So Many Striders - Now With Illustrations!

"Gotcha." Hal grins, reassured, and grips the back of Dirk's shoulder to help himself swing up his other leg so his other knee is also on the bed, bringing his ass closer to but still not onto Dirk's legs. He knows Dirk likes his hair being touched, and it is so appealingly messy already, so he drags his hand down and then scratches his nails slowly up from the base of Dirk's scalp up to twist his fingers into his hair to encourage his head back.

 

Dirk sighs and closes his eyes when Hal runs his hand through his hair, it feels nice. Having someone above him, almost in his lap, also feels nice. He feels a very gentle pull, tilting his head back and he goes with it, opening his eyes again because he's a bit surprised at how much of a lead Hal is taking. Pleased, but no less surprised. Hal is leaning on him and holding him by his hair, it's sort of a strange situation to be in. Again, not unpleasant. He licks his lips and hopes there will be more kissing soon.

 

Dirk tilts his head back as Hal hoped he would, and he lifts his own head to look down at him, enjoying the view for a moment (especially when Dirk licks his lips) before pressing his lips against Dirk's, giving him a firm kiss there before he starts to give him multiple kisses on the lips, on the corner of his lips, up along his jaw and, encouraging Dirk to tilt his head to the side a little too, around under his ear. His body isn't much to speak of in terms of muscle, but he presses against Dirk anyway.

 

Dirk is perfectly happy to let Hal move him around by his hair. It is really rather nice. Hal just... looks at him for a moment, but before it can get uncomfortable they kiss. Before he can really adjust to this new angle and do most than open his mouth under Hal's, he's being kissed down along his jaw, pulled and tilted to give Hal access to behind his ear. He also feels Hal's weight pressing against him, putting him off balance. It feels nice, he puts an arm behind himself so that he can lean back without immediately falling backwards, not sure of if Hal is pushing him down our leaning on him. Dirk does lean pretty far back though, guessing where this is going and willing to be pushed down.

 

Dirk leans back and Hal goes with it, arm around Dirk's shoulders helping him lower himself down without dropping abruptly. Although it's not what he'd intended, it does make him feel less like he's going to fall off the bed. When his hand on the back of Dirk's head is against the bed, he slides it out, resting his palm on the bed as he kisses over the area beneath Dirk's ear, letting his tongue and teeth brush against Dirk's skin.

 

Most of their kissing so far has been done laying down, so this feels familiar at least. Teeth just under his ear make him shiver, and he turns his head even farther to give Hal more space. Hands have become very awkward; are his arms always so there and useless seeming? Dirk brushes one along the hand Hal has resting on the bed, he seemed to like hand holding, and the other he threads into Hal's hair without pulling it or moving him at all.

 

Dirk shivers, which Hal takes as a good sign, although he's far less vocal than he was yesterday, and Hal can't tell whether that's just because he's feeling less emotional or whether it's because he isn't as into it as before. Still, he keeps going, licking the very tip of his tongue up along his earlobe. Dirk's hand brushes against his, and he shifts his to take hold of it again, humming near his neck in response to the hand in his hair. He can feel that it's pulled some of it loose in the ponytail, but he can fix that later and it's really not important right now.

 

Hal seems to have been a fast learner. Dirk finds himself breathing more quickly, and when Hal takes his hand he holds on tight. He carefully smooths stray hairs from Hal's ponytail away from his face and behind his ear so that it doesn't tickle, and because Hal's hair is soft.

 

Hal is doing his best to remember what Dirk liked him doing, and also what he liked Dirk doing, as they do fundamentally have the same body. He squeezes Dirk's hand in his, enjoying the tight grip as a sign that Dirk wants him where he is, and kisses slowly down Dirk's neck. He's not so experienced at kissing yet, and his teeth slip and graze Dirk's neck a few times, but he figures Dirk probably doesn't mind.

 

Neck kisses with little hints of teeth are nice, one particular almost nip makes him acutely aware of the fact he's enjoying this very much thank you. His breath comes out with a little "hah" noise and he swallows several times before speaking. "H-hal." Jesus that sounded whiny, he clears his throat and tries again. "I very definitely like this, and would not object to doing it more, but... I don't want to like it too enthusiastically for your comfort level." The last bit comes out rushed into what almost sounds like one long word, and Dirk can feel his cheeks heating up. His libido must still be frustraited from last night though because just this has him half hard. It's intensely embarrassing.

 

There must be something deeply wrong with Hal, because his first thought when Dirk whines his name is that he wants to make it happen again rather than concern that there must be something wrong. When Dirk continues speaking, though, Hal jerks abruptly back, because making Dirk accidentally get too worked up again was definitely not what he had in mind. It's flattering, but not what he had in mind. Kneeling upright over Dirk's lap, Hal takes in Dirk's blush, clearing his throat. "You very definitely like it, though?"

 

Dirk knows that he's been being very passive in all of this, but it seems a bit ridiculous that Hal isn't convinced. He must not be giving the right signals. Hal is still kneeling above him, so Dirk quickly pushes himself up to close the distance and kiss Hal lightly before flopping back down.

"Yeah, a bit." He grins, things have been confusing and serious and stressful. Being a jerk to Hal feels a bit like getting things back to normal.

 

Hal had not been expecting the brief kiss, and he blinks once in surprise before grinning. His knees are starting to protest all this kneeling that he's doing, so he rolls off Dirk to the side, releasing his hand as he does as it's twisting his arm awkwardly. Settled on the bed on his back with his lower legs hanging off, mimicking Dirk's pose, Hal kicks his feet up in the air, stretching out his legs. He turns his head so he can look at Dirk, still smiling. "You liiiike me."

 

Dirk's stomach does a painfully awkward mixture of anxiety and butterflies, so he avoids Hal's dorky assertion like a ninja. "Me? Liking something? That doesn't sound right. Didn't we already have this misunderstanding?" He smiles a bit as he says it, not wanting to actually hurt Hal's feelings.

 

Hal's smile fades, and he frowns instead, quickly thinking back over what they'd both just said. "Oh, you- kissing. Right. You meant the kissing in like, a general sense. Sorry." Hal pulls himself up to sit on the edge of the bed, feet back on the floor and face tilted down towards them. He doesn't want to be that guy who gets all mopy when it turns out you don't like him back in the way he wanted you to, but he is totally being that guy who gets all mopy when it turns out you don't like him back in the way he wanted you to.

 

The butterfly-anxiety mixture goes full anxiety when Hal's face falls like he's been rejected. "Hal, wait. That's not, I mean, the scope of the experiment was only about the kissing, remember?" Oh god, the crippling anxiety from when he had to reject Roxy, or when he broke up with Jake is back. But those were very clear, intentional actions! No one's been rejected. He could... he could just tell Hal 'Yes, I like you back' but he doesn't know yet.

Dirk sits up in a rush and grabs onto the hem of Hal's shirt but doesn't know where to go from there. "Don't..." He feels like he was about to say something more but it escapes him.

 

Hal pushes a smile onto his face as he turns to look back at Dirk. "Yeah, I know, I just got a bit carried away there or something. I was excited and..." He plays his lip between his teeth, then sighs. "Like I said, sorry. Hope I didn't weird you out or anything with that. That'd suck and was absolutely not a thing I intended, if it did happen." He pauses. "I didn't intend for it to happen if it didn't happen either, of course, but uh. Yeah. Hi."

 

Hal is clearly still upset but the more Dirk thinks about it the stupider this is. "Hal, how am I supposed to say if I like you or not when you haven't even asked me on a date? I haven't seen a single ironic flower and the last time I asked you for candy you gave me healthy fruit. You can't just expect me to..." He makes an incomprehensible gesture. "Just like that! A Milk Dud, a dandelion with the bugs still on, a limerick, anything!" He sighs. "I give you permission to court me and you spend the next month harassing me while sometimes also being a more considerate roommate. I am classy Hal, classy as fuck, you should be ashamed, sir, ashamed of yourself." Dirk is heavily flustered and mostly just rambling but if Hal actually feels hurt or used he might throw up. He really hopes the garbage coming out of his mouth makes sense.

 

Hal is doing his best not to be upset, and Dirk's outburst helps him rather significantly along the way. He's apparently been labouring under something of a misunderstanding. He flops down onto his back, then rolls onto his side, wrapping his arms around Dirk's waist. "I was thinking that stuff would, like... come after the wooing. Which in hindsight was pretty fucking stupid of me. I'm sorry for not treating you like you deserve, Dirk, but if you let me keep trying I'd really like to give it another shot. Ironic flowers and limericks included. 'm sorry."

 

Dirk is glad that Hal seems a bit less upset, but then he starts apologizing and Dirk feels weird all over again. He awkwardly pets Hal's hair, since he seems to find that comforting. "You didn't do anything wrong." He thinks hard about what Hal's reaction means and comes to an uncomfortable conclusion. "You're not... actually okay with just being bros who like to make out sometimes, are you?"