Ao'nung x Neteyam slow burn

Day 7

Neteyam

I woke up early this morning and decided to take a walk across the island. I quitetly stepped towards the beach and enjoyed the feeling of cold sand between my toes.
There was so much new to be seen; sometimes I couldn't believe what I saw with my own eyes.
Suddenly my stomach grumbled and I noticed that I was hungry.

I made my way back to my new home and met Lo'ak, who tried to sneak out and bumped into me. "Where do you think you're going?" He shrieked and got mad that I scared him like that. Ignoring that I repeated my question.
"Tsireya is waiting for me at the beach. Happy now?" "Have fun you two." I winked and let him go. Tsireya appeared to be a good influence for Lo'ak. She was the exact opposite of him in many ways. Those two...

I prepared breakfast and enjoyed the quiet morning with my family. Afterwards I helped my mom clean up a bit and stepped to the ocean.
I sat down on the warm sand and listened to the sounds of the waves.

Suddenly drops of water spashed on me. I must've been sleeping because I found myself lying on my back now. Ao'nung was standing next to me, dripping wet.
With a sigh I looked up to his smiling face. "Was that really the best way to wake me up?" He laughed and nodded. "We, my friend, are going for a swim now."
Fine. I stood up and stretched myself yawning.
While walking into the water I suddenly got tackled from behind and completely went under water. The culprit, Ao'nung, swam away and I followed him. As soon as I caught up to him, we began fighting playfully.
A few minutes later, Tsireya and my brother interrupted us. She signed a few things, Ao'nung nodded and they swam away again.
I looked at the boy confused and he signed me to swim up to the surface.
While I was still catching my breath he told me that them two would spend the day together and that it could get late until they come back.
"Ao'nung?" He looked at me directly. "Hmm?" "Can you teach me your -" I waved my hands around. "Sign language thingy?" He was amused and nodded. We swam over to the rock where he'd taught me how to relax properly.

The day slowly passed as he showed me different gestures and explained their meaning to me. Soon, I thought I was getting the hang of it.
He signed Do you want do stay a while longer? and I answered after a short pause Yeah. Are you going to stay, too? He seemed to be proud of me and nodded. "You're a quick learner, aren't you?" "I hate it if there's something I don't know." He hummed in agreement.
I saw Kiri and Roxto sitting on the beach together and Tuk was next to them building a castle made of sand.
Ao'nung and me were talking quietlu and were watching the sunset.
I learned a lot about his childhood. As it was getting dark, he tapped my shoulder. "Wanna know something?" I didn't take my eyes off the dark water. "Tell me." "Many confuse me for my sister when I'm wearing my hair down."
I stared at him in disbelief until his expression made me laugh. "For real?" He nodded and scratched his neck. "Show me." Ao'nung hesitated, but lossened the hair tie and let his curls fall onto his shoulders and down his back. He seemed to be insecure about it.
Fascinated by this new side of him I played with a small strand of his hair. "No wonder why they'd confuse you. But this suits you." He smiled shyly and inspected his hands with a lot of interest.

"We should probably head back to the village." I stood up, stretched my arms and helped the boy up afterwards. "Let's see who reaches the beach first", I said grinning and did a semi graceful jump into the water. Ao'nung was clearly confused by that because he only reached me as I could already feel the sand below my feet.
I broke through the surface and caught my breath.
My head was being pushed back under water by him.
His knees were unguarded so I reached for them and pulled them quickly away. He lost his balance and we kept on teasing each other.

Nonetheless, we soon reached a point where I couldn't continue without serious trouble when breathing. I punched Ao'nung on his shoulder and he bumped into me laughing. After rolling my eyes amused I couldn't deny that he looked good with this hairstyle.
We quickly said our goodbyes.
"Ao'nung!", I yelled quietly. He turned around to me. "You should wear your hair down more often.
It was already dark, no doubt, but I swear I saw him blush. He then continued walking to his hut. I too went home thinking.

[translating is taking me an eternity, I'm so sorry]