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Caelus isn't a kisser.
It should be common sense. How could he be, really, when from the second he opened his eyes he's only known destruction and chaos, roiling beneath his skin, urging him to destroy and to wreak havoc, to become a harbinger of the universe's end.
He is a fighter first and foremost. He lives for the adrenaline that courses through his veins when he slams his bat into his opponent hard enough to send them swerving into a wall. He lives for every lash and bruise he receives in battle, his body but a tool, a catalyst for sowing ruin and bloodshed.
Kissing is an act of intimacy, of closeness and connection, of unity exchanged in the touch of a loved one. An act of fragile vulnerability, an act of devotion— Caelus knows he's not a kisser.
You don't give roses to a beast. You don't kiss a being born of devastation and ruin.
So why, of all people, why is Caelus the one sitting in Dan Heng's room right now, being asked for a kiss?
Sitting across from him on his bed in the Archives, Dan Heng looks uncharacteristically flustered, a far cry from the usually stoic, impassive man he usually comes off as. Now, rather than sitting straight up, Dan Heng's head is ducked out of embarrassment, his posture hunched like a bashful fern curling in on itself. It does a good job of hiding Dan Heng's face, but the angle allows Caelus a glimpse at the bright rose color the man's ears have taken on, letting him know exactly just how flustered he is about the situation.
Dan Heng's words, spoken just moments earlier, ring in his head: "Caelus, can you kiss me?"
It's not what he expected to hear when he entered the Archives for a quick gaming break; hell, it isn't something he expected to hear for at least another couple centuries (one doesn't make it into Dan Heng's league without numerous sacrifices, after all), and yet here he is, staring wide-eyed at the man in front of him as if he's just morphed into some eldritch being because really, he might as well have and it would've garnered the same reaction from Caelus.
"...Dan Heng," Caelus says slowly, after a moment of consideration (read: trying to memorize the shade of red Dan Heng's cheeks have turned). "You.... you want a kiss... from me?"
Aeons, the notion aloud has Caelus flushing nearly as red as he awaits a response from Dan Heng, who slowly uncurls from his defensive position and raises his head.
"...You heard right," he says, hesitant as he drags his eyes up to meet Caelus's, and well, Caelus really can't help but notice how beautifully the cold silver contrasts the warm rose of the man's blush. Whatever celestial being had designed Dan Heng had clearly been a being of the finest taste. "I've been having these... urges, as of late, and I think testing it out with you would help relieve them, so to speak."
"Urges?" Caelus blinks rapidly at that, and he really hopes the way his face heatens up isn't as visible as it feels. "Dan Heng, you're— you're not asking me to sleep with you or anything, are you—"
"No! Aeons, no," Dan Heng blurts quickly, looking mortified (and maybe Caelus should be a little more insulted by the rejection, but wow, has Dan Heng just gotten even redder? Captivating stuff; someone should really curate an exhibit of Dan Heng's blushing). "Look, it's nothing like what you're imagining.... I just haven't been able to stop thinking about, well. The day you woke up."
The day I woke up...? Caelus thinks, puzzled for a moment, and then the memory hits him square in the chest and his mouth forms a perfect O.
He does remember, clear as day, the first time he met his companions. He remembers March's exuberant smile and the lights of the space station overhead, bright enough to make his head spin. But clearer than that he remembers Dan Heng— or, perhaps more accurately, he remembers the feeling of closeness, of another person's breath ghosting over his lips, shaky but determined, as he blinks open his eyes to be met with the sight of half-lidded silver eyes and dark hair against pale skin—
Caelus coughs, also remembering the sense of disappointment he'd felt as March had hastily shoved Dan Heng off of him. Not his best moment.
That was the closest he'd been to Dan Heng ever in the time he'd been with the Express, both literally and figuratively. After the initial almost-kiss, Dan Heng had made quite the effort to keep his distance from Caelus— from most everyone, really. He only learns later from March that such behavior tends to be the norm when it comes to Dan Heng.
It might've been endearing, watching the man avoid social situations like a disgruntled cat stepping around a puddle, if it weren't frustrating beyond belief. After all, he was the first thing Caelus saw when he woke up, and he's not too sure whether it's some weird imprinting kind of deal, but sometimes he just wants to grab Dan Heng and yell at him to get him to recall that moment, because surely he's not the only one who's got that scene on replay in his head at ungodly hours in the morning when everybody else on the Express is already asleep.
He realizes belatedly he's gotten wrapped up in his recollection of the scene when in front of him, Dan Heng shifts, apprehensive.
"I understand if it didn't mean anything to you—" the man backtracks hastily, and Caelus jumps to reassure, unwilling to lose the once chance he has to finally feel like he isn't the only one losing his mind about this.
"No, no, that's not— I've... been thinking about it, too," and it sounds stupid, the words tumbling clumsily out of Caelus's mouth, but clearly it can't be all that bad because Dan Heng's blinking back at him in flustered surprise. "I mean, it's normal, isn't it, to think about almost-kissing someone you share close quarters with every day?"
"Right," Dan Heng nods vigorously, and maybe it's a bit of a reach but also maybe neither of them are willing to admit it might be out of the ordinary to think about kissing each other so often. "Very normal. Obviously, anybody in our situation would feel the same."
"Right," Caelus repeats dumbly.
A strangely tense moment passes between the two, a silent communication of "We both know we're perpetuating a delusion but we are unwilling to break it for the sake of our already crumbling dignities."
"Then," Dan Heng ventures first, and Caelus doesn't miss the way his gaze flits down to his lips, heartrate picking up at the sharp gleam in those silver eyes, "does that mean—"
"Wait, wait, hold on," Caelus backs up all of a sudden, because the reality of the situation has only just truly hit him and the cogs in his brain are starting to turn and he can't think with Dan Heng so close, leaning into his space. "Can you...?"
Dan Heng's expression morphs into one of concern, and he scoots back in turn, giving Caelus some room to breathe.
"Sorry," Dan Heng says after a beat, and the slight frown is back again. "I think I'm getting some mixed signals here. Caelus, if you don't want to kiss me, we don't have to—"
"No! Aeons, that's not it!" Caelus waves the notion off quickly, flushing at the confirmation that yes, Dan Heng definitely intended to kiss him just now. "It's just— aren't you bothered by this?"
"Bothered?" Dan Heng's frown deepens, only looking more confused by that. "I guess it's a bit forward to do this on my bed, but there's not exactly a lot of comfortable places in here—"
"That's not what I mean either! The bed's fine, but," Caelus squeezes his eyes shut as if praying to the Aeons for the nerve to voice the thoughts that have been plaguing him since the topic was brought up. "But Dan Heng, I— you know I... I'm not a kisser."
Dan Heng, whose expression had just begun to morph into one of tentative concern, stares.
Caelus stares back, feeling a flush begin to creep up the nape of his neck as he realizes how idiotic he sounded just now.
"Not a kisser?" Dan Heng finds his words first, quirking up a brow. "Caelus, if it's your first time kissing somebody, I wouldn't be surprised in the least; you've only been 'alive' for a week."
"No, that's not it!" Caelus squeaks, and before Dan Heng's brow can raise any higher, he hastens to clarify, "It will— er, would be my first kiss. But that's not the problem! What bothers me more is the principle. I mean... I'm a receptacle for a Stellaron— an amalgamation of chaos and ruin and— and Dan Heng, I'm probably the least kissable thing on the Express, and that's saying a lot because a sip of Himeko's coffee got Mr. Yang sick for nearly half a year."
A furrow appears in Dan Heng's forehead as his brows draw together, and the man pauses, takes a moment to piece together the information Caelus is giving him. For a second Caelus thinks— though not without a small twinge of disappointment— that maybe Dan Heng's coming to his senses and realizing what a terrible idea it is to kiss him when he has half the Herta Space Station, the Cold Dragon Young fanclub, and probably every other person in the nearest 30 lightyears willing to kiss him instead. But his hope is quickly diminished by the next words that come out of Dan Heng's mouth.
"That's not true."
Caelus opens his mouth, to— to, well. To protest, probably, but then it hits him that the rebuttal means Dan Heng finds him at least a little bit kissable and that means the only sound that escapes is one reminiscent of a deflating balloon. Thankfully, though, Dan Heng elects to ignore his pathetic attempt in favor of doubling down.
"Caelus," he begins, slowing his inflection just enough to make the way Caelus's name rolls off his tongue that much more noticeable. Just like that, the atmosphere in the room starts to feel thicker. "I don't know where you got this idea that you're 'unkissable—' though I might have to blame it on those trashy drama novels you picked up from Belobog—"
Fair, Caelus thinks faintly, but he doesn't get much more room to think before Dan Heng's leaning in so much closer, until he's close enough that Caelus can make out every single one of his (dark, long, thin) eyelashes, hands coming down to rest on the bed on either side of Caelus's thighs, trapping him in but Caelus really doesn't mind it when Dan Heng is so close.
"But frankly speaking, I don't find you 'unkissable' in the least. You seem to be under the impression that your harboring of a Stellaron makes you unfit to be cherished, but, if that were true...." Dan Heng's eyes narrow now. It feels dangerous, the way Dan Heng's body seems to cage Caelus in as he murmurs, and yet every nerve of his feels as if it's been set alight, a feeling Caelus has only ever associated with combat.
"If that were true, I wouldn't find you half as desirable as I do. You're no beast, Caelus. And even if you are, you're one whose company I enjoy, and whose appearance I'm not complaining about either. I... don't try to improvise mouth-to-mouth on just anybody, after all." Dan Heng's cheeks flush at that confession (and Caelus's brain might short-circuit a little bit), but he recovers quickly. "So, you are not only very kissable, Caelus," and Aeons, if the way Dan Heng's eyes drift down to his lips like that isn't positively sinful, he doesn't know what is, "you are the only thing on this Express that I want to kiss."
Caelus stares up at Dan Heng, hovering above him, the atmosphere charged with— with something that either can't be named or that neither of them care to, because the next moment Dan Heng's raising a hand to cup Caelus's cheek oh-so-softly, murmuring, "May I?"
And then Caelus jerks forward and Dan Heng follows in suit, their lips meeting in between, an attempt at communicating what their words can't.
Immediately, they clash. It's a rough start to a kiss— nothing soft or delicate is exchanged as Dan Heng wastes no time in giving everything he has, insistent in the way his lips press hard enough to be bruising, his teeth and tongue emerging to scrape lightly at Caelus's bottom lip or open him up to him. Caelus, rapidly losing his sanity at every touch the other man dares to give him, has no choice but to give in to the sensation of Dan Heng— his hand, warm and whole on his cheek, his lips on his, greedy for something he doesn't even know if he's able to give. It burns, everywhere Dan Heng touches, but it's the kind of burn under his skin, the kind that makes him itch to be closer, and he chases it, leaning further into Dan Heng's lips, raising a hand to grasp at the man's chest before finding purchase in the crook of the man's neck.
Two things occur to Caelus very quickly as he desperately tries to keep up with Dan Heng's ministrations.
One: This clearly isn't Dan Heng's first time doing this.
Two: Dan Heng might have been right in calling those drama novels trashy, because for all the rather impressively vivid descriptions of the characters' bodily relations, Caelus finds himself completely and utterly lost in that area right now.
Kissing is magical, the books had told him. It's an elevating experience— gives one a floaty feeling as if they're about to ascend to the heavens themselves.
Right now, though, Caelus is feeling none of that. Instead, he's keenly aware of where he is— the thin fabric of Dan Heng's comforter that he's seated on, hard floor underneath. But he's also acutely aware of Dan Heng, every way his mouth moves against his, every time his tongue parts Caelus's lips and threatens to empty him out. It's so much realer and more solid and also ten times better than any fantasies those books could hope to conjure up.
"Dan Heng—" Caelus yelps as the man moves his hand from his cheek to his chest, pushing him down, down, down until Caelus's back hits the bed and Dan Heng's back on top of him again, needy against his lips like a man starved, hardly giving him a moment to breathe. It's probably an overstatement; the kiss can't possibly be that enjoyable for him, given Caelus lacks the skill to reciprocate any of what Dan Heng's doing to him, but he can feel the desperation, the need for something he's been deprived of, mirrored in every push and press he feels against his lips.
They lose themselves in it. Even with Caelus on his back now, Dan Heng between his legs, they don't go further than they started, consumed with the need to touch and to hold and to claim.
Kissing, Caelus decides, is nothing like what he thought it would be.
Kissing, Caelus decides, is destructive.
The revelation brings a new fervor to Caelus's kisses, and he wraps his arms around Dan Heng's neck, finally, finally reciprocating, tugging him closer so he can positively ruin him, and then—
And then all of a sudden Dan Heng draws back, sitting back on his knees as his hand flies up to his mouth, eyes wide as if he can't believe what has just happened.
Caelus, very much still blissed out, takes a second to realize what he just did, and when he does, he curses, scrambling upright and shuffling over to Dan Heng's side of the bed, eyes wide with concern.
"Dan Heng— sorry, did I—"
But Caelus cuts himself off as Dan Heng's gaze snaps up to meet his, and he takes in the other man's expression— pupils blown wide, dark hair a mess, lips swollen and bleeding as he draws his hand away from where he was nursing his new wound— the wound that Caelus made (and Aeons, maybe he shouldn't be so gleeful about that).
Dan Heng's tongue darts out to lap up the blood, a flash of bright red smearing on pale skin, and it's all the warning Caelus gets before he's being taken by the hand and Dan Heng's pinning him down to claim his lips again, only so much hungrier than before.
Oh, Caelus thinks, dazed as this time, pain sparks through his lip, Dan Heng's canine sinking into the pliant tissue, but just as quickly he's swiping his tongue over the wound just as quickly, the metallic tang of blood filling Caelus's mouth, and it feels— it feels amazing.
Needless to say, the two of them don't emerge from that bed for quite a while.
— ✧ —
It becomes a bit of a regular thing.
After the first time, Caelus did try to let things sink back into normalcy, but there's something about Dan Heng that has every semblance of his self-control slipping through his fingers like water when he's alone in a room with him. So yes, while it had been Caelus knocking on the door to the Archives at an obscene hour, it was Dan Heng who initiated the subsequent makeout session by jumping him as soon as the doors closed.
The night after that is the third time, spent lazily rolling about in Dan Heng's bed, and then the next afternoon becomes the fourth when Caelus enters the Archives for some information in the data bank only to end up seated right on said data bank with a greedy Dan Heng atop him.
Then comes a fifth time, and the fifth turns into the sixth, and then the seventh, and eventually Caelus loses count of how many times they've kissed because it becomes routine.
They're not dating (even though Caelus is pretty sure he never wants to kiss anybody else for the rest of his life and he has ample reason to think Dan Heng feels the same), and it never goes further than heated makeouts, but sometimes Caelus will open the door to the Archives and Dan Heng will pin him against the wall, or the desk, or a nearby shelf (the latter of which he does not recommend trying for more than a couple minutes at a time, by the way, ouch) and kiss him until his head spins.
After the first time, Dan Heng has been much more eager to bite at Caelus, and bite he does, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip, alternating between harsh bites and softer kisses along the nape of his neck or his shoulders (because Caelus's outfit really isn't the most convenient for covering up marks on the neck or collarbone). On the other hand, Caelus, who has little experience with the whole kissing scene outside of the knowledge that Dan Heng loves the biting, bites back and bites harder every time— Dan Heng's lips, his neck, his ear— and, once, his nose (which had not been easy to explain to Miss Natasha). He draws blood sometimes, and he knows the bites hurt, but every time without fail, Dan Heng will pull back and give him a look full of such heat he can't help but want to do it all over again.
The rest of the Astral Express crew seem to remain blissfully unaware of their ministrations; either that or they simply don't want to know. If March catches sight of a carelessly placed bite on Caelus's nape or an oddly shaped bruise on Dan Heng's jaw, she doesn't bat an eye. Himeko is definitely aware of something going on between the two of them, if the knowing look she gives them over the dinner table as she serenely sips from her cup of coffee is any indication, but to be quite honest Caelus is way too intimidated to try and gauge how much she knows. And Mr. Yang probably isn't even aware they've got an inkling of attraction between them, mind always far too occupied with work.
As for Pom-Pom... Caelus deeply regrets the one time their conductor walked in on him and Dan Heng on the parlor car's couch. The poor thing wasn't able to look either of them in the eye for days afterward (entirely Dan Heng's fault, by the way; the man couldn't wait until they were already in his room).
This newfound thing between them goes on for a couple weeks without a hitch.
They don't try to set any rules, but it happens so often that eventually it's rare for either of them to leave a room they're sharing without exchanging a kiss (a kiss that always gets very heated very quickly, if Caelus has anything to say about it).
So, it can be assumed, after Caelus gets practice pretty much daily, that he's got the whole kissing thing down. He's completely confident in his kissing game now, which is why when he, Dan Heng, and March are sent to complete a couple research tasks on the Herta Space Station, he refuses to be cowed when one of the researchers requests a kiss from him.
"Pardon?" Caelus blinks at the scientist— a tall blonde man, likely well in his early thirties, with glasses seated atop his nose and a bit of a snobbish voice that, quoting March, "makes him sound very punchable."
This scientist (whose name somehow eludes Caelus every time he looks at him) was the one who had called for help from the Express, claiming that a whole part of the space station had stopped functioning entirely due to a malfunction caused by a group of Voidrangers in the area.
Immediately upon landing, it was evident that this man has a bit of a fixation on Caelus— never ceasing to praise him for his intellect and good looks whenever he so much as breathes in his direction. Caelus doesn't bother telling him off for it though, in part because he doesn't really care, and also in part because he does enjoy seeing the rampant jealousy in Dan Heng's eyes whenever it happens.
"Well, as I said," the researcher sniffs, adjusting the placement of his glasses. "Now that you three have cleared the area of monsters, I could input the algorithm that'll get this sector of the space station up and running again, but..." The man pushes his glasses down to leer at Caelus. "...I think I should get a little something in return for it first."
"Why, you!" March pipes up from next to Caelus, hands balling into fists as she glares at the man; Caelus is somewhat touched by her anger on his behalf. "That's— that's totally extortion! If we take this up with Miss Asta, she'll get you kicked off the station in no time."
Hovering at Caelus's side, Dan Heng says nothing, but the intensity of his violent thoughts can be felt resoundingly clear by the other three.
"Kick me off the station? Lead Researcher Asta would be lucky to find somebody as skilled as I am! Don't make claims you can't follow through on." The blonde man turns on March, glaring down his nose at her for a moment before turning to Caelus, the hardness in his expression melting into a too-sweet smile. "Besides, I'm not asking for much. Just a kiss on the cheek from your friend here."
Caelus frowns. The man has certainly been very unpleasant to work with, and he's not too keen on putting his mouth anywhere near him, but they came all this way to complete this mission... surely he can manage a single kiss if it means restoring the space station to its proper functioning capacity—
A warm hand on his shoulder jolts Caelus out of his pondering, and he turns to be met with Dan Heng, whose expression is a mix of a lot of things — mainly murderous intent, of course, but also a gentle concern for him that has Caelus softening. If he doesn't want to kiss this man, he doesn't have to, Dan Heng's eyes seem to say.
If they were alone, maybe Caelus would've found it an ample opportunity to lunge at Dan Heng and kiss him until he can't breathe, but since they are still in the presence of March and the blonde researcher, Caelus only reaches up to gently squeeze Dan Heng's hand on his shoulder before turning back to the squabbling pair in front of him.
"I'll do it."
Dan Heng's grip on his shoulder tightens ever so imperceptibly, but Caelus pays it no heed as March and the blonde researcher whip their heads around to stare at him.
"You what?!" March screeches, horrified.
"You will?" The researcher says, eyes wide in awe, clearly not expecting to get this far.
"It's just a kiss on the cheek," Caelus says, trying to keep his voice even as Dan Heng's grip seems to grow even tighter (Ow, seriously Dan Heng, chill out).
"But— but!" March sputters, gesturing frantically to the blonde researcher behind her who appears to be choking on multiple breath mints.
Caelus waves her off, stepping past her to approach the researcher. "I'll be fine, March. I mean..." he eyes the blonde man in front of him, who is now furiously polishing his glasses. "...I do this, and you fix this sector of the station, right?"
The researcher fumbles with his glasses before placing them back on his face, doing some odd crossing motion across his chest with his hand before looking up at Caelus and nodding fervently. "I swear it."
In hindsight, maybe it was a bad idea to do this without a proper discussion with Dan Heng on what exactly one is supposed to do when kissing someone.
Because one moment, Caelus is leaning down to deliver a peck to the cheek on this researcher and everybody's eyes are on the two of them, the atmosphere charged with the same kind of tension one feels before a storm breaks—
And the next, horrible screams are filling the air as Caelus promptly opens his jaw and clamps his teeth down into the researcher's cheek.
— ✧ —
In the end, it takes the combined power of March, a trio of passing scientists, and a crowbar to pry Caelus off of his terrified victim (Dan Heng had simply stood by and watched in vindictive amusement, eyewitnesses report).
Once Caelus has been successfully removed, March manages to convince two of the scientists to drag off the bleeding man to the nearest medic, and then the third is able to input a new algorithm to flush the broken code out of the system (a task that actually wasn't as difficult as the blonde researcher had made it out to be, although clearly he had ulterior motives), effectively putting an end to their mission.
Or at least, Caelus hopes that's the case, except it appears the universe has no mercy on him, because instead of deciding to head back to the Express once the situation is taken care of, March whirls on him.
"Caelus," she grits out, and she's smiling but her eyes are sharp as knives. "What was that?"
"He asked me for a kiss," Caelus huffs, crossing his arms and turning away with a pout that can only be compared to that of a petulant child, "and I gave him one."
March stares at him, incredulous.
"Caelus," she says slowly, disbelieving. "You nearly bit that researcher's face clean off."
"It wasn't that bad—"
"He went into shock! Your teeth could've punctured his skull—"
"But they didn't, did they?" Caelus points out, and for a moment March quivers like she can't contain her shock at his sheer audacity, and then she exhales deep through her nose, raising a hand to pinch at the space between her brows.
"Okay, fine. You didn't gravely injure him, and he was horrible, but Caelus," March speaks slowly now, placing emphasis on each word as if trying to drill this into him, "Normally when you kiss someone, you don't try to tear their face off."
And Caelus opens his mouth to argue, again, before closing it as all his thoughts come to a halt in his brain as that information registers.
"When you kiss someone, you don't try to tear their face off."
"...You don't?" He asks eventually, voice very quiet.
March stares at him, and there is peace for exactly 3 seconds before she's lunging forward grabbing him by the front of his shirt, shaking him with every other word that leaves her lips.
"Aeons, no, Caelus! Kissing should not in any way be associated with biting, or at least not when it comes to you because you've got a Stellaron inside you and that means there's no telling what could happen if you break through somebody's skin, who even told you—"
An awkward cough sounds from the corner of the room.
Both March and Caelus turn their heads very slowly in Dan Heng's direction, murderous intent rolling off of March in waves as Caelus begins visibly sweating, mouthing the words "Don't you dare."
Unfortunately, Dan Heng seems to have other ideas, because, voice small, he admits, "I, ah, I might have something to do with Caelus's.... misconceptions about... kissing."
For a moment, the room is dead silent.
March stares at Dan Heng, and Caelus can practically hear the way the gears are turning in her head before she's whipping her head around to look at him as well, eyes wide with a horror that only grows as she realizes just what Dan Heng has just confessed.
"Oh my Aeons," March says, staring down at Caelus like he's some kind of horrific eldritch specimen. She turns her head again to look at Dan Heng next, and repeats the phrase, louder this time. "Oh my Aeons."
Caelus should probably have seen it coming, but he's still thrown off-guard when March abruptly lets go of his shirt, allowing him nothing to cushion his fall as his head bangs into the hard floor of the space station.
"Ow—"
"Oh my Aeons!" March says again, and Caelus looks up to see her clutching at her head, looking as if she's only just begun to figure out the last few pieces of a horribly convoluted puzzle. "You— you... so all those bruises! I thought I was imagining those bite marks, oh my Aeons it all makes sense now—"
March's eyes widen as something seems to dawn on her, and she whirls around to point at Dan Heng accusingly. "You... in the Archives?!"
Dan Heng, who has been curiously red this whole time, only flushes harder. "Caelus doesn't have a room on the Express yet, of course we'd have to go to my room—"
"The Archives is a public space, Dan Heng!" March screeches, and Caelus can see the way her sanity is beginning to fray. "I borrow a book like every other day, I can't believe I'm going to have to think about how you've defiled Caelus on those shelves—"
"It's my room, March, and practically every room on the Express is a public space, unless you'd rather catch us doing it in the storage closet—"
"Eugh, don't even make me imagine that! You two are vile—"
"Trust me, I'm sure all of us would really rather be talking about something else right now—"
March cuts him off with a muffled scream— muffled because she somehow manages to convey the sound of a strangled animal without opening her mouth (a rather impressive feat, Caelus must say).
She points to Dan Heng first. "You," she seethes. "Don't talk to me for the next five hours. And you," she spins on her heel to point at Caelus, who has been peacefully laying on the floor for a good few seconds, "had better not put me through this shit again!"
March then moves toward the nearest door, but before she exits she turns to shoot a glare at the both of them. "Now I'm going to order a drink from the vending machine and have some much-needed quality time with Peppy, and the two of you are going to sit here for the next hour and think about the mental strain you guys put on me every single day." And with that, she turns and stalks out of the room, somehow perfectly managing to convey the action of a door slam without slamming the door (because it's automated, as pretty much everything is on the space station).
With March gone, the air in the room is... awkward, to say the least. Caelus feels antsy laying on his back, so he sits up, though he quickly regrets it when it means he's now facing Dan Heng. Upon making eye contact, he flushes and cranes his neck to look away, the reality of what just happened only now starting to hit him.
He hears the sound of fabric rustling as Dan Heng shifts, and then his footsteps against the hard floor as he approaches Caelus, and he must squat down to be at eye-level because when he speaks, it's far closer than Caelus anticipated and it draws a rather embarrassing squeak from him— which maybe isn't warranted given this is the same man he's made out with on multiple occasions but Caelus isn't really in the mood for making sense.
"Caelus."
He doesn't respond, electing instead to observe the movement of a nearby potted plant, its broad leaves swayed ever so slightly by the circulation of the ventilation shaft right beside it.
"Caelus," Dan Heng says again, voice lower, more concerned. "I know you're embarrassed, and— if you'd like not to continue this, then—"
"I've been kissing wrong."
Caelus turns to look at Dan Heng when he finally blurts what's on his mind. In front of him, Dan Heng seems surprised for a moment, blinking once, twice, before he regains his bearing, tilting his head to look at Caelus with a small quirk of his lips that lets him know he's somehow amused by his response.
"You haven't done anything wrong, Caelus," he says, and he sounds honest but Caelus is still skeptical.
"But— March said—"
"Well, March is also an avid reader of romance novels," Dan Heng sighs. "In books like the ones you two read, kissing is ill-defined. But in real life, it's.... more complicated than that."
Caelus bites his lip, recalling their first kiss, when Dan Heng had felt so solid on top of him even though those novels had warned him of something completely different, of a floaty feeling even though Dan Heng's lips only seemed to ground him further.
"So, then, the biting..."
"It's not common when it comes to conventional kissing, yes," Dan Heng nods, looking momentarily flustered. "But, well—"
"But you like it," Caelus finishes for him, quite enjoying the way Dan Heng sputters at that, the rosy hue of his ears blooming into a deeper amaranth. Before Dan Heng can try to explain, he adds, "I like it too."
Dan Heng closes his mouth, and Caelus doesn't miss the way he swallows, the slight rise of his Adam's apple bobbing.
"I don't want to stop kissing you, Dan Heng," Caelus admits, because he doesn't. He's not a kisser, at least not in the traditional aspect, but he likes kissing Dan Heng, and maybe he doesn't have to be a kisser to feel like this.
And it really is the perfect time for a kiss, and clearly Dan Heng thinks so, too, because his eyes are slipping shut and he's leaning in to capture Caelus's lips, but—
"But," Caelus says, raising a finger and placing it firmly across Dan Heng's lips. The man opens his eyes and gives him a dry look, but he relents, leaning back to allow Caelus room to say his piece. "I want to learn how to kiss the proper way. Biting is all well and good; we're not stopping with that anytime soon, obviously," crass, but definitely worth it to see the way Dan Heng blushes so close, "but if we're going to keep doing this, I want to do it the right way. So," and Caelus leans back now, bringing a hand up to cup Dan Heng's cheek the way the other man had done just a few weeks ago, that night in the Archives, voice taking on a teasing lilt, "will you teach me, Dan Heng?"
His answer comes in the form of Dan Heng leaning in to connect their lips together, Caelus raising his arms to wrap around the man's neck, pulling him closer into him as he gets reacquainted with the feeling of Dan Heng, all over him, hands at his waist as he caresses every groove and dip of his lips with his own, chases the feeling of the other man's skin on his.
No, he's not a kisser, Caelus thinks faintly. But he could get used to this.