Archive of Our Own ^beta

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You can’t believe the situation you’re in. Here you are, sitting down at a park bench, with Cronus sitting across from you while you give a small lecture about the systematic oppression of lowbloods and how he, and other highbloods, should check their highblooded privileges when they’re in the presence of others of a lower color for fear of saying something offensive, oppressive, triggering, or otherwise, and he seems to understand what you’re saying. You’re surprised that Cronus actually seems to be listening. Most of the time if you want to lecture him you have to follow him around or corner him to actually get him to listen, and even then you were doubtful that he was actually retaining any information. You found this odd, because you knew he wanted your attention but whenever you brought up the topic of social justice he got all weird and would always try to leave… To say the least, however, you were glad that he was here and listening to you today, without you even having to follow him around. “...So you see, Cronus, how saying something like that might affect the psyche for someone of a certain caste or someone who identifies as a caste resembling that one…” You keep talking and he nods, staring into your eyes and studying your face. This was great. If you could get someone like Cronus to listen to you, maybe you could get some of your other friends to pay attention to your words and to indulge themselves in the process of breaking social norms and leveling the playing field for all bloods. Wow. For once in your after-life, you felt like you were making progress.

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Kankri has been talking at you for the past half hour and you’re starting to wonder if he knows you’re not listening. Today you gave up in trying to avoid one of the red sweatered trolls lectures and gave in. You had payed attention for maybe five minutes before you lost interest and started to study the fine details on your flush crushes face. You noted the little things he’d do while he was talking and you studied his speech patterns.You found it almost endearing the way his voice never got monotone and never seemed to crack, like he really cared about every little word that he put out. It was like he thought every single sentence mattered so he invested himself into every single one. You were pretty sure that he thought he was going to change everything by talking. You really didn’t have anything against him for vocalizing his opinions; you just didn’t happen to care about most of them. Okay, maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration. You didn’t happen to care for ‘social equality’ or whatever the fuck it is he stood for and seemed to care about heavily. You did, however, care about his other opinions and interests, even if they contrasted with yours starkly. For instance, you knew that he was into knitting (partly because he had fun doing it and partly because Porrim got tired of always patching up his sweater and now made him do it himself.) and would spend hours knitting scarves and other easy to make things. What was especially cute about this hobby of his was that he wasn’t very good at knitting, and would mutter little “curse” words whenever he messed up, such as “gosh dang it”. Currently, however, he was still talking, and unfortunately, you could feel your eyes and fins start to droop. Oh shit, if you fell asleep now you have a feeling that he’d be pissed. But man, his harmonic voice was definitely lulling you to sleep...man..if only he’d stop talking for a moment, maybe you could regain your senses….

Nope.

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It took you an embarrassingly long time to realize that Cronus had fallen asleep. You were so excited to teach him wonderful things and explain things to him you had totally zoned out and rambled on until you noticed he had stopped nodding and his fins had stopped moving. Whoops. You actually weren’t too upset or offended. This...happened more than you’d like to admit, honestly. You remember Meenah falling asleep on multiple occasions, and once you’d managed to make Kurloz’s eyes glaze over before he snapped back into his senses and quickly signed that he had ‘business’ to attend to. Actually, the only person that hasn’t fallen asleep on you or at least zoned out on you was Aranea. You were glad you had someone like her to talk to. It was refreshing to hold a civil and constructive conversation with one of your peers, and you had to admit, you did like to listen to her stories about her ancestor, even if some of the things that the Marquis had done were….questionable. Anyway, you now needed to decide what to do with the sleeping seadweller in front of you. You guess you were going to stay here with him and watch over him. It’s not like you could just pick him up and carry him around with you, and you deemed it irresponsible to just leave him here. So, it was decided. You’d stay here with him until he woke up, and from there, you’d continue your lecture. In the meantime, you’d investigate those brightly colored wildflowers to your left. They were small and cute, and would be perfect to put in someone’s hair. You glanced first to Cronus, then the flowers. Hmm…

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When you vwoke the fuck up, the first thing you realized was that was that Kankri was staring at you, an almost amused expression on his face. He was smiling at you from across the table as you sat up from your slumped position on the table. “Oh, hey Kanny, uh, sorry, didn’t mean to fall asleep on you there...” As you sat up, you noticed that a little flower had fallen to the table. You looked to the skies with your blank eyes for an answer, and all the cloudless plains offered you was a beautiful view. Alright, well, if it wasn’t raining flowers than that meant the flower had come from your...hair? Your reach up and gently pat your head, only to feel dozens of tiny little wildflowers in your hair, kept in place by the copious amounts of gel you used. You shot Kankri a confused look and he only laughed quietly in response. “My apologies, Cronus. But while you were unconscious I took the liberty to decorate your hair. I do hope you don’t mind.” You stared at this precious boy and felt your heart throb with want. Any other one of your friends would’ve drawn on your face or cut your hair or worse. But Kankri fucking Vantas just innocently bejeweled you with flowers, and you wanted him. You wanted him pressed up against you in a hug, or curled up around you sleeping, or cuddled up around you. Or anything. Fuck. You were going to tell him how you felt about him. Right here. Right now! You were going to do this with charm and class, you were going to do this elegantly and coolly. You were going to use your finely tuned social skills to ask this troll out. The poor guy wouldn't even know what hit him you’d be that smooth. You could already see this working out perfectly and you-”...Cronus?” Kankri interrupted your little internal pep talk slash daydream. Shit! You had completely zoned out. “Cronus are you okay?” Fuck it. “Kankri do you maybe um, vwanna be my matesprit??” Your words came out rushed and awkward and you couldn’t even get yourself to look him in the eyes. You could feel your face heat up and your fins flare. Damnit, this is not what you literally just told yourself it would be. You royally fucked up.

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Oh dear. This was a rather awkward situation. Cronus had woken up, seen the flowers, and then asked you out. He didn’t even seem annoyed with the foreign objects that you had decided to stick into his hair. Huh. Now what to do about this flushed proposal. “Well, Cronus,” He perked up at your words and his fins twitched. That was rather cute. “I am not opposed to a flushed relationship with you, actually, and I think it would be fun and beneficial for both of us. Not only that, but I ‘harbor’ those same feelings for you, and have for a while actually.” You don't think he can quite believe what you’re saying, as he’s broken out in a wide smile, unlike his normally sharklike grins, this seems genuine. “Vwait reel-y?” You nod, a small smile forming on your lips, but then you suddenly get serious for a moment. “But, I’m afraid that if we do enter this relationship together, I will continue to stick to my vows; So, no pailing.” Wow, he doesn’t look put out or disappointed. You have a feeling that he might also be attention starved. “Although, I will set boundaries for what is okay. For instance, cuddling and kissing would be okay, with or without clothes is a maybe.” You can tell by the way he’s trying to suppress his smile that he’s overjoyed with your decision. “Uh, so, can we cuddle nowv then?” You think for a second before nodding and standing up. “ Let's go find a better place to cuddle, hmm?” Cronus nodded and walked around the table. “Can...I hold your hand?” He asked. You smiled at him and offered your hand. “You may.” He gently took your left hand and you leaned against his chest, before pulling away to press a little kiss to his cheek. This lecture had turned out nicely.