So Many Striders - Now With Illustrations!

"Bro did I not just get through saying I like kissing? Do I gotta make it more specific? Hey Dirk, I like kissing you, it's really fun and I like how soft your lips are and the way your tongue feels in my mouth." Hal is blushing, he can fucking feel himself blushing, but he'll be damned if that's getting in the way of makeouts two: electric boogaloo. He squeezes Dirk's hand once, before letting go and scooting himself up the bed so he can stick his legs back down under the covers, tugging them quickly up as he flops down, head bouncing slightly against the pillow. He rolls onto his side and waggles his eyebrows, face red. "Lots of questions sounds good. Aaaand. For the sake of uh, fairness, given your state of partial undress, should I take my top off too? Not that I have as much to offer in terms of a nice view." What? Ask Dirk directly to touch his chest? Don't be ridiculous.

 

Okay, maybe now Dirk is grinning at Hal's expense. He can't help it; how is this person who literally had the entire internet in his mind at one point so sweet and innocent sounding? Some shuffling and a dramatic, bed shaking flop later Hal is right in his face again looking red and flustered as fuck. "You got it bro, expect the Spanish Inquisition."

Baggy shirt not withstanding, Dirk is pretty sure Hal is nice looking topless. From what he remembers Hal is all smooth pale skin, weirdly flawless and new. If his hair is any indication, Hal's skin is likely a lot softer too. "Mm... fairness is important. But, counter proposal:" Dirk shifts a bit closer but doesn't touch Hal just yet, eyes and voice both bordering on inappropriate, "I could take it off for you. I'm helpful like that."

 

This person who literally had the entire internet in his mind is finding that it's incredibly fucking different to experience things like this in real life, that is how this person who literally had the entire internet in his mind is so sweet and innocent sounding. He cracks a grin, though, despite his red face. "Dude, no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition."

Sure, nice looking maybe, but he doesn't have yards of tasty-looking muscles to lick just pale soft skin. Which, of course, Dirk could make far more interesting to look at with a few well-placed marks. Which is not something Hal should be thinking, so instead he's going to lean his head forward and bump noses against Dirk as he goes in for a kiss, mumbling against Dirk's lips when he manages to tilt his head enough to reach them, "That does sound helpful."

 

"Mm-hm." Dirk nods his head slightly, which brings his lips into contact with Hal's. The kisses are light and only slightly open mouthed in order to taste just the barest hint of him. At the same time Dirk smooths his hand from Hal's shoulder, down over his ribs, lingering on his slim waist, and finally resting on his hip just below the hem of his shirt. He stops for a moment, enjoying the feeling of slight curves under his hand before catching just his thumb under the worn fabric. Hal doesn't wear his pants terribly low, but Dirk still swipes his thumb over smooth, soft skin just above Hal's hip. Getting hands under clothes is somehow more sexy than simply taking them off, so Dirk inches his fingers higher along Hal's side, nominally displacing the shirt but not quite hitching it up enough to expose much skin to the cool air.

During this production, Dirk draws Hal into progressively longer kisses, drawing back less and less, pressing his tongue to Hal's lips more and lingering there longer. He steals little puffs of Hal's breath and the smell and taste make him hyper aware of how much of his body isn't pressed against Hal. It's horrible and amazing at the same time.

 

Dirk's light kisses are addictive, and Hal presses his palm against the bed to lean his head in closer, returning them in kind. He can feel the callouses on Dirk's hand as it moves up inside his shirt, which isn't the same thing at all as taking it off but he doesn't really find himself caring, much. It feels good, both the touches themselves and the fact that Dirk's the one doing it, that he's choosing to slide his hand slowly up Hal's side. He scoots his shoulders closer to Dirk's, freeing up his hand pressed to the mattress, moving it to rest on Dirk's cheek instead. It's smooth, and slightly downy near Dirk's ear. He strokes it slowly, repeatedly with his fingertips, occasionally brushing Dirk's earlobe, trying to time it with their kisses. This is a little hard, as the kisses get longer and longer, not that he's complaining. The flush is fading from his face, now he's not doing anything embarrassing, and he opens his mouth enough that he can slide his tongue against Dirk's when it's pressed to his lips. This whole kissing thing, it's some good shit, right here.

 

Dirk is a man of his word, so after a moment of petting Hal's side he hooks his thumb outside Hal's shirt this time and slowly drags it up. It can only go so high before running into Hal's arms, so he takes the opportunity to touch Hal's chest the same way, rucking his shirt up as he smooths his fingers along skin just below Hal's collarbones. Hal's skin is soft and smooth, just like he'd hypothesized, but Dirk doesn't want to do too much and freak Hal out. He smooths the palm of his hand down and to the side, finally resting safely back on Hal's waist. And if his thumb presses into Hal's ribs and soft belly that's just, well, what it is. Hal is soft. Dirk likes soft things, always has.

Dirk smiles against Hal's mouth as he tries to feel up Dirk's ear. Yeah, Dirk likes that a lot, it sends little shivers of arousal down his spine, but Hal is just being super contrary here. He doesn't want to be touched and panics when Dirk turns him on, but he's doing his level best to work Dirk up. Dirk hasn't exactly been subtle about liking his ears touched, or being held down, or that his neck is sensitive. That's fine though, he'll let Hal experiment as much as he likes. Speaking of, Dirk feels Hal's tongue against his, so he draws his tongue back into his own mouth while parting his lips wider, giving Hal the option to chase him.

 

The petting is very nice, though. Dirk strokes over his chest and down and his stomach shivers under Dirk's hand. It feels weird and involuntary, but not necessarily bad. He rests his hand flat on Dirk's face when he feels the smile against his lips, thinking he might have accidentally tickled Dirk before remembering how violently he's reacted to that before. He's moved his hand though so he goes with it, stroking his thumb slowly over Dirk's cheekbone. (He likes that he's able to work Dirk up. He likes that Dirk lets him work him up. He should probably stop if he wants their boners to go away. He's not going to stop.)

With a brief wriggle, he's able to get his other hand out from underneath him to rest against Dirk's upper chest. It's, you know, skin, so it feels soft and warm, and he spreads his fingers out, humming when Dirk pulls his tongue back. Oooh, humming against Dirk's lips felt nice. He saves that information for later, leaning in to lick his way into Dirk's mouth and do his best not to drool into it too.

 

Hal's hand on Dirk's face confuses him for a second, is he trying to get him to move it somewhere? But then he brushes his thumb against Dirk's cheek and it gives him a major case of the dokis. Tooth-rottingly sweet. It's extra sweet when Hal licks into his mouth. Tongues don't just sit in mouths though, that's not hot, so Dirk tries to demonstrate how to move, how to draw back and pay attention to lips again, to suck and nip on lower lips but not so much tongues. He's almost too focused on that, and not on the experience, except for those little surprising moments of cuteness like when Hal hums, or rests his hand tentatively against Dirk's chest. It's definitely not doing anything to make his arousal go down at all. More like the sort of slow burn that's going to keep him up late (which is good considering he's not meant to go to sleep for a while yet.)

Dirk's own hands are hard at work on the shirt issue. He strokes up along Hals' back, taking the shirt along for the ride. That also makes it easy for him to see if Hal might enjoy pets and light back scratches as well. Eventually, though, the shirt is rucked up as high as it will go and while the partially undressed look is really really nice, he'd made a commitment. Slowly, with many extra little dips in for parting kisses, he draws away enough to rub his nose on Hal's. "That's as much of your shirt off as I can do with you laying on your side. You'll have to help me the rest of the way."

 

Dirk's instructions on how better to kiss are as enjoyable as they are informative. Hal pays close attention, waiting until Dirk slows to return the favour, nipping and tugging lightly on his lip then smoothing over it with his tongue, sucking it into his mouth to play his teeth over it before letting go again. It's fun, and Dirk continues to taste of something undefinable but nice, and absolutely no tongues battle for dominance whatsoever. While his mouth is busy, Hal's hands are working too, the one on Dirk's cheek sliding up until his fingertips are in Dirk's hair, then dragging slowly down over the curve of his ear to cup the corner of his jaw, thumb and index finger in front of his ear and the other three fingers behind. Hal's other hand moves slowly up Dirk's upper chest to sit very, very loosely around the base of Dirk's neck. He (rather glaringly obviously) likes to be held down, so the question is whether this has the same effect or if it's undesired.

Hal likes and arches towards the pets like a cat that's particularly fussy about where you stroke it, and the scratches are met with shivers that he's not sure if he enjoys or dislikes. He definitely has some sort of opinion about them though. Dirk draws his lips slowly away from Hal's, and even though they return many times, he still makes a quiet, disappointed sound in the back of his throat when Dirk rubs their noses together. "Mm... want me to sit up or something?" Taking his hands off Dirk would probably help too, but consider: hell no.

 

Fingers moving in his hair and around his ear get little, increasingly urgent noises out of Dirk. The hand just barely on his neck is another thing entirely. His breath hitches and he automatically tilts his chin up a tiny bit before reigning himself in and kissing Hal firmly. Dirk is pretty sure that Hal said no crotch involvement but he's also pretty sure that Hal is trying to make him come in his pants. It is entirely unfair but Dirk can't bring himself to care right now. Back pets have Hal chasing after the contact, but back scratches make him go still and shivery. Dirk isn't sure if he's shivering for good or bad reasons, but he stops anyway because even good shivers were meant to be off the table and one of them has to be a goddamn gentleman here.

When they actually do stop kissing Hal makes a tiny sad noise, it's much cuter than Dirk expected possible. A lot of the stuff Hal is doing now is actually, maybe that's head trauma as well and he'll come to his senses after his brain isn't bruised. He can't decide if that would be horrific or a relief, maybe six of one, half a dozen of the other. This shit is, well, really fucking intimate. Not that he has much brain left over for thinking about that between the aforementioned trauma and the burgeoning situation in his pants.

Dirk brushes his lips lightly against Hal's again before answering. (Hey, the boy seems to want hand holding, sweet kisses, and shy smiles. Dirk can indulge him a bit.) "I think so, yeah, and lean down where I can reach you. Just for a second." To demonstrate his suitability for this task, Dirk rests a hand on Hal's side and another high on his chest, ready to assist the moment Hal's weight isn't pinning the shirt down anymore.

 

Hal should really, really stop deliberately turning Dirk on. But he loves the reactions he's getting so much, and maybe Dirk was at least partially right about him, when he was back in the shades and Dirk was throwing all sorts of insults at him because of shit he saw in himself, because Hal is also really liking the feeling of having power over Dirk. He smooths his hand down from Dirk's neck though, resting it far more chastely on his bare upper chest.

He is fucking adorable, and is also now going to at least try to remember that he shouldn't torment Dirk by deliberately doing what he knows riles him up. At least for a while. (It's helping him stay awake?)

The lips brushing against his make Hal smile, and he waits until Dirk finishes talking before returning it, pressing his lips fleetingly to Dirk's. He then groans in exaggerated effort as he drags his hands away from Dirk's skin, pushing himself up into a sitting position and leaning down over Dirk, giving the hand on his chest a brief squeeze with his own hand. It seems he is being soppy as hell, but it also seems he really doesn't care.

 

As Hal sits up Dirk twists to lay mostly on his back so that when Hal leans over him he can pull the shirt up and over his head. Of course Hal's head gets caught in the shirt for a second, but that always happens when someone is trying to be smooth and sexy. Its basically a law of the universe. After a second Dirk pulls the shirt off of Hal's head and his hair is even more mussed than before. He draws the sleeves down Hal's arms, fingers trailing along soft skin. Hals is, indeed, nice to look at without a top on. He is slight and pale with elegant hints of muscle definition without it being overly bara. Mostly, though, he looks like a cute boy who is currently looming over Dirk, and that's pretty much all Dirk could want out of life right now.

 

Hal isn't even currently trying to be slow and sexy, his head's caught in the shirt because Dirk's trying to be slow and sexy, which is like, super unfair. It doesn't get tugged against anything it would be painful for it to be tugged against though, so, that's good. He waits patiently while the sleeves are drawn down his arms, because it feels good and there's nothing wrong with things that feel good except for the fact that he totally still has a boner. When the shirt's totally off, he leans down to kiss Dirk, then straightens up again slightly to fix his hair, pulling the tie out and scraping his fingers through his hair to tie it back up again. It's getting long enough that even tied up, it touches his neck, which sucks. This totally isn't about him and his hair troubles though, so he leans back over Dirk once his hair is all done, propping himself up on one arm to start dotting light kisses all over Dirk's face.

 

Dirk hums when Hal kisses him again and chases after his lips when he draws away. Hair management is pretty important though, Dirk gives him a minute to redo his ponytail. Hal's legs and hips are very tempting, but Dirk isn't sure where Hal is okay being touched so he waits until some bare torso is in his reach before putting his hands on Hal again. The blanket is still covering Dirk's waist so he politely does his best to not pay attention to Hal's in case it makes him dart away and curl up again. Dirk doesn't like that. He does like being kissed, though face kisses are mostly just silly. He endures a barrage of cute little kid kisses while trying not to grin stupidly. He's not very successful.

 

Watch as no-one is surprised that Dirk finds hair management important. Hal continues with the face kisses for a little while longer, slowing them to a halt, at which he pulls his head back slightly to check whether Dirk liked that or not (like, not like liked it, but whether he thought it was annoying or cute). Signs, ie Dirk's stupid grin, point to 'liked that'. This results in Hal also grinning stupidly. Truly, the circle of stupidity is complete. He nuzzles his cheek against Dirk's, kisses his cheek bone, then draws back again. He moves up straighter so he's no longer kneeling over Dirk, merely facing him from the side while propped up on his elbow. He uses his free hand, which had until now laid pretty uselessly, to trace a faint scar on Dirk's chest. "How's your head?"

 

Dirk is comfortable, which is nice, he's usually busy working on something while worrying about half a dozen other things. Hal's affection is silly and his jitters about this getting too serious too fast slowly ease. Hal seems to be backing off of the makeouts now that his shirt is finally off, which is a bit strange, but Dirk isn't about to question it in case it seems like he's pressuring him for more. It is nice when he touches Dirk's skin again though. "My head feels a lot better actually. I'm not in pain, and I didn't get super dizzy this time. It's good. How, er, how are you doing?" Dirk said he was going to ask questions so he's better get a move on that.

 

Hal is also comfortable, except for the whole pants situation, but Dirk is ignoring it admirably so he's trying to do the same. His affection is, actually, fantastic I think you will find, as are many other parts of him. Hell, most other parts of him. "Those are definitely all great things, yeah." Once his hand's started moving he just can't stop it, stroking his fingertips down the channel between Dirk's flatboard man boobs, down to the side until he starts worrying he's approaching ticklish territory and back to the middle, then up again. "I'm good. Little bit chilly, lot of a bit enjoying this great view I've got laid out in front of me here."

 

"Mmm... well, we can address both of those things at once if you like." Dirk snakes an arm under Hal so that he can pet his back more, Hal seemed to like it a lot. This also allows him to very gently pull Hal closer. "We can share warmth, and you can have a closer view, if you wanna come here." He smiles and licks his lips, knowing he's about to say something disgustingly cheesy. "I bet I could kiss it better."

 

Hal's embarrassed grin at Dirk's offer stretches even wider at the final, cheesy line, and he curls himself over Dirk's chest, head tucked against his shoulder, giggling. It's a flustered sort of giggle, one with far more breathy air than actual humour, and when he's got it more under control he kisses his way up from Dirk's shoulder along his neck, over his jaw, to his lips. Let's see that miracle mouth at work buddy.

 

Hal's giggling seems a bit nervous and flustered, so Dirk holds onto him very lightly in case he gets overwhelmed and needs to stop. The pressure of having someone lay on him is nice though, and having his neck kissed is more than nice. Dirk tilts his his head so that Hal can kiss his more easily, and eagerly responds to Hal's mouth returning to his. The skin of Hal's back is warm and soft, Dirk is almost worried about scratching it with his rough, calloused fingers. He promised warmth though so he runs his hands along Hal's back gently in a slow, slightly ineffective imitation of providing heat through friction. He also opens his mouth under Hal's kisses, letting him steal warmth from there as well. It's certainly warming Dirk up in any case.