So, Welcome to 'In the End, We're All Just Animals'. This will be a collection of Mature one-shots, written for pairings of all matches and orientations for Mako Mermaids, and looking at fetishes, kinks and dynamics of all sorts. Each will be headed by a brief synopsis and any needed warnings. Prompts are currently being drawn on from websites/my own imagination, but please feel free to request anything you like. I'm up for giving most things a go :)

I hope you enjoy reading, and any and all feedback is welcomed and adored.

Synopsis: The first of my planned Seven Deadly Sins Mako Mermaids one-shots, starting with the Pride sin. A tale in which Cam is willing to do literally anything to earn the forgiveness of Nixie, and she chooses to gleefully abuse this fact. Of course, what she didn't bargain for was Cam's loyalty to her, or her own feelings for him. Dapples in a light bit of Dom/Sub and lives up to the M rating later on.

Pairing: Cam x Nixie

Warnings: Fairly safe, unless even light Dom/Sub really isn't your thing. Starts off with plot devices that thankfully devolve into lemons later on. Will be re-edited when I have a chance later on. Also, I haven't written anything M rated in a hella long while, so I'm a bit out of practice- please excuse the rustiness. Also includes far too many inside-jokes and references to my other ff one-shots.

Recommended Listening: High For This - The Weekend

Pride

In Cam's defence, his behaviour since his betrayal had been textbook perfect. He'd helped out Nixie and the gang at every possible turn, had always been there if one of them had needed him, and at one point he'd even endangered his own life to save theirs. The thing was, Nixie didn't want textbook perfect. She wanted Cam back, and she wanted him to pay for it.

Zac had been the first to forgive him. The merman had never said exactly what had been the turning point. One day, however, Nixie and the others had gone over to his apartment to find him sat with Cam cross-legged on his bed, playing on his PlayStation and joking around with one another. Whenever asked how he could possibly forgive him, Zac would simply shrug and say with a grin, "Because he's my best friend."

Sirena had been the next to relent. This didn't surprise anyone since she'd never been able to hold a grudge longer than a few weeks. She defended Cam from the others by citing all the good deeds he'd done since, and would even become quite impassioned if Lyla and Nixie argued with her for long enough. It got to the point where Nixie would have been jealous were Sirena not so clearly infatuated with the land-boy David.

Lyla's treachery was the worst. Nixie had expected her to hold out until the bitter end, and yet one day Nixie happened upon the three of them all sat together at the cafe, laughing; Lyla, Zac, and Cam. "If Zac trusts him again, then so do I," was the simple reason she gave whenever questioned on her choice. It seemed idiotic to Nixie but she was resolute, even inviting Cam along with them on trips to Mako.

And so, in the end, Nixie was the only one left. Her friends might have abandoned her, but there was no chance in hell of her giving up. Cam deserved to be punished for what he had done, and how he had used her. She told the others that it was only because she could never trust him again, but her determination went deeper than that. By exploiting and manipulating her like that, Cam had gone far enough to wound Nixie's pride. She normally had a very thick skin, but once someone managed to get under it, any act of dishonesty was something that she was sure to make them pay for. Cam was no exception.

"Nixie, come on," Cam said with his typical Cam crooked grin, "you've got to forgive me some time. Preferably now."

"I told you Cam, you're permanently black-listed," Nixie sniffed stiffly, looking around for Carly, who was supposed to have delivered her lobster by now. It would provide a welcome distraction from the blonde sat opposite her, who was at that present moment watching her with attentive, eager eyes.

"Whatever happened to giving people second chances? Come on, there's got to be some way I can make things up to you," Cam said, leaning further across the table, half out of his chair. To anyone watching, they must have looked entirely bizarre, what with Cam practically sprawled across the table, but then Nixie had never cared about other people. And she most certainly didn't care about Cam.

"No," she said stubbornly, folding her arms across her chest and slumping back in her chair. "There is nothing in this world that you could do to make it up to me."

"Aw, come on, please. I'll do anything," Cam begged in a whine, gripping his hands together as if he were praying and looking her in the eyes with his own wide, pleading ones.

Bored of being drilled with the usual pleas, Nixie decided to see how far he was really willing to take this. Considering him for a moment, she reckoned he'd maybe last… an hour, perhaps? She supposed it depended on how far she pushed him.

"Anything, you say?" Nixie questioned airily, raising an eyebrow as she looked him over, running her tongue against the back of her teeth as she entertained the idea at hand. "Do you really mean that?"

"Anything," Cam said, and a smile found its way back to his lips. He thought he had won.

How cute.

Smirking to herself internally but maintaining a strictly blank expression, Nixie nodded. "Well then, I suppose there is one thing."

"Whatever you say. Anything, anything at all."

"There is only one thing you could possibly do to win back my trust," Nixie told him calmly, and the corner of her mouth curled up ever so slightly. "You have to do absolutely everything I say. Ever. Essentially speaking, you get to spend the rest of your life as my bitch, no complaining allowed. Does that sound like a good deal to you?"

A moment of stunned silence followed afterwards. Judging by Cam's glazed expression, Nixie had been wrong. She'd hoped that he would at least accept the proposal and then drop out, but going by how dazed he appeared it didn't look like things were even going to get that far. It was a shame, ordering him around for a bit would have been fun, but then it had always been a long shot. Even Cam wouldn't be stubborn enough to accept that sort of an offer.

"Alright, I'll do it," he said, blinking as his expression cleared. There was no joking smile on his face, no deceptive mischief in his eyes. His lips were set in a determined grimace and he was frowning, and Nixie could have sworn he'd said yes.

"I'm sorry?" She asked, not quite able to believe her ears.

"I said I'll do it. If it means that you'll trust me again," Cam repeated firmly, deadly serious.

Staring back at him for a couple of seconds, Nixie took a moment to realise her newfound power before relaxing into a slow, smug smile. "Well then, I'm glad that's settled. Although, naturally you'll have to prove yourself first." She glanced around for inspiration, which then came in the form of her stomach grumbling. "Go be a dear as see where Carly is with my lobster. Oh, and if you would pay for it as well? Thanks."

His face giving no sign of resentment or anger away, Cam simply nodded and rose from his chair, disappearing off to follow his orders. He returned with Carly by his side and a lobster platter rested in her hands. "God, sorry Nixie, today has been completely hectic," Carly apologised in a rush, hurriedly setting Nixie's lobster down upon the table. "Here's the bill. Just bring it over to me or David when you're done."

"Actually, Cam's paying for this," Nixie informed her calmly, her eyes going over to Cam, narrowing with the challenge. He looked back at her without speaking for a moment before he turned to Carly and grinned with the perfect amount of charisma to mask what was going on.

"The fair lady speaks the truth. I've owed Nixie a lobster for a while, but she's only just let me pay her back."

Looking between the two of them, not oblivious to the antipathy in Nixie's expression or the slight strain in Cam's, Carly waited for a better explanation to come but received none. Cam just kept on grinning and Nixie sat there watching him, waiting for him to crack. "Sure, whatever you two want," Carly said slowly, her puzzlement wasted on the two of them. There was no chance they were letting anyone else in on what was going on. That much was established in an unspoken vow of privacy, and served at the beginning foundation for their potential mutual trust.

Carly then left the two of them to it, and Nixie tucked into the lobster. It was, as always, delicious, and was made all the sweeter by the knowledge that Cam had paid for it. She looked up at him, considering all the possibilities, the best ways to push him right up to his boundaries without shoving him over them. She wanted to keep this going for as long as possible; it wasn't every day she acquired a willing slave after all.

"Still sure you want to do this?" She asked him, popping a slice of lobster into her mouth.

"I said I'd do anything, didn't I?" Cam reminded her, and whilst she could now hear the resignation behind that promise, he still seemed perfectly serious.

"Well then," Nixie said with a smile that was nothing short of deviant, "let's put that to the test now, shall we?"

And so ensued a day of Nixie shamelessly bossing Cam about, having him follow her everywhere and generally finding the best ways to exploit and humiliate him. She had him functioning as a human shade-provider down on the beach whilst she read her book, carrying her things for her to and from the shops, and so on. He carried, paid, and followed her according to her every word, and not once did he complain, carrying out most of his tasks with wordless diligence. Although Nixie would never admit it aloud, she was whole-heartedly impressed.

Cam well out-stripped her prediction of one hour, and that evening he was still accompanying her. Having had dinner together at the café, they sat together in Aunt Rita's house before the television, some mindless show about Vampires in Australia blinking out from the TV. Rita, Lyla and Sirena had all gone out for a family-bonding meal, one which Nixie had wormed her way out of by feigning sickness. No way was she going to pass up time that could be spent abusing Cam instead.

Nixie had gone as far as to order Cam to feed her grapes by hand, confident that he would call it quits then and there. Instead, however, he had politely informed her that she was insane and had then proceeded to retrieve a bag of grapes from the fridge. He sat beside her, his legs tucked underneath him, dropping the occasional grape into her mouth whenever she signalled for him to do so.

Nixie had to confess that having this much power over him was largely satisfying. Not only that, but she was beginning to feel that the debt of humiliation had nearly been repaid. After all, she had ordered Cam to confess his undying love to David, along with making him give her a piggyback across a mile long strip of beach in front of all his friends. They were ever so nearly even.

"Cam, my feet are tired from all this marching around finding things to keep you entertained," she whined, pouting as she wiggled the appendages in question. "Would you be an angel and let me rest them on you?"

"Sure," Cam said with a shrug, viewing the request as nothing compared to the past challenges of the day, moving his hands from his lap so that she could rest her feet there.

Smirking wickedly, Nixie narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. "No, I don't think you quite understand. I mean that I want you down on the floor before me, here, so that I can prop my feet up on you. You see, this house is rather lacking in footrests, and since you're here, I thought I'd best make use of you."

Looking back at her for a moment to see if she was really serious, Cam gave her a thin-lipped grimace before sighing, the day's activities having taken their toll on him. "That's not a sigh of complaint, is it Cam?" Nixie asked him, pursing her lips.

"No Nixie, it was not. I would be delighted to be your footrest," Cam replied with forced brightness, clambering down off of the sofa onto the floor. Scooting over to sit before her, he turned his back on the TV and took a hold of her feet, lifting them up onto his shoulders, resting them there.

"Good slave," Nixie praised him with a condescending smirk, adjusting her feet so that they were comfortable and then returning to watching the television, helping herself to some grapes.

Having him just sit there though was boring for the both of them, and so after a short while Nixie took her feet down from Cam's shoulders and placed them instead in his lap. "It just isn't helping, Cam. You're going to have to rub them," she informed him with mock disappointment, shaking her head sadly.

Well trained by now, Cam responded quickly and took one of her feet in his hands. Without a word, he gently went about massaging her foot, rubbing his thumbs in slow, deep circles across her ankles, curving along her sole and rubbing soothingly up her instep. Whilst Nixie had requested it solely for the purpose of torturing him further, she found the experience unexpectedly relaxing and settled back into the sofa. Her interest in the programme waned as she watch Cam at work, her eyes following the circular, hypnotic cycles of Cam's fingers. She said nothing, but the silence became filled with something else, warm and tender, best left unspoken.

Amongst it all, Nixie found herself starting to feel guilty for using Cam this way. The land-folk's expression of 'two wrongs don't make a right' drifted back to her, and with an unwelcome sense of shame she bit down upon her bottom lip. "Are you really going to keep this up?" Nixie asked him quietly.

"Until you forgive me, yes," Cam answered in a similarly muted tone, changing over to massage her other foot, his eyes focused on his task.

"You know that you're crazy for doing this though, right?" Nixie pointed out, trying to laugh but finding that the gesture felt inappropriate. The mood was too restful for anything as harsh as laughter, their hushed voices noise enough.

"Am I?" Cam said, his eyes still trained on her foot. "I don't know. I think it's worth it."

Keeping quiet, Nixie could think of no adequate reply that wasn't either embarrassing or idiotic, and so she just lapsed back into silence, watching him work. "Thank you, Cam," she said, focusing her gaze on her own foot so that she didn't have to meet his eyes when she said it, "for not giving up on me. I'm glad that you convinced me to trust you again."

"So I'm forgiven?" He asked, looking up at her as his hands stilled, distracted,

"I suppose so," Nixie said, fidgeting awkwardly under his gaze. "I think it's fair to say that you've earned it."

"Does that mean I'm no longer eternally bound to give you foot-rubs on demand?" He teased, a cheeky smile returning to his face as a mix of relief and hope washed over him.

"Oh, I don't know about that. You promised to be my slave for forever, remember?" Nixie replied with a sultry smile, wiggling her toes against his palm. "I've rather enjoyed being able to order you around."

"Well, if that's what you're into," Cam said. His words sounded dismissive, and yet there was a low, coy undertone in his voice that sent a chilling sensation shivering over Nixie's skin, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. It was not out of fear, however, and she felt a warm, twisting feeling stir in the pit of her stomach.

"Is that one of those expressions that has a double meaning in the human world?" Nixie asked suspiciously, fidgeting again as she tried to dislodge the fluttering feeling that crept up through her.

"Well, to be into something on land generally means to find it, you know," Cam said, lowering his voice as he trailed a finger feather light across the length of her sole, "arousing."

Feeling her voice lodge in her throat at his speech, Nixie very nearly yanked her foot clean out of his grasp, but something else kept her frozen in place, waiting. "And what, on land having someone be your slave is supposed to be," she struggled to get out the last word without her voice cracking, "arousing?"

"Well, yeah," Cam said with a smile that was more nervous than usual. "Or at least, for some people. Land dwellers can be into all kinds of crazy, it just depends who it is."

Her cheeks flaring with heat, Nixie had to take a moment to calm down, feeling that excited twisting feeling playing up in her stomach again. More than that, it grew deeper, sinking down through her legs and accumulating somewhere in the middle. New to her human anatomy, she was inexperienced with what went on down there, but it seemed that she was beginning to find out.

"So Cam," she said, trying to sound casual, conversational, "what are you 'into', as you put it?"

"Bit of a personal question there Nixie," Cam said, his hands starting up again on her foot, pressing more deeply this time, working slowly as his thumb moved in arches across her skin. "Not that I mind telling you, but I wouldn't advise you go around asking just anyone." He paused to consider her question, his hands momentarily stilling before he found his answer. "I guess I'm willing to be open-minded, and I'm up for experimentation. Don't knock it till you try it, right?"

"Right," Nixie repeated absently, her eyes distant as she mulled over his words.

"Cam, I've got another request," she said, speaking suddenly enough into the silence to make Cam jump. She herself couldn't quite believe that she was going to say this, but then today hadn't exactly been conforming to her idea of 'ordinary'.

"Yes?" He prompted her, looking up at her with his pale blue eyes, which in that moment were unfairly piercing.

"I want," she said, stopping mid-sentence to regain her confidence. Swallowing, she summoned her courage and spoke in a clear, confident voice. "I want you to kiss me."

His hands falling motionless upon her feet, Cam stared back at her, completely taken aback by her forwardness. "Are you sure?" He asked, almost sounding concerned. Perhaps he thought she was mad, Nixie certainly did.

"Yes," she said with a healthy dose of patronisation layered into her voice, raising her eyebrows at him. "Would I order you to do so if I wasn't?"

"I suppose not," Cam said quietly, his humour absent as he processed what he was to do. It didn't take him long to recover, however, a dark, seductive smirk forming slowly upon his lips. "And I suppose that since you ordered it, I am helpless but to obey."

Keeping his grip upon her leg firm, Cam pulled himself forwards, closer towards her. He leant down and drew her foot to his lips, planting a small, long-lasting kiss to the middle of her instep. It was the first of many as he continued his way across her calf, each kiss lingering for longer than the last, his lips parting, drawing on the skin beneath them. His touch traced a line of blossoming heat and electricity, leaving Nixie feeling hot and flushed. Each kiss drew further upwards, lining the side of her knee and then daring to continue onwards.

Shifting himself over so that he sat between her legs, still seated down upon the floor, Cam paused to look up at her. His own skin was flushed with red patches as the arousal took its hold on him, and his lips were dry. "Do you want me to stop, mistress?" He asked her, and the teasing way in which he used the term mistress suggested to Nixie that it meant something more, possessed more land-folk connotations. Regardless of what it meant to him, however, Nixie still felt it send an electric thrill up through her, flushing her hot and cold all at the same time.

"No," she said, surprised by how strained and breathless she sounded. With his hands resting on the sides of her thighs, it required everything in her to stop herself from making further noises as she discovered that those areas were far more sensitive than anything she'd ever experienced before. "You can keep going."

Smiling when she gave him permission, Cam pressed a gentle kiss to the modest top of her knee before venturing further, his lips working up the inside of her thigh. He raised himself up onto his knees, leaning forwards so that he could reach everywhere, and his hands overtook his lips as they moved forwards to brush her skirts out of the way, exposing new flesh for kissing.

Nixie's breath caught in her throat as he licked slowly along the inside of her thigh, stopping just sort of her under garments. His lips then stayed where they were, kissing the skin there long and hard before giving it a playful nip. An overwhelming series of shakes and shivers swelled through Nixie, who found herself collapsing back into the sofa, unable to fully control her body anymore.

"Fuck," she whispered. Never before has she used the term, although she'd heard land-folk use it many a time. Only in that moment did she truly understand its purpose, using it to mask a moan that would otherwise have been whole-heartedly embarrassing. Thank god Lyla and the others weren't around to witness her display of trembling vulnerability, the heat flooding through her entirely disarming.

"Nixie," Cam said, breaking from tending to her thigh as he looked up at her from her lap. "May I remove this?" He asked, hooking a lone finger across the edge of her panties, asking permission without pushing it too far.

"Yes, please," Nixie said breathlessly, squirming in frustration. She didn't quite know what she wanted, but what she did know was that her underwear was holding her back.

Noticing how sexually frustrated she was becoming, Cam grinning teasingly and refrained from removing her undergarments, instead turning his attention to the opposite thigh, sucking on it headily to leave a raw, flushed hickey behind in his wake. "Cam," Nixie said through her teeth, moving a hand to knot her fingers in his hair, "take it off, now."

Obeying wordlessly, Cam helped draw her underwear down off of her, pulling it free of her legs and tossing it away behind him, getting the impression that it would not be needed again for some time. "Are you alright if I-" Cam started to ask, but Nixie but him off, tightening her grip on his curls.

"Yes, keeping going dammit. I don't know if I can-" She didn't finish, unsure of what it was that she was incapable of. She felt as if she were holding on for something, chasing after some sort of revelation, a grand finish, her body quivering in anticipation for whatever that elusive something was.

"Yes ma'am," Cam said with smirk, his lips returning to kiss her legs, edging closer this time, approaching the newly exposed area.

After having acquired legs, Nixie had done her fair share of exploring down there. She knew what it looked like, and had gone far enough to have touched herself a little, half scared by the sensation it elicited, half fascinated. Rita had sat them all down, told them how their new human bodies would experience certain feelings, about how those feelings may wish to express themselves; the whole of the birds and the bees. Now though, as Cam applied pressure to the base of her clitoris, licking up across it with a quick but firm flick, she learnt that her brief adventures had been nothing. Everything was nothing compared to this.

"Fuck," she whispered again, her right hand knotting further into Cam's curls whilst her left went to her face, balling up into a fist as she tried to cope with all these new sensations. "Fuck." She could feel him slow down, concerned that she needed a break. "Don't you dare fucking stop, Cam," she hissed through her teeth, her heart thudding in her chest as she squirmed again.

She could almost hear him laughing at her desperation as he toyed with her, his tongue dancing around the edge of her clit but never going anywhere truly satisfying. Unable to bare it, needing more, Nixie clamped down on his hair and tilted her head back, panting now. She'd swallow her pride if it meant that she could finally reach whatever that strange, seductive finish was, beckoning her forwards with the promise of ecstasy and release. "Please Cam. I need you to-" She found herself cut off, however, when her throat restricted itself, letting out only a desperate gasp as Cam moved closer, his tongue pressing deeply and lovingly against her.

His hands gripping her thighs tightly, holding her quaking body in place, Cam moved down, his tongue progressing to more internal, personal areas. He slipped his tongue inside her, and at first Nixie was jolted by a small, uncomfortable sensation as he pushed into her. He worked at her gently though, and the arousal quickly loosened her up, allowing him deeper and for more elaborate exploration to take place.

"Cam, I think I'm going to," Nixie gasped, her head tipping backwards against the back of the sofa. Her eyes flickered up to the ceiling as her fingers maintained a firm grip on Cam. "I- Fuck."

He pushed further into her, his tongue slipping out and then sliding back in, penetrating new ground as one of his hands moved upwards, a finger gently caressing her clitoris. Heat flooded her and her back arched, her hips bucking up involuntarily against his tongue. His touch felt like fire, and shaking and shivering she felt as if she were crumbling down around him, her consciousness fragmented as she was overcome by the thousands of intricate, fleeting sensations. Each shiver rose and died in a fraction of a second, followed immediately by another, and it was all Nixie could do to endure them, let alone keep up.

Cam's tongue pushed just a millimetre further than before, but with it Nixie felt something entirely new, a flash amongst the mounting crackles. Whatever it was that had been building up within her broke in a flood of quivers and quakes, and she felt the orgasm ripple through her, rolling her muscles with it. It washed over her once, twice, and then surged back again for a third and final time before she found herself collapsing back against the cushions of the sofa, exhausted and unbearably happy.

Against her, Cam withdrew himself and then planted a sweet, chaste kiss to the inside of her thigh before he straightened, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. Climbing up onto the sofa, he sat himself down between her legs, pulling them around him. "Are you alright?" He asked, sounding slightly breathless, although he was nothing compared to the trembling, panting mess that was Nixie.

"Alright," Nixie repeated with a shaky laugh, raising her head up off from the sofa to look at him. "Alright? Cam, I have never felt anything so wonderful in my life." And what she said was true. The wave of orgasms had left her entirely dumbfounded, and there was a deep-set sense of satisfaction seeping through her body. Nothing compared to it, not even swimming in the ocean, not even the sensation of the moon-pool during the night of the full moon. Nothing.

Grinning at her praise, Cam shuffled closer, his hands rubbing up and down her thighs gently. "So I passed as a good slave then?" He said teasingly, the smile upon his lips a little dazed, matching his wind-swept expression. His hair was sticking up at odd angles from where Nixie had tugged at it and his skin was flushed all over, ever so slightly shiny from sweat. Even more to Nixie's liking, he looked just like she felt- slightly mind-blown with a side-serving of dazzled.

"Best slave I've ever had," Nixie confirmed, trying to get her breath back as she stroked a hand across his chest, feeling his body beneath his shirt. And to think that what they had done was only one small fraction of all the possibilities. "Definitely the best. Stellar, in fact. Ten out of ten."

"I'm honoured," Cam murmured, wiping a finger across his lips to dry them before leaning in, kissing her slowly and sensually. A faint tang of what he had just done still lingered there, but Nixie couldn't say she minded, too caught up in the relieving, wonderful moment of the kiss.

"I do forgive you Cam," Nixie said quietly, resting her forehead against his as she raised a hand to his cheek, stroking her fingers down across it. "But you can never betray my trust again. Ever."

"I know I can't," Cam said. "And I don't intend to. Last time was enough to teach me where my priorities ought to lie. No trident or powers are worth losing you."

Nuzzling at him gently, Nixie moved her arms to drape them across his shoulders, pulling their two bodies closer together. "Good," Nixie said quietly, a small smile beginning to form across her lips. "Now, we have just over an hour until my family gets back. I'd like it very much if we could put that time to good use."

"Is that an order or a request?" Cam asked teasingly, grinning back at her.

"Whichever you would prefer it to be."

"Well then- yes ma'am."

A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this one-shot, and if so please do review- feedback serves to keep me writing when I'm feeling largely uninspired :) And if you got this far- thanks for reading!