Light Dark Platonic! Tarzan X Motherly! Reader
The jungle was louder than you expected. You had barely set foot on the island before realizing how alive everything was, birds screeching overhead, insects buzzing in clouds, and leaves whispering under the wind.
You hadn't meant to come here, yet fate (and a very unlucky accident at sea) had washed you to these foreign shores.
You pushed through the heavy foliage, muttering under your breath,
"Great… alone in some coastal jungle. Couldn't get any worse."
But then, it did get stranger.
Weeks turned into months and you found yourself getting accustomed to your new life.
But what you didn’t know was that you weren’t alone.
From the canopy above, a pair of curious gray-green eyes had been watching you with wide-eyed fascination.
Tarzan, small and barefoot, hung upside down from a vine, his wild mop of hair sticking every which way. His heart pounded, not with fear, but with something warm.
He didn't even know the word human, not really. All he knew was that you had skin, hands, and face, and that you looked safe.
Gentle, and eautiful in a way that made his chest hurt. Already, his young mind made an assumption that you are his...
And you came back to him, even though Kala told him that his mother is gone, but he didn't believe her.
For weeks, he followed you in secret.
Hiding in the treetops, crouching in the ferns, and you never noticed the soft thump of small feet shadowing your path, nor the whisper of leaves shifting when you gathered fruit.
At day, he curled up high in the trees, watching and hanging out your wet clothes, that you got from the wreck boat.
At night, he would watch you sleep, sometimes curling up in front of you without your knowledge, and before you wake up, he leaves.
Then one day, his secret was nearly torn away.
You had been scavenging near a shallow stream when you heard a shrill, gut-clenching scream.
A child's scream. You dropped the bundle of fruit from your arms and ran.
The sound of thrashing and a vicious snarl echoed through the trees.
When you broke into the clearing, your blood froze.
A boy, small, wild, barely clothed, was cornered by a massive spotted leopard.
Sabor's yellow eyes glinted as it crouched, ready to lunge, while the boy's face was twisted in terror, though his small fists clenched defiantly.
You didn't think. You just acted. Grabbing a hefty branch from the ground, and swinging with every ounce of strength you had, slamming it into the predator's face.
Sabor hissed and reeled back, swiping its claws toward you. You screamed and swung again, the branch cracking against its muzzle.
The beast snarled, then finally bolted into the undergrowth, leaving you alone with the boy.
And then his eyes met yours.
The boy blinked at you, astonishment painted across his dirt-smudged face.
A surviving child, living in this wild, merciless jungle.
Tarzan’s lips moved first, a string of guttural sounds spilling from him.
It wasn't any tongue you recognized, it was wild, thick, almost animalistic, staring at him, trying to make sense of it.
"I don’t understand you," you whispered gently, crouching down.
His small fists clenched at his chest in some kind of gesture, his eyes desperate, needing you to know something.
But when the words failed to bridge the gap, you simply reached out, slowly, and carefully, you gathered him into your arms.
He stiffened at first, startled by your touch, but then melted against you as though he had been waiting for it his entire life.
"Come on, sweetheart," you state gently, carrying him back toward your makeshift shelter of driftwood, palm leaves, and salvaged cloth.