Happy Dragon Friday, everyone! The holiday season is coming for our friends at Beacon. New adventures ahoy!
I'm a little hesitant about this week's recommendation. I like it a lot, but it's the first in a series being sold on Amazon, and the other two books are only being sold in Kindle format. I hope that changes, as I am not getting a Kindle. Ah well. I'll show support for a newer author. It's called Child of the Daystar by Bryce O'Connor. Its main character is Raz, a rare winged atherian (humanoid race of lizards) who is raised by a human trading caravan. I'm about eighty pages in, and love it so far. The relationship between him and his adopted family is really built up. Unfortunately, based on the blurb on the back, I know tragedy is going to happen soon. Still, it's very well-written, and it's about a humanoid dragon. Let's just hope the other books get paperback treatment…
Anyway, enjoy!
As winter dragged on, the Riders had to exercise their dragons in the indoor gyms. Weiss and Specter were the only ones who could stand being outside for long periods of time. Temperatures dropped, frost formed on windows, and outdoor classes halted altogether. Instead, the arenas were being built up into a series of heated, temporary dragon shelters.
That was because Yule was rapidly approaching. While some people and dragons would be going to their homes during the holiday season, it was more common at Beacon for families to come to the school and celebrate there. There was an entire building of guest dorms that was mostly empty at any other point in the year. During Yule, it was always filled, though never to the brim. There had been many additions made over the years to prevent that.
Ruby was bouncing up and down in her seat during dinner one night as she looked at her Scroll. "Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys!"
Yang put a hand on top of Ruby's head to stop the bouncing, though she had a similar smile on her face. She had also just gotten the text from their dad. "Easy, Ruby. Just tell them."
"Uncle Qrow and Salty are coming to Beacon for Yule!" Ruby squealed, clutching her Scroll to her chest. "I haven't seen them in so, so, so long!"
The others couldn't help but smile at Ruby's excitement. "That's great," Jaune said. "My parents and sisters will be coming up, along with Dad, Mary, Sapphire, Autumn, and June's dragons."
"Winter and Steele were able to get three days' leave," Weiss added her eyes alight. "She'll be here on Yule Eve."
Pyrrha picked at her food. "My parents might come up if they have time…"
Jaune gave her a concerned look. "Why wouldn't they?"
Pyrrha shrugged. "They've been very busy trying to get a deal with a dragon broodery to do some kind of show. I'm not sure of the details."
"Well, you can hang out with my family!" Jaune promised before turning to Ren and Nora. "And that goes for you guys, too! Not taking no for an answer."
Ren smiled. "I appreciate that, Jaune."
Nora sighed wistfully. "We can have an actual Yule breakfast with all the works…"
"The orphanage had decent breakfasts," Ren said.
"Decent, but not good!" Nora looked at the others. "Every year, Ren would sneak us into the kitchen after dark and make me pancakes for my Yule present, since he knew I liked them so much. That's how he got so good at making them!" She glanced to the side. "I could never do anything like that without setting the kitchen on fire."
Ren touched her shoulder. "You didn't have to. Not being alone on Yule was enough of a gift for me."
Nora's cheeks flushed as she smiled up at him.
"So, what I'm hearing is that we need to spoil you two this year," Jaune said, nodding firmly. "Got it."
"My parents can't get up here," Sun said. "They have plans with relatives in Vacuo. It's cool, though. I got you guys." He ruffled Neptune's hair with one hand.
Neptune smiled at Sun. "Yeah, mine will be, uh, busy as well…" He coughed a little, his heart warming when Sun noticed his expression and gently squeezed his shoulder.
"Ours can't afford the trip to Vale," Scarlet sighed, glancing at Sage. "It's cool, though. We can video chat with them."
"What about you, Blake?" Yang asked.
Blake stiffened, her ears twitching. "I…um…haven't really been in contact with my parents."
The mood of the table grew sober immediately. Sun frowned. "Is it because of-?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Blake said quickly. "It's fine, though. I have you all and Pit. That's enough." She forced a smile and tried to keep her voice from sounding too hollow.
Weiss touched her arm. "I have a feeling that this Yule will be an improvement for the both of us." This would be the first time in years that she'd be able to spend the holidays with Winter since her older sister joined the Atlesian military and their father had told her to never come back. Her father and brother had expressed no interest in coming to Beacon, and Weiss hadn't asked. Her mother probably wouldn't notice the difference, regardless of where she was.
Blake managed a more genuine smile. "I hope so."
"Ooh!" Ruby gasped. "We should all go shopping soon! We can get presents for everyone, and our dragons! It'll be so fun!"
Ren coughed. "Um, money is a thing, Ruby."
"Well, we won't go crazy. And we don't actually have to buy stuff. We can just hang out and look at the lights!" Ruby insisted. "Pleeeeeaaaase? I haven't had a Yule with so many friends before!" She stared at all of them with wide, sparkly, silver eyes.
Of course, no one could say no to that.
"You know, Blake said. "It may be more logical for our group to have a drawing, and just get one gift each. That'll save money, and allow us to put more thought into what we do buy or make."
"Good idea," Ren said. "Any other gifts can be up to the individual. For example, I'm getting Nora something regardless of who I draw, and I know the same will be true for Ruby and Yang."
"Absolutely!" Yang ruffled Ruby's hair. "It's settled, then. Why don't we have the drawing this weekend?"
Scarlet clapped his hands together. "The sales are going to be fantastic! I might need to get new boots just for all the walking I plan to do."
Sage patted his shoulder. "Your regular boots are fine, Scarlet. New ones will give you blisters if you walk too much."
Scarlet grinned sheepishly. "Right as usual."
"Of course, we can't lose focus just because of the approaching holidays," Weiss cut in. "After all, before Yule break comes our exams."
Sun groaned. "And here's the Ice Queen with her fun-killing proclamations."
Neptune rolled his eyes. "We do need to study, Sun."
"Yeah, but we don't have to think about studying when we're not studying!" Sun whined. "That's a waste of brain-space! I already have those stupid dragon anatomy charts making backdrops in my dreams!"
"Oh, you poor thing." Neptune chuckled fondly at Sun's dramatic, horrified expression. "Would it help if I quizzed you?"
"…Would there be video games and ice cream afterward?"
Neptune lightly ruffled his best friend's hair. "I think that can be arranged."
If there is any mistletoe hanging in this school during the holidays, Blake thought. I'm going to personally shove those two under a sprig. Multiple times, if I have to!
…..
"Okay, now point to the lungs." Neptune held up the study chart. "Hey!" He snapped his fingers in Sun's face when he saw the Faunus starting to doze. "Keep that up, and I'll have Nymph spray you!"
Nymph, who was acting as a temporary prop for the boys' backs, rumbled softly in agreement.
The teams had found that studying in their dragons' stalls was a good way to remain focused on their exams while not neglecting their partners. Some dragons, like Nymph, had quickly learned to jolt the studiers awake when necessary. Others, like Huo, got bored quickly and started trying to set the books on fire in order to make the droning stop.
Sun groaned, stretching his arms. He didn't know how Neptune was staying awake. The inside of the stall was super warm and smelled of clean hay and dragons. The steady breathing of Nymph against his back only served to further lull him closer and closer to sleep. "Uh…" He squinted at the chart. "Here?"
Neptune sighed. "No, Sun. Those are the air pouches." He put the paper down, noting the hazy look in Sun's gray eyes. "Okay, so you aren't seeing the chart. Let's do verbal quizzing."
Sun groaned. "Can't we just be done?"
"Answer ten questions correctly, and yes," Neptune said, firmly pushing away thoughts about how ridiculously cute Sun looked when he was sleepy like this. Focus, moron. Focus. "Okay, how do water dragons use their water-shooting powers."
Sun yawned loudly. "Uh, they absorb moisture through their scales."
"Good. And?"
"The moisture goes into a compartment below their lungs. There's a tube leading up that stays closed unless they're shooting. When they shoot, their airways close to make room."
Neptune smiled. "See? You know this stuff." He flipped through his notes. "Okay, where is most of the Dust in a dragon's anatomy concentrated?"
"The scales," Sun replied. "They absorb most of the Dust, which is what lets fire dragons heat their scales up and what gives wind dragons an extra burst of wind when they do a wing gust. It's also what gives the scales their different colors."
"Perfect!"
By the time they got to the eighth question, Sun felt himself fading further and further away from consciousness. His head kept nodding forward, and keeping his eyelids open was becoming more and more of a chore. "Ugh… Dude… Can I just…take a quick…?" He shook his head, trying to jolt himself awake.
Neptune sighed, finally taking pity on his friend. "Okay. You can sleep for a few minutes."
Sun yawned before leaning fully back against Nymph. "Thanks, dude…" he mumbled, drifting off almost immediately.
Neptune looked down at him, shaking his head slowly, unable to keep from smiling. "What am I going to do with him, Nymph?" he muttered.
Nymph's fins twitched. She was pretty aware of what Neptune wanted to do at that moment. It was easy to see that her partner's eyes were also drooping and that he was trying to resist the urge to scoot closer to Sun. Closing her eyes, she started to purr quietly, hoping to lull Neptune to sleep.
Neptune placed his notes to the side. His vision was starting to get blurry. The inside of the stall was pretty warm, and a little humid due to the misters. He and Sun had needed to remove their coats once inside. He blinked slowly, staring down at Sun. Maybe, he could just rest his head on Nymph's back for just a little bit…
….
When Sun woke up, he immediately realized that it was dark outside. He started to sit up, rubbing his stiff neck, when a warm sensation made him pause. It was pressed against his side, draped lightly over his midsection, and resting on top of his head. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, then realized what the warmth was: Neptune.
From the looks of it, he had dozed off after Sun and instinctively snuggled against him in his sleep. Sun shifted a little, trying to get up quietly, which caused Neptune to mumble something and hug him closer, nuzzling his cheek against Sun's hair.
Sun's face were burning, even as he inwardly chuckled at the situation, because of course Neptune was a sleep-cuddler. He tried once more to dislodge himself, which only evoked another sleepy murmur from his best friend. He wondered if he could get Nymph to do something, but a quiet snore quickly told him that she was even more out of it than her partner was.
Okay, he thought. How do I get out of this without waking him up and making things weird? After another half-hearted attempt to move away, he sighed. It looked like he'd have to just lie there, pretending to be asleep until Neptune woke up. He'd fake being asleep until after Neptune let go, and would act like he knew nothing, because poor Neptune would probably have a panic attack trying to explain himself otherwise. He always does freak out over stuff like that.
With that decided, Sun allowed himself to relax against Nymph and Neptune again. His head ended up on his friend's shoulder, and he closed his eyes.
As he rested, he listened to and felt the steady breathing of both Neptune and Nymph. Their breaths were totally in sync, and Sun marveled yet again at how perfect they were for each other, despite the obvious difficulties. A patient, gentle dragon like Nymph was just the partner for someone as perpetually nervous as Neptune.
Sun knew that, before coming to Beacon, Neptune had always been keen on putting up a front of coolness when around anyone. He'd flash that shining grin, say a snappy one-liner, and the girls would just melt. Only Sun, Sage, and Scarlet had ever seen that shy, socially-awkward side that he tried so desperately to hide.
With their arrival at Beacon, a lot of Neptune's insecurities had been forced to the foreground. Sun honestly thought that that was a good thing. In his mind, Neptune's faked coolness had never held any appeal. The kindhearted, goofy, aquaphobic boy was the person Sun was friends with.
And, if he was going to be totally honest, that was the guy who would really score with the ladies. Between that genuine, nervous smile that only his friends got to see, his concern for everyone around him, and this new knowledge that he cuddled people while asleep, he would basically be the perfect boyfriend if he let himself open up to the right person.
Maybe I can set him up with the Ice Queen, Sun mused. He'd be just the person to thaw her out.
Neptune started to move, and Sun quickly made sure his muscles were relaxed. He felt Neptune shift, felt his head perk up slightly, then felt his back stiffen. Neptune was totally still for a moment, then slowly moved away. His arms drew back and he carefully moved Sun so that he was just leaning against Nymph.
Sun was just trying to figure out when to pretend to wake up when Neptune did something unexpected. For a brief moment, Sun felt his friend's hand on his face, brushing his hair back in a quick, gentle gesture that he would have missed if he had been even slightly drowsy. All of a sudden, Sun found himself feeling incredibly warm and incredibly confused.
He listened as Neptune picked up his notes and put them away. When his friend shook his shoulder, he groaned, opening his eyes slowly. "Huh…?"
Neptune lightly swatted his arm. "Looks like your laziness rubbed off on me. Come on. Let's head back to the dorm." Why does he have to look this cute when waking up? It's not fair! He was still trying to dissipate the blush on his face and push aside thoughts of how nice Sun had felt nestled against him. Thank goodness his best friend slept like the dead, or things would have been really, really awkward.
"Kay." Sun got up, letting out a sigh of relief as he was finally able to stretch fully and crack his stiff neck. "Is it too late for the ice cream and video games?"
"Since it's midnight, and Sage and Scarlet are likely asleep, yes," Neptune said, shouldering his backpack. "It'll have to wait till tomorrow."
Sun sighed. "Fine, but this means we get to take the break before studying tomorrow! Then, we get another break after."
"That's not how it works."
"Yes, it is!"
Neptune rolled his eyes. He gently patted his sleeping dragon's shoulder before leading Sun out of the stall.
As the sound of their footsteps faded, Nymph opened her eyes and let out a long, annoyed sigh. Getting these two oblivious idiots together was going to take forever!
This was shameless Seamonkeys fanservice. I will readily admit to that. There aren't enough slowburn fics involving these dorks, and it just feels so perfect in this AU! Also, Michael and Kerry ship it, which is awesome.
If you like what you see and want to show extra support in exchange for rewards, my P/atreon is Solora Goldsun.
Peace out!
