Lo'ak sprinted into the building after Neteyam put his car in park, hoping to get there in time to walk Tsireya to her next class. They both had classes in the writing hall for their second period. The bell must have rang as soon as he arrived. He positioned himself outside the science hall, waiting for her. Eventually, she approached him, smiling in mild confusion. She was wearing a light blue cardigan over a white tank top, with at least 4 necklaces resting around her neck. Her hair was down, and her blue light glasses were clutched in her fist. "I thought you had a dentist appointment this morning," she said, pausing in front of him. "I did. We did. It got done early," he explained, motioning for her to follow him to their next classes. She did, looking up at him with smiling eyes. "Slow down," she complained, grabbing onto his sleeve gently. Lo'ak had never slowed faster in his life. Her grip lingered on his shirt, despite them now being in step. He gazed down at her for a moment, before forcing himself to look at where he was going. "How was your appointment?" Tsireya asked, looking up at him. Lo'ak pursed his lips. "It was okay. I need to start flossing more." Tsireya laughed softly. "I hate flossing. You should get one of those water-pick things. You know, the water flossers. The little- " She let go of his sleeve to demonstrate. He grinned at her. "Maybe. So, I need to get myself a pair of blue light glasses, a water-pick, and-" "Oh! No, you don't! I got you some!" She paused mid walk, rifling through her bag. "Here." She produced a small glasses case and handed it to him. He opened it, examining them carefully. "I think the frame shape would look nice on you," she whispered. "Put them on." He did so, blinking down at her. "I knew they would! Wear those when you use your computer. Especially when you're in a dimly lit room." Lo'ak laughed softly and nodded. "Thank you, Reya," he murmured, looking down at her. She looked up at him. He felt his face flush at the intensity of her eye contact in that moment, broken only briefly by a blink of her long eyelashes.
The two-minute warning bell sounded and snapped Lo'ak out of his trance, forcing them to hurry on to class. He watched her disappear into her classroom, looking back once over her shoulder and waving goodbye. He waved back, grinning like an idiot. "That was so..." Rotxo approached him from behind, shaking his head and grinning. "What?" Lo'ak asked, turning to face him. "It's bad, bro. She has you wearing blue light glasses. It's so bad." He was grinning widely. Lo'ak whipped off his glasses in embarrassment. "Hey, man, maybe she has a point. My eyes do feel less sore. But, shut up, look at you and MY sister, bro." Rotxo scoffed. "That's different." Lo'ak grinned. "How? How is that any different?" Rotxo opened his mouth to come up with a response, but couldn't. "Get to class, bro," he laughed, shoving Lo'ak's shoulder playfully. Lo'ak sniggered and took his final steps into his literature class, discreetly slipping his glasses back on.
Lo'ak sat with their usual group at lunch. Both Sully brothers had remembered to pack their lunch bags today. It was truly a miracle. After a quick headcount, Lo'ak realized someone was missing. "Wait- where's Ao'nung?" he asked, looking over at Rotxo. He shrugged, rising in his seat and scanning the lunch room. "I don't think he's in here," he said, sitting back down with a worried expression. "Should I call him?" Tsireya asked, pulling out her phone. "No," Neteyam said, voice firmer than Lo'ak had heard in a long time. The entire group turned and looked at him. His eyes widened slightly in embarrassment. "I mean, no, he's probably coming soon," he shrugged. Lo'ak could see how desperately he was trying to seem cool and collected. Kiri leaned over to her older brother. "You know something," she whispered, nearly imperceptibly. Neteyam shot her a confused look, shaking his head. "Yes you do," she hissed, looking at him determinedly. "Kiri," Lo'ak hushed, lightly kicking her leg under the table. She shot him an exasperated glare before returning to her bag of blackberries. Tsireya looked between the three of them with narrowed eyes. "Neteyam, can I-?" Ao'nung slammed his backpack down on the floor, causing the whole group to flinch. His hair was in a knot, but not in its normal way. Ao'nung had clearly been doing something physical. His hair was slightly damp, and there were sweat stains on his white t-shirt. Lo'ak looked at him in confusion. "What the fuck did you do?" Rotxo asked, sniggering behind his hand. "I was at the weight room," he mumbled, not looking up. "Lost track of time. Kick boxing with Spider." Lo'ak saw Ao'nung's eyes flick briefly to Neteyam and then immediately back down to the table, jaw clenched. Tsireya made a concerned face and Rotxo nodded slowly, brow furrowed. "Okay... yeah whatever," he mumbled, surveying his friend suspiciously. Lo'ak heard a chair scrape on the floor as Neteyam got to his feet, grabbing his backpack and lunch bag and heading for the exit. Kiri stared after him, mouth open in disbelief. "What the hell," she muttered, getting up to follow. Lo'ak grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Let me," he whispered, quickly standing and hurrying after his brother.
He found Neteyam in the library, eating baby carrots and staring off into space. Lo'ak waved his hand in front of Neteyam's face, bringing him back to reality. "Hey man," he whispered. Neteyam swatted his hand away and frowned. Lo'ak sat down beside him, grabbing a carrot from his baggy. "So... you wanna-" "No, I don't." Lo'ak shrugged. "Okay." Neteyam sighed. "Go back to lunch, Lo," he murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose. "No. I'm going to sit right here until you tell me what that was about." Neteyam scoffed. "I mean, really. You guys were, like, fine at the pool yesterday. Friendly. What happened?" Neteyam didn't say anything. He just fidgeted with his bracelets, spinning the beads. "You can tell me, Teyam. It's okay." Neteyam groaned, running his hands through his hair. "No, I can't. I really can't. It's not even that I don't want to. It's just not my place to say." Lo'ak blinked in confusion. "Would Ao'nung really care that much?" Neteyam nodded, aggressively enough to make his beads clink together. "Oh well. Too bad, because you are going to tell me." He poked Neteyam in the side. "Tell me." Neteyam grinned despite himself, but shook his head.
"Okay. Well, I'll tell you about something that happened to me, then. Kiri told me you heard about the front office situation." Neteyam nodded. "Well, Tsireya went to make me some popcorn," Neteyam laughed softly. "Stop that. Not funny. Anyways, Reya came back while it was popping, I guess, and saw that dipshit talking to me. But, before she got there, he was being so aggressive for no reason. He was making fun of my accent and my hair. He tried to touch it." Neteyam looked up at him, expression serious. Lo'ak continued. "See, me personally, I'm not gonna let that slide. I got to my feet. Thank god I was taller than him, or that would have been humbling. I kinda..." Lo'ak's voice broke with suppressed laughter. "See, he was wearing this dumbass hat. I just kinda flicked it..." Neteyam let out a shout of laughter, looking at Lo'ak in disbelief. "I flicked that bitch's hat, and it was sitting at a little jaunty angle-" Lo'ak's story was drowned out by Neteyam's laugh. "Jau- did you say jaunty?" he gasped, eyes squinted with his smile. "Yeah, I did," Lo'ak grinned. "Then Reya came in and he had to fix his hat. He adjusted his fucking hat, bro." Neteyam took a deep breath, calming himself. "Oh my god. He did not." "He did." "That's so embarrassing," Neteyam grinned, shaking his head in disbelief.
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