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mualani glances at the stony-faced kinich walking next to her from the corner of her eye. they're currently trailing behind kachina as she finds berries to include in the picnic they're hosting tomorrow to celebrate their fifth year friendship anniversary(which kinich claims is not a real thing and therefore not worth celebrating). "I know all the good berry spots in this area! leave this to me, guys!" kachina urges her friends to take a breather after half a day of walking, running off to hunt for berries after.
despite wanting to lend a hand to kachina, mualani's legs were aching from strolling around natlan. she sits down on a comfortable patch of grass, under the shade of a tree. kinich remains standing, his eyes darting around to assess if there's any possible threats. he takes a quick glance at mualani, his eyes roaming over her body before quickly turning around when he realises that she's already staring at him.
"kinich! you know that you can sit down, right? you don't have to be on guard 24/7." she says pointedly. reluctantly, he sits next to her, with their backs against the tree.
their hands are touching ever so slightly, his fingers resting over hers. his eyes close and he seems to be listening to the sounds of nature around them, best she doesn't disturb him(kinich constantly reassures her that he likes hearing her talk and no, he doesn't find her the slightest bit annoying.) she can't help but stare at his resting face, his soft features striking many weird feelings within her. 'this is kind of like the scenes in granny's romance novels,' she thinks to herself while sneaking glances at him 'romance novel? is the relationship between me and kinich romantic? truthfully, I've envisioned us kissing far too many times to be normal. huh, I guess I like kinich.'
"kinich," mualani leans her head on his shoulder, cozying up to him(kinich always tells her that her proximity affects him but freaks out when mualani suggests keeping her distance, telling her not to. "you're very confusing, kinich." she'll say before they hug and go their separate ways.) she waits for his eyes to open before asking, "do you have a girlfriend?"
he frowns, "no, why'd you ask?"
she simply hums in response, a local tune that kinich believes to be her newfound favourite from the amount of times she's been humming it recently. "I'd tell you and kachina if I had one." he brushes a leaf off her hair with his free hand.
she asks him about his commissions, and admires his beauty while taking in his soothing voice. 'kinich....why haven't you let any pretty girl snatch you up already?' she sighs in her head, her eyes trailing down to his lips, gosh he's so gorgeous. "lani..? are you listening?" he stares at mualani, who's currently lost in his eyes(once when kachina and mualani found him injured from a commission, she sat next to him on his bed and told him that she'll be sad if he got gravely injured because she'd never be able to hold him again, leaving his home before he could process what she told him.) she raises a hand and cups his cheek warmly, "you're so cute that it hurts, kinich." he's watching her with alarm, wondering what he said to trigger this show of affection
she gets up and stretches, running off to find kachina and leaving kinich with a lot of mixed feelings about his best friend.
｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ
kinich is following mualani and kachina around as they scout for more fruits around the stadium, occasionally picking up a fruit that has fallen to the ground and placing it in his inventory.
kachina laughs as mualani excitedly suggests they participate in a fruit-finding competition, both of them running off in hopes to find more fruits than the other. kinich trudges off, relying on his sense of smell to find fruits. he can't keep his mind from wandering back to mualani, thoughts of her engulfing his mind. he pauses in front of a tree rich in fruit, staring at the fruits and not moving to pick them.
he's currently ignoring a very hot-headed ajaw, who has been yelling in his ear about how hungry he was and reprimanding kinich for wasting his time daydreaming about weird girls instead of working on his commissions. "lani isn't weird." kinich responds after a beat of silence, reaching out to grab a few fruits from the tree. next to him, ajaw's jaw drops "you're going all googly-eyed over that sand-smelling, painfully energetic surfer girl? did you hit your head in your last commission? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, KINICH?"
kinich waves away ajaw with his hand, walking off to find more fruits. "I am not 'googly-eyed' for lani. we're just friends."
"just friends? JUST FRIENDS? kinich, I could hear her flirting with you while I was trying to get some beauty sleep. how oblivious are you?" ajaw huffs, glaring at kinich. "if you're not going to do anything productive and plan on shouting in my face about mualani, you may as well shut up. as I said, we're just friends." kinich replies.
"what kind of 'friend' calls you cute and constantly touches you? ugh never mind, I'll just watch as you shatter that delicate heart of hers. about time someone broke through her confident composure." ajaw grumbles and wanders off. kinich watches ajaw leave, taking a moment to absorb his words. 'I think she's pretty too, that doesn't mean anything.' he ponders before shrugging and picking more fruits.
｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ
mualani checks her inventory, confirming that she collected a sufficient amount of fruits as she waves to kachina. "I'm done!" she calls out to her friend, showing kachina the fruits she found. kachina's eyes light up, "same here! let's rest while waiting for kinich to finish up." mualani lays on the grass, closing her eyes and feeling the sunlight fall over her features. next to her, kachina takes a seat and starts reading the map she brought, charting their next destination.
"hey, mualani? can I ask you a silly question?" kachina says nervously, fidgeting with her gloves.
mualani rolls on her side to look at kachina and offers her friend a reassuring smile, "sure, shoot away."
kachina takes a deep breath, "uhm....are you and kinich....dating by any chance? you two have been really close. but like, not the way you and me are. cause kinich kinda told me that he saw me as his sister but he didn't hold the same sentiment towards you...ack sorry that's such a weird question!" she places her hands over her mouth in embarrassment, looking away from mualani.
mualani sits up, patting kachina's head. "come on, you don't have to be so awkward!" mualani giggles before going quiet, thinking deeply. "to be honest, I realised recently that I may have romantic feelings for kinich. gosh, I'm not usually this nervous but I'm not sure if he reciprocates those feelings, yaknow? it feels so weird yet so perfect to imagine an image of me dating kinich, like he's this piece of me I never knew I was missing. isn't it so insane that I've always been this bubbly and confident girl but I'm a bag of nerves thinking about him?" mualani lets out a big sigh before wiping a drop of sweat off her forehead.
she glances over at kachina, raising an eyebrow at the shocked look on kachina's face. "hey! you're making me feel really self-conscious right now. is me liking kinich really that unbelievable?" kachina wipes the expression off her face and shakes her head, "ack I'm sorry! I just thought you'd like the kind of guy that...well, matches your energy! but the two of you would look so cute together! uhm...how did you fall for kinich, anyways?"
a nervous laugh erupts from mualani's mouth, "I guess when he started opening up to me and actually talking to me. from then on, I started noticing the smallest details about him. what kind of girl can resist that kind of hardworking and resilient guy anyways?" she grabs kachina by her shoulders, shaking her aggressively "kachinaaaaaaa, he's SO FREAKING CUTE. what if he doesn't feel the same way about me, kachina? I think I'd actually die." she releases a dizzy kachina, covering her face with her hands.
"mualani! quit overthinking. has he ever even told you that he didn't like you romantically?" kachina yelps out helplessly. "you should tell him how you feel subtly and get his reaction before you begin panicking!"
"whose reaction?" kinich's voice rings out from behind kachina, causing the smaller girl's eyes to widen. "NO ONE'S!" she shouts out in a frenzy. mualani began laughing at kachina's attempt at covering up their conversation and left kinich looking confused. mualani shoots a sly smile at him, "we were just talking about a guy I have feelings for. kachina was giving me some advice to help me tell him how I feel."
kinich felt his stomach drop, forcing a façade of calmness, "you like someone?"
mualani's mouth opens to respond just as kachina jumps up and shouts "my parents need me home right now! bye guys! I'll see both of you tomorrow!" kachina then runs off in the direction of her tribe.
kinich and mualani watch kachina scurry away into the distance. mualani turns to kinich, patting the now-empty spot next to her.
he slowly sits down next to her and stares at her intently, as if he was trying to read her mind. she shifts closer to him, leaning towards him. "well? aren't you going to show me the fruits you've picked?" she smiles at him, seeing the soft pink blush dusting his cheeks from her proximity. kinich clumsily opens his bag, almost causing everything to spill out and lets mualani peek inside.
"woah, you picked more fruits than I expected! good job, kinich!" she gushes and punches his shoulder lightly. "aren't you going to head home too? it's getting late, lani. I'll walk you there" he mutters, grabbing his bag and standing up. she considers rejecting his offer but knows that he will anyways, standing up slowly and stretching.
she takes a hold of his arm, resting her head against his shoulder. "so, you'll keep me safe, right?" she teases him, grinning smugly. his face goes warm and he coughs in response, guiding her back to her tribe. the walk is long and quiet, giving him the chance to wonder about the guy mualani liked. the very thought of mualani being in love with some other guy made kinich extremely uneasy, knots forming in his stomach.
he drops her off at her house, hesitating before embracing her for a hug, his hand on her head and the other on her waist. he holds her in his arms for several moments before remembering she had to leave and letting go of her. "bye, lani. see you tomorrow." he stops himself from glancing back at her, rushing home as quick as possible.
｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ
kinich was the first to arrive at the spot they chose for their picnic, leaning against a sturdy tree while ajaw talked his ear off. admittedly, it was actually quite a scenic spot for a nonsensical picnic, pretty flowers covering almost every inch of the ground. 'does mualani like flowers? maybe I'll make something small for her considering I'm early.' he thinks quietly to himself before picking several flowers and carefully weaving them into a gorgeous flower crown. ajaw watched kinich with disbelief, unfamiliar with this soft side of kinich.
"kinich! we're here!" kachina called out to him, walking towards him with mualani by her side. both girls were carrying baskets of food that they made, setting them down in front of kinich.
"mualani." he steps in front of her, gently placing the flower crown he made on her head. "I made this for you."
she lifts her head to look at him and smiles, "do I look pretty?"
"you always do." he replies, staring at her with a soft expression.
kachina coughs awkwardly next to them, unsure of what she should be doing in this situation(mualani was talking about kinich the whole time they were walking, sharing with kachina about how scared she felt as this was the first time she's ever liked anyone and worried that kinich simply thought of her as his best friend. "kachina! I'll make a fool-proof plan so that he'll fall for me too! I've already thought of the best strategy to force him to feel the same way!" she confidently proclaimed, causing kachina to quickly remind her not to do anything that may possibly endanger herself or kinich.) "let's start setting up..." she commands as the three of them unpack the contents of the baskets together.
mualani sets up her kamera nearby, pulling her two friends close as they posed for the photo. "awww we look so cute in this!" she shoves the picture into kinich and kachina's faces.
｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ
kinich is describing a recent commission he took to kachina, having kachina gasp in awe constantly, asking questions and prodding him for details.
'I hope we never stop being friends.' mualani thinks softly to herself before dozing off against a very flustered kinich.