Make sure that the other person has a very easy way out of anything they might not like. Then you know they're enthusiastically consenting for whatever comes next.

Well yes, absolutely. Consent is paramount and enthusiastic consent is the best kind. Bad choice of hyperbole on my part, I'll admit.

But even so, if you're not conventionally attractive or charismatic, even just checking can result in getting treated like a creep. The people who constantly say "they worst they can say is no" have likely never gotten "eww, no" as a response before.

But if you have, especially more than once, you kinda just get used to assuming that's the default answer. That's kind of what I was getting at.

I'd rather just not have to guess.