Thorax walked into his cave, head drooping, eyes glued to the floor thinking about how he had gotten into this position. Never in his life would he have considered the possibility of becoming king, and yet, here he was. whether he liked it or not, he would be expected to take charge. He shuddered thinking about it.
Why him? Why not Coxa? His leadership skills alone surely outshined Thorax's. Tarsus would definitely be much better at keeping the hive's food storage nice and full. Hell, even Elytra would be the better chose in terms of popularity!
But that could wait until tomorrow. For now, Thorax was going to get some much needed rest. The battle against Chrysalis and the new responsibility he had had certainly taken a toll on his mental state.
Slowly, Thorax made his way to the crevice he called a bed, but found that he was now too big to fit into it properly.
Sighing, he resigned to his fate and fell to the cold stone floor. Strangely, he found the floor much more comfortable then his sleeping hole. Maybe things were starting to look up.
Thorax snuffed the candle he used to light up his 'room', and started to drift away. The sounds of water dripping echoing throughout the hive.
Thorax woke with a start, sweat poring down his face, and pounding in his ears. He had dreamt his poor leadership had lead to the hive being overrun by vicious monsters while he stood on in fear. The whole hive was covered in a rainbow of changeling blood, The horrible screams of nymphs being slaughtered still echoed in his mind, and worst of all, he was in his underwear.
Frantically, Thorax re-lit the candle and brought it to his face, nearly putting it out again with his spastic breathing. Staring into the flame, Thorax tried to calm himself down.
"M-My ki-?!"
Thorax stumbled back and dropped the candle, causing it to go out. He quickly illuminated his horn and saw the form of one of his fellow changelings, whom was covering their eyes from the sudden flash of intense light.
Sighing, partly out of relief, Thorax sat up and relit the candle, sitting it between them so he wouldn't have to keep his horn ignited.
"What time is it?" he asked, with clear exhaustion in his voice.
"I'm not sure. It's pretty early though." The purple changeling responded. He turned his head to see if he could see any daylight form outside the cave entrance, but saw nothing.
Thorax rubbed his eyes, "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong but..." The changeling trailed off, "You're our new king so...you see..." He trailed off again, "I-I'm, the royal cuddlier, it's my job to cuddle you whenever you wish, for uh...however long you wish."
There was a brief moment of awkward silence. Thorax could feel the pounding in his head getting worse.
"Royal...cuddlier?" Thorax unwillingly asked through his delirium.
"Y-Yes, Chrysalis had given me the job right after the failed invasion. She just sort of...picked me...at random." The changeling answered, still feeling a bit awkward.
Chrysalis? As in, the Chrysalis? The same Chrysalis who Thorax and his friends had quite literally defeated just yesterday? The same Chrysalis who crashed cadence and shining armor's wedding? The same Chrysalis who would personally geld you for making the "stick-it-in-her-hole-witch-one?" joke? No. This had to be a prank. There was no way.
"What's your name?" Thorax asked.
"Cercus." was the quick reply.
"Look, I don't know who put you up to this, but I would really appreciate it if you would leave."
"My king," Cercus's tone was worried, "no one put me up to this! I swear!"
Thorax's expression grew somber, he couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not.
A few minutes passed before Cercus spoke again, "If you want me to leave my king, I will. I should've known better then to enter your cave unannounced. I'm sorry." Cercus bowed his head to look down at the floor.
"No, I'm just..." Thorax struggled to form a sentence, "a little stressed out. I never thought I would ever be in this position.
"Well...If you want, we could talk about it." Cercus offered.
Thorax's eyelids drooped a bit more, and a slight smile formed on his lips. "Thank you, but-" a yawn had cut him off, "I think I'd rather go back to sleep."
"That's probably for the best, but if you ever need to talk about something, I'll listen."
"Thank you." was all Thorax said in response.
The two changelings stared at each other for a moment before Cercus spoke again.
"Do you need me to cuddle with you?"
Thorax thought about it for a moment, but wasn't sure how he felt about cuddling with someone he barely knew. Plus, he was still worried this might be some sort of prank.
"Um, no thanks. I think I'll just sleep by myself tonight."
Cercus pulled a face, one Thorax couldn't quite read.
"We don't have to cuddle, but...is it ok if I still sleep in here? Chrysalis had told me to stay in her cave and my cave was given to some other drones, and I don't think they would be as...friendly as you if I woke them up."
Thorax frowned a bit hearing that. "That's ok, I-I guess, just give me a bit of space.
"Of course. Thank you, my king." Cercus then began to lay down, making sure to leave a decent distance between him and Thorax, his own body crying out for sleep. Thorax watched him as he did this and started to worry if it was really a good idea to let a complete stranger sleep a little more then a few feet away from him. But he soon found himself way too tired to even worry. So, sighing, he began to lay down again.
"Goodnight, my King." He heard Cercus say.
"Goodnight, Cercus."
And with that, the two changelings drifted off to sleep, both nervous about tomorrow.
Author's Note
Heeyyy...
So yeah, it's been awhile, and as much as I would love to blame some family drama on why this took me like, what? A little over a year to make? I unfortunately can't because I know all to well that is was simply my own laziness to blame.
At any rate, I hope you enjoyed the story, and as always any constructive criticism is welcome! I do want to improve after all!
Have a good day, and thanks for reading.
-N
