A TENTATIVE , EXPLORATORY KISS BETWEEN FRIENDS .
↳ smoochies !! ( accepting ) / @radiantbrd
THE EVENING WANES; there’s been good food, decent wine ( or, more pointedly, wine that didn’t come out of a suspicious cellar that had likely been abandoned for months ), and easy conversation. At times, joined by others —— there’s been a bit more levity tonight, brought about by small victories and small steps forward. These days, that’s all they can ask.
It’s not precisely planned. It just kind of happens —— a lull in conversation, that way their eyes meet: a linger, a little flood of something warm that he can’t tell is just a little too much wine or something else entirely. Either way, he smiles —— and he leans in: slow, a little tentative, giving far too many escape routes. But then —— it’s warm, soft, lingering.
He tastes faintly of wine, red and heady, and when it breaks he slips back just a fraction, though the smile doesn’t fade. ❝ I hope I’m not being presumptuous. ❞ A pause, and the smile grows just a little; his voice stays quiet, just between the two. ❝ Though I suppose that’s something I could have said before, shouldn’t I. ❞