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“I am literally a majestic stallion.” The first time Cronus heard Horuss spout that out, he had something to hook onto. All he wanted was someone to understand him, talk to him, and pail him until he couldn’t walk anymore, and Horuss was just the steed for the job. While the blueblood was admittedly a little terrifying due to his immense strength, it still seemed like a safer choice than going after Rufioh, who he totally could get with any day if he tried a little. Maybe.
This was going to take effort and time though. More effort than he put into trying to get into their other friends pants. Mostly because this time, he thought he’d have a chance. Rumors spread like wildfire in the bubble, and word was that Rufioh wanted out. If he could catch Horuss on the rebound, he might be set for sweeps or even eons. If he stayed with a mutant lowblood for so long, there’s no way this sea dweller could lose.
So he started studying the humans, watches their films, wore their clothes, even dyed his purple streak black. He wasn’t even sure how long he spent building up this new persona of himself, long enough to have everyone talking about how stupid he was behind his back and even in front of his face. Long enough that he actually started feeling like he was actually human. Long enough that he almost forgot why he put on the act to begin with. That was, until his window of opportunity finally opened.
His selfish excitement was nearly dashed away when he saw Horuss after Rufioh finally dumped him for good. His dreams of being his human knight in shining armor evaporated when he saw that grinning face with tears spilling out of the sides of those googles. He sat next to the broken troll and started rubbing his back with one hand. “you knovw you dont havwe to smile. scowvl frovwn do wvhatevwer you need to.” To his surprise, Horuss didn’t pull away. Instead, he turned and burrowed his face into Cronus’s shoulder and let out sob after shaking sob.
For once, Cronus wasn’t thinking his plan could work. He only unbuckled the goggles and pulled them off of Horuss’s face and held him, and listened to every last choked out woe he blurted out. This wasn’t a troll Cronus could just use and toss back into the void. Horuss needed someone to care about him. And at this point, Cronus actually did. For the time being, his elaborate plans to seduce him were forgotten.
It’d been a few equinoxes already, and Cronus spent every day with Horuss, at first comforting him, then distracting him from his sorrow, and eventually just hanging out, talking to and actually listening to Horuss about the various other species and things inhabiting his soul. When Cronus started talking about the human side of himself, it didn’t feel like a lie anymore. Maybe he was, maybe he just needed the escape, but it wasn’t the same ruse it started as.
When Cronus found out that Horuss dumped Meulin soon after his breakup, he was momentarily worried that he was being used for pale comforts. But then he realized he didn’t care. It wasn’t all that easy catching someone on the rebound, and he was having a good time. He had come to accept he might be Horuss’s pale buddy instead of his pail buddy, that was, until Horuss surprised him with a strong kiss on the lips.