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The ceremonies had the potential to be extramly boring after Aurelio ditched Teo before starting the Academy. Luckily, Teo met Niya.
That's a sentence crossing Teo's mind at least once a week, in lots of different contexts. He has a best friend in Niya. Someone to text about things he can't talk about with anyone else. Someone to confide in. But also, someone to have fun with. Someone to drink (alcoholic) punch with when they're not supposed to and pull pranks with. Someone to sneak off with as the dioses' parties drag on.
"Teo!" Niya yells out as she pulls him in a bone-crushing hug and lifts him of the ground. They weren’t able to see each other at the ceremony earlier, so this is the first time Teo and Niya see each other in a month.
The attendees of the party don't pay attention to them. Everyone is chatting and laughing, dioses and semidioses alike.
"It's really nice to see you, too, Niya," Teo wheezes, smiling. "But I think you're bruising my ribs."
Niya drops him on the floor. "Ah! Sorry!" She's smiling, too. "You have to catch me up on everything that's happening in Quetzlan. How are Pico and Peri?"
Teo laughs. "First, we get punch and snacks. Then we talk."
"You know I can't say no to food."
On their way to the table with food and drinks, they pass by some of Niya's classmates. Teo isn't sure what their names are, but he knows it's not Aurelio, Auristela or Ocelo. Which is good.
"Ooh, maybe we could prank Ocelo somehow," she suggests when they're out of earshot. "Spray them with water!"
"I could ask Pan Dulce for a spray bottle," Teo says. "I think she’d give it to me. Or Fantasma."
Ten minutes, two talks with diosas and a bathroom visit later, they have a spray bottle full of water and they're searching for Ocelo. The child of Guerrero is with Aurelio and Auristela, of course. Out of a safe distance of three meters, Niya sprays Ocelo with water before she and Teo run of giggling. They jumps into the air, running their hand over the spot where their regalia got wet.
Huemac stands a few meters away from Niya and Teo, shaking his head. "You two," he mutters disapprovingly.
"Oh, you have to admit it was fun!" Niya says at the same time Teo says, "Just don't tell anyone."
Huemac rolls his eyes and starts messaging his temples. "You're going to be the death of me." He sighs. "We'll talk when we return home." The priest turns to Niya, shaking his head again. "As for you... I don't know what to do with you. Maybe I should talk to your dad."
"As long as it's not papi," Niya says and drags Teo away towards the punch.
Huemac is still muttering something to himself as they leave. By the way he pinches his nose, Teo can tell he is worried.
•○●○•
Teo and Niya dance and sing. Niya shouts the lyrics at the top of her lungs, as per usual. She spins Teo around and the other way around. Both of them pull the worst dance moves just to make the other one laugh. They eat snacks and any other food they can find. They run through the crowd after drinking too much punch and they need to pee urgently. They spray people with water when they're sure they aren't in Huemac's line of sight. Teo doesn't want to give him any more grief than necessary. Niya answers the reporters' questions about the Academy and the upcoming Sunbearer Trials, adding bad jokes at the end.
It's quite fun. That's why Teo always loves being at ceremonies and parties with Niya. He never gets bored. To be fair, he never gets bored when he's with Niya, period. Whatever they're doing, you can bet it's going to be fun.
When they get tired of the dioses and reporters, they sneak off to the balcony and hope nobody follows. They have enough Takis and drinks to last them until the end of the night.
They sit on the cold stone floor and watch the stars. All the punch Teo drank left a warm feeling in his stomach that followed him outside. He imagines it's the same for Niya.
"Y'know, we learn about the stars in school," she says. She's a tipsy from the punch and it's obvious from the way she's speaking. She waves her hand towards the sky, then properly points it. "The Obsidians are there." Her finger point them out separately. "That's Venganza. Then Cupacapra. And Caos, over there. That teacher isn’t very interesting, but I wanted to learn. It's quite cool."
"That's nice," Teo murmurs, taking a sip of the soda Niya grabbed on their way out. He then hands the bottle to Niya. Mixing sugar with alcohol probably isn't a good idea, but neither of them cares. "What about those stars there?"
After some time, they end up completely laying on the floor, drinking water and stuffing themselves with Takis. They talk about their lives as if they don’t do that over the phone almost every day. They hum songs and take silly pictures of each other. Teo fills Niya's gallery with two dozen silly selfies of himself before she enters the frame next to him.
"I have to run to the toilet," Niya says suddenly. "Diarrhea, probably. I'll be back. Eventually."
Teo chuckles. "Okay, I didn’t need to know about the diarrhea. Just be back in one piece," he jokes.
When Niya leaves, Teo stays laying on the floor until he hears steps coming to the balcony. The steps are much lighter than Niya's, an dthe person is wearing shoes, unlike his friend.
Teo sits up just as Aurelio enters the balcony.
"Hi," Aurelio says shyly.
"Hi," Teo says, looking to the other direction. He doesn’t want to be around Aurelio, let alone talk to him. He still doesn't know what happened when they were kids, what changed, but he isn't ready to forgive it. He was left without a beat friend, wondering for years what he'd done wrong.
Aurelio sits down next to him. He seems on edge, fidgety, tapping his fingers on his golden armbands. "Can I sit here?" he asks, his voice less composed than usual. "Not to talk, just— just to be."
Teo nods. As much as he restents Aurelio for what he did, the son of Lumbre is obviously distressed. The son of Quetzal isn't planning to add oil to the fire. He doesn’t have to be nice, but he won't be mean either, at least not for today.
After a while, Teo notices Aurelio's fingers shaking. It's such a small movement he almost misses it. He hates what it makes him feel, how sorry he feels for Aurelio. After everything, he feels sorry for a boy who left him and made him feel like shit for years and he hates himself for it. Still, he has to ask. "Are you—are you okay? Aurelio?"
Aurelio nods. "I don't want to talk."
Teo remembers, cursing himself for doing so, that Aurelio has never liked crowds. He could handle them for a couple of hours, but after that, he needed some time for himself.
In a few minutes, Niya returns and raises her eyebrow at Teo when she notices Aurelio. The son of Quetzal shakes his head and shurgs Aurelio, upon noticing Niya's arrival, gets up and leaves.
"What's his deal?" Niya asks.
"I was hoping you would know," Teo replies. Not that he cares.
Niya shrugs. "He and Auristela disappear occasionally during parties, but I'd never seen him so... like that."
"Well. I don’t care, anyway." When Niya opens her mouth to add something, Teo cuts her off. "I don't care about your diarrhea either. I don’t need to hear about it."
"I wasn’t going to talk about my diarrhea!" Niya exclaims. "I was going to say I saw a hot girl in the bathroom."
A smile spreads across Teo's face. "Of course you did."
The rest of the night, Niya and Teo don't leave the balcony. With their snacks, drinks amd no more diarrhea, they don't need to. Niya describes the hot girl from the bathroom. She's convinced that said girl is a daughter of a Jade diose because she knows every hot girl at the Academy.
They continue filling their galleries with silly pictures of each other and taking selfies with filters together. They laughs and laugh and laugh, at the pictures and at their jokes and at everything around them. It's plenty of fun. Teo rarely has so much fun in Quetzlan, or without Niya. No other friend of his can make him feel quite as good as Niya can.
Luckily, Teo met Niya so he has someone to make him laugh so hard he can't breathe and his stomach hurts.