So Many Striders - Now With Illustrations!

As far as Hal is aware, letting Dirk choose whether or not the kiss happens is a good thing to do, because his thing for Dirk was previously established and basically he's trying to do the opposite of forcing Dirk into kissing his decapitated head in front of an erupting volcano because despite the incredibly romantic setting that very much ended up not working out well. Dirk only kisses him for a second, but Hal follows him down when he rests his head against the pillow, brushing his lips over Dirk's then kissing him gently. He's very quickly discovering that he loves kissing.

 

Hal follows him down and that's pretty good confirmation that this is really for sure okay. It's been a really long time since he's kissed anyone and he's already anxious about messing it up, though that might be the brain thing again. How does he tell?

Hal rests more of his weight on him and it's really nice feeling, very solid and warm. He smooths a hand along Hal's back, resting it on his waist He parts his lips slightly and returns Hal's gentle kiss. Hal's breath is light on his skin and he smells really nice, which is weird considering they ought to smell really similar. Maybe Dirk really is a narcissist.

 

Hal has literally never kissed anyone before today, so honestly he's more likely to mess it up than Dirk going by that logic. He's pretty sure that Dirk won't refuse to ever kiss him again if he does, though, so it's hesitantly getting indexed as a not entirely awful prospective fuck up.

He rolls his back under the hand smoothing down it, only just realising in time to stop that rolling his hips into Dirk's is at least second date territory not 'let's kiss now and decide whether we're actually a thing later' territory. He doesn't want to spook Dirk by moving too fast or anything, that'd really suck, especially now that he knows how nice kissing him feels. Following Dirk's lead, Hal parts his own lips, fitting Dirk's lower lip between both of his own. Yeah, he could really get used to getting to do this.

 

Hal moves against him, not quite grinding into him but it's clear the movement was aborted just shy of that happening. Dirk makes a little noise in the back of his throat and stops thinking so hideously hard about everything. He lightly sucks on Hal's lip and then lets go to do it again, and moves to Hal's lower lip to repeat the process. Their mingled breath is hot, and Hal tastes as nice as he smells. A small bubble of warmth slowly establishes itself in his chest, very different from the empty sad feeling that had taken up residence earlier.

Dirk doesn't want to hold onto Hal too tightly, he's become instinctively wary of that, so he bends the leg Hal isn't actively laying on and presses it against Hal's hip and thigh while rubbing Hal's back a bit with his fingers when he remembers. One thing that Hal seems to consistently like is having his hair touched, so he smooths stray strands behind Hal's ear, and repeats the motion even when all his hair is safely tucked away.

 

Hal "mmm"s in response to the noise Dirk makes, and shortly after discovers that he very much likes having his lips sucked on by someone else. He kisses Dirk with greater pressure for a time, leaning into it from his shoulders, before "mmm"ing again when Dirk starts stroking his hair again. He has a feeling Dirk won't start to doze because of it this time.

He wonders if he can do the lip-sucking thing as well as Dirk and decides to experiment, sucking on his lower lip as it's the one currently between his. He can taste Dirk if he does this, he discovers, but he couldn't put a description to the taste other than 'skin' and 'Dirk' and 'good'. He's no pro at kissing (yet) so he struggles to find a way to execute this manoeuvre without 'oops that's my teeth' or 'oops that's my tongue'. More practice is obviously required.

 

Hal catches Dirk's lip with his teeth and tongue, it's adorable and slightly clumsy and feels really nice. Dirk nibbles and licks him back before turning his head a bit to break the kiss. He kisses Hal's jaw once before asking, "How far is okay without having been on a date yet?" Another couple of kisses along his jaw and one on his neck. His voice is embarrassingly husky again but he can't be bothered to fix it. "Are we up for exploring the wonders of open mouthed kissing or should dinner and a movie happen first?"

 

Hal feels much more confident about his kissing skills when Dirk does what he did but (presumably) on purpose, because it turns out that it actually feels pretty fucking great. He starts to whine at Dirk for turning his head and breaking the kiss, but okay he's getting kissed up the jaw to his neck instead, that's something he definitely considers an acceptable substitute for mouth-to-mouth kissing, especially when it comes with Dirk's husky voice. 'Open mouthed kissing' makes him shiver, and he's not sure if it's the way it sounds when Dirk says it or the thought of doing it, but either way he's definitely very up for the thing. Ducking his head, he kisses Dirk's neck, high enough up it that his nose is against Dirk's earlobe. "Mm. Well..." He traces up around the shell of Dirk's ear with his nose, following it with his lips. "I've obviously never done it before, so we could practice now. For any potential post-date making out that might happen."

 

Dirk's ears are very sensitive, so when Hal nuzzles and speaks softly directly into one the warm feeling in his chest immediately drops to his stomach and he prays that he isn't about to embarrass himself by getting a boner while pinned on his back and effectively incapable of hiding it. It also makes him shiver, gasp quietly, and turn so that he can catch Hal's mouth in slightly deeper, damper kiss than before. The cat comparison pops back into his mind as he licks and nibbles at Hal's lips while kneading at his back through his shirt. He very carefully does not tangle his fingers in Hal's hair because he'd end up pulling the hair tie out (or just straight up pulling it) so that hand falls uselessly to the bed next to Hal's.

 

Hal notes the ear kissing as a success, distractedly, while kissing Dirk. This kiss is more heated, and is making him feel significantly more tingly, both of which are things he's apparently in favour of. He shifts his hand closer to Dirk's, lacing their fingers together and tugging it up the mattress towards their heads, elbow bent, so he can pin it to the bed. He's really enjoying the whole pinning thing. He also discovers what should have already been kind of obvious, namely that if he goes to nibble Dirk's lip when Dirk goes to nibble his, what actually happens is their teeth clack together awkwardly.

 

Awkward teeth clacking happens, which is a bit jarring but rather expected. What is not expected is the way that Hal takes Dirk's hand and pins it to the mattress. He gasps and quickly strangles a breathless, wanting noise before he can completely embarrass himself. He can't help the shiver that runs down his spine, or the way his back arches a bit to test how much he can move while being held down. Half of him wants to tell Hal to stop. There is no way this won't end up depositing him right in the middle of awkward boner city, but, well, maybe that's not an entirely awful place to be while making out with a pseudo-sibling AI clone of himself. He needs to stop thinking.

Instead, he bites Hal's bottom lip a bit harder then licks it carefully to ease the sting. Then he licks a bit higher, and deeper, seeing if Hal wants to give the french kissing thing a try. (Even though France most likely doesn't exist anymore and he has no idea of why it was called that in the first place and argh brain, no, why, stop it, now is not the time.)

 

Dirk gasps against his mouth, and Hal is like 57% sure that's a good thing, 43% convinced it's not. The first percentage is bumped up to 98% when his lip is bitten and licked because, well, Dirk just bit his lip and not in a stop kissing me or I'll bite your face off way. He squeezes Dirk's hand with his, then opens his eyes in surprise when Dirk licks in between his lips. It feels good though, warm and soft and wet, so he parts his lips a little more and presses them firmer against Dirk's. He's not sure if it counts as french kissing until the tongues touch, but he might be muddling that with something else. He's certainly feeling a little muddled in the head, but it's a warm, happy sort of muddled and he's blaming it on the way it feels so good lying on Dirk like this. Putting some more of his weight on the arm propping him up, Hal shifts his body a bit, so it's more aligned with Dirk's than angled across it.

 

Kissing is still happening, that's the part that Dirk has pretty well under control. Sort of. He licks his way into Hal's mouth a bit timidly, mostly hoping that he'll convince Hal to reciprocate. Because pressing up into Hal is a bit exhausting right now, but being held down, and moved on, and thoroughly kissed; that he can handle. Speaking of, Hal shifts so that even more of him is being pressed into the bed. When Hal holds his hand tighter he flexes his fingers and shivers again. It's good. It's really good. He's starting to get so dizzy he feels like he'd fall if Hal weren't holding him. Dirk runs his other hand up along Hal's side to his shoulder blade and arm. He's so warm.

 

Hal is currently trying to work out the logistics of what would happen if he tried getting his tongue into Dirk's mouth while Dirk's tongue is in his mouth, and he definitely likes the idea of exploring that aspect of kissing but he's also fairly certain that if they did it simultaneously it would generate a lot of drool that would, thanks to gravity, end up in Dirk's mouth or dribbling down the sides of his face. Which is less appealing. So for now, he keeps his tongue inside his own mouth, but he does slide it up against Dirk's and oh, that felt good.

 

Dirk tries to draw back, but his head is already resting on the pillow so he can't. His problem solving capabilities are incredibly low right now so he just pants against Hal's lips for a second and tries to collect himself. They don't exactly stop kissing though so it's not very successful. He's still very dizzy, and warm in the face, and doing a poor job of not shifting and wiggling under Hal just to see if he can. After a little while longer he whimpers into Hal's mouth because it's really good, but the intensity might be making him a bit too dizzy for him to handle without going limp from sensory overload. Which he is trying not to do, hence the extra movement.

 

Dirk's breath is warm against Hal's lips, and he feels a little like he's starting to overheat (usually, he feels too cold if anything) but he doesn't want to stop kissing just because of a little thing like that. He conducts further experiments into lip-sucking instead, pulling Dirk's lower lip in between his and deliberately sliding his teeth over it, then his tongue, and Dirk keeps wiggling but not trying to turn his head away at all, so he just pushes his body down against him, putting more weight onto their clasped hands. It feels really good to be able to press Dirk into the mattress and keep him there, even if the only reason Dirk couldn't just push him off is because of concussion dizziness. Also, part of the reason it feels good is because he has a feeling Dirk likes it. Shortly after, though, Dirk starts whimpering, so he lifts himself up to see if something is wrong because, well, concussion. Shifting his weight back over onto his forearm, he rests his forehead against Dirk's, breathing a little heavily himself. "So. Open-mouthed kissing. That's fun."

 

When Hal makes even more of a deliberate, concerted effort to hold Dirk down and keep him still Dirk moans outright which, again, quickly turns into a whimper because dizzy.

Hal pulls away and Dirk feels bereft for a second, but it does give him a chance to collect himself. Hal's forehead feels almost cool, and when he speaks and Dirk manages to say "Yes" quietly before going back to focusing on not being so dizzy he's about to fall off the world. He lets the hand that had been holding onto Hal's shoulder rest on the bed, palm up and elbow bent, because tired, but holds onto Hal with his other hand tightly. He definitely won't fall off the world with Hal holding him down.

When the dizziness abates a little but doesn't go away Dirk tilts his head and nuzzles his face into Hal's neck. They've had their tongues in each others mouths, he can do that now. He whispers "Dizzy" against Hal's skin and takes a second to breathe and feel grounded. The feeling of Hal's skin on his lips is really nice, so he mouths at it delicately to see if Hal likes it too.

 

"Do it more some time, maybe?" Hal should probably move off Dirk soon, he has to keep his back and especially his shoulders at least somewhat tense to stay like this and he really fucking doesn't want to move away, but it's probably not a great idea to keep doing that for too long. His back has been doing so much better, now that he uses the heating pad and knows Dirk is willing to work out the aches with his hands when they get too bad, but he shouldn't be pushing it. He'll just stay like this a little longer, arms framing Dirk's head, hand tightly clasped with Dirk's.

Dirk moves his face into Hal's neck and, oh. So that's what that feels like. He probably shouldn't have been doing it to Dirk so often, so casually. Oops. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing though, after all, it's a thing that happened and now they're like this and the 'thing' between them is much more of a 'Thing' than a 'thing?' which is a good thing. Hal hears Dirk's whisper, and hums in acknowledgement, stroking Dirk's thumb with his own. And then Dirk mouths at his neck and okay, he definitely never went that far when he stuck his face in Dirk's neck before but it's definitely a nice feeling too. He sighs, dropping his shoulder to stretch his neck out a little more. "Should probably get off you, huh."

 

Dirk makes a noncommittal noise about Hal getting off him. That doesn't sound like a fun thing, but okay. He presses his face into Hal's neck more, see how he likes it. "If you want to get off that's fine. You could stay though." What. "Of me. Get off of me, if you want. I mean. You know what I mean." His voice ends in a whine. He's dizzy and things are difficult. His voice gets smaller which is good because it doesn't sound whiny anymore and bad because it's kind of pathetic. "Stay with me though?"

 

He likes it. He also drops himself a little closer to Dirk again, so it's easier for Dirk to press into his neck, which is the opposite to getting off of him. He's doing this because he believes Dirk should be able to exact proper revenge, of course, not because it feels good. It does feel good, but that's not why he's doing it. Maybe.

"I know what you mean. I'm definitely gonna stay in the room whether I'm on top of you or not, and y'know taking a break for now doesn't mean that's it for kissing for today or anything if you don't want it to be." Hal sure doesn't want it to be.

 

"Fine. Let me freeze to death, see how I care." Hal makes a nice blanket, but propping himself up like that can't be comfortable. Dirk straightens his knee and untangles their legs a bit so that Hal can move. He also nips Hal's neck lightly before resting his head back on the pillow. Hal's hand isn't freed though, Dirk is holding on to that bit for now.