Maybe the wine had helped Dylan's nerves, maybe he'd just naturally gotten over it as the night turned into early morning, 0100 hours rolling around so fast he could hardly believe he and Joker had been talking, just talking like better friends than they'd been, for three hours straight.
It'd seemed perfectly natural, the way he'd moved from the chair to the couch where Joker had first sat, the way they'd both moved an hour after that, Dylan practically carrying him just to make sure he made it to the bed without tripping and breaking something. He didn't have to worry about it anymore, neither of them have felt a need to get up from where they lay, side by side.
As fast as Dylan had this realization, he dismissed it as anything to care about. For once, he cared about what Joker was saying for more than its entertainment value, listening intently, both hands up behind his head, turned enough to look at the man he was sharing his bed with even if it was more literal than anything else so far.
There was still plenty of entertainment, though. "So after graduation, this girl, like, we had the worst rivalry in our class, we hated each other, of course it turned out I was better, you know that part already," he paused, downing the contents of his glass, setting it on the nightstand before continuing. "At the reception, she starts hitting on me. For real. I just never even thought it was that kind of rivalry, you know? So I'm all ready to go, except this is me when I was still a young pup, still ignorant in the ways of proper seduction."
Pulling his arms down and letting them rest at his sides, Dylan cracked a smile, not enough alcohol in his system to be drunk with, but enough for Joker to have a haze around his face, certainly enough for him to give Joker the benefit of the doubt instead of commenting on his current skill at seduction. That they were getting more cuddly in bed at that very moment certainly helped. "Didn't end the way you wanted it to, I'm guessing?"
"Mmm-hmm," Joker sighed at the memory, "Her big brother came looking for me to break me in half for trying to get into her pants.
"How'd he not?" Dylan's smile broadened a little, "Break you in half, I mean?"
"I told him I'd go for a threesome if he was up for it." Pausing just to grin slightly, Joker said, "Probably not the best choice of words."
"I take it he was flustered enough to back off," Shepard chuckled, "Or you'd still be in traction."
Joker, not entirely with a straight face, answered, "He wasn't up for it."
Taking a deep breath, glancing up at the ceiling, Dylan thought back on his fears over this and realized he'd long since gotten over it. It wasn't just being on a buzz, either. Joker's hand slowly finding his own, fingers lacing together, felt good. Dylan hadn't thought 'yeah, but it's Joker' in quite awhile. "Guess it's a good thing I am, then."
Glancing down at their hands held together, Joker said, "That was the first time I ever came out to anyone. I just hated being the crippled kid, adding another minority onto it always seemed like a bad idea. No one ever believes it when you say you're bi, either. You start hearing people talk when they think you're out of earshot." He threw on a good, sarcastic mockery voice, one that left no doubt he was quoting from memory and not making things up, "'Poor Joker, he's just going through a phase because he's given up on girls after driving them all away.' 'Who's Moreau think he's kidding, anyway? Why doesn't he just admit he's a fag? It's not the twentieth century anymore, after all.' Didn't need to worry about it once everyone knew I was better. Guess you didn't need to worry about that, huh?"
"People in space don't care about this kind of thing all that much," Dylan sighed. "Until you get to OCS for us grunts. Then it's just another thing they insult you with to break you down while you were flying fighters around the moon." He poked Joker in the side with his elbow; very lightly. Joker let him continue instead of responding to the barb. "Helps being a biotic, though; no one picks on the scrawny little O-1 when they realize he can throw you out a window with his brain, and your men call you 'butterbars' behind your back a lot less, too."
"Scrawny?" Making a show, probably on purpose, of sitting up so he could look at Dylan from head to toe and back again, Joker raised his eyebrows. He said, "You were scrawny?"
"Yep, s'why I don't miss hitting the weights even for a day." Dylan's pride was somewhat blunted by the fact that he had missed a couple of days recently, but he felt it was justified. "Except for the days involving raids on bases next to black holes, things like that. Anyway, the worst that happened was probably Mom crying for a few minutes...she really wanted grandkids, I think it still bothers her, somewhat."
"Sorry, Shepard," Joker squeezed his hand tighter, "Can't have ass-babies for you."
"Not a problem." Rolling a little onto his side, Dylan looked Joker in the eye, just laying there for a second. He reached up with his free hand, fingers sliding down Joker's jawline, thumb to his cheek. "Why'd you shave?"
"You mentioned you didn't like guys with beards," Joker said.
Dylan chuckled. "I wasn't trying to drop hints...you didn't have to."
"I know," Joker still held his eyes. "See, I figure you just don't like guys with facial hair that's more masculine than yours. But hey, if that stubble's the best you can work up, can't say as I blame you."
Pulling his hand away from Dylan's, he shuffled closer so they were shoulder to shoulder, arm going behind Dylan's head, pulling him close. Worried that Joker might not shut up, maybe just as worried than he would, Dylan tried to say something. "Jeff..."
As it turned out, Joker did know when to shut up. He was also a really good kisser. It was a challenge, a borderline distraction to make sure he wasn't too rough, but Dylan managed so far, beating back the little thought in his mind about how slow and gentle wasn't usually the way he handled things in bed, taking his time in getting an arm around Joker's back.
Despite not being able to take being manhandled very much, Joker could still manage his fair share of it. Practically shoving his tongue down Dylan's throat, he pushed the large Marine over onto his back, rolling up on top. Finally breaking the kiss, Joker sat up and hooked his thumbs under Dylan's shirt, pulling up hard enough for it to be surprising.
Raising his arms, letting Joker yank off what was effectively half of his Cerberus duty uniform, Dylan felt his breath catch in his throat. Mordin's advice aside, he hadn't quite expected this much aggression. He found himself painfully aware of the erection suddenly tenting out his pants, Joker all the while scootching back and straddling his knees.
"You alright?" Joker said, suddenly. "You look like you're forgetting to breath."
"Just nervous," Dylan admitted. "I'm used to being more...direct. I feel like I'm doing something wrong."
"Hey, you can touch," Joker said. "Just don't squeeze, that'll be bad. Besides that, I've long-since mastered how to keep a guy entertained." Hand going to the bulge in Dylan's pants, satisfied at the way Dylan squirmed when he started rubbing, Joker smiled, "Helluva lot easier than with women, too."
"I bet." Spurred on, Dylan sat up halfway and took Joker's shirt off the same way Joker had done to him, chuckling as Joker fought to keep his hat and failed, chuckling more when Joker picked it back up and put it right back on his head, turned backwards this time. He ran his hands through the hair on Joker's chest and back down his sides, caught off-guard again when Joker leaned down, not to kiss him but to kiss and nibble at his neck, sliding down and going across his chest, tongue and hands following every line of muscle, down to the trail of hair at his stomach. Joker tongued at that, too and promptly moved down, yanking Dylan's pants off in practically record time.
He moved back up and they kissed again, Dylan repeating the process but not finishing it, Joker shucking his trousers off a little more awkwardly once they were around his legs, but it let them keep going uninterrupted, grinding through their underwear while sucking face, harder and harder until Dylan lost a non-existent contest and moaned into his mouth first.
Taking that as a cue, Joker pulled back and rolled him over onto his stomach, leaving Dylan wanting for contact again as he realized Joker was taking in the sight of him like this, admiring him with no shame at all, crawling back on top and enjoying Dylan's body all the way again, starting at the small of his back and working his way up this time. Reaching the back of his neck, Joker abruptly stopped, massaging his shoulders gently. "I probably shouldn't touch that, huh?"
Feeling Joker's fingers rub a few inches away from his amp, Dylan let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Its fine...as long as you don't pull the amp out, it'll keep crap from getting in my implant."
Taking that as a cue, Joker moved his fingers closer, tracing the outline of the small, off-white bulb, getting braver and kissing gently near it, sucking a little each time, moving closer and closer until he hit the edge, Dylan bucking underneath him as he did.
"Do that more." As muffled as Dylan's voice was with his face down on a pillow, it wasn't hard to understand him or notice the way his voice shook.
"Gladly," Joker was more than willing to keep at it, now that he new biotic amps were erogenous zones. At least on Shepard, anyway. He teased him, kissing around his neck, leaving a good hickie and ignoring Dylan's amp completely before going back to it, tracing the edge with his tongue, feeling the large man underneath him shake, seeing his hands balled up in the sheets. He saw this as victory, because if Dylan was still thinking about how it didn't usually go like this for him, well, the man had serious ADD problems. Eventually, he moved back down, impatient to move on and get to something more fun. He crawled down Dylan's back, wasting no time in getting Dylan's skivvies off. "Spread 'em."
"Giving orders on my ship now?" Despite his words, Dylan complied.
"Technically a civilian ship," Joker reminded him, the sarcasm easy to hear. "To think, you thought you were getting lucky when I kept my pants on."
Thinking he should've expected this, Dylan didn't have time to ponder it before his higher functions turned off while Joker worked more magic with his tongue. 'Magic' might've been an understatement, because Joker was, he realized, pretty good at this stuff.
Putting 'Joker' together with 'rim job' wasn't something Dylan would've thought sane a night earlier, but he stopped caring about sanity. "Jeff," he managed to moan out after he didn't even know how long he spent writhing around, mashing his face into his pillow.
"Pull your knees up," Joker grabbed his hips, tugging up so Dylan would get the idea. "Yeah, like that." It turned out Joker had the common courtesy to give a reach-around, too, but he didn't stick with it for very long. "Hang on a sec."
Glancing back, Dylan could plainly see the bottle of lube Joker retrieved from the pocket of his discarded trousers, tossing it once to himself, lightly, the bottle spinning once before it landed back in his hand.
He knew he should've seen that coming, too. It'd been a very, very long time since he'd met a guy he'd let do this.
He didn't have any second thoughts.
"Wait, less blankets. You're a human furnace. How the hell you can put out that much heat without any damn hair besides on your arms, I have no clue..."
"You're just jealous I'm smooth as a baby," Dylan said, lazily shoving the sheets down to their waists. He was completely worn out, but not in a way he was going to complain about. Walking later on might be worth complaining over, but he wasn't planning on that for hours.
"Hey, chicks dig chest hair," Joker half-whined. "And if it wasn't your hands running through it constantly a little while ago, I'd like to know whose."
Deciding to let him have the last word, Dylan said, "C'mon, roll over. I usually roll onto my back, safer this way."
"Right," Joker said, the same lazy air in his voice. Once on his side, he pushed back when he felt Dylan press his chest to his back, letting the larger man wrap an arm over him.
Just as quickly, Dylan pulled back. "Wait," he grabbed the extra pillow and, despite it being a somewhat cumbersome process, managed to get it between his knees. By extension, it ended up between Joker's knees, too. "That's better."
"That's smart," Joker smiled, Dylan's arm coming back around his chest. "Do the Marines train you how to spoon this good, Dill?"
"Mmm-hmm," Dylan answered. "Puppy-piling. Part of AIT on Titan; we have to go through rough terrain without suits; they keep the atmosphere controlled, but they don't bother with heat." Yawning, Dylan lazily added, "You get hosed off at the end, you strip, and everyone piles up to share body heat."
"That's...not at all what I was expecting, but what the hell, it's a good answer." Dylan's yawning proving contagious, Joker followed suit. "So."
"Satisfied?"
Dead-serious, Joker's answer was, "Not unless the next words out of your mouth are, 'we're doing this again.'"
"We're doing this again," Dylan said.
"Good," Joker turned his head down, kissing Dylan's arm on account of its accessibility. "Told you I'd make it good."
Idly, Dylan ran the top of his thumb along the rim of Joker's hat, tracing the line. "You plan on sleeping with this?"
Shifting slightly, confused, Joker eventually realized what Dylan found strange. "Wouldn't be the first time, not by a long shot." He tugged the hat off his head and tossed it to the floor with his clothes.
Dylan pulled closer, his face at the back of Joker's neck, breath giving him goosebumps that he didn't see as he closed his eyes. He ran that hand through Joker's hair. "It looks good on you anyway."
Joker answered, "Well, I'll be sure to remember it next time."
Along with, he thought, Mordin's diagrams for how to have fun with biotics. Next time was too far away to think about in-depth for now, though, and Joker didn't bother trying before sleep came for them both.