It was late in the night, Mae lying down in her make shift bed in the cave, old heavy cloths wrapped around her for extra warmth. She couldn’t sleep, she has too much on her mind. She’s been traveling with Noa and Raka for a few days. It’s confusing, they seem like good…people. Except they aren’t people, they’re apes. Mae has to keep reminding herself no matter how good they’ve been to her, they are still apes.

She lies there seemingly forever before deciding to sit up and sit closer to the fire that’s still lit. She wraps the blue blanket noa handed her earlier around her shoulders, a slight breeze in the air making her shiver.

Mae can’t help but think about her rescue earlier in the field, she was so close to being snatched up by Proximus Caesar’s apes. She didn’t want to reveal herself to Noa yet, but she had no choice. Calling his name saved her, there was no point in hiding her voice any longer. Noa still can’t know what she intends to do when they reach their destination. She doesn’t want to hurt Noa or Raka….but she has to stop proximus.

Her heart aches thinking about her old human companions the apes killed. She hasn’t been around humans for what seemed like forever. Anger filled her heart thinking about what the apes have taken from her…from humanity. She takes in a shaky breath, no matter what, she has to get to the vault. As long as she’s alive, she’ll fight tooth and nail to keep the human fight alive!

Mae is so deep in thought she doesn’t even notice Noa walk up and come sit next to her.

“Nova…I mean Mae, why awake?” Noa innocently asked

Mae’s eyes shoot up, met by Noas. For a moment she’s lost in those green eyes. So human it scares her

“I couldn’t sleep, don’t worry about it. You should be asleep yourself.” Looking back at the fire, Mae avoids his eyes. Her heart starts beating faster, she begins to hope that Noa will leave her alone.

“Keeping watch. Keeping us safe” Noa boasts proudly. He may be new to this whole protecting thing, but he takes it seriously. He has to lead his apes when the time comes, he has to be strong now.

Maes eyes briefly look back at Noa, once again holding each other’s gaze. The way his emerald eyes lite up by the flames of the campfire keeps her attention. She wants to look away but he continues to hold eye contact. It’s like he doesn’t realize how awkward he’s making her feel right now.

Noa reaches his hand out slowly, reaching for Mae’s. She doesn’t stop him, but is confused why he is once again in her personal space. Earlier was different, she held on to him to escape, but now he is once again touching her, in such a gentle way. His fingers brushing against her skin makes goosebumps form on her arm. She doesn’t know why she feels so awkward about this, it’s not like apes don’t touch each other all the time, it’s normal to be in each other’s space. So why does her breath hitch slightly?

“What’s the matter?” Noa asked puzzled. He has no idea what is going on with her. At first he thought she was just an annoying pest that kept stealing from his village. However, the more he is around her, the more he is shocked that she acts like an ape.

He now knows she can even speak. He thought echos were silent. Yet, she has barely told him anything else about herself besides her real name, Mae. He rolls his eyes at the thought. She annoys him, but he can’t help but be curious of this echo. Raka told him apes and humans lived side by side, this is how things used to be. Raka is a bit eccentric, but Noa trusts he has the best intentions, so he wants to try and give her a chance.

“Why so silent?” Noa once again locks eyes with Mae, still unaware of how he’s confusing her.

In the darkness of night, his eyes look more and more human to her. “Im trying to clear my head, which is hard to do with you here so maybe you should go back to sleep” Mae fumed.

Why doesn’t Noa get the hint, she’s done talking for the night, she’s already let him know too much. She needs to regroup and think of what to do when they get to the vault. She moves slightly away from Noa hoping he’ll get the hint. Things were easier when he didn’t know she could talk.

Noas hand once again reaches out for Mae, but instead of brushing against her hand it brushes against her thigh. Mae instantly looked back at Noa

“Noa…” Mae whispered. She was stunned by his actions, she shivered immediately when his finger brushed against her clothed skin. She hadn’t had contact with another human in so long, she must be losing it. Because right now, Noas hand felt very much human. She felt a heat rising around her, and not just from the fire

“You can trust us, trust me Mae” Noa beamed. In the darkness of night, surrounded by flames, he felt his annoyance start to fade away for this echo. He notices Mae shivering, “Still cold? Can I help” he asked innocently.

Mae must be really tired to be feeling this way. She shouldn’t be affected by an Ape of all things, but in this moment she’s too focused on Noa. How his fingers feel just like a human man. Noa is different than the other apes.

“You don’t have to keep helping me Noa, you’re acting like your my Prince Charming or something” she snidely said. Even though if she admitted it to herself, Noa has been somewhat of her savior the last couple days.

“What’s, Prince Charming?” Noa questioned

“Just…the type of guy who wants to be the hero and save the girl, and I’m not one to need saving”

“You need me to save today!” Noa insisted. This Mae…why is she so stubborn? Do all smart echos act this way? She was clearly no match in strength compared to his fellow ape, but for an echo she is a strong one. She runs fast, for someone with such slender legs. He looks down at her thigh again, hand still next to her. He slowly reaches out again fingers spreading out across her thigh. She doesn’t say anything, just looks at him with an expression he hasn’t seen before.

“Noa…I should go back to sleep”

“Mae, you smell better now…sweeter.” Noa feels himself being drawn to her. He’s long forgotten about her lying to him about being able to speak.

He’s a young ape, he’s never experienced anything like this before, but he’s not completely clueless. He’s noticed how Mae has reacted to his touch. He smells the arousal in the air. He’s not concerned about the semantics of it, human with ape, right now he’s just distracted completely by Mae. It seems like there is no space between them in the cave anymore, the fire raging on.

“Noa, what are you doing” Mae just looks at him incredulously. She thinks to herself how she has felt some attraction to Noa over the past few days, she chalks it up to being without human contact for so long. For an ape, he seems incredibly human sometimes, it scares her, but in this moment it’s turning her on. She feels on fire and not from the heat of the campfire.

“I don’t know…” Noa whispered as his hand further goes up her upper thigh, resting at the top of her thighs, watching her body react before he has even started anything. “I don’t know what I’m doing…”

Mae couldn’t take it anymore. She figures in the grand scheme of things, no one would ever know right? In this moment, she gives up her plan, focuses solely on the present. “Noa…do you know how a human male…is intimate with a woman?” She continues to look at him with an expression he’s never seen before, an expression thats starting to set his body on fire.

“No, don’t know…” Noa whispered shyly

“Well…I guess I have something’s to teach you tonight” Mae said giving in to the desire she feels for Noa. She lightly puts her hand over his in her lap “Noa” she whimpered…

To be continued…? ✨✨✨

Anaya walking in and seeing them leaning in about to kiss, and just being like oh 👀 “sorry echo, sorry Noa, I should go”

Mae waking up from a nap to find Noa watching her sleep, staring into his big green eyes, realizing he is so close

Mae siding with bad humans, Noa getting angry with her trying to explain to her Apes can live with humans, just to abruptly kiss her, “You aren’t like them Mae 🥺”

Noa telling Mae he’s done with her, “go back to the other humans, you’re selfish,” and Mae just kissing him, completely changing his mind in a second

Mae feeling like she’s losing it, she has a mission, she hasn’t been around other humans for a while, she feels like she’s going crazy, she shouldn’t trust an Ape…so why is Noa making her heart race…no one would ever know right…if they crossed that line, would it be so bad?

After kissing hard they both would just lay there, looking up at the stars, out of breath, in the darkness of night, trying not to realize the magnitude of what was happening between them

Noa giving Mae a small kiss thinking he is so brave to act on his feelings, only for her to show him what a real human kiss is like, tongue and all, she can’t let an ape best her after all

Mae falling on top of Noa, he sees her flustered and thinks he has the upper hand but the minute she kisses him from above like that his mind goes blank