admiration | neteyam & lo'ak x oc

? twenty one

she smiled ever so softly, letting her heart win for once as she responded, "i would do anything for you too, ma teyam. you've become everything to me and i-" she choked up on her words, "i see you."

neteyam felt his whole body freeze in the moment, letting his brain try to catch up with what talia just said. he finally found strength again and held her hands in his own in between them. he matched her soft smile before replying, "i see you, my love."

then with their hands intertwined, he caught her lips in his again. this kiss was short and sweet, just enough to seal their affirmation of love for one another. they both peeled back with a faint blush, the same butterflies fluttering in their stomachs.

neteyam glanced between her eyes and lips, "don't look at me like that or we're never gonna leave this place," he raised a brow.

talia only smirked back, "don't threaten me with a good time, teyam."

with a quick laugh, the two were headed back to the village hand in hand. the feeling of being so in love filled the air around them, their happiness and positivity energy radiating off into the forest.

when they got around the halfway point back to the village, neteyam's ears twitched. he stopped and held a hand to talia's waist, holding her back behind him. she pinched her brows together as she tried to figure out what he was doing, but he didn't say anything.

then she heard it for herself. it was a rustling nearby, an animal that was emitting a low growl as it neared the pair.

"shit," neteyam murmured as he began to panic about worst case scenarios. talia held onto his arm that wrapped around her, keeping one hand wrapped around her knife in its sheath.

after a few moments, a large, black creature jumped from behind a large bush and over the top of both talia and neteyam. she shrieked as neteyam quickly switched places so he was in front of her again, putting himself in between danger and her.

but as talia got a closer look, she knew this wasn't just any creature. it was palulukan— her palulukan. she dropped her sweaty hold on her knife and yelled out, "nihona!"

the creature stopped into snarling and it's ears perked, the eyes drifting from the boy to the girl. in an instant, her tail wagged as she leapt over to talia.

neteyam took a step back in utter shock, watching his girlfriend hug a carnivorous predator. his eyes were wide as his mouth was slightly held agape as he observed their interaction.

"talia?" he blurted out, interrupting the reunion in front of him. the girl turned to him with a bright smile, "teyam! this is nihona, she's my best friend."

the palulukan seemed standoffish, but non threatening. talia kept a comforting hand on its neck as she beckoned for her boyfriend to come closer, which he hesitantly did so. once he was close enough, talia took his one of his hands and placed it next to hers on the leathery skin.

nihona seemed to calm down after this, realizing he wasn't a threat. "see? she's my friend." talia replied again to neteyam who resumed his shocked stature.

after a moment, he took a large step back and away from the creature known for death. he gulped, "we should head back now."

she frowned, "but nihona-" and he shook his head as he interrupted her thought. "it's getting late, we need to get back soon."

talia huffed in defeat, not wanting to upset the sully's for being late back to the village. so she turned to nihona and scratched her behind the ears and gave her a quick hug, "i'll see you again soon, okay?"

then the large creature ran back off into the forest where it came from. talia watched her disappear then returned to neteyam's side who also watched everything, but with a slightly more apprehensive view.

"neteyam? are you okay?" she pulled him out of his thoughts and he shook them away.

"let's just get going." he cleared his throat and took her hand in his, keeping a strong hold of her.

watching talia interact with such a deadly beast made neteyam realize how innocent and naive she was about the forest. in his mind, things could go severely bad if she continued being 'friends' with the animal because of their infamous reputation. he didn't want to bring her mood down so he kept his thinking to himself, but it made him stress just as bad. what if something happened and he couldn't be there to protect her? if nihona flipped a switch one day and tore her to shreds? he would blame himself until the end of time, he couldn't let that happen.

so his thoughts swirled as they continued their journey back to the village, his mind running a million miles an hour. he tried to think about the positive, that they had taken a giant step in their relationship. the physical progress they shared was something he admired, and today he proved to himself the question he'd been asking himself for awhile now.

and he knew it. the answer was as clear as day and he couldn't deny it any longer— he was madly in love with talia the avatar girl.

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