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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 11:45:08 GMT -5
Dare hadn't expected Michael to say yes right away, so he took the laughing refusal with a grain of salt. "I am, come on, it'll be fun. I'm painting mine purple," Dare said, holding up his hands. He wiggled his fingers lightly, teasing Michael, then reached out and caught one of Michael's hands. He looked down at it, assessing as one of his hands stroked lightly against Michael's fingers. "I think you ought to go with green," he said. "It'd go awesome with your hair."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 11:55:07 GMT -5
Michael shook his head, though the movement didn't have much enthusiasm behind it. "Well, you can paint yours purple," he said, "I rather like mine the way they are." He was smiling, though, and the argument wasn't very strong, mostly because he knew it was lost before it even started. His eyes glittered faintly, it was going to be an interesting night. If Dare had that in his bag, Michael had no idea what else he had hidden in there.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 11:59:46 GMT -5
Dare's grin only faded as far as a crooked smile. "Come on, let me do it," he said, reaching one hand out to pick up the green bottle, then looking back at Michael. "It's just a little paint, and we're going to be in here, anyway." Dare pulled lightly at Michael's hand, then set it on his knee and started to unscrew the bottle. If Michael really didn't want this, he wouldn't do it, but he hadn't missed the gleam in Michael's eyes.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 12:07:23 GMT -5
Michael sighed, though he didn't pull away from Dare. "There's tomorrow, though," he argued lightly. It was odd how easily he went along with Dare's suggestions, things he never would have considered doing before were quickly agreed to when it was something Dare wanted. "Fine," he muttered, feigning annoyance as he shifted to relax back into the chair, though the look in his eyes gave him away.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 12:12:40 GMT -5
Dare's grin returned a moment before he leaned over and gave Michael a brief kiss. Then, excited to begin, he drew out the tiny brush and swept it against the smooth nail of Michael's index finger. "You can always stick your hands in your pockets," Dare suggested. Michael did that enough anyway that he didn't think anyone would notice. "Besides, what's anyone going to do about it? Nothing the Daily Prophet didn't do better." As far as Dare was concerned at that moment, being outed was about as bad as it could get without someone getting killed or maimed.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 12:25:25 GMT -5
Michael did a one shouldered shrug and looked down to watch Dare. His eyes only stayed on the brush and paint for a few seconds before he looked up at Dare's face, watching the expressions as he worked. He knew some of the things that the guys could say, he couldn't remember ever seeing a guy with painted nails, except for one of Emilian's friends, but that guy was so strange that Michael barely counted him.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 12:29:20 GMT -5
"I used to do this in California," Dare said, speaking absently as he gave Michael's nails a careful coat of green. "I stopped when I came out here because I didn't know how people would react, and I didn't know anyone but Silver." His lips quirked. "I figure now's as good a time as any to start up again." Dare gave a brief thought to his old friends, Markise in particular, and decided he ought to write Markise and tell him about Michael. He was pretty sure Markise would be thrilled.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 12:41:47 GMT -5
"Do you miss it much?" Michael asked without really thinking, then he bit his lip and looked down at their hands instead of watching Dare's face. He hoped it wasn't a mistake to ask, but he found that he wanted to know more about how Dare had lived before moving to Hogwarts, how things had been different, so he didn't take it back. He figured that if Dare didn't want to talk about it, he would be able to tell.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 12:53:41 GMT -5
Dare didn't mind talking about it at all. He'd been at Hogwarts long enough that the initial culture shock was beginning to pass, and that the school was beginning to feel like home. "Sometimes I do," he said, "but then I think of everything I have out here, and I'm glad I'm here." Dare's eyes flickered up to Michael's at that. "I wouldn't give you up to have everything back the way it was," he said, whether it needed said or not. Dare dropped his gaze again, moving Michael's hand over to Michael's knee to dry and taking the other instead.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 13:02:00 GMT -5
Michael smiled at that and looked back at Dare's face, it amazed him that he meant that much to Dare. Then he let his eyes fall down to his finished hand. "So am I going to end up with dyed, straight hair, too?" he asked, grinning as he glanced back up at Dare. While he didn't really think it would happen, it wouldn't surprise him if Dare started to pull out more supplies, though he didn't know that he'd go along with it as easily.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 13:07:29 GMT -5
Dare chuckled. "Not unless you want to. I like your hair," he said. He didn't want to change Michael, just play with him a little. "Maybe another night," he teased. Dare began slow, even strokes of green over Michael's nails, the motion relaxing him. It was strange how, as intimate as they were and had been, this felt intimate. Everything felt intimate though, didn't it? Dare's lips curved as he thought about their time at the lake. It had definitely been worth the sunburn, which was--thank God--faded enough not to be painful now.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 13:13:36 GMT -5
Michael's own sunburn had peaked sometime after leaving Dare the night before and had faded slightly through the night and day to be a dull ache instead of burning pain like he knew it could have been. But he was able to ignore the whole thing as he watched the surprisingly soothing motions of Dare's hands. "What color is yours naturally?" he asked, glancing up towards Dare's hair. Strictly speaking he could go by Dare's eyebrows, but sometimes those were misleading.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 13:18:30 GMT -5
Dare glanced up at Michael a moment, more from wanting the brief contact than any surprise. "Same as Silver's. Plain old dark brown," he replied. "He doesn't like to put in the effort to do anything with it, though." Dare's lips curved. "I, on the other hand, see myself as a blank canvas, awaiting whatever medium I choose to show the world." Which happened to be more decorative clothes and paint than most guys wore, especially at Hogwarts.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 13:28:35 GMT -5
Michael smiled at that, he couldn't imagine Dare being...normal, for lack of a better word. And he didn't want him to change, to stop being unique. "I never cared much about what I looked like," he said, shrugging with his free shoulder. "So long as my arm was covered I was fine." He remembered the painful times getting ready for balls and other things, and wrinkled his nose.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 21, 2008 19:56:05 GMT -5
Dare shrugged lightly, then turned Michael's hand slightly to sweep green over his thumbnail. "Part of it is about what I look like, sure, but it's more about expressing myself. Everyone expresses themselves differently, and some people," Dare said, flicking a warm glance up at Michael, "some people prefer to keep to themselves, and that's cool, too. It's whatever polishes your wand, right?" Dare finished the last nail with one short stroke of the brush, then admired his work as he screwed the lid on. His lips curved into a grin.
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