Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 36

I blinked for a bit before feeling my face flush with surprise. Kara hadn't moved from where he turned around, watching me carefully as I brought my hands up to my face.

"I...uhh..." Words tumbled around in my head, trying to find the right ones to say that wouldn't give him the wrong idea. It wasn't that I was embarrassed about what he said, it was the odd timing of the question that threw me off. Of course I had those kinds of thoughts about the nagas, but I wasn't going to...make them happen, "Can...I ask what you mean by 'more'...?"

I met his copper eyes as he moved a little closer to me, his lips parting for a moment before uttering a single word.

"Mating."

My mind reeled at the realization that I had been treating these nagas as innocent creatures, like a parent tiptoeing around their child when asked about the more sensitive topics. Of course they knew what sex was -- it was just a different word for them...and a whole different proc--

I gave my cheeks a firm slap, the noise startling Kara and myself in the silence as I regained my composure. Get them home, then the freaky stuff can happen afterwards. I still needed to be the level-headed human, and that was the person Kara was asking, not the lovesick woman that hadn't had something between her legs in years.

"Mating," I reiterated his word, "I don't consider it wrong to feel that towards me, Kara...in fact I kinda feel that way towards you, towards all of you. But I want to get you home first," I lowered my eyes into a serious gaze.

"Then..." He reached out gently to place a hand on my hip, lowering his head until his lips pressed against my forehead and staying for a long moment before pulling away, "I will wait."

"Thank you, Kara," My lips turned up into a smile before I noticed a layer of chitin along his arm had pulled back, "Did you need help shedding?"

"No, not usually," Kara withdrew his hand, lifting up his arm to inspect it before looking around the area, the moonlight barely catching his flicking tongue, "I can smell water over that way, and I wouldn't mind the company while I remove the skin."

"Sure," I walked next to him as he moved towards where he had detected water. Pushing through a few bushes, we soon came to a small fresh water spring with someone drinking leaning over and drinking from it. Their yellow and black scales were hard to see in the moonlight, but the diamond shapes in his hair were hard to miss.

"Todo."

The pink-spotted naga stopped drinking, looking up before narrowing his eyes towards Kara.

"You were supposed to stay in the helicopter," I didn't miss the miffed tone of Todo's voice.

"I wanted to go exploring, and he accompanied me so I wouldn't get lost," I walked closer near the spring, lowering to a kneeling position and bending close to the water. It didn't smell like salt, so I scooped some up with a cupped hand before bringing it to my lips. The cool water was refreshing, and would definitely help Kara with any stuck shed, "The water's good, Kara."

"Of course it is," The pink-spotted naga scoffed, backing away as if offended by me drinking from the same spring as him, "If it wasn't, then I wouldn't be here."

Kara glanced around the area and found a tree with rough-looking bark, rubbing up against it and making a satisfied noise when the top layer of shed peeled off completely from his arm. Todo gave a disgusted noise in response.

"You're going to do that here?" He came closer to my side, lowering himself down the water surface for another drink, "(Y/n), you'll want to look away."

"Why's that?" I glanced towards him as he raised back up before coiling into a sitting position.

"Do you want people to watch when you get undressed?" Todo's coppery eyes caught the moonlight, the small flecks of amber glowing a little and creating a fluctuating pattern in the dark.