Tumblr Prompt challenge (no 8): "You're seriously like a man-child."


She was staring, she knew that, but honestly, she didn't think anyone would judge her for it.

Summer was ending and that meant harvest time for all the delicious flavours the forest could offer.

Zeno and she were both out gathering summer fruits and berries and she was busy picking the plums she could reach from the ground as Zeno wouldn't let her strain herself by climbing the tree. Putting down the now full basket, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and looked up at the greenery of the branches to see what her freeloader was up to, and her eyes widened.

The sight before her was… She didn't even know how to describe it. Zeno was hanging upside down by the knees, dangling only a few inches from her and trying to grin mischievously through a mouth bent wide open to accommodate for the… four? plums he had shoved in there. He couldn't talk, that's how full his mouth was, and she was pretty sure he was half suffocating on the fruit judging by the heavy breathing from his nose she felt tickling her cheek.

Exasperation mixed in with amusement made her giggle as Zeno pulled himself up again. He spun around and swung himself off the branch, landing more or less steadily on his feet as he flung his arms out to show off his spectacular landing.

Then, in front of her, he turned pale and dropped to his knees. His hands flew up to his throat and he quickly spat out three of the plums.

Only three.

The last one must have moved when he was playing monkey and was now suffocating him for real she gathered, and her eyes widened in horror as she rushed to his side and started forcefully smacking his back to dislodge the fruit.

After a few seconds of insistent whacking, the fruit came loose with a wet 'pop,' and he spat it out with a cough, greedily sucking air in before looking up at Kaya again.

"Gosh, thanks! Thought I was a gonner' there for a moment," he grinned, seemingly unfazed by the event which had scared her more than she would care to admit.

Shaking her head she hid her fright by throwing him a deadpan look. "Honest to god. You're like a man-child. Can't you take anything seriously?" she complained and pulled him up off the ground by his elbow.

"Ah, seriousness is for old and boring people, not us! Come on, your turn!" he beamed back and picked up a few plums, holding them out for her to grab. "I want to see how many you can fit!"