Chapter Text
Though her people as a whole had rediscovered their way-finder heritage, Moana was the only one who would regularly leave their island, the ocean’s call a siren song she was now disinclined to resist. And where Moana went, Maui would almost always follow.
The demigod’s visits were comforting in their regularity,five months being the longest Moana had gone without seeing him. She had been twenty at the time, taking a fishing boat out with a half dozen men and women from her village, and he had made his triumphant return in full Maui fashion. Circling the mast in his hawk shift, the sudden breeze his powerful wings created whipped their hair about, and mingled with his familiar excitable cry. Without warning, he had dropped down and seconds before hitting the deck shifted back into a man with a flash of blue light, enveloping Moana in his massive arms and spinning her around jubilantly, to the amusement of the others on the canoe.
“Didja miss me, princess?” he had grinned, all dimples and tousled hair, bristling with energy, so unlike the dour demigod who had continuously thrown her off her own canoe.
Moana flushed in the cradle of his arms, both from the endearment (that she only rarely bothered to correct), and the scrutiny of her crew. She knew Maui only acted like this to get a rise out of her, but she had missed him.
“I always do,” she responded, still feeling a little self-conscious, but finally returned the embrace by wrapping her arms around his neck. She felt Maui stiffen, and smirked into his hair. He was always thrown by her candor, as if her opinion of him would change sometime between this visit and the last.
“Aue, alright, enough of that, Captain Cuddles,” he had blustered predictably, loosening his grip and setting her down. “Give a demigod some air.”
He hadn’t made eye contact for a moment, his cheeks ruddy, and Moana took the victory for what it was.
Maui’s visits were often characterized by scouting missions, and anywhere between the two of them and half the island might accompany them. Maui had been invaluable in teaching her people how to way-find, and Moana would be forever grateful for the chance to share the experience with her friends and family. However, this only made Moana appreciate the quiet moments between her and Maui all the more, sailing under a star strewn sky without any fantastic monsters to defeat or islands to reconnoiter. The easy rhythm and trust they shared were a balm to her spirit, as the pressures of her imminent chiefdom built with every passing year.
It was on one such voyage with just the pair of them that they came across a new island. Maui vaguely recalled dredging it up from the ocean floor a millennium or so ago, and Moana decided to go ashore. Every so often they would happen upon an island that was already inhabited, and children would crowd on the beach and in the shallows as they made their approach.
Way-finding was a skill lost by many of her people, she would learn, threatened by the same dangers as Montinui had been. It filled Moana with pride to be able to tell the chiefs of far away villages that the seas were safe once more, and with their permission, she and Maui would sometimes stay to teach the finer points of way-finding.
For all that he had chaffed and complained while teaching her , Maui was an excellent and eager teacher, and he practically preened under the attention her village gave him. The children in particular were enthralled by him, demanding stories and shows of strength. Maui, of course, would oblige them, telling heart pounding tales, punctuated by shifts into various animals, and lifting heavier and heavier objects, the largest being their grandest canoe. It was rare to see Maui in the village without at least half a dozen children trailing behind him like ducklings or carried on his broad shoulders.
Moana couldn’t help but feel overjoyed that her people had welcomed Maui back so readily, and that he seemed so eager be a part of them. She could recall the time that their eyes had met over the head of a child or two dozen, teaching them to fish in the shallows as the sun began its descent. He had smiled at her, and not the cocky grin that made her want to throw her oar in his face, or the amused smirk at her mortal antics. No, this smile was warm, as warm as the sun’s rays as they haloed his fall of silky hair and made his skin shine like burnished gold. His eyes were soft, and filled with something else, something she couldn't name, that buoyed her with the same ineffable feeling, making her feel bashful and ebullient all at once.
And that feeling hadn’t gone away. It had morphed, surely, and her interactions with Maui were now often punctuated with that same bubbly feeling, or regrettably, awkward stiltedness. As Moana watched him tug their canoe ashore the strange island one handed and in one go (after all these years, he’d still rather impress her than let her do the work herself), she pondered over the change in their relationship. But surely nothing had changed? Maui was the same insufferable, smug, immature bastard she had met on his island over a decade ago; but at the same time, he was so unlike that selfish castaway that it made her head spin. As for her…
Moana watched the muscles of Maui’s back ripple in the sun, and felt her face heat, quickly looking away before he could turn around. As she fiddled with the talavalu strung across her back she admitted quietly to herself that perhaps things were different.
“ Aia ho ‘i! ” Maui announced, spinning his fishhook once before slinging it across his shoulders. “Just take in the bounty Maui has provided for you mortals!”
Moana followed his gaze along the shoreline and up the cliffs of the strange island, before folding her arms and fixing him with a look. “You barely even remembered pulling up this island, oh Master of Wind and Sea.”
Maui shrugged. “Doesn’t matter if I remember, that only thing that matters is that this demigod did the job!”
Mini-Maui applauded from his host’s left pectoral, and Maui ducked his head in a show of gratitude. “Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind.”
Moana fought off a smile as she rolled her eyes. “Are we ever going to explore the island, or are you just gonna stay there congratulating yourself on how great you are?”
“I don’t see why I can’t do both,” Maui grinned, cocking his eyebrow, and Moana rolled her eyes with a huff. “Alright, alright,” he acquiesced, “it’s time for a little island exploration with your tour guide, the one, the only, Ma-”
Moana slapped a hand over his mouth, cutting off his boasting before he could get into true Maui levels of volume. “How about I lead, before you wake up the entire island?” she offered sweetly, an unspoken threat in her eyes.
Maui held up his hands in surrender, his eyes crinkling attractively in amusement, and Moana felt his smile under her palm. Removing her hand just a little too quickly, Moana assumed as great a chiefly air as she could muster.
“Good,” she said, and pointed into the underbrush. “Now march!”