Title: Whisper in the Blood

Type: Slash, PreSlash, UST, Friendship, DubCon

Rating: NC-17

Fandom: True Blood [Showverse]

Pairing: Eric Northman/Jason Stackhouse

Setting: Sometime during Season 2, though not strictly following events.

Word Count: 3266

Summary: Eric pays a visit to Sookie's house to attend to a pressing matter, only to find that she is not present. Instead, he finds only Jason playing with his rubber ducky in the bathtub. After intruding, Eric informs Jason that he should let Sookie know he is looking for her. As Eric tries to leave however, the Stackhouse brother seems to have other ideas. It seems Jason is in the market for new vampire buddies, but is he in for something more? Fun Eric flavoured teasing and adorably dumb Jason ensues with some unexpected results. Eric makes a new friend/pet human.

Warnings: Use of some adult language and references. Developed sexual chemistry; do not read if you want your smut served instant. Series could be spoilerish if you have not viewed Seasons 1 and 2 respectively; consider yourself warned. To be treated as missing scenes, potentially pre-AU since events in this series may alter the course of canon events. No specific episode setting. This is a co-write so keep this in mind whilst reading, and apologies if the perspective seems a little choppy in parts. Eric is written by Jaxon666 and Jason by VarrosGirly.


Jason sat in the tub, gripping a plain yellow toy duck, himself making a quacking sound each time he squeezed it. He dropped the duck and grabbed the soap bar, rubbing suds onto his chest, head bobbing as he muttered a random tune. "Got my soap and a ducky, got a little bit in my mouth and it tastes kinda funny, but it's soap so now it's clean alright." He whistled and made the duck attack the floating bar, making machine gun noises as he did so.

"Mr. Stackhouse. Am I interrupting something of...importance?", Eric asked, suddenly announcing his presence without the slightest warning sound preceding him, because he would have hated to be keeping Jason from something as pressing a matter as childish bath time tomfoolery. His mysteriously spirited eyes did smile though, even if his lips did not; Jason was quite the ridiculous human.

Eric stood in the doorway of the bathroom wearing a fitted designer suit, though somehow he seemed composed more casually than such formal attire typically allowed; more of an off duty playboy than a businessman, but then Eric was never really off duty.

The soap was dropped into the water with a very loud plop, a surprised expression hanging from the human's face. "Y'all are real quiet, what the hell're you doin' in the bathroom?" There were milky suds on the water's surface, so he wasn't worried about being seen. But then he liked being seen; and could vampires see through stuff like that? Jason thought that'd be cool. "I'm just takin' a bath, dude. Uh, Eric right?"

"Yes.", Eric began to reply, dragging the word out though he spoke it softly, "Eric Northman.", he bared the slip of a smile for just a moment before pressing on, walking further into the room, "I am here because you are here, and since you are the only person occupying this humble abode at present I was wondering if you could tell me...where might I find the lovely Ms Stackhouse this fine day?", the end of his question struck as more fluid than any bathwater, and much colder in sensation. In fact, Eric had a way of making it sound unlike a question at all.

"Oh. Well Sook ain't here right now." Jason didn't even try not to look disappointed, the thought didn't even cross his mind. "How come y'all only ever come around to find Sookie? Don't you like, just hang out? I'm real fun to hang out with, but y'all vampers only ever wanna see Sook." But then his face brightened as he picked up the soap again. "Real fancy suit Eric, you takin' her on a date or somethin'?"

It was amusing to Eric that someone such as Jason would not only think enough of themselves to engage in conversation with him, but also question him in any sense. How audacious; not only for Jason's much lower position on the food chain, but also for the harsh contrast of intellects present. Surely the two had little place talking to one another. Still, the human had been no less than pleasing to Eric thus far, and though murderous and at times spiteful if the mood took, Eric Northman was not a vampire known for exuding bad manners. If he killed, it was with impeccable etiquette.

"If you have something to offer us, perhaps you should make it more...available.", of course Eric doubted that Jason was more useful than two short planks in any given situation, whereas Sookie proved to have a number of certain gifts, her powers not the least of them. The vampire had a way of holding gazes that did not threaten, but still made as much point to those they fell to as would the predatory glares of a wild and deadly beast. Short of humanity, Eric also had absolutely no concern for Jason's exposure in this instance; such a minor detail, one not to be bored with. Besides, it was hardly troubling.

"A date? Not at all, Mr. Stackhouse. You forget I am a businessman.", Eric's silky tones offered variable hues, all of them mildly haunting, as his lips seemed to be the only thing of him warm; warm with something forbidden. His eyes barely wandered as he stood directly before Jason at the side of the bath, unflinching and unsurprised, fiddling with one of his shirt sleeves.

Jason looked like he was in deep contemplation for a moment, though he was really just trying to imagine what sorts of things he'd be useful for. "I'm real good at building stuff and like, just strong things. But Sook's the one who does all that brain stuff." He looked down at the soap bar in his hands, making a frothy lather in them.

"Right, so what'd Sookie do now?" When Jason looked up, the vampire was beside the tub, making him jump in surprise once more, the soap falling into the water. "Seriously, y'all never make a fuckin' noise, do ya?" He craned his neck to look up at the vampire, squinting his eyes. "Fuck dude, you're real tall."

"I'm sure you are very strong. We are not lacking in that area ourselves. I will keep you in mind when I need something wooden constructed.", Eric's hypnotic expressions told stories that his words did not, distracting enough for his hand to plummet to the depths of Jason's bathwater without warning, rummaging around worryingly near to the delicacies of the human's groin. A few moments later however, Eric's apparent purpose had become clear, breaking the surface of the warm, bubbly water one last time, bar of soap clutched inside his fist, which loomed playfully above Jason's body now as Eric squatted down to share his level evenly. "Sookie has caused no grievance. And yes, I am of a certain height.", he ended, with a humour just short of slyness.

The human's eyes widened in slight panic for a moment, remembering the sort of trouble he'd gotten into the last time someone had stuck their hand into the waters of his bath. He smiled somewhat nervously as Eric's hand resurfaced with the soap. Jason's body relaxed, and his looks passed from the slick bar to the vampire. "Uh, thanks dude. What're you lookin' for Sookie for?" Jason felt like he should be worried about the expressions on Eric's face, but they were too complex for him to understand, so he didn't give it a second thought.

Eric tilted his head at the word "dude", finding it's broadly modern disposition offensive. "You should be careful of the things you take into hand, Mr. Stackhouse. Without a fitting grip, they will slip from you like youth.", the vampire's lips flashed a relentlessly proud smirk; Eric did love being a vampire, and all it had meant for him, from dark birth to now. Humans were so sadly temporary.

"Don't concern yourself with such trivial matters. I will find her later. If you cross paths with your sister before I do, you will tell her that I require her audience. A measure of urgency would be modestly appreciated.", he smiled again, backing away from the warm, wet human, shaking off the water from his own hand and arm before returning it to his side and tending once more to his sleeve.

"Uh...so...that's a lot of fancy words." But at least they weren't confusing ones, not like those that Sookie's vampire Bill used. "You want her to get back to ya real quick like." Jason really wanted to know what the vampires needed Sookie for, but he supposed he'd hear it from her whenever she knew. Or not. Depended on if she was mad at him for something he couldn't remember or figure out that day. "Right. Anything else ya need, or just lookin' for Sook?"

A lot of words, perhaps, but Eric did not find any of them particularly elaborate or fancy. "Exactly.", he answered Jason's interpretation of his own words, intrigued by how simple a mind a man could have without forgetting to breathe. "I am without reason to stay. Enjoy your bath Mr. Stackhouse. I approve of good hygiene.", his last comment was said through an almost bizarre expression.

Jason frowned and ran a dripping hand through his hair, slicking the blonde strands back. "Sook keeps some of those TruBloods in the fridge, if you wanted to have one of those. I could come down and crack a beer open." He didn't have the opportunity to talk to vampires too much beyond Bill, and that just got confusing. Jason felt like he owed it to their kind after getting involved with the Fellowship people, to give them a chance. Besides, he sort of figured that vampires were cool, now.

Eric turned back for a moment, after stopping in his tracks, Jason's suggestion that he stay delaying his course. "Thank you.", his tone was raised highly in a pitchy dance of mockery that should not have gone intercepted, for Jason's own good, "I much prefer the real thing.", his voice returned to it's usual dark shades of whispery colour, before he headed back out of the bathroom.


The human was left staring at the empty doorway, wondering if the tall vampire was still in the house. Jason shot out of the tub and shook off, wrapping a towel tightly around his waist before heading down to the kitchen in an unrefined rush. "So you still 'round?" he called out at the bottom of the staircase.

A little after Jason aired his question, Eric stepped out from Sookie's bedroom before taking foot to the stairway. He had been looking for something there, perhaps an item that he needed from Sookie, or information that might put him more quickly in contact with her. When he saw Jason again, he found it odd that the man was barely dry from bathing at all; what else had been so imperative? He ignored Jason's question, though he need not answer it now, in full view of Jason.

"You're still wet Mr Stackhouse. I suggest a towel. Perhaps two. I doubt I need to give further instruction.", Eric was toying with Jason in a way that was friendly, poking light sarcasm at the human's lacking intelligence, but at the same time not with cruelty in his wake. He exhibited no guilt or taboo at coming from Sookie's room either.

Jason shook his body as though a freshly hosed dog, water droplets flinging away from him. "I like to air dry, it feels kinda neat." He glanced at the door behind Eric, head tilted a little in question. "What were you lookin' for in Sook's room?" The only time Jason found himself in girls' rooms was when he planned to fuck them silly.

Eric made a point not to look Jason in the eye, but such attempt to hide his tested patience proved futile. Jason would still see the vampire's eyes shaking slightly, as well as his expression anchored towards something far from promise. "You ask too many questions. None of them welcomed.", obviously, Jason should have let it go; business between Eric and Sookie was not for Jason to oversee.

He still didn't approve of the vampire having been in Sookie's room, doing whatever it was he was doing. "I always gotta ask questions, I don't ever know what's goin' on." Jason took a step toward the kitchen, turning slightly away from the vampire. He had enough sense not to turn his back completely. "So um, I'm gonna get a beer, you want that TruBlood stuff?" Eric had answered that once already, but Jason didn't want to seem like a rude host. Even though the vampire had arrived unannounced. and intruded upon his privacy as though commonplace.

"It is better that some of us remain uninformed.", Eric privately joked at how a little information was a dangerous thing, when backed by the force of a mind such as Jason's. It did something to appease his recently peppered mood. His frosty eyes scraped away layers of Jason carelessly, as the human prompted him to repeat an answer already given. "No TruBlood.", his words took a somewhat gritty and angry turn.

"Oh, right. Well I don't think y'all eat, so I can't make a sandwich or nothin'." Jason sidestepped into the kitchen and went for the fridge, leaning down to grab a cold beer from it. "I could call Sook for ya if ya need." He popped the cap off with the pad of his thumb and took a long sip from it. "She's out doin'-" But he stopped, remembering that she hadn't told him what she was going out for.

Jason's statements of the obvious were growing tiresome. Eric didn't care for it at all. No matter, Eric had his ways of rocking the boat to his advantage. He whipped off the towel from around Jason's waist and looked to him playfully before taking it to Jason's wet locks with both hands, vigorously ruffling the towel around Jason's head. "You really should get dry Mr. Stackhouse. We wouldn't want you to prune before your time.", a slight undertone of warmth rolled around in his words as Eric spoke, continuing to knead the towel against the flesh of Jason's back and torso. He was quite enjoyable this way; like a teacup human at bath time, and Eric the tending parent. "This would be far easier if you remained still."

"Hey!" Jason attempted to squirm away from Eric's forced touches. He laughed a little when the vampire touched on ticklish spots of his, which only made him squirm more. "Sorry, I ain't gotten dried off like this since I was like, five." He wriggled a little more, but took long sips of his beer. "I didn't know vamps cared about humans bein' wet after takin' baths." He blinked at his own words, sometimes able to recognize when he was nonsensical, but shrugged it off, not caring about it.

"Then you continue not to know it. I merely find ways to fill time, like any good vampire.", Eric informed with sharp precision, not wanting Jason to falsely believe him to be some sentimental undead wreck, filled with feelings in lack of a soul. After working the towel over Jason's firmly muscles arms, Eric pressed it to Jason's naval in a bunch, the remainder of the towel draping over Jason's most precious of parts, to provide some amount of modesty. Then again, Eric was hardly the kind to steal glances of things he had seen so many times before. Unlike even the most virile and experienced of humans, Eric lacked sexual desperation. There was little room left for curiosity either, when he had not only seen and partaken of things that caused the wildest of fantasies to pale in comparison, but could also have whatever it is that he wanted, especially from others.

"I trust you can dry that yourself.", the guilesome nocturne's aura took an a questionably sugary flavour as he spoke through curled lips, moving behind Jason and smacking his rigid ass cheeks with a bare palm, releasing the towel to Jason's control once more. Instantly the refrigerator door was open again. Perhaps Eric's appetite had peaked.

Jason clutched the towel that pressed into his stomach, gulping slightly at his own apparent vulnerability. "Uh yeah, I got it." He jumped and yelled a little when the cold sharp tap came to his cheeks. "The fuck was that for?" Jason wrapped the towel around his waist again, sitting in a chair and sipping on his beer. He looked at the fridge to see which bottle Eric took.

A padded sound send a thud through the air as the fridge door was closed, Eric's eyes making notes from Jason's body as though unprohibited. He looked so pleased with himself when he was done, the expression of it far from typical. "There's a certain charm to you Mr. Stackhouse. One I have not had the pleasure of hearing about from those who know you. Perhaps there is more to you than poor use of language and disjointed thought patterns.", and Eric's smile thereafter seemed to offer a pulse of encouragement, despite the sauce of his intended message.

Jason set the half empty beer bottle down on the table, following Eric's eyes to his own body, approving of the looks. He admired his own body quite a bit, so it was natural to him that others liked the way he looked. "I guess I'm pretty hot, and I get to boss around the road crew, and they ain't dead or hooked on V. So I'm doin' that alright." Jason leaned back in the chair, stretching his arms above his head. He was always proud to point out things he did well, even if it was something others already knew.

"You like this…having power over others? Telling them what to do? How adorable of you Mr Stackhouse.", the Nordic vampire's words came in concentrated washes of mirth matched only in warmth by beams of the sunlight that could no longer touch his perfect, pallid skin. It amused him that Jason likened authority over a road crew to true dominion; was he even capable of organizing a handjob without landing himself and others in trouble?

"You have not visited my establishment for quite some time. I am offended. You should come by soon if you wish to prevent my resentment.", and the way in which Eric said that; he was joking, wasn't he?

"I like it cause people don't think I can do things right a lot, and I don't really have to do much of anythin' to get the road crew workin'." Jason was pleased with how well he handled situations, even if he was often called away from it. He drained the rest of his beer, grinning just a little that one of the vampires Sookie was always getting attention from even thought about giving him the time of day, or night as it were.

"Well sure, but I figured after last time I was there, you wouldn't want me there too much." But maybe it was different if you went with the intention of drinking beer instead of vampire blood. Or maybe he just had a way of getting into trouble no matter what. Jason didn't really care, he could handle whatever came his way, usually.

"Did nobody tell you? Fangtasia has an 'All Stackhouses Welcome' policy.", without missing a trick, Eric boasted that suggestive smile in Jason's direction again, or was that to all directions? He sounded like a thing of fire unthawing itself, much to the detriment of others. "I will be sure to invite you to my table. An esteemed privilege, especially for a human. I am to expect you soon then?"

Jason smiled, drumming on the table and nodding. "Fuck yeah, I didn't know you had somethin' like that. But you're the guy who owns it, so you get to make all the rules and stuff. That's real awesome." He grabbed the empty beer bottle and stood to throw it in the garbage, picking a new one out of the fridge. "I could stop in this weekend, I ain't too busy."

"Make sure to do that. You wouldn't like me when I'm disappointed.", Eric left his bottle of TruBlood unempty, placing it on the nearby kitchen counter. The synthetic blood was meaningless to him, a fruitless fruit with no juice to covet, he hadn't even cared to seek choice of blood type; it was all a lie, and therefore unsavoury. "Goodbye Mr. Stackhouse.", and with that velvety goodbye, Eric was gone.


THE END