Invisible String - Jake Sully

Mastermind

Lo'ak eyes followed the strange girl's back, he was sure he never gave her his name. How the hell did she know about it? He thought, shivers running up his spine. 

While Lo'ak was scared shitless, Malia was beaming and patting herself mentally. Her second plan worked magnificently. 

Take that, Tsireya, she thought smugly. 

Malia couldn't rest until she could call Lo'ak hers. 

Her third plan consisted of trying to separate Tsireya and Lo'ak as much as she could. In order to do that, Malia became friends with the chief's daughter. Just like they said, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. 

It was easy to be friends with Tsireya since she was so friendly and accepting. Besides, even if Tsireya were suspicious of Malia, she had a few tricks up her sleeves. 

"Tsireya! What are you doing today?" Malia asked, walking towards Tsireya, who was standing by the shore.

Tsireya smiled at her, "oh, I'm waiting for the Sullys to arrive. I'm teaching them sign language," she smiled politely. 

Malia nodded, "can I come?" 

Tsireya looked at her, surprised by her offer, "Can you teach?" 

"Yeah, I can," she shrugged. 

Tsireya sighed and nodded, "Okay, we can wait here." 

Malia grinned, her mind trying to come up with a way to have Lo'ak all to herself. She knew she sound obsessive, but she liked him, and when Malia liked something, it was going to be hers one way or another. 

"Hey!" 

Malia turned to see the Sullys siblings walked towards the two of them. Her eyes immediately locked on Lo'ak's. She smirked at him and waved her hand innocently. 

"Guys, this is Malia. She's going to help me today," Tsireya explained.

Malia smiled at the newcomers, "Hi, nice to meet you." 

The whole time, Malia couldn't keep her eyes off Lo'ak. He enchanted her with his cool attitude and bad-boy persona. He was her type down to the T. He was perfect for her. 

"Do you want me to help you with that?" Malia asked sweetly.

"um..."

"No Malia, I can help him, you go help Neteyam and Kiri," Tsireya cut him off before he could decide. 

Malia didn't let her facade dropped and turned towards the snickering duo, "show me what you got." 

It went on like that, with Tsireya trying to keep their interaction short and the two snickering at what happened in front of them. 

It took Malia all her might not to throw sand at the olo'eyktan daughter, she was frustrated with Tsireya, but she had to admit that Tsireya won this round. 

This little competition went on until Lo'ak found out about it one day. Thanks to Neteyam. 

"I can't stand Malia," Lo'ak said on one sunny day. He was sitting beside Neteyam in the forest of Awa'atlu, enjoying the feeling of being back home.

Neteyam laughed at his little brother, "bro, don't you get it? she's basically in love with you," he pointed out, laughing at his idiotic brother. 

Lo'ak looked at the cackling boy, horrified, no way, "what the hell, man? I like Tsireya," he groaned. 

"Yeah, so? It's not like you chose her to be your mate already," Neteyam shrugged casually, leaning back with his hands on the back of his head. 

Lo'ak scoffed, "Yeah, but still, she should stop 'cause I'm clearly committed to Tsireya for the time being."

"Told her that then," Neteyam shrugged, closing his eyes, "but I do want to say that it's very funny watching them fight over you," he chuckled. 

Lo'ak rolled his eyes at his older brother, "You just love seeing me uncomfortable."

After that conversation, Lo'ak tried everything in his power to just say no to the girl, but Malia was persistent and relentless. She wouldn't take no for an answer. 

Malia also had something up her sleeves, she would use something so out of this world, Lo'ak would miss her if she ever stopped bothering him. 

Despite Lo'ak's incessant refusal, Malia still tried so hard to court him with small gifts, like a calm she got from her dive or a beautiful shell she found on the sea bed. She even gave him some fruits for his family. 

She made sure to build that routine for weeks, and she also made sure she curated everything to his liking. 

She succeeded on doing that until one day, Lo'ak was finally fed up with her that he yelled at her to go away. Malia was okay with it because she knew she had already burrowed her way down into his consciousness. Although she admitted she was hurt by what he said, Malia knew not to take whatever he said to heart. 

"Malia, can't you just stop!" he shouted at her one evening. They had just finished their communal dinner, and Malia just couldn't stop talking his ear off. It was annoying. 

Malia looked at him, surprised that he finally snapped, "What... what do you mean?" her eyes fluttering at him.

Lo'ak groaned, "Stop with the act. I know you aren't innocent as you look," he said, glaring at her, "I like Tsireya, okay, so please leave me alone." 

Malia mockingly pouted at him, "Oh Lo'ak you're breaking my heart," then that pout turned into a smirk, "Believe me, Lo'ak, you will miss my annoying presence, cause I got you where I want to," she tutted, stepping away from him. 

"I won't!" he bit back. 

Malia stopped and turned her head slightly back to Lo'ak, "whatever you say," she sang and walked away with a confident stride. 

Lo'ak could deny it all he wanted, but at the end of the day, she was right and now, three years later, Lo'ak needed to make up for what he had done all those years ago. 

After all, everything was her design cause she was a beautiful mastermind.v

----------------------

Another one-shot about Lo'ak and Malia. 

I actually love their dynamic. Malia was insanely smart and calculative, she knew how to bewitch him, and we saw how Lo'ak tried to win her over with a huge offering at the hunting festival. That was all a part of her genius plan. 

Anyways, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I'm currently working on the sequel for this story, and it will be set a month or two after the epilogue, bad news is I'm going to publish them middle of next month. I need to go back to my home country this week, so I wouldn't be able to write or upload another one shot and then I'm going on a short trip with my family until early May. But after that, I'll try to publish the first chapter of the next sequel. 

That's it, I'll see ya soon!