Archive of Our Own ^beta

***

Neteyam didn't have many friends back home.

He wouldn't say that he was lonely, per se. Being Toruk Makto's firstborn, and equipped with the skills he had honed ever since he could hold a bow and draw its string, other omatikayans his age often approached him; be it to ask for advice, or to befriend him.

Truthfully, the word 'befriending' didn't quite fit the description. Neteyam would say that his peers usually talk to him just so they could say they've talked to Toruk Makto's firstborn.

Acquaintances? He had a lot of those.

Friends?

…maybe he had too few of them. Then again, he didn't feel ashamed of it. If he were given the chance to relive his childhood, he was pretty sure he wouldn't change a thing.

He would still work hard in honing and sharpening his skills. He would still spend most of his time trying to exceed his father's expectations: be an exceptional warrior and be a responsible older brother.

He would still keep his peers at a distance. He would still make friends with the few who were actually his friends. He would still prefer solitude to… company.

He wasn't entirely alone. His ikran was wonderful company.

Neteyam was fine with the way things were.

But then they had to leave for Awa'atlu, and Neteyam had to leave behind what he had known most of his life. Not everything, but a lot of things.

With moving to a new environment, came with the necessity to learn to adapt. To learn the new ways of living.

How to live at the reef.

Courtesy to the generosity of the oloeyktan of the metkayina clan, Tonowari, Neteyam, and his siblings were given 'guides' of some sort to help teach them the ways of the water. These guides so happened to be the oloeyktan's children and their friend: Tsireya, Roxto, the friend mentioned, and Aonung.

Tsireya was lovely. She's beautiful, kind, considerate, and was very patient with all of them - especially with Loak, but Neteyam would say that her extra kindness for his little brother was more an aftermath of the way her gaze lingered on his baby brother than anything else. Her eyes were always so full of wonder when it came to Loak; not that Neteyam could blame her.

Loak had always had this charm about him. Something about him that made you want to follow him.

Roxto, while he initially had made some rude and carelessly thoughtless comments, came to be someone who was actually pleasant to be around. He's funny, and he's very good at keeping a conversation flowing. Another thing that Neteyam had noticed about the metkayina boy that was somewhat amusing: perhaps the way Roxto paid more attention to Kiri than to anyone else.

Then there's Aonung.

Neteyam had been in Awa'atlu for only a few days. He had participated in a few of the lessons Tsireya had kindly arranged for them and made a schedule for. In those few lessons, Aonung wasn't a constant in them.

Although, when he did join their lessons, Aonung tended to be near Neteyam.

At first, Neteyam considered the possibility of him imagining things. After all, it didn't make sense for the son of the oloeyktan to pay too much attention to him. Regardless if Neteyam was the son of Toruk Makto or not.

When they first landed on Awa'atlu's shores, most of the metkayinas all didn't seem to have much of a respect for Toruk Makto - at least not the way Tonowari had. Even if they did, it wasn't enough to stop them from gawking and looking at them with judgmental eyes.

Looking at the proof of the 'demon blood' running in their veins.

But then 'it' - the staring from Aonung - was becoming all too hard to ignore when Neteyam started to notice the same pattern he did back at the forest.

Neteyam could deal with his peers who approached him just because they wanted to talk to 'the firstborn of Toruk Makto'. They would smile a little too wide, a little too hard, and in return, Neteyam would return their smiles with a genuine one from himself. He had never been very good at playing pretend anyway.

Although, when it came to admirers, Neteyam wasn't all too sure of how to act around them. He knew when they wanted to appeal to him. He knew when they wanted to grab his attention. He could feel the different way they would look at him than at anyone else.

So that's where the problem lay.

Aonung was giving him that look.

The omatikayan had checked multiple times and on multiple occasions. He thought it was a fluke at first, when he caught the metkayina boy's gaze the first time they landed.

He thought he was mistaken, and that, maybe Aonung was just curious. Intrigued.

After the few lessons Neteyam shared with the other, though, the omatikayan was quickly realizing that it was not a fluke.

Fortunately for Neteyam, Aonung was unlike any of his admirers back in the forest. While his admirers at home were kind and gentle, eager to start conversations and to chat with him, Aonung wasn't exactly any of those - at least towards the Sullys.

Aonung was a lot of things. He's mean, he's smug, he's a tad too arrogant to Neteyam's liking, and he hung out with peers that were not too good of an example for anyone, if Neteyam was being honest.

Yet the metkayina boy, somehow, was interested in him.

Neteyam wasn't exactly keen on having someone like Aonung interested in him. He thought that a mate was a reflection of one's soul. In other words, hypothetically speaking, as the sky people's 'scientists' would say, Aonung would be a reflection of Neteyam's soul - which was not true.

The omatikayan boy held himself in high regard, and Aonung was… not really that 'high' in the said regard.

Perhaps someone should 'put him in his place'. Perhaps someone should give him a gentle nudge to remind him that he wasn't all that 'high and mighty' just because he was the son of the oloeyktan and tsahik of the metkayina clan, and that he was probably going to be the clan's future oloeyktan.

Both Neteyam and Aonung were the oldest siblings and 15-year-olds, yet the omatikayan felt like the other boy acted more 'immature' than he did. He speculated that perhaps it was because the metkayina boy had such a wonderful sister.

It wasn't a far-fetched conclusion, of course.

For some reason, Neteyam couldn't help but keep on pondering about his new 'discovery'. Especially whenever he spotted Aonung nearby, either joking around with his peers that Neteyam wasn't so 'fond' of, wandering around and minding his own business, or helping out some villagers in need.

Neteyam knew that, at the metkayina boy's core, Aonung could actually be a really good person. One who didn't insult as he pleased and one who didn't have a sharp tongue and an annoying and smug smirk.

If Neteyam was being honest, he was curious about the metkayina boy, too. He wanted to know why the lives they lived were so different when their roles were almost the same. To get to know Aonung, though, he would have to 'teach' the other not to be so 'obnoxiously rude' first.

That was what Neteyam had spent his time pondering about the most.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Loak, who had been sitting beside him on a log this entire time dinner at the village was happening, attempt to stand up. Instinctively, Neteyam's hand shot out to grab his brother's forearm, and he met Loak's dissatisfied and furrowed eyes with his own pair of furrowed ones.

"Where do you think you're going?" Neteyam asked, glancing at Loak's share of dinner before turning to his brother again. "You haven't finished your dinner."

"Fish lips is pointing at us and laughing to his lame friends!" Loak whispered-shouted, briefly glaring at 'fish lips and his lame friends' before turning to look at his older brother again. "They're probably talking shit about us, and I'm not about to let them do that without being punched once or twice," he reasoned, ears flattened and his tail lashing out in defiance.

After studying his brother's extremely irritated expression and deciding that the said brother should not be near 'fish lips and his lame friends', lest a fight would start, Neteyam stood up, kept his hold on Loak's forearm, and ignored the way his little brother's eyes widened in surprise.

When Neteyam turned to look at Aonung, he wasn't surprised to find that the metkayina was already looking at him.

His sudden action grabbed the attention of the rest of the Sullys, of course. Jake in particular voicing out a question.

"Where are you going? We're supposed to move out only after dinner is called to an end, remember?" Jake inquired, raising an eyebrow at both of his sons.

Loak was about to answer, but Neteyam gave his brother's forearm a squeeze, and gave his answer instead.

"I just want to talk with the oloeyktan's son for a second," Neteyam answered, squeezing Loak's forearm and ignoring little harder when the younger omatikayan was about to protest. While Loak made a complaining inaudible grumble, Neteyam continued, "It's been a couple of days since we got here, and I want to thank him for his guidance," a pause, before he added with a shrug, "I mean, that's what friends usually do, right? Thank each other and talk to each other? You said you want us to befriend them."

Neteyam let go of Loak's forearm in favour of pinching his baby brother's bicep when the said brother murmured an inaudible 'the only person fish lips ever care about is you'.

The murmur only further confirmed that Neteyam wasn't imagining things after all.

Jake looked proud of his oldest son, nodding and encouraging Neteyam to 'make friends'. When Loak tried to follow his older brother, Jake stopped him and dragged the 14-year-old to sit beside him, affectionately ruffling the omatikayan's head and chiding him. ("Dad- I also want to make friends with fish- Aonung-" "Kid, you look murderous, and I'm not blind and an idiot.")

Having acquired permission, Neteyam turned to look at Aonung and his 'lame friends' again.

He was still not surprised to find Aonung already looking at him.

As Neteyam casually made his way to where Aonung and his 'lame friends' were sitting, he watched the mocking grins on the group grew wider as they elbowed each other, while he pondered over what he should say once he got to them.

Something that shouldn't cause a fight, since he told his dad that he was just coming over to say his thanks, but it shouldn't be something friendly, because he wanted to relay Loak's 'sentiment' to them.

Maybe something that would make them go speechless - but Neteyam wasn't sure what he could say to shut them up. It seemed to him that these 'lame friends' of Aonung's loved to run their mouths all the time.

Aonung wasn't too talkative during their lessons. It was why Neteyam had this guess that the only reason Aonung was so… mean was because of his 'lame friends'.

To his surprise, though, Aonung stood up, and his friends… seemed to be hyping him up, or something.

Then Aonung turned to Neteyam and started walking towards the omatikayan - with his typical smug grin.

Considering how Aonung was approaching him himself, Neteyam stopped walking and waited for the other boy to reach him.

Neteyam racked his brain and tried to remember anything that was said to him that rendered him speechless.

By the time Aonung got to him, for some reason, all he could really think about was the many instances where he was left speechless because of his admirers' compliments and kind words.

Looking at Aonung, his smug grin still on his lips as he met the omatikayan boy's gaze, Neteyam tried to imagine a situation where the other was left gobsmacked.

"What are you walking up to my friends and me for, tsamsiyu?" Aonung greeted, his smug grin turning a little lop-sided and…

…and actually a little…cute.

Hmm.

Neteyam was pretty sure Loak was watching his every move. In fact, Neteyam could feel Loak's burning gaze on the back of his head. The boy was probably ready to get up and stride to them if Aonung as much as lifted a finger.

He had to think over his words carefully.

He didn't exactly want to compliment the other boy - he felt that Aonung didn't really deserve a compliment yet with how he behaved - so he had to think of something else. Even though the opportunity to render the other speechless by calling him 'cute' was right there.

Just then, a memory came to mind.

It was an accident on his part. He didn't mean to make the girl embarrassed, but he had pointed something out as a genuine question, and she had turned a dark shade of purple, before scrambling away with her face in her palms, embarrassed and shy. (He still felt a little bad about it to this day. She was really sweet.)

Glancing at Aonung's lame friends, who were still looking at them with their mocking grins, Neteyam shifted his attention to the metkayina boy in front of him entirely before speaking up.

"I wanted to say…" Neteyam trailed off, for the suspense.

Aonung had a really pretty pair of teal eyes. They were almost blue.

"…that I hope you know that I don't bite," he continued, tilting his head and a little amused at the way Aonung's eyes tracked the hair beads in his braids. "Do you think I bite?"

It took a second or two for the metkayina boy to snap out of his thoughts, his smug grin gone and replaced with a perplexed pair of lips instead. (Neteyam could hear his baby brother snickering. He must have thought the confused expression on Aonung's face funny.)

"Why would I think that you bite?" Aonung questioned.

Great. He just made Neteyam's job easier.

Neteyam crossed his arms over his chest, stood straighter and tilted his head to properly meet the taller navi's eyes as he stated matter-of-factly:

"Because you've been sneaking glances and staring at me any chance you get ever since my family and I got here.

If you want to talk to me, you can - cause I don't bite."

See, when Neteyam had said something similar like this to the girl mentioned previously, she grew embarrassed about being caught staring.

Judging from how Aonung's face seemed to grow a little purple, Neteyam decided that 'it' was no longer hypothetical.

Aonung does like him. A little. Aonung likes his face, maybe. The two of them barely knew each other for Neteyam to be able to come up with any other reasons.

Neteyam could hear his little brother heartily laughing in the background just as he could make out Kiri's less audible snickers and Tuk's giggles. To them, they must have thought Aonung was growing purple with anger.

At least Jake wasn't making his way to him thinking he had angered the oloeyktan's son.

When some time had passed and Aonung was still gawking at Neteyam, face still as purple as the last time the omatikayan had remembered, Neteyam glanced at Aonung's group of friends, who were sporting confused looks as they looked back and forth between the heartily laughing Sullys children and their friend.

At least they couldn't see their friend reacting so strongly since Aonung was standing with his back facing them.

Simply to get Aonung to 'snap out of it', Neteyam took a step closer, and pointed at where his family was sitting before he offered, "If you do want to chat, you can join us; right now. Dinner's still ongoing and all."

That seemed to do the trick.

Aonung scoffed, the noise sounding more wobbly to have its intended offended effect. "You just think you're so pretty, forest boy," he retorted, rolling his eyes before abruptly turning around and walking away.

Even in the darkness, Neteyam could make out the way the metkayina's nape and the tips of his ears were growing purple-ish. Then again, he was standing pretty close to the other.

Just because he could, and because he couldn't help but feel a little amused by the other's flustered self, he added loud enough only for Aonung to hear:

"I never said I was 'pretty', but thank you for the compliment."

Neteyam turned around quickly on his heels before Aonung could see the grin on his lips.

He couldn't help it. It was a little funny.

(And maybe a little endearing.)

When Neteyam returned to his family, he told his father that he invited Aonung over to eat with them. Jake patted him on the back in a 'good job' kind of way.

To Loak, Neteyam said he 'gave Aonung a taste of his own medicine', or so the sky people would say.

Distantly, Neteyam pondered over blotches of purple on teal skin.

Maybe he could 'put the Aonung in place' after all.

***1***

Neteyam was in trouble.

Not literally, but in the sense that 'he got too much of a kick out of catching Aonung off guard' sense.

He hadn't been doing it, not exactly. It was just that when he had some time to think, between lessons or when he had finished his tasks before his siblings did in a lesson, he had nothing to do. So when he had nothing to do, he let his mind race and think.

It wasn't his fault that Aonung would also have nothing to do when the omatikayan was done with his tasks. Seeing how the other acted when they both had nothing to do only further made Neteyam think.

The metkayina boy would awkwardly hover around him for a moment or two before fleeing away to Roxto's side. Not to help the younger metkayina, but, funnily enough, just to stare and sneak glances at Neteyam from afar.

He must have felt pretty 'threatened' enough that he didn't dare spend time alone with Neteyam outside of lessons or teaching, which was, again, funny - because Neteyam wasn't even threatening the boy.

All he did was state an observation out loud. Albeit a little 'mean', but not as mean as Aonung. In fact, it wasn't even the same kind of 'mean'.

Speaking of what he was 'thinking about', he was thinking about other ways to get the metkayina boy speechless.

He had thought of plenty of ways. Plenty.

He had also imagined Aonung with different variations of reactions. All of them were pretty entertaining.

Something that Neteyam really wanted to see for himself, rather than just 'imagine'.

In fact, the urge had only grown when Aonung had started to be irritating by purposely trying to get him angry whenever they had their one-on-one teaching sessions. (Neteyam wasn't sure whose bright idea it was to pair him up with the metkayina boy, but he didn't want to cause anyone trouble by asking for a change.

Plus, if Aonung just stopped being so irritating, he could actually be a pretty good teacher.)

Normally, Neteyam wasn't easy to be annoyed. He's pretty patient. He needed to be patient to deal with his siblings' antics. Though Aonung was just… really good at getting under his skin.

Wearing that smug smirk, drawling in that taunting and mocking voice of his, and somehow being able to say just the right things to rile the omatikayan up. Making fun of Neteyam's every little mistake because Aonung was just so great at living at the reef.

Of course Aonung would be great at living in the reef. The skxawng had lived in Awa'atlu his entire life!

Although, Neteyam was getting better at not taking the bait of being angered.

How?

By imagining the metkayina boy flustered from a few words.

Neteyam knew he could do it. He had done it. He could do it again.

The question was: would he?

Would it be considered as 'playing with Aonung's feelings'? But, from the looks of it, Neteyam was pretty sure Aonung wasn't aware of his 'feelings'.

It wasn't something Neteyam would do, but the urge to put the metkayina boy in place was getting really, really tempting.

So, as Neteyam contemplated, he had forgotten where he was.

Forgot that he was with the metkayina boy he was thinking about, and in the middle of learning how to ride an ilu for the nth time that month. Not that Neteyam blamed Tsireya for keeping on encouraging these 'ilu riding' lessons; his siblings and he were still sloppy with riding ilus.

"Forest boy," Aonung chided, patting Neteyam's thigh to get his attention.

Neteyam noticed that, too. The metkayina really liked patting his thigh.

"Focus. You're spacing out," Aonung added, his hand unnecessarily lingering.

The omatikayan adjusted himself on the ilu he had mounted, wondering if the ilu understood what he had been thinking about this entire time about the metkayina boy with them considering how he had formed tsaheylu with her.

Adjusting his hands on the ilu's neck, Neteyam paid a glance at the hand on his thigh, but didn't address it. "It's because you're such a terrible teacher," he half-heartedly jabbed.

Aonung frowned, his nose scrunching and eyes furrowing. He moved the hand on Neteyam's thigh to the omatikayan's lower back and pushed so that the said omatikayan was closer to the ilu's neck as he retorted, "You're just terrible at listening."

"Out of all my siblings, I am the best at listening."

"Who told you that?"

"No one has to tell me that for it to be the truth. Even if you want confirmation, either way, you can ask my dad. He'll vouch for me."

His words caused Aonung to snort.

"Ask Toruk Makto about how good his son is at listening?" He mockingly asked, shaking his head from side to side and removing his hand from Neteyam. "Do you think I have a death wish?"

Neteyam suppressed a grin. (He's probably failing.)

"My father also doesn't bite."

It was really satisfying to see the way Aonung's smug grin fell and the way his entire body stiffened.

The metkayina boy cleared his throat, averting his gaze and looking at the ilu instead.

There's a very light dusting of purple on Aonung's cheeks.

As if he wanted to take the reins, the metkayina boy rolled his eyes, the action drawing Neteyam's attention to the boy's long lashes and teal eyes, as Aonung retorted, "I'm not scared of your father."

"So you're not scared of me?"

The outrageous question was enough to have those teal eyes on Neteyam again.

"Since when did I say that?"

"Say what?"

"Say that I'm scared of you?"

(This was fun.)

"You just did."

Aonung opened his mouth to reply, but then he realised, and scowled. "You're not funny."

"And you are not funny when you intentionally make me want to pull at my hair by being obnoxious," Neteyam easily quipped, satisfied that he managed to make his point.

That would surely give Aonung the hint to stop purposely poking him, wouldn't it? A subtle way of 'putting the oloeyktan's son in place'.

"Not as funny as seeing you fall off the ilu for the millionth time, that's true," Aonung drawled, smirking all smug and meeting Neteyam's eyes again. Already composed.

Neteyam almost fell for the bait.

Fortunately, Neteyam didn't, and he decided in that exact moment that he was definitely going to put the metkayina boy in place.

Determined, Neteyam grabbed Aonung's hand, internally amused by the immediate way the metkayina boy's expression morphed into confusion, as the omatikayan drawled kindly:

"With your obnoxious personality, you're lucky that you have a cute grin."

It was a very simple and direct compliment.

Neteyam never had anyone walking up to him to tell him that his personality was 'obnoxious' before it was followed up with being called 'cute'. He had been called cute alone, though.

However, in this case with Aonung, despite his 'objective' being to leave the metkayina boy tongue-tied, Neteyam still wanted to say what's true rather than just say the first line he could think of to fluster the other. At the very least, if he was going to 'play with someone's heart', he wanted to be honest.

It's true; Aonung could have a cute grin if he just stopped acting so arrogant.

In response, Aonung gaped, his eyes wide and revealing the beautiful shade of teal better, long lashes fluttering as he blinked his eyes in disbelief and from feeling flustered. To add to the already cute expression, blotches of purple had started dusting the metkayina's face. (Neteyam couldn't help but stare for a moment or two. Just to remember the gobsmacked and flustered expression properly.)

The hand Neteyam was holding fell limp, and the omatikayan gave it a gentle squeeze to see if it would react. It didn't move, whatsoever.

Acting nonchalant, Neteyam settled Aonung's hand on the ilu's neck, and batted his own lashes at the metkayina innocently - as if he didn't just purposely make the other feel flustered.

"So, now that you have my attention, are you going to start properly teaching me without acting all-knowing or what?"

It was pretty impressive that Aonung snapped out of it quickly after that; he cleared his throat, explained - for the nth time - what Neteyam should and shouldn't do, and all that was done with almost non-existent arrogance.

It was nice. It was even nicer when Neteyam asked questions, and rather than mocking and belittling him for 'not knowing something so simple', Aonung took his questions seriously and gave his answers in comprehensible detail.

By the end of their lesson, the others had returned to rest first, but Aonung told Tsireya that Neteyam was making progress, and that the metkayina boy was sure that Neteyam could make a significant improvement if he gave it a couple more tries.

Neteyam really, really liked the change.

Who would've known something as simple as a direct compliment could get the other to act right?

Although, when the sky was turning dark, replacing the hues of orange and pink that once coloured the evening sky, despite Aonung's vouch on Neteyam 'making a significant improvement', the omatikayan still struggled to stay on the ilu when she's moving fast. On the bright side, though, Neteyam was definitely getting a better hang of making sure he was not immediately flung off an ilu when they moved in between water and air.

Albeit a little defeated, Neteyam's mood was lifted a little when Aonung gave him a pat on the back as if to console him.

Actually, Neteyam was pretty sure Aonung was trying to console him.

"You'll get it next time," the metkayina boy murmured, a sheepish yet sure grin on his lips when Neteyam turned to look at him. "You always work hard. Your efforts will bear fruit."

Just when Aonung was about to take his leave, Neteyam reached out and grabbed the metkayina boy's wrist.

He didn't even have a good enough reason to hold the other back. It was why he ended up just awkwardly staring at the metkayina, who returned the stare with a curious and confused stare of his own, for a moment or two.

Thankfully, before it could get too awkward, Neteyam found his words.

"Irayo," he thanked the other boy, a smile carving itself on his lips. "For being nice."

There went the purple on the metkayina's face again - except most of them were on the tip of his scrunched nose. He attempted to be dismissive with a wave of a hand, but Neteyam had always had a sharp eye when it came to trying to figure out what someone was feeling. (He had to be good at discerning emotions; how else was he supposed to comfort his siblings and check on how they were doing?)

"I'm just following my father's orders," Aonung shrugged, a little stiff and averting his gaze.

Neteyam pursed his lips, hoping he didn't sound as eager and amused as he felt as he quipped, "Of course you are. It would be pretty self-presumptuous of me to assume you're acting nice only because I say you're cute when you're nice."

Aonung looked amusingly scandalised by the statement, but Neteyam merely kept the smile on his lips. He did try not to let his smile stretch a little too wide at the way Aonung lost his composure a little at his words.

Returning the other boy's kind attempt at comforting him by giving the boy a pat on the back, Neteyam took another eyeful of the flustered and gobsmacked expression on the metkayina's face before he contemplated.

Aonung was nice to him. Really.

He should be rewarded for it.

Neteyam thought back to his admirers, recalling how they liked to compliment him and how their genuine praises always managed to uplift his mood, even if only by a little. However, he felt that it would be a bit too repetitive for him to compliment the other again. After all, he had just complimented the boy just a few hours ago.

Something else that could be used as a reward… Taking into account Aonung's crush on him that his 'friend' seemed not to have even noticed…

While Neteyam pondered, Aonung scoffed as an attempt to mask feeling flustered like he usually would. "That is pretty self-presumptuous of you, forest boy. Being Toruk Makto's firstborn must be getting to your head to say something so self-centred."

"Big words coming from you, son of oloeyktan and tsahik," Neteyam easily retorted, glancing at the metkayina before doing a double take at the other's flushed expression when he got an idea.

It was something Neytiri used to do to Neteyam and his siblings when they were younger. She still occasionally did it, especially with Tuk, but Neteyam remembered how nice it was.

There was once a time when an omatikayan girl confessed her feelings to him and left in a hurry after doing 'it' and telling him that he didn't have to return her feelings. While Neteyam had been taken aback at the time, she managed to leave quite an impression on him with the stunt she pulled. Neteyam still had to talk to the girl on a later date to say that he wasn't looking to find his future mate, though.

Regardless, past memories aside, Neteyam was sure that, if he pulled the same stunt, he could teach Aonung a thing or two.

With the reasoning of 'wanting to put Aonung in place while simultaneously rewarding the metkayina boy', Neteyam's resolution solidified.

He abruptly turned to look at Aonung, effectively cutting the metkayina's words that he hadn't been listening to, drowning in his thoughts as he was.

Not missing a beat, the omatikayan boy asked: "Have you ever been kissed on the cheek before?"

Aonung turned the loveliest shade of purple.

Judging from the way Aonung was at a loss for words, Neteyam decided that he knew the answer. It was written on the metkayina boy's face, after all: the embarrassment, curiosity, and hesitance.

Almost too slowly than how he usually would move, Neteyam placed a hand on the metkayina boy's shoulder, gave the boy a moment or two to shove him, before leaning in when he was not pushed.

He had to stand on the tip of his toes a little to be able to press his lips on the metkayina's cheek. Somewhere near below the corner of Aonung's eyes.

With a satisfied and good-natured smile, Neteyam went:

"Well, now you know.

See you at dinner, Aonung."

Neteyam left shortly after that. Having already gotten himself an eyeful of Aonung's gobsmacked, speechless, and utterly flushed face.

During dinner, Loak wondered why Aonung and his group of friends weren't sending mocking grins their way.

His big brother merely smiled, shrugged dismissively, and told him that 'maybe they've changed their ways?'.

While Loak started complaining and listing down the many reasons 'why Aonung and his lame friends would never change', Neteyam kept on sneaking glances at the metkayina boy they were talking about.

Whether Neteyam's suppressed smile was because of the endearing way Aonung kept on looking away every time their gazes met or the amusing way Aonung's friends seemed to be trying to pry information out of the metkayina boy, well, he couldn't answer the question himself, really.

***2***

Perhaps kissing Aonung was a mistake.

Not in the 'regretful' sense, but in the 'now they regularly sneak innocent kisses when their siblings and friends aren't looking' sense.

Neteyam had no idea how it suddenly started and became something regular. (He was totally the one who started it. Though it wasn't him who turned it into a regular thing.)

The kisses they exchanged were all innocent: on the wrist, on the hand, on the knuckles, on the cheek, on the nose, on the eyelid, on the forehead, on the temple, on the chin or jaw when Neteyam would miss, and, in some accidents, on the corner of the lips. They usually happened on a certain few occasions when certain few conditions were met.

The first time Aonung started it, it was because Neteyam managed to breathe impressively long underwater, breaking his own record. Neteyam had been pretty ecstatic when Aonung told him that, his heart racing from triumph and satisfaction. Though it raced harder when Aonung had suddenly planted a short peck on the side of the omatikayan's temple.

Neteyam remembered the metkayina's expression as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.

Aonung had frozen, eyes widened and mouth agape like he couldn't believe what had just happened; as if it wasn't him who initiated it. His face also steadily grew purple, and the omatikayan decided then that he didn't mind it that much.

It's not like it would harm anyone. In fact, it could just be a 'reward' of some sort.

That day, Aonung had cleared his throat, given Neteyam a half-assed 'congratulations' and 'good job' before practically fleeing for his life.

The day after, when Aonung had managed to 'get a grip' and had returned to his 'jerk and mean' way, Neteyam leaned and pressed a kiss to the tip of the metkayina's nose to shut him up after making sure the others weren't paying attention to them.

It worked like a charm.

Actually, perhaps it worked too well, because Neteyam's progress was surprisingly getting better - he wasn't sure if it was because his efforts were 'bearing fruit' or if he actually enjoyed kisses from the metkayina - while Aonung's tendency to be a jerk somehow grew.

The obvious reason for this change would be how Neteyam only ever kissed the other to shut him up.

So.

It was sort of, partly, somewhat Neteyam's fault that Aonung had been acting up a little worse these past two months. (It had been three months since they landed on Awa'atlu, to paint the picture.)

"Bro! Aren't you, like, close to him these days? Tell him to stop messing with me!"

At Loak's complaint, Neteyam snapped out of his thoughts, and paid attention to his surroundings.

Right.

It was a free day. 'No lesson' day.

Though Aonung, for some reason, and his gaggle of lame friends that Neteyam still wondered why the other boy always hung out with, were throwing the Sully children inaudible mocking sneers and jeers.

At least Aonung had the decency to subtly look sheepish whenever he made eye contact with the metkayina.

Turning to his baby brother, Neteyam sighed a little in resignation, "Loak, Aonung and I aren't that close."

Neteyam was pretty sure he was far enough from the group of 'bullies' to be overheard, yet he noticed, in the corners of his eyes, the way Aonung subtly flinched anyway.

(Perhaps Loak was right. Neteyam had grown to know Aonung well enough to notice these finer details about the metkayina boy.)

Loak frowned as a response, his ears flat and his nose scrunched, disagreeing. "Try telling that to the many lessons the two of you ended late because you guys are so 'close to making an improvement'," the younger omatikayan retorted, clearly not having it.

Neteyam spared Loak's tail that was thumping irritatedly a mildly exasperated yet amused glance before replying calmly, "He's just… dedicated. To see me… succeed."

Even he struggled to believe his own words, let alone Loak, judging from the way the boy was giving him an unimpressed look.

Loak glared at Aonung and his group of friends, lips pursing into a deeper frown as he crossed his arms over his chest, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

"Dedicated, sure. He's dedicated to seeing you succeed, and he's dedicated to tormenting me. Just great. What a great teacher and guide and whatever," Loak huffed, dissatisfied.

Before Neteyam could say anything in response, though, he noticed Loak going rigid and straightening up, before he heard footsteps approaching them.

When he turned around, Neteyam wasn't too surprised to find Aonung and his… friends.

Aonung paid him a brief glance, almost as if it was deliberate, and then turned to Loak with a mocking smirk on his lips.

"Is it okay for you to be doing nothing today?" he drawled, earning snickers from his 'friends' and smirking wider. "Don't you still have a lot to improve? I mean, it's been three months since you guys have been here; shouldn't you be able to adapt already?"

Successfully baited, Loak stood toe to toe with the metkayina and quite literally almost spat his reply, eyes furrowed into a glare just as his eyebrows were, "Keep running your mouth, and I'll make sure you won't be able to walk around for three months by beating you up."

Then, as if he remembered something, he pressed a finger to Aonung's chest, and gave it a strong enough push to have the metkayina stumbling a step backward before snapping, "Have fun not hogging Neteyam all for yourself. In fact, maybe I'll ask Tsireya to ask someone else to help my brother.

Someone better than you. Couldn't be that hard to find."

Neteyam turned to his brother in disbelief, but Loak paid it no mind.

Instead, Loak was too busy glaring at Aonung's suddenly serious and sharp glare, and Neteyam decided that it was time he intervened - before either of their clenched fists landed on each other.

The older omatikayan present didn't get it. Why was Loak so hung up on him 'getting along' with Aonung?

It wasn't like Aonung was terrible company when he was alone. He's only a jerk when he's with this 'group of friends' of his. Otherwise, he really was not so bad. (And maybe a little cute, but Neteyam was sure Loak would feel offended and 'unexplainably' betrayed if the older omatikayan would ever admit it out loud.)

Placing a hand on his brother's chest and the other hovering over Aonung's chest, Neteyam looked between the two of them in warning, making sure to harden his gaze when they met Aonung's own.

"Stop fighting. Both of you," he chastised, his hand immediately on Aonung's chest, the flat of his palm warm against the metkayina's cool skin as the said metkayina presumably had just gotten out of the water, when the other had taken a daring step forward. Paired with the action, Neteyam glared at Aonung, and, for some reason, the metkayina boy's glare only grew sharper at the eye contact.

Aonung opened his mouth, and Neteyam expected a lot of things. Maybe another jab, another unasked opinion, another unhelpful comment, or another mocking drawl.

None of those happened.

"You think that I'm such a bad teacher that you're complaining to your brother, Neteyam?"

Loak was as stunned as Neteyam was, really; judging from the way the younger omatikayan's eyebrows shot upwards in surprise.

Between Aonung and Neteyam, they rarely addressed each other by name. Usually, they would use nicknames, or settle for 'you's, since they often did have one-on-one lessons.

Shifting his attention entirely to the still-glaring and frowning metkayina, Neteyam retracted his hand from Loak's chest, in favour of properly facing Aonung. Once they were standing face-to-face, Neteyam stated matter-of-factly, "I never said you were a bad teacher."

"Then why does your brother want someone else to be your teacher?" Aonung retorted, still glaring.

Aonung's friends looked lost. As if they were confused why their current topic of 'conversation' was about 'who should be Neteyam's 'teacher'?'.

Before Neteyam could answer, Loak answered with a scoff, "Because my brother is too good for you, skxawng!"

Both Aonung and Loak attempted to stand toe to toe with each other again, and Neteyam decided then and there that he needed to talk with his arrogant and prideful 'teacher'.

Abruptly grabbing a hold of Aonung's bicep while his other hand pressed harder to Loak's chest, Neteyam turned to the three friends Aonung had with him and pretty much instructed them to leave.

Surprisingly enough, after they tried to catch Aonung's gaze a couple of times but failed because the said metkayina was so busy narrowing his eyes at Loak, the three friends left after rolling their eyes at the omatikayan's warrior and his brother.

Loak showed the three friends the middle finger, a triumphant smirk on his lips.

The triumphant smirk on his lips didn't last long. It faltered the moment Neteyam turned to him and also instructed him to leave.

"I can't leave you alone with this-" Loak refused, nose scrunching further when he looked at Aonung before turning his attention back to his brother, "-with this jerk-!"

Tugging Aonung's bicep, Neteyam deadpanned and levelled his little brother with an equally deadpanned expression:

"Then I will leave."

Without waiting for a reply, Neteyam dragged Aonung with him by the bicep, and narrowed his eyes and flattened his ears as his tail lashed out behind him when Loak tried to follow him. A clear sign that Neteyam wanted Loak not to meddle in.

Similarly to how he would react whenever Jake excluded him from patrols, Loak rolled his eyes, and turned away and started kicking away at sand, walking to who knows where with his back hunched.

Loak no longer following after them, Neteyam simply led Aonung toward the middle of the island - where the trees were more abundant and the leaves and tall plants provided some kind of shade and privacy.

He let go of Aonung's bicep, and didn't waste another second to push the boy against a tree, not strong enough for the metkayina's back to hurt, but strong enough to have him wince and grunt.

Pressing a palm to the metkayina's chest, Neteyam went straight to the point, his tone hard and demanding:

"Do you have something you need to prove to those friends of yours?"

Aonung's hardened gaze shifted into a complicated one.

For emphasis, Neteyam kept his hand on his friend's chest, and took a step closer, tilting his head so he could still meet the taller navi's eyes. "You're always acting so differently when you're hanging out with them. You act like them.

You don't have to prove yourself to them. Especially them."

Neteyam wasn't sure which one of his words seemed to have ticked off the metkayina, but something must have - because Aonung swatted Neteyam's hand away, and gave the omatikayan a hard enough shove that the shorter navi couldn't swallow down the stuttered gasp he made, stumbling backwards into a tree.

It hurt, but Neteyam had no time to dwell on the pain when Aonung was so quickly closing the distance between them, looking down on the omatikayan as he pressed a finger to the said omatikayan's chest. His gaze sharpened, and he spat, "You don't know anything about me."

Swatting Aonung's hand away, Neteyam let his unexplainable anger seep through his words when he retorted, "Because you never bothered to tell me anything!"

"And why do I have to tell you anything?!"

"Because we're friends!" Neteyam exclaimed, attempting to shove the other but failing because of the metkayina's taller stature, making him internally cursed at the difference in their anatomy. Though he only lamented on the 'weakness' in a split second before he spoke again, his voice a tad bit less frustrated than a second prior, "We are friends, aren't we?"

For some reason, Aonung looked… surprised.

Why would he be surprised?

Before Neteyam could dwell on the thought, Aonung, who seemed to have lost all his anger and frustrations, blurted rather dumbly, "We're friends?"

Neteyam couldn't help the disbelieving expression on his face.

Nudging the other boy by the shoulder with a fist, the omatikayan found himself immediately reassuring, "Of course we are, you skxawng!"

"You don't just 'tolerate' me because I'm the chief's son and you just happened to get lumped with studying under me?"

The omatikayan boy pursed his lips.

"Well, initially, that was true," he admitted, quickly grabbing Aonung's elbow and adding when the metkayina pursed his lips into a scowl, "but I genuinely think we get along pretty well now."

Then, because he could, he added, "You think I'd pepper kisses on just anyone?"

Aonung, like he usually would, easily grew flustered. (Neteyam surely was learning. Though he did wonder where he even managed to come up with all these 'lines' that so easily cause his friend to flush. The same couldn't be said to his admirers, though; most of them only make him feel a little awkward aside from a few of them whenever they tried 'pulling these lines'.

Perhaps he got it from his father.)

"That's-" Aonung started to say, stopping himself and averting his gaze for a moment or two before meeting Neteyam's gaze again, "You kiss all your friends?"

"No."

"Then why did you do it with me?"

"Because-" Neteyam paused, mulling over it properly. "… would you be mad if I say it's effective in shutting you up?"

An idea came to mind, just then, and before the opportunity could slip and Aonung could say another word, Neteyam slid his hand from the metkayina's elbow to the side of the metkayina's neck, something akin to thrill coursing in his veins when he could feel Aonung's fast pulse.

"In fact…" Neteyam started to say, his voice coming out a lot quieter and lower than usual, for some reason, as he kept eye contact with wide teal eyes. "… I thought you were purposely picking a fight with Loak right in front of me just because you want me to kiss you."

Neteyam's gaze bored into Aonung's.

He wasn't sure what exactly he was feeling, but Neteyam deemed he liked the way Aonung's breath caught in his throat; a shaky exhale and his attention solely on the omatikayan in front of him.

Pulling his hand away, Neteyam continued, still with a quiet voice as if this conversation was only ever meant to be just for the two of them, "It crossed my mind, but… there were others, and you were running your mouth like a jerk…

... maybe kissing you on the lips would shut you up forev-"

He didn't get to end his sentence.

Almost hastily, a hand had gone and cupped the side of his neck before tilting Neteyam's face by the jaw, and, before Neteyam knew it, Aonung's lips were suddenly on his.

The gasp Neteyam made was involuntary, and he almost had a heart attack when he felt something wet against his lips.

Frantically, Neteyam placed his hands on Aonung's chest, and, thankfully, that was enough to get the metkayina to immediately back away.

Both of them were sporting 'purple blotches' on their faces.

"Sorry-!" Aonung blurted, looking both mortified and embarrassed. "You- I just- I've been thinking-"

Aonung was stammering and spluttering, Eywa, even the tips of his ears were turning purple, and Neteyam sort of felt bad for the fumbling boy.

So he took the lead.

"Aonung."

The metkayina boy immediately shut up.

Briefly, Neteyam placed a hand on the metkayina's shoulder, pulled the other so that he was bending down, and pressed a kiss to the boy's lips.

When Neteyam released the metkayina boy, Aonung stared at him like he had told him that he could bodysurf as much as he liked and had no curfew to abide by. (Hint: Aonung really liked bodysurfing.)

"Kisses on the lips… " Neteyam said, taking a step away from the metkayina, "… are only for when you have your shit together and not causing trouble."

He didn't wait for a reply.

Once he was in his family's marui, Neteyam found himself struggling to fall asleep. (His lips were still tingling at the feel of a ghost of a pair of lips pressed to them.)

***3***

It was going so well after their 'first kiss' - but of course Aonung had to go and ruin it three months into their 'arrangement'. (It's been six months since the Sullys landed on Awa'atlu.)

Not 'ruin it' in the 'Aonung was a bad kisser' sense, but more in the 'Aonung went and still regularly picked fights with the Sully's children anyway' sense.

The first two months were… okay. Maybe 'okay' was an understatement. Neteyam, even though he never admitted it out loud, thought that their brief kisses on the lips were really… sweet.

They felt more 'intimate' than their usual kisses they did in the first three months, but Neteyam found himself not minding the change and the rather 'personal touch' their new kisses had.

Although, Neteyam should have known that Aonung not being seen hanging out with those three friends of his for two months straight was going to cause trouble.

In those two months, Aonung had been so well-behaved, that Neteyam got his siblings coming to him and making speculations and theories about the metkayina having been kidnapped and replaced by the sky people. They also pointed out how Neteyam was always out late, but the omatikayan would simply give them vague excuses: collecting shells and trinkets for Tuk, exploring the sea and land for any interesting flora or fauna that might interest Kiri, and honing his skills so that he could catch up with Loak's quickly adapting to the life at the reef.

Technically, he wasn't lying.

He just omitted the fact that he did all those with Aonung.

Since Aonung had been so nice in those two months, the two of them shared a lot of things with each other and became proper friends. They shared with each other thoughts on life as an oldest brother, younger siblings' antics, expectations placed on their shoulders, their expectations for the future, and other more trivial things. Something like what they liked to do in their free time, what's their favourite food, and comparing life in the forest and at the reef.

Of course they also shared kisses. Both on the lips and peppered on the face.

It was nice. Really nice.

Truthfully, Neteyam was unsure where the two of them even stood at this point. They were friends, but friends didn't exactly kiss each other on the lips almost daily. Though to say they were something… more…

Does Neteyam 'like' the metkayina boy the way his father loves his mother?

It sounded absurd. He's only fifteen. He still had so much 'growing up' to do - especially if according to Jake, who was reluctant of letting Neteyam join raids and such as a frontliner even though he had already passed his iknimaya.

Regardless of where they stood, though, at the moment, Neteyam was disappointed.

He wasn't… as angry as he was when Aonung came up to him and admitted his foolish action of leaving Loak stranded. He wasn't as crossed as when he noticed the three friends of Aonung's lingering behind the metkayina boy, looking confused at Aonung admitting his mistake so sincerely.

All Neteyam did was glare at those three, and they were immediately scurrying away with their tails tucked between their legs.

For so many things that the two of them had talked about, Aonung never really did explain why 'proving himself to his' friends' was so 'important'.

It was why, when it was long past midnight, after Neteyam was scolded by his parents for not 'keeping an eye on his brother', the omatikayan had chosen to sit by himself in a cove a distance away from the shore. A cove that had quickly become a place he and Aonung liked to frequent for some privacy aside from the somewhat-forest in the middle of the island.

It was why, when Aonung found him in the cove, having finished making amends with Loak, Neteyam didn't bother to raise his voice and be angry at the guilt-stricken metkayina.

For someone who came to the cove knowing Neteyam was there, Aonung took his sweet time shuffling in place at the opening of the cove. He fumbled with his fingers like a child waiting to be scolded, and he kept his eyes cast downward and on his feet, his tail rigid behind him and his ears drooped.

With an exasperated yet amused sigh, Neteyam beckoned his friend in with a huff, "Come here already."

Neteyam watched in amusement as his friend uncharacteristically timidly approached him.

Aonung took a seat beside Neteyam, leaving quite the gap between the two of them. The omatikayan was just about to tell his friend to scoot closer when the said friend abruptly opened his mouth to speak.

"I want to at least be held in high regard by my peers."

The omatikayan kept quiet, and Aonung took that as his cue to continue talking, gaze cast on the sand and lashes fluttering every time he blinked.

"Tsireya is amazing. She's younger than me, but my sa'nok had acknowledged her capabilities as a tsahik when Tsireya was pretty young.

On the other hand, I… it was somewhat a given that I'll be the next oloeyktan after my sempul, but I was never told that by my father himself, the way my sister is given the responsibility of a tsakarem.

I know my parents probably just think I'm 'not ready', but… I can't help but think that I didn't exceed their expectations.

So I look for expectations that I can fulfill elsewhere. Even if 'elsewhere' means 'troublemakers'. Not that they are troublemakers; just that they… need to do a lot of growing up."

Neteyam stared at his friend's side profile, taking in the sanhi littered on the metkayina's face and the colour of the teal once moonlight was shining on it.

Aonung's face looked nervous as he fiddled some more with his fingers, before the said expression was quickly replaced with a soft one and his frown was replaced with a sheepish smile, directed at Neteyam.

"We may have been given almost the same circumstances," Aonung said, his gaze shifting to the space between them, "Oldest son of respectable figures, expectations placed on our shoulders…"

When Aonung met Neteyam's eyes again, the omatikayan was taken aback at the rather vulnerable and saddened look on his friend's face before the said friend added, his voice soft, "… but we are different, really.

I'm nowhere near as capable and reliable as you are. I'm not responsible, and I'm still trying to find my place among the clan. A place that I work for rather than a place that everyone assumes will be mine.

I wanted to impress my… friends by 'putting Loak in place', but the moment I saw you, I knew I made a mistake."

Aonung clenched his fists, and Neteyam stared at the way the metkayina nibbled on his bottom lip, frustrated at himself.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. "I'm sorry for only realising I made a mistake when I saw you, when I should've realised how dangerous it was without needing, well, to see you.

It's just… you make me want to be better, but I'm also afraid of not finding my place in my clan-"

"I'm honoured."

Aonung furrowed his eyes at the sudden interruption. Not because he was offended, but because he was confused about what made Neteyam said that.

The omatikayan was all too happy to enlighten his friend.

Scooting closer, Neteyam placed a hand on Aonung's knee, and leaned close enough so he could get a good look at his friend's face despite the lack of light, save for the moonlight and their sanhi.

"I'm honoured that I've upgraded from being a friend to your moral compass," the omatikayan boy explained somewhat, suppressing a string of fond snickers when Aonung expectedly flushed. "But being your moral compass would mean I have to be by your side all the time. So you don't get lost and become 'immoral'."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say I almost lost my morals-"

"You left my brother stranded, Aonung," Neteyam interjected, retracting his hand and shrugging his shoulders and ducking his face, his braids falling off from being tucked behind his ears and concealing a part of his face from being seen by the other boy. "I think that is pretty immoral and stupid - especially when we remember that you're doing this just to fulfill your so-called friends' expectations. And dangerous, but that goes without saying."

Silence wrapped around them at Neteyam's words, and the omatikayan let himself bask in it as he waited for Aonung to say something. Maybe admit something else, or maybe apologise again. Neteyam wasn't sure which one of those his friend would do to break the silence.

Eventually, when Neteyam thought Aonung would remain quiet for the rest of the night, he was surprised when the braids that had fallen in front of his face were tucked away from his face to behind his ears. When he turned to look, Aonung was already looking at him with a regretful look.

"I'm a skxawng for that," Aonung murmured, his eyes seeming to be tracking every feature on Neteyam's face. In return, Neteyam did the same: he tracked his eyes over the teals that were almost shining, illuminated by the moonlight, the sanhi on the metkayina's face like stars and constellations scattered on his teal skin, his lashes brushing his cheeks for the few times he blinked, the absent scrunch or furrow in his eyes and nose, and the boy's lips.

Aonung's lips.

Neteyam was sure he was too obviously staring, but rather than pointing it out, Aonung continued and picked up from where he had left off, "…and I'm a skxawng for causing you trouble and being an indirect reason to your parents scolding you for not looking after your brother - which still, well, baffles me a little."

The omatikayan perked up.

"What baffles you?" He asked, watching the way Aonung pursed his lips and shrugged.

"The way your parents treat you, I mean," the metkayina supplied. "You and Loak are only one year apart, but they always treat you as if you were older," he elaborated, a thoughtful look on his face. "I mean, I can't relate, since my parents don't really place any expectations for me, especially when it comes to looking after Tsireya.

At the end of the day, though, you're fifteen; you deserve to live a little and be a little reckless, too. Like any teenager can."

Aonung seemed as if he had more things to say, but before he could, Neteyam spoke up first.

"It was my choice."

The metkayina furrowed his eyes.

"What was?"

"My choice to take on all these responsibilities," Neteyam answered. Aonung's observation was something that had crossed his mind, too.

Sometimes, he did wonder why he ended up being so 'mature'. He wondered why he was treated so differently when there was barely an age gap between his siblings and himself.

After a lot of pondering and mulling over, Neteyam had found his answer. Not that it was hard to figure out; he had known the answer right from the start, if he was being honest.

"I am Toruk Makto's firstborn. First son.

Toruk Makto is legendary. Everyone wants to know his plans for the future, amongst other things.

They have expectations, and… I guess it has always been important to me that I live up to these expectations. To be as skilled and as revered as my father."

Neteyam wasn't sure why Aonung suddenly pulled him close, wrapping an arm around him and pulling so that they could sit with their sides flush with each other. Instinctively, when Neteyam's tail brushed against Aonung's, he felt a little flustered by how easy his tail wrapped itself loosely around the metkayina's - like it was used to such a gesture.

When Aonung gave his waist what felt like a reassuring squeeze, Neteyam realised that the metkayina must be trying to comfort him. (It must be the melancholic look on the omatikayan's face. He didn't mean to look like such.)

"Wasn't it you who said that we shouldn't care about 'fulfilling expectations'? Now you're telling me you also feel the need to do so?" Aonung teased, his tone light-hearted and as if he wanted to lighten the rather solemn mode that had enveloped them.

Neteyam leaned his head on the metkayina's shoulder and relaxed against the other as silent appreciation for the thoughtfulness.

"At least I came out okay," Neteyam bit back, his tone equally light-hearted as a soft smile stretched itself on his lips. "You've never heard or seen me mocking or picking a fight with other kids, haven't you?"

Aonung snorted, amused as he absent-mindedly traced patterns on Neteyam's waist.

"I'm not sure, but I think that's quite a shame."

"Why would you say that?"

"'Cause you're pretty when you're angry," Aonung casually answered.

Neteyam watched his friend's relaxed posture grow a little rigid once the said friend realised what he had just said.

Frantically, Aonung retracted his hand from Neteyam's waist, but the omatikayan's tail around the metkayina's tail kept the boy from moving away, despite him leaning slightly away to face Neteyam, hands raised in surrender.

"That's- I mean-" he stammered, increasingly flustered as the seconds passed by - even more so under Neteyam's stare. (Neteyam couldn't help it. It was always so nice when Aonung wasn't acting like a jerk.)

Ignoring how Aonung was working so hard to create some distance between them, Neteyam leaned close to the other, the knowing smile stretching on his lips as natural as the way his next words came out in a knowing drawl:

"Is that why you're always so obnoxious, 'Nung?"

He raised his hand, cupped the metkayina's face and felt something stir in his chest when he could feel for himself the heat there. It made him feel… bolder, he thought.

His thumb brushed the metkayina's cheekbone, grazing the corner of his friend's eye, and Neteyam murmured, "You think I'm pretty when I'm angry this entire time?"

Aonung exhaled, shaky.

Neteyam could hear Aonung's racing heartbeat.

An idea came to mind, and, eager to see it through, Neteyam spoke without waiting for Aonung's confirmation for his question. (Not that Neteyam even needed the confirmation from the other boy. He already knew the answer.)

"Hey, Aonung. Let's make a deal.

From now on, I'll… live more like a 'teenager', and you'll stop living up to expectations that don't do you any good."

Aonung's eyes tracked Neteyam's lips the entire time.

When the metkayina spoke, he sounded positively out of breath.

(Neteyam couldn't blame him. His own heart was racing at the thought of what he was about to say and propose next.)

"…and what do we get if we both hold both of our ends of the deal?"

Neteyam himself felt a little embarrassed when he realised he had been staring at Aonung's lips a little too hard for a stretched moment of heated and tense silence.

Pulling away and leaving some space between them, Neteyam kept eye contact with the metkayina boy before he answered:

"We'll make out."

The omatikayan boy was pretty sure Aonung had no idea what 'making out' was. It was a sky people's lingo, and Neteyam probably would soon jump into the jaws of an akula and die in embarrassment before explaining what it meant using words.

Fortunately, all Aonung had to say as a response was a one-word answer, accompanied by a charged look that had Neteyam feeling… something.

"Okay."

When morning was approaching and they finally left the cove to return to their respective maruis, Neteyam instinctively pressed a kiss to the corner of his friend's lips - but it was brief, and the omatikayan felt like he almost had a heart attack at how Aonung almost chased after his lips when he pulled away.

The tension from the conversation never really went away. Even when Neteyam got to his marui and tried to fall asleep.

He didn't get much sleep, in the end.

***4***

Neteyam was in a dilemma.

Not a dilemma in the sense of 'what should I eat for dinner', but rather in the sense of 'the tension between Aonung and him had been so thick this past month, that he wondered whether his or the other boy's patience would snap first and address the tension between them'. (It's been seven months since the Sullys landed on Awa'atlu.)

In one month, the tulkuns had returned from migration, and Neteyam was actually… enjoying himself pretty well.

He chased Aonung around with his ilu, they raced each other on their ilus, they raced each other without their ilus, seeing who could swim deeper and hold their breath longer, and other trivial things.

Trivial and pretty fun things.

Sometimes, when they surfaced from holding their breath, Aonung would suddenly press his lips to Neteyam's briefly, and grin boyishly as he cheekily quipped, "Reward for doing good."

Neteyam literally held his breath for the shortest amount of time when Aonung did that.

On the other hand, Aonung actually stopped picking on the Sullys properly, and, even better, it seemed to appear that the metkayina boy also was… helping his three friends.

Aonung had gone as far as to get those three along with him to help around the villages, and Neteyam couldn't help but be proud when he saw how those three seemed to slowly be comfortable with the changes.

It dawned on Neteyam then why Aonung tried so hard to win their approvals after observing the group for some time. The three friends were also those who were overlooked by the clan for their 'troubles', so Aonung must have felt like they could relate to him, and that he should befriend them.

It was why, at some point, Neteyam wordlessly joined them distributing supplies such as fruits, and acted casual when the three friends gawked and shuffled around him awkwardly. At least Aonung looked like he didn't mind. In fact, he looked pretty pleased.

If the three friends noticed Aonung lacking and too focused on nudging shoulders with Neteyam to properly and quickly distribute the supplies, they didn't say anything about it.

Although, they did say something after apologising once it was time to return to their respective maruis. Something about how Aonung really had changed for the better since Neteyam arrived, and that they were indebted to the omatikayan.

Neteyam wasn't sure what to say in reply, but he concluded that he had made himself some new friends, judging from the way they waved at him before leaving.

In other words; both of them had held their end of the deal.

Aonung became more responsible and focused on doing what he could do rather than what expectations he could exceed, whereas Neteyam lived life with a little less seriousness and enjoyed the little things he often overlooked because of his responsibilities instead.

They both were aware that the deal was upheld, but neither brought the deal up again.

But Neteyam knew Aonung didn't forget. Not when he had caught the metkayina staring at him a little too intensely to be written off as a passing glance. Especially not when the other's gaze was on his lips.

Lately, Neteyam couldn't help but let his eyes linger, too.

It didn't help that kisses between them were becoming less frequent. Almost as if they were afraid that they would 'overstep'. Afraid that being close only made them crave something more.

Perhaps Aonung was expecting Neteyam to bring it up, since the omatikayan was the one who made the deal.

However, if that was Aonung's plan, then Neteyam would say that it's safe to conclude that the two of them were not going to make out.

Why?

One: Despite being the one who suggested the deal's reward, Neteyam had never made out with anyone.

Two: judging from the many times Neteyam had caught Aonung staring at his lips intensely, the omatikayan's initial assumption was wrong, and that the metkayina totally knew what 'making out' meant. (Neteyam wasn't sure how Aonung understood sky people's lingo, but he wondered if that had anything to do with when, a month ago, Loak kept on staring at him in disbelief and skepticism for a couple of days.)

Three: Neteyam was only realising that perhaps he admired Aonung te Tsika'u Tonowari'itan.

Liked.

Perhaps Neteyam liked Aonung.

It wasn't fun, and he was slowly starting to understand why his admirers always looked so nervous and flustered around him.

The stammers, the stutters, the incapability of holding eye contact for too long, the blood rushing to the face for no absolute reason, the flutters described in the stomach. Suddenly they all made sense, and Neteyam could relate.

Another reason why their kisses had been something less frequent may be because it had always been Neteyam who initiated them. He had always thought the kisses were straightforward and simple: rewards and inside jokes. Although, with his newly discovered feelings, he found that he started hesitating and feeling all too nervous.

His heart would race, his breathing a little inconsistent, and he knew Aonung would notice.

So he stopped altogether.

He wasn't sure why Aonung had refrained from giving kisses. Neteyam knew the other had some kind of crush or feelings for him - to what extent, Neteyam wasn't sure - so he shouldn't face any of the omatikayan's new 'struggles'.

Perhaps it was the initial reason. 'Afraid of crossing invisible boundaries and making things uncomfortable'.

Neteyam could come clean about it to his friend. 'Confess his feelings' whatsoever.

But was that really for the best?

Best case scenario: Aonung also admitted to having feelings for the omatikayan, and they agreed to test the waters and see where the current takes them.

Worst case scenario: Aonung's attraction to him was something fleeting, and then Neteyam would have to move back to the forest and try mending his rejected heart by swinging around trees and just surrounding himself in what's familiar.

The way Aonung had started to become someone familiar to him.

Plus; an omatikayan and a metkayina? He had never heard of that kind of pair. To add to the 'rare' case, both of them were men. While same sex relationships weren't frowned upon, they were pretty, well, rare. Most would settle with someone they could start a family with. Children without parents didn't just come around all the time.

Crap - why was Neteyam even thinking about building a family already-?

"Neteyam?"

They're back in the cove.

At the call of his name, Neteyam snapped out of his thoughts and turned to his only company at the moment.

Aonung looked somewhat worried, his head tilted as he asked, "Are you okay? You've been spacing out way too often these days."

Not zoning out.

Was just thinking about you.

"I'm fine," Neteyam dismissed, a bit too hastily to his liking, and Aonung seemed to notice, too. So before Aonung could inquire further, the omatikayan blurted, "What were you saying again?"

The metkayina quietly stared at Neteyam for a moment or two before answering, "Do you think we should have stopped Loak from making a bond with Payakan?"

Ah.

Right.

They had just finished getting an earful for that. Then Tsireya and Loak wandered off, and Aonung had asked Neteyam to 'reflect together' at the cove the two of them had been frequenting these past months.

"I trust Tsireya's verdict," Neteyam easily answered his friend's question, not doubting it the slightest bit. "I know I've only known her for a couple of months, but she has been nothing but supportive and kind. I can't see why she would let Loak bond with Payakan if she knew it was going to result in something bad," he elaborated without being prompted, all too happy to be distracted from his earlier thoughts.

At the omatikayan's words, Aonung pondered over them before he nodded. "You're right," he agreed, eventually. "My sister only ever wants the best for the people."

"Exactly," Neteyam agreed.

The conversation took a sudden halt there.

Then, just when Neteyam was getting comfortable, Aonung spoke up with an indecipherable tone:

"If that's settled, then.

How about we talk about it?"

Despite his best efforts, Neteyam still flinched.

Aonung noticed.

"About what?" the omatikayan feigned cluelessness - because he totally wasn't ready.

This was unlike him.

"About the deal," Aonung finally brought it up, scooting closer and searching for Neteyam's gaze while the omatikayan tried his best not to meet his friend's gaze, fearful of being too transparent. Aonung had already knew too many things about him, if Neteyam was being honest.

Distantly, he thought of whether that was also the reason why he thought it wasn't a good idea to tell his friends his feelings.

Suddenly, there was a hand on the side of his face, and Neteyam blinked when Aonung leaned a tad closer. "The deal you made," Aonung supplied, studying every flicker of expression on the omatikayan's face while Neteyam wondered how he should deal with the consequences of his fast tongue a month ago.

What would his father do, being the 'smooth' guy he was?

Then again, should he really be wondering what his dad would do? Jake had always been similar to Loak, and Loak was well-known for making decisions without putting too much thought into them.

Simplicity could be the solution sometimes, yes - but now?

Thinking of how taunts had become a norm between Aonung and him, usually used to challenge or hype each other, Neteyam found his solution.

He mustered up an unreadable grin, and went: "Have you made out with anyone before, Aonung?"

(Aonung's tail flicked, and his ears twitched as he averted his gaze momentarily. To Neteyam's delight, his face had taken that shade of purple again.)

"Who cares?" Aonung half-heartedly answered. Then, with a quieter voice, he asked, "…have you?"

Neteyam had never been a good liar.

"I haven't.

The more reason to share my first with you."

Something about seeing someone else flustered made Neteyam more comfortable. (Smooth. Very smooth.

… He could actually imagine his father patting himself on the back whenever he managed to impress his mother with silly and almost corny lines.)

While Aonung flushed and stared, Neteyam found the solution to his 'I don't want to let it be known that I have feelings for my friend' problem. It was at the expense of his friend's composure, but Neteyam would say that it was merely another decision he made for himself and his own 'enjoyment of life'. It was Aonung who wanted him to 'enjoy life properly' anyway.

Making himself comfortable and internally praying to Eywa that it wouldn't be too awkward, Neteyam mustered his best confident smile and 'encouraged' his friend, purposely leaning into the hand on his face:

"You're free to claim your reward now."

Aonung just… stared.

Feeling increasingly unsure and nervous, Neteyam was barely able to lean away from the hand on his face and blurt 'or we can just do this another day,' when the hand on his face moved to his jaw and nape before he was tugged forward.

Neteyam instantly gasped when he felt Aonung's tongue on his bottom lip.

For someone who said he didn't have any experience, it seemed like Aonung knew what he was doing pretty well.

The omatikayan's breath stuttered when his bottom lip was nibbled on, and he almost went and pushed Aonung away when he accidentally made a noise that sounded too similarly to a whine.

That's it. Neteyam hated making out. (He's lying. He sort of didn't want Aonung to stop and just steal his breath forever.)

As if encouraged by the sound, Aonung broke them apart, and Neteyam's heart almost leaped out of his chest when the metkayina gently tugged him so that he was sitting on the chief's son's lap.

Aonung's lips looked swollen. Had he also been-?

"Is this okay?"

Aonung's voice sounded better than usual even though it was somewhat out of breath.

Instead of answering like a normal person, Neteyam answered the question with a question while pretending his voice wasn't as out of breath as he heard in his ears, "Are you sure this is your first time?"

There's something sweet in the way Aonung brushed their noses together and murmured the answer to Neteyam's lips, their lips brushing against each other occasionally.

"Loak is just really good at explaining what 'making out' means."

When Aonung was about to close the gap between their lips, Neteyam quickly covered the metkayina's lips with a hand. (He could feel Aonung's scowl on his palm.)

"You made out with my brother?"

Aonung looked incredulous.

"I asked him for a definition. Not a demonstration," the metkayina answered anyway despite the answer being written all over his expression.

As if impatient, Aonung's hand that was on Neteyam's nape and jaw tugged, and the metkayina's other hand placed itself on the omatikayan's waist before tugging him closer to himself. "Can we not talk about your brother right now?"

Neteyam snorted.

"Impatient," he chuckled, pressing a sweet kiss to the metkayina's lips.

Surprisingly, Aonung responded with a fierce kiss, and Neteyam was sure he had almost run out of breath when the metkayina eventually broke their lips apart from each other. The next time he spoke, his eyes were trained on Neteyam's lips rather than the omatikayan's eyes.

"You would be impatient too if you're seeing what I'm seeing."

The omatikayan wanted to argue that, had he seen the bashful and out-of-breath state he was in, he probably would bolt away and never return from sheer embarrassment alone. Though he didn't get to tell Aonung such since the metkayina had stolen both the words and breath right out of his mouth.

When they 'had their fill', they parted ways.

When Neteyam bumped into Loak on his way to their family's marui, it took the younger omatikayan only one look at his older brother before he was grinning both teasingly and knowingly.

Loak nudged his brother's arm by the elbow and wiggled his eyebrows as he went: "Had fun making out with Aonung, big brother?"

Neteyam decided to postpone going to their family's marui when Loak told him that it was obvious he had been 'up to something' because of his flushed face, swollen lips, and the rather 'dreamy' look.

Funnily enough, not long after Neteyam had found himself on a boulder by himself, Aonung found him.

"Tsireya said it was too obvious that I was 'up to something'," Aonung told him unprompted, sitting close to the omatikayan so their knees brushed. It wasn't uncommon between them, but after making out just some time ago, Neteyam was burning all over from a mere brush alone.

Aonung must have felt it too - because he scooted away slightly and cleared his throat.

A moment later, the two of them turned to look at each other.

"Do you think your sister and my brother have made out?"

"…no idea."

They ended up going back to their respective maruis after everyone was asleep.

***5***

Neteyam was stuck in a conundrum.

Not in the sense of 'should I go fly with my ikran to pass time today, or should I go to the cove and hang out with Aonung for the millionth time?', but in the sense of 'Aonung is starting to get admirers, should I be understanding of these admirers or should I just be bold and loud about having my feelings returned even though the two of them still had not named what they have between them?'.

Indeed, it was quite the conundrum…

Ever since Aonung had grown more responsible and attentive to what the villagers needed, their peers had started to look at the metkayina boy differently. Rather than giving the boy a passing 'he's cute but he's always looking for trouble' look, their gazes started to linger, and Neteyam was seeing more shy and almost flirtatious smiles on their lips. Sometimes, they would even strike up conversations, voice lilting and giggly - even though Neteyam was right there.

Though Neteyam couldn't exactly fault them for trying. For all they knew, Neteyam and Aonung were just 'very close friends'. It was something Neteyam noticed, too: how those who approached Aonung were always girls.

The omatikayan knew for a fact that Aonung didn't mind that Neteyam was a boy. In fact, Neteyam would even go as far as to say the metkayina preferred boys. It wasn't a baseless statement; he had seen for himself how his friend would react whenever they made out whatsoever.

Dilated pupils, ragged breathing, ears perked up and twitching as if to catch every single gasp and suppressed noises the omatikayan made, tail flicking, a dazed yet intense look trained solely on Neteyam, intense enough to make the omatikayan grow embarrassed on the metkayina's behalf.

Aonung's hands liked to wander and brushed against what he could reach: his face, his jaw, his neck, his nape, his sides, his waist, his thighs, and his legs. Sometimes, he'd pay a little too much attention to tracing patterns on Neteyam's flat and somewhat toned chest, and, well.

Girls don't have a flat chest as flat as boys do, do they?

All in all: Neteyam was somewhat sure his friend had a preference for boys.

Whenever the girls would approach Aonung, the metkayina would continue the conversation in stride, unlike Neteyam who was often a little awkward when it came to talking to those who expressed their admiration for him so openly. It made sense, considering how Aonung had always had this air of confidence and smugness around him. It was simply becoming a charming trait because he actually knew what he was doing with himself now.

Though, when these conversations happened, Aonung always made sure to keep Neteyam close to him, for some reason. Neteyam still wasn't sure why the metkayina did that.

He had tried asking a couple of times, listing down his speculations and guesses, but Aonung would always deflect and give him a vague answer that didn't do anything but leave him hanging.

His guesses included the boy wanting to make him jealous, or that the boy just wanted to show off.

Either way, whatever Aonung's reason was, Neteyam was indeed feeling a little envious.

Especially at the moment when Aonung was helping a group of girls with making a net, and, for once, Neteyam had been preoccupied with something else for the metkayina boy to drag him to join him. So it was one of the rare few times Neteyam wasn't there right beside Aonung, and he was, in fact, feeling jealous.

He preferred being beside Aonung, really.

Just some hours ago, Tonowari, Ronal, Jake, Neytiri, and some hunters had left the village when they were called upon by a tulkun. Neteyam wasn't sure what it was about, but he was with Aonung feeding ilus when the oloeyktan informed his son that he'd be leaving and, in the meantime, Aonung should keep the village busy and calm, since Tonowari himself wasn't sure why the tulkuns had called upon them.

It was why Aonung ended up making nets with some girls who all too happily gave all of their attention to the boy, while Neteyam-

"Neteyam."

Neteyam pulled himself out of his thoughts.

He turned away from the sight of a metkayina girl running her hand up Aonung's arm, in favor of looking at the older and taller metkayina boy he's supposed to be teaching rather than ignoring because he was so busy being 'jealous'.

"Sorry, Ewi," the omatikayan sighed, shaking his head from side to side softly as if to rid himself of these 'unnecessary' thoughts from his head. He squinted his eyes at the bright and awfully hot sun before providing shade to his eyes with his hand, ducking his face and looking at the blue of the ocean. "It's just… really hot today," he reasoned lamely.

While it was true, it wasn't the entire truth. Then again; he wasn't going to tell this 17-year-old that he's jealous of his friend being approached by girls so often.

Ewi's hand that wasn't holding Neteyam's bow went to place itself on the middle of the omatikayan's back, and Neteyam grew stiff and straightened his back as he looked at the taller boy, surprised and a little taken aback. On the other hand, Ewi smiled all casually as he suggested, "You want to take a break under the shade?"

Neteyam took a moment to wonder why he even agreed to teach the other boy how to use a bow. It wasn't like the metkayinas used them often, preferring crossbows over bows.

Before Neteyam could reply, Ewi was already gently guiding him to a tree with quite thick leaves. "We should take a break. I don't want to tire you," he insisted, this time around.

Having someone else's hand that wasn't Aonung's or his family's on the middle of his back felt a little uncomfortable. These days, only Aonung ever lets his hand wander there.

Neteyam wasn't really all eager to move, since going to the tree meant being even further away from Aonung. His tail flicked, and he grew a little embarrassed when Ewi noticed it, immediately noticing that the omatikayan wasn't too down with the idea.

So they abruptly stopped walking, and Neteyam's tail promptly lashed out when the hand on the middle of his back moved a tiny bit and almost unnoticeably lower.

"What do you want to do, then?" The older metkayina asked, his eyes trained on Neteyam, and only then Neteyam realised.

He had been so busy wallowing in his jealousy-filled thoughts, he hadn't noticed the familiar glint and attention in the way Ewi treated him.

It's been a pretty long time since he had to deal with someone who liked him who wasn't Aonung.

Suddenly feeling awfully awkward, Neteyam cleared his throat, was about to blurt out whatever polite words he remembered repeating so often back in the forest, when the hand on his back was suddenly gone.

Instead, a new thankfully familiar hand was on his waist, and Neteyam didn't even have to look to know it was Aonung.

"What's going on here?" Aonung questioned - or, more accurately, demanded.

It was… enlightening.

Neteyam never had anyone stepping in like this. (Back in the forest, Kiri, Loak, and Tuk were often the ones who ended up stepping in and whisking him away in their own respective ways when an admirer 'couldn't get the hint'. Although, in Tuk's case, she usually accidentally helped, but it was appreciated, nonetheless.)

He turned to look at Ewi, and couldn't help but suppress a suppressed and amused grin when he noticed the easy way the older metkayina seemed to have noticed something.

It wasn't as if it was easily overlooked. The easy way Aonung's hand settled on Neteyam's waist - as if it belonged there.

Taking the hint, Ewi cleared his throat, and sheepishly handed the omatikayan bow to Neteyam. (Neteyam quietly slung the bow over himself.)

"Nothing, Aonung," Ewi answered. "I asked Neteyam to teach me how to use his bow, but… I see now that that is… unnecessary…" he added after a pause, glancing at the hand on Neteyam's waist and then meeting Aonung's eyes again.

Aonung's hand didn't budge.

"I need to talk to Neteyam," Aonung stated matter-of-factly, using his unoccupied hand to point at the group of girls he was with just a few moments ago before 'suggesting', "You should help them make the huge net."

('Suggesting' because Aonung's tone was too serious and 'leave no room for argument' to be able to be described as 'suggesting without quotation marks'.)

Without waiting for Ewi's reply, Aonung's hand left Neteyam's waist in favour of grabbing Neteyam's hand and dragging him away, the metkayina's tail uncharacteristically twitching as his ears drooped.

Neteyam let himself be guided away.

The two of them walked, and walked right past the village and towards their cove.

Neteyam barely got a word in when Aonung turned around to face him and blurted, his lips pursed into a scowl and his eyes furrowed:

"That's not fair."

Caught off guard at the question that came out of nowhere, Neteyam tilted his head and questioned, "What's unfair?"

"I should at least be there with you while you're making me jealous. You know; the way I usually did it," Aonung bluntly said, crossing his arms over his chest and ears flattened as his tail flicked. "What were you guys talking about?"

The omatikayan quietly stared at his friend as he put the pieces together.

Then, just when Aonung looked like he was about to open his mouth and presumably repeat his question, Neteyam spoke first, "So you were purposely making me watch you talk with the other girls." A moment later, as an afterthought, he added, "You were trying to make me feel jealous."

Aonung's scowl deepened. (It was cute.)

"Not just that," he replied, drumming his hands on his arms. "I just want you to know that I'll choose you over anyone. Also because it's so that you don't have to wonder what I talk about with them since you are always with me."

Neteyam stared.

It was… sweet.

It was sweet enough for Neteyam to immediately answer Aonung's previous question as he took a few steps closer to the other boy, purposely enough steps that the metkayina's back ended up pressing against the wall of the cove gently, "He wanted me to teach him how to use my bow." Then, taking advantage of his slightly shorter stature, he peered up from under his lashes and added, "He was about to ask me to go for a break under that tree. The big one. Far enough that I wouldn't have been able to see you and you won't be able to see me."

Aonung scoffed as if challenged, his glare sharp at the entrance of the cove, as if he was a moment away to storm out of the cove and confronting a certain someone. However, before he could do that, Neteyam cupped a side of the metkayina's face, and tilted it so that Aonung was looking into his eyes instead.

His gaze automatically grew softer upon meeting Neteyam's.

"So you like seeing me jealous, Ma 'Nung?" He shifted the topic, deliberately letting his gaze momentarily linger on Aonung's lips before meeting the metkayina's eyes again.

In response, the metkayina swallowed a lump down his throat and let out a shaky breath.

"It's not my fault you're pretty when you're in disdain," Aonung huffed, as if he were complaining. He stood straighter, holding eye contact. "You probably didn't even notice it."

"Notice what?"

"You would scrunch your nose," Aonung quipped, his gaze momentarily drifting to Neteyam's tail that flicked before meeting the omatikayan's eyes again. "You would subtly roll your eyes when they giggled a little too loudly over something unfunny that I said, and, even more subtly, you would look at them from the corners of your eyes judgmentally when they asked an obviously foolish question just to get me to talk more."

Both of the metkayina's hands went to brush against Neteyam's sides as he continued, "Your lips would switch between an amiable smile and a discreet pout so quickly, it sometimes took a lot out of me to not burst out laughing right then and there. Your ears would twitch and droop when you're getting impatient, and that would be my cue to cut the conversation short.

Although, I think my favourite part is definitely…"

Aonung's hand loosely grabbed a hold of the tip of Neteyam's tail - which the omatikayan hadn't even realised was swishing around almost impatiently the entire time the metkayina was talking. With Aonung's hand on it, though, it stopped swishing around too much.

The metkayina had an endeared and amused grin on his lips when he picked up from where he had left off, "…your tail.

It has always been more talkative and expressive than you are. Honest, too."

The retort was out of Neteyam's lips in an instant: "I'm always honest."

His friend hummed thoughtfully, and gently traced his tail.

Neteyam was getting impatient.

He cupped his friend's face with both of his hands, and dragged him down so he could connect their lips together, intentionally biting hard into the metkayina's bottom lip when the said metkayina laughed into the kiss.

It dragged on, and Neteyam's lips were feeling the familiar tingles on his lips and the flutters in his stomach.

When he pulled away, both he and Aonung were slightly out of breath, and the omatikayan refrained from feeling too flustered at the sight of his friend's swollen and saliva-slicked lips. Instead, he focused on putting on a half-hearted taunting grin as he murmured, "You talk too much."

Aonung rolled his eyes, adjusting his hands on Neteyam's waist and pulling the omatikayan close. (It was subtle, but Neteyam could see the minute way Aonung grew a tad embarrassed at the omatikayan's words.)

"Then maybe you should shut me up," Aonung retorted, leaning forward to close the gap between their lips - only for Neteyam to tilt his head away.

Rather than meeting Aonung's lips, Neteyam pressed his lips to the metkayina's racing pulse in his throat.

It was satisfying to hear Aonung's breath hitching so clearly.

"Hey," Neteyam murmured, right there against his friend's throat, "Let me try something."

If Neteyam hadn't been so focused on what he was doing, he would've laughed at the eager way Aonung nodded.

Focusing on the matter at hand, Neteyam pressed his lips against Aonung's skin again - but this time longer.

Aonung's breath stutter.

Something about it made chills run down the omatikayan's spine, and heat simmered in his stomach when the pulse under his lips quickened.

He thought of nibbling the skin there. He thought of sucking the skin there. He thought of peppering kisses there. He thought of what Aonung's reactions would be: a shaky breath, a suppressed grunt, a shudder. He thought of how easy it would be to leave his mark, he thought of Aonung's admirers taking the hint and finally leaving the metkayina alone, he thought of-

There's a sudden squeeze to his waist, and Neteyam snapped out of his racing thoughts when he felt a tug in his braid, pulling his face closer to the metkayina's neck.

"'Teyam-" Aonung huffed, uncharacteristically shaky and out of breath despite having done nothing but waiting with bated breath, "Whatever you're planning to do, you need-" he inhaled sharply, his body trembling from anticipation alone. "I need you-"

A loud blare of the alarm could be heard.

Pulling away and feeling so many things at once, Neteyam met Aonung's flustered teals, but there's a glint of clarity in his eyes that was slowly snapping him out of whatever daze he was in.

"We have to go," Aonung blurted, quickly gaining even more clarity as seconds passed by, grabbing Neteyam's forearm and tugging the omatikayan to the cove's exit.

Neteyam frowned in regret when he realised he didn't get to leave any mark.

Before they could leave the cove, though, Neteyam used his free hand to cup a side of Aonung's face and pulled the other into an impromptu deep kiss.

He considered leaving his mark, then. Maybe left a nick or two - but he decided against it because they were going to see their parents in a moment.

Breaking apart, Neteyam patted his friend's chest.

"Let's see what they found."

(Neteyam had wanted to tell the other that they'd continue from where they'd left off later, but…

…but something stopped him from promising something that wasn't set in stone.)

***+1***

Neteyam was facing a minor inconvenience.

Not in the sense of 'the ocean is a little warmer than usual so it wouldn't be all that fun to swim in', but more in the sense of 'Aonung was being way too clingy and he literally couldn't move because of how clingy the metkayina was'.

He wasn't sure why, but it felt like every time he met his friend, his friend was always so eager to keep him close. Aside from 'keeping him close', Neteyam wasn't sure where Aonung learned to be so good with his mouth, but it never failed to make his knees weak and his entire body shudder.

"'Nung-" he stammered, suppressing a sound crawling up his throat when Aonung merely nibbled harder on the skin on his neck, as if desperate to leave his mark. His hands that had always liked to wander moved almost frantically: a hand cupping Neteyam's nape and the other busying itself with holding the omatikayan's thigh, drawing patterns and occasionally squeezing.

When Aonung pulled him into his lap, Neteyam thought they were just going to do what they usually would: exchange and shower each other with a couple of kisses. Then, maybe they'd talk about the tulkuns having returned and how nice and peaceful everything was while basking in each other's company.

But then Aonung kept his hold tight, and Neteyam scrambled to keep up with his friend's sudden enthusiasm.

Feeling embarrassingly too 'riled up', Neteyam pushed the metkayina away, before pushing the said metkayina down and sitting on the other's middle, keeping hold of both of Aonung's wrists on each side of the boy's head.

"Aonung," the omatikayan stressed, trying to catch his breath as he searched for Aonung's gaze.

This felt like something that had been happening all too frequently, too.

The faraway and distant look in Aonung's eyes, the unreadable glint in them that Neteyam couldn't quite put into proper words despite knowing the metkayina so well, the desperation in every kiss and every hold initiated by his friend.

As much as Neteyam appreciated the shower of attention and affection, he wondered if something had happened for the other to act so… uncharacteristic of him.

When searching for his friend's gaze quietly didn't seem to work, Neteyam resorted to leaning closer and brushing their noses together, his braids falling around them and providing shade to the metkayina below him before he leaned away slightly. It was something he often did to comfort or console Aonung whenever the metkayina was feeling bummed about something. Something he often saw his parents do to comfort each other.

"You're acting… off," Neteyam observed out loud, slowly tracing patterns on one of Aonung's wrists with his thumb as he coaxed, "Talk to me."

Neteyam didn't know it was possible, but the indecipherable glint in Aonung's eyes seemed to only grow at his words.

Whatever that glint was, it didn't sit right with the omatikayan. It looked especially out of place in the eyes of someone as 'smug' and 'full of bravado' as his friend.

Instead of talking to make things make sense, all Aonung did was bring up the absurd request he had made as soon as he bumped into the omatikayan just some time ago before his request was declined. (Rather than properly responding to Neteyam declining his request, Aonung's response somehow was to start peppering the said omatikayan with kisses all over before dragging him into a make-out session out of nowhere.)

"Bond with me, Neteyam," he said, far too earnest for a request that felt so far away. "Be mine. I'll be yours, too - like I always have."

Aonung pleaded.

Neteyam's heartbeat both stuttered and raced at the uncharacteristically pleading tone.

The thought alone caused the omatikayan to flush further. Enough so that he almost felt dizzy from it. As if making all the blood rush to Neteyam's face from all their kissing wasn't enough, his friend went and demanded such an absurd request.

"No, Aonung. By talking, I meant communicating. Not- not by making these nonsensical request-"

"It's not nonsensical."

In the blink of an eye, their positions were switched, and Neteyam found himself lying on the ground, his braids ended up splayed around him as he looked up at his friend's hardened and determined gaze - still with that subtle glint that made the omatikayan's stomach churn unpleasantly.

"It's not nonsense," Aonung repeated, stressing and emphasising as he squeezed the omatikayan's hands.

For some reason, Neteyam felt as if this wasn't the first time the other made this request, which was an odd feeling - because it would be odd if the metkayina had made such a request before, but Neteyam didn't remember.

Something must have crossed Neteyam's expression: hurt from the careless dismissal of him attempting to help, helplessness from not being able to understand the other as seamlessly as he used to be able to do, or confusion from the way his friend was behaving so weirdly. Whatever it was, it must have happened, because suddenly Neteyam's wrists were freed, and his face was gently cupped with two hands as his face was suddenly peppered with light kisses.

Neteyam squeezed his eyes shut when his eyes were also kissed, and he slowly opened them when he felt his friend's temple resting against his.

Aonung had his eyes closed shut, too - but he looked as if he was in pain.

"Sorry," the metkayina murmured against his lips, his breath shuddering, "Sorry if I'm making you confused, ma yawntu."

The term of endearment, for some reason, didn't have its desired effect on the omatikayan.

Rather, Neteyam only grew to feel more worried. Worried enough to push the other away, so that they were sitting facing each other instead.

"Aonung," Neteyam called despite knowing fully well that the other boy's attention had never once drifted away from him.

That's another thing that bugged the omatikayan.

He knew that Aonung was always there with him when they were together. He knew that Aonung was always paying attention to him, if not from the way his eyes never left him. He also knew as such from the way the metkayina would always remain close and always so against about meeting others or talking to anyone else whenever Neteyam proposed it.

Yet, for some reason, the metkayina also felt distant.

Almost as if he were in a place where Neteyam couldn't reach. At least that's what it felt like to the omatikayan.

"Tell me what's wrong," Neteyam coaxed. Pleaded.

Aonung kept on doing that thing where he's tracking his eyes all over the omatikayan, as if wanting to commit every detail to memory. Neteyam knew he probably looked like a mess - especially after the metkayina had almost obsessively littered kisses all over. But he couldn't even feel properly flustered or shy away from the other's intense gaze because of how concerned he was.

The omatikayan reached out with both of his hands, cupping Aonung's face. "I'm serious," Neteyam stressed in a murmur, his voice a little wobbly from the unexplainable nerves he was feeling, but he continued anyway, "Tell me what's wrong."

All Aonung did was raise his hands to press Neteyam's hands further to his cheeks.

He wasn't sure why, but he felt like his heart was breaking.

Neteyam wasn't sure when would be the right time to choose a mate. He was pretty sure it was too early for both Aonung and him. They haven't even gone through the 'coming of age' ceremony.

It wasn't like Neteyam didn't want to form a bond with his friend. The thought had crossed his mind, of course it had, and, every single time, nothing but the familiar and almost giddy flutter in his stomach and the way his heart would often race when he looked forward to something would be felt. If he were given a chance, he would do it. He absolutely would.

But was this really the 'chance' he was waiting for? When no one but them knew about this unnamed relationship between them?

He hadn't even talked about it with his parents. Eywa, his siblings had their suspicions, sure, but Neteyam never confirmed them properly enough to suddenly declare it out of nowhere.

A bonded pair between the same sex was rare enough, let alone a bonded pair between an omatikayan and a metkayina.

Neteyam may have rushed into his 'warrior life' early on, but he didn't want to rush this.

He wanted this to be thought over properly. He wanted the two of them to do this right.

So Neteyam breathed in to compose himself, traced the sanhi on Aonung's cheeks that he could reach with his thumb, before speaking as softly as he could, hoping his awfully and uncharacteristically silent friend would understand.

"I'm not against… becoming a bonded pair with you, Ma 'Nung.

It's just that… becoming a bonded pair at 15 is… a bit too early, don't you think so? And our families don't even know about… us, and even if they have their speculations, we have never confirmed them ourselves. We, ourselves haven't put a name to our relationship, and I just… I don't want to rush this.

I don't want to rush us.

As far as I'm concerned, if I can help it, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, and so are you.

We still have time, so we should-"

Neteyam froze.

His eyes widened when he noticed the single tear slipped past his friend's eye, and he listened to the quiet sound of his heart squeezing and breaking at the sight, overwhelmed with the need to keep the other close. So he wiped the silent tears that were starting to wet his friend's cheeks, and refrained from crying, too. Not when he wasn't sure why the metkayina was even crying.

Despite the way Aonung's body was trembling, despite the silent tears cascading down his cheeks and wetting Neteyam's palms, the metkayina's voice was steady and soft when he spoke.

"Everything is wrong, 'Teyam.

Sa'nok is gone, Roxto is gone…

You are gone."

Almost hastily, Neteyam used one of his hands to press urgently over the metkayina's chest. Over the metkayina's heart.

"I'm not sure what you are talking about," Neteyam said, his voice barely above a whisper and as if talking to an easily frightened youngling, "but we're always here. All of us are."

It tore at Neteyam's heart when he realised his words didn't seem to be getting through to his friend. It wasn't hard to see it - not when the glint in his friend's eyes grew and grew right in front of the omatikayan's eyes. It frustrated the omatikayan to his core. He felt helpless because it almost felt like he alone wasn't enough to help the other boy feel better. However, before he could blurt anything else to try and comfort his friend, Aonung continued talking.

"Pril is a nice distraction.

She's growing up well, everyone loves her. I know you would have loved her.

But when sempul or Tsireya took her away since the three of us are taking turns to take care of her, I don't know what to do with myself.

When you left, at least Roxto was there.

I have no one left, now.

I missed you, so so much.

I've lived at the reef my entire life, and yet, now, everywhere I look, all I can see and think about is you. I can't even go to the cove we liked to go to so much."

(But they were at the cove at the moment, weren't they?

Neteyam didn't understand.)

"I'm sure Loak and Tsireya-"

"But they're not you," Aonung interjected, his voice almost loud when in reality it was barely audible. "They're not you, and it's getting harder to look at them without feeling the ache in my chest. Without being filled with envy because that could've been you and me.

I'm not this pathetic most days. Would you believe me if I say I'm dependable enough these days that sempul always asks me to join him hunt now?

He'd joked about being able to return to Eywa with ease of mind and heart because he knew I'd be there to take his place. I thought that was such a careless and uncharacteristically cowardly excuse from someone as brave as he was; he just wants to be reunited with sa'nok.

I should've done more with you. I should've asked you to be mine as I would be yours earlier. I should've been there with you when you-"

Aonung choked.

Neteyam didn't understand what the other boy was talking about.

Despite feeling clueless, Neteyam wasn't new to feeling 'out of the loop'. After all, if there was anything he had learned from having siblings, especially those like Loak and Aonung who sometimes were too lost in their spiralling thoughts and overwhelming emotions to properly make sense, it would be that, in times like these, he just needed to be there.

Thus, despite the need to understand Aonung bugging him almost incessantly, he pushed that need away from the forefront of his mind, and pulled his trembling friend into an embrace.

"You'll be okay, Ma 'Nung," he murmured into his friend's temple, pressing a gentle kiss there before nuzzling.

"I'm here. I'm always here."

He knew in his heart that he would always be here. That he would always be there for his metkayina friend.

For his 'mate'.

Yet, despite having never lied in his life…

…he wondered if this was what it felt like to lie.

***END***