That Mushy Stuff

Writers: Aaron, Devin
Date Posted: 4th October 2026

Characters: M'sar, H'lem
Description: M'sar encourages H'lem to take the next step with his boyfriend.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 2, day 19 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: R'bharra, Tannock (NPC), R'zen

After the Weyrlingmaster dismissed them, M'sar pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his arm. They'd been jumping /between/ for a few days now, and it was odd and exhilarating to pop into black nothingness and then pop back out somewhere else. "Gonna be able to go wherever we want soon," he said to H'lem.

"Yeah, where else have you got to be?" H'lem certainly could not think of anywhere else he would rather go-- not unless Tannock moved away.

"Somewhere _warm_," M'sar said. It was a relatively nice day, about as nice as it got at Dragonsfall, but that wasn't going to last. "Maybe a beach or something."

"It's summer!" H'lem laughed. "All hot and sweaty up on the north shore. You've got to save the trips to the beach for when it's gross outside here! I'll show you our favorite place my dads used to take us to play when it was nice out."

"Yeah?" M'sar couldn't help the eagerness in his voice.

"Well, yeah." H'lem was surprised to hear M'sar so interested to hear about such a place-- surprised, yes, but happy. Thrilled, even. "I could never forget it. I can see it from the air like I was there yesterday."

"You can show me once we can go on our own," M'sar said. "Right now, let's go get dinner." He patted Nazoth and then headed toward the dining cavern entrance.

Mactallath nudged H'lem forward, and so he followed M'sar toward the dining cavern.

"You gonna bring that one greenrider with you?" he asked, a grin spreading across his face.

"I know a lot of greenriders." M'sar glanced back to smirk at him. "You mean R'bharra?"

"Yeah, that's the one!" H'lem beamed. "R'bharra."

M'sar shrugged. "I was just gonna go by myself. Or, I guess, with you if you wanted." Then he frowned in suspicion. "Wait, you mean like a romantic thing?"

"Well, obviously, I'm going to take you first," said H'lem. "But yeah, romantic or sex-friend-ual, or whatever with him."

"I don't do that romantic stuff." M'sar waved a hand dismissively. He'd done that once, with Farand, and he never wanted to be hurt like that again. "You back to holding hands with your boyfriend?"

"Of course!" H'lem beamed. He had taken the first opportunity to have a nice hug and hand-hold. "You're missing out."

As they entered the dining cavern, M'sar said, "You know you're gonna need to do more than hold hands before Mac starts chasing, yeah?"

"What makes you so sure he's going to start chasing?" H'lem shrugged. Mactallath had never expressed any interest in it to him.

"Well not right now, but he's gonna at some point. Unless you're willing to bet he's _never_ going to chase," M'sar said.

"Well, not _never_," said H'lem. "We'll be ready to do more stuff someday. I mean... maybe? Probably? Sometimes I think about what it will be like. But... I just... dreamed of what we have _now_ for so long, and now we have it."

M'sar got in line and turned to H'lem. "You got some time yet, but you seem like the type to be upset if your first time is with some random flight partner instead of your boyfriend."

H'lem h'rumphed.

M'sar was probably right, but letting a ticking clock pressure them into going faster than they wanted to did not feel any better than a greenflight doing it.

"Maybe you can give me some pointers. I don't really have any idea what I'm doing... and I'm sure as shit not asking my dads. Or my brothers."

Maybe if he could start properly dreaming about these things with Tannock, he might be more ready to ask him if they could try them.

"Oh yeah sure. I can tell you anything you want to know about anal or sucking dick or whatever." M'sar reached the front of the line and a kitchen worker choked on a laugh. "But you should start with kissing. Even I like to start with kissing."

H'lem dramatically rolled his eyes at M'sar.

"And yet. So how do I kiss him without coming off like I've never kissed anyone before?"

"Well, one thing is you gotta tilt your head a little so you don't bang your noses together," M'sar said as he filled his plate. "And don't go in so fast that you're mashing each other's teeth against your lips."

"Why are you messing with me?" H'lem groused. Was he going to conjure up a whole list of things anyone could deduce for themselves? "You were the one that brought this up."

"I ain't messing with you. You said you never kissed anyone before." M'sar shrugged. "Okay, so. I kissed a lot of guys who don't know what they're doing, and I don't care so much if they're clumsy at first, as long as they learn. This boy actually _likes_ you, so maybe just tell him you haven't kissed anyone?"

H'lem narrowed his eyes sceptically at M'sar for a moment, but then relaxed as he decided he was telling the truth.

"He knows. I told him."

"Then it should be fine," M'sar said. "Good kissing is mostly about _passion_. How much you want him and he wants you, and you wanna get all tangled up in each other."

Hm. H'lem was certain that he loved Tannock very much. But he was still not sure he fully understood what passion was. Sure, he had used the word before. The passion of the hug. But was that what he was feeling?

"I'm not sure I know how to feel that way."

M'sar added another roll to his plate. "I'd say maybe you're too young, but I'd already been with _lots_ of boys when I was your age." And men, some more than twice as old as he'd been. He hadn't thought much about it at the time, but now looking at kids like H'lem and R'zen . . . he pushed the thought away. "Maybe it's different for you cause you like all that mushy stuff." Turning, he started to scan for a spot they could sit.

"Yeah, maybe." H'lem nodded as though that made sense. "So maybe Mac is the same way. Maybe he's happy with just cuddles and stuff. At least for now."

"None of them are ready yet, but they _will_ be." M'sar couldn't wait. He led the way over to a table with a few empty spots. "So you're not horny for your boyfriend, which I don't get, but whatever. Maybe you'd like after-sex type kissing? When you feel all warm and tingly and you want just a little bit more, so you kiss the guy nice and slow."

"That does sound nice." H'lem smiled a silly smile as he shoved some of his meal into his mouth. The thought was enough to distract him from the thought of whether he was weird for not being horny.

"There you go. Just try it out." M'sar took a bite of meat.

"Maybe I will." Considering all of the courage it had taken him to even ask Tannock to be his boyfriend in the first place, he might die asking him for a kiss.

Mactallath sent H'lem images of him cuddled with Tannock and all of the feelings of warmth and safety that came with it, then images of them kissing sweetly along with all the same feelings. He was reassuring him. He would surely not die.

M'sar snorted. "You keep getting that goofy look whenever you talk about him." A few times, he'd thought about warning H'lem not to get too attached. Not to risk his heart. But things were different here, and this Tannock guy probably wasn't going to dump H'lem and marry a girl to make his parents happy.

"I really like him," said H'lem, as though that were not so very obvious. "Do you think we three could all hang around together sometime?" He was not so sure that M'sar would enjoy -- or, at least, admit to enjoying -- climbing rocks or trees or any of the other outdoorsy things he liked to do with Tannock, but it (probably) could not hurt to ask.

M'sar opened his mouth to say no, but then paused to think about it. "I could meet him, I guess." He smirked. "And I won't even try to sleep with him. You can have him first."

"Oh, you say the nicest things." H'lem could not help but smile. This was going to turn out so much better than asking M'sar to join in his family dinner.

Last updated on the October 28th 2026

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That Mushy Stuff