Chapter Text
Jason was going to fucking die. Danny was teasing him and this time Jason knew it was deliberate. His silly mate had seemed surprised at how good pets to his sides and back felt, which was simultaneously a relief and a worry. Worry, because apparently he'd never even noticed it. Relief, because humans always pet their pet's backs. So if Danny didn't know it felt good then whoever the fuck had him before Jason didn't assault him like that.
When Danny ran his hand over Jason's vent Jason whined and only just kept his claspers sheathed.
"Treasure Mine," Jason groaned and he sounded strained to his own ears. His mate just giggled then pulled ahead. Jason watched his mate swim and admired his beautiful form for a few moments. Then he swam up to him and returned the favor, brushing the back of his hand over his mate's vent.
"Ah!" Danny gasped and Jason dragged his electric sense over his mate's sides as he swam past. "Wh-what?"
They teased each other all the way back to their nest and when Danny put down his pack Jason pounced. His mate shrieked playfully and Jason mouthed softly at his shoulder.
"I'm going to fuck you so hard, Precious," Jason growled.
"Yes!" his mate gasped and squirmed lower, trying to line up their vents. Jason's blood was hot and his fins up. He flipped his mate belly out, held onto his side with one hand and pinned him against his chest with the other arm. He mounted him with one clasper and his mate fell into a stun. Jason didn't stop. this was a fierce and hard fuck and his mate wasn't stretched or ready for all of him. His hand on his mate's side was close to his mate's vent. So he wrapped up his mate's twitching tentacles and squeezed as he thrust into his tight, hot vent. All of the soft and sweet fucking had been so fucking good, better than Jason had ever imagined. But this was the sort of fucking he knew he was good at.
"Yes!" was the first thing his mate said when the stun broke. He writhed and bucked and keened and Abyss this was better than any hard rutting ever. Better by so much that any comparison was an insult to his mate. With his wrist fin stimulating his mate it was no time at all before his mate spilled his eggs and roe. With his mate's filthy kinks Jason didn't pull out to let him spill. It was disgusting, it was hot. He could feel his mate's roe with his clasper, a wholly different texture than his mate's vent. The roe burst on each thrust and slick, slippery fluid very different from the usual mer fluids or seawater coated his clasper. Not only did the extra pressure and sensation of his mate's roe feel good but the filthy wrongness made it even better.
His mate was bucking and writhing now that the stun was broken. Jason assumed from finding his release. His mate's blunted claws didn't even scratch. Jason craved his mate's teeth on him, biting him. That had been so fucking good when his mate had bitten him their first time. The combined thrill of doing something dirty and wrong and the pleasure of it all had Jason spilling quickly. He couldn't manage to force himself to stay inside his filthy mate, but thankfully it didn't seem to matter.
"Oh, God. Fuck." His mate moaned when Jason pulled out. Roe and smelt spilled together. Satisfaction and pride rushed through Jason. His senses were all a muddy fuzzy blend of goodness.
His gills were still cycling rapidly as were his mate's. Jason nosed over his mate's body, his electric sense was a hazy static mess. There were again no eggs in his mate's roe. Not necessarially a concern, with how much they'd been fucking. It took time for eggs to grow, much more time than it took for roe. The broken roe floated and Jason carefully ate it before it could sink too far. It tasted different when it was broken. Not as sweet.
"Fuck." His mate repeated.
The thought trickled into his brain that he should swim them both away from his smelt. It was unpleasant on the gills, not that the broken roe were any better. But it was difficult, his thoughts were slow and syrupy and his body warm and heavy. Each time he swallowed down the broken roe something hot squirmed in his chest and something sweet brushed through his mind.
His mate squirmed and Jason released him from the pin. Danny shivered, turned to face Jason, then frowned and sparking electric signals tugged Jason's arms. Another sweet rush of possessive lust filled him. His mate hadn't even known mers could manipulate electric signals until Jason had shown him and now Danny could be precise enough to (mostly painlessly) direct Jason with it. Jason followed the silent instruction and cradled his mate. His mate settled into his embrace and started rumbling in contentment. Sweet satisfaction bloomed and diffused through all of him.
Jason lazily picked out the floating ruined roe from the waters around them and relished his mate's soothing, contented rumbling. Though soon enough he ate all of the roe that he could easily reach. Thoughts still dragging, he opened his eyes. It was the only one of his senses he could easily use right now. Well, except taste.
He turned his attention to his mate and started licking his face, long and slow. Danny exhaled with his mouth and gills both. Jason still hadn't fucked the humanity out of his mate. He would. Of that he had no doubt. He just needed more time.
Jason let his tongue play over Danny's face and mouth and enjoyed the shivers and shudders and soft noises he drew from his mate. When his mate opened his mouth in a human gasp Jason licked into it. Danny whined and licked back but it held none of the fire and hunger of his earlier kisses. Jason licked his mate's mouth a few more times before pulling his head away to lick over his mate's tender throat. His mate made more sweet little noises so Jason did it again. And again.
His mate squirmed and his open vent dragged over Jason's stomach. Satisfaction bloomed and flowed through him. He'd only used the one clasper but his mate was still stretched open. Not as much as when he used both claspers, true, but it didn't make it any less hot to feel his mate's still gaping vent tender against his scales. Jason opened his mouth and rested his teeth against his mate's throat. His mate surrendered entirely.
"Fuck," his mate dragged the word out and and Jason rumbled in satisfaction. His mate was very chatty and reducing him down to a handful of words seared sweet and hot. His mate stayed mostly silent and entirely relaxed and the absolute trust his sweet mate had in Jason was filling up something he'd had no idea was even empty. He kept his teeth on his mate's throat for what was definitely too long a time but couldn't quite bring himself to care. Eventually though, his mate recovered enough to speak. And as usual he had something ridiculous to say.
"Was that? Um, satisfying? Using only one?" Danny asked anxiously.
"I'm so fucking satisfied, dearest Treasure." Jason released his mate's throat and responded immediately. His lips brushed over his mate's throat as he did, making the both of them shiver.
"Really? I want you to have fun, too. I thought you'd need, like, both of your, uh, claspers? To get wet. Wait, that doesn't work, we're always wet. Get-"
Jason carefully slid his mouth over his mate's and pressed his tongue inside. His mate made a surprised noise and squirmed but didn't try to leave Jason's hold. Maybe this was why humans liked kissing so much? It was a really fun way to shut up your mate. Jason amused himself with seeing what sort of noises he could get his mate to make from just this, their mouths open and tongues sliding over each other. His mate made so many different sorts of noises and all of them were good. While Jason was quickly growing fond of this kissing thing, he should probably make sure his precious mate understood that Jason didn't need to find his release to be satisfied.
"My most treasured and precious mate. Even if that were true, which it fucking isn't, I wouldn't need it. As long as I've made you feel good then I'm satisfied." Jason explained. His mate's nice hazy expression sharpened and his glowing bright green eyes dimmed. Jason didn't understand. Anxiety rushed through him, washing away the syrupy good contentment that permeated him down to his bones.
"Jason. I want you to feel good. And I want, no need. I need you to tell me if you ever stop feeling good. The last thing I want is to force you into something. That'd be, like, yhe shittiest thing ever. And I know I've been a kind of crappy mate-"
"No, never!" Jason said sharply, maybe sharper than he'd meant to. Danny didn't flinch though, which was good. Jason went on, "You're the most incredible mate a mer could ever have. You're sweet and nice, and kind, and sexy, and hot, and cute, and fast, and smart, and-" the more Jason told his mate about how good he was the more flustered and embarrassed and confused his mate grew. The flustering was cute, the embarrassment maybe cute, but the confusion was infuriating. Danny interrupted him though.
"Baby... Jay... I made you think I was going to hurt you earlier. That is the very definition of being a crappy mate, or at least, it freaking should be," Danny told him.
Jason blinked at him in confusion. What was Danny talking about? Danny's display fins flared in stress. Jason reached out to stroke his mate's head fins. His mate grabbed his hand in both of his and held onto it. Jason was too confused to be flustered over the sensation of small thumbs and webbing firm against his palm or wrist fins fluttering over his hand and wrist.
"I am never going to hurt you, Jason." Danny told him, more serious than he'd ever been.
Jason didn't know what to do with that. He knew what Danny meant, he'd never try to hurt him. But everyone hurt him, even if sometimes they didn't mean to. He didn't bother controlling his display fins and knew his confusion and anxiety should be obvious. Danny saw it but didn't seem to know what it meant.
"No matter how angry I get, I promise. I won't hurt you. I'm nothing close to perfect. I don't get mad often but I do get mad fast. And I can get mean with my words. I've been working on it, and I'll work on it even harder for you, Baby. Please don't take any bullshit I say when mad to heart, because it's bullshit." Danny told him.
Jason was confused and hopeful and terrified beyond belief. He expected Danny to get tired of him eventually, probably as soon as he learned that Jason's sort of mer was supposed to be violent and want violence. As much as Danny thought he meant all of this now, he'd change his mind. Jason wanted sweetness and softness but also knew the longer he lied to Danny the more it would hurt when Danny's affection turned to disgust.
"You shouldn't waste your energy being nice to me. I'm a killer, y'know," Jason found himself saying.
Danny's display fins flared. Jason would usually assume surprise but Danny's lights didn't display like they should. Jason instead assumed he was angry. Jason pulled his head and ear fins in close and wished he could move his dorsal fin as well. But Danny didn't show any signs of fear or disgust, just probably-angry-maybe-surprised.
"Why? I know we just met but I can't believe you didn't have a good reason. Like, yeah, you're a grump but you've never hurt me, and you definitely could've done some bad things to me since I was an idiot and followed you to your cave but you didn't." Danny said, there was only confusion and concern.
Jason trill clicked his own confusion and tried to stay still.
Danny trill clicked back and rippled his head fins in question.
"... what?" Jason whispered. He didn't understand.
Danny squinted at him then said, "You said you're a killer. Like, you killed people?"
Jason squealed and tucked his chin against his throat before answering, "Not that kind. My kind of mer. We're..." Jason gestured somewhat helplessly at his body. "Killers."
Danny continued to scrutinize him. This was it then, Jason was braced for anger at himself. Danny's fins flared out wide with Danger. Jason closed his eyes. His electric sense was still muddied from kissing, which at least meant Jason didn't have to watch Danny's anger become disgust.
"I guess you kinda look like a 'killer whale'," Danny said, not sounding terribly convinced.
Jason whistled and clicked disbelief then said, "Kinda?!" He twisted around to press his dorsal fin against Danny then gestured at his head. His damned pattern looked just like killer whale eye spots. There was no 'kinda' about it.
"Okay, okay, sure, you look a lot like an orca, but what does that have to do with anything? You're hot and cute and you're really sweet even if you're also super grumpy," Danny said, growing frustrated. Jason stared at Danny as he gathered up his bewildered and anxious thoughts.
"I'm killer stock. That means at least one of my ancestors was a marauding, violent, rapist. Nothing good comes from descendants of killers." Jason explained.
Danny whistled denial then hiss-clicked and lashed his tail sharply but hit nothing. Jason would feel better if he hit the wall, but he twisted back around to face Danny and kept his head fins pinned back. Danny's display fins were flaring and when Jason closed his nictating membrane he could see Danny's beautiful sparkling lights.
"Bullshit," Danny growled, it was deep and powerful, but quieter than expected. Jason's heart raced. Before Jason could formulate a response Danny was talking again. "There is no good reason to blame a kid for their parents. And you said it was an ancestor, so it had to have been generations ago!"
"I mean, yeah? That's kind of why we're horrible?" Jason explained. He'd never had to explain being a killer before, not even to his podmates, not even to Bruce.
"No! You are not horrible and even if you were, which you're not, then it'd be because of your actions not because you look different!" Danny snarled out.
Jason couldn't quite manage words, or even sounds. He raised and lowered his head fins and sank below Danny.
"I don't wanna hear you call yourself horrible, or terrible, or bad, or any other synonym ever again!" Danny barked out.
Jason whistled, not so much in denial as complete surprise. Danny swam to him, reached for his shoulders, realized they couldn't look each other face to face if he did that, and held Jason's face in his hands instead. Jason whined.
"Jason. You are my mate. Nothing is going to change that." Danny growled out. Jason was dumbfounded. He opened and closed his mouth and felt like a dumb fish. Danny then looked unsure and said, "Unless you don't want to be mates? I can-" Danny, his mate, cut himself off with a little squeal
Jason pulled Danny against his body, shoving his mate's face against his belly and surrounding him with his electric field. Danny whistled surprise but didn't pull away. Jason couldn't quite get the words out yet, but he was nearly overcome with joy and disbelief. Danny wanted to be mates, even after learning about Jason being a killer and knowing even what being a killer meant. Jason couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy. Before he'd swam away like an idiot, for sure.
Danny let Jason hold him for a good five minutes before doing anything else. And even then all he did was reverse their positions: hold Jason's head against his own belly, promising him safety and care without words. Did his mate even know that's what this meant? Jason didn't think so. An abused mer or a curious human would have the same lack of knowledge, if somehow the way they became mer didn't involve any known magic. Clumsily his mate fumbled his electrical field over Jason and rested his hand on his head fins, his palm open of course. Because his mate was possibly not mer. Jason closed his eyes and shoved his snout against his mate's belly. When his mate started petting his head fins Jason relaxed without any thought.
His mate moved them to their nest and carefully settled them into it, keeping Jason's head against his belly and staying above him in the nest. Jason didn't sleep. But all those horrible emotions had risen up and now were being shaken out. With each gentle pet fear sloughed off and anxiety flaked away. It wasn't good, exactly, but it wasn't not good. It definitely wasn't bad. It was also definitely very tiring despite the total lack of exertion.
At some point his mate's phone chimed and his mate muttered insults at it. Jason pulled his snout away from his mate long enough to use his electric sense to see his mate's backpack. It had been tossed at the nest but wasn't within easy reach of his smaller mate. Jason slid the top part of his tail fin through the straps and brought it over to the nests.
"Oh! You didn't have to do that. But thank you, Baby. Are you feeling any better?" His mate spoke, and was clearly worried. Jason wasn't ready yet to face what was waiting outside their nest. He didn't vocalize, just shoved his snout back against his mate's belly and shuddered. His perfect mate crooned softly and resumed his petting. Jason sighed in something like contentment.