Maui fought back tears. What's gotten into you, stupid sap. You're exhausted and overreacting. Still, Maui clung to her. His forehead warm where she pressed against him. His body tingling where her hands lingered around his neck. His thumbs gently rubbing back and fourth where his hands rested on her hips. Reluctantly, Maui leaned back. He looked into her eyes, tears dried now, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He ran his hands through her hair, thumb tracing her jaw and down her neck. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he stood. "We should bed down."

Moana shot him a shocked look. "What?"

The words sunk in, and Maui smacked his forehead. "No! I mean. Sleep. You're tired. I'm tired. Sleep. Should... uh... happen. Um..." Maui turned, cursing himself for an inarticulate fool, snatched his hook and strode towards the pool.

Moana laughed to herself. She gave him a moments head start before following him. Maui splashed water over his head and down his back. Shook his head vigorously, spraying water everywhere. Giggling, Moana knelt and scooped up a double handful to drink. Maui watched her a moment, and then walked a little ways from the pool. Sitting down with a great sigh he took a last look around the clearing. All was still peaceful and quiet. Laying back, he looked at the sky. It was a moonless night and the stars twinkled brightly. I wonder if she'd like some stardust. I've lassoed the sun and spoke with the moon. Never tried to get stardust before. Slowly his thoughts spun out into dreams.

Moana was freezing. It had been a few hours since the giant of a man had settled and his breathing became deep and regular. Moana had curled up a short ways from him on the soft grass, gratefully looking forward to sleep. But sleep hadn't come. As her body wound down so had her heat and now she lay curled in a ball, shivering and trying to warm up. Exasperated she sat up and looked around. She could go to the forest and try to get something to weave a mat or blanket of sorts, but she was tired and it was so dark. She looked at Maui, flat on his back, unaffected by the chilly air.

Tentatively she scooted closer to him. "Maui?" She said softly, touching his arm gently. The demigod didn't move. Gingerly, she moved closer, running her hand up his forearm. Getting no response, she slowly eased between his arm and body, pressing her back firmly against his ribs, she lay on her side using his bicep as a pillow. "Ahhhhh." She sighed as his heat radiated into her. Her eyes flicked open only to see mini-Maui a few inches from her face. He lifted his eyebrows a few times conspiratorially. "Shut up." Moana said with a smile. "He's warm." Firmly closing her eyes, Moana slipped off to sleep.

Moana woke slowly, resisting the pull of consciousness. She was so cozy. With a smile she snuggled deeper into the warmth and felt movement at her back. Eyes snapping open she abruptly remembered where she was. She still lay on her side, head pillowed on Maui's arm, but at some point in the night he had rolled onto his side and was now spooning her. His arm coming over her, hand tucked snugly around her belly.

Carefully as she could, she untangled herself from his embrace. She took a moment to look him over. Now, in the daylight, she could see how extensive the damage was. Huge bruises covered his entire body, although they looked like they were a few days old. Two of his nails were cracked and it looked like he had a horrendous black eye. His back was a latticework of deep gashes. Moana checked his wounds, looking for signs of infection. The wounds seemed abnormally clean and even showed signs of healing.

Certain that the best course of action would be to let him sleep, Moana gathered her breakfast from the fruit trees and wandered around, enjoying the warm day. It was a beautiful meadow. The waterfall's spray danced rainbows over the pool. Unable to withstand the temptation, Moana confirmed that Maui was still sleeping, stripped off her dirty clothes and dove into the inviting water.

Moana felt instantly refreshed. She swam in the pool, diving deep and chasing fish. She played with the currents caused by the waterfall. Thoroughly cleaned and refreshed, she swam to the shore and pulled her clothes into the water. Scrubbing and swishing them clean, she exited the pool and spread her clothes to dry. Standing, she leaned to the side to wring the water from her hair when her eyes fell on Maui. He was leaning up on his arm, huge grin plastered across his face, watching her. With a shriek, Moana lunged for her clothes, hastily covering herself, face bright red. "What are you doing!?" She demanded.

"Oh, just admiring the view." Maui got up and sauntered to the water. "Beautiful meadow, isn't it?" Maui said, nonchalantly. Snickering, he dove into the water.

They spent the day resting. While leisurely exploring the island, they found a small sand bar with a dilapidated canoe washed up on it. It needed some work, but it was still usable. Moana busied herself with reinforcing and repairing the sail that evening. Maui had finished stripping the bark from some trees to replace the cracked slats. He was nearly healed now, only a few traces of the deeper gashes remained. Most of his bruises were gone or had faded to a light yellow. He took a deep breath, happy and feeling good, he languidly watched Moana work.

"I'm noticing a trend." Moana said, barely suppressing a grin as she stood and started folding the sail.

"Finally catching on to how awesome I am?" Maui quipped, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"I'm noticing how I seem to be the one rescuing you more often than not!" Moana giggled, laying the sail next to his hook. Turning, she faced him.

"Pfff. What? That's ridiculous." Maui tossed his hair.

"Hardly." Moana imitated his lofty toss of her head. Jokingly she threw her makeshift needle at him. Maui shied away from it, pretending to cower in fear, then burst into a deep belly-laugh.

"See! You're afraid of me."

"Excuse me?" Maui rumbled at her, standing, cocking an eyebrow and looking at her incredulously.

"You heard me!"

"Me." Maui took a step towards her.

"Yup." Moana giggled again, unable to stop the grin spreading across her face.

"Afraid of you?" He took another step.

"Uh-huh" She stood her ground looking him in the eye.

"I could take you any day." He was right up on her now, looking down at her beautiful, defiant self. He couldn't help but smile.

"Prove it!" She challenged, quirking her eyebrow suggestively at him.

Maui paused, brow furrowed. "What?"

She looked at him, confident and determined. "Take. Me." She enunciated clearly, forcefully.

Maui hulked over her. His impressive bulk completely blotted out the sky. He stared down at her, deep into her liquid brown eyes. "Want to rethink that?" He softly growled deep in his chest.

She met his gaze straight on. Without blinking, she said firmly "I don't need to."

He caught her face in his hands. Tenderly, agonizingly slowly, he kissed her. Moana sighed into the kiss, placed her hands on his arms. He opened his mouth, tongue lightly probing. Moana quickly reacted, teasing his tongue with hers, running her hands up his chest, over his shoulders and into his hair. Gently he lowered her to the freshly folded sail, cradling her close. His lips slowly trailed whisper kisses down her neck igniting a fire along the way. Heart hammering, she squirmed under him shivering in delight. She pressed her hand down trying not to be swept away in the tides of emotion. Her hand came down on the hook, dousing her in the cold water of reality. Doubt welled within her. He was a demigod! Did she think she was special to him? That wasn't fair, she knew she was. She could see that much in his eyes and actions towards her. But she was no more than a blip in his timeline.

Frustrated, she shoved the hook away from them. Maui was lifting away from her to see what had her caught attention. She grabbed his face and pulled him down on top of her; kissing him fiercely, pouring all the emotion, ardor and passion into the kiss, demanding he feel the depth of her feelings for him. She might be only a blip, but by gods she was going to be the brightest blip there!

Maui was taken aback by the fierceness of her kiss. He had felt her squirm under his attentions, and reach for the hook. That had caused him a moment of sadness. In his millennia of life, he had had women, mortal and immortal alike. They reached for his power, strength; the demigod part of him. These relationships had never lasted and left him only partially satiated, often feeling more alone than before. But then she had thrust the hook away from them, almost in what seemed like anger. His heart surged when she had reached for him then. Him. The human him. The part that everyone ignored. The part that called for love and had so much love to give. Overwhelmed, Maui held this wondrous creature to him, never wanting to let go.

Note

And here I run into my first major hesitation. Do I graduate this to explicit and write the sex scene? Or do I just start the next chapter with "Amazing sex happened, moving on."

Thank you all for reading. Thoughts, critiques and anything you want to say is greatly appreciated.