Zagreus's lips part once more to let Thanatos's finger in, and he licks it clean of blood. He continues to suck on it even so, gazing at his lover with pleading, adoring eyes.

Thanatos gently strokes Zag's shaft under the water and pulls his finger free of Zag's lips to cup the side of his face. "Is this enough for now, I wonder?"

"No—please—Than, sir, my Thanatos, I'm—do whatever you will with me—but I would—" Zagreus swallows, his eyes locked into Thanatos's through a force much stronger than his will. "I would have more of your marks on me. Please."

"What a lovely pet you make, my Zagreus." The gauntlet is back, and a soft slow slice down Zagreus's left cheek is his response. "This is a good place, too, isn't it? So that everyone knows you belong to me."

In any other situation, Zag would have remarked on the irony of this statement when juxtaposed to how much more hesitant Thanatos used to be about their relationship a few centuries before. But nowadays everyone in and out of the Underworld knows about the two of them, and Thanatos has taken an almost possessive pride in being with Zagreus, which flares up especially strongly when he's in a mood like this one.

He stays entirely still, feeling the sharp pain of the cut to his cheek in full, picturing the scar it will leave (at least until he dies again), wondering whether others will know, whether they will understand that such a precise incision could never have shown by accident.

Megaera will know, of course. She and Zagreus played at this long before Thanatos worked up the nerve to do it (and the taste for doing it). She will tease him with ambiguous words and looks, not quite exposing him in front of the Underworld's servants. Alecto will mock him for it and call him "redblood", and if this used to irritate him, now it will just remind him of where the cut came from.

And when Thanatos runs a second line perpendicular to the first, slightly widening the wound where the lines intersect, that's nearly enough to make him come then and there.

"Is this too much for you, Zag? I wanted to play for longer," Thanatos says, giving Zagreus's dick another hard squeeze.

"No—sir—I can take more, you—please use me, I'm all yours—"

"That's what I thought." Yet another squeeze followed by a soft cold kiss on Zagreus's left cheek. "The X marks the treasure," he murmurs, trailing more kisses down Zagreus's jawline and neck, biting on the skin on his collarbone and nibbling on his pecks until he gets to the nipple.

Zagreus moans, and he can't help moving and shuddering which just makes his cuts smart and hurt and ache, his blood dropping down his skin leaving trails of fresh red where they pass.

"Get out of the water," Thanatos orders. "Sit."

Zagreus is quick to obey, sitting at the edge of the pool so that his thighs and hips are just below Thanatos's eye level.

And Thanatos finds himself between Zagreus's legs, pushing them open so he has more access to Zagreus's dick. He makes sure to keep looking up at Zagreus's face when he takes Zagreus's shaft into his mouth, wrapping his arms around his lover's hips and pressing his hands and fingers against Zagreus's ass and lower back.

Zag leans back, propping himself up on his arms and giving Thanatos freer access, leaking some precum into Thanatos's mouth.

Yum.

He moves his left hand down again to stroke himself, but his right hand—the one with the gauntlet—is still there.

And he digs his fingers into Zagreus's flesh.

"Ah FUCK—"

Thanatos doesn't ease up on the pressure and just keeps sucking Zagreus off, drinking up all of Zagreus's cum as he orgasms from the pain of the punctures.

"Fuck fuck fuuuuuuck oh Thanatos oh please fuuuuuuuuuck—"

And then he loses all coherency and it's all he can do to keep sitting up and not collapse into a heap.

As Zagreus's orgasm slows and eventually ends, Thanatos licks the last few drops of his seed off his cock, and finally releases Zagreus's ass. He looks up at his lover's face and starts lightly running the tip of his index finger along Zagreus's lower back, not hard enough to actually cause bleeding but definitely enough to scrape and smart.

"Than—my Thanatos—oh fuck—I need to—"

The gauntlet disappears and Than helps Zag turn around to lie on his stomach, being careful not to touch the cuts on his side and back nor the deep wounds on his asscheek and lower back. Once Zagreus is lying down properly, Thanatos slides over to the wounds again and presses gentle kisses on each of them.

"Oh—ah Than—Thanatos—oh that hurts, keep doing that, I love you so much—"

He shuts his eyes and buries his face in his arms, letting out a hiss when he accidentally presses his bleeding cheek against his arm and readjusting to avoid that.

"As do I, Zagriske," he responds, cupping his hands to get some of the bath's water to wash Zagreus's blood off.

Zag hisses again but doesn't flinch, and lets Than take care of him until the pain is reduced to a dull ache.

After that, he just stays there, breathing slowly, and crying a little bit into his arms.

Thanatos gets out of the water and lies beside Zagreus, resting one hand on his back and using the index finger on the other hand to trace small circles on the back of Zagreus's arm. "I love you, Zagreus," he says, planting kisses on Zag's shoulder and back.

He mumbles something into his arms that sounds like the appropriate response, but falls quiet once again after that.