Netty | Neteyam x reader

Chapter 16.

"I like where your mind is going sweetheart" he whispers smugly as he dips his head and kisses your cheek.

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The sky turned dark as you and Neteyam went for a swim and hung out. You ended up at the Hyacinth beach, lounging in the sand. 

You were sitting down beside Neteyam, who was resting on his side beside you, his head propped up on his hand. 

You were chuckling at his joke and you spotted Ao'nung and his friends getting off their Ilu's and laughing.

"I'll be back." You whisper and kiss his cheek before running over to Ao'nung.

"Ao?" you ask as you approach the group, catching your breath quickly as you enter the cool water. Everyone turns their head towards you, their faces dropping their smiles.

"Can I talk to you?"

Ao'nung looks at you for a split second before looking at his Ilu that he was sitting on and petting it, "No. Can't you see I'm busy." he answers coldly.

The hell?

You look at his friends, just one glance telling them to leave. One guy patted Ao'nung on the back whispering 'Good luck' while the others said they will see him later with a knowing glance.

As they leave, you cross your arms.

"What." Ao'nung asks, much harsher than you would like.

"I just want to talk, there is no need to show me attitude Ao." you tilt your head, trying to catch his gaze. He keeps looking down at his Ilu.

"Well I don't want to talk." he says.

The waves lightly hit your leg, Ao'nung's Ilu making light coos as Ao'nung adjusts himself on the animal.

"Can't you at least look at me?" you ask as you uncross your arms and bring them to rest on the Ilu's head.

"Listen, I just don't want to talk to you, is that so hard to understand?"

You open your mouth to say something but nothing comes out. Something is definitely wrong, but what is it?

"You bring shame into this family"

Your breathing falters. You haven't heard your parents' voices in so long.

You look up at Ao'nung and frown, anger forming in your chest.

"Just-" You grab his arm with your right hand and pull him off the Ilu, simultaneously breaking his bond with the animal, "Look at me when you talk!"

Ao'nung finally looks up and angrily jerks his arm away from your grip.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Why are you being like this Ao? What happened? What did I do? Did father say something to you?" You flood him with questions as you take a step closer.

The breeze from the cold water gently blew and you shivered as you waited for Ao'nung to say something.

"I can't tell you." He finally says.

"And why is that, I'm curious to ask?" You reply sarcastically but don't have enough time for an answer because you hear the call of your name.

You let out an angry breath at the interruption and glance at Tsireya as she splashes the water around her running towards the two of you.

"I was just walking around the village trying to find Lo'ak, he said he would meet up with me.." she looked between you and Ao'nung, "so I can further teach him the way of our clan of course!" She threw her hands up quickly, explaining her reasoning.

You roll your eyes for two reasons; one being that you are annoyed that Ao'nung didn't tell you anything and two that she was trying to hide the fact that she likes Lo'ak when it is so obvious to everyone within a 2 mile radius.

"Anyway, I walked by your friend's brother, and they were saying something about Lo'ak and behind the reef?" she sounded a bit panicked as she looked between the both of you with pleading eyes, "Please tell me that is not true."

You whip your head towards Ao'nung who looks away, his face reading an emotion you don't see often - Regret? Shame?

"Is this true?" You take a step closer to Ao, your tone calm but stern.

"I-" He kept looking down, blinking fast.

"Ao'nung, is this true?" You raise your voice.

"..Yes. We took him hunting outside the reef.." He looked up at you and then at Tsiryea, "and we left him there."

You take a step back and look at Ao'nung with a "I don't believe you" face, your mouth agape and your eyes wide. You start to lose sense of how cold the water is, because your whole body feels like it was going into shock.

Ao'nung? Your brother, Ao'nung, would do something like this?

You take another step backwards, not really sure why, and trip on your own tail, which was not cooperating.

You stumble back but someone is suddenly behind you, a hand on your back and resting on your arm.

Your mouth closes shut and you blink your eyes back to focus. The touch seems to bring you back. It feels grounding.

You look up at Neteyam, who frowns at you, secretly asking what happened.

Tsiryea lets out a tiny gasp of air, and you realise that she has tears in her eyes. "How could you Ao'nung?" she says, her voice soft but harsh.

"How could you lead him outside of the reef and leave him there? You aren't even allowed there," She points at you, "She isn't even allowed there. How could he know what to do?"

"Who?" Neteyam asks.

Ao'nung looks at Neteyam, "Lo'ak."

The next moments feel like they were in slow motion.

Neteyam's hands leave the comfort of your back and arm. Him shoving your brother and demanding answers. Ao'nung explaining what happened. Neteyam grabbing his kuru and leading him towards his family's hut, the both of them slowly disappearing out of sight.

You let out a breath and look towards your sister, her hand up covering her mouth and tears lightly streaming down her face.

"Reya," You said softly as you wrapped your arms around her in a hug, "It's... going to be okay." You say with some uncertainty, because really who knows what could happen?

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A/N

Hey guys..! Long time no see lmaoo.

Back into my writing phase, let's see how long this time lasts :)