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It started like this: Steven dissociated so thoroughly that the white-knuckle grip he’d had on the body during his panic attack, was frozen in place. Nothing Jake or Marc tried made any difference. Steven was drowning and it felt like they were being ripped apart. It was the most terrified Jake had been in recent memory and that included the first time they’d died, lying helpless as they’d bled out.
Jake had originally been more than happy to sit back and watch Marc dance around for Khonshu. Gradually though, Marc had started to hide himself more and more, burying himself in Steven’s life. Even then, Jake would have had to be spectacularly hypocritical to judge him over it. Watching Steven live was its own special kind of balm. However, when it had become abundantly clear that Marc was almost eager to lock himself away forever after his “final” deal with Khonshu was done, Jake had started to take notice. Just because he’d been content to let Marc pay the price for his choices didn’t mean that he was fine with losing any of them. Not Marc and most certainly not Steven. He would never abandon then. Not to death, and definitely not to whatever Marc had been planning.
He'd decided to step in.
It hadn’t done them much good in the end. They were still tied to Khonshu and now, Steven and Marc were aware of Jake's existence. In their eagerness to include him, they tried to involve him in the day-to-day minutiae of their lives. Insisted on it even, much to Jake’s irritation. He could tell that they were hoping he’d be less “brutal” if they involved him in whatever aspects of life they considered normal. And hey, that had worked for Marc so he couldn’t blame them for thinking it’d work for him too. But he was not Marc.
In fact, as far as Jake was concerned, nothing about any of them was normal.
Marc’s own eagerness to throw himself between danger and anyone he wanted to protect had almost destroyed him, so he’d needed Steven’s bottomless acceptance and Jake’s unflinching efficiency to recover. None of that was part of your garden-variety, everday life. Not that Jake was complaining. If anything, he was learning. Marc had taken on too much and he’d needed to be reminded that he mattered. Jake had been too laid back before but he was making up for it now; dealing with the more gruesome aspects of their missions and threatening Khonshu right back when the bastard got a little too self-important and manipulative. After all, the other gods and their new avatars now held him – well, held Marc – in some esteem and watched the moon god closely. In the end though, it all came down to this: Steven and Marc both needed him. There was nothing for Jake to feel guilt or regret over. Nothing for him to need to “heal.”
Except…
Well, except that Jake was stained with blood and though it never bothered him, it clearly unsettled Steven. Steven, who accepted them – accepted Jake – as a part of himself wholeheartedly. A part of his kind, dorky, delightful, brighter-than-the-sun self. Steven, who was everything Jake could never give up, and yet who had been slipping more and more under the weight of their missions. They’d tried, Marc and Jake had, tried to make sure that Steven never surfaced during the take-downs of any missions with signs of the darker sorts of evil. The occult, traffickers, or anything involving children. It had worked well at first but Steven’s curiosity was a force to be reckoned with and at some point he’d surfaced in the middle of Jake busting down a mad-scientist’s lab. The kind of mad-scientist who kept discarded human experiments in a special vault. A vaullt Jake had been in when Steven unceremoniously surfaced.
Steven had immediately thrown up, right before sinking into a panic attack. It had been a… a mess.
The problem was, well, Steven was a bit of a control freak and Marc – the Master of Self Sacrifice – Spector could never bring himself to wrench control of the body from Steven. It was a pretty disorienting experience for any of them, to have that control taken away, but for Steven, it bordered on being traumatic. And Jake cannot bear to see Steven in pain, so he guessed he wasn’t much better than Marc actually.
It hadn’t boded well.
Steven surfacing in the middle of them dealing with the terrible, gruesome sides of human evil had only been part of it. The rest involved him getting hurt on the job and while he couldn’t exactly die when they were Suited-up, bullets tearing through him and all kinds of blades cutting him up… well, that sort of trauma had started to cause more frequent panic attacks. Steven responded to trauma by trying to seize more control of his life and as a result, he’d surface more and more frequently during the missions, starting a vicious cycle.
The dissociative episode was a first however. As Steven sat numbly for hours, covered in gore and frozen in anxiety, unable to respond to anything Jake or Marc said, shouted, or screamed, Jake felt fear engulf him. He wanted to blame Marc for losing control of the body. Place the responsibility for whatever was happening solely at his feet, but the thought that Marc would just accept it and break down quietly, away from them, was enough to stop Jake. No. Whatever was happening wasn’t any single person’s fault. Jake knew it was the build-up they’d ignored for far too long, which had broken Steven.
A build-up Jake could not allow to continue.
Several hours later, when Steven had finally loosened his grip on the body enough to allow Marc to take over, take them home and clean up, Jake saw the determination he felt, mirrored in the other man’s eyes. The events of that evening would not happen again.
Steven apologised. Of course he did, the ridiculous man! He did always share some of Marc’s self-blaming tendencies at the worst of times. Seeing him hunched in on himself, unable to meet any of their eyes, and stammering out an apology, damn near broke Jake’s heart. He ended up leaving Marc to comfort their scholar; their strategist; their sun. Jake had always been a man of action, after all.
The idea came to him a week later and he had to do some fast talking to convince Marc. Jake had always been all about doing the least that can produce the best results, but Marc, well, Marc preferred a velvet glove over an iron hand and so they agreed to do a trial run. Utterly ridiculous, honestly, but Marc had glared and threatened to reveal everything to Steven, so Jake had rolled his eyes and given in to the overdramatic man.
Their control had improved immensely ever since Jake had introduced himself to Marc and Steven, and with the final purchases and installations made, they were ready.
There was anticipation thrumming inside him when Jake finally allowed Steven to surface. He watched from the mirror on the ceiling as Steven took in his spread-eagled position, noted that he was fully naked except for the Suit that only covered him up to his knees, and the gloves. Jake observed in fascination as Steven realised the Suit wasn’t his but still tested whether he could move and found he was pinned in place. He felt vindicated when he saw Steven’s dick twitch as the other man turned a wide-eyed gaze to the ceiling and locked eyes with Jake.
“Jake?” Steven asked breathlessly, cheeks pink and lips left open in surprise. “What’s going on?”
“Hey, Steven, listen,” Marc said, making Steven turn to look at him in the mirror placed next to the bed. “Everything’s fine, okay? We just— we’re going to take care of you. If you want us to stop at any time, you just gotta say so and we’ll stop. Okay?”
“Marc…” Steven said in the same breathless voice, trailing off without saying anything else.
Jake could see Marc begin to tense, shoulders rising up, at Steven’s seeming non-response, and he glanced up at Jake helplessly.
“Do you understand what Marc said, Steven?” Jake asked even if he could see that Steven’s dick more than understood what was happening.
“Yeah, yeah. I, er, I, yeah,” Steven babbled and Jake chuckled fondly despite himself.
“Humour me and repeat it, Preciosa.”
“Right, right. You’re, er, you’re going to take care of me,” Steven started, flushing red down his chest.
“And?” Marc prompted, gaze now completely transfixed on a blushing Steven whose eyes kept darting between the two mirrors.
“And, you’ll stop any time I ask you to.”
“Good. You’re so good, Steven, and we just want you to relax,” Jake soothed, his voice having enough smoke that Marc tore his eyes away from Steven and glanced open-mouthed up at the ceiling.
With both of their gazes on him, Jake felt heat flush through him, warming him from deep within in a way that he never could have imagined he’d ever feel. Being seen by those two was grounding. His cock had been hard since he’d stripped the body naked and then allowed Marc in until he’d been pinned down, before he’d let Steven take over. It was a heady feeling and he tried to hide his blush behind a sharp grin.
Jake watched hungrily, unable to look away, as he and Marc each used a gloved hand to explore Steven. Caressing his flushed cheeks and feeling the warmth of them. Passing along his soft lips and feeling his sharp intake of breath. Marc pressing two fingers into Steven’s mouth and instructing him to suck as Jake wandered down, mapping out the tension in Steven’s neck and cooing at him to relax. His hand only moving on when Steven did actually relax, tension bleeding from him with a sigh as he opened his eyes and locked gazes with Jake again.
Jake was entranced. He spread his hand across Steven’s chest and then circled around a nipple with his finger, not really touching the nub and watching Steven arch. Marc wasn’t faring any better, his breathing having picked up and cock as hard as Jake’s as he trailed wet fingers from Steven’s mouth downwards and then flicked the second nipple before pinching it. Steven let out a gasping moan and Jake was suddenly dizzy with it. He tugged and twisted at the nipple he’d been circling earlier, making Steven whimper and whine in response. Marc let out a moan and looked surprised at himself but Jake could relate.
“Look at you,” Marc whispered in awe. “So beautiful. So responsive. We should’ve done this earlier.”
Steven mewled out Marc’s name, back arched and Jake just stared in wonder at the erotic picture. This was why Steven needed to be protected and kept safe. How… how could Jake ever live without this again?
Suddenly, there was an aching yearning to see Steven surrender all control to them. Marc must have felt something as well because they moved Steve’s body as one, bending his knees and planting feet flat on the bed as they reached for his now fully hard cock. Steven’s stuttered moan and the way his hips thrust in their grasp was enough to make Jake grit his teeth against the whine in his throat. They allowed Steven to find a little relief in the friction of their touch, hips moving helplessly, before the wrappings that were indicative of Marc’s Suit snuck upwards and tight strips covered Steven’s upper thighs and waist, effectively stopping the thrusting. Jake couldn’t hold back his moan at Steven’s wail.
“I know, I know. We’ve got you, Amor, come on,” Jake soothed again, circling the leaking tip of Steven’s cock with a finger.
“You can do this, Steven. Just relax, Baby. Let us take care of you,” Jake encouraged, stroking Steven firmly in concentration.
Steven’s eyes were closed and the moans between his pleas were really doing it for Jake, as he teased and tortured Steven with his own pleasure. Eventually, Jake had some mercy and reached down to fondle Steven’s balls, making the other man thrust his head backwards in ecstasy. By the time Steven’s moan hitched several keys higher as Marc added a wicked twist to his upwards stroke, Jake was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. When Steven finally came, straining and oh so gorgeous, Jake was practically glowing in satisfaction. Steven spurted hard enough that the cum landed on both Jake and Marc’s Suits, marking them irreversibly.
Later, while Jake was cleaning them up, basking in the endorphins left behind after Steven’s explosive orgasm, with none of the fatigue, he locked eyes with Marc in the bathroom mirror and licked the cum off of the two fingers he’d streaked through Steven’s spend. Marc’s breath hitched and his flush grew but he didn’t look away. Jake grinned as he jacked himself off and then used the same hand to finish Marc off when they switched consciousnesses.
The body could handle more than a few orgasms then. Perfect.
Steven’s consciousness slept throughout the night for the first time in months.
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“I know. I know what. You guys are doing,” Steven panted out on his side as Jake’s hand twisted a plug inside him and Marc’s stroked him too lightly to provide any relief.
“Enlighten us, Cariño,” Jake encouraged and then tilted the plug into Steven’s prostate when he opened his mouth to respond, letting out that particularly pleased groan that Jake never got tired of hearing.
Marc glanced down from the ceiling at Jake’s reflection with a delighted grin.
“Didn’t quite catch that, Steven. Try again, Babe.”
Steven glared up at Marc and he looked so breath-taking in his indignation, Jake had the sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t ever again be able to take one of Steven’s glares without getting hard.
“We’re just taking care of you, Steven. You’ve had a hard week. Trust us,” Jake said and Steven whimpered resting his head back against the pillow and closing his eyes.
Jake turned on the plug vibration and Steven, well, Steven didn’t stand a chance after that. He came with a wail as Marc’s hand coaxed his dick through the orgasm until he was whimpering in overstimulation, hips stuttering as they tried to move away from the strokes but then pushed into the vibrating plug.
Jake eventually turned the vibration off, after a few seconds of watching Steven tremble at the feeling of it. He left the plug in though. They’d done this enough times that by now, he knew Steven liked to feel full for as long as he could. Marc surfaced and made sure Steven was looking at him as Jake used his hand to finish him off, and then they switched. By the time Steven was back in the body, he had enough energy to mewl, dick twitching in valiant interest, as Marc broke out the sleeve. They never let him get away with just one orgasm anymore.
“You’re trying to keep me away from missions!” Steven yelped, trying to shuffle away from their wandering hands, and failing. Jake wasn’t concerned; they’d discussed safe words several weeks ago. If Steven really wanted them to stop, he knew how to do it.
“Steven, you plan and participate in missions all the time,” Jake countered with an indulgent smile, letting his Suit caress all over Steven’s body in pulses; now gripping his legs, now his chest, then his ass… on and on until Steven was sighing and arching into the movements.
“You were with us on an op just yesterday,” Marc agreed.
“No!” Steven gasped, twisting sightly as Jake started nudging lightly at the plug. “The harder missions. The ones that are more— more violent.”
Jake and Marc exchanged a look. It was true. Ever since they’d started to do this, Steven had responded so beautifully, he wouldn’t surface in any of the bloodier missions if they didn’t want him to. The panic attacks had damn near stopped and they hadn’t had a repeat of the dissociation episode. They were – dare he say it – healing. Thriving even!
“Steven, Baby, we’re just allocating our skills to where they are needed.”
“But, but…” Steven tried to protest but choked on a moan as Marc slid the sleeve onto his dick in one slow and smooth glide.
“Some things are hard for you, I know” Marc continued, not yet moving the sleeve off but twisting it so it went round and round Steve’s cock. “Some things are hard for us too.”
“Like seeing you get hurt,” Jake contributed, still gently nudging the plug inside and out. The goal was to coax Steven into a fucked out, relaxed mess, sure, but he needed to be present enough to understand what they were trying to tell him still.
“I can take care of myself!” Steven argued, voice high and breathy.
“We know, Baby, we know. But you don’t have to.”
“We like taking care of you, Steven,” Jake added. “Let us.”
Steven sighed out a soft whine. “Who takes care of you?”
“You do, Amor,” Jake responded, not missing a beat and Marc looked down at him, eyes wide and vulnerable. “You take care of us, don’t you see? By being you. You let us find hope, and joy, and pleasure in you.”
Steven’s breath hitched.
“W-we— I find love in you, Steven,” Marc whispered, very carefully keeping his body language open.
“I find love in you too, Steven,” Jake said, choosing to follow Marc.
Steven let out a soft sob and for one tense second, Jake could see the horror on Marc’s face; the question of whether they’d pushed things too far.
The Steven gasped, “I do love you both. I do.”
“Fuck,” Marc whispered, awe clearly written on his face and Jake couldn’t help it, he giggled, feeling light and delighted. He grinned when he caught both Marc and Steven looking at him, flushes high on their cheeks and then turned the plug vibration back on.
Steven jerked with a surprised moan and this kicked Marc into action as well. They worked Steven towards his second orgasm of the night and Jake’s grin widened as the moans grew louder and more desperate. There was nothing quite like being efficient.
Jake was filled with the heady warmth of Steven’s trust and easy acceptance. Steven’s love! It buoyed him until he felt he was floating on it. He wanted to have more of them; taste them, kiss away their tears, feel their bodies as they climaxed around his tongue. And, well, maybe one day Jake would have that too. Their world, after all, was now filled with realities he’d only ever dared dream of before.