The jelly was quickly forgotten when Lark’s fingers accepted the offering of Landon’s hand. His heart thumped clumsily in his chest, and Lark’s words gave pause to Landon’s thoughts. He was eager, like a child who’d tasted ice cream for the first time and wanted enthusiastically to try more, and he wondered if Lark meant it in a welcoming way. He wasn’t going to push his luck, and pressed his lips together, still smiling in wordless response. Yes, I am. It had been a very long time since he’d felt anything quite like this– that warm flicker of hope that made him forget all about the cool that had been creeping up on him.
Landon nodded quietly and took a slow, deep breath when Lark began to detail quietly what he was going to do. There was a gentle calm that descended on him as he listened to Lark’s words, almost hypnotized. The sound of his voice was the canoe Landon’s mind floated on, breathing a little slower now to calm the little flare of nerves he’d had moments ago. A gentle nod came, though his deep, midnight eyes still didn’t open.
Lark’s fingers trailed along his palm, and Landon’s easy smile tugged again– this time because the contact tickled a little bit until the letters began. His face relaxed, though his expression remained warm, and with each letter, his heart felt like it was melting. Landon could almost see Lark’s handwriting in his mind’s eye as the fingers traced over his skin. When the three words were spelled out, his eyes opened slowly, just barely, and he watched as Lark’s head dipped down gently, pulling Landon’s hand up to those soft lips.
It felt like he was in a dream, and he didn’t want anyone to pinch him awake for fear of this all having been a figment of his active imagination, but he knew it was real. The warmth of Lark’s soft tongue sent a gentle jolt throughout his body. His blood hummed in his veins, and he wondered if he was vibrating, or if it was all in his head, but he didn’t want Lark to stop. The kisses grazed down along his long fingers, and for an instant, it felt like his heart wanted to stop– like all time wanted to stop, in fact, and savor this tender moment that was such a rarity in his life. Lark was so beautiful and ethereal, with the moon still bouncing off of him while he kissed that hand, but Landon slowly closed his eyes again. Lark had requested for him to close his eyes, after all, and he didn’t want to commit the crime that Orpheus of myth committed when he looked.
Landon realized he’d forgotten to breathe and took in another slow, deep breath, his soft lips parted ever so slightly. His mind shut off all other thoughts, and focused on Lark’s honeyed kisses. Landon didn’t want him to stop, but the desire to taste them with his own lips was rising like a gentle tide that couldn’t be held back for much longer.
a small piece of him, despondent in nature, waits for landon to pull away from the tender display; lark slowly makes his way to the top of landon’s palm without so much disturbance as the twitch of a finger. he pauses, draws himself back just enough to look over opulent bone structure, in search of any affirmation he can get to quell the dismal feeling that trickles through him.
landon looks peaceful at first glance, the immeasurable depth of cerulean eyes shielded from lark’s inquiring view. he’s glad, in the moment, that he’s not being watched. there’s always a rush of nerves that filters in during his more intimate moments, but it feels different this time, nestled within the confines of something he has trouble finding words for—the thought’s not turned over for long.
curious eyes trace over silhouetted lips, whose subtle parting gives way to a gentle yearning lark readily welcomes. he wants to fill the space in between with his own lips, to spend more time getting to know luscious curves, and the way they’d move against him. with a slight sense of regret, he glances down to their hands once more, turns them over as he lowers them, and leaves landon’s to rest on the soft fabric just above his knee.
the backs of fingers brush lightly overtop landon’s hand before an open palm is brought to his chest—thin cotton doesn’t mask the trembling of the boy beneath—reposed over a beating heart. if any affirmation were still needed, this, lark thinks, would be enough. “keep breathing,” he says through a soft smile; a reminder. “in through the nose, out through the mouth... relax.”
little space is given for the words to settle before lark’s other hand rises up to caress one side of landon’s warm, angular jaw. the gentle movement is followed, as he leans further into the other’s space, by another succession of lustful kisses; generous lips trail along landon’s jawline with a quiet urgency.
he loses his cool for a moment, slightly dizzied, heart thumping hard beneath his chest. he can’t count on one hand the things he wants to do, some entirely innocent alongside others, and he spares no effort in distancing himself from the ideas—he's pressed his luck enough for one night. “you taste so sweet,” he murmurs, breath hot against landon’s skin. “like… blackberries,” lips brush softly over the base of landon’s jaw, “honey.”