Whether this is the first of many or a one-off, now is the time to say exactly what you want. Should you initiate moving on to another step, should you change position, do you reciprocate oral sex or is it OK to only give or receive? This is an opportunity for you to be led but also to try something new, to be whoever you want to be in that moment. Thanks to the patriarchy, sex between men may feel like you’re more an equal, so you might be unsure what your role is. (Tip for post-kiss beard irritation: use water-based moisturiser on your lips, not Vaseline or other oil-based ointments, which can make the burn feel more intense.) Go gentler than usual be gentlemanly and suck face rather than sandpaper it. But, eventually, the stinging will find you. Your pain receptors may not feel it right away because you’re lost in the moment and “holy God, oh, wow, oh, wow, this is finally happening and it’s amazing” and maybe it’s everything you ever thought of and more. Your own chin might, depending on your own beard situation, start to feel raw, as will your lips as they scratch against his face. There may be stubble and if there is, wow, it’s coarse and scratchy. Hard kisses have their place and are welcome and nobody’s suggesting you peck each other like warring hens, but there are side-effects of a hard, full-on snog. Fact is, men kissing for the first time usually kiss too aggressively. There’s no guarantee it will go further but… you can’t be unkissed.
