Work Text:
The gentle splashes of the ocean waves on the boulder he’s sitting on, his soft breaths, and the soothing sunlight of the fine afternoon relaxes Neteyam’s whole body.
Small shells and underwater rocks are accompanying him today while he sat on a rock from a short distance away from the village. He can still hear the rustles of the busy bodies going on with their tasks from his rock. Neteyam should be taking care of his siblings right now, per usual, but Neytiri insisted to keep an eye on them for the day so that the very responsible big brother can have a breather for once. Neytiri thinks Neteyam is losing alone time because he’s always tasked to look out for his siblings. It was getting unhealthy, Neytiri said, especially since they’re now living in a new environment; Neteyam should be relaxing too. Spend his time with the Metkayina kids his age, she suggested, go hunting or swimming.
Neteyam thinks his mother was considerate for that, and he’s thankful she gave him some time for himself today. So, Neteyam decided to spend it by making a necklace. For himself, he guesses. Well, there isn’t a specific someone in his mind he wants to give it to at the moment. Maybe when he feels like it, he’d give it to someone as a gift.
He measured the vine he had picked from the mangroves, measured it around his neck as he walked through the shades on the sand before cutting it with his knife. Now, he’s attaching the shells and rocks on it — twisting, pulling and snapping. When he went for a swim this morning, he picked the things he needed. Light blue and baby pink shells, together with various of rocks with different colors. Green, white, black and blue. They’re pretty, quite sparkly too, when the sun hits them, they glimmer.
As Neteyam is peacefully wrapping a small vine around a pink shell, attaching it around the bigger vine; the base of the neck piece, he smirks to himself as he scoffs.
“Hello, Rotxo.” He greets the unwelcome guest with a fond eye roll.
“Hey there,” Rotxo says back with the kindest smile, surfacing behind Neteyam from the water with his ilu, that chirps, also greeting Neteyam. He has been seeing Rotxo circling around the boulder underwater like a shark for a while now, but he never said anything until he finally saw Rotxo come out the water. From the corner of his eyes, Neteyam sees Rotxo move from behind him to his right side. Neteyam doesn’t tear his gaze from the necklace he’s working on, though.
“What are you doing here?” He asks the boy. He hears Rotxo groaning as he lays his back on the ilu, making himself at home as he sunbathes, “Am I needed in the village?” Neteyam inquires more. Now, he does glances at Rotxo, who has his hands behind his head. He wonders what Rotxo could possibly want from him, a brow arching.
“Oh, no, you’re fine.” Rotxo finally responds. He proceeds to sigh, eyes closed. There was a bit of silence between them, but it was no near awkward, it was the type of silence where two are busy in their own worlds. After a minute, Rotxo speaks again. He looks at Neteyam, “What are you doing here?”
“Enjoying some time alone with myself.”
That raises Rotxo’s eyebrows, showing surprise, “Oh, am I interrupting? I’m sorry.” He was about to get up from his resting position to ride back to the village, not wanting to be in Neteyam’s business without his permission because that’s just how nice he is, but Neteyam prevents him from leaving.
“No, it’s alright. You can stay, if that’s what you’d like.” Neteyam is also a nice person himself, so he smiles sweetly at Rotxo. His smile grows wider when he sees Rotxo relaxing on his ilu again, returning Neteyam’s smile. Now, Rotxo rests on his side; elbow on the back of his ilu, and palm carrying the weight of his head by holding his cheek. He watches Neteyam mend for minutes, and minutes, until Neteyam can’t handle the quietness any longer.
He speaks up, “I’m not gonna set you up with my sister anytime soon, you know.” He teases the other with a smirk, who immediately flinches at the statement. The flush is too bright on his pale cheeks, Neteyam almost laughed right at his face.
“I d-didn’t come for that!”
“Oh, yeah? You always seem to bother Lo’ak for that, though.” The forest Na’vi chuckles.
Rotxo sits up, arms crossed in front of his chest, “W-well, that’s Lo’ak!” He defends, as if it changes the fact that he actually asks Lo’ak to set him up with Kiri. He sighs heavily, slouching his shoulders as if it carried the weight of his deep sigh, “Why is Kiri so intimidating?” Rotxo asks with a palm on his mouth. Neteyam glances at him, takes note of his red pointy ears. Ah, crushes, he thinks to himself with a fond scoff. He looks back down at the necklace.
“Is she?”
“Is she not?” Rotxo turns back to him, “She is always glaring at me. I think she hates me.”
Neteyam arches his brow at that, “She doesn’t hate anyone. She just… Well, she always is like that. She has mood swings. Terrible ones at that.” He shrugs, and Rotxo chuckles. That seems to lift his mood, which makes Neteyam smile too.
A cloud passes by in front of the sun, looming over their figures. Neteyam hears the rustling of Rotxo laying back on his ilu. He hears the distant tree leaves swaying through the wind. The calm waves, the clacking of shells and rocks, the playing kids back on the island as they laughed, and the other villagers clicking their tongues — a call for the ilu’s. The big cloud leaves, the sunlight tickling Neteyam’s skin once again. A breeze follows, combing his braids. Awa’atlu is quiet, and Neteyam doesn’t want it any other way.
“Hey, Neteyam.” Rotxo calls to the wind, looking at the shapes of the clouds. Neteyam hums a gentle response.
“I think Aonung favors you.”
Rotxo suddenly brings up out of absolutely nowhere, which earned a confused grunt out of Neteyam.
“Like. I dunno. It was just a thought.” The Metkayina tries explaining, he obviously failed, so he just shrugs his shoulders. Neteyam watches him in silence, fingers continuing their work on the neck piece. He watches Rotxo’s process in gathering his thoughts. He’s curious what he meant by Aonung favoring him. Some kind of warmth builds up in the center of Neteyam’s stomach, his ears twitching slightly, and his tail flickers to the other side. He quite likes that, doesn’t he? Aonung favoring him, whatever that means.
He looks back down.
“There’s this…” Rotxo attempts again, eyebrows crossing in emphasis. He stares hardly at the sky, Neteyam is afraid he might shoot holes through the clouds. “There’s this way in how he looks at you, I guess.” Rotxo sighs, hands behind his head again. Neteyam lets him speak. He decides to listen.
“Aonung, he never looks at someone like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like he’s melting.” Rotxo is quick to reply. As if he had been meaning to say that out loud for a while now, “He just looks so soft while looking at you, Neteyam—and speaking of soft, he’s so gentle with you too. I’ve been noticing that for some time now.” Rotxo sits up on his elbow, to press the conversation even further.
“And by gentle, you mean?” Neteyam raises a brow at him.
“He literally insisted to carry the basket of fish you had caught when you went hunting with us the other day. Even when you obviously got it yourself.” Rotxo rolls his eyes, and Neteyam chuckles as he shakes his head. “Aonung was just being considerate.”
“That exactly what the problem is!” The ocean Na’vi snaps his fingers, quite aggressively, “He is considerate of you. He’s never considerate of anyone, and he definitely never stares at someone like he has the whole galaxy in his eyeballs.“ Rotxo shakes his head, amused with these thoughts of how Aonung is with Neteyam based on his observation. Neteyam could only laugh. It’s funny to see how Rotxo is so into this conversation. It’s like he’s fighting for something here.
“I’ve never seen Aonung like that before.” His voice came out soft this time. Neteyam hums, examining his finished work, “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” He asks him, glancing through the blur of the vine. Rotxo is looking afar, to the village. He’s fixated on something, but he talks again anyway.
“A good thing,” he says slowly, “I think ever since you came here, he has been more happier.”
Neteyam’s ears twitch at the ring of that statement. His heart swells, but Rotxo isn’t quite finished yet.
He sighs, “Of course at first, he disliked you guys. At some point, you two grew close, he had gotten to know you, and I guess that’s what did it.” Rotxo says. He tears his gaze away from what he had been looking at and looked down at his ilu’s skin.
“Neteyam, I think Aonung likes you.”
And that’s what did it for Neteyam. He blushes, but remains sane. He keeps his nonchalant expression despite the warmness he feels on his cheeks, ears, and neck. He gulps, glancing at the island; where Rotxo was looking at.
He spots Aonung immediately, looking their way. He sits by the sand with Tsireya. It seems like his sister is saying something, but Aonung looks distracted. From where Neteyam sat, he sees Aonung give a brief nod at him and a small smile. Neteyam huffs fondly at that, though he looks away. Rotxo witnessed the whole thing. Neteyam catches his grin.
“He definitely got the hots for you.”
“Oh, shut up.” Neteyam splashes salt water at the teasing boy, whom merely laughed.
“What did Rotxo tell you?” Aonung questions instantly, sitting on the log under the shade of a big leaf at the edge of the village beside Neteyam; where they usually hang out together. Just the two of them.
Aonung’s back faces the sunset, as Neteyam watches the sun reunite with his beloved ocean. Neteyam smiles, “He said many things.”
“Hmm. Of course he did,” Aonung agrees in mutters, playing with a big stick. He traces the sand. “He’s a bigmouth after all. Care to share the things he had said?” The Metkayina boy turns to the other, their shoulders brushing when he shifted closer.
“You’d be embarrassed,” Neteyam teases, smirking at Aonung whom narrows his eyes at him, the same smirk on his face.
“And why’s that?”
Neteyam only hums, that isn’t exactly an answer. He yawns, in the mere purpose to tease. Aonung nudges his shoulder. The action releases a good laugh out of Neteyam. “You’re being an ass. Just tell me.” Aonung urges, but with a teasing tone. Neteyam laughs again and it’s true. Aonung does look like he’s melting whenever he looks at him.
A refreshing early evening wind passes, pulling on both of their hairs. They stare into one another, and Neteyam smiles. He grabs the necklace that has been sitting beside his thigh this whole time and brings it towards Aonung’s neck. He checks if it fits him. Aonung just lets him do whatever he wants. Without any word, Aonung trusted Neteyam’s every move.
“Aonung, do you like me?” The Omatikaya questions. It was a whistle through the wind. Aonung looks down, watching as Neteyam focused on tying the back of the necklace around his pale neck. Aonung waits until he is done.
When Neteyam backs away again, and when Aonung feels the coldness of the shells and rocks on his skin, he smiles. “Do I like you?”
“Mhm.” Neteyam grins.
“Of course I do.” Aonung whispers, the words slipping out his tongue without restrain, as he leans closer. Neteyam feels the warmth of Aonung’s hand on his cheek, his thumb stroking his face. And ever since then, Neteyam’s smile never left his lips, “Fucking idiot.”
Their lips reunite, just as the sun and ocean did so.
What Rotxo didn’t know was that Neteyam and Aonung were already dating even before he said a thing.