But What If || Neteyam x reader

Forest Fever

He was definitely thinking about how to answer you as you both looked into each other's eyes. No words were being said between the two of you and just by the way his brow markings moved and his eyes longed for the comfort of home you knew the answer. "I do, yeah." He broke off from your eyes first and back to where his eyes had been before you joined him. You knew Tuk and his siblings had been struggling with the move, they made it clear they wished to be home in the forest. But no one had heard a single remark from Neteyam, he remained silent on the matter so as to not make things worse. He just kept it all to himself, everything he'd lost. Like his cumberbund, something that reminded you of a corset when you first saw it but later found out it was the mark of a warrior.

Your eyes traveled off of Neteyam and instead looked to where his sights were. Eclipse was underway, a little late for dinner but it was a part of the celebration you were beginning to miss. You watched as the Eclipse went underway spilling a dark light in the sky. You hadn't noticed before but Pandora doesn't have sunsets. Nothing to paint the sky with a variety of colors, or anyone but maybe you who'd have any recollection of them on this planet to tell the Na'vi about. "Do you miss it?" Snapping you out of your thoughts you turned your head to see Neteyam no longer looking for home. "Miss what?" There was his smile and a light chuckle, one that in turn made you grin as well. "Your home, Earth." You didn't like him calling it your home, it felt wrong in a sense. How was Earth ever supposed to be home? You were about to answer him with no when your eyes moved to the sky again, being reminded of sunsets. "I guess I do sometimes... But I only miss the small things you know?" You made yourself a little more comfortable and started swinging your legs.

"I don't think I know," Neteyam was looking at you like you weren't making a lick of sense. "Right, Earth is hard to explain..." You tried figuring out how to explain to him how the air was so toxic you needed a mask to breathe and a skyscraper at just the right height otherwise you could die from other fumes made by the exact people who had lived centuries there. "Remember how your Dad told me about The Tree of Voices and how humans destroyed it?" The mention of a sacred site being obliterated had Neteyam's ears dipped for a moment as he nodded. "It's kinda like that. People took a gorgeous and lively planet and due to greed and desire, they demolished it. And now there is no going back." You didn't want to think of your father but when it came to the reasons you didn't want to go back to Earth he was one of the bigger ones. "That sounds disgusting, how did you live in a place like that?"

As much as it did hurt to give that man any bit of credit he had taken care of you in your adolescent years. "I had my Dad." The word was hard to get out of your mouth, how should that man count as a father after what he'd done to you? "Do you miss him?" Hatred was all you felt for him and he was lucky to not be on Pandora. It would be on sight considering how much stronger you were now, both mentally and physically. "No," Neteyam looked concerned by your short reply and your slight chuckle. "Why, what happened?" You kinda forgot family was everything to Na'vi, their bonds running deep and true, unlike people. "He-" You struggled to say anything when he was looking at you like that. "He umm... He betrayed me when I didn't agree with what he was doing and then he told me that I wasn't his daughter anymore and took the last thing I had of my mothers from me." You'd never told Neteyam about your past and that was not the most gracious way to come out and say it.

"Oh..." Neteyam's ears faced down as his body moved uncomfortably. "I'm sorry he did that to you." Neteyam's hand was over yours comforting you even though you were the one who should be comforting him about missing the forest. "It's okay, what happened is in the past and I'll never see him again..." You thought about how to switch the topic back. "Plus I have you guys now and you guys are ten times the amount of family than he ever was." You nudge his shoulder with yours feeling as though you had never spoken any truer words. You both were smiling, his eyes no longer longing for home and instead resting in yours. Maybe you didn't need to pry anymore, maybe he'll tell you on his own. Your eyes darted between his as they became hooded and came closer. You leaned forward too, letting your eyes set to his lips before closing them. Liking the light kiss that followed, though it was soft it felt strong between the two of you as he held your hand tighter.

When you separated you missed the warmth of his face close to yours, but you smiled as his entire face came into view again. Beautifully staring back at you, his star-like freckles starting to glow as the Eclipse was fast to envelop your surrounds. You brought your available hand up to them and started to trace a few with your thumb. Something about your hand allured him, every time you touched him he leaned into you finding some solace. You grinned seeing him close his eyes and let you carefully trace some of his stars. Though the longer you traced those spots on that dark blue you missed the golden eyes that seemed to make you feel stuck and kept you near.

"Speaking of family," You gave him too much silence to think. "We should head back, they'll wonder where we are for the second celebration." You knew he was right but did you really want to leave now? No... "Yeah, we could or..." Neteyam started to grab your other hand and have it leave his face. "We could stay here, just you and me." You heard some of the ikran's screech at you and you corrected yourself. "Sorry, just you, me, and the ikran." He was laughing at you and the ikran as he was shaking his head. "I would love too Tanhì," You loved that nickname, it gave you shivers. "But I have a duty to watch my siblings." You sighed, you had the same duty as Neytiri had asked so of you the day you all arrived here. "Alright," You picked yourself up with him and had a fire light up in you.

"But only if you beat me down the hill." You loved catching him off guard with a race, you always did so when returning for late-night swims. "You little-" You didn't hear much else as you erupted with laughter from your lead running down the hill. Not knowing where you were going as you had been zoned out coming up. Still, you knew you wouldn't let him win, or you would do your best. You knew Neteyam was one to hold back on you, for what you didn't know but you weren't going to give him the option, riding animals on Pandora was technically foreign to you but running was a no-brainer. And you'd beaten a few males just yesterday, one really, but it still counted. As you were frantically running down you could hear Neteyam gaining on you in between breaths as you were still very much giggling at your childish actions being indulged by Neteyam.