trouble if he finds me out on my own already.”
Ao'nung shrugs.
“Well if you’re in trouble already, what does it matter where he finds you? You’re sneaking out no matter how far, right? Besides, think of it as practice.” Neteyam tore his gaze from the stars and sat up, his gaze catching Ao'nung’s. “So, Newcomer, are you in?”
Neteyam smirks.
When just a day later, Ao'nung and his friends almost get Lo’ak killed, Neteyam couldn’t help feeling betrayed. He was swimming near the reef with an ilu when he saw three figures approach. He signalled the ilu to stop and once he recognized Ao'nung he smiled, but at the sight of the other’s troubled expression the corners of his mouth dropped. He seethed when Ao'nung explained and Ao'nung felt just as guilty as Neteyam felt mad, but Neteyam’s rage is quiet, controlled and Ao'nung feared trying to defend himself because he knew it’d never be enough. So that day, it was like they took two steps forward and one back.
“You’re angry,” Ao'nung’s voice reached Neteyam in his pod. Kiri and Tuk were playing a game in a corner opposite to Neteyam. Neteyam’s fingers let the spear he was sharpening onto the floor and he looked at Ao'nung exasperated. Ao'nung at least had the decency to look sorry. His hands clenched and unclenched into fists at his sides and he stood weary, his gaze moving from the girls to their brother interchangeably.
“You almost killed my brother. Am I not supposed to be?”
“I came to apologise.” Ao'nung’s voice was diplomatic, Neteyam instantly recognised it. He considered for a moment before replying.
“I’m not the one you should apologise to.”
Ao'nung looked like he wanted to say something else, but he stopped as the words rolled down his tongue, clicking together his teeth and shifting his weight, calling out to his ilu and jumping in the water in search of the younger Sully brother.
He came back an hour later, with something akin to a pep in his step and a slight satisfied curve to his lips.
Neteyam raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of the Metkayinan and the other schooled his expression in response into one of neutrality.
“I did it.” Ao'nung said, voice strong.
Neteyam considered the words for a moment, standing up and walking to the other. He looked him up and down and Ao'nung had to catch a gasp before it escaped his lips when the Omatikayan suddenly pushed him into the water, his darker blue body following him soon after. Before Ao'nung got a hold of his surroundings and what just happened, Neteyam was already bonding with the nearest ilu and swimming away, yelling out behind him.
“Let’s race, Fish Boy!”
Before he could help it, Ao'nung’s laughter fell past his lips and he clicked his throat to call an ilu, soon chasing after the other teen.
--------
That night, the two boys decided to stay by the rocky shore, Ao'nung sitting on a stone with his legs in the water while Netetyam stood in the hip-high water, playing with an ilu. The animal clicked and chattered, swimming around the Omatikayan in circles. Neteyam smiled down at it, holding a small fish in hand and slowly treading the water in mindless directions loving how the ilu followed and playfully nipped in the direction of his raised hand.
Ao'nung was busy kicking his feet in the water mindlessly, his gaze laying on the other boy, the stars forgotten above. He didn’t know how to cope with his new found interest-just looking at the other boy. Any time he could, whenever nobody was looking and wherever the circumstances allowed it, he found that his gaze almost always landed on the leaner teen. It apparently got bad enough for his friends to start noticing because just a few hours before, his view of the other was broken by a thick hand waving at him directly in front of his face. He shook it off and pretended like he was so absorbed in thought because of a conversation with his father, but he knew better. He had seen it with Lo’ak and Tsireya and he had seen it with his other friends so he was well aware of what it really was.
