eyes of the forest - a kingdom of the planet of the apes story

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚇𝚇

(one month later)

Life with the apes has been...eventful. It seems there's never a dull moment in the day. In the last month the apes have rebuilt most of their village and have started getting back into the flow of things. You'd been assigned fishing duty, seeing as the apes weren't fond of being in water. The bruising on your ribs and neck were mostly gone, just a little tint of yellow left over in some small spots. The topic of you leaving hasn't been brought up again, and the apes don't glare at you or give you a hard time anymore.

"What, do we have here?" Well, most of them don't. "The echo is making a basket?" Says Roma, the main ape who's taken to picking on you when Noa isn't around. "It will probably fall apart." Zen chimes in, the ape who follows Roma around and also has taken to picking on you.

"Elder Luna taught me," You retort. "it will not fall apart." You say sternly as you focus on your basket. "Oh really? What is this? A loose end?" Roma reaches for the basket and pulls on one end of a vine, unraveling a section. "Hey!" You snap and pull the basket away, only for Zen to reach from behind you and unravel it some more. "Oh no! Looks like it is, falling apart." She says as her and Roma laugh.

"y/n." You turn your head at the sound of your name and to your relief, you see Noa making his way to you. "What is going on?" He asks, eyeing the tattered basket you're holding and glances at the two apes, who stopped laughing by now. "Nothing, we were just helping her." Zen says, a small smile on her face.

Noa glares at them and looks at you, his face softening a bit. "What happened?" He asks lowly. You shake your head and look up at him. "Nothing, everything's fine..." You say, hoping for him to just drop it. You hear Roma and Zen snicker a bit before walking off and Noa just takes a deep breath.

"Did they do that?" Noa nods to the basket in your hands. "It's fine, really." You respond, not wanting to make a scene and the ape just glares at you. "Why do you let them, be mean to you?" He asks sincerely, the corners of his eyes crinkling in worry.

"I'm in their home, i get why they don't like me...i just feel like it's not my place to say anything." You look down sadly, picking at the skin on your fingers as Noa just watches you. He nudges your arm gently before turning to walk away. "Come on, let's do something fun."

~

You chase after Noa through the trees, becoming familiar with the woods the more time you spend in them. It's become your guys' thing, you would go on walks with Anaya and Soona often as well, but when it was just you and Noa, you both knew you just wanted to run side by side through the dense forest.

Noa hoots as he climbs a fallen log, glancing back at you to make sure you get up after him. You pull yourself up with a grunt and continue your pursuit. Noa smirks and suddenly drops off the log, out of your sight. You stop, looking down at the ground but you don't spot him.

"Noa?" You call out, your voice echoing off the trees around you. "Noa come on, where'd you go?" You yell a bit louder. Suddenly, there's a growl from behind you along with a nudge on your back. You gasp and spin around as Noa roars at you, effectively scaring you enough to lose your balance and slip right off the side of the fallen tree.

Noa reaches for your wrist and pulls you back onto the log while his other arm wraps around your waist and sits you in front of him. Once you can feel your heart beating again you look at the ape who is trying his best to hold in a laugh.

"You are terrible!" You yell at him and smack his chest. The ape huffs out a chuckle, his sharp canines poking out from under his lips. "It was too easy, i could not, resist." He says as he tries to catch his breath, his broad chest heaving with each laugh.

"What if i fell and died? A human falling from this height would surely break at least one of my bones..." You put on an exaggerated pout and Noa just laughs more.

"I would not, let you fall." He reassures you.

"But i did fall."

"But i caught you."

"But what if you didn't?"

"But i did."

You narrow your eyes at the ape, huffing and looking away while he just smiles, pleased with himself for sufficiently scaring you. You cross your arms and pout, refusing to look at the stubborn primate.

"y/n." He says your name lowly, his voice becoming raspier the quieter he becomes. You disregard the butterflies in your stomach and continue ignoring him. "You cannot ignore me forever." He says teasingly, almost as if reading your mind.

"I'm not ignoring you," You were, but you didn't want him to know he guessed right. "i'm sitting on this log until a gust of wind knocks me off and makes me fall to my death and die. Because apparently that's what you want to happen." You say, trying your hardest to ignore the goosebumps you get as his fingers draw little circles on your side from his arm that's still around your waist.

"Oh, really? That's what you are going to do?" He asks, his eyes trained on the side of your face. "Yes." You respond stubbornly. Noa rolls his eyes and looks away, thinking for a moment. Suddenly he wraps his other arm around you, picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder effortlessly while he makes his way off the log.

"Agh- Noa!" You yell at him as you squirm, trying your hardest to break free, but to no avail, as the ape holds you tightly. He finally sets you back on your feet at the end of the tree and you look up at him dumbfounded. "You are the worst!" You scold him as you lightly slap at his arms and chest.

Eventually Noa gets annoyed with this and grabs both your wrists, firmly but gently. "So violent..." He mutters out as he looks at you intently. You glance down at his hands then smirk, and seeing his brow furrow in confusion you dip your head down and lick his finger as he shrieks and pulls away.

"Disgusting!" He yells at you, wiping his hand on the ground. You just laugh until he glares at you, and now it's your turn to run while he chases after you. Noa purposefully doesn't use his full speed, and of course you know this as he could easily catch up to you but he doesn't.

So now, as both of you run through the forest, away from prying eyes, Noa watches you, his only thought how he never wants this feeling to end.

word count: 1198
i wanted to get this chapter out since the last one was more of a filler chapter. anyway enjoy some noa and y/n moments

- raine