But What If || Neteyam x reader

Cherish Exploration

    "Okay, you were the first to know, you made your point now let's go and enjoy the night okay?" You were so going to get Lo'ak back, most likely by starting another pinching fit. "Yeah, okay." The village was less deserted than it had been yesterday, more people were home and celebrating on their own. "So was it romantic?" Tuk you could get away from topics that she would gross herself out of but Kiri was someone who was much more blunt. "What was?" The lit Marui's tended to be closed, the light only peeking out from the cracks. "The proposal, duh." Kiri hugged your arm close ready to hear the details. "I guess." She huffed at the short response. "You guess? After all that planning his proposal is a you guess?" When you thought back to yesterday it didn't seem like everything was planned out.

    "What do you mean?" She smiled as she explained. "The matching necklace? You know, for the armband you gave him?" You were very much confused. "Huh?" You could feel your eyebrows knotting. "I'm guessing you aren't wearing the necklace because you didn't want people to know yet but now everyone knows, so... Where is it?" She still wasn't making any more sense. "What necklace? I don't have a necklace and how would Neteyam have made a matching necklace?" You were making yourself more confused the more you talked. "I just gave him the armband yesterday." So sort of realization hit her as she let go of your arm and moved away from you. "Oops, I think I've said enough... I'm just gonna uhh-" Kiri looked at her surrounding family and picked her victim. "Lo'ak, tell me more about how you're not a little liar."

     It worked, it got her victim all stirred up and left Neteyam alone in the back of the group. "I told you I'm not lying, Kiri." You started to slow your pace. "Lo'ak stop engaging with your sister and Kiri stop antagonizing him." You saw both their shoulders slump, Lo'ak got into bits of trouble often but Mr. Sully rarely called out Kiri. You silently were laughing at them and their shenanigans and felt a set of familiar eyes on you. You looked over to see Neteyam smiling, probably silently laughing with you. You continued to walk side by side following the others in a comfortable silence. As you continued you watched the Maruis taking note of the ones who had people in them and the ones who looked just as abandoned as the night before.

      But the one you took an interest in was Ku'uu's Marui, the lights were on and his door was slightly ajar. To you, it looked like an invite. "Pst, Neteyam." You spoke silently trying not to catch the attention of his siblings. "What is it TanhÌ?" Damn, that nickname had you weak every time. You could feel your knees stumbling and your voice faltering. "I'm going to go visit a friend real quick, is that okay?" Your volume was no longer a whisper as the nickname caught you off guard still. "Course," Neteyam leaned closer but something caught his eye, you were kinda hoping he was going in for a peck on the cheek or something. "Great, I'll see you later." If he wasn't going to give you a kiss then you were. You started to go on your tippy-toes when out of the side of your eye you saw what stopped him.

     Kiri, Lo'ak, and Tuk were watching the two of you and not doing a good job of hiding it. "What?" Kiri shrugged as she turned back around with her brother starting to giggle. "Nothing." You could hear her trying to stifle her laugh. you squinted in her direction. "Mhm." Before landing a little peck on his cheek. Giggling insured from Tuk and Neytiri as they were slightly turned back. You would let Neteyam deal with his family. "Bye." You quickly took off to Ku'uu's home wanting to thank him again for the festive wear. Your footsteps were splattered against the walkway and then to the opening.

    You slightly moved the door open and made your presence known. "Ku'uu?" You looked around, seeing most things neat as you'd made them yesterday. "Hello?" Your eyes bolted to where your ears picked up his voice. You saw him putting away a few items in the corner. "Oh (Y/N), what brings you here?" He took notice of your outfit first. "The celebration is still underway." You smiled at him, although he looked frail he seemed much more lively than yesterday, if that was possible. "You said I could visit." He smiled and ushered you to sit again. "Yes, I did." As you gladly sat down Ku'uu stayed up and reached for a few things. "What would you like to drink?" You swatted your hand, you had skipped dinner and weren't too thirsty. "I don't need anything, but thank you Ku'uu." He still took two cups out.

   "Water it is then." He grinned at you and you weren't going to argue. He poured your drink first and started the conversation you'd been waiting for. "So what would you like to know about them?" You knew very little about them and no one had told you anything either. "Their names would be a nice place to start." He passed you the cup as he spoke. "My mate's name was Ìyä and my daughter's was Awuu." You weren't thirsty but you took a sip as he started to pour his own drink, different from yours. "They were very similar, to be honest, Awuu looked so much like her mother." He chuckled as he finished pouring. "Although Ìyä would argue she looked more like me." He sat in front of you to continue, your ears being focused on him.

    "She had my liveliness as people say." One Ku'uu was lively, but two sounded like a party. "But she looked more like her mother and followed after her." Learning about them intrigued you and the way he talked of them made them feel alive. "They were both warriors." You'd noticed when you first arrived here that only a select few were true warriors as the Metkayina were a peaceful people. "Both of them? Wow, you must've been proud." He nodded, taking in some of his drink. "Yeah, I was." He was tearing up a bit and you wondered if that had something to do with their death so you changed the subject.

    "So tell me Ku'uu, what is yours and Ìyä's love story?" He had been looking at the ripples in his cup. He lifted his head however in a lighter spirit ready to tell you. "It was definitely not love at first sight if you're asking." He took in a breath, trying to blink back the water in his eyes. "Nor were we childhood lovers like most, we were actually at each other's throats most of the time." He was now sheepishly talking. "She didn't like me because I didn't care much about our community and tended to make more problems than solutions." You could see Ku'uu with a delinquent-type past. "And of course, she was the one who had to fix anything I broke." You loved this story so much already and knew there was no way this would be the only time you heard it.

    "What did you break?" He nervously laughed noticeably cringing at his younger self. "Gourds, ilu reins, my family's roof once, and mostly hearts." You both laughed, so he was a heartbreaker too. "Ìyä was actually a friend of someone's
heart I broke. So after I rejected her friend she became overly involved in my business." You took another sip letting him continue. "That was when we started to see more of each other and the elders appointed her to watch me. I didn't get away with much more after that..." He paused a bit thinking about what he would say next. "Except for breaking the roof of my family's Marui."  You both chuckled, enjoying the time together. "So what changed?" He was nodding, continuing as if your question hadn't been uttered. "She scolded me big time for that one and like always I bit back."

     The more he kept telling his story the more you wished you'd met her. "I got all up in her face and normally she wouldn't have backed away but this time she did and she looked broken." He took another sip letting the room settle for a moment. "I'd never seen someone look so tired and in so many pieces. She made me realize that my actions had an effect on others and that I'd hurt many people." He sighed, "I started to change after that day, I was more aware and helpful." You kept drinking your water, your tails moving behind you. "I became someone she could be proud of and without my problematic behavior I started to see her differently too." He started to melt and you knew you were getting into the good stuff now. "She was strong in her stance, responsible with her duties, and she had become the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen." Your tail moved faster, this was such a cute story.

    "I knew I'd have to do something big for her to make me her mate and I did." He was smiling proudly and you stayed silent, eagerly waiting for the rest. "The day I knew I wanted her as mine I went to the council and did two things." He took another sip of what you were pretty sure was alcohol. "The first thing I did was challenge one of the boys they had chosen to be a part of the elder council and the second thing I did was then tell them that if I won not only would I be a part of the council but I would have permission to court Ìyä." Now that was a proclamation.