He nodded, unable to speak. When all Francis did was to hold him like this, letting the heat from his hand soak into Mark’s skin, he started to get twitchy. But it wasn’t the wrong kind of twitchiness. Instead, Mark began to tremble, and when Francis didn’t take the first step, something in Mark’s brain snapped and he dipped his head to press his lips to Francis’s.
For a moment, Francis let Mark take control of the kiss, as if sensing that it was exactly what he needed. He’d kissed before, girls in his youth and a couple of women in his adulthood, because that was expected. None of those kisses had felt like this.
If he hadn’t been certain of his sexuality before, just the press of his lips to Francis’s made it crystal clear. His heart was beating a mile a minute and he could feel his cock starting to plump up in his jeans. Holy fuck.
Then Francis tightened his hold on Mark’s skull, gently probed his lips open with his tongue, and Mark’s brain short-circuited. All he could feel were the points of contact between him and Francis. He was pretty sure he was making a noise, but the blood rushing through himwhooshedin his ears and he was maybe, probably, going to die.
When Francis pulled away, Mark chased his lips, blinking in confusion.
Francis chuckled. “Okay, so kissing is good, I take it?”
Mark blushed and smiled. “I think so, yeah.” But then, based on what he’d talked about with Evy, he thought he should be honest. “But I don’t know if it’s going to be every time. Sometimes my brain says some horrible things and….”
Humming, Francis leaned back to him and pecked his lips. “I can be patient.”
“Good. T-that’s… probably more than I can ask.” Mark ducked his head and felt awkward as fuck. He just hoped to God he wouldn’t ruin this with the poison ingrained in his marrow. It wasn’t him. He knew that. But he also knew that people weren’t into being disappointed or hurt time and time again, and… well, Mark didn’t have the greatest track record with keeping his mouth shut when the poison wanted to spill out.
“Okay, so, this is where you tell me what you want to do tonight,” Francis said, looking at him, as if he’d figured out where Mark’s mind went just then.
“Oh, uh….” The endless possibilities whirled in his mind immediately. He wanted to try a certain thing, but he wasn’t sure… he didn’t know how to ask. Or maybe he just couldn’t make his mouth spit it out.
“Now, you have your safewords, right?” Francis tilted his head to peer at him. At Mark’s nod, he smiled. “Okay. Then this is what we’ll do.”
Francis got off the couch and held out a hand for Mark. “Come on. We’re going to the bedroom, and on the way there, you’re going to figure out how to ask for what you want. You know my stance on consent, and even if this might not be a scene to someone more experienced in dominance and submission, I think we can do this as if it was one. So, you’ll have your words, but you also need to vocalize what you want and need, because there can’t be any miscommunication about that.”
Mark took his hand and nodded. He just wished obeying Francis about this particular thing wasn’t so hard. Asking for the… thegaystuff. Mark berated himself as he followed Francis into his bedroom. Just barely, he managed to push those thoughts away, and concentrated on what he wanted.
There was one thing, but it was still too much, maybe? His fluttery stomach contracted, and not entirely in a positive way. So maybe skip that for now?
Soon, too soon, they stood by Mark’s bed and Francis looked at him expectantly.
“Get undressed first,” Mark murmured.
Francis lifted his hands in a question of sorts, and Mark nodded his permission. Slowly, Francis peeled Mark’s shirts off, then kept going with his pants and underwear, even his socks, until he stood naked before this man who continued to rock his world.
Then, Francis let his gaze travel along every inch of Mark’s front, before stopping and standing there in silence again. Mark took that as his cue and began to unbutton Francis’s shirt. For some reason, he was unable to stop touching every bit of skin that he revealed, and felt a strange elation when Francis shivered a little at his ministrations.
It still blew Mark’s mind he could make someone like Francis feel these things. Good things, satisfying things. Not just the bad stuff.
Mark knelt to relieve Francis of his pants and socks, and when he glanced up, he saw that Francis was getting hard. Without thinking about it, Mark pressed his face against Francis’s groin, inhaling deeply. He felt as if everything inside him quaked at the masculine scent and the touch of Francis’s hand in his hair.
“It’s okay,” Francis assured. “We have all night.”
Mark nodded and stayed still as Francis grew harder against his cheek. Eventually, a peace descended over him, and he said, “Can I have your fingers tonight?”
Without missing a beat, Francis hummed. “Of course. Anything you want.”
“Okay.”
Mark got to his feet, feeling a lot like he couldn’t look Francis in the eyes again. It was different now. Not that horrible shame or whatever had made him feel like that before. No, now it felt like he shouldn’t meet Francis’s gaze, he felt… submissive.
“Come on, gorgeous, let’s get you on the bed,” Francis murmured and waited until Mark was resting comfortably in the middle of the bed before joining him.
Francis settled next to him and smiled. “May I kiss you?”
Mark nodded, then tilted his head and opened his lips. When Francis’s lips touched his, Mark felt that rightness descend over him even more. He’d been so scared, but now he had asked for what he wanted, and Francis would take care of him.
Again, Francis started by touching him everywhere as they made out almost lazily. It felt odd how much the urgency fluctuated between moments. Right then, Mark was fine with just lying on the bed, feeling Francis’s erection against his hip as he slid his fingers and palms along Mark’s skin.
