A drone in a hive is a simple creature, they work and mate once with their queen, then they die. What of a drone that the queen has taken a liking to? A story about a humanoid drone with a queen that favors him.

My day starts with the collection of food from the surface of the planet. I am a low ranked xelaua drone that just collects food for the hive. At the peak of my maturity I am to mate with my queen and die. I am not able to experience that, for my queen has... taken a liking to me.

"Come now Little drone, just come lay with me for a bit longer?" "My queen, I have a responsibility to the hive to continue my work." "Your responsibility is to mate with me, so come here and be responsible." My queen waves a finger at me, with pleading eyes. "I must continue my work until my time, it is my duty." "I didn't want to force you but you are just a stubborn little one." A mist starts to waft from the queen. It smells so very good, so good that I don't want to leave. I begin to walk towards her. "Now come here and stay with me little drone, I shall make sure you don't leave me." There is a soft noise and I feel something wrap around me. A cocoon is wrapping around me. "I finally found one suitable to be my king, but he must reveal his true self first." I am engulfed in the queens cocoon and I soon slumber, soon to be reborn as her one and only king.

“Wha—?!”

“You heard me, she really ain’t beating around the bush, bud!”

To add context to this situation, a worker at my hive has informed me that the queen isn’t hooking up with other drones anymore—ever since I did what I had to, no other drones did.

By “what I had to,” I mean, add to the hive.

The queen’s a demanding bee—harsh, stern, and acts like she’s actually working all the time.

In reality, she’s lazy.

How do I know?

That’s what you get from hanging out with her for too long.

I did what I had to, being a drone, but now I get this bizarre news that’s sure to have the other drones overjoyed at not having to do that extra work.

“You’re telling me that the queen isn’t hooking up with any other drones?” I stared at the worker.

“Mmmhmmm,” she replied. “sounds like you really did something there. She’s actually working nowadays!”

On one occasion, I criticized the queen and told her how lazy she was—I did that over and over until she stopped rebutting my arguments. I insisted that she change those habits.

But that was dumb—she was in control of the hive, and I was just a drone.

And yet, I saw her working more and more, day by day, and I felt happy.

“She really isn’t going out with a new drone. Always sending for you, always talking about you, always looking real happy whenever I mention whatever good stuff I said that you said about her,” said the worker.

“And she’s sending for you for the umpteenth time today! Haven’t been able to find you for some time,” she added.

“Well, that’s a little difficult to refuse. I guess I should just do as I’m told, then. Not like my lifespan gets longer if I don’t listen.”

And sure enough, hours later, I’m stuck with the knowledge that I’m the only one with this workload from now on.

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

🆕 New Here? ✏ Writing Help? 📢 News 💬 Discord

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.