Sea of Stars | neteyam sully

chapter 24: mistake

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

The night air was warm, the cozy breeze felt like a comfortable hug. The simple sounds the ocean made were like music.

Ikariya couldn't stop thinking about what Tsireya told her earlier today. She couldn't— could she? It was like there was some sort of tornado spiraling around in her head. All kinds of yes and no answers. She didn't know what to think anymore.

She was thinking about how the stars probably looked amazing again tonight. The sky was clear today after all. Would Neteyam still be awake? I mean Ikariya couldn't sleep anymore and after they'd spent the night under the stars a few days ago, she slept better.

Fuck it.

She stood up and just as she reached the opening of her side of the pod, Neteyam already stood there.

The two jumped at the sight of each other.

Neteyam had been standing there for a while. He was debating if he should go in. He couldn't make up his mind. But Ikariya walking out of her side of the pod to find him, already said enough. 'Hey.' He said, looking down at her.

'Hey. Couldn't sleep?' Ikariya whispered softly.

'Not really.' He wanted to say how he couldn't stop thinking about her. His mind was racing with only one thought in it. He wanted— no, needed to kiss her.

She showed him a soft smile. 'Let's go and look at the stars again then.'

They both walked over to the beach but they before they sat down, Ikariya got the best idea she ever had. 'Hey,' She flung her head around and she had a smug look on her face. 'I have an idea.' She smirked.

'Alright, shoot.' Neteyam jerked his head up.

'Let's go for a night swim!' She yelled excitedly as Neteyam shushed her.

He frowned. 'I don't think that's a good idea.'

'Come on, Neteyam.' Ikariya grabbed his hand as she started walking backwards towards the sea. 'Live a little.'

'But my father—'

'Neteyam,' She stopped walking and her expression changed from exited to serious. 'You have your Olo'eyktan duties at home, I know. But you're here in Awa'atlu and they already have Olo'eyktan plus an heir. You're just a villager here. A weird dark blue villager, but a villager nonetheless.' But what she said next, made his eyebrows softly rise as a relieved smile formed on his face. 'You're free.'

His smile made Ikariya smile too, not really paying attention to the fact that she was still holding his hand.

'You're right.' He said, squeezing her hand a little. He was paying attention to their intertwined fingers. In fact, all of his attention was drawn to it.

It made Ikariya blush a little, realizing that they were still holding hands. It made her feel funny, how he didn't pull his hand away. 'That's what I like to hear.' She didn't let go of his hand until they were in the water.

Aonung, Rotxo and Tsireya's lessons had been helping them a lot. They learned how to breathe, how to navigate the ocean a bit better and how to ride an ilu. Ikariya found it quite fun, it was a different feeling. It wasn't like flying on ikran.

Gliding through the ocean, Ikariya and Neteyam had an amazing time. The bioluminescence enchanted Ikariya once again, glancing over at Neteyam once in a while. The beautiful pattern of his glowing freckles scattered across his body made Ikariya blush for a moment.

Once they reached a random rock, they decided to sit down for some time. It felt like Ikariya could come alive at night, it made her feel more comfortable and peaceful than during the day. She was looking around, watching as the stars sparkled above her. 'Isn't this just amazing. It's so quiet.' She said, gazing at the glowing orbs in the sky.

'It was— before you started to speak.' Neteyam said, chuckling at his own joke.

Ikariya fake laughed as she hit his shoulder. 'Real funny Neteyam. Hey remember, the next time I have cleaning duty I will go tell Jake it's your turn.' She smiled sarcastically as Neteyam laughed.

'You're pretty funny, you know that?' He smiled at her, making her blush. He usually didn't really laugh at her jokes but that was before he got to know her. She's actually hilarious.

'And you're pretty okay when you're not acting so uptight.' She smiled back, making him smirk to himself. That smirk sent actual shivers up her spine.

Neteyam sighed, looking down. Ikariya tilted her head, a frown forming on her face. She was wondering what he was thinking about. 'Lo'ak basically told me to stay away from you.'

What? The frown on her face turned to downright confusion. 'What? Why?' She asked the boy in front of her.

'You know why.' He said, looking into her eyes.

To be fair, she had no idea what the hell he was talking about. 'No, I don't. Would you mind explaining?' She was getting worked up. What did he tell Lo'ak?

'Because I can't fucking stay away from you, okay Ikariya?' He yelled, her eyes growing wide. She was listening to him carefully as her eyes glowed underneath the moonlight. 'He wants you to himself. But I think about you every single second of the day. I just can't make it stop. You're just so fu—'

He didn't have time to finish his sentence, Ikariya grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss. Their lips touched and it was like a spark of electricity hit them. At first he was surprised and a little tense, but they quickly eased into the kiss.

After a while, they backed away. Instant panic arose in Ikariya. Why did she do that? Neteyam was telling her how Lo'ak didn't want them to be together. She kind of gets him, it would be weird if her and Neteyam split on bad terms and what if Lo'ak didn't want to see her anymore? This was a huge mistake. 'Fuck.' Her hands found their way to her hair. 'We can't tell Lo'ak about this. This can't happen again.' There was one truth and one lie, the last one being the lie. She wanted to kiss him again, feel his soft lips on hers. But for the sake of Lo'ak she couldn't.

'I agree.' He didn't. In fact, he didn't at all. He wanted to tell her how much he didn't agree to it. But she was a stubborn girl.

But Eywa, how much he wanted to do that was actually frightening.