Late for Valentine's but here's a short, cheesy little one-shot.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Manning Up

Maxi snored. Loudly. Next to him, Kilik was lying on the ground finding it impossible to sleep. And not just because of the snoring. The ground made him itch. Also, he was thinking about a certain someone who was now in the shabby shelter they had put together for the night. He turned his head to see her shadow by the light of the fire. She was playing with her hair and humming a happy little tune. He let out a sigh.

"Wish you were inside with her, don't you?" a voice asked. "Taking a nice hard look at that soft, naked body…"

"Yeah…" Kilik found himself absentmindedly responding. "Wait, what?" He suddenly sat up and found Maxi now running his fingers through his hair and flexing his muscles. Kilik could have sworn he had been sound asleep only a few seconds ago.

"Wait, weren't you just sleeping now?" he asked, wondering how Maxi had been able to switch states at an almost supernatural speed. He was instantly envious of the possibility that Maxi had been going through a new training routine and had not told him.

Maxi put on a serious look and placed his hand on Kilik's shoulder. "Buddy, do you honestly think I would be sleeping when a perfectly good opportunity presents itself like this?"

Kilik was puzzled. "What are you talking about? What opportunity?"

Maxi sighed. "You have a lot to learn about being a man. Maybe if you stopped thinking about training once in a while, you might get somewhere with her. She's not going to wait around forever."

"What are you talking about?" Kilik said. Suddenly, he didn't want to look at Maxi's face. His eyes wandered to the sky. "I think the stars are really interesting tonight. The shape they make up is –"

"If you want to play dumb, that's fine with me," Maxi interrupted. "You're only doing yourself a disservice. But just know if you don't man up soon, I'll make a move on her," he winked.

Kilik scowled involuntarily. Maxi grinned.

Maxi stood up and stretched while yawning. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some …business to attend to. You know what I'm saying?"

"Where could you be going at this time?"

"Important business my friend."

"I'll go with you," Kilik said as he stood up and grabbed his rod. This sounded like a big deal to him. He didn't want to miss anything that could prove to be valuable later on in their journey.

Maxi stared at him blankly. "Kilik, I'm trying to say I need to take a piss."

"Oh." Kilik stood there awkwardly staring as Maxi shook his head.

"You're hopeless."

After Maxi left, Kilik looked up at the sky again. The cicadas sounded like her voice and the stars seemed to form the outline of her face. It was unmistakable even to him. She was on his mind all the time now. They had been traveling together for a while and no matter how he pretended not to notice, he was human too and therefore susceptible to emotions. His thoughts were interrupted by a scream. He tensed up and gripped his rod harder in anticipation. He listened for it again and then heard an angry voice. He turned over to the shelter and noticed there were now two shadows.

"Maxi, get out!"

"Oh come on, it's no big deal. I've already seen you naked before."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, thousands of times," he replied in the most casual tone. "It's really your fault. You should be more aware of your surroundings. This is important foundation for training. Anybody could sneak up on you. And obviously, you're not well trained."

"Ugh, I can't believe you!"

Xianghua ran out of the shelter towards Kilik's direction, fuming and holding her top against herself to cover her bare chest.

"At least get fully dressed! You'll catch a cold!" Maxi called out after her. When she was out of range, he made a face of disapproval. "The things I do for those two."

Xianghua was now staring at the ground, not far away from Kilik who was wondering if he should say something.

"Xianghua, are you okay?" he asked.

She lifted her head slowly and looked up at him. "Yeah, Maxi's just a creep." She looked away but not before Kilik noticed the slightest trace of a tear in the corner of her eye.

"I'll talk to him," he said, implying he was going to do much more than talk to him by the tone of his voice. It was a rare moment where he was slightly angry. Even though it was not him who was wronged, he still felt violated.

"No, don't. It's nothing."

"But –"

"Kilik, please."

He sighed. "Okay."

"Thank you," she sighed. "You're a good person." She moved closer and rested her head on his shoulder as the rest of her body leaned against his.

It was then that Kilik realized that she was still not fully dressed. His face turned red and he hoped it was dark enough so that she could not see.

"Uh…Xianghua…"

"Yes?" she asked with eyes closed and head still on his shoulders.

"You might want to get dressed."

She put her head up. "Oh, right." Kilik thought he heard the slightest hint of disappointment in her voice. He shook it off. He turned away and waited for her to finish putting the remainder of her clothes on.

"I'm finished," she announced a few moments later. Kilik turned back around and saw that she was indeed fully dressed.

They stood apart from each other for a few seconds until Kilik cleared his throat.

"Well…good night then."

Xianghua sighed and turned away. "You're hopeless."

Kilik did not respond and began to walk away.

"Kilik?" Xianghua suddenly said, their backs now facing each other.

"Yeah?"

"I…love you."

Kilik turned around. He slowly took a few steps towards her.

Xianghua also turned around. "Just kidd-"

Her words were muffled as Kilik silently wrapped his hands around her head and brought it towards his until their lips met. Something they had both desired but had never gotten around to admitting. They stayed together, unnoticed by the universe and not caring. It lasted a few, seemingly infinite seconds and they finally broke apart as the stars shone over them and the moon illuminated their intimacy, as if finally acknowledging their long overdue act of passion.

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of clapping. Maxi stood a few feet away from them and was looking at them in mock amazement. "Took you guys long enough."

"Shut up," Xianghua said smiling.

Maxi grinned back and raised his eyebrows at Kilik.

Kilik let a small smile creep on to his face. "So everything you were saying was just talk?"

Maxi winked.