3. Drinking Hot Chocolate by the Fire
A Christmas fic for= @chillyrose
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“I told you not to spend too much time out in the snow,” Shokrakar chuckled as he wrapped a warm blanket around Heidi’s shoulders, she sat in front of the roaring fireplace. She was shaking from the cold, her nose and cheeks with a light pink colour, she sniffled a little, which was followed by a squeaky sneeze. Shokrakar smiled softly and shook his head. “Don’t worry, we’ll have you warm in no time, little one.” If there was one thing Shokrakar knew well, it was how to keep warm after being out in the freezing cold for a long time.
Snow had fallen over Skyhold and Heidi had been out enjoying it with the others. Her and Cole had built a huge snowman, with some help from Bull to truly make it a large masterpiece that towered over everyone. Heidi, Sera, and Varric had a snowball fight, then she finished it off with a few snow angels. Shokrakar had told her not to be out there for too long or she could get sick, he was almost like a concerned father. Heidi found him worrying about her sweet, but in her moments of fun, she had forgotten just how cold it was.
Heidi wrapped the blanket around her a little tighter. “Thank you for making it warm for me.” She said softly to Shokrakar, he didn’t have to, and yet he did.
Shokrakar smiled at her, then proceeded to make them both a drink. He had borrowed some things from the kitchens, mugs, milk, a pan, and some cocoa from Bull. He had been warming the milk on the fire for a while to make the drinks nice and warm.
“Here.” He placed Heidi’s drink in front of her. “Bull swears by this drink apparently, hot chocolate...never had it myself but I'll try anything once.” Shokrakar got his own drink and sat himself down next to Heidi. The drink smelt incredible, sweet but also a little bitter. He pressed the mug to his lips and took a sip. He savoured the taste for a moment, he didn’t say anything but did take another sip.
“Thanks, Shok!” Heidi picked her mug up in both hands, it was warm, it made her fingers tingle. She watched Shokrakar and took a sip. She realised that Shokrakar hadn’t said anything because he was too busy enjoying it. The flavour was new to both of them, cocoa wasn’t a regular thing in Fereldan but Varric had got a supply for Bull and he apparently wanted to share it around. “It’s delicious!” Heidi chirped happily before taking another sip.
“Definitely warming me up.” Shokrakar hummed and placed his mug down onto the floor. “Make sure to drink it all, Pumpkin, the warmer we keep you, the less likely you are to get sick.”
Heidi looked up at Shokrakar. “Can I ask you something?”
“‘Course you can.”
“Thanks...why...why do you care for me so much? I-I’m not complaining but…” She looked into Shokrakar’s large silver eye, she could tell he was a bit taken back by the question.
“I...Cole sometimes does his little thing where he says what people are thinking and fairly early on before you and Varric did whatever it was you did to him to make him more human, he mentioned how hard all of this…” He gestured to the air. “Is on you...I just wanna make things a little easier, so even on your hard days, you know that you are more than just the Inquisitor, you’re a sweet girl who’s doing her best, and that someone cares.”
Heidi held her cup a little tighter. She didn’t know what to say, it was a shock that Cole had said those things, even though it was well meaning, and it was even more shocking that Shokrakar had listened and taken it to heart so much that he wanted to look after Heidi, even though he didn’t have to. Heidi smiled sweetly and took another sip of her drinks.
“You’re a good man, Shok.”
“Thanks...drink up, before it gets cold.”









