Cronus frowned as the needle went in and out, up and down. He could barely breath from the pain around his throat. It was far too much for him to handle. But he had to. He was almost done.

The needle dug in deeply through the skin on his neck, finally digging out away from the gills, finishing the bloody project of sewing his gills shut. With a little snap, he cut the string. He let out a deep breath; though that only ended up hurting him more. He was curled up on the floor by now. His knees at his face as he leaned his head against them.

He was too wrapped up in the pain to notice the sound of the main door opening and shutting, thus signalling that Cronus's dear friends and crush was entering their shared hive.

Kankri had been out visiting Porrim for a couple days, so he was exhausted. He came in and dropped his bag on the counter having nothing better to do other than to go to Cronus and listen to him complain. It was relaxing to him, as Cronus had a nice voice. Kankri was of course celibate, so he would never speak up on the fact that he had obvious feelings for the higher… for the human.

Cronus was sobbing silently now from the pain. He knew he was about to pass out, but he had no idea what to do about it. He didn't have anyone to call to, Kankri was away at Porrim's…

Kankri walked into Cronus's 'bedroom' as he called it stopping at the sight of the curled up greaser boy that he adored on the floor crying. He then saw why. The gills… The beautiful gills were sewn shut. Kankri rushed to his side gently putting a hand on Cronus's shoulder.

"Cronus? Cronus what happened?! What did you do?!"

He felt Cronus jump slightly and he took his hand off of Cronus's shoulder.

"Kanny… I thought you wouldn't be back until tomorrow…"

Kankri shook his head. "It was today. I thought I told you… What happened?" He did his best to stay calm as he focussed on Cronus, checking if any other damage had been done. Which he knew would involve making Cronus take off his shirt to check the grub scars.

"Nothin babe… Everything is fine I swear…"

"Cronus you are obviously lying!"

Cronus had to chuckle, which just ended up causing another wave of pain. Kankri did not say anymore other than adding a few tags before examining the sewn shut gills further. He knew better than to touch it, but he would have a hard time taking this out… He looked at him.

"Cronus I am going to have to cut this open and pull the string out… TW: Invasion of personal space, TW: Physical contact, TW: Physical contact that may result in pain, TW: gore, TW: touching of gills."

Cronus swallowed hard.

"Just do it already!" He said quickly.

Kankri nodded, swallowing also and grabbed the scissors, he quickly snipped the string out, on one side, then the other. It was a small relief to Cronus, but the real pain was about to start. Kankri decided to start on the right side, and pulled out the first piece of string. Cronus's eyes closed quickly, his teeth pressing down hard. Kankri bit his lip softly, doing his best to not pull away. He then pulled out a second, third and fourth in rapid succession. He took a second break to drop the pieces of string into a pile, before pulling the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth out. He gave Cronus a bit of a break, as he moved to the other side, resting on his knees. He started the process again, one two three four, drop, then five six seven eight.

Cronus breath filled out a bit, as his neck wasn't in extreme pain. It had dulled now. He slowly opened his eyes looking into Kankri's. Kankri looked at him sadly backing away. "Cronus… What else did you do…?"

Cronus, still in pain, but a bit better defended. "Nothing! I swear!" He said quickly.

Kankri shook his head slightly. "Take off your shirt please Cronus. I need to check the grub scars."

Cronus shook his head this time. "No!"

"Cronus I am worried about you!"

"Kankri, you are not my moirail! You don't have to worry about me."

"You don't have a moirail Cronus! I live with you!"

"You aren't my matesprit either! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Cronus shouted angrily.

"You don't have a matesprit either Cronus! Please… Just let me help." Kankri backed off slightly, speaking softly.

"No! It is none of your business! You don't know what it is like to feel wrong and hated in your skin!"

"I don't know what it feels like Cronus? Me… The one with a blood colour I would be killed for! I don't know what it's like!" He growled softly.

Cronus glared at him, as Kankri approached again, grabbing the hem of Cronus's shirt as to pull it up to check the grub scars. Cronus pushed him away roughly, anger pushing through his veins, mixed with the adreniline pain gave him, he was on top of Kankri in a moment, pinning Kankri's hands above his head. Kankri's eyes widened, and he turned his head away.

"Heh. You don't know anything, do you? Mutant, yes. Human in a troll body, no. You don't know me. You will never know me." Cronus glared angrily at him, his eyes almost turning as red as the mutant's blood. Kankri, probably for once, stayed quiet. He did, however struggle against Cronus.

"Cronus Ampora! I… If you do not want my help, and insist on being so rude… I will just have to leave, and not come back." Cronus let him go, and Kankri scuttled away on his hands, almost running into a wall. He stood up and swallowed brushing off his sweater and heading to the door. Cronus stood, still high on the adrenilin, and walked to him, standing in front of him and grabbing his arm roughly.

As Kankri was too distracted by the tight grip on his arm, he didn't notice the slight shock from Cronus's touch. If he did, he would of recognised it as a sign that someone was mind controlling Cronus.

"Fine. Leave then."

"Let go of me and I will!"

Cronus glared at him, then smirked, pinning him to the door.

"What if I don't let you go?"

"Then I will be forced to use violence to free myself."

"I am stronger than you Kanny. You have no way to escape."

Kankri glared at him.

"It is Kankri Cronus. Not Kanny."

Cronus simply hummed and moved Kankri's hands above his head, holding them together in one hand. His other hand then went down to one of Kankri's horns rubbing it gently. Kankri's eyes shut automatically, and he struggled against him, but it wasn't enough to even bother Cronus. Kankri glared at him and kneed Cronus hard in the crotch. Cronus let go automatically. Though his bulge was sheathed, it still hurt like hell. Kankri took the oppertunity to run out of the house and straight to Porrim's house.