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“Humor me,” Casper cocked their head to the side to directly face Gale, if not a little crookedly. They brought their fingers to their mouth and placed the cigarette, still pinched between forefinger and thumb, between their lips. So close he could feel the hot breath Casper exhaled right before they took a long drag, Gale had no choice but to hold their gaze, being in such close proximity. The smoke wafting away from Casper’s lips was intoxicating; the smell made Gale sick, he grit his teeth through it. But no matter how sickly it smelled, it was coming from Casper’s mouth, coming from them, their own breath drifting through their shared air and into his lungs. Sharing air in a way that could be measured, he watched out of the corner of his eyes as the smoke swirled around both of them, disappearing into both of them. It was delicious, the closest the two had ever been.
Casper pulled the dart from their rosied lips, leaving them slightly parted. Gale broke eye contact and followed Casper’s hand as it lowered from their face to rest on the knee that was folded between the two of them. There was a soft red stain on one end, a stamp of Casper’s lips and the deep rouge gloss they wore every day. Each crease of their lips stained onto that paper, the paper that was slowly burning away between their fingers. That burn in his lungs was starting to turn Gale’s body hot, still feeling Casper’s half lidded and glossy eyes staring into his own.
Out of the corner of his eye, Casper moved, brought a hand up to Gale’s chin, and pinched either side of his jaw with a thumb and pointer. His eyes snapped up now to meet Casper’s once more, right as they breathed out. The smoke that once filled their lungs from their last drag now spilled into the cold night air from behind the lips that Gale was so fixated on. Gale’s first instinct was to turn his head, hold his breath, and then scold Casper for doing something so callous. They knew he didn’t smoke, never had so far until this moment. The sickly sweet trails hit his face with a burst of warmth, his eyes watered, his nostrils burned, just from the sheer proximity to the smell.
Gale closed his eyes and inhaled. Deep.
A cough grew from deep within his chest as the smoke dissipated, jerking his head away from Casper’s face and out of their grasp on him to try and clear himself out into his own sleeve. God it burned, how did Casper do this, and for fun and relaxation no less? He looked back up and the bastard was smiling, glossy and half-closed eyes twinkling as they stared into his own.
“There you go,” Their smoking hand drew back up to their face, holding the dart just shy of the entrance to their mouth, so close, yet not quite there. “Such a good boy…” They trailed off with a laugh, hand going limp by their face and loosing another fleck of ash, this time landing on the sleeve of their shirt, Casper paid it no mind, neither did Gale.
Gods, Casper was so drunk, words slurring and eyes hazy. Gale almost felt guilty for even being here right now, such an intimate moment, would they even remember it in the morning? Gale had sobered up real quick the moment Casper invited him into their tent, he knew better, but he was certainly anticipating something and he desperately wanted to be of his right mind for it. Gale was not expecting this.
“Alright it’s your turn.” Casper flipped the dart around in his hand, pointing the end of it towards Gale and holding it out expectantly. Gale swallowed, he had never smoked, and quite honestly did not want to. Still, he looked down at the cigarette that was held up for him to grab, looked at the little ring of lipstick that Casper left, each crease, each line, each dimple, each scar. It was smudged from their repeated hits. He could smudge some of it onto his own mouth now, stain his own lips with Casper’s color and maybe his other companions would think he got lucky. It was the closest thing Gale would likely ever get to a kiss from Casper, and he knew it. But he could pretend for just a few minutes, he supposed.
Gale gently took the dart from Casper, holding it just above where their lips had touched it. It was awkward for him to hold, gently pinching it between the tips of his thumb and first two fingers, a light breeze would have knocked it right out of his grip. When he finally pulled his gaze back up to Casper’s eyes, they were still wearing that stupid sideways grin. “Just one hit, and we’ll be done…” They planted their hands on Gale’s knees and gave them both a squeeze. “It’s my last one anyways, it’s not like I’m gonna be able to get any more on the road…Don’t want any of that hippy-dippy bullshit Halsin smokes.” Casper laughed. At what? Gale didn’t know, but it was enough to make them scrunch their eyes shut and rest a hand on their stomach as their shoulders rose and fell and body shook with silent laughter.
“Fuck okay, okay.” Casper took a breath in and righted themself, blinking rapidly a few times to try and focus their vision.
“I’ve never done this before, Casper.” Gale said just above a whisper.
“I can tell.” They leaned closer to Gale, getting as close as they could with the dart still in between their faces. They never broke eye contact with each other, staring expectantly into the other's eyes as Casper snaked a hand up Gale’s forearm to wrap their fingers around Gale’s occupied hand, thumb pressing into the back of it. Casper gently urged Gale’s hand towards him, towards his slightly open mouth. Their eyes flitted down to Gale’s lips parted in anticipation of the taste.
The dart reached Gale’s lips, breached the entrance, and he met Casper’s ring of lipstick. Gale tightened his mouth around the thing, feeling the paper with the sensitive skin of his lips. Was the paper wet or was he just imagining things? Was it from spit or leftover lipgloss? He sucked in, cheeks slightly hollowing as he inhaled the hot smoke. He tasted it as it entered him, warm smoke coating his tongue and filling his mouth. He stayed there for a moment as it cooled, lips still pursed around the cigarette, still clinging to that damn lipstick. Gale closed his eyes and was tempted to breathe in again, tempted to taste all of it that he could, tempted to leave a drop of himself behind so that when Casper took another hit he was there. Just one more breath and he’d be done. This could sate him for a while, before he finally worked up the courage to kiss Casper properly, to feel their warmth as they felt his mouth and coated his tongue, to finally get the proper lipstick stain on his mouth. One more moment…
His eyes shot open as Casper yanked the thing out of his mouth. “It's not a bottle, you don’t have to keep sucking on it.” Gale opened his mouth to release the smoke he had been holding in, and attempted to stifle the cough that came after. “Gods, you’d have made yourself sick if you kept up like that. Fuck, Gale.” Casper soothed their free hand over Gale’s shoulder and pressed the remainder of the cigarette into the dirt with their other.
“Gods,” Gale sputtered out “how do you do that for fun?” He felt now the burn in his throat and his lungs, the sweet and imaginary taste of Casper was not enough to mask the acrid smoke that he welcomed into his mouth. He coughed, no, gagged, as he tried to rid himself of the taste, the burn. But it stuck to him, clung to him, settled into his taste buds.
Casper shook their head, “Not for fun, it sucks every single time.” They continued to pet Gale’s shoulder and upper arm, soothing him as he tried and failed to clean himself out.
“Thank you” Gale cleared his throat, “for this experience, but I would like to never do it again.”
“We’ll have to find something else to share with each other.”
“I suppose we shall.” Gale smiled as he left the tent.