Maui chuckled down at the wide eyed infant, the curls on his head and serious expression on the kiddo's face giving him a sight that he never thought he would be privileged enough to witness… his own, very loved, son.
Along with that came his beautiful, strong, and still tired wife. A wife who had been taking care of an infant most nights, and was exhausted, so, when she had fallen asleep, he had lifted the baby Makaio up from the bed where he was playing with his mother's long, beautiful curls, and patted the kid on the back, heading outside of the hut.
Leading us to now, where the larger than life demigod literally was snickering at the serious expression on his son's face, once the child realized he had been moved from his mother.
"Makaio, let Mama sleep. You and Daddy are gonna have a good time! Have some faith in good ol' Maui!" he said, as the baby, who he swore was wiser beyond his years, gave him a skeptical look. Ok, so Maui hadn't really had a lot of experience with the kiddo yet… Moana pretty much took care of everything, while he had taken over her Chieftan duties for her.
Actually, guilt began to gnaw at him for that one. Eep. He really hadn't been doing all he could.
"Yeah, ok. I'll give you that. I haven't been the one who burps ya, or changes ya. I can't feed ya, though, so that one's not on me, little kekahi. And ya tend to sleep a good chunk of the day." he said, as Makaio raised and eyebrow, but looked to be more settled, as his daddy placed him in a burping position on his shoulder, and began to walk him down to the village.
"You know, aside from a few introductions, you haven't met a lot of the villagers, have you? I think we should change that. That way, Mama gets her nap, and you get to go explore. And if you're anything like me, you'll like exploring." As Maui's large feet walked down the little path to where some of the villagers were working, the baby looked at him with a curious, but wide eyed look, one hand having made it's way to his mouth.
As they reached the villagers, most of them stopped and rushed up to see the Chief's son, since his formal introductory feast was still not for a few weeks, and they had not gotten a chance to meet him. They cooed at the infant, who was soaking up the attention, excitedly smiling and waving his arms around. However, Makaio began to grow fussy, and let out an annoyed sound. His belly, on the other hand, let out another, rather odorous-scented noise.
Maui's nose wrinkled up as the scent of that one hit him, and he held the kid out at arms length. "WHOA. Kiddo, I don't know what your mom feeds you aside from milk, but you need a change of diet!" he said, squinting at the infant who was now making rather strange faces…
And… grunting.
Maui's face paled, and with that, he said bye to the villagers quickly, and began to walk back to their hut with the still grunting, and now very stinky, baby.
As soon as they got back, he grabbed a linen and put it on the ground, like he'd watched Mo' do over and over, and put Makaio, who was now rather uncomfortable and fussy, on the cloth. He then stared dumbfounded at the kid.
"Ok.. give your daddy a hint here… what next?" he asked, as Makaio gave him a look that pretty much said, 'You should know this.'
Yeah, yeah.
"AH! Those cloth squares Mo's always folding up and putting on your butt! I need one of those! And a damp rag!" he said, as he smirked and rushed quietly inside to grab them, as Makaio played with his toes. Maui made sure to keep an eye out for the baby while he ran inside, and as he came back out, he had a triumphant look on his face.
"Here we go, little guy!" he grinned, as he began untying the square on the baby's bottom. As soon as he had undone it, he got one whiff of the diaper and paled again, gagging.
He no longer wanted to open it.
" 'Kaio… do you think your mom would kill me if I just hosed you off in the ocean somehow?" he asked, before looking up. "Probably, huh?"
'Suck it up, Maui! You faced Tamatoa! You stole the heart of Te'Fiti, even if that was a moronic move… you can do this!' he thought, pepping himself up and pulling the diaper down.
The mess on the baby was… horrid. And his face showed that.
"E kuʻu akua!" he said, quickly covering the baby up, who had begun to chuckle at him in glee. "Oh yeah, I'll bet this is hilarious to you." Maui gave his son a look, before taking a deep breath and pulling the diaper off. He pushed it to the side, and began using the rag to try and scrape the mess off Makaio's butt. One wiggle from the baby, though, and his face went as pale as a cloud, and he gagged.
"You just got that on me. You little stinker." he said after regaining his composure, and he shot the baby a look. As he cleaned his hand, he noted the diaper… and the foot of the baby now covered in the mess thanks to his excited kicking.
"Oh no, no no no!" he said, as he picked Makaio up and looked at him. He glanced at the hut, ready to wake Moana… when he felt a stream of liquid hit him square on Mini-Maui, who had ducked for cover.
".…you just peed on me."
With that, he held the baby an arms length away, and marched down the path, his pride be damned. Moana could pick on him all she wanted.
-A short time later-
Moana awoke to silence. Looking around, she realized that not only was Makaio not around, but Maui, who should be back, was gone too.
'He must have taken Makaio so I could sleep.' she thought, smiling to herself. She did feel much better now, having rested up.
She walked outside, and her face went wide. There was a poop-filled diaper on the ground, and a formerly clean one thrown in a heap next to it. A washing rag was also covered in the goop, and footprints led down the path. She followed them, and the next sight she saw was enough to make her laugh out loud.
Maui and Makaio, stark naked, in the hot spring getting cleaned off. Both of them grinning from ear to ear as Maui lifted the infant up and out of the water, flew him around like a hawk, and then splashed him back to the water. He was singing You're Welcome, the one thing he had sung to her, only changing the words a bit to match the current situation.
At Moana's laugh, Maui looked over, and gave her a grin.
"Is everything ok, love?" she asked, leaning against a tree, as he nodded, grinning.
"Yeah, we've got this under control." Maui said, as he let Makaio rest in the crook of his arm, grinning just like his daddy.
"Who's cleaning the mess back at the hut?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear as he smirked at Makaio.
"You get me a bunch of thick leaves and a floral necklace, and I'll even wash them up." he said, as she laughed and sat at the edge of the water, watching her husband and son as they played in the hot springs.
Maui simply laughed, and swung Makaio around some more.
He was definitely getting the hang of this whole daddy thing.
*Author's Note: I have NO idea how long this is going to end up being! If you have any funny parenting scenes you think would work, comment them and I can check them out! I would love to have more ideas!
Disclaimer: I do not own Moana or Maui, as they are owned by Disney. I use them under fair use laws for free works of fanfiction, and nothing more.