A/N: I mean to make Wednesday my scheduled chapter posting day, but I've torn this chapter apart and put it back together three times this week, so I need it out of my hands. You know how it is.
Anyway, Chapter 4 is mostly done so I'll try to have it up tomorrow for Official Chapter Day.
UPDATE: This chapter got a much needed pacing and clothing issue fix thanks to Zabchan on AO3
The celebrations carried on into the night, food and dance and oh so so much mango wine, thick and sweet and so much more of a problem than usual. Moana was usually better at regulating herself, but the excitement of the day and the endless toasts and the wine was so so sweet it was hard to believe that it wasn't literal ambrosia on her tongue.
"I think that's enough, Princess." Maui said, taking the jug away from her and filling her mug with water.
"No." She whined, the lanterns dancing beside her with no wind to push them. Shimmering, fluttering, dancing. Maybe she should slow down.
"Please just trust me on this one." He said so gently, and her breath caught in her chest for not the first time that night. It almost felt real, the whole day and the race and now Maui, her husband, beside her in the celebrations.
She was going to be so upset when she woke up in the morning and it was all just a dream.
She drank the water dutifully, and Maui poured her another glass. She sipped slowly at this one, taking in the festivities. Things had begun to wear down, parents taking their children to bed hours ago, the remaining revelers a mash of young couples and singles looking to make the next wedding their own.
She yawned, not wanting to let this day rest but unable to chase its tail much longer. Although, that did beg the question of sleeping arrangements. Her home in the middle of the village was small, and most importantly was strewn with clothes and ropes and little beads from the necklace she had broken and hadn't bothered to clean up yet.
It wasn't exactly an inviting location.
Not for the first time that day, Moana watched a small group of villagers make their way to the beach, carrying garlands of flowers and baskets full of various goods. She had been leaving well enough alone, but her curiosity was getting the better of her.
She stood, her legs embarrassingly wobbly and her vision the same.
"Where are you going?" Maui asked, putting his hands on her back as she used her chair for support.
"Beach." She said, pointing at the group heading that way. "I want to know whats- what's going on."
"I was curious about that too. I'll go with you."
It turned into less him going with her and more him steering her in the right direction as she wobbled and veered off course, her feet unwilling to obey her. It took twice as long as it should have for the two of them to reach the beach, but once they were in sight of the ships it all made sense.
Moana's boat was decorated intricately, garlands of flowers and shells carved with symbols of love and prosperity. Flower petals littered the deck. The full moon shone down on the water, lighting the whole thing like a gentle dream. A craft was coming ashore beside it, the occupants surprised to see her.
"Hey! This is supposed to be a surprise!" Kali called, hopping onto the sand and tying down the craft.
"Okay, I'm surprised." Moana replied, far too loudly. "What is it?"
"Your LoooOOOOooove Boat, obviously."
If her face was not already flushed deep red from the wine, she would have blushed further. "I'm almost sorry I asked."
"Oh, don't be a downer at your own wedding chief, come on." Kalena teased, adding another flower to Moana's hair. "You don't want to spend the night in your itty bitty hut in the middle of the village, do you?"
No, she could definitely blush more than she had been. Furthermore, Maui was doing a poor job of suppressing his laughter beside her and she was starting to get more than just a little annoyed.
She took a breath, reminding herself that it was a kind and thoughtful gesture. Keeping a level head was more difficult than it needed to be, through the warm fuzz of the wine and the wear the day had taken on her every emotion.
"Anyway, camp's been made for you up at Little Island. I think I heard some plans about sending you off with a serenade but if you get out of here quickly you might be able to miss it." Kali told her, bless him. Her favorite cousin, hands down.
"Yep, we'll be getting out of here, bye!" She pecked Kali's cheek and hopped aboard, keeping her balance in a stunning display of agility. Well, at least she had stayed on her feet by grabbing the mast for support. It could have been worse.
"Are you coming?" Moana asked, looking at Maui expectantly.
"I don't know, the last time I got in a boat with you I almost died a dozen times."
"Okay, well guess I'm going without you!" She reached down to release the tie line and tumbled forward with an undignified shriek.
Maui caught her before she hit the sand for the second time that day, and her cousins were laughing at her, absolutely loving her display of ineptitude. Rage bubbled inside her and threatened to leak out, the day had been long and she felt very lost.
"I don't think you're going to get very far like that." Maui teased, kissing the top of her head while he continued to hold her in his arms.
She stuttered for a response, completely unexpecting the act of tenderness despite the fact that they just kept coming, unsure if she was still angry or entirely melted at his touch.
He responded to her bluster by doing it again before setting her back into the boat, and giving his gratitude to Moana's cousins, hopped aboard and pushed them into the water.
It was a few minutes before Moana regained her ability to speak, sitting and watching the water as Maui paddled the boat, humming softly.
"Okay, why are you being so nice all of a sudden." She demanded.
"All of a sudden?"
"You know what I mean. Last time I saw you, you barely wanted to speak to me, and it's not like I've ever been your favorite person."
Maui looked legitimately hurt, pausing his rowing in contemplation. "Do you actually think that?"
"Yes? No? I don't know? You've always treated me like- like some idiot kid that didn't know what they were doing."
"Well, when we first met, you were just some mouthy brat that washed up on my island. And then you were still mouthy, but with the skill to back it up. And now you're my wife, so of course I have to be nice to you."
"That's not how this works." Moana replied, frustrated. "Why am I your wife- and if you say because you won the race I WILL-" she stumbled for an appropriate threat.
He shrugged, returning to his rowing. "I thought it would be fun to make you have to deal with me the rest of your life, I dunno."
She sat there, staring at her hands and trying not to scream, or worse, cry. Of course he was going to be like this. She didn't know why she expected any differently, but something about his response made her heart heavy in her chest, like a sinking weight threatening to drag her all the way down to the ocean floor.
"Hey!" Maui called, and she looked up to see the ocean spraying him with a cold jet of water, relentlessly hosing him down for daring to hurt her feelings. "Fine, okay, fine! Moana I- I- you know I can't really do this if you're-" He put his hands in front of the jet, dripping wet and looking like the Maui that she knew best.
"Okay, give him a chance to speak." She said, the weight in her already beginning to lighten.
The ocean paused, and then sprayed him one more time for good measure, and then a second time in retaliation for the rude gesture he responded with.
"So." Moana said, scooting closer to him, ignoring how wobbly she felt. "As you were saying, what could have possibly possessed you to beg for my hand in marriage?." She batted her eyelashes, fully enjoying having the upper hand on him.
Maui groaned, running a hand through his wet hair. "Listen, I. I should have realized that you were going to ask this." He stalled for time, looking up at the stars for any sort of inspiration.
The ocean gave him a small, encouraging splash.
"Okay! Okay, Moana I- I want to tell you but I don't know where to start."
She thought for a moment. "Why don't you tell me what you've been doing since we restored the heart?"
He had visited sporadically in the years since, but other than his usual boasting about killing sea monsters and saving the world, she never really knew what exactly he was up to.
"Okay, so, we restore the heart, and I finally get this uppity chief's brat out of my hair for good."
"Outstanding start." Moana replied, rolling her eyes in a fashion that Maui was already far too familiar with.
"Fine, okay. We said goodbye, and then I spent a year finding out what had happened while I was stuck out on that godsforsaken rock. I didn't notice at first that I missed you, I was so busy trying to take in the whole world at once."
He had missed her, he had missed her. Gods, she had missed him, trying so hard not to hope that every stray creature she saw was him checking up on her, that every feather was a gift he had left just for her, that every time she landed somewhere new he would be there waiting for her.
"I missed you, too." She replied, softly. "But you could have visited! You could have stayed longer but you always were so eager to leave as fast as you had arrived."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's not that I didn't want to stay, it just made the problem worse. I flew across the world and felt empty and I landed on your boat again and felt even emptier. You have your whole family, your whole tribe at your side, and they all love you so much. I didn't think you needed me as much as I needed you." He looked up at the stars, asking them again to give him guidance, but they stayed silent. The ocean gave no council either, and he was forced to look at her instead.
"So what made you change your mind?"
"Te Fiti. I landed back on her island because I wanted to be somewhere that reminded me of you- and after I received the ass-kicking she didn't want to give me while you were around- she listened to me whine about this mortal girl I couldn't stop thinking about."
"So ignoring your very smooth attempts at pretending that you think I'm obnoxious while also professing your undying love to me - is Te Fiti the one that gave you the mission - or challenge or whatever to live as a mortal?"
"Not exactly." He paused, trying to find the right words. "So, I'm not supposed to have relationships with mortals. Sexual or romantic or similar ones, that is. So getting permission to chase you was extremely difficult."
"You must have really screwed up to get that kind of punishment." She teased.
"Yeah, you could say that." He replied, very obviously holding back a lot of information that she desperately wanted to know, but wasn't going to push for right now. "So I did some errands and some housework for the goddess and her friends, and they sent me on my way to be mortal for a while."
"So you're really mortal? Or are you just pretending?"
"I'm.. not actually sure. I may have not been paying much attention after they told me that I was free to go to you." He admitted. "I heard that I needed to give you my hook and treat you with care and that's.. About it."
"Maui."
"Princess."
"You really don't know? What if there's something else you're supposed to do like bring an offering every full moon or actually talk about your feelings without being an absolute emotionally stunted moron?"
He shrugged. "Nah, I always pay attention to prices. Besides, it's my problem anyway."
"I'm pretty sure your problems are our problems now."
His whole expression softened at that. "See, that's why I missed you. Other than the fact you have the softest skin and make the most obnoxiously cute noises in your sleep - you're always on my team. I've never had that before."
He started to reach out to her, and stopped short.
"Moana, I know it's a bit late to be asking this, but you do want to be on my team again, right?" He paused, stuttering for the right thing to say. "I know I should have talked to you before, it's not like I didn't have time, but I kept getting stuck on what exactly I should do and then the whole boat race came up so I figured I'd just do this the easy way, but now we're here and you're asking me to talk about how I feel and this doesn't feel so easy anymore."
His words came out in a nervous tumble, like there was so much more he wanted to say and couldn't.
As much as she wanted to reassure him, she couldn't help but feel annoyed that he hadn't talked to her before this, or gave her any sort of warning that he was going to do this. "Well talking about your feelings before marrying someone is usually the way to go, but at least we're doing it now."
"Okay, Princess Boat Race for her Hand in Marriage."
"I wasn't going to lose that fucking race, and you know it."
"And if you did lose to some mortal runt?" He asked.
She bit her lip, ashamed of the truth of the matter. "I'd fulfill my obligation. I'd need to marry eventually anyway, so I might as well just let the ocean decide." It had helped with the decision too, giving its blessing rather forcefully. She was pretty sure there was still kelp up her nose.
"Are you just filling your obligation here with me?"
The question lingered in the air for far too long, the short distance between them might as well have been the entire ocean for how lost she felt.
"Mo, if you don't want to be here, I understand. Just because I was given the blessing of - Just because - look, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. Just please tell me now before it goes on any further, okay?"
He had never been able to hide his fear of rejection well, and Moana felt as though the fear was clawing at her own chest, begging her to end things now before he got too attached again.
She moved closer to him, standing up on her knees to press her nose and forehead against his. "I might be a little afraid, but I want this. I want you. I've wanted you for so long and that isn't going to change. We're not just a team anymore, we're a family."
He pulled her into his lap, noses still touching, their breath hot in the cool night air. "We're a family." He whispered, testing out the sound of it. "Okay." He nuzzled her nose with his. "Can we be done talking about our feelings now?"
She pushed him away with a frustrated groan. "You're insufferable."
He lay back, pulling her on top of him. "I'll have you know that I am on my best behavior today."
"Well I cannot wait to see you on your worst behavior tomorrow." She laughed, looking down at him, her breath catching in her chest again. "Can I kiss you?"
A bit of a smirk played on his lips for a moment as he contemplated being an ass rather than accepting her affections. "Please, anytime, anywhere, as-"
She pressed her mouth to his, the territory unfamiliar but better than letting him keep talking, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her even closer to his warm skin, his kisses long and slow and sweet and so much more experienced than whatever she had been doing.
"I think you have more to teach me after all." She said, nipping at his bottom lip.
"It will be my honor." He replied, pulling her in for another long, slow kiss that left her dazed and out of breath.
The boat bumped into the sand at their destination, arriving thanks to the ocean, as the both of them had been far too distracted to row.
The sky was bright above them, and Moana was feeling dizzy, dazed by exhaustion and alcohol and those long slow kisses that lit her insides on fire.
"So, should we continue the lesson on land?" Moana asked, running her fingers through his hair.
Maui looked up the path, lit by moonlight and strewn with flowers. "Absolutely." He scooped her up and carried her up the hill, to the camp lovingly crafted by her people. A stone fire pit was stocked with fresh chopped wood. A canopy made the roof of the lean-to, under which a soft bed had been made, piled with soft blankets. Baskets of supplies were piled neatly at the back of the tent, and garlands of flowers were draped over everything.
"Your people love you so much." Maui said, taking in the care that had been put into putting this together for them.
"They're your people, too." Moana replied, wiping a damp lock of hair out of his face.
"I like the sound of that." He whispered, kissing her softly as he lay her down on the blanket.
Moana pulled away from his kiss, putting her hands on his chest and looking extremely nervous. "I'm sure it's obvious, but this is my first time."
"Not yet it's not." Maui replied, taking her hand in his and kissing the back of it tenderly.
"It's not?" She asked, sitting up with him, confused at the sudden shift in his affections. Would she ever be able to make sense of the shifting of his moods?
"Babe, I saw how much you had to drink, I don't want to push you into anything you won't want in the morning."
She climbed into his lap, her hips unfamiliar with the strain of straddling the width of his hips, but she'd get used to it. "I won't regret this. I could never."
He ran his hands down her back, pressing his forehead to hers again. "I love you so much. I'm not going to do anything that might hurt you."
"Okay. Okay. But you better be on very bad behavior tomorrow or I'm going to worry that you don't want me like this." She was already worried. There was so much to worry about and she just wanted everything to be alright, for them to be together and happy, always.
"Mo, I cannot even begin to tell you how much I want you" He kissed her cheek, trailing down to her neck before stopping at her collarbone, a rogue thumb tracing over one nipple once, twice - and then stopping.
She wanted to beg him for more, but a yawn overtook her instead, her vision blurring with overexhaustion. "Tired."
"Me too."
He lay them both down without another word, and after some fumbling with blankets and elbows she rested her head on his shoulder, tracing the lines of his tattoos with her fingers as she began to doze off. His steady hand ran softly up and down her back, relaxing every ache and worry until she was yawning and struggling to keep her eyes open any further, wanting to protest further, wanting to do so many things, but he was here with her and they had so much time, a lifetime together, full of every possibility.
This was more than enough for tonight.