Soul to Squeeze

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael nodded, curfew was much too early in his opinion, it had always been, especially since practically no one came in until hours later anyway. "Yeah, it'd be nice to be in the same house." Other than the problem of trying to be alone when every room was full of people. They could at least be together, even if they weren't doing anything or able to be as close as they might have wanted.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's lips curved. "We'd have to be in Hufflepuff," he said, though the idea of either of them as friendly, hardworking Hufflepuffs was laughable. "I'm sure we could keep the rest of them out of the Common Room from 7 to midnight, and anyone that came in after that would deserve whatever they walked in on." It was an amusing thought, if completely unrealistic on every level.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael laughed, he couldn't image himself as a Hufflepuff, though he could imagine him and Dare taking over the common room for their own amusement. "I can only imagine some of their faces should they walk in. Though considering they're Hufflepuffs, they probably go to bed at ten." It was a bad stereotype of the Hufflepuffs being the good kids, but since there weren't any really to go by, it was all Michael had.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare gave a light chuckle at that, neglecting to point out that he was normally in the dorms by then, too. Not asleep, but in. Still, it was becoming almost embarrassing that he followed the rules so closely. Dare knew Michael would have no problem staying out all night, and though Dare hadn't said as much, he was incredibly tempted to just stop going back to the dorms before dawn, and to hell with sleep. He pushed that thought aside for now, though, and picked up the conversation. "They'd learn not to get up unless it was an emergency," he told Michael, raising his gaze to Michael's face.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"Yeah," Michael said, grinning, "They would only make that mistake once." He didn't see anyone willingly walking in on them more than once. He was struck by how easily they were talking about it, even if it was a purely hypothetical situation. And he would have been fine staying out all night, he would prefer it, actually, considering that the Slytherin Dorm wasn't the best place for him to be.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare grinned back at Michael, but couldn't think of anything else to add to that. There were a few minutes of comfortable silence before Dare's eyes lit on the newspaper, half buried under Michael's discarded shirt. They hadn't finished reading it, so Dare reached past Michael, slid the paper free, and raised it up to see what else was there. What he found was speculation on where Adara and Emilian were. Which begged the question, "Have you heard from Adara and Emilian lately?" It had been a while since Dare and Michael had been to Hogsmeade together.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael had been watching Dare instead of reading, examining how his eyes moved and the small movements of muscles that reacted to whatever it was he was reading. "No, haven't heard anything about them. Thinking about going down there soon, though." Not because he really felt like something needed to be done, but he felt bad for not going down lately when he had said he would be down there to help with anything.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare gave a slight nod and tossed the paper back onto the grass, since Michael wasn't reading it. His lips curved into his crooked smile as he brought his gaze back up to Michael's. "Maybe we ought to go down, then," he suggested. He blinked as a sudden inappropriate thought inspired by his unthinking wording flashed through his mind, then turned his eyes back out to the grass as he went on, as though the thought hadn't occurred, even if it still teased at the back of his mind. "We could see what they're up to, at least."

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"Yeah, it's time for a visit," Michael agreed, nodding. His mind hadn't followed the same path as Dare's, he was just focusing on what had happened the last time, and wondering what had happened since. "When do you want to go?" he asked, willing to go ahead and get it over with if Dare was. But then, he didn't know if he wanted to end the day with a visit to Emilian's.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare gave a light shrug. "We probably ought to do it today," he said. "Tomorrow I'm not going to want to move...and we can cover up your neck," he added, his lips curving into a wide grin. He'd gotten pretty good at arranging Michael's collar and hair to hide his neck, and most of the marks were below the neck anyway, another thought that made him grin. "I'm not that bad, am I?" he asked Michael. He might be able to talk himself into going to Hogsmeade without doing his hair if his neck wasn't too badly marked.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael shook his head. Dare only had a couple of marks, and they were higher up on his neck where they weren't so noticeable. "They're up here," he said, pulling his hand up to lightly touch the spot just beneath Dare's jaw. Michael could only imagine what he'd see when he looked in the mirror, seeing it full on and looking down at his chest were two different things entirely, he grinned at the thought.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare grinned. "I'll keep my head down," he said. Dare leaned closer to give Michael a brief but thorough kiss, then forced himself to pull back and push to sit. His eyes glittered as he looked back at Michael, grinning again. "It's going to be hard not to think about this while we're there," he said, then chuckled, reaching for his shirt and started turning it right-side out. "Maybe it'll help you remember not to move your hair." Not that it really mattered, since Emilian knew, but Dare could imagine Emilian teasing Michael, and they really didn't need that.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael grinned as he sat and reached for his shirt. "Definitely need to work on that," he said, then pulled it over his head and fixed the couple of buttons at the top that he had undone when taking it off, but not before glancing at his chest and shaking his head slightly. "You outdid yourself," he said, glancing up at Dare, his eyes sparkling, it obviously didn't bother him.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare grinned back at Michael as he tugged his t-shirt into place. "I was feeling inspired," he said, his eyes laughing. He was inspired quite a bit around Michael. "You're my muse, you know that, right?" Dare asked. It was a rhetorical question, but he'd wanted to say it, to make sure Michael knew. Dare leaned over and brought his hand up to Michael's jaw, then kissed him again, though he didn't let himself get carried away this time. "We ought to go, before I get inspired again," Dare murmured, half teasing, when he finally pulled back again. He brought his hands to Michael's collar and started arranging his hair around it.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"Glare at me or something if I mess it up," Michael said about his hair. It wouldn't take much to reveal what Dare was so carefully hiding, and then Emilian would have a field day, Michael could only imagine the taunts that would come if Emilian had any idea what was on his neck and under his shirt. He almost requested that they save the visit for a few days down the road, when everything would be gone, but he knew it was probably best that they go ahead and get it over with.