A/N Yay another chapter!
"So your father doesn't suspect anything?"
Tui shook himself from thought, removing his hand from where it brushed the growing hairs on his chin. His head turned towards Alaka'i from where they sat in mounds of dampened soil, the first few rows of maturing taro leaves poking up and fanning around them.
"No," His other hand closed around the carrier pole and swinging it so that the device was perched on his widening shoulders. "Not as far as we know."
Alaka'i grabbed his own pole, standing up and following the chief's son through the plants in the sweltering sun. The small stream carried enough water to irrigate the taro roots properly on a regular basis. However, on particularly hot days the people of Motonui were better off safe than sorry.
The line of maneuvered water sat at the edge of the field, the silver line widening as they got closer. "And how was the kiss?" He smirked coyly.
Tui humored him, filling his buckets. "Not as good as yours." He admitted. Alaka'i didn't look convinced, his smile widening.
"Was it at least up there?"
"Alaka'i-"
"Just tell me!"
Tui rolled his eyes, settling the water pails on his shoulders. "You and Sina are way too alike."
"So that's her name?" He prodded. When Tui said nothing his response was clear. The validation in his guess connected to many other things. "Good catch my friend! She's quite the keeper."
His smile faded as he removed the teeming bucket from its hook, dumping it into the moist soil and refreshing the warm plant. Something in his boyfriend's tone tugged at his amusement, bringing it into the cool depths of the sea from the warm heights on the blazing sun. He took a breath and sighed, wiping a layer of sweat from his brow. Not looking back to him, he chose his next words carefully.
"You're acting a little eager." He tried not to make it as accusatory as it sounded, but it had been bugging him subtly since that night in the coconut groves during the festival of thanks.
Even though he couldn't see him Tui could tell Alaka'i wasn't laughing anymore, and a moment of silence passed as the realization dawned on him. The moment was rather short, and for some reason it worried him even more. He knew that his friend had realized months ago- possibly from their first time or even their first kiss, that they couldn't be together; not on Motonui.
He narrowed his gaze as a dry patch of roots that needed attention, despite his attention being focused on the man behind him. "What are you trying to do?"
"Tui, please..."
He could tell Alaka'i was now trying to cover himself. A part of him wanted to hear the full story, to be more level headed. Be what his people needed him to be, be what he needed to be. But it wasn't like his boyfriend to keep secrets. The worst part of it all was that Tui knew exactly what was coming, and didn't want to hear it.
"Don't push me away." His voice felt parched. Alaka'i was silent, and the knot in his stomach tightened. "Alaka'i, look at me." He turned around, seeing the other man's face aimed at the ground.
Neither of them wanted to admit it. Tui took a step forward and gripped his shoulders, the sudden touch making Alaka'i jerk away, sucking a breath through his teeth. The chief's son gaped. He smiled emptily.
"New tattoo, remember?" He prompted, the black lines of ink weaving into the figure of a skimming sea turtle on the back of his shoulder, the creature coexisting with the sun at it's side.
Tui frowned. "Don't change the subject."
Seeing there was no way out of this, his grin faded with a depressed sigh. "We both knew that this was coming, Tui. I thought I told you the same thing months ago."
Tui felt his heart quivering, a small crack at the very center. "That's not what I'm talking about." He shook his head, his temper coming very close to the edge. "What I want to know is why you're so eager to push me away. You might've said that I'd pick someone else, but that's not what I want." He felt salty tears in his eyes. "You know that, right?"
Silence.
"Well?" He almost choked out.
"I knew it all along." Alaka'i answered monotonously. "But I knew that it wasn't worth what would happen to you."
Tui gaped. "Me?" He almost laughed despite being very far from such a feeling. "How are you worried about me? What about you?"
Alaka'i glared. "Tui, look at me. Look past what you want to see and just look at me for what I am." He gulped. "What am I?"
"My boyfriend." He answered affirmatively.
He wasn't amused. "I'm a Toa, Tui. A Toa. I'm the bottom of the barrel, the lowest of the low. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. I don't matter to this island. But you?" He narrowed his gaze on the maturing chief, fear evident in his eyes. "You're the next in line. You're Manaia. You're what matters. You're who everyone will look to for a leader. Motonui needs you to be chief. I don't care what you pull to try and make us happen, because it won't work. There are things on this island beyond our control, and I'm not about to be the reason the last chief is kept from doing what you were born to do."
His response came out small and quiet. "What makes you think I want any of this?"
Alaka'i scoffed. "You don't get to say that, Tui. Don't even try to deny it; I know you. Every time you help someone, I can see it in your eyes. I know you care about everyone on Motonui, and you'd do anything to please them. It's who you are."
The chief's son quickly returned his best friend's glare. "No one tells me who I can or can't be."
Alaka'i's face softened, realizing he'd hit a nerve. He paused, looking him up and down. His stance was intimidating, massive arms crossed in defense of his reasoning. His tone was soft and apologetic. "You don't need me to tell you, Tui. You already know it."
As the words sunk in, his anger melted away into his tawny skin, regret surfacing through. He felt the heat rising into his face with embarrassment, and his bushy brows sloped with the corners of his mouth.
"Alaka'i," He started to apologize, but was cut off by the sudden warmth of his breath, the dampened brow pressing into his forehead. This was followed by the bridges of their noses, then the tips, connecting. Even in the humidity of the island climate, it was almost a sickly form of comfort. He still felt an empty form of regret, despite being forgiven. But it wasn't exactly about his snappish attitude towards what was the real problem.
It wasn't really true, what he'd snapped about. It had been a desperate attempt to trick himself into believing that he actually controlled something he knew deep down that there was no control- only gentle prodding with maneuvering from the hands which had cradled his head as an infant. Even from the very start, even before he was even a distant dream of his father's future, he had been destined to guide his home through the future until his own children came into the world. His future was his people's, regardless of what he may have wanted otherwise. And he'd been right- about everything. He wanted to fulfill his father's dreams, fulfill his father's role, be even better than what he had been. He loved his home more than anything. He loved his people, their families, their zest, enthusiasm, kindness, and that he would know them all. He would be the light which would raise them higher and higher, and he wanted it. He needed it.
He needed to change it. To show them all that names weren't important. That despite his status, he was no more worthy of greatness than anyone else. That Alaka'i, his uncle, and countless others didn't deserve restrictions when they worked just as hard as everyone else.
But he couldn't. It just wasn't that simple. Changing centuries of tradition and lifestyle couldn't be done in the course of his lifetime… could it? He knew better than to assume everyone would readily accept what he wanted, what he was. And that didn't even begin to describe what he needed to be while his father was still around. He still had many years left, if the island's physicians had any truth to their practice. Would his even father understand? Would everyone else understand?
His boyfriend wasn't all that cryptic in what their love could become. It had been crystal clear since their first kiss that they needed to tread carefully even in the presence of only the island's flora and fauna. It could have easily meant the end of his family's rule and the end of Alaka'i's lineage, and they knew nothing Tui said or did would help matters.
And yet, there they were, in broad daylight, lamenting what they'd known was coming. Through every dark night they'd taken the risks to be something where there was almost nothing before. Even when they were friends, it had been obvious that there was something more there. Sina was right.
It wasn't worth giving someone like him up, not when they still had time. His father was satisfied, and for the moment, that's what mattered. He may have wanted to be chief, he may have wanted to be with Alaka'i. What stopped him from wanting both?
He felt his soft fingers brushing a strand of wavy, black hair from his face, perching it behind his ear from where it dangled out of place in his outburst. He smiled, tucking Alaka'i's hand in his own.
"Come on," He chuckled quietly, knowing they'd have time to discuss this later. "I think the taro can live another few hours without water. I know I could go for it right about now. What do you say?"
The other man stared deeply into his eyes and pressed his forehead, touching noses again. His chin barely slid upwards, planting a kiss on the tip of Tui's nose. He'd take that as a yes.
The sun was beginning it's descent down to the briny depths as the two teenagers raced each other to the gleaming laplets at the ocean's surface. The sky seemed to burn in the balmy atmosphere, the edges of silver stars coming out to play in the coming soft purple and pink hues. The first layer of sand burned underfoot like hot coals as Tui bounded across the lengthy shore, tanned feet kicking minute storms in their wake. The blood coursed through his veins like molten lava, his breath panting from dashing halfway across the island, erupting in exhausted laughter without a care in the world.
The hard surface of the dampened ground was a welcome feeling to his singed toes and soles, the endless line of the horizon beckoning Tui closer to the cool water's salty embrace. The smash of the first wave across his chest threw his balance for a loop and he was left to tumble into the crystalline shallows, the surface temporarily broken.
"Cheehoo!" Alaka'i cheered as he suddenly exploded from the edge of the jungle, shattering the minute churning of waves and gusting wind. The other teen was barely able to brace himself in the water before he cannonballed off the edge of the sand and into the deep orange body, tumbling beneath the waves and kicking alongside the currents.
Within seconds he resurfaced, flipping his long black tresses back behind him as he laughed almost maniacally. Still in the shallows, the Toa stood up, and Tui was barely able to stop himself from tackling Alaka'i before anyone saw him there, in the buff. He hadn't even noticed his friend's discarded tepeneu from where it laid on the sand.
"What are you doing?!" His elation suddenly fell as flat as Alaka'i's clothes. He could barely keep the terror from his voice.
"Swimming." He replied matter-of-factly before diving under the waves again.
Tui groaned, chasing after him on foot into the deeper water until he was left to tread with much resistance. "No no no no no," He was scowling now. "You know what will happen if anyone sees us like this?!"
"Absolutely nothing, my friend." He mused, floating on his back and doing a quick circle around the chief's son.
"Are you kidding me?! Your clothes are right-" He was stopped by a massive wave of salt water splashing him in the face; either a plot to keep him calm, shut him up, make him angry, or possibly all three.
"What they can't see won't hurt them." He rolled his eyes with his signature mischievous smirk. "Tui, come on. Let loose for once! We're off the side of the village, out of anyone's line of sight. You did want to have some time alone, right?" He questioned, raises his eyebrow coyly.
He bit his lip for a split second, pausing as his scowl quickly faded. It wasn't like seeing Alaka'i naked was anything new to him or vice-versa, and the fishermen rarely worked past the west side of the island. People rarely had reason to leave the village for the beach, and where they were was rather secluded, a small sheet of basalt sliding to the lip of the shallows. It had been months since they'd been able to get anyplace where they could share each other, and by now his lower half was starting to disagree with playing it safe. It was already mast stiff. Of course, they'd never tried anything underwater before, but there was a first time for everything, right?
Untying the knot of his tepeneu, he tossed it over to the basalt ledge where it landed in an ungraceful heap. He had barely taken another breath before Alaka'i tackled him into the water, wrestling into the sand as the two played like two feral hogs, squealing and splashing in the ocean as they had when they were knee high. The taste of salt lingered on his tongue as Alaka'i suddenly kissed him full on the lips, the tender touch an almost forgotten feeling with his expanding roles as chief. It was hardly traditional, but something about it felt dangerous, and in the best way. It symbolized their relationship beautifully, breaking the boundaries and traditions set centuries before. It was no replacement for the deeper connection, but no one would be seeing them out here.
Through the water he felt his boyfriend's hands caressing his legs as he got to his knees, fully prepared to service his chief he he'd done countless times before. His member was barely bobbing on the surface, between the water and the air. He could feel the warmth of Alaka'i's breath on his mast, his tongue suddenly going dry in anticipation, his hand snaking down and gripping the lengths of silky black hair in its bun. It had been too long.
The sound of humming in the not so distance jungle made his eyes snap open as his grip suddenly tightened, Alaka'i whimpering in pain. With a hushed plea for silence he shoved his boyfriend under the waves and ran through the water until his lower half was safely hidden.
His skin flushed and heat rose to his face once again as his eyes drifted to the beach where both his and Alaka'i's tepeneu laid at the edge of the water. It would be a dead giveaway to whoever was coming. Suddenly he could hear a gasp from the currents a few feet ahead and saw him resurfacing, gasping for precious air like a beached fish. He avoided facepalming. Alaka'i had never been good at holding his breath. Realizing that fact himself as if it had been the first time, the winded man threw himself in a seemingly random direction towards a more stable hiding place just as the brush vines began to tremble under the touch of a hand. This could not get any worse.
The vines parted. It was his mother.
Apparently things could always get worse. The gods above were mocking him. He could almost see the trickster Maui's rotten grin somewhere in the golden sky behind him. The feeling of embarrassment was burned into his back, and he fought the urge to make a run for it. But it was far too late for that. The absolute last thing he needed was for his own mother to see him rolling in the water with the most tabu soul on the island.
Tala was the equivalent of a ripening mango. She wore beautiful, bright colors in her 'ie toga, and was tart and rebellious in her youth before ripening into a sweet, delicate fruit with the first few wrinkles of age dancing along the edge of her soft eyes. She was of a decent home and family, having been somewhat selected by Kanaloa similar to that of Tui's own situation, but had grown to love her husband dearly through their years of ruling Motunui together. Tala rarely fancied to sit for anything other than the festivals but frequented council meetings whenever her husband gave her his signature softy look, and was often a presence which was largely ignored by most. She had not asked to be married to Kanaloa or what came with being married to him, except for the desire to raise what would shape her home for many generations to come. Where his father lacked talent, Tala more often than not made up for it. But with his tribal duties and her… hobbies, Tui supposed; they hadn't spoken in what felt like months.
Granted this was the least opportune time or place to talk, but Tala certainly wasn't the sort to march him into their home and demand decency. Wherever the water flowed, she was certain to flow with it, his father had always said.
"Tui!" Her mouth split into the widest smile he'd ever seen on Motunui. "What are you doing out here?" It was in a playful tone and innocent enough a question.
Lie. "Just taking a swim, mother," He chuckled, trying to hide the anxiety in the back of his throat.
"I see." She raised a deep black brow as her gaze drifted to his tepeneu. His face went red and a nervous grin etched across his blushing cheeks, a hand worriedly tracing the inked designs on his upper arm.
He needed to change the subject. "Is father looking for me? I'm not in trouble am I?"
Tala grinned slyly. "Not unless he comes around and sees you." For a split second Tui wondered if he should just come clean and leave, but as he inched forward on the squishy sand, his mother spoke again. "You're welcome to continue. I gave birth to you, you know."
He froze, eyes darting over to the direction Alaka'i had swam off in. There really was no response to that. So instead he dropped to his knees and swam a little closer. He didn't exactly know what he was supposed to be doing, as it was clear she wasn't just coming to check on him and leave. He actually couldn't describe what she was doing now. It looked like dancing.
"Is this what you're always off doing, mother?" He watched in slight confusion as the aging wife began humming softly and swirling her hands in a soft, gliding motion.
She gave him a knowing grin. "What did you expect, that I'd be the bored wife? Your father and I agreed on this long before we married. I could dance with the water, he could be the serious chief, and you," She chuckled, doing a graceful turn on the basalt floor. "You could choose your own path."
"That doesn't sound like him." His gaze fell to the crystal clear waters.
"And yet that hasn't stopped you." She continued wistfully, arms rolling with the tides. "You are your father's son. It's easy to be swept up in what he says. You might've followed him one way, but you follow yourself another."
Something in her tone, her eyes, her smile, made him pause where he sat, knees feeling weak. It was clear as the water that she wasn't fooled by his excuse, or anything else he'd been putting on. He might have fooled his father with Sina's help, but even that night through Kanaloa's prideful boasting over a dinner of pork and taro, he had seen through it to his mother's look of suspicion, in all its playfulness. It was so like her to hint and joke about things. He hated it at times, particularly because it meant nothing could really be put past her.
But he didn't know for sure yet, so it was best to play it safe. "What are you talking about?" He hoped her answer wouldn't be all that specific, but she could see every grain of his worry as clear as the sand which surrounded her on all sides.
"You might be fooling your father, Tui." She dipped her hand towards the water with her hips shaking like a gentle breeze. "But trust me, I know who really has your heart."
"Who did you have in mind?" The manai wanted to crawl into a cave and die.
She rolled her eyes, giving him her signature look of knowing what she wasn't meant to know. "That familiar looking boy who swam off to the west and forgot his clothes right here. I trust you'll take them back and tell him to be more careful with where he takes my son? We wouldn't want his father to find out."
Tui swallowed a lump. "You're not going to tell him?"
She cackled boisterously. "I'm his wife. I don't have to tell him anything!"
"So you don't mind?" He stood up and took his tepeneu from where it rested at his mother's feet, feeling the dates which his fingers had become by now. "You don't mind what he is?"
She paused, allowing herself to fall into the winds guiding hands as she danced slowly to the rhythm of the island. "Tui, as long as he makes you happy, that is all I desire from him or her, regardless of what they are. It's an old thing anyway. I promise you the second you're chief you can do something about it, and I won't stand in your way." She breathed a small sigh on contentment. "Your father might be a bit stuck in the old ways, but you're under no obligation to follow him. There's a voice inside you Tui, that will tell you what to do eventually. You may not have found it yet, but when you do, know what it means. It's who you are, and son of the chief or no, you need to make your own choice, regardless of who it is."
He stood and turned towards the direction Alaka'i had disappeared to, tying his tepeneu around his waist once again to spare his mother any extended views of what no one else needed to see. Then he was caught with the light of the sun, where the light hit the edge of the sea. It was almost blinding.
It occurred to him that he didn't know what or who to follow, be it his father, his mother, Alaka'i, Sina, or himself. He hadn't trusted himself to make his decision on his future, not when he wanted two things which simply couldn't coexist. His mother's statement of change was barely even wishful thinking at this point. And even if he could change what his boyfriend was, what were they to do with each other until that day came when he placed his stone on the mountain?
Sina was a complete saint for putting up with such a messy situation. Could he really expect her to keep this up for possibly years? Then there were his parents. His mother swore not to breath a word but what of his father? He would eventually know, that much he could concede, but when and how was much more crucial. One thing was for sure, they couldn't afford to slip up like this again, even if his mother did understand, next time, they more than likely wouldn't be so lucky. And Alaka'i, the one who would lose everything if their secret was known, would he be able to tolerate them sneaking kisses in even more privacy, accept that they would more or less be forced apart by either his chiefly duties or even Sina? He knew he had a big heart and was almost overly tolerant, but nothing like this had ever happened before. What was to say his positive attitude wasn't temporary?
He felt the blood pounding in his ears as the waves embraced his shins. He had plenty he needed to figure out within the next few days if he was to be certain things stayed the way they were. There had to be some kind of solution to it all.
That voice inside is who you are. His mother's words echoed around in his skull.
He suddenly pushed forward, walking around his mother and back towards the jungle and the village. He needed to find Sina and Alaka'i, wherever they were. He wasn't going to be able to figure his next few moves out on his own, even with his mother's acceptance. If he or Alaka'i were to have any future on his island, he would need to know what they needed to do.
The manai took one last look at his mother from where she swayed upon the basalt ledge, eyes hut in concentration as she danced with the sparkling waters of the orange horizon. A smile curved up his face. He had the perfect idea of where no one would see any of them, and there would be no interruptions.
He could only hope that the ocean would allow it.
