyes and he couldn't help smiling at what he saw in them. "I love you, too," he said, pushing that knowledge to the front of his mind to let it shine in his own eyes. He really did, even if there was still that little nagging feeling that it had been too much for him. His arms dropped, letting his hands rest on Dare's sides and shifting slightly underneath him as he tried to focus on the physical sensations that still felt so good...as long as his mind stayed out of it.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's smile widened, and his chest expanded with a deep, ecstatic breath. "God, I love you," he said, as though he hadn't said it twice already. But he felt it, amazingly deep, as though he could float away just from being buoyed on emotion. He dipped his head, giving Michael one soft, slow kiss before bringing his gaze to Michael's again. "You could tell me," he suggested. He could see something, or maybe just sense it somehow, since Michael was smiling back at him.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Something told Michael that it wouldn't help their relationship to tell Dare, to try to explain when he really had no idea what exactly was wrong. So he shook his head lightly, "I'm fine." He didn't want to think of it, so he pushed it away to think of later, instead of ruining the moment or Dare's obvious happiness. He was glad for how taken Dare was in it, it gave him time to cover up whatever insecurity he had.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare looked at Michael a moment longer, but if Michael didn't want to talk about it, he didn't want to push. He wanted to revel in how close he felt to Michael right now, how good he felt. Dare nodded his acceptance, then shifted his weight, giving Michael some breathing room. He bent his arm against the grass and propped his head up on his hand, just watching Michael and thinking about how amazing this was, his lips curved into a perpetual smile.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael reached over and ran his hand through Dare's hair, smiling both at the curls and at the expression on his face. He didn't regret it, at least, he didn't think he regretted it. It all was strange to him, and he told himself that it was just because he hadn't been so far before, and so he focused on Dare's face, on that smile he loved so much.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare couldn't think of a word to say. All he wanted was to keep this moment forever, to hold it close and lock it safely inside him. So he watched Michael as he let his arm drape across Michael's chest, let his hand smooth against a lock of red hair, and absorbed the moment. It took a while for his gaze to slip from Michael's face, down to the fading silver against his skin. He wondered absently if he'd keep Michael permanently tattooed with his new quill, and didn't mind the thought a bit.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael watched Dare and let his own eyes take in the hair, wondering faintly what Dare did to get it straight every day, though not quite enough to ask. But he did continue to examine his hair, taking in how strange it looked, all the colors mixed together, though there were some curls that were purely one color. He grinned at it, it was really the first time he had actually looked at it.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare lifted his eyes from his musing to catch Michael looking at his hair. One of Dare's brows arched, then lowered again as he dropped his gaze back to the remnants of his name on Michael's chest. "I know, it looks like an Augery's nest," he grumbled. Even that thought wasn't enough to depress him, but it was a mild annoyance. Dare took care with his appearance, and at least some pride in the results. This he considered a mess, even if his springy curls did frame his face infinitely better than Silver's longer waves simply because of the shorter cut.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael grinned and shook his head, "It looks fine." He ran a hand through it, smiling softly as he watched it bounce back into place. "I like it," he said, his eyes flicking to Dare's before going right back to where his hand was playing with a purple and blue curl. He shifted slightly against Dare, taking comfort from the feel of skin on skin to pull himself more completely away from the small uncomfortable feeling.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"If you say so," Dare said, obviously not convinced. He probably looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, though thinking of Michael in the same situation was highly attractive to him. Dare's lips curved slightly again, and he let his gaze slip down to the mark forming against Michael's neck. "It's a good thing you have long hair or we wouldn't be fooling anyone, he said, toying with the ends of Michael's hair but making no move to cover the hickey.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

At that Michael turned his attention from Dare's hair to his neck, "I didn't think about that..." Dare's hair wasn't long enough curled to completely cover it, though Michael pulled gently at it to see if it would cover it long enough for Dare to get up to his common room. "I get the feeling we won't be fooling those that don't know for much longer." He didn't really know how long they could go without everyone knowing, it wasn't exactly commonplace for two guys to date at Hogwarts.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare gave a light shrug at that, oblivious for the moment to the idea of his own neck being marked. "I'm starting to wonder if anyone would even care," he admitted, bringing his gaze back up to the languid motion of his fingers in Michael's hair. "I mean, yeah, the people who know us have reacted, but I don't know. Everyone seems pretty laid-back here. Aside from the drama," he added, flicking a lightly gleaming glance at Michael.

"But still...there's a big difference between like, friends and family knowing, and everyone knowing." It was weird to even contemplate coming out, especially when he'd just gotten used to keeping it quiet. But who said they were talking about coming out, anyway? He was probably blowing things out of proportion.