Moving Day

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael sighed softly and closed his eyes in comfort at the hand moving up his chest. "It's much to easy for you to talk me in to things," he commented softly, knowing how lucky he was to be with someone that didn't take advantage of that ability. He was lucky just to have Dare in general, but he was very aware of how easily someone else could have pushed him to do things. He rested his head against Dare's and opened his eyes to look back down at the picture.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare watched the slow movement of his hand against Michael's chest, the idle motion of his fingers against Michael's skin. "I try not to," he said softly. "I want you to be happy, Michael. I've never been this happy. You're good for me." Dare didn't want this feeling to wear off, so he clung to it, letting himself float for as long as he could. He wished he could share it with Michael, but there was only so much he could do, and if it worked for Michael, then Dare had nothing to complain about.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael smiled and his chest swelled. He wondered if Dare knew how much those words affected him, but he didn't think so. He shifted and huddled farther into the cushions, still smiling softly. "You make me happy," he said, unable to stop the words that had refused to come before. Just being with Dare made him happy, a bone-deep feeling that never quite left, even through the depression and anger that could come from walks in the halls.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's lips curved, and he closed his eyes a moment just to soak it in. "I'm so lucky you were going to the forest that day," he said, just letting the words flow for now. "I've never...liked myself as much as I do with you." Dare shifted slightly, raising his head a bit against Michael's shoulder to see what he could of Michael's face. "It's easy to talk to you." Dare pressed a kiss to Michael's jaw, then settled against him again, watching his fingers trail lightly down Michael's abdomen, then pause to sweep back up.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael sighed and he nodded, he felt much the same way. "I've never been so comfortable with who I am, or was," he said, shifting his left arm from its habitual place turned down on his leg to show the Mark that was there. "I still don't like it, and I'm not okay with it," he paused and looked down at his arm, then turned it back down. "But I know you love me through it, and so I can let it go a little." He didn't dwell on his past as much as he had before Dare.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"I love all of you," Dare said. His hand slipped from Michael's chest to settle against the back of his left arm, then slid down over the back of his hand to thread their fingers together. "I wish I knew the words to tell you how much." Dare flicked his eyes up to Michael's face, then back down to their hands. "I drew you sleeping," he admitted softly. "That first night in the Room of Requirement. I couldn't stop myself. You were so...beautiful. Peaceful." Part of him had wanted to hold that jealously close, but another part had felt that it was right to tell Michael, that something in that confession would say things he couldn't verbalize otherwise.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael paused, then moved his head to look at Dare, and pressed a kiss into his hair. There was a certain vulnerability in someone seeing someone sleeping, Michael knew that Emilian never slept when he knew someone else was in the room. Despite the vulnerability, Michael had never really thought about it, who had ever been around him to see him sleeping that he actually cared about? Just Dare. "It's easy to relax with you," he said, why else would he look peaceful sleeping there with him?

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare nodded lightly against Michael’s shoulder. “I was so worried that I wouldn’t want to draw anymore, that if anything happened it would just drain me.” Dare pulled a deeper breath, trying to think of the words.”I still want to draw, still love it, but I don’t need to draw so much now. It’s like...I don’t know. It’s like the weight’s lifted when I’m with you.” Dare didn’t know if he was making sense, but he knew what he meant. When he’d come to Hogwarts, he’d been escaping. He’d needed the oblivion of constant art to stay sane.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael understood, art was always an escape for him, though it never worked well, he was always dwelling on....something when he drew. "I've never drawn as many landscapes as I have with you," he said, smiling and tightening his fingers against Dare's. It was really the first time he had thought about how much better he was doing since being with Dare, and the knowledge made his eyes shine. He sighed softly, content, he loved Dare.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare’s lips curved, and he released a sigh as his eyes slipped closed. Never drawn as many landscapes. That simple confession said so much about what Dare meant to Michael; it said I love you. Dare’s arm between the warm skin of Michael’s back and the couch tightened around him, and his hand settled low on Michael’s hip. “I love you,” he said, the words nearly a whisper. It didn’t seem like enough to describe everything he felt. “I didn’t know I could be this happy.”

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael shook his head. At one point he hadn't thought he would be allowed to be happy, or that he deserved to even be loved. And what he had with Dare was so much more than just being happy and loved, it was so intense and intimate and Michael didn't know how he had gotten lucky enough to be given Dare. "I don't know how I lived without you," he said softly, how in the world had he gotten through life without Dare's support?

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare’s heart tightened at those words, and his eyes squeezed tighter at the obvious emotion in Michael’s voice. “Neither do I,” he whispered. He’d almost always had friends, but he’d only been close to one, and never this close. “When I talked to other people,” he said, trying again to find words he wasn’t sure of, “it was always...superficial. I mean, I’ve never been able to talk like this before. I never told anyone about Silver. No one.” Not even Markise. The most difficult things he’d kept to himself.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael closed his eyes tightly and lay the pictures on his leg, then brought that hand over to rest on Dare's. "I love you," he said softly, at a loss as to what to say about that. He couldn't think of anything else, he knew that he loved Dare and that they had given more of themselves to each other than anyone else. He pressed his lips together, a feeble attempt to control the emotions that were so rich and strong.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

“I love you too, Michael,” Dare murmured. How could something feel as intense as this, and still feel like a weight was lifting from his shoulders? “I’m always going to love you,” he said, the words softly stating fact, not needing whisper-thin promises to support it. “No matter what happens, I’m always going to love you.” He couldn’t imagine Michael breaking his heart, couldn’t imagine him getting bored of this or moving on. But if something happened, God forbid, if something happened to him or to Michael, Dare wouldn’t forget what they had.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael's breath caught, that was a big statement, and he couldn't imagine it not being true. He turned his body slightly, pulling up his right arm and moving it around Dare, resting it lightly on his lap as his hand curled around Dare's side. He buried his face in Dare's hair as he tried to keep his emotions under control. No words came, but everything in the way he held his body screamed of his appreciation and love.