Awa'altu High: ATWOW highschool au!!

Neteyam

Sitting down for lunch with his siblings after a class period of kissing so hard he could barely breathe was somewhat of an out of body experience for Neteyam. He was aware that his face was flushed beet red, all the way from the base of his neck to the tips of his ears. He was aware that Kiri kept giving him knowing glances with eyes full of humor. He was painfully, all-consumingly aware of Ao'nung's knee touching his under the table as he sat across from him. Ao'nung was on his phone, supporting his chin with his hand. A single dark curl had slipped loose from the hair tie that held it back. He glanced up at Neteyam suddenly. His cheeks flushed as they made eye contact. Neteyam knew he should look away, but he didn't want to. He wanted to find out who the first to look away would be. It wouldn't be him. He was determined. He ignored the butterflies that swirled in his stomach, rising up into his chest and clouding around his heart. He felt a small smile spread across his face. Ao'nung seemed to notice. His pupils dilated as his gaze drifted to Neteyam's lips and back up to his eyes. He blinked rapidly and turned to look at his sister down the table. She had asked him something. Neteyam smirked to himself as Ao'nung glanced back at him out of the corner of his eye. He won. Ao'nung knew it too, if the pink hue to his cheeks was any indicator at all. 'It must be,' Neteyam thought to himself. 'It has to mean something.' "What do you do during study hall anyways?" asked Tsireya, big blue eyes twinkling with humor. Rotxo let out a strangled sound that could have been considered a laugh. "Uh... study," Neteyam said, nodding to appear more confident in his answer. Lo'ak scoffed. "Well, yeah, but study what?" "I, uh, sometimes read," Ao'nung provided, staring at his sister with a pinched expression on his face. "What? Ao'nung, don't act like you can read," Rotxo grinned, shaking his head slowly as he looked at his friend. Neteyam watched him glance at Kiri to see if she found him amusing. Upon seeing her smile, his own grin widened. "What book?" Tsireya asked, arching an eyebrow. "Hunger Games," he mumbled. "I'm sorry?" Kiri asked, suddenly focussing on what Ao'nung was saying. "Hunger games. I'm almost done with the first one," Ao'nung said, voice proud despite the embarrassed glow to his face. "No way, that's my favorite series. Like, ever." "Is it?" Rotxo asked, looking at her. "Yeah, it is," Ao'nung answered. Rotxo gave Ao'nung a sideways glance. "Neteyam told me," Ao'nung explained, shrugging. "Aww," Lo'ak whispered, grinning mischievously. "Shut up," Neteyam hissed. "Awwww," Lo'ak repeated, louder this time. "Shut up!" Ao'nung whisper-shouted, eyes darting around to see if anyone overheard. Lo'ak grinned, knowing he had achieved his desired response. Neteyam felt something in his chest die at the real, genuine, wide-eyed fear on Ao'nung's face at the simple possibility that someone overheard.

Neteyam's third period was by far his least favorite. His teacher was unbelievably boring, and he had a disturbing habit of saying "okay, um," in between every other word. The only person he knew in there was Spider, and even then, they were not remotely close. On top of that, he hated math. Ao'nung doesn't hate math. He likes it. Neteyam rubbed his eyes in dismay. It was pathetic. A thought as mundane as how much he hates math was enough to put Ao'nung in his mind. Not that he was ever completely absent. Ao'nung had his own special compartment of Neteyam's thoughts, and he tended to linger. Neteyam felt a thrill of excitement flow through his veins as he snuck his phone under his desk, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Ao'nung:

(neteyam) What's your third block?
(neteyam) I'm so bored in stat

(ao) internship, remember?
(ao) with tuk's class

(neteyam) Oh.

(ao) tuk said to stay in school
(ao)🤓

Neteyam felt his shoulders slump as he put his phone back into his pocket. He felt ridiculous. He had never skipped an academic class for personal enjoyment before now. Hell, he even used to get on Lo'ak's ass about it. Now, he actually felt disappointed that Ao'nung wasn't on campus to skip with him. This was bad. This was bad, especially because of where his relationship with Ao'nung was at the moment. If one could even call it a relationship. Relationships were two-sided experiences of love and admiration. What he had with Ao'nung was prolonged moments of palpable longing, punctuated by brief waves of passion but overall enveloped in layers of second-guessing and fear. Ao'nung's fears of being found out brought Neteyam back to where he grew up, back to when he was forced to work so hard to hide himself in the same way. The only difference was, Neteyam had to because of where he lived. Ao'nung didn't. He was more terrified of what could potentially happen than Neteyam had ever been of the very real consequences he would have faced. On one hand, this made him more understanding of why Ao'nung felt the way he did. On the other hand, it made him almost angry at how unaware Ao'nung was of how much more real his fears could be. Neteyam blinked hard, pulling his focus back to class. Someone had thrown a piece of paper on his desk. He reached for it uncertainly. It read "You kick the basket under my desk when your daydreaming. - Spider". Neteyam looked at the seat in front of him, eyes locking on the blonde curls that grazed his desk. Neteyam grinned to himself. " *You're", he wrote back, tapping Spider on the shoulder. The boy reached his hand back behind him, not turning his body. Neteyam placed the paper in his palm discreetly. Spider snatched his hand back and read it, looking over his shoulders with humor filling his eyes. Neteyam exhaled sharply through his nose, taking his feet off of the basket.