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moonshine-nightlight · 2 years

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Finally Woken: Part Three

Working for the family business of traveling trade caravans, means you‘ve always accepted having to put up with a lot from your family, especially your dad. He finally goes to far when he tries to sell your prized possessions to make up for his own business failings. You’re proud of yourself for making a stand, but he’s not wrong when he says you don’t have any real connections outside the family--but he’s not completely right either.

Your closest friend happens to live in the city you’re stopped at so you decide to see if you can stay at his place until you can figure out what you’re going to. You’ve never come by the city this early, but he’s probably fully woken up from the naga’s traditional bout of hibernation by now, right?

Fantasy, friends to lovers, naga, male monster x female reader, M/F, Part 3 of 8

Story Status: Complete

AO3: Finally Woken Chapter 3

[Part One] [Part Two] Part Three [Part Four] [Part Five] [Part Six] [Part Seven] [Part Eight - NSFW]

You have never had a morning where you so wanted not to leave your bed. Granted, you’ve never woken up with a naga wrapped around you while in a nest of blankets.

Heshi is still pressed close against you, warm, but even spending the night with your human heat and blankets isn’t enough to make him truly hot or make you sweaty. Instead you feel warm and cozy, like curling up with a good book on a rainy day. If one was within reach, you might have done so. As it is, you don’t get up until you really need to pee.

He makes a small noise when you start prying him off of you, frowning as he loses his heat source. You give a brief magical charge to one of the blankets you gave him, the kind with a warming spell woven into it, and slide it into the well of warmth you leave behind. He gives a small huff that you can’t help but find adorable as he grudgingly accepts the substitute. You hurry off to the bathroom, the stone floor cold beneath your feet.

The trip and the cold are enough to wake you up and make you start actually thinking about your plans for today. As much as you wish you could spend the day napping or reading with Heshi spiraled around you in his nest: there’s too much else you have to do. Some of that anxiety about your future that you’ve managed to push away with Heshi’s presence is reasserting itself.

You need a plan.

Everything has been tossed out the window with your leaving your family’s caravan—you're never even lived in one place for more than a couple months in a single stretch and certainly not on your own. The entire extended family lives together, works together—you know them and that life like the back of your hand.

And now it’s just you.

Well, you glance at Heshi’s doorway as you walk by, perhaps not just you.

-/-

“Heshi?” You forgot to ask about touching him last night, so you err on the side of caution, knowing how nagas are likely to strike when startled. One only has to watch someone tap a naga on their shoulder when they weren’t expecting it once to have the reaction stick in their memory. You bite down on a berry and remind yourself that you’ll definitely need some other plan because you don't have that many of these left.

“Come on, sleepyhead,” you say. “You can manage a few minutes with your eyes open, yeah?”

Sooner than you expect, he twitches, mouth opening. His tongue lazily slips out to taste the air and the rest of him follows as he sits up with a grumble. Unerringly, but with his eyes closed, he moves towards you and murmurs your name.

“Yeah, it's me,” you say. “Thirsty?”

His eyes slide open once his face is only a few inches from yours. They blink at you in the soft lantern light before flicking to the large cup of water you offer him.

“Yesss,” he hisses, his hand covering your own as he takes it from you. He’s not as warm as you expected coming from the mound of blankets, but you let go of the cup easily, glad you’d remember what he said about what he needed while slowly coming out of hibernation.

You find yourself momentarily entranced, watching his throat move as he gulps down the water. He’s careless enough when he drinks it down that a few drops slide from the corners of his mouth to run along his jaw and neck.

With a flush, you drag your eyes away. When he sets down the empty vessel, you refill it from the jug you brought in anticipation.

He blinks at the quick movement before flashing you a smile. “Thanks.” He brings the cup back up to his mouth, but only sips from it this time. “I’m glad I didn’t dream up your visit, as pleasant of a dream as that might have been.”

“Oh, hush,” you say, rolling your eyes at his flattery. “You just want more berries.”

He presses a hand to his chest in mock offense. “How dare you doubt the pleasure your company brings me?” He lets a beat pass, before his eyes land on the pouch next to her. “But you did bring more berries, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah.” You nudge the bag closer to him. “I don’t have an infinite supply, you know.” You caution as he pops two in his mouth at once with the glee your little cousins usually save for presents at Midwinter.

Heshi swallows before giving you an innocent smile. He holds the pouch towards you in offering. It’s not really what you meant, but you pull out a berry to eat with a smile.

He watches you for a moment, his mind likely trying to reboot enough to hold a true conversation. Your suspicion is confirmed when he does a little shimmy, sending a ripple down his elegant spine, which cracks obligingly, before asking, “How was your day, since you were awake for it? You didn’t go back to your parents already, right?”

“No, no,” you reassure him. “I think I’ll go see my cousin tomorrow to set up when he wants me to teach him how to take over my duties, but I need some time and space before I see my parents again.”

Heshi nods, smiling at you in a way that makes him look proud of you. Smothering the warm feeling that stirs up in you, you go on to say, “Instead I signed up to take city licensing exams and went to the market.”

“Boring,” Heshi teases. “Get anything fun in the market?”

“Food,” you replied flatly. “This place is stocked for your hibernation. I had to reactivate all the spell work in the kitchen and then get things for me to eat. It was actually kinda fun.”

“Grocery shopping was fun?” Heshi asks before finishing off his second cup of water, a skeptical look on his face as he refills his own glass.

You fidget before shrugging. “I never did the shopping—one of my uncles handled that. It was interesting to see how many things they offered and to buy for myself, buy more than just a snack to eat while walking around, I mean.” Margins were always kept tight and, unless it was a meal with someone they were doing business with, your family was to eat modestly. And you never went to business meals. It wasn’t your role. Your only business meal was with Heshi once a year, since he very kindly only did trade with your family through you.

It had been a little painful at first, spending so much of your savings on food, even knowing it was for at least a week, but it was freeing too. “It was easier when I realized I didn’t make sure I had lamb for my brother, no green beans,” you make a face, because they’re your least favorite and yet whenever they’re available your dad has to have them. “Or beer or anything else except what I like. I got extra pesto.” Your mom is allergic.

Heshi must still be particularly sleepy because the look on his face is softer than usual. Then his eyes narrow playfully. “Did you get something else? A treat perhaps, to celebrate your grocery freedom.”

You shove him in the shoulder and he goes with the motion, but the teasing smirk stays firmly on his face. “Maybe,” you admit. “Just some laraha liquor. I haven’t even opened it yet.”

Heshi’s eyes lit up. “Delicious.”

“Yeah? Want to have some with me?” It’s easier to justify the expense if your friend joins in.

“Yes,” he says. “I haven’t had any in forever, languishing away in my nest as I am.”

You scoff. “Right, well I wouldn’t want you to have to leave your nest. I’ll refill this,” you grab the pitcher, “and bring us the drinks.”

Heshi grins unabashedly as he sinks back down into his nest. “Aw, thanks.”

When you come back with all the drinks delicately balanced, he’s dozed off. His arms are folded over the lip of the nest and his head is neatly resting on top of them. You shake your head as you carefully set everything down, trying to be loud enough to wake him up, but not rough enough to break anything.

It still takes a call of his name to rouse him, although it only takes the one time. Heshi perks up when he sees the delicate, orange glassware you selected from his personal kitchen collection of pieces he’d made.

“I hope you don’t mind,” you say when you follow his line of sight.

“Not at all, that’s why they’re there, darling,” he says, waving off your concern as he smothers another yawn. “You’re to stay here as long as you wish and use whatever you wish. I insist upon it.”

“Alright, alright,” you say, ignoring the pet name that he obviously hadn’t even realized he’d used. “Speaking of: anything you want me to pick up the next time I shop in the market?”

Heshi shakes his head. “No, I’ve got a deal with a reptilian butcher. Standing order for when I wake up from hibernation, she knows everything I need. Nell is normally the one who wakes me up if I don’t naturally. What’s the date?” After you tell him, he nods. “Yeah, she should be by in a few days then and that should work out to when I’ll want more than drinks. Short wakes for water; then lots of meat, then lots of sun, and then back to business as usual. Deliveries for supplies for my shop might start showing up, but only the basics—I’ll choose the colorants and so on myself. My suppliers all know where to leave things.”

“I’m glad you’ve got your routine down pat,” you admit, glad you're not messing anything up or that you should know more than you does to help. You think Heshi’s even mentioned his friend before although you doesn’t think you've actually met Nell. “And some alcohol is alright?” you ask even as you pour them each some.

“Yes,” he agrees accepting his cup. “Warming.” He waggles his eyebrows and you roll your eyes.

“Heat hog.”

“Guilty,” he accepts easily. When you go to take a sip, his hand covers the top of your glass. “We need to do a toast,” Heshi insists.

You sigh before motioning for him to do one if he wants to. “To this new chapter in your life.” You can’t resist the pleased smile that brings to your face and clink your glass against his own. You drink at the same time and everything seems right with the world

Later, when Heshi manages to convince you to stay with him once more, you blame the liqueur and refuse to acknowledge that you'd need to have had far, far more for it to actually impede your judgment in any significant way.

-/-

Two nights later finds you sitting on the edge of the nest, up to your calves in blankets. Heshi leans back against you while you carefully undo his mussed plait. You'd offered to re-do it for him and he’d accepted happily. His hair is long and in far better condition than your own would be if you hadn’t washed it in two months. It’s far longer than yours and you try to figure how best to deal with the length as you pick up the comb he’d had you grab. It goes far smoother through his hair than yours ever does and he sighs at the motion. “Let me know if I pull too hard,” you tell him, remembering your mother’s habit of yanking through knots.

“Okay,” he agrees, head tilting forward with a sigh. “Now, what’d you get up to today? All I did was sleep and dream of your return.”

You shake your head, careful not to let the motion effect your strokes with the comb. “I already told you I’m out of berries. The only ones left are the family’s for official trading.”

He lets out another bereft and over dramatic sigh. “You wound me. I need no bribes when I have your company.”

“Did you dream of the theater?” you tease, wondering what brought on this exceedingly silly mood. “Because you’re certainly acting like a dramatist.”

“I wish,” he says, perking up. “The new play should be running now, but until I fully emerge from hibernation—I’d just fall asleep during it. We should go in a few weeks, I bet you’d love it.”

“Yeah?” You realize that since you’ll be living here, you’ll be able to do a lot more, see a lot more of the city. “That sounds fun.”

Heshi turns his head enough to catch your eye and grin. “There’s so much to do here, I promise you’ll like living here.”

You smile, squeezing his shoulder in gratitude. “I know I will.”

He nods and turns back around. You set aside the comb and begin to separate his black hair into sections for the braid. He didn’t want anything too tight, just organized enough that it didn’t go everywhere while he slept. “I went to the university today. I needed to refresh my memory before my exams. Getting licensed never mattered before because obviously my family trusted my knowledge, but it seems like the best way to get started here. I’m still not sure many people will want to hire a stranger to do their ledgers for them, but it should help.”

“New businesses always need help getting started,” Heshi points out as he adjusts his position in front of you, sliding another pillow behind his back which jostles your leg a bit. “Even if they plan to manage the books themselves, it's always good to have an expert set everything up and make sure you know the basics—I know I did.”

“Yeah? Maybe that’s what I can do for now,” you say thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I want to stay a bookkeeper—I could do anything I want now, I guess. But it's really all I’m trained to do and I know I can do it so it's fine for now. Oh! One of the actual university students asked me to tutor them today. They needed the book I was looking at for a class and we ended up sharing.”

“Oh?” You can almost see the elegant arch of his brow despite him facing the other way as your careful fingers braid his hair.

“Yes, they were quite polite about it too. We got to talking and after a bit, they asked me if I’d mind helping them with something tomorrow.”

“They’re not just bothering you, are they?”

You can feel Heshi’s arm tense next to your leg and you nudge the naga in mild reproach. He retaliates by holding your leg hostage against his side. “They’re a nice kid,” you admonish, ignoring the way his cool, strong fingers feel wrapped around your calf. “And they offered to buy lunch. They said they might invite a few friends too and told me how to get registered as an official school tutor. Then I could rent a meeting room and change an admission fee for help. I guess you don’t have to be a student or former student to do that if you have the right qualifications? It means I could make some extra money is the point. The rates aren’t half bad.”

He gives another half turn to smile at you. “That sounds great. Between your cousin and now this, maybe teaching is the way to go.”

You smile back bashfully. “I don’t know about that—we’ll still have to see if anyone likes how I explain things, but there are so many possibilities. It's intimidating.”

“But?” Heshi prompts.

“But also pretty exciting,” you admit. His knowing gaze is getting to you, making you feel self-conscious, so you put your hands on his head and turn him back around. “Now stop distracting me. You’ll mess up my hard work.”

Heshi chuckles. “Alright, alright. Tell me more about this kid you adopted at the library.”

You roll your eyes, but get back to braiding. By the time you're done, you've told him all about Nar and how the university students will be taking the same licensing exams in a couple months, with class exams until then. You already know the material and it’s really only refreshing your memory for the formal tests—so you don’t really have to learn anything extra. “They think some students will just be interested in hearing how it goes,” you say as you tie up the end of the braid. “Most of the professors were licensed years ago and those who passed recently tend to go across the city for apprenticeships. So they’re normally too busy to answer questions or stick around.”

After a final survey of your work, you pat Heshi’s shoulder. “There we go. You’re all set.”

Heshi pulls the braid over his shoulder to inspect it and smiles up at you. “This looks lovely, thank you.”

You blush. “It's not that hard, Hesh.” Unable to take the sweet look on his face for any longer, you put your hands on the ground to lever yourself up.

Heshi flinches at the move and puts his hand over yours. “Where are you going?”

You raise an eyebrow. “I need sleep too.”

“Stay here,” Heshi replies, wide eyes guileless as he admits, “I missed you last night.”

You had ended up in the guest room last night, Heshi having woken up earlier than usual and fallen asleep before you were tired enough to do the same. Even though you were pretty sure he wouldn’t have objected, you felt like you should try to sleep in your own bed. It was strange how unfamiliar the normal bed had seemed, leaving you feeling oddly exposed and lonely.

“I'm sure you didn’t even notice.”

Heshi pouts. “Of course I did.”

You shake your head fondly before allowing, “Maybe you missed my warmth.”

“Missed you,” Heshi insists, his eyes unblinking. “Growing up, we all used to sleep together. When I got older, my friends and I used to meet up for hibernation too. It’s nice to do that again.”

You know Heshi’s family lives far away, that he sees them rarely, but that had seemed too incomprehensible as someone who lived and worked with their family that you hadn’t thought much more about it. You also knew he’d moved to the city with a few friends, other nagas primarily, but that too had seemed too foreign to your life to properly process. Now you do. “Why don’t you anymore?” You’ve never had many friends and you don't know what it would be like to lose them.

Heshi shrugs. “Some moved back home, some moved further away. Others got mates or just drifted apart. It's fine hibernating alone—you’re right, in deep hibernation I don’t notice. Of course you don’t have to stay with me,” he says making it clear he doesn’t want you to feel obligated–for all he could be rather hands on, he’d been very careful in the beginning of your friendship to make sure he wasn’t making you uncomfortable. Even now he’s trying to make you relax as he jokes, “Even if I think nests are the most comfortable way to sleep.”

You laugh. “I don’t mind,” you admit. “I just…” Didn’t want to intrude? Have a hard time believing anyone really wants me so close? Don’t want to get used to it? Heshi will come out of hibernation mode in a week or so and then where will you be? You'll still pathetically be longing for him to be wrapped around you while he will be getting back to normal. “You really want me to? As more than just a convenient heat source?” You hope your voice is light enough that he thinks you're kidding.

Heshi nods with a smile. “I’d cuddle with you even if you were cold as ice—but we’d need more blankets.”

You laugh, feeling strangely flattered. “Alright.” He lights up at your capitulation. “It is pretty nice to sleep in a pile of pillows. And with you too, I guess.”

He tsks, scrunching up his face. “Always so rude.” Then he drops the act and grasps you by the waist, nuzzling into your shoulder. “You’re lucky I’m the forgiving sort.”

You laugh and allow him to pull you the rest of the way down.

[Part Four]

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