#araneacronus

"Hey there, sweet heart. What's a pretty thing like you doing here?" 

'Here' was the bench under a large tree, currently occupied by one Aranea Serket. Her eyes lingered on the page for a second longer before she looked up at the intruder. 

"Hello Cronus. I'm just reading, as you can see." Cronus sat down on the other end of the bench, turned towards her, and looked at the book resting on her lap. 

"Advanced biology huh? Of all the books you could be reading, you pick one from our school-feeding days?" 

"I actually like biology, thank you very much. I find the functions of life to be fascinating, even in death. Besides, even though I am a troll, there's still a lot about our biology I don't know. This book has very detailed diagrams of the mother grub and pupation cycles and evolutionary ancestors and seadwellers and -"

"Seadwellers you say?"

"Well, yes. There are many differences between land trolls and sea trolls. Our vascular and respiratory systems are drastically different, not to mention things like gills and ear fins." 

Cronus smiled as she talked excitedly. She wasn't even looking at him, and there was a huge smile on her face before she realized she was rambling and he was staring at her. She folded her hands in her lap and sighed, her grin falling to a more subtle smile. 

"Well sugar, if you're that interested in sea trolls, I'm right here," he said quirking an eyebrow and gesturing one hand up and down his torso. 

Aranea rolled her eyes and started to sigh but then stopped. "Actually..." She leaned forward a little. "If it's not too troublesome, I would like to see your gills up close." 

Cronus moved a little closer to her and tilted his head to give her better access. 

"Go ahead, darling." 

She leaned in and placed one hand on his shoulder. From the corner of his eyes he could see her face scrunch up in concentration. He thought it was cute the way the corners of her mouth pulled down slightly and her nose wrinkled up. 

"You got some pretty nice perfume on, darling. Almost as sweet as you," he said, and if she wasn't so close, he wouldn't have been able to see the very faint blush on her cheeks. 

"You actually breathe underwater with these?" she said, lightly touching the skin in front of his gills, right by his pulse. 

"Sure can." He opened his gills like he would in the sea and she gasped. 

"Can you breathe on land with them open like that?" 

He closed them again. "Not really," he said. "I mean, I could if I really had to, it's just a little harder, and it kinda hurts after a while. Now it doesn't keep me from breathing, because I don't really need to breath any more, but it still hurts if I have them open too long." 

"I see. Would you mind opening them up again? If it's not too much trouble?" 

Cronus took a deep breath, and his chest swelled as he opened his gills again. Aranea ran a finger over the top gill - across the edge of the skin and underneath to brush the soft, violet filaments. Cronus tensed as she kept touching the very sensitive flesh of his gills. "So when you're underwater, you suck in water through your mouth and run it through your gills?" 

"That's about right." 

"And when you're on land?" 

"I just close my gills when I breathe, and the air goes straight to my lungs." 

"Fascinating," she muttered, leaning even closer. Cronus could feel the heat of her, and her chest was almost pressed up against his arm. He could feel her breath on his neck, and he tried uselessly to keep his face from flushing. 

Aranea finally took her hand off his gills, and then ran a finger along the bottom spine of his ear fins. Cronus inhaled sharply and Aranea pulled her hand away like she was being burned. 

"Did I hurt you?" 

"No it's just... my ears and fins are really sensitive. Be careful, darling?" 

"Of course." 

She ran his ear between her fingers, lifting it and twisting it slightly. It seemed to be made of the same cartilage as her own ears, just with thin spines at the bottom. Thin, violet webbing connected them. Aranea made mental notes of everything - the texture, the color, the flexibility and firmness of the flesh. The flesh was rubbery between her fingers, and the webbing was delicate, and she felt she could puncture it with her own claws with little effort. 

Cronus clenched his fists and tried not to let it show that his blood was rushing to his bulge and nook. Aranea was preoccupied with dragging her fingers down his spines, sending shivers down his back. He tried as hard as he could to keep a straight face, even as his bulge was beginning to slither out of its sheath. He couldn't let her know what she was doing to him (because then she might stop). Aranea paid him no notice as his legs shook and his face flushed. She grabbed the spine closest to his ear and pulled it gently away from his ear, stretching the webbing between. 

"Ah- fuck!" Cronus shouted, leaning forward and tensing up as his nook and bulge gushed genetic material. Aranea watched, curious and afraid she had seriously hurt him. He calmed down and opened his eyes and looked at her. He smiled sheepishly and tried to cover up the crotch of his pants, but there was no way he could hide the huge purple stain. 

"Did you just... ?" she trailed off, too embarrassed to finish the sentence. Cronus nodded. 

"Told ya my fins were sensitive," he said quietly, giving a small, nervous chuckle. 

"Well that sure was informative," Aranea said, standing up and grabbing her thick text book. "We'll have to have another lesson some time soon."