But What If || Neteyam x reader

Idyllic Ilus

You skittishly grabbed behind you and pulled your Kuru toward the front of your body. The Ilu was now right next to you, taking a breath you positioned yourself to hop on. As you tried you felt some of your weight get lifted off, you turned to see Ao'nung helping you. Once you were on you didn't know where to place any of your limbs. "Relax, and make the bond." He spoke quickly and muttered to you, it was much nicer than any other tone he had with you before. "Okay." He had brought the Ilus Kuru to you as you brought yours close. When you both bonded, his body shivered, you kept your balance and tried to keep still. "Now what?" He gestured to the harness ahead of you. "Go slowly." He backed away from you and you couldn't stop your eyebrows from giving away your fear. You quickly turned your head forward and took a breath in as you set off. Diving in head first you let your body do what felt natural, you started really slow not going much further than Lo'ak before surfacing. You still hung on as you gasped for air, looking around you saw Lo'ak hop on the Ilu ready to try again. You turned your head to the Metkayina boys and some of them were snickering amongst themselves. You could guess how they were mocking your hesitance to go fast as Lo'ak did. Instead of watching them more, you decided to try and go down again, this time you went a little faster, you felt the ocean brush across your body. It almost felt like flying but without the fear of falling. You looked up at the surface of the water and saw the light dance across, the fish parted faster as your Ilu swam. You could feel his breath and his body as you spun back and were brought back up to the surface.

Taking a good breath in you smiled, you felt really accomplished being able to do so well on your first try. "Look you did well, you had nothing to worry about." You spun around to see Neteyam and his toothy grin, you gave a small chuckle. "You knew I was nervous didn't you." You raised an eyebrow at him as he playfully nodded his head. "Considering your rough morning and frown lines I figured you were anxious." You hummed in response to him and slightly shuddered thinking about how awful your morning had been. "Stay calm and you'll do great." Neteyam was closer now and had his hand on your shoulder, his eyes placed where his hand was. Your head nodded as you could feel your Ilu breathe. At first, it was odd to you the bond but now it seemed effortless. You lightly rubbed your hand on the side of his frame giving him a pet of some sort before looking at Neteyam. You must have been zoning out again as his face darkened. "What happened to your arm?" It was a small mark it was barely visible but it was still a bruise. "Oh, I must've bumped into something really hard this morning." You knew where the mark was from but admitting who it was from felt embarrassing. You and Ao'nung didn't spend any time out of lessons hanging out which would beg the question of when you two were together and you wanted to keep your little outings a secret. "Bro come on they're going to leave us behind." Lo'ak appeared next to you seemingly out of nowhere. "Alright, we're coming." Neteyam's ilu swam closer to Lo'ak before you saw Ao'nung and his friends dive under. "Ready?" You gave a small exhale in response before inhaling and diving under with Neteyam. You could see Ao'nung and his friends ahead and swim in their direction with Lo'ak and Neteyam by your side.

You could tell they knew the reef well as they swam around without much trouble, they seemed to know just when to turn and what was coming up next. You followed them but never swam beside them as they made it almost impossible. They swam tightly together making no room for anyone in between, so instead of trying to swim alongside them, you looked over to your right to see Lo'ak trying to do exactly what you saw as a lost cause. He tried catching up and swimming beside them before almost hitting the coral from the little space they left. You didn't want Lo'ak feeling down about it so you went closer to him, swimming above him mimicking what he had done on his Ikran. When you were back at his level his attention was off of the group of four boys and on you. You waved smiling trying to get him to smile back but he just turned forward again and tried to catch up with them again. If you were above water you would have sighed. You knew Lo'ak felt left out, he was probably the sibling you could relate to the most. He always viewed himself as an outsider, you were about to be lost in thought before seeing the group head up for air quickly. As you arose out of the water a few words were spoken between Lo'ak and Ao'nung but couldn't ask what they were as they dove under again.

This time when you went under you saw Neteyam by his brother, he tried motioning for Lo'ak to stay behind but he wouldn't listen and kept trying to swim with the others. You caught up to them with ease, riding your Ilu didn't come naturally but it wasn't too difficult for you. You watched as the boys in front of you rode their Ilus and tried doing the same. Coping their mannerisms made things easier giving you the ability to pry your eyes off of them and at the ocean surrounding you. You caught glimpses of your favorite fish occasionally and of many others. The squid-like creature had also intrigued you, it was so cute and tiny that you couldn't help but find it adorable. While you were still keeping an eye on the boys in front of you for directions you failed to notice them letting Lo'ak and Neteyam in their circle, of course, you did notice when some of them started swimming too closely causing Lo'ak back off and enter your space, you were harshly brought out of your admiring gaze and now had your attention pulled in front of you. Neteyam didn't seem too happy about this either but was focused on riding his own Ilu to do anything. You were in almost the same boat but you decided to swim a little closer to the group. As they swam around they opened up their circle, swimming into the area was stressful. You were pretty sure they didn't care if they bumped into you as they swam freely and recklessly. You did your best to make sure you didn't hit them and that seemed to be all you could do, dodging their moves kept you sharp and in the moment. After a while, you ended up almost running into Neteyam, you had been dodging one of the boys by swinging hard to the left when Netetyam swam down. You slowed your pace letting Neteyam take vast space ahead of you as you then went beside him. Smiling you swam close trying to throw him off as the others were, his face turned to you annoyed before seeing it was you. His face softened before giving a smile that meant you would pay for that. He was about to go towards you before an Ilu shot right down the middle of you two, looking down you saw Ao'nung. He swam forward acting as if he hadn't done a thing. You could feel your brows furrow as you regained your composure, looking to your left again Neteyam seemed just as displeased with their behavior. You were glad when they decided to go up for air, Lo'ak motioned upwards and you followed.

"They're so slow." You heard their muffled chuckling and snickering before you even broke the surface, it didn't surprise you that they were making snide comments. "My baby brother is faster than them." They broke out in laughter as Ao'nung poked out of the water. Your eyes watched him as he glanced at your group before one of the boys swatted his arm. "Do you really have to teach these skxáwngs!" His friend spoke in a whisper tone but being the closest to the group you heard them. Your eyes were still watching Ao'nung as he just smiled and listened to his friends criticize your riding skills. You were really starting to not like this group of boys, Ao'nung was annoying on his own but was tolerable when Tisreya and Rotxo were around. "I would be doing better if they weren't trying to run into me." You turned your head to see Neteyam and Lo'ak it seemed like Lo'ak was in a sour mood and pushing away from his brother. "Lo'ak." You tried reaching out to him before he brushed you off too. He went off to the side as the Metkayia boys were giving you all glances before diving under again. You turned to see Neteyam only to see him diving under again. You were the last under the water and instead of going at a steady pace as they had done before you saw trails of bubbles and fast-swimming Ilus.

You instantly went after them, they had brought you out further than you had gone yet and you didn't know which way was back to the village. It was hard to stay on, you felt your grip loosen before trying to grab with both arms. This didn't work and when the others took a look back to see if you were still following you felt flustered by trying to grab with both hands. You took ahold of the harness with one hand and held on so tight your knuckles were starting to lighten. This swim was easier to get in the group than the other, the boys were more focused on actually riding than trying to mess one of the three of you up. You still felt nervous but as you rode next to Neteyam who gave you a light grin you seemed to ease up a bit. You could feel your Ilus nervousness as he felt yours, you tried to stay focused on riding and the moment but to relax you tried thinking about the stars, when the sharp turns came you thought about how close they were here and how instead of some planets being far off stars they were so close. The stars could take you anywhere but you didn't think any other planet would be as beautiful as this one. Thinking of the stars and the planet's beauty helped you calm yourself and try and focus on your ilu. He was still quite nervous, your other free hand drew itself up and rested alongside where you gave him a pat earlier. You kept your hand there as you freely kept your pace and looked at the others. Another sharp turn was taken and you all had to move to avoid coral, you swam through with ease swimming out alongside the boys as they continued their journey. Swimming like this with your focus on your Ilu and your mind at rest felt like bliss, you wondered why you had been so afraid yesterday. You were really starting to love the way of life here.