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Lo'ak spots his brother on the beach. He begins to walk in the water, following Aonung. Lo'ak assumes they'll be practicing with the ilus, so he runs over to the two. His feet obnoxiously slap in the water, and he sees the wat Aonung's ears twitch down at hearing Lo'ak.
"Bro! Where are you going?" He asks Neteyam, running into him. Neteyam looks back at Lo'ak, braids turning with his headd. He chuckles softly, pushing the boy off of him.
"Ilu riding."
"Can I come?" he asks. Neteyam glances at Aonung, who looks irritated already. He rolls his eyes and looks away. Neteyam turns back to Lo'ak and smiles.
"Sure, cmon." Neteyam turns to follow Aonung some more.
"Why aren't you bothering my sister?" Aonung asks, raising a brow as he glances back at Lo'ak.
"She's busy with Kiri and Tuk, and I didn't know what else to do," he says, glaring at Aonung with his brow raised back. Neteyam sighs softly, shaking his head at their antics. Aonung rolls his eyes.
He stops once he's waist deep and begins calling out for the ilus.
Lo'ak gets closer to Neteyam, running his hand over his tail. It flicks and Neteyam's ears twitch. Lo'ak smirks before running his fingers down Neteyam's arm. Neteyam pulls his arm away, brows furrowing.
"What are you doing?" he mumbles. Lo'ak simply smirks, unable to answer as Aonung turns around. He looks at Neteyam, gesturing towards the ilu that just appeared.
Neteyam walks over to it, hopping up and straddling it. He adjusts his hips, scooting himself as he grabs the handles. Lo'ak chuckles.
"Hopefully you'll move like that on me tonight."
Netyeam huffs, more annoyed than anything else at his comment. His ears pin back and he glares at Lo'ak as he grabs his kuru, bringing it forward to bond with the ilu. Aonung pauses, furrowing his brows to look at Lo'ak.
"What'd you say?" he asks, extremely confused. Lo'ak simply laughs, watching as Neteyam gets flustered as he makes the bond. The ilu squirms and Neteyam tries to dive in immeditaely.
Aonung and Lo'ak watch as the ilu takes off, dragging Neteyam under the water and throwing him off before he was even prepared. Aonung would've laughed, but he's too busy watching Lo'ak, thinking about what he said to his brother.
Lo'ak swims up to Neteyam, who comes out of the water gasping softly as he rubs the water out of his eyes. He has a pretty purple blush on his face that makes Lo'ak smile all giddy.
"You look so pretty when you blush like that," he says, poking Neteyam's cheek. Neteyam swats it away.
"Stop it," he grits through his teeth, that cute little pout on his face. He pushes Lo'ak's face away and hops back onto the ilu.
Aonung comes up, nudging Lo'ak out of the way. He looks over Neteyam, making sure he's on the ilu properly. He pushes against Neteyam's lower back, trying to get him to scoot forward.
Lo'ak glares, going underwater. He swims behind Aonung and tugs on his tail. Aonung whips around, watching as Lo'ak comes out of the water laughing.
"What the hell?"
"Don't touch my brother," he says playfully as he swims up to Neteyam. He wraps his arms around his torso, leaning his head against the side. He draws circles on his thigh with his pointer.
"He's mine. I'm very protective. He doesn't like jerks like you."
"Lo'ak!" Neteyam hisses, glancing down at him with his pout. He lets out a shuddering breath, sitting up straighter as he pushes Lo'ak's arms away.
"Get out of the way, freak," Aonung says, pulling Lo'ak's off of Neteyam. Neteyam huffs, ears flattening as he looks away, his face flushing more.
Lo'ak snaps at Aonung before stepping away. Aonung rolls his eyes, stepping close to the ilu. Neteyam makes the bond again and Aonung speaks softly to him, telling him tips on how to not fall off.
Lo'ak simply watches, tilting his head as his eyes scan his brother's back. He watches the way it arches as he leans forward, grabbing onto the saddle handle. Lo'ak bites his lip softly, smirking.
Aonung steps back and takes a deep breath, diving under the water. The ilu swims away, and Neteyam stays on this time. He slips a bit, but catches himself. The ilu pops out of the water, letting Neteyam gasp for air. The ilu does a spin, making Neteyam chuckle softly.
Aonung smiles.
"You did it!" he shouts, swimming over. Lo'ak follows, smiling at how happy Neteyam seemed. Neteyam laughs softly. Aonung steps away to call for an ilu for his own, so Lo'ak comes up and rests on the side of Neteyam's ilu.
"You're good at riding. Maybe I should be your ilu."
Neteyam huffs, tail flicking.
"Lo'ak! Stop saying things like that with Aonung around," he muttered, his face flushing a deeper purple.
"But it's fun! I like seeing you all flustered."
"Cmon, Neteyam," Aonung says, waiting for the boy. Neteyam turns to go away but Lo'ak stands up, grabbing Neteyam's jaw and turning it back towards him.
"Say we can do something tonight. Promise me," he asks, moving his thumb to his chin as he stares into Neteyam's eyes.
"What?" Aonung asks, brows furrowed in confsuion.
"No, let go, Lo'ak––" Neteyam stammered, unsure what to say. He stares with wide eyes, the wide eyes that implyed Neteyam wanted something but was too nervous to say it.
"Cmon big bro," he whispered, leaning closer.
Neteyam rips his face away, turning away and diving into the water. Aonung glares at Neteyam.
"Get lost, forest boy!" He shouts with a hiss before diving in after Neteyam.
Lo'ak could tell that Aonung had grown some sort of attachment to Neteyam, meanwhile he still hated his guts. But Lo'ak wouldn't let Aonung take his brother away from him, no.
So Lo'ak narrows his eyes, showing off his teeth before smiling. He calls for an ilu and gets on one, diving in after the two.
Him and Neteyam would have a long night tonight.