Work Text:
It always took Jack time to open up to the idea of… really anything in your relationship with him. So much so that if it weren’t for your persistence and patience you were sure it wouldn’t have gone anywhere. He had his reasons- of which he made you more than aware of when he grew exasperated with your attempts to win him over. He spared nothing when he had spilled each gorey detail. Sometimes you still think he leaned so deeply into it so he’d scare you off. For your protection… or perhaps an attempt to self sabotage.
With Jack both were equally as likely.
At some point your persistence and gentle reassurances gave way to letting Jack have full control of the pace things progressed. Kisses took a while- first shared on one another's hands before graduating to faces… and finally, mouths. Laying in the same bed was another hurdle that was conquered with time. Sleeping was an entirely different ordeal but you had both finally crossed that threshold.
Jack was always more than a little careful with you.
One accidental nick from his sharp teeth was enough to make him draw his entire face away from your flesh and turn his entire being away from you. Claws were always tucked neatly away into pockets and his tongue never breached into your mouth during more heated moments.
So it was a huge surprise when Jack brought up the idea of bringing everything to the next step.
“Like… making out?” You asked as you brought yourself up into a sitting position on your bed. Jack closed the window after he managed to pull his body through. He doesn’t waste any time in clarifying as he straightens the mask over his face. The discolored tinge on the ends of his ears don’t go unnoticed by you as they poke through the disheveled mess of his brown hair.
“...No… I mean,” His words catch on his teeth. His head leans back… a long steady breath and he tries again. “I want to…” You catch his hands writhing slightly in his pockets.
“Have intercourse.” He finally got out.
If Jack had been known to be a joker you’d have laughed. You still almost did- he was always on the blunt and forward side. Of course, he didn’t seem like the type to refer to sex as simply that. Or as love making.
His request almost came out matter of factly. It would’ve if it weren’t for the obvious tension and slight awkwardness in his tone. You force your face to remain neutral as you shift around on the bed.
You were open to it- truth be told you were waiting for him to bring the topic up when he was ready… but it felt like a sudden shift in contrast to his usual pacing. The room is quiet between the two of you for a few seconds. Jack doesn’t even get the chance to change the subject as you finally find the words you want to put out.
“Are you sure?” You shift upwards on your bed in a silent offering for him to come settle next to you.
Jack doesn’t take the offer. Or maybe he doesn’t pick up on it.
“Only if you want-”
“Do you want to? Because I’m only willing if you’re seriously interested,”
Jack falls quiet again… and you pat the space beside you in the bed. “We don’t have to, if you don’t want to- doesn’t mean you have to back out so don’t even think about opening that window again,”
Jack hesitates for a moment- and even with a mask on (and a lack of physical eyes) you can feel his gaze raking across your entire body.
“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t sure I wanted to try,” He finally muttered out. His shoes are slipped off and placed neatly by the wall and he steps forward. The bed creaks slightly under his added weight as he brings himself to your side.
“So… what did you have in mind? Do you want to just…” You trail off.
How does one initiate sex naturally? Consent to begin was already acquired, now it was just a matter of… beginning.
To say it was awkward was an understatement. This was how a lot of new steps in the relationship often went. Permission exchanged and the pause between that and the act.
Jack finally shifts to turn his body to face you.
“If I could…”
You already knew what he was going to request. To take the lead and pace things himself. It was better this way, anyway. You shuffle backwards to rest your shoulders against the pillows and head of your bed. “You already know I’m going to say yes,” You tease lightly as he watches your every movement. You had already shifted into a semi laying position.
“You’re a little predictable you know,” You gently teased as his cold clawed hand came to a rest on your knee. The chill sank right through the soft material of your bottoms. The tips of his claws twitch slightly at your comment.
“It’s better to be careful with you,” He grumbled under his mask. His face lifts up. “I don’t want to tear your clothes up.” His claws relax, sparing your pajamas from their wrath… for tonight.
“Take them off.”
His voice was still lowered… grunted through his jaw that always seemed to be at least a little tensed. The command sounded rougher than the normal gruffness he used… it shoots a bolt of electricity up your spine for just half a second.
“So demanding,” You grinned.
You still do as you were asked. He’s like a hawk as he watches your hands work to undo the buttons of your top- he doesn’t even turn his head to see where the clothing was tossed as you shimmy up away from him to do the same to your bottoms. Hardly a second passes after you undress before he’s pressed back against your legs.
He was still fully dressed save for his shoes. And then…
Something like hesitation forced his movements to a stop. In an instant you pick up on it and drop the act.
“Hey…” You sit up. One hand settles behind you to keep you propped up and the other reaches forward… and pauses in the air just inches away from his shoulder. “We don’t have to do this tonight, really,”
Your hand begins to draw back… and Jack grips it firmly in his hands. “I want to, just… give me a minute…”
“Was the teasing too much?” You relax your hand in his as his claws run gently along the back of it. He huffs slightly and shakes his head. “I know you’re only trying to keep it light,” He mumbles.
He removes one of his hands to his mask and tugs it off. Black tar is lightly smeared across his face- nearly covering the warm flush painted across his face.
Your hand is pulled to his mouth… even his breath felt cold as it brushed your skin. His body still clung to the night chill outside.
With a second's hesitation he lightly kissed the back of your hand in a sweet imitation of his first attempt to kiss you months ago.
“You’re so soft,” He muttered against your skin. Jack seems to manage to steel himself enough to drop you from his grip.
His jacket is shrugged off, and eventually the faded band tee that clung to his torso was discarded.
His skin was a dark blueish-grey. Almost giving way to a dead look. Scars and claw marks decorated his now exposed form. His forearm revealed a rather nasty and semi fresh bite mark that matched his teeth. The detail is filed away into the back of your mind to bring up later… no doubt mentioning it now would not only kill the vibe but also make him put his walls right back up.
His hands gave way to an almost sticky black- not too different from the tar that dripped from his eye sockets- starting from about the mid forearm… said hands found themselves back to your knees… and then pushed them apart as he leaned forward. His chest pressed lightly against yours. His slower almost nonexistent heartbeat against your faster one. He even breathed less frequently than you.
You bite back a shiver as he steals away your heat.
Instead you focus on running your hands up along his back to his head- and twirled your fingers through his hair… he nearly melts right into your touch with a purr.
“So…” You trace circles into his scalp as he sinks further against your frame. The rub of his jeans against your inner thigh makes the muscles of your thighs twitch and flex instinctively.
“I want to kiss you,” He muttered softly… and you pulled him even closer to your face.
His tar smelled… vaguely sour, but sweet at the same time. You’d already grown used enough to the scent to keep your nose from scrunching. The smell of wood and dust… and rain… did just enough to hide the worst of it. His lips catch yours in a soft kiss- only to quickly give way to something rougher with each light tug to his hair. His body pushes closer to yours.
The sharp points of his teeth brush against your lips for only a split second before he rips himself off of you with enough violence you thought that he’d been burnt. A growl comes from him as he pushes his face away from you.
“I shouldn’t…” He muttered lowly. The strand of saliva that formed between you both falls onto your chest. He only glances at it for a second before focusing his eyes onto your shoulder.
His teeth.
He’d always been careful about them.
“If you’re worried about breaking my skin you’ve got my permission, besides,” You keep your tone light, “I could be into it,”
“It’s not that,” He grumbled as he finally looked you in the face. “It’s the blood, I don’t want to…”
Risk it.
All it would take to kill you was a slip of his control the moment he got a taste of you. It was always about control- each kiss a flirtation with death itself. But…
The idea always thrilled you. The risk- the restraint- the brief flash of Jack with your blood smeared across his lips shamefully brought a primal need out of you.
“Everything’s about risk with you,” You mumble softly. Your knees subconsciously tighten around his hips. “If it makes you feel better I’ve got a bat under my bed I could beat you with if you start taking chunks out of me- I know what I’m getting into,”
You’re only half joking.
You did indeed have a bat but not for this reason- Jack had told you several times your home was too easy to break into… stated as he broke into your house late into the night to spend some time with you. He grumbles but the corners of his mouth twitch.
“Or would you prefer I use a taser?”
“Stop-” He shook his head.
“Or maybe-” You continue.
“Shush.” He huffed as his hand grabbed your jaw firmly and forced it shut. You fall silent- though very clearly not out of fear.
“You joke around too much…” He muttered as he shifted your face around in his hand. The placement of his claws to your skin was careful and deliberate. The shifting continues until Jack finally decides he’s looked you over enough… it loosens enough to allow you to get a word in again.
“You’re too serious, sometimes… with how you react I think that you think I’d taste bad,” You manage to stick your tongue out.
His hips press forward against yours with a roll. In an instant your face shifts at the contact.
“Hardly… sometimes even just looking at you makes me want to rip you apart,” He muttered… but there wasn’t really any malice in his words. The growl between his teeth revealed something more…
Akin to the thoughts rushing through your head.
This wasn’t a spur of the moment thing Jack wanted to do. This was something he sat on for a while- something he’s wanted to do just as much as you did. Maybe even more judging by the near shake in his voice as his hips rolled a second time against yours.
“I do want to taste you, just… in the way anyone else would,” He huffed. His head fell forward and buried itself into the space between your neck and shoulder. “God, fuck-” He hissed in near desperation.
Jack takes a shaking breath as his teeth catch on your collar bone… and for the first time he doesn’t pull himself away.
Maybe the bat comment gave him enough reassurance that you wouldn’t let him kill you. Or maybe his mind had fuzzed over just enough to throw away any sense of caution and control.
His teeth scrape against your flesh with each tense flex of his jaw as he makes last second contemplations… before they finally sink and break through the skin. It feels like an eternity- when in reality it took him less than a second to clamp himself down into you.
You can feel his jaw quivering against you as he fights the urge to push his teeth in deeper- or to rip himself out of his flesh… to consume… or to keep himself from slipping too far… a sound between a whine and moan muffles against the mouthful of blood rushing into his mouth.
“See… it’s not so bad,” You squirm under his weight falls right against you. Jack’s eyes close as suckles for a few seconds longer before finally dragging his teeth out of you. No blood goes to waste as his black tongue- no, tongues- roughly lap against the wound.
“Bet… I don’t taste all… rotten either…” You added after a few seconds as your hands return to his back and run between his shoulders.
A growl is your only response as he smears and drinks the blood across your flushed skin.
You… weren’t going to get an infection from this, right? There seemed to be a tarry substance in his mouth just like his eyes.
That was a problem for future you, you decided.
He grinds up against you- almost bucking. Even through his jeans you could feel the outline of his dick against you. He’s hard.
But just as you begin to mentally prepare himself for the next step he pulls himself off of you and wipes the blood off of his mouth before you can get a good look of the color on him.
“We can’t,” He muttered as your red smeared and mixed with the black ooze of his face. “This is already risky.”
You feel a pang of disappointment, but ultimately you understand. You can’t quite bring yourself to reassure him and try to get him to continue. The firmness and finality in his voice was enough to get his worries across.
“You did good, you know,” You straighten yourself up as he pulls himself off of you. “We don’t have to jump right into it all at once, we’re in no rush,”
Jack only hummed softly.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… it’s not fair to you,”
Your hand shot forward and rested on his shoulder. You don’t even care that you’re still naked.
“No. None of that, you did just fine- I don’t want it anyway if you’re not totally into it,”
Quiet.. Before he nods in slightly visible relief.
“Next time I promise,”
“I’d rather you not promise- it makes it sound like you’re going to force yourself,” Your hand grips his bare shoulder lightly.
He hummed.
You could only hope that he took your words to heart.
“So what did I taste like, anyway? You looked like you were really enjoying it,” You try to shift the tension around…
And he does answer after a few seconds of silence.
Even if there was no intercourse as he had first intended, progress was progress… and you had a sneaking suspicion he was going to try again soon.
You were always patient with him, and you were going to continue to be patient.