Outed! (Michael/Dare)

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's lips curved into a broad smile. "Pretty much," he said, his eyes as hazy as Michael's. He'd caught the tease, but there was no arguing the word. Wow. Dare nuzzled against Michael, just enjoying the contact. His hands released Michael's wrists at last, sliding down the inner faces of Michael's arms, then shifting, his own arms moving to lie on the bed outside Michael's. "Do you remember what we were talking about?" he asked idly.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael blinked slowly as he tried to remember, "Something about jewelry," he said absently, nuzzling against Dare. He didn't remember exactly how that linked to the kiss, though he would figure it out later on. He brought one arm down to the back of Dare's head, fingering through his hair as he thought back over the past few minutes.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare chuckled as he remembered. "You were telling me you liked leather and ropes," he reminded Michael. Dare remembered what he'd been getting at, too. He wasn't sure how he was going to get anything more specific, though. "Were you ever into like, the ornate antique stuff Emilian's into?" he asked. If he had to go the roundabout way and jump subjects a couple times, he'd do it, but he didn't want to go guessing at something like this.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"Yeah," Michael said, thinking back, "But it's what I grew up with." He shrugged, he figured that if he had grown up with other things he would like whatever it was, it all was a matter of conditioning. He liked the furniture, but that was just what he was used to, so it wasn't necessarily an accurate opinion when that was really all he had been exposed to.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

That could have been more helpful. Dare continued his casual motions of the bridge of his nose against Michael's, or against his cheek. "What about now? Do you like more modern things? Or a mix of both?" Emilian, who Michael had grown up with, had said he didn't like modern things much at all. But he and Michael, as alike as they were in some ways, were like night and day in others. Dare would guess that Michael didn't mind modern things; he was with Dare, after all. Dare was definitely not a polished antique-type.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"I'm not around much that would be considered modern," Michael said, his eyes closed as he focused on the feel of those light touches from Dare. "I mean, I went from home to Hogwarts," he added, shrugging slightly, there wasn't much that was modern in the old school. "It's really just whatever I see that I like," he said after a moment of trying to classify his tastes.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dammit. This wasn't going to be easy. Dare had half a mind to just stop Michael in the jewellery shop the next time they were there and start an unrandomly random conversation about jewelry again. Point some things out and see what he said. Still, there wasn't much he knew about promise rings. He felt like he ought to have one too, on principle. Then it would be a mutual sign of devotion, commitment, rather than just a sign of Michael's devotion to him. God, he didn't want to talk to Emilian about this. Not if he could avoid it.

"Maybe we can...look at some stuff next time we go to Hogsmeade," Dare suggested mildly. "I want to get to know what kind of stuff you like." For no particular reason at all, and especially not because of any thoughts of buying you something, Dare added silently. No matter what Michael liked, though, Dare was going to have to get a part-time job to pay for it. He'd have to wander Hogsmeade and see who was hiring.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael couldn't help it that he couldn't definitely say what he would and wouldn't like, he had never tried to classify it before, had never needed to before. He didn't find anything odd in what Dare was asking, didn't see any reason to question what he was asking, though that was mostly because of how pleasantly distracted he was by the tingles that were still running through his body. "Sure," he said, moving his hand from Dare's hair down to his side.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Good," Dare said, brushing his lips against Michael's for a light kiss. The thought of Hogwarts brought another thought to mind. It filtered in slowly, since his mind was humming from the contact with Michael and the feel of his hand moving against him. "I'm supposed to go to Hogsmeade today," Dare said, nuzzling against Michael again. "I have to bring Adara her portrait. You want to come?" He hadn't yesterday, but then, a lot had happened the last time Michael had been to Hogsmeade. But then again, even more had happened since the last time Dare had been there.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael wrinkled his nose, "I should." Even if he didn't want to, he felt obligated since it would be his last chance to see Emilian before he left. "Is it bad I don't want to, though? I mean...he's going to be gone but..." He'll have read the paper, his mind filled in, and he cringed slightly with the idea. He didn't know how Emilian would react to seeing that article in the paper.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was watching Michael too closely to miss that reaction, and too in tune with him not to make the connection. "You don't have to go," he said. "But I do. I'll just be dropping off the portrait and getting kicked out, anyway." Or so he desperately hoped. Did Emilian read the Daily Prophet? If he did, would he bother saying anything? "He already thinks we're doing it anyway, so it's not like there's anything in there that should surprise him, right?" Dare asked hopefully.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael sighed, closing his eyes, and wondered faintly if it would be wrong to go just so he could stay with Dare and postpone the time when he'd have to go back to his dorm. He thought back over what all had been in the piece about them, and eventually shook his head, "No, but he would say something about it, ask if anything had happened." It occurred to him that Emilian knew at least some of what they had gone, or would be going, through because of it, and he opened his eyes, looking at Dare and tilting his head as he let his mind explore that train of thought.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

If anything had happened...Dare's mind went straight for the bottle he'd found in his bag, then Michael's confrontation with Chase. He grimaced, then moved to soothe himself by moving his fingers lightly against Michael's arms. "Would Emilian...help?" Dare asked. It was strange thinking of it, but it was just as strange thinking of Emilian laughing at them and not having a single suggestion. Sure, Emilian's suggestions were often teasing, but he'd offered suggestions, hadn't he? Would that only extend to sex tips? He supposed it depended on what Emilian still felt for Michael, awkward thought though that was.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"I think he would, in his own twisted way," Michael said, his eyes moving over Dare's face. "But when he...I don't know, he never really came out from what I remember, it just kind of gradually happened. It spread from person to person, there wasn't anything like this." His eyebrows came together as he tried to remember what had happened to Emilian, he couldn't remember anything that had really gotten to Emilian, he had laughed most of it off, and very little had happened near Michael.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare sighed and nodded lightly. "Well, I can deal with his sense of humor," Dare said, "so you don't have to come for me." He thought back on when he'd gone back to the jewelry shop to finish the portrait. Emilian had teased him, but it had all been in good fun. He'd made a suggestion, given some advice that the more Dare thought about, the more he wondered, and then he'd backed off that and left it alone. Dare thought that, if it wasn't for Emilian's feelings for Michael, he and Dare could have gotten along pretty well. Still, part of Dare hoped that Michael would come, so they could look at jewelry together. Dare didn't think that Michael would want to go to the shop at all when Emilian wasn't there.