Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/225149.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Homestuck
  Relationship:
      Eridan_Ampora/Sollux_Captor
  Character:
      Sollux_Captor, Eridan_Ampora
  Stats:
      Published: 2011-07-18 Words: 3462
****** Leave Me Breathless ******
by Miko
Summary
     When Eridan finally gets the better of him, it literally leaves
     Sollux breathless.
Sollux didn't realize he was dreaming until he hit the water with a splash, and
felt it close over his head. Panicked, he thrashed and flailed, struggling to
reach the surface again, hoping there actually was a surface to reach. This had
to be someone's dream bubble, because there was no water on the asteroid that
he knew about - but when had he fallen asleep? Had he been knocked out again?
What would happen to him if he died in a dream, now that their dreamselves were
all dead? Would he just wake up, or would he vanish forever into the void?
He managed to reach the air for just a moment, long enough to gasp helplessly
for fresh oxygen, before the weight of his sodden clothes pulled him under
again. He couldn't swim, he'd never bothered to learn how; not only was he
thoroughly a city troll, but with his telekinetic ability he would never have
needed to worry about drowning, since he could just lift himself clear of the
water.
Only he'd lost his psionics along with his vision, and now he very definitely
needed to worry about drowning. Worse, there could be dry land two feet away
from him and he would never even know it was there, unable to see or sense it.
He managed to kick his shoes off, which helped a little, and grimly fought his
way back up again. At least, he hoped it was up. If he'd gotten turned around
underwater, he might be fighting his way down for all he knew.
Just as his lungs were starting to ache badly with the need for air, arms
wrapped tightly around his chest and pulled him sideways. He felt strong legs
kicking through the water behind him, occasionally striking his, and he did his
best to just stay out of his rescuer's way.
They broke through to the surface, and he inhaled just a moment too soon and
ended up choking on the salt spray. Coughing and flailing weakly, he sucked in
greedy lungfuls of air, nearly hyperventilating in the attempt to reintroduce
oxygen to his system.
"Ff?" he croaked, turning his head even though he knew the gesture was futile.
He wouldn't be able to see whoever was behind him, but surely this had to be
her bubble. Who else among his dead companions would have a bubble full of
water?
"You wwish, peasant."
The words were cold, as cold as Sollux's blood ran upon hearing them. He
thrashed again, trying to get away from the troll who had blinded him and
killed half of his friends, including the girl both of them had wanted as a
matesprit.
Eridan snorted with something that sounded like contempt, and released him.
Immediately Sollux realized his error, because without the support he promptly
sank below the surface once more. His flailing hand connected with Eridan's
body, and he clutched at the aquatic troll's shirt like the lifeline it was,
trying to pull himself back up to the surface.
After a long moment Eridan grabbed him under the arms and lifted him again,
bringing him up so they were face to face again. Sollux coughed and gasped for
air once more.
"That wwas upright idiotic, Sol," Eridan said. Sollux didn't need to be able to
see the sneer on his face; he could picture it quite clearly from the
disparaging tone of his voice. "Fuck, I knoww you're a lowwblood and all, but
wwatchin you try to swwim is pretty damn laughable."
"Shit," Sollux cursed, the word heartfelt. He was trapped and thoroughly
helpless, completely dependent on Eridan's mercy - and relying on the mercy of
someone who considered himself your kismesis was never a good idea. Even though
they'd never consummated the relationship, even though Sollux had never agreed
to it, since he felt nothing but contempt for the other troll, it still meant
Eridan hated him enough not to feel pity for him.
"Not so fulla yourself noww, are you?" Eridan taunted him. "You alwways looked
dowwn on me... on me, wwhen I'm upright royalty and you ain't nothin but a
filthy mustard-blood. Looks like the tide has turned. Wwhat'vve you got to say
for yourself noww, huh?"
Still clinging to the other troll to help him stay above water, Sollux rapidly
considered his options. He wasn't above begging, not to save his own life, but
the last thing he wanted was to end up looking pathetic. Eridan would never
feel pity for him, of that much he was certain, so hatred would turn to
contempt instead if he believed Sollux was too far below him now.
And nobody would help someone they actively scorned. At best, Eridan would
leave him to die. At worst, he'd kill Sollux himself, just to show his
superiority.
All he could do was try to flame the fans of hatred, and hope that Eridan
valued having a kismesis enough not to kill him outright. At the moment, it
wasn't exactly difficult to feign hatred for the troll who'd been a thorn in
his side since the start of the game. It was hard to feel disparaging when
Eridan was suddenly the one with all the power.
"I'd say it looks like you got what was coming to you, if this is your bubble,"
Sollux said with a sneer of his own. "You're dead, and I'm just dreaming. If I
die here, I'll just wake up, but you'll never leave again." He had no idea if
that was true, of course, but neither did Eridan.
"Oh yeah? Then wwhy are you floundering evvery time you go under?" Eridan
taunted him, and put his hands on Sollux's shoulders. Before Sollux could
realize what he intended, Eridan had pushed him away and down, forcing his head
beneath the waves once more.
Caught unprepared, Sollux didn't have a chance to get a deep breath, and his
lungs started aching immediately. He flailed and scrabbled at Eridan, trying to
pull himself up, but even when he got his head above the level where Eridan's
must be, there was still no air. Horrified, he realized Eridan had taken them
both under.
Then Eridan kicked strongly, and they broke through to the air. Sollux was
growing dizzy with the repeated lack of oxygen, which made him feel bizarrely
giddy about the whole thing.
"Reflex," Sollux gasped the moment he could speak, knowing that he couldn't
show even a hint of weakness. "Just because I know I won't die doesn't mean my
subconscious does."
"You might as wwell givve up and admit I'vve got the best of you, Sol," Eridan
said with a low chuckle. "Just like I got the best of you in our last fight.
You takin me seriously yet?"
"Yeah," Sollux growled in reply, and he was startled to realize that he wasn't
feigning a damned thing. He hated the fact that he'd gone from being one of the
most powerful trolls to being fucking helpless, dependent on his potential
kismesis to stay alive. He hated Eridan for putting him in this situation, for
rescuing him just so he could rub Sollux's nub in the fact that Eridan was
stronger than him now. "Yeah, I'm taking you seriously, ed. Guess you finally
measured up to something that might be worth being my rival, after all."
He thought he heard a sharp intake of breath at that, like he'd startled
Eridan, though he didn't know why. Wasn't that exactly what the other troll had
wanted him to say for weeks?
"It's about fuckin time," Eridan said, and there might have been a note of
pleasure beneath the rough anger that was always in his voice when he talked to
Sollux. "I thought I wwas gonna have to outright kill you before you'd admit
I'm superior to you."
"Excuse me? Who said anything about you being superior?" Sollux snorted. "I
said you might be worth considering as a rival. Barely."
This time he expected it, so he managed to get a deep breath before Eridan
shoved him under. He tried not to struggle, knowing that movement only used up
his air faster and gave Eridan far too much satisfaction. But the moments
ticked by without Eridan showing any sign of bringing him back up, and finally
the need to breathe grew too urgent and Sollux couldn't stop himself from
flailing for the surface.
Eridan was laughing at him when he hit the air again. "Tryin to outwwait me,
Sol? Not gonna happen. I'm havving wway too much fun watching you drowwn."
He pushed Sollux again - away this time, removing contact between them
completely, and Sollux choked as he fought to stay above water. He had no idea
how far Eridan had gone; he might be mere inches away, or he might have left
entirely.
He was getting a little better at treading water, but his sodden clothes were
still pulling him down. Taking as deep a breath as he could, Sollux reluctantly
allowed himself to go under long enough for him to pull his shirt up over his
head and discard it. Unfortunately he discovered after he'd done so that he'd
managed to disorient himself again, and was no longer sure where the surface
was.
This time Eridan caught him and brought him up before he'd even really started
panicking, to Sollux's shock. He realized why when the other troll practically
chirped into his ear, "Wwhy, Sol, if you wwere that eager to get naked wwith
me, all you hadda do wwas ask."
"I wasn't," Sollux growled, but his words cut off in a gasp as Eridan's hands
dropped to his fly. He squirmed, part of him desperate to throw Eridan off but
the rest of him aware that doing so would mean drowning again.
The thought of anyone discovering how far his mutations truly went had always
terrified him; it was why he'd held Feferi at bay, and why he'd never
consummated his previous matespritship with Aradia. He'd known that someday he
would have to reveal himself, but he'd expected to have time to take it slow
and explain first, so his matesprit wasn't shocked.
And, honestly, he'd assumed that he would be in the dominant position when he
had to reveal it to a kismesis. He'd sort of planned to rub their face in it,
taunt them with the fact that their kismesis was a freak and there was nothing
they could do to stop him from taking them anyway. This was not at all how he'd
pictured things going.
He knew the exact moment when Eridan realized the truth, because the other
troll went still with shock and they both submerged again. Thankfully he
immediately brought them up again, but Sollux had to fight not to cringe away
from the possible reactions. Eridan held all the power at the moment, and if he
was disgusted there was nothing Sollux could do to stop him from pulling away.
After a long, painful moment, Eridan started laughing. "Fuck, you really are
upright freakish, aren't you?" he said, sounding amazed and almost pleased.
Laughter was a better reaction than disgust, at least for the purposes of
Sollux's continued survival, but that didn't mean he liked it. He hated to be
laughed at and made fun of, and right now it was making hatred fizz and pop in
his veins like something had set his blood to 'boil'.
"Fuck you," he snarled, and slammed his head into Eridan's face as hard as he
could. He wasn't sure how good his aim was, but it must have been good enough
because Eridan yelped in pain and released him.
This time Sollux didn't just tread water; he started swimming as best he could.
Surely there had to be land somewhere, considering Eridan had spent most of his
life out of the water. If he could just manage to keep going straight, somehow,
maybe he could reach it. That would put them on slightly more even footing,
even if he didn't have his powers and couldn't see.
Hands wrapped around his ankles and yanked before he could so much as draw a
startled breath. Worse, Eridan's pull hadn't been straight down, and he ended
up tumbling in the water until he had no idea which way was up. The other troll
had withdrawn the moment Sollux was underwater, so he didn't even have that
point of reference to help him.
Then Eridan was back, pressed against him chest to chest, their legs tangling
as Eridan kissed him fiercely. Sollux bit him and tasted blood, but he felt the
vibration of Eridan's laughter against his chest. The other troll went for his
jeans again, and this time succeeded in pulling them down over Sollux's hips.
That was when Sollux discovered that Eridan had also shed his own clothing at
some point, because when he clutched at Eridan's body he felt the soft flutter
of skin against his hands between the aquatic troll's ribs. His gills, Sollux
realized, and wondered if he could do something to damage them or force them
closed so that Eridan would have to surface.
He hesitated, not sure he really wanted to go that far - what if he seriously
hurt Eridan, or angered him into abandoning him? Hatred between kismesis was a
delicate balance, and if he went too far he could easily push things into
killing rage instead of romantic hate.
He felt Eridan relax against him slightly, and the next moment the other troll
propelled them back up to the air again. As he gasped and wheezed and fought
off dizziness, Sollux wondered if he'd just passed some kind of test. Eridan
had been worried that Sollux would hurt him, judging by that release of
tension.
"Breathe," Eridan said, with an edge to his voice that made it clear the word
was a command and not a suggestion. Sollux would have widened his eyes if he'd
still had them to widen, and obeyed despite himself. Nerves and repeated near-
drowning made him breathe far faster than he normally would, until he was a
short step from hyperventilating instead. "Good little wworm. Noww take a deep
breath - it's the last one you'll havve for a wwhile."
Sollux nearly protested, but that same edge to Eridan's voice warned him that
if he did, he'd only be wasting the air he could have been gulping down
instead. So he did just that, breathing in so deeply his lungs were protesting
for an entirely different reason.
Just in time, before Eridan tangled their legs together and they went under
again. Sollux realized why when he felt Eridan's bulge sliding over the double
humps of bone that protected his. Eridan wouldn't be able to swim and hold them
in position for sex at the same time, and it was clear which one he'd decided
was more important. Frantic, Sollux wrapped his legs around Eridan's waist,
opening himself completely and urging Eridan closer with his hands. Not so much
because he was desperate for the sex, though he was a little shamed to realize
just how fast his bulges were working their way out of the protective sheathes,
but because he knew he had minutes at best before his air would run out, and he
wasn't at all sure Eridan would bring them up again before the aquatic troll
had gotten off.
He had to bite down hard on the instinct to keen when Eridan's bulge found his
nook and pressed inside him. As bad as he wanted to, making any kind of noise
would probably be the literal death of him. He bit his lip until he tasted
blood as one of his bulges found its way into Eridan in turn, the other
stroking and curling around the base of Eridan's bulge.
Eridan had no such restrictions on using up his air, of course. The water
distorted the sound, but Sollux could hear what had to be chirps and warbles as
Eridan ground their hips together with increasingly urgent motions. He clutched
at Eridan's shoulders hard enough to draw blood and moved against him as well,
torn between panic as his lungs began to protest and the need for relief from
the pressure of built-up genetic material.
He strained for release, hoping that if he came as quickly as possible Eridan
would be pushed into breaking as well. Unfortunately the rapidly increasing
terror of drowning was interfering with his pleasure, making it harder to get
off than it otherwise would have been. The ache in his lungs was growing faster
than the ache in his groin, and it was obvious which reflex was going to win
out.
The first few bubbles of air escaped him before he managed to clamp his
windtube closed again. Nearly hysterical, Sollux clawed at Eridan's arms where
they were wrapped around his torso, trying to get free.
Warm lips trailed over his, soft for a moment before Eridan bit his bottom lip
and tugged on it. Sollux opened his mouth, figuring he might as well drown in
Eridan if he was going to drown. Maybe if he appeased Eridan enough by
submitting, the other troll would take him to the surface again.
To his shock and dismay, the moment their lips were sealed Eridan punched him
in the stomach, startling him into releasing the rest of the air that was
trapped in his lungs. Sollux panicked outright, flailing, and nearly managed to
tear his mouth away before he realized that Eridan was breathing into his
mouth, giving him the air he needed to survive just another few moments.
It took effort to inhale without getting water through his cartilage nub as
well, but somehow he managed it. His lungs still hurt, his body trying to
convince him that he needed to keep gasping for more oxygen, and he knew the
respite would be only momentary.
Everything felt a little unreal as the dizziness swept over him, disconnecting
him from reality and leaving him half fainting. Eridan broke the kiss, and
Sollux desperately sought his lips again, hoping for another life-giving
breath, but his kismesis was having none of it. The other troll bit his throat
instead, sharp teeth sinking into the flesh.
Despite himself, Sollux gasped in reaction, and flailed weakly as water rushed
into his lungs. It stung going down, salty liquid irritating the sensitive
flesh of his windtube, and it did nothing to relieve the need for oxygen. He
was no aquatic troll, with gills to let him absorb the oxygen from water and
flush it back out of his system.
Bright lights were bursting before his eyes despite his burned out vision, and
still Eridan showed no signs of bringing them up again. The other troll was
arching into Sollux's grip on him, and the water around them grew fractionally
warmer as violet genetic material mingled with it.
Too late Sollux realized he'd been more thorough than he should have been in
convincing Eridan that he was in no real danger if he died in his dream. His
hands slipped off Eridan's shoulders as he grew too weak to maintain his grip -
and, like a twisted sort of compensation for dying, in his last moments of
awareness he felt the sharp spike of pleasure as he finally reached orgasm.
Abruptly he found himself gasping and convulsing on a hard metal floor,
precious air flowing in and out of his lungs with not even a hint of salt
water. He was still dizzy, probably because he'd been holding his breath in
reality as well, he realized giddily. Karkat was shaking his shoulder, calling
his name urgently, but Sollux couldn't collect himself enough to answer his
friend.
So he was still alive after all. To his dismay Sollux realized that not only
was he now hyperventilating, his pants were sodden and sticky against his legs.
What happened to the dream body happened in reality, apparently, at least to a
point, and he'd soaked himself in his own genetic material.
"I'm fine," he managed, shrugging to throw Karkat's insistent hand off him. A
moment's thought switched his clothes out for another set stored in his
captchalog, thankfully before Karkat could realize what had happened to him.
He'd find an excuse for why he suddenly had a desire to be wearing one of his
levelled-up outfits. As soon as his brain started working properly again.
And he was going to kill Eridan the next time he fell asleep, he promised
himself grimly. He'd never hated anyone more than he hated the aquatic troll in
that moment. He'd find some way of besting the grubfucker despite his
disadvantages in the water, no matter what it took.
It was going to be the best and most rewarding challenge of his life.
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!