The next string of days thankfully brought a pleasant atmosphere with them. Not only was Tamatoa actually starting to warm up to Moana, but Maui and Tamatoa were also able to continue getting along better than expected.

Once more, they had decided to test how far Tamatoa could walk, as he was still slowly but surely recovering from his injuries. As they were travelling up the island, Moana filled the silence with small talk, asking Tamatoa about Lalotai at one point.

"Babe, I was the most interesting thing down there." The crab chirped. "With me gone, there's not much else to talk about."

"Okay," Moana snickered, thinking she should have expected an answer like that. "So which do you like better, then? Lalotai or the surface?"

Tamatoa went quiet, never really thinking to consider that. He had only been to the surface one time before this, and there wasn't exactly a lot of sightseeing that time… but he had to admit, the surface was indeed beautiful. He loved how the sun made his treasures sparkle, and how his bioluminescence took on a full glow on moonless nights. Could that really compare to the comfort of his own home, though? He wasn't sure. This was a nice change of pace, to say the least, and like he said, Lalotai was boring aside from himself. And, oddly enough, he seemed to enjoy having company for once. But he was certain he'd never admit that to the pair.

Huh. He wasn't sure how to answer. Did he like the surface better?

"Whatsamatter, crab cake?" Maui piped up when Tamatoa didn't reply. He swung his hook, shapeshifting into a large, brown cat and continued with a chuckle, "Cat got your tongue?"

Tamatoa's movements became noticeably more rigid when the demigod changed form, but he covered it up by rolling his eyes and commenting sarcastically, "Har de har, not only are you a demigod of the wind and sea, but a demigod of awful puns as well." To which Maui replied, "You know it." And laughed.

Moana's brows furrowed slightly as she noticed the crustacean's sudden stiffness of gait. Every time Maui changed form, Tamatoa seemed to react physically. Every time. Their fight must have been brutal to have made the crab so terrified of Maui, but she supposed that the broken-off leg was proof enough of that.

She would have to ask them about it sooner or later. They clearly had to face this elephant in the room.

Tonight, she convinced herself. I'll bring it up tonight.

As they were heading back, Moana asked Maui to gather some firewood for the night and to meet them back at the beach. Tamatoa and Moana had beaten him there, and were waiting by the edge of the sea as Moana liked to do.

Moana turned to the crab, smirking playfully as she ran a hand through the water. "Rematch?" She asked, flicking up a small spurt of water into his face.

Tamatoa gave her a devious grin in return. "You sure 'bout that, babe? You're at a bit of a disadvantage, here." He chuckled, moving his claw over the water as a threat to drench her again.

"Oh, am I now?" She challenged as she moved into a battle-ready stance in the water, small waves twirling around her feet.

The crustacean rolled his eyes in good humour, but accepted her challenge by making a big splash with his claw.

Moana shielded her face with her arm, then gestured to the ocean. Almost in the blink of an eye, the water shot out and dragged Tamatoa into the sea with her, completely soaking him, but Moana stopped laughing when she saw his reaction.

Unless she was hearing things, she could have sworn that the crustacean let out a frightened yelp as he scrambled backwards out of the water, almost causing himself to fall over in his panic to get back ashore.

Moana stared disbelievingly at the crab, who in turn froze up after realizing what he just did. "I… Er…" He began, but trailed off when he couldn't think of a good cover-up.

"… I-I'm sorry." She apologized, not intending to scare the creature like that. She still couldn't quite wrap her head around what just happened; he couldn't be scared of the ocean, could he? That didn't make any sense whatsoever to her. Only one way to find out for sure.

Moana hesitantly left the water, sitting herself down in the sand next to where the crab had huddled. Tamatoa was still unsure on how he should try to brush this off. Kind of dug himself into a hole with that reaction.

"… Are you… afraid of the water…?" She asked quietly, the concept of any kind of crab fearing water being odd to her.

"I am not afraid of the water," He quickly responded, eyes narrowed slightly. When he saw her unconvinced expression, he knew he had to confess. "… I'm afraid of drowning." He admitted quietly, putting an emphasis on the differentiation. "There's a difference."

Moana bit her tongue, looking away. When she thought it over again, she realized that it wasn't actually as surprising as she might have initially thought. He's never had any reason to go into the water, since his food literally dropped down to him in Lalotai, and it would explain why he seemed particularly uneasy when they all had to use the sea to get to the surface. Even during their water fight the other day, the crustacean had never actually set foot in the ocean.

"… Please don't tell Maui." He sighed. "He'd never let me live it down…"

Moana didn't think that was entirely true; sure, he liked to tease sometimes, but he wasn't an awful person. He would stop if he knew he was going too far. But regardless, she nodded her head. This was clearly embarrassing for him. She considered trying to assure him that there was nothing to be ashamed of, that everybody has fears, but decided it would be better to just drop the subject for now. She could tell he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

There really was a lot more to Tamatoa than she had thought when they first met.

They remained silent until Maui returned, and Moana went to work building the fire. Maybe this wasn't the best time to ask about their past…

No. She couldn't keep putting it off. They're both carrying weight on their shoulders because of whatever happened between them, and it's about time that weight was lifted.